#the previews were a real mixed bag but at least we have these guys

[feralportalmaster]

Just Dance 2025 Spoilers!!

THE BRIDE AND RASPUTIN ARC FINALE LETS GOOOOOO!!!!

[hanjizung]

Unwrap.

Kim Seungmin x Reader.

Word count:  5.3K

♡ Warnings ♡: smut; oral (m), deepthroating, choking (but not really), fingering, creampie, penetrative sex, unprotected sex.

My part for The Smutmas Collab, organized by @clandestine-lixie​, Merry Christmas, everyone. ♡

It was your first Christmas being Seungmin’s girlfriend, you’d been friends for years and you were already familiar with his other friends, but just that year he actually confessed his feelings for you, with a little help from Felix and Jisung, somehow. It was thanks to them that your relationship with Seungmin went to the next level, after all. You made a note to thank them and give them amazing gifts for their birthday months ago.

The guys had invited you over for a Christmas dinner, saying that they were saving the party for New Year's eve and you happily agreed to go celebrate with them since you were alone; your family lived out of the country and the cousin who moved there with you traveled for the holidays to visit her family too, this was your fourth Christmas living here.

Thankfully, you’d get to spend it with your magnificent boyfriend and your lovely common friends with Seungmin, who you loved almost as much as you loved him.

Walking out of the shower, you made your wear to your closet and picked up a box you had hidden for almost a month when you were first planning your Christmas dinner privately with Seungmin, before the rest of the boys sumed in and made your small, romantic dinner with your prince charming a bigger event. But you decided that wouldn’t ruin your night, you wanted to do something nice for Seungmin so your plan was going to still happen.

Taking the box in your hands, you placed it on your large bed and took the lid off, revealing what was inside. Your smile grew when your delicate hands took the piece of undergarment to examine it better; a red bra that had little red ribbons where your nipples were supposed to go made your cheeks become hotter. You let your towel fall to the ground, putting the pretty bra on and then doing the same with the small red panties that also had little red ribbons everywhere.

When you were done putting that on, you turned, phone in your hand and walked to the mirror to take a selfie, a little preview for Seungmin wouldn’t hurt, you thought while posing in front of your wall mirror from all the angles you could imagine; sitting on the floor, ass out, squeezing your boobs together with your arms, biting your lip… it would be hard to choose only one to send to him, but you’d manage to chose.

A notification got your attention, it was a message from the man who lived in your mind rent free; 'Changbin and I are on our way to pick you up.’ it said.

You smiled. If he was coming with Changbin only, that meant there was no much exposure danger if you sent him a picture. You knew what your answer would be.

‘got it.’

‘wanna see what ill wear?’

You browsed through your recent pictures without waiting properly for his answer. He always told you yes, you knew he loved you as much to never deny anything to you.

Pressing send, you sat on the bed excitedly waiting for his response. You saw when the message was received and when Seungmin read it. The little dots indicating that he was writing something made you smile happily.

‘Wow… '

'Baby, that looks amazing’

‘Does that mean that you’re my present?’

‘I can NOT wait to get to your home and unwrap you’

Leaving him on read, you walked to your closet to pick the dress you were saving for this special occasion and put it on. It was comfortable, kind of short but you were going to wear thighs to protect yourself from the cold, and finally a pair of boots.

Proceeding to put makeup on for this special day, you started the process like you always did when getting ready for a date.

------

The bell rang just as you finished the tinier details of your makeup.

Opening the front door, you threw your arms around Seungmin’s neck, smiling widely at him and then letting him go, hugging Changbin as well but with less enthusiasm than the first hug you gave your boyfriend. After your greeting to the guys, you moved to the side to let them inside your cozy home.

“Just let me go for my coat and we can leave” you told them, hurrying to your room for both your pretty long coat and a bag that looked good with your whole outfit.

When you came back, Changbin had left already to turn on the car, so you took Seungmin's hand and let him guide you to where your other friend was waiting for you.

The trip in the supermarket took longer than expected; you knew it would be full, but didn't expect it to be that full, the lines to pay were stupidly long and there were people running everywhere with full shopping carts.

Half an hour later, Changbin was walking behind you and Seungmin who were walking hand to hand and with a bag of missing items that Minho had previously asked you to buy to make the dinner. When Seungmin opened the front door, his relieved expression was the first thing you saw after stepping in.

"We're here, we got everything you asked us to buy" Changbin exclaimed, placing his bag on the table and looking at the cat mom with a reassuring smile.

Seungmin took the bag in your hand, freeing you so you could greet the rest of your friends who were eager to greet you too.

Felix was the first one who made his way to you when he heard the front door open, hugging you so gently that it made your heart feel warm.

"Hey, Y/N. I'm so excited that you're helping us to make dinner!" Felix said happily, his smile almost lighting up the whole room.

"It's the least I can do since you all invited me to come" you hugged him again, planting a kiss on his cheek and making him laugh.

Jisung appeared behind him, pulling you towards him by the hand to hug you "I missed you, Y/N! How are you doing?" he asked politely, letting you go to study your features.

"I missed you too, Sungie! I've been good, I hope you've been good as well, right? It hasn't been that long before we saw each other" you laughed.

You were right, 3 nights ago Seungmin had asked you if you wanted to go to the movies, an invitation you had agreed right the moment he called you. But only to be surprised when you got to the movie theater to see your boyfriend talking with Jeongin and Jisung. It didn't annoy you, but you thought it would be a romantic date, only you and Seungmin.

"Y/N! Since you're here we can start this grand, fantastic dinner" Minho said as he walked out of the kitchen. You laughed when you saw what he was wearing, because above, protecting his normal clothes he had an apron with the words 'kiss the chef', it was your gift for him on his birthday.

Taking your coat off, you rolled your imaginary sleeves up and followed him along with the freckled aussie to start preparing everything for dinner. The plan was to make a turkey since they didn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Hyunjim had been the one suggesting it, saying that he had been wanting to try that.

Minho agreed, saying that it would be a challenge to do it. You remember how he turned to look at you to see how you reacted. You smiled, agreeing silently to his unspoken demand; your help.

The day was spent mostly in the kitchen; each of the boys showered and greeted you in the kitchen when they were finally in their dinner clothes except for Minho, Felix and Seungmin, the ones who were in charge of cooking.

Seungmin and Felix were going to bake a dessert for all of you, playing around with you and Minho. The dorms were filled with your laughs mostly, getting the attention of those who were sitting in the living room just looking at their phones.

You were sitting on the countertop next to Seungmin who was mixing everything Felix had thrown in the bowl, a smile on his face until the mix seemed to be ready

"Be careful mixing it or you'll get it everywhere and Minho will scold us" Felix warned Seungmin from the table. He was mixing another bowl, saying that he wanted to make a lot so everyone could try it.

"Yes, Minnie. I don't want Minho to get mad, I like having you here with me" you pouted at him.

And he didn't say anything, you just watched as he stuck a finger into the batter and brought it to your face, the liquid feeling cold on the tip of your nose. Your eyes got big, your cheeks got hotter and your eyebrows raised in clear surprise, your expression making Seungmin giggle at you. And later, he leaned into you, his clean thumb wiping the stain off your nose and then bringing it to your lips for you to lick his finger clean. You did what he wanted, eyes focused on him and his little devilish smile, but soon Minho's voice scared you and made you jump.

"Are you two for real? Hurry up Seungmin, you're distracting my co-chef" he huffed, looking at your boyfriend with his arms crossed and his feet going up and down, demonstrating that he couldn't wait for the other boys to finish.

15 minutes later, Felix was putting the batter on the oven, Seungmin was sitting on a chair with you on his lap, his arms around your waist and you couldn't resist the urge to give him a kiss. It started sweet, gentle. But then he took control and soon you two were almost eating each other, only to be interrupted again by a clearly agitated Felix.

"Seriously guys? Right in front of the turkey?" he said, running to the marinating turkey and standing in front of it.

You blushed, hiding your flushed face in your boyfriend's neck. You felt how he opened his mouth to answer, but another voice filled your ears instead.

"Oh, you two should get a room," Hyunjin laughed, his head peeking to the kitchen, probably attracted by Felix's funny exclamation.

That second interruption seemed to be like a warning for Seungmin and you, both trying your best to stay away from each other and interact more with the rest of your friends, until Minho declared that it was the time to eat and all of you reunited at the table.

The dinner was relaxed, some reminisced about their childhood and how they spent their Christmases with their family and how happy they were, others sharing funny stories that featured the toys they were gifted and someone even saying how devastated they felt after they discovered Santa wasn't real and how much it took for them to accept it.

After dinner, Changbin took out a game and all of you played with it for a while, until it got too dark and Seungmin announced that he would be taking you home. Your ears perked at his announcement, a feeling of excitement in the depth of your stomach bloomed and you stood up with a sheepish smile ready to hug everyone goodbye, telling the guys that they could go to your house in the morning to give you their gifts since you didn't have enough arms to carry them all home with you.

Seungmin took your hand, guiding you to the door while you waved goodbye to Chan and the guys one last time with an enchanting smile on your smile.

When you were outside, you took Seungmin's warm hand in yours to heat your smaller hands as well. The chilly December night made your cheeks and nose red from the coldness, and so you walked hand in hand, talking about how much fun you had during the dinner and playing games with your friends.

The rest of the trip home continuing in a comfortable silence, at some point he pulled you towards him, his arm around your shoulders and squeezing you playfully, making you laugh in the process. But you didn't try to move away from him, wrapping your arm around his waist and resting your face against him, feeling his warmth. It was like that until you got to your home, you separated from him much to your sadness and looked for your keys in your purse. Minutes later, when you found them and you two were finally allowed to be inside, you turned on the light and took off your shoes, next to you Seungmin did the same thing and when you were done, you took his hand and guided him to the couch where he sat, you taking a place on his lip and staring at his big eyes lovingly, one of your hands on his cheek and your other arm resting on his shoulder.

"I love you, Seungmin" you whispered, your thumb caressing his cheek sweetly. His eyes shone brightly, a beautiful smile adorned his face and he leaned in closer to kiss you quickly on the lips, making you smile too.

"I love you too, sweetheart. So much" Seungmin's arms wrapped around you, making you giggle as he pressed kisses all over your face. You tried to stop him, failing every attempt.

When he finally stopped and you tried to regain your breath again he was looking at you with that foolish smile that always adorned his face when his eyes found you. You had fallen so deep for him, it made you completely happy that he demonstrated that it was the same way around and that he was head over heels for you too.

You cleared your throat when you were finally calm, and you turned on the TV. The hour showed, it was still a bit early, so you had an idea.

"There's still time left until Christmas, Minnie. We could watch a movie, and then…" you hit your lip, cheeks getting hotter from what you had to suggest.

Seungmin didn't seem to catch what you meant.

Or more importantly, he wanted you to say it, hear what was on your mind.

"Then what, sweetheart?" he asked, eyebrows raised as he paid full attention to your words.

"and then… You can open your present" you said, biting your lip and looking at him with your eyes open. In his eyes, you seemed so adorable, acting so shy and getting flustered so easily. You made his heart flutter without even trying.

"I'm so excited to unwrap the present, I think I already saw what it is, but a picture is not the same as the real deal" he winked at you, placing his big hand on your cheek and keeping you in place as he left a sweet kiss on your lips.

"Put the movie then, baby" he said, his breath hitting your face as he talked, his forehead against yours and the same smile from before still there.

Sighing and removing your face from where it was resting against his hand, you stood up and turned on the television, putting on a movie that you two like, the movie that reminded you of him and how your relationship had progressed from being just friends to the only couple among your common friends, who also played an important point in making you and him get together.

With the movie playing, your head started to go in the direction of what your future actions could lead to; there were many possibilities of what Seungmin could do to you if you did present yourself to him as his 'gift', many scenarios playing in your head that leaded to a growing wetness between your legs, Seungmin's hand resting carelessly in your waist didn't help at all to ease your wild thoughts. You were eager to get intimate with him, it was becoming more of a need as seconds passed by; time felt eternal, it was almost torture. The worst torture of all times. You were craving his touch, his kisses, his words…

Unconsciously, you pressed yourself against him, the hand that was resting against his own that was on your waist sliding it down across your stomach, his long fingers intertwining with your own as he passed his nose on the crook of your neck, making you shiver and bite your lip to avoid making any noise that could give away how needy you were for him.

And as the movie passed, you kept your thighs pressed together and holding his hand under yours. Seungmin happened to randomly kiss you anywhere he could reach. He seemed so controlled, so at peace and incredibly relaxed.

That was, until a moment where you particularly grounded too hard against him and came in contact with the boner caged in his pants.

And you knew. He needed you almost as much as you desired him.

Shifting so you would be facing him, you jumped scared when something fell to the floor. The both of you looked for the object after being so suddenly startled, and your hand reached to pick up your phone. It was okay, you made sure to check the screen to see if it hadn't broken anywhere, but something else caught your eye. The time. It was 11:48, almost midnight.

"Minnie, it's almost midnight" you whispered, leaving your phone under your pillow. Your boyfriend looked at you with a knowing look, and he sat on the couch, pulling your arm to make you sit as well.

"Then it'll be okay if I open my present now since it's almost Christmas, right?" you nodded, not saying a word, your beautiful orbs focused on him and how his own eyes were dark with pure lust.

He took your hand and indicated you to stand up. You did as he wanted, fixing your dress as you stood right in front of him. Seungmin was sitting on the couch with his legs spread, one arm resting on the back of it and his other hand was still holding yours.

"I want to see you take that pretty dress off so you can give me my present" he said in a raspy voice. You looked down at your hands tagging the end of the pretty fabric that conformed the dress you wore for the entire day. This was it, the moment you had anticipated since the package containing the pretty lingerie arrived at your home.

Exhaling, your timid hand started to take off the pretty dress. In front of you, Seungmin took in every inch of skin that was revealed to him, his head tilted to the side and his bottom lip between his teeth.

The more of your skin was exposed to him, the more he felt the need to stroke the cock under his pants. It almost hurt him from how hard he was, this effect you had in him was so powerful, it made his mind dizzy from all the want drowning his head when he saw you in almost nothing. You were so delicate to him, there was nothing else that he wanted besides taking care of you and destroying you until you were shouting his name with tears of ecstasy.

Finally letting the dress come off you and letting gravity do its job by allowing the item to fall to the floor, Seungmin was able to appreciate the dexy set you had bought for the holidays.

"Oh, doll, you're the best gift I've ever had…" he extended his hand which you took without thinking. It had become a natural habit of yours to hold whatever got your attention, but most importantly, holding Seungmin's hand.

And then he pulled you to him, making you fall on top of him in a straddling position. You pressed your hands against his chest to sit more comfortably on top of him, while he never removed his eyes from your barely covered nipples. He seemed to be so marveled by the set you were wearing, it made you feel like you had already won Christmas, because knowing what was yet to come, you had already won. It didn't matter if there was a gift or not; every moment of intimacy you shared with him made you feel like you'd won the lottery. You'd never change that for anything.

"You did a good job undressing, baby, but I want to finish unwrapping you so I can play with my doll" Seungmin murmured, one of his fingers passing from your neck to the middle of your chest until it reached your bra. His other hand was resting on your thigh, his thumb drawing circles there.

Thanks to the position you were in, he was able to feel how wet you were. The damp panties leaving a spot on his crotch, but neither of you seemed to care as tension got heavier and heavier with time.

Passing his thumb through your breast, he stopped right where your erect nipole3showed through the red lingerie, and he slowly moved apart the clothing to see how he played with your sensitive chest. It felt good, but the pleasure increased when his lips met your boob and his tongue played around with you, your head thrown back and the first loud moan escaped your lips.

"S-Seungmin…" you sighed, holding yourself by gripping his shoulders strongly. Your boyfriend seemed to comply at your plea as he added teeth to the mixture of giving you what he knew would make you squirm and he bit you playfully.

His other hand was squeezing your other boob, and the arm on your thigh was now on your hip trying to keep you from grinding against him.

You'd given him total control to make you do whatever he needed for the following day, and Kim Seungmin was smart enough to use it and please himself firstly by pleasing you because he loved you.

He hadn't seemed to notice the wet patch on his pants, the one that you created from how good he was treating you and making you feel. You felt frustrated that he wasn't allowing you to drag your hips above his covered length to feel a bit of friction. You needed some form of release.

"Minnie, please…" you cried out, your nails digging on the soft skin of his shoulders as you tried once again to grind on his boner, not succeeding from his hold on you.

Seungmin separated his lips from you, his other hand still playing with your defenseless nipple as he looked up at you. "What do you need, sweetheart?" he asked. His voice sounded heavenly, so attractive, raspy and low for you to hear only.

"N–nothing… I'm your present, I should make you feel good. Please let me make you feel good" you whispered again. It was Christmas, a day for giving without expecting anything in return. You'd feel so selfish crying to him to make you feel good, to make you cum when that was your job. You wanted to take care of him, give him anything he wanted that you could give. He stayed silent, his hand finally stopping and his eyes looking down on your barely covered form. And he simply nodded.

With that little gesture, you moved yourself from his lap and dropped to the floor, sitting on your knees between his legs, your hands on his thigh creeping slowly to the zipper of his pants and your lips parted open while your eyes focused on the objective in your head.

Freeing his rock hard cock from the confinement of his pants, it sprung freely. You watched it with eyes wide open, the red tip and the veins showing made you swallow and lick your lips before placing them on his head and giving it a kitten lick. A first try before getting to work on giving him what you wanted.

An experimental first lick, like if his dick was ice cream.

You finally took him in your mouth, a groan of satisfaction coming from your boyfriend made your heart swell with pride for making him feel good.

You hollowed your cheeks as you took more of him until it hit the back of your throat. You gagged, but didn't move away either. Your hands that were resting earlier on his thighs were now wrapped around the base of his cock. Seungmin's own hand flew to your head, his fingers tangling with your hair.

"Baby, you feel so good" he said, looking at how you were taking him in your wet cavity and groaning in pleasure again.

Moving away and taking him out of your mouth, a trail of saliva connected his member to you. You were breathing heavily and your eyes had gotten glassy from forcing yourself to take more than what you were used to, but you were feeling a bit of adrenaline, your heart racing and resonating in your ears from the emotion of doing something new like this.

You liked the sensation of having him so deep in your throat, of choking on his thick cock. It hurt a little, and it was a bit hard to breathe as well, but the adrenaline you felt when he was inside you was incredible, plus getting to hear the sounds of pleasure he made when he was inside you was like music to your ears, a true reward from working so hard in making him feel good.

Bobbing your head up and down, Seungmin twitched inside your mouth and moaned your name. He was about to come, you could tell from the way he threw his head back and how his hand pushed you slightly to take more of him, and you did.

You tried your best to take him even deeper, and seconds after that the warm sensation of his juices filled your throat, making you cough and separate from him, his seed slipping through your chin and some drops falling to your chest.

Seungmin opened his eyes and looked at you, a tired smile on his face.

"You took me so well, baby. Come here" he patted his thigh for you to sit on it. You did, grinding shamelessly on his softening cock that got hard again at the contact of your wet pussy.

His hand slipped, moving your pantie to the side and passing a finger through your folds. "You're dripping wet, baby, and I haven't even properly touched you yet" he said, sliding one digit inside you.

You gasped, surprised at the sudden irruption in your warm pussy. "M-more…" you sighed, raising your hips so it was easier for him to slip another finger in you and stretch you before he let you take his length.

He started moving his fingers inside you in scissoring motions, you moving your hips to let him slide deeper inside you. Your head was thrown back and a choir of sinful moans escaping your lips, you were such a sight for him to see, for his eyes and his eyes only.

Your body started to shake as the tingling feeling of an orgasm washed over you, and you couldn't help but release around his fingers, shouting his name in ecstasy. You were in heaven.

