#Anyways I am getting tired how is it suddenly almost 1:50 what

[zoekrystall]

Oh also everyone be proud of me I stopped drinking much coffee + daily. If then way less than prior and it doesn't happen a lot. I will prob never say no to cups esp when other than standard/simple (aka cappuccino, macchiato, etc. esp w dif flavor) but it's smth when my tolerance significantly lessens and I don't get withdrawal headaches anymore (which was a huge reason I made cups even if no desire bc trust me they're awful). Caffeine does partially work for me but reminding myself that even if it works today it needs time to kick in so once I feel tired is it better to just let sleepiness win helps.

I will nonetheless if circumstances ever allow get one of those fancy machines bc I would love to recreate the stuff you get in shops easily + switch to beans. Plus many also make hot chocolate which is so much tastier than cocoa imo. I hate being limited at home.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 308: VIBE: CHECKED

Previously on BnHA: Lots and lots of Shindou idk what else to tell you.

Today on BnHA: Tired Nomad Deku rescues Shindou from Muscular, and us from Shindou. Muscular is all “OH BOY I SURE CAN’T WAIT TO FIGHT DEKU AGAIN AFTER HE TOTALLY KICKED MY ASS THE LAST TIME!! I’M SURE THIS TIME WILL GO DIFFERENTLY SEEING AS HE’S HAD ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR’S WORTH OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING, AND ALSO HAS SIX FOURQUIRKS NOW, IN ADDITION TO THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH HAVING EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE’S SOULS CHILLING OUT INSIDE HIM OFFERING MORAL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.” Deku is all, “[kicks Muscular’s ass effortlessly].” Muscular is all, “[gets his ass totally kicked].” I for one am very satisfied with this, and with respect to all, I would like to hereby declare this post a discourse-free zone. I’m just happy to see my son out here making good use of his FOURQUIRKS, and more importantly beating Muscular in less than seventeen pages so we can all go on with our lives lol.

damn Deku since when were you allowed to look this cool

from this perspective and with the smoke, cape, backpack, and mask more or less obscuring his actual profile, he looks less like a sixteen-year-old boy and more like a grownass man

OH SNAP

we got a glimpse of this in the cleaned-up scan of 307, but seeing both of his eyes looking so distinctively All Might-esque here is... whoa. I mean we know that his face still looks pretty normal underneath the mask and he doesn’t actually have the black sclera, but still, this is an awesome look. mini-Might

lol Muscular

you and me both. I mean no offense, but yeah

so Deku is just standing there silently

typical Deku. tight-lipped and expressionless. mum’s the word. quiet as a mouse. silent as a grave

okay no but seriously this is so weird and creepy though you guys. Deku please say something or else I’m just gonna mindlessly say whatever stupid things come into my head in an effort to make things less awkward

so Muscular is all “I should probably make a cool speech about revenge but Horikoshi couldn’t think of anything good so I’m just going to stand here clenching my fist real slowly”

“I’m not here to go on a monologue” he says, as he monologues about not monologuing

okay you guys I confess I have only read through/watched the Deku VS Muscular fight once because the arm-breaking is just way too uncomfortable for me to revisit. and so as a result, I have completely forgotten Whatever The Deal Is with Muscular’s eye lmao so let me go look it up real quick

okay so it’s a prosthetic, obviously, and he changes it out according to his mood. that part does sound familiar. I just can’t remember which eye is supposed to indicate which mood. don’t tell me I actually have to go back and reread this shit

lol I’m skimming through chapter 75 now and remembering/realizing that I hardly paid any attention to this the first time around because as soon as I found out the villains were after Kacchan my brain was like “TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS AND ONLY THIS NOW AND FOREVER” and yeah. ah memories

anyway so he started out with the flower-looking eye, and then later on he was all

which begs the question, how on earth could I have ever forgotten the most ridiculous panel I’ve ever read lmao

anyway, but so after all of that, I'm only just now realizing that this isn't one of his previous eye prosthetics in the current chapter; this is an ACTUAL FUCKING ROCK that he's just randomly shoved into his eye socket fkdsjlk

so basically (1) I did all of that painstaking research for nothing, five whole minutes of my life wasted THANKS A LOT, and (2) what, and I have never meant this more emphatically, THE FUCK

anyway so now he's leaping at the building that Deku is standing on top of. but he’s not aiming anywhere near Deku though, wtf

(ETA: HAHA YOU BROKE ALL YOUR MUSCLES YOU LOSER.)

...huh

lmao okay then. I hope those annoying citizens in the building next door are watching this go down and rethinking their life choices

dlkdkljk

just keep standing there pressed right up against the window, why don’t you. “WHAT’S GOING ON THIS SUPER CLOSE COLLAPSING BUILDING IS BLOCKING OUR VIEW.” well, folks, we’ve long since known there’s a critical shortage of hero and villain brain cells, but what we’re learning now is that civilian brain cells are also in short supply

OH THANK GOD DEKU IS FINALLY TALKING THAT WAS ACTUALLY UNSETTLING AS FUCK

SO HE’S STILL OUR GOOD, POLITE, WORRIED, CONSIDERATE DEKU UNDERNEATH THAT COOL AND MYSTERIOUS VENEER. for real, thank fuck, because I swear to god if he suddenly started acting like the Dekus in all of the vigilante AUs my interest in this series would have dropped something like 50% lol. just because he dropped out of school and ran away from home and is currently dressed like the physical manifestation of a Linkin Park playlist doesn’t mean he’s not still the WORLD’S BIGGEST DORK okay

I MEAN, THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. HE’S APOLOGIZING FOR THE DELAY

PLEASE FIND THE ATTACHED SHINDOU YOU REQUESTED. BEST REGARDS!!!

OH MY GOD WHY IS HE SUCH A BADASS

something about making bold, confident statements while obscured in smoke?? idk but damn it fucking works

ffjkkl

more importantly, should you tell him you actually need your copy of Shindou in excel format and not pdf?? on the one hand you don’t want to sound ungrateful, but on the other hand what are you even supposed to do with this

this chapter so far consists of like 50% smoke, but on the other hand Deku VS Kacchan 2 had a lot of cinematic smoke too so who am I to complain

OMG IS IT HIS ARMS

IDK DID YOU?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. PLEASE, AT SOME POINT THIS FIGHT HAS GOT TO ACTUALLY ADVANCE THE PLOT

OHHHHHHH

IT’S EN’S QUIRK!! OH MY GOD OKAY THAT’S ACTUALLY AWESOME

I CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF DISCOURSE RUMBLING IN THE BACKGROUND BUT I DON’T CARE LOL. WON’T CATCH ME EVER SAYING NO TO ANOTHER SIXQUIRK. GO AHEAD, BRING THEM ON, I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL but take it easy though Deku. don’t want to give yourself lung cancer or anything

also it’s good to see that in a very real sense he’s not fighting alone. the Vestiges really did mean it when they said they could appear more easily now. this is on a whole other level

so is this whole next page still En talking, or someone else? because whoever it is sure is chatty

okay, several things

pretty sure it is En, because he keeps saying “I suppose.” for someone who never said two words until one page ago, this guy sure never shuts up. we can’t all follow Muscular’s lead I suppose. oh my god now I’m doing it too

really like the suggestion of Deku using the SIXQUIRKS like tools in an arsenal, because that’s what he’s good at! it’s almost like he’s been training for this his entire life. “you value quirks too much” LOOK HE JUST THINKS THEY’RE COOL OKAY IS THAT A CRIME

where the fuck did all this rope come from

not gonna ask what the fuck that thing is sticking out from the back of his utility belt. Horikoshi will surely explain this

is that a fucking jetpack. I’m sorry Deku were six fucking quirks not enough for you. you can fucking float??? but JUST TO BE SAFE, LET’S STRAP A PAIR OF ROCKETS TO OUR SHOULDERS IDK

-- or wait, is this all supposed to be like a visual representation of En’s metaphor?? OH MY GOD AM I JUST STUPID LOL, DON’T ANSWER THAT. NEVER MIND. NEW LIST!!

rope = blackwhip

jetpack = float

radio = danger sense

and so I’m guessing that this ridiculously phallic thing is supposed to be a flare or something?? and that = the new quirk, smokescreen. well that was a fucking ride lmao we now return you to our regularly scheduled chapter

so now Deku is floating to his heart’s content and thinking that he’ll just sneak up on Muscular and vibe check his ass or whatever

WOOOOOOOO DANGER SENSE YESSSS I LOVE THIS FOR HIM

okay guys, I'm gonna press pause here for a sec to make a serious note, because I am loving the shit out of this, but tbh I'm having trouble enjoying it as much as I want to because I keep getting anxious thinking about the discourse. I know that a lot of the fandom has very strong opinions on Deku's character development one way or the other, and I want to respect that. but I also really have no spoons to debate this topic at all beyond what I’ve already weighed in on. so if it’s all the same to everyone, I plan on staying out of this discussion, at least this week

anyway! that said, YEAH BOI GET HIS ASS

VIBE: CHECKED. CURB: STOMPED. HOTEL: TRIVAGO

-- OF COURSE HE’S STILL FUCKING FINE LOL HE CRASHES INTO BUILDINGS FOR FUN IDK WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

dammit Muscular. how many fucking quirks does it take to beat you?! the annoying thing is that even with all of his cool new powers, Deku is still something of a mismatch against him. anyway r.i.p. to all these poor buildings

OOOOOHHHHH

you guys have no idea how intrigued I am at the prospect of watching Deku try to play both good cop and bad cop here lmao

anyway so Muscular says he doesn’t know, go figure

“I’m not here to make small talk or anything” he says as he small talks about not small talking

OH MY GOD DEKU

are you really gonna talk no jutsu all of these villains from now on?? that last battle really did have a profound impact on you, huh! interesting

you guys he’s really doing it omg

Deku this guy tried to murder a five-year-old literally just for fun. I mean more power to you, but holy shit you’re really gonna try to defeat Muscular with anger management therapy huh

I MEAN

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT RESPONSE COMING dlkjslkjk

FUCK’S SAKE DEKU, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT THEY CAN’T ALL HAVE TRAGIC PASTS KIDDO

but. I have to admit, I do still like that he tried. probably knew just as well as we did what the end result was going to be, but still. he made the effort in good faith and I respect that

uh oh

why do I get the feeling Muscular just got a whole lot deader

oh my god oh my god he’s doing the “powering up” stance ffff don’t fucking tell me you can still use your fucking arms here, Deku

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT’S THIS??

okay so basically he’s saying that whatever it was he sensed in Tomura, he doesn’t sense from Muscular. which, yeah, that sounds exactly right. good judge of character here lol

AHHHHAHAHA YESS

WHOOPS, GET FUCKED I GUESS

WOOOOHOOOOOOOO

lmao so apparently this is the belated result of Shindou’s attack from chapter 307?? I’ll be damned. good for you Shindou!! I always liked you buddy. please just take my word on that and don’t fact check that statement

okay lol the one tiny bit of discourse I will allow is that it’s bullshit that he just did that with his right arm. like, I’ll fully acknowledge that. that makes no fucking sense, and I demand an explanation from the Great Plot Hole Filler himself. he’s never let us down before when it comes to continuity so I’m trusting him not to suddenly start now

that said, we love to see a rematch against a boring guy settled quickly and decisively within the span of a single chapter. THANK YOU

I like that Deku implies that his power is being a smart nerd who battles villains using the power of ANALYTICS. he basically didn’t do anything except restrain Muscular and wait for Shindou’s attack to take effect while halfheartedly checking to see if he regretted any of that murder and stuff

(ETA: and almost forgot to mention, he made excellent use of all four of his active SIXQUIRKS. it’s like the chapter title said; this is basically him fighting all-out, and it’s a sight to see.)

also, as cool as the mask was, this just feels right. like, we had our fun, now let us see his face, yes good

anyway, I think this was a good start towards establishing What’s Up With Deku Right Now! so if it’s all the same to Horikoshi, I would next like to take some time to explore Why’s Up With Deku. that, and What’s Up With Everyone Else, Especially Kacchan. por favor

[3rensgf]

rent a gf - two eren yeager x reader

word count: 2.9k

warnings: mentions of sex, talks about "getting bitches", eren is an idiot, fuckboy!eren implied, tatbilb mention, uhh fluff idk theres not much to warn abt in here, not beta read

notes: chapter two is out! i'm really glad a lot of people are enjoying rent a gf. it really means a lot! i see some people commented on the previous chapter, and i would love to reply to them, but i'm not familiar with tumblrs commenting system D: if you wanna leave a comment for me to just read, that's fine you can still keep commenting here on tumblr. but if you would like me to reply to it, you can comment on ao3, and i will reply! happy reading :) p.s, waffles w whipped cream r so much better

[ read on ao3 ]

previous ✩ series masterlist ✩ next

In the early hours of Saturday morning, you felt a hand shaking your shoulder to wake you. Groaning and mumbling, you sleepily swatted the hand away and pulled the covers over your head. No one should be forced to wake up early on the weekends. It was Saturday, for fucks sake. Not to mention your hangover due to last nights mistakes was making your head throb.

The hand rested on your shoulder once more, shaking you gently. “(Y/N),” Mikasa said softly. “Your alarm has been going off for the past 10 minutes. Wake up. I have water and Advil.”

“Nooooo,” you moaned, snuggling deeper into your bed. “Don’ wanna.”

Mikasa stopped bothering you for a moment, and you let your guard down. Finally you could sleep. When it was time to wake up, you’d wake up.

Right as you were about to pass out again, your blanket was roughly tugged off of you. “Mikasaaa!” you whined, covering your face with your hands. “What was that for? I was trying to sleep.”

“Get up. You have to shower and get ready for lunch with Eren today. Breakfast is almost finished,” she explained, setting down the pills and water on your bedside table. “Go brush your teeth and wash your face so you can eat. Now,” she instructed sternly, moving to your window to open the curtains. The bright sunlight hit your still half-asleep face, making you hiss quietly.

She left the room moments after, probably to check up on breakfast. Honestly, you didn’t know how she could function this early in the morning despite having partied all night last night. Curse her and her inability to get hungover.

Grumbling to yourself, you adjusted your sleep clothes that had gotten disheveled overnight to make sure you looked decent. Your sleepy gaze wandered over to your nightstand to see two Advils on a napkin beside a glass of cold water. Thanking every higher power for sending Mikasa to you, you downed both pills and the glass of water. Even though you might bitch and moan to her constantly, you really weren’t lying when you said you’d die without Mikasa.

After sitting down at the edge of your bed for a few moments, you eventually shuffled into the bathroom to brush your teeth and do your morning routine. It took longer than usual thanks to your sluggish and tired movements, but you got done nevertheless.

