#there is a case of kinda conveniently kind stranger in one of mine

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

@silent-silver-slip

You know what I’m tired of seeing in fantasy novels? Conveniently kind strangers. The ones who take in the hero when he passes out on their doorstep and take care of him for an indeterminate number of days until he regains consciousness in a nice fluffy bed. Give me wary strangers. Strangers who are too afraid to help, who want nothing to do with a hero on his quest. Give me strangers who’ll stitch up the hero’s wounds and then run away as soon as he’s conscious. Give me strangers who pick the hero’s pocket so he wakes up with only his clothes on - and only some of them at that. No more conveniently kind strangers, okay?

[sunnysunoo]

Love Letters ; Sim Jake

Pairing: Jake X Reader

warnings: explicit language and cursing

word count: 3k words

genre: friends to lovers au! fluff with tiny pieces of crack lmao

Jake was always known for being this perfect guy in school. I mean, they're not wrong. They always described him as if he's this walking piece of art in the hallways. People would stop to just stare at him. You'd stare at him all day too, but you set priorities first: writing him love letters.

You're no Lara Jean, but I guess you can say that she's what inspired you to write Jake letters. Who needs Peter Kavinsky when Jake Shim exists anyways?

note: Not me completely disappearing off of tumblr for like months and then showing up again suddenly lol. I got really busy the past few months since I was completing requirements for school, and I really didn't have the motivation to do anything at the time so I took so time off to take care of myself first so I hope you understand :) But now since it's summer break, I am given at least 2 more months until I go back to school in August :)) Here's the long-awaited Jake imagine that I completely forgot about lmao hope you enjoy <3

P.S I finished writing this at 1:26 am so please excuse the really shitty plot and grammar ill rewrite it once i wake up

tag list: @cha-raena ( sorry for the rlly late post bestie )

Dear Jake, First of all, I will never call you Jaeyun because calling you by your English name makes me feel like I'm your friend. Calling you by your Korean name makes us feel like we're cold strangers to one another and I don't want that. I want us to be something more than that, but it's hard when you don't even know who I am. I'm surprised how you don't grow tired of me just dropping letters right into your locker every time you open it, and that's one of the things I love about you. You don't just throw away people's efforts and you treasure them with care. It makes my heart beat so fast as if I ran miles away from here.

We're already one year left until we graduate high school, and I don't want to end my high school years without you realizing my feelings for you. I know for sure that you would never reciprocate the feelings that I have towards you, so I want to treat this as closure in case we do forget about each other in the future. Yours truly,

Moon

__

"How is this person not over you? That's like the tenth one this month," Jay said, looking over Jake as he reads the letter from his secret admirer. Jake has always been receiving these letters from the same person everyday for the past four months. He's thankful for the letters because they definitely make his day better, knowing that there's someone out there who loves him as who he is regardless of looks. He's not gonna lie that these little notes and letters make his heart race too. "Do you have any plans with finding the person behind the letters?" Jay asked as he watches his best friend trying to hide the small smile that's been growing. No one really knows who this mysterious person is and why they decided to name themselves the moon, but we don't judge anyone in here. If they want to be the moon in their next life, then so be it. "I really want to find the person who's making these letters," Jake shoved the letter in his backpack, trying to not wrinkle it. "But I don't know where to start." "Who's finding who?" A voice popped suddenly beside the presence of the two boys. You leaned beside the locker beside Jake's, watching him as he grabs his books from his locker. "Did Moon drop your daily letter today again?" "They did as usual," Jake wasn't even surprised. He would expect the letters every time he enters the school in the morning. He would open his locker to see the usual small letter placed inside his locker. He usually arrives at seven or earlier, but he's surprised that he could never even catch a glance of this anonymous sender around the campus. "Should I go to school at five in the morning?" "Five in the morning? Isn't that a bit too early?" You questioned, followed by a shaky breath. "The school doesn't even open until six." "I could just walk to that nearby convenience store I always pass by to grab a coffee." He argues, closing his locker shut before walking towards his classroom.

You and Jay followed beside him, and you sneered under your breath, "You don't even wake up to your alarm clock."

"Why don't you even want me to go early anyway?" He glances as you try to give him an answer. But before you could say something, Jay replies first.

"You’re probably hiding something." He said. You rolled your eyes and narrowed your eyes at him. "You are so weird." You grunted, before walking ahead of them. You feel panicked because you were scared that you made yourself obvious to them.

__

You were inside your classroom sitting on your desk. There were only fifteen minutes left before lunch, but you had eaten your packed meal before instead of going to your school cafeteria. You were fidgeting in your place, conflicted about Jake finding his secret admirer, not knowing that it was you who's been sending him letters the past few months. You're not scared of him finding out that the letters were from you; that was the entire reason why you wrote him letters in the first place. You're scared of how he was gonna confront you about it. Would he like you back? Would he hate you? Would he avoid you?

Your mind was full of scenarios but you were suddenly brought back to reality when a hand planted itself on your desk. You look up and saw Jay standing in front of you, eating sushi with his other hand. His face kinda looks like he knows something, and it's freaking you out a bit.

"What?" You asked, suddenly flustered over how his eyes stared right into you. He took the seat in front of your desk and flipped it so it was facing you. He sat down and blurted the phrase that you were dreading to hear from anyone.

"So, you like Jake?"

You suddenly feel like punching him in the face with his sushi.

"What??" Your body felt like, and you were left a nervous mess. Your heart like it was going to pump right out of your chest any minute, and your hands started to sweat.

Jay's mouth formed into a smirk. He caught you. "Jake may be a bit oblivious, but I can totally see right through you."

“Haha...no you don’t,” You tried to deny, but it was all useless when his expression looked unconvinced.

“Oh yeah? Then why are you all red? You look like a bursting tomato.”

“You don’t know that," You leaned further into your seat, playing with the strings of your hoodie.

“C’mon Y/N, you’re not even trying. Just give up and admit it,” Jay was trying to help you confess your feelings for Jake. Frankly, he knew it was you sending him letters this whole time—how can Jake not see it?

With a heavy sigh, you slumped and laid your head on your desk, embarrassed. “Fine. I like him, okay? Are you happy now?”

The smirk on his face grew wider, feeling proud of himself. You are not dealing with his annoying crap this early in the morning. He grinned and munched on his half-eaten sushi. “I knew it.”

“Congratulations,” It was muffled because you hid your red face away from him. All that was on your mind now was how you could book yourself a flight all the way across the world.

“But seriously, since when did you have a crush on him?” You raised your head to face him, giving him a look that could kill, except Jay finds it entertaining rather than intimidating.

“I started having a crush on him when we were in fifth grade. It was at a friend's birthday party, and he saw me being all quiet and lonely. Honestly, I forgot who’s birthday that was.” You told him the very first time you had discovered feelings.

“He saw how sad I looked so he accompanied me the whole time. He was even trying to feel more included in the games and stuff.” You felt a smile ghosting on your lips as you can still vividly remember how you felt your heart tug the first time. “It was kinda like I fell in love at first sight.”

Jay faked a gag, so you lightly punched him in the shoulder. He may be a bit of an asshole, but he’s one the most caring and kind people you’ve ever met. It honestly felt good spilling out your feelings about Jake to him.

Speaking of, Jake was watching you two play around and laugh at Jay's little jokes from outside, and he felt something burning from inside him. Was it that he felt jealous of you and Jay?

No, he can’t be...right?

Maybe it was because of how he felt separated from you and Jay because of him being a separate class.

Yeah, maybe it's because of that.

__

Dear Jake,

I just had the most bizarre day today, and I felt like telling you about it.

It was chemistry period, and we had to be partnered with someone for a lab project. I ended up getting paired with Yeojin. We kinda created this unexpected friendship, which I love. We would crack jokes at each other, tell funny stories, it was so fun to be with her that we had completely forgotten about our project. So now, we both got a detention slip for making an accidental explosion.

How about you? How was your day? I hope it was just as fun as mine. If you feel like the day just wasn't as happy or you're feeling down, just now that it's okay to feel that way because days like these just lasts for 24 hours. It will be all over before you know it and you'll be greeted by another day. Maybe it will be different, and you would be all happy again just like how my day went. Maybe being with you would be my happiest day yet, and I couldn't wait for that day to come. See you soon :)

Love,

Moon

__

"Yeojin!" Jake called, seeing her walk down the opposite way. "Hey, mind if I ask you something?"

"Hey Jake," She greeted him with a smile. "Sure, go ahead."

"Could you perhaps give me any information about your partner in Chemistry?" He had hopes of getting any kind of description about his mysterious sender, but he was instead given a sad frown on Yeojin's face.

"Sorry Jake, but that person told me not to tell you about their information." She gave an apologetic smile. "I wish you all the best in finding them!"

Jake muttered a small "okay," and sighed before walking away, feeling defeated.

Yeojin knew that he was gonna ask about Moon the moment he called her from across the hall. She couldn't wait to tell you about this.

__

"Hey Y/N," A voice said from behind. You turned around to see Jake with his backup hung on his shoulder. He brought his hand up and raked his hair, and you felt your face grow red. Jake is like a gift from the gods. How can someone look so ethereal even if they're just standing there? You could stare at him all day. You couldn't even understand a thing he said until he started waving his hands in front of you.

"Hello?" You blinked multiple times as you were brought back out to reality. You saw Jake's face grow into concern. "Are you okay? spaced out."

"O-oh..No, I'm completely fine." You reassured him, feeling embarrassed. "What were you saying again?"

"I was asking you if you wanted to go to school with me early tomorrow."

Well, shit.

Your eyes started to go wide, and your hands started to go clammy.

"Tomorrow?" You repeated, voice trembling.

'Well, yeah." He pouted his lips, and you felt like melting into a small puddle in your place. Your heart started to pound heavily.

Oh my fucking god, he is so adorable.

"Okay, sure I can go with you tomorrow," You weakly smiled at him, slightly tense.

How we're you going to give him the letter now?

__

"Good Morning," Jake said as he watches you close the gates of your house. It was past five in the morning, and you were a mess.

"Morning," You replied back before running your fingers through your hair, getting rid of any flyaways.

As you started walking your way to the bus stop, Jake kept on glancing towards you from time to time. He knew you were pretty, but since when did you become really beautiful in his eyes?

The walk was pretty quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. For him, mostly.

Meanwhile, you couldn't stop freaking out. You had written a letter the night before, but you don't know how you were going to slip it into his locker without him taking notice. If he saw you, he would know.

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been like this since yesterday," Jake blurted. You looked at him before heaving a sigh.

"It's nothing," You mouthed, suddenly feeling anxious and gloomy.

"Something on your mind?"

"Something like that." It was hopeless. I guess he would have to miss this letter today. It was the first time you skipped a day, and you're feeling guilty that you would have to see Jake's face sadden that he wouldn't receive it today.

As you two stop at the bus stop, Jake looked slightly panicked as he was rummaging through the pockets of his blazer before looking through his bag. "Hey, do you have an extra pen? I left mine at home and I have a quiz today."

You snickered, "Out of all the days, Sim Jake. The same day you have a quiz is the same day you forget your pen."

"Very funny." He scoffed.

As you unzipped your bag to grab your pencil case, a folded piece of paper fell out without you realizing it. When Jake went to pick it up, he notices that it was folded the same way as the letters in his locker. It looked so identical.

Once you already got your pencil case out, you were about to hand it to him when you saw what he was holding that made your body freeze with your hand holding the case in the air.

"Why were one of my letters inside your bag?" He glanced at you, waiting for you to reply.

If you were freaking out before, this is a whole other thing. The thing that you were fearing the most is happening right before you.

"Maybe it fell into my bag yesterday..." You stammered, making up an excuse to look like it was an accident. You were tightly holding onto your pencil case, chanting many curse words in your head as you watch Jake unfold the letter.

"I don't think I've received this one yet," He said before he opened the letter and read it.

You watch as his expression formed into confusion as he reads through the paper. It only took a few moments before something in him clicked that it was you sending him the letters.

"Y/N," He began, and you started quivering in fear.

You should've known this would happen, but you didn't expect it to happen this sooner. In fact, you believed that this wouldn't happen at all. But it did.

"Let me explain," You eventually gave up and accepted fate and watch as your identity as "Moon" be revealed to your crush. You're now exposed so you didn't have any other choice but to explain everything. "Yes, I am Moon. I was the one writing you the letters that you've been getting in your locker."

Jake's face was unreadable. He looked bewildered and puzzled. He was trying to comprehend what was happening right now. All this time, it was you?

"I started crushing on you when we attended that birthday party before. I didn't want to confess my feelings for you because I was scared that you were going to harshly reject me, so I started writing down letters as a way to tell you how I feel about you without making you feel awkward around me." You continued, eyes suddenly taking an interest in your shoes. They were brand new too.

Jake was silent, and you felt your heart crack into pieces. You were mad at yourself for being so careless about it that he ended up finding out about you as his secret admirer. You wanted nothing else but to run back home, lock yourself in your room and cry with your sad playlist on loop.

You were expecting a harsh rejection coming from him, but what surprised was how he took dangerous steps towards you, minimizing the gap between you two. He placed his hand under your chin, forcing you to look up at him.

"I don't plan on rejecting you Y/N," You stare into his eyes as it reflects the sunlight of the early morning. "I'm actually happy that it was you."

You look at him, puzzled. He lowly chuckles under his breath before leaning over to place his lips against yours. It was a light, quick kiss, but it brought you feeling ecstatic. You've dreamed of this moment before, and now that it happened, you thanked your clumsiness.

As he pulled away, you were sure your face was a red mess.

"Thank you," His smile was as bright as the stars in the sky. It was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. "Thank you for making me like I'm special to someone."

You felt flustered over his words. You were scared that he could hear the sound of your heart pounding loudly. The butterflies in your stomach were going wild, and you felt like this was all a dream.

"So, what am I to you now?" You broke into a smile as he grabs your hand, intertwining your fingers with his.

Jake acted as if he was thinking, "Hm..maybe my best friend still?"

He bursts into a fit of giggles as he sees your smile slowly disappear, replacing it with a look of disbelief. You removed your hand from his and walked at a faster pace away from him.

He ran to match your pace beside you before holding your hand again, "I'm sorry, I won't ever do that again. Is my girl mad at me?"

"Oh my god, it's only five-fifty, Jake." You too broke into laughter over his cheesiness, but your heart fluttered over the thought of Jake calling you his.

__

HERE’S A LITTLE BONUS! since I've made you guys wait for 4 months :(

"What the fuck?" Was the first thing You heard from Jay as you and Jake entered the classroom. All of your classmates were staring at your and his hands intertwined together.

Jay stood in front of you two, crossing his arms together. "Can one of you explain when this happened?" he motioned towards your linking hands. You and Jake smiled at each other before walking away, leaving Jay in a fit of joy, and confusion.

[lovely-ateez]

Teach Me~

ꕥPosted: 9/1/20

ꕥGenre: Smut, Fluff

ꕥPairing: Yeosang x Fem!Reader

ꕥWord Count: ~1.7k

ꕥWarnings: Fingering, Praising (f receiving), Protected sex, Oral (f receiving)

ꕥA/N: The next post I’m making is Pt. 2 for Ice Cream! Hope you enjoy this one as well as the next :))

“Damn skater boys and their skills. Why can’t I skateboard?” I whined, lazily flopping myself on the library table.

The university I attended allowed bikes and skateboards on campus, so it was common to see people riding either on their way to class. Skateboards were far more convenient, though, and if I knew how to skateboard I’d be riding along with them.

My friend Varsha rolled her eyes at me, “Ask one of them to teach you if you’re so eager, then.” She took a sip of her mocha frappuccino.

“Noooo they look so intimidating. I’d make a fool of myself anyways.”

“Then stop complaining, you big baby. Listen I’ve got class in 10 minutes so I’ll see you later, yeah?”

She walked away as I waved goodbye at her and I felt myself still pouting.

A deep voice startled me, “I don’t think I’m that intimidating, personally.”

Jumping, I faced the owner of the voice. A Greek god appeared before my eyes, his blond locks flowing slightly past his neck. If he didn’t just confirm that he was a skater, his clothes sure would have. His pink beanie looked like it was falling off his head, and his loose shirt and ripped jeans hid his frame, but I just knew he had abs.

The man saw me checking him out and raised a brow. “You’re cute. Meet me in parking lot A at five today. I’ll teach you how to skate.”

He walked away before I had the chance to refuse or even get his name. Well shit. What have I gotten myself into?

-

My final class of the day let out at noon, giving me plenty of time to mull over what I was going to do about the man’s proposal. On one hand, I have no clue who he is or why he would want to help me. He’s a stranger. I literally didn’t even know his name. Yet, on the other hand, he was a terribly handsome man who was willing to teach me how to skate, and I was dying to learn.

I drove back to the on-campus apartments, waiting for Varsha to arrive. I needed a second opinion and as my roommate and a good friend, she was always there to help me.

While I was waiting I decided to change into clothes that would be easy to skate in. You know, just in case. I realized I didn’t have too many exercise clothes to choose from, so I just slipped on a pair of jean shorts and a plain white tank top. It was hot outside so threw my hair in a ponytail.

As I was tying my hair up, I heard Varsha come barging in. “What’s up, fuckers?”

Varsha waltzed into our shared room and began to remove a few books from her backpack.

“Okay first of all, rude. Second, Sinoo and Trixie aren’t here, so it’s singular; fucker.”

Sinoo and Trixie were our dormmates and they shared a separate a room together. We were all about the same age, all sophomores, and shared similar interests so we bonded pretty quickly.

Sinoo was a transfer student from Korea and was just about the kindest soul you’d ever meet. Her English was so good that we swore it was her native language, which she vehemently denied. Sinoo was a music major and had the voice of a literal angel. She would sing almost 24/7 but no one minded because of her voice. Her positive energy was contagious, and she always made us smile.

Trixie was the embodiment of a stereotypical girly-girl. She had long, blonde hair and always wore fashionable clothes. It was strange to have a weekend where she wasn’t begging us to go shopping with her. Like Sinoo, she had a kind heart. She could come across as brash sometimes, but was an incredibly loyal person. Trixie changed her major about four different times, finally settling on majoring in fashion design, although I wouldn’t be surprised if she changed it again.

And Varsha was a true chaotic neutral if I’ve ever met one. Her antics could be slightly unpredictable, but she always knew how to make someone smile. A day wouldn’t go by without her mentioning her adorable white poodle at home and how much she missed him. She was a comfort to have around and the apartment always felt empty without her. Varsha was undecided on her major but knowing her, she’d be able to do anything well.

“So I need advice.”

Varsha gave me a curious look. “About what?”

I explained my situation to her and she laughed. “Go with him, duh.”

“What if he like kidnaps me or something?”

“Okay first of all, I know where you’re at and what time you’ll be there. If you’re not back in two hours I’ll call campus security, okay?”

I nodded, embarrassingly not needing anymore convincing.

-

I arrived three minutes early. The parking lot was surprisingly empty, but since it was a Friday, I wasn’t too surprised. Most students went home for the weekend anyway.

Not knowing what to to, I pulled out my phone to mindlessly scroll through social media. I glanced up when I heard footsteps approaching.

“Didn’t think you’d come, to be honest. Glad you did.” The man grinned, “You ready for your first lesson?”

“I suppose so.” I paused, “What’s your name?”

The question must’ve caught him off guard, given the confused expression on his face.

“Oh yeah.” He laughed, “I’m Yeosang.”

I reached out to shake his hand, introducing myself as well. Yeosang motioned to his skateboard, setting it down.

“Alright. What’s the first rule of skateboarding?”

“Uhh...don’t break your skull?”

Yeosang laughed, nodding. “Well, I suppose that’s a good objective, but no. Balance is key. How good is your balance?”

“Mediocre at best.”

Yeosang tried his best to suppress a smile but failed terribly. I wasn’t sure why he tried to hide it. Every bit of him was so alluring.

“Alright then. I’ll hold you so you don’t fall. Now step up on the board just like this.” He demonstrated the action as he spoke, maintaining perfect balance.

I whined as I watched him. “There’s no way in hell I can do that, Yeosang.”

“Not with that attitude, you can’t.”

He led me to the board and I hopped on, doing my best to stabilize myself. I didn’t notice how his hands were gripping my hips or how close his face was to mine...at first. But when I did, my face instantly flushed.

With a raised brow, the man leaned even closer, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were blushing. I wonder what for? Could it be me?” The growl in his voice sent a shock straight to my core.

I forced myself to stable my breathing, “No. Get over yourself.”

“Feisty. I like it.”

-

We practiced for about an hour and a half but all I was able to accomplish was standing upright on the board.

“We’ve been practicing for quite awhile. Would you want to get a drink? It’s really hot.” Yeosang looked at me with genuine concern.

“Honestly, that would be fantastic.”

“My apartment isn’t too far from here. I can take you there and I can get you whatever.”

Normally, I wouldn’t have agreed in such a situation, but somehow I felt pulled to him. Like I couldn’t say no. And so, I agreed.

Yeosang picked up his skateboard and began to walk, leading me in an unfamiliar direction.

“So which apartment do you live in, Yeosang?”

“I live in Stockdale. Kinda sucks that it’s so far away from campus but it’s close to the lake so at least it has a pretty view.”

I nodded, “Ah I live in Callahan.”

“Oh yeah I lived in that apartment last year.”

I followed Yeosang up to the second floor of Stockdale and watched as he unlocked the door. All apartments had the same basic layout so the room essentially looked the same as mine, except for the position of the furniture and electronics scattered about the floor.

I sat down on the couch in his living room as Yeosang disappeared into his kitchen. I looked at the ugly, blue patched cushions that were placed on his couch. If they were unique to his apartment I would have teased him about it, but unfortunately the entire university decided that the pattern was ideal for all couches across campus.

A deep voice grabbed my attention. “Red punch okay?”

“Yeah that’s fine. Honestly anything is okay at this point.” I laughed. He passed me a cup filled with the red liquid and I took a sip.

“Thanks, by the way. For both teaching me and the drink.”

Yeosang smiled. “Not a problem. If you wanna get good though, you’ve gotta practice more. We should meet again.”

I smiled. “I’d like that...Oh shit-“ I quickly grabbed my phone from my pocket, remembering to text Varsha.

Noticing Yeosang’s confused look, I clarified. “I told my roommate if I didn’t call within two hours or so to call security.”

I felt embarrassed as I said it aloud but Yeosang let out a hearty laugh. “Did you think I was going to rob you or something?”

“Hey! I didn’t know!” I pouted, still slightly embarrassed.

“I mean fair enough. You didn’t even know my name...I guess someone was desperate to learn how to skate.”

“Shut up.” As I was trying to place my phone back into my pocket I spilled some punch on my shirt.

“Aww. I don’t wanna clean that up.” I whined.

Yeosang chuckled. “Lick it off, then.”

I felt a surge of confidence. “Why don’t you?”

The joking, carefree air around us had somehow shifted. The atmosphere felt tense. I was teasing at first but, I began to realize that I wanted him to do it.

He ran his tongue over his lips and my head clouded with thoughts of how his lips would feel running along the inside of my thighs, teasing me until I pleaded him to reach just slightly above.

The darkness in his gaze made me want to beg him to kiss me, to touch me, to give me anything. I tried to remember to keep my composure but it wasn’t working too well.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long before he pulled me close, locking his lips with mine. I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Biting my bottom lip, Yeosang slowly pulled back. “I think you need to changed out of this t-shirt, what do you say?”

I knew his words meant more than than what they appeared on the surface, especially given the look in his eyes.

I leaned in close to Yeosang’s ear, “I think I need you to help me.”

My words seemed to be the breaking point for him. His lips clashed back onto mine and before I knew it, he was setting me down on his bed.

Yeosang pinned my hands above my head and gently began kissing my neck. I closed my eyes, reveling in the feeling.

One of Yeosang’s hands grazed my clit through my shorts and I gasped. Yeosang smirked at me and slid down my shorts. When they were fully off he dipped a few of his fingers into my panties to tease me. I wiggled around, begging him to give me more.

“What a needy girl you are.” The man’s eyes were glazed over, lust controlling his every move.

I whimpered, “Please, Yeosang.”

“Only because you said please.”

He released my hands and slid his own down to my waist. Spreading my legs further apart, he bit the hem of my panties and slowly pulled them off of me with his teeth.

“Fuck, you look hot.” He told me as he threw my soaking panties across the room.

If I had the ability to form sentences, I would have told him the same, but I was so overwhelmed with the current situation that I simply couldn’t.

Yeosang lifted my legs over his shoulders and held my hips down in place. I felt his tongue gloss over my clit, making my back arch off the bed. He proceeded to kiss the inside of my thighs, slowly making his way up to where I wanted him. After what felt like forever, he began to slowly eat me out. I didn’t expect him to be as good as he was and all I could do was moan. I couldn’t be more thankful that none of his roommates where there.

“Shit. Yeosang I...I’m close. Please.”

I knew he heard me, but he didn’t acknowledge me outright. His steady pace continued, finally permitting my release. He reached up to kiss me, making me taste myself.

“Do you want to go further?”

His eyes were kind and showed concern, not trying to influence me in one way or the other.

“Yes.” I breathed out.

He once again tried to hide his smile, as if he was trying not to appear too eager. The man grabbed a condom out of his bedstand and quickly discarded the rest of his clothes. I, doing the same.

“Ready, darling?” Yeosang asked as he was slipping on the condom.

“Definitely,” I breathed out.

At a slow pace he entered me, stretching my walls and making me cry out at the pleasure.

“Such a good girl. Taking me so well. You’re so beautiful, you know that?” I felt tears prick at my eyes during his praises and I realized I didn’t want him to stop.

“Please don’t stop that.”

“Awe baby girl likes being praised? Well let me tell you, you’re doing a wonderful—fuck.” A deep growl left his throat as I unconsciously began to clench around him.

“You’re making me feel so good, sweetheart. What a good girl you are for me.”

His right hand wandered up to play with my nipples, gently fondling them. The euphoric feeling spurred on my rapidly approaching orgasm.

“Yeosang I’m gonna...c-cum again. Please.”

His thrusts gradually sped up as my hands grasped his biceps, nails digging into his skin.

Leaning towards my ear, he whispered, “Cum for me, darling.”

After a few more thrusts, I came hard, a mantra of his name falling from my lips.

“Just hold on a little longer, darling. I’m almost there.” The overstimulation wasn’t as bad as I thought it might’ve been, but it was entirely possible that Yeosang’s heavenly, fucked out expression compensated for it. Panting heavily, Yeosang soon reached his high and stilled. He gently pulled out and placed a kiss on my forehead.

“You’re really good at that, you know? Are you this sweet with all the girls?” I joked.

He gave me a slightly confused expression before his face returned to a more serious one.

“I haven’t done this in a long time. Like probably over a year at this point.” He scratched the back of his head, eyes darting anywhere but me. “Actually, I didn’t even mean for this to happen, believe it or not...You know I saw you on campus a few times and thought you were really cute. I’m glad I got the chance to approach you.” He watched me with calming eyes as I blushed.

“So...what now?” I asked, sheepishly.

His shy smile—which I think had become my favorite of his smiles—made an appearance.

“It’s probably silly, given what we just did, but I’d like to take you on a date. Or at least meet up to study or something...point is I’d like to see you again.” He held eye contact with me.

“I’d enjoy that. Plus, I could use a pro to teach me how to ride a skateboard.”

Yeosang rolled his eyes, a dazzling smile painting his face, “Oh whatever. I’m not that good.”

The butterflies I felt in my stomach were so unique to him. I didn’t want to admit how excited I was to see him again, but I was. And in that moment, all I could think about was how glad I was that he offered to teach me.

