#what if i drew my guys 3/4 facing left again

[deoidesign]

Sketching

[modernperplexity]

Chapter Rating: E (18+) Minors DNI, mention of alcohol consumption and substance abuse, fluff, angst, sexual tension.

Word Count: 5,634

Pairing: Frankie x f!reader

Chapter summary: A glimpse into Francisco's past, You meet the guys, and Santiago (that meddling little shit) gets his way you'll see ;). This time we'll see soft and sexy Frankie, that's all I'll say for now.

A/N: Hey y'all! Chapter 4 is finally here! As always, my inbox is always open to chat/suggestions/ questions etc. Please feel free to comment/reblog. I love hearing from you! Also, please excuse any typos you may encounter.

If you'd like to join the tag list click here :) or let me know in the comments.

Happy reading loves!💜

Series Masterlist

Chapter 3 / Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Whiskey Sours & Sweet Confessions

“Are you shitting me!?” Ashley's eyes glazed over with pain and rage, “Are you fucking shitting me, Francisco!?” She slammed the mini zip lock bag on the dining table, her rage hung heavily in the air between them. 

Frankie’s silence was deafening as he stared at the bag in defeat unable to tear away his gaze from the evidence Ashley had discovered. His mouth went dry, his voice caught somewhere between self-loathing and guilt of the choices that led him to that very moment.

“OH!.. So you have nothing to say?!” Again, there were no words in response to her confrontation, “God, you are so.. so-” She stammered, her voice quivering with indignation.

“Just say it.” Frankie surrendered, one hand covering his eyes, seeking brief solace from the heat of her anger. 

“-Pathetic! I don’t know why I am even surprised anymore! This is so like you!”

The words stung as they reached Frankie who was sitting at the small dining table. Ashley’s yelling had prompted a sharp cry from Camilla who was only 8 months old. The guilt of losing Tom, the money, and the casualties of that mission haunted Francisco. He hated who he became but couldn’t fight the shadow that loomed over him. Ben had his boxing gig, Will went into overdrive at the VA, Santiago up and left for months at a time, and Frankie, well, he’d come back and dove head first into his only escape; the only thing that kept his body from feeling heavy.

“Ash, I’m s-” He could barely get a word out.

Ashley raised her finger to his face, the anger burned brighter in her eyes, her words laced with pain. "You promised!! Frankie!! You promised that things would be different. That we’d have a better life! But instead, you left me alone, responsible for everything, to care after your fucking kid..”

“Look, you can insult me all you want. I know I’m a piece of shit and I deserve it, okay!?” Frankie’s hands raised in defeat, “I deserve it, but don’t talk about Camila like that ..she’s your daughter too!”

“Well!” A slow clap accompanied her judgemental scoff, “look who finally decide to act like a father that actually gives a damn!”

"I... I never meant for it to come to this, Ash," he finally managed to say, his voice trembling. "I know I've fucked up- repeatedly. But please, believe me when I say that I never stopped caring about you or Camila."

Ashley turned away, her tears flowing freely now. "You have a shit way of showing you care, Frank. Time and time again you prove me right, I can't trust you. I can't keep playing this game."

She ran her fingers through her hair as she stared out the kitchen window “This isn’t what I wanted, Frank. I didn’t want this life, You left me alone in this, meanwhile you’re out there spendng the little money we have just to feel whatever the fuck it is you need” she paused, no longer being able to hold back tears, before she let out what she had wanted to say for the past few months, “I’m done... I’m done with you! We both know none of this is gonna change.”

“Ash, I’m sorry..I’ll get help this time, I promise.”He reached out a hand, desperate to bridge the evergrowing chasm between them.

“Don’t. touch. me.” she pinched the bridge of her nose, and drew a sharp breath “Get the fuck out”

Frankie’s eyes went wide, his words failing him once more.

“GET OUT!!” Ashley managed through her anger, tears now streaming down her face as she threw out a bag of his things and slammed the door. 

Frankie dusted off the steel green amo box he had stored on his top closet shelf. His hands hesitated to reach the latch. It wasn’t often that the box saw the light of day. In it, Frankie held pictures he didn’t want around the house but that he knew someday Camila would ask for. Pictures of him and Ashley from the night they met, of Ashley’s pregnancy which Frankie begged to take- Ashley who always begrudgingly complied. 

He looked through the old mementos and photos as his hands began to shake. One of Ashley and Cami at the hospital, Camilla’s newborn hat, and the tiny plastic medical ID bracelet among other things. He hesitated knowing what lay at the very bottom of the box. A dainty silver ring that he had bought a few weeks after he found out Ashley was pregnant but could never bring himself to give to her. It seemed like the obvious next step after having a baby.

Frankie always wanted to be a father. When he found out about Ashley’s pregnancy he was terrified but excited nonetheless. Reality hit him hard when the hospital bills came in, one after another. Money was tight and tensions were high between them before he lost his license and only became worse afterwards. Pope’s offer for the Lorea mission was insane but it offered him a chance to provide for his struggling family. A way to prove that all that time in the army and special ops wasn’t wasted. It was a weapon to fight back the voice inside his head that deemed him useless.

It had been a couple of days since Ashley had reached out. Should he respond? Did he even want to? The memories of seeing Camila for the first time, wrapped in a hospital blanket, so tiny and fragile, flooded his mind. The promise he made to himself to protect his little girl at all costs lingered. Now, he faced the difficult question: should he allow the woman who had abandoned him, who had heartlessly left Cami, back into their lives? Would he be selfish as a father if he refused to let Cami see her mom? Ashley had the potential to trigger him, but perhaps she had changed... or had she? His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door, breaking the cycle of contemplation that had consumed him since he opened the box.

“Texted the boys, they’ll meet us at the bar in an hour” Pope pried the door open a bit more when he saw the pictures scattered on Frankie's bed, giving Frankie a knowing glance while he leaned on the door frame, “You good?”

Frankie paused, that period of his life brought on a plague of complicated emotions, “Yeah...I uh- I’m fine”

“What are you going to do?” Santiago glanced over to the phone beside the box on Frankie’s bed.

Frankie dragged his hands over his patchy beard, “I.. don’t want to think about that right now”

“Good. Drinks on me, we’re celebrating tonight!” 

“We got our pilot back boys!” Ben cheered from the corner of the bar. The “unhappy hour” neon sign provided a dim blue light over the booth where they sat.

“It’s been a long winding road, man. We’re proud of you, Fish!” Will clapped Frankie on the shoulder and handed him a glass

“Never met anyone more deserving..You belong in the sky” Ben added with a genuine smile, glad to see his brother happy again.

Frankie chuckled, “I still can’t fucking believe it. I get to have my wings back!” He sighed with deep relief “In all seriousness, I can’t thank y’all enough. You all had my back when I lost sight of everything that mattered”

“Hey, that’s in the past. You’re our brother, we’d do it all over again- no questions asked” Santiago replied.

Ben nodded in agreement and took a sip of his beer, “So, how does it feel to be back up there?”  

“It's like nothing else, the freedom, the rush, the sense of control... It's fucking indescribable” He grinned, “I’ll take ya next time” I don’t mind the extra flight hours.

“Sign me up, but please, Fish, no more near-death experiences, alright? I had enough of that last time.” 

The men all burst into laughter and clink their glasses together, “to Catfish!”

Michele practically dragged you out of your apartment. She had agreed to meet a few of her coworkers at a divey bar in town and insisted that you meet them. The night was slightly cooler than most Florida nights but not drastically colder- it is Florida after all, prompting you to wear a thin green cardigan paired with a black mini skirt that highlighted your curves, sheer black tights, and your comfy black combat boots.

She gently clasped your hand, leading you through the bustling crowd, the melody of The Smiths' "This Charming Man" filling the air around you. Your heart nearly skipped a beat as your eyes locked onto Frankie, a beer in hand, making his way towards the illuminated jukebox.

The sight of him left you momentarily breathless. "Everything alright?" Michele's concerned voice breaking through to you.

You blinked, forcing yourself to focus on the present moment. "Yeah, umm... Frankie's here," you managed to reply, your voice tinged with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

Michele's eyes widened in surprise. "He's here?" she echoed, her gaze darting around the bar.

"Over at the jukebox," you informed her with a subtle nod in Frankie's direction.

Her eyebrows raised in approval “Damn, he is fine, but you better go over there before blondie wins him over.”

“Wait, what?” Heat surged in your chest, a stark reminder of the truth you could no longer hide. The thought of someone else with him sent a pang of jealousy coursing through you. Oh no, is that the barista from the coffee shop?

Your eyes were locked in, unable tear away from the scene unfolding before your eyes. When it dawned on you, Frankie was no longer looking at her, he was now looking at you. A subtle spark of recognition and excitement flashed across his eyes, fleeting but unmistakable. Frankie briefly introduced her to Ben, who immediately wore a bright smile, before heading toward you.

“Talk to him!” Michele urged with encouragement, “Have some fun.. And PLEASE have something good to tell me afterward!” She squeezed you tight and handed you her shot of whiskey, “I’ll find you later... if you want me to find you.” She added with a wink before disappearing into the crowd.

As Frankie drew nearer, a surge of anticipation swept over you. With Michele's words echoing in your mind, you took a deep breath, steeling yourself for what was to come. With a quick flick of your wrist, you downed the whiskey Michele had given you, its fiery warmth spreading through your veins, emboldening you for the encounter ahead. You turned around and nearly collided with Frankie, “Oh, Jesus!” You blurted, your heart pounding in your chest as you stumbled back a step, caught off guard by the sudden proximity.

Frankie smiled, appearing amused and slightly concerned, ”Everything alright?” the genuine concern in his voice already putting you at ease.

“Just needed a little liquid courage, I guess” A nervous laugh escaped you.

Frankie chuckled, his eyes twinkling. “Well it looks like you can’t go a week without running into me” He teased, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“I seem to have that effect on people” You chuckled, grasping the silver chain of the clutch you selected for the evening, “What are you doing here?”

“The boys brought me out to celebrate” He paused and leaned in closer, taking in the warm cherry scent of your perfume on the crook of your neck, his voice a hushed whisper, “I passed my pilot exam.”

“You passed the exam!!” Your eyes widened with excitement as you cheered, unable to contain the joy bubbling up within you. Without a second thought, you wrapped your arms around Frankie's neck, drawing him into a tight embrace. “Frankie, this is such great news! I’m so proud of you!” 

Frankie’s grin widened his arms wrapping around you in return, the warmth of your body against his causing his heart to race even faster. “Thank you” he said, his voice tinged with sincere gratitude, “It’s been a long time coming” His eyes lingered over you as he pulled away, your face mere inches away, "You know, I couldn't have done it without your encouragement. Our conversation at the coffee shop meant a lot to me"

Your cheeks flushed pink at Frankie's heartfelt words, a shy smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "Well, I'm glad I could help in some way," you replied, your heart swelling with pride and admiration for the man in front of you.

"What are you drinking?" Frankie asked, his eyes sparkling.

"You're here to celebrate you, but you want to buy me a drink?" you teased, raising an eyebrow in mock disbelief.

"Just think of it as another coffee," he winked, his playful demeanor displaying no signs of surrender.

"A whiskey sour, please," you smiled, unable to resist his charm as you watched him effortlessly command the attention of the bartender. His presence seemed to fill the room, making everything else fade into the background.

As you observed him, a smile emerged from the corner of your lips, his hands made your glass seem three times smaller. "He buys me coffee and my drinks," you remarked with a playful sigh, adding a hint of dramatic flair. "A true American hero."

The widest grin spread across Frankie's face. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this at ease. Despite the complexities that could arise in whatever was happening between you both, he pushed those thoughts aside, not wanting to dwell on them, not tonight at least.

"Here," he said, handing you your drink, his touch sending a jolt of electricity through you. Without hesitation, he casually took your hand, his fingers intertwining with yours "Come on, I want you to meet the guys." 

“Well, well, well- would you look what the cat dragged back in” Pope revealed a mischievous grin after taking a sip of his beer, his gaze shifting between you and Frankie.

You smiled, “Nice to see you again too, Santiago” 

“I’m just messing, Hermosa” Santiago chuckled, getting up to hug you. “That was meant for Fish.”

“So this is Peech!” Ben exclaimed with a grin, pulling you into a strong and warm embrace, “I know the speech sessions are for our lil Camcam but I can tell you’re great! Fish hasn’t shut up about you since day one!” 

Your cheeks flushed pink, Frankie too smitten by your nervous laughter to pay Ben any mind, aside from a brief sidelong glance in his direction.

“You’re kind of a celebrity ‘round these parts, darlin” Will added sweetly, “It’s good to put a face to the name finally.” 

“Likewise!” you agreed, “Well since we’re all here to celebrate our pilot,” you lightly nudged Frankie, “Why don’t I get us the next round?

 Ben sipped the last of his beer, and set down his glass, “OH I like her!” 

The atmosphere was filled with laughter and positive energy. The men bantered and shared stories of their early days in the military with you. It came to you as a surprise to feel so effortlessly at home with the group. You would have never pictured feeling so at ease while surrounded by men. Your quick wit and charm drew them in. As the night wore on and drinks flowed, Frankie found himself becoming even more infatuated with you, displaying the palpable string of tension that existed between you both. It hung in the air, creating an undercurrent of anticipation and curiosity. The subtle stolen glances, lingering touches, traces of smiles. It all prompted knowing looks from those around the table. Santiago who of course, was the first to notice, wore a mischievous grin, earning him a swift kick under the table. 

“So” Santiago interrupted Ben who had been bragging to you about all the fights he’d won recently, “has Catfish ever told you about Truth or Spare?” Santiago’s eyes eager for your response.

Ben whistled, “oh, here we fucking go”

“Oh come on..its just a game” Santiago hissed.

“What is this? Highschool?” Ben shook his head 

“WhAt Is tHiS HiGhScHoOl?” Santiago mocked in return.

A hesitant look flashed across Frankie’s face,“I don’t know Pope” 

“It’s okay, I want to hear about this.” You chimed.

“He’s trying to get you to play this drinking game we all played when we enlisted in the army.” Will explained, directing a knowing look in Santiago’s direction, “But there’s no pressure.” 

“We all played when we joined the squad” Ben said with a reassuring smile “some supposed way to build trust but really it was our excuse to get drunk on our days off” 

You nodded, curious to learn more, "Hmm.. How do you play?" you looked at Santiago waiting for an explanation. 

"You have to choose between answering a personal question with complete honesty or taking a shot. It's all about testing your limits."

Frankie's hesitant expression didn't ease, but he spoke up nonetheless. "Yeah, but it can get intense. Some questions really push your boundaries, and the drinks add up quickly."

Will half smiled "Shit’s about to get real, but seeing that your drink of choice is whiskey, I take it you can hold your own" He added with a wink.

A mix of excitement and apprehension settled in your chest. "Alright, I’m in."

“Atta girl!” Santiago nodded approvingly. "Welcome to our circle of trust. Just remember, once you start playing, there's no turning back."

You nodded, and met Frankie’s eyes with a playful smirk, "Okay, but Frankie goes first."

As the game kicked off, the group went easy on you. They couldn't help but laugh as you shared stories of your younger self sneaking out on summer nights and the satisfying moment when you finally stood up to your childhood bully after being pushed off your bike countless times. They absolutely loved that one. But as the game progressed, things got more intense. The questions became more personal, pushing boundaries and leading to more serious unearthing. You spilled the beans about that time you accidentally sent a sext to your grandma consequently making her blood pressure drop, sending her to the hospital earning “oohs” and laughs from the group. Pope begrungingly admitted to having a crush on one of Ben's exes. Ben got caught in the act during a threesome by one of the girl's ex-boyfriends, Will confessed to hooking up with the same flight attendant multiple times on different flights, and then there was Frankie, who got stuck in a janitor's closet for four and a half hours after hooking up with a girl at a concert and had to resort to peeing in a bucket (Yep, that was the last time he ever saw her). 

Then Santiago’s question changed the air around you, “Are you seeing anyone?”

“No” Your response quick and easy, too easy to satisfy Santiago’s agenda.

“Do you currently have feelings for someone?” He prodded.

A fiery warmth spread across your chest at his second question, rendering you to an absolute halt. His words seemed to pierce through the din of the crowded bar, leaving you momentarily speechless.

"Um, well, I... I mean, you know, it's complicated," you stammered, your words slurring slightly as you struggled to form a coherent response. Frankie's presence heighten your flustered state, making you feel more unsettled than usual. The alcohol coursing through your veins seemed to amplify your nerves, leaving you feeling jittery and out of sorts.

Desperate for a moment of reprieve, you took another sip of your water, hoping it would help to calm your frazzled nerves. But instead, it only seemed to exacerbate your unease. "I, uh, I just...I do," you blurted out, your eyes widening in alarm as the words escaped your lips. With a sudden rush of embarrassment, you instinctively covered your mouth, as if trying to snatch back the breath you had just spoken.

Ben whistled in response, “Whoever he is, he is a godamn lucky guy” his eyes flickering briefly towards Frankie who held back a smile and preferred to fidget with the corner of his napkin than to look up at you.

You stole a quick glance at Frankie, hoping to gauge his reaction, but he kept his eyes fixed on the table, a faint smile playing at the corners of his lips. Despite his attempts to appear nonchalant, you couldn't shake the feeling that he could see right through you. Before the awkward silence could stretch any further, a buzzing at your hip provided a welcome interruption, breaking the tension that had settled over the table. Grateful for the distraction, you quickly reached for your phone, hoping to find solace in the familiar glow of the screen.

"S-sorry, I gotta take this," you stammered, your voice trembling slightly as you hurriedly scooted out of the booth and made your way to the patio area.

