#(lo and behold something else to add to the list)

[jasminepaolini]

the way that dallas has been every casper ruud tournament stereotype on steroids:

a very favorable draw (against a field that, on paper, does not present much of a threat to him)

first round opponent (giron, who was the highest-ranked unseeded opponent casper could have drawn) withdraws at the last minute and casper plays a lucky loser instead

top seeds see themselves out, somehow making his very favorable draw now laughably favorable

gets a QF retirement

guaranteed not to face a single Top 50 player until the final; unless the other finalist is tommy paul, he'll not have faced a single player in the Top 20

all that's left is for him to lose the final anyway even though he should be going in as the heavy favorite

[ssnowssakura01]

Watching MahoPre Mirai Days Ep 11

I told you this ep will fucked me up- I TOLD YOU THIS EP WILL FUCKED ME UP AAAHHHHH

Out of all the precure in the franchise I have watched, MahoPre is the only one that doesn't fail in putting me in absolute shambles. Damn you, writers, damn you all *sobs*

My thoughts are a fucking mess. Not even a list of small thoughts can help me put what I've been through when I watched it. And it wasn't even in subtitles bitch! And now, I'm re-watching it again with subtitles.

… It hurts even more, fuuuu---- *flips table*

-Spoilers ahead-

I have to say, the fight was super intense. The music and the animation went so hard. You have no idea how panicked I am when they used the Alexandrite Style. The moment they're casting the Extreme Rainbow, my mind immediately went "Something's wrong. Aren't they using it a bit too early!?" And lo and behold, Chronosto wins.

And then, we see them sharing and experiencing the same past. I like how it started from the beginning of their journey as if it also gives us a recall. Some of the footage are from the first season while others are new scenes in between. Heck, Mirai and Riko's conversation is from the CD drama which I thankfully managed to listen to despite not understanding some or most parts due to no subtitles but that's not the point-- (btw, have you seen how Riko stared at Mirai? Like Mirai's just fixing her hair, but why such POV??? I know what you are Izayoi Riko, you can't hide shit from me >:3). I love how, while looking for ways to escape the past, they still managed to have a lighthearted talk like everyone finding out that Ha-chan ate Mirai's strawberry melon bread lol.

And ya'll know what fucking happened next. Toei fucking did it once again.

In order to escape from Chronosto's prison, they all must forget their memories and ended up being separated once again. And you know how Toei did it? Ep 49 style! You can't tell me the way Mirai and Riko's statues drifted apart is just like how they were six years ago! Like, why? Why must you make me relive the pain I endured!? My heart tears when Mirai asked if they will be okay and she sounds unsure as if she put up a bravado for everyone just before.

And to add salt to the wound, as if the footage of ep 49 is not enough, they fucking replayed the conversation! And the ep ends with the table on the park, unoccupied by everyone. I am not okay, I am fully crying and sobbing aaaaahhhhhhhh

They better make them permanently be together as a family in the final episode or else I will fucking riot! These girls just wanted to be together. Is that too much to ask??

[an-expected-journey-to-jeju]

Journal entry #17.5

Omg I totally forgot to add in I got another package from my mom!! Just like the other package I got, this one came with its own set of problems:

So way before I moved, I told her the address of the new place but then she asked me again, so I found the specific address and gave it to her. After sending the package I realized that I got the address wrong-- I said B동 not 103동 (the building number). B동 was the building I lived back at the old place and 103동 is the building where I live in now. I also thought I got the land lot number wrong but I didn't, still that was another thing as well. It all got sorted out though, the people at the post office remembered my mom and they are super friendly.

Then there was another problem. I got a KakaoTalk message from the Korean Customs saying something about a personal customs code or something and I needed to contact them to tell them what my number was. At first, I had no idea this was for the package since on the message it said "ITEM: USED TEA STRAINER" and something about "the product that you ORDERED". I did not, in fact, order a used tea strainer so I was very confused. However when I saw the shipping number, I realized it was indeed my package and there was a tea strainer in said package. I guess they just took the first item that was on the list and put it as the product name. After figuring that out, I had to figure out what the hell was the personal customs number. I didn't have one, and apparently I couldn't use my alien registration number or anything. THEN they kept calling me. I couldn't pick up because I already struggle with speaking Korean, and it's even harder speaking when you can't see the person. So I kept avoiding the calls. They even sent me a couple of texts. Finally I decided to suck it up and call. It was very stressful, speaking half Korean half English, but they knew who I was when I called and directed me to a website to create the number. I went to the website and created it, and then had to call back to tell them what it was. It all worked out!

Time skip to the 16th, I was just in my room minding my own business, when I get a KakaTalk message from the post office saying that my package had been delivered. I was like great, and checked outside. No package. So I went downstairs to the entrance. No package.

"Where the hell did my package get delivered??"

I had no idea what to do. This time, since I was just tired of trying to talk with people on the phone, I had someone else call for me (♡♡♡) and they told me that it got delivered to the main office building in the complex. So I walked to the office and asked the front desk if there was a package, and she directed me just behind me and to the left, where there was a bunch of packaged and stuff. Lo-and-behold, I saw my package among them!!! I was so happy.

I got a whole bunch of stuff. A LOT of snacks. My mom even sent me a gingerbread house to decorate!! I haven't pulled it out yet, I'm waiting for someone to do it with me. I got yarn so that I could crochet myself a scarf and fuzzy socks since my toes are always frozen in class. Literally, I can't feel them until I get back home. I also got a lovely handmade hat (Thank you again Rachael!) and Ugg boots! They are soo fuzzy on the inside and I really like the colour (thank you Erik!!) My feet are nice and cozy now. My mom also packed me a whole kirkland bottle of maple syrup which is probably the most Canadian yet most comforting thing. However, I don't have anything to put it on. I don't have food in the kitchen cause we eat in the cafeteria. I told her it was like getting a game as a gift but not getting the console. She thought that was pretty funny. I'll just have to go get the ingredients to make pancakes or something, no big deal!

Omg on another note, there was a cockroach in the house the other day??? I was sitting at the table studying, when I saw something drop down from the light fixture in the living room area. It scared me because it actually made a "thwomp!" sound as it hit the floor. I got up to see what it was, not expecting to see a cockroach, but there he was. It was probably as big as my thumb. I freaked out cause I didn't want it to fly towards me or come near me. It ended up bounding over to the other bedroom and I closed the door. I didn't know if it would be able to crawl under the door or not but I closed it anyway. I went right into my room and stayed there until dinner time. I went to check if it had come out and it did. It was laying right outside the bathroom door on its back. I thought it was dead, so I grabbed an empty takeout cup to put on top of it, and then I saw that it started moving. I freaked out again and quickly covered it before leaving for dinner. I came back and slid a piece of paper underneath it because i was planning on bringing it outside, but then I heard it scurrying underneath and it was LOUD. I just left it there until the teacher that is my roommate came back. She sprayed it with bug killer and went to go put it in the toilet where it started flailing about. She screamed and I rushed out of my room to see what was happening. We ended up spraying the edges and corners of the house with the bug killer. It was quite an eventful evening.

Anyway, that's the update! Thank you again to my mom, and also Rachael and Erik for the hat and boots! I miss all of you and hope you are doing well♡

[infiniteglitterfall]

For the curious, this shit is what made me snap:

I've seen multiple people over the last few days talk about how all their friends or classmates are convinced Israel will blow up their phones somehow.

I've checked enough wild rides at this point to say that "countless articles and videos" probably means, "there's one article with no evidence that's being copy-pasted across multiple shady news sites, and a ton of people are passing around a video of a laptop exploding that could be from anywhere."

And lo and behold, the only article that I saw was an Al Jazeera piece that referenced "reports" of laptops exploding. No source, no name, no quote, no numbers, nothing.

I forget what I searched to get that result. Just now, I googled "Israel exploding laptops" and got this fact-checking site:

Which goes on to explain that the laptop claim comes from one Twitter user who posted one picture (not even a video) of an exploded laptop.

The user added "Mossad is unstoppable” blaming the Israeli secret service for the explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and now laptops as well. So far, there is no evidence that Israel or Mossad is responsible for the attacks. Pagers and walkie-talkies indeed exploded killing and injuring people. But no reliable reports exist that laptops did, as well.

The shared image gives no evidence for something alike either. A reverse image search shows that the image dates back to at least 2021 when it was posted on Reddit.

So far, only pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon according to both regional and international news. While Hezbollah and Iran both hold Israel accountable for the explosions it's not confirmed who is responsible for the attacks.

If you want to know more about how the explosions in Lebanon happened technically, DW Science explains it in this article.

Bad places to get accurate information:

Euro-Med Health Monitor deserves special mention.

Nonprofits are generally good at super-informative in-depth research and reports, and not at journalism. They don't have the resources, training, or experience to investigate and report on current events.

They can and often SHOULD respond to current events with their own expertise. Like, Palestine Children's Relief Fund is a solid nonprofit with longtime on-the-ground experience, and could (and does) add useful insights to all sorts of news.

But like journalists, people at nonprofits are human, and sometimes dogpile on misinformation. I see really inaccurate and alarmist pieces all the time from groups like Amnesty International, even though their long-term research can be incredibly useful and in-depth.

However.

Euro-Med HR is something else entirely.

It goes way beyond "okay, this seems trustworthy because it's from a nonprofit, but it's really inaccurate." It goes all the way into actively exploiting the false trust it gains just by looking like a nonprofit.

It might technically be a nonprofit. According to Wikipedia, it's been around for 12 years; its service is "protecting human rights;" and it works in the fields of "Legal advocacy, Media attention, direct-appeal campaigns, research, lobbying."

However, the only projects listed there are:

one from 2017-2019, "funding and training local non-governmental organizations staff through capacity-building programs to support women and enhance their social and economic participation" in the Gaza Strip;

one from 2015-current that trains young people in Gaza in writing English-language stories and social media posts;

and third from 2015-current that provides "workshops on techniques and evidence to modify Wikipedia articles written in Arabic and English," for college students and recent grads to add "the victim narratives from different conflict areas."

That's... not a lot of projects for a 12-year old "European-Mediterranean" nonprofit; and its founder and chair, Ramy Abdu, has been linked to Hamas.

That stuff is just sus. What matters here, though, is that I've seen a lot of infographics and articles from them, and EVERY SINGLE ONE has included multiple extremely wild falsehoods.

I can't even be polite and say "inaccuracies."

Euro-Med Health Monitor has repeatedly tried to spread the rumor that Israel is digging up Palestinian bodies to harvest and traffic their organs.

Beyond the obvious blood libel, that's not how organ harvest or trafficking works. You can't transplant an organ from a dead body. Their "reporting" relies VERY heavily on phrases like "there have been reports;" on claims from unnamed doctors at unnamed locations; on not specifying time periods; on timeframes like "recent years" or "more than 10 days ago;" "Euro-Med Health Monitor confirmed that... [general statement without source or evidence]."

It regularly issues infographics like this:

Not only is the number killed way off - claiming 48,380 on August 21, when Gaza's Ministry of Health said 40,223, which is nearly 20% lower - but it also contains the absolutely stunning claim that "43,592 civilians at least" had been killed.

That's right: according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, at least 108% of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

That's not a typo or a calculation error on their part.

They've been giving exaggerated numbers since the beginning of the war, and have consistently been saying that about 91% are civilians.

Like on November 6, 2023, when the Gaza Ministry of Health was saying 10,022 people had died, these folks were saying 10,581 had died, and that 9,641 of them were civilians.

Also, wildly specific numbers everywhere. How would a European nonprofit have known that exactly 2,411 people were buried under the rubble? How would anyone?

The Ministry of Health doesn't say how many are civilians vs combatants, and I suspect it doesn't have that kind of information. That's incredibly hard to determine in the middle of a regular war. Much less one where the combatants are from a coalition of different terrorist groups, who fight in civilian clothes, and who obviously don't hand out their membership lists.

More good places to get accurate information:

OMG, COULD EVERYONE PLEASE STOP IMMEDIATELY BELIEVING AND REPEATING DISINFORMATION?!

Sorry, I just. Was just on Twitter, and I snapped.

I literally haven't seen one true statement about Israel on social media in MONTHS.

It's gotten to the point that I'm seriously considering starting a sideblog fact-checking all of it.

PLEASE STOP BEING GARFIELD I AM BEGGING ALL OF YOU

BE NERMAL FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

I've written at least one really long post about fact-checking things before. I have another saved as a draft somewhere.

But all you really have to do at this point is GO LOOK AT AN ACTUAL NEWS SOURCE.

What do I mean by an Actual News Source?

An actual news source will tell you where it's getting its information.

Basically: Wikipedia rules apply at all times. Citation. Fucking. Needed.

Except with news articles, I don't mean a detailed footnote.

I mean, if they say, "Rosco Flubberish reported seeing a pig fly across Whatever Place. 'It was a flying pig,' he said," they're fine.

If they say, "Sources close to the President reported that the Department of Farmland Creatures launched a pig into the air this afternoon," they're fine.

If they say, "There have also been reports that pigs flew," they are purely making shit up.

Just check CNN or something. CNN checks their shit, and they're very quick on the draw.

NBC has been very reliable too, in my experience. So have ABC, Newsweek, the Jerusalem Post, the Guardian, the New York Times, the AP, PBS, the Washington Post, and Reuters.

You can break through most paywalls by putting archive.is or 12ft.io before the https:// of the URL. Or just go to either of those sites and paste the URL in the box.

Nobody is perfect. I've seen some articles from all of the above that were accurate, but left things out that I personally thought were important.

Journalists are humans, humans fuck up.

(Also, NONE OF THIS APPLIES TO OPINION PIECES ON ANY TOPIC. Opinion pieces are exactly that: opinions. They don't seem to be fact-checked anywhere, as far as I can tell. They range from super-accurate and informative to complete nonsense.)

(Surprisingly unreliable sources in my experience: Democracy Now, Jacobin, Workers World Party. The latter two act like news sites but are basically running nothing but opinion pieces; Democracy Now can do important deep dives, but I've also seen news coverage from it that was wildly misinformed in that same way.

On the flip side, Slate and the Atlantic are largely opinion -- the Atlantic more than Slate, maybe -- but they often have really well-researched analysis of political situations. Ditto Teen Vogue, and sometimes Vox.)

You don't have to read CNN or the NYT or whateverfor fun. You don't have to make it one of your news sources.

Just. Do a quick check on Google News before you assume anything is true, and then run it through a bullshit filter as described above.

You are being actively lied to, all the time. So am I. We all are.

And people will believe and repeat literally anything that sounds about right.

That's just human nature.

That is WHY none of us are immune to propaganda.

if you want my personal shortlist of Bad Sources, as in Sources That Consistently Publish Absolute Falsehoods:

Any and all state-owned or state-controlled media. For example:

Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari government, and so are a bunch of other news sites.

Mehr News, the Tehran Times, Al-Quds TV, and Al-Alam are owned by the dictatorship of Iran.

Oops. Looks like every form of broadcast Iranian news media is owned by the dictatorship of Iran, which has a monopoly.

Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, Palestinian News and Info Agency, and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida are owned by the government of Palestine (the Palestinian Authority)

Al-Aqsa TV and Felesteen are owned by Hamas.

TASS / Russia News Agency, Russia Today, and a fuckton of others are owned by the Russian government.

State Media Monitor seems to do a pretty great job of tracking and listing these things. Check out your own country there!

I specifically listed those ones because some of them (especially Al Jazeera, Mehr News, and TASS) are sites I've seen come up frequently on Tumblr, or in my attempts to fact-check what people are saying here and on Twitter. The rest are just more examples from the same governments.

Al Jazeera deserves special notice because it's become a very popular leftist news source. Believe me, I used to read it all the time too.

It can be reliable and accurate sometimes. But:

It consistently tweets things that are unsourced, never appear anywhere else, and that would be big news you'd expect it to follow up on if they were true. It seems to be following a strategy of "tweet every rumor you hear in case it's true, so you can get the scoop."

It also does this with its liveblogs of the war. And ALL its coverage of the war at this point is liveblogs. So things that are verifiably true will run right next to things that are complete hearsay, but are too long to just tweet.

This is especially dangerous because as far as I can tell, Al Jazeera doesn't delete anything that turns out to be false.

I've also seen regular news articles in Al Jazeera, on multiple topics, that veer from Absolutely True Statements to Wildly Exaggerated Numbers and Speculation. Stuff you wouldn't expect a source on, like statistics or descriptions. And there's no way to tell the difference unless you already know a topic really well, or are fact-checking them while you read.

One especially terrible example, from Gazan activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib:

Al Jazeera has never posted or published a correction.

Alkhatib has also blamed it for destabilizing the region, although he's exaggerating about it being Hamas's official propaganda outlet:

TL;DR: If you see a Tumblr post making any kind of factual news statement without a link, at this point you need to assume it is absolutely not true. And either scroll on past, or go check Google News.

If there IS a link, you need to click through to see what it's from and what it actually says.

(Honestly, you need to do that with Wikipedia too. I've repeatedly clicked through on citations that absolutely did not say what the article implied they did.)

And pro tip: on mobile, you can just smack a button to sort Google's news results by most recent, and it helps A LOT. There's gotta be a way to do the same on desktop, but if there is, it's not immediately visible, which sucks.

[adrianasunderworld]

Miss Yuu spends summer in Briar Valley

This had been sitting in my drafts for ages. I was initially going to add more, but I lost steam towards the end and forgot 😅. But fuck it, here, take what I have now.

🖤💚🖤💚

A Miss Yuu/Mc who complains to Malleus on one of their night walks that she has nowhere to go over the summer. That's it's likely Crowley will have her work as groundskeeper for a room and food. It was honest venting, she didn't expect Malleus to solve her dilemma. But lo and behold a couple weeks before school let out, Malleus offered a room at Briar Valleys castle. His grandmother had given permission, and Mc needed only to respond. Mc of course packed up all her and Grims belongs and joined the Diasmonia gang home.

Her room was spacious with a luxurious bathroom and a tower view. It was so relaxing and nice to be the one pampered and served for once. Malleus ensured she was treated like a princess. But after a couple weeks...Mc noted there wasn't much else to do. Malleus had said he grew up rather isolated in the castle, she didn't think she would get a taste of that. Silver and Sebek we're often training with Lilia. Or Sebek would be home with his parents. Malleus grandmother had kept him occupied with state affairs. Mc had found herself video chatting with the rest of the first year gang more and more. She tried to play it off when asked if anything exciting was going on over there. But no one was convinced she was having any fun.

Lilia, of course, had picked up on this. Telling Mc if she was feeling antsy, she was welcome to come with him and Silver to their cottage for a few days after they finished training at the end of the week. Malleus wasn’t too keen on Mc leaving so soon after arriving, but he supposed he had neglected his child of man. Hopefully by the time she had returned, he would have caught up on everything and they could enjoy themselves. So at the end of the week, Mc joined Silver and Lilia at their house. Lilia had prepared their rather cozy guest room, and Mc enjoyed the next couple days playing games with Lilia into the wee hours and going with Silver into the woods.

Mc had not heard from Sebek until halfway through the week. Lilia had errands to do, and sent Silver, Mc, and Grim into town with the grocery list. As they walked around town, Grim noticed something interesting. 

“Zigvolt Dental Clinic...isn’t that Sebeks dads buisness?”

“That it is.” Silver replied. “Come to think of it, I think Sebek mentioned something about having to help his mom at the front desk...”  All Grim and Mc heard was ‘lets go bother Sebek.’ 

So they walk into the clinic, and sure enough there was their friend behind the desk organizing files. The silent horror that crossed their Sebeks face as his mother greeted them “Hello! Do you...Silver! Sweetie, what are you doing here?”

“Hello Mrs.Zigvolt, we were only stopping by to say hi.” 

“Aw how sweet. Sebek, your friends are here! Oh i’m so sorry, honey, I didnt get your name.”

“It’s Yuu. Nice to meet you ma’am. This is Grim.” 

“So You’re Yuu and Grim! Sebek, you never told me they were in the valley. If I had known we could have invited them to dinner or something.”

"Mother,please. Yuu has been staying in the castle, I doubt she would have had time to-"

Mrs. Zigvolt interrupted her son with a thought. "Oh! If you three aren't busy, you should join us for lunch so we can catch up. We were about to head out. Sebek, be a dear and get my purse." Then she added. "Besides Silver, knowing your father it's safer to send you off on a full stomach."

"You're right as always , ma'am." Silver didn't argue, and neither do Mc or Grim.