[zootopiathingz]

Between the Odds

Part Nine: Uncomfortable Encounter

Judy and Nick didn't get many days off, but when they did they took full advantage of it. Sometimes they would decide to stay in and be lazy together, but now that they were a couple they wanted to utilize their free time by going on dates and having some alone time.

It was their first day off since they started going out three weeks ago, and so they chose to have an all-day date. They started by having brunch, then they went to see a movie (that they didn't enjoy too much, but they were more focused on each other), and by the afternoon they were walking aimlessly around the city to be more spontaneous. Although they would probably later decide to call it a day and go home soon.

It seemed now that they were just walking in circles, since Judy recognized the street they were on now that she was starting to pay attention to her surroundings again. "Should we just go back?" She asked, "I feel like today was pretty productive."

"Whatever you want." Nick shrugged nonchalantly, since he didn't mind what she wanted to do. He just wanted to be with her, that's all that mattered to him. "You wanna go to your place or mine?"

"Good question." She chuckled, since she had no idea which she preferred. She had everything she needed at his apartment, but it was also vise versa, so it didn't really matter where they went. Ever since they became official, they spent every night with each other regardless of who's apartment they were at, and it was starting to feel like they were basically roommates.

And that's when a thought came to mind, and Judy felt the need to ask now rather than later. "You know, we've kinda been going back and forth spending the night at each other's apartment." She began, slipping her paws into her pockets. "Do you think it would be easier if one of us just moved in?"

Nick's ears perked up, as he was now intrigued by what she was suggesting. He slowed his pace as he looked down at her, a little surprised by what she said. But he wasn't opposed to it. If anything, he had considered it a few times himself, even back before they were a couple. "Wait, really? You want us to live together?"

Judy nodded, a small little smile making its way on her face. "Why not? It'd be more convenient, and we practically live together already. This would just make it official." She explained, trying to read his expression to see how he felt. From what she saw, he didn't hate the idea.

"You got a point there." He said, "I'm surprised we haven't done it yet, to be honest."

"So you're on board with it?" She asked, trying not to let her hopes get too high yet, since he hadn't outwardly agreed to it. "You don't think it's too soon, do you?"

Nick shook his head, scoffing a little. "I don't think so. We've known each other long enough." He rubbed the top of her head, "And how can I say 'no' to spending more time with my little Carrot cake?"

She giggled and shoved his paw away, though she didn't let go of it when it was moved from her head. "So I'll take that as a 'yes'?"

"Yes." He said, squeezing her paw. "I'd love to live with you."

Judy squealed quietly, holding onto his arm with her free paw, leaning her head against him. He smiled and interlocked their fingers to return some kind of affection to her (since he was too tall to lean against her). It briefly slipped their minds that they were still out in public for anybody to see, and at the moment they didn't really care. They were happy and on a date, so they were allowed to act as such. And it's not like anyone was actively watching their every move. Or so they thought.

While the rest of the mammals on the street seemed to mind their own business, there was one beaver in particular that took notice to the to couple and was none too pleased to see them being affectionate with each other. He glowered at them as they stood on opposite sides of the crosswalk, even though the two didn't see him at first.

As they waited for their turn to cross the street, Judy spotted the beaver staring at her and Nick like they were murderers. It quickly occurred to her that she accidentally let her excitement get the better of her, and she reluctantly released her boyfriend's paw and took a small step away to leave some space between them. Nick looked down at her confused, but he didn't say anything to question her actions. He could easily figure out why she retreated.

Once it was safe, the two made their way across the street along with a few other mammals around them, this including the beaver. But when they passed each other, he continued to stare at them and observe their behavior carefully. He even stopped halfway in his tracks to turn around, as if waiting to see if they'd continue to hold paws or possibly more.

Judy became noticeably uncomfortable by his staring, and though she tried to ignore it, she could feel his eyes following her as she walked onto the sidewalk. It was a good thing looks didn't kill, otherwise she and Nick would've dropped dead long ago.

Nick put his paw on her back to help her keep up with him as he started to walk faster. "Just keep walking, Carrots." He told her quietly, not bothering to look back at the beaver staring daggers at him and his girlfriend. Why the man was so fixated on them was beyond him, but he knew he had to get Judy out of sight before things escalated.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast they walked, they could feel the beaver behind them no farther than seven feet away. Why was he following them? Why did he even care? There was no time to question, they just wanted to get somewhere safe and private. Of course the one day they're not in uniform was the day someone decided to bother them.

As they were about to turn the corner, they heard the beaver shout from behind them, "Breeders!"

It was at this point the two stopped in their tracks to finally face the man, giving him a cold look. What made him think he could just yell out a slur like that to random strangers he knew nothing about? What if they weren't a couple and they were just holding paws as friends? Would he yell at them then?

"Excuse me?" Judy asked, raising a brow.

"I said you're fucking breeders!" He repeated harshly, spitting in their direction—although it didn't reach them.

Nick shook his head as they both reached into their pockets. "Yeah, you're gonna wanna refrain from doing that again, bud." He said as they revealed their badges to him. Even off duty, they had to carry them around just in case. Although admittedly now they wished they had brought their tasers, too.

The sight of the badges seemed to intimidate the beaver slightly, but his disdain was still prominent in his expression. "You're a disgrace to the force." He scoffed before walking away, repeatedly shaking his head in disgust. "He's gonna eat you alive, you know!"

They both immediately knew what he meant, and they were not happy about it, especially Nick. His eyes shot open before he glared at the beaver, tempted to tackle him to the ground and have his ass beaten for his behavior.

But Judy noticed his rising anger and was quick to hold his arm to prevent him from doing anything, and to help calm him down. "It's not worth it, Nick. Just ignore him." She sighed, leading him away and around the corner.

"Yeah well, he needs to learn when to shut his mouth." Nick huffed in frustration.

"I know, I know." She frowned, rubbing up and down his arm, constantly checking to ensure no one was looking at them. "But this is why I said we need to keep it a secret. There's mammals like him everywhere and we just need to be careful when we're out like this."

Nick sighed, taking a small breath to help relax himself. Even though she was right, he still didn't feel any better about a stranger claiming he would hurt Judy. But there was no point in getting worked up over it, not when he was supposed to be spending quality time with his girlfriend. "I know." He said, staring off to the side.

Judy thought for a moment, grabbing his paws to hold them in hers, since there was no one else around that would see. "Hey, how about we go back to my place? We can act however we want there." She said with a smile, "And we can start deciding where we wanna live."

Well, he definitely couldn't decline that offer. Somehow her voice and her suggestion lifted a crushing weight off of his chest, and he chose to forget all about the beaver that was bothering them a minute ago. The bunny never failed to make him happy.

He smiled and kissed her paw, "Sure, whatever you want."

[killian-whump]

I’m really behind in times and the real truth of it is I don’t realllllllly pay attention. I’ve watched OUAT for years while it was on and the reruns, and I enjoy tumbler because it still gives me a dose of my gorgeous pirate daily. And I’ve also watched season 7, why wouldn’t I just ‘cause some actors moved on? I’ve always been curious about the rape comment from the season that always comes across once in a while. Who (allegedly) raped who in that season? ‘Cause I don’t remember anything of the kind happening. Thanks for answering... will I get a short answer or a long rant I wonder. Love you!

Okay, so... first things first! I love you too, Nonny XD

Especially so because I feel absolutely attacked right now, in the best possible way, by "will I get a short answer or a long rant” and I’m over here laughing, because I’d love to be like “AHA! I’ve got something ELSE for you!!” but we both know I don’t 😂 And uh oh, we’re already past “short answer” and we all know what THAT means...

SO! Season 7. There’s actually TWO rapes in that season that people talk about... one that kinda sorta unintentionally actually happened and one that absolutely didn’t happen and wouldn’t have happened, but some nutters seem to think it might as well have, because they’re nutters and I guess that’s what nutters do. (Nutters gotta... nut? Wait, NO, that’s not what I want D:)

The first one is Gothel/Rapunzel allegedly “raping” Killian. This one’s kind of tricky, because the scenario is weird and there’s no real world equivalent for what occurred. I mean, yes, she bedded him under false pretenses... but it’s not like we can point at real world laws or precedents and be like, “It’s illegal in all 50 states to magically transform your physical appearance into someone else’s for means of tricking an individual into having sex with you.” Magic isn’t real here, so we don’t have precedents or stances on that. However, magic is commonplace in the Enchanted Forest, so you’d think there’d be some kind of standing idea on the morality of banging someone whilst magically pretending to look like someone else - yet Killian doesn’t seem all that put out by it. He’s more upset that she tricked him into impregnating her - which is an altogether different subject.

And ultimately... it doesn’t matter that Gothel disguised her appearance. She didn’t pretend to be someone Killian knew. The person she pretended to be was a complete stranger to him, as was Gothel herself. There was absolutely no reason for her to need the ruse in order to get Killian to jump into bed with her. The ONLY part of her facade that assisted her in that was pretending NOT to be the witch atop the tower. But let’s be real - Killian was there to get something from the witch in the first place. All Gothel really had to do was be herself and say “Neat, stay the night, we’ll hump like bunnies, and I’ll give you what you want in the morning” and he would’ve probably been like, “Oh, wow, that’s a better deal than I expected” and get straight to the banging part.

No, the people who were intended to be tricked by Gothel’s ruse was the audience. The whole scheme was cooked up by the writers to make the audience go, “Oh! Rapunzel is the mother of Hook’s daughter!” and then DUN DUN DUN!!! No, it’s actually Mother Gothel!!! With that being the case, the story wasn’t presented to the actors as a “rape story.” The writers, actors, directors, editors, etc, etc didn’t mean for it to be one, and didn’t create it with that in mind. But the audience looked at it and jumped to “OMG she tricked him into having sex with her, that’s rape!” And while yeah, technically it is... it wasn’t meant to be. So when the actors (particularly Emma Booth) were questioned about it on social media, they went with what they were TOLD about the scene and how they PLAYED it - which was that yes, she tricked him, but she didn’t rape him. And even the trick was more about her tricking him into instant fatherhood than her tricking him to sleep with her in the first place.

So that’s the one rape you’ll hear about in regards to S7. And it’s actually part of canon and is a tricky situation that people have differing opinions on and can get kinda heated up about.

The other one never happened at all, but you’ll still occasionally run into someone talking about it. The anti-S7 brigade only watched episode 2 of that season and the finale - the episodes Jen took part in. Episode 2 is the one where they reveal that S7′s Hook is actually Wish Hook from another realm - and where he reveals that he has a daughter he’s trying to reunite with. When he confesses to his failed ruse, he says his plan was to pretend to be Killian, return to Storybrooke as him, and get a True Love’s Kiss from Emma so that he could break the curse on his heart. Some people who aren’t too good with logic twisted his words and claim that his plan was to take Killian’s place permanently. This would mean staying in Storybrooke and staying with Emma - and, presumably, having sex with her as married couples do. In other words, having sex with her under false pretenses.

Now, anyone who actually paid attention to the episode or anything about Wish Hook’s storyline knows that’s bullshit. The entire purpose of his plan was to cure his poisoned heart curse so he could reunite with Alice. He can’t reunite with Alice if he’s living in Storybrooke and schtupping a chick he only ever met once when he was drunk and fat and she threw him across a clearing. It just simply doesn’t make sense. His plan was to get that True Love’s Kiss and go find Alice. There’s also the fact that he didn’t kill Killian. He only knocked him out, because he didn’t intend on masquerading as him for more than that one day, to get that one kiss. If he needed to ensure he could live the rest of his life as OG Killian, he would’ve killed him.

Incidentally, the nutters also love to call Wish Hook a murderer (as if both Hooks aren’t murderers already anyway?) and claim he did mean to kill OG Killian, which would mean he either illogically knocked him out and figured “I’ll come back here later, at an even less convenient time, to finish him off,” or thought he HAD killed him, and literally raced back to the dock to... what? Drag his corpse back to Emma and be like, “Thought you might want this back”?

So that’s the two “rapes” in Season 7 that you might see people mention. One literally never happened, and the other was more of the writers so desperately wanting a “GOTCHA!” moment for the viewers that they kinda sorta accidentally raped a guy without meaning to. Incidentally, if anyone wants content of the quasi-kinda-oops-rape of Killian, I tagged it “snookered” because with a blog like mine, the “nonconsensual” tag is reserved for, uh, much rapier things.

Anyway! Thanks for the ask! I hope you enjoyed your long rant XD

[jungshookz]

oof ok laid ease and jean tell men,,,, twins yoongi and yoonji,, both having the same crush on y/n 👀👀 yoongi is like the music student that all the gals sWoOn over bc he plays piano in a room alone after school type deal,, while Yoonji is the edgy sister wHo dOesN’T cOnfOrm tO sOciEty but is secretly soft uwu and when they both find out they got the same crush it’s like the spiderman meme and now they gotta Fight To The Death

→ pairing: min yoongi x reader x min yoonji 

→ genre: let’s be real this is crackhead culture..,, boTh the mins are infatuated with u + i lov yoonji 

→ wordcount: 1.9k

(gif isn’t mine!)

“what do you mean you have a crush on y/n??” the question slips out from both the twins’ mouths at the same time

they pull back and blink at each other

yoonji is the first one to snap out of it

she flicks a strand of dark hair off her shoulder before raising a perfectly arched brow “you’re going to have to back off”

“over my dead body”

“..,,.i have a gun in my bag”  

yoongi scoffs immediately and rolls his eyes

“when did you start liking her?” yoongi asks curiously because the whole romAnCe thing is very…noT yoonji

yoonji’s never evEr mentioned having a crush on anyone ever before even though they have a pretty solid sibling-ship

“that’s none of your business.”

ah

yes

a very classic yoonji response

yoongi scowls and plops down on the couch

“move over, you’re sitting in my spot.” yoongi shuffles over and yoonji plops herself down

a beat of silence goes by

yoongi clears his throat

“look, sis. you can’t have a crush on y/n because i have a crush on y/n and if we both have a crush on y/n then that means-“

“that we’re going to have to fight to the death?”

“-no, it means that eventually she’s going to have to choose one of us and i don’t want you to be devastated and completely heartbroken when she chooses me over you. we shouldn’t let a girl come in between us!”

yoonji snorts in response and props an elbow up on the arm of the couch

“i hate to break it to you but you’re going to be the heartbroken one. you have one class with her this year - i have three with her, and we both write for the school newspaper. did i mention we grab lunch together pretty frequently seeing that our schedules fit perfectly with each others?” yoonji inspects her cuticles before glancing over at her brother with a smirk “and what makes you think y/n’s interested in you, mr. ‘i play piano because i’m sad but also i just want to impress all the girls’, hm? y/n’s not into that.”

“says miss ‘i have a gun in my bag’.”  

“i’m pretty sure she has a thing for bad girls and not emo boys”

“how about this?” yoongi crosses his arms and leans back against the couch “if you manage to score a date with y/n before i do, i’ll respectfully back off. but if i manage to score a date with y/n before you do, you respectfully back off. whoever gets the girl, gets the girl - fair and square.”

yoongi’s pretty confident that you’re going to end up with him so he has no problems dealing his cards

he’s attractive and smart anD talented and he can turn on the charm in any situation

and you just so happen to be attractive and smart and talented and adorable so it’s almost like you guys are meant to be!!

meanwhile yoonji is..,., well he’s biased because they’re technically identical twins so she’s like pretty-ish buT she’s kind of a bitch to people so like

he’ll be fine

yoonji’s eyes flicker up and she pokes her tongue into her cheek before turning to face yoongi fully and sticking her hand out “deal. get used to the taste of failure.”

and so it begins

“what are you doing here so early?” when you walk into the lecture you’re surprised to see yoonji sitting on the side scrolling through her phone  

here’s a little backstory regarding your friendship with yoonji

you were running late (it was only 2 minutes but late is laTE) and the prof had already started his lecture and you didn’t want to make that awkward journey down the steps of the lecture hall while looking around trying to find a spot for yourself so now you’re kind of just standing at the back with your eyes darting everywhere

“christ, just sit here.” you jump in surprise when someone tugs at your wrist and you look down to see this anGRy looking girl glaring right back up at you

she raises a brow before grabbing her backpack off the seat and dumping it next to her on the ground

ok

a little scary

but a free seat is a free seat

“thank you so much” you whisper before sitting down and quickly pulling your notebook and your pencils and note-taking markers out (you were a very eager learner at the beginning of the year lol)

yoongi snorts in humour when a couple of your markers roll away from you and clatter onto the floor in your excitement to get everything ouT

she bends down to pick two up and-

wha-

you labelled each of your markers with your name

“y/n.” she tests your name on her tongue

and in that moment

she decides that she quite likes your name

“yes?” you turn to look at her before your eyes flicker down to the markers in her slender fingers “oh! thanks! did you wanna borrow one?”

“no-“

“here, you look like a dark purple kinda gal.” you rifle through your pencil case before holding a marker up for her and plucking the other two from her “i feel like neon green and bright pink don’t suit you”  

huh

you are a very peculiar girl

“they gave me two hot chocolates instead of one” yoonji ignores your question and holds out a cup of hot chocolate for you as you sit down next to her

that’s a blatant lie

yoonji knows you like hot chocolate when it’s cold out and she always gets u a hot chocolate

“again?? they really need to start paying attention when taking orders - i’m not complaining, though!” your fingers brush over hers as you take it from her and she feels a little zap

“you look cute today, by the way.” you hum before reaching over to poke at the little braid intertwined in yoonji’s raven locks “who are you dressing up for?” you giggle with a teasing smile and yoonji’s heart goes boom-boom because yeAh she might’ve spruced up her hairstyle and put on an extra layer of lip gloss for u but whATEVER okAY

“anyways i don’t really mind what we get for lunch today because i’m starving and i just need- oOh-!” yoonji’s eyes widen when you suddenly stumble into someone and-

“are you okay?”

oh my god

OF COURSE

OF FUCKIGN COURSE IT’S YOONGI

yoonji can’t help but roll her eyes because she knows for a fact that yoongi just stood outside the lecture hall and waiTEd for you to appear and conveniently triP into his slimy noodle arms

“shit, sorry yoongi!” yoongi still has an arm wrapped around your waist while your hands clutch at his arms “god, i didn’t even see you there!”

“your shoelaces are untied again, y/n. we can’t have you tripping all over campus, can we?” yoongi unravels himself from you before bending down to help you with your laces

now

here’s the backstory regarding your friendship with yoongi

you usually like to study at the library

but on that particular day they had closed the library a little earlier than usual

and you knew that if you went back to study in your dorm room you’d probably just end up watching netflix and eating junk food for the next six hours instead of studying for your midterm

so now you’re just wandering the hallway of the music building because it was conveniently the closest building to the library

and as you make your way further down the hallway

you start to hear some music

it’s a gentle melody

soft and enticing

and soon enough you find yourself peering into the classroom staring at the back of this stranger’s head just watching as his fingers dance along the piano

you feel like you know him

it takes a couple seconds for it to sink it but then you realise who it is you’re creEpiLY staring at

min yoongi

you’ve heard his name bounce around campus more than a few times

“you know it’s rude to stare, right?” you snap out of it when the his fingers stop on the piano and he turns his head slightly

“oh, i wasn’t-“ you perk up immediately and feel the apples of your cheeks warming almost instantly

“you totally were.” he turns his head all the way and offers you a smirk

“i just wanted to find a spare classroom to study in…”  you clear your throat and step into the classroom slowly “i, uh… didn’t peg for you to be a ‘swan lake’ kinda guy. mind if i whack something out real quick?”  

yoongi raises a brow

usually the girls who approach him are all giggly and they pretend like they loOOovE the piano just like him and most of the time they ask him to play like an ariana grande song or something (although he will admit ‘one last time’ sounds beautiful on the piano)

“be my guest.” yoongi shuffles over a little and pats next to him

you smile and drop your bag on the floor before sitting yourself down and giving your knuckles a quick crack

your fingers land lightly on the keys and your brows furrow together in concentration

and then…

,.,.IS THIS HOT CROSS BUNS

you’re snickering to yourself as you bang on the keys and continue playing hot cross buns and yoongi can’t stop the fat grin twitching at the corner of his mouth

you are…. a very peculiar girl

“don’t you have somewhere else to be?” the moment yoongi finishes tying your laces up yoongi grabs your wrist and pulls you backwards a little bit

she loops her arm with yours

“no, i don’t!” yoongi shrugs casually “are you guys grabbing lunch?”

“yes, we’re grabbing lunch together.” yoonji can already predict what’s going to come out of your mouth

“well, c’mon then! let’s all go grab some food before i die of starvation.” you loop your arm with yoongi’s and tug her along and yoonji resists the urge to roll her eyes when yoongi smirks and offers her a look that suggests ‘huh, look at that. she wants me there too’

cuRse your need to include everybody

and as you’re blabbing about all the food that you’re wanting to shoVe into your mouth during lunch

you’re blissfully unaware of the angry glares that the min twins are sending each other

it’s almost funny how oblivious you are to how infatuated the twins are when it comes to you 

yoongi keeps offering you bites of his food which you accept happily   

yoonji wipes a dollop of ketchup from the corner of your mouth off with a napkin 

yoongi not-so-casually places a hand on your knee and yoonji reaches behind your back so that she can pinch her brother’s side 

they’re both willing to fight to the death if the end prize is you

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

masterlist

[royal-babey]

A small ficlet with my and @welcometojoelsvoid ‘s apocalypse oc’s uwu his being Ilya Volkov and Jojo, and mine being Anichka and May Smirnov yeet.

-

Trigger Warning: Wars, Nukes, guns, blood and sickness

Word count: 1880

-

Anichka was terrified, and running out of time.

It had been six years since WW3. Six years since the world had been nuked to all hell, making it an almost uninhabitable wasteland. The grand city of New York was now nothing more than a crumbling ruin.

But given its size, Annie couldn’t fathom why she hadn’t found any fucking medicine in the four drugstores she had checked out today.

Her younger brother May was sick. It was an illness that had popped up a year or so after the bombs fell. It didn’t pop up often, but when it did, it was crucial that they find the right medicine for it. So far the only medicine that had helped was penicillin, meaning it was some kind of infection that plagued Annie’s brother...But of course the world was slowly running out of that. It would be their luck to be killed off by illness rather than radiation...The siblings had both survived the initial blast somehow, and the radiation after that, but living out here wasn’t easy. And when May’s illness popped up out of seemingly nowhere, well...That didn’t make things any easier.

The seventeen year old couldn’t walk or talk anymore, he was too weak to even lift his head to look up at his sister rummaging through shelves and drawers, from where he sat slumped against a filing cabinet on the floor. This was the fifth drugstore they had checked out, his legs having given out after the third. He was tired, he wanted to find somewhere to hunker down for the night and sleep for a hundred years, but May knew that he could die at any point this late in the illness.

It had five stages, which happened over the course of five days. The first was a cough. Nothing too alarming, maybe the air was just too dusty or he had a tickle in his throat. The second day, he would be vomiting. Kind of a dramatic jump but alas, that’s how things tended to go. On the third day, his temperature would go through the roof and he would pass out at some point. May tended to spend most of his time sitting down on the third day if he didn’t have medicine by then. Fourth day he wouldn’t be able to stomach anything other than water, and his body would slowly start to rebel against him, making movement harder to do without collapsing. And the fifth day…

May’s body convulsed slightly as he coughed, a small wet gurgle leaving the back of his throat as blood dripped onto his chin. Not too much, but it would only get worse. He groaned quietly as the coppery taste of blood filled his taste buds, and Anichka peeked her head out from behind the shelf to give him a look of sympathy. She quickly made her way over to May though, pulling a rag out of her back pocket and kneeling down next to her brother to wipe the blood from his lips and chin. With a sigh she cast it aside, then pulled out her canteen and urged May to take a sip. He was hesitant, he knew they were running out of clean water to drink, but he didn’t refuse. He knew she would only push anyway. Annie smiled when he didn’t try to turn his head, and that was always something worth seeing.

“Still no medicine here, myshka...I’m sorry…”

May didn’t say anything. Couldn’t find the strength to even if he wanted to. He knew there wouldn’t be already. He managed a half assed shrug with one shoulder, slumping forward slightly from the movement. Annie just frowned, trying to reposition him again.

“I think there’s another pharmacy just a few blocks from here. Up to taking a look?”

May wanted to, he really did. He didn’t want to leave his sister alone either. But he also really didn’t feel up to it. He knew he’d only slow Annie down. So, he slowly shook his head. Annie didn’t seem to happy, but she understood. So instead she pulled her bag off of her back, taking out the blanket she kept rolled on the top and draping it over her brother in an attempt to warm him up some. Winter would be coming soon, and they both knew it would be a hard one. The temperatures outside were already dropping. They’d need to find a safe and semi warm place to try and wait it out.

“Alright...Try and get some rest, okay? I know you don’t like sleeping when you’re sick but…”

Annie chewed on her lower lip, not wanting to finish that sentence. Nothing she could think of sounded particularly cheerful. So she just left her words hanging. Thankfully May just made a noncommittal grunting noise to her request, so she left it at that.

Annie attempted to give her brother what she hoped was a reassuring smile, then stood up again, planning to leave and be as quick as possible when it came to checking out the other store. She reached behind her to check that her gun was still tucked under the waistband of her pants, feeling reassured when it was. She hated using it, trying not to as often as possible, mostly just to try and set a good example for her brother who was forced to grow up way too quickly in this new world, but knowing she had the extra protection in case she needed it was...Comforting, to say the least.

Annie turned around, walking towards the door they had came through that would lead her back into the main pharmacy, but stopped dead in her tracks. She thought she could hear someone outside...When all was silent she thought perhaps it was just her imagination, but then she heard an unmistakable voice calling out to who she supposed must be his friend.

“There’s a door back here!”

Without much time to think, much less check through the mesh wiring who they were up against, she locked the door with the keys that were conveniently still on the outside, rushed back over to May and wrapped her arms around his torso, then dragged him under a desk that was sitting in the corner of the room, mostly shielding them from view. She put May behind her as much as she could, pulling out her gun. As long as whoever was out there was particularly observant, she hoped they would just pass them none the wiser…

She listened as the door handle was jiggled, a frustrated “It’s locked!” Coming from the same voice as before. There was a gruff chuckle after that, and Annie had to cover her mouth to stop from gasping loudly in fright after the door was kicked in all of a sudden by a large steel toed boot. It slammed off the wall, a large crashing noise resonating through the room...Then it just kinda fell onto the floor, the hinges apparently haven given way.

“Oh..Whoops.”

The second voice was a lot deeper, with an accent. Like the one Annie and May had, Russian…Still, they didn’t show themselves. Not on purpose anyway...Because just a few seconds later, Annie could hear small choking noises. Turning around slightly, she realised May was slouched in a way that made coughing hard for him. Worried he would choke on his own blood, Annie tried to move him forward slightly. But as soon as she did…

Loud coughing began to fill the room with noise, instantly alerting the two strangers who had joined the siblings unknowingly. Terrified, Annie cocked her gun, but she was more worried about May. The blood he was coughing up was a lot more than last time, and it had begun to seep into his clothing, some dripping onto the floor too. Annie didn’t know what to do. The two people would now know where they were and maybe try to kill them, and she also had a dying baby brother who couldn’t help it.

Forcing herself to worry more about her brother for the time being, she took May’s hands in her own, beginning to whisper frantic reassurances and comforting words in Russian. She was too worried to speak in English to him right now, so she reverted back to their mother tongue. Eventually May’s coughing subsided, but he just...Went completely limp afterwards. Annie’s eyes widened, but before she could reach out to check his pulse, the sound of a gun behind her being cocked made her pause.

“Drop it.”

