#And finally some cool guys in sunglasses! Or - one cool guy and one silly fellow lol

[thetriggeredhappy]

recently rediscovered your blog and read the fic from your dad spy au where scout starts out as the "guard" and then becomes scout from there and lemme tell you that shit put me on some s-tier brainrot. like a cranial decay type beat.

i had a concept in my head that instead of being hired as a guard, he could have been hired as a right hand man to the administrator like pauling, because i think hed be awesome in that position. like imagine having a personal merc who can get in fast and out even faster. but maybe he would stay in the base like the rest of them, sort of like a secret on call intel gatherer, who also maybe sometimes has to dig a couple graves. and also like, nobody on the team expects anything from him at first because its this 20 year old newbie kid. hes dressed in his formal clothes and he talks like somebody from relatively around boston but not quite. i can just imagine one day he comes back during a team dinner with his shirt half untucked and stained with blood, hair disheveled as he asks soldier if he can borrow his shovel, or him debriefing them for a mission when miss pauling is busy. same vibe as the fic i mentioned before but scout gets to have a job as cool as miss paulings. honestly id write it myself if i didnt have the attention span of a fly

anyways your scout content gives me life thank you

scout teamfortress but 20% more competent standing next to miss pauling teamfortress while she's doing her job and doing like silly quips and otherwise contributing nothing like it's a buddy cop film is literally my fucking ideal

(warnings for some canon-typical violence)

-

“Oh, Pauling, it’s good to see you again,” greeted the chairman, smiling in an imitation of a grandfather and clasping her hands perhaps too-kindly considering she barely knew him. “Young as ever, and still so stylish, I see. And who’s the new fellow?”

“He’s just here to help with transport, Mr. Montgomery, nothing unusual,” Miss Pauling replied, returning his smile and adjusting her glasses. “Heavy cases, you know how it is.”

“Of course, I remember you almost toppling clean over last time we made a trade!” Montgomery agreed, frowning at the memory. “You’ll pull a muscle that way, better to be careful. It’s a pleasure to meet you, young man. And your name?”

“Mr. Normandy, sir,” the new kid replied easily enough despite his slight East Coast accent, giving the man a firm handshake, expression neutral and stony, the picture of professionalism. Internally, Pauling breathed a sigh of relief.

“Firm grip there, young man,” Montgomery praised, nodding approvingly. “Tennis player, perhaps? Or golf?”

“Baseball, sir,” he replied, still evenly. “First baseman.”

“Ah! Of course! Were you any good?” Montgomery joked.

“At everything but playing in front of the crowds, otherwise I’d be in the major leagues,” he replied, tilting his head just slightly to imply that he was joking, his sunglasses glinting at the movement, and Montgomery barked a laugh.

“I like this one, Miss Pauling!” Montgomery said, and Pauling just barely caught herself from physically relaxing at it.

“We do too, Mr. Montgomery,” she agreed. “I was under the impression that you’re very busy today, so we won’t keep you for too long, we just wanted to sort out the final details surrounding the manufacturing rights for the—“

“—Pacific Northwest branch, up into British Columbia and Alberta, of course,” Montgomery agreed, nodding faintly. “Of course, of course.” He turned to regard his own man in a dark suit, the one standing to the right, who appeared to be unsuccessfully trying to stare down Normandy, who was completely ignoring him. “My briefcase, please.”

The man handed over the briefcase, and Montgomery put it on his desk, opening it and pulling out a sheaf of papers. “All our requests are submitted and approved, at this point we just had a few dustbins to take care of regarding initial percentages and making sure everything is wired to the correct accounts, which names are undisclosed, things like that,” Pauling explained as he glanced through the papers.

“Right, right, everything looks good here,” the man murmured, nodding to himself, sending his long-white hair just ever-so-slightly out of place. “I’m assuming these more sensitive documents should be sent some way besides through the mail?”

“If you finish them today I can take them with me, otherwise either me or Mr. Normandy can return to pick them up at your convenience,” she replied, to which Normandy gave a singular nod.

“Oh, it would only take me a short while,” Montgomery said, waving a hand. “We have a lovely lounge just down the hall from here if you’d prefer to wait there, it should only take me ten, fifteen minutes at most. In the meantime, I do believe there’s also the manner of payment for services rendered.”

Miss Pauling tilted her head just slightly to one side, confused.

“I arranged with Helen already,” Montgomery explained, not looking up from where he was initialing a few things. “The payment, rather than being wired, she asked to be made in material investment. A venture of mine from years ago that she’s willing to sit on. Rather than gold or bonds, she agreed to take some old currency of mine that my family collected, from early 18th century New Zealand and Australia. Monetarily it’s worth around the same, and I’m quite a bit attached to it to be entirely frank, but it was at her request to buy the whole collection from me, and after years of the work we’ve been doing together, well, I’d never trust it with anyone else.”

He gestured to the other man, the one on his left, who stepped forward to hand him a manila envelope, which he passed to Pauling.

“Inside is both keys, the door alarm codes, and all other security information for the building where the collection is being stored. They’ll ask for a few codes and confirmation of identity, only because several other art collections and artifacts are being stored there by other affluent individuals such as myself.”

“Thank you, Mr. Montgomery,” Pauling said, taking the envelope gratefully.

“Think nothing of it, my dear. Helen talked me into it all her own,” he said easily enough. “Now, gentlemen, if you would let Miss Pauling and Mr. Normandy into our lounge? I should have these wrapped up before any of us can even think about lunch, eh?”

One of the suits showed the two of them through the doors and down the hallway, through two doors bracketed by similar suits who simply nodded politely at Pauling and ticked their chins at Normandy as they passed them.

Normandy posted up beside the door for all of three seconds before they shut and Pauling pulled her glasses up, rubbing at the bridge of her nose and making a vaguely distressed noise. He then promptly relaxed, instead leaning his hip against an armchair probably worth the same amount as a small car. “So, uh, we’re glad that he’s giving us a bunch of commemorative coins from when dinosaurs still walked the earth?” he asked just below normal speaking volume, eyebrows raised.

“Yes. Very glad. Because unlike about six people total on the planet, he hasn’t figured out yet how valuable those are.”

“What, is a picture of a kangaroo on some copper really gonna make up for a couple hundred thousand American dollars?” Normandy asked, sounding doubtful.

“Not copper. Something else,” she replied. “I can’t tell you much more about it other than that, but these coins are made of something priceless to us. And to the Administrator.”

“…Love? Memories? The magic of family?” he joked, cracking a smile, and she rolled her eyes, moving to open the envelope and start reading the papers inside. “Hey, uh, not to question whether my job should exist, but what the hell am I doing here, exactly? Besides carrying a briefcase. Like, chivalry isn’t dead but I really don’t think you need me carrying your bags and holding the door for you.”

“You’re helping with security, basically,” she replied, adjusting her glasses to squint at tiny handwriting about the collection. “Mr. Montgomery is trustworthy, but he mostly hires out to… well, people like us. His security detail is mostly people we’d rather have screened, freelancers, stuff like that. A lot of people we contract out to are like that. Most of them have heard about me and know better than to try and pull something, since I can hold my own pretty well, but if they haven’t, seeing a second person might persuade them to think it over again.”

“Oh, so I’m like, uh, when it says ‘tow zone’ next to the no parking signs even though nobody checks, or when they’ve got a camera in the corner of the store that isn’t even plugged into anything,” he said, and the looked up at him, confused. “Like, uh, what’s the word… I’m a casual deterrent.”

“Sure,” she said, because it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, shuffling the papers back away and closing the envelope again, making a note to ask the Administrator if she should change their current containment procedures to be closer to Mr. Montgomery’s. “Just… if there’s a fight, you deal with it, otherwise you just stand there and look like you’re paying attention.”

“That’s what the sunglasses are for,” he agreed. “I was blinking morse code at the guy across from me literally the whole time.”

“You know morse code?” Pauling asked, surprised.

“Just the alphabet, ‘S.O.S.’, and ‘ass’.”

She rolled her eyes again, and that’s when the door opened.

She expected Mr. Montgomery, not one of the men in suits. “Excuse me, both of you, if you don’t mind,”the man said, accent having the slightest English tilt to it, a Londoner if Pauling had to guess. “You’re Miss Pauling, the Mann Co. affiliate, yes?”

“That’s me,” she agreed, hesitant, and glanced at Normandy.

“I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. Mr. Montgomery have you the wrong envelope on accident,” the man said apologetically, extending a hand forward. “We apologize for this unfortunate mix-up, it’s really quite embarrassing, but those documents are sensitive and we’ll be needing to see them back now.”

Pauling looked at him, and within a moment, shifted her expression. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she agreed, nodding. “No, right, of course. These aren’t the papers for the currency collection?”

“I’m afraid not,” the Brit agreed, head tilting just slightly, hand still extended, moving a fraction further forward.

“Well, thank goodness we figured out now and not with us halfway back,” she joked, and moved to hold the folder closer to her body. “I’ll take this right back to Mr. Montgomery, then.”

“He’s sent me to correct the error,” the man explained simply.

“Right,” she said, and saw in her periphery that Normandy had already started sneaking a hand in towards his primary, clearly having pieced together something she was only suspecting. “We can bring this to his office, then, right down the hall.”

“You misunderstand,” the man said, taking a step forward again. “I’ll be taking it to his office myself.”

“That’s funny,” Pauling said. “I didn’t realize you had clearance to be in there. Or to be carrying a semi-automatic instead of a standard handgun.”

The Brit reached for the semi-automatic, and before he could even get it out properly, Normandy hit one clean shot to the side of his head and another to his thigh, sending him crumpling to the ground.

Pauling had only as far as pulling her own handgun free, thumb on the safety, and breathed a sigh of relief, glancing over at Normandy, shifting to more comfortably hold her gun. “Quick reflexes,” she noted.

“Just noticed a lot sooner, maybe,” he shrugged, stepping forward to glance over the body, tucking his gun back away.

“What was your hint?”

“He’s here to give us the right folder, yeah? Well, why were his hands empty, then?”

She was just starting to nod and realize that as well when a second man shouldered through the door, holding a gun at the ready. Normandy scrambled to draw his own, but Pauling fired a shot into his knee, shoulder, and neck to send him dropping before he was even close. “There’s quick on the draw, and then there’s prepared,” she said pointedly. “Gotta think of if there’s more than one, new guy.”

He nodded, and drew his gun again, bending to hit the guy on the ground at the temple hard enough to knock him out if he wasn’t unconscious already. He then glanced up at the sound of a shout from the other side of the door, two men shouldering through, guns drawn but lowered. It was only the firm eye contact they made with both her and Normandy that made her pause the millisecond it took to realize these ones weren’t trying to kill them.

