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pinkestpurple · 4 months ago

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Well, this is not the best season...

1;2;3;4;5

It took me like a month and a few days to finish season 6, but it felt like an eternity. This wasn't my favorite, but i enjoy it still, theres always things that makes me smile and cry. Anyways....

Here is my reaction!

6x01 Let the game being (with a cup in my mouth imitating Bane)

Brendon Urie jumpscare! There should be a tw

The sports field scene is so bad, El secreto de sus ojos made it better (I shouldn't compare this fox show with a oscar winner film tho)

Athena your season 1 hair was so good, what happened?

I really like Athena when she is helping people and not abusing her power

"who's keeping score?" i love my parents

Clearly Bobby isn't going to choose any of the guys for captain, he knows them too well

Everyone asking not to be Chim jdjsjsj, it could be different, he change!

The first scene of them out of work is Buck cooking while Eddie helps Chris with honework. So married couple, how are they not cannon again?

"Buck you don't even have a couch" jdjsj You raise that kid Buck, is your fault

"We are family" i love them!! Is so easy for them to be friends together

i hate people that play golf

God, is not the first episode that Buck is already weird, lousy traumatic childhood

Not even lawsuit Buck gimme this ick

Bobby super organizing everything, he really needs this vacations

Oh i remember that Big Brother challenge I don't remember who won the car tho

Bucks grin when he passes with the saw, babygirl

Maddie's rizz!!! love her

Aaah Chim! why are you scaping like this!!

AAAHA KISS, PIECES OF SHIT, NOT EVEN STRAIGHTS KISS IN THIS GODDAMN SHOW

Why nobody burn all of the clipboards in that fucking station, Buck keeps findin them

i love when Buck and Hen argue, they are letal

Buck, didn't you start about 3,4 years?? please, you need a break

Hen being interim captain, let's go!! I love her

I love the way they show Eddie being in a better mental state is playing with Chris

Really? please let Bobby and Athena leave!

6x02 Crash and Lean

I like more "aprendiendo a golpes" than "crash and lean"

the weird guy that is trying to catch whatever is making tunnels under his garden is my brother and his partner on a normal day (the both of them are the weird guy)

Yeah, i guess it was someone making a tunnel, remind me of a tik tok

Idk if i like Noah

"We should do something" "give her a pillow" Help her with the papers you lazy pieces of shit!

The three running! i love them

THE FINALS ARE MULTIPLE CHOICE?? C'MON!! what a non serious country usa is

Beatrice reminds me of my grandma, I don't have a use anymore, pls relax

A happiness convention?? Uh buck and hen are going to need it

Hi, girl firefighter that we are not going to see again

I knew this was going to make Buck sad

"You know what is the worst thing about parent your parents? that you are closer to lose them" Sargent Athena Grant!! You can't do this to me!!!

I'm kind of sad for Hen but it was multiple choice!! usamericans never will convince me that their university is harder than on my country

NO NO, DON'T TELL ME THAT... NO NO

I need to know NOW why there's a little girl in the foundation of Athena's parents house!

6x03 The devil that you know

thank god that the writers don't listen to me when i say i want 911 to be a sitcom so they can do storylines like this one

i love Bobby being Athena bodyguard

YES, Athena's fear is justified, all men is also your father

AAAAH WHAT HORRIBLE STORY

The parallelism of Athena chasing Junior and Junior chasing the girl

"And you never thought of protecting them" good god, six girls?? this is a lot, enough tv for today

6x04 Animal instincts

the way Eddie and Buck talk with a look, when the guy is trying to get the woman's number, they are probably like: i give him a 4 for the try

Oh Buck, saying yes to everything is fun, until you are somewhere thinking, how the FUCK i got here?

I love Buck saying yes to everything and Hen saying no and resting

Buck being a sperm donor? This is so random

"I say this with love, don't be here when we come back" i love Bobby

I dont belive there's a lot of foreshadowing about Buck being Bi, and the most prominent is him in a bike with bicycle race in the background

Oh i say it! i say at the end of the first half of season 5 that Bobby and Athena were going to feel the empty nest!

i don't care if you see your mistakes Ramon, i know what you're going to do and i hate you for it!

Is four pm, Buck and Hen are drinking, you functional alcoholics

THERE'S NO EVEN FOUR IS TWO PM! Thanks chim for correcting me

Bobby and Athena getting a dog like every parent, the difference is we have cats here

6x05 Home Invasion

"I'm positive, detective Buckley" jdjdjd i forget that he is not only Dean Winchester he is also Jake Peralta

Are they pulling a The Simpsons and have Jee talking Dutch like Maggie?

Why are they showing me Noah so much??🔫

Bobby with his dog! so cute!

I FORGOT ABOUT LITTLE DOG HEN RESCUE! what you mean it die 😧

Bobby leaving the dog with Hen, i love this family

Eddie watching the siblings, when are we going to meet his sisters!?

Karen having to kick the dog out 😭😭

When they introduce Noah i thought two things he was going to make a move with Maddie or do something illegal

Hoover is going through every 911 person, isn't he?

Chris is getting so blond, Buck is never beating the father allegations

"That was weirder than usual" jsjsjsj i love that Eddie thinks Chim is the weirder one of the group

it could be funny if the dog came back to her house before her

i love my family, they literally live 20 minutes apart to each other

the firefighter going to help with the house of this poor girl 💗 (hi marisol! I didn't know that was you)

Nooo Karen!!!

6x06 Tomorrow

Clearly you need to put lady gaga so you know it is 2010!

If i was Chim and i set up Hen and Karen, i could feel like god

"i love you, let us do our jobs" How Bobby loves Hen! I love this family!!

yes I'm crying about Hen and Karen, let me

Hen and Karen the best couple

Hen always takes decisions for the two of them, Karen is a Saint

i don't like how Hen just stops going to medical school, college is not like here, you have so much debt know that Denny is going to pay for it. i don't know why is storyline was here if it ended in nothing

6x07 Curse

What is this emergency, my god

Hen listing to Buck just for her entertainment, like every good man/woman friendship

"definitely spreading" hen going with whatever chim is saying

well the curanderas in my neighborhood don't do that, they cure you from empacho, ojeo and pata de cabra

i love this awkward conversation and Bobby saying, "how long you knew?" after saying no ones business

Bobby trying to get Athena to admit that is a coincidence nsjsjsj

Buck running?? what a silly episode

eddie calling his grandma 😔

6x08 What's your fantasy?

Ren faire!

All of this to make "the knight has been swarmed" pun, i hate them

"No, no the bees..." i get you Chim

btw, i hate bees, I'm going to have a good time in season 8

Everyone bowing to Hen, i love when they let her be the hero, i need it more often

Buck babysitting Jee, they are adorable!!

jdjdjdd poor Buck! he only meet Chris when he was like seven, littler kids are so much MORE

Right this is cannon, not a fandom au, may is not a lesbian

i love Athena being like sir i need you to shut up

"Next time you feel the need to confess your deep, dark fantasies, might i suggest a priest?" The priest: you need therapy my guy (base in real life experience, not mine, but real)

"Mommy, i no sleep!" jee is the cutest baby ever. How she screams "Daddy!!" to Chim. Since Chris is growing up Jee is now the cutest kid in the show

Bobby betting Harry, May and Bucks birthday 😭 his children

"Kindergarten, Miss Garcia, RIP" that's too much, Buck first crush was his teacher?

Eddie in denial about Chris growing up jsjsjsj (is not the only thing he is in denial)

Of course the guy was going to fall, why you though fucking in a moving firetruck was a good idea

I love Buck got a lecture just because jsjsjs

I love May can't leave people alone, she needs to know what's this guy problem

And like that save her boyfriend, May Grant Baddest Bitch

I could stay if i was the boyfriend, like she knows what she is doing

Buck wanting to buy weapons for jee, the most uncle thing ever

The actress is the actress, but i love Carla since day one, and i love her friendship with Eddie

Also i headcannon Abby and Carla keep in touch, they have their own buddie cannon bet and when Carla learn that Tommy was Abby's Tommy she was the first she call, and Abby se callo yo de culo

6x09 Red flag

Another episode of Bobby Nash GOING through it

Buck is right 911 is getting weirder

This is so gross! is fun to see they trying to find the guy that the fingers belong to

Okay, let's just forget about this emergency? I wanted to see that!

Uh, Bobby sponsor, something bad is going to happen

I need an episode of Josh outside of work that doesn't include him being assaulted, we always see him working!

Chim is kind of out of character, like he is so superstitious, why is he so calm

Yeah chim should be at least a little scared of the house

Bobby sponsor 😬

Why are they looking at Buck like that, he is right!

But who owns the car? Why are the emergencies in half?

The couple is so suspicious!

Bobby your wife is a cop why are you doing this

Buck really wants to be a dad! Why are you doing this to him!

God josh IS insufferable, if he was real i could hate him, Eddie i understand you

Denny i love you!

Chim buying the house, because yes the only way to buy a house in LA is to buy the house of the homicides

BUCK BUYING A ONESIE FOR THE BABY!!

6x10 In a flash (I haven't realized is called that, jeje flash)

I know what happens in this episode and idk if I'm mentally prepared

Buck with the two kids trying to calm them, i hate this show

"you want to fix everything, that's me" stop destroying me Buck

what moment Albert went back to Korea, WHY THE BUCKLEYS ARE BACK? WHO WANTS THEM!?

"Evan?" Chim don't betray him like that

"Well, Howie" ksjsjs this is going to end so badly, we should ban the Buckley parents from enter LA

Albert you can't come with your parents without calling! Poor Chim

I love Hen struggling with Debny growing up

"I taught you to well" How Chim loves Albert 😭😭

Athena and May going undercover to investigate the rehab? we love to see it

you know May was a theater kid in highschool

A funny bit about a pregnant lady following a horrible accident, weird ass show

"He's not crying" Bobby that's a doll i can see the union between his body and bis head

I don't understand why is such a deal Buck donating sperm is not normal in usa??

😬 I'm finally finishing the episode

God Chim and Buck "fighting" to do the dangerous thing like in season 1, I'm going to be tears in a second

THE ABSOLUTE SILENT WHEN THE LIGHTING STRIKES AAAAAAAAH

Eddie pushing Bobby to get to Buck is INSANE

THIS IS SO TENSE, IS NOT THE NORMAL SHOW DRAMA, IS SUCH A INTENSITY THAT IS SO RARO! 😧

6x11 In another life

Maddie's face!! She deserves to be happy and okay, and have a present mother even if it is a little late

"Wich one?" Noooooo

"Do more!" I can't. my family hugging, I'm throwing myself through the window

Buck's dream, I don't think is a perfect life but the fact that in this life Buck parents "like him more" than Daniel is telling

HE IS A TEACHER? LIKE A PRIMARY TEACHER!? I'm going to cry over this detail

Doug actor has such a good guy face and is such a good actor, really makes me hate Doug

Chim and Maddy crying 😭😭 I'm crying. The coma dream between real life is kind of bizarre

Bobby praying with a rosary in Bucks room he is such a grandpa

YOU ARE TELLING ME THAN IN THE NIGHTMARE CHRIS IS WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS?? I'm going to kill myself

CHRISTOPHER 😭 Is his Buck!

May taking care of Bobby 🥹

With Fix You in the background, what is this, so corny

But Daniel turning into him is cinema

I think Chim's father is what Chim could have become if he went into another path

Maddie kiss in the birthmark!!

Buck if you want a bothering mother you can take mine

6x12 Recovery

Bobby doing this criminal investigation is not my favorite storyline but sure (except when he was with Michael, i miss him)

Hen being Buck's other sister i love them

Josh!? Good Maddie really worries

Buck goes to Eddie's house, and then people pretend I don't shipp them

i love when Bobby punch guys now deserve it 💕

Bobby following Wendall path, he is the best guy ever, is a fame he is not real

6x13 Mixed Feelings

Maybe i need to be struck by lightning. i bearably know multiply

"Struck by Lightning, classic superhero origin" where is a CWFlash!au. Buck as Barry Allen i see it

"Are about to get slayed" no gay talks like that, and no tik tok influencer puts so little energy in their boys

Oh this is the Buddie date, why Eddie knows about an illegal casino?? Where he gets the time??

"3 minutes and 17 seconds" Eddie is just as codependent with Buck, the only difference is Buck shows it more

Rosen... why they just put another regular woman firefighter, they name you a woman and they forget about her

Eddie BLUSHING when Buck is winning?? Down bad for real

"Human calculator" jsjsjsjs

Buck baking cookies for Chris!! So cute!

Hen and Karen are better than me if my kid has done something like that he couldn't get out of his room

6x14 Performance Anxiety

Eddie's tia looking for girlfriend, cute

"Feels like i have to perform" bc you are a fag

Chin and Ravi in the academy!! Bubby comedy!

I'm reacting a lot bc my reactions are like: Umm yummy milanesa de pollo

Eddie discovering family secrets, ah good old fashion latino family

It wasn't a comedy but i still love chim and ravi

"Ravi's back!" I love them

i really hope they show us more Chim and Cap friendship, i love this two

6x15 Death and Taxes (in my country the saying is there're two things you can't escape death and infidelity)

Yes Bobby people die but not in the back of a police card with foam in the mouth!

Chim's favorite ice cream is dulce de leche, argentine icon

"papa jail" jsjsjs Jee is so funny like her dad

Buck stop filtring with the super cute girl please

I don't care about this man, I don't care about this Athena plotline

"You love being the guy with the answers" Jealous Eddie!

Maddie: Why we need to get married?

Chim: looking at engagement rings!

i love them, the best couple in 911 😍

6x16 Lost and Found

Athena arresting Hen and Chim?? jsjsjs what are they doing now!

Guys, Maddie didn't say yes yet

"Is there really a question?"

"Hen, is my sister!" jsjsjsj siblings

"Don't overthink it and don't listen to Eddie" good advice that you should always take /j

I hate all of them taking and assuming thinks about Maddie when SHE DOESN'T KNOW! The Maddie disrespect makes me angry

In the USA you don't applaud when a child is missing? They just scream his name when a cop tells them

Everyone looking for Chim's ring, i love my sitcom

6x17 "Love is in the air"

Every woman in LA looking at Eddie and him doing nothing? I need to keep telling you??

I don't care about Buck with this woman. Lucy? what?

Lucy wasn't anything! show stop trying to tell me that they were something THEY WEREN'T

SO TWO EPISODES AGO THAT I'M SINGING "where are goin to the chapel and we're going to get married" AND THEY FINALLY PUT IT ON THE SHOW. we share a brain cell

"It's a lot" You know how never said that about Buck's life? Eddie

No the pregnant lady!

In this woman's defense if you want to date Buck you need to get used to all of his friends in his apartment at any moment, all of them are intense, no matter who

THE PROPOSAL IS BEAUTIFUL! LONG LIFE CHIM AND MADDIE

"This is exactly what i was looking for" of course he thinks it is a signal, how many times we have to do this

"We are marrying that guy" They are so cute!!

6x18 Pay it Forward

"Good to see you, for real this time" jsjsjs Buck and Lucy could be good friends, they are the same, but this show hates the woman that Buck and Eddie sleep with

What do you mean Bobby doesn't respond?? How many times i need to tell you Bobby can't keep doing this! He is an old man!!

Hen wapping blood to Buck face is so cute, she is so confused but always taking care of her team 🥹

"This one refuses to take anything for the pain"

"I'm fine"

"No, you are not"

Hen i love you, unfortunately i understand you, i have a friend like that

In the afternoon Buck was bleeding over an ambulance and now he is receiving his kid!

"He's perfect, and he's all yours" noooo

Someone please put a baby in Buck

Buck's life is a complicated life, he needs someone who doesn't get scare

"How is he so bad at this?" Chris is a time in your life that you realize that you parents have no rizz and the fact that you are here is a miracle (or an accident)

Now i need to read the couch theory because why is he always without a couch?

I finished it only took me 3 months

Final thoughs, i love Hen being second in command, i love her in charge.

My favorite episode was Pay it forward, love them being trap, my second favorite was the devil that you know, wich is weird because i don`t prefer the police investigations/Athena storylines, but this one was very well done and an aswer for a very long question.

I loved!! The Maddie/Chim romance this season, it was so good. The whole thing with jee, they finding a house, it was cute and funny, i love them.

I'm not fan of Buck's storyline, like him being a sperm donor is kind of random, like he realize he wants to be a father but, i don't it chances him, you know. And yes the ligthing strike is good Buddie angst but i also don't love it. I feel they where trying to go for this healing journey but i don't think Buck learn anything.

Also i hate how Chim "forgives" his father, the man never apologized, horrible, i hate how this show treats shitty parents.

I am also not a fan of how Hen just, dropouts, why, why will you give me that storyline if you walk away with nothing.

Don't get me started in the whole Denny thing, also don't like how they manage that.

And my biggest problem with this show is that they keep naming random woman firefigthers, and we never see them again, stop, give me one firefigther like Ravi, that sometimes is there, sometimes is not, and give her a characterisation, a personality, that is not a copy of Buck and keep her, please, i beg you

So, i know that season 8b started the last thursday, and i got spoil, the deal is the next: if they DON'T make Buddie cannon, a terrible decision but possible, i will keep watching the show probably, and i will problably stop reacting because all the reactions are going to be why are they not together. But if they DON'T make Eddie gay i will stop watching the show, i cannot deal with him doing the same dance again, of being like, why i don't like this perfect catholic, latina woman, perfect for me, i hate that. Sharron die six years ago stop using grieve as an excuse. And i KNOW what is going to happen next season, i'm not thrilled about it but i have fate to season 8, will see

To end this, season 6 is not a bad season, i just think the show was very good, i like the other seasons such more, but i still enjoy the show and when i stopped enjoying the show i will stop watching

If you want to see me my other reactions, they are here: Season 1; Season 2; Season 3; Season 4; Season 5

Okay, bye

#911 #911 show #911 abc #911 fox #911 season 6 #911 reaction #911 Buddie #Buddie

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imhereonthekitchenfloor · 1 year ago

Note

I don't want to scare you since you're already worried about this, but driving is very deadly/there is a very high likelihood you will get in an accident one day. in the US, driving deaths have been greatly increasing every year since like 2010. it's generally a terrible way to get around in terms of safety. so basically, you're not being overly anxious in my opinion. it's a very reasonable fear, though something you probably have to face everyday (unless you have good public transit options where you live)

this npr article speaks specifically about the increasing number of pedestrian deaths for those interested: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deaths-high-traffic-car

My remote job is based 2 hours away and they are always like "you should travel and come to the office. What's the big deal about driving here?" but I have literally never driven to the office without having an instance where I was close to getting into an accident. Whether that be someone switching lanes on me or 2 lanes merging into 1 without enough room. I will do absolutely everything I can not to travel to work.

I've seen things about how you WILL get in an accident someday. It's not an if. This feels very true. My biggest fear is the breaks not working which I have dreams about(and one time on reversing I was accidentally hitting the gas instead of the breaks and almost crashed into a dumpster. I was terrified). But i always think worst case and then am okay so my dreams do tend to have happy endings or 1mph car crashes with 0 damage

OH ALSO on pedestrians. Last time I ordered pizza I was driving after a stop sign while the other side was slowing down and stopping approaching their stop sign. But it was night so I didn't realize SOMEONE IN ALL BLACK WAS JUST WALKIMG OUT BETWEEN THE CARS. And I was going to go faster than that side so I very very easily could have hit them. Ughhh it was scary. Driving is so much

#anon #ask

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jamaiskookie · 4 years ago

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meet me in your memories (knj)

✂︎ pairing: memory traveller namjoon x gender neutral reader

✂︎ wc: 11.8k

✂︎ TW// car crash, mentions of death, crying, mental health, mental breakdowns, spoilers for frozen 1?? um, vomiting, mentions of PTSD, three seconds of family drama, memory loss

✂︎ notes: a little gift from me for being away so long <3 luv yall also ignore how short and shitty this is!!! ignore it!!!!!

✂︎ synopsis: namjoon is a memory traveller - he is thrusted back and forth into his world and the world of his memories, forced to re-enact his past experiences. but he doesn’t recognise you, who keeps showing up in his memories. why doesn’t he remember you? why can’t he recall any of these scenes if they’re supposed to be his memories? and why does it always feel like he’s forgetting something?

he comes to find out that he would choose you over and over again, in whatever lifetime or world he’s in. because he always returns to you.

✂︎ fic tunes: "eight"- iu (prod. & feat. suga) but you're at your favorite secret spot after a long day by neptjoon

masterlist asks

The road is slippery and Namjoon cranes his head out to look at the window. Rain splattering everywhere, he notes worriedly. He hopes that nobody crashes. The bus driver sitting about three meters in front of him is humming a melody to a song he doesn’t know nor recognise. While listening to the poor man hum the off beat tune, Namjoon sits in silence, wondering how sad it must be to drive a bus with no passengers but himself.

Suddenly, his stomach drops and his head spins, and this time Namjoon is certain it’s not from the rain or the driver’s subpar driving. He lurches forward, watching as the rain knocks against the window and falls in thick ribbons.

Click.

In an instant, Namjoon’s world collapses around him and he is thrown into his mind.

Seoul is sweltering hot - hot like he’s never felt before. Namjoon reaches up to clutch his head, which is still spinning, and finds himself standing in a pair of light washed baggy jeans and a sleeveless tee shirt, unlike the padding coat and thick boots he had on just a moment ago.

“Namjoon!” Someone squeals behind him and his heart jumps. He jumps around, facing you and the view of hot street food stalls and tall buildings behind you. Suddenly, his hand is reaching out to grab onto yours and you smile softly.

He hears his own voice ring out, clear as day: “Don’t run. I was looking for you.”

“Psh.” You wave off his concern, handing him a shiny golden hotteok. You hold an identical one in your fist, so he accepts it and murmurs his thanks, tearing apart the pancake and stuffing it into his mouth. Sweet, hot honey and small pieces of walnut flood into his mouth, and Namjoon is momentarily surprised. Science states that you cannot taste or physically feel anything in your dreams.

But Namjoon already proved that wrong long ago.

He takes you by hand and drags you over to a shelter, for some rest, apparently uninterested in your cries of wanting more tteokbokki or some Chinese food. He flings you over to his side and places his hand over your shoulder, while you both silently devour your hotteoks.

“This was a nice date.” You mumble tentatively, and oh. That’s what this is? A date? He wants to turn around and ask you for your name. Where are you from? Why am I here again? He wants to scream it out until his lungs hurt and he gets an answer that makes sense, but no matter how much he tries, his throat will not allow those words to tumble out of his lips.

Why don’t I remember you?

Instead, he replies: “Yeah, it was. This was fun.” He tilts his head down to smile at you and Namjoon finds himself nervous. Nervous enough that his hands are shaking against his will, but he tells himself that the sweat and the nervousness are all side effects of the swampy heat this summer.

You beam at him and Namjoon thinks you’re an angel. You lean up onto his chest to place a soft kiss onto his lips and Namjoon thinks about when he’s going to be thrown back out of his head.

“Wanna go home?” He asks, nudging at the sky, which is already filled up with first streaks of the sunset. Purple hues and pinks and blues that all blend together nicely. You watch the sky for a moment.

“Never.” You offer no explanation after that and Namjoon doesn’t pry. He feels like he understands you, which is scarier than any other encounter he’s faced, in real life and in here. You stare up at him more intensely, and a shudder of fear runs down Namjoon’s back. “I just want to stay here forever,” You enunciate, like you want him to remember this. “Just Y/N and Namjoon.”

Something tugs in his chest and Namjoon screams in his head, no. Longer. Not now. He slips away, gone, disappeared from the world before he can even tell you how pretty your name is. And he awakens back at the bus, where the driver is shaking him and yelling at him to get out.

Namjoon walks home in the rain, yelling out your name in happiness until his neighbours come over politely asking him to shut the fuck up.

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N… Y/N?” He keeps repeating the name over and over again, enough to make Seokjin annoyed, who has moved away from Namjoon’s desk to the sofa in his office just to escape the random spiel that Namjoon is hurriedly rushing through.

“I can’t find a single Y/N in here!” Namjoon cries frustratingly, and the corners of Seokjin’s eyes soften in something that is either pity or empathy. He discards his non-fiction novel about drag queens and wigs to come over and clap a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder.

“My friend, my crazy, idiotic, slightly insane friend.” Seokjin bends down. “You’ve checked all your yearbooks, social media, archives, newspapers… Have you perhaps considered that this person wasn’t that important? Just a passing stranger?”

“No.” Namjoon shoots down stubbornly. “They appear far too often for them not to be important.” So Seokjin shrugs, leaving Namjoon to, once again, search through the Facebook friends of a friend of a friend of a friend.

But no Y/N’s pop up, and he’s wondering if Y/N was just a nickname. Was it even your real name? With a sigh and one single (rather impressive) agitated brow wave, he lets go and spills. He tells Seokjin about how he finally learned your name, about the places you’ve been together and how much you adore street food.

He appreciates Seokjin for being a good friend, for sitting there and not interrupting to call him a crazy person, even if he is most certainly thinking about it in his head. Because Seokjin, at least, knows about a miniscule part of Namjoon’s tragic life. He doesn’t understand, but he gets it, and that’s all Namjoon needs in a friend.

He doesn’t tell Seokjin about how soft and pillowy your lips feel against his, he doesn’t tell you how much he longs to do unspeakable things to you when you show up in those blue short shorts. He definitely doesn’t tell him how much he loves your name.

Seokjin suggests a number of things. That perhaps you are a character from long ago, or maybe a passing stranger Namjoon once had a summer fling with. You may be someone long forgotten like a mutual friend in high school or college. He also suggests a psychiatric hospital to screw his head back on (as a joke, Namjoon’s pretty sure.)

But none of those seem right. Namjoon does his best to explain, he really does. For an award winning journalist and aspiring writer, he does just about a terrible job of trying to string his words together. Seokjin pinches the bridge of his nose and falls back onto the sofa, already spacing out. Namjoon weakly cries out that he knows you. He really does - he just doesn’t remember how, or why.

Like a puzzle with a few missing pieces.

He wonders when and if the missing pieces will ever make their way over to him.

Namjoon gives up and flops down onto the sofa next to Jin, who squeaks out various protests about how heavy he is and how stupidly huge his arms have gotten after he started working out, along the lines of comparing him to Jungkook and calling him a gym rat.

As usual, Namjoon doesn’t listen.

It’s difficult to explain the feeling of falling to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The cursed Click echoes out and suddenly, the world spins around, the axis breaks and he’s physically thrown into another time, another place… another memory that he can’t seem to recall. His stomach lurches, his head hurts and there’s a small breeze flowing in.

For a short moment, the loops of space and time are completely open to him. He can’t see it, but he can feel it. It flips his mind completely upside down and boom. He’s in a specific, random time and place. His body feels light, and every step he takes, he can physically feel it: He doesn’t belong here. He isn’t supposed to be here. Everything feels different. Even the air is more smoky, because something in this world is suddenly wrong, and it’s him.

The next time he meets you, he is in just about the worst place to fall. Sitting in a press conference, his stomach drops and he’s dreading the fall. Namjoon can already hear his boss screaming at him, and he desperately tries to root himself to his seat, typing whatever the assemblyman is yapping on and on about. About farming and agriculture and tax cuts…

Click.

He can distantly hear the assemblyman candidate talk about corrupt government workers as he’s thrusted out of his world and into another.

The memory he has the pleasure to be in this time is something not too unfamiliar. For a second, he thinks if this is just a normal day of him in his cramped, tiny city apartment. Until he turns around and realises you’re lying right next to him, sound asleep and nuzzling into the side of his neck.

The air is crisp. It’s spring, not winter anymore, and he can hear the flower petals outside his apartment complex falling lightly on the ground. This, Namjoon thinks, may just be the best memory he’s been in. The press conference and his life and his boss slips his mind and he cradles you in his chest, holding you closer and closing his eyes shut.

“Mm?” You mumble, half asleep. “You’re suffocating me.” You hoarsely call out, and Namjoon releases you with an insincere apology. He brushes the hair out of your hair and grins, framing you in his head. He reaches to his alarm clock, which is right next to his bed as it always is to check the time.

April 1st, 2017.

Oh god, Namjoon winces. This means he still has that god awful haircut right now. He reaches up to feel his head, and sure enough, the horrible slicked back bleached hair is still there, an unfortunate result of his friend Hoseok daring him to drunk dye his hair.

“You’re awake?” He asks you, and you nod slowly.

He wonders if this memory precedes or follows the one he had with you last time, and he desperately hopes things are going in chronological order. He wants to know you just as much as you know him. Namjoon naively prays to whatever deity that controls his dreamworld: Please follow things step by step, follow the clock.

You roll around, saying something he can’t really catch. He asks you what you said and for the first time today, you peel open your eyes directly facing him. Namjoon’s heart almost falls out of his ass, seeing your eyes bore into his own.

