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flutteringdreams-matw · 3 years

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Out of Time (4)

Dan frowned as he looked down at Amity Park under the green shield. His wail definitely made a dent, but now it seemed like the infernal thing was back to normal. He brought himself down toward it, standing on top of it as he looked beneath him. The logo printed on his chest was visible across the town from this angle, shining hopefully up through the buildings through the shield and at the spectre above. It sickened him.

Walking across it, he felt the shield sizzle against his boots; the electric power keeping him out but also something else, something he couldn't quite place. "Figures," the dark Phantom muttered, testing it with his weight. "Even in this timeline, the brat still thinks he has a chance." His hands ignited with energy, darkening rapidly as he considered his next move. The energy dissipated as he gasped, heat rising from his core and through his nose as the shield shifted below his feet. Dan chuckled, waiting for an attack or quip, but it didn't come. Mildly intrigued at the lack of attack, he turned; this timeline's Danny Phantom floated up and out of the shield slowly, landing gracefully on top of the shield with a soft thud. Dan eyed the teen; still young, the infuriating green eyes and messy white hair still matched what he presumed the human half mirrored. Dan watched as small waves of power rippled at the boy's feet. "Surprised to see me?" he taunted.

Danny crossed his arms, but remained silent. His eyes looked the evil ghost over as he reassessed the situation. Namely how much he wasn't ready for this fight. The shield beneath his feet hummed as some of its energy started to flow back to his body, making him feel more confident in his powers for the first time in days. His confidence in his powers, however, did nothing to quell the uneasiness he felt as he stared back at his future self.

"What? Nothing to say?" he goaded. "No 'But I defeated you?' 'Not possible?'" He gestured to the shield below them. "But you gave me such a great welcome!"

Danny's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why are you here?" he asked finally.

Dan's eyebrow rose slightly. "Really? I thought it would be obvious by now." His hands ignited with green ecto-energy, making the younger half-ghost tense slightly.

"This isn't your world," Danny told him, hands also igniting in ecto-energy. "Not anymore."

"Of course it isn't," the evil ghost smirked. His ecto-energy disappeared as he started to pace around the teen. "You trapped me in a thermos for what? A year? Did you think I would just go away? I've been here for 10 years Danny. I'm inevitable."

"So what now? You know I'll never become you," Danny said. He looked down at the town below; the town's people were starting to notice the two ghosts above them.

Dan smirked at the worry his younger counterpart held for the town. "Funny isn't it, how they look like insects from up here," he replied, ignoring the question and drawing a glare from the younger ghost. Dan smiled slightly as he saw Danny's mask crack. "Feels like it too, when you watch them run from an ecto-blast." Danny's eyes lit up a little more neon in anger. The darker Phantom chuckled humourlessly. "How long do you think this will hold me Danny? How long before you realize you can't protect them from yourself." He smiled wickedly, his fists shining brightly against his aura. "Especially, when I do this!" Dan released a stream of ecto-energy towards shield, causing it to spark at the sudden attack. The shield rebound the energy upwards, sending a shower of green to explode above them under the grey clouds overhead. Dan watched the teen falter slightly; catching the way he tried to hide how much that blast affected him. The evil ghost smiled predatorily, confirming his theory as Danny let out a deep breath before meeting his gaze with a glare. "Oh, did that hurt? How about this!"

Dan flew straight for the teen, blast at the ready. Danny hastily brought up a small ecto-shield, managing to block the attack with some effort. Dan pushed down onto the shield, but Danny pushed back, repelling his older self backward. Flying up, Danny fired a flurry of ice blasts toward Dan, who dodged them with ease. The evil Phantom caught an ice blast and melted it, staring the younger down. Danny's eyes widened in shock slightly before launching himself toward the target. They tumbled in the air twice until Dan caught his balance, grabbed Danny's arm and threw him away from the battle. Danny landed hard on top of the shield, crying out in surprise as he skidded to a stop. Crouched low, he sent a disc of ecto-energy back at the ghost. It hit its mark, but Dan walked straight through, almost as if it didn't affect him.

Crap Danny thought, dodging a blast with a back handspring. He hissed as the missed blast hit the shield again. How do I manage this?

"What's your plan here?" Dan goaded, splitting himself in three. "You can't surprise me with the wail anymore. It's not like you have anything to beat me."

Eyes shining blue, Danny launched a series of ice blasts towards Dan. Caught by surprise, two of the duplicates disappeared as the older ghost growled. Dan's fists glowed light blue as a series of flames launched at the younger boy. Danny yelped but defended himself with an ice blast. The blasts collided, holding fast between the two ghosts. The fire blast started to push the ice blast back, Danny gritted his teeth as he was pushed back against the shield. Eventually, it exploded, sending both ghosts flying.

Danny hissed as small flames burned his hand. He stood up slowly and glared across the shield as Dan did the same. His future self smiled cruelly as he laughed. "Really?" he asked. "Did you think an ice core would do much against a heat one? My hair is literally on fire."

"Yeah, you're a real hot head," Danny retorted. Again, he launched an ice blast, this time freezing the top of the shield and Dan's feet to the shield. With the evil ghost trapped, he froze a ball of ecto-energy and threw it at Dan, watching it explode. Dan stood up slowly, glaring at Danny. Both Phantoms held the glare for a few tense seconds before they flew at each other.

:-=-:

Clockwork frowned atop the current apartment roof he called his home, watching Danny face off against his future self. They were locked in combat, trading punches and quips. Thankfully, they looked evenly matched. Clockwork shifted into a form of a child as he looked at his staff worriedly. If he was right, it wouldn't be long now.

"Are we going to let him have all the fun?"

Clockwork didn't turn as he felt Ethelwulf appear beside him. The Time Master could sense the concern for the boy oozing off the ghost; it almost rivalled his own. "Patience," Clockwork said calmly.

Ethelwulf scoffed. "That's all you ever say," he replied with a growl. His black wings opened, stretching up in anticipation. "That shield has been up for as long as we've been here; Danny's putting too much energy into it. If his future self is as powerful as you say he is, we should be doing more!"

"Everything is as it should be," Clockwork said, shifting forms into adulthood.

"Forgive me, I forgot how insufferable you can be," Ethelwulf countered, with a roll of his eyes. "Clockwork, he can't keep this up for much longer. We need to help him."

Clockwork ignored him, closing his eyes. He felt the world move, time shifting through the twists and turns of the time stream. The battles to come and the price made him shutter as he hoped that he was wrong. He sensed the battle above the town; Danny and Dan floated ten feet away from each other, the former looking more run down than the latter.

Three. Both Phantoms manoeuvred their way to the top of the shield again, neither looking away from the other. Clockwork's eyes flew open as he felt the timeline slow.

Two. Danny tensed as the older ghost yelled something at him. They both took a deep breath in quickly, bracing for what was to come.

One. Both Phantoms unleashed their wails, colliding in a wall of sound. The ground shook, as the raw power reverberated overhead. Screams from the town echoed below.

"Time out!"

A pulse of power erupted from within Clockwork's being and through his staff, a wave of blue washing over the town and outward. Grunting softly, the Master of Time doubled over in pain as the wave pushed past the shield toward the rest of the world.

"Clockwork!" Ethelwulf exclaimed, moving closer to his friend. Yellow eyes quickly assessed the ghost in concern.

Clockwork shifted into the form of an old man, hunched over and glowing. As the world ground to a halt, the eerie silence was overrun by the deafening roar of the Ghostly Wails above them. Ethelwulf looked down below of the humans frozen before turning his gaze back to the time ghost. Clockwork sighed heavily, recovering from the initial pain of stopping time before he looked at the confused face of wolfish companion.

"Why didn't they stop?" Ethelwulf asked, worry laced in his tone. The wail continued, unconcerned at the halt of time. "Clockwork – why didn't they stop?"

Clockwork's old eyes looked up at Danny Phantom with worry and self-loathing. "It's begun."

:-=-:

Danny's limbs shook as he continued the wail. He was siphoning the energy from the shield into the attack, but his evil self was powerful; there was no way he could keep this up for much longer. He was fading, vision swimming in front of him. Dan's wail started to push him backward but Danny stood his ground, pushing back. Eventually, the wails exploded, sending both ghosts flying backward and colliding hard with the shield.

Danny bit his lip as he felt the shield falter slightly. He focused in maintaining the shield, groaning in agony as he felt unconsciousness threaten to take him. Getting up on his hands and knees, he tried to shake his head to clear it.

"Is this it?" Danny stiffened as his evil self's snide drawl floated to his ears. "I almost expected more from you."

Come on Danny thought desperately. He searched deep within his core for any spare energy that he could muster.

"Still no quips?" the Dark Phantom provoked. He stomped the shield, releasing a small disc of ecto-energy from his feet. Danny cried out in pain as he felt it crack, but still managed to keep the shield. "Hmm… Maybe you're stronger than I give you credit for."

Realizing his only option, Danny breathed through the pain and focused on the raw energy deep within him. Already, he felt the electricity rise through his core, screaming to be released.

A wordless roar and a yelp of surprise broke through his concentration, making his eyes shoot open. Ethelwulf, appearing from nowhere, shot up through the shield and tackled Dan, large leathery wings moving like blades through combat. Dan retaliated quickly, sending multiple rounds of ecto-energy to his new foe. Ethelwulf dodged before sending a large series of ecto-blasts back at the evil spectre.

"Ethelwulf," Danny murmured in confusion. He pushed himself up slowly, standing slightly before falling. To his shock, a pair of hands grabbed him before he reached the surface of shield. Blue skin, a long grey beard and a purple cloaked ghost held the ghost boy up. "Clockwork?" Danny steadied himself with the help of the Time Master and looked at him in confusion. "What-"

"No time," Clockwork said simply, his voice still eerily serene even with the urgency in that statement. "Can you go on?" Danny nodded readily. Clockwork frowned, looking the boy over in hopes for a more truthful answer, but continued. "Okay, listen carefully. When time resumes – a natural portal will open and shut quickly above the town. We need to get Dan into it."

Danny looked from Clockwork to Ethelwulf and back again. "I don't understand," he said faintly, sinking further into Clockwork's grip.

"Later," Clockwork assured, holding him steady. "I'll explain when we get rid of the more pressing issue. Don't worry about the shield – focus on getting him out of your world."

Ethelwulf skidded across the shield, stopping in front of Clockwork and Danny. The wolf ghost growled protectively around the two. Dan floated down slowly, smirking at the trio of ghosts at his mercy.

"Meddling again Clockwork?" Dan asked, annoyed. He eyed the Time Master quickly, laughing as he saw the feeble form he was currently in. "What will you do, huh? Doesn't look like you're up to any tricks- Is that why you brought the mutt?"

Neither Ethelwulf nor Clockwork responded to the jab. Danny, on the other hand, broke away from Clockwork and stood his ground.

Dan laughed. "Oh, you're kidding me! Do you truly believe you three stand a chance against me? Don't you understand what I'm capable of?" A wave of ecto-energy flew at the evil ghost courtesy of Ethelwulf's wings.

"Any time now Clock!" Ethelwulf yelled. "Literally!" He flew back at Dan, a large paw hitting the ghost in the chest. Danny flew up slightly, holding his side, but watched Ethelwulf and Dan exchange attacks and looked for an opening.

"Time In!" Danny heard Clockwork exclaim. What he didn't notice was his friend double over in pain as time started to move forward.

True to Clockwork's word, Danny saw the natural portal open directly above the fighting Ethelwulf and Dan. I need to get him up there quickly… but how? Ethelwulf's tail hit Dan's shield – creating a series of sparks as the evil ghost was pushed upwards. Dan was so enthralled with Ethelwulf's attacks, he had stopped paying attention to Danny or Clockwork. Seeing the opportunity, Danny flew into a position where a good clean shot would send him flying. Ethelwulf and Dan flew higher still, until Dan was right where the younger ghost wanted. "HEY!" he yelled, getting the attention of both ghosts. "Leave my town ALONE!" Danny unleashed his Ghostly Wail for the second time, watching as Ethelwulf quickly darted out of the way so his older self got the brunt of the attack. Dan yelled in frustration as he was pushed up and through the ghost portal. Danny, utterly spent, fell a few feet and hit the shield as the portal closed. He gasped for air, forcing himself to stay conscious and in ghost form as he tried to process what happened.

As he tried to regain his breath, Danny felt Clockwork and Ethelwulf come around him. "You did good kid," Ethelwulf said, worry evident in his tone.

Danny shook his head. "The shield," he rasped, looking out desperately to the cracked shield around Amity Park. "He'll be back."

Ethelwulf frowned, watching the teen's desperation overpower any sense of reason. "Danny, you've already used too much core energy on that shield. It's a miracle you've made it this far," Ethelwulf told him gently. When Danny didn't answer, Ethelwulf turned to Clockwork for help. "You tell him."

Clockwork floated beside the kneeling boy, putting a withered hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny only barely recognized the ghost's presence. "Do what you need to do," he said quietly. "Just remember that you will not stop him if do this alone."

Danny nodded, accepting the advice. He put a shaky gloved hand on the shield and breathed deeply. His ghostly aura pulsed around him as the shield glowed, the cracks slowly being repaired. He shook in strain, trying to control the energy flowing through him. With the cracks repaired, Danny fell sideways with a groan, Clockwork catching the boy as he fell.

Ethelwulf sighed, moving closer to Danny. The ghost in question was still stubbornly conscious, breathing heavily against Clockwork's chest. "Rest, Halfling," Ethelwulf soothed, yellow eyes searching for any serious injuries. Thankfully, it only looked like he was bruised and exhausted. "Let's get you home."

:-=-:

"Here."

Maddie jumped slightly as a white mug with her husband's face on it settled in front of her at the computer station, the smell of fresh coffee greeted her senses. Glancing back, the ghost researcher turned to face her husband. "Thanks Jack. Is Danny back yet?"

Jack sat in the chair beside her, frowning. "Nope – but I'm sure it's fine Mads. It's not even 9 yet! He's probably on his way back now." Maddie smiled weakly and turned her attention back to the data on the screen, frowning in concern. Sensing her worry, Jack rolled the chair closer to her and glanced at the numbers and charts. "Find anything on Danny's files?"

"Kind of – there are a lot of schematics for weapons that would be good against sonic attacks, heat attacks, cold attacks – everything you can think of. Except…" Maddie trailed off, frowning as she mused her theory over in her head one more time. "Except, these files don't look like they're solely on this evil Phantom…"

Jack's eyes widened as he caught on. "They're files on if our Danny goes dark," he finished, looking over the data with new understanding. Jack let out a low whistle as he watched Maddie scroll through a list of powers his son currently held and a possible counter for each one. "He's really worried about this, huh?"

Maddie nodded, frowning as she looked down at her notes. "The only problem is that our tech reacts to Danny's ecto-signature in some way. There's nothing in these files saying that they have different ecto-signatures. So how do we create weapons to defeat this ghost if they also target Danny? Or a ghost shield?" She rubbed her head in her hands. "How can we help him if he believes the only way how is to hurt him?"

Jack rubbed his wife's back soothingly. "First of all, Danny doesn't think we're going to hurt him," Jack reassured confidently. "He wouldn't have given us this file if there wasn't a threat. Second, the ghost we're up against is half Danny – or a version of him at any rate. Even if he's worried about turning evil, he's probably the best one to judge what will work against that ghost." Jack paused for a second, taking in everything he just said. "Mads, that's it! The Ecto-Signature!"

Maddie turned to her husband in confusion, before her eyes lit up in understanding. "He's half of Danny! Meaning that the other half will affect his ecto-signature! All we have to do is find out which ghost is the other half!" She flipped through her notes quickly. "Danny said Dan had some fire attacks, which must be what he's referring to here." She pointed at the screen under heat attacks. She frowned as she noticed a small acronym. "What does 'CH' mean?"

"It could be anything really. Unit of measure for ecto-energy? Core Heat perhaps? Personally, I think of cheese but maybe I'm just hungry."

Maddie tensed, a memory of Danny calling Vlad a 'Cheesehead' running across her mind. Making a note to inquire later, she relaxed slightly and nodded to her husband. "Let's just ask Danny, hmm?" she said, picking up the coffee and taking a sip. Looking at the clock, she frowned slightly as she noticed the time. 9:20. "Jack, he should be back by now."

Jack opened his mouth to respond but was cut off. Both hunters jumped as the ghost alarm went off, the shrill beeping intensifying the worry that both parents shared. They jumped into action; Jack typed in the password to disable the alarm as Maddie pulled up the map of the town. "There's a huge spike of ecto-energy above the city!" she cried.

Jack swallowed nervously as he looked at the map. There were 2 dots on the screen, both with high ecto-energy levels, clashing on screen. He stared as both dot collided with each other and rebounded away. "How long?"

"Looks like thirty minutes – give or take." Maddie reached for her cellphone and grimaced as she saw the twenty missed calls between Jazz, Sam and Tucker. Jack didn't miss the look of dread on her face.

"We need –" Jack started before the entire lab was coated with a soft blue light. Both Fentons froze as time halted. The analog clock on the wall continued moving, as if nothing was wrong. The ticking clock continued until it read 9:40 before the blue light washed over them again, resuming. "To go!" Jack finished. As both hunters ran to acquire weapons, the computer let out another shrill beep.

Maddie, frowning in worry, ran over to the screen. "What on earth…" she said, looking at the screen. Not even ten seconds ago, there were two ecto-entities on the screen; now there were four. "Jack!" she called. Maddie watch as three of the dots ganged up on the last one. "Jack, the TV. We need eyes now!"

Sensing her worry, Jack fumbled with the remote and turned the T.V. on. Sure enough, there was coverage of the ghost attack from ground level, but no sight of Danny Phantom. As she combed through the grainy footage, she managed to make out an animal looking ghost with black wings fighting with a larger looking ghost with blue skin and flaming hair. "Where's-" she started worriedly, before the audio crackled and a loud wailing blasted through the speaker of the T.V. Maddie let out a sigh of relief as Danny came into the frame, attacking with his Ghostly Wail. Danny attacked, pushing the enemy up and out of sight. As the larger ghost disappeared, she was brought out of her stupor as Danny fell, hitting the shield hard. "Danny," she whispered worriedly.

"That looks like Ethelwulf," Jack said, pointing to the animal ghost. He then moved his finger to the last small figure on frame, who was dressed in purple. "Who's that?"

Maddie shook her head. "Change in plans, first aid kit. And where did we put the E-Scanner?" As they gathered supplies, Maddie looked back at the T.V. screen again and gasped as the trio of ghosts disappeared. "Where'd they-"

A bright light cut Maddie off as both Fentons shielded their eyes. When the light subsided, they saw Ethelwulf's large wings opening to reveal the ghost in purple holding their son. Not giving anyone time to readjust, Ethelwulf shifted forms to stand on two legs, getting rid on his wings and tail and moved directly to the Fentons. "He's okay," the ghost assured the worried parents. "With some patching up and a little bit of rest, he should be fine."

Both parents stared at the three ghosts as they processed what just happened. Maddie was the first to recover, eyes honing in on Danny's limp form. "Someone care to tell me what the hell is going on here?" she asked angrily. She glared at the quiet ghost currently holding her son. "And who the hell are you!?"

The ghost was unfazed by her anger and just floated closer to the ground. He nodded at Jack, silently beckoning him closer. Jack hesitated for a second before glancing at Danny and hurried forward. He took his son his arms as Danny finally reverted forms, unable to hold out any longer. Maddie's anger disappeared as Danny relaxed into his father's hold, unconscious. "My name is Clockwork," he finally replied serenely. Both Fentons turned to each other in recognition of the name. "As for your second question, that is a rather long story."

Link to Ecto-Storm Series

First/Last

#cartoons #danny phantom #fanfiction #danny fenton #action #adventure #cross posted on ao3 #no phantom planet #But his parents know #pls like and reblog #ecto storm series #Out of Time #multichapter #fight scene #dan appears #Clockwork #OC #Hurt!Danny

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flydotnet · 4 years

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Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. I don’t have any request left, so feel free to send in suggestions for this card!).

What... did you say...?