“Pauling, what on earth is going on here?!” Montgomery demanded, entering the room and staring with wide eyes at the bodies on the ground. “What could’ve possessed you to—“

“He was trying to run off with these documents,” she explained quickly, gesturing with the envelope. “He knew whatever was in here was valuable.”

“He drew his gun, sir,” Normandy added, tipping his head down towards the body, and Pauling glanced down as well and found herself a little surprised. He’d rearranged the man just slightly, apparently, adjusting the arm to be holding the gun a bit further outward. “Other one was aiming to kill.”

“My, my,” Montgomery tsk’d, shaking his head as he surveyed the scene. “What a mess. My apologies, Miss Pauling, Mr. Normandy.”

“It’s alright, but you need to start doing more thorough checks on your staff, Mr. Montgomery,” Pauling stressed.

“He’s only been here two weeks, sir, he was one of the men we hired in a hurry after the incident last month,” one of the bodyguards said, and Montgomery shook his head.

“Thank goodness nobody was hurt,” he sighed. “Mutiny, and besides that, they’re bleeding on my carpet. Here are those papers, Miss Pauling—what a day, eh?”

“It’s really alright, we handled it,” Pauling assured him, giving her bravest smile, a little exasperated now.

“Right, right, you and the first baseman,” he agreed, and Normandy fought back an actual smile.

“If you’d like, we can take care of those for you,” Pauling said, gesturing at the bodies. “To pay you back for the carpet and the scare.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Montgomery agreed, clearly relieved.

-

“My dad’s gonna be pissed, by the way,” Normandy was so helpful as to say on the way back up the path to the base. “And you’re fielding that.”

“About the suit, or the fight?” she asked, glancing at his clothes where he was somewhat covered in a fine dusting of mud and grime from the gravedigging, shovel still in his free hand.

“Both. Mostly the fight. Your fault for saying it’d be an easy one to start with,” he said.

“If it was going to be that much of a problem, you wouldn’t have gotten this job. I’d just have made you go do dishes all day or something,” Pauling replied.

“Point taken,” he said, walking ahead to get the door, holding it open for her. “Wait, we’re allowed to mention what we do, right? Just not names?”

“Or locations, even with travel distance. Round up to the hour if it comes up,” she replied.

“Sure, sure,” he agreed, trailing a step behind her as she led the way through the base.

In the common area, there was a bit of a ruckus happening. Soldier, Heavy, and Demo appeared to be having some kind of arm wrestling competition on a rapidly-toppling table, the Engineer was on a stepstool trying to fix the ceiling fan, and Sniper appeared to be half-watching the beginnings of an argument between Pyro and the Spy regarding use of the oven as Medic patched up a burn on his arm.

“Hullo,” Sniper greeted the two of them, sounding a little bored, Medic giving them a brief, polite nod. Normandy’s eyebrows were raised pretty far as he surveyed the room.

“Hi, Sniper,” she greeted in return, then cleared her throat, raised her voice. “Team meeting in five minutes! New mission for next week!”

Groans from the room at large, the eight mercenaries starting to finish up what they were doing and filing out. Spy moved over, glancing over Normandy and starting to talk to him in rapid-fire French, picking smaller bits of gravel off of his suit as they walked.

“Alright,” she addressed the room, Normandy peeling off from getting mother hen’d by Spy to stand next to the blackboard with her. “Monday, you’re all going on a transport mission. Getting the truck from point A to point B with everything in the boxes intact. Already we’ve had to put up with some people trying to get ahold of these things, so bring your guns.”

“Oh, our guns, you said? Lads, this is a serious one, keep your heads on a feckin' swivel, she’s sayin’ we might even need guns, can you believe it?” Demo faux-gasped, and chuckled when Spy bopped him on the arm, rolling his eyes at the Scot's theatrics.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved off, flipping through the papers a bit. “So Engie, I’ll need the keys to the truck, me and Normandy are going to be loading those tomorrow, all of you need to be at this drop point bright and early.”

“How early?” Heavy rumbled.

“Six. Hour and a half of drive from here.”

Some complaints from the room that she sighed at.

“Hey, hey, calm the hell down,” Normandy cut in, and she glanced over at him where he had his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. “You chuckleheads get to have all eight of you to unload the damn thing, me and Miss P gotta do all the rest of this on our own and probably kill twenty guys on the way there and back. She had to be up at 6 AM, workin’ since 7 AM, lunch break at noon and nothin’ else, and we just got back now at, what, fuckin’, 10, 11 PM? Any of you work her shift and then see if you even got the energy to complain about wakin’ up early, how about that?”

The room went utterly devoid of complaint or backsass. “Thank you, Normandy,” she said politely, and he just nodded once, glancing off to the side. “Anyways, anything new on this end? Spy, how are you adjusting?”

“Very well,” he said simply. “I have nothing pressing to say. Once I’ve been updated from the stock weaponry provided here to my requested preferred weaponry, I believe I should do just fine.”

“I see you already have Herr Normandy digging graves,” Medic chimed in. “Straight into the hard labor, ja?”

“Eh, hey, y’know, it’s why they keep us young people around,” he shrugged, grinning, and there was a brief uproar to drown out Medic’s entirely offended scoffing and Spy’s snort-laughing.

“Get ‘im, lad!” Demo cheered, and Normandy indeed looked fairly proud of himself.

“Monday, transport mission,” Pauling noted over the noise, writing it up on the chalkboard to hide her own smile from the room. “Normandy, you and me are doing the boxes tomorrow. Everyone on the same page? Good. Dismissed. Oh, and Pyro—stop taking the fire alarms down when they beep. They’re beeping because you light things on fire in the base. Do that outside.”

“Oh, hey, uh, helmet guy, All-American Beef,” Normandy called, and Soldier straightened up. “Here’s your shovel back. Gettin’ my own tomorrow.”


Soldier walked directly over to him, clasping a hand on his shoulder. “That’s a high honor, Cadet,” he said, tone grave. “Do not take this responsibility lightly.”

“I, uh, I won’t?” he said hesitantly, and blinked a few times as the shovel was carefully taken from him before it was promptly marched from the room in double-time. Only then did Normandy look over at her. “So he’s always like that?”

“You’ll get used to it,” she assured, dusting chalk from her hands. “You should get to sleep soon, we have to be up early.”

“Sure thing, Miss P.”

[jess-the-vampire]

The Demon Next Door, Chapter 7

Previous / Next

-

The day finally came and Marco felt hot as Tom helped him practice his line to use on jackie, trying to ease him up and keep him from stumbling with his words. They were right outside the dojo, star already chilling in the bleachers and Tom wiping off sweat from his own brow. Tom seemed to have the upmost faith in marco though marco still felt rather shaky.

It all came by so fast, one day he and tom were just hanging out and the next they were getting dressed quickly to prepare to meet up with the girls at the dojo to finally make their first proper moves on the girls of their dreams. Tom actually looked great in his own karate uniform, though he would look a bit strange being the lowest belt in the class but also one of the oldest.

But that wasn't important right now, getting themselves together was, and marco felt his palms sweating.

"What If I-"

"You won't."

"But what if-".

"Marco, you'll do fine...".

"But maybe-".

"Dude, you got this.".

Tom was grinning ear to ear, fixing marco's hair and easing him down, trying to build his confidence. Tom being here was already way better then if he wasn't, the boy ushering marco to do breathing exercises to keep his cool. This was rather silly in all honestly, in fact a lot of people seemed to be giving them rather strange looks, but tom kept marco's attention on him instead of them.

Otherwise marco would probably panic and ditch.

"You got your line?", Tom asked one more time, marco taking a deep breath and standing upright and trying to make eye contact. "Jackie...d-do you want...to go out to a movie together?", the boy still seemed to have a bit of trouble but it was an improvement from the other times he tried and the most he could get out was "Jackie, movie, me?", so Tom considered that a success.

Marco let out a deep breath and slumped over a little, "You sure I got this tom?".

"Dude...I know you do...trust me, she's into you.".

Tom carefully pat marco on the shoulder and fixed his hair one last time, "You're going to go in there, show off how cool you are and ask her out marco diaz. Then you me, her and star are gonna hang out together, get some milkshakes and have a good old time. Your also gonna stick it to jeremy and if you don't, i'll make sure that kid doesn't get in your way myself".

"Thanks tom.".

Tom smiled, going in for a hug with the boy, "You're welcome...".

The two separated and quickly headed in to join the rest of the students, marco trying to keep his cool as star waved to him from the bleachers. Tom stretching himself out for today's lesson and to kick but, quickly swarmed by excited fellow students who were happy to see him, as they always were ever since he taught jeremy a lesson and made himself the coolest person in echo creek.

This had probably been the most popular and tom had been liked...period, at least according to him. Sensei didn't even have to introduce tom to the class, everyone knew who tom was at this point, he just seemed to fit in rather naturally.

Giving the kids high fives as marco tried to pull himself together, remembering all the lessons tom had given him and pulling himself together, repeating lines and practicing poses for when jackie showed up. What should he use? The guy with sunglasses pose? The leaning pose? Maybe he should've slicked back his hair a little bit to impress her? After all he was sure Tom did something with his spiky hair.

Or maybe he just looked plain silly right now.

Though a sudden silence in the room got his attention away from jackie to seeing the arrival or Jeremy, a bit smug with himself actually for once, ignoring tom as he and his parents headed off to the other side of the room and not even looking at marco. Guess with tom being so protective of marco at this point the boy decided marco wasn't even worth it.

at least, marco hoped that's what it was.

Regardless, the other kids seemed confident tom could handle it if the rich kid started causing some serious trouble anyway.

The kids disbanded from tom and tom approached marco, fixing his own karate outfit for today's lesson, "I don't trust that jeremy kid...he looks like he's up to something.". Marco couldn't blame tom, because he was right, jeremy was WAY too chipper over there from what he usually had been since tom started coming to these lessons. Though marco shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, if he does something we'll handle it...alright?", tom was obviously still frustrated but he understood, cooling himself off to get in a fighting stance. Other students getting on their own matts to start practicing as well, "Jackie might be a little late but let's get started, then when she walks in she can see you showing off your cool moves.".

Marco smirked, getting into his own fighting stance.

"Sounds like a plan to me lucitor...".

Tom and Marco actually seemed almost evenly matched as they practiced kicks and hits to each other, though marco could tell tom might've been holding back just a little, probably to have marco look more like a badass when jackie walked in. Tom won a few matches and marco actually won some matches, sensie judging them and all the other kids who were fighting.