Sebeks mother made Mc feel very welcome to the valley. Even inviting her to dinner with the rest of the family like she had originally wanted. She was so loving and nurturing that Yuu wanted to be swallowed up by all the motherly affection she had gone so long without. She was a bit sad when the mini trip to the cottage was over. But Mrs.Zigvolt promised to treat her to a girls day with her and Sebeks sister next time she went to visit her son.  

They went back to the castle, and Malleus had welcomed her back with open arms. He had finally gotten some free time and was able hang out more. Malleus had shown her the rose garden, the library, every gargoyle in the castle. It was nice to finally spend more time with him. 

What Mc didn’t know was that someone else had some free time as well. One day she returned to her room to find a beautiful dress laid out for her, along with an invitation to tea tomorrow. It was from the Briar Queen, Malleus’ grandmother. 

[qyuoza]

Crush on you! (Choi Hyunsuk)

"It's nothing, it was fun spending the day with you, just you and me, normal Hyunsuk and normal Y/n"

Genre: Fluff

AU: Influencer!au, Celebrity!au

Warnings: Hyunsuk is like really insecure and shy here (my poor baby), other than that nothing else really

Summary: Choi Hyunsuk is one of Korea's most well known youtubers and professional broadcasting jockeys. At the peak of his fame, he was offered a special collaboration with a company to start his own fashion brand. The cherry on top is, he does a photoshoot with his long time celebrity crush, Park Y/n.

Jihoon rushed in behind Hyunsuk who was currently speed walking into the building they were going to have a photoshoot in. The whole team was almost late to the schedule itself and already had enough problems to think about today, so they could not afford to add another one onto it the list.

"How do you feel about modeling with Park Y/n? You've been a huge fan for awhile" Hongjoong, Hyunsuk's camera man, asked curiously as he set up the video equipment.

Hyunsuk huffed as they entered the dressing room, setting up the rest of the cameras and needing to manage everyone's condition before they started filming for the latest video.

"If you want me to fully be honest, I'd say I'm nervous. I've been her fan for who knows how long, been there since the launch of her brand, bought the clothes and kept up with most of the interviews she’s had" Hyunsuk confessed.

Hongjoong, who was satisfied with himself that he even caught that on camera, made a mental note to pass to their editor, Beomgyu, to put that clip in the video.

"You'll be alright hyung, best case scenario you get in contact with her and if anything goes wrong then it could just be her attitude or the photography team for all we know" Jihoon said as Hyunsuk plopped on the make up chair.

Then around two or three make up artists had rushed into the room to get Hyunsuk ready. "They're from Y/n's team, I guess this is your chance to ask them what she's like" Ana, Hyunsuk's PR manager, walked into the room with a shit eating grin on her face.

Hyunsuk looked at her and back at his phone, reminding himself to curse out his friends when this was all over with. How could they tease him at the time he had to remain professional.

"You're a fan of Y/n? No surprise to be honest, we've encountered a lot of people like that as well so feel free to ask us anything really" one of the make up artists chimed in.

Hongjoong and Jihoon were howling with laughter upon seeing Hyunsuk's face going beet red. Ana shushed them and passed Hyunsuk a coffee for his nerves and energy he would need for later.

"I mean is Y/n nice? I honestly have no idea what to ask since I'm helping Hyunsuk over here" Ana chuckled. Haeri, one of the other make up artists, nodded.

"She's super sweet to everyone and is the nicest person you could ever really meet, and I mean it. In my four years of working with her, not once has she ever been rude. She even took the staff out for dinner one time and paid for it all" Mina, the assistant make up artist mused.

Hyunsuk was spaced out at this point. Not only was he meeting his celebrity crush, she was also just as nice as he expected her to be.

"Hyunsuk hyung say something" Jihoon laughed. Hyunsuk's daze was cut short and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I'm so nervous, like I really don't know what to do" he replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

Once Hyunsuk's make up was done, Ana led him to the changing room to do his fitting.

"Wow, these clothes are so gorgeous" Ana and Hyunsuk turned towards a familiar voice that came from behind them, and lo and behold, there was Park Y/n standing behind them with an angelic smile.

She looked absolutely ethereal not only in Hyunsuk's eyes, but to the people around them as well.

"Oh my God! Y/n it's an absolute pleasure to meet you, I'm a huge fan of your work" Ana had completely abandoned Hyunsuk as she shook Y/n's hand.

He was awestruck, practically standing there gawking at the mere sight of her. "Pleasure's all mine, I'm actually quite a huge fan of Hyunsuk here as well" Y/n admitted shyly.

Ana smirked at Hyunsuk as he smiled at Y/n awkwardly, he just couldn't belive it, his dreams were coming true it seemed.

"No way a model like yourself is into the kind of videos I put out!" Hyunsuk said in disbelief. Y/n laughed at his reaction and shook her head.

"Oh believe me, I love your content. Most especially your fashion review videos as expected, but I've noticed that a good portion of your reviews consist of my clothes as well" she replied sweetly. Hyunsuk rubbed the back of his neck and nodded, she was so attentive it was hard not to believe that she didn't watch his content.

"I've been contacted by your team a few times and was fortunate enough to have the chance to review your collections. I love the uniqueness and characteristics your clothes carry, it's as if each piece holds a story" he replied passionately.

"I'm glad, I actually told my PR team to personally contact you a few times. Just the way you really handle and speak about the clothing itself really intrigued me" Y/n said. Ana was watching from the sidelines, grinning by herself.

Hyunsuk and Y/n were getting along quite well, this meant the shoot would go by like a breeze. "Were you guys here for fitting?" Y/n's personal assistant, Wooyoung, had suddenly chimed in so naturally.

"Yeah actually, and it's nice to meet you, I'm Ana. Hyunsuk's PR manager" Ana held out her hand towards Wooyoung, who eagerly shook it in return.

"Jung Wooyoung, Y/n's best friend and personal assistant" he introduced. Y/n briefly hit him on the shoulder as Wooyoung gave a high pitched laugh.

"Oh you work for your best friend?" Ana cocked her head to the side. Wooyoung nodded.

"I was fortunate enough to land a job under her since I was in a rough patch, but I'm thankful enough because Y/n really helped me financially and just through everything at the time" Hyunsuk swooned at the revelation.

Y/n wasn't only beautiful, independent and smart, but she was also kind and had a heart of gold. It was beyond what he could've ever imagined.

"I'll see you later then Hyunsuk, it was nice meeting you. I have to go do my fitting in a bit" Y/n waved as her Wooyoung walked past them, Wooyoung giving Ana a little wave as well.

"She's so, wow” Ana breathed out. Hyunsuk shifted next to her as they watched Y/n talk to the stylists.

"Tell me about it" he replied and walked over to the other dressing room where he was gonna do his fitting. A few minutes had gone by after the fitting and Y/n and Hyunsuk were ready, clad in the collaboration clothes.

Hyunsuk was wearing a black denim jacket with red designs of his own scattered all over it, the jacket being a little bit tattered and having red accents as well. It was paired with a simple white shirt and some black jeans designed by himself as well.

"They came out so well holy shit" Ana exclaimed from beside him. He laughed in reply as they waited for Y/n patiently.

The two then heard a door open as Y/n walked out in a dazzling black dress and some knee high boots, over the outfit was a blazer, not just any blazer though, it was Hyunsuk's favorite item overall in the entire collab.

It was a black and white tweed blazer that had silver specs with a small design of his on the chest pocket. Everyone was in awe while Wooyoung held in a laugh from behind Y/n.

"Are we ready then? Hyunsuk and Y/n, please stand over here. Don't be too pressured by the way, just make your poses natural this time around ok?" The photographer gave them a heads up as the rest of his team encouraged them as well.

"First time doing this?" Y/n smiled up at Hyunsuk. He nodded back with anxiousness written all over his face, which led Y/n to a brilliant idea.

"Here, why don't you stand like this and I'll stand here behind you" Y/n guided Hyunsuk to face towards the front of the camera, hands in his pockets, as she stood behind him, hands on his shoulders.

"Perfect! Hold that for me, now you can do as you please" The photographer spoke up again. Hyunsuk was flustered, he couldn't believe he was this close to Y/n. How could really survive the rest of the photoshoots like this?

An hour or so had finally gone by and Hyunsuk couldn't have been more relieved. Y/n was so gorgeous and looked after him the whole time, he had to hold himself back from acting all giddy towards her actions.

"Hyunsuk hey! Wait up a bit— Oh are you guys recording?" Y/n had come up to Hyunsuk in the middle of filming something, but he reassured her that he would just do another take.

"I hope I didn't intrude or anything, but before I leave I wanted to ask if I could have your number?" Jihoon had choked on his own spit from behind Hongjoong.

Y/n was asking for Hyunsuk's number? Now that would probably be something Hyunsuk would never live down, not after everything that's happened in the entire shoot itself.

"Of course, here let me put it in" Y/n handed Hyunsuk her phone shyly as Hongjoong had pretended to not record the whole interaction the entire time.

"Thanks again Hyunsuk! See you around, I'll be sure to purchase some of your clothing for this collab soon!" Y/n jogged up to Wooyoung and soon left to do whatever was on the rest of her itinerary for the day.

"What was all that about? God Hyunsuk you look like you've seen a ghost" Ana had put a hand on his shoulder. Hyunsuk then towards her, the biggest smile on his face, oh wow it finally broke him.

"Hyung you can't be serious, wipe that smile off your face so we can film the rest of the video before heading back to the studio" Jihoon looked at him as if he was a madman, but Hyunsuk really could care less. They continued recording smoothly and went off back to their studio.

Over the next couple of weeks, Hyunsuk had been hesitant to contact Y/n. He had no idea why, but sales had also seemed to skyrocket when the pictures had dropped.

"Media says you and Y/n would make a great couple" Ana walked into Hyunsuk's office and handed him the ipad she was holding prior. He took it but was immediately bewildered at the comments that accompanied the article.

"'Y/n and Hyunsuk would make a great couple, this is wild'. 'Wait, so they aren't dating...?'" Hyunsuk had read some of the comments out loud, still shocked as ever.

Ana then snatched the iPad from him and rolled her eyes, couldn't he see that this was a good chance to finally get himself his crush and turn her into his girlfriend?

"Well? What are you waiting for ? You should go ask her out. You were too chicken the past few weeks and Jihoon's been saying you look miserable just staring at her contact all day long" Hyunsuk choked on his spit and leaned back on his chair with a sigh.

"It's complicated, I mean she probably has a boyfriend for all we know—" Ana had interrupted him with a scoff, to which Hyunsuk replied with an offended look.

"I know men in the fashion industry are gorgeous as hell Hyunsuk, but why not give it a shot? She's your fan and for what's it's worth just try it, we don't have forever and you've been single like since we met, live a little" Ana said encouragingly, she wanted Hyunsuk to finally live his life. Behind the videos he was all miserable and was in desperate need of something more in his life.

Hyunsuk massaged his temples. Maybe he should take what Ana said into consideration, he was always doing his work that he barely does anything else to spice up his life.

"Alright, this once ok?" Ana was thrilled and immediately ran out to go tell the others. Meanwhile, Hyunsuk was still in his office, finally monitoring the video of the behind the scenes from the photoshoot a few weeks prior.

"Piece of shit!" Hyunsuk yelled as he saw the clips of him and Y/n interacting. He didn't mind at all, but he was kind of embarrassed how a side of him, never seen before, had been shown. Then he started skimming the comments.

'Y/n looks so pretty! They're so adorable I'd honestly be surprised if they weren't dating by now' one comment read. Hyunsuk had turned beet red before continuing to scroll through more comments.

'Hyunsuk if you see this, I hope you date Y/n kkk' he read another comment and slammed his laptop shut upon reading it. Even his fans wanted him to ask her out at this point, so it took all the courage in him to finally message her, in hopes of maybe hanging out with her at least once.

[Hyunsuk 4:50 PM] hi y/n! this is hyunsuk, i hope you're not too busy but i was wondering if you would like to hangout soon?

Hyunsuk was about to slam his head on the table, was he too formal? Did he seem to pushy? Y/n was a very busy person after all. A few minutes after he beat himself up, he had received a reply from her.

[Y/n 4:52 PM] i'd love to! when and where? just so i can ask wooyoung to clear my schedule a bit so we can set a date :)

He sighed again, he felt guilty for asking Y/n to hangout on such short notice, but maybe this could lead to something more. So he took his chance and replied.

[Hyunsuk 4:54 PM] maybe this saturday? we can roam around cheongdam to shop and grab dinner afterwards

[Y/n 4:57 PM] sounds good! see you then hyunsuk :)

Hyunsuk was on cloud nine, he couldn't believe it. Y/n was actually going to meet up with him and go on a date.

"Guys! You won't believe it!" Hyunsuk ran out of his office and accidentally startled his editing team. Jihoon peered from behind the door of his own office and looked at him, eyebrow raised and questioning.

"Y/n and I are going out this weekend" Hyunsuk said proudly. Apparently the timing was just great as Ana walked in, dropping some of her things from the shock. "YOU AND Y/N ARE WHAT?" Hyunsuk only grinned at her before heading back into his office.

The week had gone by pretty quickly and before Hyunsuk knew it, he was getting ready to meet Y/n in Cheongdam. His phone had then rang and he almost instantly knew.

"Hyunsuk hi, I'm already here I'm just waiting nearby Miu Miu right now" Y/n said, Hyunsuk softened at her voice before he replied.

"I'll be there in a few, I hope I'm not taking too long" he said, a bit guilty that he was still very much on his way, though he wasn't that far either.

"Don't worry I'll be ok, I can look around for a bit before we go" Y/n replied. She was such an angel, like how could someone be so understanding? Hyunsuk honestly didn't know.

A few stop lights later and Hyunsuk had finally arrived at Cheongdam. He entered the luxury fashion street and parked his car at a nearby valet, then he pulled out his phone to text Y/n that he had arrived.

[Hyunsuk 7:10 PM] im at miu miu do i just go in?

[Y/n 7:11 PM] yeah give me a second, im by the bags

Hyunsuk had walked into Miu Miu and saw Y/n closely inspecting a bag. He couldn't help but gawk again at how she looked.

What she was wearing was simple, it was just a tweed Chanel skirt and blazer set with a white cropped top underneath it, she paired it with a classic Chanel handbag and black boots.

"Hey Y/n" Hyunsuk approached her. She turned to him and smiled brightly, eyes turning into crescents.

"Hyunsuk! It's so nice to see you, just let me take one more look and we can finally go to a different store" Y/n then thanked the clerk as her and Hyunsuk left to go to else where in Cheongdam.

"I'm glad you agreed to hangout, I feel bad that you had to clear up your plans though" Hyunsuk said, guilt lacing his tone. Y/n turned to him as they head into the Chanel store.

"Don't be, it's actually nice to take a breather and escape from all the busy schedules once in awhile. They always see just the usual Park Y/n in the spotlight, but sometimes I just wanna be Y/n, a normal person who lives a normal life" she confessed softly while scanning the bags.

Hyunsuk softened upon hearing this. He completely understood how it felt to constantly be in the spotlight, and it's true how they needed a break from all that attention every now and then.

"I fully understand how you feel, having everyone's eyes on you and constantly being in the media here and there is definitely exhausting" Y/n looked up at him and smiled, Hyunsuk's heart started beating in his chest.

"You must be hungry! Let me go buy this bag and these shoes I've been eyeing and I'll be done in a bit" she said. The clerk had helped her as Hyunsuk walked right beside Y/n, who was heading to the counter.

"Will this be all ma'am?" Y/n nodded and fished out her wallet before pulling out a black card.

Hyunsuk visibly stiffened again, she was definitely in a different league and it made him feel unworthy to really be with her as of the moment, but of course he didn't have any guts to tell her, so he remained quiet. Only admiring her silently again.

After paying, Y/n and Hyunsuk walked over to Jungsik, a well known and expensive restaurant. Hyunsuk was determined to pay for everything else this time.

"I love this restaurant so much, last time I came I was with Wooyoung but it feels good to have a change of scenery" Y/n giggled as she skimmed through the menu.

"I'm paying this time alright? I was the one who asked you to hangout after all" Hyunsuk said boldly.

Y/n looked up at him and nodded, she was impressed by how much of a gentleman Hyunsuk was, he even carried her shopping bags a few moments prior.

"What could I get started for you two tonight?" A waiter had approached them, implying that he was going to take their order.

"One Ssam and Fillet Mignon please, and a regular aged steak for me, medium rare" the waiter nodded before taking their drinks. "Just wine thank you" Hyunsuk closed the menu as him and Y/n handed it over to the waiter.

"I'm impressed. You've been amazing so far Hyunsuk, I'd love to do this again some time soon" Y/n gave him a smile whole making direct eye contact with Hyunsuk.

She was elegant and cunning really, Y/n was well rounded and level headed. Hyunsuk wondered what her upbringing was like.

"Please it's my job to treat you like the lady you are for tonight, I'm fully thankful that you considered giving me your time" he gave her a cheeky grin and stared back at her, eyes filled with adoration and love. Y/n smiled back at him as their food had arrived.

Dinner had then finished like a breeze for Hyunsuk and Y/n, both seeming like long time friends already. "Here let me pay" Hyunsuk pulled out his card and handed the bill to the waiter.

Y/n obliged as she continued talking about a childhood memory with her best friend Wooyoung, Hyunsuk laughing along with the story. The bill was handed back to Hyunsuk, who took his card and carried Y/n's shopping bags, ready to leave.

By this time, they were both just walking around Cheongdam admiring the streets. "Thank you for today Hyunsuk, I appreciate it a lot" Y/n smiled, looping her arm around Hyunsuk's.

"It's nothing, it was fun spending the day with you, just you and me, normal Hyunsuk and normal Y/n" Hyunsuk cheekily replied. Suddenly Hyunsuk had stopped in front of a statue that looked interesting and immediately pulled out his phone.

"Let's take pictures to remember our first time out together" he said enthusiastically. Y/n sauntered over to the statue and immediately posed with her shopping bags, changing poses from time to time.

Hyunsuk continued taking photos, finding Y/n absolutely endearing when she would giggle each time she got shy. It was a huge one eighty from the Y/n who was constantly confident as ever in the studio.

"Send me the photos later! Now let me" Y/n took Hyunsuk's phone in her hand as he stood doing all the poses he could, even a few natural ones.

"You're like a pro, I seriously get shy when taking pictures so don't let the persona I have in the studio fool you" she handed him his phone back as he scrolled through the photos. They were just perfect.

"Shit, Hyunsuk I've got to go soon, Wooyoung's picking me up for our movie night at my place. I'll see you again some other time soon?" Hyunsuk quickly nodded as Y/n sighed in relief.

"For sure, and Y/n could I just say something? I'll be quick I promise" Y/n nodded and Hyunsuk breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"I actually like you, a lot and I wanted to know if we could maybe become more than friends?" Y/n was shocked, but then a smile had painted her features.

"I've actually liked you too for a long time Hyunsuk, I hope we go out during better circumstances next time where it's you and me, but maybe not just as friends" she replied.

Hyunsuk was absolutely ecstatic, then he heard someone clear their throat. It was Wooyoung. "I'll see you then Hyunsuk! It'll be a date whenever!" Y/n then walked off with Wooyoung as Hyunsuk stood, smiling like an absolute idiot.

© qyuoza 2022 -. please refrain from plagiarizing any of my works and do not repost/copy onto any other sites.

[boycock-boycunt-boyslut]

Heyy secret relationship anon here,,thank you so much for writing the fic!!! It was amazing- so CUTEEE and AHGJJK the dynamic????!!!!?? Pt 2 please 🥺 🥺 I'm hooked!!

of course anon !! im glad you liked it <3

part 1

request info

this one takes place after theresa and the gang join anti entropy but the reader isn't apart of anti entropy ! i don't know how to title this so i put hurt/comfort

einstein x gn!reader warnings: sleep deprivation, enemies to lovers, grammar + spelling mistakes, lowercase writing, tell me if i forgot any. description:

"i wouldn't expect you to be one to ask for help from anti entropy," einstein said.