Reluctantly, Annie dropped her gun. She felt as if she could cry, the stress of everything beginning to overwhelm her all at once. She figured if she complied she wouldn’t have as much trouble. Slowly, she turned around, wide blue eyes meeting narrowed grey. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she inhaled, readying herself to try and negotiate, but she was surprised when the tall blonde man standing next to the short black haired one, gestured for his friend to lower his gun. His friend complied, but looked confused. He got no answer, but she did. Because the blonde man began to speak in Russian to them.”

“Will you behave?”

Annie immediately nodded. She really didn’t want to pick a fight with them.

“Yes...Yes, I promise. Please, we were just trying to find medicine. My brother is sick. Please, he’s just a kid. Just let us leave, please I’m begging you…”

The man fell silent after that, and Annie practically held her breath. She was prepared to hear the worst answer, but instead the man switched back to English to talk to his companion.

“They aren’t a threat, Jojo. Ones just a kid.”

“Jojo” was staring at his friend like he had grown two heads, but didn’t argue. Instead he just sighed, holstering his gun and reaching back to rub the back of his neck.

“You better be right about this, Ilya...We’ve been tricked before.”

“Ilya” just gave an apologetic smile, looking back to Annie then.

“Ilya Volkov. This is my friend, Jojo. We’re here to help.”

Annie would have stood up, but instead she turned her attention back to her brother, pulling his motionless body out from their attempted hiding spot and cradling him in her arms.

“Anichka..This is May...You said you’re here to help...You have medicine?”

Ilya nodded, kneeling down beside the two. Jojo just stayed back, watching the exchange. Though his eyes did keep flickering to the sickly teenager, concern for him showing itself in his expression despite how cautious he was being.

“What do you need?”

Annie bit her lower lip, reaching up with one hand to push a black curl out of May’s ashen face. She looked at Ilya after that, brow knitted in worry.

“Penicillin…?”

Ilya smiled, nodding.

“We’ve got plenty. We’ve got a base, we’ve got food, water, medicine, an infirmary...You and your brother will be well looked after. I promise.”

Annie let out a small sob then, believing every word Ilya was saying. Perhaps it was foolish to, but he seemed genuine. She was so happy and relieved. They had hope.

“Please...Take us there…”

The man reached for May then, and when Annie relinquished her hold on him, he picked the teen up, cradling him close to his chest.

“Right away, ma’am.”

[lovelykat001]

Before We Go- Part 3

A/N: Still adding tags if anyone else would like to be tagged in this series. Sorry for taking so long to update this, I had to move. Now I’m pretty much settled in my new apartment so it shouldn’t take me nearly as long to update next time.

Warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 1,971

Part 1 Part 2

Chapter 3

Walking down the street at this ungodly hour has brought you two closer. It could be that at this point you were so tired that you drifted closer to Steve unknowingly. Your body wanted to be close to him in case you dosed off. Steve could tell you were tired.

He looked at you and smirked, “You still awake over there?”

“Yeah, course,” you straightened your back up and opened your eyes wider to make your point. He just laughed at you and you smiled along. “Maybe I am a little tired. Talk to me so I can stay awake!”

“Alright, what do you want to talk about?”

You went with the first question that’s been in your mind all night. “What’s the deal with this wedding?”

Steve scratched his beard. “An old colleague of mine is getting married to another colleague of mine. They’re both pretty good friends so it would be kinda rude for me not to go.”

“You mentioned earlier that you were going to see someone. Who is it?”

Steve sighed and cast his eyes to the ground, “An ex.”

Your mouth formed an ‘o’, “I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about that.”

Steve smiled kindly and stepped closer to you to let someone pass him on the sidewalk. “Well, enough about me. Your story by contrast is far more compelling.”

You gave a humorless laugh and looked up toward the sky. “Oh, my turn. Okay. Uh… I’m pretty straightforward. I’m a normal girl with one brother. My husband works in finance. Who I conveniently cannot provide a photograph because my phone is broken,” You roll your eyes and Steve chuckles.

“Conveniently. How’d you guys meet?”

You adjusted your purse strap. “I was in London working at Sotheby’s.”

Steve nods, “Bigshot.”

“Yeah after a few years in London I started getting this… I don’t know. Th-the French have this word, depaysement, um, disorientation like the feeling of not being in your home country. And I had a hard time making friends in London, and…”

Steve puts his hand on his heart and chuckles sympathetically, “Aw, that’s so sad!”

You chuckled too and reached up to scratch your head. “And so my boss was like, ‘Do you want to go to Boston for this show?’ And Michael was there.”

“Right.”

“Have you ever had a feeling and just known somewhere in your bones that someone was going to play a major part in your life?” You turned to look at Steve’s now soft features.

Steve nodded, “Yeah.” You knew there was something more to that but you just let it be. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.

You cleared your throat, “Anyway, he… his wife had just left him for this guy that we know and at that point she had just taken the kids. And so the last thing he wanted was to get involved with someone.”

“Well, for the record, I can’t imagine you being the last thing any man would want.” He let his gaze linger on you for a little longer, but you were comfortable with it.

“Thank you,” you turned away from his gaze, “So I, uh, I bought the painting that my boss wanted me to get and I sent it back without me, and I haven’t been to London since.”

Steve let out a big breath and shook his head. “A lot of complications there. Brave girl.”

“The funny thing is that I remain proud of it to this day. That I was… the girl who recognized love and jumped.” You sighed, “And now my marriage is going to be over. What I need is a time machine.”

Steve’s eyes lit up. I could tell he had an idea. He sped up ahead and stopped at a payphone. “Well, we kinda have one. A few years ago they turned all these old payphones into time machines. You pick one up dial 1993, and someone will pick up and tell you exactly what was happening on that corner at that time. It was funny.”

You couldn’t help but smile at him. You loved his playful imagination. “I don’t even need to call that far back. I just need to call yesterday.”

Steve, plucky as ever, snatched the phone up, “Well, let’s try.” Steve starts pressing buttons and makes the button sounds with his mouth. You had to laugh at this dork. He stares at you holding the phone out. “What would you tell yourself?”

You mosey over to the phone with a stupid grin one your face, much like the one Steve has as well. You put the phone up to your ear and tilt your head. “Y/N, it’s you from the future,” you playfully roll your eyes and look at Steve, “She doesn’t believe me.”

“Well, of course. You have to tell her something secret, something only you know.” He smiles cheekily and you know you’re going to have to tell an embarrassing secret.

You sigh, “So you know that tiny scar you have on your forehead? The one that you tell everyone you got while hiking in Argentina,” Steve bends down to look closer at your forehead, “ But you actually got at home while dancing around because you get way too excited during the song ‘The Election of 1800’ in the Hamilton soundtrack.”

Steve cranes his head back in laughter and grabs at his heart. “This is my favorite story already.”

“Sshh, it’s collect,” you joke with him. “So whenever Aaron Burr says ‘It’s 1800, ladies tell your husbands vote for burr’ you put way too much momentum in your swing across the floor and the corner of the counter caught you as you fell. You spent the whole night in the E.R.” You could still see Steve silently laughing his ass off next to you. “Okay, oh good. You believe me now. Okay, so whatever you do, don’t talk to any strangers outside the airport,” You side-eyed Steve playfully and smirked a bit to let him know you were joking.

Steve winces, “Ouch.”

“Actually… just skip Chicago altogether. Stay home, get a movie, order takeout, have a bubblebath and go to bed. Because everything will be fine in the morning. Alright.” You hang the phone back on the hook.

“Yeah but then you wouldn’t have met me,” Steve grins at you crookedly.

You look into his eyes and search for something. Some kind of answer that you wish was that easy to find. “I still haven’t figured out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing yet.”

Steve raises his eyebrows but brushes it off quickly. “Alright well let’s continue on our way.” Steve tries to walk away.

You pick up the phone and hold it out in his direction. “Oh, no. You’re not getting off that easy.”

Steve laughs, “No, no, no. I don’t mess with the physics of space and time.”

You stared directly into his eyes, “Hamilton.”

He laughs. It’s true, he does owe you after you told him that story. “Alright, alright, give it to me. But I don’t want to do yesterday; I want to do like 2014.” Steve imitates the sounds for pressing the buttons again. “Steve, hey it’s me, you from the future.” He moves the speaker from his mouth to comment to you “He bought it, idiot.”

You laugh at him despite wanting to hear an embarrassing story of his own.

“Listen, when the San Francisco Giants make the World Series, take all your money and put it on them to win. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. Do it. Okay, Bye.” Steve hangs up the phone.

You stare at him incredulously, “That’s it?”

Steve nods, “That’s it. Everyone knows when you got a time machine the first thing you do is gamble.”

“I wasn’t aware of that.”

“And…” Steve puts both hands inside his pockets and pulls them inside out to show nothing. “Nothing. Didn’t work.”

You laughed at him and linked arms to continue walking down the street. Steve looked down at your linked arms and then looked at you. A genuine smile spread across his face.

You continued walking for a few more blocks before Steve spoke up. “What if we just call your husband and tell him you’re in Chicago? We could make up a good reason.”

Wow, he must really think you were here cheating. Or at least doing something you didn’t want him to know about. “He already knows about Chicago.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know what you’re doing here.”

“He knows that too.” You cross your arms over your chest.

“Well, then why do you have to beat him home?” You turn to look at him. “What? Is there something you have to do before he gets there? Look, whatever it is, he’s an idiot if he can’t put it past him. And you’re not the type of girl to marry an idiot.”

You sigh. It was nice to hear those words but you knew given your situation it wasn’t true. “Even if there were something that I needed to do when I get back, I’m still not going to make it on time.”

“Okay well, let’s figure out a way to make it okay that you didn’t do whatever it is that you had to do.” Steve looked at you with pleading eyes. You could tell he really wanted to help. “Look, I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, but is there maybe someone else who can do it? Whatever it is?”

Oh my god, he was right. Maybe you could call someone. Steve could tell by the look on your face that you cracked the code. “I’m out of coins are you out of coins?”

Steve looked around frantically. There was a Laundromat that was still open right in front of you. He ran in quickly and started asking the only man in there questions. You couldn’t hear what they were talking about but Steve waved you in.

~~~~~~

You were on the strangers phone waiting and praying for your friend on the other line to pick up. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”

A groggy voice answered, “Hello?”

“Pam, It’s Y/N.” You said frantically.

“Y/N?”

“I’m so sorry to call this late did I wake the baby?”

Pam whispered, “No, no. Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know how to say this but I need a huge favor right now.”

“Of course, of course, anything.”

God bless Pam. “I need you to go to my house and in the backyard there is a key in the magnet box by the pool filter. Take the key and go in the back door. The alarm code is 4242. Go up to the bedroom. On the bed is a letter, it’s addressed to Michael. Take it home and save it for me when I get back. But listen, promise me that you won’t read it.”

“Of course I won’t. You have my word. Okay, it’s 4AM now. How much time do I have?”

“You have like 5 hours.”

“It’s as good as done, Y/N.”

You could finally take a breath of relief. “I love you. Thank you”

“I love you too. Call me later when you get a chance. Everything is going to be okay, now. I promise. Bye.”

“Bye.”

You hung up the phone and closed your eyes for a second to appreciate your friend. Steve came over to you. You walk towards him and wrap your arms against his midsection and bury your face in his chest. Steve is shocked but responds quickly and wraps his arms around you and rubs your back soothingly. He dips his head down and places a small kiss on the top of your head. Neither of you would admit it, but this felt nice. It felt right.

~~~~~~~

Tagged:@goalie-love @pieceofshir @ironspiderguy @wordsonapagexoxo @lilulo-12

[spectreblanc]

Why Episode Ignis SUCKS!

So, here I am.

Episode Ignis is morally corrupt AND bad for the gaming industry. I'm serious. This kind of catering to the fans could seriously ruin the gaming industry if it isn't ruined already.

I wasn't originally going to say anything about what I thought of Episode Ignis, and I'm aware that this will probably earn me a steady stream of hate on this blog, but I don't care because I really hate the way Tabata just keeps vomiting out whatever he THINKS we want to see. And when said "vomit" comes in the form of some VERY disturbing themes- not only within the narrative, but in story-telling itself- that's when I just gotta say something.

None of this is fan theories or trying to figure out what's really happened or trying to fill in plot holes. It's clear both endings have plot holes. This blog is just WHAT'S WRONG WITH EPISODE IGNIS AND WHY I HATED IT. And why, in my opinion, it didn't fix anything.

I've compiled my reasons into one little...big blog. Divided into chapters for organization.

(I'm not borrowing anybody's opinions or theories, btw. I wrote this blog before I even knew anyone had similar fan reactions to mine about the alternate ending.)

The date I started writing this in One Note was Dec 14, in case anyone is interested. No? Okay.

So buckle up, and don't say I didn't warn you...

HEAVY SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

CHAPTERS:

1. IGNIS IS OUT OF CHARACTER 2. IGNIS IS A SELFISH PRICK 3. IGNIS TAKES OVER EVERONE ELSE'S ROLE 4. THE ORIGINAL STORY'S BUILD-UP AND CLIMAX IS GROSSLY OFFSET 5. WHY THE ORIGINAL STORY IS BETTER 6. COMPARING FFXV'S STORY TO OTHER GREAT EPICS 7. BAD MORAL/MESSAGE 8. THIS ENDING IS NOT CANON 9. PURE FANSERVICE 10. LINGERING QUESTIONS 11. OTHER THINGS I PERSONALLY DIDN'T LIKE 12. IN CONCLUSION

Okay, saying episode Ig sucks is kind of shameless clickbait, I admit. The episode proper was actually great and I really enjoyed it. It was compelling, exciting and answered enough questions. The alternate ending part... Not so much.

Keep in mind that most of my criticism is directed toward the Alternate Ending, and from a story-teller's vantage point, but there is a bit directed toward the main episode as well. And this is just STORY criticism. The gameplay elements of Episode Ignis and the visuals and music were great. No complaints there.

So, let's get started!

1. IGNIS IS OUT OF CHARACTER

We're all familiar with the bespectacled, level-headed, pensive advisor that is Ignis Scientia. With his cool logical methods, he is the one the bros- and most importantly Noct- rely on as their anchor. The voice of reason in the medley of chaotic situations which they often find themselves. But, watch out! Throw a magic ring and a prophetic vision into the mix, and he becomes a one-man recipeh for disaster, who's ready to literally burn the world! See what I mean:

-Ignis doesn't use any of the cool decision-making skills we've come to expect from him in the main game. He's all raw emotion and flights of fancy now.

-He's never shown signs of obsessive protectiveness over Noct before. He cares, yes, but one little vision makes him completely lose his ability to examine the situation and think clearly. This is a direct contradiction to everything we've previously learned about his personality!

-The creators of episode Ignis also based the alternate ending on the comradeship that was built up in the story parts that THEY CUT OFF. The close bonds that the bros come to forage during the later parts of the game never happen, thus making their actions (and especially IGNIS'S actions) unrealistic. Remember, all that's happened to the bros at this point is a few hours on the road trip in the regalia, they've captured a few summons, collected a few weapons... Nothing has really happened. No death, no vision loss, Ignis and the others act like the story proper has already taken place.

2. IGNIS IS A SELFISH PRICK

The alternate ending seems innocent enough. Ardyn threatens to kill Ignis, and he has little choice but to put on the ring and defend himself. But it's what Ignis says first that is highly disturbing. Ignis's words are at best emotionally compromised-- at worst, EVIL. Let's listen in on some quotes:

-"This world means nothing to me. Do with it as you wish!" (To Ardyn) (TO ARDYN!!!!)

-"A world without him isn't worth saving!" ??? What about Prompto and Gladio? What about Iris, Cindy, Cid and Aranea, you BLATHERING BOBBY-SOCK??? ...Actually they never make nice with Aranea if this happens, do they... Huh.

-"I refuse to let Noctis sacrifice himself!" Again, "I refuse to do this." "I refuse to do that." Ignis isn't thinking about what is really best for Noct and the others. He's thinking about himself and what he wants or doesn't want. Isn't that Noct's choice? Did you ask him? Ig only wants it to go HIS way. Like, Dude, just because your bud might die, you'll let the world burn? That's not your choice!

And I'm sorry, this isn't self sacrificing or beautiful. It's DANGEROUS for Ignis to be thinking this way, much less get praised for it. He's willing to throw away everything everyone has sacrificed up until that point. Regis, Luna, Nyx, EVERYBODY. Ignis didn't 'rebel against fate'. He acted selfishly without consulting any of his friends, and only by the good grace of Tabata did it work.

-Ignis doesn't believe in Noctis. Regis and Luna both believed in him, but Ignis sees one vision and freaks the hell out. He is like: "No, I will make all these decisions for Noct. I will not allow him to decide if he wants to go through with it. I'll risk burning the world down instead." Whatever happened to "Stand by Me"?

-after he learns of Noct's potential death, Ignis tries to make Noctis discontinue his journey. Even though he knows now that Noct is the only one who has the power to save the world! And just as Noct is beginning to realize how important it is! Just on the heels of Luna's death! He's only thinking that he doesn't want Noct to die because he's SELFISH.

-Ignis treads dangerously close to the same path as Ardyn in the alternate ending and it's NOT RIGHT that he can do the same thing, yet have a better result. Selfishness ALWAYS leads to harming those we wish to protect most.

-I CAN'T BELIEVE THE LUCII FOUND HIM WORTHY OF THEIR POWER WHEN HE JUST DECLARED HE WOULD LET ARDYN BURN THE WORLD DOWN! Sense made: 0%

3. IGNIS TAKES OVER EVERONE ELSE'S ROLE

Say hello to you new protagonist everybody! Ignis Scientia effectively usurps the lead position from Noctis. (And everybody else's positions too.) Watch this:

-Ignis takes over Noct's role of the game's protagonist/hero.

-Ignis takes over Gladio's role as Noct's guardian. He says something like: "I swore an oath to protect him!" No, Ignis. That's Gladio's job. You are a cook, remember? Now be a good boy and come up with a new recipeh for us.

-Ignis takes over Prompto's role as Ardyn's hostage in Gralea.

-Ardyn reveals his true identity to Ignis (a complete stranger) and Noctis never finds out??? Idk.

-Ignis takes over Ardyn’s role as the guy who’s gonna burn the world.

-Ignis takes everyone's role for himself except his own, which was to be the pensive, intelligent and dependable advisor. He totally takes leave of his brain!

4. THE ORIGINAL STORY'S BUILD-UP AND CLIMAX IS GROSSLY OFFSET

-The train ride to Gralea, Noctis coming to terms with Luna's death, finding the strength to wear the ring-- all this character development and story arcs NEVER HAPPEN! Noct just decides on the spot that he's gonna hop right into the crystal and... That's basically it. No doubts or fears or hesitation like he had in the original story. Nope, we skip all the development and cut right to the chase. The previous build-up made him a human, relatable and interesting character. It made us stand up and cheer for Noct. Now, just the sight of Ignis messed up on the ground and BOOM! Skip straight to the ending. Character development and struggles be damned! Such an immediate decision as Noct makes is not only highly unrelated to his character, but doesn't even make for a good story. I don't know how people say it does.

-Everything becomes too easy. Luna's death and Iggy's vision loss stirs up some serious turbulence that the bros have to work out before they continue their journey. All this is skipped in the alternate ending.

-Ignis's vision loss becomes just a tease.

-There's no penalty for using the ring's ultimate power to banish Ardyn for good. Noctis's survival doesn't make any sense. It's kinda easy to defy fate when there's no consequences for any of your actions, eh? Seriously, there's no consequences to putting on the ring and summoning the Knights of the Round to defeat Ardyn and restore light. This is wildly out of whack with every way the ring's magic has worked until this point. (That is: draining life force in exchange for magic.)

-Noctis doesn't die defeating Ardyn now? Just because Ig used the ring on him ten years ago, doesn't mean he's still weakened all this time later. And if it does, then we should just do this all the time. There's no good explanation for this that I've seen.

-And why would Ardyn still go through with his plan. I mean, you can't exact revenge on your own bloodline and the crystal if you're not strong enough to at least take him down with you, Ard.

-Luna and Noctis's "love story" (big fan) is stepped all over. Not that it was well written to begin with, but now her death has no effect on Noctis or anything that comes after. I guess Tabata's no good with commitment to relationships.

-Ignis trying to "change fate" is like saying every other character didn't try to figure out EVERY possible way to save Noctis. Do you think Luna wouldn't have tried to find a way to save her only friend? DO YOU THINK REGIS WOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO FIND A WAY TO SAVE HIS OWN SON?? No, they were basically stuck-up bigots who were willing to sacrifice Noct because it was convenient. Yep. Not buying it. I mean, Ravus looked for years for another way for Luna to fulfill her calling without spending life force (even selling his own soul in the process) and couldn't do it, and suddenly Iggy just snaps his fingers and BOOM! "I've come up with a new way to fix everything!" Imma call bogus on that one.

-Now the Genesis artwork makes no sense, because Noct never had a blind companion.

-Luna's t- t-...tr...TRUE feelings for Noct are never disclosed via Gentiana/Shiva.

-Ardyn is now on the losing end for the bulk of the game. Horrible dramatization!

-The world of darkness now has reduced meaning because everyone now knows Noct is gonna be back and kick Ardyn's backside in a bit.

5. WHY THE ORIGINAL STORY IS BETTER

I say "story" and not "ending" because it's pretty obvious how much of a change there is to the story, depending on which ending you choose.

So, there's a generally accepted fan theory that Noctis never had a choice in his destiny and was basically funnelled down the path to complete it by the prophecy and/or the Astrals and/or the Knights of the Round. Not going to name any names, of course, but there's this thing that the FFXV fandom says: "Noctis never had a choice but to sacrifice himself. That he was the slave of the prophecy and the Astrals were using him." That he was a victim of circumstance. That it "wasn't fair". Like somehow the prophecy and Astrals were forcing Noct to kill himself.

I've never seen any real evidence to support this. On the contrary, no one is forcing Noctis to do this. The prophecy's not something you can rebel against. A prophecy is just a foretelling of something that is to come. It doesn't force anybody to do anything. In fact, it's only fair that Noctis know what's coming if he chooses to go through with his destiny. A last chance to turn and run from it if he so wishes. In fact, it would be unfair if he had no warning whatsoever.

The magic of the ring is what kills Noct. We know that the more magic one uses, the more life force is drained (see KG and ep Ig). Like simple Physics: what goes up must come down. He who uses the magic must sacrifice life force. That's what magic runs on. (like king Regis ages more quickly as he uses magic to keep up the new wall) It's nobody's fault. As the only one with the power to use as much magic needed to defeat Ardyn, (even the Astrals can't) Noctis has a choice to make. Surrender his life force to kill Ardyn, or give up and run. THAT is Noct's choice.

And he makes conscious decisions to sacrifice himself many times throughout the story. This is what makes our heroes and heroines worth looking up to. Putting aside their own desires and doing the best for everyone.

"I think I can do it... I won't let you down!" He tells Luna.

Still, Noctis had many chances to run. He could have turned from his responsibility and turned back. But he knew his Dad and Luna and the bros and the WORLD was counting on him. By the time he emerges from the crystal we see his resolve. He's made his decision and he'll see it through.   Because only HE can. Only the chosen. By the ending campfire scene and when he takes Prompto's photo as a keepsake, it's clear he'd made his choice. And the bros RESPECT IT. They STAND BY HIM. There's none of this second-guessing stuff or making decisions for Noct.

As for being a victim of circumstance, aren't all heroes?

Ardyn, for one. Here we have an example of a man who could have been a hero, but his jealousy of his brother led him to do things that led him to hurting those he once swore to help. Noctis didn't let this responsibility drag him into the depths of despair and spite like Ardyn did.

The important thing is that Noctis makes the right choice. If he didn't, he would have ended up like poor, corrupted, jealous Ardyn.

As I said before, Ignis treads dangerously close to the same path as Ardyn in the alternate ending, and it's NOT RIGHT that he can do the same thing, yet achieve a better result. Selfishness ALWAYS leads to harming those we wish to protect most.

A direct corruption of morals.

6. COMPARING FFXV'S STORY TO OTHER GREAT EPICS

Seems like a good time to reference Lord of the Rings, since it's obvious Final Fantasy gets a lot of inspiration from there:

For example: It was never Frodo's choice to inherit Sauron's ring of power, but as the story progresses, he learns to accept his burden, because he understands that if he can't destroy it, then no one will. Even as it becomes abundantly clear that it will cost him his life. It's the doubt and fear that Frodo overcomes that makes him a true hero. He's faced with a situation no one would choose, but isn't that how all heroes are made? In the end he chooses to do what's right.

Likewise Noctis: As the chosen King of light, Noctis finds himself in a situation no one would choose. But it's how he handles it-- forces on in spite of everything -- because he knows it has to be done. And like Frodo, he finds himself the only one who has the means to do it. And he does it because it's the RIGHT thing.

And that's the ONLY kind of hero worth looking up to.

Other elements of the two stories match up too, like four protagonists set out on a journey, one with a very special mission, although they all will have to sacrifice part of themselves to see it through. 

Speaking of which, let's take a look at the similarities between the theme songs:

In Dreams, by Howard Shore:

When the cold of winter comes,   Starless night will cover day, In the veiling of the sun , We will walk in bitter rain, But in dreams, I can hear your name, And in dreams, We will meet again,

And now Stand by Me, by Ben E. King:

When the night has come, And the land is dark, And the moon is the only light we'll see, No, I won't be afraid, Oh, I won't be afraid, Just as long as you stand, Stand by me,

As you can see, both songs tell of the world being enveloped in darkness, but the bravery of the heroes spurs them on to complete their task with the help of their friends, because the world and all good things in the world DEPEND ON IT.

And, yes it's nice if there's an easy way out. A quick way to escape hardship and possible death. And in real life this even happens a lot, but those are the stories you never hear about because there's no sacrifice, effort and determination in them. For instance, if the Great eagles were to grab the ring of power, fly over to Mt. Doom and plop it in the lava, that wouldn't be a real story worth listening to.

Likewise, if Iggy were to put on the ring of the Lucii FOR Noctis, and defeat Ardyn halfway through the game, pretty much skipping the journey and the evolution of the characters, then that wouldn't be a good story, would it?

Why do you think you're so heart broken when Noctis finally does decide to sacrifice himself? Because, you got to know him and his friends throughout their journey. Their struggles. You felt like you were actually there through the ups and downs, observing all their actions. Taking part even. Through their hardship you learned to LOVE these characters and care about the choices they make.

That's how it should be. That's what makes every good story GREAT.

Look around. All your favourite stories follow the same pattern. It's not something we can dispense with to make ourselves feel better. It's OUR responsibility not to.

Okay, that got a lot deeper a lot faster than it had to, but you have to see, that Noct's sacrifice is in no way unfair or bogus. It's HIS choice.

7. BAD MORAL/MESSAGE

-So, the message the alternate ending portrays is basically: "Just act irrationally and irresponsibly on your own whims and desires. Without consulting your friends and the people who's decision this REALLY is. Things will come up aces ;)"

-Throw out your rational-thinking self-sacrificing heroes boys and girls, because here's one hot-head who NONE of the rules apply to!

-Heroes are made by the great deeds they do, and the obstacles they overcome. I guess heroes don't overcome their struggles anymore. They just go berserk and look for the quickest, easiest way out. And yay! They find it! What d'ya know. ;p

-The theme of Final Fantasy is not necessarily to "rebel against fate, or the powers that be". The theme of Final Fantasy has always been to overcome your obstacles, push forward and to do WHAT'S RIGHT, no matter the circumstance. No matter what the cost. Even if it's your own life. That's what's always been important about the Final Fantasy games I'VE played. That's the message I've always taken away from not only the Final Fantasy stories, but all great adventures in general. That's the true message to be learned.

