#they���re waiting to run everyone i want all at once actually

[huskyweebo]

Kings accidental consort. PT. 1 [ ? ]

Tysm to this blog for inspiring me to make an RadioApple fanfic!

“ So do you Agree on the terms. “ Lucifer affirmed, folding his arms as if saying to not agree. He and Alastor were on the patio; the only quiet place in the now bustling hotel,

“ yes yes, “ The radio demon said somewhat dismissively, “ I would only act as a parent to dear Charlie when you are not here, “ he repeated.

A sudden, odd thought came to Lucifer, “ just like divorced dads, “ he heard in his head, making him snicker slightly, Alastor tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, “ what seems to be hilarious your Majesty, surely not our agreement “ he proceeded to hold out his hand, Lucifer grasped it.

“ oh nothing, I was just thinking that this deal seems like we act like a sort of divorced couple, and how it would be funny if we were actually, truly married “ they shook hands, around them powerful rays of light signaled a deal being made by an Overlord and King.

Downstairs Charlie and Vaggie were heading to their room after letting Angel handle the new guests for a break. Suddenly, the lights darkened around them and Green light was seen, both girls knew that all too well.

“ I’m sorry but who is making a deal with Alastor? “ Charlie asked. Vaggie raised an eyebrow

“ wait didn’t your dad go up with Alastor a couple minutes ago? … oh shit, “ Vaggie muttered, she grabbed Charlie’s hand and rushed up the stairs leading to the patio where Lucifer had said he will be. The was a lot of commotion behind the closed doors, Charlie kicked it open and ready to fight.

“ -re you shitting me! What is this?! This is your fault sinner ! “ Lucifer yelled once Charlie smashed the door open, her father appeared to be wearing a wedding dress, and blushing profusely. Vaggie burst out laughing.

“ well I wasn’t the one who made a frivolous joke about being married, am I ? “ Alastor said. he seemed frustrated, but he still held his smile. He himself was wearing a black tuxedo and holding a bouquet of flowers.

As they argued, both of their hands flared around. Charlie stayed quiet, not wanting to intervene but suddenly noticed wedding bands on each of their clawed hands, putting two and two together, she gasped loudly. She started squealing making both men stop yelling to look at her,

“ oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Vaggie!! Alastor is officially my Father!! They have Ringsss! “ she said shaking her girlfriend, Tears fell from her eyes.

“ ok easy on the sparkles Hon, “ Vaggie said while being shook, she turned to the males with a questioning look,

“ did you guys seriously get married? “ Charlie ran to hug Alastor, “ NEW DAD ! “ she yelled while sobbing madly,

“ What is this? Dear this isn’t for long, His Highness messed up a deal we were making and ended up like this, “ Charlie was peeled off of his body, and her face told them she was hugely disappointed.

“ what but what kind of deal can you botch that badly to- “

“ WELL TIME TO BREAK THIS MARRIGE “ Lucifer interrupted, snapping his fingers.

The wedding garments disappeared for both, Alastor brushed his clothes, “ There you go, the deal should be of- why do I still have another ring. “ Lucifer stretched out his hand in front of him, on top of his old wedding ring that Lilith gave him, there was still the new one. Alastor looked down, he still had his on aswell.

“ Now this is particularly “ he said off handly, “ I thought you had it covered your majesty, “

“ well I do, give me a second “ Lucifer growled,

20 minutes later and everyone was in the palace with Lucifer running everywhere and looking through all the books he can find, he was muttering under his breath frantically similarly to how Charlie did when she was in a panic,

“ HOW IS THERE NOTHING ABOUT STUPID DEAL BREAKS IN THIS SHITHOLE “ Lucifer yelled out from another room and a book could be seen thrown.

“ hmmm “ Alastor hummed through his smile, he enjoyed the little one running around with tarnish, but he knew the fun couldn’t last. He he assured Charlie then went through his shadow and to where Lucifer was.

“ Your highness what seems to be the problem? “ he asked knowing full well the answer to his own question. Lucifer looked like a complete mess: both his horns and wings were out and he wore a crazed expression,

“ well, funny thing, well um- “ he stammered, then flew up and took another book out of a shelf instead of answering him.

Alastor waited for him to come down, he was like a prissy baby and currently, he knew not that Alastor could hear him from down below. The king cursed him out and his past living self. The book he previously had in his hand fell with a slam right next to Alastor, Lucifer cursed even more and flew higher, deep into the high rise library, Alastor went to pick up the book but immediately dropped it when it burned his skin through his gloves.

It was a holy book, ‘ Deals With The Unholy ‘ it was called. All around Alastor was holy books similar to that.

Finally, Lucifer calmed down slightly and flew back to where Alastor was, he was panting heavily.

“ finally calmed down? “ the Sinner rejoiced, his smiled sickened Lucifer, “ I see you don’t got this handled, “ the King rolled his eyes,

“ looks like apparently once a deal is made it can never be broken until it ends, but we never put a deadline, so it’s not possible… but I swear I had saw something about breaking a deal somewhere! “ he said with a pout, Alastor laughed slightly.

“ well I suggest we go ahead and tell our daughter that becuase she is currently worried about you. “ Alastor said smoothly,

“ she worried about me ? “ Lucifer said excitedly, then clearing his throat embarrassed when he saw Alastors face.

“ what do you mean, ‘ our duaghter ‘ she’s my duaghter not yours “ he growled. Alastor laughed,

“ Well this ring says otherwise, so until we find out a way to break this frivolous deal, we are officially married so she is indeed my duaghter. “ Lucifer narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything, “ go along now darling, please tend to OUR daughter “ The short king muttered angerly as he left, not waiting for him.

Alastor waited for him to close the door. The sound of a Wendigo could be heard from him.

he held his hand with his wedding band out, from it, sparks came from it and suddenly a book appeared in his hand. He reading for a brief moment before shutting and burning it.

“ A slight mishap that I could use, maybe being married isn’t such a bad thing “ Alastor started laughing, he continued on as he went through the shadows…

TBC [ ? ]

[wileys-russo]

not so wise II a.russo x reader

she looks so cuddly there ^ not so wise II a.russo x reader

"do you want us to come in with you?" lotte offered as she pulled into the dental clinic and found a parking spot. "no it should be fine. i know where to go and they said it shouldn't take much more than twenty minutes before i'm admitted." alessia declined, grabbing her bag and unbuckling herself.

the blonde was due to get her wisdom teeth removed today and yourself and lotte as her closest friends had volunteered to drive her there and look after her post surgery. tooney and mary had both volunteered given the wsl had a two week break but alessia assured them they should spend the time with family and loved ones in manchester instead.

"did they tell you roughly how long you'll be under for?" you questioned, rolling down your window as the taller girl hovered by the car, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "an hour or two maybe? they've got lotte's number and they said they'll call you once i'm in recovery and thats when you come inside." alessia explained as you both nodded.

"once you're all loopy!" you grinned teasingly making the girl roll her eyes. "i still say its something people put on and over act for views, i'm sure i'll be a little out of it but i don't think it'll be half as dramatic as everyone says it is." alessia assured herself as you and lotte only hummed with amused smiles.

"well bye then!" the blonde rolled her eyes again at your obvious disbelief toward her words, though this time more playfully as you both called out good luck and she disappeared inside.

"so...full english?"

~

"got any fives?" you asked, tucking your knees to your chest and peering at lotte over the top of your cards. "how do you win every single time, you're cheating!" the older girl huffed handing over her cards as you grinned.

"you're just terrible at this lots you've always been shit at card games." you chuckled, not willing to reveal you could actually see the poor girls cards in the reflection of the window behind her.

the two of you had gone for breakfast and coffee and had returned to the clinic, now sat in lotte's car trying to pass the time as you waited for her phone to ring.

"harsh. but alright new game, blackjack!" lotte announced, holding out her hands for your cards, though right as she began to shuffle the deck her phone rang. a few words exchanged with the nurses and the two of you had locked the car and headed inside.

"she's in the fourth door on your left girls." the nurse pointed down the hallway after checking you both in, thanking her you headed down there. "is that?" you paused, hearing a familiar voice singing.

"oh my god it is." lotte grinned, the two of you hurrying to the source of the noise, opening the door to find a nurse begging alessia stop moving her mouth, the gauze continually falling out.

"oh look it's my best friends, you came!" alessia gasped with a slur as you and lotte looked on gleefully at her current state of drugged up delusion. "hi lessi, you feeling okay?" you smiled moving to her side and running a hand through her hair.

"i feel....so good." alessia chuckled, grabbing your top and yanking you down closer to her. "we gotta steal some of this stuff it is great." she whispered making you laugh and gently pry her hands off of you as lotte spoke with the nurse.

"okay less you need to stop yelling because the nurse needs to put the gauze back in your mouth to stop the bleeding." lotte explained gently to the taller girl who groaned.

"it feels like im eating marshmallows i don't want it!" she whined, pushing away the nurses hands. "you don't eat it! you just leave it in your mouth." you reminded with a chuckle, alessia finally allowing the nurse to re-insert the gauze.

"this is going to be a long afternoon." lotte mumbled to you with a knowing smile as alessia started to ramble about how she didn't believe they'd taken her teeth out because she could still feel them in her mouth, words hardly understandable with the cotton pads shoved in her cheeks.

"but a funny one." you grinned in response.

~

"-here we gooo! tooney and lessi russo." alessia finished singing for what felt like the one hundredth time as now yours and lottes patience was beginning to slowly thin. "can they put the gauze back in?" lotte sighed dragging her hands down her face.

"they said we can take her home soon." you patted the older girls knee with a smile as alessia commenced the infamous song yet again, taking full advantage of the happy gas she was coming down from.

"oi. get my bag!" alessia stopped and pointed at you. "get your bag?" you hinted with a smile. "please." alessia corrected as you chuckled and passed her the bag. "less i don't think you'll need that it's not very cold out." you laughed as she pulled out a beanie.

"oh god stop it hold on." you shook your head as she tried to yank it on over her hair which was up in a bun. moving to let it out you took the beanie from her and gently tucked it on, patting her head once you were done.

"you're so good to me." the blonde sighed, grabbing your hand and placing a few kisses to the back of your palm as you scrunched up your nose and pushed her head away. "your mouths all bloody." you chuckled, pulling your hand away and wiping it.

"you wiped off my kisses!" alessia gasped before flipping you off. "oh i like doing this." she giggled, turning her middle fingers toward lotte who grinned and took a picture. "oh my god lessi." you hurried to push her hands down as the doctor and nurse entered and the blonde flipped them off too.

"i can assure you i've taken worse." the man chuckled as alessia flipped him off again and you held her hands in yours to stop her. "if you wanted to hold hands you should have just asked babe." alessia grinned, head flopping to the side as you sighed and shook your head.

"the anesthesia should start to wear off in the new few hours so you're both welcome to take her home now. i assume one of you is staying with her overnight to monitor?" he asked as you confirmed that would be you, lotte having dinner plans with tao.

"if she has any abnormally heavy bleeding, or a reaction to anything or the pain worsens beyond a five or six out of ten just give us a call." he gave you a card with the clinic details on it which you stashed in your pocket, quickly grabbing alessia's hand again as her middle finger popped back up.

you thanked him as lotte disappeared with the nurse to sign off on alessia's discharge papers. "do you ever think about if you drop soap on the floor. is the soap dirty or is the floor clean?" alessia pondered as you looked down at her in amusement.

"can't say i have less." you grabbed her bag off her lap, slinging it over your shoulder. "come on, time to head home." you helped her up into a sitting position, encouraging she slowly try to stand. "okay easy!" you grunted as the taller girl stumbled into you.

"you're so tiny. i could just wrap you up and put you in my pocket." alessia sighed, one hand resting on your head as the other slung over your shoulders, your own wrapped around her torso as you helped her walk out of the room.

lotte grabbing her from the other side the walk to the car was much smoother, alessia still rambling away absolutely anything that popped up in her mind, no chance of any sort of filter being active at the moment.

"why am i in the back! i'm the oldest." alessia huffed as you both slid her in and buckled her up. "no you're not you idiot." lotte laughed, slipping into the drivers seat. "yeah i've decided i'm the oldest now. deal with it bruv!" alessia slurred with a shrug.

"oh god her chav era's returning." you teased, alessia scoffing in offence and winding down the window as lotte pulled out of the clinic. "can we get food please? i'm starving!" alessia groaned dramatically.

"you're not allowed to eat for another two hours sorry less." you turned around with an apologetic smile as she groaned louder and sunk down into her seat, frowning like a scolded child. "i'm wasting away here! i'll die of starvation!" alessia moaned kicking the back of your seat as lotte chuckled and you started to film the blonde kicking off.

"they're starving me here send help!" she stuck her head out the window with a yell and gasped as suddenly her beanie went flying off her head, sending you and lotte into hysterics.

"that was my favourite beanie! it's from college." alessia cried out as you wound up her window. "should have kept your head in the car then less, you're not a dog." lotte chuckled as she pulled into alessia's driveway.

the blonde whinging the entire time both you and lotte managed to get her inside and settled on the lounge. "has it been two hours yet?" alessia huffed impatiently as you covered her with a blanket and shook your head causing her to groan.

"here you big sook put this on your jaw where it's sore." lotte returned handing alessia an icepack. "you sure you don't want me to stay?" she checked as you walked with her to the door. "no! you've been looking forward to these plans with tao all week. we'll be fine." you assured, hugging the girl goodbye and closing the door after her.

"what are you doing lessi?" you sighed with a smile as alessia was wrestling with the blanket. "i'm hot. i'm trying to take my pants off!" the blonde huffed in annoyance, words still slightly slurred from the swelling and anesthesia.

"do you want me to get you some shorts and a t-shirt?" you offered, hurrying off to her room and rummaging through her drawers, grabbing what you needed. "here." you threw them to her, laughing as the bundle of clothes hit her in the face.

"who turned the lights out!" she yelled against the material as you rolled your eyes and peeled them off, pulling the blanket off of her and retreating to the kitchen to put your phone on charge as she changed.

"well, all things considered that went quite well." you grinned seeing she had managed to change but had put her shirt on inside out. "what do you want to watch?" you collapsed beside her on the lounge, kicking your feet up onto her coffee table and grabbing the remote.

"something not food related!" alessia moaned in annoyance. "and here i was about to put on the great british bake off!" you teased, encouraging her to put the ice pack back against her mouth. "my arms are tired, you hold it." alessia demanded with a huff tossing it onto your lap.

clicking into she's the man, more so for your own viewing pleasure than hers, you shuffled closer to her and gently pressed the icepack to her cheek.

"can't believe you wiped off my kisses before, those were with love!" alessia glared up at you as you shook your head. "your mouth was all bloody! it was gross." you laughed making her scoff.

"if i kissed you on the lips would you wipe it off?" she challeneged, eyes starting to become a little droopy as the doctor warned she would likely become quite tired the more it wore off.

"why would you kiss me on the lips?" you chuckled with smile. "cause i have a crush on you, sshh." alessia hushed, a finger pressing to your lips as your eyes widened.

"don't tell y/n though." alessia yawned, stretching out as her eyes started to close. you opened your mouth to speak but thought better of it, knowing this would need to be a conversation had tomorrow.

~

"morning." you looked up from your phone as alessia appeared with a yawn, making a beeline right for her coffee machine, holding a mug up as you nodded.

"how do you feel?" you asked, last nights confession still playing on your mind as you locked your phone and rested your chin on your hand. "like i got punched in the mouth? and a bit foggy about most of yesterday afternoon." alessia chuckled with a rasp, morning voice thick as she slumped against the bench.

"all i'll say is you definitely need to retract your statement about people putting it on for views." you smiled causing her to groan and turn back to the coffee machine. "i assume you and lotte have plenty of video evidence." she sighed, moving to lean on the counter across from you, sliding you your coffee and sipping on her own.

"we do. but most of it was harmless," you assured her with a soft smile as her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "most of it?"

"yeah um, there is something you said i sort of want to talk about." you started, putting down your coffee and messing with your fingers as alessia nodded. "you might have kind of...said you have a crush on me?" you winced as the blonde choked on her coffee, spitting it back out and coughing as you hurried to grab her some water.

she croaked out a thank you and took a swig as you sat back down.

"it was just me being drugged up!" she brushed off, clearly embarrassed as her face burnt bright red and she refused to look at you. "less i-" you started as she cut you off, mumbling how she wanted to shower and darting off to the bathroom.

you waited for her to return, settling in on the lounge and flicking on her tv.

around a half an hour later she emerged, silently sitting beside you as neither of you spoke for a few minutes.

"so maybe it wasn't the anesthesia." alessia started, looking down at her hands. "i do kind of have a crush on you, as juvenile as that sounds given the fact we're twenty four." she chuckled awkwardly.

"but i really value our friendship and i don't want to lose that or make you uncomfortable so i'm so sorry if i have."

"you haven't, i promise."

"that was not at all the way i wanted you to find out." alessia sighed burying her face in her hands. "drunk mind sober thoughts hm." you nudged her with a soft smile.

"so are you going to ask me on a date or just sit here feeling sorry for yourself?" you asked nudging her again, alessia's head shooting up, surprise etched into her features. "um. do you want to go and get dinner?" the blonde stumbled over her words as you nodded, finding how flustered she was incredibly cute.

"yeah i do."

[doberbutts]

We have a little free pantry in our front yard (toothbrushes, tampons, shelf-stable snacks bottled water, etc.), and I read a lot about people's experiences having one online before we put ours up re: expectations about potential interactions with people using it, but nothing prepared me for how weirdly aggro *other* people sometimes get about us having it as a form of "activism" as opposed to some other, more nebulous idea of broader social change. "Don't you think it'd be better to volunteer at or donate money to a homeless shelter, so those people can get the actual help they need?" "Shouldn't you focus more on trying to campaign for policy changes that will help more people than one street corner if you care about this problem?" "Isn't doing that a waste of time?" "Aren't you just encouraging people not to get help?" I do that other stuff when I can. This is something small I can do - in addition to raising awareness and fighting for bigger change, when I have the time and money and spoons - and at least, when I don't. It's crazy to me to approach social justice issues with such an all-or-nothing mindset as some people seem to. I've met enough of the individuals who utilize it to know it makes a difference in a very tangible way for the people directly around me.

No, I agree entirely.

Corny and dated as it is, there's a reason the saying is "be the change you want to see". If no one within the community puts in the work to fix the community's problems, even in little bits and pieces, then how will anything change? Raising awareness only goes so far. What happens when all anyone is, is aware? Aware, and still doing nothing, waiting for someone else to put in the work.

Sometimes, that someone is going to need to be you. You can't just wait around and wait for someone else to do it for you.

If I see someone digging through the trash for food, I wave them over and offer them food from my house or fresh food from a store or take them to a restaurant where they can order whatever they want. If I'm getting groceries and I see someone very obviously homeless struggling to pay for their food, I tell the cashier to add it to my bill. No one starves in front of me. Ever since I stopped needing to rely on food stamps, no one starves in front of me.

