#we can’t relate enough to one another to get along.

[eggjaculations]

my friend sent me a vid of her at a cemetery and they were literally putting on huge movies in the cemetery and i just. that’s actually the least fucking cool thing you can do and just because it sounds like something they would do in a middle grade novel doesn’t mean it’s a good idea that should come true. i’m literally not friends with this person anymore. like absolute last straw where i have no chance of turning around and being nice to this person anymore. you get cordial politeness. we not friends tho. insane behavior. i can’t believe that happened.

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One Two

Fish guy is actually pretty much the same height as Steve when they’re sitting next to each other on the edge of the pool. Steve finally gave in, the heat of the day getting too much, and is trailing his feet in the water – fish guy doesn’t seem to care, but Steve still made sure to shower before he came out here. Next to Steve’s feet, the flat point of fish guys tail is also swirling in the water.

Fish guy loves pears. Steve’s sure they’re his new absolute favorite thing, and Steve’s watched him demolish six, cores and stalks and all, one right after the other.

He’s licking sticky juice from his fingers. Steve can’t see his eyes behind the shades; but he’s certain fish guy is watching him. Probably waiting to see if Steve will produce more food; fish guy has developed a hearty appetite, and he hasn’t put on much weight yet, but he’s not exactly what Steve would call emaciated either. A little over a week of regular food is obviously helping.

“Okay,” Steve sips on his beer, the points to himself, “Steve.”

“Steeee,” fish guy readily replies, nodding. Steve has no idea how or when he picked up the nodding and head shaking, but he uses both correctly, as far as Steve can tell, so Steve doesn’t argue.

Steve points at fish guy. Nothing, then a curious head tilt.

Steve’s starting to come to the conclusion that maybe fish guy just doesn’t have a name. Which, okay, Steve can kind of see that. He vaguely wonders if fish guy has any family; if he’d even want to go back to the Upside Down.

“Right. Should probably name you something vaguely fish related, no? Should we stay on brand?” Fish guy cocks his head the other way, like a bird. They’ve been sat here long enough that the sun has started to dry the ropey mess of hair that fish guy has; it gone kind of curly now, pinging up as it dries.

Steve really wants to comb it out, but he has no idea how fish guy will react; they’ve only just made it to sitting next to each other. Steve’s vaguely aware that combing someone else's hair is a bit...familiar, but he figures fish guy is kind of in his care or whatever.

Maybe they could build up to it.

“Fish,” Steve muses vaguely to himself, “fishing? Scales? Tails? Fishing, fisher? Fisher, Eddie, Eddie Fisher, that singer guy Mom really likes. What do you think, how does Eddie sound? Good as anything, right?”

Steve has no idea what’s going on behind the sunglasses, but fish guys head keeps cocking curiously to the side. Steve points to himself, “Steve.”

Fish guy, replies, “Steeee,” as expected, nodding.

Steve points to fish guy, and says, “Eddie.”

Fish guy points to himself cautiously, and quietly volunteers, “Edidie?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve says, nodding, “near enough, man. Eddie. Sounds good.”

“Good,” Eddie replies, startling Steve a bit because it’s clear as a bell.

“That’s right, good. Eddie.”

Eddie, very slowly so Steve can clearly see what he’s doing, reaches for Steve’s beer bottle. Steve’s instinct is to take it away, what if it’s poisonous or something? But then he figures Eddie’s been pretty clear about rejecting stuff so far if he doesn’t want it; plus he lived in the Upside Down for, presumably, years. If he can survive in a toxic environment like that, then surely a sip of beer won’t hurt him.

Eddie’s funny as he lifts it, sniffing cautiously before he works out the mechanics of fitting his lips around the neck of the bottle. He drinks. Seems to ponder it for a moment, and then drinks again, giving the bottle a mournful little shake when he realizes it’s empty. There wasn’t much left anyway; Steve figures he’ll be okay.

“Good,” Eddie says as he hands the bottle back, “inied.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, “finished.”

“Why do you think he doesn’t have any gills?”

“You are definitely asking the wrong person here Robs,” Steve scatters another handful of peas into the water, watching as Eddie bobs along, collecting them one at a time and popping them into his mouth, “ask Dustin. He’ll produce a book. There’s literally always a book.”

“I don’t want to ask Dustin, he’ll actually try and explain it to me...I’d rather speculate emptily.”

“You do love a bit of empty speculation.”

Robin nods in agreement, “so, no gills, what do you think?”

“I think…” Steve ponders for a few seconds, filling up the dog bowl with the rest of the peas and floating that on the water, “that he can’t actually breathe underwater. He can just hold his breath for a fucking long time.”

“Nah. Boring. Plausible. Logical. Could be correct. I need something wild Steven.”

Steve thinks, but he doesn’t have much of an imagination, not like the kids or Robin. Clever people have good imaginations; Steve’s not one of them. But he does remember hearing something about bugs one time, “he breathes through his skin.”

“Fucking rad.”

“You have been spending way too much time with Argyle.”

“He has the good stuff Steve, supply and demand,” she says shrugging, and then, “why, you jealous?”

Steve huffs, rolling his eyes. Because no, of course he isn’t. Much. Maybe a tiny bit. But that’s okay, Robin should have other friends and stuff he guesses. She pokes him in the ribs and he flaps at her.

It just encourages her, obviously, so he tries to ignore her which just makes her ten times worse. She pokes more, and she just knows him too well, goes for his ticklish ribs and before Steve knows what’s happening he’s on his side, trying to curl up to get away, begging for mercy and shrieking with laughter, Robin hollering “admit your jealousy Steven. Say uncle! Say iiiiiiiiiit!!”

Robin disappears suddenly with a splash and yelp. She scrambles on the grass, trying to right herself from where she was shoved, Eddie suddenly flopped half on top of Steve, his tail twisting around Steve’s middle. Robin scrambles back a few more paces, Eddie’s arms locked at the elbow to hold his torso up off the ground as far as he can, claws raking into the grass.

He’s completely silent, and Steve, shocked, just sits for a moment, looking at the back of Eddie’s soaking head. The water’s dripping from his hair in rivulets down his pale back, his shoulder blades standing out sharply, the knobs of his spine visible where his back is held in a sharp arch.

He’s puffed up like an angry cat, Steve thinks absently.

He makes eye contact with Robin over Eddie’s shoulder, and she raises her eyebrows just a teeny tiny bit, ‘what the fuck?’

Steve shrugs, ‘I don’t know.’ Then tilts his head to the house a little, ‘give us a minute.’

Robin frowns spectacularly, ‘I’m not leaving you alone with the crazy fish guy’ or words to that effect, Steve guesses.

He nods toward the house again, trying to give his best, ‘I’ll be fine,’ vibes.

She looks hugely doubtful, but does move away, all slow and careful. Eddie hand walks to keep himself between between Steve and Robin, his tail clenching around Steve as he does.

“Eddie,” Steve’s hand hovers in the air for a few seconds before he bites the bullet and lets his hand rest on Eddie’s tail. It’s surprisingly smooth. Not soft exactly, but not hard. Doesn’t even feel scaly really, just smooth and warm it doesn’t look scaly either, now that Steve can have a close up look. It’s just...black. Matt black.

Actually now that he’s here, there are some funny little slits toward the tippy bit, they kind of look like they could be openings, but he doesn’t have time to investigate because Robin’s gone, so Eddie turns to him.

Steve has no clue what to say as Eddie’s tail slowly unwraps from his middle, “Eddie,” he starts, as Eddie slips back into the water.

“Steee.”

Steve just sighs, retrieving what are now Eddie’s sunglasses from where they’ve fallen by the edge of the lawn, “what am I going to do with you?”

Eddie tips his head, listening, but Steve doesn’t have anything else to say. At a loss, he heads inside to make sure Robin is okay.

A/N I know the time line doesn't work with Argyle since this happened after starcourt but lets just all agree to ignore that. There is no tag list for this work.

Part Four

[angelicdanvers]

BRACELETS | luke castellan.

pairing: luke castellan x fem!reader

summary: y/n finds herself a friend to celebrate her special day with. takes place before the lightning thief. luke & y/n are the same age. wc: 1.9k key: n/n = nickname

taglist: @repostingmyfavs @rinisfruity14 @soobin-chois | pm or comment to be added <3

a/n: merry christmas to those who celebrate!! this goes out to all my loves who just wish for one person to embrace them and spread happiness <3

sixteen.

it was finally y/n’s sixteenth birthday, and once again, not a single person to celebrate with. being a child of demeter was sweet, everyone was kind all around, but y/n simply couldn’t find her people.

she got along with everyone, no one had anything against her. sure, older kids would pick on her from time to time, but that was an automatic agreement she signed when joining camp two years ago.

she just couldn’t develop as strong of a bond with anyone. she’d sometimes fall asleep with silent tears, wondering if she was broken or missing something key. if everyone was nice, why couldn’t she trust? form a relation?

the night wielded a nice breeze, wafting through y/n’s locks as she sat by the strawberry fields, playing with the leaves. a slight glow emitted from her fingertips as she trailed them along the soil, a small smile on her lips. 

glancing towards the amphitheater, she could see those her age dancing and singing, having the time of their lives. the younger kids had dispersed due to curfew, she noted. 

they all seemed to be in glee.

snapping her eyes shut, she fought back the intrusive thoughts and inhaled a sharp breath. opening her eyes, y/n grabbed some of the soil, stacking it into three layers. grabbing a strawberry, she delicately placed it atop and pulled away to admire her makeshift cake.

“happy birthday, n/n — happy sweet sixteenth,” she said loud enough just for her to hear. looking up at the glimmering stars, y/n decided to make a wish.

all i wish for is belonging. true belonging.

y/n went back to her cake, grabbing the strawberry and picking herself up from the ground. dusting herself off, she took her water bottle and gently rinsed the strawberry. placing it between her teeth and softly biting into it, she savoured the taste as she walked down towards the amphitheater and then the cabins.

she felt stupid for not wearing a proper jacket or shirt, but she did enjoy the fresh air leaving a chill to her skin. y/n was hoping her black tee would blend her into the night, especially as she neared the amphitheater. she wasn’t entirely keen on interacting more at the moment — it was past twelve and she knew she couldn’t match their energy.

“hey, y/n?”

the girl halted in her tracks. turning on her heel, she came face to face with none other than the loveable hermes boy lightly jogging up to her.

“hi luke,” she greeted, passing him a small smile. 

luke smiled back immediately. after a silent beat, he spoke again. “i just wanted to say, ha —“

“hey, luke! get over here, man, we need your backup vocals right now!” one of the hermes kids yelled, y/n couldn’t tell who from their distance.

“yeah, give me a sec!” he screamed, turning back to the girl.

“no dude, we need you RIGHT NOW! we’re gonna be mashed potatoes if you don’t!”

luke rolled his eyes, positioning himself back towards the theatre. “can’t you see i’m busy?”

“you can talk to anyone about anything whenever, luke! this is a one time exclusive!”

“stop quoting missy elliot, and no, give me two minutes!” he replied, a slight whine in his voice.

a scoff followed, “we’re gonna be eliminated, castellan!”

exasperated by bickering with his brothers, luke sighed and nodded. “i’ll be right there!” 

the boy instantly spun back around, wanting to wish the demeter girl a happy birthday.

she was at least 30 feet ahead of him, speed walking away with a slight slump to her shoulders.

luke’s smile dropped. another day, another day of being unable to fully attend to her. these countless moments have occurred more than he could fathom — he was always pulled away from the one girl he didn’t want to be pulled away from.

and yet here she was, disappearing out of his sight once again. “this karaoke better be worth it,” he grumbled under his breath as he trudged back.

the next morning was calm, not many campers up to anything special. there was a soft pitter patter on the window panes, but y/n didn’t mind. the rain rejuvenated her.

throwing on her raincoat but paying no mind to her shorts or shoes, y/n left the cabin with her stash of bracelet material in her pocket and sprinted through the paths, heading to chiron and mr. d.

luke’s attention immediately perked up at the bolting girl, and he realized this might just be the one time he can say anything.

subtly running after her, he watched as she entered the big house and rather excitedly. he followed inside, keeping a distance when he heard her begin to speak to chiron.

he didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he did hear it all.

“may i call my dad?”

“of course, y/n. here,” luke could hear the shuffle of a phone, and footsteps coming closer to the edge of chiron’s office. 

the dial tone was evident. it went through three times before he heard the young girl speak.

“hey dad. hope you’re doing good. should've known you weren't gonna pick up. i turned sixteen today, fyi. hope your kids are doing fine and same with that blonde bimbo,” she spat, making luke’s eyes widen. “i’m not coming home for christmas. might be early to determine but i’m sure i won’t. bye.”

she walked back to chiron, and luke could hear light sniffles coming from her. his heart sank. 

“for all it matters, i’m here, we all are. happy birthday, y/n. you’ve always made us proud, you’ve always been an asset to us, you deserve to know that no matter what,” chiron reassured, and luke could hear the girl softly thank him.

stepping outside of chiron’s office and shutting the door behind her, y/n broke into a sob in the hallway. it was one thing to have others not be around, but when family abandons, nothing feels real anymore. 

luke observed as she stopped her tears almost as quick as they started, wiping her eyes as she headed towards him, unbeknownst to her.

“uh,” luke cleared his throat, “hey, y/n.”

y/n’s face warmed up, startled at his presence. hurriedly fixing herself up, she nodded. “hi luke.”

“i’m sorry for last night,” he apologized, scratching the nape of his neck. “i was trying to talk to you but i guess i got carried away with everyone else,” he paused, looking down, “as usual. i’m sorry.”

y/n shook her head. “it’s okay. don’t apologize, life happens.”

“right,” luke acknowledged awkwardly. “speaking of life,” he approached her in a friendly manner, “i wanted to wish you a happy birthday last night. you’re sixteen, one of the biggest milestones in anyone’s life!”

his enthusiasm made the corners of y/n’s lips tug up, and she watched intently as he continued. “you deserve an amazing birthday, and i’m going to give that to you.”

y/n was not expecting that.

“c’mon, let’s go.” luke held his hand out to her, his dark curls practically bouncing in excitement. a sweet grin crept onto her face, making the young boy smile even wider. she accepted his hand, and the second he felt her palm within his, the fragility made him realize he could never be a part of something that’d hurt her ever again.

she was stronger than anyone he knew, enduring all the shit the world put upon her. he just knew he couldn’t be one of them to do the same. 

together, the two gracefully left the big house, trampling down to camp and rushing towards god knows where.

somehow, they ended up at the pavilions, and without a second thought, y/n pulled out her bracelet material. luke was confused but watched eagerly as she carefully took the little sacks out.

“wanna make some friendship bracelets?”

“friendship bracelets?” luke asked, unsure of the concept.

y/n nodded. “today’s the day someone willingly decided to hang out with me. i was going to make some alone but if you want, we can create matching ones and mark our friendship.”

luke grinned toothily, “so we’re friends now?”

y/n nodded, “i’d love to be, if you don’t mind.”

his eyes screamed happiness, “i definitely don’t mind.”

the two taped down their threads, choosing colours that work cohesively with one another’s. “now you’re gonna wanna take this thread and do a tuck-knot with it,” y/n explained, showing the boy to her left the steps.

after getting the basics down, the two fell into a comfortable silence, threading away and adding some cute hand-made clay beads here and there. “i’m not too childish for wanting to do this, right?” y/n suddenly asked, a nervous smile on her face.

luke shook his head and gave her a hearty grin. “i don’t think there should ever be such thing as “too childish”, sucks the life out of everyone,” he looked back down at the bracelet, “plus, when you’re a demigod, what else is there to do? play video games? we’d be dead in minutes.”

y/n laughed. luke froze.

he’d never heard her laugh this much. she sounded pretty.

“you’re not wrong,” she slowly caught her breathing and softly chuckled. “are you close to finishing your’s?”

the hermes boy nodded and watched intently as y/n’s delicate fingers tutored him on how to securely tie the ends of the bracelet. watching her move so effortlessly made his heart skip a beat — she was perfect.

even though this was the smallest activity they could ever do, she was perfect at it. it made him wonder why he didn’t seize the opportunity to be her friend beforehand.

“hey, y/n?”

“yes, luke?”

“i just wanted to say,” his breath lightly hitched when she began placing the bracelet on his wrist to make sure it was of right measurement, “that, uh, you’re really pretty.”

now it was y/n’s turn to freeze.

“but, i’m not doing all of this to just be your boyfriend or whatever. hell, we’ve just begun our friendship,” he stifled a small, sweet laugh, “so when i say this i really just mean it from the bottom of my heart. i don’t want it to influence you in any way, i just want you to know how i’ve seen you for the past two years.

“you’re gentle and loving, not to mention stealthy and incredibly intelligent. i love whenever i look over and you’re always doing something that captivates me. i’ve been an idiot to admire you from afar for this long, but you’ve always deserved to know and be appreciated. i’m sorry i couldn’t give that to you sooner.”

y/n looked into luke’s eyes, somber traversing in her’s. “may i hug you?”

luke nodded, and y/n wrapped him up in her arms. the boy held tightly onto her, a sudden thought of losing her intruding his mind of peace. “happy birthday, y/n,” he whispered into her ear as they continued to embrace.