“Where’s my morning kiss?” You ask cutely, nudging his nose with your own button nose.

“Right here.” He finds himself saying, leaning in to close the inches in between your two faces. You taste like hotteok, even early in the morning. You taste like a spring day and a never ending forever. As your lips capture his and his everything is consumed by thoughts of you, Namjoon begs himself to kiss you harder.

His past self declines politely, and Namjoon thinks about whether this counts as himself being controlled if he himself is still controlling what he says and does.

In that moment, listening to your slow breathing and someone across the street playing simple, melodic piano chords, Namjoon tells himself: Do not ever forget April 1st, 2017. You rise from the bed and some form of protest bubbles up from Namjoon’s mouth, to which you just laugh and drag him out of bed with the excuse of wanting breakfast.

You push him into the bathroom, where he expects to meet his sad single grey towel and foggy mirror. You push him in front, and he cringes at the sight of his hair in the mirror. You sigh.

“Calm down. The blonde looks sexy. You can dye it back black later.” He laughs, because it’s clearly not very sexy. For once, his past self is doing exactly what the current Namjoon is pleading him to do. Does it count as reliving your memories if someone else was living through them originally? But, he reminds himself while you hand him a green toothbrush and squeeze a dollop of toothpaste on both your toothbrushes, this is him. He lived through this once and he is just taking a trip down memory lane.

The person who lived through this before was him.

He has to remind himself many more times before it sinks in.

You brush your teeth next to him, fluffing your hair and squinting in the mirror to wake yourself up. Without a second of hesitation, Namjoon brings the toothbrush up and starts to brush his teeth. Nothing has ever felt more domestic or right than this, despite the tentative steps and heavy lead feeling in his throat telling him he still isn’t supposed to be here.

You spit out toothpaste in the sink to gargle your mouth and Namjoon mimics you exactly. Somehow, you find yourselves in the kitchen, giggling while making some sort of french toast with an abundance of cinnamon floating through the air. Which makes Namjoon cough and makes you laugh even harder.

“This is a perfect morning.” You say, peering out the window to watch the city life slowly bustling to life. People scrambling out their doors, ushering their children or pets with them. People you don’t recognise going on walks or runs. Mailmen and delivery people dropping off packages and people yelling into their phones as they hurriedly walk along the sidewalk.

And you and Namjoon, calmly staying in your pajamas while frying toast on the pan.

“Is something burning?” You ask, sniffing the air, and Namjoon’s blood runs cold.

“Oh, shit!”

You smile and shake your head while Namjoon attempts to save the blackened piece of bread to no avail. He catches sight of the corners of your mouth lifting, even as you chastise him about watching the stove and ranting on about how you’re never going to trust him in the kitchen again. Namjoon watches your pink lips, stained with a brown mudge of cinnamon french toast mixture, which lifts up and your head falls back, hair flowing around your head like a halo.

Your laugh plays out in front of him in slow motion, and absentmindedly, he thanks that deity he prayed to for slowing this moment down. Because if there’s anything he yearns most to remember, it’s the way you laugh. A chuckle makes its way out of his own throat as well, and he’s not sure who’s in control at the moment.

Himself or himself in the past?

Either way, they both did the right thing. Namjoon forgets. He forgets the life he has back home, he forgets Seokjin’s warnings, he forgets that he has at least a hundred articles waiting for him at work to be written. He forgets that this world is nothing but a chance for him to follow the footsteps of what he once did, with no control to say or do anything he wishes to do himself.

But, oh, he really can’t bring himself to care.

Those piano chords from before blend together beautifully, and you scrape the black toast into the garbage can, still teasing him relentlessly, and oh. Oh, this is what it means to have a home. You made this junk of a house into a home, and he feels like he has to return here. This is where he’s meant to return to, everyday. Each time.

You turn around after discarding the toast and with a bright smile, you ask him to kiss you again. Namjoon thinks that he doesn’t ever have the capability to deny you when you smile like that, so he complies and crashes his lips onto yours.

The lead, heavy feeling in his throat is still weighing him down. Except Namjoon isn’t sure whether it’s weighing him down to this world or the real world.

The cursed deity pulls him back, pulling him through the time and space back to his own responsibilities and life. His heart is wrenched out and he reaches out, trying to grasp your hand for the last time. He falls back to his own world in a hospital bed and an IV attached to his arm with half a piece of french toast dangling in his mouth and another promise he makes with himself to meet you again with a smile on his face.

Memories… memories that he’s lived through but can’t remember. Memories he slips into to live momentarily through the actions and words of his old self.

Somewhere along the line of diving back and forth his own life and this past one, he has forgotten which is which.

“Most likely due to exhaustion. Lack of sleep, lack of rest. It’s quite common with working young adults, workaholics. I’m putting him on medical leave for the rest of the week. He needs a rest - He needed it yesterday. Don’t worry too much, Mrs. Kim. A long nap and a meal or two will fix him right back up.” Namjoon groggily registers the white walls and beeping noises, the chatter of doctors and nurses rushing around.

He’s in a hospital, and a rush of fear runs straight through his blood. He sits up to eye his mother, sitting next to him and holding his hand. She shushes him, laying him back down on the bed, but all he can do is panic.

“No, not here. Not here again.” He mumbles incoherently. His mother puts a hand over his eyes, shushing him again and telling him softly to go back to sleep. He doesn’t want to go to sleep, he wants to get out of here. But his eyelids are already feeling heavy and he weakly fights against his body, but before he can even process it, his eyes are shut and he is asleep.

Seeing her son close his eyes and drift off to sleep, Mrs. Kim turns back to the doctor.

“I’m not surprised,” She starts. “He’s always worked himself to the bone. But that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about his brain.” The doctor cocks his head and looks through the papers which are clipped to a clipboard in his arms.

“Ah, yes. I see he was in a car accident a few years ago.” Doctors are some of the most heartless people, and you can always tell how experienced a doctor is by how much sympathy they show. This doctor shows none at all, which must mean he’s been working for a long time.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Kim.” The doctor continues, peering over Namjoon’s sleeping body. “I see he suffered light effects after the accident. Selective amnesia, no external damages to the skull. He didn’t suffer as much. In fact, I believe the doctor in charge believed that the amnesia was mostly due to the shock of the event. But he’s received treatment for PTSD since then, right?”

Mrs. Kim nods.

“Good. Doctor Park also noted at the time that his amnesia actually didn’t affect much of his memory. He couldn’t remember distant relatives or kindergarten friends, but that seemed to be the extent of his amnesia. Oh,” The doctor slipped through the clipboard. “He also couldn’t remember certain knowledge about philosophers such as Freud, which he was, quote, ‘devastated over’ un-quote.”

Mrs. Kim stays silent.

“So, you don’t have to worry too much. Best thing your son could do for his well being is rest. And a therapist if he has a relapse or shows some symptoms such as sleep difficulties or nightmares, or physical signs like fatigue and nausea.”

Mrs. Kim nods. “Thank you, doctor.”

That’s it, and she turns back to her son, with her hand in his. She stays there, unmoving until he opens his eyes, mumbling incoherent questions and asking his mother why he is in the hospital again, demanding to be discharged immediately. Her heart breaks a little, small cracks form for her beloved son and she kisses him on the forehead, telling him he’d be out of here in no time.

“What did you see?” She asks quietly, and Namjoon is surprised. She never asks him about his memory walks. It’s taboo to mention it in his household. Not even his sister is comfortable talking about it. “Anything? At all? You passed out at a rather unfortunate time, I heard.” She continues.

“Nothing much.” Namjoon replies, lying through his teeth and trying to justify it with the sight of your laugh. He leans back and closes his eyes once more, bringing up his memories of you and your bedhead. He tries to fill the gap inside of him with thoughts of you, as if that can make up for the empty feeling that he’s forgetting something.

In the hospital, staring at a white ceiling and glaring lights, Namjoon is left to think about what’s happening to his head. During the end of his rather short stay, he comes up with a terrifying conclusion. One that scares him more than he could imagine, but it’s the only one that makes sense. He’s falling in love with you.

He voices out this concern to Seokjin when he visits after his mother leaves. Seokjin stays silent, mumbling out an apology that feels like the wrong thing to say. The elder boy can only look at his friend with sadness in his eyes, telling him that someone as great as Namjoon shouldn’t be suffering so much pain. Namjoon jokes that a witch must have cursed him when he was born.

None of the two friends laugh.

This routine continues on and on, without Namjoon dwelling too much on it. Which is so much unlike Namjoon, whose main personality trait is overthinking about the smallest things. He lets the flow of time and space take him wherever they wish to plop him down. He lets the evil deity toy with his heart and wrench him away whenever you smile the largest.

It hurts right after he is torn away from you, but he’s filled with so much joy in the moment that he can’t bring himself to do anything else about it. Even if he wanted to do something without it, he has no idea where on earth he might start.

Sometimes he questions the validity of his memories. What is real, what is fake? He still can’t answer, and this is what he spends most of his time wondering about. The memories he has with you don’t make sense. Those are large gaps in his life that he seems to have no recollection of.

He goes everywhere with you.

One day he showed up on November 5th, 2015.

The next day he jumped to August 23rd, 2017.

Another time, he was thrown into March 15th, 2016.

None of it makes sense. Are they not memories? He thinks. There’s no possible way he’s spent this much of his life with you and can’t recall any of it. What is real - the world he spends with you, or the world where he always returns to by default?

And yet, nothing else can explain these short periods of blackouts. Ever since one day in some horrible hospital, he’s gone under and pulled and thrusted into some land where he has no control over his own hands. Everything else makes sense. This world, everything else is accurate from the settings to the props, with one anomaly in his memory.

A character who goes by the name of Y/N.

He could go the science-y logic route that he so often frequents, come up with theories that can somewhat explain these periods of time. Theories that include explanations such as hallucinations, or that Seokjin’s right and he’s finally gone crazy. You’re just a figment of his imagination, that this is all in his head and he’s out of his mind.

But he rejects all those theories when he’s clicked into another memory. Somehow, he just understands. These are memories. These are memories he’s had with you, whether that was in a past life or in some sort of messed up alternate timeline where he’s actually happy.

Is this a gift or another curse from this stupid deity?

He has too many questions.

He cannot explain these memories using science, logic, common sense, or even using his own words. But in the moment, while you’re in his arms, he can feel it. He can explain it by describing the way you smell, like pancakes and fresh mint. He can explain it by describing the way you feel, like a warm marshmallow filling up his insides and consuming him.

It’s cheesy, cringier than Seokjin’s dad jokes, but only he gets it.

Namjoon is in his living room, switching channels on the TV and thinking about this when his stomach sinks again. He braces himself, and disappears.

Click.

Seoul is freezing cold. The air is light and he is sitting on a bench on his college campus, rubbing his hands together and zipping up his huge jacket over his sweater. Namjoon shudders, his body not yet used to the bite of the cold compared to the warm breeze he was just enjoying.

He sniffles, nose slightly red like some knockoff Rudolph and wanders around. His body pulls him to go to the right, despite the warm coffee shop being on the left. He shudders again and tries to protest, but his body won’t listen, standing up and walking over to the right with no particular destination in mind. Students are rushing around, complaining about the cold and talking about their next party or study session.

Namjoon pulls himself forwards, and thank god this version of himself still has terrible tolerance for the cold, because he reaches up and pulls his beanie down over his ears, still wandering around aimlessly. Where are you going? Namjoon wants to scream out frustratingly.

His brain doesn’t reply and Namjoon sulks.

Eventually, he is pulled over to another bench, outside in the cold, and he sits down, deeply resenting himself and wondering why on earth he just stood up from one bench to walk to another one. If anything, it’s colder here. He watches the students that pass by for a minute or two, thinking that this is the most boring memory he’s ever been in.

There is no snow falling, but almost everything on campus is lined with a sheet of ice or cold steam. Namjoon nuzzles deeper into his own clothes, cursing himself for not being able to go buy another sweater or something to fight the extreme cold.

Suddenly, you appear in front of him and Namjoon perks up. There you are. He thinks. Finally. You come over and sit down, holding something in your hands. He smiles, waiting for you to speak up and greet him with a kiss that will surely warm him up, but you silently sit next to him, ignoring him. Namjoon urges himself to say something, but instead, he continues to watch the students bustling through campus grounds without looking at you.

Are we fighting? Is Y/N mad at me?

This is excruciatingly frustrating, Namjoon bites his tongue and thinks. Why can’t he just say something? Abruptly, something lands on his jacket with a splat and he straightens up, snapping his neck towards you, who is looking at the yogurt splat on his jacket with a look of terror.

“Oh my gosh!” You squeak out, quickly setting your yogurt aside and reaching for some tissues in your purse. “Oh, god, oh god, I’m so sorry. Please, let me-” Namjoon frowns, taking his hands out of his pockets to thumb at his jacket, debating whether he wants to take it off or not.

You lean over, pawing at his jacket and wiping the yogurt off of his jacket. “I’m so sorry!”

“No, don’t worry.” Namjoon says, chuckling. He reaches for another tissue, helping you get the yogurt off of him. “It’s no big deal.” The yogurt is mostly wiped off and you side eye him with the unmistakable look of guilt filling your eyes. Namjoon laughs again.

“It’s fine, really! No, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m literally so sorry. Do you want me to pay for dry cleaning? Laundry? I can, um, wash it for you! I’m not the best at laundry, but it’s the least I could do?”

Namjoon briefly wonders why you’re being so polite.

“No, it’s fine.” The words tumble out his mouth again before he can process it. “Really, this jacket is old, anyway.” Not really, Namjoon thinks. It feels really new. “But who the hell eats cold yogurt in this kind of weather?” He jokes. “You sure you’re not a demon?”

You freeze, terrified before realising he was cracking a joke. “Oh. Hah! Yeah, no, I guess I just really like yogurt.” You offer lamely, and you break out into a small giggle. “Yeah, I guess I kind of am a psycho for eating it right now. It’s freezing today.”

“God, tell me about it.” Namjoon says, stuffing his hands back into his pockets.

“Thanks for not going bonkers on me. This jacket looks insanely expensive.”

“Not really.”

“I’m Y/N.” You greet, holding a hand out for him to shake. I know, Namjoon thinks with a secret smile, but everything makes sense now. You don’t know him yet. To you in this moment in time, he’s just a random stranger who didn’t blow up on you after spraying some yogurt onto you. To him, you’re… you’re…

“Oh, um, I’m Namjoon.” He says, hurriedly taking a hand out of his pocket to shake your outstretched hand. Your fingers meet and Namjoon swears a small zap just went through his hand.

“Namjoon. Nice to meet you, Namjoon.” You say with a small smile, yogurt already long forgotten on the bench beside you two.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” He says in return, even though he doesn’t mean it. He already knows you, he knows you better than everyone. He knows your favourite food is Korean street food, and you always wake him up with kisses and your favourite colour is periwinkle and you absolutely hate abalone with more passion than he’s ever seen in his entire life.

But this is your first time seeing him, ever, he reminds himself. This is your meet cute. This single moment set off the events in the next god knows how many years. This is the first time he ever had your name grace his tongue. This is the first time you’ve seen him.

Another moment to treasure. You let go of his hand, after realising you two have been shaking hands for much longer than the socially acceptable rate of hand shaking. Blushing, either from the cold or humiliation, you sit, turn back around, grabbing a hold of your yogurt once more.

Suddenly, Namjoon finds himself blurting out: “Hey, you wanna go get some coffee?” You look over curiously, pointing to yourself like you can’t believe he’s asking you out, because you don’t know that you’re all he ever thinks about at any given moment in any given day. “You’ll probably freeze your ass off if you keep eating that yogurt.” He jokes, pretending like this is all because he’s caring about how cold you are and not how cute or incredible or kind you are.

“Sure.” You say, nodding shyly. He stands up, leading you to walk over to the left where the campus coffee shop is. Along the way, you throw the yogurt cup in the trash.

“You can’t bring food brought from outside into a shop, right?” You ask.

Namjoon smiles. “Yeah.” He stays there until night takes over the sky and one single twinkling star in the sky is signalling that it’s time to go home. Possibly the longest time he’s ever spent in a memory. He keeps glancing at the clock, praying that he gets one more minute with you, one more second, one more moment.

At any time, he could be pulled out of this world, and he needs to make the most of it. You tell him about your childhood bedroom and your major. You tell him about the love you have for pancakes, and how much you want a puppy even though it’s prohibited in the on campus dorms. He nods, pretending like this is all new information even though it’s not, and he’s known all of this for the longest time. He knows you better than you know yourself, which he keeps to himself.

In return, he tells you about his own childhood bedroom, which was adorned with posters of western hip hop rappers. He tells you about his passions for writing and music, that if he didn’t major in journalism, he’d be studying music production in school. He tells you that he’s obsessed with philosophy, and in all honesty, is a bit of a nerd.

Instead of laughing or pulling a face, you nod and smile, saying that you think he should tell you more about philosophy on a second date.

You leave the coffee shop with a small goodbye, and even though he desperately wants to, Namjoon can’t kiss you.

He gets pulled back after you disappear pass the corner of the street, and the world morphes into a huge motion blur. When he gets pulled back into his living room, the TV is playing late night TV shows already. Namjoon checks the time. He was pulled in for five hours, the longest he’s ever been in that world.

After that, no matter how much more he prays and begs, he never stays any longer than that.

Three days later, Namjoon suddenly pops into Hong Kong, which is hotter than anything he’s ever felt. The streets are heavy with people, squabbling in cantonese while selling raw meats in a wet market. The sun is glaringly bright, and Namjoon starts to sweat almost instantaneously. Taxis and huge buses drive past, Namjoon jumps to a side only to find a vast ocean. He’s at the harbour front.

The smell of food, of egg tarts and pineapple buns and meat dumplings along with other Hong Kong delicacies waft through the air, combined with the salty air of the sea. It makes for a strange combination that confuses his senses but works nonetheless.

He thought he knew a city like Seoul, but this is a true city. This is busy and fast paced like he’s never even seen before. People shove each other aside to catch the bus, dogs are yapping everywhere and he soaks it all in before the thought enters his head.

What the hell is he doing in Hong Kong?

It’s like every time he wonders aloud, you pop up. “I’ve been looking for you.” You say, echoing the words he said to you that day in the streets of Seoul.

“I was exploring!“ He says defensively, and you roll your eyes.

“Come on.” You say, walking along the harbour front.

“You’re not still mad at me, are you?” Namjoon asks, the words spilling out and surprising himself. Are you mad at him? You’ve never been mad at him before, not in the memories he’s seen. He hasn’t ever seen you fight with him, and immediately, he wants to apologise, fix things before he’s pulled back out and he has to live with the guilt and overthinking of whether you’re still mad at him for the next week.

“Can’t believe you’re mad at me during our vacation.” Namjoon says, and that’s why he’s in Hong Kong, he realises. He’s on vacation. How strange. Namjoon thinks back to when the last time he took a break from work and the only thing he can think of is when that doctor put him on medical leave not too long ago. Oh no, you’re mad at him on holiday?

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” You retort back, and Namjoon has never heard your voice this curt. “Just sit around pretending like everything's okay?”

“What do you want me to do?” Namjoon replies. “You act like this is my fault!”

“It is your fault!” You cry out indignantly, and Namjoon knows that, but why? What did he do? What did you do? “Is this even a vacation?”

“Yes!” Namjoon cries out again in response, and you shake your head.

“You promised, Namjoon.” You say like it’s a warning.

“Yes, I know,” Namjoon says, even though he doesn’t and really, what on earth did he do? “But this is out of my hands! I can’t just say no, you’re not looking at this from my point of view.”

“You’re not looking at this from my point of view!” You argue back, and Namjoon looks around, realising that this squabble is attracting a small crowd of chinese people, gathering around to watch the free entertainment along the sidewalk of Victoria harbour. He awkwardly laughs, raising his hand and bows, a universal sign of apology, grabbing your hand and walking to the other direction.

“Come on, I’d rather not have the whole city witness our fight.”

“Oh, so this is a fight now?”

“What? Yes!” Namjoon says exasperatedly. “How else would you classify this argument?”

Once he makes it to somewhere with at least a sliver of privacy, he turns around with his brows furrowed and a glare etched on his features. Why do you look so angry? Namjoon chastises himself. Just relax, relax, relax. As usual, his body doesn’t listen.

“Why are you so mad at this?” Namjoon asks, and feels a flow of relief go down his spine. Finally.

“It’s not just this instance, Joon. I know work is important, but sometimes it feels like you put literally anything else above me! Like last time? You bailed on our date, like, at least twice. You keep saying you can’t say no, but you can. You have that right, Namjoon.”

Namjoon’s heart softens a little bit. His workaholic tendencies ended up biting him in the ass after all. Sighing he rubs the back of his neck, eyes glued to the floor. “I’m not prioritising work over you, baby.” He tries to explain, and tries to ignore how his heart sinks when your eyes turn stony at the sound of the pet name he often uses to address you.

“It’s just important to me as well, okay? It’s not my fault my boss heard I was going to Hong Kong and insisted I come to interview some investors about Hong Kong’s economy.” He explains slowly. “It couldn’t take more than a single day to get everything organised and tidied up.”

“But-!” You huff angrily, spitting out your words. “You don’t understand! You keep doing this, Namjoon. You keep working, working, working. It’s been this way since college. It’s like you’ll die if you just take a break to come talk to me. I even went over to your office to have lunch with you last week and they told me you were in a meeting.”

“It was important!” Namjoon insists and he can feel things sinking and getting worse and worse with every word he says. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? You can’t expect me to put you in front of all of my responsibilities. I’m sure you have things you can’t give up for me too.”

Hearing that felt like a slap to the face to both you and Namjoon, and he’s screaming at himself internally, why would you say something so, so, stupid?

“Excuse me?” Your broken voice rings out and Namjoon’s accusatory finger falls.

“Wait.” He mumbles, fumbling with his hands. “Wait, I didn’t mean that. Wait, I-”

“Fine!” You yell angrily. “You think nothing’s more important than work? You think I haven’t given up anything for you, Kim Namjoon? Because I’d quit and give up anything for you, you asshole.” You bite out, tears desperately trying not to fall. “You fucking asshole.” You say, before turning back around to weave through the crowd.

“No, wait, baby!” He calls out, and even he knows that he’s messed up. Messed up big time. That was more hurtful than any cuss word or insult he could’ve ever said. “Kim fucking Namjoon, you idiot.” He mumbles to himself. Seeing you cry is more painful than anything else in the world, Namjoon thinks. He’s not ever going to see that sight again if he can help it.

He walks forward, trying to find you. Maybe you went back to the hotel, or went to look at the sea to clear your head. He thinks he sees the back of your head for a second, and he reaches forward, clutching at air. He’s about to cry, and Namjoon has never seen himself be more pathetic.

“Oh no, where are you?” He murmurs to himself like a crazed man. What if you were hurt somewhere? He needs to know you’re safe, he needs to know you’re okay, he needs to make everything better. With each step, the lead feeling in his throat grows heavier and heavier until he feels like it’s sunk to his chest. He wants to kneel down, he wants it to stop hurting, but he can’t.

He must aimlessly follow his shell to do whatever he is doing now.

The lead feeling continues to grow, and Namjoon feels like he’s suffocating. He’s not supposed to be here, he reminds himself. But he has to find you first, then he can leave. Then he can go, but where are you? He wants to cry, he wants to breathe.

Namjoon tells himself to gasp for air, but he cannot. He tells himself if this is the last time he ever sees you, he needs to see you smile. He needs to see you laugh.

Like the pattern in the rest of his meaningless life, an evil deity always pulls him away from the ones he loves when he needs them most. He feels the lead feeling being lifted and pure panic races to Namjoon’s head. He tries to croak out no. He tries to resist, he shoves people aside and calls out your name. But no one answers him, and the cruel deity laughs at his demise.

He is too weak, too weak to control himself.

Namjoon is plucked out of the world and transported back to his bedroom with the threads of time slowly ravelling and tangling themselves around his neck, all while he reaches forward, only to grasp at air and pretend in his head that everything’s alright.

When he reaches his bedroom and wakes up, he stumbles into the bathroom and vomits, all while longing for the warmth of your lips.

Walking around dazedly, Namjoon somehow manages to make his way to Seokjin and Jimin’s apartment, knocking and hoarsely asking them to open, open up please. Because he’s not sure he can hold on to another night alone. Jimin opens the door instantly and catches Namjoon in his arms, frantically calling for Seokjin to come fast.

They lay him on the couch, hearts slowly breaking and trying to convince themselves their friend will be fine as they watch Namjoon whimper in his sleep.

Namjoon wakes to the smell of breakfast, of bacon on the stove and Jimin chattering around while watering his plants. He gets up, headache pounding and throat sore. Seokjin wordlessly hands him a few pills and a glass of water, while Jimin plates up breakfast, placing the sausage, eggs and toast separately on the plate because Namjoon can’t stand it when food on his plate touches.

Silently, the three friends eat. Nobody speaks until Namjoon clears his throat and looks up.

“Thank you.“ He whispers.

“What are friends for?” Jimin says.

Namjoon wonders why he’s got such amazing friends. Jin replies that he was born perfect and God created him like this, so Namjoon shouldn’t dwell too much on it. Jimin and Namjoon both throw a spoon of scrambled eggs in his direction simultaneously, high fiving without missing a beat when Jin lets out a protest of unjust behaviour.

As the three friends sit quietly, Namjoon says: “I think I’m going mad.”

“I’m glad you’ve realised.” Seokjin replies offhandedly.

“I don’t think I can keep going between these worlds. I think it’s making me lose my mind.”

Jimin stills. Seokjin stops washing the dishes and turns off the faucet.

“Do… do you know how to stop it?” Jimin asks hesitantly. Namjoon shakes his head, and Seokjin sighs, in deep thought, which is a strange and rare sight to see itself.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to figure this out together.” Seokjin says casually. Jimin agrees and the faucet comes back on, Seokjin going straight back to washing the pan he used to fry up the scrambled eggs. Jimin unplugs the toaster and Namjoon sits, smiling at his beloved friends.

“You can borrow some of my shirts.” Jimin calls from the bathroom. “You know, if you want to stay over a couple more nights. Feel free.”

“Make yourself at home and shit.” Seokjin mutters, waving his hand around sarcastically. Namjoon almost bursts out into tears of happiness, but he decides to hold it in until Seokjin doesn’t have access to his phone and won’t put Namjoon’s breakdown on instagram live.

The next day, the entire gang comes over, all with varying degrees of understanding what the hell is going on with Namjoon. For example, Yoongi pretty much knows as much as Seokjin does, who still doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Taehyung was just told Namjoon’s been feeling down because God knows that boy has a big mouth and definitely can’t keep a secret to save his life.

Seokjin supplies homemade snacks and burgers fresh off the grill, Yoongi brings over his unlimited Netflix and HBO account passwords he probably stole off of some innocent family member to watch Disney movies, Taehyung comes over with Yeontan clutched to his side because that’s the group's emotional support dog. Jungkook and Hoseok offer up their extensive alcohol collection and bring over some quality wines. Jimin, after a long three hours of consideration, gives up his lucky plushies and fluffy blankets to build a fort.

For one night, the seven boys crowds around the television, watching everything from The Lorax to Tangled to Frozen and bawling their eyes out when Anna turned to ice (spoiler alert!!!) For one night, the fully grown men all turn back into their 8 year old selves, playing video games and staying up as late as they wanted even though they all had responsibilities to tend to the next day.

When they all awake from their mega-sleepover the next morning, the remaining six friends all insist they just felt like watching Disney movies and drinking wine suddenly. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Namjoon’s been feeling a little off in the past few days.

Absolutely not.

Namjoon’s eyes brim with tears and he tackles all the boys to the ground in one incredibly coordinated group hug, ignoring Yoongi’s complaints of being anti-social and that his love language is not physical touch.

“Thanks, guys.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jungkook mutters. “Now could you please get the fuck off?”

“Never.” Namjoon says, muffled because he says it while his head is buried in Hoseok’s chest.

“Love you.”

“... Love you too.”

The next time he falls, Namjoon thinks he’s prepared. Ready, not to get attached, ready to make clear of what belongs in his world and what doesn’t, after lots of pep talks and therapy sessions with Seokjin and Jimin and Yoongi, who is surprisingly helpful with shooting down ideals of toxic masculinity and talking about mental health.

He’s wrong- he’s not ready, but he doesn’t know that yet.

Click.

He’s come to resent that stupid sound. In an instant, he’s dropped into a car, which is strangely familiar. You are next to him, driving, and thank goodness, because everyone knows Namjoon cannot drive. If he were dropped in the driver’s seat, things may have taken a turn for the worse.

“You want to play some music?” You ask, and Namjoon nods.

“Yeah sure, turn up the radio.” You reach over to flip a switch and a pretty tune fills the car, echoing and bouncing off the walls of the small vessel. You bring your hand down and interlace it with Namjoon’s, who is suddenly hyper aware of his surroundings.