This past summer I saw someone splayed out on the sidewalk in 95F weather in direct sunlight. I couldn't tell if he was unconscious from drugs or passed out from the heat or just simply had fallen asleep in the shade and then the sun moved. I was getting groceries so I added a bunch of hot chicken to my order plus several bottles of refrigerated water. I went over to him and woke him and explained that I was worried he needed medical attention. He'd passed out because he was tired, he told me. I offered him the hot food and the water and he thanked me, telling me he'd run out of water the night before and food the day before that and didn't have any money to get any more.

Everyone else had been walking around him like he was just an obstacle on the sidewalk. No one had thought to offer any help. When I walked away, some folks who saw me told me that that was very nice of me. I don't think it was nice of me. I think that's just what you should do if you see someone obviously in distress. They agreed that he seemed like he needed the help. They didn't act. They agreed that the compassionate and right thing to do was to offer assistance and make sure he was okay. But they didn't do it. They waited for someone else to do it.

I've mentioned in passing that I volunteer for the local teen LGBT club, helping lost gay kids find their way and maybe not kill themselves about it. It's not much. I mostly just text back and forth with whatever kids get my number from the adults that run the thing. Sometimes I give them tips and advice. Sometimes I'm just the cool gay uncle they tell about their latest school drama. Once or twice I've served one of them lunch on my couch while my dogs smother them with affection and they cry about their latest heartbreak. I don't do speeches or history lessons or anything like that. I don't think I'm qualified for it, in honesty. But if even one of them doesn't commit suicide, if even one of them doesn't self-harm, if even one of them no longer feels all alone in the world because I'm there when they reach out to me, that's enough.

Today on my commute to work, the guy in front of me had a major wipeout on his motorcycle. I stopped my car in a position that none of the other cars could hit him, and asked if he was okay, and waited until his friend (also on a motorcycle) had circled back around to help him off the road and check him over. I left once his friend waved me away. I offered to call an ambulance but he refused.

A couple weeks ago, also on my commute, a woman was stopped on the side of the road, waving her arms at drivers, shouting for help. I stopped. The other drivers didn't. Her car had died, she was new to town, and she was somewhere that notoriously doesn't get cell service. I helped her call a tow truck. It wasn't a trap. She didn't want to hitchhike. She just was stuck and panicked about it.

I stop and help animals get off the road. I've lost count on how many turtles I've carried to the other side. I helped my neighbor search for a dog he saw get hit by a car so he could take it to the vet. I shoveled my elderly neighbor's driveway for her, and talked my boss into giving her a major discount for her little dog's dental in which pretty much every tooth needed extraction or he would die. When I still lived in that rental with my roommates, we were surrounded by kids. Every kid on the block knew we were a safe house to go to. If they needed food or water, if they needed entertainment, if they needed just somewhere to be, they could be at our place. When covid started, I did a "reverse halloween" since Halloween was canceled, and I put bags of candy on every doorstep that I knew had kids inside. I've done a "neighborhood santa" putting a small toy plus a small gift card for the parents on every doorstep that has kids, for as long as I've lived around kids.

When I say activism requires action, I don't mean that every single person is required to save a thousand lives. The honest answer is, unless you have a lot of disposable time and money, you probably won't. But you can still make a difference. To one. To ten. To twenty.

And you know what? I'm not saying black people specifically came up with this- but how can you be surprised to know this is how I live my life when I say over and over that I was raised by black activists who lived during MLK Jr and Malcolm X and knew community action would have the longest-lasting effects? Of course I do all this. That's what being part of a community *is*.

[avonne-writes]

re: high school au after gale kinda moves in with them is there ever a time where geogia (or chick, but i feel like they know that might scare him so delegate it to her) has to really /parent/ bc he steps out of line/doing something he maybeee shouldn't have etc?

Interesting question!

Yes, actually! But perhaps not in the way you'd expect. He never steps out of line, creates messes or talks back. He’s always conscious of the fact that he’s not actually a relative, no matter how they try to make him more comfortable. He can’t wait to leave for college and be independent, because then he won't have to think about that anymore.

But this doesn’t mean that he never has any conflicts with Georgia. I think there's one thing that leads to arguments between them: Gale disappearing for hours at a time, sometimes very late in the evening, without telling anyone about it.

The issue comes from the fact that he's not used to anyone at home caring about where he goes and what he does after school. Of course, he spends a lot of time with Bucky and also with swimming. But before he moved in, he used to have some time during the week when no one paid attention to him. Since he didn’t like staying home that much, he often went out and spent time in random parks, public libraries etc. or simply stayed at the swimming pool, sitting on the bleachers and being soothed by the sounds of other people training. Then he went home late.

It has become a comfort.

So, he continues this habit even after he moves in. And you can imagine how well that goes. Gale, who almost jumped off a bridge a few weeks before and had to be moved out of his parents' house, doesn’t come home when everyone else expects him to.

They try to call him, text him, but for some reason (doesn’t hear it / phone dead), he doesn’t pick up. Everyone is worried sick but doesn’t dare say what they're thinking. Georgia calls Chick, who starts checking the bridges. Then, as if nothing was amiss, Gale comes home. He’s taken aback by how worried they all are and gets defensive. Chick gets there too and instinctively, as the worry rushes out of him, he starts scolding Gale. This, like you said, scares Gale, but his alarm reaction is fighting back. So he starts throwing in things he doesn’t mean, like "so what if I wanted to do that [SA]? What does it matter to you?"

Georgia asks Chick to leave the room because she realizes that it's not helping. Gale feels like he’s caged, but Georgia changes her tone to something gentler. Gale feels really bad and just wants to get out of the conversation. He’s also hyperaware of Bucky being very quiet. Georgia explains why they were worried and asks him to let them know where he is next time. He just nods, but fully intends to just run away next time.

Chick comes back and talks to him more gently, to which Gale reacts impassively. At this point, he nods to anything they say because he wants to get away. Once they let him leave the room, he goes upstairs and locks himself in his bedroom. He hears Bucky try the handle but then walk away when he can’t open the door. Gale is sad about that at first, but then, chat messages start popping up on his phone. From one bedroom away, Bucky starts texting him like he used to before Gale moved in.

In another post, I already mentioned that Gale finds it easier to talk about his feelings like that. It helps this time as well. Bucky comforts him, then Gale sends him a love letter-like affectionate text. Bucky tries to enter the room again, and Gale lets him in this time. They make out (and touch each other) in Gale's bed very quietly and sleep there together.

Everything goes back to the new normal the next day, but it takes a while before Gale tells them (without prompting) where he is when he disappears. The next few times, they still have to call or text him, and Georgia has to talk to him about it a few more times. But at least he picks up.

[fiber-optic-alligator]

(Not a request dw) (So, about the two KO fics I was talking about earlier. I think I'm just gonna do the post-time skip one. The other one where Knock Out's human gets moved outta town, and has a few close calls isn't itching my brain good enough right now. I might have to let that one cook for a bit. lol.)

Re: Bumblebee rescuing Knock Out's human after they escape his game at the trainyard.

Once every other week, Bumblebee picks up his Little Pal for their typical hang out session at the Autobot Base. As they are wont to do, they spend the trip there excitedly chatting about what they're planning on doing together once they arrive. "What to do, what to do… … -Maybe a dance party?

"Hhhmmmm… No, that'd get too loud. Ratchet hates when we play music too loud. Or dance. Peepaw Ratch needs it relatively quiet in order to do his work. Haha. He could always use a break!"

"It doesn't have to -bee -loud music. We could -just have - regular music playing while we -hang out." Bee pleads through his spirit box speech, and his Little Pal finds that his bright blue, puppy dog eyes are hard to resist.

"Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh… True. But we'd probably do that anyways. Haha. Maybe we could play video games? There's this one I found that I think you'll like. It's a racing game with weird tracks, gliding sections, customizable cars, and some killer music!" Bee lets out a string of excitable chirps before he tunes back into his alt form's radio.

"-Crowd cheering sfx- -Sounds great! When do we start?"

"Oh, just after we get to the base, and say hi to everybody. It's been, what, like, a month since last time? It's only polite, after-!!" They freeze mid-sentence like a deer in headlights at the sight of a familiar crimson mech. Of course he was real, they knew he was real. They'd only gotten repeated confirmation from everyone else they'd met that night. And every day since then, when they'd asked.

But. To see him again. To know for a fact that this particular mechanical alien that haunts their bizarre, blurry nightmares actually exists. That Knock Out actually exists, and is here. He's. He's here, and is planning on finally getting his talons on them once and for all! And-

They shake their head hard to dislodge their panic, and shuffle a little lower in Bumblebee's servos to hide themselves from Knock Out's line of sight. Bumblebee looks down at the human shaking like a twig in his servos, and tilts his helm. What's with the shaking? Why'd they pull his digits up, and around themselves like that? Who could they possibly be afraid of here? …-Wait a minute. Of course.

Bumblebee would recognize the tell-tale click of those pedes anywhere.

"Well well well~! There's no need to stop the party on my account. Do you mind if I get a closer look at this new visitor of ours, Bumblebee?" Knock Out purrs as he draws closer, evidently more interested in the human huddling in the scout's servos than maintaining optic-contact with him.

"No can do, man! -They're -Off the menu! -There's no need -to play coy about your -obsession with them -anyways." Bumblebee growls, annoyed that the supposedly reformed Decepticon would even try to get at the poor human again. Especially right after he'd Just helped them get confident enough around Cybertronians to have a good time hanging out around the base!

This doesn't happen with any other human who happens by the base, by the way. Knock Out is loathe to even think about touching humans, typically. Something about "having taste", and a "refined palette" apparently. Whatever that means. But with BB's Little Pal? He's practically obsessed!

Now, he's fixated on them for a while, sure. But being this obvious about his desire to get his servos on them after he's joined the Autobots is new. New, and concerning.

"Oh fine. If you don't want to run the risk of your -eugh- "Little Pal" getting stolen away by the Big Bad Ex-Con, then why don't we all just sit down somewhere and have a nice, long chat, hhmmm? It'd be nice to catch up with each other after So long, wouldn't it?" Knock Out aims the latter question towards the human in Bumblebee's servos attempting to get a rise out of them, if nothing else.

The human clears their throat, and sits up a little to speak. They don't like the way he's talking to/about them, and they've decided that he's going to hear about it. "You know? I'm not feeling particularly chatty today, but maybe we can have this conversation some other day… … … Ah, what was your name again?"

Knock Out lights up at the sound of their voice, despite being a little put out by their refusal to remember his name. It's only been a few months since they'd been swept up in all of this, and they're already So comfortable talking to him like this. How… Cute.

Though, he really only has to take a step closer to shut his Little Runaway up. A quiet growl arises in his chassis, and he laughs- he Has to. The audacity of this human. If only he'd captured them back at the trainyard, they would have Long since lost the ability to sass him like this. How lucky this Squishy little Mouse must consider themselves- Ahem.

"Oh? Have you truly forgotten about me already? And here I thought our fateful encounter that night would've seared itself into your processor for good, lest you find yourself wandering alone at night the way you had been when I found you." At his human's lack of a pronounced fear reaction, he decides to press on with his little speech. He really shouldn't have to reintroduce himself, the human memory isn't that fallible, is it? He may have to remedy that, personally, if it is.

"I mean, we could have gotten to know each other better back then if only you'd stuck around to socialize. Ah, but I suppose you were a little too focused on winning to think about that now weren't you?" Knock Out's attempt to remain casual about how he lost a game he'd rigged so thoroughly in his favor, fails, and bitterness colors his tone.

Nonetheless, he takes another step closer, and reaches out a servo to lean on a nearby wall. Attempting to get a better view of the little one that got away. Bumblebee, in return, readjusts his grip on his Little Pal to block Knock Out's view even further, and quickly strides around the mad doctor before the human could reply to Knock Out's irritable rant.

Primus, how he loathes the effect Knock Out has on them. The way they're shaking right now, breathing unsteadily, and trying to bury themselves deeper into his servos than they could feasibly go. It sucks! They shouldn't have to put up with him! They've already won his game. They've already gotten away! What does he have to gain by terrifying them like this?!

-Whatever. It doesn't matter. He's going to put as much distance between Knock Out, and his Little Pal as possible. No matter what. "Nope. No way. Not gonna happen. -Optimis- won't be happy to hear about this." He keeps his pace steady to avoid shaking his Little Pal around as he goes, but that only allows the crimson mech to catch up sooner. KO's less than casual stride lets him overtake the scout, and pivot around to face him.

"And he doesn't need to. It isn't like I could do anything to them what with everyone keeping such a close optic on me, anyways." If Bumblebee could look less amused about the current situation, he would.

"You aren't helping your case here, -Knockout! -And besides, if they wanted to talk to you -to see you, -they would've approached you first. -The way they approach me. -There'd be no need for you to try, and corner them like this -at all." Bumblebee flexes what he's come to learn about his Little Pal over time, hoping to get under KO's armor. Weaponizing their well-earned faith in him to prove how easy it is to befriend humans if you don't terrorize them.

No amount of false platitudes from an ex-con is gonna charm him into putting his Little Pal into harm's way. Especially with how often Knock Out looks like a ravenous, starved even, Predacon whenever he catches sight of them. Let alone how he acts after catching a whiff of their fear, eugh. Some things never change, huh? Not even after KO became an Autob-"

Bumblebee feels the human shift in his servos, and only has time enough to look down at them before they pipe up with their trademark sass. "Hey you! Knock Out! Why do you still follow me around anyways, huh? You lost then, you keep losing now, and for what? A snack? Why don't you get a life, and go polish your paint job, or something. It's starting to get sad."

The pair of Cybertronians balk at the human's acerbic comment before Knock Out growls loudly, and makes a grab for them. How dare they speak to him like that! Especially when he could just-... Hold on. Knock Out retracts his reaching servo just in time for heavy footsteps, and rumbling laughter to echo from up the hall. It seems they aren't alone any more.

"Hah! Ohhhh you may need to stop by the Med Bay after this, Doc Knock. Pally got you pretty bad with that one!" Bulkhead pulls up next to the bickering mechs, and pats KO on the shoulder as if to comfort him about getting roasted.

"Yes! Well, to answer your question, Fleshy. I am nothing if not consistent regarding how I choose to spend my time. Now if you'll excuse me." Knock Out brushes Bulkhead's servo off of his shoulder, dusts himself off, and stalks off to the Med Bay. Likely to buff out the cracks the human made in his ego... And the ones Bulkhead made in his shoulder.

He doesn't get to far down the hallway before the human responds with one last grumpily, half-muttered insult. "Yeah... You're consistent alright. A consistent pain in my ass."

Knock Out had turned back to watch them as they spoke, and Oh how he wished he could wipe that look off of their face! They don't even look pleased with themselves about that insult either! It seems comments like those come naturally to them now. Ugh. He stomps off to the Med Bay for real this time, chased away by the sound of the Autobot duo's laughter, and begins to see to his paint job once more. Ignoring Ratchet's judgemental, but silent sidelong glance at him.

That human. His human. Has grown So comfortable around Cybertronians that they feel as though they can talk back to him whenever they damn well please. Why, he'd almost be impressed by their boldness, if it wasn't directed at him. Though he is aware that most of their bravado comes from the support they'd received from their new found allies. Maybe he should've taken that game of his seriously, after all.

-Not a Request Anon

Holy shit dude, this is awesome! It’s like a story within itself! You should totally write a full length fic about this if you’d like to!! You’ve written out the relationship between Knockout and the reader so well with the former’s “redemption” into the Autobot ranks! God, I love the way Bumblebee protects the reader and constantly defends them. It’s like he knows the trust this little human has in Cybertronians, no matter how established, is still very fragile, and there’s no way he’s going to let Knockout ruin the friendship he’s forged with his Little Pal! And AUGH, Knockout still referring to the human as his, even after all that’s happened, it’s so him!!!

[heeseungsnewwhore]

Mercy🝮

:Part One:

Pairing: Sunghoon x Sunoo

Rating: 18+, mature scenes ahead

Genre: Angst, Hurt, Comfort

Warning Tags: Dacryphilia, SunSun, BxB, MxM, so it's gay, very gay, crying, lots of crying, Violence, possibly triggering content, mentioned abus!ve relationship, suggested, abus!ve relationship, JayWon established relationship

Summary: After years of pining, Sunghoon finally gets a chance to be with the man he claims as the love of his life. Freshly out of a very toxic relationship, Sunoo runs into the arms of the man he had always wanted to give his heart to. But as old faces and feelings from the past begin to re-emerge in their newly established relationship, the couple begin to question the timing of their hearts...

“I’m ready to go home…”

“Huh? But it hasn’t even been an hour?”

“Do we need to be here any longer..? Everyone is just staring at us…”

The shorter male chuckles. “Sunghoon-ah…It’s just because they don’t know you yet.” He says with a cheery grin before he’s wrapping himself around the others arm.

“Well no one has tried to talk to me Sunoo, they’re making me uncomfortable.” Sunghoon sighs before he’s letting Sunoo pull him into the crowd.

“Then we’ll go talk to them instead and if you still feel uncomfy, we’ll leave baby…Just try? For me?” Sunoo stops, now turning around to take the others hand in his, before he’s raising the other one up to caress his cheek.

Sunghoon sighs again, glancing about anxiously, the public display , as minuscule as it was, making him fidget as he felt eyes on them.

“Okay…For you.”

And there’s that smile.

Sunghoon loves that smile.

Sunoo always smiles at him like that…

“Thank you~” Sunoo cheers before giving him a quick peck on the lips and bounding off to a group of people that Sunghoon had only heard of, but never actually met yet.

“Yknow maybe if you weren’t lumbering around like an angry tree…”

Sunghoon rolls his eyes as he hears the familiar voice and looks over to see his friend Jay who approaches with a glass in hand. Watching as Sunoo cheerfully chatted up the group of people he was standing with before gesturing towards Sunghoon.

“Better learn how to smile-“

“Jongssaeng~, do you like your face?” Sunghoon plays in a mockingly cheery tone, Jay immediately looking around as if he heard something.

“Oh? What’s that-? Oh I think I hear Jungwon calling me-“ The younger male now veering off in some other direction as Sunghoon sighs once again before making his way towards Sunoo.

He puts on a smile, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat as he approaches the crowd. Sunoo, like a magnet immediately coming back to his arm. The taller male tensing up a bit before glancing all about at the people in front of him.

“They think I was joking~ But I told them I wouldn’t joke about that kind of thing- My best friend is my boyfriend now.” Sunoo says so cheerfully and Sunghoon’s heart does a dangerous thing.

“Mmn, the man looks like he’s being held hostage Sunoo- Let him have some space!” One of Sunoo’s female friends chastised him but he only stuck his tongue out at her.

“Ah, he’s always been like this- He just gets really clingy when he drinks I don’t mind. At least he’s not wandering off.” Sunghoon says before he’s looking down at the other male who’s pouting up at him.

“Hey, I don’t wander off!”

“Well I’m not taking any chances now am I?” Sunghoon says before he’s ruffling the others hair gently.

The woman ahead of them chuckling before one of the males speak.

“So how did you end up dating? You must’ve been waiting for a chance right?”

“I-I…”

“Dude-“ The Woman nudges the man in the ribs.