Though marco had been so caught up fighting tom he didn't even notice as a freckled blonde walked through the dojo and took a seat next to star on the stands, tom pushing marco to the matt, laughing. Honestly having tom there with him was actually a lot more fun then normal lessons were, marco never really had someone to goof off with at these lessons.

He took them seriously, which was great.

But tom provided some form of levity he actually really liked having.

Though he quickly felt his cheeks flush as he spotted jackie waving to him from the stands.

While he was pinned to a mat.

By tom.

Tom quickly got off marco and marco quickly tried to fix himself off so he stopped looking so embarrassed and foolish. He was so caught up with tom he missed out on seeing his own crush come to see him?

Wow, what a great start to this whole day.

He weakly waved to jackie as tom asked him to focus and continue to keep practicing like normal.

"Eyes on me diaz...", Tom said, smirking, marco's attention now focused solely on the boy in front of him. If he wanted to impress jackie he couldn't be distracted, he needed to focus on tom and treat everything as normal. He looked into tom's greenish eyes and paused as tom went in for a kick, marco nearly being hit by it before stopping the blow.

Tom really was a fast learner.

Tom stopped some hits from marco, and marco from tom, and they went on for a few minutes without taking the other out. Not until tom went easier on marco so marco could look better and as marco went in for another punch, found himself once again...distracted by tom's eyes. Instead freezing up and once again, he found himself fallen on the matt.

Tom looked embarrassed, considering he was supposed to be helping marco and he was actually probably making marco look more silly then anything on accident.

Was he not doing enough?

Though marco looked embarrassed for way different reasons.

And unfortunately, Jeremy caught on, the younger boy pointing and yelling to the top of his lungs.

"LOOKS LIKE MARCO HAS A CRUSH!"

Marco suddenly felt deeply embarrassed, all eyes on him, and he felt like time stopped moving. Everyone seemed to be staring at him, then back to jeremy, then back to marco. Though as the dust settled, Tom stepped in, quick to resolve the situation before the boy did anything else to ruin marco's big day with jackie. "You're right jeremy, marco does have a crush he's trying to impress, what's it to you?", tom was smirking and almost mocking the boy.

Jeremy's smile left his face.

He suddenly felt deeply embarrassed instead and everyone turned to look at him and he slunk away.

Tom helped marco up and Sensei came to dissolve the situation, declaring it was time to move on to their next lesson, especially since tom was technically still a beginner. Honestly the only reason he probably let tom even face off against marco was because marco told him tom could fight against him pretty well because he taught him some stuff already.

Plus if he didn't tom would have to fight kids WAY younger then him considering marco was the only kid in high school in this class before tom came in.

Tom sent jeremy a glare as tom was directed to practice on chopping a board, one board, a small board...in half.

Right, he was a beginner, what did he expect?

And the man helped direct tom's arm movements and demonstrated what he should do and all the safety precautions that came with it.

Marco was nearby on 3 boards, and tom was left with the one, to practice on. Sensei was of course there to keep an eye on everyone though considering the kids was this even safe to be doing? Marco once told tom he broke his arm trying to chop boards for this class, and what he had was much less then what he had that time but still. Tom kept a watchful eye on marco before doing as he was instructed.

And the board broke, immediately.

Just like that.

Like ease.

Marco looked shocked.

Was tom superhuman or something? A beginner never could get it on the first go, not even a measly small little board like that.

Tom barely even tried to hit it as well, and marco wondered how much holding back tom had done when he fought marco before.

Marco was practically gawking at the boy as Sensie started freaking out, clearly impressed with tom's abilities. Tom got a few hard pats on the backs and a few people whistled and cheered for the boy. Though as marco looked more around the room he could spot jeremy looked less then impressed, in fact, he almost seemed a little more nervous now at seeing tom's strength.

Tom packed a punch.

Marco suddenly felt a lot weaker then he was, was jackie looking at tom? She probably was.

Maybe tom being here wasn't a good idea...tom was here to support but now marco was just feeling pathetic all over again.

But tom looked so happy being there, with marco, and marco couldn't help but stare at his smiling face as people cheered him on. Tom wanted to be liked, clearly, he wasn't liked where he came from after all. And now he was liked, liked by almost everyone he'd met when he came to echo creek. Marco suddenly felt so much smaller then he did before, and hugged his shoulders.

"Marco? You ok?".

Then he looked up to see tom heading towards him, pushing through the crowds to check up on him.

Then tom looked back to the people and to the board.

"Oh...dude I'm so sorry...I didn't mean...sometimes I don't know my own strength...I didn't mean to...", then tom quickly ushered marco out to the bathroom, telling sensei they'd be back in a second because marco didn't feel well. Marco laid against the wall as tom checked on him, worried, "Hey I...I'm sorry this was supposed to be your night and i'm screwing it all up...I...didn't mean...".

Tom looked so upset he hurt marco, the most upset marco had seen him actually.

Though marco was quick to tug on his hair, trying to fix this before he said something he regretted, tom was his friend and now tom was getting upset because he was getting upset and this was all becoming a mess real fast. He needed to pull himself together, otherwise he might lose tom and jackie both and that was something he definitely couldn't handle right now.

"No tom...you didn't do anything wrong...It's me...I just...I can't help but feel this way. I'm so used to being ignored and everything and...even with star, everyone looks at her and not me and...it's not your faults I feel like this. Please don't apologize...I'll only feel worse about it if you do. You wanted to join this class to hang out with me and for fun and i'm...making it less fun for you...".

"Marco I just want to help you...".

"I know...".

Tom went silent, tugging at his sleeves, "Marco...I'm...not good with keeping or making friends...but...I do really want you as my friend. I want to be able to keep you as my friend marco, I haven't really connected with someone like this in a long while. I...I want to make this friendship work...and i'll do anything you need if it helps you feel better.".

"No tom...", marco said, "I...I shouldn't be letting myself get mad at you being happy...this is just as important for you...and I shouldn't take that away for you either.".

"Are you sure? Marco I don't want you to feel you have to say sorry because of me...I know this whole thing is just...how it is".

"Yeah tom...", Marco took a deep breath and finally seemed to pulled himself together, "I...I'm so worried about impressing jackie that i'm making you feel bad and...I don't want you to feel bad for being...happy...I...I might have other chances with jackie, but this is your only first day here with me on something you want to do and...tom i don't even think I could look at jackie if you ran out of here upset because of me".

"Oh marco...", tom hugged his friend, sighing, "That's...really nice of you...you didn't have to.".

Marco sighed, smiling as he wrapped his arms around tom, "I'm sorry for getting you worried and upset...I...I just hope I haven't screwed up everything". Tom reassured marco with a couple pats on the shoulder, "Dude trust me, jackie's probably totally more impressed about you being here for me then showing off a bunch of cool moves, besides...even if she did like me...I'm not interested in her.".

"Yeah, yeah, you're right..."., marco suddenly felt like a weight was taken off his chest.

Tom sure knew how to make him feel better, not to say star never did, but tom was just a lot better talking to him about it emotionally and calming Marco down. When marco really thought about it, if jackie was this repulsed by him not being super amazing and impressing her, then maybe she wasn't the ideal nice girl he was looking to date at the end of the day.

Though when they got back out there jackie and star immediately approached, probably worried about what had happened, and marco was so caught off guard he froze in place in front of his crush. He and tom just got out of quite a very intimate moment where marco almost lashed at tom for something that wasn't his fault and was immediately approached by his crush that he was terrified to speak to.

What timing, just his luck that this would happen of all things.

"Nice job out there diaz, you too tom!", she was smiling, she was impressed, she was...totally not turned off by marco not doing as good as tom?

He felt a sense of relief wash through him, he hadn't screwed everything up after all.

"You guys alright, everyone's stretching and taking a break right now", star motioned to the people behind her, kids getting water and snack breaks, "You didn't get injured or anything right?".

Though marco noticed her attention was mostly on marco.

"No no i'm ok, we just needed to talk about some things, we're all good.".

"Well that's good", jackie said, nodding to star, "Star said after this we could all get something to eat together, you all in?".

Marco could barely speak, was jackie asking them all to eat together? Jackie barely acknowledged him before this point and now she wanted them all to hang out together? For real?

Even Tom seemed super happy for marco, winking at him and the boy's clearly reddened face.

Though he did have to bump marco to wake him up and get him to speak and say something to his crush.

"Oh um...we'd love to! You wanna get some uh...chili dogs and uh...milkshakes nearby? I'll uh-", but then tom stepped in for marco with a wink, "I'll pay, plus it'll be great to get to know you better jackie!". Jackie seemed chill with it, adjusting her hair and marco could spot her 20 earrings of all kids on her ear, maybe jackie really was into him? She seemed so...calm around him.

She didn't think he was weird at all.

Marco strained to get his response out, "Good good, great...we'll see you then.".

The girls left and Tom smirked as marco tried to pull himself together and not look so excited, but it was super hard for him not to look excited. Did he actually just do that? He held a conversation with his crush! That was a first for him, he was so used to just nodding to jackie or glancing at her. But now he actually sorta kinds spoke to her! Face to nervous face!

And jackie didn't seem to think he was weird or a loser at all!

He tugged tom into another hug, practically crying.

"Thank you...".

Tom chuckled, hugging him back quickly before the two disbanded, "Dude...see? I told you you had this...c'mon...let's finish this and then it's all smooth sailing from here. And if all goes right we'll both have dates by the end of the night.". Oh right, tom was trying to pursue star, them seeming to get a long a little better was a good sign for that working out.

Maybe, star could be unpredictable.

Regardless, the lesson went on smoothly for the rest of the lesson, though marco and tom both seemed on suspicion of jeremy being up to something. The boy seemed rather intimidated by tom, and yet at the same time he clearly was up to something. Maybe not something that involved confronting the boy but something nonetheless, and tom was especially keeping a careful watch on him.

Tom could be pretty scary when he wanted to be, marco kinda understood the younger boy's caution.

Better tom was his friend then his enemy honestly, he didn't want to be on his bad side, especially after how strong he clearly was.

The lesson was over, people started heading out, the kids started getting dressed and cleaned up, parents arrived to pick some of the kids up. It was about time to head out and tom and marco were back in their regular clothes when tom seemed to be going though his bag, a little more stressed then usual. Marco didn't even get a chance to ask what was wrong before he stormed out of the dojo, telling marco to stay put and entertain the girls.

Alone.

Marco could sense the girls coming up behind him, tensing as he watched tom head out to take care of whatever it was that tom needed to take care of so badly.

Maybe tom lost something? Though what he lost was beyond marco, and why would outside of the dojo be the first place tom would look for it?