"Y/N, you did so go for me. But I still haven't unwrapped my present, and I can't wait to play with my doll all day" Seungmin said, pulling out his fingers from you and taking them to your mouth for you to clean them for him. You sucked on them greedily, eyes still closed and moaning, sending vibrations through his fingers.

And he took them out again, his hands taking your hips and you alining his cock to your entrance. There were butterflies in your stomach as you slowly sunk down on him, his member stretching you carefully, it felt… Exquisite, so wonderful. It was great to have him in you, making you feel so full and complete.

"Oh, doll, you feel so tight" Seungmin grunted, his hold on your hips helping you slide up and down on his cock.

"Y–you're so big, Seungmin…" you moaned, tugging on his shirt trying to take it off. He understood and stopped holding you to take it off himself, your eyes admiring his chest and one of your hands traveling all over him.

Soon, your legs grew tired from all the movement you were doing, and your rhythm decreased slowly. Seungmin seemed to notice, because he held you still and flipped you so you would be lying on your back and he was the one to do the job now.

Rolling his hips into yours, Seungmin's pace was slow, he thrusted into you carefully instead of slamming himself against you. It was nice, but you were needy, you wanted something else, you wished that he would get a little fought with you but instead he seemed to be punishing you. But you couldn't say anything. You were his gift, you wanted him to use you however he wanted to, no matter how torturing this resulted to you, you didn't want to complain about anything.

But your body had other plans, your legs wrapped around him pushed him deeper into you, helping your boyfriend reach the sweet spot that could have you seeing stars in minutes, and once Seungmin found it he would not let it go, he would use that knowledge to his own benefit and torturing mechanics. And you were hating every moment of that.

Every time he entered you again, he aimed directly to hit that spot, it was just a matter of time until you were scratching his back and squirming under him, drowned in pure hot pleasure. The arrival of another climax hit you, but it wasn't until Seungmin spilled his cum in you that your own orgasm was triggered from feeling how he emptied inside you. Inevitably, he collapsed on top of you, kissing you messily. It was cute, knowing he needed to kiss you after finishing inside you, somehow it made you feel loved.

Seconds passed, his cum was starting to ooze out of your hole, he was still above you and filling you up, but neither of you were saying anything. Your hands were running all over his naked back and he was hugging you with his whole body.

"Seungmin, let's get clean, love" you whispered, your other hand playing with his hair. He made a noise that seemed like a negative hum, that made you look at him with a raised brow.

"We can't shower yet, Y/N, Christmas has just started and I haven't unwrapped my present at all" he got up, looking at you from above "look, you're still dressed, I haven't started playing properly with you, doll" he smirked. You blushed at his words.

Technically, he was right.

"Let's at least continue in the bedroom, there's more space in my bed" you whined. Seungmin stood up, giving you his hand for you to take and he made his way to the room he was so familiar with.

He told you to lay on your back in the bed, following after you and lying on his stomach under you, his face in front of your wet pussy.

His big hands rested on your thighs, and before he did anything else he murmured something to himself; "God, this is the absolute best gift I've ever gotten" in the sexiest voice you'd ever heard. And without wasting any more time, his hands grabbed the edge of the red lingerie finally, sliding them down your legs, leaving you completely exposed to him.

His eyes were shining and he liked his lips, all that before looking up at you and saying: "Merry Christmas doll, I love you."

[thankskenpenders]

So, about the movie...

At long last, a week after it came out, I was finally able to see the Sonic movie. The Daytona 500 being held across the street from my favorite theater and conflicting work schedules had been keeping me away, but now I’ve finally seen it. And it was...

Decent!

Which is way, way, way, way, way better than a movie with this awful premise has any right being. That’s for damn sure. I enjoyed my time at the theater. I don’t know how they did it, but they did it. If you like Sonic and haven’t already seen it, you will probably get a kick out of this film. If you don’t like Sonic (or Jim Carrey), there is very little in this movie for you

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to break that whole movie down. This will contain full spoilers for the Sonic movie

This movie kinda gave me deja vu because it’s set up so similarly to the Bumblebee movie. Both open with a slavishly faithful CGI sequence on another planet to ensure long time fans that the creative team gives a shit, but a conflict sends the title character to Earth. There, they form an emotional bond with the human lead as they’re pursued by the bad guys, who are working with the US government and tracking the energy signature of the title character. This setup worked extremely well for Bumblebee, because it’s so similar to the usual plot of Transformers. For Sonic, it was... a mixed bag. But it worked better than I expected

(This shot does not happen in the movie.)

That opening though, huh? Green Hill Zone looked great, and I was pleasantly surprised to see they did, in fact, use the Hyper Potions track from Sonic Mania in the actual film. (The piano rendition of the Green Hill theme used later was also lovely.) Longclaw was also interesting. I’ve seen one person bring up all the bird-themed ruins in Sonic 1 and 2 as a possible source of inspiration for the character, and I think that’s a valid take. And man, the echidnas! I wasn’t expecting that AT ALL. I guess that was probably the Knuckles Clan or something? I would never, ever picture them being alive during Sonic’s lifetime, but like... I guess Knuckles had to come from somewhere, right? If they do another movie with Knuckles, will the rest of his kind have died out?

Sadly, though, this sequence felt like it was over in a heartbeat. We barely see Sonic’s life on his home planet, and we’re expected to feel emotional over Longclaw’s sacrifice when she only gets like three lines before Sonic is sent to Earth. This is a common theme with the film--it goes for these big emotional beats that it just does not earn with its rapid fire pacing

Anyway, then we fast forward and Sonic’s a teen. This is actually kind of an interesting one if you’re constantly neck deep in Sonic Character Analysis like me, because it’s a pretty different take on the character. It’s hard to give them credit for doing something somewhat fresh with the character, though, because like... how much of that was intentional, and how much was just Hollywood writers trying to squeeze a generic action-adventure movie out of Sonic? (Honestly, it’s probably mostly the latter.)

The closest other piece of Sonic media to the movie would probably be Sonic X, a story in which Sonic isn’t really the protagonist. The Sonic of the anime is fairly emotionally distant. He cares deeply about his friends, and does nice things for them, but he’s totally fine with running off on his own for extended lengths of time, and he doesn’t really talk about his feelings. He’s not the character the audience is meant to sympathize with, but is instead this cool older kid who Chris wants to impress. This is pretty much in line with how Sega likes to depict the character. He cares about his friends, but he’s also cool with being a loner. It feels like he only runs into them incidentally, usually when Eggman is causing trouble, and then when the crisis of the week is taken care of he’s back to going on his own adventures. There’s a reason why one of his catchphrases is “long time no see”

The Sonic of the movie is the polar opposite. His main conflict is that he’s lonely and desperately seeks friendship. He’s also an overly-eager, extremely earnest goober. He literally flosses twice. (Which I loved.) I’ve seen him compared to Silver, and honestly, that’s not a bad comparison. I did like it, though! I don’t mind Sonic being a more emotionally open character, like he was in a lot of older Western media. I mean, he cried in like the second or third episode of SatAM

It’s just that, like many things in the movie, it feels less like a deliberate creative choice and more like a logical string of decisions to make when writing a generic action-adventure film for general audiences. Sonic’s the only one of his kind on Earth, so of course he’d be lonely. He has to have some sort of arc for audiences to connect with him, and if he’s gotta be accompanied by James Marsden for the whole movie, well, his arc’s gotta be about them becoming friends

I’ve gotta say, though: Ben Schwartz is great as Sonic. As much as I like Roger Craig Smith, I wouldn’t complain if he became the new main voice of the character. And thanks to the redesign, he looked great. I can’t imagine how nightmarish this movie would’ve been if Sonic wasn’t cute

My main fear with this movie, though, was that Sonic wouldn’t really be the protagonist. As a fan of Transformers, I know all too well that the cost of doing a full CGI character usually means that said character can’t really be the star of the film. Optimus and Bumblebee aren’t the stars of the Transformers movies--they’re supporting characters who are primarily present for the sake of the action scenes. The humans are the real stars in those movies, and the robots are barely even characters. I was terrified that Sonic would be the same, with the actual character I paid to see taking a backseat to James Marsden The Cop

I’m not quite sure if they struck the right balance there, but they did better than I worried they would. Sonic is central enough to the film and gets enough screentime that you can easily say he’s the protagonist. BUT there is absolutely too much of Tom and his family. The human cast is fine, the performances are fine, and there were a few good jokes, but every time the movie tried to get me to care about Tom’s life I was bored out of my mind. It’s just so trite and passionless. The other characters barely felt fleshed out at all, including Tom’s girlfriend (wife?) and Agent Stone. The little girl who gives Sonic the shoes had some cute moments, though

I do, however, love the part in which James Marsden is walking around in a San Francisco t-shirt, to remind us that he’s planning on moving to San Francisco... which then becomes the excuse for Sonic to think about San Francisco and accidentally send his warp rings there, which becomes the excuse for the buddy road trip aspect of the film. And as much as that was a focus of the marketing, the actual road trip part is like... maybe 20 minutes of the movie? There’s like three scenes with Sonic and Tom on the road and then they’re in San Francisco for act 3. The movie tries to act like they’ve formed this deep bond and I just did not give a shit. I don’t care about the cop. All Cops Are Bastards, and that absolutely includes Tom, whose dream in life is to join the extremely corrupt San Francisco PD

The whole excuse for Sonic having to sit in the passenger seat of a car going the speed limit for a good chunk of the movie is also, just. Stupid. If he doesn’t know where San Francisco is and time is of the essence, just... give him a map?

And then there’s Jim Carrey. I was worried about this one. The previews tended to highlight his most Jim Carrey Being Wacky moments, and as fond as I am of movies like The Truman Show and Bruce Almighty, that’s just. That’s not Robotnik. I was pleasantly surprised by the actual movie, though! I thought he was pretty good. I’m not sure what incarnation of Eggman I’d most compare him to, but like... it was close enough, and he was entertaining enough. I’d pay to go see another movie with him as Robotnik. Sure. (Especially with how he was looking at the end of the film.)

There were some other little interesting tidbits here with Eggman, although again, a lot of that is less “let’s do a new take on Eggman” and more “let’s do a marketable movie with Eggman in it, which requires us to explain some stuff.” Like him straight up just being a normal human from Earth, with none of the confusion present in the current “two worlds” canon of the games. Or him apparently being an orphan who was bullied in school, and who trusts machines more than other humans. It’s a safe way to depict the character in a Hollywood movie, but I thought it worked

The way they got to his nickname was kind of funny, though. Like, obviously they didn’t put Jim Carrey in a fat suit, and thank god for that. So instead of mocking his weight, the nickname is derived from the egg-shaped robots he uses. Which made sense, I guess. It at least felt logical for this incarnation of Sonic, who had annoyingly been calling Tom “Donut Lord” the whole movie, to make up the nickname “Eggman.” (Said robots, by the way, were a weak point of the movie to me. They just didn’t have that Eggman whimsy and felt very safe and very Hollywood. Honestly, though, if they had just made Robotnik’s ship grey and slapped some hazard stripes on it, it’d probably be fine.)

As a whole, I thought the humor of the movie was... okay. Sonic had a lot of good moments thanks to Schwartz’s great performance, as did Robotnik. There were just so many weird lines, like James Marsden telling Robotnik that he was breast fed, or the agonizingly long child trafficking joke with Sonic in the duffel bag. Stuff like that

The action was great, though. They definitely owe a lot to the Quicksilver scene in that one X-men movie (I forget the one), but they had a lot of fun with Sonic’s powers and it felt extremely true to the character. Seeing him do one of his Smash poses during the San Francisco fight was great. The action scenes were an absolute delight

And then the ending. Oh, that ending

So, I had already heard that Tails shows up in the stinger before I saw the film. And when I heard that, I expected it to be like, the classic Tails origin story. Maybe Sonic would return to his planet, and run into this precocious kid who decides to follow him around... but no! Not at all! Tails is already the Tails we know and love. He’s already an inventor, he’s already tracking down Sonic. I’m shocked that Sonic actually stayed with Tom instead of running off to have new adventures, but hopefully this is a sign that more characters will be brought into the fray if they make a sequel

And boy, they better make that damn sequel. This movie had a great opening weekend and a positive reception. They have no excuse not to. GIVE US SONIC AND TAILS GOING ON AN ADVENTURE

Other stray thoughts

Holy shit they put Sanic in the movie

The Sega logo animation meant that Kiryu from Yakuza was in this movie for a few seconds

The pixel art credits sequence, which featured both the Sonic 2 special stage and Get Blue Spheres as well as the Eggman logo screens from the Studiopolis Zone boss, was cute

The Saturn logo could be seen on the diagram of the other habitable planets

Robotnik had a label for “Badniks” on his circuit breaker. I wonder if the drones in the movie are intended to be Badniks, or if we’ll see actual ones if a sequel gets made

Also, was it implied that Robotnik committed war crimes for the US government

One of the government guys who I think only got one line was played by Garry Chalk and as such sounded exactly like Optimus Primal

I can’t tell if Sonic getting a red race car bed was an intentional shout out to the Archie comics or if it’s just a coincidence, but I loved it

A dude about my age wearing a Sonic Mania t-shirt literally stood up and clutched his head in shock when Tails showed up

After the movie a very excited kid got his mom to take his photo with the Sonic display in the lobby. Afterwards he was so excited that he flossed

I can’t believe they talked about Olive Garden so much

[davidmann95]

Got a handful of DC-solicit asks, so I’ll just write up my thoughts on the whole batch again.

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1: The BALLS to not only do the next Mister Miracle thing after King and Gerads, but to do it with Shilo Norman and therefore invite Seven Soldiers comparisons as well. I wouldn’t be that interested, but the preview art that came with the announcement looked fun so this is a maybe for me.

Wonder Girl #1: I got a Yara Flor ask so I’ll go more into detail with that, but this sounds...not good.

Future State: Gotham #1: Hahaha, thanks, call me in six months if the next team does something there’s a reason to give a shit about. Except...wait, Dennis Culver cowrote that E Is For Extinction Secret Wars mini, dammit this might be good. Either way though, god willing we get a Future State: Metropolis book by Dan Watters too.

Legends of the Dark Knight #1: Hopefully this going with Sensational Wonder Woman means there’s a similar Superman anthology in the cards too, but I won’t hold my breath. Darick Robertson doing Batman is enticing, but I’m not familiar with his work as a writer and the premise doesn’t sound that gripping so I’ll wait and see. That Francavilla variant though? DC, blow that up to poster size and you’d make a mint.

Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition #0: Hmm. I got love for Static, but I might wait for further announcements and/or buzz before taking the plunge on this one.

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1: This is a SERIOUSLY stacked lineup, definite buy.

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1: Impeccable timing, DC. It feels like it must be some kind of statement that there are no Morrison members of the Seven Soldiers in the mix (even swapping out Ystin for the original version of Shining Knight no one cares bout) - we focus on the Moore fixation, but there’s enough tidbits that I really do feel like Johns probably flat-out hates Morrison. And what’s this ‘secret eighth soldier’ nonsense? There’ve always been eight soldiers, people have been joking about it forever!

Justice League: Last Ride #1: Discussed that announcement here.

Batman: Earth One Vol. 3: *blinks*

*blinks again*

*squints at the cover art*

...Geoff Johns are you seriously trying to step to Morrison and use the Miagani tribe? YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN PEOPLE

I Am Not Starfire: Interesting concept that seems like it pushes into indie-flavored territory as much as DC’s superhero output just about ever has, if word-of-mouth is good there’s a decent chance I’ll get this.

Action Comics #1031: Wonder if this is serious about the potential of Kryptonian refugees, given PKJ suggested the idea in Worlds of War and that could play a significant part in the New Krypton stuff from Bendis’s Legion (with Johnson being clear he’s following up on a lot of Bendis’s ideas with his own Superman run).

Superman #31: This sounds big-time like Johnson hammering Superman into a swords-and-sorcery shape for an arc since that’s his bag, but Superman’s malleable enough for that to work so I’m not complaining.

American Vampire 1976 #8: Still not getting, so.

Batman #108: Tynion’s well and truly figured out how to game the direct market’s dopiest instincts, hasn’t he? Well, as long as that’s in service of him getting to continue doing weird Batman stuff with Jorge Jimenez like introducing whatever the ‘Unsanity Collective’ is, that’s fine with me. And more Ghostmaker!

Batman: Black & White #6: Not as packed for the finale as some previous issues, but still looking good. And there’s really never gonna be a ‘last’ Scott Snyder Batman story, is there? Sure it’ll be good but that’s kind of a shame, his Detective #1027 feature really felt like a nice full circle.

Batman: The Detective #2: Guess I wasn’t the only one wondering if it was a stealth DKR prequel and they wanted to cut that notion out at the knees.

Batman/Catwoman #6: Still very down for it, but BOY that Batwoman costume Mann debuted on Twitter.

The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries #2: I recently finally started reading Sholly Fisch and companies’ Scooby-Doo Team-Up! recently after getting the whole run for free on ComiXology earlier this year and have fallen in love with it, so I’m totally grabbing this digitally.

Batman/Superman #18: “The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel are on a mission to stop the godlike Auteur.io from destroying the pocket worlds he’s created...but where on Earth did Auteur.io even come from? The answer starts not on Earth at all, but with an ancient cult of World Forger worshippers on a planet far away—and if our heroes are to have a prayer of stopping this mythic behemoth, they’ll need to get to the bottom of his power source, and quick! It’s a race against time as the parallel lives of entire worlds hang in the balance!”

Anonymous said: Haha is Yang really doing Superman & Batman vs. Zack Snyder and the Snyder Cult (look up “auter” if you don’t know what I mean)? That’s fucking hilarious, especially since he apparently comes from the World Forge which is where all the shitty Earths full of bad ideas are made. Pretty pointed criticism there if I’m reading it right.

I’ve seen two or three people other than this anon independently conclude this arc is about the Supermen and Batmen of the Multiverse teaming up to stop Zack Snyder from destroying them all and at this point I’m ready to ask my LCS owner if I’m allowed to pay more than cover price for this run.

Batman: Urban Legends #3: Much more into this after the Grifter and Outsiders stories in Future State.

Catwoman #31: No reason not to assume this’ll continue to be great.

Challenge of the Super Sons #2: Good for the folks who want this, and that Nick Bradshaw variant is fun.

Crime Syndicate #3: I wanna be convinced to get this book, but the interviews are not persuading me.

Detective Comics #1036: How long is Mora sticking around?!

The Dreaming: Waking Hours #10: Another one I’ve got nothing to say about because I’ve never been getting it.

The Flash #770: Actually really excited to hear about how bad this run will suck now that I know it’s by the mind behind that “Geoff Johns’ OC - do not steal - beats up the Grant Morrison DC future” catastrophe from Future State.

Green Lantern #2: Really couldn’t wait a month for Far Sector to wrap up, huh?

Harley Quinn #3: Still not interested, but that *is* a nice cover.

The Joker #3: There’s a very real possibility I’ll have dropped the book by this point if it turns out to be the illustrated editorial mandate I get the feeling it could be, but fingers crossed.

Justice League #61: Not complaining, but wow, this really is Naomi 2 since Campbell’s busy in order to provide the necessary material for the CW show.

Looney Toons #260/Mad #20: Were these grouped with the rest of the solicits before?

Man-Bat #4: Very curious how this’ll be received, given nobody much cares about Man-Bat but Wielgosz seems to be quickly becoming a favorite.

The Next Batman: Second Son #2: Hadn’t realized this was only 4 issues - guess for at least one of them it’ll be the Luke Fox book everyone expected in the first place.

Nightwing #80: Dick Grayson vs. Heartless, not how I expected the DC/Kingdom Hearts crossover to happen but I’ll take it. That variant though? ALL TIMER:

The Other History of the DC Universe #4: I was trying to figure out who the focus of #4 would be since we know #5 is about Thunder and Lightning, forgot Montoya was confirmed.