"don't make that smug face at me, eins. this is a... personal assignment i'm keeping from otto and everyone else, and i need your help with it."

word count: 623

it had been around a month since theresa and her students had joined anti entropy. it had also gotten way busier for einstein and tesla, as well as everyone else too. many of the ex-schicksal workers were still tracking for kiana after she had gone missing. work seemed to pile up a lot of the time and it was hard to keep up on it as well.

these recent months also seemed to take a toll on schicksal as well, as einstein hasn't gotten a single call from you in the last month. the blue haired scientist wanted to deny it but she's slowly realized how much she liked you. she hadn't developed any crush or romantic feelings for you, but she did somehow enjoy talking with you. the banter the both of you had seemed to lighten her day.

so when you stopped calling after the recent events, it worried einstein a tad bit more than she would like.

the sudden call of a familiar ring alerted einstein at her seat. she turned to look at the large screen in front of her while she wrote a report on the recent events. lo and behold, there was the id einstein had listed you under. "annoying scientist" stared back at einstein in big, blue colors and she touched the answer button.

"ah! eins you're still okay. that's good at least, really good actually," your voice sounded in the room.

the dark bags under your eyes were apparent to einstein. well, they were there before of course, but now they seemed to shine like a bright light at her. looks like neither you or her had gotten much sleep lately.

"so eins! you're probably wondering why i'm calling you" you started to talk again, "well i have a bit of a favor to ask of you right now."

"i wouldn't expect you to be one to ask for help from anti entropy," einstein said.

"don't make that smug face at me, eins. this is a... personal assignment i'm keeping from otto and everyone else, and i need your help with it."

"what kind of assignment?"

"it's one related to more personal circumstances. my family and such, it's just- i need your help with it please."

"what do i get in return?"

you blinked in surprise for a second, thinking for a second before answering.

"i'll stop calling you unannounced."

that was… it?

"you think that's enough?" einstein put her hands on her hips.

"i don't know what you want eins, i don't have that much money right now! if you help me i'll leave you alone and will stop calling you eins, okay?"

"i have a better option."

einstein pulled out her personal phone and opened it. she tapped through it until she got to her own personal phone number, revealing it to you once she got to it.

"just add my number to your phone and we can do this on our own time. we can meet in a private area if you so wish."

"of course! thank you, eins," you nodded as einstein watched you pull out your own phone and type something into it.

"and one more request before you leave" einstein watched you look at her with a confused look on your face, "make sure to rest. working sleep deprived does you no good."

you nodded and put on the familiar smile, one that einstein had grown attached to, "of course! see you later, eins."

a familiar wink was sent to einstein as you hung up on the call. einstein sat back in her chair and looked at the half done report. this might not be the greatest decision but… it was the one that einstein wouldn't regret at least.

[danpuff-ao3]

Self-Care, Burn-Out, Failure, & Growth

With 2022 winding down, and my stress levels at an all time high, I've been reflecting with amusement on how my primary goal for this year was to focus on self-care and how badly it's been going.

Oddly enough, beating oneself up over one's healing process is decidedly unhelpful.

On the surface, it sounds easy. And with the awareness of mental health struggles, it might even sound noble. The reality is that self-care is very, very difficult. It can't just be me.

All of my self-worth is tied to my usefulness to others. How is what I'm doing beneficial to others? How is what I'm doing considered productive? Even my desire to improve my mental health is tied to others. I'm doing poorly; I need to work on that...As is, I'm a burden to others. Self-care was turned into a checklist that I marked off with gusto.

Rarely did it actually help. Lately it's been feeling a lot like failure; but now I'm not so sure. Change doesn't happen overnight. I'm a 30 year old perfectionist with a long history of anxiety, OCD, and bucket loads of trauma. There's a lot for me to unpack. A lot to untangle in my head, alongside learning this new skill of self-care.

So...not failure, so much as learning. I've been more aware of my struggles, and my mindset, and my intentions. It's been trial and error. Baking is relaxing if I'm doing it for fun, and if I don't add the "I should bring this to work to share with my coworkers -- now this loaf needs to be extra good!"; writing is enjoyable if I don't think "I need this to be perfect so people don't judge me!"; reading is nice if I don't think "I need to finish this and finish that, because my friend wrote it, or I want to get involved in this conversation, or to knock more titles off of my to-read list."; watching shows or films because I want to and not because "I need to finish, need to be up to date!"; I want to be more involved with the community but it quickly turns into "I need to create this server, join this fest, do this and do that."

Last week I hit my breaking point. I took some mental health days off work. I told myself -- repeatedly -- to not feel guilty for missing work, and to not feel obligated to work on writing. To not rush around doing housework, or feel bad if I don't do housework. Over and over I told myself to just do whatever I felt like doing. No rush. No pressure. Everything else could wait for 2 friggin' days. Just...chill out, for once!

And lo and behold, it helped!

The worries crept in, but I smacked them away. "No, we're not doing that today." I still did a lot. I'm always happiest doing something. I accomplished various tasks, but it wasn't for anyone. I drafted a few unfinished rec lists. I made more work on my AO3 bookmarks. I dove headfirst into typing up Harry Potter astrology essays. Wherever my whims led, I followed.

It was refreshing! I had fun! I felt good for the first time in a long time.

How I can hold the worries at bay long term, I don't know. I have realized I need to scale back on my obligations. Admit defeat for my own betterment. Free up my time to focus on what I'm passionate about. Remembering that not second of every day has to be useful or wasteful, with no in between.

Maybe I've not yet "achieved" great self-care, but I also haven't failed. It's a process, a journey. One I'm actively working on. I'm trying. I'm learning. That's growth, however small.

[hermannsthumb]

Lo and behold, HERMANN is the one with a long list of hunky ex-boyfriends (and it drives Newt a little nuts)

a req sent in by @k-sci-janitor and filled TIMELY ENOUGH on their BIRTHDAYYYYY 🎉🎉🎉🎉 s/out to them for discussing this fic concept w me months ago and also today 👀

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

It’s a relief to find out Hermann is gay. It’s not even because of Newt’s weird, repressed feelings for the guy—though he admits it’s equally a relief to know that he’s not barking up the wrong tree entirely. The thing is that Newt’s really not sure what he would do if Hermann wasn’t. Hermann has the distinct honor (displeasure?) of being Newt’s only friend in the Shatterdome, after all; this means aside from usual friendship duties (sitting with Newt at lunch, listening to him complain about his day, allowing himself to be dragged along to bars and movie theaters when they finally have a second to breathe), he’s also the person Newt goes to with tales of his romantic conquests (not that he has any), requests for dating advice (not that Hermann has any), and reassurances that whoever Newt has his eyes on that week is hot enough for him (could they ever be?). It’s just, like, easier to do that kinda shit with someone who would also be (hypothetically) eyeing up and dating dudes, if Hermann ever managed to take the stick out his ass and relax long enough to do stuff like that.

Hell, Newt would be first in line if he ever did. As it is, he just has to settle on knocking knees with Hermann under the mess tables and—for lack of a better phrase—checking the latest batch of ranger hopefuls out. Newt doesn’t normally go for the tall, built, and athletic type, but Shatterdome transfers are usually the only way he can score a date, because all the seasoned personnel know to avoid the weirdo biologist in the basement by this point. There’s a war on; desperate times call for desperate measures. Newt hopes at least a handful of them are desperate.

“He’s kinda hot, don’t you think?” Newt says under his breath to Hermann. He jerks his thumb over his shoulder at one of the new ranger trainees in line for soup behind them. He has dark hair and a nice smile, and—more importantly—Newt’s sure he’s been making eyes at their table for the better part of five minutes. He’s one of the latest batch that has only just arrived two weeks prior, and the smallest batch by far. Not many people are enlisting in the PPDC these days. Bad for the state of the world and Newt’s libido.

“Hm?” Hermann says.

“The guy behind us,” Newt says. “No, don’t be obvious about it—”

But Hermann turns, conspicuously, so (deciding it can’t get any more awkward than it already is) Newt sighs and turns with him. The dark-haired ranger notices: his smile hitches up an extra centimeter, and he winks.

At once Newt feels his ego swell. He winks back. “Still got it, dude,” he crows to Hermann, and is just rising from his chair to swoop into action when he realizes something; the ranger was not making eye contact with Newt. He was—and is—making eye contact with Hermann.

Hermann scoffs. “Oh, please,” he mutters to Newt. “If he thinks that’ll get him invited over again—”

But the ranger is abandoning his spot in line and jogging towards them, smoothing down his hair as he goes. He’s brimming with a palpable mixture of excitement and anxiety. “Hey, Dr. Gottlieb,” he says. “So, uh, last week was pretty fun?” It’s an invitation for approval, one which Hermann ignores in favor of jerking his shoulders noncommittally. The ranger presses on anyway. “It’s cool to see you. Haha. I, uh, just wanted to make sure you have my email, in case you want to get together again.”

“I have it,” Hermann says.

An awkward tension settles between them. Newt clears his throat in hopes of diffusing it, and the ranger’s eyes dart over to him. “I’m Newt,” Newt says. “Hermann and I work together.”

“Cool,” the ranger says. Disinterested. “Anyway, Dr. Gottlieb, I’m free whenever, so?”

“Yes, I’ll certainly email you,” Hermann says. He picks up his dinner roll and begins to spread butter over it, not bothering to look up when he adds “Lovely to see you again.”

The guy nods, and hurries back over to his friends, who begin debating something with him in hushed voices. Twice the group glances back at Hermann. Hermann’s—uh—friend seems to be blushing. Hermann begins to butter the other half of his dinner roll. “What the hell was that about?” Newt says.

Hermann sets down his roll and furrows his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“That,” Newt says. “Who was that guy?”

“Oh,” Hermann says. “Him.” He rolls his eyes, and to Newt’s alarm goes pink in the cheeks. “We had a, ah, a date, I suppose you could call it, last week. He turned out to be a bit rude, actually, not the very, er, courteous sort. Attentive. Or at least not as courteous as I like. You know.”

“I don’t,” Newt says.

“You know,” Hermann repeats, with more force on the know. His pink blush spreads down his neck. “In the—coupling—sense.”

“You hooked up with him?” Newt says, too loud. A few heads swivel in their direction, including Hermann’s quote-unquote date and his friends; Hermann whacks Newt in the shin with his cane, clearly mortified.

“Keep your voice down! I don’t want the whole bloody Shatterdome to know, do I?” Hermann hisses. “Yes, I had sex with him. I do occasionally take time to enjoy myself.”

Newt stares at Hermann in amazement. Hermann hooks up? Hermann hooks up with hunky guys? Hermann hooks up with hunky guys and then ghosts them? “I didn’t know,” Newt says. “That you…did that.” Months and months of talking about his shitty love life to Hermann and Hermann has never once bothered to volunteer information of his own. Newt always just assumed Hermann had put his emotional (and physical) needs on hold for the sake of the war. Apparently not.

“You never asked,” Hermann says. “Is it important?”

Yes, it is. Newt shakes his head. The rest of their dinner is quiet and without any further interruptions. It’s also without their usual bickering, though, which makes it feel oddly lonely, and when Newt gets back to his bunk that night, he can’t help but wonder what else he hasn’t discovered about Hermann yet. Or, really—what about Hermann’s love life he hasn’t discovered yet.

A bouquet of flowers arrives for Hermann at the lab a week later. Newt is the one to take the delivery, Hermann being too absorbed in his calculations and boring graphs, and also because Newt is harboring a secret hope they’re for himself from a secret admirer. No such luck. To Dr. Gottlieb, the heart-shaped label proclaims in pink cursive, and a few sentences of the sappiest attempt at poetry Newt’s ever seen follows. Love, Pedro. Newt smirks through a suffocating wave of jealousy, whether to be the one giving or getting the flowers he’s not sure. “Hey, Hermann,” he calls across the lab. “Your boyfriend getting persistent. Want me to stick these in water for you?”

Hermann grumbles something, then says “Boyfriend?”

“From the mess the other night,” Newt says. “The uncourteous one.” Newt double-checks the note. “Pedro. His heart is yearning for you, Hermann. Listen to this—”

But Hermann scoffs loudly before Newt can even start on the poem. “Don’t be daft,” he says. “That wasn’t Pedro. That was Jason.” He scribbles over something on his chalkboard and starts again on the line below it. “And Pedro is hardly my boyfriend—it was only dinner.”

“Dinner?” Newt squeaks.

“And drinks,” Hermann says.

“You’re seeing another guy?” Newt says.

Hermann finally turns around. “Does it matter if I am?” he says.

“Yes,” Newt says. “No? I don’t know?”

“I’m a grown man, Newton,” Hermann says. “I date. You ought to try it yourself—it does wonders for the nerves.” When Newt is clearly still unsatisfied, Hermann sighs. “I met Pedro on an errand to LOCCENT last month, and I found him charming. You’d recognize him—you actually, er, caught us in a bit of a compromising position the other night. Remember?”

Newt frowns. He hasn’t caught Hermann with anyway in any compromising situations recently—the only thing he can think of that could be considered remotely embarrassing is when he stepped out into the hallway the same time Hermann’s physical therapist did, and they ended up bumping into each other. But that was—oh, God, Newt’s an idiot.  “That was him?” Newt says. He just assumed anyone stopping by Hermann’s room after work hours would be there for physical therapy, okay? And there had been a lot of…noise. Well, he’s not going to think about that now. “But he was so hot! Do you only date, like, hunks or something?”

“Really, Newton,” Hermann says. “You’re making yourself upset over nothing.” The corner of his mouth twitches up. “Though one of my old ex-boyfriends did become an underwear model…”

“Dude,” Newt says, and before he can help himself, blurts out “Shit, maybe I should start going to the gym.”

Hermann gives him a strange, searching look, and Newt immediately clamps his mouth shut in horror. He’s really gotta start working on his brain-to-mouth filter. Or at least work on not sticking his fucking foot in it every five minutes. “As I said,” Hermann says, cryptically, and turns away (apparently satisfied with whatever he saw in Newt), “you’re making yourself upset over nothing. I hardly find the need to limit myself to ‘hunks’.”

“Uh,” Newt says. “Right.”

Whatever that means.

[geekgirles]

Your Heart

Chapter 6 -- A Ghostophobe, a Giant Iguana, and Vegan Nacho Cheese

Word Count: 14402

READ ON AO3

As an aspiring astronaut, Danny’s dream had always been going to space. 

Being able to look at the vastness of the universe, to literally look down on Earth and see every single country at once, to stargaze up close… All from the comfort of the space station as he leisurely floated around in zero gravity. 

Really, that was all he asked for. 

He was convinced he lost his chance when he got his powers. 

Although not directly connected to his dream, the birth of Danny Phantom almost put his GPA in jeopardy several times. Before the accident, he used to be a good student, granted, not as good as Jazz, but he brought home good marks. But once the first sleepless night trying to catch rogue ghosts came, countless more were soon to follow. 

Between the lack of sleep, being tardy to class or skipping it altogether, and many more instances of ‘teenage rebellion’ (all caused by his attempts to save everyone from malevolent spirits, not like anyone cared), Danny was sure his dreams of going to space had all but vanished before him.

There were no words capable of describing his joy when he miraculously pulled just the mark he needed to be accepted at Amity Park University’s Astrophysics degree. So what if he couldn’t go to a fancy college like Yale, or Stanford? That was Jazz’s dream, not his. Besides, studying at APU was perfect for protecting the town and getting access to the Ghost Zone. 

He seriously doubted any of those preppy colleges would have granted him permission to build a ghost portal in their labs, anyway. 

And so, he was closer to his dream than he’d thought he’d ever be during all of high school. During that time, he found solace in flying. Being one of the only two people in the whole world who could fly without help was even more special than being selected by NASA; a feat in itself. And it was so...liberating.

Even when he struggled most with his powers, just being able to fly made it all worth it. The immense relief that would envelop him whenever he just let the breeze guide him, lazily swaying in the sky and under the moonlight. The feeling he’d get whenever the adrenaline coursed through his veins as he picked up speed, sometimes even breaking the sound barrier when he felt like really challenging himself. Or just the chance to quiet the hectic voices ruling his life, even for just one moment: fight ghosts, save everyone, try to fit in, don’t let Mum and Dad find out what you are. Fight ghosts, save everyone, try to fit in, don’t let Mum and Dad find out what you are. Fight ghosts, save everyone, try toー

The mere chance to leave his worries behind, even for just a second, made the prospect of losing his one chance at his dream seem worth it.

Although...he did get the chance to be an astronaut during freshman year. But that was a story for another day. 

Now, at twenty-one and with even more things to worry about, flying was still the one place he could find solace in. Tucker often told him that’d change the day he found himself a girlfriend, but let’s be real; who’d want to date someone like him?

Unlike high school, however, his problem wasn’t his look or his personality. The not-so-subtle glancesーwhich were almost predatory, might he addーand shameless gossiping and squealing he got from the girls around campus confirmed he’d grown from ‘Scrawny, Awkward Fenturd’, to ‘Tall, Dark, and Handsome Fenstud.’ 

The moniker stroked his ego, he wasn’t going to deny it. But the problem wasn’t his popularity with the opposite sex. The problem was how the opposite sex would react if they knew his secret. 

Okay, maybe that was the wrong way to phrase that sentence. If the excited shrieking and squealing his alter ego received from the members of his fan club were anything to go by, any of those girls would faint in elation if they ever got the chance to date Danny Phantom. The polls from gossip magazines dedicated to discussing how hot the Ghost Boy was ーwhen were they gonna change that nickname to ‘Ghost Man’, anyway? When he was 40?!ー didn’t lie. 

The real problem would come when his girlfriend got involved in his double life. And even if he wouldn’t want her to be involved, let alone fight ghosts alongside him like Tucker and Jazz did, deep down he knew it was inevitable. The moment his enemies found out he had a new girlfriend, they would use her to get to him. After all, what better way to defeat someone than to exploit his weakness? If Technus, of all people, could come up with that plan, anybody else could.

As he surveyed Amity Park from above, lost in his thoughts, Danny suddenly registered a source of heat coming from his right. Quickly swirling in the opposite direction to avoid the incoming projectile, a pink beam of ecto-energy, he quickly scanned his surroundings to identify his opponent. And judging by the way his Ghost Sense hadn't gone off, that could only be one person.

“Valerie.”

“It’s Red Huntress for you, spook!” A snarl, accompanied by another pink blast, came from above him. After blocking the attack with an ecto-shield, he looked up. Lo and behold, Valerie was hovering over him on her forked, black and red hoverboard, an ecto-gun protruding from her forearm and aimed directly at him.

Valerie Gray, also known as The Red Huntress. Amity Park’s most competent ghost hunter, after him. Who also happened to be his sorta-kinda-maybe-it’s-complicated ex-girlfriend. Or his S.K.M.I.C.E.G.F. for short.

Somehow, that acronym never had a good reception.

His story with Valerie was...an interesting one, to say the least. Their relationship was full of ups and downs, with the downs eventually becoming an integral and exclusive part of their interactions as Danny Phantom and The Red Huntress. 

They started out as complete strangers. Well, not exactly. They both knew of each other back in the beginning to freshman year of high school, but they didn’t know each other. Valerie started out as another A-lister; haughty, self-centred, she made no effort to hide her disdain for those ‘bellow her.’ Of course, Danny, being Danny Fenton, one of the biggest losers in Casper High, was particularly low in her long list of those ‘bellow her.’

But that all changed thanks to a little ghost puppy he called Cujo. 

Cujo was the ghost of a guard dog trained by Axion Labs, where Damon Gray, Valerie’s father, worked. They got rid of the dogs after upgrading the security system, with the misfortune of preparing the labs for any possible kind of assault, except for a ghost puppy with the ability to turn into a bigger, more menacing dog looking for his lost chew toy. 

Needless to say, things could’ve gone better. If only because his accidental meddling had been indirectly responsible for Mr. Gray losing his job, the Grays losing their fortune and their house, Valerie falling from grace and losing her popularity, and her developing a huge grudge against all ghosts, especially him, that lasted well into present time.

If there were job applications for fucking people over that weren’t exclusively related to sex work, he’d be a pro. 

As expected when someone dedicated their lives to hunting you, regardless of your attempts to befriend them or explain the situation, the two didn’t quite get along at first. Between Valerie’s newfound purpose to waste him and the fact that she never really acknowledged she’d been as terrible to him and Tucker as the A-listers were now with her, the two often butted heads even at school. 

Their opinions of each other didn’t change until Skulker forced them to work together to survive his island and his attempts at hunting them both, when they actually had a heart-to-heart. Their civilian selves being simultaneously paired up for a Health class project also helped. 

But what really changed things was the very same events that turned Danny Phantom into the Ghost King. 

