#the background. we don’t talk about the suffering that happened there

[ashipikaur]

“You’ll never be able to stop us, no matter where we go!” △

annual sky pirates post. HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE

extra under cut

😔 ITS BLOCKED BY JONNYS HANDS but I just want the people to know. skypaul hands are so close. even when you think it doesn’t exist they exist and I just wanted to share that <3 sankyu minna

[miss0atae]

The dark side of nostalgia and how it affects San and his relationships from Century of Love (ep 2):

Hum… so many things happened in this episode. I could also say it’s my random thoughts about the second episode 2. Let’s unpack what I felt about it.

I think we need to talk about San. It was kinda heartbreaking to see how much pain and suffering he is experiencing every day for the sake of finding his lost love. He is staying young and healthy, but the cost of this semi-immortality seems to be too pricey. His love for Vad / Wat is very strong, but I don’t think he is seeing how many changes the pain has caused on him. San isn’t the same as he was when he first met her. Even if Vad / Wat isn’t Vee, I don’t think she would be able to recognize her lover. You can’t live 100 years of atrocious pain and remains the same. It’s not possible. I’m not even sure San sees how much different he is from who he was when he first met her. He is so focus on his goal that he tends to push everything else into the background. In his quest of finding Vad / Wat, San lost himself. It doesn’t help that all the signs seem to push him into Vee, when he doesn’t want it. He tried very hard during this episode to find reasons not to be attracted to Vee, even if his unconscious was sending him wet dreams. I don’t think the fact that Vee is a man is so much of a problem to him. San is just troubled by how different Vee is from his memory of Vad / Wat. Even if he is graced with semi-immortality, it's not working on his nostalgia.It just helps him to remain young and healthy.

When people get nostalgic, they are living in the past. San is truly someone who is still stuck in the past where he was loved and he loved his “true love”. In those moments, the past seems rosy, and often as more positive than the present. It's the case for San, as he remembers fondly of the time he was with Vad / Wat. It is even worse because he never really had the chance to live with her. They were separated before. What emotion is San after when he is thinking about the past? Is it a way of finding the positive feelings you get when you're in love? Is he trying to recreate their time together? San has one foot in the past and one in the present, but he is not really rooted in the present. Despite looking for the reincarnation of his love, he can't really feel himself in the present. Is it even possible for him to be rooted in the present and also feel the positive emotions of reminiscing while living in pain every day . No mind is strong enough to be able to endure this. I wonder if it's also a way for him to avoid complex emotions. I may read a bit too much on his behaviors. Sometimes I was feeling really sad for him and some other time I was really annoyed by him. I felt he was too bitter and too angry to really understand that his actions may not be right all the time. Especially when it's about Vee.

Let's admit how shocking it can be for some people to discover your love is so different. However, the way San was really trying to find fault in every actions of Vee was unkind. He never really tried to understand him for who he is. He always misunderstood him or imagined things worse than what they really are. He made this pure image of Vad / Wat in his mind colored by his love while Vee represents the complete opposite of it. Vee didn't really understand the story he painted to him about waiting for his love. That's because Vee isn't trapped in a past (he doesn't know or doesn't remember). He is living in the present! His own story can explain why he is trying to live the fullest. His grandmother is sick and being in the presence of losing someone, can push you to appreciate life even more. You must enjoy every moment because you never know when you won't have the chance to do it anymore with the person you love. San considers Vee as a thief because of his past and that's make him see him as a deceitful person. He knows some facts about Vee, but he never really tried to discover why Vee had this record. He automatically assumes it's because he needs money and that's it. It fits the image he has about Vee. It works with the narrative he wants to adopt about him because it would prove further more than he can't be the reincarnation of Vad / Wat.

He doesn't hesitate to call out Vee because he believes he is after the five shades stone. He is a thief, so of course, he would try to steal the most precious item he owns. I don't think San really took the time to think before stating this. He forgot than Vee isn't living in his past and doesn't really care about this. Vee is just interested in San and finds him interesting, maybe attractive. He may have been a thief in the past, but he is not a creature of the past. Vee is rooted in the present. There is also the fact that Vee has no idea about what is the five shades stone or its power. He just wanted to care for San because he saw him being hurt before while trying to escape attacks from unknown people. Vee isn't a bad person. He may have a “dark” past, but he is trying to live rightfully. San is so caught up in what he imagines is right and it prevents him from looking at the bigger picture. Even if Vee ends up not being the reincarnation of Vad / Wat, I don't think San would be able to find her. He isn't really thinking rationally and he is mostly living in the rosy-colored vision of his past induces by the nostalgia. Of course, the present is not nice to San: he is lonely (even if surrounded by the family) and he is suffering each day. Why would he choose the present when the past seems so much better?

I believe Vee could be the answer if he can help San to see that the present can offer so much more. It won't be an easy task especially now that we know the mysterious attacks are ordered by an old and sick Third who never forgot about San (Is it Trai's descendant and how Trai knew about the stone? So much questions that need answers).

[wooahaeruby]

Chapter 38: Misery Business

Chapter Word Count: 5,538

TW

Talk of gambling, car crash, and stealing (brief) KIDNAPPING & Drugging Language Start of torture and suffering LISTEN TO ME, I'M SORRY.

Author's note:

:D Poor Mouse…That is all I can really say to that. I'm sorry. So sorry

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“I hate all this mistletoe!” Minghao yelled out after his fourth discovery of the day, annoyed that he kept finding the dreaded plant.

“Looks like you’re gonna win.” You laughed, nestled between your lovers on the loveseat, “Wonder what Cheol has in mind.”

“No one will know until midnight.” Seungcheol lounged on a pile of pillows on the floor, arms up and hands clasped behind his head. Comfortable and unbothered. “But everyone will be disappointed they didn’t win.”

“Don’t egg then on.” Mingyu huffed at Minghao’s side as they made another bowl of popcorn (and kissed his friend’s cheek). “Let it happen naturally.”

“Yeah yeah.” Cheol waved him off.

“There is only a few minutes to midnight so we could start counting up.” Seungkwan started, “But you, it looked like Hao is going to win either way.”

“I’m too lazy to even get up and try and beat his score.” Chan snickered, laying at the leader’s side, yawning as he tugged his blanket up around himself tighter, hugging the stuff otter you got him. “Congrats, Hao.”

A quiet murmur of laughter fluttered through the group. Everyone had been close to dozing off for the better part of two hours, another Christmas movie playing in the background. Jihoon was curled up in a ball dead to the world, asleep. Soonyoung was just as knocked out on the floor, hugging his pillow like his light depended on it. You couldn’t lie that you didn’t feel tired since you fell asleep for maybe a good hour there, but it had been a long day overall.

“Alright, let's see…” Mingyu sat down on the couch with Minghao, phone in hand. “In the end, since everyone is done…Hao got seven points, Mouse got four, Vernon got two, and Seungkwan, Seungcheol, and Joshua got one each. So…Minghao wins!”

Minghao huffed, shaking his head with a pout on his lips. “Got slobbered on by fucking animals.”

“Cheol, what was your prize for this year's winner?” You asked, resting your head on Joshua’s shoulder, feeling your boyfriend’s arm tighten around your waist.

Seungcheol sat up, stretching his arms out and popped his neck. “So…Minghao gets to go on a two-week, all expenses paid vacation wherever he’d like to go.”

There was a groan coming from those who were awake, grumbles of how it wasn’t fair, but you gave a thumbs up, laughing happily.

“Good for you, Hao, get your vacation.”

“Maybe it is all worth it in the end.” The winner sighed, tucking his knees up to his chest. “I will think about my vacation spot.”

“No expiration date. It can be used now or later.” Seungcheol laid back down, getting comfortable. “Congratulations, Minghao.”

While you didn’t want to, you and Seokmin had to leave the house to be at work all week. Both of you stayed at your place, spending the evenings cooking or ordering in, watching whatever TV show or movie that piqued your interest. Work was incredibly slow and more unnecessary than anything, half the time you were going through emails or reviewing paperwork. Sometimes you even sat in Seokmin’s office, complaining together that there was nothing to do and they should just be at home. 

“Did you get something for Joshua’s birthday?” Seokmin laid on the couch, his head in your lap, dropping his phone on his chest. 

“Yeah, I was going to ask that before we head home in the morning if we could stop at that bakery he enjoys and grab his favorite dessert.” You patted his head, poking his cheek. “And some other stuff for everyone since we are having a little party.” 

Seokmin nodded, grinning up at you. “We could get a little bit of everything!” 

“Okay, maybe not everything . I don’t want anything to go to waste.” 

“Ah, nonsense, between those who like sweets, nothing would truly go to waste.”

“Highly doubtful, you’d all get stomach aches before you finish anything.” You poked his forehead now, watching his nose scrunch up. 

“Maybe so.” He hummed, curling up and yawning. “I’m so glad this week is almost over. Then we have Shua’s party, then New Years, and back to normal. I want normal back.” 

“Skewed definition of normal, but I understand. The holidays usually suck so I’m simply happy I haven’t been sitting at home alone.” 

“The holidays always suck either way, but now you’ve surrounded yourself with us.” 

“Hey, Min?” You pushed some of his hair back, seeing him raise a brow. “Can I ask about your past?” 

For a moment, he looked away, a look of being lost in thought that you’ve seen before crossing his face. 

“You don’t-” 

“I grew up in a good place for a while. Suburbia, white picket fence, food on the table, good school, smart older sister.” He stared up at the ceiling, glancing at you. “Then…everything kinda went wrong.” 

Carding your fingers through his hair, you could see some of that bright light dim behind his eyes. You regretted asking but said nothing to stop him.

“Mom lost her job first and really struggled to find a new one. Dad…he had a gambling addiction. When they both had jobs, it was easier to pay down his debts regularly, then he also lost his job. Because they weren’t paying the mortgage, the house ended up taken by the bank. My sister got to stay with some friends she went to school with but I stayed with my parents.” He had this far out look in his eyes, his gaze going from neutral to…sad. 

“They couldn’t find jobs, interview after interview they got rejected and one day it was too much for them I guess.” Seokmin swallowed thickly, sighing through his nose. “I got a call while I was in school from my sister…The police found them, their car pretty much wrapped around a tree. From the evidence, it was intentional, both died on impact.” 

“I’m sorry, Minnie.” You whispered, but he continued. 

“My sister really tried to stay on a good path but it wasn’t easy. There was food on the table, most days, but the place we lived was shitty, the area wasn’t the best. It only got worse.” he scoffed, shaking his head. “I ended up having some pretty sticky hands. I stole a lot and got really good at pickpocketing people. Anything valuable was pawned, food that I took. I kinda lied to my sister that I went to a local food bank for it. She got a good job and started to get us set up for a better life.” 

“Then my dumbass pickpocketed the wrong person.” 

That got him to laugh, even if it was weak and breathy. 

“Who?” 

“Seungcheol Choi,” he shook his head. “Landed myself in a chokehold. You should have seen how pissed he was when I got caught. Thought he was going to kill me.” 

“I could imagine.” You gave him a sympathetic pout, maybe a sad smile. 

“Him and Jeonghan were ready to beat the shit out of me. Then Joshua kinda played devil’s advocate and calmed them down. They – or well, Joshua – offered me a job and I stayed with them, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Told my sister I got a job, but I lied about what it was. She only thinks I work for the government now but I send her money every month like Vernon and Wonwoo do for their families.” 

“No regrets?” 

“Never. Like I told you all the way when you first found out. It all makes me feel powerful. I’ve never regretted it at all.” 

“As long as you are happy.” You leaned down and kissed his forehead, ruffling his hair. “But…I guess sometimes the brightest lights have the biggest shadows.” 

“It’s been a while since I talked about it. Since I told all the guys, I didn’t have anyone to tell outside of SVT until now. It feels cathartic all over again.” 

“Hey, wow. I thought I was SVT? Us mafia people if I remember?” 

Seokmin laughed, a wide, bright smile spread on his face. “Shut up, you know what I mean.” 

“I know, I wanted to make you smile.” 

It wasn’t too long before you were getting ready for bed, but just as the rest of the week, both of you were on the couch, curled up in your individual places. Conversation was quiet and Seokmin was the first to fall asleep, the soft murmurs of his sleeping talking lulling you to sleep. 

The next day…was definitely going to drag on. The moment you woke up, you felt uncomfortable. Anxiety was through the roof, every inch of your skin inches like you could have peeled it off. You tried to shake the feeling as you got ready and Seokmin stopped for breakfast. He asked if you were alright and you shrugged, explaining you felt like shit but maybe you were just having an off day. 

You sat in your office all day, getting your job done, or trying to at least. The work was slow, yet you were managing to get things finished before the weekend. You’d spend one more night at home then head up to the house the next morning since the traffic would be horrendous after work. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Joshua hummed the question. 

You had called him at the beginning of your lunch break, waiting for Seokmin. 

“Yeah… I’m okay. I really wanted to hear your voices.” 

Jeonghan had taken Joshua’s phone when he heard you called him. “Do you want us to drive down?” 

“No no, it’s fine. Minnie and I will be leaving early tomorrow to be there for Shua’s birthday.” You rubbed your temples, leaning back in your desk chair. “You both know I have my bad days so I’m chalking it up as that.” 

“Did you tell Min?” Joshua has a lilt of worry in his voice. 

“Yes,” You snorted, a quiet chuckle leaving you. “He promised me Chinese food and dessert. I’ll see you both tomorrow, I love you, both of you.” 

“Oh, that’s new~!” Jeonghan snickered, hearing Joshua sigh, muting a thanks for that . “I love you too.” 

“We’ll see you tomorrow. Love you, sweetheart.” 

Hanging up, you sighed, spinning yourself side to side in the desk chair. 

You felt a little dumb worrying them but they were a part of your comfort. The anxiety felt a slight bit alleviated after speaking with them. Somehow they always knew just how to help you. Maybe you should find a professional to talk to, it had been in the back of your mind for a while but how could you tell them the truth yet keep things a secret. That would be more of a struggle than it would be worth… 

“Alright, Honey! I got us those horribly amazing burgers delivered.” Seokmin barged in, holding up the drink holder and the take out bag. “Let’s eat and get through today. I still hold my promise of Chinese later!” 

And Chinese food you got. 

Seokmin and you vegged out on the couch, bitching that work for the week was over and you’d have a few days before you had to get back into routine. You suggested you make a list for the bakery, however Seokmin said you’d both figure it out when you got there, and you weren’t too happy with the answer but still laughed at the idea. 

“Do you have everything?” Seokmin tossed his bag over his shoulder, watching you stuff some things into your tote bag.

“Yeah, it doesn't really matter if I forget anything, I’ll just take it from Hannie or Shua anyways. Let’s get out of here.” 

Waking up with your paranoia and anxiety tenfold from the previous day wasn’t fun. Even when nothing was happening, your heart was beating out of your chest uncomfortably and you had some dizziness from the feeling. You had been awake a few hours before Seokmin, letting him sleep while you cleaned your place, making the two of you breakfast once he woke up. He did the dishes as a thank you before the hunt for his things began to head home. 

The drive over to the bakery was nice, you believed the fresh (city) air was helping how you were feeling. It was nice near the outside of the city, sadly in the opposite direction you needed to be in, but neither of you cared. The adventure itself for a mind numbing amount of sweets would be worth it. 

You and Seokmin spend way too much time deciding on what to get outside of Joshua’s favorite and his birthday cake. There ended up being multiple pastry boxes worth of stuff you’d need to carry out to the car, seeing them still being stacked on the counter. Somehow you ended up with individual treats for everyone. 

“Definitely too much.” You dropped two twenty dollar bills in the tip jar from your wallet, nudging Seokmin. “Give me the keys, I’ll start to load these in a couple at a time.” 

He beamed a smile, handing the keys over. “I’ll wait for everything and pay, then I can start helping.” 

Humming a response, you took the first two boxes and left the shop to head to the car. He had to park a few spots down on the side of the curb, making it relatively easy to pop the trunk and start placing the boxes down. You hurried back for more, seeing the stupid grin on Seokmin’s face that had you rolling your eyes. Once more, you trekked back to the car, laughing to yourself at the thought of bringing so much dessert back. They’d call you dumb, but you’ll just tell them that you could freeze some of it. 

Closing the trunk, you dusted your hands off, turning back towards the sidewalk, ready to head back. Behind you, you heard the ear piercing screech of a car coming to a stop rather quickly. Looking back, there was only a split second before you were grabbed, a damp cloth being pressed tightly over your nose and mouth, breathing in the fumes. 

You tried to scream, to thrash, anything to get away, but your body felt weak. Everything began to get hazy rapidly, whatever they had doused on the cloth was the cause – you guessed chloroform – and despite the mental battle to stay awake, your vision went black.