Once outside, you fumbled for your phone, your heart racing with anxiety. With trembling fingers, you answered the call. "Michele... Jesus Christ, I-I've never loved you more," you breathed into the phone.

“Hey, I just wanted to check in, you doing alright?” Her voice tinged with genuine concern.

You breathed in, composing yourself, “Yeah, I’ve been having a great time.” The alcohol coursing through your veins making you increasingly aware of your intoxicated state

“Of course you are chica! you’ve been surrounded by four smoking hot guys practically all night!” she quipped with a sassy tone, “That’s right, I saw them!” 

You couldn't help but giggle at her playful remark as you swayed your way to the balcony.“Where are youu?” You asked, struggling to keep your balance.

“I’m out by the exit, heading out in a few but I wanted to make sure you’re good.” She giggled but not at anything you said. You thought you heard a male voice in the background, murmuring something and calling her "baby."

“Call me if you need anything, yeah? Except for condoms, I only have one of those in my purse” You could practically hear her mischievous smile over the phone.

“OH MY GOD!” You burst into laughter, “love you, I’ll text you when I get home”.

“Love you, bye!” Michele responded, her voice warm with affection before the line went silent. You ended the call and tucked your phone back into your purse, not yet ready to return to the company of your friends inside.

Just as you were about to gather your thoughts, a gentle hand landed on your shoulder, causing you to startle.You spun around faster than you realized you could handle in your current state, only to find Frankie standing there, his hands held out in a gesture of apology.

 “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you”. He said softly, his eyes filled with concern as he steadied you with his touch.

You responded with a shy smile, mesmerized by the way his deep brown eyes sparked, even in the dim twinkling lights of the patio. “It’s okay” 

“I, uh, I wanted apologize about Pope.” His hands lingered on your arms, and you couldn't help but notice the way your heart fluttered at his proximity. “He can get intense”.

“Oh F-frankie, you don’t have to do that, itss all fun and games”. Despite your attempt to remain composed, you found yourself increasingly aware of the effect the game had on you, the warm, fuzzy effect of the drinks settling over your body. So much so that you nearly tripped on your own feet. "Oops!" you giggled, feeling the edges of your cheeks flush with embarrassment. 

“I think it’s time to get you home” Frankie smiled sweetly at your clumsiness before realizing the implication of his own words, “I uh, I mean, not like that. I just–”.

You placed a finger on his lips “Shhh..” quickly stealing a glance of his eyes and back to your finger, your voice soft but insistent “Jussst take me home”, Frankie’s gaze made you nervous “....there’s no way I can drive like this” 

The bar pulsed with excitement, even though it was well past midnight. Frankie's touch was like a gentle yet firm anchor as he guided you through the sea of people, his presence stirring a whirlwind of emotions within you. You'd often fantasized about what it would be like to spend a night out with him, but never did you think of a moment like this. Frankie opened the car door for you, his eyes filled with a subtle tenderness as he helped you settle into the passenger seat. His caring nature was warm and reassuring. As you glanced around the interior of his car, you couldn't help but notice how spotless it was. Of course, you thought. He did have a military background afterall.

The engine roared to life, the sound blending seamlessly with the melody of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" playing softly in the foreground. It was a song you knew well, its familiar notes adding to the magic of the moment. Frankie loved night drives, particularly on nights like tonight when the air carried a hint of coolness. He couldn't help but steal glances at you, as the wind played with your hair, brushing it across your cheeks. He watched with a smile as you sang along to every word of the song without a care in the world. It was as though each lyric held a piece of your soul, released into the air with each heartfelt note. In that moment, under the starlit sky, Frankie found himself captivated by the raw beauty of your uninhibited joy, feeling a warmth spread through him at the sight of your carefree spirit. It was a moment he wished he could freeze in time, etching it into his memory as a reminder of the magic that existed in the simplest of moments spent with you.

Your hand reached for his, reminding him that this, whatever this was, was actually happening. There was this air of trust between you.

"Still feeling okay?" Frankie asked, his voice soft as he glanced at you, his eyes reflecting the dim glow of the streetlights nearby as the car came to a stop.

You nodded, offering him a reassuring smile. “I'm okay. Thank you for driving me home"

Frankie squeezed your hand gently. "Anytime. I want to make sure you’re safe, Hermosa."

A soft blush tinted your cheeks at his words, and you looked out the window, trying to hide your smile. 

Frankie stepped out of the car, and opened the door for you. He offered his hand, assisting you up the stairs that led to your front door. The yellow glow of the overhead bulb cast a warm hue over his features, accentuating the sharp lines of his jaw and the curls in his hair.

As you climbed the steps, lost in thought of his features, you stumbled, your foot catching on the edge. With a surprised yelp, you began to fall forward, but Frankie was quick to react, reaching out to steady you, once again.

"Whoa there clumsy," he chuckled, a smile playing on his lips. "wouldn't want you taking a tumble."

You both couldn't help but laugh at your own tipsy clumsiness, the tension of the moment dissolving into shared amusement. "Thanks," you said, flashing him a grateful smile. "Guess drinks and stairs don’t mix."

Frankie grinned, his eyes sparkling with humor. "No problem, but you know, I've never seen anyone trip going up stairs before. You've got talent!” He chuckled

Your laughter only grew louder at his quip, and after a moment of catching your breath, his eyes met yours and you decided to take a chance. 

You paused, liquid courage spurring you on. "Can I tell you somethin?" you asked, your voice tentative.

"Of course, Hermosa," Frankie replied, his expression curious.

You took a deep breath, gathering your thoughts before confessing, "I really should have kissed you that first night we met."

For a moment, there was silence between you, the weight of your words hanging in the air. Then, Frankie's smile widened, a warmth filling his gaze as he reached out to gently cup your cheek.

"Then why don't you?" he murmured softly, his thumb brushing against your cheek.

Your heart skipped a beat as Frankie's words hung in the air, sending a thrill coursing through your veins. His touch was electrifying, his thumb tracing gentle circles on your cheek, sending shivers down your spine.

You could feel the heat of his breath against your skin, his lips tantalizingly close to yours, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still as you drowned in the intensity of his gaze.

"Maybe… I will," your voice barely above a whisper, hardly audible over the pounding of your heart.

Frankie's smile widened, a playful glint dancing in his eyes. "I dare you."

With a surge of boldness, you closed the remaining distance between you, your lips meeting his in a sweet, exhilarating kiss. It was everything you had imagined and more, a perfect fusion of passion and tenderness that left you breathless and craving more.

As you pulled away, a grin spread across Frankie's face, his eyes sparkling with joy and affection."Looks like dreams really do come true," he murmured, his voice filled with desire.

Your heart raced as he leaned in for another kiss, his lips crashing into yours. This time with an intensity that sent sparks flying, fueled by hunger and desire.

You melted into him, tangling your fingers in his curls as his kiss deepened, each touch sending shockwaves of pleasure coursing through your body. Frankie's hands reached for your thighs, wrapping you around him, as he carried you up the stairs and into your apartment with ease.

“Bedroom” you managed to breath out in between kisses “Mmm…to the…left”

You collapsed onto the cool sheets of your duvet when Frankie paused “Wait..” his chest rising and falling as he leveled his breath, his tone suddenly serious “let's…let’s slow down a bit”

“Yeah” you responded, a confused look flickered across your face, “Okay, you’re right. We probably should”.

"I like you, a lot," Frankie admitted, his gaze softening as he looked into your eyes. "But I want to do this the right way and–“ He stopped mid thought glancing over at your open bathroom door  “I also couldn’t help but notice that annoying leaky faucet!” 

A laugh bubbled up from your chest, you breathed in still catching your breath “I’ve been bugging the landlord about that for months!”

Frankie grinned, his eyes lighting up. "That's an easy fix! I can come by sometime and help you out with that."

A warmth spread through your chest at his offer, and you couldn't help but smile. "Oh really?” Your voice offering a tone of mischief ,”I'd like that," you replied, feeling a sense of anticipation building between you “I’d like that a lot actually”

Without hesitation Frankie leaned in and planted a quick tender kiss on your forehead before settling beside you. The warmth of his presence beside you filled you with a sense of comfort and contentment, and you couldn't help but snuggle closer, savoring the closeness between you as a comfortable silence enveloped you both. But soon, conversation resumed, flowing effortlessly between you as you discussed your favorite movies, swapping recommendations and sharing anecdotes about awkward date experiences.

Frankie's laughter filled the room as he recounted a particularly embarrassing moment from his past, and you couldn't help but join in, sharing your own humorous stories in return. The more you talked, the more you realized just how much you had in common, and each revelation brought you closer together.

At one point, Frankie leaned in close, his voice low with mock solemnity. "Well, now that we've shared all our embarrassing stories and secrets, what are we going to talk about on our first date?"

A blush crept up your cheeks at his teasing remark, but you couldn't help but laugh. "Guess we'll just have to come up with some new material," you replied playfully.

As the conversation lulled, Frankie glanced at the clock and sighed. "I should probably head home," he said reluctantly.

But before he could move, you reached out and gently grasped his hand, your voice barely above a whisper. "Please stay," you pleaded quietly, "For me."

For a moment, Frankie's expression softened, his gaze meeting yours with a mixture of surprise and tenderness. And without another word, he nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he settled back into bed beside you. 

But before sleep claimed you, Frankie's quiet voice broke the silence. "You know, you're half right about that first night we met."

"What do you mean?" you responded, now propping yourself up to look at him.

"I should've kissed you," he admitted, a hint of regret in his tone. "I should've made you put your number in my phone or something." He chuckled softly, his fingers gently playing with strands of your hair.

Your heart skipped a beat at his confession, "Well, lucky for you, it's not too late," you replied, reaching for his phone on the nightstand, a smile tugging at your lips.

And as you melted into each other's embrace, the world outside faded away, leaving only the two of you wrapped up in the quiet stillness of the night. With the gentle patter of rain as your lullaby, you drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter 3 / Chapter 5

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[not-5-rats]

my bug-ivation has returned to me...so here's some questions for you guys <3

1) How often does your Bug get sick?

2) Follow up question, what do they do if smbdy they care abt is sick?

3) Uh oh, your Bug is dead. Who do you think (out of the other Bugs) would be the most upset by their death?

4) scenario #1

(For a lil context, I was rambling to my little brother abt the army, Chester and his backstory when he said he wanted to make an oc. So he made Hizo [hee-zo], she goes by he/she and is Frans best friend) (drawings of him at the end #1 by my brother #2 by me)

Bug was in the living room, sat down on the ground beside them was Fran. She had been dumped on Bug because Chester had been dragged away by Daisy who wanted to show him a 'new' flower she had found.

Fran wasn't really talking to Bug just doodling in her notepad, occasionally glancing up to make sure Bug hadn't left. Bug didn't spend much time with Fran but even they could tell something was up with her today, even if she didn't speak she would usually hum/ whistle to herself as she drew but today? Dead silent.

Bug decided it would be best to check up on her, just make sure she was doing alright. They dropped off the couch to kneel beside her, she flinched slightly before pausing her drawing and looking over at them. They asked if she was okay and she signed back

'I like being here, I like you guys, I like being with brother...but I miss my friend'

She pointed to her drawing, showing a person. Tears had started to spring in her eyes as she stared down at the drawing. It was clear this person meant alot to her, she enjoyed seeing them but since she lived here with them she couldn't see her friend anymore. She was on the verge of tears just staring at the drawing

What does Bug do?

5) scenario #2 to my fav AU at the moment, Yandere! AU

technically for this one I made 2 separate scenarios, 1 for most of the bugs then a separate 1 for Ulysseus & Duarte specifically cause I couldn't think of a way to write either for everyone lol-

for most of the bugs -

Bug had been hanging out with Duarte/ Ulysseus that day (u pick which one) they had been having a pretty good day. They had went out together to check the traps, ensuring that no unfortunate half-bloods were caught in them. Now though they were back home, in the kitchen, having a snack

They were just chatting bout the day when Duarte/ Ulysseus excused themself for a moment, though they said they'd be right back. As soon as she was out of view a figure appeared beside Bug...Chester? He was just sort of standing beside Bug, not saying anything, just staring down at them a slight threat in his gaze. Finally after a moment he spoke, his voice hushed yet assertive

"You best distance yourself from them...they are a very...special individual and you, well you're just not good enough to be anywhere near them. If you still need convincing though, I've heard that bad things have been happening to people that stick around after their warning"

A blade gently pressed against the back of Bugs head but before they could respond the two heard their companion coming back down the corridor. And just as soon as he had appeared Chester vanished again, leaving Bug stood there, a slightly distant look on their face. When Duarte/ Ulysseus returned they instantly noticed the change in their friend, so asked if they were ok

You ok Bug?

for Ulysseus & Duarte -

Bug had been out in town when they met a rather nice stranger, the two began to talk and eventually became friends. This friend had come over to the house a couple of times and had met all the other Bugs, amongst these Bugs was Chester.

The day this person and Chester met though something seemed to change in the friend. They began to cling to Bug, constantly wanting to be around them, always coming over and spending time with them. Bug had no idea what was going on, they just sorta accepted it..but suddenly, after a few months of them never leaving Bugs side, the friend stopped contacting Bug. At first they believed the friend was just busy but as the days wore on they began to worry

They tried looking for their friend...but to no avail. They were upset, but luckily Chester was always there to comfort them through their loss. Whenever they needed help Chester was always there to offer it, so one day when they were really quite sad about just life in general, Bug decided to go find him. They checked his room, but he wasn't there so they went out to the garden...

...the fuck is that. Their friends body lay there, their skin had begun to grey and their eyes seemed dull. It was clear they were dead. Bug was startled, they stood stunned for a moment. They couldn't believe they were dead....let alone dead in their garden. They were suddenly snapped out of their shocked trance as Chester came walking around the corner, a sharp blade in his hand

"you should have listened when I told you to stay awa-" he spots Bug, his smile dropping slightly "*Bug*...what are you doing back here? You never come back here..."

He took a step towards them, they stumbled away. He stared at them, before a sick smile began to twist itself onto his face

"Oh darling, please calm down, there's no need to be like that. They needed to go, they weren't...good enough...for you. I warned then to go away, I warned them, but they didn't listen. I swear I didn't have any other choice, I did this....for you dear...for you"

He fell silent, his eyes boring into theirs. Something shone through his eyes, something they had never seen before. An obsessive hunger, a love that was never-ending, thay would never be satisfied...an obsession. He inched closer

What do you do Bug?

☆---------------☆

drawings of Hizo -

☆---------------☆

Tags -

@rozeliyawashereyall @willowve01 @asmrbrainrot @kaiamtt @iistxrmyskyii @insignificant-anarchy @stxph-artist @aspenm00n @keyaartz @fangsshadow @rustycopper4use @piffany666 @dreamyshape @idontevenknow7878 @lunaritychuwolf @littlesiren79 @castbracelet240 @strayharmony943 @proxdragon @tiefling-chaos @threeweekinsomnia @recated @wilderrorcard @diamondzoey @fennaboysenberry @lunnats @lightdragon789 @pinkcocopuff-aqualoid @astralbulldragon13 @ccstiles @puffin-smoke @fruity0salad @takashishihoin @reefhastoomanyaccs

[g0dspeeed]

15 Lines

Tagged by @direwombat , @nightbloodbix , & @voidika 💕

So I chose Cappie De La Costa, and most if not all the lines I chose happen when she's chatting with Eli Palmer 🙃 because you can pry them from my cold dead hands

1. "John Seed is a fucking loser." 2. "I don't know what I want," she admitted. "I want to scream, but then cry, then laugh at how shitty everything is. And fuck, it's like Russian roulette in my head, you know? I just can't settle and when I want to do something with it, I fire off at someone I care about." 3. "And so, I'm sorta done with trusting promises, and this idea that everyone is doing their best because the only person who has stuck around for me is being tortured, and you're telling me to cut some slack for someone who may kill the only person I have, Eli." 4. "I wish I saw the world like you. Sounds nice. But I'll pretend that the world is like that because I like you in mine." 5. "I hate it when you fucking talk like that," she growled, her voice shaking. "Like, like, like you're the worst person on earth, like how you are the lucky one here, like you are some horrible person that owes me. Eli, I'm not freaking out because having a baby with you would be bad, just fucking scary because we are in a war, and I can't even take care of undomesticated raccoons or, or myself! Eli, I would be relieved if I was knocked up with you because, like the whole fucking County knows, my track record for partners has been hilariously bad, like cult bad! And not just one, but two. Twice, Eli. But that, that's not the point: I just hate it when you talk so mean about you because you're the best thing that's happened to me in this place." 6. "Look, I'm just being consistent with my inconsistency," she countered. "We both know that my chaotic disposition is what drew you in. Like a goody goody moth–because you can be one, don't give me that look–to a badass bitch flame, my guy. I can't resist you either, you sexy motherfucker, but I got your number, too." 7. "That's close enough, Deputy." 8. “I dunno, man. Could ask you the same thing. Maybe there’s some math in the Universe that says our sad parts cancel each other out." 9. "Jacob can shut the fuck up. He's just got a sopping wound for a personality." 10. “You were just being polite, I know, because it was just for a moment, then you looked away and left. But I don’t know. I never thought about it until we met again on the side of the road, because later on I would realize that I saw you that day. And I can’t help but think that the Universe was teasin’ me. That it was giving me a sneak peek at what was to come, that even with all the shit that would follow, with Jacob, with John, with the Collapse, that I had somethin’ to look forward to, that out of all that mess, I would find you there. That I wouldn’t be so alone anymore” 11. "Wanna bet?" 12. "Oh. I guess," she mumbled. "But like, a sandwich could be an innuendo. You know, for like, getting dicked down. You know. If you want." 13. "Oh, how'd I get so damn lucky? How do I want you? Any way. I just want you. All of it." 14. "You don't. I don't think I do either. I was just trying to figure out what you are because 'husband' isn't enough, and 'lover' is insulting in the face of how you make me feel. I don't trust in much of anything, but you, Eli, made a believer of me." 15. "I love you. A whole lot. You make my home in every room you stand in, Eli."