During Pariah Dark’s return, Danny Fenton and Valerie Gray really connected, and Danny learned to appreciate her in a whole new light. She was amazing while she fought Dark and the Fright Knight; the months she’d had to hone her abilities really shone through. Her attacks were intuitive, yet calculated. Her moves, nimble but they packed quite the punch. She was confident, and yet cautious enough to not get cocky. 

As odd as it sounded, seeing her fight was incredibly hot. 

...alright, so maybe he did have a thing for girls who could kick his ass. He blamed his dad for that one. 

That day, something sparked between them...but only between Danny Fenton and Valerie; she still hated the Ghost Boy with every fiber of her being. She was positively furious when she found out he’d been chosen as the next ruler of the Ghost Zone. 

Danny had to admit, anybody else with half a brain cell would have understood that crushing on a girl hellbent on destroying a part of him maybe wasn’t the best idea ever. Tucker and Jazz certainly thought so. But he was fourteen, hormones were high, and Valerie was the coolest girl he’d ever met so far, so…

Common sense be damned. 

And so, they tried going out for some time. During those few dates the two went together he was over the moon, walking on air, he couldn’t believe his luck! He’d finally found a girl who liked him for him. Someone real and approachable, unlike his previous crushes on popular girlsーironically enough since Valerie herself used to be an unapproachable popular girl.

The universe itself seemed to want them to be together!

Not only did they dates suddenly get better thanks to some weird coincidenceーa blackout turning a dinner in a greasy diner into a romantic candle-lit evening, winning carnival tickets at the baseball game, the ferris wheel stopping at the most romantic point possibleーbut they seemed to be enough to get the idea inside Valerie’s head that maybe their relationship was worth giving up ghosthunting for. 

Until Tucker, Jazz, and, surprisingly enough, Technus burst his little bubble. Turned out, Technus, who still didn’t respect him as his new ruler, seeing Valerie as a potential weakness, manipulated their relationship to keep him busy while he worked on his latest scheme. 

The self-called ‘Master of Technology’ was also responsible for Valerie’s hatred of ghosts being renewed, for the destruction of her original suit followed by an upgrade to her current armor, and for Danny’s one-time experience in space (a happy coincidence). 

Oh, and had he mentioned Technus’ meddling also led to Valerie breaking up with him before he could even ask her to go steady (hence the S.K.M.I.C.E.G.F. situation), giving him the most cliché excuse in the superheroing book, because she hated his ghost half more than she liked his human half?

Because it totally did.

Looking back, with Valerie’s icy glare set on him and a very menacing looking ecto-gun aimed straight at his forehead, maybe dating a ghost hunter set on killing him wasn’t his best idea. Fucking hormones…

“Look, Valerie, can we wrap this up? I’m really not in the mood.”

“Oh, we’ll wrap it up alright, Phantom,” she sneered, “with your ass in a body bag!” She shot at him again with the weapon protruding from her forearm. Seeing as the ghost only ducked the ecto-rays with relative difficulty, she changed tactics. Quickly typing down a command on her control panel, from between her fingers materialised three razor-sharp pink discs. 

The moment her attention was focused elsewhere, Danny took the chance and flew off at top speed. Noticing his attempt to escape from the corner of her eye, refusing to let him get away, the Red Huntress stepped on the hidden button of her board’s body. With a whirring sound, the engines roared to life, allowing her to fly after him. 

Once the Ghost Boy was within reaching distance and too busy trying to get away from her, with a swift motion of her arm, Valerie hurled the pink discs at him. At the sound of air being sliced, Danny turned his head just enough to notice the pink projectiles coming towards him from the corner of his eye. Maneuvering through the sky, he managed to dodge the first two, but as he ducked away from the second disc, the third came close enough to slice his upper arm. 

Wincing in pain, not once stopping his flight, he cradled his arm to inspect the wound. Despite the oozing ectoplasm coming out of it, it was just a superficial cut. He’d live. As he registered the sudden heat approaching his back, Danny understood the only way to get rid of Valerie was fighting her. 

As much as he hated fighting a friend, it was pointless to resist when said friend was trying to shoot holes into his body. And if he made the mistake of letting her get too close, he’d get caught in between her board’s forked ends, giving his chaser the perfect chance to activate the stinger and electrocute him. 

“Hate to break it to you, Valerie. But I’m already dead, so body bags are pretty pointless!” Charging up his ecto-ray, hands glowing green, Danny shot in her direction, holding back just enough so Val would be forced to swirl around the sky to avoid getting hit. It was his signature move when facing off against Valerie: distract her with the need for an evasive maneuver in order to gain enough time to escape himself. 

Just as he predicted, when the green rays of energy got closer to her, the Red Huntress willed her board to keep moving to the opposite direction of the blasts. What he hadn’t predicted, though, was that she’d change tactics and face the blasts head-on. The impact caused a plume of smoke to rise up in the air, hiding the girl from view.

Before he could fuss over her safety, however, Valerie rose up above him. Hunched down on her board before elegantly moving to stand tall, a smug grin on her face, she was surrounded by a bluish ghost shield coming from her preferred method of transport. He always forgot she could do that. “That’s too bad.” She said in a fake, sugary voice. “Guess I’ll just have to resign myself to seeing you fade.” 

In an instant, she willed three metallic cubes to manifest around her head and shoulders. As the devices charged up, the Red Huntress gave chase to him once more. 

Reacting almost a split-second too late, Danny resumed his own attempts of leaving her behind. Whenever an energy beam got too close for comfort, he either put all his years of flying to good use and miraculously managed to avoid getting hit, or he’d focus his energy on forming ecto-shields of different sizesーdepending on her ecto-rays' own intensity. The untrained observer would point out he could just turn intangible and the beams would harmlessly pass through him, but that was too simple. And fighting Val was never simple. 

Even when she’d first got her gearーand by that he meant her old, non-Technus-upgraded gearーthe Red Huntress’ various weapons were all capable of hitting him even when he went intangible. Therefore, lowering his guard like that around her was like a clear invitation to get his ass whooped. 

Getting frustrated, with Val still hot in his ghost-tail, he bellowed, “Would you just quit it?! I still got a mark from the last time we fought!”

Smirking darkly, Valerie forewent her cubic guns for her trusty ecto-grenade. “Then I know where to hit next.” She declared before throwing the dangerous device at him, hitting him square on his left shoulder.

As a burning pain suddenly spread through his left shoulder to the tip of his fingertips, not all was lost, for the resulting explosion had sent him flying across the sky to the asphalt, effectively putting some much needed distance from him and his pursuer. 

Hands propped on the street and barely supporting his weight, Danny laboriously lifted his head up. All around him, people were either running away in fright of the impending battle or crowding the street as they pointed at him, whispering amongst themselves. 

Lifting himself up to a sitting position, the halfa gently nursed his aching shoulder, wincing in pain whenever his fingertips touched the sensitive skin. Although whatever damage Valerie had managed to inflict upon him would soon be gone thanks to his enhanced healing factor, he knew he didn’t have the luxury to wait that long. Knowing the ghost hunter, she’d be around, looking for him. And the moment she found him, she’d waste no time resuming their confrontation.

The Red Huntress would never stop until the source of all her misery was finally banished to the Ghost Zone, or disposed off permanently. 

Grunting in pain, Danny willed the cold of his core to spread throughout his body until it reached his hands. The moment his hand blazed a familiar, chilly blue he began caressing his suffering shoulder, the cold emanating from his fingertips a welcomed painkiller. 

“Is there anything more unfair than being pummeled to a pulp when you’re actually holding back from hurting the other person?” He grunted, but his musings were cut short by another ecto-beam barely missing his head, a whiff of smoke coming from the asphalt that’d cushioned the hit. 

His heart suddenly in his throat, the halfa gingerly looked up, only to find Valerie a few feet away from him, a smoking, double-cannoned ecto-bazooka resting on her shoulder, which only elicited the whispers around them to grow louder, more frantic. “Gotcha.” She said, her glare colder than his ice powers. 

Adrenaline kicking his brain in overdrive, Danny frantically looked around, trying to find a way to escape that didn’t involve hurting Valerie or any of the onlookers. Argh, if only he could just turn intangible! As he futilely tried crawling away, his gloved hands moving against the asphalt floor below him, the sensation sparked an idea. Maybe turning intangible was useless against the Red Huntress’ weapons, but phasing wasn’t.

The only thing he needed was a distraction, and the whirring sound coming from the charging ecto-bazooka gave him an idea. It was reckless, but that seemed to be his thing lately, wasn’t it?

“Say goodbye, Phantom!” Valerie spat just as the weapon perched on her shoulder was done charging up, shooting a powerful blast his way. 

Using the hand that was previously healing his wounds, Danny shot his own ecto-ray at the incoming projectile, causing his adversary to gasp in surprise. “Goodbye, Red!”

As the two forces came into contact with each other, under the stunned gazes of everyone present, they exploded into a blinding light that forced everyone, Valerie included, to shield their eyes. Wasting no time, Danny turned intangible, phasing through the floor and into the Amity Park sewer system. Once underground, he let his transformation drop, knowing Val’s Ghost Radar would find him otherwise, before making his way around the sewers in search of the nearest exit, his body leaning against the wall for support. 

After what felt like an eternity, Valerie finally got her forearm out of her face. What was the point in having a dark-tinted visor if she could still be blinded? Once she’d regained the totality of her sight, that is to say, she no longer saw dark spots dancing around her vision, she quickly redirected her gaze to where Phantom stood. 

Nothing.

Gasping, Valerie looked up to the sky. As her eyes scanned around for a black and white, flying figure, or even anything amiss in case the Ghost Boy had turned invisible, she soon realised the green-eyed spook was truly nowhere to be seen. Despite her growing frustration at losing her target, the Red Huntress quickly typed a command on her suit, hoping her Ghost Radar could still detect him. No such luck. 

Growling in frustration with murder in her eyes, she jumped mid-air, summoning her hoverboard to appear right bellow her. Roaring the engines to life, she took off in direction to Elmerton, her home for the last seven years. 

As she soared the skies, Valerie kept looking back and forth between her radar and her surroundings, looking for Phantom. “I was so close, damn it! Every time I think I finally have that ectoplasmic punk right where I want him, he up and disappears!” With a furious yell to the sky, she leaned on her board, using her feet to increase its speed.

Her gear had to be the only good thing that came out of her first encounter with that ghostly bastard. Even if she’d lost everything and her dad was constantly working long hours to keep her in collegeーher wonderful, incredible, genius dad, who deserved much more than just being a crammy security night guardー, at least what happened at Axion Labs all those years ago had given her two things: the gear necessary to become Amity Park’s most powerful ghost hunter, and the purpose to eliminate all bodiless apparitions from the face of the Earth. 

Starting by Danny Phantom. 

Valerie could only scoff at some people’s stupidity. Although most citizens had half the brains necessary to figure out Danny Phantom was a threat, there were still some who revered him as some kind of hero.

Oh, it was true. He saved the town from falling into that Ghost King’s claws, but didn’t anybody remember what happened afterwards? Because she did. Not even a week after ‘saving’ everyone from a fate worse than deathーand causing her some injuries and for her dad to both find out about her ghost-hunting escapades and forbid her from ever touching her equipment again, to add insult to injuryー, he ascended as the next Ghost King. 

And people still celebrated him? Were they blind?!

It was clear that Phantom only ever fought the Ghost King, not to protect Amity Park, or whatever nonsense he kept trying to feed the public, but to dethrone him himself! He wanted that psycho’s position for himself, so he could keep terrorising the town with even less opposition than before! 

“Hero my ass…” Valerie scoffed in disbelieving disgust. 

But, apparently, only Valerie and the Fentons had any common sense on the matter. “Wow. Never thought I’d have anything in common with the Fentons…” she mused aloud. As much as she’d liked Danny when they were fourteen, his family was a whole different thing.

When she finally made out her apartment complex in the distance, the armored girl couldn’t help but carefully glide near their living room window, where she could see her father sleeping soundly on the couch after a long nightーtoo tired to even go to bed. 

Carefully resting her gloved hand against the window glass, worriedly looking at the man who’d been her only source of comfort for as long as she could remember, her heart broke. “Don’t worry, Dad. I promise, one day Phantom’ll be mine. And then we’ll finally cash in that reward and leave this shit hole once and for all.” 

With renewed determination, she went around her floor until she was right beside her own room. Due to her always leaving her bedroom window open, all she had to do was squeeze herself inside. Now standing in her room, she deactivated her suit, which disappeared in a swirl of electricity. Walking over her mirror, Valerie picked up a quasi-new set of clothes that were lying on her chair. “But first, let’s pay that college tuition. It won’t look good if I’m late on my first day.”

............

Phasing through the walls, Danny stumbled into his sister’s room. He would’ve fallen face-first on the floor hadn’t it been for his hands instinctively stopping the fall. 

Her head snapping to the distinctive sound of a ‘thud’, Jazz immediately swirled around on her computer chair. “A little help?” Danny grunted tiredly. 

Gasping at the state her little brother was in, the redhead all but threw herself at him in order to inspect any possible wounds, only to recoil in disgust when she caught a sniff of him, pinching her nose. “Ew! What happened to you to smell that horridly?! What did you do, die for real?”

“I phased through the floor and into the sewers.” The black-haired boy dryly corrected, not appreciating his sister’s skewed priorities. “Now, if you would be so kind as to help me out...”

Jazz at least had the decency to blush. Offering a hand to her brother, she helped him stand up before guiding him to her bed. Then she lowered him on top of it and resumed her previous inspection of him. She jumped back in surprise at Danny’s sudden, sharp inhale of breath when she accidentally grazed his left shoulder. 

In an instant, she was basically in his face, fussing over him. “Danny? Are you okay? Is there anything wrong with your shoulder?”

“Everything’s fiー”, he stopped short when he registered her worried look. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I saw Valerie today.”

“Oh, no.” The eldest Fenton kid lamented, knowing where the conversation was headed.

“Yeah...I tried losing her, but in the meantime she landed a few mean punches on me...figuratively speaking, of course.”

“So I’m guessing your shoulder cushioned a nasty one?”

He nodded, barely turning his head to look at her. “Ecto-grenade.” He said simply, and Jazz cringed in sympathy. “Yeah. I numbed the pain a little by applying some cold with my powers, but a few real painkillers might do me some good until it’s properly healed.”

“Sure.” With a nod, Jazz got up from the bed and crossed over to the other side of the room, where her closet was located. Opening the door and standing on her tiptoes to reach the higher shelf, she grabbed her hidden first aid kit before setting it down on her desk. “Any other injuries I should know about?” She asked as she rummaged through her supplies, taking a small plastic jar with Ibuprofen from it. 

“Just a superficial cut on my arm. It’s almost completely healed now, but putting a band-aid on it just in case wouldn’t hurt.” 

Flopping herself down next to her baby brother again, medical supplies in hand, Jazz helped Danny out of his t-shirt. When she saw the burns on his shoulder, though, she couldn’t help but wince. “Are you sure you don’t want me to put some bandages on it, Danny? It looks pretty bad…”

The halfa sighed. He knew his sister would fuss over his health; she always did. “It’ll heal, Jazz. It always does.” Then he caught her expression from the corner of his eye. “...but if it’ll make you feel better, I suppose a few bandages just in case don’t so bad.”

Nodding readily, the aqua-eyed woman went to quickly retrieve some of the aforementioned bandages from her kit. Then she proceeded to wrap them around her brother’s left shoulder and pectorals. When Danny sent her a questioning look, she just shrugged and said, “Just in case.”

With his shoulder taken care of, Danny, almost begrudgingly, stretched his arm out to her, letting her inspect his cut. Even though he was right and it was just a flesh wound, it was still important to clean it. Pouring some disinfectant on a bunch of cotton balls, with the help of tweezers she gently dubbed the cotton against his skin, prompting Danny to wince in displeasure. 

She rolled her eyes at his childishness, annoyed. “Oh, come on! You literally just faced a ghost huntress, walked around the sewers for who knows how long, and this is something to complain about? Don’t be such a baby!”

“Hey, you have no right to complain about me complaining! You’re not the one who’s routinely going through some kind of medical procedure.” And he’d never want her to go through one; not even a simple check up. 

“Whatever,” she said as she put the band-aid on. She dusted her hands off before smiling proudly at him. “All done. Now, go get some rest before it’s time to go and you have to shower.”

Danny pouted. “Do we still have to go? Jazz, I’m injured…” He tried to bargain with his best sad, puppy-dog look. 

Jazz wasn’t buying, though. “Should’ve thought about that before you assured me your wounds would heal soon. Come on, Danny, you know I’ve been dying to try this place out and you promised to take me.”

“Can’t you take Tucker with you while I rest, instead?”

“No, because,” she lifted three fingers up, ready to count her options off, “one, he’s not my brother, and I’d like to go with my brother. Two, if you turn your head to my nightstand ever so slightly, you’ll see it’s only 12:30 PM on a Saturday; we’re leaving at sevenーyou’ll have plenty of time to rest. And three...can you really imagine Tucker stepping foot in that sort of place even if I bribed him with $1000?”

Danny visibly deflated at that. “No…”

“Then it’s settled.” Jazz declared. “Go to your room and rest. I’ll tell Mum and Dad you came while they were working on the lab and that you’re tired from an all-nighter of working on an assignment.”

“You’d think they’d be surprised I’m not getting straight A’s with all the times we’ve used the studying excuse on them…” Danny muttered as he left his sister's room. 

Standing against the door, Jazz shrugged. “Mum thinks spending so many nights awake studying is actually counter-productive, so…”

Danny chuckled before standing in front of his room’s door. Before going in, however, he called out to her. “Uh, Jazz?”

“Hm?” 

“You’re the best.” He smiled at her. 

She smiled back. “Anytime, Baby Brother.”

..............

A deafening roar echoed throughout the manor. Her heart pounding, Sam ran as fast as she could along the corridors, barely registering where she was going. She took so many turns around the halls she lost count, all portraits and decorations merging together so it’d look like she was running through the same, never ending hallway. But she didn’t care. All that mattered was getting to the origin of the noise. 

When she finally arrived before the gates guarding the bloodcurdling sounds, she skidded to a halt so abruptly she almost gave herself whiplash. Now that she was closer to the source, Sam could also make out the sound of screaming coming from inside the room. And when she noticed just where the roaring and screaming was coming from, her heart all but stopped.

The training room. 

The place where the younger members of the clan practiced and perfected their magic. Whatever happened there now had a group of kids trapped! 

She had to do something!

But, being the queen and therefore not being able to afford anything happening to her in fear of unleashing a civil war, she’d promised she’d wait for Wilhelmina to arrive, or at the very least, for Paulina and Star to support her. 

Anxiously, her eyes kept darting back and forth in all directions, hoping against hope that someone, anyone, would soon come to help. They couldn’t risk their kids’ lives like that. Suddenly, the roars and screams only got louder, accompanied by the sounds of thrashing and the crunching of wood being broken. 

Whatever it was that was going on, it was mayhem!

The minutes felt like hours and there was still no sight of her Minister of War or her handmaidens. Fear gripping at her heart, terrified for the sake of the students trapped behind those doors, Sam threw all caution to the wind. Willing her mind to clear so she could establish a proper connection with her anima, the Witch Queen cupped her hands together in front of her chest, taking advantage of the extra dose of adrenaline to fuel her essence. As soon as she felt the familiar pull of power, she opened her now blazing, violet eyes and shouted, “Aries!”

From her open palms a host of purple light began to take form. In the blink of an eye, the spell solidified, shooting forwards to the gates and effectively crushing them by sheer force. As the dust resulting from the impact cleared, allowing Sam to finally see what was going on, all she could do was gasp. 

Standing tall and imposing in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of terrified students who were hiding from it in the furthest corner of the classroom behind a row of desks, a gigantic iguana, the size of that dragon ghost that sometimes haunted the town, roared as it shoved tables out of its wayーtheir now spilled contents cluttered the floor. 

When the giant reptile’s eye landed on her, obviously taking notice of the explosion of light, Sam felt her blood run cold. And yet, in spite of the danger, she preferred having the beast targeting her than causing harm to the girls. As the creature threateningly stomped in the direction she was in, the young queen formulated a plan. 

If she could just keep the iguana distracted long enough until Wilhelmina came, she could win enough time to allow the kids to escape. But she’d have to tell them her plan as well. 

“And I know how.” She mused aloud with a smirk on her face. She was just glad she was currently wearing pants instead of an extravagant dress. 

