#why is my shrimp store tracking me

[killerchickadee]

...Don't like that.

[schoenpepper]

How about for our early xmas gift, you give us a version where Yuu comes back to twst again🙂

(You broke my heart po💔)

Maybe This Time

Intro: Everything changed after you left. But maybe he still stayed the same.

Warnings: bad grammar, awful writing, not proofread, jade is veryy bad, kinda yandere ish

A/N: Counted as a sequel to this, though you can probably read it as a standalone. Sige na nga anonnie merry xmas happy new year nlng sayo haha. Maybe this tiiiime it'll be lovin' they'll find—*gets shot*

Masterlist

Jade forgets what it's like to live.

The day you left, all color drained from the world he resides in. Rather, your absence pushed him from being an active participant into one that only watches.

Still, it only takes him a day to get back to work.

"You can take a longer break."

He waves off Azul with such a well-practiced smile even he might believe it. "I don't need a break. What is it for, even? There's no use reminiscing over such boring things."

Boring.

Boring boring boring.

The word makes him livid. It makes him seethe with a burning, passionate anger he was unaware was even stored within him. Maybe that's why you left. Maybe Jade failed to excite you. He and his brother are people that stay because of interest, so perhaps the reason you left was because Jade could no longer interest you. Is that it?

Why else?

Why else would you shatter him the first chance that you get?

It takes him one week to forget.

Not you. Sevens know he'll never forget you. You were a whirlwind that crashed through everything he knew and smashed him to smithereens. It takes him a week to forget that he's still hiding his pain.

He forgets he's in pain.

You're a rotting, festering wound that he's buried under layers of pretend. He's such a good actor even Floyd is—

"Stop cryin'."

Well. Maybe not Floyd. Jade raises a hand to his cheek and finds no tears. "You weren't crying. But I made you look, right?" Floyd grins, "Hurry and pack. Maybe nonna can help you get over shrimpy. She's real good at life advice~"

He's sure life advice won't help, but it wouldn't hurt (any more) to try.

The waters of the Coral Sea are frigid. It doesn't numb him enough when he's so used to it, but it's alright. He's fine, anyway. There's no more regret. No more bitter hatred. Only the familiar salt of the ocean water. His parents mean well when they fret over him, asking his twin brother for details. His grandmother is worriedly chattering over his shoulder, and he's made aware that he's unable to fool them this time. He's good at pretending. His family couldn't pick out his faux smiles when he's entangled in mischief, nor could they identify the mock innocence he likes to act out when he gets into fights with other mer. But now, why now? Why are they able to press their hand on that beating, dead thing in his chest and attempt to comfort it when the only thing it wants to do is wallow and wither in nothingness?

They couldn't tell when he was pretending to be good.

But they can tell that he's pretending to be okay.

It doesn't make sense.

It takes one month for everything to fall back in routine. Sleeping potions and pills and spells aid in nights when he's preoccupied with memories of a person he wished never existed at all.

His grades are higher than they'd ever been, and he's so ridiculously productive. It's all on track. Everything is just as it was before you. There was a time in his life before you. He can fill in the empty spot you'd left behind with dirt and the pieces of himself you'd killed that fateful day.

And thus, there will be a time after you.

"Jade," Azul hands him a familiar plush toy, "Floyd told me to give this back to you."

The felt shrimp plushie is mocking him; there is no other explanation. It's one half of a pair, actually. In some dingy arcade in town was a claw machine filled with small mushroom, shrimp, egg, onion, and garlic plushies. The owner called the machine "shrimp fried crane game". You were the one to win one mushroom plushie you kept for yourself, and you gave him the shrimp.

The mushroom was in your suitcase.

In his rampage (he wouldn't call it that, really), he had destroyed everything that reminded him of you that same night, or rather, early morning. He watched polaroids and love letters burn inside a metal dumpster he'd hauled from school grounds. The shrimp wasn't part of the bonfire.

It seems Floyd had snuck it away.

He inspects the toy with his usual smile, tight-lipped and close-eyed, nodding at Azul. He wants it out of his sight for a long, long time. If it could feel as forgotten as he felt, let those feelings be transferred to you. He wishes you pain and agony and guilt and regret.

It takes one year for him to let out a genuine chuckle.

His twin brother stares at him like he'd grown a second head, and Jade is aware it's unusual. Even though the joke he'd laughed at was so inane, the fact of the matter was that he laughed, which in itself is so strange. Perhaps this is a good thing. No, it can only be a good thing. What is it if not a sign that he's healing?

And soon, he won't remember you at all.

And you will cease to exist in his mind.

But it's not meant to happen today.

No, with that little laugh, grief like several tonnes of cement hit him right where it hurts the most; it's heavy, and debilitating, and it makes it nigh impossible for him to even breathe.

(Because you were the air he once consumed, and neither humans nor mer are made for such long term suffocation.)

"I've never seen you laugh before," the young man in front of him smiles with thick, syrupy lovesickness, "it suits you."

The person is an underclassman who'd been following him around recently. Like a poor mockup of your silhouette, he hears the same promises you couldn't keep from the mouth of another. It irks him more than he'd like to admit, because if he does, then it means admitting that he still remembers you. It means he still holds you up in his altar and lights flames in your name.

He does not.

Whoever says otherwise, whether it be Floyd or Azul, or Silver or Riddle; they all lie.

He only remembers you in anger. In bouts of madness that makes him question your existence, it is then that your name leaves his lips.

It takes one decade.

For what?

For forgiveness? For the hate to fade?

On his 27th birthday, his phone rings with a number he's long since engraved in his heart.

Jade forgot how to live in your absence.

In the decade you'd left, he only existed. It is a passive state of consistent routine that allows him to appear normal to his peers. Still, his closest people know he was left incomplete. He became a creature without a sense of purpose, and it was a sad thing. How pitiful it was for a predator to be reduced to a vessel containing shards of a broken heart.

Still, it is your name that he finds. It is your number.

A number from a phone kept in some dark corner of NRC's storage room. It's likely a student who decided to scroll through your contacts and found his contact name amusing. You did have quite the strange penchant for putting strange names in your contact list.

He answers the call in a moment of boredom.

There is nothing interesting to do in a business party.

"Hello? Jade?"

He stops. There is nothing in this world or yours that could erase each and every memory he's ever made with you. The voice is one he's heard often and dreams and even more in nightmares; it has replaced the voice of his dead conscience and pushed him to a meaningless drifting existence instead of finding thrill in things you would despise him for.

It's been a decade and instead of forgetting you, he didn't know when he melded you into his bones and stitched you into the fabric of his soul, but he knows you more than he knows himself.

"I'm back."

There is no more bitter hatred. There is no more regret.

"Can you pick me up?"

In one moment, it all dissipates into nothingness and there is only you.

Jade remembers how to breathe again. He feels that withered thing in his chest beat once more, and he feels alive.

It takes one decade for you to return.

And he didn't know he was waiting for you, but then, what could every second without you have meant if not just an endless eternity of patiently waiting?

"Did you see my message?"

"I did."

"Are you not afraid I'll make good on my promise?"

"I've never been afraid of you."

Yet, perhaps you should be. He may no longer despise you with every fiber of his being, but you'd betrayed him and lost his trust. There will be no more second chances. You will stay unlike before, and if he must break every mirror in the world to ensure his heart remains beating, then it will be all too easy.

Taglist:

@yummyyummyinmytumny @lemon-koii @fsh1

[thissortofsorcery]

Hiii, Gabii 💕

For the soft fic prompt meme:

14. Phone calls

and/or

17. fixing the other persons clothes absentmindedly or like tucking their hair behind their ear U KNOW WHAT I MEAN THAT SOFT STUFF

Thank you 🫶

YAM I FINISHED IT

I'm sorry it took me so damn long to fill this prompt for you. I know you like it when they're soft! I hope you like this one.

--

Steve never feels more grown-up than when he and Billy cook together.

It started during senior year — as a dare, of all things. They weren’t even together then, Billy hiding behind a wall of toxic masculinity to protect himself from Neil. He still tracked Steve’s every movement with his eyes. Steve was completely oblivious to his feelings and why his gut twisted every time Billy gave girls that look of his.

“I doubt you can cook anything with the shit you got in your house, pretty boy,” Billy had said, lip curling derisively at the content of Steve’s fridge. “When’s the last time you bought groceries?” 

Steve proceeded to cook the best improvised scramble he’d ever done out of sheer determination to make Billy eat his words. He’d had no idea it would turn out good when he started. Usually, his cooking attempts had a 50/50 chance of turning out wonderful or having to be tossed based on the smell alone.

Two years later, and Steve’s a lot better at cooking. He can make all the basics and some fancy stuff, too, with Billy or on his own — but the favorite meals are the ones he and Billy cook together, arms brushing, hips bumping each other out of the way, spoons being offered to taste. 

Cooking together is mostly a weekend thing since their shifts end hours apart. Steve’s used to fixing something up quick when he gets home from work so it’s ready by the time Billy is done at the garage. Saturday and Sunday are the days they go all out.

So Steve is caught off guard when his phone rings fifteen minutes before his shift ends on a Wednesday, and it’s Billy calling.

“I wanna try making Ceviche,” is what Billy says, skipping the ‘hello’ and going straight to the point. “So, do you want fish or shrimp?” 

“You want to make what?” Steve frowns, barely recognizing the name. He flails toward his work computer to open Google, but he doesn’t know how to spell it out. “Wait, where are you?” 

“At the grocery store, Harrington. Keep up,” Billy snarks affectionately. “It’s, like, cooking fish with lemon juice. It’s great.” 

“What are you doing at the grocery store?” 

“I got off work early. Fish or shrimp, Steve, come on.” 

“You know how to make this thing?” Steve says. He’s known Billy long enough that he doesn’t doubt Billy’s cooking skills, but he’s never heard of this dish before or that Billy had and liked it. 

“Yeah, pretty boy, it’s called YouTube. It has cherry tomatoes in it; you like those.” 

Steve grins. “I do,” he says. “Go with fish, I guess.” 

“Great,” Billy says and hangs up immediately. Steve smiles at his phone for no reason.

He’s home half an hour later, and he finds Billy at the kitchen counter already, dicing up the fish fillets into little cubes. Billy’s freshly showered, his work clothes traded for soft sweatpants and a tank top. Steve stops to admire the curve of his strong shoulders and the swell of his biceps, his eyes following the familiar expanse of golden skin that still makes his heart flutter years later.

“Hey,” Steve says, announcing himself as he enters the kitchen, so Billy has time to put the knife down before Steve hugs him from behind. Steve buries his nose in Billy’s shoulder, breathing deeply. Billy leans back against him, humming contentedly as Steve strokes Billy’s sides. 

“Hi,” Billy says. “I’d hug you back, but my hands are gross.” 

Steve kisses Billy’s shoulder and snorts. “It’s fine. How can I help?” 

“Can you get started on the garlic?” Billy directs. Steve follows, and they fall into a familiar dance in their tiny kitchen, sharing counter space and anecdotes about their days.

Cooking together is peaceful, the way few things in their lives have been, and Steve lets the feeling of home and family wash over him. His shoulders relax, and the headache that’s been threatening to bloom in his right temple fades away, insignificant in the face of Billy’s laughter at Steve’s impressions of his coworkers. 

A light touch to Steve’s forehead makes him blink. He looks away from the lemons he’s squeezing to find Billy brushing away a lock of hair that had started poking Steve in the eye the second he got lemon juice all over his hands. Billy’s hand is light, his fingertips soft as he tucks Steve’s hair behind his ear, and a pleasant shiver goes down Steve’s spine. 

“Thanks,” Steve says, a dumb smile on his face. Billy’s eyes are soft, watching Steve with familiar warmth. 

“Anytime, pretty boy.” 

The quiet, gentle gesture spreads warmth in Steve’s chest, down his spine, down his arms, all the way to his sticky fingertips. There have been thousands of them over the years they’ve been together, but they never fail to make Steve blush and duck his head like a preteen. They’re affectionate with each other really often, but there’s something about finding the space to have these little moments in the middle of doing mundane, everyday things that strikes a deep chord in Steve. 

“I love you.” The words escape Steve’s lips, the reflection of a feeling so natural to him that they’re behind every other sentence he says. 

The corner of Billy’s mouth ticks up, expression morphing into what used to be a smug smirk when he was younger, and now is a soft, fond expression that’s only ever aimed at a very select group of people.

“Sap,” is what Billy says, but the warmth in his tone is clear. 

“I know you like it,” Steve teases, smiling.

“What I’d like is for you to be done with those lemons,” Billy snarks, his elbow brushing Steve’s.

“Alright, alright,” Steve laughs. “I’m done.” 

When they’re finished, and the glass tray is in the fridge, Billy pulls Steve to the couch so they can make out for the hour it takes for the lemon juice to cook the fish. And it comes out pretty damn good — though Steve’s pretty sure he’s biased, only because he and Billy made it together.

[orange-demons-deactivated2024]

Butter Tea

Bosch w. x gn! reader

i think i'm better at writing short stories than a big one. maybe i should go back to doing short stories. this is another morning with bosch. inspired by hozier-too sweet

Bosch sat at the kitchen table, sipping his cup of Butter tea as the rich aroma filled the air. 

Still groggy from sleep, you dragged yourself into the kitchen and made your way over to him.

You wrapped your arms around Bosch from behind, resting your face against his shoulder. He chuckled, setting his mug down as he leaned into you.

"Long night?" Bosch said as he glanced at you.

You nodded, tightening your grip. "Yeah, my head hurts. I couldn't get any sleep last night, no thanks to you." you murmured, voice muffled by his shirt.

"You're fine. It wasn't that bad."

"I don't want to hear it. I saw you sleeping like a baby this morning." you groaned.

He reached up to gently stroke your head. His fingers soothed the throbbing tension you felt.

"There's tea on the stove if you want. It'll probably help with your headache."  he said, taking another sip of his mug.

You let out a tired noise, but feeling Bosch's presence was already starting to dissipate your fatigue. So you pressed a kiss on the side of his neck and pushed yourself off of him to move towards the fridge. 

He caught your arm before you moved any further. "Hey, was someone here yesterday, when I was out?"

Uh oh.

"Um, I don't think so. It was just me ." Bosch's question halted you in your tracks, sending a wave of panic through you.

"Then why is half of my Yak butter missing."

Damn he noticed. Abort. Abort. "Oh, haha. Is it? How weird." You awkwardly chuckled. 

"You didn't notice? At all?" He raised his brow.

You shook your head. 

"So why is Yi Cheng's jacket here?"

No way.

You turned to see the man in question's jacket neatly folded by the door. He asked if you and Bosch had any Yak butter to spare to give to his father, since he was in the area. In exchange for your next three meals at Jumping Shrimp be free. 

In all fairness, you really should've asked Bosch. But you hoped to replace it before he came back. Sucks that it slipped your mind.  

"You know I wouldn't have minded if you gave some to Yi Cheng, but you should've at least told me first."

"I know, I'm sorry. I meant to run to the store before you caught on." Now feeling bad about the whole ordeal. 

"That's not the problem. The problem was that you wanted to hide it from me. When you didn't need to."

Well when he put it like that, it really did make you feel like a terrible human being. "I guess I didn't think of it that way." You said, adverting your eyes from his gaze. "But I am sorry for going behind your back."

Bosch stayed silent as he processed your words. Finally, he sighed, releasing your arm. "It's fine. Just make sure to tell me next time." 

"Of course." You replied rubbing circles on his back. 

He hummed, moving his arm around your waist to pull you closer.

You cracked a smile and wrapped your arms around his neck, making him engulf you in a hug.

"You're too sweet for me." you said, pressing a light kiss on his lips.

Hozier - Too Sweet

[jaehyunfirstlove]

I don’t know if this is too specific but can I request for a smut where jaehyun despises y/n for a reason that she acts all innocent and kind infront of everybody when y/n is actually a brat and he wants to see it himself by giving her a rough sex (almost like a hate sex as well?) I really love your works and I spend most of my time reading them, this is my first request ever! thank you if you do ❤️

Pairing: friend!jaehyun x f.reader

Genre: smut (18+ only)

Warnings: hate sex, unprotected sex, teasing, choking, degradation? sort of?

Word count: 1.7k

A/N: thank you for this request, hope you like it :)

“Isn’t Y/N so sweet?” Jungwoo sighed, watching you walk away towards the buffet to get him some more cocktail shrimp.

Jaehyun just watched you, eyes narrowed. He knew better, knew your little act was all for show. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What are you talking about?” Mark laughed loudly, “she’s the sweetest person we know, right Taeyong?”

Taeyong nodded, before launching into his favorite story about how you had taken care of him when he was sick once and refused to go to the doctor, while Taeil piped up about a story where you had given a homeless man your umbrella. Everyone else nodded in agreement, your entire friend group, save Jaehyun, agreeing that you were an angel on earth.

Jaehyun, however, knew what you were capable of. He was good friends with Yuta, your ex, and Yuta had told him everything about how bratty you were, how you liked to push his buttons, how you would misbehave on purpose in order to get punished. He hated this little act you displayed to everyone, disgusted that all of your friends believed you were some sweet, innocent person, when in reality, you were anything but.

---

“Here, Jaehyun, give it to me, I’ll wash it for you.”

You were all at Haechan’s house party, and someone had spilled their drink on Jaehyun’s shirt. At your offer, he only shook his head, mouth downturned.

“No thanks,” he said curtly.

“It’s no bother, really, best to get it out right away,” you insisted, holding out your hand to him, “come on, let’s go upstairs and get it cleaned.”

“No really, I’m good,” Jaehyun was positively cold now, his voice like ice.

“What’s the problem? Just go with her! She’s offering to clean your shirt!” Johnny was already a few beers in and unnecessarily loud, which made Jaehyun flinch.

“You can use my room,” Haechan offered, practically picking up Jaehyun and pushing him towards you. Reluctantly he got up, sighing heavily, and followed you up the stairs.

You led Jaehyun into Haechan’s room and closed the door behind him. “Okay, give me your shirt,” you said sweetly, “I can turn around if that makes you more comfortable.”

Jaehyun could feel his blood boiling, seeing your bratty attitude starting to come out as you stared at him cheekily. He bit the inside of his cheek, arousal and anger mixing together inside of him.

“Well?” you questioned, hands on your hips, “I won’t be able to wash it if you’re wearing it, although I guess I could try…” smirking you reached towards his shirt, but before you could make contact he grabbed your wrist.

“I don’t think so, sweetie,” he said, his voice harsh, “I’m calling the shots now.”

He squeezed your wrist harder, making you wince, but riling him up was fun, so you continued. “Is that so?” you asked, eyeing him up and down as he stared at you, “and what shots will you be calling, exactly?”

“You act all sweet and innocent in front of our friends, but really you’re just a fucking brat, am I right?”

You laughed. “Who told you that? I bet it was Nakamoto Yuta,” you scoffed, “he could never keep his mouth shut.”

“So is it true?”

“Why don’t you find out?”

“I intend to.”

He came at you then, pushing you onto the bed and then caging you in with his body. You were loving it, but still you felt the need to push his buttons.

“Took you long enough to get me into this position,” you teased, “Yuta had me underneath him an hour after we met.”

Clearly he didn’t like being compared to anyone, let alone one of his closest friends. The vein in his forehead throbbed, his mouth a thin line, as he leaned his face closer to yours.

