#unfortunately they also sell blue lives stuff
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conkreetmonkey · 8 months ago
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So I stumbled across this Etsy that sells dog accessories, and like 50% of the patches they sell (intended for use on dog jackets) go harder than anything made with humans in mind. Like am I crazy or
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battle jacket exclusively featuring dog patches
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princeofthecornfield · 6 months ago
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Bluebelle and her tall son Belcar! My dungeon meshi ocs whom I love dearly!
Lore âŹ‡ïž
Belcar’s first mother was Bluebelles first and best friend when she first moved to the city they loved having similar names. (Her name was Carabelle)
And his name is a combination of their names as Bluebelle was with her the entire pregnancy after her husband unexpectedly died. Unfortunately due to a sickness that swept the city Carabelle passed when Belcar was 11 months old.
They live with Blue’s sister Yellowjack and her husband Clive who run an apothecary together. (They also sell spices). Bluebelle and Belcar collect herbs, roots and other plant parts to be taken back to the shop to be dried and processed.
Bluebelle and Belcar are pretty well known in half foot circles and he is usually referred to as Bluebelle's boy or her Tall son. Which unfortunately sometimes gets shortened to Talson and people think it's his name. He is prepping for a jewelry making and goldsmithing apprenticeship which will start when he is 18 (he's currently 16).
Belcar is like a very responsible teen much to bluebelle's dismay he has no desire to do any reckless teen stuff like drinking, smoking, sneaking out etc. She parented too well and now has a responsible nerd son (affectionately).
Her favorite bit is to convince new people that he is her biological son. Especially when they say they can see her in his face (they look nothing a like). She also likes calling him her bag when she makes him go shopping with her. And she has even taken over one of his pants pockets to hold her purse.
She has a slew of nicknames for him Bel bel, baby bel, muscles, Belly boy, car car, and tall son. He is also very protective of her as she’s so much smaller than him and someone has attempted to pick her up before. (They claimed it was a joke but that was after Belcar spear tackled him so who really knows)
He’s is now biased against other races due to mistreatment he’s seen towards half foots. Meaning he tends to come off as standoffish and rude. Bluebelle wishes he wasn’t like this but he’s pretty firm in his belief of arms length until proven otherwise.
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docholligay · 9 months ago
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Do you think having such a personalized and detailed headcanon makes it harder to enjoy fic about the show/game that's written by others?
I mean sure, probably.
But unfortunately things I adore, for people named Doc who are me, fall into one of two buckets:
The character work and plot in this show are incredible, I find myself turning it around in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. I constantly discover new things about the show/book/game or the characters in it. I do not read fic about this, because why would I? Every answer I search for is in the text. I want to talk about this with someone, but about what is THERE, not what could be there. Ex: The Haunting of Hill House, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Piranesi, Bioshock:Infinite, Watership Down, Yellowjackets, among others.
The concepts of this could be amazing but are handled so fucking badly so consistently, in a shocking contrast to how INCONSISTENT the character work is, that all I want to do is steal it and make it better. All i want to do is turn it into something that doesn't suck ass when you look at it too hard. So I am going to take it SO seriously, and I am going to develop the rich inner lives for these characters that they lack, with intense backstories and families and motivation for how they got to be the person we know, or know sometimes, in certain episodes or shorts. Ex: Sailor Moon and Overwatch are the biggies here obviously, this is actually not an emotion I feel very often. I don't have intense backstories and extra-textual feelings and ideas about most of the stuff I read and watch, these two are just my Spiders Georg.
So! The odds on me being into something in the correct way to make me want to Seek Treasure Elsewhere but also I have a chill enough attitude about how the characters are that Any Dream Will Do is almost nil. I do not in ANY way mean this in a shady way, but I mostly read published adult fiction for entertainment and not fanfic. I am very picky about my fanfic. So, "plus these two new red and blue girls into Starbucks" often won't work for me, because the reasons to have Haruka and Michiru meet in a coffee shop are completely different from any of the reasons Fareeha and Angela might meet in a coffee shop, and so many of those types are archtypical plug and play stuff. Honestly, I have skated the idea of making a cheat sheet of fanon archetypes of various characters and buying a typewriter to sell 100-200 word 'quick fic' at cons with my sister. That's how common it is to use these archetypes. This is not a criticism! At all!
But, to take the two couples above, I have read so much BORING SHIT about both HM and FA that I could throw up. Lesbian couples have a lot of very milquetoast writing about them, and a lot of meet-cute which isn't really my bag.
But there are authors I love! @oathkeeper-of-tarth was and is one of the best harumichi writers out there and we don't even have all the same headcanons. The rare occasions @verbforverb decides to grace me with "Jewish Mercy I don't Have To Write" I pop a can of bubbly in the tub. And on both fields of battle @keyofjetwolf has stuff I've had bookmarked for years, and there are some things even within Rei's backstory and history that we disagree on.
Actually, to that point what I like is good writing. You can write me into believing nearly anything. There are things I believe about Amelie when I'm reading @lemon-embalmer's stuff that when I go back to my own world, aren't true, but when I'm in her world who the fuck cares, I'm having a great time. EVEN MORE to the point, I read @moonlight-frittata's stupid sun and moon lesbian League of Legends shit and I would rather shoot myslef than know ANYTHING about the game, but unfortunately she has a beautiful turn of phrase and plot flow to her work that I just....read anyway, because it is good. Fucking @tallangrycockatiel had me like 25 pages or so into a story before I was like, "OH SHIT, IS THIS SLASH??? WAIT I DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT BOYS' LOVE!! NO!!" *hits next page* And I still could not care less about that podcast and would never listen to it, and if I did I would be massively disappointed because to my mind, her John and Arthur are the actual article, and whatever the fuck is going on in the source material can eat my dick.
So, yes, I DO think that having a very particular point of view is going to mean I back out of a story where like, "Lena stepped out of her Chelsea flat, custom leather high heels clicking against the step" sometimes, or, you know, "Haruka put down her copy of War and Peace, each meticulous note codified by a color-coded tab. Blue was for historical references to research, green for character analysis, yellow for themes, blah blah blah*" But I am actually shockingly open minded in what I will read, often to the point that I'm reading stuff from SHIT I DO NOT LIKE OR CARE ABOUT, because the quality of the writing is excellent. So, also no.
*I met someone who read books like this and I suddenly realized what the literary equivalent of 'knowing someone is a serial killer' was.
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zoeykallus · 2 years ago
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Hey Guys!
I just wanted to apologize for not being as active as I usually am. I had a few people ask me what's going on and why I don't publish writings of mine daily anymore. So I thought maybe some of you need an explanation, because to be honest, it's tiring me to answer the same thing again and again in my PM's 😓
At the moment I'm in a kind of struggle phase, mentally as well as financially.
I'm about to lose my best friend and fury family member in the next few days. My dog Cooper has gotten sick in the last few weeks, showing not only weaknesses because of his old age, but he also managed to hurt his leg (while secretly climbing on and off my couch, when I was working), as well as teeth problems that seem to cause him a lot of pain.
It's not easy. I barely make it through a month with what I earn, with all the prices shooting higher while the payment for work keeps staying the same. I sold a lot of my stuff, all my books, blue rays, even parts of my clothing and that little bit of jewelry that I had, to get by. In the last weeks Cooper has struggled so much that I had to sell more to get money for the vet and I had to cut back hours again to care for him, because by now he can barely get up on his feet on his own, to get to his water or food, so I can't leave him alone for long.
As you can imagine it's not easy, my family lives way too far away to help out by watching him. I'm pretty much on my own, at least for now. It's time, I need to get him to the vet and eventually let him go. It hurts like hell, but it must be done, he's not doing good at all right now. Letting my fur baby go after 13 years of unconditional love is a downer, but I don't want him to suffer any longer.
Some may say or think "It's just a dog, get over it" and unfortunately I had even people saying that to my face. I'm not proud of it, but the last person who said this to my face, has a black eye now. My dog was always there in my worst and my best moments, and he never judged, he just loved and was always super happy when I came back from work, or grocery shopping. He was there in the morning to remind me I should go on and not give up on me, in my darkest hours when I really struggled to think of a reason to get up in the morning. I wanted to give up on myself, I thought I was done. But there was Cooper, looking at me with big eyes and I knew I couldn't just leave him behind, he needed me and for a long time that was the only thing giving me purpose, before I relearned that life can be more and better again.
So I wasn't in a good state lately and there wasn't much writing. But I just started another request this evening that will be done in the next few hours. Sometimes it calms me, but there have been moments recently when I felt very, very tired and empty and not in the slightest motivated. Aside from that, I don't get anywhere near enough sleep or nutrition these days to feed my brain enough to work properly. Sorry for that. I will write more again soon.
I didn't forget any of you, nor am I ignoring your asks! I hope you understand and won't be mad or disappointed with me. I'm not gone, just a little slower these days, but it'll get better and more again at some point.
Thanks for reading all this if you did, and thanks for your understanding!
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ratsoh-writes · 2 years ago
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Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the outerswap siblings, Helios and Artemis!!
Here’s a little bit about the skeletons:
Helios (outerswap sans):
He’s obviously the older sibling, at 45 years old. He stands at 5 feet even and is rather petite and elfish looking. Don’t let that fool you though, he’s a powerhouse.
Helios has a soft orange magic and is covered in a dusting of freckles.
Most of the time he is very cheerful, friendly and competitive. Helios isn’t the most playful and takes his jobs very seriously. When he’s pushed too far, he has a rather fiery explosive temper though. Luckily he doesn’t hold grudges. While he’s normally rough with those around him, he has a gentle side that only seems to come out for his little sister and any small kids. He’s not the most flirtatious monster and doesn’t have any interest in relationships right now.
For work, he’s a professional fighter! He’s won plenty of magical combat competitions and also knows several physical fighting styles. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the money to do this full time, so on the side he works in the minds of the underground’s when it’s off season for the fights.
Things he loves: his sister, heavy metal music, dragon ball Z, weapon summoning, kickboxing, sparring, bonfires, small children (he thinks they’re adorable and fun to tease), the color blue, the moon, stargazing, mood boards, snails
His special ability is flame body: his bones and ecto burst into flames when he’s angered. Or at will. They luckily don’t burn through anything unless he concentrates on making them do SOs
His magic weapon of choice is a large battle hammer with spikes on both hammer ends. The hammer itself is nearly half his body size and is a blood orange color.
Artemis (outerswap papyrus):
She’s the younger sibling at 40 years old. She stands at 6 feet even and has very pale translucent ecto due to being born with the disease dimming. She has a very soft feminine voice.
Artemis has sky blue magic and a smattering of freckles all over her bones.
Artemis is an observant and down to earth character. She has a strong sense of fairness and compassion that no one really seems to know where it came from. She’s touch and affection starved and very friendly to every one around her despite being anxious. She’s slowly recovering from near death due to her disease and has a lot of side effects from it, making her tire out pretty easily. She’s a people pleaser and very curious about the world around her. Her curiosity usually overrides her anxiety but it also makes her agree easily to things that can get her in trouble. She can be too trusting.
She gets a disability fund from the government which covers her healthcare and some other stuff, but to help her brother with the bills she breeds and sells snails on the side. The apartment building they live in has a small greenhouse that their landlord generously lets them use as long as they keep it clean.
Things she loves: her brother and the fighters he hangs out with, watching the combat matches and games in person, heavy metal music, fantasy novels: especially reincarnation ones, snails, the sun, sunsets and sunrises, natural medicine, indoor plants.
Her special ability is lighter fingers. She can make a small blue flame appear on her finger tips at will. The flame does not burn and gives a small amount of light
Due to being born with dimming, Artemis was never able to complete her schooling and has never summoned a full magic weapon before.
Here’s a little backstory on the two!
Helios and Artemis were born to pretty wealthy parents. Helios however was shunted to the side after his little sister was born due to her being diagnosed with the ecto disease, dimming.
Helios grew up at first resenting his little sister who took up all of his once loving parents time. She could do no wrong, and he always seemed to be blamed for anything bad around the house.
However Artemis adored her brother, the only one around her who didn’t treat her like some piece of glass. She would try to defend him against their parents when she became old enough to understand their situation, and would even cover for him so he could leave and train for the royal guard, something his parents didn’t want him in. By the time Helios was an adult, the two had an unbreakable bond
After the crash, Artemis’ health took a turn for the worse. She was given months to live and their parents kept her in a tightly locked community in hopes that she’ll pull through. Artemis was done, managed to get in touch with her brother who had moved away on his own and begged him to “kidnap” her so she could actually see the surface before she died.
Of course Helios does steal her away and they go traveling across ebott to dodge their parents while Artemis gets to spend her last days actually seeing the world around her.
Spoiler alert: she doesn’t die. The freedom actually seems to improve her health and she’s actually getting better every day. Helios and Artemis wind up getting disowned by their parents and he gets a job in the underground’s mines to make ends meet.