A wonderful aroma came from the kitchen when you left, stomach grumbling in anticipation for the wonderful food you were about to scarf down. Mikasa was in the process of setting down both your breakfasts on the island, sitting down on the stools when you walked in. “Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” she greeted, resting her chin on her hands.

“Morning, sweet angel,” you replied, sitting at the stool beside her. In front of you was a plate of Funfetti pancakes with whipped cream instead of maple syrup (syrup was for pancakes only). There were a couple of cut up fruits beside them, too. “Where did you get these?” you asked, picking up your fork to take a bite of your breakfast.

Mikasa dug into her own breakfast of oatmeal as soon as you started eating. “Went grocery shopping and saw the mix in the baking aisle. I thought you’d like it,” she explained, taking a bite of her food. “Good?”

Your response was a moan, tilting your head back as you chewed. “Insanely,” you said, cutting up another bite. You stabbed the piece with your fork and guided it to Mikasa, keeping your hand under it to catch anything if it dropped.

She finished her bite and leaned in to take the bite, humming in satisfaction at the taste. “Good,” she nodded.

“They put like crack ‘n this shit,” you said through a full mouth, shoveling forkful after forkful into your mouth.

You could feel Mikasa's judging gaze for eating like a pig, but you didn’t care. All you cared about was eating these crack laced waffles as greedily as possible. “What time are you supposed to meet Eren today?” she asked to make conversation.

You remember drunkenly slurring to her that Eren was supposed to take you out for lunch today while she was trying to put you to bed. All she did was nod and dodge your flailing limbs while she tried to change you into your night clothes.

“Uhhh,” you trailed off, “I dunno actually. I think he’s gonna text me when.” The familiar notification from your phone indicated you had a text from Eren. “Right now.”

ren ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ - 9:04 AM picking u up at 12 dont be late

you - 9:04 AM k

ren ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ - 9:05 AM dont use k with me that makes me sad :(

you - 9:05 AM k

“He says 12,” you told Mikasa, setting your phone back down on the table. You went to go take another bite of your waffles, only to be met with stray bits of whipped cream and waffle crumbs. How disappointing.

“You have time to get ready then,” she said, finishing up the last bit of her own breakfast. Holding her plate, she got up to go put it in the sink, taking your plate for you as well. Literally an angel.

Suddenly, she leaned in to sniff you like the weird English professor you had your freshman year and cringed. “You’re gonna need all the time you can get. You stink.”

Never mind, not an angel.

Grumbling and cursing under your breath, you got off the stool to go take a shower. “And here I was about to offer to get you something for lunch while I was out.”

“A burger from the joint I like would be nice. So would a Coke and side of onion rings.”

“Size?”

“Medium for both.”

You would’ve caved in and bought her something, anyways. Might as well know what she wanted in the first place.

Showering took longer than expected. Most of your time got wasted by you standing under the shower stream and soaking in all the warmth. It wasn’t until Mikasa knocked on the door asking you not to use up all the hot water that made you actually start going through your routine.

The clock read 10:09 when you got out. You still had more time to kill until Eren came, so you elected to sit on your bed in your towel to scroll through social media. At 10:45, you started to get ready for real now.

Your makeup was just enough to cover any imperfections on your face, and your outfit cute enough for a lunch outing with your friend-fuckbuddy.

At 11:50, you stepped out into the living room with your belongings in hand to lounge around while you waited for Eren. You would’ve gone to bug Mikasa, but she had just stepped into the shower minutes prior.

12 on the dot, a rhythmic knocking was rapped on your door, meaning Eren was finally here. Skipping over to the door, you opened it to reveal him while slipping on your shoes.

“Hey,” he grinned when the door opened. He leaned in to give you a kiss on the lips after you’d straightened up from putting on your shoes.

A grin found its way on your lips during the kiss. It only lasted a couple of seconds, ending with you pulling away with a quiet smack. “Hi,” you greeted back.

“Ready to go?” he asked, one hand leaving his jacket pocket to jut his thumb down the hallway towards the elevators.

“Yup, ready,” you said. Over your shoulder, you yelled into the apartment to say goodbye to Mikasa and locking the door once you closed. “Okay, ready for real now.”

There was a new hot pot restaurant near campus, Eren told you, that he so desperately wanted to try. He overheard some people talking about the place in his Stats class, and he’s been wanting to go ever since.

“So, about what I told you last night,” he said, leaning on the table close to you after giving your orders to the waitress. “You said you would help me get Mina.”

“I said it was a bad idea,” you countered, taking a sip of your drink.

“But you said you would help me. For a price.”

“That I… did say,” you sighed. “What’s your plan?”

Smiling, he opened up his jacket and dug into the inner pockets, getting out a small notepad and a pen. Your eyebrows raised at the sight of them. “Okay,” he started, flipping through his notepad. “So I was thinking about it this morning, and this is what I have down so far.”

Sliding it towards you, he waited impatiently for you to read what he had.

Your lips pursed to prevent giggled from leaving your lips. Well, it was a plan, alright. Written in Eren’s chicken scratch of handwriting were a few very simple steps.

eren yaegers fool proof plan to get bitches get mina aka operation rent a gf by eren yaeger 1. talk to mina to get her interested in you ✓ 2. get hot girl ((Y/N)) to pretend to be your gf and show you can be a good bf 3. get mina jealous so she wants you even more and not poopy thomas wanker 4. “break up” with (Y/N) and pretend to be sad 5. get mina to comfort you 6. get bitches make mina your gf 7. pay (Y/N) for her services 8. ta-da!

When you looked up from the notepad, you saw Eren waiting for your answer. “Well? What do you think? Is it any good?” he asked.

“Were you high when you wrote this?” was the first thing you asked him. Eren shook his head innocently. “You’re 100% serious?” He nodded.

You bit your lip, deep in thought about Eren’s supposedly fool proof plan. “What makes you think it’s gonna work?”

“I know girls and how they act. If Paradis University let me major in women -- don’t get smart with me I don’t mean Women Studies -- I would be passing all my classes with flying colors. I know it’ll work, trust me,” he said cockily, leaning back in his chair.

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do. I know you. I know everything about you, (Y/N). I even know how to make you scream my name in--”

“Okay!” you cut him off, not wanting the strangers around you to know the intimate details of your sex life with Eren. “Okay.”

“I knew you were gonna do that. See, I do know women.”

A moment or two passed, both of you staring at each other. You with a deadpan expression, and him with a proud one. You were the first one to break the silence with a heavy sigh. “Okay, say I agree to this. What do I get in return?”

“Anything you want,” he said. “Within reason, of course. Please don’t ask me to like, hide a body or something.”

Ignoring his last comment, you continued speaking, “You’re not allowed to back out of whatever I ask you to, right? If this plan fails or succeeds, you still owe me whatever you promised.”

Eren nodded. “Of course. I swear on it.” He shifted a little so his elbow was on the table, holding out a pinky. Instinctively, you held out your pinky as well and intertwined the both of them. Pinky promises were something you and Eren had been doing for years now. It meant that the other was dead serious on their promise.

The waitress came back with your broth and dipping ingredients, setting them on the table for you right when your pinkes left each other. Thanking the waitress, the two of you talked some more while you waited for the broth to heat up.

“We should make it official. With a contract and set of rules,” he said. “Like that one movie you forced me to watch with you. The Boys I Loved or some shit like that.”

“To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” you corrected.

“Yeah, that. They’re kinda doing something like us, yeah?”

“Guess so,” you shrugged, picking up your chopsticks and a sice of pork belly when the broth started to boil. “After we eat though.”

Idle chatter was shared between the two of you as you ate. Even though you saw each other nearly every day, you never ran out of things to talk to. You could be talking about complete nonsense or how quantum physics made no sense, and you would still have the best time of your life.

By now, the broth had been drunk up and the table had been cleared out to be replaced with banana milk and ice cream. Eren brought out his notepad again to write down the set of rules for your fake relationship while enjoying your desserts.

Good progress had been written so far on the notepad. Both of you had given input and criticism on each rule made. In the end, you finally had a good set of rules written down.

(Y/N) and erens contract and rules for eren yaegers fool proof plan to get mina aka operation rent a gf by eren yaeger 1. act normally. eren and (Y/N) act like a couple already. just double the pda a little more 2. don’t tell anyone about the deal. the more people who believe in the relationship, the more likely it is for the plan to work 3. post each other on ig a lot. maybe add names and a date to bios to make it more believable 4. date night every saturday (go out or just hang out) 5. go to parties together 6. walk each other to class if you can 7. call each other cute pet names 8. after breaking up, the couple act has to stop including the sex 9. DON’T SLIP UP

payment for (Y/N):

Eren tapped a beat on the notepad, reading “payment” over and over again. Eventually he looked up at you, deep in thought. “Have you thought of anything so far?” he asked, clicking the pen to write what you wanted.

This was a tough decision. Eren was ready to give you anything to help him get Mina. You had to be wise and pick something big to take advantage of him. Something you were sure you wouldn’t ever regret getting.

“How about,” you started, trailing off, “you do my laundry for the rest of our time at ParadisU, buy me lunch every Wednesday even after we break up, recommend that godsend of a tutor you keep gatekeeping to help me too, and…”

“And?” Eren asked, looking up from his writing, waiting for your next words.

“All the orgasms I want during our relationship,” you finished, satisfied with what you chose.

“Is that all?” he asked, writing down the last of your words. “That’s a lot.”

“How about I let you know if I wanna add more,” you said. Eren nodded in response. His head hung to look at the notepad again, writing something down. Once he was done, he plaed the pen on the pad and slid it to you.

“Sign it so it’s official,” he instructed.

There were two lines beside each other, one already with Eren’s signature. Without hesitation, you signed your name neatly on the paper, giving the items back to Eren once you were done.

(Y/N) and erens contract and rules for eren yaegers fool proof plan to get mina aka operation rent a gf by eren yaeger 1. act normally. eren and (Y/N) act like a couple already. just double the pda a little more 2. don’t tell anyone about the deal. the more people who believe in the relationship, the more likely it is for the plan to work 3. post each other on ig a lot. maybe add names and a date to bios to make it more believable 4. date night every saturday (go out or just hang out) 5. go to parties together 6. walk each other to class if you can 7. call each other cute pet names 8. after breaking up, the couple act has to stop including the sex 9. DON’T SLIP UP

payment for (Y/N): eren has to do the (Y/N)’s laundry for the rest of university, buy her lunch ever wednesday, get tutor to help her and give her as many orgasms as she wants during the course of the relationship

signed x eren yaeger x (y/n) (l/n)

The two of you shook hands when Eren put away his things, to seal the deal again. The waitress came by again to give you the bill and collect your dirty dishes. Eren set down the cash needed to pay along with a tip in the check presenter before the two of you left.

You walked hand in hand back to Erens car before you realized you missed something. “Wait. What do we tell people when they ask how we got together?” you asked, pausing in your tracks.

Eren stopped with you, turning to look at you. “Um, you can say I confessed after lunch, and that this is technically our first date,” he suggested, tugging your hand to walk back to the car.

“Huh. Okay. That works,” you nodded.

The two of you got into the car a little bit past 2:30 in the afternoon, ready to go home. “Wait,” you said again, making Eren pause. “Mikasa wanted a burger from that one joint near our apartment. Could you take me there first?”

Eren smiled and nodded, starting the car. “Of course. Burger with medium Coke and onion rings?”

“How did you know?”

“She always gets that when we go there.”

“Huh… I guess you’re right.”

“When am I not?”

"Always."

taglist - @thestrugglesofateenagedirtbag , @lazalee , @countthemoons , @se-va-muriendo-mialma , @liaxxx109 , @prxttyguardian , @jeansbabycake

italic names, it wouldn't let me tag you!

3rensgf © 2021 ; do not repost or translate my work.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 15

(Masterpost)(Other Canary Content)

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

This rewatch is going to fit into a single post, because a third of the episode is just crying and yelling on a very slow boat. If you want to learn the Chinese words for “Mother” and “Father” this is your episode. 

Captain Blowhard

Clan Leader Yao shows up, having barely survived the massacre of his clan, along with two disciples who aren't too excited about their unwilling promotion to top targets. Jiang Cheng tells his dad that the Wens are systematically exterminating the smaller clans, and have said anyone who helps the survivors is going to be punished. 

Jiang Fengmian tells Yao that the Jiang Clan will protect him. Which is why Wei Wuxian is responsible for the massacre of the Jiang Clan. 

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both think that taking Yao to the Jin clan is the best way to keep him safe. Wei Wuxian was wrong to help the heirs of the powerfullest richest clans, but sure, let's save this asshole.

Road Tripping

The boys go down to the dock to send Jiang Yanli and Jiang Fengmian off, saying a formal goodbye with a bunch of disciples and showing off how extremely good they look in these close-fitted, simply cut robes with cool belts.

Yu Ziyuan comes down to say goodbye to Yanli and give her some medicine, covering by saying it's for Jiang Fengmian, because being sick is bad for marriage prospects, probably. 

Later the boys will mention their hope that YZY will be mollified by the time JFM returns, which means this possibly isn't the usual state of their relationship. The dislike and jealousy seem to be constant, but perhaps being openly at war with each other is not.

(more after the cut!)

Club Ruohan

At Club Ruohan, Wen Ruohan is tired of sitting on his big uncomfortable throne so he's sitting on the floor next to it, instead. He's suffering the embarrassing problem of black smoke leakage, and needs Wen Qing to give him acupuncture to fix it, but she's not around. Wen Ruohan has an awful lot of trouble containing resentful energy, possibly because he is controlling a bunch of zombies 24x7 instead of letting them take a break. Wei Wuxian is mostly able to control it--except when he, you know, totally isn't--without ever needing an attractive acupuncturist to give him a poke.

WRH learns from Wen Chao that Wei Wuxian 1. killed a boss-level monster on nightmare level difficulty without his sword 2. took whatever thing had been suppressing the nightmare monster for the previous really long time.  WRH wants whatever it is.

Boys in Charge

When the boys get back to Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng doesn't understand why they couldn't all go to the Lins together, and Wei Wuxian explains it to him. Wei Wuxian is the one seeing the big picture, and he wants to plan how to handle the Wen forces when they, inevitably, arrive. 

Jiang Cheng would rather talk big than actually plan, showing how--at this age--his anger management problem is an issue on a strategic level, not just a personal one.  As a clan leader he will eventually master this aspect, for the most part, and learn to keep a cool head in regard to martial matters, while continuing to feed his interpersonal rage problem.

The brothers supervise the archery practice of the Jiang disciples, having their last nice time together, and still without a plan. Wei Wuxian is bored and calls practice early so he can go be bored on the porch or in his room, since he isn't allowed out. In fact he's so bored by lockdown that he starts an irreverent niche blog.  