Taggin' @coetiroedd , @strangefable , @ladyoriza , @noodlecupcakes , @ivymarquis , @inafieldofdaisies , @cassietrn , @v0idbuggy , @simonxriley , @simonxriley , @socially-awkward-skeleton , @la-grosse-patate & whoever else wants to try this!

[ace-of-clubs-and-diamonds]

Epitome of Sweet Misery

It had been his idea – to carve his moniker into your flesh, to mark you as his. The two of you’d been going at this long enough that you might as well make it official, and who needed a ring when he had a knife?

Rating: Mature 🔞 Fandom(s): Dead By Daylight, Scream Pairing: Danny Johnson/Ghostface x GN!Reader Word count: 1.1K Content warnings: DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT, knifeplay, painplay, marking, crying, grinding, choking, threat of death, toxic relationship, it’s not Stockholm Syndrome but it’s got that kind of vibe, voice kink, only mildly tho, implied blowjobs, written with the intent of Ghostface being Danny Johnson but tbh it’s vague enough that you can imagine whichever Ghostface you want AO3 link: Here

Author's Note: Done with Blood Fest Week 4! Keywords were “enliven” and “raw”, and I used the prompts “mask”, “knife”, and “venom”. Fun fact, Danny Johnson was my first ever slasher crush, but I’ve never actually written for him before. So I figured this was a good chance to go ahead and do that! Dunno if I’ll write him again, but I enjoyed this. And I hope you guys do too! <3

You knew it was on purpose. You knew he wanted it to hurt.

Yes, the alcohol was to keep the wound sterilized – “Can’t have you dying on me yet,” he’d whispered, saccharine venom dripping from the words. But the fact that it did hurt, that every dab of the alcohol-soaked cloth after every slice sent fire roaring through your veins? It was fully intentional.

He wasn’t stupid. But he did love to make you squirm.

The gloved hand shifted against your back. You braced yourself. With tender, agonizing slowness, the tip of the knife dragged against your skin. Your flesh split open, spilling more blood down your back and sides, and you grit your teeth, twisted your fingers in the sheets and squeezed your eyes shut to keep more tears from falling. Then the alcohol-soaked cloth followed. Needle-sharp pain burned through the cut. You choked on a sob and shuddered through it, riding out the pain until it faded and only a drunken, dream-like high was left.

“There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he purred. The cheap plastic of his mask brushed against your shoulder. Even with its presence, even with the voice changer, you could still hear the smile in his voice. “You’re doing so good, baby. Only three letters to go.”

He slid his free hand around your waist and pulled you flush against him, your back to the solidness of his front. The fabric of his costume rubbed against your raw, sensitive wounds, and you twitched, biting down a noise of discomfort. But then you were biting down a moan as he rolled his hips and made it impossible to ignore the hardness pressed up against your ass.

A promise for what was to come once you were finished.

It had been his idea – to carve his moniker into your flesh, to mark you as his. The two of you’d been going at this long enough that you might as well make it official, and who needed a ring when he had a knife?  Who needed to announce it to the world when it could be your secret? If he’d said it any earlier, before your fear and dread of his visits shifted to eagerness and anticipation, you would’ve screamed at him. Told him no, are you insane? Permanently fucking up your body so you could never truly be free from him? No. No. He could go shove that knife up his ass.

But now? Once the shock had worn off, glee had taken hold. It didn’t matter that you didn’t know his real name, his real face. He wanted you. He wanted you so badly that he wanted to carve his want into your flesh. The idea of that name – Ghostface – permanently etched into your skin, knowing that you’d be explicitly undeniably his, body and soul, forever….

It was worth it. Worth the pain. Worth the agonizing, teeth-gritting, sob-inducing pain.

You drew in a shaky breath.

Only three letters to go.

“Come on.” He traced little circles along your abdomen, just low enough to be tantalizing. “Don’t give up now. You’re so close.” The way he said it, so suggestively, voice dropping at the last word – your insides clenched. “I’m so close.” Another roll of his hips. You moaned softly.

“Okay,” you panted out. “Okay.”

You leaned forward, giving him access to your back. He hummed with satisfaction and stroked your skin. Admiring the canvas of your body. Before putting brush to canvas and painting it red again.

You held your breath, heart hammering its way up your throat as he cut and carved and sanitized. Tears flowed freely down your cheeks. One cut. Two cuts. A third. A swipe of the alcohol cloth that made you dig your fingernails into your palms and bury your teeth into your lip. The letter “A” done. A long, curving cut next for the “C”. Another wipe of the alcohol cloth. He was hard against you as a sob threatened to escape. He was enjoying this, your pain, your struggle to contain it. Somewhere deep inside, bitterness festered at the thought. But it was soothed by a sweet caress, by a whispered, “You’re so good for me. Almost there, baby.”

And oh, did you want to be good for him.

You were soaked in sweat and blood at this point. Lungs too small as you tried to get enough air in to combat the pain, to keep from jerking away or squirming at the wrong moment. Almost there almost there almost there. Four more cuts, one more swipe of alcohol, and you were done.

Fuck, fuck, you could do this.

One cut. The vertical stem of the “E”. A whimper forced its way out. A tremor went through your body. You desperately clutched at the sheets. Then a horizontal line coming from the bottom of the stem. Pain burned through every muscle, every vein, every atom.

Then the third line.

You couldn’t help it. A cry burst out of you as you arched in pain. Then a hand clamped around your throat, cutting you off mid-sob. You choked. Struggled for air. Writhed.

“You were doing so well,” he hissed in your ear. Even as he sounded angry, he sounded excited, enlivened, as if your failure was just more fuel for his pleasure. “You were so close. You almost did it perfectly. And you messed it up at the last second.”

You clawed at his fingers around your windpipe. Your head swam, pulse pounding like a jackhammer to the skull. And then he let you go. You doubled over, hacking and desperately sucking air in. Even as you struggled to breathe, heat and arousal flooded your system. At this point, what was the threat of death but an aphrodisiac?

“What am I going to do with you, hmm?” You barely heard his words over the sound of your own coughing. Not till fingers were digging into your cheeks and forcing you to look into the lifeless eyes of the contorted, screaming mask. Tears blurred your vision, even as you thought, He loves me. Surely, he loves me. “Now what?” he whispered.

You could guess. Punishment, of some kind. A teasing, delicious, cruel punishment where he got to cum and you didn’t, where he used you like a mindless fucktoy to satisfy his own pleasure and you weren’t allowed to give yourself any release.

“Get down on the ground.”

You instantly crawled off the bed and dropped to your knees. And as you looked up at him, at that pale visage as he stood before you and started unbuckling his belt, anticipation heated your gut and pooled lower down.

What were you if not a loving victim and a perfect plaything?

[cinebration]

Come Back To Me (Jack Russell x Reader) [Part 3]

You and Jack catch up.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Epilogue

Tagged: @lucy-sky, @faeoftheapocalypse, @theconsultingdoctor10, @starfirette, @bitchyglitterfox, @thefandomqueenuno, @scarlettsoldier, @russell-ed, @xasement, @stand-with-cap, @marvelenthusiast10, @supermarvelgirl15, @mobiusismyfav, @killeromanoff, @hawkins-2000, @fangurldayandnight, @liv-victoriano, @randomchick546, @g1m2g3, @gingermous, @howlingco, @vynsvision, @jwjeepers, @rellasnowheenim​, @yelenas-lova​, @nyrovia

Warnings: mention of blood

Gif Source: timothydalton

You gaped at him, too surprised to speak. Jack folded you into a hug, careful of your stomach, and drew back to peer into your face.

“I didn’t know if you would make it,” he said, herding you into the apartment. “I didn’t know which hospital they took you to, so I couldn’t check.”

The apartment was sparsely furnished, the furniture probably purchased at a Goodwill or some other discount store. Despite this, it was slightly messy, as though a storm had strewn things about or a dog had bounded through, massive tail sweeping everything into scattered piles in its wake.

Jack picked up a few newspapers and magazines from a chair and deposited you onto it, pulling the opposite chair close. The man’s understanding of personal space seemed lacking, but then again, he had gotten your blood on his hands and had probably glimpsed a bit of your insides. How much more personal could he get?

“Hi,” you managed to say, your brain on a five-minute delay.

“Hi,” he answered back, smiling wide enough to see the delightfully uneven curve of his teeth. “I’m so glad to see you’re better.”

“Yeah, me, too.” You shifted on the seat and winced.

He frowned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not one-hundred-percent yet.”

“But you are getting better?”

You nodded, unsure how to handle the earnestness in his tone. The sincerity with which he spoke sent shivers through you, as though such genuine honesty was anathema to your being.

“I’m glad to hear that.” A look clouded the bright sunshine of his face. “Oh, where are my manners? Would you like something to drink? To eat?”

You almost laughed. “Uh, no, thanks.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Leaning back in his seat, he merely looked at you, his lips stretching into a wide smile. “I can’t believe you’re here! I was thinking about you.”

You frowned, something strange constricting your chest. “You were?”

“Yes, of course.”

He offered no other explanation, merely looked at you some more, the smile so heartbreakingly sincere you had to look away.

“Um…thank you. For getting me out of that hole.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“No, really. You could have left me there.”

He frowned. “Never.”

You opened your mouth to protest but decided against it when you saw the expression on his handsome features. Nodding instead, you glanced around the living room and the kitchenette off to your left. There was, you noticed, a methodology to the mild chaos around you, a system of disorder that made sense once you looked at it.

“I don’t remember much of that night,” you heard yourself say, then frowned, wondering why you had spoken.

“Trauma does that.”

You almost laughed at the seriousness of his tone. “Yeah, I’ve heard that. First time I’ve experienced it, though.”

Jack shifted his attention to his hands, plucked at some lint on his pants. “What do you remember?”

“You, mostly.” The admission burned the back of your neck. Clearing your throat, you continued, “And the other guy. He had a radio.”

“Is that all?”

You tried your best to recall that night. After Jack had helped you out of the hole, your memory turned to patchwork. You remembered the crack of bullets, the warmth of Jack’s hands on your face, the other man radioing for help. Words were garbled, the only permanent thing etched into your recollections the pain and the darkness.

“More or less,” you answered, mouth twisting with displeasure. “The doctor said it’s not likely all of the memories will come back. I was in a lot of pain.”

Jack’s face tightened with anguish. “I’m sorry I dropped you.”

“You didn’t drop me. I dove.”

“I should have held on tighter.”

Shaking your head, you leaned forward, ignoring the twinge of pain that lanced through you. “I reacted out of instinct. That’s all. That wasn’t your fault.”

He nodded, though his expression told you he didn’t quite believe it. Perturbed by the man’s reaction, you tried to remember why you were at his apartment in the first place.

The massacre.

Frowning, you scrutinized Jack’s face. Green eyes with hazel centers stared back in an open expression. His eyebrows knitted together slightly the longer you looked at him, but his lips curled into a faint smile, as though he enjoyed the scrutiny.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his tone light.

“I…don’t know.”

He nodded. “That happens to me, too, sometimes. We can’t know everything, not even about ourselves.”

Confusion roiled within you. “Who are you?”

He laughed, the sound both nervous and amused. “I don’t know. Tomorrow I’m not the same as today or the same as yesterday.”

A philosopher on top of a psychiatrist, you quipped. “Okay.”

He tracked your eyes. “That wasn’t the answer you wanted.”

“No.”

A frown pulled on his smile. “How did you find me?”

Swiping a hand over your brow, you glanced back toward the front door. If you left now, you could escape the awkward tension building inside you, your skin crawling with it. The scar on your abdomen pinched as you sucked in a breath through your nose.

“Why are you here?” he asked, caution coloring his voice.

“Well…I came looking for a Jack Russell, and it turns out he’s you.”

“Why are you looking for me?”

“I was…I’m looking for survivors of the Bloodstone massacre.”

Silence lay thick over the room. You forced yourself to glance back at his face, wondering why you felt so uncomfortable admitting the truth. It hadn’t even occurred to you to try and track Jack down to thank him, to let him know he helped save you. The guilt constricted your chest as the silence stretched.

Jack rose from his seat, walked away from you. “Why are you doing that?”

You wondered how much you should say. The bounty had to be lucrative for Jaeger to be sending you so soon after your injury. Telling others about it would jeopardize things.

Then again, Jack had witnessed the massacre.

“There’s a bounty out on the thing that killed everyone,” you answered. “I’m gathering information.”

“A bounty?”

“Yes, by the Hunters’ Guild. They don’t like that so many primo hunters were killed.”

“They were warned,” Jack muttered.

“What?”

Clearing his throat, he wandered into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door. “We were told that we would probably die in the hunt.”

“I doubt being slaughtered in a closed room was in the plans.”

“No,” he murmured. “No, it wasn’t.”

“How did a werewolf get into the mansion?”

“I suppose he walked through the front door.”

You snorted. Jack glanced over his shoulder, the gloom on his face lightening as he heard your snicker. Closing the fridge, he returned to his seat but didn’t sit, his hand braced on the back of the chair.

“So, you are going after the bounty?”

You nodded curtly.

“But you don’t like hunting.”

Sighing, you passed a hand over your face. “Yeah, I know.”

“Then why?”

“I’m…being sent.” You stood, winced. Jack reached out for you, grabbing your elbow to help you straighten, his hands burning through your jacket. “Thanks.”

Nodding, he let his touch linger before dropping his hands. “Have you talked to Elsa Bloodstone?”

“Not if I can help it,” you snorted.

“She was there when it happened,” he said, each word carefully enunciated. “You should talk to her.”

You frowned. “Where were you?”

“Hmm?”

“Where were you when the massacre happened?”

“Oh, I wasn’t there.”

“So where were you?”

“The, uh, monster we were sent after broke out. I went after him.”

“You didn’t catch him?”

“No.”

Drumming your fingers against your thigh, you nodded slowly, suddenly exhausted as your mind tried to untangle the knots of the case. It must have showed, because concern tightened Jack’s face.

“I’m fine,” you assured him, anticipating his question. “I get tired easier, that’s all. And the thought of talking to Elsa is exhausting.”

“She’s not so bad.”

You snorted. “Wanna help me talk to her?”

“Sure!”

The snicker died in your throat. “You’re serious?”

He nodded. “I want to help.”

Suspicion coiled in your guts. “Why?”

“I like to help.”

You scrutinized the open expression on his face. “You really do, huh?”

He nodded again.

You weighed your options. You didn’t have the energy or the desire to face Elsa Bloodstone alone—or at all. Having someone there she knew who apparently didn’t mind her would certainly help.

A small part of you didn’t want to leave Jack’s presence, either. One of the few things you remembered from that night was his warmth, the feeling of utter safety and protection.

You didn’t want to give that up.

“Okay,” you agreed. “We’ll go to Elsa Bloodstone.”

[halfandhalfshoto]

enchanted | bokuaka

- pairing: band member!bokuto x manager!akaashi

- genre: angst

- warnings: none

- word count: 1,098 words

- inspired by taylor swift’s enchanted!

————————

There I was again tonight

Forcing laughter, faking smiles

Same old tired, lonely place

“Bokuto, you idiot! You aren’t gonna come to practice again?” Oikawa shouted across the classroom where a blank-faced, spaced out, tall male sat.

The said male looked at him with no emotions at all, but gave a hollowed out smile.

“Maybe tomorrow, I’ll go,” He replied, earning a sigh from the brown-haired boy who left saying “Daichi’s gonna be pissed with you again,”

Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy

Vanished when I saw your face

All I can say is, it was enchanting to meet you

Bokuto entered the room with his stratocaster in the case he was carrying, only for it to be dropped when he saw an unfamiliar familiar person.

“Well, if it isn’t the VIP!” Daichi exclaimed sarcastically, pertaining to the guitarist who hasn’t come to practice for 2 whole weeks.

Bokuto didn’t mind it. He just stood there, staring at the black-haired male, talking to Kuroo, their bassist, about some gigs they’ve done. Not once did he utter a word during Daichi’s 5-minute lecture about band practices.

“—and I don’t think you’re even listening,” The drummer sighed as he raked his fingers through his hair. Oh boy, if only he knew how smitten Bokuto was. He gave out a “Whatever,” and called the person Kuroo was talking to.

“Akaashi Keiji, meet Bokuto Koutarou, our guitarist,”

Your eyes whispered, "Have we met?"

'Cross the room your silhouette

Starts to make its way to me

Cliché.

That was all Bokuto could think of when he realized how he felt towards the boy approaching him.

What kind of cliché romance story was this?

“You’re late, Mr. Bokuto. I’m your new manager,” Akaashi said with a straight face. Bokuto was dumbfounded at his words, before realizing it was a joke when Akaashi smiled a bit and held back a laugh.

“I’m kidding. It’s nice to meet you, but I hope you won’t be late again,” He told the still-quiet spiky-haired boy as he extended a hand.

Bokuto looked at it, held out his own hand, hesitated, drew it back, then held it out again.

“What kind of stupidity is this?” Oikawa muttered at the scene he was witnessing. Their guitarist was actually flustered. The guy who makes everyone swoon during their gigs!

“I won’t ever be late if you’re here, you can count on me!” Bokuto finally exclaimed confidently, winking. He picked up his guitar and urged everyone to start practicing, pronto!