“What!? I’m saying that it’s a good thing! Sunoo’s ex was garbage, I’m glad it’s a friend. You should be relieved too…” He says giving the woman a dirty look and she rolls her eyes before sipping on her drink again.

Sunghoon sighs. “Well, it was something like that I guess…Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom. Don’t- let him go off anywhere?” Sunghoon says to Sunoo’s friends, before he’s off to the restrooms.

Sunoo of course trying to bicker at him that he didn’t need to be babysat, and the two friends of his bickering about how Sunghoon ended up uncomfortable.

But the man wasn’t wrong…Sunghoon took his chance.

About a month ago

Sunghoon was lazing about in his kitchen. Boredom taking over the atmosphere as he was finishing up the dishes with little enthusiasm. Jay had come over for dinner and to hang out for a little while, and had left only moments ago. Sunghoon was now cleaning up before he got ready for bed. They had had a few drinks so he was already sleepy enough.

But it’s suddenly that he’s hearing soft banging on his door. He pauses at the sink, listening again…And there it was. He leaned to have a view of his front door wondering who it could’ve been. Jay had a key, so no reason to be banging on his door.

There it was again, but this time much louder.

“Sunghoon-ah?! Sunghoon!? Please!”

Sunghoon knew that voice all too well, and quickly made his way to the door. Practically snatching it open, as he was now met with Sunoo. Soaking wet from the rain, hugging himself and sobbing. Sunoo doesn’t say anything , just throwing himself into the others arms. Sunghoon not hesitating at all in taking the other in his arms as he quickly begins to look him over.

“Sunoo!? What the Hell, what are you doing-? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Sunoo shakes his head as he sniffles, tears still running down his face as he looked up at his friend. He had been crying for a while. Eyes red and puffy, his nose was red. His hands gripping at the fabric of Sunghoon’s shirt for dear life and it’s in that moment, Sunghoon’s heart decides now is the time to start trying to catapult out of his chest.

“S-sunoo-“ Sunghoon cups The others cheeks. “Tell me what happened-“

“He kicked me out! He threw me out, and he wouldn’t let me get my things, he has my phone, my clothes everything!”

“Su-“

“I don’t want to go back! I just want my things! Don’t make me go back!” Sunoo is burying his face in the others chest again, sobbing into him.

“Sunoo- Did he hurt you?” Sunghoon asks and Sunoo takes too long to answer, the larger male pulling him away from his body and asking again. More stern this time.

“No! No he just locked me out…I-I couldn’t call because he has my phone, so I had to walk…”

Sunghoon couldn’t help but frown- That expression soon turning into a grimace.

“Let’s get you into some dry clothes, go find something of mine.” Sunghoon gestures towards his bedroom, before grabbing his coat, and his keys.

“W-wait where are you going?”

“To get your stuff.”

“Wait-!”

“I’m calling Jay he’ll be here in a few minutes, I’ll be back.” Sunghoon says quickly, going out the door, phone at his ear as he rushes to his car.

‘Hello..?’

“Can you swing by my place real quick?”

‘What-? What’s going on, are you okay?’

“I need you to sit with Sunoo until I get back okay? I gotta go get his things.”

‘What!? What are you-‘

Sunghoon hangs up before Jay can even finish speaking but he knows he’ll come through. Jay might have been on his ass for an explanation later, but if he could tell it was urgent, he knew to ask questions later. Sunghoon also DIDNT want to leave Sunoo alone and he was pretty sure the other male didn’t want to be alone.

It’s about a ten minute drive to the housing complex that Sunoo had lived in with his boyfriend. But with the way Sunghoon was driving, in the rain even, it took him about half the time. He parked across the way where he could see the house within walking distance. One car in the driveway, so obviously he was still home. Sunghoon turns his car off, shoves his keys in his pocket, and climbs out of his car. Practically storming for the front door.

Sunghoon knocks on the door, rather harshly, and there’s no response. He does it again, this time banging on the door. Constantly. Starting a whole rhythm under the pounding rain.

“I told you to-!”

The door suddenly swings open, the man’s words catching in his throat as he sees Sunghoon. Sunghoon not wasting any time as he barges in, inviting himself into the man’s home. Though it’s not as if Sunghoon hasn’t been here before.

“What the Hell are you doing!?”

“I’m here to get his things.”

Sunghoon says simply as he turns to face the man now. Watching a snide smirk play at his lips. Sunghoon really just wanted to punch it right off.

“Go get them, I don’t want any of it.” The man slurs, now shuffling over to throw himself onto his couch.

Sunghoon can’t help but glare. It’s then that he notices the state of the house. The alcohol, the stench of it. The living room was a mess, as was the kitchen. There’s no telling what the other rooms looked like. He then storms in the hallway, going into the bedroom, to see that it was trashed as well. Almost the entire house was a mess. It’s then that Sunghoon is balling his fist. He knows what he came for but the aftermath of whatever had happened didn’t look like things played out too well at all. The house was a mess yet Sunoo said that the man didn’t hit him or anything. After seeing the place Sunghoon found that to be less likely.

He tries to focus on the task at hand, going over to the closet and practically snatching it open. Seeing a couple of suitcases, he grabbed the biggest one, tossing it onto the bed. He starts gathering Sunoo’s clothes. He’s familiar with all the things that are his of course. His clothes, his jewelry, even his cologne and any trinkets that he was sure were Sunoo’s . It wasn’t a difficult task for him. The only thing that made it difficult is that most of these things weren’t where they were supposed to be. It only made it harder for him to contain the discomfort he was holding towards the other.

After he was done stuffing the suitcase, putting any other smaller objects in his pocket, he made his way out of the bedroom. He was almost out the door before he finally remembered something important.

Sunoo’s phone.

He puts the suitcase down by the door, now turning to the drunken male on the couch.

“Where’s his phone?” Sunghoon asks simply, and the man seems to have already passed out. Getting frustrated he walks over to the other, kicking at his feet. “Hey! Wake up! Asshole…” he mutters the curse as the man finally comes to.

“What, What..?”

“Sunoo’s phone? Where is it?”

The man shuffles around a bit on the couch, before he’s finally pulling Sunoo’s phone out of the sofa. Tossing it across the floor at the other. Sunghoon grimacing as he picks it up, now shoving it in his pocket. He then turns to go out the door…But doesn’t. Instead he goes back over to the couch, squatting to the man’s level. Grabbing a handful of his hair and forcing him to pay attention to him.

“Ow! Hey what the fuck!” He hissed, taking drunken swings at the other at Sunghoon can’t believe how pathetic the man ended up seemingly over a day.

“Shut up and listen- Because if I ever see you again. If you ever touch him again…You’ll regret it. Do you understand? Yeah?” Sunghoon forces the other man’s head to nod as he has a painful grip on his hair, the other repeating his words through a hiss of pain. “Good, good.”

With that, Sunghoon shoves the others head away from him as he lets go of his hair. Now making his way back to the door, and picking up the suitcase. 

“Did he tell you why I threw him out? Huh?! Did you even ask!? Or did he play the victim? Tsh…Go ahead and keep him…You can deal with it now.”

Sunghoon shakes his head with a sigh. He couldn’t begin to be the least amount of worried about whatever the man was babbling on about and makes his way out the door. Putting the suitcase in the trunk and driving right back to his house. He couldn’t help but continue seething on the short drive. His phone was going off, buzzing from worried messages filling his phone from Jay. But he could tell that some of the messages were from Sunoo himself. It wasn’t long before he was walking back into his own home, dragging the suitcase along behind him. As he drags himself in, he sees Jay on the couch comforting a still teary eyed Sunoo- both of their eyes now on him.

“Hey…” He says simply as Sunoo is now running over to the other and wrapping his arms around him. Sunghoon of course hugs him back. “I grabbed everything I could…The place was a mess but…I tried…” 

“You didn’t even have to do all of that…Thank you Sunghoon.” Sunoo looks up to the other with a teary smile, and even then, in that moment, Sunghoon really wished he could have kissed him. But it’s then that Sunghoon notices the little bandage on the others cheek. Now raising a thumb to gently rub over it.

“What the hell is this?” Sunghoon asks, looking right up at Jay who is now getting up from the couch. 

“Sunghoon-” Sunoo starts and the taller gives him such a stern look, Sunoo can only pout, knowing better than to make another excuse.

“Apparently, he was throwing things around. Via the mess you saw and- Theres some bruises on his back too.” Jay answers and Sunoo is burying his face into Sunghoon’s chest to cry again.

“I didn’t want you to worry Sunghoon I’m sorry,,, He was just throwing things everywhere and I just wanted to get out…I-I just didn't move fast enough-” 

“Sunoo, none of this is your fault, okay?” Jay gently places his hand on the youngers shoulder. “Just stop- Everytime you open your mouth, you’re defending him somehow. Just don’t.”

“Jay is right- And Please, if there’s anything else, you need to tell us…Tell us what happened.” 

It’s after that, and another flood of tears that Sunoo sits down between the two and tries his best to explain everything that had happened. Apparently Sunoo’s boyfriend had gotten it into his head that he was cheating. But it was Sunoo himself that found out otherwise. Sunoo’s boyfriend only saying that he cheated because he assumed Sunoo was already cheating- Which was false. What had convinced Sunoo’s boyfriend that Sunoo was cheating, was a drinking party he had gone to. The people that were present there were some mutual friends, as well as Sunoo’s therapist…To which Sunoo had talked alot to about another ‘person’. Another ‘man’...And the way these things were coming from the drunken mouth of Sunoo’s therapist only made things worse for him when his lover- former lover- got home.

Sunghoon sighs as he is balling and unballing his fists and Jay has his head in his hands in a frustrated manner.

“So…He got really mad at me and…That’s when everything else happened.” Sunoo swallows through his broken sobs. “I-I didn’t know where else to go…I-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t…Don’t apologize you could’ve come to either of us.” Jay says as he tried to rub along the others back soothingly, but stops as the younger winces. “S-Sorry.”

It’s then that Jay’s phone begins to buzz and he pulls out only to let out a string of curses under his breath.

Sunoo turns with a sniffle, wiping his eyes with his sleeves as he ponders whats wrong. “What’s wrong?”

“Well- I gotta get back. Jungwon’s awake and he’s worried now.” Jay says with a sigh as he sees all the messages from the other, going to text him back before the other is now calling.

“Hello? Babe- Baby-! It was an emergency! It was- Baby, I’m getting in the car right now. Yes, I’m right down the street. Honey…”

Jay wasn’t exactly yelling at the other over the phone, but more so trying to calm the other down enough to reassure him that he was fine and coming home. He was giving the others silent goodbyes and waving to them as he quickly made his way out of the house, now making way to his car.

Leaving Sunoo and Sunghoon to the silence…

"I'm sorry.." Sunoo's expression has completely fallen again, his eyes beginning to fill with more tears.

Looking up to the other as he tries to force a smile. "He's such an asshole..He shouldn't have to be your problem"

"Sunoo-“ Sunghoon shifts on the couch some, turning his body more towards the other. "If he's making you cry like this, he was going to be my problem anyway-…You're not going back there, okay?"

"I just feel so stupid, I thought things would get better after we moved in and it just got worse, and I have nowhere else to go and I wanna stop crying and I can't and I feel so ugly-“

"I think you're pretty."

Sunoo swallows, looking over to the other man now with a streak of confusion. A mortified look on Sunghoon's face as he realizes what he just said.

"S-Sunghoon.?" He practically hiccups his friends name.

"I'm- That was-" He raises a hand up to drag it down his face in a frustrated manner. Giving a defeated sigh, he's carefully moving his own hands. Taking Sunoo’s in his. Hesitant, at first, almost as if Sunoo's hands were the most delicate things he could hold.

"I think you're pretty when you cry…You're never ugly- Just sucks that this is why you have to cry."

"y-You think that..?" The younger male sniffs, blinking through his tears, bottom lip still quivering slightly. Sunghoon opens his mouth to speak but quickly slams it shut.

Sunghoon can't even bring himself to look at the other anymore. It was already bad enough that he had the most obvious crush on his friend- Jay making a daily reminder to him about it on a regular basis, for whatever annoying fucking reason. But tonight after hearing Sunoo slip up about his therapist and their sessions…It didn’t take much for Jay and even himself, to realize that the other man Sunoo had been mentioning during his session’s…Was Sunghoon himself. Jay having given Sunghoon a certain look during the discussion- Almost as if he had known there was something between them in the first place. But Sunoo was taken. Long spoken for. What could Sunghoon have done?

But now Sunoo was sitting here, on his couch, tear stained, in one of his shirts that fit him just a little too big…Sunghoon didn't know who was more vulnerable in that moment between the two of them and he's only just a man. His mind is reeling on how Sunoo is technically single now and how he just called him pretty, how swollen his lips are, how red and puffy his eyes have gotten, how there's so many stars in his eyes when he's crying, how his hands are really soft, how gorgeous his legs are-

"Sunghoon-ah!?"

Sunghoon jumps being snatched out of his thoughts, Sunoo practically yelling his name.

"S-Sunghoon, are you okay, have you been drinking or something.?"

Sunoo asks and honestly, though he has had a drink or two, those words hurt his   feelings. Sunghoon didn't need to be drunk to tell Sunoo how he felt- He just needed time. An opportunity. This was as good as any...The selfish thought of Sunoo getting over his ex and going to someone else gnawing at him. He doesn't want Sunoo to go anywhere else. He wants him here. Like this. These soft hands. Those swollen lips. Even his broken smile. He wants everything that there is and anything he can fix.

"I'm not drunk Sunoo, and I meant it. You're always pretty...always."

He's rubbing his thumb along the back of the others hands now.

Looking down to the delicate fingers for a moment before their eyes finally meet again. "And when your cry, it's just…” Sunghoon let's out another sigh, watching as another tear runs down flushed cheeks and he can't shake the thought away anymore.

He couldn't ask for it.

He didn't even really think about it.

His body moved on its own.

Cupping the others face in both hands now, he closes in the space between them with a kiss. Catching the poor man off guard as he steals his lips. Chasing after the shy, plump folds that slowly started to reciprocate. Sunoo's hands coming up to brace on the others wrists.

Sunoo is Kissing him back.

He's really kissing him.

And Sunghoon can feel the fireworks going off in his chest. Deepening the kiss much further as he glides his tongue past the others lips with such ease and the little noise that comes from him makes his heart turn flips. Sunoo is trying to say something- His name. Muffling it out into the kiss before Sunghoon is finally pulling away to let him catch his breath.

"Just go out with me instead…”

"Wh-what?"

"Move in with me even-"

"Sunghoon!?"

"Your things are already here! Just stay the night...Think about it…..Give me a chance...I'd even beg." His last words are almost a whisper, but Sunoo hears them.

He moves his hands to cup the others cheeks, now bringing his forehead to rest against his. Closing his eyes, before there’s finally a faint smile at his lips.

“Why couldn’t you come out with it before..?”

“Huh..?”

There’s a weak chuckle coming from Sunoo before he’s tilting his head bit, now bringing himself closer to the other. Much closer. So much that Sunghoon is now cradling the other in his lap. Sunoo now comfortably nuzzling himself down into the others embrace. Already, he felt so safe. Warm. 

“This is going to sound really bad, Sunghoon…Please don’t judge.” The younger whispers. Head now resting on Sunghoon’s shoulder, a hand playing in the man’s hair.

“I won’t judge you. I promise…What’s wrong?”

“Well…” Sunoo sighs. “I always knew you kinda liked me…Always.” He starts and he can see the defeated look in the others expression an he chuckles. Sniffling before he speaks again. “I liked you too, though…But- whenever I tried…You always seemed to pull away…Like you didn’t want me.”

Sunghoon can hear the others words waver a little at the end. Holding him even tighter as he now turns his head to pepper soft kisses at the youngers jaw. “I’m sorry Sunoo…I didn’t want to ruin what we had…As friends…It was stupid…”

Sunoo shakes his head slightly as he sniffles. “It hurt a little…I should’ve just come out and said something to you…But I was afraid of you turning me down…So I thought maybe if I made it obvious enough…He'll come to me.”

“I’m sorry-”

“No-No don’t be.” Sunoo is now moving to cup the other’s cheeks, holding his face so that the two are now peering into each other's eyes. “I have you now…Right…? I-If I stay for a bit…C-Can we try? I mean- give it a little time? See what happens?”

It was just from those words that Sunghoon couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips. Just the thought of a chance between them and he was beyond happy. It’s seeing that smile though, that Sunoo had his answer, and he was meeting the other in a sweet kiss…

The moment their lips had touched in the first place, they both had their minds made up.

Present Day…

Splashing some more water on his face before peering into the mirror, Sunghoon regains his grip back on reality. Pulling himself from thoughts of the past, and back to the present. He was sure he had already taken too long in the bathroom and needed to get back to the crowd. But ever since he had arrived to the party, things had felt, uneasy.

He just had a feeling…

A feeling like he shouldn’t be there.

He just wanted to take Sunoo and go home.

But he promised the other he would come…After a month of sorting themselves out, they decided to call things official, and all of his friends were more than excited to meet the Sunghoon that they had always heard so much about. Apparently Sunghoon had been the topic of many conversations even long before they were dating.

But he shakes it off. Letting out another sigh before returning to the crowd. He sees Sunoo is right where he left him. With his little crowd of friends.

“Hoon! There you are, I thought you fell down the drain!” Sunoo teases, almost in a tone as if scolding the other for taking too long. But he brightens the other up with a smile almost immediately after, before he’s hugging his arm again.

“Hey man- If what I said earlier was weird, or out of line, I’m sorry. I’ve just had a lot to drink tonight.” The male admits and Sunghoon shakes his head, signaling it’s okay.

“You weren’t wrong. It just wasn’t the opportunity I would’ve wanted. I could’ve waited longer if it had meant for things to go differently…I think about it going differently all the time but- Well we’re here now and that’s all that matters.” Sunghoon suddenly admits and Sunoo is looking up to the other with the most awestruck expression.

“I didn’t know you still thought about it so much…It feels so long ago to me now. Would you really have been waiting for me, Sunghoon?” The younger one has drunken stars in his eyes and Sunghoon smiles, forgetting about the couple of friends in front of them for a moment.

“Of course I would…This is something I’ve wanted for a long time.”

Sunoo can feel happy little tears stinging his eyes, and he hides them as he pulls the other down into a kiss. Sunghoon’s hands coming to the other's waist, as Sunoo’s smaller ones are now cupping his face. Just a sweet trading of lips. A brief little moment that said so much more. The two slowly pull away with soft smiles, a  slight flush at Sunoo’s cheeks.

“Oh! Oh my!”

It’s then hearing the female in front of them that Sunghoon scolds himself and Sunoo can only giggle.

“No, no! You two are so cute! Ugh, Sunoo he’s perfect, you should’ve started dating your friends a long time ago!” She chimes. A tearful smile on her face before she fans at the man that was with her, now shoving past him. “Move I have to go fix my makeup! Oh gosh you two-!”

“I’m gonna make sure she wanders into the right bathroom this time.” The man laughs as he now follows after the girl. Giving Sughoon a proper goodbye in case they didn’t see each other for the rest of the night.