“thank you, luke. this means the world to me.”

luke now knew he had to give her the world, no matter what.

their matching bracelets would only be a reminder of what there was, what there will be and what will be gone.

[diremoone]

quiet kisses | r. sukuna

prompt 2 — “I’ll kiss you anywhere but under the mistletoe.”

requested by @yuujispinkhair :: Heyyy babe, your Christmas prompt post is so cute 💗💗 If you feel inspired, can you please write a little something for Sukuna + prompt 2 or prompt 7 (whichever you prefer)? 💗💗

a/n: AHHHH thank you so much for sending this in Winter! 🤩 I can’t tell you how much I nearly exploded seeing your request in my inbox! I went with prompt 2 because that’s the one my brain started working for the fastest. I hope you like it and I did your request justice :3

w — alcohol mention, fluff, everyone is 20+ in this fic, modern AU, mentions of prompt 7 heehee, softie! sukuna, sukuna cooks at the end lmao but it’s not related to the chef! sukuna fic

[ Christmas Prompt List ]

[ Christmas Event Masterlist ]

Nobara putting on this Christmas party was anything but unexpected. She was a party girl at heart, but nothing like what you’d see at a frat house or a club. No, she was the party master (or so she likes to call herself). And you kinda had to agree. Her parties weren’t over the top, but they definitely were anything but boring.

This time was no different: catering, along pizza and wine delivery, along with some of the more higher-rated Christmas movies playing on the TV with English Christmas music playing on the background, just loud enough that it wasn’t obnoxious.

You knew your boyfriend had to agree, even if he hated attending social events and parties.

What an introvert, you muse to yourself. You wonder how many people realize that as much as Sukuna seems like it, he doesn’t actually like parties. Nor anyone but himself and you at said parties.

You and Sukuna are off to the side against the bar that separates the kitchen and living area, deep in your own little world of each other. You’re leaning on him, his big arm wrapped around your shoulders comfortably.

You nudge him. “This isn’t so bad. See!”

Sukuna scoffs. “That’s what you said when you forced me into that Santa costume last year.”

“But you had some fun, didn’t you?”

“In the suit? No. Terrorizing children in it? Absolutely.”

You slap his chest. He catches your hand and presses a kiss to the back of it. You grumble. “You idiot.”

“Your idiot,” he remarks with a grin.

Suddenly, like magic, the party suddenly gets loud. Jingle Bells comes on the playlist set up, and everyone has begun to sing as loud as they possibly can. Sukuna grumbles and plugs one ear with a finger, rolling his eyes. He keeps on ear open, and you know it’s just to listen to you as you attempt to sing your way through the giggles.

When the song ends, everyone cheers. Sukuna unplugs his one ear and sighs, taking another sip of the hot chocolate you’ve made for him. They all quiet down, giggling and giddy from the sudden excitement of the old but catchy tune.

But why is everyone now looking at his and your direction?

And then everyone starts chanting: “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

You and Sukuna look up at the same time, seeing a mistletoe being hung over your heads by a fishing rod, but none other than the Party Master herself. Nobara grins sadistically with an evil glint in her eye.

Sukuna cusses and downs the rest of his drink before saying, “I think that’s our cue to leave. Nice party, Kugisaki.”

You attempt to down the rest of yours before he grabs your hand with his bigger one and leads you out the front door, almost stumbling over your own two feet.

Behind you, everyone complains about Sukuna being a “party pooper” and leaving. Before you two leave, he turns back to them and gives them the finger.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t the only couple here. Maybe Geto and Gojo should finally shack up,” Sukuna says with an evil grin. The two men next to each other go redder than tomatoes in record time. Sukuna isn’t done though, looking at his little brother. “And maybe you and Fushiguro should finally get a room, too, baby brother.”

The chaos from your boyfriend’s words gives you the chance to leave without trouble, the two unspoken couples now being the main attention of Kugisaki’s evil fishing rod-mistletoe.

Maybe they’ll be together come New Years, you think happily.

Sukuna drives you both home. One hand on the wheel, the other intertwined sweetly with yours. But by the time you get home, you’re halfway asleep in the car, hot cocoa being the perpetrator of your tiredness. You attempt to blink and wake up, but Sukuna’s gruff, “Stay put.” halts you as he turns the car off, keeping his keys in one hand.

You have no idea what he’s doing until he opens your door and slides his arms under your back and legs. You squeal and giggle as he effortlessly picks you up from your seat.

“Goddamn, you got the giggles tonight,” he mutters.

Like he’s done it a thousand times (he’s at least done it a couple dozen), Sukuna unlocks the front door with you in his arms with pure ease. He carries you over the threshold like a husband would his bride and doesn’t set you down. He hoists you up, readjusting your position closer to his chest. And then you see the cunning look in his eyes.

“Sukuna, what are you— mmph!”

He dips his head and captures your lips with his. He’s warm, so warm and comforting. You feel so safe and loved in his hold and damn do you love him. Your arms naturally tighten their hold around his neck as you two kiss in your home.

When Sukuna pulls away, he chuckles. You’re slightly breathless from the sudden kiss, but grinning nonetheless.

“You couldn’t do that at the party?” you inquire curiously.

“I’ll kiss you anywhere but under the mistletoe,” he replies honestly. “Especially at a party in front of people. Not my thing to make such an intimate spectacle of ourselves.”

Your heart flutters and overflows with love at his desire to keep his affection solely for your eyes to see. Sukuna has never been one to kiss or do intimate things in public beyond hand holding or wrapping his arm around your shoulders. For him, he considers that to be sacred; any acts of love he prefers to be behind closed doors, kept between the two of you and not in front of people to be fawned over or talked about.

“You really are the sweetest man I’ve ever met,” you say. “I’m so lucky. I really got the best man ever, didn’t I? Thanks, Universe.”

Your boyfriend’s cheeks tint red. A rare sight.

“Fuck. No, I’m the lucky one.” Sukuna gives you a fat smooch on the lips, the adds, “But I don’t have the universe to thank. I got you all by myself.”

You toss your head back and laugh at his indirect proclamation of arrogance. Or maybe it was just unshakable confidence, who knows?

Sukuna sets you down on the couch and asks, “What do you want for dinner?”

You think for a moment before replying, “Didn’t you say wanted to make some penne vodka the other day? That sounds good.”

“Penne alla vodka,” he corrects you with a stern eye.

You toss your hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry.”

But as Sukuna gets to work on the dish, you can’t help but stare at him as he works. He could be a master chef like Gordon Ramsey, if not better. But you’re kinda glad he’s not, not if you get to see him in your kitchen every night.

Yeah, you’d trade any party and PDA for his quiet kisses and love at home any day.

taglist:

@vagabond-umlaut | @poe-daydreams | @heresan @thedovahqueen | @lotus-n-l0ve | @chiyoso | @miraclecherryblossomsblog | @unbreakableblueheaven | @marscatbutler | @vanillabloo | @wo-ming-bai | @visionsofmagic | @tohsri | @lilacliliess | @bub-ss | @missmuffinr

[accio-victuuri]

BURN AFTER READING. 🍭🍬

i have never made a post with this title before, but i have shared some cpn/speculation that deserve to be burned after reading. lol. this term is often used by cpfs for a candy or info related to the boys that may be “dangerous” — so you have to get rid of it after reading. but for my version of it, let’s describe it as something that is a level up from galaxy brain cpn. it’s the kind of cpn you will think twice or thrice before making up your mind about. 💫

we have (2) topics here and just a disclaimer that i am not confirming anything here. this content is for cpf only. don’t take it seriously!

(1) Who is An Huibo 安慧博?

fans noticed that there was a “stand in” credited for the we and life of us music videos and that is this person. think of it as a body double. it makes sense cause aside from that scene in WE, there are times that xz’s figure is against a backdrop so maybe they needed someone to do that. the clowning began when people were thinking about, what if the other xz in WE mv is actually WYB ⬇️⬇️⬇️

i can think of a couple of different reasons why this could be false but the strongest explanation for me is that xz will not allow wyb to so something like this. he is very superstitious. even if this is just acting, he will not allow them to act out a scene of betrayal. that for me is enough to shut this all down. but on the flipside, maybe wyb wanted him (xz) to play his first villain role opposite him in this music video.

now we have the reasons why fans think this is something worth looking at:

1. XZ and this An Huibo are the only 2 credited actors for both MVs. so it seems kinda special.

2. The director of this is LIN, the same one who directed WYB’s redmi advertisement. There are some CPNs both were made at the same studio. Which makes sense cause LIN has his own shooting studio. There is another separate CPN about this but the gist is we think this director is familiar with both of them. So XZ may be comfortable enough to bring WYB along and even include him in the video.

3. It may not be WYB himself, but he used that name to troll us. It’s so close, Huibo. Yibo.

4. I saw this explanation as well:

If "Anhuibo" is read according to the French transliteration as An Huibo, it would approximately read:

[ã чi bɔ]

·ã: similar to "ang";

·qi: similar to "wei" in Chinese, but lighter and soft;

·bo: similar to "wave", slightly shorter.

5. As a CPF, it’s so easy for our alarm bells to ring if you read that name. An alias of sorts for Bobo. some are saying he used this kind of jumbled name to combat the bad aura of their scene together. Since he is superstitious, this removes yibo’s name and identity as the stand in who stabbed XZ’s character. if that makes sense.

maybe we will know more when they release the behind the scenes video. that is if they show who this stand in is. let’s add this to the bjyx clowning vault in the meantime.

(2) XZ look-alike in the recent GRA

i was talking to @rainbowsky about this and my initial reaction was, cpn aside, i’m surprised at how people notice these things! which i actually should be used to considering turtle’s attention to detail, but still!

so here is the “evidence”

👀👀👀👀

like all other turtles, i’m someone who has stared at tons of photos of XZ. so i can totally understand why people would look twice at this person. i get i. i was staring at this photo for so long as well. however most of the cpfs comment on this is against this candy and they have valid reasons:

1. Why would he attend and be in the audience? XZ is someone lowkey so if he was there to accompany WYB, he will be backstage. Yes he is brave, but not like this — which seems almost careless.

2. There are names on the chair, so it’s not like anyone can just sit there casually.

3. Even if you believe in the probability, CPFs don’t wanna talk much about it cause it can be anti material. Saying XZ has to hide and can’t show his face in GRA. or why is he even there incognito when he doesn’t even have a project nominated. You all know how it goes, antis can twist the narrative. Plus we don’t want to accidentally expose them if this was true. We should not observe too much and post about it cause it will make it harder for them to do something similar in the future.

4. How did this person go unnoticed? Everyone had to get inside the security and there are cameras everywhere. He should have removed his cap and mask which — it’s impossible for someone to not notice XZ ( or is it? ). another thing is maybe he went to a diff entrance??

5. Some are washing it and saying it’s Yibo’s MUA.

Please take that last point i mentioned and carry it over to the reason why this look alike is sus. People are able to confirm that this is not WYB’s MUA because he was wearing a different cap. Even the hair and daresay the ears are not the same. and why would a MUA even be there? If WYB needs touch ups then they should do it backstage. If for some reason it has to be while the broadcast and recording was not on or was on a break, he should not sit there and act like a guest.

Yibo’s MUA, Wang Yiduo has been with him for years. He has years of experience being around celebrities and attending these events before WYB. So he knows the decorum. He will not sit there and act like a guest just because he feels like it.

I’m curious too, who is this person who can walk in— in an event filled with people that are dressed up and then come in with a mask and casual clothes. To be allowed to sit there. Who is special enough? Probably a celebrity? and that’s why some think it could be XZ. Even the staff and assistants during the event are dressed up which made this person stand out. As for the CPN explanation, it’s nice to think that XZ is so proud of Yibo’s nomination that he has to be there. He will find a way to be in the audience and witness this special moment. 💕

I think this can easily be analyzed more if we have the video but i don’t have time to rewatch the whole GRA and wait for this cut. Cause i wanna know if it’s even there, that’s how much we question things here! 🤣 It’s so sus to me that we only have the screenshots and no video when CPFs are notorious for having concrete evidence. personally, it reminds me of the SDC3 incident but this one is still pretty outrageous considering it is a public event.

take what you want with this information. and as always, when it comes to BJYX: ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

sources: one/ two

[bunnliix]

When Eight Becomes Nine - Chapter Six

okie so I might have lied about getting this done today. But here it is! I honestly loved writing this chapter, cause it's fun to write the dynamic between Wooyoung and y/n

Pairing: Ateez x 9th member!reader  Summary: Y/n meets the omegas of Skz, and then has dance practice with Yunho and San! wc: 1.4k AU: a/b/o  Genre: Fluff/Angst  warnings: yelling, lots of yelling, Woo being dramatic, lots of cursing because yes, derogatory language (whore), angst, and I think that's it?? lemme know if I need to add any other warnings! masterlist

“Where are we going, Wooyoung-ssi?” Y/n asked the idol as she was dragged out of the company.

“I already told you! We’re going to meet up with Han and Felix!” Wooyoung told her, like it was common sense.

The slightly taller man, by like maybe an inch, pulled her behind him as they walked, or were dragged in y/n’s case, down the road to the next block, where a quiet cafe sat. The two omegas entered, finding it almost void of people, except for two people sitting in the back. Wooyoung lit up once he saw the two, almost sprinting towards the two of them, y/n along for the ride once again.

“You’re here!” He shouted, gaining their attention. 

“Wooyoung-hyung!” One of the two called out to him, pulling his mask off to reveal a smile on his face.

The older omega pulled y/n down with him into the empty chairs, before introducing her to the idols in front of her. “Han, Felix, this is y/n. She’s one of the auditionees for the ninth member of Ateez. I may have stolen her from practice.”

Felix ignored Wooyoung’s words for the most part. “ Hi y/n, I’m Felix. Though I have a feeling you already knew that. It’s really nice to meet you regardless.” He smiled at y/n, and she couldn’t help but smile in return, it was contagious.

“Yah! Felix, don't go stealing my omega! She’s mine. Not yours.” Wooyoung intervened as he watched the two of them. He was not letting the Stray Kids steal her from him, even if he loved the two younger omegas. Y/n was his, and if he had his way, she’d be their ninth member. He didn’t want anyone else, despite not having seen any of her skills. But Hongjoong looked pleased with her, so that means something good. And unless she had no rhythm and two left feet, they could teach her to dance.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you y/n.” Han said, a bit shyer than either Wooyoung or Felix. Which was fine with the sole female omega in the group of four, as she didn’t mind another quieter person. She had enough loud people with just the man next to her. 

“How are you both?” She asked them, knowing they have a comeback coming up, she’s a Stay too, there was no way not to be a StayTiny with the friendship between the two groups.

“I’m good! Busy, but good.” Felix replied, smiling at her still. Han nodded along, focused on his phone. He seemed to be reading something on his phone. She didn’t mind, it was probably Stray Kids related, which is totally fair, she may not understand it like Wooyoung probably did, but she could understand being busy because of an upcoming event.

“You guys have a comeback coming up, right? How’s the preparation for that going?” She asked them, “And no pressure if you can’t say anything, I get it.”

“Ah yeah, we’re not really supposed to say much about it. Sorry.” Felix said, apologizing.

“No apologies needed, I figured as much, but still wanted to ask. I know comebacks are secretive and such. Well outside of what is shared with fans in the lead up to release day.” She replied, nodding her head.

Suddenly, fingers were squeezing her cheek. “You’re so cute, I just wanna eat you.” Wooyoung said from right next to her.

“Please don’t eat me, I don’t think we need a news article about you secretly being some sort of cannibal.” 

“I- yah! I am not a cannibal!” Wooyoung cried.

“Then why do you want to eat me? Besides, it could be worse, you could be a kidnapping cannibal. Oh wait, you are.” Y/n jokes, suddenly having a burst of confidence.

That sparked laughter from Felix and Han, causing y/n to laugh as well, as Wooyoung looked at all of them and pouted.

“I thought we were friends.” The eldest man whined, crossing his arms as the three omegas continued giggling.

“You’re so fucking mean. This isn’t fair. How dare you corrupt my baby!” He continued to whine.

“They met me thirty minutes ago, how did they corrupt me? And when did I become your baby?” Y/n questioned, looking at the omega next to her in confusion.

“They just did! And when I met you, duh.” Wooyoung said, like it was common knowledge.

“Wooyoung, you’re an idiot.” Felix said, in a very deadpan way.

“Felix, we gotta go. Chan needs us back at the company.” Han interrupted, looking back and forth between Felix and his phone.

There were many awws, but Felix and Han rose up out of their seats.

“Next time, we’ll make sure to have free time so we can chat? And we’ll get your number off of Wooyoung!” Felix promised y/n as they left the cafe.

“Awwww, I thought we’d get longer with the two of them.” Wooyoung pouted once again.

“Well, they are prepping for a comeback next month, I don’t expect them to not be busy.” She said, knowing that these times would be busy, and was surprised they managed to get any free time at all, being weeks away from a comeback.

“I don’t wanna go back yet.” Wooyoung just wouldn’t stop whining, though he was interrupted by his phone ringing.