As she waited for the reptile to get closer to her, biding her time, Sam intertwined her fingers save for her indexes and thumbs, which were in contact with each other. Then, just as the iguana’s claw was about to strike, she mimicked the action of a gun shooting with her arms. “Ignis!” She cried out. 

From her fingertips she kept shooting energy beams at the monster as she ran in the direction the girls were in. When one of her beams hit the iguana in the eye, causing it to cry out in pain and, most importantly, to be distracted, Sam quickly slid down to behind the remaining desksーwhere the girls were. 

“Girls, are you okay?!” She whispered-shouted as soon as she caught sight of them. They were a small group, six girls around the ages of 10-12. 

One of them, a brunette with green eyesーViolet, if Sam wasn’t wrongー, spoke up on behalf of her friends. “Your Majesty! Oh, thank Goodness...Yeah, we’re fine. As soon as that thing appeared we ran and hid here.”

The violet-eyed witch sighed in relief. “Thank God. Alright, Violet, right?” The girl nodded, the smile on her face was so wide due to the Queen remembering her name, one would almost forget they were all in danger.  “Right. I need you to tell me how this happened. And why are you guys all alone, shouldn’t an adult be with you at all times?”

Lola, a shy girl with black hair and glasses, and a distant relative of Paulina, answered instead. “Uh, well, we-we weren’t alone, your Highness.”

She’d have to tell them some other time that title was for princes and princesses, not queens. But first, saving their lives. “What do you mean, Lola? Who was with you?”

“Wilhelmina.”

“Wilhelmina?!” she repeated, a little too loudly. Wincing at the realisation, she hushed the girls in case the iguana had heard them. Whimpering in fright, the kids got closer to her, and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around them. After a few minutes and no response from the monster, Sam let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Okay. Girls, can you explain to me why Wilhelmina isn’t here? It’s not like her to leave students unsupervised.”

“Class was ending, anyway.” Violet explained. “She said she had something to do and that she trusted us to clean everything up before we left.”

Sam did not like where this was going. “And the giant iguana?”

“We don’t know.” Lola said, then she pointed at one of her friends, a blonde named Tamara. “We were talking about the familiars we’d like to have when we completed our Rite of Passage while we were finishing brewing today’s potion when Tammy said she’d wish to have an iguana. And, boom!”

“Is that true, Tammy?” Sam questioned the girl. 

Tammy nodded, tearing up. “Y-yes…I-I said...I-I’d like...a-an iguana and...and then...the p-potion...started b-boiling...and o-out of n-nowhere...that...that monster appeared!” She admitted between cries. 

Panicking, both because of the little girl crying and the potential danger of being discovered, Sam scooted closer to her, wiping her tears away with her hands. “Shh, shh! It’s okay, Tammy. It’s not your faultーthese things happen!”

“R-really?”

The queen nodded, smiling reassuringly at her. “Really. This sort of thing happens all the time. You’ll learn what it is soon enough.”

“So I’m not in trouble?”

“No, you’re not.” 

Before Sam could so much as blink, the girl threw her arms at her, hugging her. The raven-haired witch stiffened at the contact, not used to dealing with physical affection...or kids. After a minute, though, she relaxed and returned the embrace. Tammy needed comfort at the moment. 

“What do we do now, your Majesty?” Violet asked, bringing her queen back to Earth. 

“Is that thing going to eat us?” Lola insisted, looking positively spooked. 

“No, no. None of that!” Sam assured them, letting go of Tammy. “Because I have a plan.” She motioned with her hands for the girls to get closer to her before continuing. “First of all, don’t worry. Iguanas are herbivores; they don’t eat meat, let alone humans! So listen closely, any minute now Wilhelmina, my ladies-in-waiting, and whoever else they’d called for help will appear through that door. I’ll share my plan with them and while we keep the iguana busy, you’ll run away from here. Understood?”

The group nodded readily. “Good.”

“Your Majesty, where are you?!” A familiar voice called out to her. 

Crawling quietly, Sam dedicated one last look at the younger witches. “Remember, don’t move until I tell you to go, got it?”

“Got it.” The six of them said in unison. 

With a nod of her own, Sam crawled out of her hiding place before standing up and breaking into a full run to the direction the voice came fromーapparently, it was Susan who’d called out to her, accompanying her mentor. The latter, as well as Star and Paulina, were blocking the reptile’s exit. 

“Ignis!” repeating her actions from earlier, she shot another energy beam at the beast, before standing beside her subjects. 

“What is that thing!?” Paulina asked, looking completely revolted. 

“It’s the result of a spell gone awry.” The Witch Queen answered. “A girl got distracted while brewing a potion and this is the result.”

“What kind of distraction?” Star raised an eyebrow. 

“What do you think?” Sam replied as if that was all the answer she needed. 

Apparently, it was, because nobody else said a word until Wilhelmina’s hoarse voice broke the silence. “Your Majesty! What are you doing here!? You’re supposed to wait for help to come!”

The Goth couldn’t be bothered to pretend she cared about the protocol right now, especially not after discovering her fellow Council member had left a group of witches in-training completely unsupervised. “Not now, Wilhelmina! The kids are still here; we’ve gotta help them escape!”

“And how are we going to do that?” Star let out, trying to hold down the barrier of fiery, orange energy she’d created to prevent the beast from leaving the training room. 

“I have a plan.” Sam turned her attention to the potion-maker in-training. “Susan! Do you have one of your Minisize Me potions on you?”

The Asian teenager reached for her bandolier and grabbed a spherical jar in her hand. “Always, your Majesty!”

“Good! While Star holds the barrier down, Wilhelmina, Paulina, and I will try to restrain our little friend long enough for the girls to escape. As soon as the last girl has left the room, you have to throw the potion at the monster. It’s the only way to take care of it!” She then turned to her lady-in-waiting. “Star, the moment this thing’s all tied up, you let your barrier go so the girls can leave, got it?”

“Yes, my Queen!” Both girls exclaimed in unison, readying themselves. 

“Very well. Wilhelmina, Paulina,” she called out to them, “you take care of binding the reptile with me. Wilhelmina, since you’ve got the potions, you take care of its hind legs and tail; Paulina, you tie its left paw down. Ready?” Getting twin nods from her fellow witches, they all charged against the monster. 

As Sam and Paulina projected their respective animas in the form of a lasso with a scream of “Conjunctionis ligaveris!”, Wilhelmina used her own essence to propel herself above the beast, landing nimbly behind it. While the young queen and the Latina struggled to keep the reptile in place, their purple and soft pink animas tied tightly around its front paws, the potion-maker rummaged through her trusty bag, looking for her BubbleBomb potion. At the same time as she tried to dodge the animal’s large tail. 

Maybe Susan was right and she did need to organise her collection in a pair of twin bandoliers, just like her apprentice. 

Just as she was beginning to get frustrated, her finger brushed against a sticky substance. A familiar, sticky substance. Crying out in triumph, she got the jar with the sticky, pink slime from inside of her bag, just in time to be lifted up in the air by the force behind the collision of the iguana’s tail hitting the ground. Using her momentum, Wilhelmina smashed the bottle against the floor, which then exploded in a bubble of pink slime, effectively restraining the giant reptile’s movements.

“Girls, now!” Sam cried out, struggling to keep her focus long enough to keep the iguana down for much longer. 

The kids didn’t need to be told twice. As soon as their queen gave the order, they got out from their hiding spot and ran towards the door, where Star was waiting for them. Upon seeing them, she lowered her barrier, exhaling in between pants due to the physical exertion, thus allowing the group of kids to leave the room safe and sound. 

Smiling at their retrieving forms, Star cupped a hand around her mouth to call out to the, now, youngest witch in the room. “Susan, it’s all up to you now!”

Determined to not let her queen and mentor down, Susan ran towards the closest wall before leaping in the air feet-first towards it. The moment her feet came into contact with its surface, the teenager propelled herself to rise high above the ginormous beast. As soon as she was within optimal range, she hurled the spherical jar at it, which broke against the iguana’s hard-as-steel scales. In an instant, a cloud of turquoise, twinkling smoke enveloped the beast. 

Coughing and clearing the air around her with a wave of her hand, Sam dared look up to the direction the large creature once stood at. To her immense relief, she saw nothing. So willing her magic to deactivate, she walked over to where the, now, normal-sized iguana was. 

Smiling, she picked the lizard up. “You gave us quite the scare, right, little guy?”

“What do you intend to do with it, your Majesty?” Susan asked as soon as she nimbly landed on her feet the same way a professional gymnast would. 

“Why don’t you keep it? I believe you’ve mentioned Duke Scalynton needed a friend a few times now.” She suggested as she handed the iguana to the potion-maker in-training.

Looking down at the iguana in her hands, she turned to her mentor. “Would that be alright, Ms. Redring?”

“Perfectly so, Susan. Don’t worry.” Wilhelmina assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You did well today.”

Susan smiled brightly at that. Sam, on the contrary, could only frown at her. “Wilhelmina, the kids told me you were supposed to be looking after them, but you left them to clean everything by themselves before classes were officially over.”

The Minister of War remained impassive. “My apologies, your Majesty. I had other matters to attend to that required my immediate attention, and since today’s potion was rather simple, I supposed they’d be fine on their own for a few minutes.”

“So because you had better things to do you completely ignored one of our most important rules and risked the lives of six little girls in the process?” Sam seethed, arms crossed, her eyes blazing a dangerous, dark violet for a second. 

Wilhelmina narrowed her own eyes on her. “Careful, your Majesty. I don’t believe you’re in any position to say anything. Seeing as how often you completely disregard protocol; or have you already forgotten that you should have waited for back up before facing off against the threat yourself, hm?”

Sam balled her hands into fists at her sides, knowing, and hating, that she had her there. Turning around to leave the room, she spat. “Just, don’t let it happen again.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it, my Queen.” The brunette let out, almost sinisterly. 

Susan was petting her new pet when she noticed a shadow casted over her. Looking up, she almost gasped. “You did well today, girl. Just, do me a favour and keep that thing away from me.” Paulina told her with a smile, keeping a respectable distance between herself and the iguana in the teenager’s arms. 

Susan’s mind, other times sharp and focused, was suddenly completely blank. Mouth hanging open and eyes blinking at random intervals, she was sure she was gaping at the beautiful woman before her. “Uh...I...I mean…,” she stammered, “y-you look good, too! I-I mean! You did good, too. Obviously. Ah! Not like you don’t look good, too! You always look good! Just...you know, yeah…” She finished lamely. 

Oh, why couldn’t the iguana have eaten her before she spouted all that nonsense?!

“Okay…” The Latina drawled. “Well, I gotta go. See ya.”

“Yeah, see ya…” The teenage girl sighed dreamily, before realising what she was doing and facepalming herself. 

Now that they were outside of the training room and accompanying Sam to her quarters, for they had to help her get ready, Paulina eyed her best friend’s knowing grin in distaste. “What?” She snapped. 

“Somebody’s got a crush on you!” The blonde teased in a sing-song voice, the shit-eating grin never leaving her face. 

But the Latina just huffed. “Please! And who doesn’t? I’ve had my fair share of admirers since we were in ninth grade, Star. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

“That may be true,” Star conceded, “but I think this is the first time a younger girl’s crushing on you and you’re actually nice to her. The Pauli from back in Senior year would’ve crushed her dreams in a heartbeat.” She commented offhandedly, ignoring the look of pure horror flashing through their Queen’s face. 

The blue-eyed beauty just rolled her eyes. Since she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end, she often forgot how ruthless her best friend could be when she was met with some quality gossip. “I’m not eighteen anymore, Star! And Susan’s a good kid, of course I’m not going to be a bitch to her.”

“So you like her back?” The blonde asked, now feeling apprehensive. 

“Are you crazy?!” Paulina snapped at her, turning her face in her direction so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “First of all, she’s seventeen! I might like to party, but I’d never date a minor.” She sniffed in displeasure. Seriously, what was this girl thinking?! 

Her fellow handmaiden sighed in relief. “Thank Goodness, I was actually worried for a second. Just...try letting her down gently, okay?” 

“Who do you take me for? Besides, even if she were our age, which, again, she’s not, I just don’t swing that way.”

Star let out a hollow laugh. “Don’t try selling me the ‘I don’t swing that way excuse’, I’ve seen you throw your principles out of the window for the sake of screwing people over. And about letting her down gently, admit it Pauli, you can be a bit of a bitch.”

Sam, not daring to say a word, could only furrow her brow at what her subjects were saying. “What the Hell?”

Ignoring their queen’s silent judgement, Paulina gasped in surprise. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Rather than backing off given her friend’s reaction, Star only snorted. “Oh, come on. Don’t pretend you don’t remember that one time in ninth grade that you agreed to go to homecoming with a complete loser just so Dash could play a joke on him.” Then, she turned pensive. “Hm, now that I think about it, we never did pull the prank on him...I wonder why.” She muttered to herself. 

Paulina’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape at the reminder. “Oooooh, that’s right! Yes, I did totally do that. Such a shame the guy was a total loser; he at least had decent taste in jewelry.”

The two kept chattering away until they noticed their queen’s appalled expression, her jaw hanging low. Giggling sheepishly, Paulina tried to save some face, Star nodding with a forced smile beside her. “That was a long time ago. We’ve grown up, we promise.” 

Blinking slowly at them, Sam forced her mouth shut. Doing a dusting-her-hands-off motion, she symbolically separated herself from anything having to do with their high school lives. “Something tells me we wouldn’t have got along growing up.”

“Then isn’t it great we only met outside of high school?” Star offered. 

“I think I’d much rather you just talk to me either about things going on inside the manor, or whatever crazy shit you’re up to at college.” The violet-eyed witch insisted as she turned her doorknob to let them in. For that day’s appointment she wanted to spice things up a little, but she still wanted a simple look that matched with her usual self, hence why she needed the girls’ help. 

“Oh. My. God!” Paulina exclaimed, raising her palms up as she entered the room. “You will not believe the drama that’s stirring at APU right now!”

Star, who was already seated on one of Sam’s chairs, made a sound of appreciation. “Ooooh! Do tell.”

As Sam went over to her closet and began to randomly pick up different clothes to ask the girl’s opinion onーt-shirts, jeans, skirts, dresses even…ーPaulina went on with her retelling, she and Star sporadically putting a stop on their conversation to give their queen some feedback. “Remember Tiffany? That two-faced, bitchy classmate of mine who’s been totally jealous of me since, like, forever?”

“Tiffany is a rather stereotypically bitchy name.” Sam commented, her focus on two different t-shirts. “As in, high school queen bee, cheerleader captain kind of bitchy.”

“I was a high school queen bee, cheerleader captain, Sam.” Paulina deadpanned. 

“Oh!” Sam faulted, biting her lip in embarrassment as she wondered how she’d fix that one. “Well, your name is not stereotypically bitchy...Tiffany is. I mean, how many high school chick flick villains are dumb blondes called Brittany, or Tiffany, or Cassidy…?”

“She does have a point.” Star conceded, propping her elbow against the chair’s back. 

With her index and thumb cupping her chin, the Latina ‘hmmed’ in acknowledgement. “Fair enough. Anyway, Sandra told me that Luka told her that Eliza told him that Tiffany’s out to get me ‘cause she’s so jealous it’s ripping her apart.”

As her ladies-in-waiting turned down her latest outfit, Sam arched an eyebrow, not following the conversation. “But didn’t you just say she’s always been jealous of you? What’s new about that?”

“What’s new is that now she’s jealous of me because Brad Carmichael, her ex-boyfriend with whom she broke up because he was dating a girl from Elmerton University behind her backーnot like she’s been a model girlfriend herself, if you know what I meanー, is apparently into me. And she can’t stand it.”

“But are you into Brad?” Star questioned, while Sam was busier wondering how she even managed to keep track of what Paulina was talking about in the first place. She’d already forgotten the guy’s name was Brad, for fuck’s sake! Her best guess was that keeping up with the latest gossip was some sort of ‘popular girl’ superpower.

Paulina let herself flop down on Sam’s bed with a noncommittal sound coming from her throat. “I mean, Brad’s cute, but I’m sort of seeing Matthew at the moment you know?”

“Sort of seeing?” Sam echoed. 

“Yeah, he wants us to go steady but, like, I don’t know if I want to tie myself down to anyone right now, you know? I just don’t think I’m ready to be ‘Matthew’s girlfriend.’ But I know that if I tell him that, he’ll think I want to stop going out altogether, when I just don’t want to rush to label what we have. That’s all.”

“Why do you even have to become ‘Matthew’s girlfriend’? Why can’t he be ‘Paulina’s boyfriend’?” For a moment there, Sam worried the feminist inside her had ruined the conversation, if their silence was any indication, until Paulina, almost automatically, moved to a sitting position, looking like she’d just had a spiritual awakening.

“OMG, you’re so right! “ She exclaimed. “If Matthew can’t accept being labeled my boyfriend, then he’s not worthy of my time. Period. Thanks for the advice, Sam.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Sam said, feeling unsure. “Now, could you guys please help me get ready? ‘Cause I still don’t know what to wear…”

Both ladies-in-waiting exchanged a glance, before shrugging. Star was the one who voiced their opinion. “The clothes you have in your hands right now are fine. Just combine them with your usual look and you’ve got your casual, yet original, outfit.”

Looking down at the items in hand, Sam had to admit, they really seemed perfect. “Thanks, girls. You two are the best.”

“We know.” They said in unison.

............

The Verde Que te Quiero Verde was the latest rage in vegetarian restaurants. The establishment was owned by a couple of elderly Mexican immigrants who, per their grandson’s suggestion, had given the typical Tex-Mex food a vegan spin. 

All websites reviewing the place gave nothing but praise to the meals and service, and about half of the comments recommended asking for their nachos with guacamole and vegan cheese. Its prices were also known for being very reasonable. 

‘Lowly’ Mexican food turned vegan and exorbitant-prices free, the kind of place Pamela Manson would rather die than step foot in. 

Which was why Sam was so thankful that Saturday night it was just her dad and her, for her mother was busy background checking anyone who wanted to rent the manor for the upcoming Halloween. 

Her dad and her were already seated and looking over the menus, but she couldn’t help being distracted by her surroundings. Despite the more modern take, the Verde Que te Quiero Verde resembled the typical Mexican hacienda, with its white-chalk walls, the red tile roofs, its arches… The restaurant was even a two-story building whose second floor, which held even more tables, had balconies offering a nice view of the fountain in the middle of the room and tables surrounding it below. 

It was positively lovely. 

And yet...Sam couldn’t quite enjoy it as much as she’d like. 

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was definitely off with Wilhelmina. Leaving a group of inexperienced, little girls at their mercy while they performed magic? What was she thinking?! She had no idea how lucky she was, had anything happened to any of the girls and she would’ve been put to trial, leading to losing her position as Council member, at best, or to being expelled from the coven altogether, at worst. 

Subconsciously, Sam gripped her menu a little tighter. Wilhelmina was already around when she was a kid and Grandma Ida was still queen. Back then, she remembered, she gave off this strict and stern vibe, even more so than Margaret with her by-the-book nature. But ever since she ascended to the throne, her strictiness had turned into outright arrogance. 

Back when she was fourteen and had just volunteered herself as the next queen, Wilhelmina seemed the less willing to give in. She was the quickest to point out her age and inexperience, and Margaret and the, then, newly appointed Delilah miraculously managed to get their fellow member to give her a chance. If just barely. 

Even know, after seven years of devout sacrifice in the name of the Amity Park Clan, that frustrating pain in the butt still hadn’t let go of her reservations towards her; often making snide comments that casted doubts on her leadershipーlike the one from earlier…ー, or looking over her shoulder with an air of superiority. 

All that, Sam could, begrudgingly, put up with. But putting innocent kids in harm’s way and then having the gall to act all smug on her?! What if Phantom had been right? What if there really were witches up to no good right under her nose? What if…?

“Sammy?” Her dad’s voice cut through her thoughts like a knife cut through butter. 

“Huh?” She responded, oh, so eloquently. 

“Are you okay? I’ve been calling you for a while now and you haven’t answered until now. Also, it looks like you’ve tried to strangle your menu over some sort of terrible crime…” He pointed at the crumbled piece of paper in her hands to demonstrate his point. 

Looking down and noticing the mess she’d made of the poor aforementioned piece of paper, she set it down gently with a sheepish smile on her face, “I’m fine, Dad. Just...thinking.”

“About what?”

“Stuff.” At her dad’s questioning, raised eyebrow she elaborated. “Frustrating stuff.”