After that, the two mean were practically inseparable. Sunoo was happily hanging off of Sunghoon in front of all of his friends, and it even put Jungwon in a romantic mood. Prompting him to be just as clingy with Jay. Not that he already wasn’t, but he was more drunk off the atmosphere rather than the alcohol. Whispering little promises and taunts in Jay’s ear all night just to tug at his composure. Meanwhile Sunoo and Sunghoon had seemed like the sweetest couple at the party tonight.

“Y’know, I’ve never seen anyone actually dance here…” Jay sighs as he’s pour another shot for himself, and the other three men.

“It is good dance music, just going to waste.” Jungwon sighs, fiddling with the small glass before bringing it to his lips.

Sunoo hums as Jay pushes his glass over to him. Sunghoon and his friend downing their shots together. “It doesn’t have to be a waste.” The younger says before hopping up from his seat.

The three watch him wondering where he could possibly be running off to- And then they realize- He’s sauntered straight over to Heeseung. Who was glued to the couch with a girl on either side of him, both of the females seemingly contesting for his lap.

“Heeseeeeung~ Can I have your phone?” Sunoo sings, Heeseung too engrossed in his conversation with the girls, doesn’t even bother to ask what he wants it for, and hands it over.

Sunoo now having complete control over the playlist. Changing the vibe, ande the volume, and it’s noticeable. Especially with the way he begins dancing through the crowd, tugging at a few others clothes, pulling them to the center with him. Eventually bumping into his female friend who was more than happy to join him. The younger male making his way all the way back to Sunghoon and his friends, the biggest smile on his face.

“We can dance now!” He cheers, clapping for himself.

“You literally just grinded on half the household…” Jay says with a dumbfounded look on his face, Sunghoon having covered his eyes.

“Is it safe to look yet?” The older whines and Sunoo playfully slaps his boyfriends arm in response. 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I'm going to dance.” Jungwon says with an innocent smile before Jay looks him up and down.

“If you’re dancing, then I’m dancing? Duh.” 

Jungwon can't help but laugh at the way his boyfriend responds, before Jay is taking his hand himself, and guiding them out onto the floor. Now there’s just Sunghoon. Sunoo’s pleading eyes gazing up at the other, as he bites his lip. Taking the larger hands in his and slowly stepping back into the dancing crowd. Slowly but surely, Sunghoon follows him in. If the two hadn’t appeared inseparable already, they definitely were that way now. Sunoo kept his body as close as he possibly could to the others. His arms around the taller’s shoulders, Sunghoon’s around his waist in response. Their foreheads touching, and if you had to look twice you’d say they were kissing. A few times they were. Until it inevitably turned into nothing but an entire makeout session in the drunken crowd of their friends.

And from there, the night carried on…The atmosphere had shifted to a much more lively setting for the next handful of hours, and Jay and Sunghoon were making sure to keep an eye on Jungwon and Sunoo who wanted to have a few more drinks before going home. No more for themselves of course, because they were the ones that would be driving them home. 

“Mmmmmm I had so much fun let’s do it again tomorrow…” Sunoo groans, body completely limp against Sunghoon’s as the four of them were piled on the couch. Sunoo and Jungwon sitting between him and Jay. The two younger males obviously needing to be tucked in.

“Hey guys! Sorry I was- Well…” 

They look up to see Heeseung jogging down his stairs, in the process of throwing his shirt back on and a sheepish smile on his lips.

“Wow, never seen him blush like that before. They must've been fun?” Jay says with a suggestive smile, before giving him the eyebrows as well. Heeseung silently mouthing an ‘oh yeah’ before squeezing himself onto the couch next to him. Only way that ended up working out was Jay shuffling over and having to surrender his lap to Jungwon. 

“Everyone else is already going home, but we didn’t want to leave without saying bye.” Jungwon admits with a sleepy smile as he readjusts in Jay’ s lap. Turning himself a bit more so that he can face Heeseung.

A few of the boys had work in the morning but not all of them. Of course that had included Heeseung so he more or less had to make sure that the house was clear of anymore guests, before seeing his friends out. Heeseung had lived in a pretty nice condominium so it took some time and a bit of elevator sharing for everyone to make their way down to the parking lot. Of course as they got there, one of the males realized he still had something on him that didn’t quite belong to him…

“Oh no! Awh, man…” Sunoo whined as he looks down to the phone in his hands. Sunghoon stopping, gently taking ahold of the others shoulders, trying to figure what’s wrong.

“Hm? Baby, what is it? Sunoo?”

Sunoo laughs nervously before slapping himself in the forehead. “I still have Heeseung’s phone! And he’s all the way back up theeeeere!”

Sunoo is now looking up at Sunghoon with those eyes. Those starry brown hues that he just can’t deny. With a soft sigh and smile, Sunghoon takes the phone from the younger.

“I’ll take it up to him. You just go to the car and warm up.” He then slides his keys into Sunoo’s pocket as he leans in to steal a kiss, before jogginh his way back into the lobby.

Sunoo smiles as he watches the other head off, now looking down to the keys in his hand. It’s then that he hears a car horn and looks up to see Jay and Jungwon waving to him before getting into their car. He wavded them of as well before finally starting to Sunghoon’s car. But his short walk across the lot was soon interrupted…

He looks around as he hears his name.

But he’s not sure where it’s coming from…

Then he hears his name again and his eyes finally land on a familiar man.

No…Not a man he wants to see at all.

But as the man sees he has Sunoo's attention, he’s smiling and jogging in his direction.

“No…No, no, no, no-” Sunoo turns quickly and begins to chant as he moves quicker. Everytime he hears his name from the man’s voice he tries to move faster but his feet fail him.

That and there was a hand gripping his wrist, tugging him back slightly to stop him from going forward anymore.

“Sunoo, wait-“ As the man grabs the younger’s arm now, Sunoo is automatically flinching. The older male seeing the effect his grip had on him, he loosens it and takes a step away. “I-I’m sorry…I just want to talk…I want to…Apologize. That’s all. If you’ll-“

Before the man could finish speaking, there was a larger figure emerging between the two. A fist coming through to put the other man on the ground. Sunoo gasping as he took a few steps back, now to see Sunghoon.

“I told you if you ever touched him again…You’d regret it.” He says glaring down at the man, who’s still holding his jaw. Looking up bewildered at the other before looking to Sunoo in shock. “Don’t look at him. Fuck off.”

The man is quickly scurrying up off the ground before quickly running back to his car. Sunghoon simply turning around, grabbing Sunoo by the wrist and leading them back in the direction of his car.

“What was that?!” Sunoo exclaims, following along as Sunghoon drags him.

“A punch.”

“He wasn’t hurting me! Sunghoon! Sunghoon!” Sunoo suddenly stops, tugging against the other. Finally snatching from his grasps causing the male to whip around.

“What-? Are you mad? Are you mad that I hit him?”

Sunoo raises his arms only to drop them at his sides again. “I’m upset that you did something so reckless!”

“Everyone saw him grab you.”

“Yeah and then everyone saw you punch him! You punched him!”

“If you’re so worried about what I did to him now, then you’d be terrified at what I would’ve done back then…” Sunghoon is suddenly in the others face. “Do you know what it was like? Walking into that house? The images in my head, Sunoo?”

“S-Sung…”

“You worry about him every time we see him around…” There’s a look in Sunghoon’s eyes. A mix of anger, pain, and confusion and it reflects in Sunoo’s. The smaller beginning to tear up as silent drops cascade down his cheeks. “And I have to see him around now, happy, healthy, untouched after what he did to you. How can you be concerned!? How can you care what I do to him!? He’s garbage, Sunoo! I finally, FINALLY do something to make sure he never comes near you again, and you’re upset!? He’s going to keep chasing you until you talk to him!”

“I-I just don’t want you to get in trouble…” His voice is barely there and it’s when Sunghoon sees it…The hint of fear in the others eyes. “I-I don’t want you to fight…I don’t want to see you all beat up and angry like that…That’s not my Sunghoon…” Sunoo shakes his head as his voice begins to waver and even more tears start to fall.

He’s crying.

Really crying now.

Sobbing.

“Don’t be like him! Don’t get so angry that you end up doing stupid things like he did! So angry that you just hurt people because you’re mad! You have me now, okay? I love you now. I loved him once but...Some people just don't fit…S-Sunghoon- I’m yours...Okay?” Sunoo’s shaky hands are now holding Sunghoon’s and the taller man can’t help but notice the eyes around them. Not only that, but Jay and Jungwon dashing across the parking lot to the two of them.

“You guys alright?!”

“What the Hell is going on?!”

“Sunghoon punched my ex.” Sunoo sniffles, now bringing his hands back to wipe his own tears.

“You punched him?” Jungwon says in disbelief as he glances between the two of them.

“About fucking time…” Jays says under his breath but is immediately getting a look from Jungwon.

“Jay- Don’t.”

“He came up and grabbed Sunoo…He didn’t need to touch him, he had no business touching him.” Sunghoon defends himself and Sunoo gives him another wounded look.

“And you didn’t have to touch him, you could’ve just grabbed me and we could’ve left! Now look-”

“Look at what? All your friends that were just watching? Did I embarrass you? Well I’m sorry Sunoo, next time I won’t interrupt. You must’ve felt so safe just now then, right? Before I came?”

“Sunghoon!” Jungwon is now stepping between the two of them, shoving the older male back some. “Lay off, listen to yourself…He panicked okay, it’s not his fault! Especially when you just come out of nowhere swinging like that…”

“I’m fine. I just wanna go home.”

In tears, Sunoo is shoving past them, moving quickly through the parking lot as he makes his way to  Sunghoon’s car. Jungwon giving Sunghoon a worried look before following after Sunoo. Calling the younger’s name but getting no response or acknowledgement. Leaving Jay and Sunghoon to themselves. Jay gave his friend a look of disbelief before rolling his eyes and waving to the other to follow him to his car so they could talk. Sunghoon huffs. Taking his hands through his hair in a frustrated manner before following after Jay.

“Sunghoon…” Jay starts. He’s now sitting behind the wheel of his car and Sunghoon in the passenger seat. From where they were parked, they could see Sunoo and Jungwon’s figures. Having their own conversation a ways from them. “You know you can’t yell at him like that, right..?”

Sunghoon is staring down into his hands. He felt bad for raising his voice at Sunoo like that, yes. He felt bad that he made him cry. But at the same time, he was angry. He was angry that his ex was able to even lay a hand on Sunoo. He felt like he had failed. Like he had broken his promise. He was disgusted. He was angry he couldn’t hit him more. Sunoo was the one that came to his house covered in bruises and yet that man had nothing coming to him? Sunghoon regrets not beating him up that night.

“Sunghoon-”

“I know.” Sunghoon finally huffs out. Now resting his head against the window as he stares out at nothing really. “I know and I’m sorry…”

“Yeah well, I’m not the one you should be apologizing too…That night was horrible for him. I still don't’ think we know everything that was going on between them…That relationship went bad a long time ago but Sunoo was trying so hard…”

“I know…” Sunghoon sighs again, but this time his voice is weaker. “I’d never hurt Sunoo. Never on purpose…I just wanted to protect him. I told him he’d never have to see that guy again, that I’d never let him lay another finger on him…”

Jay could hear the defeated tone in his friends words. The pain even. Sunghoon had waited so long for this moment. The relationship with Sunoo that he had thought would always be a fantasy…It was actually the entire reason his last relationship failed.

“Y’know…When we broke up. I lied.” Jay suddenly speaks. Sunghoon’s brows coming together.

“Pardon?”

Jay can’t help but laugh a bit then. Sunghoon’s head now coming off the window to face his friend.

He sighs. “When I broke up with you Sunghoon…It wasn’t because of Jungwon.” Jay clears his throat again. Finding it difficult to find the next words.

“Jay…”

“No- No, I need to say this.” He takes his hands through his hair. “That lie was totally unfair to you. To make you feel like I left you for someone else.” His own voice is growing a little weaker now. Eyes stinging. “God, I didn’t think I’d be crying over this again.”

“You? Crying over us? Jay- I- Whatever it is, just tell me.”

“I broke up with you-” He starts, silent tears falling from his eyes anyway. “Because I knew you didn’t love me.”

“Th-that’s not true-”

“NOT in that way. I know you love me, I KNEW you loved me then, but not like a lover. When I was with you Sunghoon, all I saw was how much you wanted him. The longing. All of it.” Jay nods, now fiddling with his hands in his lap. “I know how long you’ve been waiting…Years. Years to get to love him, right?” Jay finally looks over to his friend.

It’s then that the two realize the tears in each others eyes and can’t help but laugh at each other.

Just a way to cope.

“Ugh, this is so weird.” Jay groans now roughly wiping the tears from his face. Sunghoon does the same as he hums in agreement.

“We never really talked about it before, wow.” Sunghoon is now looking out to see Jungwon giving Sunoo a comforting hug. The younger still appeared to be crying…

“Yeah…But you get what I’m saying right?” Jay looks to the other again. “I know how much you love him. Maybe more than anyone. But if you hold onto him too tight, he’s gonna slip right through your fingers…You see the way he walked away from you…? He didn’t even storm off on his ex like that…That scared me. It scared ME, Sunghoon…Don’t make yourself the one he has to harden his heart to. He’s been through shit. Don’t drag ‘em through more.”

Sunghoon nods slightly. Gaze still set out on the two figures ahead of them.

Silence filling the car between the two of them…

Until-

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry I did that to you.” More tears are falling from Sunghoon’s eyes. 

He couldn’t help but think about all the time he had Jay going through that pain. A whole year. An entire year and even though it all had Sunghoon been that obvious? So much that he blindly went as far as to hurt his friend? He didn’t mean for Jay to be a bandaid or anything of the like. They sorted themselves out…Gave it a chance. Hell, Sunghoon was the one that initiated it…One drunk sleepover turned into a not so one night stand later and the two were happily claiming each other as lovers. But it wasn’t as happily as Sunghoon thought…

“Mm-mm” Jay shakes his head. “Don’t do that. I messed up to- I thought I could replace Sunoo. Dumped you and told you there was someone else…I could’ve been honest. Could’ve done better. We both made a mess.”

“Still-”

“No. I lied.” Jay is wiping his eyes again. “I lied to you Sunghoon. To protect myself. If I told you the truth then, you would’ve been seeing me alot like you’re seeing Sunoo right now.”

Sunghoon slams his head back against the seat with a groan. “How am I NOT supposed to apologize?”

“Because- You made up for it by being my friend, always being my friend. Being there for me, for Jungwon, for both of us? All while having to- Deal with watching Sunoo with…Y’know other guys and not you...”

“I still feel guilty…”

“I know…Back then I would’ve wanted you to.”

“I deserve it.”

“Sunghoon, dude-”

“Jungwon is coming back.”

It’s then that Jay looks up to see that Sunoo is getting into Sunghoon’s car, and Jungwon is coming around to Sunghoon’s door. Opening it up as he reaches the car.

“He’s ready to go home, Hoon. You two should go on and head in, sleep this off.” Jungwon suggests, but it’s then…He notices the state of the other two, giving Jay a questionable look.

“We had the talk- The talk you told me I needed to have? That ‘we’- Needed to have?” Jay admits and Sunghoon is suddenly wearing an alarmed expression aimed at a sighing Jungwon.

“Come talk to me for a minute, Sunghoon…”

As Jungwon steps aside, Sunghoon piles out of the car, shutting the door behind him. Now looking down to the younger male. 

“I- Kind of forgave you a long time ago for Jay. He told me why he really broke up with you before we started really dating…And y'know, I hated you for a little bit.”

Sunghoon’s eyes grow wide…Before his gaze falls to the ground. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know if there’s anything for him to say.

“But you and Sunoo have always been something Jay has wanted. He wanted to see you happy still- And we all had to watch you break a little more every time Sunoo went to someone else…But you have him now- Don’t mess it up, okay?” Jungwon is now moving, tilting his head in a way where he’s forcing himself to be under the others' gaze. “Mm? Yeah?” He says offering the other a smile and Sunghoon finally raises his gaze.

“Yeah…Don’t hold on too tight, Jay mentioned that too…”

“We shouldn’t have to tell you this…But he really loves you. Alot. He’s loved you and been waiting for this for a long time too…But he’s– He’s hurting. Still- alot- So you can’t talk to him like that, okay?” Jungwon is shaking his head, tears stinging his eyes. “Don’t, talk to him like that.”

But seeing the tears in Jungwon’s eyes suddenly had Sunghoon confused. Everyone was having their fair share of tears tonight…But what had he and Sunoo talked about? Did Sunoo tell him something that he didn’t know yet?

Sunoo was still hurting?

At that moment, Sunghoon began to feel ashamed. To feel wrong for suddenly assuming that since Sunoo was with him now, all his pain was gone. That wasn’t how Sunoo was feeling at all. That’s how Sunghoon was feeling. Had he really been so selfish all this time?

“Take him home now, Hoon.” Jungwon says before climbing into the passenger seat. Exchanging soft goodbyes with the older before Sunghoon watches the two disappear from the parking lot. He looks ahead now to see Sunoo sitting in his car waiting for him.

Sunghoon was hesitant at first. Shoving his hands in his coat pocket as he takes his time moving across the parking lot. Carrying himself to his car. Sunoo is sitting in the passenger seat. Sniffling, Fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. Shivering. Sunghoon doesn't hesitate at all in blasting the heat after he gets the car started.

“Thank you…” The younger mutters.

“Of course.” Sunghoon’s words are soft. Tone a lot different than what it had been earlier.

Sunoo had noticed the change in his demeanor, now stealing a few glances of the other. It was then that he noticed that Sunghoon had been crying too. He couldn’t help but pout. Did Sunghoon cry because of him? Was he that angry with him? Did what happened hurt Sunghoon that much? Sunoo couldn’t help but begin to guilt trip himself over what could have possibly made Sunghoon cry. It wasn’t often if at all that he’d ever seen Sunghoon cry…Regardless…The drive home was silent.

[justyourtypicalwriter]

I just saw the post SERVICE DOGS HCS PLEASEEE !!!