It's been a hot, like, 2 years since I last wrote for THH or Naegiri, and man, it shows... My Makoto writing is all rusty and I hate it. This fic isn't very good by any of my usual standards, but I really wanted it out of the door, and I just remembered just how much I like Makoto, Kyoko and Naegiri. I may not have the same fervor I had for DR as I did almost 4 years ago when I started writing Febris-Induced Case, but hey... I still like those guys. I hate canon but I love those guys. It's such a weird feeling. I usually go back to V3 instead, so seeing them again... made my heart flutter a little, then realize my prompt fill sucked ass lmao. Oh well. I'll probably go back to the ship and characters later during this card; but for now, I think I at least got that one prompt out of the way. Honestly, I had to do it with a THH-inspired oneshot because, y'know, Chapter 5 is a thing and it was the glorious sick episode that got me into DR in the first place. Also, is this set Post-Canon or is it in an Everybody Lives AU? Who knows! I sure don't!

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Last Heartbeat

Summary: Someone is trying to kill him while he's down for the count; yet Makoto can't find the strength to move away from the danger.

Fandom: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Wordcount: 1.6K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

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There’s a shadowy figure hovering over his bed.

He doesn’t know who it could be or why they’re here – but he’s got a bad feeling about this. All he can see about them is the reflection of the moonlight in their eyes (he forgot to close the curtains before collapsing back into bed, but he’s thankful for it, now) and the way their smile shines through the darkness like white under the black light, sharp teeth threatening him.

He doesn’t know why, but there’s one feeling that’s overwhelming the rest of his sense – he needs to escape from whoever that person is, as fast and as soon as possible.

That’s all well and dandy, but the thing is, his limbs won’t bulge. He’s trying his hardest to push him out of the bed before that person can do anything to him – he doesn’t even know if they’re armed or not – yet neither arms nor legs are responding to his desperate calls. He feels like his entire body has been covered in lead and that, in turn, seeped into his blood and flesh and made him heavier than he has any right to be.

The light reflects in the sharp edge of a knife pointed right towards him by the mysterious figure, ready to strike at any moment, to extract the breath from his chest – but he’s already breathless, so he wonders if he hasn’t been stabbed already… but that can’t be, right? He’d have felt if the blade had struck. He’d be able to see blood flowing down it, right?

It doesn’t make sense, but he feels lightheaded and breathless, so it may just be his head playing tricks on him.

Adrenaline kicks in before long and he manages to push himself to face the mysterious figure, legs following with a delay, as he sees their eyes: sulphuric yellow, bright and glistening, unrealistically bright even considering the lights outside – like a demon’s. Their breathing is unnaturally heavy, so close to him that he hears every crackle, every wheeze and every wet sound in it, oppressing him through merely existing and being in such a close range.

He’s now facing the figure, who has lied down on him, their knife still showing under the moonlight. Their expression is haunting, a mix of pleasure and pain like he’s never seen one before – their eyes are full of sorrow, but their teeth keep smiling, distorted in a pleased grin, a droplet of red falling down from one of them, one sharper than the blade they’re holding.

Their intent is nefarious indeed, but his legs are trapped in the drapes and covers tangled in his feet, and he finds himself cornered by the wall against which his bed is. He attempts to flee from the sides, left, right, left, right – but the person (the creature?) flawlessly matches his pace, if they’re not actually predicting what he’s about to do, so there’s no way out there either.

With strong hands, they pin him down to the bed, preventing him from even attempting an escape. He now has a closeup view of their eyes: their pupils are slit, like a cat’s in a way, and focus directly into his despite the fact it should be impossible in a mostly dark room like that one. They emit their own light, so they can probably bypass his limits, making them invincible by default.

His own breathing is heavy (albeit less than the creature), his hands are trembling and he’s stuck in this position, having to wait and see what the other person is going to do, even if he can guess their intentions can’t be good – he still has some hope left that it could be one giant misunderstanding. This may just be weird dream, after all, and his luck could finally be on his side for once and –

Hands wrap around his neck, cold and leathery to the touch, as the fingers dance around the edges of his jaw – he has no idea of what they’re doing, but he wishes he wasn’t so vulnerable and lethargic right about now, wishing he could recover just enough strength to get away from this dangerous situation. Their gaze is cold as it studies him, contrasting with the caustic grin, and their intent is now too clear for him to remain any optimistic about it.

Oh my God. They can and will kill him.

He has no idea of why someone would kill him, right now. Something tells him he must have done at least one thing to be a person to eliminate. He must know too much or snoop around too many places, and that must be displeasing to at least one individual. Kyoko did try to warn him, after all, of what sort of cases she may get on; but he didn’t mind because, simply put, he’d go through the apocalypse to be with her.

He’d very much appreciate her to be by his side, right now, considering he’s about to get killed, all alone, and it stings to think he’ll be drawing his last breath all on his own. If there was one thing he could be proud of about himself, it wasn’t any sort of talent nor ability, but his role as the heart of the class, the beacon of hope of the group as some have nicknamed him (it used to be ironic, but it grew on people); so, now that he’d need someone to pay him the favour back (now that he ever thought of it that way, but you know…), there’s nobody by his side and he’s left facing a demon in the darkness.

And that’s when one realization strikes him.

He’s going to die alone.

He’s going to die right here and ow without having had the opportunity to see all of the people he loves one last time and to tell them how grateful he was for every single one of them.

He won’t have the chance to hug Komaru one last time and tell her how she’s the best sister ever.

He won’t have the chance to thank his parents for their love and support, for comforting him in times of needs.

He won’t have the chance to tell the class he loved being their classmate and friend, how he spent some of the best years of his life with them, how they were the best thing to happen to him.

He won’t have the chance to tell Kyoko that… that…

The fingers around his throat slowly move from his neck to his head, eyes glancing into his, still burning with hellish flames, albeit suddenly expressionless, evoking nothing in his panicked mind. The person’s breathing gets heavier and heavier as his starts to disappear, second by second, as his own breath is starting to run short. He’d try to fight against it if his limbs weren’t, again, too heavy to move, too stiff to use, especially in a situation like that – adrenaline isn’t enough to save him, now.

And there he is, dying in his bed, slain during a moment where he was too vulnerable to escape. It’s sad, sad thing; but at least, it’ll be a quick and easy death, if it comes to it.

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He wakes up to the soft light of the sun peeking through the curtains and the faint scent of lavender. The air is soft and a little cool, unlike what he can vaguely remember having felt before – only to jolt up when he remembers he shouldn’t even be alive to think that.

Two hands push him back into the bed, gentle yet firm. He doesn’t need to think much (and thank goodness for that, his head is heavy and feels like it could split in half if he used it too much) to know who this is, smile a little at the realization, then get even more confused about how he landed in this dream-like situation.

“Stay put,” Kyoko tells him in this tone that only her voice has, the one that’s stoic yet caring, in a way he can’t quite describe.

“B-but… I…”

He coughs, loudly, and his laboured breathing reminds him of something: the person’s, the creature’s.

“Everything’s okay, Makoto. You’ve just gone through a terrifying night. Everything else is fine. You’re still here.”

Her words are making him think a little more rationally about what felt like his death: it must have been a nightmare he didn’t wake up from. That’s weird, because usually, he’d wake up when he’d pass away in his dream, only to jump awake, drenched in sweat. The apocalypse happening before everyone’s eyes hasn’t helped.

“I don’t know what you saw while I was tending to you, even if I can imagine a version of it.”

He’s used to comforting Kyoko, not the other way around. She used to be very much uneasy with it, stumbling with her words and preferring silent gestures to words – which she still does and does very well at that with people she’s opened to – but she’s trying her best, he can tell.

“All I can tell you is that you were trying to escape from me but couldn’t.” She puts a damp washcloth on his forehead, prompting him to notice she isn’t wearing her gloves. “I assume you mistook me for someone else while I was simply trying to keep your fever in check.”

So, the figure… wasn’t trying to kill him, then.

“That’s probably it,” he replies with a cough interrupting him. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“It’s fine. Please tell me about it if you feel like it. I want to understand what happened when you pushed me away.”

“Will do,” he gives her the biggest smile he call pull off.

#bad things happen bingo #danganronpa #naegiri #makoto naegi #kyoko kirigiri #sickbed slaying #sickfic #my writing #i apologize #like this isnt peak naegiri #i'll need to give 'em justice later #just needed that prompt out the door

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zwritestuff · 4 years

Note

Are you doing prompts?? 32F with Lemyanka please?! With all the angst you can manage!

Lemyanka anon here, sorry I forgot!! Can you do 5 times they nearly revealed their feelings to each other but didn’t? X

jesus this got long. i tweaked the dialogue prompt, hope you don’t mind. i’m sorry for the delay!

32. “But do they fuck you like I did?” / F. N Things (ex: ‘5 times x did y’)

Admittedly, Lemon’s best ideas come to her while she’s drunk - Priyanka, however, is the only exception.

It was meant to just be a casual thing; they were just friends with benefits and no strings attached. They hung out with the rest of their friendship group with normality, sometimes they went home together and other times they left from the bar with a new stranger.

Everything was good and emotions were under control, until Lemon realized the tug in her heart whenever Priyanka flirted with other girls.

She texted her one day asking if she wanted to hang out once she was done with her lectures, having decided to tell her about her feelings, and that they should stop sleeping around before Lemon is in it too deep - but Priyanka said she had something lined up already and couldn’t cancel. Lemon brushed it off, saying it was okay and wishing her to have fun, thinking she’d have her opportunity soon.

Priyanka drops the bomb that she’s seeing someone while they’re studying with Rita and Starzy. Lemon’s heart stops for a second, paralyzes mid-movement as she searches for Priyanka’s gaze. She doesn’t seem concerned or awkward at all, and it only adds to the feeling of suffocation invading her.

She rambles about how great she is, and how much she likes her even though it’s been just three weeks since they started seeing each other. The monster of jealousy is fighting to take control over Lemon’s senses, to make her spit bitter words like, “But does she fuck you as good like I did?”

But she doesn’t. Because she has some dignity left, and their affair was kept from their friends, so it wouldn’t be intelligent to reveal themselves like this.

“Pri,” Lemon calls her once they’re done with their study session, trotting up to meet her. “Can I talk to you for a second?” She tries not to sound too choked up, but it’s easier said than done.

Priyanka stops in her tracks, turning around to see her with a careful look. Lemon has seen that look before, and she hates it. She asks if it has to do with the fact she’s seeing someone, and before Lemon has any chance of replying, she goes on to say that she doesn’t want to make things awkward, and that they can act as if nothing happened if that’s what she wants.

“Woah, I was just going to ask you when are you gonna give me back my yellow dress. I have my brother’s birthday party on Sunday,” she lies with surprising ease, and Priyanka blinks repeatedly, a blush creeping on her cheeks as she tells her she’ll drop the dress by her dorm later today.

Lemon tries to get over Priyanka by downloading Tinder again, but she rarely matches with girls that spark her interest.

Boa’s birthday happens, and they go to a club to celebrate. They get ready in Lemon’s apartment, chaos ensuing as soon as they step foot inside. It’s a welcomed type of chaos, though, one she’s learned to treasure. She gets a call from Priyanka while she’s doing Juice’s make-up, and excuses herself for a moment to lock herself in the bathroom so that she can hear more clearly.

“Pri? Are you coming?” She asks, shutting the door behind her.

“Yeah, I’m on my way. I wanted to ask you if you wouldn't mind if I crashed your place with Tynomi.”

Lemon blinks repeatedly, her mind jumping to the worst of conclusions. “Tynomi?”

“The girl I’ve been going out with,” she explains, and Lemon’s heart aches when she can clearly hear the smile on her face. “I’ve asked Boa if she doesn’t mind her tagging along, and she said it’s fine, but I forgot to ask if she could come with me to your place.”

The grip on her phone tightens, as she takes a shaky breath and steals a glance of herself in the mirror. She wants to scream, tell Priyanka of her feelings, of how she foolishly let herself fall for her and now it hurts her that she’s moved on and she can’t keep pretending that everything is okay. Because it’s not.

“Yeah, sure,” she says instead, reluctantly.

Lemon stares at the letter, blinking once, twice, until tears are flooding down her cheeks. She breaks down in the middle of the cafeteria, drawing attention her way, but she doesn’t care. She’ll cry if she wants to - she got accepted into a prestigious dance school in New York with a full ride scholarship. Anyone would cry in her place.

“Girl, are you okay? What did that letter say?” Kiara asks, confused, stroking her back in an attempt to soothe her. All Lemon is able to do is give her the letter, gasping for air. Kiara’s eyes grow wide as she reads the first few sentences. “Holy shit,” she muses.

“What happened?” Priyanka asks, approaching their table with a worried expression. Kiara hands her the letter, as Lemon is still struggling to form coherent sentences. “Holy shit indeed,” Priyanka echoes, looking back and forth between Lemon and the letter. “You’re leaving us?” She asks, with a tone Lemon can’t quite put a finger on.

She simply nods, still too choked up to babble for hours about how this has been her dream since she was a child, and she’s not going to pass up such an opportunity.

Priyanka looks at her with an indecipherable look before saying, “You deserve it, Lem.”

The months slip away from Lemon’s fingers, and before she knows it, it’s the night before she leaves for New York. Her parents had been crying all day long in anticipation, repeating over and over again how proud they’re of her. Her friends had treated her to dinner, promising to be there before she boarded the plane.

Priyanka had hugged her tightly when they said goodbye, holding onto her for a second longer than the rest. She took her hands in hers, and Lemon could feel the unsaid words lingering on her lips.

“I’ll miss you,” it was all that she said, letting go of her hands. Part of Lemon wished there would be a heartfelt confession on her side, since she wasn’t dating Tynomi anymore, but it had been foolish of her to think so.

She wants to send Priyanka a text confessing her feelings before she’s in a whole other country for the next three years.

The text is half written on her notes app before she deletes it, turns off her phone and turns around to try to sleep.

+1.

It’s you. It’s always been you Lem. I miss you. I’m sorry.

Priyanka’s message is two years late, and Lemon can’t help but to shed a tear before she types out a reply.

It was you, too. Was. I’m sorry.

She turns off her phone, not waiting for a reply, and goes back to allowing her fast asleep girlfriend to spoon her.

#asks #anon #fics requests #lemyanka #lemongivesyoulife #priyanka love #rpdr fanfiction #my fanfiction

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virgofem · 4 years

Note

what are your and your butch's uno rules????

i might have forgot to write them all but here are the main rules!

- if there's a number card and you have multiple of that number in different colors you can put those on top, i.e. on top of a red 5, you can play yellow, green and blue 5

- you can put any card on a different card if the color is the same, but only that one card, i.e. on top of a red 5, you can play red 3 but not add any more cards

- you can use the same special card as the player before you, so +2 can go on top of +2

- you can't play a special card on top of a special card that you just played, i.e. when playing with only two people you can't use the block card and then say, a +2

- however! if you played a special card on the last round and no one else could play anything making it your turn again, you can put another special card on top

- you lose your turn if a +2, +4, block or direction change is used against you. in a two player match you only lose your turn with block or direction change

- if you play a +4 (or the color deciding card) you decide the color the next player has to play

- you can use a +4 whenever, not just as a last resort

- if you don't have anything in hand that you can play, you draw three cards one by one. if you get lucky you only have to draw one card and you get to play that immediately, but if none of the three cards you drew can be played, you lose your turn and have to keep those cards in hand

- you can't end the game with a special card

#asks #i have never read the uno rules and have no idea if these are anything like the actual rules #we play a lot like just the two of us #it's very fun

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simplysnexual · 5 years

Text

Got inspired by @doctor492 ‘s SCP!au with Erasermic! I don’t often post my stories so have mercy! I took some creative liberties with their abilities and such. I’m also not terribly educated when it comes to all the SCP lore.

Excerpts from a guard’s journal.

Day 1

My first day in this sector of the facility. There are 4 keter class anomalies in this sector. Two of which I am in charge of dealing with. These two are kinda...humanoid in appearance but I have yet to see more than quick glances. Training is extensive in this sector as one wrong move either means death or worse: the escape of a dangerous creature. Training has mostly been computerized and kinda boring. Can't wait to get to the hands on stuff.

Day 5

Finally onto some interesting stuff. I’ve had my first encounter with the SCP nicknamed Eraserhead. He...well I suppose it, though it does have a masculine body type. Plus its kinda weird calling such a humanoid creature an it so I’ll just say him. Anyway, he is a shadowy figure that appears to be made of an ever shifting inky mass. He has bright, misty yellow “eyes.” These eye-like features could be something else entirely their own but appear to act like eyes, blinking and fixating on whatever his attention is on. White cloth-like ribbons float around him constantly like thin snakes writhing in the air. Wispy outlines that look like hair also frame his head and face. I don't know much else about Eraserhead but I’m excited to learn more.

Day 7

First encounter with the “Voice Demon.” Yet another humanoid anomaly, this one more so than Eraserhead. The Voice Demon appears to be a 6’1” white male with long blonde hair. The most jaring and notably inhuman feature is its mouth. A wide maw stretches past the normal stretch of a human mouth, wrapping around all the way to its ears. Its, well I’d called this one a he too. He has lacerations around his throat that appear to have been stitched up and plucked at only to be stitched again. I don’t know for sure but I believe those injuries were inflicted by the Foundation…

Day 10

Something rather interesting happened today. On my usual rounds to check on the anomalies, I discovered Eraserhead standing at the plexi glass window of his containment unit. Mirroring him on the other side of the hall was the “Voice Demon.” The demon’s spirling green eyes seemed softer than his usual jaring glare. As could be said for Eraserhead. But shortly after they noticed my presence, they went back to the darker corners of their units.

Day 12

I’ve finally found out more about my two favorite SCPs. Turns out Eraserhead has the ability to not only control the writhing ribbons around him, but can also erase one function of the human body, such as the respiratory system or cardiac system. Pretty scary stuff right? A few guards have fallen to this creature’s abilities. I guess I have to be wary not to piss him off huh? As for the Voice Demon, his name is very fitting. His voice can reach beyond 177 decibels, a range passing which is dangerous to humans. This level of sound can burst cells in your lungs, shake your bones and even cause long term damage to your joints. I believe the facility tried to sever his vocal chords but found that not to be the source of his ability. I’ve yet to hear (hehe) of his ability being used or how they keep him from using it.

Day 16

First incident on my shift, A fellow guard wasn’t being so careful around Eraserhead’s unit. There's an existing rule that you don’t stick around the plexi glass viewing window of his unit. Apparently this guy forgot or didn’t listen to the warning. Dude’s respiratory system shut down and I found him after hearing his gasping wheezes. The SCP medical team took him away. I’m not sure where to but I have a feeling it wasn’t to a hospital…

Day 18

Caught my favorite two charges interacting across the hall again. I hid around the corner to see what they did away from prying eyes. They seemed to be making gestures to each other and after a bit I noticed the Voice Demon fogging up the glass with his breath and drawing things, cats and flowers and the like. Eraserhead’s yellow slits of eyes squinted like how mine do when I smile. Strange...but endearing. Humanizing almost...

Day 21

Found out what the Voice Demon’s smile looks like...Seems I made him laugh, not sure I can call it that but I’m guessing it was a laugh. I tripped on my idiot coworkers spilled coffee and kissed the floor. Once the Voice Demon made his laugh like noise, I turned to him and saw his lips had curved up and his eyes squinted. Eraserhead matched his squinting. I couldn’t help but smile myself...heh I guess I’m just as strange huh? Smiling at the strange and deadly creatures I guard from the world everyday. But hey it’s the little things that remind you of your humanity when you’re stuck in sterile white hallways all the time.

Day 25

A few guards went into Voice Demon’s unit to try to draw blood or something. Most came out with bleeding ears. Two came out in body bags after a gas filled the room to incapacitate the creature. I’m beginning to doubt the Foundation’s care for its employees…

Day 26

After reviewing the security footage of yesterday’s incident, I noticed the shifting form and writhing ribbons of Eraserhead had increased in their violent motion. His inky, ever-moving form had gone rough around the edges and his ribbons whipped as if in a tornado. Almost like...he was upset? Angered that his neighbor, maybe even his friend was hurt?

Day 31

Eraserhead and the Voice Demon are definitely friends of some sort. Yes I know I’m not supposed to humanize the anomalies but I can’t help myself. Their interactions continue and grow in complexity and frequency. It's kinda endearing to be honest. I don’t see much friendly interaction in this place. I feel just as trapped as they do sometimes…

Day 40

My first interaction with the Voice Demon. Guess I pissed off the facility or something cuz they sent me in ALONE to try to draw blood. I’d pretty much accepted my death sentence the second the doors closed behind me. But to my surprise the creature looked at me...curiously? I knelt down to try to seem less threatening and spoke to him like I would a scared child, like my siblings when they hid from a storm. Across the hall I caught a glimpse of Eraserhead’s form shifting violently again. I sat cross legged for a while, slowly trying to coax him over. I couldn’t believe it when the creature approached me and extended his arm for me. I held his wrist like I had when my little sister scraped her elbow. I spoke softly like I had to her as I took the Voice Demons blood, totally unaware of why but fixated on the sentience in his eyes.