“Has anyone heard from Seokmin and Mouse?” Vernon asked, lifting his head from the couch pillow. “Thought they said they’d be on the road by now.” 

“They made a stop on the way at a bakery on the far side of the city.” Wonwoo clicked his tongue, pushing some hair from his face. “Probably going overboard so it’s taking a while.” 

With his feet kicked up on the coffee table, Seungcheol pouted, looking over their group chat where Seokmin informed them they were stopping. It wasn’t too long ago that he sent it out, and knowing the dynamic duo, they were most definitely going overboard like Wonwoo suggested. They were going to need to figure out what to do with everything they bring back…

“Watch them come back with a thousand boxes worth of stuff.” Jeonghan’s shoulders shook with laughter, bringing his mug of coffee to his lips. 

“Hey! Where is your birthday hat?” Soonyoung bounded in from the hallway, hollering at Joshua, hearing the other man groan. 

“I’m not going to wear it all day. You do this with everyone’s birthday.” Rolling his eyes, Joshua walked away from Soonyoung into the kitchen. “I’ll put it back on later.” 

Seungcheol scoffed, shaking his head. He scrolled on his phone boredly, thinking of what was going to happen later in the day. Joshua would be locked in his room while everyone else either decorated or cooked, having been divided earlier into who did what. Seokmin and Mouse were on cooking duty, which wasn’t surprising, and apparently both were getting dessert options on top of the cake. He was ready to celebrate today and the next day to ring in the new year.

Breaking him from his train of thought, Seokmin’s contact name popped up on his phone, the ringing catching some attention with how loud it was. 

“Hey, dude, are you guys-” 

“She’s fucking gone, Cheol!” The panicked sob that Seokmin let out had Seungcheol shooting to his feet, concern written in his expression.

“What do you mean-?” 

“She- Mouse took some pastry boxes out to the car- I thought it was fine! It wasn’t even two hundred feet from the shop-” He was hyperventilating, desperately trying to catch his breath. “She was right there, Cheol- and now she is gone- I-” 

His heart stopped, but Cheol shook off the feeling the best he could. He didn’t have the time to freeze up.

“Seokmin, breath for a second-” He rushed to grab his jacket and keys, sliding on his shoes, not caring he was still in his pajamas. “Did you see who-?” 

A panic started to radiate through the room, all eyes scanning for some sort of answer. Seungcheol looked around the room to their worried gazes. He gave a curt nod, a tight lipped gaze, and everyone started to scramble. 

“I was inside- Paying for everything. She came back the first time and I thought it was fine- Then she didn’t come back the second time, I thought she just stayed in the car since I could have gotten the rest-” Seokmin let out a yell and a loud, harsh thunk was heard on the other end of the line. “She was right here! She was right fucking here and I let whoever it was take her! It’s my fault! Her phone, my keys, everything is just on the ground! It’s my fault, Cheol!” 

“Seokmin!” There was command in his tone, enough to get the distressed man's attention. “Send Wonwoo your location, now, and I’ll have him scan the street cameras. Meet us at the warehouse and don’t do anything stupid, please.”

Pocketing his phone, Jeonghan was at his side instantly, concern and stress swirling in his gaze. Seungcheol looked over the group, sucking in a breath to settle the mix of anger and fear coursing through his veins. 

“Mouse was taken.” Those three words were enough to have an uproar of questions thrown his way. His head was spinning and he yelled out. “Hey! I don’t have any answers right now! Get to the warehouse, we’ll figure this out.” 

Almost everyone filtered out, car engines heard from the garage, leaving the three leaders standing in the living room. 

Jeonghan, one who wasn’t easily emotional, looked close to crying. He used his sleeve to wipe his eyes so no tears went down his face. He took in a shaky breath, eyes searching for something in Cheol’s eyes. Joshua placed a hand on Jeonghan’s shoulder, clearing his throat  despite the tears welling in his eyes. 

“Let’s get to the city, come on.” There was a stutter to his words. “We’ll find her.” 

“Call all of our team in, we’ll need everyone. Call Sona first.” Seungcheol let out a slow breath. “Call the other group leaders.” 

Nodding, Jeonghan took the liberty of calling Sona, following behind the two as he called her. Seungcheol drove the three of them, speeding way more than he should have to catch up behind Minghao’s SUV. He had Joshua calling Hongjoong, Chris, Soobin, and Minji, explaining to them in a brief rundown and asking them if their teams could meet at the warehouse. 

“Guys…” Jeonghan had barely said a word throughout the ride so far. Each time Cheol looked in the rearview mirror, he was staring out the window aimlessly. Lost would be a good word. “What if we don’t find her?” 

“Don’t say that, do you hear me?” Joshua warned, turning in his seat to look back at him. “Don’t.” 

“We’ll find her, I’ll make sure of it.” The grip Seungcheol had on the steering wheel was enough to turn his knuckles white. “We’ll get Mouse back. I promise.”

There were too many voices filling the space.

All of SVT, ATZ, DC, SKZ, and TXT were crammed into the second floor office. They all arrived before SVT did, dressed down much like their crew for being called in on their day off. Seungcheol did give everyone an apology but the urgency was already in the air. Woowoo, Felix, Yeosang, and Siyeon were manning their computers that littered the conference room table, scouring every camera they could to see if they could find any scrap of Mouse. 

They were able to find the van coming up quickly on the side of the road where she stood behind Seokmin’s SUV, but these people weren’t dumb. They were smart enough to have a relatively unmarked van and used something to block the license plate. Whoever grabbed her was also covered head to toe with no way of identifying them through body features, tattoos, or markings. 

“Though I doubt it, I sent out some boats to keep an eye on the waterways. Whatever coast guards we have in our pockets are boarding any ship and doing searches.” 

“My team is spread out searching with SVT’s people.” The leader of Dreamcatcher paced, pinching the bridge of her nose. “As of right now we don’t even know where to start but they all have a picture of her.” 

“Seokmin, sit down.” Minghao, along with Seungkwan and Jihoon, had been trying to calm him down since they arrived at the warehouse. He was pacing the entire bottom floor while Seonghwa was trying to reason with him earlier. “You already broke two knuckles from punching your car.” 

“I need to find her, I can’t sit around here and let you all do the work.” He glared down at his wrapped knuckles, wincing at the pain when he flexed then clenched his fist. 

“Min,” Jeonghan stood from where he sat, clearing his throat, face puffy and red from trying desperately not to cry. “You aren’t the only one worried here, sit down and listen.” 

“How could I?! I’m scared!” He shot a glare at Jeonghan, throwing his hands up. “Sit here and scratch our fucking heads while they do god knows what to her?! Are you kidding me right now?!” 

“You don’t think I know that!?” The yell Jeonghan let out was startling to everyone in the room, even Seungcheol was surprised. “I have called in almost every single favor I have for help! Everyone here is trying! I’m barely holding it together because someone took the love of my life and you think we are basically doing nothing? Do you not see the small army we have to find her? You aren’t the only one terrified!” 

“Take a walk,” Seungcheol called over the crowd, straightening up to his full height. “Both of you.”

“I’m not-” Jeonghan tried to argue but Siyeon stood and easily guided him out of the room.

“Come on.” Jihoon pulled Seokmin out of the room by his upper arm. 

Placing both hands on his desk, Cheol caught his breath, leaning over some to hopefully ease the tension in his back and shoulders. Everyone, even the other leaders, looked worried. Vaguely they knew about the weird, crazy stalker situation but no one – not even him – thought it would come to this. He was honest with them after the point of the mice box since they couldn’t find anything, hoping someone else could find it out, yet they also came up empty outside of what they had found. 

“Send out everyone you have to search the city. If they would at least find the van, it would be something to start with. I’m not asking any of you to sacrifice your sleep for this, but the guys and I won’t be resting until she is found. I’ll cover any costs-” 

“Much to your surprise, Seungcheol, Mouse has become friends with all of us one way or another,” Hongjoong looked between the leaders before his eyes set back on Cheol. “Even If I tried to stop them, I highly doubt anyone will be sleeping until she is back safe.” 

“You should talk to them.” Minji whispered, looking over her shoulder. “They need you right now, we can handle this.” 

Pushing out a shaky sighing, he brushed his hair back from his face. “SVT, med bay, now.” 

“But-”

“No buts, please. Get Han and Min, I’ll meet you down there.” 

There was hesitation in their familiar eyes, but the members filtered out of the room and down the stairs, heads hung and heavy steps.

“I don’t even know what to say to them-” His words caught in his throat, trying to keep himself together and think straight. “Nothing I say will help them. Nothing like this has happened before.” 

“Don’t try to help them,” Seonghwa stopped forward, arms crossed loosely over his chest. “Be their family right now. They need that, not a boss.” 

Stepping into the med bay, the anxiety in the room was palpable. Each of them were on edge; pacing, leg bounce, or biting at the skin around their nails. While some were attempting to hide it, tears had been shed at the current unknown. Jeonghan was leaning against Joshua, both huddled together. Mingyu was standing at Seokmin’s side, hand clamped on his shoulder as a strong comfort. The latter was slumped over, elbows on his thighs, face in hand. 

“Guys…” Catching their attention, the room fell completely silent. “I can’t…suddenly make this all better. I wish I could but I can’t. I’m not speaking to you as your leader, I’m speaking as your friend, your brother…I will make sure we do everything in our power to get Mouse back.” 

Grabbing a chair, Cheol sat down, his shoulders dropping but no tension was leaving him. 

“Seokmin,” The aforementioned man raised his head, eyes and cheeks stained with tears. “Stop blaming yourself. No one expected this, we couldn’t have predicted any of this. Blaming ourselves will get us nowhere, not when we need to stick together, do you understand?” 

“Guys,” Rushing into the room, Gahyeon composed herself enough to address the room. “The van was found but there is no sign of her. We are hoping to backtrack through cameras but they are asking for Wonwoo to go upstairs for some help.” 

Standing quickly, Wonwoo marched towards the door, stopping to rest a hand on Seungcheol’s shoulder. “We’ll bring her home.” 

Watching him leave, he sighed for the umpteenth time within the last hour. 

“I’m not going to keep you here if you want to go out and search, but no one goes alone, bring a crew. I don’t know what to expect but go in hot if you must.” Cheol stood, scanning each of his family’s gaze. “Seokmin, Jeonghan, you don’t leave here until I say.” 

“Cheol-” Both Seokmin and Jeonghan protested but he shook his head. 

“Neither of you have a clear head to go out. Both of you will help Wonwoo until I think you are cleared.” 

Joshua stood, leveling Seungcheol with a knowing gaze. “And you?” 

“I’m going out, won’t go far, but I’m going to try and find her.”

Your head was pounding, the pain radiating behind your eyes and to your temples with no lull to recover. 

There was something over your head, blocking any light and your vision overall. A twitch of your hands was enough to find them bound tightly. It smelled damp, musty even, and you could hear murmuring but the headache was making you woozy and difficult to hear from the ringing in your ears. You could tell you were sitting down in some sort of chair, metal if you had to guess, and you were trying to get a better understanding of your surroundings, taking slow, deep breaths to keep yourself calm. 

There was a…dripping sound you think, like from a leaky pipe. From the murmuring voices, you couldn’t hear much of an echo so the room probably wasn’t too large and the footsteps that followed didn’t echo as they got closer. 

“Is she awake?” The voice sounded familiar, and annoyed, but you couldn’t place where you’ve heard it before… 

“No, because someone hit her in the head when she struggled.” A deeper, rougher voice answered, scoffing. 

Another scoff followed, along with a click of a tongue. “That little bitch kicked me in the face when we were getting her into the other truck. Wouldn’t stop thrashing around when she first woke up. Luckily she didn’t break my fucking nose. Just the butt of my gun.” 

That…kinda explained the headache. As you refocused, you noticed the side of your head was wet and sticky, whatever fabric was over your head stuck to it uncomfortably, probably from blood. Whichever asshole hit you left a decent cut in its wake, you couldn’t see his face since it was covered last you remembered. You woke up a little bit when they were moving you, you knew that, and you did land a pretty hefty kick to that asshole's face, it was the least he deserved for nabbing you. 

“They are scrambling their group.” The first voice spoke, a low rumbling of a laugh reached your ears past the constant ringing. “They called in reinforcements through their allies. They are searching the whole city top to bottom.” 

“I’d love to see the look on their faces.” A new voice entered, monotone with a lilt of amusement laced in it. 

“I’d love to see the look on Jeonghan’s and Joshua’s faces knowing their little girlfriend was taken.” A laugh followed the statement and you had to bite your tongue. “Get a bucket of water, I want her awake.” 

For a few moments, there were only hurried footsteps heard and the quiet sound of your own breathing. Gently, slowly, you attempted to see if there was any way to free your hands, but it was no use, the rope they used to bind you with was tied firmly with no give. It was digging harshly into your hands. You twitched your ankles, finding them tightly bound as well. 

There was a clank and a swoosh of water heard before ice cold water hit you, tensing every muscle in your body and a shocked shout left you. The cloth over your head was ripped away, your eyes squeezing shut before opening and adjusting to the blinking intruding light from the construction lamps. A shiver wrecked down your spine as the water soaked into your clothes sticking to your skin. 

“Rise and shine~” 

Pushing out a labored, shaky breath, your eyes snapped up to meet one of your capture’s gaze and the blood in your veins froze.

Leaning down in your personal space with a wicked grin on his face was Kihyun. He eyed you deviously, a low hum leaving his throat, clearly amused at the turn of events. 

“Good! You seem to recognize me. No need for introductions then.” He reached out and harshly grabbed your chin, his nails digging into your skin making you wince. “It would break my heart if you didn’t, Mouse . We had so much fun at the gala, didn’t we?” 

“If I remember correctly,” You glared at him the best you could, jaw tight with anger. “I told you someone needed to teach you what uninterested looked like, loser.” 

“I don’t believe you are in a position to make such comments.” 

“And I think you should suck a fucking dick.” Some rage filled part of you answered and you spit in his face. You didn’t have hope you were getting out of here half alive either way… 

“Bitch!” 

Kihyun flinched back, letting go of your face to wipe his own off. He let out some sort of aggravated growl, raising his hand and slapping you across the face. You let out a cry of pain, the already excruciating headache increasing tenfold. 

“I’m gonna have fun with her.” The deep voice from earlier was closer, in your personal space like Kihyun was previously. 

“Do whatever you want with her, just don’t kill her. I’m thinking…a late Christmas present for our old friends.” 

A dark chuckle left the deep voiced man, his droopy, almost puppy dog-like eyes swirling with flames behind the iris. “I can do that…Maybe I’ll get some information out of her too.” 

“In your dreams, limp dick.” You rolled your head down, staring unfocused at your lap. 

“I’m really going to have fun.” Reaching up, he grabbed a fist full of your hair and yanked your head back, staring down his nose to you. “Where should we start?” 

Gritting your teeth at the pain, you glared up at his sinister smirk. “Maybe by shoving your balls down your throat.”

Tilting his head to the side, he gazed over his shoulder to one of his companions until he addressed one of them, Joker. You recognized him as the one that stared you down at the gala all those months ago. Somehow, his face reminded you of Soonyoung, both sharp and similar in the eyes and lips area. Just as Soonyoung, Joker had an analytical gaze that he could see into your soul with. 

“Grab my stuff for me, I don’t want to waste a single second of time.” Your torturer set his eyes back on you, his grip tightening in your hair. “Now, where shall we really start, Mouse ?” 

You huffed but gave no answer to him, watching something shift in his eyes as he thought. 

Dickhead, as you will now refer to him, used his free hand to reach into his jacket, only to pull out a pocket knife. He flipped the blade up and brought the knife close to your face, ghosting the cold metal over your cheek before he dug in some, letting the tip pierce your skin shallowly and drag it tortuously slow. You bit the inside of your cheeks, eyebrows furrowing together as you breathed through the pain. The warmth of your blood trickling out of the cut was nauseating with the metallic smell. 

Fear was present within yourself, you couldn’t deny that you were scared of whatever they would do to you. Minghao had been fearful of them for god sake and that man was a trained killer. The choked up, sick feeling was dead weight in your stomach that continued to grow and grow, but you didn’t let it consume you. No – you wouldn’t let it consume you. You were stronger than you really believed and you had to hold hope that everyone was using all their resources to find and save you. 

“Keep that hopeful look in your eyes,” He chuckled darkly, “You’ll need it.”

Tag List is Open! Comment on the BSH Master List to get added!

Tag List:

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[mads-hemmo]

Baseball Boy- College AU

Baseball Player Schlatt x Sorority Girl Reader

Part 3

Schlatt moves down south to play baseball for a Division 1 school. At a party, he meets a girl who is the exact opposite of him. She’s a sorority girl who obviously has money and a very strong southern accent. She believes there is good in everyone and Schlatt isn’t as much of an asshole as he is letting on.