Now for side characters:
Saturn: outerswap toriel, the sister of Mars and the ruler for outerswap. She’s a rather loud and demanding ruler but very good at her job: law and order. She’s a judge in ebott and takes her job very seriously
Mars: the younger brother of Saturn, he was invited to the board of royals after the crash. He handles the detention centers and some jails for ebott. He’s practical, demanding but gentler than Saturn.
Selene: a deep blue flame elemental and the mother of Helios and Artemis. Selene is a flighty monster, always looking for something shiny and new to keep herself occupied. She is not in contact with her kids and is secretly glad she isn’t responsible for them anymore.
Ares: (outerswap gaster) a strong and proud skeleton monster, and head of a medicine company. He misses his kids and has some regrets on how he raised them, but is too proud to apologize. He is not in contact with them.
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lafiametta · 2 years ago
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In the modern Au, how do they spend their days when they're still not living together? And does Olek bring a duffel bag with some of his clothes and other personal items, which slowly take place inside Ling Yi's flat over the months until he moves in with her? I love this little plot about new lovers~ "There is so much of you here already. What took you so long to stay forever?"
And I hope that, unlike in your 1899 Au, one of them is good at cooking! Seriously, how sweet would it be if Olek cooked meals for Ling Yi to take to work! Maybe that is how her co-workers find out she's dating someone new? And... Is she the type of girl to announce new flings and/or relationships to her friends and family as soon as they start, or does she wait to see whether they're going to make it official before she says anything? And oh, I wonder what would happen if Ling Yi ever stumbled upon one of her exes while she is with Olek!
Before they move in together, they mostly see each other on the weekends, with one of them (typically Olek) staying over on Saturday night. It happened pretty organically, with Olek coming into the city on Saturday afternoons to see Ling Yi, and then eventually spending the night. Then they would have most of the day on Sunday to hang out, either staying in bed (sleeping in... or other things) or going out for brunch. By 5 or 6pm, he's on the M train, headed back to Bushwick, just enough time to have some dinner, do a load of laundry or two, and have a bit of down time before he has to be ready for the work week. After a few weeks of this routine, Olek started bringing some stuff with him, so at least he would have a toothbrush and a change of clothes for Sunday. By now he's got a little place for his stuff on Ling Yi's bathroom counter (surrounded by all the products for her multi-step nighttime skincare routine) and part of a drawer in her closet where he keeps some shirts and clean underwear.
In general, Olek doesn't have a ton of stuff in his apartment (and a lot of it is fairly crap furniture that he got second-hand when he arrived in the States or bought at IKEA), so when they decide to move in together, the whole process isn't as hard as they might have originally thought. Olek recognizes that Ling Yi's furniture is much nicer — and she has better taste and superior interior design skills — so he ends up selling or donating most of his furniture. When he arrives at Ling Yi's apartment, he's basically got two suitcases and his Monstera plant. (She's already cleared out a much bigger part in her closet for him, and she bought a little mud tray for the hallway where he can leave his work boots.)
I think they're both trying to be better at cooking. They both definitely know some dishes from home that they try to make, and they both love eating from their own cuisines when they can. But once they move in together, I can totally see the two of them trying to pick up some more skills (and save money on takeout) by doing more cooking together. (Maybe they'd get into something like Blue Apron or HelloFresh with the pre-portioned ingredients? Also, it would give them time together in the kitchen!)
Olek making Ling Yi's lunches is such a cute idea! Because of her job, she does have to think a fair amount about what she's eating and how much of it (unfortunately), but I could also totally see him chopping up a pre-made salad for her, with the dressing and the toppings all in those little containers. Because she doesn't work with the same other models all the time (although she definitely knows some from the agency, and she sees some of the same people at dance and theater auditions), no one would probably notice her lunch, but she would definitely appreciate it!
When she first started seeing Olek, Ling Yi only told a few of her close friends. She wasn't sure if it was going to work — although she was already impressed with how sweet he was, on top of being so cute! — and she didn't want to share the juicy details of her first few dates with the whole world. But after they move out of casual dating and into official couple status, she's ready to tell everyone: her good friends, her acquaintances, her hair stylist, the other girls she sees at the agency. And of course he's all over her socials because she can't stop taking pictures of the two of them together! And at some point, of course, she has to tell her mom, which she's a little nervous about. But she knows once Yuk Je gets to know Olek, she's going to like him as much as Ling Yi does! (And, goodness, what if she did run into one of her exes? I'd like to imagine that she'd be polite and say hi, but maybe be just a touch passive-aggressive and hold onto Olek's arm or casually slip her hand around his waist? Then again, she might just walk on by, not even noticing her ex because she's so focused on the gorgeous man beside her!)
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peachyykira · 2 months ago
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do you sell content?
I do but I’m not currently making any new content because of my living situation. It’s all older content unfortunately.
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This is the main folder right now (I also have a smaller one of my nipples clamped in clothespins for like $5). I’m working on getting stuff organized into better folders but feel free to message me if you’re interested in anything. The photos you see of me in lingerie or cute outfits (the ones that have multiple pics like the blue skirt photos) usually correspond to a video I’ve made.
I’m also hoping to get a fan site up and running again as a free page with ppv so yall can just browse at your leisure but that will take some time.
Also, as of right now all content is solo. I have never had partnered content so if you’re looking for that, I’m sorry.
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watching-pictures-move · 2 months ago
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Movie Review | Sanctimony (Boll, 2000)
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Casper Van Dien's limitations as an actor I found a liability in his best known role in Starship Troopers. That movie was supposed to implicate us in its satire, and his woodenness meant that we could never quite identify with him. But here I think that quality works. This character is a sociopath, he's not all there, and Van Dien's woodenness, especially in his badly acted interrogation scene, plays into that. I'm not crazy enough to suggest that Uwe Boll is a better director than Paul Verhoeven, but I do think he makes better use of this one specific actor.
Van Dien is a trader who kills people for some mix of thrills and contempt for society, and he's contrasted with a working class cop played by Michael Pare, who basically fails to keep up with Van Dien until the latter starts shooting people on live TV. I won't pretend Boll is a great progressive filmmaker, but to his credit he does present both actors as objects of desire, Van Dien's body pored over with admiration in his racier scenes, and Pare being thirsted over during a nude photoshoot. (You see buttcrack but no hog.) Unfortunately, such enlightenment does not extend to the characterization of Jennifer Rubin as Pare's partner, who decides to use her feminine charm to trap Van Dien. Boll auteurists will also appreciate the presence of Eric Roberts, who plays his role as Pare's and Rubin's superior with little flash, although I suppose the guy has to be a bit quirky if he's gonna assign the two worst cops in the force to a high profile serial murder case.
Boll auteurists will also appreciate that he exercises his stylistic muscles more than usual here. There's a bit of Natural Born Killers inspired sensory overload, a pretty stylish scene at a shooting range (including a shot through a bullethole in a paper target and gunshot-punctuated editing), and a particularly tasty sequence where Pare navigates the labyrinthine basement of a club while enveloped in red and blue lighting and hissing steam, which plays like the dipshit Y2K equivalent of the creepy corridor scenes I love from classic gothic horror movies. This basement belongs to a club where they have some kind of bushido cage match for the enjoyment of the regular patrons and evil Germans making a BDSM snuff video underneath. Where is this club? So I can never visit it, of course.
Boll's weird blocking pops up too, to sometimes effective results. Van Dien's work setup is not a conventional trade floor, but a villainous lair that makes him look like an evil receptionist, where he takes videocalls resembling FMV games. He visits his favourite restaurant and seemingly gets the table right in the middle, which evokes the insularity of the circles he travels in. (There's another restaurant he visits that has a giant aquarium, and were I of his status, I would visit that one way more often because it looks way cooler.) Less sinister is a scene where Pare scrambles out of a crime scene like a Keystone Kop in the background while Van Dien in his car in the foreground makes an angry phone call that begins with "Do not sell, motherfucker!" and ends with "Now go pick up my dry cleaning."
I do think this movie suffers by not leaning hard enough into its premise. Van Dien doesn't get to kill nearly as often as you'd hope, and his rants are textureless "We live in a society" BS rather than the kind of "Get a job!" stuff you'd expect from a finance bro, so whatever societal rot he was hoping to explore through these acts of violence doesn't land. (Given the scene here with a trap, I do wonder if this stuff would have landed more had Boll made this a few years later in the context of both the torture porn era and the financial crisis.) That being said, if you're in the tank for the guy, there's enough good stuff here that this probably lands near the top of his filmography.
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theretirementstory · 8 months ago
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12/5/2024 Another week has passed and with it my granddaughters 6th birthday. The date today is also another memorable one for me as on this date, 40+ years ago, I started working in the job which now pays me a pension 😀.
Looking back through my photos, I remembered my day out in Paris, with Pauline, way back in 2022. We went to see an exhibition at the “institut du monde arabe” being keen on architecture and a lot of Arabic stuff too, it was wonderful to see this beautiful building. We had a lovely day, as at the time Pauline was living in Paris and so was my guide for the day. It was the 27th February and we sat outside “The PanthĂ©on” in the sunshine. What a year of holidays that was! Apart from the day in Paris, I went to stay in Mulhouse for three nights, from there I visited my Turkish friends in Strasbourg, visited the “Cite du train” in Mulhouse and the following day visited “Musee de l’Impression sur etoffes” (Textile Museum) in Mulhouse. In May I had a trip to London and visited so much I needed a holiday to get over that one. Then in August/September I was in the UK again visiting my family. Unfortunately that was the last time I was there, as my trip last year was cancelled due to being in hospital. Reading all that I did, I really wondered how I managed it!
I think I have mentioned before about how not just the lyrics but the music speak to me on records that I love. This week, it’s a virtuoso guitarist, Gary Moore, and the first song is “Still Got The Blues For You” which is from April 1990.
The second song is really Gary Moore’s signature song, it’s from 1978 and it’s “Parisienne Walkways” either sung by Gary Moore or Thin Lizzy I just love this song and I think it fits in well with my current abode.
Pauline paid me a visit yesterday which was lovely. She stayed just short of three hours by which time I was really bushed. She is flying to Italy tomorrow to stay with a friend before returning to Barcelona to start a new job on the 21st of the month.
Thursday was the day of the 32nd fete des plantes at BergĂšres, a small village that comes alive once a year with stall holders plants, fabricated items for the garden and the chance to rub shoulders with the Mayor of Bar-sur-Aube and sometimes the Mayor of Troyes. This year Mme Marine Le Pen paid a visit, with her bodyguards. I saw photos from the local paper but everyone I spoke to who had been there seemed to have missed her!
My knitting group friends attended the “Champagne Party” at Urville, they had tables selling knitted, sewn, crocheted items, woodworked items and the stained glass items always take up more of the stall than anyone else! The market was over two days, I don’t think they will have sold much, they hadn’t on Friday!
For those in the know, the market was not in the famous Drappier Champagne House but in another champagne house in the village.
“The Photographer” was out photographing the aurora borealis on Friday evenng. Then had to be up early to take his son to a birthday party at a farm, while his sister had her birthday party with friends. It has been great to see my grandson climbing on hay bales. We even had a video call while he was there.
“The Trainee Solicitor” had a good four days at work. He is on the lookout for a cheap car as he starts his Uni course at the end of May and needs “wheels”. He had a good day yesterday, doing some relaxing.
“The Reconnect Navigator” was bushed with her 4 day week but had a lovely time visiting her family, watching football and just generally catching up.
“The Jetsetter” arrived in Vancouver not feeling great, she thinks she picked something up on the plane. However, it didn’t stop her popping over to Vancouver Island and down to Seattle (as you do). I am sure she will be having a fantastic time and more of her adventures will be discovered.
So as I am stuck in this hospital for not quite sure how much longer, it has been nice to share with you again what has been happening in the wider world.
I will be sticking my nose into another Ian Rankin “Rebus” book finding myself in “Auld Reekie” again.
Have a good week until next week.
The Pantheon in Paris.
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(This was sent to my main but I'm answering it here @bring-onthe-rain)
Benrey's eyes are Weirdℱ. If they're blue that generally means he's doing okay or chill or good, if they're yellow that generally means the vibes are Bad, if they're swirly it's conflict. His eyes are basically a mood ring
Tommy's Sweet Voice translations aren't fully accurate. Sweet Voice isn't just rhymes, it's pure thought, pure consciousness, pure emotion. Every color of Sweet Voice is a general emotion, every bubble of Sweet Voice is one or more thoughts. You can't really stop any thoughts from coming through in Sweet Voice- you can suppress some thoughts and focus some so they come out stronger, but then the thoughts you're suppressing just come out more like whispers. The only surefire way to make sure thoughts don't come out through Sweet Voice is to not use Sweet Voice. Which isn't very easy if your mind's full/you're overwhelmed/you're emotional
Tommy can read/hear Sweet Voice, and the rhyming system makes it easier for the others to remember translations. It's not fully accurate but it's easier to remember, so it works.