“Keep it up, baby, and you’ll get what you deserve,” he growled, breath fanning your face.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, baby,” you continued to tease, adrenaline rushing through you at the prospect of what he might do to you. You had to admit, Jeong Jaehyun intrigued you, and you were dying to know if he was really packing down there like you suspected he was.

“Watch it,” he warned, bringing his knee between your legs and rubbing it against your pussy. You inhaled sharply at the friction, and his eyes grew dark as he watched your reaction. “I’m gonna fuck you right now, I’m gonna make you scream my name and forget your own.”

He was making you hot, arousal coursing through your body and turning your limbs to jelly. You were powerless as he started to kiss your neck, still rubbing his knee against your crotch, making you whimper.

“Not so bratty now, are you,” he smirked, sucking harshly on your skin and definitely leaving marks. You squirmed as he continued to rub his knee into you, but you needed more.

“Is that the best you can do?” you breathed, trying to affect a breezy air but it was getting more and more difficult with the way he was teasing you.

He growled against your neck, before he practically ripped your clothes off of you, then pulled off his own. Once you were both naked he leaned back on his knees to admire you, lying bare beneath him. Taking his cock in his hand he pumped it slowly, watching you as you watched him, salivating at the sight.

“I’ll show you what I can do,” he said, his voice low and raspy. You pretended to laugh, and it had the desired effect. His face went dark, eyes hard, and he grabbed your wrists, pinning you to the bed. “I’ll show you what a brat like you deserves.”

He entered you, hard and fast, no preamble, no sweet words and soft movements to coax your hole to open up for him, just his rock hard cock ramming into your pussy. You fought the scream that wanted to tear out of your throat, not wanting to give him the satisfaction, but that became increasingly hard when he started to build up a pace, fucking into you so hard the bed creaked loudly.

“You wanna piss me off, make me angry, well this is what you get,” he said, voice dripping with disdain. You could hear the anger in it, feel it in his movements, in the way he squeezed your wrists as he held you down. His hips were relentless, pounding into you, his cock so big and so deep inside you it felt like he was rearranging your insides. You wanted to moan, whimper, cry his name, all of it, but you fought it, keeping as quiet as you could to rile him up even more.

“Tell me you like it, you fucking brat,” he hissed, letting go of your arms so he could squeeze your breasts and pinch your nipples. Again you fought the urge to cry out as he pinched and pulled at your sensitive buds. You clutched the sheets instead, feeling an orgasm coming on and trying your hardest not to make it obvious. But your body gave you away, your pussy clenching around him, thighs shaking as he pulled an orgasm out of you so strong you could see stars in your vision.

“You don’t have to tell me, your pussy said it all,” he smirked, still railing you, tears pricking your eyes from oversensitivity but still he kept going.

“Still wasn’t good enough for me,” you lied, trying to keep your breathing even, “I’ve had better.”

He tried to look unaffected by your words, but his hips stuttered, giving him away. Without a word he pulled out of you and flipped you onto your stomach, pulling you up roughly by your hips so your pussy was opened up to him. You braced yourself on your elbows as he plunged into you again, the force of his thrust almost knocking you face first onto the mattress.

“You’re really gonna get it now, no more holding back,” he growled, and you wondered what was in store for you if that’s what he was like when he was holding back. This time, you couldn’t stifle your screams as he pounded you so hard and so deep he was reaching places you didn’t think anyone could reach. High-pitched whines and moans left your mouth as he tore you apart, as his cock pumped in and out of you making you come again and again, losing track of the orgasms you were having, his hands rough on your body.

“That’s it, baby,” he wrapped a hand around your throat and pulled you up to him, whispering in your ear, “keep screaming like that, show everyone what a bratty little fuck you are.”

You’d lost yourself to him at this point, unable to resist anymore, and so you did as you were told, screaming until your voice was hoarse.

“Scream my name, baby, tell everyone who’s fucking the brattiness out of you,” he squeezed his hand around your neck, restricting your airflow, and it made you so aroused you gushed around his cock.

“Jaehyun!” you choked out, “yes! Fuck me, Jaehyun!”

He came with a deep, guttural groan, squeezing your neck even harder, his other hand pressed against your lower stomach to bring you even closer to him and push his cock even deeper. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, all of your limbs convulsing as you came again, your mouth falling slack as the lack of air started to take its toll. Just before you blacked out completely he released his hold on you, and you fell limply onto the bed.

You were slowly coming back to yourself when you felt Jaehyun stroking your arm. You turned around to look at him and he was already dressed, sitting on the bed beside you.

“Oh good, you’re still alive,” he said it jokingly, with a smile, but you could see the concern in his eyes.

“Did you prove your point? Am I really a brat?” you asked, your brain still hazy from the mind-blowing sex you’d just had.

He grinned from ear to ear. “Yes, you’re really a brat,” he nodded, “but to be honest, I kinda like it.”

---

Thanks for 1.4k :)

[REQUESTS CLOSED]

[southeastasianists]

After School Afterlife

Singapore

Heather and Megan Lim, two sisters from Singapore, don’t work in video games. Megan is a law student, and Heather works in a bank. But both sisters have a passion for games, and, during quarantine, they decided to make a game based on the culture of the Peranakan Chinese, the descendants of the first wave of Southern Chinese traders who intermarried with local Malays in the region.

The result is the upcoming platformer After School Afterlife. In the game, players must escape a Peranakan Chinese mansion that sits between the worlds of the living and the dead. But along the way, the game features both Peranakan and Singaporean Chinese traditions, especially those that relate to food.

Peranakan cuisine, with its varied cultural roots and emphasis on intricate details, is notoriously difficult to master in real life, and even harder to recreate on-screen. “My parents got a bunch of Peranakan dishes for my sister to try out,” laughs Heather. “And she would take photos and write a lot of notes for me.”

Both sisters considered it important to include context for players encountering Peranakan culture for the first time. But it was also an education for them. “We eat this food, but we don't necessarily know that much about how it's made or the history behind it,” Megan explains. “So we also research it and learn, and maybe other Southeast Asians will learn a bit about the dishes of cultures they might not think too much about.”

But in After School Afterlife, players learn by interacting with ghosts and monsters. The kitchen, for example, is occupied by hungry Chinese vampires, jiangshi. Players must feed them by making ayam buah keluak, chicken with tamarind gravy and buah keluak nuts. In another mini-game, players enter a haunted coffee shop, or kopitiam, to mix iconic drinks like kopi-o and teh tarik. Many of the facts about food and culture acquired during gameplay are stored in an in-game diary for reference.

The Lims say that playtesters have loved seeing their food and culture in game form, especially how the soundtrack incorporates the cries of an infamously loud local bird. Singaporean playtesters have also expressed interest in learning more about the Peranakan culture in their own backyard. That tracks with Heather and Megan’s motivation for making After School Afterlife, especially after growing up without much representation of their culture on the page or onscreen. “So that's part of it,” Heather says. “Let's just have this fantasy novel that we always wanted as a kid, put in the medium that we also enjoy.”

Lutong Bahay and Soup Pot

Philippines

Filipinos are rightfully proud of their cuisine, which is perhaps why there are currently two buzzy food-themed Filipino games.

Philippines-based game studio Team Meowfia released their minigame Lutong Bahay in December 2020 to great acclaim. Lutong Bahay, which means “home-cooked” in Tagalog, follows young Maricela who must learn about iconic dishes from across the Philippines in order to inherit her grandmother’s carinderia (food stall).

Players are tasked with cooking a range of dishes, such as lumpiang ubod, a spring roll filled with julienned palm hearts, shrimp, and pork, and sisig, pork cooked with onions and chili peppers. As for why they chose food as the subject for their game, the answer is simple. “For most people, food is something we turn to when we are in need of comfort,” the team wrote via email. “Filipino culture is centered around this fact.”

This sentiment is echoed by Chikon Club, the independent Southeast Asian company currently working on Soup Pot, a video game aiming to capture the creative pandemonium of home cooking. While not as narrative-focused as Venba, After School Afterlife, or Lutong Bahay, it’s just as artistically thoughtful as its brethren, allowing players to handle 3-D renders of hundreds of ingredients. Those ingredients are used to make dishes from around the world, but the main focus is Filipino food. The game also lets you play with ingredients in a way that might not be possible in real life. Players can crack an egg or fling it at a noisy neighbor.

The game is scheduled to be released later this year, but it’s already attracted a lot of attention, says technical director Gwen Foster, especially from the Filipino diaspora abroad. But for the team, creating the video game was a way to further connect with not just people from the Philippines, but also to a wider audience. “Food is both a love language and a means to connect and communicate with different people,” Foster says.

Connection is the theme of all these games, several of which were drafted or designed in the midst of the pandemic. (Soup Pot even takes place in the midst of quarantine.) During this profoundly isolating time, food still retains the power to deepen or create brand-new bonds. Heather Lim has noticed that, when early playtesters finish After School Afterlife, they’re eager to learn more about the Peranakan culture as a whole, even if they can’t travel to Singapore right now. “They've been introduced to this food,” she says. “And now they want to come visit.”

[truglori]

Homebody (Ch.2)

Summary: Amiyah is the younger sister of local drug dealer (Durkio). Shy and reserved she keeps to herself and stays out the way. But lately she began to find interest in his right hand man/ best friend (Erik Stevens). Wanting to get him to notice her she discovers that he already had her wrapped around his finger without even trying! There was only a few problems that kept her away from her fantasies , her brother that controlled almost every single breath she took and would kill anyone who looked at her that way and lastly Eriks girlfriend, Alexis , who they called the queen of the hood according to her lavish lifestyle as well as being with the next newest top boy in the making. While Alexis was his girl to the streets all Amiyah wanted to do was be his Homebody...

Pairing: Erik Stevens x Thick Black OC

Warnings: Language

“Girl and when did all of this go down again?”

Amiyah laughed as she told her best friend , Kelley, about what took place between her and Erik. Kelley was someone who she met when she first started working at the boutique at the age of nineteen. She was only two years older than her. One day they decided to go get lunch together and found themselves hitting it off and have been inseparable since. Now they were two years strong into their friendship.

“I told you about three night’s ago. You would’ve known earlier if you would actually come to work.” She replied smartly while placing a jacket back on to the rack.

“And why am I just now hearing about this? You act like you can’t call me or text me.”

“Well that’s because I wanted to tell you in person to see your face when I tell you this part...He said that he was going to try and start approaching me more because we don’t speak to each other enough.” Amiyah couldn’t contain her smile.

“Are you serious?” Kelley’s mouth dropped. “Wait where was your brother during all of this?”

“Oh um I think he was in his car. Why?”

She shook her head. “Mmm that explains it.”

Curious to know Amiyah stopped folding the shirts. “Explain what?”

“That niggas only want to get bold when they get you alone. Never tough enough to do that shit in front of people. You know that was one of the reasons why I stopped fucking with Tony.” She spoke about her ex.

“First off you and I both know that Erik is nothing like Tony. That nigga was different and I don’t think he’s scared to say it in front of everyone...it’s just you know how my brother can be.”

“Overprotective.” They stated in unison.

“I know you like him sis but just be careful. You know dealing with his situation. Can’t be running around here being nobody’s side piece no matter how fine they are.”

“I’m not anybody’s anything. I’m just telling you what went down between us and you don’t know how someone relationship look like behind close doors.” Amiyah expressed becoming offensive.

Kelley playfully rolled her eyes dropping the topic while taking snap chat pictures by the register. Our manager, Rhonda, walked out of the back office with a clipboard catching her in act. She went up to her taking her phone pointing it at her.

“Kelley I don’t pay you to sit here on your phone lil girl. Do some work now before I make you clock out and send you home.”

Placing the phone down in front of her, Rhonda went back to doing inventory check.

“Not you acting like you my mama.” Kelley mumbled before going over to help Amiyah with the last of the restock.

They both mocked her words before silently laughing amongst one another. It wasn’t too long before they heard the bell on the front door signaling that there was new customers coming in. They turned their heads to see who it was.

“Hello, welcome Bella Ella’s ladies. If you need help finding anything don’t be afraid to ask these young women over here to help you.” Rhonda smiled at the group of four before disappearing back into her office.

Walking over to stand next to Amiyah, Kelley whispered in her ear.

“Aw shit ain’t that ole boy girl?” She turned to face her best friend finding the answer she was looking for by the expression on her face. She shook her head heading back to the register.

It was Alexis. Erik’s somewhat “girlfriend”. No she didn’t think that out of jealousy because there was some truth behind it. From all the conversations that she eavesdropped on between her brother and Erik, Alexis didn’t really hold a title like she thought she did. According to Erik she was just ‘fun for now’, whatever that meant. Alexis wasn’t anyone new around the block. She had her share of men who had some money and power to go along with it. With the pretty face that she had and the body to match it wasn’t hard for her to climb her to the top where the money was. Most niggas in the hood would love to be seen with a girl like her on their arm.

“Yeah.” Amiyah spoke softly to herself as her mood shifted a bit.

“Y’all need to help me find something. Tonight is date night with Erik. We do this every Thursday.” Alexis held up a sweater crop top as she spoke to her friends modeling it in the mirror.

Placing the last shirt on the shelf Amiyah picked up the empty box along with the plastic contents inside. Walking to throw it out in the back she was stopped in her tracks when she heard her voice.

“Amiyah? Right?”

She turned facing Alexis who had a huge smile on her face showing her pearly white veneers.

Amiyah smiled putting her attention on her. “Yes, how are you?”

“I’m good girl I’m just here because me and my baby are going out on a date tonight and I need to find something fast. I heard a lot about this store and I came through to put it to the test. Please tell me y’all have something.” Alexis clasped her hands together in hopes that her mans best friend sister could find her a fit for tonight.

“Sure. Do you know if you guys are going to be out and about or staying in one location? The weather keeps dropping these days and you don’t want to be cold.”

Putting her feelings aside Amiyah went to work helping her.

___________________________________________________

It was around two in the afternoon when Erik got a call from his friend to meet up for lunch. Checking his fit his eyes met with the gold chain resting on top of his crisp black tee paired with black jeans and a pair of white and navy blue Nike 1’s. Throwing over his long gray fleece he sprayed on his Mont Blanc Legend before heading out the door of his condo.

Twenty five minutes was the time it took for him to pull up at the restaurant and meet up with Durkio, who was already enjoying an appetizer. Walking past the hostess he gave a head nod assuring that he was taken care of, he greeted his friend.

“Damn nigga you had to start without me huh?” Erik dapped him up before taking off his jacket and sliding in the booth.

“Nigga that’s because every time I call yo ass it take you a whole hour to get here. I hate that shit. I don’t know who’s worst you or Miyah.” He stated going back to eating his mango grilled shrimp.

Erik smirked shaking his head.” Anyways what’s up with you?”

“Nigga I got a fucking problem that’s what’s up.” Durk finishing the last of his food before pushing his plate aside. He grabbed his napkin wiping off the remnants of the quick meal.

“Oh yeah with who?” Erik turned towards the waitress giving her a small smile after she sat down his water.

“Can I get you started with anything?” Clicking her pen she prepared to take his order.

“Not right now sweetheart, thank you.” Erik gave her a smile revealing his deep dimple.

Flustered from his looks she nodded quickly putting away her pad. “Alrighty, let me know when you’re ready.”

“Damn nigga you tryna fuck on her too or sum?” Durkio smiled sipping his cognac.

“Don’t worry bout where my dick go and tell me about this problem you got.”

“Aight so check it out. You remember how I was telling you how I’m trying to get more products right. Like I’m really gonna be out here next up on a different level and shit. I found a connect who need a distributor in this area.”

“Okay so what’s the problem with that?” Erik sat up waiting to hear what’s going on.

“The problem is Shawn and his people already moving some shit out here. Just found out today. I was been supposed to take his ass out but I been to busy looking for a plug. But that’s not the case. Ole boy Don put me up on game where that nigga stash at. Word is he holding a million somewhere not to far from here.”

Erik figured where this was going once he heard his best friend say he was already thinking about taking someone out. He wanted him to hit a lick for him. That was the reason for this whole meet up. No, Erik wasn’t a drug dealer but he wasn’t clean either. This is what he did from time to time to make money. He would rob people. It wasn’t something that he was proud of but it was a job that kept him well fed when he was out on his own by the age of sixteen. He started out doing a few here and there with one of the boys, Tray, who he met in foster care then eventually Erik found himself doing them alone. With his quick skills and knowing how to tote a gun it became second nature for him.

Which after a while got him caught up but was also the reason he met Durk when he was just only twenty years old. Erik was out doing a job one night that Tray told him about. It was supposed to be some quick in and out job but turned out to go in a different direction.

Erik began putting the ski mask on his head so that it would be easy to pull down for when it was time to go. He sat on the passenger side of an all black Nissan waiting for the right moment. It was about two in the morning.There was three guys sitting on the front porch smoking. He knew that in a minute they would go back inside for a rotation after keeping watch on them for the last three days.

“Listen lil nigga..get yo ass in and out. I don’t need you getting no extra shit like the drugs, leave that there...get the money and bounce.” Tray watched him while he took a pull from his blunt.

“Why you act like I ain’t been doing this shit for years now. Just stay right here I’ll be back in ten.”

He took the safety off his Glock 19 as he exited the car walking towards the house. He pulled down his mask to cover his face. Walking up to the front he took one last glance back to see Tray pulling off.

‘What the fuck.’ He thought to himself as he turned around to see about seven niggas now standing on the porch pointing everything from a glock to an AK-47 at him.

He threw his gun down on the grass in front of him with a certainty that this was his last day on Earth. He knew eventually that it would catch up to him but didn’t think it would happen like this.

“Wait this the young nigga that’s been hitting up all the traps?” Durk stepped down the steps laughing eyeing up and down Erik who couldn’t have weighed no more than 175 at the time. “Nigga take yo mask off.”

Erik lifted up the ski mask not showing an ounce of fear staring him down ,which Durkio saw and knew he had to get him on his team.

“If you gon kill me do it now cause y’all niggas not bringing me no where to be tortured or some shit.” Erik stated getting ready to fight to the death of him.

Durkio smirked. “Nah nigga I ain’t gon kill you. Ima help you.”

From that day on Erik went to work for Durkio and getting at least 8 out of 10 of his jobs done with no problems. Erik shook his head reminiscing about his first time meeting the man who could’ve took his life but became his best friend instead.

“Nigga you over there in wonderland. What you gon do? You gon help me?” Durk asked in need. He knew that there wasn’t no one better for this.

“I don’t know. You know I haven’t did a job in almost two years.” Erik sipped his water.

“Aw shit. Listen bro I know you not trying to get into this shit anymore but you know if I’m coming to you about it, it’s serious. I mean if you don’t wanna do it than fuck it what can I do...but if I die that’s yo ass nigga.”

Erik shook his head. “Nigga stop speaking that over ya life. Told you bout talking like that.”

He was serious. He knew that what you say about yourself can truly be spoken into existence. He experienced it at first hand.

“Yea yeah I heard you-“ His phone rung cutting him off.

“Hello.”

..........

“Yeah y’all need me?”

..........

“Aight say less I’m there.” He ended the call. He looked at the time cursing to himself. “Shit I gotta take this. I need a quick favor.” Durkio slid out the booth putting on his jacket. He threw a hundred dollar bill down.

“Wasup?”

“Pick up Amiyah from work and bring her home. I was supposed to get her almost an hour ago. Don’t let her talk you into taking her anywhere else bring her ass home.”