This night is sparkling, don't you let it go

I'm, blushing all the way home

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you

It had been 3 months.

“What a stellar performance! Their guitarist really made the crowd go crazy, huh?” The host said to his co-host after Bokuto’s band got off the stage. He really stole the show with that gesture.

“You think he’s gonna be mad?” He asked, looking at the 4 of his bandmates.

“Well, you’re gonna know,” Kita answered, staring in front of them as Akaashi marched forward.

“What was that?!” Their manager let the whole band go through except for Bokuto.

Seeing Akaashi’s flustered, all-red expression, he grinned.

While performing, he had shouted “Akaashi Keiji, will you be my boyfriend?” in the middle of Oikawa singing Enchanted by Taylor Swift

“You have an answer?” He shamelessly asked.

The lingering question kept me up

2 AM, who do you love?

I wonder 'til I'm wide awake

“Ugh, disgusting!” Kuroo exclaimed as he saw Bokuto and Akaashi entering the room, hands intertwined.

“Oh please! You’re just sulking because Kenma hasn’t replied to any of your texts,” Oikawa teased.

“Really? How are things going with Iwaizumi?”

“Alright, shut up!”

“Okay, time to practice! You have a gig tomorrow,” Akaashi broke the ensuing fight the two were about to have as he let go of Bokuto’s hand.

The spiky-haired boy crunched his eyebrows and gave death glares to Oikawa and Kuroo, blaming them for Akaashi letting go.

—

“Hey, Keiji, do you believe in love at first sight?” Bokuto asked as Akaashi snuggled closer, allowing his boyfriend’s sweet scent to fill his nostrils.

“Hm, I don’t know. Do you?” He answered, on the verge of falling asleep.

“Only when I first saw you,”

This is me praying that

This was the very first page

Not where the story line ends

My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again

“For you,” Bokuto extended his hand out, revealing a bouquet of baby’s breath.

It was graduation day, 4 years of college finally over.

Akaashi smiled and took it, pulling the love of his life in as he slipped a ring on his finger.

“What’s this?” Bokuto asked after Akaashi let go, mesmerized at the ring suddenly on his hand.

“A promise ring, binding me to the future act of marrying you,” The black-haired boy answered as he cheekily grinned. Bokuto wasn’t the only one good at romantic gestures.

These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon

I was enchanted to meet you

“Kou… I got accepted to that job I applied for…”

“That’s great, baby!”

“But it’s in the US,”

Bokuto’s world had stopped.

“Take it,” He told Akaashi after a few minutes of silence.

“You know I ca-“

“Take it, it’s your dream, remember?” He took Akaashi’s hand into his, and gave those puppy eyes he knew his boyfriend couldn’t say no to.

Please don't be in love with someone else

Please don't have somebody waiting on you

“We have to break up, don’t we?” Akaashi tearfully asked, while looking at Bokuto who was helping him pack his things.

The other boy stopped what he was doing, and silence ensued them once again.

“I’ll wait for you,” He started.

“After all, I still have your ring,” He showed Akaashi his left hand, sporting the ring given during graduation.

Akaashi smiled, and kissed his lover as they started to pack his things.

Little did he know, Bokuto had rejected a job abroad before for him.

Please don't be in love with someone else

Please don't have somebody waiting on you

“Hey, Akaashi’s home,” Daichi told Bokuto over the phone.

His eyes were filled with ecstasy. It had been years since he last talked to Akaashi.

Looking at the ring still on his finger, Bokuto started to think of the first thing he would like to say.

“— Are you okay?” Daichi asked, still on the other line.

“Huh?”

“Akaashi’s home…”

“And he asked us to play at his wedding.”

———————

hello everyone! i’m back after 3 years ^^ here’s a bokuaka fic bc i love themmmm

[kitseddie]

This Must Be The Place

Chapter 7: Invisible String

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Part 8

(Eddie Munson X GN!Reader)

Summary: You get to know the kids a little better and Steve urges you to confront your feelings about Eddie.

W/C: 3.3K

Warnings: I use italics so much. So so much. I’m trying to stop but it’s in my blood.

A/N: It’s kind of filler but it’s also cute! There’s a lot of platonic Steve/Reader going on but don’t worry…you’ll see why…

Starcourt was a new development that was built about a year before you moved back to Hawkins. It was certainly a change of pace in the town, considering up until now you were lucky to find a strip mall. Huge would be an understatement, not really anything groundbreaking compared to most malls but certainly big given the territory. It was bright and loud and filled to the brim with families and teenagers enjoying their spring break. You would have loved to wander around to window-shop, and see the stores for yourself, but no. You were standing outside The Game Player with Steve and the kids. For the past two hours.

“Remind me why I agreed to this again?”. For a small store, you’d never seen a line so long. And you’d all been here since the mall opened.

“Oh, you didn’t want to spend your spring break standing in line for a stupid video game?”. Steve teased as you rolled your eyes and smirked, the kids all scoffing as you sighed.

“Did you guys completely ignore me earlier? Dracula is the first video game to ever have a 15 rating. And since some of us are late bloomers, we need adults and you’re the closest we got.” The kids had been raving about this new game since it was announced, it was so violent that they even pushed for an R Rating but ended up settling on 15.

Lucas was already 15 and Will had his birthday the month before, leaving you and Steve to be the ones buying Mike and Dustin’s copies. They were lucky that the security guards didn’t care enough to figure out that they were both standing in line, clearly waiting to buy a game they were too young to be playing.

When you drew closer to the door, Dustin quickly rummaged around his pockets and handed you some crumpled-up bills thanking you before he and Mike left to avoid suspicion. Steve shook his head, letting the kids go ahead and get their games. It was kinda sweet to see their goofy smiles as they wandered out with the game in their hands, excitedly talking about all the things they’d heard about it through the grapevine.

“After you.” Steve bowed as you giggled and headed inside, noticing all the teenagers losing their shit over some lame vampire game. Honestly, you were kinda curious to see what all the fuss was about, but with such high demand it was only one per customer and you were looking forward to seeing Dustin’s face when you handed him his copy. Steve buys Mike’s and you both head to the ice cream place, handing your copies to the boys.

“You’re the best!.” Dustin squealed as he squeezed you into a hug and you awkwardly hugged back, slowly moving him off you. Your eyes looked up at the ice cream place and you giggled at the silly sailor uniforms. “Hey Steve, Do you still get a discount at scoops? I think we should have a celebratory sundae”. Your neck almost snapped with how quickly you turned to face him, still get a discount?

“You’re kidding.” Steve held the bridge of his nose between his fingers and closed his eyes, hoping if he tried hard enough he could make himself disappear. The grin on your face couldn’t possibly be any wider, thinking about the endless amount of teasing that was in store.

“Unfortunately…Henderson is right. Robin and I used to sling ice cream before we started working at Family Video.” Oh, this was juicy. This was amazing.

“Stevie. I’m dying to know…” Your eyes looked over at the uniforms and you held your breath in excitement. “Did you have to wear the sailor’s hat?”. He sighed and stared back at you, embarrassed by how much you were loving this.

“Well…it was company policy.” You burst into laughter as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, attempting to ignore you. Dustin joined in and told you all about his personal scooper and the awful shorts. It was almost impossible to hold back the tears as you tried to picture it. When he seemed to get a little tired from the teasing you pouted and gave him a hearty side hug.

“Aw Steve, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I think it’s really uh…noble of you to work a job like that. Certainly builds character.” He waved you off and you pecked his cheek and smirked at his grumpy face. The boys shared some stares that you chose not to dwell on and you went inside for some sundaes whilst they waited for the girls to join.

You’d spoken to Dustin more than the other kids, bonding over D&D, Lord of the rings and Star Wars. He hung around with Steve the most, meaning you saw him more than anyone else. But you wanted to get to know them all, they were friends with Robin and Eddie too and they all seemed pretty cool for their age. When Lucas and Mike started their own conversation, you noticed Will sitting quietly staring at his copy of Dracula. You moved closer to him and looked back at Steve, checking if it was a good time to approach him.

“I have to admit it does look pretty cool…”. Will’s big brown eyes widened as he lifted his head to look at you, he was tall. Looked a lot older than most of the kids, but he still was the youngest at heart. You could see it in his stare. “Your brother told me you guys used to play video games a lot when you were younger, what was it called…Cosmic something?”.

“Cosmic Ark.” He finished, feeling more comfortable at the mention of his older brother. You nodded with an ‘ahh’ as he bowed his head and then lifted it again. “There’s this arcade that we go to a lot, it has Dragon’s Lair and Pac-man and Max beat Dustin’s high score on Dig Dug it was crazy.” You beamed back at him, happy to see him open up to you. You still hadn’t spoken to Max. She was the most reserved out of all the group and you didn’t want to do anything to scare her off, so you were taking baby steps.

“Well, when Eddie and I were kids we would go to this little arcade near the trailer park and I would kick his ass at Star Raiders.” After that you fell into a lengthy conversation about video games, even Steve piped up and admitted he liked Donkey Kong Jr and would sometimes make the top 10 on the leaderboard whilst he waited for the kids to finish up.

Once the ice cream was eaten and the kids met up with Max and El, you waved them goodbye and had to find some time to kill until they needed a ride home. Steve had to do some errands for his parents and you just had to check out the new records at Sam Goody, so you parted ways and headed to your destinations. The collection was insane and you found one album you hadn’t had a chance to buy yet. You gasped to yourself holding Metallica's ‘Master of Puppets’ in your hands when a voice broke you out of your daze.

“Wow, see this is rare, finding someone in Hawkins who has good taste. Maybe you could give me some recommendations?” You chuckled, rolling your eyes, turning to face the guy behind you as you covered your mouth in shock. The tips of his ears and the apple of his cheeks blushed red as you burst out laughing.

“Were you…oh my god was that you flirting?”. His mouth opened but he struggled to make any sound. “Aw Eds, don't be embarrassed! Come on, I think it was sweet.” He covered his face and bowed his head, regretting his life choices in the middle of the record store.

“I didn't…I didn’t know it was you! Fuck, I’m never living this down am I?”. You chuckled and shook your head with a small smile, bringing him in for a big hug. He was adamant still trying to rid the redness from his cheeks, but sighed and hugged back before you dragged him to the metal section.

As you bowed your head he took a second to breathe you in, you looked so pretty when you were focused. When you lifted your head to look at him, he glanced back down at the vinyl and you admired him all the same. His ringed fingers skimmed through the albums until he smirked to himself, looking at Motörhead’s, Bomber. You looked over as he held it up with the sweetest smile and you felt an odd fuzzy feeling in your chest. It reminded you of Halloween 1979.

It was October 31st. You and Eddie had spent all night trick or treating and ended the night by teepeeing some of the rich kids' houses. With a firm high five and a hearty laugh, you both ride your bikes back to the trailer park where you found Uncle Wayne sitting outside Eddie’s having a smoke. His smile is wide, which wasn't uncommon when it came to you both but this particular night Wayne’s smile had some meaning behind it. You entered the trailer and headed towards Eddie’s room to sort through your candy bars when his uncle took a deep breath and smiled back at you.

“Happy birthday son”. He grinned, patting him on the back as he handed him the record. It was one of the first ones Eddie ever got. He’d had hundreds of cassettes that he made when he listened to the metal stations but nothing was like the real thing. Eddie’s eyes lit up as you both morphed your faces into pleading looks, he sighed and shook his head.

“Alright, fine. Just don’t play it too loud ya hear?”. Without a second thought, you rushed into Eddie’s room and bounced on this mattress in excitement. There blossomed his ever-growing collection of vinyl and tapes, it also happened to be the same year that Corroded Coffin performed at the middle school talent show.

You plucked it from his hands as he furrowed his eyebrows as you pleasantly skipped to the counter with it and the new Metallica record. Almost immediately after you placed the money on the counter, he leaned over your shoulder and slapped his hand on top. “And what do you think you’re doing?”. He gave you a look of warning as he slowly pulled some money from his pocket and handed it to the worker behind the register. He gave her a charming smile and a wink and started to walk off with the bag before you barrelled towards him.

“Not funny Munson! I actually wanted those records.” You huffed as you sighed to yourself, you didn't know what game he was playing but you didn't like it. Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the mall, and you backed straight into him. When you got your bearings you noticed him resting on one knee and bowing to you, holding the bag of vinyl as if it were an ancient sword.

“Your majesty”. You widen your eyes in shock, trying to not seem phased by the public gesture. Before anyone else could look at you, your hand grabbed the bag and you sighed looking down at the grinning metalhead.

“Your offerings have pleased the crown.” You muttered, using your arm to mimic a knighting as he bowed his head and thanked you as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He rose to his feet and you felt yourself shrink as he towered over you, his eyes met yours as you looked back at each other and he opened his mouth to speak.

“Oh, there you are!”. Steve shouted from across the way, he quickly caught up with you before glancing over at Eddie. “Oh, Munson. Didn’t know you were around. Hey, how come you weren't waiting in line for that stupid game with us?”. He grinned and opened his black metal lunchbox, waving around his copy.

“Because I know a guy”. You gasped and immediately gripped it from his hands to look over it, as much shit as you were talking this morning you actually wanted to see it for yourself. “Alright grabby, we can play it later. Stop hogging it.” He pulled it from your grubby hands as you groaned in protest and Steve grinned smugly watching you go back and forth.

“Little shits need a ride to the arcade, I thought maybe we could stop by the diner again?”. Eddie’s face dropped slightly at the mention of the diner, he wished it didn't bother him but it still gave him this nasty feeling in his chest. You brought Eddie into a hug and whispered in his ear.

“Don’t you dare start that game without me.” You threatened as you could feel him smirk, holding you against him. He chuckled back, his breath tickling your ear as he spoke.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart”. He whispered back as you started to grin like a fool. You waved goodbye as you and Steve headed to the parking lot and piled into your cars.

—

Steve rode with Mike, Will and El and you drove Max, Lucas and Dustin. Max and Lucas were pretty cute, as much as she pretended that she didn’t care you could tell that she was crazy about her little boyfriend. This however was extremely unbearable for Dustin, who sat in the front passenger seat without even asking. But it was okay you didn’t mind, you started up the car as metal blasted from the speakers and everyone yelled at you to shut it off.

“Relax! Relax! I’ll turn it down but I’m not shutting it off…it’s a good song.” His eyes glanced over you, thinking back to when Eddie gave him a ride home from D&D. The same song blasting from his speakers, it was silly how much you were alike. He was wondering how long it would take for you to figure out how perfect you are for each other, or until he had to pull a parent trap on you.

“So you kids got any crazy spring break plans? Other than playing your thrilling new video game.” Your fingers subconsciously tapped against the steering wheel, almost a perfect mimic of Eddie as Dustin shook his head with a smirk.

“Well when we were biking through the woods we saw this amazing treehouse and we thought maybe we could build one ourselves. We just need like…a lot of materials…and muscle.” A smile graced your face as you had plan.

“Oh my god, I have an absolutely genius idea! Wayne helped me and Eddie build a treehouse when we were younger, it’s still up in the woods by the trailer park! It needs a little TLC but I think with some teamwork we can fix her up real nice”. Everyone seemed super excited and thankful and you spent the rest of the ride talking about the plans for what it was going to look like and what kinda cool things it would have inside.

Before you could draw up the blueprints you drove into the arcade parking lot and let the kids wander inside. They all said their thank yous and continued to discuss their new D.I.Y project, whilst Steve signalled for you to tail him to the diner and you happily obliged. It had quickly become a regular hang-out spot for you both and the food was to die for. Which was kind of ironic considering it was so bad for your cholesterol that dying at the hands of it wasn’t that unlikely.

“So…are we gonna talk about Eddie?”. Steve wasted no time cutting to the chase.

“So...are you gonna finish that?”. You quizzed back, making intense eye contact with his crinkle-cut fries. The last batch of crinkle-cut fries in the diner, it so happens. He sighed and moved his food away from you, using it as leverage.

“You’re dodging the question.” He moaned, rolling his eyes as you seemed more interested in his lunch than you did in what he had to say.

“And you’re hogging the fries.” You pawed at the basket under his arm as he moved it further away from you. His eyes looked like a warning, as you slumped your shoulders like a little kid.

“Share with me and I’ll share with you, capisce?”. You groaned at his stern face, resting your back against the booth.

“I should never have shown you The Godfather”. You muttered under your breath, eyeing his fries and weighing your options. With another glance you met his eyes and felt that sincerity, they silently told you “this is a safe place” and you believed that.

Fuck, there wasn’t any getting out of this.

“We’re just making up for lost time.” You muttered, his head lifting to look back at you. His eyes burnt into your soul as you felt a little swarm of anxiety in your gut. “I just…I like things the way they are. I don’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with us. We’re just two adults who care for each other and enjoy each other's company. Why does it always have to be more than that?.” Steve’s eyes dotted around the room as he sighed to himself.

“So you don’t want it to be more than that?”. It was a simple question, but enough to shut you up. “I’ll take those fries now.” You pulled at his basket and started to dig in, filling your mouth with food so you wouldn’t be held responsible for not answering his question. And he cared about you, he really thought that talking would help but you were stubborn. So he dropped it, but not without swearing to himself that he would get you to talk. Sooner or later.

“Miss Byers is having a sort of get-together for Jonathan’s birthday. Him and Argyle are coming back from Cali and they’re staying for a few days. I think it would be cool for you to meet her and Eddie will be there too…” It was a sweet suggestion but you were still so new to the friend group, Jonathan was cool but you didn’t know him super well. Steve sensed your anxiety and shook his head, trying to get you to relax. “It’s not anything crazy, and you don’t have to feel pressured. I just thought it could kinda be like an initiation into the group.” Your smile grew wide as you struggled to contain the fuzzy feeling in your heart.