I just use rhymes and general stuff because it's easy djhsfkjhdskjfds
Pink to red basically means "I'm very attracted to you" because I have the image in my head where Gordon's like "Tommy what does it mean" and Tommy's trying to figure out how to make it rhyme and Benrey's just like "it means you're hot" and walks away and it takes Gordon a full five seconds to process that HANG ON
Once Gordon decides to try and get to know Benrey he gets kinda fixated on Sweet Voice specifically. Like, canonically he REALLY likes Sweet Voice, there's a scene in the full Act 2 stream where he's asking Benrey a LOT of questions about how it works (not to mention also in act two where he was like "your voice is beautiful"). So post canon he basically gets a giant notebook and starts writing down translations and how SV works
Gordon got "IT MEANS I HATE YOU" lodged VERY deeply in his brain and is convinced for a WHILE that Benrey fucking hates his guts
All these bitches AuDHD trans bisexuals
Gordon realized he was bisexual because of Benrey because it's funny
I saw this one post that was like "Bubby NPD" and it was based as hell I can't find it but they were so right so. Bubby NPD (dw it's not based on stereotype the person has npd themself and noticed things)
Gordon has anxiety AND depression (HE'S JUST LIKE ME FR)
*grabs gordon* WHAT THE FUCK WAS YOUR MENTAL STATE BEFORE THE EVERYTHING MENTALLY HEALTHY PEOPLE DON'T TRY TO KILL THEMSELVES AFTER THREE DAYS IN A WARZONE ARE YOU OKAY
Benrey has Very black and white thinking/morality - there's good guys, there's bad guys. Unfortunately it's very biased! (against himself)
Benrey is from Xen, but was raised in Black Mesa. And while pretty much everyone else (aside from bubby's for similar reasons) is in camp Fuck Black Mesa, Benrey's emotions towards it are more... complicated.
Coomer basically found Benrey in Black Mesa one day and adopted him he's his son now (he then introduced him to Bubby and they are famly <3 Benrey has not realized this)
Gordon, Bubby, and Benrey all became a tad agoraphobic post-canon. Gordon because Holy Fucking Shit Trauma, Benrey and Bubby because they were raised in Black Mesa all their lives and have zero percent experience outside of it
Most human to least human: Gordon, Coomer, Tommy, Bubby, Benrey
The betrayal was organized because the military told Benrey they only want Freeman, if you sell him out we'll let you and the rest of your team go free as long as you never say a word about what happened here. (They were lying because they assumed Gordon was the leader and the glue holding the team together and if they lost him, it'd be easier to pick them all off.) Benrey was under the assumption Gordon could respawn, and if they killed him, then A) the military would stop following the team, B) the trackers would be disabled, the piece of shit HEV suit which I hate with a burning passion and hope they tore to bits would need to go (meaning hand holdy real), AND it'd be really funny
The Xen Thing was because Benrey now knew Gordon couldn't respawn, so if he went after the Nihilanth it would permakill Gordon. But the Science Team needed to defeat a single powerful being to get out of Xen. They needed a final boss. So what does Benrey do? Kill the Nihilanth, supplant it as the final boss, get the team to kill him.
andalsotheresthisonelinewherebenreysayshewantedtheemergencyexitdoortokillhim so uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh make of that what you will
(If it's not a game, it's because if a Xen creature is powerful enough to kill the Single Powerful Being they just supplant it, if a human kills the Single Powerful Being during a Rescas it ends said Rescas. Canon is my playground)
Xen was an overstimulating nightmare for Benrey. He was 100% having a meltdown from the SENSORY HELL he was in, on top of a complete mental breakdown
The exact nature of reality in HLVRAI fluctuates in my head depending on what I want it to be and what'd work best for the story. If it'd work best as a game, it's a game. If it'd work best as not a game, it's not a game. But generally, I kinda think of it as "game but also real." Like it formed its own pocket dimension. It's a game to us, but to them it's entirely real, even if they KNOW it's a game. It's complicated ksjhfkdjhsjfhdsj
Okay think of it like this. To us, that game is just a game. The characters are just polygons and code. Their pasts are, if not outright given to us, nonexistent. Up to speculation. Everything they do is determined by a program written by a real person. But that's not how it is to them! To them, their worlds are entirely real! They're real human beings with fully fleshed out lives. They have pasts and relationships and lives that have shaped them into who they are now. They're people! And after the game ends, their world continues on like it always had. There are still game mechanics like respawning, Dr Coomer is still glitchy as hell, but their world keeps turning outside of the player's influence.
Gordon too is an AI. All the AI are kinda shaped by the player's decisions, but Gordon ESPECIALLY is. The player can't decide what the others say and do, but the player CAN decide what Gordon Freeman says and does. The player's decisions, actions, words, personality, body language, it all influenced Gordon and made him who he is. Surely this will not cause him an existential crisis post canon.
By Talos,
Coomer was supposed to die. The reason he's so glitchy and fucked up is he's the tutorial character, and he was supposed to be killed by the ropes after the Rescas started and he'd taught the player how to play, and Tommy was supposed to be the one giving advice afterwards. But he didn't die, so his code was kinda winging it. (The devs didn't spend as much time on his code as the others because, well, he was supposed to die! So that's why he's really fucking buggy)
Gordon was kinda terrified to sleep for a while after the clone fight. A) betrayal, but B) according to Coomer, every time Gordon sleeps, he's put through unimaginable pain. He does not fucking wanna do that to him because he fuckign lomves them :sobcat: so basically for ages he doesn't sleep unless he absolutely has to (or unless he passes out).
Coomer's unimaginable agony when Gordon sleeps stops after the game ends! Win
Gordon's love language is physical affection, Benrey's is acts of service
Benrey doesn't like being shocked by even like power outlets (the reasons will surprise you (it's black mesa that is the reasons)
Gordon's really touch starved. He was touch starved before canon, but due to the HEV suit being a horrible thing that I hope they ripped off of Gordon and burnt to a crisp, Gordon became Touch Starved+
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astaroth1357 · 4 years ago
Text
Demigod MC Series: Hermes
Hey guys, still doing what I can to stay healthy (and entertained) in quarantine. Staying still, keeping calm, and trying not to exert myself too much because of the shortness of breath thing going on. My lungs just can't get enough air it seems
 😅 Anyway, I've gotten a lot of suggestions on this series and I'm excited to keep it going. Just going to be a tad slow until I'm feeling better. Thank you for the support, y'all!
Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes
Lucifer
Oh no
 it’s everyone’s worst nightmare
 Another Mammon, but competent. Devil help us all

Had he known who their father was, he'd have never assigned Mammon to watch over them. Hell, he would have made sure those two never even met. They became a new handful for him to manage from the day they first arrived

When even more things started going missing around the House than normal, he knew he had made a grave mistake
 They were clever, quick, and skilled. About the best WORST combination for a burglar to be

Worse still, they were fast on their feet. He would pretty much have no way to nab them on foot and always had to resort to his wings or magic to have any hope of catching up to them
 At least Mammon usually gets himself cornered!
But, paradoxically, he also came to notice that the mortal had an odd honesty streak to them... Like, they’d steal but they’d always admit to it, unlike Mammon who would try to deflect till he was blue in the face.
Were they proud of their work, maybe? Or just didn’t see the point in trying to get away with it...?
There would be several occasions where they’d take something, sell it with Mammon, and then steal the thing back later just to put it back where it belonged, seemingly never with Mammon’s permission to do so either
 
Is it better that they returned the stolen item or worse because their actions went from just robbery to a full-on scam? Either way, it gives him headaches trying to deal with it

He pretty much gives up getting the mortal to stop after 6 months, they are legitimately that good, but makes them swear to always put back whatever they take at some point. It seems to work out and he lets more things slide, but please someone get them out of here soon
 
Mammon
Soulmatesoulmatesoulmatesoulmate, or maybe more accurately “Partner-in-Crime” but that means pretty much the same thing to him anyway. đŸ€·â€â™€ïž
He’s never met a person better at thievery than they were. The day they met, they managed to pick his pockets without breaking a sweat (or a finger) and that was it. He was in love.
They could teleport! Actually teleport!! Suddenly, NOTHING was off limits to him any more! Lucifer’s rare records? Easy. Levi’s secret safe? Cakewalk. The Castle vault?? Child’s play!! It was like they could steal anything they put their mind to!!
He didn't even have to worry about them when they made getaways because they were fast too, the two actually have parkour races through the streets for the hell of it!
On top of all that, they were wicked creative. He’d come up with a money-making scheme then they’d offer him all sorts of little tricks to help get away with it...
HE’D have never realized that they could turn themselves into rats in order to frighten and sneak past Barbatos, but they thought of it the instant they heard of his fear of things. They're a mad genius!!
The only real downside was they seemed to like stealing for the sport of it instead of for the money
 so they always steal back whatever they took.
That kind of defeats the purpose of all that work in the first place, right? Ah well, at least that's more money for him.
These two pretty much became a walking menace to Devildom society- Sorry, not sorry.
Leviathan
Not another Mammon!!! WHY?! What did he do to deserve this?!?
When he started noticing that EVEN MORE of his stuff was going missing than usual, he straight-up flipped! Like, had the mortal not been pretty tough in their own right they would have been Lotan-chow. End of discussion.

 And then they started using their powers for good? Kind of?
Like, first off they would always give back what they stole, which was a nice change from Mammon. Annoying, but at least he didn't have to go buy replacement games or anything

And then they started stealing him limited edition merch or tickets and stuff because they
 liked him?? He guessed???
Why else would they go to all the trouble of swiping one of the five ultra-rare Kitsune Ruri-chan figurines from its original collector? He would have had to pay Mammon half his tail for something like that but the MC just brought it to him one morning because they could!
Is
 is this love? Has he grown to love that which he hates?! What is even happening anymore!?! Who is he?!? đŸ˜«
Eventually he has to reconcile his conflicted feelings by dubbing them the real life Peony Phantom Thief, Jane and even making them a cosplay. Yes, they have to wear it when they bring him things. No, it's not weird, shut up.
Satan
He wants to be irritated, no - furious, that they keep taking his stuff
 But he’ll be damned if they aren’t making Lucifer’s life a living hell right now. 😏
He's honestly not even sure how they managed to swipe half of the priceless portraits in the Castle (a considerable feat since there's one for Every. Room.) but they pulled it off in under a week. Barbs didn't even notice the replicas

If that's not mildly terrifying, he doesn't know what is. Who knows what things he could be missing at any given moment...?
At least the mortal had the good sense to return his things, unlike Mammon, which gets them off his shit list for the most part. đŸ€·â€â™€ïž
It helps that they’re also impressively well-traveled. They claim to have been across every human continent and sailed every ocean. Though he was skeptical at first, just hearing their stories eventually convinced him.
What sort of person has sailed the Amazon River, hiked through Arctic tundra, seen every major capital city, and still had time to explore the sights of the French Riviera?
One that has magical teleportation powers apparently.
Frankly, he could listen to their stories of the human world all day and still ask for another. He's told them that they may as well just write a book of their own for him at some point, it'd be beneficial to their poor vocal chords.
Asmodeus
Ugh! Really? Another thief in the House?? Wasn’t one hard enough to deal with?!
Honestly, stolen beauty products aren't exactly something you can just sell or give back, so unfortunately a lot of Asmo's clothes/accessories get targeted and he is NOT happy about it...
Around the time his favorite scarf was stolen for the third time, he was about to gut the mortal himself, but they struck a deal with him. They could nab his clothes SO LONG as they returned them with an extra little "gift."
Jewelry, perfume, creams, nail polish, etc. Asmo kept a running list and pretty much treated his thieving friend like a less moral version of Akuzon. Whatever he asked for, no matter how rare or expensive, they always got their hands on so who was he to complain?
He once decided to test them by asking for the Hope Diamond - which they got for him - but he made them return it after a week after the curse on it made him ruin a particularly intricate manicure so

Like Satan, he's also pretty impressed with all the places they've seen. He's pretty traveled in the human world himself so they exchange travel stories all the time!
He may bother them to him out traveling from time to time. There are so many gorgeous and romantic places to visit in the human world after all, it's not like anybody could stop them from just
 popping in to have a look. Right? 😏
Beelzebub
They learned very quickly that his food is absolutely off limits and after that, they were good.
Seriously. Beel caught them once trying to swipe a piece of pizza from his dinner and he nearly ripped their arm off for it

But on the flipside, he also knows that he can go to them if he REALLY needs a snack and is short on cash. 
It's pretty comical watching the fleet-foot mortal running from angry demon vendors with a basket of stolen apples for their buddy
 But he appreciates their enthusiasm! 🙂
Beel actually likes to hear about their travels too, but mostly what they've eaten. They can keep him enraptured for hours by describing all the food they've come across in the human world

Watch out for the drool, though.