Day 45

The facility sent me into Eraserhead’s unit after my success with the Voice Demon. They didn’t send me for blood, I don’t even know if he has blood?? I think they sent me in for the hell of it, to watch a keter class at work or see what this one did with a human actually in his unit not just outside his window. Turns out, not much. The creature merely stared me down before shifting away and turning his back on me. Without anything really interesting happening for a good while, the high ups let me back out. I’m just as much contained as they are these days. I haven’t been allowed to leave since the interaction with the Voice Demon. But I can’t find it in myself to regret it.

Day 50

I don’t trust this place anymore. The staggering number of guards lost in a month is beyond what could be just “accidents.” The measures they go to “contain” these creatures they label monsters are beyond what’s right. Nearly worse than what the creatures do themselves. A place which considers beating what I could nearly call a person into submission just doesn’t seem right.

Day 51

I treated the Voice demon’s wounds today. He seemed sedated as I worked with him as gently as I could. I talked softly to him, about nothing in general but just to give him some comfort, something to focus on. My heart nearly stopped when I heard his voice. It was only a soft. “Thank you.”. His voice was soft but raspy from lack of use. I met his gaze and that’s when I made my decision. I’m getting them out of here. Him and Eraserhead. After all, what use is it freeing a lone creature to face the world outside without a friend?

Day 55

This Foundation is run by idiots. All this secretive crap covers up their incompetence. But this plan isn’t going to go through without sacrifice. It’s worth it. Without my family around to need me anymore I’m happy to die for a good reason. I’ve faced death before just for this stupid Foundation’s fun. Tomorrow during shift change I’m cutting the power on the sector where Eraserhead and the Voice Demon reside. It’ll be just long enough for the locks to fail and let them escape. I hope they get far away from this hell hole and pathe their way in the outside world. And maybe….just maybe, remember me fondly.

This was the last entry written in the young man’s journal. SCP guard Scarleton lay dying in the glistening blood pooling around him. The red flashing of alarms briefly illuminating the hall in intervals. His dying sight was the Voice Demon’s toxic green eyes spilling over with tears as he grasped the only guard, hell the only human to treat him like anything other than a monster. One more little smile found the man’s lips as he showed his blood stained teeth, eyes sliding closed. “Go on….be free.” He let out a wet laugh and went still. A shifting black form took the arm of the green eyed creature and drug him away to follow through on the guard’s dying words.

#doctor492 #scp!au #erasermic #fanfic #erasermicscp!au #hizashi yamada #shouta aizawa

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steve0discusses · 5 years

Text

Yugioh S3 Ep 36-37: Local Mom-Friend’s Weird Trick, Doctors Hate Him

Hey y’all it’s a surprise midweek post because I’m in Canada this weekend woo. Surprised I even got this post done, TBH, I finally get some time where I’m not commuting around to and from San Francisco or corralling small children and I can just sit at my computer and focus and have some peace and quiet and I got--a mysterious sickness from all those kids! *yay* So, since I can’t really focus on anything, I’ll type in here and see if any of my words make any sense at all and hopefully I won’t go on some weird ass tangent like I tend to do like every other post.

So Yugi is still dueling Kaiba, much like he has for the past like...it feels like 4 years. I know I’ve only seen 3 seasons but this is...this is a really long duel. Maybe because there was a month-long break for me in the middle, (during which I watched the entirety of Evangelion, 2 Seasons of Gotham, Stranger Things S3, and the disappointing season of One Punch Man so like...I’ve had some time away from Yugioh) or maybe...maybe it’s because they’re actually playing card mechanics that go more in depth...

But yeah, despite everything, they’re still dueling.

And honestly, I’m looking at that episode number above me and it’s like...so there’s this Kaiba and Yugi Duel and then...only one more duel, right? Is it going to be a ten episode duel? Like unless Rebecca comes back for a weird cameo like...how...?

Whatever, we’ll get there when we get there.

Anyways, everyone who’s been avoiding this duel like the plague is down with the plague victims in the hospital. That’s where Tristan gets a bright idea and it’s one of his dumber ones, believe it or not.

Man, I forgot that comatose Joey Wheeler is still wearing that duel disk Pharaoh slapped on him during all this too, haha.

Also, why does he have to have all these pectoral suction cups while they just kinda...gave up on Mai? I mean I know they can’t show boobies on a Y7 show but like...it really feels like the doctor just kinda shrugged at Mai and was like “I only have one set of boob suction cups, I really didn’t think I’d need more than that, if at all.”

(read more under the cut)

And so Tristan decides that if Joey is at the window which is like...600 ft below Yugi Muto’s duel, a duel you can’t...really see from the ground...then Joey Wheeler will arise.

I mean, it’s gonna work, it’s just also kind of laughable that Joey wasn’t able to hear any of this nonsense from the bed that is two feet away from the window.

But wtv, it’s very dramatic and Tristan gets to cry some more and feel useful I guess.

The haunted underwear mannequin plot-thread was dumped between that episode and this one, and I’m kinda bummed out that more things haven’t turned into haunted underwear mannequins.

Instead of horrific underwear mannequins, Joey’s dream has gone back to the standard fare of Joey picking on middle schoolers and wearing a much better outfit than he has for most of this show.

I will super miss Joey in a fitted suit. Like, soak it allll in horny preteens, because pretty soon, Joey Wheeler will be back in that scruffy oversized T-shirt just like...well, just like how a teenager would be. I mean there’s some REASONS Mai can’t date Joey, but the fact he has a fitted suit he refuses to ever wear is one of the top reasons right under, youknow, the fact he’d need a fake ID to ever go out with her.

It’s kind of amazing actually, how my whole life I kinda just figured this was a show of insane character designs, only to find out when I actually watch the show that there is like a ... REALLY horny line just going all the way through it.

Honestly, me trying to figure out how and when this kid’s show got so damn horny has been a very big mystery I’ve been trying to solve in the background this entire time. Like, I was told “yeah the Yugioh boys get very attractive.” and I was like “ehhhhhhhh I don’t even know what you’re talking about” but, little by little over the past 3 seasons, these animators are starting to draw these boys just waaaaaaay older than these kids actually are. I’m starting to see what people are saying. It’s still not my thing, personally, but uh yeah I can see how this spawned all that fanart now.

Anyways, speaking of, the other day a friend of mine’s sister was talking about how she, as a millennial, has been wired to love very tall skinny boys in skinny pants and very long coats with popped collars and I immediately was like “Lol are you admitting to Seto Kaiba?”

And she meant Cumberbatch Sherlock, LOLOLOLOL.

And so, back on the duel field we got Seto Kaiba, who’s a lot like Sherlock except a Sherlock who is suffering from both short term and long term memory loss. And, who does cards instead of heroin.

They probably both play violin.

Kaiba, despite having arc after arc where his little brother is his main motivation, has decided to just ditch Mokuba and it’s like...either he’s psyching Yugi out or Seto Kaiba forgot he had a brother for a little bit. He might...he might have forgotten. Mokuba is standing behind him, after all.

And so, because Joey is facing Yugi at just the right moment and at just the right time, somehow he can do his little force ability again and just do this:

Thanks, hallucination!Joey.

And out he goes, drawn like a romance anime character lol.

Anyways, he’s back to being a slob so...welcome back, wrinkle shirt, it’s been a while.

And then Joey looks around and actually said this:

“Did someone get hurt?” He asks, after being burned, electrocuted AND drowned just yesterday.

I was kinda very much hoping Tristan would deck him out.

Glad that, as predicted, the moment Mai doesn’t need to be Joey’s main motivation anymore, the moment he puts the cards away, she may as well not even exist. This show and the way they write straight romances.

Please admire the matching lace up boots on the Kaiba Corp’s Emergency Squad. This would be the most obscure Cosplay on earth but maybe the most wearable Yugioh cosplay outside of Bandit Keith because you wouldn’t need a 400 dollar wig.

And then for some reason Tea just loses her mind and has a complete breakdown. She’s been kind of a mess since Yugi walked out like 2 episodes ago, which seems kind of...I dunno, both out of character but very much in character at the same time. I mean we’re assuming they “have” a relationship it’s just never actually say that they do, so her acting like her man is dead is kinda like...it still feels like it comes out of freakin nowhere.

Anyways, Tea who is strong enough to lift this entire plane and who is, in fact, possessed by at least 2 powerful ghosts (remember Shadi did spends some time there and he did NOT like it), is now a seeping crying mess that refuses to lose any more of her hospital-prone boys.

I mean they were going to go anyway, but they let Tea pretend she had any control over that and kind of glazed over this.

Back in this game that no one else is really watching anymore, Seto Kaiba is still monologuing about his entire life story that he’s never gotten any therapy for, except for that time his evil step brother accidentally gave him therapy.

Quite upset we never see the color of Mokuba’s little tuxedo.

Course...didn’t...Noah wear a little tuxedo in that same exact shape? I mean it’s a silly headcanon but youknow...it could be a yellow tuxedo they just happened to find in the back of the closet.

And it’s at this point that Mokuba just lost his lid. I’m so used to Mokuba unconditionally supporting his crazy brother that this would have been the biggest anime betrayal of the whole series, if Mokuba had said any of this outloud (which he wisely did not).

It was like...damn Mokuba. He actually said something along the lines of “I liked you better when you were poor” and it was like. Holy cow, Mokuba. Damn.

Anyway, a bunch of card stuff happens, and Pharaoh has decided that Seto has too much anger in his heart, and that’s why he will lose. Then, Pharaoh played the card proof for how angry Seto is, and if I actually payed any attention to cards, it would have been very meaningful.

But anyways, kudos to Pharaoh on not mind-wiping Seto Kaiba this time or launching him directly off this very tall tower like he attempted to do last time. They actually played a game start to finish with eachother and nothing exploded except for every television in Domino. Progress.

and then Mokuba started crying and initially I thought...wouldn’t he have WANTED his brother to lose but then I kind of remembered oh yeah now Mokuba has to deal with this oncoming aftermath.

RIP Mokuba, I guess.

Anyway, I’m out of town for the rest of the weekend, escaping to the far North to get away from the weather. I should be back next weekend, but if I’m not, I was probably eaten by a bear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to my Yugioh recaps in Chrono order from the beginning.

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 5 years

Text

Kasumi’s PT Outfit Analysis

Tell me what do these two have in common?

If you said “Cat theme” you are correct! If not, well then buckle up my dudes cause this is gonna be fun~! :D (I also want to take the time to point out, while this isn’t want I’m talking about, I do like this fan artist’s perspective on her gloves :D)

I know what you’re thinking, and no I’m not smoking anything I don’t do that, but Kasumi really does have cat thief themed origins (and no not because of the fan art, didja click on it? it’s cute!). I realized it after realizing she was a gymnast and was like “Why? Why does she get a gymnast theme? How does this fit with the outlaw theme? Has there been a thief who had gymnast outfit?....wait....could it be.....omg it IS!” AND THE ANSWER IS YES! 4 thieves actually, 3 are sisters in one series, and 1 is an expy of those sisters by the same author in his other work. If you know who I’m talking about I’m talking about.....CAT’S EYE! (and Phantom Thief 305 from City Hunter, I dunno the meaning of the name tho)

Let’s start with Cat’s Eye (not a 100% expert in it, but I know more than City Hunter tbh). Cat’s Eye is about a trio of sisters (Hitomi the middle who is the main character, Rui the oldest sister, and Ai the youngest) stealing things using their multiple skill sets (such as gymnastics), partially because they want to contact their missing dad who is also a thief (and their attempts to contact him are through the calling cards and stealing the items in hopes he comes as well). And....that’s basically it I think (been awhile since I read the manga and I’m in the process of re-reading it now). Movie wise, it seems they are in the process of trying to rescue him (hard to find info, no eng subtitles for me to watch so efsljdfl;aj).

Anne and Kasumi are the biggest shout outs to Cat’s Eye than anyone else (tho you could argue Cat’s eye is probs the reason Makoto drives a Motorcycle and Futaba is an semi-orange themed tech genius, and Haru who is “Noir” tho I don’t feel like looking up who came first, her or the Cat’s Eye Pachinko machine cause it’s not important). Anne’s outfit is more a shout-out to the Cat’s Eye Movie version while Kasumi’s is more a shout-out to the original manga/anime. Let’s focus on the Cat’s Eye movie for a second tho.

This isn’t the first time Cat’s Eye movie was used as inspiration for Persona. Back in P2 Tamaki Uchida dressed as Ai (the youngest sister of Cat’s Eye, but is the lead role in the movie), as the actress she is based off of (Yuki Uchida) played Ai in the movie.

Anne, however, seems to be based on Hitomi outfit with some Rui flare to it (they differ slightly)

(btw the movie opens up with an anime sequence before going full live action, Hitomi Left, Rui Right I think for both pics, Ai is in the middle for the bottom pic, and recolored Anne for better comparison and also because I can 8U)

I know what you are thinking, “But what about Catwoman????” I think she’s still related to Cat’s Eye tho. Catwoman came first in creation, and Catwoman was the first to use the leather outfits (tbh, mask wise, Tamaki’s mask/ears seem to draw from the Catwoman 60s tv show outfit), and it seems she/Batman were the inspiration for the movie costumes. Also considering how Persona likes to use Batman, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the cat theme stuff was also Batman/Catwoman related as well as Cat’s Eye. So there’s still a connection to Catwoman esp with the movie!

Another possible connection to the movie is Anne’s name, specifically “Anne,” as the person who went by the stage name “Anri/杏里” (I mean Anne is just the 杏 kanji but still) who sings the theme song “Cat’s Eye 2000″ for the movie. Fun fact.

Now let’s look at the manga/anime, where it’s Kasumi’s time to shine (tho Anne will come back up).

As you can see they’ve been redesigned a few times (btw Hitomi’s colors in the first vol of Cat’s eye is actually blue with an orange ribbon, it was changed to yellow later it seems, also the top right is a spinoff manga of Cat’s Eye called Cat’s Eye: Ai where Ai is the MC)

As you can see, the girl who is mostly in the blue is Hitomi, and she has a tendency to wear a chocker with her leotard. Kinda like.......Kasumi!

Recolored with blue to highlight the comparison (also because I NEED COLOR IN HER DESIGN ATLUS LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH DX)

Fun fact, Hitomi I believe is a gymnast and she utilizes her skills as a thief (and thus where we get the gymnast as a thief outlaw theme and why it only works for Kasumi/gymnasts and not runners like Ryuji).

But Kasumi also has similarities between her and Ai, both have red in their theme, both I think are first years. Also, while Ai isn’t as strong or skilled as her older sisters in fighting, she is the most agile (which we don’t know if Kasumi is in the same boat but it’s worth noting just in case). Another thing about Ai, is her connection to Tamaki up above, Tamaki who is based off the actress who played Ai was in the fencing club (which Yuki Uchida was also a fencer), and what weapon does Kasumi wield? A one handed sword similar to other fencers in Persona (like Mitsuru), so woot we’ve come full circle on that! (also if Kasumi is Hamuko reincarnated, or Hamuko’s younger sister, it should be noted that one of Hamuko’s theme colors is orange along with pink and red so fklsdjfsajf; bonus points if that comes true!)

Kasumi’s mask is also probably based on the Cat’s Eye calling card (or at least it follows a similar pattern):

Same point pattern, same eye shape and design (it’d also explain why it’s so thick, cause the emblem is thick looking too 8U)

So I mentioned we’d come back to Anne, and here we are! There is one last thing that is similar to Anne and the Kisugi sisters, and it’s that they are all hafus! The sisters are all half german, and Hitomi looks just like her western grandmother if Hitomi had blonde hair, and later dyes her hair blonde for her thieving:

Also *cough* a pink/red outfit I wonder who that reminds us of? 8U

Now onto City Hunter, which....I think is the biggest evidence that Kasumi was based off these people. And it’s this girl:

The girl with the glasses is the same one as the girl in the same girl in the green leotard (the one in the red isn’t a thief, but was wearing one to match the other girl while they stole a flower).

This is the first episode this girl shows up (only one I’ve seen too tbh), she’s actually 17/a 2nd year iirc.... And guess what her name is? Kasumi Aso. Kasumi is spelled the same way too (aka only in hirigana)! From my research she only steals what is commissioned of her (I think she steals back what is stolen from other people). She has connection to flowers like Kasumi Yoshizawa (Aso is connected to the [black] tulip, Yoshizawa has flowers on her belt). Both are pretty unassuming in their civilian outfits too tbh. (tho slightly off topic, fun fact, there was a Japanese hafu rhythmic gymnast named Kasumi, I’ve been wanting to post about that for awhile but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s who IRL Yoshizawa was based off of)

Sadly I don’t know much else about Aso, I need to read more of City Hunter to find out (even tho she’s not a super main character), and tbh this is where I kinda end with the Kasumi/Anne and Cat’s Eye/PT 305/Catwoman analysis. But I’ll use this time to talk about a few misc stuff and maybe a few theories related to cat themed thief ladies:

P5 probably got the “Thief who works at a cafe during the day (and the Cafe name also is a reference to their thieving as well as possibly housing a cat)” from Cat’s Eye and City hunter (which take place in Tokyo/Shinjuku, tho in different locations), as the Kisugi Sisters work at their cafe called “Cat’s Eye,” and Aso being their expy, also works at a cafe by the same name (tho it’s run by different people cause it’s in a different/parallel universe).

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tamaki’s tendency to house a Nekomata in her workplace to be similar to the kitty (Tiger I think it’s name is) that Ai has at the cafe (esp considering, again, Yuki Uchida played Ai).

According to the Japanese fan wiki of Cat’s Eye, in the sequel “Cat’s Eye: Ai,” the Cafe is moved to a new location, which is Kichijoji, which is the new area that has been unlocked in P5R (maybe a certain cafe will be available for us to wander into? :0 Or maybe Kasumi works at a cafe XP or maybe is connected to the billiards place, tho that DARTSLIVE3 screenshot seems to have a “cafe” poster in the background so maaaaaaaybe that’s a cafe XP)

Part of me wonders if Mitsuru’s Arena outfit is related more to Black Cat, due to the signature “white fur” both characters wear.

Kasumi Y’s hairstyle (aka if her hair was down, so basically we are going off her bangs) is similar to Hitomi (at least the Pachinko machine ver)

Anne’s circle zipper designs might be more of a shout-out to Marvel’s Black Cat, not that Catwoman hasn’t had that as well, but I don’t feel like figuring out who did the circle zipper first 8U

Satomi Tadashi dressed up as Zorro and was romantically involved with Takami. Anne who is a Cat’s Eye expy is crushed on by Mona (who wields Zorro). And Kasumi, another Cat’s Eye expy, looks like a Hamuko Expy, while Mona’s human form looks like a Minato Expy.

Kasumi has a similar black mask with silver line design (not the mask shape itself, the line design) as a woman named “Noir”(?) who appears in the Cat’s Eye Pachinko Machine (yes I did come across interesting things, no I don’t know what her deal is or really who she is tbh cause I think she’s a pachinko original 8U ;w;)

So yeah just gonna kinda end it here awkwardly. FYI this doesn’t mean you HAVE to like her outfit (you have every right to dislike or like it tbh), it’s just a history lesson, and explaining how it fits the outlaw/PT theme, where’s Ryuji’s track or Haru’s ballet doesn’t.

Oh! Edit cause I forgot, if you push her mask up over head, it might look like cat’s ears, just a theory tho (of course it might look like devil horns but so does Anne’s so fklsjdfk;aj;faj;f take this for what you will):

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #kasumi yoshizawa #persona 2 #cat's eye #city hunter #p5r #p5 #p5tr #p2

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royallyanxious · 6 years

Text

Sketches from the Past (Apathy 4/6)

Part 1 (Wrecked Coronation)

Part 1.5 written by my amazing beta @quietlypondering

Part 2 (Twirling Spirits)

Part 3 (Poisoned)

word count: 2.8k

TW: Deceit

read on AO3

Apathy snorted upon seeing Virgil standing in front of his door. How anxious and small did he look, Roman almost felt sorry for him. Almost. It was better, however, to see Virgil than that lying yellow snake. Deceit just didn’t fit into Apathy’s red aesthetic. No deep emotions.

