#to be fair she did make all of us pay cash multiple times at the library to print and reprint extracts. that she did NOT

[inflammatory]

and I came a long way to get here because like start of this year i was still saying shit to my classmates like guys if we all thought about it at the same time Im pretty sure we could explode her with our minds

[heavyhitterheaux]

Teenage Woes Part 3

Synopsis: You and Jack finally decide on a fair punishment for the triplets, and they get a rude awakening when they are forced out of their comfort zone.

Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader

Read Part 1 and Part 2 first

First Babies of Private Garden Masterlist

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

It had been a week since Jack had gotten his privileges back and he wasted absolutely no time once you had told him. At this point, the triplets were still walking on eggshells around you and in order not to do anything to piss you off, if they had a question they wouldn't ask you unless absolutely necessary.

Jack had convinced you to take a bath and had run the water for you along with lighting a few of your favorite candles and adding your favorite bath bombs. Within five minutes, he was climbing into the tub behind you, and you were surprised that it had taken him that long.

Your head was laying on his chest and the two of you were in a comfortable silence when you broke it by poking his cheek and starting to play with his beard.

"Yes, baby?"

"I've thought long and hard about this and if we agree on this, we can move forward with a proper punishment for them."

"I had been thinking too, but you go first." Jack said while kissing the tip of your nose and you smiled.

"They're going to public school and we are no longer paying for them to go to a private school. That comes with privileges and having the right attitude and being respectful."

"At least for a semester, you agree?"

You slowly nodded your head yes.

"No one is allowed to use their cell phone or drive unless we let them. Axel and Ivy need to get part time jobs and Ivy asked me if babysitting Nova counts even though she's 12. I expected her to ask about Cash and Cam seeing that they're only 6."

"No she didn't ask that…" Jack said while stifling a laugh and looking at you in disbelief and all you did was nod.

"And I have another suggestion." Jack started to say and you nodded for him to go on.

"They give us a percentage of their paycheck every two weeks and we tell them it goes towards bills, but we actually put it in another savings account for them and they can't even touch that one until they're 30."

"Hmm, I like that idea. I can open a new account tomorrow."

"One way or another they are going to learn to respect us and I think that this will be the wake up call that they need."

"I think one of the things that sticks out and pisses me off the most is Axel smoking. Knowing that he had to be intubated multiple times when he was born and has a heart murmur. He's lucky that we even let him play soccer. And has asthma. Like is he trying to put himself in the hospital because I'm convinced that he is. I get that I experimented, well we both did, however we didn't do anything that stupid."

"And remember the time we found weed and he tried to blame it on Urban?" Jack added and all you did was shake your head.

"I swear, I don't recognize my kids anymore. At least the other three act like they have some sense."

"When should we tell them?"

"Well school starts back up next week so I can call tomorrow and get them enrolled and can you be in charge of making sure they find jobs?"

"Of course baby, and they can't work for us either. Because I know Ivy will ask."

"They are in for a rude awakening. We'll tell them tomorrow and if someone disobeys our rules, a disciplinary school is next. Never thought I would say that out loud but here we are."

"I hope we don't get to that point, but if we do, so be it."

"I just checked on all of them and Autumn snuck out again. She's not in her room and I watched the security cameras."

"Hmm, she can have her fun now but come tomorrow she's going to be in for it. I don't even have the energy to yell or argue with them anymore. It's the fact that I'm calm and I admit that's probably the scariest thing that I could be."

"Oh, trust me, I know."

All you did was eye him as he leaned down to kiss you.

"I love you."

"And I love you even when you get on my nerves."

"Was that last part really necessary?" Jack asked as he sucked his teeth, but all you did was laugh.

"Of course it was. Wouldn't be me if I didn't say it."

Jack simply rolled his eyes as he began to kiss down your neck and you knew where this was going.

"You aren't tired yet?" You asked and he immediately shook his head no.

"I've missed out on an entire month and I need to make up for lost time so spread your legs and let me work."

The next morning, you got up early and fixed breakfast for everyone for the first time in about a month and a half. Jack woke up about thirty minutes after you and came down to help you. All you could basically put him in charge of was drinks, but you were still grateful to have his company.

Meanwhile upstairs, the triplets had congregated in Axel's room and they were confused since they heard both of you downstairs and knew that something had to be up.

"She's actually cooking…" Ivy whispered, not actually believing it herself.

"Well maybe she forgives us?" Axel suggested but the girls shook their heads no.

"That's way too easy. She couldn't have and she didn’t even say anything about it either."

"Uncle Urby said she holds grudges like no other and the last thing we want to do is be in the line of fire when she gets pissed off."

"But we're her kids. She can't stay mad at us forever."

"Autumn, you've done enough shit for her to be mad at you for the rest of your life." Axel said and she immediately rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, okay. Don't say anything when you cough up a lung knowing that you smoke and have asthma." She quickly fired back as Ivy simply sighed.

Jack suddenly knocked on Axel's door and peeked his head in startling them.

"You three get your brothers and sister and come eat."

"Dad! What is mom up to?" Axel asked and all Jack did was laugh to himself.

"You three will find out soon enough, come on."

The three of them exchanged nervous looks as Jack walked away and went back downstairs.

"Welp, we're all going to die. So it was nice knowing you two." Ivy said before walking out Axel's room to get Nova while Axel went to get his brothers.

Once downstairs, everyone had fixed their plate and was eating at the table when you and Jack were simply eyeing each other making the triplets even more nervous. Ivy quickly caught on with you two exchanging looks and finally asked.

“Um, why are you two looking at each other like that?”

“Babe, you want to tell them?” Jack asked while looking at you as you were sipping on your tea.

“Well, if you insist. Ivy, Axel, Autumn, the oldest of my children who I carried for 33 weeks and had to be resuscitated twice once they cut you out of me even though Autumn claimed that it wasn't a big deal and you all still continue to disrespect me, me and your father have something to tell all of you.”

“Wait…. YOU DIED?” Axel exclaimed since you had actually never told them.

“Not once, but twice. Stay on topic, Axel. And you almost did too, but that's not what this conversation is about." Jack quickly cut in while the girls were looking at you with concern.

“But you never told us that!” Ivy exclaimed and Autumn looked to be upset.

"We need to unpack that because…. WHAT?"

“Another story for another day when the three of you are actually back in my good graces again.”

Nova, Cash, and Cam stopped eating to try and listen in on what was going on with their siblings as they nervously looked on.

“Come next week, the three of you will be going to public school since me and your father are not going to pay for you three to go to private school that has top tier educators and continue to disrespect us so that’s a thing of the past, Ivy and Axel, you two need to get jobs and all three of you will decide which bill you want to contribute to in the house since Autumn already has one. You are not allowed to have your cell phone unless we say so and you can only drive to and from work. If one of you steps a toe out of line, you don’t want to know what is going to come after that because you definitely won’t like it. I do not expect any failing grades either.”

There was only silence for a matter of seconds before you quickly heard their protests.

“PUBLIC SCHOOL?”

“WITH NORMAL PEOPLE!?”

“WE HAVE TO PAY BILLS NOW?!”

“WE HAVE TO RIDE THE BUS TOO?!”

“As long as you live in this house you will abide by our rules and respect them and we aren’t going back on this punishment so you three will have to deal with it.” Jack told them as Ivy simply had her mouth hanging wide open, but her face quickly turned to a look of anger as she looked at Autumn.

“This is all your fault! You told her that we were cut out and not pushed out and looked what happened!” Ivy said while rolling her eyes.

“How is this all my fault? I didn’t tell you to cuss out your teacher!”

“No, but you had to go and be a bitch and be disrespectful to our mother who would do anything for us and you’ve acted out ever since Nova was born because you were jealous that you weren’t the baby anymore!”

“We were only four when she was born!”

“And you still act as if you’re four years old! You almost let Nova fall down the steps ON PURPOSE when she was little and she would have seriously gotten hurt if I didn’t catch her in time!  You’ve always been the one to get in trouble and now we’re in trouble right along with you! And always beg daddy to bail you out when you know that you’re in the wrong. You’re so selfish!”

“How am I selfish? I have covered for you plenty of times when you snuck out with Damien!”

“YOU LITERALLY SNUCK OUT LAST NIGHT!”

“YOU TWO, SHUT IT RIGHT NOW! And we do NOT call each other names, Ivy!” You yelled and the two of them instantly went quiet.

“Ivy, when did you sneak out?” Jack asked while looking at her and all she did was stare back at him while picking off her fingernail polish.

“Don’t lie because we have security cameras.” He continued as Autumn was smirking.

“Autumn wipe that smirk off your face. It looks like we now have to make an executive decision. Babe? They do their junior year and entire senior year in public school.”

“Now, wait a second! I was going to be dance captain this year!”

“Autumn, shut your mouth because I’m not waiting for a damn thing and it looks like they’ll have to choose someone else. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes and Ax, you’ve been mighty quiet but let me tell you if we as much catch you smoking or even smell weed on you knowing that you have asthma, you don’t want to know what’s going to happen. The last thing we ever want is you having an asthma attack and getting a call from the hospital because your inhaler didn’t work. We have gotten enough calls from the hospital concerning you to last more than four lifetimes. When you were born you literally couldn’t even breathe on your own.”

“And no boyfriends or girlfriends so NO dating. Open your mouth to talk back to either of us and we’ll ship you off to military school at this very moment. Your choice, so choose wisely. Now enjoy your breakfast while I make a few calls. Jack, the only thing that they can look on their phones for are jobs today. Once they fill out at least five applications, they have to give it back to you. Do you agree?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“We love the three of you very much, but you’ve left us no choice and have brought this on yourselves. I hope this serves as a good lesson to you and maybe just maybe if you three actually stick to being on your best behavior, you’ll slowly start to earn your privileges back.”

“Mommy?” You heard Cash ask and you quickly turned to him.

“Yes, my baby?”

“Can I have more orange juice?”

“Of course you can and Nova and Autumn come in the living room.”

“Am I in trouble?” Nova asked terrified as you poured juice for Cash and you shook your head no. She hated getting in trouble and would always cry when she was younger if she was caught doing something that she wasn’t supposed to do.  

“No, just need you for a second.”

The three of you walked into the living room and you gestured for them to sit down.

“Autumn, I am tired of this imaginary competition between you and Nova and it needs to stop at this very moment.”

“I…”

“No, and do not pretend to not know what I’m talking about because Ivy is right. We prepped you as much as we could but I didn’t even know I was pregnant with her because I would have liked to have done a better job. You are now 16 years old and she is 12 and looks up to her big sisters and wants to be like you and Ivy. We love all of you EQUALLY and no one has gotten special treatment at any time. So, do a better job of being a sister to her. I don’t have mine anymore and I wish that I did so the two of you better learn to get along. When me and your dad are not here anymore, all you’re going to have is each other. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” She quietly said while looking down at her feet.

“Nova, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“The two of you can go finish eating.”

“Mom, what ever happened to your sister?” Nova quietly asked as she got up from the couch and Autumn went back into the kitchen.

“It’s not important and it’s a story for another day.”

The triplets were three weeks into the school year when all three of them came through the front door and you could tell that Ivy had been crying. Jack was the first one to notice and asked her what was wrong.

“Ivy? What’s going on?”

“I HAVE TO WORK TODAY! WHEN AM I GOING TO FIND TIME TO DO MY HOMEWORK? AND IT’S SO HARD. I HATE PUBLIC SCHOOL.”

“Me and your mother went to public school and we turned out just fine. You’ll be okay.” Jack replied while shrugging and looking at her, when she was quiet, he spoke again.

“I hope you weren’t expecting sympathy from me because if you were, you need to look elsewhere.”

“But…”

Just then you came down the steps and saw how upset she was and asked what had happened.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s fine. Ivy, go get ready for work and you’ll do your homework once you get back.”

“I AM NOT FINE! Mommy can I PLEASE go back to private school? Public school is scary and the food doesn’t taste good and they don’t have Fiji water in the cafeteria and the drama club sucks, and….”

You held up your hand to cut her off and all she did was sigh.

“Give it a chance, bubs. You’re only three weeks in and I have the utmost faith in you.” You said while pinching her cheek and all she did was sigh.

“You two aren’t changing your minds any time soon, are you?” Axel quietly asked while looking at how frustrated his sister was.

“Nope.” Both of you said at the same time and you went to lay in Jack’s lap as you grabbed his phone from him to order food since you had been busy all day and didn’t really have time to sit down. 

“If I finish my homework before dinner, can I play on my phone for an hour?" Autumn quietly asked and the two of you simply turned around to look at her. 

"Never mind. Can I watch Netflix then?"

"Hmm, what do you think?" Jack asked while looking down at you.

"It's Wednesday. No."

"Anddd there's your answer Autumn. You can read a book instead." Jack said as he looked towards her and all she did was nod her head accepting that as an answer before going upstairs while you scrolled through Jack’s phone.

"You know Nova asked me what happened to my sister a few weeks ago."

"Are you going to tell them?" Jack asked as you handed him his phone for him to add what he wanted to the cart.

"It's not all that important. It's not affecting their lives."

"But it's affecting yours. Not as much as before but it still is."

All you did was shrug.

"No matter how much time has passed and how much she wants to talk to me, I am never giving her the time of day or him for that matter. They knew what they were doing all along for it to come back and kick them in the ass later. She literally will never be in my good graces again. She had more kids other than me so she can focus on them. She literally did drugs while pregnant with me and I was born to addicted to a whole bunch of shit so she can go fuck herself. Anyway, did you add what you wanted? I want a milkshake too."

"I added it. It should be here in an hour."

"Okay. I just want them to understand that when we're not here anymore, all they're going to have is each other and they need to start treating each other better. Especially Autumn and Nova. Nova just kind of brushes it off, but I know it still bothers her. While Autumn can just be downright mean sometimes to her. And the thing is that she had her little jealous phase and I thought she grew out of it, but within the last few months she's doing it again."

"I think because of you telling them that, that they'll come around and be better about it. When I see those two, I get flashbacks of me and Clay and I do not want that happening again. And Autumn has got the message loud and clear now. We aren't putting up with her shit anymore."

"And it won't. In the end, I know that they'll be okay and it will just take a little while for them to get there."

"Now, are you sure we can't make another one?" Jack asked you and you looked up at him like he was crazy.

"Another WHAT?!"

"Um, never mind. I'll ask you later."

"If you are talking about me bringing another person into this world, the answer is no."

"But…"

"We have 3 boys and 3 girls. We are done. My uterus is done. My vagina is done."

"I'll ask you again next week."

All you did was look up to Jack to see him smirking and trying not to laugh and you couldn’t help but to laugh yourself.

"I cannot stand you."

All he did was lean down to kiss you and you continued to laugh as he placed kisses all over your face.

"It's just because you're a damn good mother. Just to watch the way you love and care for them is amazing and I knew from the beginning it was going to be like that, despite what was going on between us."

"Those first two years were hard. Between me wanting to separate from you, postpartum depression, thinking that we were going to have to bury one child, but we're still here."

"We are and thriving despite what may be happening around us."

"I'm so thankful you were able to realize something was wrong with me when that happened." You quietly said as you thought back on it.

"I know you like the back of my hand and inside and out… literally. I know when something is wrong with my baby. But seriously, that scared the absolute shit out of me. Second to their actual birth."

"I can't describe it, but it was a weird feeling. Like an out of body experience you could say."

"And that's why you were nervous to have Nova, scared that it was going to happen again."

"And thankfully it didn't."

"I don't know what I would have done without you and I know I tell you this all the time, but I seriously do not take for granted every single moment I get to have with you. Even if we're having a good day or not. I literally cannot put into words how much I love you."

"The good always outweighs the bad and I love you more than life."

"We can get through anything as long as we have each other."

The triplets were at the top of the steps as they overheard you and Jack talking and if they didn't just feel bad before, they felt even worse now. 

They didn't say anything to each other as Ivy went downstairs to ask the both of you for her keys so that she could drive to work.

"Um, can I have my keys please?"

Since you were laying on Jack’s lap, he simply got up, but picked you up along with him with you letting out a yelp and went to get them out of the safe.

"Jackman, you can put me down now." You said as you laughed. He placed you on your feet before handing Ivy her keys.

"Go to work and then come home. No detours because we will find out." Jack told her and she simply nodded before grabbing both of you and pulling you into a hug, startling you both.

"Um, bubs, are you okay?" You quietly asked while hugging her back.

"Yes, I just love you both a whole lot. I have the best parents in the world."

"Oh. Well we love you too." Jack said while looking down at you confused and all you did was shrug.

"I'll see you both when I get back." Was all that she said before she walked out the door and all you and Jack did was look at each other.

"What just happened?" Jack quietly asked while looking at you, but you were at a loss for words.

"I'm not really sure, but I'm not mad at it."

It was now nearing the end of the semester and the triplets had been on their best behavior and following all of the rules that you and Jack had set in place for them.

The both of you knew that their report cards would be sent home today and were hoping for good results.

You were currently in your room looking over possible dresses that Julissa sent over for an upcoming event and you had told her that by the end of the day, you would decide which one you wanted.

Your door was open as Autumn poked her head in and knocked.

"Mommy?"

"I don't even remember the last time you called me that. Is something wrong?" You said while looking at her in the doorway and she quickly shook her head no.

"Then what's going on? And are you just going to stand in the doorway or come in?" You asked her and she quickly came in to sit next to you and simply stared at you.

"I got my report card." She said while handing it to you.

You took it from her and looked it over seeing that she had gotten all A's and B's.

"This is good, bubs. I'm proud of you." You said while looking back up at her and all she did was start to cry.

"Autumn? What's wrong?" You asked while putting her report card on your dresser and hugging her as she cried into your chest.

"I'm such a horrible daughter and sister. My siblings probably hate me."

"What?! No you aren't! And no one in this house hates you!"

"You and daddy have given me so many chances that I really shouldn't have gotten. And Nova does hate me! I've been nothing but mean to her since she was born!"

"Okay, Autumn, you need to breathe. Like I said no one hates you. Nova is just in her own little world, and has a very big heart. You’re her sister that she looks up to and all she wants is for the two of you to get along. I know that she'll forgive you and she wants the two of you to be close."

"And you went through so much to give birth to us and I'm sorry that I ever said that it wasn't a big deal. You died. Twice. And went through postpartum depression and you were going to separate from daddy and…."

"Pause. How did you know that last part?"

"We overheard the two of you talking." She quietly said while looking up at you.

All you did was sigh.

"Autumn Danielle, all six of you are our greatest joy and I wouldn’t change a thing because that's how we got to this point. You've been doing a lot better and all we want is for all of you to be successful, respectful, and responsible, knowing that you can lose everything in a blink of an eye. Just continue to do better, okay?"

"Okay." She said while sniffling and hugging you tighter.

"I love you and I'm sorry if I don't say it enough or don't act like it." Autumn added while playing with her bracelet that you and Jack had bought her for her birthday.

"I love you too and that is never going to change. We are always going to be here for you no matter what."

Just then Axel peeked into the room to see the two of you and made his way in also having his report card in hand.

"Mom?"

"She's occupied! Get your own!" You heard Autumn yell and all you did was laugh.

"What the? She is MY OWN. She was my mother before she was yours! I'm two minutes ahead of you!"

"And I also made it in here before you so you can leave. We were having a moment."

"Autumn, be nice! Ax, let me see the report card."

Once again, you saw all A's and B's.

"I expected nothing less, very proud of you."

"And I haven't smoked and I got your favorite muffins. They're downstairs."

"Oh, I would have known if you smoked anyway. I look at the number of puffs you have left on your inhaler. When you were using it more, you kept saying you needed another one."

"Um…"

"Bubs, I have 24 years on you. I wasn't born yesterday." You said while smirking at him.

"Autumn, move over." Ax said and she scooted over to make more room for him. 

"Mom? Can we have tacos later?"

"Text your dad the ingredients that I need."

About two hours later, Jack walked in to see three of his oldest children surrounding you on the bed with all of you knocked out sleeping and all he could do was smile.

All he did was snap a quick picture to show you later. 

Hearing his footsteps, you fluttered your eyes open to see your husband smiling at you.

"What?" You asked while smiling back at him and all he did was hand you his phone to look at the picture he took.

"No matter how old they get, they're always going to need us."

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[loveyhoons]

I’LL SAVE YOU ૮ ․ ․ ྀིა | p.sh

pairing: park sunghoon x f! reader

genre: non idol au! childhood friends to to implied lovers! reunited after a long time type of scenario!

synopsis: when y/n gets unexpectedly saved by one of the country’s national treasures in the most popular live annual dating show

word count: 1.9k words

warnings: none

author’s note: hi hello! this is my first short written on here, please bear with me!! i wrote aus & short stories before but never published them on tumblr, enjoy :)

ps. this is loosely based off of a scene from the thai drama called ready set love. i have been hooked on that show ever since i finished it. who knows maybe i’ll turn this into a fic with multiple chapters, we will see!!

Y/N sat in the yellow chair, facing the large mirror in front of her.

She glanced at the wooden box hooked onto the mirror, peeking inside to find a pair of earbuds. Y/N grabbed the earbuds and took in a deep breath, unsure of what to say once the “lucky” guy walked in through the other side of the room.

Y/N was at her limit to say the least. She, in just one day, already embarrassed herself in front of one of the men participants, get a call from her aunt saying her younger sister was in the emergency room, and almost lose the last round in the first game.

Out of pure luck, Y/N and other contestants were given a chance to go to the second round. She needed to try her best in order to secure a spot- after all if the guy who chooses her does not save her, she is doomed.

It did not help that this entire game show Y/N was competing in was broadcasted on national television. Everyone, as in everyone in the entire country, was watching the show at the present time.

After the country faced a deadly pandemic in the 1970s, the men population started to decline rapidly. The pandemic seemed to only affect the men population while the women population withheld the illness and later deemed themselves immune.

The amount of men started to become scarce, leaving them to become “national treasures” of the country. With women barely giving birth to a baby boy and the numbers growing worse, men were then placed inside a private area called “The House”.

Men were never allowed to see the world outside “The House” and stay within the walls. With only 200 men remaining in the past 10 years, the government and the elite decided to create the annual game show called Ready Set Love.

Every year, 50 contestants are chosen to woo over the 5 most popular men of the “House”. Through each round, contestants are asked to play games whether it be through a team or alone. After each round, there can be only one winning team and whoever loses will be sent home immediately.

This year was different for the game show; the rules were changed in order to make things more “fair” and for everyone to have a chance to participate.

10 lucky participants who were not of the elite class were given a chance to win a spot on the game show as a contestant. Usually, chosen contestants would be those who were born into a rich family or have a high status within the country. But now, 10 lucky women were able to have the chance to try and also win.

And that’s exactly what happened to Y/N. With her younger sister buying at least 10+ cartons of milk every week at the convenience store, she got lucky and was able to secure her sister the 50th spot as a contestant.

Y/N, to say the least, was hesitant. She thought to just decline the offer and just ignore the results of the lottery. Except, the cash prize was huge. Bigger than she’d ever imagine. And that money can be used to help pay for her sister’s medical bills and expenses.

Now, Y/N is nervously sitting in her chair, waiting for someone to walk in. She bit her nails a little, feeling nervous about the outcome.

All she wanted was just to win, grab the cash prize, and nurse her sister back to health.

It was at least 20 minutes since Y/N sat in her chair. So far no one showed up, leaving her to walk around in circles in the room, scared.

What if the guy she needed to woo in just 5 minutes will never show up?

“Does Y/N not know there’s multiple rounds of this minigame?” One of the announcers raised her eyebrow, looking at the screen. “Seems like she’ll be chosen in the last round.”

The current mini game consisted of the 5 men picking a random room to walk into. The chosen participant would sit on the other side, waiting to start a conversation with them. The pair has 5 minutes to interact as the contestant needs to woo the man. If the man thinks that the contestant is fit to move into the next round, he will then do a little dance in front of the mirror and say, “I save you.”