“Stevie. I’ve been here for a month and you already want me to be part of your group?”. He shrugged like it was the simplest thing in the world and you let out a small sigh. “Yeah Harrington, I’ll come to your party”. He pumped his fist in the air with excitement as you chuckled at how ridiculous he looked.

“I think this calls for a celebration.” Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a quarter and slid it into the jukebox, flicking through the songs until he found the perfect one. He landed on Chic’s, Good Times mimicking a bad disco dance as you laughed and covered your face in embarrassment, he started moving out of his seat as you considered bolting for the door. “You better dance with me or I’ll start singing.” You knew by the look he gave you he was not kidding, you quickly ran over to him and he chuckled and grabbed your hand spinning you under his arm.

“Asshole.” You muttered with a grin as he stuck out his tongue and you did the same back, watching him let go of your hands busting out some more disco moves. God, he was a dork and a terrible dancer, but he was also a really cool guy and you were glad you got to call him your friend.

Taglist: @honey-eyed-munson

Comment if you wanna be added to the Taglist!

[ikeromantic]

CinderAlice pt. 3

The winner of the IkeRev 1K AU story poll was Cinderella! Featuring the Black Army guys and Alice as Cinderella. 1700 words Pt. 3/4

Part 1 Part 2

Alice left the heat and light and noise of the ballroom to take a break on one of the patios, where a small, beautiful garden glowed under the light of the stars. It was quiet out here, and she was alone. Well, almost alone. There was a dark gray cat perched on the rail, watching her with curious intensity.

“Aren’t you a pretty one,” Alice held her hand out to the cat. After a moment, the kitty sniffed it and then pushed her head beneath Alice’s fingers. “You must be a princess kitty, living in the palace. Do you have a tiara when you’re not on break?”

“A collar, actually.” The voice along with a smoky laugh came from the lit doorway behind her. 

Alice turned her head to see who’d snuck up while her attention was on the cat. All she could make out at first was a silhouette. Broad shoulders, thick messy hair, slim hips. Then he moved closer, and in the dim light she could see his features more clearly. He wore a uniform like the palace knights, but somehow more refined. It was his striking, emerald green eyes that drew her attention though. He looked oddly familiar, especially in profile. “I-is this kitty yours?”

“Yeah. Her name is Belle.” He walked over and petted the cat as she twined around his outstretched hand. “She doesn’t usually warm up to strangers. You must be special.” 

She wasn’t able to hold his intense gaze and looked away into the garden. This knight had a strong magnetism, a draw that made her feel a little tipsy when he complimented her like that. Alice hoped he didn’t notice. “Well, I did hold my hand there for a bit. So we got introduced properly.” 

“That’s important.” The man nodded and suddenly held his hand out to her, to shake it. “I’m Ray.”

Alice took his hand and looked up at him again. He was, she thought, really handsome. A classic masculine beauty with natural charm. And his hand was warm and calloused and she could feel his thumb brush across her knuckles in a gentle caress. “I -”

A figure burst through the opening from the ballroom, clearly rushing. “There you are!”

“Luka?” Alice turned, half-stunned. It was definitely her neighbor, but he was wearing a proper suit and his hair was clean and pulled back, decorated with a lovely little clip. “What are you doing here?”

Ray released her hand with a chuckle. “Looks like you have a fan.” He smiled. “I’ll catch up with you later.” And then he left, back to the ballroom where he disappeared into the crowd.

Luka crossed the space between them and took hold of her shoulders. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Alice replied, flustered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He dropped his hands and looked away. “I saw you leaving in that strange coach. I was . . . worried.”

“Well . . .” Alice wasn’t sure how to respond. It was sweet for him to be worried, but his expression right now looked more sullen and a little embarrassed. “Thank you. For checking on me.” She paused, then added, “You look really nice, all dressed up.”

“You too,” he murmured. 

She felt her heart squeeze in her chest at the compliment. “I wore the earrings you gave me.”

Luka glanced up, his eyes wide. The tips of his ears turned pink. He didn’t say anything.

Alice stared back at him, a fluttering sensation in her belly. She waited, but he only kept looking at her, his face going redder with each passing moment. “Uhm. I should . . . get back. But thank you again for checking on me. It was really sweet.”

As she turned to go, he reached out and caught her hand. “Wait. Please.” He took a shaky breath. “Would you dance with me?” His voice was rougher than usual, as if his throat constricted on the words.

“Here?” She looked around the porch. It was dark and quiet here, and smelled of blooming flowers and summer grass. Kind of romantic, she thought. 

In answer, he took her hand and pulled her close. He set his other hand at her hip, and began to slowly move with the music. He wasn’t as skilled a dancer as Sirius, nor as wild and energetic as Fenrir, but there was something gentle and sweet in the swaying steps he took her through. They stood close, almost touching, palms pressed together. 

Alice found she could not take her eyes off him for the entire dance. This was a Luka she didn’t know. 

When the song ended, he stopped and let go of her hand. “I wanted to tell you -” He began, but a loud clapping and cheering from inside the ballroom interrupted him. They both turned to see what the commotion was. 

A palace servant stood on the royal dais. “The Prince will now have his first dance.” 

“Oh! Luka let’s go watch,” Alice said excitedly and hurried back into the ballroom where she quickly lost him in the crowded press of people. She wanted to memorize the moment she saw the Prince and watched him dance with one of the beautiful noble ladies at the ball.

A few moments later, the crowd on the other side of the ballroom opened and a man in uniform stepped forward. A familiar looking man, to Alice’s eyes. “Oh my . . . that’s Ray!” She clapped a hand to her mouth as she watched the nobles bow to him when he passed. She felt like such an idiot. She wanted to go hide somewhere, but she was frozen to the spot, watching him walk into the now empty dance floor.

Ray’s eyes scanned the crowd as he looked for the lucky woman that would be his first dance partner for the night. And then they stopped. The crowd around Alice parted as he moved toward her.

Alice could only watch in a sort of shock. This was too much, she thought. It was entirely impossible. 

“Care to dance?” Ray leaned in, a mischievous grin on his face. “I promise I’m at least as much fun as Belle.”

“I - I . . . yes?” She let him take her hand and lead her out onto the dance floor. Everyone was watching and Alice felt horribly self conscious. But the music started and Ray had hold of her hand and her waist. His grip was warm and reassuring and there was something so relaxed about him that she couldn’t stay tense. 

“You know, you’re a pretty good dancer,” Ray told her. “But I haven’t seen you at any ball before this.”

Alice nodded. “It’s my first.” 

He laughed. “You must be a natural then.” His eyes almost seemed to glow as he studied her face.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't realize who you were and I should have.” 

Ray’s nose crinkled. “No, it’s kind of nice just getting to be Ray for a change, and not The Prince.” He spun her around and caught her against his chest. “Besides, I like the way you say my name.”

“Thank you. Ray.” She smiled up at him, feeling a rush of heat in her chest. Her smile felt so wide it almost hurt, and her heart thudded in her chest. “It was really great, getting to meet you. And Belle!”

“I feel the same way.” He dipped her down, his face coming so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her cheek. “I would like to get to see you again. But you know, I didn’t even get your name.” He pulled her back to standing with a grin, a question on his lips. 

Before he could speak it, the bell tower struck the first chime of midnight. Alice’s eyes went wide. In just a few moments, her beautiful gown would turn to rags and she would be nothing but a serving girl again. She scrambled from his grasp as the tower struck the second chime.

The gathered crowd gasped as she pushed through them, running as fast as she could for the door. The third chime struck. The fourth. Alice darted past the door guard. The fifth bell rang. The sixth. Behind her, shouts and the sounds of pursuit. 

As Alice fled down the stairs, she lost a shoe, but there was no time to pick it up. The seventh chime sounded. She leapt into her waiting carriage to the echoes of chime eight. By chime nine, the horses were moving and the coach rattled along behind them, leaving the palace and everyone from the ball behind.

“Just in time, sweetie. I was really getting worried there.” Seth appeared in the seat beside her. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did.” She sighed, glancing back at the empty street behind them. “I got to meet Sir Godspeed and Sirius and even the Prince. And Luka came!”

Seth giggled. “You will have to tell me all about it. I’m not surprised you got so much attention! I’ve half a mind to take you away from all this and keep you to myself. You are just too cute.”

Alice wasn’t sure if he was teasing or serious, but she decided to assume it was a joke. On the ride home, she told him all about it. How much she’d enjoyed dancing, how beautiful everything was . . . but she didn’t tell him how her heart had raced or the silly romantic thoughts that crossed her mind. 

The next morning, breakfast was a loud affair. Druzilla and Anastasia chattered on about the ball and who they danced with. Druzilla was sure she’d caught the Prince’s eye because he smiled at her. Anastasia disagreed, because clearly he was looking at her. And of course, both of them discussed their theories of the mysterious woman that fled the first dance with the Prince. 

Only Lady Tremaine was quiet, her steely gaze following Alice everywhere. Later in the day, the Lady even came to Alice’s tiny room and tore it apart, searching. She wouldn’t say for what. But she found nothing. Still, she had her revenge for crimes unproven, and gave Alice even more work that week. Scrubbing and polishing until her hands were raw and red, and her muscles ached. 

Alice didn’t mind. The memories of her night at the royal ball floated through her mind. Music and beauty and the kindness of the people she’d met. It made her hope for something better, and more, to believe one day that something might be hers. Often, she found her thoughts drifting to one, special someone and remembering their touch. One day she might see them again.

Part 4

[pixiedust-poppers]

Another JATNLP fan! I only just recently found out that the show had a fandom after giving up on trying to look for it! It was the first Disney show I ever watched and was the pipeline that led to a lot of Disney-related hyper-fixations that have stuck with me today.

Today marks the 7-year anniversary of when the show came to an end it was canceled, which SUCKS) and I will not feel ancient thinking about this show. I really hope Disney Junior acknowledges this masterpiece again, maybe not through a reboot, but through reruns, or maybe tributes, or even mentioning - The show kicked off the Disney Jr. block so I feel like it deserved way better (i.e. not being chucked off the face of the earth, ending on a cliffhanger and never being mentioned again)

Hii hii!! omg another member into this silly little pit!! Welcome!

It has always been pretty small, but it was active when it was running, especially on fanfiction.net and wattpad (and Devainart ig but don't expect quality work there now,, same for wattpad maybe.) don't go to Ao3 stuff there is lowkey not great. I was apart of it when the first episode aired and when my parents allowed me on the internet!! I usually read Fanfics from FF.net about the show! And it is what drew me to actually do art lol! I was always a disney kid, my favorite program before this existed was the little einsteins and a few of the animations and shows they played on the Disney channel!

You know, I really hope they do to! Like the others shows are cool and all don't get me wrong, but ... what about my guys!! the little guys!!! I get haha yes they did make "a pirate never steals another person's property" and its not as linear of a storyline (though they TRIED in season 4) but it still remembers its lore. ALSO YEAH OK SO I WASN'T GOING INSANE DKJSJK It was indeed the kick-off show to start off Disney Junior from Playhouse Disney and I find it really sad that the only remnants of it you can find in the park (WDW) is like in the film roll on the wall in of the gift shops in the animation section of Hollywood studios. Other than that Disney likes to ignore it, I'm hoping it's going to at least maybe in "Once Upon a Studio" I think that would be cool SINCE YOU KNOW,.,. IT IS PRETTY HEAVILY ASSOCIATED WITH PETER PAN AND HIS UNIVERSE. Like yeah, it's Disney TV animation specifically made for a younger audience but it still matters!! it's literally still Disney goddamn it. ahem ok back to normal.

You know i do question why they ended it with a cliffhanger. For someone to pick it up? Or they literally couldn't decide how to end it perhaps? or maybe it's shelved for now and they're like 'ah we're totally going to reboot it later maybe.' Or make a spin-off with new guys (hope not). Though I have a theory that it being kicked off the block was because 1- make way for new shows and 2- it probably had something to do with season 4 (I mean you had to admit that took a nasty dip in quality once it left Mercury Filmworks hands).

ok enough ranting for now, but once again welcome to this really small pit. I just really got back into JATNP myself and it's really lovely to see there are still (new) people who love and remember it <3

[cutiedwaekki]

PUPPYM DETECTIVE

Chapter 3 & 4 : investigation (full)

So I drew up my list of suspects, the most suspicious of whom were also on it and therefore a priority for interrogation. Thanks to Jisung, I at least knew who to expect, although I still hadn't got over the fact that he'd slept with Minho.

Seriously, what else did he have besides being a chaebol?

Anyway, small aside ... Back to the subject, so I finished my list, making a slight sound of victory that prompted Jisung to look over and rest his head on my shoulder:

Suspect list:

Lee Minho / Yang Jeongin

Hwang Hyunjin / Bahng Chan

Seo-Lee Changbin / Seo-Lee Felix

-What about me? Jisung exclaimed with a pout, making me chuckle.

-What? You want me to put you on the list of suspects?

-I was also with Wooyoung in the last 24 hours before his death, and yet you don't question me?

Pff, it's amazing how Jisung loved to ask for attention even in such serious situations. But I got used to the game, I put on a false air of seriousness and turned to face him before asking "Mr Han, did you kill Jung Wooyoung?

Jisung then looked guilty before looking me in the eyes with a glint, an indescribable glint, he was really starting to scare me... he had nothing to do with it right? Right? Please let him be innocent so that at least he doesn't play an important role in this crime.

-No sir and I have an alibi! I was with my hot roommate" he replied with an amused air, striking various poses to look cute.

Damn, he gave me a fright... I almost thought for a moment he had something to reproach himself for... You're pathetic Seungmin, pull yourself together. You know how Jisung loves to joke around!

After all, that's how it's always been between us: he teases me and I react.

-You're an idiot, come on, let's go now" I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder before entering the LeeBit's cock cafe to question the first suspects.

- "Welcome, settle in, I'm coming!" cried a voice from afar as the little bell on the front door rang as soon as anyone opened it.

It wasn't long before Lee Minho came in, surprised at first, and ended up talking to Jisung as if I weren't there.

-Sungie, it's been a long time! Seems thzt you've been eating well, I see" he said before hugging Jisung as if they hadn't seen each other for years.

-Oh, you know, being interim city councillor here makes me eat a lot," he joked, shaking his belly.

As long as I've known Jisung, I've known he wasn't the type to work out 24 hours a day, in fact he was very lazy. When we were teenagers, he had that slim body that everyone dreamed of, but in recent years laziness had got the better of him, and although it was only a few extras kilos, since he became a xity councillor I'd seen him eating more and more, rubbing his belly or suck in while he have to put on his clothes.

Here too, I'm not judging, just observing. And then when he comes to cuddle me it's nice

But enough about that, let's get back to the main topic.

I coughed loudly enough to remind Minho of my presence, and he disinterestedly turned his gaze on me.

-Oh, you came with him... what's his name again?"

- "Seung-"

- "Thank you for talking about me as if I weren't here, but that's not why we're here. Lee Minho I'm asking you to please answer my questions."

- "What about?"

-About the murder of city councilor Jung Wooyoung. It seems that you were among those who were with him in the last 24 hours before his death. Could you tell me what you were doing on March 24 between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.?"

I sat him down on one of the tables, and Jisung did the same, although he was just following suit. So Minho was the only one left standing, and he seemed rather surprised by the turn of events.

-What? Am I really being interrogated? Why am I under suspicion, eh? And why shouldn't it be Jisung hm? They always say assistants have things to hide."

Minho offered to help and seemed to be holding back, while Jisung didn't know where to put himself. The poor guy had tried to be nice to him and all he could come up with were false accusations.

-And accusing someone else instead is just as suspicious. After all, a chaebol's son could very well have killed or begged to kill the councilman on his father's orders."

I'd hit the nail on the head. He crossed his arms and walked away, mumbling something so sincere he was so far away.

But I didn't give up, I got up and walked towards him, grabbing him by the arm before he pushed me away and wrote

-I've done nothing! I had nothing to do with this! All I want here is a peaceful life in a peaceful town! If even in the most peaceful corner I get judged then where do I go?" He shouted as tears began to well up in his eyes.

Jisung also decided to stand up and handed Minho a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. But I didn't believe in his sobs, which seemed too fake to be true.

You had to look to see the bottle of samine eye solution he was clutching in his left hand.

-At worst, if running a cafe doesn't work out, you can always go into film", I said, smiling broadly before chuckling.

Minho quickly stopped his fake sobbing, looked at me contemptuously and sighed heavily.

-Pff, what you don't have to do to get some peace and quiet ... on March 24th at 6pm I closed the café, you only have to look at the surveillance camera outside and at 8pm I was at home watching a mukbang show".

I then took note of this information "What program?"

-Bonggil and I watched one of his videos from 3 weeks ago. Should I also give the title or have I clarified enough for you?"

At that moment, I felt like punching him in the face, but I stayed calm and finished writing.

-That'll be all for you, and where can I find your brother?

-Ah no, that's enough, you're not going to piss off my brother with your bullshit! The poor guy can barely sleep because of his college classes, so if I see you bothering him with your questions because you're just an unemployed guy who flunked out of police school, then I'm really going to commit murder.

The rage in his eyes, his clenched fist, the vein popping out of his throat. He was definitely angry with me... or maybe I'd struck a chord.

Without realizing it, he had helped me greatly in this investigation. After all, if Jeongin was in college, all I had to do was call Brian and ask him if he'd seen Mr Yang that day.

Ah, it's always good to have a big brother as school secretary.

