#yeah okay i had to keep making it longer because i kept realizing that i never answered the prompt

[astronicht]

we talk in the fandom so much about if marc got amnesia (waking up with broken a broken body and SEVERAL broken personal and professional relationships) but i often think about what an insane well of drama it would be for vale to have amnesia. would marc just SHOW UP with all his insane person confidence like well this time i can just do it better….

I’m answering these both at once because oh mein gott dot meme. I angled more towards the second one i think?? I also played a liiiittle fast and loose with the usual type of amnesia in the trope. The core trope tenants are still there!

“It’s like,” someone says, “Like when you should always agree with dementia patients.”

“And psychosis,” says Marc, smiling.

“What?” says Uccio.

“Psychosis,” says Marc, very slowly, in very clear Italian. It’s the same word in Italian and Spanish, almost, so no one can be misunderstanding him. Still, he bites down on each S, sharp as glass.

“Oh, okay.”

Yeah, okay, thinks Marc. You try dealing with it, then.

What no one in this house knows, excepting possibly Valentino, is that Marc has kept this successfully quiet for a week. It was a tour de force. The only thing he didn’t succeed at was getting Valentino to the Marc’s neuro specialist, because Marc, deep down, did not want to know. Wanted Valentino here, with him, saying yes yes if it makes you feel better before he made it real with a doctor.

Valentino does, sort of, remember the concept of Marc Marquez, because he remembers up to about 2010. Marc was fighting for the 125cc championship that year. He lost a baby tooth, and his mom told him not to tell anyone about it, because people fighting for the world championship shouldn’t be losing baby teeth. He had understood, and tried not to smile too wide. Fifteen was sort of old for that. But he’d been a late bloomer. Hadn’t been able to properly jerk off till the year before, either.

“He thinks I am Marc Marquez’s older brother,” Marc tells one of Vale’s assistants, perfectly calm, furiously even. She’s the one woman in the room. Her name is Laura, and she looks like any woman who has been working in racing all her life: straightened hair, weathered face, tight expression.

She’s the one who gets Uccio out of the room and two hours up the road by telling him someone needs to fill in for Valentino at the meeting with Ducati in Bologna tomorrow. Marc, cold, realizes he doesn’t know for sure what Vale has missed.

He doesn’t particularly like Laura, even though she got Uccio out. That doesn’t mean much, just that she knows that to handle Marc she must first handle Uccio.

And she has to handle Marc, because they ended up at Vale’s neuro guy, not Marc’s and he said to reduce confusion. Yes, like how you agree with dementia patients. Vale thinking Marc is Marc’s older brother — some fabled first son, some larger creature, who can have Vale when the younger Marc he remembers or has made up cannot yet — is not making the neuro guy happy.

They make Marc point out all of the things that are Marc’s. Marc pulls it out for them, but leaves it in piles on the floor. They can put it away.

*

“Marc,” says Valentino down the shitty phone line. Marc wants to sit down and scream. He is at the grocery store. He is in Madrid. Valentino is not better, because fifteen minutes ago one of his assistants was texting Marc to ask where Vale might have put the pill box they gave him for all the vitamin supplements, to help his brain recover.

Marc had texted back, Try the coffee cabinet, knowing with absolute clarity that Valentino would have thrown it out. Valentino hates pill boxes. Marc sometimes has to use one, and Valentino can’t even stand to have it on the counter. Marc keeps it under the bathroom sink, along with his migraine meds.

“Hi,” Marc says. He doesn’t say Valentino’s name because he is in the pasta and rice aisle of a Mercadona. His hand shakes on the phone.

“Hello, hello, ah. You’ve moved my black t-shirts.”

Marc’s number is no longer in Valentino’s phone, for Valentino’s own neurological health. Did Vale remember the number? How? Did he get the contact from somewhere?

“Your black tshirts?” Marc repeats. They are, Marc realizes with a jolt, speaking Spanish. Marc can speak Spanish and usually Catalan to Valentino anytime, who understands perfectly, but Valentino never speaks in Spanish. Never. Except that he just did.

“Yes, my black tshirts, and my favorite sweats. Are they in the laundry? I need them today.”

The Spanish is throwing Marc off. Whole sections of Marc’s life exist in Italian. Work, for example. And, largely, Valentino.

He overthinks it, tangles. Says, “You don’t own black tshirts, do you?” in Italian. A woman walks around him and sighs and says, “Fucking tourists.”

Valentino, if he were here, if he really were on this phone line, would find this very funny.

“No, no, I’m certain. Did you send them to get washed? All, today?”

Valentino is wrenching them back to Spanish. He’s harder to read like this, but suddenly Marc hears the panic under his tone, the high tight paranoia. There are other people in Valentino’s house. He does not trust them. He has found a way to call Marc.

Marc drops his shopping basket on the floor. “I’ll come look,” he tells Valentino, still in Spanish, smooth now. “The cleaner must have moved stuff again.”

Valentino, plaintive, relieved: “Yes, yes come look. I’ll go complain at someone for you.”

“Good,” says Marc, with tightly controlled, bloody-mouthed fury. The tshirts aren’t even with Marc. He has another full closet at the house in Madrid. Why take them? “But ah, I’m out at a few appointments I can’t get out of, so it will be a few hours,” Marc says. The flight to Bologna is two hours and twenty minutes.

He pulls his phone away from his ear to start texting, and sees that he has a text from Valentino’s assistant. He swipes it away unread. No point when he already has Valentino on the line.

His phone says, “Are you still there?”

“Yes,” says Marc, already out of the grocery, on the hot street. A car is going to pull up for him very soon. “Yes, I can stay on the line.”

“Hm,” is all Valentino says, and a TV switches on. But when Valentino sighs into the phone, Marc can hear the relief. Marc wants to lay down on the hot sidewalk and not get up.

The car comes. Marc gets in. He cries perfectly silently in the backseat. Eventually, and with no obvious reason, Vale says, “Okay, I’m going to go now,” and Marc pulls his phone away from his ear, damp with sweat. The heat wavers on the cars taking the airport exit. The driver sighs.

Marc thumbs open the text from Valentino’s assistant, the one he ignored earlier. It reads, Found his pill box, thank you! It was in the cabinet under the master bath sink, with his migraine meds.

Marc smiles, sharp and awful. Above the car, a plane screams across the street through the smoggy air.

[bewaryofpity]

jack's sooooo clingy he follows you everywhere like a lost puppy, especially after a long day of not seeing you.

jack has been following you around since you came back from work, yapping about anything and everything that has happened to him since you left this morning. and you’re not surprised because he has the habit of lingering close to you when you’ve been gone for a while, especially on his rare days off. today is no different.

he does follow you everywhere like a very grown and very loyal puppy, today more than ever as he followed you to the bathroom where you're trying to get ready for your night routine. he’s sitting on top of the toilet seat, babbling about his day out with nico that obviously consisted of hockey related things.

you snicker to yourself when jack doesn't realize that you're taking longer than usual to get unready, or that he’s talking for this long, but you know how much he hates boredom so you let him be. it’s just that you weren’t expecting this.

it’s cute, yes, but now you’re more interested in seeing how long he’ll yap for or rather how long he’ll stay here with you. so you finish taking your makeup off before pulling the shower curtain back and twisting the knob to turn on the water and adjusting it to the right temperature. the idea that he could easily stalk you into the shower makes you smile so you play along to his not so little rant.

“and then nico lured me to the rink because apparently the kids were practicing and he wanted to surprise them. not that i didn’t like that but then their coach didn’t look too pleased, the kids were distracted for the rest of the practice, obviously.”

you hum, “is it because they took nico’s attention off you?”

“Uh, n-no. i mean i was the one hanging out with him first, so.” he mumbles “but that’s not the point!”

jack huffs, changing into a criss cross position on top of the toilet. and it’s taking everything in you to not laugh at him because he looks like a child, pout on his lips and looking so small in this position.

“well then, was it fun at least?”

“duh, baby.” hands flailing around him. “the kids loved it, they kept asking us questions and some didn’t make sense –they were like four years old, you know– and like, we had to stop for even longer because they wanted us to sign some of their stuff.”

that must be why he also took longer to text you throughout his day.

“i bet, love.” you nod along, pulling your hair up in a bun so it doesn’t get wet in the shower, finally at the right hot temperature. “i’ll shower now if you don’t mind.”

“oh, now?” eyes wide like you told a child you’ll leave him in the parking lot.

“i mean, we’re in the bathroom, and i’m in a towel, and it’s been a long day. so yes, now.”

and jack’s cheeks have a faint pink tint as he shamelessly watches you unravel your towel and step in the shower. totally not because he saw you naked for a split second, it’s just the steam from the really hot shower, right?

“uh yeah, okay” he says as he stand up. “i’ll get unready too before i go then.”

you hum in reply as you go on about your shower, but you’re actually simply standing under the water, trying to keep an ear out for his movements and words.

suddenly he’s taking his sweet time to wash his face and you think he might start brushing his teeth soon too for the hell of it.

but his talking doesn’t stop at all. he blurts out random thoughts in between before going on to ramble about some hockey plays he’s been looking over, asks you what you had for lunch. he even asks you which body wash you’re currently using –which is none yet because trying not to laugh is revealing to be harder than you thought. he’s truly finding the most random topics to fill the silence.

and the talking does finally stop, but it’s replaced by jack’s whistling, clearly out of things to say. yet you know your boyfriend better than he thinks so you know very well what he’s thinking about.

“you still there, jacky?” you call wittingly. you can see his blurry figure through the shower curtain, an excited nod coming from his silhouette.

and you bite your lip as one of his hands reaches to scratch at the back of his neck. “i guess i’ll go now. uhm… i’ll wait for you to come out. i’ll get us take out, anything you’re craving? because if you want there’s a new italian place down the street that luke suggested to me and he says it's really good, so i think maybe–”

omg he’s so cute.

you pull the curtain back, just with your head peeping out to find jack with one hand hovering the door handle, still lingering around.

“jacky?”

“yeah baby, what’s up?”

“do you want to shower with me?”

and like a kid opening presents on christmas morning, his eyes light up so quickly. his head shakes with an overly enthusiastic nod, and he’s already clumsy in pulling off his clothes that he almost trips getting his sweatpants off. you’re not surprised at all, the lack of grace and coordination are not exclusive to when he’s on the ice.

a stupid, wide, boyish grin spreads over his lips when he finally steps into the shower in front of you. 

“hi, baby,” he grins, leaning forward to hold your face in his hands and peck your nose.

“you know, if you wanted to join me, you could’ve just asked.” your smile now matching his. jack squishes your cheeks between his palms, “well, where’s the fun in that?”

[bokettochild]

Linked Universe Enterence p.3

Okay! So I have thoughts!!!!

First off, does anyone remember when JoJo shared those first snippets? How there was a fun little detail that suddenly disappeared when the comic actually became more than doodles?

Yeah, I'm talking about this guy

(Not the grouchy old man being offended, the owl LOL)

I know there's a chance I'm wrong, a big one at that, but I think it would be really cool if, if only for a short while, JoJo brought him back, even if it's just for this era of Hyrule. Let Time have his owl buddy!

Anyways, to the actual comic!

I noticed that the boys are all still together, so I'm guessing they're waiting until they come to a cross-roads to actually split up like Four advised last time. So we have that to look forwards to in the coming updates!

I love that she's really highlighting the similarities and differences in this arc, showing us who knows what and what they've done, but also the little things; both with owls and the antifairy!

I adore the Owlan reference/appearance!

And Time immediately agreeing about the "long, drawn out lectures part" made me laugh. (His expression, my Hylia!!!)

That is the face of a man who kept accidentally asking to "hear it again" and regrets it with every bone of his being LOL

It's good to see more call backs to the last comics too! Having Hyrule be wary of the statue because he remembers seeing it before, and Warriors agreeing, but also reminding that it didn't cause harm. The fact that Hyrule keeps his sword pointed at it though, wary, does say a lot about how cautious he's being all the same (Wild ought to take notes)

And of course this whole panel

Twilight's awkwardly trying to assure the rest without spilling the secret, Sky laughing and turning to look at Legend, and the fact that the vet is just so entirely done with even just the thought of being a rabbit. (I love his face, omgosh).

Te way I screamed "anti-fairy!" when I saw this, and then was so, so delighted that Legend and I had the same thought (I am unwell about this man).

I'm equally unwell about the fact that Legend just has to say "ouch" (which you only say at inconveniences and not real, actual hurts) and immediately everyone's turning, weapons out and ready to help him face...whatever. Like, he's fine, guys, but it's sweet you care (now Legend, please take note and realize you belong, you idiot)

Love that Time hears "fairy" and immediately is all ears. All the more so at the "anti" part. Man was raised by fairies and he absolutely doesn't like the idea of something that would hurt them.

Meanwhile Legend is just being freaking Haku (Spirited Away) over here!

Tell me you don't see it!!!!!!

Also, his casual use of magic to purify something, to just make it no longer a threat, rather than hurting it. That need to save EVERYONE is really showing through here, huh?

And immediately, everyone is shocked that he did that, but also what it means about fairies. About dark magic. But Time and Wars especially!

Gosh, just Legend's little worried face and Time's offense at the idea of fairies being corrupted and harmed. Shows a bit about them here too I think. Time is maybe slightly obsessed with fairies (reasonably so) and hates them being harmed, but he shows his worry on the matter in anger. legend, meanwhile, becomes more sombre, quieter: it bothers him too (maybe reminds him of a certain predecessor?)

Get this man a tiara, he's a freaking Disney Princess over here, good grief!!!! He's carrying fairy food on what? The slim chance he has time to stop and feed them? Honestly, i know he's probably as attached to fairies as Time (although with a healthier relationship with them), but this is just too cute. this man is going to be the death of me!!!

Anyways, here's the bonuses!!!!

SUN APPEARANCE!!!!!!!! We have a canon Sun appearance!!!!! Like, sure, sleepy student Sky, but it's SUN!!!!

This smile. Oh my gosh I adore him. He's just so glad he got to help the corrupted little one become normal again.

JoJo was having fun with Four I see LOL

Man really said "hang on, let me check my purse, I think I have snacks in here"

Freaking Mom Coded

[neptunes-sol-angel]

What is your healing era giving? Pick the pile(s) that you're drawn to the most then scroll down for their corresponding message.

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Pile One

You’re shocking people with the ways that you are healing yourself. What they see as they witness your transformation, is the walking embodiment of a high priestess, the keeper of knowledge and a vessel of magnificent secrets. Who you are, in this healing era that you are in, is an enigma that won’t be locked away or censored. The way that you’re healing is spiritually ancestral. You possess the kind of wisdom that isn’t gained from age, it’s inherited. You’re a generational curse breaker, someone in your bloodline who finally recognizes a poisonous pattern in your family with the strength to be the one to not consume it. You’re observant, you’re emotionally intelligent, and you have a mind of your own even when growing up in an environment that was meant to control you, this era is making you embrace the thorns in your roses. You’re becoming the modern-day Joan of Arc by having more self-conviction even when being outnumbered by people trying to convince you out of what you know to be true. You’re healing the perception of purity and time in not just yourself but others too. If you grew up sheltered with a family relative that infantilized you with malicious intent to keep you dependent on them, your healing era is helping you break out of those barriers that kept you from making choices to improve your happiness, success, and progression. You’re no longer afraid of getting hurt or “tainted” in this world, you’re living for yourself and what makes you complete. Learning feels like freedom now because fear is no longer your teacher. Don’t feel down about being a late bloomer because it is better to be late than never, there may be people in this pile who approaching their 30s/40s and feel like they haven’t accomplished anything, but your healing era is reminding you that it is never too late. People forget that youth is ever flowing, you can’t flourish by remaining stagnant because of how you think you should be to achieve something. Don’t underestimate how massive things can change for you when you believe in how capable success is, as you already are. Your healing era is a correcting history, you won’t be burned at the stake this time, you’re going to be walking through fire by knowing that the secret power is to just keep moving.

Pile two

Immediately, I’m hearing “tuh...”. Yeah! This era in your healing journey has been long overdue, but at last bitch, it’s here. Speaking of bitch, you’re finally understanding that you’re THAT one, and you shouldn’t be humble about it anymore. Your enemies knew this before you did though, and of course, they had to attempt to knock you down a peg to make themselves feel better. This goes beyond people simply trying to make it seem like you’re not attractive when you are or people noticing your light but pretending not to see you until they get the validation from other people to do so. Your healing era is very much like this video I saw where people are like “it ain’t that deep” and this girl said, “okay puddle, I’m the ocean”, you’re realizing that yes, you cannot control the people that act crazy towards you because of their insecurities, but you can control and make it known about what you will not allow, and this is about your personal day-to-day interactions with people, like not keeping it in about the things that offend you and constantly giving grace to people who know that they’re exhibiting petty behavior to disrespect you. To stop trying to make “IDGAF” wars happen when you know that you actually do care about things, and it’s okay to do that regardless of what society thinks is cool nowadays. Your healing era consists of a makeover in love by no longer settling for shallow relationships or the utter thought of a situationship when you know that you want to be romanced and catered to like a deity. You’re bulldozing so much of who or what isn’t supportive for what you need as a person, and you aren’t afraid to do it because you now know your worth and that you have the tools to build everything over and this time in your image. Your social circle is improving, your experiences in loving others and being loved is improving, finances improving, and your skin might even be improving because this entire era of your healing is like one huge detox, you’re clearing out the toxicity out of your inner world. The words that debilitate your self-esteem, the people that say you can’t do something like starting your own business or going for that one opportunity that may get you to that amazing breakthrough, negative people and habits that make you believe the worst about yourself or that your life won’t get any better. Your healing era is about your life becoming the royal throne made to match the royal person such as yourself.

Pile Three

“You have a natural allegiance to losers and it’s unlike you”. Your healing era has a lot to do with removing yourself from situations that put you out of character. You’re moving towards more peaceful times and understanding how valuable your own energy is with an elevated fondness for spending time with yourself. You’re going to experience the kind of solitude that isn’t a punishment, but a strange feeling that may take some time to adjust to but at the same time, it’s familiar. Your healing era is about returning to normal and unlearning from the experiences that have left swords in your back. Maybe you grew up around “love”, your family and upbringing didn’t have to be perfect, but there was this innocence that you had before being out in the real world, this can look like experiencing emotionally unavailable people with communication issues and situations that have desensitized you. You could be questioning yourself about the people that are currently making you feel out of place right now, wondering what’s keeping you in these spaces that make you feel deprived of something or this paradox of still feeling empty and alone in a room filled with people. You’re healing from these effects of experiencing deficits, you don’t have to put up with certain things just to prove yourself to others or to make space for someone who doesn’t deserve to be in your life. How people perceive you in your healing era is someone who is genuinely unbothered and no longer giving your all to a situation that is unrequited. They see you full of life again instead of depleted from always putting yourself below others. They also see you essentially as someone that they can no longer exploit. You could be more private now, so it leaves others curious as to what you’re up to. You’re truly moving in silence because you’re noticing how beneficial it is to protect your intimate and professional life, people can act like they’re concerned about you or like they’re supportive until they see that you are doing better than them or up to something big. You’re focused on yourself, and it shows how much you’re manifesting your goals and even though looks aren’t everything, people are finding you to be majestically beautiful, your peace looks good on you. Keep protecting it.