(he’s kidding! keep your mask on, don’t go to wine houses)

Knowing that the Wen Clan is gunning for enemy cultivators, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng send the whole group of disciples, including children, outside the compound walls to retrieve their kites. This is what happens when you don't have a plan.

Wen the Levee Breaks

Wen Chao’s girlfriend Wang Lingjiao finds a kite with a hole in it and uses it as a pretext to snatch up the youngest disciple. 

The other disciples come running back and tell WWX and JC what happened. Wei Wuxian calmly gets all of the information from them and starts figuring out what to do, while Jiang Cheng freaks out. 

Jiang Cheng is a good fighter, and matures into an excellent one after a core upgrade and war experience. But Wei Wuxian is a born battle leader, developing strategies on the fly and staying cool under pressure.

Madame Yu is as brave as a barrel full of bears and Yinzhu and Jinzhu chase lions down the stairs

Yu Ziyuan and the murder twins show up and all of the disciples line up behind them, relieved to have someone scary in charge.. Yu Ziyuan is also a natural leader and an awesome fighter, but her judgement is terrible, as we're about to discover. 

Bitchfest

Wang Lingjiao strolls in to the main hall and has the nerve to comment on the interior decorating, because it doesn't have enough rough-hewn black rock and lava pits, apparently.

She shows them all the kite and says that because it looks (kind of) like the sun, using it for target practice is an attack on the Wen Clan. Bitch, everything your clan wears and uses has fire on it and is red. The sun is not your emblem, no matter what the text says. This kite situation is presumably where the anti-Wen campaign gets its name of "Sunshot," however, which sounds pretty cool.

Wang Lingjiao moves along to her main point, which is that Wei Wuxian needs his ass kicked, and she'd like Yu Ziyuan to do the kicking. To goad her, she starts talking about the rumors about Wei Wuxian's parentage.

Let it Whip

So let it whip (let's whip it, baby) Get a grip (let's whip it baby) Well, what's your trip? (Oh no)

Yu Ziyuan takes the bait, and proceeds to whip the shit out of her strongest battle asset, in a sequence that's either horrifying or completely fucking awesome, depending on how you feel about whump.

There are a lot of bad effects in this show and a lot of questionable fighting, but any time Zidian flies, I am HERE for it. I gave this beatdown its own gifset over here.

Jiang Cheng is devastated and tries again and again to protect Wei Wuxian, but his mother and her lieutenants keep moving him out of the way so the beating can continue.

Yu Ziyuan hits Wei Wuxian at least 5 times, until he is totally unable to get up off the floor. Wang Lingjiao has succeeded in eliminating him as a threat for the moment.

Gotta Hand It To You

Wang Lingjiao isn't satisfied with the brutal whipping, however; she wants his right hand as a trophy, and for him to be unable to recover.  Yu Ziyuan tells Jinzhu and Yinzhu to close the doors because some blood is going to fly. 

I'd like to think this is when Yu Ziyuan decides to kill the Wens, rather than maiming WWX, but I'm not certain. Because she doesn't start attacking until after Wang Lingjiao says the Wens are taking Lotus Pier, and tells her to discipline Jiang Cheng. So maybe she is okay with taking WWX’s hand, but draws the line at giving up her house.

Through all of this, Wei Wuxian doesn't once protest, even when he thinks they're getting ready to take his hand off. He'll do whatever it takes to make peace. THIS is the core of his heroism; he will sacrifice anything to do what he thinks is right. He's not "playing the hero;" not doing this for fame or kudos, but for a clear conscience.

It’s a Murder Party

Wang Lingjiao explains the new Wen World order, and Yu Ziyuan smacks her to the floor and then takes out all 8 of the Wen soldiers in one elegant move. 

Can we talk about how incredibly effective a fighter Yu Ziyuan is, without a sword? With her first-class spiritual tool as her only weapon? Nobody is telling her she needs to carry a sword. She shows she can use one, after she gives Zidian to Jiang Cheng, but she's absolutely devastating without one.

Having defied Wang Lingjiao, Yu Ziyuan...doesn't kill her. She chokes her, slaps her and yells at her. Then she insults her clan and sticks her FOOT on her FACE.

She sics the murder twins on the guards in the room, and they shank all of them at super speed while the boys watch with alarm. 

Then she has them sloooowly advance on Wang Lingjiao, giving her plenty of time to holler for Wen Zhuliu before they can kill her.

Het Heat

Wen Zhuliu comes flying in, literally, kicking both murder twins across the room at the same time. This is followed by Core-Melting Hand x Violet Spider suddenly becoming the most shippable M/F couple in this thing, because wow, they have some serious chemistry.

I never saw a pretty girl look so tough

Actor Feng Mingjing continues to do an awful lot with almost no lines, in his portrayal of Wen Zhuliu. WZL politely apologizes to Yu Ziyuan. Is he offering to withdraw, or is he just being polite before getting down to the killy bit? Either way, Yu Ziyuan is ready to rumble, and doesn't even consider de-escalating.

You know who was able to rein in his temper, after fighting with this same extremely dangerous dude, and therefore lived to fight another day? Fucking Nie Mingjue, that's who, who has a generational CURSE making him angry. While Yu Ziyuan, is like, "fuck the safety of my clan, this is Wei Wuxian's fault anyway" and throws down.

Wen Zhuliu and Yu Ziyuan proceed to have an epic, sexy fight, where he catches her whip and she dodges his attempt to feel up her core.

He's a magic man, mama, he's got the magic hands.

Wei Wuxian, still incapacitated, tells Jiang Cheng to stop Wang Lingjiao from calling for help, but JC gets distracted by the threat to his mom, and goes to engage with Wen Zhuliu.

Jiang Cheng takes a horrifying smack in the chest, which injures him and takes him out, while Wang Lingjiao sends the signal that seals the fate of Lotus Pier.

It’s All Over Except for the Crying

Yu Ziyuan immediately sees that she's lost the battle, and has the murder twins divert Wen Zhuliu while she brings the two boys to the pier. 

She verifies that Jiang Cheng's core is still intact, showing the viewers, for future reference, that it's possible to tell by touch if someone's core is missing, although a casual touch won't do it.  

Then she re-codes the Zidian so that it recognizes Jiang Cheng and puts it on his wrist. She follows this with a display of maternal affection for Jiang Cheng unlike anything we've seen so far, which super fails to reassure him.  

She follows this up with screaming at Wei Wuxian and telling him how much she hates him, and blaming him for the multiple shitty choices she just made..  

With a heart full of rage, she reminds him that his worth lies in what he can do for more important people.

She binds the boys with Zidian and then sends the boat on its way....

...with a frickin' TALISMAN, holeee shit. As toxic as she is for Wei Wuxian, there is a direct line from her cultivation skills to his.  

Dad To The  Rescue...sort of

The last third of the episode is basically yelling and crying punctuated by a couple of interactions out on the water. The extreme emotions go on for long enough that I eventually stop feeling bad for the characters and start feeling bad for the actors, who had to maintain this level of feeling for probably days of shooting.

The boys eventually meet up with Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli. JFM discovers that Zidian responds to his control, which tells him something is very, very wrong, since it probably knows how his wife feels about him.

This thing isn’t biting me; your mom is in serious trouble. 

Here Jiang Fengmian decides to do the heroic, totally futile thing, which is exactly his style. He tosses Jiang Yanli in with the boys and takes his leave so he can go die with his wife while the children survive.  

He has to know that Yu Ziyuan is the stronger fighter of the two of them, and that he's not going back to rescue her. He's just going to stand with her and die together, which is the most romantic thing you can do in a C-drama, after all.  

How Much Do You Owe the Jiang Clan?

Jiang Fengmian tells his two children not to cry, making them and the viewer cry extra hard. (specially ouchy gifset here).

Then he turns to Wei Wuxian and, with a heart full of tenderness, reminds him that his worth lies in what he can do for more important people.

Next episode: Is going to be even more horrible! 

Soundtrack: 1. When The Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin 2. The Tale of Custard the Dragon (poem) by Ogden Nash 3. Let it Whip by the Dazz Band 4. U Got the Look by Prince & Sheena Easton 5. Magic Man by Heart

[astroninaaa]

Hot take a talk about technoblade:

Okay look I've been part of this fandom since August(thank god cuz i watched it all live and it woukd be a nightmare to caatch up) I bring this up cuz i want to discuss my problem with technos character. I have watched every single techno livestream that he made on dream smp and believe it or not i used to be a techno sympathiser that is until doomsday. (By techno apologist standards i am qualified to talk about his character hooray..)

Now techno like every character is flawed if he wasn't he would be boring fandom. One of his biggest flaws is being a hypocrite. That is not something you realise until you compare what he says all the time so you need to look a little deeper to realise it and i don't blame people for not seeing it.

This wouldn't be that much of a problem because that is a character flaw among with many others but the problem that his character has faced is that he doesn't develop much.

Now i hear techno apologist jump at me every single time noooo he isn't a stagnant character he has developed a lot. I am not saying that he hasn't developed at all the problem is that he has developed very little especially when you consider everything.

His goals his ideas his perception of the world what he believes him everything that makes his character him hasn't changed much and that is not a good thing from a writing perspective. Now why do i bring this up. Firstly I'm not saying this to say techno is a bad writer far from it he can be very good when he puts his mind to it. The problem with keeping a character in this state is that it's very harmful for said character first and to the story and other characters second. Look even at yourselves i can guarantee that you aren't the exact same person you were like five years ago for example because during that time you made mistakes learned from them and you grew. Just like in real life you also can't stay stagnant in fiction.

Okay so that's the main problem with technos character that he is stagnant as a character. Now this wouldn't be as big of a problem if he didn't have the role that he has.

You see techno both c! and cc! are very good at the game basically. Now why do i bring this up. The reason why i bring this up is bc of where this places techno whuch is at the very top of the chain don't try and seny it. This means that he is one of the most powerful people on the server if you are going to try and go against this point just look at lmanberg guys that's living proof of how powerful and how terrifying he actually is. I know a lot of you are gonna say but every can get stacked or play the game but you guys forget that even if you are stacked you just don't have the skill and cc! Techno of the best people when it comes to that which bleeds into his character. Saying that is like looking at the upper class than looking at the lower class saying just get rich like it doesn't work like that.

Because of his role techno is literally the 1% by rl standards which means he can a lit of things free of consequences bc no one can give him said consequences. The butcher army was ig an attempt at that but they failed miserably let's be real here.

Because he is in the 1% is incredibly skilled at pvp and can do anything bc no one can challenge him this places him on a pedestal and creates a power imbalance a very big one at that.

And that leads to his biggest problem he has practically everything as said by Techno himself and is never challenged, but that's not an interesting character. An audience gets tired for a character that always wins or loses. Because if it happens repeatedly it just takes all the suspense oh he will win immediately. He will go and slaughter them problem solved. That's it every time. Something that techno himself confirmed is then when he has a problem he just stabs it (both of these were said during the egg stream).

And if you are going to bring the things he went through to say he's changed don't cuz as long as he doesn't act on it it means nothing. Like examples Red festival killed tubbo an ally. Traumatic experience right? This is a good moment to develop his character and give us more insight. What happens? Techno tries to dismiss it and shows us his anxiety and gives us insight on his character Great! Character development? Starting to question himself just a bit or any sign of that event having an effect on him? Nope! Why? Cuz he doesn't act on it instead he tries to hide the fact that ever happened and changes to a different topic bc there is no justification there and he knows it. Nov 16th c!technos pov he just got betrayed caused some damage wished death upon his former allies and left. Quite a dramatic scene. He feels betrayed time for some good old character development. Him thinking about himself and his actions. Reflecting on them. Great moment! Problem: literally everything that shows this is done off camera and now suddenly he's retired... Okay you know what fine it's alright he would probably expand upon and did a timeskip to explain the ling time he didn't stream. I see where it's comming from. The butcher army ge gets hunted down bc actions have consequences techno and you can't just run away like that not after doing that. Great point from the butcher army. Go give him some consequences his character needs it. And then he gets executed alright a bit too far but i guess that's how it goes in this server. Techno gets his life back immediately.. well that was a bit pointless but alright a cool scene for the animatic fair. Then he kills quackity.. the butcher army lost.. this.. what? But this was the moment of consequences... and quackity didn't get it back like techno the butcer aemy lost more than techno what? Moving along he teams up with tommy aannnd the 50 withers are up and ready of course you didn't fully retire what was i expecting. And now team up with tommy perfect way to learn about dream and give more insight on lmanberg and how dream is a tyrant and everything techno is supposed to stand against. The green festival tommy chooses tubbo over techno techno feels betrayed understandable.... and then he teams up with dream lmanberg is destroyed and the underdogs are beaten to the ground loose everything they ever worked for and are taught to be scared of the anarchists?!?!?!?!

Okay now hold up a sec I'll have to stop you right there. What. did. you. just. do. Cuz there is a limit to the amount of stuff you can let a character get away with. The line was crossed months ago this is not good at all.

Also what are yoi guys talking about consequences. Lives? All 3 home? Right there pets? The ones that died were the ones he brought expecting to not live he brought them there on purpose so they don't count. He is one of the most wealthy peoole on the server (no one beats ranboo lol) what did he exactly loose? Friendships? Was that all the hardships you guys have?

Lmanberg lost their home their lives their wealth their pets their friend everything they loved and lived for everything they stood for they lost a part of themselves in the end.

Look at the last 2 paragraphs and how imbalanced that is. How are you guys blind to this How?! And why did doomsday happen? Because the butcher army failed. And if anything techno proved them that they should have punished him harder with this.

So what was the lesson of doomsday?

That you shoukd obey the people on top and never go against them or you will loose everything you love.

Great lesson guys this is exactly the lesson the rich class and every single tyrant tried to teach society and this lesson is being told by the anarchist great job....

Do you see the problem now. This is the reason techno needs a consequence bc if he keeps going like this he will become a Mary Sue. And that is a horrible direction for a character that has a lot of potential. That potential is why i liked his character that much in the beginning but now it's almost non existent. Anyway I'll end this now cuz this went on for too long. That's basically my opinion on it feel free to share your thoughts.

okay. okay. i read this like three times bc. because look

i agree in some very specific points, but i disagree in very broad manners.