Part 1

Part 2

Schlatt’s Computer Science classes are not much different than the ones he took in New York. They are filled with nerdy guys who think they are better than everyone and rich guys who pay their way to get good grades. The only difference is that the class sizes are huge. It’s nice though because he can hide in the background and not worry about being called on.

Since the classes are mainly junior level, most people know each other, so they don’t bother talking to him. Exactly how Schlatt likes it. He wants to hide in the background as much as possible. His only goal here is to play baseball and that’s what he intends to do.

As he walks out of his lecture and sees that his friend Ted is calling him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Schlatt asks, answering the call. Ted and Schlatt became friends when Ted moved to New York for college. Schlatt has been too busy with baseball and the semester starting to talk to his friends back home, so he’s glad Ted called.

“Oh good you’re alive. I thought you might have been taken by a pack of hillbillies and sold to a farm somewhere. Was about to call your local sheriff if you didn’t answer,” Ted rambles.

“I’ve just been busy with baseball you idiot. How’s New York?” Schlatt asks. He’s been missing it like crazy but he has to stick to the plan. He’s only here to play baseball.

“It’s good. Nothing much has been happening. It’s been weird without you here.”

“Shut up you softie. It almost sounds like you missed me.”

“I just said it’s strange you're not here, but I do miss you. We all do. How is it really down there?” Ted asks.

Schlatt thinks for a bit. It hasn’t been the worst thing ever. You have been sitting with him for the last few nights at dinners. He knew there was no way to get rid of you. You had taken some obvious pity on him. He hates to admit it, but it hasn’t been all that bad. He’s starting to get used to sitting by you. It’s become part of his daily routine. “It’s been okay. I’m missing New York, but I’m not absolutely suffering,” Schlatt tells him, not wanting to reveal his true feelings. That’s not the kind of guy he is.

“Any hot girls there that want to bang a nerdy baseball player?”

Schlatt rolls his eyes. Leave it to Ted to ask about girls. If Schlatt was brave, he’d mention you, the girl who sits him everyday at dinner. He has started to learn a bit about you and has learned your main goal isn’t to make fun of him. He learned you dress up everyday without fail. You smell sweet like vanilla which he only knows because you over apply your perfume. You’re an only child and your parents are a lawyer and a boutique owner.

However, Schlatt wants to keep that to himself, so he tells Ted, “No, even though this school is huge, none of these girls are my type.”

“Damn. I thought maybe you were just going to be a new guy and fuck every girl you meet to make your life there a little more exciting.” Ted has always been a lot more brash than Schlatt ever was. That’s what made them such a great pair.

“Nope. Like I said none of them are even worth my time even for a quickie.”

As Schlatt walks back to his dorm, he continues to talk to Ted about his classes, baseball, and listen to Ted blab about the people at his old school. Even if he’s not one for drama, it makes him miss his school in New York listening to Ted talk about people he barely knows.

They continue to talk for a while until Schlatt feels his stomach starting to rumble in hunger. He checks the time to see that it’s dinner time. Meaning that it’s the new favorite part of his new routine, but he would never admit that to anymore. “Alright Theodore, I’m getting hungry so I’m going to grab some dinner. I’ll talk to you later,” Schlatt tells him, walking towards the Cafe.

“Bye Schlatty. Love you lots! Don’t get into too much trouble without me,” Ted says. Schlatt rolls his eyes and hangs up his phone.

When he walks into the cafe, he sees you sitting at the small table you two have claimed the past few days. You are still dressed up like usual, but your hair is secured in a hair clip. One that he has seen his sister wear. He goes through the line, seeing they are serving fried chicken, macaroni and cheeses, and green beans. It’s finally food he has had before, so he decides to eat the “southern” food option.

Schlatt takes a seat in front of you. You flash him a smile and he hates how pretty you are to him. He’s trying to not think that way or get attached to you, but it’s proving to be difficult with each conversation. “Hi Schlatt,” you say with your southern drawl. “How were your classes today?”

“They were fine,” he answers. Though you have been very open with him, he’s still been slightly closed off. He’s starting to trust you more, but sometimes he struggles to find the words to say. He feels that if he lets you in, you may just break his heart and he can’t bear that. You have been the only friend he has made here and he doesn’t want to lose you. But on the other hand, he’s not here to make friends. He’s here to play baseball.

“That’s good. I bet it’s hard. I can do basic computer stuff, but I could never do all that coding. I’m not smart enough for that,” you tell him.

“It’s not that hard. Just a bunch of patterns and stuff. It’s not as hard as that Psychology, brain stuff you do,” Schlatt says.He knows your ultimate goal is to become a therapist and he just knows computer science is easy to compare to Psychology. Not only do you have to remember all the mental illnesses, you have to research and read about them. Then you have to apply that information to help real people.

“That’s why there’s not just one kind of intelligence. Everyone has their own specific set of skills that they succeed at.”

Schlatt always finds it endearing how you always make things positive, completely opposite to his pessimistic attitude. He also thinks it’s kind of funny to hear something so smart said by someone with such a southern accent. “I guess that’s true. How were your classes?”

You smile at him. Schlatt knows that you appreciate him opening up and talking a bit more. “They were slightly boring, mainly just lectures. How are you enjoying southern cuisine?” You ask, pointing to his plate.

Schlatt has taken a few bites through the conversation and it isn’t the worst thing ever. “It’s not bad. Better than that shitty excuse of a pizza.”

You let out a small giggle. “I told you. My freshman year when I didn’t like the food, I would make a waffle. Some days I made a waffle, just because I could. I probably should have made a salad at the salad bar, but a waffle was always better.”

“Thanks for the suggestion,” Schlatt says. He noticed your comment about the salad, but chooses to ignore it.

As the two of you are eating, Schlatt notices a random guy walk up to your table. He is the poster child of a frat guy. He is wearing a shirt with some Greek letters on the pocket with bright red shorts that are way too short. The guys turn to face you, not even looking at Schlatt. “Hey (Y/N), I haven’t seen you around much this semester.”

“Hi Fisher,” you say. Schlatt wants to laugh. What kind of southern ass name is Fisher? Also who the hell is this guy? “I’ve been busy with classes. Haven’t done much of anything else.”

“You know you’re always welcome to the house if you need to study or just want to watch a movie,” Fisher says. This guy is such a douche. Schlatt just knows it. “Well I wanted to make sure you were coming to the aliens and cowboys party this weekend.”

“I was planning to. Can I bring my friend?” You ask, motioning to Schlatt.

“Sure. He will just have to pay the $5 entry fee like every other dude. But a friend of (Y/N) is a friend of FIJIs.” He says. Schlatt has so many questions but he will wait to ask you when this dickhead leaves.

“Yep, he knows. Well thanks for the invite. It was nice seeing you,” you say. Schlatt watches as Fisher is at a loss for words.

“Look forward to seeing you there (Y/N),” Fisher says, winking at you as he walks away.

Schlatt looks over to you as you roll your eyes. “He’s such a douchebag. He’s been trying to get in my pants since freshman year. He doesn’t seem to get the hint that I’m obviously not into him,” you tell Schlatt.

“Why are you going to his party then?” Schlatt asks. He doesn’t understand why you would deal with that douche.

“His frat throws great parties and I usually get free perks since he’s so into me. Also I can pay for you to get in.”

“It’s okay. I can pay for myself.”

“So you’ll go?” You ask with that sweet smile and puppy dog eyes.

“Yeah I’ll go,” Schlatt replies. Schlatt knows you’re your own person, but something in him is saying he needs to protect you in case you get hurt. Even though he hates parties, he would go to all of them if it meant making you happy.

“Yay! You can dress like a cowboy! I have a cowboy hat if you need it.”

“I’ll go to the party, but I’m not dressing up. Especially not as a redneck.”

You give him a pout. “It’s a cowboy not a redneck. Those are two different things. I’m being an alien so we can match,” you suggest.

“I’ll think about it, but I probably won’t,” Schlatt says, as you give him a sad puppy face.

“Okay. As long as you think about it.” The two of you go back to eating your food. Schlatt knows that even though he told you no, he’s going to end up with a cowboy hat on his head Saturday night. Those damn puppy eyes are going to get him in trouble and he knows it.

A/N: sorry this took so long! I had some personal stuff going on! The next part will be at the party and actual romance stuff will happen lol!! Thank you so much for reading.

[lifblogs]

We Do This Together

Week 3

Prompt: “It’s just a scratch.”

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Word Count: 2599

Summary: Tantiss is embroiled in battle. Crosshair has been singled out by CX-2. During the fight, CX-2’s helmet comes free, and Crosshair is met with an all-too familiar face.

WARNINGS: Graphic Depictions of Violence

READ ON AO3

Crosshair’s breath caught when the operative’s helmet came off in his grip. Everything seemed to still as they froze in their stances, even the world’s very rotation at the whims of what happened on this pitted and half-destroyed platform.

No. No, no.

This was impossible. How?

Crosshair’s panting from the fight renewed, his heart pumping hard, adrenaline still shooting like cold-hot needles through his system. And his stomach clenched, feeling like it might fall right out of him. The ruined durasteel platform seemed to drop out from beneath him from where he crouched; the muggy, smoky, night air was some other man’s air; the flames and explosions nothing but a background that was fading away like a nearly-forgotten dream. Or perhaps the dream was before him.

Crosshair tried to speak.

His breath caught.

When he did speak he realized it was with a guttural sob, the name wrenched out from his twisted insides, injected with countless days and moments of grief, with head-spinning confusion, and the deepest horror born right in the bowels of this cursed mountain: “Tech.”

The operative—Tech—had had his face set in a grimace, a hatred of some sort. At this name—his name—his features softened. No longer was he looking at Crosshair like he was planning best how to defeat him. His eyes were wide, vulnerable.

Then he frowned, brows scrunching together.

“Why… Why would you say that? What does it mean?”

Shaking, wanting to look for his family amidst the screams and blood and fire coming back to him, but knowing he couldn’t take his eyes off of the man in front of him, Crosshair stayed, he held his ground. Perhaps he couldn’t even move as it was, or look elsewhere. What if he blinked and Tech was gone? His eyes burned without the safety of his helmet on.

“That’s…” He licked his dry lips, but to no avail. “That’s your name,” Crosshair got out.

Horror still clenched his gut. Horror from those months they’d thought him dead, from… from everything. They’d failed him.

They’d failed him.

Crosshair couldn’t fail him now.

Tech was missing his left eye, a cybernetic one in place of his real one, scars ripping furrows across the left side of his face.

Crosshair looked him over, knowing these were surely not the only injuries he’d sustained from his fall.

Staring across from him was suffering in its deepest form, twin to his own, perhaps.

I did this.

“I… I don’t have a name.”

Crosshair somehow managed to shuffle closer. What few pieces were left of his heart broke when Tech moved back, moved away from him. His head was down now, and he was clearly thinking hard.

“Yes, you do. You do. Your name is Tech. I’m… I’m your brother. Crosshair.”

“I—”

Crosshair was on his knees, begging, “Please. Please, just… just listen to me. You’re a clone, a defective clone, made on Kamino, part of Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch. Your number is CT-9902, and your name—your name—is Tech. You chose it because you’re smart—smarter than anyone—you’re good with technology, with everything you put your mind to.”

“No. No, no. I’m CX-2.”

“You love your datapad (we could barely get your head out of it some days), you love languages, you record everything even when it annoys the ever-living shab out of us, you love to talk about the weirdest creatures out there, your favorite color is dark blue because it makes you think of the blue in clear night skies, the blue between the stars, pistols are your favorite type of blaster, you love to pull the craziest stunts while flying, you… you have a family: me, Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, Omega. And there’s someone waiting for you. Phee? You told her all about my sparkling personality, you—you told her about me even though I was still with the Empire. Somehow I still mattered to you then. And you matter to me… to us.”

Tech was sounding out each of the names Crosshair had spoken, as if trying to see if anything felt familiar, like trying to put stars back in a sky full of holes.

“Please, you have to believe me.”

Tech stilled, and so did Crosshair.

When Tech looked up there was a grim determination, something burning in his right eye, though tears tracked down his cheeks, running in rivulets through his scars.

The hot air was like mud, leaving Crosshair barely able to move. All he could do was watch as Tech moved into the perfect stance to level his blaster at him: kneeling on one leg, torso perfectly straight, sights lined up. Crosshair had faced down the barrels of many blasters, even of tanks, but nothing frightened him more than this one.

“I have to assume this is either some tactic to stall for time, to try and control me, or… you’ve lost your mind.”

Crosshair ducked and rolled. Tech fired.

Crosshair knew he had to end this fight quickly. Tech would kill him.

With a cry he launched himself at Tech. He ended up on top of him, pushing hard against his rifle so he couldn’t use it.

“You’re my brother,” Crosshair insisted.

Tech fired, blast going sideways, and the recoil did its job, knocking Crosshair off balance.

“I am no one!” he cried, whacking Crosshair in the temple with his rifle.

Crosshair grunted. His world spun, nearly going black. Before he could gather himself, Tech was crashing into him, getting him onto his back. The butt of Tech’s rifle smashed against his chest, and he coughed, the air driven out of him.

“I have no one!” he insisted. “No family, no brothers, nothing but what Dr. Hemlock has given me.”

Every few words were punctuated with a blow.

Crosshair grabbed Tech’s arm, and he tried to get a knee under him, but Tech’s grip was too strong.

“Not… true,” Crosshair forced out.

Tech punched him.

He once again fought to stay conscious.

Then Tech grabbed his armor, lifting him up to snarl in his face, “Then what do I have?”

“You have me.”

Tech dropped him, and actually got up. Crosshair tried to lift himself up, but his head was spinning and pounding, his face throbbing and swelling from multiple blows. Blood was hot and wet on his face.

Tech stood, rifle leveled at him. Crosshair wondered if this would be the last thing he ever saw, and he hoped it wouldn’t. Not because he didn’t want to die (of course he didn’t), but because this would mean he had failed. Tech, who had apparently been a captive of the Empire this entire time, would remain so, their brother perhaps lost to them forever.

Crosshair wanted to rest his head back down in defeat, but the least he owed Tech was to stare his own death, his own failure, right in the eye.

“No, I don’t.”

A gunship laser hit a meter from Tech’s left. Maybe it was targeting Tech, maybe Crosshair, maybe it was nothing but an accident. The reason didn’t matter. It had happened.

Crosshair thought maybe he screamed as he watched Tech get thrown off his feet, tumbling through the air in a painful dance of twisted limbs. A human body was not meant to withstand that; even the force of the blast itself was surely too much to withstand. Fire erupted near him, debris rained down in squealing and crashing metal. The blast was deafening, and Crosshair shoved himself up onto his hands and knees. He’d lost sight of Tech and where he’d landed through all the fire.

Struggling to catch his breath, Crosshair tried to stand. The world dropped out beneath him.

He came to on his stomach, not sure what he was looking at, confused as to why he hurt so much. Sound was filtering back into him.

He lifted up his head, exploring his surroundings. Darkness and flames, durasteel, ruin.

Where am I?

It came back to him, and he burst into action, crawling, and scrambling across the platform.

Tech. Have to find Tech.

Crosshair saw his legs sticking out from under debris. He rushed over, and groaned as he moved the ripped up metal off of him, muscles straining.

Blood. Check for any blood, injuries.

A pipe was pinning Tech’s left leg, perhaps crushing it. Crosshair tried in vain to move it. It only budged a few centimeters, if that.

He examined Tech’s torso, his face, feeling him over.

He couldn’t find anything serious, but he knew something could be wrong internally that he couldn’t see.

Tech coughed, blinking his eyes open. Crosshair held his head in one hand, and was surprised to feel something harder than bone at the back of his head. A metal plate? Some kind of implant?

Oh, Tech.

Tech coughed, and Crosshair held him close.

Usually comforting words weren’t his style, but they spilled out of his mouth now like what he imagined a prayer might be, “You’re okay, you’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

Tech reached up with a shaking hand and touched Crosshair’s face, following the lines of his tattoo.

“Crosshair?”

Crosshair would have broken out into a grin if not for the dire situation. Had he hit his head, knocking some memory loose?

“Yes, yes, it’s me.”

Kriff, he was crying again. He sniffled, and tried to hold in a sob.

Tech laughed, maybe the first and only laugh Tantiss would ever know. Some of its darkness crept away.

“You’ve gotten so talkative,” Tech observed.

“Well, I had to fill in for you, didn’t I? Now, are you okay? What hurts? Tell me—your leg?”

Tech looked down.

“That one isn’t real anyway. Not anymore.”

“I’m… sorry” was all he could say, no words in any language across the galaxy able to encompass the devastation wrought on their family.