Since they can teleport, they'll sometimes pop up with a human world treat for him and the man internally swears his undying love for them every time...
Outwardly, though, he just smiles. 'Cause he's a sweetie.
Belphegor
They
 they opened the attic door on, like, the first day they met
 They didn’t even make it look that hard, they had some kind of knack for breaking and entering

Seriously, imagine the look on his face when they just walk into the attic to say hello
 He had this whole, “Lure and Trick the Human” plan all thought out then they pulled out a magic lockpick or something and BOOM! Freedom!
He laughed, perhaps a little closer to the edge of sanity than he was intending, and he tried to attack them but they were so damn fast he couldn't land a single hit!
Damn was it embarrassing when the others came in

MC: "LUCIFER! LUCIFER!! There's a monster in your attic!!!"
Lucifer: "That's not a monster that's my brother!!"
MC: *stops midway through kneeing Belphie in the stomach* 
. Ooooooooh!
MC: Whoops. 
It was a
 rocky start.
After they settled their differences quelled Belphie's bloodlust he found that they kind of grew on him rather quickly
 Something about that mischievous energy and how much they gave his brothers (minus Beel) grief with it.
He absolutely helps them with their plans if it will annoy Lucifer in any way. Occasionally, they'll even take Belphie out on raids instead of Mammon.
Turns out he's surprisingly good at distractions because all he has to do is pretend to fall then take a nap. People around him will legitimately believe that he needs medical attention so the MC can sneak through crowds undetected...
Of course, Mammon gets PISSED when they do this, though. How dare his baby brother try to steal away his perfect partner!! Get your own damn mortal, Belphie!!! đŸ€Ź
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cocobeanncteez · 3 years ago
Text
ATEEZ Hongjoong: Tame (Part 3)
Genre: Fluff, angst, smut, mafia au.
Pairing: Mafia!Hongjoong x OC (written in 2nd person)
Word Count: 17k in total, 5k in this part. (Part 1, Part 2, Final Part)
Warnings for all parts combined: Mafia themes such as torture, abuse, violence, human auctions, murder, drugs, guns. Mentions of rape, human trafficking, sex slavery, organ trafficking, unprotected sex, pulling out, facesitting.
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Three weeks later, you could pretty much call yourself a member of a mafia gang. Well, that's what you were now even if you were in slight denial.
You spent a lot of time with Ateez. Hongjoong taught you how to shoot like a pro, Jongho taught you how to defend yourself if you don't have a weapon, and Yeosang and Seonghwa taught you medical related stuff such as removing a bullet from a body and treating a gunshot wound. Yeosang also taught you the basics of hacking, but you sucked at it. San, Wooyoung, and Aeji taught you how to seduce a target, and you nearly died of embarrassment when you had to practice with Wooyoung as the target. Jiwoo pretty much gave you some of her bubbliness while she and Yeoreum taught you a bit about illegal international business deals. The three girls also told you a hell lot about their sex lives when you all had a girls' night a few days ago. On the other hand, Yunho and Mingi were just playing 'tossing Kiah' (as they call it), which was literally just them throwing and catching you like as if you were a ball. The giants found it extremely fascinating that you were an entire foot shorter than them. Sometimes, they would use the top of your head as an armrest.
Hongjoong bought you a phone, but unfortunately, you couldn't log into any of your social media accounts, or even your email as your cousin and uncle were searching for you and the culprits who made your cousin unconscious the night he was going to sell you.
"Kiah, do want some orange juice?" Mingi asked you from the kitchen while he poured himself a glass. You nod your head and he poured some for you too. Yeosang was there as well, busy eating fried chicken.
"Hey, Kiah?" Mingi called out, making you look up at him. "You never really told us about your parents." He handed you your juice.
"My mother died when I was a newborn," you replied, sipping on your juice. "My father... well, I rarely saw him after he made me live with my uncle. Now no one has seen him in months." Both the boys noticed how sad you were when you spoke about your father. You really wanted to see him; you didn't even know whether he was dead or alive.
"What's your father's name and age?" Yeosang questioned. "I could track him or at least find out if he's all right."
"Moon Dongwoo and he's 49 years old," you answered with a small smile. "Thank you, Yeosang." 
~
After about three hours, Yeosang approached you while you were talking to Aeji and some of the boys. He sat on the couch adjacent to you after briefly greeting everyone.
"So I tried to track your father, Kiah," Yeosang stated nonchalantly. "And I found absolutely nothing."
Your eyebrows furrowed. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"There are zero records of him," Yeosang explained, "Like no bank or property details
 To put it in simple words, it's like as if he doesn't exist."
You frowned. "So he's
 d-dead?"
"Don't know," Yeosang shrugged. "There are no death records either. There were a couple of men with the same name as him, but no one was 49 years old."
You pondered about it for a while. Why would your dad erase all traces of his existence? Even if he didn't, someone else did. But why?
"Wait," you blurted out. "Did you check with the police station? My dad is a cop."
San, who was listening to the conversation, nearly chokes on the sprite that he was drinking. "Your dad is a cop and you're here, living in a mafia gang's house?!"
"I know right?!" Yunho said from beside him and you only shrug in response.
"I checked the police station as well," Yeosang remarked. "Still no records."
Your eyebrows furrowed. "That's just strange. He's a cop, there has to be at least something about him at the police station."
"Hey, don't worry about it, Kiah," Yeosang said in a soft tone, giving you a reassuring smile. "We'll find him."
-
The next day after you woke up, you found everyone seated in the living room, lost in deep thought. You quietly sat beside Jiwoo, wondering whether you should ask why everyone is so quiet.
"That's not a bad idea, actually," Wooyoung said after glancing at you while you stared at him in confusion. What idea was he talking about?
"Yeah, it's a terrible idea," Hongjoong retorted, glancing at you as well.
"Kiah," Mingi starts, grabbing your attention. "What do you think about attending a masquerade party?"
"You mean a mafia masquerade party?" you emphasized.  
"Of course," he replied.
"Ah, it's cool, I guess?" you said nonchalantly; you were getting used to the mafia life, and you'd be lying if you said that you didn't like it.
"It's settled then," San stated, getting up from the couch and stretching his arms. "Kiah is Hongjoong's date for the party."
"Knew it," Jongho murmured.
"No," Hongjoong protested. "A lot of people saw her face at the auction. It's a terrible idea."
"Well, it's a masquerade party hosted by our ally," Seonghwa remarked. "No one will try shit even if they recognize her."
"Plus, we're all going to be there. We can't leave Kiah alone here," Yeoreum added and Jiwoo nodded her head in agreement.
Hongjoong sighed. "Fine."
~
"You look gorgeous, Kiah!" Aeji squealed after doing your makeup. Yeoreum just finished doing Jiwoo's hair and started doing your hair.
"Hongjoong won't be able to keep his hands to himself," Yeoreum remarked with a smirk, making you blush.
"I'm surprised he hasn't made a move yet," Aeji said.
"We all know he wants to," Jiwoo mumbled while taking a mirror selfie.
You chuckled. "Nothing has happened yet."
"Yet?" Yeoreum teased you, curling a strand of your hair with the curling iron. "So you want something to happen, huh?"
“I—”
"You obviously do."
You playfully rolled your eyes at her. "Don't accidentally burn my hair, Yeoreum!" The girls laughed at the sight of you getting flustered 
"Kiah, what are you planning on wearing?" Aeji asked.
"The black cocktail dress."
"No, you're not wearing that," she protests. "Wear the red dress Jiwoo got you last week."
You raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"You'll see," she smirked.
~
After all of you got ready and slipped into your respective outfits, you went downstairs where the boys were waiting.
As soon as Hongjoong saw you, his lips parted slightly as he scanned you from head to toe. You were wearing a short, strapless red dress that fit your body perfectly, hugging your curves and exposing your highlighted collarbones. You wore silver wedges that matched the silver necklace around your neck. Your long hair was curled and your makeup was simple yet elegant.
"Hongjoong's favorite color is red, by the way. Thank me later," Aeji whispered to you, giving you a wink before she ran into Seonghwa's arms. So that's why she forced you to wear a red dress. You snorted at Aeji's words before your eyes landed on Hongjoong. He looked absolutely ethereal in his black ripped jeans and white t-shirt underneath the leather jacket he was wearing. You expected to see the guys in suits, considering it was a masquerade event, but it looked like you all were going to a club instead. Oh well, maybe this is how the mafia rolls.
You heard someone clear their throat. "Um, if you're both done eye-fucking each other, can we leave? We're getting late," San commented and Jiwoo laughed loudly at her boyfriend's words. The other eight already left and you wondered how you didn't even notice.
Hongjoong doesn't utter a word; he only approaches you and takes your hand in his, leading you to the garage. You, Hongjoong, Jiwoo, and San were riding in the same car.
San begun driving and the car was filled with Jiwoo gushing about how she loved going for Stray Kids' parties. San told you about how Wooyoung introduced Ateez to his friend, Changbin, and that's how Ateez met the rest of Stray Kids.
After a while, you reached Stray Kids' mansion. The exterior was lit up with blue and yellow lights.
Jiwoo handed you a pretty silver eye-mask and you put it on; Hongjoong wore a red mask, Jiwoo wore black, and San wore gold.
"Alright, let's party!" Jiwoo squealed, pulling San along with her, practically running inside.
Hongjoong wrapped an arm around your waist as he led you inside Stray Kids' mansion, scanning the crowd to see if he could find any of his allies.
"Ah, Hongjoong!" you heard someone say, catching your attention. Hongjoong's arm leaves your waist to hug that person.
"Chan! It's been so long, yeah?"
"Very," he agreed before glancing at you. "I see you've got yourself a girl."
Hongjoong chuckled. "This is Moon Kiah. Kiah, this is Bang Chan, the leader of Stray Kids." Chan stretched his hand out and you shake it.
While Hongjoong spoke to Chan, Jiwoo dragged you away to get a drink. You wondered how hyper she would be when drunk, considering the fact that she was already pretty hyper when sober.
Jiwoo got a couple of tequila shots and you only downed three.  "Only three?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," you answered with a small giggle. "I have very bad alcohol tolerance."
Jiwoo took her own shots before Wooyoung dragged the two of you to introduce you to the other members of Stray Kids. You were seriously shocked by how young and polite these men were, despite being in the mafia.
"So whose girl is she gonna be now?" Changbin asked.  
"She's Hongjoong's girl," Wooyoung answered, and you giggle at that, already a little drunk.
"Mhmm, yeah, I'm Hongjoong's girl, hi!" you squealed before realizing that Jiwoo suddenly wasn't there anymore. "Where's Jiwoo?" you pouted  
"Probably would've found someone to talk to or she's in some room with San," Wooyoung replied. "Anyway, let's get you to Hongjoong, little one."
"I'm here," you heard a familiar voice say behind you, making you jump a little before you turned around. "Kim Hongjoong, you
” you trailed off, admiring his face even though half of it was covered with the mask. "You're so fucking hot, like what the actual fuck?!"  Wooyoung and Changbin laughed loudly before they walked away, leaving you alone with a slightly stunned Hongjoong.
"How much did you drink, hmm?" Hongjoong asked, looking down at you with soft eyes. You gave him a loving smile while your arms moved to wrap around his neck.
"Three tequila," you mumbled before you suddenly squealed. The DJ started playing one of your favorite songs. "Dance with me," you whispered in Hongjoong's ear, pulling his body closer to yours.
Hongjoong danced with you for a little while, holding you close to his body so that you wouldn't trip and fall in your 5-inch heels. After the song ended, he pulled you to a less crowded area to sit on the sofas. Your heartbeat sped up when Hongjoong made you sit on his lap instead of the free space beside him. You wrapped an arm around his neck while your other hand ran through his soft hair.
"What's wrong with that guy?" you whispered in Hongjoong's ear, glancing at a green-masked guy who was sitting near you, all alone on the floor, staring at the ceiling with a huge smile.
"Probably took LSD," Hongjoong remarked after taking a quick glance at the man.
"Oh," you murmured. "He's a really bad boy. You shouldn't take drugs. Okay, pretty boy?" Hongjoong raised an eyebrow, amused by the tipsy side of you. He chuckled prettily in your ear, pulling you even closer to him.
"I don't do drugs, love." He places his cold hand on the skin right above your knee. "I'm a good boy," he whispered in a low tone. Hongjoong could clearly see how much he affected you.
"Liar," you whispered in his ear. You place a kiss right below his ear before trailing kisses along his jawline. You stopped at his chin and pulled away. When his eyes met yours, you leaned in, finally pressing your lips against his. He responded immediately, kissing you back like as if there was no tomorrow. You've never been kissed with such intensity before.  Hongjoong's hand that was just above your knee, began to move upwards. You weren't drunk, just tipsy, so you knew what was happening; you were starting to feel really excited as his hand went higher and higher.