(this entire......... essay is all /rp and /nm!!!!)

anyways. send me hot takes!!!

i like c!techno. i personally think he's one of the most fun characters to watch because i enjoy the mess, the crazyness, the chaos of it all. watching doomsday through c!tommy's eyes was painful. watching doomsday through c!techno's eyes was just so fucking hilarious and exciting and fun. he's just a fun character to watch. he's just Funny. i am a fan. however

for starters: ctechno is, 100%, out of the park, an stagnant character. he has little to no development throughout the story. we see no changes in how he acts. that's not necessarily a bad thing, but considering the type of character he is, watching him develop (be it to an actually full-fledged villain or towards a redemption arc) would be ideal to keep him a character people can actually support.

i wouldn't say he's a hypocrite. c!techno has a very strict moral code and he follows it with no hesitation, with no doubts. the point is that his moral code is flawed and skewed. that doesn't make him a hypocrite, that makes him someone with bad morals.

calling c!techno "the 1%" is a stretch. for one- c!ranboo has as much resources, if not more, as c!techno does. he has dozens of totems, thousands of emeralds, and probably has one of the higher counts of diamond and netherite on the server. why is that never brought up? because it doesnt matter. c!foolish has so much gold and diamonds and netherite and just everything, really, and it's also never brought up/a reason for people to be afraid of him. the dream smp isn't a capitalist universe, there's no "1%". specially bc there's, like, i don't know, 20 players? that makes c!techno 1/20 OR 3/20 if we count c!ranboo and c!foolish. but that's not the point at all: the point is that ctechno is feared bc he's skilled and has a relevant personality, not bc he has resources. c!wilbur has no shit and he's still terrifying, there's no character willing to oppose him. not because of resources, but because of who he is. when c!techno first fled from l'manburg into "retirement" he had no shit either, it took him a while to be rich again. no one attacked him either way.

why, you ask? bc he fought against c!quackity with a fucking pickaxe and won. that's why. c!techno doesn't need resources to be feared. the power imbalance doesn't come from his resources, it comes from others’s fear. and they have a reason for that fear, bc c!techno hasn't been defeated yet. that has nothing to do with "upper class" and "lower class". because, one, not a capitalist system and class disparity isn't as simple as that, and two, even without his "riches" he still wins, bc he's got the skill. if you take out the skill, him being rich means nothing and he wouldve been easily killed by the butcher army or c!tommy or whoever decided to kill him. a good example is, once again, c!ranboo: if he wasn't friends with everyone and someone decided to actually fight him like was done with c!techno, he would've died. easily. being rich in the smp is relative.

c!techno will be challenged when we have a character strong enough to challenge him in a way that matters. it's important to be smart about it. that's why i'd love to see, out of everyone, c!philza turn against him, but that's a how other discussion (WHICH I'M WILLING TO TALK ABOUT.......... everytime i make these and i add little point i dont elaborate on and then say i'm willing to talk about them and no one ever asks me to <//3 PAIN /nm /lh).

i do think he's a character that just Always Win in narrative ways and that's very frustrating. he does need to get pulled a few notches down. again, that will only happen when we have a character that can step up to him and challenge him in a way that matters (woooo c!philza you want to hold c!techno accountable for his bullshit so bad woooo........)

now, onto c!techno's trauma. he doesn't need to show it. he- he doesn't. that's........ not how trauma works, and that's one of the points that make his trauma so forgettable for the viewers. c!techno is, from inside out, a character that hardly shows his emotions, but that doesn't mean he doesn't display symptons of trauma. he does, they're just a lot more subtle than other characters's. that doesn't mean he doesn't have any or that he isn't affect by it. c!techno is, in a lot of ways, a lot like c!tubbo: both of them don't mention the shit they've gone through and don't react to it and bc of that some of the viewers don't see how important some traumatic events were in their characterisation. that's why you analyse those characters's trauma through behavior, not through easily seen displays of trauma.

i do think it's taken a little too far with c!techno. the way he reacted to c!tommy's death was...... disappointing, to say the least. c!techno is an underwhelming character in many ways. as said before, it's because he's stagnant. that definitely needs to be worked on.

about the syndicate? yeah, no. theyre not teaching others to fear them. others just Do That bc of their history on the server, but they have literally talked about how they want to better their reputation, bc they don't want to be seen as murderers or oppressors in any way. are they flawed? yes, very much. they have no indicators of what is or isn't a government and they show no regard around the importance of a difference between an oppressive and a democratic government.

they had no right to show up at c!tubbo's door and interrogate him, because they can't appoint themselves as government police. for starters, that's not how anarchy works (they should've had everyone's permission for that. they obviously don't), but also it's just... stupid. it makes it seem that they're trying to boss everyone around so that they live like the syndicate wants them to, which goes directly against the syndicate's own ideals. however, c!techno thinks he has that right. he thinks this is what he's supposed to do. he's just following his moral code - his moral code is just deeply, deeply flawed. what he says and what he does contradict each other but not for him, not to his interpretation. to his interpretation, he's following his strict moral code.

what happened at doomsday was horrible and c!techno has to be held accountable for it, yes, but, again, no character knows how to work around c!techno enough to hold him accountable for it. that's not c!techno's fault.

l'manburg just deserved better, honestly, but to be fair c!techno has been taken advantage of time and time again (sometimes purposefully, sometimes not) and he's fucked up in the head, god bless LMAOOOOOOO

i agree that things need to change otherwise he's just gonna keep being a stagnant character who can get away with everything. i do think he has more to him than meets the eye, tho. meh idk that's still just analysis!!! we have no way of knowing the intent behind c!techno's characterisation, at least not for now. i hope for the best tho cc!techno don't let me down <3

[mell-bell]

Fight so dirty (but your love so sweet)

The Mandalorian x Reader

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Words: 3571                         

Series Summary: You are sent to hunt down a Mandalorian, the odds aren’t exactly in your favor

Chapter: 1/8

Author’s notes: So I haven’t written in forever because LIFE but I love Mando over here soooooo I had to write something but also just finished this at 2 am so if there are spelling or grammar errors my apologies anyways I hope you enjoy!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had been hired to hunt down a Mandalorian.

When your Commander personally called to pull you out of the field and into Headquarters, you knew it must be for a covert mission.  

Typically, when you were given a new assignment, you would receive a short message on your comlink, which would send you on your way. But a face to face meeting, especially in your line of business, was almost unheard of.

So, without wasting a second, you packed up your encampment and slipped stealthily into the cargo-bay of the nearest ship bound closest to your Headquarters.

The ride itself was bumpy, and as your head slammed against the box you were hidden behind for the umpteenth time, you silently promised yourself to never leave your ship at Headquarters ever again.

A couple of hours later, you stumbled unsteadily out of the ship, not even trying to stay hidden from the crew whose ship you had stowed away on.

As you yawned, almost tripping down the ramp, you heard a shout behind you as one of the crew members caught sight of you. Turning, you threw him a wink and a salute before you took off into the crowd in front of you, vanishing among the vast volume of people.

With your signature red cape sweeping behind you, the citizens in the street immediately steered from your path, trying to keep out of your way and away from your famous temper.

Everybody who was anybody knew who you were and that you were not to be trifled with.

Your Commander and your troop had made somewhat of a name for yourselves on this planet. You served the highest buyers and did whatever needed to be done. Murder. Stealing. Assassinations. Bribing. Threatening. Bodyguarding. Sometimes even peacekeeping. It wasn’t always the best job, but it was a stable one, and it gave you more than enough money to survive comfortably.

You had only been working with your Commander for a few years but had quickly risen in the ranks when you earned her trust after saving her life. It wasn’t rare for a client to try and murder you, but trying to murder the Commander was a different story. But instead of succeeding, he found himself 10 feet underground. Thanks to you.

When you reached headquarters, you entered without knocking, slamming open the door to the Command Center.

Commander Trax leveled you with a glare when one of the rookies, startled from the door, spilled their drink all over her paperwork.

“Scram.”

The young rookie went red in the face and took off out the door before you could even say a word.

“You could be nicer to them.”

Trax scoffed motioning for you to take a seat, “That’s how they’ll get killed.”

“I haven’t.”

She squinted her eyes at you, “I’m not nice to you.”

“Mhm, sure we both know you basically adopted me.” You snorted as you settled yourself in the chair across from her, swinging your legs up to rest on the table.

Trax pushed a folder toward you but you didn’t take it yet, instead deciding to relax for a moment leaning back against the chair with your eyes closed.

“I have a mission for you.”

A pause.

“What kind?” You responded.

“Search and recovery.”

Your eyes opened slightly, squinting at her, “Thing?”

“Person.”

You rolled your eyes, “Boring. I want something more exciting.”

“He’s a Mandalorian.”

You froze, your face blank as your searched Trax’s face for a lie, “You’re shitting me.”

Trax motioned to the folder in front of you, and you quickly slid your feet off the table before pulling the folder to you, flipping through the pages.

Your jaw dropped open, “This man is a legend, why do we need to find him?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

Your mind was racing and you whispered to yourself, “But who would want a Mandalorian?”

“The mission brief is in there. You find him, and you bring what is in his position. It is called the asset, another life form.”

You hummed thoughtfully to yourself as you continued flipping through the file, before you stood, “Sounds easy enough to me.”

As you made your way past Trax, she grabbed your arm and pulled you in close, whispering in your ear, “Be careful. We are messing with some really powerful people. If you don’t succeed, don’t come back.”

Your eyes flashed for a minute thinking she was trying to get rid of you, but you realized that she wasn’t saying this to scare you. She was trying to protect you.

If you failed, you would be killed.

You nodded solemnly, gripping the file tighter, before stalking out the door.

Your heart was pounding hard as you boarded your ship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had grown up with bounty hunters. Knew how to talk like one and work like one. A Mandalorian was different though. You know that it would be hard to find someone who knew how to stay hidden.

But you had a young and trusting face, and you could easily play the victim to find whoever you needed. Even him. All you needed was to make a fool of someone who had seen him.

After arriving on his last known location, and scouring the area for information about a man sporting a helmet and misplaced armor, you were able to scrounge up enough information to begin your search. It took you a few days but you were finally able to locate him. Some low-level dealer had easily been bribed with a few chips.

And that is how you found yourself camped out on the roof of his motel room. The hours passed and it grew colder, but you didn’t move. When it began to rain you groaned, silently cursing this stupid bounty hunter for not being back yet.

As it passed midnight, you began to nod off, but suddenly awoke when you finally heard footsteps and door slam below.

Sliding down the side of the building, you slipped into the room, your hand moving to your stun gun. But before you could even wrap your finger around it, you felt a blaster push into your back.

“Why are you here?”

You held up your hands, “Looking for a man in a helmet, have you seen him?”

The man behind you didn’t say a word, and you took that as an invitation to turn around.

Throwing him a wide smile, you looked him up and down, your eyes lingering on his body,  focusing on the weakest links in his armor and where it would hurt the most to hit him. With a wink, you turned on your heel and walked over to one of the beds, falling down to rest against the headboard, your legs stretched out.

“Hope you don’t mind, I am so tired. It’s been a long day looking for you.”

“Why?” His voice was gruff. You could tell by his stance that he was tired, and the weariness in his voice confirmed it.

You shrugged, “I have my orders. You have yours. Where’s your little buddy I’ve heard so much about.”

His fingers twitched and your eyes flicked down as you watched them hesitate around the trigger of his blaster.

“Get out.”

You tsked, leaning forward to fluff up the pillow behind you, “No can do buddy. Like I said I have orders. If I don’t bring you in, then I die.”

“Not my problem.” He holstered his weapon and moved to stand against the wall.

You sighed, pushing yourself to your feet. You shot forward, standing in front of him in seconds. Startled, the man reached for his blaster. But went he to aim it at you, his arm froze and he looked down at it confused, as he seemed to fight with it.

A sound echoed from the corner of the room and you looked around in confusion, catching sight of something behind the Mandalorian in front of you. Squinting, you stepped around the man, who made a move to try to stop you but growled when he couldn’t move more than an inch.

A floating orb sat in the corner, and as you grew closer you saw a creature inside. Reaching out toward his green hand, his eyes made contact with you as he made a cooing sound.

The man behind you grunted and you spun.

“This is it? The asset? It’s a child!” You whispered horrified.

“I know.”

You ran a hand over your face, waving wildly at the baby, “I can’t give a child to those people.”

“What people?”

“I don’t know!” Your voice was becoming louder, “But my Commander said they would kill me. They would most definitely have no qualms killing a child. You need to get out of here.”

“What about you?”

Your stomach dropped but waved it off with a gentle laugh, and an unsure smile, “I’ll be fine.”

“I-“

He hesitated.

You stood there. Watching this man who seemed to be at war with himself. A few seconds later, he finally sighed.  

“...could use a crewmember.”

You answered before you could stop yourself, “Yes.”

The man nodded and sat on a bed. When you didn’t move, he motioned from you to the other bed across the room.

Cautiously, you walked past the man and settled down on the bed, fully dressed. With one last look at the helmeted man, who may or may not be sleeping, you closed your eyes.

But you didn’t sleep. Your hand remained wrapped around your blaster all night. And you’re sure his did too.  

Goddamn bleeding heart. Goddamn Mandalorian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That goddamn man.

He barely spoke. Didn’t respond to any of your questions. Didn’t even stay in the same room as you for longer than a few minutes.

You were slowly losing your mind.

You would help around the ship. Fix things. Be back-up when he went into cities. Or babysit. But you needed connection. Real human connection. Just someone to talk to.

All you had was the child.

And while his cooing was cute. It wasn’t the type of conversation you craved.

It had been two weeks since you joined the Mandalorian and the little green child, who was apparently 50 years old. That was the only thing you had been able to get out to the helmeted man.  And you had tried everything to get closer to him. Or even just learn his name.

You thought you had a chance one night when the man in question came home with a deep cut. You had rushed over to help him, but he had yelled at you to stay away.

You ignored him for three days after that.

Not that he noticed.

However, when this trend of getting injured continued to be a frequent occurrence, you finally stood your ground.

After listening to him grunt in pain for the tenth time, you stalked into his room and stood in front of him. When he said nothing, you growled and pushed him down, “Let. Me. Do. My. Job.” You said through gritted teeth.

He did.

He trusted you more after that. Let you wrap up his wounds. Said ‘good morning’ to you. Even stayed in the room with you now, instead of hightailing it every time he saw you.  

And then, when you saved his life, he was indebted to you.

He had been mad at first because he had told you to remain put he went to grab things from the market. But you hadn’t. You had shouldered your bag, pulling on one of his dark capes from his closet, before taking off after him.

When you had finally caught up with him, you saw him about to be overrun. Without thinking, you opened fire dropping all three of the men within seconds.

Swinging around blaster raised, the man offered you a nod of thanks. More communication than you had had in weeks.

(And he even let you keep his cape.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later and you couldn’t deal with the silence anymore. If you listened to the green child coo for one more second, you thought your head was going to explode. So you sat down across from the Mandalorian and held out your hand.

“I’m Y/N. I worked under Commander Trax before being basically kidnapped by you. I was to retrieve you for.... I’m not even sure who but I’m guessing it’s the people that hired you to find the green baby over there.”

The man looked out your outstretched hand.

