#we asked him to list something and we could figure it out and he declined

[nny11writes]

“Now we’re going to get to know your partner for the semester. Share your names and find a commonality between you! The pair with the most commonalities can get some extra accolades, but not a prize!”

Catra glared at Glimmer, who happily returned it. 

Glimmer, of course, can’t keep her mouth shut for five seconds though (which must be a victory of some kind) and offers, “Well we both hate each other. That’s one.”

That’s the worst part about her, Catra actually thinks she’s kinda funny and that fucking sucks. She worked too hard to earn a reputation as a slacker and class clown (despite being neither) and isn’t going to let this get in her way of being the funny guy. “We both know we’re right and the other is wrong.”

“That’s two!” Glimmer snickers, her glare already softening. “We agree that most people are kinda dumb and we should be in charge, but only if that doesn’t involve too much responsibility.”

“Of course, we’re not animals.” Catra means it as a turn of phrase, but Glimmer puts another finger up showing four. “Neither of us like to apologize, or say thank you.”

Six fingers as Glimmer reluctantly agrees. “We both know exactly what is funny and if our opinions happen to align that’s coincidence. We are both willing to throw down in a mcdonalds at two in the morning.”

“And taco bell.”

“And taco bell,” Glimmer agrees, now showing nine fingers. 

Good, because Catra has to say that while getting into fist fights in parking lots is not actually their hobby, it basically is at this point. Might as well get extra points for it somewhere.

“We are both over twenty years old.”

“Mmm, we grew up in the same hometown. Same schools.” Glimmer switches to a piece of paper and puts 14 tallies down.

“...we both have dead parents?” Catra winces even as she offers it because Glimmer actually liked her dad whereas Catra doesn’t really remember her parents. But another tally gets added so she takes the W.

“We both dated the same girl, and it didn’t work out for basically the same reason.”

Catra snarls but allows the marks to be put down. “We’re gay.”

Glimmer has the world’s most evil smile on as she says, “We are SUPER gay.”

Their teacher waves a hand, calling out to catch everyone’s attention before starting around the room. How many commonalities in each group. Three. Five. Two. Ten. One (a vague like of pecans should not count but whatever).

“And what about you two?”

Glimmer smiles brightly, “Eighteen, and we will take our extra accolades please.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How I got scammed

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

I wuz robbed.

More specifically, I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

Here's what happened. Over the Christmas holiday, I traveled to New Orleans. The day we landed, I hit a Chase ATM in the French Quarter for some cash, but the machine declined the transaction. Later in the day, we passed a little credit-union's ATM and I used that one instead (I bank with a one-branch credit union and generally there's no fee to use another CU's ATM).

A couple days later, I got a call from my credit union. It was a weekend, during the holiday, and the guy who called was obviously working for my little CU's after-hours fraud contractor. I'd dealt with these folks before – they service a ton of little credit unions, and generally the call quality isn't great and the staff will often make mistakes like mispronouncing my credit union's name.

That's what happened here – the guy was on a terrible VOIP line and I had to ask him to readjust his mic before I could even understand him. He mispronounced my bank's name and then asked if I'd attempted to spend $1,000 at an Apple Store in NYC that day. No, I said, and groaned inwardly. What a pain in the ass. Obviously, I'd had my ATM card skimmed – either at the Chase ATM (maybe that was why the transaction failed), or at the other credit union's ATM (it had been a very cheap looking system).

I told the guy to block my card and we started going through the tedious business of running through recent transactions, verifying my identity, and so on. It dragged on and on. These were my last hours in New Orleans, and I'd left my family at home and gone out to see some of the pre-Mardi Gras krewe celebrations and get a muffalata, and I could tell that I was going to run out of time before I finished talking to this guy.

"Look," I said, "you've got all my details, you've frozen the card. I gotta go home and meet my family and head to the airport. I'll call you back on the after-hours number once I'm through security, all right?"

He was frustrated, but that was his problem. I hung up, got my sandwich, went to the airport, and we checked in. It was total chaos: an Alaska Air 737 Max had just lost its door-plug in mid-air and every Max in every airline's fleet had been grounded, so the check in was crammed with people trying to rebook. We got through to the gate and I sat down to call the CU's after-hours line. The person on the other end told me that she could only handle lost and stolen cards, not fraud, and given that I'd already frozen the card, I should just drop by the branch on Monday to get a new card.

We flew home, and later the next day, I logged into my account and made a list of all the fraudulent transactions and printed them out, and on Monday morning, I drove to the bank to deal with all the paperwork. The folks at the CU were even more pissed than I was. The fraud that run up to more than $8,000, and if Visa refused to take it out of the merchants where the card had been used, my little credit union would have to eat the loss.

I agreed and commiserated. I also pointed out that their outsource, after-hours fraud center bore some blame here: I'd canceled the card on Saturday but most of the fraud had taken place on Sunday. Something had gone wrong.

One cool thing about banking at a tiny credit-union is that you end up talking to people who have actual authority, responsibility and agency. It turned out the the woman who was processing my fraud paperwork was a VP, and she decided to look into it. A few minutes later she came back and told me that the fraud center had no record of having called me on Saturday.

"That was the fraudster," she said.

Oh, shit. I frantically rewound my conversation, trying to figure out if this could possibly be true. I hadn't given him anything apart from some very anodyne info, like what city I live in (which is in my Wikipedia entry), my date of birth (ditto), and the last four digits of my card.

Wait a sec.

He hadn't asked for the last four digits. He'd asked for the last seven digits. At the time, I'd found that very frustrating, but now – "The first nine digits are the same for every card you issue, right?" I asked the VP.

I'd given him my entire card number.

Goddammit.

The thing is, I know a lot about fraud. I'm writing an entire series of novels about this kind of scam:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

And most summers, I go to Defcon, and I always go to the "social engineering" competitions where an audience listens as a hacker in a soundproof booth cold-calls merchants (with the owner's permission) and tries to con whoever answers the phone into giving up important information.

But I'd been conned.

Now look, I knew I could be conned. I'd been conned before, 13 years ago, by a Twitter worm that successfully phished out of my password via DM:

https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/

That scam had required a miracle of timing. It started the day before, when I'd reset my phone to factory defaults and reinstalled all my apps. That same day, I'd published two big online features that a lot of people were talking about. The next morning, we were late getting out of the house, so by the time my wife and I dropped the kid at daycare and went to the coffee shop, it had a long line. Rather than wait in line with me, my wife sat down to read a newspaper, and so I pulled out my phone and found a Twitter DM from a friend asking "is this you?" with a URL.

Assuming this was something to do with those articles I'd published the day before, I clicked the link and got prompted for my Twitter login again. This had been happening all day because I'd done that mobile reinstall the day before and all my stored passwords had been wiped. I entered it but the page timed out. By that time, the coffees were ready. We sat and chatted for a bit, then went our own ways.

I was on my way to the office when I checked my phone again. I had a whole string of DMs from other friends. Each one read "is this you?" and had a URL.

Oh, shit, I'd been phished.

If I hadn't reinstalled my mobile OS the day before. If I hadn't published a pair of big articles the day before. If we hadn't been late getting out the door. If we had been a little more late getting out the door (so that I'd have seen the multiple DMs, which would have tipped me off).

There's a name for this in security circles: "Swiss-cheese security." Imagine multiple slices of Swiss cheese all stacked up, the holes in one slice blocked by the slice below it. All the slices move around and every now and again, a hole opens up that goes all the way through the stack. Zap!

The fraudster who tricked me out of my credit card number had Swiss cheese security on his side. Yes, he spoofed my bank's caller ID, but that wouldn't have been enough to fool me if I hadn't been on vacation, having just used a pair of dodgy ATMs, in a hurry and distracted. If the 737 Max disaster hadn't happened that day and I'd had more time at the gate, I'd have called my bank back. If my bank didn't use a slightly crappy outsource/out-of-hours fraud center that I'd already had sub-par experiences with. If, if, if.

The next Friday night, at 5:30PM, the fraudster called me back, pretending to be the bank's after-hours center. He told me my card had been compromised again. But: I hadn't removed my card from my wallet since I'd had it replaced. Also, it was half an hour after the bank closed for the long weekend, a very fraud-friendly time. And when I told him I'd call him back and asked for the after-hours fraud number, he got very threatening and warned me that because I'd now been notified about the fraud that any losses the bank suffered after I hung up the phone without completing the fraud protocol would be billed to me. I hung up on him. He called me back immediately. I hung up on him again and put my phone into do-not-disturb.

The following Tuesday, I called my bank and spoke to their head of risk-management. I went through everything I'd figured out about the fraudsters, and she told me that credit unions across America were being hit by this scam, by fraudsters who somehow knew CU customers' phone numbers and names, and which CU they banked at. This was key: my phone number is a reasonably well-kept secret. You can get it by spending money with Equifax or another nonconsensual doxing giant, but you can't just google it or get it at any of the free services. The fact that the fraudsters knew where I banked, knew my name, and had my phone number had really caused me to let down my guard.

The risk management person and I talked about how the credit union could mitigate this attack: for example, by better-training the after-hours card-loss staff to be on the alert for calls from people who had been contacted about supposed card fraud. We also went through the confusing phone-menu that had funneled me to the wrong department when I called in, and worked through alternate wording for the menu system that would be clearer (this is the best part about banking with a small CU – you can talk directly to the responsible person and have a productive discussion!). I even convinced her to buy a ticket to next summer's Defcon to attend the social engineering competitions.

There's a leak somewhere in the CU systems' supply chain. Maybe it's Zelle, or the small number of corresponding banks that CUs rely on for SWIFT transaction forwarding. Maybe it's even those after-hours fraud/card-loss centers. But all across the USA, CU customers are getting calls with spoofed caller IDs from fraudsters who know their registered phone numbers and where they bank.

I've been mulling this over for most of a month now, and one thing has really been eating at me: the way that AI is going to make this kind of problem much worse.

Not because AI is going to commit fraud, though.

One of the truest things I know about AI is: "we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

I trusted this fraudster specifically because I knew that the outsource, out-of-hours contractors my bank uses have crummy headsets, don't know how to pronounce my bank's name, and have long-ass, tedious, and pointless standardized questionnaires they run through when taking fraud reports. All of this created cover for the fraudster, whose plausibility was enhanced by the rough edges in his pitch - they didn't raise red flags.

As this kind of fraud reporting and fraud contacting is increasingly outsourced to AI, bank customers will be conditioned to dealing with semi-automated systems that make stupid mistakes, force you to repeat yourself, ask you questions they should already know the answers to, and so on. In other words, AI will groom bank customers to be phishing victims.

This is a mistake the finance sector keeps making. 15 years ago, Ben Laurie excoriated the UK banks for their "Verified By Visa" system, which validated credit card transactions by taking users to a third party site and requiring them to re-enter parts of their password there:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094020/http://www.links.org/?p=591

This is exactly how a phishing attack works. As Laurie pointed out, this was the banks training their customers to be phished.

I came close to getting phished again today, as it happens. I got back from Berlin on Friday and my suitcase was damaged in transit. I've been dealing with the airline, which means I've really been dealing with their third-party, outsource luggage-damage service. They have a terrible website, their emails are incoherent, and they officiously demand the same information over and over again.

This morning, I got a scam email asking me for more information to complete my damaged luggage claim. It was a terrible email, from a noreply@ email address, and it was vague, officious, and dishearteningly bureaucratic. For just a moment, my finger hovered over the phishing link, and then I looked a little closer.

On any other day, it wouldn't have had a chance. Today – right after I had my luggage wrecked, while I'm still jetlagged, and after days of dealing with my airline's terrible outsource partner – it almost worked.

So much fraud is a Swiss-cheese attack, and while companies can't close all the holes, they can stop creating new ones.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to post about it whenever I get scammed. I find the inner workings of scams to be fascinating, and it's also important to remind people that everyone is vulnerable sometimes, and scammers are willing to try endless variations until an attack lands at just the right place, at just the right time, in just the right way. If you think you can't get scammed, that makes you especially vulnerable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[celeste-clearwater-06]

Hi hi! Do you still Write for tmnt? If not, just ignore this ask. And if yes, could I mayhaps get some Bayverse!leo x reader hcs on how he would help his partner out when they’re on their period?

YES I SURE AM, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REQUEST!!

this’ll be a fun little fic to kick off the comeback, I hope you like it! <33

Bayverse! Leonardo Period HC's

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Leo knows aunt flow is here before you do

unfortunately, he could tell something was off with you before he even really understood what they were to begin with

the first or second time you had gotten it while you were hanging out with the boys at the lair, Leo had no idea that’s what it was

and YOU had no idea that he knew, because well,

pheromones give you away (and the obvious, slow growing mood swings)

sweet boy is already prepped

which is why he expects your polite decline to come down to the lair for board game night

instead, you ask if he can come swing by your apartment for a little while

he figures the cramps have kicked in already

Leo knows all apparently 🙄

(unfortunately, he really does)

you’re curled up on your small sofa and holding your stomach for dear life when he gets there

you want to cry when you see he’s got a hot drink and some takeout in hand

has your order memorized :(

he gets you all set up on the coffee table, and then lifts you easily, to lay you on his plastron while he sprawls out on the couch

doesn’t say much

just runs his fingers through your hair while you snuggle into him

also, my boy does not PLAY about taking your medicine

Midol, Tylenol, ibuprofen

TAKE YOUR DAMN MEDICINE

will literally sit and stay with you until he sees you swallow it

also wants you to get as much rest as you can

even if you’ve slept half the day on a weekend and get up to piss

“you need to lay down!”

“i also need to empty my bladder, Lee”

loves making you tea

mother hen has all the natural remedies !!

he’s got all his fancy tea shit at the lair

but if you can’t leave your place, he’ll raid your cabinets and suddenly become a barista??

hello???

leo shares his heating blanket you got him for his birthday, and holds you till the cramps subside

ugh so sooo gentle

even though you can still get through every-day tasks, Leo insists on helping you do EVERYTHING when he’s around

i like to think it has to do with an instinct of protecting an injured animal

he’s scrambling around you and trying to help as much as he can

even though you’re standing like “🧍‍♀️” in the kitchen, perfectly fine, while you wait for your microwave ramen to get done

it’s the thought that counts, okay? 😭

won’t let his brothers rough house with you

even though you’re completely capable

he's scolding Mikey for lifting you in the air

“Sis, it is NOT that serious”

lots of forehead kisses from this boy

*kicking my feet*

also, if Leo can’t check in on you on patrol, he’s spam texting April to

she just texts you

[you doing okay?]

[im good lmao]

[okay good lol]

we love the effort

overall, Leo’s just a worried mess

but he’s got you !!! <33

just a big ol’ sweetie

[Thank you SO MUCH FOR THIS REQUESTTTT!!!! I hope it meets your expectations, I'm trying to ease my way back into writing again, and this was a great start 💕🩷💓 leave your likes and reblogs if you enjoyed and want more!! My request inbox is always open!!!!! Love yas!]

tag list ( @ladyofparchments @well-its-not-human-anymore @raphaelsrightarm @chiliiscereal @milkytheholy1 @moxfirefly @raphsgrl @leosgirl82 @thelaundrybitch @rheawritesforfun @imthegreenfairy86 @aurora-the-kunoichi @angelhazeisaweirdo @raisin-shell )

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Still With You | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Chapter Eleven

Summary: Making up with Jungkook isn't something you want to do first thing in the morning but you've kept him waiting for far too long Pairing : Luna (reader) x Jungkook and Jimin, f2l love triangle Word Count: 3.7k~ Warnings: Explicit language (barely lol) a/n: I know I put a poll up and this was the last choice in the rankings but this was already finished so I figured I'd just post it 😅 Start from the beginning

Opening my eyes I'm greeted with the warmth of the sun on my skin, shining through the curtains where I've fallen asleep on the couch in my living room. 

Reaching for my phone I check the time and see that I've woken up just five minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. I'd prefer it this way honestly if it could save me from being jolted awake by that incessant ringing signaling the start of my day. 

Taking a deep breath I look up at the ceiling and start coaching myself in how this morning should all go down. Confronting someone after a fight is never pleasant but in this situation it's necessary. 

'I don't want to lose him', that has been the reason for my inaction and now it has to be my motivation to take action.

Jungkook can be hardheaded when he wants to be (sometimes even more than me), but I can't let the fear of not being able to reach him keep me from fighting for us. 

I know I need to show him how much he means to me, I know I've fallen short and I know for sure it's my turn to step up and make things right.

Sitting up I'm hit with a sudden feeling of wooziness and realize that in all the upset I forgot to eat last night. 

Well, I guess that's another motivation added to the list for getting me up and out of this apartment. I make my way to my bathroom to take a quick shower and get dressed to go before I can chicken out of this. 

I'm reminded of some of the horrible things he said to me last night as I continue to wake up but the reason they cut so deep is because most of them are laced with truth. 

I was stringing him along, I did spend time with Jimin, but I'm not dating him. I don't like the attention as much as he thinks I do, I only really care about him and it's been like that for years.

I guess since I haven't really entertained a guy for a while neither one of us knows how to act, especially since I know that he loves me now. 