“Kiddo, please, enter a literary contest; you’re so eloquent and articulate.” Jeremy deadpanned, setting his own menu down and propping his chin on his intertwined hands.

Sam rolled her eyes, letting out a hollow laugh. “Hilarious, Dad. Aren’t you supposed to be the preppy and optimistic one of the two?”

“I am.” He agreed. “But I’m also a Manson and your Grandma’s son. So you could say snarking runs in the family.”

Parents looking as smug and self-satisfied as her dad did at that moment should be illegal. Crossing her arms with a scowl, Sam slouched on her seat. “Whatever.”

Jeremy just shook his head fondly at his daughter. “You’re lucky your mother isn’t here right now, young lady. Otherwise, she would scold you on your posture.”

The mere mention of her mother made her straighten up, reflexively. 

“But now seriously, kiddo. What’s the matter? You know you can talk to your old man about anything.” He offered her an encouraging smile. 

Unfortunately, his readiness to be there for her only made her heart sank. No, I can’t, she wanted to say, but instead opted for, “I’m...having trouble with a...with a classmate.” She lied, hating herself for it. “I was elected as team leader, but she’s never quite been able to accept it. Maybe she wanted the position herself, maybe she just doesn’t think I’m good for the job...I don’t know. All I know is that she makes no effort in hiding her displeasure.

“Which, okay. I can take it, I guess. I mean, one more person who doesn’t like me! Boy is that old news...But she’s made a mistake recently and she didn’t even apologise; she just rubbed my own mistakes in my face. And I...I don’t know what to do, Dad.”

Jeremy stayed quiet for a minute, just observing his daughter with a keen eye. Maybe saying he and Sam were close was a little far-fetched; Pamela and, surprisingly enough, his mother had always insisted on signing her up for a million extracurricular activities growing upーironic, when one took the fact that she’d also been homeschooled for most of her life into consideration. But he’d learned long ago to not question it, after all, their Sammy had turned out okay and very capable in the end. 

He had to admit, he didn’t always understand her, either. Like her interest in the occult, her love for loud, unsavory bands with questionable taste in names, or her insistence on being identified as a Goth since she was twelve. As a man used to making his wife happy with diamonds the size of strawberries, giving his daughter spiked collars for her birthday left him feeling a little queasy. But, hey, if it made her happy… As long as she didn’t join a cult he was golden.

But there were still moments when even Sam, his strong-willed, independent, confident baby girl, felt vulnerable against the cruel world she lived in. And it was in those moments when he had to take the lead and be the responsible authority figure in the relationship. Moments like now. 

Reaching across the table, he rested his hand atop of hers, directing her attention to him. “Sometimes people will try to make our lives difficult, but we mustn’t let that stop us from doing what we think it’s right. So your friend doesn’t think you’re doing a good job leading the team? Then let her think that! If it’s only one person who feels that way, then she’s probably just trying to mess with you.

“But if the other people in your group feel the same way, then maybe you should take a moment to reevaluate things. Don’t be afraid to ask this girl about her opinion. Who knows? Maybe she does have something valuable to contribute.”

Alright, this was all great advice for actual teamwork, but it didn’t apply to her problem. She was trying to rule a coven, not decorate the gym for the upcoming prom. “What are you trying to say, Dad?”

“I just think you shouldn’t take everything on by yourself, Sammy.” He said as he patted her hand, then he leaned back on his chair at the same time as he picked his forgotten menu up. “Now, do you know what you want to eat, or should we wait a few more minutes?”

Sam couldn’t help sending her dad a small smile, even if it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was about to answer when she caught sight of something over his shoulder that made her breath hitch. “Holy shit!”

Jeremy’s head shot up at that. “Samantha, language!”

Uh, oh. He used her full name. “Uh, sorry about that, Dad.” She apologised sheepishly, before standing up and pointing behind him, much to Jeremy’s horror. What was up with this girl’s manners today!? “It’s just that I know the person who’s just entered the restaurant.”

Turning around much more discreetly than Sam, Jeremy raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “You mean the people talking to the maître d’?” 

Completely unaware of the fact that they were the focus of the conversation of two of the restaurant’s patrons, Jazz and Danny stood at the entrance, talking to the maître d’. Well, Jazz was talking to the maître d’, looking almost unhinged, Danny was just praying they wouldn’t be kicked out just because his sister had chosen now, of all times, to act as unreasonable as their dad.

“What do you mean there’s no table available?!” She screeched, causing a few customers to turn around to look at her and her brother to look away in embarrassment. “I made the reservation almost two weeks ago! Fenton, Jazz Fenton. Come on, I highly doubt there’s many more Fentons in Amity Park.”

The man tending to them had to be the most patient person on the planet, Danny figured. Or the most emotionless. “My apologies, Miss. But there really is no reservation under a Jazz Fenton.”

“Maybe you put it under another member of the family?” Danny offered before addressing the headwaiter himself. “How about under Danny Fenton?”

The employee looked through his agenda before shaking his head. 

“And Maddie Fenton?” Jazz tried.

Again, the man shook his head no. 

“Jack Fenton?” She was starting to grow desperate now. 

And, again, no such luck. 

Watching as Jazz’s eye started twitching, Danny genuinely feared he’d have to restrain his sister from doing something crazy when the sound of someone clearing their throat caught everyone’s attention. Looking at the direction the sound came from, the Fenton siblings could only gape at the sight of a middle-aged man with perfectly coiffed, blond hair, dark blue eyes, and sharply dressed with a crochet vest, light, khaki pants, and black dress shoes standing before them. 

The mysterious man turned to the maître d’. “It’s quite alright, my good sir. They’re with us.”

The emotionless man suddenly developed a personality, for he smiled brightly at the other man. “Oh, I see! Would you like some extra chairs, sir?”

“If you don’t mind.” 

“Of course, we’ll bring some extra chairs, utensils, and menus to your table momentarily.” And with that the waiter left them alone. 

The blond turned to them, a welcoming smile on his face. “Don’t be shy, you two. Come sit with us.” And, by some sort of spell, they followed after him. 

In the meantime, brother and sister shared a questioning glance. They were both obviously curious as to who these ‘us’ were. Clearing his throat, Danny ventured. “Um, excuse me sir, but do we know you?”

The mystery, well-dressed man just laughed cordially. “Oh, no. You certainly don’t. As a matter of fact, I don’t know you, either. But my daughter seems to know you, young man.”

Before Danny could so much as ask what he was even talking about, the man stopped beside a table, motioning with his hand to his companion. The halfa almost fell flat on his butt in astonishment. 

Getting up from her chair was Sam. Although she had a different outfit than usual, her style was still mostly casual, as opposed to her companion’s preppy clothes.

She was wearing a simple black t-shirt with a drawing of a purple rose on it (why was it so familiar?); a neon green skirt with a spiderweb pattern; a spiked collar with a purple pendant was around her neck; and she wore fingerless, black fishnet gloves. Other than that she looked the same as always. She still had her trademark combat boots and thigh-length, purple stockings on, and her hair was still long and black on one side, while the other was shaved with purple undertones; a green ponytail in a purple scrunchie sticking up. 

“Sam, is that you?” He breathed out.

The girl in question could barely believe her eyes. Right in front of her was Danny. She was almost stunned she could recognise him practically anywhere. But then she rationalised; of course she’d recognise him! He looked practically the same as always! With his messy, jet-black hair falling down his face; a pair of blue jeans, his favourite red sneakers...The only thing different about him was the hoodie he was wearing, really. It was mostly white, except for its red cuffs, zipper, draw strings, and the circle it had plastered on its front. 

...well, the only thing that was different was his hoodie and the girl beside him, now that she took a better look. 

She was around her height, but she seemed slightly older. She was a redhead sporting a cute pixie cut, with a lovely face and striking, aqua eyes. The girl was wearing a square, teal plaid dress over a white, long-sleeved shirt, and black tights with white boots. Her outfit was perfectly coordinated, except for a brown, leather shoulder bag that seemed oddly out of place. 

Sam was sure she had never seen her before, but she was just so familiar…

Noticing she was up and Danny was still waiting for her answer, she hurriedly went over to him to shake his and his companion’s hands. “Yes! Yes, it’s me, Danny. And...I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but you are…?”

“Oh, I’m Jazz!” The mysterious girl perked up. “I’m Danny’s sister.”

“Oh, she’s just his sister,” Sam thought to herself, relieved. Wait, relieved? What did she have to be worried about? She thought best to shake those feelings off and stow them for later. “Nice to meet you. I’m Sam, a friend of Danny’s.”

Jazz’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh, so you’re Sam! Danny’s told me about you.”

“He has?” Both Mansons asked, but for completely different reasons. And only one of them knew exactly why they asked. 

Just as they were introducing themselves, the restaurant’s staff came and set the two extra chairs and items down. His senses tinglingーonly it wasn’t his Ghost Sense, but a sense of danger he couldn’t quite put his finger onー, Danny focused his attention on the other man at the table, who seemed to be glaring daggers at him, for some reason. He swallowed the uncomfortable lump in his throat. “I’m sorry, sir. But I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

The blond plastered a smile on his face as they finally sat down. To anyone else, it would’ve seemed friendly, but to Danny it looked oddly sinister. “Oh, my bad. I’m Jeremy, Jeremy Manson. I’m Sam’s father.”

While a primal fear clutched Danny’s heart in an iron grip, Jazz audibly gasped. “Wait, Jeremy Manson? As in, the Mansons?”

His sister’s astonished expression, as well as Sam’s mortified one, enabled him to ignore his sudden worries for a minute in favour of his curiosity. “You know them?” He asked his sister. 

In turn, Jazz just scoffed, looking away from him in exasperation. Of course not only would Danny have no idea who he hung out with, he also had to embarrass them right in front of the two people in question. “Danny, I think you’re literally the only person in all of Amity Park who doesn’t know them. Ironically…” Seeing as he still didn’t get the hint, she gave up. “The Mansons are the descendants of Izzy Manson, the inventor of the machine that wraps cellophane around chopsticks, and therefore, they oversee the patent.”

“So, you’re saying…” 

Ugh, somebody put her out of her misery, goddamnit! “She’s saying we’re rich, Danny. Very. Stinking. Rich.” Sam deadpanned. Well, there went that little piece of information she didn’t like her friends finding out about. Although, a part of her was about to burst out laughing at the way the boy’s eyes all but popped out of their sockets. 

Danny, on his part, didn’t know what was more shocking. The fact that Sam came from a wealthy family, or the fact that she, a cynical, brooding, activism-oriented girl, was related to classy, perky, sunny Jeremy Manson. They literally had nothing in common! Not even facial features! Unless Sam was just a carbon copy of her mother, those were some weird genetics. 

Danny’s prolonged silence made her grow anxious, so Sam quickly changed topics. “So...what are you doing here? You know this place serves vegetables, right?” She just hoped their usual teasing dynamics would save them from the awkwardness. 

Luckily for her, it did. The halfa countered her teasing tone with an easy grin. “Yeah, I know. But Jazz was really looking forward to coming to this place and, since convincing our fudge-loving father to take her would have been impossible, she played the older sister card on me.”

Jazz just huffed in response. “Oh, shut up. Just be thankful this is a vegan, Mexican restaurant; you’re bound to find something you like.”

“Yeah, I can always just stuff my face on nachos with guacamole.” He quipped back. 

The hazel-eyed student turned her focus to the older girl, her face lighting up. “Oh! You’re vegan?”

“Oh, no. I’m not. I’m just much more willing to eat healthy food than my brother, who I still don’t understand how he could’ve grown so much given his atrocious diet!” She finished pointedly. 

“Hey!” Danny protested. “My diet’s not ‘atrocious’! So what if I’m not actively looking for vegan restaurants? I still eat everything I need.”

“I once saw you eat nothing but oreos and soda for two weeks when you were sixteen.” His sister pointed out, without missing a beat. 

That made him wince, not appreciating the reminder. “Okay, so maybe that wasn’t my best moment. But, the soda gave me the liquids and sugar I needed and the oreos gave me carbohydrates and proteinーmaybe, if they’re baked with milk…”

“Oreos are actually vegan.” Sam pointed out. 

Although her comment was meant to annul his point, it seemed to validate it, instead, for he sent a smug look at Jazz. “Ha! You heard that? Turns out I’m healthier than you, Daisy Green.”

“Oh, just shut up.” His sister grunted, exasperated. 

The father-daughter duo just exchanged glances, not used to this sort of family interactions. After a beat, Jeremy spoke up. “How about we order, huh?”

Picking up his own menu, Danny’s face morphed itself in confusion. “Uh...I have literally no idea what to ask for. Sam, you’re the expert, what do you recommend?”

By his side, Jazz perked up. “That’s right! You’re vegan aren’t you?”

“Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian.” She corrected, although she wasn’t sure why; nobody ever really got the difference.

And, lo and behold, neither did Jazz. “Pardon?”

Sam was about to tell her to let it go, when Danny beat her to it. “Sam doesn’t just avoid eating anything with a face, she also eats everything on her plate.”

When he sent her a wink and a friendly smile, Sam almost puddled. She soon regained her senses, though. Alright, so it was touching that he retained that piece of information when most people tended to forget all about it, but that still wasn’t grounds to make a fool out of herself. Finally, she opted for pushing those feelings aside. “This is my first time here, too. But as the only experienced veggie-eater at the table, I’d suggest that if you’re not feeling up to experimenting with new things, then just stick to what you’d usually order from a regular Taco Bell.”

She lowered her menu for them to see as she pointed at certain meals. “For example, Danny, you could try ordering the Burrito Vegano. Judging by its ingredients, it's exactly the same as your usual burrito except for the lack of meat. So you shouldn’t miss much.

“If any of you feels more adventurous, then you could try the vegan Quesadillas, just keep in mind that rather than being exactly the same as the regular ones but with vegetables, instead of cheese they have humus.”

“What about snacks?” Jeremy asked, as enthralled in her explanation as their impromptu guests. 

“Oh, I’m definitely ordering their famous nachos with guacamole and vegan nacho cheese. Everyone recommends it.”

“What’s vegan nacho cheese even made of?” Danny scrunched his face up in disgust. “Is it even edible?”

Sam scoffed. Typical carnivore response. “Not any less than the barely passable-for-human-consumption, acrylic orange paint that is the usual nacho cheese. And to answer your question, it’s made of carrots and peppers.”

“Wow.” Danny breathed, impressed once again by Sam’s ability to monologue without the need for breath. “You really have a strong opinion on nacho cheese.”

“Oh, you don’t even know half of the things she has a strong opinion on.” Jeremy muttered. 

Before Sam could so much as protest at her dad’s familiar exasperation at her altruistic ways, a waiter, notepad and pen in hand, appeared behind her. “Have the ladies and gentlemen made their decision yet?”

Looking over the table and receiving nods in confirmation, the Manson patriarch took the lead. “I believe we have.”

“Excellent.” The waiter said. “What do you want to drink?”

“Well, I’d normally ask for a bottle of your best wine, but I’m driving tonight, so I’ll have a Mr. Pepper.”

“Of course, sir. And everyone else?”

“I’m driving too, so I’ll have a Lemon Nestea, please.” Jazz said. 

It was Danny’s turn. “I’m not driving. I’ll have a beer.” 

“We serve Coronita, is that alright with you, sir?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

Finally, he turned to Sam. “And you, Miss?”

“Another beer’s fine.”

The waiter wrote everything down. “Alright, so that’s a Mr. Pepper, a Lemon Nestea, and two beers; is that right?” At the sounds of agreement, he went on. “Alright. Have you decided on your food yet, or do you need more time?”

It was Sam’s turn to perk up. “We’ll have some nachos with guacamole and vegan cheese to share. I’ll have the Tofu Tacos; You make them yourself once they’re served, right?” The waiter nodded. “Then, yes. The tacos.” Then she pointed at her dad. “And my Dad’ll have the fajitas.” 

As their waiter wrote everything down, she directed her attention at the siblings. “And you guys…?”

“Hm, I think I’ll have the vegan quesadillas.” Jazz said. “I gotta admit, when you said they have humus I’d already made up my mind! And you, Danny?”

Danny kept frantically scanning his menu. He didn’t know what half of those things were! All he knew was that it was Mexican food with extra vegetables. “Uh...I...I’ll have the Burrito Vegano?” He just hoped Sam was right and it’d be similar to the regular thing. 

“An excellent choice.” The waiter commented before taking their menus away. “Your drinks and nachos will be out shortly.”

After the waiter left, they kept on chattering idly about everything and nothing. How Sam and Danny knew each other, why Jeremy had, completely out of the blue, decided to let them have dinner with them, what their parents’ did for a living… That’s when things got a little awkward. Although Mr. Manson was trying his hardest to remain neutralーSam’s constant glares served as a good incentiveーit was plain to see he didn’t think highly of their parents and their job. 

Danny and Jazz would be lying if they said they weren’t already used to it, or even understood his concerns. 

Just as their drinks were being served, Mr. Manson’s cell phone started ringing. He took a quick glance at the caller and immediately winced, which didn’t go unnoticed by his daughter. “Dad…? Is everything okay?”

“What? Oh! Oh, yes. Everything’s fine, kiddo. I just have to take this real quick.” He explained as he got up from his chair, about to make his way to a less crowded area of the restaurant. “I’ll be right back.”

“Is he okay?” Jazz asked, slightly concerned. 

Sam could only shrug in response. “He says so.” Noticing the sudden rise in tension, she chose to change topics instead. “Um, I don’t really have any siblings to know better but, you two are close, right? I know my fair share of families who wouldn’t spend any non-essential time together otherwise.” Like mine, was what she didn’t say.

“You could say that.” Jazz replied, almost enigmatically. 

Normally, Danny wouldn’t go into detail as to why he and Jazz were so closeーthree guesses why and the first two didn’t countーbut there was something about Sam that told him she would understand. Granted, he couldn’t tell her everything, let alone in the middle of a relatively crowded restaurant, but he could shed some light over her queries. He guessed he felt the need to be open and share things with her because the other day she opened up to him and Tucker.

“Well,” he started, “if I’m being honest, I’ve always been closer to my older sister than my parents…”

"How so?" Sam couldn't believe she had the nerve to ask him that when her own relationship with her parents was, most of the time, rocky, at best. 

Did she really have to put him on the spot like that? “No, Danny,” he scolded himself, “you wanted to be honest with her yourself. Don’t blame it on her.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to explain as best as he could while revealing as little as possible. “Uh... it's just...my parents are ghosthunters, as you know, so ghosts have always been present in my house, making things incredibly difficult for Jazz and me growing up.” Like eating savage, ecto-wieners for dinner, having every single personal problem compared to some ghost-hunting analogy, or being mortified and ostracised by his peers as a result. “And things...things only got even more complicated when I was a teenager.”

That was the part he couldn’t go in detail about. Mainly because what truly made things more complicated was the fact that all deep conversations, honesty, and family bonds were tattered the moment he became the very half-ghost whose dissection his parents often fantasized about. “As a result, I guess you could say Jazz and I ganged up together. The Fenton siblings against the world when our parents were too busy with their job.” When he felt Jazz’s warm hand on his cold one, he couldn't help but meet her concerned face with a small smile in thanks for everything she’d ever done for him.

A wave of sympathy washed over Sam at Danny and Jazz's predicament. It was easy to forget Amity Park didn't even know ghosts existed until seven years ago, when Phantom and his putrid kind appeared out of the blue, because witches never forgot their existence in the first place. She could understand being overlooked in favour of creatures of dubious existence must've caused them great pain growing up.

Noticing her heartbroken look, Danny immediately tried to lighten up the mood. “Don’t worry, though. We might not be as close to our parents as we were when we were little, but we still all love each other.”

“Yeah,” Jazz assured her, “no need to feel bad for us, Sam. It’s still nice to see a daughter being close to her dad like you two are.” Her words were meant to bring the hazel-eyed Goth comfort, but her brows knitted together in concern at the look on her face.

Albeit Sam was smiling, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Lowering her head, almost hiding her face from view, she shook it, sadly.

After a minute or two of silence Danny was about to ask her if she was alright when she spoke. “Don’t let appearances fool you; my Dad and I aren’t exactly close, either.”

“But...but you two seem to get along so well…” Jazz started, but was cut off by Sam.

“We get along,” she confirmed, “but we’ve never been close. My parents are the complete opposite of me, and it showsーthey’ve never been able to understand me, my Grandma did.”

Danny almost regretted having to ask. “Is your Grandma…?”