“For what? You… didn’t lock me in here, you didn’t make me into this.” His voice was dark with hatred and shame.

“But I heard what happened. You tried to rescue me. You fell.”

“It was… my choice. My choice.”

“I got out,” Crosshair informed him, words practically punched right out of him. “Omega—s-she got me out. She finished your mission.”

Tech had a wide grin on his face that Crosshair could half-attribute to a possible concussion (something they both currently shared), but the rest was surely at Omega’s success.

“How about I get you out this time?”

Tech’s lips pulled together, chest heaving on a sharp inhale. “Crosshair.”

Fire raged around them, Crosshair and Tech starting to cough from all the smoke.

Crosshair tried to shove the large pipe aside, but to make matters worse, the other end was angled against what remained of the wall in such a way that it was stuck.

Tech sat up, mouth going a bit green around the edges, yet he tried to help.

“It is of no use. I require a blaster,” Tech said.

Crosshair paused.

“Don’t you trust me?”

Crosshair met Tech’s eyes, and he said, “Following your previous line of thinking, I have to work under the assumption that you’re pretending to know me so I can help you survive. Without me you’d die. I’m sorry, but I have to consider every odd.”

“I understand.”

Crosshair grabbed Tech’s rifle since he had lost his own, feeling odd holding it, feeling odd that Tech could even now use a rifle with such proficiency.

He shook that from his mind.

“What do I do?” he asked.

Tech directed him where to shoot—not at the pipe, but his leg. Crosshair hesitated, part of his brain not up to speed with the fact that this was a mechno-leg he was going to be firing at, and not a flesh one.

Crosshair took aim.

His right hand trembled.

Oh, please, no.

“Crosshair? Crosshair, what’s wrong?”

“I… I can’t do it.”

“You have perfect aim. You can—”

“No, I don’t!” he cried, ducking his head to hide his face. “That’s the problem, I don’t. Not anymore.” Crosshair was crying in fitful sobs punctuated by coughs. His shoulders slumped. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.”

“Fine, I do not really care whether you possess perfect aim or not. We need to get out of here.” Tech’s voice lost its composure. “Please, I… I have to get out.”

“You’re asking the wrong soldier.”

To Crosshair’s surprise Tech let out a frustrated growl. “For once you need to not be so severe and unyielding with yourself. The calculated odds are that you will hit my leg more times than not. This is the right plan. I believe in you.”

“Since when do you have belief?” Crosshair scoffed.

“Clearly, you have not been paying attention. I… I believe in my family,” he said, the words slow like he was surprised to find them true, surprised his mind was his own. “I believe in you.”

Crosshair faced him, and the surety in Tech’s gaze gave his body strength.

He lifted the rifle.

“Don’t put it right against my leg,” Tech instructed. “The force of the blasts could injure me, and I’d rather not have part of my spine remade again.”

Crosshair’s breath caught at the admittance of the pain his brother had suffered through.

Breathe. Just breathe. That was getting more and more difficult by the moment, the roaring of hot flames loud in his ears, heat hitting him like a solid object.

“Ready?”

“Go.”

Crosshair fired. The blast barely hit Tech’s leg. A scream wanted to leave him, but he held it in, gritting his teeth, chest heaving. He was shuddering.

“Again.”

Crosshair inhaled.

Exhale.

Squeeze the trigger.

The blast hit, burning through a third of Tech’s leg, sparks firing. He groaned, but otherwise made no protest.

With three more shots, Tech’s mechno-leg was completely separated above the knee.

Crosshair let out a hurried breath of triumph, and he released the rifle, leaning forward to wrap an arm around Tech to help him up.

Debris shifted and landed where Tech had been stuck. Sparks flew up, Crosshair throwing up an arm to shield their eyes. His stung, and even with his lids closed orange flickered in his vision.

They both struggled to properly stand, and then struggled even more to remain standing once that first feat had been accomplished.

Together they hobbled out of the fires. As they half-sat half-fell to the platform, leaning against each other to stay up, Crosshair noticed the back of Tech’s head was bleeding. He put a hand to it. The blood seemed to be coming from above the plate.

Tech winced. “I’m fine.”

Then he reached for Crosshair’s bloodied face, the injuries he’d given him.

Crosshair smiled.

“It’s just a scratch.”

Crosshair and Tech laughed together, tears running down their soot-blackened faces. Their foreheads pressed together, and that’s when Crosshair knew for sure that Tech was himself again, that his brother was able to come home.

Crosshair searched around for his helmet, which he could not find, and when he explained he needed his comm, Tech started fidgeting with a band on his armor.

Through Tech’s brilliance they were soon hearing their family’s voices, and they were okay, they were alive. Omega was free. Oh, Omega. They could almost, all of them, finally go home. They could go home.

Tech handed over the band. “Here.”

Crosshair couldn’t stop grinning.

“Hunter,” he said, watching the battle die down, gunships flying through the air across a brilliant dawn Tantiss had surely never seen the likes of before, a dawn they could all see, “you’re never going to believe this.”

[huganon]

hello! im sorry I left again for like a month? I think? My motivation completely went, sorry :’)

uh… the background is heavily based on the sneak peak with the sheeps >:) also no houses cause I can’t draw that..

I’m adding a keep reading because I don’t want you to suffer reading my next possibly LONG ramblings about the newsletter + sneak peak stuff.

RIGHT.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s this!

‘1 Truth, 2 Lies

Want to know what will happen next in AVA? Well, I’ll tell you!

The only trick is that I like lying >:)

Only 1 of the following sentences is actually in the next AVA. It’s up to you guys to find out which one is the truth!

1- We learn about Purple’s origin

2- We see the Mercenaries interact for the first time

3- Victim builds a chicken coop.’

(yes I typed it out because I don’t have a screenshot :D)

Anyway, my ramblings and thoughts about this

Firstly, ‘We learn about Purple’s Origins’ is rather interesting. Because, well. Purple is from AVM not AVA. If this is the truth then:

-Well, we get to see Purple’s origins

-Purple might be in AVA

-MT might be in AVA

ALTHOUGH. We do have some sort of “evidence” that Purple might be in AVA. The short ‘Cherry Blossoms’ where there is a wanted poster of Chosen in the background while Purple is walking.

(do keep aware this could’ve just been another “hint” or something to AVA9(I think it’s AVA9? The Wanted Episode, y’know what I mean)

Secondly, ‘We see the Mercenaries interact for the first time’ This is simple. I do think that if this whole ‘1 truth, 2 lies’ thing is for real, then this would be the MOST likely one to be true. I don’t really have that much thoughts for this one, except if this episode is either entirely or partially about the backstory (either victim’s or Mercs) this would be most likely to be the truth.

(I may add to this if I get an idea,, Also please comment if you have a thought you’d like to share)

Thirdly, ‘Victim builds a chicken coop’ this personally is my favorite and it’s extremely interesting. Because well, WHY would this be an option..? Option 1 (Purp’s origin) and Option 2 (Merc’s 1st interaction) are something reasonable. But Option 3 (Vic builds a chicken coop) is really unexpected and peculiar. This option stands out.

Because I mean, we wouldn’t expect the villain(?) of AVA S3 to build a CHICKEN COOP of all things.

Personally, I would like this option to be true because.. victim building a chicken coop sounds funny and some what adorable(?) in a way. Maybe this is a backstory for Vic. I dunno.

if it’s not a backstory for Vic then I have no idea if this is even real.

The sheep in the sneak peak is telling me otherwise.. BECAUSE WHY WOULD THERE BE SHEEP IF VIC WASN’T IDK A FARMER-

(In this next part you can tell I was thinking random thoughts.. I was doing this while I was drawing so help :’) .)

Maybe this isn’t quite literally a ‘chicken coop’.

if we break these words up an search for different meanings of the words we come up with

‘Chicken’

‘A game in which the first person to lose their nerve and withdraw from a dangerous situation is the loser.’

Or

2. ‘withdraw from or fail in something through the lack of nerve.’

and

‘Coop’

‘a cage or small enclosure’

Or

2. ‘an organization, business, shop, or farm that is owned and managed by a group of people who also work in it.’

This whole ‘1 Truth, 2 Lies’ could be fake and all of it could just real.

I dunno anymore. What do you think?

Or it could quite literally be an actual chicken coop and I’m going crazy by saying it could mean something else.

Also.. next episode is in December according to the newsletter >:)

Okay bye!! Thanks for reading my probably useless ramblings and thoughts!

[barbiecrocs]

I'm home

Miguel O'hara

tags! hair pulling, praise, use of princess and my love, begging, lowkey highkey phone sex, cumming inside, reader is prolly cheating because they didn't break up, but we won't talk about it, dirty talk

WC. 1649

Barbie's note... This is prolly out of character for Miguel and I actually thought of just subbing Miguel for Gojo bc this is some Gojo ass shit, but I could already see Miguel in the story so I didn't change it lol. Anyway, enjoy!!

He told you, promised you, that he’d contact you every day. If not every day, then every week. If not every week, then every month. If not every month, then he would find a way to give you at least one call a year. 

 The entire three years, there wasn’t one letter, call, text, not even a messenger pigeon knocking at your window. 

 You sat by the phone every day, clutching your pillow, sitting crisscross applesauce, bouncing your knees up and down with joy, waiting for the phone to ring, and the second it would, you’d pick it up, and talk his head off about your day, his day, just everything. Except, the phone call never came. You even took it upon yourself to call him, but he still didn’t pick up. Was he that busy? Did he forget about you? Had he met someone else? Did he change his phone number? Terrifying thoughts circle your head, every one of them scaring you to death. A year of your life wastes away from worrying and grieving his absence until you suffer from burnout. In the third year, you ultimately decide to enter the dating world again to find your other half. Many failed attempts, and this date was one of them.

 You come home exhausted because the date that you’ve been anticipating all week turned out so poorly. He looked nothing like the pictures, he was nothing like his bio, and he was just downright rude to the waiter which was a big ick for you. Now, here he is walking you to your door, thinking that he’s doing his due diligence as a date or hoping to get something extra from you. You make sure to take the stairs up to your fourth-level apartment just to get back at him. When you finally reach your level, it’s another long walk to the end of the hall. You squint your eyes when you see a silhouette in front of your door. As you get closer, the figure looks more and more distinct. “Y/n…” Your posture becomes guarded before your body is propelling itself into the arms of a stranger. Your memory catches up with your body and all of a sudden the scent is familiar, the build is familiar, and tears are running down your cheeks. “Miguel!” You whisper over and over, your voice gradually getting louder, arms tightening around his neck, and the date you were with fading into the background. 

 Beyond your realization, Miguel gives the man a death glare. Looking him up and down, noticing all of his flaws and rough edges. His untamed hair and beard, his wrinkled clothes, and his scuffed shoes. Did you find him on the street? Then he looked down at you. Your big eyes, now closed with tears flooding them, your hair done in an updo and displaying your gorgeous neck, and your beautiful body wrapped in a silverish blue party dress. 

“My love, you look stunning.” His arms squeeze your waist possessively. His eyes darken as he has yet to break eye contact with the opposing male. Your date almost reminds you that he’s still there by clearing his throat, but Miguel grabs your attention, shuffling his hand onto the back of your head and leading you into a kiss. He groans into your mouth, practically feeling the jealousy and anger radiating off your date. Before he knows it, there’s a hand flying to your shoulder with a death grip only for him to catch it. Without any explanation he crushes the man's hand backward, “Don’t you ever lay your dirty fingers on my woman.” He drops the man's hand as he screams in agony. Fishing through your purse, he finds your keys and drags you inside before the neighbors catch wind of what happened.

 There are a ton of questions riding the tip of your tongue that all get shut down by another kiss which you ultimately push away. "Where were you?! You filed my head with hopes then burried them without even touching the shovel! You couldn't even send me one text? Not even and letter by mail? My penpal from 6th grade still writes me from time to time but you couldn't even dedicate one minute out of the day to me. I thought you died, Miguel..." He pushes your back flat against the front door, arms caging you in at your waist and head. "I know, mami... I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." He wipes the tears from your cheeks and kisses jawline, "Please let me make it up to you."

---

His kisses become quicker and rougher when they begin trailing down to your neck. Moans probing your lips. His breath is heated and his cologne melts all of your senses so much that you don't notice him hooking you by your legs and slinging you over his shoulder. He speed walks into your once-alone, now shared bedroom, tossing you on the center of the bed. Even after years, you still remember what to do and start to strip with him. Despite the burning anticipation on both sides, you both undress slowly, taking your time when scrunching your dress to your upper thighs as he takes forever just to show you a sliver of his abdomen. His shirt is finally off and tossed somewhere in the room. He joins you on the bed, immediately going for your hips and mashing your panty-clad ass onto his covered erection. You moan in unison from the friction, “Miguel, please!” He licks a stripe up from your collar to your jawbone, “Those are the exact words I wanted to hear tonight.” 

 He flips you on your stomach, “Ass up, pretty girl.” You obey his orders, trying not to get on his bad side and anxious to have him again. You begin to beg, but he pulls your panties to the side and prods your entrance with his hot tip. You moan, rolling your hips onto his and feeling him inside you for a split second before he pulls your hair. “Needy girl, aren’t cha?” He hunches over the length of your body, his mouth meeting your ear. He tries to get a teasing word out, but you continue to grind back onto him. “Fuck! Alright, I’ll give the princess what she wants.” He slides into you slowly before you slam back onto him. “Harder! Faster!” You begin to cry until he finally gives you what you need. 

Just then, your phone pings with a notification. Miguel, disapproving of the interruption, picks up your device and reads the message, “Hey, we need to talk about what happened tonight with that guy. Give me a call as soon as you can.” Miguel almost stops thrusting, but then an idea pops into his head. You were so in your own pleasure that you almost didn’t notice the dial tone on speaker in the background. “Huh, Mi-Miguel…? What’s that?” Your question is cut off by a third voice that makes your eyes go wide.

 “So, what is it that you wanted to talk about so badly?” Miguel teases, only to be met with the annoying voice of your bad date. “Huh? Who is this?” His frantic voice makes you cover your mouth in a desperate attempt to mask your moans. “If you want to know who ‘that guy’ is, you’re talking to him right now.” Miguel chuckles, looking down at you covering your mouth, and puts the phone right in front of your face. You move to press the end call button, but he quickly grabs your hands and puts them behind your back, his other hand nesting itself into your hair. “Where is Y/n?” Miguel smirks adjusting you until you’re comfortable, hands behind your back and all. “Oh, she’s right here. And I think she has something to say too.” He starts his thrusts back up, not caring to go slow or even be gentle, just pounding you into the mattress relentlessly. Pleasureful moans and cries of Miguel's name squeezing out of you. “Oh, princess. It’s been years and you still take me so well. Have you been letting other men stretch this pussy out?” His grip on your hair tightens and you can tell that he’s starting to get possessive again. “No! Never!” His eyebrow cocks up without notice, “Oh, so you’ve been using your fingers?” You nod and turn back to look at him with teary eyes that only make him pound into your G-spot harder. You both failed to realize, but your date had hung up the phone, most likely fuming while typing out the interaction on Reddit.

 Miguel’s eye line travels down to your ass then a bit lower, watching the mesmerizing sight of you swallowing him up. “If you could see what I see. You’re needy little cunt is doing such a good job of taking me. She feels so good too.” His hand unravels in your hair, gliding down to your hips only to grip them with a deadly clutch. He starts jackhammering into you, your head moving up and down the sheets like crazy and ruining your hair. “Miguel, I… I’m gonna agh!” 

“You gonna cum for me?” He whispers, leaning down to your ear. You nod, “Together. Cum with me.” You choke out your words when your orgasm hits you like a train, your eyes rolling back with your jaw slacked open. “You feel so good, princess.” He helps you ride out your orgasm before pulling out to shoot on your back. “Mhm nhm. Inside.” With the little strength you have left, you bring your hands to your backside and spread yourself open for him. Miguel looks at you with stars in your eyes from you being your normal, shameless, self. He plants a kiss on one of your cheeks before sliding himself back into your sopping hole. You moan from the sensitivity as he releases inside of you, filling you to the brim with his cum. He leans down to your ear once more, catching a glimpse of your knocked-out and satisfied face. “I’m home, my love.” 

[officeofcommanderfox]

Hello there! 🤩

I am sooo happy for this event, thank you so much for it! 😍

I would like to request something a bit whumpy/angsty with the prompts 36 and 48 🥺

Thank yoouuu 🥰🦊

Thank you so much for sending in your prompt! Here's the next chapter!!

The Commander and the Civvie, Chpt. 4

Fic Main | Previous Chapter

Pairing: Commander Fox x female reader

Rating: T (Teen)

Warnings: Mentions of violence and attempted murder, hospital situation, injuries, coma

Prompt 36. “You know you can always talk to me.”