Or loved...

Arriving at his door I find myself hesitant to knock since the action itself seems foreign. Between the three of us including Grey we've kinda dropped that formality, or at least Grey and I have. 

Jungkook still is a bit more respectful and texts before letting himself in. I hope we can go back to those days and that the damage that has been done can be repaired. 

Making moves to knock I'm interrupted by the sight of Hoseok coming out of his place a few doors down. 

"Oh Luna, hi! I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?" he asks looking bright eyed and bushy tailed, a tell tail sign that he probably wasn't aware of Jungkook's drunken stupor from last night. 

"Could be better" I say now reminded of Jungkook's same response just hours ago. 

"Are you here to see Jungkook?" he asks, clearly seeing what my intensions are. "Yeah, do you know if he got home last night?" I question now concerned as to why he's asking.

"I heard from Jin that he crashed at his place after showing up drunk off his ass. He said he was mumbling something about you so I figured you might be showing up sometime soon" he relays, knowing that there's no real reason to hide the information from me. 

"Oh okay, I guess I'll go ahead and talk to him another time" I say making moves to retreat. "I could take you there if you want? It's on my way anyways" he says and I'm just now noticing he looks like he was on his way out. 

"Oh I don't want to impose" I start trying to decline his offer. "Don't worry about it, he's been out of sorts for the past week so I know that seeing you would probably help him out. I don't mean to sound nosy but we all kinda found out what happened".

I nod my head in understanding and ultimately accept his offer. 

The journey to Jin's house isn't too long but with every passing second I feel like my airways are closing up, my throat going dry. 

As I try to listen to Hoseok's rambling about some sort of new figurine that he collects I see the minutes on the gps get smaller and smaller as we get closer to our destination. Once it hits zero and he parks the car we sit there for a second. 

"Do you want me to walk you up? I told Jin we were on our way so he's already expecting you" he says hoping to encourage me to take that leap to finally try to work things out.

"No it's okay, you've already helped me so much. Thank you Hoseok really, I know I hurt him but I really do want to make it right" I say with a sad smile. 

"I know, friendships are hard and they're even harder when love gets added to the mix..." I widen my eyes and I see an amused look on his face. "Yes he told us that too, believe it or not he's been gushing about you to us for years, and it's Hobi, Hoseok is too formal" he chuckles. 

"Thank you Hobi, hopefully next time I see you it'll be under happier circumstances" I say with a pained expression. "I'm sure it will, we all know what he's like but please, don't stop fighting for him" he says pinching his eyebrows together in a pained expression. 

"I won't" is the last thing I say to him before walking up to the house. 

"Hi Luna" Jin says after answering my soft knocks on his door, doing my best to keep quiet incase Jungkook is still sleeping. "Hey" I say and he brings me in for a hug. "He's not awake yet but you can wait in the living room and we can catch up for a bit if you're up for it" he says and offers me a cup of coffee while he walks over to the kitchen, to which I accept and take a seat on his wrap around couch. 

"Here you go" he says and also brings milk and sugar so I can fix it to my liking. After doing so he retrieves the items and finally comes over to sit down on the opposite side of the couch making sure to keep a respectful distance, knowing what Jungkook's reaction might be if he found us any closer.

"How have you been? Hanging in there?" he starts taking the pressure off of me of initiating the conversation. "As best as I can be I guess. Did he tell you what happened last night?" I ask hoping to see where his head was at after our argument. 

"Well he was way too far gone when he got here so not a whole lot of it made sense other than telling me you guys had a fight and that you were cheating on him" he says recalling the sight. 

"How could I be cheating on him if we're not even dating?" I groan throwing my head back against the couch. 

"You know him, he's always been very protective of you, and I guess that with his confession he couldn't help but let out some of that possessive energy along with it" he explains plainly.

"Yeah I can tell. I got used to him being protective but everything has gotten out of control since then. You saw what happened that day on the boardwalk. How else was I supposed to react?" I ask, hoping for some sort of validation for my actions. 

"Maybe you shouldn't have shut me out" I freeze hearing Jungkook's deep morning voice that is drenched in hostility, still clearly upset with me. 

"Jungkook that's not fair" Jin says trying to come to my rescue. "It's okay Jin just let me talk to him" I talk him down, hoping that he'll give us some space to talk. "I'll be in the other room if you need me" he says and gets up to go, granting us a sense of privacy.

"What are you doing here?" Jungkook grumbles as he makes his way over to the kitchen and I decide to follow him there. 

"I came to see you" I say stating the obvious. "How did you find me?" he continues only asking surface level questions as he gets the coffee pot and pours himself a cup. "I passed by your place first and I bumped into Hobi so he told me where you were and gave me a ride here" I explain. 

"Don't call him that, only his friends get to call him that" he says clearly not happy that I've had contact with his hyungs without his prior knowledge. 

"He asked me to call him that..." I say trailing off deciding it's best not to push it. "Well I don't want you to. They're my friends, not yours" he says sternly still giving me the cold shoulder. "Noted" is all I say and do my best to give him a peace offering instead.

"I brought over some hangover soup, I thought you might like some" I say nodding towards the bag on the counter. 

Having his back to me, now looking for something that I could only guess would be some painkillers from the sight of the different medicine bottles in the cabinet, he only grunts in acknowledgement not really making an effort to show any sort of gratitude. 

"Shit" he mumbles. "I brought you some painkillers too if that's what you're looking for" I say hoping to get him to see that I really am here to help and not hurt. He lets out a deep sigh and looks over at the water bottle and the pain meds in question that I had placed on the counter and decides it's best to give in. 

"Thanks" he mumbles and takes the pills immediately. "You should probably eat something though so let me just heat up the soup for you too. I don't want you to end up with a stomachache on top of it all" I say gathering the takeout containers and assembling the meal before he can refuse.

After the food is ready I sit at the table and keep him company as he eats. 

"Aren't you gonna have some?" he questions, curious as to why I haven't served myself as well. "No that's okay, I ate something before I came here" I say making sure that he'll eat his fill and still have some left over for later. 

He shrugs his shoulders and continues to eat until I see that he looks like he's feeling a bit more alive again. He sits back and takes another drink of water before finally speaking. 

"So I'm guessing you're here to talk?" he says getting up to clear out the dishes, to which I jump up and help right away. "Yeah" I trail off hoping to have a more stable setting unlike last night. 

He nods his head and we both make our way over to the couch and end up sitting at the same distance that Jin and I had just been at before.

"So talk" he says and waits for me to explain myself. "Do you remember what happened last night?" I start off. 

"Bits and pieces. I do remember that you've been seeing another guy though, I wasn't drunk enough to forget that" he answers saying the last part under his breath. 

"I just want to clear that up real quick first so we can establish the reasons why I did what I did" he nods in acknowledgement and lets me continue. 

"His name is Jimin first off, and I met him a few days before the night you told me you love me, or loved me based off of what you said last night" he opens his mouth to interrupt but I hold my hand up telling him to wait until I've said my piece.

"He came into the store one day and flirted with me and we hit it off. He asked me to go to a cafe with him, which I did and he tried to kiss me at the end of it. I stopped him and told him I wanted to get to know him better and that we should take things slow, to which he agreed so we just kept things chill from there but he made his intensions known right away" I say and watch as his expressions change, seeing he wants to get a word in but he respects my wishes.

"In case you're wondering we haven't gone out on a proper date and we haven't kissed. On the night you and I had that fight on the boardwalk Jin brought me home and when I walked up to my doorstep there was a red envelope addressed to me" I continue and I can tell his interest is peaked.

"I picked it up and brought it inside and when I opened it I saw pictures of me with you and Grey. Some were from work, others were from us or just me inside my apartment and some were of us in random places where we were just spending time together. It even had pictures of when we went stargazing and from the day we went to the boardwalk"

I reach into my bag to take out the picture of us kissing with the first note that said 'I'm Watching You' with Jungkook's face crossed out. 

"All of the pictures had your face crossed out like this and I got scared so I grabbed my phone to try to call you but I somehow ended up calling Jimin on accident" I say and I see the way his hands grip the picture I had given him a little tighter.

"I started spiraling and by the time he picked up the phone he could already tell that something was wrong. I couldn't bring myself to hang up and call you because of what had happened between us so when he offered to come over I said yes" Jungkook tongues his cheek, a muscle in his jaw feathering.

"When he got there he helped calm me down and it felt so wrong to have someone else do what you've done for me time and time again but I knew it would've been selfish of me to ask you to come over after I had just asked for space".

I clear my throat before I keep going and I notice now that he's got his eyes trained on me, not missing a single word, needing to know what happened. 

"He spent the night, initially sleeping on the couch until I woke up from a nightmare later on that night so I asked him to sleep in the bed with me but that was it. Nothing happened" I explain and although he's still clearly tense I can tell he's happy that nothing happened. 

"I'm telling you in explicit detail because I want to be honest with you. I don't want there to be anymore misunderstandings between us. After that night I felt like we had gotten a bit closer so he asked me if I wanted to spend some more time together but I told him no because I wanted to figure out where things between you and I stand and he understood that but again told me that he still wanted to date me if I gave him the chance" if looks could kill...

"He ended up stopping by the store sometimes to just say hi and we would text occasionally but that's what the state of my relationship with him is at at the moment"

I think for a second trying to formulate my words carefully, the next part is one that could make or break our relationship. 

"I did ask for space that day for a few different reasons" I start off and I can see him squirm a bit in his seat. 

"One being that both you and Jimin confessed your feelings to me on the same night so my emotions were all over the place which is probably why I reacted the way that I did, so I apologize if I scared you" I explain and he nods, waiting for the other reasons on the list. 

"Two was that I felt like a switch flip between us even before you confessed to me. I could sense the tension building so I didn't know how to act. Third was from the way that things went down the day we fought. I do admit that I had fault in it too so I don't want you to feel like I'm blaming it all on you because I'm not" I back track a bit and he nods again.

"I had been teasing you from the start because I liked the way you would react to it. I liked the way you were getting jealous and possessive over me. It made me feel wanted and I hadn't really experienced something like that before" I confess, owning up to my fault. 

"I let things get out of hand when I kept on provoking you so I'm sorry. I didn't realize that something like that would make you so upset so it's my fault that that fight happened in the first place" I finish and take a deep breath, waiting for him to say something, finally giving him the chance to do so.

"That's a lot" he he breathes out, still trying to process it all. "I probably said some mean stuff to you last night didn't I?" he questions. I nod my head and he rubs his temples and thinks for a while before he finally starts to respond to everything. 

"That fight wasn't all your fault Luna, I played a part in it too. If anything I escalated it because of how blinded by jealousy I was. Having my feelings out in the open made me feel vulnerable and the guys knew that but they messed around with you anyways" he sighs and I nod, realizing that we were teaming up and trying to provoke him. 

"It wasn't a good decision on my part to bring you and I should've known that so I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for the way I treated you then and I'm sorry for what happened last night. Even though I don't remember everything I do know that what I did was fucked up and I should've just  turned around and left when I saw you. I wasn't ready to talk and I knew that but I missed you so much I couldn't pass up the chance to see you again" he says looking at me with true regret in his eyes. 

"I missed you too" I say quietly so I don't interrupt him too much.

"That stalker...well until we get to the bottom of that you're not leaving my side" he growls, leaving me protesting but now he's the one that's putting his hand up to stop me. "We'll work that out later but after all of this where do we stand?" he asks, slightly grimacing at the end.

"I don't know why I would ever say that I don't love you because I do. I love you so fucking much it hurts Luna" he lets out a shaky breath. "No matter what I've said in the past or what I'll say in the future I will always love you" he finishes showing so much regret. 

"I don't know...but maybe we could start off by being best friends again?" I suggest hoping that he'll be satisfied with that for now. "I'm not saying that I don't want to try and make us work, but for right now I think our feelings are too raw so we should probably take some time to heal what's been hurt" I explain, hoping I've gotten my point across. 

"I think I'd like that...but let's try to heal together this time okay? Don't push me away again. I don't care how mad you are, just stay with me" he pleads, reaching out for my hand.

"Always" I reply, squeezing his hand. 

"You've said that before" he gives me a stern look. 

"Okay but I really do mean it this time" I hold my hands up laughing at his attempt to be mad at me again. 

"You better" he chuckles before ruffling my hair. 

"I guess I deserved that" I say while blowing the hair out of my face. "Oh you definitely deserve more than that" he says standing up and stalking towards me. 

"What do you mean by that?" I say standing up and backing away from him. 

"Why don't you come over here and find out" he chuckles with a devious smile, lunging towards me which I narrowly evade and run away from him.

"Jin! Jin, help! He's trying to kill me!" I yell laughing at how silly Jungkook looks while running after me. 

"YA! I leave you two alone for 10 minutes and you're already disrespecting my home?" he scolds. 

I make a bee line for him but Jungkook cuts me off and pulls me in by my waist, my back up against his chest. 

"Jin please save me. Please don't leave me with him" I beg while he backs up into his room seeing the playful manner that has been revived between us. 

"Just don't break anything Jungkook" he chuckles and sends us an amused smile before he closes the door 

"No" I whimper out before Jungkook whispers in my ear. 

"Seems like we've gotta make up for lost time" he purrs before pinching my sides, making me squirm in his embrace. 

"Jungkook stop please you know I hate this!" I whine before he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. "Aw pretty, we haven't even started" he smirks and starts tickling me mercilessly.

"JIN! HELP!" I yell out through gasps desperate for a savior, my prayers forever going unanswered.

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[masterflight8058]

A few practical thoughts for girls…

Browsing through Tumblr we see posts like, "All girls should be kept naked;" or, "Girls should always be collared and on their knees." And while in a "perfect" society those both would be feasible, in our current culture none of those three things are practical for daily life. So here are some true to life things girls can do to standout from other girls, impress men, and demonstrate submission. I encourage all girls to adopt as much of this list as possible, I promise it will do you only good.

1: Dress for men. I figured that I would start easy. Notice that I did not say to dress slutty, though there is certainly a time for that, skirts and dresses should be worn whenever possible and your outward appearance should be feminine to be most appealing to men. 2: Show deference by addressing all men as, “Sir.” This simple change in your speech makes a big difference in how you will be viewed. I cannot think of a more powerful instant, “power move,” a girl can make. If a girl is owned/in a relationship/etc then this can be somewhat up to the man if he wants her to continue this, however the overwhelming majority of men find having this kind of girl on his arm a big win. He also may choose a different title or honorific for himself, if so use it without fail, he will certainly notice and appreciate the attention and respect. 2b: Speak with a feminine tone. You don’t need to squeak like a mouse, but try to always speak softly, be respectful, NEVER CURSE. You are a girl, there is no reason to have a “sailor’s mouth.” Nothing for most men is a greater instant, “nope not interested in her anymore,” than a vile mouth. There are times where this can be interjected in sexual situations that is appealing, but ask your man first, and part of the allure is that it is so out of character. 3: Show submission to men. All reasonable requests from men should be met with, “Yes Sir!” What is reasonable is determined by the relationship. Random man asks you to hand him something in the store, the response should be, “here you are Sir.” The same man demands a date, you certainly could respectfully decline. A girl’s owner walks up behind her and reaches under her skirt, she should spread her legs wider and say, “here you are Sir.” A guy on the street touches your butt, a proper reply is to respectfully ask him to stop, if he continues then bring out the pepper spray, lol.

That was a longer post and I applaud the girls that read it all. I am likely to post another set in the near future, perhaps 4-6...

[1-9-3-4]

I may be dying from lack of sleep and struggling with the feeling of my heart having groovy palpitations.. I just need to write this down. Forgive me in advance for being rusty.

Thorin’s company after their little tussle with Smaug and having mended their relations with the elven king; Thranduil, sent Bilbo home. Yeah? You got this part down? Ok. So let’s just say that Thorin had not only developed the dragon sickness so late into the story BUT he also feels that his hoard is missing something. Nah, scratch that. Someone..! He did give mithril to Bilbo, not because he trusted him but rather the fact that he has already considered Bilbo as part of his treasures! (Idea is not really mine, I’d just found someone on TikTok who worded it better than I could.)

Now that we have a glimpse of what’s bound to happen, I’d like you to keep in mind that this is just 2AM rambles. A little prayer for Bilbo can go a long way because Thorin has gained dragon-like features/ traits. Let’s list them down shall we?

A keen sense of hearing.

Nocturnal.

Has massive curled horns protruding from his forehead.

Sharp, darkened claws/nails.

Onyx coloured wings

Infrared senses.

Bofur comes to the conclusion that Thorin must’ve realised something was amiss from his hands and that something was Bilbo..! Worried that Thorin might figure out what is the cause of his inner turmoil and whatever could happen to them or Bilbo, he discusses his theory with Balin. Now such clandestine details cannot be missed by such greed that has dug their claws into Thorin’s soul and he quickly makes his way to the shire. As it had taken the company months to reach the lonely mountain on foot but by dragon wings Thorin reaches Bag End in 3 days time.