“I guess not, but look who’s about to walk in!” said the other announcer, pointing towards the right corner of the room.

Sunghoon opened the door, walking straight into the right side of the room. Closing the door quietly behind him, he walked towards the wooden box and grabbed the pair of earbuds, stretching his arms a little.

He snickered to himself, already over with this mini game, ready to go home.

The first 2 rounds of the mini game was an automatic fail.

The first girl he chose pretended to be someone she was not. He could sense she only wanted to fit his needs and not put herself first in certain situations, and Sunghoon did not like that.

The second girl just giggled uncontrollably and ended up passing out. Sunghoon was confused and just hoped she was okay. She must have been a bit too excited, he thought to himself.

Y/N saw the mystery man take a seat on the other side, bewildered by his sudden entrance. She then took a seat, fixing her hair and her posture. As she settled down on her chair, she realized who was right in front of her.

“Your 5 Minutes start now, good look girls.” The intercom through the room spoke.

As the intercom was turned off and the 5 minutes started, Y/N snapped her fingers and pointed towards the mirror, “Oh, it’s-”

“It's you again?” Sunghoon grunted. He leaned back into his chair, rubbing his chin. “Are you stalking me or something?”

“Hey, you picked this room, okay? Did I ask you to pick this room?” Y/N said in annoyance, fed up with Sunghoon’s question.

Sunghoon reached into the pocket of his jacket and brought out his phone. He put an image on the middle of the mirror and pointed towards it. “Do you know what that is?”

On the mirror, a picture of a figure was placed in the middle. Y/N sighed, “It’s a person.”

Sunghoon then pulled up another image from his phone and asked another question. “About this?”

“It’s also a person.” Y/N replied, unaware of the point Sunghoon was trying to make.

Sunghoon put his phone away, shocked by Y/N’s responses.

“You see that the first image is the symbol for men, the second is for women. You walked into the men’s restroom earlier.”

Y/N gulped. She blinked her eyes rapidly, feeling even more embarrassed than the first time she ran into Sunghoon.

“Where I live we don’t have those signs. I apologize again and I’m not a stalker.”

The silence deafened between the both.

Sunghoon crossed his arms, not batting an eye towards Y/N.

He already knew what to do at the end of the 5 minutes: he was already ready to tell her she would leave and not get through this round.

Y/N was stumped. She already messed up the first time and what more now?

“Sunghoon, listen, I need to win.”

“Okay and? Doesn’t everyone?” Sunghoon replied. He glanced towards the other side of the room, looking at Y/N.

“I need to get into “The House”, it’s the only way I can survive right now.”

“Listen to me,” Sunghoon leaned in a little, shaking his head. “You don’t want that, trust me.”

Sunghoon hated to admit to himself but he envied the women who lived in the outside world. He wanted to know how it felt like to actually be outside and not held in captivity. If only the contestants knew how lonely it was within those metal walls.

Y/N bit her lip, holding back her tears and raised her voice. “You don’t know how privileged you are. You don’t know how life is for me right now. You don’t know.”

Sunghoon stayed silent. He was unsure of what to say. He never saw someone cry in front of him, let alone a girl. A girl pleading for him to help her.

Y/N wiped a tear off her face and looked up to Sunghoon. “I’ll just leave. I already know your answer if that’s the case.”

Removing her pink sash with the number 50 decorated on it, Y/N sniffled a little. She looked at it in despair, setting it down on the chair.

Sunghoon looked at her, in silence. As Y/N removed the sash, a black thread necklace was brought out from beneath her shirt, noticeable.

Taken aback, Sunghoon looked at the necklace that adorned half an emblem on it. He blinked his eyes rapidly, shocked by what he was seeing.

It couldn’t be.

Y/N was the young girl he’s been looking for ever since the government officials found him and captured him. She was the one who saved him for a bit, hiding him in her secret hideout away from the city when they were kids.

She was the girl who might be able to save him from his destined faith.

“Y/N wait,” Sunghoon stood up.

Y/N ignored Sunghoon’s request, removing her airbuds and placing them back into the wooden box.

Sunghoon walked towards the door and ran towards the middle of the game room. He walked straight into Y/N’s side of the room.

Opening the door, Y/N looked at him in confusion.

“Sunghoon-”

“The 5 minutes is now over, please give your answer.” The intercom spoke.

Sunghoon let out a little cough, regretting what he was about to do. He did the little dance, feeling like his life was already crumbling before his eyes. He swore he never was going to give any of these contestants a chance but now Y/N was the lucky one in his eyes.

After Sunghoon finished his little dance, he pointed towards Y/N and gulped. “I save you.”

Y/N looked to him in confusion. She stood there quietly, shocked by Sunghoon’s actions. She thought he was going to let her lose but why? Why did he let her go through to the next round?

“Sunghoon, what is the meaning of this?” Y/N asked.

“Don’t question it. But please Y/N, try and win.” Sunghoon walked closer to Y/N and spoke softly. “You’re my only hope of getting out of here.”

Y/N looked up to Sunghoon as his facial expression became soft and calm. It was as if the person who he was just now, left, vacant in his spot,

The two stood there face to face, basking in each other’s presence. Y/N thought about her own reasons to why she was there. She nodded her head, in response to Sunghoon’s words.

It was only then the intercom would then announce for the contestants to go back to the main room and for the 5 men to go back into their waiting room.

As Y/N parted ways with Sunghoon, she was curious to why he had a sudden change of heart. It made her question if this game show had a deeper meaning to it, deeper than just trying to woo a man and win a date with him each round.

© loveyhoons , 2024

landing page | masterlist

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I stopped buying from Newcl0ver last year after I saw first hand how greedy they have become. (I use plural pronouns because I refuse to believe Chr1stina is one person.) I had an order in on this bust stand that was per my recollection 3-4 months production time on the product page when I first purchased it. They delete the product pages after preorders so I don't remember. Anyhow, it took way longer than that, I asked them about the order multiple times since I saw people on IG get theirs, and they just kept saying "soon, soon". At 8 months I said I want to cancel. They said that it's ok, but they can only refund me 75% of the price because they will make a loss since they cannot cancel the order to the store and have to resell my order at loss. I agreed if only to be out of it, because I thought it's fair that we share the loss.

Well, a few months later I saw *my* bust stand listed in their "in stock -30% off" category, with my exact order options, and they were asking MORE than I paid during my initial order. I was still able to access my order notes through my profile and check. So I guess that's why they remove the original listings before people get their goods, huh? -30% off? Compared to what? Not the price I paid. I felt like they just scammed me out of 25% of my payment using the pity card and then cashed in some extra on someone else, too.

Their Taobao fees have skyrocketed. A couple years ago, it used to be the price in CNY x 0,19, but now it's already price in CNY x 0,22. One CNY is 0,14 USD so for every dollar you spend in their store, 36 cents go directly into their pocket for just receiving your box and sending it forward. And it's true that the fee includes free standard international shipping to most countries, but still, it's quite a big fee to pay for sending them a ready list of Taobao links and having your stuff drop-shipped to you. The difference in past and current service fees is even more gross considering they used to send monthly 10-15 usd off or 5% off coupons with their newsletters, but no longer do. When I asked them last year why the fees have risen and discounts stopped, they said it's due to the bad exchange rate of CNY to USD. I googled it and while it's true that the rate momentarily fluctuated in 2021-2022, for the past 6 months the exchange rate of CNY-USD has been at the same level as in 2020, so their excuse seems lacking.

I have had several missing items from each of my six large Taobao orders, but I was patient with reminding them about the items because I thought my orders are painfully big (100+ items). But, if you get paid the price you named for your service, is it really on the customer to feel like a burden when you eff up? It was often the expensive items that I had to chase after, too. Like, once when I ordered 30 bags of beads ranging from 1 to 20 dollars, it was the freshwater pearls that cost 20 dollars that were missing. She did always refund me or send the missing items, but it took me a lot of time to check and report, and I had to pay extra customs fees for the after-deliveries.

I used to be a loyal fan of Newcl0ver but I've removed all the messages in my socials where I nudged people towards ordering from them to avoid M00nlightbjdh0use's scammy high agent fees. Now I place Newcl0ver at the same low level as M00n. I'm gonna have to find myself a new doll dealer, since the two big USA dealers don't match my criteria, either. I have heard good things of Magus' agent services, but have yet to try them. Christina is not an official agent of most the artists they claim to represent, anyway, so it's the same to straight out go to someone who is open about not being an official dealer and prices accordingly.

~Anonymous

[satansapostle6]

The Man Who Sold The World | Luke Castellan

Spotify Playlist Link

Katherine. She was the one who started it all for Luke Castellan, the reason he did what he did.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter Two

Chapter Three: Living Like Kerouac

“I’m gonna fill up on gas,” Katherine Montalvo announced as she got out of the driver’s seat of the car. “Why don’t you go get us some food to ration.”

“Alright,” Luke agreed as he got out. “Regular, or sour cream and onion?” he asked enthusiastically.

“As someone who’s gonna spend the duration of the trip sitting next to you, regular,” she insisted. “Your breath was hot this morning.”

Luke just rolled his eyes as he walked off toward the gas station, exhausted. It had been almost a full day since he and Katherine had fled from Oklahoma. The two of them had been taking turns driving all the way back to New York, only stopping for gas. Unlike Katherine, Luke was unable to take full advantage of his driving breaks, and had only gotten about three total hours of sleep that night.

Luke was having difficulty relaxing in general, and not just because he didn’t quite trust Katherine yet. He’d spent most of his time awake contemplating how he would justify his leaving the camp to go chasing Kronos in the Underworld with Katherine.

He knew he needed a lie, or multiple, that would explain his absence at least during the trip to the Underworld. Anxiously looking back at Katherine to ensure she wouldn’t abandon him at the strange gas station in Ohio, Luke considered his options as he made sure to get coffees for the two of them in order to keep them awake.

“Man, your girlfriend’s a real beauty,” the gas station cashier, a man most likely in his early forties, said as he rang up his stuff.

Luke’s brows furrowed in disgust, as he elected not to dignify the comment with a response. Leaving the store with a plastic bag full of rations for their road trip, he discreetly dipped his hand into the boxes of candy by the register on the way out.

Katherine had been waiting in the car with the door open for the gas to be done pumping. Luke climbed into the passenger’s seat, setting the bag on his lap.

“Are you more of a chocolate person, or a sour candy person?” he asked her.

She just looked at him for a moment, eventually smiling softly at the thought of candy. “Sour candy.”

“Here,” he offered, handing her a pack of sour straws. “Five finger discount.”

“And you say you’re not used to living on the road,” she smirked, popping a piece of candy into her mouth before getting out to pay for the gas.

“You need the cash?” Luke asked her, holding up the wad of money she kept in the car.

“Nope.”

He frowned as he waited for her to come back, not sure what she had up her sleeve. He hungrily scarfed down a sandwich he’d gotten, relieved to finally be able to eat something that didn’t come in a sealed bag. Katherine eventually returned, starting the car as they drove off.

“How’d you pay for the gas?” Luke asked curiously.

“I played ‘hello titty’ with the cashier,” she said absentmindedly as she steered back onto the road.

“People are disgusting,” he thought, appalled.

“Hey, if it gets me gas, I’m not complaining.”

“Fair enough,” Luke admitted. “You seem to have picked up all sorts of survival tactics.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason I’m still alive,” Katherine pointed out.

He knew this was true, as yesterday after they left, he watched her pull into an empty parking lot to switch the license plate on the car so that it couldn’t be traced as stolen. However risky and innovative they were, Katherine had her own survival techniques that she didn’t stray from anymore.

“Yesterday, when the cops drove past while we were stealing the car… Why was kissing me the first thing that popped into your head?” Luke wondered in amusement.

“Nobody questions people who are making out,” she responded evenly, “No one focused on doing anything stops to make out.”

“But, the cops weren’t looking for us,” he stated.

“What, I can’t be safe?” she smirked, locking eyes with him for a moment before turning her attention back to driving.

Luke just chuckled softly, seeing that she did, in fact, have a sense of humor. Katherine did have a certain way about her, even when she was being frustratingly vague about herself, or her plan. But however frustrating it could be, Luke didn’t resent her for her secretiveness; he respected that it was strategic, and a habit formed by trauma.

Luke had decided to trust Katherine Montalvo solely because he trusted the intelligent glimmer in her nearly black eyes. Something about her dared him to fall into her, like a fly into a web.

“You know, I never asked your full name,” Katherine said out loud as she sipped on the coffee Luke had gotten her.

“Castellan,” he informed her. “I’m Luke Castellan.”

“Alright, we’re even now,” she nodded. “You know. I haven’t given out my real name to anyone in months.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured,” he remarked. “You keep multiple driver’s licenses in your glove compartment. How’d you even get those?”

“I have a guy who does favors for me,” Katherine replied.

“In exchange for what?” he asked, not too sure he wanted the answer.

“I saved his life,” she provided.

“Oh. Yeah, that’ll do it,” Luke nodded.

The conversation reached a natural pause as the two of them were focused on different things, the radio playing Creedence Clearwater Revival quietly in the background.

“You know, I can tell you don’t hate me,” Luke said aloud, watching her for micro expressions of emotion. “Why don’t you just talk to me, and this’ll go by a lot faster?” he suggested.

“I am talking to you,” she said impatiently.

“No, you’re not,” he argued.

“We’re having a conversation right now.”

“A conversation about not having a conversation isn’t a conversation,” Luke pointed out.

“Are you always this difficult?”

“Are you always this cold?” he stared at her expectantly.

“Sorry,” Katherine muttered, “I don’t like small talk.”

“Me neither,” he said pointedly. “Who said we have to make small talk?”

“What, you’re trying to talk to me about the fabric of the universe right now?” she questioned.

“No, not necessarily,” he answered. “Just about… real things.”

“Okay, and what are these ‘real things’ that seem to be consuming your every thought?” she asked finally.

“What’s your relationship with your mom like?” Luke pondered.

There was a heavy pause before he got a response.

“Nope. Too deep. Pick something else,” Katherine refused adamantly.

“Oh, so you don’t wanna make small talk, but you don’t like to talk about anything ‘deep’,” he concluded.

“Yeah.”

“So what do you talk about?” he demanded incredulously.

“Usually,” she said impatiently, “I don’t.”

“I get it,” Luke’s demeanor softened, “I really do. Most of the people I talk to in a day, their responses to my deepest, darkest demons aren’t much better than their small talk.”

“I don’t talk to a lot of people. I haven’t for a long time,” Katherine admitted. “The only people I bother really talking to are other demigods I meet, and there aren’t many.”

“You really hunt alone?”

“Yeah, I always have,” she nodded firmly. “That’s how I learned.”

“You know, we went different paths, but our lives haven’t been that different,” he told her.

“Yeah. Anyone with a god for a parent’s guaranteed to have it pretty rough,” Katherine agreed.

“I take it Nemesis definitely isn’t a better parent than Hermes?”

As she stopped for a moment, he wondered if she’d actually answer the question.

“My dad… he never cared about claiming me. Not really,” Luke shared. “I… I spent years, devising schemes, and acting out, trying to get his attention.”

“Did it work?” Katherine asked subsequently.

“What do you think?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Right,” she nodded in understanding.

“You know, I’m head counselor of the Hermes cabin. It’s for children of Hermes, and minor gods, and the unclaimed. The stories I’ve heard, and the things that I’ve seen…” he trailed off quietly. “You’d think there were no gods.”

“Well. When it comes to them, knowing they exist doesn’t really do us any good,” she muttered.

“No. It doesn’t,” she scoffed. “My mother… the only thing she ever did for me was tell me to leave my dad. No shit, Mom.”

“That’s when you heard her voice?” Luke asked.

“Yeah. You know, my whole life, the only way I knew she was my mother was when the people I got mad at, the people I really hated, got theirs,” she remembered.

“Being a demigod is just years of waiting for people to get their karma,” he remarked bitterly.

“Listen,” she offered, “My mother is the goddess of balance, and retribution. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this world, it’s that sometimes, you have to be the karma.”

Luke studied her for a moment, watching the way her long, dark hair cast a shadow over her face. He felt what he knew she was feeling, the years of hatred and resentment after all the things he’d seen outside of the safety of the camp.

“You think so too?” he asked her.

Katherine nodded with certainty. “You know how many people have told me to just ‘wait’ for my father to change? People don’t just get what’s coming to them because it happens out of nowhere, people get what’s coming to them because someone wakes up and decides it’s so.”

She had a passion in her he’d never seen in another person before.

“I want to find Kronos,” she told him. “Not because I think he’ll somehow magically be a parent. I don’t need a parent anymore; I need retribution. We all do. That’s why I’m doing this.”

Luke thought about what she said, realizing that he really did believe in the same things she did. He didn’t just believe in the search for Kronos, he believed in Katherine. Katherine was a true warrior. Seeing the way she’d saved his life on multiple occasions now, Luke saw that Katherine was a soldier who had what it took to win whatever war she was fighting in.

Hours passed, and Luke still didn’t find himself having any doubts at all about their journey.

“Katherine. I’m starving,” he complained as he drove.

“Want me to see if we still have some jerky left?” she offered.

“Yeah, as appealing as that sounds, don’t you think we could stop for a real meal?” he hoped. “There’s a diner just after this exit.”

“Alright, fine,” she sighed. “I could use a chicken fried steak.”

“Me too,” Luke groaned, anxiously continuing down the highway.

The two headed into the restaurant, as Katherine made it a point to leave her hunting utility belt in the car along with most of its contents. They sat down in a booth as far from everyone else in the restaurant as they could get, smiling softly as a woman brought them menus.

“God, I’m glad to have some real food,” Luke sighed with relief.

“Is that broken dagger seriously all you have?” Katherine piped up.

“Well, I lost my sword on my quest to find this old artifact for Chiron,” he explained.

“Well, I meant to give you this, so no one catches us off guard,” she told him, handing him what looked like a bronze Zippo lighter. “It clicks into a sword.”

“Oh. Nice,” he nodded, “Hey. What’s your weapon? Besides the gun, I mean.”

“I have this,” she replied, fishing something out of her pocket.

Luke watched as she pulled something out of her pocket. He saw that she had a weapon of some sort which appeared like a golden tube of lipstick until twisted.

“That’s cool,” he remarked, genuinely impressed as she pocketed the weapon. “Is it a sword?”

“Double-edged spear,” she corrected. “Fought some demigod in Missouri for it.”

“Well, thanks for the sword,” Luke smiled, feeling an affinity for her as a fellow demigod. “I would've been fine with my dagger, though.”

“Daggers are useful, but not a good weapon to be stuck with,” Katherine shook her head.

“Yeah. But you have to be pretty skilled to defend yourself with just a dagger,” he reasoned.

“Yeah, but you should never let anyone close enough to be able to stab them with a dagger,” she reasoned.

What she said sunk in deeply for Luke, as the pair ordered their food. Both of them ate practically in silence, enjoying the simple food as if it were their last meal.

“Finally, a decent coffee,” Katherine huffed.

“I’m not a huge fan of coffee,” Luke confessed, “Apart from days where I need to stay awake, I don’t really drink it.”

“I love coffee. Just the right amount of cream, and it’s the best thing ever.”

Luke took the calming sight of her in as she sipped on her mug of coffee, appreciating the way she actually looked serene as she drank it. He observed that coffee, to Katherine, was the closest thing to heaven.

“We should be in New York soon,” Luke informed her over dinner.

“Just a couple more hours, right?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, looking around the room as he noticed a strange man lurking in a lone booth. “Hey, Katherine?”

“Yeah,” she looked up.

“Is it just me, or… has that guy over there not turned a page in his book in the past twenty minutes?” he asked, turning around.

Katherine slowly looked up above his tall head, scanning the possibly suspicious stranger.

“We need to leave,” she announced under her breath, quickly leaving cash on the table. “Let’s go.”

“Is he a monster?” Luke whispered.

“Yes. Now act normal,” she shoved him forward.

“Duck!”

Katherine followed Luke’s lead, the both of them springing into action as a giant stinger nearly hit them. The other patrons in the restaurant all ran around screaming, as Katherine and Luke both drew their weapons.

Katherine ducked behind a table as Luke slashed at the monsters with his sword.

“They’re Manticores! Two of them!” Luke warned her as he slashed at the lunging creature. “They found us!”

Katherine fished in her pocket, pulling out what looked like a tiny grenade. Luke looked back to see her pull the pin, tossing it out as an invisible mist filled the room.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he yelled over the slashing of his sword.

“It’s a Mist Grenade! Cleans up and alters memories,” Katherine told him, spear swinging as she charged at the Manticores.

Luke held his own as she expertly whipped the spear over her head, slicing off the head of a Manticore as Luke evaded the lion-like creature’s claws, plunging his new sword into its chest. He watched as the creature dropped, slicing off its head. He panted hard, turning Katherine as she sheathed her spear back into a tube of lipstick.

“Are you alright?” Luke’s eyes widened, his fingers brushing over a long, bleeding scratch that trailed from her jaw down to her neck.

He looked down at the blood dripping down his fingers as he examined it.

“I’m fine,” she pushed his hand away, running for the door as everyone in the room began to slowly forget everything that happened.

“What about the body?!”

“The spell takes care of it, now move!”

Luke Castellan chased after her out the door, praying his face wouldn’t be shown on the news later. He jumped into the car with Katherine, tires pealing off as they disappeared as quickly as possible. He breathed slowly as he turned to face her as soon as they were far enough away. Luckily, no police had been called.

“That little grenade you had,” he said, “What was it?”

“A daughter of Hecate taught me how to make them. Set them off, everything magical in a room gets erased for mortals,” Katherine explained.

“You gotta teach me how to make those,” he sighed.

“It’s really complicated. Almost impossible without a child of Hephaestus,” she thought.

“What’s the plan once we get to the camp?” Luke asked.

“I’ll take the car before we get near any guards. That way no one sees me,” she volunteered.

“Okay, that’ll work,” he thought. “You’re sure you don’t wanna come to the camp with me? They won’t question you. They’ll take you in without a second thought.”

“It’s fine. We don’t need to complicate things,” Katherine told him. “I have a few people in the area. We can both stock up. Then, we’ll find a way out of the Underworld.”

“How long should I spend at camp?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know,” she sighed, “A few weeks?”

“Weeks?” Luke questioned, “I was thinking days.”

“You seriously think you could come up with a believable reason to leave after a few days?” she asked him.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Luke nodded unenthusiastically as he got them to New York, concentrating on lying his way through camp to make it back out to Katherine and the search for Kronos.

-

Chapter Four

[spiked-tea-writing]

and they were roommates?!

SapnapxFem!Reader

Summary: Imagine being in love with your roommate, couldn't be you.

Pronouns: She/her

Warning: Swearing

Word Count: 2.3k

A/n: I don’t watch or know anything, I just like these people and I had a concept. Also, he and Dream aren’t roommates in this for the sake of I can’t figure that out. Also also, my timeline is probably fucked but who cares

The dynamic in the apartment was...interesting to say the least

In the two years of living together, it had shifted a lot

In the beginning, you and Sapnap had been... less than cordial to each other

Both eighteen, fresh out of high school, off to college thinking that you knew everything.

There was lots of fighting, to say the least.

All of the “No it’s your turn to vacuum”, and “I swear to god Sapnap I will punt you halfway across the world if you eat my pineapple again”

The only reason you didn’t slit each other’s throats was that if the other person was dead, who would pay rent?

It was the summer before college started at the time, and you were working long hours minimum wage so coming]’/ home to an annoying prick caused a crap ton of conflict

After a few months of being little bitches to each other, y’all got piss drunk in the apartment and it all just sorta fell apart

Got that good drunk therapy, spilling your deepest secrets

(y’all were underage but shhh)

So by the time college started, the two of you had become actual friends and started enjoying each others company

A few months into the friendship, you encouraged him to post the video of “Minecraft, but it’s Raining Cats and Dogs” on a whim

Lmao little did you know what you had created (we’ll get to that later)

You mocked his train of thought constantly, laughing at the timing of it all.