Robin #2: Wanna care, so don’t care.

Rorschach #8: I will get it and probably like it.

RWBY/Justice League #2: My thoughts here will be their own post because there’s something particularly notable, but:

Anonymous said: Have you seen the BATtleaxe from the new art for RWBY/Justice League?

Yes, anon. Yes I have.

Sensational Wonder Woman #3: Eh, premise doesn’t grab me but maybe.

Strange Adventures #10: God I love the book about how Adam Strange sucks.

Suicide Squad #3/Teen Titans Academy #3: Hahahahaha

Superman: Red and Blue #3: Fiffe and Stokoe doing Superman stories!!! And...Nick Spencer. With Christian Ward art?! Sigh, fine, hopefully it’ll be Nick Spencer doing a nice little comedy, and not having Grant Morrison Superman throwing his t-shirt away because he grew up and realized changing things is too hard. A horrible shame Pope is doing the main cover though, the allegations against him I guess never really got any attention. At least there’s this JPL variant:

The Swamp Thing #3: Swampy will never be my guy but very happy for those who dig him, because I imagine this’ll be terrific.

Truth & Justice #4: Normally I wouldn’t care at all, but what I’m hearing on Twitter about this is a crying shame - that Jeff Trammell is really talented and Red Hood is a favorite of his and this is likely to be one of Jason Todd’s few Actually Good comics, but that artist Rob Guillory is a bullying transphobic piece of shit. Sucks all around.

Wonder Woman #772: I was so excited for this run, and then Immortal Wonder Woman had to go and suck.

[fanfic-inator795]

Oneshot: Movies and Mermaids

((Have some Mikey and Draxum bonding *throws confetti*))

It wasn’t as if Draxum had any genuine interest in human culture, certainly not! He could care less! ...Though, his obvious lack of caring didn’t prevent certain annoyances.

Like how he would be sometimes be completely lost in certain conversations. A member of the faculty at the high school would ask if he had seen the latest film in theaters and if he liked it better than the remake, or how his fellow lunch servers would reference certain shows and encourage him to watch them as well - Gladys especially seemed entranced with a show regarding doctors all dating each other in-between doing their actual jobs, for whatever reason.

The rest of the city seemed to only aggravate him more. From displays and the videos that would play on the large screens on towers, to the advertisements he saw on the television box or in magazines. It just seemed like everything he saw in human culture was a reference to something or someone - a laundry list of names and shows and movies and jokes and even what were supposedly ‘simple’ concepts like technology and brands and lingo and-!

After over two months of living on the surface, Draxum had reached his limit. He was tired of constantly being confused. He was tired of constantly missing or misunderstanding the references.

He was tired of being reminded that this was not his world, that he was still a yokai in human clothing.

So naturally, as a man of science, Draxum thought it only made sense to start with some research. Granted there was an entire pantheon that he would have to go through, and without the power of the ‘internet’ and a television box that only had five channels, it would be a incredibly slow process... At the very least, O’Neil had said that she would help him get a human library card when they both had a free afternoon. 

In the meantime, Michelangelo had plenty of ‘reference material’, and even with the insistence that this was all for education and NOT entertainment, Draxum figured it was as good of a starting point as any, considering how much the humans seemed to admire their on-screen stories and their film stars. (No wonder Lou Jitsu was just as popular as an actor as he was as a warrior...)

It was late Friday night when Mikey showed up to Draxum’s apartment with a backpack full of movies of all different genres and formats and a VHS/DVD combo player tucked under his arm. “Good thing Donnie found this thing a few years ago, huh?” he said as he hooked it up.

Draxum didn’t bother replying. Instead, he was focusing on his choices for that evening - as well as for the rest of the week, since Mikey said he could borrow them as long as he needed to - pulling out each tape or DVD case and examining it carefully. Quite a few of them looked like they were for children, which he probably should have expected, though he didn’t dismiss them immediately.

“Don’t worry,” he heard Mikey said, “I remembered what you said. All of these are super popular ‘staples of human culture’ that practically everyone’s seen.”

“Good,” Draxum mumbled, putting aside a movie about a boat next to a movie about a boy gardener who wore a cloak and was apparently very harry. Picking up the next one, his expression flattened a bit at the cover. “This one you can take back, I don’t need to watch it.”

“Huh? Why- ohhh.” The box turtle chuckled as he took the tape, smiling at the younger version of his dad on the box. “Sorry, guess that one accidentally got slipped in there. Though to be fair, ‘Jitsu for Justice’ is a total classic.”

“Irrelevant,” Draxum huffed, “I have no desire to watch ANY of Lou Jitsu’s films, no matter how popular they may be. Once was more than enough...”

“Alright alright, I’ll- wait,” Mikey paused, “so you DID watch his movies?”

“Er, I- Not because I actually wanted to!” Draxum told him, “It was for research!” Mikey gave him a flat look. “He had stopped fighting in the Battle Nexus and I needed to study his moves! I-I didn’t enjoy doing it, if that’s what you’re implying! His movies were still ridiculous and completely unenjoyable! I would never actually-”

“Whatever you say, man,” Mikey shrugged, ignoring the Baron’s growls at being interrupted, “Though, how’d you watch ‘em anyway? I didn’t think that TV was that big of a thing down there?”

“I used my viewing orb to summon and display them, obviously,” Draxum told him, “Most yokai have them for when they need them, and they’re much more useful and clearer than any television box.”

“If you say so...” “Hmph.” With that settled, Draxum went back to digging through the bag of movies. It didn’t take long for another video to catch his eye, this one in a plastic case rather than a cardboard one, with a picture of a happy mermaid and an equally happy human plastered on it.

“Awwww!” Mikey said suddenly, “That was April’s favorite movie when she was little! Which meant it was one of the first movies she brought over to share with us! Heh, guess we borrowed it so often we forgot to give it back, whoops. But it’s a really good movie! See, there’s this mermaid who wants to live on land as a human, and she’s friends with a crab and-”

Draxum had begun to tune the turtle out as he continued to stare at the VHS case. Mermaids weren’t too common in the Hidden City itself, though that didn’t mean they weren’t there at all. The city was next to water, after all, and some would live on the shore or become part of an air-boat crew - and they certainly didn’t look like this.

He felt his thoughts start to swirl, becoming just as mixed as his emotions as a grimace began to form on his face. On one hand, Draxum supposed he should’ve been grateful that the humans were portraying a yokai positively - as cute and friendly instead of vicious creature that lived to drown humans. 

Centuries ago, before the Great Migration underground, Draxum had heard that and many other similar claims about his people... Baseless claims meant to justify hunts and attacking on sight...

On the other hand, did humans only see them as ‘harmless’ when used for entertainment purposes? Did they only approve of yokai existing when they only existed in fiction, where they could be used however humans saw fit? 

He was briefly reminded of the creatures - the ‘poke-o-mon’ - that he would occasionally see on shirts or on phones, creatures not directly based on yokai, but similar enough. He had to wonder how much other human entertainment was based on so-called fictional creatures and monsters that they never would have even smiled at before.

“-xum... Hey, Drax?” Mikey poked his bicep, making Draxum flinch. “You okay, bud-?”

“Fine,” Draxum snapped, though there was a little actual bite to it, “Just surprised that humans would portray a yokai so positively, even in fiction.”

“Most humans do think they’re just fiction,” Mikey told him. After a moment, his tone became a bit gentler, thinking back to certain points brought up by his father and April. “Though, I can still sorta see why that would feel weird or kinda insulting, seeing a fake version of yourself or your people and not knowin’ how they’d react to the real you, wondering if they would only like the fake you. That probably doesn’t feel the greatest... and I’m really sorry about that.”

Draxum blinked. He stared at the turtle for a few seconds before finally replying with, “You’re a lot more introspective than I would have thought.”

“I get that a lot,” Mikey grinned, “But hey, they don’t call me Dr. Feelings for nothing. So, did you wanna keep this one then, or- I mean, I can understand if-”

Draxum stopped him, looking at the tape again. “...I am admittedly curious,” he said, “You did say this was a movie humans watch as children.” Studying a species’ influences during adolescence could prove to be pretty useful in understanding the adults. “And besides, if the portrayal is truly offensive, I can always send a complaint to this ‘Walt Disney’ and demand certain edits.”

“Riiiiight, though I don’t think you’ll be too mad at this one,” Mikey told him, “Ariel is a great character, and all the other mermaids in the movie aren’t portrayed as jerks or anything. ...Well, one guy kinda is but, uh-”

“Let’s just watch it already,” Draxum told him, shoving the tape into his hand, “The sooner we start it, the sooner I can gauge whether or not it’s actually worth watching.”

Mikey smirked a little. “Heh, alright.” Opening the case, he pushed the tape in while Draxum went over to the couch they had gotten him at the thrift store, briefly checking it for bugs or lumps before sitting down. “Good thing it’s already rewound.”

The only annoying thing about that was that they had to sit through previews, though Mikey used that time to cook up some popcorn kernels that he had snagged on the way out of the Lair, easily cooking it using a pan and the stove top. (No one trusted Draxum with a microwave after That One Time.)

By the time he finished, the movie’s title had just faded onto the screen. Mikey smiled widely, the nostalgia from the music and the memories he had with the movie sending slight shivers up his shell. 

Draxum, meanwhile, was watching the film intently, taking in every detail. The mermaids in the film were still completely different than actual mermaids, but at least they weren’t an insulting caricature (even if they were a bit too human-like for his liking).

As it turned out, the main mermaid character was not only a bit of a collector and explorer, but also a human fanatic. “Ugh,” Draxum grumbled as he grabbed a couple more pieces of the puffed-up corn-snack. Mikey gave him a bit of a look, but he ignored it. Just because he had been able to find a bit of common ground and comradery with his fellow lunch servers didn’t mean he was willing to give ALL humans a pass.

At least the mermaid’s father seemed to have some common sense. In fact, Draxum found himself nodding in agreement with nearly every scene the mer-king was in. ...Up until a certain point, at least.

Mikey winced a bit as the scene began. He resisted the urge to go into his shell like he always had when he was little, but he did sink a little in his seat as Triton stepped out of the shadows. When he noticed Draxum glancing over at him, Mikey simply mumbled, “I always hate this scene...”

A couple minutes and a destroyed grotto later, and Draxum could sort of see what Mikey meant, understanding how Triton’s act might have been “harsh”, as the orange-wearing turtle would’ve put it.

As the movie moved onto the next seen, Mikey relaxed a little, though a frown remained on his face... However, his expression of sadness soon became one of confusion as he felt a hand pat the top of his head.

“Uh... there, there,” Draxum mumbled, giving Mikey one more head-pat before retracting his hand. It was awkward as all heck, they both knew it, but seeing the sheepman somewhat care about his feelings still made Mikey smile.

It didn’t take much longer for Ursula to make her appearance, and as soon as the Sea Witch began talking of deals and trades, Draxum gave a small smirk of his own.

“What?” Mikey asked, tilting his head a bit.

“I didn’t realize Big Mama was in this movie.”

Mikey snorted at that. “So what, you tell jokes now?”

The sheep-man shrugged as he grabbed another handful of popcorn. “Just making an observation,” he said simply. As the scene went on though, his mind made another small connection - Ursula’s two eels reminding him of his own pair of pets, even if Flotsam and Jetsam were much more confident than his former goyles.

Even so, the reminder made his chest ache a little... Not in sadness, mind you, or because he actually missed them. No, clearly his chest ached for a completely different reason that he was sure he’d think of later.

Once the little mermaid made the contract and silenced herself, the film very much became a literal ‘fish out of water’ story, complete with plenty of amusing moments featuring misunderstandings and an over-abundance of cuteness, as well as another musical number. Thankfully, before things became too saccharine, Ursula launched the second half of her plan to rule the seas.

After that, the movie moved pretty quickly through its third act. Draxum was a bit annoyed at the human prince being the one to ultimately save the day in the end, but overall he could agree that the ending was a pretty happy one.

As the credits rolled, Mikey looked at him with eyes wide. “Sooooo, what do you think?”

Draxum cupped his chin in thought, staying silent for a few moments before finally speaking. “...If the king’s trident had the power of transformation, why didn’t he just turn the prince into a merman?”

Mikey’s face fell. “...That’s what you got out of it?”

“It’s a valid question!” Draxum argued, “Why should she have to be the one to transform?”

“Because she wasn’t just after the guy!” Mikey told him, resisting the urge to facepalm, “You saw her collection and heard her song, she wanted to be human! She was tired of bein’ stuck in the same ocean and wanted something new - something she thought was cool!”

“Hmph, I suppose that’s true... Plus, she still has the option to turn back into a mermaid later on thanks to her father’s power, so at least there’s that.”

The box turtle slumped back on the couch, disappointed though maybe not too surprised. “I guess that means you didn’t really like it, huh?”

There was a long moment of silence. “I didn’t completely agree with the ending but... the film overall wasn’t too bad,” Draxum conceded, “Not as bad as I thought it’d be, at least?”

“...You really mean that?” Mikey asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t waste my time lying about something as trivial as animated human-entertainment,” Draxum replied, “And... there were high production values. Characters were mostly understandable, and it was... cute. Not too annoying or insufferable. Even if it was still slightly inaccurate to actual mermaids and mermen.”

“...You know what, I’ll take it. And I’m glad you enjoyed the movie, and not just for my sake.” With a bit of a ‘whup’, Mikey sat up and tucked his legs under his body in a sort of lotus position. “Though, now I’m kinda curious. What’d the movie get wrong, and what else can you tell me about merpeople? I only ever saw one, on Hueso’s brother’s ship, but that was only for like a second.”

This time, it was Draxum’s turn to give him a look. “Really... The child who’s always pushing me to ‘embrace humans’ and hide my ‘mystic stuff’ is asking me to teach him about a member of Yokaikind?”

“Hey, I only to tell you to hide your mystic stuff so you don’t get yourself evicted, fired or arrested,” Mikey retorted, “I’m not the one goin’ around mutatin’ kids and/or lunches and making giant stone heads angry.”

“...Fair enough,” Draxum said, only slightly reluctant.

“But as far as I can figure, there’s no harm in just talking about mystic stuff. And as for my actual interest... Yeah, I really do wanna know.” Unable to help himself, Mikey directed his gaze towards the floor - down towards the Hidden City that he knew was there. That he only now knew was there. 

He wouldn’t have traded his life with his dad in the sewers of NYC for anything, but he would’ve been lying if he said there wasn’t a small part of him that wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up around people that looked like him in a city full of magic.

“We protect humans, but we don’t like only humans, you know,” Mikey continued, “We’ve got other mutant friends, and yokai friends too.” His smile softened. “Senor Hueso and Sunita and the chefs I’ve met at Run of the Mill, they’re all so amazing. And I’ve only seen, like, a fraction of the Hidden City but I know that’s amazing too, and I just... This city - the surface - is always gonna be my home, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the other city or wonder about it.” 

He finally looked back at Draxum, his eyes firm. “So yeah... I wanna know.”

There was another moment of silence between them, though within it, the slightest bit of connection was formed. Small and fragile, but no less noticeable.

“...Fine,” Draxum finally agreed, “But pay attention, I don’t want to repeat myself later. First off, no merperson has the same skin tone as a human. They range between greens, blues and grays to help blend in with oceans. Their eyes are also much wider than a human’s to help them hunt.”

“Makes sense to me!” Mikey smiled, leaning back on his hands a little, though looking no less attentive. Even when the TV turned to quiet static, he kept his focus right on Draxum - a gesture the former warrior-scientist certainly appreciated, even if he didn’t say so outright.

“Merpeople are also able to survive outside of water. While mobility becomes an issue depending on how often they’re moving or traveling, they have no issues living on land - hence why some take to living on air-boats as a sort of compromise, plus it helps them travel across bodies of water in a shorter amount of time. They also don’t eat humans, despite the lies told about them, though they can be territorial when they are in the water - although you can’t blame them, especially if fish start to become scarce. Furthermore-”

It was sort of nice... Sure, Mikey had plenty he wanted to show and teach Draxum about humankind - and if all went well, then maybe there was a chance of Draxum having a change of heart. Maybe their technical creator wasn’t totally evil, and maybe one day, he really would be a better person and would understand what he and his family already knew. Mikey certainly hoped that would end up being the case...

But, in the meantime, maybe Mikey would end up learning a little from Draxum too. And honestly, as long as it wasn’t lecture series about ‘effectively destroying humans’ or anything like that, the orange turtle didn’t see anything wrong with that at all.

THE END

[bleufrost]

Frozen Embers || Chapter Two

Loki x reader

Series Preview/General Story Guide

Warnings: swearing, very conflicted emotions, some violence but nothing bad

Series summary: Growing up under the guidance of S.H.I.E.L.D, you were trained from the moment you could walk to be a good agent. You were everything you needed to be, but the emotions and empathy that ran through your blood tainted all of your hard work. One day, you are given the chance to prove yourself by being assigned to the cell of Loki, the god of mischief. Quickly, icy walls begin to melt as you both realize that your time together is bringing forth a mix of flame and frost that can only end in chaos.

Original request by: @procrastinatinglikeabitch

Masterlist

A/N: MY HIATUS DIDNT LAST THAT LONG!! YAY! im trying not to let myself wallow too much because i feel like laying in bed all day just makes me sadder, so lets try to write instead haha

and here we have chapter twooo! after this it gets a lot more...interesting. as always, i hope you guys enjoy, and love you all!

As you walk over to the training deck to meet Fury, your mind can't help but turn over the events that had just transpired. Loki had acted so nonchalant as you left, if not for the vocalization of his desire to see you again, you would have thought him to be indifferent about the entire situation. 

But he had called out to you. He had made it very clear that seeing you again was not only something he would endure, but also something that he wanted. It made your heart beat rapidly in your chest and brought a smile to your face. You weren’t foolish enough to believe that the words meant anything, the way in which he had spoken them promised nothing but a craving to simply not be alone, yet you were still somewhat giddy. 

"I hope to hell that smile isn't a result of you meeting that psychotic motherfucker." You quickly replace the look on your face with one of annoyance and roll your eyes at Fury. "That's real mature, sir. Maybe I'm smiling because I get to see your pretty face." 

Fury chuckles but you instantly regret the banter when you see him look up. "Barton! Smartass here wants to act like a punk, I was going to have her train with one of the new cadets, but why don’t we have her work with you again instead?” Fury smiles at you, giving you a mock salute as he heads for the door. You groan and get ready for another ass kicking at the hands of your favorite archer.

***********************

As your head slams against the mat for the seemingly hundredth time that afternoon, Clint comes once again to reach a hand out to you and pull you up. You give him your hand, but this time you let all your weight drop as he moves to pull. For almost anyone else, that would’ve ended in him falling to the mat beside you; Clint wasn’t anyone else though. He gives you a disapproving look, but quickly softens when he sees how genuinely exhausted you are. 

“You alright kid?” You lift your knees up, resting your arms against the tops of them as you let out a long sigh. Clint takes that as his cue, and gently takes a seat beside you.

“I met Loki today.” He becomes visibly uncomfortable at the mention of the god’s name, rightfully so considering the things he had endured at the mercy of Loki. 

“I don’t know why they’re sending you in to do that kind of stuff. You’re too young to be dealing with things like that.”

“Well, I have to prove myself somehow, right? I’m just not sure how smoothly this will go.” Clint places a hand on your knee and squeezes gently. “If it gets bumpy, I’m right here.” You offer Clint a smile before pushing yourself up and reaching your hand out to help lift him too. 