- "Very well thank you for everything, sorry for the disturbance goodbye"

I tilted my hat at him and walked out with Jisung, who still looked as lost as ever.

- "So... ?"

- "so what?

- "Is he guilty or not?"

- "Sungie investigations don't work like that! And calm down, you look like you're going to faint any minute", he said, patting her shoulder. The poor guy looked as white as a sheet

-I probably haven't eaten enough ... where should we go this time? Jinrinet Bowl, right?"

- "That's right.

Hyung can I go out now?" Young Yang asked a few minutes after Seungmin and Jisung left the cafe.

-Yes, of course! Let me help you!"

Minho ran over to the cupboard where Jeongin was, opened it and helped his half-brother out.

- "Ouch, you're heavier than last time, Innie!" complained the oldest before putting the youngest back on the floor.

Jeongin rolled his eyes at him before crossing his arms "Don't say that! I must have put on a pound or two.

Minho cast a sidelong glance, showing that he was quite dubious. After all, if one or two kilos for Jeongin meant six or seven kilos ...

But he had a share of the responsibility, he loved feeding and taking care of his younger brother, it had been like that since they were little!

-I really thought I was going to die inside !

- "Sorry Innie, but I really didn't want that idiot to come and talk to you!

-Why? Are you afraid I'll tell them about Dad? Or about his Stayville project?

- "Ssh not so loud he could hear you!

- "Sorry, it was louder than me"

The youngest then began to whisper and the two brothers discussed this mysterious project, case 143: All in project.

- "But if Seungmin finds out, is it serious?

- "I think so ... especially if his father's a cop, then we'll be in trouble.

- "I understand hyung ...

- "So if he or Jisung ever comes to question you you just deny everything! You know what, just act like you hate me!

- "Hate you? That won't be any different from the usual" plaisanta le youngest

- "In the meantime, I'm the one who cooks for you, so show some respect!"

- "Yes, sir.

So with Jisung nius enter the second store: jinrinet bowl. I had a feeling it was going to be hectic. Ever since Hyunhin's arrival in town, I hadn't had a good feeling about it, and let's not even talk about the bad blood between him and Jisung, the reason for which I didn't even know!

As soon as we entered, Hyunjin almost blocked our path. His shirt was badly buttoned up, an eyeful of lip gloss was at the corner of his lip and his hair was a mess. Great, I wanted to talk to Mayor Bahng too.

-Sorry, the café's about to close", he declared haughtily.

-I'm here to ask you and the mayor some questions... he's here, I suppose?

Hyunjin frowned before crossing his arms in a disinterested manner. Pff, he could be such a jerk!

-Sorry, I'm not answering any questions, you'll have to drink my coffee first.

What a scam! At least Jisung could make the most of his hunger.

-Very well ... Jisung take a cheesecake-

- "Is Jisung going to interogate me?"

- "No, it's-

- "Then it's not working! You have to order food yourself, Kim Songmin".

Is it a serious kid, already paying for it, then I have to change clothes and they get my first name wrong? He was definitely doing it on purpose

-Very well, bring me a croissant

-right away".

He smiled falsely and came back with a small croissant barely larger than the palm of my hand, almost throwing it on the table.

Breathe in, breathe out Seungmin, you'll be fine.

-So I was saying-

- "I only answer to questions if the order is at least 90 000 won ... sorry

Nothing was sincere and Jisung, who was sometimes a little candid, also seemed on the verge of wanting to strike.

-Very well, bring me everything I need to eat for 90,000 won".

- "Right away, Mr Kim ~"

He returned later with a huge tray filled with various pastries and sweets. This time, he set it down delicately before looking him up and down and laughing.

- "I'm not surprised you're eating so much anyway, considering your body!

I beg your pardon? I hadn't put anything in my mouth and Jisung had held back, but if this keeps up, I'll be leaving without interrogate him .

... unless that's what he wants ...

Well, I was going to have to resist his viper's tongue and eat a kilo of food now.

Besides, why was he talking like that about my body? I mean, I know I'm not muscular rr athletic, but to call me fat?

Okay, maybe I had a little trouble getting my pants on this morning and I think my cheeks rounded out, but was it that easy to notice?

I had a long drink and started to eat with Jisung, who looked at me sadly. After all, he wasn't allowed to eat even a crumb of all that food at the risk of Mr. Bitch deciding to institute a new rules.

-So ... can we start the interview?

Hyunjin uncrossed his arms and took a seat at our table, "with pleasure, but not for too long, I've got more interesting things to do.

Make a little effort

-So ... Hwang hyunjin, where were you on March 24th between 5pm and 8pm?

-At home drinking wine

- "Can anyone prove it?

- "My fuck buddy aka Mr Mayor Bahng but you already know that, asshole" he said with a wink

In the meantime I shouted that Jisung had escaped after glowering at Hyunjin and fled to the toilet.

-And who can prove that the two of you were there?

-"Oh my but you eat well, don't you! It looks like a double chin is starting to appear!"

I know I shouldn't have listened to him, but out of curiosity, after swallowing the double doughnut I ran my hand over my chin, and although it wasn't as smooth as before, there was no double chin yet.

It seemed to be a humiliating sight for hyunjin, who laughed and added "The only thing worse than that is that you believe it!

- "Do you ever fatsham people or is it your annorexic model side that comes out?"

- "Only with people I don't like

-" Why do you dislike me then ?

-You've hurt someone who means a lot to me in order to satisfy your overblown ego. So if I were you, I'd get rid of it all, give up and lock myself in my house so as not to piss anyone off", he shouted, tapping my chest with the tip of his finger.

I thought I'd heard enough. I wanted to leave just like that without paying, but the food was too good to stop, and my mother had raised her in such a way as to never spoil the food.

Miraculously, I had finished everything in record time. Once upon a time I'd have been full by the third croissant, but now I'd eaten it all.

And maybe I was still a little hungry

-Nothing more to add ?" I asked, wiping the few crumbs from my face.

-I'd have so much to say, but I promised to keep it a secret" he said hopefully.

What was he talking about? I think I've reached an interesting point here too...

-What secret are you talking about?

- "I don't want to say, otherwise it wouldn't be a secret after all!"

Pff, I knew that wasn't going to work.

- "Who did you promise to keep this secret from?"

- "I could tell you, but..." he then turned his head towards the backstage area of the café, where the toilets were and the safe way up to his house. He was staring at something or someone, but who? " It's 90,000 won extra food because it's really crisp news".

I sighed, about to accept, and then, as if out of nowhere, Jisung came and took my arm.

-Don't listen to him Minnie, I'm sure he's just doing it to rip you off!

- "To rip you off? I thought you knew me better than that Sungie ~"

- "Shut the fuck up we didn't talk to you"

Wow, seeing Jisung swear was common, but insulting someone was new! But I can understand him, he was more easy-going and irritable than me, and I can't imagine what he could have said to make Sungie hate him so much.

I mean, everybody loved Jisung and Jisung loved everybody! This guy must have been a total scumbag for Jisung to hate him!

-You're right, let's go, I think I've had enough proof from him!

I got to my feet with difficulty after all the food I'd just swallowed, my belly poking at my shirt hanger, it was a truly unpleasant feeling and Jisung seemed to understand my case as he helped me to my feet before tenderly caressing my shoulder with a gentle smile.

- "How sweet, two pigs helping each other ~" declared Hyunjin.

It's as if he's just broken a moment of silence between Jisung and me. It's weird what I'm going to say but I hope he's not guilty because I have a feeling the next time I saw him I'm going to punch him.

-Come on Minnie, let's go!

We then head for the exit before Hyunjin noisily clears his throat to attract our attention.

- "Aren't you forgetting something?

- "Hit you? We might break you, since you've got skin on your bones" spat Jisung as Hyunjin put on an offended expression.

- "That's a good one, but no. I was talking about the bill, I don't feed or talk for free!"

That's right, I'd forgotten. So frustrated I grabbed my wallet, and tossed a few bills in the air before they fell to the ground.

-Keep the change, it'll buy you some respect" I said before walking out the door.

- "Well said Seungmin, I'm proud of you for standing up to him! Jisung exclaimed as he put his arm around me.

My heart was pounding, I missed seeing him so clingy and tactile with me, I'd so much liked it to have worked out between us, but friendship isn't one of my priorities and Jisung understood that. Yet I hate to think of him being with someone else, or of him not being so tactile and clingy with me.

I love him but I hate it.

Unknown :

Idiot I heard everything you almost blew it!

Hyunjin:

What? I told the truth. I remind you that between you and me it's simply because we have a common enemy. If I can sell the information for money, I'm in.

Unknown:

You're so easily corruptible it disgusts me

Hyunjin:

That's why I hook up with the mayor :D

Unknown:

And that you were an accomplice in the murder of the general councillor?

Hyunjin:

He had compromising things about me. But I remind you that you're just as guilty as I am!

Unknown:

It's a good thing none of us killed him. Yang is so easily manipulated

Hyunjin:

What about the other stupid detective?

Unknown:

Don't say that, he's a lot smarter than we think.

Hyunjin:

If you say so

unknown :

I'll take care of him.

I know an excellent way of taking care of him so that he doesn't interfere with our plans.

Hyunjin:

Wow, you're scary, man.

Unknown:

Shut up you idiot

I'll leave you to it, he's about to enter the last bakery.

- "So hyung you think Hyunjin has something to hide?"

-I'd say he's protecting someone. I'm almost not surprised.

- "Maybe it's Mayor Bahng," suggested Jisung.

-Why not ... how about ...someone with influence! Like Minho and Jeongin's father!"

- "You've gone too far, Minnie. If this turns out to be true, this whole investigation is just a misunderstanding, and Wooyoung really did die of a heart attack!

-Are you kidding me, Jisung? I'll bet you anything that there's murder behind all this!

- "If you say so, but promise me one thing, if things get too hard, please stop... I don't like it when you go to such lengths for mysteries that sometimes will never be solved!

I sighed but nodded all the same. True, I had a list of investigations I'd solved, but I also had a very long list of unsolved mysteries. I didn't want anything to do with it, I loved this thirst for mystery, even if it meant losing myself in it.

That's where I live, that's where I triumph!

-Shall we go to the last store now?

- "Yes, but I think we'll be fine, especially if you and Felix are friends.

Jisung chuckled before I stepped in front of the last sign, "BbokAri & Dwaekki Bakery".

Right away, the atmosphere was pink and colorful compared to the other two, which were more sober and cold.

No sooner had we entered than Felix came to greet us with a big smile.

-Ah Jisung, you've finally come with Seungmin! I've been looking forward to seeing you in person for so long, all this talk about you and how you love our pastries", said the blond man, shaking my hand with a gentle grip given his small hands.

-Thank you, but we've already met a few times, you know" I said almost shyly. I felt confident, so I dropped the formalities with him.

-Yes but it's been at least months if not a year! Come on I just made a batch of brownies!"

He then walked away, leaving me and Jisung alone as we sat down at one of the empty tables. At last I thought we were alone until I spotted Changbin from a distance at the counter, looking like he was taking a nap. He must have been a heavy sleeper, because Felix was talking normally, not to mention the music in the background of the bakery, which, although semi-inaudible, would have disturbed anyone.

Then the more I detailed him, the more I noticed how much bigger he'd gotten since the last time I saw him. Okay, I know that he and his husband are into this kind of strange fetish, but here he's bloated like a blimp! His clothes barely fit him. Then now he just looked like a huge ball of fat, it was both strange and ... fascinating.

-Hey, stop looking at him! Look at me instead" commented Jisung, bringing him out of my thoughts as I turned to him and smiled.

-Don't I give you enough of my time already?

- "Yes, you do, but lately I've had less time to spend with my Minnie and I'm really mad about it, you know?

- "Yah, I always offer to come and see you, but you always refuse!

- "Because I have to show that I'm not corruptible! Everyone knows about your investigation at the town hall, so I have to be discreet so that no one notices that I'm your spy" he said, miming a few amusing poses that made me burst out laughing.

It was then that Femix arrived with his tray full of brownies, well, I'd say olutot brownie mountains, which he placed on this tiny table: "Oh, you're both so mig on! How long have you been darting?"

Silence.

Jisung and I were silent, not that the question was awkward because we were just friends and roommates, but ... because we knew how we felt about each other, but we'd never gone further than that night ...

-Oh no, did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, I tend to talk too much! Normally Binnie would be there to calm me down, but my love sleeps soundly after working so hard" he said before sniggering.

-It's nothing, I admit that if I were him, I'd take as many naps as necessary! Said Jisung as he took some brownies and devoured them.

-Ah yes, I can imagine that being a town councillor is no easy".

-My days are all about working, eating and sleeping!

- "It was the same as before" I said before chuckling. "By the way, Felix, take a seat, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

Felix hesitantly took a chair and sat down beside us while Jisung devoured the mountain of brownies. I let him have them, seeing how well I'd eaten before. "What are the questions about?"

- "The murder of Jung Wooyoung, I'm ingerogeing the last people he saw in the last 24 hours, so can you tell me what you were doing on March 24th between 5pm and 8pm?

-Oh, it's so simple! It was Changbin and I's wedding anniversary! At 4.50pm we closed the bakery and went home without getting ready. We left at 7:30 p.m. for the restaurant I'd booked at the Hall of Fame restaurant! I've got the ticket to prove it!"

-Nah, it'll be fine. Keep going.

- "So then I think around 9pm we went for a walk in the streets with Binnie ... well we tried because he had eaten so much that we quickly went home and ... the details after that are rather confidential I hope you don't mind" he said blushing, making Jisung almost choke as I coughed nervously understanding what they had done after eating.

-Hmm, I see. Did Mr. Jung say anything in particular to you that day?

- "Let me think again... I think he told us about a case he was working on that was very important and could upset the whole city.

-So there is a file like this in my office !" exclaimed Jisung, who then shouted so loudly that Changbin was startled out of his sleep.

-Oh no Binnie you're fine go back to sleep ~" said Felix with a honeyed voice as she approached his husband to cuddle him, while Changbin kissed him tenderly, blurring the line between dreams and reality.

I glanced awkwardly at Jisung, who seemed just as embarrassed as I was.

Then the exchange seemed to become more fiery and conretised from the moment Fleix sat on her husband.

-W-We should go ... now" murmured Jisung as I nodded and we left the room, not ready to put the image out of our minds.

- "It's okay they're gone you can stop now!"

- "What really? Who would have thought it would have worked?"

- "You're such a good actor Binnie they didn't even see you were pretending to sleep!"

- "I did the right thing because I had a really bad idea about that Seungmin. He's too eager to find out", he declared with a touch animosity .

- "It turns me on when you're serious like that jagi ~

- "The bakery is still open.

- "It's going to close early today so that means everything here is for you!"

He then analyzed the almost entirely filled window and swallowed hard at the sheer quantity.

-I guess it's snack time".

Once home, Seungmin and Jisung collapsed on their sofa and sighed together.

-What a long day," cried Seungmin.

- "I hope at least you have the evidence you need now"

- "I've put it all together in this little notepad, now we just have to check that it's true! And then, Sungie, if you could toruvert this famous important file that Felix was talking about, that would be perfect!

-Sure counts on me Minnie ~ But now I'm hungry, let's order something!

- "Are you hungry after all you've eaten?"

-:Dare to tell me that your belly doesn't growl either

Seungmin was about to retort, but her belly replied instead, making Jisung laugh and the younger man blush.

-Mystery solved! Let's order some rameyon with... tteokboki ... and why no rice cakes?"

Jisung seemed lost in thought about the food while Seungmin seems thoughtful

-Sungie, do you think I've put on weight?

- "What? You're hardly my sexy detective! what makes you think that?"

- "Duh, can't you see how tight my pants are on me? And look at my belly sticking out! It's because of you and all your carvings!"

Seungmin laughed as an outraged jisung came to stand against him.

-Shall we swap bodies then? Because believe me, if you gain weight, then I swelled up! Look at my thighs!"

They began to compare their thighs, then their stomachs, their legs, their arms. In short, every part of their body that could store fat!

In the end, they ended up ordering three large pizzas with extra cheese.

No sooner had the order been placed than there was a knock on the door. Who could it be at this hour? Definitely not the delivery man they'd just ordered.

- "I get it i'll go and open it" said the youngest, rising to his feet before walking to the front door and opening it.

He gasped as he saw the person in front of him. They lived in the same town and had not spoken or seen each other for almost five years.

- "Dad?!"

-Can I come in? Mr Kim asked coldly.

- "Yes yes come in"

Seungmin worked great carrying her then letting his father in before considering an important factor... jisung was there

- "Who was Minnie?"

-Minnie? Wow, I still can't get used to that... good evening Jisung" ajiura Mr Kim

- "It's your father. ... shit Good evening Mr Kim. . Euhm I'm going to go now I had swimming lessons in a few minutes ... yes that's it

Jisung left immediately, leaving Mr. Kim and his son alone.

-So what are you doing here?

- "I suppose you're investigating Jung Wooyoung's death?"

-Yes, so what? I may not be a cop, but I know how to investigate!

- "It's a tricky business, you know? It's a real Pandora's box ... once you've opened it, the evil is already there.

-What are you trying to say?

- "I'm also investigating this death and I've discovered some things that you'd better keep away from, for your own good and for Jisung's sake.

-So you're interested in me now? Didn't you find it annoying to kick him out just because I'd slept with Jisung?"

- "I was just afraid you'd ruin your life by ...

-By what? By dating a farmer's son? By deciding to become a policeman despite your refusal? And congratulations because apart from that I didn't do either one!

Seungmin then unwittingly sobbed while his father, rigid, didn't know what to do.

-I ... I'm sorry Seungmin

- "It's not enough" he said as he cried

- "If there's anything I can do for you ... or for jisung ...