Erik looked down at his watch and saw 3:35 pm. He still had plenty of time before he got ready for his date with Alexis.

“I got you bro go do your thing.” Erik got up following him out the restaurant.

“Yo Erik let me know what the move is before next week.”

He nodded his head and dapped his friend up one last time before going to his car.

_________________________________________________

“Why won’t you just wait until I get off and I’ll take you home?” Kelley stated while chewing on her ceaser salad.

“Why would I wait that long and you have to close the store. Kells I’m sorry but I am tired and ready to go home. I been here since six this morning and my dumb ass brother know I get off at two thirty.”

Amiyah threw her bag next to her on the bench as she grew frustrated. It was going on four o’clock and her brother still wasn’t here. This was the main reason she wanted to get her license. She wouldn’t have to depend on anyone and could come and go as she pleased.

Scrolling on her phone she gave him another ten minutes before she would just get an Uber which she dreaded . It was something that didn’t feel right to her trusting a complete stranger to bring her home.

The bell on the front door dinged as it open. She looked up finding Erik at the door. Looking over at Kelley she had the same surprising look as she did while remaining to eat her food.

“Hey your brother asked me to pick you up. My bad I’m late. It was last minute.” Erik walked up to her and reached for her hand to help her get up.

She accepted the helpful gesture as she bend over to collect her belongings.

Amiyah timidly looked him in the eyes. “Thank you.” Her hand still connected to his.

He showed his dimples as he sucked in his bottom lip before looking down releasing it. He let her hand go as well.

“I’m parked right here.” Erik walked to the door opening it and waited for her to walk out first.

“Bye girl.” Kelley interrupted their moment clearly witnessing some chemistry before her.

Her shy nature exposing itself due to the fact that her crush was right there, she gave a half wave to her friend. Erik following her view finally noticing the brown skin beauty at the register. He saluted her as well and then left behind Amiyah.

Walking up to his Inifiniti Q60 she reached for the door but was stopped. She looked down and saw Erik’s hand on top of hers.

“You don’t gotta worry about reaching for one of these around me.”

She lightly giggled covering her mouth with her finger tips. Not because anything was funny, she did it to cover up her nerves as much as she can. No man aside from her brother showed her this much chivalry.

“Okay.” She got in making sure she was secured before he closed the door. She watch as he jogged around to his side and got in.

Erik rubbed his hands together warming them up as he hit the pushed to start button. This was his first time with her in his car and second time alone with her in all. He looked over and watched her as she was making contact with every thing else but him.

“You good?” He questioned trying to see what’s up as he leaned back in his seat while pulling off.

She nodded smiling showing her pretty whites.

“Damn what happened? I thought we was on speaking terms now?” He joked with her trying to make her comfortable. She was too shy around him.

“I just didn’t know you were picking me up. It took me by surprise.” She finally spoke up as she wiped the sweat off her palms on her pants.

“Yeah me either but I’m cool with it.”

“Well thank you.”

“It’s not a problem.”

It seemed to her as if his voice became deeper and raspier within three days.

“So how was your day?” She wanted to make small talk to try and make this car ride go by fast. Thankfully the didn’t live no longer than ten minutes away.

“It was good...had met up with your brother not too long ago then I have somewhere to be in a few.” He checked his watch.

Amiyah knew where but she wanted him to say it. “Oh yeah, what you have plan for the night?”

He glanced at her before focusing back on the road.

“You tryna keep track of me?” He smirked licking his lips.

She rolled her eyes looking out the window. “No it’s just that I saw your girl at my job today. She was looking for an outfit for tonight.” She let him know that she had put two and two together.

Arriving at the building he put the car in park. Leaning back into his seat somewhat facing her. “Who’s my girl? Hm?”

He wanted to put her on the spot to see what she know since she felt it was within her rights to question him.

“I don’t know what’s her name again? Amber or Ashley? Something like that.” She was being petty now.

Erik laughed picking up the jealousy that she was dropping. But he was going to play along.

“Nah her name is Alexis.”

“Oh yeah her.” She tried her best to make herself seem unbothered.

“You help her find something nice for me?” Erik knew what he was doing, he just wanted to see how far it would go.

“I don’t know you’ll have to wait until tonight. Bye Erik. Thanks for the ride.” She grabbed her purse reaching for the door when she felt his hand grab her forearm. Facing him she saw that his eyes were on her.

“Why you seem upset all of a sudden? What I do?”

“I’m not upset I just want go inside. I’ve been up all morning.” She stated somewhat telling the truth.

It wasn’t a secret to Erik that Amiyah liked him. He caught on to that very fast. It was her body language that always gave her away. Whenever he came around her she would tense up. She could never hold eye contact with him longer than ten seconds and she would always make herself quiet the moment he made himself known. There have been times when she didn’t know that he was around and he would hear her speak but when he’d show his face she was on mute. He knew that her experience with being around men that wasn’t her brother was low. She didn’t know how to express herself correctly so instead she would try her best to become unnoticeable. But he noticed her, he noticed everything.

“That’s not my girl. We just be fucking from time and time but I never put a title on her.” He spoke honestly wanting to leave her with some information she didn’t have to spend days trying to figure. As long as it came from him that’s all that matters.

Amiyah glanced down to see his hand had left from her arm. Crossing her arms she sat up straight. “Why you telling me this?”

Erik shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe that’s something I want you to know. Something I can share between just me and you.”

“Okay.” Going back into her timid state she looked down at her thighs.

Noticing this Erik nudged her chin with his fingers making her look up at him.

“I gotta go. But I’ll be around.”

She nodded her head.

He got out the car and opened her door.

“You want me to walk you up?”

“No I’m okay. I’ll see you around.” She smiled.

Before he could stop his actions he found himself grabbing her hand and pulling her back wrapping his arms around her waist for a hug. He felt it was something she needed. Hell he needed it.

He bent his head down smelling a mixture of blueberry and peppermint oil on her neck. That with the feeling of her soft breast pushed on his chest made his dick jump. It was something about her touch that felt different.

“Damn you smell good.” He mumbled but knew she heard him.

Just the feeling of his arms wrapped around her waist alone Amiyah wanted to moan so badly. When his hand swipe the small of her back she bit her lip. She didn’t know the meaning of what it felt like to be touch starved until today. Never would she have thought that a simple hug would make her feel thumping coming from her clitoris. His hands made her feel so safe and protected she didn’t want the hug to end. But of course all good things must come to an end.

Finally separating from each other she looked up at Erik who was staring down at her with low eyes with that bottom lip tucked in and his left dimple showing.

“ Gimmie ya number.” What came out more as a command than a question he reached in his pocket grabbing his phone. He unlocked it for her facing it in her direction.

Out of habit he kept his head on swivel checking his surroundings while he waited for her to make sure they were safe.

Without hesitation she logged her digits in his phone. Trying her best not to show the shakiness in her hands as she wrote her name and then placing a purple heart emoji next to it. Purple was her favorite color.

Erik checked it smiling at her boldness.

“Oh you got an emoji already. Most people gotta earn that in my phone.”

“Well I’m not most people.” She spoke under her breath.

He’d let her get away with that one.

“ Aight I’ma call you soon. Pick up when I do.” He gave her one last side hug before walking to the driver side.

“Wait but I don’t have your number how I’m supposed to know it’s you?”

“You gon know it’s me.”

__________________________________________________________

Part Three

Tag-list!

@supersizemeplz @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @hearteyes-for-killmonger @artisticestheticreads @uzumaki-rebellion @blowmymbackout @chaneajoyyy @thehomierobbstark @thiccdaddy-mbaku @curls-and-crosses @madamslayyy @goddessofthundathighs @eriksjournal @erikslulbaby @wakandamama @wawakanda-btch @wakandas-vibranium @wakandaforeverwrites @ghostfacekill-monger @killmonger-dolan @killmongerkink @migosis @raysunshine78 @alookintohersoul @popcorn803 @just-juicee @mllover260 @kimmyblckswan2 @koriiii @tchallasbabymama @toniilaney @marvelmaree

[netheritenugget]

this is very very late but i've just been so swamped with work on top of having terrible memory that i kept forgetting to ask you about the soup recipe

if you're free and only then, i'd love to hear it

the weather's getting colder and soup sounds wonderful

soup sounds great actually

(great work on ranboo's ambience track btw knocked it out of the park with that one)

Aww, ty! I worked really hard on it and I'm glad you liked it!

My memory is also terrible so I also kept forgetting about the soup. But here it is!

It was a tossup between the jambalaya recipe, and the turkey gumbo (we don't live the south but we ended up with these recipes from... Something to do with my preschool when I was little? Idk). And I couldn't decide which one. So here's both anyway.

Jambalaya

"Preparation and cooking time about 1 1/2 hours, this will feed at least four people, and is even better reheated the next day, just add a little water when reheating.

2 Tablesp. Butter or Margarine

2 Tablesp Fresh Garlic, chopped 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped

4 sticks of celery, chopped

1 Large can 28 oz. chopped, peeled Tomatos

112 oz can of Tomato Sauce

1 cup water to start

1 pound of either Hillshire Farms Hot Links or Hot Sausage links cut into bite size pieces

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts Cut into bite sized pieces

1 1/2 Cups cooked white rice

White Pepper, Black Pepper, Red Pepper and Salt

*1 pound Jumbo Shrimp or Prawns, cleaned and deveined (Optional see below)

Melt butter in LARGE pot or cast iron Dutch oven, add garlic, bell pepper, onion and celery. Cook for a few minutes, then add tomatos, tomato sauce, water, hot links, salt and peppers to taste. Stir, cover and let simmer. Lately I leave out the red pepper, and add only the white and black. Add chicken when mixture begins to boil, cook for 15 minutes then add rice. Stir and let cook a few minutes more, add more spices to taste if needed. It should be slightly salty, and SPICY!! Add water depending on how Soupy or Stew-like you want it. I like mine more soupy, since it thickens up a great deal as it cools

*Optional Shrimp or Prawns*

You may add Shrimp or Prawns or substitute it for one of the meats above BUT be warned. Seafood does not need to be cooked for very long before it becomes tough. The above meats are fine to let simmer for a while, but if you are adding shellfish, do so after cooking the ice in the jambalya for a while, and then only cook it a few minutes longer after adding the shrimp or pravns, I would say no more than 5 minutes."

The jambalaya recipe is a very tasty soup, and pretty easy to make. We have it all the time. The leftovers are indeed delicious. Also, try scooping it and eating it with corn chips like a chillie, it's pretty good, especially when it's too hot to eat spoonfuls of!

The only things I have to note for this recipe as far as making it is concerned, is that you should take into account the amount of spice in the sausage, it can make it hotter than expected, so taste test it frequently. You can substitute white rice for brown, and add things like diced broccoli slaw veggies (obviously without the mayo) if you want to make it healthier. And we usually do not make ours with shrimp, it is very easy to accidentally make it rubbery, and I find it isn't as good in leftovers.

Turkey Gumbo Soup

"Ingredients:

1. Broth from boiled turkey carcass with leftover meat pulled off and reserved for adding later or bouillon cubes with water/canned broth if more liquid is needed.

2. 1 lb. Italian sausage (mild) in bulk, browned well and drained of fat. Remove sausage filling from casings prior to cooking, sauté like ground beef.

3. 1 chopped onion

4. 1 chopped green bell pepper (or 2-3 celery stalks)

5. 3 cloves garlic

6. 2 bag of frozen cut up okra

7. ½ tsp pepper

8. ½ tsp. Salt (to taste)

9. bay leaf (optional)

10. 1 tbsp A-1 steak sauce

11. 2 or 3 14 oz cans of tomatoes (I used stewed tomatoes, but Italian style works as well.

12. Italian seasoning (1 tsp was recommended but a little goes a long way with me, especially if you use Italian style tomatoes)

Saute onions, garlic, celery in large pot. Add broth, cooked and drained sausage and rest of ingredients. Simmer for at least an hour. This works great in a crock pot as well."

The turkey gumbo is delicious but sadly it's best to make it if you have leftovers of a holiday turkey, and it's not even October yet. ��� So that's partly why I also included the jambalaya recipe. But hey, saving recipes for later is always a good idea!

If someone already threw away the turkey bones before you could stop them and tell them why you need them, that's alright, store bought turkey broth really is an ok substitute.

That's the soup! Enjoy!

[honeypirate]

What a week

Aone x reader college au

Reader panics and Aone helps out

Since it’s college au I feel Aone would have grown more and would talk easier, especially if it was on a subject he knew everything about. Like, say, turtles.

Unedited and old writing.

Warning: swearing. Talks about turtle treats idk. Readers cheeks turn pink.

—

You’re in your own world as you walk down the steps to the train station, you were heading to the city to find a pet store, your eyebrows furrowed in stress, wringing your hands in front of you while you talk quietly to yourself, “Oh god why did I agree to this why couldn’t i have said no?! Because, Y/N, you're nice, that’s why. You're a good friend. It's just a week, It'll be okay. Oh god i'm talking to myself people are going to think i'm crazy. Oh this poor turtle.” you wait at the platform, chewing your lip and staring at the tracks while you wait for the train.

Aone was sitting on a bench by the wall of the train station, reading a book for one of his classes. When you walked down the steps, he caught the words “poor turtle” from under your breath and his eyes flicked over to you. He could tell you were stressed, but he didn't want to approach you and see if you were alright, he was a large man and didn’t want to scare you, so he just sent kind thoughts your way, wishing you the best with your struggle.

When the train arrives you walk in and sit by the door, you pull out your phone and start googling ‘what do turtles eat?’ ‘what do turtles like?’ and anything you could think of. When Aone enters he catches a glimpse of your phone screen, a smile tugging the corner of his lips when he reads your google search of ‘how to make a turtle happy’. He takes an open seat across from you as the rest of the train fills up.

You close your phone, even more confused than before, now you know so much information you don’t know what is best, what should you get to make this turtle happy? You shove your phone in your pocket and look out the window of the train across from you. The afternoon sun shining down on the world outside, you took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, ‘hopefully the store will have some answers’

Your eyes focus on the man inside the car, next to the space of windows you were staring out, ‘he’s in my literature class. I wonder how he likes the book. I’ve never seen him straight on before, he’s handsome’ his eyes flick up and meet yours, your eyes widen and you blush in embarrassment before he smiles warmly at you. You smile back before looking down at your lap, pulling out your phone again to do more research. ‘God he probably thinks I’m so weird now’ When the train stops you're out of it first, power walking down to where the shopping mall was, hoping to avoid any more awkward moments with the gorgeous man on the train.

Finding the store was easy, walking inside, down the aisles past the birds and fish, all of that was easy, even asking a worker for help was easy, even though she couldn't help you. What was hard was deciding what snacks and items would be best for your turtle friend. You stared at the wall of treats, toys, containers, and everything else lining the back wall of the turtle section.

When a man walks on to your aisle to look at the turtle treats, you almost laugh when it’s the man from the train, his eyes widen in surprise and you raise your eyebrows. This had to be a sign, he has to be the one to help you.

“Excuse me?” you ask and he smiles when he hears your voice “yes?” he’s voice was quiet, you were a little surprised for such a big man to sound so soft, you let the thought go and get to the point, “maybe you can help me? I’m watching my friends turtle for a week and I really want him to like me. I want to get him some treats or a toy or something special but I dont know what is best. I’ve never had a turtle before. I read online that they like freeze dried bloodworms or shrimp treats, but I am having such a hard time. Do you know what i should get?” your eyebrows are furrowed as you look at him, pleading with your eyes for some sort of direction.

His eyes soften and he chuckles, “well, what kind of turtle is it?” his voice was a little more confident now because this was his area of expertise, he knows turtles. You shake your head “I dont know, she didnt tell me, but it looks like that one” you say and walk to the other side of the aisle, pointing at a turtle in a tank. He smiles and turns back to you, “since that one is a red eared slider, we can assume that the turtle is a slider, okay, did she say she was bringing food as well? And the tank?” you nod, feeling relief that you were finally talking to someone knowledgeable, “yes, she’s bringing me food and the tank set up, its 20 gallons, she’s going to come over in the morning and set it all up and go through her daily routine with him, she also has it written down for me. I just want to make sure the turtle will like being with me for a week. I want something special for him.” he nods “i totally understand. For my turtle’s birthday I usually get him these” he crouches down and picks up a bag from the bottom shelf, “they are these little balls of different dried bugs and worms, I also get some special fruits and veggies.” you take the bag from him, they looked perfect “thank you so much!” he chuckles “no problem! I’m glad i could help, I am Aone Takanobu by the way.” he holds out his hand and you shake it “Y/F/N Y/L/N, it was nice to meet you” he drops your hand and tingles run up from your fingers to your shoulder, actual electric sparks. “Good luck with your turtle this week” he says and you bow slightly to him, he reciprocates with a warm smile.

You turn to go check out but stop after a step and turn back, “do you think I could trouble you for one more thing?” this man would do anything for you already, name it and he would do it. Your aura is so sweet to him, and your hands were so soft, “what is it?” your cheeks start to flush a little pink, “could you come with me to the market across the street and help me choose some fruits and vegetables?” he nods “I’d love to” you beam up at him “you are the best, Aone, thank you so much!” his heartbeat skipped and his cheeks flushed, he loved how his name sounded on your lips.

“So your turtle’s birthday huh?” you tease and smile up at him as you wait at the light for the crosswalk, his ears turn pink and you can’t help but think it was so cute, your stomach did a little flip”. “uhh, y-yeah.” you chuckle softly, he looks so embarrassed and cute, you decide to help him out “that's adorable. My family has always celebrated pet’s birthdays. How old is your turtle?” he lets out a breath of relief, he was so sure you were going to make fun of him for having a birthday for his turtle, he answers as the light turns and you begin to cross the street, “he’s 4, his name is Hogarth” “like, from the Iron Giant?” he nods “do you really love that movie?” you grab a basket as you walk into the market, heading for the produce section, “yes, plus in high school we were the iron wall of date” you perked up at that “you went to Date Tech! I went to Karasuno!” he smiles as he reaches for some romaine lettuce, placing it in your basket, “what a small world” you smile back at him as he adds “you’re also in my literature class this semester” you nod “I am! I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you but you're always the first one out of the class when it ends” he chuckles “i have a class on the other side of campus right after that one” “ugh that sucks, i hate having to power walk across campus in ten minutes. Well, you’ve got long legs so maybe its better” you laugh and pick up some strawberries and bananas, “it still sucks” he says with a frown, handing you some cabbage, he was so cute you couldn’t help but stare, a small smile on your lips. he clears his throat and looks down at your basket, “so, u-uh, I think some kiwi and papaya and you should be good to go” you nod “I couldn't have done this without you Aone, thank you again” he blushes and smiles as he hands you the fruit “no problem, really. A- and if you wanted, i could give you my number, just in case you need some more help with the turtle or something.” he scratches his neck and you smile warmly “yes! that is a good idea!” you pull out your phone and take his number, texting him so he has yours as well.