“Ahhh yes, I am Sapnap, the genius who thought it’d be great to become a YouTuber while in my first year of college.”

He’d always just laugh and roll his eyes, playfully shoving you while stealing your chips.

The next few months were a haze of studying, work, and him.

It was truly a friendship of convenience since you guys were so busy, him starting his youtube career, and you working restaurants, then school on top of that, it was just easy to find friendship in your roommate.

Of course, he had his close friends which he spoke to over the internet, and you had your friends from back home, but as for college, it really was only him.

You guys had a fun time just hanging around the apartment, and it became so easy to be friends with him

And it WAS truly platonic (we’ll get back to that as well)

The best thing he brought to the friendship was his animals

You got on fabulously with Cash and the cats

They were all so cuddly and honestly loved you more than him lmao

You guys were just trying to get degrees and not be too stupid, was that too much to ask???

Well to a certain 2020, it was

The beginning of that year was great.

He was sorta realizing that he liked putting himself on social media, but on top of that, it seemed like a great start to a year.

February brought him to twitch, which you loved

You found it hilarious how he would just sorta play games and have people watch him live.

But you were incredibly supportive, as a friend, of course

He really liked it so, you tried to ignore the shouting at three am, and the loud anthems at night

Sure you’d give him hell in the morning, but why kill his fun?

March started great, as it was his birthday.

You got him a glittery lighter as a gag, but it was the perfect gift for a broke-ass college student

Then a certain pandemic came a-knockin’ on y’all’s door

It was a hard hit on both of you.

An executive decision was made that you two would stay put, but being away from your families was incredibly tough.

That spring was the birth of The SMP.

It brought him so much joy, which in turn made you happier.

The rest of the school year was a blur of zooms and test

Nick nearly killed you on multiple occasions when you made fun of the fact that he was learning computer science over the computer or made him help you figure out what the fuck zoom was since it was tangentially related to his major

“SAP HELP ME YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS ITS YOUR FUCKING MAJOR!!!”

“NO, IT’S- AHHHHHHHHH”

Yall got more than a handful of noise complaints shhhh

That summer was fill was spent trying to fill the time in weird ways

Note to self, he can’t cook (which you learned the hard way)

Yall spent so much time trying to cook and bake, then sweating off the calories working out with The Fitness Marshall lmao

As sucky as the situation was, that summer was so incredibly fun for the both of you, and truthfully the only arguments were about what music to blast

“Y/n I swear if I listen to Cosmicandy one more time I will drown you.”

“Well if I hear American Idiot one more time someone’s knee caps are getting harvested.”

(that argument was settled with Elton John.)

When school started up again that fall, something shifted

After a year of actual friendship, you guys were no longer just friends, and the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife

You had watched every single one of his streams since day one, but within 2 seconds of his Love or Host, you felt the need to hurl for some peculiar reason

It was bizarre because there was no way you could ever like him, of course not.

Within the apartment, you guys suddenly got a lot more touchy, but only because it was getting cold with winter and all that jazz.

It wasn’t because yall were secretly in love, what is this, a romcom?

The number of times you guys woke up on the couch, definitely not cuddling was too many to count

You started sitting in his room while he streamed, definitely not watching him with heart eyes because of how excited he got

He always had a pot of coffee full and a 6-pack of monster in the fridge since he knew you ran on spite and caffeine, and definitely not so that he could spend more time with you in the early hours of the morning.

The laundry started getting all mixed around, resulting in just sharing any sweats, hoodies, or socks.

The same thing went for food.

No longer was anything labeled with a name, if it was in the fridge, it was fair game (unless there was a post-it because come on, yall weren’t monsters)

But no, y’all were just roommates, not dating, lets make that clear.

Feelings? We don’t know her.

This entire time, his friends have had to hear about you rip.

But they got front row seats to your relationship development

“OMG my roommate is the worst she ate all of the frozen strawberries”

“Y/n kidnapped Storm all day while she studied and I thought I lost the fucking cat asjvdk”

“I had to run down and talk to the landlord because we dropped a pot of pasta sauce all over the carpet and couldn’t get the damn stain out.”

“She is so nice in preparation for a family dinner zoom, she ran out to the local Filipino food place and pick stuff up.”

“Sorry I’m late I overslept and didn’t want to wake up Y/n.”

They weren’t stupid, and could clearly see how whipped he was.

Dream and Geroge teased him about it constantly.

“Woah, calm down Sap, you should probably tell her you love her before you propose.”

“Yeah Dream’s right, it’s kinda weird that you’re living together before ever dating.”

He always flushed and denied it with a shake of his head.

He wasn’t into you, are they crazy?

Quackity and Karl messed with him in more unorthodox ways

There are a solid number of clips where they are fake crying over how he’s cheating on them, and even more tweets to match

It only got worse when you met them accidentally.

He was chatting post-stream on a video channel with George, Dream, Karl, and Quackity, and just his luck, you came into his room.

Like of all the times you could walk in, it was the time he was with his five closest friends but I digress

“Yo I got some extra tips yesterday so I picked up some extra Red Bull if you want to do one of your weird all-nighter streams.”

“Y/n I’m on channel.”

“Oh shit sorry my b. Catch.”

All the guys heard was a thud and a groan from Sapnap as the six-pack hit him in the chest.

Dream was the one to recognize your name.

“WAIT IS THAT Y/N I WANT TO MEET THEM!”

You could hear Dream’s voice through his headphones

“Sap… who is that?”

“No one. I’ll be out in a sec to help with dinner.”

You could hear a British voice come through.

“Oh so we are no one now, huh.”

Another voice piped through.

“Common... ¿Qué intentas ocultar?”

You cut in.

“Your headset it shit my guy. I can hear everything. I’m down to talk to them.”

He let out a groan.

“Fine. But you’re gonna have to do the dishes tonight.”

“Deal. Now move.”

“What? No.”

“Fine bitch.”

You collapsed onto his lap, plucking the headphones off of him.

“Hello, Sapnap’s friends. I am Y/n. A pleasure to meet y’all. Can you hear me?”

You heard a series of laughs through the headset, and a voice came through.

“Yes, we can see you too. I’m Karl, it’s so nice to finally meet his girlfriend.”

A blush rose on both of your faces, and another voice came through.

“Yeah, we’ve heard lots about you. Plus we can’t see your face in that picture Sap sent us. I’m Quackity”

That remark stopped your embarrassment in its tracks.

“What the fuck? How do you guys know me? I’m not even his girlfriend? And what picture?”

Sapnap grabbed your arm to calm you down as another voice cut in, but his one you recognized as his friend Dream.

“Hey, it’s okay. He just talks about you a bit, and the picture I believe was of you holding like three cats with like a red bull can on your head.”

“Jesus fucking christ why do they have that photo??”

He looked guilty but chuckled.

“Because that photo is a damn masterpiece.”

Karl’s voice came back in with a giggled.

“Soooo, Y/n we’d love to hear about you. Specifically anything funny or embarrassing that you have learned by living with him.”

Sapnap let out a groan from behind you as you went off.

“WELL lemme tell y’all, he has no cooking knowledge, well I mean, now he does, but one time, about a year ago, I had I been keeping a pot of water boiling for about an hour, soft boiling eggs, cooing noodles, blanching bok choy, etc. but this fucking genius is like ‘oH tHe HaNdLe Is StIcKiNg OuT. LeMmE mOvE iT wItH mY bArE hAnD.’ Needless to say, he burnt the crap outta his hand and kept the bag of frozen blueberries on it for the entire night. It took me like a solid five seconds to actually help him because I was laughing.”

By the time you had finished that story, you had seen Nick roll his eyes like 5 five times while the rest of the guys were wheezing.

“Yeah, well remember the time you were trying to imitate Rapunzel after we had watched it over Zoom with my sister, and you swung the edge of the frying pan into our head and got a nasty bump on it? At least I moved quick enough to put some ice on it.”

“Ice? It was the damn leftover Slushy that I had been freezing.”

“True, but you got to drink it after, so it was a win-win situation.”

“Sap, I had a bump the size of a golfball coming off of my temple. There was no winning.”

“Fine, you’re just making me sound like such a shit roommate.”

“No that’s not true, you do all of the talking to the landlord, and you at least tried to muffle the noise when you stream.”

“I guess that’s true, but you do like 80% of the cleaning.”

“Yeah but only because you’re working. Plus in the past 6 months, you’ve made coffee every morning, AND made sure I was taking my meds.”

“Those things aren’t that hard and I do it to make sure you don’t die because I lo- care about you.”

“What?”

“What?”

You heard Dream’s wheeze laugh and remembered that you guys were still on call.

“Smooth.”

You both went red, and Sap moved his arm around you to leave the channel.

The next few moments were complete torture, the two of you just sitting in silence.

You were wondering if he meant what he was about to say and he was scared that you had heard it.

He was the one to break the silence. (mind you you’re still sitting on his lap lmao)

“I’m sorry about that.”

You weren’t sure how to respond. Should you ask him if he meant it? Because that wouldn’t be that bad. Or just pretend it never happened. Nah that’d be hella awkward. Or-

“I love you too.”

“You what?”

Wow, okay your brain is being a little bitch rn, but fuck it. Balls to the walls baby.

“I love you, and I have for a while now. I just want you to know.”

You finally looked him in the eye, and he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“Thank god. I love you, and nearly fucking told you for the first time in front of my friends accidentally. Damn, I’m smooth.”

You laughed and he smiled wider.

“Can I kiss you?”

After a quick nod he swooped in and holy hell his lips felt great. His arm wound around your waist and your hands made their way to his jaw as he pulled you closer to him.

The only thing playing in your mind was “and they were roommates”

[brutal-nemesis]

Forest Day 2021: Un-cursing a Forest Tutorial (Gone Wrong)

Come into the woods with me, won’t you? I promise everything will be super normal and it’s totally not a little over 5k words hahahahahaha

Castys Masterlist

Ingredients: cannibalism mention, plant/animal/body horror (there is a lot of this and it is weird and kind of gross at times so this is your warning), acid burns, i use the word “pustules” multiple times, eye whump, gore, suicide for convenience

Castys woke up to darkness.

His head was pounding, so it was sort of nice, but much less nice when he tried to move and discovered his arms were tied behind his back. Upon further investigation, he realized he was gagged and blindfolded as well. 

Great.

He sat up and was just starting to try and get his gag out using his shoulder when a pair of hands grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. He tried to jerk out of their grasp, but a second person grabbed his other arm, and then it was all he could do to keep up as they hauled him to wherever. The ground changed from something solid feeling to something dirt-sounding, and then solid again after the creak of a door opening. 

“He’s awake, Chief.”

“Thank you. Just leave him and wait outside.” One of the men kicked the back of Castys’s legs, forcing him to his knees. He was tempted to get up once he felt their hands leave him, but he figured it would be best to just wait and see what the hell was going on for now. Once the blindfold was removed, he tried to look around, but a rough hand grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up at his captor, a strong looking woman with her dark hair in a complicated braid. She examined him with concern. “I didn’t think you would look this young.” Her free hand untied the gag, and she gently pulled it out of his mouth. “You are him, and not just some child, right?”

“Nope, just a child. A nineteen year old boy. Not immortal, so I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I never said I was looking for an immortal.”

Castys opened and closed his mouth a few times, blinking. “I-okay that one’s on me. Hooray, you caught me.” He glared up at her. “Now what do you want?”

She let go of him, stepping back and crossing her arms. “I am Citlali, the chief of Nauhiliv’s Hollow. For centuries, my people have-”

“I’m not really in the mood for a history lesson, so just get to the-”

“Either shut up and let me talk or I will gag you again.” Castys rolled his eyes. “I promise it’s relevant, alright?”

“Fine.”

Citlali took a deep breath and began again. “For centuries, the people of Nauhiliv’s Hollow have lived as one with the forest, taking only what we need from its bounty, hunting and gathering from the lands around us. But now,” she looked away, “now the forest is...twisted. What was once a familiar place has become dark and horrifying, and they are now far too dangerous to hunt in. Everyone we have sent in to find the source of the curse has not yet returned.” She took a shuddering breath before looking back at Castys. “You, however, can’t die. So would you-”

“How much will you pay me?”

“Just...this.” She held up a small leather pouch, one that looked kind of like...Castys hurriedly looked down, feeling his stomach twist when he didn’t see the familiar string around his neck.

“You took my-give it back! How did you even find out about that?!” Castys fought to keep his voice even, his fists clenched behind him. That pouch was important to him, it had his rock that allowed him to kill himself easily and painlessly, and it also had...he just needed it, dammit.

“You’re apparently, ah, quite chatty when you’re drunk.” She twirled the pouch on her finger lazily. “So, if you lift the forest’s curse, you’ll get it back. And until then, my other half is going to keep it safe in a pocket dimension, where even a notorious thief like you can’t get to it.”

Castys’s face darkened. “That’s-if you wanted me to help you why didn’t you just, I don’t know, ask instead of fucking kidnapping me and stealing my shit?”

“Because I’ve heard tell that you’re a selfish asshole who definitely wouldn’t help us unless we paid you a ton of money or forced you to. And since we’re not exactly drowning in cash…”

Castys mulled it over for a moment, wiggling his hands against the ropes. “Yeah okay that’s fair. I still hate you, but that’s fair.”

Citlali rolled her eyes. “Are you going to do it, then? Because if not,” she stalked over and grabbed Castys’s chin tightly, forcing him to look up at her, “I could think of a different way you could help my people, immortal.”

“I promise you, I taste terrible.” Citlali flinched back, letting go of Castys’s face.

“What-no that isn’t-I meant I was going to sell you, idiot! That’s so-we’re nowhere near desperate enough to eat…” she shook her head. 

“Okay, sorry, I figured if you were desperate enough to kidnap me you were also desperate enough to want to eat me and my infinite flesh.”

“Those two are absolutely not the same level of-look, are you going to do it or not? Because if not I will sell you and keep your precious-” 

“I’ll go kill your stupid forest curse thing,” Castys sighed. “Being sold is super annoying, and escaping will be way harder without my rock.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Can you untie me now?” 

“Do you promise not to try to run off? You won’t be able to get your pouch back by force, and this village is surrounded by these cursed woods except for a single, well guarded road, so there really won’t be any point in trying, anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Castys got to his feet after she freed him, rubbing his chafed wrists as he looked down at his very empty belt. “You’re going to give me my sword back for this, right? I know I can’t die but fuck if I’m going in there without a weapon.”