He sighed (his favorite pastime) and you waited a moment, hoping he would respond.

And when he did your heart skipped a beat.

His gloved hand engulfed yours.

“Y/N. I know of you. Commander Trax is good people. My family has worked with her in the past. You’re a bounty hunter?”

“More or less.”

“Family?”

“No.”

“Killed?”

“Yep.”

“That must be lonely.”

You froze, swallowing hard, “Well, I’m used to it. Especially after spending two weeks with a helmeted man who doesn’t talk.”

He was quiet for a few minutes before moving closer to you.

After a second, he began to speak, softly and slowly about how his family had died when he was younger. How the Mandalorians had taken him in as a foundling and made him who he was today. How he had a family and friends. But had lost too many good people when the Empire fell. After losing his own partner, he swore never to get close to anybody again. He dedicated his time and earnings to sponsor new foundlings.

As he continued speaking, you began to relax in his presence. Everything he spoke of was different than your life but it felt almost the same. You had both experienced your fair share of loss and pain. The way you distanced yourself from others to avoid making connections you would ultimately lose in the fight. Or the way that you followed orders because they had been drilled in your head at such a young age.

A few days later, you finally got up the nerve to ask him where you were headed.

“Need to know.” Was his response, but you could hear the smile on his face.

You were finally starting to be able to read this man. This man who seemingly showed no emotion. But he did. If you looked and listened close enough.

You smiled, “Could we at least spar or something to pass the time? I need to be prepared if something happens.”

“Nothing will happen.” But his voice wavered. He cleared his throat to play it off, but you caught it.

“Something always happens.”

His head turned to yours and though you couldn’t see his eyes you knew he understood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You ducked as a fist came flying at your head, a smile growing on your face as you knew exactly what your opponent’s next move would be.

Or so you thought.

Your arm darted out, ready to slam into his stomach, but before you could make contact, your legs were swept out from beneath you, and you slammed to the ground.

You slammed your fists into the ground as the man above you chuckled.

“I told you. You won’t succeed”

You tried to push yourself up, but your arm screamed in pain and you crashed back to the ground with a yelp. Taking a deep breath, you blinked away the sparks of light dancing across your vision, letting out an exaggerated groan as a foot lightly kicked your side.

A hand came into view.

Taking it, he hauled you up onto your feet.  

“Enough.” He warned.

Flashes of light were still sparkling across your vision and your body felt as if you had fallen 10 stories, but out of habit, your leg slid back as you lifted your fists.

“Again.” You pleaded.

The man hesitated before his arms rose once more.

You rushed forward but realized too late that he was going to take you down. He swept your legs out again, but this time you took him down with you. You squealed as you realized you were going crash to the ground, the heavily armed man on top of you. But at the last second, the man twisted, taking the brunt of the fall as you fell on top of him.

“Ow.”

The man beneath you snorted.

You pushed yourself up on his chest so you could see his masked face. You smiled at him widely. And then froze, as you watched his hand come up slowly before brushing a piece of hair out of your face. His gloved thumb brushed across your cheek and you leaned into his hand.

“I-“ But before you could, a cooing sound startled the both of you.

Your heads shot to the side, catching sight of your little green friend standing not five feet away from the two of you.

Stumbling to your feet, both of you refused to look at each other.

You cleared your throat before rushing over to the little green guy before picking him up, “What are you doing over here!” You exclaimed, before placing him back into his orb.  

“This isn’t over.” The Mandalorian said as he passed by you, a hint of a joke in his voice.  

You sighed in relief, teasingly flipping him off, before quickly rushing out of the room your face bright red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things had been going too well for too long. You still weren’t sure where you were going but that didn’t matter as long as you were still alive.

You and the Mandalorian talked more nowadays. You shared things with each other. Talked about stupid things. He was still a man of few words, but he seemed to care deeply. Especially for the little green child he had saved. And you as well it seemed.

After that one day after sparring, you had both been cautious about your touches. Neither of you were sure what it had meant.

But when his hand brushed against your back a few days later and you didn’t jump out of your skin, the light touches began. A shoulder touch. Brushing of hands. Once he had even brushed an eyelash off your cheek.

Everything was going well.

But good things didn’t last forever.

When you landed on a new planet. The Mandalorian had stated you were going to be there for a while. So you figured you might as well go to town to find some supplies.

A woman in the market had helped you pick out some clothing and personal items. Afterward, you had thanked her profusely and tipped her generously.

As you rounded the corner, whistling to yourself, you ran headfirst into a man in black. Offering your apologies, you tried to sidestep him only to be grabbed and shoved back into the wall. You began to fight back but just as you attacked, something hit you hard over the head and you blacked out.

When you woke, smoke was billowing from a fire in front of you.

You weren’t in the city anymore. The desert sand blew around you, no civilization to be seen for miles.

You tried to move, but your arms were tied behind your back. As you tried to shuffle yourself into a seated position, a foot came out of nowhere slamming into your side, causing pain to splinter through you.

Another foot came down, slamming your head into the ground, a rock tearing into your forehead.

“Who are you?” You croaked out.

The men above you didn’t answer except for another delivering kick. And then another. Your lungs were burning from the flames and you were certain they had broken a rib.

Someone spoke, their voice muffled. You strained to hear what they were saying, but all you could hear was the pounding in your head.

“---the bounty hunter.”

“What?” Your ears were still ringing.

“Give us the bounty hunter or you die.”

“If I die, you won’t find him.” You challenged.

“Then we’ll kill her.”

Your brows furrowed, until you looked around, catching sight of the woman from the market kneeling across the fire.

“No, I don’t know where he is,” your heart was pounding out of your chest, “I promise, just let her go, I don’t even know her.”

“Too late.” The man above you smiled, his golden teeth glittering from the blaze of the fire.

You pushed yourself to your feet and managed to get one of the men on the ground, but you just weren’t fast enough. Your legs were kicked out beneath you and you were pinned to the ground, forced to watch in horror as one the other men aimed his blaster at the woman.

You screamed. And he pulled the trigger.

You couldn’t pull your gaze from that woman. Someone you had spoken a few words to. Dead because of you.

The man from across the fire came around and began speaking to you. But when you didn’t look up he grabbed your chin forcing your eyes to meet his. As he began to repeat what he said, you spit in his face, barely flinching when he punched you across the face.

And this time as you laid silently on the ground, they left you there as tears burned in your throat.

You weren’t sure how long you remained there, the fire still burning hot across your face.

You welcomed the pain and prayed for the darkness to come.

[themuseic]

Only Fools (Chapter 1)

Fic Summary: Sent to Boone County, West Virginia on an assignment, you find yourself engulfed your work. How could you possibly find time for anything else? Even if “anything else” includes the tall, kind, and handsome bartender from down the road?

Word Count: 2.2k

Read here on AO3.

Warnings: Use of alcohol.

Author’s Note: Hi everyone!! I started a fic! It’s the first fic I’ve written, so please, I would love any and all feedback. I want to grow and constantly get better, so if you have any advice, I will be more than willing to listen! But I really want to give a huge shout out to @mind-p0llution​, who not only encouraged me to write and beta read this for me, but has been nothing but supportive and kind to me! I hope y’all enjoy. 

Ten hours on the road today, and you had finally, finally, reached your destination. A small town in Boone County. You hadn’t seen another car in miles, and the lights of Route 64 had long since faded behind the horizon. A yawn overtook you, and you tilted your head to one side, and back, a satisfying crack sounding as you relieved the pressure in your tense neck. Straight to the hotel then, you thought, ready for a shower and a comfortable bed to sleep in. As much as you loved a long road trip coupled with the beautiful vistas of rural America, you could only listen to so many podcasts, playlists, and radio stations.

You turned off of the road, following the directions of the robotic voice to your hotel, when something caught your eye. A wood paneled building sat on the side of the road boasting a red and green fluorescent sign that read “The Duck Tape Bar and Grill”. It wasn’t an overly impressive building, but the amount of cars parked outside suggested otherwise. Vehicles spilled out of the asphalt parking lot and onto the shoulder of the road. Some were even parked half into the drainage canal and half onto the street in order to secure their spot. It seemed as if every person in a 50 mile radius had found themselves at this one bar all on the same night. 

You bit your lip in consideration. The bed at the hotel still called you, but that voice seemed to diminish to a whisper as the prospect of a nightcap looked better and better. What’s one drink? you thought to yourself, as you pulled over and threw the car into park. Grabbing your wallet and a stick of gum to suppress the stale road breath on your tongue, you hopped out of the car and strode towards the building.

~~~

The tinkling of a bell and a gust frigid air followed you into the bar as you slipped through the door, spinning to push it closed behind you. You blinked as your eyes adjusted to the warm lights that lined the space. It was a welcome change from the harsh headlights that you had found yourself driving into on the highway, and you were happy for it. The air was filled with happy, lilting voices and soft music that made you feel at home almost immediately and the sounds of glasses clinking and… the strongest smell of apples? You inhaled deeply, warmed to the bone by the spiciness of the scent, and tilted your face slightly to take it in. Like a dog to a bone, you scurried to the bar, hoping to snag a glass of whatever it was you were smelling. 

You settled onto a high backed barstool and leaned forward, chin perched on your palm. It most definitely was a busy night, but the one bartender in the place looked like he was handling himself just fine. You looked down the bar, taking in the face of every patron as they chatted away. Entranced by the mirth that each exuded, you didn’t realize the bartender had noticed a new face at the bar until he was standing right in front of you. 

“Hey darlin’, what can I get ya?” 

Your head snapped forward at the deep rumble and you locked eyes with the man. He was, in a few words, breathtaking. He had bright hazel eyes framed by long dark hair, and the kindest gaze you had seen this side of the Mississippi. He was freckled and scruffy and just about the largest man you had ever laid eyes on. He entranced you, and you found your eyes gently tracing his every feature. 

“Uh, darlin’?” he cautiously asked again, as if he was trying not to scare you, and you snapped from your reverie. “Oh, god, sorry. I guess I’m a little tired from my drive,” you laughed. 

“S’no problem ma’am,” he smiled shyly, “You lookin’ for something to drink?” 

“Yeah you know, I think I am. I can’t help but smell those apples, what is that?” you asked, and his face lit up immediately. “That’s my mama’s cider, I’ve got a batch goin’. Wanna try it?” he offered. He was already reaching to grab a mug before you nodded, which you did eagerly. He smiled again - oh, did that look good on him - and he turned to ladle some of the steaming liquid into the mug. The nameless man handed it back to you, your fingers brushing softly as the mug changed possession. You felt your cheeks warm as they did, a reaction to the light touch and your embarrassment that you were so flustered by this man. At least, you assured yourself, anyone in your position would be too. How could you not be?

“Thank you…” you started to inquire, and he eagerly interjected, “Clyde! M’names Clyde ma’am,” as he reached his arm towards you in his haste, fingers splayed. You giggled as you offered up your own, your eyes softening. “Well Clyde,” you sipped the warm liquid, ”you and your mama have a really good recipe for cider.” He beamed back at you, his cheeks reddening and his eyes crinkling as his dimples pushed . “Thanks darlin’, I try to do the recipe justice. Threw some V.S.O.P. in tonight instead of the regular brandy.”

“Oh?” you asked. “Special occasion, or just wanting to spice up your Saturday night?” 

He huffed the lightest laugh in response. “T’be honest, I ran out of the normal stuff. I don’t think it’s tastin’ quite right.” His eyes fell to the mug in your hand, and he nodded at it. “Well darlin, let me know if you need anything else tonight. I’ll be around.” 

He turned away over his right shoulder as he moved to the next patron seated at the bar, and a glint of metal caught your eye. You saw how he kept that arm, the one with the robotic attachment, mostly below the top of the bar. He didn’t even use it to emphasize his words, though he didn’t seem to offer up too many to begin with. There was a quiet beauty to him, and you were entranced by it. But, you reminded yourself, this was a small bar, in a small town. There was no reason for you to try anything. He was probably involved with someone, or you assumed at least, because anyone that looked like that should already be committed to another. Anyway, once you finished up your job in Boone County, who knew where you’d be headed to next? No, better to keep your head down, your connections loose, and your job short. You exhaled softly, sipped your cider, and struck up a conversation with your neighbor as the comforting warmth spread through you.

~~~~

“No way, a puma in town? We haven’t had too much news since… well you know,” Mellie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Clyde huffed a laugh, shaking his head slightly. 

“Yeah, Earl was just tellin’ me that Brett lost another cow down the road. Looked like it was attacked by somethin’,” Clyde drawled, swirling the dark amber liquid in his glass. 

“That so?” Mellie cocked her eyebrow. “Haven’t heard of anything like that happening round here before.” Seated next to her, Joe pulled Mellie flush to his body, tickling her side and making her burst out in giggles. “Seems like we gotta keep our ladies safe then!” he hollered, prompting an eye roll from Mellie, Clyde, and even Jimmy and Sylvia over in the next stools. Clyde leaned back against the bar, glancing over at you, the new girl in the bar tonight. You were making polite conversation with the person next to you, and he found it impossible to tear his eyes away. 

“Clyde,” Jimmy hissed from his stool a few people down, “get yer ass over here.” Clyde sighed, set his glass down, and walked over to Jimmy. “Need another beer?” he asked, reaching towards Jimmy’s bottle. 

“Nah I’m good, thanks though. But boy, I have seen you lookin’ at that girl all night. What are you gonna do about it?” Jimmy stared him down. It was never easy to escape the laser gaze of his older brother, and Clyde shifted uncomfortably. “Now, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he tried to deflect, suddenly very interested in the hem of his shirt. 

Jimmy’s eyes narrowed at this. “Clyde, you ain’t gettin’ out of this that easy. Listen, I know it hasn’t been easy for you since your last girl, but look. If my eyes are right, she’s been lookin’ over at you too, and if that ain’t true, I’ll eat my hat.” 

Clyde chuckled quietly, but his face dropped again straight away. “Nah Jimmy, I’m sure she’s just passin through. Ain’t no point in tryin’ to go about startin’ anything.” 

“Clyde, you’re never gonna know if you don’t say anything right?” Sylvia interjected as she leaned in encouragingly. 

“I don’t think so. What’s the point?” Clyde shook his head, subconsciously rubbing the junction of his prosthetic and arm. “Clyde, if you don’t go talk to her, I bet someone in here is going to snatch her up real quick,” Jimmy leaned back in his chair, shrugging. “It’s now or never kid.” 

“No Jimmy!” Clyde insisted, glancing your way. The man seated next to you was messing with your hair a bit, and he couldn’t help how his ears flushed and his heart clenched. 