[minus-plus-zer0]

Almost Too Late

♡ Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort, fluff ending ♡ Pairing: Bakugou x Reader

You only fell for him when it was almost too late.

You laid there, bleeding on the streets. Bakugou sprinted to your side, skidding to a halt to kneel down and hold your body in his arms.

The sight of your broken body stole his breath away. His eyes lingered on your wound. He screamed for people to come help you, even though he never screamed for help before. You couldn’t make out all the words, your vision fading, but you wanted to hear everything he said because he was saying it for the first time in his life.

“You can’t die… don’t die…”

Those words almost didn’t reach you. Your heart broke for the poor boy before you. But you no longer controlled your own fate.

Bakugou rested his head on your shoulder, sobbing and keeping you as close as possible. Your hand reached up to his face, stroking his cheek. He met your eyes, looking more vulnerable than you could’ve ever imagined him.

His hand found yours, mixing your shaky fingers together.

“I love you…” he said, voice sounding rough like it was dragged against rocks. “Don’t die… I don’t wanna do this without you.”

You never realized he loved you until now. You wished you had known.

“Katsuki… I…”

You were fading fast. The paramedics arrived and took your body somewhere. You heard Bakugou shouting and fighting them off before he realized who they were.

You never gave him an answer, until you awoke some time later.

You opened your eyes, head groggy like it weighed a couple extra pounds. The first thing you saw in your hospital room was Bakugou Katsuki, sitting by your bed, sleeping in a chair waiting for you to wake up.

You barely remembered what happened when you almost died, but you remembered his love confession. The entire ordeal would’ve been awkward with anybody else, but after seeing him here, you never felt so at home.

You grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently, repeatedly, until he awoke. You could barely move but you squeaked out a “Hey bestie” just for him.

His face lit up a thousand watts, he never looked so happy to see you.

“Can I fucking hug you?”

“Y-yes…”

He hugged you tight, soft enough to avoid crushing you under the weight of his desperation. His barely audible sniffles brushed against your neck while his strong arms trembled. Eventually, he pulled away and let you breathe. He smiled at you like you were a sight for sore eyes.

“I’m so, so glad you’re alive,” he said, his voice breaking at the last word. “Never thought I’d get to talk to my best fucking friend again. They basically resurrected you, you should’ve told me you were part-zombie.”

“I’ll bite you and then we’ll be zombies together. Then we’ll never be apart, not even in death.”

“Dummy,” he said that so softly. “I’ll never leave you. Not willingly. Don’t ever die on me. You scared the ever loving shit out of me, you know that?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry…” your smile was marred with new oncoming tears.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your damn fault.” His voice wavered. “I need you here by my side. You can’t go without me. Don’t go, okay? I really wanna see us grow up together.”

“O-okay.”

You held both of his hands in yours, you still kept crying a little and he tried his damndest not to cry (again).

You recalled his confession on your deathbed earlier. It was now so obvious how he felt towards you. He promised his life to you here, you felt like you should’ve known he was in love with you all along.

“Katsuki,” you said, “I… when I almost—you know, died… I heard you say something…”

His face blanched, like you had a gun to his head, ready to pull the trigger and end him for good.

Was he afraid you’d reject him?

“I heard what you said,” you finished.

“…Y-you did?” He trembled, terrified of your response.

“You said you loved me?”

He shook hard, not even trying to hide it. He nodded the tiniest quickest bit. “I love you. Do you—”

“I love you too, dummy.”

Bakugou kissed you deeply. God knows how your appearance must’ve looked, but he kissed you all the same. He pushed deeper into the kiss like he needed to taste everything he could. You could see your heartbeat spike up on the monitor nearby.

How awful it would've been to die without ever kissing him. You would've regretted it beyond the afterlife, rolling in your grave.

Bakugou pulled back, his face still close to yours as you breathed each other in.

"There's still so much I wanna do with you," he said. "So much shit happened when we all thought you were gonna die. I'm gonna make sure not to waste our time together since I finally got you back." He kissed you on the nose and you shyly smiled up at him. "Once you're healed up, you're not leaving my side. I won't make the same mistake twice."

"I won't either."

(I will be posting a fulfilled request later today if I can! Either that or a regular fic)

[ranhaitanisgf]

hi hana! congrats on 2k followers once again and if it’s not too much of a bother, i’d like to have a mikey fluff/crack “oblivious best friends” & “stuck together” scenario/hc (whichever works for you) where it was after school hours and everyone in toman is looking for mikey ☺️ i really hope this combination is something new skjdjsjss thank you in advance!! 💕

—manjiro [mikey] sano // oblivious best friends // stuck together

☆ ˎˊ˗ KATIEEE hiiii im sryyy i took sooooo long for this my disappearance from tumblr messed things up 😔 idk how i did on this tbh !! i hope youve been doing well !! and also ur idea was so cutee wahh i hope i did it justice !! xoxo

☆ ˎˊ˗ gn!reader

☆ ˎˊ˗ wc ; 1.5k+

masterlist || 2k masterlist

“...mikey.” 

“yeah?” 

“how long are we gonna stay here?” the boy in front of you hummed, thinking for a moment as he swirled the lollipop in his mouth. 

“until they find us.” you sighed at him, leaning your head back against the wall. you could hear rapid footsteps in the hallway, people running around yelling mikey’s name, unaware of the fact that he was sitting in the classroom they just passed by. 

he hadn’t given you much explanation when he grabbed you and pulled you into the classroom, though you think you have a basic idea of what was going on; all you could say was, it was very mikey.

“so, what exactly is the point in hiding from everyone?” 

“it’s funny!” he grinned, crunching down on his lollipop. “but also ‘cause the doors in this classroom are broken; they only open from the outside, so i’ve been waiting for someone to come by and open them from the outside.”

“huh?! why’d you drag me in here then? wait, how did you even do that?” 

“i dunno, but i just saw you and it was boring here by myself.” he shrugged, not seeming to think it was a big deal. “aaand you’ve skipped out on the last couple of meetings, so i missed you.” he pouted, a childish look on his face. “where were you?!” 

“mikey, i told you weeks ago that i would be busy studying for exams…don’t you remember?” you sighed. “i even texted you before all the meetings that i wouldn’t be coming!” 

“whatever.” mikey said flippantly, the same pout still on his face. “you owe me snacks for not showing up.” 

“okay, okay, just stop making that face.” you said, pulling at mikey’s cheeks. “you’re making me look like a bad person.”

“oi, stahppp, it hurtsss!” he grumbled. you eventually relented, sighing as you looked around the classroom. 

“even being here with someone else is boring. can’t we just leave and go get food?” 

“but i’m testing them! they have to know how to find their leader!” mikey insisted, crossing his arms. 

“but you’re literally hiding from them on purpose. how are they supposed to find you?” 

“they can figure that out themselves!” 

“right…” you answered, giving up on trying to make him see reason. you really were hungry; you hadn’t eaten since you had that milk bread from lunch, which wasn’t a whole lot of food. “if you’re insisting on keeping us here, then you’re gonna pay for my meal after this.” 

“ken-chin will pay for it, but okay!” 

“no, you’re going to pay for it. i don’t care if you’re broke; you deserve to have no money for keeping me here.” 

“hey, that’s so mean!” 

“yeah, and you’re being mean right now by not letting us go so i can eat. i ought to just-” you stood up from where the two of you were sitting to avoid being seen, “-let them see me and then tell them where you are!” mikey’s eyes widened, motioning for you to sit back down, but you stood firm, not moving from your spot. 

“oi, sit down! they have to find me on their own!” 

“no! this is ridiculous! i’m hungry and i shouldn’t have to be kept at school any longer-agh!” while you were talking, mikey grabbed your hand, pulling you down with a surprising amount of strength, making you lose your balance and topple over. 

“urgh, what the hell-...” you suddenly cut off your words when you realized the position you were in. 

because mikey had been sitting right next to your standing form, you had fallen right on top of him, the space between your faces being very small as the two of you stared at each other. the space between your bodies was even less, and you swore that he could feel your quickening heartbeat from how close the two of you were, (you didn’t even want to think about how you could feel the warmth from his body right now). 

you knew that you should probably be clambering off of him right now and bonking him on the head for pulling you down so hard, but for some reason, your body was frozen, not knowing what to do. on the one hand, you knew you probably shouldn’t be staying here for so long, but on the other hand, you wanted him to do or say something, anything, to make you think that he wasn’t just an oblivious teenage boy, (how could he have not noticed your feelings this whole time?!)

“(y/n)...” he whispered, his breath fanning against your cheeks due to your close proximity. 

“y-yeah?” 

“can you get off? you’re kinda heavy.” at his words, you immediately scrambled off of him, your heart beating a million beats per minute, this time due to embarrassment. as soon as he got up, you slapped the back of his head, making him yell a loud ‘ow!’. 

“that’s what you get for pulling me so hard, asshole! i don’t get why you’re so adamant about staying here!” you yelled, feeling more shame and embarrassment than anger. you leaned your head back against the wall, wondering why you thought that anything would be different this time. 

it’s not normal for best friends to have feelings for each other, so why were you mad at him? 

this time, you felt the silence between the two of you to be unbearable, almost enough to make you scream with frustration. you didn’t though, instead choosing to just have your own internal monologue until you could make it out of the classroom. 

“(y/n)-chan? what’s wrong?” 

“nothing, i’m just tired as fuck. wake me up when we get found or whatever.” you murmured, laying down on the floor, not caring about the dust and first getting on your uniform. maybe if you laid down like this, the earth would swallow you up and save you from this embarrassment. 

you weren’t sure how much time passed like that, though you were sure that the silence filled the room for quite a while, only being interrupted by draken and takemichi’s yells in the hallway. suddenly, you heard some shuffling, wondering if maybe mikey was going to give up and let the two of you finally be found. 

you’d already gone too long pretending to be asleep, so even though you wanted to see what mikey was doing, you didn’t make a peep even when you could feel him getting closer to you. 

what is he doing? 

your question was answered just a moment later when you felt his hand on your cheek, brushing some of your hair out of your face, (you were hoping that your cheeks weren’t getting flushed right about now). 

“hm, i was able to hold back this time, but you really test me sometimes, (y/n).” after that, you felt his hand pull away, leaving you in much more confusion than before. what in the world was he talking about? 

a few minutes later, you heard him opening the window to the classroom, yelling for draken. when he arrived, he started chewing mikey out for disappearing for so long, which was when you decided to ‘wake up’. 

“hmm, you finally decided to give up that little stunt, mikey?” you asked, standing up and rubbing your eyes to make it seem like you were actually sleeping. “took you long enough.” 

“it got more boring sitting there since you fell asleep.” mikey answered, shrugging his shoulders. he kept the same lighthearted expression on his face as he started to get another earful from draken.

“you did this on purpose?! we’ve got stuff to do!!” he yelled, his face twisted in frustration. “it’s been a whole goddamn hour!!” 

“sorry, sorry.” 

you walked away from the two over to the door, trying to open it just to see. much to your surprise, it opened up, not showing any sign of the locked issue that mikey had claimed it’d had earlier. 

when you looked over at him, all he did was shrug, a smug smirk on his face. 

“you little shit! it was open this whole time?! i’m gonna actually kill you this time!!” you yelled, running at mikey. he swiftly dodged you and went out the door behind you, running into the hallway to get away from you. 

“catch me if you can!!” you heard him tease in the distance, fueling your anger even more. 

“when i catch you, it’s so over for you!!” you shouted, sprinting out of the classroom after him. 

as you chased him, he looked back at you, laughing and saying something that you couldn’t catch. despite the fact that you were acting so mad at him right now, you couldn’t help but admire how the light from the sunset reflected off of his skin, highlighting his playful smile and blonde locks bouncing in the air. 

you supposed that this was fine, for now. 

(mikey ended up paying for your entire meal out of his own pocket, leaving him with 200 yen to his name).

[fairykazu]

hello! can i have a bouquet with carnations, daisies, and petunias with aventurine? thank you! (yes, they are connected as one fic :))

𓍢ִ໋love blooms with aventurine prompts: walking in the park - carnation, collecting flowers on their way home - daisies and realizing their feelings - petunias notes: modern au, pining & soft aventurine! i did hit a writing block while writing yours so i didn't fulfill your request as you like but i hope you like this event masterlist  𝜗𝜚 hsr masterlist

the sun dipped below the horizon casting an ethereal glow across the sky as if aeon themself had painted the sky with a masterpiece of soft pinks, oranges, and purples. it was a perfect evening for a stroll through the park, well, afterall, it was tradition for you and aventurine. you knew him ever since you were little, growing up side by side, the lives of aventurine and name were forever inexorably intertwined.  

aventurine plucked a peony from a bush from a neighor’s bush on the way to the park. “y’know, i read these represent luck, i mean, i have all the luck i need but you need this for sure.” 

“just because you won six games of monopoly, doesn’t mean-”

as he held the flower to you, you realized something. aventurine laughed, imagining a lightbulb above your head. you pushed him playfully; he stumbled a little from the sidewalk. you gasped, “did you really picked a flower from the oak family’s bush? don’t you know sunday-” 

he quickly interjected, “what he doesn’t know doesn't hurt him. c’mon, you know that pink isn’t his color, it’s better off being on you.” he picked off the excessive leaves on the flower before putting it above your ear. 

“aven, we should run.” he noticed your eyes flickering to the corner of the gated manor. was it worth being here and risky? yes. is he scared? kind of, hoping you don’t call his buff and kept his right hand behind. 

he blew air in your face as you rolled your eyes, “why?” 

“sunday has cameras.”

you shook your head to your right, the direction where the park is. he nodded,  

“... lets go.” 

the two ran from the gated house, he only stopped on the way to the clockmaker’s park, a national park in penacony, to celebrate whatever with whatever. it doesn’t really matter. what matters is that the peony is losing petals and what if you’re losing the luck he gave with it.

“wait, stop.” 

“what? i thought you were scared of sunday’s hounds after us.. err, you.” you replied, but you stopped away. aventurine’s hand brushed against your face, he adjusted the flower, making sure it looked full. 

“didn’t want you losing the petals…”  he murmured as he abruptly turned away from you, grabbing your hand. if you squinted, you could see a hint of pink reaching to the tips of his ears. he’s cute… in a totally platonic way!  

“uh-huh, so what? don’t need a flower when i have you, right?” 

he coughed loudly, his pace getting faster and it was hard to catch up. but you managed, taking longer strides to keep up. his mind raced between a response between “you don’t mean that.”, which exposes his feelings about you or he could play along, pretending everything is fine and he doesn’t think about being yours. aeons, he could only hope he doesn’t look flustered. 

did he even reply? 

“aventurine? we’re at our spot, you okay?” you asked, he could see the concern in your eyes.

“of course, i am. why?” 

“just wondering! do you think the flowers we planted are still there or did the organiziton or whatever pluck them out?” 

“personally, i think they gave up but they probably did. stupid bloodhounds.” 

aventurine clicked his tongue as the both of you tucked your heads under a hedge. it took a while to get to the place, hidden under the bushes of the park. he replied, “personally, i think they gave up but they probably did. stupid bloodhounds.” 

you gently pushed him away, “don’t say that outloud, i think they have spies.” 

he laughed, “c’mon, the only one i’m afraid of is gallagher but other than him, i’m basically fearless.” 

“yeah right.” 

[tinybeetiny]

Proposal: Maknae Line

I split this into 2 parts because it was getting sooooo long anyways:

I know this isn't how traditional Korean proposals are... but I was raised in the US sooooooooooooo yeah :)

If you would like to be a part of the taglist please fill out this form

CW: Explicit language, cringey mushy, i tried not to repeat themes and stuff....

Masterlist | Ateez Masterlist | Ateez Wedding Masterlist | Hyung Line

San:

San had bought the ring MONTHS ago but he never found the right moment. He knew you didn’t like the cheesy grand gestures but he figured you wouldn't want something as nonchalant as a “Hey bud, marry me?” So he felt a little stuck. He thought Wooyoung would be able to help but he would always gave some crazy idea that made San rethink their friendship (JK they’re the real soulmates). After some extensive research, he found the perfect place.

“You want to do what?” You ask looking up from your phone “I want to go on a hike!” San said very VERY excited “Um honey… you know I’m not an outdoorsy person (I’m so sorry if you actually are)” you said hesitantly raising an eyebrow at your bouncing boyfriend “Please baby! It’ll be so much fun. I looked up the trail and it’s not even that far. Pretty smooth terrain!” San practically begged and who were you to deny your man of anything especially when he was so excited about it.

When the day finally came around you instantly regretted agreeing to come on this hike. Not only was it humid as all hell but the mosquitoes sensed you were gonna come outside that day and decided they would also like to be out as well “San. I’m getting devoured here. Why don’t we go back home and we can have a lazy day instead” you try to coax him back to the car “Nu-uh, you already agreed! No backing out now” he said taking your hand dragging you to the trail. It was a long hike before you reached the desired destination. “WAIT!” San yelled before turning to you “Close your eyes” You gave him a skeptical look “Why? What are you going to do to me?” You asked very suspicious of him.

The past couple of weeks he had been very sneaky and secretive, slamming his laptop shut whenever you came out of the room. You just figured he was watching porn or something but there was this lingering feeling it was something else. You hesitantly closed your eyes not expecting him to pick you up bridal style “What are you doing San?” You questioned as you wrapped your arms around his neck anxiously “I don’t want you to trip” he said, you could hear the smile in his voice. It took 30 seconds for San to walk to his desired location but the entire time he kept looking down to make sure you still had your eyes closed wanting to keep the element of your surprise. Your arms tightened around his neck when you felt yourself descending to the ground "Relax baby, I won't let you fall" he whispered in your ear. You hesitantly removed your arms once you felt your feet touch the ground "Keep your eyes closed just a little longer" You focused on your surroundings hearing the sound of a loud waterfall and the strong smell of nature took over your senses. It seemed as if the mosquitoes disappeared as well.