“Are you going back to the train station now?” he asks as you stand in line to check out, his cheeks still pink, you nod “this is all I came for. What about you?” he shakes his head “I have one more thing to do still” you walk outside with him, a little sad that your time with him is coming to an end, at the crosswalk you stand facing each other, smiling at one another, both blushing and shy “text me about how the turtle likes those snacks” he says, a little awkwardly. You smile “of course! Be safe and I'll see you in class tomorrow” he nods and the light turns, he crosses and you turn walking away, looking back after a few steps and catching his eye as he looks back at you. You chuckle and wave at him and his cheeks flush dark red as he waves back. Aone couldnt help the smile that stayed with him the rest of his day, thinking about how cute and sweet you were. He was so happy he was able to help you. Little did he know you were thinking the same thing about him, unable to get him from your mind the rest of your day.

The next morning your friend was there at 8 to set everything up, you helped her carry the tank and set up the water and lamp, it takes up your entire desk but you hardly used it anyway. She goes through how to play with him, how to wash your hands before and after handling, and how to feed him. She brought his usual food and some vegetables as well as a soft brush that he likes his shell brushed with

You take a few pictures to show Aone later

You spray on a little of your favorite perfume before class and make sure you get there early to steal the seat next to where Aone usually sits up front instead of where you normally sit in the back. You get out your notebook and pen before your attention is caught by the door opening, you look up and make eye contact with the boy you were waiting for. He smiles the moment he sees you “hi” you say as he sits down next to you “hi” he smiles and takes out his notebook. “Do you want to see my new roommate for the week?” your voice laced with excitement, obviously looking forward to talking to him about this. He chuckles “of course!” you lean over, placing your elbow on his desk as you show him the couple photos, he blushes with your proximity as he says “he is a red eared slider. He looks good” you nod “he really liked those treats too!” “good! I'm glad” the teacher starts the class then, calling everyone's attention.

Every few moments in class you’d feel him looking at you, when you’d glance over at him he would look down at his notes, his ears turning pink and his lips turning up at the corners. After the third time it happens you chuckle and keep studying him, watching his eyes read over the sentence he just wrote, memorizing the slope of his nose and the way he bites his lip when he’s concentrating, then the moment you were waiting for happened, he looked back too you, meeting your eyes he freezes for a second. You smile warmly at him with your eyes closed and butterflies rush into his belly, you look so sweet. The teachers voice cuts through your moment “My lesson is a little short today so you’re free to go. Make sure you submit your papers this Friday on chapters 1-8, see you then” your teacher starts packing up his things but you just continue to smile at Aone. “guess you gotta run?” you ask and he nods “i’ll see you friday?” he asks, for some reason he was afraid you'd say no, even though attendance for this class is mandatory. You nod “of course! Do you mind if i sit next to you again?” he doesn't hesitate to say “no” he blushes and clears his throat “i-i mean, I don't mind. I .. I like sitting next to you” you smile warmly and place your hand on his arm “I like sitting next to you too” you blush and shyly turn back to put your notebook in your backpack. You stand at the same time and walk to the door together, he exits and holds it open for you, “thank you” he nods “see you friday” he says and you nod “see you” you both head in opposite directions, both thinking of the other for the rest of the day.

You get home from your classes and feed the turtle, not thinking anything of it when he didn't come out of his hiding hole, your friend said he liked to be in there. You studied a little before heading to dinner with some friends, when you came back you changed into some shorts and a big tee shirt, making yourself a cup of tea before finishing your paper for friday. After a few hours you noticed the turtle still hasn't moved. A bolt of panic surges through your spine “oooh no. ooh fuck. Please nooo” you get up from your spot on the floor and slowly walk over to the tank, fear making your heart race, “oh no he cant be dead it hasn't even been a day!! My friend is gonna kill me! No no no! Im a turtle murderer!” you run over to your bed and fumble with your phone, unlocking it and scrolling to your contacts, urgently tapping on his name and holding the phone to your ear “please please please” his voice sounds confused as he says “hello?” your words are coming out panicked “can you come over?! I think i did something really bad please Aone please Taka I am freaking out” his heart begins to race when you call him by a nickname “what is going on?” he asks, already slipping on his shoes “please can you just come over. I need you” he’s already out the door “i'm on my way. Where do you live?” you sigh in relief “Harrison apartments #309” relief floods through him now “I live in the same apartments. Ill be there in five minutes” “thank you thank you thank you”

You’re pulling open the door the moment he knocks, l in the middle of a panic attack, tears silently streaming down your face as you take his hand and pull him into your bed room. Your breathing is erratic and your throat dry “Aone i am a murderer i've killed that poor turtle he hasn't been out of his hole for hours and im afraid to check please can you..?” he nods “hold on” he says and softly grabs your bicep, gently pulling you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you and running his fingers through your hair, an action that always helps him calm down. You hold on to his chest, balling his sweater in your fists as you take shaky deep breaths. Grateful for the pressure around you. When you’ve started to breathe calmer he pulls back and wipes the stray tears on your cheeks “now let's see what’s up” he says softly and you nod.

You stay behind him as he walks over to the tank, you close your eyes as he reaches in, eyes popping open and a gasp escaping your lips when you hear his laughter“what?! What happened?” you ask and walk over to his side “look, he looks so mad at me for waking him up. He was just sleeping y/n” you sigh and then hang your head, your eyes filling with tears once more “I feel so ridiculous” you whisper and he laughs gently “no don’t. Please” he says and you pull yourself into him once more, burying your face in his shoulder. He rubs circles on your back “You- youre so” he clears his throat of the words that are getting stuck there “you’resocutey/n” he says quickly and you chuckle, pulling back “what?” you say and reach up, brushing away your tears as he clears his throat again, keeping his hands on your back below your ribs, his ears and cheeks red as he looks anywhere but in your eyes “You are adorable.” his eye brows furrow “ Not ridiculous. Sweet. Cute. Gentle.” you reach up and cup his cheek, getting him to look in your eyes “Thank you Aone. I think..” you blush and look down at his neck for a second before swallowing and looking back up in his eyes “I think you’re so wonderful. Thank you for coming to my rescue, again” he nods slowly, hoping you don’t move your hand. You brush his cheek with your thumb and his neck breaks out in goosebumps, his hands holding your back squeeze a little harder and your smile spreads wider. His blush spreads across his chest and up his neck, making your belly flip with butterflies when you realize how close you guys are standing.

“So he’s going to be okay?” You question and he chuckles “he’s going to be just fine” you nod, a little embarrassed still “good. I’m glad. I didn’t want to be a murderer” you chuckle softly and lick your lips, his eyes flick down to watch your tongue. You don’t know why but that gives you a surge of confidence “do you wanna kiss me?” You ask and place your other hand on his neck, softly brushing the skin above the collar of his shirt. His blush deepens and you wait for a few seconds for his response, his eyes that are still on your lips, flick up to meet yours when you bite your lip. You raise your eyebrows in question and he nods, making your cheeks flush and you close the distance between your bodies, pressing your chest against his as you feel his arms tighten around your back, holding you as you lean up and press your lips underneath his jaw next to his ear.

The soft sigh that falls from his lips makes your heart skip, you slowly kiss down his jaw to his chin before repeating on the other side, moving slower after each kiss to build the tension. When you bring your face up in front of his his eyes flutter open, his pupils blown and look of sweet peace in his eyes, his hand reaches up to cup your cheek and guide your lips to his.

Soft and warm, his lips on yours sent fireworks across your skin, when his tongue teases your lips you let out a soft moan that had him pulling you tighter against his chest as his tongue dances against yours. When you finally pull apart to catch your breath you’re both panting and smiling like lovestruck fools. “Do you want to get dinner with me tomorrow?” He whispers and you nod without hesitation “yes please” you say and hug him again, kissing his neck right below his shirt and biting him just hard enough to leave a small mark that his shirt would cover “do you wanna stay? To just hang out and talk, maybe kiss some more?” You chuckle “I just. I like you and don’t want you to leave yet” you confess and he nods “I feel the same” his voice low against your ear sends tingles through your body, “I have to finish my paper though for friday. Do you mind if we just like.. have a study date?” You pull back and bite your lip as you look up at him. He laughs “that would be smart. I need to run and get my computer though” you nod “okay!” You’re nervous all of sudden, nervous and excited, as you walk him to the door, as you give him another soft peck before he leaves, and squealing to yourself when you’re finally alone. You try and get it together before he comes back. What a week this would turn out to be.

[yuzenji-archive]

the manga store muku visits all the time was a bit more crowded than it used to, and it made it just a wee bit hard for him to get around and grab his favorite series.

he was constantly knocked over by other customers zooming through the aisles, and when he realized someone was standing directly in front of his favorite series, muku zoomed away.

maybe they’ll leave soon? he thought. muku comes to check again, and sees the same person standing in the same spot. he sighs a little, biting his lip before beginning to walk over to where his favorite manga is located.

to muku’s surprise, they were holding the same manga he loves. “y-you like that series too?”

you were so invested in the manga that hearing a soft spoken voice ask you had brought you back to reality; a pink haired boy with a smile that could cure the world was standing next to you. he was adorable. “y-yeah! i wanted to explore a little more outside of my usual genre and thought this one was interesting.”

“can i recommend some of my favorites then? i-i think.. you might enjoy them as well...” muku was awfully shy, but he could feel all of it melt away as he spent the short evening bonding over manga series with you. he lost track of the time, and so did you. “i-i really liked ha-hanging out with you tonight! i..”

muku trailed off, bottom lip caught between his incisors as he works up the courage to ask you if you would like hang out tomorrow. but what if you thought he was weird and a creep? he’s nothing but a shrimp, anyway. “i-i was wondering if you’d like to hang out with me tomorrow..? s-same place, w-we can also get food if you want?”

you thought it was so cute that he stumbled upon his words quite often when he asked you, and you nod your head. after giving him your number, you fled back home, leaving a starstruck muku in the store.

“muku? muku, where are- oh, there you are. why do you have that weird smile on your face?” yuki had five bags total in hand, and muku grabbed the other three to help him. “let’s go home, the director will worry.”

“when did you start worrying about the director, yuki-kun?”

“let’s just go home, muku.”

[dustofbrokenheart]

The Covenant: Top Anon

Pogue Parry x Reader

Word Count: 2,288

Summary: You have a loyal follower who comments on every post under your food blog. Just who is your favorite follower and why is the new grocery boy kinda cute too?

It was a new year and the start of a new you. Well, that is, a you who was trying new things.

In the past, you always made resolutions, but that spirit ran out before the month of January was even done. But after the particularly rough time of the past year, you swore that this time would be different, that you would make a serious effort to do something new.

It was that determination that led your current situation—your kitchen countertops were covered with ingredients and cooking utensils, your cell phone resting on a near by tripod for filming purposes.

The goal for this year was to try running a blog, and since you were a bit of a foodie, it made a lot of sense to center the blog around cooking and food. The idea came to you quickly; the hard part was deciding on a name, which took a while.

Eventually, you settled on The Foodiest. Naming was not one of your strong suits, but it was enough to get the point clearly across to potential viewers.

Choosing the layout design was on the same level of easy as deciding and didn’t take more than a day or two to implement on your site. Thank goodness for the existence of pre-made layout templates that saved you the effort of having to code everything yourself.  

With of the work on that end finished, the day had finally come for you to actually cook something to post about. Seeing as how January was a cold, winter month, you chose to make mashed sweet potatoes. Not only was it one of your favorite winter side dishes, it wasn’t hard to make either, giving you the confidence that even if your writing was lackluster, at least the food would look good.

Most of the blogs you were familiar with used a combination of text and photos for readers to follow along with, but you were going to try video in place of images. You sometimes struggled to copy based on what was shown in the photo, especially when you first started cooking, so you hoped video would make it easier on budding chefs who came across your content.

Luckily, the video would be sped up and lapsed for the final post to spare people from having to watch the monotonous parts in full length.

Hands on your hips, you surveyed everything one last time to make sure it was all ready. With a satisfied nod you reached forward to tap the large, red record button on the phone.  

You debated whether or not to talk while filming but decided against it. You were nervous enough posting to the blog without having the added stress of talking.

Everything happened in its regular order: you started by peeling and chopping the potatoes, a basic step, but you took your time doing it, paranoid as ever that you would cut yourself with the knife. Next you boiled the bright orange chunks in a pot of water; then put them in a mixing bowl once they were cooked. And finally used an electric mixer to blend it all nice and smooth, adding in milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  

Swiping your pointer finger through the finished product, you hummed with delight at the delicious, sweet taste. You pulled out a presentable bowl from the cupboard and spooned some orange fluff into it for the final reveal. Reaching blindly towards the far end of the counter you grabbed a bag of pecans to top off the mashed sweet potatoes. You scrutinized it and added more pecans for good measure.

Doing something in front of a camera was very different than doing the same thing on a normal day. Tension leeched out of your shoulders and you exhaled loudly with your head leaned back. A sense of pride warmed your chest, especially as you returned your gaze to the picturesque bowl. It looked great and tasted even better.

There was a large portion of leftovers because the recipes you used were collected from family and meant to feed small armies of people. You did your best to eat what you could and made plans sharing the rest with friends and coworkers later.

A few days after you published the post, you decided to check the stats on your account dashboard to see what the public response to it was, if there was any at all. Google analytics was useful for counting the total number of views it received while the blog site itself tracked the likes and… a comment?

Initial shock gave way to a bolt of excitement that had your fingers tingling with energy. You clicked to read it, wondering what it may say. Fingers crossed it was something good, whether it came in the form of a compliment or some constructive criticism.

Anonymous: wow good job

The chair creaked as you sat back slowly. You didn’t know how to read that, there wasn’t a whole lot to go on. Wow good job, said sarcastically? Wow good job, said excitedly? It didn’t help that the commenter didn’t believe in using punctuation either. And since it was submitted anonymously, there was no easy way to track down who sent it.

But maybe you were being too paranoid about it. You decided to take it as a compliment and cracked your fingers before firing off a response.

Foodiest: Thanks anon! I had a lot of fun with this dish. Hope you tune in for the next one :)

Anonymous never followed up with that particular exchange but they commented on every post without fail for the next two months.

Anonymous: nevr had white chili before it was good

Anonymous: the stuffed pepper were good

Anonymous: good call with the shrimp

Of course, all of the messages were sent as anonymous, so there was no 100% guarantee that it was the same person, but your gut feeling told you that it was. Who else had no respect for grammar rules and religiously used ‘good’ as their only descriptor?

You grew to expect, and enjoy, the weekly comment left by anon and made sure to leave a nice response in return. It was hard not to feel a connection to someone who took the time to try your recipes and leave a nice message. If only you could figure out who it was or at least have a name for them besides anonymous.

Foodiest: I’m glad you liked the recipe! My gramma swore by mayo when making grilled cheese. Thanks for always liking my stuff, if you ever want to talk more feel free to message me!

There. Maybe that would make them feel comfortable to give you their name you thought as you powered down your laptop for the night.

You spent the next couple of days leading up to the new post planning on what recipe to cook. Yep. Definitely not hoping for more information about anon.

For this newest post you decided to make some Indian curry, one of your favorites. Even long after you finished cooking, taping, and cleaning, the potent scent of spices was still heavy in the air, like aromatic nirvana that had your mouth watering even with a full stomach.

You tried your best not to refresh the post every few minutes to see if anon commented but it was tough. It turned out that you didn’t have to wait long as they left a comment within twenty minutes.

Anonymous: havent cooked this yet but looks good. Never really had indian before so have to go buy the stufff first – po

Anon finally gave up a name! You let out a happy noise and read it again. Po… short and to the point, just like all of the previous responses had led you to think about them. There was no time to waste, you hurried to write back, initial typos all over the place as the words out-paced your fingers.

Foodiest: Hi Po! It’s nice to have a name to put with your words. I would recommend going to an Asian Market for the spices, they’re more likely to carry them. Let me know how it goes for you :)

Since that conversation, Po and you chatted frequently about the weekly recipe choice, whether or not it looked good and if Po had plans to make it themselves, which they often did. Po seemed to like all types of food; vegetarian, meats, drinks, desserts, even ethnic dishes from places as far off as Bolivia and Morocco.

And the longer you two talked, the more frequent the messaging became. Whereas in the beginning Po would only submit a compliment that you would follow up with a ‘thank you’, it had turned into lengthy back and forths that took up a majority of the comment section for each post. More followers joined as the months went by and you hoped that they weren’t intimidated by your blatant favoritism but it was just so easy to talk with Po. If you were being honest with yourself though, it wasn’t only that it was easy… you genuinely liked talking to them.

Every time you made a new post it was difficult to not refresh the page every few minutes to see if they had left a message. And when they did, it was like a shot of electricity straight into the system where your heart would jolt and your face would flood with heat. You were hesitant to say it was a crush given that you didn’t know what they actually looked like and the computer screen barrier made it so you were content to define it as friendship.

Pushing those thoughts aside, you grabbed your wallet and keys while putting on shoes so you could make a quick run to the store. You had big plans to make some buffalo chicken wings for the blog this week and you needed to stop by the store to pick up some ingredients that you didn’t have, namely Frank’s Original Red for the buffalo sauce and blue cheese for the dip. Being an adult and responsible for your own grocery shopping was a chore at times. 

Luckily, Winter had thawed out into Spring so there was no need for you to warm up or car or scrape your windows. You just hopped in and drove the four blocks it took to get to the store. The plan was to cross the stuff for the wings off of your list first and then browse around for some good snacks to tide you over for the next week or so. Things were going according to plan until you saw him.

A tall boy wearing an employee apron stood in front of the cracker section, his jaw line and soft looking long hair catching your eye. Then he reached up to the tallest shelf to restock some boxes his arms flexing slightly to show off his heavy biceps and his shirt rode up, exposing deep cut ridges in his lower abdomen. To put it simply, you were starstruck.

He finished with the boxes he had in-hand and went to grab more from the cart at his side when you noticed your blatant ogling. Rather than confront you about it he merely smiled and moved out of the way so that you could get to the brand that you wanted. Choking from embarrassment, you kept your head down and threw a box of Goldfish into your shopping cart, speeding to get out of the aisle and his presence.

The store was a small local business and you frequented enough to know most of the workers there but you didn’t recognize this one, meaning that he must be new. What a way to make a first impression on him. Clearly your constitution was no match for his rugged, good looks. Then he was polite enough not to comment on you objectifying him which somehow made you feel even worse about it.

You decided to end the shopping trip almost immediately knowing that you were too spooked to continue shopping lest you run into him again.

You rolled the shopping cart into an open check-out lane and started putting your things on the conveyor for the cashier to scan. It just so happened that you knew the cashier—she was a middle-aged lady who’d been at the store for nearly two years. “Hi, Y/N. Find everything you needed?”

“Hey, Eva. Yes, I did.” You tried to steady yourself. Eva had a notoriously sharp eye and wouldn’t hesitate to question you if you looked off.

She left you alone today, engaging in normal chit chat, until she had trouble scanning the bottle of Frank’s hot sauce. Eva frowned when it didn’t want to scan and tried again but the bottle slipped from her hands and the neck of it shattered. Eva cursed and huffed, hurrying to throw the bottle into the trash before more leaked onto the register.

“I am so sorry, hun! I’ll get you another.”

“It was an accident,” you assured. “I can get it myself—"

“Not a problem,” she assured you with a wink. She pulled a walkie from her hip and spoke into it. “Hey, bring me a bottle of Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce. Quick.”

You barely had time to don your awkward smile as she talked about how her neighbor’s dog kept pooping in her yard when the guy from the cracker aisle walked up behind Eva and handed a bottle of hot sauce to her. She took it and patted his back to get him to move forward.