“Clyde,” Jimmy insisted once more. “Cauliflower.” Clyde met eyes with his brother, who nodded in response. The bartender rolled his eyes again, exasperated. “Ya know sometimes? I really hate these cauliflower plans.” Clyde yanked his brother's empty beer bottle from in front of him, replaced it with another, and straightened his shirt. Jimmy hooted from behind him, whistling just loud enough for their immediate group to hear. Clyde shot him a dirty look, but grabbed a glass to wipe down nonetheless and made his way over to where you sat. 

~~~

“So… why ya in Boone?” Clyde spoke up, lifting his eyebrow and gazing at the girl from under his mop of hair. 

You choked on your drink as you tried to respond before realizing your mouth was still full. Smiling, you wiped off your chin. “You keep sneaking up on me, Clyde!” you laughed, and he flushed for the thousandth time that night. “Sorry. It’s just, we don’t have a lot of people passin’ through here.” He gestured around the room with his right hand. “I’ve known all these folks' names since I was five, but yours I learnt tonight. Why?”

You downed the remainder of your current cider, and Clyde automatically stuck out his hand to take the glass and switch it for a fresh one, complete with a refill. “I’m in town on a big cat chase. Eastern cougars. We’ve got some reports of possible sightings in this area. Oh, thank you,” you replied, accepting the steaming mug from Clyde. 

“Well, round here we have been having some weird livestock deaths lately,” Clyde shrugged. “Maybe it’s got somethin’ to do with that?” 

“Sounds like it. I’m gonna be in the area for a little bit seeing if I can get some documented sightings, some photos, and maybe even a tag on a cougar so we can keep tabs on them.” You shrugged, sipping on the cider.  

“Well, if you’d like, I’d be more than happy to show you round some of the game trails near town?” Clyde offered, the glint in his eye shining bright as he smiled, almost bashful, back at you. Your heart skipped a beat as you stared into his eyes, and your soft smile widened, if anything in pity for him, given what you knew was coming out of your mouth next. “Thank you so much for the offer Clyde, but I think I’ll be just fine. Anyway,” you took another swig of your second drink. You could feel your heart racing, and you knew you had to remove yourself before you had full heart palpitations. “Looks like the bar here keeps your hands full. Thanks for the drinks!” You placed a few bills on the bar to cover the bill (and then some). Clyde looked like a deer in the headlights, trying to keep up with your nervous chatting. 

“Oh no, no problem, I-I just thought, that ya know, if you wanted…” he stuttered. His eyes flicked down to the still warm, half drunk mug on the bar top. You could see his plush lower lip jutting out slightly as he chewed on his upper one.  

“I appreciate the offer Clyde. Really I do! But I’ll be okay. Maybe I’ll see you around soon,” you said, and patted his hand. He looked up briefly and you made eye contact for a fraction of a second. It almost pained you to tear away, but you were on the precipice of being engulfed by them. A moment longer and you knew would be diving headfirst into a myriad of problems that would come with getting involved with someone you knew for certain you would have to leave in a few short weeks. So instead, you pushed yourself away from the bar with a small smile and a wave, headed towards the door, and left without even a second glance back.

Taglist: @mind-p0llution​ (comment or message me to be added!)

[bgyulix]

— just another edgy teen rom com

-> pairing: min yoongi x reader

-> genre: bad boy!au, high school!au, slightly inspired by the end of the f***ing world

-> tags/warnings: domestic abuse, child abuse, underage drinking, implications of drug use, also they smoke some weed but only a little, smut in future chapters, suicidal thoughts, despite all these its rather soft and yoongi is whipped

-> word count: 2,896

-> summary: min yoongi is typically someone you’d avoid, and definitely not someone you’d want to run away from home with. OR: having an existential crisis together on a bus stop bench in the middle of the night was not exactly the meet-cute you’d always dreamed of.

-> a/n: here it is!! i hope you guys like it, and if you want to be on the tag list just ask! im thinking there’ll be three parts, but there might end up being four, we’ll see lmao

-> chapter: 1 | 2 | 3

You’d been hit one too many times that night. It was inevitable that it would happen eventually; that a perfectly angled slap or shove against the wall would knock something loose, and you’d end up lying on a bus stop bench like a homeless person letting your wounds fester in traffic fumes.

The cold metal of the dirty bench bit into your thighs and the part of your shoulders where your jacket had ridden down. It registered somewhere in the back of your mind that you could just adjust your jacket and maybe shimmy your shorts down a bit, but you ignored it. You were perfectly happy lying here freezing to death.

Somebody had stuck some gum in the corner of the roof. Maybe you should take it and chew it and get a disease or something. That might be interesting.

Two buses came and went. The night grew longer, and colder. Less and less cars went past. Your shitty little neighbourhood had never been the busiest, and eventually the streets fell quiet and empty, with only the sounds of traffic in the distance and a moth buzzing around a streetlight to keep you company.

The pain of the cut on your lip and your black eye dulled down to a steady throb. It almost felt separate from you, the part of you that cared and the part of you that didn’t two different people arguing with each other while you listened in.

You heard footsteps, trudging up the street through sludgy puddles. They reached the bus stop and hesitated, like everybody else had when they saw your depressed beat up ass suntanning in the dinky fluorescent light. The part of you that didn’t care won out yet again and you didn’t even bother to look up.

They came and sat at the other end of the bench, by your head. You could see a tuft of shaggy bleach blonde hair in your peripheral vision. They shifted and grunted, their voice surprisingly deep. A sigh, and then they simply sat next to you in silence, and you absently wondered if they were waiting for a bus, or if they were going to mug you, or if they were having as bad of a day as you were.

“Rough night?”

You finally managed to move, arching your neck and looking at them upside down. It was a guy, maybe your age, with a nasty scrape on his cheekbone, in a camo jacket smirking around a split lip. He looked vaguely familiar, like you’d seen him around before.

Stranger danger! the little voice in your head that was still sane yelled at you. You ignored it.

“Yep,” you said.

“Yeah,” the guy muttered, “me too.”

He thumbed at his lip. It was bleeding a little.

“What happened to your face?” he asked.

“I got punched, I guess. What happened to yours?”

He snorted. “I got punched, I guess.”

“Welcome to the club, then.”

You settled back down, staring at the roof again. Your butt hurt.

“So, what brings you to my bus stop?” he said, his voice smug. You prickled at his tone.

“Your bus stop? This is my bus stop.”

“Nope, sorry. Definitely mine.”

“I was here first!”

“I’ve been having mental breakdowns here long before you have, sweetheart.”

You scoffed, sitting up to glare at him, your cold, tired bones groaning in protest. You noticed now the bruises on his knuckles, and the dirt stains - or what you hoped were dirt stains - on his shirt. His eyes were dark and catlike, watching you intently with something like amusement.

“I am not…” you grumbled, feeling suddenly pinned down by his gaze, “I am not having a mental breakdown.”

He quirked a brow.

“You’re lying in a bus stop in the middle of the night.”

“And you’re sitting in a bus stop in the middle of the night. You can’t talk.”

He chuckled, pointing at you. “Touché.”

A car went past. You sat side by side, hyper aware of his presence and the way his choppy blond bangs fell across his face and the way he was twisting the ring on his finger in his lap.

“You come here often then?” you said, casually.

“Occasionally,” he replied, casually. Just like you were talking about the weather. “Yourself?”

“Nah. I was just walking past, thought I might go somewhere.”

“But… you didn’t?”

“Don’t have the guts, I guess.”

“I get it,” he rasped, nodding sagely, “I always come here thinking I’ll get on the bus, and then I don’t.”

He pursed his lips, looking away from your face and to the road, glistening with dew and oil slick and hazy streetlights.

“Where would you go?” you murmured.

He shrugged.

“Haven’t really thought about it. Just…” he trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the street. “Away.”

Away. The dream of away was a fantasy, had always been a fantasy. One you consistently came back to after every fight, every hit, every curse. You rub at your eye, wincing when it stung. You wonder who hit him.

“Yeah,” you said. “Away.”

He sniffed, scratched his nose. Suddenly he shifted, straightening his back and his shoulders and puffing out his chest a little, any hint of vulnerability gone and replaced with smug cockiness.

“So you gonna tell me your name?” he smirked. You rolled your eyes at his obvious display.

“___,” you told him.

“Yoongi.”

Your eyes widened. So that’s how you recognised him. “Like Min Yoongi? The drug dealer?”

He scoffed. “I am not a drug dealer.”

You raised your brow the same way he had at you.

“I am not a drug dealer… during school hours,” he clarified. You snorted.

“Anyway, how would you know unless you’ve bought off me, huh?”

“We go to the same school. You’re a consistent source of locker room gossip. Everyone's scared of you.”

Min Yoongi rode a motorcycle and smoked under the bleachers and once told a teacher to fuck off. Min Yoongi could set you up with anything if you were willing to pay. Min Yoongi ran with gangs. Min Yoongi had fucked his way through practically the entire school. You either hated him, wanted him, or were scared of him. The rumours and chatter surrounding him was endless, and he did nothing to discourage it, getting into fights and into detention, showing up to every house party with arms full of weed and leaving one too many hickies on a girl’s neck.

And here he was in front of you, staring at his boots and shaking his head almost bashfully, you dare say.

“You don’t look so scared,” he huffed. You shrugged.

“I’m having a bad day.”

“Yeah, no shit. You look terrible.”

“Hey!” you cried indignantly, “speak for yourself, asshole!”

He laughed then, a deep, carefree rumble from deep in his chest. Your lips rose on their own accord, and you had to fight to keep the smile down.

He didn’t seem so scary. Apart from the blood, of course.

“You wanna get a milkshake?” he asked abruptly.

“A milkshake?”

“Yeah. I know a place that stays open late, not far from here.”

“Oh. Uh… yeah, okay. Yeah, that sounds nice.”

The place he led you to was a small, rundown building next to a service station, trash littering the footpath out in front, with a guy leaning against the wall puking on his shoes.

JO’S DINER, screamed the flickering neon sign. OPEN LATE!

You screwed up your nose and hesitated, eyeing the guy warily.

“That’s just Heegun,” Yoongi said, nudging you, “‘sup, Heegun!”

Heegun raised a hand, before he doubled over and continued to hack his guts up.

Yoongi barrelled through the door, gesturing for you to follow. You hurried in after him, giving Heegun a wide berth.

The inside of the diner was vintage 50’s style, with a checkered floor and red vinyl chairs, and records and pictures of old cars hanging on the walls. It smelt of motor oil and fries, and scratchy music was playing through the speakers. One of the lightbulbs above the counter was out, leaving a weird dark spot, and there was a puddle of… something collecting in a spot where the floor dipped. The waitress at the counter was chewing gum and scrolling through her phone, her classic white apron covered in grease stains.

“Jisoo,” Yoongi drawled, sidling up to the counter. Jisoo, an older woman with extremely thin, overdrawn eyebrows, sighed heavily.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said. She had lipstick on her teeth.

“It’s me! How’s it going?”

Jisoo raised one of her fake eyebrows, very, very slowly.

“You two look like shit.”

“Yes, we know. Thank you. Could we get two milkshakes, if you please? ___, what flavour you want?”

You started. “Oh, uh, just chocolate.”

“Two chocolate milkshakes. And a large curly fries, I’m fucking hungry.”

Jisoo marked it down on a little notepad, and somehow even made that sarcastic.

“Sir, yes sir,” she grumbled, and pulled out her gum and stuck it behind her ear, “take a seat.”

Yoongi sat you down in a little booth by the window and slid in opposite you. The table was covered in crumbs and the vinyl stuck to your bare legs.

“You‘re a regular?” you asked.

“Well, they know me by name,” Yoongi replied. He leant back and rested his arm up on the top of his seat, a dark blot against the garishly bright diner, somehow more intimidating in decent lighting than he had been in the dark. It finally hit you; you were in a shitty restaurant with Min Yoongi. You were having milkshakes and curly fries with Min Yoongi.

Why not, you supposed, it’s not like your life wasn’t already a disaster. You put your elbows on the table, the crumbs digging into your skin. You didn’t have the energy to be disgusted.

“So…” you began, and then came up blank.

“So…?” Yoongi urged.

“Uh… how much were the milkshakes? Because I have like…” you fished around in your pocket, “two dollars. And five cents.”

He chuckled again, rich and gruff, and you swear you felt it in your bones.

“Relax, it’s on me. Like you said, you’re having a bad day.”

“And you’re not?”

He shrugged. “Eh. I’m used to it.”

“That’s not a good thing,” you said, narrowing your eyes at him. He smirked.

“That’s life, doll.”

Life, indeed.

“So…” you said again.

“So…?” Yoongi urged, again.

“Is this what you do for fun? Come to…” you lowered your voice, just so Jisoo wouldn’t hear, “come to shitty diners in the middle of the night?”

He seemed amused, his smirk growing a little wider and his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Yeah. This is all I do. Just this, nothing else,” he teased.

“Well, what do you do then? Other than this. And drugs.”

He leaned forwards conspiratorially and cupped his hand around his mouth, like he was about to deliver a secret, and you found yourself leaning into him.

He opened his mouth and whispered, “sell drugs.”

You scoffed and sat back, brushing the crumbs off your elbow.

“Right, of course. Typical.”

Jisoo appeared, a cigarette hanging from her lips, balancing a tray with two milkshakes and a basket of curly fries on her hip. She brought it down on the table hard enough to make both milkshakes spill over the sides of the glass.

“There, you little shits,” she grated, her voice like sandpaper.

“Thanks, Jisoo,” said Yoongi, going straight for the fries. “Heegun’s throwing up out the front again, by the way.”

“WHAT?” Jisoo roared. You flinched. She stormed across the diner, her thunderous footsteps making the table rattle, and swung the door open with so much force it was a miracle it didn’t come flying off its hinges. “FOR FUCK’S SAKE, HEEGUN, YOU DICK, THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!”

Yoongi chuckled at your shell shocked expression. “She’s a real piece of work, huh?”

You nodded mutely, and hid the way your hands shook by grasping your milkshake and bringing the straw to your lips. It was pretty good, all things considered.

The second the food hit your stomach, it rumbled audibly, and your head went light and frantic. You reached for the curly fries and shovelled the greasy things into your mouth like a starved man.

“When was the last time you ate?” Yoongi asked, eyeing you cautiously. You shrugged, which was a lie. You knew exactly when the last time you ate was; last night at 10:24 pm, sitting across from your father, listening to him rant about how much he hated his job. People yelling at mealtimes seemed to be a trend.

You both ate in silence for a moment, the sounds of Jisoo shooing Heegun away and an overhyped pop song in the background.