You heard someone clear their throat. "Kim Hongjoong?"
Hongjoong halted his actions and pulled away from you to look up at the woman who interrupted him. She had orange colored hair and was wearing a dark blue eye mask.
"Oh? Royeon?" he got up from his seat, making you stand up along with him. He sounded a little excited, and that made you feel a little jealous. Who was she?
Royeon smirked. "New girl, huh?"
Hongjoong ignored her comment. "Kiah, this is my friend, Royeon."
She snorted. "Friend? I'm quite offended by that title, Joongie." she pouts a little before turning to you. "I'm his first love."
You kept a pokerface on. "That's nice. It’s a pleasure to meet you," you said nonchalantly, trying not to sound bothered about the fact that Hongjoong's first love was standing right in front of your face. She was giving you a bad vibe and you absolutely hated how she was undressing Hongjoong with her eyes. You couldn't deny that you had strong feelings for Kim Hongjoong and you were planning on telling him pretty soon.
You turned to Hongjoong with a small smile on your face. "I'm gonna go get a drink," you said, purposely giving him a kiss that lasted a little longer than it should before you left him alone with his previous lover.
You didn't get a drink. Instead, you went outside, exploring the lit up garden in Stray Kids' mansion. The mansion was a little smaller than Ateez's mansion, but was extremely beautiful nonetheless.
You walked to one of the trees that was lit up with blue lights, taking out your phone to take a few pictures of yourself.
"So Yang Daeyoung hasn't been spotted anywhere?" you heard someone say.
"No," another person replied. "He probably escaped to another country or died.”
"What about his child?" the first person asked.
"No one knows what he or she looks like. Anyway, we have to find Yang Daeyoung and his child before another gang does. I heard many gangs are still searching for him
 especially Ateez and CIX. We need to get all that information before them."
You were suddenly really interested in whatever the two people were talking about. You mentally reminded yourself to ask one of the Ateez members about this Yang Daeyoung guy later.
"What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone here?" you heard someone say behind you, words slurred.
You turned to face the man who was in a green eye-mask. "Taking pictures as you can clearly see," you answered the clearly drunk man.
He smirked. "I'm Jinseop," he introduced. "And your attitude is really fucking turning me on, babygirl."
"I didn't ask," you stated, rolling your eyes.
He took a step towards you and you didn't move an inch. "You know," he starts, placing a hand on your shoulder while he towered over you. "I heard Stray Kids have a few spare rooms here. How about we go upstairs and—"
"Get your fucking hands off her."
Jinseop rolled his eyes, not even glancing at the person.
"Now," the person growled. He froze when he finally realized who was talking to him.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized and quickly walked away, leaving you quite stunned.
"Wow, Kim Hongjoong," you remark in amusement after a few seconds. "You scared someone."
Hongjoong doesn't say anything. He only walked towards you, and you involuntarily took a step back, making your back press against the cold surface of a wall. Hongjoong towered over your short height and you could tell he loved how small you looked next to him.
He cupped your cheek with one hand and places his lips against yours, gently kissing you before trailing kisses down to your neck. Your hands immediately went up to grab his hair while he started to suck and kiss the skin of your neck, making you moan softly. He smirked against your skin, absolutely loving how he was the one who was making you feel good. He brought his lips back to yours, kissing you a little harder than before while his hands moved down to your ass, grabbing it through the fabric of your dress. You gasped at his actions and he takes that opportunity to slide his tongue in your mouth. He pulled away after a few seconds.
"You're all mine, Moon Kiah."
-
Hongjoong led you back inside and you immediately spot his ex-girlfriend who was trying to hit on an unbothered Yunho.
"Yunho," Hongjoong called out and the man looked at him. Royeon's attention was also now on the two of you. "Where are the rest? We have to leave soon."
"I have no clue," Yunho answered.  "Yeoreum just took Mingi to the bathroom. The man drank way too much."
You noticed Royeon glaring at you, her eyes flickering between your neck and Hongjoong's messed up hair; you realized that he probably left a nice mark on your neck. You smirked, loving her annoyed reaction. You wrapped your arms around Hongjoong's waist and he smiled at you, draping an arm around your shoulders. Yunho controlled the urge to laugh once he realized what you just did.
Royeon cleared her throat. "So Hongjoong, did you get any news on Yang Daeyoung?" You felt Hongjoong stiffen a little.
"No," Hongjoong simply replied.
She chuckled. "Oh well. That must really suck for you since all... that happened, huh?" You could tell Hongjoong was going to lose his temper. You were extremely curious about this person, considering the fact that you've heard about him twice in less than an hour. "I bet you're dying to capture him. You would've planned so much to—"
"That's none of your business, Royeon," Yunho stated in a cold tone, cutting her off.
She raised her hands up defensively. "What I'm trying to say is I'd like to help."
"We don't need your help," Hongjoong spat through gritted teeth and Royeon was taken aback. You wondered why she looked shocked; was Hongjoong a complete sweetheart to her or something when they were together?
She cleared her throat, clearly offended. "Alright
 come over to my place whenever you want me, Hongjoong," she said with a smirk before she walked away. You scoffed at her words and tightened your hold around Hongjoong who was quite amused by your reaction.
He put a finger under your chin to make you look up at him. "Maybe I should take up her offer, hmm?"
You scowled. "Don't even think about it, Kim Hongjoong. You're mine."
"Say that again, baby."
"You're mine."
Hongjoong crashed his lips onto yours and you kiss him back immediately, loving the feeling of his soft lips moving with yours.
"Oh, they're finally doing something," you heard Jongho say.
"Yeah, I was so tired of hearing Hongjoong whine everyday about how badly he wanted to kiss her," Seonghwa remarked, and you smile against Hongjoong's lips. You pulled away from the kiss, smiling widely at a blushing Hongjoong.
You turned your head to look at Seonghwa. "He was whining about that?" you asked in amusement.
"Oh, yeah, all the time," he answered with a chuckle.
A drunk Wooyoung laughed loudly. "That's not all! Hyung was also complaining about how Hongjoong junior was aching for—" Hongjoong smacked his palm over Wooyoung's mouth, stopping him from exposing him.
"Hey, let him complete," you stated, amused by the whole situation. Hongjoong shook his head in disagreement.
"We have to leave," Hongjoong changed the topic. "Yunho, go get Mingi and Yeoreum. Seonghwa, call San and Yeosang."
"Yeosang's getting some upstairs after so long," Yunho revealed. "He'll be shit pissed if you guys interrupt him."
Wooyoung chuckled. "After so long? He got pussy last week! And he's with the same blonde chick upstairs."
"No wonder he was the most excited to come here," Jongho mumbled.
Hongjoong rolled his eyes. "Well, I want to leave now. Anyone else wants to come?"
"Hyung, you and Aeji can go," Yunho said to Seonghwa. "Aeji's really tired. I'll come with the rest."
Seonghwa nodded and the four of you leave first, walking to one of three cars. Seonghwa had to drive after losing a game of rock-paper-scissors to Hongjoong.
After he began driving, you wanted to ask who this Yang Daeyoung guy was, but you thought now didn't seem like an appropriate time; you didn't want to interrupt the peaceful silence in the car.
You were feeling quite drained out, so you rested your head on Hongjoong's shoulder, trying your best to not fall asleep.
“Sleep, Kiah,” he mumbled, bringing your body closer to his. “I’ll wake you up when we reach,” he said, although he had no plans of doing that.
“Okay
” you closed your eyes, sleep taking over your body within a few minutes.
Hongjoong placed a soft kiss on your head. “I love you
”
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5 months later.
As soon as Hongjoong came back home from his mission and stepped into your bedroom, you ran into his arms. “I missed you so much!” you mumbled against your boyfriend’s chest while he embraced you.
You started dating Hongjoong around three months ago when he finally got the courage to confess that he fell in love with you. To his relief, you were just as head over heels in love with him. The boys sometimes refer to you as ‘the one who tamed his temper’ as Hongjoong didn’t get annoyed very often anymore. You had also grown used to the mafia life, and you often found yourself enjoying it more than you should. You knew almost everything about the boys and the world you were now a part of. They even let you go on missions, sometimes letting you go solo. Hongjoong was always a little hesitant as he was scared something would happen to you, but he was getting used to it.
“I was only gone for a week, love,” Hongjoong chuckled and you sighed.
“It felt like years.” You pulled away from his chest to look at him. You pecked his lips before moving to sit on your bed, your boyfriend mirroring your actions.
“I got you a lot of chocolates,” he said, reaching out to grab your hand, intertwining it with his own. “I’ve kept them in the fridge.”
You smiled, lying down while you played with Hongjoong’s hand. “It’ll get over in two days,” you stated, knowing the boys would finish it before you could even grab a piece.
“Then I’ll go back and get you more.”
“I’d rather you stay here with me,” you mumbled, arms reaching out to hug your boyfriend. Hongjoong settled in your embrace, burying his face in the crook of your neck. Your hand moved to his hair, playing with his strands. Hongjoong couldn’t help but place a kiss on your sensitive neck, causing a chill to run down your spine. He began placing more kisses on your neck, smirking when he felt you grab a fistful of his hair. He trailed kisses from your neck to your jaw and finally to your lips.
“I love you,” he murmured, moving to hover above you. Cupping your cheek, Hongjoong gazed at you with nothing but love and adoration, making your heart race.
You grinned at his words, wrapping your arms around his neck. “I love you too.” You pulled him into a kiss which he eagerly responded to. Lips moving with yours, Hongjoong took your bottom lip between his teeth, gently sucking on it before licking your lip as a way of asking for permission. You parted your lips wider, letting him slide his tongue inside your mouth. Your tongues danced in a slow rhythm while Hongjoong rolled his hips against yours, making you moan. You gently pushed him away, making him look at you with a worried gaze, thinking he went too far. But you pushed him further, making him lie down on his back before you straddled his hips. Your hands pulled your t-shirt over your head, tossing it onto the floor. Hongjoong’s eyes moved to your bra clad chest. You reached behind your back to unclasp your bra, letting it fall from your chest.
“Can I touch you?” he asked. You took his hands, placing them on your chest in response. Hongjoong gently squeezed your boobs, thumbs running over your hardened nipples. He sat up a little so that his face could reach your chest. He placed kisses on your sternum before taking one of your nipples in his mouth, gently sucking on it, licking the small bud. He mirrored his actions for your other nipple, and your back arched in pleasure. When he pulled away, you immediately crashed your lips onto his in a hungry kiss. You involuntarily grinded down on his hard-on, a groan leaving his throat. Hongjoong’s hands moved to your hips, helping you move faster on his bulge.
“I want you, Joong,” you moaned out, making him get harder.
“Are you sure, baby?” he asked.
“Yeah. I want you to fuck me. Please,” you begged. You weren’t a virgin, but this was going to be your first time with Hongjoong.
He only smiled, halting your movements on his bulge. “Let me prep you, baby. Sit on my face.” You got off his lap to take your jeans off along with your panties. Hongjoong also stripped out his clothes, leaving himself bare in front of you for the first time. You involuntarily bit your lip, taking in the sight of his thick, hard cock. He looked absolutely irresistible.
Hongjoong climbed back onto the bed, lying down while he waited for you to straddle his face.
“Are you sure about this?” you asked, a little hesitant to put your weight on his face.
“Don’t worry, baby,” he chuckled. “Sit comfortably.”
You lowered yourself onto his face, making sure you didn’t put all of your weight on him. Hongjoong's hands gripped your ass, pulling you closer to his mouth. He wasted no time in lapping at your slit, collecting your wetness on his tongue. He moaned at your sweet taste, tongue dipping into your hole, his nose pressing onto your clit. He moved his mouth to latch onto your clit, giving your nub a few sucks before moving back to your hole. “Fuck!” you moaned, hands reaching down to grasp his hair while he fucked you with his tongue. You felt the familiar knot forming and you warned Hongjoong that you were close. He licked up and down your slit, lapping at your clit, pushing you to your high. You moaned out his name while you came on his face and he wasted no time in licking up your juices, a drop rolling down from his lips. When you moved your pussy away from his face, you got wetter at the sight of his lips glistening with your juices.
You moved down his body to return the favor, but he stopped you. “I’ll let you do that another time, babe. But now I really need to be inside of you.” Hongjoong sat up, piling pillows behind him before leaning back on it. “Are you on the pill?” he asked while pumping his cock.
“No
”
He groaned. “I don’t have condoms on me right now. They’re in my room.”
“It’s okay, you can just pull out,” you stated.  
“Are you sure, my love?”