“May I help you?” Roman asked, his voice bored and smooth. Apathy loved his voice, it like a tool that never failed him and that was always ready and willing to be used. He was well-aware that he was intimidating, in fact, he wanted to be intimidating and his voice rich and velvety was an exquisite way to improve the effect.

“May I come in?” squeaked Virgil, looking at the room behind Roman’s back. Apathy leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms on the chest. He slowly rolled his head from one shoulder on another. He could keep up on this act as long as he wanted. It was quite entertaining.

“And why should I let you in?” he raised up his chin, looking at Virgil behind half-closed eyelids.

“I hoped I could interest you in something.” said Virgil and pointed at the folder in his hand.

“You interest me in something?” echoed Roman and laughed sincerely. “Honey, have you forgot my name?”

Virgil shook his head, slowly losing ground under his feet. “You’re Apathy. Roman Apathy Sanders.”

“Precisely.” nodded Roman, leaning forward. The smile disappeared from his face, though mischievous sparks were still brightening up his glowing, red eyes. “You know who I am and yet you dare to suggest that you can my pique interest? The interest of Apathy?”

“Yes.” said Virgil, staring right into Apathy’s eyes.

Roman let that answer sink into his mind. He looked at Virgil, whose back suddenly straightened up, whose hands were gripping the white folder tightly. He noticed that the folder has little red mark in the corner. It looked like a tiny, fresh drop of blood, beautifully matching the white colour. Putting the purity of the object in shame. Apathy shook his head. He shouldn’t reveal too much of his emotions. Especially interest. Especially with Virgil. It was as though he tried to purposely provoke Apathy and that was not appreciated.

“You’ve intrigued me.” said Roman, surprising even himself. “You may come in.” he added, disappearing in the room.

Hesitantly, Virgil walked into the room. His nostrils filled with the smell of roses. The room was spacious and didn’t remind Creativity-Roman’s room even in the slightest. Maybe except of the luxurious accents. But where Creativity used to have bright cream colours with a splash of fresh red, Apathy had crimson red with splashes of black. It was burning Virgil’s eyes in more ways than just one. But he was determined to try his theory out.

Apathy was waiting for him sitting in the big armchair, his face serious and emotionless. It really felt as though he was a king of this place. Virgil stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, feeling like a deer in the spotlight or a criminal waiting for a trail. Apathy rested his chin on the hand, eyes barely looking at Virgil.

“Oh, right!” clapped Roman, though his voice was flat. He waved the other hand elegantly. Next to him appeared another armchair and a small table. Virgil’s eyes widened. It was another thing Apathy seemed to have in common with Creativity. He was able to conjure things. Definitely something Virgil could work with. “Stop staring at me and sit down.” Apathy clicked his tongue and looked away. His proud profile glowing in the red light.

“Yes, thank you.” nodded Virgil. He assumed that it was better not to make Roman angry. He had always been a passionate one. Both as Creativity and Apathy. Virgil sat on the chair, placing the folder on his legs. He wasn’t sure if he should try a small talk or proceed with the plan immediately.

“So…?” Roman’s silky voice embraced the silence. “You said there was something that may entertain me?” He continued, tilting his head to the left.

“Right.” agreed Virgil and put the folder on the table. “Here it is.” It was the only warning he gave to Apathy before opening the case.

Apathy leaned over the table, seemingly unaware of Virgil’s attention. Carefully, he took the first sketch into his hand.

“A drawing.” Roman stated calmly.

Virgil gulped, choosing to stay quiet for now. Every word that came from Roman was like a gem for him. Like a raw, bloody diamond.

“Pretty good sketch if I’m not mistaken.” said Roman, holding up another sketch. “The lines are smooth and well-defined. It’s clear that the artist wanted to say something through his art... This one, for example, wasn’t drawn for attention. It was to express something inside… Some emotion, dark emotion, I suppose. If I was…” he stopped all of sudden and shook his head, eyes blinking.

“If you were?” encouraged Virgil, unable to stop the smile from appearing in the corners of his mouth.

Roman glanced at Virgil behind the sketches. His eyes reminded of delicate poppy petals. For a moment they appeared almost warm.

“If I was an artist myself, I could appreciate them better.” Apathy finished and put the drawnings back at the table. “You should take them to Logan, he knows what to do with them. Isn’t he the creative one after all?” he said matter-of-factly. Back of his head rested against the armchair.

Virgil understood that Roman wasn’t planning on looking at other sketches and his heart sank a little bit. He hid one or two really meaningful drawings between the others in order to surprise Roman. He could see in Apathy’s eyes that he was waiting for Virgil to take the folder away. Instead, Anxiety decided to fiddle with the corner of one of the papers, trying to buy himself some time.

“Aren’t you an artist yourself, Roman?’ he asked quietly.

Apathy blinked slowly before bursting into loud, uncontrolled laughter. It was the most natural laughter Virgil had ever heard coming from Apathy. It wasn’t mocking nor prideful. It was loud, undefined, free. Sounded a little bit as though someone was trying to crush a stone, and a little bit like morning birds singing outside the window. Nothing like old Roman’s laugh and yet painfully similar.

Tears gathered in the corners of Apathy’s eyes as he tried to calm himself down. He looked much more honest, much purer than usually and Virgil’s realized that his own eyes were getting watery too. He quickly wipe them with the sleeve of his hoodie. How he missed hanging out with Roman. Walking through life, hearing his loud, bright laugh and living fanciful dreams. But what hurt him the most was that he, Virgil, was alone with that memory.

He looked at Apathy and his poor attempts of hiding a smile and it made Virgil smile too. Maybe it wasn’t exactly how it used to be, but it was still something. Still worth fighting for.

“Ah, Virgil, I’ve never thought of you to be the joking type! I was sure it was Patton’s domain. You have surprised me.” Roman smiled but this smile wasn’t as real and honest as the previous one. The moment was over and Apathy was back with his royal facade. “I do not regret inviting you here today.” he nodded slightly and Virgil understood that it was a sign for him to leave. He wanted to stay longer but that would probably be too much for one day. He got up taking the folder from the table which quickly faded in the dark mist.

Slowly, Virgil backed out. He felt Roman’s eyes fixed at the back of his head. Virgil was so preoccupied with analyzing the whole visit that he didn’t even noticed when one of the sketches slipped out of the folder and fell on the ground. The doors closed behind him before he even managed to bid a goodbye.

Apathy sighed. The white sheet of paper was a stain on his room. Just like the red smudge was decorating the folder, the white sheet was destroying the crimson balance in the room. Roman got up and carefully picked up the sketch. He allowed himself to admire the soft brushes of the pencil and well-defined features of the character on the drawing. He didn’t recognize this man, but he felt his pain. The pain of the man on the sketch and the artist were the same.

The drawing fell back on the floor and Apathy sat on his chair, folding his fingers on the level of his chest. He knew that he let his regal facade crack and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. Maybe after all, the anxious one, was much more dangerous than Deceit.

---

Warm shades of summer sunset were coloring the floor with the long lines of gold and orange. The common room fell silent when Virgil finished his story. Story he couldn’t hold back anymore. Patton and Logan deserved the truth as much as he did. He decided to keep that away from Thomas for now though. Poor man would probably feel guilty of the situation.

“Let me sum everything up, Virgil, because I am quite confused.” said Logan, rubbing his temple. He sighed and slowly sat down on the couch nearby. “So what you’re saying is that before Apathy Roman, there was another Roman who used to be our friend.”

Virgil nodded, waiting for Logan to say more.

“That old Roman…” Logan continued. “Used to be Creativity which, back then, was a separate department of Thomas’ personality. At some point, we don’t know when, Creativite traits started mixing with Logic and I kind of inherited Creativity from Roman who disappeared. But neither Patton nor I had noticed that.”

“Exactly.”

“And we don’t have any memories of past Roman?” asked Logan, his eyes closed.

“It seems so.”

“And no matter how many times you show us video with past Roman, after turning it down, we still don’t remember him. Is that correct?”

“Yep.”

“Yet you do remember him.” stated Logan calmly.

“Perhaps because I caught him red-handed as he was curling up in the corner of his room.” explained Virgil, trying hard to swallow the emotions that gathered in his voice. It’s been months and yet he could still vividly remember Roman begging him not to tell the others. He still regretted listening to that princely fool.

“Allow me to point that it occurs to be a little bit ridiculous to me.” said Logan and opened his eyes. Virgil flushed with frustration and anger.

“Well, yes but that’s the truth!”

“We’re not saying that it’s not true, kiddo!” said Patton who was quiet until then.

“Yes, just because it seems… odd, doesn’t mean that we don’t believe you.” nodded Logan glancing at Patton. Virgil gulped. “However the behaviour you’re talking about is very disturbing. Hiding the truth behind us? If someone knows something about this, it is Deceit. I suggest we visit him immediately.” declared Logan, standing up. Patton instantly followed his example.

Biting his lips, Virgil looked between Logan and Patton. He still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tell them about Roman in the first place. It seemed so easy in his head. He dreamt that if he explained the situation, their memories would magically come back. Oh, how naive was he. He only caused more drama. What if it would annoy Roman? If he would see that as a betrayal? If it killed the last chance to get Roman back, Virgil would hate himself till the end of his life.

“What makes me confused is that, aside of side fading away without us noticing that, I don’t have any memories of Roman at all!” hummed Patton suddenly. “Not even one. As if someone has taken they away from me!” his breath hitched. “This is not normal.”

“Sit and calm down, Patton.” advised Logan.

“I can’t calm down when I completely forgot about one of my friends! I’m the heart, it’s my responsibility to remember everyone.” cried Patton angrily. “Now that Virgil told us the story, something in my heart tells me that indeed there was something like seperate Creativity but I still don’t remember Roman as a person! This is exactly the situation in which staying calm is not a proper reaction! Now, are you going to Deceit with me or should I do it alone?” he asked glaring at Logan. Virgil quietly moved closer to Patton.

Logan sighed. “I will go with you. This situation calls for an intervention.”

“Good.” said Pattonwith relief.

Deceit’s room was situated at the end of the hall, meaning that they had to pass by Apathy’s door. As always they were clearly closed. No one could come inside if he wasn’t invited. In that aspect, Apathy’s room reminded more of a fortress, than a royal palace. Virgil shivered and fixed his eyes on the floor. He shouldn’t be thinking about this right now.

“So who’s gonna knock?” asked Logan quietly as they stood in front of Deceit’s room. Yellow door, seemed to be covered with scales. And maybe they were, or maybe it was the fault of dimmed light, coming from the lamp above them.

In a haze of a moment, Virgil raised his hand and quietly knocked the door. The wood felt strange under his skin.

They didn’t have to wait for long because, few seconds later, the door opened showing Deceit himself. For a second, surprise was mirroring in his eyes before it was quickly covered with mocking smile and cocky face expression.

“Oh.” he said. “Hello, I did expect you.”

“Cut the crap, you had no idea we would come.” said Virgil, pushing Deceit away and stepping into the room. Logan and Patton sneaked behind him.

“Maybe I did not expect you to come precisely right now but surely I was expecting you to come.” hummed Deceit closing the door. His voice was rustling in their ears. Lies always sound sugary sweet, after all. “So what brought you here?” he asked, turning around to face them.

“Roman.” Logan’s voice was cold like a steel, sharp like a knife.

“Apathy?” asked Deceit innocently.

“But why, is it any other Roman you would like to tell us about?” Patton crossed arms on his chest and Deceit cursed, realizing that he got caught up in his own lie.

The corner of Logan’s lips twitched. He sat down on a chair. Deceit took a seat on the opposite side of the table, while Patton and Virgil stood behind Logan’s back.

“So tell us more, about this other Roman that you so carelessly implied.” encouraged Logan, leaning over the surface of the table.

Deceit hissed in response.

“We don’t have time for your games, Deceit.” Logan said coldly.

The dark side looked between Logan and Virgil and rested his back on the chair. He appeared much more relaxed than few seconds later.

“Why won’t you ask Virgil over here? I’m sure he remembers Roman as well as I do. Or even better.” shrugged Deceit, eyeing Virgil, who shivered under the pressure of the snake-like eye. Patton gently squeezed his hand.

“Virgil told us everything he knew!” clarified Patton. “What bugs me is that something wiped off the memories of old Roman that I used to have.”

“Not even one pun about bugs, Patton? I am truly disappointed…” Deceit shook his head, smiling lightly.

“Stick to the subject.” reminded Virgil.

“Oh, look at you Virge. Suddenly taking over the role of the prince in shining armour? How noble of you.” Deceit looked at his fingers. “Maybe that’s why Roman faded, huh? Maybe it was your fault from the beginning…” he suggested smugly.

“I won’t fall into your trap.” Virgil cut shortly. “I’m too familiar with your lies.”

“Oh, yes. Right. How could I forgot?” Deceit raised his eyes and for a moment all that could be seen were his eyes’ whites. “And why are you familiar with them?”

“I used to be a dark side.” admitted Virgil. It wasn’t something he was proud of but he had already told the other sides about that, so there was no point in hiding this. He might as well give Deceit what he wanted.

Deceit snapped his fingers and pointed at Virgil. “Exactly. That’s what we have in common. Originally we are the dark sides. Living in the shadows. Sneaking out when no one can see us. Doing all the ‘bad’ stuff.”

“Let’s go,” said Logan suddenly, getting up from the chair. “He clearly isn’t interested in telling us more.” He quickly turned around so that Deceit was facing his back.

“Wait!” Deceit stopped them. He couldn’t see the smile that for a short moment appeared on Logan’s face.

“Oh? So you do know something?” asked Logan, seemingly surprised. He rested his hand on the back of the chair.

“I know why you two don’t remember him.” Deceit looked at the wall. “I couldn’t do anything about Virgil’s memory since he has already been immune to my influence…” Virgil smirked slightly and Deceit took a short break to take a deep breath. “But when it comes to the two of you… Roman didn’t want you to remember him.”

Next part

if you like my boy Apathy you can consider buying me (and him) a cup of coffee

GENERAL TAGLIST: @depressed-alone @changeling-ash @dear-lover-dearest @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @calmingthoughtsinyourhead @zo-geeky @fandomfreak-19 @thegnatnat @inha-led @tree4life25 @panic-at-theeverywhere @reallyanextrovertipromise @shit-happens-bitchachos @pastel-patton123 @pinkeasteregg @greymane902 @princeyssash @ilovemyspoopydad @musicphanpie-b @all-these-trees-stealing-mah-o2 @birosezz @winged-outlaw @anxious-fander-talian-bean @lizaelsparrow @moonstonefox12 @pastelnerd101 somecrappyclone mysticalstrawberryface @ninjago2020 donteatmyassghostie toriwithacamera moxiety--sanders101 confinesofpersonalknowledge xxladystarlightxx wheeitsvee a-very-optimistic-realist narniasfinestavengingsociopath thequeensqueer allycat31415 rileys-main-blog-spotroman-is-a-dramatic-prince virgil-my-diamond justanotherproblem faacethefacts beautifully-terribly logical-but-anxious queen-of-all-things-snuggly seabellart @generalfandomfabulousness lostin---translation

TAGLIST FOR APATHY: storytellerofuntoldlegends everphantom syndianites highfivegirl404 softprxnce timeywimeygalaxy flloof 221b-quote the-happy-landfill alkimara trash-king-arrie absentmindedproff talhaddelpla obsessedfangirlwithissues akiraaria fivecroftersjams xx-this-is-a-mess-xx sardonicsanders seabellart starryfirefliesbloggo thomas-must-get-to-sleep peacefulwriter ninjago2020 guardian-of-the-bears deathbyvenusftw caristars helloisthisusernametaken starry-eyed-haiku-dreamer fricksonsticks violetmcl derpsheep75 absentmindedproff neko-ereri romanasanders ruby717 starryfirefliesbloggo supreme-succ-overlord egotisticalfloof thomas-must-get-to-sleep the-better-bard syndianites justanotherpurplebutterfly ironwoman359 candiukas timeywimeygalaxy i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom ssimplypatton accio-hufflepuff-power average-advanced black-out-wonder niluith-moonlady froggyfun27 thekaijucake theotherella that-one-invisible-chick hamiltrash-kimliza ocotopushugs highfivegirl404 hi-alex-the-ghost eleven-fire-slang-words asterias-confused-writings winged-outlaw brikcsandbones cinquefoilelove roman-is-a-gay fizzlefeen typical-torii hellomusicalnerdhere serious-ppl-wear-neckties thisisshien la-fandom-freak haikyuupaladin incorrectquotesfromlilgaybois violetmcl musicphanpie-b nothing-to-see-here-bud thekaijucake hellomusicalnerdhere @ocean-logan otaku-marijane potatogirl309 ghostilda @ako1209 grumpymoonbird pendragonqueen09 incredible-introvert bibbidi-bobbity-booyah nonsensical-aleks cabbagedynamite otaku-felicity-winchester sleep-who-idk-her thisbisreadytoyeet theshipqueenarrives arnyanimaltrash156 snowcherri shadow-walker-1201 kri-marie-b-the-nb ofwordsandroses kandhitota depressed--and--underdressed aoikitty fandom-random2405 cdragontogacotar everything-is-better-with-a-ph spacenerrrd hyperactive-lectiophile xxxbladeangelxxx ashiscringy unipugsat221b @milomeepit

#apathy #apathy! roman #dark!roman #roman sanders #the dark sides #roman's angst #roman sanders angst #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #sanders sides fanfiction

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mishaledddd-blog · 6 years

Text

unreal relationship #4

Bowers was found near the front door; he stood in the middle of the living room, to Stan's surprise, leaving his shoes on the rug. This is… Pretty sweet of him. The guy smiled at his own thoughts, awkwardly waving his hand at his guest to follow him. Henry looked awkward surrounded by expensive furniture and tried once again not to touch this or that thing. This made Stan fall in love with him even more. He is incredible.

— In general, Henry, — upon arrival in the room, the curly donkey sacked onto the bed, getting down to business. His companion looked around in surprise, expecting to see in the room of a pedantic Jew the same as in the whole house. White empty walls and fragile vases, for example, but not the room of the average teenager at the height of the transitional age. — My parents don't believe that I have a boyfriend…

Henry folded his arms over his chest, looking at him with disdain and skepticism.

— Because you don't have it, I think.

— Yes, but they don’t know about it, and we just need to make them believe it, you know? And when I say this, I mean… — Stan buried a trembling hand in his curly dark hair, afraid to utter the following words and see the reaction of Henry. — I mean everything that lovers usually do, you know. They have to see… — He faltered again, swallowing the sticky drool of anticipation. — Our love.

Bowers did not look surprised and did not show disgust. Surely, when making a decision, he thought about it more than once, about his forced actions concerning Uris and those words that he would have to say to him in adults. How will look at him. So he just nodded in response, awaiting further explanation. Stan had enough of that; the lightening sigh he himself broke from his weathered lips and he even smiled. Next to Henry, his body was always tense, because this man didn’t fit into his world at all, you could expect anything from him, and it aroused all of nature. Henry was a wild beast, and Stan was just a stupid man who cherished the hope that he could tame him.

— In-in general, in front of them, we will hold hands and kiss.

— As you say.

Stan was even more surprised when he looked at Henry with his eyes wide open.

— But if anyone ever finds out about this, — he looked back at him threateningly and the guy was relieved to understand that Henry was still the same, he just really wanted money. — To your end, loser, you know that I'm not joking.

He came up to Uris inadmissibly close, so much so that he could even feel warm, heavy breathing on his cheek with the smell of cigarettes and Juicy Fruit. His strong hands forced the mattress to bend with a creak, he did not take a warning look from Stan, who had become frozen by such unexpected contact, and then he grinned altogether, recoiling.

— If you are going to play a couple that have been together for quite a long time, shouldn't you be more cold? Or do you just like me?

— Not at all, — Stan immediately waved his hands often, feeling the blood inside boil with adrenaline and excitement. — It's even better, right? Parents should see my sincere feelings… And yours too.

— Yes, yes, I will work on my loving look at the mirror, of course, all for the sake of money.

— How much did Richie promise you? — Stan asked suddenly. His family was quite rich and he could pay any price, however, Bowers answer did not explain this to him.