8. THE ALTERNATE ENDING IS NOT CANON

-People have noted already that the ending is called "Possibilities" therefore indicating that you can take it or leave it. Like something that might have happened if Ignis had taken Ardyn up on his deal to come to Gralea.

-You can only play the alternate ending if you ALREADY played the first one, which leads one to believe that that's how the game is supposed to be played.

-You're seriously gonna make me invest in a DLC to get the "Canon" ending? (A whole year after the game came out?)

-Square Enix has even confirmed that the ending is not canon, but rather a 'possibility'.

9. PURE FANSERVICE

-Just because fans bugged hard enough for an easy way out. A blatant suck-up! At a time when fan service is butchering the industry! Calling this disaster "canon" is giving Tabata an easy way out of his responsibility. A responsibility to do it right the FIRST time, not just patch all your mistakes later. (If you can call this "patching") We paid for the GAME, not fan service.

-We all wish for that perfect ending where nobody dies and everything turns up roses, but at the cost of proper development, REAL heroic sacrifices and grievances and battle scars, I say NO.

10. LINGERING QUESTIONS AND PLOT HOLES

-So, remember that part when Noctis is lying there on the ground, and Ignis is lying there too and Ardyn offers to take Ignis to Gralea to lure Noctis to the crystal...? The key words were: Noctis is just lying there... Yep.

-What's up with those visions? Luna sending them? There's no way she would send those to him, because why? He's a random stranger who will just freak out and burn down the world if he sees them. It seems only to set up the alternate ending. And that makes me really mad. There's no way Luna would give Ignis the idea to turn from his path. Not after how strongly she and Regis and everybody believed in Noct. There's NO reason Ignis needs to know this. UGH!

-Why does the ring hurt when Ig puts it on? It didn't hurt Nyx.

-Ardyn reveals his true identity to Ignis (a complete stranger) and Noctis never finds out??? Idk.

-Why does Ardyn taunt Ignis (a total stranger) into thinking he's going to kill Noct? What purpose does that serve?

-Why was Ardyn shocked to see the ring in the alternate ending, but in the main episode he wasn't worried?

-Why could Noctis command the crystal so easily in the alternate ending, when it was ignoring him in the main game?

-What happened to the Niflhiem Empire? Did Ardyn still kill Iedolas?

-Why doesn't Ardyn kill Ravus/turn him into a demon? So much for wiping out the bloodline of the oracle. :p

-How come in the original story, Ravus is fooled by Ardyn disguising himself (as Noct),and Ardyn then kills him, but in ep Iggy, he sees right through the fake Gladio?

-And to top it all off, Iggy walks up to Noct at the end and mouths "Your Majesty", which is already starting to spark theories that that was ARDYN! Personally, I don't buy into the theory, but why the tease?????

11. OTHER THINGS I PERSONALLY DIDN'T LIKE

-It was short. Come on, we waited until December for and hour and a half of gameplay? Episode Prompto was way longer and fuller. (And raised a lot less questions...)

-All fangirl squealing aside, Iggy's outfit changes were kinda lame.

-All that money spent on an alternative ending when the main game is starving for patches...?

-Throughout the episode proper, we get dumb clips that intentionally set up the alternate ending. Like those visions and Ravus not dying/turning into a demon. They don't even serve a purpose into the main story.

-The blatant disregard for commitment to a story.

-The voice acting was a bit off in parts. Like, sometimes Iggy is just standing there screaming. Lol

-Ignis didn't come up with ONE new recipe!

12. IN CONCLUSION

-Tabata is spineless!

-Ahem, sorry. So yeah. Everything in this new ending is pretty messed up. The first one had it's issues, but this one to me is 10,000,000,000,872.5 times worse. It's hollow, with no backbone, and plays out like a cheesy fan fic I would pass up on AO3.

-Look, I love sweety, fluffy, nonsensical endings and happily ever afters and shippy ships too, but if Tabata sees the rate at which we're lapping up this sugar and rainbow vomit, he'll wonder why he should even waste time developing fleshed out characters with real struggles and cohesive stories, and we'll be stuck in this cheap fan service HELL forever! And that's disrespectful to true story tellers and well established character arcs everywhere! Disrespectful to the name of Final Fantasy!

-So yeah. That's all I wanted to say. I'll say no more on why I hate the alternate ending, because I know a lot of people liked it. I just wanted my friends to know why I'm won't be hopping up on this alternate ending train any time soon. ^^

Thanks for reading. Stay epic, you guys!

[pnksausage]

a/n: i saw this perfect prompt and immediately thought of daniel when i thought of who to place into the position of the person coming from the fantasy world!! idk if it’s because he’s so childish (in a good way) or what but i thought he would work the best with the prompt!! i wrote this more for fun than anything so it’s super sloppy skdfjkdslf please let me know what you think about this and i appreciate you reading my stuff! the song i named this after is here but there isn’t too much of a connection really?? anyway, hope you enjoy :-)

prompt: write the opposite of an Iskai (a story about someone who gets sent to a fantasy world). write about a fantasy person sent to the modern world.

so daniel comes from a world in which he’s one of the many adventurers trying to rid the world of evil but he’s not like super high leveled or anything

actually he’s one of the lower level warriors, think konosuba where the guy isn’t all that talented but he’s trying his best

yeah that’s daniel except he isn’t a giant shithead he’s a very kind boy trying to find his place in the world and do the right thing 

anyway

somehow he gets transported into the real world

one moment he was fighting giant frog monsters to earn some money to buy some new weapons and the next he finds himself in the middle of a city at night

he still has all his stuff from the fantasy world with him, though, including the outfit and weapons

so there he is in an alleyway eyeing the cat hissing at him from the corner with narrowed eyes before picking his head around the corner to survey his surroundings

there’s not too many people out because it’s the early morning hours and most people have already retired for the night or at least aren’t hanging around the area where he’s landed

except that’s where you come in

you’d stayed late at school to finish up some project you had started working on and hadn’t realized how late it had gotten

you hated leaving anytime after midnight because there were fewer people around and you were of course rather cautious of being attacked or something even if nothing bad had ever actually happened to you

so you were walking rather quickly, keeping your eyes forward and trying to ignore any odd rustling sounds to avoid getting spooked by nothing

but for once maybe you should have listened because the next thing you know there’s a tall guy with broad shoulders dressed very oddly jumping out in front of you

before you can stop yourself a shriek breaks free from between your lips and he’s quick to wave his hands around wildly

“ah, i’m so sorry!! i didn’t mean to scare you!!”

you stop screaming but..... take a couple steps back just in case eyeing him suspiciously

sure, he seemed nice enough and he hadn’t hurt you yet but you had always been warned not to talk to strangers

especially strangers that dressed like that 

had he come from a cosplay convention nearby? you hadn’t heard of any of those... maybe you should check the school board more often-

“um.. hi i’m daniel and i’m supposed to be defending the world from the big evil... nobody has ever seen him but i guess he’s super strong.”

you stare at him blankly. who the hell was the big evil

“anyway... i was wondering if maybe... you know the way? i’ve never been in this village before... so..”

village? big evil?

wait, was that a sword in his hand???

you immediately assumed that he had to have been coming from a costume party or something along those lines and decided that he had gotten a little too into character or maybe just had a few too many drinks

either way one thing led to another and suddenly he’s sitting on your couch while you rustle through his bag

you had permission of course!!! but you wanted to make sure everything dangerous was out of his reach so he couldn’t turn and attack you or something

but by now you were positive he wasn’t... going to... do that

he would have already and if anything he just seemed confused

the whole way to your apartment he’d constantly stop and ask you a million questions about the simplest things

why did those signs have lights? why wasn’t fire the main source of lighting? coffee?? what’s that?? woah food is so cheap here i’m hungry can we go get some-

so after quickly making a pitstop in the convenience store near your apartment which took longer than you had expected because he wanted to try one of eVERYTHING which of course... you said no... because money..

still you let him pick out a few things and you quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn’t from... here

by here you meant this world

because... clearly... something was up

then again you didn’t believe in magic so you weren’t sure how it was possible yet... how else would any of this make sense??

so back to the present

while you were going through his bag and eyeing his possessions with both awe and confusion he was sitting on the couch taste testing everything you’d bought for him

by the time you’ve finished pulling out all his items he’s finished eating and you look up to find everything emptied completely and him eyeing you with a grin

“everything was good thank you, we don’t have cheese puffs where i’m from!!”

you can only laugh a little at that before you carefully lift up one of his weapons with a small grunt as it was much heavier than you expected

“i’m glad you like them but uh... what are we gonna do with these? you can’t wander around the city with this stuff unless you wanna go to jail”

when he looks at you with confusion you kinda just laugh a little bit again

“daniel there’s no big evil here you need to defeat we just... go to work and school and stuff so... i guess while i do that you can hang here??”

you only suggest it because you know he doesn’t have money and also know he doesn’t really have the knowledge to be going out by himself anyway

lucky for both of you you’re off school for a few days as it’s the weekend and you didn’t have friday classes anyway so you’re able to take him around and introduce him to new things

you had called up your friend seongwoo to ask to borrow some of his clothes as your stuff didn’t exactly fit daniel and you assumed that seongwoo’s would fit even if it were a bit small

when he had come over he’d immediately quirked an eyebrow at the sight of daniel resting in one of your bathrobes on your couch after you had introduced him to the shower in your bathroom because it was much more high tech than what he was used to

(he had spent so long in there you thought maybe he’d died so you had pounded on the door until he yelled back because you refused to open that door)

“he’s just a friend” you quickly explain trying to get seongwoo to leave your apartment as quick as possible but he’s just as quick to shove his way inside with a grin

“friends don’t share bathrobes though??” he kinda whispers before walking over to drop his bag of clothes near the couch and eyeing daniel a bit

“hey i’m seongwoo! you’ll be borrowing my clothes... so... what happened to yours?”

you curse how straightforward ong is and also know as soon as you two were along he’d tease you like there was no tomorrow

damn you ong seongwoo

“y/n said they were ugly and i needed to dress appropriately to the current day and age” daniel replies, grinning as he rises to peek into the bag

and damn you too kang daniel

ong looks over at you with a raised eyebrow and a small grin and you’re quick to look away attempting to busy yourself with something in the kitchen that was much more interesting and much more important than anything seongwoo had to say to you

but of course you’re still listening to their conversation too because you had yet to explain daniel’s... situation.... to seongwoo

i mean... how do you even bring that up??

“current day and age huh?” you hate the way he laughs a little “what were you dressed like, a grandpa?”

daniel’s about to reply but you’re faster

“yup. exactly. it didn’t fit him at all!”

daniel looks at you with confusion but you only beam at him in response to which he smiles at as well, content with whatever you’ve said

“ah... well i’m sad y/n didn’t tell me about her boyfriend, but i hope i get to know you better soon! maybe over coffee someday?”

“i don’t know what a boyfriend is but coffee sounds great!!”

you’re thankful ong doesn’t press for once... at least he doesn’t press daniel but he doesn’t hesitate to drag you to your bedroom to discuss the whole daniel situation

“so... who is he and why is he staying on your couch? y’know i have a free spot on mine instead”

“uh well.. i sort of found him last night and.. now he’s living with me??? for now??”

ong looks at you like you’ve grown a head

“you... found him?? like a stray cat? y/n what the heck do you mean??”

you fiddle with the hem of your shirt before answering, a nervous habit

“uh.. well.. he comes from a fantasy world.. or something. i don’t really get it either!! but his story checks out and i trust him but i think he could probably learn a lot more from you so maybe he should stay with you after all??”

it’s a back and forth like that for a while but you both eventually come to the conclusion that daniel is from a fantasy world and has no life skills suited for the current time and that he should definitely live with ong

yes. definitely.

but that doesn’t mean you didn’t constantly go over there to visit

and of course it was because you were worried about him and whether or not he was progressing and figuring out how to live in the world and not because you had begun developing a crush on him or anything

no... of course not

so like six months had passed since daniel had first arrived and you weren’t sure if he was going to stay forever or if he’d eventually be sent back to his own world but you found yourself growing more and more upset at the idea

but you tried to convince yourself that it was just because daniel had become such a close friend already that you were scared of losing him not that you’d definitely begun to fall for him

little did you know that he was feeling the same way but was at even more of a loss of how to explain it to you

seongwoo, of course, saw the way you both looked at each other and was devising a way to get you two together because he was convinced daniel was staying forever

after all, if he were going back to his world he probably would have done it already

and in all the anime he watched they were usually stuck in that world forever so....

not that anime was real life or anything but... apparently some things from it were true???

so that brings you to sitting across daniel in a cramped cafe playing too loud music and an annoying best friend laughing much too loud

it was weird, but you weren’t going to question it

conversations carried on like usual, daniel questioning things here and there and struggling a bit with usual everyday things

but he’d gotten a lot better since he arrived, especially when it came to things like chopsticks

but that’s not important right now

suddenly halfway through the outing seongwoo declared that he had something to take care of and before you could call him out on his obvious lie you were left alone with daniel who... suddenly.. wouldn’t meet your eye??

ah... this was.. awkward

you tried to keep up a conversation but it constantly fell flat on both ends and you didn’t notice the flush on his cheeks because he kept his head slightly down and eyes on the table so you thought maybe he only talked to you because you hung around seongwoo??

so after that “date” and after you walked him home so he wouldn’t get lost you avoided him for a while

you would only meet up with seongwoo if he promised to come alone and you wouldn’t approach him at campus if you saw daniel with him so you began to feel a bit lonely but... you didn’t want to make things more awkward

seongwoo noticed the change and obviously immediately came to the conclusion that something had happened between you two and questioned daniel about it but he stayed quiet not knowing ong had already figured out you two clearly had feelings for each other

which.. it was kinda sad YOU hadn’t pieced it together

actually you were oblivious until seongwoo showed up at your place one day with a serious expression on his face

too serious please stop seongwoo this isn’t right-

“you like daniel, right?”

... what? he knew?

“uh.. no. course not. he’s just a friend... well i thought we were but i think he hates me so... no”

seongwoo just looked at you like you were stupid and maybe you were a little bit in this situation but that’s beside the point

“he doesn’t hate you y/n... sometimes you’re so oblivious”

he rolls his eyes fondly then but you can’t help but look at him as though he’s said something completely crazy “what do you mean??? of course he does?? that day you left us alone he wouldn’t even look at me??”

to that he can only laugh and again you’re just left looking at him like... huh??

“y/n, daniel is like.. completely in love with you i can tell when he looks at you but he won’t admit it either”

daniel?? in love with you??? IMPOSSIBLE

but that whole night after seongwoo leaves after you denied the possibility 29849234 times it was all you could think about

daniel loves you too??

daniel with his soft smile and strong arms

the way he hugged you and the way he was so kind to animals and other people

daniel who always thanked you even for the smallest things and looked at you as though you had saved the entire world

thinking about it, it made sense

but still, you wanted to hear it from him

so you made a plan of sorts with seongwoo and after getting him to leave daniel alone in the apartment you showed up because seongwoo said there was no way he’d confess as... y’know.. it was daniel

this whole falling in love boyfriend thing was a bit new to him,, he had never worried about that kind of stuff in his world

you knocked on the door and waited patiently and daniel opened the door with wide eyes obviously not expecting you since you hadn’t talked to him in weeks now

poor boy

“oh.. hey y/n” 

he steps aside to let you in, smiling softly as you make your way inside 

he shuts the door behind you and fiddles with his fingers nervously, having not been alone with you for a while

“daniel, i have something important to tell you”

he looks at you expectantly, almost a bit scared you’ll tell him you never want to see him again

“i think that somehow, somewhere along the way i fell in love with you... and... i’ve never felt this way before so i was hoping you felt the same way?”

he’s silent. you’re silent. inside you’re screaming, sure that seongwoo and you had both been wrong all along and god this was the worst day of your life you were going to kill ong when this was all over-

“i think i love you too y/n”

you pull yourself away from your inner monologue to meet a blushing daniel’s eyes to which you flush a darker shade of pink

he was so cute

of course he was, it was daniel

you didn’t know he was thinking the same thing about you in that moment

not that you had a lot of time to dwell on it because the next thing you knew he had his arms wrapped around you and his lips pressed against yours

it was a little... awkward

you hesitated a bit too long and he had begun to pull back when you finally reciprocated

awkward first kiss or not, it was still amazing

you were kissing kang daniel, fantasy man from another world

heh that sounded pretty cool

not that you’d ever tell him you thought that during your first kiss, he was already bashful enough around you

after that you officially started dating which was... sort of funny because he really had no clue what a boyfriend was supposed to do and was typically too formal

so seongwoo gave him “dating classes” which ended up with daniel attempting to be smooth and failing miserably which was even cuter than daniel being daniel

maybe it was because he was from unknown fantasy land but it really did feel like you’d managed to maybe find what people called a happy ever after

only time would tell 

[andreaphobia]

fic: love is just another game for two. (SHINO & YAMAGI)

Characters: Shino/Yamagi, Eugene, Mikazuki, Akihiro, Orga

Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS

Wordcount: ~4500

Summary: Shino gets hooked on an MMO, and one day he meets a mage who may or may not be the cute guy from the dining hall.

Notes:

For @skyfireflies, who got me to watch this show in the first place. Also, my first Gundams ever! Hooray!

Also on AO3, if you prefer.

*

So when Shino comes slouching into class on Monday morning, puffy-eyed and bleary, Eugene doesn't even need to ask why—but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it, either.

“I'm gonna give Orga a piece of my mind,” he mutters, as Shino collapses heavily into the seat next to him.

“Ah?” Shino yawns, scratching an unkempt chin. “Why’s that?”

“Because he got you into that damn game, that’s why! And now you’re up all night playing it, you fall asleep in lecture and then you beg for my notes, and I’m telling you now, if you want me to be your private tutor, you better start coughing up cold hard cash for the privilege, 'cause it don’t come free.”

“Oh, come on,” Shino says, grinning apologetically. “You’re being dramatic. I don’t play half as much as Mika, anyway.” Which was true; Mika had hit level cap weeks ago, and God only knew what he kept himself busy with to while he was waiting for everyone else to catch up.

(To be fair, Eugene knew this because he was also playing Art of War Online—but at least he had some self control.)

“Besides, I wasn’t up late last night just playing. I was talking to someone.”

Suspicious, Eugene narrows his eyes. “In game, you mean?”

“Well... yeah.” Shino grins again. “They were nice. Real friendly-like.”

To this, Eugene can only put his face in his hands. “I can’t believe you’re even trying to pick up girls in a video game.”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate that! I think we had a real connection, you know?” Shino seems to reflect on this for a moment. “Besides, I don’t even know if it was a girl. Their character was a guy, at least.”

“Dude, they’re probably more likely to be a guy if they have a female avatar,” Eugene scoffs. “Do you know anything about online games?”

“Guess not,” Shino says cheerfully, “but at least I'm making friends!”

Eugene is about to retort when the professor comes bumbling into the room, hitting the pause button on their conversation, and soon Shino is out like a light, snoring gently with his head lolling on his seat back. He rouses himself occasionally, just long enough to jot down a couple of formulas or a tidbit of knowledge, before passing out again, and proceeds in this fashion until the bell rings at the end of the period.

As Eugene tucks his books and notes away, Shino stretches, smacking his lips noisily and giving his head a little shake. He crams his stuff unceremoniously into his backpack, and beams at Eugene.

“Up for lunch?”

Eugene grins at him. “Yeah, if it’s on you.”

“Tightass,” Shino grumbles. He pulls out his wallet and peers into it as if that proves something, but Eugene only rolls his eyes; since meals at the dormitory dining hall are paid for on a point system, he’s not feeling much sympathy.

“Nah,” he says, as he follows Shino out of the lecture hall. “I’m just resourceful, that’s all.”

*

At the dining hall, Shino picks up a plate of three eggs, four sausages, and a steaming great heap of baked beans. Eugene, sensible as usual, has a complete meal from the Chinese food stall; rice, chicken, some wilted vegetables on the side. Healthy, Shino thinks—unless you’re trying to bulk up, in which case he’d consider it anemic, plain and simple.

“You sure you don’t want some more protein with that meal?” Eugene says mildly, glancing at Shino’s breakfast-themed abomination as they pay for their food. (In exchange for access to Eugene’s notes, Shino is bankrolling the entire meal with his point card.)

“Eh.” Immune to sarcasm, Shino glances down at his overloaded plate. “I think this’ll tide me over till dinner.”

They pass through the checkout line together, heading out into the hall proper. Scanning over the crowd of heads parked at various tables, Eugene spots who he’s looking for.

“Hey, Orga and the others are over there.”

Unfortunately for him, Shino’s not listening. Halfway through trying to figure out where the group Eugene mentioned is sitting, he gets distracted by the sight of something that’s very high on the short list of things that he finds interesting at the moment.

“Ohhh, is that Art of War Online?”

The blonde boy Shino’s addressing stops dead, fork halfway to his mouth. He’s wearing a look reminiscent of a caged animal. In front of him is a tablet, resting on a stand and playing what looks like someone’s live stream of a game.

“It is, isn’t it?” Shino says proudly. (He knows something about that now, after all.) “It’s fun, huh?”

“Um,” the boy says, immediately going red. He looks vaguely familiar; Shino thinks he must have seen him around the dorms, once or twice. The most striking thing about him is the length of his bangs. Shino wonders how he can see through that curtain of hair. (Nice eyes, though.)

He’s just on the verge of following that interesting chain of thought wherever it may lead when Eugene pops up, having finally noticed that he’s wandered astray. “You’re bugging strangers about that damn game now? Give it a rest.” He nods to the boy. “Sorry. Don’t mind my friend, he’s a frickin’ dumbass.“

“We should play together sometime,��� Shino says brightly, as Eugene starts dragging him away. The boy does not respond; he’s staring intently at his hands resting in his lap, bright red all the way to the backs of his ears. Kinda cute, actually.

Once they’re out of earshot of the kid, Eugene finally releases his arm and lets him walk on his own.

“‘samatter with you? Don’t bother people when they’re eating.”

Shino beams. “I’m just making friends!”

“You didn’t even ask for his name.”

“Oh, you’re right!” He’s about to turn back and ask when Eugene seizes his arm again, with an exasperated grin.

“I don’t think so.” He steers Shino firmly over to the table where Orga, Mika, and Akihiro are already seated, and strong-arms him into a chair. “Give the poor guy a break.”

“Okay, okay.” Shino laughs, putting his hands up in surrender.

Akihiro’s looking between the two of them with interest. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know...” Eugene mutters, plopping down into his own chair. “Just Shino things.”

Mika, who barely seemed to have noticed they’d arrived, finally looks up from his plate. Mouth full of food and still chewing, he asks, “So, when are you guys getting to 60? It’s boring being the only one.”

*

At the end of the day, after class and several abortive attempts to do homework, Shino gives in to the siren call and logs on to the game. (Another good thing: Eugene is out doing honor society crap, so he’s not around to give Shino any grief about this.)

It’s gratifying to hear the loading screen music, but it still takes way too long for him to get into the game; he’s got to look into getting something better than a potato to play it on.

The first thing he does when he finally loads in is check his friends list to see who’s around. Akihiro’s online, but currently in a dungeon, according to his status; Shino kindly decides not to bother him. Mika, surprisingly, is not—then again, it’s almost dinner time, so maybe not that surprising after all. The only thing that boy loves as much as dominating everyone at video games is eating.

And then there’s—Shino’s stomach does a weird little flip when he sees this—his new friend, in an area pretty near him. Which makes sense, since they were just playing together the night before, but is also really convenient.

He’s just wondering how desperate it would seem to message the guy when the problem is solved for him. A whisper appears in his chat box, followed by a party invitation.

<Newt> Want to party up? <shinon> yeah!

There’s a little bit of logistical back-and-forth after he accepts the invite, but eventually they decide to meet up at Goldshire, and venture out from there. Even though they’d had a time of it last night, Shino’s still surprised by how easy the conversation flows; this guy—or girl—is really easy to get along with. (Let’s say guy for now, Shino decides, going by the avatar; if only to make his internal monologue less confusing to himself.)

It shouldn’t surprise him they get along, though, considering the circumstances of their meeting. He’d been neck-deep in kobolds at the bottom of Fargodeep mine and was mentally steeling himself for his demise when this mage just appeared out of nowhere, saving his ass with a couple of well-timed fireballs. But then all the heat was on the mage, and just as he was about to be overwhelmed, Shino got ‘em back with some good ol’ healing holy light. And you know, maybe this is just Shino being sentimental, but personally he thinks it’s hard to save each other’s butts at the bottom of a cave and not become friends. That kind of thing is a real bonding experience!

So anyway, they get to questing together, and everything’s going smoothly—as much as it can, anyway, considering he’s only been playing for a few weeks and is still learning the ropes, leading to occasional disasters like pulling way too many monsters at the same time, then proceeding to fall off a cliff in the process of trying to escape them. But Newt’s real patient with him; in fact—and Shino hopes he can be forgiven for thinking this, but—he's acting kind of... cute. Lots of jumping around, throwing up a little music note emote every time they kill something. Even through a video game, the cheer is infectious.

<shinon> u seem like ur in a good mood :)

The mage stops prancing around long enough to reply,

<Newt> yeah, kinda, actually! Something awesome happened to me today!

Shino smiles at his screen, and then, quite laboriously, types back.

<shinon> wanna tell me abt it?

Art of War doesn’t have a particularly good emote system, yet Shino is amazed by the expressiveness of what happens next. The mage turns abruptly to look at his character, and then steps back and forth a few times, making movements that Shino can only describe as fidgeting.

<Newt> OK, but... promise you won’t laugh? <shinon> dont worry, i can barely type ‘lol’ <Newt> ;) <Newt> OK, so... I know this is gonna sound really silly, but... the guy I like talked to me today!!

Shino’s eyes immediately fixate on that line.

“The guy you like, huh...?” he muses. (It’s too bad Eugene isn’t there, ‘cause he’d be interested to know how this affects the odds on Newt’s true identity.)

Oblivious to whatever Shino might be thinking, Newt is standing stock still, busy typing up a storm.

<Newt> I was just sitting by myself watching someone’s stream when he came up and started talking to me about Art of War! And OK, I think I must have looked really dumb because I couldn’t say anything back to him, but ahhh he’s just so nice!! <Newt> He probably doesn’t even remember this but there was this one time some guys were bothering me in the street outside my dorm and he and his friends scared them off, and he just looked SO COOL!

Shino reads through this small wall of text, and actually his first thought is, well, sounds like a friendly chap!

His second thought is, Hmmm.

Come to think of it, he had thought the boy at the dining hall looked familiar. And yes, he vaguely recalls now a time when Mika and Akihiro and him were coming back from the gym late at night, found some kid getting pushed around by jerks and scared ‘em off... but... could it be?

While he’s busy digesting all of this, Newt appears to take his silence the wrong way.

<Newt> Omg, I’m sorry, I’m just babbling on and on, this is probably boring you... <shinon> na, i was just thinking that sounds rly sweet <shinon> so, r u going to ask him out?

Newt, the character, starts fidgeting again. So cute, Shino thinks.

<Newt> No, I couldn’t possibly... I’m too shy... <Newt> But maybe someday <shinon> u know what they say <shinon> u miss 100 % of the shots u dont take <Newt> Thanks ;) <Newt> crap, my roommate wants to get dinner, I g2g. Can you get back to town by yourself? <shinon> no sweat buddy <shinon> cu l8r <Newt> See you!

With Newt gone, Shino leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling.

Well... shit.

*

Whatever Eugene had been expecting on his return to their shared dorm room, it certainly wasn’t this.