That night you couldn’t sleep. Every time your eyes fell shut, you saw the mischievous god smiling before you. That same feeling of uncertainty settled in the pit of your stomach as you pondered over whether you should run to or from the god. All the warning signs, every instinct you had been taught, gut feelings and red flags; none of it mattered. You always chose to run to him and that should have been a huge signal to abort, but you couldn’t. 

Or maybe you just didn’t want to.

In the morning you were barely able to register waking up because you couldn’t remember falling asleep in the first place. 

You took extra care in the bathroom after leaving your bed; something you didn’t want to admit to. For some reason your hand reached for the perfume you had for special occasions. He wouldn’t be able to smell you through the walls of the cell, so why do it? You put on another black protocol outfit, but this time it was one you felt confident in; one you felt irresistible in. You don’t even fully realize you had done any of that until you finally snap out of it. 

Standing in front of the heavy metal door once more, you slide your key in just like yesterday. Your heeled boots click against the cold tile just as they did last time, but this time you don’t waver or try to stop the noise. You want him to know you’re coming. 

Loki had spent the entire day thinking about you. It was in no way something he found any pride in, in fact he was nearly humiliated by just how much of his time had been consumed by thoughts of you. He was trying to justify it in his mind; you were the first being he had come in contact with for quite some time, there was nothing special about you specifically. He would have been just as relieved to see the man of iron as he was to see you. Deep down though, he knew this wasn’t the case. 

There had been something about you that sparked his curiosity. You were an agent, that he knew. What he could not for the life of him understand is how you could be so wide eyed and innocent. You were so gentle, so kind hearted, so delicately human. In this case though, Loki felt that being so was not a downfall. On you, humanity was radiant and he was desperate to interact with you more. 

He would get that wish very soon.

"Loki?" Your voice rang through the hall as you stared at the god, trying to call his attention. Loki grinned, but you didn't take notice as he wiped the smile from his face before turning away from the wall to face you.

"Pet, you've returned." Walking toward you nearly silently, his face took on the familiar mischievous look that you had already grown to recognize. You could tell immediately that he was going to take any opportunity he could to be condescending or make you feel the necessity to leave, so you decided early on that you wouldn't give him the chance.

"I brought something. It's obviously not going to be as entertaining as I'm sure you're used to, but I thought you might enjoy it nonetheless." Smiling, you sat cross legged on the floor in front of him. 

Loki stayed standing for a moment, his mischief laced demeanor slowly transforming to one of curiosity as he pondered over whether or not to trust what you had brought him. 

You took notice of his hesitancy, and brought your bag out to open in front of you. Pulling out two books, you laid them down for him to see, smiling gently up at him to encourage him to take a closer look and, perhaps, trust you. The god still seemed unsure, but he finally leaned down to see what you had taken the time to bring.

"Hamlet…" His fingers reached out to trace the glass by each title as he read their names aloud. "...Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus…" 

His eyes were filled with questioning as he finally looked back up to you. "What am I to do with these? I cannot take them inside of my cell." Suddenly you got nervous as you wondered if offering to read to a god was truly a childish act. Your stomach filled with worry and subtle regret that nearly closed around your throat before you cleared it of the unmistakable fear and spoke up.

"I was thinking we could read together, or at least I could read to you for a while. It's...difficult to trust someone new at first and I don't expect you to want to speak to me right away. I know I wouldn't want to if I were in your position. I figured, hearing someone else's story can be a bit more comforting than sharing your own, at least for now." Your cheeks took on a pink tint as you mustered the courage to look him in the eye and grew self conscious of the rambling mess that had flown from your lips. 

"Do all humans speak so much when they are nervous?" Looking down quickly, the twist of your gut could be felt again as your embarrassment grew. "I'm sorry." The light sound of amusement startled you, and Loki stayed leaning down still and laughing; at you most likely. You had the urge to leave, but just as you moved to turn away from him Loki sat down in front of you and smiled, this one was different though, it felt oddly sincere. 

"Don't apologize. It's oddly endearing to see one act so unabashedly human." Loki reached his hands up and spread them out to indicate the two books. "Now, pet. Which story would you prefer to start with?" 

Nearly four hours later, the two of you were still there reading from Mary Shelley's classic story. Your bodies had shifted several times, at first keeping that distance between you. As the hours flew by though, you both found yourselves sat with your sides pressed against the glass next to each other. It almost felt like the layer that separated your bodies wasn't there at times, but it was and it would permanently remain so. 

You shouldn't want it to be gone, it was there to protect you. It was there to ensure he could never hurt you. That he could never grab you, or touch you, or hold you. 

You needed to stop thinking like that. It wasn't safe, he wasn't safe; right? 

"Pet, you've grown quiet." His voice startled you out of your thoughts and suddenly you realized just how close you two had become. You sat up suddenly and shut the book, doing everything in your power to not alert Loki to the fact that your heart was thumping loudly in your chest. Your hands shook slightly and you wrung them together to hide the telltale sign of nervousness. 

"Sorry, I think I'm feeling a little tired. I'll be back soon okay?" You tried your best to put on the most convincing smile you could and watched as he nodded slowly. He didn't believe that you were completely alright, but he also was not about to beg you to stay...at least not out loud. 

"Alright, rest up little one. I will await your return with every fiber of my being." It was a shock to hear him say that, and your face unfortunately let it show as he quickly turned away and went to busy himself with something else within his cell. 

Did he really just admit that he was waiting for you to come back? That he wanted you to come back to him? Of course he had said a similar thing the first time you met, but this time it felt far more profound, far more personal. Your head was a mess as you left the holding area and made your way back to your room. 

***********************

Once again, your mind raced with concerns and confusion all night. You had only just met the god and still felt so tightly bound to him, it wasn't natural. There had to be some sort of explanation for what was happening. He had mind controlled Clint before, he could be doing the same to you, right? No. He had held the power of the Tesseract then and no longer wielded such power now. 

In that case, it must be your own fatal flaw. You were a disgrace for a S.H.I.E.L.D agent because your empathy ran too high and too untamed. Now was no different and you had to learn to control your emotions if you were ever going to figure out the god and report your findings to the agency. You wanted to understand him...but did you really want to betray him? 

Unbeknownst to you, your fearful conflict was shared in the mind and heart of Loki himself as he paced within his holding cell. He had allowed it to slip that he awaited your return to him in a far more intimate way than he should have allowed, and that made him feel utterly humiliated. He was a god and you were nothing but a puny human, but even he could not deny that your lack of anger or restraint in allowing yourself to be open and understanding toward him was enchanting. It comforted him to know someone so gentle could care for him. But you didn’t care for him, did you? 

The general panic and unease that was shared between you both seemed to transcend any wall or cage that kept you from each other. Neither one of you were able to share any communication as you lay in your bed and he in his cell, yet there was a connection that caused you both to understand you weren't alone.

It was all in one a comfort and an unwavering cause for alarm to know that you held such a strong connection to someone you had nearly just met. As much as you tried to fight it off, It was undeniable that a flame was ignited, and fires like these only proved to grow with every attempt to extinguish them.

_______________________

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[jaeminhours]

Wild Things | Chapter Two

SUMMARY | For you and your friends, street racing is just a hobby, a game. But newfound feelings and realizations suddenly make things seem much more real. In which you and Na Jaemin thrive off danger, but everything comes with a price.

PAIRING | Jaemin x Reader ft. Renjun

CATEGORY | street racing au, angst

WORD COUNT | 5.2k

WARNINGS | implied/referenced depression, underage drinking

SONG REC | If I Believe You - The 1975

Preview | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five

Things always get worse before they get better.

That’s what you told yourself Friday evening, when Jaemin came through the door with a bag of takeout, dropping it on the stained kitchen counter before collapsing into his bed, face-first. You would have been less worried if he’d come storming in, eyes ablaze as he slammed the door behind him, but then again, that wasn’t something Jaemin would do. 

You and Jeno shared a worried glance at the sight of Jaemin’s blank face, and the two of you hurried took a seat next to him. You sat on the edge of Jaemin’s bed, your hand pressed soothingly to his back, as Jeno sat down across from you, on his own bed. “Jaems.” you said, and at the sound of the nickname Jaemin visibly exhaled.

“Dad called today.” he murmured, his voice muffled by his pillow. “I wish he wouldn’t. I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

“Oh, Jaemin.” you said, and you ran your fingers lightly over his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Jaemin shook his head. “Not really.”

“We’re here if you need us, Nana.” Jeno said, his voice soft, just above a whisper.

“I don’t!” Jaemin replied, sharp and loud, and your eyes widened, glancing at Jeno, who seemed just as taken aback as you.

“Jaemin–” you started, but Jaemin interrupted you by sitting up. His head was in his hands as he rubbed at his eyes, and his breathing was shallow but deep at the same time, as if he was trying not to cry. His face was puffy, and his eyes were just barely rimmed with red.

“I just want to be alone tonight, please. Can I crash at your place?”

“Of course.” you said, and nodded, and Jaemin stood up again, grabbing some pajamas and the spare key off the key rack. Jaemin stopped just before he walked out the door, muttered a quiet “I’m sorry”, and then left without another word.

It was Jeno’s turn to place his head in his hands, sighing as he shook his head. “I hate his dad.”

“I do too.”

“This needs to stop. Everything, all of it.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“I mean, he can’t keep doing this to himself. He needs to get better, Y/N. I know he wants to. He just doesn’t know how to start.” Jeno’s eyes were dark and sincere, his voice quiet, yet firm as he locked gazes with you.

“I don’t know how to help him.” you confessed, and Jeno took your hand, holding it between his own.

“I know. Neither do I. We’ll figure it out, though. I promise. Together.” he said and locked pinkies with you, smiling playfully.

“Together.”

God, you loved Jeno. In the dark years of high school, Jeno had always been a beacon of light for you and Jaemin, a refuge from everything going on in your lives. Sometimes, in a few, rare, selfish moments, often when you were mad at Jaemin for doing something stupid, you’d wonder why Jeno was still friends with someone like Jaemin, since he’d changed so drastically after he’d become a teenager. You’d all changed, except for Lee Jeno. He was the same boy you met twelve years ago, in dance class, the same boy who wore hair ties on his wrist in case you forgot yours, the same boy who always carried painkillers in his backpack for his friends. Jeno had given so much up for the two of you, had followed you so far, all because he loved his friends. Jeno did the same things you did, raced and risked his life and future on the road just like you did, but he didn’t need to. He could’ve done so much more, and because of that, you often felt guilty. And it sucked, because Jeno always knew the right thing to say.

You decided to sleep over at Jeno’s, in Jaemin’s bed. When you came back to your room to grab your toothbrush, carefully closing the door behind you, Jaemin was already knocked out, buried under the sheets of your bed. His hair was swept away from his forehead, and his lips were parted as he slept. You sat down at the edge of the bed, rubbing away a smudge of dirt on his cheekbone with your thumb.

Jaemin looked so peaceful, when he was sleeping. The frown was gone, his skin smooth, and soft breaths escaping from his lips with each rise and fall of his chest. You leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to his warm forehead, before standing up, but a hand around your wrist suddenly stopped you.

“Wait.”

Jaemin’s voice was soft, and hesitant, his grip on your wrist loose.

“I’m sorry.” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you and Jeno like that.”

You sat back down, and slipped your hand into Jaemin’s. “It’s alright, I was just worried. That wasn’t like you, Jaems.”

It wasn’t. No matter how bad one of Jaemin’s moods got, he almost never snapped at either you or Jeno. Maybe to other people he seemed rough around the edges and hard-cut, but you knew the real Jaemin. That was all that mattered.

“Let’s go out tomorrow, hmm? Just you, me, and Jen. Just us.” you murmured, brushing a strand from Jaemin’s forehead with your fingers.

“We can go see a movie before the race. Calm your nerves.”

“That sounds nice.” Jaemin hummed, closing his eyes under your touch.

“Do you still want to be alone tonight?”

“Yeah. I just… need some time to think.” he replied, frowning.

“Don’t think too hard, okay? Sometimes it’s better to just… let things go. Just for the night, at least.”

“Alright.” Jaemin murmured. “I’ll… try.”

“That’s all that matters. Goodnight, Jaems. I love you.”

“I love you too, Y/N.”

Jaemin’s eyes followed you to the door, dark, but soft, his lips whispering a soft goodnight as you switched the lights off, and closed the door behind you.

~

And, like always, it did get better. You woke up that morning to the weight of a warm body on yours, as Jaemin flopped down on top of you in the middle of your sleep, at the ripe hour of 8 AM. His head was buried in the crook of your shoulder, his lips brushing against your neck, giggling as you tried to push him off.

“Rise and shine!”

“Jaemin, you’re heavy, get off.”

“Only if you get up. I made pancakes.”

“Pancakes? With blueberries?”

“Pancakes. With blueberries.”

You groaned, and Jaemin slid off of you, falling dramatically to the floor as you stood on wobbly legs.

Jeno was sitting at the counter, a bottle of syrup in hand, and a smirk plastered on his face as he watched you and Jaemin.

“Having fun?”

You stuck your tongue out at him before taking a seat next to him, stealing the syrup from his hands.

“What’s the plan today, boys?”

“Not much. Just the meet-up tonight.” Jeno mumbled around his pancakes. “Oh, and Renjun’s coming this time. Hyuck says he’s curious.”

Jaemin snorted, and you shot him a short glare. “Play nice, Jaemin.” you warned, and he smirked back at you.

“Don’t worry, princess. I’ll be good.”

His words made you flush, and you missed the pancakes as you brought your fork down, slipping your elbow onto your syrup-filled plate.

“Fuck!”

Jeno and Jaemin shrieked in laughter as you shot up from the table, groaning as you felt the wet, sticky patch on your elbow.

You signed, moving to Jaemin’s drawers and picking a shirt, peeling your own off and sliding the soft material over your head. If there was one thing that you’d gotten used to the in the close confines of Jeno and Jaemin’s practically one-room apartment, it was being seen in various states of undress. It didn’t matter, you’d always thought, because you’d been friends since you were children, and you’d never looked at each other like that, so it was okay.

Even so, you still felt Jaemin’s gaze on the expanse of your back, sending needles running up your spine.

“You guys are assholes.” you said, turning around as you smoothed out the wrinkles in Jaemin’s shirt.

“Also, Jen.” you began. “Jaemin and I were thinking about going to see a movie today, before the meet-up. Just the three of us.”

Jeno winced. “I’m busy today, sorry guys. I promised Hyuck I’d show Renjun around town before the meet-up today. Let him get a feel of the place, you know?”

“It’s fine, Jeno, really.” you promised. “It’ll just be the two of us then, I guess.”

Jeno still looked guilty, his eyes flashing to Jaemin. You could tell he wanted to be with Jaemin, craved being close to his best friend again. After all, it had been the two of them before you had been added into the mix, best friends since the age of two.

“Jeno.” you murmured. “It’s okay. Another time.”

Jeno nodded, flashing you a grateful smile.

It was quiet after that, silent as you ate without words. Jaemin had a small frown on his face, but it smoothed out as you took his hand underneath the table, rubbing circles into the top of his hand. Jaemin sighed, and suddenly everything was right with the world again, the cool warmth of the morning sun filtering through the windows, warming your skin even in the chill of the early hours.

~

It didn’t end up being the two of you that night, much to your disappointment. According to a very guilty looking Jeno, Donghyuck had decided that it would be a fantastic idea to arrive at the movie theater with both Renjun and Jeno in tow, Jeno muttering angrily into Donghyuck’s ear.

“What are they doing here?” Jaemin hissed, his eyes dark.

You grabbed his hand, standing closer to him. “It’s okay, Jaemin. They don’t mean any harm.”

Donghyuck greeted you enthusiastically, oblivious to the palpable tension between Renjun and Jaemin, who was glaring daggers at Renjun for no apparent reason.

“Hey, Y/N.” Renjun said, and you returned his soft smile.

“Hey, Renjun.” you replied, and tugged on Jaemin’s sleeve to get him to do the same. He mumbled a short greeting before turning away to talk with Jeno and Donghyuck.

“I’m sorry about this.” Renjun said ruefully. “The way Jeno talked about tonight made it seem like you wanted to be alone, but Donghyuck insisted, and well… you know how hard it is to say no to him.”

“It’s fine, Renjun.” you said, giggling. “It’s no big deal. We’re happy to have you, really.”

You heard a faint scoff from the background it no mind, focusing instead on Renjun’s dark, sincere eyes.

Renjun was sweet. Everything about the boy was softer than what you were used too, so different compared to Jaemin’s rough edges. He was even different from Jeno, who, although having the same sweet smile and gentle eyes, had been tainted by your and Jaemin’s demons. He listened intently, nodding as you talked and offering kind words in return. He was too easy to talk to, so easy that you found yourself spilling everything you’d ever held close to your chest. During the movie, you sat in between Renjun and Jaemin, and he’d lean over and whisper something funny or sarcastic or witty about the film, commenting on the love interest’s horribly cliché personality or the way the protagonist blinked too much to be normal. He made you laugh, much to Jaemin’s disdain, but you were having a good time, and so was Jeno, and it had been far too long since you’d been able to laugh like this, without the need of danger and adrenaline or alcohol. It was freeing, and within only a few hours Renjun had managed to lift what felt like a million pounds off of your chest, and now you could finally, finally breathe.

You and Renjun exchanged numbers at the end of the night, waving goodbye to each other enthusiastically as he and Donghyuck walked back to Donghyuck’s car. Jeno turned to you and Jaemin, pouting apologetically.

“I’m so sorry guys, I shouldn’t have told him you went to see a movie, it’s just, you know Hyuck and what he’s like. I don’t know how he does it!”

You laughed. “It’s fine, Jeno. I had a good time, I promise.” you said, patting Jeno’s back. “Are we meeting back up at the spot, then?”

Jeno nodded. “Yeah, I’ll drive us back to the shop to pick everything up and then Jaemin and I will meet you there after we’re finished.”

“Sounds good.”

And just like that, the tranquility and calm and contentment disappeared, and the game began.

 Jaemin was undoubtedly one of the best—if not the best—racers in the city, and after so many years of knowing him, of living with him, you knew the reason why he was so good was because he was desperate. Not for money, or recognition, or even bragging rights. Those were just bonuses, and the only reason he got to enjoy them was because of one thing. He was desperate for the experience, the feeling the wind tangling through his hair through the rolled down window, the exhilaration of winning, knowing that he can do something right, that there’s one thing he doesn’t have to let go of.

The thumping of his heartbeat, raging against the iron cage of his chest except this time it wasn’t from fear or panic, but excitement and confidence. He was addicted to it because of the way he felt so separated from the world, from everyone else, from his problems and his parents and absolutely everything else. It freed him from everything, let him finally breathe. Who were you to deny him that, when it made him so happy, when it made him so high? You figured it was better than letting him shoot heroin under the dirty old bridge by the highway. Racing wasn’t really for you, not anymore. It was for Jaemin, and it always had been. You were just a bystander, a background character to Jaemin’s tragic story.

But it was worth it, seeing him happy and bright and alive. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, it was worth it.

Wasn’t it?

The roar of Jaemin’s car coming down the dimly lit road caught your attention, the chestnut-haired boy rolling up the railing, where they would start.

The thing about street racing was that however big of a deal people made of it within the ring, it was shockingly unofficial. None of the racers drove actual race cars—that was far too conspicuous—and they started on the basis of some middle-aged man on the sidelines waving a bright red flag down with a digital stopwatch in his hand. They’d start on a road the police couldn’t catch them on, and then sometimes, when traffic was low and they were feeling especially confident, they’d merge onto to the highway, blending in with the traffic before finding an opening and suddenly roaring to life, revving their engines as they streaked mercilessly down the pavement.

It was dumb and it was dangerous, but you hadn’t yet learned how such reckless actions often had devastating consequences.