“Mhmm.” You moved to straddle his lap, aligning his cock with your entrance. You sank down on his length, the stretch making you whimper. Once Hongjoong was fully inside of you, you placed your hands on his abs, slowly moving yourself up and down on his cock, coating it with your arousal. Hongjoong bucked his hips up to meet yours half-way. You leaned down to kiss him while you rolled your hips against his. You pulled away and smiled at him before you increased the pace. Your hands reached back to grab his thighs while you rode him. Hongjoong watched your boobs bounce along with you, the sight making him groan. When Hongjoong felt himself getting close, he switched positions, slipping out of you, making you whine. He only giggled, leaning down to peck your lips before he gripped your waist. Without any warning, he slammed his cock into you, making you gasp, your walls clenching violently around him while he fucked you hard and raw.
You gripped the bedsheets beneath you, feeling the knot forming in your lower area. “J-Joong
 I—”
“I know, baby, I’m close too,” he groaned out, his thrusts getting sloppy. “You’re taking me so well, fuck.”
Hongjoong moved one hand down to your clit, his fingers rubbing your nub in circular motions. You screamed his name when your second orgasm washed over you. Hongjoong pulled out immediately, spilling onto your stomach. You reached out to pump his cock, milking him dry. Hongjoong collapsed beside you, body coated in a thin layer of sweat, hair sticking to his forehead. He pulled you into a sweet kiss a few seconds later.
“That was amazing,” he murmured against your lips. You smiled, placing a soft kiss on the tip of his nose. “Let’s clean up, hmm? Shower with me?” You nodded, letting him carry you to the bathroom.
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debbiechanclub · 3 years ago
Text
Know You Better Now (BTOOT sequel), Part 2
Probably not the best idea to drop this right after Extreme Rules, but I can’t wait because 😭 And that’s all I’m gonna say. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy!
Know You Better Now
Part: 2/?
Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x TBD 👀
Word count: 3.4k
Warnings: Language, ANGST
Find more of my fics here.
Tag squad: @galacticstat @hotyeehawman @hdbngsprnva @kingswitchblade @bec0m @betsy-bradock @heelchampbucks @linziland13 @librathepheonix13 @gabbynorth98 @exe-babymox-exe @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @brokenglassslippers @rocca09 @meteora-fc @kawaiikels @adriii-omega @thatgirlforever5 @sugar-melts-mo-fo
“Did you see the look on PAC’s face when he realized Alex broke up the pin? He was so-ho-ho piiiissed.”
Nick could barely finish speaking before he emitted a laugh that sounded more like an asthmatic wheeze, and everyone else joined in, the boisterous boom bouncing off the walls of The Elite locker room and making Alex’s ears ring. She’d never felt so out of place.
“He looked like an angry gremlin,” Karl piled on. He contorted his face and hands and made everyone guffaw and bark even louder. Alex rolled her eyes. Out of all of them, Karl annoyed her the most.
“Yeah, that was quick thinking, Alex,” Matt said. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”
He sent her a crooked, shit-eating grin. Had he not tacked on that last part, it might have been half a compliment. But he knew exactly what he was doing—and Alex did not have the patience for it.
“Us? Last time I checked, Kenny is the AEW Champion, not The Elite.”
The room went dead silent. Matt’s smirk vanished.
“Don’t act like you know anything about The Elite,” he bit. “You’ve been here all of two seconds. We were selling out the Tokyo Dome when you were still working bingo halls.”
“Whoa!” Kenny interjected. “Watch who the hell you’re talking to like that, Matt.”
The atmosphere went from shocked to tense; palpable. Matt’s jaw flexed, obviously embarrassed to have been put in his place in front of the boys. Alex smirked. He deserved it.
Kenny sighed into the quiet. “Alright, you know what? Everyone out.”
“What?” Gallows balked. “We gotta celebrate your big win, man—”
Don cut him off. “You heard what he said, everyone out!”
He herded them all toward the exit, and other than a few side-eyes and under-breath comments, they went without argument. It was the first time Alex had ever been thankful for Don to step in.
The door fell closed, and Alex and Kenny were left alone. His eyes were much softer than they’d been just a few seconds before.
“Are you alright?”
She nodded. “Yeah. It’ll take a lot more than that for Matt to get to me.”
“I know, but he shouldn’t have said it at all. It was out of line.”
“It’s Matt. What do you expect?” she returned. It made Kenny purse his lips in disappointment.
“He’s not out to get you, Alex. He’s just protective of his friends.”
Her eyes darkened. “Is there a reason he thinks he needs to protect you from me?”
He breathed out in frustration. “Come on, that’s not what I said.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I wish you two would get along.”
Alex stubbornly crossed her arms and looked across the room. This wasn’t the first time he’d said that to her. She knew it wouldn’t be the last.
“Hey.” Kenny gently gripped her shoulders, and she looked back up at him. “I want you to feel like you’re a part of the group, Alex. And I know right now you don’t,” he quickly added before she could interject. “But give it time. You’ve been at home working on getting healthy, and the boys just want to be sure that you’re a team player. Which
 I’m pretty sure you proved you are tonight.”
She lightly sucked her teeth. “I did that for you, not—”
“I know,” softly interrupted. “But any of them would have done the same thing.”
Alex rocked back on her heels and turned her eyes down to her shoes. She understood where Kenny was coming from, one thousand percent. But she didn’t think she should have to prove herself to “the boys.” And truthfully
 she didn’t want to be a part of The Elite, either.
But she also didn’t want to get into an argument with Kenny, so she just let it go. “Well, thank you for putting Matt in his place,” she said. She wrapped her arms around his waist and drew herself close to him. “I’ll do my best to get along with him so long as he’s not an ass to me.”
“That’s all I want,” Kenny returned, and he placed a kiss on her lips that was perhaps meant to be short and sweet, but neither of them pulled away. He brought his hands to either side of her face, and she pressed her fingers into his back as she lightly sucked on his bottom lip. He smirked against her mouth. “You want to get in the shower with me?”
She pecked his lips again. “No.”
He pulled back in surprise. “Why not?”
“Because. I look way too good right now to ruin it.”
He flashed a crooked grin. She already knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Fine. I’ll just ruin it when we get home.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Alex had honestly hoped Kenny would ruin it when they got home. But unfortunately, they didn’t go home alone; Matt, Nick, and Don went with them. At least the Good Brothers had decided they’d rather go drink at the hotel bar.
“So, have you officially moved in yet, Alex?”
Nick smirked at her from across the kitchen island, his mouth full of pizza. They’d ordered some “late night celebratory pies,” as Kenny had put it, but Alex didn’t have much of an appetite. She didn’t dignify Nick with a response either, instead just pursing her lips and taking a sip of the red wine she’d poured herself. As if he wouldn’t have already known if she’d officially moved in; he was one of Kenny’s best friends.
“Shit, I forget that she doesn’t ‘officially’ live here,” Kenny commented, making air quotes around the word. “It already feels like you do. Isn’t most of your stuff here?”
“Most of my clothes are,” she answered. “But I still have an entire house full of stuff in Virginia.”
“Wasn’t your cousin interested in potentially buying from you?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose. She asked me if I was thinking about selling, but we haven’t discussed it.”
“Well
 maybe you should.”
He sent her a grin. She chewed the inside of her lip. “Maybe,” she returned, and took another sip of wine.
“Speaking of official,” Don segued. “Is Alex officially with us now?”
Alex stiffened. She didn’t at all appreciate that Don had spoken as if she wasn’t standing right there. But she couldn’t really answer him, either.
“Come on, why wouldn’t she be?” Kenny returned.
“Because tonight was the first time she’s been on AEW programming in what—nine months?” He fixed Alex with his beady eyes and finally addressed her directly. “People still think of you as part of Best Friends. And even though you broke up that pin in Kenny’s interest, the fact of the matter is that you technically helped Orange, too.”
“What?” Kenny let out a loud, disbelieving laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous, Don! She would have done the exact same thing if it had been Orange going for the pin instead of PAC.”
“Would she?” Matt challenged. He glanced at Alex. “Would you?”
Kenny’s eyes widened at him. “Really, Matt?” he charged—but Alex spoke up.
“No, if they’re so concerned about it, then I’ll tell them.” She leaned forward on the island and looked Matt dead in the eye. “Of course I would have done the exact same thing if it had been Orange going for the pin instead of PAC. And you know why? Because I was out there in Kenny’s corner tonight, and tonight was the first time in months that I’ve seen or even spoken to Orange or any of the others. So no, I’m not a part of Best Friends anymore.”
It hurt to finally say that out loud; but it wasn’t anything Alex hadn’t already known deep down. She’d known it as soon as Kris had popped out of that claw machine a month ago
 maybe even sooner. And their behavior toward her that night—Trent’s behavior—had only proven it.
Kenny wrapped an arm around her waist and placed a kiss on the side of her head. Matt, meanwhile, said nothing. It seemed she’d finally shut him up—for now.
Don nodded. “That’s all I need to hear.”
Alex shifted. Somehow, she doubted that.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” Nick interjected. “Do you guys have any ice cream?”
“Jesus, Nick,” Matt breathed; but Kenny perked up.
“We do, actually. Alex has turned me onto Blue Bell.” He started for the freezer. “Do you want some, baby? We still have mint chocolate chip.”
Alex shook her head. “No. I’m actually gonna head upstairs; I’m exhausted.”
Part of her knew that, by going to bed, she was only inviting them to talk about her more. But she didn’t care. Matt could spew whatever bullshit he wanted; Kenny knew where she stood, and that was all that mattered.
He nodded. “Okay. I’m honestly not far behind you.”
She put her wine glass in the sink and gave him a kiss on the way out of the kitchen. Her legs were tired as she climbed the stairs to their bedroom. Our bedroom, she realized she thought of it as, not Kenny’s bedroom. She wasn’t sure when she’d made that switch, but she was hyper-aware of it now after Kenny’s comment just a few minutes before. But just the thought of selling her house stressed her out; she had enough on her plate as it was, and she didn’t want to give any of it any more of her energy for the rest of the night—
Beep-beep!
But she got a text just as she crossed into the bedroom. She sighed and pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans—and stopped when she saw the screen.
It was from Trent.
I’m sorry about what I said tonight. I just didn’t know how to react.
Alex’s brow lowered as she read the message. She knew Trent, and something in her gut told her that he hadn’t sent that on his own. No; Kris had probably beat him over the head until he’d relented. He would have been better off not sending anything at all.
She purposefully opened the text so that he would get the “read” notification, and then she locked her phone, tossed it onto the bed, and went into the bathroom to do her nighttime routine. If there was one thing she definitely would not give any more of her energy to, it was that.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Dynamite following Double Or Nothing wasn’t until Friday, so Alex had nearly an entire week to mentally prepare herself. She needed the extra time. Because, in the interest of “publicly clearing up any confusion” about where her loyalties lied, Don had booked her a sit-down interview with Excalibur.
She’d been furious when he’d told her. So had Kenny—he’d set it up behind both their backs. But of course, Don had talked him down and convinced him that it was “the right move.” Afterward, Kenny had profusely apologized to her; but she’d just told him to forget it. She’d do the damn interview. She wanted to speak her mind.
But now that she was sitting across from Excalibur in one of the backstage areas at Daily’s Place, she felt like she might vomit.
He spoke to the camera as he opened up the interview. “I’m sitting here with Alex Hawthorne, who made a surprise return after a nine-month absence at Double Or Nothing this past Sunday
 and before we get into the interview, Alex, I just want to say welcome back. You were gone rehabbing a shoulder injury, and you’ve clearly come back in fighting shape. I think we all did a double-take when you walked out with Kenny Omega on Sunday.”
Alex felt herself relax a bit. It felt good to be acknowledged. She hadn’t felt that in a while. “Thank you, Excalibur, I appreciate that. It feels good to be back, and I have come back in fighting shape—not just physically, but mentally, as well. When I found out that my shoulder needed surgery, it was a bitter pill to swallow. And I’m not gonna lie; I struggled with it at first. But I distinctly remember waking up in that post-op room after surgery, and I realized right then and there that I could either let this injury drag me down, or I could use it as an opportunity to come back even better than before. And I promise you—and the entire AEW women’s division—that this isn’t the same Alex Hawthorne who competed in that ring nine months ago.”
Excalibur nodded. “Which begs the question: when can we expect you back in the ring?”
She breathed out. “Soon,” she nodded, her tone determined. “I still have some work to do, but it’ll be soon.”
“And we all look forward to it,” he said. “But you mentioned that you’re not the same Alex Hawthorne you were nine months ago. We’re used to seeing you at ringside in support of Best Friends
 however, you returned in Kenny Omega’s corner for the AEW World Championship match at Double or Nothing, a match that also included Orange Cassidy. Is it safe to say that this new and improved Alex Hawthorne has moved on from Best Friends?”
Alex’s heart jumped into her throat. There it was, the million-dollar question, the reason for this entire interview, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d think Don had fed that line directly to Excalibur. But he didn’t like Don any more than she did—and she needed to give an answer. So, she did.
“It’s safe to say that, yeah.”
Her stomach churned and she looked down at her hands in her lap. It was out there now. She couldn’t take it back.