“So,” he says, once Shino has finished talking and gesticulating wildly. “Let me get this straight. You think that that kid you were accosting in the dining hall the other day, and your new virtual-reality best friend, are the same person?”

He’s skeptical, and who can blame him? Not that this puts a damper on Shino's enthusiasm; if anything it only seems to encourage him.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he says brightly. “Why?”

Eugene squints at him.

“This is just an excuse for you to bother that kid more, isn’t it?”

“No!” Shino pauses. “But now that you mention it, actually—”

“Look, I know you’re not a math genius, but what do you think the odds of that are? Like, one in a thousand? One in a million? Even if he does play, what makes you think you guys are on the same server?”

“Man, I dunno!” Clearly frustrated by Eugene’s superior logic, Shino throws himself back onto his bed. “Why’d Orga make Tekkadan on this server, anyway?”

“It—” Eugene sputters. “Well, it’s—okay, fine, I forgot that it’s the official server for people from our school until a second ago, but—still! That makes the odds, like, one in a hundred at best.”

“One in a hundred, huh?” Shino appears to be giving this some serious thought; from his expression, Eugene can tell that that doesn’t sound half bad to him. “I’d take those odds.”

Eugene throws his hands up in disgust. “Remind me never to put you in charge of my bank account.”

“Hey, it’s your loss,” says Shino, waggling his eyebrows. (Eugene ignores this entirely.)

“Anyway, so let’s say you’re right and it really is the same guy. So what?”

Once again, Shino has to give this thought, but this answer seems to come easier than the last one.

“I just wanna get to know him, man. That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“No, but—” Eugene wavers; he’s not sure if Shino’s potential love life is something he ought to be commenting on, but... “Didn’t he say he likes you...?” he ventures.

This makes no discernible impression on Shino. “Yeah, and?”

“And... I mean...” For a few more moments, Eugene falters, and then decides that maybe the best course of action is to just let it go. There’s no changing Shino’s mind once it’s made up, after all. “Look, just... be nice to him, okay?”

“I’m nice!” Shino insists. “I’m a nice guy, you don’t even have to worry about that. Like, what could go wrong?”

Probably best not to answer that, Eugene thinks. Well, at least Shino won’t be able to complain he didn’t warn him.

*

It takes Shino a while to find the kid, elusive as he is, but he happens to be passing by the library one day when he spots a certain mop of blonde hair, bent over a textbook that’s thick enough to kill a man with. When he lifts it up to turn a page, Shino can just barely make out the title on the cover: Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, it says.

Jesus. Well, as long as the guy doesn’t expect him to know any of that as a prerequisite, Shino figures he’s golden. So he rolls right up, barely mindful of the fact that it’s a library, stops by the table the kid’s sitting at, and when he looks up, gives him a big ol’ ear-to-ear grin.

“Hi! We met the other day—well, kinda—but I wanted to introduce myself properly.” He sticks out a hand. “I’m Norba Shino, but you can just call me Shino. Everyone does.”

“I know,” says the boy in a small voice.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.” To Shino’s great surprise and gratitude, the boy only hesitates a moment before shaking his hand. “Yamagi Gilmerton.”

“Yamagi, huh...?” Shino nods, quite seriously; names are a serious business, after all. “Sorry about the other day, I’m just really excited about this game. Started playing a couple weeks ago and I’m totally hooked!”

Yamagi is watching him with an inscrutable expression, all the more so because Shino can only see one of his eyes. As far as Shino can tell, though, Yamagi doesn’t look annoyed or bored, so in his opinion, things are going just swell.

“...It’s okay.”

There, he said it’s okay! How you like that, Eugene? Shino says in his head, triumphantly. He doesn’t gloat for too long, though, since Yamagi is looking at him expectantly.

“So, are you on—what’s it called—Dark Iron? That’s the server everyone from our school is at, right?”

“...Yeah.”

Shino grins. “Great! So we could play together sometime, right?” At this point he also takes care to turn on what one ex-girlfriend called a ‘killer set of puppy-dog eyes’, making Yamagi go beet red again. Totally adorable.

“...Sure.”

“Awesome. Lend me a pen, I’ll give you my character name.”

From inside a backpack bulging with books and notes, Yamagi locates a pen which he holds out hesitantly. Shino takes it, and also seizes Yamagi’s hand—ignoring the little gasp of surprise that this causes—and writes his screen name across Yamagi’s palm, in big block letters. Then he pushes both hand and the pen back to Yamagi.

“OK, so you can use this to find me, right?”

However, Yamagi isn’t listening, and Shino realizes that something’s not right. Instead of—say—nodding, which would probably have been Shino’s preferred response, Yamagi is staring at the letters reading SHINON scrawled across his palm, shock and horror written all over his face.

“Uh... Yamagi?” Shino tries.

The next moment is a blur. Yamagi seizes his bag and his book and promptly legs it out of there, very nearly overturning his chair as he does so.

“Hey—wait!”

Shino attempts to go after him, but then actually overturns a chair in the process, which trips someone else holding a stack of books in their arms, all of which go flying. By the time he’s disentangled himself from this mess, picked up all the books, and apologized to everyone (including the incensed librarian), Yamagi is long gone.

Later, as the sun is setting and he’s standing outside the library alone, Shino says a couple of choice swear words, loud enough to startle a few nearby pigeons. He doesn’t really have a clue what the hell’s going on, but looking at it logically, chances are that it has to do with... whatever Eugene was waffling on about earlier.

Damn it. He hates it when Eugene is right. Well, maybe he can just apologize for whatever it is he did later, in game. Surely Yamagi doesn’t hold grudges forever, right?

*

However, Yamagi doesn’t show up in Art of War that night, nor the next. A couple of days go by, and though Shino tries to play on his own, he finds that it isn’t half as fun without his questing partner. This leads us into the present: Eugene bent over homework at his desk and trying to block Shino out, until finally, he snaps.

“Stop moaning,” he scolds, as Shino’s rolling around in his bed whining. “You’re driving me nuts.”

“Can’t help it,” Shino mutters. “Sooooo bored. Wanna play Art of War.”

“So play already.”

“I don’t wanna play if Yamagi’s not there!”

“Yamagi?” Something clicks into place. “Oh, you mean that kid from the other day?” Shino doesn’t answer, which he takes to mean ‘yes’. “Isn’t he still playing?”

“I’unno.” Shino sounds sullen; from long experience, Eugene knows this is never a good sign.

“Did you scare him off?”

“No!” A pause. “Maybe. Not intentionally, though!”

Eugene puts down his pencil, sighing. Relationship advice is not his forte, and yet, here they are. “I told you to be nice, man.”

“I was nice!” Then, more doubtful, he adds, “At least, I think I was.”

Eugene can’t help himself; he sighs out loud. It’s hard to believe he needs to walk Shino through every step of this.

“Yeah,” he says, patiently, “but he likes you, right? And you rejected him.”

“I didn’t reject him! I said we should totally play together, and then I gave him my character’s name, and then he freaked the fuck out and ran off! Look...” Shino trails off, sounding dejected. “I don’t even know, man.”

“Dude, of course he freaked out. He spent like an hour gushing about his crush, TO his crush. Can you not see how embarrassing that might be?”

This all seems like it’s coming as news to Shino, but he at least gives it some thought. Finally: “I guess,” he says, in a reluctant tone of voice. “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think it’s cute.”

If Eugene rolls his eyes any harder, they’re gonna fall right out of their sockets. “OK, then go ask him out already so I don’t have to listen to your whining. I have stuff to do.”

“Maybe I will!” Shino rolls himself out of bed in a huff, going to the door.

Well, Eugene thinks, as it slams shut behind him, either way, at least I’ll get some peace and quiet for a while.

*

If he’d thought it was hard locating Yamagi the first time around, the second nearly kills him. OK, that’s melodramatic, but even though he likes exercise it’s still a pain in the ass to be running all over campus trying to spot him in the crowd. After a few fruitless days of this, Eugene takes pity on him and gives him some advice—try looking in common areas or at the dining hall, he says, places he has to pass through no matter what. And it’s good advice, but all the same, nearly a week goes by with neither hide nor hair of Yamagi, by which time Shino is basically dying from Art of War withdrawal.

And just when he thinks he can’t take anymore—when he’s honest-to-God starting to think he should quit the game because it just ain’t worth it anymore—that’s when a knock comes at the door to his room.

“Nnngh,” Shino moans half-heartedly, face down in his pillow on his bed. “Go ‘way.”

The knock comes again, more insistent. Grumbling, Shino gets up, and goes to open it.

When he does, Yamagi is there.

Shino stares at him for a moment. The relief he’s feeling is almost palpable; it washes all the tension out of once, and he feels himself smiling the first real smile he’s had on his face for days.

Still, it won’t do to be scaring him off again, so he tries to sound casual when he says, “Hey, man, I’ve been looking all over for you! Are you okay? You haven’t logged on in a week, I was worried!”

Yamagi only shrugs, refusing to meet Shino’s eyes. There’s a strange, closed-off look on his face. He’s quiet for a moment, and then sucks in a deep breath and starts speaking, maybe a little too loud for how close they are.

“I’m sorry about—about everything. I know you’re probably weirded out by the things I said, and... I’m... sorry... about them.”

He stops there, as though in the middle of a thought, and his eyes are half-shut, almost like he’s expecting Shino to lash out. Which is such a crazy idea that Shino doesn’t even know what to do about it, except try and change his mind.

“Nah, not really,” he says, easily. “I mean—it’s cool, right?”

Yamagi blinks once, very slowly.

“What do you mean... ‘it’s cool’?”

“Just what it sounds like. It’s cool, man! I don’t mind.”

“But...” Yamagi looks slightly bewildered. “Don’t you? I mean... that was you the whole time, right?”

“Yeah, that was me.” Shino chuckles. “How come you didn’t realize that, huh? I even named my character after myself!”

Yamagi goes red. “Well, who—who puts their real name in their screen name these days? What about stranger danger, huh?!”

“Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet!” Shino beams. “Besides, I couldn’t think of a good name. It’s hard, okay?”

For a moment Yamagi looks like he wants to laugh, but also like he’s simultaneously on the verge of tears.

“But I typed all that stupid crap about you!”

Shino holds up his hands disarmingly. “No, it was cute! Seriously, it’s fine.”

“But—” By now, he’s almost shouting. “But I like you, Shino!”

“Yeah, I like you too!”

In sheer frustration, Yamagi runs his hands back through his own hair, mussing it up until it looks quite wild.

“No—listen to me! I mean—like like. I don’t just—”  

“I know what you meant,” Shino says.

This simple sentence is apparently enough to leave Yamagi speechless, and given that he’s not shouting anymore, Shino seizes the chance to speak.

“I’m—what’s that you call it? Oh yeah! I swing both ways, man. I mean, people are just people, right? So it’s all good. Let’s just keep playing, okay?”

“But—”

“No buts!” Shino scratches his chin, thoughtful for a moment. Then he reaches out, brushing Yamagi’s hair back out of his eyes so they can really see each other. “And let’s get dinner sometime too, okay?” He grins. “Just you and me.”

Yamagi just stands there, closing and opening his mouth without a word as he tries to process all of this. Then, as though he barely dares to believe it, he asks, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Well, that’s the idea!” Sheepish, Shino grins. “But I’ve never asked a dude out before, so... maybe I’m doing it wrong?”

“...No.”

And Yamagi’s eyes are watery, but he starts to laugh, which is such a relief for Shino. Laughing Yamagi beats crying Yamagi any day. Smiling, he ruffles Yamagi’s hair.

“So, dinner? Yay, nay...?”

Suddenly embarrassed by his own tears, Yamagi scrubs his eyes dry, and then turns his face up to Shino. “Yes, I accept,” he says firmly.

“Oh, that was fast,” Shino teases.

“You miss all of the shots you don’t take,” Yamagi says, and smiles a little. “Someone who sucks at typing told me that, once.” Then he thrusts his chin out, almost impertinently, like he’s daring Shino to do something about it. “Well?” he demands. “Aren’t you going to take responsibility for all this?”

Shino swallows, but grins, too. “Oh yeah,” he says, with feeling. “You bet.”

After all, he’s always liked a challenge.

[theleagueofsupermushrooms]

The Villain Wrangler: Chapter 4

Ben won. Ben won and now I was stood outside my apartment with the kid jumping up and down in excitement. He was ecstatic and well he might as well enjoy the fairy tale for the night and if it went smoothly I guess I would take him to more stuff I got invited to. Who knows? When a sleek black car pulled up in front of us we both hesitated and shared a look. This wasn't Alexandra's car and this was an incredibly posh looking car too. A door opened and out came a chauffeur with a blank face as he opened the door. “Miss Smith and Mr Smith” he said with a deep voice and I watched him curiously. Ben just looked confused due to the fact I'd lied about us sharing a last name. Admittedly that was probably going to backfire at some point. While Knowing we were being watched in case the car was a trap, which it could still be, I sent a polite and confused smile to the man. This looked like the kind of posh tinted windowed car that a mafia boss would use. “Is Alex with you?” I asked as Ben went from confident to slowly shrinking into my side, he sensed my unease at the lack of friend and well he wasn't as confident with the uncertainty. I slipped my hand gently into his. “Mistress Alex is busy attending to final details. I'm the family butler so she sent me to pick you up.” The man was certainly believable but my eyes narrowed. Too many stories circulated about getting into a car with someone dodgy and their demises generally ended badly. “Right….” Swiftly I got my phone out and texted said Mistress while we were in the safety of villains watching us to make sure we are safe. The irony of the villains being safe was not lost on me. “Where are you?” I waited tensely for the answer as Ben shifted nervously. Jakes tales of stranger danger and the graphic details of the victims of that killer taxi driver kinda got to me. “Sent family butler” My eyes raised at that. The confirmation irked me slightly but the relief flooded over me all the same. “Yup. She forgot to tell me.” Probably because we hadn't physically talked to each other since the incident and I'd felt on edge around her more than ever. I heard Bens small sigh of relief and then some nervous laughter and I was starting to think bringing him along wasn't the best idea after all. “Let's get going then…sooner we get there sooner you can see Alex” He piped up and a small groan escaped me as we entered the car. It was an exceedingly posh exterior with leather and comfort. “Considering how she's been so distant with me I highly doubt I'll be speaking to her anyway.” “Aww come on dude. She’ll be blown away when she sees how smoking hot you look…?” I snorted at how uncertainly he called me smoking hot and shook my head with an amused glint in my eye “Don't ever call someone smoking hot.” “Yeah that's completely fair” He snickered before sighing and looking out the window. A couple of moments passed and he turned to me with a frown. “Do you think that they'll make fun of me? I mean I have a robot leg, I'm poor and I lived io the streets. I hardly know anything about anything an-“ I moved my hand to affectionately ruffle his hair and gave a comforting smile. “I don't know what you had to do to survive but I know you’re a brave kid. I know that if you can deal with what you have then these posh wankers have nothing on you” His eyes widened at that and he sniffled. “You think so?” “I know so” He quickly launched himself into my chest and I hugged him tightly, using this to forget my own nerves. We hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped until my door opened and we fell backwards, my eyes went wide as a yelp of surprise escaped me and the butlers lips twitched in amusement. He totally did that on purpose. “Ahh so much for arriving in style” Ben muttered as I rolled my eyes and grinned. “Now now Ben, where are your manners?” He clambered off of me and gave a huff in response before mock pouting. “Thank you for driving us here Mr Butler sir” The Butler just rolled his eyes at us as I sat up and got out of the vehicle, Ben following suit, and straightened my outfit out. “Seriously though, thank you for bringing us. It's appreciated.” I told him and he simply smiled. “The pleasure is all mine. Besides it is refreshing to see new faces.” The Butler motioned for us to follow him up to the front door, other people in exceedingly expensive dresses and suits were checking in with the guy at the door. I recognised a couple of people: one or two work colleagues, her friends, some famous important faces and a journalist here or there. Over all it was a standard high end party. The Butler was happily chatting to a shy yet awestruck Ben about who was who and their family history; admittedly he was a calming and comfortable person to be around. There was something so homely and safe about the sophisticated old man; he was fatherly and motherly all at the same time. “Name” I looked up startled, at the bodyguard, and straightened out my back as to stand my ground. I'd begun to adopt this little reaction when talking to the villains as to make sure they couldn't immediately sniff out my fear and tear me to shreds. “Emma Smith and this is my plus one” The bouncer looked down at the list and then back at me with an incredulous stare. “Your plus one?” “Yes” “Plus one?” “Well the invitation Alex gave me said I could bring a plus one so…” We stared at eachother for a couple of moments, the lack of us moving gaining the attention of Ben and the Butler, until he huffed and his gruff voice pierced the air again. “You are kidding me right?” “What? No, seriously nobody said anything about an age limit and I saw kids his age walking in so I don't know wh-“ “No no it's just you are the plus one” I blinked in confusion before giving a nervous laugh. “Oh I get it so Alex put you up to this? Because there is no way I can be her plus one” “And why is that Miss Emma?” The Butler piped up from behind me with his finger twirling his moustache. Ben was giving a knowing shit eating grin. “Well because that would imply that indirectly this could kinda be considered a d-“ “Emma! Oh lay off Jack and let them through. Besides I've been so busy I forgot to tell you she was bringing a friend” Alex to the rescue once again and at this rate I was starting to think she was secretly a superhero with all this convenient timing. She sent me a dazzling grin and grabbed my hand as to pull me along with her. I probably looked like an idiot as I gaped at her, it was as if the radio silence between us hadn't existed at all and I felt myself threatening to blush. I think Ben was following behind me and I noticed the Butler walking with him, explaining about the history of the house. It was an old building, been in the family for generations in fact. “I'm so glad you made it. I was kind of worried you might have bailed on me after the meeting…” Her hands tightened around mine for a moment as the thought hung in the air. “Yeah well uhh haha that…” I cringed at my sudden lack of functioning sentences and she gave me a sideways glance with a smirk. “You'll have to do more than that to scare me away” I murmured weakly. “Ahh good. Your friends kid is cute. What's her name?” I blinked in confusion for a moment before frowning. “Her? Wh-oh” Alex raised an eyebrow at my confusion and it dawned on me that Ben was wearing a dress. It hadn't really occurred to me yet it would inevitably be seen like that. I'd never been told to call him anything other than Ben and a frown settled onto my brow and before I could construct a proper answer we were thrust into the ball room. “Woah” my mouth hung open at the sight. The staircase we walked down had a deep red carpet while the stairs themselves held intricate carvings that looked like fish flowing down stream. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling. It's design seemed to continue the impossibly intricate motif as I tried to make out the swirling shapes that danced along the outer layer as candles burned bright and the flames seemed to dance with a boasting glow against the shimmering gold. The room itself was large and round. A stage area for the orchestra and tables around the edge of the room as to allow dancing in the middle. All of it looked like something from a Victorian romance novel. Though that would make Alex Mr Darcy and I’m sure she was rich enough but I would make a terrible Lizzy. Alex just laughed. “For a moment I thought your jaw would become unhinged. But if you insist on keeping your mouth open like that then I'll be forced to close it some other way” For the second time that night my eyes widened and my mouth clamped shut. All I could muster was a flustered squeak of a noise and her smooth laughter returned with more elegance and grace than before. “Well I have to mingle with some higher class people because my brothers certainly aren't. I'll see you again…oh and nice suit” She winked and left me in a slight daze as he watched her swagger off into the swarm of rich people. “This was a bad idea” I murmured as Ben stood by my side with a look that clearly said pinch me I'm dreaming. “You know we could be at your parents drinking orange juice right?” Ben rolled his eyes but stuck close to my side as we quickly walked to the table with drinks. “They don't even serve orange juice…” I pouted and he snorted. The idea I was more worried about orange juice than exploring this ballroom seemed ridiculous. He was right. “Well well If it isn't Alexandra's charity case~” My heart suddenly clenched painfully as I whirled around to come face to face with the child of the second richest face here and Alex’s ex. I think he was a super model or something equally suited to a rich spoilt brat. “Hey kid those guys over there,” he pointed to the five siblings and their friends “are more suited to you than big adult talk yeah. Besides eldest one thinks your cute.” “Uhh” Bens arm quickly wrapped around mine as he inched closer to me. I couldn't tell if he was nervous or just putting it on but either way a protectiveness seemed to spike in me and I straightened my back instinctively. I'm not sure if the wall of muscle noticed the discomfort and if he did he certainly didn't give a shit. “Lay off Chad. Besides without Ben I'd just be bored to death.” Chad had a strong jaw with the classic beach blond hair with baby blue eyes. Yeah jock stereotype much? “I am perfectly capable of keeping you company” he replied with a scowl and it was my turn to give a look of triumph. “Uhuh. Sure. What kind of company are you capable of exactly?” “Ask Alex. She left my company very sa-“ Ben quickly detached from my arm. “You know what I don't need to be here for the biggest dick competition.” Both myself and Chad coughed awkwardly at the sudden accusation as a couple people around us looked a little scandalised. “So I'm just gonna go and talk to whoever said I was cute and I'll find you again.” “Wha-“As quickly as the extremely awkward outburst ended I was watching the retreating form of my nervous companion shyly saying hello to the group. “Well then…” “Indeed” A small whine escaped me and I just filled up my glass with water. “You just lost me my company for this evening” I glumly told the blonde who rolled his eyes and offered me his arm. “Uhuh. Well if Alex is going to insist her charity work follows her around,” “Christ could you stop calling me a charity?” “Alright then. Her hopelessly devoted and love sick kit-“ “Charity it is” He gave me a dazzling smile and was leading me towards a group of people of whom I was barely on a first name basis with. “You need to actually put effort in to knowing our friends. Who knows? Maybe you might actually like socialising~” I scowled at him before glaring. I was about to tell him I'd made a great circle friends when it hit me that these were the kind of people who stood to loose the most from villains. Suddenly I was starting to understand Nate and Jakes paranoia and my eyes quickly drifted to Ben. He seemed more rigid and a little awkward but whatever the guy was saying it was making the kid laugh. I turned my attention back just in time for Chad to stop instantly flirting with one of the girls. “Hi.” I muttered and they all gave an awkward look of acknowledgement before returning to some kind of private conversation I was barely following. I looked around again to see if I could find Alex but alas she was nowhere to be found. All of them were attractive to look at, even the nerdy ones were pretty much on point. It was ridiculous. Inhuman. They all held this sense of power about them and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be superheroes given Alex has been known to be in close contact with them. Dated a couple too. Some cities have reporters constantly getting kidnapped but not us. No it's a charity worker do gooder who is insanely rich. We get points for originality at least. “So what do you think?” I was suddenly included into their little conversation. It would have helped if I'd been trying to listen to them instead of blocking them out. Chad was giving me a nervous look as he glared at the tall red head with green eyes that jumped out at you and a floor length blue dress that only seemed to make her eyes and hair jump out even more. She was beautiful but the kind of beauty where it was a mere fact and ethereal. So much about this group was inhuman. “Uhhhmmm what do I think? Well uh,” I shot a nervous look back to Chad. “Me and thinking…on the topic… of…” “The Villain being allowed to see a sick little boy and the fact we are letting DANGEROUS criminals around kids.” Ahh. This topic. I don't think they knew it was me who was kind of organising the whole thing. Yeah that probably wasn't going to get out and if they did know they weren't letting on, it's possible Alex told them but unlikely. “Well they were hardly the mass murdering villains,” I began slowly. Though so far Nate’s guild were the only ones who had been requested and they were very selective on who they allowed in. Hell a lot of them had their own fairly happy families so I doubted they would be into child murder. My eyes quickly darted to Ben and then back to the red head with a nonchalant shrug. “Besides I kind of understand why the kids might choose the villains over heroes.” My answer was surprisingly honest if not a little vague. Still a lot of them were looking at me like I was insane and before the red head could press further I felt a hand on my shoulder and a sigh of relief washed over me. I didn't need to see it was Alex to recognise her amused laughter. “Aww come on Tess. She's only a normal girl.” I wanted to open my mouth and argue the toss on what she meant by normal. Lower class? Yes. Not all of us could get through Uni debt free or live off daddies/mummies income. Instead I snorted. Way to remind me I'm not really designed to be somewhere like here. “Besides Emma, like all of you,is my friend.” Her hand slipped down to rest around my waist and well I couldn't help but feel her tone of voice had some kind of edge to it and her gaze seemed to be steely and commanding. I didn't see too much wrong with the question unless they did know but again I feel like they would be even more distant if they did. At least Chad was able to be considered kind of friendly. He may be an asshole but he knew how to have banter at least. “Hey Alex” I said with a weak smile as her gaze flicked to me and her whole demeanour softened. She seemed so agitated about something and I couldn't help but feel concern. However from the looks of it though her little reprimand wasn't unexpected from the group. Though her grip on my waist tightened a little. “How was mingling with po-the higher echelons of society?” I just wanted a subject change and she seemed to be thankful for my attempt at diffusing the invisible tension. A light chuckle escaped her crimson red lips and she seemed to hold a fond gaze for a moment there. “Boring. I would much rather have spent it showing you around considering you are my plus one and all. I should probably actually spend time with my guest” And there went my heart. Skipping beats so fast I felt as if it might get burst. “Pfft I can't believe you didn't tell me I was your plus one.” Alex gave a guilty look. Her shoulder length golden curls bounced as she shrugged in an almost nonchalant manner. “Anyway what were you discussing?” That was a good question I didn't really know the answer to. Chad gave a shrug of his wide shoulders. “Oh you know.” He seemed to be treading lightly around the topics that they had been discussing so it was something I wasn't supposed to hear then. Well I didn't really to be fair. However she was bringing back the topic so clearly I suspected she wasn't finished with them. “This and that.” Now that was what I called a vague answer. “They were totally badmouthing you to me” I butt in with a jokey explanation and some in the group who had been holding their breath released it with a relieved look. She turned to give a raised eyebrow. How did she even arch it like that? “Yup I just learned that you wear clothes from,” I leaned closer to her and in a mock whisper said “Asda” A loud gasp from Chad in an overly dramatic manner could be heard along with chuckling from the group while Alex just rolled her eyes in an equally dramatic manner. “Asda? Really? Now your just being cruel…galpal” She emphasised the galpal and gave a triumphant smirk as I glared at her and crossed my arms. “I swear to god Alex that word is far worse than going to Asda and buying off brand clothing.” She just laughed again and grinned happily. “Foods gonna be served in half an hour which gives me enough time to take you on the grand tour” The group gave a cheer of appreciation as Alex took my hand and dragged me to one of the exits and onto a long corridor with lots of others splitting from it. The damn place looked like a maze and I was trying to memorise the path back to the hall. Eventually we came to what seemed like one of the main corridors and it had some family portraits and pictures. There was an actual large painting of three people, one of which I recognised as her father. “Family wall. Dads are kind of obsessed with family photos. Lame right?” “Eh it's nice. I never really had a family until now.” I gave a small smile to her and she smiled back. It was a moment. We were just gazing into each others eyes and it was probably romantic. I was the first to look away, blushed a little, and Alex looked like she was practically glowing. Okay so maybe she did like me like that for god knows what reason. Before either of us could speak my phone buzzed and vibrated in my pocket and I groaned. “Your villains?” “Hey they are nice people who happen to be very protective.” I got my phone out and she rolled her eyes disbelievingly. The phone immediately picked up and a relieved Nate immediately assaulted my ears. “Oh I knew you would pick up! How's my baby? Is he okay? Anyone hurt you two? Because I could send Jake and the others I-“ “Chill dude. We are fine. Anyway I'll tell you everything when I drop the kid off home.” “Bu-“ “I have company you kn-“ “Well you should have said that the suit worked. Don't rush and have a very PLEASURABLE night” Nate hung up on me and I groaned at the insinuation. Sex wasn't gonna happen plus I hadn't even been given time to reply to him properly let alone get a full sentence in. “Don't even ask” I grumbled and Alex turned to give me a serious look. Her vibrant green eyes watched me with surprisingly high intensity her hands grasped my shoulders. Her expression held the same stern one I'd seen on Iron knight and super similar eyes as as Captain Super, it was almost as if she wa- “We need to talk about that.” Her voice cut through my train of thought and I scowled. I glared and turned on my heel. Suddenly all my confusion and hope became clear. “Oh I see.” “Then you understand you need t-“ “Your using me” I didn't get to see her face but I'm sure the look would have been shock or something equally as predictable. “What? No why w-“ “Stupid idiot” I squeezed my eyes closed and felt my hands quickly run through my hair and creating a disheveled messy brown mess. “I can't believe I thought that you actually liked me” I growled out under my breath and quickly wanted to just curl into myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched away before turning back around to face her. I wouldn't cry. Not over some spoiled rich know it all who thinks she can play with me. She looked shocked, as predicted, here eyes were wide and her hand over her mouth. She looked incredibly upset but how sincere she was could easily be debatable. I'd seen her act to get into places and to see people before and she was an excellent at it so I really couldn't believe I'd fallen for it. Still her reaction seemed melodramatic and I couldn't fathom why, even if she wasn't lying, she would act like that. “Emma n-no I re-“ “See you at work Alexandra. It's getting late and I don’t want to stay where I don't belong” With that I had turned and fled down the corridor in the direction of noise and could only hope I was going the right way. Thankfully Alex hadn't been following me which was good because I wasn't sure how long I could keep in tears or a cool exterior or a level voice. Unfortunately I was lost and breathing hard and trying not to panic because holy shit I was lost in her house and I couldn't face anyone right now. I could call the villains but that would just make things worse and possibly bring attention nobody needs. And then what if they take Ben away? What if they get arrested? I clutched at my jacket as my back hit the wall and I squeezed my eyes shut again. My chest heaved heavily as my breathing began to get heavier “no it's okay there's no evidence” I hadn't realised I'd begun mumbling as I slowly slid down the wall and curled up. My hands began to tug at my hair. I was alone and hurt and the panic had triggered fear that they'd find out Bens adoptive parents were villains and I'd ruin their lives and lose the only people I could even begin to start considering a family. I ducked my head further down and tried to quiet the storm of uncertainty and fear swirling and growing in my head. I need it to stop. “Jesus Christ Emma” I looked up to see Chad. His voice cut through the storm and I was half tempted to lunge myself at the familiar face and hug him. He looked down at me with his wide blue eyes, stunned, and quickly knelt down in front of me. “She said you'd fallen out over the Villain thing but...I'd never think I'd see you so…so…” “Weak” I offered dryly and he shook his head. “Pathetic?” His eyes seemed to get sadder and I let out a bitter chuckle with a shake of my head. “Vulnerable.” Though I'm sure he was now looking at me like some fragile doll which could break. It couldn't get more obvious he didn't know how to handle this because his whole suave coolness was suddenly awkward and attempting to be comforting. “Shit. She doesn't even know does she? Your always such a hard ass and trying to act like a ma-“ “Fuck you. I'm not a man you arrogant wanker” His frown deepened and he put his hands up in defence before moving to sit beside me. I flinched at the words and just shook my head. “I don't…I never…look you need a drink,” “Don't drink” “I was gonna suggest we go to the kitchen, get you water and call Max to bring Ben to you.” That was actually a logical plan. When push comes to shove Chad pulls through. I silently nodded my head to the suggestion and offered a weak smile. I stood up sluggishly and dragged out my movements. I felt a little like I was in slow motion until suddenly Chad took a hold of my hand and guided me to the kitchen. We kept turning all the time and I wondered how often he'd been down these halls. Apart from dating Alex the two were good friends; in the group he was definitely her second in command and despite his teasing I generally got the impression the break up was mutual. “I'll tell them to back off yeah?” “Why so they can act like I'm fragile even more.” He shook his head and I watched the hair bounce with the movement. “It's not like that…” “Then what's it like ?” My voice was level and I'd stopped sniffling but when I got no answer from him I knew I was right. The kitchen was busy but there was an empty table with space on it so he sat me down there. We were out of the way and before I could do anything a glass of water was placed in front of me and Chad was on the phone to Max. Max was the second youngest sibling and one of the middle children. From what I gathered he was adopted after his parents died in a fire at a circus. “They'll be five minutes.” He muttered after the call ended and I could see him thinking something through in his mind. “Have you ever…uhmm broke down uhhh no or yeah like that before? I mean it seemed pretty serious or…” I suppose I knew that question was coming. I sighed and looked down at my glass of water with an almost guilty gaze. “It's nothin.“ “Clearly not E-” “Just stop.” I hoped he would listen because this was a game of twenty questions I really didn't want to have right now. Besides I could see some of the kitchen staff watching us from the corner of their eye and the gossip train was going to run rampant by the time they were done. Still I avoided Chads face and sighed again. A heavy blanket of silence weighed down on us for what felt like hours. In reality it was only a couple of minutes and the mood was broken when Ben ran in, not even caring people could see his leg with how he was holding the dress up so he could run, and promptly tackled me into a hug. He took a deep breath in before spewing it all out. ”Oh my god oh my god are you okay? Did she hurt you? Someone try anything? I swear to god if she was stringing you along or you caught her with someone else or you were threatened it will-“ “No no it's…I…I just read the signs wrong is all.” It was a weak excuse and Ben scowled. “No way she was totally giving you the look” “Look?” We turned to Max who came to stand behind Chads chair in confusion. He was just a bit taller than Ben, muscular and had short wild ginger hair. His eyes were a light hazel colour and he always seemed like a pretty nice kid. From what I could tell he accelerated at technology and was quite the prankster, not that you'd have guessed from looking at him. Ben turned to the boy and raised his eyebrow “yeah you know the ‘I'm gonna tap that so hard’ eyes people give other people when they want t-“ “Ben how old are you?” He stopped and looked at me in confusion. “Just turned 15” “Exactly” His look of confusion only deepened but at least he'd stopped on the subject of what happened. Max gave an oh of understanding. “Well yeah she has,” I groaned in annoyance and shook my head. “She does keep doing that whenever she thinks your not looking so…” I glared at him and he wisely closed his mouth. “She's a good actor.” I murmured and before anyone could say anything I changed the topic again. It felt like it was looping back round to her and I didn't want to think about her because I didn't want a storm in my head filling me with uncertainty and doubt and pain. “You said you were driving us home yeah?” Chad nodded his head and Ben just clung to my side as a comforting presence. I watched him give a sly apologetic look to Max before turning to look to Chad. “Max I'd appreciate it if you just made up some excuse about a family emergency being why we couldn't stay.” Max simply looked to Chad as if he couldn't go along with it until he was given permission. Strange. The ride home was awkward at best. Chad had insisted on double checking I had his number and texting him in a couple hours to make sure I was okay. I had a feeling he would be demanding I restart my hanging out quota. When the car halted to a stop Chad turned to look at me and gave a thin smile.I mumbled a goodnight before getting out the car with Ben latched onto my arm. We entered my small apartment and Ben collapsed onto the sofa. His eyes followed my every move as I put on the kettle and got out two mugs. “Coffee?” “Black, two sugars.” He simply replied and I returned to him. He took his mug greatfully and watched me put the corner of his eye as I sipped at my own bitter coffee. “So you and Max seemed friendly…”I teased the kid slightly and he blushed. “Yeah well he's nice. Didn't even care about my leg and plus he's super attractive I mean did you see him in that tux?” I chuckled softly and picked up a takeaway menu for the pizza place down the road. “Plus he's actually intelligent and a little bit of a nerd to boot.” It was obvious the kid liked him. I was happy at least one of us ended up enjoying the night “Pick a pizza and a movie. It's a while before your parents will be expecting.” He nodded his head furiously. Picked a Pizza. And settled down to watch Dirty dancing. By the time Nate got to us there were empty pizza boxes, a couple of ice dream tubs and two sleeping people on the couch looking incredibly peaceful. ((Ahh sorry this took forever to write! I've been trying to improve my writing style and working on length and description so hopefully I'm improving. Next chapter is gonna focus more on the villains and go back to the roots of the villain Wrangler and look at the wrangling process a bit more))