HERE WE GO GANG! These are the one's I have so far! Feel free to suggest recs for any characters or disabilities y'all wanna see! (feel free to rec it even if it's for a character on the list)

STAN:

Service Dog: Brown Newfoundland, Delta (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Minor Psychosis 

The hair dye oh my god. He can rarely drag himself out of bed during depressive episodes but occasionally he’ll get a random burst of impulsivity and re-dye his hair. Most of the time he does the same shitty job at bleaching it blonde

“DARLING! GUESS WHO’S BACK FROM THE PSYCH WARD” vibes

Sharon and Randy officially divorced when he was fifteen. He got a little better now that there isn’t constant screaming or the threat of a drunk or high Randy doing something stupid

Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a total mess-

Patched his relationship with Shelly

Misdiagnosis club AND public breakdown club

God his entire aura just radiates LOSER energy but he’s somehow insanely popular

Not cousins with Craig & Red in this AU but their parents are insanely close so they hang out a lot

CRAIG:

Service Dog: Irish Setter, Saturn (M)

Medical Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Epilepsy

Lowkey autistic but Saturn isn’t task trained for anything related to that

Goes non-verbal at times but it’s pretty spontaneous. Most people outside his group can’t tell if he’s actually non-verbal or just not talking to fuck with everyone

Peru drama was secretly worked out when they were twelve. Craig was hospitalized for a while when they were running tests to get a diagnosis, it was roughly a month long stay. He told Stan he’d call it even if Stan looked after Stripe until he was out. Tweek was away for the summer and he knew Stan wouldn’t let anything happen to her since he’s a massive animal lover

Gotta maintain the bitch personality 

TWEEK:

Service Dog: Doberman, Latte (M)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilitie(s): Chronic Anxiety,

“Ah fuck, the magic school bus is waiting outside to take me back to rehab-”

I kid you not, he was absolutely terrified of Latte when he first got him

Which is funny because Latte is the sweetest goddamn thing, not at all like Fable whose a fucking demon shit

CPS was called on his parents right before senior year

Placed with the Broflovski’s so he and Kyle got closer

Public breakdown club

BUTTERS:

Service Dog: Boxer, Haven (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression

Public breakdown club (IN DEVELOPMENT)

KYLE:

Service Dog: Black Giant Schnauzer, Noble (M)

Medical & Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Diabetes, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)[This one might be switched]

Tubie Kyle (I fucking LOVE this one)

For once I give Kyle an ED that doesn’t stem from body image issues

Humancentipad trauma bc I love being problematic about the episode

DESPISES his lows because it means he has to eat something

Also goes non-verbal but only during times of high stress

Noble is a program dog. Kyle got him when he was 14 and initially he was so against it. He wants to function independently but he really fucking can’t. As he grows older he learns to accept the help more

HATES mirrors. The Humancentipad incident left him with scars

Public breakdown club

KENNY:

Service Dog: Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Harbor (M)

Medical Response & Mobility Aid Dog

Disabilities: Muscular Dystrophy, Chronic Pain

Regularly hospitalized, fucking dies, and revives the next day

DUMPSTER DOG<3333

He trained Harbor mostly by himself (Wendy, Tolkien, and Kyle pitched in a bit and bought him books on training techniques)

MOM FRIEND! Bro I just love making Kenny one of the parental figures of the group. He’s just got a bag of shit he carries around for both himself and everyone else. Stan forgot to swap his bandages? Boom, Kenny’s got new ones. Kyle’s sugar is low? Boom, he’s got whatever little snack the boy is able to tolerate. Someone needs a distraction? Medical episode causes them to need a vomit bag? Boom, done. Mom friend Kenny

So fucking ADHD

JIMMY:

Service Dog: Grey Great Dane, Kitty (F)

Mobility Aid Dog (IN DEVELOPMENT)

TOLKIEN:

Service Dog: Papillon, Jax (M) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

WENDY:

Service Dog: Black German Shepherd, Nike (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response

Disabilities: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

CLYDE:

Service Dog: Husky, Fable (F) (IN DEVELOPMENT)

BEBE:

Service Dog: Golden Retriever, Bucky (M)

Medical Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

Misdiagnosis club

Went to multiple doctors from 13-15 who all told her it was all in her head

And she’s just sitting there like “bitch please, the only thing in my head is my girlfriend and how hot she is. Now tell me why I keep experiencing these symptoms-”

HEIDI:

Service Dog: Chocolate Labrador, Isa (F)

Psychiatric Alert & Response Dog

Disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Public breakdown club (IN DEVELOPMENT)

[hiem3]

smooth operator

18+

warning~ alc0h0l, bar, 3ating out, d0m seokmin, use the word baby, darling, and honey.

summary~ you’re the owner of a bar in the 20’s and it’s illegal to sell/drink alcohol. as an owner you have priorities until, a man comes in with a devilish smile and your whole mindset changes.

author side note: oml i had so much fun writing this! i literally had this plot in mind when i was listening to smooth operator and i was listening to light a flame as well lol~ i hope you guys like this story as much as you liked ceo jeonghan! more stories to come!

It was late at night and you were opening your secret bar. It was the 20’s and booze was illegal so you had to hide your bar from the outside world. only the elites are allowed inside your bar; business men, ceos, wallstreet guys,

and everyone else expect cops. if cops came in you would be gone, your whole business would be over. your bar was hiding underneath a book store named semicolon however your bar was named light a flame after your favorite song.

your bar was boomin and business was going good. however tonight’s business is going especially well “free shots for eveyone!” said a business man “my business is good and so are these drinks woo!” he abruptly sits back down into his seat. you smile and giggle of course because it’s a good atmosphere people are laughing and having fun. you pour the shots and hand it to everyone. everyone says 1..2..3 go! and they all take the shot together expect you of course. Jazz was blaring loud and suddenly you smell smoke. “hey you! can’t you see the no smoke sign?” you point at the sign.

the man was devilishly handsome, tall nose, nice smile, broad shoulder, and whew that build. you get kind of embarrassed once you realize all of this, he puts his lighter and cigarette box away “i’m sorry mrs. 1st time” he said smiling. you blush a little bit and cough “well i guess that’ll be fine but don’t you do that again mr.” “it’s mr. lee but just call me seokmin” he said with a small smile “right..i don’t want no cops showing up here askin why is there smoke coming out of a library shop”. “no no i understand mrs?” he asked his eyes were begging with an answer “mrs. y/l, but you can call me y/n”. “y/n tell me why a book store?” he asked sipping his whiskey “actually this was my father book store but i renovated it to be a bar” you say proudly as you’re cleaning glasses. “you know..alcohol is illegal right?” he says as he’s sipping whiskey. you froze is he a cop? a spy? fbi? he chuckles and you stop being tense. you chuckle as well “my, well then have me arrested” seokmin voice lowers “you know your laugh is cute”. your ears blush “why thank you”

a man drunkly calls for your name “y/-n g..et ov..er he-re!” you smile at seokmin “duty calls” for the rest of the night you attended to everyone and haven’t spoken to seokmin even though he’s been staring at you the entire time. by the night ends there was only him at the bar “it’s 1:00 am in the morning, shouldn’t you be heading home?” you say cleaning up the bar. “yes well, i wanted to have you all to myself before i leave” he responded grabbing your broom away and placing his hand on your waist. you blush, flustered by the way he’s staring into your eyes. “i’ve been observing you seeing how you run this place, it made me curious about you, what more secrets are you hiding?” he says leaning over you “my well.. you know you’re quite forward” you chuckle nervously. he smiles back “i’m only like that when i want something..and you know…i always get. what i want.” it’s as if he’s telling you to fuck him in your bar but you stop yourself and create distance. “well seokmin you’ll have to wait for it” you say dusting yourself and fixing your hair nervously “did i also mention i am also quite patient” he says smiling “well i bid you a good night my darling”. seokmin exists your door and leaves for the night. for the rest of that week you continue thinking about him, wondering when is he going to come back? is what he says true?

every since you met seokmin you’re always looking at the customer who enters the door hoping it was him then on Friday you hear a similar voice. oh that might be him you thought to yourself and it was, however he brought his friends. a man with blonde hair asks for 2 bourbon and 1 scotch. you look over at the table where seokmin was sitting and asked “is it for them?” you point. “ah yes you see my friend over there he was saying how this bar was amazing and the owner hospitality was like no other” he responded “ah thank you, could i ask what your name is? i like to remember my customers” you say smiling. “you can call me seungkwan”. you guys shake hands and you hand him his 2 bourbons and 1 scotch.

as the night goes on, it got chaotic to the point where you didn’t even check on seokmin because you were too busy with customers.

again, when you closed seokmin was the only one left. “don’t you have somewhere to be?” you laugh “actually yes. here with you” he responded smiling as he sips his scotch. “what happened to your other friends?” you ask “they got too drunk and had to leave, they wanted me to come with them but..i wanted to stay here” he says, you notice there was a little bit of blush on your ears which made you blush a little bit. “oh well that’s too bad” you say “you know..you might make me jealous by asking about them” he says wrapping his arms around your waist, hugging you from the back.

“seokmin..i don’t do that one night stand type of stuff” you say“me too..what made you think that i did?” he asks having a concern look on his face. “well i- you know what i’m sorry i shouldn’t have assumed” he turns you around to face him “you should know that i don’t intend to do this with just anyone..” your head starts spinning, your mind is telling you know but your body is telling you go. you hop on him, his arms around your legs to hold you up “is this a yes my love?” he says, you nod. he smiles and says “i’m gonna need you to tell me with your words” you sigh and whisper into his ear “please..fuck me”.

he throws you over his shoulder and puts you down on the bar counter “that’s all i needed, wasn’t that not so hard?” he grins. he starts kissing you, to your neck, chest, thighs, and reaches to your cunt. he spreads your thighs apart and looks up. “i want you to remember every. single. thing. i’m gonna do to you. i want to engrave it into your mind”. he starts licking your clit, twirling around while grabbing your tits. you never felt this way before and you’ve never been fucked inside your own bar. “m-mm seokmin!” you yell “honey, you’re gonna have to lower down your voice, you don’t want the cops to hear you” he smiles. fuck that cocky little devil. he continues eating you out, putting his fingers in and focusing on your clit. it wasn’t enough, you needed bigger. the way he’s eating you and the view you were at, his little cute mole and his nose. you grab his hair and start riding on his nose “mm-m seokmin! i’m close!” you groan. you ride out your orgasm and you cum all over his face, white paint is all over his face. “oh wow..you’re so fucking hot” he licks his fingers and leans over you “put your ass up darling”.

you go down from the bar counter and lean your body on top of the counter. the cool surface on the table feels nice on your tits. “fuck, i can’t hold it in longer..” he puts the tip in and you can already tell it’s big. you’ve had sex with other guys before but you never had this big. he puts it all in and groans “uh-h so warm..” you moan “hm ple-ase move..” something in him lights up. you can tell he got even harder when you said that, he starts grabbing your ass and hitting you deep. your whole core is shaking it feels too good to be true. “you like that huh? you like it when i fuck you like this? hm?” he says grabbing you face and leaning over your body fucking you. “hm-m ye-s” you mumbled. “sorry you’re gonna have to say that louder darling, or is my cock that good that you can’t say anything?” he says grinning. you start uncontrollably moving on his cock. “f-uck!” you moan. “i’m close darling” he says. he starts circling your clit and pumping you even harder, hitting your stomach. “i’m cu-mmingg!” you yell gripping on the edge of the counter, rolling your eyes back and tears dripping down your face. “me too” he says. he grabs your face and you guys start kissing passionately. you came and so did he, “fuck baby that was so good”. your legs gives out “oh shi-“ he quickly grabs you and puts you on top of the counter. you can’t even move your legs “fuck my back is so sore” you hiss and hit him “don’t be fucking me from the behind again!” he giggles and says “i don’t know you seem to like it, but hey if you say so” putting his hands up as if he’s guilty.

you guys both laugh and it’s already 2:00 am, “oh no i gotta head back to work, my break is over..” seokmin says “right now? really? wait- what do you even do?”. he puts on his pants, his jacket, and grabs something from his left pocket as he’s making his way through the door “i’m a cop” he says grinning showing you his badge “bye honey~ see you next time” he says. your jaw dropped opened. you can’t believe you had sex and with a cop!?

[talesoftheesun]

Oof I just saw your post so HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY 🥳

If you're still accepting requests, I'd like one with "I'm really sorry" + Jude litg x fem reader

I know we'll have like few more days but I need to see him begging for forgiveness asap 🧍🏻‍♀️

thank u sm! 🥹 sorry this is a bit late and if the pacing seems off, the heat has been beating my ass

I wrote this as a main villa li x mc, as opposed to specifically jude x mc, since fusebox writes like that themselves lol. but it's also so that everyone can read this while imagining it's their li I guess?? I hope you don't mind and that you enjoy it!

all stars main li (chen/henri/jude/lyle) x female!reader

You’re nervous. You’re about to enter the main villa again after being in casa amor for a few days. Realistically you know you have nothing to worry about. The two of you were the strongest couple before casa. Not that that’s a great accomplishment given the state of the other couples, but the strongest couple nonetheless. Aside from the pool mishap, which you explained in the letter you wrote him before you were whisked away to casa amor. So why are you so nervous?

You’re the last girl to walk out. You’d asked the others to wish you luck, to which they all said you wouldn’t need it. But as you're walking down the steps towards the firepit, you don’t miss the looks of pity in their eyes as you join them. You can feel your stomach starting to churn, everything in you is telling you to turn around and just walk away, save yourself the heartache of what you’re about to witness. 

But you don’t. You force yourself to keep your head up high and your back straight. You look him right in the eye. 

And that’s when you see it. 

“No. Fucking. Way.” Your eyes are locked in on his hand clasped in hers. 

Her. 

Uma.

Somehow, he seems just as surprised as you. He starts making his way over to you but he doesn’t get very far with her deathgrip pulling him back, “Babe, I’m—”

“Don’t.” You start walking away, “You don’t get to call me that anymore.”

“Wait!” He wrenches his hand from hers, “Please let me explain!”

You stop so abruptly he bumps into you. “I actually can’t believe you,” Taking a step back, you cross your arms. “When I was accused of cracking on behind your back you believed them, even though I have only had eyes for you from the moment we met. When the PDA awards happened you wouldn’t even let me explain. I wrote you a letter to tell you what really happened, I told you I’d stay loyal to you and I did, I slept on the fucking daybeds for you. I refused to participate in kissing challenges and lost raunchy races because of it, for you! I refused to rekindle things with Stefan even though we have unfinished business, because I wanted to be with you!”

“I—” 

You hold up your hand and scoff, “You just couldn’t wait to get rid of me huh? I wasn’t even gone for 24 hours and you’d already jumped into bed with the next pretty face.”

“What? No!” If you weren’t so angry right now you’d laugh at how his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “Please, just let me explain. Please.” 

His begging tone makes your anger falter. You nod wordlessly and allow him to pull you towards the swing seat. The two of you sit in awkward silence for a while. You can’t take it anymore, “Well go on then, you were so keen to explain.”

“Right,” He clears his throat, “I guess that did make me sound kinda guilty, didn’t it? Well… I only twisted because Uma told me you told her you were twisting, with Stefan. But as soon as I saw him walk out with Nat I knew she’d lied.”

“So… Once again, you believed what other people said about me, over me. Did I get that right?” 

“No! That’s not wha—god I’ve really been putting my feet in it, haven’t I?” He runs his hand through his hair in frustration and takes a deep breath. “When Uma came back from your date she pulled me aside. She said she had important information that would make me think twice about my decision. She already knew I was gonna stick with you. Looking back now I realise she obviously played me.” 

He looks at you, looking for sympathy maybe. You can’t find it in you to give him any right now. 

He takes another deep breath and continues, “She told me she could barely get a word in during the date, that the moment you two sat down you started gushing about the fact that Stefan, your ex Stefan, was in casa with you. That you hadn’t realised how much you missed him until you saw him again after all those years. That you and Stefan decided to rekindle your relationship again. That—” His voice breaks, “That you told her to tell me to move on.”

“I should’ve known she’d lie. I remember her first season. Logically I knew it too, I read your letter every morning right after I woke up and every night before I’d fall asleep.  Even though I knew you’d stay loyal to me, hearing her say what you’d supposedly told her just shook me up so bad. Because I knew you and Stefan didn’t end on bad terms. I knew people constantly bringing him up must’ve messed with your head. And then he actually showed up in casa amor… Honestly I would’ve understood if you had twisted with him. And that’s why I twisted with Uma. That way we’d at least still both be in the villa, ya know, we could’ve worked through our issues and found our way back to each other. But that’s obviously not what happened…”

With your arms crossed you softly mumble, “Obviously…” You sigh before going on, “Uma told me the casa girls were interested in you, and that you seemed to enjoy the attention. But ultimately stayed loyal. In fact, I never told her any of what she told you. The only thing I told her was that Stefan was one of the casa boys, I couldn’t even get a word in because she was talking the whole time.” You scoff, “Seems like this was her plan along huh, get me to stick while making you twist so I’d get eliminated.”

He looks even more ashamed now that he knows the whole truth. “I know I’ve been a shit partner to you lately. I did believe you when you said you hadn’t done anything with Finn, I swear. I was just hurt because you missed my surprise while he was hogging your attention. And then seeing it on the big screen with that cliffhanger… I didn’t know what to think. You’ve never given me a reason to doubt you, so I should’ve trusted you. I really don’t have an excuse for it. All I can do is promise to be better moving forward, if you’ll still have me.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Well,” You start, “Since Uma played us both, and you twisted and left me single, we both know what’s about to happen. If you care about me as much as you claim you do and you’re actually sorry, you know what to do.” You leave to pack your suitcase, leaving him with his thoughts. 

‘Should I stay or should I leave with her?’

[explosionshark]

2, 3, 9!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

I actually did reread a lot this year (for me)

The Priory of the Orange by Samantha Shannon - I reread this as a buddy read with my homie @nataliving who hadn't read it before. It was fun going back after reading A Day of Fallen Night last year. I think overall Priory on a second run meant the pacing issues stuck out to me more, but I was delighted to find that my favorite parts of the book still held up really well.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny - reread this advent calendar style for the second year in a row. This time got @holdsteady to join me. Super fun, highly recommend this for anyone who wants to read something Halloweeny and fun next October.

Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link - this was a big Kelly Link year for me. I re-read these two short story collections as well as reading her other two collections for the first time. I'm basically caught up except for The Book of Love. Anyway - there were a few stories in Stranger Things Happen that I really liked, but overall Magic for Beginners hit way better for me

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - reread this in anticipation of the prequel, The Daughters War, being released. Probably the first book I've ever genuinely been able to call a comfort read. Loved it even more on a re-read.

Whipping Girl by Julia Serano - re-read this when the new edition came out. As vital as ever, able to present things in a very approachable way, it's a foundational and highly recommended intro to transfeminism for a reason, I think everyone should read it at least once.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik - also reread this with @nataliving. It's my favorite Scholomance book, I wanted to be keeping pace with them while they got to all my favorite parts. Super fun to buddy-read this, I truly love this book.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

okay not counting re-reads

Penance by Eliza Clark - this is a fake true crime book. a book about toxic relationships between girls, a book about true crime fandom, a book about the true crime industry, a book about bias and journalistic ethics and perhaps most importantly a book about TUMBLR a decade ago. Also the most brutal and realistic portrayal of bullying between girls i've ever read. Could NOT put this down.

A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan - another book in the world of the Covenant of Steel series, which I read and loved last year. Just really good fantasy, I've become such a fan of Anthony Ryan. Love how he writes women and gay people and magic and sword fights! Been patiently working my way through his books, waiting for when I'd get a queer woman out of him and the answer is NOW! Thera, my hyper-competent bisexual viking babe. Love of my life.

The Daughters' War by Christopher Buehlman - as mentioned above I really loved The Blacktongue Thief. My main critique when I first read it was that I wish it had more Galva and then BAM Buehlman announces a prequel from Galva's POV. It's basically a war memoir, Buehlman really gets to show off his horror chops here, which is always a plus for me. Loved it, read it once on audio and then again in print, both versions are great but the narrator was really strong, added a lot.