San took a moment to take in the surroundings, the way the sun reflected off the water, the trees gave enough privacy from wandering eyes, and the freshness of the scenery made him smile. "Okay! Open your eyes" He said with much excitement. It took a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness from the sun but once they did you couldn't help but gasp, partly from the beautiful scenery but mostly at the image of San on one knee a few feet in front of you. "San, what are you doing?" You question not fully understanding. His eyes fill with realization before reaching into his pocket to retrieve the little black box "Oh my gosh" "Iloveyousomuchandiwanttospendforeverandeverwithyoupleasemarryme" He rushed (more like screamed) out, you stare at him for a minute not understanding a word he said "huh?" San took a deep breath for a moment "I love you so much and I want to spend forever and ever with you, please marry me" He said with a little more confidence "Yes, a thousand times yes" You said through tears. San was up in an instant taking you into his arms, and placing a firm kiss to your lips. He slid the ring on your finger finding it to fit perfectly "You know, we didn't have to hike for you to propose to me. You could've asked me at home but I love the effort either way"

Mingi:

"Wow Mingi, It's beautiful up here." You say staring over the edge of the balcony at the vast city below you "A beautiful date for my beautiful girl" He said with a silly grin on his face, you turned side-eyeing him for a moment "If I hear one more cheesy line from you I'm going to jump" you threaten, the whole plane ride over he was hitting you with cheesy pickup lines he read online somewhere... and it was a LONG flight but Mingi insisted on going to New York for your next date. But who are you kidding you loved every single word that came out of his mouth "Shush and come here so we can eat" he chuckled as he motioned for you to join him on the blanket he had set up, a rooftop picnic in New York seemed like a dream. You and Mingi had talked about quite literally everything from their upcoming tour to the bird that landed next to you the other day. It was a nice quiet change from your day-to-day craziness.

Up on this rooftop, it was just Mingi and you, no screaming fans, no work calls, no other soul to interrupt. Once you finished eating Mingi cleared everything and you positioned yourself in his arms not wanting this night to end "I don't want to go back yet Min, can we stay a little longer?" you say as you snuggle deeper into his chest "However long you want my love" His words a little muffled as he places a kiss to the top of your head "But first I have something I need to do" He says standing and pulling you to your feet as well. You look up at him a little confused as he takes a few deep breaths trying to calm his racing heart. It's always been you no matter what, no matter what he was going through he always thought of you. You were the one called when his mind got the best of him and yet you're the reason for his nerves now, not that he would ever change that. This is something he's been NEEDING to do for a while and there was no better moment than now. With one final deep breath, he knelt down on one knee, your eyes widening in surprise, and before he could even get a word out or even begin his speech he most definitely did not prepare you screamed a yes in his face. Mingi paused for a second not expecting your reaction at all. He stood with a wide smile on his face sliding the ring on and instantly running the the railing "SHE SAID YES" Mingi yelled to no one in particular and considering how high you were you would think no one would be able to hear but with how loud he was you wouldn't be surprised.

Wooyoung:

Wooyoung had asked you a total of 5 times, and each time you told him no. The last time he asked was 4 weeks ago at a nice restaurant right outside of Seoul, you knew it was coming just from the way he was acting. The food had just arrived and Wooyoung cleared his throat before you could start eating. He stood up and got down on one knee but before he could even get a word out you shook your head "Get your ass back in your seat now" you whisper yelled, Wooyoung blinked before pretending to tie his shoe.

The rest of the dinner was... quiet. It's not that you didn't want him to propose you just didn't want something so public, but Woo was so outgoing that he wanted a grand gesture to show how big his love for you really was. "I don't know what to do Hwa, she keeps saying no, maybe she doesn't actually want to marry me" He felt defeated "I don't think that's the issue here, have you guys ever talked about it before? Like what her dream proposal is or something?" Seonghwa questioned him, now that he mentioned it you guys never really talked about the whole proposal thing, you talked about everything after. "Maybe she doesn't want something so big and public. You can still make an effort without it being too much" Seonghwa gave him a couple pats on the back before getting up and leaving.

"Please San! Yeosand already said he would help me" Wooyoung was begging at this point, he had thought of the perfect plan but he needed people to help "I told you man if I cancel again she's going to kill me, ask Mingi he's got nothing planned" San said before they hung up. Sighing, Wooyoung opted to text Mingi demanding his assistance rather than asking which to his surprise he agreed right away.

"You want it here?" Mingi asked holding the giant heart in the OPPOSITE direction of where Woo wanted it "NO, give it here, take these rose petals and spread them like this" Wooyoung exasperated. Mingi and Yeosang shared glances both having the same thought, Wooyoung was acting like a bridezilla and he wasn't even the bride. "Is this good enough Woo?" Yeosang asked after spreading the last of the rose petals "I think so, I texted her to meet me around 7 and it's-" Wooyoung paused to look at his phone "OH SHIT IT'S 6:50, I HAVE TO CHANGE, YOU TWO GET, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK BUT YOU GOTTA GO" He yelled pushing the two out of the door. He got changed in record time giving him 2 minutes before your arrival. 2 minutes to calm his nerves. 2 minutes before potentially changing his life forever (he's quite the dramatic king I love it).

"Hello? Woo? Are you here?" He heard your sweet voice calling out to him "IN HERE MY LOVE" He called back. He heard your heels clicking closer and closer until you reached the slightly cracked door, with a tentative push you opened it the rest of the way. "Hey, what was so urgent that you-" You stopped mid-sentence noticing the rose petals at your feet. Your eyes continued to travel until they landed on your boyfriend, then the giant heart with the four words that you've heard five times now but this time felt different. This time it felt more personal, not so many eyes, just Wooyoung and you. "So, what do you say?" he asked hopeful that you would say yes this time. He just about shit himself when he saw you smile, nodding your head as you made your over to him. "Are you being serious right now?" He asked shocked that you actually said yes "Yes Woo, I'm saying yes. I really wanted this moment for us to just be US. It means a lot to me and I'm not willing to share it with anyone else. That's why I kept saying no. Everything was too much" you said taking his hand into yours "Oh come on, not EVERYTHING was too much" he said rolling his eyes "The ostrich....?" you question him tilting your head "HEY it was the one Seonghwa rode, I think" "Why would I want that?!"

Jongho:

Jongho wasn’t too into grand gestures, he'd much rather keep things lowkey but he couldn’t be too lowkey. He always wanted to keep the intimate moments of your relationship private, not really posting about or talking about it publicly. That doesn't mean he didn't cherish you more than anything, keeping all your moments via photos and videos. After 1 year he had to buy more storage on his phone seeing as it was all taken up by you. He had thought long and hard about how he was going to go about this until he figured he could put all these pictures to good use. It took him a good 2 weeks to put everything together seeing as though there were thousands of photos to go through and he wasn't trying to have a 2- hour movie which was honestly very hard, he had a lot of favorites. "Seonghwa. I need to borrow something" Jongho stated, not even asking “what do you need to borrow?” Seonghwa asked cautiously “pillows”

"Oh Jongie! This looks amazing, I can't wait to- are those Seonghwa’s pillows?" You turn giving him a questioning look, he only shrugs in response motioning you to sit. You cuddle up on the blanket as he reaches for the remote. "So, what movie did you pick out?" You ask as he turns on the projector "The Wailing" he smirks as he watches your eyes widen in horror "The what? You know I don't like scary movies" You whined, rolling your eyes. Jongho kisses the side of your head, snuggling you closer.

He presses play and his voice is the first thing you hear "Hey (Y/n)... and future me. I bet you're so confused right now, bet you look so cute too." You feel him chuckle next to you. He was right, you were extremely confused. You were fully expecting to be scared out of your pants instead you see your boyfriend's face up on the screen "Now that you can see my handsome face I'll explain. I wanted to put together a little something to show how much I love you! So sit back and relax, with me. and enjoy" He gives a wide gummy smile before he disappears and a picture of you from your first date shows up. You look over at Jongho and find him staring intently at the screen.

The slide show continues and you feel yourself tearing up. You felt several tears run down your cheeks as a little video of the 7 boys popped up “hey shorty, I hope you’re pleasantly surprise! He’s been working on this for like almost a month now” you hear Hongjoong say “you’re the last person to be calling someone shorty” Wooyoung pointed out. He quickly shut his mouth when Hongjoong gave him a side eye. The rest of the boys gave their little speeches of how they think you’re so great and the perfect fit for their maknae. The floodgates finally opened when Jongho popped up on the screen again “Hi again baby! Did you like my surprise? I bet you did! I bet you’re crying right now. Anyways. I’m gonna let me take over from here. I love you” You feel Jongho move next to you, looking over to you seen him knelt on one knee “Holy shit” you gasp “I love you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me?” He asks with hopeful eyes “yes oh my gosh yes absolutely I will marry you” you cry tackling him into a hug “oh hold on” he says reaching for the remote. He presses a button and the boys are on the screen again screaming and cheering while Wooyoung is running around in circles “what is this?” You laugh “it’s their reaction to you saying yes… you don’t want to see the other….”

[dearest-painter]

Valentino’s daughter reader anon! What about Husk teaching the reader how to use her wings? (I mentioned Valentino didn’t care enough to do that in my last post) but she has trouble trusting people so she’s always nervous if what he’s saying is try and she acts as if she’s walking on eggshells to not make him mad like her father.

here’s another one I thought of but am too lazy to make a separate request of (I might in the future but I don’t know lol) but what if the Vs knew about the daughter but tried to keep her a secret? Like Velvette basically treated her like a dress up doll, Vox treated her like she was his assistant, I.E making her carry his coffee and other tasks that someone would need to be paid to do, and Val just ignored her existence.

you can make separate posts if you want for these, pre Angel adopting them and post, sorry I’m just excited that someone actually likes writing this idea because it’s been in my head for so long 😭😭

It’s fine!!!

TW/CW:Yandere behavior, unhealthy behavior, unhealthy relationship,abusive behavior,abusive relationship, tell me if I need to add more

Summary:Your new dad helps you fly!

Angel Dust placed the random mattress he had hose down in a spot. You were a bit scared but your mama and dad were with you! Fat nuggets sat beside it as he made a little noise. Husk sighed as he opened his wings. “Alrighty kiddo, you know how to open your wings right?” He asked. You nodded your head and opened them.

“Okay…Now Imma help you get up in the sky but after that we learn” He told you so you could mentally prepare yourself. He picked you up and flapped his wings as he went above the bed mattress, not to high but not to low. Just the perfect height for beginners. He held you out but still held you. “Okay so…we’re gonna learn how to flap. You know how to make your wings go up and down right?”

“Yeah!” You answered as you nod your head. “Okay, I need you to do that but without stopping” Husk said. You nod your head as you stared at your wings. Slowly, you started to make them go up and down over and over until there was no hesitation. Angel Dust smiled as he watched you two. He was recording as he saw this as a milestone for you.

“Okay, Now…I’m letting you go. Keep flapping” Husk stated and let you go. You kept flapping your wings but your eyes were shut as you were scared of falling. Slowly you opened your eyes and looked around then looked down. You saw Angel dust smiling widely and cheering. You then looked at Husk who was smiling a bit. “You got down the flapping kid, now…let’s do flying” Husk said which made you super excited.

You always wanted to fly so you could join him on the days he actually used his wings! He grabbed your hand as he started to fly. You copied his body so you were leaning forward a bit like he was. Angel Dust was worried about this but he noticed halfway through, Husk let you go. You were flying on your own! He cheered loudly which made you realize husk no longer was holding you. “Look mama! I did it!” You happily said as you got on the ground and ran to Angel dust smiling.

Husk smiled as he watched your happiness and interaction. He knew you still had training to do but you were a strong flyer which is a good thing in hell, you can get away from things faster.

[mythica0]

!!epic fic idea!!

Lee!polites? Ler!ship crew, euryloches, or odysseus?

Good friends

🎂: epic the musical

🧁: Polites

🍫:Eurylochus, Odysseus

Summary: Polites has a bit of a… problem. And he’s too embarrassed to say it out loud. Of course, his friends find out anyway, and decide to help him out.

A/N: thank youuu! Normally I would request a scenario but I already had one in mind for this so you lucked out. We love Lee!Polites 💕. This is pretty dialogue heavy, so I hope who’s talking when is clear, and the story is as well. I also don’t really like the title but whatever. ENJOY! >:3

Good friends

Polites woke up.

Aaanddd… immediately knew that it was gonna be a long day. There was a buzzing, fluttery feeling under his skin, and a nagging desire settled in his chest.

A lee mood.

He’s had them before. And it always makes the day seem significantly longer. Of course, he could just ask, but that’s so embarrassing!

And, in addition, it’s not easy to hide. He knows that if his friends find out they will tease him relentlessly. Not a very fun experience.

So, yeah, he tries to hide it with his life.

He sighed and got out of bed, it’s no excuse to miss work. He tried to ignore the fantasies flashing through his head.

“Hey captain!” He tried to act normal. This is fine. He’s fine. Nothing is different. But, apparently, he was having an off day. Because whereas usually he can go fairly unnoticed, Odysseus immediately knew something was up.

Odysseus tried not to show the suspicion in his face. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but Polites was.. off. He was… I don’t know, restless? He looked like he couldn’t sit still.

“Polites. How are you today?”

“I’m well! You?”

He wasn’t lying. (Polites was a horrible liar.) so it wasn’t something that was bothering him..hmm.

“I’m good as well.”

“I’m glad. Any tasks for me today or just the usual routine?”

“Ah, nothing special today.”

Odysseus also noticed he was gesturing with his arms less, as if nervous to expose himself. Eurylochus walked up.

“Hey there. mornin’”

“Eurylochus. You slept well?”

“Eh, I’ve had better.” Eurylochus also immediately noticed Polites was off. He kept getting distracted mid conversation.

“Ah, sorry to hear that!” Polites responded, chipper as ever despite his… off-ness.

“I’ll be alright.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna go start work, see you two later!” And Polites walked away.

Odysseus turned to Eurylochus once he was sure that Polites was out of earshot.

“Does Polites seem off to you?”

“Oh, absolutely. Glad it’s not just me.”

“Oh yeah, not just you. Something is definitely going on. The question is what? He isn’t upset.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem like he’s sad or something. We should keep our eyes on him and see what we can gather.”

So they did. Over the course of the morning, they watched him. They noticed that he was kind of.. giggly? And he also seemed to get flustered for seemingly no reason occasionally. He also seemed extra responsive to touch, just brushing his side gently would make him jump.

They eventually put the puzzle pieces together. Or, well, Odysseus did, being the smart man he is. He pulled Eurylochus off to the side to inform him and make a bit of a plan.

“Captain? What is it?”

“I know what’s up with Polites.”

“You do? What is it?”

“He’s in a lee mood.”

Realization dawned on Eurylochus’ face. “Ooohhh, that makes sense.”

“Mhmm. And I have an idea.”

“Go ahead.”

Later, lunch was served, and after everyone ate, Odysseus walked up to Polites.

“Hey, Polites?”

“Oh, hey Ody! What’s up?”

“You’re not in trouble or anything, but can you see me in my office?”

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Polites mind was racing. If he wasn’t in trouble, what was it? Did they find out?? The very idea flustered him to no end. But he followed his best friend to his office nonetheless.

He was surprised to see Eurylochus there as well.

“Oh? Eurylochus is here?”

“Yes, I am. Hi Polites.”

“Hi! What’s up?”

The other two in the room smirked a bit.

“Oh, nothing, I just noticed your little…. Problem.”

Polites mind raced once more. ‘Wait, actually? They actually know? Oh gods..’

“Oh?”

“Yes, yes. We noticed that you’re in a lee mood, dear friend.”

Eurylochus chimed in. “And what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t help you out?”

‘Oh my gods, is this actually happening right now?’ Polites thought to himself, excited and nervous and flustered all at once.

Odysseus and Eurylochus walked up to their friend, and Eurylochus took his arms in one hand and put them above his head. Polites started blushing from fluster and embarrassment, and nearly started giggling from anticipation.

“Let’s get these out of the way, hmm?” Eurylochus’ voice held an unusual teasing lilt, only adding to Polites’ embarrassment.

“Oh gods..”

“What’s wrong? Embarrassed?” Odysseus asked, teasing his friend even further. Then he placed a hand gently on his side, not actually tickling yet, just teasing.

This broke Polites into anticipatory giggles.

“Ohoho nohoho…”

“Aww, laughing already? I haven’t even started yet~”

“Ohohody! Stohohop teheasing!”

“Oh, you want me to stop teasing, hmm? You want me to just start already?”

Polites groaned in embarrassment through his giggles. “Yehehehes!”

“Aww, okay, I guess I’ll have mercy~” Without any further words, Odysseus started to scribble against Polites’ sides, making the other’s giggles grow fuller.

“Ehehehehehe! Ohohody!”

“Whaaaaat? I thought this is what you wanted?”

Polites just groaned again.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know how contradictory the brain can be when it comes to this. You love it, yet your mind is screaming at you to make it stop~”

Polites blushed even further, still giggling like a madman. Eurylochus took his free hand and started to scratch gently at his tummy.

“Ehehehe, Euhuhurylohohochus! Nohohot thehere!”

“Oh? Not here? Not this little tummy right here? But you love this spot~”

His friends wanted to kill him. He was so flustered that he felt like he might die. And their constant teasing was not helping.

“Tickle tickle tickle~ look at how happy you are~”

“Ohohody! Stohohop!”

“Stop what? Stop tickling you? Cause we both know you don’t want that~”

“Stohohop teheheheasing!”

“Aww, why? Is the little lee gettin’ all flustered~?”

“Eheheheh Ohohody!” He didn’t say it aloud, but Polites was having an absolute blast. He’s, he was embarrassed to all Hades, but it was so much fun.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

Eurylochus decided to chime in again, still scratching and digging at his friend’s worst spot.

“What’s the matter, Pol? Too ticklish~?”

“Ehehehehehehe nohohot yohou tohohoo! Ahahahaha!” Polites bouncy, happy giggles filled the room, emanating a contagious joy that made the other two parties smile too.

“Aww, you’re just so downright precious~”

“Ehehehehehe nohoho ihim nohohot!”

“Yes you are, don’t try to deny it~ I mean, just look at you! Your smile is adorable~ and don’t even get me started on those sweet giggles.”

“Eehahahaha guhuhuys stohohop!”

“Why should we? You’re clearly enjoying yourself~”

Polites was so red he could be mistaken for a tomato at this point. This was unbearable and amazing and so, so flustering. He couldn’t take it! And yet he loved every second.