“What Hongjoong-hyung?” The omega said.

“I don’t wanna come back. And why does she have to practice?”

“Fine. But you owe me a coffee.” Wooyoung said as he hung up the phone. “I’m supposed to bring you back now. They’re all finished for the day, but you still have to practice, so Sannie and Yunho are staying late to watch you. I’m not allowed to stay because I’ll just kidnap you again apparently.” He told her.

He got up out of the chair he was in, sulking as the female omega got up as well, and continued to sulk as they left the cafe, heading back to KQ. He grumbled about how unfair it was that he wasn’t allowed to stay and watch her dance, that he wasn’t allowed to stay at the company while she was practicing.

This grumbling continued all the way to the door of the practice room. She rolled her eyes at Wooyoung’s grumbling, and pushed open the door herself, brushing past the elder omega. She bowed once she was in the room, apologizing for her lateness, “I’m sorry I didn’t show up on time.” 

“Don’t worry about it, once Hongjoong-hyung told us it was Wooyoung, we knew we wouldn’t get you back on time.” San waved off her apology, “You’re here now, that’s what matters.”

“What Sannie-ah said.” Yunho agreed, before continuing, “Now, are you ready to practice? Other than warming up?” He asked her, to which she nodded.

“Okay, then let’s warm up.” The tall alpha smiled at her, as they both started warming up with her, helping her through the stretches they did in order to prepare for their rigorous choreography.

Yunho then led her through the entirety of Guerilla, before moving onto Halazia, having her fill in Yeosang’s parts, as he thought she fit them best, besides Hongjoong’s as well. Once he deemed her Halazia run throughs perfect, he let her take a break, and y/n collapsed onto the hardwood floor.

“How the fuck do you do all of these songs back to back at concerts holy fucking hell.” She said through many breaths and attempts, as she was still trying to catch her breath.

“Lots of training and stamina. You have to get some more.” San said as he sat on the ground next to her head.

“San’s correct. That’s the thing you have to work on, it seems. Plus some more practice on the footwork for dance breaks. You fall behind in them, compared to San when you two danced together.” Yunho told her, letting her know what she needed to work on. She took all of the comments in, knowing she wasn’t perfect, and wanting to work to get better. Plus, Yunho was kind as he told her what needed work versus what was almost perfect.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching the three of them sit and chat after this, and security really should have done a better job at ensuring the rules were followed, as they snapped photos of the three’s closeness.

“The fucking whore, fucking omega thinking she’s better than everyone else because of her subgender. Let’s see how the public feels about how close you are to them, when you haven't even been picked yet.” They whispered to themselves, before walking away with a ticking time bomb in their hand.

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[scribblesofagoonerr]

she was a skater girl! | buddy & monkey: double the trouble

another part of the chaos continuing in america but heads up, this is a long one to read!

pairings: leah williamson x reader!monkey x reader!buddy

summary: monkey's menace behaviour ends with drastic consequences in the form of an injury

double the trouble masterlist

thank you to @alotofpockets for the help along the way and also my self doubt when writing.

“I’m bored,” You complain, huffing as you flop back on your best friend's bed once you have entered her room, “I’m so bored. Aren’t you bored?”

You guys have the lucky opportunity to have some free time away from the preseason training for the next game against Chelsea, but you didn’t realise how bored you are now you’ve run out of things to do and technically, you aren’t meant to leave your hotel room but there’s only so many videos on TikTok that you will watch before you go stir crazy.

Kyra looks at you curiously, “What’re you doing here?” She pauses as she shuts her hotel door behind her and looks at you, “I thought you couldn’t leave your hotel room other than training, games and anything else that’s not related to having fun, direct orders from Lord Farquaad herself?”

Technically, Kyra is right.

You’re not meant too, but you’re bored and going crazy alone in the hotel room.

You’re grounded and it sucks, although it’s your own fault for getting so hyper on energy drinks and thinking it was a good idea to play football in the living room.

It was definitely not a good idea at all when the TV ended up getting smashed.

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” You bite your bottom lip and shrug your shoulders, “Alright so I snuck out, but I’m going to go insane being stuck in that hotel room!”

“You’re bound to get into more trouble for that,” Kyra snickers knowing full well you will no doubt end up in more hot water.

You huff and groan dramatically, “But aren’t you bored?” You sidestep her question and repeat your own.

“I’m bored,” The older girl chuckles in agreement.

“See?” You wave your hand around in gesture, “I’m bored of being stuck in this dumb hotel room. Let’s do something fun!”

“And how do you plan to do that when you can’t leave the hotel?” Kyra questions, making a valid point about things.

You can’t help but grin mischievously at the older girl, “That’s why we’d sneak out of the hotel, duh!”

“I’m not sneaking out of a window.” Kyra remarks, “And what’re we gonna do when we’re out of the hotel?” She wonders, curiously.

You sit up from the bed and shrug your shoulders, “I don’t know, I’m just bored. Buddy’s off with Rory, having some sort of playdate that Le and Beth set up and I can’t be bothered to sit in this hotel, so let’s go out and do something fun!” You insist.

“Okay, sure, you don’t have to convince me twice!” Kyra grins in agreement, taking hold of your hand to pull you up off the bed, “Let’s go– Wait, do we need disguises? Y’know like hats and all that.”

“That’s where I’m already prepared,” You smirk, gesturing to the baseball cap on top of your head and sunglasses in your hand, “Let’s go, let’s go!”  You exclaim, throwing your hood up over your hat before all but dragging Kyra out of her hotel room.

“So, where are we going first?” Kyra wonders, her tone curious as the two of you wander around the different shops.

Sneaking out of the hotel with Kyra proves to be easier than you anticipate, there were no girls around in the hotel lobby so it was simple enough to just walk out the door without anybody seeing you.

The crisp air of the city outside feels exhilarating and you can’t help but bounce around in excitement.

“Dunno, let’s just walk around and see what there is,” You respond, sticking your hands in the pocket of your shorts, trying your best to not get recognised because the last thing you want is to be spotted by fans right now. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Kyra nods in agreement.

As you stroll around, your gaze falls on a shop window that has vibrant skateboards displayed and your eyes lit up in excitement, “Ky, whoa, looky!” You practically tug the older girl into the store, “Check it out, see how cool it looks? I need it!”

“Wow, that looks cool!” Kyra glances at the skateboard and reluctantly allows you to drag her inside, “You should definitely get one!” She encourages, being the bad influence that she is.

“Right? I have to get it!” You declare, practically vibrating with excitement, “Think of all the different cool tricks that I’m gonna be able to do on it, Ky!” You add, making your way over to the man at the counter to discuss purchasing a skateboard of your own.

“Yer’ it’s totally sick!” Kyra exclaims, “Do you actually have your own bank card right now?” She wonders, amusedly.

“No, of course I don’t,” You huff and slide your wallet out of your pocket, “Lucky enough this is my allowance money that I’ve so kindly been given,” You murmur, sarcastically as you hand the money over the man to pay for your new skateboard.

Kyra snickers in amusement, “I still can’t believe that you don’t have control over your own money.”

“Tell me about it, apparently I’m irresponsible,” You mutter in disagreement, accepting the bag  with the board in, “This is totally worth the money spent on it though!”

“Oh yeah, and I’m sure Malfoy’s gonna see it that way,” The older girl smirks knowingly, “She’s totally going to have a heart attack over this.” She adds.

Smirking back at the older girl, you thank the man and walk out the shop, “Yeah, she’s totally gonna freak out about this,” You pause, “I mean I’m already grounded, so what’s the worst that can happen now?”

It turns out a lot worse can happen as you're about to find out.

One minute you’re mucking around on your new skateboard and the next minute, you're on the ground in floods of tears and crying out in pain.

The two of you were successful to make your way back to the hotel without any speculation of your whereabouts and as far as Leah was concerned, you were in your hotel room the whole time staying out of trouble. 

Oh boy how wrong she was there, though. 

Currently you are with Kyra and goofing off in a quiet corner out the front of the hotel, acting without a care in the world. The evening is cooling down and the city lights cast a soft glow on the pavement.

“Show me what yer’ got skater girl!” Kyra encourages, a smirk plastered on her face in amusement as she watches you on your board.

“She was a skater girl, she said see yer’ later girl!” You goof off and sing aloud playfully while messing about on your new skateboard.

With not much experience on one before, you have been happy enough to pick it up quite quickly without much difficulty.

“Whoa, look at me go,” You exclaim, grinning from ear to ear and having such a blast on it, “This is so cool!”

It was going fine, until it wasn’t.

Until one step and you misjudge the angle so your foot slips awkwardly off the edge of the board.

“Agh, shit!” Feeling your ankle buckle, you collapse to the ground with a jarring thud. There’s a sharp, searing pain radiating through your leg, causing you to cry out in distress, “Shit, ow, my ankle!” You sob, the pain intensifying as you clutch a hold of your ankle, “My ankle!”

“Oh shit— Monkey!” Panic takes over Kyra’s usual playful facial expression as she rushes to your side, “What’d you do?” She questions.

Trying to stand up, it doesn’t end well when you crumple back on the floor while the tears stream down your face, “Ow, it hurts! I… I want my mum. I want my mum!”

Kyra’s eyes widen in panic as she looks around, “Alright, alright. I’ll go get her– Wait here, okay? I won’t be long!” With that, she rushes back into the hotel where she crashes into Steph and Kim in the lobby, “Where’s Leah?”

“Whoa, slow down,” Steph chuckles, slightly taken aback by Kyra’s frantic behavior, “What’s the rush?” 

Kyra’s eyes are wide with desperation, “Where’s Leah?” She repeats, her tone sharp and urgent.

Kim furrows her eyebrows in confusion, “Over there,” She gestures to where the blonde is sitting with Lia and Beth while Buddy and Rory play together, “What’s going on?”

“Leah! Leah!” Kyra yells, ignoring Kim and Steph’s questions as she rushes towards Leah, “Leah!”

Leah looks up, a bemused expression on her face when she sees Kyra, “Alright, pest?” she jokes, “What’s goin’ on?”

“You have to come quickly, it’s Monkey!” Kyra exclaims, her voice sounding frantic compared to usual.

“Oh god, what’d she do this time?” Beth jokes, glancing in the direction of the Australian girl.

“It was only a matter of time,” Lia chimes in, amusedly. 

“It’s serious, she’s hurt!” Kyra tells them,  her voice continuing to sound urgent, “She’s out the front of the hotel, Leah! She needs you!”

Leah’s eyes widen in panic as she darts up from her seat at the mention of Monkey being hurt, “Wha… Beth, Wally, will you… do you girls mind keeping an eye on Buddy for me?” She motions to where her little girl is sat playing contently with Rory, Beth’s little one. 

“Of course,” Beth replies to the blonde.

“We got it, go find out what’s wrong with her,” Lia nods in agreement, gesturing for Leah to run off.

“Thanks,” Leah murmurs before she rushes off in the direction to the front of the hotel, “How much trouble can she get in when she’s supposed to be in her hotel room?” She thinks aloud.

Walking outside to find you crumpled up on the ground, Leah gasps in shock, “Oh my God, Monkey!” She crouches down to your level on the ground, too worried now to care that you’re not even in the hotel room like you are supposed to be, “Are you okay?”

“No, it’s… it’s my ankle,” You sob as you clutch a hold of your ankle, the pain feels excruciating, “It… It hurts so much!” You add.

“Wha… What the hell happened?” Leah’s frantic with worry as she tries to see how severe the injury is, “Kyra, quick, go and find someone from the medics team!”

“Uh, s… sure I’m on it,” Kyra mutters, running off to go and find a staff member that is better to help with the situation.

“What’s going on?” Kim wonders, walking out the front of the hotel and furrowing her eyebrows as she sees you on the floor, “What on earth happened? I thought you were supposed to be in your hotel room,” She adds, confused.

“Yeah and that’s what I thought so as well,” Leah murmurs, looking at you with an unamused expression on her face while you wait for Kyra to come back with the medical staff member, “What the hell are you doing outside messing around on a skateboard, eh?” She questions.

“Kyra and I were bored and needed something to do,” You admit through your sobs, the pain only becoming more agonising as time went on, “We snuck out and I brought the skateboard.” 

The blonde’s eyes bulge in disbelief, “Are you kidding me, Monkey? You’re supposed to be grounded, in case you have forgotten, and you’re sneaking out to go to god-knows-where!” She pauses her rant, “Yet again you’re wasting your money on things that you don’t need, seriously, Menace?”

“Leah,” Kim interjects, shaking her head, “Now isn’t the time for that. You can come back and discuss this later on but right now, we need to get Monkey to the hospital!”

“No hospital, I’m not… I’m not going there, nuh uh!” Your fear of hospitals is evident and despite the intense pain, your hell bent on going there, “I’m not goin’ there!”

“It might be needed, my girl,” Leah states, sympathising with how you feel.

“Nuh uh, I’m not going there!” You grit your teeth and shake your head in protest, “You can’t make me either!” You add, trying to stand your own ground.

“Alright, alright. Calm down,” Leah states, wrapping her free around you, “How about we just see what the medic staff say and we can figure it out from there?” She suggests, already knowing the possibility of going to the hospital is more likely but she doesn’t want you to get upset about it. 

“Okay,” You murmur, nodding your head in agreement as you feel some relief there’s no pressure to go to the hospital.

Little do you know that’s not completely true. 

“I heard there’s been an incident,” One of the staff members from the medical team walks over to them with Kyra following behind, “What’s happened here then?”

“Skateboarding mishap,” Kim briefly explains to the member of the medics team who begin to assess the extent of the injury.

“How bad is it?” Leah questions in concern for you as she watches the medic check for signs of a fracture and apply gentle pressure to see how much pain you’re in, “Are we going to need to go to the hospital?”

The medic exhales a sigh and nods slightly, “It looks like it could be a fracture, so I think a trip to the hospital for a full assessment would be beneficial just to be sure,” They pause, “We can look to set up a car to take you there, kid.” She says, speaking directly to you.

You're still sitting crying on the floor and clutching your ankle, “I don’t… I don’t want to go to the hospital!” You wail aloud not caring about making a scene when you’re dead set against the idea of going to the hospital, “I’m not… I’m not going!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I know you’re not a fan of hospital’s Monkey, but we’ve gotta go,” Leah steps in and comforts you to try and ease your upset, “It’s going to be fine, I’ll be there with you as well.”

“No hospital, please,” You whimper in disagreement.

“Monkey, you need to go there,” Kim chimes in as she places her hand gently on your shoulder, “I know you don’t like it, but you have too, alright? You might have really hurt your ankle.”

“I really don’t want too,” You sob tearfully, continuing to shake your head.

“Monkey, we have to go there and see what the severity of the damage is,” Leah exhales a sigh, all too familiar with your dislike for hospitals, “You’re going there whether you like it or not, alright?” She states, putting her foot down on this.

“Are you sure that we have to be here?” You ask, your voice tinged with a mix of frustration and anxiety.

Kim exhales a sigh and nods, “We do, Monkey.” This isn’t the first time you’ve asked the question in the past hour that you’ve been sitting here with Leah and Kim.

You feel bad that Buddy’s back at the hotel being taken care of by Lia, but you guess hospitals aren’t such a fantastic place for little kids.

You’ve always hated hospitals, the whole sterile smell of them and the beeping of the machines does nothing to calm your nerves. Shifting uncomfortably in the plastic chair, you avoid eye contact with the nurses bustling around.

“I don’t like hospitals,” You’re making it evidently clear how much you detest being here and if you had your way then you’d already be up and running out of the hospital, but the only problem being that you couldn’t even put pressure on your damn ankle at the minute.

You really messed up with this one.

“I know that you do,” Leah sighs, her expression a mix of concern, “I’m sorry, my girl, but we have to be here to get your ankle seen too.” She explains, her tone firm but gentle.

“Why?” You huff in disappointment, slumping further into the chair, “Like seriously, it’s not… It doesn’t even hurt that much now,” You insist as you grit your teeth and try to mask the sharp pain still radiating from your ankle, “It’s totally fine. I can walk on it!” 

With that, you try to stand up, determined to prove your point that you’re fine, that you don’t need to be here in this horrible hospital

“Don’t you dare,” Leah is quick to tell you before you can fully rise, taking a gentle grip of your wrist, “Sit back down.” She says, her voice leaving no room for further argument.

“Fine,” You murmur in response, knowing that she is serious but the familiar tone of voice that you’ve heard before, “I still don’t think this is necessary though.” You add, reluctantly sinking back down into the chair while the pain in your ankle flares up again as you do.

Leah’s own expression softens as wraps her free arm around your shoulder, “Look, I know you hate the idea of being here and I get it, but you need to let the doctor take a look, okay? We’re staying put until they do,” She pauses, “You could be doing some serious damage to it without you knowing otherwise.”

“So mean,” You grumble under your breath, trying to mask your own anxiety and irritation.

Leah snorts softly, amused despite the situation, “Oh, I’m mean for caring about your welfare, huh?”

“Yes, especially when I’m being forced to sit in this place!” You retort, crossing your arms in a huff.