Prompt 48. “I don’t want you to die.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

You never meant for any of this to happen. 

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Why? Why did your life have to be the one that was so messed up? Why was it you had to suffer the consequences? And now it wasn't even you, but the Commander. Maybe if you had warned him sooner. Maybe if you had opened up when he asked… 

Beep. Beep. Beep.

As though being in the ICU wasn’t bad enough, the chair provided in the GAR medical facility was not conducive for having visitors. It was probably the most uncomfortable seat you've ever sat in. However no matter what anyone said, you refused to leave the Commander's side. After all, he was there because of you, he took the shot that was meant for you.

No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t look away from his fragile state. He looked so different from the Marshall Commander you’d come to know. Seeing him lying there, was a lot to handle, your worries, your guilt, your fear he’d never wake up, it all kept piling on top of you.

“It's not your fault.” Thorn offered, doing his best to console you, even if it didn't do much.

“How can you say that? He's in a coma because of me.” 

Thorn shifted in front of you keeping his eyes locked with yours as he kneeled, his hands engulfing yours while they rested on your lap, “Mesh'la, how is Fox defending you from some psycho with a blaster your fault?” 

“He wouldn't have gotten injured, much less been there if he just let me grab a cab by myself. If he just left like he usually did instead of trying to be chivalrous…” 

“Then you'd be lying there instead of Fox, or worse, and you know if you ended up here, Fox would’ve been very upset. Not only would we have lost the most attractive girl in his office, but he would have to do all the paperwork himself.” He smirked, hoping to get you to crack even the tiniest smile, but instead there was a single tear that welled up. He gently cupped your cheek wiping away the drop, 

“Mesh’la, listen this is what we were made for, to defend and protect the citizens of the Republic. That includes you.”

“Doesn't make it any easier.” 

Thorn nodded he knew things weren't as simple as he wished it to be. Maker, he'd love it if it was a simple mugging, and maybe they should've told you more about what was really going on, yet somehow neither Fox nor he were ready or able to tell you. 

“Fox, I don't get it. What could she have done to make herself a target?” 

“That's the question, isn't it? Are you sure the target is Starlight?” 

“Without a doubt, I double checked. One of the CUP officers was even able to get a puck recruiting mercenaries for the hit. Here.” Thorn pulled out the puck from his utility belt and pressed the button. There was no mistake, it was your face floating in the holo display. 

Fox rubbed his forehead, “Alright. Let me talk with her first. Let me see if she has an idea as to why the Black Sun would want her dead.” 

“They said dead or alive.” 

“Is that really important, Thorn?” 

“Sorry.” 

Fox shook his head, “No. It's mine. I… I just can't imagine what she did or who she pissed off. I mean she certainly has a mouth on her, so it's possible she talked back to someone she shouldn't have. Ugh.” Fox rubbed his face. He took one of the new cookies you had brought in and thoughtfully chewed on it. “Okay, leave the puck with me. I'll talk to her. She's my secretary, so I’ll handle it. And in the meantime, do a background check on her. I want a thorough check, leave no stone unturned.” 

Thorn nodded leaving Fox's office. It was still an hour before you were supposed to come in. This is not what he needed to deal with especially after the attempted kidnapping of the Chancellor. 

“Step back!” 

You jerked back to the present and watched in shock as the medics pushed you aside, reacting to Fox's heart which had started to beat erratically. Thorn held you back, his hands holding your arms, as you watched in horror while they shocked him back to a normal sinus rhythm. 

Once Fox was stable and your own heart felt like it started up again, you finally found your voice, “What's happening, Patch?” You asked the Coruscant Guard medic. 

“When the Commander jumped in front of you to protect you, taking the shot, the bolt

missed his heart by a millimetre. Which is about this much." He held up his thumb and forefinger showing a minimal space in between. “Because of how close the shot was, the electrical current jarred his heart out of rhythm. His body is doing its best to reset itself. I know it looks scary but he’ll be okay, that’s why we're here. Ready to jump in and reset his heart. Alright, love? I promise everything will be fine.” 

Thorn gently rubbed your arms, as you nodded. “See, he'll be fine, mesh'la. He'll be fine.”

You turned in Thorn's arms hugging him, needing warmth and comfort.

“Hey, Starlight, can we talk for a second.” 

Even though your working relationship had gotten better over the past month, you weren’t exactly buddy-buddy with the Commander, at least not yet.

“Commander?” You stood at the entrance of his office, watching as he motioned for you to take a seat. “Am I getting fired?” You smirked. 

Fox shook his head, a slight chuckle escaping from his helmet. “No, Starlight. You're not getting fired. I just wanted to check in to see how you're doing and how you're finding the job. See if there's anything you want to discuss?” 

“Oh. Oh well let's see. Everything is going well. My main concern is still the filing system. It's getting better but if I could stay late or even come in on a weekend to organize and arrange it chronologically and order of severity that would help.”

He cleared his throat, “I'm sure we can arrange something. Um… and aside from work, your personal life… is good?” 

That question shocked you, “Since when do you ask about my personal life?” 

“Well, you've been here a few weeks, I think it's about time I learned a little more about you. Anything I should know?” 

Your brows furrowed, “I feel like you're trying to ask me something specific.” 

He let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, he lifted his helmet and set it aside looking into your eyes. 

You felt your breath catch in your chest, you knew Fox would be good looking, after all you've seen other Clone troopers but… there was something so much more attractive about Fox. Maybe it was the gray streak in his hair, or maybe it was the way his eyes bore into yours with wisdom and determination. The sharp chiselled jawline that could cut glass didn't pass your notice either. You swallowed as you looked at each other. 

“Starlight, you know you can always talk to me.” 

“I'm sorry Commander, I’m not sure what you want me to say..” 

Fox paused, breaking eye contact and blinking a few times. How was he going to tell her, a civilian who clearly had no idea the danger she was in, that a hit had been taken out on her. “No. Um … you know what, let's talk more later.” 

You tilted your head as you looked at him, you wanted to drag out this conversation longer, just so you could keep looking at his handsome face, “You sure?” 

“Yeah. Let's just get going with the day and catch up at the end.” 

Your hand rested on the armchair, as you simply nodded.

“I should've told you the truth.” You whispered, now that Thorn had left your side to handle things at the office, “I should've told you my life was a mess.” 

You held his hand, the guilt from not opening up to Fox when you had the chance weighed heavily on your heart and mind. And now you wondered if you'd ever get the chance. 

“Please. Please don't die” you whispered, “I don't want you to die.” You wiped a tear, wondering if what you felt for him right now was pure guilt or was it something more. “I'll explain everything if you wake up. So please. Wake up.” 

You stood, removing your hand from his, but instantly missed his warmth. You gently ran your hands over your arms, comforting yourself a little, as you headed towards the window by his bed looking out over Coruscant. Taking in a deep breath, wondering when this weight of guilt would leave you. 

“Starlight…” 

Your breath caught in your throat as you slowly turned to see Fox awake and smirking.

Send Commander Fox a prompt to continue the story!

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[ninapi]

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┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺╚══ Roommates…? ╝

Premise: Living together as friends was easier than expected, but being a couple, things change. Will it be for the best or for the worst? Experiencing all sorts of first times with your now boyfriend while sharing the same room can get a bit chaotic.

Word count: 3184

Note: This is a continuation from my previous work, you can read the first part here.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Tanjiro called you and Genya into the living room after Inosuke came downstairs, seemingly traumatized. He made you sit together on your knees while the rest shared the couch, a very distressed looking Inosuke sitting on a chair to the side, still holding the basket full of cookies.

“I called you all today to take part of the first shared house trial. Seems to me like something has been going on behind our backs and need clarification. As you can see, our witness here,” he motioned towards Inosuke, “suffered some severe trauma this evening. Care to share your experience with us?”

Inosuke cleared his throat, both of his hands laying on his knees trying to recount what happened, “Here I was, taking the cookies Kanao baked over to everyone around the house. I started from the third floor just because it was easier that way, my room is on the first floor as you may know. When I went in their room…I…I saw….they…were pink…with a little white polka dotted bow…and…and…please tell me I have more back muscles than he does, Tanjiro. Do I need to work it more? It didn’t seem fair to me in that angle…”

The look of confusion in everyone’s face was priceless, though, you both knew what he meant by all that.

“Hashibira Inosuke, did you deliberately stare at my panties??? How can you remember so many details? You were in the room for less than a second!” Aoi’s gasp could be heard on the background, making Inosuke grow nervous.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, ok? He had your skirt all the way up! When I got in is all I could see! I told you to lock your door, didn’t I?”

“And did I not tell you to knock? Seriously, Inosuke, you gotta stop barging into rooms like that!” Genya’s fist was trembling with rage, he didn’t even get to see them, he felt them, yes, but he didn’t know they were pink or had a bow even, how was it possible that the damn pig had seen them first, outrageous.

“Wait, wait. I’m not getting what’s going on. What do back muscles have to do with (Y/N)’s panties?” Zenitsu was munching on a sandwich, seemingly confused with the random assortment of details.

“Oh god. Is this what I think it is? Did you go into their room again without knocking and…”

“YES” you and Genya shouted in unison, glaring towards Inosuke.

“I TOLD YOU TO FUCKING LOCK THE DOOR (Y/N)!”

“YELL AT HER AGAIN AND I WILL FUCKING DESTROY YOU, YOU HEAR ME PIG?”

Tanjiro got up from his seat, getting in between both of them and motioning for both to go back to their place, your hand gently tugging on Genya’s for him to sit down.

“Ok so, is this a thing now? Are you like together?”

You were mumbling quietly, hiding your face on Genya’s shoulder, you really didn’t want to talk about this in front of the entire crew, you hadn’t even talked about it with Genya yet...“Why does it matter to all of you? Isn’t it common decency to knock before barging into someone’s room? What we do or don’t inside our room is our damn business.” his hand came over to yours, rubbing soothing circles on the back of it. You were more than embarrassed, not only have you not told them anything of what’s been going on but one of your oldest friends saw your panties, among other things…

Tanjiro’s eyes were on your joint hands, a little smile making its way over to his face. He’s always known of Genya’s crush on you. He saw the entire scene unfold when you shared your book with him all those years back, he saw his friend’s ears turn pink, his expression turn soft every time you addressed him or said something funny. He was happy for him, for the both of you really.

“So Genya and (Y/N) are fucking or something? Sorry I don’t get all this, Nezuko-chan sent me a selfie with the cutest cat ever, I lost track of the conversation.”

“I will fucking crush your skull…” Genya was gathering you in his arms as you buried your face on his chest in shame. His protective self shielding you from the prying eyes, his own burning holes into Zenitsu with passion.

“Now, now. Let’s not get ahead of our ourselves. (Y/N), are you two together now? Is that it? C’mon let me see your pretty face.” Tanjiro was now crouching in front of you, giving Genya a soft adoring smile as he waited patiently for your reply.

Going out of your safe space, you looked at him with one eye, the rest of your face still hidden away. “Yeah…I think so…”

“Thank you, that’s all we needed to know. Now, let’s get into an agreement. Inosuke, you won’t go into ANY of the rooms without knocking. They aren’t the only couple around, if you don’t want to get even more traumatized, I advise you start listening to others. As for you two, please lock your door from now on, that’s what we all do when, well you know…” Genya’s face was bright red, giving Tanjiro a little nod.

“Wow, so am I the only one single now? This sucks…Tanjiro let me date Nezuko-chan already, she’s not a child anymore!” the glare he received left you all speechless, everyone made their way over to their respective rooms quietly, loud cries of intense pain could be heard for the rest of the evening.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Now that all your friends knew you were together, things quieted down.

Everything went back to normal, except for maybe the fact that Genya placed three additional locks on your door and now you have to carry a bunch of keys in your bag. He still can’t get over the fact that Inosuke saw your panties before he did, he has to keep the menace away before something worse happened.

Though, with back to normal I mean Inosuke barging into your make out sessions constantly, a normal thing this days, it did happen often after all.

First he found you making out in the game room; everyone had fallen asleep while playing or were knocked out drunk on the floor after a fierce Friday night of friendly bonding, or so you thought, but Inosuke was still very much awake and saw you perched on your boyfriend’s lap, enjoying everything but the games on the screen. His loud obnoxious complaints woke everybody up.

A similar thing happened a few days later, but in the laundry room, you were sitting on the folding table, your limbs clinging onto Genya almost desperately while you both waited for your garments to be ready. Inosuke heard your quiet whimpers and blew the door open just to have one of his arms almost ripped to pieces by your very much annoyed boyfriend as he barged in once more to kill the mood on purpose.

But it all ended after you caught him and Aoi, half undressed in the living room past 3AM when the munchies hit you both after a movie marathon. The gasp of horror that left Aoi’s lips and Inosuke’s histerical outburst trying to cover his girl were engraved in your mind forever.

You got to experience the awkwardness of it all and kept your hands to yourselves in public places from then on, also Inosuke started being more considerate after seeing his girlfriend crying in shame, he felt bad for exposing you the way he did, so he bought a tiny bore plushie and left it on your pillow as a sign of peace and as a long overdue apology.

Things went back to how they used to be before you were together after that encounter, or so you like to think but sharing your bed with Genya was definitely not something you used to do, now though, that became the new normal for both of you.

“Do you wanna go somewhere together over the weekend?” you’ve been together for a few weeks now, yet you haven’t had your first official date, you were looking forward to it even if it didn’t matter much in your unusual circumstances.

“Sure, where do you wanna go?” he was comfily pressed to your side, half asleep while you browsed on your phone, his hand aimlessly rubbing circles on one of your thighs.

“Hmmm…I always wanted to go on one of those cheesy dates, you know what I mean? Like going to an aquarium and buy matching phone straps, then maybe go eat some crepes and hold hands while we walk in a park. Is that too much for you?” you giggled, kissing his shoulder gently in a playful manner trying to sway his decision.

Groaning, he buried his face on your chest nuzzling your softness, “I hate you…”

“Is that a yes~?”

“Whatever… you owe me at least ten thousand kisses, and I want them by tomorrow if you want me to do all that girly crap…” chuckling in excitement you rolled around in your bed, getting on top of him and showered his face with soft kisses, “Gotta start now then~”

This would be fun.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Your typical cheesy over the top date was fantastic.

You walked around the exhibits in the aquarium hand in hand, making comments on the pretty fish and forcing your boyfriend to make silly faces for your selfies. Both wore matching head wear obtained at the gift shop at the front to make it all even worse for poor Genya.

You wanted something cute like a dolphin or jellyfish headband, but he refused to wear anything that wasn’t the cool white shark hat that the mannequin had in display. Not like you cared really, you were just happy to wear matching items with someone like him, it felt like an accomplishment, like if you were in some sort of sweet dream you didn’t want to wake up from.

Genya enjoyed it more than he thought he would, aquariums are unexpectedly quiet and fun to be in. He made you touch a sea cucumber and laughed at your disgusted face for about twenty minutes, he just couldn’t stop. So you grabbed his hand and pressed it gently to a starfish, making sure to capture his mortified expression in video. He realized he’d be fine wherever you’d want to take him, being with you was fun, even if he had to wear crazy hats, he really likes to see you smiling.

You got to buy the matching phone straps you wanted, they had a tiny dangly shark hanging from them of course, and he ended up getting a dolphin plush for you out of a claw machine.

This was the first time Genya had been to an aquarium, to a date in general, but he hoped it wasn’t the last.

After your under the sea adventure, you stopped by the crepe stand in the big park outside of the building, it had a long line but he knew you really wanted some for your utopian date plan, so he queued next to you for an hour even if he grumbled the entire time, nothing a couple of sneaky kisses couldn’t fix.

You got back to your room by sunset, exhausted but happy. Having a boyfriend that is willing to indulge you even when he wasn’t one to do such things made you feel loved, and that was new.

“Wasn’t so bad, was it?” you were poking his side while he took off his socks, too lazy to take a bath, you ended up walking a lot, who would have thought dates were this tiring.

“That shark was freaking cool. Do you think they’d let us buy one as pet?” you chuckled, laying flat on your bed, the wild image of your boyfriend feeding Zenitsu to the shark crossed your mind.

“I doubt it, baby.” he nodded slightly disappointed, reaching over to nestle himself on your side. “Too bad. Maybe one day we could get one, those tiny ones might fit in a house tank.” he was dozing off quickly as you threaded your fingers through his hair, dreaming of a future were you two would still be together.

“That would be nice.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Dating your roommate had more perks than anything.

You both always knew what the other forgot before it was too late, always supported the other in bad days. Always ready for cuddles and kisses or a very deep conversation and pep talks.

But it also came with a bad side.