Jaemin rolled down his window, smiling at you. “Come with me today, Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes, but you didn’t object, climbing in as he pushed the door open for you. “You better not kill me, you bastard.” you muttered, buckling your seatbelt, but Jaemin just chuckled, patting your thigh.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’d never hurt my baby.”

“Baby?” you spluttered, staring at him incredulously. “What??”

Jaemin  stared at you, one eyebrow raised, and spoke slowly. “My car, Y/N, yeah. What did you think I meant?”

You flushed, feeling your ears burn as you stared out the window, not meeting his eyes, and desperately pretending you didn’t see his lips quirk up at the ends.

“I knew… that you meant your car. Yeah.”

He laughed. “Okay, princess. You ready?”

It always started off fast, unrelenting and heart-pounding before everyone on the road found their pace. Jaemin was the most reckless of all, speeding through the alleyway until he got onto a busier road, and then he floored it. There was the sound of angry yells and honks as Jaemin’s engine roared down the street. Out here, Jaemin demanded attention. Everything was loud and chaotic and it was everything Jaemin craved, and out here he was untouchable.

He wanted all eyes on him, the full attention of everyone watching, even if those eyes were those of someone unsavory. The flash of police lights were not unfamiliar, but they still sent panic shooting through your chest. This was why you didn’t race anymore—because of them.

“Jaemin.” you said, your voice a little higher than usual.

Jaemin’s eyes were a little tighter than usual, but he still managed to send you a comforting smile. “I know. I got it, don’t worry.”

Donghyuck’s voice came through the communications system installed in Jaemin’s car. “Jaemin, someone said you got the cops on your tail. Everything good?”

Jaemin nodded, and you leaned forward and pressed the button by the small speaker. “I think we’ve got it covered. Thanks, Hyuck.”

“Don’t get caught.” he said one last time, and then the radio cut out.

Jaemin revved his engine, and suddenly you were shooting down the street, drifting between Hondas and Toyotas and Priuses amidst furious yells and curses. The sirens behind you would’ve been disconcerting to anyone else, but Jaemin was almost comfortable amongst the chaos.

The thing about the police is that they were careful. They didn’t take risks.

Jaemin did, and that was why he always won these games.

Eventually, like they always did, the cops fell behind, and Jaemin was laughing. He’d managed not to stray from the path that had been set out for the racers the previous week, and there was no doubt in your mind that he was winning.

Jaemin always won. Jaemin never lost, not to anybody, not even to Jeno.

The after-party that Donghyuck held at his house every week was loud and chaotic and something you both looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. Donghyuck only ever invited your inner circle: you, Jaemin, Jeno, Mark, Chenle, and Jisung, and maybe sometimes a couple of the older boys who hung out around the shop, like Johnny or Doyoung or Taeyong, who all happened to be there today, amongst others. It was a larger group than usual today, and Renjun was there too, bobbing his head just slightly to the pounding music. Mark was talking animatedly with the boy, both their faces breaking out in wide smiles as Mark laughed at something Renjun had said. Jaemin headed straight for the drinks, so you headed towards the two of them, sending Renjun a small smile. Mark left as soon as you arrived, pulled away by a whining Donghyuck clinging to his leather-clad arm. The dim red light washed over Renjun’s face, painting his skin with a scarlet tint.

“Hey.” Renjun said. “Good to see you again.”

You smiled. “Hey, Renjun. How was the race?”

He frowned, leaning forward until his face was a couple inches from yours, and pointed to his ear with one finger. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” he yelled over the music.

“I said, ‘how was the race?’”

He broke out into a smile, then put a hand on your shoulder, moving you to the couch, where it was a little quieter. “It was good.” he answered. “I would never do anything like that, but it was fun to watch, see who won.”

Viewers only ever saw the start and end of the races unless they drove with one of the racers, like you did with Jaemin that day. Usually, they stayed for the promise of money from the wagers they placed before the race. Sometimes, they stayed to make sure their friends would make it to the end of the track. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t.

“Why don’t you race?” Renjun asked.

“It’s not really my thing anymore. I just did it because Jaemin did, but I wasn’t that good. I kept freezing up all the time. Jeno’s good, though, so he still does it.”

Renjun nodded in understanding. “I’m glad you don’t do it.”

You cocked your head to the side. “Why not?”

Renjun smiled at you, his lips curving up at the corners. “Because it means you’re safe.”

Your eyes widened at him, your lips parting as you took in his sincere expression. His eyes were kind, and warm, a stark contrast to Jaemin’s sharp and cutting gaze. You wondered briefly what Renjun was doing here, with all these boys who didn’t know where they were or where they were going or just had nowhere to go. Renjun knew what he was doing, you knew. He was in med school, training to be a doctor, and you’d never thought a profession could fit someone so well. Even more so than Jeno, Renjun was healing. He was warm, while Jaemin was hot and burned your skin if you got too close. Renjun was daisies and daffodils in a spring meadow, while Jaemin was crimson blood against the startling white of the snow in the depths of winter. Renjun was a tranquil pond, the touch of dragonflies against the surface of the water the only disturbance in sight, while Jaemin was a raging river, white froth climbing from the rocks below to swallow you whole. Renjun was the perfect temperature, neither hot nor cold and always constant, and you got the feeling that if it was Renjun who you’d grown up with instead of Jaemin, you wouldn’t be where you were now. You wouldn’t be walking on eggshells to keep a smile on the other’s face, and you wouldn’t care so much.

Because that was always the problem, wasn’t it? Jaemin was by no means a bad friend. He was caring, and giving, and sensitive, but he was broken, and that had overshadowed the Jaemin you’d once known when you were young. You remembered your senior year of high school, holding Jaemin’s hand as he sobbed into your shoulder, sounds muffled by the fabric of your sweater and the shouts from the other room rippling through the apartment. You remembered his empty looks and blank stare, and you remembered promising yourself that you wouldn’t leave him, that you would fix him. But he hadn’t been fixed, and you didn’t know how to keep trying anymore.

It was nice not to have to worry about that stuff when you talked to Renjun. Your heart didn’t race the same way it did around Jaemin, pounding in your throat. It was calming.

And deep, deep down, you almost felt guilty, although you didn’t quite understand why.

By the time you found Jaemin again, he was spread out on Donghyuck’s bed, mouth open as he stared up at the ceiling. He was drunk, heavy breaths escaping his lungs with each labored exhale.

“Oh, Jaemin.” you muttered, sighing as you pulled him off the bed and slinging his arm over your shoulders. You hauled him out the door of Donghyuck’s bedroom, shooting a look at Jeno, who quickly came to support Jaemin’s other side.

Jeno took Jaemin home, while you stayed behind to help Donghyuck and Renjun clean up, sweeping the red solo cups up from the dirtied hardwood floor and wiping stains from the carpet. Renjun offered you a ride home, opening the door to his sleek black car for you to climb in. He turned the music on to a low melody, the ring of violins and cellos flowing gently throughout the stifled air of the car. Drops of rain dripped gently down the windows, like streams of tears forming flowing paths down the fogged glass. It didn’t matter that it was summer. It always seemed to rain here.

“You love him.” Renjun mused, and you whipped your head around to stare at him.

“Who?” you asked, your eyes wide.

“Jaemin. The way you look at him… it’s… I can just tell.”

You laughed, a sick feeling rising from your stomach and lodging itself in your throat. “We’re friends, Renjun. I don’t like him like that.”

Renjun shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I saw. It’s up to you whether you want to act on it or not.”

You didn’t answer him, instead electing to stare through the window as blurred lights rushed past, memorized with the rush of the windshield wipers across the window.

“I won’t.” you murmured, and Renjun glanced at you.

“If you ever need someone to just talk to, get some things off your chest, I’m here. Whenever.” he said, his voice quiet.

“Thank you.” you whispered, gazing at Renjun. He offered you a small smile before clearing his throat, pulling the car up to your apartment complex.

“Text me, Y/N. Let’s hang out sometime.”

You waved Renjun goodbye, climbing up the stairs to your room and decidedly passing Jeno and Jaemin’s room. The dry warmth of your apartment made you sigh in contentment, and you stripped off your damp clothes, pulling on a pair of thin sleep shorts and one of Jaemin’s t-shirts. Its hem brushed your thighs, and it was warm and smelled like Jaemin, like coffee and vanilla. You quickly brushed your teeth and washed your face, and you were about to climb into bed when you heard the lock of your door clip open. You turned to see Jaemin stumbling in, his eyes still slightly dazed, cheeks flushed and dyed brown hair mussed. You immediately banished the thought that your best friend looked cute as hell into the back of your mind, shaking your head and taking a step towards him.

“Nana?” you said, your voice lifting up at the end as he kept getting closer. “Are you feeling better?”

He kept walking forward, until he was just a foot away from you, his eyes boring into your own. “Why didn’t you come back with us?” he asked, his words muddled with both alcohol and sleep.

You gulped. “I was helping Donghyuck clean up. With Renjun.” you answered steadily.

Jaemin’s eyes darkened. “I don’t like him.” he growled, and you snorted.

“I can tell, Jaemin. You’re not subtle.”

Jaemin took a step forward, and now his face was only a couple inches from your own, his hot breath stinging your skin. “Please don’t leave me, Y/N. I can’t…” his sentence tapered off, his eyes squeezing shut, as if his head was pounding.

“I won’t, Nana. I would never.”

“I know.”

Jaemin was too close, you realized. You could both feel and hear every breath he took, saw every rise and fall of his chest and every flick of his eyes as they travelled back and forth between your eyes and your lips.

“Just this once…” he murmured, and his eyes were hooded, half-closed. You should have shoved him away, but you couldn’t find the will to move your arms, to move anything, as Jaemin’s mouth met yours.

His mouth was hot, leaving open-mouthed kisses on your lips, and you let him, and then you felt yourself kissing him back, playing his game. It was slow, at first, gentle and sweet, before Jaemin began to rush as if he was running out of time. He nipped at your bottom lip, and then his mouth moved from your own to your jaw, and down to the junction of your neck. His lips burned your skin, leaving kiss-shaped scars seared across your heart, your soul, the very fabric of your being until all you were and all you had ever been suddenly and completely belonged to Na Jaemin. His lips moved back to your mouth, and his hand moved under your shirt, travelling up your thigh to grip at your hip, and that was when you snapped out of it, shoving at his chest until you fell apart from each other, panting.

“Why?” you gasped, and your eyes were wide, disbelieving. “Why did you do that, Jaemin?”

Jaemin brought his fingers to his lips, brushing the tip of his index finger across his lips and a faraway look in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” he whispered.

“Jaemin, we can’t.” you cried. “We can’t do this.”

His head snapped up, and his eyes were beginning to rim with red, his eyes angry, and the sight of tears forming at his waterline made you burn with guilt. “Why can’t we? What’s stopping us?”

“We shouldn’t.” you said, your voicing raising slightly.

“Why shouldn’t we?” Jaemin demanded.

“I like you, Y/N.” he said, his eyes softening. “I’m—"

You cut him off. “I don’t want to!”

Jaemin’s eyes widened, and the first tear fell. You watched it trace its path down Jaemin’s cheek and off the line of his jaw, dropping to the carpeted floor and disappearing. And then another one, and another one, and suddenly Na Jaemin was crying.

You needed to finish this, regardless of how much it hurt your heart, how much you knew you’d regret it. But even though your heart was telling you one thing, your brain was saying something else, and experience had told you which one to trust.

“It’s one thing to be friends with someone like you, Jaemin. It’s another to be in a relationship with them.”

“What do you mean?” Jaemin whispered, and your heart broke at his expression.

“I hate you seeing you like this, Jaemin.” you said, hating every word coming out of your mouth. “I don’t want to be responsible for your happiness like that, I’m so sorry. I can’t.”

You were crying now, too, because hearing the thoughts you’d been thinking for so long finally erupt made you realize how harsh they were, how much they were ripping into Jaemin’s soul. Jaemin had collapsed onto the stool by the kitchen counter, his head buried in his hands as he sobbed. You tried to block out the noises, knowing some of it was just because he was drunk. This wasn’t Jaemin, not really.

Jaemin stood up, wiping the tears from his face, refusing to meet your gaze, and marched out the door, slamming it behind him and leaving you standing silently in the middle of your apartment.

It was eerily silent, after that, only the sound of the summer rain drizzling outside. You tried not to regret what you’d just said, what you’d just given up. But it’s hard when you lose something you’ve been wanting for so long, and there’s nobody to blame but yourself.

You remembered the seventh grade, one rainy night after you and Jaemin stayed late at school. You’d walked home together, and Jaemin had held his sweatshirt over your head, letting the rain soak his body instead. You remembered the first feeling of a racing heart because of something other than third period gym as his warm hand embraced your own, as his side brushed yours and he offered you a wide smile. You remembered watching the droplets of rain hanging onto his dark eyelashes, and the way they brushed against his cheek as he blinked.

You remembered all of this that night, and the sky cried with you.

Preview | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five

a/n: don’t street race kids! it’s dangerous and jaemin is an idiot. thanks for reading!! <3

[sapphicscholar]

A/N: Today's chapter is a little shorter, but it made sense to keep it as one coherent scene instead of mixing it in with the next one, which is much longer and will be up on Sunday morning! As always, your comments never fail to make me smile even when it's been a shitty day at work, so thank you for that :)

Chapter Text:

After a long Wednesday spent in meetings with J’onn after his talks with the head of the NCPD Science Division, Alex was grateful to have the opportunity to lock herself away in her lab for most of the day on Thursday, taking a break only to spar with a few of the younger recruits who’d gotten a bit too cocky in the field and needed to be reminded of how little they still knew.

She’d gotten a few teasing remarks and questions when she brought down real soap and conditioner and a hair dryer into the locker rooms to shower afterward, but a stern glare was enough to send them scampering back to their stations. It certainly wasn’t that she was trying to impress Maggie, but she also didn’t want to show up drenched in sweat or smelling funny.

After setting up a few tests to run overnight in the lab, Alex pulled on her coat and headed down to the garage to make it to the bar on time.

She swept through the city streets, weaving in and out of the traffic congestion around the most popular bars and restaurants into a slightly smaller but equally loud neighborhood. Drink specials flashed at her from colorful signs and music wafted into the streets from rooftop bars and open windows.

Counting down the numbered blocks until she got to 32nd Street, Alex pulled into the closest parking spot she could find, walking the last few feet to the bar. Not seeing Maggie yet, Alex strolled inside, taking in the surroundings. It was a more eclectic crowd than she was used to these days, but it seemed like a fun enough place. There were a few pool tables on one side of the room and sign up sheets for the 8-ball doubles competition set up at one of the booths.

“Can I interest you in tonight’s tournament?” a small woman with short-cropped hair asked Alex. She held up one of the sheets and a pen.

“Oh, uh, yeah. That’s actually what I’m here for.”

“Wonderful!” She handed over the sheet to Alex, shifting her weight to one foot and smiling up at her. “Now did you already come with a partner, or are you looking?”

Alex’s brow furrowed at the question that seemed to carry more weight than it should have. “Um, I’ve got a friend coming.” She got a smile in return at that.

“Well then, I’ll let you get that information down. But I’ll have to come watch you play.”

With a noncommittal noise in response, Alex focused on getting her name down with Maggie’s. So far there were only six other teams signed up, and Alex looked around her, trying to scout out the competition.

“Danvers!”

Alex spun at the sound of Maggie’s voice, waving eagerly before shoving her hand into her pocket. “Hey. Just signed us up.”

“Oh awesome. So glad you could make it.”

“Yeah—yeah, of course.”

Maggie shrugged. “Wasn’t sure if this was your scene, or…”

For the second time that night, Alex found her mind reeling as she tried to figure out what it was she was being asked without really being asked. She managed a half-smile that seemed to defer Maggie’s attention at the very least. “Drinks? My turn—you bought last time.”

“Uh, beer would be great. Don’t want to lose my focus for the big game.”

Alex chuckled as Maggie mimed shooting a cue. “Hope your form’s better than that when we play.”

For a moment, Maggie froze, finally letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “Didn’t know my form was that bad. Maybe you’ll have to show me how it’s done…”

Alex’s thoughts drifted back to the motorcycle ride. She wondered if Maggie would feel the same pulse of heat with Alex’s arms wrapped around her as Alex had on the bike. Blinking the image away, Alex forced herself to breathe in deeply and look back at Maggie, who was smirking up at her. “Right, um, drinks first. Yeah.”

“Wouldn’t want you to get thirsty, Danvers,” Maggie murmured at Alex’s retreating form.

By the time she got back with two beers, Alex felt in control of her thoughts once more and ready to beat the competition. She hopped up onto the barstool at a high-top opposite Maggie, motioning with her beer to a pair of two guys in the corner. “I think they’re gonna be our real competition.”

“That so?”

Alex nodded, a serious look in her eyes. “I bet the two big ones don’t even play. They’re just wearing leather to seem like they do.”

With a snort of barely contained laughter, Maggie choked on her beer, wincing as it burned at the back of her throat. “I think the leather’s more about the whole bear aesthetic, Danvers.”

“What?”

“I…um, nevermind.” Maggie shook her head, grabbing a napkin to wipe up the drops of beer that had spilled onto the table. “Tell me more about the competition.”

Before Alex could answer, the woman who’d approached Alex earlier was tapping a cheap pool cue on the floor, drawing everyone’s attention over to her. “Thanks to everyone for coming out and signing up! As a reminder, tonight the bar is donating all proceeds to the Center, so drink up and be happy knowing it’s going to a good cause! And if you remembered your donations, we’ve got boxes out for the food and clothing drive the Coalition to End LGBTQ Youth Homelessness is running.”

Alex felt a flash of guilt when Maggie grabbed the bag she’d come in with and dropped it off in the bins. Not that Alex had known there was a drive, but still.

A moment later, the sound of the woman’s voice drew her attention back up to the pool tables.

“We’ve now got our mini tournament bracket pinned up on the board here, so if you’re on a team, make sure you come up and find out who you’re playing first and when!”

“Ready?” Maggie flashed a dimpled smile in Alex’s direction, and Alex couldn’t help but grin back at her.

“To win? Always.”

With a low chuckle, Maggie led the way over to the board. “Well, looks like we’ll be playing those guys you thought wouldn’t be any sort of problem.”

“We got this.”

Maggie’s gaze dropped to the cocky smirk curling up the corner of Alex’s mouth, and it took the voice of one of their competitors introducing himself to draw her attention up again.

“I’m Pat.” He reached a beefy hand out, and Maggie had to tilt her head back to smile at him.

“Andy.” The other man waved at them.

“I’m Maggie, and this is Alex.”

Alex nodded at them.

“Ah, silent partner? Or is this more of a good cop, bad cop kinda deal?” Andy teased.

Maggie chuckled. “First time playing as partners, so we’ll find out.”

“Always a good preview of what’s to come.” Pat winked at Maggie, who ducked her head and ignored the unspoken question in Alex’s eyes.

“Alright!” Maggie’s voice was a little louder than she’d intended it to be, and she cleared her throat before trying again. “Uh, who wants to break?”

“Ladies first.”

“Figures,” Alex muttered under her breath, stopping only when Maggie elbowed her in the ribs with a quiet, “Be nice.”

Alex broke and shot Maggie a confused look when Andy and Pat cheered her on as well.

“It’s a friendly competition, Danvers.”

Alex forced her lips up into a smile; she might not believe in a non-competitive competition, but she supposed she could make an effort at friendly.

Maggie stepped up to take her turn next, sinking the green solid, leaving them with three balls already pocketed.

Alex easily potted another, and Maggie had to pull her back before she fouled by shooting a second time in a row—not that she really thought Andy and Pat would give them a hard time about it. Alex’s spine stiffened and her whole body froze at the warm weight of Maggie’s hand on her lower back. Breathe, just breathe, was repeated like a silent mantra as she forced herself to stand up and not comment on how the temperature of the room seemed to have risen ten degrees.