“Thanks, hun. Y/N this is the new grocery boy—”

“Pogue,” he interrupted. “My name is Pogue.”

_______________

Another fic where they know each other but don’t know that they do. This time featuring Pogue and his fandom accepted interest in food. I picture him to have bad messaging skills — his fingers struggle with those tiny phone buttons. 

[lihikainanea]

I had a frustrating day, week, month....there has been lots of stress. But the latest thing I know it is my fault but I wish cercomstances made people more lenient and I know everyone has a story. I forgot until I was told at the bank today that my liscense expired. Others have looked at my liscence the last few months even used it to open a new checking acount because my greendot card kept getting hacked. Anyway the worst is it is over 6 months so I have to take the written test & driving over. Not worried about driving test. I have gotten way better since my original test. The written test I barly passed. I did some crying....

So if Tiger had this type of frustrating day she would need comfort and maybe not to beat her self up so much. make her eat something healthy healthy instead of downing a cheesecake of bag of chips. (I not because I currently can not have either so I waiting until my tummy ached to each some shrimp & fish but tummy still upset). just a some calming needed.

Oh babes that's awful! I've definitely been there. With so much going on around us sometimes even the most basic, simple things just kind of slip by us. I've forgotten to pay tickets, I've forgotten to renew really important things--we've all been there. And it's doubly as frustrating because like you said, other people have seen your licence recently and nobody flagged it. What the actual fuck.

Let me tell you a little story about my most recent escapade with the parking assholes in my city. We have just like...we have insane parking rules, alright? I'm a local and I barely understand them. And while you can renew 99.9999% of your parking spaces via the city app, there is still one or two counties that are real old school and use automated parking machines every 200 feet or so on the street.

Last week I drove to a county like that, to pick up a dress I had put aside. The sidewalks were snowy as all hell, there was freezing rain--in general, it was just a miserable day. I was going to be in the shop for like 5 minutes but knowing the parking assholes, I knew I should pay. So I park. I find a spot right in front of the store. The parking meter is about 150 feet away. I get out my car, I schlep over--tripping, slipping, sliding in slush, I pay my parking. This whole ordeal takes me about 7 minutes. And when I walk back to the store, I look at my car, AND THERE'S A FUCKING PARKING TICKET ON IT.

SOME DICKHEAD GAVE ME A TICKET AS I WAS WALKING TO THE PARKING MACHINE.

And sure, I could fight it. I'd probably win. But fighting it is a 3 year ordeal, and if I lose, instead of $56 I end up having to pay like $300. It just ain't worth the effort.

In any case--tiger is kind of prone to these days. Days that are just awful. And maybe she's not so much prone to the actual days as she is prone to the sheer despair she sinks into when they happen. She can really get lost in her own brain, really become withdrawn and sulky and she can stay like that for far too long. Bill manages this big, international career and is always just so fucking organized--he's tidy, he does adult shit like make a weekly meal plan, he makes himself a to-do list and then he just...actually does all the things on his list. And tiger just can't seem to match her socks and she lets her laundry pile up and the only reason why she makes a to-do list is so she can have a clear list of everything she wants to avoid that day.

But Bill kind of likes her chaotic side, because he likes that he's the one to bring a bit of order to it. To help keep her on track. He likes that role, and when tiger has a real bad day--he hates to see her beat herself up over it so much.

And you're exactly right. When tiger has a bad day, she can kind of spiral. It doesn't take much to throw her out of whack and once it happens, there's really no salvaging it. She'll binge on junk food. She won't wash her hair. Basically anything that would make her feel better, she just....doesn't do.

And that's where Bill steps in. And he does it with a bit of pride, too, those good caretaker vibes just thrumming in his chest. He'll take the bag of chips away from her, hide the gummy bears up on a high shelf that she can't reach. And instead he'll cook her a nice dinner--a comforting one, maybe something granny used to make. He'll hush her sternly when she protests, point at her in warning--and hell maybe she even pushes it enough that she does get a punishment that night, because he knows it'll help set her straight.

Maybe she only eats half of what he makes her before she petulantly pushes it aside but that's alright, half is good enough for him. And he probably doesn't even give her the option--he runs a bubble bath and then he probably just picks her up from the couch and carries her into the bathroom, undresses her. She protests mildly and it earns her another tap on the nose, maybe a light spank in warning of what's to come if she keeps being a brat--and then he nudges her into the tub, throwing his own clothes off and joining her.

Tiger can really stay in a funk for far too long, but Bill doesn't mind--he likes being that source of comfort and balance for her, the one who can pull her out.

[hq-lovin]

road trip shenanigans

ft. a shit ton of ppl bc Y/n has a lot of friends such as

Hajime Iwaizumi as The Mom Friend

Tooru Oikawa as That Bitch✨

Takahiro Hanamaki as Idiot #1

finally,

Issei Mattsukawa as Idiot #2

supporting characters : Tetsuro Kuroo, Kotarou Bokuto, Keiji Akaashi, Kei Tsukishima, Shoyo Hinata

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hello 😺 this is a toss up between crack and fluff, I write this bc the seijoh boys were growing on me but in between I went through a Kuroo phase so he’s here too, btw this is all platonic, I hope you enjoy 😀✨

➣ pairing : platonic! seijoh boys x short, fem!reader (I’m sorry for all you tall girls out there 😭)

➣ scenario [1437]

➣ warning : none, seijoh boys making fun of you, other ppl making fun of you (as a joke), short reader, i’m talking s h o r t,

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platonic seijoh (and others) x fem, short, reader

The sun shone brightly in the sky that were filled with large fluffy clouds. You breathed in the fresh air as you walked out of the store carrying a grocery bag that were filled with food and drinks. Squinting slightly, you spot Hajime stretching his legs as Tooru chatted his ear off. Near them, was Takahiro struggling to climb into Issei’s back, who looked very uninterested at the moment.

“I told you already, you’re too short to climb on my back,” Matsukawa rolls his eyes playfully, staying still as a rock.

“Shut up, at least I’m not as short Iwa-chan over there,” hearing Hanamaki’s statement, Iwaizumi stops his stretches.

“What was that?” He barks raising a brow at the two idiots. Takahiro scrambles to climb faster as a provoked Hajime approaches him. Deciding to save Takahiro, you sped up your pace.

“I’m back, I have snacks with me,” you smile handing them to Iwaizumi. In the corner of your eye, you spot Hanamaki breath out a breath of relief.

“You’re a life saver Y/n,” He whispers and you throw him a wink.

“What’d you get?”

“Oh, just the usual you know—“

“Did you get..”

“Yes I got your milk bread,” you say with a roll of your eyes, fishing out the milk bread you toss it over to Oikawa who gasps and stars to unpack the delicious food. You swore you saw shimmers in his eyes.

“Who’s driving next?” Mattsukawa asks, Hanamaki still on his back. Iwaizumi sighs and stretches his arms before answering.

“I’ll drive, Y/n’s next,” upon hearing this you stop in your tracks, eyebrows ruffling in confusion, along with the dreadful feeling stewing up in your stomach.

“What? Why?” You pout as Oikawa hands you a piece of his precious milk bread. Shoving the food in your mouth, you tilt your head.

“You’re the only one who hasn’t driven yet,” Issei shrugs, Takahiro jumping in surprise at the sudden movement.

“Watch it,” he grumbles, Matsukawa only smiles in response.

“I get the food though,” you try and reason but Hajime is quick to shut you down with his stern mom voice. Your shoulder slump, but your moodiness doesn’t last for a long time when Oikawa decides to blast music.

After a while of screaming your lungs out, spilling snacks, and wondering how Iwaizumi got his hair that spiky, your time to drive had finally arrived.

“There’s no getting out of this,” Hajime crosses his arms like a strict dad and you bite your lip from smiling to wide, it would ruin your chances of convincing him.

“But what if—”

“No.”

“Okay but like if I—”

“No.”

“Hajime! Just please—”

“No. End of discussion.”

Stunned at his choice of words, you drag yourself to the front seat. Hanamaki calls dibs on the front seat, promising to play all your favourite songs to keep your sanity in check.

Grabbing onto the wheel, you realize something. Your feet rest right below the pedals, and you find yourself having to sit up straighter just to get a view of the road. Biting your lip, you sigh and move to adjust your seat

“What’re you doing?” a voice calls out from behind your seat, shifting around you see a confused look planted Matsukawa’s face. Your mind quickly thinks of an excuse, too embarrassed to tell him truth about your problem. But alas, before you could spit out a word or even a sound out of your gaping mouth, Hanamaki had beaten you to the punch.

“She’s adjusting her seat, she can’t reach the steering wheel,” gasping, you let out a whine and slap him lightly on the shoulder as he continues to cackle at your flustered state.

“Hiro! You can’t just blurt that out!” You pout and slump onto your seat.

“Awh, is wittle Y/n angry because she can’t see above the dashboard?” Issei’s coos mockingly, making your glare at him through the rear view mirror.

“Is this why you didn’t wanna drive so bad? Because you’re so small?” Hajime sticks out his bottom lip and ruffles your hair, much like an older brother teasing their younger sibling, excepts it’s a grown man making fun of their short friend. You grumble underneath your breath as a chorus of laughs were aimed towards you.

“It’s okay Y/n-chan!” a peppy Oikawa smiles, “Iwa-chan over here isn’t too tall himself!” he chuckles before earning himself a punch in the shoulder from “Iwa-chan.”

“Yeah, yeah, just drive Y/n,” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and you continue to adjust your seat.

“Damn, you really can’t reach the far?”

“Listen—” and before you knew it, they were back to teasing and poking at your patience.

“Ahh! Oikawa-san!” a cheery voice calls out, and you turn to your side to see a bubbly boy with orange hair running rapidly towards the car. For a moment you think to start the engine and speed out of there, but you spot other familiar faces.

“Oi Oi, what do we have here?” Your eyes meet catlike ones and sigh before lifting a hand to say hello to Kuroo. You smile at Bokuto, Akaashi, and Tsukishima that were trailing behind him.

“Is little Chibi-chan driving now?” He smiles and pats your head and for the third time that evening, one of the four boys behind you quickly yells an answer before you could even open your mouth.

“She’s too short to drive! Look at how much she had to adjust her seat!” Mattsukawa yells and stretches his legs in front to show how much space he had, and indeed there was a lot.

“Y/n! You haven’t grown since highschool!” a certain grey haired owl gasps dramatically, slapping his hands onto his cheeks for effect. Akaashi places a warning hand on Bokuto and Tsukishima hides a smirk.

“You’re shorter than me!” Hinata yells for the entire world to here, copying Bokuto’s actions with wide eyes. At this point you’re tired and the only thing you manage to do was roll your eyes once more.

“Aww, that’s okay shrimp!” Kuroo giggles (yes he giggles, you can fight me on that) and leans down taking your cheek in his thumb and index finger, pinching it slightly.

“Kuroo! You’re supposed to be the one defending me!” You pout swatting his hand away.

“Since when,” he cocks a brow, grinning.

“Since...since that one time in the training camp you said I wasn’t that short!” Pointing a finger at him.

“That was because you were standing next to Yachi,” he snorts.

“And even Yachi grew a little,” Tsukishima smirks, joining in on the fun. You slump back onto your seat and lean on the palm of your hand, dejected.

“If it helps Y/n-san! I’m not that tall either!” Hinata jumps up and down whilst waving a hand in order to get your attention.

“Yeah! And Iwa-chan isn’t either! See? You’re not alone in this Y/n!” Hanamaki places a “comforting” hand on your shoulder as Hajime raises a brow.

For the rest of the day, you hung out with the boys, endured through their teasing comments about your height. It wasn’t so bad, especially when you had Hajime and Shoyo as your personal bodyguards, although they made the occasional short jokes as well, they were pretty decent.

But alas, the day had come to an end. You all decided to book the same hotel together because nothing could possibly go wrong, nope, not one thing.

“Tsukishima give me back my phone!” You reach up as far as you could on our top toes, not wanting to jump since that would cause a disturbance to the people below you.

“Don’t worry Y/n! I’ll get it for you!” Hinata says and starts running towards Kei who was dangling your phone right above your hands.

Just before Hinata could jump, Bokuto tackles him onto the bed, then proceeds to play wrestle with him.

“My hero,” you sigh and look back at Tsukishima who had a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

“It’s right here, just come get it,” He smiles. You sigh and memories from this morning went through your head. Although these boys could be a pain in the ass, tease you relentlessly about your short stature, take your belongings and proceed to dangle them above you, you loved all of them and absolutely nothing could change that.

“Help! Iwa-chan’s chasing me!” A distressed Oikawa enters into the hotel room along with a feral Hajime closing in on him. Hanamaki record the whole thing as Mattsukawa is howling in laughter. Yes, nothing could change your love for these boys.

[spiritofchaoticdreams]

Gotham’s Puppet Princess, PART 4

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 5)

________________________________________________________________

“Damian?”, she repeated.  Damian Al Ghul  stood in a black turtleneck and jeans a few feet away from her. She walked over to him and the closer she got the more she noticed that he grew a bit since she'd last seen him. ‘He’s still a shrimp though’, she snorted. She was now standing in front of him, sure she hadn’t grown much since she last saw him but she was now 5’5. It was kinda funny how she was towering over him. She poked his cheek, he glared at her and slapped her hand away.  He’s really here. 

“So, whatcha- I mean what are you doing here? In Gotham I mean.”, she asked. Rubbing her poor hand. ‘Ouch!’, she thought dryly.

“If I told you, I might have to kill you.”, he said in a joking tone, a slight smirk on his face. 

“I finally got you to make a joke and that’s what you do?”, Marinette snorted, “Anyone tell you, your sense of humor is a bit twisted?” 

He rolled his eyes, “Says the daugh-.” He stopped himself mid sentence, they both knew what he was going to say. But they weren’t alone. Just random extras around them. Not even toys. Although, it's really bad for business if someone overheard MDL was the daughter of the Joker. She snorted and walked out the door.

“The daughter of a great comedian.”, she smiled over her shoulder as she descended the small flight of stairs. Once she was on the sidewalk, she stopped and spun around. “Well, it was nice to see you Dami. But Daddy says I have to be home by curfew.” She waved and turned back around and started walking away. 

“Wait! Marinette!”, Damian’s voice said rather loudly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder. Seeing Damian Al Ghul dressed as Steve Jobs running toward her made her laugh a bit. “I’ll escort you home!” He said in his serious voice. She thought it over. Damian Al Ghul, he knows who she is. Who her Pops is. He’s the grandson of Pops’ business partner. What’s the harm in him walking her home? 

“Why not?”, she smiled. He nodded and together they walked in silence. It reminded her of him taking her down to the Lazarus Pit. Except this time, he’s not carrying her like a princess. “Hey Damian, what were you doing in the Wayne Hotel?”, she asked. 

“I thought I said if I told you, I’d have to kill you.”, he said in that same joking tone. ‘He smiled! I think? Was that a smile?’, she thought. 

Marinette chuckled, “Yeah right. Then you’d risk our families going to war.” She smiled and Damian got this weird look on his face. She was tempted to ask him, but he probably wouldn’t have told her anything. So she didn’t acknowledge it. They walked in silence, the tension a bit thick.

After a few blocks Marinette noticed they were passing a grocery store. Quickly, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along with her. “Oh! That reminds me! I have to pick up some steak.” She smiled at him. 

He gave her a confused look, “Steak?”, he repeated. She hummed in agreement, they entered the store, “for my brothers! I promised them some steak before I left so now I have to get them some.”

“You have brothers?”, he asks. Marinette giggles, she scans the isles and spots the frozen meat section. Once again she pulls Damian along with her. 

“Yup!”, she cheered. “Actually, they were Pops’ anniversary present to...you know who. I was raised with them.” Damian had a clueless but intrigued look so Marinette continued. “ Well, they’re the...” she stopped to look around and make sure there was no one around her, “hyenas.”, she whispered in his ear. She let his arm go and started looking through the store's selection of steaks.

“So what were you doing in Wayne Hotel?”, he asked. Marinette didn’t bother turning to look at him. 

“If I told you, I might have to kill you.”, she repeated his earlier words, mimicking his serious tone. He scoffed, so she added,“Just kidding! I was there for work!”  She read the labels on the steak. 

Sirloin, T-bone, Flank, Tri-tip, Rib-eye. So many choices! She pouted, her brothers weren’t picky but which one should she get them?  “Work?”, she heard Damian ask. She nodded, and pulled out her card and threw it at him. She assumed he caught it based on how she didn’t hear anything. 

“MDL Boutique. The “DL” stands for don’t keep us on the downlow.”, she replied nonchalantly.  Damian didn’t respond, ‘He’s probably reading the card’, she thought. Fudge it! She’ll get them Sirloin! She grabbed two packages and saw Damian staring at her card. Then he looked her dead in the eye. 

“You...run a business? No, I believe the better question is you’re a matchmaker? ”, he asked, a confused look on his face. Marinette looked at him, “Well, I am certified,” She placed a finger to her chin, “Soooo...yes.” She smiled sheepishly.

Damian shakes his head, and chuckles slightly, “Why? How are you certified?” She shushed him with a finger, then walked over to the cash register. He sputtered, “Marinette Dolly Levi!”He groaned and headed over to the candy isle.  She giggled and looked at the cashier. It was a blonde lady in her early twenties who looked amused by Marinette and Damian, she gave Marinette an delighted look. 

“Your boyfriend looks a little embarrassed.”, she winked, “What did you do? Give him a hickey?” Marinette didn’t know how to respond. Damian wasn’t her boy friend. But he was a boy she was almost friends with. So almost boyfriend? Also what the heck is a hickey? The girl laughed, most likely  at her lack of response. “You’re so adorable!” Now that made her face heat up, she knew she was cute, but adorable? Marinette looked anywhere but the girl as she loaded her steaks onto the conveyor belt.

“You’re buying me this in retribution, Levi!”, Damian hissed as he slammed a chocolate bar on the conveyor belt. The cashier looked a little amused, and Marinette just placed it with her steaks. “Now please explain to me how you are a certified matchmaker?”, Damian grit his teeth. 

“I took a course, and then I graduated with flying colors!”, she said nonchalantly. “I even have a diploma at home.” She pulled out her wallet and waited for the cashier girl to give her the price.

“That’ll be 22.06 dollars.”, the cashier said, staring at Marinette with a curious look.

Marinette paid the money, placed her steak in a bag. Meanwhile Damian grabbed the receipt and his chocolate bar then began scarfing it down. “Aww! I don’t get any chocolate?”, she pouted. Her only response was Damian hissing at her.  She smiled when she heard Damian hurrying after her. “So you’ve heard what I’ve been up to. Now what’s been going on with you?”, she asked. “Also, what’s a hickey?” Damian almost choked on his chocolate.

___*****Line Break*****___

They’d been walking a while, and were almost to the hideout when Damian pointed out that they were passing by a toy store. She looked over  her shoulder to give the store a courtesy glance when she saw it. In the store’s window, there were stuffed animals, lions, tigers, bears, and one familiar bunny. She walked over to the bunny,  and shakily placed her hand over the glass. She whispered, “Cottontail.”  A smile taking over her features as she wanted to reach through the glass and take the toy.  Just to hug it for a minute or two, let herself feel at ease once more. 

“Do you want that toy?”, Damian’s voice brought her back to where she was. She blinked and looked down at the bunny. It wasn’t pure white with green button eyes, no it was grey with a white patch over one eye, its eyes weren’t buttons either. And it was naked! 