Upon arrival he finds that Bilbo is in his garden tending to his flowers and this rouses the dragon sickness to such ferocity that he almost ripped out the little fencing of the gardenia in order to leave with his precious hobbit. (Yes he also wants the garden to come with the hobbit, Mahal forbid a dwarf wants his little treasure to be entertained by his garden) Cue Thorin’s need to scent Bilbo like a cat as he nuzzles his face into the shorter of the two’s neck, Thorin also has developed a sense of cuteness aggression for Bilbo and begins holding onto his wrists real tight and letting his curved nails to dig into the soft flesh but not quite penetrating the skin.

Mind you, Bilbo is scared out of his wits that Thorin has somehow turned into a bumbling idiot obsessed with him and is now almost trying to forcibly leave with him. The poor guy now has to come up with an excuse to not leave with the possessive dwarf or ride on his back. As rough as it is he has to be a gentlehobbit and decline Thorin’s half threat offer but either way he tells him that he will think about and asks him to give him month to think about it.

Hold on gang, I ain’t done yet. I just need to milk myself a little harder for story ideas/concepts but this is all I can offer to ye Bagginshield lovers. Mwah <3 see yous l8r

[harmonicakai]

The Only Exception

Part 1 of the "Anyone Else But You" series

Pairing: Huening Kai x Reader

Summary: It's starting to feel like you're the only person in the world that Huening Kai isn't best friends with, and you're determined to figure out why.

Tropes: enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn, mutual pining, fluff, angst

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex (mdni), reader has an inferiority complex

“I never had a doubt that  You would come through I always adored you  I always ignored you” —The Prince of the Hanging Gardens, Beatenberg

If there were any reason for Huening Kai to dislike you, you had no clue as to what it was. The two of you would get along perfectly fine on paper, but despite you and Yeonjun being best friends for over a year now, his roommate has never warmed up to you.

He isn’t like this with anyone else. Kai bounces from stranger to stranger, laughing and chatting away as if he’s known them for years. With you, he won’t even look you in the eye or mutter more than a few words.

For Yeonjun’s birthday party last month, you baked him a cake from scratch. It was a smash hit with the guests, but when Kai sang praises and asked around for who made it, you could tell he was disappointed that it had been you. 

“Oh, Y/N. It was good,” he said, offering a weak thumbs up and declining to say anything else. You’d been watching him in deep conversation with every other person at the party, his obnoxiously loud laugh interrupting some of your own chats every so often. So why did he never have anything to say to you?

It’s not a big deal that he doesn’t like you. Really. He almost never comes out of his room when you’re around, so there’s not many opportunities for things to be awkward. At least until this morning.

You’ve got breakfast plans with Yeonjun at Seoul’s hottest new café, and even he can’t get a reservation. So, that means lining up with the rest of the city before the sun’s even risen.

You tiptoe around the apartment so you don’t somehow wake up Kai. The last thing you need is for another reason to hate you to be added to his list.

Sitting at the kitchen table to drink your first coffee of the day, you can hear the soft sound of the shower running. Great, you think to yourself. Yeonjun’s barely started getting ready and you’ll most definitely be last in line now.

While you’re scrolling on your phone to find less popular alternatives, a creak in the floorboards catches your attention. You look up to see a barefoot girl with messy hair and a short dress attempting to sneak out.

When you catch her eye, she looks like a deer in the headlights. No doubt one of Yeonjun’s many conquests from his latest excursion to the club, this doesn’t faze you. 

That’s what you think until Kai pops his head out of his bedroom.

“Hey, wait,” Kai’s hushed voice calls. He steps out in his boxers and a t-shirt, the girl still too stunned to speak. In his hands are a small wad of lacy fabric—her underwear. “Don’t forget these.”

He flashes a perfect, pearly-white smile at her before pulling her in for a much-too-long kiss. The crazed look in her eyes afterward tells him that something is wrong. 

When he glances over to the kitchen table and meets your gaze, his smile drops.

“Get out,” he tells her, his mood shifting somewhere between embarrassment and anger.

“Are we still on for Saturday night?” she asks, making you think that Kai must’ve really liked her to make plans to see her again.

“No. Get out,” he says again through clenched teeth, refusing to look away from you. She scrambles out the front door without another word.

Kai’s mouth twitches, as if he’s finally going to lay into you, but instead he presses his lips together and turns away. His bedroom door slams behind him.

Half of you is used to Kai treating you like this. The other half wonders if maybe you were as pretty as she was, he would be nicer. Suddenly, you don’t feel like getting breakfast anymore.

By the time Kai comes back out of his room, fully dressed and finally calm, you’ve already left. 

He sits down, your coffee abandoned on the table, nearly full with lipstick smudged across the lid. He lifts the paper cup, inhaling the coffee’s sweet aroma, and takes a sip. It’s cold now.

—————-

It was your job on the styling team at HYBE that introduced you to the boys. You had just graduated college and moved to Seoul, and fashion was the only way you could really express yourself.

Instantly, Yeonjun noticed how shy you were and took it upon himself to bring you out of your shell. Now, the two of you are inseparable. 

“Where the hell were you the other day?” he asks as you organize clothing onto racks. You’re not even dressing him today, but he’s hunted you down in the building like a bloodhound. A hairstylist trails him and attempts to put his bangs in a roller. “I woke up at the crack of dawn for nothing.”

“Um,” you start, looking over your shoulder. You lock eyes with him and then gesture towards the hairstylist, now clipping in lime green extensions. 

“Hey, could you give us some privacy?” he asks, although it’s clearly more of a command. They nod and walk away, leaving Yeonjun with a half-done head of hair. 

“You look ridiculous.”

“And you’re acting ridiculous. Since when do you stand me up?” Yeonjun pouts.

“Stand you up? You’re not my boyfriend,” you scoff.

“You wish I were,” he quips back. You roll your eyes. Not in a million years would you be each other’s ideal types.

“Shut up, Jun,” you say, walking towards the storage closet to grab a steamer. He follows.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll stop busting your balls. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s Huening Kai. I sort of… walked in on him… with a girl.” Yeonjun’s eyes go wide.

“Holy shit. Like they were in the act? Please tell me this wasn’t on the couch or in the kitchen or—”

“No, ew. She was just on her way out.” Now he’s rolling his eyes at you.

“Come on, Y/N! Why’s that such a big deal? He has girls over all the time.” The last statement makes Yeonjun stop himself and regroup. “Well, I mean, every once in a while. Look, what I’m trying to say is that Huening isn’t a virgin, okay?”

“This is the first I’ve seen or heard of any of this,” you state. The only Huening Kai that you really knew was the innocent maknae role that he played up for the cameras. Plus, you figured with how often you were over, you would’ve noticed another girl at least once.

“Well, we try to not talk about our sex lives around you too much.” That’s a lie. Yeonjun loves talking about his sex life.

“Thanks, I guess? Is that because I’m a girl?”

“No,” he replies. “It’s because Hyuka asked us not to.”

You raise an eyebrow. “And why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. So what was so bad about seeing him with some girl?”

You don’t really know how to put your feelings into words. Your hesitation makes a sly grin spread across Yeonjun’s face.

“Y/N… you’re not jealous, are you?”

“Oh my god, no! I’m just… confused, I guess. I kind of figured that he wasn’t very good with girls, considering that he never wants to have a conversation with me.”

“Trust me, Huening is very different when he’s had a few drinks. You’d know that if you ever went out with us.”

“You know clubs aren’t really my thing.”

“They could be. Come on, we’re going out tomorrow night. Why don’t you wear this?”

He pulls a sparkly black dress from the rack, a rejected look that you pulled for one of Le Sserafim's performances. Its straps criss cross over an open back, showing way more skin than you’re comfortable with. 

“You know I can’t take anything from here. Besides, what’s wrong with my own clothes?” 

Yeonjun looks you up and down. Today, you’re wearing a maxi skirt, button down, sweater vest, and your glasses. Okay, maybe it’s serving grandma-chic, but you like it.

“Y/N, you are so adorable. Really, just the cutest. But at the club, the goal is to be sexy. I’m sure under all of those layers, you’re super hot. Hot enough for Huening to bring home next.” 

He says the last sentence with a wink and your ears suddenly feel hot. You get the feeling he’s not going to take no for an answer.

“I’ll think about it,” you say, snatching the dress out of his hands. “But if I go, it’ll only be for an hour, tops. And it has nothing to do with Kai, okay?”

“Whatever. Just don’t forget to make me the best man when the two of you get married, alright?”

“I hate you.”

“I know,” he muses, planting a kiss on your cheek and strutting away.

—————-

At the end of the work day, your feet ache and all you want is to get home and take a nice bubble bath. 

A sudden change in concept meant that you had spent several hours past when you were scheduled to leave, calling designers in order to secure samples for NewJeans to wear in an upcoming music video.

Trudging into the elevator, you let your eyes drift shut as you lean against the wall.

“Hey, wait!” someone’s voice calls, sounding eerily familiar. Your eyes shoot open. A hand shoves itself in between the closing doors, opening them back up. 

Huening Kai slips in, sweaty and out of breath. Despite seeing him just a few days ago, his hair has changed from jet black to a dirty blond. 

You glance at your watch. Is this really the hour that idols tend to go home?

He checks to see that the ground floor button has been pressed and stands facing the doors. Either he hasn’t noticed you or is choosing to ignore you.

“Hi, Kai,” you say, contempt in your voice. If he won’t acknowledge you on his own, you’ll make him.

Kai turns around slowly to face you, his expression completely blank. “Oh, hi, Y/N. I didn’t know it was you.”

Sure, he didn’t. There’s still twelve floors to go, and it’s going to be a long way down.

It’s silent until floor seven, in which Hana from makeup steps in. Her hands are full of Olen’s latest release. How many colored contacts does one group need?

“Hi, Hana! Long time no see,” Kai says, bowing his head slightly. Hana’s much older than the two of you, so it’s hard to gauge whether that makes her easier to talk to or he just happens to have a thing for age gaps. For your sanity, you decide it’s the former.

“Hi, Kai! And Y/N, I almost didn’t see you there!” Go figure. You’re invisible to everyone. “Are you two headed somewhere?”

“No, we just happened to get in at the same time. Nice coincidence, though, right?” he says, much happier now than when it was just the two of you. “It’s so great that we ran into each other! Are you done for the day, too?”

“Oh, no! I still have lots of work to do, but you two have fun with your night. You’re both so young,” she laughs, stepping out onto the fourth floor. “And by the way, you would look very good together.”

When the doors shut, it’s silent again. You’re so close to the lobby now.

Except the numbers stop counting down. Kai looks up from picking at his cuticles and shoots you a knowing look. It’s stuck at three.

“That’s not good,” he says, although he doesn’t seem as worried as you. How can he stay so calm right now?

You press the emergency button and the line buzzes before connecting. The sound is muffled.

“Can anybody hear me?” you say into the mic. More incoherent noises reply back. “Hello? We’re stuck in an elevator in HYBE’s east wing. Please, send help!”

The line goes dead. You’re going to cry. You’re trapped in an elevator with the person who dislikes you most and now you’re going to cry in front of him.

You clench your fists and squeeze your eyes shut as hot tears begin to stream down your face.

“Y/N,” Kai asks, his voice soft. You’re too busy trying to steady your breathing to hear him. He places a hand on your shoulder. “Y/N, are you okay?”

 “No, I’m not okay! I just want to go home!” you snap at him, your voice trembling. “I’m tired and it’s been a long day and now I’m stuck here with you and I—I just can’t believe this!” 

Kai takes a step back. Even through your tears, you can see that you’ve hurt his feelings. He stares at his feet. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to be upset.”

His words make you choke up even more, like you’re somehow the villain. You crouch down to hug your knees. He kneels next to you and places a hand on your back.

Maybe you’re overreacting. Maybe he doesn’t hate you. Or, maybe, he just feels really bad for you this one time and has decided to be nice.

“Y/N,” he says again. You raise your head and look at him with puffy eyes. The sight of his face, so full of worry, makes you cry even harder. What the hell is going on? Who is this guy and what has he done with the Huening Kai who can’t stand to even be in the same room as you?

Kai’s hands find yours and bring you to your feet. Before you can say anything, he’s wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into a hug. You bury your face in his chest as one of his hands smooths your hair. 

His body is warm, his heartbeat strong and steady. Yours slowly begins to match its pace. As you breathe in and out, you notice that he smells like freshly brewed black tea and ripe peaches in the summertime.

You’re so relaxed now that you don’t notice that the elevator has started to descend again. A ding attempts to tell you that you’ve reached the lobby, but it’s too late.

“Holy shit,” Yeonjun laughs from the other side of the doorway. Has he been waiting here the whole time? “Y/N? Kai? I fucking knew it!”

Kai immediately pulls away from you and exits, his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he speedwalks towards the building’s front doors without so much as a goodbye. 

Yeonjun does a double take, eyeing your red eyes and smudged mascara. He sits you down on a bench and places a hand on your shoulder. “What happened?”

“Ask him,” you mutter, crossing your arms. “You guys live together.”

“Will do,” he concedes. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

“I’m fine,” you say, although that’s debatable. “Really, you’re good to go.”

Yeonjun sighs, knowing that something’s clearly bothering you, but he’s already learned his lesson when it comes to pressing you on certain matters.

“Well, goodnight, then.” He pulls you into a hug and ruffles your hair before getting up. “I love you. Call me on your walk if you need to, or at least text me whenever you get home.”

And just like that, he’s gone and you’re left all alone. Tomorrow is sure going to be something, you think to yourself.

—————-

Taglist: @orangesodafoam

P.S.: Please shoot me an ask or a reply if you’d like to be added to (or removed from) the taglist!

[immobulusmalfoy]

Pond Scum (Drabble) - Draco Malfoy x F!Reader

A/N: I was in a writing rut and shared this list, so here's the third prompt I received! Protective Draco is such a delight, especially when he's trying to figure out his feelings.

Warnings: Slight bullying (this is Draco, after all), characters have crushes but no resolution, and we don't talk about Bruno (Voldy).

13 ⧽. rescuing their crush/partner from unwanted advances

The Triwizard Tournament. The Yule Ball. Everything about this semester at school was crashing down on you and stressing you out. You were dropping grades for the first time ever due to the stress of being surrounded by students from other schools who were somehow better than you at a few of the subjects you were taking. Boys from Durmstrang hovered over girls close to their age, flirting with them and showing off some of the techniques they learned at school. Techniques like hand to hand combat as well as advanced spellwork. And while it was interesting to watch from a distance, you weren’t interested in getting to know anyone else. You were perfectly happy with the friendships you already had, mainly with Draco.

You were friendly with lots of people, but Draco was your closest and oldest friend, your parents having made you spend time together as children before Hogwarts. You’d hated each other at first until you realized you liked a lot of the same things. Hermione was a good friend, too, along with Ron and Harry sometimes. Though you weren’t as close with them and it made it hard to be friendly when they complained about Draco all the time. It was exhausting with just four people to keep track of, so how could all these other people keep track of so many other people?

With the Yule Ball approaching in just a few short weeks, ones full of exams and studying, the impending doom of needing a date was stressing you out even further. You’d hoped Draco would ask you, him knowing that you didn’t want to go with a stranger, but he hadn’t even brought it up. The only mentions he’d made of it were snide remarks about Harry being the fourth champion and how he didn’t deserve it as well as telling Pansy to shut up when she begged him to be her date. He declined, which made your hope grow. But he still hadn’t said anything and the ball was in a week!

However, now the pressure was on for everyone. You witnessed no less than six couples deciding to go together throughout your day, both in small and large ways. You dearly hoped no one would throw together a huge display to ask you, though you knew you wouldn’t be asked anyway. Or at least, it seemed that way since no one had asked yet.

That is, until today. You were walking to the library to meet Draco to study when Harry waylaid you in the halls with Ron. They called out your name urgently, making you think something was wrong.

“What is it?” you asked nervously. With them it was always something.

“Nothing’s wrong, per say.” Harry started, “but I have a question to ask you.”

“You’re a girl.” Ron blurted out. You eyed them both warily.

“Is this about the Yule Ball?”

“No.” “Yes.” They both said at the same time. Then they glared at the other and changed their answers oppositely again.

“So which is it?” you asked impatiently, wanting to be done with the whole conversation.

“What Ron’s trying to say is that you’re a girl and we noticed you don’t have a date to the Yule Ball. We don’t have dates either and I thought to ask you if you wanted to go with me. Or Ron. Doesn’t matter. Just, as one of the champions, I have to have a date according to McGonagall and I can’t just ask anyone.” Harry rambled.

You were shocked. With all the moaning and groaning he and Draco did about each other and, by extension, you, you had assumed that Harry definitely wouldn’t ask you since it could be misconstrued. But you were wrong. Perhaps it was revenge, but perhaps not?

“So will you?” Harry asked.

“Will I what?” you replied, knowing full well what he was asking, but hoping Draco would arrive to save you from this awkward conversation before he had the chance to officially ask what he and Ron were attempting to ask and failing miserably. No wonder they hadn’t found dates.

He was in the process of spitting it out again when a very familiar arm draped around your shoulders, the green of a certain Slytherin’s cufflinks in your sights. A sigh of relief escaped your lips.