— Not so much. Consider that I do it for free, it will cost you nothing.

For some reason, the brown-haired looked at the same time a little sad. However, not only Stan had the ability to change masks like gloves, and Henry immediately pretended that everything was in order. Stan was not sure that he could ask him about his state of health, because they are not friends, but rather former school enemies, but this still has weight. A heavy, even weary sigh itself escaped from the lips. They still had a lot of work and he was not sure that three days would be enough, because to communicate with Henry, even despite his agreement and willingness to cooperate, it was still difficult. His heart… «Created all sorts of garbage and threatened to arrange for him to meet with death ahead of time», strictly speaking.

— In this case! — he got up from a soft bed, embarking on confused looking around the room in search of the right. A drawing album, old and with several yellowed pages, has served him for many years. There were many drawings of birds, and just nature in general. Henry himself, without noticing it, looked first at the graceful lines of drawings, although he had not been interested in art before, and then at Uris's beautiful hands. His long fingers took a pencil and began to draw a plan of action. — I’m sure my father heard about you. No offense, but we will have to try to be accepted… — Stan muttered something quietly under his breath, so the guy with the earring in his ear had to sit next to him and bend down to his face almost closely. — Are there any provocative questions? Let's invent a beautiful, but realistic love story. We find out each other's interests… — when Stan lifted his head slightly to ask Henry about something, he was frightened to see his face so close to his. Again. — Discuss the scope of what is permitted.

— The framework of what is permitted is good.

However, the bully was not in a hurry to move away. He liked to see the confusion on the face of the usually calm and unshakable Uris. A guy from a good Jewish family who, it turns out, has dirty thoughts about people of his own sex. Surprisingly, in the modest opinion of Bowers, but definitely nice. He had his reasons for thinking that. Stan was embarrassed and fell out of bed due to the awkward movement, although usually he was just an example of confidence. He, red and disheveled, got up from his seat and brushed off his pants, as if there could be rubbish at all. This is his room, after all.

Henry grinned at that, feeling the heat in his chest. Yes, such Stan is unusual, more homely and absolutely exactly cute, he liked. He immediately tried to stop thinking about it. His goal is to simply do what is required and get the money, it's not even a pleasant pastime. Totally.

— I think you should come to work with me tomorrow. There we will be able to discuss everything, it’s just that the time is already late and I’m tired — Stan, clinging awkwardly to the castle, was looking for reasons to stay alone and calm down, because Henry Bowers along with his strong hands and pleasant smell should not be, made him worry. — It would be better if my parents did not see you. Mom now cleans the pantry, and the father is in the office in the morning, so you need to be careful

Bowers got up after him, looking the guy from head to toe. Standing in the middle of his own room, he suddenly seemed small and frightened. Henry would feel like a real bastard, not noticing it and staying here. He nodded shortly, looking away to the side and noticing the window, which could not be seen from behind the curtains that matched the color of the wallpaper. It was not so high, and besides, a tall tree growing nearby gave him a strange, but interesting in its riskiness, idea. Without further ado, he began to open the window, followed by the panicked look of the room owner and his questions. The window sill met his hooligan ass with cold. Before barefoot touched the rough bark of the tree, Henry looked over Stan with a grin. Devils danced in his gaze.

— Go out the door and give me my shoes, be so kind, — with these words, without any grace, he tried as carefully as possible to jump from the branch to the next, and then to the soft, slightly damp grass. Stan was anxiously watching this action, and when gray eyes glared at him in response, he hurriedly retreated into the room. His heart was beating loudly in his chest and with each of his blow Stan's world was crumbling to pieces due to the awareness of his own feelings. He was a smart guy, but right now he was simply a standard of idiocy. As carefully as possible, he went downstairs, bypassing the living room and empty corridors. Thank God, no one ever found out about the arrival of Henry Bowers.

— Here, — Stan handed over his faded sneakers to the above, thinking that he would definitely buy him a new guy, albeit unreal. He can not let this handsome look in front of older Uris, as if a ragged from the street, but that is exactly what Henry was.

By the way, he looked like he didn’t want to leave at all — he looked at his former classmate with an unreadable look. On one side, Stan understood him because quite a lot of time had passed since Richie arrived; it was noticeably darker and cold in the street, but before he could say anything, Bowers fell from his stupor. He grunted something quietly, and then awkwardly pulled on his sneakers.

— I'll come closer to dinner when the break starts at work, — hearing this, Stan glanced at him blankly, with a little respect. — What? You didn’t think that one of them is so correct and you are running around looking for money, jewish ass?

Stan chose to leave the appeal to himself unnoticed, silently radiating waves of interest.

— I'm fixing the car. Well, you know, poking around in the engines and maraya hands in engine oil. It fits me.

Perhaps this is true. In any case, only with one view of sweaty, half-naked Henry, who strains his muscles in order to tighten some part, Stan’s whole body trembled. He blushed more and more, as his thoughts became more and more frank and cheeky, and when he came to himself, he realized that he was left standing on the street completely alone. The singing of crickets and the chattering of cicadas tore the silence of the night as he slowly realized one thing. Henry Bowers does not know the address of his work, and Uris himself forgot to tell him about it. Fuck.

#it #it 2017 #henry bowers #bowers gang #stan uris #stanry

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georgesmithddayear2infographics · 6 years

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World Chocolate Day Infographic Process

25.10.18

This will probably be quite a long post, but I’ll do my best.

So, we had been given the mini-project of essentially creating an infographic on a particular area of chocolate in celebration of world chocolate day—the history of chocolate, for example. The post below this one contains my research on the history of chocolate in fact, though it has much more information, like the uses and effects of chocolate. Have a read through that if you want an insight into how chocolate came about. Anyway, long story short, I chose to do trivia for my infographic, since there was a lot of trivia I’d gathered, and I thought it would be fun to make certain graphics, like an Aztec or the money.

Sketchbook Work

So below are two pages of my sketchbook which I designated to drawing out ideas which I thought would look good from the information which I collated. I’ll start with the Aztec in the top left—I thought it compulsory to make an Aztec warrior-looking guy, since chocolate was enjoyed by them back then. I looked at a couple different random references of Aztecs, and came up with the simple design that you see. I also drew a mug of hot chocolate next to him, since it was enjoyed as a “hot, frothy stimulative with restorative properties��. Next to that is another mug with a kind of spotlight shining on it—it’s supposed to look like some kind of heavenly ray, hence the clouds also. This was because it was the “food for the gods”.

Below the top row of drawings, are a couple of Olmecs, the earliest known major civilization in Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco. They are said to have produced chocolate in present-day Mexico as early as 1900 B.C., so I thought it necessary to celebrate them and make graphics of them. They were fun to draw—they have very defined facial features. I put a simplified version of the Mexican flag behind them too, and some cocoa beans in front of them, to make it look like they just discovered them. Also 1900 B.C. for measure. Below them is one I thought would be fun to digitise in Illustrator—the cocoa beans to currency. Yeah, they were used as currency back then. It’s just two stacks of coins and some dollar bills flying around. Next I drew a simple couple getting married, since you would use hot chocolate in ceremonies and such. There’s a little heart and a mug of chocolate above them too. Then at the bottom of the first page lay five flags of Europe, which says when chocolate reached each country, until it reached Britain.

Onto the next page, I started by drawing a mug of chocolate (final mug of hot chocolate counter: 4) which looks pretty random since I forgot to annotate why it’s there, but it wasn’t really important anyway, since it was there to show how chocolate was used in Mexico, which was just as hot chocolate. Next to this is a Formula One car, which runs on chocolate, among other things, but I’m not very good at drawing cars, so it didn’t turn out very well. Then on the left again is one of my favorite drawings on these two pages—it’s a bottle of medicine with some cocoa beans and text that reads: TAKE TWO A DAY on the front. It was discovered that the Yucatan used medicine containing cocoa beans. Then finally on the right, there is a dismembered head—I mean happy face enjoying a bar of chocolate. Above are miniature dismembe—happy faces which are supposed to portray dopamine, which essentially makes you feel good. Oh, and to his left is a health cross underneath a no entry sign, which shows that chocolate isn’t good for your health. That’s everything for my sketchbook work, but I also wrote some notes on other aspects of my infographic, like what kind of palette I would use. I didn’t use one since I had way too many assets to stick to one palette of around 6 colours, so I thought I would just use colours corresponding to the respective asset. I will probably use my usual slightly desaturated colours overall. As for fonts and such, I will most likely use sans-serif fonts since it will fit better with a bouncy, colourful infographic.

Anyway, to start with the process, I created that mug of hot chocolate that I was oh so excited to make (actually not sarcasm). It was fun to make, as was mostly everything else on my final infographic. It’s comprised of a couple main shapes, like rounded rectangles and a circle that I cut into with a smaller circle for the handle. I added a shine across the visible hot chocolate at the top and gave it a nice glow. I gave the mug a slight white to blue gradient and a drop shadow underneath the rim of the mug at the top, to give some more depth. That was it for the mug. Next it was time to create what I thought would probably be the most fun to make—the Aztec dude. It was indeed fun to make, and basically, I started by making a shape using the line tool for the head. I made his head quite toned and refined, he’s an Aztec warrior dude after all, I think he’s worthy of one. I gave it a slight gradient (I really like using subtle gradients) from red-brown to a more slightly desaturated brown. The facial features were fun to make—I mainly used the pen tool as well as some basic shapes that I warped to my liking. The crown(?) turned out good too and was fun to make, it’s just some rounded rectangles and some circles that look like bolts or something. Next I made the feathers which stick out from the crown(?). I made them red and green to keep it simple.

I’m kind of proud of this particular asset, so here is a bigger image of it: https://imgur.com/a/l5XgL0v

Next up I thought I would make the stone Olmec statue, which again was fun to make. It’s comprised of a bunch of (warped) shapes like rounded rectangles, again, and then lots of pen tool-created things, like the mouth and the laugh lines around his mouth. The shadow under the nose I thought was a nice touch, and also the shade under the helmet thingy. Alongside this, I made a golden ring using the ellipse tool and placed it around the mug of hot chocolate. I did this because I’d tried doing that heavenly light thing that I mentioned in my sketchbook work, but I couldn’t really get it to look good, so I did this much more subtle nod to the fact that hot chocolate was the “food for the gods”.

This next screenshot is a big update—So after I’d made the Olmec dude, I duplicated it and placed it next to him, like with what I did in my sketchbook, except they were both different. Anyway, I stayed faithful with the Mexican flag behind them—albeit, a bit of a simplified version of it. Then I went on to make the cocoa beans that would be placed in front of them to make it look like they stumbled upon them—discovering them if you will. The beans were fairly simple to make, I just made some ellipses and warped them a bit, and gave them a brown gradient. Next, I wanted to make the money, which I thought would be pretty fun to make, and it was, and the result was very good in my opinion. I had initially planned on doing just two stacks of coins, but after I created one, which I did so by making some rounded rectangles and then adding some lines on the sides to look like ridges. Then I duplicated it and accidentally placed it over the top of the original, and so I thought that it might look good if I did multiple stacks which made them look 3D. For the notes, I just made a rectangle and put some ellipses in and some random letters and numbers. Then I went to envelop distort under object and then I clicked on wave to make it look like it was waving.

Next, I moved onto the flags of Europe, these flags were to show what year chocolate reached that particular country. 1528 for Spain, 1606 for France, 1615 for Italy, 1646 for Germany, and finally 1650 for Britain. I made the Spanish flag much more simplified than it actually is since it would take a long time to get it to match with the actual Spanish flag, so I decided to just make a kind of shield shape and put a white square in the top right of it since those were the main details. The rest of the flags were just comprised of rectangles, though the Union Jack was kind of tedious to make since I had to make different sizes of rectangles and put them in the correct places. Either way, this was probably the most tedious part about making the graphics, but at least I’m satisfied with how they turned out.

Now I had to make the two people getting married with the mug of chocolate and the heart above them, to show that it was used in ceremonies like weddings. The two people were fairly easy to make, using ellipses for heads and rounded rectangles for torsos. For the bride’s head, I put a put a transparent sheet over her head since that’s what they tend to wear. The man is in a simple suit and tie. I gave him some hair using the pen tool. After this, I decided to make the bottle of chocolate medicine, which I made using the rectangle tool for the bottle and then the pen tool for the top and the rounded rectangle tool once again for the cap. I duplicated the shape and put it inside the original and coloured it a dark brown and made a shine on the left side by cutting into the shape using the pen tool. I also added the label which I drew in my sketchbook that says “TAKE TWO A DAY” and some cocoa beans at the top.

Lastly, for the assets, it was time to make the happy face who’s eating a bar of chocolate. It was fairly easy to create since I’ve made a similar thing in another class recently, that and it’s just a simple face. I chose a nice yellow with an orange stroke and used the ellipse tool for the head as well as another shape to cut into an ellipse to make it into a semicircle (for the mouth and eyes). The hand was also easy to make, it’s just a rounded rectangle with some pen strokes to look like fingers. Again, the chocolate bar was simple—it is just a rectangle with some squares inside using the pen tool and the same gradient that I used for the cocoa beans and the medicine bottle. Finally, (for now) I made the health cross and the no entry sign to show that it’s not good for health. Both easy to make—just using basic tools and methods.

So, after finishing the assets (for now) I moved onto the layout, which I had a couple of ideas of what I would do. So what I did was make some squares and gave them some depth by making them look like they were sticking out. The whole background would be a faded chocolate bar, faded so it wouldn’t take away from the assets that I’d made. I think I pulled it fairly well in my opinion. For the title, I thought I would keep it simple by just calling it “World Chocolate Day” in some very appealing browns might I add. I chose an easy-to-read font that is quite blocky. Moving on, I made these card things which would have my assets on along with some trivia relating to the image. I think they look quite appealing—the brown with spots and the cream-coloured border, they look like some kind of chocolate snack. I decided to put the Aztec underneath the border, so I cut into him. Then I put the hot chocolate mug with the golden ring under the text, and lowered the opacity. For the text, I made it white and in a font that is clearly legible. Underneath this is the one containing the flags, which I resized as I thought they were the most flexible assets on here, and it wouldn’t matter if I’d made them even smaller than they are now. I made the dates underneath also clear to read, going from white to yellow on the end where Britain is, to show that’s where it ends, though this might be a bit misleading.

Next up I duplicated the border from the first card and put it beneath the Olmec and the Mexican flag and the cocoa beans. Instead of putting the box around all of the things (namely the cocoa beans) I only put it around the Olmec and the flag as there’d be too much empty space if I did put it around the beans. Next to this is the box containing the cocoa beans to currency, which I think looks quite good—I made the money and cocoa beans stick out of the box (which is the original box with inverted colours). II changed the arrow which I made earlier because it looked really obnoxious and ugly in contrast with the nice browns which I’d picked out. Also I made it go down and right, instead of it just going straight right. Finally for this update, I just moved some of the remaining assets around until I found a place which I thought they would fit.

So I did move the assets around some more, and added some boxes behind them when I was happy with their positions. The wedding ceremony asset I am particularly pleased with, since it looks really nice with the box that I chose to put around it, and I like how I separated the text from the top. I also did this with the box in the bottom right which I recently added. Anyways, that box contains the medicine aspect of the graphic—I thought it was too plain with just the medicine bottle on its own, which I realised when I had placed the text—so I thought I would make other things relating to medicine, and so I made a syringe, as well as some small pills. To the left of this box is the health and effects of chocolate trivia, with the happy face and dopamine emanating from it, as well as the health cross which I put across from the happy face. I thought the best thing to do here would be to put the text between the two assets. With that, my graphic was pretty much complete, with some minor tweaks.

Final World Chocolate Day Infographic

Imgur link (clearer)

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ahumanintraining · 6 years

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handoff (ch. 4 of “follow up”) a shallura modern era hospital au ft. dr. allura and patient shiro [link to ao3]

notes: I do this weird thing where I can’t write third person omniscient so I change perspectives every now and then but I’m pretty terrible at it, lol sorry in advance. honestly i'm not even sure this chapter makes sense lol.

as always, thank you all so much for your support for this fic. again, multichaps are definitely out my comfort range for me, so seeing all this encouragement has been incredibly amazing.

chapter four: handoff

“Wait... what do you mean?” she asks.

And her voice sounds so disappointed that it makes him realize that “I’ve had a bit of change in plans” can also mean “I’m canceling our dinner.”

Wait! Fuck, he didn’t mean that. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“No, no! I mean, sorry, I mean we’re still on for tonight,” he corrects immediately. “I just.. well, I won’t be able to drive you.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Oh, okay,” she replies slowly. “Do you… want me to meet you somewhere then?”

“No. I mean, I’ll still meet you at your place,” he explains, desperate for words, but he’s tensing up and the words are spilling out of his mouth without abandon. “I just…” and unable to figure out what else to say, he apologizes again. “I’m sorry. When I told you I’d drive to your place, I forgot I was still going to have a splint.” He paces back and forth. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to risk driving you when I only have one functional arm.”

Ugh, he totally fucked up.

“Oh, I see.” She laughs. “Why’d you make it sound so serious?”

He opens and closes his mouth many times as he hears her laughter die down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that we’re not on for tonight,” he blabbers. “I spoke wrong, and I’m sorry about that.” He pauses. “I really want to see you soon.”

“Me too,” she says.

And hearing her say that might have just given him an extra ten years of life. He smiles uncontrollably, pressing his phone hard against his ear.

Then he suddenly remembers he probably should tell her that he’s right outside her apartment door.

“Um, actually,” he then awkwardly adds. “I’m already outside your building, I think.”

Her heart jumps out of her chest.

Outside her building?! Already?!

Composing herself, she calmly replies, “Oh! Okay, I’ll meet you downstairs. Give me a few minutes.”

“Yeah, sure. Sorry for not giving you a heads up.”

“No, no, no, you’re fine,” she assures him, her left hand grabbing eyeliner and some lip gloss. She leans over her counter, resting her phone on her shoulder and popping open the eyeliner.

“Okay, then,” he says. She hears him smile. And even in the midst of her rush, something about his silence on the other side of the line is calming. She momentarily stops her rummaging to experience the quiet. “I’ll see you soon.”

She smiles, and she can see in her reflection in the mirror that her smile reaches the corners of her eyes. “See you,” she replies.

She waits for him to end the call, hanging on for a second, but he doesn’t. Gingerly, she bites her lip, watching the timer for their call still ticking before she presses the end call button.

What a rollercoaster of emotions, she thinks to herself as she draws over her eyelids with the eyeliner. In the last five minutes, she went from thinking he was canceling their date to realizing he’s been right outside of her door the entire time.

He would be the death of her before the night was over, she was sure.

“Takashi Shirogane,” she says softly to herself. She holds up her chin, unscrewing the gloss and brushing the clear pink wash over her lips. She squeezes her lips together and smile at herself, replacing the makeup into her bag and stands up straight, looking at herself once more in the mirror.

Experience from past first dates warns her to not get her hopes up too high, but she can’t help this gut feeling bubbling within her that tells her she’s going to have a good time today.

And maybe she hopes that by the end of the night, he thinks the same.

She grabs her clutch purse from its hook on her wall, dropping her phone and wallet into it, slipping on white flats as she walks out of her apartment. With every step closer to the elevator, then closer to the entrance of her building, she feels her pulse growing stronger.

She recognizes him right away, even in the dim yellow streetlight. He’s wearing a dark sweater, leaning over the short fence surrounding the small flower garden in front of her apartment, body half-turned toward her building, face turned to the street, left hand tucked into the front pocket of his black jeans, and right arm casually rested against his waist. From this angle, she can still see the unmistakable white streak of hair at the front of his head.

She takes a deep breath and walks out.

He meets her eyes right away, and he straightens, taking a step toward her.

All of sudden, she doesn’t know what to do, but she waves to him as she approaches, taking in more and more of his details — the crinkles around his eyes, the silvery scar line over his nose — as he comes closer. A white shirt peeks out from the collar of his sweater, in a crooked way that makes her want to adore him even more.

“Hi, Takashi Shirogane,” she greets, and then realizes she blurted out his last name by accident because she’s been repeating his full name to herself for the past few hours.

He doesn’t seem to notice. “Hey,” he replies, stepping forward.

This makes her stop in place. She was not planning on coming this close to him, but now he’s within hug reach and she’s wondering if she should hug him? Hugging is not something she does naturally but now she’s standing too close to him for no reason.