“This is the best thing for you, Monkey,” Kim chimes in, her voice calm and reassuring as the responsible Captain that she is, “There’s no point trying to argue about it.”

“Don’t like it,” You continue to grumble in protest as you sit there stewing in your discomfort, the minutes feel like hours. You fidget, trying to find a comfortable position, but the pain in your ankle makes it impossible.

Finally, a nurse steps into the hospital waiting room and calls out your name, which makes you cringe when you hear it.

“I hate that name,” You murmur in response, glancing at Leah and Kim with a mixture of resignation and dread, “Please don’t make me go in there,” You add, reluctantly getting up with Leah’s help.

“It’s going to be okay, my girl,” Leah reassures you, keeping a steady hand on your back as you make your way down the hallway to the examination room as Kim follows closely behind.

Most likely in case you try and bolt, but there’s no chance of that happening when you can barely walk without aid.

Inside the room, the doctor greets you with a warm smile, “Hi there! I’m Dr. Patel. So, what seems to be the problem?” She questions, her tone gentle as she gestures for you to sit on the examination table.

“Uh, I was using a skateboard and hurt myself on it,” You mutter, wincing as you carefully lower yourself onto the bed.

Dr. Patel takes a few minutes to examine your ankle with practiced hands, gently probing the area to gauge the extent of your injury while you try and do your best to hide your discomfort, but every touch sends a sharp jolt of pain through your leg.

“Okay, I think we’ll need to get an X-ray to see what’s going on in there,” Dr. Patel decides, standing up straight, “It looks like there might be a fracture, but I’ll know for sure once I’ve had a better look.”

You nod, trying to swallow the lump in your throat. The whole idea of a fracture makes your anxiety spike and your grateful Leah’s there to squeeze your shoulder reassuringly.

“It’s okay, my girl,” Leah says softly, giving you a small, encouraging smile.

Kim nods in agreement, “This is just going to make sure we know exactly what’s going on. You’ll be fine, Monkey.”

The nurse leads you to the X-ray room, where you’re instructed to sit on a padded table and position your ankle under the machine. The cold metal of the machine against your skin sends a shiver down your spine, but you try and stay still as you can.

You’re just grateful that the X-ray technician is quick and efficient, and soon enough, your back in the examination room with Dr. Patel and the images are up on the screen, she takes a few minutes to study them carefully before turning back to you with a calm, reassuring expression.

“So, what’s the damage?” You joke, trying to make light of the situation.

“Well, it looks like you have fractured your ankle,” The doctor confirms, pointing to a thin, clear line running across one of the bones in the image, “It’s a clean break, but it’s definitely going to need proper care to heal.”

You bite your bottom lip and stare at the screen as the reality of the situation sinks in, “So, uh, what happens now then?” You ask, your voice small.

“We’ll need to immobilise the ankle to help it heal properly,” Dr. Patel explains, “That means a cast, crutches and some time off your feet as well. You will also need to see a specialist to make sure everything is healing as it should.”

“We’re only in America for another week or two, we’re in the middle of a preseason tour,” Leah chimes in to tell the doctor on your behalf as she takes your welfare seriously, “Is it possible for her to see a specialist when we’re back in London?” She asks.

Dr. Patel nods in agreement with the blonde, “That should be fine, we can provide you with a detailed report and follow up instructions for your specialist back in London,” She pauses, “It’s crucial to have it monitored regularly, but we can set you up with everything you need to manage it in the meantime.”

Leah lets out a sigh of relief but her concern is still evident, “Okay, so what happens tonight then?” She asks, glancing back at the doctor.

Dr. Patel turns to the nurse standing nearby, “We’ll get the cast put on and then we’ll provide you with a pair of crutches to help you get around,” She explains, “We’ll also make sure you’re comfortable and that you have the proper pain relief.

“Cool,” You murmur, not really sure of what else to say about the situation.

As the nurse prepares the materials for the cast, Leah gently takes a hold of your hand, “I know you’re scared, but we’re here– I’m here, okay? It’s going to be okay.”

“Thanks, Mum,” You say quietly, it’s not often you call Leah by that name but you’re feeling somewhat vulnerable right now as the reality of the situation settles in.

The nurse and Dr. Patel both work efficiently together and soon enough, your ankle is encased in a firm plaster cast and they give you an explanation of how to use your crutches along with how to keep the cast dry and safe, something that Leah and Kim both listen to intently.

“How long do I have to keep this on for?” You grumble, staring down at the newfound cast you now have, “This is totally gonna be a buzzkill,” You add.

The doctor gives you a friendly smile, “You’ll need to keep the cast on for six to eight weeks, which should be enough time for the fracture to heal properly.” She explains.

You let out a small groan, clearly not thrilled by the news, “Six to eight weeks? Ugh, are you serious?” You can’t help but react in the way that you do, this all really sucks, “Can I at least train?”

“No, it’s not a good idea to train or do any physical activity that can put stress on the injury which could lead to complications or a prolonged recovery,” Dr. Patel explains with a sympathetic expression, “I recommend avoiding any strenuous activity or exercise until your ankle is healed and you’ve been cleared by a specialist.”

“I know it’s not ideal or what you wanted to hear but it’s going to be fine,” Leah wraps her free arm around your shoulder, “You don’t want to cause more damage by hurting yourself, do you?”

“It might be a bit of a hassle now but the time will pass before you know it,” Kim says in a supportive tone, “It’s going to be okay, Monkey. You’re strong enough to deal with this.”

“And perhaps next time you’ll think twice about mucking about on a skateboard,” Leah says with a teasing smile on her face, “Which we still need to talk about at some point,” She reminds you.

With everything in place, Leah helps you to carefully maneuver on the crutches although you feel like Bambi on ice currently with the way you’re hobbling on them.

It’s only when you leave the hospital with the two of them that the true reality of your injury begins to sink in. You’re going to be sitting on the sidelines for at least the next few months and that is a harsh pill to swallow.

“You’re back!” Kyra spots you hobbling through the hotel lobby with Leah and Kim from where she’s sat with Alessia, “Yikes, a cast and crutches? You must’ve properly messed it up then.”

“Yeah, I’m stuck in this thing for at least six weeks,” You huff dramatically, not exactly thrilled about the idea.

“I’ll go and update Jonas and the rest of the staff on the situation,” Kim tells Leah before she heads off in that direction to find your coach, “I’ll come find you both in a bit to check in on the menace.”

Alessia smiles sympathetically at you, “I guess you won’t be using your skateboard anytime soon then, huh?” She jokes.

“No, she definitely won’t be,” Leah interjects, her tone firm as she gives you a pointed look, “Come on, let’s get you up to my hotel room. You need to keep off that ankle and rest, you heard what the doctor said.”

“Why can’t I just go to my own room?” You ask confused, a touch of frustration creeping into your voice.

“Monkey, you’re on crutches and in a cast,” Leah says gently, but firmly, “It’s not exactly a good idea for you to be on your own right now, and this way I can help you.”

“So I’m being babysat, that’s just fantastic,” You mutter, trying to hide your annoyance.

“Call it what you want, but I’m just looking out for you,” Leah replies, her expression softening, “Come on, let’s get you settled in. You can catch up with your partner in crime later.”

“What about Buddy?” You wonder about the whereabouts of your favourite little buddy.

“I already texted Wally on the way back and she’s going to bring her back once we’re settled,” Leah tells you, waving off the girls as the two of you head in the direction of the lift while Kim goes to update Jonas and the rest of the staff on the situation, “I have no doubt she’ll want to draw on your cast as well.”

“Probably,” You agree, shrugging your shoulders.

“And in the meantime, we’re going to talk about this whole mishap,” Leah gestures towards your cast, reminding you of how it happened in the first place.

The prospect of this conversation makes your stomach churn, but you couldn’t really escape it.

Once in Leah’s hotel room, she helps you get comfortable on the bed and arranges some pillows to prop up your leg before she makes everything that you need– pain medication, snacks and plenty of entertainment.

“I know this sucks, but it won’t be forever,” Leah says, settling on the bed beside you, “Now, on a serious note, we need to have that conversation, don’t we?”

The words make your stomach flip in anxiousness, “I… I know it was dumb,” You begin to say.

“It wasn’t just dumb, it was incredibly stupid– What’re you thinking of sneaking out of the hotel, eh? What if something serious happened, or you got hurt? I wouldn’t know where you are!” Leah’s on a full blown rant, making you see the seriousness of things despite you thinking it was a bit of fun, “Regardless of that, you’re meant to be grounded as well. Did you think I was joking about that or something?”

You feel a pang of guilt inside you and nod slowly, “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t think about it properly,” You admit to her, your voice barely above a whisper.

Leah’s gaze softens as she gently brushes a strand of hair from your face, “I love you so much, my girl and it would break my heart if something happened to you in a place you’re not familiar with,” She says with a mix of tenderness and firmness, “And just so we’re clear, you’re most definitely still grounded. Ankle fracture or not.”

“Guess I saw that one coming,” You murmur in response, feeling the sudden exhaustion of the pain meds taking their toll, “I know you’re wanting to have this conversation now and all, but I’m super wiped. So… to be continued?”

“Fine,” Leah reluctantly agrees, seeing the way that your eyes are starting to droop and she takes pity on you, “We’ll talk about this later on.”

The conversation is put on halt and you're grateful as you feel the full effect of the pain meds, and before you know it you’re drifting off to sleep.

It’s only a soft knock on the door that rouses Leah, who opens it to find Buddy standing there with Kim, though the blonde is slightly confused as she thought it was Lia who was bringing Buddy back.

“Mummy!” Buddy’s little arms reach up eagerly to be picked up, “I missed ‘ou so much!” She says, affectionately. 

“Oh my little bubba,” Leah bends down to scoop Buddy into a gentle hug, keeping her voice quiet to avoid waking you up, “I missed you too. Did you have fun hanging out with Auntie Wally?”

“Uh huh!” Buddy nods enthusiastically, “Where’s Monkey?”

“She’s right over there, but we need to be very quiet because Monkey’s sleeping,” Leah points gently to your sleeping form on the bed, her voice soft and soothing, “She’s got an ouchie now so we need to be extra careful around her.”

Buddy’s little face scrunches up in concern as her brows knit together, “She’s got an ouchie?”

“Yeah she has, so we’ve got to use our gentle hands,” Leah nods in response, “Can you do that for me, bubba?”

“You got it dude,” Buddy replies, sticking her thumb up as she begins to carefully make her way over to the bed, clambering up onto it beside you as she eyes you with worry, “Love ‘ou, Monkey.” She whispers softly, snuggling close and resting her head gently on your chest while you remain peacefully asleep.

Leah’s heart melts as she watches the two of you as she steps aside to let Kim into the hotel, “I thought Wally was supposed to bring Buddy back?” She asks, confused.

“I stopped by her room and offered instead, I thought it would give me the chance to check in and see how things are as well,” Kim explains, “I’ve updated Jonas about the situation and they’re going to release a statement for the upcoming game against Chelsea.”

“Thanks, Kim,” Leah thanks the Scots woman.

“How’s she doing?” Kim asks softly, looking over at you with concern.

Leah walks over to the bed and carefully adjusts the pillows to make sure you’re comfortable while keeping a watchful eye on Buddy, “Well the pain meds made her tired so we put the conversation about the skateboard on hold,” She pauses, “The main thing now is to make sure she gets better and doesn’t do anything to jeopardise hurting herself in the meantime.”

“You’re doing an amazing job, Le, so just keep doing what you’re doing,” Kim nods sympathetically, “Co-captains, more like co-parenting instead, huh?” She jokes with the blonde.

“Well Jordan can’t be here so I guess you’ve got to step up and take on the responsibility as well,” Leah jokes with the captain.

Kim snorts and shakes her head, “No chance, you’re here this time unlike in Melbourne, she's completely your problem this round,” She declares to the blonde, “I’ll let you to take care of both the girls, but if you need me then don’t be afraid to text and ask for help.”

“Thanks, Kim,” Leah says grateful for the woman as she guides her back out of the hotel room, “Auntie Kimmy’s going now Buddy. You want to come say bye?”

Buddy scrambles off the bed and rushes towards the older woman flinging her arms around her legs, “Bye, Auntie Kimmy!”

“Bye, Buddy. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kim crouches down to the toddler's level and embraces her in a warm hug, “Be good for your Mummy and help her to look after Monkey as well.”

“I’ll be the best helper!” Buddy insists with a somewhat firm look to show how serious she was before she turns to Leah, “Mummy, can I drop on her cast?” She asks.

Leah can’t help but laugh knowingly, “How about we get you in the bath first and then afterwards you can, huh?”

“Yeah!” Buddy replies in agreement, eager to have a bath so you can come back and draw pretty pictures on her cast.

“Sounds like fun,” Kim jokes, giving Leah a final encouraging nod before she slips out of the room.

Leah watches the door close behind Kim before she turns her attention back to Buddy, who’s practically vibrating with excitement, “Alright, my little bubba. It’s bath time!” She announces cheerfully, gesturing towards the bathroom.

Buddy doesn’t need to be twice before she scampers ahead of Leah as she chatters animatedly about what she’s going to draw on Monkey’s cast. The blonde smiles as she listens to her while she runs the bath, the warmth of Buddy’s enthusiasm filling her heart and providing a much-needed sense of normalcy amid the chaos of the day.

“I’m sure that Monkey will absolutely love whatever you draw on her cast,” Leah tells Buddy, watching her daughter’s eyes light up even more at the thought, “Right, in you go then, bubba,” Helping her into the bath, the little girl immediately starts splashing around with her bath toys that she insisted on bringing from home.

Leah’s pretty sure if Buddy could have brought every single one then she would have done, but she had to draw the line somewhere, besides there was definitely not enough room in the suitcase for them.

“Mummy?” Buddy asks, her voice full of curiosity as she plays with a floating duck, “When is Monkey gonna wake up?”

Leah glances back towards the bed where you’re still fast asleep, “Soon, bubba. Monkey just needs to rest a bit longer because of her ouchie. She’s been through a lot today.” She explains gently.

As Leah’s in the middle of giving Buddy a bath, she doesn’t notice you slowly waking up on the bed. You crack one eye open, just enough to see what’s going on and spot Leah and Buddy busy in the bathroom. That's when a mischievous idea pops into your head and you quickly shut your eyes again, deciding to play along and pretend to be asleep.

Buddy nods, seemingly satisfied with the answer as Leah quickly finishes bathing Buddy before she lifts her out and wraps her in a fluffy towel.

“There we go, all squeaky clean!” Leah says, playfully ruffling Buddy’s damp hair as she dries her off.

Buddy giggles, snuggling into the warmth of the towel, “Now can I draw on Monkey’s cast?” She asks, her eyes wide with anticipation.

“How about first we get you into your jammies,” Leah suggests, leading her back to the room, “Then you can doodle on Monkey’s cast.”

“Yeah!” Buddy squeals excitedly, allowing Leah to help her into her pyjamas before she races over to your side, ready to start drawing on your cast, “Can I wake her up?”

Leah glances over at you, still completely unaware that you’re awake, “Sure, but be gentle, okay?” She says softly, returning to the bathroom to tidy up.

“I can do that, Mummy!” Buddy nods seriously before she climbs up onto the bed beside you, trying to be as gentle as possible. Just as she’s about to nudge you awake, you suddenly let out a playful growl and open your eyes, making Buddy screech and jump back in surprise.

“Roar!” You shout, reaching out to tickle her sides the best you can with the cast on your foot.

“Ah, Monkey!” Buddy squeals with laughter, throwing her little arms around you in a tight hug. “Mummy said you got an ouchie!”

“I do have an ouchie,” You murmur, reminded of the whole incident earlier today which now left you in the situation that you’re in, “So now I’m stuck in this cast, but you know what might help me feel better?”

“What?” Buddy questions, her eyes wide with curiosity.

“If you draw some of your pretty pictures on it,” You suggest with a grin.

Leah steps out of the bathroom, drying her hands on a towel as she notices you're now awake with Buddy nestled against you, “Hey sleepy head. Have a nice nap?” She teases as she walks over to the bed, “I didn’t think those pain meds would knock you out so quickly.”

You laugh faintly, “Yeah they knocked me right out, they’re fantastic to help with my sleep issues. Where were those when I couldn’t sleep the other month?” You joke with the blonde as you see the unimpressed expression on her face, “What? Dark humour makes everything better.”

Leah clicks her tongue in disapproval, “Now is not the time for them kind of jokes, Monkey.”

“When is it then? Cos’ I’m fed up with this cast already,” You grumble in annoyance, poking at the bulky thing on your foot, “Seriously, six weeks? I’m gonna die! Literally, there’s nothing for me to do now!”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Leah rolls her eyes at your dramatics as she sits on the edge of the bed, “You’re lucky that you’ve got this little artist to keep you entertained at least.”

“I’m gonna make the cast pretty,” Buddy announces with determination, holding out her hand for more colours, “Mummy, I need all the colours!

“Here you go, bubba,” Leah hands over a handful of markers to the 3 year old, starting to doodle on your cast to make it that bit brighter and colourful, “Wow, that looks great already. You know, I think this might be the most colourful cast I’ve seen.” She comments, reaching out to gently brush a strand of Buddy’s hair behind her ear.