“You’re driving, baby.” He says, and a great sense of relief floods back into his system when he sees you smile at the pet name. He hopes this moment is after the Hong Kong trip. He hopes he did the right thing and made up with you afterwards.

“We always do this. When there’s not many cars around, anyway.” You hum along with the music. “Nobody’s on the road tonight.” Sure enough, there are no cars in sight and Namjoon sighs, curling his hand tight against yours. He looks out the window.

“No stars tonight, either.”

You snort. “There are never any stars around the city, babe.”

“Ahh.” He huffs playfully. “Fuck global warming.”

“Fuck capatalism.” You add on, and he nods, wholeheartedly agreeing.

“I love you.” He murmurs.

“I love you too.” You reply with a sweet smile and Namjoon just realises that no, he’s not ready to let go of you, because his heart still flips like crazy when he hears you say that. He’s so unbearably, horribly, absolutely in love with you. Not in a creepy or obsessive way like he was probably in love with you a few months ago, but so in love with you.

He wonders why on earth he’s so drawn to you, but as usual, there’s no definite answers to his questions. Namjoon thinks about how he likes the way you cook pancakes, and how he likes the way you always reach down to pet a puppy no matter where you are or where you need to be. He loves the way you’d give up anything to defend the people you love. He admires your bravery and your courage. He admires the way you present yourself to the world.

He loves you simply because you are who you are, unapologetically and unashamed, which is something he never had the guts to do. But he gets pretty damn near to being fully and truly himself when he’s around you, so maybe that’s why he’s so in love with you.

Namjoon feels bad for a moment because he realises his love isn’t selfless or humble like the ones he sees on dramas and TV. His love for you is shamefully selfish, because he needs you more than anything else. He voices this out to you in a long speech while you keep your eyes on the road.

“I need you more than you think I do, Joon.” You say, while laughing, and Namjoon doesn’t know whether to feel offended or relieved.

“You think your love for me can trump my love for you?” He asks with his eyebrows raised.

“One hundred percent.” You drawl out, and this time, Namjoon’s offended.

“Excuse me? Who the fuck?” He asks, sitting up. You laugh bashfully, enamoured but mostly just entertained by your needy boyfriend who is very willing to prove how much more he loves you right now. “I love you way more than you love me!”

You laugh, your eyes still fixed on the road. “Oh no, please, we’re not arguing about this.”

“Yes we are!” Namjoon demands with a huge smile on his face. “How could you possibly think you love me more than I love you?” Your laugh only grows louder.

“I don’t even know if you’re being serious or just joking around anymore.” You say through bit back laughter.

“I’m being dead serious.” Namjoon softens for a bit, laying a hand on your thigh. “You’re my everything. You’re my future, you’re my present, you’re my past.” A part of you wants to tell him he’s being cheesy again, but the romantic in you who doesn’t want to hurt your boyfriend immediately shuts the realist in you up.

“That was sweet.”

“I try my best.”

You turn your head back to the road and he keeps his eyes on you. On the hoodie you’re wearing, which definitely doesn’t belong to you and he now has a certain inkling of where his missing hoodie went. He likes how it swallows you up. He likes that you have something of his on you.

Not as a weird mark of possession, but he likes that you’re comfortable with wearing something that essentially brands you as his. But you are his as much as he is yours and wow, Namjoon thinks in his head, is this the real Namjoon or the past Namjoon speaking? And his brain replies that it’s both.

“I love you.” He repeats, because as much as he seems to say it, he can’t seem to express how much he loves you (hint: it’s a large amount).

“I love you too.” You say right back.

He wants to say it more. He wants to say it better. He wants to repeat it until you get annoyed and tell him to shut up, he wants to let you know how much he loves you. But his lips are sealed, and he can’t say another word. Instead of what he wants to say, the words that come out his mouth are, admittedly, just as true.

“You’re pretty.”

You giggle. “Did you just realise?”

Namjoon shakes his head. “You’ve always been pretty. You were pretty on the day we met. You were pretty the day we fought in Hong Kong. You were pretty the first time you stayed over. You’re pretty when you cry, you’re pretty when you… I wanted to think of something that rhymes with cry, but it slipped my mind and now everything’s ruined.”

You laugh, a real, huge one this time. He can always tell when your laugh is real or not.

“Thank you.” You say. “For the record, you’ve always been pretty too.”

Namjoon leans back into his seat. “Damn straight.”

“When d’you think you first fell in love with me?” You ask, genuinely curious, and Namjoon thinks for a moment. He thinks about what the Namjoon in this moment would say, and he thinks about what the present Namjoon would say.

If he had verbal control, what would he say? That he fell in love with you during the very first memory he was thrusted in? But that wouldn’t be true, and that wouldn’t be honest. He fell in love with you during the memory of when you met? But that wouldn’t be true either. He fell in love with you in between memories, when all he could think about was the next time you could be in his arms, or how much he longed for your touch.

He tries to say that, he really does.

Instead, what comes out of his mouth is:

“I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s a specific moment. Maybe it was that time we went to the movies and watched Coco while crying over popcorn, or maybe it was that time we went to Disneyland.” Namjoon’s heart slouches, because he doesn’t know any of those moments. He hasn’t been in any of those memories.

“But I don’t think falling in love is a one moment, time stops kinda thing. I was always falling in love with you. From the time you spilled yogurt on my jacket to right now, where you’re asking me when I fell in love with you. I’m going to be falling in love with you tomorrow and the day after that, until the day where we shrivel up and die from old age.”

Oh, good answer, Namjoon thinks.

“Good answer.” You say. “I think I’d say the same thing.”

“Great minds think alike.” Namjoon sighs out.

Something strikes Namjoon’s heart. It’s not the lead feeling or the heavy weight he’s grown used to. It’s strange, like a wave of deja vu. And suddenly, Namjoon stops thinking. He glances over to the control board to look at the time, which proudly reads: December 3rd, 2018.

So that’s why he’s always had the feeling that these were memories. Why he was so adamant to believe these things really had happened to him. Even more strangely, what feelings strike him then is not panic, nor fear. It’s a strange flow of calmness that rushes through his veins. He looks over at you again, driving now with both hands on the steering wheel.

He wonders why the deity would make him witness something as cruel and horrible as this, and he gets the weird feeling that this will be one of his last memories to enter. Namjoon looks at the dark blanket covering the sky and sadly thinks that the deity could have at least placed a few stars in the sky on this night. As consolation, or perhaps an apology.

Something is ticking in the background, and Namjoon has no idea if it’s coming from the car or if he’s imagining it. Flashing memories go through his mind, so fast he can barely register them as images or moving pictures before they are gone again. Your smile, your laugh, your first date, your second date. The day he asked you to move in, the day you told him ‘I love you’ for the first time and he literally fainted.

The day he came to pick you up from work for the first time, the night where he first laid his hands on you and kissed all your worries away.

It comes fast and hurtles towards the two of you, but Namjoon doesn’t even see it coming because all he is looking at is you. Your face, your lips, your eyes, trying to engrave it all in his memory. You yelp out something to him, which he doesn’t hear. Floating images spin around both your heads and a high pitched screech rings out, a spark of orange lighting up like a stack of fireworks. The dark van shoots forward and collides into the driver’s seat.

The world collapses. It goes sideways, rotates then flips completely upside down, and the dark fog starts to eat up Namjoon’s eyesight. Oddly, nothing hurts. Perhaps because of the shock, or panic, but nothing on Namjoon’s body is in pain. Everything crashes, Namjoon’s head hits the window with force. Something breaks, glass cracks, people scream and he cannot tell which is which. Red and white flashes are all he can see before everything fades to grey and he can only reach around in the darkness, to find your hand.

He clutches onto your unmoving, still hand desperately, trying to calm his jumping heartbeat. Are those sirens in the background he hears or is that his imagination? Is that your voice he hears or is that a hallucination?

In the end, his final thought before leaving the world once again is a wish. A wish that he prays the deity will grant him. He hopes that in your final moments, you were not scared.

He falls.

When Namjoon arrives home, his entire body is numb. He doesn’t know where he is, nor what he was doing before he was clicked in. He opens his mouth and screams for a full minute without stopping.

It feels good in a fucked up way.

Namjoon has never been one for confrontation. Just ask his middle school bullies, who tormented him all they wanted because he wouldn’t do anything but put up with it. Just ask Mingyu from work, who keeps piling his unwanted projects and articles onto Namjoon because he never protests or complains to the higher-ups.

But while walking towards his childhood home with the birds chirping and his hands placed casually in his pockets, confrontation is all he can think about. He lets himself in the door; his mother never locks it and walks in calmly.

His mother is sitting on the couch, stitching up a sock which has a hole in it.

“Mom. I’m home.” He says softly, and his mother greets him normally. Namjoon leans on the wall and his mother stares at him strangely, calling him over to sit and have some fruit. He declines, telling her he won’t be staying very long. “That car crash that happened two years ago.”

The needle in his mother’s hand stills.

“They said I had selective amnesia, right?”

The needle picks up speed, stitching faster and faster, his mother’s hand moving faster than light.

“What did I forget again?”

“What did you remember?” His mother asks, never one to beat around the bush.

“Mom.” He says, firmly this time. “What did you do to me.”

The sock is torn apart in his mother’s hands. “Namjoon,” She starts and Namjoon already has a growing urge to shake the truth out of her. “When you got into that crash two years ago, you came out of it with very little injuries. We were all so relieved. When you woke up, you didn’t remember Y/N.” All that fills the air for another moment or two is the spongy sound of silence.

The gap in this family became clearer than ever to Namjoon. He thinks about how everyone must have been in on the secret, even his sister. And he was left to suffer, wondering why his life seemed so empty after forgetting something he couldn’t clutch onto.

“And what?” He demands, screaming and throwing his hands out of his pockets. “Do you think you can just keep something like that from me? The love of my life, and you just decide to erase them from my memory?” His mother stills and looks up at her son.

“You didn’t remember Y/N. You lost contact with all your college friends, and then when I asked the doctor how selective amnesia worked,” His mother cleared her throat. “Sufferers often forget some parts of their memory. Relationships, talents, skills, certain areas or certain people.” His mother looks up directly in his eyes. “Sometimes, especially after going through a traumatic event, people forget certain parts of their memory as a coping mechanism. To erase bits of pain and regret.”

“I thought,” Her voice breaks and her face twists in regret and bad memories. “I thought maybe by forgetting her, I’d be saving you from more pain and hurt. I just wanted you to stop hurting”

Namjoon held eye contact with his mother for three full seconds before collapsing and gasping for air, lying with his head on her lap. All words of scolding, anger. All the confrontational tactics and all the accusations he’d thought of shooting towards her had gone.

“Hurts.” He let out through large gasps of breaths. “Hurts, mom.” He lied there, with tears threatening to spill out his eyes for the rest of the night, with his mother caressing his hair and apologising to him with tears in her eyes.

“Miss Y/N. I miss Y/N.” He hiccups out, and his mother wipes away his tears, but it feels different from when you used to do it.

“I know, I know.” The woman looking down at her son wonders why she put him in so much pain. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” The night carries on like that, with the lights eventually dimming and the night covers up the light in the sky. The mother son pair repeat their grievances and apologies to each other until the sun comes back up, peeking through the curtains and extending out their warm embrace as if it wants to comfort the hurting humans.

It doesn’t take long for Seokjin and co to come knocking on his door, sent by his mother who must have filled him in on everything, judging from the looks on their faces. It only takes one single glance at his friends, tilting their heads and all asking to come in for him to burst into tears. Ugly crying, with snot coming out of his nose and eyes bloodshot red from the nightmares.

Jimin is the first to reach forwards and bring Namjoon into a hug. Soon after that, the six friends surrounded Namjoon, comforting him with the warmth of their arms and soft spoken words of encouragement.

“You did well.” Someone mumbles into his hair.

“We’re all proud of you.” Someone else says.

Namjoon’s sweater sleeves are sopping wet with tears when he asks the boys to help him get into therapy.

Things went on like that for another while.

Therapy isn’t as bad as Namjoon had thought it might’ve been. He wasn’t forced to be vulnerable or open up or confront his worst fears. He certainly didn’t want to tell the truth about the world he’s thrusted in, for fear of getting thrown out of the building and into a mental institution.

Even his mother didn’t believe him the first time he told her about it. She urged him to visit a doctor. How could a therapist who doesn’t even know him believe the nonsense he spouts? Even he himself wouldn’t believe himself if he hadn’t experienced it firsthand. Slowly, but surely, he began to open up, and to his surprise, there was no calling of hospitals or kicking him out. His therapist sat there and listened like everything he was saying was valid.

He started eating again, mostly because of Seokjin, stuffing his creations down everyone’s throats every two seconds, claiming he needs opinions on his new recipes even though Namjoon’s fairly certain that the past three dishes of spaghetti were the exact same recipe.

Namjoon started to workout again with Jungkook, much to the younger boy’s surprise and happiness. They talked about their own struggles while panting on the treadmill and spinner. Jungkook eventually tells him that he also has a secret he keeps from the rest of the guys, which is his high school sweetheart who broke his heart so horribly that he still feels hurt from it.

Jungkook told him to cheer up though, because most of the pain fades away with time. It’s still there, ever as present, but other things will become more important to you and cover up a scar or a wound with blooming flowers.

“Like us,” He said cheekily. “Your friends.”

He talked to Yoongi most days of the week about nothing in particular. He enjoys the time with Yoongi because he’s the only one who never walks on eggshells around him. He still pelts him with pillows and roasts the outfits on Rupaul’s Drag Race with him. Taehyung and Jimin even helped him adopt a dog, an furry white Eskimo named Rap Mon which is literally now Namjoon’s entire life.

Would likely kill all of his friends if one of them hurt his precious baby.

Life is good, Namjoon learns. He gets better at his job. He never forgets you, but things seem to hurt less. But he gets relapses sometimes. Some days he wakes up screaming about the stupid lead filling up his throat. Sometimes he gets nightmares so intense he has to take medicine.

Therapy isn’t as bad as he painted it out to be, but recovery is ten times harder than he thought it would be. Some days all he can do is lie in bed or do nothing, thinking of you.

His therapist tells him that his life is more than his past memories. Both Yoongi and Hoseok agree, when he pulled up a random conversation about it late at night. Hoseok says that there’s never going to be a time where he won’t think of you, or still love you. Perhaps not as much as he once did, but he’ll never forget about you. Yoongi tells him he’s healing, and that they’re all proud of him.

Namjoon meets his friends, for the first time in the two years he’s known them. Taehyung has an extraordinary and (slightly strange) obsession over art museums. He’s been to almost every single one in Korea, and he dragged Namjoon over to one an hour away in Gangnam in the summer. Jimin is an amazing dancer, which Namjoon never knew.

Until Jimin brought it up casually, looking through old footage of his dance competitions. “Nothing big,” He said. “I used to dabble.” Namjoon’s eyes bulged out of his head and he told Jimin if that was ‘dabbling’, then he was wasting away his talent. He asked Jimin why he never made a career out of dance, and Jimin replied casually:

“I feel like if I start to make money off of it, and I’ll lose my love for it. Now that I haven’t really has time for it... I dunno. I feel like I’ve lost the talent a little bit.“

Namjoon told his friend that talent is nothing but a bunch of practice and time dedicated to a certain skill. Nobody loses talent, people just get a little unfamiliar with it. Jimin turned around in deep thought and told him he may just have a point.

Still, some days, he can do nothing but sulk around, feeling like a waste of space. Take today for an example. He walks down the street and out of the corner of his eye, he thinks, and he might be wrong, he thinks he sees you. The back of your head, anyways, but you’re wearing a red sweater with headphones over your ears and you turn around the corner.

Namjoon panics. He drops his coffee, which splashes all over his leather shoes and runs. He runs past the corner and he doesn’t know what on earth he’s doing but all he can do is run, and the wind dries his tears faster and faster, and he forgets all over again, that you aren’t here, that there’s no way he can go back and see you unless it’s in his memories, which he doesn’t even know how to control.

Somewhere deep in the depths of his mind, he knows something about this doesn’t seem right. That it couldn’t possibly be you, because he watched you go right in front of his eyes. He knows that in order to heal, he can’t chase after you or center his world around you. He knows all of that. But in that moment, he forgets that he still doesn’t remember everything about you.

He forgets that you’re dead.

And one day he’ll be free from this constant spinning. One day he won’t ever have to think twice when he cooks pancakes but that day and all that work he’s put in is the last thing on Namjoon’s mind and all he can think about is if that’s really you.

He sprints faster and reaches out, misses your wrist by an inch and ends up clutching at nothing but air. He heaves a huge breath, about to clap his hand over your shoulder-

Click.

tags; @jksbbyfacebunny @extremeobsessions101 @dwcljh @bishuthot @s0seo @stonyiscanon @cecedrake2217

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magicalmarauder · 5 years ago

Text

Missing Piece Pt. 2

Pairing: Shawn Mendes x Reader

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 4k+

Summary: Part 2 to Missing Piece! Following the aftermath of the near-death experience and harsh words exchanged in a crowded ER. What will happen between Shawn, his daughter, and yourself? Will you find your way back to each other or is this the end of your unique little family before it could really even begin?

Read Part 1 here!

After watching you run out of the hospital emergency room, Shawn took a deep breath before heading to the front desk and inquiring after his daughter. Although Madi was the one admitted for shortness of breath due to a severe allergic reaction, Shawn felt as if he was the one who was unable to breathe and the only cure to that feeling would be to have his daughter in his arms once again, alive and well. Realistically, he knew that she was just fine and would make a full recovery, but his paternal instinct was on high alert at the moment and refused to stop triggering the alarm in his brain until he finally saw his daughter.

“I’m here for Madelyn Mendes,” Shawn stated to the nurse at the front desk. “I’m her father.”

The nurse nodded, taking a look at his driver’s license that he had handed over before filling out a visitor badge and giving him instructions on how to find his daughter in the crowded maze of ER beds.

Without wasting a second, Shawn sprinted through the double doors that separated the waiting room from the treatment area, following the directions given to him with bated breath, eyes scanning each bed restlessly, looking for the familiar curly locks and big, brown eyes.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” he muttered to himself, becoming increasingly more inpatient with each second that ticked by without sign of his daughter.

“Daddy?” A small voice sounded from his right. Whipping his head to the side, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw his precious little girl, looking scared and a little overwhelmed, but relatively unharmed.

“Angel,” Shawn sighed, taking two big steps and scooping his daughter up in his arms, burying his face in her neck, breathing in her scent, swearing that he was never going to let her out of his sight ever again.

He felt two little arms wrap themselves around his neck and tears land on his shirt as he listened to the soft sniffles of his four-year-old.

“Are you okay, baby?” He asked. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there with you, but I’m here now and I’m not leaving your side, okay? I love you so, so much. I don’t know what I would ever do without you,” he cried, pressing kisses to her forehead, cheeks, nose, basically anywhere his lips could reach.

“I love you too, daddy,” her sweet voice responded and Shawn swore it was like music to his ears. He would never tire of hearing those words from his precious little princess. A few tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes as he held her tighter to himself, allowing his heart to slow and his anxiety to recede. She was okay. She was here in his arms where she belonged and nothing was going to take her away from him. He would fight tooth and nail to make sure that no harm ever came to her ever again, whether intentionally or accidentally, such as this little incident.

“I’m okay, daddy, I promise,” Madi reassured, pulling back slightly to look in her father’s eyes and Shawn had to bite back a sob. She was so brave, his little angel. In this moment where he should have been comforting her, here she was needing to reassure him.

Shawn closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her forehead, breathing her in one more time.

“I know, baby, I know. You just scared me is all.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, baby, no,” he protested. “It’s not your fault. Was an accident is all. We’ll just have to be careful from now on, though, hmm? No more trips to the hospital, okay?”

Madi giggled at his weak attempt at humor. “Okay, daddy, I promise to not eat any more cinnamon, okay?”

“Good,” Shawn stated firmly, tapping her lightly on the nose, bringing a small laugh out of the little girl.

“Where’s your doctor, baby?” He questioned, placing her back down on the small hospital bed. “I want to hear what he has to say.”

Madi shrugged, crawling into Shawn’s lap and resting her head against his chest, causing Shawn’s heart to nearly combust with love. Sometimes he still couldn’t believe that this amazing little girl was a part of him. She was his and he was hers, forever. And it seemed like every day his heart grew a little bit more as his love for her increased. It was moments like these where she would casually plop herself down in his lap and look at him with so much trust and admiration that he felt like his heart could just burst from the feelings it evoked within him.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, angel?” He responded, looking back down at his little girl who was gazing up at him with a small frown on her face.

“Where’s Y/N?” She asked, pout prominently in place.

Shawn flushed at the question, the events from only a few short minutes ago racing back into his mind. “Umm, I told her that it would probably be best if she left.”

Madi’s frown only deepened, not understanding why he would do such a thing. “Why?”

Shawn’s guilt only grew at that question. Truth is, now that he knew Madelyn was ok, safe and sound in his arms, he was able to think clearly once again, meaning he recognized that the way he treated you was out of line. However, with the adrenaline pumping through his body, his only instinct had been to get to Madi and ensure her safety. And in that craze of panicked paternal instincts, you had falsely been labeled as a threat and blame placed upon your shoulders.

“I was worried about you, Madi. I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Shawn stuttered out. “I knew she had been the one watching you and, in my fear, I guess I blamed her for what happened. I told her she didn’t belong here.” Shawn cringed as he admitted the truth to his daughter, the full weight of the words he had spoken to you crashing back to his consciousness. How could he have spoken to you like that? You had been nothing but perfect towards him and Madi since you had started dating. He constantly told you how their lives were missing something until you had come into the picture. And he meant it. Every word. He knew Madi saw you as a motherly figure. He definitely saw you as his future wife and mother to his children. How could he speak to you like that? You must be so devastated right now.

“Can we call her, daddy?” Madi questioned, looking up at him with shining eyes. It always amazed him how compassionate and empathetic his little girl was. She felt the pain of others in such a real way and was always so determined to help those hurting in whatever way she could. Shawn was incredibly proud and amazed at how she had gotten such admirable qualities and at such a young age too! “I don’t want her to feel bad,” Madi continued. “It wasn’t her fault.”

Shawn nodded. “I know, baby. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone. Accidents happen. I’m just glad that you’re okay. And yes, of course, we can call her. I need to tell her I’m sorry too.”

“Yeah, you do,” Madi admonished seriously and despite the worry churning through his stomach on how you would possibly forgive him after this, he couldn’t help but smile at his daughter’s words. She was a very bold little thing and never failed to call people out when necessary, especially her father.

Pressing another quick kiss to Madi’s forehead, Shawn grabbed his phone out of his back pocket and dialed the familiar number, foot tapping anxiously against the floor as he waited with bated breath for the love of his life to pick up. “C’mon, sweetheart, answer the phone,” he murmured to himself as he listened to the other line ring and ring before finally going to voicemail.

Shawn sighed, hanging up, not totally surprised that you didn’t pick up. You had only just left the ER after all and he knew how strict you were about texting and driving. You were probably still in the car, on the way home. Or at least he could only hope. He groaned internally as he again recalled the words he had spoken to you. “Leave.” “She’s not your daughter.” “I don’t want to see you right now.”

“I really messed up,” Shawn moaned, head falling down in guilt and fear. He couldn’t lose you. He just couldn’t.

***

After receiving the final medical clearance from the doctor and going through the entire discharge process, Shawn pulled up to your shared home a few hours later, a pit forming in his stomach as he saw that your car was nowhere to be seen. The last bit of hope he had been holding onto quickly left as he realized you truly weren’t there. He had of course sent you multiple calls and texts following that first call, apologizing profusely, begging you to call him back, and letting you know that Madi was okay. But nothing yet. Not even a text. At this point, he just wanted to know that you were okay. You had sold your apartment months ago when you had moved in with him and Madi and the nearest relative of yours was hours away. If you weren’t at home, where could you be? As he had learned today, he was prone to panic and overreaction, so his mind immediately went to the worst possible place, imagining your car overturned in a ditch or you alone, overrun by a group of dangerous men.

Unbuckling Madi from her car seat, he wrapped her in his arms and sprinted up the walkway and through the front door, calling your name, holding onto one last shred of hope that you would be there. But nothing. No response. He saw the plates set out on the table, the beginning of this entire disastrous situation on full display. He saw your bedroom, completely untouched. All of your things were still neatly stacked in your closet, which relieved his anxiety slightly. At least you hadn’t packed up and left him. Or at least, if you had, you hadn’t taken your things with you.

Setting Madi down in her play room, Shawn whipped out his phone again, this time calling everyone you knew. Friends. Family. Anyone who could have possibly heard from you. However, he didn’t have any luck. Everyone he talked to hadn’t heard from you all day, which only made him more fearful. Where could you possibly be?

Overcome with worry, Shawn finally calls one last number, waiting as the line rings before the familiar voice finally picks up.

“Mom?” He asks. “Can you watch Madi for a while? There’s an emergency.”

***

Groaning, you placed your arm firmly over your eyes to block the sun peeking through the curtains. Your head was pounding from both lack of sleep and the seemingly endless amount of tears that you had shed last night.

After running out of the ER, you knew you couldn’t go back home. Shawn clearly didn’t want you there and he was probably right in assuming that Madi wouldn’t want to see you either. You had nearly killed her after all. You hiccupped at that thought, a fresh batch of tears coming in as the events of the previous day replayed in your mind once again. Reaching toward the side table near the bed in the hotel room you had purchased for the night, you grabbed a fresh tissue, wiping your eyes and blowing your nose loudly.

Sitting up, you rubbed your sore eyes before walking into the bathroom to wash your face and make yourself somewhat presentable for the day ahead. You knew before anything you had to go to Shawn’s and get your stuff. In the haste to get to the ER and obviously not anticipating such a big blowout between you and your boyfriend, all of your things were currently at the house, including your phone charger. Sighing, you tossed your phone on the bed, realizing it was dead and probably had been for quite some time now. Shawn would usually get after you about keeping your phone battery charged in case of emergencies and he needed to contact you or vice versa. However, you weren’t too worried about that right now, doubting that Shawn would want to talk to you anytime soon. The things he said had been extremely hurtful. Yes, you understood that it was a high-stress situation and his daughter’s safety had been at risk, but you didn’t think you deserved to be spoken to in such a way. The worst part was not knowing if he had meant what he said or not. Were those things he had yelled in the heat of the moment, or was that really how he felt? Did he really not see you as a part of his family despite what he had always seemed to imply regarding your role in their lives?

You shook your head as if to clear it. If you continued down that thought trail, you would be a mess of tears again soon enough.

As you finished getting ready, you tried your best to keep your mind away from the situation at hand, knowing that you would completely break down. Shawn was the love of your life. He was your entire future. At least that was what you thought up until yesterday. And Madi. You knew you weren’t her biological mother, but you had always had a special bond with her and you liked to think that she was beginning to look at you as a motherly figure. Although it hurt that Shawn had blown up and blamed you for the entire situation, what hurt the most was his adamancy that you were not Madi’s mother and never would be. As your relationship with Shawn progressed, you thought that the two of you were on the same page when it came to Madi. You would never push her into something she was not ready for, but you would love her and care for her just as any mother would care for their child. In your eyes, and you had thought in Shawn’s eyes too, she was your daughter in every sense of the word but blood.

You groaned again, tears of hurt and frustration once again leaking out of your eyes. Hastily wiping them away, you grabbed your purse and the hotel room key, preparing yourself for the difficult afternoon ahead. You didn’t quite know what to expect when you arrived at the house, but if this is what Shawn wanted, you weren’t going to force yourself on either him or Madi. You loved them both dearly and if this was what was best for the two of them, you would go along with it without a fight.

***

Pulling into the driveway, Shawn turned the ignition off and rested his head against the steering wheel in both exhaustion and worry. He had been driving around all night in search of you. As soon as his mom had arrived to watch Madi, he took off, going to every place he thought you might be, but turning up empty. He had messed up, and now he feared he had lost you forever.

Shawn stayed in the car, knowing that as soon as he went inside he would be faced with several questions from Madi and he didn’t have any answers to give her at the moment. However, after a few more minutes, his ears perked up as he heard the sound of a familiar engine. Head snapping up, he looked in the direction of the sound and sure enough, there was your car making its way down the road and stopping right behind his in the driveway. Without hesitating, Shawn ripped the car door open and sprinted over to you as you made your way out of your own car.

“Y/N!” Shawn shouted in relief, bounding up to you and wrapping you tightly in his arms. “Where have you been? I’ve been so worried about you!”

You were stiff in his arms, not expecting this reaction from your boyfriend at all. You had mentally prepared yourself for cold looks and harsh comments, not worry and bear hugs.

Feeling your reluctance to return his embrace, he pulled away from you slightly to gaze into your eyes. “What’s wrong sweetheart? Where did you go?”