But at this distance, she suddenly remembers the smell of his skin, and damn it, she really does want to hug him because she craves it, but she represses the desire immediately because — well, that would be weird of her to do.

“Hey,” she says instead.

They stand there for a moment. He looks like he’s taking her in from top to bottom, and she admits she doesn’t mind this at all. His eyes meet hers and he offers her a small smile.

“So, I was looking around your area and there’s actually a few places to eat around here we can walk to,” he starts, pulling out his phone. “But I was thinking you might have been to them already, and if that’s the case, we can go someplace else and I can call us a ride there.”

She thinks quickly. “Oh, no, not at all,” she replies. “For how long I’ve lived here, I haven’t explored every much around here. I know there’s an Italian place, an Ethiopian place, some kind of Middle Eastern place, and maybe a Korean barbeque place too.”

“Yeah, I saw that on my way here. What are you feeling?”

She wants to say Korean barbeque, but she’s been told by colleagues that Korean barbeque was never a good place to take first date.

Does she really care? Not really.

“How are you on KBBQ?”

“Love it.”

“Yes! Perfect,” she says, clapping her hands together.

He looks at her with a soft gaze and an uneven boyish grin. “Alright, ready?”

She looks at him once more, half-dazed by his smile. She secures her clutch over her shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“So how long have you lived here?” he asks.

He’s really only making small talk because otherwise he’d find himself distracted just watching her walk beside him. She’s walking next to him. This beautiful doctor is next to him and he’s taking her to dinner and honestly his brain can’t fully process that yet.

“Hm…” she replies, musing a moment.

He likes the way she tilts her head up and slightly purses her lips when she’s thinking. He likes how the ends of her hair bob as she steps forward, ever so gracefully. He likes everything about her, really. She’s even more beautiful than he remembers — her white dress and matching shoes and tied-up hair — he doesn’t even have the vocabulary to describe what she’s wearing or how she’s wearing it but whatever she’s doing, he really likes it.

“In this specific building? About two years,” she continues. “I first moved to this city to work in Olkarion General about three years ago but for the first year, I was crashing between sublets trying to find a proper place to stay.”

“Yeah, it can be hard to find a lease around here.”

“But then I found this apartment and if everything works out, the plan is to stay here for the rest of my life — or at least as long as Olkarion General will keep me.”

He laughs. “I’m sure they’ll keep you around.”

He likes the sound of her staying here.

“What about you? Where do you live?”

“Oh, not too far from here. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Beta Traz District, but I’m right around there.”

“Heard of it,” she says. “Haven’t ever been.” She turns and gives him a joking frown. “Doctors don’t get out much. That’s why I haven’t even been to this place that’s literally down my street.”

He shrugs, chuckling. “That’s fine. I don’t get out much either.”

He still doesn’t know where to put his hands. He can’t help this excited teenaged feeling of wanting to reach forward to hold out her hand, and suddenly he realizes he’s been looking for too long down at her hands. He looks up to her face in case she’s noticed, but she doesn’t seem to know at all, having the most calm and peaceful expression on her face, but then he realizes that now he’s just staring at her face – so he keeps his eyes to the sidewalk and his left hand deep in his pocket…

…only to later find his eyes veering to the gentle swish of her dress as she walks and how the light folds of her dress fall over her legs as she steps forward.

“I’m glad you suggested walking somewhere nearby,” she starts, looking over at him.

He meets her eyes briefly, but then realizes that her blue eyes are way too pretty for him to look at without blushing. He focuses on continuing her conversation.

“Oh, yeah, I mean, thank you for being open about doing this,” he says. “I, um, wish I had a more impressive reason to walk instead but I have a lame excuse of a broken arm.”

She shakes her head, smiling. “No, it’s good. Walking is great for the cardiovascular system,” she says, but then quickly adds, “And for your mood.” She pauses. “Well, for a lot of things, really. I mean, it’s great for the environment, too. Well — compared to us driving. I mean, you driving me.”

Seeing her trip over her words, he looks over at her and he sees her bite her bottom lip.

He hides a quiet laugh. She’s adorable, and he loves it.

“It’s a great temperature outside,” she says quickly, looking over at him.

“Yes,” he agrees, not letting her catch his gaze.

“Speaking of which, how is your arm anyway?”

“Oh, well, I was able to talk with my doctor today,” Shiro quickly recalls. “He just got me in to see an orthopedist for tomorrow but he didn’t mention anything bad about my arm. Just told me to try not to use it until tomorrow.”

“You look like you’re doing fine,” she says.

“I’d gladly take your second opinion,” he jokes, but then he realizes that might come off weird. “I mean, I don’t need you to check or anything. I don’t want to be that person asking you about random things just because you’re a doctor.”

She laughs. “Don’t worry about it,” she assures him. “Everyone does it anyway. And I’d rather that then people self-diagnosing based on internet articles.”

“Yeah, for sure,” he laughs.

They fall back into silence.

Damn. He didn’t mean to make this awkward. Why did he even say anything about his arm in the first place? She’s not at work right now and she probably wants a break from treating people — and he’s not even her patient anymore!

…or is he? Technically? It doesn’t feel like she’s treating him like a patient, but at the same time, maybe she’s just getting dinner with him because she was being nice after he, as a patient, offered.

He looks over at her and she is completely expressionless. He breathes in and continues walking, looking down briefly at his phone to check how far they have still to walk. He glances at her once more, and she still carrying the same neutral expression.

She’s not interested in him, he’s pretty sure. If she actually is interested in him, she’d definitely be more… flirty? … with him, right?

Besides, who is he kidding? Doctors must get this all the time. People wanting to thank them and such. This dinner must be pretty much all the same. And besides, this doctor-patient relationship thing is all his own wild fantasy, isn’t it? Isn’t it all just an overused romantic trope in those Korean dramas his mother watches?

Did she even wink at him in the first place? He’s not even sure if she had even winked at him when he was in the emergency room. He thinks she winked at him, but… well, even if she did, did that mean she was actually inviting him to call her? Some people just wink because they’re being friendly.

But she did accept dinner with him… right?

Stop it, Shiro, he thinks to himself. Now you’re just extending the silence and making this even more awkward…

Or maybe he should just ask her to be clear, his brain suggests. Just ask her what exactly this dinner is for.

He shakes his head.

No, don’t be stupid, Shiro. Don’t kid yourself, she’s just being nice.

He turns to her. “Hey,” he says, without thinking. “Um…”

Damn it, Shiro.

Allura cannot believe she started talking about medicine.

Why is she like this? Why is every other sentence she says has something to do with being a doctor or about some organ system? She hates it.

Doctors don’t get out much. Walking is great for the cardiovascular system? How is your arm?

Don’t say anything medical-related, she reprimands herself. At least through this dinner.

But then in these past seven seconds of awkward silence, she’s been unable to say anything not medical related. She’s been thinking of conversation topics but all her funny stories are about medical school, her medical colleagues, or random fun facts that she discovered in recent literature on PubMed.

Grimly, she reminds herself this is probably why she hasn’t had any successful dates with anyone since undergraduate.

Not to mention she had actually gone ahead and briefly looked over at his arm — which, although covered by the long sleeve of his sweater, looked visibly less swollen and a lot better even just a few days later — and told him her assessment, as if this dinner was a follow up visit. He even had to tell her that she didn’t have to check up on him.

Ugh, she is not doing well on the dating front right now.

She sneaks a furtive glance at him. He doesn’t look at all concerned or anything — honestly, she can’t tell what he’s feeling right now.

Probably awkward. And she doesn’t blame him. She made this entire conversation about medicine so far, and he’s probably not interested at all in what she’s talking about.

What kind of doctor goes to dinner with their patient anyway? He must be thinking about how awkward this all is because he probably didn’t expect her to say yes when he offered dinner. She’s had plenty of patients offering her things, but she’s never actually accepted anything — after all, it wasn’t quite right to accept the gifts and kind gestures. But she said yes, and now, he was probably going through all of this just because he was nice enough to follow through with it all.

Suddenly he looks over at her.

“Hey, um…”

She looks back at him. “Yes, Takashi?”

He hesitates. She sees him lick his lips. “Just to be clear… I’m not taking you to dinner as my doctor or anything,” he says. “In case I wasn’t clear.”

“Oh, well, no, no,” she replies quickly. “I’m not doing this as your doctor or anything. I thought we would just go out for dinner as… like, you know, friends or something.”

Wait.

“Oh, okay,” he says, nodding. “Right.”

Wait. Did she just…

She just friend-zoned him.

Damn it, Allura.

Friends or something.

Right. Friends or something.

That’s fine. That’s okay, right? Friends can date, right? And friends can become something more, right? That trope is in his mother’s Korean dramas, too, right?

Shiro really likes her. He really really likes her, and he wants so bad for her to like him too — and it’s crazy. He likes her so much even though he doesn’t know a single thing about her. But she has such a magnetic personality… is it wrong for him to want to spend as much time with her as he can?

This is fine, he convinces himself. At least they are having dinner.

Maybe if tonight goes well, he can toe the friend line.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he composes himself as the KBBQ restaurant comes into sight, stepping forward to open the door for her as they approach.

Despite what seemed like a very busy night, they’re immediately seated by the server, who grabs a couple of menus for them. They’re placed off to the side in booth seats and Shiro quickly takes a seat, watching Allura take her place across from him.

“This was a great idea,” she says, a little excitedly, pointing at the grill at the center of the table. She looks around at the atmosphere of the restaurant. “I haven’t had KBBQ in months, and I’ve actually been kind of craving it.”

He laughs. “Yeah, me too.”

She pours water from the pitcher in front of them into the two empty glasses, sliding one over to his side and taking one for herself.

“So, Takashi, tell me a bit more about you,” she says, folding her hands over each other and leaning over the table.

He tries not to notice how her cleavage grows as she does this. That would be terribly inappropriate of him, but —

He clears his throat, keeping his eyes on hers, even though his peripheral vision is offering him temptations. “Well, I grew up in Kerberos. I went to Puig for university and have moved around a little bit after that, but a year ago, I came here to Olkarion and yeah, I’m here now.”

He’s purposefully avoiding talking about what he’s doing now — frankly, because he isn’t doing anything now. And fortunately, she doesn’t focus on that last detail.

“Really?” Her eyes pop open. “I went to Puig University — did you…?”

“Oh, yeah, same. Class of ’07?”

She shakes her head. “’08,” she replies. “I’m fairly surprised I never met you while we were there.”

He shrugs. “It was a big school, and I chose to live off-campus.”

She nods. “Hm… and I was a hardcore premed, so unless by chance you happened to be doing anything biology-related or volunteered for the student clinic, I’m pretty sure I had no chance of meeting you.”

“Not at all. History major,” he says.

She smiles, her eyes dropping to the table. “I wish I met you back then, Takashi.”

Never mind what she just said, about wanting to meet him back then — this is maybe the third time she’s said his actual name.

Strangely, hearing her say his first name makes the whole conversation sound incredibly intimate. After all, no one calls him Takashi, and he doesn’t even remember hearing it in his past relationships. And when she says it so gently in her soothing voice…

“Shiro,” he suddenly blurts, then clarifies. “You can just call me Shiro. No need to be formal or anything.”

“Shiro?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he replies.

Maybe he’s being super Japanese about it. Like the whole you-called-me-kun-and-not-san thing. Whatever it is, he’s being weird about it.

“It’s short for my last name,” he explains. “Shirogane. People usually call me that.”

She arches her eyebrow. “Well, what if I choose not to, Takashi?” she asks, mischievously.

He almost gets a boner.

“I— I mean, you call me whatever you want to,” he says, choosing not to elaborate that he may have just discovered he has a weird first-name-basis kink. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, reaching for his glass of water.

“I’m kidding,” she says, also holding her water out in front of her and taking a sip from the straw.

“Hi, good evening, sorry to interrupt you two,” a server says, coming up to their table, laying out some side dishes out in front of them and turning on the grill in the center of their table. “I was going to take any orders you had?”

“Oh, sorry,” he apologizes, completely forgetting about it all. He looks to Allura, but she has the same oh-crap-we-forgot-we-were-ordering expression. “Um,” he says, flipping over the menu. “Maybe we can start with bulgolgi and the saeng galbi?"

Allura nods, looking over the options. “And maybe pork belly and uh… if we could get an order of japchae?”

He’s about to compliment good choice in food, but then he feels a familiar vibration in his pants pocket of someone calling him. He reaches over and grabs his phone out of his pocket, seeing the kanji.

Oh, his mom.

He slowly stands to his feet.

“Anything else? You can get up to three things at a time.”

“Oh, maybe just add beef brisket on both of ours,” Allura answers for the two of them, noticing the phone in his hand and him getting up.

“Sorry, I have to take this,” he mouths, making his way out of the restaurant.

Oh, of all the times for his mother to call.

Allura likes him.

She really does. She knew she thought he was cute, but somehow just in the last hour, she thinks she wants to get to know him much more.

It’s all too bad she more or less friend-zoned him earlier.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she do that? Maybe she should clarify and tell him she wanted to date him —

But wait, when she recounts back to when she friend-zoned him, he didn’t seem upset or surprised at all… so maybe he’s already on the friend-zone page… except the only problem is that she’s not on that page…

This is fine, she convinces herself.

In fact, this might turn out for the better. Maybe by the end of the night, she’d realize she actually doesn’t like him at all. And then that would make things easier.

Somehow though, she doesn’t think she won’t fall for him — because she already has, and she can’t stop it.

She watches him now as he returns through the restaurant, laughing with one of the restaurant employees that stops him on the way back to the table. He has some kind of charm disarms anyone, and she is just as susceptible.

As he approaches, she pretends she hasn’t been staring the entire time. She takes a piece of kimchi and chews it, pretending her eyes have been on all the side dishes and waits until he comes back to the table for her to lift her eyes up to him.

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes.

She shakes her head. “No, don’t be sorry about that. You needed to take that call.”

Sitting himself back down, he shrugs. “It really wasn’t that important. My mom just called because she wanted to see another picture of my arm.”

She laughs. “I don’t blame her. If my son broke his arm, I would probably be the exact same way.” She lets her laugh fall quiet. “You’re close to your mom?”

He wrinkles his nose. “It’s something I’m embarrassed to admit.”

“Hm,” she says, nodding quietly.

“Are you?”

His question strikes her out of the blue. “Am I…?”

“Close to your parents?”

“Yeah…” she replies, looking up from her hands and smiling at him. “Yeah, I was.”

He looks back at her, concerned. “Oh, I’m sorry… did something happen?”

She shakes her head. “My mom passed when I was younger but I was always close with my dad. He passed a few years ago.” She sips on her straw and flits her eyes up to gauge him. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize for asking. You didn’t know.”

His mouth twists. “Well, yeah, but… I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to get that deep that fast.”

She laughs. “Well, I asked about your mom first,” she reminds him. “And I didn’t know anything about you so I think I risked just as much going into that question.”

He gives her a careful smile. She really wants him to be comfortable and not intimidated. She really hopes he doesn’t just see her as ‘the chick whose parents died.’

In almost perfect timing with their silence, their server stops at their table, delivering their orders. She watches the dishes get placed onto the table, the clink of the dishware the only sound between the two of them.

She thanks the server then quickly takes the prongs. “So, what keeps you busy these days?” she asks Shiro, dropping some meat onto the grill. “Work or hobbies or anything?”

“Well… I’m actually on the search for a job,” he explains slowly. He follows her lead and drops his own meat, onto the grill, immediate sizzles emerging from underneath.

“What were…” Quite honestly, she doesn’t expect him to be unemployed and she tries her best not to sound judgmental or like she expected him to be doing anything. “What were you doing before?” She corrects. “Well, if you were doing anything before?”

He doesn’t seem to take offense. “Air Force,” he replies simply. “I quit though.”

She doesn’t expect this either. “Oh, uh,” she struggles, trying to see if her past interactions with veterans from her VA rotation in medical school would help her. “Was there a reason you quit?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t mind the first few years, but then the last two years, I hated with a passion and I wanted out. I felt like there wasn’t much freedom, and there was a lot of bullshit.”

She nods. “I see.”

There’s not much more there that she knows how to get into or even wants to get into. Suddenly she’s not completely confident about making good conversation with him, and it’s a feeling she’s not used to. She stirs the straw in her glass for a little bit.

“Sorry for asking, and maybe I don’t know,” she starts on another subject. “But are you Japanese? I’m just assuming because Shirogane seems Japanese.”

“No, you’re right,” he says, and this question seems to break through. “That’s better than most people assume.” He nods his chin in her direction. “And you? How do you identify, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She shrugs. “Black,” she says. “Or African-American. Nothing special.” She tilts her head. “Do you speak Japanese at home, then?”

“I’m Japanese. I have to speak Japanese,” he groans. “My mother would never let me go without it. Japanese at home. Japanese school on Saturdays.” He looks at her. “What about you? Do you speak any other languages?”

She wrinkles her nose, smiling. “No, not really. And I don’t count the Spanish I took in high school. I’m quite language-less aside from English.” She recounts a little back. “Although, one of my high school friends and I made this elaborate language we used to communicate to each other while passing notes in class.”

She sees him almost spit out his drink, laughing. “This must be before texting became a thing.”

She smiles wide. “Yeah. I’m sure you remember back then.”

“Oh absolutely,” he says. “I mean so few of us in high school had phones that could actually text, and the texts were so much money per character that we didn’t even try to transition from paper.”

“And then there were the cool kids that had the Blackberrys.”

“Don’t even remind me about how snobby they were.”

She laughs. “I was only cool enough to get a Blackberry when I was in college,” she says. “But I’m glad I hung on until then because the smart phone revolution started and by then my family hadn’t invested in all the ‘new’ tech was ultimately surpassed.”

“Yeah. I’m still waiting for holograms to come out.”

“I’m sure a more intelligent alien species out there has already invented some form of that,” she says, taking a bite of the acorn jelly on the side dish. “It’s only a matter of time for us.”

“You believe in aliens?” He looks at her, amused.

“There’s infinite possibilities out there in the universe,” she replies easily. “How can you not?”

“Whatever the doctor says,” he teases.

She rolls her eyes. “What about you?” she asks.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a hardcore believer,” he replies. “One of my roommates in undergrad really sold me on it though. He was studying astrophysics or something and he used to tell me all the time about alternate universes. He had a ton of formulas and equations that proved all of it.” He thinks to himself for a moment. “Honestly, he was kind of weird. He’d always be calculating a ton of probabilities of things and probably had some form of agoraphobia. He never left the room.”

Allura considers. “Not leaving the room,” she says, nodding. “That sounds a lot like it.”

“Yeah,” he says, before changing the subject. “So. You still need to tell me about this elaborate made-up language you used to write notes to your friend in class.” He leans back into his chair. “Aside from majoring in history, I low-key studied a lot of linguistics in my undergraduate, so I’m not letting you off the hook for that detail.”

“Oh no, you won’t find it interesting,” she replies. “It was literally just English with character substitutions. We just didn’t want anyone reading our messages.” She softly confesses. “I actually still remember it from A to Z.”

He shrugs. “Memory works in the strangest ways.” He watches her for a few seconds, with a thoughtful look. She tries to focus on cutting her broccoli, pretending she doesn’t notice at all. “Was there a name for this language that you had?”

She clears her throat, smiling to herself, thinking back. “Altean,” she says, looking up at him. He’s listening intently, and she takes a deep breath and carefully explains, “Well, it was called Altean because it was my last name.” She pauses and clarifies. “It was just a code that two of us shared. This is a little embarrassing, but we thought we would get married and that my last name was the better one to take on, so that’s why the language is my last name… because we thought we’d share that.”

He softly smiles. “Romantic,” he says. “No wonder it had to be secret.”

“Yeah,” she says. She looks at him, and he’s still looking at her intently. “We didn’t eventually get married,” she adds with an embarrassed smile. “It was just a high school romance. She —” She quickly corrects herself in a split second. “We broke up freshman year of college.” She continues to add more substance. “You know, long distance is hard and all.”

She holds her breath and watches him. She had been so comfortable talking to him that she completely slipped.

“It happens,” he says, and if he had heard that, he was good at acting like he didn’t care.

Or maybe he didn’t actually care that she’s dated girls.

She struggles to find something else to say. “Ah yeah,” she eventually agrees.

She watches him flip around a strip of meat on the grill for a little bit before he makes a weird scooping motion with the chopsticks and plops the meat on his plate.