"Is tom ok?", Jackie asked, crossing her arms as marco awkwardly turned towards her apologetically

"Uh...he had to run out real quick, he'll be right back...", he could feel his heart stopping in front of jackie, how was he supposed to be just as cool in front of her without tom?

Even Star looked a bit concerned at tom just running out like that.

"You did great today marco, real cool", the chill blonde mentioned, calming marco's worries down just a tad. Jackie seemed to truly mean it too, her smile was so cahrming and her eyes were incredibly pretty.

"Thanks jackie...I'm glad you...h-had fun!".

"Yeah, it's cool seeing what you like to do marco, you seem to have a good thing going on here. It's cool you and tom are so close, clubs and stuff aren't much fun without friends to hang out with and spend time with. If anyone gives me trouble i'll make sure to call on you guys, you two seem to be able to hold your own pretty well together against threats.".

Marco's thoughts wandered to tom, the boy brought a smile to his face, "Yeah, we work together well.".

"Back!", tom headed in abruptly, his hair was a mess, but overall he seemed mostly normal.

"Tom? What happened?".

"Jeremy stole something from me, I think the little guy intended something for me cause he tried to make a scene about how he was being helpful and i was picking on him. ", tom huffed, "I think he was trying to get me kicked out from somehow being mean to him...but I got it back". Tom held up what looked like an armband, "Don't worry, I didn't get kicked off, took care of it.".

"How?".

"Sorry, it's a secret, but c'mon...let's get food before he pulls something like this again...ya'll hungry?". And indeed everyone was, and ready to get out of here and properly converse and fill their empty tummies. They left the dojo and on their way out he noticed jeremy a distance away, though he actually seemed startled, immediately running off and away from tom.

Jeez, what did tom do to make him so upset?

Then again, considering all the stuff that kid pulled, did marco even have a reason to care?

Regardless they finally picked up some food to eat, chilling at a table together and marco felt himself finally relax, not panicking in his seat over his crush and what she thought. Tom was sitting next to him and the girls were across, probably so tom could continue to help him and be his wingman. Though Tom's presence in itself helped marco feel more at ease in general around jackie.

If it were one on one, he'd probably have screwed up a ton of times by this point.

Tom asked more questions, got jackie to share more about herself when marco couldn't, and marco was learning so much more about the girl.

She got clothes at goodwill, knew how to rollarskate, went to surf camp, and loved spicy food. Things marco didn't even know about her despite the years of them going to school together, though in his defense he didn't exactly follow jackie around everywhere and spend his time studying everything she did or liked. Jackie even asked more about Marco though she also did ask everyone else as well.

Even tom and star were talking and getting a long, star was being pleasant to tom.

Did tom and star talk in private at any point and talk it out? Marco was sure whatever star was doing, whether an act or not, would not let up so easily and yet.

They weren't talking as much as tom and marco and marco and star did, but it was better then before where star was shunning tom oddly despite him being a new kid she'd never met before. Tom seemed to be making progress with her, getting her to talk about little things and sharing how his family was doing and star doing the same. Maybe tom would actually get that date without any issues.

Maybe they could double date sometime, the four of them laughing and smiling and having a good time together without any of the awkward tension going on.

Though Star was talking to Tom, she was more ecstatic about talking to Jackie however, she had some gal pals but the one she mainly spent time with was janna. Meeting another gal and striking up a convo with her, especially with her being the girl marco was obsessed with ever since she'd known him, must've been really fun for her in particular to get to know.

And Jackie seemed to feel a very similar way considering star was fairly popular with most of the school and yet they only talked in few.

There was comfort among the group as they hung out together though the fun was interrupted as tom had to excuse himself to the bathroom, leaving marco alone with the girls. Marco watching him go as star and jackie giggled among themselves. Marco just felt a little naked without tom, plus it gave more room for star to tease and embarrass him in front of his crush.

"You and tom seem to be good friends", jackie mentioned causally, making eye contact with marco.

"uh...yeah, we've been hanging out for over a month now on the regular, it's been fun, he lives right across from me so it makes it easy to hang out.", he took another sip of his milkshake, jackie still smiling towards him. "Well I think it's great you made friends with him, he seemed so...upset on his first day, I think he really appreciated having you around to make it better for him.".

Oh yeah, jackie was in the same class that day he first truly saw tom wasn't she? He nearly forgot because he had been so distracted by tom when he first showed up.

"Hey, it was no problem at all...tom's great.".

"I can tell, you guys hang out a lot at school from what I can tell.", jackie took another bite of food, "I guess Brittney took notice as well cause she's been talking about it over at her table during lunch too.'. Marco had to pause himself a moment to process what jackie had just said, she had been noticing him hanging out with tom? How did he not notice this?

Then he snapped out of thinking about his crush, as the name of the dark haired popular girl snuck his way into his mind as well.

Brittney.

The snobby, rich, popular girl and head cheerleader, she was one of the most well known people in their school but not really one of the most liked either. Even for as popular as she was, people only seemed to hang out with her for her fame and money and less due to the fact she was actually fun to be around, hearing her come up as someone who talked about tom was...well...a shock.

"Brittney?", even star looked shocked about that, brittney would never give a guy like tom the light of day if she saw him.

"Yeah, you guys didn't know? I guess Brittney heard about Tom more from Jeremy since their rich parents talk, she's apparently under the impression Tom's a thug or something...and marco's hanging out with a gang. Which is clearly not true but it's starting to spread a little bit around the school, though only brittney's possy really believe it that much.".

Tom, in a gang?

I mean sure, tom dressed a little tough and could be a little scary but tom wasn't really in a gang right? Marco had spent so much time with him tom wouldn't even have the time to hang out in a gang, not to mention he was still new and didn't know anyone here, unless they were implying tom's gang was back home. Regardless, the new info seemed to really annoy marco and it showed.

Normally he didn't care about Brittney's gossip.

But Tom was so nice, so caring, so...great that marco felt ticked off hearing people lie about him around the school.

Tom had enough problems making friends without people lying about him, and if this did manage to get worse who knows how much it could tap into tom's already real problems with his own self loathing.

"Marco? You ok?", marco's anger sure showed on his face though, cause soon enough star and jackie were looking at him. The two girls looked extremely concerned, jackie especially, thinking maybe she hit a nerve mentioning the rich popular cheerleader. After all, she wasn't all too nice to marco as well and had been meant to him at a few occasions.

"It's...nothing...I just...jesus...", Tom would probably not care honestly, he didn't care for Brittney in general when she showed up in the hall with him around. But Marco sure cared, especially if it had the chance if it had the chance of getting tom in serious trouble, Brittney had that kinda power after all. It was best people didn't even so much as look at her if they wanted to avoid conflict.

Maybe this was part of whatever jeremy had been up to.

Maybe.

"Don't worry jackie, marco and I won't let that girl mess with tom, that gossip will totally die in like a week...right marco?", she looked at marco with her sweet sparkly eyes, "We're WAY cooler then her anyway!". She was clearly trying to cheer marco up but he felt himself grow more and more anxious, was this how tom had felt earlier when it came to marco freaking out?

Worried and panicked?

It was probably over nothing, but marco still felt worried.

He just wanted tom to be be happy and have a good time, and Tom did seem to get rather affected by what people thought of him. What if Tom heard and thought to move or to stop being friends just to protect marco? What if tom ran away? What if-

"Yo marco...", Tom sat back down next to the boy, startling him, and tom laughed in his seat.

"You ok dude? Not telling each other ghost stories are you?", he took a sip of his milkshake as the girls returned to talking as normal, marco would normally have been able to recover to talk to someone like jackie of all people but the thought lingered in his mind the rest of the lunch. Though as the food became scarce and jackie's time had run out, marco's mind went back to the situation for a bit.

It was over, they made it through.

Marco didn't die in place, he didn't make jackie hate him and never want to see him again.

Marco got to talk and hang out with his lifelong crush.

It went by so quickly it felt like it was all just another dream.

But sure enough, jackie was packing up her stuff to skate home, and she put on her helmet before reached out to shake hands with marco. And Marco felt her soft but firms hand in his, "It was great hanging out with you guys today, thanks for inviting me, I had a lot of fun...maybe i'll stop by during your classes sometimes when I pass by. Though if you guys wanna have lunch sometimes, let me know."

And the hand left, reached out to star and tom as well, "Cya guys at school!".

And then she turned and waved as she headed off, marco staring at her as she skated off into the distance, leaving marco with his best friends in the world. Even as he faced away from them he could tell both of them were smiling at him. As they probably should, after all marco just basically went on a semi date with his long time crush and it went actually great.

And jackie wanted to stop by and see him again, maybe even get lunch together.

That was more then marco could've ever imagined happening, much less this soon, at this rate he might get to go on a real date with her within the next month, and finally be able to make her his official girlfriend.

He turned to his friends who wrapped him in a big hug, "Congrats marco, you did it! You hung out with jackie and she had a good time! You even spoke to her!", they were both laughing and giggling and marco wrapped his hands around both of them. "Hey It wouldn't have gone great without either of you two with me...I...appreciate all the support and everything."

They stopped hugging and star fixed her outfit, "Of course marco, i'm your number one wingman after all".

Technically in this case tom had been more of his wingman but it was best not to correct her about that.

"You ready to head home...we could all play some games together...maybe?", he looked over to star, who nodded, "that's a great idea, maybe a movie after? If we hurry we could fit in three!". She quickly started running home with the boys walking behind her, tom watching star run off with a smile on his face, only peaking marco's curiosity further.

"You and star seem to be uh...getting along.".

Tom suddenly coughed, patting marco's shoulder, "Oh well yeah...we might've talked at some point and well...I think we might've gotten ourselves on a better foot with each other...for now. ". He almost seemed rather embarrased about it, becoming red-faced, "Sorry for not saying something sooner I just didn't want you to worry, and this was between me and her so uh yeah...we talked.".

"Well...", the other boy started, before giving his companion a smile, "I can't complain actually...it's actually...it's really nice seeing you both talk and kinda get along...just uh...don't screw it up, star's not one to be messed with". That seemed to get a laugh from the taller teen, who honestly probably had to agree with marco from how star acted.

Tom then sighed, watching star run off into the distance, "Hopefully things improve from there...but it seems like a good start right? You're finally on the right path to ending up with the girl of your dreams diaz.".

Marco sighed, looking up at tom, uncertain of their future after today's events.

But happy to have him at his side.

He might've lost him today though, and a part of him knew that if he had let his feelings take him over, he would've lost the person who even gave him this chance in the first place. In fact the more he thought about it tom had been affecting him more emotionally today then jackie had, he worried about tom being ok, worried about him and star, worried about jeremy, and worried about the rumors going around about him.