She frowned and stepped away from the store, “No, it’s a far cry from the real thing.” She looked over at Damian, despite his frown she saw the familiar gleam of curiosity in his eye. She kept walking in the direction of home and gestured for him to follow her. “When I was a toddler, I didn’t have any friends and my brothers were still a bit too rough for me to play with. So Pops got me a playmate, a stuffed bunny named Cottontail. He was my best friend...but...it wasn’t just my legs I lost that day.” She felt her eyes start to water and she quickly wiped away any stray tears. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Damian eyeing her with what she thinks is suspicion. 

“Why are you giving me so much information?”, he asked. 

“You already know who I am, and I really don’t see the point in playing games with you.”, she replied with a small smile. Damian didn’t respond, maybe it’s best he didn’t say anything. They were only a few minutes away from the factory, she could actually see it from where they were. But Damian probably wouldn’t leave until he saw her walk into her home. She shrugged, it’s just Damian, the grandson of Pops’ business partner. Again, what’s the harm in it?

“Well, here we are.”, she said. They were at the fenced gate surrounding the factory that clearly said, “No trespassing.” Damian gave her a look, she rolled her eyes and exclaimed. “Don’t give me that look. This is where I’ve been living!” 

Damian rubbed his temples and sighed. He crossed his arms, “Marinette, you expect me to believe that you and your father have been living in such an obvious location?” 

 Marinette huffed, “Believe what you want, but I have steaks to deliver.” She sashayed away into the factory’s parking lot. She didn’t make it very far before Damian started following her, and so she stopped dead in her tracks. “So are you gonna want to stay for dinner?”, she asked as she looked over her shoulder at him. “Because Pops said Judy made my favorite, Spinach Puffs!” 

Damian looked like he was either going to accept or he was considering it, but then his phone rang. He looked a little annoyed at the name on the caller ID, he tsked. “What do you want Drake?”, he asked. Marinette fiddled with her hands unsure of whether or not she should just keep walking to the secret entrance. Though that name got her curious, was it a codename? Was it assassin stuff? Should she be listening in on this? “Fine, have my transportation arrangements set up and I’ll be there.” Definitely assassin stuff.  He hung up the call, he gave Marinette a somewhat apologetic look. “As tempting as that sounds, I have to decline.”, he said. 

Marinette shook her head, “No worries. Guess I’ll just say goodnight then.” She waved a little and started walking closer to the secret entrance when Damian stopped her by grabbing her wrist. She turned to watch him pull  out a pen and her receipt from the store. He writes something on the slip of paper and hands it to her. “My personal phone number, if you need the assistance of the grandson of the demon head. ” 

Marinette grinned at him. “Of course, thank you Damian! But you do know my phone number is on my business card right?”  

Damian gave her a deadpan look, then he got this nervous look on his face, it seemed so out of place. “Marinette, can you answer me this question honestly?”, he asked. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded. “Why are you wearing spray tan?”  

Marinette froze slightly, ‘he noticed? But how?’, she pondered but then she broke into a fit of giggles,“You know me, I’m a daddy’s girl. I want to be just like him. He says “jump’ ” She looked Damian dead in the eyes and smiled as she said, “I ask how ''high”. He asked me if I wanted to be like him. How could I ever say no? But in order to parade around as Marinette Dolly Levi, I have to look like a regular teenage girl.”

“Your loyalty is admirable.”, Damian said, “To be as loyal as you are to your father, that type of devotion would be highly rewarded in the league.” 

“I don’t know about all that, but Pops is the one who’s given me so much! He raised me, cared for me, provided for me! He even saved me from death, then he healed me, and he even found a way for me to walk again! Then he helped me get back in the game, and I was reborn again! I will do anything Pops asks, because of how much he’s done for me!”, she exclaimed wholeheartedly. Then her eyes widened in shock, and she cried out,  “Oh crud, curfew!” 

She pulled Damian in for a hug and said, “Goodnight Damian! Get home safely!” And booked it to the doorway of the hideout. Marinette knocked on the door, she looked over her shoulder and Damian was nowhere to be seen. The door creaked open and she was met with darkness. Before she could blink she was pulled inside and was shoved onto a chair. Then she heard a distinct click-click sound and there was a light blinding her. Then the door slammed behind her.

“Young lady do you have any idea what time it is!”, Pops shouted at her, his silhouette outlined by a giant lamp shining behind him. Marinette had to squint really hard just to see his face, he was frowning. Crud.

 Marinette winced and looked down at her feet, “I’m sorry Papa, I must have lost track of time at the grocery store.” She said gesturing to the bag of steaks she had in her arms. Pops pinched the bridge of his nose, “Marinette Dolly Levi.” She flinched, ‘Full name!? Oh I’m in trouble.’, she thought. “I get it. I do, you’re 13. You want to explore, test the boundaries of your freedom!” ‘There’s a but to this isn’t there?’, she sighed inwardly. Then Pops’ smiled and Marinette could tell that it was strained, “But! You are 13! You have a curfew for a reason!”, he paused. “We live in a society that preys on the innocent and tries to corrupt and turn the whole world into a depraved cesspit of despair and deception….And my sweet Dolly, you are one such innocent soul.” 

“Pops, I would’ve been fine. I am your daughter-“, she was cut off by Pops holding up his hand in a “stop” motion. “I’m your father, yes. My influence spreads almost all over the world, but there are thousands. No, millions of people who would love to get their slimy hands on the Joker’s daughter!”, he said, his voice getting louder and more desperate with every word.

Marinette looked at him, she opened her mouth to refute that she would’ve been fine. She can fight! She can distract! She can evade! Nobody even knows who she is! “Like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy!”, Pops added. Marinette froze, her blood ran cold. “Oh they would love to find out that you lived and then use you as bait. Hell, maybe brainwash you to think I’m the bad guy! Then get you to fight me! And-” Pops froze whatever he was about to say was lost. It took Marinette a few seconds to understand why. She was crying, her face full of tears streaming down her face and soft sobs escaping her. Pops looked a bit scared, then he bent down and extended his arms out towards her. Marinette immediately threw herself off the chair and ran into his arms, and sobbed.   

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”, Marinette hiccuped into his jacket. Pops patted her hair, and hugged her tightly, “There, there. Daddy’s here. I-I went too far. I’m sorry.” His voice full of remorse and the way it cracked, made her freeze. She made him cry, she made him cry. No. Pops should be smiling! 

Marinette clung to his jacket even more, “N-no! It was my f-f-a-ault for missing curfew!” She sobbed, “You were right!” He shushed her, and pushed her away so that she was looking at him “There, there, Dolly.” He used his hand to wipe her tears away, “No more tears.” Marinette tried to stop, but it was hard. The tears wouldn’t stop, and the more she tried to force it, the more the tears fell. 

“Just smile, darn you smile.”, Pops softly sang, “Everybody needs a clown! Now with just one stroke.” Pops’ voice trailed off and instinctively Marinette finished the rest of the song through her tears, “The final joke. Just smile, darn ya smile.” They both started laughing as they sang the rest of the song. Marinette sang the song louder and louder with every word. And soon she forgot what had just occurred. Or tried to, the guilt of upsetting Pops. The way she took his smile away was eating away at her.

___*****Line Break*****___

Marinette woke up to the sweet smell of pancakes, she hurried down the stairs, past Bud and Lou who were still sleeping off their midnight steaks. She made it to the area they had deemed the kitchen area and saw Pops already at the table reading a newspaper in one hand and eating a spinach puff in the other. A small plate of the delicious treats in front of them.  He looked up from the paper, “Good morning Dolly!” 

She grinned at him, “Morning Popsicle!” She passes by him and kisses his cheek and hurries over to the stove where Judy handed her a plate of warm pancakes. She beamed at Judy who smiled at her, and signed “Enjoy!”. Marinette’s mouth salivated at the sight of them, warm and crispy, she sat down at her seat at the table when Pops’ spoke up.

“You know, I don’t know why I overreacted last night. ”, Pops said, making Marinette stop and freeze, remembering his words from last night. “ I mean it’s not like you were out and about with some boy!”, Pops cackled as he stuffed his face with another mouthful of pancake. Wait, that's a bad thing?! Maybe it’s a good thing she chose not to mention that she walked home with Damian last night. Still she shouldn’t be hiding things from Pops, but she doesn’t want him to cry because she was a bad daughter. Yeah she should keep quiet about Damian. Speaking of Damian, there was something he never told her. Even when she asked politely.

“Pops’ what’s a hickey?”, she asked before stuffing her mouth with her breakfast. Pops’ eyes widened and looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. Then he choked on his second pancake, he was hacking and struggling to get the pastry lodged in his throat out. Marinette panicked and ran over to him but was pushed aside by Judy. Who promptly gave him the heimlich maneuver, immediately the mashed up food went flying across the table landing on Marinette’s plate. ‘Ew!’, she thought, trying not to gag. Luckily, it didn’t touch any of her pancakes. 

“WHO TAUGHT YOU THAT WORD!”, Pops yelled. Marinette tilted her head, “Why?”, she asked. “THAT IS A VERY BAD WORD!”  was her response. ‘That doesn’t answer my question though’, she thought. ‘Maybe Lila or Alya would know.’

“Okay, Pops!”, Marinette said as finished her first pancake. ‘If it’s a bad word, then why did the cashier girl ask if she gave Damian a hickey?’, she pondered. It just doesn’t make any sense! What is a hickey?!She absent mindly went for more pancakes, only for her fork to touch the plate, she looked back down at her plate, her pancake...It...Was...Gone! What?! She still had two left on her plate! She looked over at Pops’ plate. When did he go get more pancakes? Wait why does he have two plates?!

GASP! He stole her plate! Right as she was about to say something, Bud came running with her purse in his mouth. She slid off her seat to kneel down in front of him and he dropped it in her  lap. She smiled at him and scratched his chin, “Thank you Lou!” She looked at her phone and saw she had 10 missed calls from Pants On Fire. “Oh crud! I’m supposed to go to Wayne Hotel to meet with Lila!” She shot up like a bullet and was about to run off to her room when Pops cleared his throat. 

 “Dolly”, he said without even looking up from his newspaper. “Curfew.” Marinette nodded and nervously smiled, “Of course! It won’t ever happen again!”  The guilt from making Pops worry over her was beginning to eat at her again. “You should tan a bit when you get home.”, he added as she walked away.

It had been a while since she spent some time in her tanning bed. Guess her tan was starting to fade a bit. Looks like those stupid self tanning spray were cheap after all! “Okay Pops!”, she said. 

She ran upstairs to her room and changed out of her pajamas into something more business casual. Is she forgetting anything? Keys, phone, wallet, tools, purse? Nope, that’s everything. She ran back downstairs, passing by her sleeping brothers, and racing to the kitchen where most of her family was. Punch and Judy eating some delicious looking pancakes, her stomach growled at the sight. All the while, Pops was still reading the newspaper. She kissed Pops’ cheek, and gave hugs to Punch and Judy. Before she left the kitchen, Pops cleared his throat.

“Do you have everything you need?”, Pops asked, finally looking up from his newspaper. Marinette shook her head yes, Pops smiled. “Attagirl. Just remember to be home by 10:00.” Marinette nodded and ran out the door.  She texted Lila.

Me: I’m on my way

She booked it to the nearest bus stop and waited. Then her phone beeped, twice. She looked around, she was alone. There was no one who looked like they might take her away. She pulled out her phone and unlocked it.

Pants on Fire: Ok

Ok? Ok!? Is this girl serious?! She called her numerous times just for ok?! Ugh! Stupid toy! She’s lucky she’s even playing with her! She frowned and shoved her phone back into her purse. Then her stomach grumbled slightly, she was confused.Then it hit her, she’s only running on one pancake. Oh well, it’s what she gets for missing curfew.

___*****Line Break*****___

 Eventually, she made it back to the Wayne Hotel. Finally here! She walked up the staircase and through the doors, sighing she pulled out her phone and texted Lila.

Me: I’m in the lobby 

Me: Be there soon!

Then she overheard an excited squeal, curious she turned her head and saw Alya talking to two boys. A blonde boy who looked both happy and nervous, and a boy with glasses and a red cap who just looked concerned. The trio was about 10 feet away from her, but they were right next to the elevator.  Marinette could tell how happy Alya was from where she was at the door.  Her earrings seemed to glow brighter than usual, was it cause she was happier than usual? 

The closer Marinette got to the elevator the more she could hear the trio. “Seriously? You’re dad’s coming to the Wayne Gala?! That’s so awesome! Do you think you could get me an interview with him?”, Alya exclaimed as she stared at the Blondie with stars in her eyes. But the Blondie was silent, seeing Blondie like this Alya’s red glow dimmed and Glasses placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“Adrien. Dude. Are you okay?”, he asked. ‘That’s Adrien? He’s kinda meh. Why did Lila lie about him?’, she thought. ‘Is he super rich or something?’ Blondie, or Adrien reached up to grab the other boy’s hand and smiled reassuringly. 

“Don’t worry Nino. I’m fine, it’s just Father is planning a father-son outing tomorrow.”, Adrien smiled. Well that doesn’t seem like something to be upset over. “It’s going to be the first time we’ve hung outside the house since my mom disappeared.” Oh, should she be listening to this conversation?

Marinette was close enough now to see their faces, and honestly? They both seemed bland. Sure they were good-looking in their own right, but that’s it.  So far they didn’t seem like anything more than toys. 

“Oh that’s so amazing Adrien! Wait tomorrow? So he’s already here? Or coming tomorrow?”, Alya questioned. A confused look on her face, Glasses or Nino looked a bit upset at this revelation. Marinette was right next to them now, she didn’t look at them,or try to gain Alya’s attention. She needs to get to Lila’s room to do some final touch ups to the dress. 

“Actually, he arrived the same day we did. He’s just been busy trying to branch out in Gotham.”, Adrien admitted. Marinette pressed the button for the elevator and it came to her almost immediately. She stepped inside and overheard Adrien say, “Father thinks it’ll be good for the brand if he is friends with Bruce Wayne and I’m friends with-” The elevator doors closed as she pressed the 12th floor button, effectively cutting off Adrien. 

After a minute or two she was up on the 12th floor, and now standing in front of Lila’s room. She knocked and there was no response. She pulled out her phone and texted Lila.

Me: I’m here!

Me: Like right outside your door

After 5 minutes she still had no response. Okay nothing to worry about, she’ll just call her. She clicked on Lila’s contact name and waited. 

___*****Line Break*****___

Soooooo, she called Lila twice, with about 3 minutes in between each call. Okay maybut it looked like she hadn’t even read her messages. Did she step out? Did she  forget her phone? Is she on the phone again? Or is she on the toilet? Maybe she should check the door, if it's locked she’ll wait. If it's unlocked she’ll go in. She grabbed the doorknob and twisted, it was unlocked. She released it and face palmed.

What is wrong with this girl?! This is Gotham! Seriously? Did this girl not learn from the first time she walked into her room?! Unless, she’s dead. Ugh! She better not walk in on a dead body! She sighed and twisted the door knob again, and walked into the room. So far no corpse smell.

She walked further into the room and saw Lila. In the Peacock Dress,  staring into a floor-length mirror that was attached to the wall. All the while swaying her hips to see the skirt of the dress twirl. She was able to see Lila’s face through the reflection, and the girl had a pleased look on her face. Seriously?! She was here the entire time?! Marinette resisted the urge to facepalm, and instead of grabbing Lila’s hair and twisting it like it was playdough, she took a deep breath. She put on the most genuine smile she could muster.

“Hey Lila!”, she chirped. Lila jumped and Marinette saw Lila’s reflection looked shocked for just a second before turning into a smile. It kind of looked genuine.

“Marinette! Darling! What a surprise! I didn’t even hear you come in!”, Lila beamed.  Still modeling with the dress on. 

“Well, the door was unlocked and you didn’t answer my texts or calls.”, Marinette said, “And because this is Gotham, I was worried.” She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, because it was.

Lila didn’t look like she acknowledged her comment, she just kept twirling. Then Lila piped up, “I know what you mean. I’ve been here for over a week now and I simply can’t relax unless I have this dress on! Gotham is such a gloomy mess.” Oh now that made her mad, insulting her hometown?! Does this girl have a death wish?

If Lila saw the anger in her eyes, she didn’t show it. Instead she kept modeling in the mirror, even blowing kisses at her reflection. ‘Is she trying to annoy her?’, Marinette thought. Lila looked at Marinette through the mirror and smiled.  Marinette was able to smile by imagining Lila’s head on a spike, while she and Pops laughed.

“Honestly, Mari, Darling. I worry about you being in such a dangerous city. All the unsavory types roaming the streets.”, Lila said as she spun around and faced Marinette directly. She walked over to her and placed her hands on Marinette’s shoulders. “Especially since you’re in Jester’s gang.” 

Wait...What? Who’s Jester? Marinette didn’t need to fake a look of confusion, who the hell is Jester? Wait a minute...Does she mean Pops?! ‘I’m gonna kill her.’, she thought.  But then, Lila moved her hands down her arms, and now she was holding her hands. Marinette looked her in the eye in mild confusion “Marinette, you have to leave his gang. Haven’t you seen what he did to that one psychiatrist? The one who got close to him? He brainwashed her, got her pregnant and then he...he killed their daughter!”, Lila said so earnestly that Marinette probably would’ve believed her if she had just been a goon. She felt her body begin to shake, then she was giggling. She shook her hands free and laughed a bit crazily in Lila’s face. 

“Lila, I know you like to lie, but I’m not playing this game. Po-The Joker didn’t brainwash Harley Quinn. She tricked him into loving her, tricked him into trusting her.” She growled, and then a look of fear flashed in Lila’s eyes. Marinette took a step forward and Lila stepped back. “And you want to know what she did to that trust?” Memories of the pain, the fear and the eventual release from the everlasting agony were flooding her brain. Seeing Pops’ saddened face whenever she brought up HER. All they did was fuel her anguish and anger. 

Every step she took forward, Lila stepped back. Now Lila’s back was up against the mirror, and she slammed her hands onto the wall, effectively trapping Lila with her body. She stared Lila dead in the eyes, “She stabbed him in the back and killed their daughter!”, she screamed. Tears streamed down her face, “Marinette Quinzel is dead, her mother killed her.”, She spat out like the words were poison. She pushed her body off the wall and stepped away from Lila.

“I’m leaving. Don’t call unless there’s a problem with the dress.”, she muttered as she walked right out of the room, quietly wiping any stray tears.

___*****Line Break*****___

Marinette walked in a bit of a huff as she began storming out of the elevator. ‘Stupid toy! Lucky I didn’t grab her by the sausages for disrespecting Pops! And for making me cry! Ugh!’, she stomped her foot on the ground and fought back the urge to scream. Why did she think Lila was a good toy anyways!? She should’ve just stayed home and watched Netflix!

She was tempted to just kick the next person she saw, actually that might cheer her up. Ugh today has just been the worst! Maybe she should call Damian and see if he’s free. Tell him things she can’t really tell Pops. Pops. If he heard Lila, that dumb girl would be in the hospital being treated for Joker venom. Ugh! When she gets home she’ll eat a whole tub of ice cream! Hopefully that will help her forget about this horrible day! Oh great she was gonna cry again.