Part of him actually did want it to stop, so the pleas weren’t exactly In-genuine, but they weren’t fully genuine either. It’s confusing.

“Stohohop! Guhuhuys! Ehehehehehe!”

“How bout this, you admit you’re adorable and we’ll stop~”

“W-whahahahahat?!”

“You hear him. Tell us that you’re precious and we’ll let you go~ just three simple words.”

“Ehehehehe nohoho wahahahay!”

“Oh, so you’re not ready for us to stop yet? That’s okay, we can keep going until you’re done.”

Polite continued to giggle and squirm and blush so warm it felt like his face was on fire. But it wasn’t to the point where he was desperate. He could hold out a little longer.

“Ehehehehehe guhuhuys plehehehease!”

“You know what you have to do~”

As much fun as he was having, it was quickly getting to a point of desperation, so Polites caved.

“Fihihine! Yohohou wihin! Ihi’m cuhuhute!”

The other two immediately let up, Eurylochus letting go of his arms. “See, now was that so hard~”

“Ugh, youhou guys are mean..” Polites was still blushing furiously, a few small remaining giggles slipping into his speech.

“You know you loved it.”

“Ughhhhhhhh”

Odysseus ruffled his hair. “You’ll be fine.”

Just as they were all about to disperse, Polites decided to say one last thing.

“Uh- thank you.”

“No problem, Friend. Glad you had fun. I know I did.”

Then they separated and went about their usual day, all as if it had never happened. And Polites could confidently say that he felt a lot better. Maybe today wasn’t so bad after all.

———THE END————————————————

[atimeofyourlife]

Meeting the parents (and forgetting about it)

@bucktommypositivityweek day 3: meeting the friends and family | wc: 738 | ao3 Tommy meets Buck's parents at Maddie and Chimney's wedding. It goes better than expected, but his tired brain forgets it.

There'd been a lot going on in Buck's mind in the run up to Maddie and Chimney's wedding, even before adding in his new relationship with Tommy. But he did at least have the forethought to warn Tommy that his relationship with his parents was complicated, to say the least. He didn't think they would be outwardly homophobic, or hostile in any way, at least not in public, but he never knew how they would react to anything he did.

Of course, nothing did go to plan. Tommy getting called out to the wildfire, Chimney not showing up to the bachelor party or the wedding, because of amnesia as a result of viral encephalitis. The wedding being called off, then being back on, just in a hospital room. The icing on the cake for Buck was Tommy showing up for him, sooty turnouts and all.

The makeshift reception didn't last long before the nurses started dropping subtle, then not so subtle, hints that it needed to wind down. That all the excess excitement needed to end so Chimney could get some rest. Buck had a bag with Tommy's turnouts over one shoulder, and the other hand on Tommy's lower back, supporting the man who seemed seconds away from falling asleep standing up.

"E-Buck. Could we have a word before you head out?" His mother said just as they left the room, nodding towards where his father was standing a little way down the hall.

"Uh, sure." Buck said, a little unsure.

There was a moment of silence, and Buck realized they were waiting for him to lead the conversation. "Mom, dad. This my boyfriend, Tommy Kinard, he's a firefighter pilot with the 217, based out of harbor station. Tommy, my parents."

"It's nice to-" Tommy cut himself off with a wide yawn. "Sorry. It's been quite a day. I was called out to a wildfire at Angeles Crest last night. But it's nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs Buckley."

They both shook his offered hand. "It's nice to meet you too, Tommy. Buck's not introduced us to any partners before." Buck's dad replied.

"You must be exhausted after a fire like that. I'm sure Maddie and Howard would have understood if you had just gone home to sleep." His mom added.

"I promised Evan that I would do my best to make it." Tommy tried- and failed- to stifle another yawn.

Buck noticed how both his parents raised their eyebrows when Tommy called him Evan, but thankfully neither of them commented on it.

"Buck- we don't want you to think. It's not-" His mom stumbled over her words, before his dad took over.

"What your mother is trying to say, we're happy for you. We were surprised when you walked in with him, and we didn't know if this was something you'd talked about before." His dad said.

"It's new." Buck confirmed. "I didn't even realize I was interested in men until I met Tommy. Now, I really should get him home before he falls asleep standing up."

"Of course, we didn't mean to keep you. We're going to be in LA for a bit longer, to help Maddie out with everything. Maybe one day we could take you both out for brunch, so we can meet and get to know Tommy properly?" His mom offered.

"Yeah. That sounds okay. We'll look at our schedules tomorrow to see what will work." Buck wasn't expecting the olive branch, but he wasn't going to turn down the chance they were offering him. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Buck. Drive safe." His dad replied.

Buck kept playing it over in his mind as he helped Tommy down to the parking lot. It had gone better than he'd expected, better than he'd even hoped. He knew it wasn't magically going to fix everything between him and his parents, but it felt so good to know they were willing to try.

"Evan?" Tommy mumbled sleepily as Buck manhandled him into the passenger seat, frowning a little. "Did I just meet your parents?"

"Yeah, you did. You probably won't remember this in the morning, but they want to take us out to brunch one day while they're still in LA." Buck replied, buckling the seat belt and pressed a soft kiss to Tommy's forehead.

"Oh. Kay." Tommy mumbled, leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed. He was asleep and snoring softly before Buck started driving.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x48 - Bombing Mission! Mugendramon / My Sister's Keeper

Previously on Digimon Adventure: The combined efforts of Zudomon, SaberLeomon, and MetalEtemon finally succeeded in taking down MetalEtemon, at the cost of Leomon's life. Meanwhile, the rest of the children gathered around Pinocchimon and stomped on him until he broke.

Onward to the next Dark Master!

We open in the shot that the previous episode snatched to end on in the dub: Taichi's crew traversing a long highway in a vast desert. As they walk, Hikari begins to cough. Her steps become shaky and unsteady. Before long, she trips over her own foot and falls face-down into the pavement.

The other kids keep walking for a couple seconds, unaware that she's no longer with them. Once they realize, however, Taichi rushes to her side.

Taichi: HIKARI!!!

The dub adds some dialogue as we join them.

Tai: This road has to be going somewhere, right...? Kari: (cough cough) Tentomon: Don't count on it! Nothing is certain in the Digi-World! Kari: (cough cough, cough cough) Gatomon: Do you have a furball, Kari? Kari: No, silly... I'm okay.... Sora: One thing is certain; Only a cactus could love this place. (Kari falls) Group: ... Tai: (suddenly notices) KARI!!!

This conversation is basically nothing fluff, but I can see merit in it. In the original, the group seems too exhausted to notice when Hikari drops at first. They're all just trudging through silently.

The dub seems to be angling for them being too lost in conversation to notice - besides Gatomon, who they have monitoring Kari's condition. Though if Gatomon was paying attention to her, you'd think she would have said something when Kari dropped.

I do think they should have had one more line of dialogue here, during and after Kari dropping. To cement the "lost in conversation" vibe, have someone saying something while she falls, and then have Tai suddenly interrupt them with his "KARI" yell.

Nonetheless, I see what they're going for. It's a different interpretation but it works.

The children carry Hikari to a bus stop and set her down on the bench.

Unhelpfully, the bus stop's marker shows destinations as "Somewhere" and "Anywhere". In English.

Sora: I guess her cold must be acting up again. Her legs must be exhausted. Tailmon: Hikari... Are you okay...? Hikari: (opens eyes and nods, smiling weakly) Taichi: Why did you let this go on for so long? Why are you burdening yourself? Hikari: Because... We have to hurry and save-- (cough cough) Taichi: (worried) ...Hikari....

Hikari's condition has been worsening, but she's kept it to herself to avoid inconveniencing the rest of the group. Or, at least, she's attempted to do so.

The dub previously unwrote Kari being sick as her reason for not making it to summer camp. So here, she's recently come down with something. No relation to past events.

Sora: She has to stay out of the sun. And we've got to find a way to get her fever down soon! Gatomon: Don't worry. I won't leave you. Kari: (opens eyes and nods, smiling weakly) Yeah.... Tai: How come you didn't say something before now, Kari!? If we'd known sooner, we could have rested until you felt better. Kari: ...you mad? I didn't want to slow everyone down. (cough cough cough) Tai: (worried) Oh, I'm not mad.

Kari's a bit more verbose than her Japanese counterpart.

Taichi momentarily flashes back on something from their history. He briefly remembers a playground when they were little, watching emergency responders load Hikari into an ambulance.

Taichi: Now that I think about it, it may have been better if we didn't bring Hikari with us after all. Koushiro: Eh!? We wouldn't be able to save the Digimon World or the Earth without Hikari. You realize she's a Chosen Child, right? Taichi: But she's only in second grade... And she's recovering from a cold.... Taichi: (thinking) Takeru's in second grade too.... Koushiro: What's wrong, Taichi-san? Taichi: I-It's nothing. It's just... She tends to try and quietly endure things even when she doesn't have to. Koushiro: Taichi-san....

The curse of being a younger sibling. Hikari's afraid of being burdensome and overcompensates.

In the dub:

Tai: I wasn't paying attention. We probably shouldn't have even brought her along. Izzy: Huh!? What are you talking about!? We had to bring her! We need her if we want to save the Digi-World! She's one of the DigiDestined; Have you forgotten that!? Tai: Not at all! But her being sick... We should have left her someplace safe. We should have split up so someone could take care of her while the others looked. Izzy: SPLIT UP!?!? Tai, this isn't like you! Tai: I'm just a little... worried about her. It's all a part of what I do to be a good leader, Izzy. Izzy: Uh, yeah, but....

They depersonalized this bit hard. They stay in script through Izzy's first line, at which point Tai concedes the point that she has to be physically present in the Digi-World but then wildly suggests stashing Kari somewhere on this side of the boundary.

This replaces Taichi nervously fretting over how young Hikari is. And, by extension, suddenly realizing how young Takeru is too.

Tai wraps up by removing himself entirely from the role of Kari's brother and instead assuring Izzy that this is about his leadership duties.

Suddenly, Tentomon intrudes on the conversation.

Tentomon: KOUSHIRO-HAAAAAAAN!!! I FOUND SOMETHING!!!

Kabuterimon brings the children to what he's discovered. They approach a great landmass across a body of water. A landmass that looks suspiciously like New York City.

Kabuterimon: Look! Over there! Kids: (collective gasp) Takeru: It's America! ...huh?

As they fly, the architecture of the city below suddenly shifts to a new region.

Koushiro: This is Italy. And that's the Arc de Triomphe! That's in France. Sora: It's too quiet. There's something strange about this. Piyomon: No Digimon either.

Taichi rides with Hikari in front of him, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders. She suddenly weakens and goes slack, prompting him to start yelling with urgency.

Taichi: HEY!!! Please! We need to stop and rest somewhere! Koushiro: Uhh... Yeah, sure.

Taichi's request pulls everyone reluctantly away from the mystery they've found themselves in, and they begin looking around for somewhere to land.

In the dub:

Tentomon: FOUND IT!!! Izzy: Huh? Tentomon: We're saved! (Kabuterimon takes the kids to the mishmash city) Kabuterimon: Look! Right up ahead! You wanted civilization? Well, it doesn't get more civilized than this! Kids: (collective gasp) T.K.: IS THAT AMERICA!?!?

The dub slips it's first commercial break, leaving us with the intrigue of having found New York City. Upon return, we briefly replay the shot of Kabuterimon approaching NYC as a reminder of where we left off.

T.K.: Do you think they have a bathroom? Kids: Huh!? Sora: That's New York City.... (They pass into Italy) Sora: ...but that isn't! Izzy: That's Rome. We studied it in geography. And up there? That's the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. They're all smushed together. Tai: It's like that theme park in Florida! Sora: Except that this place is deserted. Look, there's not a sign of life anywhere! Kari: (groan, goes slack) Tai: HEY!!! IZZY!!! Kari's getting worse; Let's find someplace to land! Izzy: Oh! Yeah, right. (looks around) Uhhh....

Taichi is silent through this exchange until he suddenly speaks up about Hikari because he has bigger things on his mind than weird mashup cities. Tai's happy to pitch in and compare the place to... You know, I'm actually not sure which theme park he means. The two I know (Disney World and Universal Studios) are based around movies, not world geography.

Is there a world geography theme park in Florida?

(No, T.K., the entire city of New York does not have a bathroom. Why didn't you go during the commercial?)

Overall, this is pretty faithful to the original, albeit lighter in tone. But we expect that from the dub.

Kabuterimon lands on the lawn of a house, and the children invite themselves in.

Was the door unlocked or were we deprived a funny scene of the Chosen Children pulling a B&E? Taichi totally seems like the type to smash a window next to the door and just turn the inside handle, especially under these circumstances. Possibly in the middle of a debate about whether or not it's okay to break in.

I mean, Jou isn't here to stop us. When the senpai's away, the kouhais will... commit crimes.

In any case, the children proceed to ransack the house looking for medicine. We find Taichi, Koushiro, and Takeru turning the kitchen upside-down when suddenly Agumon runs in.

Agumon: HEY!!! TAICHI!!! Is this it?

Taichi takes the bottle from Agumon's hand and inspects it.

Taichi: YES!!! THIS IS IT!!! Koushiro: You found the cold medicine?

Taichi opens the package, only for his hopes to immediately be dashed when it's empty.

Defeated, he returns to the bedroom where they've laid up Hikari. Sora, Piyomon, and Tailmon are watching over her. Sora looks up hopefully at him as he enters, but he shakes his head.

Sora: I see.... Taichi: We're going out to search. How is Hikari doing? Sora: The same as before. However, she isn't sweating as much. Taichi: That's good to hear. Well, take care of her for me. Sora: Mhm. Take care of yourself out there, Taichi.

As Taichi turns to go, he finds Takeru and Koushiro in the doorway.

Takeru: Taichi-san! I'll search for the cold medicine with you. Taichi: No, I want you to stay here, Takeru. We have no way of knowing when the next attack from the Dark Masters will happen. Takeru: Got it! We'll be sure to protect everyone! Patamon: You can count on us! Taichi: You're the man of the house while we're gone.

The dub credits Sora with finding the house.

Sora: This looks like a nice, quiet spot. (Kabuterimon lands and the search begins) Izzy: These cupboards are empty! There's not even a speck of food! Agumon: HEY!!! This what you're looking for? Tai: (takes the packages) Alright! Way to go! Izzy: What is it, Agumon!? Did you find some Aspirin!? Tai: Yeah, this ought to do the trick! (Tai opens the package and finds it empty) Tai: It's empty! Izzy: Just like everything else! This place is weird!

Izzy, the cupboards are visibly not empty. Additionally, you're not supposed to be scavenging for food right now. We're trying to find Kari some meds!

I guess Sora looking at Tai and Tai sadly shaking his head was too subtle for the dub team because they give Tai something else to respond to.

Gatomon: Tai, humans aren't supposed to be this color, are they? Tai: (shakes head sadly) Sora: Well? Tai: I'm afraid to leave in case something happens, but she needs medicine. Sora: She's stable, I think. All we can do for now is hope her fever breaks soon. Tai: It will! At least I know I'm leaving her in good hands, with you. Sora: Don't worry. Just be careful. T.K.: Listen, Tai! I wanna come with you! I won't get in the way, honest! Tai: No way; You're my last line of defense! What if the Dark Masters come, huh? I need you here to look after the others. T.K.: You can count on me! Don't worry; I'm on the job! Patamon: Yeah! Leave it to us! Tai: I knew I could count on you guys!

Apart from that context shift on the headshake, this is pretty faithful. Tai really plays up the whole "It's actually a super important duty for you to NOT come with me!" thing, which sells it well.

Taichi, Koushiro, and their Partner Digimon make their way into the city.

Agumon: Medicine, medicine... Where is the medicine!?

Taichi stops when he notices Koushiro's fallen behind. Koushiro seems to be looking around for something.

Taichi: (urgently)What are you doing, Koushiro? Koushiro: (points) THERE!!!

Koushiro points out a phone booth. Taichi's team makes their way over, and Koushiro breaks out his laptop, using Tentomon's back as a table.

Koushiro: Searching blindly would be a waste of time, don't you think?

Koushiro plugs his computer into the ethernet jack on the pay phone. (Yes, that is actually a thing some pay phones had back in the day when pay phones existed.) From there, he pulls up a map.

Koushiro: Yes! I have a map of the city! Taichi: (excited) S-So where is the cold medicine? Koushiro: The nearest hospital or drug store is....

A set of yellow blinking lights appear on the map near the central red dot.

Koushiro: There! Taichi: (points to one) Great. We'll try that one!

Taichi bolts out of the phone booth, nearly bowling over Agumon in the process, and sprints down the sidewalk.

There's a continuity error here in the animation. The door to the booth is visibly open in interior shots of the group. (Why bother closing it?) But here we see Taichi throw the door open as he exits - with Agumon teleporting outside of the booth so that he can be startled by the sudden action.

Agumon: T-Taichi!? Koushiro: P-Please wait for me!

Rude, but his sister is unwell.

In the dub, Agumon has his mind on other things than the cold medicine. Namely, reading the script and unsubtly dropping foreshadowing.

Agumon: This place is deserted but I still get the feeling we're being followed. Isn't that strange? (Tai notices that Izzy isn't keeping up and stops) Tai: (urgently) IZZY!!! What do you think you're doing!? Izzy: (points) AHA!!! (Izzy takes Tai to the phone booth) Izzy: This is the Digital Age, Tai. There are a lot simpler ways of finding things now. Tentomon: Good. I was beginning to get a cramp in my wing. (Izzy pulls up a map) Izzy: I knew it! There's an online map of the city! Tai: Izzy, you're a genius! Nice going! Izzy: Okay, now I'll search for hospitals and pharmacies.... (Yellow lights appear) Izzy: Jackpot! Take your pick. Tai: (points) This one's the closest. Let's go! (Tai bolts out of the booth) Izzy: HEY!!! WAIT FOR ME!!! I GOTTA UNPLUG MYSELF!!!

Agumon's foreshadowing is also incorrect. They are not physically being watched. ...well, maybe by Piedmon but he's not what this is setting up.

Koushiro unplugs from the phone booth and follows Taichi. As he does, we see they're being monitored. A pair of gear-shaped Digimon have their own map up on a screen, and can see the red and yellow blips from Koushiro's computer - up until the moment he disconnects.

I don't think the gears ever get an Analyzer rundown, so I'm just gonna cover them real quick. These are Hagurumon, the Child-stage Viruses of the Metal Empire line. They're what evolves into Mekanorimon and Guardromon from Homeostasis's flashback, among other things.