Being comfortable is a good thing, but some times being too comfortable can be a double edged sword.

You were currently in the shower, getting ready for school. Your phone kept ringing and it was driving Genya crazy.

He went over to your desk to make it stop when he saw the caller on the screen, making his stomach turn.

‘Sensei~ ♡’

Why was he calling you, why was his name saved like that in your phone? It made him want to throw your phone off the window and get you a new one so he wouldn’t have your number…

He was about to walk away when a text message arrived, a notification displaying on the screen, ‘I miss you…can we meet today after class?’

“He what??? This bastard…” he was fuming at this point, his imagination running wild. Why would he miss you? Is not like you two had a thing. Did you…? No, no, he trusts you, you are his girlfriend, you even live together, not like you could cheat on him without him noticing.

You went out of the bathroom, Genya reached over for one of the books on his own desk, trying to fake ignorance. His heart was racing, doubt was filling his insides and he didn’t like the way that felt.

You checked your phone but didn’t reply, just continued getting ready.

“S-shall we go for some burgers tonight, babe? Inosuke said they were super good in that new place downtown.” He sounded a little insecure, something he hasn’t been for a while, at least not around you.

“Can’t, not tonight at least, have something to do.” you were rushing out of the door, grabbing your backpack on the way, “See you later, baby!” you blew him a kiss and ran downstairs trying not to be late for your first class of the day.

“Something to do? Since when she doesn’t tell me what that ‘something’ is? She always tells me what she’s doing, why not today? Fuck…” he didn’t want to believe you would cheat on him, but things were just not adding up, his brother was also your first love, and a very dangerous competition to have, didn’t want to but he had to admit he had doubts, he was jealous, hurt even, but he would give you a chance.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Genya was waiting for you sitting on his bed with his arms crossed, it was almost midnight, and you hadn’t even texted him since lunch.

When he saw the door being unlocked, he tried to look calm, reaching for a discarded notebook on his bed to look like he was studying and definitely not waiting for you.

“You still awake, babe? Isn’t it too late? Or were you waiting for me~?” you gave him a loving smile, making your way over to his bed, craving the warmth of your boyfriend after a long day. But he wasn’t having it, even if he didn’t want to be, he was still annoyed by the situation.

Pushing you over to the side, he rolled over, making you face his back.

“Babe? What’s up? Are you mad?” snaking your arms around his waist, you placed a kiss between his shoulder blades.

“Why would I be mad? Did you do something that would make me mad?” his voice was gruff; you could hear the annoyance lacing his every word.

“Not that I know of…” to this he scoffed, throwing the notebook to the ground and turning back to face you, an angry scowl adorning his rather handsome face.

“Yeah right…I fucking saw my brother’s message! Are you toying with me (Y/N)? Am I not enough? Do you really need to go pleading for his stupid attention? Is he that great???” you were speechless, trying to grasp the situation.

“You think I went on a date with Sensei and that’s why I came home late? Is that why you’re mad?” now you were the one scowling. You didn’t mind him seeing your notifications, what made you upset was his lack of trust.

“Why else would you be so fucking late? You didn’t even want to tell me what you were doing after class today…and…and you’ve never rejected a date with me before!”

“It was LATE! I had to run to class! We fell asleep this morning after snoozing the alarm, remember??” you got your phone out, unlocking it and throwing it his way, showing the conversation with his brother.

Genya’s eyes were glued to your screen, re-reading the very short conversation you had with Sanemi in disbelief.

Not only did you declined his offer, but you plainly rejected him.

He grabbed your phone and went into your contacts, an overwhelming need to delete his phone number overtook him but he was able to control himself. Instead, he changed his contact name from 'Sensei~ ♡' to 'Brother in-law', making you giggle. That's what he was now, not your sensei, not your crush, your boyfriend's brother.

He was feeling many things at that moment, he felt proud, of your relationship, of how you didn’t need him to intervene, how you stopped him from the start and didn’t fall for his antics. He felt shame, of his attitude, of the way he shouted at you just now, of how he couldn’t trust you enough. But overall, he felt happy, loved, and oddly, somewhat horny. You’re so hot when you get all bossy like that, shutting him off completely, drives him nuts.

And that was the feeling that won him over.

He threw your phone to the side, climbing on top of you as he smashed his lips against yours. “I was so angry...so jealous...He keeps on lusting over you… over MY baby. You’re mine…Just mine.” he kept grumbling, kissing every available patch of skin he could find like a starved man, his hands roaming over your body with an overwhelming need.

“All yours, my love.” he stopped his ministrations, looking down at you with a mix of confusion and awe. You hadn’t crossed that line just yet.

“What?” you laughed, wrapping your arms around his neck, gazing lovingly into his widened orbs.

“Your l-love…?”

“Yup that’s you. My boyfriend, the man I love. So, my love. Right?” you tilted your head to the side, a bit saddened by his confusion, was it one sided-

“I-I guess so, yes. You are my love too then, my girlfriend, the woman I love.” he nodded with resolution, making your smile grow once more, the urgency getting even more unbearable as time went on, his skin was on fire, same as his heart.

“Genya…?” your eyes were shut in bliss, all you could think about all day was on coming home, to be in his arms…

“Hmmm?” he couldn’t stop kissing you, he just needed more and more of you.

“I love you.” that though, made him stop, looking at you while panting heavily. You felt the need to make things clear, wanted him to hear it properly coming from your mouth, to clear any doubt he might have about your relationship.

“I love you too, babe.” this time you were the one to pull him over to you, not before pulling his shirt over his head in as swift movement, getting rid of the very much unnecessary piece of clothing, needing to feel every inch of him.

“Can I…?” his hand stopped right at the hem of your dress, waiting for your permission to proceed. To this you just nodded, bringing him down once more for another deep kiss as clothing went flying on its own.

Another line was crossed that night, one you both eagerly waited for the right moment to cross fully.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Next morning, Inosuke had gone to pick up the groceries, you had added to the list some of your girly essentials and he went over to your room to leave them there.

He saw the door wasn’t locked, which made him go in after he knocked and there was no reply from any of you.

The room was in fact empty.

He walked over to your bed, dropping the supermarket bag on it and was about to leave when he felt something fall on his head.

Terrified and ready to fight whatever it was attacking him, he saw something pink fall to the ground.

The item that followed him to his nightmares fell from the lamp above the beds, your pair of pink lacy panties with the polka dotted bow he still remembers to this day to perfection.

“FOR FUCK SAKES (Y/N), WHY??? JUST WHY????”

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

Note: Just a little extra something for those who asked for more, hehe~ 🙊✨

Masterlist

[layer-10-love]

Lady Moon.

2012 leo x reader-

As the leader or the team, Leo tended to be more focused in leading and less interested in other ‘lesser’ hobbies. So it’s a bit of a surprise when you find a romance novel underneath his pillow.

aka, boy fail cringe leo (affectionate) also i wrote this like in 40 minutes so apologies for bad writing

As the appointed leader, Leo tried to be serious and mature about his role;with no help from his brothers. Strong, calm, confident, stoic and mature was what he was supposedly was. Unfortunately, anyone that knew him for more than a few minutes would know that he is none of these things. At least to a certain extent.

Truth is, Leo…was a big fat nerd. No surprise there. He liked watching space heroes and often gushed about it to the nearest living creature, giving them new meaningless memories and a massive headache. He liked making stupid jokes and god awful puns. It was honestly sorta cute to you.

What was a surprise was the book that was underneath his pillow. You technically weren’t supposed to be going through his things, but he technically should’ve given back that black cat plushie you let him borrow for Halloween. Picking up the book, you glance over the title.

‘The Man and the Moon.’

From the looks of it, it was a romance novel.

…Leo? Leon? Leonardo? Fearless?

You never pegged him for the type to read romance books, hell, you never pegged him for the type to read things other than Japanese literature or comic books.

‘A classic romance novel tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, Max and Luna - both literally and figuratively. Max is a successful businessman who has dedicated his entire life to making his dreams come true, and Luna is a quiet and mysterious woman who seems to have a special connection with the moon. Despite coming from different backgrounds, Max and Luna quickly find themselves drawn to each other, and they must navigate the rocky terrain of love and discover the true meaning of happiness.’

You read as you skimmed over the summarization of the novel. It seemed like a good read! But, if you talked to Leo about your little discovery, you’d probably be in for another classic Leo Lecture about not snooping. Again, it was fair in your humble opinion.

And if you shared this information with his brothers, he would be ridiculed and mocked by his brothers, despite them having weirder hobbies. Aka, Mikey and his weird obsession with boiling pizza. Ah, brotherly love.

You made a mental note on the book and carefully stored it away underneath Leo’s soft pillow.

He doesn’t need to know.

——-

Leo seemed to be busy more often than usual, with the lame excuse of being occupied with meditation and training in his room.

Which was a bummer since tonight was a movie night with everyone. Raph, Mikey, Donnie, April and even Casey were here!

You huffed and sat on the floor in front of Mikey who was sitting on the couch.

“So, what shitty slasher flick are we watching tonight?”

Raph grinned menacingly while holding a dvd and standing in front of the television.

“It’s not a slasher film, god knows Mikey would have nightmares again. Not that I’m against the idea of Mikey suffering, but I don’t want to have to let him sleep in my bed again.”

Mikey cheered from the back,

“I knew you cared about me! See, Casey? Raph likes me more than you.”

Casey frowned and groaned.

“C'mon! Do we really have to watch a baby version of scary movies?! What happened to entertainment and morality?”

“I’m surprised you know the word, ‘morality’”, teased April.

“Nah, I think he’s just throwing out random words and hoping that one of them will make sense. Remember when he said that we should ‘photosynthesis’ and ‘equilibrium’ with the enemy?”, you add mockingly, “You almost made Donnie pop a blood vessel.”

Speaking of Donnie, he rushed right through his lab door carrying multiple blueprints and plans for whatever new project he was working on.

“Hey four eyes! Gonna join us for crappy baby's first horror flick?”

“Why do you call me four eyes, Casey? I’ve never even worn glasses before, so why would you nickname me something that doesn't make any sense?”

“Easy.”, started Casey, “Glasses make you a nerd. YOU are a nerd without glasses, therefore you need glasses since you’re a nerd.”

“Casey connecting the dots? Hell must’ve flown over and pigs must’ve learnt to fly.”, you snickered.

After a whole debate between Donnie and Casey, the pizza was brought by Mikey and the rest of the snacks were laid on the floor by April and Raph. Monthly movie nights were truly a miracle.

But, there’s something missing.

“Where’s Leo?”, Mikey questioned while taking a disgustingly large bite of his pizza.

“Fearless? Eh, he’s probably in the dojo training like always.”

“Probably, but usually everyone joins for these types of things! Do you think he’s training or doing something else?”

“If you care so much why don’t you ask him for yourself, [Name]?”, Raph says, really not caring about anything else other than the movie that he picked.

You grumble and reluctantly head over to Leo’s room, hoping that he wasn’t doing teenage boy activities. Ugh.

You considered knocking on his door, but then you remembered the plushie he never returned and slammed the door open.

Leo scrambled off the bed and onto the ground, holding a familiar book before throwing it off into the distance, praying you didn’t see. He chuckled nervously while leaning suspiciously on his bed.

“Oh! Hey, [Name]…! Uh…do you need something?”

He seemed so anxious and nervous…it was actually kinda cute! It’s like you have two little creatures on your shoulder, each one trying to give you a way to navigate this whole situation.

‘Leave him alone and give him space! That’s the nice thing to do.’, says the one on your right shoulder.

‘Get the book and make fun of him!!!’, giggles the one on your left shoulder.

…it’s obvious who won.

“What were you reading, Leo?” You ask with a teasing grin, watching him squirm under your gaze.

“Oh…uh me? Uhm…comic books! Yeah comic books! I was reading a really weird part so that’s why I was surprised when you came in and…”

Whatever other words that were being soren from him was ignored, you only think about how oddly adorable it was.

You glance at where the book was hastily hidden and chuckled.

“What comic was it?”

Before Leo could make another desperate and obvious lie, you quickly snatched up the book from where he tossed it and read the title. It was the same one as before.

“The Man and the Moon?”, you teased.

“That isn’t mine! April just asked me to hold on to it for her!”, he blushed as he tried to regain his confidence and composure.

“Cmon, Leo, we both know you can’t lie to save your shell.”

He paused and looked away, blushing furiously and fidgeting with his fingers. You sighed and took his hand.

“Hey.”, you look into his eyes. “I pinky swear that I won’t tell your brothers. You know how they are.”, you think back to the time Raph was found playing a dating simulator, and how the bickering lasted for weeks.

“Plus,”, you continued, “it’s not the worst thing you've ever done.”

“…You don’t think it’s weird?”, he asked cautiously.

“Why would it be weird? Like, people read romance all the time.”

“But, y’know…I’m a guy…and a mutant turtle…and well…”

You shrugged and climbed onto his bed, leaning against his plastron once you had sat down next to him.

“Romance is nice, I guess. It’s just another genre in a variety of genres.”, you felt and heard his heart thump faster as he gulped nervously.

“So…”, You started, “Are you gonna go to movie night or what?”

Leo’s eyes widened as he seemed to have a revelation.

“The movie! Crap, I forgot about that!”

[kryptznnn]

♡-The Feelings Mutual [II]

ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚

ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚

➸ INTERESTS; -agedup!lo’ak x fem!omatikayan reader

➸ BACKGROUND; -For as long as you can remember your brother has always had issues with the youngest son of the Sully family. Their rivalry would constantly get them in trouble and even after being punished they would go back to doing the same stupid things as before, just by their actions you grew highly annoyed by them both. Expecting the same feelings in return from Lo’ak, you’re surprised to learn how much of a turn things take.

➸ WARNINGS; - wc. 2.5k, arguing, angst, slight mentions of anger issues and an ed, migraine mentions, fighting, tension, romantic persuasion, fainting.

➸a.i; - this was long awaited honestly, ill be posting the masterlist to this and my other 3 fics soon! stay posted

ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚

♡-The Feelings Mutual [I]

♡-The Feelings Mutual Masterlist

You smiled as you handed the passing warriors bowls of food and packs of herbs as they had returned from their hunting trip. You scanned the line, attempting to find Lo'ak, but to no avail you couldn't see him.

It had been nearly a full month since you had last seen him and it was driving you crazy. You had practically run across and interacted with every other one of his family members other than him. Every time you asked for him, he was nowhere to be seen. They would always mention that he was out or hanging around with his friends.

You knew it wasn’t entirely the truth, either they were lying to you, or he was lying to his family. It was probably the second decision since he had a similar friend group to your brothers, and they hadn’t heard or seen of him as often as before.

The entire situation was off putting, it made you anxious. What if something was to happen to him and no one knew? Something could’ve been wrong with him or he might’ve needed help but couldn’t because he isn’t communicating with anyone.

Communication, that was one of his largest issues. You knew it since you were children, he’d always express himself with aggression or defending himself. Even though he had his issues and put up walls against others he was gentle with you.

Emphasis on was, not anymore. Not since your last couple of conversations last month, you still dreaded every moment. You took a deep breath in sighed heavily, placing a hand over your forehead and swiping down, a large frown plastered on your face.

“Enjoy your meal and thank you for your service.” You spoke softly, handing the next warrior a bowl of food with one hand and a pack of herbs in the other hand. Your eyes were planted slightly down at your hands, not even aware of the man in front of you.

“You look so sad” Neteyam spoke, taking both supplies from your hands as he watched you look up at him. You wore a surprised expression when you saw him, greeting him properly with a smile. You looked around behind him or near him to see if his brother was around, only to be nowhere to be found.

The frown you wore before quickly came back to your lips, Neteyam quickly took note of this. He soon placed his belongings as he pulled you off to the side, placing a hand on your shoulder, then removing it as your body felt a little more warm than usual.

“If you’re still worried about him you don’t have to be. I was just with him this morning, we hunted together. He skipped this to go see our grandmother and my sister, he suffered from some injuries.” He spoke, you sighed in relief.

So, he was okay, he was just avoiding you for the past couple of weeks. The irony of it was hilarious honestly, you would go out of your way to find him as he went out of his way to hide from you. You had to talk to him as soon as possible.

“Can I go with you to see him?” You asked, watching Neteyam’s strained expression, thinking for a moment before seeing your worried expression. Then nodding slowly, going back to get his belongings and motioning for you to follow him.

On your way to his home you began to pat your hair down, attempting to look presentable enough as you were about to see his whole family. You smiled to yourself thinking of how welcome his family made you feel, now excited to see them.

Thinking about seeing Lo’ak however after so long left a pit in your stomach, and gave you a small headache. Maybe it was the fact you had eaten poorly the past couple of weeks, or maybe the fact you hadn’t slept properly, but you didn’t feel right at all.