[ravage-my-mind]

26-11-2018: Our Story, My Words

I still remember everything so clearly. That one evening I decided to scroll through my Tumblr activity and there I saw your follow. I decided to check you out and found out that you weren’t too bad looking. Your blog wasn’t exactly my taste, but I was like “what the hell, let’s just follow her”. After that, I decided to shoot a message. Why I did that? I don’t know. I just felt like sending you a message, expecting to just exchange a message or 3 and then never hear from you again. But that wasn’t the case. Since we started chatting, we kinda never stopped. I decided to give you my number at the end of our Tumblr convo, because I felt like you were easy and fun to talk to (and yeah, you’re hot so that’s just a nice convenience). On one friday, you randomly brought up that we could videochat. I was scared, cause well, I’m not that good with strangers and talking (weird how things change, huh?), but I was like “what the hell, let’s just do it”. You had a late shift, so you came home around 11, I think. I skyped with my best friend earlier on that day to test if everything worked and to soothe my nerves. And then the moment came: The webcams went on. The moment you appeared on my screen, you smiled and I could feel my heart drop. I felt something. We talked and talked. I don’t even know what we were talking about, but everything was exciting. At some point, you said “but Joyce, we can also meet up”. Without hesitation, I said “yes”. I had to meet you. I wanted to meet you.  A couple of days to a week or something went by and then, it was the 3rd of May, 2016. You were going to pick me up when you got off work and we were going out for dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous. Hours went by and I waited and waited and there you were. The doorbell rang. I opened and I was just speechless. It felt like “oh finally, there you are”. I felt this instant connection when I looked at you and boy, I got scared. You greeted me with a hug, I said bye to my mom, brother and dog and off we went. In the car, you were talking about your job and that you were going to work out of the country and I just loved listening to you. The way you talked was captivating. We arrived at the restaurant and got to sit in a cute booth. Of course, we talked. Again, I can’t remember what we talked about, but everything was exciting. Talking to you and being in your presence was exciting. At some point we were playing around and I think we were joking around about kissing and I said “come and get it”, to which you replied “bring it’. Without hesitation, I decided to kiss you. It felt like our souls intwined. There was an undeniable connection and chemistry I felt from that kiss. It was almost like magic. Your lips on mine. That was all I needed to feel. Hours went by and I think right before the restaurant closed, you brought me home. The drive to my house went by so fast, yet so slow. You were holding my hand and things just felt right. Like, really right. When we arrived, you walked me to my door and we shared an amazing kiss again. We said bye, you grabbed my ass and I walked inside.  A couple of weeks went by in which we hung out a couple of times and then we were going out with your friends. I was really excited about meeting your friends, even though my social anxiety kinda kicked in. We had kind of a pre party and everything was fun, but people kept asking if we were “official” yet and it started to bug me. Although I wanted to take things slow, I kinda really wanted to be your girlfriend, because I knew I didn’t want anyone else. We kinda had a situation about it, but things calmed down. Then we went out. It was the first time we went out and I remember having such a great time. Your friends were awesome and I got to dance with you. I always loved dancing with you. At some point, I just decided to drop the question. I asked you to be my girlfriend. You said yes and I couldn’t be any happier. It felt like I found a long lost treasure. Like I won the lottery. This part of the story is kinda funny, kinda sad. The day after, we were talking about it and you suddenly felt uncomfortable by the way the question got asked. Like in a club, we had a couple of beers. You didn’t want that to be the way we got “official”. I was upset, but I was like okay, then we’ll plan a better moment. Out of pettiness and hurt, I thought “you should be the one to ask now though, no way I’m going to ask and get denied again”. A couple of days went by and then, it was the 22nd of March, 2016. We were laying in bed and you were kinda fumbly and moving around a lot. Suddenly you asked how late it was. It was a little over 00:00, I think. Then the moment came. You said a couple of sweet things and asked me to be your girlfriend. Of course, I said yes. So now finally, it was for real. We were officially girlfriend and girlfriend. And so our journey began. The beginning of our relationship was unreal. It felt like I was living a dream. The more time we spent together, the more beautiful you got and the more I loved you. Sure, we were different and I may roll eyes at some stuff you do, but even that, I loved. We complemented each other and helped each other get through things. It felt like we learned how to love again and most importantly: how it felt to be loved. Your love started healing certain places and from very early on, I knew I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. There was just something about you, about our connection, that was so special and so rare. It was real. It felt real. I felt safe with you. You were the absolute best thing that could’ve happened to me and I decided to do whatever it takes to make you and keep you happy.  But at some points, our ways started to collide. We were both busy healing ourselves while working out our differences. Our way of communicating and interpreting are very different. You want to get close where I need my distance. You want to talk where I need silence. You want to solve things while I rather analyze. That’s where things started to crumble. But our love for each other was the glue that kept everything together. No matter what we went through, I would always want to lay in your arms at the end of the day.  The last year of our relationship was hard. Fights got more intense and hard. Finding a way back to each other got harder. But we still had our love for each other. The way we enjoyed making memories together and knowing your favorite person is there to experience things with you. Our vacations are precious memories I will always cherish. Especially our last vacation. Just the vibe, the things we did. Just sitting at a random place drinking beers and raki and having good talks. Because, like I said, we never stopped talking. We could always find things to talk about. We had so much fun together and I will cherish that forever.  Then we moved in together. That’s where everything really started to crumble. The first week was amazing. We were on cloud nine and we were excited. But suddenly I got hit by this wave of “uh oh, what now?”. I didn’t have a job and the ones I applied to didn’t have a positive outcome. I got frustrated. That, with the stress of new things. A new place. New routines. New responsibilities. Then my therapy started. I was confronted with a lot of things and I was poked in a lot of painful places. I started feeling unsteady. You were able to handle most of it though. Then I finally got a job. 32 hours a week in a pet store. I mean, it couldn’t get any better. But that adventure ended in 2 months, because, well that’s not really relevant to our story. I was back at square one. I was exhausted from going from adapting to my work weeks to having nothing anymore. I sunk deeper and deeper and then you got frustrated. You couldn’t handle things anymore. You wanted to help, but you couldnt. I could feel our flame die and there was nothing I could do, because I was empty. It felt like everything slipped through my hands.It was all my own fault and I can’t do anything right. You got more frustrated from helplessness and one day, I just collapsed. I broke down. I cried, I cried. All I could think was “I’m going to end it”. I was done with trying. I was empty. I had nothing left to give and I couldn’t bear the thought of our relationship failing. I was so sure of you and suddenly, I didn’t know anymore. I convinced myself I couldn’t live without you, so I wanted to die. And no, I’m not gonna say that in a romanticized or soft way. I wanted to die. I decided to call my therapists to schedule an appointment for antidepressants. That was my last option. I told myself “okay fine, but at least try this so you can say you tried everything”. But even that wasn’t enough. You kinda made me move back in with my mother, because you needed rest. You couldn’t “take care of me” anymore. That’s what confirmed the things I thought about myself. “I’m hard to love”. “I fuck everything up”. “See, even she doesn’t want you anymore”. I felt powerless. We went from seeing each other every day to seeing each other 2 days a week. I had a hard time adjusting, but after a while I was fine with it, because I had some time to myself too now. I was starting to feel better thanks to the meds and I thought “okay, we got this!”. But this one week, we had a small argument about something. It got resolved quite quickly. A couple of days went by and then we were hanging out again. It was a wednesday. We watched a movie, ordered hotwings and we cuddled. We just had a great evening together and the next day, I went home. We saw each other for a couple of minutes before I left. We kissed goodbye and said our “I love you”s.  Then friday came. I was at home and I just started streaming, because I had a good day and felt like streaming. About half an hour into my stream, I saw your text. “Baby, can you please come over?” to which I replied something like uh sure, what’s up? You had an anxiety attack and you told me you just wanted to talk and cuddle. So I went over to your place, packed some clothes just in case. You started crying as soon as I walked through the door and reached for me. I sat down next to you on the couch and started hugging you and I gave you a kiss on your cheek. That’s where I felt like this really wasn’t good. You looked at me with tears in your eyes and you said “I can’t do this anymore”. That’s when it hit me: you were breaking up with me. Even though my world shattered, I felt this wave of calmness go over me. I was devastated though. My heart was completely broken. We talked for a bit and cuddled for a bit, but you made your decision: you didn’t want to be with me anymore. You were done with trying. You were done with me. Just the thought of having to let you go was unbearable. Something I thought wouldn’t have an expiration date just ended. Soon, we wouldn’t be part of each others lives anymore.  You offered to drive me home and to tell this dashing news to my mom together (even though I already texted her), but you wanted to say her goodbye in person and thank her. We packed a lot of my stuff and we went back to my house. We sat down for a bit with my mom and talked and she was really sweet about it. Then the real moment came: I had to figure out what to do now. I was down at the bottom and I had to get back up, but now, I was on my own. My dumb ass still forgot some stuff at your place, so we had another meetup scheduled after your vacation. I was dreading it. I kinda didn’t want to see you, because I didn’t want it to end. But as days went by, I started adapting to life without you. I had a huge support system and I am thankful for my friends for listening to all my rambling and crying and helping me through. I think, because I already processed a lot of pain in the relationship, it didn’t hit as hard. Or well, it didn’t linger. I picked myself back up and met a load of new people. I decided to just put myself on those tacky dating sites, because why the hell not and day by day, I started feeling more free.  Then I started realizing things. The impact the relationship had on me. The effect you had on me. The fact that being in the relationship made me want to kill myself. I keep analyzing and analyzing and it keeps me busy every day still. Every day I almost relive things that happened between us and it’s pure hell. It’s not like you’re a bad person, but you were a bad person for me and to me sometimes. You mentioned that you were scared I’d think of you as “one of them” and sadly, you became one of them. I was so utterly and completely in love with you, but this love made me blind to all the red flags that popped up. Or well, I did see them, but I chose to ignore them. I believed in you. I believed in us. I believed in myself. I wanted us to make it, because I couldn’t picture myself loving anyone but you. You were my everything. Even when things were shitty. Even when we were fighting. Just the fact that I had you was good enough for me and I believed our love was strong enough. But it wasn’t. Do you know how painful it is to slowly watch the love of your life giving up on you? Do you know how heartbreaking and devastating it is to watch the one you love slowly fading away? I tried to stay positive and it completely ruined me. Now I came down from that cloud I was sitting on, I see that you were in fact the one that ruined me. The constant pressure you put on me. The less you started to support me and the more you got frustrated with me. You were stuck in your own bubble and you wanted me to get in that bubble too, but I couldnt. You no longer had your patience with my different ways. You wanted to get things done. Fast. You had this picture in your head and you wanted things to be that way. Really fucking fast. But you moved at a pace I couldn’t keep up with and I tried. I tried, I tried, I tried. My legs were tired from running, but no matter how many sprints I took: it was never enough. For me, the last 8 months were a living hell. I spent most of our relationship proving myself to you, but the last 8 months were absolutely messed up. No matter what I did, it wasn’t good enough for you. You couldn’t wait anymore. I needed time. I needed space, but you couldn’t provide that. I did everything I could and more and it still wasn’t enough and it made me believe I was worthless. Or well, you made me believe I was worthless. One day we sat down and you told me that the only thing that kept us together was the love we had for each other. You told me you couldn’t handle how I did things anymore and that was a breaking point for me. I think that was where I slowly began to realize “this is going to end”. But still, I fought and tried to prove that my words weren’t just words. But it wasn’t enough. And now that I look back at everything: I was never enough for you. And now, I’m stuck here being fucking angry with everything that happened. Everything you put me through. All the words you put in my head. The constant doubt. The constant frustration. I can’t even feel like shit without feeling like I’m bothering someone, even when I’m completely on my own. I was in your way. My pain. My tears. My anxiety. My fears. Everything was in your way. You made me believe you could handle it, but every time I decided to trust you, you just dropped me. There was times you could handle it, but overall, you took everything personal and I was the one ending up saying sorry for hurting you, even though I was the one that was in pain. I took a lot of hits from you. Too many, in fact, but I took them. I picked my fights and knew when to pick love over being right and pushing through. You couldn’t. You couldn’t let things go. You could never find peace and I was your punching bag, cause you knew I would just swallow everything. The times I sat there, taking hit after hit while biting my tongue to make things not escalate, cause I knew that you wouldn’t like it if I spoke up. I didn’t want to fight with you, so I decided to not say anything and now, I’m stuck here with all these words and anger that are meant for you. You didn’t deserve my silence. You didn’t deserve my softness. You didn’t deserve my patience. You didn’t deserve my forgiveness and you still don’t. I could never, ever forgive you for dragging me down and making me feel so, so, so incredibly empty. You got away with murder and from the stories I heard about your previous relationship: you have a way of doing things that can make someone feel so utterly helpless and useless. Maybe it’s time to look in the mirror and confront yourself with the piece if shit you sometimes are. How toxic you are. How incredibly harsh you sometimes are. Maybe it’s time to realize that you’re the problem sometimes. I deserved more apologies than I ever got, but to be honest, no amount of apologies, hugs and kisses could fix the damage you did to me. I am terrified of falling in love again, cause you’ve taught me that even the most heartfelt “I love you”s could mean that someone will leave you. And yeah, of course that can happen, but you made me believe I was going to be part of your future, and suddenly you walked away. You made me believe that you loved me completely and unconditionally, but you didn’t. You couldn’t handle me. You never could. I made endless sacrifices for you and I almost sacrificed myself for you. That’s something I will never, ever forgive you. And like I said, you might not be a bad person, but you were a bad person for me. I’m angry at myself for letting it get that far, but you know, I did it out of love. And that’s all I’ve got left. Knowing that I am able to love so deeply and unconditionally. Honestly, my next girlfriend is going to be so spoiled and lucky, because I have a lot to give. In the end, I am grateful for the break up. I am grateful for you leaving me. I got to know myself and I know I’m strong. I know what I’m worth. I know that I can love. I know I can do a whole lot and that I deserve to be loved. I deserve the world. I deserve being surrounded by people who bring out the best in me. I am blessed with having great friends and people who love me for who I am, not for who they want me to be. I am good enough and fuck you for making me believe I wasn’t.

[fallinginlovewithafashionmogul]

Eren watched Levi turned his back to him again he thought his backside looked awfully lonely from where he stand. Eren pulled out some plastic and set two square on the floor, one for his backpack and another for himself , he set his bag done on one plastic, he unzip his jacket folded it and then set it on top of his bag he took one slipper off and then step on the other square and did the same thing with the other slipper. He set it on top of his jacket and let his other thigh high touch the plastic. It took a minute longer to remove his pants due to the twine and other strings and yarn to keep them up beside the belt, so once he did get them off he folded the big pants and set it on top of the slippers. Now he was standing in thigh highs and a jersey top… he was thin, awfully thin now that he was looking at himself in the mirror that was in the room. Eren  lifted his wrist to see how boney he was. It looked so fragile… like twigs. Eren expressed a bit of concern…when was the last time he weight himself? Hell when was the last time he ate his full? Eren turn to the side his precious ass he’s been so proud of wasn’t popping out and being noticeable any more...

 ‘I should seriously eat more.’

“Have you ever been measured before?

Levi asked, Eren took it upon himself to hide his gloved hands behind his back and lace his fingers together.

“Hmmm....I think two or so years ago, Armin did my measurements. I wasn’t pay attention when he did it. So, no I’m sorry.”

Levi turned around with stuff in his hands Eren knew he was staring him up and down his face didn’t betray him with anything, but the slight furrow of his eyebrow gave Eren some hint, but at the same time Eren got self conscious so he did what he usually does when he is nervous. He placed one foot in front of the other and crossed his legs. Hands were still behind his back, Eren got a little offensive.

“I eat, but sometimes I forget okay… I didn’t think I’d be this bad…”

Eren eyes were on his thigh high, Levi assured him it wasn’t that, but why was he staring at him like that for so long if it haven't been that, it's not like he gone gorgeous standing there in nothing but a shirt and thigh highs.

“Do whatever you have to do. I don’t care which order you take my measurement from so don’t mind me.”

Eren replied, he said that but he was still nervous.

Levi moved closer to him, he began to measure him from the head down, when he got to his neck he flinched. He couldn’t help himself, when Levi asked if he was okay, he nodded. Again Levi tried to get a measurement on his neck and he flinched… At least this time he did not move away, further down he went and Eren ignore the tremble he had.

“I’m fine really. You can keep going, we are halfway done right?”

Levi confirmed him that he was almost done with the measurement, but it felt like forever. Eren tried to pass the time to think about something else like the waffles it was the best place to be thinking about then someone stranger he met yesterday touching him. Even though he wore gloves and used new tape it still made him nervous. He already sign the contract he wasn’t back an out of it hee wanted the extra money.

Eren thought the downside of thinking about waffles or food for that matter is that his stomach wanted to give strange sounds, he just hope Levi didn’t hear it. He thought that after three batches of waffles and finishing off the orange juice would have been enough to fill him up. He made a mental note to eat once he get home.

Eren only tended to eat if he got super weak or if  he got a serious headache, But, most of the time he just took pills to keep him full I guess that would explain his dramatic weight loss. 

 “So Eren, tell me about yourself? What are your hobbies, your dreams and stuff like that?” 

 Eren looked up to the ceiling he was debating rather or not he should tell him and if he did tell him what would he say. Maybe Levi just wanted small talk it could pass the time faster and it could keep him occupied...

“I...went to college when I was eighteen I’ve received my master's degree a while ago. Soon I’ll be getting my Ph. D.... When I was really really young I wanted to be an idol because I use to like singing and dancing and coming up with the latest trend and so on and so forth…but, I’ve changed now so all I want my island. I don’t know what else to say....”

“What about parents? What kind of work do you do? What was your major and your current major? Hobby?”

Eren tapped his fingers in his palm....

“My parents are dead so I can’t remember them much. When I was eighteen I got me a small apartment and worked like crazy. Still do.I kinda worked everywhere...delivery, data input, computer data, construction, technician, you name it I’d probably did it all. Lately I’ve just been doing work from home so my time is flexible.” 

He replied, he even worked at all sorts of power plants and worked at farms...he did everything so when he leaves he can do everything on his own and if he ever got stuck he can rely on Armin’s manual on all the shit he has on the island.

“I don’t have a hobby, so can’t say. Oh, well wait minute I do love my flowers and plants so I guess that could be a hobby? I took a few of them out of my garden to give it to you. I love what the plants has to say and what they represent so I’ve always been fond of roses.”

He replied he decided to skip the past major and current major, just then Levi just finished measuring him near the groin areas and went further down. 

 “What do you want on your island what would it be like?” Levi asked him these were all simple question so he didn’t see anything that could be harmful to him so he decided to look toward his backpack. 

 “Well....I’ve already found my ideal island so I've got everything I’ll possibly ever need there. You should see it, It’s really beautiful. The ocean has my eyes, it has bright sandy beach, thick trees, they even got bananas dangling from them. I love bananas. The construction part is done already, for some reason Armin added more house then necessary, but I guess if my friends were to come to visit me they would have their own place to stay so it was really nice. Plus it might give me something to do, I’ve started to like cleaning and airing things out. But, the best part was I didn’t have to pay for the extra houses. I told Armin and the gang that It wouldn’t be necessary to build there houses their since we could've just see each other on skype or talk to them on the phone. But, they all insisted they want to visit and I couldn’t tell them no so I figure they would visit me once a year. I mean they do have their own houses I guess? So I don't really need to worry about them staying at my place.....I’’m really glad I get internet connection there and a phone line...Right now it’s in the testing stage since Armin wants it all over the island, but knowing me I’d try to use just half of it. But, then again I would like to explore the other half so maybe he got something going on there. It would be handy if something ever happen to me. Armin usually check my voicemails as a just in case scenario he’s pretty weird.” 