“I went to a hotel,” you murmured cautiously, trying to match this Shawn up with the one you last saw ordering you to leave the ER the day before. “I didn’t think you’d want me around after yesterday.”

Shawn grabbed your chin, forcing you to keep eye contact with him. “Baby, listen to me. I am so sorry about what I said to you, I didn’t mean one word of it,” he urged, eyes boring into your own as he willed you to believe the words he was saying now and forget the hurtful, untrue ones he had said yesterday. “I allowed my fear and panic to overtake my words and actions. I was so terrified that something so horrible could have happened to Madi that I jumped down your throat unfairly. It’s not your fault, sweetheart. I know you didn’t do it on purpose and I know you were just as scared as I was, and I certainly didn’t help with that.”

You looked up at him shyly through your eyelashes, cautiously taking in his every word. “I love you, baby. So much. And so does Madi. You mean the world to the both of us and I don’t know what we’d do without you. She actually got after me for treating you the way I did,” he admitted, a brief smile gracing his perfect lips. “Deserved every bit of that toddler wrath, too. I was horrible to you,” he sighed. “Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”

He looked at you intensely, biting his lip in anticipation as he waited for your response. His anxiety grew as you remained silent, gaze now set firmly on the ground.

“Baby, look at me, please,” he begged, tears springing to his eyes as the fear of losing you skyrocketed.

Sniffling, your eyes met his once again, his heart breaking as he saw the hurt and brokenness reflected in your irises. “Did you mean what you said? That I’m not Madi’s mom and I never will be? I mean . . . I know I’m not her actual mom, obviously, but I thought you wanted me to be that motherly figure for her, and I thought we were actually getting there . . . I just -“

Shawn began shaking his head vehemently as you continued, finally interrupting you when he could no longer hear any more. “No, baby, no!” He exclaimed. “Gosh, I’m so sorry I ever said those things to you. So sorry I ever made you doubt your importance to this family! But that’s what we are, sweetheart. We’re a family. We may be a little dysfunctional, but I love it. I love us. You are the perfect mother to Madi, you are the love of my life, and you are the mother of any future children we may have. You love me so well. You love MADI so well. I can’t imagine where we would be without you. Just know that what I said yesterday did not have even the smallest ounce of truth. You’re perfect, baby. I love you and Madi loves you. You are our missing puzzle piece.”

Overcome with emotion, you broke down, tears streaming down your face as you threw yourself into Shawn’s arms, burying your face in his strong chest.

“Shhhh,” he cooed, stroking your back and pressing soft kisses to your head. “I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating. “I love you so much.”

After a couple minutes, your cries began to die down enough for you to pull away and look back up at Shawn, who also had tears streaming down his face. “I really am sorry, Shawn,” you murmured.

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay, baby. It was an honest mistake. We both just need to be more careful from now, on but thank God Madi’s okay. You’re okay. We’re all okay. Alright?”

You nodded, eyes closing in contentment as Shawn pressed another sweet kiss to your forehead.

“We are okay, right?” He asked hesitantly after he pulled away, eyes searching your own.

“Yeah, we’re okay,” you smiled, fingers intertwining with his own and giving a reassuring squeeze.

“Good,” he grinned, his heart settling and feeling like all was finally well after an entire day of fear, uncertainty, and pain.

“I love you,” you murmured sweetly, blinking up at him.

A content smile made its way across his face. “I love you too, sweetheart,” he cooed, one hand coming up to cup your cheek as he brought his lips forward to meet your own in a passionate kiss.

You both pulled away after a few moments, sighing in contentment.

“Now,” he interrupted. “I think there’s someone who probably wants to see you.”

You grinned, bouncing on your toes, knowing exactly who he was talking about. Although you knew Madi was going to be fine when you left the hospital yesterday, you technically hadn’t seen her since she was still in the midst of an allergic reaction and struggling to breathe. You needed to see her and hug her in order to truly calm your fears. Luckily for you, the nosy little four-year-old had seemingly been watching your interaction from the window, because not two seconds after Shawn had said that, you heard the front door slam open followed by the sounds of excited giggles and running feet.

“Y/N!” She shouted, bounding up to you and jumping into your arms.

You squeezed her tightly, holding her to yourself and sending up a prayer of thanks that she was alive and well. You hadn’t been exaggerating when you said you saw her as a daughter. You truly loved this little girl. She had easily wormed her way into your heart and there was no going back. She had you wrapped around her little finger and always would, until the day you died.

“I missed you so much,” she sighed, tightening her grip on you as if afraid you would disappear again.

“I missed you too,” you promised, glancing over at Shawn, who had the most content look on his face as he watched the love that flowed so easily and freely between his two favorite girls.

“Thank you for saving me, mama,” Madi murmured shyly, burrowing herself further into the crook of your neck.

Eyes widening in shock, you looked up at Shawn to make sure he had heard the same thing and that you weren’t going crazy. Judging by his open mouth and wide eyes, you assumed you hadn’t made the whole thing up. Madi had actually called you mama!

You had never pressured her, but you had always secretly hoped she would one day feel comfortable enough to refer to you as her mom. It had been so long though that you had kind of given up on that thought, but now here you were!

Your hold on her tightened and you pressed a lingering kiss to her head. “I love you so much, baby, I’ll always be there for you.”

Shawn watched your interaction, fighting back tears as he was overcome by emotion. After having Madi and living as a single dad for so long, Shawn never could have imagined that anyone would fit so perfectly into his and his daughter’s lives. That was until he had met you. You had come in and surprised them both, worming your way into their hearts and filling a hole that they didn’t even realize was there. You were their missing piece and they were yours.

Shawn stepped forward and enveloped the both of you into his arms, pressing kisses to both of your faces and grinning as you both started giggling. His girls. His family.

Hope this was a satisfying end! This was my first time writing multi-part fics! Let me know what you think and if I should do more! Please send any requests you might have and leave some feedback! I love hearing what you guys have to say!

Tag List: @shawn-youth @claredolphinbear24 @helpmemendes @imaginesofdreams @shawnnyyyboiii @crookedly-unique-student @perfectlywrong @alluringshawn @styles-dolan @maaacrisss @lady-of-lies @olivia99louise @strangerliaa @ashwarren32 @shawn-youth @cherrysruin @sunshine-ruins @futuremrspcy @curlsofshawn @bruhh-whateven @alittlebittyuniverse @lanallaa @good-vibes-and-glitter @shawnyslilmuffin @mendesficsxbombay @copper-boom @supercarricat

#shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes fluff #magicalmarauder #dad!shawn #reader insert #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes oneshot

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goddessofchaosleo · 4 years ago

Text

Racer girl

College AU, 18+

Warning: mentions of alcohol use, unprotected sex, fluff

Genre: fluff, smut

WC: 3,3k

Big thanks to my beta readers @karasimpno, @mrs-kuroojinguji and @ceo-of-daichi for giving me priceless feedback and helping me make this better!! <3

Coming to study English lit at college wasn’t fun. You loved reading and what you studied but it wasn’t where your passions lie. Racing. The opportunity came about one day when all of your friends dragged you to a race. A popular guy from your university, Oikawa Toru was racing and everyone wanted to watch him win, you weren’t as excited but you wanted to get in on the scene too so you went with your beautifully modified car and got yourself a race.

After wining race after race that night you earned a reputation of Baby Girl Driver given to you by no other than the Great King of Tokyo racing scene. Ever since then you got challenged and rose up the ranks until you were the Queen of Tokyo races.

You maintained your grades and studied what you loved but something was missing or rather someone to make everything feel perfect. But meeting someone as passionate about something as you were about racing wasn’t easy at first. The guys in the racing scene wanted to be with you for the reputation you had, other guys from your course weren’t supportive of your racing and wanted you to stop so you figured looking for love there was hopeless but you were fine with it. You valued yourself too much to just break in search of a partner.

Yet love and passion came in a tall, dark and handsome volleyball player Iwaizumi Hajime. Having met through some mutual friends you easily kicked it off and were dating within a week. Weeks turned to months and in a blink of an eye two years went by in perfect happiness with the man who loved you as passionately as you deserved to be loved.

Iwaizumi Hajime understood your love and passion you had towards driving and racing. Was he thrilled that you took part in some not so legal races? Not really. Did he support you nevertheless? Absofuckinglutely.

You were there for every game of his, no matter how big or small and he was there to cheer on you when you had a race. Did he bet on his girl every time? Yes. Because he knew how skilled you were and because he believed in you.

But he worried about you every time too. No matter how many times you convinced him your car was more than safe he always feared the worst. What if someone was driving under influence? What if something unexpected happened? In those moments of doubt, not in you but the others around you he realized how much he loved you and how much he wanted you to come out of that car in one piece. That didn’t change even after two years of dating.

Tonight’s race was so much different than any other you had before. You were a favourite but there was a crazy underdog threatening to take your crown and knock you down. His words. A cocky Rooster-haired bastard from Kyoto who thought he could come to Tokyo and take over your territory. People in these circles were usually respectful to those who were winners and Kings and Queens of their territories but this dude was anything but that.

He started off by insulting your skills simply because you were a woman and then went on to challenge you to a one on one race. You took the challenge and you both bet your cars and titles on the race. One of the most important races was going to take place in a few hours and for the first time you were feeling nervous.

You weren’t nervous and insecure about your skill but about his way of driving. You only ever saw videos from his races and he was the worst type of driver. He was reckless and more often than not people got hurt and cars got destroyed. He didn’t care about any of it as long as he came out victorious.

Knowing how much Iwaizumi worried about your safety anyways you decided not to tell him about the man you’d be racing. It wouldn’t help and you couldn’t back out anyways.

Getting ready for a race night always went the same for you. You take a shower to refresh and get dressed. Ever since you started dating Iwaizumi you wore his jersey when you raced and tonight would be no different. Number 1 Iwaizumi proudly on your back, keeping you safe. You’d check your car over one more time, making sure everything was perfect before going to pick Iwaizumi up.

You rolled your windows down and enjoyed the fresh air on the way to his dorm. He insisted on coming even though he had an exhausting practice week behind him. He would never miss a race of yours and especially not one that you were challenged to.

The first thing you saw when you rolled up was your stud of a boyfriend staring at his phone in all black. From his sneakers and black jeans to a quite skin tight shirt and the black leather jacket you knew would end up on your shoulders at the end of the night. There or in the backseat of your car as you two made out.

“I’m here to pick up a snack of a man, Iwaizumi Hajime? Could you help me?” You said with a chuckle as you gained the attention of your boyfriend.

“Ahh yeah yeah. He is waiting for a beautiful girl in a beast of a car to pick him up. Could that be you?” Iwaizumi said with a chuckle as he made his way to the car, getting in with a smile. He leaned in kissing your lips softly. “Good evening lovely.. You ready to win tonight?” He asked softly.

The kiss helped relax your nerves as usual, melting into Iwaizumis hands that cupped your small face. “When am I not my love? With you by my side I can do anything..” with a small smile you were on your way to the races.

Like most nights there were many people gathered around the improvised track as you rolled up to the car park area, but tonight there seemed to be hundreds of people more. Must be because everyone heard about the cocky challenger and Tokyo Queen racing tonight. This meant nothing to you. The only thing that mattered was doing a safe race and of course winning in the end. Too much was on the line and you couldn’t afford to lose tonight.

You got out the car taking Iwaizumi’s hand and heading over to some of your friends who also came to support you and to have your back no matter what. Your unwritten rule was that you didn’t have a drop of alcohol though. Under no circumstances would your performance be influenced by drinking or smoking. Hell you didn’t even have sex with Iwaizumi before your races because you knew that victory sex would feel so much better, plus it would give you something more to look forward to after the race.

The warm up races before yours went quite quickly. Too quickly for Iwaizumis liking as this meant your race was up next. He gave you a tight hug whispering sweet nothings in your ear and giving you a deep passionate kiss before escorting you to the car.

“Go win it love. I’ll be watching.” He said as he looked at you buckling up and getting ready to go.

“I always do Hajime. This will not be the time I lose..” you said before giving him a quick peck and settling in. A silent prayer ran through your head as you checked all the switches and your brakes. You weren’t religious but for some reason before every race you did a small prayer.

Unknowing to you Iwaizumi did the same. Even more he would light incense at the nearby temple and pray for your safety. The only thing that mattered to him.

He could see the guy who challenged you and he was exactly what you had described him to be. A cocky bastard by the name Kuroo Tetsuro who came in thinking he could have this territory and your crown with one race. What worried Iwaizumi was the can of beer he threw to the side, squishing it down. He was driving under influence.

Nothing was prohibited during Tokyo races. You could drink, smoke and do whatever you wanted. The only rule was no purposeful injuries of the other race participants. People who raced in Tokyo, in the races approved by the King and Queen though followed the unwritten rule of utmost respect to the other racer. No one drank until after the race and absolutely no one went in with the thought of destroying someone’s car or hurting anyone.

Iwaizumi feared though that this wasn’t the case with the underdog who came to beat his girlfriend. But it was too late for his fears as both drivers were revving the engines of their cars waiting for the stoplight to turn green and signal the start of the race.

With the starter gun going off and the light running green you were off. Pedal to the floor as you conquered the curves of the track you knew like the back of your hand. The underdog was hot on your tail though, getting closer and closer with each passing mile.

You were ready for anything but the swerve of his car into your lane had you shocked. This was a clear violation of the only rule in the race but you couldn’t let him take this and win. You stepped on the gas, trailing him as he got in the front.

The swerve of your car had Iwaizumi clutching the barricade harder than he already was, his knuckles turning white. What the hell was this guy doing? Had he went in just a bit more your car would have crashed into the building you two were passing by. His worst fears were coming true as you disappeared from his line of sight and he had to follow your car on the big screen that was set up on the wall.

You knew this race wouldn’t be easy but it just got much harder as it was obvious Kuroo didn’t care about your well being or this being a fair race. If your car was to swerve off the road and crash he wouldn’t care, he would take the win and his title without a care in the world. But you weren’t going to let that happen.

You were hot on his tail and knew there was only one place where you could pass him and get the win but it was the most dangerous curve of the track, one where you usually slowed down and still got the win and one where many lost control of their cars for going in too fast. But it was your only option and the only blind spot for the cameras.

You stepped on the gas, right behind Kuroo’s car before pulling the handbrake and drifting through the curve. He tried to get into you and slam you to the side but due to not knowing the track he swerved of the road slamming into the concrete barricade on the side.

You were about to step on the pedal but as you saw the fire and smoke coming up from his car you stopped and ran out of your car. You managed to pull him out as he wasn’t even buckled up and get him in your car. Some of the ash staining your cheeks and hands.

The loud crashing sound was heard at the starting line, smoke coming up from a part of the track and had everyone’s voices die down. Not a sound was heard as the people wondered what happened. The sudden silence was killing Iwaizumi who didn’t know what to make out of the sound. Did you crash? What was going on? Was someone going to call the ambulance? A million questions flooded his mind before he saw your car approaching the finish line.

He didn’t care about a thing as he ran to meet you as you exited the car with a soft smile on your face. There was some ash and dirt on your face but you looked unharmed, your car was also fine so why did you look like you got hurt?

He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest tightly as he calmed down. You were fine and you were safe in his arms right now.

“Baby what happened there? I was terrified..” Iwaizumi said as he pulled away cupping your face in his hands.

“The bastard didn’t study the track. He went full speed at the Curve, trying to get past me but he crashed into the barrier.. ” you explained with a sigh as your hands came to rest on top of his. “I saw the smoke and the fire in the rear view mirror so I stopped, got him out of the car and came to the finish line. He is unconscious but alive..” you explained with a sigh.

You turned to the people who were gathering around the finish line and glared at the unconscious black haired male in your passenger seat. “Get him out of my car and to our hospital. The races are done and he is done in Tokyo..” you said as you took Iwaizumis hand. The people at the finish line nodded and quickly got Kuroo out of your car putting him in a different one to get him to a hospital. The crowd was quickly dispersing and soon you and Iwaizumi were the only ones left.

“Come on, let’s get out of here..” you said with a soft smile as you pulled Iwaizumi to your car. You drove off to a nearby hill overlooking the city before parking. You turned to Iwaizumi whose hand hadn’t left yours ever since you came out of the car after winning.

“I’m fine Hajime.. I promise.” You said with a soft sigh as you turned to your boyfriend. “I would never do anything reckless while in the car even if that meant losing a race. Nothing is more important to me than coming back to you..” you practically whispered as your forehead came to rest against his, your eyes looking into his as you spoke. “I love you Haji..” you whispered against his lips.

Iwaizumi breathed in your scent and relaxed. You were there with him. Safe and in one piece, telling him you loved him. “I love you baby. So much.. ” he said as he cupped your face. “I was so worried though. I heard the crash and saw the smoke but there was nothing. I thought I lost you..” he said softly, his usually confident and strong voice trembling as he held you.

You frowned slightly before placing a soft kiss to his lips. “I’m here Hajime. I’m here and I love you.. Let me show you how much.. ” you whispered as you crawled over to his lap.

Iwaizumi chuckled lightly as you straddled his lap but right now he just wanted to hold you in his arms and wouldn’t object to anything you said or did.

You slid your hands up his chest and neck before resting them on his face, cupping it with your small hands as you leaned in to kiss him. “I love you and I’ll always come back to you.” You whispered as you pulled away, your lower body slowly grinding against his as you felt his hands go from your thighs to your hips.

“I will always love you..” you said as your hands trailed down to the buckle of his pants. “I’m going to show you how much I love you baby. You are mine and I am yours Hajime..” you mumbled against his lips as your hands freed his cock. You quickly pulled your tights down, moving your panties to the side.

Iwaizumi was lost in your soft lips and words of assurance. He knew how much you loved him but hearing it over and over again would never get old to him. Saying you love him and that you would always come back to him had his heart fluttering like the first time you told him you loved him. He helped you take your shirt of admiring you beautiful and soft skin pressing against his as he took his own off before grabbing your face and kissing you passionately. “I love you so much YN. I will always love you.” He whispered as you slowly sunk down on his length.

“Fuck Hajime.. You’re filling me so well..” you groaned as you slowly made your way down his hard cock, your pussy stretching to take all of him in. The pain and pleasure mixed as always, the stretch burning in the most amazing way possible. No matter how many times the two of you had sex, he always felt too big and you always felt so full. Especially when you were riding him, then you could feel him in your tummy.

After a few moments you managed to slide all the way down, staying still as Iwaizumi stroked your hair softly letting you adjust to the feeling and go at your own pace.

“You are doing so good baby girl. Taking me so well.. Take your time baby..” he whispered in your ear as your hands rested on his shoulders, holding on for support as your breaths came out in soft puffs.

“You’re so big Hajime.. Fuck..” you mumbled as you lifted your hips slightly before sliding back down and gasping at the feeling. The tip of his cock easily reached up to your cervix as you went down. The slight burning sensation from being stretched was so good it made your head fall back in pleasure. This granted Iwaizumi full access to your delicate neck and he wasted no time in attaching his lips to it.

You did your best to bounce on his cock but you were slowly beginning to lose yourself in the slow and rhythmic thrusts, your movements becoming sloppier and your mind starting to go blank from the pleasure. “Haji.. I.. please, I’m so close baby..” you mumbled as your head fell onto his shoulder.

“I’ve got you baby girl. I’ll take care of you..’ Iwaizumi whispered against your ear as he began to meet your hips and thrust up and into you, his hand sliding down to where your bodies joined where his fingers found your sensitive clit. His fingers began rubbing the ball of nerves just how you loved it and it was confirmed by the sharp gasp he got out of you.

"Haji it’s too much. I’m.. I’m gonna cum..” you cried out as your hands tugged on his hair, your lips brushing against his.

“Then cum baby girl. Cum all over my cock. Let me hear you scream because I love you so much baby..” he groaned as he sped up his thrusts and the quick motion of his fingers.

The thrill on your face when you came out victorious was his second favourite look on you. The first being when you’re under him as he coaxed orgasm after orgasm out of you.

In a matter of moments you were coming undone around Iwaizumi’s cock, your pussy pulsating around him which only made him cum inside you. His cock twitching as he released his load.

Each other’s names and I love yous filled the car as you came down from your highs.

“I love you racer girl.. ” Iwaizumi said with a lazy smile.

“I love you, my ace..” YN responded.

The two of you sat like that for a while, away from the world, holding each other.

#haikyu x reader #hq anime #iwaizumi x reader

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howlermemes · 5 years ago

Text

𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭 l y r i c s t a r t e r s

✽ long post ahead bc i have no self control ! ✽ change pronouns / punctuation as needed . ✽ some lyrics are explicit. ✽ some themes are slightly darker. ✽ alteratively, send ♫ 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 to have a lyric automatically generated & said to your muse instead .

[ track 01 ] the 1 ❛ I'm doing good! I'm on some new shit. ❜ ❛ I thought I saw you at the bus stop. ❜ ❛ I hit the ground running each night. ❜ ❛ You know, the greatest films of all time were never made. ❜ ❛ If you wanted me, you really should have showed. ❜ ❛ If you never bleed, you're never gonna grow. ❜ ❛ It's alright now. ❜ ❛ We were something, don't you think so? ❜ ❛ If my wishes came true, it would have been you. ❜ ❛ In my defense — I have none for never leaving well enough alone. ❜ ❛ It would have been fun if you would have been the one. ❜ ❛ I had this dream you're doing cool shit, having adventures on your own. ❜ ❛ We never painted by the numbers, baby. ❜ ❛ We were making it count. ❜ ❛ You know the greatest loves of all time are over now. ❜ ❛ I guess you never know. ❜ ❛ It's another day of waking up alone. ❜ ❛ If one thing had been different, would everything be different today? ❜ ❛ It would have been sweet if it could've been me. ❜ ❛ In my defense, I have none for digging up the grave another time. ❜

[ track 02 ] cardigan ❛ When you are young, they assume you know nothing. ❜ ❛ Baby, kiss it better. ❜ ❛ I was your favorite. ❜ ❛ A friend to all is a friend to none. ❜ ❛ Chase two girls, lose the one. ❜ ❛ To kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed. ❜ ❛ You drew stars around my scars and now I'm bleeding. ❜ ❛ I knew you tried to change the ending. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs. ❜ ❛ I knew everything when I was young. ❜ ❛ I knew I'd curse you for the longest time. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired, and you'd be standing in my front porch light. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd come back to me. ❜

[ track 03 ] the last great american dynasty ❛ How did a middle-class divorcee do it? ❜ ❛ The wedding was a charming, if a little gauche. ❜ ❛ There's only so far new money goes. ❜ ❛ Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud. ❜ ❛ It must have been her fault his heart gave out. ❜ ❛ There goes the last great American dynasty. ❜ ❛ Who knows, if she never showed up, what could have been. ❜ ❛ There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen. ❜ ❛ They say she was seen on occasion, pacing the rocks, staring out the sea. ❜ ❛ In a feud with her neighbor, she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green. ❜ ❛ Fifty years is a long time. ❜ ❛ Who knows, if I never showed up, what could've been. ❜ ❛ I had a marvelous time ruining everything. ❜ ❛ I had a marvelous time. ❜

[ track 04 ] exile ❛ I can see you standing, honey, with his arms around your body. ❜ ❛ I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending. ❜ ❛ You're not my homeland anymore. ❜ ❛ What am I defending now? ❜ ❛ You were my town. Now I'm in exile, seeing you out. ❜ ❛ I can see you staring, honey, like he's just your understudy, like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me. ❜ ❛ You'd get your knuckles bloody for me. ❜ ❛ Those eyes add insult to injury. ❜ ❛ I'm not your problem anymore. ❜ ❛ Who am I offending now? ❜ ❛ You were my crown. Now I'm in exile, seeing you out. ❜ ❛ I'm leaving out the side door. ❜ ❛ There is no amount of crying I can do for you. ❜ ❛ All this time, we always walked a very thin line. ❜ ❛ You didn't even hear me out. ❜ ❛ You never gave a warning sign. ❜ ❛ I gave so many signs. ❜ ❛ All this time, I never learned to read your mind. ❜ ❛ I couldn't turn things around. ❜ ❛ You never turned things around. ❜ ❛ You didn't even see the signs. ❜

[ track 05 ] my tears ricochet ❛ If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too. ❜ ❛ Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe — all the hell you gave me? ❜ ❛ I loved you, I swear I loved you, until my dying day. ❜ ❛ I didn't have it in myself to go with grace. ❜ ❛ You're the hero flying around, saving face. ❜ ❛ If I'm dead to you, why were you at the wake? ❜ ❛ Look at how my tears ricochet. ❜ ❛ We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean. ❜ ❛ You know I didn't want to have to haunt you. ❜ ❛ What a ghostly scene. ❜ ❛ You used to tell me I was brave. ❜ ❛ I can go anywhere I want. Anywhere I want, just not home. ❜ ❛ You can aim for my heart — go for blood. ❜ ❛ You would still miss me in your bones. ❜ ❛ I still talk to you when I'm screaming at the sky. ❜ ❛ You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same. ❜ ❛ You turned into your worst fears. ❜ ❛ You're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain, crossing out the good years. ❜

[ track 06 ] mirrorball ❛ I'll show you every version of yourself tonight. ❜ ❛ When I break, it's a million pieces. ❜ ❛ Hush. ❜ ❛ You'll find me on my tallest tip-toes, spinning in my highest heels, love — shining just for you. ❜ ❛ I know they said the end is near. ❜ ❛ I can change everything about me to fit in. ❜ ❛ You're not like the regulars. ❜ ❛ I'm still on that tightrope. ❜ ❛ I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me. ❜ ❛ I'm still a believer, but I don't know why. ❜ ❛ I've never been a natural. ❜ ❛ All I do is try, try, try. ❜ ❛ I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me. ❜

[ track 07 ] seven ❛ Please picture me in the trees. ❜ ❛ I hit my peak at seven, feet in the swing over the creek. ❜ ❛ I was too scared to jump in, but I was high in the sky. ❜ ❛ Are there still beautiful things? ❜ ❛ Cross your heart. ❜ ❛ Though I can't recall your face, I still got love for you. ❜ ❛ Love you to the moon and to Saturn. ❜ ❛ The love lasts so long. ❜ ❛ I've been meaning to tell you, I think your house is haunted. ❜ ❛ Your dad is always mad. ❜ ❛ I think you should come live with me. ❜ ❛ We can be pirates! ❜ ❛ You won't have to cry or hide in the closet. ❜ ❛ Our love will be passed on. ❜ ❛ I used to scream ferociously any time I wanted. ❜ ❛ Pack your dolls and a sweater. ❜

[ track 08 ] august ❛ Salt air and the rust on your door — I never needed anything more. ❜ ❛ I can see us lost in the memory. ❜ ❛ August slipped away into a moment in time, because it was never mine. ❜ ❛ I was see us twisted in bedsheets. ❜ ❛ August sipped away like a bottle of wine, because you were never mine. ❜ ❛ Will you call me when you're back at school? ❜ ❛ I remember thinking I had you. ❜ ❛ It was never mine. ❜ ❛ You were never mine. ❜ ❛ For me, it was enough to live for the hope of it all. ❜ ❛ I canceled plans just in case you'd call. ❜ ❛ Meet me behind the mall. ❜ ❛ So much for summer love and saying "us". ❜ ❛ You weren't mine to lose. ❜ ❛ Do you remember? ❜ ❛ Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car." ❛ I was living for the hope of it all. ❜

[ track 09 ] this is me trying ❛ I've been having a hard time adjusting. ❜ ❛ I didn't know if you'd care if I came back. ❜ ❛ I have a lot of regrets about that. ❜ ❛ Maybe I don't quite know what to say. ❜ ❛ I'm here in your doorway. ❜ ❛ I just wanted you to know this is me trying. ❜ ❛ I got wasted like all my potential. ❜ ❛ My words shoot to kill when I'm mad. I have a lot of regrets about that. ❜ ❛ I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere. ❜ ❛ I ended up here, pouring my heart out to a stranger. ❜ ❛ I didn't pour the whiskey. ❜ ❛ At least I'm trying. ❜ ❛ It's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound. ❜ ❛ It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you. ❜ ❛ You're a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town. ❜

[ track 10 ] illicit affairs ❛ Make sure nobody sees you leave. ❜ ❛ Tell your friends you're out for a run. ❜ ❛ You'll be flushed when you return. ❜ ❛ Take the road less traveled by. ❜ ❛ Tell yourself you can always stop. ❜ ❛ What started in beautiful rooms, ends with meeting in parking lots. ❜ ❛ That's the thing about illicit affairs — and clandestine meetings and longing stares. ❜ ❛ It's born from just one single glance, but it dies and it dies and it dies a million little times. ❜ ❛ You leave no trace behind. ❜ ❛ Take the words for what they are — a dwindling mercurial high, a drug that only worked the first few hundred times. ❜ ❛ They show their truth one single time, but they lie and they lie and they lie. A million little times. ❜ ❛ Don't call me "kid". ❜ ❛ Don't call me "baby". ❜ ❛ Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me. ❜ ❛ You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else. ❜ ❛ Look at this idiotic fool that you made me. ❜ ❛ You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else. ❜ ❛ You know damn well, for you, I would ruin myself a million little times. ❜