He cared so much about tom, more then he expected to do under these circumstances.

He still heavily cared about jackie, but for the time being, his focus seemed to be on the person next to him, and as tom awaited an answer from him he turned away from tom's smiling face and kept on going.

"Yeah, I guess I am".

[staytheb]

Like Oh 2.0 - #HAPPY20THBAMBAMDAY

Previous Chapter: Study Session Word Count: 4,092 Summary: The girls end up celebrating BamBam’s birthday with the rest of GOT7.

Like Oh 2.0 masterlist

12th chapter here and yes that hashtag was used at the time for BB’s birthday, too! um, so the story has moved on to the month of May and we’re heading to the rest of the year as more dates and what not hapens. anyways, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

Serena returned home to another planned hangout of her sister, friends, and GOT7 in her apartment without her permission once again and unlike last time, Serena had a whole new makeover now. She had a light pinkish slash whitish pastel duo tone hair color, wore a light purplish colored contacts, and was dressed in a somewhat sexy pretty flower outfit and accessories with a matching flowery umbrella while carrying a cute tote bag with a panda on it. "Hi." Serena greeted the group shyly as she stared at them and they stared at her in confusion. Before any of them could say something, Serena tried to make a mad dash towards her room, but the other girls intercepted her. "No!" Serena tried to push pass them, but they continued to block her path with cheeky smiles.

"Whoa, Serena, what happened to you?" Jeannie asked giving her friend a once over. "This is the most girlie I have ever seen you and I've known you a long time." "Yeah, Rena, I agree with Jean. This is the girliest we have ever seen you. I like it." Jasmine agreed with a nod of approval. "Well, in the cutesy kinda girlie way, that is." "Is this because of Chloe?" Melanie asked once she took in her sister's appearance. "She did a good job. She always does and I'm a bit envious." Serena sighed. "Yeah. Clo had an assignment today and I was her guinea pig. I just thought it was hair only." "Serena twirl around." Jeannie demanded as Serena complied. "You're so cute." "Shut up." Serena grumbled as she tried to get past the trio again. "Can I just go into my room, please? This feels a bit embarrassing."

"Are you cos-playing the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Jackson asked in English while he imitated on holding an umbrella. "I'm confused. That's Jyongri noona, right?" Yugyeom asked while looking at his fellow members while pointing in Serena's direction. "Is it cosplay?" "Jyongri noona, you're really pretty dressed like that." Jinyoung complimented as Serena became shy and awkward from the younger male's words. "Yeah, noona. Pink and the flowers really suits you!" Youngjae complimented her further and Serena just wanted to get away. She let out an awkward laugh as she finally got passed the other three females and into her room. "It's so fun teasing her." Jasmine chuckled as Melanie agree. "I know. She's so easy."

"Jyongri noona is here and we're all gathered together can we finally celebrate my birthday?" BamBam asked with a grin as everyone rolled their eyes in good-nature. "Your birthday isn't until tomorrow, BamBam." Jaebeom stated as the younger male nodded. "I know, but Jackson hyung and I have that Real Men schedule tomorrow and we can't hang out on my actual birthday." "That's why we're here bugging them again?" Jinyoung asked as BamBam grinned. "Of course." "Wow. That's a big cake." Mark commented upon seeing the three females walking back into the living room with BamBam's half a sheet of cake. "Jyongri unnie ordered the wrong size." Melanie explained as she and the twins set it onto the small table before putting in a few candles onto the cake. "But she got the design on point." Jeannie chuckled.

"True" Jasmine agreed as she held up a lighter. "Unnie needs to hurry up and change so I can eat this cake." "Y'know you guys could have done it without me." Serena said from behind them as she handed a box over to BamBam. "Happy birthday, Bam." Serena wished him a happy birthday in Thai as BamBam took the box with a silly grin. "What is it?" "Open it." BamBam opened the box to revealed Taeyeon's debut album, I. "You're giving this to me?" BamBam looked up at Serena who nodded her head. "Yeah. "Wait, how come I didn't get a present?" Jackson interjected as Serena looked at him. "Because it was like not even a month since we met at that time and I thought it might be awkward." Serena admitted as Jackson pouted. "Ugh, that's no fair and I thougth we were friends."

"Where are you going, Jyongri noona?" Youngjae asked upon seeing the older woman leaving again. "I'll be back." "Did you have to make her feel bad" Mark asked Jackson with an amused look as Jackson continued to sulk. "Because I didn't get a present, Mark hyung." "Hey, isn't this the album that unnie got from her friend?" Jasmine asked Melanie as Melanie stared at the album in BamBam's hands. "Um, probaby. Unnie's not a fan of hers, but now that you mention it I do remember unnie asking me if BamBam was a fan of Taeyeon though a few weeks ago." Serena returned shortly after and handed Jackson a large gift bag. "Here, kid." "What's this?" Jackson asked with an excited look. "Look inside." Jackson happily removed all the tissue paper and pulled out a stuffed Squirtle plush doll.

"Whoa!" Everyone let out in awe as Jackson awed louder upon examining the Pokemon plushie. "This is really mine?" Jackson asked as Serena rolled her eyes and responded sarcastically. "No, Jackson, it's Mark." Jackson frowned. "Why Mark?" "I dunno. Because he's sitting next to you." "Oh, but JB hyung is next to me, too." "Because both you and Mark are tied to Pokemon." "Oh. Thanks, noona." "Welcome." "Hey, does the sunglasses come off?" Jaebeom asked curiously as he pulled on the sunglasses to which did stretched towards him. "Wow, that's cool." "No way!" Jackson slid it off and hugged the doll closer to him. "This is so cute." He put the sunglasses mask back on. "That's cool." Melanie looked at her sister. "Isn't this the one that joins Ash and is part of the Squirtle Squad." Serena grinned. "Yeah."

"Alright!" Jeannie clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Let's sing the birthday song and eat this amazing cake!" And soon enough, the group of eleven quickly sang the birthday song and wished BamBam a happy birthday. Once everyone got a piece and settled themselves around the living room, Mark noticed Serena taking a picture of her cake which reminded him of something. "Hey, Jyongri." "Hmm?" Serena acknowledged the male, but didn't face him. "What was that thing about the whole pictures between you and Jinyoung two Fridays ago?" "I don't know." Serena denied as Jinyoung grinned while casting a sly look in the older woman's direction. "It was on that night when we had the sleepover and played GOT7 Jjai."

"Oh you mean the pictures that unnie took of all of us while we were asleep that night?" Jasmine asked innocently with a small smile. "Those are some really cute pictures." "Whoa, whoa, what pictures?" Jackson asked as Yugyeom added while making a 'camera taking' motion. "You took pictures of us?" He smiled cutely. "Can I see them?" "I deleted them already." Serena said as she moved away from the group to sit afar from them. "No she didn't. She still has them." Melanie stated as Serena glared at her, but she just cast her sister a playful smile. "Yeah, unnie, just showed them." Jeannie coaxed the older woman as Serena rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Here." Serena unlocked her phone, went to her photo gallery, and slid the mobile device towards the group of boys. "Have fun."

Youngjae was the first to grab it and went through the images. "These are actually pretty good." He then burst into laughter upon seeing himself. "Is this how I look like when asleep?" He asked to no one in particular. "I know they're pictures and videos of us, but this one is different." "Because it wasn't expected, Youngjae." Mark stated as Youngjae handed the phone over to him. "This dog plush looks way bigger than you, hyung." "It is bigger than me. It's huge. There was another one that was just as big." "Let me see when you're done, Mark hyung." BamBam said as Jackson looked over at Serena. "How come you took pictures of us?" Serena shrugged. "Just felt like it." Jinyoung settled himself beside the female. "What?" She asked him as she saw a smile gracing his lips.

"Nothing." Jinyoung answered as he quietly ate his cake and Serena eyed him while eating her own. "You want something, don't you?" "No I don't." "Yeah, you do." "Noona, I don't." He chuckled as Serena scooted a few inches away from him. "Mmhmm." "Hey, unnie." Melanie called out for her sister. "What Chaewon?" "Jaehwa unnie wants you to set up the karaoke machine." "Why?" "Because BamBam wants to try it out after I told him about it" Jeannie answered with a sheepish laugh as she pointed at the entertainment center. "He found it because he wanted all of us to go to a karaoke place to sing for his birthday when I told him you had one of your own." BamBam held up a microphone. "How about we do some karaoke for my birthday? It should be a lot of fun."