The Goth just nodded. “She passed away when I was fourteen. She was the only person to ever understand me and accept me for who I am. You could say I’ve been on my own ever since, although in a psychological/spiritual sense.”

“Is that the reason why you’re Goth?” Jazz couldn’t hold herself back from asking, her psychologist instincts taking the reins of the situation. Shocked at her behaviour, Danny kicked her gently on her shin from under the table. 

He ignored her glare in favour of distracting Sam from her question. “What about your mother, aren’t you two close?”

The harsh laugh she let out startled them both. “I might not be close to my Dad, but compared to my relationship with my mother, I’m practically a daddy’s girl.”

A shadow casted over her hazel eyes, other times so full of fire and mischief, and Danny didn’t like it one bit. Reaching over to grab her hand in his, making her gasp in surprise, he sent her a gentle smile. “Thank you for sharing that about yourself with us.”

She returned the smile. “Thank you for sharing that about your parents with me.”

They kept staring into each other’s eyes, not caring about anything around them, until the clatter of the nacho plate being set down on their table broke them out of their thoughts. While Danny chose to ignore her sister’s annoying smirk, Sam thanked the waiter. Then, she turned to the siblings. “Well? What are you waiting for? Dig in!”

They did as they were told, and their faces split in matching grins. Hmming in appreciation, the black-haired half-ghost dipped another tortilla chip into the vegan cheese. “This ain’t half bad!”

Sam just chuckled. “Told you.”

After a, surprisingly, rather pleasant dinner between the two different families, it was time to say goodbye. Since they were the ones driving them home, Jazz and Mr. Manson left first to look for their respective cars, leaving Danny and Sam some extra time to talk. 

“Well, that was a pleasant surprise.” Danny commented, putting his hands inside his hoodie’s pocket. 

“Yeah, it really was.” Sam smiled when, suddenly, a cold breeze whooshed by, making her shiver. 

Noticing her hugging herself from the corner of his eyes, he immediately took action. “Here, let me help. It’s starting to get cold.” He said, even when his cryokinesis made him immune to cold years ago.

“Danny, I’m fineー” she began, but was interrupted by Danny slipping his hoodie on over her shoulders. As he lent her his jacket, their eyes locked. For a moment, time stopped. The Earth stopped moving. Nothing else mattered but each other’s eyes; Danny’s precious baby blue, and Sam’s vibrant hazel. Then, the sound of a not-so-distant honk broke the spell, causing them to quickly avert their eyes, a hint of pink dusting their cheeks.

Sam wasn’t cold anymore. 

As Jazz opened the door for Danny, he waved her goodbye, which Sam returned. Now that she was alone with her thoughtsーand Danny’s hoodieーwaiting for her Dad to appear with his own car, she couldn’t stop herself from sniffing the garment. It smelled like wood and freshly rained soil, but there was something else. Something...familiar she couldn’t quite put her finger on. 

Whatever it was, she liked it. 

It smelled like Danny.

[eerythingisshaka]

Ficmas Day #22 “Christmas Eve Will Find Eric”

[Erik “Killmonger” Stevens x OC]

Word Count: 1.2k

Erik holds his baby girl in his arms as the automatic doors open with a burst of heat hitting them both.  In the airport, people hustle around as everyone is seemingly busy to get to their next destination and waiting for their specific luggage to round the conveyor belt..

“Daddy.”  she says, squirming to look around.

“What’s up, Zee?”  Erik answers as he is distracted by his thoughts.  

“Daddy?”

“Where are the damn arrivals listed at?”  Erik walks in a mini circle before finally catching to elusive screens.

“Let me down!”  Zee leans away from Erik as he tries to catch her before she cracks her back in half.

“Chill!  What’s going on with you?”  Erik sets Zee down, grabbing her hand right before she tries to dart away.  

“You better come on, little girl.  I ain’t tryna lose you before Mama gets here.”

“I can’t wait for Mama to come, so I can shout SURPRISE!  And she’ll be so happy to see me!”

People beeline around the two of them quickly as Erik and Zee walk against the traffic.  As he approaches the screen, Erik looks over it diligently for the correct flight.  

“3206...There we go.  Looks like 15 minutes Zee.”  Erik looks down at his kid who is more preoccupied with a gift shop that is advertising some plushies in the shape of neck pillows.  

Erik tugs at one of her braids playfully.  Zee replies with an annoyed grunt and glare.

“You wanna go look at the pillows in there?”  Erik asks.

Zee shakes her head.  “They’re toys.  I wanna see the toys.”

Erik nods.  “You’re right.  Come on.”

The brightly lit store had no one else in it which made Erik’s anxiety deplete dramatically.  Crowds aren’t his thing and with 15 minutes left until she got there, time will go by in a flash.

Zee tugs at his hand until Erik lets her loose once pedestrian traffic clears.  Her bobble bound braids bounce as she strides inside the store going straight for a violet colored cat pillow.  Zee tells Erik all about why she likes this one the best.

“Her name is Leeta and she is 8 years old.”

“Ohh, so she’s your big sister?”  Erik asks, crouching down to look over the pillow himself. 

“No!  That is in cat years, cats age faster.”

Erik jerks his head back slightly in surprise.  “You learned that?  That’s pretty good, Zee.”

“I knew that since I was two, Daddy.  You need to watch more PBS Kids.”

“I sure do, huh?”  Erik looks proudly on his daughter before coming to a stand.  As he looks above the crowd, he sees a headwrap and afro puff that looks very familiar.  

“Oh!  Zee I think Mom’s arrived!”  Erik takes Zee by the hand to meet her, but is stopped by an alert voice.

“Sir!  Sir!”

Erik turns around more out of curiosity than assuming it has anything to do with him.  But lo and behold, a woman in plain black clothes and a name tag runs from the store.

“Sir, you have to pay for what your daughter took.”

He looks from the dirty blonde middle aged woman to Zee who is holding the violet cat.  

“She didn’t take anything, I didn’t notice it was in her hands when we left.”  He takes it from Zee and tosses it at the woman.  “I don’t remember you greeting us in the store by the way.”

The woman’s eyes go wide.  “I greet everyone, as the store dictates.”

Erik rolls his eyes.  “Uh huh, come on Zee.”

“Daddy, can I have it?  That’s Leeta, she’s mine!”  Zee tries to pull her hand from his grip to no avail.

“I don’t wanna hear that.  You got toys at home, come on.”

Zee’s knees buckle as she rolls to the floor like a damsel in distress.  “I just want Leetaaaaa!”

“Zee!”  Erik hisses at her as Zee’s outburst attracts attention, even the store manager appears to pity her.  “Quit acting like that!”

“LeetaaaaAAA!”  Her shriek nearly stops the whole airport as Erik pulls her into his arms, shushing her.

“Aight!  Hush!  Ma’am, how much is the damn pillow?”

“$54.99,” she says.

Erik curses under his breath as he looks in his wallet.  “Here, fuck the change.  Gimme the pillow.”  Erik hands the bills over to the woman, snatching the pillow from her hands as Zee hiccups and settles down, holding the pillow tightly.

“Now where the hell…”  Erik sees the black and white print headwrap again, heading for the door.  Erik runs to her, dodging the traffic like a pro footballer as he closes the distance. 

“Baby!  Hold up!”  Erik shouts, but as she turns around, he’s clearly mistaken.

“That’s not Mama,” Zee says.

“Right again, Zee.”  Erik says as the woman smiles.  He waves politely.

“I’m sorry we haven’t met before.  Cute kid though!”  The woman replies with a wink before continuing out the door.  Just then an announcement is made that 3206 has been delayed by an hour.

“Can I have a snack now?”  Zee asks.  “You said we would get something to eat when Mama comes.”

Erik checks his phone.  No news from her and it’s past dinnertime.  “Yes, we will get a snack.”

Erik finds a Starbucks to get a boost of caffeine to his system.  “Lemme get a black coffee, tall.”

“And I want a cake pop!”  Zee holds up her pillow as if the cat ordered for herself.

The barista smiles.  “Ok, sure!”  

Erik leans down to Zee.  “Make a deal with me.  I’ll get the cake pop if you eat some egg bites.  You need some food.”

“Snacks aren’t food, they’re snacks.  Dinner is food.”  Zee replies.  

Erik turns back to the barista, unable to argue with her.  “Add an order of egg bites too.”

Once he gets his order, Erik takes a seat along the wall with a clear view of the baggage claim.  Checking his phone, he notices they have at least 45 minutes before the plane possibly lands.  He and Zee sit together for time as he sips his coffee and coaxes Zee to eat more than half of one egg bite.  She distracts his wishes by asking Erik to show off his War Dog tattoo over and over again.  

“And save the last bite for Mama, Daddy.  She wants a snack too.”

Once she finishes all her cake pop, he puts the remaining egg bite in the bag.  Zee lays her pill on Erik’s leg and lays back, talking his ear off about some friends at school or a TV show she’s seen.  Erik just nods along, playing with his daughter’s hair as she jabbers on, despite being tired he enjoys her ability to hold a conversation.

Some time passes as a woman approaches baggage claim to retrieve her luggage.  She sent a text ten minutes ago to alert her man that she had touched down, but he didn’t reply.  Walking across the corridor, she sees a man and a little girl knocked out on a bench.

“Erik?  Zee?”

Walking up to them, she notices the naked cake pop stick in the girl’s hand and a pillow with the tags still on under her head.

Erik finally stirs, blinking a few times before stretching. “Hey Eve!  You finally dropped in?”

Eve nods.  “Yeah.  Sorry it got so late.”

Erik shakes Zee awake.  “Look, Mama made it.”

Zee groans, turning into Erik more.  “She was so excited to see you earlier.”

“It’s ok, I know she’s tired.  Come on.”

As Erik picks up their sleepy child, he takes his lady by the hand.  “Hey, now you took your time getting here, don’t rush us out now.”

Erik pulls her back, planting a soft, slow kiss on Eve’s lips.  “I missed you, baby.”

“I missed you too.  I’m glad y’all got along peaceful before I got here.  Zee can be demanding with her time, you know.”

Erik adjusts Zee on his shoulder.  “Oh I know.  But we were good.  No problems at all.”

[shih-coulda-had-it]

jettin’ around, the christmas tree

Notes: Crack treated seriously. If you squint and tilt your head sideways, you can see pre-Nanahiko vibes, but this is mostly about kid!Toshinori going crazy over Santa!Torino. Toshinori refers to Mrs. Claus as Santa-okusan, because I still struggle with honorifics, and Santa Claus is already acknowledged as Santa-san. Word count: 1,526

//

Sorahiko had messed up. Not only had he lost the damn sack of presents, but he’d been caught red-handed by a brat that didn’t even look old enough to attend primary school. The kid was still staring at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, awed into miraculous silence.

Without a doubt, Sorahiko knew he’d broken the sanctity of being a Pro-Hero Santa.

It wasn’t truly the brat’s fault that Sorahiko had lost the presents. Sorahiko should have been paying attention to the skies; from one suburban roof to the next, while he was shifting the bulky weight from shoulder to shoulder, Sorahiko had been ambushed by some shitty villain who didn’t understand that Christmas was strictly off-limits for misbehavior.

Someone slammed into him mid-air. They had made off with the toy sack while Sorahiko, thrown off-balance, crashed against a roof and tumbled to the snow-covered ground. To add insult to injury, his collision had caused a small avalanche of snow to crumble straight into his face, cold crystal dust filtering into his collar.

And of course, the kid in residence couldn’t just sleep through the noise. Of course someone would be drawn to investigate.

Sorahiko had been cursing quietly to himself, struggling to his feet and shaking off snow, when the front door creaked open to reveal the kid.

The kid was, as aforementioned, tiny enough that Sorahiko couldn’t see him attending primary school yet. He had fluffy pale hair, with two long bangs in the front, and he was awfully fragile-looking. Sorahiko wondered if he could get away without talking to said kid.

“Santa-san?” whispered the kid, finally breaking the tense silence.

This was the absolute last time Sorahiko would sign up for the Pro-Hero Santa program. No monetary compensation was worth this.

“You’ve got me,” said Sorahiko dully. He took off that stupid red triangle hat and brushed off the lining of faux white fur. His face didn’t need any assistance being warmed up; he could feel his ears burning. Embarrassment might have overtaken him, if Sorahiko’s pro-hero senses didn’t twig onto something weird. He looked critically at the darkened household; the lack of yellow lamplight signifying a parent waking, searching for their waylaid child.

“Santa-san!” the kid repeated. With quick, darting footsteps, he slipped out from the house and went to hug Sorahiko, jumping a little to latch his twiggy arms over Sorahiko’s belt. “They said you weren’t real! They said you wouldn’t give presents to,” he faltered, then redoubled his quiet enthusiasm, “to kids on the naughty list!”

“You’re not on the naughty list,” Sorahiko said, absentminded. He was reviewing his list of addresses. The Pro-Hero Santa program had many, many letters sent in from children all around the country, and consequently, many, many pro-heroes were enlisted to help deliver presents.

Sorahiko checked the address; it didn’t look familiar. In fact, this was probably one of the few households in the neighborhood that hadn’t sent in a letter. He had chalked it up to residents too old to be eligible for the program.

“I’m not?” the kid gasped.

“Have you done something naughty?”

“No!” he said, almost desperate in his protesting. “No, I swear, I’ve been really, really good.”

“Where’s your parents?” Sorahiko tried to cut off any possibility of crying. He was not emotionally prepared to deal with a crying child. Speaking of, he needed to track down the villain who had stolen the presents—or else there would be so many more crying children by the morning.

“Not here,” said the kid, and Sorahiko swore the moonlight was somehow angled just right to reflect the building tears. “Isshin-san said I wasn’t allowed to go to the party.”

“’Party,’” echoed Sorahiko. “I—are you alone? They left you alone in the house?” No. Bigger problems, Torino, focus up. He stared at the kid, and the kid stared back, childlike trust in his open expression. “You can’t just open the door like that, kid, that’s inviting danger.”

“But you’re Santa-san,” he argued.

No, I’m not! Inner-Sorahiko howled. Outwardly, Sorahiko schooled his face and pried the kid off him. And then, not because the kid was visibly shivering (thin clothes, barefoot, light as a feather), Sorahiko picked him up and tugged his cape around the trembling body. Those twiggy arms crept under the wide, layered collar, seeking warmth.

“Santa is not a good excuse,” he said. “What’s your name?”

“Yagi Toshinori.”

“Right. When are your guardians coming home?” Not parents, if Yagi is referring to them by their given name and using that honorific.

“Dunno,” the boy quietly answered, and he burrowed against Sorahiko, hugging him and hugging him, and Sorahiko should not be thinking about bopping a few civilians’ heads. He also should not be thinking about taking Yagi with him on the way to retrieve the presents.

“Will they be back by morning?”

“Dunno.”

Sorahiko felt a migraine coming on. The rules were adamant about getting presents delivered, come hell or high water, but they didn’t account for the unique moral test of leaving a child to fend for himself, or committing a minor kidnapping in the name of safety.

Also, Sorahiko didn’t want to see Yagi’s face crumble as he inevitably did not receive any presents from the Pro-Hero Santa program. Even Sorahiko could recognize when the asshole routine went from tolerable to unforgivable.

Ah, right, there was that option. Sorahiko dug out his phone from where it was strapped to his belt, and clumsily hit the speed-dial for Nana’s cell. It didn’t ring for more than two seconds before she picked up with a yawning, “Hello, hello?”

“Nana, it’s—” Sorahiko grimaced. His impulse to have Nana save the day had forgotten to take into account that Nana would milk this joke for the rest of Sorahiko’s career. Not to mention, he could see Yagi’s head rearing back. The kid looked at Sorahiko’s phone with interest. “Are you busy?”

“Santa-okusan?” Yagi inquired, excited yet again.

“Yagi, quiet.”

He hadn’t meant to snap the command, yet he had, and now Sorahiko had to suffer the sight of Yagi recoiling at the sharp words and hunching into himself. There was a beat of silence wherein Sorahiko wanted to lay down and die, except Nana’s spirit had never met a gauntlet it would back away from, so as usual, she put him back on his feet again.

“Put me on speaker,” she said, and Sorahiko complied.

“You’re on.”

Nana cleared her throat. Kindly, gently, she said, “Hello, Yagi-shonen! Santa-san’s pretty bad at talking. He’s usually so busy taking care of delivering presents, he never gets the chance to talk! Are you having a good Christmas Eve?”

Yagi perked up at the soothing voice. Something in Sorahiko settled too, in spite of the playful joke Nana had said at his expense.

“The best, Santa-okusan! Santa-san is good at talking,” the kid said loyally.

“That’s great!”

“Okay,” Sorahiko interrupted, before anymore exclamation points could be exchanged. He gave Nana the run-down. “I lost my, uh, presents to… a Grinch. Can you come over here and secure Yagi for the night? His guardians are out.”

“I’m suiting up,” said Nana, brisk and business-like. The playfulness slipped back into her voice, even as interference from the rush of air crackled over the phone: “Where you at, partner?”

He rattled off the address and curtly hung up on her. She would be here in less than a minute; the neighborhood wasn’t far from Nana’s place, and Nana could be wickedly quick when pressed.

“Santa-san,” warbled Yagi, “are you leaving?”

“I gotta get the presents back,” Sorahiko said, and did a double-take at the return of the tears. “What are you crying for? Are you too cold? Geez, why didn’t you get a bathrobe or something before coming outside?” He bounced Yagi up and down.

“I’m sorry,” the kid sniffled, hiccupping with every jolt.

“Sorry? What for?”

“The presents! I came out here and distracted you and maybe the G-Grinch,” he stuttered over the unfamiliar English, “will have gotten away with the presents! I ruined Christmas!”

“You haven’t ruined Christmas.”

“B-but—”

“Hey, Yagi, you wanna see how Santa-san gets around from roof to roof?” Sorahiko asked, hoping a distraction would help. At the tearful nod, Sorahiko readied himself for an easy, controlled Jet. He held Yagi close, breathed in the sharp, clean cold air, and Jetted.

Yagi was promptly impressed. “Wow!” he shrieked, little fingers digging into Sorahiko’s insulated jumpsuit as they rose above the household below. “Wow, Santa-san! You fly like this?!”

Before Sorahiko could lower themselves back to solid ground, he spotted a white comet streaking towards them. Frantically, he did a cursory look around the neighborhood—lo and behold, there was an incongruous van peeling away in a direction into Tokyo-proper.

They landed. Yagi babbled about how cool Sorahiko was; Sorahiko calculated how fast Nana’s outrage would propel her, and readied himself.

“Yagi,” he said, “trust me.”

“Okay, Santa-san—EEP!”

It was not very Santa-like behavior, but Sorahiko tossed Yagi at Nana (who could always be counted to catch a civilian Gran Torino passed onto her), shouted, “Merry Christmas!”, and bolted for the gang of villains.

[that-rock-chick]

Love Bites

Love sucks. That's pretty much common knowledge. Combine that with addiction, money, fame, and childhood trauma and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Same shit, different fucking day.

Don't ask me how I'm balancing six days a week at my job and band practice three to four days a week, because I truly have no fucking idea. I tried college but once the band formed, I cut that out of my schedule completely.

It's been about a months since the argument with Gwen and Tiffany went down and our band hasn't practiced. I tried to be sympathetic for the longest time, but it's beyond ridiculous now. Veronica, Tiffany, and I have been wanting to do band stuff but Gwen refuses because she's mad that Tiffany is dating a man SHE broke up with. It's not like Tiffany did it intentionally, and the fact that she's letting her own personal stuff interfere with our band is really pissing me off.

We've all got shit going on, but Gwen loves being a drama queen. Veronica has suggested kicking her out of the band a few times and Tiffany has echoed the same sentiment, but I don't think my patience has thinned to that extent just yet.

But it's getting there.

Young musicans aren't hard to come by, but finding someone who fits the band's sound as perfectly as Gwen's adds on a large layer of difficulty that I'm not prepared for. We'd have to start all over, teach our new singer the songs, establish chemistry...it seems exhausting and more trouble than it's worth, at least for the time being.

"Hey Julie." Dylan greeted me as I walked past, something he does whenever we work together. Sometimes it ends up being the best part of my day.

As the day progresses, I find myself smiling a lot more than I usually do. Customers are easier to deal with and a large amount of them were actually friendly. It created a light-hearted atmosphere in the restaurant that we don't get too often, unfortunately. The time seemed to fly by.