[ track 11 ] invisible string ❛ I used to think I would meet somebody there. ❜ ❛ Teal was the color of your shirt when you were sixteen at the yogurt shop. ❜ ❛ Time, curious time. ❜ ❛ Were there clues I didn't see? ❜ ❛ Isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me? ❜ ❛ You ate at my favorite spot for dinner. ❜ ❛ She said I looked like an American singer. ❜ ❛ Time, mystical time — cutting me open, then healing me fine. ❜ ❛ Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. ❜ ❛ One single thread of gold tied me to you. ❜ ❛ Gold was the color of the leaves when you around Centennial Park. ❜ ❛ Hell was the journey, but it brought me to heaven. ❜ ❛ Time, wondrous time, gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies. ❜ ❛ It's cool, baby, with me. ❜

[ track 12 ] mad woman ❛ What did you think I'd say to that? ❜ ❛ Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? ❜ ❛ They strike to kill, and you know I will. ❜ ❛ What do you sing on your drive home? ❜ ❛ Do you see my face in the neighbors lawn? ❜ ❛ Fuck you forever. ❜ ❛ Every time you call me crazy, I get more crazy. ❜ ❛ When you say I seem angry, I get more angry. ❜ ❛ There's nothing like a mad woman. ❜ ❛ What a shame she went mad. ❜ ❛ No one likes a mad woman. You made her like that. ❜ ❛ You'll poke that bear 'till her claws come out and you find something to wrap your noose around. ❜ ❛ I breathe flames each time I talk. ❜ ❛ They say "Move On," but you know I won't. ❜ ❛ Women like hunting witches too, doing your dirtiest work for you. ❜ ❛ It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together. ❜ ❛ I'm taking my time. ❜ ❛ You took everything from me. ❜ ❛ She should be mad, should be scathing like me. ❜

[ track 13 ] epiphany ❛ I think he's bleeding out. ❜ ❛ Some things you just can't speak about. ❜ ❛ With you, I serve. With you, I fall down. ❜ ❛ I think she's crashing out. ❜ ❛ Only twenty minutes to sleep. ❛ You dream of some epiphany — just one single glimpse of relief. ❜

[ track 14 ] betty ❛ I won't make assumptions. ❜ ❛ I think it's because of me. ❜ ❛ One time, I was riding on my skateboard when I passed your house. ❜ ❛ It's like I couldn't breathe. ❜ ❛ You heard the rumors. ❜ ❛ You can't believe a word she says most times. But this time, it was true. ❜ ❛ The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you. ❜ ❛ If I just showed up at your party, would you have me? ❜ ❛ Would you want me? ❜ ❛ Would you tell me to go fuck myself? ❜ ❛ In the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was a just a summer thing? ❜ ❛ I'm only seventeen. I don't know anything. ❜ ❛ I don't know anything, but I know I miss you. ❜ ❛ I know where it all went wrong. ❜ ❛ I was nowhere to be found. ❜ ❛ I hate crowds. You know that. ❜ ❛ I saw you dance with him. ❜ ❛ I was walking home on broken cobblestones, just thinking of you. ❛ She pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions. ❜ ❛ Get in. Let's drive. ❜ ❛ I dreamt of you all summer long. ❜ ❛ I planned it out for weeks now. ❜ ❛ It's finally sinking in. ❜ ❛ Right now is the last time. ❜ ❛ I can dream about what happens when you can see my face again. ❜ ❛ The only thing I wanna do is make it up to you. ❜ ❛ Will you have me? ❜ ❛ Will you love me? ❜ ❛ Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends? ❜ ❛ If you kiss me, will it be just like I dreamed it? ❜ ❛ I don't know anything. ❜

[ track 15 ] peace ❛ Our coming-of-age has come and gone. ❜ ❛ I never had the courage of my convictions, as long as danger is near. ❜ ❛ It's just around the corner, darlin. ❜ ❛ I could never give you peace. ❜ ❛ I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm. ❜ ❛ All these people think love's for show, but I would die for you in secret. ❜ ❛ The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me. ❜ ❛ Would it be enough if I could never give you peace? ❜ ❛ Your integrity makes me seem small. ❜ ❛ I talk shit with my friends. It's like I'm wasting your honor. ❜ ❛ Is it enough? ❜ ❛ I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best. ❜ ❛ The rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me. ❜

[ track 16 ] hoax ❛ This has broken me down. ❜ ❛ This has frozen my ground. ❜ ❛ Give me a reason. ❜ ❛ Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in. ❜ ❛ Don't want no other shade of blue, but you. ❜ ❛ No other sadness in the world would do. ❜ ❛ I am ash from your fire. ❜ ❛ You know I left a part of me back in New York. ❜ ❛ You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for? ❜ ❛ You knew it still hurts underneath my scars. ❜ ❛ You knew you won, so what's the point of keeping score? ❜ ❛ It still hurts underneath my scars. ❜ ❛ What you did was just as dark. ❜ ❛ Darling, this was just as hard as when they pulled me apart. ❜

#rp starters #sentence starters #rp memes #rp meme #lyric starters

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tinycrow · 4 years ago

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I don’t believe in miracles

Chapter 1: This secret

She was speeding down the highway, a plain black vehicle, weaving around traffic where she safely could. In the driver’s seat, a woman with green eyes and messy black hair pulled back into a tight braid flickered in and out of reality minutely before stabilizing with a grimace. Bouncing excitably in the passenger seat was, unmistakably, a baby of a non-human race. Their fragile protoform was bare for the world to see with no armour to speak of. The seatbelt clenched tighter around the precious bundle of metal and youth, a gentle reprimand emanating from all around them. The young one stilled, but their little helm turned curiously to look back through the rear window.

From around several cars’ worth of space behind them, a silver car quickly approached. They were stalled by the traffic between them, for now.

~ Ray to Shawn. I’ve got someone on my tail. Evacuate through the ground bridge. I don’t want anyone hurt if I end up having to fight. ~

~ Shawn here. Gotcha, sunshine. Just come home, both of you. ~

The silent communication ended, and her engine revved as she sped up. An exit was coming up, and she wanted to give as little indication as possible as to her intentions. Her sensors let her know that the silver car was almost directly behind her now, doggedly matching her lane for lane. She wondered if it would try to run her off the road.

At the last possible second, she swerved onto the exit ramp, barely missing the barrier. She knew the other car would be forced to take the next exit or risk an accident to double back. In comparison to the other car, she wasn’t the greatest driver, but she was fiercely protective and maybe a tad reckless. Her passenger chirped in excitement, unaware of the danger they were in.

The woman’s brow wrinkled as she flickered in and out again. Not relaxing in the slightest, but not wanting to crash, she reluctantly slowed down. She may not see her pursuer anymore, but she wouldn’t put it past them to surprise her. She decided to take a roundabout way to the warehouse that was her target destination.

Perhaps luck was on her side because she made it without incident. Tapping into the controller that opened the door, she wheeled herself in and closed the door. She then encoded a request to the Gate Room. Soon, a portal opened in midair toward the back of the room. The dark vehicle hurried through with her enclosed passenger.

:: Unknown Location ::

Once on the other side, the vehicle visibly sagged on its axels in relief. The woman in the driver’s seat blinked out of existence.

“Sunshine! You made it!” A man with long hair pulled back called from a nearby console. With a few more presses of his fingers to the on-screen keyboard, the portal closed behind her, and a loud humming from a nearby machine quieted.

The sound of shifting metal and displaced air filled the quiet, and the black car stood up. In its place was a feminine figure of softly curved metal and dark armour plating. Two black door-wings twitched anxiously behind her. Her pedes daintily stepped forward with the youthful bundle now held in her arms.

“Shawn,” she greeted the smiling human. The ‘baby’ chirred in curiosity at the man, though she held them firmly.

The man turned from the console, hands on his hips and no visible fear on his features. Kneeling her much larger form down, she let the curious bundle meet the man.

“And that must be our new kid,” he said gently, “Cute fella’. Hey there, little guy. I’m Shawn Jenkins. Everyone calls me Shawn, except for… well, you’ll meet them later.”

The young one simply stared for a second, and then chirped happily, reaching small hands to touch him. The large, metal woman muttered a “No touchy,” and quickly stood up again. The looks of disappointment from both the baby and the man caused her to laugh.

“I can’t tell who’s more disappointed, you or the kid.”

She rocked said kid slowly, smiling down at her young one apologetically. “Sorry, my little one. Not until I’m sure that you’ve learnt to be gentle with humans.”

“I don’t mind. I’m not made out of glass, y’ know.”

“I know, Shawn. However, I don’t let any of my youngest interact with humans until they’ve gotten more control of their motor functions, just as a general rule. The cleanup is messy.”

It was a topic that had been discussed before, but no one wanted to argue with ‘mama bear’. Instead, Shawn shrugged, and the two headed toward the doors. A set of doors matching the estimated max heights of each species was available, though Shawn went toward the big door. They exited the building into a small but bustling community.

The buildings were big, but not reaching the heights of skyscrapers. This tight-knit community was sectioned into roughly three parts around a central power source, all within a tall dome-shaped forcefield protecting them from the raging storm outside its perimeter. The three sectors were: Industrial, Residential, and Business. Dividing the buildings and sectors were wide streets able to comfortably fit large vehicles moving both ways.

People, robotic and human alike, peppered the streets, sometimes hauling equipment or other supplies. Each one had their own set of tasks to fulfil, so they tended to move with purpose toward their destinations. Besides, no one wanted to be caught out in the cold, and boy it was cold outside.

They talked as they walked.

“I’m headed to the Nursery,” Ray said, “Where are you headed?”

“I’m going to grab some more people to help me with the crates in the warehouse.”

“You could com’ them. That way you wouldn’t need to leave the building.”

Upon closer inspection, every human could be seen wearing an earpiece of some sort. They came in all sorts of shapes and colours—some of them looked very much like earrings, and some like hearing aids—but everyone had a piece that served as the ‘speaker’ and then a ‘mic’ part (not always attached). It wasn’t just a fashion statement. Every earpiece was designed to look innocuous and perform as a communication device. There were a few public channels separating business and social. Then there were the private calls. They were all generally referred to as “the com”, or in other words the ‘communication servers’.

He shook his head. “Nah… I’ve been meaning to say hi to Brian anyway.”

She hummed in response, giving more attention to her young one who shivered in the cold. Transforming, she said goodbye to Shawn and hurried to Residential. Luckily, the Gate Room was on the border between Business and Residential, so the Nursery was practically next door.

This was done on purpose in case of evacuation. Most people were working in Business or relaxing at home, so it would be easy to quickly run to the Gate Room to be teleported to safety. The only problem was that the portion of the population working in Industrial would be the furthest from the gate room.

:: California, America ::

Sideswipe revved his engine in frustration. He was going in circles trying to find out where the strange bot/con could have gone to. The nearest district seemed to be mostly industry and warehousing... Not the worst place to hide, but it shouldn’t have been possible to be this good at hiding, not with the kind of radiation that the stranger was giving off. He knew he had to call it in.

~ Prime, I lost the unidentified Cybertronian. I followed their strange signature to what seems to be a set of warehouses, but the trail suddenly ends. There’s nothing here but scrap. ~

Optimus Prime was silent for a bit, then asked some questions.

~ Did they attempt to fight you or harm any humans? ~

~ They didn’t do either. They just fled as soon as they noticed me. ~

~ We will reconvene with the human soldiers. Send me the unidentified’s readings then. Prime out. ~

Sideswipe did a quick U-turn and headed back to the highway. The ‘con might’ve escaped this time, but now that he could identify them, they wouldn’t manage it a second time.

As he drove, Sideswipe spared a thought to his brother Sunstreaker, who he had been separated from since a mission at a Con compound on a very distant moon. They worked fine alone, but their teamwork was unmatched when it came to fighting. He knew if he were paired with his brother, there would be little chance for this new foe to escape.

Well, there was not much he could do about his brother. He could only hope that Sunstreaker would hear the transmission from Optimus Prime, wherever his brother is, and come to Earth. Though he imagined Sunstreaker would find this planet a little gross. It was covered in dirt particles and saltwater... not great for keeping clean and rust-free. Sunny was admittedly very vain.

:: Unknown Location ::

A weekly meeting containing a small number of individuals was in session, and it was not going well. The current topic of discussion was the possibility of letting in some of the non-hostile aliens into their community.

Max Wilson, a tall and bulky man with shortly cropped dark hair and bronze skin, said on the verge of shouting, “The community has been safe over these past few years because we have kept to ourselves, kept it quiet. The only thing keeping us safe is our lack of presence in their war, Ray!”

“I realize that! But, as aliens on a planet that is mostly populated by humans that hate anything remotely different, don’t you think they could use a place to call home?”

“What about your babies, huh?!”

Despite the warmth of the central heating flooding the building, everyone shivered. The one person that didn’t was the so-called mama bear. She didn’t take insults to her babies or her ability to care for them lightly. She didn’t take threats lightly.

She asked coldly, “Where are you going with this, Max Wilson?”

He paused at the tone and backtracked a bit. “I’m just saying, they’re- they’re not going to like what you’ve been hiding from them this whole time. They’re not going to understand.” Max took a breath, and seeing as no one was stopping him, he continued, “And just think, what if we do allow a few in? They’re obviously going to want to share it with their friends.

What then? How can we possibly maintain our secrecy then?”

Reluctantly, someone else piped up in agreement, “Chief has a point. As soon as our secrecy is blown, we’ll be forced to choose sides in their conflict.”

“Not to mention various governments’ reactions to tech they could only dream of.”

“We’re gonna get nuked,” joked a pale, redheaded woman next to Ray.

Ray’s cold exterior melts a bit. It’s a running joke, admittedly a lame one, but the fact that her friend Linda (the readhead) was trying to ease the tension breaks through her anger a bit. Ray’s digits meet her metallic face with a small clatter that causes scattered laughter amongst the group.

Ray sighs, and then speaks with a surprisingly soft tone. “I get it, I really do. I want to preserve our way of life here as much as possible. This is not just an experiment, it’s a home, and I would never want to jeopardize that.”

They all sense a “but” coming, and the non-human continues...

“... However, you can’t possibly think that we were going to stay hidden forever. Eventually, through one of our own, overheard conversations, or governments piercing through the storm barrier... We have to be prepared for the eventuality that they’re going to know we’re here.”

The room was very silent.

Despite the cold, despite the lack of direct sunlight, despite the layers of secrecy that prevented them from sharing the existence of their home with anyone, and despite the many problems they faced daily, everyone present had chosen to be here because it was a chance to be accepted as who they were and be cared for despite it all. It was a chance for humans and non-humans to live together in a technology-enriched environment unlike anywhere else on earth. There was no real worry about money except for those that handled the collective finances, as most wants were handled by the finance crew. And because of the vetting of each member of their community, there was a feeling of safety that didn’t come with living ‘outside’.

There were many reasons to be upset about the idea of sharing all that with unknowns.

“How about this. We agree to let this go for now, as it seems there’s no pressing need for it right now. All I ask of you is to think about it. Please.”

Gradually, people started grumbling their assent.

“I think Max had some other issues to bring up, before everyone starts leaving,” Linda announced.

The rest of the meeting passed quickly without commotion.

The Nursery was a big building with many wide and tall rooms. From the front door there was the central room or rec room where all could mingle and play. Connected to that central room were the shower room, Ray’s bedroom, and the children’s ‘bedrooms’, the latter which contained multiple beds as well as a ‘couch’ and tables for relaxing or working. All of the bedrooms were a motley of kids of various stages/frames in order to ensure there would always be an older child for the younger ones to turn to in case Ray was not around. She called these groups ‘families’.

The room directly opposite the front door was one the children were not allowed in. The very first frames were kept in that room, some sparked and others not. Other than the electronic locking device on the door, there were alarms as well as monitoring equipment to add some security.

Ray swept her gaze across the living room, the excited baby babble bringing a smile to her metal face. Her children mostly understood English, though she knew that the youngest would still be talking in chittering, beeping, and chirring. She stepped cautiously around the young ones on her way to a couple of kids squabbling loudly. Putting a servo/hand on her black-plated hip, she eyed them quietly until they started to get out of hand. Mindful of the newly acquired child in her arms, she stepped between the children and pushed them apart, breaking up the scuffle they were getting into.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had to separate you two,” she commented, disappointment thick in her voice, “you know, it makes me sad when my children fight.”

One of them, Moonrider, sulked. The other, Sunstorm, looked unrepentant and seemed to bristle in response.

“Tomorrow, I am assigning each of you to older siblings no longer living in the Nursery. I expect you to listen to them. If I hear good things about you from them, I won’t force you to continue working with them.” She wouldn’t let them do work that was too hard. Most punishments for rowdy youngsters would be either light cleaning or monitoring, quite boring jobs.

“No, please mama.” The previously sulking child now pleaded.

“Oh, whatever will I do? I am so sad. My children want me to be sad.”

“No, I’m sorry mama. Don’t be sad,” Moonrider said.

The other, bristly child looked over to her with a slightly guilty face.

With a sad look on her face, Ray crouched down to their level. “I could really use a hug right now.”

Two smaller bodies attempted to hug her, followed by more, and she cracked a smile above their tiny helms.

:: Somewhere in America ::

After the events in Egypt, Sam returned to college to finish his education. The Autobots returned to base, though after Egypt the human government was pressuring them a lot more than before. The Decepticon threat was not enough reason to continue as they were before, considering the All-Spark was gone as well as the harvester. Now the ever-looming government liaisons were pressuring them for weapons technology and using their status as aliens on a ‘human’ planet against them.

It seems some people were just determined to be intolerant. Was everyone like that? No, they had humans that really cared. But it was admittedly disheartening to see the negative responses from both government officials and civilians alike. Optimus Prime grit his dermas and held his helm high, however.

How long ago was it since he said Earth could be home? A few months? Years? After everything that’s happened, it felt much longer.

:: Unknown Location ::

Because of the tentative status of the aliens on the planet right now, Ray was reluctant to let her older children help out in the warehouses. She reflexively clenched and opened her servos again and again, super aware of the rifle just out of reach. Her human team working the warehouses said they would appreciate the extra muscle. It made sense for her sturdy, strong children to help with the heavy lifting. It would mean they wouldn’t have to rent and store as many forklifts. Things would be done much faster. It was also a chance to show them the world while being carefully watched by her human team, who had all promised her their safety.

Cycling air through her vents, Ray turned her attention back to the plot of land that would become a park. They had dug up and flattened the area with dirt, then piled the material she would need in neat stacks in the centre. It would be a greenhouse of sorts, temperature and humidity carefully controlled to encourage growth. The knowledge she had of the tech behind it wasn’t that complicated, so she didn’t foresee any problems.

Clapping her servos together with a clank, a small spark flashed over her digits. She stood in front of the metal and did a pulling motion with a servo. The metal seemed to almost melt or fall apart, tumbling outwards in little streams and flowing around her to where large beams were beginning to construct themselves. Pivoting on a heel strut, she raised her hand in a lifting motion as it built supportive arches and arches for the doors. Pivoting again, she reached for the glass and similarly called to it. It melted like ice to water and formed the outer shell of the greenhouse. Lastly, she used the leftover electronics and material to create the advanced system to control the climate inside the thinly walled park.

All in all, much faster than teaching her people how to make it themselves. Stretching idly, she looked over her work, scanning a few places to determine its integrity.

“That is cool every time I see it.”

Ray turned to see a familiar redhead with blue eyes, Linda Davies, one of her dearest friends. “Linda, I didn’t see you there.”

She smiled good-naturedly, “Yeah, you seemed pretty occupied. So, how’s the build?”

“Structurally, it is good. But I really don’t know how well the climate control turned out. We’ll have to run it for a day to see.” Ray sheepishly scratched the back of her helm with rounded digits.

Linda walked over to the controls, which came in two pieces of differing sizes for each specie. Going to the smaller one, she examined the screen and buttons.

“So, how does this work?”

Ray ambled up to the smaller control and pointed out how to adjust various things. It wasn’t too difficult, and soon Linda had set the temperature to be comfortable enough for a human to be without a jacket or sweater. Deciding this would be a good test, Ray set the humidity on the bigger control, and they waited for the temperature to start changing.

“This is nice. All it needs now is grass.”

Feeling slightly distracted, Ray hummed in agreement.

Eyeing her large, metal friend, the redhead asked, “Are you worried?”

“I’m always worried.”

“You know Jenkins and all them... they won’t let anyone hurt your kids.”

There was only silence on Ray’s part.

“Besides, they’re only going to stay near the warehouse. All the delivery is still handled by other companies.”

She slowly admitted, “Yes, that’s true...”

:: California, America ::

~ Incoming truck. ~

The whirr of transformations filled the air as the human workers made their way to the wide metal door. Things were going well for the warehouse crew. With help from the ‘bots, moving things through the ground bridge was a lot easier. It was a little messy until they got the hang of hiding whenever a delivery arrived, but once the truck left, the stacked boxes were lifted into the ground bridge. They still required the use of machinery for the delivery trucks, and it wasn’t as fast as the ‘bots moving things straight from the truck into the warehouse, but there wasn’t much they could do about it unless they made their own deliveries.

A red-blue Peterbilt truck backed carefully but skillfully toward the warehouse door. Once the truck was in position, the driver’s side door popped open and a fairly young but muscled man stepped out. He shot the workers a half-hearted greeting before opening the trailer door.

“So, what do you guys do with all this metal?”

Eyeing the curious truck driver with a niggling suspicion, it’s Shawn that answered with practiced ease, “The company stores materials for construction.” Before the driver can ask another question, he immediately asked, “How long have you been a truck driver?”

There was a small pause, before the driver smiled and answered, “About 3 years and counting.”

“You’re pretty young. What’s your name, kid?”

The driver laughed, before trying to walk through the warehouse door. The small feeling of suspicion started blaring a loud warning and Shawn intercepted with a sharp smile.

“Sorry, kid,” he said, “Only company employees are allowed in there.”

The suspicious trucker stopped but didn’t back up. “Sorry,” he said, though Shawn was sure they weren’t at all, “just wanted to check on the load I’ve been carrying for days across Cali. Why the secrecy?”

At this point, the other workers were staring at Shawn and the unnamed trucker with cautious looks. Shawn raised a hand to the trucker and waved him back. Reluctantly, the trucker backed up, but not before spying the headlights of a vehicle around a stack of metal.

“Do you usually park your vehicle inside the warehouse while you work?” There was a look in the trucker’s eyes that screamed suspicion, though his mouth was curved into a constant smile.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to go back to your vehicle while we finish unloading. I’m not sure what other companies you’ve worked with are like, but we’re very busy, and company policy says I can’t have you snooping around our wares.”

The suspicious individual raised their hands in a placating gesture and let themselves be herded back to the driver’s side of the cabin.

“Woah, didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes.”

Shawn held back a biting remark, and simply hummed in response.

Though he helped the workers until they were finished unloading, he kept a close eye on the trucker. The closely watched man disappeared briefly into the cabin of the truck before exiting again to watch the workers from afar. Eventually, when all the metal was unloaded, the trucker sauntered over to close the trailer door before going back to the cabin to drive off. Shawn made sure to watch for the truck’s disappearance before going back into the warehouse and signalling the other workers.

The warehouse door closed and locked before the hidden bots transformed back to their bipedal selves. Their vocals whirred nervously, but they were otherwise silent.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. They’re gone.” Shawn reassured them.

Another worker piped up, “Though that guy was really suspicious. We should report him.”

“Hey Shawn, what was that guy’s name?”

He frowned as he answered, “When I asked, he avoided the question, so I don’t know.”

The warehouse became noisy with conversation before Shawn decided to take charge and whistled loudly, grabbing their attention. “Okay, I know that was exciting, but we need to get our ‘bots out of here and get back to work. I want ‘bots to grab as much metal as you can carry before you leave. Stay on the other side of the ground bridge, moving things to storage. As for the rest of us, we’ll have to move the rest.”

Sending the request for the ground bridge to activate, Shawn clapped and sent everyone back to work. He knew neither mama bear nor Max (their chief of security) were going to like hearing about the incident. Hopefully, he could convince them that they had things under control, so that the ‘bots could remain to help.

#my fanfiction #I don't believe in miracles #transformers #greyscales

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helly-watermelonsmellinfellon · 5 years ago

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Best lyrics on 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒.

the 1 -

“And if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow.”

“We never painted by the numbers, baby, but we were making it count. You know the greatest loves of all time are over now.”

cardigan -

“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.”

“I knew you tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy. I knew you. Leavin' like a father, running like water.”

“I knew I'd curse you for the longest time. Chasin' shadows in the grocery line. I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired, and you'd be standin' in my front porch light.”

the last great american dynasty -

“The wedding was charming, if a little gauche. There's only so far new money goes. They picked out a home and called it "Holiday House". Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud. The doctor had told him to settle down. It must have been her fault his heart gave out.”

“Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names, and blew through the money on the boys and the ballet. And losing on card game bets with Dalí.”

“They say she was seen on occasion, pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea. And in a feud with her neighbor, she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green. Fifty years is a long time. Holiday House sat quietly on that beach. Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits. And then it was bought by me.”

“I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

exile ft. Bon Iver -

“I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending. You're not my homeland anymore, so what am I defending now? You were my town, now I'm in exile, seein' you out.”

“I can see you starin', honey. Like he's just your understudy. Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me. Second, third, and hundredth chances. Balancin' on breaking branches. Those eyes add insult to injury.”

“I’m not your problem anymore, so who am I offending now?”

“You didn't even hear me out. (You didn't even hear me out.) You never gave a warning sign. (I gave so many signs.)”

my tears ricochet -

“We gather here, we line up, weepin' in a sunlit room. And if I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes too.”

“I didn't have it in myself to go with grace. And you're the hero flying around saving face. And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed. Look at how my tears ricochet.”

“We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean. Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring. You know I didn't want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene. You wear the same jewels that I gave you, as you bury me.”

“And you can aim for my heart, go for blood. But you would still miss me in your bones. And I still talk to you... (When I'm screaming at the sky!) And when you can't sleep at night... (You hear my stolen lullabies!)“

“You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same. Cursing my name, wishing I stayed. You turned into your worst fears. And you're tossin’ out blame, drunk on this pain. Crossin’ out the good years.”

mirrorball -

“I'm a mirrorball. I can change everything about me to fit in. You are not like the regulars, the masquerade revelers. Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten.”

“And they called off the circus, burned the disco down. When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns, I'm still on that tightrope. I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me. And I'm still a believer, but I don't know why. I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try. I'm still on that trapeze. I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me.”

seven -

“Please picture me in the trees. I hit my peak at seven feet in the swing over the creek. I was too scared to jump in. But I was high in the sky with Pennsylvania under me. Are there still beautiful things?”

“Sweet tea in the summer. Cross your heart, won't tell no other. And though I can’t recall your face, I still got love for you. Your braids like a pattern, love you to the Moon and to Saturn. Passed down like folk songs. The love lasts so long.”

“And I've been meaning to tell you, I think your house is haunted. Your dad is always mad and that must be why. And I think you should come live with me, and we can be pirates. Then you won't have to cry or hide in the closet.”

august -

“But I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment in time. 'Cause it was never mine. And I can see us twisted in bed-sheets, August sipped away like a bottle of wine. 'Cause you were never mine.”

“Back when we were still changin' for the better. Wanting was enough. For me it was enough. To live for the hope of it all. Canceled plans just in case you'd call, and say, ‘Meet me behind the mall.’ So much for summer love and saying ‘us’, ‘cause you weren't mine to lose.”

“Remember when I pulled up and said, ‘Get in the car’? And then canceled my plans just in case you'd call? Back when I was livin' for the hope of it all.”

this is me trying -

“I've been having a hard time adjusting. I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting. I didn't know if you'd care if I came back. I have a lot of regrets about that. Pulled the car off the road to the lookout. Could've followed my fears all the way down.”

“They told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential. And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad. I have a lot of regrets about that. I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere. Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here. Pouring out my heart to a stranger, but I didn't pour the whiskey.”

“At least I’m trying.”

illicit affairs -

“And that's the thing about illicit affairs, and clandestine meetings, and longing stares. It's born from just one single glance, but it dies and it dies and it dies! A million little times.”

“Take the words for what they are. A dwindling, mercurial high. A drug that only worked the first few hundred times.”

“And that's the thing about illicit affairs, and clandestine meetings, and stolen stares. They show their truth one single time, but they lie and they lie and they lie! A million little times.”

“And you wanna scream, ‘Don't call me "kid," don't call me "baby". Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me. You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else. Don't call me "kid," don't call me "baby". Look at this idiotic fool that you made me. You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else.’”