The Jasmine Throne and The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri - okay counting these as one entry bc they're part of the same series and I read them pretty close together. EXTREMELY COOL FANTASY SETTING. Indian-inspired, cool mythology, cool magic, lots of intrigue and court politics and some of the best women-vs-misogyny i've ever read in a fantasy book. ALSO a lovers-to-enemies lesbian relationship that made me fully feral. Some of the best pacing I've ever read in 500 - 600 page books, absolutely propulsive, literally no part of these books dragged for me which is WILD.

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link - as mentioned above, it's a big Kelly Link year for me! White Cat, Black Dog might be the strongest collection I read from her this year. There was only one story I didn't really care for. Link is so incredibly talented - her style is so whimsical, but there's always this brilliant, vulnerable emotional honesty to her work. Look, I won't lie, sometimes she's a little hard to follow and I can't say I understand everything I read from her but the way I don't get it STILL feels satisfying somehow. It's a good tension! If you're interested in trying a story from this collection, you can read one of my favorites, The Girl Who Didn't Know Fear for free via Tin House

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Not really! Okay, wait, no, that's a lie. I read some history this year, which I don't usually do. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Wager by David Grann, The Medici by Paul Strathern. Cool, interesting stuff! Good texture for my reading list!

[bonny-kookoo]

What would detective min do if he saw a big mean dog hybrid threatening his pretty kitty especially is she actually got scared

A/N: I'm glad we all noticed how he didn't argue to her about finding her pretty haha

You're finally able to run around again with a more comfortable brace around your ankle- though that doesn't mean he lets you roam around freely, his hand grabbing at your collar the moment you attempt to run off. "You're staying-"

"Right where I can see you" You mock him with rolling eyes, making him squint his eyes at you a little. "Can we go get some sweet snacks though? You only have old-people-snacks at your home.." you complain, and he tenses up his jaw at your bite at him.

"Sugar is just going to make you even more active." He mumbles, walking next to you with his hands in his pockets before he sighs. "Alright, fuck, here-" he suddenly says, opening his wallet to pull out some bills that he gives into your eager hands. They're opened palms up to receive the money, and he has to admit that you're kind of cute if you really try to be. "Remember-" He tells you, one finger pulling the front of your collar closer to him as he speaks. "-try and run and I'll be right behind you."

"Is that a promise or a threat, mister detective?" You purr, and he's got to admit that you do have your charm.

"Whatever suits you." He flirts back, catching you off guard as your eyes widen, feet eagerly carrying you inside the small corner store.

He waits outside lighting himself a cigarette, and it doesn't take you long to re-emerge with.. nothing?

There's a bark behind you, a group of dog hybrids laughing at the way you jump in fear, and Yoongi throws his cigarette down to stomp it out, before he turns you around, hand on the small of your back. "Det- it's fine, I wanna go home-"

"No." He tells you, walking back into the store now where the group of dog hybrids still chuckles amongst each other, one snarling at you. "-do you have an allergic reaction that you look like that?" Detective Min threatens the guy, who's taken aback by it.

"What's it to you, old man?" One asks, everyone laughing.

"Go, pick out what you want." The detective tells you, and you move to do as told- when one of the dog hybrids grabs after your tail- something he quickly regrets as Yoongi is faster, fingers tight around the guy's wrist.

There's nothing said- no arguments, nothing, mainly because of the nozzle of the gun pressed into the guys stomach, while he's got a knife not even close to the detective holding the gun.

Eye contact seems to be the main weapon though- yoongi for once not wearing his contact lenses to hide his identity as a hybrid. Maybe that's why the dog hybrid glaring at him simply scoffs this time, not picking up the fight as he pushes past him with his friends following. "Freak." One of them mumbles, before they're out the store.

You pull on his sleeve as Yoongi still looks at the entrance of the store, interest pulled away though as he looks down at you. "What?" He asks, as you put money in his hand.

"The change." You tell him matter of factly, three packs of different hybrid snacks.

"Keep it." He denies however, putting it back into the pocket of your skirt, before he leaves the store, turning around to look at you still standing in place, and he clicks his tongue, lighting a cigarette.

"What? Don't just stand there!" He calls out, annoyed, and you suddenly grin, running towards him and latching onto his arm as you walk, happily purring. "Okay that's a bit much- why're you so clingy-!" He whines, while you laugh.

"Oh come on Mister Detective, you love it!"

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

-> Series Masterlist

[m00nlight-ramblings]

Me and the Devil

While in the upside down, Eddie and the crew meet Death herself.

Pairings: Eddie x female (even though she's ethereal?) character

Warnings: talks of death, general spooky gothic stuff?, swearing. MINORS DNI

Requested: yes

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: The entire crew is in the Upside Down for this one, let's bend the canon a little lol. Graphic and story made my by me. I do not give permission for my work to shared or re-posted. Pictures in graphic found on Pinterest, I do not own them. Thank you!

Eddie's chest heaved as the final bat (hell-bat? What the hell even were these things?) slammed into the ground, a high-pitched squeal escaping its body before he met it with his wooden bat, blood spilling on the ground.

"Oh god, Steve! Steve are you okay?" Nancy rushed to his side as he gently laid his back on the ground, his open wounds noticeable from multiple feet away. The sound of Nancy yelling Steve's name sent Dustin and Mike running to him to inspect. Eddie dropped his bat and ran walked over, almost afraid to get too close.

"Yeah, I'm...fine? No, I mean I'm not but, I-"

"Shut up for a second. Here, let's help. Will someone help him up with me?" Robin said, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder. Nancy took the other, propping him up gently as Steve groaned in pain.

Everyone seemingly sprang into action at the same time - trying to clear and clean an area for Steve, squawking over what we could do to help, ripping of clothes to create makeshift wrappings.

Eddie's head began to spin, sending a dizzy spell through him. So, just to get it straight, not only did the entire town of Hawkins hate him and want him dead for something he didn't even do, but now he was in Hell (sorry, the "Upside Down"), and was fighting a supernatural entity in order to save the planet - no, the universe? And on top of that, one of his friends almost met his end right in front of him?

Okay...so, this was overwhelming.

The voices from the group barking over each other made sweat break out on Eddie's forehead, and Steve's groaning wasn't making it any better. Panic started to rise in Eddie's stomach as his heart raced and wait a minute, when did he start pacing? Ringing his hands to try and expunge some of his excess anxiety, Eddie's mouth couldn't stop from moving:

"Oh god, oh god, oh fuck, oh Jesus Christ! Oh shit, okay, oh shit-"

And suddenly, a whistle.

A whistle so clear, and so loud, it silenced the group instantly. Eddie's anxiety ceased at once as he met the faces of the others - everyone's brows an identical shade of furrowed and confused.

"What the hell is that?" Dustin murmured, staying completely still. His eyes shifted around him, trying to find the source of the whistle. The whistle, that, somehow, had shushed the thunder and lightning of the Upside Down.

As the whistle grew louder, the group knitted closer around Steve (and each other) - even though they didn't know who or what it was, somehow the closeness made them feel more secure. Eddie's eyes met Steve's, which were unreadable.

Suddenly, a woman stepped out from a cluster of rocks a few feet away. As she stepped out, the air seemed to get sucked out from under them, and a bolt of lightening struck ways away; lighting up the sky, but having no noise.

The woman, dressed in an all black - perhaps a shroud that was tightly wrapped around her body - was the source of the whistling. As she stepped out and closer to the group, the sound got louder, sending shivers down Eddie's back. Her dark eyes danced and she smirked.

A hunter playing with their prey.

The group collectively stepped back as she moved forward.

"Well, hello." She purred, stopping and scanning the group. She removed the hood that encapsulated her face, sliding it down to her shoulders, revealing a swath of dark hair. “It seems I’ve been...called.”

“No!” Robin immediately shouted, unable to keep her mouth shut, “No calling done here! No one here called you, you must have the wrong number! A-a-actually, we don’t even have a phone down here!”

“Robin shut up.” Mike hissed, keeping his eyes on the woman and not moving her lips.

The woman laughed, which sent another shiver down Eddie’s spine. He eyed the wooden bat that he had left on the ground, a mere inches away from this woman’s foot.

Fuck, he thought, I’m such a fucking idiot. The woman took another step forward and smiled fully now, showing her impeccably white teeth. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't good news.

"No, no no..." She started to circle the group slowly, eyeing each one of us individually. The pause she was taking in her speech made us all even more uneasy. Finally, she looked at Steve, "A phone, dear, is not how I'm called. Think of it as..." She breathed in deeply, as if we were in some beautiful wildflower field and not the hellscape of the Upside Down, "A universal call. Psychic or..." She waved a hand in the air, "Whatever. Anyway-"

She took a large step in to Steve and looked at him, starting at his feet, "The universe called, and I answered."

"And what...exactly are you here to do?" Nancy protectively stepped out from under Steve's arm, earning a muted groan from him, "Who even are you?"

The woman made a small O with her mouth, nodding her head slowly, "Oh well, I'm Death, darling."

"WHAT?!" Dustin, Robin, Mike, and Eddie screamed out, taking a comically large step back from her.

"Oh come now, friends, it's just my job. And everyone's gotta work, right? So...just let me do my job and I'll be on my way and -" Suddenly, Death stopped. She tilted her head and bit the inside of her cheek, examining something.

Eddie couldn't help but follow her gaze, straight to El.

"My, my, my..." She finally spoke. She waved a finger, pushing Mike to the side without even touching them. "Do my eyes deceive me, or are you who I think you are?"

El, obviously terrified, stayed still as a statue as Death examined her. Eddie couldn't help but move closer, almost involuntarily.

"My, yes, I think you are," Death extended a finger (with a long, black-painted nail) and brushed a piece of El's hair behind her ear, "It is an honor to meet you. Forgive me but, you are a bit of a...legend...in these parts. You have been the talk of the town for quite some time, you know." Death clicked behind her teeth and smiled, "I was sent here for one person, but if my boss knows of your presence, well then-"

"Absolutely not," Eddie said, stepping in between Death and El, "Like fuck you are. You aren't taking anyone today. Move the fuck along, or we'll make you."

"Eds, you're literally talking to Death herself. I don't know if you'd be able to take her." Robin grumbled, "I certainly can't..."

"Oh, my love, I'm so sorry. But if I turned my back on every single person that their friend told me not to take, I wouldn't have a job!" Death chuckled a bit, eyeing Eddie. As Eddie looked at her, he realized she looked about their age. A...teenager? Was Death? Was it a trick of the mind, or did she just present herself that way?

Eddie shook his head at this ridiculous thought - how did he get to the point where he was trying to figure the schematics of Death's age...DEATH?!

"I do admit though," Death said, smiling at Eddie, "Most people go running for the hills once they figure out who I am. It's nice to have a proper conversation every once and a while," She turned and went back to circling the group again, "So thanks, for that."

"Well - well how about we continue the...fun? Conversation!" Argyle offered, "Right? Because you...lack...stimulating conversation so much..." Argyle's voice wavered as Death turned back and started to make her way towards him. Once they were eye to eye, Argyle let out a shaky breath, "Okay, yeah. I can see why people go running for the hills. You're terrifying."

Every head in the group turned to Argyle and Nancy hissed, "Argyle!" The air was still as no one moved. Suddenly, Death laughed.

Hard.

"Holy shit, you're funny!" She pointed at Argyle, "You're very funny! Oh fuck, I wish all my clients were like you all!" She turned to the group and smiled again, "It really is a shame I'll have to take Steve and El back with me, because you seem to all have a...good dynamic going on."

"Wait, you're here for me?" Steve suddenly asked, his eyes half open.

"Yeah you idiot, you're just realizing this?" Dustin looked at him, incredulous.

"Holy shit, that is terrifying." Steve spoke again.

"Dude, she's literally Death, what do you think she's here for?!"

"Hi, sorry to break this up," Death spoke again, interrupting Dustin and Steve's banter, "But can we wrap this up? I have a job to do."

"No! You can't!" Nancy shrieked, turning to Death as if she was an annoying sibling rather than, well...Death.

"Listen, Vecna isn't going to be too pleased when I don't return with at least ONE of the people I was called for, so-"

"Sorry, did you just say Vecna?! Your boss is Vecna?!" Mike hollered.

"Oh my god, we are so fucked." Dustin finished.

"We were so fucked before we found out her boss is Vecna, Dustin, WE ARE LITERALLY TALKING TO DEATH!" Eddie yelled, taking Dustin's shoulders and shaking them.

"Oh my god." Death rolled her eyes and walked away, sitting on a nearby rock. If they needed time to argue, then fine. She could let them argue. She had all the time in the world - she was Death, after all. As she watched a giant argument unfold between all members of the party, the feeling of annoyance that was once blooming in her chest was replaced by something else.

...sadness, was it?

No, that couldn't be. She hadn't felt sad in years...decades, centuries.

She had seen hundreds of thousands of groups of friends in the last moments of their lives - the crying, the screaming, the anger, the frightened feelings in their hearts. And the memories - the joy, the laughter, the happiness...she had experienced all the emotions with her clients. And 99.99% of the time, she was unaffected, just there to do her job.

So why was this group of seemingly giant bratty babies tugging at her heartstrings?

As she eyed the one with curly brown hair - Eddie, she remembers - she cocks her head to the side. The group's gravitational pull seemed to be much more than just this particular earthly plane - something about their dynamic, their love (and seemingly, anger) for one another made Death realize that this group was a group of soulmates. Destined to be in one another's lives in every lifetime, every dimension. And the fact that they were so young...

She had seen a few soulmate groups over her career, but never this young.

When she died (well, technically reborn as Death, according to the Devil himself) at 18-years-old, she had never had friends. Or love. Jealousy and loneliness weren't emotions that she necessarily felt from that point forward, but seeing this group together...something stirred within her.

What was it like to feel love? To feel...happy? To feel anything at all?

"Oh, fuck..." Death murmured, the pang in her heart growing. Her brain started to repeat the gnawing thought that had sparked inside of her years ago. Usually, she could shoo it away. But seeing this group...she couldn't help it.

What would life be like if she could start all over? Be normal again?

She stood, crossing her arms. "Hey," She spoke to the group.

They kept arguing.

"Hey..." She raised her voice a little louder.

Nothing.

"HEY. ASSHOLES." She shouted, silencing them. They all turned at once. "I'm going to make a deal with you," Getting up from the rock, she strode over to them, "I...will not take Steve. Or her." She pointed to El. The group all collectively sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank god." Nancy said. Death put a finger up to Nancy's face to quiet her.

"But...you have to do something for me."

"Of course..." Eddie murmured, looking at the ground.

Ignoring him, Death continued, "I became the collector of souls by a contract. Life-binding, in a sense. But..." Her voice trailed off, trying to find the right words to speak, "I...know I can leave this life behind. Get a second chance. I can become...well, not Death anymore. And I think if anyone can help me do it, it will be you all."

The group was silent. Finally, Dustin spoke, "So, like...take away all your hellish Death powers and you'd just be...human again?"

She nods, "Yes. We just need to kill Vecna, for the contract states I am indebted to him for as long as he is alive. If we kill him, and complete the ritual needed to turn me - I can handle the ritual part, don't worry - I can become human again and will start right back at my 18-year-old self."

"Oh that's it?" Dustin retorted sarcastically, "Just a simple 'kill Vecna' and boom we're good?"

"Well, I mean...we were already going to do that...so it doesn't seem like too far of a stretch..." Jonathan considered it for a moment.

"Dude are you really suggesting we let a she-devil into our group? You're suggesting we just let DEATH waltz into our group like she didn't come here to kill Steve?!" Robin shouted.

"To be fair, I could have easily killed all of you by this point if I wanted to." Death offered.

"NOT HELPING!" Robin and Will shouted to Death.

"O...kay..." Death huffed, shutting up.

"I say we do it. We don't have anything else to lose. I mean, we're in the Upside Down for fuck's sake. We're already going to kill Vecna so why not?" Eddie offered, shrugging. Death smiled at him.

She was starting to like him.

"Because this could be a trick!" Robin yelled, causing Eddie to jump, "She could be lying!"

"Um, actually, I can't lie. Since death in itself is an absolute truth, I therefore, literally cannot lie. I have to tell the truth at all times. Like...it's in my other-worldly make-up, or something." Death put a finger up to interrupt Robin.

Everyone stopped and stared at Death. There was silence for a moment, and then everyone looked at Robin. Robin made eye contact with everyone before she groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Whatever."

"Oh, yay. Thank you so much, you won't regret it!" Death purred. She sighed happily and shrugged expectantly. She spoke again, unable to contain her smile,

"So, what do we do now?"

An hour later, with the group travelling the Upside Down, Death had fallen in line with Eddie.

"So...what's your real name? You couldn't have been born Death, right?" He asked, thinking about actually, how metal would it be if she was born "Death"?

Death shrugged, "I don't remember. I honestly don't remember much about my old life since I was turned."

"Turned?"

She nodded, "Into Death. I was just a normal, boring girl. I got into an accident - I was attacked by wolves outside of my village. I was so scared...so terrified of what had happened, and of dying, that when my soul was to be collected, the Devil made a deal with me. I became Death - I was to collect the souls of those about to die, do his dirty work - and I would never have to experience death. Eventually I was passed to many different masters - 'bosses', if you will - until I landed with Vecna. That I do remember."

Eddie whistled, "That sounds...intense."

"it was. If i knew the things I know about death now, back then, I would've died. It's a much better situation than...whatever mess I've gotten myself into."

"What are the secrets of death?"

"Ah..." Death laughed, "That's for me to know. I don't want to spoil the fun."

Eddie smiled at her and looked down at his feet. You know, for a she-devil, she wasn't so bad. "How old were you when you turned?"

"18," Death said, "For a long time, I was okay with what I was doing. I felt nothing, I had a higher purpose. Get in, collect, get out. But..." Her voice trailed off, looking into the distance in front of them, "I started to observe people in their final moments. I was able to see the memories of their life, of their family, of their relationships...and I realized I would never have that," She shook her head, "Which for a while was fine. But...centuries of never feeling can take a toll on you, I guess."

"So when you turn back..." Eddie said after a moment, "Like, when we kill Vecna and you do your ritual and whatever...what happens?"

"I turn back to a human. I start at 18 again. I get a second chance. I scoured that contract for a loophole, and when I found it...I felt the first glimmer of hope I had felt in forever. It would be re-written every time I changed masters...Vecna thinks he can never be killed. But I know he can," Death looked at Eddie with...softness in her eyes? "And whatever is happening in your world will restore itself, and I can get a second chance."

"Why the change of heart?" Eddie's voice was soft, barely above a whisper. He had stopped walking, causing Death to pause. When their eyes met again, his were filled with sadness, she noticed.

"I saw all of your arguing..." She stopped to laugh to herself, "And realized I wanted the chance to argue with friends. I wanted friends again. I want...to fall in love. Once, I had to find the soul of someone who died at a rock concert because he had overdosed. And even though that is of course, incredibly sad...it made me realize I want to experience a rock concert. Stupid, silly things like that."