The pressure of going to see the only boy on this planet who was doing his best to avoid you made it worse. His last words to you being you wouldn’t see him again was something he meant, but you didn’t care you had to see him.

You weren’t sure if it was because you were being killed with guilt, or if it was that small little feeling in your heart that made you drawn to him since you were kids. Whatever it was didn’t matter, you missed your friend, enemy, whatever he was you didn’t know anymore.

ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚

“Are you alright?” Neteyam asked standing beside you as he watched your figure, your hands shaking as you bawled them into fists. You only nodded and hummed, continuing your walk as you made your way in front of his families hut.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, soon removing it and complaining about your skin being hot, practically burning to the touch. You only laughed and brushed off his exaggerated expression, or at least you thought it had been an exaggeration.

Soon after entering his hut, you greeted everyone, peering over to look at the side and seeing Lo’ak, his back facing you as his sister patched his wounds. She saw you and smiled, waving at you as you did back in return to her. Neytiri soon approached you, embracing you in a nice hug, you hugged her back.

Quickly you pulled away feeling dizzy as she also mentioned something about your skin being hot. You couldn’t follow along what she was saying word for word, but you only laughed at her saying with a nod. You made your way over to Lo’ak to say something before being stopped in your tracks by Tuk, who took your hand into hers and dragged you in the opposite direction.

You ended up sitting down with her, she was eating and offered you some food as well. You politely declined and said you weren’t hungry as you had eaten before you got here, which was a lie. Of course she didn’t have to know that, until Kiri spoke out and interrupted.

“I don’t remember seeing you eat anything before helping the warriors with the other girls. I thought you told me you woke up too late to do so.” She budded in, you grit your teeth and looked in her direction. She wore a worried look on her face, to which Tuk offered her some food, she declined and fed it to Lo’ak.

His head was turned to the side now, seeing his sharp jawline as he opened his mouth. Tuk placed the meat inside his mouth and he chewed, turning his head back around. Your heart was pounding in your throat, you wanted to call out to him, but couldn’t.

You made your way up slowly, now dizzy. You held a hand to the side of your head and rubbed it softly as you made your way over to the three again. You watched as Kiri watched your movements as you went to step in front of her brother, now taking a seat by him, not looking at his face.

You sat with your legs crossed as you looked at his figure and his lowered head, wincing at the work being done to his back. You took a deep breath and placed a hand over your chest, wincing as you felt your now cold hands touching your warm body.

“Hi” you spoke in almost a whisper in front of the boy, seeing his body react to your voice. You wet your lips and closed your mouth, awaiting his response as you poked your tongue around the sides of your mouth.

“Hey” he spoke back, his voice gruff and heavy. He hadn’t picked his head up to look at you, all until Kiri took both of her hands and placed it on both sides of his head, lifting it. You were now able to see his face, seeing a small patch on his left cheek and newer slits razored into his eyebrows.

He looked good, or healthy to say the least, unlike you. At least one of you were doing well, honestly when he saw your tired and strained body, he had remembered what your brother told him out of worry. Concerned for your health as you would disappear for hours and barely eat unless forced too, either that or sleep for practically the whole day.

“Hi” he spoke, correcting himself, softening as he saw you smile to his response. Kiri soon got up, gathering her and her grandmother's things before leaving, and taking Tuk with her. Giving you and her brother alone time to speak to one another.

Your breath was ragged and your shaking hadn’t stopped since you left your post with Neteyam. Something was wrong with you, and now was one of the worst times to be feeling this way when you had something so important to do.

“How have you been?” He asked, now sitting with his knees up as he rested his arms on them, watching you fidget your fingers. You only smiled at him, taking in his face and his soft expression.

“I’ve been really good” you lied with your cute little smile that Lo’ak hated. He hated almost everything about you, your voice, your laugh, your smile, your innocence. You were too nice to people who didn’t deserve it, people like him.

You drove him crazy in a way he still hadn’t understood. He doesn’t like what you do, and he definitely doesn’t like you. Or maybe he told himself that in order to just swallow whatever he felt for you. You act stupid and are always giving him more problems than solutions. Set aside from your brother it killed him how you liked to argue.

It also killed him how he had avoided you for so long. He missed your presence or company to say the least, no one else was as stupid enough as you to make him laugh. No matter how many times you two were to argue he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep a grudge against you for long.

The memories and relationships you two shared as kids was too strong for him too. Fighting and arguing with you was more or less him fighting and arguing with himself. He said he didn’t like you but now he keeps thinking about how much he missed you, even though he’s the entire reason you two haven’t seen each other in so long.

“You look like shit” he spoke in honesty, chuckling afterwards and reaching out a hand to move your now wet hair from your forehead, recoiling his hand back. “And you’re burning up, you’re sweating like crazy” he added, placing his arm back over his knee.

You only scoffed at his response, your head still spinning and unable to even comprehend his second phrase, only stuck on the first.

“If you care so much next time I’ll come back and get all dressy for you, even unbraid my hair and let it flow down my back.” You replied cockily, earning a confused look from Lo’ak as he raised a brow.

“Don’t start. Why did you come here anyways?” He asked you, tilting his head to the side to get your attention as you began to zone out. You soon locked eyes with him, unsure if it was your body that was burning up or your blushing.

“I wanted to apologize, after our last co- mm, after our last conversation I didn’t feel like things ended right between us.” You said with a pause, cutting yourself off midway as your head began to throb harshly as if begging for help.

“Okay” he responded dryly, turning his head to the side at the entrance of his family's hut. You watched him, as if he was waiting for something or someone to appear. You scoffed watching him, it’s like he wasn’t even trying to pitch into the conversation or hear you out.

“Do you just not want to speak with me?” You asked, he turned his head back at you, his eyes not meeting yours as he placed a hand on the back of his neck. It’s as if he was stalling to not answer your question and it was eating you alive.

Truth be told he wanted to talk to you, more than anything. He just didn’t know how to express it or what to say. He didn’t want things to end up awkward between the two of you as if they already hadn’t reached an all time low after your last altercation.

You rolled your eyes at his silence, taking it as your answer. You sucked your teeth at him out of frustration tears now threatening to spill from your eyes. You came here for him, to speak with him, to see him, and this is how he felt.

“Fine, I’ll just leave.” You said, voice trembling earning a surprised look from you as you stood up and dusted yourself off. He was quick to stop you as you walked away, grabbing your wrist.

“Wait y/n, sto-“

“I’m so sick and tired of your sorry attitude Lo’ak, we’re both grown and I’ve tried so many times to talk to you so we can settle this like adults, and you’ve done nothing but shove me away. I’ve tried to be nice to you it doesn’t work, I’ve tried to be rude, and it doesn’t work, nothing works with you. I don’t even feel well enough to talk to you, but I still came here, I hate you.” You cried, yanking your arm from him as tears rolled down your face.

Lo’ak stood up immediately, darting in front of you to block you from leaving. His eyes were locked onto yours, now puffy and strained. His expression was sad as he looked at you and replayed the words you had just said.

“You don’t mean that, you don’t actually hate me.” He said, his ears layed flat and pinned to the sides of his head as his tail drooped. You glared at him, seeing his sad expression and your gaze softened, you looked down at his torso.

“Yes, I do” you said, biting the inside of your cheek as your tail swayed behind you. You were dizzy, very dizzy, and didn’t feel like standing for much longer. You felt him grab your arm softly and towered over you, tilting your chin up to look at him.

“No you don’t, you don’t mean it” he said abruptly, you only pushed him off of you, stumbling slightly as you nearly toppled over. He caught you quickly, placing a hand on your lower back as your head began to spin more.

Your ears now began to ring as you kept pushing him, more tears coming out from your eyes. This wasn’t fair, your heart or mind couldn’t handle it. The more you pushed him away the harder he’d grab you.

“Easy mama, easy, we gotta get you to sit down or lie somewhere. I think you have a fever.” He said, quickly wrapping both of his hands around your hips. With the little strength you have you place your hands on over his and push his hands off.

As you were now free from Lo’aks grasp you made your way over to where the two of you were seated prior. Attempting to get a cup of water, as you bent over to reach for the cup your body shook. You lost your breath as you slowly stood back up, hearing Lo’aks shouts from behind you.

Your breath was shallow now as you began to shake more, dropping the cup in your hand and toppling over. This time as before Lo’ak was quick to catch you in his arms as you soon lost consciousness, the last thing you heard being his cry for help as he called your name keeping a hand cupped over your cheek.

It seems as if everyone wasn’t exaggerating over your body heat.

ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚ ོ༘₊⁺☀︎₊⁺⋆.˚

✴🕷 please do not copy, plagiarize, edit, or translate any works submitted by me. all works are originated and all other pictures used within those works are online images. thank you!! @kryptznnn

[wawamouse]

Oz Rewatch 3: S6E06: A Day in the Death…

Storylines:

Dino guest narrates

Beecher is back in Oz and angry with Keller; Schillinger offers to befriend Keller now that they’re both at odds with Beecher

Rebadow tries to talk to Stella about cold shouldering her but she wants distance

Idzik is transferred to Em City; Omar is made Idzik’s sponsor

Glynn continues the investigation into Adrian Johnson; Willy Brandt turns up dead;

Robson meets with Sister Pete; Robson joins group therapy

Chico and Miguel talks about Morales and the future of El Norte; Cathy Jo Cutler visits Miguel; Morales’s funeral; McManus offers to set up a meeting between Miguel and Ruiz

Martinez’s autopsy shows he was murdered; Carol Grace is interrogated and arrested

Telemarketing continues to suffer; Burr tries to recruit prisoners; Arif is struggling with finances; Poet and Rawls try to get back into the tits trade; Samuel Gouegeon crime flashback; Burr is sent to destroy the printing press;

Gloria proposes Cyril be executed by electric chair rather than lethal injection; Cyril gets a haircut in preparation of the execution; Jahfree Neema organises a demonstration of solidarity by the Em City inmates during the time of Cyril’s execution; Cyril gets a stay on his execution

Sister: Have we met this guy before? Me: Yeah, that’s Dino. Guy who died in the very first episode? Sister: Uhm….. Me: He was set up like a main character and then he was set on fire at the end of the episode? Sister: I don’t remember that. I only remember um… Jefferson.

Sister: And that’s why he decided to kill someone?

Sister: hey trying to shove a romance in here last second? With the nazi wife?

Sister: I don’t get it. He could just tell and get the insurance anyway, couldn’t he? It’s not like he conspired to burn down the machinery. (Sigh) This is why he’s in prison.

Sister: How did he get everyone to do what he says she he’s been nothing but rude to them?

Sister: They have to wet his head? For conduction? Me: Yeah. Haven’t you seen the Green Mile? Sister: Nope. Me: What? The Green Mile? Yes you have. Pretty sure we watched it together. Sister: Nope. The black guy? Me: With Tom Hanks? Sister: Nope. What's the one where the dude threatens the guards and they get coke? Me: Shawshank Redemption?! Sister: Yeah, I haven't seen that one either. Or Saving Private Ryan. And I'm pretty sure we had Saving Private Ryan at home. Me: We have the Green Mile, too!

Sister: Wawa lied to me… Me: How did I lie? Sister: You made it sound like he died.

Me: Must suck to be Li Chen’s parents sitting there and everyone including the staff is really happy the guy who killed your son won’t be executed. Like, if you believe in the death penalty. Sister: Yeah, they're like screw them, LOL.

Sister’s Predictions for the final two episode/what she would like to happen:

Tobias isn’t getting released unless he gets more family members killed, but he ain’t got that many left.

Cyril will get sent to the mental institute and Ryan will probably mellow out if he’s smart and learns to reflect and be grateful. Or he’ll just keep being a dick. Or maybe O’Reily will stop showing up now that his storyline is done and then we can finally have time to focus on other people’s stories. I mean, what do we have left? Two hours? We got a lot to get done. But I feel like he’s a fan favorite because they do so much crap with him, there’s no way they’re going to just shove him aside. Even if he’s in the background, he’s gonna be, like, standing there. And there’s the stuff with his mom and the other dude. He’s probably going to bless their relationship or whatever and say he understands now.

Redding’s probably going to die because he’s not doing anything else so far. But if the show wants to end with a sense of calm, then Redding’s probably going to survive, or Poet and the other guy will die because they’re already getting messed with.

Miguel will become leader… Or maybe Chico will become leader, if he finds the leadership balls. Someone will come up to him and be like “who’s leader” and he’ll be like “oh, let me go ask Miguel”, which is like HUH? But if he had the leadership balls, he would just be like “Oh, I am!” …There’s only two options with the Latinos. Some random person? I don’t think so.

Keller will die if the show wants to end things on a calm note, but if they want to end things chaotically, he will kill someone and become leader of the white supremacists maybe.

Depending on how much time is allotted to other stories, Idzik will die as a casualty by someone else’s hand and he’ll die as he wanted, and Mr Dinosaur (Omar) won’t get in trouble.

The Muslims need to find a strong leader… The current guy isn’t leadership material so he’ll probably get overthrown.

Lord of the Rings type ending after the ending in the last episode where we do a tour of all the groups and staff with like Mukada and Sister Pete where it seemingly never finishes. The old people (Rebadow and Stella) are probably going to be part of the Lord of the Rings ending. Maybe they’ll do a little wink and wave with the Gays, if they’re really wanting to hit all the groups and give some representation before the show ends. Each group has about…. [some strange Sister math later] 10 minutes and 54 seconds of screen time in the next two episodes.

Next episode will be the action finale and then episode 8 will be a bunch of fall out and resolution so they can give the show a nice ending. Unless they really didn’t know the show would end.

[sejanusbaby]

human!norm spellman headcanons❥

a/n: just some human norm thoughts while i smoke 💞 it’s not very long or super in detail, just some thoughts i had. send me more ideas!!

warnings: nsfw! mentions of weed use at the end. minors, dni

he’s definitely clingy. no doubt about it. dude definitely has some abandonment issues from his past. i know we don’t know much about his background, but i’d like to think norm has always kind of been a loner, with nobody really close to him until he met you.

absolutely adores you, no questions asked. sometimes he just stares and gawks at you, like it’s the first time he’s ever seen you.

“you’ve seen me naked before, norm.” “it still feels like the first time, every time.”

you’re definitely his first everything. i’m talking best friend, kiss, losing his virginity, etc.

he loves to cuddle, just liking the feeling of your skin against his. it makes him feel secure. often times, he’s laying on top of your legs, head resting on your chest, with his arms wrapped around your waist.

an absolute sucker for head scratches, will literally beg for them every single day. of course, how could you ever say no?

he definitely gets nervous around you when you first get together, often stuttering over his words, and becoming very flustered. like, when he’s rambling about science related subjects.

“hey, baby. it’s okay. no need to get nervous.” you’d say softly. your hand brushed his thigh, gripping it gently. “it’s just me.” you blinked up at him. of course his heart skips a beat at that nickname you gave him.

i’m not even gonna lie to you guys, the sex is fucking immaculate. like, he might’ve been a virgin when you two met, but our pretty boy knows how to make you feel good.

lots of making out at random times, especially when norm’s in a rush to finish up a project or meet with jake. “just a few more, please. they can wait a little longer.” he’d cry. our boy likes the risk factor.

he’s pretty much glued to your side at all times. like i mentioned before, our boy is very clingy. he probably is afraid of losing you, as well as not understanding how someone like you could love someone like him.

goes feral inside when he sees you wearing a shirt of his that you stole. once he gets more confident in the relationship, that usually ends with his head between your thighs.

norm doesn’t partake in a lot of smoking, unless it’s just with you. he finds it makes him anxious around too many people. he prefers it as a way to relax and unwind with you.

the first time you get him to smoke with you, he nearly choked to death. probably not the best idea to let his first hit be a massive bong rip, but it happens to the best of us.

depending on what and how much he smokes, more times than not, norm gets a very giggly and touchy high. he likes holding your hands, or holding your hips down while his lips attack your mouth and throat.

like stated above, much more touchy and mushy with you. our baby probably suffers from some severe anxiety, so i’m sure it helps calm him down, making him feel even more comfortable in your presence.

[westwingwolf]

All u really did was have empathy for Tim but none for Luce it’s not her responsibility to fix what Tim did She absolutely deserves to stay broken up with him that IS her agency The only way she doesn’t end up looking like a pushover is seeing him earn it Him grovel his way back prove to her he actually does love her cause she had to watch how hard he fought for every other girl EXCEPT HER Literally she was disposable to him and you don’t trust someone after that

Agency is having control and taking action in the situation. Lucy staying broken up with Tim doesn’t give her more control just because she makes him suffer. She needs to take charge. Yes, Tim has to work for it, but Tim fighting to get Lucy back is still giving him more agency in the situation. It’s him deciding when and if he wants to get back together and how much effort he puts into it until she says okay.