“‘And you know damn well, for you I would ruin myself a million little times.’”

invisible string -

“Time, curious time, gave me no compasses, gave me no signs. Were there clues I didn't see? And isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?”

“Bad was the Blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to LA. You ate at my favorite spot for dinner. Bold was the waitress on our three-year trip, getting lunch down by the lakes. She said I looked like an American singer.”

“A string that pulled me out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar. Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons. One single thread of gold tied me to you.”

“Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart. Now I send their babies presents. Gold was the color of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park. Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven.”

mad woman -

“What did you think I'd say to that? Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? They strike to kill, and you know I will. What do you sing on your drive home? Do you see my face in the neighbor's lawn? Does she smile? Or does she mouth, ‘Fuck you forever’?”

“And there's nothing like a mad woman. What a shame she went mad. No one likes a mad woman. You made her like that. And you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out, and you find something to wrap your noose around. And there's nothing like a mad woman.”

“Now I breathe flames each time I talk. My cannons all firin' at your yacht. They say ‘move on,’ but you know I won't. And women like hunting witches too. Doing your dirtiest work for you. It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together.”

“Every time you call me crazy, I get more crazy. What about that? And when you say I seem angry, I get more angry.”

“I'm taking my time, ‘cause you took everything from me. Watching you climb over people like me. The master of spin has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me, but no one likes a mad woman.”

epiphany -

“Keep your helmet, keep your life, son. Just a flesh wound, here's your rifle. Crawling up the beaches now. ‘Sir, I think he's bleeding out!’ And some things you just can't speak about.”

“Something med school did not cover. Someone's daughter, someone's mother, holds your hand through plastic now. ‘Doc, I think she's crashing out!’ And some things you just can't speak about.”

“Only twenty minutes to sleep, but you dream of some epiphany. Just one single glimpse of relief, to make some sense of what you've seen.”

“With you I serve, with you I fall down. Watch you breathe in, watch you breathing out.”

betty -

“You heard the rumors from Inez. You can't believe a word she says most times, but this time it was true. The worst thing that I ever did, was what I did to you.”

“But if I just showed up at your party, would you have me? Would you want me? Would you tell me to go fuck myself, or lead me to the garden? In the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing? I'm only seventeen, I don't know anything, but I know I miss you!”

“I was walking home on broken cobblestones, just thinking of you when she pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions. She said, ‘James, get in, let's drive.’ Those days turned into nights. Slept next to her, but I dreamt o’ you all summer long!”

“Yeah, I showed up at your party, will you have me? Will you love me? Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends? If you kiss me, will it be just like I dreamed it? Will it patch your broken wings? I'm only seventeen, I don't know anything, but I know I miss you! Standin’ in your cardigan! Kissin' in my car again! Stopped at a streetlight, you know I miss you!”

peace -

“But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade, ocean wave blues come. All these people think love's for show, but I would die for you in secret. The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me. Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”

“Your integrity makes me seem small. You paint dreamscapes on the wall. I talk shit with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor. And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences. Sit with you in the trenches. Give you my wild, give you a child. Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other. Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother. Is it enough? But there's robbers to the east, clowns to the West, I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best. But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me.”

hoax -

“You know I left a part of me back in New York. You knew the hero died so what's the movie for? You knew it still hurts underneath my scars, from when they pulled me apart. You knew the password so I let you in the door. You knew you won so what's the point of keeping score? You knew it still hurts underneath my scars, from when they pulled me apart. But what you did was just as dark. Darling, this was just as hard as when they pulled me apart.”

“My only one. My kingdom come undone. My broken drum, you have beaten my heart. Don't want no other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in the world would do.”

#folklore #taylor swift #ts8 #music

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mrs-evadne-cake · 5 years ago

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anonymous asked:

What are your top 5 favourite Steve scenes across all three seasons?

A very kind anon sent this as an ask but the formatting got screwed up, so I am reposting it- sorry Anon!

Number 5: The Fight

It’s Steve’s absolute low point as a human being but funnily enough, this scene is where I decided I really love the character. Go figure.

There are so many excellent character moments in this.

You have his weird passivity when it comes to being shitty and how he seems to always try to distance himself from how terrible he, Carol and Tommy act by only tacitly approving of what they say/do like it makes him a better person ( it does not, by the way. People, get out of here with the ‘Well Tommy was the one who actually spray painted everything so it’s not Steve’s fault’ nonsense).

And then you get the second when he snaps and decides to go all-in on being an asshole. The ‘I’m impressed Byers’ speech is amazing because his entire speech pattern changes to deliver it- he gets motor-mouthed as every shitty thing he’s ever thought about saying just pours out of him, because even though he’s decided to go all in on being The Worst some part of him still needs Jonathan to be the one to hit him first to justify the fight to himself.

And my absolute favorite- Tommy stepping in the minute Steve starts to lose and Steve getting pissed at Tommy and pushing him away- he gives up an advantage in favor of keeping things fair and it almost immediately costs him the fight. I think this was the moment where I realized that whatever they were doing with the character from this point on it was going to be a subversion of the shitty 80′s Bully and I was THERE FOR IT.

Number 4: Mom Steve Needs a Yes

I love every single thing about this scene. From the casual Dustin Hat-Pat to the dishrag acting that launched a thousand memes. Character wise we have my favorite thing and something I really want to see more of: Steve trying desperately to be The Adult. I feel like the Steve that very sensibly insists that they are absolutely not under any circumstances going into a bunch of Upside-Down tunnels is a completely different guy than the ‘Sure, let’s track down Russian spies, why not’ Steve in S3.

Speaking of S3...

Number 3: Steve Crashes The Car Into Billy’s To Save Everyone

I just realized I somehow left this off my list of Times Steve Harrington Has Had Almost Supernaturally Good Instincts and that is a crime and I should go to jail.

I don’t have any big character analysis. Just...HOW DID HE DO THIS. This is still the most bad-ass shit I have ever seen. The logistics of pulling this off successfully without killing literally everyone in involved are absolutely bat-shit insane let alone concussed and coming down from an involuntary barbiturate trip.

A couple of people have asked me if when I wrote Steve I intended for him to Shine a little (in the King sense) in my fic and I hadn’t but fuck me, after this scene I sure as hell would.

Number 2: King Steve Snaps

I. Love. This. Scene. This scene is one of the ones that define the character for me.

The problem with S1 Steve is that we get a lot of people talking ABOUT Steve and his position as King of the school, popular, cool, douchebag etc. This scene shows the audience AND confirms for him exactly how bullshit and sad it always was.

Tommy, who going by his wardrobe throughout the season isn’t much less well off than Steve, immediately telling his ‘friend’ who is still covered in blood from getting his ass handed to him how much he owes him for aspirin and a Coke to use as an ice-pack (that amount being the equivalent of about $3.00 today) is an absolutely excellent subtle illustration of how absolutely few fucks Tommy even pretends to give about him.

Steve just being...exhausted by the two of them and himself. There are quite a lot of scenes throughout S1 where his act slips and he actively flinches when the two of them are saying something particularly nasty and his expression here is just finally the pure unguarded misery of not being able to take it anymore.

But he still thinks he can make them stop- he finally stands up as ‘leader’ of the group and asserts authority and immediately finds out he isn’t leader and has none. The range of emotions- going from dismissive to annoyed to fear when he realizes that Tommy is absolutely not playing when he threatens him and that his position as ‘leader’ or even friend is a complete fiction based entirely on doing what the two of them want is just fucking superb.

Billy showing up in S2 was the nail in King Steve’s coffin but this is where he really died.

Love. This. Scene.

Number 1: He’s Awesome!

This could just as easily be Steve Decides To Go Back To Apparently Punch A 9 Foot Monster, Thank God He Found a Nailbat but as much as I love that scene and the Trio, this is the moment that cemented Steve and Dustin as Best Bros forever and for that it gets the top spot. Also it has everything. Steve taking responsibility for the kids, Steve being terrified and doing something stupid anyway, the bat, the return of Steve’s Almost Supernaturally Good Instincts and his being ready to do literally anything to protect his friends, including putting himself bodily between them and death. Peak Steve.

Thanks for the ask Anon! This was...

Everyone on Earth: “WHAT ABOUT THE BATHROOM SCENE”?

Liiiiisten.

I love the bathroom scene. Everyone loves the bathroom scene. People who haven’t even seen the show probably love the bathroom scene. And I love Steve in that scene, his reaction is wonderful and it’s an absolutely beautiful moment that really hammers home that Steve is a ride or die friend who takes people for who they are. That said I consider that very much Robin’s scene, not his so it’s not on the list.

Thanks for the ask Anon! This was a blast!

#asks #steve harrington

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danyellelovessurveys · 4 years ago

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lets get personal.

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?

When You’re Looking Like That - Westlife

Hysteria - Def Leppard

Beautiful - Flickerstick

Hello My Love - Westlife

For What It’s Worth - Buffalo Springfield (covered by Anti-Flag)

2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Michael Rosenbaum - Smallville

3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

4: What do you think about most? Too much shit... because I have BAD anxiety.

5: What does your latest text message from someone else say? Headed out.

6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on? With

7: What’s your strangest talent? Pick up things on the floor with my toes.

8: Girls… (finish the sentence); Boys… (finish the sentence) Are crazy/ Are a pain in the ass.

9: Ever had a poem or song written about you? Yes

10: When is the last time you played the air guitar? 2005

11: Do you have any strange phobias? MANY

12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? No

13: What’s your religion? Wiccan

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing? Chillin Out

15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Behind

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band? They aren’t totally a band... but I have to say Westlife... if we are talking proper band, either Def Leppard or Avenged Sevenfold or Flickerstick

17: What was the last lie you told? Anytime I play nice with my dad

18: Do you believe in karma? Yes

19: What does your URL mean? Random Crap nickname.

20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength? Weakness is my emotions, Strength... I have survived this long.

21: Who is your celebrity crush? It is actually a hockey player... Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes

22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Does sex in a hotub with other people in the room count??

23: How do you vent your anger?

24: Do you have a collection of anything? All kinds of things.

25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? Texting/ Messaging

26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become? No

27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love? Chalkboards/ The Middle

28: What’s your biggest “what if”? What If the last 20 years never happened.

29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Sure why not?

30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. Table/ Couch

31: Smell the air. What do you smell? Ham

32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to? Oh there are so many!

33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast? East

34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender? Nicky Byrne

35: To you, what is the meaning of life?

36: Define Art. Something I just don’t get.

37: Do you believe in luck? Yes

38: What’s the weather like right now? Sunny early evening in the 50s.

39: What time is it? 7:14

40: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? I don’t drive, though I have been in a couple benders....

41: What was the last book you read? The Secrets of Birthdays

42: Do you like the smell of gasoline? No

43: Do you have any nicknames? Yeah

44: What was the last film you saw? Mom’s on a date with a vampire.

45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had? Thyroid Storm, not an injury... (there are plenty of those) but the storm was the worst thing of my life.

46: Have you ever caught a butterfly? When I was little

47: Do you have any obsessions right now? Always, I have OCD

48: What’s your sexual orientation? Straight, I like guys.

49: Ever had a rumour spread about you? I am sure... but I don’t care

50: Do you believe in magic? Yes

51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? Yes

52: What is your astrological sign? Scorpio

53: Do you save money or spend it? Both

54: What’s the last thing you purchased? Coffee Creamer

55: Love or lust? I think one can turn to the other

56: In a relationship? I wish

57: How many relationships have you had? A few

58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue? No

59: Where were you yesterday? Home..

60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you? Yes, my bed jacket

61: Are you wearing socks right now? Yes

62: What’s your favourite animal? Giraffes, Manatees, Kitties

63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you? Eyes, and a full flirt package

64: Where is your best friend? Not sure where she is

65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

66: What is your heritage? 1/4 German 1/4 Dutch 1/2 crap

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM? Almost asleep

68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off? Duh

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend? Yes

71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do? Help that Pup

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid? A - They would figure it out, from the look on my face/ B - Live it Up!/ C - Terrified

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love. Love

74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? Hello My Love & When You’re Looking Like That - Both Westlife

75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number? No Clue

76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship? Trust

77: How can I win your heart? Play Hockey? I don’t know... changes with my moods

78: Can insanity bring on more creativity? Huh?

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? Getting my kitty Binx, even though he can be a pain in the ass.

80: What size shoes do you wear? 8 1/2

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

82: What is your favourite word? Fuck

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart. Mom

84: What is a saying you say a lot? Not really a phrase, more like a word... and that is Fuck.

85: What’s the last song you listened to? Roll Me Away - Bob Seger

86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours? Blue/ Pink/ Purple.

87: What is your current desktop picture? Ravenclaw wallpaper.

88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be? At this point in time, there is a good chance of that.

89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on? Wat is my true worst fear.

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do? Scream!

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power? The power to make people/ animals live forever

92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? HA HA.... Playing with the Serge.

93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? The loss of my Kitty...

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be? Nicky from Westlife.

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? In a perfect world, I would be going to see Westlife perform.

96: Do you have any relatives in jail? I have in the past.

97: Have you ever thrown up in the car? Yes.

98: Ever been on a plane? Yes.

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say? STAY THE FUCK HOME!

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years ago

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Apocalypse- What, Now?

Interesting premise, but unfortunately it got dragged down by too many unnecessary jokes.

This episode begins with a prologue scene, with a moment from the distant past. You can tell it’s the distant past because the scene is presented with a dull yellow tint to it. The scene apparently takes place in the year 1684, but we’re not told that until later on. Bandits are in the process of breaking into the Monastery of Saint Theophilus, which we’ll eventually learn is located on a mountain in Greece. Now, granted my knowledge of world history is limited, but while I have heard of monasteries being raided by Vikings from the 790s through the 11th century, this event is taking place during the 17th century, long after the Viking Age came to an end. (Not to mention the fact that I actually did a little research and there doesn’t seem to be historical evidence to suggest the Vikings ever invaded Greece.) So that presents the question of who exactly these bandits are, and why they chose to attack this monastery. In any event, the abbot of the monastery opens up an ornate looking box and removes an old book that he refers to as The Codex of Saint Theophilus. The Abbot refers to this book as the monastery’s greatest treasure, and announces that it must never fall into the hands of non-believers. The Abbot entrusts The Codex to a monk who was with him, reminding him that the wax seal holding The Codex shut must never be broken. The monk entrusted with The Codex’s safety then attempts to escape from the besieged monastery by climbing out the window and down a rope. But the rope was apparently not long enough for the Monk to reach the ground safely, and we hear him screaming as he falls from the mountain. So, did this monk just die off-screen? If so, it can probably be concluded there weren’t many survivors of the monastery’s siege. I imagine there was a lot of bloodshed that day, as I expect the bandits would probably have killed anyone they came across during the invasion of the monastery.

We then flash forward to the present day. Ray and Peter are attending a rare book auction somewhere because Ray heard that one of the books that will be auctioned off is a copy of Benz & Frank’s The Ectoplasmic Gourmet. And the nerd in me is wondering what this book is even about. Based on the title, it sounds like a cookbook. So is it a cookbook listing recipes made exclusively for ghosts, or are we going into To Serve Man territory here? Anyway, before the Auctioneer gets to the book Ray is after, he presents the next book on the list. Which, as you might expect, is The Codex of Saint Theophilus. No idea how they managed to recover it in the first place, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. The Auctioneer begins the bidding on The Codex, but because the dust that the auctioneer blew off the cover ended up going into Peter’s nose, Peter ends up sneezing at the worst possible moment and therefore accidently buys the book for $1,000. Which seems a bit contrived, particularly since you’d think the Auctioneer would have dusted the book off before the auction even begin. Or at least have not blown the dust off in the direction of the people attending the auction.

So Peter ends up with The Codex. While they do approach the Auctioneer afterwards, they’re told that all sales are final. But they are welcome to come to the next auction so they can sell The Codex again there. Until then, though, they’re stuck with the Codex. Peter and Ray then return to the Firehouse where Egon is attempting to build something he calls an Ectoplasmic Disintegrator. Which strikes me as quite disturbing. If it does what it says on the tin, it means this new invention will disintegrate a ghost. Isn’t that the same as destroying a ghost? I think there should be some ethical consideration here. Though the Ectoplasmic Disintegrator does blow up pretty quickly, so hopefully Egon will take that as some sort of cosmic sign that he shouldn’t dabble in such a thing. When Peter and Ray return, Ray informs the others that they hadn’t been able to obtain a copy of The Ectoplasmic Gourmet because of Peter’s poorly timed sneeze. The surreal thing about this is that Ray’s tone suggests he’s annoyed, but he has a large smile on his face.

When Ray heads off to sulk, I guess, Winston brings attention to the wax seal on The Codex. Though only Janine seems to understand the significance of having a seal, as she’d learned about them in high school. Winston and Peter seemed to think someone had just accidently dripped candle wax onto the book’s cover. But as Janine begins to explain about wax seals, Peter cuts her off and tells her to answer the phone. Janine points out that the phone isn’t ringing, but seconds later, it does start to ring. (Though someone in the sound editing department didn’t do a good job at syncing things up, as Janine reacts to the phone ringing before we actually hear it ring.)

The phone call turns out to be a person complaining about a ghost haunting their chimney, so the Ghostbusters suit up and head out. After they leave, Janine decides to take her lunch break. But she can’t locate the book she’d planned to read while eating her lunch, so she decides to read The Codex instead. Strangely, Janine ends up heading out to what I think was supposed to be Central Park. Okay, I can understand why you might want to eat your lunch outside if the weather is nice, but how far is Central Park from the Firehouse? Is it right around the corner, or would Janine have had to take the subway down there? How long of a lunch break is Janine planning to take? Anyway, Janine takes a seat beneath what I think is supposed to be a statue of some Civil War generals. (Not sure if this statue was based on an actual statue in New York, but I guess that’s not important.) After taking a bite of her sandwich, Janine manages to break open the wax seal on The Codex. Immediately, lightning flashes across the sky, but Janine barely blinks and simply pulls out an umbrella she just happened to have with her. She starts to read The Codex and seems to not find it engaging, but she still doesn’t notice the statues behind her transforming into four ghostly horsemen until they jump down and rush past her. Even then, Janine doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction, simply deciding that maybe she should skip lunch.

Sometime later, the Ghostbusters are returning to the Firehouse. It seems their last call was a false alarm and the sounds coming from the chimney were caused by a stuck cat. (At least they got the kitty out.) Before they arrive back at the Firehouse, though, frogs start raining down from the sky. Which is highly unusual weather. They then catch sight of the Four Horsemen. The Ghostbusters get out to try and shoot the Four Horsemen with their Proton Packs, but the Four Horsemen escape into a nearby department store. So the Ghostbusters head in after them. After a while, they do manage to capture the Four Horsemen in a Ghost Trap after the ghosts get stuck in the revolving door. Of course, the episode hasn’t quite hit the halfway point yet, so of course things aren’t resolved that quickly. As the Ghostbusters start to drive off again, the Four Horsemen manage to break out of the Ghost Trap and fly off, blowing out the Ecto-1’s windows in the process. And causing the car to crash headlong into a fire hydrant.

The Ghostbusters limp the Ecto-1 back to the Firehouse, where we see Janine has returned and is struggling to answer the number of phone calls they’re getting. She tells the Ghostbusters that they’ve been receiving calls from people all over the world. It’s even implied the U.S. President phoned them. Winston turns on the news, which announces that the Four Horsemen are causing disturbances at the Nation’s capitals. (Also, we see a brief commercial ad for Stay-Puft Marshmallows, which did make me laugh.) At that moment, they hear the front doorbell ringing. Winston goes to see who it is, and a bearded man in a long black robe enters. The man introduces himself as Father Yanos. He explains that he came from the Monastery of Saint Theophilus and goes on to say that a thousand years ago, Saint Theophilus managed to seal the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse inside The Codex. The monks of the monastery had kept the book safe for seven centuries before The Codex was lost. Father Yanos had traveled to the city when he’d learned The Codex had been located, but laments that he hadn’t arrived in time before the wax seal had been broken, which resulted in the Four Horsemen getting released.

Okay, question. How did Father Yanos track down The Codex to the Ghostbusters? I guess it’s possible he found out that The Codex was being sold at that rare book auction and, upon arriving too late, got the information of who bought The Codex from the Auctioneer. But considering The Monastery of Saint Theophilus is located in Greece, I find this highly unlikely. What are the odds that he’d hear about a rare book auction being held on the other side of the world?

It turns out the only hope they have in stopping the Four Horsemen is by re-sealing them with the Seal of Theophilus. Which is back at the monastery in Greece. (And Peter makes a dumb comment about how the seal must be very slippery if it’s kept in grease.) So the Ghostbusters and Father Yanos book a flight back to Greece with Balkan Airlines, which was an actual airline carrier at the time. I get the feeling the show writers didn’t have the best opinion of Balkan Airlines, because Winston seems to be very uneasy about being on the plane. And it’s not as if Winston has a fear of flying. Not only has he shown no issues with being on a plane in past episodes, I distinctly remember it being mentioned in the sequel series, Extreme Ghostbusters, that Winston eventually becomes a licensed pilot. And in the IDW comics, which I believe take place in the movieverse, Winston had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force before joining the Ghostbusters. So I don’t think we’re supposed to think Winston’s aviophobic. Either way, when they arrive at Athens International Airport, Winston begins joining Father Yanos in kissing the ground. I’m guessing this is a religious or cultural thing with Father Yanos, as he mentions it’s the ground of his homeland, but Winston is simply happy to be back on solid ground. At first, Peter teases Winston, but when the wing of the plane they’d just gotten off falls off (because the Four Horsemen attacked the plane while it was in midflight), Peter also starts kissing the ground. Yeah, this whole scene was really weird. Did Balkan Airlines planes have a reputation for being poorly crafted or something? Were the writers just mocking the airline because it was owned by the Bulgarian government? I have no idea.

Of course, they still have a ways to go before they can reach the monastery. Because after leaving the airport, they have to take a train to some remote village near the monastery. And then they have to ride some donkeys up the mountain pass. And the whole time, the Four Horsemen are apparently following them. And I’m wondering how they have the time to make such a time-consuming trip, considering the apocalypse is supposed to be upon them. The Ghostbusters even comment on how dark the sky is during the train ride. Finally, the Ghostbusters and Father Yanos reach a large woven basket-shaped lift. Father Yanos explains that, ever since the raid we saw in the prologue, this lift has been the only way to reach the monastery.

As the Ghostbusters board the basket-like lift and ascend up to the top of the mountain, the Four Horsemen appear and end up severing the rope, causing the lift to fall and crash. Right atop Father Yanos. Miraculously, none of the Ghostbusters broke any bones, and Father Yanos didn’t die from having four full-grown men landing on him. But now the Ghostbusters have to climb up the side of the mountain to reach the monastery. All while dodging falling rocks and strong winds. Peter ends up losing his grip when a bolt of lightning nearly hits him, and he falls. But he once again narrowly avoids death because he lands safely on a rocky ledge. Peter decides to stay put while the other Ghostbusters continue climbing. (And we get an animation error in which we see Egon and two Rays reaching the monastery.) Upon reaching the monastery, Egon, Ray and Winston instruct two monks to fetch them the Seal of Theophilus and some wax. The two monks hurry inside to retrieve the items as the Four Horsemen are seem approaching. Egon announces his plan to trap the Four Horsemen within a Ghost Trap as they fly overhead. Then all they have to do is seal the trap with the Seal of Theophilus.

The Four Horsemen are once again successfully trapped in a Ghost Trap, but when the two monks return with the Seal and a block of wax, the monk carrying the Seal trips, and the Seal falls over the edge of the mountain. Fortunately, Peter (who is still standing around on the rocky ledge) catches the Seal, but apparently doesn’t think he can manage to throw the Seal back up to the other Ghostbusters. With time running out, the Ghostbusters decide to toss the loaded Ghost Trap down to Peter so he can seal away the Four Horsemen. So Winston throws down the Ghost Trap and wax down to Peter, but the wax falls onto Peter’s face. (The wax is apparently soft enough to splatter over Peter’s face. Granted I’m not that familiar with wax seals, but don’t you have to melt sealing wax to get it that soft? If so, that wax should probably be scalding hot.) Fortunately, Peter is still able to get the wax onto the loaded Ghost Trap by tripping and happening to fall face first onto the trap. But he still has to place the Seal onto the wax, and the loaded Ghost Trap is starting to smoke. And here, we get one more unnecessary joke with Egon urging Peter to make the seal impression, and Peter responding by imitating a seal. (Oh, knock it off!)

Thankfully, Peter is able to quit acting like an idiot long enough to press the Seal upon the wax. As a result, the Four Horsemen are once again sealed away. Right away, the dark clouds overhead dissipate and the sun begins shining through. If that wasn’t enough to indicate everything is now okay, grass and flowers instantly form atop the mountain, and a flock of doves appear. Even though Peter doesn’t seem to appreciate having the doves flock around him.

As you can tell, I had quite a few issues with this episode. There was the fact that they didn’t seem to accurately acknowledge the passage of time, considering Janine’s lunch breaks are long enough for her to be able to head over to Central Park. Not to mention they have the time to travel to a remote location of Greece when the end of the world is fast approaching. (You’d think Father Yanos would have brought the Seal of Theophilus with him in case The Codex got opened before he could get there. Wouldn’t that have been smarter?) And Peter’s jokes were more annoying than funny. Yeah, Peter can be a bit of a smart-aleck at times. But even he knows when it’s time to be serious. At least that was always my overall impression of him. So what was he doing here? He felt almost out of character in this.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

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altcvnningham · 4 years ago

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1, 3, 5, 15, 18 and 20 😳😳😳😳

thank you for the ask!!! (also superior url omg 👁👄👁🤲🏻)

also my answers here are suuuuper long, because i’m a rambling idiot who’s way too involved in my OC’s. so uhhhh sorry in advance,,,,,

1. what radio station(s) do you listen to?

Vana’s a Samurai stan. She wishes she wasn’t. But, y’know, Morro Rock it is. Once upon a time when she was an even angrier teen, though, she’d listen to shit just like Ritual FM.

(My music taste is all over the place, and though blues is technically my fav bc i love old music, i never listen to it in 2077. So I switch between Body Heat, the Dirge, Vexelstrom for like 2 songs, and ofc, Morro Rock. But of all stations, there’s at least one song that i HATE so I can never stick to one for a whole ride sknsksjsjs)

i think i got the names right?? Idk yall i dont have it in front of me ndndndndhjs

3. how did you feel about Johnny that first night in the apartment, and how does it differ from what you feel now after everything?

so i’m gonna cut a read-more here because i decided to just lore dump Vana x Johnny here so uhhhhhh rip also //SPOILERS//

Vana is an extremely, seriously private, guarded person. Before Johnny, Panam, Kerry- Jackie was the only person she’d ever truly let near her, to get to know her. So obviously waking up to someone else living inside her fucking head was one of the worst things that’s ever happened to her. Her past is also something she’s not particularly proud of, so Johnny getting to witness all that is traumatising. Getting Johnny out of her head was priority number one, even if digging the chip out would kill her.

But after getting fucked over by the VBs, and both of them thinking she was gonna die, Johnny takes her to that abandoned hotel in Pacifica- it’s the first time he’s given her even a sliver of kindness, and the first time she’s ever openly expressed her fears to him, even if he could already sense them before. Oaths and promises are something she holds to incredibly high importance, so obviously when Johnny gives her his dog-tags, ‘proof of my promise’, she never, ever lets them go, never takes them off. (she still doesn’t. they keep her grounded. holding them to calm herself has become a reflex, for whatever reason.)

Everything just seemed to slowly change after that. For two people who hate vulnerability, it’s the only thing that helped them actually see each other. As the Relic continues to take over, they both understand each other more, feel each other more- and eventually it becomes hard to discern where Vana ends and Johnny begins. In cliché Johnny x V fashion like yeah duh it goes further,,,, cockwhore!Vana,,,,,, but with that they also start to become extremely possessive and jealous over one another- Johnny immediately on the defensive about whoever comes close to her, Vana selfishly hiding and keeping Johnny’s existence to herself, even if it slows the hunt for a remedy to the chip- to the point of seriously toxic co-dependency. It’s full of volatile ups-and-downs, fights and make-ups, and Vana almost comes to like the fact that she never has to explain nor hide what thoughts and feelings pass through her mind, no matter how dark or vulnerable. She prefers most things to remain unsaid, but values the fact that they both have a clear, transparent understanding of each other regardless.

But there's also... softer moments. When Johnny puts aside his ego for once, he learns to like the quiet that Vana does, brief as it can be sometimes. He'll sort of just... stay around the room, even if just to procrastinate retreating back into her head, because they realise they like each other's silent, wordless company. He'll wake her up from nightmares, hold her neck and kiss her back to sleep, or until the sun comes up, if she can't. It's all tender things they often pretend doesn't even happen, out of pride, I think, but they both know deep down that those are really the best parts.