“Colourful, Mummy!” Buddy beams a wide smile, glancing at Leah with wide eyes.

“It’s certainly something,” You remark, peering at the masterpiece that your favourite little buddy is creating, “Best leave some room for other people to sign it, Buddy.” You joke, playfully.

“Okay!” Buddy giggles in agreement, continuing with her colourful masterpiece as you watch her with a fond smile, “Make you happy, Monkey!”

“It does make me happy, Buddy,” You nod in agreement and smile softly at the little girl sitting beside you, sticking her little tongue out as she puts her whole focus on the artwork.

Maybe this several weeks wouldn’t be so bad if you have your favourite little buddy to cheer you up after all?

© scribblesofagoonerr

[hailsatanacab]

a father's son

Happy holiday truce, @dashing-through-ecto!! I was your gifter this year, I hope you enjoy the fic! Based on your prompt: "Do you need any help, Dad?"

Word count 2.2k - ao3 link

Things have not been going well for Danny Fenton.

Not only did he fail in intercepting Lancer’s call home, so now Mom and Dad know about his latest grades—he didn’t even get enough answers for an F this time, not when he fell asleep within the first five minutes—but they also caught Jazz taking the trash out for him.

“That’s one of your chores, young man! Heaven knows you don’t have many of them, which is why you need to be responsible and actually do the ones that we give you! It’s just not good enough, Daniel James Fenton, do you hear me?”

The full name.

It’s not often he gets it, but it sucks each and every time he does.

What sucks even more is that now, with what little free time he has, he’s cleaning the lab. It’s just not fair!

Broken glass skitters along the floor as he sweeps it up into the dustpan, ectoplasm still clinging to the bottom of the beaker. 

He can’t even goof off—can’t even use his powers to finish quicker—because his dad is sitting at the workbench tinkering with whatever his newest interest is.

Great. Looks like he’s stuck cleaning the boring, human way.

The lab is quiet, but it isn’t silent. 

Ectoplasm drips, maddeningly, from the gloop stuck on the ceiling. That’s a form of torture, isn’t it? Danny’s pretty sure he’s heard that before, that the constant sound of water droplets will drive someone insane. He can relate, because this is certainly testing him.

Dad’s talking to himself, too, little murmurs about what he’s doing, where he should be soldering, how it should be working and why it isn’t. 

Vaguely, Danny wonders what he’s working on. Sure, it’s probably some ghost thing, but that’s not all they do! His parents made some pretty great advances before the portal switched on and monopolised all of their thoughts.

Yeah, that might be wishful thinking, but stranger things have happened! You never know.

Every 30 seconds, the motor on the ecto-filter whirrs into life, syphoning off the excess, pure ectoplasm from the portal and filtering it into something less volatile. In theory.

Underneath everything, the portal hums.

A droning beat that pulses in the same rhythm as his heart. Sometimes, he catches himself staring at it, leaning closer as it calls to him.

It scares him.

“Shit!” his dad shouts, dropping the soldering iron with a loud clang. 

It’s enough to knock Danny out of whatever daydream he’d lost himself in and he whirls around to see his dad sucking on one of his fingers.

They lock eyes, both widening as they realise what’s happened.

“Ah, I mean, suffering spooks! That really hurt…” He shoves his fingers back into his mouth and his shoulders droop as he considers Danny. “Don’t tell your mother.”

Danny laughs.

“Are you alright?”

“It’d take more than that to put Jack Fenton down! All good, Danno, don’t you worry,” he smiles back before shaking his hand out and turning back to whatever he was working on. “Or, I would be, if this hunk of junk was cooperating with me!”

“What’s up?” Danny asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

Normally, he likes to stay out of the lab, as much as he can. 

Obviously, what Phantom does doesn’t count. Phantom can’t help but come into the lab, set ghosts loose into the Zone, trash whatever weapons his parents have got going on, sneak out into the Zone when he can for some much needed R&R. The ectoplasm just hits different there.

“I’m trying to repurpose this toaster, but the ecto won’t run smoothly through the wiring. I think it keeps getting cooked by the element.”

“Oh? Do you need some help?”

Danny doesn’t like spending time in the lab, because if he’s in the lab then he’s either Phantom and he’s trying hard not to be seen or heard, or he’s Danny and he’s being punished.

But his curiosity is piqued.

“Yeah, come here, have a look! Perhaps another Fenton brain can knock some sense into it!”

So, he does.

Hell, anything beats cleaning the lab.

“You’re trying to run it through here?”

Dad nods and shifts in his seat to give Danny a better view.

“But you can’t, because the ecto is tripping the heating element… which is way higher than a toaster has any right to be, wow. No wonder it’s destabilising the ectoplasm, that would destabilise anything.”

Danny pokes around the casing, wiggling the wires back and forth to get a better look at the absolute mess his dad has made of it all. Sometimes it amazes him that his parents' inventions work at all.

“That’s what I’m thinking! But it has to be that high so we can completely break down the ecto!”

“You want it to break down?”

“Yep!” Dad says, clapping him on the back hard enough that he wheezes. He grins down at him when Danny turns around reproachfully. “Think of it, boyo, if we could figure out how to flash fry that ectoplasm high enough so that it evaporates—which it should do, it’s goopy gross liquid, after all!—then you wouldn’t be stuck down here cleaning for so long! We could take it to the streets after a ghost fight and clean up the whole town!”

Well, it’s not a Nobel Prize level invention… Danny’s pretty sure at this point that his parents would be laughed out by the Nobel committee. But, a quicker cleaning of the lab does sound nice.

It would mean he’d be stuck down here a lot less.

Besides… It's interesting.

“What if we…” Danny trails off and pulls the metal frame towards him, grabbing the tweezers as he goes. Vaguely, he’s aware of his dad leaning over his shoulder, the weight of him watching is a comforting presence that he’s not felt in a long while. 

The real trouble is that you need ectoplasm to affect ectoplasm, and that’s not going to work if the object of the game is to evaporate it. 

So what if they don’t introduce the reactive ecto until the end?

He makes quick work of stripping down what his dad’s already done and starts again, this time focussing on keeping the heat contained separately away from the ectoplasm. Just as he’s piecing together a trigger to concurrently shoot a blast of ecto towards the heated tip, Dad exclaims as he realises where he’s going with it.

“Oh! Danny, you’re a genius! Look at that!” Dad laughs and squints closer at what Danny’s doing. “Just wait until your mother sees this, she’s going to be so happy!”

Danny can’t help but grin as he ductapes everything to a piece of toaster casing to give it the first test try. Dad’s enthusiasm is catching as he whoops when the first puddle of ectoplasm burns off in acrid smoke.

They spend another couple of hours perfecting it, welding a case together and branding it with the Fenton F.

It’s not pretty—but then again, when are his parents’ inventions?—a long stick with a cattle-prod-like taser at the end. Instead of electricity, it launches ectoplasm from one rod and superheats the other. When activated, all you need to do is touch the tip to a puddle and poof! It’s gone.

Danny shivers as he watches another pool go up.

But, no! He’s thinking about it wrong. It’s not a cattle-prod, it’s more like one of those sticks you see people using on the highway to jab at the litter on the floor. It’s for cleaning. It’s going to make his lab cleaning chores way easier! It’s—

“Danny, just look at it!”

Danny looks at it, and then back to his father’s face when he can’t bear to see the smoking ecto anymore. It’s painfully happy and Danny does his best to be happy, too.

“Here!” Dad shoves the contraption into Danny’s arms. “You use that and finish what you’re doing and then when you’re done—I can’t believe I’m saying this, galloping ghouls, I’m so happy, I’m working with my boy—we can get to work transferring it over to the Jack o’ Nine Tails! Imagine it, Danny, with one whip and that pesky poltergeist Phantom will be gone!”

Danny freezes.

It feels as if Dad’s just dumped a bucket of ice water over him.

“Poof! Up in smoke!”

The fumes are getting to him. That must be it. His head is swimming and his stomach is churning. There’s a ringing in his ears and it melds with the sharp, stinging whirr of ectoplasm sizzling. It pulses in time with the portal behind him.

He stumbles, almost goes down—almost throws up—but it doesn’t matter. Dad doesn’t see him, already turned away back to the work bench.

It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter.

You know what, it’s okay! It’ll be okay, Danny can sneak back down here later tonight and he can undo it all, it doesn’t matter!

Take a deep breath, now, finish cleaning the lab, ignore Dad—it doesn’t matter—and get this over with. Being here makes his skin crawl, he needs to finish—

“I’m so proud of you, Danny.”

For the second time, Danny stops.

Dad doesn’t say anything else, just sits with his back to him, opening and closing his hand over a screwdriver with the Jack o’ Nine Tails splayed out in front of him.

It takes longer than Danny wants to find his voice, but he manages to croak out, “What?”

“I’m proud of you, Danno. I know this year hasn’t been easy for you, don’t think we haven’t noticed. Your mom and I have been talking about how you're doing at school. We're not blind. We know kids can be cruel, and that Dash Baxter… But we're so proud of you for not rising to it. We love you so much, Danny.”

A lump grows in Danny’s throat and his eyes prickle.

His fingers bleach white where they grip the Fenton Evaporator too tight.

“Look at what you can do when you try, Danny! This is the boy that I know, this is the Danny that I love. I’m so proud of what we’ve done here today. It’ll make the world a better place, just you wait! Now, come on, boyo, pass me that soldering iron and let’s really get stuck in!”

And… And Danny does.

With shaky limbs and tears threatening to spill, Danny reaches over and passes Dad the soldering iron, watching as he gets to work, and when his dad asks him to get his hands dirty—“Here, run this wire up the rope, there’s a good boy!”—he does.

Danny does it all and he does it well.

He sucks in a deep breath, swipes a hand over his eyes, and he helps his dad.

He laughs when Dad tells his stupid jokes:

“Quick! What’s red, white, and blue all over?”

“I don’t know, Dad, what’s red, white, and blue all over?”

“A ghost that we’ve beaten into oblivion!”

And he hopes that his mom is going to be just as proud as Dad says she will be when she sees what they’ve done.

It’s easy, really.

If he doesn’t think about it, if he tucks his mind away and just lets his hands get on with it, then he’s just helping his dad and he can do that. He can do it.

He can do it.

So, no, he doesn’t sabotage what they’ve built. He doesn’t add in a failsafe. He doesn’t loosen a few screws, or overload the element, or untwist a few wires.

Danny does his best and at the end of the day his dad holds up the new and improved Jack o’ Nine Tails and absolutely beams at him. A work of art, he calls it.

Danny doesn’t sabotage it then and he won’t sabotage it later, because it’s a work of art. This is what he and his dad built. Together.

Danny can’t help but grin back, happiness curling in his belly even as it gives a sickening lurch.

He doesn’t eat dinner that night, he can’t.

He stays downstairs long enough to present the new weapon to Mom—very pointedly ignoring Jazz’s look—and then he heads upstairs. There’s an English essay he needs to get started on, after all.

He doesn’t miss the look Mom and Dad share, the fond tenderness, the love, the hope, all directed at him.

He’s happy.

They’re happy.

They’re proud of him.

And despite it all, he had fun today! 

When he lays down on his bed, he smiles and he can’t stop the laughter bubbling up as he thinks about his dad. At one point, he had been holding up a circular piece of metal he’d cannibalised from the lamp shade to his eyes, moving it back and forth as he pulled his funny faces, and some of that full belly laugh creeps back in as he remembers doing the same back.

He laughs so hard until he cries, and he cries, and he cries. 

Today, he and his dad built a weapon. 

Tomorrow, it'll be used on him, but that's okay. 

It's okay because today, today his dad was proud.

[suhkusa]

The cool air is the first thing that greets you as you walk outside. Everyone decides to hangout outside before the 11PM curfew. 

There are so many familiar faces, but at this moment you still feel alone. Some of the other managers greet you as you make your way to a lawn chair that’s set by a tree. 

Your manager friends were already mid conversation with some volleyball players when you walked outside, so you felt uncomfortable just joining in. Atsumu is also surrounded by players you’ve never met before. Plus, it was you who decided to come on this trip. He’s not responsible for you. Everyone else you just don’t know that well.

You’re shocked out of your thoughts as you become self conscious of how really alone you were, how alone you looked. On instinct, you take out your phone and begin scrolling through each app, attempting to make yourself look busy.

Asu? No, honestly things have felt a bit tense, and you don’t want to keep bothering your online friend with your troubles. Your friends? Also no, for the same reason. 

Plus, the way you were feeling was stupid, was it not? You feel so alone, yet no one is stopping you from interacting with any of these people. You have only yourself to blame. 

“What’re you doing over here?” Yet, he seems to always be there when you needed it the most. Scarily enough. 

You look up from your phone, letting a smile make its way onto your face, “Nothing, I’m just tired. Didn’t want to get FOMO though,” 

Sakusa puts another lawn chair down beside you. “I suppose,”

“They snuck in some drinks if you wanted to take shots with them,” he adds.

You let out a breathy laugh, “I’m not an alcoholic, y’know? Thanks for letting me know, though,” you finally turn off your phone and slip it into your back pocket. “To be honest, I have a headache,”

A concern looks washed over his face, “Was it because of the energy drink?”

“Oh, so that was you?” your words catch him off guard, he hesitates to say something and you laugh again, “Don’t worry, I don’t think it was that. I think it helped me stay awake this long,”

Sakusa sighs with relief, “That’s good,”

“I don’t think you’ll miss out on much if you go sleep now,” he adds, “You should catch up on the rest you didn’t get last night,”

“Ah, maybe,” your hands are fidgeting, picking at the skins near your nail bed.

“Are you alright?”

You freeze, not sure what to say. But the words unexpectedly find you and you spill.

“To be honest, I'm just overwhelmed. My anxiety has been through the roof, but I stopped my meds a long time ago. There’s been so much on my mind,”

Sakusa says nothing but nods at your words. The silence freaks you out a bit, so you keep talking.

“I feel like I have to always be happy, it’s what everyone expects of me. And I am, but sometimes I get tired. And I don’t want people to see that I’m tired,” you know you’re oversharing, and it’s random, but you can’t stop yourself, “I hate when people worry about me so it’s always easier for me to push it all down. I don’t know why recently it’s gotten harder,”

“I suppose I relate in some sense. But either way, don’t be scared to reach out, you have a lot of friends don’t you? They all care for you– from what I see, at least,” he fumbles his words a bit before continuing, “I know we’re not friends, but I’m also here if you ever need to talk,”

A small smile teases the side of your mouth, “Whaat? We’re not friends? I thought I said we were though,” you tease.

“Oh, well I mean, yeah, then,” 

You didn’t expect him to play along, to be honest. His words fluster you, and you can feel your cheeks warm. 

The cold air clashes with the warmth of your skin, it feels nice. 

“Did talking to me help at all?” Sakusa asks, and you realize this is the first time you’ve met eyes with him this whole night. 

You offer a small smile before nodding.

“I’m glad,” and for a split second you can make out a small smile on his face in the dark night. 

“I’m going to head in now, want to come with?”

Snapping out of your thoughts, you quickly nod and join him in folding the chairs. The two of you make your way into the dimly lit hallway before bidding each other soft goodnight. 

It was safe to say that you would be getting a good night’s rest. 

SECRET ALLIANCE — SPOILER WARNING

PREV | MASTERLIST | NEXT

NOTES.

y/n laid in bed for another 30 minutes as the caffeine ran it's course

last day of camp next :3

© all writings belongs to suhkusa 2024. do not repost or change.

[goldengleams]

another cinderella story | l. hughes

summary: after your masquerade dance, you invite luke back to your house to watch a movie that’s right on theme. will he be your prince charming?

word count: 1.8k

author’s note: oh it’s just me being active and posting again!! so excited to be on break for the summer and finally have some free time! this was inspired by an experience i had with a friend and it was so fun to write, so please show some love by reblogginh or liking! leave some requests or messages in my inbox for fun! 🤍

———————————————————————

You pulled your coat around your shoulders as the chilly winter air nipped at your exposed skin, making the climb out of the Uber and the walk to your house that much more dreadful. Your night at your sorority formal had been a blast. This year, there was a masquerade theme and you had gotten lucky enough that your formal was on a non-hockey weekend so that you could invite your close friend, Luke Hughes.

The two of you had had a fun night with your sorority sisters and a few of his teammates who had been invited. Before you left, the drinks had been flowing at your pregame, so you had felt extra loose on the dance floor with Luke as your date.

“Thank you, have a good night,” you said to the driver. Luke quickly climbed out of the car to join you and speedwalk inside.

“I think the cold just completely sobered me up,” you grumbled.

Luke laughed from behind you. “Yeah, you did go a little hard after we finished our bottle of champagne.” You let out a soft groan at the reminder that you and Luke had been handcuffed to each other earlier in the night to complete your champagne and shackles challenge.

“I only had a one dirty shirley but I knew that stupid bottle of champagne would fuck me up,” you said, laughing as you recalled your tipsy self earlier in the night.