“Damn,” he mutters. She hears it.

“Struggling a little bit there?” she teases. “Chopsticks not your thing?”

He looks at her like she’s shitting him. “My left hand is getting there.”

“Do I need to teach you?”

It’s just a joke, but he actually arches his eyebrow at her. “Yeah, sure, go ahead,” he challenges.

She doesn’t, sticking her tongue out instead. “For some reason, I feel like this should be the opposite of how it should be going. You know, you being actually Asian and all.”

He smiles, waving off his left hand. “Honestly, I’m about to just fuck it and use my right arm.”

“No, no, no!” she reprimands him, laughing. “You need to keep that arm as still as possible until you get your cast tomorrow!”

“Whatever the doctor says,” he teases again. He tries for a piece of pork belly this time, instead getting the ends of his chopsticks stuck between the slits of the grill. He tries a couple more times.

“Here,” she says, automatically, reaching over the table and grabbing the piece in her own chopsticks and raising it up to mouth level.

Her eyes meet his eyes and then suddenly, she realizes she’s feeding him.

He seems to realize it, too. His eyes don’t leave hers.

Her heart shivers. “Um…” she hesitates, looking away from him and back at the pork between her chopsticks. “Careful, it might be a little hot,” she finally says. She tries her best not to look at his eyes and waits, staring at the bite of meat.

His head ducks down and his lips come into view just behind her chopsticks. He slightly angles his mouth to better accommodate the morsel and opens his mouth. She cautiously places the meat forward between his lips and waits until he withdraws before she releases the pork from her chopsticks.

She exhales her held breath, immediately going back to the grill to pick up some remaining pieces of meat, placing a couple on her plate. Feeling a light flush on her cheeks, she keeps her face down to the table, trying to pass all of this as normal as possible.

“Uh, thanks,” he mumbles, doing the exact same.

Suddenly, his left hand is much more capable with the chopsticks.

A few silent minutes between them pass.

“S-Sorry if that was weird,” she can’t help but say.

He looks up at her and smiles, shaking his head. “I did need the help,” he replies. “Otherwise we would have been here all night.”

“Oh, yeah, that was definitely something I was trying to avoid.”

“What?” he teases. “You’re not enjoying my company at all?”

She narrows her eyes, a playful smile on her lips. “Nope. Not in the very least bit,” she declares.

But that is very much a lie, and Allura is sure he knows it — even if he was that dense and immune to sarcasm to not know otherwise, he would definitely know with how many more hours she passes with him for the rest of the night.

Shiro’s cheeks hurt from laughing. They’ve been hurting.

He thought dinner might not have been going the right way after his mother interrupted and after he accidentally uncovered both her parents passed away, but the conversation very quickly led other ways and he discovered much more they had in common than not.

And she’s hilarious. Blunt and straightforward, and not afraid to just tell it how it is. He loves that.

As he laughs off this last remark she made, he checks his phone and is surprised to find just how late it is — half past midnight.

She seems to note the time as well, and they both agree to get going, calling over their server to split the bill so they can be on their way.

“I’ll walk you back, yeah?” he suggests as they’re walking out of the restaurant. He’s trying his best to hold onto as many minutes with her as possible. It’s been a while since he’s felt this desperate to spend time with anyone.

“Sure,” she replies, taking her purse and following up behind him. She reaches out to him, and for a moment, he thinks — with widened eyes and held breath — that she’s going to take his hand, but her hand reaches past his body and pulls open the restaurant door handle in front of them.

He quickly tucks away all the thoughts he has about her fingers intertwined with his.

She opens it wide and a light spray of mist falls over his face.

“Ah,” she announces, almost nonchalantly. “It’s raining.”

He sees a few clusters of people huddled within the restaurant’s overhanging roof to avoid the rain, hearing some chatter about calling an Uber or how far away their parked car is.

He turns to her, taking out his phone. “I can call an Uber or something.”

Allura looks at the rain. “Nonsense, it’s not that bad.”

She looks back at him with a bite of her lip, and then she suddenly reaches and takes his left hand. Before he can even process it, she’s locked her fingers between his.

“Come on,” she says, walking off at a quick pace.

There’s many things that Shiro’s done without thinking — and this, running into a storm with a woman he’s very much enamored with, isn’t very much different — but like all things that he’s done without thinking, he very quickly realizes doing so was a very bad idea.

In fact, it only takes two steps into the rain to register this.

“Oh my god!” she screams, probably realize the same. She starts laughing, her pace slowly as she almost falls over giggling, clutching her stomach.

“This is definitely really bad rain,” he sputters, unable to keep himself from laughing with her. He pulls her forward, keeping her moving forward as she tries to catch her breath. He squints some rain out of his eyes and sees an open convenience store a hundred steps up ahead. “We can probably get an umbrella in there.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, with another laugh.

He’s sure his shirt is almost completely soaked through, but for once in a very long time, he doesn’t care at all. His heart is light and unburdened. She picks up the pace after another short episode of laughter and he lets her guide him until they reach the convenience store, rushing inside with the frazzled excitement of teenagers at prom. The door rings as they enter, both tracking drops of rain in.

He hasn’t felt this carefree in ages.

“Sorry,” Allura apologizes loudly to the cashier as they walk, dripping, through the narrow store. “You don’t happen to be selling umbrellas, are you?”

When the cashier nods and points behind them, she pulls her hand out from his and reaches behind her, placing a large umbrella on the counter and reaching into her purse for the wallet.

“Oh,” Shiro realizes, reaching his hand back to his wallet. His mind is still foggy and his hand is still warm from her touch.

“No, no, I insist,” she says, with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I was the one that decided to run out into the rain like a crazy person, after all.”

“Okay,” he agrees, returning a smile. He watches a small drop of water fall off a stray strand of her hair and fall onto her shoulder.

No, he’s pretty sure he’s the crazy one to be still running after her.

“Here, come,” she commands him, walking out of the convenience store as she opens the umbrella wide. She waits for him to stand next to her before she starts walking again. “This should keep us much drier,” she says. “Much better idea than my other idea.”

He laughs softly, reaching his left hand up to comb over his bangs, feeling some drops of water falling over the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I hope your clothes are okay.”

“It’s just water,” she says, looking up at him. “Come closer so you don’t get wet,” she tells him.

He’s already very close to her, and he can’t imagine closing any more distance — but she shifts her umbrella more to his side and presses her arm right up against him, her right shoulder bumping into his left side.

“I’m fine,” he insists, his hand almost automatically reaching up for the umbrella handle. He takes it to relieve her, but she doesn’t let go, and his hand overlaps hers as he takes the umbrella — and he swears he feels a spark between their fingers.

His eyes shoot over to look at her, but she just smiles up at him, continuing their walk like everything is normal and like they do this every day.

And for once, under the same umbrella and in the same space, he feels at ease. The downpour all around them and all the traffic rushing by on the street fades away, and all that is left is her arm brushing against him and her occasional sigh, the smell of her hair and rain, the warmth of her hand against his.

It feels like a small separate world made of just him and her — and he wants this peace to last forever.

All too soon, she slows to a stop and Shiro quickly realizes, much to his sadness, that their walk is coming to an end. She leads them to the front of her apartment’s main door, steering with the umbrella.

“So…” she asks as they come under the overhang of her apartment building. She collapses the umbrella and hands it off to him. “How did you get here?”

“Oh, um,” he says, retrieving the umbrella. The start of the evening feels so long ago he’s almost completely forgot. “I walked.”

“Hm,” she nods, looking off to some empty space as she fishes out her keys from her purse without looking, in that same way she did whenever she was thinking about something.

Adorable.

“How about I drive you back to your place?” she suggests.

He wants to say no, but she doesn’t let him refuse her offer, tapping him from behind and pushing him forward as she turns the key to her apartment lobby.

“Wait inside here,” she tells him. “I’ll go upstairs and get my car really quickly. I have to drive it down from parking. I’ll meet you on the street here.” She points in front of her building, leading him to a bench inside.

He sits himself down and finds her looking down thoughtfully at him.

“Actually, you’re soaking wet,” she says. “Just come up with me. I’ll get you a towel to dry off.”

“Uh,” he hesitates, but his body stands back up under her command.

“Come on,” she calls to him, slapping the up button to the elevator. The elevator dings and she slips inside, keeping her hand between the doors to keep it open.

And of course, like any lovesick person, he follows right along.

As the elevator doors shut, he finds himself again alone with her. He looks over at her, catching her gaze, and she smiles at him. He returns the smile.

Half-soaked and her hair wind-and-rain swept, she still looks like the most beautiful thing he’s seen in ages. The tops of her shoulders and sleeves are drenched in rain, and some parts of the hem of her dress have rain spots over them — but her bright smile reaches her twinkling eyes and she looks like she’s never been happier.

He has the strongest urge to just rush over to the other side of the elevator and kiss her, but he knows better. He knows he shouldn’t read into the fact that she spent hours with him over dinner, even helping him with his chopsticks at some point. He knows he shouldn’t read into the fact that she held his hand before running out into the rain or that she’s inviting her up to her place.

God, he likes her so much that he’s not thinking clear. All of this — everything from her okay to dinner to her driving him to his apartment — she isn’t doing any of this because she likes him, he’s thoroughly convinced. She’s just doing all of this out of the goodness of her heart. She’s a doctor, after all! She chose a career dedicating her entire life to helping people.

She’s the prime example of an incredibly friendly, undoubtedly selfless, and utterly perfect person — none of everything tonight could really mean anything and he really shouldn’t kiss her, as much as he wants to.

Besides, they’re just friends, right?

He breathes in slowly, watching the numbers climb up to the eighth floor.

The elevator dings again, and he follows behind her as she walks down the hallway, stopping in front of an apartment. Her keys jangle as she turns her keys, and he hears a faint mewl coming from the other side of the door.

“You have a cat?” he asks her, as she leans against her door to swing it open.

“Yes,” she says, immediately crouching down to pick up the cat that comes up to her as she enters. She turns to him and rocks the cat up and down in her arms. “Her name is Blue.”

“Blue,” he repeats, finding himself with nothing else to say.

“You like cats?” she asks him, slipping behind him to close the door behind him.

“Yeah…” he says.

Allura smiles and then carefully drops Blue back to the ground, who approaches him curiously. He puts down the umbrella, putting out his hand to the cat’s nose. Blue sniffs him cautiously, before rubbing her face over his fingers. Allura watches their interactions for a moment.

“She likes you,” she observes.

Shiro looks up at Allura, continuing to pet her cat. He smiles up at her. “I like her, too.”

Allura smiles.

“I’ll get you a towel,” she says, slipping away to her bathroom.

Shiro lifts her head to look around. He doesn’t know what to think of it — it’s about as normal of an apartment as he would expect any apartment to be. There’s a few extra-large textbooks scattered over her couch, a leftover mug on her coffee table, and a small scattering of plants on the window.

“Here,” she says, coming back to him with a white hand towel.

He stands, taking it with his left hand and one-handedly dries his head. “Thanks,” he says, when finished.

She snorts when seeing his messed-up hair. She takes the towel, reaching up to smooth out his hair, then rubs the towel over his shoulder, carefully around his neck.

He realizes he’s holding his breath, watching her so close to him. When she takes the towel back, she looks up at him.

He could kiss her.

She smiles. “Let’s get going, yeah?”

He swallows, nodding. “Yeah,” he agrees, watching her walk off to drop the towel in the bathroom.

This is the second time he’s thought to kiss her tonight.

He has to stop thinking this. That, or get home right away before he risks doing anything stupid.

“I’m surprised you walked this far,” she says, pulling up to his apartment building.

She looks at the time. It’s late. Incredibly late.

“It must have taken you a quite a while if it took us fifteen minutes to get here,” she continues.

He shrugs. “Some doctor I know told me walking is great for the cardiovascular system.”

She smirks. “A good doctor?”

“Oh, the best one I know,” he replies.

He watches her eyes lighten as she takes the top of the steering wheel with both hands, leaning over and tilting her head onto her hands, giving him a tired but content smile.

He needs to go. It’s been a long night.

He looks at the umbrella at his feet. “Here,” he says. “I’m leaving the umbrella with you. Thanks so much for everything. You really didn’t need to do all this.”

“Take the umbrella so you can at least stay dry getting to your door,” she insists.

“Alright,” he says, placing it between his knees. He starts to turn his body to open the door with his left hand, but he pauses, looking up back to her.

She looks back at him, quietly, still leaned against her steering wheel.

A beat.

“Um, thank you,” he says.

She smiles. “Of course.”

He nods, and then turns back to the car door, opening it and slipping himself out of the car, snapping open the umbrella and holding the stem between his shoulder and neck as he waves goodbye to her and shuts the car door again.

Should he have kissed her?

He should have kissed her. He should have fucking kissed her.

Damn it, Shiro. You missed your chance.

No, it’s okay, he reminds himself. This would have been the third time he thought to kiss her tonight, and he’s not supposed to be even thinking about kissing her.

“Hey, Shiro?” she calls out to him, rolling down her car window.

His heart stops.

“Yeah?” He turns to her, unable to resist. He holds the umbrella out between them, ducking down slightly to meet her level.

She smiles. “I had a really good time with you today,” she says.

“Yeah,” he agrees, returning the smile. “Me too.”

“And keep the umbrella,” she insists.

Before he can protest, she adds, with a wink, “You might need it the next time you take me out.”

notes: they are literally just awkward nerds but at least allura’s pulling through at the end, hah. also I’ve definitely put in a bunch of random tropes in there so forgive me.

#shallura #shiro x allura #shallura positivity #shiro #allura #voltron #—shallura #—voltron #—follow up

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forksofwisdom · 7 years

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Embers of the Sun - chapter 4

Story Summary: Bella Swan, the new student at Forks High, is ready to graduate. She was prepared for a boring year and just wanted to make a couple of friends. Why are there mutant Wolverines running around the woods of La Push? And why do all the handsome men she meets look at her with such unbridled horror? An imprinting AU where Bella moves to Forks two years later than in canon.

Pairings: Bella/Paul, eventual Angela/Leah

You can also read the story on ff.net!

(chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3)

Not beta read!

Chapter summary: First day of school, Angela turns out to be a gift from the gods and the Cullen siblings… not so much.

Chapter 4 - Meet the Cullens

The first discovery Bella made on Friday morning while walking from her front door to her truck was that the coat she’d brought from Arizona was not waterproof. It was pouring buckets, and she shivered as the raindrops pierced through the fabric of her coat and drenched the hoodie she was wearing underneath. Her second discovery was that dressing up for school had been a horrible decision; she’d worn her converse shoes that day and had landed in a puddle the moment she’d stepped out of her truck in the school parking lot.

With a growl, Bella slammed shut her door and jumped onto dry land. She fumbled with her keys as she tried to shake the water from her shoes and felt like crying when she dropped them into the puddle. People were starting to stare, so Bella pulled up her hood to hide her misery and fished her keys up. She was tempted to pull the ties of her hoodie to cover her face entirely as she approached the front office to get her schedule. The school was a collection of matching square buildings. They were all the made from the same maroon-colored bricks and surrounded by trees and shrubs. Bella’s mood did not lift; the heavy rain clouds made everything seem so dreary and cold. Her foul expression was enough to keep anyone from approaching her, but she made an effort to clear her face before greeting the receptionist.

The office has a small waiting room, equipped with folding chairs and a bulletin board, which displayed the words: Respect, Integrity, and Commitment. Underneath that was the school motto, ‘WE ARE ALL SPARTANS’, written in bright yellow letters.

“Isabella Swan, welcome,” said the squat woman sitting behind the desk before Bella had time to introduce herself. “Your father informed me you were coming.” Shelly Cope, her nameplate sat on the corner of her desk, had red hair and wore glasses that made her eyes seem small. Her impartial smile informed Bella that there wouldn’t be any small talk.

Good, Bella thought.

“Yes, I’m here for my schedule,” Bella said. The secretary pushed away from the table and rolled her chair over to the printer and pulled out some paper that she stapled together before showing it to Bella.

“Here you are. I’ve put a map in there as well.” She flipped it from underneath Bella’s schedule to show her the school’s layout. ”Your first class is 12th grade English, and it’s held in Building 3, room six. Mr. Berty, your teacher, will provide you with all the material you need for his class.” The dismissal was evident in her voice, and Bella thanked her before heading out into the rain again.

She shielded her papers from the worst of it and was grateful that Building 3 was the closest to the secretary office.

“Bella!”

Bella looked up at the sound of her name and saw it was Angela. They’d been about to enter the same building, and Bella nearly jogged into her when she paused to open the door. Angela held the door for her and their shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor, leaving wet footprints as they sought refuge from the rain.

“Hi, Angela,” Bella breathed.

“I didn’t think I would see you so soon,” Angela said pleasantly. She pulled down the hood of her raincoat and unzipped it to shake her hair out. Her glasses were starting to fog up from the rise in temperature. “What class do you have?”

“English,” Bella answered.

“With Mr. Berty? Me too.” Angela was familiar with the hallways, and Bella let her guide them to classroom six. There were a handful of students loitering outside the classroom, sluggish and heavy-lidded as they waited for the bell to ring. Angela waved to them, and the jerked their heads and mumbled an unenthusiastic greeting. Bella would fit in nicely here. She was already exhausted after having spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed from first-day-of-school jitters.

“What kind of teacher is he?” Bella asked her and sent the gathered students a stiff smile. Like Ms. Cope, they didn’t seem surprised to see her and shot her furtive sidelong glances.

The bell rang, signaling the start of class.

“I guess you’ll see for yourself,” Angela said apologetically as a tall man with graying hair opened the door from the inside. He must be Mr. Berty. He waved them inside with little fanfare, and Bella saw that he was wearing a tweed suit jacket with elbow patches and plaid pants. He looked like he could either be the type who believed that his own brilliance was wasted as a high school teacher or was simply eccentric. Bella hoped it was the latter.

They filed into a standard looking classroom. It was smaller than Bella was used to. Posters made by previous students covered the white walls, and the wooden tables were organized into three neat rows. They only allowed two students to sit side by side. Mr. Berty returned to his desk and Bella approached him while the students took their seats.

“Who might you be?” Mr. Berty asked, peering at her over his reading glasses.

“I’m the new student, Isabella Swan,” Bella said, and he nodded.

“Ah, yes. Here is the lesson plan for this term,” Mr. Berty said, and Bella was relieved that he wasn’t about to make her stand in front of the class and introduce herself like they were still in grade school. Instead, he did something much worse. “You might as well hand them out to the rest of the class. Take a seat once you’ve finished so we can get started.”

Bella took the stack of paper silently and made quick work of handing them out while Mr. Berty did the roll call. She avoided making eye contact with anyone, but her school bag hung off her elbow awkwardly, and it bumped against the tables every other step she took. She approached Angela last. She’d saved her a seat and Bella slid the sheet of paper over to her with a grateful smile.

“Now that we’re all here, there will be no mercy today even though it’s our first day. This is a double period class, and I see no point in wasting it by giving you a few more minutes of recess.” Mr. Berty clapped his hands together, making the half-asleep student jerk in their seats. He appeared to regain vigor from the sound of their groans. They’d all been hoping that he’d let them off easy today. “We’ll be focusing on Shakespeare’s work for the majority of the year but rest assured there will be plenty of opportunity for essay writing and presentations.” Mr. Berty smiled when his students slumped lower into their seats, their misery apparent.

The rest of his lecture continued in that fashion, and Bella wondered why teachers felt the need to tell their students everything that was written in the lesson plan. It must be a rite of passage to waste everyone’s time during the first day back. They were nearing the end of their first period when Mr. Bert finally stopped talking. He split them into pairs to 'work on their communication skills' as he put it.

Bella thanked the universe for already being acquainted with Angela because they shared a furtive grin and tackled the task at hand without needing any awkward introductions. They were supposed to compare their favorite work of fiction and discuss the differences and merits of each book. It turned out they both shared a love for Jane Austen so filling out the worksheet was a breeze. Angela chose Sense and Sensibility while Pride and Prejudice continued to be Bella’s favorite. They were in the midst of discussing the differences between Elinor Dashwood level-headedness and Elizabeth Bennet’s playful impertinence and drawing the similarities of their passionate nature when the bell rang.

“I’ve never met anyone who’s into Austen as much as I am,” Angela told Bella after they’d handed their worksheet to Mr. Berty.