“Mari!”, she heard Alya call. Oh crud! Oh crud! She put on her best mile, and turned to Alya’s direction. Alya was with Glasses and Blondie, the latter two looking to be invested in their conversation. She waved at Alya who ran over to her, “Hey girl!” Alya was grinning excitedly at her, her earrings glowing brighter than ever. Like a fire glowing at night. But then her smile disappeared, and the glow to her earrings dimmed. A lot, from a fire to a firefly. Why? 

She got her answer when Alya looked concerned, it didn’t take Marinette long to put the dots together. Marinette rubbed her eyes. But there were no tears. How could she tell? Was her make-up running? No it was waterproof. Where her eyes puffy? No, she stopped crying a while ago. How? How could she tell?

“Hey Alya.”, she tried to smile. Alya didn’t smile back, instead she walked up to Marinette. Her upset look bothered Marinette. 

“Marinette. Are you okay?”, Alya asked looking into her eyes. ‘Am I okay? I-I...No! I’m not! Pops is mad at me! I messed up! Lila’s lying about Pops! A-and I’m not okay!’, the words were caught in her throat. Marinette’s lip trembled and she threw herself into Alya’s arms. Alya immediately wrapped her arms around Marinette. It felt..comfortable? No...That’s not the word...Safe. She felt safe in her arms. Why did she feel safe? 

 Hiding her face in Alya’s shoulder, Marinette clung to Alya. Tears silently cascading, no longer being held back by the fake smile. “Marinette, do you want to talk about it?”, Alya whispered.

“I-I got into a fight with my pop-a.”, Marinette sobbed in a hushed tone. Alya tensed and her hold around Marinette tightened. “I missed curfew and…and-”

“He blew up at you, didn’t he?”, A familiar voice piped up. Marinette froze and turned her head to see Blondie and Glasses.  Glasses looked a little nervous and like he wanted to go somewhere else, Blondie on the other hand. He kept walking closer to them and for some reason she felt like she was back at the Lazarus Pit. Why? Was Blondie an assassin? She didn’t get this feeling earlier, what was causing it? She instinctively wiped her eyes and went back to hiding her face in Alya’s shoulder. Then her stomach growled. Loud. Suddenly, it felt like everyone’s eyes were on her. Observing her. Judging her. Making her feel even worse.

Alya pulled away and Marinette looked up so that they were making eye contact. “Why don’t we get you something to eat, then we can talk about it?”, Alya suggested. A soft smile directed at Marinette. It reminded her of the happier times with Cottontail. How? What was it that made Alya a source of comfort?

“My treat”, Blondie offered, he grinned at her and Marinette was blinded. Blondie was pure sunshine, something that is rarely seen here in Gotham. Glasses gave her a nervous smile but when she timidly smiled back, he seemed a bit more relaxed. Marinette stopped clinging to Alya and was now standing by her side. 

She eyed Glasses and Blondie up and down. Okay these guys weren’t toys, but they weren’t not toys either. But... they are Alya’s toys- no Alya’s friends. She’ll play nice for now, but if they start looking for something, she’ll give it to them.

“Mari, this is the love of my life Nino, my boyfriend.” Alya gestured to a now blushing Glasses. “Aw babe!”, he gushed. “And this is Adrien, Nino’s and my boyfriend.” She gestured towards Blondie who’s face immediately turned red. “A-alya!”, Blondie blushed. Boy friend? Marinette thought back to what the cashier said. 

“Your boyfriend looks a little embarrassed.”, she winked, “What did you do? Give him a hickey?”

Alya has a boy friend? Or boy friends?  Apparently you give a bo yfriend hickeys, so Alya gives tthem hickies? So Alya will know what a hickey is! Grinning she pulled Alya’s coat arm to get her attention. 

“Hey Alya, since you have boy friends you can answer this for me! What’s a hickey?”, Marinette asked. Alya sputtered and Glasses turned into a tomato, why is that every one’s response?  She frowned, “Seriously? Is no one going to tell me what a hickey is?! I’ve been asking people that all day and no one’s told me!”  She turned to Blondie and he didn’t look like Alya or Glasses. He looked just as clueless as her! 

“Do you know what a hickey is?”, she asked him. Alya immediately grabbed hold of Marinette and spun her around so that they were face to face.

“Mari, girl. How old are you?”, she asked. Marinette smiled and chirped, “I’m 13!” Alya looked horrified and looked over at Glasses. The boy was red and trying to hide his face in his hat. Blondie just looked confused. 

“What’s a hickey?”, he asked Alya, who screeched, “Let’s go find something to eat!” and dragged them all towards the hotel’s doors. Marinette and Blondie shared a confused look which turned into small giggles and chuckles. 

___*****Line Break*****___

In the end Blondie had taken them to a restaurant right across from the Wayne Hotel, honestly the name screamed cheesy and cliche. The Bat Cafe, named after the fabled Batcave, is it wrong of her to hate this place just off the name? Oh well, not like her companions cared, Blondie and Alya were excitedly talking about the bat “family” and the foods named after them. Like the Night-Wings, the Sing Like a Bird(it’s the spiciest sauce they have for wings) , and the Batarang Bacon Burger. It’s times like this she’s truly grateful that a majority of Gotham fears her family. Still the names were hilarious. 

Which is why Alya was taking pictures and posting them on her Lady Blog? She has no idea what that’s supposed to mean but hey. Everyone has their hobbies. Her eyes traveled to the interior of the restaurant, newspapers full of the exploits of “Gotham’s heroes”, then her sight landed on one of the Joker behind bars. She sighed, this is officially the worst day ever, and slumped into her seat. Alya and Blondie then got up out of their seats, startling her a little bit. 

“Me and Adrien are gonna go ask the employees some questions, you know their opinions on the Bat-Fam! And maybe some questions on the villains.”, Alya grinned, Blondie shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Then it was just her and Glasses. Maybe she should fake getting a text to get out of here? Yeah tell them something came up! 

“Think of what happened with you and your old man?”, Glasses’ voice cut through her plan in the making. She snapped up to attention and nervously nodded. Not sure of what else to do. “Or were you planning an escape?”, he asked in a joking tone. 

‘Crud! How did he know?!’, she panicked internally. He  chuckled, “Don’t worry dudette.” ‘Dudette? That’s a first.’ Glasses slumped back into his seat. “You know, they would understand if you told them you were uncomfortable. After all, we’re strangers that dragged you along with us.”, he said. ‘There’s a but to this isn’t there.’ “But! You have something you need to get off your chest and it’s not good to hold it all in. Unless you have a really good outlet.” 

“Uh...what?”, she said, hold it all in? Outlet? Like for electricity? Or for creativity? She tilted her head to the side, and gave him a clueless look. Glasses’s eyes widened, and he laughed nervously. “Mari, you do have an outlet right?” 

“You mean creatively right?”, Marinette asked.  “‘Cause in that case yeah, I draw, design, play with my brothers, and sometimes play games with my Auntie, Uncle and Papa.”  

“Ok, that’s good, but what about when you’re feeling stressed?”, Glasses’ asked. “How do you take all the stress out of your life?” Stress? What stress? She’s never stressed, why would she be stressed? She’s Marinette Dolly Levi, daughter of the Joker, successful business owner, and upcoming villainess! She has a perfect life, loving family, a well thought out future, what would cause her stress? “I see now. You don’t even see that you’re being stressed out.”

W-what? How? What? “What makes you say that?”, she asked. Glasses looked at her with a look she didn’t recognize. Was it pity? Or sympathy? It made her feel sort of inferior and angry. Before she could say anything, somebody slammed their hands down on the table. Startling both Marinette and Nino- Glasses! His name is Glasses. She looked up and saw a very irate Alya. Oh boy, this should be good.

“Guess who's here?”, Alya grit her teeth, immediately Glasses reached over and gently grabbed her hand. “Apparently, Rose saw us coming over here and then the rest of the class decided that it would be a great class outing! So now Lila and her worshipers are here.” Wait what? 

Lila? Worshipers? Now that she has to see, wait- where’s Blondie? She looked over in the direction that Alya came from and saw Lila and another blonde girl clinging to Blondie’s arms like a vine on a wall. Poor Blondie looked so uncomfortable and he looked like he would rather be anywhere else. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why was he just letting those leeches hang onto him? Lila then said something to the blonde girl and then both of them started spewing some quiet venom at each other. Unfortunately she was too far away to hear them properly.

Blondie then tried to calm them down but they either didn’t hear him or pretended not to notice. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alya and Glasses seething at the sight of Blondie’s discomfort.  Frowning, she stood up and walked out of the booth and walked over to the trio ready to kill. 

She arrived just in time to hear Lila say, “I promised Adrien that I would show him around Gotham! And I just hate to break my-” 

“Hey Lila!”, she cut her off. Lila froze and stopped mid argument, when her eyes landed on Marinette, now that was an unnerved look. Marinette faked her most genuine smile and said, “Fancy seeing you here!” Lila was trembling a little as she tried to hide behind Blondie under the guise of snuggling closer to him.

 “Y-yeah! Same...I didn’t really expect you to be here.”, Lila smiled at her. The blonde girl took Lila’s distraction as a chance to pull Blondie closer to her. Blondie didn’t seem to mind her yanking on his arm as much.. Friend? Relative? Or something else? Either way, she was part of Blondie’s discomfort, and was pissing off Alya and Glasses. Marinette smiled at Lila, a somewhat cute smile with sinister intent, then she noticed some movement from behind the trio and saw a waitress heading their way. “Adrien I think it’s time for us to go back to our booth now. I’m pretty sure that waitress is for us.” 

Blondie looked behind him and looked back at her, “Oh right! Um...Lila, can you please let go of my arm?”. Lila immediately let go and avoided eye contact with Marinette. The blonde girl huffed and pulled Blondie along with her in the direction of Alya and Glasses’ booth. Then a red haired girl followed after the blonde duo, Marinette raised an eyebrow at this. ‘Okay. Looks like the booth will be a little crowded.’, she thought. But seriously who is the blonde girl? Ugh, she’ll just call her Barbie! She followed after the group before giving Lila and the rest of her class a smile, “Ya know, you guys should really have a teacher or adult watching over you. I mean only an idiot would leave a bunch of foreign kids alone in Gotham!” 

Lila flinched and the rest of the class looked confused by her words, except for a really tall girl? No, she’s at least in her twenties and she looked pissed, she had pretty red hair tied up in a bun and was...wearing...a matching white blazer and pants? ‘Crud, did I just insult a teacher’s aid?’, she thought. ‘Oh well, it’s the truth.’ The lady looked like she was gonna say something but Marinette just shrugged and walked back to the booth. Where it was Alya and Glasses vs. Barbie and the red haired girl. Both sides stared daggers at the other and neither were willing to back down. Blondie shrugged sheepishly at her and patted the seat next to him. So they were sitting; her, Blondie, Barbie, Red, Alya, and Glasses. 

Yup. Definitely cramped, she sighed and slid into the free seat. Finally the waitress made it over to them, wait she looked familiar. Cashier girl! Marinette looked at her name tag, Kitten, huh, cute name. Kitten seemed to recognize her as well, “Hey, you’re the girl with the blushing boyfriend!”, she teased, she looked at the group of teens, “Oh, no boyfriend today?” Kitten composed herself and smiled, “Hi, I’m Kitten. I’ll be your waitress tod-” She was cut off by the sound of people screaming. Both Kitten and Marinette sighed, “Another day in Gotham.”

Everyone in the booth shot up and was now running towards the exit. Luckily there weren't too many people aside from the class and Marinette’s group. They made it outside and she realized that Blondie, Glasses and Alya had disappeared. Looking around she only saw the class, Barbie and Red. Where did they go? Then Marinette heard a really obnoxious laugh. “Oh ho ho ho ho”, she turned her head and then Marinette saw something that made her blood boil. Standing there was a lady in the most horrendous outfit ever. She’s seen her Uncle Eddie’s green question mark suit, and her Uncle Harvey’s first attempt at the half and half suit. But this?! Oh this belongs in its own personal hell. 

It was the teacher’s aid lady except what is she WEARING?! Why bats? Why purple? Why the green? Why?! Why?! Why?!  Why are her and Pops’ colors on a bat themed lunatic?! A green collared shirt, purple bat themed blazer, dark purple pants, and a green bat mask. Not like Batman! No, this mask is a green domino mask that was shaped like a bat! “There you are!”, she said, her tone not matching her appearance at all. It was so serious compared to her silly appearance. “You will pay for insulting me! I am not an idiot!”, she exclaimed. 

“Nope, you’re a teacher’s aid with no fashion sense!”, Marinette yelled back, the lady grit her teeth and unfurled her wings. Wait wings? Oh wow, she has wings. Is she a meta? But then where was she hiding them before?

“I’m not a teacher’s aide! I’m Miss Behave!”, she yelled as she launched herself at Marinette. Before Marinette could jump out of the way she was tackled to ground by someone else. She felt them twirl themselves in the air so that her fall could be cushioned by their body. Groaning, she looked up and was met face to face with Alya who was wincing from the rough landing. Oh crud she hit her head on the cement! There were tears in her eyes as Marinette helped Alya to her feet. “You look more like a wannabe Joker-Batman lovechild to me!”, Marinette sneered. 

“Troublesome students need to learn how to behave!”, Miss Behave yelled out as she flew up to be about 2 stories high. She stretched out her hand, and when Marinette saw a magenta glow overtake the lunatic’s hand, she booked it. Dragging Alya with her to safety. ‘Crud! Crud! Crud! I need a better curse word than crud!’, she thought. She heard people screaming and what sounded like cartoon laser guns firing in the air. As much as she wanted to watch...whatever is going on, she had to get Alya to safety. 

She saw a wall that could provide some cover and ran over to it, still dragging Alya along with her. It looked like it could cover them from the front and the back, but they would be exposed on the sides. But it was far enough that Miss Wannabe Bat wouldn’t notice where they were. ‘Where are Blondie and Glasses when you need them?!’, she huffed. When they were hidden behind the wall, she set Alya down so that she was leaning against the wall. Marinette then took the chance to actually look back at Miss Behave. Her back was turned to her and she was shooting lasers from her hands? Oooh, who’s her supplier? Lex Corps? “All bad students need to shape up!”, she cackled as she blasted a girl. 

Marinette watched as that girl was overtaken by the magenta light and was now wearing... a gaudy purple and green school uniform. Still bat themed?! Why the bats?! The girl spun around and her face was twisted in the most horrifying smile she’s ever seen. “Go find that girl that called me an idiot! I will teach her some manners!” The person nodded and spun around like a toy soldier marhcing off in search of...her? Ok, not science, maybe meta. But seriously?!

That’s what set her off? Being insulted by a 13 year old? How did this woman become a teacher without thinking that some of her students might hate her guts and call her names? She rolled her eyes and looked for an escape route or a better hiding spot. “Alya.”, she whispered. “Are you still with me?” She received a groan as a response, ok, she can hear. That’s good right? She looked down at Alya, her eyes were closed and her face was contorted in pain. This is bad. This is bad. This is bad. 

What should she do? What could she do? She’s Marinette Dolly Levi right now. She’s no one special and she’s right smack dab in the middle of an attack by a villain she doesn’t know. And she’s cornered with an injured girl by her side. What should she do? What should she do? She should call Pops! Yeah!

“Wait! You have to help!”, a high pitched feminine voice said. Marinette froze, that voice...came from Alya? She looked down and saw...A giant bug? A mouse? A bug mouse? Before she could freak out properly, the little red bug mouse flew up and covered her mouth. “Marinette please!” Wait...The bug mouse was glowing. In that same red glow that Alya’s earrings have.

Marinette gasped, “You’re the reason Alya’s earrings glow!” Her eyes widened, and then she looked really excited. Aaaand she was radiating light now. Like a pure pink gleam of light. It kind of hurt actually. 

Bug mouse smiled at her so earnestly, “You can see the ladybug glow!” She squealed. “I knew you were my child!” W-was Bug mouse happy crying? Wait, child? What’s that supposed to mean?!  Is she trying to say she isn’t Pops’ daughter?! H-how...HOW DARE SHE! Then Bug mouse’s glow dimmed and then her look of joy disappeared. It was replaced by sorrow? Serves her right. She’s Pops’ daughter. NO ONE ELSE’S. DEFINITELY NOT SOME BUG MOUSE’S.  

“Y-you...Your soul...It’s definitely the one I made so long ago, but it’s been...corrupted.”, The little red bug mouse then started to tear up and flew up and hugged Marinette’s cheek. Stop her. Make her stop. MAKE HER STOP. “Oh my poor little one. You’ve been through so much.”, hearing Tikki’s voice immediately made her feel weird. She didn’t feel that angry voice nagging at her anymore, but she didn’t feel at ease either. It was like she was being hugged by an old friend. But at the same time it was like being hugged by a stranger. If that makes sense? 

She cleared her throat and gently pulled Tikki off of her face, “How do you expect me to help with...this?”, she asked. Her hands moving wildly, gesturing to the show that was happening around them. Bug mouse wiped her eyes and her glow got brighter. “Alya’s earrings are also known as the Ladybug Miraculous. You put them on and say “Tikki, spots on” to transform!”, Bug mouse cheered. 

“Tikki?”, Marinette repeated. “Oh silly me! That’s my name! After saying that then you’ll become a hero-” Marinette frowned. “Warrior! A ladybug warrior. You have a power, the Lucky Charm, that will help you capture the akumatized item. It is important that you purify the akuma!”, Tikki said with a determined look 

Lucky charm? Akumatized item? Purify the akuma? Ok. She’s officially lost. Bug mouse gave her a light hearted smile, “Chat Noir should be here in Gotham. He’s Alya’s partner, and he’s a brave he-...warrior.” Chat Noir? That means black cat right? Ok. Ok.

Let’s review everything that’s happened in the last half hour. A wannabe joker bat showed up and attacked. Tried to her! A talking bug mouse named Tikki  says she’s supposed to be a hero. And she has to work with a possible child of Catwoman?! “I’m sure this is a lot to take in.”, Tikki said. ‘No kidding?!’, she thought. “But I will explain everything to you after the battle I promise!”, the bug mouse continued, then she smiled and punched the air. 

Ok. Guess she’s doing this. Marinette looked over at Alya who was looking around, when they made eye contact. She saw a dazed look in Alya’s eyes, crud, does she have a concussion? She knelt down to Alya’s level, “Alya...I’ma borrow your earrings, just this once?”, she said. Alya nodded, “Ok.”, she said softly. And then Marinette took off Alya’s earrings and then removed her own earrings. On went the magical jewelry. They felt both wrong and right. It was like she was trying to fall asleep in a bed that was made for her, but it wasn’t hers. “Tikki, spots on.”, Marinette said in a serious voice. Then she was overtaken by a pink light that felt...warm? It was so warm and inviting, and it...it made her happy? She closed her eyes and just let the feeling overcome her senses.

When it was over, Marinette felt...complete? Why? Like she finally had that piece of her soul that she didn’t even know she was missing. It was so warm.

“This feels right.”, she smiled as she opened her eyes and looked at her hands. They were covered in black gloves? With a red spot on the back?  Okayyyyy. She looked down at her body. Red and black. Too much red and black. You look just like HER. You really are HER daughter. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. They’re just colors. They’re just colors. HER Colors. Ok she can work with this...Why is she in a skin tight suit? She’s 13 for chrissake?! At least she has a crop top on. Oh it has a hood. With a cute ladybug pattern. she patted her head. She has  a bow with long ribbons sticking out at the top of her head? Why?!