Maggie missed her second shot, leaving Pat with an easy angle to sink a striped ball. Andy and Maggie both clapped for him.

“How have you been playing for years with form that bad?” Alex whispered.

Maggie folded her arms over her chest, let out an annoyed huff, and glared at Alex. “I didn’t say I got professional lessons.”

“I’ll show you, alright?”

Alex looked up in time to see Pat sinking his second shot, tying up the game. She forced herself not to smile when Andy missed, and as she grabbed her cue, she reminded Maggie to watch her form.

“Or maybe you just show me when it’s my turn…”

With a shuddering breath, Alex nodded, then sank her shot. “Are you, um, did you…”

“Here.” Maggie grabbed her cue and stepped in front of Alex, motioning to the yellow ball she thought would be her best shot.

“No, this one.” Alex’s hand hovered over Maggie’s hip as she tried to guide her line of vision down to a different shot—further away, but a much easier angle.

“I don’t want to scratch if the cue ball goes in too, though,” Maggie whispered.

“It won’t—not with good form.”

“You know,” Andy drawled, “I think technically the partners bit is supposed to be away from the table, and you play one at a time.”

Alex spun around to yell at him, freezing at the sight of his teasing smile and the weight of Maggie’s hand on her arm, guiding Alex back to her.

“Oh don’t worry.” Pat waved his hand and chuckled, low and gruff. “We’re not gonna interrupt your foreplay.”

Alex could only hope Maggie didn’t hear the undignified squeak she let out, though she thought it was probably a long shot to think Maggie couldn’t feel the way her hands trembled slightly.

“I just, um”—Alex swallowed heavily, her mouth suddenly dry—“we’ll, uh, we line it up. Then when you shoot, you’re gonna pull your arm back.” Alex’s heart hammered in her chest as Maggie’s finger curled around to hold her there for the actual shot. With a silent reminder that she regularly went toe-to-toe with aliens that could snap her like a twig, Alex focused her attention on the pool table, guiding Maggie as she sent the cue ball rolling down the table. She nearly jumped back the second they were done, moving several feet away to watch as it neatly knocked the purple ball into the back pocket without following it in.

Maggie spun around and beamed at Alex with one of those contagious smiles Alex couldn’t help but return in kind.

“Your turn.”

“Right.” Alex managed a tricky shot, only to realize she’d left Maggie with no good options. “Just, uh, just try not to scratch.”

The rest of the competition passed in a daze, and Alex found she didn’t remember the games they won so much as she remembered the random comments Maggie made, her voice barely a whisper and her breath hot against Alex’s ear. She remembered the way Maggie looked bending over the table and the warmth of Maggie’s smile each time she congratulated Alex on a good shot. Most of all, though, she remembered Lucy’s words—those few sentences that had stuck with her for so long, haunting her dreams and nagging at her whenever she let her thoughts stray too far.

It was in the midst of yet another mental replay of Lucy’s suggestion that she was looking for the wrong people that a tiny blonde woman commented on what a cute couple she and Maggie made. “What?” Alex’s voice cracked on the word, and she could feel her cheeks flushing. “I—no—I’m not—”

Maggie stepped in then, her mouth turned up into an easy smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Alex is a”—she glanced over at Alex, who suspected she looked a mess—“friend.”

“Oh.” The woman’s eyes flicked up and down Maggie’s body. “And you? You just visiting too?”

“No.” Maggie shook her head and laughed at a joke Alex knew she must have missed. “Definitely not.”

“Jenna.”

“Maggie.”

“You’re in the final, right?”

Maggie nodded, her gaze darting over to the table where the other semi-final game was wrapping up to determine who she and Alex would play.

“Well, in case you need an incentive to win, what if I promise that I’ll have a drink waiting for you if you do.”

Alex turned away, not needing to hear Maggie’s reply; the flirty smile was answer enough.

During the final, Alex sank her shots as fast as she could, barely caring when she knocked the 8-ball into the pocket, winning them the game and the tournament. She smiled and nodded, not hearing Maggie’s congratulations. She ducked out the moment Jenna came to find Maggie and shrugged off the drink offers, opting to wait until she got home to drink enough whiskey to fall asleep without the night’s memories replaying on a loop.

[feralportalmaster]

Just Dance 2025 Spoilers!!

THE BRIDE AND RASPUTIN ARC FINALE LETS GOOOOOO!!!!

[imaginekpoplikethis]

Mixing It Up - TroubleMaker! Min Yoongi X Reader - Final

And that concludes the Mixing It Up series. I was definitely not expecting to finish today but it seems like writers block decided to grow legs and take a walk or something.

I hope you enjoyed reading this series and I want to thank all who continuously support me and my work, not just during MIU but in general. You guys are the real MVPs.

Lots of love for you all. Oh, and don’t forget about the poll! All votes after tomorrow won’t be counted so vote for the next victim for my writing while you can lmao

Preview  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10  Part 11 - Final - Here

“Good morning students. I have a brief announcement to make today.”

You groaned internally as your principals voice boomed trough the speakers on an early Monday morning. It had been two and a half weeks since Yoongi had declared that you were his girlfriend to you and from then on everything seemed to move slowly. Not much happened other than receiving news that Mi-Rae had been sent to a behavior correctional school and was permanently expelled from her own school. Her father was given a month suspension for abusing his power and demoted to vice principal, the original vice principal obviously replacing him. After this news had been spread amongst the students, everyone seemed to be visibly more open. You weren’t sure how but it was something you definitely noticed.

“As your fellow classmates school has made a rather fast recovery, they will all be able to return to school as of next week Monday.”

All was silent following the news, even after your principal had concluded his announcement. These past months had been so hectic you had forgotten that at some point everyone would have to return to their respective school. Everyone included Yoongi and the boys.

The class had burst into chatter and you could distinctly hear an exchange of goodbyes from some of your classmates though you were not sure why as there was still a full week left.

Your teacher had calmed the class down five minutes later and had begun your lesson. You couldn’t focus as the only thing that was circling your mind was the fact that things were most definitely going to change.

-

“Wow, they really fixed our school up quick! I wasn’t expecting having to go to that crap school for at least another month of two.”

Taehyung was the first to bring up the news during your lunch break, his words pulling out a hum of agreement from some of your friends.

“I’m going to miss hanging out like this...” Jimin’s soft voice caused you to turn in his direction, catching sight of his disappointed smile.

“We can still hang out after school. There’s nothing stopping us from doing that.”

It was Seokjin’s turn to speak, confidence rolling off his tongue. There was no room for disagreement.

“To think none of us would have ever thought we’d be close like this just months ago. Especially you and Yoongi. That was a complete shock, Yoongi is so negative.”

Namjoon’s input caused you to think back to the times you would have gagged at the sound of Yoongi’s voice. It seemed so long ago though it had only been just a few months.

“It’s too bad he’s still suspended. To think they would still suspend him after all Mi-Rae has done.”

Suhyun glanced at you as she said this, waiting for you to join in on the conversation. However, Jungkook beat you to it.

“Well, they were still his fireworks even if Mi-Rae used them. It’s something you’re not allowed to bring in for obvious reasons.”

Yoongi’s suspension did not end even after he was proven to be innocent. If anything, he ended up with two more weeks of suspension meaning not only would he not return to your school but he would still be suspended when everyone else had settled back into school.

“Yeah... that ass shouldn’t bring crap like that into school anyway.”

Hoseok choked on his water whilst the rest of your company attempted to stifle their laughter. All but Taehyung who had released his in a booming volume.

“Ah, I love you Y/N! You can insult Yoongi and get away with it. I’m definitely going to get used to this.”

You would too.

-

Just as you had dreaded, a week passed by with not much happening and before you knew it, everything had returned to normal. You hated to say it but it was as if nothing had happened. The only difference between then and now was your relationship with the boys had changed significantly.

Sighing on a Wednesday morning, Suhyun raised an eyebrow at your obviously saddened state.

“It’s been three days. And nothing is stopping you from seeing them after school or on weekends.”

Her words did nothing to lift your mood, mainly due to the fact that her downcast tone betrayed the words that left her mouth.

“I know but... think about it. Not that I don’t love your company but it feels empty without them. With just us two.”

Suhyun hummed in agreement just as your teacher entered your classroom. After ushering everyone to their seats, he began the lesson though you couldn’t focus. Your mind was on how the boys were doing back at their school.

You’re being ridiculous, they are grown boys. Why are you worrying yourself over this?

Your inner most thoughts were making themselves known which somewhat cheered you up. It’s not the end of the world, in a weeks time you too will have returned back to your senses. When that time comes you’ll be able to focus on your work without being overly dramatic about them.

Heaving a heavy sigh, you picked up your pen and began to scrawl down notes from the lesson.

Might as well try to start now.

-

When the school day came to an end, to your great surprise Yoongi was waiting for you outside your school. Your shock was short lived when you remembered his suspension continued on despite having left your school.

“Hey. What’s wrong.” He seemed to notice your somewhat downcast mood and addressed it as soon as you reached him. A frown accompanied his words before he glanced over your head, searching for something.

“Did someone say something to you? I’ll break their fingers.” His threat was spoken in a calm voice and you grabbed his hand to redirect his eyes towards you.

“No! I just miss you guys.”

He raised an eyebrow at you before relieving you of your bag, throwing it on his shoulder and wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

“Guys? You shouldn’t miss anyone but me. Isn’t that how relationships work?”

You scoffed at this. You would have punched him if you didn’t know this was his own special way of raising your spirits. Trying to amuse you. Which, you hated to admit, was working.

“Maybe in your head but not mine.”

You watched as a smirk grew on his lips, causing a small grin to grow on your own.

“Wow, that’s harsh. I missed you and only you, you know.”

“Well, who else are you going to miss? You’re so lazy, you don’t meet any new people and you see the boys almost everyday in school.”

“You never know, I might miss some of your school mates. I was in a different class than you, surrounded by girls.”

You ducked out from underneath his arm, a glare plastered on your face as you delivered a swift kick to his thigh.

“Ow! I was only kidding! How can I miss anyone other than my cute but very angry girlfriend? You’re too special. Actually, I did miss Suhyun a bit but mainly you.”

You pursed your lips as you stared down Yoongi who was currently too focused on massaging the back of his thigh.

“Sorry...” As your one word apology left your mouth, he glanced up only to be immediately wrapped in your arms, something he welcomed with open arms. Whilst his own slid around your body, you took in the scent you had almost forgotten in the space of three days.

“You’re so cute.” You felt him mumble this into your hair before pulling away.

“Now let’s go before some shit head sees me. I have a reputation to keep up.”

When in public, Yoongi could only be a soft for a short amount of time. A very short amount of time.

-

Yoongi’s mother gushed over your relationship having just found out about it very recently. For a reason unknown to you, she seemed to already see you as her own daughter.

“Ah, you’re so perfect! I always expected Yoongi to bring home someone the complete opposite of you. It seems my son has great taste.” As her words left her mouth in a rush, she grinned at you, taking your hand in her own. Yoongi certainly did not take after his mother. His father perhaps...?

“I can’t wait for you to meet my husband. He will definitely love you as much as I do.” Right on cue, a rather tall man entered the living room you were currently situated in, blinking a couple of times at the sight of his wife doting on you.

“We have a guest... welcome.” You were already beginning to see traces of a Yoongi in his father who seemed to be a calm and collected man. You just hoped he wasn’t as strict as you were imagining him to be.

“That’s not how you introduce yourself to your sons girlfriend!” You flinched at the harsh tone Yoongi’s mother used when she snapped at her husband. The man himself did not react. What he did do was give you an intense stare and although it was only for a couple of seconds, you were almost certain he had read you like an open book.

At last, he cracked a small, genuine smile. Though it was your first time meeting Yoongi’s father, you were immensely proud that something about you seemed to draw out a smile from the otherwise stoic man.

Just as Yoongi’s father made a move to voice his thoughts, your boyfriend decided to show up.

“Babe, Taehyung keeps talking about giving you those shitty cookies and I-“ Once he took notice of his father, his brows furrowed immediately and he made a beeline straight for you. Grabbing your arm, he all but yanked you out of your seat beside his mother and dragged you out of the room.

“Why’re you smiling old man? That’s a first.”

Despite his words, a playful smirk broke out on Yoongi’s face.

“Yoongi, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you to not call me ‘old man’. Continue and I might have to pop out a few photos of you for your lovely girlfriend to see how strange you really are.”  

Your feet planted themselves on the ground and you stared at Yoongi with surprised eyes.

“I want to see these photos.” Spinning on your heel, you snatched your arm out of his grip, beginning your short journey back to the living room. You reached the door with a broad grin on your face, Yoongi’s parents coming into sight, both of which returned your smiles.

“Hello, my name is Y/N. I am Yoongi’s girlfriend and I would like to see these photos you speak of sir.” Before you took another step into the room, a surprisingly strong pair of arms encircled your waist and lifted you up into the air. As Yoongi dragged you back to his room, you flailed your arms about and kicked your legs out, struggling against his hold.

It was futile.

- Hours later, you found yourself entering the elevator in Yoongi’s apartment complex alongside said boy.

“Your parents are really nice.”

He scoffed as he pressed the ground floor button, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah, because they like you. You’ve never seen them in action.”

And you didn’t ever want to have to see them in action.

As the elevators descended several floors, you recalled the last time you were forced to take the elevator with Yoongi.

Come to think of it, didn’t it-

A jolt broke your thought tracks and your eyes widened as realisation dawned upon you.

You were stuck with Yoongi. Again.

The circumstances were different, though what happened in the next few moments were not so much.

“If I remember correctly, isn’t this where we had our first kiss?” As each word left his mouth, Yoongi drew closer to you, so close to the point where he was able to place a hand on the elevator wall beside your head.

“Yes, it was. Yoongi, if you step any closer to me we’ll end up-“ Yoongi’s lips met your own in a soft kiss. When he didn’t make any move to release your lips, you reached a hand out, cupping the side of his face. After what seemed like a good five minutes, he pulled back, searching your face with a smirk on his own.

Probably searching for a blush to tease you about, sly idiot.

At least this time you knew how to react.

-

You glared at the school building in front of you, wishing it to burst into flames. It might as well do just that considering the situation you were currently in.

Who would have thought this would happen only months after Yoongi’s school returned to their rightful place? You surely did not see this coming at all. Your whole school had been evacuated which explained why you were outside in the cold weather as of this moment.

An infestation. A giant bug infestation. They had nestled their way into the schools walls and laid eggs there, increasing their population drastically. The school needed to undergo fumigation thus you were all forced to leave the school for the next week or so. Lord knows what bugs were currently living in the walls of your school, thinking about it made your skin crawl.

“So what now? No school for an indefinite amount of time?” Your question was directed towards Suhyun however you received and answer from someone else.

“We’re arranging spaces for our students to study at nearby schools. Self study doesn’t seem like a good option considering how many grades seem to be dropping. In other words, I’m sending half of you to our good friends down the street and that half includes both of you.” These words came from none other than your schools principal, who was standing behind both you and Suhyun, a glare also fixed on his school.

I took all of your willpower to stop yourself from screaming out in joy. Why your principal decided that the both of you would attend Yoongi’s school was beyond you but you were not about to complain.

You couldn’t believe the kind of luck you had. You must have done something right in your previous life for opportunities like this to come your way.

Tomorrow you would be sharing a school with some of the best teenagers in the city. Luckily for you, Yoongi was among them.

[chiyamabunny]

【MAMORU MIYANO LIVE TOUR 2016 ～MIXING!～】Yokohama Arena -December 17&18, 2016- Live Report

I’m finally writing this up! Sorry for such a long wait! (It’s also...super long, because I wrote about pretty much everything...^^; This report is mainly for my own remembering purposes, so sorry if things don’t make sense at times! AND I FINISHED IT IN TIME FOR MAMO’S BIRTHDAY! Mamo-chan, happy birthday~ ^^ Thank you so much for being you~)

I will talk about both days in my report! I’ll specify the day when it becomes relevant~ But I think I’d like to talk mainly about the 17th because that’s the day I went together with @aishiteruitsumo6 ^^ To talk a little bit about the morning of the 17th, after not getting any sleep the night before, (talking about Shoutan and Mamo in a convenience store for literally like, 3 hours in the middle of the night xD), the two of us met up super early that morning to go line up for goods! Kelly-chan was in charge of all the navigation…I’d never had made it to Yokohama arena without her!! (Thank you, Kelly-chan!!) We got to the Arena pretty early…there weren’t thhhhaaaat many people before us, but there were certainly many many more people that came after us! (When we went to go line up…there was a lady that dropped her glove in front of us and no one seemed to be picking it up…after asking Kelly-chan, I went back to grab it and find the person who dropped it to give it back to her. She was really thankful as she had been looking around her bag for it! I’m happy I went back for it!) While in line, I wrote my letter to Mamo-chan because I had procrastinated so much on it. xD Kelly-chan and I spoke mainly using English and I was freaking out over grammar in a specific section and another lady who was in line in front of us asked me if I needed help in English!! She spoke with very, very little accent! None at all almost and she helped me with the line! xD Kelly-chan also helped me a lot! (Thank you again!!) We entered the room with the goods soon and it was weird this time…because they didn’t give us sheets to check what we wanted at all…we went up to the people and told them what we wanted!! Which was a little terrifying because I wasn’t sure what I wanted!!! xD I tend to make lots of impulse buys, so having the sheet of paper had always been very helpful to budget money…xD Instead I was freaking out while standing in line, writing down on my iphone what I wanted and using the calculator on my iphone to calculate money. Mamo music played on a speaker system and it honestly sounded really odd…I think that the bass was turned up too high and there was very little treble in the sound. It made my head hurt a little but I was way too anxious over what I was going to buy. xD “Golden Night” came on though and I started dancing along during the chorus. I was super happy to see other people dancing along too~ Kelly-chan pointed it out to me that there were other people that started dancing too, uffufufu~ Another song that played over the speaker was “Not Alone”! Kelly-chan liked that one! ^^

After buying things and taking lots of pictures, and freaking out about some stuff…xD; The two of us went to go eat lunch…AND THE FOOD WASN’T THAT GREAT LOL, WE MADE A MISTAKE. We chose to eat this soba-ish soup? Because Kelly-chan wasn’t feeling well and it wouldn’t be best to eat anything that had too much flavoring and stuff…well, the soup tasted kinda awful ^^; I ordered a very sugary soup though that made up for it! I felt kinda guilty eating it because of how sugary it was, omg. xD

There was still at least 5 more hours until the doors to the Live opened and so the two of us sat outside for a little bit while I continued writing Mamo-chan’s letter and the two of us listened to Shoutan’s “Endless Song” CRIES, IT’S SO GOOD, (which I arranged for a flute quartet for my senior flute recital, uffufufu) anyways~ We stayed outside on the bench until it got a bit too cold and went and sat inside a McDonalds for the next several hours! That’s where I finished writing my letter to Mamo-chan…and the two of us also took semi-naps while in McDonalds. ^^; Mamo fans were everywhere btw!! I would look around and I’d see people with koitsu on their bag and carrying all kinds of merch…I always forget until I’m there that I always feel like I belong when I’m there…You walk around, and you see people who have koitsu on their bag, and wearing mamo merch…that’s not something that you see everyday in America. I always freak out when I see other people…but I have to contain myself so hard because they all think it’s normal…!!!