"Good luck Dylan." I said goodbye and walked out of the front door. Dylan was always there a hour before I arrived, and an hour before I left. The rest of the staff is pretty cool, but Dylan is the only one I'd consider to be a friend of mine. He's essentially the less musically inclined male version of me.

I head to our rehearsal space for the second time this week. I've extended the invitation to Gwen, as if she needs an invitation to show up to her own fucking band's rehearsal. If she doesn't show up tonight, she's out. Our time is just as important as hers and we're all tired of it being wasted.

I'm usually the first person to show up, but some days that isn't the case, like today.

"Hey." Gwen says shyly.

I give her a blank stare and proceeded to put my things down on a table nearby.

"Nice of you to finally decided to show up." I stated plainly.

"Look, I know I've missed a lot of practice and I totally understand the three of you being pissed at me, but can you please take one second to see this from my perspective?"

I couldn't help but scoff at what was coming out of Gwen's mouth. Has she seriously taken an objective look at the situation and came to the conclusion that she has a leg to stand on.

"Okay fine. You broke up with a guy, he moved onto Tiffany, you were so jealous that he wasn't falling you around like a lost puppy, and you took it out on Tiffany."

Gwen rolled her eyes but before she could speak, Tiffany and Veronica entered the room. Anger was written all over Tiffany's face, while Veronica seemed to be as cool as a cucumber.

That's one thing I've always liked about Veronica. She can keep her cool in some pretty tough situations. That's not all there is to like about her, though. She's utterly gorgeous. Her dark skin and hair that was almost always styled in an afro were truly beautiful features that I couldn't help but admire. She's beautiful, smart, talented, and has an amazing personality. She's the full package.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Tiffany wasted no time begining the screaming match we all knew was about to go down.

"We're in the same band." Gwen managed to maintain her regular tone of voice, but if I know Tiff like I think I do, and trust me, I do, she'll keep going until she sets Gwen off and then everything will go up in flames.

"Clearly the band hasn't been very high on your list of priorities for the past four weeks. Finally make time in your schedule for us, princess?" Tiffany was speaking with her genuine emotions, but part of her wanted to get a reaction out of Gwen. She knows how Gwen feels about being called "princess".

Gwen looks like she wants to say something to Tiffany that would no doubt escalate the situation even further, but she takes a deep breath and regains her composure.

"I'm sorry, okay? For everything. Julie was right, I should've maintained my professionalism above all else...and I shouldn't have put some guy over you and our friendship."

The three of us looked at Gwen semi-shocked. That girl never apologizes for anything. Instead of responding, Tiffany tells Veronica and I that she's stepping out for a smoke.

I'm not sure if we should discuss things further or let bygones be bygones, but it's not exactly my place to make that call.

Tiffany returns just as I finshed tuning my guitar and walked up to Gwen. If I didn't know Tiffany, I'd say she was going to punch Gwen in the face with the speed she was moving.

"That whole situation was fucked up, but I know how hard it is for you to apologize to people, so I forgive you." Tiffany pulls Gwen in for a hug and for the first time in awhile, things seem okay between the four of us.

"I would like to reiterate that Gwendolyn said I was right." I smiled proudly.

"Yeah, don't get used to hearing that from me."

It was nice while it lasted, at least.

Band practice turned out to be super productive, and it hasn't been that way in a long time. We got a lot of work done today and hopefully we can keep this up for awhile. We spent about 7 hours in our rehearsal space and it felt more like 5 minutes. Time really does fly when you're surrounded by positivity.

The girls and I said our goodbyes and parted ways for the night. Tiffany had mentioned that we haven't seen each other this past month like we usually do. Of course I feel bad about that, she's been my best friend for so long. But I've been spending a lot of time with the Guns N' Roses boys...Axl in particular can be a persuasive little shit when he wants to be. I've already told the guys that Tiffany's birthday is this weekend and they can't keep monopolizing my time. I need more feminine energy!

"Julie!" I hear someone call out. I recognize the voice as soon as it hits my ears.

"Hey Slash, what's up?"

Minus Izzy, I'm becoming pretty close with the members of Guns N' Roses. I just wish that man wasn't so goddamn illusive.

Slash and I walk and talk. Clearly he's decided we're hanging out tonight. I don't mind it much since Tiffany's going out with Victor tonight, Gwen is visiting her parents, and Veronica is doing god knows what, like always. So even if I wanted to make plans with someone, it's not like I had anyone else anyway.

"I don't think anyone's at the house, besides Izzy." From the way he phrased his sentence, it was a clear indication that Slash had no interest in staying at the "Hell House" with Izzy, he usually opted to spend his nights the same way he spent his days: completely wasted. It didn't matter if it was alcohol or heroin, if it got him high, he'd take it.

But this isn't about Slash. I want to see Izzy...I might have a slight obsession with a man who has never even said a single word to me, but I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous. There's something about him that keeps me drawn to him and I'm determined to figure out what it is. No matter how long it takes me.

"Then let's go to the house."

Before Slash can process what I said so he could say no, I grab him by the arm and run as fast as I possibly can while dragging a grown man behind me. It only takes about 15 seconds of running before I realized, Slash in tow or not, I'm very out of shape. I'm running out of breath, determined to get to the band's house. I'll be wheezing all the way down Sunset Boulevard and trying to convince myself it's worth it by the time we get there. But knowing me, it won't.

We enter the house and lo and behold...

Izzy isn't there. Despite me struggling to breathe, the look of defeat plasters my face and Slash starts laughing his ass off.

"Izzy's out working, I just wanted to see how you'd react. Sure didn't think you'd go runnin to our house, though." Slash manages to get out through his fit of hysterical laughter.

"Slash! Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I know you like him. I got the confirmation I needed. Just wait until I tell Duff!" Slash heads for the stairs, but I grab his arm before he starts his ascent.

"You cannot tell Duff." I tell him seriously.

"He can't tell Duff what?" Duff appears from the kitchen

"And why are you out of breath? And why are you holding Slash's arm?"

"She totally likes Izzy, dude. I told her that he was here and she dragged me through the streets. We almost got hit by like, 5 cars."

My shocked face slowly twists into a look of confusion as Duff rolls his eyes, pulls out his wallet, and hands Slash a 20 dollar bill.

"Dude, you guys bet on whether I liked Izzy or not?" I was part shocked, part confused, and part mortified that my crush on Izzy was that obvious. Izzy seems like a smart man, so I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of him knowing and not talking to me because I'm a weird chick who likes him without even knowing anything about him.

"Yeah, and now I'm out 20 bucks because you can't control your goddamn hormones." Duff says in mock frustration. I ignore his joke as the overthinking sets in further.

"Does...does he know?"

"Nah. The man's pretty oblivious, plus he doesn't pay much attention to anything except drugs, work, and music. It's fine." Duff reassures me.

Then Izzy walks in. The three of us get quiet when he shuts the door behind him. He looked at the guys then looks me up and down. He then looks back up at my face like he's done several times before, but this time he doesn't look away when our eyes meet, not immediately, at least. I feel my heart start beating a mile a minute at the momentary eye contact and feel myself longing for it again when it breaks.

He nods his head and walks up the stairs. I guess his first words to me will have to wait another day.

"What does Izzy do for work?" I ask, to no one in particular.

"He's a drug dealer." Duff replies nonchalantly.

I don't know how to respond to that, so I don't. Slash and Duff have their own conversation and I find myself wondering what kind of person Izzy is. I don't know what to think. All I know is he's a damn good musician, an equally gifted writer, and a drug dealer.

Who the hell is Izzy Stradlin?

[muthaz-rapapa]

Let’s talk TroPreCure! (^∀^ 🌺)

i’m so stupidly proud of this dumb pun “tropurikyua~”, hahahahaha

Last post of the year and wow is there are lot to be excited for!

I even had to make a list for the stuff I want to talk about and I’m sure I already forgot one or two things but we’ll get to them as we continue to float~ along the wave to February 28th, mmkay? :)

Now for what has peaked my interest so far. And yes, we have to talk about the following first:

1) HealPre the shortest Precure season??

Unless they plan for double features in February (which I doubt but you never know), HealPre is likely going to reach only 45 episodes long instead of the usual 48~50 before TroPre I’m using this shortening of the title for now so if there’s a better alternative, tell me and I’ll switch out begins its broadcast.

Understandable because the producers probably want to get back to their normal scheduling as soon as possible (toy sales, y’know) and I suspect pushing the start of the new season back by a month is the most they’re willing to compromise.

As for me, I’m quite happy about this since HealPre’s lost its hold on my attention a while ago so the sooner TroPre gets here, the better. Though the downside might be a scrambled climax and a rushed, underwhelming ending for HealPre (I dunno if it’s January’s titles that feel a bit messy or if the hiatus is still throwing me off) but whatever. We’ll refresh ourselves with the new blood Cures so it’s all good.

2) Tropical movie announced for Autumn 2021, no All Stars??

(source)

First saw this mentioned on Youtube somewhere but it’s all over the fandom forums by now. I mean, HealPre’s movie is set for March, the usual time slot for All Stars release. If Toei intended for there to be an All Stars in 2021, there’s no way they would announce the seasonal movie before it so speculations of them skipping it this year are probably true.

To squeeze it somewhere between March and October-ish would force them to readjust their budgets as well and I don’t think even Toei wants to go through that extra hassle after all the trouble the pandemic’s caused for everyone already. It’s just easier to resume All Stars in 2022.

That, and I think Laura being a major character in TroPre despite not having a Cure title (yet) would make for an awkward situation when the three latest teams gather so perhaps that’s also one of the reasons. But I’ll get back to Laura in a bit.

3) Cure Summer is a RAINBOW Cure

So god help me if I see anyone calling her a Pink Cure.

Yes, she’s the lead Cure for this season. NO, she is not a Pink Cure.

Look, even the official website has a rainbow overlay for her profile pic and text font while everyone else’s respective theme colors are a solid hue:

Therefore, RAINBOW.

In promotional material and merchandising, they’re probably going to advertise her primarily with pink bah and at worst, she might occasionally be labeled as a White Cure with multiple subcolors (her outfit is not pink-dominant) but definitely NOT. PINK.

...also, this goes without saying but f***yea, we finally got a lead Cure practically and unabashedly wearing the LGBTQ flag and you cannot tell me otherwise, Toei!

Own up to it! Declare Manatsu/Cure Summer as the Precure queer icon!

I’m not gonna stop yellin’ until you do! 😠

4) Laura = obvious midseason Cure is obvious

First of all, Laura is a babe. I already love her the best and she’s not even Precure yet. <3

Anyways, the set-up is pretty much in the description. Important main character who’s not a mascot, stated to have a self-confident personality and just speaks her mind (oooh, I like~ :D), magical/foreign being from another world looking for Precure to save her home, possesses her own special item(s), has aspirations to become the next Queen (so she’s a princess-candidate or something to that effect, I suppose).

We’ve seen various combinations of these traits in past midseason (and a few starter) Cures so nobody should be surprised when we all guessed that one of the Cures would be a real live mermaid.

The only question is why not just make Laura a Cure from the get-go if she’s introduced to us at the beginning (like Hime or Lala) and having a team of five with no unnecessary extra add-ons later on (like Smile).

Well, there’s a simple answer for that: formula.

Toei is afraid that if they don’t spit out some new animation sequence at the halfway and third quarter points of the show, the kids will lose interest and abandon the series altogether. Which means failed toy sales. Oh nooo... [/sarcasm]

...Yea. 

And this way they can also have Laura available in the Cure lineup for the next All Stars in 2022 instead of making her sit the fight out if we were going to have one in 2021. I’m convinced that’s gotta be one of the reasons. *shrug*

But ok, whatever. Her debut is gonna be later, that’s all. She’s a delayed Cure.  Midseason Cure, same difference.

Moving along to the more important stuff now like what’s her Cure name gonna be, y/y?

Well, knowing Toei, a translation of the term “mermaid” into another language is the most predictable route even though we already have a Cure Mermaid. Not like that ever stopped them from repeating words before (ex. Cure Happy vs Cure Felice). Though if they do go down that road, I hope they opt for the Spanish/Italian “sirena” and not the French “sirène” because the latter sounds too close to how Cure Selene is pronounced in Japanese. And, putting it nicely, we all know Japanese pronunciation of foreign words is as off kilter as can be.

Hell, even the the Portuguese “sereia” sounds aesthetic as hell so it’d be nice if they can just remember there are other languages that exist out there besides Japanese, English and French when making the final decision at the writing table! *stomps foot* >:/

Alternatively, “nereid” or “naiad” are good choices too but they remind me too much of Greek myths and Laura’s from the Grand Ocean which covers more than just a couple of seas (Greece is surrounded by three, btw) so...

I dunno. But whatever it’s gonna be, she’s definitely got a strong association with water and her powers will probably be based on that.

As for theme color, since there’s noticeably no blue or green Cure in the starter lineup, it’s likely she will take up that spot when she debuts around ep 20.

Pink is also open since Cure Summer, again, is technically not a Pink Cure and Laura’s hair and tail fin are hot and light pink respectively but looking at Laura’s design and concept, does anyone seriously believe that?

Her upper torso consists of aquamarine while the body of her tail is definitely some shade of cyan, implying they’re aiming for somewhere around the middle of green and blue on the lighter spectrum.

And yea, I’m aware that green and blue are considered exchangeable in some perspectives with how close some of their shades are to each other but officially, I think Laura’s gonna be grouped with the Green Cures.

Cuz of the hair. If Laura’s gonna keep it the same or a similar shade after transforming, that is. The Blues have always had cool-colored hair so putting Laura in with them might disrupt that harmony whereas if you put her with the few Greens there are (including Parfait), she’d fit right in.

I mean, we’ll see but that makes the most sense, doesn’t it?

On another note, I just want to say that I love how they added frills to her arms instead of letting her elbows go bare naked. It definitely makes her look more like a genuine mermaid than if she didn’t have them (remember, half fish doesn’t mean half the body :P).

5) Magical Items

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the transformation device being a compact again even though one of the main motifs is make-up this season. But at least, as far as Precure compacts goes, the Tropical one is my favorite cuz of how cute and delightfully colorful its toy version looks! So I guess I’m okay with it.

The Heart Rouge Rod, though? ...I dunno. I think it would’ve been fine without that...straw (?) jutting out at the top. It looks weird, doesn’t it look weird? :S

As for the collectible clip-ons, I can live without those for the rest of my life. Yeesh.

Laura’s items, the Aqua Pot and the Ocean Prism Mirror.

Again with the portable, travel-size housing. *sigh* 😩

Alright, I can let this year slide cuz Laura (I’m so soft for her, omg) probably won’t be getting legs for 20 weeks so she’s got to move about on land somehow. But unless they’re really thinking about turning this idea of carrying your apartment around in your bag/pocket/purse into a reality (cuz that would be effin’ awesome), please be more creative with your toys.

On the other hand, I’m much more interested in the Ocean Prism Mirror but from what Kusyami (the Precure merchandise reviews I follow on Youtube) said in his latest vid, this is the ED dance item so don’t know if it’ll actually have an relevance to the story or not. But I did hear him mention it having something to do with the Queen as well and since Laura wishes to become Queen, maybe it’ll be important after all? Maybe it’s her transformation device?

That’d be super cool. Let’s continue the trend of the midseason Cure having a different transformation item than the starters. Honestly, we should alternate every other year or two but we’ve gone three seasons with all of them using the same henshin gimmicks up till HealPre and I just want a break from that.

6) Fin sleeves??

These look so impractical for combat so maybe it’s exclusive to group attacks.

And/or a sort of precursor to the super forms?

*GASP* Does that mean they all eventually turn into mermaids? 🤩

7) Yui finally became Precure!! 😭

lol, it’s all crack from this point on so don’t take it too seriously but man, after Yuni’s deceptive braids, I thought I wasn’t gonna see anything that reminded me of Yui for a while and lo behold, Sango.

kehehehehehe xD;

Though Yui might be closer to Minori in terms of personal interests (fairytales and storybooks).

8) Akira, the actual Onee-chan version

I didn’t think this when I first saw her but once I read “Onee-san” in her profile, there’s no saving you now. Sorry, Asuka. 😅

Also, damn, do her sandals make her feet look big! Compare them to the heels she wears as Flamingo. Are they even the same?! lololol

9) ...this sounds awfully familiar...

Translation:

Tokimeku Tokonatsu! [Exciting/Thrilling Everlasting Summer!] Cure Summer! Kirameku Hoseki! [Sparkling Jewel!] Cure Coral!  Hirameku Fuurutsu! [Flashing Fruit!] Cure Papaya!

Japanese reiteration:

Mallow/Mao: Pink no tokimeki! Lillie: Blue no kirameki! Lana/Suiren: Yellow no kagayaki!

….........

@Toei 

Care to explain yourselves, punks?! 

୧(ʘ ∀ ʘ ╬)

[bambi-lesbian-posts]

I'm so fucked lmao

We haven't had wifi for maybe two weeks now? And I've been going to coffee shops and stuff to get my work done on time, but I wasn't able to do that much this week, and so, I get home from work today and I need to submit my Midterm Paper for one of my classes. Well.

We had internet for a little bit, and I didn't think about it too much, but I closed out of a tab I thought I didn't need (I was rearranging my Works Cited page, so I use one of those citation websites) and when I go to open it again (thank god for the search history list) I. Lose. Internet.

The professor for this particular class doesn't take any late work unless he feels like it's a worthy enough excuse. Which is fine, the only problem is, he thought a pet death was a perfectly fine excuse for one of my classmates a few weeks ago, and gave her an extension. Then someone else was apparently hospitalized, but that wasn't good enough.

So y'know, it's, maybe 11 o'clock? After resetting the router and doing a ton of other shit in the hopes of getting the internet back for a measley two minutes so I can submit the paper, but lo and behold, nothing is working. And then 11:40 rolls around, and I make myself a separate email account on my phone (which thankfully has data) and then I attempt to email the file to my phone.

But you can't email without internet. And I don't have access to my laptop's files on my phone, because I never knew how to set that up properly so I skipped a bunch of steps. So when I finally give up and try to email my professor, it's already 11:50-something, and I'm trying to email on my phone, and add some pictures of my no-wifi notices on my laptop, as well as a few pictures of random pages in my completed midterm paper. And I promised to hike over to Starbucks as soon as I get his response so I can submit this damn thing, so long as he decides I'm a worthy enough cause, I guess.

[electricbluebutterflies]

So, I’ve gotten into cooking as a sanity outlet over the past month. (Knowing I am making good things when I get home has gotten me through some rough work shifts, and I am enjoying being capable and pulling my weight in the household.) Today is the first day that backfired, all because I decided I want dessert.

I impulsively decided to make what was supposed to be a red velvet cake. Get to the part where you’re supposed to add the food coloring and lo and behold, my family’s overstocked-to-hell spice cabinet does NOT have red food coloring. (Nor does it have anything that moved with us nine years ago on the bottom shelf anymore, so at least there’s that in my favor here.) I figure okay, we DO have blue food coloring and I think blue velvet was a challenge on at least one episode of Nailed It so I can just do that and it’ll be fine. Put entire thing of blue food coloring into cake.

(Sidebar, civilian-grade food coloring comes off one’s hands way easier than the gel icing dyes I occasionally do things with at my supermarket-bakery job, where I have had green hands for multiple days. Also one of the lesser disasters so far here.)

So I bake the cake. After a misfire a few days ago with something else, I know to make SURE this thing is baked. No, the higher end of the time listed in the recipe is not even close. SHOULD a cake take 35 minutes to bake? Hell if I know but this one did.

Then I decide to make icing. In theory, white buttercream should be me-proof, right? Literally four ingredients. I have a “what could possibly go wrong” approach to my cooking adventures and I will try anything once, often at my peril.

Answer - I used all the powdered sugar in the house, probably slightly under what the recipe said to do, and got powdered sugar all over about half the kitchen. It is at least POSSIBLE there is powdered sugar in the slow cooker right now (along with a questionable second attempt at pulled pork but honestly that’s a way lesser mess right now). It is possible there is powdered sugar somehow inside the closed George Forman grill. There is definitely powdered sugar in the toaster, and an alarming amount ended up on my dress. Thankfully I was wearing the dress I wore for painting my bathroom a couple weeks ago so that can’t actually look wilder, but y’know.

Oh, and the cake did not turn out a color I would describe as blue. It is more like a murky ocean teal, like there is definitely some creature from the deep lurking in it.

And now I’m going upstairs to try to ice the damned thing... will report back to y’all, I suspect this will get wilder...