“We go to the same school, then?” Yoongi said, with a mouthful of food. You wrinkled your nose at him.

“We do. Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s gross.”

He snorted. “Yes, ma’am.”

You elected to ignore him. “We have literature together.”

“Literature, huh? I’ve never noticed you before.”

“I try not to be noticed.”

“You some kind of social recluse or something?” said Yoongi, raising a brow.

“No, I just don’t like making a scene, unlike some people,” you told him. “Beside, I sit up the back, and Mr. Ahn makes you sit up the front, so.”

“Huh,” he hummed, tapping his ring against his glass. Jisoo came back inside muttering under her breath, huffing cigarette smoke everywhere. “It seems like you know plenty about me, but I know nothing about you.”

“Not much to know. I’m not nearly as interesting as you.”

“Oh, you think I’m interesting?” he drawled, smirking.

You rolled your eyes. “Well, you’re always up to something.”

“What are you up to?” he asked, jabbing a finger at you.

“Me? Not much.”

“Aw, c’mon. You got no friends, no hobbies? Nothing?”

He was watching you in that peculiar way again, like you’d just said something funny but he couldn’t quite understand the joke. He looked… interested.

“Why do you care?” you demanded, narrowing your eyes.

Yoongi put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Pardon me if I wanna know a bit more about the random chic I found at my bus stop,” he exclaimed indignantly, gazing dangerously at you from under his bangs. You faltered and your cheeks heated, and he gave an amused little huff.

“Um… well…” you stammered, and sipped your milkshake to compose yourself. “I, uh… I like music.”

“Music, huh? What kind?”

“Uh… any kind, if it’s good.”

“You’re really not giving me much to work with here.”

“I’m… I’m in a choir?” you offered.

“Oh, you’re a choir girl,” Yoongi said, “that’s cute.”

You scoffed. “Cute? Excuse me, that shit is hard. Do you know how to tone deaf 70-year-old people are? Extremely. Painfully. And they pinch your cheeks after they subject you to their dying cat noises! Choir takes a lot of effort, thank you!”

Yoongi laughed and grinned, so boyishly that for a moment he almost looked like a different person.

“I’m more into rap myself.”

“You rap?”

“Maybe.”

“Are you any good?”

“Well, that’s - that depends.”

You snorted.

“Huh. I didn’t know you rapped,” you said.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Yoongi told you, and wiggled his eyebrows at you. You choked on a fry with laughter.

“Ooh, mysterious. Let me guess, let me guess - you’re addicted to anime. No, no! You cry at cat videos.”

“I do not,” Yoongi grumbled, “I have not once - not once - cried at a cat video.”

“Bullshit, you have too. I can see it in your eyes.”

Jisoo, from her place back at the counter, coughed loudly and pointedly in your direction, and you realised you’d been raising your voice. You lowered yourself back into your seat sheepishly.

Yoongi was still smiling, shaking his head in amusement. He was handsome, you thought. You’d never quite understood why girls threw themselves at him despite knowing the extent of his shady business practices, but you understood now; his mouth was soft and his jaw was sharp and his aura, while commandeering and a little intimidating, was relaxed and calm and familiar. You were having the strangest urge to reach over the table and brush his hair from his face, or maybe tap his nose.

He was… oh, he was cute.

He was smirking at you again. You were staring. Fuck. You looked down at your milkshake.

“You’re cute,” he said, and the milkshake went down the wrong way.

“What?” you spluttered uselessly.

“You’re cute. I can’t believe we’ve never met before.”

“Well…” you began, pausing to collect yourself, “...we have now.”

He grinned. You grinned back.

Yoongi walked you back to the bus stop, and when he asked you if you wanted him to walk you home, too, you refused.

“You homeless?”

“Just for tonight.”

He didn’t push.

When the sun rose, and you finally slunk back home like a dog with its tail between its legs, your father rushed forwards and drew you into his arms and cried apologies into your shoulder, like he always did.

I’m so sorry, ___. I didn’t mean it. It’ll never happen again, I promise.

He even bought you pizza for dinner - but then he got drunk, and then he did it again. Like he always did.

[the-starless-sky]

A Day Off of Loitering and Investigation

A translation of the first chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen’s first light novel “Departing Summer and Returning Autumn” by Akutami Gege and Kitakuni Balad.

A Day Off of Loitering and Investigation

If we are talking about the few “definite things” in this modern day and age, there are only three at best.

That Mito Koumon[1] will win.

That Sazae-san[2] will air on Sunday.

And lastly, that Kugisaki Nobara’s shopping will drag on for a long time.

Because of that, when Kugisaki said, “I want to go see Ame-yoko[3],” Fushiguro had prepared himself for the outing that will surely take a long time. It would probably take around same time as when Gojou suddenly shows up on a Sunday morning and suddenly said, “Megumi, let’s go to Parque Espana[4],”.

What’s out of his prediction was that Itadori wasn’t too keen on going.

He had thought that a television-person like Itadori would show interest in famous spots like Ame-yoko, but he said:

“No, I have some place else I want to go.”

“Oh, that so. Then let’s meet up after.”

And then they all readily move on their own afterwards.

For Fushiguro who had accepted the natural fact that he would get stuck in the middle of Itadori and Kugisaki’s noisiness, it was as surprising as the fact that corbel pieces actually don’t contain that much iron.

Of course, Fushiguro also thought to make use of the situation and move alone.

He’d go home quickly - after all, he wanted to read the continuation of the book he’d bought the other day, and he also wanted to arrange his table’s drawer and his closet.

Even so, Fushiguro is a fundamentally earnest person.

A concern like: “is it alright to let Itadori, Sukuna’s host be?” kept crossing his mind no matter what.

When we’re talking about the area around Ueno and Okachimachi[5], it is a town filled with life and history.

In the hustle-bustle from the post-war market town that continued until modern day, strange ghost stories run rampant and there lies a possibility that not yet active curses are concealing themselves somewhere.

Moreover, it’s Itadori, a person whom if you let go from your sight will suddenly buy a shitty sunglasses, and who had said Tachikawa’s[6] “essentially Shinjuku”.

If Itadori, by chance, got lost and strayed until Chiyoda Ward[7], he’d just think of it as a lucky spot, and take Instagram-able photos in Masakadozuka[8].

That’s the reason why Fushiguro chose to move with Itadori, but... truth to be told, he’s very much regretting it.

“So like, Fushiguro, if you don’t have any interest in Akiba[9], why are you even coming after me?”

“Shut up, don’t think about it.”

“’Kay. I really want to go through all of Akiba at once, y’know.”

“Do you have anything you want to buy? There’s probably nothing but manga, games, and electronics there.”

“Eh, sight-seeing. Shibuya or Shinjuku is also okay, but the Akiba I saw on TV has this otherworldly feeling to it... or, more like, it gave off a theme-park kinda feel?”

“Is it?”

If you live within the metropolitan area, you probably wont feel it, but in truth Akihabara is a strange city.

The atmosphere outside the station is particularly unique. It’s filled with anime culture to the brim as a matter of course, but in any case the amount of information from the advertisements are nasty.

The overflowing signboards with smiling game characters gave the town a theme park-y impression.

If you were to give another example, then it’s the cosplayers that sometimes mix in with the tight crowd. Maids devoting themselves to attracting customers and handing out flyers. And when you think a rare foreign car is going through the streets, for some reason a giant robot’s large scale model is being transported by a truck.

Is it possible to suppress Itadori’s curiosity in such a town? Impossible.

“Darn, Fushiguro. The game centers are lining up like convenient stores.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s Akiba.”

“Darn, Fushiguro. The maid-sans kept coming enthusiastically.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s Akiba.”

“Whoa! Fushiguro! Is that an ecchi game? Isn’t that a billboard for an ecchi game? Uwaah, is it okay, that kind of huge billboard... Oh no, I’m still a minor, will I get scolded?”

“Shut up!”

It’s a fundamentally noisy city, but for Fushiguro, Itadori’s three times noisier.

There’s still a few hours until the meet up with Kugisaki.

If he thought about that, Fushiguro’s head ached. Unknowing of Fushiguro’s feelings, Itadori was nonchalant, without a care in the world.

“I’m glad Fushiguro’s with me. This area’s so messy I’d get lost.

”It’s better than Shinjuku.”

“Don’t force that Tokyo-sense on me. Vending machines where you can use electronic money on every door, Pepper-kun[10] in front of shops, a city on this level’s only Tokyo, you know?”

“No, there really aren’t that much Pepper-kun.”

“In Sendai, you can only see it in ‘Man-made Onsen, Toposu’[11], you know.”

“Don’t pull out local shop names like it’s natural. Where the hell’s that?”

“In super sentou[12].”

“Pepper-kun being in super sentou feels more culturally advanced, ain’t it.”

“Well, well, well, anyways, rather than alone, being together with someone who’s knowledgeable about the area’s definitely more reassuring. I’m still not good with subways even now, after all.”

“There shouldn’t be anyone getting lost around the Yamanote-sen[13].”

“Aah, there it is, the Tokyoite-sense. Naturally coming out like that.”

“In reality, you don’t get lost that much anyways, do you. ‘Cause you went here and there day after day.”

“Ah, Fushiguro. Let’s eat kebab, kebab.”

“Continue the conversation, damn it.”

Fushiguro had felt that Itadori and Gojou’s rhythm are quite similar, but now that he’s by himself talking with only Itadori, that feeling only grew stronger.

After all, conversational catch-ball with Itadori is, at most, on the level of dodge ball. For Gojou, it’s more on the level of hitting-only golf, or a batting center[14].

Come to think of it, today he hasn’t seen Gojou in the dorms nor school. It’s up to him where he wanted to be during his day-off, but now that Fushiguro thought about it, Gojou really is a mystery.

As he thought such things, he let Itadori’s words in through his right ear and out through his left, going into his “gloss over” mode.

After all, it’s on almost the same frequency as the city’s noise, so if he’d just turn off his awareness he could just process it as part of the background, environment noise.

If he were to respond one by one, he’d just get tired. Nobody would tell him off even if he put his brain in energy-conserving mode, anyways.

By the way, speaking from the results, this action of his would end up making his anxiety worsen.

“...Ha?”

When he came to, Itadori was gone.

Fushiguro hurriedly turned his head, and he barely saw someone with red highlight on their hair going into the depths of a game center.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Playing a game. Ah, are you talking about the title?”

“No way in hell, you special grade idiot.”

After climbing to the fourth floor of the thin and vertically long building of the game center, Fushiguro finally found Itadori.

In the fighting game corner, going in deeper. Away from the areas where people who seemed super serious about gaming gathers, in the retro game corner where one credit to play starts from 50 yen, there he was, that Itadori.

Moreover, he’s sitting in front of an especially boring looking game machine.

As he pouted, he explained how he got there to Fushiguro.

“I mean, you know, it’s not realistic wasting hours of time just walking around outside, right. There are a lot of game centers, so I thought, why not.”

“At least say something before steering away to the side.”

“I did.”

“...”

As Fushiguro’s the one who had glossed over Itadori’s conversations, while feeling a little bit awkward he changed the subject.

“By the way, what’s this game?”

“No matter how you see it, it’s ‘Battle Corporation Warrior, Business Fighter’ isn’t it.”

“I won’t know it’s ‘Battle Corporation Warrior, Business Fighter’ no matter how I see it.”

“It’s also my first time seeing it so I’m not really sure, too.”

The game Itadori chose looked extraordinarily boring it’s miraculous.

It seemed like a fighting game, but the characters are mostly old men who looked like company employees, and everyone uses business suits properly that it’s hard to differentiate who’s who.

Even if it only costs 50 yen, Itadori’s resolution to spend money on this game is an amazing thing. Well, if he’s like this then guess he would eat Sukuna’s fingers, imprudently Fushiguro thought.

Without caring about such Fushiguro, Itadori seem to be running as usual.

He’s even looking for a competition.

“On the contrary, I’ll just ask you: you’re not going to play, Fushiguro? It’s a fighting game machine.”

“I don’t want to pay money for that kind of game.”

Even so, a fighting game machine is supposed to be played by fighting another person.

Moreover, to play an already-boring looking game like this alone just feels empty. No matter how much Fushiguro didn’t want to play, Itadori wanted to at least fight with him.

“What the heck, you’re running away? By the way, don’t tell me you’re actually bad at games, Fushiguro? You don’t have any confidence that you could win against me?”

“It’s not confidence I don’t have, it’s the will to play.”

“If you run away here it’d be treated as a loss by default, you know! Are you okay with that!?”

“Do what you like.”

“No, really, please! Then I’ll even pay for your share!”

“Are you serious? ...Sheesh.”

Losing to Itadori’s persistence, who’d even start to talk about paying - or, actually, Fushiguro just don’t want to see Itadori begging like that, so in the end he put in his own money and sat in front of the machine directly opposite to Itadori’s.

No matter what, a fighting game’s of course funner to play with two people.

As he felt deeply grateful for Fushiguro who’d finally relented, Itadori cheerfully started choosing his character.

“Then, I’ll go with ‘Company President Yamada’.”

“...Then I’ll go for ‘Chief Clerk Oosaki’.”

“What, youre going with him, the initial cursor character? Well, I guess he’d be easy to use, so it should fit a beginner like Fushiguro.”

“Didn’t you just say you’ve only seen this game for the first time?”

“Actually, before you got here, I managed to get to the third stage of the arcade mode.”

Anyways, finally the battle starts between the two of them.

“Eat this! The sure-win tactics I devised in fifteen minutes!”

“That’s a hell of a short training.”

Immediately after the battle starts, Itadori used the easy command, ‘Business Card Shuriken’ repeatedly.

The Chief Clerk Oosaki that Fushiguro controlled jumped up to dodge Yamada’s shurikens that comes in an equal intervals, surely approaching the latter. When one thought he’d turn to a strong kick after jumping in, he actually threw Yamada and forced him to the side, as he viciously beat the latter.

“Eh? Huh? Wait, wait, Fushiguro. Isn’t that a a command technique? That’s a command technique, right!?”

“...”

Small punch, small punch, medium kick, medium kick, and to top it off Fushiguro used the ‘overtime gauge’ he managed to fill with the hits, triggering a super special lethal move, ‘Overtime Rage Fist’.

Fushiguro scored a brilliant victory.

“What the hell!? ...Eh, Fushiguro, how could you use special moves? You’re good at this game?”

“No, the command chart is there above the screen.”

“So you’re cheating!”

“You’re actually not that good at games, aren’t you?”

“No, even I could win if I used commands! One more, one more!”

“The heck, this idiot actually put in multiple coins…”

Itadori who had battled it out with Fushiguro for around an hour, still lost in the end.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈« 

They both go down until the first floor’s UFO Catcher corner and bought a cola from the vending machine, engulfed by a sense of emptiness.

The feeling of aftershock left after the heat and enthusiasm cools down look very visible on their faces.