Anyways! Kelly-chan and I made our way to the venue soon and took lots of pictures and things!! ^^ They were playing the preview music videos of “The Birth” and “Tempest” on the display board on Yokohama Arena and I was flipping out because “The Birth” is a little….^^;;;; But anyways, we soon made our way inside and Kelly-chan helped me with giving my letter to a staff ^^; (Thank you again, Kelly-chan!!!) I took a bunch of more pictures of the flowers that people sent that were on display outside the seating~ There were so many pretty flowers! ^^

Kelly-chan and I made our way to the center stage!!!  First day pic:

(We were so blessed!!! The second day I was in the Stand...so far awayyy…but I’m still very thankful I was able to go ^^)  Second day pic: 

Anyways! A really tall dude was next to Kelly-chan and an elderly-ish man sat to my left. So many Mamo fans! ^^ We were freaking out because we were pretty close to the stage! ^^ I was so nervous…I was about to see Mamo-chan again after 4 months… ‘I’m going to see him soon, I’m going to see him soon’ I thought, freaking out, lol…

The lights dimmed, and I don’t remember if I screamed or not. Even if I didn’t out loud I was definitely screaming on the inside. No matter how many of Mamo-chan’s performances I go to, the excitement when the realization hits that I’m actually going to see Mamo-chan throws me off my mental balance every time ^^;

The screen in front of us went dark and the opening movie was starting!! It was a mixture of different movies…there was one of someone in a car (that was Mamo), then a person a podium in a suit (that was Mamo), a person floating in a room (thaat was Mamo too) but it wasn’t showing his face directly. Now pan to Mamo in lounging clothes in what kinda looks like a living room switching channels on a t.v. Everyone was screaming, lol. He yawned as he changed the channels and I heard giggles all around me~ He kept changing until it got to a boxing channel! His face lit up as he sat on the edge of his seat getting all excited. A guy in the boxing show was wearing a black loose jacket, a hood over his face (this was Mamo, lol) and right before he lifted his hood, the t.v. got all fuzzy. Mamo sighed and stood up to try and fix the t.v. but when he “fixed” it, it started flipping through each channel, showing that he, himself was the main character of each show. In the car, the camera panned to show Mamo holding a gun, rain pouring outside, in the room, the man floating was Mamo, on the podium in dorky glasses, was Mamo. And finally, the man in the boxing ring going against the large man (Stewart-san!), was Mamo. But suddenly, the television was showing him in his living room…and he was freaking out. There were heavy footsteps, Stewart-san was coming down the hallway into the room the real Mamo-chan was in. All of a sudden, there was a cage around Mamo’s living room and he couldn’t escape. Stewart-san was coming, ready to attack!! And so, at first Mamo absolutely sucked xD; He was freaking out and really acting his part, but then after he was pushed back into a corner, he became more decided and did a bunch of cool stunts and things! There was one point when he leapt up and used the fence as a foothold to attack. Before the match finished out, the scene changed and flashed to Mamo from each different scene with the words as he spoke them. “This.” “Is.” “Your.” “Day.” It was repeated and suddenly, the screens were showing us!!! Showing us the audience!!! “This is Your Day”

We were then given a mission! Mission one was to clap! And the second mission was to sing! The “wooahhh~ wooah~” that’s in SHOUT! And as the audience did that, the opening movie came back, Mamo-chan was still fighting Stewart-san!! And we kept clapping and singing and then…!!! Lights!! MAMO-CHAN WAS THERE! In the middle of movable fence pieces that resembled the fence in the opening video and from his SHOUT MV. He was standing there in the center with his hood up and the dancers were moving the fence pieces around! Mamo-chan started singing…and his voice was just as clear as day. But I strained to see his face as he still had a hood over his face…When he finally flung his hood behind, my scream was accompanied by several others. There he was, there he was~ I bounced up and down singing along. I was so excited singing the bits that the audience sings: “Woaaahhhh woaahhh ooohhhhh~” and “HEY!” To be part of the audience like the SHOUT MV had…I was freaking out X3

Burning Point was next!! And I turned to Kelly-chan and tried to tell her that it was one of Mamo-chan’s older songs! I don’t think I was loud enough though, lolol. One that came out like, 4 years ago or so? I was so excited to be hearing it Live! I was singing and bouncing along surprised to hear such an oldie song~

AAAHHHHHH OKAAAYYYY, SO SUGAR SUGAR WAS NEXT AND LOL. HE WENT AND WAS LIKE. OH BOY. IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR ME. I WAS SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME. xDD On stage, a table was brought out with a vase of roses on top. “wahh! What pretty flowers!” Mamo exclaimed while he walked over to them and plucked one out…“who should I give them to~?” he asked while walking to the center of the arena and everyone’s penlights in the arena started waving~ On the first day, I didn’t move my penlight at all…I guess I was too…starstruck to move? ^^; Kelly-chan took my hand and started moving my penlight for me. xD While he was talking down, he brought the rose to his lips and kissed it….AND EVERYONE WAS SCREAMING. At the part in the beginning where he sins “Just for me~” he threw the rose out to the audience!!!! I wonder who the lucky girls were to get a rose from Mamo~? X3 “Sono yubisaki ga boku ni fureru, kimi no doresu my fav color,” during the first half of this bridge section of the song…he started to remove his jacket from one side of his shoulder…which translates to “those fingers of yours that touch me” (that @tsukinokakera reminded me of ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;)… AND THEN WHEN HE SANG THE “YOUR DRESS IS MY FAV COLOR” HE SHOWED HIS SHOULDER REALLY UM WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT…IN A VERY UM SUGGESTIVE MANNER?!!!?!?!!!! TO THE AUDIENCE? ARE SHOULDERS SUPPOSED TO BE SO ATTRACTIVE???? SCREAMS. CRIES. RUNS AWAY. … …… CONTINUES TO RUN AWAY. Overall though, this song was so so so cute~ :3c ...withslightlyquestionablepartsum.

Ahh, gee, Tempest. The visuals at Yokohama were so amazing. While he sang this song, the background images was literally a storm and there was a wind blowing at the stage, his clothes fluttered and it was so moving!!

BLACK…OR WHITE…OH BOY. WHAT DO I EVEN SAY ABOUT THIS? IT WAS. IT WAS TOO MUCH. I was watching through my hands covering my face. I just couldn’t. Nope. I noped out guys, it was so biwfjlndaksm that I’ve blocked most of it from my memory. Mainly my fault for not writing this report 5 months ago xD But iuwbfeajknlsljkbfsdnl. ^^;;;

KissxKiss is how it always is and so cute~ I love that Mamo always includes this song because of how much engagement there is with Mamo and the audience. The whole arena was pink~ I really need to get a better penlight that doesn’t just have red, white and blue. Seeing everyone with pink in their penlights and doing the same “kimi ni kiss!” move that Mamo does is so much fun~

For the ballad corner! Mamo-chan started How Close You Are! I was so surprised to hear this! ^^ Since he had sung it at Generating!, I didn’t expect to hear this beautiful song during Mixing as well! The guitar intro…the background…the starry night, it was absolutely wondrous. I was so spellbound by this song. 

RINNE…ah…RINNE…this is my second favorite Mamo song. This is the song I was looking forward to listening and watching the most. T_T It was beautiful, beyond all my expectations. Mamo-chan’s voice is really so beyond me. His ballad songs are so beautifully divine…heehee, before he sang this song on the second day, he spoke with us a little bit. :3 “This song, do you all believe in this song?” “YES!!!” everyone responded! “There’s a chance, that we all knew each other in a different lifetime…,” I was freaking out because…omg…that’s what I always think about when I hear this song…and to hear it come from his mouth, I don’t think I was breathing. I felt like the whole audience was bubbling with a sort of anticipation. X3 “You were probably all reading stone tablets to get the latest Mamo news” xDDDD (t/n: I’m not sure if what he said was stone tablets, but it was some equivalent to it xD) It’s cute to think that perhaps, all us Mamo fans were following him in another lifetime too~? Or best friends or something~? :3 I like to think so! ^^

SANBIKA! I sang along the entire time~ This is, I think, the first Mamo song that I learned all the lyrics to! And the only song my brother sings along with me when it comes on my shuffle in my car, lol. Another Mamo oldie song~ I feel like this song really brings out the…pureness of Mamo’s voice. His voice just springs forth so effortlessly…so pure and beautiful. Guys, I’m so love, help me. On the second day, the song here was Beautiful Life~ I’d never heard Mamo sing this live…~ But I’d seen an audience sing Beautiful Life for Mamo during the Request Live he had a few years back~ ^^ It’s such a beautiful song as well~ ^^ I was so surprised though!! I was expecting Sanbika but it was Beautiful Life instead. I love all of Mamo-chan’s Ballad songs though~ :3

GOURBEFJWLANKDS. Okay so, xD For this next song, Mamo said that this was a new version of an old song. “It’s a song I want everyone to sing together, is that okay?” “HAAAAAI!” Everyone exclaimed! “Wow, you guys are amazing, Even though you don’t know what the song is, you all say that you’ll sing it” xDD And then he said~ “You all know how to sing all of Mamo’s songs, right?” AND I. LOL. GUESS WHAT I YELLED. REALLY LOUD. “HAI!!!” I DO! I KNOW HOW TO SING ALL OF MAMO’S SONGS!....AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO SHOUTED THAT. NO ONE ELSE DID. And the person who was sitting to my left (NOT KELLY-CHAN BUT SHE LAUGHED TOO) LAUGHED AT ME AND I WAS SO EMBARASSED. ANNNyywaayYYYYYSSS!!!. xD It was J☆S! It was a ballad version this time! And the lyrics were up on the screen for us to sing to when he wanted us to sing along~ I like the original song, but the ballad song is nice too~ On the second day, when Mamo-chan was telling us he wanted us to sing with him this surprise song, everyone’s penlights were turning to yellow already and he noticed xD “Some people know already and are giving it away. But there are really some people who are freaking out about what song it is!!” xD (I don’t have yellow on my penlight…I really need to get a universal one!!)

I’ve forgotten...most of the talk during the Ballad Corner, ^^; only bits and pieces. But a couple things that I solidly remember and want to write here...The first day, I believe, the bass player, Damae said that for “taking Mamo-chan on a date” scenario, that he would take Mamo skiing!!! Something that he wants to do the most, cuz he’s never skied before! Annnd...on the second day I believe. Something memorable for all the members during the trip. Kihara-san talked about food xD He was the only one to talk about food and everyone else’s was super sentimental, like Sano-san, he said, I believe, that no matter where they went, the way Mamo communicates with his fans, and the way we all love each other, the admiration and warm atmosphere, no matter where Team Mamo goes, the warm feeling is the same. c:

UGWOBJKSDNLAKMS.AKJBDALNKRBAFJLSKNDDMZN. WHAT DO I EVEN SAY NOW. THE MOVIE. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. OH WHAT DO I EVEN SAY. KELLY-CHAN WAS LAUGHING EVEN HARDER THAN I WAS. It was just AWFUL X’DDDDD It was kind of based off of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! How LOLOLOL, the dubbing was off from the mouth movements xDDDDD And it was ALL MAMO. xDDDD What do I even say? xD omg…basically…there was one Mamo…and then another Mamo…xDD Papa Mamo, MAMONSA, grandma Mamo, Policeman Mamo…xDDD It was too much, I’ll just. XD I’ll just leave this out of my report xDDD

Upside Down!!!!!!!! :3c On the first day of yokohama, Mamo would be like “upside doooooooooowwwww*NNGH*” during the recap of the dance lecture. xD On the second day, since it was mainly the same people as on the first, we all knew that he was going to keep going with “dowwwwwwwwwww” so we all held with him all the way to the “NNGH” which made him laugh xD he then said to us “because I’m up here singing and I can’t actually hold to the *NNGH* because of how the song is, everyone make sure to do it for me ‘kay?” AND SO WE ALL DID AFTER THE FIRST CHORUS AND HE MUST HAVE HEARD ALL OF US BECAUSE HE GIGGLED FOR A BIT WHILE SINGING AND ME AND THE GIRLS AROUND ME ALL STARTED LAUGHING TOO, LOLOLOL, IT WAS SO CUTE I’M CRYING X'DDD

Moon walking!!!!!!!!! MAMO-CHAN MOON WALK. MAMOWALK. MAMOMOONWALKING. MY MIND WAS ABSOLUTELY BLOWN. I was screaming during the ENTIRE REMIX. It was just???!!!! SO WELL DONE???!!!! JUST, THE FLAWLESS JUST, THE SONGS, JUST OMG. HOW IN THE WORLD? I was yelling to Kelly-chan, trying to tell her about all these old songs that were being all Mixed up!! (see what I did there~? X3;;;) BUT I JUST KEPT CUTTING MYSELF OFF BECAUSE SCREAMING XDDD DISCOTIQUE09 AND EGOISTIC AND B O D Y R O C K which then connected into moonlight~ Which was beautiful, so beautiful and all SO SEAMLESS. UGH. STY-SAN IS FRIGGIN ON ANOTHER LEVEL. and then…break it and finally New Order…ahh, there was a giant mash up of songs in a remix it was amazing AND GEE. THE OUTFIT CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL OF THIS ABSOLUTE BRILLANCE? O. M. G. The amount of screaming here is definitely what got me sick. LOL.

AND THEN IT ALL TIED INTO IDENTITY. SEAMLESS. WAS MAMO-CHAN TIRED? HE DEFINITELY WAS. omg. He was standing there, the music started, the hands. My first thought was. omigosh. Nana-chan, I need to tell Nana-chan. @jennshaiel The rose petals… The music… Mamo’s voice, the dance. I never thought I’d be able to see Identity Live…it was breathtaking. It was always amazing seeing it through my computer screen. But…seeing the real thing…breathtaking. Absolutely took my breath away.

Crazy Wonder Night! I didn’t expect to be so hyped for this song. xD I was expecting Don’t Stop! to be the call and response song, but instead it was Crazy Wonder Night!!! Which was uh, SUPER QUESTIONABLE THE FIRST DAY. TO THE POINT WHERE MAMO WAS LIKE: “Wow, you guys really do whatever I tell you to, huh.” OOOOTTTTTLLLLLLL. I was yelling “BAKA” at Mamo after that….SUPER QUESTIONABLE EXPERIENCE. I WAS. SO UNCOMFORTABLE. LOL. UH. ANYWAYS, the second day was a lot…um, more, uh, PG FRIENDLY. SCREAMS. We had a call and response kind of thing with Yoko Ari’s mascot~ :3c It was super cute ^^

SHINE!!!!!! Mamo hoped on one of those things that go around the arena! When he got to us…omg…he was so close. I froze up again xDD Kelly-chan was freaking out for me I felt xD “He’s so close!” I could hear her say, but I couldn’t wave my penlight at all, I just stared at him. xD;;; Someonehelpme. This is such a happy uplifting song, it never fails to cheer me up~

***~ Here, during this break, Mamo talked a little bit…he was talking about how everyone has troubles and worries, that each and everyone of us are struggling through something. And during those times, in our everyday lives, he hopes that we’ll listen to his songs, and know that he’s right there with us. That his songs will bring us strength, that we’re not alone. He said, “everyone is having a great time right? Everyone is smiling! But I know, that underneath that smile, you are hurting, you’re in pain and have things you don’t know if you can overcome…in that time there are those who listen to my songs, and listening to them, I hope you feel like I’m by your side through my song, that you’re not by yourself” which then connects with The Birth. ~***

THE FRIGGIN BIRTH OMG. IT WAS SO COOL GUYS. THE BACKGROUND IMAGES. omg. I could really feel Ajin’s atmosphere. IBM was floating up and ugh, it was such a wonderful performance. The Birth, is such in amazing song. Really a song that only Mamo-chan can sing. STY-san and Mamo collab work is really beyond me.

Encore…MAMO! MAMO! MAMO! ^^; Every time, I’m with those few fangirls that start shouting his name the moment he leaves the stage. When else would I be able to shout Mamo’s name at the top of my lungs? When else am I able to be surrounded by so many Mamo fans? MAMO MAMO MAMO!! I always lose my voice. xDD

When Mamo came back to the stage, DON’T STOP! I was surprised to hear this song!! Since it wasn’t the call and response song, I was really surprised since I had been expecting Break it! because it’s a song that has so much meaning. DON’T STOP! is such a great song too~ Lol, most all of Mamo’s songs are great so ^^; and I am most likely biased. xD

OH MAN. GRAVITY. :DD I really really like this song! And the background imagery was so cute~ There was a pink and blue comet that were going around chasing each other through the sky…I think that…from what he said before this song, they connected so well with each other…because we’re all together, connected by gravity on this world. He’s here for us, but not only that, we as fans are all there for Mamo. This is such a sweet song, and I’m so thankful this is the song he ended with. This!!!! IS WHERE!!!! The streamer thingys came out!! AND!!!! KELLY-CHAN CAUGHT ONE!!! AND GAVE IT TO ME!!!!! We were both screaming and freaking out~ X3 And then ANOTHER ONE CAME TOWARDS US!!! So Kelly-chan was able to get one as well~ :3

On the second day of Yokohama! DOUBLE ENCORE. My throat was sore and I got sick probably because of screaming so much during the Live xD; MAMO! MAMO! MAMO!

He came back! This time everyone in Christmas headgear! Mamo was wearing a Reindeer Santa Hat~ So cuute~ He was showing it off and everyone was saying “Kawaaaiiiii~” :3c And slowly, since they came out all Christmas themed, everyone’s penlights were slowly changing to red and green! When I noticed the red and green around me, I changed my penlight from blue to red~ And suddenly, after a little bit of talking, Mamo realized!!!! He was like. “WOW. GUYS. WHEN DID YOU ALL CHANGE TO CHRISTMAS COLORS? HOW? THIS COULDN’T HAVE BEEN CORRIDINATED RIGHT?” He was really moved ^^ Everyone somehow, silently communicated to each other with colors, all of us combined as Mamo’s audience, we changed our lights to Christmas colors…how amazing…really, how moving and amazing ^^ Anyways, during this short talk section, he talked about things coming up, the new album!! That’s coming out soon, The Love! And…he also talked about how there was the second part of Crest of the Royal Family coming out, that has ended now! Something he said, omg. xD He started talking using his Izmir voice, a voice I hadn’t heard in a while and nearly fell over. ^^;;;; He said something along the lines of “I’ll be using that whip again” as he imitates using a whip…(There was a section…in Royal Fam where he uh, whips Carol..andumanyways) We all screamed. LOL “YABAI” I screamed lol. “do you wanna be punished?” he asked next “YES!!!!” WAS EVERYONE’S RESPONSE (INCLUDINGMINE) and he laughed at us xD “are you guys serious? X’D" he asked xD

Finally, he ended with Golden Night~ :3c A wonderful song, I think, to end the second and final night~ ^^ He went on the thingy that goes around the arena again~ :3

On the first day, Kelly-chan and I left and I was so out of it. xDD;;; Have pulled an all-nighter together, I was falling asleep on my feet xD I’m so thankful Kelly-chan was there with me. I wouldn’t have made it home without her, cuz I fell asleep on one of the train switches back ^^;;;;; She waited with me on a bench until I was feeling ready to walk again, and I so supper appreciate it~ On the second day, I’d gone by myself…AND LOST MY TOKIYA PARKA PASS TO RIDE THE FRIGGIN TRAIN. AND I RAN AROUND TRYING TO FIND IT. And Kelly-chan checked twitter and helped me find it!!! I’m so so so thankful to Kelly-chan for being there for me~ ^^ Thank you so much, Kelly-chan~ And when I’d made it back to Tokyo, we went to Shinjuku together to find out what color our smile is~ X3c

Thank you for coming with me~ And being my friend Kelly-chan~ I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon!! ^^

Sorry this is so long!!! OTL To those that have read this far, thank you very much for reading!! m(_ _)m

[chinashopbully]

‘I Like Birds’ ch. 12 PREVIEW

(~2500 words) In which Bruce is exasperated, Tony is exasperating, and the author doesn't know shit about restraining himself from adding in a brief bonus!POV halfway through the story.

(also there's a donation request stuck in there at the bottom. don't want that to catch anyone off guard.)