“I thought you handled it well, you only tripped three times walking in,” Luke teased. It wasn’t your fault that your best friend had made everyone drink the champagne in a race.

“Well, you knew I wasn’t going to lose to Luca and Bella in the drinking game!”

You and Luke reached the front door of your sorority house and you scanned in. Unsurprisingly, the house was empty, the other girls still at the formal venue or planning to stay with their dates for the night.

You shrugged off your coat and Luke hung it up on the coat rack in the closet along with his own. He had been over to your sorority house many times to study and hang out with you, so he knew where just about everything was.

“I was gonna bring some popcorn and those chocolate covered pretzels upstairs,” You called from the kitchen. Luke came in a moment later, still looking handsome in his button down and dress pants. You wouldn’t admit to it, but your eyes did linger on the contour of his muscles that was evident through his shirt. “I still can’t believe you’ve never seen Another Cinderella Story!”

“Jack and Quinn weren’t exactly interested in Disney Channel at that age, so blame them next time you see them,” Luke laughed. “How does this relate again?”

You huffed out a breath. “It’s a cultural masterpiece because Selena Gomez’s character goes to a masquerade ball where she dances with the Joey Parker, who is the celebrity in the movie,” you explained while walking up the stairs. Luke followed behind you, intently listening to your words. It was hard to ignore his eyes as he focused on you. “And since we just went to the masquerade dance, it’s a must!”

“So she’s the one playing Cinderella?”

“Yeah and she’s a really good dancer but her evil stepmother, who is played by Jane Lynch, of course, won’t let her be with him. It’s cinematic, I swear Luke.”

Luke’s eyes followed your form as you walked up the stairs. Your dress clung to you in all the right spots and your heels you had worn had made your legs look even longer than usual. He tried not to watch as your hair flowed behind you, the new style making him want to stare at you all night.

“Alright, I’ll get this masterpiece of a film set up, so get the snacks ready!”

Luke took a seat on your futon and you quickly clicked on Disney Plus to turn on the movie. You had started to feel too overdressed in your outfit, so you grabbed a pair of pajama pants and a Michigan hockey t-shirt to change into.

“Nice shirt,” Luke said when you walked back into your room. His eyes had gone straight to your shirt and seeing your choice of attire made him smile.

“Don’t be flattered, it was the first one in my drawer,” you said, shrugging your shoulders. You quickly grabbed a hair tie to put your hair up in a bun in front of your mirror. You didn’t expect Luke to be watching you as you turned back to join him where he was sitting.

“You look nice,” he said softly. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“In my pajamas?”

“You always look pretty, Y/N.”

You wanted to question what he meant but he turned away and focused back on the television. Recently, you had started feeling like yours and Luke’s relationship was bordering on the “more than just friends” line. He had made it a point to see you as much as he could, which ended up being just about every day. Your friends in your house had started teasing you more and more about how oblivious you were to Luke’s flirting.

You settled in next to Luke and shivered a little, pulling the blanket he grabbed closer to you.

“Come here,” Luke said, opening his arms for you to slide closer to him. The snacks still separated you from the hockey player. You told yourself it was just for warmth, that your sorority house had been known to be drafty in the wintertime.

“You cold?” You teased.

“No, but I know you always are. Your hands are always freezing and you wear, like three layers of clothing everyday, Y/N,” Luke joked. You couldn’t believe Luke paid attention to you like that.

Was it normal to have butterflies for your best friend during a Disney Channel Original Movie?

About an hour into the movie, lots of yelling at Jane Lynch, and one dance break later, you felt your eyelids start to droop. You sat up a little straighter, trying to stay awake to finish the movie with Luke but your night was catching up to you. You could feel him looking at you as you tried to stifle a yawn.

“We can save the rest of the movie for another day if you want,” Luke offered as he paused the movie.

You quickly shook your head. “I can’t leave you in suspense about what happens to Mary Santiago and Joey Parker, Luke. That would be a crime to DCOMs and to you.”

Luke pressed play once again, enjoying how excited you were about the movie and not wanting to miss spending any time with you. “You can rest your head on my shoulder if you want to, Y/N.”

You gave in, resting your head on Luke’s shoulder and cuddling up next to him. You weren’t sure what territory this put you into, since this seemed to be more intimate than anything you’d ever done before. You smelled Luke’s cologne as you moved closer, feeling his arm wrap around you as he welcomed your presence closer to him.

You knew you were a goner right then and there, because three minutes later, you were pressed against his shoulder letting out soft, steady breaths with your arm wrapped around Luke’s stomach. Luke didn’t notice you were asleep until a few minutes later, assuming you had just been watching the movie. He smiled at the sight of you curled up next to him and took in your facial features. After being friends for over a year, he had discovered so many things about you that made him want to be around you even more.

Luke let the movie run on, only half paying attention to what was happening. He had been excited when you asked him to be your date for the night, knowing that there were other guys, including a few of his teammates, who found you very attractive. He would have gone anywhere you had asked him, quite honestly, but the dance was fun and your post-dance plans of showing him one of your comfort movies only made his heart swell more. Even though dancing wasn’t his thing, he knew it was yours, and it made him excited just to see you happy.

Once the film was ending, he reached for the other blanket that was resting on the arm of the couch, not realizing that the remote was right there. The small black box clattered to the ground hit the side of the couch just right so that the sound went up, jerking you awake.

You were so surprised by the sound that you almost didn’t realize you had been asleep on Luke’s shoulder.

“Shit, I’m sorry!”

Luke quickly bent over to get the remote off the ground which gave you a minute to take in the song playing.

“Oh my god, did I fall asleep?” As a true DCOM fan, you knew that Selena Gomez’s song played at the end as the credits were rolling.

“Uh yeah, but not for long. You only missed her and Joey at the end,” Luke said. He placed the remote in between the two of you, since you had moved away from him in your haste to wake up.

“Gosh, I’m sorry Luke. I didn’t mean to,” you said, feeling embarrassed. You had spent the night trying to impress Luke and now you had probably drooled on his nice shirt.

“No, no don’t be. I was trying to cover you up with another blanket and I dropped it by accident.”

You both sat in an awkward silence before Luke cleared his throat.

“You’re cute when you sleep.” You rolled your eyes at his comment.

“I should’ve known my date was a stalker,” you teased.

“Thank you for inviting me, by the way. I had a really great time,” Luke said sincerely. You felt a flush on your cheeks.

“Even though I got a little too tipsy and fell asleep on you?” You questioned semi-seriously.

“Especially because you got tipsy and fell asleep on me,” Luke chuckled. “I’m glad you feel comfortable with me, Y/N.”

“Of course I feel comfortable with you, Luke. We’re friends.”

Luke quickly looked at you with a smirk on his face before huffing out a laugh and shaking his head. He wanted to say something, you knew all of his tells.

“What’s so funny?” You questioned.

“Nothing, I just wish we wouldn’t keep doing this song and dance. We’re worse than Mary and Joey, Y/N.”

Luke took your hand into his. “What do you mean Luke?”

Luke brought his hand to your cheek, the space between the two of you on the couch eliminated as he moved closer. His eyes dipped to your lips, silently asking you a question that you both already knew the answer to.

You nodded, leaning into his touch and pressing your lips against his. Cliche as it sounds, you felt like one of the girls in a Disney movie, kissing your Prince Charming.

Luke pulled away first to smile at you. “Took us long enough, huh? C’mere my Cinderella.”

You giggled and kissed him again, already planning your first anniversary and rewatching of Another Cinderella Story in your head.

———————————————————————

[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 || 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐝!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

part one: i think i’m finally clean || part two: HERE

summary_ after a failed desperate attempt from Joel to get you back, you go missing while doing patrol, which leads to the Millers having to go and find you.

warnings_ age gap! (not specified tho), angst, fluff, ANGST, emotionally constipated Joel!, lots of apologies, mostly Joel’s POV

notes_this was supposed to be 1989 related like part one but I love Suki’s new album so much and it’s so Joel Miller coded, Legendary is all I played while creating this.

✰ 𝙄𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙓 (𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚)

♪ ♫ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙚𝙙𝙧𝙤 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀

…

How could there be a disco ball in the room? Who found it? And where?

You weren’t expecting much from the Halloween party in Jackson to be honest. But turned out to be full of people with mid-costumes made by the first thing they could come up with. At a long table, you could spot a jar of fruit punch, some simple pastries, and snacks.

Some music was playing as many couples danced on the improvised dance floor. You only stared as you drank some alcohol your friend Lia sneaked in.

“Hey, love your outfit,” Sally says, a friend of yours who also worked in the gardening business of Jackson with you.

“Thanks, Sally. I also love yours” She has a crimson dress with her old usual boots and some fake blood everywhere, made with berries and pomegranate juice. You know because you helped her out with that.

“It’s been ages since I saw so many people gathered. Not even on Christmas” You nod, although you hadn’t lived in Jackson long enough like her.

“I guess Halloween really is that time of the year” she laughs and offers you a gentle smile.

“Hey… I’ve heard Joel has been trying to talk to you”

“I’m not in the mood to handle him or his bratty little girl right now…” Sally laughs even harder at your words. But you’re being serious. For a whole night, you don’t want to think about Joel and Ellie. They are around, you saw once the man talking with Tommy, helping him to drag some trash cans. The girl on the other hand was barely talking with a girl who looked around her age.

“Perhaps… but it’s so hot of him to keep trying with you,” she says and you scoff shrugging.

“You made it sound like he wants to seduce me”

“He may be…”

“No. Oh my God, no, Sally.” You say crossing your arms. Completely missing the pair of eyes that were fixated on you.

“You spent months with him and Ellie in the wild. I swore you were a family when you arrived here the first time”

“I used to think we were a family too. But that’s long forgotten. I’m good right now. Without them…”

Sally doesn’t push it anymore. But she thinks you’re trying to ignore your emotions. And she can’t judge you, she saw how Joel treated you the day of the vegetables.

“Let’s just forget about it, I’m in the mood to dance.” You add, dragging her and improvising some lame dancing along the 90s music playing.

…

Your vision is spinning. The lights that made the party feel like a real disco now seem to be violent faded dots. But you don’t feel sick, you feel light.

It’s nearly past midnight. And there’s still a lot of people in the party. All of the kids of Jackson have been long ago finished with the trick or treating. Sally found a guy to spend the night with and you told her to enjoy but also be careful.

And so you’re also ready to call it a day. You got dressed for Halloween ever since the outbreak. You witnessed a big party, you kissed two guys for fun and you were drunk as hell.

You couldn’t recall another day as happy as that Halloween.

When you almost trip when going down the stairs of the dining hall, you have to sit on them, laughing.

For some seconds, you can see the blurred image of the bright yellow moon. It’s a cold night, but nothing near freezing.

“…y/n?” You hear a male voice calling you.

It was Joel.

“Not tonight, Joel.”

“You’re drunk.”

“I don’t give a shit, I can stand and make it home,” you say calmly. Although you’re drunk, you still feel very conscious.

“I’m takin’ you home” Joel barely grabs your arms when you squirm away from him, standing up immediately.

“For fucks sake, Joel. I want you away from me. A-W-A-Y… GET AWAY FROM ME!” He was taken aback. And there was nowhere to hide his feelings. Joel had been painfully hurt by your words. Even when he had heard the same hours ago, this time hurt even more.

“All of your friends say you keep avoiding the way you feel. Why can’t you just let me speak then you can ignore me the rest of your life?” He shouldn’t be arguing back when you’re drunk. He really shouldn’t.

“Because I’m not interested in whatever shit you will say. You never gave me the chance to speak back then… Remember?…” you say dragging every word with a vague look that only confirms how drunk you are.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop saying I’m sorry. To Ellie, to me… you are family.”

Your eyes prickle with tears.

Suddenly you’re sober. Your brain works perfectly fine. So you cry.

Joel sees the first tears rolling down and he sighs. He couldn’t comprehend your side of the story because you were excluding him and Ellie. But he wanted to be in your life again. He was a man who had changed so much after Salt Lake.

Joel was open to being vulnerable, just for you.

His body moves closely, attempting to embrace you in a hug. Or at least touch you.

But you move away.

“I need time…” you say before walking away with weak steps but a confident pace.

You don’t dare to look back. The way home is more quiet than silence itself. You block every thought regarding Joel while you wash your hair in the shower. And you are even scared to think about it as you light the candle on your nightstand.

…

Two weeks without any contact with the little Miller family pass by. Ellie sees you in the garden and picking vegetables to send to the kitchen and the rest for livestock or as fertilizer. She also saw you once in the dining hall with your friends laughing and gossiping. And the young girl couldn’t help but think she hadn’t seen you laugh like that. Not ever since you and Joel used to mess with Ellie about the dirty tee shirt she always wore.

Joel goes to your house one night and spots you outside, taking care of your plants, humming some songs, and wearing pajamas. He stood there in the shadows like a creep for more minutes. He looked carefully at how you sat on a patio couch you had near your door and got into the book you pulled out.

Joel reminisced the night Ellie and he had a hateful dinner. They recalled the moment they met you some miles away from Boston. And by the end of the memory, when you told them you were staying in Jackson instead of going with them to the Fireflies in Salt Lake, Ellie snapped. The girl and Joel briefly argued, blaming each other for treating you so bad. But soon Ellie made Joel say three precious words.

He loved you.

And seeing you alone, in your home, almost a year after taking separate ways, only made Joel desperate to feel worthy of your affection.

…

The Miller brothers carried heavy piles of carved wood for a new library the men had built during the summer. Joel and Tommy never lost their contractor’s touch. They beautifully worked so well that ended up giving advice to the younger ones. It was a normal day. That morning a group left to patrol as usual. Others prepared the food of the day. Others refurbished the town. The kids went to school. Everything was normal. Joel was pulling splinters out of his left hand, ready to go home. Ellie discovered the new guitar Joel got, so she seemed curious about the instrument.

His home smelled like cedar and burnt wood. Joel rolled his eyes, watching how Ellie forgot to wash the dishes again. But he was tired, he went straight to take a shower and soon landed on his couch. His muscles relaxed and he closed his eyes for a minute.

Which turned into two hours.

“JOEL!” Ellie yells on his face, waking him up.

“What the fuck, kid?”

“Tommy is here, y/n didn’t come back with her patrol group.” His eyes opened wide as soon as he heard the girl.

“What?”

“She’s missing…” Ellie sounded scared, even anxious. Joel immediately got the chills. He sighed and quickly stood up, ignoring the way his back cracked.

In the kitchen, Tommy sat, looking stressed out.

“What happened?” Joel crosses his arms, already losing his patience.

“Patrol was coming back when some raiders attacked them. It was y/n who gained time for the group, and said she would follow soon, but she didn’t” Joel sighed once again.

“How long ago?” Ellie asked timidly.

“Almost three hours ago…” Joel huffs. Angered at his brother, he gave the table a slight slap.

“Why you didn’t tell me sooner?” Tommy tried to calm him down. The whole reason why he avoided his older brother was because he would get stressed. He had hoped that the other groups that went out to find you would come back with great news.

“The group is almost back but now news so far…”

“I’ll go to find her…”

“I said we’ve already sent people around the area…” Tommy says, but Joel rolls his eyes, putting on his boots. Unbeknownst to Tommy, his last resource was Joel. And deep down, he disapproved of the age gap between you two, but he wanted nothing but your happiness and Joel’s.

“Tommy. I’ll go find her.”

“I’m coming too” Ellie quickly says.

“No. You stay here.”

“Joel. I won’t be able to sleep knowing you could be out there alone. Even worse if she’s hurt or…”

“Don’t say it…” Tommy pleads with the girl, so she nods.

Joel’s heart pounds in his ribcage. He is scared, to be honest. And he wants nothing but to grow wings so he can quickly find you.

“Is there any place you haven’t checked?” Joel asks, putting on his jacket. Ellie opens the closet near the entrance and grabs her and Joel’s emergency backpacks.

“There’s a cabin only Maria, the meds, and council know about…” Tommy reveals.

“And y/n too…”

“Yes, Ellie. It’s only for emergencies, hidden near a cliff, where the bushes grow wilder and perfect to disguise raiders and infected.”

“Where is the cabin exactly?” loading his rifle and grabbing more bullets, Joel asks to his brother.

“About an hour away from here. If you go now, you’ll make it before the night falls. I’ll check it in a map…” the man grabs the paper from his pocket, marking a red circle around the green area.

“There’s a lot of apple trees near the area. We collect from there every fall, once you start seeing rotten apples in the way, you’ll know you’re very close” Tommy says.

“Remember. We have a periwinkle ribbon hidden in the bushes. That’s the entrance. Be careful, Joel. And good luck, to the three of you…”

At that moment, Joel realized he would find you in a bad position or a terrible one he didn’t even want to imagine it.

But he was full of fate.

“She’s alive. Right, Joel?” Ellie asks once the gates of Jackson opened and the pair left in two horses.

“Of course she’s alive…” he confidently replies. But the pounding of his heart made him conscious of the anxiety he was feeling.

…

The woods howl with every sound of the wind pushing dry leaves around. So far Joel hadn’t used a single bullet. The way was clear. Only the fainted sounds of the waterfalls and the eco of the cliffs.