"Only because it's hashtag Happy twentieth BamBam Day. Such a long one. Just don't break it like my table." Serena went to set up the karaoke machine and explained how it work as her karaoke machine was a lot different than a normal one. Once she explained everything and showed the group how it work she then left it to Jeannie and Jasmine to take care of it since they enjoyed using the machine more than she did along with five of the GOT7 members that wanted to join in on the fun. A moment later, Jaebeom and Melanie went on a late night run for more snacks and drinks due to all the boys eating and drinking them all and Serena hadn't had the time to re-stock since their last hangout a week ago. Anyways, Mark went to go bother Serena who was in the kitchen to get away from the commotion as she wasn't in the mood to sing or watch them get into the song and what not.

~~~~~~~

"Why are you always following me, Mark?" Serena asked when she sat at the kitchen table before removing her glasses to rub at them, but didn't put them back on. "I'm not following you, Serena. I just wanted a bottle of water." Mark answered as he opened the refrigerator door to grab the said item. "Mmhmm. Sure, right." Serena grabbed several notebooks from out of her tote bag she had left there yesterday and began reviewing the rest of the students' English notebooks. Mark didn't say anything after taking a swig, but he continued to linger around as he was casually leaning against the counter and glancing at the female every now and then. "Do you need something, Mark?" Serena asked him not looking up from the current notebook where she was scribbling something in the margin.

"Nope." Mark answered nonchalantly. "Then leave." "Why?" "Just cause." "Cause what?" He mused knowing full well that it would annoy Serena further. "Because you're annoying." The male chuckled as he took a seat across from Serena who just glanced at him before returning back to what she was doing. "Jerk." She muttered under her breath, but Mark heard her and let out another laugh. "You're funny." He said. "How so?" "You just are." "Mmhmm." Silence fell between them as Mark slid the bottle back and forth between his hands onto the table's surface whereas Serena moved onto one notebook to the next without paying further attention to the idol. "Are you sure you're a fan of us, Serena?" Mark asked a moment later.

Serena paused in mid-writing, sat up straighter, and looked at the male with a confused expression. "Why wouldn't I be?" Mark shrugged. "I dunno. You don't seem to show it." "But it doesn't mean I'm not a fan, Mark." Mark averted his eyes away from Serena as she continued to talk slowly. "Kinda like you, Mark, I say and do things when I feel like it. I'm initially quiet, reserve, and shy." She began to tell him a little more about herself. "But I open up when I'm comfortable or know the person a bit better to behave a little more freely" She averted her gaze to the notebook before her. "I just choose to be indifferent and blend in the background as it's easier to be and to go with the flow when no one is really paying much attention to you." Serena finished as she went back to writing her notes in the students' notebooks.

Mark returned his eyes onto the older woman, but remained quiet as he tried to form his thoughts before saying anything. "Sorry." He finally said as the female looked up with a tilt of her head. "What for?" "I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to explain yourself. I'm sorry, Serena." Mark apologized as Serena dismissed it. "It's all good, Mark. Don't worry about it. Must be kinda weird when you're an idol and you're hanging out with one of your fans, yet the fan doesn't act like the other fans you're so used to. It makes sense." She smiled at him before finishing the last notebook and putting it away with the others. "Thanks for saying that and understanding, Serena." Mark thanked her with a small smile as Serena looked at him with a smile of her own. "You're welcome, Mark."

Serena then grinned at him. "Now you can go run along to the rest while I go to my room and sleep." Mark narrowed his eyes at her. "You're doing it again." "Doing what?" "Being mean after saying something nice." "So? What's your point, Mark?" Mark shook his head with a wry smile. "Nothing." "Okay, cool. Night." "Wait." "What now?" "Why did you color your hair? I was getting used to the magenta one." Serena raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh really? Well, tell that to my friend next time when she decides to use me as one of her assignments." Mark laughed. "Oh, is that why you were dressed up like a flower girl?" "Yes." Serena answered as she folded her arms onto the table to place her head on top of it. "Like four hours for the hair and like two hours for the whole outfit. And then another hour or so of posing for the camera." "Wow. Seems like you were at a photo-shoot for a magazine for something."

"I really wish I didn't say yes to her at two in the morning when she called me about it." "And here you are although you said you hated people earlier." Mark smirked as Serena groaned while turning her head so that her cheeks were pressed against her forearms. "Shut up." Mark didn't reply, but he did lean over the table to mess with Serena's hair. "Cheer up. Life gets better." Serena raised her head and tried to smack Mark's hand away. "What did I say about my hair, Mark?" "That your friend dyed it to use your for one of her assignments." He cheekily responded as Serena narrowed her eyes at him. "You win this round, Mark Tuan." Mark looked at her with amusement, but didn't say anything. "I'm going to bed and you go bother the others." Serena flashed him a tired smile as she got up and left the kitchen as Mark sat there for a few seconds longer before returning to the living room.

~~~~~~~

"This is a lot." Melanie muttered under her breath as the basket was filled with all sorts of items as Jaebeom added another strawberry milk into the basket. Melanie eyed the idol as he looked at her indifferently. "What?" Melanie handed the basket over to the male. "You're carrying it since you keep adding more strawberry milk. Plus, all of y'all keep eating everything every time you guys come over." Jaebeom chuckled. "Okay." The male followed after the female as she wandered into the next aisle while mumbling a few things to herself while scanning the products. "So you do talked to yourself." Jaebeom commented from behind as she stopped walking to glance behind. "Huh?" Jaebeom repeated what he had said as Melanie nodded. "Yeah, it helps me remember sometimes."

Melanie grabbed several items and was about to placed them into the basket, but didn't. "We need another one. That's too full." She began to walk towards the front when she spotted Yerim entered the store. "Shit." She quietly let out as she quickly turned around to just run into Jaebeom. "Whoa, are you okay?" He asked while steadying Melanie and making sure that none of the products had fallen. Melanie didn't say anything as she placed the items into the already filled basket and then maneuvered herself and Jaebeom towards the back of the store to keep a good distance between them and Yerim. "What's wrong, noona?" Jaebeom asked once the two were settled. "Um," Melanie stalled as she doubled checked to see where Yerim was within the convenient store and saw that she was at the front counter.

"Chaewon noona?" Melanie finally looked at him. "Sorry, but Yerim's here again." "The one from the group date, right?" "Yeah. Have you crossed paths with her like I have with Kyungtae?" The idol shook his head. "No." "I see." Melanie glanced behind her and saw that Yerim was now making her way through the aisles. "She might just be here for fun, but I don't know for sure." Jaebeom tried to assure Melanie of the situation, but she scoffed. "Yeah, right. She's not here for fun." Melanie turned to face the male again. "Seolbi told me that Yerim's been trying to get your information, but Seolbi or the others don't know anything. She hasn't gotten anything from your buddies either since your friends have been busy." "I told them to not leak my contacts. Glad to know they haven't." "That's good."

The female glanced behind and saw that Yerim was now heading closer and closer to where they were. "Look, I'll buy the stuff and distract Yerim just so that you can make your getaway, okay?" "But what if she does something?" Jaebeom asked in concern as Melanie smiled in reassurance. "She won't. She's not the type to fight physically. I'm good." "You're sure?" "Yes, JB, I'm sure. Now go or faced a sasaeng fan at this hour." "Alright. Be safe." Jaebeom squeezed her right shoulder while handing the basket to her. When he was in the clear, he quickly made his towards the exit while Melanie walked towards Yerim like she didn't know the younger female was there. "Oh, hey, Yerim. What are you doing on this side of town at this hour?" Yerim looked over at Melanie with no expression. "Just hanging out since Dayoon went to Busan for the weekend. What are you doing here, unnie?"

"I'm hanging out with my sister and friends." Melanie answered as she made sure to stand where Yerim wouldn't look towards the entrance. "Oh, okay. Is that all for you guys?" Yerim pointed at the filled up basket while Melanie glanced down at it. "Yeah." "That's a lot of strawberry milk." Melanie looked at the female who was looking at her a bit too closely. "My sister really likes strawberry milk. She doesn't drink no other milk besides this flavor." "Oh, I see. So," Yerim began like they were close, "I heard that one of the guys from the Konkuk group date has been stalking you." Melanie's eyebrows furrowed. "Who said that?" "I overheard Seolbi unnie talking with Haeryong unnie a while back." "It's all settled now. A misunderstanding." "I don't see why he would follow you around though."

"What do you mean by that?" "I'm just saying that you don't seem like his type that he would go after." Yerim shrugged as Melanie wanted to roll her eyes, but didn't. "What do you think is his type, Yerim?" "I dunno, unnie. Someone more girly and not well, you." "Well, I need to get going or my sister is gonna throw a fit if she doesn't get some strawberry milk soon." "Yeah, me too. Bye, unnie." Yerim waved with an air of politeness as Melanie gave her a small wave. "Yeah, bye." Luckily, Jaebeom finally made it out of the store before Yerim left. Melanie rolled her eyes while letting out a deep breath. "That girl is gonna get it one of these days." She muttered to herself before making her way to the cashier to buy the items. "Luckily I still have Serena's card to pay for all this." She chuckled to herself.

After Melanie paid the amount and gathered the three bags before making her way out of the store and back towards the apartment complex. The female totally forgot that Jaebeom had accompanied her until someone matched her pace. Melanie turned to look at the person and realized it was Jaebeom. "Oh, hey, you. I thought you went back." "Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Anyways, so how did it go?" "It went okay. I think she was still looking for you though." "I see." "And she heard that Kyungtae was stalking me." "Really?" "Yeah." "By the way, I talked to him." "Okay. What happened?" "Kyungtae said that you were the one that asked him to be all protective over you." "But I didn't. I don't even know how this whole thing started as I didn't even talk to him at the group date thing." "I know." "What else did he say?" "He said that he was your boyfriend and he was looking out for you." "Bullshit." "I know." "Ugh, I just wanna smack him."

Jaebeom chuckled as Melanie eyed him. "It's not funny." "I'm sorry, noona." Jaebeom recovered from his laugh, but a smile was evident upon his face. "I just wish I didn't go to that dumb group date." Melanie muttered, but Jaebeom overheard her. "Then you wouldn't have met me, noona." Melanie cast him an indifferent look. "Well, I would have eventually somehow. I already interacted with you guys a year ago during your fanmeet in San Francisco." "Oh, wow, really?" "Yeah, saw you guys three times that year." "You flew out to just see us?" "Yeah, why not? But no, not really. Family stuff at the time." "But didn't you attend anything while staying here?" Melanie shook her head. "No. School got in the way and so did work for Jyongri unnie." "Oh." "Yeah, but it was always an excuse to fly back home." Melanie smiled at him as the two continued to walk to the complex now in a comfortable silence between them.

By the time they arrived back to Serena's apartment they witnessed Youngjae and Jasmine arguing about the scores they got after singing. It was because Youngjae was upset that Jasmine had beaten him on every song challenge that they had done since the duo had left. Jinyoung reminded the younger male that the machine calculates on its own accord and that Jasmine couldn't have cheated. Youngjae was still upset. As for the others they just ate the rest of the cake and the snacks and drinks that Melanie and Jaebeom had recently bought and watched both Youngjae and Jasmine go at it again to see who could get the highest score. Jasmine won again and Youngjae just continued to sulk. As for Serena, she never came back from out of her room as she did ended up falling asleep and Melanie let her sister be for the rest of the night.

Soon enough it was already quite late and both Jackson and BamBam needed to rest before their schedule later that day to which none of the females were told as they had to find out like the others. The younger males cleaned up the mess they had made in the living room whereas Jeannie did the dishes with Jinyoung. Jasmine took out the trash with the help of Mark and Jackson as the two males didn't realize that there was so much because of them. Melanie ended up putting away all the things of Serena's karaoke machine to make sure everything was intact so that her sister wouldn't be cursing up a storm if something was amiss. Once it was all clean and done the three females bid good night to GOT7 with the girls wishing BamBam a happy birthday once more. GOT7 returned to their dorm while the trio headed off to their own room to crash. Staying up late has definitely become routine with good company.

[breeeliss]

[Femslash February]: Sunlight

...so yeah this is screaming beach au so we’re just gonna do a beach au, alrighty?

Day 10: Sunlight (Alyanette + class bonding :P)

Words: 1730

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

[Previous: Flowers] [Next: Style Swap]

So...the original plan was to take a day trip to Normandy. 

Alya had been getting restless staying in the city during the summer, so she brought up the idea of going to some of the beaches along the coast. Marinette had been talking her head off about the beach since the Spring, so she figured it would be a cute date idea and something that they could handle in a day trip. Juleka and Rose had offered to tag along and bring blankets and snacks, and they were in Marinette’s bakery figuring out the details. 