The name comes from the word 歯車 haguruma, which means "toothy wheel" or, in other words, a gear.

Hagurumon 1: The line has disconnected!

Hagurumon turns around, reporting to Mugendramon behind them - who finally speaks for the first time.

Hagurumon 1: Mugendramon-sama! The children were looking up the locations of nearby hospitals and drug stores. Mugendramon: Hospitals. Drug stores. Display their locations. Hagurumon 1: Sir!

The Hagurumon pull up their own yellow blips for the referenced locations.

Hagurumon 1: There are twelve in the area. Mugendramon: We'll target them all. Metal Empire Army! Move out! Hagurumon 2: Metal Empire Army! Move out! Hagurumon 1: Metal Empire Army! Move out!

Mugendramon is not playing around. Knowing the Chosen Children will be in one of twelve places is all he needs.

In the dub, the reporting Hagurumon is super obnoxious.

Hagurumon 2: They have logged off. Hagurumon 1: Yes! My lord, Machinedramon, sir! They've accessed maps and things for hospitals and pharmacies. Hi-yoooo! Machinedramon: And you're waiting for what!? Show me those locations. Hagurumon 1: Right away, sir! (Yellow blips appear) Hagurumon 1: There are, uh, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-TWELVE of them! Machinedramon: Let me put this in words you can understand. Send units to all twelve locations and blow them up! Hagurumon 1: Oh, I get it now! Blow them up! Yes, sir! Hagurumon 2: Consider it already done, my lord!

They're going for the "serious cartoon supervillain constantly frustrated by his useless buffoon minions" but they don't have any buffoonery to work with here that they can frustrate Machinedramon with. So they have to make the Hagurumon's personality super annoying to compensate.

They hit the important plot beats but I'm gonna call this one a miss in the attempted comedy. They can't all be winners.

From here, the Metal Empire transforms and rolls out.

This is where the Mekanorimon from the assault on Homeostasis's base came from. An unassuming wall in one of the mashed up cities opens, revealing a hidden entrance to the base. Mekanorimon troops enter into the city on foot.

Beneath the Arc de Triomphe, a secret panel in the ground lowers into a ramp. Tank-shaped Digimon roll up and onto the streets.

A large, round Roman plaza in the Italy section opens up to reveal a secret launchpad. Two huge, serpentine Digimon, one red and one blue, spread their wings and take to the skies.

The Metal Empire is on the move.

In the dub, Machinedramon talks over this.

Machinedramon: The little fools have swallowed the bait! Now it is time to spring the trap.

...what bait? Did you remote-infect Kari with a cold on purpose somehow? Dub villains really do just say things.

The dub Mekanorimon hum a marching cadence to themselves as they emerge. Additionally, the winged Digimon have lines when they take flight.

Red: Finally! Blue: It was getting stuffy!

Meanwhile, Taichi and Koushiro reach their destination. Koushiro raids the hospital's supplies while Taichi goes into another flashback, this time remembering a hospital when he was younger. His mother, out of breath and sweating hard from running, comes to a stop in front of him.

Yuuko: Where is Hikari!? TAICHI!!!

In the present, Taichi shakes, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

Koushiro: (calling out suddenly) I found it! This turned out to be the right place!

Taichi and Koushiro adjourn to the supply cabinets, to sort through medications and try to figure out which bottle they need.

Taichi: Which one is the cold medicine!? Koushiro: If only Jou-san were here. His father's a doctor. Taichi: He's never around when we need him! Koushiro: (notices something) That'll work!

Koushiro notices a phone. He unplugs the phone from its jack and plugs in his laptop's ethernet cable, going online.

The dub gives Agumon a line to kick us off. He remains confused by the emptiness of the city.

Agumon: No wonder this hospital's so clean! There's no sick people! Hello! Hello? (Flashback) Yuuko: TAI!!! (runs up) DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?!? (End flashback) Tai: (shakes, gritting teeth and clenching fists) Agumon: ...Tai? Izzy: HEY, OVER HERE!!! I FOUND THE PHARMACY!!! (Cut to pharmacy) Tai: There's a lot of medicine, alright. But how do we know what to use for Kari's fever? Izzy: Strange as it sounds, I wish Joe were here. He might know what these are; His father's a doctor. Tai: That's a doctor's kid for ya; There's never one around when you need him! Izzy: Huh!? Hold on! I can patch into the hospital's computer! (Izzy unplugs the phone and plugs in his laptop) Tentomon: Izzy shoots! He scores! Izzy: (typing) Fever reduction. Children.

Yuuko is super accusatory in this flashback. The original Yuuko just asks him where Hikari's been taken to; English Yuuko is more interested in throwing blame around and maximizing how bad Tai feels.

This is not the plot difference that it may seem like; It's actually a pacing shift. The original is holding off on revealing Taichi's complicity in Hikari's hospitalization; Right now, it just wants you to know that Taichi has pre-existing trauma over Hikari's health. Meanwhile the dub comes right out and frontloads it.

The Jou exchange is mostly unchanged, but Izzy makes a point to qualify his statement as a rare deviation from norm. Can't have you thinking anyone likes Joe or anything.

Izzy also describes plugging into the wall jack as "patching into the hospital's computer" despite no computer besides his own being present.

Unbeknownst to them, when Koushiro accesses the city's network, he reveals his location to Mugendramon once again.

Hagurumon1: Someone's accessing the network at Target Area 1. Mugendramon: Hmm.... Narrow our targets to area 1. Prepare to attack!

At Mugendramon's command, Metal Empire forces peel off from their original trajectories and converge on the hospital. They take offensive positions around it, ready to begin the siege.

In the dub:

Hagurumon 1: Sir! There they are, sir! Haha! Hagurumon 2: The network is being accessed from inside Target 4, Master, Sir. Machinedramon: It would then be a good idea to have all forces converge on that target and prepare to attack! Hagurumon 2: Uhhhhh brilliant idea, my lord, sir!

The dub Mekanorimon continue humming their wordless marchine cadence as their forces converge. The sky serpents again have dialogue.

Blue: After you, Megadramon. Red: Oh no, after you!

Inside the hospital, unaware of the impending attack, Taichi and Koushiro compare medications to data Koushiro's pulled up in order to discern which bottle to use.

Taichi: (holding out a bottle) This one? Koushiro: Eh? ...yes! I'm sure of it! Taichi: Great! We should hurr-- Mugendramon: (command room) FIRE!!!

The tanks fire off their opening volley into the hospital. Inside, the boys can feel the building shake and the power cuts out.

(Not that Mugendramon cares but this is a war crime, by the way.)

Agumon: (scared) W-What the...?

Taichi and Koushiro hurry back to the front lobby. Through the sliding doors, they see a row of Mekanorimon foot soldiers waiting for them outside. These Mekanorimon receive the rare luxury of a second rundown.

Mekanorimon is still one of the two Adult-stage Virus-types of the Metal Empire evolution line.

Taichi: T-The enemy! Narrator: Mekanorimon. An Adult-stage Machine type Digimon. Their special attack. Twinkle Beam, is fired from their Linear Lens.

No mention of them being pilotable as a vehicle. This rundown provides less information than the last time they were up here.

Now that they have eyes on target, the Mekanorimon start shooting. Firing off their Twinkle Beams into the hospital lobby. Their shots disintegrate anything they hit, wiping out the front doors and the lobby furniture.

Though momentarily startled, Taichi's crew manage to flee deeper into the hospital.

In the dub:

Tai: Hey, Izzy: You're sure that's the right stuff? Izzy: It's as safe as children's Aspirin! Tai: Good job! Then let's get back! Machinedramon: (command room) FIRE!!! (Assault begins) Agumon: Hey, let's beat it!

When Tai's crew makes it to the front lobby, the Mekanorimon are still singing their wordless cadence. Tai immediately quips about their predicament.

Tai: Lucky we're in a hospital, 'cause it looks like we might need one! Mekanorimon: (singing cadence) Tai: What are they? Agumon: (rundown) Mekanorimon. Evil robots with one job: Blasting Digimon. I suggest we get out of here, and fast! Mekanorimon: Target in range.

Tai doesn't remember that he already saw these Digimon during Homeostasis's vision quest. But we can cut him some slack for that; The narrator forgot too.

Agumon's diegetic rundown is way better than the repeated original. Doing it diegetically allows Agumon to fill it with situational context. That often comes at the expense of the info that's supposed to be delivered, but since this one's a repeat anyway, it's all good.

As Taichi's crew flees into the hospital, they find their path cut off; One of the tanks from outside comes straight through a wall into the hallway, pinning them in.

Tankmon is an Adult-stage Data-type Cyborg Digimon. Also of the Metal Empire line, of course. There's not much to say here. They're a tank. They want to shoot Taichi in the face.

Team: (collective gasp) Agumon: There's another one! Narrator: Tankmon. Using their heavy power and the heavy weapons all over their body, they blast their enemies to pieces. Their special move Hyper Cannon is fired from the barrel on their head.

Something about having a tank cannon pointed directly at their faces makes the group want to stand there and discuss. Fortunately, Tankmon is willing to stand by and let them chat.

Tentomon: HOW DID THEY EVEN KNOW WE WERE HERE!?!? Koushiro: Could they have spotted us when we came in? Taichi: Shit! And we just found the medicine, too!

As if that weren't bad enough, one of the Mekanorimon enters the hospital and rounds the corner, cutting off the children's retreat. Taichi's crew is pincered in the hallway.

(Maybe that's what Tankmon was waiting for. Didn't want to open fire until their retreat was cut off.

The pair fire together, Twinkle Beam and Hyper Cannon. Thinking quickly, Taichi breaks down the door next to him with his shoulder, guiding everyone into a doctor's office.

Taichi: THIS WAY!!!

Taichi's crew escapes the hall just before the two shots collide, detonating in a blast that tosses both Mekanorimon and Tankmon. Taichi's group manage to pile out a window and take cover under the windowsill, while the explosion rips through the windows above them.

Once, the initial blast wave has passed, Taichi gets to his feet and leads the team away.

Taichi: Let's go!

In the dub:

Agumon: They brought along a friend! Agumon: (rundown) Tankmon. An armor-plated bully with a sneeze like a cannon! If you think the other guys are bad, these creeps have more firepower than a volcano! Tentomon: I thought we'd lost them! How did they find us so quickly!? Izzy: One of them must have been following us and saw us come in here. Tai: Think! Kari needs us to get back, pronto! Mekanorimon: (rounding corner) Target in range. (Mekanorimon and Tankmon fire together_ Tai: (bashing down door) LOOK OUT!!! (The kids pile out of the window) Tai: DUCK!!! (They take cover. The explosion passes, then they get up.) Tai: Come on!

Agumon's rundown is a little hyperbolic but covers the key point very well: Tankmon has so much gun. So, so very much gun.

The dub adds "I thought we lost them" to Tentomon's line, which doesn't make a lick of sense. This is our first encounter with the Metal Empire. They have never been chasing us before this moment.

Unless he means "I thought we lost the Mekanorimon out front when we ran deeper into the hall." That would parse, but then Izzy's follow-up line is weird. Yeah, they did see us round a corner.

Between this and Agumon's "I think someone's watching us," the dub seems to be having a hard time with Mugendramon's tracking of the Children.

With Taichi's crew out of the hospital, the Metal Empire fans out to search the city.

Taichi's crew take shelter in the upper floor of an office building. Taichi and Agumon watch a Tankmon pass on the street below. Meanwhile, Koushiro works feverishly at his laptop.

Taichi: How many of them are there!? Agumon: That's it! I'm gonna go deal with them-- Koushiro: Please hold off a moment! We don't have an accurate understanding of the enemy's military assets. It's too dangerous! Taichi: (angry) Then what are we supposed to do, Koushiro!? Koushiro: I'm studying the enemy's positions in order to discern the safest route to take us back. After all, our main priority is to return with the medicine. Taichi: (softens, embarrassed) O-Oh... yeah, you're right.

Taichi always wants to do everything the hard way. ...though they might be better off if they did.

In the dub, the Tankmon are now also singing the marching cadence.

Tai: I'm really getting sick of that sound! When are they gonna call it quits and go home!? Agumon: We don't have time for this! I'm gonna go down there and take care of them! Izzy: No, wait! Those rolling arsenals are just waiting for us! We show ourselves and they'll go ballistic! Tai: (angry)So we just hide here all day!? Is that it!? Izzy: Those machines are the only things moving out there, so a map of the city's traffic flow will show us where they are! Then it's just a question of plotting the best course to avoid them! Tai: Yeah. Just might work. Izzy: Of course it'll work!

A map of the city's traffic flow? Bit of a workaround.

Koushiro's just tapping into the network (unknowingly Mugendramon's network) and looking at the blips showing the locations of his forces. Which is a normal thing for his network to show him.

Izzy's argument against attacking is a lot weaker here, too. Koushiro rightfully points out that we have no idea how many are out there or how strong they are. Attacking blindly is an extremely risky proposition.

Izzy just says "They're gonna shoot at you if you try." Uh. Yeah. That's how violence works. Thanks, Izzy.

Before long, Koushiro's able to pull up the city map again, with white blips showing the locations of each individual enemy unit.

Koushiro: Yes! I have the enemy's positions! Taichi: Really!?

At the same time, a large yellow blip appears on Mugendramon's screen. The Hagurumon zoom in on it, then report.

Hagurumon 1: Mugendramon-sama! An access has occurred in Sector B-12! Mugendramon: Change targets. Sector B-12!

Back in the office building, Koushiro finds that all routes are now unsafe because the white blips have stopped moving in scattershot ways. Instead, they are all converging towards his location.

Koushiro: (jaw open, horrified) .... Taichi: What's wrong, Koushiro? Koushiro: The enemy... They're surrounding the building. Taichi: What!?

Suddenly, Koushiro lets out a startled gasp. His eyes widening with revelation, he looks down at the ethernet cable connected to his laptop.

Koushiro: (thinking) It can't be... They're using my network access to track us!

Today, Koushiro learned an important lesson about what malicious actors are capable of doing with an unsecured IP address. THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY NORD VPN, PROTECT YOUR DATA ONLINE--

In the dub, he continues gloating about "accessing the traffic flow".

Izzy: You see? There! I've pinpointed every one of them! Tai: Good job, Izzy! (Cut to Machinedramon's lair) Hagurumon 2: Excuse me, Your Metalness. They are accessing the network again but the access point has relocated to Sector B-17. Machinedramon: Then relay those coordinates to all forces and attack!

As the Tankmon change course, we see they are continuing to sing the cadence. Though the Mekanorimon are now not singing it. Guess they got bored.

Izzy: (watching the white dots converge on their location) Inconceivable! Huh.... Tai: Incon-what!? What now!? Izzy: The machines! Every one of them rotated in sync and now they're heading our way! Tai: Wha--!? Izzy: (startled gasp) Izzy: (thinking) Of course! They're zeroing in on my computer connection!

Pretty solid, no notes. They even have the not-annoying Hagurumon make the report to avoid disrupting the rising tension. I like the added detail that "every machine rotated in sync". You can picture that in your head and get a good, visceral feel for what's causing Izzy to freak out.

I don't know how he knows that when all he has are blipping dots. He might just be painting a word picture for Tai. But it's a good word picture.

Koushiro doesn't have time to follow this train of thought, however.

Agumon: TAICHI!!!

Agumon's warning comes just in time. The kids look up at the red sky serpent making a beeline for their window. They get up and run just before the creature crashes into the office.

Due to its colossal size, the creature struggles to enter the relatively cramped confines of the office building. Agumon capitalizes on this disadvantage, evolving to Greymon and nailing the struggling creature in the eye with a Mega Flame. Then, as the creature recoils in pain, Greymon takes off deeper into the building - With Taichi and Koushiro riding on his back. We go to commercial from here.

In the dub:

Agumon: INCOMING!!!

The dub slips their commercial break here, as the sky serpent hurtles towards the building. Probably reasoning (correctly) that this is a more suspenseful cliffhanger to leave off on.

No dialogue is added to the brief altercation.

Returning from commercial, we find ourselves at Piemon's observatory.

His telescope displays Mugendramon's command center on the screen, while he waxes poetic about his Dark Master colleague.

Piemon: This is boring to watch. There is no escape. Truly, a Digimon who exists solely for destruction; That is Mugendramon. I suppose he will be the one to bring the Chosen Children to their doom. It's too bad I won't get to play.

Piemon raises his cocktail glass to the screen, on which the fleeing children on Greymon's back are now displayed.

Piemon: (in Spanish) Adios!

The dub adds a lot of extra dialogue to Piedmon, to fill the quiet moments of this scene.

Piedmon: Ahh, the plot sickens. Ahh, me... I had such high hopes that these little ones would put on a more entertaining show! But this? Really, it's too tiresome! Can we just get this over with and get onto something a little less TEDIOUS!? There's no escape from Machinedramon! He's designed for total annihilation; It's only a matter of time now before he catches them. And then the game is over. Ah, it's not fair that that overgrown can opener gets all the fun when I was so looking forward to playing with them myself. (Piedmon raises his cocktail glass to the screen) Piedmon: Farewell, little ones!

Piedmon's actor is chewing every last possible bit of scenery that he can, and it's fun. Mixed into with this rant are all the things Piemon brought up too, so nothing gets left out.

Down below, Greymon smashes his way out through a window of the office building. Freed from the tight confines, he quickly Super-Evolves.

MetalGreymon lands on top of the front line of Tankmon, crushing them underfoot. He charges down the street, weaving through enemy fire, then vanishes around a corner.

Brief cut to the command center, as Hagurumon reports.

Hagurumon 1: We've lost the target! Those jerks escaped again! Mugendramon: (displeased growl)

The Hagurumon are getting frustrated. They broke out the yatsura.

In the dub, it is once more the non-annoying Hagurumon who delivers the news.

Hagurumon 2: Oh, I've got a teeny bit of bad news. They've escaped again, my lord, sir. Machinedramon: And yet you're still here....

Weird line to add. They're the Command Center Digimon, and also they're too juvenile to be useful in a fight. They will not be joining the battle, nor should they.

Taichi and Koushiro find a new hidey-hole in an empty church.

Koushiro: That was careless of me. The enemy was using the signal from my computer connection to track us.

Taichi lunges for Koushiro, violently grabbing him by the collar.

Taichi: Your carelessness is unforgivable! While we're stuck here, Hikari is... Hikari is....

Agumon and Tentomon attempt to pry the boys apart.

Tentomon: H-H-Hey, Taichi-han.... Agumon: What's wrong with you!? This isn't like you, Taichi!