“Potter,” Draco drawled, “is there a reason you’re trying to steal my Yule Ball date for yourself? Can’t you get anyone you like, Chosen One? No? I can’t imagine why you think my friend would be interested in going with pond scum like you.” He finished with a wicked smile. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw his free hand twirling his wand absentmindedly, but you knew he was prepared to use it if necessary and Harry knew it too.

They gaped at the two of you.

“You’re going with Malfoy?” he and Ron shouted at the same time, clearly disgusted by the prospect.

“It’s a library, Potter, so perhaps you two could be quieter. I wouldn’t expect less from a Weasel. And yes, she is. You can’t buy class. Now, go find someone else to bother, Potter.”

“Thank you,” you whispered once the other boys had skulked off to bother some other poor souls. “You don’t have to go with me, though. I know you were just saving me from that prat and I appreciate it.”

Draco looked at you oddly as you both sat down at a table in the library like you’d planned. It was like he knew something you didn’t.

“I thought we’d already decided to go together? Our parents already planned our dress robes to match, as well. You didn’t know?”

“No?”

“I reckon I forgot to ask, then. I thought you knew. I’ve been brushing Pansy off for ages now and spending all my time with you, which I don’t mind, obviously. But I certainly couldn’t let Potter try and get you. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Is that care I’m detecting, Draco?” you teased, not minding at all. If you were going with Draco, if it had all been arranged, then you needn’t worry a bit about someone asking you with a grand gesture like you’d been seeing.

Draco shot you a look before delving into his satchel to pull out his books, quills, parchment, and ink as you did the same. He didn’t answer and you worked in silence for a while.

“You truly don’t mind that I didn’t ask?” Draco asked quietly once a lot of people had left the library, leaving the two of you mostly alone. “Truthfully, I forgot I hadn’t in all the mess this semester has been. Tormenting Potter took the foreground and I haven’t been very . . . friendly recently.”

“Honestly, I don’t mind at all. It’s very us. Not communicating and letting others do it for us. Did our parents really match our dress robes to each other?”

“Yes,” Draco sighed, “and I only know because our new house elf blabbed about it.”

“Well, I expect to dazzle everyone by your side now that all that’s been settled.” you finished with a smile, reaching over to hold his hand. He startled at the contact, but didn’t let go, choosing instead to continue with his essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts with his other hand while you worked on your Charms essay. But when you looked over at him for a second during your work, you caught him smiling at your entwined fingers, showing you just how much he did care.

[lostintransist]

Liaison | 3 - Costco Is Not For The Weak

Check out the part 1 or part 2.

Wandering into the kitchen on a break, you let your thoughts drift back to the second week on the job. You couldn’t work on your own yet and Kate had to be off-site for a meeting, leaving you with nothing to do. She had left you a book of names and faces to memorize but that tedious task did not appeal. That day Gaz tapped you to go to Costco with him and Harold, the receptionist.

“Come on,” he cajoled, “We need someone who can lift heavy things.”

Gaz’s easy manners and quick smile helped you feel at ease, and you liked Harold. He reminded you of what you expected it to be like having a grandpa.

“Fine, but I will be buying things I need for the office too.”

Gaz leveraged himself up using the desk. He had said when he picked you up from the airport that he had taken some shrapnel to the thigh and Doc wouldn’t clear him until PT said he could run on it.

“What kind of things would you need for the office?” He offers you a hand up.

You decline with a shake of your head and uncurl yourself from the office chair.

“Well, a better office chair for one. But I will be taking a lot of phone calls and I need something to do while those are going on so I figured I could make cookies, breads, and the like. The kneading dough will be a good way to avoid yelling at senators.”

Gaz let out a bark of laughter, “Good luck with that.”

Harold drove them to Costco, navigating the streets like a veteran. He chatted away about his garden, the growing conditions, and the soil’s acidity. Soaking in his voice’s warm timbre, you learn more about plants than you did before the drive started. You and Harold both flash a membership card, much to his delight. You spend the remainder of the trip pointing out the differences from a US Costco as Harold and even Gaz had many questions.

Harold, upon hearing of your penchant for baking, bought a full set of bowls, spoons, and baking trays.

“My late wife loved to bake,” Harold stares down sadly at the bread tin in his hand. “She’s been gone seven years and it still feels like she will walk through the front door with a smile and an apology for being late.”

“How long were you married, Harold?” Gaz asks as he rearranges the cart for the third time.

“Forty-two years with my Sharron, I don’t know that ninety years would have been enough.” The longing in his voice moved you to tears.

Gaz, aghast and concerned loudly points out the fact you are crying.

“Why are you crying?”

“Oh just leave me alone Gaz, it’s the Costco prices getting to me. Costco is not for the weak.” You fan your eyes, attempting to dry out the tears. “Harold, what is your favorite thing your wife would bake?”

“Peach pie, dear are you sure you are okay?” He pulls you into a side hug.

“I’ll be okay. Something about how much you love your wife just caught me in a tender spot is all.” A watery laugh and a sniffle seem to reassure both men. You take the handkerchief that Harold offers and wipe at your nose. “I’ll return this once it is clean. Now we have a lot left to buy so let’s go.”

The trip took several hours between the slow walking speed of Gaz and Harold and the excessive list Harold had. The cabinets and fridge were kept full as many members of the team would roll in hungry off jobs and would often sleep in some of the side offices set up for that reason. You hadn’t seen any of them yet but were told they were locked from the inside and indicated if they were in use.

“We all work such wonky schedules that sometimes a nap is needed to get through the paperwork,” Gaz groused.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Hopefully, I won’t need to use it.”

The side eye Gaz sent you said you would be using it, and often. He turned out to be right.

Checkout went smoothly, if a bit long. When the total rang up on the screen the comma caused you to wince. Harold swiped the company credit card without a hint of concern. With how much money the company made on a single man job you shouldn’t have worried.

The drive back to the office had been a tight fit. Once the boot of the car had been filled Harold instructed you in his best grandpa voice to get buckled in and he would load things in for you to hold. He did the same to Gaz.

“That’s it, Harold, you can’t wait so long between trips,” he let out a heavy oof as a box of protein drinks is set on his lap.

“Mr. Gaz I am an old man and unless you can convince Mr. Shepard to let me have the items delivered I must wait until someone can come with me,” Harold chides him gently.

You let out a small snort. Gaz flicks your ear while Harold is making another run to the cart at the back of the car.

“I will bite you,” you snarl at him.

You and Gaz had clicked into a sibling relationship so quickly it could be called concerning. It probably came from how he would sit and bother you as you were trying to work between his physical therapy appointments. He had broken three pens, a stapler, and a staple puller. The last one still didn’t make sense to you. How does one break such a simple tool? One of the extra purchases included a collection of small baskets that you would fill with fidgets for Gaz and others to play with.

Harold shut the doors and returned the cart. When he settled into the driver’s seat you caught sight of the time.

“I can help get as much in as I can, but I have a meeting with Kate in about forty-five minutes. Anything you can’t put away before you leave I can handle after my meeting. Anything that is for me if you wouldn’t mind leaving it on the counter. I can clear out a cabinet for my baking supplies.”

“I can do that for you dear, Gaz and I can handle moving everything in, we have a flat trolley for trips like this,” Harold replied.

Part 2 | AO3 (Up to chapter 27 as of this post)

Masterlist

[letstalkaboutfandomsbaby]

I’ve been thinking about Mo and I can’t get over the fact that

1. He’s always focused on what the reader wants to the point it seem like he’s not allowing himself to have wants (other than the physical aspect)

And 2. probably doesn’t have friends or really spends time with anyone but her

I just wanna hold his hand, ask him about movies he likes to watch, get him to branch out to other people in his life and express himself more (and considering how his parent situation was he’s probably touch starved and that’s most likely the reason he’s extra touchy with reader 🥲)

Anyways just had to rant about cutesy Mohammed as I’ve become more invested in his happiness as the story goes on

Omg!! Thank you so much for coming into my inbox and talking about Mohammed, it brings me so much joy!! And ik you didn't ask for the wordvomiting but I'm gonna give it to you anyways bc i love talking about him sksksk

When I first started writing 'Buff Guy', I didn't really develop a character. I knew that I wanted a big strong guy to fall in love with a chubby woman (reader), but that was pretty much the extent of it. I didn't have a personality set out bc I wanted him to be a generic guy that anyone could fall in love with. Tbh I think that might have been a blessing but also a curse bc now I'm developing him as the story goes and we don't know jack shit unless he tells reader something. But it's also kind of cool bc that's how real relationships work! You don't know somebody unless you ask questions and they give you honest answers, so maybe it's more realistic in that aspect

Anyways, when I first developed the story, he was just a guy, just some dude, but as I started developing him I came with a backstory:

Mohammed was born in a pretty wealthy family. Mom and Dad both have a background of money which only improved with their marriage. Mom was very independent and had a lot of aspirations, but then she got pregnant with Mo and didn't think she could properly raise him if she was working, so she dropped out of law school and became a stay at home mother. She tried to be as present as possible with Mohammed to give him a good, loving upbringing, but when he was 12 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. They tried treatment with chemotherapy and radiation, but the cancer came back and she declined quickly. Her death was very sudden but expected by the end, so she tried to help prepare Mo for that. With his mother gone, he didn't really have a loving figure in his life anymore. He had his father, who was always a distant man who sucked at relating to children, so he had to raise himself for the rest of his childhood. The workers his dad hired were there, and they were nice enough, but none of them ever stepped into the role of being a parent, so he was pretty much alone, and he determined that this was the new norm and stayed alone ever since.

His dad always put the expectation on him to focus on his education, so he did. He focused on school, taking advanced classes, and stayed away from hanging out with friends and sports. He could easily have done those things, but he always thought that he would be better off working on his education than going out on the weekends and having fun. So he was kind of a shut in sksksk. He's never gone to a school football game or prom or anything normal for a teenager. He would do schoolwork and then if he had free time, he would play videogames at home. This went on until he graduated top of his class. His dad insists that he go to college, fully paid for, so he does. Same thing happens in college. He focuses on studying instead of making friends and partying or even joining clubs, because that's what he think makes a successful person. He was always a tall and big kid, but at this point he started using the university gym and gaining some muscle. He feels very accomplished doing this, so he continues it until he graduates with a business degree, on the Dean's list and honor roll.

He goes to work at a company for an internship. He continues to be an introvert. He doesn't really speak unless spoken to, so he doesn't really make friends. He continues to believe that hard work brings success, just like it did for his father, so he continues to pour himself into his work to prove himself. He does go to the gym a lot after work, and when he's not doing work or the gym, he's playing videogames at home. At some point, he wonders if working with videogames would make him happier, but he doesn't think he'd be as successful doing that, so he throws out that idea.

He applies for a job as a CEO. He has enough good experience that his company decides to give him a try, since they're new and need direction and the other options didn't have as good of grades, and Mo is really successful at it. He's good at being a leader and guiding people and making big decisions without letting his emotions get in the way, so he does really well with his company and they keep him on permanently.

So now he's at a point where he has nothing new to achieve. He's got the good job, he gets a nice apartment, he doesn't know what to do now. He's still introverted and a shut in, but he doesn't feel fulfilled like he should, so he calls up his dad to figure out what to do next. His dad encourages him to find a girlfriend and settle down now that he's worked so hard, so he decides to do that bc I think deep down he just wants his father's approval.

He starts dating on apps. He meets some women, most of them who just see the muscles and the money and think they're set for life and don't really care about Mo's personality (which is, tbh, a little dry and boring bc he's a homebody and never had proper relationships before). He tries dating, but he doesn't feel fulfilled. He tries sex, but the first few encounters, the women didn't want to deal with his monster cock so they ended that pretty quick. For the first time in his life, he feels like a failure. He can't even find a proper girlfriend, how is he going to succeed the rest of his life if he can't find someone who likes him. He starts feeling like his money and successful status isn't enough and it really brings him down.

He does have some successful relationships, only 2 tho, and they weren't exactly healthy. Both women only wanted him for his money, but they tolerated him with everything else. The first girl was the first he had penetrative sex with and he didn't even cum because he was so nervous. He lavished her with gifts and whatnot, but she met someone she liked better, so she broke up with him after a few months.

The second was a bit more successful. I was gonna keep this secret until later in the series, but he meets an influencer at the gym and they get along pretty well. They date, they have sex, he thinks he finally found someone he can spend the rest of his life with, but he still feels like something is missing. She's very self-absorbed and doesn't respect him much, so he's still very lonely. But he thinks that this is his best shot at meeting someone and spending the rest of his life with them, so he keeps it going. He proposes, and she's more interested in posting about the proposal on social media than celebrating with him.

He's lonely, he's depressed, but he thinks this is normal and that everyone goes through this. He thinks that love is this magical thing that doesn't really exist for him, so he just settles, but at some point the relationship feels like a chore. He keeps going on with it anyways.

Coffeeshop opens up closer to work. It's nothing special, something corporate that he thinks is decent enough. He goes there after his workout one day, expecting his regular drink before work.

He feels like he's blinded when he enters the coffeeshop. You greet him cheerfully and he feels like there's a glow about you that's making his eyes strain. He thinks you're nice. He thinks you're pretty. He likes the way you made his coffee. He goes back to the coffeeshop on his lunch break the same day and you're still there and you're so bright and cheerful and kind. You're asking him about his day, how's he doing. No one's ever really asked him that before, not even his new fiance, so his heart kinda goes crazy when this pretty stranger starts being so nice to him. I don't think he realizes that this is a part of your job, customer service, he just thinks you're treating him special.

He gets a little hopeful, a little obsessed. He goes to the coffeeshop every day, hoping to see you. He gets disappointed whenever you're not there, missing seeing you and your smile. He doesn't know how to feel about all the emotions inside him, but he knows that he likes it and that he wants to feel this way forever. He breaks off the engagement with his fiance, and he tries pursuing you.

That's when the gifts begin, and the series starts.

He still doesn't have any friends. He has people he talks to, but he doesn't consider them friends. You're probably the closest he's ever gotten to anyone.

He has likes, most of them being videogames and nerdy shit sksksk. He likes manga and anime and he collects things. I'll share more info in the series :)

Anyways that was a LOT sksksk thanks for listening have a good day :3

[hqbaby]

how did it end? — hinata x reader

ੈ𑁍༘⋆ didn’t you hear? they called it all off. after your relationship falls apart, you find yourself trying to pick up the pieces. in the midst of the wreckage, you still can’t figure out exactly why it all ended.

word count. 1.5k content. angst, breakup fic

You remember when you first moved in. It was a hot summer day and there was a leak in the kitchen. It wasn’t there when you bought the place and Shoyo had spent the whole morning arguing with the realtor because of it. You remember seeing him get all frustrated and having to tell him to calm down, that it would be fine.

“I just wanted it to be perfect,” he told you when he got off the phone. The two of you were sitting on the floor of your bare living room, sucking on popsicles and wiping the sweat from your foreheads.

His words warmed your heart, which might have seemed counterproductive in the heat, but you didn’t care. All you could do was smile at him and take his hand and say, “Look around. It’s already perfect.”

He lit up at your words, suddenly all giddy as looked around the place. Your place. For both of you.

He kissed you then and you laughed, jokingly shoving him away, reminding him of the heat, but he didn’t care. You didn’t either.

Things were easier then. Lighter, happier. Better.

You look around the living room now, bare once more, stripped of all signs of life that had once filled its walls, and you wonder if things will ever be that good again. And you realize that they probably won’t.

“You okay?” Sakusa asks you. He’s carrying a box of your things, things that had once had a place in this home and don’t anymore. “Are you missing anything?”

You shake your head. “I’m fine,” you tell him, picking up a box at your feet. “We should go.”

All of your things are split between the trunk of your car and Sakusa’s. After he heard about what happened, he had offered to help you move your things to your new place. At that point, you hadn’t even considered leaving this house, your home. You never thought you’d have to look for a new place again.

“Is there anything else?” Sakusa asks as he closes the trunk of his car.

You look at the boxes of your things, the empty house behind you, the winding road ahead with an unfamiliar destination. You can’t help the tears that fall from your eyes. “I—I can’t,” you say, turning back to the house. “I can’t leave. It’s not over yet.”

Your friend has a pained expression on his face. He says your name, quietly, sadly. “What do you want to do?”

“Can I call him?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

But you’re already fumbling through your pockets, pulling your phone out. “I’m gonna call him.”

You tap on his number, still at the top of your contacts list. You worry your lip as you listen to the phone ring once. Twice. Thrice.

He declines.

You ring him again.

Decline.

Again.

Decline.

“Please stop,” Sakusa says, prying the phone from your hands. “He won’t answer. I’m sorry.”

You look back at the house. Did it always look so empty? So lifeless? So miserable?

“I just need a minute,” you tell him, rubbing your tears away with the back of your hand. “Just a minute,” you say, walking towards the house. To soothe it? To stop its pain? You don’t know. “I’ll be back.”

You push through the doors and suddenly you’re back at the beginning.