There were indeed a lot of apple trees. With the sun almost gone, the burgundy spheres hanging from the trees looked even more majestic.

“I guess we’re here…” Joel announced, putting his feet on the ground.

“Look for the periwinkle ribbon, Joel” the man nodded.

Sneaking his hands through the bushes, he could feel some thorns. At first glance, those bushes looked very intimidating. As if poison would suddenly leak from their tiny white flowers.

“Found it!” Joel didn’t get it, but when he tried to pull the ribbon, he lifted a whole branch attached to it.

“Holy shit!” Ellie gasped surprised to see that the bushes were actually very light.

“The horses can make it inside too. You go first…” Ellie nods, taking the lead.

Then followed Joel, leading his horse inside the property and then making sure the ribbon was completely hidden.

The Cabin was small, rustic, and surrounded by the same bushes and big rocks. It was strategically positioned where the pines and apple trees could disguise it.

“She’s here. Look…” Ellie says, pointing at your backpack and a rifle thrown on the stairs of the cabin.

“Stay back…” he indicated, firmly holding his rifle in case of anything.

Both went up the stairs and were notified the door was barely closed as if they had been in a rush. Joel opened the door slowly and when the view was granted, he saw you on the floor pointing at him with a small pistol.

“It’s okay, it’s just me and Ellie,” he said dropping and rifle and literally running towards you.

“Joel?” You ask looking at his barely distinguishable silhouette.

“I told you once. Don’t go where I can’t follow, darlin’…” he says, but you can’t hear him.

Ellie finally saw you and noticed you were sweating so much, panting for air. The skin of your neck looked between pink and lilac. For some seconds, she thought you had been bitten.

“You can’t breathe,” Joel noticed when you literally dropped your head against the wooden floor.

“J-Joel… My- ribs. It hurts…” you barely spoke and tears streamed down your cheeks. Your hand grasped his and didn’t want to let go.

“Shh… we’re here. I’m gonna take care of you”

Respectfully, Joel tore your long-sleeved top. You had a silk bra that looked very vintage but that wasn’t capturing all of Joel’s attention.

You had indeed swollen ribs. Your right side looked awful in comparison to the left one. There was also a small cut in your shoulder, but your ribs were painted in shades of red, purple, and blue.

The man turned to see the girl standing at the door. Ellie couldn’t hide it, she seemed scared, her eyes slightly teary.

“No tears, she’s gonna be okay. Now help me with the remedies and medicine we have” she nodded.

By the time Joel had finished putting ointments and giving a local spraying of anesthesia, you had completely fallen asleep. Ellie helped him to put a bandage around your ribs and the man carried you to a room that had a bed.

Joel took a brief glance at you and sighed in relief. You were alive, and your chances of survival were big. He just had to take care of you. Like he should have since the first time.

…

You wake up violently, quickly trying to sit down because you can’t remember anything. Your last memory was the raiders shooting and hitting you with his rifle, throwing you off of your horse.

“Hey, easy there!” you immediately stop, encountering Ellie beside you.

One thing was for sure; you felt amazing compared to the day before.

“What are you doing here?” She sighed.

“Patrol came back and you were missing. Since nobody could find you, Tommy suspected you were here. So Joel and I came…” your eyes closed in embarrassment. Blurred memories of them stepping inside the cabin, you pointing at them, telling Joel how bad you were in pain, and Ellie helping him to bandage you.

“Thank you.” She nods, but her lips get sealed, like she wants to say more but she’s unsure.

“I’m sorry.”

“You were the closest thing I had like family and Joel and I fucked up everything,” Ellie says looking away.

“When we’re grieving the past, we get so scared to mess up our present. Which makes us mad and terrified.” You tell her with a little smile.

And you also talk to yourself, because you were so hurt by how they treated you that it made you feel scared of getting hurt again by them.

“Joel said you needed time. But do you think you already have an answer about us being friends ever again?”

You can’t make a teenager beg for your forgiveness. Every single person you know has suffered. All have sacrificed something. And you didn’t want to grow old alone.

“Come here…” you tell her and in less than a second you have Ellie hugging you tightly.

“Wait… my ribs” she breaks off the contact, looking scared.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I-“

“Ellie, it’s okay…” you smile at her and she reciprocates it.

“Where’s Joel?”

“Patrolling around. She already signaled to Tommy we were fine. He also went to get something to eat. There’s nothing of food besides the bread and water we brought.”

“Oh…”

“Joel can be an asshole. After all, we both know him so well. But… give him a chance, please” Your smile grows. It makes you blush because Ellie sounds like she’s implying Joel had feelings for you.

Ever since you met him, you developed a crush on him. But he was a grumpy old man, he never showed any sign of romantic attraction towards you.

“I could give him a chance, but I think everyone has misinterpreted the way he feels for me,” you say, remembering how Sally implied the same time during the Halloween party.

“You know how Tommy looks at Maria?” You nod at her.

“That’s the same way Joel looks at you. And I’ve never experienced it, but I know that must be love”

Was the girl in the correct?

…

It’s already late when the need to get out of bed gets stronger. You took a very careful shower, and with every droplet of cold water that washed you, you also repeated every word Ellie said. You could easily admit you loved Joel. Even after everything. Because was there in the harder days out in the wild. You were a stranger he also carried wherever he was going. And always reminded you how strong you were.

“Ellie!” The girl appeared with her hair also wet.

“Can you help me go downstairs?. I want to help you with dinner” you said.

Ellie carefully grabbed your hands to help you stand from the bed. As soon as she opened the door, the smell of apples and cinnamon hit you.

“What are you cooking?” You asked her.

“Just apples with honey and cinnamon…”

“Smells really good, Ellie” she thanks you, paying extra attention as you walk down the stairs.

Just when you make it safely. The front door opened. Joel came in with a dead rabbit in his hands.

“You’re awake…” he said surprised.

“I am…” you reply feeling your face burn in red.

“How are you feeling?” He asks scratching the back of his head.

“Better. Thanks to both of you”

“It’s nothing”

Ellie can’t stop looking between you and the man. She has a little dorky smile and her heart beats in hopes you two can solve your problems.

“Can I skin that rabbit?” You ask him shyly. He looks down at the rabbit and then back at you.

“Let me do that. But if you feel okay, you can cook it” You nod, offering him a brief smile that takes him aback.

“Okay. I’ll wait for Ellie in the kitchen.”

Joel is shocked. Ellie has to go and pinch his ribs to take him down to earth again.

“Don’t mess it up.” She says.

“What?”

“I think we’re okay now. Talk to her tonight, please” he sighs but nods.

“Joel?” The girl asks.

“Hmm?”

“I think y/n feels the same way about you. But she doesn’t think you do.”

His heart beats softly but hurriedly. Joel has to hide his smile as Ellie walks away into the kitchen.

…

Dinner was quiet. Some words were exchanged. Mainly about your accident. You explained how the raiders ambushed you and your group. After gaining time for your partners to leave, there was nobody left to save you. A man hit your head with his rifle, then your ribs. You fell from your horse and barely noticed when the raiders left. Your body dragged itself towards the cabin, where all of your energy disappeared and your Brian processed the pain.

Thankfully, you had two saviors. Joel and Ellie appeared and saved your life.

The plan was to go back to Jackson the following morning. You agreed as long as your health lets you. Ellie helped you go upstairs again as Joel cleaned the dishes. You said good night to the girl and went to brush your teeth. By fortune, you always carried first necessity items in your backpack.

There is no electricity in the upper rooms. But there are tons of bottles of wine, soda, and old glasses with half-melted candles. It made it a little harder while showering. But after feeling clean, relaxed, and lonely, it brings a sense of peacefulness.

In the mirror, you encounter a woman whose body is tired but her mind is starting to feel at peace. You have decided that if Joel came knocking at the door, you would let the past go and you would focus on the present.

But your hopes die a little when an hour passes and you are still alone in the room.

And just when you’re about to give up, you hear it.

A knock on your door.

You encounter Joel with the same clothes he arrived with. However, his hair is slicked back and wet from the shower he took. You remain silent as he stares closely at you.

“Can we talk?” The man asks.

“Okay…”

You let him step inside. Joel sits on the little couch that faces the bed, and both of you stare in silence. There’s a distant howling from coyotes or jackals near the area. But then, you only pay attention to Joel. He continuously moved his hands and tried to speak up but couldn’t.

“Ellie said you and her are okay,” he says and you nod, avoiding his gaze. You hear him sigh.

“If I had accepted sooner how important you are to me, I would’ve given you the whole night to tell me why you couldn’t come with Ellie and me to Salt Lake” he starts, bringing you back to the night where the doctor of Jackson told you your body was full of anemia. That if you went out to the wild again, you’d likely suffer a breakdown.

“I would’ve understood, I would’ve told you I’d be back. But I didn’t because… I guess I got scared, I was convinced you were abandoning Ellie. But mostly me… I got used to having you in my life. And thought you wanted to take separate ways as soon as you discovered you could have a better life in Jackson”

“I started to feel dizzy that day. If I hadn’t felt anything, I wouldn’t visited the doctor and I would have gone with you and Ellie” you admit looking at the melting candles.

Joel feels a little worse. But it only makes him even more eager to stand up and walk towards you.

You witness how he goes down to his knees with difficulty, knowing his bones are tired. It takes you aback when he grabs your hands and gives you the softest look.

“I’m sorry. For everything. When I saw you were back, so full of life and willing to keep explaining to us what happened, I kept acting like an asshole. That’s not what a man does to the woman he’s in love with…”

You quickly look at his eyes again, trying to see if what he said was true or not. He briefly smiled, tender to see the way you reacted.

“I probably won’t stop saying I’m sorry until I have you by my side every morning and every night. ‘Cause if want thing has thought me, Ellie, is that I have to express my feelings. So I’ll do it, I’m in love with you and I’m sorry”

You are near tears when he says that, Joel only squeezes your hands softly, but you break the contact only to pull him towards you in a big hug.

“The moment I saw you came with Ellie through the door of this cabin, I knew I didn’t want to lose my little family. I’ve been trying to be strong but the truth is that I need you, Joel” his cheek touches yours and you feel the warmth of his skin. Any trace of uncertainty is gone. Only he could have taken and brought back your happiness.

“I need you too, darlin’”

He kisses you, so soft, so simple. You barely pay attention to the rain that suddenly started pouring. Joel slowly stands up and you lean back on the bed. His kisses were addicting even when you just met them seconds ago. But you take the lead by moving your lips down south, marking traces on his chin, towards his jaw. It is there when Joel lets out the first moan. But he suddenly stops

“Wait, y/n, I don’t want to hurt you. Your ribs aren’t completely healed. And-“

“Joel… If I kept going, it’s because I can. And because I want to…” you say before capturing his lips in another kiss.

“Is Ellie asleep?” You add. Joel chuckles.

“You know she snores loudly. Listen…” Both of you remain quiet and the distant snores of the girl can be heard, which makes you giggle.

First, he undresses you and makes sure to heavenly explore your most intimate areas with his tongue. Then he takes off his clothes and worships your body in the most perfect way he could possibly do it.

“I love you, Joel” it spills out of your lips with honesty. Between thrusts and gasps for air, he makes time to answer you.

“I love you too.”

For the rest of the night, his hands are in your body. And until the morning, remain there…

….

The rays of the sun wake you up by directly targeting your eyes. But when you open them, they’re gone. Is a cloudy morning, and there’s a big pair of warm hands securely around your stomach.

The need to stretch is suddenly gone when you remember what happened last night. How good Joel made it clear you were the woman he wanted, his caresses, kisses, and everything. You can’t help but smile and snuggle closer to him.

“Mornin’…” Joel says with a raspy voice, without you noticing he had woken up.

“Hey…” you reply deciding to face him.

It feels odd to see an unworried Joel after months of being witness to his sleep deprivation, his inability to eat because he preferred to make sure you and Ellie did first, etc.

“Is there anything on my face? Or what’s with the starin’, sweetheart?” Your face goes hot, but there is no point in hiding your thoughts.

“I just… I never thought we would end up in this position. We were practically strangers once…”

“You said it, y/n. Once…” he replies, pulling you closer.

“I guess I’m just not used to this side of you…” Joel smirks, then chuckles. To be fair, he isn’t used to seeing you in such an intimate way. He knows there are many things left to learn from each other, but he knows nothing will change the way he feels.

“Look, after saying out loud how I feel about you… there’s nothin’ else to run away from, baby. I’m an old man who’s tired but feels like a teenager when it comes to you” Your heart melts from tenderness. You can’t help but kiss his chin.

“I’ll make sure to take care of you. There’s literally a whole life waiting for you, Joel. You’re not that old, dear” he smiles, nodding before resting one arm behind his head and the other snaking around you.

“Are we gonna tell Ellie?” You add, stretching on the bed.

“Let’s be real, she already knew before us.” Both of you laugh, smiling at each other like two idiots. The girl had constantly shared silly comments about you two being too close while dinner in the middle of nowhere, or how needy Joel looked about asking you to share a sleeping bag with him.

“She seemed excited about us talking…” Joel nods, sitting on the bed, stretching and making his bones crack a little.

“Glad we did more than talk” you gently push the man, making him chuckle a little.

“We should start heading towards Jackson by now…” you say looking that the sun was coming out again.

“Right. But… let’s say it one more time, please. So it’s… officially real” There was the insecure man you knew.

A little smile perks in your mouth as you crawl back towards him.

“We’re together now, wherever the tides take us…” he kisses you abruptly.

It was real. Coming back to Jackson meant closing a chapter, and starting a new one. And both of you knew it was going to be happier. And possibly… forever.

_______________________________________

Thank u to all the humans that waited almost A YEAR for this second part :)

Taglist:

@o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi

@orcasoul

@liciafonseca

@wanniiieeee

@joelmillersblog

[bebx]

Beb if Creelson and Doomreed met eachother, would anyone get along or would it be like fighting cats?

I don’t think Victor would get along with anyone, honestly, unless the partnership benefited him in some way and he could later betray them. Reed is an exception, of course, but even then I think Victor’s still struggling trying to come to terms with the fact that his love for Reed may be genuine, in the sense that a part of him actually wants to have Reed just for himself and he doesn’t really want to betray or hurt Reed; the concept as a whole is confusing and terrifying to him, and Doom doesn’t like being confused or terrified — point is, he’s already struggling enough trying to accept the fact that he loves Reed Richards, I don’t think he can afford trying to genuinely get along with anybody else unless it benefits him.

(that being said, though, I could see him empathizing with Henry and relating to him in more than one way. I think there’d be some unsaid mutual respect between them, but I can’t really see that developing into a friendship.)

but Victor, obviously, cannot stand Eddie.

Henry, I think, would hate Victor at first. maybe Victor even reminded him of Brenner at first, before he got to know him, if he got to know him. and when — if — he knows Victor’s not like Brenner, I can kind of see him stopping trying to actively kill him? but I don’t see a genuine friendship between these two. mutual respect and secret admiration? yes. but not friendship.

on the other hand, I do think Reed and Eddie would get along. Eddie would happily listen to Reed talk about science all day and he’d ask him questions, and Reed would be more than happy to answer him. it’s been a while since someone’s this interested in Reed’s interests without calling him a nerd and bullying him for it, so Reed’s very happy to have Eddie around. and also, Eddie can relate to Reed since they were both bullied, another reason why I think they’d be best friends.

Eddie would tease him about Victor, and when Reed was all blushing, Eddie would just say, “nah it’s cool, my boyfriend’s a psychopath too. see? another thing we both have in common!”

Reed can’t really understand why Eddie’s even with someone like Henry, but he supposes he’s not in the position to make any comments about Eddie’s taste in men when he’s with Victor.

[onesaltybagel]

Finally talking about season 5 because I’ve been putting it off

Notes won’t be in order at all and are mostly about the final episodes

Spoilers BOGOOA BOOO!!!!

When people were saying that Sean had really gone all out this season, I was like “oh ok maybe there’s a kinda sad scene or a really heartfelt scene”. NO. I WAS SO WRONG. I was NOT prepared for the scene of him screaming and wailing to the point of his voice cracking and going raw because he wanted Mk to stop so badly. I did not ever imagine I was going to see that and I’m still not over it. If I see it again, I get chills every time and I’m in love.

Nine-headed demons full form is so cool! I can’t believe we saw that before the trailer even dropped and I thought nothing of it! I thought it was just going to be another guardian of the stone! God the designs in this show rock

Mk saying “don’t make me do this” was perfect. It was so quiet, so small and full of emotion. Had he planned since that first moment he was going to use the circlet? He knew since like episode two that he was going to be doing something EVERYONE wouldn’t want him to do and- presumably- it became clear really fast to him what that was. Was he planning all along?

I cannot stress this enough- THE FIGHT IN EPISODE ONE FORESHADOWED THE FIGHT IN EPISODE NINE.

Nuwa saying I’m so proud of you, her voice actor is completely perfect for her. It was so soft and gentle :(((

Mk crying from joy. He should never have to be in that position, it is so unfair that he was created just to die- over and over and over again. I’m so glad he found another way.