Agumon's words get through. Taichi suddenly lets go of Koushiro, covering his face with his hand and apologizing.

Taichi: ...I'm sorry. Koushiro: Did something happen, Taichi-san? Taichi: She almost died once because of me.

The group lets out a collective gasp at Taichi's confession.

In the dub:

Izzy: It's all my fault! I was giving away our location every time I logged on with my computer! How could I have not thought of that before!? Tai: (grapple) Good question! Now we're stuck here! Meanwhile, Kari's getting sicker and sicker BECAUSE OF YOU!!! (Agumon and Tentomon try to separate them) Agumon: Stop it, Tai! What's come over you! Tai: (gasp) (Tai lets go and shrinks away) Tai: I'm sorry, Izzy. Izzy: Hey, Tai, this isn't your normal behavior. Tai: It's Kari. She almost died once before because of me. Team: (Collective gasp)

Taichi is so freaked out he can't bear to say what Hikari is, while Tai snowballs his fury, burning hotter with each word out of his mouth. Both good interpretations. I liked both versions of this scene.

Also, props to the dub for being willing to use the D word here. This scene wouldn't have half as much impact if he just said she "got hurt" or something.

Taichi goes on, explaining what's been bothering him all episode with a flashback.

Taichi: I was in second grade at the time. Hikari was in kindergarten. On that day, she stayed home because she had a cold.

Taichi flashes back on himself at that age, returning home to find Hikari watching TV.

Taichi: I'm home! Taichi (V.O.): But when I got back, she was sitting up and watching TV. I thought she'd gotten better, so I took her outside to play.

Taichi takes Hikari to the playground and readies a soccer ball.

Taichi: Here I go! Catch!

Taichi kicks the ball to Hikari. She bends down, stopping it with her hands. Then she tries to kick it herself, but her foot goes sideways and she seems to stumble back.

Taichi doesn't notice at first; His eyes are on the ball, watching it pass a few feet away from him. He jogs over to pick it up.

Taichi: Come on! You have to do it right--Whuh!?

When he turns back around, Hikari is facedown on the playground concrete.

In the dub, Tai refrains from giving his own age.

Tai: It happened when she was four or five; Just a little kid. She stayed home from kindergarten one day because she was sick. I mean, I knew she was sick but all I could think about on the way home was playing soccer. (Flashback) Tai: Hey, I'm home! Tai (V.O.): I wanted to go out and play, but I didn't want to leave her by herself so I took her outside with me. She seemed okay. Really, she did! (Cut to the park) Tai: Now watch me! (kicks the ball to Kari) Just like that! (Kari attempts to kick the ball but misses) Tai: (collects the ball) No, that's not right! (Tai turns back around and gasps) Tai: Kari!? KARIIIIIIIII!!!

The dub tweaks Tai's intentions here. Taichi made a well-meaning mistake out of ignorance. (Not unlike Koushiro's mistake, I should note. That's an interesting parallel.) He saw Hikari sitting up and watching TV, so he assumed that meant she was better.

Implicitly, Hikari could have said otherwise and did not. That connects back to Taichi's outburst at the start of the episode about her keeping her suffering to herself and refusing to burden others when actually she direly needs help.

Hikari is a people-pleaser. Taichi thought she was well, and she let him think that because she didn't want to trouble him with the fact that she could barely walk.

The dub rewrites the story to be about Tai being personally selfish. It's not that he didn't notice; It's that he didn't want to notice. He was too wrapped up in soccer to care about Kari's wellbeing.

The way he suddenly gets defensive about "She seemed okay; Really, she did!" implies that even now, he can't fully accept that he made such a selfish choice. But also that he knows it's true deep down. Unprompted by others, that is a defensive statement made in argument with himself.

The flashback continues with a slap in the face.

Yuuko: (trembling and weeping) I TOLD YOU THAT HIKARI WAS SICK!!!

Yuuko breaks down crying from there, still holding out her hand as if to indicate her palm is sore. Taichi slowly grabs the side of his face, crying as well. Susumu rests a hand on Yuuko's shoulder.

Brief shot of the door to Hikari's room, with a sign that reads "No Visitors". Then we find Taichi waiting at the apartment, as Susumu and Yuuko bring Hikari home.

Taichi (V.O.): Hikari's cold was aggravated so much that it left her on the edge of death for three days. When she was finally brought home, the first thing she said to me was: Hikari: Onii-chan.... I'm sorry I couldn't do it right...

Hikari's words cause Past Taichi to start breaking down in tears again. Because of course they do. Holy shit. T_T

Unsurprisingly, the dub cuts the shot of Yuuko slapping Taichi in the face. From their body language, however, it's impossible to not notice that the slap took place.

Yuuko: WHAT COULD YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING!?!? YOU KNEW SHE WAS SICK!!! Tai (V.O.): She ended up with pneumonia or something. She almost didn't make it. But what really kills me is what she said when they brought her home from the hospital. The first words out of her mouth.... Kari: ...Tai... I'm sorry I can't kick the ball very good... You'll probably never want to play with me again....

The dub specifies that it was probably pneumonia that nearly ended Kari's young life. They also add an extra gut-punch to her words to Tai.

The original doesn't clarify her illness, but does viscerally mention that she spent three days in 生死の境 seishi no sakai, meaning "on the border between life and death". The dub offers no timeframe and merely states that she "almost didn't make it".

Returning to the present, Taichi finishes his story.

Taichi: That's the kind of person she is. She's always thinking about people other than herself, and she won't tell anyone that she's struggling or in pain even if it kills her! Honestly, she probably didn't even want to come to this stupid world to begin with! But when the fate of the world is so dire, Hikari couldn't refuse! Koushiro: Taichi-san.... Taichi: That's why I'm supposed to look after and protect her! But I....

Taichi breaks down from there, crying and gripping the bottle of medicine. The others give him the time he needs.

In the dub:

Tai: That's her. That's Kari. She never thinks... about herself.... It doesn't matter if she feels bad or if she's bummed out about other stuff, she's always worried about the other kids! She wouldn't be sick, she'd be just fine if she never came to this stupid place! But she came because she knew that we needed her help; She never thought about what she wanted! She never does! Izzy: Because she cares. Tai: She's a kid! I'm her big brother! I'm supposed to look after her and protect her and think about what's best for her! That's what I'm supposed to do! Agumon: Oh, Tai....

Tai makes the bold claim that Kari only got sick because the Digital World infected her. Given that the original plot point is a resurgence of the illness that made her miss camp, that's a hell of a plot shift.

But, again, this is the result of past changes compounding into future plot points. The dub unwrote her illness before so now it has to claim this is some new Digi-virus she picked up when she got here.

(To be honest, I wonder if Hikari has an immunodeficiency disorder.)

By the way, it is not lost on me that they went into a Christian church to discuss the sacrificial selflessness of Hikari "Light of the Eight Gods" Yagami.

Once Taichi's gotten it all out and is ready to move on, the boys begin making plans.

Koushiro: Since it would be impossible to break through their lines head-on, let's use the enemy's strategy to our advantage. Tentomon: What do you mean, Koushiro-han? Koushiro: This software will prevent them from identifying our access point.

No, for real, this is the best twenty-minute commercial for a VPN service I've ever watched. XD This episode aged well.

Koushiro plugs in his ethernet cable and the game begins.

Koushiro: Using this, we should be able to deceive the enemy.

In the dub:

Izzy: Okay, it would be ridiculous to try to break through them but maybe we can use their own surveillance techniques against them. Tentomon: YOU'RE NOT GOING ONLINE AGAIN, ARE YOU!?!? Izzy: Yes, but this time, I know what I'm doing. I've got a program that will throw them off our trail! (Izzy plugs in the ethernet cable) Izzy: I'm going to mask our access point. It's a little trick a computer programmer taught me once.

I love Tentomon's outburst here.

Koushiro offers no indication of where he acquired the software he's using or whether he made it himself. He even might be actively coding it as they speak. Izzy states that it's a trick he learned from a computer programmer.

Koushiro's trick seems to work. We cut to Mugendramon's command center.

Hagurumon 1: Caught an access--GYECK!?!? This is--!

Dozens of yellow blips appear on the map, indicating several simultaneous accesses from all over the city.

Hagurumon 1: What should we do now, Mugendramon-sama? Mugendramon: (contemplative growl)

Back in the church office, a set of white blips including two massive ones appear on Koushiro's map, as before.

Tentomon: What are those? Koushiro: They indicate the enemy's positions. Taichi: They aren't moving. Koushiro: They can't. Because they don't know where we are. The plan worked!

With the enemy now paralyzed with confusion, Taichi and Koushiro exit the church to make their way back to the house Hikari's resting in.

Taichi: (thinking) Just wait a little longer, Hikari. I'm bringing your meds right now!

In the dub, it's the annoying Hagurumon who reports this time.

Hagurumon 1: There they are again--HUUUUH!?!? Um, boss! Uh, there are now DOZENS of access points ALLLLLLL over the map! Hagurumon 2: Does this mean what I think it does, my lord, sir? Machinedramon: That you have the brains of a tin can!? (Meanwhile, at the church) Tentomon: What are those!? Izzy: Those are the enemy Digimon. Tai: They're not moving. Izzy: That's because the program worked and they don't have a clue where to look for us. PROOOODIGIOUS! Tai: Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get going! (Tai and Izzy flee the church) Machinedramon (V.O.): I'm bored with this game of cat and mouse!

Izzy shouts his "prodigious" catchphrase like a triumphant battle cry here. XD

Unfortunately, things won't be so simple for Taichi and Koushiro. Mugendramon's jaws suddenly clamp down on the shot as if he were devouring Taichi, transitioning us back to the command center.

Mugendramon: Initiate Plan Z immediately! Hagurumon 2: B-But that plan-- Mugendramon: Our utmost priority is to defeat the Chosen Children. Prepare to execute at once! Both Hagurumon: Y-YES, SIR!!! Hagurumon 2: Plan Z: Preparing to Execute! Hagurumon 1: Plan Z: Preparing to Execute! Mugendramon: Plan Z... EXECUTE!!!

The two sky serpents peel off and fly up high above the city. Taichi and Koushiro watch them rise higher into the air. A brief shot of the house shows Takeru at the window, watching what's about to occur as well.

The dub has a playful name for Plan Z.

Machinedramon: Initiate Plan Elimin-8. Hagurumon 2: Uhhh, Elimin-8? How about Elimin-9? Machinedramon: Are you actually questioning me!? Initiate Plan Elimin-8 now! Both Hagurumon: NO, SIR!!! YES, SIR!!! Hagurumon 2: Attention: Initiate Plan Elimin-8! Hagurumon 1: Attention: Initiate Plan Elimin-8! Machinedramon: I'm glad you agree. Fire at will.

There's also some extra dialogue as the serpents rise into the air.

Red: Can I blow something up? Blue: I don't know. Can you? (Cut to Tai and Izzy watching below) Tai: Now we're in for it!

The context that what they're about to do is so brutal that Mugendramon's own forces are reluctant to go through with it is present in both versions, but comes through stronger in the original due to its darker tone.

The Hagurumon, who have been fine with everything up to this point, have moral reservations about Plan Z - Which Mugendramon ruthlessly cuts down.

It doesn't take long to find out why. The red serpent raises their cannons towards the city below and calls out Genocide Attack.

Taichi and Koushiro watch from below with Agumon and Tentomon.

Taichi: What are they doing? Tentomon: They're firing all over the place. Koushiro: (gasp) T-They can't be--!

From here, we get the Analyzers for both of them. The red serpent, Megadramon, is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Cyborg Digimon. Originally an evolution for Monochromon and Leomon in the original Digital Monster lines, Megadramon was brought back for Metal Empire as the evolved form of Guardromon and Mekanorimon.

Gigadramon is a blue recolor of Megadramon created to add more enemy types to the Digimon World video game. They are, as well, a Perfect-stage Virus-type Cyborg Digimon.

Narrator: Megadramon. Proudly one of the most powerful of all Perfect-stage Dragon-type Digimon. Their Genocide Attack, organic missiles fired from both arms, burn everything to the ground. Narrator: Gigadramon. A Cyborg-type Dark Dragon Digimon whose speed and destructive power surpass even Megadramon! Their special attack is Genocide Gear.

Down below, Koushiro opens his laptop and despairs.

Koushiro: It seems that my strategy has backfired. Agumon: What do you mean? Koushiro: The enemy has stopped searching for us entirely. Instead, they're going to level the city with us inside of it. Taichi & Digimon: EHHH!?!? Taichi: T-That can't be...!

That's... certainly one way to deal with an enemy whose whereabouts are unknown. This is another one of those episodes that's harder to watch as an adult. In a literal sense, the city appears to be vacant from what we can tell. But the coding - carpet-bombing a population center to exterminate guerilla insurgents hidden within - is unmistakable.

And remarkably relevant to Current Day 2024.

The dub, unsurprisingly, renames Megadramon's attack to "Dark Side Blaster".

Tai: Man, what a waste of ammo! They're way off! Tentomon: I don't think they're shooting at us! Izzy: Huh!? No, it can't be! Tentomon: (rundown) That's Megadramon, a fully Digivolved flying fiend with devastating destructive powers! Those missiles of his can level a city block in the blink of an eye! Tentomon: (rundown) The other one's Gigadramon! If anything, he's more powerful than his buddy! Believe me, if these guys were shooting at us, we wouldn't still be here talking about it! Izzy: Looks like my plan may have backfired on us.... Agumon: How do you figure that? Izzy: It appears they've decided searching for us is too much trouble, so instead they're just going to level the whole city and everybody in it! Tai & Digimon: (collective gasp) Tai: You've gotta be kidding!

I love Tai's smarmy "LOL These clowns" reaction when he first sees what they're doing. Nice moment of ironic confidence about to be undercut by the reveal.

Less fond of the fact that we are now, in episode 48, still using the phrase "fully Digivolved" to describe Perfect-stage Digimon. Show, you know better now. Why are you still doing this?

Back in the command center, the Hagurumon's screen now displays the damage.

Hagurumon 2: Bombing of Sectors A-1 and A-2 is complete! Hagurumon 1: Megadramon and Gigadramon have commenced bombing of Sector A-3. The Chosen Children have not yet been found. Mugendramon: (quiet growl)

An ominous shimmer comes over Mugendramon's cannons while he considers.

In the dub:

Hagurumon 1: That's it for Sectors A and B! What a mess! Hagurumon 2: Megadramon and Gigadramon have begun operations in Sectors C and D! Children sneaky, nyeh! Machinedramon: Soon there will be no place left to hide, and this game will abruptly END!

"Children sneaky, nyeh!" is a surprising comment coming from the not-annoying one.

No longer worried about enemy troops but instead having something very much more pressing in mind, Taichi and Koushiro double-time it through the city streets.

Suddenly, a colossal shadow passes over them.

Koushiro: Ah! It's Megadramon! Tentomon: The others are over that way! Taichi: Shit! HIKARI!!!

Taichi picks up the pace, screaming at the top of his lungs.

By the time they reach the house, it's still standing.

Koushiro: Thank goodness! They're still safe! Taichi: HIKARI!!!

Taichi sprints towards the house as fast as his legs can carry him. But a missile from Genocide Attack does the same. Right as Taichi approaches, the house explodes, hurling him backwards with the blast wave.

Izzy: It can't be.... Taichi: (sitting up) No... Hikari... HIKARIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

In the dub:

Tentomon: Uh-oh! Megadramon! He's heading right for where the others are hiding! Tai: No! Tentomon: I hope they see him coming! Tai: KARI!!! (They make it to the house) Izzy: Safe and sound. Everything's okay. Tai: We're back, Kari! (Tai runs to the house, but it explodes) Izzy: The building's gone! Tai: No! No way! It can't be! KARIIIIIIIII!!!

Suddenly, a loud sound comes roaring in their direction.

Koushiro: ANOTHER MISSILE!!!

Before Taichi and Koushiro can react, a beam of light slaps the missile off-course. The shot knocks it back up into the air, detonating it harmlessly.

Turning around, they see Angemon floating above the hedges.

Group: ANGEMON!!!

From there, Takeru, Piyomon, and Tailmon all poke their heads through the hedges. Sora stands behind it, carrying Hikari in piggyback.

(Awww, he did his job! Great work, Takeru. This was the literal exact reason Taichi gave for not bringing him along.)

Takeru: Taichi-san, are you okay? Taichi: Takeru!? HIKARI!!!

We made it through with no fatalities. Yet.

In the dub:

Izzy: HERE COMES ONE MORE!!!

The dub seizes the impending missile strike as a great opportunity for their third commercial break cliffhanger. They are correct. Solid suspense.

When we come back, they replay Izzy's reaction in case anyone forgot where we were.

Izzy: OH NO, LOOK OUT!!! (Angemon destroys the missile) Agumon: Angemon! Izzy: But that means..... (The others reveal themselves) T.K.: Hey, what's up; You look tired! Tai: T.K.! Agumon: Biyomon! Tentomon: And the others! Tai: Kari! You're okay!

Biyomon gets special mention but Gatomon's reduced to "and the rest". No respect.

Taichi and Koushiro join the others on the other side of the hedge.

Koushiro: You're all safe! Sora: We went for cover as soon as the bombing started. Takeru: Taichi-san! I managed to protect everyone! Taichi: Great job, Takeru!

Before they can say any more, the ground beside them crumbles as a laser weapon rips through from below. Then Mugendramon emerges, crashing up through the street. He towers over the Chosen Children. Y'all, I was not prepared for the size disparity here. This is VenomVamdemon all over again.

Koushiro: MUGENDRAMON!!! Taichi: RUN FOR IT!!! Mugendramon: This is over, Chosen Children.

In the dub:

Tai: Kari! You're okay! Izzy: Actually, you look better than okay! Sora: When we saw them bombing buildings, we thought we'd better get out. T.K.: And I led the way! I took care of 'em, like you said! Tai: I never doubted you! (Suddenly, Machinedramon) Agumon: MACHINEDRAMON!!! Machinedramon: You can't rely on scrap metal if you want the job done right! Tai: Take cover, everybody!

The Chosen Children flee inside the building next to them. It will not keep them safe.

Mugendramon fires his signature Mugen Cannon. As a reminder, mugen means "Infinite". So the move is basically "Infinity Cannon".

In one (twin) shot, Mugen Cannon collapses the entire building. As it comes crashing down, we see the children falling into an endless black void in two distinct groups. Sora, Takeru, and Hikari in one group, Taichi and Koushiro in the other.