But Sabrina and Chloe happened to be there picking up a pastry order, and just the word Normandy had Chloe stalking over to their table in complete disgust. Alya was bracing herself for some silly, spoiled little tirade, but instead Chloe took actual offense to the fact that they were thinking of going to the Northern beaches. 

“Normandy is so damn cold even in the middle of the summer, and the beaches down by St. Tropez are way nicer.”

“You realize that St. Tropez is like eight hours away driving, right? This was supposed to be a day trip,” Marinette muttered. 

Chloe snorted. “So? Listen, I’ll not stand around and listen to you all plan a girls’ day out at a beach that’s not even worth it. At least St. Tropez is warm and the resort beaches will treat you like royalty. Honestly, that I even have to explain this...“

“Well, uh,” Rose spoke up. “We really don’t have the money for anything like that, as nice as that sounds.”

“Yeah, you’re apparently dripping in euros, do you have any suggestions?” Alya sneered. 

Sabrina chuckled and leaned towards the table, lowering her voice just a tad. “Sorry, Chloe’s really bad at extending invitations.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Extending an invitation?”

Turns out that Chloe’s father let her invite as many girlfriends as she wanted to St. Tropez every summer for a weekend at one of the beach resorts, and usually the Bourgeois’s had enough clout to reserve most of the beach for themselves. In the past, it had always been just Sabrina and Chloe along with a few of her father’s friends, but Sabrina promised that, as long as the rest of them were alright with spending a weekend away from home, they were more than welcome. Chloe was off to the side -- arms crossed and looking sour faced -- but muttered something about texting her father regarding extra plane tickets. 

So Marinette called up Alix and Mylene to ask if they wanted to join them for a girls’ beach day. And not even a few days later, they were all flying down to St. Tropez, plane tickets, hotel rooms, and Chloe’s platinum credit card all on behalf of Andres Bourgeois himself. 

They were all set up and tanning in a long line along the beach in the early afternoon on the Friday that they arrived. Chloe even set a timer on her phone so that they could all toast for half an hour on each side before going into the water. Alya had to hand it to her -- she didn’t like Chloe, but this was really really nice. She had to remember to convince Marinette to sneak into the hotel’s hot tub with her later that night. 

“So here’s a thought,” Alya said. “Marinette, when you become a rich and successful designer with your own label one day, can we make this our honeymoon spot?”

“Of course,” Marinette replied immediately. “So long as you also take me to New York City when you finally become a world renowned reporter and can take me anywhere in the world.”

“Hell yes. And we’ll get your hamsters so long as I can get my dog.”

Marinette held up her hand and waited for a high five from Alya. “Fabulous.”

Juleka giggled and peeked over the edge of her sunglasses. “You two are adorable.”

“Listen, I already called dibs on designing our wedding dresses. I have been dreaming about this since I was seven. Of course I have my life planned out.”

“Listen,” Alya laughed. “This girl has wedding invitation designs set up already. Planned out doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She grappled around for the sunscreen in her bag and threw it over to Marinette. “Re-do your face, babe, so you don’t burn your cheeks again.”

Marinette pouted. “I put a bunch on already.”

“Remember that time I rubbed aloe literally everywhere when we went to the beach last summer? You’re pale, you burn at the drop of a hat. Re-apply.”

“Fine, mom.”

Chloe’s cellphone went off and she snapped her fingers. “Flip ladies!”

They all rolled over onto their stomachs, and Chloe propped herself up on her elbows. “You know, as disgustingly domestic as the two of you are, you two took for-fucking-ever to start dating. I mean, Jesus, Adrien and I both tanked our bets because you took way longer than either of us thought.”

Marinette frowned. “Wait, what? You were betting?”

“Just Adrien and I,” Chloe sniffed. “I may not like you, but as a fellow sapphic girl, I can’t help but root for two ladies in love. But, you know, thanks for dragging it out for over a year.”

“It was not over a year,” Alya rolled her eyes. 

“Um,” Alix snorted. “Dudes, I kept a fucking calendar counting down the days until this happened. Kim damn near cried when you two started dating, oversized romantic baby that he is.”

“Hold on,” Marinette interrupted. “Who else was rooting for us?”

"Well Adrien and Nino threw that literal celebration party, don’t you remember?” Alya mentioned. “Which was so extra and not necessary, but whatever.”

“The one at Adrien’s place that was supposed to be a ‘lycée graduation party’?” Marinette air quoted. 

“That’s the one.”

“Well, ever since Chloe told me that she was sure the two of you were in love with each other, I’ve been dying for it to happen too,” Sabrina smiled. “It was super obvious to me.”

Rose raised her hand. “Juleka and I were rooting for you two since day 1.”

Juleka shrugged. “Rose was really invested in it. I was just glad the two of you were becoming so close.”

“Ivan noticed it sooner than I did actually,” Mylene piped in. “But once he told me to pay attention to the two of you more, I was also getting some vibes from you two. This seemed like a natural enough thing to happen.”

Marinette looked up to the sky. “Why didn’t we know this?”

“Because you two are the most ridiculously oblivious people on the whole goddamn planet,” Chloe said with an eye roll. “I mean, honestly, not hard to tell that more than half the girls in our class weren’t straight. The rest of us were all coupled off practically waiting for the two of you to make it official. The most goddamn frustrating thing to ever watch. And I’ve seen every season of ‘The Bachelor.’”

“Okay,” Alya groaned. “We were not being oblivious. We got together at a perfect time.”

Chloe snorted. “Show of hands: how many people were annoyed as hell that they took this long to get together?”

Everyone’s hands shot up into the air. 

“You guys were literally flirting at every available opportunity, but the funny thing is that I don’t think you guys even realized you were doing it,” Alix said. 

“They were so close, I’m sure it was hard for them to tell,” Sabrina offered. 

Juleka snorted. “There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.”

Marinette pouted. “I feel attacked...”

“I think it’s more a matter of the two of you needing to make up for lost time at this point,” Mylene giggled. “We’re all just poking fun, you know that.”

“Not me,” Chloe said, “I’m straight up judging and attacking.”

“It wasn’t that easy,” Alya defended. “I was new, I kinda just wanted to get my friend group solidified without adding in any dating drama.”

“Despite the fact that Marinette is like the most aggressively bisexual person I know?” Alix joked. 

Alya covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t want to be creepy.”

Marinette shrugged. “I thought you were straight, if I’m being honest. But I’m bad at picking up vibes from people.”

“In what solar system,” Chloe exclaimed, “did you think Alya was straight?”

“I don’t know!” Marinette exclaimed defensively. “Since when are you the freakin’ gaydar expert?” 

“Since birth!” Chloe scoffed. “It’s a survival mechanism, you amateur.”

“Okay,” Rose laughed. “We’re losing track of the conversation. The whole point being, we’re just glad you two are a couple. It’s refreshing! Really, we’re all just happy for you.”

Alya smiled. “I mean, good to know we had the class support. Now I have to interrogate all the guys about this.”

“Rest assured,” Mylene said. “Adrien and Nino did the work of ranting to all the boys in class about this. Ivan can attest. That ‘graduation party’ really was a collective celebration in every sense of the phrase.”

“So tell me,” Marinette mused, staring at Chloe. “Was this an excuse to get us a girlfriend getaway because you were secretly fangirling for us on the side?”

Chloe refused to look up from her phone. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds nothing like me...”

Sabrina took advantage of the distraction and mouthed a ‘yes’ to the rest of the group with Chloe wasn’t looking. 

“Well,” Alya sighed. “We’re here for an entire weekend. Might as well start ticking things off your beach bucket list if you’ve got one. Getting some sun is done.”

Marinette clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh! We can make sandcastles later! And run along the shore! And come here at night for a walk when the sand is all nice and cool. And play beach games!”

“Domestic!” Chloe shouted. 

“Oh hush, let them have their fun,” Sabrina chided. “Making up for lost time, remember?”

“Wanna have a beach volleyball match tomorrow?” Alix suggested. “Bet you Mylene and I can kick your asses.”

“Oh, and we can all watch the sunset from the lobby of the hotel. It has all those gorgeous windows with that amazing view,” Rose gushed. “It’ll be perfect.”

“Those restaurants looked pretty fancy too,” Juleka offered. “Romantic dinner on Chloe’s tab? You should take advantage.”

Alya knocked her head with Marinette’s. “Writing all this down, babe?”

Marinette winked. “Making an itinerary as we speak...” 

[fashiontrendin-blog]

The Best New Menswear Pieces To Buy Right Now

http://fashion-trendin.com/the-best-new-menswear-pieces-to-buy-right-now-40/

The Best New Menswear Pieces To Buy Right Now

Sandqvist Aste Bumbag

With co-signs from Chance The Rapper, A$AP Rocky and half of Instagram’s influencer crowd, the cross-body bag is officially hot stuff for SS18. Is there lasting appeal though? Swedish bag-maker Sandqvist seems to think so, already releasing an AW18 range that plays up the practicality with a water-resistant polyester outer and a two-way zipper. Buy Now: £49.00

Marks & Spencer Parrot Printed Shirt

Buying statement pieces doesn’t necessarily have to come with a hefty dent in your bank balance. Marks & Spencer has always been well-priced, and this printed cotton short sleeve shirt is undoubtedly ‘nice’ enough to deserve a space in your ‘nice shirt’ rotation.

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Napapijri Rainforest Jacket

When it comes to festival season, it pays to be prepared. Tent? Check. Ticket? Check. Lightweight raincoat for the inevitable final day downpour? Oh, shoot. Not to worry, Italian brand Napapijri usually makes coats for bolting down alpine slopes in, but its range of pullover anoraks is better suited to bolting toward to the main stage.

Buy Now: £160.00

Cole Haan Grand Motion Runner Trainers

Adidas and Nike seemingly rule the roost when it comes to the knitted trainer trend. But there’s a new contender: New York-based brand Cole Haan, maker of high quality, life-changingly comfortable shoes, like this leather and knit hybrid that’s bound to give the kings of the game a run for their money.

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Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph Watch

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Adidas Originals Two Pack Socks In Mint

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Maison Margiela x MatchesFashion Wool Coat

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Vans Colour Theory Apricot Shoes

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Ellesse Cotechino T-Shirt

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Polo Ralph Lauren CP-93 Swim Short

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Topman Red Marble Short Sleeve Shirt

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Wrangler Regular Denim Jacket

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt broke the internet this week – leaning back and rocking a great big dollop of seventies fashion in the first photo from Quentin Tarantino’s new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s the double denim worn by Pitt that is the real star of the show so get in on the action with Wrangler’s iconic jean jacket. Devastating good looks not included.