-"... no, it's all right ... my father died years ago so I don't need you or your help".

Mr. Kim, obviously disappointed, didn't know what else to say. Seungmin was crying all the time and her father didn't know what to do.

-I... I'll be off then...

- "Go ahead, my door's wide open.

- "If you take my advice, I want to protect you

- "if you say so... now go away

And so the father left, leaving his son alone ... crying loudly but mostly alone .

Nothing could calm him down, he became uncontrollable when the subject of his mother was opened. The poor boy cried and cried and cried.

-Why am I so alone?

He cried again before a piece of information made him realize something

- "What if it's not one but many guilty parties? Maybe, in the end, they're all involved in one way or another!"

He then wiped away his tears and headed for his desk to write this idea down on his big board, where he was gathering all the information he'd known so far.

-"Seungmin? Is it me , can i to go home now?"

Now tell me

[hxhhasmysoul]

Is Jujutsu Kaisen feminism for 15yo boys?

The short answer is yes, so you can skip the rest of this ridiculously long post.

____________________

Disclaimers:

If you haven’t read the manga up until chapter 204 you’ll see spoilers here, also you probably won’t know what/who I’m talking about at times.

I have adhd, this is rambly af, this post is actually for me to organise my thoughts and not a hot take I want to convince others to buy into. but anyone is welcome to read if they have the patience.

They/them pronouns for Akutami because if the cursed cat isn’t explicitly assigning a gender to themself, hell if I will. 

They/them pronouns for Kenny. 

Now let’s watch this post age like dairy. I so hope it won’t, Gege please don’t disappoint me.

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Let’s go. 

There are a few things that make me obsessed with juju. 

1. The fact that its plot and story structure are my wet dream - all these factions and individuals who are doing their own thing. All of these plots intertwining and coming together.

2. My sweet child Yuuji. *coughs* I mean, juju’s focus on characters. I’m very normal about Yuuji, I fucking swear. 

3. The art, it’s simply beautiful but I also have thoughts.

4. The bs power system, I live for that stuff.

5. It’s aggressively progressive. 

So lets focus on point 5.

Is juju as politically left as I am? Fuck no, not even close. There are things I wish it was braver on, like for instance the queerness. Fuck, braver on its leftism and feminism too. Is it very current and openly and aggressively progressive? Very much so.

If we look at the biggest antagonists of juju we get:

1. Toxic masculinity personified. A hyper-individualist. A 1000yo manosphere youtuber. A guy who thinks that strength should dictate hierarchy. A man who thinks he can hurt whomever he wants for his own pleasure and amusement because everyone is beneath him. A man who doesn’t care for anyone else but himself. A mass murderer and nihilist. 

2. A 1000yo person of unknown gender who presents most often as a man. An eugenicist. Someone entitled to women’s bodies and their reproductive rights. Someone who thinks their own children are only as valuable as they fulfil their ambitions. Someone who thinks they can hurt anyone because their goals are superior, because people are instrumental to them. And also a fucking classist piece of shit. (honestly idk why half of the fandom reacted surprised to the hyper capitalist moment in the recent chapters, as if in their first scene in the entire manga they didn’t say: this is a nuisance but at least it’s the poors that are being burnt to death before my eyes. - Gege didn’t need to add this line there, it’s not relevant to the conversation that is happening then but the line is there anyway.)

3. Two awfully sexist clans which have huge superiority complexes and are built on bloodlines and traditions and breeding for power. 

4. A bunch of mostly faceless old people who pull the strings from the shadows and do everything in the name of the status quo, constantly using tradition as an excuse. Who are afraid of the new, of the changes in society of new technologies. They won’t even accept them when they create powerful sorcerers. 

5. A male presenting personification of human hate and fear of one another. Who again, feels entitled to the bodies of others and doesn’t respect the bodily autonomy of others. Who’s a destructive and cruel nihilist. 

6. A young man who got radicalised into fascism because he was faced with the horrors of the status quo, of toxic tradition and backwater thinking and drew the wrong conclusions as to how to fix it.

On the other side we get kids and tired and/or silly millennials. And isn’t that just like real life, where the inaction and misdeeds of the previous generations blows up in the faces of today’s teens.

1. Teenagers. Teenagers who either don’t have family connections and come from lower classes. Or outcasts from their rich and powerful families. Children betrayed by traditions and the status quo. Children used or targeted by old people, ostracised, disrespected and violated. Children who have to suffer and die because the old people are only concentrating on maintaining the status quo. 

2. Gojou, this ex edgy teen who saw his bf (I won’t police how you read that) get redpilled and radicalised into fascism. It was all fun and games, stanning the joker and tyler durden until Getou decided to seriously go full on fasc with it and Gojou was like: man for real? I thought we were memeing here. So then Gojou turned into one of those “this is how I got off the far right pipeline” videos. Gojou is actually this rich privileged boy but he’s trying, he really is taking his best shot at progressivism. (sealed)

3. A feminist who’s calling out and fighting worthless old farts who feel entitled to women’s bodies. And who wants to change the world to make life better for everyone. 

4. A socially conscious man disillusioned with capitalism who takes a lot of responsibility for other people. (deceased)

5. A victim of eugenics who tries to be a good older brother to his brothers, also victims of eugenics. (the only one here who’s actually over 30)

6. Some other, less important, decent people in their twenties.

There are few people over 30 in juju that deserve any respect.

1. Headmaster Yaga, single dad. Does felting as a hobby. (deceased)

2. Yoshino Nagi, good single mum. (deceased)

3. Iori Utahime, a woman trying her best to do right by the teens despite having to work with Gojou.

4. Higuruma Hiromi, an idealist, mentally broken by the realities of the criminal justice system. Hobby: 5 min therapy sessions. 

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Juju isn’t in any way shy about the fact that we should not respect elders when they fucking destroy everything. It’s established very early on that regressive traditionalists suck. That passive adults suck. That the status quo sux. That it should be the duty of adults to protect the children and not to make the world worse for everyone. That educating the youth and instilling different values in them is what can save us all, if we’re not beyond saving. That we need social change. We even get teen Noritoshi’s story, a cautionary tale about respectability, about trying to satisfy the requirements of the system to protect your own and how that is doomed to fail. And my leftist soul resonates with all that. 

____________________

So in this clear leftist propaganda there is also feminism.

And Gege does their best feminism when they aren’t trying, especially when they aren’t trying to verbalise it. My suspicion is that with this much internalised leftism Gege has internalised a lot of feminism but at a  conscious level the fact that Gege was most likely socialised male takes its toll. 

What I mean by that is that Nobara’s girlboss rant at Momo is weak. But I will give it a pass because Nobara is 16 and nothing about her screams discourse junkie so you know, it fits her character. Because even at it its least inspired the feminism in juju deserves a passing grade. Gege is trying.

There’s also the sad truth of shounen that women just aren’t meant to be prioritised in it, that it’s not the genre expectation. The fact that Maki gets so much focus and page time, that she has her own fucking arc, it’s already a lot for shounen. The fact that she’s built and now also permanently disfigured and the dudebros and weebs still worship the ground she walks on is a fucking achievement in itself. Proof that if you write a female character well you can take away her standard beauty and not tank her popularity. It’d be still much harder to make her not typically pretty from the start and achieve this but culture changes one step at a time. I wish we were there but we aren’t so I’m going to appreciate what I can get.

Maki is both verbalised and implicit feminism. Verbalised because she fucking slaughters a whole fucking clan of misogynists. It’s not subtle. Implicit because of her appearance and personality. She’s written like a male character but not meaning that she’s masculine or that she could be replaced in the narrative by a man. No, she has a narrative arc of her own, she’s written with agency and with no regard for making her personality be pleasing or oriented towards others. And her story is specifically a story of a woman in the world of jujutsu. 

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Generally, in most cases, if you try to apply the feminist lens to a shounen manga you’ll just make yourself sad. You can do it for some shounen characters or plotlines and get something nice but you need to be very careful not to try to generalise that onto the whole work. My enjoyment of a lot of titles is dependant on my very conscious choice to rein in my feminism and leftism. 

With juju, though, with juju you’re safe. You can do it. You can go for it. It’s not going to be the most radical and mind-blowing experience ever but it’s possible.

Because the female characters aren’t where the most of the feminism is. They can’t be, it’s a shounen and they don’t get enough pagetime. The verbalised feminism is very clear in how the villains are framed, how much misogyny you can find among the evil characters. The implicit feminism, the better one, is very strong in the young male characters. 

Unlike in a lot of hyper violent media targeted at boys, in juju you never have these lines about what a man should be. Or what it means to be a man, especially a true man. What is most important is that nothing like that is ever said to a teenage boy. On the side we’re meant to root for we get a lot of different men and none of them are labelled as “true”. They are there for readers to identify with, to model behaviour after. And because no teen in the manga has his masculinity questioned then no reader will have to question his. Juju won’t contribute to such insecurity for anyone, an insecurity that can turn violent irl. 

____________________

Girls in juju are people.

What’s more, all the teen guys in juju have extremely normal relationships with the girls around them. They just interact with them without any exaggerated awkwardness or this “girls are strange, we can’t bond with them unless we want to date them”. Among the teens, the new generation, the hope for the future, there’s no separation built between men and women. Not through words and not through actions.  

The nonsexual, organic friendship, built on idiot to idiot communication, Yuuji and Nobara have, gives me life. And it happens despite Yuuji not understanding Nobara at first. Because it doesn’t matter that she’s different from him, they don’t dwell on it, they don’t try to make the differences into a big thing, into a rift. There’s no big arc of them working out their differences because these differences aren’t artificially blown up to underline some core differences between men and women. They can fail to understand each other totally but they can still be friends, they can still vibe with one another, care for one another. Femininity and masculinity don’t need to be some issues to deal with while forming a friendship between a guy and a girl. 

It’s fascinating how Yuuji fighting together with Megumi isn’t half as exciting and organic as when he fights together with Nobara. Their strengths and powers compliment each other so well. I’m actually angry that Gege didn’t let them fight Mahito together longer. Even if they would’ve done to Nobara the same thing they did. Why not let them be epic together again? (I’m also super angry at what they did to Nobara, she better come back, fucking hell)

And it’s a pattern too. Despite Yuuji being very much socialised as a guy in a very patriarchal and sexist society, so much so that he has a type at 15 and hangs bikini posters on his walls, he hasn't turned girls into aliens in his mind. They are still just people in his head. When Yuuji interacts with a real woman the male socialisation isn’t deeply rooted enough to hinder him. It’s never an issue.

____________________

Toudou

Toudou tries to do this very masculine bonding thing with Yuuji and Yuuji is super confused by it. Because Yuuji’s relationships aren’t built on the concept of masculinity. And I mean Yuuji bonds with Toudou eventually because it’s Yuuji but we are shown the struggle when with Nobara or Megumi or Junpei it just happens. Also Yuuji is the only one who bonds with Toudou but that’s because Yuuji is compassion. 

Toudou is generally disliked and his dumb male posturing contributes to that. Also in the Japanese context it’s very clear that Toudou is an unserious person and that’s how he’s meant to be perceived. If you have any doubt about that, the juju fanbook is there for you where Gege is very clear about that. Basically the idol thing is there to paint Toudou as immature. The whole conversation Megumi has with Toudou is a very clear lesson for teen boys. Be like Megumi and girls will like you, if you are a Toudou you’re a joke. You can be built and powerful and clever and still be a joke and girls won’t like you.

I like Toudou a lot btw, I actually think it’s funny that an 18yo boy thinks he reached some deeper truth about people because he knows what a fetish or kink is and he’s tactless enough to ask openly about it. It’s fucking hilarious but also some teen boys just be like that unironically. But I also like him because of how his character is framed and how he functions in the story. Because Toudou gives another important lesson to teen boys. A lesson about rejection. In the story he makes up in his head we see him confessing his feelings to Takada and she turns him down. And he just takes it. This is such an important message. In Japan stalking is a huge problem, stalkers murdering their victims is a problem. Men who feel entitled to women in such a violent way. And here we have a guy who gets rejected and takes the L with grace. And all he wants is for his best friend to console him. 

____________________

I’m very normal about Yuuji.

So the balls on Gege to name their typically shounen protag “calm compassion”, or maybe “endless humanity”, “endless compassion”, “quiet humanity”, all of the above? More?

Gojou says that to be a sorcerer one needs to be crazy. And he says that Yuuji has a few screws loose from the start. The thing is that yes, Yuuji is odd but not in the way the rest of the sorcerers are. So far in the manga Yuuji has never entered the state of mind that to my understanding Gojou is thinking about when he talks about being crazy. What I think Gojou means is this state of unhinged glee during the fight. And the ability to compartmentalise the fights and the kills. 

So far in his fights Yuuji has been neutral, proud of himself when he was doing well, hyper focused, frustrated, desperate, depressed and filled with all-consuming rage. Never filled with unhinged glee. And he hasn’t compartmentalised any fight, any failure or any kill, not one, they all seep into a huge ball of guilt inside him. And it’s his kills and Sukuna’s together. Yuuji’s compassion is actively destroying him from the inside. Yuuji can’t disconnect from his humanity and that’s a basic job requirement for a sorcerer. 

____________________

Yuuji constantly shows how much emotional intelligence he has. When he defuses the situation with Junpei at the school. When Megumi finds out about Tsumiki going under the bridge. When he’s with Chousou. When he puts his depression on hold to help Megumi during the culling game. He shows understanding, emotional support, physical contact and prioritises the emotions of others over his own. 

Compassion, empathy, responsiveness towards others, willingness to adjust and accommodate aren’t stereotypically masculine traits. No, they are culturally feminine in many places around the world, including Japan. 

Yuuji is also passive and reactive despite being stronger than normal people, and that too is culturally more feminine than masculine. Yuuji doesn’t really have much of the shounen protag drive. It can be lit in him in the form of resilience or determination or rage but it’s not self-sustaining, reactive not proactive

And speaking of Japan and East Asia, what Yuuji is displaying can’t be written off as collectivism either. Because these reactions are personal, they aren’t towards the society at large. They aren’t giri aka a specifically culturally Japanese sense of duty, or any other of several similar concepts. There is no sense of duty or obligation in what Yuuji does, not on a group level. Yuuji says that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if people got hurt because he didn’t try to get rid of Sukuna. For him it’s not because it’s the moral thing to do, or the right thing to do but because he’s concerned about the suffering of those people on this very empathetic level. As Nanami says: he genuinely gets upset on behalf of others. 

____________________

That might be why Yuuji isn’t really that popular as a character. Maybe that’s why people prefer Megumi who’s more typically masculine, stoic, distant, intellectual but also proactive and not reactive in his violence and values.

A lot of people consider Yuuji weak. They complain about how much he loses and how in most of his fights he gets carried by other characters, how they are actually the winning factor and not him. 

I actually like that a lot. I think it makes the story interesting, it makes Yuuji interesting that he’s at his best when he’s not alone, that he’s actually doing best when he’s support. That his strength is in how he compliments others. I honestly don’t want him to change into a more typical shounen protagonist. Thematically the way his fights go suits him perfectly because humans are a social species, we thrive on cooperation. And if Yuuji is boundless humanity he shouldn’t stand alone. 

____________________

I’m very normal about Yuuji so it turned into a post about him. I swear this wasn’t the plan. The plan was to write about leftist propaganda. The other guys in juju are actually really cool too. Like Megumi, him constantly trying to figure out his values and reconcile what’s happening around him with them is great. Yuuta with his need to belong and justify himself is amazing. Chousou the family oriented sap (please survive baby). Hakari who said fuck you to the conservatives even though he wasn’t so well positioned as Gojou and it resulted in him getting ostracised. I’m not going to shout out everyone or go deeper into these characters but I really like how there isn’t one type of masculinity in juju. 

I don’t know how much these are conscious choices by Gege, or how much it’s just their internalised leftism seeping through. But it’s nice. It feels good to read. And I hope that because the messaging isn’t always as didactic as with the Zen’in or the Kamo clans, that it’ll go down well and actually be this tiny crumb of feminism in the minds of 15yo boys who read it. And with how hype juju is atm, I hope that overt leftism will strengthen in the pop cultural mainstream directed at boys. And with it feminism.  

____________________

Could juju be better?

Of course, there’s no perfect work of art. No author is perfect and perfectly enlightened. No work is ever going to 100% match with anyone’s politics, sensibilities or expectations. etc etc. But I really think juju already does a lot. The fact that it’s open to a feminist reading is a lot. And I appreciate it for it.

I really wish juju was better on the queer stuff but I’m wary of assigning blame here. Idk if it’s Gege who misunderstands stuff and is uninformed and crude. Or is it because they write a shounen series for Shounen Jump a corporation which is averse to risk. 

I really wish Kirara had a canon gender and identity. I wish Gege made an official call on Kenny’s gender as they did with Tengen. I wish Gege also clearly stated that Kenny is Yuuji’s mum because the fandom cishets are really twisting themselves into pretzels trying to come up with theories that the mum is actually some woman controlled by Kenny and not Kenny. I wish Gege made NobaMaki canon instead of drawing fanart of the ship and pretending it’s not what it looks like. And even though ItaFushi leaves me mostly cold I wish Megumi’s answer proved to be what all the itafushis headcanon it to be, even if it was to prove to be one sided. I wish I wish I wish.

[minerwarfare-suzuya]

Miles ownership drama timeline, part 5

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

I wasn't kidding you when I said check the Faces of Nothing blog. You can literally check Mobox87's blog for OCs that were sold but I legit cannot go through all of it since this thread will only go longer than it should with just too many screenshots of characters that got sold.