Shoyo stands by the staircase with a fresh bouquet, grinning that boyish grin of his. “Happy anniversary,” he says.

You frown. “It’s not our anniversary.”

“I know,” he tells you, still grinning. “But it will be in three months. Thought I’d get you something in advance.”

You launch yourself into his arms and he peppers your face with kisses as you giggle and clutch the bouquet to your chest. “I love it,” you tell him, pulling away to look him square in the eye. “Thank you.”

You’re back in the present, standing at the staircase, arms empty, the warmth of his embrace gone. How long had it been since the two of you were that happy? That careless with your joy?

A month ago, you were both at the staircase too. You were standing at the top, him at the bottom. The distance hurt you more than it should have.

“I can’t deal with this anymore,” you told him. You weren’t crying, you were just staring at him, all tired and drained. “You know that, right? You know I can’t.”

You felt for the ring on your finger. It had been there for two years already, a promise that was yet to be fulfilled. A promise that you had been waiting on for so long, one that never came and would never come.

He gripped the rails and shook his head. “I don’t know what you want from me."

He had a different look on his face, one that you wouldn’t have recognized two years ago but had become increasingly familiar with in the last few weeks. You were both tired, and that was never going to end well no matter what you did.

“Put me first,” you told him. Asking. Begging. Pleading. “Just put me first for once.”

You grip the railing now and you wonder why it didn’t end there. Because it didn’t. Somehow, you found it in yourselves to keep going, keep breathing life into the corpse that was the two of you for two more weeks.

You should’ve let it end there. Maybe it would’ve made more sense.

You wander to the kitchen, the place where you once considered that you might’ve been the happiest you’d ever be.

It was a Sunday night, Shoyo had spent his day off with you, going to your favorite spots around the city, having dinner at the place you two loved, lying on the couch and watching all the shows you’d missed. You found yourselves washing the bowls you’d used for ice cream, chatting about your day, the things you could do next week.

You thought that you were already happy then, that things couldn’t get much better, but Shoyo wasn’t having any of that.

As you placed the last bowl on the drying rack, you found your boyfriend on his knees. There was a ring in his hands. No box, just a ring. He later told you that he’d kept it in his pajama pocket because he was so scared of losing it and you’d laughed at him and told him you understood.

He was nervous, the words getting all jumbled in his mouth until all he could say was, “Do you—do you maybe wanna marry me?”

You nodded your head and leaned down to kiss him. He slid the ring onto your finger and you held him tight. You never wanted to let him go.

You twist the ring on your finger now. He told you to keep it, but you’d been contemplating giving it back. Maybe Sakusa could pass it along. Or Atsumu. Any one of your friends would do. You just know you can’t give it to him directly. He won’t have that.

You tap the kitchen table, still there, part of what you decided to sell with the house because neither of you wanted to keep it. You both know why, but you never said it out loud.

It was where things ended, more or less.

You had sat down for dinner, the week building up to that moment had been tense, but not anything special. You were bracing yourself for another fight, another cool down, another restless night of sleep before things went back to normal. You don’t know if you should’ve realized it was coming. You guess you never will.

“We need to talk,” he said and you listened.

You both poured out all the things that bothered you, the things you wanted to fix, the things that were clearly going wrong. It was a civil conversation, diplomatic and understanding. You talked and talked, trying to piece together the things neither of you could understand on your own. You thought it would work, you thought it was going well.

But it went on for too long. You circled around the same concerns again and again. You put things together only to watch them fall apart. It felt like building a sandcastle by the sea only for the whole thing to be washed away by the waves in seconds.

In the end, you realized that you were going nowhere. This was going nowhere.

So you stopped trying to fix it. You both did. There was no point trying to bring something back when it had clearly been gone for a while already.

You look at the table now. You look at the marks you left on it, where you had both engraved your initials. Shoyo had been so happy when you agreed to doing it.

“We’ll be here forever,” he told you as he pressed the cutter to the wood. His head was bent, focusing and carefully carving each stroke. 

You were sitting beside him, head on his shoulder. You smiled. “We’ll be here forever.”

notes. i’ve been in a weird place recently, picking at old wounds and all, so my writing’s been all over the place. i’m trying not to touch any of my series right now (mainly because i’m scared i’ll mess with the plots too much to backtrack), so here’s a little fic for now <3

[there-will-be-a-way]

I told my therapist I have DID

We started the session by talking about top surgery, an awful psych ward I once went to and baby cats. Then, when half the session was over, I told him there's been something on my mind that I don't dare to talk about. I told him that I wrote the reasons why in my journal: that I fear him thinking I am an attention seeker or that he doesn't take me seriously. He asked me if he ever reacted to anything I said by thinking about me like I'm attention seeking etc.. (Of course he didn't.) I told him that he's the best therapist I ever had and that being rejected by him would hurt a lot. He reacted by asking, "Why would I reject you for something that's obviously important to you?" He offered that I could write it down but that felt impossible so I declined. He then offered to ask some questions and guess what it was that I wanted to talk about so we did that. Eventuelly he figured out that it was about a disorder I have that he doesn't know about. He asked me if he has documents from me where this diagnosis is listed and I told him, no, that I purposefully didn't give him the letter I got from the rehab clinic because it's written down there. He started laughing and said, "That's tricky!" Haha. Eventually I just dropped it. Told him that it's DID. He asked how I feel about having told him and that I can be proud of myself for saying it. He asked me what I think about this diagnosis and he asked about the parts I know, and if I ever did therapy for the DID. I said yeah, but that I don't remember most of it (he said it could be because therapy was too fast paced so he said we'll make sure to do things slowly this time). He also wanted to know what my goals are for DID therapy and I said I'd like for all my parts to work together and that I want to feel like a whole person instead of feeling fragmented. I also told him that sometimes I don't remember what we talk about in our sessions and he said if that ever happens again, I can email him and he'll tell me (nice!). He also said that after my surgery we can work on finding out a way to tell which parts are present.

There were honestly so many good moments during the session that helped me build trust and be vulnerable, I can't even write about them all. I can't believe I really did that and that my therapist took me seriously. Part of me feels like the biggest attention seeking fraud right now, but I feel relieved. But ngl, DID therapy sounds scary as hell. I feel as vulnerable as an open wound

Anyway, I sweated so much during the session that I walked out with sweat stains on my t-shirt lmao

tl;dr: my therapist is the most professional and helpful therapist I ever had and one day I'm gonna tell him that I'll remember his name on my death bed

[darksturnioloqueen]

TreeHouse Chapter 14

"Keep your enemies closer."

Summary: Sienna gets involved in more ways than one.

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

⚠️This Fic Series will NOT be for people with triggers. This Fic Series will have very descriptive moments of abuse.⚠️

Please Read At Your Own Risk.

⚠︎Trigger Warning: angst, snapping at friends, falling, forward Matt, uninvited kissing, Victim!Chris upset, anxiety, being fake, mention of bad boy behavior, making bad decisions, more forward Matt, worry about Chris getting hurt. ⚠︎

Sienna's POV:

It was going to be hard to focus today. I thought about telling my mom I was too sick to go to school, but then I knew I would sit at home all day wondering about Chris. At least going to school meant I would get to see him. I knew it would be torture for me not to talk to my old best friend for the sake of his safety, but I was going to have to try. At the bus stop, I figured it would be safe to say something to him, but he didn't show up. My heart dropped immediately. Thumping fast, low, pounding thumps. I felt my hands getting wet and my mouth getting dry.

"Hey, girl." AK wrapped an arm around me.

"Hey." I mustered out.

"You good?" He picked up on my rigid stance and dropped his arm.

"Chris isn't here." I looked around as the bus pulled up. I thought maybe at the last second he would come running from around the corner, but he didn't

"Maybe he got a ride with his hot brothers." AK joked. I cringed. The idea of them being around him at all disgusted me. I knew the truth.

"We still don't know if they are brothers." I diverted the conversation a little.

"How can they not be? Other than one never having a good haircut in his life, they are -"

"Shut up." I snapped in defense of Chris. I immediately looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry. I ugh..."

"I get it. You are still uncomfortable with the whole Matt thing. I know he apologized, but -"

"Yeah. I just don't know how I feel anymore." That was the truth. I couldn't imagine Matt being an abusive monster but I also knew very little about him. Maybe if I got close to him he would tell me? I shook my head. That was an ill thought. Matt would never own up, he didn't even consider Chris a brother when we talked about things at McDonald's. The bus pulled up, and I searched everywhere again with no sign of him.

"How is Matty, boy?" Julia re-sparked all the questions I suffered from inside alone. Of course, I recognized my suffering was nothing compared to what Chris was going through. He had been alone for all these years. He grew up like this. I felt a lump in my throat.

"Si..." AK sang my name for attention.

"I'm fine." I lied.

"That would be believable... if that was what I asked." I looked at Julia.

"Oh," I went to answer her, but I couldn't remember the question. "What was the question again?"

"What has gotten into you?" She grabbed me and pulled me to look at her.

"I... I can't te-" The bell rang. "I have to go." I darted off in the direction of my locker. I knew sooner than later, they were going to pick me apart until they got an answer. I spent all of the first shift trying to think of anything that would make sense. I wrote down a small list of lies I could use. None of which were good. Second period. I ran. I ran through the hall, dodging as many kids as possible. I saw a boy with black fuzzy hair and looked behind me fast. I tripped over my feet and glided through the air in slow motion. My books and papers were skewed all over the hallway floor.

"Fuck." I yelled as I landed. Ignoring the weird stares I felt on my back, I picked up everything as fast as I could.

"Babe, are you okay?" I looked up.

"Matt." I squeaked. I couldn't help but be terrified of him. I knew the truth.

"Here." He held out a hand, and I noticed that the people staring and laughing were no longer engaged in my tumbling scene.

"Thank you."

"I can walk you to class. Come on." I wanted to decline, but Nick's warning overpowered my inner voice. I just nodded. "I missed you at lunch. Are you avoiding me?" His words were simple, but his tone held a slight threat to them.

"What? No." I over-exaggerated my facials.

"Good. I want to have lunch today. No excuses." I gulped.

"Okay," I whispered. He wrapped an arm around my lower back as we walked. I was tugged closer to him whenever someone looked our way. "This is me." I forced a smile. I saw his eyes flick down to my lips, and I watched him slowly close the gap between us. I panicked. His hands grabbed my waist and pulled me in. I was frozen. He captured my lips within his, and I stood still. I would have dreamed about this any other time, but I couldn't will myself to want someone I was unsure of. I still couldn't see him as the person Chris said he was, but I also believed Chris. He would never lie to me, not then and not now, especially about something like this.

"I'll see you at lunch." His kiss stole my breath. I looked into his beautiful eyes and imagined Chris looking back at me.

"Okay." I bit my lip. I walked into the classroom, and my heart stopped. Chris. I sat down next to him. "Chris, are you okay? What happened this -"

"Stop." His voice was stone cold.

"Did you walk to school?" I asked, but I was met with silence. "Please talk to me," I begged.

"Matt?" He looked at me. His face was pale, with the only color being healing bruises.

"Oh god." I didn't even think about him witnessing Matt kissing me. He looked away. "He kissed me. I didn't know what to do. I... he..." I was choking on my words.

"He can't know, you know." Chris' voice was a little softer with understanding.

"I know. That's why I -" I started.

"He might hurt you. I don't want that to happen." Chris wouldn't look at me.

"I'll be fine," I assured him. After the bell rang and everyone got quieter, I asked him, "Will you?" He looked at me. His eyes were not attractive like Matt's because they were the cliche blue you read about. They were beautiful to me because they were stronger than anyone would ever know.

The class was in motion. Some students were working on projects or tutoring together. Chris and I were passing notes. I could tell it was making him feel a little better. We weren't talking about anything, just coloring silly pictures. It felt like I was getting a piece of my childhood back. I now got to experience something I missed out on with the person I wanted to, even if it was as simple as passing paper back and forth in middle school.

"Notes in class?" The teacher called us out for not focusing.

"Shit." I mumbled.

"Since you two want to be penpals so badly, how about you help Christopher with his English project? His marks could use some improvement." The teacher glared at Chris.

"Yes." I accepted quickly. Chris looked at me and shook his head from side to side small. His eyes held fear. "I can't." I quickly tried changing my answer.

"And why is that?" The teacher raised their brow at my rebuttal.

"I... Uh... I can't read." I instantly remembered my horrible lie list. Lying was never my strong suit. A couple of kids that tuned into us getting in trouble laughed.

"Well, then you can help each other." They were not impressed with my excuse. I sighed. I looked over at Chris. He looked straight forward, with a look of terror on his face.

"Chris." He didn't move. I watched him. He didn't blink until the dismissal bell went off again. "Chris," I said more freely. He looked at me. "Tonight?" I wanted to make sure he was still coming over. I was now going to suffer from constant anxiety anytime I didn't know he was okay.

"Yeah." He stayed seated, and I left before him in case Matt was waiting to walk with me. Luckily, I could breathe easily because he wasn't. I walked to the library and saw him sitting at a table. He was reading one book and writing down notes in a journal. He looked innocent.

"Keep your enemies closer," I whispered to myself as I entered the library. "Is this seat taken?" I whispered.

"Yeah, it is." Matt didn't even look up from his writing.

"I'm looking for this really cool guy named Matt, have you -" He looked at me now. "Seen him?" I finished.

"Si!" he accidentally said a little loudly. Some other students studying looked over at us. He tucked his head down in embarrassment.

"Hi." I sat in the seat, making sure there was room in between us. "What are you working on?" I asked.

"Just some English, but it can wait." He closed the books to give me his attention, which made me extremely nervous. Talking to him was dangerous. If I accidentally said the wrong thing, Chris could get hurt. Or maybe even me.

"I love English. It's my favorite subject."

"Mine is probably Chemistry." He said, scooting closer to me. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or if that was supposed to be a flirty statement. His hand landed on my leg, and he held it tightly. I felt myself shiver. "Do you want to skip lunch again?" He whispered in my ear. I didn't feel safe going anywhere alone with him. He acted like he did at the basketball game. Forward. I didn't like it then or now.

"Um... I don't think that's a good idea." I looked around and saw that no one in the library was paying attention to us.

"You had fun last time yeah?" He put the pressure on.

"Yeah, of course." I shrugged to seem nonchalant.

"Let's go." He stood up, tucked his books under his arm, and held out his hand.

"Only for lunchtime. No missing class." I wanted to put a time limit on it. I was hesitant to be alone with him but I also wanted to try and manipulate information out of him. I took his hand.

"Don't worry, Cinderella I'll have you back in time for class." He squeezed my hand and started pulling me along. We went through the empty halls until we were at a random door I don't think I have ever seen before. Matt pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked it.

"Where are we going?" We weren't leaving school like last time, which made me feel better, but I was still nervous about going into the catacombs with him alone.

"You'll see." He smirked closing the door behind me. We ascended the cement stairs until we could see the vast room before us. The flooring was just like the wood in the school's gym. "Did you know our school had a racquetball room?" His voice echoed slightly.

"No." I looked around to see the different cubes.

"I come here to skip class sometimes. I do like homework and stuff up here. It's so quiet it's deafening." He seemed so normal. For a minute, I felt myself fall for him. "If you go in the cubes, no one can hear you. Watch." He set his books down on a random bench and went inside one. He started talking, but I couldn't hear anything. They were soundproof. "Cool, right?" he said, opening the door.

"How do you have a key?" I inquired.

"I stole it from the janitor's closet and copied it." He smirked at his mischievous ways. I smiled too. It was cute he was showing me something important to him.

"Have you met the new kid?" I just threw the words out in the open. We were alone, giving me false confidence to ask. Immediately, I regretted my not-so-subtle question. His whole demeanor changed.

"No, I haven't," he answered sternly. I wanted to try to get in his head without endangering Chris.

"I have a class with him. I think he looks just like you and Nick." I played dumb and sat on the bench. Matt came over to me.

"Weird. I mean, Nick and I look pretty normal, I think." He shrugged and towered over me in front of me. "Wouldn't be odd if someone looked like us." He was smooth about lying. I wish I could lie like that.

"Matt?" I questioned his stance directly in front of me.

"Shh... Stop talking." He leaned into me. The pressure on me continued until I started lying down on the bench. He used his hand to flick the books to the floor so my back could lay completely flat. Matt was lying directly on top of me. His lips were on mine in a matter of seconds. I wasn't frozen this time. Instead, I was playing a risky game. I reached up and grabbed his hair lightly. He moaned and kept sucking my lips; the stubble on his upper lip was scratching my mouth. As much as I hated to admit this, it felt amazing.

"Wait." I pressed his chest and breathed some fresh air. He pulled back to look at me.

"What?" He almost looked irritated. I'm sure if I let him, he would fuck me right here without any hesitation. Other girls would die for that chance, not me.

"The bell rang." I lied. I couldn't hear anything but feared he would try to go further if I didn't put an end to it somewhere. He chuckled. It sounded almost sinister.