Eddie blushed and started walking again, "I'm in a band. I play concerts."

Death smiled, "Do you now?"

He nodded, "Yep. I play guitar. And it's rock...well, metal. But...once this all gets squared away and you're human again, you should come to one of our shows."

Death giggled, a blush rising on her cheeks. (A blush?! Since when did she blush?) "I'd love that."

A moment of silence passed between them as the air felt hot. "Won't...your bosses be mad that you just...leave? Like, who else is gonna be Death? That's a pretty important role."

"Think of it as me quitting, without putting my two weeks in...they'll find someone else, quickly. The fear of death is not uncommon, by any means. Someone will want to 'live' forever, no matter the cost. The poor soul..." Death's voice trailed off as she thought about the person who would be replacing her.

"I'm...sorry...by the way..." Eddie started, his voice low. He looked Death in her eyes as she scrunched her face, "I'm sorry that this entire thing happened to you. It doesn't sound...fun. By any means," He sighed, one of his hands reaching to scratch the back of his head, "Actually, it sucks. But...we'll get him. And you'll be able to go back to normal. And you'll be able to go to a rock concert. I promise." He offered a smile, causing Death to smile as well.

Another blush rose on her cheeks.

"I hope so."

*3 Months After the Saving of Hawkins*

"If you guys don't hurry up now, I'm leaving you home and you won't be able to get a ride with me, so move it!" Steve shouted into the Wheeler's house, leaning on the doorframe of their front door. He sighed and checked his watch and yep, just like he thought - 15 minutes behind schedule.

Dustin, Mike, Will, and Lucas were the first to scamper out of basement, yelling and shouting about their current D&D campaign. Steve ushered them into the car with a smattering of "go, go, go!" Before Mike got into the car, Steve grabbed him by his collar.

"Do we have to wait for your sister or is she taking her own car?"

Mike shook his head, "No, she's taking the girls, so Max, El and Jennifer are going with her. Something about 'No Boys Allowed' when they were doing their hair and makeup or something?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "Ugh okay fine. Let's go. We're gonna be late - I don't even want to go to this show and here I am, driving you guys around AGAIN."

Steve shut the Wheeler's door just as Nancy was opening her bedroom door, the girls spilling out, giggling. Max fluffed El's hair as she walked behind her, and Nancy was re-applying her lipgloss.

"So, are you just so excited to see Eddie play tonight, Jen?" Nancy asked, teasing her innocently, "Rockstar boyfriend and all?"

Jennifer - formally "Death" - giggled and could feel the blush rising to her cheeks. "Enouuggghhh...of course I am," She giggled again, but it turned into a sigh, "Except I got a pimple for the first time in like, literally 350 years last night, like, of course the night before Eddie's big show."

"Yeah, well, you wanted to be human. Welcome to womanhood, toots!" Max said, slinging an arm around Jennifer.

~*~

As the group made their way and enjoyed Corroded Coffin's first concert since Hawkins (and the world) was saved (Steve enjoyed it, he just didn't want to admit it), they found their way over to the band at the bar. Eddie couldn't have taken his eyes off of Jennifer the entire time, no matter how hard he tried. And as he watched her walk over to him, it wasn't every different. Immediately he hopped off of his stool and wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her scent.

"Hi babe," He murmured into her ear, placing a kiss on her temple. Jennifer couldn't help by smile.

"Hi, babe. You were so good. I loved it!" She pulled away and looked at the rest of the band to compliment them. The group started to intermingle and Eddie took her hand, leading her a little bit away from the group.

"So...enjoy your first rock concert?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow. She smiled and nodded, hooking one of her fingers into his jean's belt loop.

"I wouldn't have wanted it any other way." She leaned in to kiss him, the butterflies fluttering in her chest. After killing Vecna, when she had completed the ritual and saw Eddie for the first time after, she had experience butterflies for the first time in 350 years.

And since them, they didn't seem to stop.

Eddie smiled into the kiss and strengthened it, cupping her cheeks with feverish hands, "I'm so happy you're here."

Jennifer nodded. It had been 3 months since she was able to turn back to a human, leaving the life of Death behind her. And with it came emotions, and schoolwork, and navigating human life...pimples, periods, sad songs, even being made fun of.

But there was also love, and her new friends, and her new "family" (being "adopted" by Hopper and pretending to be a high school student again), kissing Eddie, passing notes to Nancy in classes, popcorn, going to the mall, watching movies on the couch, the promise of a rollercoaster of a normal, human life.

She looked Eddie in the eyes, grabbing his hands again. "I'm happy I'm here, too."

-----

Will I ever be able to write a short oneshot again? Who knows. But I had so much fun writing this one! What did you guys think?!

Reminder: my inbox is open for requests to head over there and fill it, I'm itching to write!

[anexperimentallife]

Alex and the Oracle

This is a humorous short I sold many, many years ago, before I even knew I was autistic, but the rights have reverted to me, so I'm in the middle of a rewrite/update in preparation for re-release as part of an "Alex And" collection. The premise (inspired by some of my own weird impulses) was, "What if things that might LOOK like random impulses or compulsions were actually a form of precognition?"

Alex and the Oracle by D. Robert Hamm

The first thing you need to know about Jimmy Cane is that no matter what anybody says about him, he’s not crazy. And I don’t say that just because he’s my best friend. Sure, he once showed up to a black-tie affair wearing lederhosen and leading a ferret on a leash, but I think that falls under "eccentric." Also, in his defense, I’m pretty sure lederhosen are considered formal wear in some parts of the world, he was wearing a black tie, and the invitation did say, “and guest.”

Okay, so maybe he’s a little bit crazy, but if you had Jimmy’s ‘gift,’ you would be, too.

See, Jimmy’s a precog, but not in the traditional sense. He doesn’t actually know what’s going to happen; he just gets these compulsions that usually seem to work out in the end. That whole thing with the lederhosen and the ferret? Set off a Rube Goldberg-type chain of events that saved a guy’s life. In addition to the general agitation that comes when he tries to resist acting on his compulsions, knowing that something as small as, say, what color socks you’re wearing could be a matter of life and death for someone puts a lot of pressure on a guy.

So when I let myself in over at Jimmy’s place to find him on the floor in a bathrobe surrounded by thirty or so cases of diet soda and blowing up an inflatable kiddie pool, it wasn’t the strangest thing I’d ever caught him doing.

“Hi, Alex,” Jimmy said between breaths, “I know, I know. Don't have all the soda yet; I just couldn't wait to get the pool ready.”

Which made perfect sense, in a Jimmy kind of way. I grabbed a couple of Blue Moons from the fridge and kicked back on the couch until he finished with the pool and plopped down next to me, panting. We clinked our bottles together, and he drained about a third of his in one long drought. He sighed and wiped sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his robe.

“Okay,” I said, “Whatcha got?”

We long ago gave up on serious predictions about the outcome of Jimmy’s compulsions, but we make a game of seeing who can come up with the most outrageous guesses. We play as a team against reality, and give ourselves points every time we out-weird what actually happens. Two-on-one odds may seem a little unfair, but reality’s been doing this a lot longer than we have, and it has the home field advantage. So far, reality is winning, and I don’t even want to talk about the point spread.

“Diet soda, kiddie pool… Gotta be a connection there,” Jimmy said. “I was thinking maybe a pile of aspartame-addicted carp showing up on my doorstep.”

“Nah, not weird enough. Make ‘em talking carp and I think we’ve got something. I got a better one, though; how about the Apocalypse is nigh, and diet soda will be the only currency of value in the aftermath?”

“Makes sense; only mutants would actually drink the stuff. But what about the pool?”

“Like you said—mutants.”

“What does a kiddie pool have to do with mutants?”

“Oh, so now I’m supposed to be an expert on genetic anomalies? Maybe it’s their religion.”

Jimmy nodded sagely and stroked the three-day growth of beard on his chin. “Hm…” he said. “Plausible. Hope you’re wrong, though; I think I’m allergic to apocalypses.”

We toasted to our brilliant predictions, and Jimmy went upstairs to get dressed so I could chauffeur him around for the day. He’s got this old VW Microbus, and while it runs great, he hates driving (everyone else hates him driving, too), plus he hadn’t really slept in a couple of days, which meant he’d be a danger to life and limb out on the road alone. (Although, knowing Jimmy, if he actually felt compelled to drive, an angel would get its wings and somebody’s dead dog would come back to life.)

I do a lot of things like that for Jimmy, but it’s not a one-sided deal. He doesn’t really benefit much personally from his gift—in fact, it often screws him over—but it does provide him with just enough resources to take care of basic needs so that he can follow his compulsions full-time with no visible means of support. That seems to include whatever I need in order to get by when I take time off whatever crappy day job I’m working at the time to give him a hand and help clean up his messes.

It’s like some kind of weird temp job where I get to go on wacky adventures with my best friend and still keep up with rent, and even though it’ll never give me financial security, and even though it’s made having any kind of decent career impossible, and even though no girlfriend I’ve found so far has been willing to put up with our little adventures for more than a few months, I challenge you to come up with a better job at any salary.

Because let me tell you, being friends with Jimmy is never boring.

After several years of this kind of thing, Jimmy was showing the strain. Over the past year, I’d seen him almost in tears a few times trying to choose between three identical boxes of cereal, and there was that time he couldn’t sleep unless he wore his shoes on the wrong feet and listened to yodeling records for three days straight. Don’t even get me started on the truckload of frozen mangoes in cold storage.

It was getting to the point where Jimmy wasn’t sure what was a ‘gift’ compulsion, and what was a random impulse, and fewer and fewer of his compulsions were bearing fruit—no mango-related pun intended—or at least none that we could see. But even if he could resist the occasional impulse, he doesn’t dare, just in case doing so might have a disastrous effect on someone else. He’d even started seeing a psychiatrist, but the only thing the doc was able to do for him was prescribe sleeping and anxiety medications.

Even with the meds, or maybe in part because of them, Jimmy was in even worse shape for driving than usual, so it was a damn good thing he’d called me. Once he was ready, I fired up his microbus, and we drove the forty minutes into Kansas City, where we spent the next few hours, stopping at grocery and convenience stores. At each stop, Jimmy pulled case after case of diet soda off the shelves with increasing degrees of agitation. When he found one that “felt right,” he was able to relax for just a few minutes before he started being drawn to the next case. A few places we had to talk them into letting Jimmy go examine the back stock. You’d think they’d refuse, or at least get a little annoyed, but Jimmy has this—I don’t know—this childlike, innocent vulnerability about him that’s hard to say no to. He lives in kind of a different world than most people do, and sort of expects everybody to be as nice and as helpful as he tries to be. It’s hard to say no to Jimmy without feeling like an asshole.

Sometime around ten o’clock that night, Jimmy guided us onto I-35 North, and we waited for the compulsion to tell us where to stop. We finally found the “right” convenience store about halfway to Des Moines, and I hit the men’s room while Jimmy perused the displays. I finished just in time to see Jimmy explode out of the store waving his arms and screaming, “No! Not that one! I need that one!”

He was charging straight at a grizzly bear in denim and plaid flannel. Okay, not an actual bear, but if a real grizzly ever met this guy it’d pee its fur, scream like a twelve-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert, and run crying for its mommy. Man-bear had—you guessed it—a case of diet soda under one arm. Jimmy slammed into him at full speed, and cans flew everywhere.

Man-bear’s face went from surprise to ugly(er). He pulled back a fist the size of my head, and before I could get there Jimmy was flying backwards to land on the blacktop. Man-bear dropped the soda and took a step forward.

“Don’t hurt him,” I hollered. Okay, it was a little late for that.

“You want some, too?” Man-bear said, and I froze. I wasn’t just afraid he was going to beat me up; I was afraid he was going to eat me.

Now, I’m not the world’s bravest guy, but I do think pretty fast when the alternative is getting turned into hamburger. “No, he’s my little brother,” I lied, “I-I take care of him.” It was the best I could come up with. Hey, I said I think fast, not that I do it particularly well.

“Doin’ a pretty crappy job of it.”

“I know,” I didn’t have to fake anguish. Imminent death has that effect on me, especially when it’s mine. “ Look at him, though,” I pointed to where Jimmy was crawling around muttering to himself and gathering up the fallen cans while blood dripped from his nose to the blacktop. “You can see he’s not, y’know, quite all there in the head, can’t you? It’s not his fault.”

The trucker scowled at Jimmy, then at me. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s a little, uh... touched, you know? He gets it in his head that something—like one particular case of soda—is important, and he thinks something bad is going to happen if he doesn’t get it.” Well, that much was true.

I spread out my hands in appeal. “Look, I’ll pay for the soda. Hell, I’ll buy you ten cases.” Man-bear was silent. “C’mon, man, do you have a brother?”

Man-bear looked at Jimmy again and nodded slowly. He sniffed, then in a wilted growl said, “Keep your money. Tell him I ain’t gonna hurt him no more.”

While I stood gaping, Man-bear pulled a grocery bag from the cab of his truck, got down on all fours, and started gathering up the cans along with Jimmy. It took me probably half a minute or so to pick up my jaw enough to pitch in myself. Man-bear even got a cold pack from the cooler behind his seat for Jimmy’s face, and before he got back into his rig, shook Jimmy’s and my hands and said that while he wasn’t going to give any details, we’d changed his life.

Once Bruce’s rig was out of sight and we were back in the Microbus, Jimmy grinned at me, split lip, bloody nose, and all. “Alex, you were brill—”

And for the second time that day, Jimmy got punched in the face. Some things simply have to be done.

“Ow. What was that for?”

I glared at him, trying to ignore the fact that I felt like a total ass for hitting him. “I felt compelled, okay?” I started the car and pointed us back toward Lawrence. “I’m getting worried about you, man.”

“Yes, I could sense the concern in your loving punch.”

“Sorry about that, but are you nuts? That could have gone a lot worse than a punch in the face.”

“Two punches,” he said.

“Okay, two punches. I said I was sorry. But man, that has got to be the craziest thing you’ve ever done, and I’ve seen you do some crazy shit. Did you see the size of that guy? He’d give Mount Everest a Napoleon complex. We could have ended up in the hospital. Or jail. Or both. Hell, maybe even the morgue. Did you even stop to think we could have just politely offered to buy the soda from him instead of trying to tackle him?”

Jimmy’s face went slack. He stared at me for a few seconds, then hung his head. When he spoke, he sounded even more tired and beaten up than he looked. “I was so caught up in...” He looked back up at me. “You really do take care of me, Alex. And I don’t say thank you enough, but you never complain, and then tonight I almost got you… I’m sorry, Alex. It’s just… This is a bad one.”

I very carefully didn’t look at him. “Just think next time, okay?” I threw in some Ramones to cut short the Hallmark moment, and we cruised along to Blitzkrieg Bop.

About halfway through I Wanna Be Sedated, Jimmy turned off the music. “Hey, Alex? If we changed that guy’s life like he said, this diet soda thing is starting to play out, right?”

“Looks like. I just think it could have been handled differently.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I know, but if it’s starting to play out, my ‘gift’ or whatever should stop poking at me, or at least ease off a little, but it’s getting worse. And there are all those other cases.”

“Jimmy, I—”

“This so-called ‘gift’ pretty much runs my life, Alex, and it’s getting worse, and I can’t control it. I never wanted it to begin with. What if it gets one of us killed someday?”

I didn’t have an answer. When we got back to his place I was going to hang around to make sure he was okay, but he said he’d put me in harm’s way enough for one weekend. There wasn’t much I could do except make him promise to call me if he needed me.

#

My phone woke me a little before three a.m. the next night, which would have been fine if it were a supermodel calling to profess her undying love, but that, I decided, was an unlikely scenario, and stuck my head under the pillow to wait for the ringing to stop.

It didn’t.

“I have a hammer,” I yelled, “and I’m not afraid to use it.” Apparently the phone was unafraid of percussive maintenance. I tracked it to the pile of laundry under which it had made its rebel lair, and flipped it open. “Please state the nature of your emergency.”

“Alex! I’m glad you’re up.” Jimmy sounded like an auctioneer who’d been up all night mainlining double-espressos. “I dialed you like, nine times. Are you busy?”

“No, I was just going through the yellow pages trying to find a re-education camp for wayward cell phones. Look, it’s three AM, and you don’t sound like a buxom supermodel.”

“That has never been my aspiration. You said to call if I needed you. And I do. So I am. It’s the soda thing.”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose and censored myself. I had told him to call. “Okay, what do you need?”

“I know how to make it stop. Gotta get one more case and get to this little spring in the Flint Hills. About a hundred and fifty miles. Don’t trust myself to drive that far.” He giggled and switched to a bad falsetto. “Help us, Obi Wan. You’re our only hope.”

“You can’t play the princess-in-distress card, Jimmy. First, it’s not fair, and second, you know I’m already in.” If he didn’t trust himself to drive, I sure as hell didn’t, especially when he sounded that out of it.

Half an hour later Jimmy lurched in and knocked (in that order) dressed much like “The Dude,” from The Big Liebowski, only Jimmy’s bathrobe was fuchsia. He banged his shin on the coffee table, but barely seemed to notice. His nose and lip were still swollen, and his eyes were spider-webbed with red, but he was practically vibrating with nervous energy.

“You look like crap,” I said. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Can’t sleep. Gotta go. Here.” He dug into the pockets of his robe and handed me a printed-out map along with the keys to his old VW min-bus.

“Okay,” I said, “but shouldn’t you be wearing pants?”

He looked down at himself and frowned. “What’s wrong with swimming trunks?”

“Dude.”

“Okay, okay. But we gotta hurry.” Jimmy’s a little smaller than I am, but I managed to find some clothes that didn’t fit him too badly. (I let the Cthulhu slippers slide. You have to pick your battles.)

Jimmy had a bunch of those big plastic bottles—the kind that go on top of home water coolers— filled with slightly brownish water and strapped together in the kiddie pool in the back of the mini-bus. “What the—”

“No time. I’ll explain on the way.”

By the time I had the mini-bus in gear he was already asleep, slumped against the passenger door. I knew how this worked, though. As soon as I stopped heading toward our destination he’d wake up frantic. Besides, I probably wouldn’t get anything coherent out of him until he’d napped, so I bit down on my curiosity.

He woke up about halfway there. “Take the next exit,” he said. “That’s where the last case is.”

I pulled off the highway. “You wanna fill me in now? And please tell me we’re not going to get our asses handed to us by a human grizzly again?”

He laughed, bouncing up and down on his seat. “No promises on that count, but I don’t think so. As for filling you in... Wait. Turn here.” We pulled into a service station with all its lights out. Jimmy opened his door.

“Dude, they’re closed.”

“Gonna check the hours on the door and see how long we have to wait.”

The station wouldn’t open for three more hours. “All right,” I said, “That’s plenty of time to fill me in, so spill.”

“I’ll warn you, it’s going to sound crazy. I’m going to sound crazy, but hear me out, okay?”