“You can have your sword, and the small amount of supplies we can spare, once the sun rises and you set out. Until then,” she gestured to the door, “let Tlaloc and Meztli show you where you can sleep.” 

~~~

Castys took a deep breath as he looked up at the trees towering over him, gripping his pack tightly. They looked like normal trees to him, and he was sort of disappointed that they didn’t look...creepier? He expected this horrible cursed forest to look more horrible and cursed, especially with all the trouble that bitch went through to make him do this. He glanced back, but Citlali and the guards were still behind him, and she waved her hand at him to get going. Sighing, he started walking into the forest, hoping this whole “curse” thing was just some asshole wizard kids playing a trick. 

Soon enough, he spaced out listening to the forest sounds. The rustling of the wind in the branches, the chirping of birds, the faint screaming...wait what. No, yeah that was screaming or something. He looked around frantically for the source of it, just now noticing that the trees were...different, somehow. They sort of...shimmered, moving in a strange way. Cautiously, he approached the nearest trunk and studied it. It was...it was moving, the whole surface shifting and crawling, like it was covered completely in bugs. O-kay then. 

Moving on.

Castys wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to look for. That chief lady had really just sent him in here with the very helpful instruction of “fix it”, like he had ever un-cursed a forest before. He didn’t know where he was supposed to go, or...where he even was. He’d been trying to walk in a straight line, but the way behind him looked unfamiliar, as if the trees and plants had decided to move around while he wasn’t looking. Well, it appeared that wandering aimlessly was his only option now. Delightful.

Maybe he should do something as he walked along to help pass the time. Not that he didn’t mind walking around in nature, this place was just...he pulled out his rekara, twirling it between his fingers for a moment before putting it to his lips and blowing, tapping his fingers on the slender instrument’s holes to play a stupid little tune. It covered up the faint screaming sound quite nicely, and it eventually attracted a little bird, which fluttered down on a nearby branch. It was a very normal-looking one, with plain brown feathers and cute lil’ eyes.

When it opened its mouth to chirp at him, though, another scream rang out through the forest, so loud it sounded like it was coming from right next to Castys. Startled, he jumped a bit, stumbling back and tripping over a tree root or something, falling right on his ass. Frantically, he looked around for the source of the scream, but there was no one around him, as far as he could tell. “Anyone screaming out there?!” he called as he stood up, but he was met with silence. Well, not silence silence but just...nothing un-ambient. Maybe the trees were screaming. It could be a tree thing. 

The bird was still sitting there staring at him, and oh my fuck it’s the bird isn’t it-again, the bird opened its beak, and again, a horrible scream echoed around him. Well wasn’t that nice. A bird that screamed like a person. Castys slowly backed away, hoping the little thing’s only weird quality was the noise it made. Once he felt like he’d gotten far enough away, he turned and ran, and he was only running to cover more ground quickly, not because he was scared, no, a little unsettled, maybe, but not scared. 

He stopped to catch his breath after a few minutes, and as he stood there panting, he realized the forest around him had grown even more...strange. The trees actively waved in the air now, though there was no wind, and many of their branches hung limp, like they were made of cloth or something and not solid wood. Their bark still glistened and crawled, swirling into strange, mesmerizing patterns. The leaves of all the plants were different now, too, having taken on a sickly pink color, almost like...light-colored skin. Tasty.

Okay, yeah, something was obviously very wrong and cursed here, but he still had no clue what the fuck to do about it. He’s been hoping he could find...he didn’t know, something that looked like the source of it, like a very giant tree with a hole in it or perhaps a big magic crystal or an evil bear. But all around him were just normal sized haunted trees and no crystals and weird greenish mold and all the plants with their gross fleshy leaves-wait that mold or whatever was new. He crouched down and pulled out his knife so he could poke at it.

Upon closer inspection, it was like...little green pustules clustered together on the surface of the shifting tree bark. He used the tip of his knife to prod one of them, but it burst far more easily than he had been expecting, splattering greenish goop all over his hand, and it burned. Crying out, he dropped his knife and looked frantically around for water or something he could use to get this awful stuff off because dying wouldn’t make it go away so until he got rid of it somehow he was just stuck feeling it burn away his fucking flesh but there wasn’t anything here besides plants and more plants so it looks like that was all he was going to get-

With shaking hands, he grabbed a nearby leaf, shuddering at the fleshlike texture, the warmth, and wiped it desperately over his wounds, trying to scrape away the acidic sludge. It sort of worked, getting the larger clumps off, but he could still feel it eating his damn flesh, if only he had-wait he was a fucking idiot-he pulled out the waterskin Citlali had lent him, sloppily splashing water over his hand, gasping in relief as the pain lessened slightly. Obviously nothing was going to heal the wounds besides dying, but now he could actually do that without the acid continuing to burn him. He reached down into his shirt, feeling for the pouch containing his death rock, but...no, that’s right, he didn’t have it, he’d have to slit his throat like old times. Sighing, he wiped the acid goop off of his knife before turning it on himself.

Castys woke up very pleased to find that his hand no longer had holes in it, but when he saw the leaves he had wiped it on, his stomach twisted. The acid had burned right through them, and the holes were rimmed with red, dripping...it was blood, blood leaking from those fleshlike leaves. Quickly, Castys wiped off his knife and sheathed it, getting to his feet, ready to run the fuck away from those gross acid pustules. But...maybe it was a good sign that things were getting weirder, maybe he was getting closer to whatever the hell the source of all this was. So maybe he should…follow that stuff. It was the only sort of idea on where to go he had gotten this whole time, so it really was his only option, huh? He’d just have to be careful not to touch it. 

The streaks of green on the swirling tree trunks, which had darkened to a shiny black at some point, led him, allegedly, deeper into the forest. Wait, how was the green stuff staying in one spot while the trunk beneath it was shifting? That didn’t make any sense, not like anything did here, but still…physics. He studied the nearest tree for a moment, watching its surface move as the clump of acid bubble things stayed still. Though...he could see something between the cracks in the crawling trunk, something long and off-white, like...yup. Trees with bones. Lovely. Shaking his head, Castys resumed walking, deciding to just not question anything ever again. 

Things certainly got stranger as he continued. There was a pond where his reflection didn’t have a face, dragonflies with wings that looked like overgrown fingernails, and a herd of deer with skin and muscle so clear that all he could see were their organs and bones okay but what would clear deer meat taste like, so he felt like he was probably going the right way. When he heard a strange thumping sound, like something large walking around, he cautiously moved towards the source of it, poking his head out from behind a tree to see what it was. 

It was the ugliest, most disgusting horrible abomination creature thing he had ever seen. It’s main body was the same light fleshy color as the leaves, dotted with clumps of acid pustules, with a mishmash of vaguely humanoid limbs with all sorts of skin tones jutting out of its misshapen body every which way. And it had so many eyes all over, some frantically darting around, some focused horrifyingly on him. But the worst part were all the flowers sprouting it from it, not because they were flowers, but because these flowers had little white teeth in their centers, probably serving as the mouths for this thing since he didn’t see one anywhere else on it. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind cutting this thing to bits in the slightest, it was freaky. He stepped out and drew his sword, watching the monster warily as it shambled towards him. If this thing wasn’t the source of the curse, he didn’t know what would be.

Once it was within range, Castys slashed at it, wincing as a high pitched shriek rang out from one of the flower-mouths. He danced back as it swung at him with two of its arms, their hands reaching out to grab him. This kept on for a bit, him slashing at the monster and dodging its blows, though he’d occasionally make the mistake of slicing a clump of acid pustules, spraying himself with the corrosive substance. When he stopped for a moment to catch his breath, he noticed something...unfortunate. All the gashes he’d cut in the monster were slowly closing, healing that thing up like his attacks hadn’t even happened. He, on the other hand, was covered in acid burns and not sure how much longer he’d actually be faster than this thing. His healing was useless in a fight, since dying left him completely defenseless for a good minute or so.

He had to figure something else out some other-shit, he couldn’t stand still for very long, this monster just wouldn’t quit attacking him. He might have been safe in a tree, but all the ones in the area were pretty much completely covered in that acid stuff, so that was out of the question. Seeing an opening, he lunged, trying to stab one of those fucked up mouths, and he couldn’t help but feel a spark of relief as his blade sank in, knocking out some of its teeth. But his elation turned to fear as he felt something grab his ankle the same moment the mouth clamped shut around his sword. He tried his best to keep his grip on his sword as it yanked him up, but it slipped through his fingers, leaving him defenseless as the monster slammed him down onto the ground, his whole body lighting up in pain. 

Over and over, it smashed his body against the ground with inhuman strength. All Castys could do was scream as he felt his bones break, their sharp edges piercing him from the inside. To finish, it threw him against one of the trees, the impact of his body bursting a myriad of acid pustules open, drenching him in the stuff. Castys fell to the ground in a heap, sucking in pained breaths beneath his shattered ribs, and all he could do was helplessly watch through his one good eye, the other reduced to goop by the acid, as the monster raised a foot above him. His mind was screaming at him to go, to run, but he could hardly move, he should just let himself die so he could heal, but he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to just lie still and let this thing step on him, slowly building up the pressure on his already ruined ribcage, forcing ragged screams out of his acid-burned throat, he was going to be crushed but he didn’t want to be, g-get off please it hurts so much why do I have to do this it’s not fair I didn’t even do anything wrong this time please-

Castys came back to pain, sparking, burning agony soaking deep into his flesh. He was still covered in acid, and even with his bones intact now he could barely bring himself to move. But he had to, he had to get up, he had to kill this thing, had to get out of this awful place himself, because there was no other way out, because no one was going to come save him, not now, not ever. Just as he was psyching himself up to try and stand, the monster’s hands grabbed him all over, dragging him off the ground. He tried to squirm out of its grasp, and while it had too many damn hands and he had too many damn acid burns for this to actually be effective, he struggled anyway. As it lowered him towards one of its flower mouths, he tried to at least scream expletives at it, but of course he’d still had acid in his throat when he died so he couldn’t even relish the simple joy of yelling “fuck”.

What would happen to him if this gross monster ate him whole, he didn’t want to find out, but it seemed like he was going to if he didn’t break free. Castys shuddered as the mouth opened wide, wider, impossibly wide, showing off an unnecessary amount of wicked sharp teeth, and oh fuck they were a lot closer to him than he’d thought because his damn left eye was a corroded mess again and all of a sudden there were teeth tearing through his flesh and he was falling, falling into that horrible mouth surrounded by bright purple petals, pointed teeth digging into him, but he felt something, he felt something, hard and rough, and maybe it was his sword, and he could still kill this thing, so he wrapped his burned hand around it, fingers screaming in protest, and pulled, and as much as it hurt, as much as his sword was stuck, he wasn’t going to lose here.

His sword finally broke free with a disgusting squelch, though it felt a lot lighter than he remembered, and just as he pulled it out, the monster collapsed to the ground. Castys somehow managed to worm his tattered body out of the creature’s mouth, and once he was free, he held up his sword so he could stab himself with it, but discovered the object he was holding was very much not his sword. It was a strange wooden carving of a twisted tree, like ones surrounding him, a small bone fitted so snugly inside that it was almost as if the wood had grown around it. Was this...the source of everything? It was the most curse-causing looking thing he’d seen so far, and given that it seemed to be the core of that monster...oh, it was starting to grow flesh. Oh absolutely not.

Castys looked around frantically for his sword, his dagger, anything to break this talisman thing with. The first thing that caught his eye within reach was an unfamiliar axe, but he lunged for it, wishing he had time to kill himself and reset his body’s condition, but there was no telling how much this thing would grow while he was out. If he wanted a chance at ending this for good, he had to do it now. He rasped in pain as he dragged himself upright, grabbing the axe with blood-slicked fingers before he set the cursed object down and swung, crying out brokenly in pain and frustration. After a few clumsy whacks, the talisman broke in two, and the flesh bubbling out of it ceased moving. Was...was it over? It had to be. It had to be. It had to-

Head spinning, Castys fell sideways, the vision in his functional eye starting to blur. He knew he needed...to die...but he just...didn’t have...the...strength…

It was warm...comfortable...but it hurt, and...everything was...itchy. But still, so warm, and that was pleasant, and he found himself leaning into it. It was almost like...

Castys jolted awake, his eye snapping open. He was inside some building, the wooden ceiling above him lit by rippling firelight, in what felt like a bed, his whole body throbbing fiercely, and there was...a hand on his forehead. A hand attached to the village chief, Citlali, who was looking at him with concern. Her face broke into a relieved smile when she saw he was conscious, despite him flinching away from her touch. “So, our hero is finally awake.”

“I-” Castys tried to speak, but his throat was still severely fucked up, in fact, his whole body was. He hadn’t fucking died since he’d passed out, and these idiots didn’t know how his immortality worked, so they’d actually bandaged him up. The feeling of them was totally foreign, if not a little nostalgic. God, he must have looked fucking awful when they found him. He hoped it would make them think twice about kidnapping people to do their dirty work in the future. 

“Don’t try to speak; your throat is quite badly damaged. Do you want something to write on?” Castys nodded, and she fetched him a wooden tablet and a stick of charcoal. He considered writing something on the angrier side, but seeing as he still didn’t have his pouch back, and that she had tried to help him...he should probably play nice. He was too tired for any more fighting, anyway.

“If you’d just kill me so I can heal that would be great.” Pausing, he decided he should probably explain that a bit better. “Every time I die I come back to life fully healed. And the most convenient way for me to die is to touch my rock, which I believe I’ve earned back. Unless the forest is still wonky.”

“No, you did break the curse, and I want to thank you for that, because obviously it wasn’t easy. I-” she cut herself off. “First things first, let’s get you healed for good.” She furrowed her brow. “Will healing with these bandages on...mess it up somehow? Some of them might be a little...stuck to your wounds. Should I take them off of you first?” Castys considered it for a moment. He’d never tried to heal with bandages on, but if things went wrong...it might be more painful to have to cut them out of his flesh or whatever. He nodded, holding out an arm.

Citlali was gentle as she unwound the bandages with practiced skill, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like hell. It felt like she was ripping his damn skin off, and every time his idiot body tried to scream in pain, it tore up his throat even further, making the whole affair even more damnably unpleasant. He could hardly stand to look at the wounds underneath, all pink and red and oozing what he assumed was pus. The worst part, however, was when she removed the bandage from around the remains of his left eye and it pulled a little string of bloody flesh off with it. He screamed at that, really screamed, and he realized he was crying, and he didn’t understand how mortals did this all the time. Citlali didn’t so much as flinch at the gore, the smell, or his pain, and he almost felt embarrassed about how poorly he was handling this.

When she was done, she retrieved his pouch from a nearby table, giving it to him wordlessly. With shaking hands, Castys managed to pull it open and stick a finger inside, sighing in relief as the familiar blackness took him. When he woke up, he was happy to find that there wasn’t any more acid on him, so he was actually fully healed this time. “Thanks,” he muttered, flexing his hands.

“Thank you, you really saved us. I...I know you were forced to, and I know that I shouldn’t have done it that way, but I felt like we didn’t have any other option, and-”

“It’s fine,” Castys sighed, waving a hand dismissively. “That shit was pretty fucked up so I’m not really surprised all the mortals you sent in died. And it’s not like I’m known for my benevolence.” He put the pouch around his neck, where it thumped against his bare chest. “So, did my clothes-”

Citlali shook her head. “They were full of holes and covered in acid, so we asked around and got you a spare set.” She handed him a folded shirt that was similar in style to the pants he’d been wearing when he woke up, and he pulled it on. She handed him the rest of his belongings before picking up the pieces of the wooden carving that he’d destroyed. “Where...where did you find this?” 

“Inside the freaky monster with all the limbs and shit.”

“The what.”

“Was its giant corpse not near where you found me?”

“There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary there besides this and some of the weapons and equipment from our lost expedition parties.” She put it down, standing and crossing her arms. “We all felt the shift in the forest when the curse was lifted, and when we went out to investigate, everything seemed just like it had before all of this started. We found you collapsed in a clearing not too far from here.”

“Not too-I feel like I wandered around for hours! Stupid cursed forest.”

Citlali huffed. “Regardless, we found the talisman next to you, but no monster. But if this was what caused everything…” She picked up one of the pieces, gripping it tightly. “I think I understand what happened.”

“That’s great for you, don’t let it happen again.” Castys stood, shouldering his pack. “I...I can leave now, right?”

She looked up abruptly. “Oh, uh, yes, though you’re welcome to stay as long as you like, and we were thinking of holding a feast once we-” she stopped, clearing her throat. “We’d like to make it up to you in any way you can, but I understand if you’d like to leave. I’ll walk you out.”

Part of Castys wanted to stay and get a bunch of free food out of these people, or at least actual compensation for the ordeal he just went through, but he didn’t know if he could stand to be surrounded by these woods for much longer, despite the fact that they were allegedly no longer cursed. He couldn’t fight the nervous feeling in his stomach as walked away, his steps quickening once he and Citlali parted ways. He didn’t really relax until he had left the forest far behind him. 

Once he was safe, Castys opened his pouch and reached inside, worming his finger into the secret side pocket that was separated from the rock. He gently pulled out the piece of paper, unfolding it and sighing in relief upon seeing the drawing on it still intact. Not that he’d expected anything to happen to it, but…The memory of the first day of his life, at least that he was aware of, was far more precious than anything else.

Because if he lost it, if he lost that spark of happiness, that piece of who he was that day, he felt like he would collapse under the weight of every awful thing he’d endured ever since.

Castys Cult: @as-a-matter-of-whump​ @blackrosesandwhump​ @fanmanga1357-blog​​ @thehopelessopus​ @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi​ @hearse-song​ @muddy-swamp-bitch @whumpasaurus101 @yet-another-heathen​​ @galaxywhump​ @starnight-whump​ @his-unspoken-words​ @misspelledwitch

[saturnsummer]

i don't mind forever.

AU: When Sol is handed a case, she doesn't realise how big the case gets. Luckily for her, her best friend is here. (AU of lawyers at Hankuk Law Firm.)

notes: all credits go to @thenerdywriter !! she gave me this prompt just days after i joined tumblr, and i’ve been working on and off on it ever since. my first au series, so please go easy on me! i know i’m practically killing myself for doing two series at once, but i’ll deal with it later. as always, big love to everyone! any grammar mistakes and all will be taken fully responsible by me!

ao3 link

words: 4035 words

one.

Sol scrunches her hair in frustration. She twists her long, wavy light brown hair in a bun, fixing it with a jab of her white, long chopstick hairpin. She adjusts her bangs for good measure and resumes with her report. She reaches over to her coffee mug, only to find it empty. Great, it’s the third coffee she had today, and it wasn’t even lunch. Hearing her colleagues nagging on drinking too much coffee in her head, she stands from her desk and pushes the glass door of her office to the staff pantry. Her heels click against the marble floors as she strides across, filling her cup with iced water before retreating back.

It would have been a normal day at the Hankuk Law firm, but it wasn’t when she had such a pressing case.

It's been weeks. A client of hers has pressed charges against Lee Man Ho, claiming that he scammed her life savings. Lee Manho was a convict that was charged for raping multiple women and on several occasions, sexual harassment. He had been on good behaviour after his release for a couple of years, with no complaints and no news. Only now did his name resurface. He was snarky in his speech, manipulative and quick with his tongue, but most of all had a sinister smile that sent shivers.

Sol, being Sol, couldn’t say no to the poor woman. How could she? She experienced her fair share of poverty from growing up in a single-parent family that made enough to get by. She sympathised with her feelings, knowing just how stressed this poor mother must be when she can no longer afford to pay rent for her home, even less so the necessities for her toddler kids. Because, too many times, Sol was found broke and skipping meals so she could have her younger sister, Byeol, be fed instead.

With the help of the local police, she found more victims to be scammed, all similar in their scenario. Manho would call under the alias of a financial aid consultant, sometimes an insurance agent or bank teller. Then, he would extract their bank numbers from them, effectively draining their money away. By the time they victims tried to call back, the number would be out of order, or picked up by another voice, evident that he used another number to cover up his.

None of his victims had anything in common. Some were rich, some were poor. Some were female, some were male. And Manho had long disappeared in the wind the moment he got out of jail. He was said to be sighted once and when the police placed eyes on him, they lost him that same day.

His digital footprint was an utter headache as well. The police had other things to matter, and figuring out his digital footprint was the least of their concerns when they had important murders and urgent matters to solve.

But two could play this game.

Seungjae was a good friend of Sol’s. They were close acquaintances in school and kept in close contact. He, unlike Sol, was a whiz with computer codes and had his fair share of hacking experience. She remembers how he would hack into the system during school events and broadcast short music videos on the school televisions during breaks. Despite their age gap, he was always courteous, nice and kind hearted in helping others.

Seungjae eventually found a job with the police force, using his skills to legally hack criminal networks and dark nets. He was essentially part of a task force that identified suspicious activities like mass radicalisation, fake news and essentially tracking down internet hackers. It was a no-brainer that Sol would approach him, even though she knew that he could only legally hack under his work orders, not for personal favours.

Well it’s best she at least try.

She called Seungjae, who was fortunately free, and agreed to meet at a cafe. The sun was out, warming them from the autumn breeze that chilled them. Sol grabbed her coat and placed a post-it on her door, informing her colleagues of her business. Sol, while dressed in a warm coat, was undoubtedly freezing from the breeze. If only she could go back to law school, where she wore jeans and sweatshirts all day. Instead, she had a light blue long sleeved blouse, a knee length pencil skirt and a midnight blue blazer, and her only coat she had weakly shielding her from the cold.

“Sol A, what gives me the feeling that you aren’t calling for the purpose of catching up, but for a favour?” Seungjae asks as soon as his ice coffee arrives. Sol is amused at his habit, that he still calls her Sol A to differentiate her from Sol B, her colleague just working next door to her. But in response, she gives a small frown.

“Oppa, please? You have to help me with this. This case is driving me nuts!” She says in frustration as she stirs her ice tea. “Look, he’s off the grid, like properly off. I can’t even track his number or his email accounts. When the police placed plainclothes on him, he was like a ninja and they lost him within the first hour.”

Seungjae’s frown deepens. He knows of people who are good on the internet, but for an ex-convict to be running this alone? Furthermore, a convict who had no criminal record of scamming, conning and IT based crimes? There was definitely more to this.

“Sol A, do you think that he’s working alone?” Seungjae asks, stopping Sol in her speech. She tilts her head, the way she does normally when she puts the puzzle pieces in order. From her bag, she takes out a notebook and scribbles down the facts, then pushes it to the centre of the table.

“Okay, so we know that Lee Manho was convicted of rape and sexual harassment long time ago. Now, he’s running scams, and has no known background of coding or conning people, yet somehow the money appears in his bank account and it disappears the next moment.” Sol states as she circles her notes with a pencil and Seungjae nods.

“I think… I think you’re right, oppa. He’s definitely not working alone. And he could just be the middleman bringing the cash from one place to another.” Sol breaths out, realising how big the case has gotten. She’s not just going after Lee Manho, but she’s going after an entire team.

“You said that you can’t track his whereabouts, people he communicates with and where the money is going to?” SeungJae asks. Sol nods.

“Looks like someone is covering up the transfers and his tracks.” Seungjae concludes. Seungjae furrows his eyebrows. Sol recognises his thinking face and tries to plea once more.

“Please, oppa? You helped me check out and verify Yeseul’s boyfriend, which saved her life! Please, oppa…” Sol pleads with him. Seungjae knew how much Sol was going to dedicate to this, and besides, he was legally going to hack. He was fighting for those who couldn’t fight. What difference would it make? It felt wrong to ignore such a desperate plea.

“Fine. But you have to let me use a laptop that isn’t mine. I can’t have my superiors know I’m hacking into a case that wasn’t submitted to me again. God, Yeseul’s ex-boyfriend case got me a bloody earful from the captain.” He finally agrees, getting up from his seat and grabbing his coat. Sol lets out a relieved sigh and picks her coat too.

“Thank you, thank you!”

“Save it for later, when I’m done hacking. Let’s head back to your office for now.” He says and walks to the door. At that moment, Sol’s phone rings, and she picks up, knowing who will call at this time of the day. If it’s lunch, it has to either be Yeseul or Joon Hwi.

“Are you joining us for lunch, sunbae?” Sol takes a moment to close her eyes in frustration. This man is going to drive her insane.

“Yeah. Are you all ordering?”

“That’s right. Extra pickles?”

“Always. Add one more jjampong and kkampungi, too.” The receiving end goes silent.

“Who’s joining?” Sol gives a knowing smile as she unlocks her car.

“An old friend of ours.”

-----

“Wah, it’s been a long time since Seungjae-hyung could eat with us!” BokGi says, as he passes out the chopsticks and Yebeom unpacks the meals. Seungjae only gives a small smile while helping out with the food.