"Let's go, princess." He joked. He held out a hand to pull me back up. We reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the empty hallway. "I'll see you later." He kissed my cheek and walked off. I felt immense relief knowing I had made it out without Matt losing his mind. But as I watched him walk away, deep down in the pit of my stomach, I felt uneasy. I had to be careful. If not for me, for Chris.

I did a few normal tags on this chapter cause it was light.

TreeHouse is a series about Victim!Chris. Some chapters are light, others have very descriptive moments of ABUSE. If you choose to read those PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

[countrymusiclover]

4 - The Feast pt 2

Part 5

The Last Velaryon

Tag list @rise-my-angel @cdragons

Lord Eddard and King Robert Baratheon made their way outside of the feast hall. The laughter and loud noise could still be heard when they walked away out of earshot from others to have their conversation. Eddard paused in his steps. "You're grace, what did you wish to talk about?"

"No formalities, Ned. It's about that Velaryon girl." Robert eyed his friend.

Ned asked him. "What concerns you about her?"

"I think I might have made a mistake when I stripped Jaime of his white cloak." The king declared under his breath.

Lord Stark wasn't sure what to make of his words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the Kingslayer doesn't seem to give a damn about her. He is hiding something. Only problem is I don't really care to find out what." He chuckled.

Ned clicked his tongue. "We cannot judge someone until we know whether they are a man of honor or not. But what does this have to do with you second guessing your own command?"

"I haven't done much research on the Velaryon house but I figured the lord would have fought against the man who basically helped me banish their house."

"If your house is close to being very small I suppose you would do anything to keep it alive." Ned pointed out.

Robert simply nodded his head. "I've been thinking about this, Ned. I am king and seven kingdoms declined loyalty to me so why not use that power to change one declaration I just wrote."

"Your grace, if you mean to go against the Lannister's I don't think that would be wise." Ned warns his friend and king.

Robert scoffs. "I don't care what they pay me not to. I am not blind Ned and I know you just saw it too. There's something between that girl and your son."

"It is a good thought, your grace. But that's all it should remain just a thought. I doubt Robb has even thought of a betrothed yet." Lord Stark shrugged his shoulders knowing his son and his young at heart nature. He was still a boy, even though he was very good at following the lessons he had been taught so far in life.

Robert moved closer to his friend, staring into his eyes with a serious expression. "You're his father. If he hasn't thought of the idea of marrying her then persuade him to. I'll deal with Tywin Lannister when the time comes."

Three years ago - Haelesa's pov

That morning I was dreading more than I care to admit to myself now. It was the day I had to say goodbye to one of my closest Joella Bridges. Picking up the ends of my nightgown I scampered through the hallways until I reached her chambers knocking three times on the door. "Joella, it's me. Open the dang door!"

"Enough with the shouting. We don't want to wake the whole castle staff. Once they're awake I'll have to start packing to leave." She shushed me by tugging me inside her room and quietly yet quickly shutting the door and locking it.

I admitted throwing my arms away from my sides. "I don't want you to leave. Why can't it be if you're lord father isn't dra yet then the man travels to live with the girl."

"I'm going to miss you too, Haelesa and Chezney too of course. But my parents already agreed to it." She opened her arms and we raced to embrace one another.

Her father had married my mother's older sister and so we we're cousins by birth. Now her father had decided to ship her off for marriage....the only real reason this happened was the tale of bettering one's house. And I had done my own research from what I could find on her soon to be new family. "You don't want to marry this man. It's claimed he has a mustache, Joella."

"Yes but I've also been told he is very cheerful." She added on slightly breaking the hug so we could see the other's face.

I made a noise sticking my tongue out to her. "It's still gross thinking you'll be kissing a guy with hair around his mouth...eww, Raynald Westerling!"

"Haelesa stop it okay. I am already nervous enough and your teasing isn't helping." Joella admitted dropping her arms at her sides.

I smiled at my cousin. "I'm just saying, Ella. You'll be kissing a guy with a full beard."

"Okay, let's change the subject. I want you to promise me something." Joella replied.

Taking her hands in mine I asked softly. "What kind of promise?"

"Promise me that even though we will be away from each other that you will tell me off your adventures. Whether they are big or small. If you find love or not. I want to know everything. So send me letters, cousin." She explained to me with that cheeky smile she always had on her face when we got to spend time together.

Squeezing her hands in mine I immediately agreed without hesitation of what she was asking. "Of course. As long as you do the same back to me.

"I promise." She hugs me gently and I wrap my arms around her hugging her with the same level of emotion.

Robb and I were still just silently walking around the abandoned courtyard of Winterfell. Everyone else was still awake enjoying the feast with the royal family. He paused in his steps outside a wooden cage canal looking at me. "I wanted to show you something."

"Show me what?" I questioned him wrapping my arms around myself and I had taken his other fur cloak that he had given earlier on the day.

He undid the locks of the pen and I gasped taking a step back seeing an animal exit the pen. The animal in front of me was a wolf from what I could by the pointy ears and the long wagging fur tail. "This is GreyWind. He is my direwolf." He responded by running his fingers through the wolf's gray coat.

"I've never seen a direwolf before. Where did you find him?" I asked, lowering myself down on a knee reaching forward and petting his fur when he sniffed my hand before I touched him.

Robb stands on the side of the direwolf. "My father had me and my brothers out hunting with him in the woods. Their mother had died and so each of the Stark children got to have their own pup. We just had to take care of them."

"Aww that's sweet. He seems like a good boy." I smiled still, moving my fingers through his fur and he began wagging his tail back and forth.

Robb smiled down at me. He had been enjoying your company from the moment you two had met. He wished he could spend more time with her. But unfortunately he figured that wouldn't get the chance. "I have trained him as best as I could. "

"You really are something, Robb. You'll make a good Lord of Winterfell one day." I praised him getting to my feet not caring about the mud stains on my dress.

He blushed but I couldn't tell how bad it was given that the only light was provided by some burning torches on the walls and the fact that it was completely dark. "You barely know me and you're already giving me praise, Haelesa. I am not sure how to take it. But thank you."

"You're welcome, Robb. Maybe if we're lucky we can know more about each other before I leave in a few days." I smiled, clasping my hands together in front of me.

Footsteps could be heard coming around the corner causing both of us to turn our heads seeing Lady Catelyn rushing over to us. I could see the annoyance in her facial expression. "Robb, you shouldn't have left the feast. This is for the royal family. Why in the seven kingdoms are you out here?"

"I'm sorry, mother. I was simply showing Lady Haelesa my direwolf." Robb apologized to his mother.

Catelyn shifted her head quickly over to me. "You're the Velaryon girl that is supposed to wed the Kingslayer."

"Yes Lady Stark I am. I am sorry if I have made any problems this evening." I bowed my head giving her a small curtsey.

She shakes her head focusing back on her first born son. "I am just here to say that your father went off with the king to talk about something. So you need to go back inside and represent your house in your father's stead."

"Of course, mother." He nodded in understanding, placing GreyWind back inside his cage. He walked past me and his mother glanced over his shoulder back at me. "I'll see you later, Haelesa."

I looked into his brown eyes waving bye to the young boy. "See you later, Robb....uh if you see my friend Chezney,  Lady Stark. Tell her I am retiring for the evening."

"Goodnight, Lady Haelesa." She responded watching me walk away and she could sense that something was between her son and the young woman.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[justmystyles]

Hey, you are literally one of my favorite writers out here. I honestly love every piece you've written, it's just all really really really good. (guess I am not as good with words as you, oops)

Anyway, I am so glad your requests are open. I was wondering if you could write something where the reader comes from a difficult family. emotionally abusive mother, distant father, eldest daughter syndrome, all that jazz.

So she's sort of moved away but still keeps in touch with her family cuz she does sorta love them but it's hard. So it's like she's got some body image issues and she's closed off, pretty funny but likes to use humor to hide her feelings, has a lot of acquaintances but doesn't like sharing herself with people much (why do I feel like I am describing someone specific lol)

And one day it all just becomes too much ig. I don't know exactly how the story goes, guess I am just looking for some comfort. had a weird few days.

Honestly, love you work. You're great. Thank you for reading that bs. Doesn't matter much if you decide to write it or not. You're already perfect. <3

Let's talk about this ask I got a few weeks ago, shall we?

First of all, I am honored to be considered one of your favorite writers on here, your words are so sweet and I love you.

Now, getting down to business, this ask genuinely made me cry because I know this reader. I am this reader and it was truly terrifying that a stranger on the internet described me so well to me. As soon as I read this, I knew it was going to be my next series, and after weeks of taking down notes and ideas, I finally started actually writing it today.

It'll still be a bit before I start putting it out there, this premise means so much to me that I want to really take my time and do it the justice it deserves, but I have included a little teaser for you below the read more so that you can get a taste of what I'm working on. I've also tagged my tag list peeps so that you all can see what I've been up to.

I'll still be working on NYIML and the other asks I have (if you sent me one, I love you and I'm working on it, please be patient, life has kind of blown up over the last week or so).

You would watch on in awe, watching the music come to life, watching Harry work. From time to time, you would meet his gaze, noticing a softness in his eyes that warmed your insides. You brushed your feelings off, reminding yourself that Harry was just a kind person. He probably looked at everyone like that. He would often invite you to join the group for lunch, or drinks after a successful session. You always declined politely, certain he was just asking to be polite. 

But Harry wasn’t just asking to be polite, and those looks that he threw in your direction were different than the way he would look at anyone else. He was fascinated by you, he felt like he needed to know more. When he met you, he thought you were beautiful, and the refreshments that you had laid out showed how kind and thoughtful you were. But he knew there was more to you, and he couldn’t wait to find out all of it.

You truly were the studio mom, always making sure everyone had what they needed. You would bring coffee and breakfast in the morning, make everyone’s lunch orders, or reservations if they decided to go out. But you would never join them. He found that curious, but also disappointing. He understood if you wanted to focus on work while you were all locked away in the studio, hoping to take those lunches and extra curricular times to get to know you, but those moments never came. 

He had asked your coworkers about you, hoping to gain some kind of intel that could help him break the ice. Everyone told him how sweet you were, always asking about them and their goings on, but often changing the subject when the conversation would turn to you. He also learned about how funny you were. He would have never guessed, based on how quiet you’d been around him. He figured some of that was because of his celebrity status, he was used to people being shy around him, but they would typically warm up over time. You hadn’t. 

There was a bit of worry in his mind that maybe you had an issue with him. You weren’t cold with him, you had always been incredibly kind in your interactions with him and that threw him for a loop. He racked his brain, trying to think of anything he might have said or done to upset you, but nothing came to mind. Perhaps you just weren’t a fan of his? Whatever it was, he was determined to figure it out. 

One afternoon, he was coming back from lunch and he overheard you talking to someone in one of the studios. He lingered by the doorway, he knew eavesdropping was wrong, but he was desperate. 

The conversation wasn’t much, you were just talking about a television show, but he heard the excitement in your voice and couldn’t help but smile. You sounded so cute. And then you laughed, and he could have died right there on the spot. You had an incredible laugh. He wanted to do anything to be the reason that beautiful sound came out of your mouth. 

Harry was so distracted that he didn’t notice that you were coming out of the studio. You weren’t expecting anyone to be standing there, so you bumped right into him. 

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Harry.” Your eyes were wide with panic.

He put his hands on your shoulders to steady you. “Don’t be. That was on me. It’s what I get for zoning off in front of doors.” He chuckled. 

You smiled politely and nodded at him. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” 

“I was actually hoping to talk–”

He was interrupted by the ring of your phone. You pulled it out of your pocket and saw your mother’s name flash across the screen. “Crap, I’m so sorry it’s my mom. Do you mind if I take this?”

“No, not at all. You should always take calls from your mum.” 

“Right,” you scoff. “You’ve never talked to my mother.” You answer the phone, walking away quickly. 

He noticed your posture stiffen when you answered, and he hoped everything was okay. Once you were out of sight, he left, returning to the studio. “Y/N is taking a phone call, she’ll be right back.” 

When you finally returned, you apologized with a smile on your face, but Harry could see the sadness in your eyes. You took a seat at the computer, and he came up behind you, placing his hand softly on your back. You subconsciously relaxed into his touch. 

“Is everything alright?” He asked. 

You put on your best fake smile, which he immediately saw though. “Yeah, thanks.” 

He wanted to press, but he knew it wasn’t the right time or place. He also wasn’t totally sure you even liked him.

@allthelovehes @ameerakane20 @ash-craze @bethanysnow @blue-ballad @blueraspberryreader @brightlightsinlife @creativelyeva @cute-as-ducks420 @deannaard @fanficismydrug @gem1712 @golden-hoax @gothmingguk @groovychaosavenue @hillzrry @iceebabies @indierockgirrl @jerseygirlinca @jng4kook @jooniesbabie @kaverichauhan @laurxn-robinson @lexiecamposv @likeapplejuicenpeach @lilfreakjez @mrs-anna-styles211994 @n0vaj3an @potterheadandsherlocked @rach2699 @ravenclawdirectioner @stylesfeverr @superchrystaldrug @tenaciousperfectionunknown @tiaamberxx @thechaoticjoy @theekyliepage @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @youknowwhaaat

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 195: This is Halloween

The next day, as Ren was heading to school, there was a message in the Phantom Thieves group chat. She checked it.

Yusuke: Pardon me. I know today is Hallowen, but does anyone have time to meet after school?

Yusuke: I have a lot on my mind, and I want to discuss it with people.

Haru: Unfortunately, I have to decline.

Haru: There’s an important meeting at Okumura Foods, and I'd like to be a part of it.

Makoto: I can’t make it either.

Makoto: I’m helping someone today.

Futaba: And in case you forgot, I’m busy looking through our notes and contacting Riko and Akechi.

Lena: Oh, be sure to contact Goro first.

Lena: He and I have a date tonight.

Ryuji: Oh, nice!

Ryuji: As it so happens, Ann and I also have a date.

Ann: Yeah, but I’m sure we can help you Yusuke.

Ann: So long as it doesn’t take too long.

Sumire: I can be there too!

Ren: Same.

Ren: And I think if we meet at Leblanc, Morgana can also make it.

Yusuke: Personally, I’d like to meet there as well.

Jose: I’d like to come too, but I promised the theater club something.

Yusuke: Will I see you at the Kosei Halloween party at least?

Jose: Yeah…

Yusuke: I guess I’ll talk to you then.

Jose: Sure.

Lena: I can make it too if we can do it before mine and Goro’s date.

Lena: In case that wasn’t clear.

Yusuke: Alright then.

Yusuke: See you after school.

Ren: See you then!

Ren put her phone away, and continued towards school.

Meanwhile, Futaba was looking through stuff, when she decided to hack back into Akechi’s phone.

???: Greeting Detective Akechi!

???: This is Phantom Thief Alibaba.

Goro: Huh.

Goro: I thought she’d have told you by now.

???: Who are you talking about?

Goro: I gave one of your associates a list of people who I suspect to be Phantom Thieves, and you for sure were on it.

???: Well, maybe you just don’t know my associates then.

???: Because I’ve never heard of this list.

Akechi was frustrated, but didn’t feel like pushing this point at the moment.

Goro: Well, in any case, how goes things on your end?

???: We ran into a few complications.

???: But we shall overcome.

Goro: Do you need my help?

???: Perhaps.

Goro: How may I be of assistance?

???: We need to ratchet up the pressure on the director.

???: He’s planning something, and we need to figure out how to undermine him.

Goro: That seems tricky.

Goro: But I may have a solution.

???: Go on.

Goro: I’ve been tracking down his associates, but none of them have been all too helpful.

Goro: So maybe we should just play into his sense of superiority. We make it look like we aren’t accomplishing anything, and then surprise him when you accomplish your next goal.

???: That…actually works with what we’ve been planning.

Goro: May I ask what that is?

???: Do you still want to arrest us after all this is said and done?

Goro: I see your point.

???: It’s not that we don’t want to work with you further…

Goro: I understand.

Goro: To be honest, I have my own goals that letting you in would complicate.

???: I can imagine.

Goro: Still, I like this balance we are striking.

Goro: Perhaps in another time, another place, we could be good friends.

???: Perhaps.

Goro: Well, good luck on your mission.

???: You too!

Futaba cut off contact with Akechi.

“Hm,” Akechi grinned. “I don’t think I was given wrong information on who ‘Alibaba’ was. Still, I can’t let them know that entirely. I do hope that the director can remain more composed than to let it slip when his back is suddenly against the wall. It’s a bit of a risk, but it’s the easiest way to keep The Phantom Thieves off his trail. Sorry Phantom Thieves, but he’s mine!” Akechi got another message, this time from Lena.

Lena: Hey Goro!

Lena: I’m helping a friend after school, but don’t worry.

Lena: I should be back around 5:30-ish, and I have our costumes ready, so you can just come over.

Goro: Can’t wait! See you then!

Akechi put his phone away and continued onward.

Meanwhile, Futaba sighed, relieved. “I can’t believe he bought that.” She then went back to looking through the various notes Riko had given her.

Afterschool, Yusuke, Ren, Morgana, Sumire, Ann, Ryuji, and Lena met up at Leblanc. “Soooo, what’s this about?” Ryuji asked.