So what I argue is for after they talk about everything, Lucy decides if they can get back together and what needs to happen so that she can trust Tim again. Yes, it is still Tim working to regain her trust, but it is on Lucy’s terms. I think that’s why it was key that they had Tim say whatever small doses she’ll allow. To give her agency in what she accepts. I’m saying let her take the lead on getting back together by saying what she needs in this relationship.

They should go to therapy. They should have Lucy talk about how much Tim hurt her by breaking up with her. Make Tim do the work, and then Lucy can decide to forgive him if she wants. That’s why Tim didn’t ask for her forgiveness. Because asking for it puts pressure on her to do it and is another way to take away her agency. That’s why she has to be the one to decide if and when to forgive him and repair the relationship. I’m simply saying it should happen sooner rather than later so we have all the time to really explore all of that. I want to see Lucy take control instead of waiting it out to some nebulous time where she feels ready to take Tim back for whatever reason.

I get the impulse to make Tim suffer. But I think we have to consider who Lucy is. After everything, she still loves Tim. She doesn’t want to hurt him anymore than she wants to hurt herself. She also has a background in psychology. She more than anyone should know not to punish him more for what he was doing in punishing himself. And she is an empathetic person, so how much pain can she really want Tim to experience? How much watching Tim suffer would also make her suffer?

No one wants Lucy to be a pushover, but where is the limit where Tim has supposedly done enough for her to even try? What does he have to say and do? And is that not him taking charge of the situation if he asks to be taken back?

Consider this scenario for how it can work so Lucy has agency: For a few weeks, Tim has been trying to repay Lucy’s kindness like he said he would do. Lucy wonders if this is all an effort to try to win her back so she confronts him. They have the talk about the break up, and Tim says he knows he messed up and doesn’t expect her to take him back. He isn’t doing this to try to win her back. He’s doing it because she deserves to know how much he values her with no expectation of a reward for him for it. Then Lucy decides that she wants them back together. If he broke them up, it’s her decision to get back together. But things will have to change and Tim has to be willing to make those changes if they have any hope of working out.

Lucy in charge of the situation is what I want. And I want the break up over sooner because I want to move on to the next phase of fixing the relationship. But that in no way means I want Lucy to just be suddenly happy with Tim and act like they don’t have problems anymore. That’s what I fear will happen if the break up drags on too long. Spending too much time in the break up phase that by the time it is finally resolved and Lucy forgives Tim, the audience will be so relieved that they don’t want to see them unhappy anymore. So the next time we see them, they are all happy as if the break up cured all the problems that they have. Break ups don’t cure problems. A lengthy break up doesn’t suddenly make everything better just because it takes so long. Fixing the problem cures the problem.

I’m not asking for Lucy to forgive Tim quickly and then go right back to being happy in their relationship. I’m asking for Tim do everything he needs to do to earn Lucy’s trust again while they are actively working on repairing their relationship. So that we see them going through all the mess like an actual couple would if they want to work on their relationship. It’s the same result of Tim working to earn back Lucy’s trust, but instead of “Will they/won’t they get back together?” It is “Will they/won’t they make this work?”

In my opinion, the drama of wondering if they can make the relationship work when they have all these issues that need to be addressed while actively repairing the relationship is a lot more intriguing than the simple drama of “are they going to get back together?” Because I know that answer. The answer is yes Chenford is going to get back together. Because as frustrated as I am with this whole storyline, I know the writers are not stupid enough to break them up permanently if they don’t have to (like an actor is leaving situation). I know it’s just a matter of when they will get back together. So I don’t want to waste time watching them figure out if they will get back together when I know it’s inevitable. I want to see them work on the relationship as they are in it. That is something not a lot of shows do for a break up scenario, and it is something this show has never done before as they usually ignore the issues after the break up is resolved. It will be new and interesting to see, and all I’m asking is a chance to see it and have the time to really explore that storyline.

[realchemistry]

Everything that went right and wrong with 9-1-1 season 7 (according to me, duh!)

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the season a lot, but that doesn't mean that it was flawless and I thought the finale didn't deliver. So, this is me pointing out what I did and didn't like and why, and how I wish it'd happened instead.

Also: it's a short and somewhat rushed season due to the writers' strike, this I know. You know who else knew? TPTB. So, nope, it’s not a valid excuse for any of its shortcomings. If they tried to bite off more than they could chew, that's on them.

Everyone knows that having a three-episode arc for the honeymoon was a bad choice, it was clear because the episodes dragged due to it and the Bathena drama made no sense. Let's say they had to keep up with the tradition and that it's a huge budget deal to build those sets so they had to milk them for all they were worth. Fine. It could've still been made more interesting, but wrong choices were made. I didn't appreciate the whole pirates taking over thing, and the season ended with the cartel, which... why do you want to have POCs being the bad guys so badly?

So, let's go by the assumption that having a three episode arc for Bathena's honeymoon was the only choice possible, fine... but didn't Madney deserve a lot of attention as well considering they got freaking married? Why was that not a two-parter? Why not have a first part with cases and some fun bachelor/bachelorette shenanigans, and have Chim disappearing be the cliffhanger? Why not dedicate a big chunk of the second part to that, like they did, and then actually give the wedding some breathing room? Sure, it mirrored their kiss after the whole Doug debacle but these are two main characters who got married. It's a drama show but the drama gets old if there are no bright moments in between.

The inclusion of Amir was interesting because of what it brought up in Bobby. Plus, the actor was clearly great and he was such a big deal that he, well, he was given A LOT of screentime. This made me mad because the show, as previously mentioned, was short on time as it was. Having a new character come in and have such a huge role would’ve made sense if we were talking about a full season. As it was, his presence meant that some of our regulars were pushed to the background. Their storylines suffered for it, and while the show usually does this, it's sorta okay when screentime is divvied up between the regular cast. When it's an outsider... well, I have some issues with that. Like, we literally know more about Amir than we do about Ravi at this point. Also: Amir was clearly an amazing person and he was wronged time and time again. Athena got to play solo-cop as it's her thing, and we're supposed to think she was being heroic instead of downright wrong and abusing her power? If I were Amir, I'd sue her and I'd burn their house down for real (not really, but you know what I mean). They put this man through hell. Sure, Bobby saved him... which felt such a white savior redemption thing. And I know the show and the character said otherwise, but it still felt awful and then it just got worse. In any case, they could’ve made this story play out with more nuances instead of devoting so much of a short season to it to the detriment of our stable cast. 

Buck had an amazing start of the season, finding himself and his truth and sharing it with his family. The fact that they had him entering the dating scene with a character like T*mmy... I didn't like that. Any random person would've been better. But, also, I don't wanna be that person but this is my blog so I'm gonna be: Oliver clearly hadn't been enjoying the latest interactions between these characters to the point where their scenes, few as they were, were actually hard to watch. The last one was literally the most cringe inducing moment of TV I've ever witnessed. Instead of Buck exploring himself, we have him reacting to the odd, negative and out of place comments that T*mmy keeps throwing his way. It's just weird and not at all the happy story Oliver was hoping for, so I get him. I hope this gets better next season, with BT being bones and Buck being able to thrive instead of falling back into a revamped awful dating life.

On the other hand, this season was the Buddiest of them all. Well, I mean, it had the most hints of it actually happening at some point. When Buck talked about there being underlying sexual tension in the premiere, it was just ashslgjñhjsdñgjsñdg. They were comparing Chris's interactions with girl friends and boy friends but we all know that wasn't all that was. We had Eddie talking about how much growth Buck had done from being a playboy, which funnily enough he never got to meet, to the person he's today. Another great indicator were the whole 100th/101st episodes, with Buck clearly wanting to get Eddie's attention due to jealousy, which everybody could see, and the ~reveal that the episode was from Buck’s POV which was also incredible because that man was so in love with Eddie, it’s just insane. But, even most importantly maybe, was Maddie's scene with Buck... It was a mirror of her calling him out on his guy crush on Eddie from season 2, with the circled with a heart around it, but the next episode it got real. To me, her words and her face spoke volumes: first she couldn’t believe Buck was with Eddie’s friend, then she told him he might not be sure of his own feelings and finally that if there’s something he needs to tell Eddie, he will, just in his own time. That was NOT about Buck being bisexual, it was Maddie reading right what Buck was reading wrong: how Buck had been jealous because of the way he feels about Eddie and how he was putting his feelings for Eddie into somebody else. Someone safe for the time being, all things considered. That's a thread waiting to be pulled when the right time comes if I ever saw one! I've been giddy just thinking about it ever since, tbh. We also had a Buddie scene in pretty much every episode, and I absolutely adored them in the bachelor party because they were so in sync, as they were all season long actually. The parallel of Eddie asking for Buck’s help at the end was nice as just that, but the story... I’ll rant about it later. I love that Oliver has been pushing the Buddie agenda harder than ever, so I'm hoping he's talking Ryan's ear off about it and that they'll demand it from Tim soon enough.

Onto Eddie, the problem with the whole Kim thing actually starts because they killed Shannon in the first place. They should've never done that, I've always thought this way. She was a great character and seeing Eddie co-parent with his ex would've been great storytelling, he could've still had a breakdown due to divorcing her or even her dating again or whatever. Besides the insanity of Kim going back to his house after learning the truth, the fact that Eddie broke down and caved in was understandable. I actually thought that was pretty well done. The problem was all that followed. We don't care about Marisol because the show never made us care about her, so her part in all of this was completely irrelevant.

As for Chris, I honestly have SO many issues with his reaction. Him being confused would only be right, but being that mad with Eddie? I honestly feel like I'm missing something because the two of them developed such a strong relationship that it felt like Chris's reaction was totally OOC. Why wouldn't Chris want to know Eddie's side of the story? Why would he want to leave his dad and his house? Why would he want to leave the state? Why would he want to go live with his grandparents? Sure, he had a good relationship with them at that point, but we can only gather that by... imagining it, for the most part. How long since they been around? Why not mention that they were visiting or that Chris was with them when he was away to set the stage? It honestly felt like it was all improvised and they wanted to leave Eddie without Chris and this was all they could come up with. There were other ways that could've actually made more sense to get to this place, but they chose to do it in a way that's both hurtful to the characters and to their progression throughout the seasons. Make it make sense!!! There's also the fact that the finale script was all written under the assumption that Eddie and Kim were kissing when Chris showed up. That didn't actually make the cut. This is clearly a consequence of rushed scripts and filming schedules, and while we can interpret every scene saying they kissed as an exaggeration or simply a wrong interpretation of the situation, it actually made me very mad. Having characters rehash what happened the episode before so the people who missed it can catch up is normal but I hated it with my whole heart. Those people can go to hell, but if they're gonna spend time of the finale doing that, the least they could do was make the facts factual. Sure, Eddie was going insane and he said it was hard to explain but everyone in-show very much believed that Eddie had kissed Kim. This was upsetting because of the exact reason why that kiss was cut, as said by Ryan in an interview this week.

On top of this, Chris’s 13 years old. Eddie letting him go was not it. Eddie had every right to tell him he's staying whether he liked it or not because he's his father and he got to decide where he lives. The show tried to make the whole thing come out as noble but I thought it was bullshit. From what we know about Eddie, he wouldn't just let him go: he would either tell Chris to stay put or go with him. The fact that, again, they clearly wanted to have Eddie alone for whatever reason, and they couldn't find a better way to pull it off... that's just bad on TPTB's part.

Hen and Karen were put through hell once more for no reason. Why can't the big obstacle for them be simply getting through Mara? Why do they have to get to a good place only for it to be ripped away? Don't say it's drama tv, I don't care, people on screen deserve happiness, damn it! They most of all, tbh, and the fact that Denny was so upset just made it 5464641636469 worse. Then we had Madney helping out, which was lovely but completely unrealistic from a legal pov and also... why can't HenRen just get what they want without a het couple's intervention? So Ortiz had enough power to get Mara away from them but she didn't know that the people wanting to foster her were part of the 118 even though she had something to do with Gerrard being reinstated? I know this was what Tim implied on his socials to explain why someone as shitty as Gerrard would be taken back by the firehouse... which, I don't know if that even makes sense? Does she have the kind of power to do any of this?

A lot of questions now:

Why was a random woman given so many precious minutes of the finale just so Athena could have a car to go after an innocent man? Why does she keep getting away with asking for personal favors, recklessly involving Maddie too? 

Why wouldn't the editor of the episode give us a full body frame at least of Buddie by Bobbie's hospital bed? This made me particularly mad because it actually looked like Oliver and Ryan were not there filming (though we knew they were), and that's why they kept showing their backs. 

Maybe they had lines, maybe not, but a few seconds while Chim, Hen and Maddie talked would've been nice... since it clearly seemed like nobody was particularly perturbed by Bobbie's state. 

I'm sorry but I can't fear for his life when his wife is away trying to get revenge and his team are just... there. 

Also, why are him, Athena, the aforementioned neighbor and Amir allowed to just walk into a house that suffered that much fire damage? Wouldn't the structure be compromised? 

Plus, Athena and Bobbie kinda were awful to Amir, first killing his wife and then accusing him and all, so why would he want to talk about anything with Bobbie, nevermind say he's earned his family? He was wronged so badly, he didn't owe them a thing, it's honestly ridiculous. 

Then Bobby came back so fast... but he had quit before and forgot about it? 

The Gerrard reveal was actually not something I hated because I love a good shake up. I bet he'll last three episodes at most. 

We know this isn't gonna be good exactly, and it makes zero sense, but a change in dynamics is always refreshing and could put some things into perspective. 

I hated when Buddie weren't partnered, but I ADORED the way Hen was weirded the fuck out by the closeness she is not used to having with Chim while on the field, so I can't wait for some of it.

Things I wanna see:

More May, more Ravi, Eddie’s sisters. 

More Buddie. 

No dating people to fill up time for either of them. 

Eddie’s gay/demi awakening (I swear, if this is not where his story is going, it will all feel like such a waste, much like during his previous breakdown). 

Chris and Mara going back home soon. 

Gerrard and Ortiz getting what they deserve.

This is so long it's insane, if you've read it, I thank you. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later. If you have anything to contribute, please do. I'm around and I'd love to discuss this show and all its intricacies.

[rpgsandbox]

5th-level Banish Rumour (Abjuration). Casting time: 1 Action. Components: Verbal, Material (A single public statement).

Dungeons & Dragons is in a bizarre place right now—it's on the verge of the totally-not-a-new-edition ruleset revamp and an in-development virtual tabletop project, riding high off the back of Baldur's Gate 3. But Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has also suffered from a massive round of layoffs, and the bruises of the catastrophic OGL fiasco a year ago are still smarting.   This has laid the groundwork for a swarm of rumours regarding a potential sale to Tencent—a massive conglomerate and holding company with its fingers in dozens of different pies including Remedy Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, FromSoftware, Epic Games and (most importantly to the matter at hand) Larian Studios. Said whispers began when the Chinese news outlet Speed Daily (as translated by Pan Daily) reported that WotC parent company Hasbro was "seeking to sell its well-known IP 'Dungeons & Dragons'", citing Hasbro's "financial crisis" as a reason for the speculation. That's despite D&D being a huge earner for Hasbro, achieving record years (as per a financial report last October) for the company. 

Shucking D&D as a property entirely would be like throwing a crate of diamonds overboard to stop your ship from sinking—not something you'd do unless you were definitely about to drown. Which isn't completely out of the question. That same report noted Hasbro's total revenue was down "13-15%", and repeatedly cites a difficult situation for toys across the board. Still, I'm not sure if things are dire enough for a spontaneous bout of violin-playing. That's been confirmed in a comment provided to Dicebreaker, where Wizards of the Coast writes the following: "We regularly talk to Tencent and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumours, but to be clear: we are not looking to sell our D&D IP. We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital experiences to our fans. We won't comment any further on speculation or rumours about potential [mergers and acquisitions] or licensing deals." So there you have it: D&D isn't being sold to anyone. What's more likely is that Tencent—which owns a 30% stake in Larian Studios—might be thinking about pouring money into another D&D game. That should surprise nobody, considering the meteoric success of Baldur's Gate 3. Another licensing deal isn't just 'not out of the question', it's a plain good idea. Under any other circumstances I'm not sure any of this would've made waves in forums and headlines. But the environment surrounding D&D at the moment is, understandably, one of fear. Hasbro's layoffs included several senior members of staff. Game designers, art directors, and Liz Schuch—the company's former Head of Publishing and Licensing, who was with Wizards of the Coast for 28 whole years.  There's a bordering-on-zero percent chance something like this would actually happen, but the background radiation of 'strange times' has a lot of TTRPG fans without a fuller scope of the situation willing to buy into speculative panic, and I can't say I necessarily blame them.