Buy Now: £90.00

Richard James Kim Sunglasses

Savile Row was feeling a bit stuffy before Richard James set up shop in the early 1990s and gave it a shake-up. Nearly three decades on, the brand is firmly part of the tailoring establishment, so it was probably about time it set up shop elsewhere. The destination? The Sun, baby, with a new set of sunglasses that look as chic as its suits.

Buy Now: £355.00

Just for Men Grey Reducing Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

Like a superhero sworn to rid your scalp of every nuisance that can blight the hair of middle-aged men, Just For Men has released an update to its grey-reducing formula in the shape of a shampoo that also works to tackle pesky dandruff, too.

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Carhartt WIP Striped T-Shirt

‘Jeans and a nice top’ has become the universal uniform for girls on a night out, and we lads shouldn’t be afraid to follow suit. What warrants a nice top, though? Having cooked in a work shirt all week, it’s best to go for a T-shirt, an excellent option being this funky logo choice from workwear-as-streetwear expert Carhartt WIP.

Buy Now: £34.99

Havaianas Origine Beach Shoes

Sometimes it pays to stick to what you know, but then if flip-flop making maestros Havaianas did that we would never have these cool and breezy espadrilles to savour. An update on the classic style, the palm tree beauties come with a unique heat-resistant sole to help you walk around the hotel pool like an ooh-ahhing John Wayne.

Buy Now: £32.00

The Idle Man Breton Stripe Navy Jumper

Give us a good summer jumper and a breezy afternoon any day of the year. But don’t go silly and lug around a chunky cable-knit with you; instead opt for this light towel-textured Breton option from The Idle Man, because the boys from Brittany sure know how to regulate their body temperature when the weather is being a cruel mistress.

Buy Now: £30.00

Onia Linen Blazer

Since 2009, premium swimwear brand Onia has been on a mission to take men’s swimwear from budgie smugglers and oversized board shorts to something actually cool. And now the brand has its eyes set on conquering the rest of the male wardrobe. Its first-ever men’s blazer – cut with a relaxed, oversized fit and made out of a slouchy linen fabric – is a pretty good start.

Buy Now: £255.00

New Balance x J.Crew 791 Suede Sneakers

Throw a tactile fabric on a shoe and we’re sold quicker than Usain Bolt playing Supermarket Sweep. And that’s just what New Balance has done this week, updating its archive 791 style with an all-over suede construction for fellow US brand J. Crew, resulting in a preppy piece of footwear that’s giving us all the feels.

Buy Now: £75.00

Sif Jakobs Mariotto Croce Blue Bracelet

Most men’s experience with bracelets ends at wearing grotty Glastonbury wristbands from 2005. Make this the season to upgrade your armwear with a proper bracelet, like this soft braided blue leather example from Scandinavian jewellery maker Sif Jakobs. All the style, none of the stench.

Buy Now: £109.00

[girishprb]

Montana 7: Upper Two Med

This time I drove from Lake Bowman to Two Medicines trailhead. I’d like to believe that I was more cautious and considerate while driving compared to Manasi :P When we were passing through a pub and a bakery, instantly Shruti's caffeine addiction kicked in and we stopped by. Although bakery would be the right place to grab a cup of coffee, Shruti insisted on going to the pub at 10 am in the morning! Her cravings were making her go cuckoo I guess!  The pub had ample seating outside and was rather small and cozy on the inside. The owners themselves were surprised when we entered and asked for a cup of coffee! They just had regular coffee and Shruti settled for it for the time being. Just for curiosity's sake, we then entered the bakery and Shruti sadly realized that there were a ton of coffee options. I offered to drink the rest of the pub coffee and she happily placed an order for cafe latte! I had to add more sugar and creamer to make Shruti's coffee drinkable :P (She thinks I put too much milk and sugar and that I absolutely ruin the core essence of coffee)

This place was not just a bakery like we initially assumed but also a grocery shop, a gift shop and a bookshop put together. While Manasi disappeared for a brief period to freshen up, I and Shruti spent time exploring the second-hand book collection, a variety of gifts that ranged from huckleberry earrings, rings, t-shirts and camping supplies. Shruti truly believes in supporting such local stores and she almost bought a book on snow hiking and camping and some jewelry! On our way out, we met this friendly old lady who wished us good morning and I think we saw a pretty little bird perched on a pole that nobody else remembers :)

When we passed Apgar village, we had a choice. Either get out of the park and reach Two Medicines an hour early or go through the only road in the national park - 'Going to the sun road' and get possible delayed by the long weekend crowd. Shruti wanted to stick with sensible option - get to Two Medicines early, start the hike early and reach the campsite well before sunset. I wanted to go through the glorified 'Going to the sun road' since I wasn't sure if we would have ample time on our last day to drive through it. As I was driving, I took the liberty of choosing the slower route much to Shruti's annoyance. I had high hopes since this was supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in the country but was later disappointed because the visibility was terrible due to nearby forest fires. Still, the drive was decent, through the mountains, through a pass and then descended towards St.Marys lake.

It was a warm, windy day and the smoke made it even worse. By 1.30 pm we were hungry, thirsty and feeling slightly gloomy, hence we decided to lift our spirits by a quick stop for lunch by Lake St. Marys.  The lake itself was gigantic, and on any other day, I am sure it would have been very beautiful. There was a scenic boat tour center and a ramp which should have been thriving with visitors from all our the country at that moment if not for the ill-timed forest fire. We chose a secluded spot to cook pesto pasta between the rocks, very close to the lake itself. Shruti made a windshield for the propane-based stove from the little rocks and I sat in front of it providing extra protection. To fasten the cooking process, Shruti placed a lid on the container and tiny stones on top of it so that the lid wouldn't blow away. One of the stones fell into the pasta to give the pasta an earthy flavor! Due to high flames, the pasta at the bottom got stuck to the container but on the whole, it tasted great and was filling :)

The drive from St.Marys to Two medicines was through state highways and we finally reached the park's south-east entrance (Two medicines) around 3 pm. Shruti did not have the national park permit handy and didn't really know where she'd placed it, so we honestly told the ranger that we have it but not really sure where we've kept it and the old man completely trusted us and let us through. I know this is a long shot, but if you're reading this post, we three are really grateful and wholeheartedly thank you for that generous deed! In my last trip to Grand Teton, a similar thing happened where the permit card fell through a crack near the cup holder slot when we were in the queue near park entrance! We still hate that Dodge Grand Caravan, I wonder who designed its interiors! The ranger was bewildered to listen to the 'just-lost' story, but trusted us and let us through! (Yes, we got that card back. The rental place staff helped us recover it).

Backpack weight plays a very crucial role in the entire backpacking experience. In our Grand Teton trip, for 4 people we carried a 15 pound 6-person tent much to the surprise and amusement of other fellow backpackers! This time, the only thing that I carried but did not use was a pair of chopsticks :P (Why did I ever carry chopsticks? Well you need to wait for a blog on my Olympic National park backpacking adventures!) Shruti had a checklist and we packed meticulously to ensure we had all the essentials covered, rest of the stuff was thrown in the trunk. Our walking sticks were extended, the caps and sunglasses came out and we were finally off on this 22-mile loop hike for the next two days! 

At the start of the trip, how does one lift the spirits of the group and get the conversation going? Well, I think non-veg jokes are the way to go! I started with the one with the king with his babe queen that he didn’t trust, the war, the blade, and his trusted minister eventually losing his tongue :) That was followed by some silly old-school jokes and then I narrated of famous Karadi audio (originally in Kannada) in English that surprisingly both Manasi and Shruti didn't know about! Next, we personalized our signaling mechanism - mine was a standard high pitched 'koooo-koooi'. Shruti and Manasi took time to think and ended up copying mine more or less :P

The first part was a 5 odd mile hike with gentle elevation gain, through meadows, an adventurous rope bridge and around the Two Medicines lake to reach our campsite at Upper Two Medicine. Luckily, at this time, most of the day hikers were done for the day and backpackers had probably already setup up tents. We were the only ones for the most part of the hike and that gave us the chance to truly appreciate the wide variety of flowers, trees, and birds. As time went on, the topics that we talked about changed too and as we were deep in conversation as we approached the upper two medicine lake and suddenly saw a movement on the right side behind a tree. Instantly all of us froze up, with our hands going to the bear spray and then cautiously moved forward to find out that it was a huge Moose that was peacefully grazing! This was our first wildlife sighting and we initially didn't know how to react because nothing about Moose encounter was ever mentioned in that survival video! After few seconds we realized that the Moose did not care about us whatsoever and we moved on without bothering it as well. #LiveAndLetLive

The last stretch had decent elevation gain and we slowly huffed and puffed our way to the campsite. At around 6.30 pm we reached the camping area and at the entrance, there was a signboard that mapped out parts of the campground. We directly headed to the cooking area to store food in the food bins. Keeping food or anything that smelt near the campsite is a STRICT NO-NO Policy since the wildlife should never learn that food is available near the tents. Most of the campers were near the cooking area and were almost done with their meal by the time we reached there. One guy asked us if we saw where our campsite was and then revealed that there was only one empty campsite left, at the very end. Just beyond the cooking area was yet another beautiful lake where we cooled off, pumped fresh water for cooking and drinking and relaxed for a few minutes.

Usually last available campsite meant a really shitty one and I had very low expectations. We were surprised to find that it was actually a good campsite with trees around for shelter. After quickly setting up the tent, we headed back to the cooking area which was empty now and Shruti starting making Khichdi with rice, lentils, salt, pepper and hint of curry powder. While the pot was boiling, we resorted to our novels for a while and stopped once the friendly stars appeared one after the other to cheerfully greet us Hi. By the time we started eating Khichdi it was probably around 7.45 pm and we had to switch on headlamps. While eating, Manasi detected a huge black moving shape between the trees, her reaction startled us and we all flashed the torch to find out that our peaceful Moose was thirsty and was heading towards the lake. Three guys from neighboring campsites shortly followed and asked if we saw anything, there was faint panic in their voices. Apparently, this Moose went between their tents, scaring everyone on its way to the lake!

We made a quick pit stop by the pit toilet before calling it a night. Probably the tree shelter was a little too much as there was no wind at all throughout the night. Manasi could not sleep that night and I offered her my pillow hoping that would help. I started feeling hot under the sleeping bag and ended sleeping on the sleeping bag until early morning, switched directions in the middle of the night as I wanted to keep my socks on but also didn't want to knock Shruti out cold with stinky feet :) 

Any guesses on who woke us up the following morning? I'm sure you guessed it right - The Moose!