Yusuke hesitated. “...I…know it was the right thing to leave Madarame…but ever since then, I’ve felt torn. When I was living with Madarame, I could think of art purely. But now, I’m being confronted with the reality that if I were to survive in the art world, no, in the world in general, I need to think about other things than art. I have to use my art to survive. In that way, I don’t think I can purely see art ever again. It’s all just a means to an end.”

He looked over at the Sayuri hanging up. “The reason I wanted to come here was to take another look. I have often felt inspired by Sayuri. And knowing its true nature, it’s only more beautiful.” He sighed. “But alas, my mind is so cluttered with the poisonous trappings of everyday life that I don’t think I can create something even half as good.” He looked back at everyone. “So, what do I do?”

Everyone looked at Yusuke. “Um, no offense,” Ryuji said, “but can’t you focus on both?” Yusuke seemed intrigued. “I mean, I started running because I liked it. And I thought if I could be successful enough in track, I could help my mom. So I just kept doing what I loved.”

“Yeah,” Ann said. “Doing what you love is wonderful! I admit that we don’t live in an ideal world, and we do need to focus on how to survive, but if you can do it by doing something you love, then there’s no worry, right?”

“I’m not sure that’s entirely helpful,” Morgana said, “but I get the sentiment. It’s like ‘you’re already doing it, might as well go all in.’ And if a Phantom Thief can’t go all in, well…”

“Huh,” Yusuke said. “I understand.”

“I get that it’s not easy,” Sumire said. “And believe me, even with all the help in the world, there will still be road bumps. But if you are determined to strive forward with your dream, then instead of thinking of the road bumps in a completely negative light, think of how you can use them to your advantage.”

“Yeah,” Lena added. “I mean, I left my home to pursue my dreams. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m still trying. And I’m glad you asked us. Being able to reach out is hard, but I know it’s worth it in the end.”

“Everyone…” Yusuke said.

Ren smirked. “Remember: Kosuke told you to be the best damn artist you could be, right? I bet you’d hate to disappoint him. Or us, for that matter.”

Yusuke started to remember Kosuke’s words after they defeated him. He smirked as well. “Yes. And he told me something else. He said I ‘always had eyes on the bigger picture.’ I guess I just lost sight of it once everything changed. I thought I had to change with it, I suppose I still do, but I think I need to change in a way that suits me, you know?”

“Yeah!” Ryuji said. “Being yourself is what a Phantom Thief is all about!”

“I agree!” Morgana said.

“Hey!” Ann said. “Look at you two getting along!”

“Huh?!” Ryuji and Morgana gasped.

“I mean…We just agree here,” Ryuji said.

“Yeah,” Morgana protested. “It’s not like we’re close or anything.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Sumire said. “After everything we’ve been through, there’s nothing that can tear us apart. And that includes you two.”

“Well…” Ryuji tried to follow up.

“Hm hm,” Lena giggled. “Even if you butt heads from time to time, you’re still good friends in the end, right?”

“Mreeeee…” Morgana groaned, not wanting to admit it, but being unable to lie.

Yusuke chuckled. He took out a sketchbook and started sketching. He soon presented it to everyone. “Behold!” It was a sketch of Ryuji and Morgana being angry with each other, but in the background was them admiring each other. “I call it ‘Tempest Friendship’.”

“What?!” Morgana shrieked.

“You’re…not going to make that into a full painting, are you?” Ryuji asked.

“I might,” Yusuke said. “But I have a lot of other paintings in mind. But this one is nice.”

“I like it,” Ren said. “It’s a commemoration of you getting out of your slump.”

“Yes,” Yusuke said. “But I still need something more. This is nice, but I want my first full piece to be GLORIOUS!”

“I understand the feeling,” Sumire said. “Once you overcome an obstacle, you want to show the world just what you’re capable of.”

“Yeah!” Lena added. “I know you can do it. You can set the art world on FIRE!”

Yusuke chuckled. “Thank you, everyone. I don’t know where I would be without you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Ren said.

Emperor-Yusuke Kitagawa: Rank 8

Lena stood up. “Well, I should get going. I need to meet up with Goro to go on our date.” She opened the door. “Bye!”

“We should get going too,” Ann said. “We gotta make sure your costume fits!”

“Co-Costume?” Ryuji said. “I thought we were just hanging out.”

“On Halloween?!” Ann said. “No way! We’re here to have FUN!” She grabbed Ryuji’s arm. “Let’s go!”

“Ah!” Ryuji said, jolting up. “Alright then. Let’s see what you got!” The two of them left.

“I should get going too,” Yusuke said. “I missed last year’s Kosei Halloween Party due to Madarame. I don’t want to miss any more.”

“Take care!” Ren said. She and Yusuke waved at each other as he left. Once he was gone, Ren looked at Sumire. “I’m sorry I didn’t plan anything.”

“Huh?!” Sumire said. “Oh, uh, no, it’s quite alright. Well, I mean…” She sighed. “This is my first Halloween without Kasumi. We always used to do adorable twin costumes. I really liked doing that. I guess I’m not ready to do something big yet…”

Ren grabbed Sumire’s hand. “It’s OK. Just go at your own pace.”

Sumire smiled. “I guess doing a little something with you would be nice.”

Ren chuckled. “I think I know just the thing.” Ren glanced at Morgana. “Are you OK on your own?”

“Please,” Morgana said. “A black cat on Halloween? I couldn’t be more at home. I bet I can find something JUICY!”

Ren nodded. “Just be safe OK? And get back home at a reasonable time.”

“Right!” Morgana said. With that, the three of them left. Morgana headed off in his own direction, while Ren was leading Sumire somewhere.

Meanwhile, Makoto and Eiko arrived at Eiko’s house. “I’m home!” Eiko called out. No response.

“Is no one home?” Makoto wondered.

“No, my mom and brother are home,” Eiko said, pointing at the shoes.

“Oh. Right,” Makoto said. “Sorry…”

“It’s OK,” Eiko said. “You’re the one rescuing me from this after all.”

Makoto smiled. “Right.” They took off their shoes and headed in.

Sure enough, Eiko’s mom and brother were there. Her brother was watching TV, while her mom was baking. “Hi,” Eiko said.

“Oh, Eiko honey,” Eiko’s mom said. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

Eiko glared at her, but kept her composure. “Um, this is my…friend Makoto,” she said, remaining civil. “The girl I told you about.”

“Hm?” Eiko’s mom said, looking over. “Oh that’s right. You said you were moving in with her.”

“That’s right,” Eiko said.

“Um, hello,” Makoto said, unsure of what to expect.

“Hm,” Eiko’s mom said. “Well thank you.” Makoto was surprised. “I’m glad Eiko found a friend like you.”

“Um…thanks…?” Makoto replied.

“I know she can be a handful,” Eiko’s mom said, “but I’m sure you’ll manage. From what I’ve heard, you’re quite capable.”

“Oh, she’s really no trouble at all,” Makoto protested.

“I know you’re trying to be polite,” Eiko’s mom responded, “but we both know that Eiko is…how you say, rambunctious. I mean, look at Asahi over there. He gets good grades. He’s popular at school. He’s the leader of the soccer team. You can tell he’s meant for great things. But Eiko? She bends and breaks so easily. She’s a follower by nature. She barely gets by, and is only friends with miscreants. Er, present company excluded, of course.”

“Of course,” Makoto repeated bitterly.

“But hey, maybe with you, she’ll turn her life around,” Eiko’s mom said.

“Well,” Makoto said firmly, “I think that’s the first thing you’ve said that I agree with.” Eiko’s mom looked at her intently. “But you’re completely wrong about Eiko. She’s smarter than you give her credit for. A lot braver and a lot kinder too. But I think she’s being stifled by your expectations. So that’s why she’ll be in my care from here on.” Eiko was stunned by Makoto’s fiery rebuttal.

Eiko’s mom glared at her. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Makoto replied.

Eiko’s mom went back to baking. “Well, whatever. It’s not like she’s going to be my problem for much longer.”

“The fact that you think of her as a ‘problem’ is very much the reason she’ll be gone soon,” Makoto said. “Though I doubt you ever really thought of her as ‘yours’.”

Eiko’s mom grew more bitter. “Did you just come here to argue with me?”

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t,” Makoto said. “This was just a fun bonus.” Eiko laughed, while Eiko’s mom groaned. “I came over to help Eiko pack a little, and then we’re going to catch a movie.”

“Hm,” Eiko’s mom said. “Well, if you leave before you can taste my Halloween cookies, there won’t be any when you get back.”

“We’ll probably grab dinner afterwards anyway,” Makoto said,

“Suit yourself,” Eiko’s mom said. “Like I care at this point.”

“It seems the feeling is mutual,” Makoto said. “Eiko?” Eiko nodded, and they headed over to her room.

On their way, Eiko whispered “Don’t worry. Mom’s cookies suck anyways.”

“And she calls you imperfect,” Makoto whispered back. They shared a giggle before entering Eiko’s room to pack up a little.

Meanwhile, Haru arrived at the boardroom. The members there were shocked, and one of them asked “Erm, Miss Okumura, um, what are you doing here?”

Haru answered with “I know I’m still a student, and I’ve not attended many of these, but now that everything has changed, I wish to take a bigger role in the company. I will start by attending these meetings whenever I can. Of course, I can’t make any policy decisions, but I wish to at least have a voice.”

“But Mis Okumura-”

“Let her stay,” an older gentleman said.

“Takakura!”

“What she said isn’t wrong,” Takakura continued. “Although I wish you didn’t have to worry too much about the company at this stage.”

“I don’t mind,” Haru said. “But as I’ve said before, I’ll inform you of my decision once I come to it. In the meantime, I wish to do whatever I can to help.”

“Very well,” Takakura said. There were some whispers around the table about Takakura’s disposition towards Haru, as well as her father. “Anwyas!” Takakura commanded. Everyone went silent. “If we’re all here, let’s begin.” Everyone nodded. “As you may know, things haven’t been going well since Mr. Okumura’s heart was stolen. But he is no longer a part of this company. We are the future of Okumura Foods, and we have to make sure we salvage this sinking ship. We’re doing all we can to make up for Mr. Okumura’s past transgressions, including that new order that came in just a few days ago, but-”

“Um,” Haru interjected. “What new order?”

Takakura looked at her. “We’ve been ordered to recall and shut down Starfall Coffee.”

“How come?” Haru asked.

“We’re not sure,” another executive said. “All we know is that we’ve been told that there’s a major issue with it.”

“By whom?” Haru wondered.

“The Special Investigations Unit,” another executive answered. “It was found as part of the investigation into your father.”

“Huh,” Haru said. I should tell the others that.

“Anyways!” Takaura said, steering the conversation back on task. “While everything we’re doing to correct the mistakes of the past, it’s imperative that we start thinking about the future of Okumura Foods.”

The future of Okumura Foods, huh… Haru pondered. What do I see for the future?

A little later, Akechi was checking his phone. He saw the news of the Starfall Coffee recall. “Hm. I suppose that was inevitable at this rate. I’m sure he’s already figured something else out by now.”

He arrived at Lena’s house. He knocked on the door. Lena answered. “Goro!” she cheered, leaping into his arms.

“Heh heh,” Goro chuckled. Lena looked up and the two shared a kiss. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve whipped up.”

“Oh right!” Lena said, letting go. “Follow me!” She led him inside. They went up to her room. Lena had two mannequins setup with homemade costumes.

Akechi looked at the masculine mannequin. He saw a formal outfit with a really hairy wig and tail coming off of it. “So, I’m a formal werewolf?”

Lena giggled. “No silly! It’s a couple’s costume. We’re going as Beauty and The Beast.” Lena presented her costume on the feminine mannequin, which was an adaptation of her persona.

“I see,” Akechi replied.

“It’s perfect!” Lena said. “I’ve always loved the story! BUT it works for you as well?”

“Does it?” Akechi wondered.

Lena nodded. “Now we can go out and about in public and nobody will know it’s you because you’re covered in hair.”

“I see,” Akechi said.

“ALSO!” Lena said. “I gave the chestpiece a little bit of padding so you don’t need to wear a binder. I know you shouldn’t wear that all the time.”

“Hm hm. You know, that was quite thoughtful of you,” Akechi said.

“Hm hm. Thanks,” Lena replied.

Akechi smiled. “Well, shall we get changed?”

“Oh!” Lena said, stunned. “Yes! Um, do you need help?”

“I think I can manage,” Akechi said.

“Great!” Lena said.

A few minutes later, both of them were changed and ready to head out. “You know, this costume fits me like a glove,” Akechi noted.

Lena giggled. “Well, you did tell me your measurements.”

“Right,” Akechi said. He offered his hand. “Well then, shall we?”

Lena curtsied. “Let’s. She took Akechi’s hand, and the two of them went off to celebrate.

As they left, Tamako looked on, smiled, sighed, and remarked “Tail as old as time.”

Meanwhile, at Ann’s house. Ryuji was in one of the restrooms. “Does it fit?” Ann called out from outside.

“I think so,” Ryuji said. “It’s a little lose, but I imagine that’s part of it.”

“Yeah,” Ann remarked. “Well come on, let me see!”

Ryuji walked out. He was wearing a slightly ill-fitting green tuxedo jacket and pants, with a maroon shirt underneath, a white bowtie with red polka dots, and a large green hat with a tag sticking out of it reading “In This Style 10/6”. “Hah, this was a GREAT idea!” Ryuji exclaimed. “And this costume is AMAZING!”

Ann giggled. “Thanks.” Ryuji looked at his girlfriend to see her wearing a blue dress with a white apron, black and white stripped stockings, and a black hairband over her head, which was all the way down, since she removed the pigtails. “What do you think of my costume?”

Ryuji smiled. “You look adorable.”

Ann giggled again. “Thanks. So, are you ready to paint the town red?”

“Absolutely!” Ryuji answered. “And I believe that we should party even harder than usual. Not only is it Halloween, but I believe it’s both of our unbirthdays.”

“You’re right,” Ann said. They took each other’s hands and went off to celebrate.

Morgana was walking around town. He saw people celebrating by dressing up and being a little more raucous than usual. Still, he didn’t mind. He loved it when people were having fun. Besides, he was on the prowl for information, and tonight seemed like a night where people were a little more loose-lipped .

Morgana was trekking around when he passed by a police station. He noticed they were throwing out their coffee maker. “Why are we doing this again?” one of the officer’s asked.

“Because,” another officer answered, “the SIU told us to.”

“‘SIU’?” Morgana wondered. “I should get closer.” He stealthed his way to the officers talking.

“I know,” the first officer said. “But it tastes so good!”

“I know Okumura’s Starfall Coffee is good,” the second officer said. “But it’s dangerous.”

“How come?”

The second officer looked around. “Don’t mention this to anyone, but I’ve heard that it’s one of the causes of those mental shutdowns we’ve been looking into.”

“WHAT?!” Morgana shrieked. He slipped from his perch and landed in front of the two officers. He was a little nervous.

The second officer sighed. “It’s just a cat.”

“Yeah,” the first officer said. “Imagine if that was a person. But still, that gives me chills. To think a cup of coffee could make someone go insane. Usually if I don’t get a cup of joe, I go insane.”

“Trust me, you’re plenty insane with or without coffee,” the second officer said.

“HEY!” the first officer shouted. They both went inside.

Morgana sighed, relieved. “I guess…this body has its uses.” He stood up and shook himself off. “I should go home and tell Futaba.” Morgana started heading back.

At Kosei, Yusuke emerged from his dorm room wearing his regular clothes, as well as a set of fake cat ears and cat tail. He moved out to where the party was being held.

Upon arrival, he got a few looks. “Hey, Kitagawa!” said one of the other students, who was wearing a succubus costume. “That’s…an interesting costume.”

“Forgive me,” Yusuke said. “I didn’t have enough money for a full costume.”

“No no, it’s great!” the other student said. “It’s so…you!”

“Why thank you,” Yusuke replied.

“Well, uh, help yourself to some punch,” the other student said. “Oh, and take some sweets too.”

“Hm. Don’t mind if I do,” Yusuke said. As he was getting his food and drink, he turned and asked “Oh, has Jose arrived yet?”

“Um, I don’t think so,” the other student said.

“He told me he was doing something with the theater department,” Yusuke clarified.

“Oh!’ the other student said. “Well, you’ll see him soon then.”

“Huh?” Yusuke wondered.

Suddenly, the front of the room lit up. “It’s starting!” the other student said.

“The Kosei Theater Club proudly presents: The Dance to Summon The Pumpkin Prince!” Yusuke’s attention was focused on the makeshift stage. In the middle of it was a big leaf. The various theater kids, dressed as all sorts of Halloween classics, began dancing around the leaf, attempting to summon The Pumpkin Prince.

Soon, two sides formed, and they began giving each other cues to act and react. Slowly but surely, the leaf started to blossom. Once it fully bloomed, there was a pumpkin in the middle of it. The pumpkin slowly got up, turned around, and revealed himself to be Jose in a pumpkin costume. “THE PUMPKIN PRINCE!” the other performers exclaimed. Jose smiled. There was a round of applause.