I said I would, and he continued. “You saw how I got earlier. I had to get some sleep before I finished this thing or I was going to fall apart. Or even worse, screw it up. But I couldn’t. I even took a sleeping pill, but all it did was make me spacey. I finally gave in around one and poured the soda into the kiddie pool.”

He paused and stared out the window. “Keep going,” I said, “You poured the soda into the swimming pool, and then what happened?”

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I started pouring, and there was this... face.”

“What, at the window? Somebody was watching you?”

“No, in the pool. A woman’s face, there in the soda.”

Now that topped the weirdometer, even for Jimmy. “Right. You’re sleep-deprived, and like you said, you were on sleeping pills. People see things.”

“Whatever. Anyway, it freaked me out,” he said.

“Understandably.”

He got quieter. “Her lips started moving. She was saying, ‘help me.’”

“Hang on—You know it wasn’t real, right? Unless... Is your ‘gift’ giving you visuals now?”

He didn’t seem to hear me. “What could I do?” he said. “The more I poured, the more of her there was, until there was this… this beautiful woman standing in the middle of the pool. She was real, Alex. She had sort of blue-tinted skin and long green hair, and she reached out of the pool and called me her hero and kissed me, and—Hey, what are you doing?”

“I’m starting the engine. And unless I hear something of the not-crazy variety come out of your mouth in the next five seconds I’m turning around.”

“Wait, Alex. Don’t freak out on me.”

“We’re way past that. Look, it’s probably just sleep deprivation combined with Ambien, but we gotta get you looked at.”

Jimmy grabbed my sleeve. Not like he was trying to pull my hand off the steering wheel, but just to emphasize his words. “Alex,” he said. “Please. I’m not crazy.”

“Maybe not, but something’s wrong. What kind of a friend would I be if I—”

“Okay, okay” he said, “Just for argument’s sake, let’s say I was hallucinating, and that it’s from not sleeping because of this compulsion. What’s the fastest way to fix that? The only way to fix it?”

I sighed. “Seeing it through.”

“So see this through with me, give me a day or two to catch up on sleep, and if you still think I’ve lost it, I’ll go to a doctor or whatever you want. I mean, come on, it’s a few hours of driving is all, and then we’re done with it, I promise. Deal?”

I rolled my eyes and climbed into the back to stretch out by the kiddie pool. “Damn it, Jimmy, there’d better be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.”

It only took a few minutes for me to doze off. I couldn’t have been asleep for long, though, when I woke to shrill ringing. Jimmy jumped into the driver’s seat, slammed the door, and started the engine. We threw gravel getting back on the road.

“What the—” I looked back at the service station. The front window was broken out. “Jimmy! What did you do?”

“I couldn’t wait. She can’t hold out much longer.”

I climbed toward the front. “That’s it. You’ve lost it, man. Pull over right now. If you pay for the damages they’ll probably let you off with probation.”

Jimmy’s voice was choked and he was blinking back tears. “You don’t understand. She’s dying. There weren’t any security cameras, and I left money on the counter to pay for the window. If I drive fast we won’t get caught.”

“We? I didn’t do anything except ride along with a crazy man!” I reached for the steering wheel, but we were already going fast enough that I’d probably flip us if I grabbed it. I got out my phone. “Pull over now or I’m calling the police.”

I wasn’t really going to. As far gone as he was, he might try to outrun them, and things would only get worse.

He called my bluff. “Go ahead. If you’re still my friend, though, wait until it’s over.”

There wasn’t much of an alternative. About an hour later Jimmy turned onto a dirt road. When we got to the end of it and bounced to a stop I grabbed the keys from the ignition.

“Help me with the bottles,” Jimmy said, “The spring is just a little ways off.” He unbuckled himself and moved toward the back. I grabbed his arm, and he looked me square in the face. I have never seen him so determined. “What are you going to do, Alex? Hit me again?”

Ouch. I let go, and Jimmy’s expression softened. “I know you think I’m crazy, but I can prove I’m not.”

He started pulling stoppers out of the water bottles. “I hope she’s up to this. She’s in pretty bad shape, or I’d have tried it earlier.”

I had to clench my jaw to keep from responding. Jimmy un-stoppered the last bottle and leaned over it murmuring. “I know,” he said, “But we have to prove to my friend that you’re real before he’ll help us get you home.” He turned to me. “She wants you to know that not all of this is her. Some of it’s just regular water and soda.”

“Great,” I said, “Tell her those bottles don’t make her butt look big. Honest.”

Jimmy scowled at me, and I was about to say something more when the water moved. Trickles from each bottle snaked up and joined to form a translucent face like in, what was that movie... The Abyss or something. It—correction, she—stuck out her tongue at me before turning to Jimmy with an expression of such adoration that it broke my heart. The sun was rising, and it glinted off of her in reds and golds. Jimmy touched her lips with his fingers and she kissed them, then lost cohesion and flowed back into her bottles.

All I could do was stare.

“Well,” Jimmy said, “Am I crazy?”

Either she was real, or Jimmy’s insanity was contagious. I preferred to believe the former. I had to work my mouth a bit before anything came out. There isn’t much to say when you witness the impossible. “What are we waiting for,” I growled, “Let’s get her home.”

We used the deflated kiddie pool as a sled where we could, and carried the bottles one by one over the rough spots until we reached the spring.

Jimmy finished filling me in on the way. The woman’s name was D’lahna, and she was a naiad, a water nymph. She’d been exploring “Overhill,” as she called it, when she somehow got stuck in a soda bottling plant. She wouldn’t have lasted much longer if not for Jimmy and his gift.

We poured first the bottles, then the final case of soda, into the spring, and D’lahna rose up out of it more beautiful than you can imagine. And very, very naked. I stood staring until Jimmy punched me in the arm. “Hey. Mine.”

“Sorry.” I averted my eyes. Kind of. Hey, she might have been my best friend’s girl, but she was gorgeous. I tried not to gape at her, and searched desperately for a way to cover the awkwardness. How do you make small talk with a mythological creature?

“So, uh...” I said, “Sorry about the whole thinking you were imaginary thing. Nice place you’ve got here. Love what you’ve done with it. Seems like a quiet neighborhood.”

D’lahna laughed. If you’ve never heard a nymph’s voice, I can’t really describe it to you except to say it sort of... sparkles. “Your friend is funny,” she said to Jimmy, then looked at me. “This isn’t where I live, Alex, but it will get us there.”

It took me a moment to process that. “Us?”

I turned to Jimmy, who had just stripped naked. (Now there’s a sight I hope to never see again.) He grinned at me. “I’m going with her,” he said.

“But you... She... You can’t...”

“It’s okay,” Jimmy put his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be in touch.”

They offered to take me with them, but instead I watched as Jimmy took D’lahna’s hand and waded into the middle of the spring with her. They turned translucent and flowed into the water.

It was a long drive home, and I thought about the two of them all the way.

Two weeks later I turned on the kitchen faucet, and out came an invitation to Jimmy and D’lahna’s engagement party. They’ve already set me up with a date—a wood nymph friend of D’lahna’s who, Jimmy thinks, just might break my losing streak. He mentioned a possible job offer, too.

And guess what D'lahna's family's favorite fruit is? Yeah, at least now I know what to do with all those frozen mangoes.

[vavoomed-for-crowley]

Since everyone is sharing their experience with meeting David Tennant, here's my story:

Of course, I was just as nervous to meet him as most people but I was able to steady myself before it was my turn by taking a few breaths (just because I tend to be nervous at eye to eye conversations in general). In the end, I had to re-do my Photo-Op with him three times because of my glasses and felt really bad for the people in line having to wait even longer because of me. Which is why I was so nervous the third time, that I broke off a part of my Sonic Screwdriver while trying to pack away my glasses. I apologized while fumbling with the screwdriver to not waste any time and he was so kind, said it's okay and already placed a hand on my back while I did so. We did a pose where we both hold the screwdriver together and it's such an amazing picture. Our hands even form a heart, which was not on purpose but it's such a cute detail. In the end, I was able to look into his eyes again and apologize once more (for taking so much time when actually, that was not a problem to anybody. As my therapist would say, the stress is just made up by my head).

At the end of the day, I went to get this photo signed and I was first in line. Which I was not prepared for. The first thing I said to him was that I hope he gets to enjoy the day here despite his schedule. Which, for some reason, made him look up at me in surprise. He then said he does and I handed him the bracelet I made. A rainbow bracelet that says "Ally" and told him it's a thank-you for all his support of the community and that he helps many people with this, like @ineffable-ezra (Yes, I mentioned you like I had promised). He looked at it and said "Thank you so much! I really appreciate this!" He did not smile. He just looked genuinely thankful.

Sometime later, I saw that he forgot the personal dedication. Which was okay but everyone else had one so I went back to the line and asked if it would be a problem to get the dedication real quick. You must know, his schedule was already delayed and I didn't want to cause any more stress. And it was okay. The fan that was in front of me, talked to him a bit too long but his manager didn't interrupt them nonetheless, even though time was running out. Afterwards we got told that they don't want to be rude but he has to get to the airport. So I just said I'm sorry to be here again (like, how many times do I get in the line again because something goes wrong) but he forgot the personal dedication. And he looked so surprised! "I forgot to write your name? I'm sorry!" Told him it's okay and that it was lovely to have him there and that I hope he enjoyed it.

The thing is, when I read other stories, most people made more out of their time with David. But if you know how stressful a few minutes of delay can be for the entire schedule, you don't want to cause any more trouble. And I really tend to worry myself too much with thoughts like this.

David was so kind nonetheless and didn't let me feel like he was stressed (even though he rushed out to get his flight at the end of the day).

I'm just very grateful I got to meet him at all. He was so kind. Of course I wish I could've or would've said some more. Like I wanted to tell him I hope the bracelet fits because I wasn't sure about the size and such things... But for someone with a neurodivergence, I just need my few seconds of preparation which I haven't had. And when I think about it, it's the small details I enjoy so much nonetheless. His surprised look when I said I hope he enjoys the day, like this question was really unexpected for him or the gentleness when I was nervous and genuine appreciation for the bracelet.

We all know he's a sweetheart but I think events like this truly show how lovely he really is.

[sawturn77]

𝑶𝑪𝑬𝑨𝑵 𝑬𝒀𝑬𝑺 (𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒊 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓)

MASTERLIST.

04: take me out, and take me home.

january 7th, 2018.

my stomach began to swirl. disgust? no. nausea? no. i was nervous to the bone, nearly shaking. today was the day i promise nobara and yuji i’d go to the arcade with them, but i know they’d just drag megumi along to. they’d leave us together, alone, by ourselves, away from them..ugh! what was the point of being nervous?? i’ve got to woman up! what could go wrong? actually, i take that back. sooo many things could go wrong. i jinx myself every time with that. i heard suguru in the kitchen, probably making breakfast. satoru left last night, a little earlier than usual. i reach for my phone, turning it over and reading the time. “ 7:17am” i might as well get up now. after washing my face and brushing my teeth, i put on some clothes and did my hair. i’d be back in time to change my outfit and re-do my hair.

——

i make my way downstairs, the aroma of pancakes filling the air. “morning, sugu.” he turned to smile at me when i greeted him. “good morning, y/n. you got time for breakfast today?” i nod eagerly, watching him place the pancakes on the plate and drizzle syrup on them. he sprinkles sugar on them, adding a side of assorted fruit on the side. (if you don’t like pancakes, just imagine its your fav breakfast food) suguru smiles at me, handing me the plate. i stuff my face, smiling so hard my cheeks start to hurt. “where are you headed? you’re not usually up so early.” i swallow before answering. “just a quick run to the cafe. want me to bring you something back?” “no, its fine. thanks for asking though.” i just nod. im gonna get him something anyway. i finish eating and wash my dish. “oh, i almost forgot. im going to the arcade with nobara and yuji later.” suguru nodded, patting my head. “alright. will you be home before dinner?” i hummed. moments like these made me remember how good of an older brother suguru is. just when my hand reached the front door, i turned around to hug him. “w-woah, are you okay?” i nod. “thank you, sugu.” he chuckles, patting my back. “aww, n/n, you’re such a sap.” “shut up!!”

——

once i arrived at the cafe, i had to stand in line for a few minutes. i was lucky today, though. normally, the lines are huge, but today, i was only 12th in line.

before i could make a snarky comment, i noticed someone get in front of me. it was a totally random guy! what the hell? how was i gonna confront him? surely someone entitled enough to jump in front of someone in line would not be easy to deal with. he’d probably cause a scene. y’know what, whatever. i’ll just keep my mouth shut. im not in a rush-

“hey, she was next in line.”

all the blood in my body rushes to my face, was that..? the guy in front of me turns around, the same entitled smirk i thought he’d have on his face. but, that wasn’t the point. i turn my head stiffly to look over my shoulder. there he was. megumi fushiguro himself. white button up shirt, rolled up sleeves-he dresses like satoru? “what are you gonna do about it? tell your girlfriend to wait in line like everyone else.” megumi’s face remains indifferent, and his tone only get harsher. “you should do the same. scram, you idiot.” straight out of a shoujo manga, i thought. caught in my own thoughts, i almost miss the part where megumi pulls out a familiar card, a black one with silver lining, the initials “S.G” were engraved on it. satoru’s card? the guy’s eyes go wide with regret, like a deer in headlights. “im deeply sorry!” he yelps before scurrying to the back of the line. i stood there for a few seconds. turning to megumi, i spoke. “m-megumi! you really didn’t have to!” he just shrugs, putting the card away. “it was the right thing to do.” i smile. “i appreciate it. can i buy you a drink?” he shakes his head at my offer. “its fine, really.” such a gentleman. “well, surely you’ll let me repay you in some way?” “you can let me pay for your stuff.” i froze for a moment. he..he wants to pay for me? “n-no..i cant ask you to do that..”

in the end, he ended up convincing me to let him pay. even though im sure he was using one of satoru’s many cards, the gesture was nice. my face felt hot the entire time. “uhm, thank you again, megumi. i really appreciate it.” he nods. “its nothing.” god, he was humble too? how perfect could he possibly be? im was somewhat surprised that someone who grew up with satoru could be at least half decent. but then again, its megumi im talking about. he was always this way, maybe a bit more sour as a kid though. i glanced over at him. i found out that he drinks black coffee straight. im not shocked at that.

he gave me his number!! my hearts pumping fast! maybe i am oblivious. surely someone like megumi wouldn’t just give anyone his number. or maybe nobara’s delusions are rubbing off on me. he offered to walk me home, but even if i wanted to take his offer, he’d already done a lot for me. im not gonna ask him to do more.

——

by the time i got back, it was 9:15. suguru was doing laundry. “sugu, im home.” i announced, leaving my shoes at the front door. i placed his drink and the croissant i bought him on the counter. he peaked his head out from around the corner. “y/n, i told you that you didnt have to get me anything. he smiles, patting my head. “well, too bad. you shouldve known i was gonna get you something anyway.” i shrug and he just chuckles. “youre too much. thanks.” he pats my head, going back to finish doing laundry. i make my way upstairs, plopping on my bed and remembering what happened at the cafe. he can’t possibly like me like that. megumi would probably like a quiet and reserved girl. i mean, i can be like that, but is that who i really am? and why do i feel the need to be someone worthy of his romantic interest? weird. my phone dings.

an: srry its saturday and i said u was gonna post on friday😞anyways i was thinking if starting a gojo x reader series but idk i might do it after i finish this series.

TAGLIST: @kasumitenbaz @morgyyyyyyy @fillmeup6969 @maya-maya-56 @sad-darksoul (OPEN)

[pocketramblr]

Ask Game: Manuel brutally but accidentally kills All For One for good.

You have clocked my niche perfectly

1- "how the heck does that happen" well, during the Hosu chaos when it's all going very badly, another hero (mostly underestimating how much an asset Manual the Water Guy is at fighting fires) tells him to focus on finding his student and getting Izuku evacuated. Obviously Izuku will not evacuate, but he will get Manual to Tenya faster. So now there's two teenagers and the most chill pro hero in an alleyway fighting Stain, while Tomura and Kurogiri watch. And Tomura "fan of heroes with no merch" either recognizes Manual and knows he doesn't want to risk an actual pro ruining his fun with Stain, or doesn't recognize him and finds that even more suspicious as he has no clue what power level this npc is at. So while Manuel is trying to first aid Tenya and Native (oh yeah I guess there's a second pro in the alley too lol) while Izuku keeps Stain occupied and gets backup, he's also trying to figure out the Nomu thing. And then kurogiri appears, and Tenya yells because he recognizes him, but he can't move to shove Manual out of the way of the warp.

2- Manual is dropped in a very spooky lab with more nomu and some faceless creep on a throne. Manual does not judge the faceless thing, whatever some people look different. He does, however, Judge His Vibe. This guy clocked murderous intent from a teenager he barely saw on tv before it even happened, he Just Knows this guy is bad news. And in charge of the LoV, clearly, since Shigaraki didn't make sense as a leader and Stain just seemed mad about it. But Manual is also careful, and does not act on his vibe checks without further investigation. So he asks the suited creep "oh my god, are you the one that made the Nomu? Like the villain factory five years ago?" And AfO is just so pleased to be recognized as such a threat and confirms this, wondering what quirk he's about to steal from Manual.

And then Manual uses his quirk, and well, there's a lot of water in the Nomu labs. In the Nomu tanks. Running through the building, through AfO's medical equipment.

A lot of water.

3- Without the life-support equipment and half drowned, it is really really easy for Manual to hit him on the back of the head with a broken bit of pipe. This was not supposed to kill him- Manual saw a shape moving and thought it would not do much against a nomu, plus AfO is supposed to have a million quirks but- ah well. He's super dead now. And Manual is also surrounded by half finished nomu, also fairly dead now. And he's got to find the exit.

4- when Manual radios in that he's been warped under the Jakku hospital during the league attack in Hosu and he needs hero backup, now, he didn't expect all the backup he'd get. But all the heroes in Jakku were watching the news in Hosu and feeling useless, so they rush over and well. There's not much for them to do but cleanup nomu stuff and file reports. Manual appreciates the support anyway. And the blanket a nurse got him, and a coffee. And that everyone lets him focus on updates from Hosu, almost dropping his phone in relief that Stain has been taken in and the three -why are there three? There were two when he left!- teenagers are fine. The heroes offer to get him a ride to Hosu asap, but Manual stands up, pauses, and goes "wait, what about the mole? AfO had to have people working for him in this hospital to keep a lab like that under cover, right?"

5- with that terrifying thought, the Jakku heroes rush him out faster so they can figure that out, and Manual is on a train to Hosu. Once he gets closer to the city and two train switches later, he finds himself alone in the car with a tall, thin blond man. He knows the guy has to have some hero connection, because they were literally the only two people allowed on this train right now but he does not expect the guy to take a phone call, anxiously ask about a kid, get cut off, start swearing profusely in English, and then repeat "All For One? Are you sure????" about a dozen times before demanding around the clock watch until he can get there, and hanging up. The guy goes "Manual, huh?"

Manual looks up and answers, thinking he's being addressed, and the blond guy realizes it's him, and suddenly he's All Might and All Might is thanking Manual, bowing low. And that's just too much for Manual after the stressful week he's had. He passes out.