Hikari: ONII-CHAAAAAAAN!!! Taichi: HIKARIIIIIIIIII!!! Narrator: Unable to stand before Mugendramon, the children fell into the abyss where darkness rules.

Well, that's fucking fun, isn't it!? I'm pretty sure they just landed in the sewers but "The abyss where darkness rules" is a fucking awesome way of describing it.

In the dub, Machinedramon remains wordier than Mugendramon.

Machinedramon: That's right! Scurry away! Ask any ratcatcher; The chase is part of the fun! GIGA CANNON!!! (Giga Cannon destroys the building, and it begins to collapse) Machinedramon: Nothing like a little wholesale destruction to end a hard day's work. Goodbye, DigiDestined! (Children plunge into abyss) Kari: HELP ME TAIIIIIIII!!! Tai: KARIIIIIIIII!!! Narrator: Has Machinedramon succeeded in destroying the DigiDestined? Don't miss the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Assessment: Machinedramon has a Stock American Villain persona, contrasting Mugendramon being a 'mon of few words. Mugendramon is mission-focused and only speaks to give orders to his troops, in as minimal words as possible.

You could easily mistake him for one of those bestial mons incapable of speech. In fact, in his first appearance at the start of the Dark Master arc, I legit thought that was going to be the case because he never spoke a word back there.

But no. There is a tactical military intelligence there. He simply can't be bothered by socializing or banter. He has strategies to consider.

A significant departure from Pinocchimon, to be sure.

But the main appeal of this episode is, of course, learning more about Taichi and Hikari's relationship. The dub made a few changes to it, but still milked the drama for all it's worth.

We know Taichi is not very bright and that he's very impulsive. His mistake here feels entirely consistent with his and Hikari's established characters, and that makes its catastrophic outcome so effective.

The same is true of Koushiro, who similarly makes a well-meaning mistake (two of them, even) out of a desire to help and to put his impressive talents to use. None of them, Taichi, Hikari, and Koushiro, really did wrong; They're just. Children. With a lot still to learn, but whose actions can have dire consequences if they aren't careful with the choices they make.

Both in the military campaign of the present and Taichi and Hikari's flashback, they just... didn't know better. And it almost cost them dearly.

[honeyjars-sims]

3.6 Hurting from the Heat

The morning light was shining through the window. Johnny hesitantly opened his eyes, not yet willing to greet the day. The previous night of partying left him with a pounding headache. Next to him Carina was also beginning to stir awake.

Johnny knew how this would go: She would start getting dressed and he would try to tempt her back in bed with him. She'd decline in her dismissive way that always left him feeling like a hungry dog begging for scraps at the table. She’d offer him something from the bootleg pharmacy in her purse as some sort of consolation prize and she’d be on her way.

He could avoid the whole song and dance if he’d just keep his mouth shut and let her go, but he kept trying on the off chance that his pleas would actually move her this time. Next to him Carina was already making her way off the bed. “Are you leaving?” He asked, as if the answer wasn’t obvious.

“Yeah, I have my class, remember?” She stood up and started gathering her clothes that had been thrown haphazardly on the floor the night before.

“Oh yeah. That’s not for another hour, though. Can’t you stay a little longer?” Johnny patted the now empty spot where she’d been lying, still warm from the heat of her body. Before long it would be cold once again.

“Johnny, you know what this is.” Carina sighed as she pulled her shirt over her head. “I told you from the jump I’m not into relationships.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “When did I ask you for one? I just want to cuddle for a bit.”

“You say that, but I know your type. First it will be cuddling, then spending weekends together and before I know it, you'll be introducing me as your girlfriend and talking about our future. No fucking thanks.”

Carina must have realized how harsh she sounded because she sat herself on the edge of the bed and laid her hand on top of Johnny’s. “Look, you’re a nice guy and I’m having fun with you, but I can’t give you more than this."

“I know that.” Johnny replied quietly. He didn't want anything more, at least not with her. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure if he liked her. He was just tired of being alone.

"You should get up and go do something. Y'know, seize the fucking day or whatever." Carina rummaged through her tote bag and pulled out a small baggie of white powder which she held towards him. “Here, this'll wake you up.”

He knew he should decline but the sadness was creeping in and he figured he could use a distraction. “Okay, but just a little. I have an appointment later.” Getting high before therapy probably wasn't his smartest move, but that would have to be a problem for future Johnny.

Carina began gathering her things. "Well, I'll see you around. Oh and Johnny? You should really think about getting a girlfriend." Johnny sighed and began getting ready for his appointment.

By the time he was ready to leave, he was pretty amped up. He tried to leave the house without catching the attention of his parents and almost made it to the front door when he heard David call his name.

“Hey Johnny, please remind your girlfriend that we don’t smoke in the house.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Johnny replied. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and reminded himself to relax before David caught wind of what he’d been up to.

“Well, whoever she is, she needs to stop smoking indoors if she wants to come back.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her. But I did tell her already. Really! I didn’t know she was still doing it or I would’ve said something to her.” Johnny was talking too much and too fast. He could tell by the way David's eyes narrowed that his dad was on to him. “She doesn’t really listen to me, though, and I don’t think she really wants to come back anyway, but if she does I’ll let her know.”

“You’re on something.”

“No, I just had too much coffee.” He knew his lie wasn’t convincing but he had to say something.

“You’re sweating and you look like you’re about to jump out of your skin. I’m not stupid, Johnny.”

“Fine, think what you want. I’m going to be late.” Johnny began heading to the door, reaching for his keys on the entry table on the way. David grabbed them first.

“Are you out of your mind? You’re not driving high. I’ll take you.” Johnny didn't protest.

“This ends today,” David continued, and Johnny knew he meant it. “Your little friend can’t come over anymore. If I see her in my house again, you’re out. If you bring drugs into the house again, you’re out. If you don’t get a job by the end of the month, you’re out.”

“Okay, I get it.” He agreed to the terms as though he had a choice and started to walk to the door.

“Johnny, wait.”

Johnny didn’t hide his agitation. “What now?” He threw his hands up in the air, preparing for another tirade about what a selfish and irresponsible son he was. Instead David’s face softened as he placed a hand on Johnny’s shoulder.

“I was just going to say that I love you, no matter what. And I’m going to do everything I can to help you, even if it makes you hate me for a little while.”

His dad's eyes, filled with anger a few moments ago were now brimming with tears. Johnny was ashamed that things had come to this. He hated that he was hurting his dads after everything they’d done for him. “I don’t hate you, Dad,” he said softly. “I love you, and I’m sorry."

Previous | Beginning of story | Beginning of chapter | Next

[kairiscorner]

˗ˏˋ ✮ kairi's AUtober !

double feature 1: the arcade nerd, miles g. morales.

it all started with the sound of caramelldansen.

you grumbled as you headed to the very back of the arcade, the most obscure, hardly visited section; where the more retro games were kept and where many machines were not longer functional, because apparently, some hooligan was still playing on the DDR machine in the very back. you figured you weren't being paid enough to shoo these guys out, especially not when you were an intern that only worked here over the weekends for some extra allowance. "look, buddy, we're five minutes away from closing up, you might wanna get out of here before the manager comes in and shoos you out himself." you called out to the pesky customer still dancing about and hitting the arrow notes all precisely.

you watched as the tall, dark boy before you in braids was shuffling about, not responding to your call and focusing on hitting every note precisely and on time. you had to admit, in the three months that you've worked for this crappy, dingy establishment, only now have you witnessed an actual professional at work, and you wouldn't really feel happy with yourself if you interrupted his streak, but you also wouldn't feel happy at your manager getting pissed off at you for not getting the remaining customer out of here before closing time. you sighed and walked up closer to him as he was dancing the verse before the chorus out with everything he had. "hey man, you gotta go." "i got stuck in this part last time, like hell i'm leaving now." he told you in a low voice as he began to move his feet at a faster pace, with your eyes being unable to keep up with how fast the notes on the screen were moving and instead shifted your gaze down to his feet that shuffled here and there, hitting every note precisely and on time, not losing focus even as he broke into a sweat as he tried his hardest to hit every note, to finally finish this song.

when the song ended, he was heaving and sweaty—you asked him if he was okay, but it was only when his score was calculated and his rank as the number one DDR player on the screen was shown, he finally responded with a wide smile and a contagious chuckle. "yes! yes i'm okay, i'm... ecstatic right now!" he exclaimed all gleefully as he turned to look at you suddenly, his nose brushing over yours by accident out of his haste. "o-oh... sorry, sorry i didn't, um... i didn't realize you were this close." he apologized to you with a faltering voice, looking away from you in embarrassment as you quickly told him with the same flustered tone that 'it was okay'. "you can really kick ass at this game, huh?" "i guess so, my uncle took me to this section of the arcade ever since i was young, so... it just grew on me, ever since. i'm... miles, by the way." he introduced himself to you and awkwardly had his hand out for you, looking up into your eyes and back down to his hand in embarrassment.

when you shook his hand and introduced to him your own name, miles felt like he knew you from somewhere. "say... you look familiar, are you from visions? brooklyn visions academy?" "i... how did you...?" "y-your eyes, they, uh... n-nevermind, way to sound lame, miles..." he muttered to himself as he tried to think of another way to start this conversation over without the awkward bits in it. but before he could open his mouth, you took his hand in yours and looked into his eyes. "we could, um, go to the diner across the street and talk some more. i-it's closing time right now, so... we've gotta—" "o-oh, right, right... get going, yeah. sorry to... waste your time." "no!" you exclaimed looking at him with widened eyes, making his own chocolate colored ones widen like a deer in headlights. "no, you didn't waste my time. in fact, you intrigue me, miles." you told him with a smile, making him a little shy at your words. "a-and so do you." he whispered to you with a little grin, making you smile even wider as you clocked out of work and exited the arcade with him.

maybe working at that old arcade has its perks, such as the cutest boy you've ever met coming here more often just to... "beat his record at DDR" (that's code for sneaking you out of your shift to get some pizza with him). maybe it wasn't a mistake to take up the internship here, and maybe it wasn't a mistake to have watched him—in all his nerdy glory—perfect combo caramelldansen on that old DDR machine in the back; and maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask him out after school sometime for some coffee, maybe, right?

tags !! @ii01vq @luvstarrstruck @maxoloqy @k4tsu3 @solecitoszn @toneystank-3000 @popeheywardssecretgf @lovefrominaya @onginlove @meowmoraless @ravisinghs-wife @jrrantss @conitagray @euphovlq

[smuttyfang]

Jackie Welles, Don’t Touch Her

Quick little scenario with Jackie in the club.

Words: 781

The pulse and beat of the music felt like they were flowing through your whole body. Alcohol was flowing through you, dulling your senses. The bright lights and feel of the crowd was almost addicting at times. Jackie pressed his body against yours from behind, rocking his hips back and forth against you. His hands planted themselves on your hips, like he never wanted to let go. He leaned in close to you, so you could hear him speak.

"I'm ready to take you home with me." His voice was laced with lust and need. You giggled, leaning your head back to whisper in his ear.

"A few more drinks?" Not that you weren't ready to go with him, but you just wanted to enjoy the music and dance for a little bit longer. One of his hands trailed up your waist as he spoke again.

"Sure, mi amor. I'll go get you your favorite." Your backside felt cold as he left. You watched him walk away and disappear toward the bar, but you continued to dance around a little bit as you waited for him to return. As you were dancing, you felt someone snake their hands around your waist. You immediately knew that it wasn't Jackie. It wasn't his gentle touch. It was rough, aggressive, and cold. Pushing the hands away, you turned to see a random man behind you. He was hiding his face behind a mask. He grinned slyly at you, licking his lips.

"What's wrong baby? I'm not your type?" He began walking toward you again as you held your hands up to keep him away.

"I'm here with my boyfriend." You were trying to be nice, realizing that this could get dangerous fast if you weren't careful.

"Oh? Where is he then? Shouldn't just leave a gorgeous woman all alone, should he?" The man kept walking toward you until you were backed against a wall. He placed his hands on either side of the wall next to your head, keeping you from moving away from him. "Bad things can happen to beautiful women who get left all alone in Night City, yeah?" You noticed that he stopped, and suddenly his expression changed to complete fear. His hands went up silently, away from you. He stood there, as still as a statue, giving you the opportunity to step aside and away from his reach. Behind him, you saw Jackie. He had your drink in one hand, and his gun in the other. The gun was pressing into the back of the man's skull.

"Can't leave you alone even for a minute, can I?" He laughed, but then changed his expression to one of worry and concern. "Are you okay?" You nodded your head. "You better be. Because if this fucker even touched a hair on your head.."

"I didn't!" The man yelled. "I didn't fuckin' touch her. I-I grabbed her hips but-"

"Get the fuck out of here, I better never see your face again. Go." The man nodded before running off into the crowd of people. You could both see the exit door open and shut. Jackie placed his gun back into his pants before grabbing you and pulling you close to him. He held you tight. Much more tightly than normal. "Jesus, I'm so sorry. I should have known better. It didn't even cross my mind."

"Jackie, it's not your fault." You hugged him back.

"I know it's not, but I should know better than to leave my woman alone anywhere in Night City." He sighed. "I'll do better. I promise. I won't let you out of my sight." You knew that telling him that it was okay wasn't going to help, so you just nodded. Once he believed something, there was no changing his mind on the matter. "I love you, mi amor. Have your drink and then we can go home." You chugged your drink down, ready to just get out of the club and get some fresh air.

"Okay, I'm more than ready now." You smiled at him. He half smiled back at you, clearly still upset about what happened. You tried to cheer him up by making light of it. "I'm surprised you didn't shoot the guy, Jackie. I applaud your restraint."

"Well.." He laughed a little as he held your lower back, leading you out of the club. "I wouldn't want to ruin our night by offing somebody, you know?" You giggled at him.

"I'm glad. You might have gotten blood all over my dress." He rubbed small circles on your back with his thumb.

"I wouldn't let someone else ruin your dress. That's my job, mi amor."

AO3

[heyhihellosworld]

𝗛𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁! 𝐈𝐈

Pt 1 Pt 3

Mason Mount x reader

Word count: 5.2k

Summary: This is part 2 of 'He is not!'

Warnings: Smut x2 🫢, angst, fluff, slight argument

Notes: This may not make too much sense because it's jumping a lot. Also I got a bit carried away eheh. Always struggling with pt 2 of stories but loved writing pt 1 so I gave it a shot! And thank you for all the love on part 1, really thankful! xx

You were sat on the couch once again, but this time it was so much worse than this very morning.

Jack was yet again rambling but now you had done something, in his eyes very wrong and you couldn't really defend yourself. You'd tried but it wasn't very popular with your brother when your argument was that Mason was hot.

You swore you could see his eyes darken when you tried to reason with him that he was a good fuck and after that you'd just kept quite knowing it would be for the best.

"You promised!" he close to shouted, pacing back and forth in front of the couch you had slumped down into after he'd ushered you home from the club. You could still feel the remainants of alcohol in your blood even though you began to sober up and had been for the past couple of hours.

"Well I didn't fucking know he was in England! I was just happy I'd found a hottie who wasn't in City" you mumbled quietly

"Y/n" Jack whined, running his hands over his face.

He was done rambling now, never being able to keep angry at you for too long but sadly enough disappointment seemed to take longer to vanish. "Couldn't you've asked him?" he sighed out, sitting down in the love seat opposite you.

"What was I supposed to ask huh? Like hi i'm y/n you're really hot and I want to fuck you but firstly, are you possibly teammate with my brother?"

"That's one idea" he muttered, knowing it wasn't something you naturally asked someone but you still broke your promise and he would keep you to that for a long long time.

"It's not jack! I'm really sorry okay, I didn't mean to break my promise" you sighed, leaning your head back. You where really tired, it was late as hell, you'd been up early, you'd watched a very shaking game, you'd dranken a lil too much plus a good fuck on that, exhausting was a light word.

Jack sighed, looking at you with his deep brown eyes and a serious expression "Okay, okay just promise me that you wont do it again"

You closed your eyes, not wanting to promise that.

"Y/n" Jack glared at you in warning "no Jack, please"

"What, no no no. Never again" he argued, standing up again looking pissed.

"I'm not gonna promise that" you said lowly, refusing to meet his eyes. "What y/n! It was just a one-night stand, right?"

Your eyes fleeted around the floor trying to look at anything but him. "Yeah?" Realization dawned upon him and his eyes narrowed "He's already contacted you hasn't he?" he spoke darkly making you wince "What would you do if I said yes?"

"Show me!" he barked making you jump, snatching your phone tight in your hand. "Not a chance!"

"Y/N!"

"NO! He just said... that he... that he had a good time and wondered if I wanted to see him again sometime"

"And you of course said no"

"Uh... no?" you winced again, his look killing you.

"You've already said yes" he deadpanned, throwing his head back in absolute annoyance.

"Yeah" "Ah fuck you! And fuck Mason!" he grunted out, gesturing with his hand in the air.

"Come on Jack, it's already happened so the promise is already broken" you sighed "What's once or twice more?" He didn't answer your question but sighed instead, resting his eyes heavily on you

"Y/n If you see him again you're gonna make me really disappointed" he said lowly before gathering his stuff and walking out the door, probably going back to the club to find a shag. You heard him shut the door harshly behind him, leaving you groaning on the couch.

A week had gone and Jack had been in a little better mood since that day but he was still not as regular with you. It was strained and you hated yourself for betraying him like he felt you did.

Today you'd followed him to his England training, he was really reluctant to let you but when Mason mentioned he couldn't train with the squad because of a sore ankle he had said okay.

What he didn't know was that Mason still would be there, smirking at you as you walked past. He had been texting you all week, even calling a few times to just chat. Obsessing over you. (In a good way, not a perv/stalker way, just had to clear that up)

The training was a couple of hours but you loved watching them. They had a lot of fun and it was a good change from watching the serious games when it was die or survive.

You had only sat in the stand for about half an hour when Mason texted you.

You grinned at your phone before sneaking off, sending a text to Jack just in case he would see you not there to let him know you had gone to greet the staff and get something to eat. But in reality you where hurrying into the building and around the corner.

Mason stood with a huge grin on his face, leaning against the wall waiting for you.

He didn't even say hi before gripping your arm and pulling you into some type of closet or equipment room.

He immediately towered over you with a soft grin, his hand resting on your chin.

"We really shouldn't" you sighed, tilting your head up to look at him. he was standing so close you could kiss him if you wanted to but you restrained yourself, Jack's voice repeating in the back of your mind.