Later, Yusuke met up with Jose. “I must say, you did an excellent job.”

“Oh, you saw that, did you?” Jose said, embarrassed.

“Indeed,” Yusuke siad. “I feel inspired.”

“Eh heh,” Jose laughed. “Well, I didn’t do a whole lot. They just needed someone short, and I fit the bill.”

“Nonsense,” Yusuke said. “You were the star of the show.”

“Well…” Jose said.

“Don’t be so modest,” Hifumi said. Yusuke and Jose turned to look at her. She was wearing ancient Japanese regal attire. “You did wonderfully.”

“Thanks,” Jose said.

“Pardon me,” Yusuke said. “Are you supposed to be Queen Himiko?”

Hifumi giggled. “You’re the first person to guess correctly.”

“But it’s so obvious,” Yusuke said.

“Well, you look pretty either way,” Jose remarked.

Hifumi chuckled. “Thanks. You know, you look adorable yourself.”

“Eh heh,” Jose chuckled, blushing. “Oh right.” He looked up to Yusuke. “Do you still need help?”

“You need help?” Hifumi wondered.

“Well, I suppose I could tell you,” Yusuke said. “I’ve sorted things out, but more voices wouldn’t hurt.” He explained his earlier meeting to Jose and Hifumi.

“I see,” Jose said. “Well, to be honest, I think I’d mirror what they said. But I would add that doing something like this is a seeminglessly endless task, but doing so is its own reward.”

“If I may,” Hifumi added, “I think the issue you may be having is that, pardon my bluntness, you don’t really have any immediate family members. I know I’m doing shogi for my father, but…”

Yusuke grinned. “I see. While it is true that I don’t have any relatives, I do have friends, and they’re like a family to me. If I can do it for them, then there’s nothing I can’t do.”

“That’s the spirit!” Jose said.

Hifumi giggled. “I could really use courage like yours.”

“Oh right,” Yusuke said. “Do you-?”

“I’ll figure that out later,” Hifumi said. “Tonight, I just want to have fun. Shall we get more punch?”

“Of course,” Yusuke said. The three of them went off to enjoy the party.

Later, Makoto and Eiko arrived at the movie theater. Makoto sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how bad it was at your place.”

Eiko chuckled. “It’s alright. Besides, I loved seeing you put my mom in her place.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to move tonight?” Makoto said. “Because we can skip the movie, and-”

Eiko shook her head. “It’s alright. I can wait until then.”

Makoto nodded. “Well, if you say so. So, what movie do you want to watch?” “Well, it’s Halloween, right?” Eiko said. “So something scary!”

“GAH!” Makoto shrieked. Eiko was confused. “Sorry. It’s just…I don’t take to horror too well.”

“Oh!’ Eiko said.

“But if you really want to-”

“Shhhhhhh,” Eiko said, calming her girlfriend down. “It’s OK. I can watch it on my own time. Tonight is about us!” Makoto nodded. “So, what do you want to watch? Maybe a Buchimaru-kun movie.”

“Well, one isn’t playing until December,” Makoto said. “And that’s a special event showing off the classic Christmas with Buchimaru-kun.”

“Woah,” Eiko siad. “I was joking.”

“Oh, uh…” Makoto said, embarrassed.

Eiko chuckled. “It’s fine. I think it’s really cute that you’re into it. Most people would feel like they’re too cool for it. But I still like it as well. Granted, it has been a bit…”

Makoto smiled. “Thanks.”

Eiko smiled back. “But, is it anything like that, or Buchimaru-kun specifically?”

“Well, I like similar shows,” Makoto said. “But Buchimaru-kun just resonates with me. Always has.”

“How come?” Eiko asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Makoto said. She noticed one of the posters. “Oh look! Like a Dragon is playing! Are you up for some hard-boiled action?!” Eiko was stunned. “Oh. I guess not.”

“No no no no,” Eiko replied. “I, um, I really like that kind of stuff. But I’ve never told anyone because it doesn’t seem ‘girly’ enough, you know?”

“Hm,” Makoto said. “Well, women can appreciate all sorts of things, right?”

Eiko smiled and blushed. “Yeah.”

They went up to the ticket booth. “Two for Like a Dragon,” Makoto said. They got their tickets, and headed in.

Meanwhile, Ren took Sumire up to Shinjuku. Sumire was a little nervous. “Are you sure about this? Shinjuku isn’t known for its restraint.”

“Trust me,” Ren said. “We’re going straight there, spend a little time, and then we’ll be out. Besides, one of my friends runs it.”

“Well, if it’s one of your friends, I trust you,” Sumire said. They held hands as Ren led the way.

They soon arrived at Chihaya’s fortune telling booth. “Ah, hello,” Chihaya said.

“Hi,” Ren said. “This is… There’s no point in me hiding it, is there?”

Chihaya giggled. “I foretold that you were coming with your lover. So unless there is a boy hiding in the shadows somewhere...”

Ren sighed. “No, you got us.” Chihaya giggled again.

“Um, who is this?” Sumire wondered.

“Oh, forgive me,” Chihaya said. “My name is Chihaya Mifune. I’m a fortune teller.”

“I see,” Sumire said. “And a very good one at that, I can tell.”

“Thanks,” Chihaya said. “And your name?”

“Oh, right,” Sumire said. “I’m Sumire Yoshizawa. Ren’s girlfriend.” She bowed.

“Hm hm,” Chihaya chuckled. “So, what brings you here tonight, of all nights?”

“Well, um, Sumire isn’t 100% in the Halloween spirit, but I convinced her to do something a little fun. So perhaps she could have her fortune read?”

“I see,” Chihaya said. She turned to Sumire. “Are you alright with this?”

“Well, if Ren trusts you, I trust you,” Sumire said.

“Very well,” Chihaya said. She and Sumire set up the reading. Chihaya drew three cards. “I see.” She flipped the first one. “The Fool, upright. It tells that you are about to embark on a new journey.”

“Huh,” Sumire said.

Chihaya flipped the second card. “The Faith, upright. This journey will help you realize your true potential and do away with the lies of the past.”

“I see…” Sumire said.

Chihaya flipped the last part. “The Hunger, in reverse. This journey will end once the forces that try to suppress you are revealed to be nothing more than a shadow of lies and deceit. Only then will the truth come to you.”

“Hmmm,” Sumire said. “Well, that was a little intense…” Ren was a little worried. “But it was interesting.” Ren was relieved. “And given your penchant for seeing the truth, I imagine something like that happening.”

“Do you know what it is?” Chihahya asked.

“I have an idea,” Sumire said. “But it’s rather personal…”

“Say no more,” Chihaya said. “Just know I’ll be rooting for you.”

“Thanks,” Sumire said. “Oh, how much do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry,” Chihaya said. “This one’s on the house.”

Ren was stunned. “But, um, you know?” Sumire was confused.

“Don’t worry,” Chihaya said. “It will be alright in the end.”

Sumire looked at her. “Are you also undertaking a journey?”

Chihaya nodded. “And I know I’m coming up to a crossroads soon. I just have to believe in myself.”

“Well, you know I’m here for you,” Ren said.

“Me too,” Sumire replied.

“Thanks,” Chihaya said. “I think I’m going to need it.” She turned to Ren. “Especially from you.” Ren nodded.

“Um, if you believe in Ren as much as I do,” Sumire noted, “then I think things will go well for you.”

Chihaya giggled. “Well, I can’t believe in her as much as you do.” Sumire slightly blushed. “But I can tell that Ren is a force to be reckoned with.”

“Well, Sumire’s no slouch either,” Ren said.

“I can see that,” Chihaya said. “And if the two of you are together, then you’d be unstoppable.”

Ren smiled and blushed. “Thanks.”

Fortune-Chihaya Mifune: Rank 6

“So, do you want to stay and watch some other fortunes being read?” Ren asked.

“You should go…” Chihaya said. “Not that you wouldn’t be interested, but Halloween in Shinjuku attracts more of the bizarre crowd.”

“I think she’s right,” Sumire said. “But I had fun.”

“Well that’s all I need to hear,” Ren said. “Bye!”

“It was nice meeting you!” Sumire said.

“Bye bye you two!” Chihaya said. Ren and Sumire left. They shared a kiss before getting on the train.

Ryuji and Ann were still out and about having fun. "Man, this is the BEST Halloween I've ever had! Thanks for dragging me out!"

"Hm hm, no problem," Ann said. "To be honest, I think this is the best Halloween I've ever had too."

"No kiddin'?" Ryuji said. "Well, I know one thing that'll make it even better." "You read my mind," Ann said. The two shared a kiss.

As Akechi and Lena were heading back, Lena leaned on Akechi’s shoulder. “Tonight was fun.”

“Indeed,” Akechi replied. “To be honest, I never really liked Halloween before. I didn’t like some of the costumes I was given, but, well, you know why.” Lena chuckled. “And then after getting big, I didn’t have time or couldn’t get a costume to hide me enough” He looked deep into Lena’s eyes. “But tonight was really fun. And I feel like with you, I can enjoy anything.”

“Oh, stop!” Lena said. They were both blushing.

“This is a really nice costume,” Akechi said. “I wonder what you’ll come up with in the future.”

“Right…” Lena said. Do we have a future? Am I going home? She looked up at Akechi. Or is this my home?

Meanwhile, Akechi was distracted with his own thoughts. I can’t let her know I’ll probably be busy. Once the plan is set in motion, I might not have time for big stuff like this. But I’m sure she’ll understand. I just need everything in place.

He looked back at Lena. He leaned in, and Lena met him for a kiss. “Happy Halloween,” Akechi said.

“Happy Halloween,” Lena replied. The two continued onward.

Once Haru got out of the meeting, she got out her phone.

Haru: Everyone! I have some big news!

Haru: The SIU told Okumura Foods to recall its Starfall Coffee venture.

Haru: Something has to be up.

Futaba: Already know!

Futaba: Morgana overheard some police officers talking about it.

Futaba: He said that they heard they were causing the mental shutdowns!

Haru: WHAT?!

Sumire: That’s absurd!

Futaba: Maybe, but nothing about this case is “normal”.

Sumire: I guess you’re right.

Yusuke: Have you talked with Riko yet?

Futaba: Not yet.

Futaba: I was looking over my mom’s notes, and the notes about the director.

Futaba: I lost track of time.

Ren: It’s OK. Now we have something else.

Ren: Something big!

Futaba: Right. I’m on it!

Jose: What else did you find?

Futaba: The director is a very crafty person.

Futaba: His profile is full of twists and turns.

Futaba: I imagine that if he did kill his wife, he’d know how to make it look incidental.

Futaba: As for mom’s notes, I found something interesting.

Futaba: Apparently if you amass enough fame, you can tap into the collective unconscious.

Sumire: Mementos!

Jose: But if whoever killed your mom has these notes…

Futaba: That’s what I figured.

Futaba: We’re not the only ones in there.

Yusuke: Do you think it has anything to do with that body of water?

Futaba: Probably.

Ren: We should check, just to be sure.

Futaba: Right.

Futaba: Anyways, Haru, can you get the schematic for Starfall?

Haru: I don't think so.

Haru: I’m not great with computers to begin with, and I don’t think I’d have access to something like that.

Futaba: Plan B then.

Futaba: Come over, and I’ll give you the Futaba special. I’ll take care of the rest.

Haru: Got it.

Ren: See you all later!

Futaba: Seeya!

Futaba then went to work contacting Riko.

Futaba: Riko!

Futaba: Something big just happened.

Riko: What is it?

Futaba: Did you know that the SIU instructed a recall on Okumura Foods Starfall Coffee?

Riko: I was.

Riko: Sae told me about that.

Futaba: Well, it turns out that it’s because somehow Starfall Coffee is causing the mental shutdowns.

Riko: Oh right.

Riko: The director mentioned that.

Futaba: And you forgot?!

Riko: Forgive me. A lot was happening.

Riko: The fake calling card, Eirs, it was a lot to process.

Futaba: Well, I can’t say I blame you.

Futaba: BUT we have an idea as to how this was being used.

Riko: Go on.

Futaba: Well, looking through my mom’s notes, there’s a special concoction you can make to infiltrate people’s hearts. But you need to get them to ingest the blood of the person infiltrating after they drank it.

Futaba: So I suspect that Starfall Coffee was the means to do just that.

Riko: That seems like a lot.

Futaba: Right, but if this organization is so big to include Madarame, Kaneshiro, Okumura, and Principal Kobayakawa, they may have more numbers at their disposal.

Futaba: You don’t need a lot of blood, you need a lot of people.

Riko: I see.

Riko: Want me to get the schematics for Starfall Coffee?

Futaba: I'm on that on my end.

Futaba: But I do need you to do something.

Riko: What is it?

Futaba: Can you get the file on the murder case involving the director’s son?

Futaba: We suspect that he may have been involved, and that maybe he also murdered his wife.

Riko: Oh my!

Riko: I’m on it!

Riko: Oh, and I have a plan.

Futaba: You do?

Riko: Yeah. I asked Sae last night about what happens if you challenge her.

Riko: She told me that if that happens, she’s confronting the director.

Riko: She believes that once you’re done with her, you’ll meet up with him somehow.

Futaba: So we know where she’ll be.

Riko: And you told me when.

Riko: So all that’s left is to figure out what comes next.

Futaba: Right.

Futaba: Well, regardless, we need a way for Sae to get out.

Futaba: I think I have an idea for that.

Riko: We do need to fish for more information from the director too.

Futaba: Right. Akechi said not to ruffle any feathers until it’s time to strike.

Riko: You’re in contact with Akechi?

Futaba: Tentatively.

Futaba: It’s an uneasy alliance.

Riko: I see.

Riko: Well, regardless, I think I know a way to get some information once things go off.

Futaba: It can't involve us, because we’ll be busy in Sae’s palace.

Riko: Right.

Riko: My plan still works then.

Futaba: Well then, let’s see if our plans can work in tandem.

Riko: OK!

The two of them discussed their plan. Once they finished…

Futaba: Damn! You’re really clever.

Riko: Thanks.

Riko: You’re really smart yourself.

Futaba: Thanks.

Futaba: Now all we have to do is make sure we do well protecting Sae, while also making her see the error of her ways.

Riko: You have my confidence on that front.

Futaba: Thanks.

Futaba: Goodnight!

Riko: Happy Halloween!

Futaba: Happy Halloween!

Riko put her phone away. She began looking through more notes.

Sae came out of her office. Riko looked up. “Oh, how are you doing?”

“I’m feeling great! Sae said. “This upcoming trial will be easy, and soon I’ll have The Phantom Thieves in my grasp. Hm. You know, I saw a bunch of people dress up as Phantom Thieves today. Thinking that they’re heroes.”

“Well hold on,” Riko said. “People dress up as villains too.”

“I guess that’s true,” Sae said.

“Phantom Thieves aside, how do you feel about Halloween?” Riko said. “I wasn’t too big on it as a kid, but when I grew up and could pick what I wanted to dress as, I suddenly got it.”

“A late bloomer, I see,” Sae noted.

“Yeah…” Riko said. “That.”

“Hm,” Sae said. “Well, I’ve always liked Halloween. But lately, I haven’t had the time for it.”

“I see,” Riko said. “It is busy here, huh.”

“Well, there are occasions where things let up,” Sae said. “Last year, I got out of work early and dressed up as a werewolf.”

"Ooo. Spooky," Riko remarked.

“Eh, not really,” Sae said. “It was kind of a last minute thing.”

“Still, I bet it looked great on you!” Riko said.

“Um, yes…” Sae said, slightly blushing. “Anyways, what’s your favorite costume you’ve ever worn?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Riko said. “One year, I wore this immaculate female Vampire costume. It just felt so GOOD, you know?”

“Hm hm. You didn’t need to add ‘female’ to that,” Sae pointed out.

“Oh, uh, right…” Riko said, nervous. “Well, what about you? What was your favorite costume?”

Sae paused. “Don’t laugh.” She sighed. “It was Makoto’s first Halloween. I wanted to dress up as something spooky, but my parents were worried that would upset Makoto. So they made me wear this Buchimaru-kun costume. I hated it. I was miserable for the first few hours.

But then there was a loud noise. My parents were worried that something bad happened to the neighbors, and rushed outside to check on them, leaving me with Makoto. Suddenly, I was alone with her. Carrying her. I was so nervous. I did my best, but I was so unsure of myself.

But you know what she did? She smiled. That was the first time Makoto smiled at me. My parents came back and assured me that everything was alright. They noticed me taking care of Makoto, and I got to do a lot of things. I fed her. I burped her. I played with her. It was nice.

So that’s why that’s my favorite costume. I don’t know why I’m telling you that. Usually, I say it’s the one time I went as the Black Featherman.”

“Hmmm,” Riko said. “You know, I’m partial to Pink myself.”

“I figured you would be,” Sae said.

“But that story was really sweet,” Riko said. “And don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

Sae smiled. “Thanks. Let’s go home.” Riko nodded, and the two headed off. As they were leaving, Sae glanced at Riko. Alright Sae. It’s a deal. Once I’ve captured The Phantom thieves, I’m asking her out!