I can still confirm for a fact that Miles is still buying OCs off of Mobox87 to this day since he's the only one buying them anonymously besides Blurry for his own reasons why. Like it doesn't surprise me that Miles is still supporting Mobox87 from buying whatever character she sells because regardless of him knowing that Mobox drew Child Pornography, glorification of fascism and torture porn. He's still going to support her with his own money going directly to her account.

Now despite Miles settling down after getting called out. It would take until like a few months for him to start acting up again.

This time he went after an artist named Yuriviq on DeviantArt over a drawing of the oc named Vinsnake being shipped with this artist's OC. So, you already know I was going to say something.

Plus, wanna know what I really found very aggravating about this issue. It was not the fact that he accused Yuriviq of stealing an OC which the artist didn't know he owned but it shouldn't matter. It's the fact that he dragged Mobox87 into this drama for her to repost on her Instagram story a callout to Yuriviq saying that she stole the OC Vinsnake just because Miles claimed she stole it.

Which is total Bullshit!

Here's the thread responding to Miles stupid complaints about Vinsnake being shipped with the Yuriviq's oc.

So, I did strike back at Miles again with not one but two drawings at him as insults for being a drama queen. The left drawing would be posted on the thread and the right post would be shared as its own post.

This of course got him back into my dm's to complain again but what made it worse was the fact he kept spamming his tantrums in Cagney's dms and Kevonica's dms about my response posts. Cagney wanted me to take down the posts against Miles since he woke him up very early in the morning with his complaints but I refused to do so since it would enable his toxic behavior still.

Now it would've settled down again but Miles wanted to try to get the upper hand by claiming Vinsnake is underage at the last minute so he can make it seem like I drew Child porn.

Like for one, Miles never announced or shared that Vinsnake would be 16 years old publicly until I drew an ahegao face on him. Secondly, Vinsnake is just William Afton that is part snake from his lower torso and William Afton is canonically in his 30s which is how Mobox87 originally attended him to be and I stuck with that. Just like how Miles stuck with that til he wanted to cope harder by changing him to 16 years old right on the spot so he can label me as a pedo then compare me to Mobox87 for that.

Imagine calling someone a pedo for drawing a character in their original age and design on a bait post over a dumb oc rule. Couldn't be me

Now just like every situation Miles creates over his oc ownership. He sells the OC and switches up his attitude except this time he holds a grudge on me.

Part 6

[ask-marios-apprentice]

Stars and Knockouts

Space, the final frontier.

That's what people used to think.

On panko. You can get a destination wedding on the moon, a go-kart track on a space station, and a shooting gallery with some Lumas.

After landing on the comet observatory.

Rosalina was surprised on seeing a young lad she has never met before face plant on to the ground.

She was currently trying to figure out why there's been so much chaos in the Stars as of late.

Turns out she was interested in what I had to say when I dropped my clutch.

Oh I don't think I've mentioned this before. But some software was put into my clutch that allowed me to stabilize warps and transport back to Warp org head quarters.

I gave her the rundown on the situation happening.

Let's just say she wasn't thrilled.

She reluctantly decided to help me by giving me access to a piece of equipment and the steering wheel.

The starbit band and a supplementary drone (not pictured)

@lethalhedgehogs drew this.

This weapon was made from broken Wii remotes and joy-cons to create an AR sensor / motion control wristband.

It then connects to a supplementary drone that shoots out star bits and allows me to perform a spin attack.

I then set off to do some platforming challenges. Surprisingly some of the ones Mario actually did in the past.

1.Throwback Galaxy/ Thwomps fortress and bed and breakfast

2. Sweet sweet Galaxy.

3. Marriage counseling crater on the moon.

4. The starship Mario in disrepair.

5. Dry world.

These were basically just small obstacle courses.

After I completed enough warps.

Rosalina actually had a gift for me before I left.

A Power Star ⭐

Though just as soon as I touched it.

I passed out.

...

I saw Ic again.

Garth: Seriously. This is the third time this has happened.

Ic: Garth. I wasn't supposed to see you this early in the week. What are you doing here.

Garth: I could ask you the same thing. All I did was touch a power star and I think I passed out.

IC: Okay I didn't have everything ready yet but I do have this to say. Don't waste that Power Star. You're going to need it soon. something special is going to happen to you and the person you give it to afterwards.

Garth : Wait. what's that supposed to mean?

All of a sudden I woke up.

Garth: Oh my head.

Rosalina: Young one. are you all right?

Garth: Uh. I guess I always feel a bit groggy after I see that tanuki with the white and gold fur.

Rosalina: Wait. What did you say.

Garth: what. I just said I saw a tanuki with a white and gold fur. The guy named Ic.

Rosalina: Be honest. Are you telling me you saw saw the dimensional being of invincibility.

Garth: I think so. Is he a white and gold tanooki in a weird cosmic realm.

So it turns out that Ic is a god-like entity known as a dimensional being. People like Father time, mother nature, Grambi, are in the same league as Ic.

So I've been basically getting Divine visions.

But aside from that shocker.

I had to get back home.

My mom and Mario were getting into an argument with each other.

I'm not sure why. But I had to get going.

Garth signing off.

[trufflemacandcheese]

The curse

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10

#11

"Oh no!"

Donnie grasped the situation in an instant. A large fresh water supply pipe must have been damaged in the collapse and is now flooding the lower levels - it had reached them now and was rising steadily.

He looked over at her - She has lifted his Bo to her chest. A reflex to want to hold on to something. That's when he noticed the white curving lines joining the purple glow of his staff. That came from HER! His brows rose - but he quickly pushed the thought aside. They need to get out of here asap.

Above all, he thought to himself, SHE has to get out of here!

"A fresh water line must..." he began

“... must have been damaged by the collapse and is now flooding the levels below. I know. Did you see the mobile water pumps earlier? There was a problem here before with what it seems”

The turtle was momentarily flabbergasted. She had repeated his thoughts almost exactly. However, she had included the pumps in the calculation. She had an extremely keen perception.

"Right. We need to get out of here asap!”

"But we can't judge the Bo. I am afraid that our dome is too fragile."

Donnie had his doubts, but she was right. It wasn't worth the risk considering he already had an alternative plan.

"You've got a plan." she stated, her eyes wide with shock, her hands still gripping the Bo tightly, but her voice was firm. The water had already reached her hips, and the blood from her wound drew small rippling lines through it. It was very cold.

"I have." He nodded. She has remarkable self-control

Donnie raised his left arm and activated his gauntlet. He unmuted the communicator and raised his wrist higher.

"To all! Donnie here! Can anybody hear me? I repeat: can anybody hear me?”

There was a short rustle and turtle and human looked at each other. Then all hell broke loose, and it got VERY loud.

"DONNIE, OH MY GOD, YOU LIVE!"

"DONNIE, WHERE ARE YOU?"

“DEE! I... *heavy sobs* Dee!”

“DONATELLO! YOU LIVE! YOU WILL GET YOUR BUTT KICKED!!”

Donnie grimaced.

She couldn't help but smile. Those were the other turtles from earlier. They must be very close. And the voice of a woman was also there. Is there a female turtle too?

"SILENCE!" exclaimed Donnie, “We have no time! April? Raph?"

"Yes!" at the other end, it was clear to everyone that the danger was not yet over, and the smile from the young woman faded away.

Donnie began typing on his display, the scan performed, and a hologram of their surroundings appeared over his gauntlet.

“We are about 14 meters underground from the grundfloor of the collapsed building. The lower parking decks were also destroyed, as well as a water supply line, and now our shelter is being flooded. We're trapped and have…” he typed again, “2 minutes and 23 seconds until we're completely underwater. You have to find a way to us IMMEDIATELY!"

"To us?" Leo, incorrigible as he was, had to chat in between.

“Yes, to US, Leo! We have no time!"

“You mean SHE doesn't have time! Because of HER, you are in this trouble!"

Donnie was on the verge of losing his composure. He had to make it crystal-clear to his brothers that EVERY second counted.

"Leonardo. Now listen to me VERY CAREFULLY: She saved my life and I will save hers no matter what the cost! I repeat: WE don't have time! So hurry up!”

He felt her eyes on him as he spoke. Damn Leo. Why are you putting me in this situation!?

"On it, Donnie! Hold on! 'COMMON GUYS! The clock is ticking!' Hearing April's voice was a true blessing. She had her shit together.

He dropped his arm and didn't dare look over at her. The water had now reached his lower chest.

"Donatello." she spoke his name for the first time. Very carefully, like it was something extremely valuable, and it felt like a gentle touch. He shuddered. It had to be the cold water... and turned to face her.

"What does that mean? What did he mean, it's only me who doesn't have time...?"

The turtle took a deep breath and then looked her straight in the eyes.

“He meant that I can hold my breath much longer. Look at me. I am a turtle, I can extremely reduce my oxygen consumption." he swallowed hard, "You don't."

She began to tremble and met his gaze.

"I understand."

Again her self-control impressed him, but he saw her fear clearly. It touched him deeply how careful she was to remain calm.

The water was now at chest level. Both rose as best they could, but the dome was low. They placed their hands above themselves on the dome for support. It felt warm. They were now very close to each other. The young woman was still holding the Bo tightly in one hand.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you." she burst out, and suddenly her eyes shone in the purple light.

Her words hit him right in the feels. THAT was what was on her mind now? His life? Her fail? Oh, damn.

"No!" Donnie said, "Don't think that and listen to me. I meant it exactly like I said it. You saved me and I will save you. Cost it” he took a deep, trembling breath, “whatever it may.”

"But… how?"

“I need extremely little oxygen. I'll give you some of mine. Listen carefully: we have to move as little as possible. We absolutely must remain calm. Calm your heartbeat. My brothers will get us out of here."

The water had reached their necks. It was rising very quickly now, as the dome tapered upwards.

"Alright" she said in a shaking voice while looking at him. A tear ran down her cheek, "I'm scared"

Unusual situations bring humans and probably also humanoid turtles to unusual behavior and in the face of death, people very often grow beyond themselves.

And so Donnie dropped his right hand, cupped her face and caresses her cheek with his thumb, wiped away the tear and spoke calmly and firmly.

"I know. I will save you. I promise.” they both felt the flame now simultaneously.

And then they fell silent, lifted their faces up for one last deep breath, and then the water closed over their heads. Donnie lowered himself down. His battleshell was heavy, so all he had to do was lean back.

The young woman, however, was stuck at the top of the dome because her body was buoyant. And so Donnie grabbed her free hand and pulled her down with him. He didn't dare to grab the Bo while she also held it. ONE inexplicable shockwave per night was enough!

As a turtle, he could see relatively well underwater, and the dust was minimal. She let him pull her down, but she still had so much buoyancy that she had to actively counter-row with her legs, and the staff also hindered her.

This isn't going to work, Donnie thought. She needs to stop moving!

Pulling her closer to him, he reached up with his free hand and entwined her waist to set her back into an upward position. Oh, he should have asked her first! As he placed her on his legs, he was glad she couldn't see the blush rising in his face.

Keep calm - lower your heartbeat. This means NOTHING. It is necessary and there is no alternative!

He almost accidentally let the air out of his lungs as she wrapped her legs around his waist. At the same time, he realized: she had understood! And so he let go of her hand.

She brought the Bo behind his back and held on to his battleshell with her other hand. Donnie realized that she avoided touching his skin and he knew that she was doing so out of respect - and he suddenly also realized that not only did he have an inside view of her - she saw him as well.

Her white hair danced in the water. Blood rose from her wound. Their faces were now level. The geometric patterns of the dome shone down on them, and it seemed as if they were moving faster than before.

The whole situation is completely insane! Shot the turtle in his mind. Completely surreal! As in a dream! All this is not real! I'll wake up soon!

Donnie still had his left arm wrapped around her waist. She couldn't drift away from him. His now free hand found her face and held it gently. Not a little oxygen must be lost. She had already moved far too much…

She was already running out of air and instinctively wanted to go up, but resisted the impulse. At the same time, she felt Donnie's arm around her waist and his hand on her face. Suddenly she felt him waiting for her - only she could tell how much oxygen she had left.

By adjusting their bodies, a lot had already been consumed. And so she released her hand from the battleshell and placed it on his cheek. It seemed all right where he had just brushed away her tear.

His touch and closeness calmed her and made her blood pressure rise at the same time. This is so surreal!

His skin was soft. And warm. She slid her hand further back and felt his bandana. She gripped a little tighter and brought her lips to his, while he also lightly held her cheek.

They opened their lips at the same time and heaven - that was the best feeling in the world! Oxygen! She inhaled, careful not to let anything escape and not to inhale too deeply. He needs some too!

The turtle felt her release her hand from his battleshell and a second later it was on his cheek. He shuddered as she let it move backwards and her grip tightened. His thoughts flew apart when he saw her tilt her head and come closer, and it took an infinite effort not to close his eyes.

This. This has been worth it. The shock wave, the danger of briefly escaping death, his aching body, the emotions pounding on him. It was worth it. He would do it all over again!

He felt her lips on his, and it was just impossible for him... his eyes closed automatically as they both parted their lips and shared the vital oxygen.

It wasn't a kiss. It was pure life.

He was surprised at how quickly she closed her lips again and tilted her head back to let the carbon dioxide out slowly and in a concentrated manner. Was she... No! She didn't want to take his breath away! Still hoping for HIM to survive! She was crazy! Why did she do that?

But Donnie couldn't help it. She was in control of how much she wanted to breathe. And he shook his head slightly.

She noticed his movement and knew he knew. And so the two settled into a slow, focused rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. Each interval became more precise, calmer and… more intense. Something in them allowed their movements to harmonize perfectly, and they became less and less. And after a few minutes, they barely moved apart. After each inhale, they let their foreheads rest against each other and let the bubbles of the exhalation pass between them. And after a few more minutes their hearts were beating in the same rhythm and they both had their eyes closed.

And that's why they didn't notice how the improvised pressure bandage came loose and the previously small trickle of blood grew larger and larger and colored the water red.

#12 .

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chapterlist

Find the full book on Wattpad and AO3

[drafthorsemath]

Author Self Promotion?

Rule: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to Ao3. If you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics. Thanks for the tag @ct-9902

So, I’m breaking the rules and only including my more current fic.  The stuff from eight years ago... it doesn’t count.

Note: The first one is explicit in parts, but the others are suitable for everyone

1. A Different Kind of Family

“Tech, are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be,” Hunter asked warily as they landed on Arbra.

“I followed Rex’s directions precisely,” Tech replied. “This planet is inhabitable, and the forest should at least give us good cover to try to hide.”

“Well how will we know where to find these people?” Echo asked. “We’re just supposed to land and they show up?”

“There is not much here,” replied Tech. “I imagine they will know what to look for. If no one comes, at least we found a place to rest.”

Stepping off the Havoc Marauder, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They were hungry, low on water and other supplies, and the ship needed some repairs, but they landed.

“There should be an outpost of sorts in that direction,” Tech pointed, “but it is already late in the day. I’m also picking up a heat signature. Possibly shelter.”

“We’ll wait until tomorrow,” Hunter decided. “We don’t want to sti-”

They drew their weapons, knowing Hunter sensed something. Wrecker and Crosshair stepped between Omega and the direction Hunter was facing. Someone was out there. Hunter heard two sets of footsteps.

2. Hair Dye

“Omega! Time to eat,” Echo poked his head inside the ship trying to find his sister.

“Coming!” She put her sketch pad down next to her paints.  In a rush, she knocked over some bottles of paint, but left them once she saw they weren’t leaking.  She jumped down and headed outside where everyone was sitting around a fire.  

Tech handed her a plate. “Practicing your art again?”

She nodded.  “I’m working on getting more details right.”

“My favorite painting is the one you did of Lula and me,” Wrecker said with a grin.

She smiled.  Her art covered the walls of the ship.  Even the pieces she knew were not her best work were treasured by her brothers.  They always encouraged her.  “If you love something, you should keep at it as long as it makes you happy.”  Echo had told her that one day when she cried over a piece she tried so hard on, but just couldn’t get right in her own eyes.

3. Target Practice

Hunter’s eyes were open as soon as he heard the shot.

“I heard it too,” said Crosshair. The Marauder was open with Echo not far away, with no danger in sight. Hunter and Crosshair took a simultaneous deep breath, looked at each other, and stepped off the ship.

“Trouble sleeping?” Hunter asked, as Echo turned around.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Echo sighed. It started to snow heavily and although it was cold outside, he couldn’t calm his mind enough to sleep. “We all learned how to shoot with both hands, but, well, I’ve always been right-handed. Going straight for a blaster with my left still takes a moment to process. I don’t want to let anyone down.”

“Your aim seemed fine on Skako Minor,” replied Crosshair, brushing away some snowflakes that tried to land on his eyelashes.

Echo smiled slightly and replied, “I think most of that was adrenaline.” He took aim at a distant rock and hit it precisely.

4. Breakfast Revelations

"What are we having today?" Omega walked in and tossed her helmet in her room.

Echo finished whistling his tune in the kitchen before replying, "Pancakes, with bantha milk butter and Jogan fruit jam."

"I will just have two," said Tech. "My stomach is still not fully recovered from Wrecker's landing job."

"Hey! I got us here without crashing, didn't I?" Wrecker replied defensively.

"Well I don't care how many you eat as long as someone else washes the dishes," came Echo's reply. "First pancake's up. Omega first."

Hunter rushed in. "Guys! AZ has some vital information..."

AZ spun through the door with a "Greetings! I am AZ- 34521189..."

"WE KNOW!"

Okay, so I don’t know who to tag that hasn’t been tagged.  But if you want to participate please do so! I’m always looking for more to read.