“Well, I have to ask,” Excalibur started, and she flicked her eyes back up at him. “You interfered in the match on Sunday and most likely prevented PAC from winning the AEW World Championship. But you also prevented Orange from taking the pin. Is there no part of you that did that for him?”
Alex’s brow lowered. First Don, and now this? Why was everyone so confused about her motive? “No. I did that for Ken—”
“Who cares who ya did it for!”
She was abruptly cut off by an angry, distinctly accented voice, and then PAC unexpectedly stalked into the interview area. He fixed Alex with a wild-eyed glare. “It’s like Excalibur said
 you cost me the AEW World Championship.”
Alex leaned away from him in her chair as he moved closer. The entire sight of him was jarring, that ubiquitous scowl of his contorting his face, his dark, wet hair dripping water down his bare chest. She looked him over in confusion. Why was he already in his gear, ready to go? He and Penta had a match that night against the Young Bucks, but the show didn’t start for another two hours.
Excalibur tried to intervene. “PAC, we’re doing an interview here—”
But PAC just talked over him. “I know you’ve been gone a long time, Alex. And I have to admit, you do look good. So, here’s a bit of advice: instead of interfering in his matches, why don’t ya stick to being Kenny Omega’s arm candy.”
Alex’s eyes darkened. Suddenly, all her surprise turned to anger. “Arm candy?”
“You heard me,” he spat.
“Do you even own regular clothes? Or do you just live in your gear dripping wet like you emerged from the Atlantic Ocean?”
“Hey, PAC!”
Another person interrupted then, and Alex and PAC both looked over to find the Young Bucks, Brandon Cutler, and the Good Brothers stalking toward them. But it wasn’t just them. They had Rey Fenix—and it looked like he’d already been jumped.
Matt smirked. “Did you lose something?”
PAC growled in his throat. He charged toward them—but they dumped Fenix to the floor and retreated, laughing as they did. Nick held up his hands. “We’re saving our energy for the match tonight!”
PAC let them go, choosing instead to help his friend. Meanwhile, Alex jumped up and ran after them—the interview was over.
“Hey!” They all turned to look back at her, but her focus was zeroed in on Matt. This was his doing, she knew it. “What the fuck did you do that for?”
He scoffed. “To send a message, obviously. Come on, Alex
 I thought you were with us now?”
He flashed another crooked smirk, and then they all started off again, patting each other on the back and hyping the Bucks up for the match that night. And Alex just stood and watched them go, all the while realizing that she was with them now—and she’d all but said it for the entire world to hear.
* * * * * * * * * *
“You ready to head home?”
Alex looked up at Kenny, re-emerging from her thoughts. She nodded. “Please.”
He gave her a sympathetic smile and held out his hand, and she took it and let him pull her up and lead her out of the locker room. It was the end of the night, and she’d been ready to head home before a single match had even been contested.
To her great surprise, Dynamite had started off by airing the footage of her interview. Alex had barely been able to watch, knowing what was coming, what she’d said. But when it was all said and done, it didn’t even feel like it was about her anymore. The interview had led right into the tag match between the Young Bucks and PAC and Penta—the story became the Super Elite’s attack on Fenix, not her return. And Alex wasn’t sure if she was more relieved that they’d distracted from the fact that she’d basically disowned Best Friends, or more angered that they’d taken away from everything else she’d said.
“I am ready to just relax and spend the weekend alone with you,” Kenny said as they walked down the hall. He grinned at her. “I told everyone to lose my number.”
Alex returned his smile, and Kenny lifted the back of her hand to his lips; but she barely noticed as he kissed her. She was too distracted by the group of people who had appeared in the corridor.
Best Friends. All of them. And it didn’t take long for Trent to say something.
“Where’re you going, Alex? Kris has a Dark match. Oh, wait—that’s right. You’ve moved on from us.”
“Dude,” Kris chastised and lightly smacked his shoulder. “Don’t.”
Kenny scoffed. “I’d listen to your alien friend, Trent.”
“No one was talking to you,” Orange returned.
Kenny narrowed his eyes at him. Alex squeezed his hand in protest; the last thing she needed was for him to go on one of his power trips. Thankfully, he let it go.
“I’ve already taken care of you, so I won’t embarrass you in front of your friends,” he dismissed. “Come on,” he said, and he started to pull Alex past them; but Trent just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Was that you giving that interview? Or were Kenny and Don pulling the strings on your mouth?”
“Fuck, Greg,” Chuck breathed—but Alex spoke over him.
“Was that you who sent that text Sunday night, or did one of them make you send it?”
She glared a hole through Trent, unwavering and angry, waiting for him to say something for himself. Anything. But he just bit down on his jaw, silent. Alex scoffed. It was just as she’d suspected.
“What text?” Kenny asked in confusion. Alex didn’t take her eyes off Trent as she answered.
“Trent sent me a text after Double Or Nothing apologizing for being a dick to me before your match. He said he ‘just didn’t know how to react’ to seeing me.”
“I didn’t know how to react,” Trent fired back.
“Oh, so it was just the apology that was bullshit, then.”
He breathed out and looked stubbornly away, nothing to say again. And as she continued to stare at him, Alex realized that she wasn’t surprised or even hurt by his reaction. Instead, she was vindicated in everything she’d been feeling.
Her gaze sharpened. “But since you asked so nicely; yeah, that was me giving that interview, one hundred percent. And you have no room to be angry about it, Trent, because whether you want to admit it or not, you all moved on from me months ago.”
Chuck’s brow furrowed in confusion. In hurt. “What? Alex—”
“Save it,” Kenny cut him off. “Good luck in your match, Kris,” he added, and then he tugged on Alex’s hand, and she turned and went with him, ignoring the way her sinuses burned.
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alotsgonnachange · 2 years ago
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Danielle Bio:
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Name: Danielle Dupont
Dob: Sept 7th / Virgo
Age: IDK 30 or something
Gender: cisgender woman
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Bisexual
Height: 5’6
Favorite Food: Espresso, Pain au Chocolat, or a good wheaty ale
Magical Specialties: Eclectic - mostly spells and potions
Familiar: None
MBTI: ENFP-A
Patron Arcana: The Sun
Ethnicity: I made up a country called Korgelsberg which is like France/Luxembourg vibes but with less money
Family: Orphan! Literally no idea!
Ocupation: Sex Shop owner
Love Interest(s): [explosion sounds]
Personality:
Danielle is energetic, charming, and amusing to interact with on a surface level. A saleswoman first and foremost, it’s a front that often doesn’t seem super genuine to some. Once you get to know her better, she’s actually very interested in having deep and philosophical conversations about anything, but particularly science and chemistry and sex. She fancies herself a collector and lives a maximalist life - finding that she often accumulates a growing menagerie of stuff whether it’s useful for her shop or just for her own interests. Despite this, she’s quite organized and deeply values routine. She can lose track of time very easily and is prone to missing or forgetting important things. She feels her emotions very deeply and often copes with this in ways that are less than productive.
Magic overview:
Danielle is something of an eclectic practitioner who specializes in sexual magic. What this consists of can include things as innocuous as candles, lotions, serums, tinctures, and lubricants. On the more complex side, she’ll have sex toys, outfits, tools, and other enhancers that she either makes or orders from vendors. Most of this involves a lot of knowledge of potions, chemistry, spells, and ingredients. She’s mostly self taught and considers herself to constantly be in a state of research. She also dabbles in visual and beautifying magic, along with facilitating intricate self care spells and rituals.
Height and Appearance
Danielle is the shortest, she is probably less than 5’6. She is also the palest. She has good facial structure and is very conventionally attractive, big blue eyes, pouty lips, blonde hair. She tends to wear makeup when she’s out and about. She’s busty and hourglass shaped. her stomach and thighs are chubby and if she gains or loses weight it’s there. She keeps her hair very long and cares for it meticulously to keep it in blonde ringlets. Her hair is like her CHILD ok. Secretly would like to dye it black at some point.
Dirndl style dresses (with and without the cinch like bodice). not super formal. may sometimes wear a scarf over her hair if it’s windy. Not afraid to get dirty but needs to look cute doing it. She has many comfortable dresses in blues, greens, whites and tans. Doesn’t like to wear blacks or purples Or reds.
Abridged Backstory
Danielle was born without any family or ties whatsoever and is unaware of her origins. She spent most of her formative years being bounced from orphanage to orphanage, some good, some bad. She did not have many real parental figures and had many behavioral problems (as one would expect). Once she began exhibiting magical abilities, she found ways to market herself selling flowers and offering services however she could. Unfortunately she spent many years resorting to theft and trickery to survive.
Her first ever job she got as a Busgirl/barmaid at an inn in an area that would resemble switzerland/germany. She would clean up and serve drinks and food and sing along to old Lieder that would often play in the establishment. Eventually her singing was noticed by a patron who offered to teach her lessons and employ her at the Opera house, which she accepted and this would become her first source of real income and security. She relocated and worked at the same performing arts center as Isabella and Ivan (Mutual friend of Isabella and Danielle).
Her time at the Opera house went well at first but she did a bit of self sabotage by being unprofessional and perhaps
breaking up a marriage and eventually called it quits and decided she wanted to go off on her own, much to Isabella’s chagrin. She’s spent most of her life in a semi-nomadic state, picking up knowledge, items, experiences, and hookups. She decided she wanted to open up her own shop at this point. She got in a real relationship but with a literal criminal and got caught up in both an abusive relationship and a crime syndicate which was messy and traumatizing for her, but she managed to escape and throw herself into learning/planning her shop in all of her spare time. However it’s permanently altered her trust, so forming new relationships will be difficult for her.
As A Friend: A good person to have on your side. She’s funny, charming, and ridiculous. She could use people in her life who are good influences and not likely to take advantage of her or make her feel small. She loves giving gifts (which can vary from expensive and rare to “do you want this eggshell???”) and gossip. She tends to ramble, and also would be over the moon if you would just let her talk for 3
or 35 minutes about her magical theories???? You might have to remind her of basic etiquette from time to time, but otherwise she truly means well and cares deeply for her friends. And if someone wrongs you, she is willing to do something VERY illegal to that person.
As A Lover: I’m gonna be so honest she is not for everyone. As a self proclaimed “love witch” and someone who studies sex magic and sells dildos for a living she feels like she intimidates everyone and these days worries about making a move. She fears being vulnerable and experiencing romantic love, but it is something that she wants. I think there will be some communication snags if you pursue her like not as a joke and express that you actually want her. Once there, she’s loyal, doting, and enjoys having someone to share company with even if it’s just doing domestic things.
Top and dominant. She prefers to be in control unless she knows a lover for a very long time or trusts them deeply. Very creative and of course keeps things fun and fresh due to her profession, but if you’d rather just screw without all the fancy stuff, she liked that too! It could also help her to have a long term romantic partner/fwb so she can make real connections and frankly
.have better sex.
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midasinc · 3 years ago
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modern les amis ocupational/schooling hcs:
this seems random but i just wanna talk about it!
enjolras: he's in grad school and he is very unemployed. it's not actually a bad thing! he went to school initially for political science and that was all fun and games until he realized the job opportunities he had within that weren't really stuff he was into. he didn't want to be a laywer or a sales rep or a reporter; he wanted to MAKE CHANGE! unfortunately that's typically a nonprofit sort of venture, so enjolras is going back to school for community/social change and he's maybe sort of living on combeferre's pull-out couch, but it's okay. he cooks (poorly) and cleans (well enough) and does a lot of volunteer work. he's unemployed, but he's still out and about doing what he can to be a promising member of society
courfeyrac: he withstood the longest in the run for the law school gang. he was seriously so close to graduating but he dropped out and went to school for music instead. courfeyrac had been playing the cello for 9 years by the time he was about to graduate and he knew that if he was gonna go into law, he would hate his life. it wasn't something he enjoyed. he got a masters in music instead and he plays for an orchestra! his director stresses him out sometimes, but he meshes more with music people and he loves what he does. it's a win for everyone (he has one sided beef w the first chair for cellos, though. courfeyrac DESPISES the first chair and wants their position so badly but the first chair sees him and is like "omg how was your weekend :)))" and they're so genuine with their kindness)
combeferre: he goes through med school with joly and then goes back to school to get a doctorate in psychology. he wants to work with counseling and therapy but atm he works in clinical psychology. he makes pretty good schmoney so providing for him and enj isn't that difficult
prouvaire: he went to school for music and he's currently working as an unpaid intern at a music studio, bless his heart. he wants to be a bigger rapper one day and talks to a lot of producers and musicians for inspo on how to grow past getting 8 listens from only his friends on soundcloud. he also sells bracelets on etsy and crochets sweaters on etsy and candles on etsy... there's a lot of etsy. he has really cute packaging, though, and throws in stickers and handwritten notes. he's cool, he has a cool shop. he's the kind of small business you wanna buy from
feuilly: he went to uni for a year before realizing that this was too expensive and he just couldn't do it. he's never been good at school and he makes the decision to go through life without a degree. he works with a construction company and has... arms... strong arms... wow
bahorel: law-school drop out. he tried, okay? bahorel TRIED. it just wasn't for him and he couldn't stand annoyingly pretentious law students and he had to drop out. he got hired by the same company that feuilly works for after feuilly offered to get him an interview with his boss and now they're construction buddies! he loves it. it's a lot of early mornings, sore arms, and back pain, but he loves the physical work. it's what he's used to and it's something he's good at :)
joly: he went through med school with ferre and it was both the best and worst decision of his life. he is so tired. all the time. he specializes in optometry and it bleeds into his everyday life. grantaire gets a free pair of blue-light glasses all the time along with notes begging him to keep his posture alright when he's working at the computer and reminding him to take breaks.