Despite the cold weather, the odd group of friends found pleasure in eating outdoors as opposed to their office pantry. It was too noisy some days, too quiet on some, and knowing how chaotic the group can get during lunch, it only made sense to have their meals downstairs at some benches. Besides, they could use a break from being stuck in their offices all day and look at trees changing their colours to shades of red, oranges and brown.

“Thank your noona here, for convincing me to come.” He says as he nods his head over to Sol, who is busy unpacking her pickles and noodles. Joon Hwi gives a smile as he stares at the delight on her face when she sees those yellow pickles on a plastic saucer.

“Hyung, what are you here for?” Joon Hwi asks, as he unpacks his noodles.

“This lady here has enlisted my help once again for a case she is working on. But it has to be off the books. Thus, my presence here instead of my cubicle back at my headquarters.” Sol chokes and she quickly takes a sip of her tea.

“Oppa, why do you make me sound so law breaking…” Sol grumbles. Yeseul, sitting next to her only gives a small smile and squeezes her hand.

“Seungjae-oppa did help me bring Yeongchang to jail. So I would consider his work, whether under his boss orders or not, to be lawful.” Yeseul quips quietly. The table grows silent for a moment, knowing how this topic took a mental toll out of them, but Yeseul was hit the hardest.

When Yeseul first started dating Yeongchang, everyone didn’t mind it. Only when Sol witnessed how Yeseul would be frightened to pick up his call and spotting bruises on her arms did she get Seungjae to dig into his personal life. Lo and behold, not only was he abusive, he was seeing two other women and they were treated badly, if not, worse.

Yeseul’s heart broke, this being her first love and the man she envisioned marrying. But with her friends' support, she took it upon herself to press charges on him, for the women he tortured and for herself. Representing herself and the women that he had failed to protect and taken advantage of, it wasn’t easy for her, having been so blind in love and still harbouring feelings.

The group stood by and silently supported. They accompanied her trials, no matter how busy they were. Sol remembers Jiho running from one courtroom to another on one occasion when he had to immediately attend a court hearing for a client he was defending. Sol had Yeseul stay over at her apartment during the entire situation, while Yeseul searched for an apartment nearby after moving out of his house. Even Sol B, who was usually cold, bought her meals and stayed to eat when the girls spent late nights in silence and drinking.

Finally, the judge ruled that Yeongchang was to be charged in jail. For the sexual, mental and physical abuse of these women, including Yeseul. It has been months since then and time can only tell how much she has healed. The rest can only give their silent support and be there for her.

“I didn’t mean to make the mood bad. Come, let’s eat. Also, what is the case about, unnie?” Yeseul quickly breaks into a smile, an attempt to let everyone know she’s okay. Sol gives a brief description of her case to everyone while she slurps her noodles and pickles.

“This is going to be difficult. If you guys are right, you might be dealing with something bigger than just Lee Manho.” Sol B states and Sol gives a nodded reply.

“Please don’t tell Superior Kim or Superior Yang about this. I really need to break this case and Seungjae-oppa is my only way to.” Sol informs her group. They give half hearted murmurs, not wanting to be meddled into Sol’s affairs. Well, all but one.

“Yah, why didn’t you come find me? I have my own contacts in the police as well.” Joon Hwi asks, a slight frown on his face. From anyone else looking, it would have been easy to miss. But for Sol, she knew that he was upset, interpreting his complaints as “Why didn’t you come and tell me about this first?”

“Because, Mr. Second Round Judicial Exam Pass, you have been too busy! Do I really need to remind you to eat every damm moment? You drive me crazy some days!” Sol argues. They launch into a light hearted argument, as the rest of the lunch group watches with equal fervour as they eat their meals.

“Guys, stop arguing, my ears hurt.” Jiho said, his tone in slight annoyance as he dove straight into the kkampungi and tangsuyuk. Sol finally gave up fighting, earning a teasing smirk from Joon Hwi. They continued their noisy meal, chatting and catching up with Seungjae. Seungjae gives them some updates of his pregnant wife and some interesting cases.

After their meal, they separated their trash neatly. The sun now hides away in the clouds, leaving little warmth against the chilly breeze of autumn. Sol brushes her coat and rubs her hands and arms. If only she could afford a better one than this old coat she’s been using since her first year in university.

Joon Hwi notices her trying to warm up against the cold and takes his coat from the chair, layering it on her. He honestly didn’t feel cold, but he knows he has always been the stronger one to resist against the cold. For Sol, it must be freezing.

“Take mine.” He simply says, taking the packs of plastic from Sol. If Sol had a hint of blush, he pretended to not notice.

“Oh, thanks.” She said as she took wipes from her bag and wiped down the mess on the benches and tables. “But I don’t need it. We’re heading back to the office anyway.” She shrugs his coat off and drapes it over her arm, returning it to him. He pushes it to her, and leans in closer to her.

“Help me carry it, so I don’t have to, sunbae.” He teases with a smirk, sending Sol in a fit of frustrated squeaks, chasing him as best as she can in her heels. Sol knows Joon Hwi gets a thing out of his teasing, and sends him annoyed glares as she continues to clear the tables. Jiho manages to sigh and Sol B rolls her eyes as she dumps the trash in the bins.

The group grabs their bags as they head back into the office, where Sol checks Seungjae in as a visitor at the reception. The receptionist hands him a blue lanyard with a visitor pass as Sol leads him to the elevators. Jiho and Bokgi are off to meet clients, and Sol B is headed to court for a hearing. Yeseul stops at another floor to her office with Yebeom, who needs to pick up some reports from a colleague.

Joon Hwi follows Sol to her office with Seungjae, despite his office being upstairs. Sol grabs her personal laptop from her bag, which is separate from her desktop computer and passes it to Seungjae, who takes a seat opposite her and starts programming the computer to begin hacking.

“What, did you just let him use your personal laptop?” Joon Hwi asks in concern as he takes a seat on a spare chair.

“Let him do it. Don’t you have your reports to do?” Sol asks as she turns to her own reports before typing in her findings for the new Lee Manho case. Joon Hwi doesn’t reply, and Sol sends an annoyed glance. He’s not going to leave unless he knows all the information of this case.

“Okay, I got it.” Seungjae says after a series of clicks and turns the screen to show Sol what he has found. Sol leans into a chart of bank transfers.

"From what I can tell, it seems like the money enters his bank account and is transferred to an offshore account. I can't trace where the money goes from there anymore." Seungjae explains as he uses the cursor to show them. "I can't tell who owns the account either. If I could take a guess, it's probably the mastermind of this."

"Wait, look. Lee Manho is getting paid a constant amount every single time before a large sum comes in and leaves." Joon Hwi points. Sol grabs her printed papers as she matches the amounts that her clients have given here. They match exactly to the large sums, but have no relation to the constant amount that he gets every scam.

"He's getting paid to scam? Tch, God, I hate this crook." Sol says through gritted teeth. Joon Hwi sighs and observes the anger rising in Sol. He places a hand on top of her clenched fist for comfort and her fist stops clenching as she sighs in response.

"Sol A, I can't track his location with your laptop. It's not exactly ideal, since it can be tracked back." Seungjae says, eyes darting while continuously typing. Joon Hwi could sense the disappointment in Sol's face, but it can't be helped. It was too dangerous from her location and IP address.

"Oppa, thank you for helping. I owe you one." Sol says as Seungjae scrubs her laptop clean from hacking traces. Seungjae returns her laptop and stands up. "You should go back, oppa. You've been gone too long."

"I'll keep you updated." He says as Sol guides him out of the office. Once she shuts the door, she pulls the hairpin from her hair and crunches her hair in frustration. She has the information on where the money is going, but it's no use when she can't find out where he is. Joon Hwi takes a seat opposite her.

"Don't stress." He says softly, and Sol bites her lip in frustration.

"Don't stress? How can I not? The police aren't giving me any information on him, delaying his location tracking! I can't even find him! How am I supposed to get evidence to charge him, if he can't even appear to show up to court?" Sol angrily spills, her hands flailing. Joon Hwi sighs but grabs a hold of her wrist.

"Don't get swayed by your emotions." Joon Hwi firmly says, sparingly into Sol's anger-filled eyes. She pulls her wrist back, taking a deep breath before gathering her hair up again.

"Fine." She grumbles. "Get out of my office, Prosecutor Han. Don't you have work?" This earns a soft smile from Joon Hwi. As he heads to the door, he turns back before he leaves.

"Don't... Don't do anything stupid or impulsive, you hear me?"

Sol clicks her tongue and gives a half-hearted nod. She turns back to her report and updates her findings and tries to diffuse the thought of asking Seungjae to hack with her laptop to find Man Ho's location.

For Kang Sol A, such thoughts don't leave easily.

-----

"You sure?" Seungjae asks, seated in Sol's car. Sol takes a deep breath in and nods.

It was a few days after Seungjae visited the office. Sol called the police as much as she could, but they always left her on the line or just said "we're working on it." Thus, Sol told Seungjae to meet her at a park, before driving to a random alley and passing him her laptop.

"Yeah, I'll take my chances." She replied. Seungjae sighs and begins typing away.

"You know you're putting yourself at risk?" He asks, eyes never leaving the screen.

"I'll put myself at risk for the justice of my clients." She says firmly. A few minutes pass as Sol stares out of the car and watches the bright moon and the clouds floating by in misty swirls.

"Got it." Sol turns her attention to Seungjae. On the screen is a map and a blinking red dot of Manho’s location. Sol reads the map and puts her car back in drive before turning out of the alley.

"Woah, do you know where you are going?" Seungjae asks, grabbing onto the overhead handle for support and his hand securing the laptop.

"Seungjae-oppa, don't tell anyone about this, okay? Especially not Joon Hwi." Sol ignores his question as she speeds up the car, turning into a drop-off point of a train station.

"Sol A, you're-"

"Sorry, oppa. But I need to find him. I can't sit and wait for the police anymore. I promise you, I'll be safe." Sol says. Seungjae couldn't say no. He knows how stubborn Sol is, how when she decides on something, she will commit to it wholeheartedly.

"If he's armed, you could get yourself in danger." Seungjae exasperatedly sighs. It was too big a risk to see the junior he treats as a little sister put herself at risk.

"I'll be fine. Look, you're on my speed dial. You know that I can handle myself. There's a reason why I took years of self-defence classes." Sol tells him. Seungjae nods his head unwillingly.

"You better call me after you're done." He says as he opens the door and gets out of the car. "Please, please stay safe." Sol nods and gives a small smile.

"Thank you, oppa." Sol drives away immediately, leaving Seungjae to pinch his nose bridge in frustration and concern. Silently, as he boards the train, he prays for Sol's safety.

-----

Sol knows the area well. As she parks her car at a carpark, she checks to make sure Manho is still at the bar. The blinking dot stays stagnant at the bar, not moving ever since she dropped Seungjae off. Getting out, she tightens her coat around her and thanks herself for the long trousers she's wearing. At least she isn't wearing a skirt, if she needs to beat someone up.

Entering the bar, she naturally takes a slow walk around. But hidden by the corner of the bar tables sit a lone man, with a cap, dressed in black button up and holding a glass of golden whiskey. She knew that was her target.

Taking a seat next to him, she orders a glass of soda water from the bartender. Man Ho chuckles next to her as he sets his glass down. Turning his head, he faces Sol with sly eyes, lips curled at the corner.

"Prosecutor Kang, you're quick." She hears him say and a chill goes down her spine. She lets her eyes meet the cold stare of Manho.

"Oh, you think I don't know you? You're the one after me more than the police are for the past weeks." Man Ho sinisterly says, a sick grin on his face. Sol grits her teeth and takes a deep breath to soothe her anger.

"Why are you doing this? You think it's fun?Watching my clients suffer?" Sol says through her gritted teeth. He only scoffs.

"My, my. Don't want you getting agitated now, don't we? We just started." He says, sipping from his glass again.

"Answer my question." She says with force. Man Ho sips on his glass, swirling the golden brown liquid against the large square cubes of ice as he exhales.

As the words fall from his mouth, Sol grows as cold as the glass in her hand. Her hands slightly shake as she hitches her breath. When her shaky eyes turn to Manho’s, his eyes are sly with a mocking grin. No, he can’t know.

"You’re just as feisty as your sister, aren’t you?”

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Submitted:

The cash grab is the weirdest part of it. Di avoided doing that assiduously, so I don’t understand how Meghan convinced Harry that they should go down this right. 

I kind of understand how he came to see himself as the “true heir,” but I really don’t see how he embraced the idea that Diana’s “true heir” would be selling oat milk lattes and doing inspirational podcasts. Would Di be doing motivational videos for Fortune? No. Would she be sending people latte baskets? No. Would she stage her own Remembrance? Heck, no.

Diana grew up with wealth and wasn’t an inherently greedy person; and a big part of being a Sloane Ranger and an aristo, especially at the time, was the concept bred into them that talking and thinking about money was vulgar. 

She already had a great jewelry collection, she had a huge wardrobe that she could have sold for her own upkeep but chose to donate the proceeds instead, she was always going to have enough money as the mother of the heir and Charles’s two children. I’m sure she knew how, despite existing arrangements, the BRF always found the money to pay for the Queen Mum’s bills that exceeded her allowance. Diana also knew that people like Dodi would always sent a plane for her, invite her on their yachts, etc. 

I think the cash grab is part of his sibling rivalry/jealousy of William. I’m sure MM hammered home again and again how William is going to live in multiple castles and he and his family will have every luxury they desire, and even before that William is going to get the Duchy with hot and cold running money. I suspect she also told him that being able to raise Archie in the same style as Harry was is his birthright.

And MM convinced him fairly easy that they’d be able to write their own tickets, with their own hot and cold running money because of their AMAZING popularity, which would be VERY useful because the family didn’t appreciate their AMAZING popularity so they were going to stick it to them but good by leaving and being independent. So there. And they’d be rolling in dough from the start of this independent venture because they would be so very, very popular and wonderful. 

Harry has also always been intrigued by celebs, actors, and models and probably loved the idea that one could make millions doing a few minutes’ work for Nespresso. And people tripping over themselves to give you things. 

Its weird because they are following the parts of the Di playbook that didn’t work (Panorama, Morton) and not following the ones that did (landmines, VF).

To be fair, Harry has done the landmines to death already, before and after meeting MM. And kudos to VF for not biting lol. It’s bad enough that Katie Nicholl has become a lap dog. 

Pre-wedding Harry was *this close* to the best parts of the Di playbook, the parts that would have got them everything MM envisioned and more – the natural and engaging charm with people, the willingness to do the work, the adulation and crowds going crazy, a talented staff to do all the legwork and make him look good, great press who ate everything up with few questions, and pretty much all Harry had to do was show up, smile and wave. 

And then he threw it all away for a woman who was the complete opposite of his mother, because he bought into her surface PR. 

_______________________________________________________________________

Thanks!

[zz-chikorita]

Do you have any headcannons for how your version of Leon and Guzma, and other characters for the Jolly Rogers universe would be if they existed in the real world and there was no Pokemon? Like jobs, how they'd meet up, etc.

Oh, do I!

You fool! The gears are turning now! Stand the fuck back!!! Shit's about to get crazy up in here/j

But yes, in seriousness, I do, in fact, have many thoughts about this.

Fair warning, this might take a while. (CW: animal death, drugs, prostitution, concussions, panic attacks, insensitivity toward disabilities, homelessness)

Guzma:

Guzma, Kukui, and Molayne still grew up together as friends, Guzma inevitably drifting away from them (and everyone tbh) due to his worsening home life. But as a kid, and even a little bit of a young adult, he actually had high aspirations. He would've love to have some sort of career involving entomology. But he also was interested in any sort of animal care field. There was a point when he aspired to be a veterinarian. However, as time went on and his memory became more and more unstable from his multiple concussions, he resolved that any kind of higher education would never be in the cards for him. Then, after dropping out of school, he let go of all of it and focused solely on survival.

He dealt drugs and other contraband but never got too much into the thick of it. He was always, like, the go between. Did hand offs, collected debt, that sort of thing. And, much like the fic, he was also involved in prostitution. But it was more of an opportunistic thing he had going on and less of him going out specifically to work a certain area. He may have had to do it like that once or twice cuz he was really strapped for cash but, he tried not to make a habit of it. He tried to limit how much of that sort of criminal stuff he was involved in once he started looking after his growing gang of troubled and homeless kids.

Of course, he'd do all sorts of temp jobs, much like in the fic. A lot of it is mostly hard labor. Working on the local ranches was probably the job that least annoyed him cuz he'd at least get to be near the cows and stuff for a little bit (Although it can be a bit difficult at times... Once, he tried to convince the rancher one of the calves was experiencing signs of diptheria but he was dismissed without a second thought. It could hardly breathe and he held it as it slowly passed from oxygen deprivation).

As for something more consistent, he got a pretty stable job as bouncer/security for a local nightclub. It's not a ton of cash but it's reliable, at least.

He met Plumeria there. She was the women's bathroom attendant, a position this particular club didn't normally have however it's the only thing she could convince the club owner to allow her to do since she was still a minor. So, in the end, they gave her the position for a tiny amount of pay and a room in the back for her to live in. After a long time of building up trust, Guzma eventually got her to quit (at least until she's over 18 cuz a kid don't need to be in that environment, even if she ain't doin' the dirty work, a'ight?) and come live with him and the gang.

Leon:

Leon in an irl setting is a lot tougher, cuz his whole deal is the damn champion thing so it's like...what would be an irl parallel to that? Maybe like an Olympic athlete who excelled at an unusually young age and thus became a poster child for hard work and inspiration or some shit like that. He even insisted from a young age on using his fame and influence to advocate/raise awareness and funds for charities. All that; plus just how he was also a very sweet, charismatic kid; he became beloved by the whole country. Sort of the vibe like how people become invested in the lives of celebrities and reality stars, but a little less obnoxious than that. Maybe more leaning toward how we react to super amazing, inspiring kids that are incredibly clever and done notable feats (like Malala Yousafzai).

He doesn't really have to think about a career so much considering he has money coming in from his various brand deals and sponsors and other shit. (And quite honestly, no one's ever really asked him what he wants to do. That whole "what do you want to be when you grow up?" question we all got as kids? Yeah, no one ever thought to ask him that... Not sure if he'd be able to answer even if they did...).

In his early twenties, he sustains an injury and or develops a disability that prevents him from competing anymore. He still funds charity work and does some events but is far less in the spotlight than ever before. The press don't find him as inspiring and news worthy now that he's "broken"..."washed up"...."past his prime"...

As for how Guz and Lee met...

I can see Leon's friends and family convincing him to take a break for just a bit. Go somewhere nice, somewhere far away from all this noise and relax, let himself breathe for once.

He tries to be incognito and just spend some time having fun being a twenty-something and enjoying life. The press eventually find out and now are interested in him again considering they can now weave this juicy, clickbait story of "poster boy turned playboy" (even despite his behavior being extremely tame for the most part). Anyways, I imagine some goons are getting a little too pushy in the club, causing a lot of commotion, and using flash photography (which is banned anyways) so Guzma ends up roughing them up and throwing them out only to realize it wasn't one of their guys they were messing with but a tourist he ain't never seen before. One who is so shook up, they have to take him to the back room to calm down. So, they sort of meet then but when they finally get introduced to each other it's because Leon's tracked him down and shown up on his doorstep, wanting to thank him in person. And then inquiring where on earth all these children came from... and perhaps there's something he could do to help?

And that's that. So yeah...I warned ya 🤣

I have plenty of thoughts for all the other characters too so I might make a second post of anyone's interested but, this one is already way too long. Hopefully it's at least a little coherent :3

[blessednereid]

Love and Monopoly

 Love and Monopoly

Milton Greasley x Reader, 

Fandom: TVDU/Legacies 

Dialogue Prompts: “Try focusing more on your life and less on mine!” and "You make me feel like I'm not good enough."

Fun Take on Angsty Prompts

Warning: Cursing, Drinking, Kissing, Necking, Mentions of food, brief mentions of blood (bunny blood for vamps), Monopoly

A/N: Someone please open my messages and give me a crash course on how to write a makeout scene I can’t do it, OMFH ಥ‿ಥ

Word Count: 2760

You and Milton Greasley had been dating for 5 years. 

You met during your shared time together at Salvatore Boarding School. You were a witch who helped MG calm down whenever he went into a ripper mode. You had used spells to lower his bloodlust. You even made the bunny blood that the school had fed vampires taste as close to human blood as you could without triggering a negative response. 

 After you all graduated, The Super Squad all rented a house in Mystic Falls, and you were all roommates. The house had 5 bedrooms, one for you and MG, one for Lizzie, one for Josie, one for Hope, and one for Kaleb. However, since Josie and Hope began dating, they had moved into the tribrid's room, so now the empty space was more of a game room. There were board games and consoles in the closet, a pool table, and a regular round glass table surrounded by armchairs where you all could sit and play games. 

Tonight was your bi-weekly game night, and you all had decided to play monopoly. Though it was a unanimous decision, you knew it could take days to finish. You were all very competitive, and none of you would go down without a fight. This is why, to finish faster, you decided to have a team game of monopoly.

On the day of, everyone had started going shopping for the concessions for the event. Trays of assorted cookies, hors-doeuvres, sandwich platters, as well as multiple different fruit juices were bought and set on a foldable table in the game room. 

As you were setting and arranging everything on the table, your wonderful boyfriend came around to help you. 

"Don't worry, love, I got it," you chuckled. "I am much capable of setting a party table on my own."

"C'mon, you make me feel like I'm not good enough to do simple things, babe," he laughed with you, though his words triggered something in your brain.

"Oh yeah?" you quipped. "These are some pictures from the last time you set the table for dinner…"

In the photo, the table linen was frowned up, the forks were out of place, some placements didn't even have certain utensils. The plates were pushed to the center, chairs closer to the edge than the food was.

"Oh..." he giggled lifelessly.

"Now you see why you don't use super speed to set up something like that?"

"I mean, I don't think it's the super speed, darling. I was simply being blinded by your beauty that day."

 Your laugh thundered in the room. "Go away MG, I'm not letting you win today!"

"Aw dammit! Alright, love, I'll let you get back to your project," he stated before he walked out of the room.

--Meanwhile--

"Jo?"

"Yeah, Hope?"

The Saltzman twin had been brushing her hair in the mirror, getting ready for the game night later.

"You look gorgeous, so stop taking out every strand of your hair with this damn brush," Hope stated before yanking the brush out of the younger girls' hand. 

Josie embraced Hope in a warm hug. "Thanks, Hope."

~-~-~

"Alright, everyone. Welcome to 'The Super Squad Bi-Weekly Game Night.' I'm your host, Y/N L/N, and you're watching Disney Channel." All of the friends burst out laughing. "Tough crowd, I see I see. Well, let's move on with the game, shall we?"

"First up introducing, He's the founder, he's the mediator, He is… MILTON GREASLEY!!"

They all clapped and cheered for MG before you moved on.

"Next up, She's the brain, she's the brawn. She is the tribrid, and she's got it going on, Hope Mikaelson!!"

Whoops and cheers echoed throughout the room. 

You continued through all of your friends.

"The realistic, the cynic, the man with raps for days… Kaleb Hawkins!!"

"The sweet, the kind, but she can fuck up your mind, Josie Salvatore!!" 

"She's sarcastic, totally bombastic, Lizzie Saltzman everybody!!"

"And ME! Could you tell I was trying to sound like those game show hosts everybody? No? Well, I was. Anyways young ones-" You wore a giant grin to emphasize the corniness of what you were saying before continuing.

"Alright, I'm dropping the act. It's too hard, jeez!" They all laughed at your antics. "I hope you guys are laughing with me and not at me."

You explained the rules for the game of teams.

“Here’s the way it goes, each player has the same amount of money they would have in a regular game of monopoly. However, every team only has one token, teams must make agreements on all purchases, trades, and decisions. Teams must take turns rolling the dice, and one team member must always be present at the board.” 

“Alright.”

“Sounds easy”

“Let’s play!”

You stared at them dumbfounded. “I memorized and recited all that without stumbling on my words, and all I get is ‘sounds easy’?”

MG stood to comfort you. 

“It’s alright, love,” he said, rubbing your shoulders lightly before pulling away. You scoffed.

“Alright then, let’s play. In this hat, I have slips of paper with all of your names, but first, in this bucket are sticks with numbers that will determine the order of selection. Step forward.”

They all stepped forward and grasped the popsicle sticks prior to stepping away from the bucket. 

"Who has number 1?"

"Oh, I do!" Lizzie stepped forward and drew a slip of paper from the hat.

"Kaleb"

She and Kaleb sat back down at the table. 

"Number 2?" 

Hope stepped forward. 

"MG"

They also went to go sit down beside Lizzie and Kaleb.

"That leaves me and you, Jo," you stated happily. Jo and yourself had one of the best team duos. In school, you two would be partnered up for projects often. With that experience of communication, you were sure to win. 

You joined the rest of your friends at the table. Lizzie and Kaleb named their team, Team Siphon Vamp. Hope and MG had been Team 3 in 2, and you and Josie were the 'Twitches from two different misuses.' 

"Alright, before the token selection, I must announce the prize of the game.

"The winners of the game will receive a dish duty pass for the rest of the week." Cheers louder than before erupted in the room.

"Lettuce commence!" The silence in the room was lethally quiet, and you could quite literally hear crickets. "Get it? Because lettuce sounds like let us?"

"It's ok, babe, let's just play," MG said before pulling you down. You grumped before deciding with Josie on the Penguin. Hope and MG had picked the dog, and Lizzie and Kaleb had chosen the dinosaur. 

You, acting as the banker, dished out the money to all the players, and you commenced the game. 

Lizzie and Kaleb went first. Lizzie rolled the dice, rolled 7, and landed on a chance card, which told her to advance to the nearest railroad, and they bought it. Hope and MG went next.

MG rolled a 5 and landed directly on Team Siphon Vamp's freshly purchased railroad, M100 out of their pocket already.

"Ooooh… MG…. Honey, you're losing money faster than you did when that PS5 came out, babe."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, ok! I'm still gonna kick your ass!"

You were taunting him. "You sure about that, love?"

"Yep!"