Nuwa saying “my sacrifice AND yours” what did she sacrifice? When she fixed the pillar the first time, was she the one that entered the pillar to fix the sky along with the stones?

WHERE IS NUWA EXACTLY??? Is that just what- the inside of the pillar looks like?

Will we see Nuwa again?

Oh my GOD Wukong catching Mk made me want to throw up. That little bit where we see it through Mk’s eyes kills me every single time.

People gaining elemental powers? Is that- every person who didn’t already have any? Like- some went into Red son did he gain MORE power like that one fire sneeze girl or is he the same? If he is, he’ll be mad LMAO

The chaos HHUUUGHGHGHB ITS SO PRETTY? I don’t know if it’s supposed to be unnerving but I want to stare at it for hours it’s so cool. Where is that? Outside the universe? How does the chaos affect things? WHO IS “HE?” I looked up Xiangliu and the only person I could associate that with was Gonggong who is another snake like entity.

Gonggong also knocked one of the eight pillars (theres eight?) holding up the sky and ends up dying in a battle with someone called Zhurong who is a fire god and has some story with Nuwa!

They’re all snakes. What is with snakes in this world?

Was Macaque still investigating? At the end, he’s in the court room again for some reason and at the start of the season he said he was looking around for stuff related to Mk. Macaque is a hero and he cannot deny it anymore.

Oh yeah the ten kings of the underworld are dead. What the fuck happens to dead people now?

Why does Macaque have chaos magic, who did he make a deal with and WHY WAS IT ON THE STAFF.

Li Jing is a complete asshole. If we’re basing him off canon then there’s no return but if him vandalising his son’s grave ISNT CANON, then he’s just bad dad. I hope he trips and falls over and embarrassingly gets a bruise on his forehead.

Nuwa x Lady Bone Demon toxic Yuri <33

I love Nuwa but I also hate her sm right now. Why did there have to be a cycle? Because there needed to be someone to fix the sky? Because that person would never be enough and they weren’t fixing the sky they were resetting it all instead? This is down to Nuwa underestimating the world- we see that- but I just cannot get over that she made a baby for the sole purpose of dying. He gets up, he gets the stones, he dies. He experiences nothing, he speaks to no one.

And Mk has absolutely had that life a thousand times.

But she doesn’t react as emotionally as I wished she had. This is nothing against the writers, I am just a Nuwa hater and lover rn. She was perfect, so cool, such an amazing character but she still needs to pay child support.

[lostintransist]

Liaison Part 4 Winning This Bet Will Be Easy

Part 1 can be found here. Up to chapter 32 over on AO3.

Kate could, arguably, be the person you know the best in the 141. You had her number saved in your work phone and also your personal. She took you to lunch at least once a week to confirm you weren’t having any problems. This lunch felt a bit special since you had been at your job for six months.

Kate seemed to treat these meals like an informal progress report. She also checked that Ghost wasn’t giving you any more problems. Seems word got around to all the teams that you and he did not get along. Any week you saw him you reported what offense he handed out like a challenge coin and how you responded. The week you told her about the hair pulling she shot beer through her nose.

Coughing, Kate grabbed a napkin. She pressed it against her beer-leaking nose.

“You said what to him?”

“I told him that hair pulling is kinky and asked him if he would follow up on his offer.” Shoving a bite of pasta in your mouth you watch Kate clean up the mess on her face.

“God I wish I could have seen that. Ghost isn’t always a right bastard but when he is it’s hard for anyone beyond Soap to take him to task. Why do you two hate each other so much?”

“I can’t say why on his end but I don’t respond well to demands. First thing he asked of me, ‘scuse me, demanded of me happened on a bad day was to confirm a contract and I could not respond in any way that wouldn’t cause problems. Seems no one else stands up to him so I have become his favorite wall to ram his head into.”

“You’ve been here six months now, how do you feel like you’re fitting in?”

“I’m not.”

Kate paused, looking you over. “Tell me more about that.”

“There isn’t much to say, I am chained to the computer and the phone. I took over this portion of the job from you, you know how much work this is.”

“And I will never be able to thank you enough for that, believe me,” Kate reaches across the table to squeeze your hand once before sitting back up.

“I think the only person I could say I have had a non-work related conversation with is Roach.”

“Roach? Really?”

Kate’s confusion is understandable. Roach is voluntarily mute. You tend to forget he is in the room when you yell at your computer until he sends you a cheeky message about keeping it down over there. It never comes across as high-handed or rude. The man has quick fingers and a quicker wit. The odd back and forth of talking to him and his responses rolling in over chat doesn’t bother you. It’s no different than a voice note in a text conversation.

“Some of the guys are in town tonight and we are hitting the local pub, why don’t you come and get to know them better?” Kate’s offer sounds genuine.

“Will you be there? I would hate for you to miss another epic loss for Ghost,” you tip your beer toward her, brow raised.

The laughter bubbles out of her, “I hadn’t planned on it but if you are going to be there I would love to watch a match up with Ghost.”

“Well, I will meet you in the lobby tonight for drinks. Hopefully, the sparks that fly will show how well Ghost and I don’t get along.”

❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈❈

No one questioned you or Kate when you appeared in the lobby, standing close to her side. Nearly twenty people filled the small space, some of whom you had no name for. You were positive you had a file on them just no idea which name belonged to which face. When the men moved forward through the door you followed, chatting with Kate the whole time.

The group ended up at a pub no less than a five-minute walk from the building. A cozy space with dark wood paneling and an air that the pub had been around exactly as it was long before the Romans came to conquer.

You end up sitting straight across from Ghost because of course, you do. At the table with you are Ghost, Kate, Price, Soap, and a yet unnamed man with a sad smile. Someone with a name tag appeared at the table once everyone had sat. Price passed over his card to cover the costs of the dinner for the few tables they took up. The woman took everyone’s order with an efficiency that spoke of experience.

The fries, chips, you ordered arrive hot at the table with the drinks. Listening as everyone else talks gives you a better sense of who they are. The man you had no name for goes by Reb, his file noted he was a sniper. He tells good stories, and everyone laughs at the experience he shares of trying to outrun a bull when he accidentally set up a nest on the wrong side of a hill.

Everyone notes when someone enters the bar, quick glances and assessments without breaking the conversation. Even you notice when a gorgeous redhead steps into the room. She settles at the bar. Large, loose curls drift down her back and her freckled face is clear from where you sit.

Over the next hour, you watch three different members of the 141 from different tables try and talk to her. Each gets shut down hard within thirty seconds. After the third man slinks back to his table Soap comments.

“Poor bastards, I doubt anyone could take her home tonight.”

“I could,” you pop another fry into your mouth.

You pause chewing when the table goes silent.

“What? She hasn’t given any of the men an iota of attention. Look at how she’s dressed, her outfit screams lesbian.”

All eyes focus on the woman at the bar. She doesn’t turn but shifts on her stool.

“Prove it then.” The challenge comes from Ghost.

“Wanna bet on it Gengar?”

Kate’s eyes go wide and connect with Price’s who smirks at the whole interaction.

“Oh, Jesus save us,” Soap takes a large swallow of his drink.

“£1,000,” Ghost snarls.

“Done, winning this bet will be easy.” Pulling a stack of sticky notes and a pen from your backpack you write down your Venmo.

Peeling off the top layer you slap the paper on the center of the table.

“I’ll give you ten minutes to get the money together after I leave with her. Kate, thanks for the invite. I’ll see you in the morning.” Sending nods around the table, you give Ghost a wink instead.

A fourth man is leaving, tail between his legs, when you slide onto the stool next to the beauty.

“Hi, I know you probably came here to just have a drink alone but could I interest you in helping me win a bet?”

She sends you a heavy side eye as she sips at her drink.

“What kind of bet?”

Leaning heavily onto the bar you point toward Ghost.

“You see that scary motherfucker over there?” She turns, eyes him, and turns back to you. You continue, “See I don’t get along with him. Quite frankly I think he is a bastard and would love to win £1,000 off him. The task that will win me that money is getting you to leave with me.”

A surprised little laugh drifts to you.

“That is quite a tall order.”

“I agree, and the least I could do is tell you what is going on and ask for a bit of help.” Sticking your hand out for a shake you give a name, “You can call me L.”

“L,” she looks you up and down, more interested, “You can call me Clare.”

“Hi Clare, wanna help me win a bet? I would love to take you to dinner for your trouble.”

Her tongue plays with the edge of her canine as she thinks.

“Why not, where would you take me?” She turns from the bar to face you fully.

The scraping of chair legs against the wooden floor tells you someone is unhappy to be losing. An angry murmur follows and you trust that Price or Soap will handle Ghost.

“I’m new in the area, I would take you wherever you wanted. You know the max budget for the date,” you flirt with her.

Her hand moves to rest on your arm as she leans closer.

“And if I did,” she pauses, “want to go home with you?”

“Well I’ve never had a chance to bed a beautiful and savvy woman like yourself but I’m a quick study,” you lean forward, tipping your head to the side ever so slightly.

Clare takes the invitation and initiates a small kiss. You match her effort, pulling away with a smile.

“Let’s get out of here Clare, I owe you dinner,” you breathe the words against her lips.

She lips from her stool, dropping a small purse on a long chain over one shoulder. You signal for the bartender.

“Can you put her drink on Price’s tab? He will approve it. If not I will pay you for it the next time I come by.”

The woman nods, “I’ll hold you to it.”

“I would hope so.”

Clare heads toward the front door, and you follow behind. Before you leave the building you turn and find Ghost staring at you, eyes hard.

Lifting all your fingers you mouth ‘ten minutes’ at him before you follow your date for the night into the dark.

Your phone dings before you can hail a cab.

Part 3 | Part 5

Masterlist

@nicroyal02 Chapter 32 is up on AO3.

[accio-victuuri]

August CPNs round-up ❤️💛💚

it’s bobo’s birth month! let’s start with this chaotic behind the scenes video 🫶🏼

• the letters yb was flashed in xzs vlog

• two people spotted in xz’s mountain drawing

• a hongkong politician posts about xz and wyb being good celebrities that will help promote HK

• 8/5 yibo’s day clowning part one part two - this year was too loud! the bday photo alone is enough to szd. 😂😂😂😂 part 2.5 part 3

• yibo and xz related hot search for bobo’s bday

THEIR VCRs for Han Hong’s foundation, a charity organization they both are a part of. We love them generous Kings!

• in the xinxiangyin live, we see an activity that they filled with things xz likes and will have something to talk about. you will notice a couple are the same as yibo’s. hotpot ( which i must admit is more general ), photography, fitness, tennis and films.

you can say that these are not unique interests, but when you put them together and another person has the same one seem sus. this is something i always say, even if you don’t believe that they are in a romantic relationship — these clues show that they have maintained that connection. no matter how many people cry about the “copying” agenda, we can’t deny that the coincidences are too much. this is why they get along, they can adapt each other’s interest. they have the same values. they are out here ticking all the boxes for a fruitful relationship <3

• the similarity 👀👀👀 right is xz in ELLE’s feature video for XZ.

• QUATRE BLUE 💙💙💙

oooohhhh i love jewelry. tho i’m kinda on the fence about this cause boucheron is a brand that xz is promoting and it makes sense that it will be used for a magazine. he is endorsing this line of rings but has never used this blue which just happened to be something wyb before. i understand why people are going 👀 because the photos were released days after Bobo’s bday.

• XZ’s Elle September issue feature clowning

• 8/10 yibo-official bts video clue

• yibo’s montbell shirt

• bobo shows some bxg bias @ pechoin live

• in the LINSY product launch conference, they were talking about a sofa and it had a special feature thing where you can put stuff in it & wyb mentions you can put chips. lol. that was so fast. he is not someone who likes chips, but we know one who does! i’d like to think that it’s a subconscious answer. he just thought of an important person in his life. 🫶🏼

• matching high school students hair 😂😂😂

• ANTA 🤝 LI NING

• their airport fashion looking so identical 👀 we could argue all day about how this is not unique and just about anyone can do this combo.. but does anyone else do this? no. it’s always these two. it’s harder to tell them apart when they are like this, which we guess is helping them when they visit each other on set.

the two of them doing couple wear!

• bottled joy x tsingtao collab 🍻

• xz’s heurueh boyfriend t shirt

• mengniu fan benefit featuring the boys

• handprints next to each other in the Qixi Wall

• this gif is gold!!!! pleaseeee!!!!! 😂😂😂😂 and it even went on hot search!

• analysis and details of wyb’s new song = somebody else’s arms

• wyb’s post YH concert weibo update 🟡🟡🟡

• i talked briefly about the cpf support during the concert and i have nothing more to add. i’m sure i can make another post that “shows” how wyb appreciated the cpfs indirectly during the concert but i won’t. there is no need for proofs of any kind — we know the truth. 😌😌😌 tho i will never be pro violence or insulting and being very mean to people in person just to prove a point. there’s a whole nasty situation that happened post concert which i have no energy for and i do not condone btw.

• their weibo 15th bday post 🌙

• the final episodes of exploring the unknown is on oct 5-6 because tencent has released the watching schedule. yes, wyb probably had a lot more input in this project but he was probably not alone in deciding when this would premiere and how the episodes are gonna line up. but i’m still happy with this coincidence. ✌🏼

what we wanna know tho is what will be the episode on 10/5 cause if it’s him in the desert i will — 🤯! cause his photo there was the one he used for his bday, which is eerily similar to GG’s from last year. so yeah. we will see!

-END.

<<< previous posts

See you all next month!!!!! 💛💛💛

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

"I didn't think [we] would get this far"

@summer-of-bad-batch prompt week 11 (sorry I tweaked the wording slightly to make it fit the story ^^;)

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters/Relationships: Tech/Phee Set during Tech and Phee's courtship which happened off-screen, obviously Word Count: ~555 Read Here on AO3

Synopsis: Tech and Phee debate the merits of lab-grown versus natural.

With thanks to @fanfoolishness who is the one who suggested I try and fit my Specialist Subject into a fanfic XD

“It’s just not the same, y’know?” said Phee, gesturing with her drink to emphasise her point. “It’s not!”

“On the contrary,” countered Tech, watching her animated speech from across the table. “It is exactly the same. A synthetic diamond is chemically, physically and optically identical to its natural counterpart. It is merely the origin which differs.”

“Where’s the romance?” Leaning forwards, Phee fixed him with a mischievous look. “Your lab-grown so-called ‘diamonds’ can’t compare to the mystery of a gemstone formed millions of years ago, deep underground…” She was gesturing expansively now, becoming impassioned. “Erupted to the surface in a boiling column of lava, and eventually weathered from its host rock over eons of exposure…”

“Are you suggesting,” said Tech carefully, giving her the side-eye, “that a ­laboratory-grown counterpart cannot compare to the natural specimen on which it was based?” He held up a finger, lips pursed in amusement. “Think carefully before you answer, my dear.”

Phee already had her mouth open to argue her point when she paused, considering her words. She swatted playfully at his finger, grinning widely. “Alright, Brown-Eyes, you win this round.”

Tech’s smug smirk didn’t last as she leaned across the table to plant a kiss on his lips, lingering just a little longer than she usually did.

“I still think ‘synthetic diamonds’ lack romance, though,” she added as she pulled away.

“Your views have been noted.” He tapped something into his datapad. “If any of your friends or relations should approach me for gift-giving advice, I shall inform them that the natural geological origin of any jewelled ornaments they purchase for you is of the utmost importance.”

“I mean,” said Phee, unable to contain her smirk, “it’s not any of them who are going to be buying me diamonds.”

“I don’t know why not… oh.”

The exact moment that realisation dawned on Tech was registered by the slight dilation of his pupils, and the pretty blush that came to his cheeks.

“Another nat-born tradition?” he asked, forcing a casual lilt to his voice. “Only romantic partners engage in the diamond-gifting process?”

Phee grinned widely, resting her chin on top of her laced fingers. “Got it in one.”

“Ah. Hmm. I see.” Tech adjusted his goggles, the way he did to buy himself time to think.

Taking pity on him, Phee nudged her foot against his under the table. “This didn’t come up during your research?” she teased lightly. Tech had told her during their last date that he had been researching courtship customs, “So I may best prepare to meet your expectations as we pursue this romantic endeavour.”

“I admit, I stopped reading before I reached the chapter on gift-exchange customs.” Tech was blushing fiercely now, but he met her eyes with a shy smile. “I didn’t think we would get this far quite so quickly.” And despite his embarrassment, now he took the initiative to lean across the table and capture Phee’s lips in a tentative kiss.

Phee smiled against his mouth, bringing one hand up to gently hold the back of his head, fingertips teasing along the strap of his goggles.

“Tell you what, Brown-Eyes,” she said, voice simultaneously sultry and full of amusement. “When we reach the gift-giving chapter, if you buy me a big enough diamond, I won’t even ask where it came from.”

Yes I leaned into received wisdom about engagement ring gifting for the purpose of this story but lets be honest, we live in modern times, ladies you don't have to wait for a guy to put a ring on it... you can buy your own diamonds and love them just as much ;)

Sincerely, an industry professional who buys her own jewellery. I'm here all week for your jewellery and gemstone related questions ^_^ <3