“Bug mouse I did not agree to this!”, she hissed. Aaaaaand bug mouse was gone. That’s just great. Then she heard screaming, the fear in their voices.  The rubble cave was surrounding her again, it was holding her. Trapping her, she felt her chest tighten. She clenched her fists and tried to push her arms out to move but she couldn’t do anything. It wouldn’t work, she was stuck.

No. No. NO! SHE WILL NOT BE TRAPPED AGAIN! Then she felt as if she had been slapped, she clutched her cheek in pain and looked around. Alya was still where she left her, Tikki was gone, and she was back behind the wall. She breathed in, 1,2,3,4 throw it out the door. She breathed out, 5,6,7,8 now you’re great. What’s going on now? 

Jokerbat. Chaos. Alya. Safety! She has to help! No, first she has to get Alya somewhere safe! Then fight the crazy bat lady and purify the akuma! All the while she’s in this... ridiculous outfit! Why was she doing this again? Because some magical bug mouse asked her to? “Think of this as a game.”, a voice whispered in her ear, okay. That definitely wasn’t Alya’s voice and it wasn’t the angry one she heard every now and then. Her head whipped around, it was just her and Alya. “Who said that?”, she said as she hoisted Alya over her shoulder. Of course she got no response. Oh well, she has a job to do! 

________________________________________________________________

(Author’s Note) Hey guys! Spirit here! Thanks for reading part 4 of GPP! Hope you enjoyed it! If you want to be tagged feel free to ask in the comments! Also if you have any questions my ask box is usually open!

Also, also, I was hit with a serious case of inspiration and well? After I posted part 3 it was like a switch was flipped. 

Also, also, also that breathing exercise at the end helps me calm down when I’m feeling stressed and scared. And yes I did learn it from Kipo, I saw that episode and I kept it in mind, i did change the first verse(is that the right word?) so that it rhymed better. Don’t want to go into much detail, but it helps me calm down to a point where I can evaluate my problems to find a solution.

TAGLIST:  @thestressmademedoit @enchanted-nerd @brokenwordsarehard2 @tumbling-down-hills-and-stuff @mochegato @thatonecroc

[kitkatwinchester]

Hooray! My first little drabble on Tumblr! And it’s all thanks to @misinterpretedmythology​ and this amazing incorrect quote! Thank you for letting me write this fic! <3 

Hope you all enjoy! <3 

--------------------------------------------

It had seemed like such a good plan.

Being the billionaire in the group, Tony’s always been in charge of the grocery shopping. But no matter how many people check his list before he leaves, someone always has a last-minute request that he forgets, or doesn’t like the particular brand of cereal he buys, or needs a bigger box of crackers--whatever it is, it’s always something. 

So it only made sense, in Tony’s mind, to finally put his foot down and make everyone come shopping with him. 

He should’ve known. 

Nothing’s ever that easy. 

“Three dollars for eggs?!” Steve exclaims from a few feet away. “How is that possible?” 

Tony runs a hand down his face, groaning. 

“I already explained this to you, Cap--”

“Then explain to me again why milk is four dollars a gallon!” Steve interrupts, clearly increasingly frustrated. 

“Inflation, Steve,” Tony tries again, despite having already had this conversation on the way here. “Prices rise and fall as the economy changes. It’s been seventy years! Did you really think prices weren’t going to change in all that time?” 

“Yes!” Steve says, angrily slamming the door to the milk. “I never would have been able to afford that!” Tony sighs in response. 

“Again, people make more money now, so things are more expensive. That’s how this--” Tony doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as Peter comes racing down the hall, riding on the back of a cart filled with--is that instant ramen? 

“Mr. Stark, they have a new shrimp flavor!” Tony looks at Peter, then back down at the cart. Sure enough, there are a good forty packets of shrimp instant ramen stacked on top of each other. 

“Kid, that has no nutrition at all. I can’t let you get all of those. Your aunt would kill me.” Peter frowns at him, putting on his best puppy dog face. 

“But Mr. Staaaark, it’s shrimp! I’ve never had that flavor before!” Tony raises an eyebrow at him. 

“Okay, but since when do you like shrimp?” 

“Since it was a flavor for instant ramen.” Tony gives him his famous “really” look before responding. 

“Wow, that totally convinces me,” he says, voice laced with sarcasm. Clearly, Peter doesn’t hear it, because he looks up at him hopefully. 

“Really?” 

“No,” Tony immediately responds. “Put them back.” Peter frowns at him, and the dejected look on his kid’s face almost makes Tony back down, but he stands his ground, pointing down the aisle. Eventually, Peter obliges, turning the cart around and moping back to the ramen aisle. Tony rolls his eyes, but he can’t help the fond smile that makes its way onto his face before he turns back to Steve. 

“Now, as I was saying--” 

“Who wants bacon?!” Nat’s voice calls from several aisles down, interrupting Tony yet again. 

“What the fu--” he starts to whisper before the rest of the Avengers chorus “mes” from various parts of the store. In response, Tony sees several other customers turning their heads in various directions, clearly trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Me too, people, Tony thinks to himself, mumbling apologies at the few people he passes as he tries to find Natasha. Just as he gets close to the aisle he thinks she’s in, another voice rings out even louder than hers. 

“I’M A SLUT FOR BACON!” Clint practically screams, and Tony freezes in his tracks, facepalming so hard his forehead stings. 

Why on earth did I think this was a good idea??

He picks up the pace again, turning the corner to see Clint and Natasha giggling to themselves as they grab package after package of bacon. 

“Are you crazy?” Tony grumbles, stomping his way over. “This is a public place. There are other people here! You two are spies for crying out loud! I’d expect you to be a little more inconspicuous!” 

Nat and Clint look at him, then at each other, and then Nat turns back to him with a smirk.

“You’re one to talk, Stark.” Tony looks at her, annoyed, but eventually just rolls his eyes. 

“Fine. Point taken. Just...grab the bacon and let’s go, okay?” Tony makes his way back down the aisle, and just as he turns the corner, he practically runs into Bruce. 

“Oh, Tony, hey,” Bruce greets, arms filled with several boxes of tea. “I was just about to come find you. Which one of these do you think I should get?” He lifts up the load in his arms. “I mean they're all good, but this brand is cheaper,” he continues, nodding to the two boxes in his right hand. 

“Billionaire, Bruce,” Tony replies with a sigh. “Just, pick one.” However, he can’t help the smile that settles on his face. At least somebody is slightly manageable. 

He barely finishes that thought when Thor comes barreling down the aisle, holding two carts above his head. 

“Friend, Tony! We shall feast tonight on the Pop of Tarts!” Tony stares at him, then at the carts swinging precariously above his head. 

“What the--why do you have two carts of poptarts?! And why are you carrying them? You’re supposed to push the carts!” Thor looks at him and gives him a confused frown. 

“But I can carry them. Why would I push them?” Tony groans and runs a hand down his face again. 

“You know what, forget it. Where did Peter and Steve go?” As if on cue, Steve and Peter both simultaneously call out from several aisles away. 

“Tony, how do you get milk from an almond?” 

“Mr. Stark, can we get cheese sticks too?” 

Before Tony can answer either of them, there is a cacophony of sound as everyone starts talking at once. 

“What about pudding?” Nat. 

“Fuck your pudding!” Clint. 

“But it’s chocolate!” Nat again. 

“Mr. Stark cheetos are on sale!” Peter.

“Can we afford tea cookies too?” Bruce.

“Almonds don’t have milk, do they?” Steve. 

“There are so many flavors of these Pop of Tarts! I must get more.” Thor.

“Okay well what about fruit snacks?” 

“What are you, five?” 

“Mr. Stark Mr. Stark! Buy one get one free for cookies!” 

“We can afford tea cookies. I’m sure we have a coupon somewhere.” 

“How do I carry a third cart?” 

“HOW DO YOU MILK AN ALMOND, TONY??!!” 

He can’t take this. 

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” he screams, and to his surprise, the chatter stops, and all heads turn his way--including several heads that do not belong to his very annoying team. 

“Look,” he starts, not wanting to waste their attention while he has it. “Whatever you want, fine. Get a cart, a basket, whatever and just put the stuff in, and bring it up front. I don’t care what it is, I don’t care how much it costs. Just do it and go.” He can already feel the protests and the questions, and he quickly addresses everything. 

“Nat and Clint, get separate carts if you have to, but if you’re gonna bicker, do it quietly and while making your way to the check-out line. Peter, I really don’t wanna condone unhealthy eating, but if you insist on getting chips and cookies, at least try to find ones that you know other people in the compound will eat. And whatever you do, don’t tell your aunt. Yes, Bruce, we can afford tea cookies, and please do not worry about the coupons. Just put them in the cart. Thor, you really don’t need three carts of poptarts, but if you really really must, have Peter help you push the third one. And Steve--almonds do have milk, but they have to be soaked in water first. I don’t really know the process, but if you wanna try the milk, put it in the cart. If you don’t, put it back. Everyone got that?” 

By the time Tony finishes, he is out of breath and even more frustrated, but to his relief, there are several nods before everyone eventually disperses, grabbing various items and putting them in their own carts and baskets. Tony takes a few wonderful minutes to collect himself, but it’s quickly interrupted by a small voice from behind him. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter mumbles, clearly trying to be as conscientious as possible, and despite his frustrations, Tony doesn’t have the heart to be mad at him. 

“What’s up, kid?” Peter responds by holding up three packs of cookies, a sheepish grin on his face. 

“Do you think everyone would like chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, or peanut butter more?” Tony can’t help the chuckle that escapes him, and he reaches down to ruffle Peter’s hair. 

“You know what, bud, just get all three. What the hell?” Peter grins happily and tosses them in his basket before happily skipping in the direction of the check-out line. 

Alright, Tony thinks to himself. Maybe this whole endeavor wasn’t so bad after all. 

But, of course, as Tony turns the corner to the check-out line, he sighs yet again at seeing the chaos that is the rest of the team, fighting over who gets to have their items scanned first while the poor sales clerk looks on in confused horror. 

With a lot of yelling and even more pushing, as well as several comments of “stop being such a dad, Tony,” he finally manages to get all of the groceries scanned and paid for and all of the Avengers out of the store and as far away as possible. 

As they make their way out the door, the chatter starts almost as quickly as it had stopped, and Tony pauses, stopping an employee as she’s walking towards one of the counters. 

“Please tell me you guys have a delivery service,” he says, and to his relief, she nods, pulling a small card out of her pocket with information on how to order groceries. 

“Thank you,” Tony says gratefully, giving the paper a once-over. 

Never again, he thinks to himself as he pockets the card. I am never ever doing this again. 

[loosesodamarble]

Happy Birthday, Inosuke!

Puffs of steam rose from the pot of miso soup that Shizuka stirred as she prepared dinner for that evening. Slivers of daikon and carrot swirled around in the broth. Shizuka set aside the ladle then reached for the tofu on the counter. Just as she tilted the cutting board to slide the tofu in, the kitchen door slammed open and Inosuke burst through.

"Yuzuka!" he exclaimed and bolted towards Shizuka. "You gotta listen to—!"

Shizuka turned, giving Inosuke a nasty look, and hissed, "One step closer and it'll be your fault we have an incomplete soup for dinner."

Inosuke stopped short. His shoulders slumped, as though he were a wilted flower. He waited and watched as Shizuka added the tofu and then wakame. Shizuka lowered the heat on the stove then turned to Inosuke.

"Proceed, Boss," she urged while gesturing forward with her hand.

Inosuke perked up immediately, the smile hidden beneath his mask was still felt. Perhaps it was because Shizuka appealed to him with his favorite nickname or maybe it was because he was free to approach Shizuka. Regardless of the reason, Inosuke closed the distance between himself and Shizuka in a single stride.

"Listen to this, Umeka! You're not gonna believe it!" he exclaimed as he shook Shizuka by the shoulders.

Does he have to shake me every time he's excited for something? As much as it annoyed Shizuka, it entertained her more to experience Inosuke's glee in an admittedly unique way. It gave her a headache though so she had to shrug his hands off. "Tch. What is it?"

"So Gonpachirou, Kanitsu, and I were doing laundry—"

"Why does it matter that you were doing that specifically?"

"Shut up, I'm getting there," Inosuke said before returning to his story. "I was cleaning my underwe—"

"Ew. I know it's yours but I don't want the mental ima—" Shizuka was silenced by Inosuke's hand over her mouth. Oh gods! Why is he doing this? What if someone walks in? The warmth of Inosuke's hand, so calloused and strong, was nothing compared to the heat that rose to Shizuka's face.

"—and as I was cleaning, I realized I could read some of the stuff besides my name on it."

Wait, there's more? Shizuka shuddered at the thought of inspecting undergarments of all things for writing. Since Inosuke hadn't let her go, she raised a brow to press for more information.

"It was 'four,' 'moon,' 'twenty-two,' and 'sun.' I showed it to Ryuujirou and he said that it must be the day I was born!" Inosuke let go of Shizuka's face only to grab her shoulders again. "Can you believe it, Mokuka? I have a birthday!"

"Tch. Well duh, you have a birthday," Shizuka groaned as Inosuke rattled her body. "Everyone has a birth—" Wait. He said it was April twenty-second. That's tomorrow! I have to get him something! "AAAHHH!" Shizuka writhed out of Inosuke's grasp and bolted out the door.

Shizuka heard Inosuke scream after her, "Hey! The hell are you going?! What about dinner?"

"Tch! It should be ready! I can eat later!" Shizuka screeched back. I need to get something perfect for Inosuke!

Shizuka ran like her life depended on it and didn't stop until she reached town and the shopping district. While pausing to breath more relaxedly, she looked around at the shops. A general store, a bookstore, and various other buildings lined the street.

What would Inosuke want? First, I have to go off what I know he likes. Shizuka closed her eyes and crossed her arms. Fighting, training, sleeping, showing off... A frown crossed her features. Not exactly things I can shop for.

Shizuka inhaled deeply. An array of delicious smells entered her nose. She saw an eatery to her left but ignored her growling stomach.

I know he likes tempura. And... Shizuka spotted a pair of women talking out of a store, a folded up article of clothing in one's arms. He prefers cotton fabric when it comes to choosing blankets. Shizuka looked down at her haori. Maybe I should get him something for when it gets colder.

Nodding to herself, Shizuka made a plan.

After having gouged her wallet, Shizuka returned to the Butterfly Mansion. She held her purchases close to her body as she entered the mansion. Tanjirou and Zenitsu would be sure to figure out what she was planning but she would try to keep it a surprise for Inosuke.

The night passed and morning came.

Shizuka scrambled out of bed the second she felt conscious. She wrapped her first present to Inosuke before hurrying to the kitchen to begin prepping the second. The vegetables needed to be washed thoroughly. There was also the shrimp that needed to be shelled. Chopping and actually cooking everything was yet another matter.

Did I go overboard buying twelve kinds of tempura foods? Shizuka wondered while staring at the cluttered counter. Shaking her head, she reassured herself. I'm not going to do this halfway! Not for Inosuke!

Shizuka rolled up sleeves and got to work. For vegetables, there were standard produce like shiso leaves and pumpkin but Shizuka also dared to add broccoli on the suggestion of the seller. The meats of the tempura feast would be shrimp and squid.

"Good morn—What on earth?!"

"Good morning, Kochou-sama," Shizuka greeted over her shoulder.

"Shizuka, what is all this?" asked Shinobu as she walked up to the counter.

"Tch. I think it should be obvious but it's tempura ingredients."

"Tempura?" Shinobu picked up a slice of sweet potato, as if to inspect it. "But why so much?"

"It's Inosuke's birthday so I want to treat him."

A choking sound came from Shinobu before she giggled, "You really are like his wife."

SNAP!

Shizuka stared at the cutting board, snapped in two by her own hand, then glared at Shinobu. The Insect Pillar kept her blithe smile then walked away. It was as though she wasn't guilty of stating something as ridiculous as she had.

Breakfast was prepared by the mansion's staff but Shizuka couldn't let herself take a break. Her work was interrupted however, ironically by the person it was for.

"OI! Nodoka!"

"Yes?" Shizuka moved slowly while gutting the squid she had bought. There was only one so she couldn't afford to mess up. "What is it?"

"Come train with me!"

"Tch. I'm already busy with this."

Inosuke huffed, quite loudly, before stomping footsteps were heard. Then, a hand clamped down on Shizuka's wrists. She locked her body so the knife wouldn't go awry. Looking to Inosuke, Shizuka saw him frowning, not in anger but more petulance.

"C'mon!" Inosuke tugged on Shizuka's wrist. "Let's train!"

Shizuka sighed. She really couldn't turn down a request. "Very well. Just let me wash up first."

"Why bother? You're gonna get sweaty and nasty anyway."

"Tch." Shizuka rolled her eyes. "The mess from cooking and the mess from training are different."

"Whatever."

Training with Inosuke, Tanjirou, Zenitsu, and Kanao lasted longer than Shizuka had anticipated. Midmorning turned to afternoon as the hours passed until the teens collapsed from exhaustion.

Shizuka felt her whole body tremble and her vision swam. Their training wasn't especially intense though. Still, she felt absolutely drained.

"It's time you guys took a break!" a voice called from the door. "Wash up and then come grab lunch!"

Dammit! Shizuka buried her face in her hands. I guess I can have everything prepared for dinner!

A soak in the bath and a hearty meal revitalized the teens, Shizuka most of all. Shizuka finished eating and was prepared to return to the kitchen only for Inosuke to stop her.

"Hey. You're gonna teach me how to read more stuff, got it," he said plainly.

"Inosuke, you can't just demand things from a girl," Zenitsu chided. "Besides, me and Tanjirou can teach you too."

"Well you two suck at teaching!"

"Say that again, you swine!"

"Calm down, guys!" exclaimed Tanjirou as he tried to play peacemaker. "Inosuke, you don't have to be so critical. And Zenitsu, you don't need to be so offended!"

"Tch. Seriously?" I was going to agree anyway. Shizuka glanced at Kanao. The other girl gave a close-eyed smile and shrugged her shoulders.

In the end, Shizuka ended up bringing Inosuke to her borrowed room at the mansion to read through some children's books, courtesy of Shinobu. They sat side-by-side on her bed, the book of focus held between them. They went back and forth reading sentences and if Inosuke ever stumbled, Shizuka would get him back on track. Occasionally, Shizuka would glance at her pillow, under which her gift was hidden.

The reading session lasted until evening due to Inosuke's insistence of reading every book.

"The end," Shizuka said while closing the final book. She looked out the window and at the early night sky. The dinner is going to be late I guess. Her eyes were drawn to the pillow. Shizuka reached a hand under it and slowly slid the wrapped haori out from under.

"Hey, Shizuka."

Immediately, Shizuka's head turned at the sound of her name, her actual name. Inosuke smiled at her, differently than how he usually did. This time, his grin was soft. He slung an arm around Shizuka's shoulders and buried his face in her hair.

Shizuka felt feverish from head to toe. Her heart skipped. Her breath hitched. All because of Inosuke's closeness.

"I know I drag you around a lot but it's 'cause I like spending time with you," Inosuke whispered. "Especially today. It's the first birthday I really got to have. And having you be a part of it was nice. Thanks."

Turning, Shizuka let go of the wrapped gift then embraced Inosuke.

"Anything for you," she whispered back. "Happy birthday, Inosuke."