"You didn't even try to "kick my ass" last night, darling," you smirked.

Oohs erupted from your friends, and it was evident you knocked his ego down a peg.

At last, it was your team's turn. You and Josie each took one die in your hands and rolled it. You had landed a 6 and a 4, which landed you a visit to jail.

"Look who's losing now! You're literally in jail, babe," Hope teased Josie. 

"Oh, whatever. Focus more on your lives-"

"-And less on ours!" your duo quipped. 

Lizzie protested to this. "Hey hey hey!! That is my twin! Only I get to finish her sentences!"

You all laughed at this but continued your game.

Almost 15 rounds later, and everyone had a fair standing in the game. 

Team Siphon Vamp had had 2 monopolies, on the railroads and on the pink properties. 

Hope and MG had 3 already, the dark blue properties, the brown, and utilities. They also had 2 greens cards, the other being in the hands of you and Josie, as well as 1 red card that was being aimed for by you and Josie, who had the other 2 properties. 

You guys also had monopolies on the yellow and orange properties. If you got the red card of Kentucky Avenue, you would be unstoppable. 

 "Baby," you called out. 

"Yes, love?"

"I'll give you the other green for the red," you and Josie smiled.

"That's not fair babe, you'll own the corner," he protested.

"But the green is worth more. Please?" you pleaded, giving him puppy dog eyes.

Before he could utter another word, Josie spoke. 

"We'll give you M100, and your first landing on any one of our properties will be free of rent."

Hope spoke up. "Sounds good to me!"

"Hell no! You're gonna have to do something way better than that before you fool this genius."

You whined.

"Fine, I'll give you one of my signatures back walks," you leveraged, knowing full well he couldn't resist. "C'mon, baby, I know how much your back has been hurting."

He agreed reluctantly. "Fine, but it better be worth it!"

Team Twitches cheered. 

"Wait, what about us! We'll be demolished, you selfish weirdos." This was true. Lizzie and Kaleb were low on cash, they had rushed too fast to place houses, and now they were paying the price.

"Tough luck!" Hope and Josie chorused.

 Soon, it had been as you all thought.  Kaleb and Lizzie were in debt to Hope and MG. They had landed on Boardwalk Avenue, and it had 3 hotels on it, so they owed them M6000, M6000 they did not have.

Soon, they ended up relinquishing all their properties back to the bank for auction to pay off Hope and MG, gave them the rest of their money, and had to leave the game.

 With 2 full monopolies from Lizzie and Kaleb, along with the last green property they needed, they had successfully turned the game around. Now it was Josie and you who were losing. 

You all decided at this point to split the teams. Each team dividing both the cash and the monopolies equally, and two more pieces were added to the board, on the same spots as their former teammates, and you resumed.

Josie was soon knocked out due to MG within 5 rounds, and Hope was quick to crumble under your might, two turn-loops after that. They joined Lizzie and Kaleb at the pool table. They were now drinking beers since they no longer needed to be sober.

Soon it was just you and MG left in the game. 

MG leaned forward closer to you while you were deciding what to do with your turn.

"You know what you could do, darling?" He whispered provocatively in your ear. "Give in."

You pushed him away. You were not going to lose to MG and his self-righteous ego that night. 

"Shut up."

"Give in, baby. I know you want to."

"Shut up, Milton."

"Hey, Hey, Hey!" He yelled. "No need to get hostile!"

You decided you hadn't wanted to place any more houses, well, you couldn't at the moment. You rolled the dice but were in for a bitter-sweet realization.

You had been ready to pay an M100 luxury tax fee before you realized you landed on Boardwalk, one of the monopolies Hope had let MG keep in the split. MG had only since put 2 more hotels on it, and the price was now M10,000

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!"

Soon, your friends rushed over to where you two sat and began cackling, all except Josie, who was still hoping her former teammate would avenge her.

"Babe.."

You began selling your hotels and houses back to the bank, but it still wasn't enough. You sold your properties and gave the rest of your money to MG, but you still owed a few hundred Monopoly dollars. 

"Fuck!"

 He kissed your cheek, much to your dismay, and happily accepted his victory. 

~-~-~

It had been almost 2 weeks, and you were still giving MG the silent treatment. He had been gloating about his win for the entire night, and you were livid.

You knew he didn't deserve it, but you didn't think you deserved to lose either. 

You were staring at the ceiling. You had just woken up, and MG wasn't beside you. 

You had hated those moments. No matter how mad you were at MG,  you hated when you woke up, and he wasn't beside you. 

After all, you guys had been through so much, and you were always worried that he would die abruptly and leave you. Even after the threat was over, you still felt this way.

After a few minutes, MG had come into the room, Kaleb at his side. Kaleb looked bored, and his face said all you needed to know... he didn't want to be there. 

He was carrying a pot of pink hydrangeas in one hand and a pot of coffee in the other. He placed both on the nightstand beside you, disappearing for a short while, before coming back with a giant fruit bouquet in his hands. He set it on the nightstand as well before exiting the room and closing the door.

MG had carried a platter of all your favorite foods. Eggs, just the way you liked them, pancakes, hash browns, and your favorite flavor of yogurt. He had also gone ahead and made a smoothie bowl with your favorite fruits. Berries and banana chips littered the surface of it. 

He placed the platter on the portable desk you had in your room for breakfast and bed and set it down, just above your lap. He then went to the mini-fridge in your room and got all the ingredients he needed to make your coffee just the way you liked it as well as a glass to pour it in.

"I'm sorry for bragging," he apologized. "I know how much you like to win, and it was very insensitive of me." He looked like he wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the reason he was apologizing for was. You turned your eyes away from him and the delicious breakfast he made.

"But baby, I miss you."

He walked over to you. "Please talk to me!"

He started trailing kisses on your forehead, down to your neck, resisting the urge to sink his teeth inside, something you had taught him. He knew exactly how to make you forgive him, and he was using every technique he had learned over the years.

"Please?" He whined, and you could see his pouty eyes without looking. 

He sucked on your collarbone for a while and left a dark mark. Then he moved to the sensitive spot under your ear. 

You moaned slightly, but he could hear it, even without his vampire hearing. 

He pulled away, causing you to frown and whine. 

"MG…" you complained. "That's not fair."

"So you're talking to me now?"

You looked away, you had slipped up, but you told yourself that would be the last time.

You simply ignored him and started to eat your breakfast.

He walked back towards you and began nibbling on your ear.  You threw your head back in pleasure. 

"Look at me, darling." 

He reached his nimble fingers out to your face and trapped your chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"I said I'm sorry, and I really, really miss my girlfriend. I made you a nice breakfast, and I've let you pick the movie every night since monopoly. What more do you want?"

You moved the tray of food to the side of you and stared at him indignantly. 

"I wanted my boyfriend to not be an egotistical asshole. I thought I was dating MG the vampire, not Jed the werewolf."

"I'm sorry... What can I do to make it up to you, love?"

"Let me out of that back walk favor?"

He scrunched up his face in horror. "That was part of our deal."

"Technically, you're not even supposed to be able to make outside game deals in monopoly, so you could let me out if you wanted to."

"Fine." 

"Yay! Those hurt. They're so energy draining."

"Can I kiss you?"

"Yes, you can," you smiled.

[infernalrevenge]

Extra Ordinary

Fandom: Choices - Foreign Affairs

Pairing: F!Blaine Hayes x M!MC (Magnus Quezon)

Rating: G

Summary: Blaine and Magnus sneak off to a traveling fair.

Notes: Inspired by a message from @i-cant-think-of-a-name-15 wherein he told me I could write about "a purple panda visiting Vancross" and he'd still read about it, so I was minorly inspired. This is much longer than what I've written and posted here so far, so fair warning on that.

----------

"A fair?"

Magnus raised an eyebrow at Dionne, who clutched her phone as she showed him her text messages from Blaine.

"Yeah, she said she got tickets the other day, arranged for you two to go, and everything! It's only in town for a week, and tonight's the last night before they pack everything up the next day."

Before he could even object -- the thought of everyone still breathing down his neck about the scandal and cleaning up his image still weighing heavily on his mind -- she interrupted, "You don't have any classes tomorrow, you’re free, and you need the break! Plus it'll be so romantic, just you and Blaine--"

"And our bodyguards."

"--Having the time of your lives at a fair! Come on, it'll be fun, Magnus! Like you're gonna say no to her."

Okay, she's got him there.

It only took a little bit of pleading to get Tatum to agree to his antics this time, rolling his eyes as if he was used to it at that point. Nevertheless, he escorted the First Son to the pier where the fair grounds were, dressed as casually and inconspicuously as possible.

Magnus adjusted his sunglasses and beanie, glancing behind him to see if his bodyguard was right behind, only to find him gone. He did say he was just going to keep a "respectable distance", but it didn't make him any less nervous being out and about like this. It wasn't that he didn't trust his date to show up, it was that he was worried that she would and so would the paparazzi. They haven't exactly relented on their quest to squeeze out every juicy detail of his story.

He tried to scan the crowd for any sign of Blaine, only to be suddenly grabbed by the arm. He stumbled back in surprise, accidentally bumping into a mother with her kids. "Sorry sorry, I'm so sorry miss!" he quickly apologized, but the lady left in a huff, and he found himself face to face with none other than the mastermind of this operation.

"Geez, I forgot how you scared so easily. Sorry about that," Blaine remarked, clearly amused. Magnus could only roll his eyes, but was nonetheless relieved to find her -- or rather, have her find him.

He had to admire her insistence on the whole plan, and the fact that she had a plan in the first place. Of course, they couldn't get away from their bodyguards and had to effectively hide any prominent features of theirs to avoid being recognized, but hey, he would take any excuse to be with her.

"We've got a lot of ground to cover if we wanna make the most of this place," Blaine said. They made their way inside hand in hand.

"I'm starting to feel bad, leaving you with all the work of planning out covert dates. I should return the favor some time," Magnus said with a small laugh, taking in the sights and smells around him. The sun was beating down on every head present, hung up on a bright blue sky. It was quite crowded, which was a security concern, but it also meant it would be harder for untrained eyes to spot them in the sea of faces. Still, it had him a bit on edge.

"Looking forward to whatever you've got cooking up there, Rutherland. I'm sure you can think of something." Blaine looked up at the rides, the screams of its passengers intriguing her to give the experience a shot. It would also help to distract Magnus, as she noticed he was rather tense. "Where do you wanna go first?"

Magnus wasn't always the type to try to impress a date, but he might have been pushing it a little when he suggested an octopus ride. "I've never ridden one before. My mom always said they would break and the cart I'd be in would fly off."

It felt that way as soon as the ride started too. Magnus held onto the safety bar in front of them for dear life, his insides doing massive flips with every rotation. It was very thrilling, but it was also a strangely ticklish sensation that had him laughing and screaming the whole time. Blaine was having the time of her life, on the other hand, raising both arms in the air at multiple points as she whooped and jokingly yelled for it to go faster. Their excited screams blended in with the cacophony of the other riders, and somehow, that made the First Son feel the most normal he had since the day started.

If you were to ask him, Magnus would deny how his hands were shaking as they got off the ride, remnants of that thrill and momentary terror still running through his body. But it helped to have Blaine take both his hands and encouraged him to breathe deeply instead of the usual teasing he expected from her.

"Do you go on octopus rides often?" he asked, sucking in another breath before exhaling slowly.

"I'm actually more of a lazy river kind o' girl, but I love the adrenaline rush anyway," she casually replied, trying her best to ground him and calm his racing heart and stomach.

The two of them decided to eat some snacks as a substitute for lunch, settling for corn dogs, cotton candy, and watermelon slices. Along the way, Magnus spotted a giant panda stuffed toy in one of the game booths, its usual black patches replaced with a bright purple. Blaine followed his distracted gaze and giggled, trying to get his attention. “See something you like?”

The Rutherlandian chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I, uh... it’s a giant panda, kinda hard to miss.” He was trying his best not to seem too obvious about his curiosity and desire to have it. However, after passing by the same booth a few more times as they explored the grounds, with his attention inevitably drifting to the toy, Blaine took him there herself to see if she can win it for him.

“You don’t have to--”

“Just let me do this for you. Besides, not like you can keep your eyes off of it.”

A laugh escaped him, “Are you telling me you’re jealous of a stuffed toy panda now?”

“I’m literally gonna win it for you, Rutherland, I am the farthest from being jealous. I promise by the end of the night, you'll be one panda richer.”

Basketball was the name of the game -- all she had to do was sink three shots in a row through the hoop across. Simple enough, if only she weren’t so far away from behind the starting line. Every time she threw the ball and watched it soar through the air, it was always just a few feet shy of the goal. By the time Blaine was on her sixth total attempt, she was just slamming the cash on the counter in frustration to pay for more chances, which the manager gladly accepted each time.

Magnus tried to get her to stop, insisting that it was fine and she didn’t need to waste so much money on a game “that was clearly rigged anyway.”

“Hey, I promised I’d get you that, and goddammit you are gonna get it!” she stubbornly replied, setting down another two dollars. This time though, she took a pause to rest and re-think her strategy.

Blaine furrowed her eyebrows, her focus alternating between the ball and the hoop, until an idea struck her. A wide mischievous smirk appeared on her face as she pinned the ball under her arm and climbed onto the counter, much to everyone's surprise.

"Hey, you're not allowed up there, miss!" the man behind the stand yelled, holding a hand up. The Ardonian was undeterred.

"Why? I'm still behind the line," she pointed out.

"You could fall and get hurt, you have to--" Magnus started, but Blaine was already focused on her goal, ball in hand as she lifted it up.

The height certainly gave her an advantage, taking one successful shot after another, despite the manager's and Magnus' protests. Her date still hung back right behind her, arms slightly raised to ready himself just in case. If she was so insistent on doing things her way, hopefully it wouldn't end in a hospital visit. She would hear an occasional "be careful!" between shots, but when she finally got the last one she needed, she practically threw caution to the wind after the ball.

“Victory is mine, asshole!” she yelled in triumph, throwing her arms up in the air in celebration.

She didn't anticipate how the momentum would throw her off balance though, misstepping behind her. She yelped and tried to move forward, but it was too late. One second she was falling back toward the ground, then the next... she was in Magnus' arms.

She looked up at him and laughed, "Good catch. You work out?" she commented with a wink, letting him help her stand back up.

"Let's just say you can always trust me to catch you," he replied with a hint of a flirtatious tone, before nudging her with his elbow. "But never do that again," he warned, though he was clearly just worried about her.

The Ardonian flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning her attention to the manager. "One panda, my good sir!"

He begrudgingly handed over the stuffed toy to Blaine, who then proceeded to proudly present it to Magnus. He had to wrap both arms around its fluffy torso just to be able to hold onto it securely.

"Consider this my apology for worrying you," she joked, patting the toy's fluffy arm.

"This feels a bit cliche, doesn't it?" he said, his voice partially muffled by the huge obstruction between them.

"What do you mean? It's a role reversal. It's the guy usually winning prizes for the girl, right?"

"I just mean the situation in general. Do you always win giant pandas for your dates?"

"Only for you, babe. Though I'll happily take it back if you don't want it."

At that, Magnus turned and kept it away from Blaine when she tried to reach for it. "No, you already gave it to me, so keepsies." He stuck his tongue out at her, looking more childish than ever, which earned him a boop on the nose.

"One more ride for the road?"

It was already sunset by the time they got on the ferris wheel. The sky was a gradient of pink, orange, and yellow as the sun started to set, slowly sinking in the horizon where the sky met the sea. It took some convincing for the ride manager to allow the stuffed toy on board, as long as they didn't drop it -- like Magnus was ever going to let that happen.

The newly christened Taro (as Magnus insisted on calling the panda) sat on his side, with Blaine snuggled on the other, her head settled on his shoulder. The ride moved slowly as other passengers boarded, and they were getting close to the top, just enough to enjoy the view.

"I know the rooftops at Vancross had great views of sunsets, but nothing beats being this close to it, huh?" Blaine said, her fingers idly playing with Magnus', intertwining and untwining them.

"Being in great company helps me appreciate it more too," Magnus replied, before turning to the stuffed toy next to him, sitting at eye level given its size. "Isn't that right, Taro?"

"Sorry, am I ruining your moment here?" she joked, gently nudging at his arm. Magnus simply smiled and wrapped an around her shoulders, pulling her even closer to his side.

"But seriously though, today was really fun. I'm glad you convinced Dionne to convince me to come out here. At this point, it's hard to say no to even just seeing you."

"Even if it means infuriating your bodyguard?"

Magnus rolled his eyes, looking off as the sky started to darken. "He wasn't infuriated, I'd say irritated at best, but he gets it. He's always been supportive of my 'be a normal person' agenda."

"Did I help deliver?"

"Oh definitely. You sure know how to make a guy feel normal, in a good way."

Blaine glanced up at him, "What does being normal mean to you?"

The young man blinked, not expecting such an introspective question. The lights on the ferris wheel started to turn on, giving him a view of Blaine under their soft glow. He almost lost himself in the sight and backtracked on the question.

He gave himself a moment to think, choosing his words carefully, "Just... being able to live my life away from scrutinizing eyes, I guess. I don't want the public to see me as someone or something that I'm not just because some tabloid article told them this or that."

She nodded in understanding, pulling his arm closer. "Definitely. It's like the general population seems to forget we're people too. We have our own lives and identities, and it's not something that can be toyed with."

"I wish I didn't have to act a certain way, I don't want them to change me. I wish... things were different." A bout of silence passed between them, the ride moving at its leisurely pace to give its passengers time to appreciate it.

"But if they were, then I never would've met you, so it's not all bad. You're... one of the best things that's ever happened to me, you know?" Magnus looked at Blaine, a small yet genuine smile on his face. The girl looked up at him almost with a flicker of doubt at first, but looking deeper into his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth.

And she wasn't sure how to handle that.

She could feel her stomach doing flips, a thrill running through her -- except it wasn't like she was on a fair ride. This was somehow more intense, yet she felt grounded with him by her side. She couldn't help the smile that bloomed, her cheeks darkening slightly as she took in his words.

"You're too good, Magnus. I hope the world never changes you."

The way she said his name sounded almost adoring, like she was in awe of what a genuine soul he was despite everything that's happened to him. She knew what it was like, having been expected to keep up appearances her whole life, but somehow this boy right next to her never seemed to lose touch of himself along the way. He knew what he had to do, but he also knew who he was at the end of the day.

Just hearing her say it like that was enough to melt Magnus' insides with a loving warmth. A smile spread across his face, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on her lips. He was just so relieved that he never had to pretend around Blaine, never had to prove anything to her. It was more than enough just having her there by his side, and even though he was looking forward to the day he can finally be out with her in public with pride, moments like these made their secret trips still worth going through.

.

.

.

(Due to Taro's size, it couldn’t quite fit in Magnus' bed as intended, so it instead resided on the couch in the suite. It didn't mean he didn't take any chances to nap on it though.

Dionne has sent many pictures to Blaine of the young man's face buried into its fluffy stomach, curled up on the small space as he rested peacefully, and Blaine has had to stifle many squeals of delight at the adorable sight.)

[moldisgoodforyou]

stuck with me

gif from @toesure​

warning: mentions of physical/emotional abuse from jj’s dad, drinking, cursing

wordcount: 1.8k _

He knew it was stupid. He knew it was stupid, but he did it anyways. When Charlie dragged JJ to the graduation fair to get fitted for his cap and gown and the standard 10-pack of graduation announcements, he had scribbled out his dad’s address on one of the announcements and shoved it in the mail. It took him about a week to work up the courage to even place the envelope in the mailbox, but he figured it was worth a shot. 

He forgot about it until a couple weeks later, when he saw an all-too-familiar number pop up on his caller ID as he walked home from class. He wasn’t in the mood already, after probably failing a test he had just worked his ass off to study for. JJ let it ring for one beat, two beats - then took a deep breath and answered. “Hello?” 

His dad’s gruff voice rang out on the other end of the line. “Are you asking for money?” 

JJ sighed, bracing himself as he kept walking, opting to take the long route. “No, no, Dad, just wanted to tell you I was graduating.” 

All he heard was a scoff. “Well good luck with your debt, just paying more money to the big man.” 

JJ ran his hand through his hair, getting frustrated. “No, I’ve been on scholarship. I don’t owe anyone anything.” 

“You’ve been wasting time for four fucking years is what you’re doing, while you could have been getting a real job and working hard to repay me for raising you.” Luke shot back, raising his voice. “Do you know how much money I wasted on you?” 

JJ grit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. “Forget it, Dad, just wanted to tell you I’m gonna graduate. All on my own.” 

“That girl still wasting her time on you too? She’ll leave you too, just like your mom, once she knows how good-for-nothing you are.” 

“Don’t talk about Charlie.” JJ bit out, ready to snap. 

Luke laughed and the sound alone made JJ’s skin crawl. “Call me when you want to pay me back.” 

JJ barely kept his composure at the dial tone. There was nothing he wanted to do more than scream, but he bit the inside of his cheek hard instead, picking up the pace as he walked off-campus. He didn’t realize he bit hard enough to draw blood until he grimaced at the metallic taste filling his mouth. His heart was racing, fists curled, as he stormed further and further away from campus in an effort to calm himself down. He spotted a dingy bar in the distance, half the lights in the neon sign missing, and nodded to himself. “Just one drink,” he told himself, speaking out loud. The bar was known as a seedy, run-down place that only locals went to - it was far enough away from campus that no students would step foot in there. 

Before entering, he turned off his location on the Find My Friends app and powered off his phone, stashing it in his backpack. He ordered an old fashioned and sat at the end of the bar, tracing his finger over the scratches in the wood counter. 

Three hours later, Charlie had called JJ four times, worried. They had plans to go out for dinner, at a place that finally took their reservation after a month, and he knew she had been looking forward to it. She texted a few of his friends to check in, but they all replied that they had no clue where he was. 

Four hours later, JJ was sufficiently drunk and the bartender, a woman old enough to be his mom, had closed out his tab and was serving him way-watered down vodka sodas. “You got someone to drive you, sugar?” She asked, concerned about the kid before her that was drunk at 4pm on a Tuesday. He frowned, nodding, but just rested his head down on the counter. “Should I call someone?” 

JJ lifted his head slightly to speak. “I’ve got a girlfriend. Should prob’ly call her.” She nodded, pushing him a glass of water. “You do that.” JJ groaned and fished out his phone from the bottom of his backpack, powering it back on. He sighed, running his hand through his hair as he saw the six missed calls and multiple texts, and called Charlie. 

“JJ? Where are you, what’s going on?” She asked immediately. 

He broke upon hearing her, his voice faltering and words slurred. “I need you, baby.” 

“Where are you?” She repeated, already grabbing her keys. “Never mind, I’ll find your location. Stay on the phone with me, J?” 

“I’m sorry.” He paused. “I’m sorry, I just - I was upset.” 

“It’s okay, hon, I’m coming.” 

She stayed on the phone with him until she got to the bar, pulling her jacket a little tighter around herself as she entered. She spotted JJ right away and he met her eyes, offering a sad smile. Charlie walked over and sat next to him, holding his hand. “You alright, J?” He looked down at his empty glass and swirled his finger around the rim. “Nah. Not doin’ so hot.” 

She caught the attention of the bartender and flagged her down for the check. The woman came over, passing her the receipt (which had about three drinks missing on it). “Is this your girl?” She asked JJ, sending him a wink. He nodded, offering a half-smile and squeezing Charlie’s hand. “Yeah, lucky me, right? She’s out of my league.” Charlie rolled her eyes and pulled out cash, slipping it to the bartender. JJ noticed right away and frowned, grabbing her wrist. “Charlie, don’t, I got it.” 

She shook her head. “I got it. Let’s just go back to mine, okay?” He paused, processing. “You don’t want me to pay you back?” She shook her head again, standing. “Of course not.” She looped his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist, giving him support as they walked out of the bar. Once they were in the car, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, soft and sweet. “Is my place okay?” 

“Are your roommates home?” He asked, frowning. “No, they went to dinner.” She replied, starting the car. JJ’s face dropped as he realized why she was in a dress. “Oh, fuck, that was tonight, wasn’t it? That’s why you’re all dressed up?” Charlie faltered for a moment. “I - um, yeah, but it’s fine. It doesn’t matter.” JJ set his jaw and ran his fingers through his hair, exhaling. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Charlie. God. He was right.” 

Charlie frowned, her grip tightening on the wheel. “He?” JJ was silent, turning to look out the window. “JJ, who are you talking about?” JJ shook his head. “Don’t wanna talk about it.” She sighed quietly, her worries confirmed. “Okay. That’s alright. Um, are you hungry? Should I make us something when we’re home?” He shrugged. “Not really.” She bit her lip, not knowing how to talk with him. “Right.” 

The rest of the drive was quiet until she pulled into the driveway and glanced over at him. He hadn’t taken his head off the window and his eyes were shut, his chest steadily rising and falling. “J?” She asked quietly. He stirred, opening his eyes. “Oh. We’re home?” She frowned and got out to help him out of the car. He stumbled when he stood, but cooperated with Charlie. “I’m sorry ‘bout dinner, baby.” He offered, leaning on her as they went inside and up the stairs. “It’s okay, J, it’s not important.” 

He frowned. “No, it is important, it’s important to you and I fucked it up.” Charlie shook her head, insistent, and sat him on her bed. She moved to go to her closet, but he grasped her wrist gently, pulling her back. “Can you just sit with me?” She nodded and sat, looking him over with concern. “If you want to talk about it…” she offered tentatively. 

“Not really.” He replied, leaning into her side. She turned and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. He took a big exhale, resting his head on her chest. Charlie stroked his hair softly. “I got you, hon.” She whispered. She heard a soft sniffle and frowned, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “J?” He barely shook his head, his breathing becoming unsteady as he cried harder. She held him tighter, frowning. “It’s okay. It’s okay, J,” she murmured soothingly. 