He’s run out of things to try.

Bruce was already on the edge of doing something that’d instantly raise the Homeland Security alert levels. Roping the other Avengers in to help was supposed to increase his options, and thereby decrease his frustration, and thereby serve the overall purpose of world peace.

But of course, since Steve got pulled away on some international something-or-other, and Natasha already came and went with what seemed like maybe twenty minutes in between, only one Avenger has been around lately.

And of course, it had to be Tony.

“Have a little faith in the kid,” says Tony.

“Says the guy who tried to hold him against his will ‘for his own good’?”

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I.”

“I’ll forgive you when he does.”

“Gonna be tough to know when that is if he’s already drunk the Kool-Aid.” Tony pauses, scratches the hair at the nape of his neck. Bruce can’t tell if Tony’s overall greasiness is from handling machine parts or not showering. Both, probably. “Okay so that,” says Tony, “that came out wrong.”

“Damn well better have,” Bruce mutters, stalking away to the other side of the lab where there’s Less Tony.

Tony’s voice covers the distance a little too well. “All I mean is that if he really is chanting Oms and preparing his body for the mothership or whatever then nothing — nothing — we do or say is gonna bring him back down to earth. We try to reach out, it’ll just drive him away. Probably even prove some point about us outsiders being ignorant or hostile…”

“Not that I disagree,” says Bruce, not as under-the-breath as he intended, “but where was this understanding when you were having your AI lock down the building?”

“And anyway I don’t see how it’s our business either way.”

“How do you not give yourself whiplash?”

“Also,” Tony says, “he has powers. It not like he’s helpless.”

Bruce stares. “…I don’t want to sound like a broken record but—“

“So it takes me a while!”

The response sticks in Bruce’s throat. Fact: Tony Stark sucks at people. Sometimes willfully, often not. Occasionally it’s hard to tell which is which.

Bruce shuts his mouth.

Tony drops the torque wrench and reaches into the bag of blueberries dangling from DUM-E’s claw (probably on JARVIS’ orders). “Are we sure he’s not, y’know. Undercover or something?”

“If he were onto something — if this were work-related he’d tell us.”

“That’d be kind of a first.”

“He’d tell me.”

“You sound awfully sure of yourself.”

“He promised,” says Bruce.

“Well did he pinkie promise?” Tony leans back, and dear lord, when was the last time that face saw a razor? “Because that’s the heart and soul of contractual obligation.”

Bruce blinks at Tony’s pointedly guileless face before deciding that it’s not even worth the effort of counting to ten. He forces a smile. “It wouldn’t kill you to be slightly less of a jackass about everything.”

“That’s never been proven.”

He’s going through a rough time, Bruce thinks. He’s going through a rough time. He’s going through… “If not us,” says Bruce, “you know he’d at least tell Deadpool.”

Something metal gets thrown across the floor when Bruce isn’t looking; he jumps, presses a palm to his chest, sucks down the panic and swallows it away only through the aid of relentless practice. He stares at Tony in unbridled horror. He’s going through a very, very rough time, if he’s pulling stunts like that.

Tony gestures violently with one hand. “One, okay, I do not know that, and neither do you. We don’t even know when or, more to the point, why the kid left his place, but I will bet you an entire goddamn casino that Wilson did something shitty to drive him off. Guy’s the human personification of a fault line. Turns on a dime. Razes entire sections of the world at random. Doesn’t know pizza from roadkill and I’ve seen him go nuclear because he didn’t like the color scheme of one of the new-generation iPhone releases.”

“Meanwhile,” says Bruce, because he’s kind of in a mood now, “your response to being kidnapped was to spend the next few years building a personal army of weaponized armor and publicly claim ownership of world peace while daring known terrorists to come hurt your very few loved ones.”

For a moment Tony turns to ice, unmoving and brittle. Only for a moment. Then: “I am a model of mental health,” he says, breezing on. “Two, in the unlikely event everything is still sunshine and roses between spider-boy and Ol’ Hair Trigger, why in the name of sodium pentathol would Wilson tell us anything? I feel like his weird daddy-issues hero-worship thing he had for Cap kinda went belly-up. Because, again, turns on a dime.”

Bruce presses his thumb against a sudden sore spot on his forehead. “I can’t believe I’m about to defend Deadpool of all people, but it’s not like that was an unprovok—“

“Sure I mean, he might show up playing the I’ve Got A Secret game to try and squeeze a buck out of the deal, but he hasn’t, which most likely means he doesn’t know anything. But if you wanna track him down and interrogate him anyway, do me a solid and gimme a heads-up first because I’ve been meaning to test the new Hulkbuster armor.”

“Tony—“

“Three, and goddammit Brucie I hate to say this, I really do, but it gots to be said — maybe Spidey Krishna has been a long time coming and has nothing to do with anything. Not us, not nobody, not no how.”

“At the same time he’s been trying to track down the source of serial suicide bombers? Come on, Tony.”

“Coincidence. Fact is he’s no more emotionally stable than the rest of us at the best of times and god knows we’ve all flown off our own deep ends before. Typically, dare I say it, at the most inconvenient moment? Joining a cult is, like, the tamest of all possible outcomes, let’s be real.”

Bruce feels a dangerous burbling in his chest. Shuts his eyes for just as long as it takes to breathe in once, all the way, through the nose. Two fingers against his inner wrist. Pulse slows. “Claiming coincidence without investigation is just plain lazy,” says Bruce, with his eyes open.

Tony’s expression sours. “You’re paraphrasing. Badly.”

“Every effect has a cause. You either care enough to find out what that cause is, or you don’t.”

Tony narrows his eyes and hums in thought. “Wasn’t there something, somewhere, at some point, in some abrahamic religion, about the devil spinning scripture to his advantage?”

“Tony, I know you have a god complex, but comparing one of your pre-bandwagon rants to actual religious texts—“

“Pushing it?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Well, we were talking about cults, so. My mind was just in the gutter already, I guess.”

Bruce maintains a careful stoneface.

“Hm.” Tony flicks a blueberry in the air, catches it in his mouth on the way down. Again talks with his mouth full, which is sort of the Tony Stark equivalent of coughing and mumbling when you have to say something embarrassing. “Okay yes, my behavior before with the whole… y’know, kidnapping thing… was less than awesome and I was… less right than usual, okay? And now I just think we should leave him alone.”

“And I just think we should find a way to help him.”

“How, though? What’s he need?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because he’s not saying.”

Bruce raises his eyebrows, waiting for Tony to make his point.

“If he’s not saying anything then he’s probably not needing anything,” says Tony.

“Wow,” Bruce says. “I thought maybe you were just putting on a show so you could win the argument, but you really have pulled a U-ie.”

“Look, if you’re right, and this has nothing to do with spandex, and he really does want to be at Jonestown, then we’d be poking our way into his personal, poorly-guarded-secret-identity life and — aside from being just plain rude — probably fucking him up even worse in the long run, even if we did manage to get him to quit the club. And if I’m right, and he’s only there to work a job or… I dunno, whaddaya call it, a case? A mission? If he’s there to do Spider-Man stuff, then we’d be poking our way into that and probably fucking that up, which could get him killed. …I feel like this is overall just a no-pokey situation.”

“As if you never benefit from people sticking their noses in your business from time to time,” Bruce says, looking pointedly at the blueberry bag and Tony’s hand reaching into it.

“How dare you. JARVIS is not a ‘people’. He’s better than that.”

“I’m not saying we barge in guns blazing. But we should try to do something.”

“Great idea, and here’s another one: How ‘bout we don’t.”

“Enough don’t,” says Bruce. “We’ve been don’ting — or, you have been, rather — ever since—“

“JARVIS, music.”

“Which playlist, sir?”

“How ‘bout the GTFO party mix.”

Bruce isn’t sure how he immediately recognizes the opening of “Back Off, Bitch” by Guns N’ Roses — it’s very much not to his taste — but he does, and rolls his eyes.

It’s been over two months since both Spider-Man and reason fled Tony, and both have yet to come back. Been a little longer than that since Pepper left — physically left the Manhattan offices, since Tony refused to do so (the adult version of a child screaming get out of my room), and while Bruce sympathizes with her choices and with her need to be geographically removed from Tony, he more than sympathizes with Tony’s need for the anchor she provided.

These days Bruce can think of Betty without risking a news-breaking incident. If you’d asked him as a younger man whether a person could experience sadness so visceral that their body interprets it as a very real threat to life and limb, his answer would’ve been different, and uninformed. He still thinks “sadness” is a hell of a way to describe the existential anguish that is Betty’s absence from his life. Mostly, therefore, Bruce only thinks of Betty long enough to remember her name, and that they love each other — and that he has a good idea of what Tony’s going through with Pepper being gone.

And if Bruce can spend as much time with Tony as he does, then he must have some kind of nebulous, intuitive understanding of both how and why Spider-Man would spend time with Deadpool.

…And if Bruce is projecting onto both Tony and Spider-Man, he can’t help it. He’s not the most empathetic person, but sometimes empathy, like rage, is unstoppable.

Hmm.

He creeps up behind Tony — already back to “tinkering” and hellbent on ignoring him — and putting his hands on his knees, leans over. His mouth is an inch from Tony’s ear before Tony is even aware that Bruce is in his personal space.

“Mikey,” says Bruce, more than loud enough to be heard over the music.

Tony swats him with a backhand without looking. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU, BUT YOU GO RIGHT ON AHEAD AND KEEP TALKING.”

“His name’s Mikey!” says Bruce.

Tony throws down the screwdriver, waves vaguely for JARVIS to mute the music, and flops his hands on his knees. Sighs, heavily. “Don’t name it, you’ll just wanna keep it,” he says.

“He looks like a Mikey, too,” Bruce adds.

“Of course he does, he’s obviously an adorable babyface who was raised on wholesome cereal that’s a part of this complete breakfast. And overlooking the question of how the hell you found this out, why in the fuck would you tell me?”

Bruce shrugs. “He’s our friend.”

“Yes! He is! Our friend who loves his secret identity! And you know me, you know I’ll never be able to unlearn that. Why would you—” Tony squashes both hands to his face and takes a breath. “Look, I may be accidentally anathema to consistency, but I like to try anyway, okay? I’ve actually had to work very hard not to learn Spidey’s IRL bullshit. Do you understand how hard that is? Do you realize how much he sucks at the secret identity schtick, Gumby?”

“Gumby. Because he’s green. I get it.”

“Seriously. Why.”

Bruce shrugs. “To remind you that he’s human?”

“I know he’s human!”

“And that we all know you’re still very, very sorry about what happened, but running from your guilt by switching from extreme overprotectiveness to an extreme hands-off policy is probably not going to solve any problems.”

Tony narrows his eyes.

Bruce shifts his weight, settling back a little.

“Okay,” says Tony in a profoundly reasonable voice as he rises from the floor. His back pops, twice, when he stretches it. (His eyes bug a little, but he manages not to groan even though he clearly wants to.) “I’ll do some remote surveillance around the place and have JARVIS ping me if anything looks weird. I mean. Dangerous-weird, not creepy-weird. We’re already way past creepy-weird. So this way we’re doing something, but not sticking our hands in up to the elbow. Sounds like a pretty fair compromise to me. Coffee?”

It takes Bruce a couple seconds to realize he just won. “Great,” he says. “I mean, about the idea, not about the coffee. I know damn well that’s not decaf. …You shouldn’t have any, either,” he adds, reaching for the cold pot and holding it out of reach before Tony can touch it.

“Of course I should. I’m a busy adult with many important things to do. And cocaine’s still illegal.” He opens the minifridge, and Bruce closes it with his foot before a can of Monster can escape.

Tony fixes him with a look. “You’re cruel to me,” he announces.

“Mm-hm. How many hours since you slept?”

Tony pretends to consider the question, then gives up. “JARVIS?”

“Thirty-one hours, sir.”

“Thirty-one hours, Brucie Boy,” says Tony.

“C’mon,” Bruce says, reaching for Tony’s elbow. “You’re going to bed.”

“Nah! Nahahah nnno!” He curls away. “You’re gonna have to wash the hell out of your hands if you want to put them anywhere near me.”

“Tony, you’re standing there in a cloud of your own thirty-hour stink and I seriously doubt if you’ve changed your underwear since the weekend. Don’t talk to me about germs.”

Tony hisses.

Bruce makes a grab for him.

“Jesus, your hands are cold!”

“Come on.”

“I need an adult!”

“Tony—“

“I’m not tired.”

“Worse than a nine-year-old…”

“Ow! Did I say you could—“

“Would you just—“

“Okay! Let go, alright! Hands off, I’m going, I’m going.”

“Go to bed, Tony.”

“You’re not my real dad.”

Somewhere in the lava flow of his subconscious, Bruce can feel the Other Guy roll his eyes, at both of them.

Hey! If you like this scene, or if you like the fic in general, if it has added some kind of value to your life, and only if you are comfortable with it and can afford it, please consider tipping the author.

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Have an excellent rest of your day.

[doctortdesigns]

After last month’s issue arrived and I saw the preview, I expected the May issue to be a bit disappointing.   However, Burda has won me over again this month with bright prints, fun styling, and an AMAZING collection of Plus patterns.  I want to wear all of the Plus looks.  Seriously.  ALL of them.  There is quite a bit to see this month, so let’s take a look:

May is traditionally full of fun summer dresses, but that doesn’t seem to be as much the case this year.  There are a few new dress patterns this month though.

Love this maxi dress.  The drape in the back makes me think of ancient Greece or possibly a secret superhero cape.  Love the look belted, as it really highlights that feature.  The print on the other version is gorgeous as well.

Ok, so I probably don’t really want a giant hole in my dress at that particular region, but otherwise I totally love this dress.  It looks casual and comfortable, total secret pajamas happening here.  Might have to come up with a fun way of hiding the hole…

The ubiquitous strapless ruffle dress.  It wouldn’t be summer if we didn’t get this style in at least one issue this year.

The giant ruffles are the trend this year, so this dress shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.  I’m not really much of a ruffle girl, but I bet this dress would have amazing movement with all the flounces.

In a complete departure from all the loose, draping styles above, this structured sheath dress has some nice visual interest with the overlapping bodice.  It is an interesting nod to the proportions seen in the crop top plus skirt craze that has been going on, while still making it business appropriate.  I sort of really love this dress.  It is interesting, but subtle and sophisticated.  It definitely makes it to my to-sew list.

Also love this beautiful wrap dress.  The skirt is cut on the bias and has lovely drape.  Not sure I’m liking the wearing it over pants look exactly, but I think with a slightly higher hem it could be a great top as well.

This issue doesn’t have a lot of jackets, but the one it does have is really nice:

I think this is a great mix of classic tailoring with the collar, but also a flowy hem that is evocative of summer.  I didn’t like this jacket at first, but it is growing on me.

I was not as impressed by the selection of tops this month:

Pretty sure we already have many similar styles from Burda.  It’s nice, but not exciting.

I…. might actually wear this.  It’s a nice way to jump on the ruffle trend without going totally overboard.

This top reminds me of the shirts everyone tried to wear when they hit 13, and everyone else’s parents criticized them for being “too sexy.”  I’m actually rather liking it here, though I know the lack of straps would drive me totally nuts.

Conceptually, I like this shirt, but practically it looks not so great.  The stuff fabric just makes it look sloppy and bunchy – like The Great British Sewing Bee has a scrubs refashion challenge.

Ok, so I can see how this crop top has a certain editorial appeal, but I’m not sure how practical it would be for the real world.  How well would those tie straps hold?

Despite the disappointing tops, there are lots of really nice bottoms in this issue though:

Love these!  Obviously very simple straight leg pants and culottes, but I like the idea of sewing them in a wild print.

I’m still totally on a jumpsuit kick, I really like the line drawing for these.  None of the photos show the model standing up straight, so it is a bit difficult to judge, but the dress form garment photos look nice.  Also, LOVE how they used the boarder print on the one romper, absolutely gorgeous effect.

Skort?  Skirt?  But it has pockets, and stripe matching, so that’s a win.

I know it is just a pencil skirt with a tie band, but I love it!  Especially in the wax print pattern.

[PIC HERE NOT SHOWING??????? BELOW]

I know this is also another pencil skirt with giant pockets, and I’m a bit torn.  The print looks really nice and fitted, but the solid looks like a total mess.  This might be a pass for me.

I’m also aware that there are five million pattens for skirts just like this, and that this has got to be one of the easiest things to sew, but I’m still loving this skirt.  Definitely a fun way to use a slightly crazy print.  I also really like the way it has been styled with the off the shoulder top.  Very cute for summer.

We also get a great guy’s sweatshirt pattern this month:

Love this fitted men’s sweatshirt too – a nice casual piece that would definitely get a lot of wear.

The kids section is also geared for boys, and it totally on point this month:

What kid wouldn’t wear this zip-up hoodie to death?

The other kids clothes are all things that would be definite hits with boy.

And this backpack is pretty cute too!  I love the way it folds over and latches – it’s a nice detail.  It also looks fairly simple to sew, which is perfect for a quick summer bag to accessorize your other makes.

And, finally, the amazing Burda Plus section:

This trench coat!  Swooning over here!  I love it!  The lines are subtle but very flattering, and it has lovely gun flap details on the front and the back.  Beautiful.

I love this dress too!  The style is simple, flattering, and has just enough interest with the built-in belt wraps to keep it from being totally boring.

This jumpsuit is pretty cute too.  The wide v-neckline and belted waist create a lovely shape on the body.

I’m also pretty obsessed with this tunic top.  I mean, yes, it is just a tunic top, but I really love the length on the sleeve, and the overall drape and flow of the the shirt.  It would be lovely to wear in a nice rayon or a crepe fabric I think.

Also love this maxi dress.  The v-neck with cords is very on trend, and I love the mix of prints between the top and the skirt portion.  Another style that is fairly simple, but would make a great piece for the summer months.

And that’s it!  Which means it is time to pick the top and bottom patterns for the month.  And I think my pick for Best of BS will be a little bit shocking:

The crop top dress!  I know, I know, I just finished waxing rhapsodic about the Burda Plus looks, but I think this dress is probably the most innovative style in the magazine, so it gets points there.  It also looks really flattering and really chic.  Of all the styles in the magazine I think it is also the most classic – I’m betting people will pull this pattern out 5-10 years down the line.  The giant ruffle dresses probably not so much.  I’m not sure I’d wear it over a shirt as Burda’s styled it (I’d probably wear it just as a dress), but amidst the other styles full of ruffles and bright prints, this simple dress is something of a stand-out.

As far as BWTF for May 2017, it was a really difficult choice because I don’t think there is anything really bad in this issue.  But after a glance through at the model photos I decided to give it to:

Tie front blouse.  Honestly, I don’t think this is a bad pattern, but I also think that is doesn’t sit well in a woven fabric.  At least, not in a stiff woven as they’ve done here.  It just looks wrinkled and unhappy.  I can see how they were going for a sculptural effect, but I don’t think they quite achieved it.

On the whole, I’m pretty excited with this issue.  There are lots of things I’m liking, and lots of things I could see being a great use of my stash fabrics.  I also think Burda did a great job of coming up with styles that look great both in solids and in prints, which is not always the case.  The Plus section and the Kids section were both great, and we had a great men’s sweatshirt pattern as well.  When I first saw the preview in the back of the April Burda, I was prepared to be overwhelmingly disappointed, but I’m actually rather excited by this issue.  What do you all think?  Is it too much a stark contrast of simple silhouettes and over the top trends?  Or does it strike a proper balance of having something for everyone?  Feel free to discuss in the comments!

  May 2017 BurdaStyle Magazine #sewing #burdastyle #burda #patterns #magazine #obsession After last month's issue arrived and I saw the preview, I expected the May issue to be a bit disappointing.