bossuet: he did not make it out of law school. it happens to the best of us (more like the all of them). he withstood more than bahorel, but dropped out before courf. he just. man. none of these guys were built for their parents' dreams. he went to cosmetology school afterwards, just for a practical degree in something, and he works at a hair salon ironically enough. he gets tipped pretty well because cutting hair is the one thing he doesn't seem to have bad luck with and he's really good at holding conversations with his clients. bossuet is vvv likeable, people want to come back and get their hair done just to see him
grantaire: he went to school for animation and works at an animation company at the moment! his job is very tiring and he is very exhausted all the fucking time. he specialized in 2d animation but he's trying to branch out and learn 3d because he'd find a lot more job opportunities. atm he's working on a kid's show and he kind of hates the style but it's not the worst job he's ever done. it's not the worst.
bonus :) :
marius: he left after the first day of pre-law god bless, he never made it to law school. anyway he got a masters in history and he works in a WW1 museum :) he loves his job a lot and he works in the back rooms, cataloging information and writing plaques of information for new exhibits. he loves his job omg i cannot express to you enough how much he loves war history
cosette: ballet cosette! ballet cosette! ballerina cosette! she went to a college for dance and now works at a prestigious dance company. she's really dedicated to her work and she's built as fuck. valjean goes to all of her shows and always brings a bouquet of flowers with him to give her afterwards
eponine: she never went to uni bc it was too expensive and she didn't want to take out a loan and wind up like dear old dad. she works retail at a tech shop and uses her employee discount to buy cameras, mics, lighting, and more because really she wants to be a director. she'd never go to film school or even admit that she wishes she could have gone, but she doesn't need to. she makes projects on her own and her apartment has scripts and storyboards in progress taped to her wall. her friends and siblings also get that employee-discount tech gift for holidays and birthdays
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capesandshapes · 4 years ago
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All You Had To Do Was Stay (Adrienette) (2/4)
Summary:
Three years ago, Marinette revealed her identity to him. Three years ago, he promised to wait in a hotel room for her. Three years ago, she opened the door to find it empty.
Now she's expected to play nice with him, since she's the maid of honor and he's unfortunately the best man. But old habits die hard, and old feelings die harder.
"This is a wedding, not a death march, Marinette."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They had gone overboard.
Marinette had one job, and they had gone overboard.
Okay, she had five jobs—but at the moment it felt like only one, and at the moment, that job was completely and utterly failed.
Every single surface of the bakery was covered in cakes. Every godly combination of cake, every possible frosting, every style of decoration, every type of vanilla—And that wasn’t even the end of it.
No! Because what if, at the very last moment, Alya and Nino had needed cupcakes or a pie or a tarte. Were they sure they didn’t want cookies? They could include them in the gift bags! And savory cakes weren’t off the table either, Marinette’s father reassured them that he could stay up the whole night and bake enough for Paris if they needed.
Not to mention the eight boxes on the counter behind Marinette—She’d been looking thin! This past week Tom had been worried that she’d been depressed—Never mind the fact that she was—and his little girl needed her favorite treats
 Which meant every sweet she had ever so much as smiled at, and so many dumplings that Marinette would have to freeze them and eat them for months to come. Nino and Alya had similar offerings behind them.
Nino and Alya also had strained looks on their faces.
The cake tasting had gone over an hour later than it was supposed to, and there was no possible way out. Nino checked his smartwatch a thousand times, but every attempt he made at opening his mouth found his plate refilled.
“I just love weddings,” Marinette’s father proclaimed, tears in the corners of his eyes.
Marinette couldn’t miss the soft mumble of her mother trying to calm him, “someday, Tom.” She did her best to eat then, if only to soothe the two of them.
Her parents didn’t know what had happened between her and Adrien, only that one day he was there and the next day he jetted out of Paris. It was better that it stayed that way, god forbid they found out. She didn’t want to be there the moment that her father realized; she didn’t think she could stand to have him look at her afterwards.
He always wanted the world to be good to her, and she didn’t have the heart to tell him that it hadn’t been. That she’d faced monsters he couldn’t imagine and had skirted the line between life and death as a hero of Paris. That was one secret he would never know.
“I really do have to go, Mister Dupain,” Nino tried for the hundredth time as her dad placed four more slices on his plate. “There’s this thing and I
 I mean, I can’t leave my dude waiting.”
“You could invite them here,” Tom said, serving Alya a slice of spiced rum cake. The young woman teetered between blissful and concerned. “Like I always say, the more the merrier.”
“Yeah, that’s like, a completely valid statement in some cases but
” Nino trailed off, flinching. Her dad frowned. “I mean, it’s not you! Definitely not you guys, you’re amazing—Marinette is amazing!” He quickly added. “It’s just one of those things
”
“We’re not hip anymore, or they don’t like cake?” Tom pushed. “Because I have croissants, croquettes, even a quiche or two! If they’re gluten intolerant, I have a whole spread!”
“No, no! He loves your stuff!” Nino immediately flinched the moment he said it.
The gears began to turn in her father’s head at the same time Marinette nearly choked on her slice of cake. “Adrien!” His face lit up with familiarity, making the obvious guess since the blond’s return was the talk of Paris. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen him, honey!” He immediately turned to her mother, and Marinette could see him quickly begin to recall the young man’s order.
“Three years,” Marinette finally butted in, supplementing the information her father would no doubt demand to know. “It’s been three years.”
“He must have gotten so skinny,” her father said with an edge of concern, “Sabine, we should make a box!” Her mother was already ahead of him.
Alya butted in, swallowing the remainder of her cake in one bite. “I mean, he’s still a model, maybe he shouldn’t come. I mean, the temptation, the
” She looked to Marinette to supplement, all the woman could do was vigorously nod her head, “carbs.” Alya winced.
“Nonsense, everyone knows those diets aren’t healthy,” Sabine began.
“He’s really into them,” Alya insisted.
“Well,” Sabine continued, fully dedicated to the idea of helping such a poor, starving model, “we’ll fix that. Call him up.”
“That’s
”
“—I’m sure Marinette wants to see him,” Sabine finished.
Oh, how utterly wrong she was. “Call him,” Marinette said, trying to make the strange way that she pulled back her lips look more like a smile than a wince of pain, “what’s the worst that could happen?”
****************
The worst that could happen was that he could show up. And he did.
And suddenly, there he was. Adrien. Standing in her parents’ shop door, a familiar blue scarf around his neck tied almost as tightly as her father’s arms were wrapped around him. Laughing, smiling, acting like nothing had happened and like he hadn’t been gone for three years.
Until he saw her.
“You sit next to Marinette, Adrien,” Sabine insisted, “we don’t want to break up the lovebirds.”
She swore she saw him swallow.
He looked different in real life compared to his Instagram posts, she was pleased to see. They’d erased the small bags underneath his eyes, the creasing beginning to form between his brows, and that persistent memory of a smile that hung on his lips even when he was meaning to look stoic and thoughtful. She was a little thankful for it, because that meant that the man she sometimes looked at in the middle of the night, that she spent far too much time on, was fake. She wasn’t crying over the real Adrien Agreste while he was lounging on a beach somewhere with flawless skin and a perfect smile.
“It’s been a long time, Marinette,” he said as he settled beside her, his voice soft and almost inaudible. She couldn’t place the tone of it.
“Whose fault is that,” her response was sarcastic and the smile she put on for her parents’ sake was fake. She’d rather he sat in a dumpster outside.
He winced.
“So,” Tom carried on, loading up a plate for Adrien to the point that Marinette was almost afraid of it cracking, “New York, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, and Sydney! You’re really well-traveled now, Adrien, I’m a little jealous! I’m afraid to say that I didn’t pin you for a globetrotter, but maybe I was a little wrong in that! You’ve done some really impressive things these past years.”
“Yeah,” he said, accepting the plate from Tom with a gracious nod, “I’ve really gone out there, but I’m happy to be home. I always tell everyone that my heart is in Paris. I was sad to leave it.”
“So, you’ll be staying around then?” Sabine perked up.
“For a few months, maybe if I’m lucky a few years,” he said. “It really depends on how things go.” Looking down at his plate, Adrien said, “I sort of left a lot of things up in the air when I left Paris.”
If there was a word for the look Marinette shot him out of the corner of her eye, it was poisonous.
It was Tom’s turn to speak again, he continued his interrogation of Adrien as Sabine shot her daughter a questioning look, and Alya gave Marinette a warning kick from her seat a few inches away. “So, what’s on the checklist while you’re here? Any sights you have to see, things you have to do, friends you have to check in with?”
All anger melted away, dissolving into the utterly terrifying sea of embarrassment. Alya’s eyes widened in mock horror as the color left Marinette’s face, the way he said friends let there be no mistake, her father was going to try to wingman for her.
“I think most of his friends are gone by now—” Marinette quickly interrupted.
“Well, I have my father’s house to sell, I’d like to check in with a few victims of akumatization, and—” he paused at her statement, his eyes quickly looking over to her and catching her gaze for a split second. “I had some friends I wanted to check in,” he said, his tongue wetting his lips in an awkward show of unease.
“Had,” Marinette emphasized, drawing the line.
“Had,” Adrien repeated, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. He sat up a little straighter, looking back to the Dupain-Chengs. “It’s been a long time.” Indeed, it had been.
*****************
Somehow they made it through all the cakes, her parents sending each home with an additional box of their favorites so that they could be absolutely sure of their selections. Alya and Nino went home together, and there was an option for Marinette to stay at her parents, but one look at her mother’s eyes roaming over her like a crime scene and Marinette knew she wouldn’t take it.
She always liked the walk home anyway, and her parents wanted to speak to Adrien a little longer. So, giving the slightest of waves, she walked out.
She only realized what an awful choice that was minutes later, when she heard the pounding of pavement behind her and a familiar voice calling her name. “Hey, Marinette, wait up!” Adrien.
Maybe if she pretended not to hear it, he would go away.
He did not go away.
“Marinette!”
“I should have just stayed home, I should have just slept in my childhood bed,” Marinette mumbled, cursing the fact that she didn’t live near a tourist destination where she could easily vanish into the crowds. No, instead she was walking down a quiet, empty street; one where it was impossible to ignore him.
“Hey,” he said when he finally caught up to her, and she clenched her eyes shut as tightly as possible as if that would somehow make him go away.
Hey, that was what he had to say? Three years and she gets a hey? “Hey,” she said back, her voice dripping with unenthusiasm. What on earth did he think he was doing?
She opened her eyes to see his hand at the back of his neck, a sheepish expression on his face. “I, uh, just wanted to say hi.” Right.
“Of course,” she said awkwardly, “that’s all you want to say, right. Thank you,” she paused. “Hi,” she reiterated, echoing the statement back at him. As if they hadn’t just spent four hours trying cakes together, as if he hadn’t sat right beside her in her parents’ shop, as if she wasn’t freaking Ladybug and he Chat Noir.
They were on hi terms now. What even were hi terms?
He quickened his pace to keep up with her. “Listen, uh,” he tried again, “I want this to work out.”
He caught the look on her face.
“The wedding,” he quickly clarified. “Their wedding, not ours. Because, you know, there won’t be an our wedding, there will be a
 their wedding. And that’s uh
,” he was trying not to ramble, she could tell. “Yeah.”
“Yeah,” she parroted back.
“I just want to get through this,” he started quickly, and his eyes immediately widened as he realized what he said and how it could be misunderstood. He tried to open his mouth again, but she stopped him before he could get more words out.
“We will,” she said.
“Right, because we’re
” A team? He’d ended that. “Good at working together,” he said, and even Marinette had to flinch at how lame it sounded.
“Yeah, I’m sure we are,” Marinette replied, letting her eyes drift down to the sidewalk. She didn’t want it to last too much longer, she didn’t want him to see that she still lived in the same place. She didn’t want him to have another part of her life.
She couldn’t afford for him to.
And yet there he was, and she could tell that he wanted it. That he wanted another part of her life, that he wanted—god, what did he want? To ruin her again? To make the fact that it wasn’t going to happen completely clear?
“I missed you,” he said suddenly, his voice low and almost croaking.
“Go home, Adrien.”
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