He ranted, but even so he grew a tiny tiny smile.

“My house is pretty big like a manor or a mansion, it’s bigger than my friends houses, but I should say my friends homes are pretty big in their own right like mansion or manor, except if I have to compare.....Armin thought of me pretty big because it made me think it was as big as a palace....... But, mine is pretty much glass really, but the fun thing is I can make it one sided if I wanted. I can see out, but they can’t see me in if I don’t want it. I say that’s the amazing thing about my house I’ll be living in. The windows are bullet proof and something else he said a bomb couldn’t break it so that’s a plus. That means I don’t have to worry about it breaking or shattering if something heavy hits it....like a tree or a wild animal. I even have my green house, it’s gigantic that even my plant babies can fit in there.”

Eren thought back to what the house floorplan looked like..

“It has a tunnel connecting to the main house, so if something did happen like a stranger coming there to hurt me or a wild animal has me surrounded I wouldn’t have to starve. Armin and I are the best worst case scenario so my house is design to go into combat if need be. I have my own shooting arena. I learned a lot about fighting and hunting so I’m confident I can handle it all by myself. Plus no one ever knows if something happens to the plane or they would get delayed so I took it upon myself to catch wild games and how to prepare them. In other word I won’t starve even if they don’t ever come back so that’s a plus in my book. I doubt Armin would let that happen since he promise to visit me at the end of the month for a week. I thought that was super nice of him.”

Eren listed what else he had right off the bat.

 “Oh I have my own theater room and a dancing room the theater room is bigger because I can either act and make a show or I could watch a ton of movies on the big screen. My dancing room have bars on the wall and dancing poles...so that was awesome. I even have the dance cloth mounted securely on the ceiling and there’s mirror everywhere so I can see myself work out on that... Oh and my kitchen is so big I felt really really tiny even though it’s modern it’s really really homey so that made me happy..”

 He giggled for a few second before he stopped himself it was like he had remember he didn’t laugh. 

 “I’ve got a ton of pictures. I usually carry it around with me because it cheers me up. When all the hard part is over with I could leave without a moment's notice. I’ve learned how to fly a plane and how to drive a boat, oh I own both of them by the way. The boat is on the island tied up and the plane is here. I have a dock and a plane landing it’s further away from my house, but I can drive from the airplane port to my house since my other car is there...It was pretty convenient at the time...”

 Levi looked up after a while as if he was debating what question he should ask and what not to ask. “Would you really live alone? By yourself?”

 Eren finally  looked down to him who was already staring at him really intensely...so Eren gave him a small questionable expression...

 “Well? Yeah, it would defeat the purpose if I didn't .” 

 It’s not like Eren has a lover and he never lived with someone so what was the point? He sworn off having kids he never want them to grow up being a bastard child. He took precaution for stuff like that, but then again he doesn’t have a lover and he doesn’t want one either so what was the point of freaking over about condoms and lubes. What’s good am I as a man if I can’t stand to be touch?

 Levi stood up after he was done taking his measurement, Eren was just glad the hard part was finally over.

 Levi mention for him to take a seat Eren put his slippers back on and proceeded to move to the couch. Setting his things aside on the floor with the plastic he was using he bent down putting it beside the couch. He walked back to pick up the plastic and threw it away in the trash by then Levi rip through some plastic to take out a sheet of cloth over the sofa. Eren hesitated to pull out the plastic to look at Levi. 

 “I'm okay sitting on plastic, Levi  I don’t want to dirty your sheets.” 

Levi huffed as he turned to face him fully,

 "You won't, that's why they invented the washer machine. I can't draw you with plastic underneath you." 

 Eren looked to the sofa and then back to him again he knew a losing battle when he sees one so he didn’t argue. After all he wasn’t here to give him a hard time.  

 "Okay, if you insist." Eren sat closer to the edge and further to the side where his hips touched the arm sofa. He wanted to be closer to his things so that’s where he sat. It felt weird to be sitting there in a stranger’s house in nothing, but his thigh high, boxer brief undies and a jersey shirt. He tucked the shirt underneath his ass and got on the sofa sitting. He didn't know what he wanted so he kept on sitting straight.

"You said you had pictures do you mind if I see them now?" 

 Eren blinked at him before looking at his bag.

 "I guess, sure." the brunet reached over and grabbed a little book from inside his organized backpack. He flipped through the scrapbook and finally sat it down. 

"This is the beach. It's a little far from where my house is being built. All you see is the ocean and sand, I was careful not to get any of the trees in." 

 Levi sat down next to him casually as if he didn’t have a fear of touching people....of touching him..

Levi leaned in close, close enough for Eren to breathe him into his lungs. He smelled fantastic. Eren tilt his head a little bit to keep breathing him in silently, it was a scent he doesn't recognize, that scent it was just that addicting.

Feeling like a freak he moved back and turned the page,

“These were the bananas I was talking about.”

 Eren made sure Levi didn’t see any houses or the airport, but he did show him his garden. It had fruits of all kind and vegetables, there were herbs on one side and spice in another. His medical herb and plants were further back. They all had their own section. There were waterhose in every section as well as sprinklers on the ceiling. It was made out of glass so it got sun, other plants that didn’t need that much sun were shielded and or covered.

“You know, Armin wanted to build a snow dorm for activities and what not. I might let him since there are some plants that grow under the snow. I’ve never skied before or snowboard for that matter so I might as well give it a try. I’ll need something to do besides reading and working out and maintaining the babies and doing my daily farm work.”

Eren murmur.

Levi turned to look at him,

“Could I see the houses? I didn’t see anywhere I looked.”

Eren stared at him.....He was debating if he wanted to show him...maybe if they were all ground images it should be fine...

He lifted the book and flip toward a section before placing it on his lap.

“This one is my house, and further down are the other houses, they are spread apart so I could have my own privacy because of the glasses. These are the horses. Sometime, it saves on gas. Gas is going to be hard where I am so I try to use other means as transportation. I do love to walk, but I figure riding on horse back is safer until I know what kind of animals are on the island. They are pretty fast. This one is my horse, it’s a chestnut with the blaze mark”

Levi looked like he was absorbed by the photos.

“I wish I could see it with my own eyes...”

Levi told him, Eren looked away to mutter under his breath....

“Maybe....some day you will...”

Levi turned to look at him a solemn vow was in his voice.

“Someday, I will.”

It was a promise and a vow and Eren didn’t know why he was being serious,

“It’s beautiful there, Eren. Can I see more?”

Eren showed him more, not once did Levi laugh at him he was genuine interested into getting to know him and that made him smile. He went into details about what was inside the houses and the caves with all the pretty stones. There was no way he could tell it was jewels embedded in the floors and walls, there was water down there and it had a source of light so it looked like tiny colorful stars everywhere. Hell, Eren thought it was just colorful glass and he prefer leaving it as it were, if they were loose on the ground he’d take it with him. There was some stuff taped into the scrapbook to show realism. The sand, the rocks, the pretty glass, some shells and plants. It litter the books.

Levi managed to get him to laugh by saying big ass trees and some crack underneath it. Eren gave him a marker pen to scribble his thoughts on it because it was just that funny.

“If you want, I can reprint those pictures and give them to you? If you want....Maybe it could be use as a postcard....or something?”

Truth be told, Eren wanted him to remember him when he was gone...

“So um...when we are done looking at pictures....What did you want me to do when you start drawing me?”

Eren asked when he flip the next page to show Levi where he got lost at.

[theleagueofsupermushrooms]

The Villain Wrangler: Chapter 4

Ben won. Ben won and now I was stood outside my apartment with the kid jumping up and down in excitement. He was ecstatic and well he might as well enjoy the fairy tale for the night and if it went smoothly I guess I would take him to more stuff I got invited to. Who knows? When a sleek black car pulled up in front of us we both hesitated and shared a look. This wasn't Alexandra's car and this was an incredibly posh looking car too. A door opened and out came a chauffeur with a blank face as he opened the door. “Miss Smith and Mr Smith” he said with a deep voice and I watched him curiously. Ben just looked confused due to the fact I'd lied about us sharing a last name. Admittedly that was probably going to backfire at some point. While Knowing we were being watched in case the car was a trap, which it could still be, I sent a polite and confused smile to the man. This looked like the kind of posh tinted windowed car that a mafia boss would use. “Is Alex with you?” I asked as Ben went from confident to slowly shrinking into my side, he sensed my unease at the lack of friend and well he wasn't as confident with the uncertainty. I slipped my hand gently into his. “Mistress Alex is busy attending to final details. I'm the family butler so she sent me to pick you up.” The man was certainly believable but my eyes narrowed. Too many stories circulated about getting into a car with someone dodgy and their demises generally ended badly. “Right….” Swiftly I got my phone out and texted said Mistress while we were in the safety of villains watching us to make sure we are safe. The irony of the villains being safe was not lost on me. “Where are you?” I waited tensely for the answer as Ben shifted nervously. Jakes tales of stranger danger and the graphic details of the victims of that killer taxi driver kinda got to me. “Sent family butler” My eyes raised at that. The confirmation irked me slightly but the relief flooded over me all the same. “Yup. She forgot to tell me.” Probably because we hadn't physically talked to each other since the incident and I'd felt on edge around her more than ever. I heard Bens small sigh of relief and then some nervous laughter and I was starting to think bringing him along wasn't the best idea after all. “Let's get going then…sooner we get there sooner you can see Alex” He piped up and a small groan escaped me as we entered the car. It was an exceedingly posh exterior with leather and comfort. “Considering how she's been so distant with me I highly doubt I'll be speaking to her anyway.” “Aww come on dude. She’ll be blown away when she sees how smoking hot you look…?” I snorted at how uncertainly he called me smoking hot and shook my head with an amused glint in my eye “Don't ever call someone smoking hot.” “Yeah that's completely fair” He snickered before sighing and looking out the window. A couple of moments passed and he turned to me with a frown. “Do you think that they'll make fun of me? I mean I have a robot leg, I'm poor and I lived io the streets. I hardly know anything about anything an-“ I moved my hand to affectionately ruffle his hair and gave a comforting smile. “I don't know what you had to do to survive but I know you’re a brave kid. I know that if you can deal with what you have then these posh wankers have nothing on you” His eyes widened at that and he sniffled. “You think so?” “I know so” He quickly launched himself into my chest and I hugged him tightly, using this to forget my own nerves. We hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped until my door opened and we fell backwards, my eyes went wide as a yelp of surprise escaped me and the butlers lips twitched in amusement. He totally did that on purpose. “Ahh so much for arriving in style” Ben muttered as I rolled my eyes and grinned. “Now now Ben, where are your manners?” He clambered off of me and gave a huff in response before mock pouting. “Thank you for driving us here Mr Butler sir” The Butler just rolled his eyes at us as I sat up and got out of the vehicle, Ben following suit, and straightened my outfit out. “Seriously though, thank you for bringing us. It's appreciated.” I told him and he simply smiled. “The pleasure is all mine. Besides it is refreshing to see new faces.” The Butler motioned for us to follow him up to the front door, other people in exceedingly expensive dresses and suits were checking in with the guy at the door. I recognised a couple of people: one or two work colleagues, her friends, some famous important faces and a journalist here or there. Over all it was a standard high end party. The Butler was happily chatting to a shy yet awestruck Ben about who was who and their family history; admittedly he was a calming and comfortable person to be around. There was something so homely and safe about the sophisticated old man; he was fatherly and motherly all at the same time. “Name” I looked up startled, at the bodyguard, and straightened out my back as to stand my ground. I'd begun to adopt this little reaction when talking to the villains as to make sure they couldn't immediately sniff out my fear and tear me to shreds. “Emma Smith and this is my plus one” The bouncer looked down at the list and then back at me with an incredulous stare. “Your plus one?” “Yes” “Plus one?” “Well the invitation Alex gave me said I could bring a plus one so…” We stared at eachother for a couple of moments, the lack of us moving gaining the attention of Ben and the Butler, until he huffed and his gruff voice pierced the air again. “You are kidding me right?” “What? No, seriously nobody said anything about an age limit and I saw kids his age walking in so I don't know wh-“ “No no it's just you are the plus one” I blinked in confusion before giving a nervous laugh. “Oh I get it so Alex put you up to this? Because there is no way I can be her plus one” “And why is that Miss Emma?” The Butler piped up from behind me with his finger twirling his moustache. Ben was giving a knowing shit eating grin. “Well because that would imply that indirectly this could kinda be considered a d-“ “Emma! Oh lay off Jack and let them through. Besides I've been so busy I forgot to tell you she was bringing a friend” Alex to the rescue once again and at this rate I was starting to think she was secretly a superhero with all this convenient timing. She sent me a dazzling grin and grabbed my hand as to pull me along with her. I probably looked like an idiot as I gaped at her, it was as if the radio silence between us hadn't existed at all and I felt myself threatening to blush. I think Ben was following behind me and I noticed the Butler walking with him, explaining about the history of the house. It was an old building, been in the family for generations in fact. “I'm so glad you made it. I was kind of worried you might have bailed on me after the meeting…” Her hands tightened around mine for a moment as the thought hung in the air. “Yeah well uhh haha that…” I cringed at my sudden lack of functioning sentences and she gave me a sideways glance with a smirk. “You'll have to do more than that to scare me away” I murmured weakly. “Ahh good. Your friends kid is cute. What's her name?” I blinked in confusion for a moment before frowning. “Her? Wh-oh” Alex raised an eyebrow at my confusion and it dawned on me that Ben was wearing a dress. It hadn't really occurred to me yet it would inevitably be seen like that. I'd never been told to call him anything other than Ben and a frown settled onto my brow and before I could construct a proper answer we were thrust into the ball room. “Woah” my mouth hung open at the sight. The staircase we walked down had a deep red carpet while the stairs themselves held intricate carvings that looked like fish flowing down stream. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling. It's design seemed to continue the impossibly intricate motif as I tried to make out the swirling shapes that danced along the outer layer as candles burned bright and the flames seemed to dance with a boasting glow against the shimmering gold. The room itself was large and round. A stage area for the orchestra and tables around the edge of the room as to allow dancing in the middle. All of it looked like something from a Victorian romance novel. Though that would make Alex Mr Darcy and I’m sure she was rich enough but I would make a terrible Lizzy. Alex just laughed. “For a moment I thought your jaw would become unhinged. But if you insist on keeping your mouth open like that then I'll be forced to close it some other way” For the second time that night my eyes widened and my mouth clamped shut. All I could muster was a flustered squeak of a noise and her smooth laughter returned with more elegance and grace than before. “Well I have to mingle with some higher class people because my brothers certainly aren't. I'll see you again…oh and nice suit” She winked and left me in a slight daze as he watched her swagger off into the swarm of rich people. “This was a bad idea” I murmured as Ben stood by my side with a look that clearly said pinch me I'm dreaming. “You know we could be at your parents drinking orange juice right?” Ben rolled his eyes but stuck close to my side as we quickly walked to the table with drinks. “They don't even serve orange juice…” I pouted and he snorted. The idea I was more worried about orange juice than exploring this ballroom seemed ridiculous. He was right. “Well well If it isn't Alexandra's charity case~” My heart suddenly clenched painfully as I whirled around to come face to face with the child of the second richest face here and Alex’s ex. I think he was a super model or something equally suited to a rich spoilt brat. “Hey kid those guys over there,” he pointed to the five siblings and their friends “are more suited to you than big adult talk yeah. Besides eldest one thinks your cute.” “Uhh” Bens arm quickly wrapped around mine as he inched closer to me. I couldn't tell if he was nervous or just putting it on but either way a protectiveness seemed to spike in me and I straightened my back instinctively. I'm not sure if the wall of muscle noticed the discomfort and if he did he certainly didn't give a shit. “Lay off Chad. Besides without Ben I'd just be bored to death.” Chad had a strong jaw with the classic beach blond hair with baby blue eyes. Yeah jock stereotype much? “I am perfectly capable of keeping you company” he replied with a scowl and it was my turn to give a look of triumph. “Uhuh. Sure. What kind of company are you capable of exactly?” “Ask Alex. She left my company very sa-“ Ben quickly detached from my arm. “You know what I don't need to be here for the biggest dick competition.” Both myself and Chad coughed awkwardly at the sudden accusation as a couple people around us looked a little scandalised. “So I'm just gonna go and talk to whoever said I was cute and I'll find you again.” “Wha-“As quickly as the extremely awkward outburst ended I was watching the retreating form of my nervous companion shyly saying hello to the group. “Well then…” “Indeed” A small whine escaped me and I just filled up my glass with water. “You just lost me my company for this evening” I glumly told the blonde who rolled his eyes and offered me his arm. “Uhuh. Well if Alex is going to insist her charity work follows her around,” “Christ could you stop calling me a charity?” “Alright then. Her hopelessly devoted and love sick kit-“ “Charity it is” He gave me a dazzling smile and was leading me towards a group of people of whom I was barely on a first name basis with. “You need to actually put effort in to knowing our friends. Who knows? Maybe you might actually like socialising~” I scowled at him before glaring. I was about to tell him I'd made a great circle friends when it hit me that these were the kind of people who stood to loose the most from villains. Suddenly I was starting to understand Nate and Jakes paranoia and my eyes quickly drifted to Ben. He seemed more rigid and a little awkward but whatever the guy was saying it was making the kid laugh. I turned my attention back just in time for Chad to stop instantly flirting with one of the girls. “Hi.” I muttered and they all gave an awkward look of acknowledgement before returning to some kind of private conversation I was barely following. I looked around again to see if I could find Alex but alas she was nowhere to be found. All of them were attractive to look at, even the nerdy ones were pretty much on point. It was ridiculous. Inhuman. They all held this sense of power about them and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be superheroes given Alex has been known to be in close contact with them. Dated a couple too. Some cities have reporters constantly getting kidnapped but not us. No it's a charity worker do gooder who is insanely rich. We get points for originality at least. “So what do you think?” I was suddenly included into their little conversation. It would have helped if I'd been trying to listen to them instead of blocking them out. Chad was giving me a nervous look as he glared at the tall red head with green eyes that jumped out at you and a floor length blue dress that only seemed to make her eyes and hair jump out even more. She was beautiful but the kind of beauty where it was a mere fact and ethereal. So much about this group was inhuman. “Uhhhmmm what do I think? Well uh,” I shot a nervous look back to Chad. “Me and thinking…on the topic… of…” “The Villain being allowed to see a sick little boy and the fact we are letting DANGEROUS criminals around kids.” Ahh. This topic. I don't think they knew it was me who was kind of organising the whole thing. Yeah that probably wasn't going to get out and if they did know they weren't letting on, it's possible Alex told them but unlikely. “Well they were hardly the mass murdering villains,” I began slowly. Though so far Nate’s guild were the only ones who had been requested and they were very selective on who they allowed in. Hell a lot of them had their own fairly happy families so I doubted they would be into child murder. My eyes quickly darted to Ben and then back to the red head with a nonchalant shrug. “Besides I kind of understand why the kids might choose the villains over heroes.” My answer was surprisingly honest if not a little vague. Still a lot of them were looking at me like I was insane and before the red head could press further I felt a hand on my shoulder and a sigh of relief washed over me. I didn't need to see it was Alex to recognise her amused laughter. “Aww come on Tess. She's only a normal girl.” I wanted to open my mouth and argue the toss on what she meant by normal. Lower class? Yes. Not all of us could get through Uni debt free or live off daddies/mummies income. Instead I snorted. Way to remind me I'm not really designed to be somewhere like here. “Besides Emma, like all of you,is my friend.” Her hand slipped down to rest around my waist and well I couldn't help but feel her tone of voice had some kind of edge to it and her gaze seemed to be steely and commanding. I didn't see too much wrong with the question unless they did know but again I feel like they would be even more distant if they did. At least Chad was able to be considered kind of friendly. He may be an asshole but he knew how to have banter at least. “Hey Alex” I said with a weak smile as her gaze flicked to me and her whole demeanour softened. She seemed so agitated about something and I couldn't help but feel concern. However from the looks of it though her little reprimand wasn't unexpected from the group. Though her grip on my waist tightened a little. “How was mingling with po-the higher echelons of society?” I just wanted a subject change and she seemed to be thankful for my attempt at diffusing the invisible tension. A light chuckle escaped her crimson red lips and she seemed to hold a fond gaze for a moment there. “Boring. I would much rather have spent it showing you around considering you are my plus one and all. I should probably actually spend time with my guest” And there went my heart. Skipping beats so fast I felt as if it might get burst. “Pfft I can't believe you didn't tell me I was your plus one.” Alex gave a guilty look. Her shoulder length golden curls bounced as she shrugged in an almost nonchalant manner. “Anyway what were you discussing?” That was a good question I didn't really know the answer to. Chad gave a shrug of his wide shoulders. “Oh you know.” He seemed to be treading lightly around the topics that they had been discussing so it was something I wasn't supposed to hear then. Well I didn't really to be fair. However she was bringing back the topic so clearly I suspected she wasn't finished with them. “This and that.” Now that was what I called a vague answer. “They were totally badmouthing you to me” I butt in with a jokey explanation and some in the group who had been holding their breath released it with a relieved look. She turned to give a raised eyebrow. How did she even arch it like that? “Yup I just learned that you wear clothes from,” I leaned closer to her and in a mock whisper said “Asda” A loud gasp from Chad in an overly dramatic manner could be heard along with chuckling from the group while Alex just rolled her eyes in an equally dramatic manner. “Asda? Really? Now your just being cruel…galpal” She emphasised the galpal and gave a triumphant smirk as I glared at her and crossed my arms. “I swear to god Alex that word is far worse than going to Asda and buying off brand clothing.” She just laughed again and grinned happily. “Foods gonna be served in half an hour which gives me enough time to take you on the grand tour” The group gave a cheer of appreciation as Alex took my hand and dragged me to one of the exits and onto a long corridor with lots of others splitting from it. The damn place looked like a maze and I was trying to memorise the path back to the hall. Eventually we came to what seemed like one of the main corridors and it had some family portraits and pictures. There was an actual large painting of three people, one of which I recognised as her father. “Family wall. Dads are kind of obsessed with family photos. Lame right?” “Eh it's nice. I never really had a family until now.” I gave a small smile to her and she smiled back. It was a moment. We were just gazing into each others eyes and it was probably romantic. I was the first to look away, blushed a little, and Alex looked like she was practically glowing. Okay so maybe she did like me like that for god knows what reason. Before either of us could speak my phone buzzed and vibrated in my pocket and I groaned. “Your villains?” “Hey they are nice people who happen to be very protective.” I got my phone out and she rolled her eyes disbelievingly. The phone immediately picked up and a relieved Nate immediately assaulted my ears. “Oh I knew you would pick up! How's my baby? Is he okay? Anyone hurt you two? Because I could send Jake and the others I-“ “Chill dude. We are fine. Anyway I'll tell you everything when I drop the kid off home.” “Bu-“ “I have company you kn-“ “Well you should have said that the suit worked. Don't rush and have a very PLEASURABLE night” Nate hung up on me and I groaned at the insinuation. Sex wasn't gonna happen plus I hadn't even been given time to reply to him properly let alone get a full sentence in. “Don't even ask” I grumbled and Alex turned to give me a serious look. Her vibrant green eyes watched me with surprisingly high intensity her hands grasped my shoulders. Her expression held the same stern one I'd seen on Iron knight and super similar eyes as as Captain Super, it was almost as if she wa- “We need to talk about that.” Her voice cut through my train of thought and I scowled. I glared and turned on my heel. Suddenly all my confusion and hope became clear. “Oh I see.” “Then you understand you need t-“ “Your using me” I didn't get to see her face but I'm sure the look would have been shock or something equally as predictable. “What? No why w-“ “Stupid idiot” I squeezed my eyes closed and felt my hands quickly run through my hair and creating a disheveled messy brown mess. “I can't believe I thought that you actually liked me” I growled out under my breath and quickly wanted to just curl into myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched away before turning back around to face her. I wouldn't cry. Not over some spoiled rich know it all who thinks she can play with me. She looked shocked, as predicted, here eyes were wide and her hand over her mouth. She looked incredibly upset but how sincere she was could easily be debatable. I'd seen her act to get into places and to see people before and she was an excellent at it so I really couldn't believe I'd fallen for it. Still her reaction seemed melodramatic and I couldn't fathom why, even if she wasn't lying, she would act like that. “Emma n-no I re-“ “See you at work Alexandra. It's getting late and I don’t want to stay where I don't belong” With that I had turned and fled down the corridor in the direction of noise and could only hope I was going the right way. Thankfully Alex hadn't been following me which was good because I wasn't sure how long I could keep in tears or a cool exterior or a level voice. Unfortunately I was lost and breathing hard and trying not to panic because holy shit I was lost in her house and I couldn't face anyone right now. I could call the villains but that would just make things worse and possibly bring attention nobody needs. And then what if they take Ben away? What if they get arrested? I clutched at my jacket as my back hit the wall and I squeezed my eyes shut again. My chest heaved heavily as my breathing began to get heavier “no it's okay there's no evidence” I hadn't realised I'd begun mumbling as I slowly slid down the wall and curled up. My hands began to tug at my hair. I was alone and hurt and the panic had triggered fear that they'd find out Bens adoptive parents were villains and I'd ruin their lives and lose the only people I could even begin to start considering a family. I ducked my head further down and tried to quiet the storm of uncertainty and fear swirling and growing in my head. I need it to stop. “Jesus Christ Emma” I looked up to see Chad. His voice cut through the storm and I was half tempted to lunge myself at the familiar face and hug him. He looked down at me with his wide blue eyes, stunned, and quickly knelt down in front of me. “She said you'd fallen out over the Villain thing but...I'd never think I'd see you so…so…” “Weak” I offered dryly and he shook his head. “Pathetic?” His eyes seemed to get sadder and I let out a bitter chuckle with a shake of my head. “Vulnerable.” Though I'm sure he was now looking at me like some fragile doll which could break. It couldn't get more obvious he didn't know how to handle this because his whole suave coolness was suddenly awkward and attempting to be comforting. “Shit. She doesn't even know does she? Your always such a hard ass and trying to act like a ma-“ “Fuck you. I'm not a man you arrogant wanker” His frown deepened and he put his hands up in defence before moving to sit beside me. I flinched at the words and just shook my head. “I don't…I never…look you need a drink,” “Don't drink” “I was gonna suggest we go to the kitchen, get you water and call Max to bring Ben to you.” That was actually a logical plan. When push comes to shove Chad pulls through. I silently nodded my head to the suggestion and offered a weak smile. I stood up sluggishly and dragged out my movements. I felt a little like I was in slow motion until suddenly Chad took a hold of my hand and guided me to the kitchen. We kept turning all the time and I wondered how often he'd been down these halls. Apart from dating Alex the two were good friends; in the group he was definitely her second in command and despite his teasing I generally got the impression the break up was mutual. “I'll tell them to back off yeah?” “Why so they can act like I'm fragile even more.” He shook his head and I watched the hair bounce with the movement. “It's not like that…” “Then what's it like ?” My voice was level and I'd stopped sniffling but when I got no answer from him I knew I was right. The kitchen was busy but there was an empty table with space on it so he sat me down there. We were out of the way and before I could do anything a glass of water was placed in front of me and Chad was on the phone to Max. Max was the second youngest sibling and one of the middle children. From what I gathered he was adopted after his parents died in a fire at a circus. “They'll be five minutes.” He muttered after the call ended and I could see him thinking something through in his mind. “Have you ever…uhmm broke down uhhh no or yeah like that before? I mean it seemed pretty serious or…” I suppose I knew that question was coming. I sighed and looked down at my glass of water with an almost guilty gaze. “It's nothin.“ “Clearly not E-” “Just stop.” I hoped he would listen because this was a game of twenty questions I really didn't want to have right now. Besides I could see some of the kitchen staff watching us from the corner of their eye and the gossip train was going to run rampant by the time they were done. Still I avoided Chads face and sighed again. A heavy blanket of silence weighed down on us for what felt like hours. In reality it was only a couple of minutes and the mood was broken when Ben ran in, not even caring people could see his leg with how he was holding the dress up so he could run, and promptly tackled me into a hug. He took a deep breath in before spewing it all out. ”Oh my god oh my god are you okay? Did she hurt you? Someone try anything? I swear to god if she was stringing you along or you caught her with someone else or you were threatened it will-“ “No no it's…I…I just read the signs wrong is all.” It was a weak excuse and Ben scowled. “No way she was totally giving you the look” “Look?” We turned to Max who came to stand behind Chads chair in confusion. He was just a bit taller than Ben, muscular and had short wild ginger hair. His eyes were a light hazel colour and he always seemed like a pretty nice kid. From what I could tell he accelerated at technology and was quite the prankster, not that you'd have guessed from looking at him. Ben turned to the boy and raised his eyebrow “yeah you know the ‘I'm gonna tap that so hard’ eyes people give other people when they want t-“ “Ben how old are you?” He stopped and looked at me in confusion. “Just turned 15” “Exactly” His look of confusion only deepened but at least he'd stopped on the subject of what happened. Max gave an oh of understanding. “Well yeah she has,” I groaned in annoyance and shook my head. “She does keep doing that whenever she thinks your not looking so…” I glared at him and he wisely closed his mouth. “She's a good actor.” I murmured and before anyone could say anything I changed the topic again. It felt like it was looping back round to her and I didn't want to think about her because I didn't want a storm in my head filling me with uncertainty and doubt and pain. “You said you were driving us home yeah?” Chad nodded his head and Ben just clung to my side as a comforting presence. I watched him give a sly apologetic look to Max before turning to look to Chad. “Max I'd appreciate it if you just made up some excuse about a family emergency being why we couldn't stay.” Max simply looked to Chad as if he couldn't go along with it until he was given permission. Strange. The ride home was awkward at best. Chad had insisted on double checking I had his number and texting him in a couple hours to make sure I was okay. I had a feeling he would be demanding I restart my hanging out quota. When the car halted to a stop Chad turned to look at me and gave a thin smile.I mumbled a goodnight before getting out the car with Ben latched onto my arm. We entered my small apartment and Ben collapsed onto the sofa. His eyes followed my every move as I put on the kettle and got out two mugs. “Coffee?” “Black, two sugars.” He simply replied and I returned to him. He took his mug greatfully and watched me put the corner of his eye as I sipped at my own bitter coffee. “So you and Max seemed friendly…”I teased the kid slightly and he blushed. “Yeah well he's nice. Didn't even care about my leg and plus he's super attractive I mean did you see him in that tux?” I chuckled softly and picked up a takeaway menu for the pizza place down the road. “Plus he's actually intelligent and a little bit of a nerd to boot.” It was obvious the kid liked him. I was happy at least one of us ended up enjoying the night “Pick a pizza and a movie. It's a while before your parents will be expecting.” He nodded his head furiously. Picked a Pizza. And settled down to watch Dirty dancing. By the time Nate got to us there were empty pizza boxes scattered around the table, a couple of ice cream tubs with half melted ice cream and two sleeping people on the couch looking incredibly peaceful. ((So I'm hoping that this longer and hopefully more detailed approach works better than the previous chapters. I promise you though that the next chapter will feature some villains and explore some themes around them. Thank you to everyone who is reading these and liking them because it means a lot :D ))