Comes to a place where she suddenly hits a wall, and realises, I don’t want him to leave.

She’s never the same again after Mikoshi.

(But uhh anyway fuck V I’m horny on main for Keanu so i was here for the whole riiiiiide yeeeeeee)

5. how do your loved ones (LI, found family, etc) feel about you being a merc? or if you’ve given up the life now that everything’s finished, what was their reaction?

Vana grew up in a rich corp family, and after all the shit she’s endured just to appease her father, don’t think anyone could hate corps more than she does (some details of her past here!!) So when Arasaka kicks her out and Jackie finally convinces her to start merc work, it’s amazing how quickly she slips into the role, almost like she was made for it- an anonymous face within the city, free to roam and drift as she wants, relying on herself and herself only.

Vana works quickly and quietly enough (though not at all with clean hands), relying on stealth and netrunning, so she doesn’t cause too much of a noise that’d have her loved ones (rare as they are) all too concerned. Judy isn’t scared Vana’d be caught in gunfire, because when Vana works, her targets rarely know she’s even there. She’s smart, cunning. Panam appreciates that these skills have helped her out, so she can’t complain. River- who is unfortunately more fond of Vana than she is of him, given that she’s not too comfortable at accepting affection- isn’t too happy about the life she leads, but hey, it’s her skills as a merc and as one of NC’s most adept netrunners that he even stood a chance of finding Randy as quick as he did, so he feels indebted to her for that. Kerry thinks it’s fuckin awesome that she gets to do as she wants and provides for herself, bestieeees

Given she isn’t all that close with many people- keeping her distance and all- the only people who seriously worry about her are folks like Vik, Misty, and Mama Welles, especially the latter two, who knew how much Jackie meant to her, and how easily she cracks under the weight of grief. The only thing, really, that concerns everybody around her, is how insatiable her bloodlust becomes, and how much she'd throw away just to try and quell it.

Johnny’s just in it for the ride. Rather she work for herself than a filthy corp, anyway.

After Mikoshi, losing Johnny, making it to the major leagues, she fuckin... just doesn't care anymore. She hates the big glass house that was practically forced onto her (reminds her too much of her stifling corp childhood), she hates that she has 20 cars that clog up her garage and not just her trusty red Yaiba Kusanagi, hates that folks keep giving her all this shiny golden shit that she doesn't want, like any of it's worth a damn. Since then she's hardly in one place- never at home if she can help it, and either wanders aimlessly around the streets and crashes over at Kerry's to sleep through grief. It isn't the merc life she wants to leave, but major leagues turned out to be a glittering pile of dogshit she wants no part in. She only really stays there because Jackie would've wanted it.

(i’m a lazy bitch like i don’t wanna be a merc. i wanna be one of those cute npc’s with the glowy earrings and bunny backpacks and skimpy plastic skirts, who picks up noodles on the way home to go watch watson whore. in my ideal life i am NOT the main character snnsmsnsks)

15. which NPC is your bff?

Kerry. Kerry is Vana’s ride or die. No fucking questions asked. Kerry’s the only person (besides Johnny, i guess) as close to her as Jackie was. He’s really the only person that ever gets her to smile, like really, stupidly, goofily smile, and despite being almost complete opposites, they just understand each other so well. Whenever they need something, they're the first person they'll call. Happens so often that just as Vana sifts through her contacts to find his, Kerry's already calling for her first. They're practically joint at the hip.

They both live loud, fast lives, but also know how to make time for silence and introspection, something they both need to stay grounded. Vana doesn't buy into his zen-wellness-yoga crap, but sure, she tries copying a couple moves while he's doing it on a lazy afternoon, before scoffing how this is fuckin' dumb and retreats back to the couch. Also, as much as she hates being reminded of the wealth that came with her corpo upbringing, she loves using up all his expensive products, and tends to klep a bottle of his shampoo when she runs out. Cute how she thinks he doesn't notice.

After what happened in Mikoshi, she practically lives at Kerry's place, just dozing away miserably as he lounges by the pool, or curl up on the couch to mindlessly watch his old Samurai tapes (he doesn't like it much, but if it helps her through whatever shit she's going through, he's not gonna take that away from her). On better days, when she actually pulls herself out of bed, he teaches her to play guitar, slipping in a couple tricks Johnny taught him. Funnily enough, the whole thing helps him find some closure too.

( me,, I need a girl like Panam in my life to endorse all of my stupid ideas )

18. what’s your dream cyberware (either something that was shown in lore that wasn’t available in game or mental creation of your own)?

I don’t have access to the tabletop lore stuff rn so i’m gonna pull this out my ass jsjsns

Anything that helps Vana become more deadly at stealth and netrunning. The most eddies she’s ever blown are on increasingly powerful cyberdecks, cooling systems, netrunning gear she can comfortably slip on under a jacket and boots- she likes convenience and functionality, but she needs it to be comfortable, too. She’d fucking kill for anything that lets her scale silently up walls and across ceilings, though- like a spider- and anything that lets her get her hands reeeeal bloody, but quietly. Guess that’s just called a knife, though.

(Me?? Fuck uhhh man i just want synth-skin that looks normal but also shimmers all pink n cute. Literally wanna be an edward cullen sparkly lookin mf. Also, i’m sorry but scanning shit w Kiroshi’s are so dope that’s literally all i want?? Idk i’m boring and mantis blades freak me out uhh)

20. is there anyone you’re crushing on that’s unavailable? (yes this is the “what romance option(s) are you foaming at the mouth for” question)

Answered here :)

(And i’ll say it again, PLACIIIIIIIDE,)

#ask #vana #vana lore #i am #SO SORRY #that this is so long #u ask me ab my OCs it's bound to happen #thank u v much for the ask!!#i had a ton of fun!#:D

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lovemesomesurveys · 4 years ago

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[found at: eightfortysix]

Who are you? My name is Stephanie.

What are the 3 most important things everyone should know about you? -I’ve been distant and withdrawn these past few years, but I’m just a mess and wrapped up in my own head and the shit I’m dealing with and haven’t been able to really be there for anyone. It’s not that I don’t care. -I get in very moody and irritable moods. -I’m always tired and feel drained.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? I don’t know.

Are you more child-like or childish? I think I’m still a child at heart. I also feel like one when I get in my moody moods and cry over the most ridiculous things.

What is the last thing you said out loud? “Goodnight.”

How do you handle a rainy day? I don’t do anything different unless I leave the house, in which case I’d just dress differently for the weather.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a teacher.

Are you more of a giver or a taker? I feel like I’ve been more of a taker these past few years.

Have you ever been given a second chance? Yes.

Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind? I think I do for the most part.

What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you? The accident that made me a paraplegic.

Who have you hugged today? I haven’t hugged anyone today so far.

If you could learn how to do three things just by wishing and not by learning, what would they be? I’d be fluent in Spanish, an amazing pianist, and something useful that I could use to be successful in life.

What 3 things do you want to do before you die? Get my shit together, do something worthwhile with my life, and travel. What three things would you want to die to avoid doing? Uhhh.

Have you ever saved someone's life or had your life saved? I’ve had mine saved.

What was the last thing you made with your own hands? I’m not crafty.

What was your favorite toy as a child? I was obsessed with Barbies.

What is your favorite thing to do outside? The only outdoor activity I enjoy is spending time at the beach.

How do you feel when you see a rainbow? It’s always pretty cool because it’s a rarity for me.

Have you ever dreamt a dream that came true? Certain things I’ve dreamt have happened, but not like aspiration dreams or anything serious.

What one thing have you done that most people haven't? Hmm. I can’t think of anything cool. I just keep thinking of negative things.

Are you a patient person? No.

What holiday should exist but doesn't? I don’t know.

What's the best joke you ever heard? I don’t know, man.

Is your hair natural or dyed? I dye it red, but it’s been almost a year so my natural hair color has outgrown quiteee a bit.

What is under your bed right now? Nothing.

If you drive do you frequently speed? I don’t drive.

What is the world's best song to dance to? There’s a ton of great, upbeat, perfect dance songs.

What song was on the last time you danced with someone? I haven’t danced with anyone.

Do you prefer Disney or Warner Brothers? I watch stuff from both, but I mean Disney will always hold a special place.

Would you consider yourself to be romantic? I haven’t had a chance to really find out.

If the earth stopped rotating would we all fly off? We’d be swept away.

If you had to choose would you live on the equator or at the North Pole? I wanna live with Santa. haha.

Would you rather give up listening to music or watching television? I mean, I love music but I don’t listen to it as much as I used to. I love having favorite shows and movies to binge watch and obsess over. Ideally, I’d like to just keep both, though. Thanks.

What do you think makes someone a hero? People have their own ideas about what makes someone a hero.

What cartoon would you like to be a character in? Hmm. Can it be something Disney?

Name one thing that turns your stomach. The smell of old food.

What was the last thing you paid for? Bills. Bleh.

Get anything good in the mail recently? No. It’s died down since Christmas has ended.

Tell me some of your greatest fears. I’ve done this so many times in surveys; I don’t feel like it right now.

What's the most eccentric thing you have ever worn? I haven’t worn anything eccentric. I keep it pretty simple.

Have you ever caught an insect and kept it as a pet? Ew, noooo.

You are spending the night alone in the woods and may bring only 3 items... A tent, food, my phone.

List five people you love starting with the one you love the absolute most. I love my family, which includes my doggo. They’re all my number 1.

If you could have 3 wishes...but none of them could be for yourself...what would you wish for? The end of the pandemic, no one would have to ever go hungry, and no more violence.

How much money would it take to get you to drive to school naked in? I would never do that.

Have you ever been on the radio or on TV? I’ve been on the local news before. It was after my accident.

Have you ever named an individual part of your body? No.

Is there anyone you trust completely? Yes.

Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye? Yes.

Would you rather have an indoor Jacuzzi or an outdoor pool? I’d prefer an indoor pool instead of a jacuzzi.

Would you consider yourself to be intelligent? No.

Would you consider yourself to be wise? No.

Would you ever creep into the subway tunnels to go exploring? No. That would be difficult for me to do anyway.

Would you rather be a world political leader or a rock star? I really don’t want to be either of those things.

Have you ever given someone a love letter that you wrote? Not a love letter per se, but I’ve written someone a long message expressing exactly how I feel about them and the hurt I’ve felt and pretty much just laid everything out on the table.

Are you looking forward to any concerts right now? There aren’t concerts going on.

About how many emails do you get a day? Like 20-30ish.

Have you ever though about hitchhiking across the country? Uh, I would never, ever hitchhike.

Who would you bring with you on this kind of a road trip? I would have a road trip with just people I know.

If you are single, at about what age do you think you will be ready to settle down? I don’t know. I just don’t feel a relationship is a good idea for me right now. It’s not my where my focus is. It’s not where my heart is.

Do you often wonder, when you say goodbye to people, if it is the last time? It’s crossed my mind at times.

What movie are you most looking forward to seeing when it comes out? I’m excited for new Marvel movies, the new Halloween movie, and the new Scream movie. I look forward to seeing what else is coming out.

What's on your key chain besides keys? I actually only have one key, but I have a ton of keychains.

How do you feel about endangered species? It’s sad.

What was the last CD you bought? It’s been several years since I last bought a CD, so I don’t recall.

Would you be willing to go hang gliding? Noooo.

Have you ever taken a lock of someone else's hair? Uh, no.

Have you ever given anyone a lock of your hair? My mom has a lock of mine from when I had my first haircut as a baby.

If you had a locket what would you put inside? A photo of my family.

What is the difference (if any) between madness and brilliance? That makes me think of Jack Sparrow quote, “it’s remarkable how often these two traits coincide.”

Write any random sentence here Nah.

Say the sentence you wrote out loud. Did anybody answer?

If you were to hit redial on your phone right now, who would it call? I don’t think there’s a redial button, but the last person I called was my mom.

Miracle on 34th street: which is better the original or remake? I’ve actually never seen either one.

Have you ever been in a parade? No.

Do you turn the base up all the way in your car? The volume is at a reasonable level. Do you care if what you do annoys others? I mean, yes. Unless it was like, “it annoys me how much you drink coffee”, in which case I wouldn’t give a shit haha. You get the idea.

What keeps you from being happy? Depression.

Can you talk for one hour without using the word 'like'? *shrug* Maybe.

Why is it that a fly can't bird but a bird can fly? Because a bird is an animal and not an action.

What websites are addictive to you? Tumblr and YouTube.

Who do you love so much that you would clean live maggots out of their garb? I love my family more than anything, but... klsjfksjdflk I’d have to get someone else to do that I’m sorry. D:

Have you filled out an organ donor card? No.

How many oxymorons can you think of? Pretty ugly. I don’t feel like thinking of more.

How many years old is your diary/livejournal/myspace? I’ve had this survey Tumblr since 2014.

Would you ever wear vinyl pants? No.

What was the last thing that you printed out? I don’t even remember, it’s been a long time.

What are you dependent on? My family.

What do you look forward to each day? My first cup of coffee.

What did you think of the Columbine shootings? It was horrific.

What takes your breath away? Hm.

Have you done anything recently that you regret? Yes.

Will you ever do it again? I’m very stubborn.

In your opinion what gives people depth and character? Experiences?

What’s the name of your favorite band? Linkin Park.

Do you have an account on neopets.com? Aw, I did when I was a kid. I loved neopets.

Who is the next person you will hug? The only person I really hug is my mom.

Where was your last vacation to? Disneyland almost a year ago.

Where was your last car ride to? The doctor.

Where was your last bus ride to? I used to take it sometimes when I was in college.

Where did you last walk to? It’s been yearsss.

What is the worst band in the universe? I don’t know.

What is the next book you want to read? I’m about to start a new one called, “Anything For You” by Marissa Finch.

What gives you a peaceful feeling? Being at the beach watching and listening to the ocean waves crash in and out.

Do you ever stay up late watching infomercials? No, at night my TV is either on The Hallmark Channel, TVLand, or CMT. I remember back when I was a kid and the only thing on late at night was informercials, which really sucked when I was up late because I was sick or just couldn’t sleep. I’m glad there’s actual stuff on now on a lot of channels. But there’s also other options if there weren’t, like YouTube or a streaming services. I wish I had those as a kid.

Are you a light sleeper? Yes.

Are you a toys-R-us kid? “I don’t wanna grow up, cause I’m a Toys R Us kid.”

Are you part of the mile high club? No.

Would you rather be part cat, or part scorpion, and why? I’ll definitely go with the cat.

When you sleep next to someone who usually falls asleep first? I’m always last to fall asleep.

What is your usual breakfast? If I have breakfast it’s usually scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and spinach with guacamole on the side (guac and eggs are really good together). Lately, I’ve been really into breakfast sandwiches. I like to have either a croissant, english muffin, or sourdough bread with eggs, cheese, avocado, pesto, and cream cheese and 10/10 highly recommend. I also like eggs smothered with country gravy.

How quickly are you willing to take drugs to numb pain? It’s much worse to sit around and wait while it gets worse cause then the medicine takes even longer to kick in.

Have you ever had your car towed? I don’t have a car of my own.

Have you ever used Kool-Aid to dye your hair? No, but I remember a couple of my cousins did that when they were kids.

Would you rather be naked and famous or dressed and non-famous? Dressed and non-famous. This was an easy choice.

What band or singer do you believe started rock and roll? I don’t know.

If you had a large black vase what would you put in it? Flowers?

Would you rather live in the city, suburbs or the country? City.

Would you ever participate in a 'sock hop'? No.

What’s your age? I’m 31.

What’s your hair color? I think this question has been in every survey I’ve done the past few days.

What’s your eye color? This one too.

#personal #text #survey #surveys #long survey

2 notes · View notes

bcbdrums · 5 years ago

Note

If you're still doing prompts, those water prompts number 8: hurricane.

Why yes I am Anon! They are just slow in coming because my writing bug died. But to all who sent prompts, I AM working on them.

For this prompt, “hurricane,” I also jumped on the MerMay bandwagon. Hope you enjoy!

FFn link --> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13596518/1/They-Sing-Your-Heart-s-Desire

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

They Sing Your Heart’s Desire

Shego tossed her head to get her rain-soaked hair out of her eyes as she piloted the hover-car. The headlights were useless in the downpour and it was only the frequent flashes of lightning that let her know they were going in the right direction. Not that the landmarks were clear in those brief flashes; all she could see were the rolling seas beneath and the occasional bump on the horizon denoting an island that gave her their direction as the hover-car's navigation had been damaged in their escape.

"Shego, I think we should go back."

Shego heard the anxiety in Drakken's voice, but she didn't dare take her eyes away from forward for fear of losing their direction.

"We're almost there. Look," she pointed to the right as lightning flashed again. "That's the lair."

At least, she thought it was the lair. But the hover-car kept seeming to drift to the left despite her efforts to bring it right. The winds were the worst she had ever flown the craft in, and the rain was as harsh as hailstones on her cheeks. She had to keep her eyes squinted just so she could see through the deluge.

"I don't see it."

"Well it's there. If you would just build a roof for this thing like I've been telling you."

"We still couldn't see through this storm."

Shego silently agreed. She remembered hearing about a potential hurricane on the news several days before their attempted theft at the observatory. But she'd been on a very sunny beach in Florida at the time so hadn't really paid attention to the forecast.

The next flash of lightning was followed by a roar of thunder, very different from the sound of the almost deafening white noise of the rain. Drakken yelped and grabbed her arm, and she turned and shoved at him with both hands as his fingers dug harshly into her flesh.

"Let go!"

He complied with an anxious whimper, and Shego quickly grabbed the steering controls again. The next burst of lightning revealed the rising tower directly in front of them and much closer than she had seen in the last flash. Shego felt a twinge of uncertainty for the first time as she accelerated toward their safe haven.

"Shego what is that?" Drakken asked.

"The lair," she said. "See? We're almost there."

"No it's not! The lair is over there!"

He pointed off to the right where Shego had pointed before. She wiped the rain from her eyes and squinted into the darkness. When lightning flashed again she saw the familiar and still very distant silhouette.

"What is that? We're going to crash! Shego!"

She looked back at what was now clearly nothing but rocks rising up out of the sea. But not in time to avoid what Drakken was shouting about even when he reached over and yanked the controls to the right at the same time she did.

The harsh maneuver saved them from a direct collision, but instead the hover-car glanced off of the rocks and spun out of control down to the water's surface. The impact with the water felt as if they had hit the rocks directly, and Shego felt something sharp dig into her thigh at the same time her elbow slammed hard into the side of the hover-car. And then she was in the water.

Trying to move her left arm was like trying to bend metal, except with pain. She had enough awareness to hold her breath as she kicked and used her right arm to swim up to the surface, though her thigh stung as salt got into the fresh wound she had somehow acquired. When her face broke through she almost wasn't sure for a moment due to the pouring rain almost blending with the splash of the waves on her face.

She gasped in a breath and then blinked as she looked around. It took another lightning flash to reveal the hulk of the hover-car half-submerged in the darkness. Her chin fell below the water's surface as her left arm was still useless, and she held her breath again. She turned and saw behind her the rocks that had caused their crash.

'You caused the crash... Drakken!'

Panic caused heat to surge through her veins as she cast her eyes around in a circle again. But all she saw was the darkness. She gasped in another breath and tried to shout Drakken's name, but she got a mouthful of sea water as a reward. She coughed as the water filled her lungs and she turned toward the rocks. She forced her left arm above her head to swim and the pain was like a fire in her bones. But she could worry about her arm once her life was in less danger.

Thankfully the wind was in her favor, but she found herself faced with a new problem as she had to be careful to avoid being slammed against the rocks by the waves. Nature's strength defeated her in the end as her body was knocked against the large outcropping like a rag doll. She felt the rough surface leave further scrapes in her skin from her face down to her ankles, the fresh wounds being immediately invaded by the sting of the salt water. But she reached out in the dark and clung for dear life to anything she could hold onto.

Her left arm gave out once, but she grit her teeth and grabbed onto the rocks again. She began feeling with her feet for something to step on, her knees bumping painfully into the jagged surfaces. But she found some footholds and began to climb. The rain continued to beat down on her, but she barely noticed the difference as she shivered in the wind. Her left arm seemed to be working fine, but every movement caused stabs of pain radiating from her elbow down to her fingers and up to her shoulder.

Finally, she made it out of the water, and clinging to the rock she moved on her bleeding, stinging knees around to the side that put her mostly out of the wind. She took several grateful breaths and leaned her cheek against the rough, sea-battered stone. And then she gathered her strength and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Drakken!"

Her voice may as well have been a whisper for the overpowering wail of the wind and the near-constant rumbling of the thunder. But it didn't deter her, and she continued shouting for him as she squinted back in the direction she thought the hover-car had sunk. But she wasn't even sure of that anymore.

Her only answer was the rain and the crash of the waves. The lightning showed no remnants of the hover-car in the dark waters. Only the distant separation of the black sea from the equally black clouds overhead at the horizon by the gray sky, and the now obvious spike of their island lair at a distance that would be impossible to swim to.

She couldn't see any other place Drakken might have escaped to as she peered through the storm. So she continued to shout his name. She kept squinting through the rain into the darkness, and she took in more of her surroundings with each lightning flash. The roll of the waves was higher than she had ever seen, creating an illusion of calm even though she painfully knew otherwise. And in every direction the sky that had minutes before been an obvious strip of gray between the sea and clouds was vanishing.

The wind suddenly seemed to change direction, and Shego stopped shouting as she clung to the rock to keep her balance. A wave splashed up against her, hitting her scrapes and cuts with salt water again. The wind seemed to suddenly have its own life as it pushed her one direction and moment later back in another.

She closed her eyes as she struggled to hold on, while wave after wave suddenly beat against her. A cold hopelessness began to clench at her chest as she felt that the only part of her that existed was her pained fingers clinging to the rocks. But it wasn't enough to make her let go. She held on for what felt like ages until the crash of the waves wasn't as harsh and the wind seemed to finally choose a single direction.

Shego blinked as she realized...the rain had suddenly stopped. She stared at the rough, black rock in front of her when the lightning flashed again. And while the thunder still rumbled, everything suddenly seemed calmer.

She let go her death-grip on the rock and turned her face back into the wind. The lightning revealed that the waves were indeed calmer, and without the rain she was able to see now that the rock outcropping she was attempting to shelter on was actually very large, about the width of ten hover-cars and the length of almost twenty from what she could make out in the dark. The tower of rock that had deceived her was at least five stories high and three hover-cars wide, and her precarious perch against the tower's base was at least two stories above the sea-level. It was more of a small island than an outcropping.

Painfully, she stood up and leaned against the rock. For the first time since the crash she felt able to breathe, and she tried looking around again in the dark. The lightning flashes no longer revealed the horizon, but instead just a wall of gray. Shego's brow furrowed. She looked up...and then she gasped.

There was indeed a gray wall, rising far higher than a jet could ever fly and its top curved. Above the wall was a clear night sky with stars. Shego's jaw hung open as she slowly turned and realized that the wall formed an almost perfect circle around her, and as the lightning continued to flash she saw counter-clockwise motion in the gray. She continued staring up at the circle that reached the stars with awe, and understanding arrived that she was encased in an almost thirty-mile wall of clouds.

'I'm in the eye of a hurricane...'

A shrill cry suddenly reached her ears above the roll of the thunder. She dropped her gaze to the dark sea and peered around frantically. The lightning didn't reveal anything but the waves.

"Drakken!" she shouted.

The cry sounded again, long and pained. It was familiar...and it wasn't. But it had to be him.

"Drakken!" she screamed louder, her voice carrying now that the wind had died down to a manageable level. She took a few cautious steps over the wet rock to get a better look.

She scanned the sea carefully from left to right as the lightning continued illuminating the dark surface of the waters. And then she froze as her eyes spotted an almost sparkle of a blue hand... A face... She picked her way toward the edge of the rock.

"Drakken!"

She spotted the very clear blue again, and she knelt down as she tried to measure the distance. How he had survived was a mystery...but she wasn't going to argue whatever power had chosen to spare him.

"Drakken! Over here!"

"Help..." The word came out in a weak, fearful wail. His voice sounded strange, as if it wasn't his.

"The rock is over here!" she called loudly.

"Help me..." His voice sounded weaker that time.

Shego's heart pounded as she peered desperately into the dark for another glimpse of him. How had he managed to stay alive in the water for so long?

A decision was easily made as she saw another almost-sparkling flash of a blue hand that vanished beneath the dark waves. She stood back up and took a graceless leap into the churning sea. He shouldn't have survived... He probably didn't have any strength left to swim to the rock. But she could stand the sting of the salt water, and her arm was starting to feel better.

She swam in the direction she had heard his voice, fighting the current and the pain of her injuries. The lightning lit her way, but there were no more glimpses of blue.

"Drakken?" she called over the waves.

"Here..."

She saw another flash of blue, suddenly closer than she had expected, but it vanished beneath the waves. She took a deep breath and dove down and ignited her hands for light.

Her breath suddenly came out in an astonished gasp, leaving her lungs in a stream of large bubbles. She saw blue, but it wasn't Drakken. There were scales and teeth and dark eyes that spoke menace and death as they were reflected in the green of her glow. The teeth and something else suddenly came toward her face, and she fired her glow powerfully at the sea creature. A shrill sound that reminded her of something between a dolphin and a whale reached her ears through the water, and she kicked the creature powerfully with both legs as she moved back toward the surface.

She took a breath and swam as fast as her injured limbs would carry her back to the rock.

'What was that!?'

Her mind raced for an answer. It was the wrong shape for a shark, but it had definitely had scales. She must have been so desperate to find Drakken that her mind had played a trick on her, because if she didn't know better she would have thought that the creature looked almost...human.

She climbed hurriedly onto the rock and left her hands aglow as she looked out over the rolling waves.

"Drakken?" she called.

The only response was the thunder.

She pursed her lips and fought against tears that threatened to build in her eyes. She had seen his hand... She was sure of it.

Suddenly a shape appeared out of the water near the edge of the outcropping, right below her feet. She scrambled to her feet, almost falling on the wet rock, and took several steps back. She burned her hands brighter and her eyes widened at what had emerged from the water.

It was a face. A human face, with eyes and nose and mouth and ears in all the right places. But the skin reflected pale blue in the light of her glow and seemed to sparkle. As she looked closer she realized the sparkle was scales. Two arms emerged from the water, sparkling the same blue hue as the scales were reflected in the green light, and the person's hands—'Person?'—grabbed the rock and pushed themselves halfway out of the water to lean on their elbows against the outcrop.

Shego took another step back but burned her hands brighter. The woman—for the revealed figure was decidedly female—had dark blue-gray hair that flowed down her back and vanished beneath the waves. Shego could only see the person down to her waist, but a fear was gripping her chest as an impossible suspicion was rising in her mind.

The woman's face was extremely curious, but Shego recognized a fury deep in her eyes.

"What are you?"

Shego blinked in surprise at the question. But she had to pause before answering, not just for the absurdity of being asked about herself by some sort of human-fish but due to the impossibly sweet and melodic lilt of the woman's voice. She had never heard a voice so beautiful. And she noticed voices, for her own was nothing that anyone would ever call alluring.

"What are you?" Shego said in accusation.

The woman's curiosity changed to a piercing look that made Shego feel even more wary. She took a step back as the woman slowly ran her tongue between her lips and then gave her a flirty smile.

"I'm lonely. I didn't think anyone else was out here."

Shego found herself struck again by the musical sound to the woman's voice. She leaned forward slightly to study her face. She appeared about her age, or slightly younger. She had a heart-shaped face and large eyes, and very full lips that appeared almost teal under her glow.

"I'm not supposed to be out here," Shego said, taking another step back as the woman pushed herself further up onto the rock. She couldn't see anymore of her from the defensive position she'd put herself in, but she had a suspicion that the very human figure the woman had above her waist likely changed into a fish's tail below.

'Mermaids aren't real,' she reminded herself. But the blue, scaly evidence in front of her was a very compelling argument to the contrary.

"Why are you out here?"

Shego wanted to get a closer look, to see if there really was a fish's tail below the water's surface. But the alarms in her head rang louder and she took another step back.

"My ship crashed."

"I didn't see a shipwreck."

Shego didn't know why she was talking to the...person. But there was nothing else to do.

"It wasn't a ship, it was a...flying ship," she finished, unsure how to explain the hover-car.

"A steel bird?" the woman asked in her musical voice.

"Something like that... Are you a mermaid?" Shego was surprised at herself for blurting out the question.

The woman's flirty smile returned. "You would like that, wouldn't you."

Shego glared suspiciously. "What makes you think that?"

"Because if I am, I can swim down to your wreck and tell you what happened to the one you lost."

Shego's eyes widened. She felt a lump come to her throat. How did the...the person, know about Drakken?

'Because you've been shouting his name for at least half an hour...'