"I really couldn't care less about Jack right now" he breathed, his breath fanning your face, eyes literally boring into yours. It was impossible to resist him, to resist his gorgeous eyes and inviting lips. Something just dragged you towards him. "I should care... but I don't right now" you sighed before closing the space between your lips, attacking his with yours in a heated and desperate kiss. He met you with the same hunger, lips bruising as your tongues fought for dominance.

He pushed you against the door of the small room. A moan escaping your lips before you could stop it.

Both of your clothes were gripped, desperate hands grasping the items of fabric off, desperate to feel what was underneath. Your shirt was pulled up over your breasts, your bra pulled down enough so he could grasp at them without any fabric in the way.

Your jeans were gone just as his shirt, his jeans undone showing his cock straining against the fabric of his boxers. His fingers were over your panties, rubbing your clit the best he could through the material. The touch made you whine, the lacy material causing even more friction against your sensitive nub sending your mind into mush.

"You like that huh? Can feel you soaking through" he whispered huskily against the shell of your ear causing a shiver through your body.

Your teeth chewed through your lip, trying to keep sane as he pushed his hand inside your panties.

He properly teased you, flicking one finger in and out of you, his thumb rubbing over your clit and back up over your thigh and stomach, creating a pattern to drive you crazy.

"Okay, okay" you breathed, reaching for his hand to stop his movements. He got what you signaled and stopped his fingers instead lifting you up by your thighs, pushing your back against the door further so that you were in the same height. Your arms tangled around his neck for support as he quickly swiped your underwear to the side and pushed his hips forward, teasing your slit with his tip. Anticipation coursed through your body, making you needy for him to just fuck you but Mason was a tease, and it obviously didn't matter if it was in a public restroom, an open cupboard or a bed.

Finally, finally you felt him slowly push into you, your eyes fell close as deep breaths escaped from your mouth. Your neck craned itself, resting against the door as he bottomed out inside of you.

You wanted to look at him so badly but it was hard as he began to move, instead you marveled in the small sounds he let out. Small huffs of air and small breathy moans left his lips whenever you pushed back onto him or clenched around him.

His hands were gripping you hard, nailing into your flesh as he pounded into you. It felt so much better sober, you could feel his every movement and ravel in it with a clear head. Your back hurt with every thrust as you were slammed up and into the door but it only made the whole thing better. His mouth was leaving sloppy kisses up your neck, nipping and licking over your exposed skin.

"Fuck" he mumbled into your neck as you squeezed around him again, "I'm gonna cum if you keep doing that" he breathed out.

You forced your eyes open only to see him looking at you. His lips where slightly parted and eyes shiny. He looked proper fucked and it made you grin, your hand coming up to his cheek to stroke over his scruff as he continued to pound into you. "Do it, cum for me" you whispered against his mouth. You loved the way his eyes closed momentarily, a deep breath coming out of his mouth before he started to move even harder against you, letting himself go and search for his release.

You reached down to rub your clit as you sensed he was close. Mason loved when you did that, his eyes moving back and forth from your eyes to where you were connected, watching your face contort in pleasure and your fingers brushing over yourself.

He couldn't hold himself back any longer, groaning as he came inside of you, letting himself ride out his high before slowly pulling out.

You were breathing hard, looking into his brown eyes as he kissed you slowly, sensually, intertwining his tongue with yours. We was still holding you up against the door with determination.

He searched your eyes but you weren't sure for what as he slapped your hand away that was still absentmindedly rubbing circles over your clit, replacing it with his own fingers.

You gasped at the contact, his fingers being much rougher and picking up the speed immediately, feeling much better than your own.

"Mason" you breathed out, eyes closing again "it's okay, you don't have to" you tried but he huffed out a 'no'

"If you don't want me to, tell me to stop but if not i'm not gonna let you go without making you cum."

You moaned at his words feeling the high almost snapping already. It was not like you had been far from coming before and now you where tethering over that delicious edge.

"I-I'm gonna" you tried to warn him but he already knew, watching your face and hearing your whining sounds. "I know, I know, It's okay, cum" he murmured against your jaw loving the look on your face as you let go, squirming in his hold.

Once you'd come down from your high he helped you down on your feet, both of you cleaning up as much as possible before zipping up and straightening clothing.

Masons lips were on you all the time, not wanting to let go, desperate to feel the taste and softness of your lips.

"I have to get back" you said lowly, brushing away the hair in his eyes. "Do you really?" he asked with a whine making you chuckle "I do Mason"

"Can I see you again?" he asked desperately, eyes staring into yours with need.

And just like that Jack popped into your head, a tinge of guilt settling in your stomach as you nodded slowly. "I guess" you murmured, not convinced but Mason seemed to be satisfied with that answer, kissing your lips once more "I will text you" he smiled before leaving the small room.

The guilt only grew as you slipped into the bathroom to clean up properly before grabbing something from the cafeteria and settling in the stands again. Meeting Jack's worried look turn into recognition as you waved the coffee and sandwich at him, feeling like crying at his smile.

"Bro"

Jack ignored his shout, looking the other way while walking onto the pitch, already in a sucky mood after ignoring you that morning, hating to argue and not be close.

"Bro come on can we at least talk about it?" Mason tried, jogging to catch up with his long strides.

"No Mason, don't talk to me" Jack gruffed, speeding up even more but Mason had no problems catching up while running.

"Please"

"Mason just fuck off!" he grunted out, making heads turn as they where close to the others by now.

"No I want to talk to you about this" Mason huffed stubbornly, not expecting Jack to fly around, aggressively bumping into him with force.

"I said fuck off" he grumbled warningly.

"Hey hey hey, what's going on?" John stepped in, holding a hand on each of their shoulders to separate them.

Either of them answering, Mason looked down while Jack stared daggers at him.

"What is going on?" John repeated, not asking this time.

"What is going on is that Mason here is fucking my little sister!" Jack close to shouted, all heads turning to them now.

"y/n?" John asked in confusion, Jack only getting more annoyed "Yes y/n!"

"Bro what the fuck" Kyle stepped in, looking at Mason. "You fucked y/n?"

"I didn't even know he had a sister called y/n!" Mason defended, he unlike John and Kyle didn't share the club with Jack meaning they didn't meet that often and he didn't know him as good.

"I didn't even know who she was" Mason sighed, tired of it.

"When was this?"

"At the club after the City/Chelsea game, she was there. I met her first at the stadium then again at the club and we fu-hooked up in the bathroom. I just knew her name, I didn't know she was Jack's sister" he sighed dropping his head. Kyle nodded, understanding the situation. "Jack, listen to him. He didn't know" "I don't give a fuck, if he hadn't been with her again maybe I could have thought about it but now no" "You slept with her again?" Kyle sighed, John just stood quite beside them, letting Kyle sort it out, he was better at it.

"Uh-yeah"

"Man what the fuck" Kyle groaned "Why would you do that, I get you didn't know who she was the first time but surely you must've the second time"

"He did, I saw them both after the first time" Jack grumbled, glaring murderer still.

"I did"

"So why again? You know the rule bro"

"I-I don't know, She-I" Mason stuttered, not knowing how to phrase it for Jack's ears. "She is just really intriguing okay?! I needed to check in on her after or... hookup and then we just kept on texting"

"When was the second time?" Jack groaned, not liking to hear about it at all. "When she came for training" Mason mumbled, looking down on the ground. "Fucking shit" Jack grunted "You fucked her in a fucking closet or something?"

Mason winced, giving the answer away. "Fucking shit" Jack repeated, glaring hard.

"Bro" Kyle sighed, closing his eyes like if he was dealing with two fighting children. "I get you okay, I do I would be pissed too if he slept with my sister but you gotta keep it civil at training" Kyle stated calmly.

"Ah fuck of Kyle" Jack scoffed, moving away from the group to continue with their training instead, fed up by Mason and the whole situation.

Mason felt defeated, he didn't know what he could do or say to make Jack talk to him.

You where sneaking.

You'd never sneaked with something in front of Jack before but you convinced yourself that you would hurt him more if you told him straight to his face that you were sleeping with Mason. Deep down you knew you hurt him even more by sneaking around and risking he found out about it but you couldn't stand to see the pain you would have to cause him face to face.

"Where are you going?" Jack huffed from the couch making you stop dead in your track, your brain racking for some excuse but nothing came to mind.

"y/n?"

"Uh-I'm going out..."

He raised his eyes from the tv to look at you with furrowed eyes "What's the matter with you?" he chuckled, studying your nervous stance.

You could see the exact second the penny dropped, his smile disappearing and eyes narrowing

"no"

"I'm sorry okay!?" you exclaimed, not being able to take the disappointment in his eyes as he rested his heavy look on you. "Why, just why. You know I don't want you to be with my teammates because it will stir things around in the team. How could I go there and act like nothing happened when I know he's been fucking my little sister." "I understand you, I do but just... why is it such a big deal?"

"Because!" Jack almost shouted out, frustration tearing on his every part of being.

"Because I know how he is! I know how they all are! Searching around for quick fucks, arseholes! All of them ar arseholes!"

You couldn't help the smile that tugged at your mouth at his outburst.

"I know that Jack. Come on, I know you and you are just like them but I am an adult, I promise I can care for myself. That first time I was just searching for a quick fuck and forget but then he reached out to see me again." "Don't trust him y/n, it doesn't matter if he texted you to see you again that's probably just because you were a good fuck.... oh my gosh I can't believe I just said that about my baby sister" Jack cried, rubbing his face with his hands.

You couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out from your mouth at his dramatics, patting his leg in a try to reassure him. "I can take care of myself Jack, I'm sorry that I fucked your teammate... twice but I can take care of myself. It's not like I'm in love with the bloke"

"I don't know y/n..." he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest like a stubborn child making you sigh at him, rolling your eyes which made him sigh too, giving up this argument. "Okay okay, you do you but please, I'm warning you now and I'm not about to pick up the pieces when he does what he always does"

"It's not gonna happen Jack"

"we'll see" he huffed, standing up and striding to his room. You collapsed back on the couch, you hated arguing with him, hated making him disappointed. You felt your heart drop as you heard his door slam shut and the lock turn, he only locked when he was seriously mad.

"I'm sorry Jack" you sighed for yourself before grabbing your wallet and exiting the house.

It wasn't long to Mason's hotel, maybe it was a little too close you thought as you stepped into the elevator up to his room floor.

You were excited to see him again but you couldn't shake off Jack's disappointed look and his pleas for you to not see him anymore. But as previously all those thoughts flew away as Mason swung the door open, meeting you with his charismatic smile as he gestured you into the room.

"I didn't think you would show up" "I'm sorry, I got into this whole thing with Jack" You sighed, slumping down on the couch with a grimace. "Oh, sorry" he mumbled, looking almost timid by the way he watched you.

You waved it off observing him as he walked closer to you "Don't worry bout it he is just dramatic" you smiled a small pang of guilt settling in your chest as you uttered the words. You knew how he felt about this yet here you were, in the middle of the night in Mason's hotel room for a booty call.

"He is really not okay with this huh?" You sighed, looking into his eyes "No, not really"

He looked down on the floor, guilt settling in him too. Jack was a good friend and it was well known that relatives was off market but he hadn't known who you where that first day and then he was hooked, obsessed with the way you felt, not having it in hm to stop whatever this was.

"But let's not think about him now huh?" You smiled at him, reaching out for him as he stopped right in front of you with a soft smile playing on his lips.

"No? So what do you want to think about?"

"Hmm" you teased, feigning thinking over the question.

Your fingers tangled together behind his neck, bringing his mouth down to yours. You let your lips faintly brush over his in a teasing manner, locking eyes with his. "Your dick?"

Mason groaned quietly at your answer, a smirk taking over your face. His lips melted into you fully this time, taking control and dominating the kiss despite your tries to put up a fight.

You were pretty desperate to get to the point, wanting to forget all rational thoughts and just get lost in pleasure but Mason stopped you before you could unbutton his pants.

"No way we are doing this in the couch when we for the first time have the chance to do it for real, in a comfortable bed"

You giggled at him, pushing him off of you and standing up. "Okay then"

You sprinted to the bed, Mason close behind you before jumping into it in a fit of giggles.

Mason quickly moved over you, hovering over your face with a foolish grin, hand coming to wipe your hair away from your eyes before meeting your lips hungrily, desperate to have you for real this time. Be able to take his sweet time and love your body for real, not just fucking you quickly and messily in a club bathroom or a closet at the training ground.

"You are so so beautiful" he whispered, mouth ghosting over your lips and down your neck, your body craning back to give him more access. His lips ghosted over your ear and down to your mouth again.

"I know you said you wanted to take your time but is that really necessary?" You whined, bucking your body upwards to get in contact with him.

Mason chuckled at you, pursing his lips "It is"

You couldn't help but whine, feeling the need to get some type of relief. "It's fine" he chuckled, sliding his hands up under your shirt to grasp at your boobs. Softly squeezing them over the material.

"Just fucking take it off" you grunted annoyed, pushing him up so you could sit before ripping the shirt of your body prompting him to do the same.

You almost salivated at his naked torso, flipping him around whilst he was focusing on tossing his shirt away, catching him off guard. If he was gonna take his time you would at least be in charge, not be the one getting teased but being the one teasing.

You moved down slightly, straddling his thighs as you slowly licked a stripe up his torso over his chest. His breathing caught in his throat, eyes closing as you littered small sensual kisses all over his chest, teasingly going lower before abandoning and working upwards again.

When you teasingly licked a stripe from the edge of his jeans up his navel he grunted, painfully hard at your ministrations.

"Okay stop it now, I get your point" he breathed, trying to reach for you.

You giggled against his skin, kissing up his body until your lips met his again.

"It was you who wanted us to take our time so that's what i'm doing love"

"Okay okay but I was wrong, let's just get to it" he rushed out, a light bubble of laughter escaping your mouth. "Aww"

You grinned before moving down again. Licking teasingly over his navel and down his small happy trail whilst you unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. Helping him out of them.

A sigh of relief left his mouth as he was freed from his jeans but he was still straining in his boxers as you teasingly trailed your fingers under his boxer band.

"Stop fucking teasing!" he grunted, sitting up and taking off his jeans and boxers as you chuckled at his impatience.

You leant down, looking up at him teasingly through your lashes as you licked a stripe up his dick. You slowly and teasingly licked his tip, kissing down the base before licking your way up again.

He could almost not contain himself, his erection only getting harder and harder at your teasing movements.

"I'm gonna cum if you keep going" he gruffed out between his teeth his hips moving on their own accord. You finally took pity on him, taking him in your mouth for real, bobbing your head and sucking at his tip.

"Y/n y/n, stop stop" he panted out, clawing at your hair to get you off his dick.

You grinned at him as you released him with a pop, kissing up his chest before meeting his mouth in a needy kiss.

Mason huffed as you moved back from his lips, moving you around in a swift movement, hovering over your face.

He mirrored your previous teasing, kissing down your body, stopping at your breasts to lick and suck over them. Your eyes struggled to stay open, you teeth desperately trying to keep your soft sounds in.

Soon your jeans and underwear where discarded and he was teasing one finger through your folds, teasing your hole before softly dragging them over your clit.

"Just fuck me Mase" you whined, bucking your hips up to prove your point further, a deep chuckle rumbling from his chest as he moved up to your face again.

"Hm that's what you want?

"Yes Mase" you said lowly, rubbing your thumb over his scruff. He looked at you patiently, waiting for something more and you knew exactly what. Your eyes rolled as you clicked your tongue

"Please Mase" you muttered, slight sarcasm to your voice but Mason didn't care just narrowed his eyes at you before directing his tip to your entrance.

He didn't do anything else though, just teasing his tip at your entrance, rubbing it over your clit. His hands came to your hips as you tried to buck up to him, holding you still.

"Mason" you groaned, looking at him with a glare but that only got him to chuckle at you.

Instead of giving you what you wanted he started to tease you with his fingers again but this time he actually did something. Slowly pushing your walls apart he slid two of his fingers inside of you. Slowly moving them among your walls before hooking them to press on that perfect spot against your wall. Your eyes rolled back as your lips parted

"Yes Mase, keep doing that, keep going" you murmured, ignoring his smirk as he made you feel good.

He didn't do what you said though, stopping only a few moments later to your annoyance but this time he was done teasing, again running his dick against your sex but only for a few seconds before he slowly pushed into you.

The stretch was delicious, making your eyes shut close and breathing get heavier.

"Fuck" Mason grunted as he bottomed out "you just feel better every fucking time we do this"

You snickered at his comment, rubbing his chin lovingly as he slowly started to move, loving the way you pushed back against him every time.

He stuck to his words, taking his time. There were no desperate pounding, no messily sloppily quick fuck. He was slow in his movements, savoring the moment and you didn't mind it. Meeting his slow kisses and slow thrusts, bashing in the feeling of him. His strokes were firm, determined but slow, meeting your hips with an obscene sound.

His hands and mouth were everywhere, teasing your clit, twisting your nipple, stroking your hips, he was everywhere at the same time, overwhelming you with pleasure.

You lost track of time as you rocked together, both so into your own little bubble to think of anything else. Pleasure slowly building until it snapped, slowly dissipating before you came back to reality, your eyes opening to meet his.

-

You didn't wanna stay for long, a tinge of awkwardness settling as you sipped on your coffee, looking at him over your cup.

"I really should go" you said softly, his nod of recognition was pretty cynical as you stood up, placing the mug at the sink before grabbing your things.

"I'll text you" he said lowly, barely looking at you as you moved towards the door. You couldn't help the way your eyes rolled at his behavior, like he just a few hours ago hadn't cuddled up to you and told you how amazing you were.

"Bye Mason" you muttered, the whole thing really feeling like goodbye.

"Jack" you tried but he was relentless, pacing with such fury and determination you almost didn't dare look at him.

"How could he?!" he shouted angrily, his hands gesturing like they always did when he was angry.

"It's nothing" you tried but Jack was not giving in.

"What do you mean it's nothing y/n! It's all over the internet"

You sighed, looking down. Things haven't been going that great since you spent the night at his hotel. He had texted you to say sorry for his behavior the morning after and you'd started texting just like before. But then only a few days later there had been tabloids everywhere of him with some girl.

"Have you seen the pictures?" he asked, his voice lowering as he saw your face. It wasn't like you'd fallen head over heels for him but it still stung, it really stung.

"No"

"Ugh" he groaned "I said this was gonna happen, didn't I?" he sighed, sitting down next to you on the couch, wrapping his arms around you, your head resting on his shoulder whilst his rested on yours.

"You did" you said lowly

"But you also said you wouldn't be here when it did"

"I know" he sighed, kissing the top of your head. "But I lied, I will always be here, regardless of what I say" he said softly, making you smile.

"Thank you"