[theleagueofsupermushrooms]

The Villain Wrangler: Chspter 4

Ben won. Ben won and now I was stood outside my apartment with the kid jumping up and down in excitement. He was ecstatic and well he might as well enjoy the fairy tale for the night and if it went smoothly I guess I would take him to more stuff I got invited to. Who knows? When a sleek black car pulled up in front of us we both hesitated and shared a look. This wasn't Alexandra's car and this was an incredibly posh looking car too. A door opened and out came a chauffeur with a blank face as he opened the door. “Miss Smith and Mr Smith” he said with a deep voice and I watched him curiously. Ben just looked confused due to the fact I'd lied about us sharing a last name. Admittedly that was probably going to backfire at some point. While Knowing we were being watched in case the car was a trap, which it could still be, I sent a polite and confused smile to the man. This looked like the kind of posh tinted windowed car that a mafia boss would use. “Is Alex with you?” I asked as Ben went from confident to slowly shrinking into my side, he sensed my unease at the lack of friend and well he wasn't as confident with the uncertainty. I slipped my hand gently into his. “Mistress Alex is busy attending to final details. I'm the family butler so she sent me to pick you up.” The man was certainly believable but my eyes narrowed. Too many stories circulated about getting into a car with someone dodgy and their demises generally ended badly. “Right….” Swiftly I got my phone out and texted said Mistress while we were in the safety of villains watching us to make sure we are safe. The irony of the villains being safe was not lost on me. “Where are you?” I waited tensely for the answer as Ben shifted nervously. Jakes tales of stranger danger and the graphic details of the victims of that killer taxi driver kinda got to me. “Sent family butler” My eyes raised at that. The confirmation irked me slightly but the relief flooded over me all the same. “Yup. She forgot to tell me.” Probably because we hadn't physically talked to each other since the incident and I'd felt on edge around her more than ever. I heard Bens small sigh of relief and then some nervous laughter and I was starting to think bringing him along wasn't the best idea after all. “Let's get going then…sooner we get there sooner you can see Alex” He piped up and a small groan escaped me as we entered the car. It was an exceedingly posh exterior with leather and comfort. “Considering how she's been so distant with me I highly doubt I'll be speaking to her anyway.” “Aww come on dude. She’ll be blown away when she sees how smoking hot you look…?” I snorted at how uncertainly he called me smoking hot and shook my head with an amused glint in my eye “Don't ever call someone smoking hot.” “Yeah that's completely fair” He snickered before sighing and looking out the window. A couple of moments passed and he turned to me with a frown. “Do you think that they'll make fun of me? I mean I have a robot leg, I'm poor and I lived io the streets. I hardly know anything about anything an-“ I moved my hand to affectionately ruffle his hair and gave a comforting smile. “I don't know what you had to do to survive but I know you’re a brave kid. I know that if you can deal with what you have then these posh wankers have nothing on you” His eyes widened at that and he sniffled. “You think so?” “I know so” He quickly launched himself into my chest and I hugged him tightly, using this to forget my own nerves. We hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped until my door opened and we fell backwards, my eyes went wide as a yelp of surprise escaped me and the butlers lips twitched in amusement. He totally did that on purpose. “Ahh so much for arriving in style” Ben muttered as I rolled my eyes and grinned. “Now now Ben, where are your manners?” He clambered off of me and gave a huff in response before mock pouting. “Thank you for driving us here Mr Butler sir” The Butler just rolled his eyes at us as I sat up and got out of the vehicle, Ben following suit, and straightened my outfit out. “Seriously though, thank you for bringing us. It's appreciated.” I told him and he simply smiled. “The pleasure is all mine. Besides it is refreshing to see new faces.” The Butler motioned for us to follow him up to the front door, other people in exceedingly expensive dresses and suits were checking in with the guy at the door. I recognised a couple of people: one or two work colleagues, her friends, some famous important faces and a journalist here or there. Over all it was a standard high end party. The Butler was happily chatting to a shy yet awestruck Ben about who was who and their family history; admittedly he was a calming and comfortable person to be around. There was something so homely and safe about the sophisticated old man; he was fatherly and motherly all at the same time. “Name” I looked up startled, at the bodyguard, and straightened out my back as to stand my ground. I'd begun to adopt this little reaction when talking to the villains as to make sure they couldn't immediately sniff out my fear and tear me to shreds. “Emma Smith and this is my plus one” The bouncer looked down at the list and then back at me with an incredulous stare. “Your plus one?” “Yes” “Plus one?” “Well the invitation Alex gave me said I could bring a plus one so…” We stared at eachother for a couple of moments, the lack of us moving gaining the attention of Ben and the Butler, until he huffed and his gruff voice pierced the air again. “You are kidding me right?” “What? No, seriously nobody said anything about an age limit and I saw kids his age walking in so I don't know wh-“ “No no it's just you are the plus one” I blinked in confusion before giving a nervous laugh. “Oh I get it so Alex put you up to this? Because there is no way I can be her plus one” “And why is that Miss Emma?” The Butler piped up from behind me with his finger twirling his moustache. Ben was giving a knowing shit eating grin. “Well because that would imply that indirectly this could kinda be considered a d-“ “Emma! Oh lay off Jack and let them through. Besides I've been so busy I forgot to tell you she was bringing a friend” Alex to the rescue once again and at this rate I was starting to think she was secretly a superhero with all this convenient timing. She sent me a dazzling grin and grabbed my hand as to pull me along with her. I probably looked like an idiot as I gaped at her, it was as if the radio silence between us hadn't existed at all and I felt myself threatening to blush. I think Ben was following behind me and I noticed the Butler walking with him, explaining about the history of the house. It was an old building, been in the family for generations in fact. “I'm so glad you made it. I was kind of worried you might have bailed on me after the meeting…” Her hands tightened around mine for a moment as the thought hung in the air. “Yeah well uhh haha that…” I cringed at my sudden lack of functioning sentences and she gave me a sideways glance with a smirk. “You'll have to do more than that to scare me away” I murmured weakly. “Ahh good. Your friends kid is cute. What's her name?” I blinked in confusion for a moment before frowning. “Her? Wh-oh” Alex raised an eyebrow at my confusion and it dawned on me that Ben was wearing a dress. It hadn't really occurred to me yet it would inevitably be seen like that. I'd never been told to call him anything other than Ben and a frown settled onto my brow and before I could construct a proper answer we were thrust into the ball room. “Woah” my mouth hung open at the sight. The staircase we walked down had a deep red carpet while the stairs themselves held intricate carvings that looked like fish flowing down stream. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling. It's design seemed to continue the impossibly intricate motif as I tried to make out the swirling shapes that danced along the outer layer as candles burned bright and the flames seemed to dance with a boasting glow against the shimmering gold. The room itself was large and round. A stage area for the orchestra and tables around the edge of the room as to allow dancing in the middle. All of it looked like something from a Victorian romance novel. Though that would make Alex Mr Darcy and I’m sure she was rich enough but I would make a terrible Lizzy. Alex just laughed. “For a moment I thought your jaw would become unhinged. But if you insist on keeping your mouth open like that then I'll be forced to close it some other way” For the second time that night my eyes widened and my mouth clamped shut. All I could muster was a flustered squeak of a noise and her smooth laughter returned with more elegance and grace than before. “Well I have to mingle with some higher class people because my brothers certainly aren't. I'll see you again…oh and nice suit” She winked and left me in a slight daze as he watched her swagger off into the swarm of rich people. “This was a bad idea” I murmured as Ben stood by my side with a look that clearly said pinch me I'm dreaming. “You know we could be at your parents drinking orange juice right?” Ben rolled his eyes but stuck close to my side as we quickly walked to the table with drinks. “They don't even serve orange juice…” I pouted and he snorted. The idea I was more worried about orange juice than exploring this ballroom seemed ridiculous. He was right. “Well well If it isn't Alexandra's charity case~” My heart suddenly clenched painfully as I whirled around to come face to face with the child of the second richest face here and Alex’s ex. I think he was a super model or something equally suited to a rich spoilt brat. “Hey kid those guys over there,” he pointed to the five siblings and their friends “are more suited to you than big adult talk yeah. Besides eldest one thinks your cute.” “Uhh” Bens arm quickly wrapped around mine as he inched closer to me. I couldn't tell if he was nervous or just putting it on but either way a protectiveness seemed to spike in me and I straightened my back instinctively. I'm not sure if the wall of muscle noticed the discomfort and if he did he certainly didn't give a shit. “Lay off Chad. Besides without Ben I'd just be bored to death.” Chad had a strong jaw with the classic beach blond hair with baby blue eyes. Yeah jock stereotype much? “I am perfectly capable of keeping you company” he replied with a scowl and it was my turn to give a look of triumph. “Uhuh. Sure. What kind of company are you capable of exactly?” “Ask Alex. She left my company very sa-“ Ben quickly detached from my arm. “You know what I don't need to be here for the biggest dick competition.” Both myself and Chad coughed awkwardly at the sudden accusation as a couple people around us looked a little scandalised. “So I'm just gonna go and talk to whoever said I was cute and I'll find you again.” “Wha-“As quickly as the extremely awkward outburst ended I was watching the retreating form of my nervous companion shyly saying hello to the group. “Well then…” “Indeed” A small whine escaped me and I just filled up my glass with water. “You just lost me my company for this evening” I glumly told the blonde who rolled his eyes and offered me his arm. “Uhuh. Well if Alex is going to insist her charity work follows her around,” “Christ could you stop calling me a charity?” “Alright then. Her hopelessly devoted and love sick kit-“ “Charity it is” He gave me a dazzling smile and was leading me towards a group of people of whom I was barely on a first name basis with. “You need to actually put effort in to knowing our friends. Who knows? Maybe you might actually like socialising~” I scowled at him before glaring. I was about to tell him I'd made a great circle friends when it hit me that these were the kind of people who stood to loose the most from villains. Suddenly I was starting to understand Nate and Jakes paranoia and my eyes quickly drifted to Ben. He seemed more rigid and a little awkward but whatever the guy was saying it was making the kid laugh. I turned my attention back just in time for Chad to stop instantly flirting with one of the girls. “Hi.” I muttered and they all gave an awkward look of acknowledgement before returning to some kind of private conversation I was barely following. I looked around again to see if I could find Alex but alas she was nowhere to be found. All of them were attractive to look at, even the nerdy ones were pretty much on point. It was ridiculous. Inhuman. They all held this sense of power about them and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be superheroes given Alex has been known to be in close contact with them. Dated a couple too. Some cities have reporters constantly getting kidnapped but not us. No it's a charity worker do gooder who is insanely rich. We get points for originality at least. “So what do you think?” I was suddenly included into their little conversation. It would have helped if I'd been trying to listen to them instead of blocking them out. Chad was giving me a nervous look as he glared at the tall red head with green eyes that jumped out at you and a floor length blue dress that only seemed to make her eyes and hair jump out even more. She was beautiful but the kind of beauty where it was a mere fact and ethereal. So much about this group was inhuman. “Uhhhmmm what do I think? Well uh,” I shot a nervous look back to Chad. “Me and thinking…on the topic… of…” “The Villain being allowed to see a sick little boy and the fact we are letting DANGEROUS criminals around kids.” Ahh. This topic. I don't think they knew it was me who was kind of organising the whole thing. Yeah that probably wasn't going to get out and if they did know they weren't letting on, it's possible Alex told them but unlikely. “Well they were hardly the mass murdering villains,” I began slowly. Though so far Nate’s guild were the only ones who had been requested and they were very selective on who they allowed in. Hell a lot of them had their own fairly happy families so I doubted they would be into child murder. My eyes quickly darted to Ben and then back to the red head with a nonchalant shrug. “Besides I kind of understand why the kids might choose the villains over heroes.” My answer was surprisingly honest if not a little vague. Still a lot of them were looking at me like I was insane and before the red head could press further I felt a hand on my shoulder and a sigh of relief washed over me. I didn't need to see it was Alex to recognise her amused laughter. “Aww come on Tess. She's only a normal girl.” I wanted to open my mouth and argue the toss on what she meant by normal. Lower class? Yes. Not all of us could get through Uni debt free or live off daddies/mummies income. Instead I snorted. Way to remind me I'm not really designed to be somewhere like here. “Besides Emma, like all of you,is my friend.” Her hand slipped down to rest around my waist and well I couldn't help but feel her tone of voice had some kind of edge to it and her gaze seemed to be steely and commanding. I didn't see too much wrong with the question unless they did know but again I feel like they would be even more distant if they did. At least Chad was able to be considered kind of friendly. He may be an asshole but he knew how to have banter at least. “Hey Alex” I said with a weak smile as her gaze flicked to me and her whole demeanour softened. She seemed so agitated about something and I couldn't help but feel concern. However from the looks of it though her little reprimand wasn't unexpected from the group. Though her grip on my waist tightened a little. “How was mingling with po-the higher echelons of society?” I just wanted a subject change and she seemed to be thankful for my attempt at diffusing the invisible tension. A light chuckle escaped her crimson red lips and she seemed to hold a fond gaze for a moment there. “Boring. I would much rather have spent it showing you around considering you are my plus one and all. I should probably actually spend time with my guest” And there went my heart. Skipping beats so fast I felt as if it might get burst. “Pfft I can't believe you didn't tell me I was your plus one.” Alex gave a guilty look. Her shoulder length golden curls bounced as she shrugged in an almost nonchalant manner. “Anyway what were you discussing?” That was a good question I didn't really know the answer to. Chad gave a shrug of his wide shoulders. “Oh you know.” He seemed to be treading lightly around the topics that they had been discussing so it was something I wasn't supposed to hear then. Well I didn't really to be fair. However she was bringing back the topic so clearly I suspected she wasn't finished with them. “This and that.” Now that was what I called a vague answer. “They were totally badmouthing you to me” I butt in with a jokey explanation and some in the group who had been holding their breath released it with a relieved look. She turned to give a raised eyebrow. How did she even arch it like that? “Yup I just learned that you wear clothes from,” I leaned closer to her and in a mock whisper said “Asda” A loud gasp from Chad in an overly dramatic manner could be heard along with chuckling from the group while Alex just rolled her eyes in an equally dramatic manner. “Asda? Really? Now your just being cruel…galpal” She emphasised the galpal and gave a triumphant smirk as I glared at her and crossed my arms. “I swear to god Alex that word is far worse than going to Asda and buying off brand clothing.” She just laughed again and grinned happily. “Foods gonna be served in half an hour which gives me enough time to take you on the grand tour” The group gave a cheer of appreciation as Alex took my hand and dragged me to one of the exits and onto a long corridor with lots of others splitting from it. The damn place looked like a maze and I was trying to memorise the path back to the hall. Eventually we came to what seemed like one of the main corridors and it had some family portraits and pictures. There was an actual large painting of three people, one of which I recognised as her father. “Family wall. Dads are kind of obsessed with family photos. Lame right?” “Eh it's nice. I never really had a family until now.” I gave a small smile to her and she smiled back. It was a moment. We were just gazing into each others eyes and it was probably romantic. I was the first to look away, blushed a little, and Alex looked like she was practically glowing. Okay so maybe she did like me like that for god knows what reason. Before either of us could speak my phone buzzed and vibrated in my pocket and I groaned. “Your villains?” “Hey they are nice people who happen to be very protective.” I got my phone out and she rolled her eyes disbelievingly. The phone immediately picked up and a relieved Nate immediately assaulted my ears. “Oh I knew you would pick up! How's my baby? Is he okay? Anyone hurt you two? Because I could send Jake and the others I-“ “Chill dude. We are fine. Anyway I'll tell you everything when I drop the kid off home.” “Bu-“ “I have company you kn-“ “Well you should have said that the suit worked. Don't rush and have a very PLEASURABLE night” Nate hung up on me and I groaned at the insinuation. Sex wasn't gonna happen plus I hadn't even been given time to reply to him properly let alone get a full sentence in. “Don't even ask” I grumbled and Alex turned to give me a serious look. Her vibrant green eyes watched me with surprisingly high intensity her hands grasped my shoulders. Her expression held the same stern one I'd seen on Iron knight and super similar eyes as as Captain Super, it was almost as if she wa- “We need to talk about that.” Her voice cut through my train of thought and I scowled. I glared and turned on my heel. Suddenly all my confusion and hope became clear. “Oh I see.” “Then you understand you need t-“ “Your using me” I didn't get to see her face but I'm sure the look would have been shock or something equally as predictable. “What? No why w-“ “Stupid idiot” I squeezed my eyes closed and felt my hands quickly run through my hair and creating a disheveled messy brown mess. “I can't believe I thought that you actually liked me” I growled out under my breath and quickly wanted to just curl into myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched away before turning back around to face her. I wouldn't cry. Not over some spoiled rich know it all who thinks she can play with me. She looked shocked, as predicted, here eyes were wide and her hand over her mouth. She looked incredibly upset but how sincere she was could easily be debatable. I'd seen her act to get into places and to see people before and she was an excellent at it so I really couldn't believe I'd fallen for it. Still her reaction seemed melodramatic and I couldn't fathom why, even if she wasn't lying, she would act like that. “Emma n-no I re-“ “See you at work Alexandra. It's getting late and I don’t want to stay where I don't belong” With that I had turned and fled down the corridor in the direction of noise and could only hope I was going the right way. Thankfully Alex hadn't been following me which was good because I wasn't sure how long I could keep in tears or a cool exterior or a level voice. Unfortunately I was lost and breathing hard and trying not to panic because holy shit I was lost in her house and I couldn't face anyone right now. I could call the villains but that would just make things worse and possibly bring attention nobody needs. And then what if they take Ben away? What if they get arrested? I clutched at my jacket as my back hit the wall and I squeezed my eyes shut again. My chest heaved heavily as my breathing began to get heavier “no it's okay there's no evidence” I hadn't realised I'd begun mumbling as I slowly slid down the wall and curled up. My hands began to tug at my hair. I was alone and hurt and the panic had triggered fear that they'd find out Bens adoptive parents were villains and I'd ruin their lives and lose the only people I could even begin to start considering a family. I ducked my head further down and tried to quiet the storm of uncertainty and fear swirling and growing in my head. I need it to stop. “Jesus Christ Emma” I looked up to see Chad. His voice cut through the storm and I was half tempted to lunge myself at the familiar face and hug him. He looked down at me with his wide blue eyes, stunned, and quickly knelt down in front of me. “She said you'd fallen out over the Villain thing but...I'd never think I'd see you so…so…” “Weak” I offered dryly and he shook his head. “Pathetic?” His eyes seemed to get sadder and I let out a bitter chuckle with a shake of my head. “Vulnerable.” Though I'm sure he was now looking at me like some fragile doll which could break. It couldn't get more obvious he didn't know how to handle this because his whole suave coolness was suddenly awkward and attempting to be comforting. “Shit. She doesn't even know does she? Your always such a hard ass and trying to act like a ma-“ “Fuck you. I'm not a man you arrogant wanker” His frown deepened and he put his hands up in defence before moving to sit beside me. I flinched at the words and just shook my head. “I don't…I never…look you need a drink,” “Don't drink” “I was gonna suggest we go to the kitchen, get you water and call Max to bring Ben to you.” That was actually a logical plan. When push comes to shove Chad pulls through. I silently nodded my head to the suggestion and offered a weak smile. I stood up sluggishly and dragged out my movements. I felt a little like I was in slow motion until suddenly Chad took a hold of my hand and guided me to the kitchen. We kept turning all the time and I wondered how often he'd been down these halls. Apart from dating Alex the two were good friends; in the group he was definitely her second in command and despite his teasing I generally got the impression the break up was mutual. “I'll tell them to back off yeah?” “Why so they can act like I'm fragile even more.” He shook his head and I watched the hair bounce with the movement. “It's not like that…” “Then what's it like ?” My voice was level and I'd stopped sniffling but when I got no answer from him I knew I was right. The kitchen was busy but there was an empty table with space on it so he sat me down there. We were out of the way and before I could do anything a glass of water was placed in front of me and Chad was on the phone to Max. Max was the second youngest sibling and one of the middle children. From what I gathered he was adopted after his parents died in a fire at a circus. “They'll be five minutes.” He muttered after the call ended and I could see him thinking something through in his mind. “Have you ever…uhmm broke down uhhh no or yeah like that before? I mean it seemed pretty serious or…” I suppose I knew that question was coming. I sighed and looked down at my glass of water with an almost guilty gaze. “It's nothin.“ “Clearly not E-” “Just stop.” I hoped he would listen because this was a game of twenty questions I really didn't want to have right now. Besides I could see some of the kitchen staff watching us from the corner of their eye and the gossip train was going to run rampant by the time they were done. Still I avoided Chads face and sighed again. A heavy blanket of silence weighed down on us for what felt like hours. In reality it was only a couple of minutes and the mood was broken when Ben ran in, not even caring people could see his leg with how he was holding the dress up so he could run, and promptly tackled me into a hug. He took a deep breath in before spewing it all out. ”Oh my god oh my god are you okay? Did she hurt you? Someone try anything? I swear to god if she was stringing you along or you caught her with someone else or you were threatened it will-“ “No no it's…I…I just read the signs wrong is all.” It was a weak excuse and Ben scowled. “No way she was totally giving you the look” “Look?” We turned to Max who came to stand behind Chads chair in confusion. He was just a bit taller than Ben, muscular and had short wild ginger hair. His eyes were a light hazel colour and he always seemed like a pretty nice kid. From what I could tell he accelerated at technology and was quite the prankster, not that you'd have guessed from looking at him. Ben turned to the boy and raised his eyebrow “yeah you know the ‘I'm gonna tap that so hard’ eyes people give other people when they want t-“ “Ben how old are you?” He stopped and looked at me in confusion. “Just turned 15” “Exactly” His look of confusion only deepened but at least he'd stopped on the subject of what happened. Max gave an oh of understanding. “Well yeah she has,” I groaned in annoyance and shook my head. “She does keep doing that whenever she thinks your not looking so…” I glared at him and he wisely closed his mouth. “She's a good actor.” I murmured and before anyone could say anything I changed the topic again. It felt like it was looping back round to her and I didn't want to think about her because I didn't want a storm in my head filling me with uncertainty and doubt and pain. “You said you were driving us home yeah?” Chad nodded his head and Ben just clung to my side as a comforting presence. I watched him give a sly apologetic look to Max before turning to look to Chad. “Max I'd appreciate it if you just made up some excuse about a family emergency being why we couldn't stay.” Max simply looked to Chad as if he couldn't go along with it until he was given permission. Strange. The ride home was awkward at best. Chad had insisted on double checking I had his number and texting him in a couple hours to make sure I was okay. I had a feeling he would be demanding I restart my hanging out quota. When the car halted to a stop Chad turned to look at me and gave a thin smile.I mumbled a goodnight before getting out the car with Ben latched onto my arm. We entered my small apartment and Ben collapsed onto the sofa. His eyes followed my every move as I put on the kettle and got out two mugs. “Coffee?” “Black, two sugars.” He simply replied and I returned to him. He took his mug greatfully and watched me put the corner of his eye as I sipped at my own bitter coffee. “So you and Max seemed friendly…”I teased the kid slightly and he blushed. “Yeah well he's nice. Didn't even care about my leg and plus he's super attractive I mean did you see him in that tux?” I chuckled softly and picked up a takeaway menu for the pizza place down the road. “Plus he's actually intelligent and a little bit of a nerd to boot.” It was obvious the kid liked him. I was happy at least one of us ended up enjoying the night “Pick a pizza and a movie. It's a while before your parents will be expecting.” He nodded his head furiously. Picked a Pizza. And settled down to watch Dirty dancing. By the time Nate got to us there were empty pizza boxes, a couple of half melted ice cream tubs and two sleeping people on the couch looking incredibly peaceful. ((Ahh I've been trying to make the chapters longer and more detailed. Also don't worry the next chapter will have way more villains and explore the wrangling process a bit more. ))