“Me neither,” Bella said. It was true, Bella had spent hours reading and re-reading the novels in her youth but had been crushed to realize that none of her old classmates shared her interest in the classics. “Now, you have to be honest with me because this question will be a deciding factor for me to keep you as my friend or not.” Bella’s tone was mockingly grim, and Angela caught on quickly and assumed a serious face. “Fuck, marry, kill; Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Collin?”

Angela burst out laughing, blushing lightly at Bella’s crude language. “Oh, one is easy; kill Mr. Collins, but I always had a little bit of a crush on the Colonel after having seen the BBC adaptation from 1995,” she mused, making Bella gasp with delight.

“You’ve seen it?” Bella asked with uncontainable delight. She’d watched the series so many times that Renée refused to watch it with her anymore. She forgot her nervousness. “I don’t care who you fuck or marry; you are officially my best friend!”

Angela seemed just as eager as Bella. “I’ve got the special edition with restored colors and commentary,” she admitted in a shy voice, and Bella looped their arms together, letting Angela lead their way to their next class, which was American History.

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Bella joked, and Angela nodded in agreement.

Their history lesson passed quickly; their teacher was as eager for the break as the students and promptly dismissed them after giving them the rundown of the course. Bella and Angela continued their conversation, and soon they’d made plans to meet up sometime and watch Angela’s entire Jane Austen film and tv-series adaptations together. Making friends wasn't so hard as Bella had initially thought. She was so relieved to have found a kindred spirit in Angela that she forgot to be worried about lunch.

They were sitting at one of the tables located in almost every corner of the hallways around the school and Bella was getting to know Angela a little better. Angela had lived in Forks her entire life; her father was the Lutheran minister, and her mother worked as an accountant for a small local business. She also had twin brothers, Joshua and Isaac, who could be very rambunctious and trying at times but Bella could hear the affection in her voice as she recounted all of their mischiefs. Angela was just getting into the swing of things, telling Bella about the time her brothers had put a lobster in the cradle as Baby Jesus before the start of the annual Christmas play when they were interrupted.

“Yo, Angie!” A blond haired boy called with unnecessary loudness. He strutted down the hallway towards them with two other guys. He perked up at the sight of Bella and

“Hi, I’m Mike,” he said and held out his hand for her to shake. He was smiling at her with a little too much interest and Bella heaved an internal sigh.

“Guys this is Bella.” Angela, bless her heart, took it upon herself to make the introductions. “Bella this is Austin-” she gestured to the acne-ridden sandy-haired boy who raised his hand in greeting. “- and this is Ben.” The short, black haired boy shot Bella an awkward smile as he sat down next to Angela and entwined their fingers together. Bella blinked. Angela hadn’t mentioned having a boyfriend.

“So, Bella-” Mike started to drawl.

“Where’s Jessica?” Angela asked Mike pointedly, cutting him off. He shrunk back and rubbed the back of his neck guiltily.

“She went with Lauren to save us a good table in the Mess,” Mike said. “She told us to go and find you. Your schedule is messed up; we hardly have any classes together. Ben here was starting to pine for you by the third period.”

Angela laughed awkwardly, tightening her grip on Ben and patted the back of his hand with her free hand. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have met Bella otherwise. Besides, we have photography together next class,” she reassured Ben and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. He blushed.

“C’mon, I’m starving,” Austin groaned, and they got up. Angela disentangled herself from Ben and fell into step with Bella. He didn’t seem to mind and took to discussing the new chapter of some superhero novel with Austin. Bella couldn’t help but notice that Angela was an entire head taller than her boyfriend, who was about as tall as herself.

The mess hall was starting to fill with hungry students, and they took their place in the forming queue to get their meal. The other students had food stamps, and Angela loaned Bella one of hers when she realized that she hadn’t brought any money.

“I’ll pay you back tomorrow,” Bella promised after thanking her. Angela shook her head and reassured her that it wasn’t necessary. Bella didn’t dare take the time to examine what the school had to offer with a line behind her and picked the same stuff as Angela. They headed for a table that was occupied by two pretty girls and two guys who were both wearing varsity jackets.

“Hey, Lauren, Jessica; this is Bella. She’s new here,” Angela introduced Bella when they took their seats.

“We know,” the girl with white blonde hair, Lauren, said. She seemed to dismiss Bella after giving her a once over with sharp green eyes and leaned into the dark-skinned boy sitting beside her. He tried to tangle his fingers in her hair, but she jerked her head away with a warning glare. He rolled his eyes and introduced himself as Tyler Crowley.

“Hi!” a brunette with voluminous curls waved cheerfully to Bella when she took a seat across from her. Mike had his arm around her shoulders. She must be Jessica. “Don’t mind, Lauren. She’s not good with new people.”

“Shut up, Jess,” Lauren scoffed, but there wasn’t any heat behind her words. Angela, who was sitting next to Bella, raised her eyebrows in a ‘what-can-you-do’ way and Bella stifled her smile.

“Hey, Conner,” Mike shared a fist bump with the other guy.

“Yo, dude. Did you catch the game last night?” Conner asked, licking his spoon free of yogurt.

“The Seahawks got slaughtered, man,” Tyler laughed, and Mike buried his face in his hands with a groan.

“Don’t remind me.” Mike shook his head, and they launched into a heated argument over which team player was to blame for their defeat. Jessica rolled her eyes and leaned forward to tell Angela about what kind of morning she’d had. Apparently, she’d found a dead squirrel on her front porch.

“- I literally died,” Jessica said dramatically, and Lauren grimaced with disgust.

“What did you do with it?”

“Dad got a stick and took it into the woods. It was super gross; it didn't have any eyes!” Jessica said with too much relish for a girl who was supposedly traumatized by the event.

Bella nibbled on the side of her cafeteria bland pizza slice and realized that she was sitting with the popular cheerleaders and jocks. It was an absurd thought because she’d spent years making fun of their type. She couldn’t help but think that Jessica and Lauren were both shallow, but then again; she hadn’t known them for more than twenty minutes.

It was a weird moment for her.

“So, we’re graduating soon. Have any, like, plans?” Lauren asked the entire table. She was obviously the leader here because the other conversations came to a stop to join hers. Lauren didn’t seem too interested in knowing their goals because she immediately launched into her own plans once she had their attention. “I’m going to Canada.”

“Lauren was scouted by a model agency in Victoria this summer,” Angela explained in a hushed voice when she noticed Bella’s confusion. Lauren seemed genuinely excited by the prospect, and she even let Tyler touch her hair when he pressed a kiss to her lips. Bella looked away at their display of affection.

“You’re going places, babe.”

“I’m going to attend uni in Seattle,” Ben said and the rest of the table seemed to have similar plans.

“I’m thinking about getting a degree in communications and maybe entertainment. I really want to have my own talk show one day,” Jessica piped up with a dreamy smile.

“Then you can interview me once I’m famous,” Lauren laughed, and Jessica joined her with a strained smile. Bella sensed a bit of jealousy coming from Jessica and wondered if it was because Laura was the more popular one.

“Totally!”

“What about you, Bella?” Mike asked her and Bella was suddenly the focal point of the entire table.

“Um, I’m going to university and maybe become a teacher.” She shrugged, flushing a little underneath their attention.

“Me too,” Angela said. “I want to be a kindergarten teacher.”

“What do you think the Cullens are going to do?” Jessica asked, and Bella was left behind at the leap in the conversation. She had no idea who the Cullens were, but it seemed like a favorite subject of Jessica’s because there was a gleam in her eyes while the others rolled their eyes. The atmosphere soured even further when Lauren spoke.

“Who cares? They don’t need jobs because they’re all rich and beautiful,” she sneered.

“Speak of the devil,” Mike muttered, and Bella looked up.

A lanky young man and what appeared to be a child at first glance had just entered the mess hall. A closer look told Bella that the girl wasn’t a child but around her age and was just unfortunately short and thin to the extremes. Despite this they looked like a pair of runway models who’d gotten lost on their way to the catwalk and somehow ended up in Forks, Washington instead. Bella couldn’t believe they were still in high school with features like that. Maybe it was the way they dressed, but they appeared years older than the rest of the student population. They walked with the kind of confidence rarely seen in a teenager, and there wasn’t a blemish in sight. They were both deathly pale, and the girl reminded Bella of a pixie; she appeared to float across the room with the graceful steps of a skilled dancer.

Bella felt a twinge of envy at her coordination. Some people just had it all.

Her companion was just as fetching. He was devastatingly handsome with windswept hair that was the most unusual shade of copper. Heads turned as they walked past but they didn’t seem to care, getting a tray of food and taking a seat in the corner. They slouched elegantly in their chairs and stared in separate directions in stony silence.

Were these the Cullens? Bella was almost afraid to ask at this point.

Sound returned to the room, and slowly the students returned to their conversations, shooting the Cullens glances as they put their heads together to whisper and giggle about something; most likely how hot they were.

Jessica sighed before she caught herself and shot Mike a guilty glance. He'd been checking out the pixie Cullen, and Jessica elbowed him in the gut. Mike winced.

“Are they related?” Bella wondered. They didn’t look remotely similar beyond their pale skin and good looks.

“Oh, no,” Jessica answered, eager to dish out their dirty secrets. “Dr. Cullen adopted them, that’s Alice and Edward Cullen, but they have three other siblings who graduated last year. Emmett Cullen, and the Hale twins; Rosalie and Jasper.” Jessica leaned in like she was about to share something scandalous, sending the Cullens an eager look. “They’re all like, together together.”

“Wait, like romantically?” Bella asked.

“It’s really weird,” Jessica nodded and was put out when she saw that Bella didn’t share her disgust.

“Well, you said that they’re not related,” Bella said slowly. Call her a romantic, but she believed that love could be found in the most unexpected places.

“It’s weird,” Jessica asserted before resuming her gossiping. “Alice and Jasper are together, and so are Emmett and Rosalie but Edward is like the only one who’s single,” she said and looked at Edward with a hungry expression. “He’s never shown anyone interest though because apparently, no one is good enough for him.” She blushed and drew back to fold her arms against her chest. Mike glared at Edward Cullen and pulled Jessica to him, which seemed to cheer her up. “Whatever, it’s not like I care.” Her sour expression gave away that she wasn’t as unaffected as she pretended. Bella didn’t know what to say to this.

She glanced at the Cullens again and met the golden eyes of Alice. Her large doe eyes were alight with some indiscernible emotion, and she whispered something to her brother, not taking her eyes off of Bella. Bella looked down at her plate quickly, embarrassed at having been caught but a quick glance told her that Edward was watching her as well. He didn’t seem to share his sister’s excitement and glared at Bella. Humiliated, she felt like a sideshow freak when they kept staring at her.

“Bella, what class do you have next?” Angela offered Bella an out from the awkward silence.

“I have Spanish,” she said after consulting her schedule. It had been an obvious choice because Bella had taken it in Phoenix, as it is the second most common language spoken in California and Arizona. “What about you?” Bella asked, and Angela reminded her that she had photography with Ben after lunch.

“I’m taking French,” Lauren piped up. She buffed her nails against her blouse without looking up. Jessica appeared to have gotten over her herself and her good mood was restored.

“So am I!” she said brightly. “Mike, you have trig right?”

“Don’t remind me,” he moaned and looked over at Connor and Tyler. “Do you guys remember anything from last year?”

“Nope.” They didn’t appear to be bothered by the fact and started to pile their trash onto their trays when the bell rang to signal the end of lunch.

Bella’s map came in handy when she was forced to split up with Angela, who’d been her guide up to this moment. She arrived at the correct classroom in the nick of time. Mrs. Geoff, the Spanish teacher, greeted her enthusiastically and made her stand in front of the class and introduce herself in Spanish. Bella wanted to sink into the floor, but her grasp on Spanish was good enough, and she was able to rattle off some inane facts about herself.

“¡Te felicito! Tu trabajo está muy bien hecho,” the teacher exclaimed and received blank-eyed stares from her students.

“Gracias, señora,” Bella said and quickly went to the only seat available. She nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw Alice Cullen sitting in the chair next to hers. Bella sat down and gave Alice an awkward smile, which she returned trifold, nearly blinding Bella with the beauty of it. Her teeth were straight and a pearly white. Bella had the urge to go and brush her teeth, feeling self-conscious.

“So your name is Bella?” Alice asked, her voice sounding like wind chimes. Bella got lost in her eyes for a moment. Bella had never seen such an unusual eye color; they were a stunning liquid gold. She shook herself out of her daze when she realized Alice was waiting for an answer.

“Sí,” Bella replied jokingly.

“How wonderful.” Alice’s smile widened impossibly. She seemed oddly thrilled about learning Bella’s name because she laughed with delight at the simple introduction. Even her laugh was beautiful.

Mrs. Geoff spoke in Spanish throughout the class, but Bella had a hard time focusing. Alice was the most beautiful creature she’d ever met, with her pale skin and red. She reminded Bella of a miniature Snow White.

Alice didn’t pay attention to Mrs. Geoff either because she kept asking Bella questions in a low whisper. Bella was a little flattered by it. The rest of the students seemed stunned to see Alice voluntarily talking to another human being outside her own family. Mrs. Geoff didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

“What color were you thinking about?” Alice’s question brought Bella back. They’d somehow gotten onto the topic of interior design. Bella had learned that Alice was a fashion enthusiast with a thing for decorations, and had let slip that she was thinking about painting the wall in her room to add a little warmth to it.

“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Bella admitted.

“Well, I recommend you go to Benjamin Moore in Port Angeles and look at their swatches. Here, let me give you my number in case you need help picking out the right color,” Alice said as the bell rang. She ripped some paper from her notebook and scribbled her mobile number on it and gave it to Bella.

“I don’t have a phone,” Bella said dumbly.

“Oh, that doesn’t matter,” Alice dismissed. “There are plenty of places that sell them.”

“Thanks.” Bella blinked, feeling like she’d been caught in a whirlwind.

“No, problem,” Alice smiled and waved as she headed in the other direction. “I’ll see you around, Bella!”

“See ya,” Bella said weakly. She got caught in the flow of students and walked with them in a slight daze.

Alice was a little overwhelming. It was apparent that she was the type who knew what she wanted and had no issues with getting it. It was an admirable trait, but Bella was a little shell-shocked after taking the brunt of her attention. Yes, Alice was persistent for someone her size but otherwise harmless. Mostly.

Bella soon learned that the same could not be said about her brother.

Biology class started out fine. Mr. Banner, the teacher, handed Bella her book and bade her take a seat without making her introduce herself using the theme of the subject as Mrs. Geoff had done. It would have made an interesting introduction: “Hi, my name is Isabella Swan, but call me Bella. I started out as a zygote inside my mother’s womb and developed into a human through the wonderful process of mitosis and meiosis. I’m also a Virgo.”

The only seat available was next to one Edward Cullen.

Everything rolled downhill after that.

Bella couldn’t help but stare at him when she walked between the aisles. Edward’s chiseled features belonged in renaissance paintings or on statues of Greek deities, crafted by master sculptors, not in this backwoods high school. Bella had never seen anyone as handsome as him. It was disquieting, and it provoked something indescribable inside her.

He looked like an angel.

When she drew near, his nostrils suddenly flared, and his head jerked up. Edward glared at her with monstrous black eyes, his pupil indiscernible from their darkness, and his face contorted like he’d smelled something foul. He went so far as to lean away from Bella as far as his seat allowed him when she sat down next to him.

Her heart gave a painful squeeze of mortification, and she quickly looked down at the tabletop, her hair falling forward to hide her face. She tried to subtly sniff her shirt to see if she stunk and was a little insulted when she smelled nothing out of the ordinary. Sure, Bella didn’t smell like her usual strawberry shampoo, having forgotten to pick it up at the store, but she wasn’t smelly, and her natural musk was too faint for Edward to smell from this distance. Maybe he was sick; he certainly looked like he was in agony.

She drew a breath and was about to ask him if he needed the nurse when a tantalizing sweet scent wafted towards her, similar to the one his sister bore. Her mind felt fuzzy, and Bella was drawn towards it like a bee to honey, but the look in Edward’s soulless eyes spelled death. It was a spine-chilling experience.

Bella looked away quickly. She took it back; Edward wasn’t a beautiful angel, not at that moment. He was an archangel, cast out of heaven and turned demonic. He didn’t look human.

Maybe he just has bad gas, she thought to herself, feeling the beginnings of hysteria creeping on her. Twenty minutes dragged past, and Bella kept one eye on the clock and the beast beside her. She hadn’t heard a word of what Mr. Banner was saying, distracted by the murderous intent emanating from Edward. He hadn’t moved, frozen in his odd hunched position. Bella doubted that he was even breathing; his chest wasn’t moving, and his hand was covering his mouth and nose. He certainly wasn’t blinking.

Fear. That was the feeling Edward provoked inside her; a deep primitive fear that urged Bella to either leap out of the window to get away from him or to pick up her pencil and stab it into those unnatural black eyes of his. Bella was not a violent person by nature so the sudden desire to attack a classmate, no matter how creepy, took her by surprise.

What was happening to her? Bella didn’t know, but she knew it had something to do with Edward. She refused to take this anymore; Edward Cullen had no right to affect her like this. Bella stood up and walked to Mr. Banner’s desk for her escape. He looked up at her, and she didn’t have to fake her nervous smile.

“Excuse me, sir. Can I go to the bathroom?” she asked in a low voice.

“Certainly,” Mr. Banner said and handed her a hall pass.

“Thank you,” Bella said and hurried out of the room. One last look at Edward almost sent her running. He was no longer straining back but leaning forwards like a predator readying itself to leap onto its prey. He looked like he wanted to eat her.

Bella settled for a brisk pace down the corridor instead of hightailing out of the school like she wanted to. She was halfway down the hallway when Alice Cullen, of all people, rounded the corner. She was speaking anxiously into her phone, and Bella caught a bit of her end of the conversation when they walked past each other. “-can’t see him, Carlisle. Hi, Bella!” Alice wiggled her fingers at her but didn’t slow down, which suited Bella just fine. She’d had enough of the Cullens today. “No. I’m getting him now.”

Him? Did she mean Edward? If so, Bella hoped she was taking him to the hospital for a rabies shot. He was clearly feral.

She made it to the bathroom without any hindrance and locked herself in one of the stalls. It offered her a bare minimum of protection, but at least no one could see her. If you can’t see it, it’s not there - it being a black-eyed monster in this case. The irrational thought was exactly what Bella needed to calm down. She stared blankly at the scribbles on the stall door as she wrangled her thundering heart under control. Someone had written in looping cursive about, oddly enough, the militia movements of the Confederate Army in the Civil War. It was signed J. W. at the bottom, and Bella sent a silent thank-you to them for the distraction.

Five minutes passed faster than she liked and Bella was forced to return to the Biology classroom. She felt like she was heading towards the gallows.

Edward was nowhere in sight, and Bella was faint with relief. She returned her hall pass with shaking hands and returned to her seat. Feeling brave, she vindictively took the chair Edward had occupied. It was silly, but it gave Bella a small measure of comfort; how evil could he be if his presence hadn't left behind a tainted mark.

Bella’s thought hadn’t even finished when she noticed hairline fractures in the wood extending from the place where Edward had gripped the desk. Had he broken the counter? It seemed a bit excessive, but Edward must really not like her. She ran her fingers on the underside of the wood and found finger size groves embedded there.

Her breath came fast and shallow, and Bella was on the verge of hyperventilating when she caught a flash of copper in her peripheral vision. Her mind had evidently associated the color with Edward, and rightly so, because her head snapped to the side, afraid that he was coming for her again. Alice was frog marching Edward across the car park. It would have been a comical sight, Edward’s lanky height dwarfed Alice’s tiny form, if Bella wasn’t freaking out. Alice led him towards the woods for some reason. Didn’t they have a car?

Then something astonishing happened; Alice pushed her brother forward with unnatural strength and his shape blurred as he took off at a sprint. With the same supernatural speed, Alice followed suit, and they were both gone before Bella had time to blink.

The only thing keeping Bella grounded was the grip she still had on the table, her fingers fitting into the indentations Edward had left behind.

It was proof that she hadn’t lost her mind.

A/N: I don’t speak Spanish and neither does anyone else in my family so don’t hesitate to correct me if what Mrs. Goff said was incorrect!

Next chapter: Momma Renée gives life advice, and dinner at Billy’s turns into an eye-opening experience, featuring Bella; the amazing grocery mountaineer.

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