He lifted his head after a little bit, cheeks wet and shining from his tears. Charlie swore her heart broke. She kissed him, gentle, and he responded, hard and needy. She rested her hand on his cheek and wiped away some fresh tears with her thumb. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled, meeting her lips in another kiss. “Don’t be sorry. Was it your dad?” She asked outright. 

JJ’s face crumpled and he looked down, not meeting her gaze. “I sent him a graduation announcement. It was stupid. I brought it on myself. He thought I was asking for money.” 

Charlie stayed quiet, knowing he would open up on his own terms. 

He swallowed before continuing. “He just - he said I was just wasting my time at college, and that you’re gonna leave me. When you realize how fucking worthless I am.” 

Charlie shook her head quickly, kissing him to cut him off. “That’s not true, J, you know that. I know that.” 

He shrugged. “I dunno.” 

She frowned, putting her hands on either side of his face and forcing him to look at her. “Listen to me. I don’t know anyone that’s worked harder through college that deserves this more. You should be so fucking proud that you’re graduating. You’re incredible, JJ, I love you more than you could ever imagine.” She kissed him soundly to make her point. “You’re mine, hon.” 

He pressed his forehead to hers, listening for a moment, then threw his arms around her, hugging her fiercely. She snaked his arms around his waist and pressed a gentle kiss to his neck. He held her tight, like she was his last connection anchoring him to peace. “I’ll make dinner up to you.” She laughed softly. “That’s the last thing I care about, J.” 

He pulled back from the hug, only to lean in and kiss her again. “I’ll make you proud. I swear I will.” 

She nudged her nose with his. “You already do, J. Every single day.” He offered a small smile. “Yeah?” She smiled back, kissing him softly. “Yeah. You’re stuck with me, J, don’t forget it.” His smile grew bigger and he kissed her cheek. “Wouldn’t want to be stuck with anyone else.” 

[jitteryjive]

what she says: I’m fine

what she really means:

It was sunny today.

Well, actually, every single day up there in the fabled Shangri-Spa was sunny, pleasant, bright, any word that could accurately describe the afterlife's bathhouse-and-spa cousin.

But, yes, it was sunny today.

The sun, just as usual, was smiling down onto the angelic attendants, always welcome with open arms for expected visitors. Unfortunately, not many came. The cupids, or more well known as the Shangri-Spa toads, would marinate in silence as they waited for someone who had managed to make it through the holy trials.

The holy trials were mental and physical trials set in the bottom of the ocean, where the chosen would collect the colored orbs after besting courage, strength, and wisdom. Ever since the transportation to the depths of the Great Sea, the Ala Marino, was stolen in ancient times, the Spa went thousands of years without anyone for the cupids to greet--

Until now.

It seemed that someone had managed to actually find the submarine (thank god), and had permanently sealed the stones into the entrance that lead to the Shangri-Spa. That took away the thrill of a visitor of strength and great importance, but at least the toga-wearing toads didn't have to stay preserved for nothing but the lonely and deafening quiet.

So, every now and then, some friendly paper being would wander in, pay the fee, and enjoy a relaxing day in the relaxing Spa with its relaxing attendants, and leave. It made things much more interesting.

Before these thought-provoking customers began rolling in, they would have to stimulate creativity by switching shifts.

Technically, they weren't supposed to do it, but was it obliterating boredom to be basking in the glorious haze of the sun, surrounded by fresh grass and a bubbling foot bath instead of normally standing in front of a who-knows-how-old pillar for at least an entire day straight? Yes.

They didn't do this as often anymore, now that they finally had a person to interact with.

And all kinds of diverse creatures would buy into the Shangri-Spa. A bone goomba, a snifit, a parakoopa, you name it. Just casual acquaintances who came to visit and to unwind. Sometimes, a generic toad or shy guy would come, but they did no different; pay, play, pass on. The same routine, the same purpose-- almost as if every single one of them were pressed from the same pulp.

It was a steady, constant flow, of occasional customers, waiting cupids, and random influxes of cash.

Until he arrived.

To the Shangri-Spa toads, he seemed so-- bizarre, or, to put it more nicely, unique. When business was slow, and they were feeling impatient, a yellow-spotted toad (it sounded generic at first, but he was everything but that) had shyly peeked in through the door.

Now, straight away, their eyes had been caught by his clothing. He was garbed with a protective, mud-brown outfit, clearly suited for the desert. He wore a tight, buckled sash, which he would frequently tug on, and it allowed a polished shovel to be latched onto the back. His dutiful, dark boots were tightly laced up, and the soles contrasted, as they were incredibly scuffed up. It appeared he had trekked over miles and miles of rough sand.

What took their attention about his clothes the most was his odd hat. Snugly fit over his shroom, it paired with his button-up top. An expeditionary hat, it was built to shield his silver eyes from the sun. Despite this covering, the sun had clearly beaten down on him, judging from his fairly tan skin and his countless freckles, giving him a bronzed tint. It was clear he was attentive and paid close attention to his cleanliness and appearance-- perhaps he was a perfectionist?

Then, second, it was that he spoke to and shook the hands of the cupids, seeming very attracted to how they were silently standing without anyone to speak to. He spoke with an anxious stutter, further cementing the idea that he wasn't very good at being social. But, clearly, the toad still wanted to introduce himself and say hello. Not a single Spa attendant was left out. Some awkwardly laughed and excused themselves, as they weren't used to being spoken to by a stray visitor. Some met him with enthusiasm, chatting about the Spa and running over its purpose and guidelines. But he still chose to interact with them, either way.

They came to hear that his name was Baker Moontoad, but he was a professor in archeology, meaning that he more commonly was called Professor Toad (shortened to Professor). The name rang multiple bells for most of the cupids, as regular news and information were circulated back to their ears. They'd heard of this very professor, who had survived many terrors and solved a mystery as old as time.

Professor had found an Ancient One alive by the name of Captain T.Ode (they found it silly that he incorrectly referred to him as Khap'taan Teeowed, but he insisted it was the dialect of the Ancient Ones), and he was writing out all of his notes and work, but still needed someone to review them with true interest. He was considered famous in some ways, and from what they'd heard, he was a brave, intelligent desert toad. But they hadn't imagined that he'd act like this.

Professor, instead of acting very boastful of his achievements or even just extroverted, seemed surprisingly timorous.

His trembly hands would be stuck like glue to his sash once they shared a handshake, fiddling with the fabric as to calm his underlying nerves. His face, although proud, seemed very timid, expression-wise. His eyes would be wide, seemingly from both his bashfulness and ecstatic mood. His simper was genuine, yet fearful. They found it strange-- as someone who had given countless lectures, taught countless classes, and was an actual professor, Professor acted like he was socially constipated.

However, he further explained his intention for coming here. He was looking for someone who was willing to review and criticize his work so that he could edit and publish his extraordinary findings, and, oddly, hadn't gone to Shangri-Spa to get a massage or to soak in the baths, but for someone who would study with him and partner with him 24/7 to help publicize his notes. Professor had heard that the cupids were very fair critiques, and that many of them were also fervent in the same topics.

Unluckily for him, none of them were very open to leaving the spa, moving in with him, and spending God knows how long editing and reviewing and reading hundreds of pages over and over and over again. They politely declined his offers to each of them. They weren't that desperate for something to cure their ennui.

Until he asked the angel idly standing in the corner, next to a model of the Ala Marino. All these untils, it was like these special toads were built to break the humdrum repetition.

They were considered the history buff of the cupids, having spent hours researching Captain T.Ode and the backstory of the Marino. As Professor went around, querying each and every one of the Spa's attendants, they watched him with intrigued eyes. It was in their nature to feel curious, after all. When he approached, they instinctively straightened themselves. They knew how prominent this toad was, and it was a rule that important customers were to be treated with enormous respect. Professor Toad was no different.

"Ah, hello." When he spoke, his voice wavered as expected-- the echoes of his words that they had picked up from across the room didn't lie.

"Hello. It's nice outside, isn't it?" The angel responded, eyes gently meeting.

"Yes, it's quite.. serene, to put it that way."

Professor paused for a moment's passing, glancing down at his boots that had seen adventure after adventure through a perilous desert.

"Say, what's your name? I'd assume you have already.. heard from your attendants that I am Professor Moontoad."

"I've heard of you, as I love history, and you're often associated with that.. and, you can just call me Cherub!"

Cherub flashed a grin at him and caused him to mutedly laugh. He grew serious once again.

Tightening his already taut sash, he gave a short nod.

"Well, Cherub, I have a proposal for you-- would you like to.. study and critique my work? If you would want to join me, I must warn you, you will have to stay with me for an unknown period of time, and we will share a living space. It is well understood if you do not enjoy the factors."

They cheerily smiled, and gave a flitter of their angelic wings, letting their halo sparkle in all its glory.

"Yes, I would like to do that! It would be an honor to work with you, Professor!"

"Excellent!"

He met their passionate behavior, and seemed relieved that someone here was actually willing to do the obstacle-like task. He held up one finger, then dove to the button of his bag, heavy with unspecified trinkets and objects.

"I-I brought my notes and some of my work along with me, if.. that is alright.” He began. “Would you like to look over my writing, so to have a foretaste of what we will be working with?"

They nodded. "Sure. Sounds rational."

As he seemingly trembled with excitement (or some other unknown emotion), his quivering fingers popped off the button with a satisfying snap. However, when distributing the support for the pack to the bottom, it spun off his shoulder, and he gave a brief squeal when it hit the ground, spilling its messy contents (which was a surprise, considering how neat he was). Professor reddened, and whether it was from embarrassment or the tears pricking his eyes, they didn't know. Beginning to truly shake now, he attempted to try and shove it back into the open bag, now limply lying on the marble floor.

What Cherub knew best was to help, and this was no exception. So they dropped to their knees and dug their hands into the wreck.

"Here, I'll try and help you organize this! You probably need an extra pair of hands, right?"

"Yes, yes— I had no intention for— for this to occur—“

His cheeks burned an impossibly bright red when there were items revealed that were different from what looked like infinite amount of papers scrawled all over with cursive handwriting. The two sorted out glowsticks (even more humiliated, Professor explained in a slur of words that they were from some random, weird, strange, history-involved dance ritual he did with a friend), multiple sets of bright red pens, a smudged cleaning cloth, spare shoelaces, two pairs of socks, unused notepads, sticky notes, and, making him mumble something under his breath, doodles that were covered in hearts and stickers.

The cupid didn't outwardly question any of the mysterious things inside the disarray, and fixed everything up enough so that he could continue to sputter out flustered explanations and thrust everything back inside.

"Th-thank you. I appreciate your help."

"No problem! And.. you know, you don't have to be so ashamed of your stuff. I'm not judging."

"I suppose, but-- doesn't your mind wander? You were most likely questioning the things I have in my bag!"

They aimlessly shrugged, and set the newly repaired sack up right, ensuring that it wouldn't tip over again. They nudged it towards him, as to gesture than he could show him the notes.

"Well, I was thinking about it, but there wasn't much to be blushing about, so you're off the hook."

He smiled in silent peace. "Thank you."

Trailing off, he remembered that he was going to let them see bits and pieces of his notes.

"Where was I, hmm?"

Professor inquisitively tapped his chin, attempting to collect his thoughts together after the mistake. He remembered, and speedily returned to his more stoic demeanor.

"Yes, I will show you a page or two of my work, as a minuscule preview of.. what we will be reviewing over the next few weeks."

He sorted through his notes, muttering things like not something that long here or that's something Cherub should read when we're alone until he found the perfect samples.

"Aha! Oh ho, a great sheet to formally.. introduce you to my work-- it will do admirably!"

"Oh, let me see. It sounds good."

Tapping it against the shining floor, Professor bunched up a pack of papers, and handed them to him. He returned to his feet (the only thing that wasn't wavering on his body, probably due to stability) after sealing up the bag and throwing it back onto his shoulder.

Cherub looked through a few pages of documents, studying the ink scratched into the page. Some of the work was in an otherworldly red color, and they remembered that they'd seen extra pens in his bag-- that explained one thing.

His handwriting was very clean and formal, as it was cursive. He clearly had intentions to publicize this work. Every now and then, a colorful tab would pop up on the side, labeled in a more loose scrawl to remind Professor that this must be rewritten later, or something similar of the like.

"You're very bright, aren't you? It shows in your writing here."

He drew his eyes up from picking at his sash, and his cheeks grew pink again, this time from pleasure. His reluctant simper became adamant, and seemingly, the introverted professor became proud of himself.

"Well, thank you again! I have not let many read my work, and just judging from my exterior, I may as well be.. mute and dumb-- but I'm rather sharp, aren't I?" They could taste the tinge of confidence in his voice, and it made them beam just a bit more.

"Yes, that's true. If this is just a bit of what you plan to publicize, I'm surprised. You've fit a lot of research on just these pages."

Their compliment clearly drove home as they watched his eyes glint with pride. A tentative smile broke his face.

"I-I have collected information from my.. travels over the course of many months. And I-- may have to explain some of it, as I had written it in a different language. I'm fluent in the retired language of the Ancient Ones, and as it is more of a written language than a spoken one, I had added in phrases. With translations, of course."

The two of them stood with no words. Once each other's gazes grew uncomfortable, Cherub awkwardly laughed, then shuffled through the writing, and motioned to a few of the names mentioned.

"I've got just one problem with your work," they began, tapping the most noticeable name in neat cursive. "And it's this."

Professor opened his mouth, then shut it, not wanting to protest. He leaned in. After a few minutes of examination, he gave a huff of confusion.

"I.. do not understand, what is the issue with this name?"

They understandingly smiled, hoping they didn’t appear condescending, and handed him the papers.

"See, I've been noticing this mistake-- you've misspelled Captain T.Ode's name."

"Well, that is the phraseology of the Ancient Ones. Technically, when applying their language, his name would be Khap'taan Teeowed. So, wouldn't it be correct?"

They hesitantly bit their lip, then ran their pointer finger underneath the red pen's markings. They wings twitching once again, Cherub thought for a moment on how to explain.

"I don't want to sound like I'm explaining it to you, as you're fluent, but.. the Sandpaperian word for captain is khap'taan. You didn't translate correctly. And either way, his name would translate to T.Ode. It’s simply a misspelling. Or a mistranslation, I dunno.”

He nodded his head to show he was listening, then gasped as his face burned red again. He gripped the paper tightly, reading over the work again.

"Sweet senior thesis! I-I've made a fool of myself in front of you a second time now! I-- I have made such a humiliating slip-up, I apologize-- I will have to adjust.. all of my work and notes, as this is what an idiot would do! Oh, dear lord, I'm stupid, stupid, stupid.."

His grip tightened further. Wrinkles spiderwebbed all over the contents of his palms, and he risked crushing the sheets altogether.

They hastily shook their head, and seized his wrist before he could crumple the papers.

"No, no! It's a common misconception. And, you're not stupid or an idiot. Professor, it's okay. Don't worry, that's the only mess-up I found in that sample. Your work is perfect!"

Professor, who had previously attempted to ball up his precious work, paused, then fluffed them again, and slipped them back into his bag, making sure it wouldn't collapse again. He exhaled, feeling disappointed.

"I have-- I have completely misunderstood his name. I deserve to be called an idiot for thinking this for all my research! And, when I return home, I will have to edit and remove all of the mis.."

He realized.

"I-I forgot you'll be helping me."

"There! See? You do need a second pair of hands, and I'm completely open to removing this! Besides, I'm pretty sure you've been swamped with work.."

They flashed another cheerful grin to uplift him, and he (fortunately) appeared brighter. Fixing up his hat, Professor gazed at the floor, still crimson in the face.

"We've ought to get going, yes? And.. I may show you your new living space, Cher."

Cherub halted before speaking, hearing the abbreviation of their name. He continue to weakly tremble, eyeing their halo.

"Did you call me Cher?"

He perked up, then grew into a slight panic, frantically waving his hands to excuse himself.

"I-is it alright if I call you that? I believe in-- in affectionate nicknames for friends. Yes, I consider you a friend, now that we've become acquainted."

They clasped their hands together and shook their wings, the pristine feathers barely brushing against the marble floor.

"Well, of course! I've never been given a nickname before, so.. and, yeah, we should probably set off."

"It is done, then.. I wish the Spa my best regards."

They pridefully looped their arm around Professor's elbow, and he simpered as well, releasing his hands from anxiously toying with his sash. The two spoke to Shangri-Spa to share a wholehearted goodbye.

They strolled out the entrance doors together, leaving the model of the Ala Marino and the memory of the odd Professor Toad behind.

The silence settled again, and the angels repositioned, with one absent now, the atmosphere feeling like a missing puzzle piece.

"Goodbye, Cherub." One of the cupids finally spoke, wishing them away.

———

"I can't believe that this is what Toad Town is like! I've never seen anything like this! The citizens are so nice, the Princess is so friendly, the ocean is so mesmerizing, the lights and the trees and the sky! Everything is so-- insane compared to the Spa!"

"You're very excited, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes! My life wish has been to see the world below the heavens, and it's finally coming true! I can't believe my eyes, I-"

The two of them stopped in front of a small, humble house, with simple beige walls and a navy blue roof covered in streamers for the upcoming festival. A few marigolds were sprouting up behind the denim hued picket fence. The mailbox was quaint and metal, tiny in the shadow of the larger house. The front door was a plain oak, and was as unassuming as the rest of the houses.

Cherub paused.

"Is this our home? My new home?"

The angel gaped at the house, taking in the appearance. Professor nodded, and tucked his hand inside their palm.

"Yes. Yes, this is your new home. Is it--" His voice became hushed. "Is it too small? It's an upgrade from my last living space, as it was very cramped, and my next-door neighbors were.. inconsiderate, to put it nicely."

They hadn't exactly lived in any other place, so this seemed like the perfect size for them, who had no belongings and no boxes or packages to move in, and Professor, who already lived there, most likely didn't have much as well.

"Of course not. It's adorable! I think I'll really enjoy sharing this house with you, as your roommate!"

"That's reassuring. I was afraid that my new partner would have felt trapped in such a small house."

The two of them stood for a few more moments, admiring the curves and shapes of the home. Finally, Professor spoke again.

"Well, shall we go inside?"

"Yes, please."

Hand in hand, the toads walked inside together, and he pushed open the door for his new friend. It revealed an astoundingly clean house, which was only built of a few rooms-- clearly, the architect for this house mashed at least two rooms together to save space.

To be honest, it was a lot for Cherub to take in all at once.

In the living room, a wide table was spread by a short, red couch, and both were strewn with papers and stray red pens. In the corner, there sat a stunted bonsai tree, having been recently trimmed and watered. The overhead lights were calmingly soft.

In the kitchen, which was only separated from the living room with an arch and the carpet ending at linoleum flooring, there was a flat, stable counter. Having clearly been wiped down recently, it shimmered in the lightbulb. The oven was also shiny due to cleaning supplies. A couple cupboards, organized and stocked, were hung above the dwarfed fridge. The sink was even more ordinary, compared to the rest of the appliances.

In the bedroom sliver of the living room, a fully dressed king-sized bed sat still, pushed against the wall and below the largest window. Its covers were a rich and golden display (of Professor's choosing, since he loved the color gold), splashes of metallic colors across a contrasting, dark background. The sheets were generically white, as there was no need to get patterned with something you wouldn't see. These coverings were perfectly done, sticking with the theme of scarily clean.

In the bathroom, it was tiny and actually more claustrophobic than cozy. It had baby blue walls, featureless and glazed with luminosity. There was a mirror, just barely leaving room on the wall, and one sink, polished. It was ready with two bamboo toothbrushes, one labeled with yellow tape, and one bare. A shower was built in, covered in glass and starring a sliding door, framed in silver.

In the laundry room, which rivaled the bathroom in size, there was a simple basket, washing machine, and dryer. It wasn't much to look at, and was as blank as the previous room.

Throughout the house, the floor had clearly been vacuumed multiple times. Everything had been thoroughly scrubbed with cleaning supplies, leaving the faint yet distinct sent of lemons-- it was all scented, and it was much more preferred than the smell of bleach or vinegar.

Cherub was stunned. This was vibrant and diverse and was everything that Shangri-Spa never provided, in terms of a living space. They stood in silence, staring out at the miniature landscape around them, taking it all in. Professor anxiously wrung his hands.

"I-I understood that I would be gaining a roommate, so I may have-- well-- gone a bit overboard with cleaning everything. And fixing up everything. I didn't want to seem like I'm lazy or unappreciative of my surroundings. Is it.. is it enough?"

"Is it enough?" Their voice shot up an octave, conveying their shock at his words.

He jumped, then instinctively grasped the lip of his hat, beginning to quake. His fingers, like when he opened his bag for Cherub, trembled as he tightened his grip on his hat.

"Please don't yell at me, I just wanted to make.. things perfect..!"

They grabbed his arms, grinning as wide as they possibly could. They beamed at their new home, and felt so loved and appreciated by this.

"Professor! Yes, yes, it's even more than enough! It's amazing! I can't believe that my first home down below the Spa is going to be like this, oh my gosh!"

He shook away the terror and paranoia glaring on his face, and opened his mouth, unable to form words.

"It's so hard to describe how-- how happy I am! Professor, you've really outdone yourself! This is all for me? It's outperforming, beautiful, breathtaking, I-- whatever random words can describe it!"

"I-- I had not expected you to act like this. Yes, I had

[thatsamericano]

Budgetary Details For This Plot

I’ve decided that the FrUKSpa Christmas budget for the oldest kids (Matthew, Alfred, and Savino) was $2000 each, which they considered a nice round number and a reasonable amount. They’re wealthy, so they’re used to spending way more money than most people, but they wanted to put a limit on 16-year-olds who are playing around with debit cards for the first time and have to get Christmas gifts for seven people. They had a smaller amount of money they gave to Feliciano, and a smaller amount than that for Marcello (without the debit cards being an issue for either of them, of course).

I want Alfred and Savino to have spent an equivalent amount on each other, so back in September, Alfred bought approximately $500 worth of textbooks (because he was trying to buy in three different areas, and was drawn to some huge hardcover textbooks and some smaller paperbacks he thought would would be interesting). He nearly, but not completely, drained his checking account and FrUK were like WTF because Alfred hadn’t made a big, sudden purchase like this before. They talk to him about this, and Alfred says it was a Christmas present for Matthew. They hadn’t expected him to be thinking about Christmas so early and sometimes their family did spend more extravagantly than they could this year because they’re now buying for four additional people, so they forgive the mistake their teen son made only two months after getting a debit card. They explain the Christmas budget to him and say that now the budget will be $1500, so he will have to spend carefully and his presents for everyone else will be much smaller than they could’ve been before.

Savino bought his nearly $500 telescope for Alfred after Antonio explained the budget to him (which happened sometime in November, because I do talk about the kids doing Black Friday/very early December shopping). At this point, Alfred and Savino may or may not have been in a relationship, but that doesn’t matter for the background I’m giving here. Antonio talks to Savino about this, because Antonio is a very laidback guy, but Savino spent a quarter of his Christmas budget on one person when he has to buy things for six other people. Savino gives a very convincing explanation about this being an extremely good telescope for this price point and how he researched it extensively before he made this purchase (all of this is true). Antonio is like, okay, it’s fine you bought this really expensive present for Alfred this year, but make sure you have enough to get other people something without having to go so cheap it looks insulting (and in Savino’s case, he planned to get something for his grandfather, which Alfred couldn’t do, so his presents for the rest of the FrUKSpa plus kids group were a bit smaller-- around $200 rather than $250-ish).

By the time they get to Rome, both of them have maxed out their Christmas budgets, but they do have more walking around money than most 16-year-olds, especially since their parents wanted them to be able to buy a fun souvenir if they wanted (especially Alfred and Matthew, who’ve never been to Italy before). Alfred is able to buy an about $100 present for Mr. Vargas, and each of them spend about $50 to get a joint present for Chiara that is small enough it’s not suspicious (also their money was in cash at the Christmas Market, and Euros obviously). I mentioned them getting souvenirs at the Leonardo da Vinci Experience Museum that are about $77 dollars for Alfred’s and $42 for Savino’s (I’m rounding up), Savino bought a fairly inexpensive scarf for Alfred earlier in the month while Christmas shopping, and Alfred will probably spontaneously Savino a fairly inexpensive hat at the Christmas market. They might have also bought something small for close friends from school before they left for Rome, along with other minor purchases like the things they got at Starbucks at the mall. After Christmas, Alfred and Savino are low on money, but not in immediate danger of going into overdraft, so FrUKSpa aren’t bothered by this. They’re all happy the 16-year-olds (including Matthew) managed to stay within their Christmas budgets and didn’t go crazy buying tons of souvenirs for themselves.