Shego tried to think of every piece of mythology she had ever heard about mermaids. She had never cared about such things, even as a child. She just knew they were supposed to lure sailors to their deaths with a song, or something like that...

She realized with sudden fear that the mermaid's blue hand had been the one she'd seen in the water. It had been her voice calling for help, and thus why Drakken's voice had sounded so strange. It had also been the mermaid's teeth coming at her when she had lit her hands beneath the water.

"You wouldn't help me..."

The mermaid folded her arms on the rock and lay her head sideways atop them, looking very sweet and innocent. But Shego still saw the fury behind her eyes. She couldn't be fooled by the creature's act; she was too intimately experienced with deception.

"What makes you say that?"

Shego shook her head. "It doesn't matter... He's gone."

She carefully climbed back up to the safety of the rock tower and sat down against it and looked up at the flashing sky. The eye-wall of the hurricane was still distant, though some low clouds were condensing within the clear center and blocking her view of some of the stars. She wondered how long it would be until the peace ended, and she would be left clinging to the rock for her life again.

She was also curious to find out if the mermaid would try to attack her during the storm. It hadn't attacked before... Maybe it hadn't found her yet? She was sure it was her constant shouting for Drakken that had alerted it to her presence.

She let her glow go out and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Tears burned her eyes again as she stared through the gray clouds at the stars.

Had Drakken tried to make it to the rock? Had he even known which direction to swim? Or he might have...died in the hover-car, trapped by his seatbelt.

Shego rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and sniffled. It was her fault. She had let the storm get the better of her. He had even tried to warn her before the crash. And he was the one who paid the price.

Of course, she had no guarantee of survival herself. There was no telling how long the hurricane would last. And now she had at least one ocean predator after her. A smart predator that was trying to out-think her.

It was annoying.

Shego frowned and stood back up, igniting her hands. She hadn't been able to see the mermaid while sitting down, but it was still there, smiling its curious but clever smile at her. Shego stepped closer to the edge of the rock than she felt was safe, but still far out of reach of the creature.

"Would you like to know what happened to the one you lost?" the mermaid asked.

Shego's brow furrowed. She did want to know... But there was no guarantee that the creature would tell the truth. In fact...it was entirely possible that the mermaid had gotten to Drakken in the storm, and had been the reason for his end.

"No," she said with a scowl.

She fired at the mermaid and it flung itself off of the rock with that feral cry that reminded her of something between a dolphin and a whale. Its scales sparkled again in the light of her glow, and Shego saw for the first time the murderous fury on full display as the creature retreated far from the rock, baring its teeth at her. But it didn't leave.

Shego turned in the direction she knew the lair lie and waited for lightning to reveal it. When it did, now that the skies had calmed she could see it wasn't nearly as far as she had thought. Maybe only five miles away. It was much too far to swim...

She looked back at the mermaid that was still staring at her with a fury and hunger. She mentally sighed. It may have a beautiful human voice and appearance, but it was all predator. The brief idea she'd had of convincing it to help her get home evaporated.

All she could do was wait for daylight and clear skies. Then she could get a better idea of her situation. Maybe there were other rocks nearby. And with the rain from the hurricane, at least she wouldn't die of thirst.

She sighed and went back to the tower to sit. She should conserve her energy for holding on when the other side of the eye wall hit. And she wanted to stay as far away from the murderous mermaid as possible.

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

The peace hadn't lasted much longer, and Shego spent most of the dark night clinging to the rocks and worrying about whether or not mermaids could go on land. Because every time she opened her eyes and looked around, she would spot it lurking not too far from the edge of her precarious haven.

It was a fair distraction from thinking about Drakken.

When day came it was just as bad, with gray clouds covering the sky in all directions and the wind seeming unable to make up its mind again as to which way it should blow. However with the little bit of sunlight that did bleed through, she was able to see that hers was not the only rocky outcropping in that region of ocean. There were in fact several within about a quarter-mile square of where she was, with one even rising so high it had green grass growing on top of it. But most were small and some even became submerged if a large enough wave passed by and washed over them. None compared to the massive outcrop she had sheltered on, with its deceptive tower rising high into the sky. She wondered why in all her years living at the lair, she had never spotted the look-alike tower before.

The rain still came in a deluge, and the hopelessness of the situation impressed itself more strongly on her mind. The weather gave her drinking water, but prevented any attempt at swimming to the lair she may have talked herself into. Which was for the best, really, as she knew that even attempting to swim a mile would be futile for her. The crash had effectively trapped her until a ship came by.

Unfortunately however, part of the advantage of the lair's location was that no one ever came by.

There was also the continued threat of the mermaid. Shego was interested to see in the daylight that it looked less fish-like, and more human. The scales that had been so obvious at night would have been invisible if she hadn't known they were already there, and the creature's human 'skin' was so pale it was almost white. The hair that had looked blue at night now looked black, and the large eyes were the most interesting of all, seeming to change color between teal and silver depending on which way she was facing.

The mermaid was back to looking curious with fury buried deep behind its eyes. With no other ideas, Shego began wondering again if she could somehow use the creature to get back to the lair.

Several hours into the daylight the wind calmed to an acceptable level and the rain became less heavy. The mermaid was still there, and Shego couldn't help herself but engage it in conversation.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" she called out. Her voice was hoarse and weaker than she had expected.

The mermaid swam a little closer. "What are you?"

Shego remembered the question the creature had posed from the night before. Why would it wonder about her identity?

"I'm a human. What else would I be?"

The mermaid came closer to the rock and shook her head. "Your hands control fire."

"Oh. Yeah." It suddenly occurred to her that she may have an advantage on the creature thinking she was something other than human, and something the mythical creature couldn't really overpower. She thought quickly. "I come from the stars."

The mermaid looked confused, and Shego pointed up. "The lights in the sky at night. That's where I'm from."

For the first time, the fury vanished from the mermaid's eyes. "People can come from there?"

Shego nodded. "Yes." She knew only too well...

The mermaid looked as if she wasn't sure she believed Shego, and she took the chance to try to confirm the creature's identity.

"You're a mermaid, right? Jump out of the water so I can see your tail."

The creature smiled and moved away from the rock and then vanished beneath the dark surface of the water. A few moments later it flew high out of the water, its lithe form arcing a good thirty feet above the waves.

Its very clear fish tail was a sparkling silvery blue, like its human skin had appeared in the night. Its tail fin was translucent and the same color. Shego wondered if she wasn't really just losing her mind, or perhaps she had died in the crash and was in some kind of hell... Aliens were more believable than mythical creatures, considering her own powers came from a comet. Not to mention she'd had the misfortune of meeting an alien. But she supposed mythical human-like creatures weren't the least believable thing in the world.

Most importantly, she saw that the creature had the power to jump as high as her perch against the tower. It could easily come out of the water and attack her. She wondered why it hadn't. Perhaps it was weaker on land? Could mermaids assume a human form like in children's stories she remembered?

The mermaid resurfaced and swam closer to the rock.

"So...where do you come from? Are there more of you?" Shego asked quickly. She wanted to keep the upper hand as she thought of various other options besides gaining the friendship of the dangerous creature.

The mermaid smiled her flirty smile. "We live in the deep. There are many of us."

Shego felt there was a threat behind the creature's words, as if it knew that Shego wasn't simply curious.

"And you eat...people."

The mermaid moved away from the rock, her smile becoming enigmatic as she did a little spin in the water and then came back to rest her forearms against the rock as she had during the night. Shego wiped the rain from her eyes as she stared at the thing. It was definitely not going to become a friend.

So what else could she do with it?

She had no idea. And with that troubling thought she let the conversation die as she huddled against the rock while the cool rain continued to beat down on her. She was exhausted. And she could see now she had rips and tears all over her suit, the most notable being a clean slice in her thigh where blood had flowed the night before. It was scabbing, which told her it wasn't too serious. She also knew she had scrapes beneath her clothing due to the rock, from the pain she felt from head to toe.

She wanted to sleep, and knew that it was actually safer to do so under the cloud cover as opposed to whenever the storm passed and the sun came out. The sun wasn't as forgiving. However, she couldn't turn her back on the treacherous mermaid. And she wasn't ready to just drive it off yet if there was any possible way she could use the creature to her advantage.

"What do you want?" she called to it after awhile.

Its only response was the same enigmatic and curious smile. And the fury was back behind its eyes.

'To eat me...' Shego shuddered and leaned against the rock. She tried to let her aching body relax under the drive of the rain as she stared at the creature.

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

The hurricane passed with surprising speed, and it was only midday when the sun finally broke through the clouds and began drying her clothes and the rock. Shego stared at the great blue wall of cloud that extended across the horizon and up until it merged into the white and by appearances harmless pillows of cloud over her head. The blue was the departing hurricane, and she had a new respect for the storms that she had only ever endured from inside the lair and paid no mind to in the past.

She was grateful to be dry, but the absence of drinking water would eventually be a problem. The mermaid was still there, and its almost-white skin sparkled in the sun. Shego knew it was due to the the scales that were somehow less obvious in the day.

As she stared at the creature that seemed set on waiting until she either died of natural causes or gave up, she realized her stomach was starting to hurt.

"I could bring you a meal," the mermaid almost sang.

Shego's eyes widened. 'Can it read my mind...?'

"Like what?" she asked. She regretted the words instantly. The creature would probably give her something poisoned.

"Fish."

Shego shifted uncomfortably on the rock. "Maybe later..."

The sun was warming her to an uncomfortable temperature, and after a moment of thought she carefully stood and began picking her way around to the other side of the tower to be in its shade. The side of the outcrop she was on had a large and relatively passable surface. She had no idea what the other side looked like.

She carefully stepped over the jagged, uneven surface, being sure of her handholds on the tower before every step. She couldn't risk falling in. She knew the elements had weakened her, and she wasn't keen on being face to face with the mermaid's teeth again.

The other side of the tower and outcrop had much steeper ledges and far less flat rock to walk on. Shego found the safest spot she could in the shade, still far from the water's edge, and leaned gratefully into the cooler rock on that side of the tower. She watched as the mermaid swam around the perimeter of rock and floated slowly closer to the edge. The steepness of the rock on that side brought the mermaid much closer than Shego was comfortable with, but she didn't feel like moving again. The effort had reminded her of the many scrapes and bruises she had, and the dull ache in her left elbow.

The mermaid swam right to the edge of the rock and pushed herself up on her arms, revealing the entirety of her human torso. Her dark hair still hung beneath the waves, and Shego wondered idly if it was longer than hers. When she brought her eyes back to the mermaid's face, the creature had adopted a sultry, seductive expression. Shego found the mermaid's tactics and patience for acquiring a free meal were only evidence of just how non-human she actually was.

"Go away," Shego said.

The mermaid smiled and cocked her head to the side.

"You look tired. Would you like me to sing you a lullaby?"

"If you do, I'll hurt you."

The mermaid frowned and swam a few feet back from the rock, the fury behind her eyes more apparent. But then she smiled again. Her lips parted and she began to sing, giving Shego a knowing look.

Shego's eyes widened. She had thought the mermaid's speaking voice was beautiful. But the singing was entrancing. There were no words, and it was a clear, slow melody that rose above the crash of the waves. Suddenly the mermaid's eyes seemed kinder. Maybe, she really would help her get back to the lair...

Shego sat forward on the rock and stared at the creature as she reached a hand out to her and beckoned her gently. Shego blinked and shook her head. She lifted her eyes away from the water and up to the cloud-filled sky. Why was she compelled to go toward that song?

Just then a new sound was carried on the wind and reached her ears. It was faint, distant, and familiar, and had absolutely nothing to do with the sea.

"Shego!"

Shego stumbled to her feet in shock, her eyes scanning the waters frantically. It was so faint... But it was Drakken's voice.

As her gaze darted back and forth over the waves, her eyes fell on the mermaid again. She had stopped singing and her expression was sweet and enticing. Shego grit her teeth and shook her head. She brought her gaze up, beyond the mermaid...and saw a tiny but distinct speck of blue on a very small outcropping, about two football fields' length away.

She squinted at the speck. It moved. She drew a massive breath.

"Drakken!" she shouted so loud that her voice cracked.

The wind was not in her favor. If it was really him, she doubted he had heard her. But the tiny blue speck on the black rock continued to move.

"Shego!"

It was faint. But she was sure. She leaned back against the tower as joy filled her with a warmth more rejuvenating than the sunlight. She hadn't allowed herself to grieve him yet, focusing all of her energy on her own survival. But knowing now that he was alive brought all of her emotion forward and she suddenly found tears stinging her eyes.

She wiped them with her gloved fingers and took a moment to gather herself. She couldn't afford to lose any precious moisture through tears.

"Drakken!" she shouted again, just wanting him to know that she heard him.

Shego noticed movement below the spot she had fixed her hurting eyes on and suddenly remembered the threat. The mermaid was frowning, and Shego watched as the creature looked between her and the outcrop where Drakken was sheltering.

'Oh no...'

The mermaid smirked viciously and dove away. The last Shego saw of her was her silvery blue fin vanishing as she headed toward Drakken's rock.

"Oh no..."

Shego took a deep breath and then dove off of the rock and began swimming. The sea waters were warm, but the waves were choppy and immediately began pushing her away from her destination and away from her own rock. She mentally cursed herself for possibly ending her life then and there if she couldn't get back to some safe haven. But would Drakken have the awareness to recognize the mermaid's almost magical deceptions? Or worse, would he simply fall for the wiles of a beautiful woman?

No, she couldn't just sit comfortable on her rock and watch him die. She fought against the pain of her wounds and the ache in her elbow and pressed on, swimming against the current toward the bright speck of blue.

Before long every stroke of her arms began to burn, and her lungs felt like they were on fire as she struggled to keep her breath. Each time she looked up it seemed like she was making negative progress toward her goal. But the blue speck of Drakken's face still alive on the rock was enough motivation to keep her going. And after awhile she realized she was in fact making progress.

When she had crossed about half the distance she could see that Drakken was standing on his very small outcropping, but he had lost his lab coat somewhere along the way. She assumed he had taken it off when he'd first hit the water after the crash, as it would have made swimming almost impossible. She looked back at the tower of her rock, which was definitely what they had crashed into during the hurricane. She could also see that where she had spent the night was completely out of Drakken's sight, not that he could have spotted her through the storm.

"Shego!"

She turned back and saw Drakken stepping down the side of his steep rock toward the water. He was reaching an arm out...not toward her. Shego strained her eyes and saw the familiar bobbing of the mermaid's dark head about ten yards away from the rock. She took deep breath into her burning lungs and strained forward.

The mermaid was doing...something, to make Drakken think it was her. Drakken continued reaching toward it, but the mermaid wasn't moving any closer. Shego realized through her furious swim that the mermaid was trying to lure Drakken to jump into the water to save 'her;' the exact same trick it had used on her the night before.

She was only about fifty yards from the rock now and could make out the perplexity on Drakken's face. Maybe the mermaid's tricks weren't as effective in the daylight. But then Drakken sat down on the rock and started removing his boots. Part of her brain was scolding him for not taking his boots off when he'd discarded his coat, but the thought vanished as she realized she wasn't going to reach him in time to save him. He would jump in to save her and find himself in the mermaid's clutches. He probably wouldn't even know what happened to him before it was too late.

Shego's limbs were starting to feel like rubber, and it was getting harder to get them to obey commands. But she needed them to follow at least one more. She helicoptered her legs to support her and lifted her arms high out of the water. She ignited her hands and took careful aim. The green blast sailed over the surface of the waves and directly impacted the back of the mermaid's head.

A fierce cry left the siren's lips before she turned to search for Shego. When her eyes found her she glared with murderous anger.

'Uh oh...'

Drakken was looking in confusion between the mermaid and the distant bob of Shego in the water. She hoped it was enough to get him to figure out the danger he was in and stay out of the water.

Shego couldn't see the creature's face, but it suddenly vanished in a flash of rapid movement she hadn't known it was capable of. A sinking dread came over her as she realized the mermaid was after her again. And now she had no rock to hide on.

With nothing else to do, she took a breath and kept swimming toward Drakken's rock. But after only a few strokes she held her breath and let herself sink beneath the waves with her eyes open. The salt stung them, but sure enough she just barely glimpsed a dark shape moving quickly toward her from below. She lit her hands and fired almost blindly as the dark shape raced toward her. The green blast illuminated the snarling mermaid but missed its target as the lithe creature dodged her attack, and the glowing blast dissipated even more rapidly than it did in air.

Shego kept her hands lit beneath the water—something she rarely did and found took a great deal of effort—and fired at the creature again as it attempted to come at her from behind. Her lungs burning, she kicked up to the surface and took a few gasping breaths before diving down again. She was sure the mermaid that had waited all night and half the day wouldn't give up that easily.

The next time, the mermaid came straight at her from just beneath the surface of the water faster than she'd ever seen anything aquatic move. She held her hands up in front of her defensively and the mermaid halted its approach. Shego fired and the mermaid went straight down and vanished. The blast Shego fired after it disappeared before even nearing the target. Shego realized with dismay that she was limited to close-range attacks under the water. That, along with the disadvantage of almost no sight and her weary lungs and limbs starting to give out on her meant the battle may be much shorter than she was usually able to endure. And by shorter she realized...it would mean her end.

The mermaid didn't return for several seconds, and Shego chanced another swim to the surface and took a few more strokes toward the rock. But the effort was futile as her limbs barely responded and the attempt to stay above the water found her slipping down without enough air. She kicked desperately to push her face through the water once more and tilted her head back to keep her nose and mouth above the surface. After getting a breath that didn't feel nearly deep enough, she let her weight take her down again.

She cast her blurry, stinging gaze around for the telltale shape and didn't see it. She desperately wanted to move in the direction of the rock again, but she was no longer sure where it was. Then suddenly a sound, sweet and melodic, seemed to surround her and pull her further beneath the waves. Something within her wanted to move toward the sound and its welcoming sound, but her mind screamed against it. She looked up and saw the sparkling surface of the water getting farther and farther away.

She looked down and bubbles of air left her lips in a gasp as the mermaid was right in front of her, its blue-gray hair billowing gracefully around its shoulders and the sparkling scales were suddenly revealed on its skin as it grinned at her with victorious menace. In the next moment it lunged, and with glowing hands Shego grabbed its wrists and held off the attack with a strength that must have come only from adrenaline. The mermaid thrust its face forward and Shego leaned away, but it wasn't enough to dodge the creature's sharp teeth as they sank into her chest near her armpit.

Shego tried to intensify her glow and tightened her grip as the mermaid's teeth let go and bit her again harder, the razor-sharp teeth slicing through her suit and her flesh with ease. She kicked repeatedly at the mermaid's tail, but the creature didn't even seem to notice the blows. It was in its natural environment, and Shego was quickly losing strength.

Suddenly a garbled voice sounded through the water. She looked up to see Drakken's frantic face just behind the mermaid as his hands grabbed its upper arms. Shego released it and watched in horror as the mermaid thrashed, tossing Drakken around like a rag doll and dragging him down into the dark depths. Shego kicked after them and fired blast after blast at the creature as Drakken held on for dear life, his teeth gritted as he kicked at the mermaid's powerful tail. He clearly had far more energy than Shego and was doing a much better job of holding the creature back.

Shego fired at the creature's tail multiple times until she damaged the fin. And then with only a slight hesitation she began firing at the mermaid's face, being careful to miss Drakken as he still held tight to its arms. Despite everything, Shego didn't like the idea of killing it. But she knew their lives were forfeit if she didn't use a deadlier force than her usual. So she kept firing.

Finally the mermaid seemed to weaken, and after giving a powerful kick Drakken let it go and he lunged toward the surface. Shego watched as the bleeding creature turned its scowling face toward her before it slowly disappeared down into the depths. She felt a slight relief at its retreat, but she wasn't ready to assume the creature had given up. It may only nurse its wounds and then return.

Shego turned her face toward the shining surface which was much, much too far away. Her lungs felt near to bursting as she stretched her arms up and kicked down to swim up. But the single stroke gave her no forward progress, nor did her next one. The sunlight began turning black around the edges of her eyes and she understood that she was sinking.

She closed her eyes to block out the sight of the sun she realized she wouldn't be reaching, and thought bitterly that the terrifying creature of myth had had the last laugh after all. But then she felt an arm around her chest holding her under her arm and a foot kicked her leg as she was drawn back up toward the light.

'Drakken...'

When her face broke the surface, she almost didn't remember how to breathe. And then she coughed some water out of her lungs and opened her eyes just enough to see Drakken's anxious face right next to hers. She dropped her head to rest against his as she brought air into her burning lungs. A few moments later she felt Drakken's foot accidentally kick her again as he tried to swim them back to the small rock he had taken refuge on.

"Shego, help me!" he spluttered as his face dipped beneath the water for a moment. "The current! I can't..."

Shego opened her eyes fully as his head slipped beneath the water again under her weight. She kicked her legs to take some of the pressure off of him and he righted himself, a desperate look in his eyes. Shego didn't have the energy to swim, barely even aware of the existence of her arms. She took a deep breath and tried to force her body back into a float, closing her eyes against the brightness of the sun.

It was enough to both help her regain her breath and a bit of energy, and also eased the burden on Drakken. He kept one arm hooked on one of hers and half-dragged her as he swam them back in the direction of the very small rock. After a minute, Shego started helping by kicking gently to propel her forward. She listened to Drakken's labored breaths with a mixture of gratitude and worry, grateful he was alive but worried that he himself may run out of energy trying to save them both.

"Almost there," Drakken gasped.

Shego gathered her strength and turned over to find they were about ten yards from the sun-lit black rock. She let go of Drakken and tried to swim on her own again. It proved to be a mistake as after only a few strokes she found herself struggling to keep her head above the water. She rolled back over as she spat saltwater out of her mouth and tried to get into another float. She felt Drakken's arm around her chest again and she helped by kicking as he pulled her the remainder of the distance to the rock.

"Climb up," he said as he found one of her hands and then placed it on the jagged surface.

She held on tightly, but her body felt like lead as she tried to push herself up out of the water onto the steep surface. She rested her cheek on the rough rock and focused only on breathing.

"Shego."

Drakken's voice now beckoned her from above, and she peered up to where he was perched on a slightly less-steep part of the small outcrop and was reaching a hand down toward her. She reached a shaking arm up and gripped his hand, and then with Drakken doing most of the work by pulling her she climbed up out of the ocean waters.

Standing on the steep rock, she couldn't keep her balance and stumbled against him. In the next moment he had fallen back with a grunt and she collapsed ungracefully across his lap, her knees hitting the rock hard but her face resting against his chest. She didn't even care. She closed her eyes and relished in the simple gift of breathing air and having solid ground to rest on. Though, she realized after about a minute that she was mostly sitting on his lap.

She opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look up at him. He had his arms hovering just above her as he caught his breath and looked down at her in a mixture of worry and confusion and relief. Seeing him alive and apparently in much better shape than she was broke whatever it was inside of her that had been giving her extra strength. Her eyes closed as her head fell back to his chest again, and she felt that she could be asleep in seconds. The effort of fighting the storm, staying awake all night, swimming the length of two football fields, and then fighting off the mermaid had sapped every ounce of energy she had.

She felt Drakken's hand touch her shoulder cautiously.

"You're bleeding," he said.

She opened her eyes again and shifted just enough to see the disturbing, human mouth-shaped bite marks that closely overlapped next to her armpit on her left breast.

"Long as that thing isn't venomous..." she choked out.

"Was that...what I think it was?" Drakken asked fearfully.

Shego closed her eyes again and saw the awful creature in the blackness of her memory. She opened her eyes.

"Mermaid. Apparently just as real as aliens. Wonder...what's next..." she gasped, her breath rapidly running out.

She felt Drakken shift under her, and self-consciousness flashed through her. She slowly moved to sit more on the rock, but she kept her folded knees atop his lap and moved her head to his shoulder. She heard Drakken clear his throat uncomfortably.

"Did it try to make you think it was me?" she asked.

"Yes... I saw you on that rock over there, but then...you were here in the water. And you were drowning and begging me for help."

"It tried the same thing on me last night. Tried to make me think it was you."

Shego coughed and closed her eyes again. She really wanted to sleep. But Drakken's arm settling gently around her and his hand lightly holding her wrist sent a tiny rush of adrenaline through her and kept sleep away.

"I thought you were dead..." he said quietly, his voice almost lost on the waves crashing against the rocks. "I couldn't find you last night, and...nnh, the hurricane..."

"I called for you," Shego said. "I think that thing heard me."

She felt Drakken turn his head to look at her. "The mermaid?"

Shego kept her eyes closed and nodded. "It was after me all night."

Drakken rested his cheek atop her head. Shego felt the small rush of adrenaline again, though she wasn't sure why. She reasoned with herself that it was just the relief at finding him alive, and surviving the mermaid attack.

"Did you see the eye of the hurricane?" Drakken asked.

"Mhm," Shego said, bringing her hand up to his chest, her fingers clinging to the wet fabric of his black sweater. Why had he worn a sweater?

She heard Drakken clear his throat anxiously and felt his fingers fidget at her wrist for a moment.

"It was amazing!" he said.

"I was being attacked by a mermaid."

"...It was after you all night?" he asked.

Shego yawned and settled her cheek more comfortably against his shoulder. "It kept circling the rocks and trying different ways to get me to trust it... It said it knew what happened to you."

"I hadn't seen it until...just now."

"I know. I thought you were dead, too..."

The blackness behind her eyes was growing deeper, and her body felt even heavier. The bites on her chest stung, and she wondered again if mermaids were venomous. If so, it was doubtful there was any sure treatment.

"Thanks for saving me, Dr. D.," she murmured. "I'm glad you're not dead. Sorry about the crash..."

Drakken's arm tightened around her. She felt the first real sense of peace come over her since the crash. If the mermaid bite was venomous and ended up killing her, at least... At least she'd...

"How are we going to get out of here?"

Drakken's worried voice was the last thing she heard as her mind slipped into a black oblivion.

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

Shego dreamt of a beautiful song, calling her into dark waters. It compelled her toward it, but fear raced like ice through her veins with each step she took toward the sound. Something kept telling her it was dangerous and that she had to go back. But the sound was alluring and seemed to pull her against every caution her mind was throwing at her.

"Shego. Shego!"

Drakken's voice and a slight shaking of her frame woke her from sleep. Her head pounded as she blinked in the bright sunlight, and she could still hear a faint song, beautiful and terrifying over the crash of the waves. Somehow she had fallen to lying with her head in Drakken's lap as she slept, and as she pushed herself up a sudden strong dizziness caused her to fall against his chest with a groan.

"There's a plane!"

Shego listened and was able to pick out the familiar sound of the engine far overhead, and she pushed herself away enough for Drakken to get out from under her. She watched as he stood up and started waving his arms wildly. Shego realized that in his black shirt and dark blue pants, he blended in perfectly with the rock and the sea. And there was nothing remarkable about her attire either.

A moment later Drakken seemed to realize the futility and sat back down about a foot away from her, crossing his legs and setting his elbows on his knees to rest his chin in his hands. His eyes were worried, and Shego knew he was thinking as she was that despite surviving the hurricane and the mermaid, they may still die.

"We need a way to signal..." Drakken grumbled to himself.

Shego considered for a moment and then reached down to her leg pouch. Her cell phone was in there. There was no hope of it having survived the storm, but...it was all they had. Drakken watched as she pulled it out and flipped the small phone open, not a scratch on its case or screen. But of course, it was either water damaged or simply dead. Shego tossed the open phone on the rock between them.

Drakken glanced at it with a frown, but then Shego saw his eyes widen. He grabbed the open phone and turned it toward the sky. Shego watched as he turned the screen to catch the sun's light and reflected it upward. Her jaw dropped.

Shego struggled to her feet, leaning against the rock as Drakken began flashing an S.O.S. She searched the sky and finally saw the small plane moving in and out of the white clouds flying toward the distant blue of the hurricane. She watched as Drakken stood with a rare concentration, flashing the sun's light with the phone screen relentlessly.

Shego kept her eyes on the plane, moving farther and farther away... And then it began a turn back toward them. A triumphant smirk came over Drakken's face, and Shego couldn't help mirroring the look a moment later. For all the chaos they got into together, they seemed to have an equal amount of luck in getting out alive.

The plane circled their location, and Shego knew they had been spotted. It was only a matter of time before a ship would be sent to rescue them. And then they would face the new decision of accepting treatment at a hospital and then avoiding arrest. But those were familiar challenges, and ones they knew how to handle together with barely a word exchanged between them.

The thrill of victory she was feeling must have extended to Drakken, because he looked at her over his shoulder with a grin that spoke of taking on the world. She returned the confident look and leaned back against the rock as he continued to signal their location.

"We gonna come back for the hover-car?" she asked after a minute.

"Mmh, no... Let the mermaid have it as a souvenir."

Shego laughed, and a moment later Drakken joined her with a brief, low chuckle as they watched the plane circling overhead.

-FIN-

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