On Christmas, people do notice that Alfred and Savino bought each other expensive presents, especially if one of them unthinkingly says something about it (like Savino looking at all the textbooks and going “Dio, this must have been so expensive.”) Antonio doesn’t really care, and he’s glad it wasn’t too awkward when Alfred got a substantially cheaper gift for Savino than Savino got for him (what he expected to happen). He thinks it’s cute Alfred thinks Savino is talented in so many areas that he picked out all these textbooks for him, and he’s like, “aww, look at this cute mutual friendship.” Matthew and Feliciano are like “okay, you guys went way overboard on each other,” especially since they had a girlfriend and boyfriend who weren’t accounted for in their Christmas budgets and had to plan their purchases more carefully to get them something, but they’re happy with their presents from Alfred and Savino and aren’t mad about it. Nonno Vargas is flattered that Alfred (along with the rest of the FACE Family) got him something at all, and he remembers going nuts with Sofia on present giving occasions sometimes, especially at the beginning of their relationship. (But I think the reason Sofia’s family weren’t happy with the idea of them being together at first was because Augusto was from a poorer family, so the dollar amounts were much smaller than I’m talking about here). Chiara is surprised Alfred helped pay for a present for her, and Savino usually gives her fairly small gifts for Christmas anyway since I don’t think he gets something for each of his twenty cousins and wouldn’t want to make that too obvious with a huge price tag for Chiara’s gift. They understand Chiara and Savino are close, so it’s okay if she gets a little Christmas present from him, but not if it’s some huge thing like he got for Alfred.

For maximum drama points, Marcello is stewing about Romerica after he figures out they must be doing NSFT things together, and he gets pissed when he sees their Christmas presents to each other. I don’t think he’d easily be able to make a price point comparison, but maybe he looks up Alfred’s telescope online and sees that it’s nearly $500 compared to his approximately $200 present from his brother (which to be fair, is still very nice for a nine-year-old and something he would enjoy). The textbooks would be harder for him to figure out since there were multiple ones, but maybe he looks up some of the bigger ones and figures out Alfred’s present to Savino is also substantially more expensive than Alfred’s present to him. He puts on a pleasant face for Christmas and the rest of the Rome trip (which maybe lasts a couple of additional days), and then he decides to blackmail them once they get home.

FrUK are very WTF about Alfred’s and Savino’s Christmas presents to each other, but they’re trying to mask it because of the Christmas Eve drama over the hickey I’d planned before. Arthur made Savino very upset the day he spoke to his dead parents and grandma, and they are trying to be nicer to him after what happened. Antonio gives an explanation for the telescope that they don’t totally believe is a friendship thing, but they’re more pissed about Alfred because he lied to them about the textbooks back in September (precisely because he was scared saying it was for Savino’s Christmas present would make his feelings way too obvious). They add the Christmas presents to their mental rolodex file of “Alfred and Savino are obviously fucking,” but probably don’t say anything.

After Christmas, Alfred and Savino are in no position to purchase a Vespa, or even a kiddie version of one. If Marcello insists on a real Vespa his brother drives for him, they try to do some quick research to figure out if Savino can even drive a Vespa right now or if he needs a special license and what models are allowed for that. Marcello is mostly about going vroom vroom on a Vespa, so I don’t think he’s looking too closely at the models and would be happy with one that’s not hyper expensive if his brother could actually drive him around on it (because according to whatever state laws I’m basing this on, Savino might need special licenses for some of the higher horsepower models but not the lower ones). Marcello might want one that’s a specific color or similar to one some cousin has, and Romerica are like “okay, sure” even if it costs more because they’re desperate to make this kid happy. At minimum, they’re looking at about a $4000 purchase which is both their Christmas budgets for the entire holiday combined, and they have to dip into their savings accounts that they had access to (I’ll try to research this so it’s not completely stupid plotwise for the fic) but that their parents told them not to touch until they turned 18 because they were specifically for their adult/college life. They don’t drain them, but they each take about $2000 out (possibly after cleaning out their checking accounts completely), and it’s very suspicious.

FrUKSpa are irritated by this immensely. Savino probably mentioned wanting to get a Vespa someday to Antonio before, but he thought Savino would wait until he was 18 or ask for that as his high school graduation gift. If he had to get a Vespa now, he could have tried asking FrUKSpa before this holiday they all just celebrated that involved buying gifts for each other. It might have been something they decided not to get him because it’s too expensive, but it’s weird as fuck that he did this right after getting gifts from everyone he seemed to appreciate. He could have asked for this when he turned 16, instead of/in addition to the car Antonio thought would make it more convenient for Savino to get around. Antonio may not have bought him a Vespa then, but it would have been a lot more normal for Savino to ask back then or before Christmas.

Alfred is the one who they’re most suspicious of, even Antonio. Antonio is able to brush off $500 of textbooks for Christmas (even if FrUK tell him the precise dollar amount and that Alfred lied about it back in September), but he can’t brush off Alfred paying $2000 to help pay for a Vespa that’s not even his. It looks like Alfred keeps getting these ridiculously extravagant gifts for Savino, and they’re all like WTF is going on (FrUK highly suspect, and at this point Antonio is beginning to as well). By contrast, Savino possibly pressured his stepbrother into helping him get a Vespa and made both of them dip into their savings accounts to make this sudden unnecessary purchase, so he needs to be confronted on his spending habits too, but it’s a different issue (and FrUK are especially pissed at him if they think he’s pressuring Alfred financially). Privately, they may decide that FrUK should confront Alfred on his behavior without Antonio since they’re his parents and since Alfred has made it abundantly clear he doesn’t think of Antonio in any kind of family way and will be very disrespectful if Antonio tries to tell him not to be an idiot with money. FrUK really want to confront Savino about the Vespa and possibly manipulating Alfred to get it, but maybe they’re willing to let Antonio talk to his own kid about this and have similar reasons for suspecting Savino would totally disrespect them if they tried to confront him about his spending habits.

[snappedsky]

Fanatics 78

Pepito’s band prepares to play for a festival.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

--

The Spring Festival

           The blaring of an alarm knocks Pepito out of his sleep. He rolls over, groaning as he slaps his phone, shutting it off.

           As he sits up, he checks the screen. No notifications.

           He sighs heavily as he checks the date. “One week since Squee left.”

           Later at Skool, Pepito glowers depressingly at the lunch table, poking at the mystery meat from the cafeteria. Zim, Tak, Dib, and Gaz glare at him wearily.

           “Irk, you’re pathetic,” Tak snaps, “get over it already, will you? You think Squee would like it if he knew you were like this?”            “Well, Squee’s not here to know anything,” Pepito retorts, pouting.

           “You make me sick,” she hisses.

           “As much as I hate to agree with Tak,” Zim says, “she has a point. You need to pick yourself up already. You’re an embarrassment.”

           In response, Pepito sticks his tongue out at him. Zim irks and prepares to attack him but Dib holds him back.

           Gaz side-eyes Pepito as she plays her Game Slave. “Has he called you at all?”

           “Nope,” he replies.

           “Have you called him?”

           “Of course not.”

           “Do you think he’s lying around all depressed like you?”

           “Huh?” Pepito questions, glaring at her.

           “Probably,” she replies, “but he has every reason to. What’s your reason? You miss your boyfriend?”

           He flinches, offended. “Well…I can’t help it if I miss him.”

           “Maybe not. But you also have no reason to drag the rest of us down with you.”

           “What are you-?”

           “You know the Spring Festival starts next week,” Gaz says, cutting him off.

           “The…Spring Festival?” Pepito questions.

           “Seriously? You haven’t heard?” Dib asks, “Mayor Von wants to hold a bunch of events in the city and he’s starting with the Spring Festival. It starts next Friday and goes all weekend. There’s gonna be a bunch of vendors, rides, events.”

           “Like a live music event for volunteering musicians,” Gaz adds.

           Pepito blinks blankly. “Live…music…?”

           “Moron!” she barks, making him flinch backwards. “Maddie sent me this because she was too scared to show it to your mopey face!”

           She shows him her phone. On screen is a poster featuring a large, brightly lit stage surrounded by the words: “Calling all musicians! Want a chance to showcase your talent in front of a live audience? Then sign up for the music event at the Spring Festival!”

           Pepito just blinks as he stares at it.

           “Get it now, idiot?” Gaz snaps, “because of your petty feelings, you could’ve missed this. So what are you gonna do now?”

           Pepito stares ahead blankly for a second before scowling with determination and drawing his phone.

           Pepito: can we do a band meeting at your place tonight

           Carmen: No problem~!

           Pepito quickly sends a text to their other bandmates before lowering his phone. Then he takes a deep breath and grins.

           The others all smile with relief.

           “About time,” Tak comments.

           That night, Pepito, Carmen, Maddie, and Colton get together to discuss the festival. Thankfully, it’s Friday and next week is Spring Break, so they got lots of time.          

           They spend the rest of the week determining their set and practicing. It’s the hardest they’ve ever practiced. This is tremendously different from their last gig, which they played in front of a bunch of drunk partiers who would’ve loved anything. This time, the pressure is real. But they’re all excited.

           Next Friday quickly rolls around; the first day of the Spring Festival. So they decide to take the day off and join Zim, Tak, Dib, and Gaz at the fairgrounds.

           The majority of the festival is taking place in a large park. The first day is all about the vendors. Booths have been set up all over the field with vendors selling all kinds of things: food, clothing, toys, and more, all homemade. And the place is packed with fairgoers.

           “Wow, this is a total hit,” Carmen comments.

           “Yeah, Von’s really pulling out all the stops,” Dib adds, “I’m impressed.”

           “He’s taking his job as mayor seriously,” Pepito remarks.

           “Tch. I would’ve done better,” Zim says bitterly.

           They spend most of the day wandering around, perusing the booths. Into the early afternoon, as they pass a seemingly random vendor, a familiar voice calls out to them.

           “Hey, kids.” They turn towards the booth to see Devi sitting behind it. Spread out on the table are tons of prints, all painted by her.

           “Devi,” Pepito smiles as they approach. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. You changed your hair.”            She grins as she runs her hand through her new haircut. It’s all black with the right side hanging down to her shoulder and the left side shaved down to a buzz cut. “Yeah, I finally did it yesterday. Cool, right?”

           “It totally is,” Colton agrees excitedly.

           “Yeah, very punk,” Carmen adds, “I should get a cut like that.”

         “You got your own booth? That’s cool,” Gaz comments, “you got it for the whole weekend?”

           “No,” Devi sighs, “just for today. I couldn’t afford the rent.”            “Well, one day is still good,” Dib says as he flips through her prints. They’re all dark and often of monstrous creatures. “You sell much?”

           “I’ve only had a couple customers,” she replies, “I think I scare most people away. But the ones who do like my stuff buy multiple.”

           “Your art is really good,” Maddie says in awe.

           “Hm,” Pepito hums with consideration. “You know, I’ve been thinking for a while we need some kind of design on the bass drum. Could you paint us something?”

           “I’d love to help,” Devi replies, “but I’m indie now. You’ll have to buy a commission.”

           “How much?”

           She leans back in her chair, rolling her neck. “You know what, I’ll give you a discount. 75 bucks.”

           Pepito glances between his bandmates, who all nod agreeably. “Deal,” he says, “ah, but can you do it before Sunday?”

           “Why?” Devi questions.

           “We’re doing the music event,” he smiles, “and it’d be awesome to show it off for the first time then.”

           She nods agreeably. “Alright. But I’ll need to the pay first.”

           Pepito, Carmen, Maddie, and Colton quickly dig around in their pockets. They divvy up their cash until they have seventy-five dollars and drop it on her booth.

           “Fuck, you guys work fast,” Devi comments, “alright. I’ll get a couple designs ready and tomorrow you can choose one to paint on.”

           “Sweet,” Pepito cheers and the others grin excitedly.

           They leave Devi to check out the rest of the vendors. While she waits for customers, she opens her sketchbook and gets to work on some designs.

           The next day, most of the same vendors are still set up, but the nearby street has been closed off for fair rides. A small rollercoaster, a ferris wheel, a drop tower, and a few different spinning rides have been set up; also fair games and food vendors.

           The kids are excited for this one, ready to gorge themselves on rides and junk food. But first, the band has business to attend to in the seating area.

           Devi is there waiting for them. She passes them her sketchbook as they sit across from her at the picnic table.

          “Pick one,” she says, “I can have it painted today and it should be dry by tomorrow morning. Plenty of time for you to set up for the show.”

           “We all have to agree,” Carmen points out. Pepito, Maddie, and Colton nod and they open the book.

           Devi sketched out four designs, all of them darkly themed and featuring the band name ‘Hellz Rebels’. It takes a few minutes of deliberation before they finally decide.

           “This one,” Pepito declares, handing her back the book.

           “Okay,” Devi nods, “I’ll just need access to the drums and I can get to work.”

           “They’re at my apartment,” Carmen says as she grabs her house key. “Take my key. My dad’s at work right now but I’ll let him know you’re there.”            “Cool. I’ll let you know when I’m done,” Devi waves before leaving.

           “I’m feeling pretty excited,” Maddie comments.

           “Me too,” Colton nods, “but can we go on the rides now?”

           The rest of the day is spent riding the rides, eating junk food, and playing games. By the end of the day, they’re all pretty wiped. But they’re not so tired to not go to Carmen’s and check out Devi’s finished work.

           “What do you think?” she asks as she cleans up her painting gear. “I finished a little bit ago. Make sure not to touch it so the paint dries.”

           Pepito, Carmen, Maddie, and Colton all smile excitedly as they look at the new design on their bass drum: a large claw painted as if it’s smashing through the drum, with its fingers folded around the words ‘Hellz Rebels’.

           “We are so ready for tomorrow,” Pepito smirks.

           The next morning, the band gets up around eight and, after breakfast, meet at Carmen’s place. They load the drum kit into her dad’s truck and he drives them to the fairgrounds.

           The events don’t begin for another two hours, but the field is already busy with all the musicians. Pepito and the others make their way through the crowd with their instruments to the event coordinator.

           “Name?” she asks.

           “Uh Hellz Rebels,” Pepito replies.

           “Right,” she says as she looks over a clipboard. “You guys will be on at 2:00. You can leave your instruments behind the stage but keep an eye on them. We’re not responsible for any stolen property.”

           “Alright, thanks,” he nods and they head across the field to where the stage is set up. Lots of other bands are hanging around the back with their instruments.

           “So we got a long time to wait,” Carmen comments.

           “Yeah, just chill I guess,” Colton shrugs as he sits in the grass.

           They all join him as Pepito fiddles with some kind of speaker device.

           “What’s that, Pepito?” Maddie asks.

           “A recording device,” he replies, “I’m gonna attach it to the mic when we go on so we can record our set and send it to Squee.”            “Oh, that’s a good idea,” Carmen remarks.

           “Yeah, it’s too bad he can’t be here,” Colton points out, “he would’ve loved to watch us.”

           “Yeah, it would’ve been nice knowing he’s in the crowd,” Pepito says and gestures with the recorder. “But this is the next best thing. And I think he’ll appreciate it.”

           The others start to agree when they’re interrupted by a sudden ruckus; somebody shouting in frustration. Everyone peeks around the stage to get a look and sees a person, a teen boy in Goth attire, getting angry at the event coordinator.

           “I demand to be let on!” he barks, “everyone must here my voice!”

           “I already told you,” the coordinator argues impatiently, “you didn’t sign up and we’re completely booked. We have no time for you.”

           “Blasphemy!” he snaps, “censorship! I will not be held down!”

           Without another word, he stomps away, leaving everyone to stare after him, baffled.

           “What a tool,” Pepito comments and the others laugh in agreement.

           Zim, Tak, Dib, and Gaz arrive later, around eleven. Much of the same vendors are still there, but new ones are too selling music related items, like CDs for the indie bands playing today. They wander around for a bit before heading to the stage, where the musicians have already started playing. Currently up is a saxophonist playing some soulful jazz.

           “Looks like there’s gonna be a lot of variety,” Dib remarks.

           “I only care about Maddie,” Gaz grunts as she takes out her Game Slave.

           “Human music is so unappealing,” Zim comments.

           “You like Pepito’s music,” Dib points out.

           “That’s different,” he insists.

           “Why do you call it ‘human music’?” Tak scoffs, “Irkens don’t even have music.”

           “Other species do,” Zim points out, “I happen to enjoy Screwnat music.”

           “Wow, you really do have no taste.”            While the Irkens argue and Gaz plays her game, Dib happily bobs his head to the music. He may be here to support Pepito and the others, but good music is still good music so he might as well enjoy himself.

           He’s interrupted however, when someone shoves their way through the crowd and bumps his shoulder.

           “Hey,” he whines but the person ignores them and keeps heading towards the stage, muttering angrily. Dib stares after them and notices they dropped something: a flat, black rock about the size of a hand. Dib picks it up, flips it over, and gasps. On the other side is a magical rune painted in red.

           “Zim,” he says.

         “-the simplicity is the best part. It allows the listener to not need much thought to listen to it,” Zim argues, ignoring him.

           “You don’t need much thought in general,” Tak retorts.

           “Zim!” Dib exclaims.

           “What!” Zim barks, “I’m in a very heated discussion.”

           “Look,” he orders, handing him the stone.

           “What it is?” he asks.

           “It’s a witch’s rune,” Dib replies, “somebody just dropped one as they were walking towards the stage.”

           “What’s it do?”

           “I…don’t know. But it can’t be good.”            “Hmm,” Zim muses as he stares at the stone.

           “Maddie texted to me that somebody was really angry that they couldn’t play today,” Gaz says.

           “Could the event be in danger?” Dib asks.

           “Ugh,” Zim groans, “we better investigate before Pepito goes on.”            The others nod and they push their way through the crowd to the stage. There’s plastic barricades keeping the audience a couple feet away from the stage, and dropped in the space are three more of the runes but these ones are glowing, and no sign of the person.

           Dib quickly scoops up all the stones and the team examines them.

           “It’d be better if we knew what they did,” Tak points out.

           “Give me a minute,” Dib demands and opens Zim’s PAK. He reaches inside and pulls out a big textbook titled ‘Supernatural Items and Facts’. Many pages are marked with tabs. He flips through it and stops on a page with many similar runes and explanations.

           “Here,” he says, pointing at the same rune as on the stones. “The Explosive Rune.”

           “Well, that’s self-explanatory,” Gaz remarks.

           “They can be detonated from a short distance away when activated,” Dib reads, “that must be why they’re glowing.”

           “We need to destroy these,” Zim points out.

           The team quickly scurries out of the crowd to an empty part of the field. Then Dib drops all four stones on the grass and Zim blasts them to bits with his spider legs.

           “Somebody’s trying to destroy the stage and ruin the music show,” Dib declares.

           “It must be that weirdo Maddie was talking about,” Gaz adds, “he must be trying to get revenge for not being allowed to play.”

           “We have to find him before he tries another stunt,” Zim says.

           “But how?” Dib asks.

           “If he wants revenge, then he must be nearby to watch the explosion when it goes off,” Tak muses, “which means he would’ve seen us take the stones. So…”

           “Hey!”

           They turn at the shout and see the Goth boy causing a ruckus earlier marching up to them.

           “Bingo,” Tak nods.

           “What do you think you’re doing?” the boy snaps.

           “Us?” Dib retorts, “why are you trying to blow up the stage? You could hurt people, maybe even kill them!”

           “If I can’t be allowed to sing, then nobody can!” he barks.

           “You’re the one who didn’t sign up on time,” Gaz points out, “this is your own fault.”            “I will not be tied to bureaucratic rules,” he argues, “and nobody will stop me from getting my revenge!”

           “Listen, you worm,” Zim snarls, “this whole event has made Pepito finally stop whining about Squee being away. And I will not let you ruin this for me!”

           “Zim,” Dib scolds.

           “And Pepito too, I guess,” he adds indifferently.

           “You think you can stop me?” the boy scoffs, “I am a witch! A powerful, magical being! You normal humans have nothing on me!”

           “Jokes on you,” Zim retorts, “half of us aren’t even normal humans!”

           “Whatever you are,” the witch snaps as he reaches into his coat and pulls out a wand. “I’ll reduce you all to dust!”

           “Watch out!” Dib cries and the Battalion dive out of the way as the witch fires a bright green bolt from his wand. It leaves a small crater where they were standing.

           Zim and Tak both snarl as they skid across the dirt. Zim draws his laser guns and Tak’s robot arm shifts into a cannon and they both take aim before firing.

           The witch swings his wand, deflecting their beams, and fires another one at them. They jump out of the way and continue firing.

           Meanwhile, Dib and Gaz watch from a few feet away.

           “Dammit,” Dib snaps, “we don’t have our weapons.”

           “I keep an extra bat in Zim’s PAK,” Gaz says, “but I don’t think I’ll have a chance to get it.”

         “We have to take him down before Pepito goes on,” he points out, “we can’t miss his show.”

           “Well, Zim and Tak should be able to handle this,” she retorts.

           The witch sends the Irkens scattering with another blast before waving the wand around himself and chanting, “icken bicken licken might, give me the power of flight!”

           Sparkles waft around him as he levitates off the ground, going higher until he’s nearly over the trees. Then he flies around like a bug and continues blasting at Zim and Tak below. They both cry out in frustration as they struggle to dodge.

           “Dammit, they’re hopeless,” Gaz groans and shouts at them, “it’s two on one! Take him down already!”

           “Silence!” they bark back and dodge another beam.

           “He’s not giving them a chance to attack,” Dib observes, “there’s gotta be something we can do to help. Maybe cause a distraction to get his attention so they can hit him. We have limited options though. If we could find another weapon then-.”

           Before he can finish, Gaz yanks his textbook out of his hand and whips it at the witch. It clonks him in the side of the head, making him cry out in pain and surprise as he falls to the ground.

           “That works,” Dib shrugs.

           Groaning in pain, the witch lifts himself out of the dirt. He looks around frantically for his wand before spotting just a foot away. But before he can grab it, Zim steps on it, breaking it in two. The witch glares at him and Tak as they stand over him.

           “Now, who’s getting reduced to dust?” Zim growls as they ready their weapons. But a voice stops them before they can fire.

           “Robbie?” A girl in a Goth Lolita dress emerges from the trees. “Robbie, there you are!”

           “Bianca?” Dib questions.

           “Who?” Zim grunts.

           “She’s a witch in our class, remember? She tried to force Squee and me to tutor her for finals a couple years ago.”

           “Eh.”

           Bianca barely pays them any mind as she passes by and grabs the other witch- Robbie- by his ear, yanking him to his feet.

           “What do you think you’re doing?” she snaps, “causing so much trouble?”

           “It’s not my fault,” he whines, “they wouldn’t let me sing.”

           “I told you to sign up yesterday,” she retorts, “you didn’t listen. Let’s go, Auntie’s looking for you.”

           “Wait! They broke my wand!”

           “Good, you deserve it.”

           “Wa-wa-wa-wait!” Zim barks as Bianca starts to walk away. “What’s going on here?”

           “This is my stupid cousin, Robbie,” Bianca replies, “I’m sorry for any trouble he caused. My auntie will deal with him.”

           “So we’re just supposed to let him go?” Dib questions, “he was gonna blow up the stage with explosive runes.”

           “You tried to use explosive runes?” she barks, smacking Robbie upside his head. “This is why you can never visit!”

           Dib sighs and rubs his forehead. “Alright, forget it. He’s clearly in good hands. We’ll leave him to you.”

           “Thank you,” Bianca nods, “trust me, he’ll be properly punished.”

           “I will not stand for this censorship!” Robbie cries as she drags him away.

           “Shut up, you little moron,” she snaps, “your music sucks anyway.”

           Zim, Tak, Dib, and Gaz watch them walk away before sighing.

           “Well, that takes care of that, I guess,” Dib says.

           “Good,” Gaz nods, “cause it’s almost two.”

           “We better get back to the stage,” Zim orders.

           They hurry through the park and arrive back to the stage. They join Devi and Tenna, who are standing near the back of the crowd, just before the current band finishes up. Then Hellz Rebels take the stage.

           Pepito looks into the crowd as he sets down his amp and sees his friends waving excitedly. He grins and looks to his band.

           “Ready?” he asks.

           They all smile and nod.

           “Then on your cue, Maddie,” he says, lifting his guitar.

           She takes a deep breath and grips her mic.

           “Are you guys ready to rock!?”

           Later that night, in Cammie’s house, Squee and Johnny are lounging on the couch as the recording of the Hellz Rebels’ performance plays through Squee’s cellphone.

           “You know, I hate to say it,” Nny says, “but they’re actually not bad.”

           Squee smiles. “Yeah. They sound awesome. I wish I could’ve seen them live.”

           “But you didn’t,” a voice points out nastily, wiping away Squee’s smile. His eyes narrow with annoyance at the stress toy sitting on the coffee table.

           “You miss your friends, huh?” Squishy Pete says, “do you think they miss you? Like actually miss you? Do you think they want you back? Or is this break a relief for them? Probably the latter, right? I mean that’s why you left in the first place. For a break.”

           Pete’s wide, fanged smile starts to widen as Squee rubs his tired eyes. But before the toy can say anything more, a hand suddenly swipes him from the table.

           “Found him!” Eff announces, waving him in the air.

           “He sure disappears quickly,” Sickness remarks as the other Night Terrors join him.

           “Yeah, we can’t turn our backs for a second,” D-boy adds.

           “He’s a tenacious little parasite,” Eff agrees as he tightly squeezes the toy.

           “Let me play with him,” Reverend Meat begs.

           “No, you always pop him too quickly,” Eff replies, “that’s no fun.”

           “Yeah, we gotta make him suffer a bit,” D-boy adds.

           “Guys!” Squee snaps, “can you take this somewhere else? I’m trying to listen to something.”

           “Sorry, Little Boss,” the Night Terrors sing.

           “Let’s play hacky sack with him outside,” Sickness suggests.

           “Yeah!” the others cheer and race out the door.

           Johnny watches them leave before looking at the Squee. He’s quietly rubbing his closed eyes.

           “You okay?” Nny asks.

           “Yeah,” Squee replies, opening his eyes. “Just tired.”

           Nny nods understandably. “So, Granny’s going to L.A tomorrow to do some shopping. You wanna go?”

           Squee looks at his phone as he listens to the Hellz Rebels sing. He’s not sure he wants to go anywhere right now. But it’s also been almost two weeks.

           “Sure,” he replies, “I guess I should try going out in public again. It has been a while.”

           Nny scoffs, “the public is overrated. But shopping can be fun.”

           Squee smiles at him. “Yeah.”

           Nny smiles back and they settle back down as they continue to listen to the music.