“Aah... why did I even spend 1000 yen on that shitty game...”

Fushiguro looked at Itadori, who’s currently hanging his head, with eyes that look like they’re looking at an idiot.

“If you’re satisfied already, we’re going out. You can kill time in game centers, but they eat your money.”

“That’s true... ah!”

“What? Just because you found another shitty game, I’m not going to play with you anymore.”

“No, that’s not it, Fushiguro, look, look at that!”

Fushiguro reluctantly looked at the direction Itadori pointed with narrowed eyes.

And then, his eyes widened in surprise.

“...Gojou-sensei?”

“Right?”

Truly, on the other end of the two’s sight is Gojou Satoru.

Rather, the only person who would walk inside a dim-lighted game center wearing an all-black clothes with a black blindfold can’t be anyone other than Gojou Satoru - it’s hard to think of anyone else.

“Eh... wait, Fushiguro, what’s Gojou-sensei doing?”

“Isn’t that an UFO Catcher? The ones where you could get snacks from.”

“Why? Is there a person who wanted to eat snacks so much they’d go to a game center alone and play an UFO Catcher by themselves?”

“Don’t ask me, how the hell should I know?”

“Ah, and he’s even giving up!”

“That’s fast.”

As Gojou pouted in discontent, he walked towards the game center exit with swaying steps.

Well, it was a hard to understand action, but perhaps it’s normal coming from a hard to understand person. Fushiguro decided to stop thinking too deeply.

But Itadori just couldn’t do the same.

“Okay, let’s follow him.”

“How’d it come to that?”

Itadori started to follow Gojou who had exited the game center. Fushiguro immediately drank his leftover cola, threw it in the trash can, and followed afterwards.

“I mean, don’t he look like he’s on his off mode? I feel like I don’t know what he’s up to when he’s in holidays or when he’s free.”

“And?”

“Of course we’re going to tail him.”

“Don’t say that so naturally.”

“I mean, in reality, don’t you feel curious, too? Surprisingly I feel like I don’t know Gojou-sensei that well. Of course, if you don’t feel like coming then you can just wait.”

“...”

In any case, despite all the conflicts the two had, they finally decided to tail Gojou together.

Gojou is a dependable teacher and a shaman they respected, for sure.

However, from the eyes of Gojou’s students, his frivolous personality, busyness, appearing in unexpected places at unexpected time, personal history, thoughts, and range of behavior, all point out to him being a man full of mystery. The figure of him nonchalantly walking around town was something you don’t see everyday.

In sum, Fushiguro decided to follow his curiosity.

He’s probably also very mentally exhausted from playing a shitty game with Itadori.

In any case, the two of them started to search for the figure of Gojou they had lost sight of.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈« 

Gojou was, surprisingly, easily found.

“Fushiguro, isn’t that Gojou-sensei?”

“...You’re right.”

The next thing they sighted was Gojou, walking around as he ate crepes.

Looking from the package, it’s from the rather famous crepe shop looking out the main street.

It’s one of those extra ones with cream, tiramisu, macaron, and even chocolate spray.

There it was, the figure of a 190 cm adult walking around as he ate crepes that look like the dreams of all children.

“That’s amazing, Fushiguro. It’s not something you can just do when you feel like doing it.”

“No, you won’t even think of doing it in the first place.”

“Is it some kind of a sorcery training?”

“If you can get stronger by doing that, everyone’s gonna just do it.”

As they keep a steady distance, the two of them tailed the adult chewing on crepes.

Even in the city full of wonders, Akihabara, the sight still look quite out of place.

After he finished eating the crepes, Gojou stopped still in front of a rather old looking store.

“...Vacuum tube specialty store.”

Fushiguro looked at the sign Itadori read with a dubious expression.

After thinking for a while, Gojou stepped into the jumbled-up looking shop.

“He went into a really maniac shop, didn’t he.”

A dubious-looking Fushiguro. On the other hand, Itadori tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“By the way, what is a vacuum tube? I’ve heard that name before, though.”

“It’s an electronic component. The ones you use in old radio or audio player.”

“Is Gojou-sensei an audio maniac?”

“No, he looked like someone who’d just use YouTube to listen to music, don’t he.”

“Aah, yeah, he does have that kind of image.”

As they spoke to each other, Gojou came out of the shore with a paper bag. It seems like he’d bought something.

“Oh no, we’re going to lose him!”

Itadori went after Gojou who had turned into an alley, and Fushiguro followed suit.

They were a little late and lost him for a while, but one minute hadn’t passed and they’ve already found the tall man clad in black in the middle of the crowd.

“There he is, Fushiguro. As expected, Gojou-sensei stand out a lot. He’s huge, after all.”

“He’s around 2 meters, after all.”

“He look like he’s really strong at basketball, don’t he?”

“I can’t imagine him playing basketball at all, though.”

“Relatable.”

As the two came into an agreement, they followed after Gojou’s steps.

Tailing someone while keeping a steady distance in Akihabara’s complicated streets is quite a hard labor.

Because he’s tall, Gojou’s steps are wide and he walks fast, it feels like you’re going to lose him when he drift into the crowd.

Next, Gojou went to a second hand audio shop and rummaged through the paper-jacketed analog recordings.

“Earlier you said some things, but don’t you think he’s actually an audio mania, Fushiguro?”

“No, I’m sure he’s not.”

“But he’s looking at Bach’s recordings!”

“Does he look like he has any interest in classical music? That person?”

“No, he look like he’d listen to alternative rock.”

“See? It’s definitely weird.”

For a while, Gojou rummaged through the recordings exhibited on a wagon, and after buying an old movie’s BGM collection long play record, he left the store.

As they tailed him, Fushiguro became more and more suspicious.

Fushiguro thought that perhaps it’s just them that had different images of Gojou and he’s actually a person with vintage hobbies in his private life, but soon he rethought and ended up with: “Nah, no way.”

After walking a bit unsteadily for a while, Gojou stopped in front of a store with a yellow signboard.

“Fushiguro, what’s that shop?”

“...Capsule toy. It’s the so-called gachapon[15] specialty store.”

“What? A gachapon specialty store? They exists?”

“They exist, that’s why it’s Akiba.”

“That so? Ah, sensei’s pulling a gacha.”

“I really don’t want to see the sight of a teacher I know rolling a 500 yen gacha. ...What kinda gacha is that?”

“Mushroom keychains, right? The real ones.”

“If he’s going to spend 500 yen anyway, couldn’t he just go to a supermarket and buy one?”

“You really don’t understand, huh, Fushiguro. It’s good because you can’t be sure of what you’ll get.”

“I don’t want to understand that in my life time.”

“Ah, sensei’s opening the capsule, I wonder what he got?”

“Looking at the lineup, isn’t it a poisonous mushroom? He looks really frustrated, after all.”

“Buhahahahaha, I guess you can’t eat that!!”

“No, you can’t eat mushrooms that come out of a capsule toy no matter what it is.”

Gojou unwillingly put the keychain in his pocket, and continued to loiter around.

When you thought he went to a computer store just to hold a mouse, he moved into an electronic store and tried on an electronic massager on his shoulder.

And when you thought he’d vanished, he’s suddenly inside a book store, free-reading a manga, and moved into a sideway to look at old games on wagon sale. He moved around according to his interests, wherever he wanted to go.

“...It doesn’t look like he has a specific purpose in mind.”

“Seems so.”

Itadori, now suddenly wearing a strength-measuring goggles toy, replied to Fushiguro’s muttering.

“Where the hell did you buy that?”

“In some second hand shop. I thought Gojou-sensei would be interested since he reads manga, too.”

“You’re really light on your wallet, aren’t you.”

“A man is a creature that uses their money when they think it’s the right time.”

“Was that shitty game earlier also ‘the right time’?”

“Ah, Gojou-sensei went inside a building. No, that’s wrong, I meant his ‘energy’ went inside the building!”

“You don’t have to correct yourself.”

“Oh no, we’re going to lose him. We’re following him, Fushiguro!”

“No, wait.”

“Gueh!”

As Itadori was about to step into the building, Fushiguro pulled his parka’s hood to stop him. It’s a very dangerous act, so don’t imitate him.

“You wanna kill me or something!? What’s wrong, we’re already this far in and you want to stop tailing him halfway?”

“You... don’t you see the building’s signboard?”

“Eh? ...... Eh!?”

Itadori looked up as he was told.

Reading the signboard written in a pop font, his expression turned into that of a flustered one.

――Angel Maid Cafe, “SHOW WARU☆Cupid”[16]

The rather maniac cafe located in the second floor of the building.

No, it’s not like it’s an indecent store or something. It’s an ordinary cafe with maids serving the customers, that’s all.

Even so, for normal people, it’s the kind of shop that needs a lot of courage to go in to. It’s even worse for boys in their puberty.

 “...... As expected this place’s a bit... no, even for Gojou-sensei’s level, this kind of place is really surprising.”

“Hey, his aim is probably this.”

The thing Fushiguro pointed towards was a poster on the wall. It advertised something like: “Authentic French technique! Exquisite pancakes that makes even patissiers groan!”

Indeed, that could be it, Itadori also nodded in agreement.

“This is definitely his aim, for sure. How much sweets is he planning to eat, anyways?”

“When he’s busy, Gojou-sensei tend to eat more sweets like these, after all...”

“Alright, now that the mystery’s solved, let’s stop tailing him. I mean, it’s embarrassing having to go in to a place like this.”

“That’s a clever decision for you.”

“――Welcome, Masters!”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

A cheerful voice filled with business enthusiasm jumped out from behind them.

It was a veteran maid who had thought of them as - and admittedly they do look the part - ‘customers who are hesitating whether or not to come in to the cafe’ called them out, looking to make them the cafe’s source of income.

That’s right. Neither Itadori’s genius physical senses nor Fushiguro’s polished curse presence-sensing abilities could catch on the maid’s presence.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

‘Did I do something bad in my past life?’, Fushiguro thought.

While looking on in blank surprise, he was pulled into the maid cafe together with Itadori.

As they were brought in, they were made to wear angel wings and halo made of plastic and wire, said to ‘let them feel heaven when they’re here’. Both his outside appearance and his mental condition is dead.

On the other hand... 

“For first-time customers, we recommend the Precious Set - Mellow-mellow A~” [17]

“Eh... I see. Well, I guess for the first time it’s better to just leave it up to the staff. We’ll get two of the Precious Sets. With extra melancholy.”

“Understood, Mastereincarnation☆”[18]

“Eh, what’s with that cool sounding word. Is it German?”

“It’s English☆”

“So it’s English!”

Just like that, Itadori’s already talking normally with the maid.

Naturally cheerful people... or, more like, those with party-people tendencies, and people with positive, bright vibes usually do well in places like this.

On the other hand, earnest-by-nature people like Fushiguro have the most difficulty in situations like this.

Fushiguro could feel his heart dying by the second just by looking at the fact that he’s currently sitting across Itadori, wearing a pair of angel wings and halo.

“And hey, Fushiguro, it’s about the crucial thing, but...”

“What?”

“As expected, seems like sensei’s aim was the pancake.”

“......... Yeah...”

The most important part of this investigation, Gojou, had especially sat down on the seat by the window where you can only see the neighboring building, and has since started his tea time, eating the pancake in grace.

He wore the angel cosplay very naturally as if it was his uniform, yet the way he sipped his cappuccino look like he was from a hard-boiled novel. The way he made himself ‘at home’ was in a different dimension when compared to first-time customers like Itadori and Fushiguro.

On the other hand, even taking into account the fact that Fushiguro is still a beginner, he’s almost on his limit. If he could, he’d leave this place even a second faster.

“Oi. Now that we know Gojou-sensei’s true aim, if you’re satisfied then let’s get out of here.”

“Eeh, but I ordered already.”

“Just pay for it and get out.”

“But it’s not good if the food we ordered go to waste, right?”

“...Well, that’s true, but...”

Fushiguro wanted to leave the cafe even if it meant paying for nothing, but he’s a kind person in nature, so when he’s told something like that, he just couldn’t complain.

On the other hand, his eyes that look like the deepest gulf peeking into the night, started to look duller and duller. Once again, Fushiguro attempted to turn off his awareness.

Numbness is a safety device for the living. He must protect his heart at all costs - or else, it wouldn’t be strange for a curse to be born.

It was a stark contrast to Itadori, who, despite being restless, look like he’s excited to try out an attraction in a theme park.

However, the maid cafe’s true baptism starts from here.

“Here’s Precious Set - Mellow-mellow A~”

The true form of Precious Set that one couldn’t ever guess from the menu at all is actually an ordinary looking omurice[19].

On top of the plate was a panda drawn with ketchup - and, it’s most probably a coincidence, but it look like Panda-senpai so much that Fushiguro’s heart ached.

On the empty spaces in the plate was written words like ‘Precious...! Makes me feel frazzled...!’, but the only one actually frazzled here is Fushiguro.

On the other hand, Itadori’s already completely adapted to the situation.

“Well then, I’m going to ask for Masters to add on even more melancholy on the dish~”

“What should I do to add on the melancholy?”

“Please tell me one precious, melancholic, and emotionally moving scene from your favorite anime! If you can make me feel melancholic without telling me the title, you pass~”

“Eeh. Dang, it’s kinda hard to choose. ...Ah, then that one where the main character is a boy who really admires heroes.”

“Me too, I watch that, too. It’s one of my favorites~”

“There’s this character with an inferiority complex towards his father... and then there’s the scene where he remembered that he wanted to become a hero, and he finally used the ‘left hand’ that he never used. I like that one.”

“Ah~ That’s a definitive episode, that one. But the scene choice is too cliche, so try another one!”

“Ah, then another anime. The main character lives in the ninja village. At first he got ostracized by his friends, but then he grew up and there’s this scene where he’s finally recognized as a proper ninja and got tossed up high in the air by his comrades...”

“Ah~ that’s a really emotional scene, isn’t it~”

“And the part where the teacher, who was his only ally, looked at him and got moved to tears... it’s definitely something you can’t miss.”

“Ah~ you’re going in really on point, aren’t you~”

“The part where they said, ‘Right now, there’s a hero in front of me’, right?”

“I understand, I understand so well~~~~ That’s super extra melancholic, and because I feel hit right on the heart should I add on a topping for you?”

“Ah, so it’s that kind of system?”

“It’s a 400 yen a la carte menu, ‘Melancholy Potato’ add-on~”

“Wahh, that makes no sense――! So much carbohydrate!”

“Well then, let’s say it together: Emo――i!”[20]

“Emo――i!”

In a rather messy fashion, the potato was added on on top of the plate.

It’s definitely got that ‘refrigerated food’ feel, but it seems for an a la carte it goes for 400 yen. When you’re having fun you stop caring about such things, but Fushiguro was so bothered he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t help but to get bothered about various things.

And when he thought so, the tip of the blade is now aimed at him.

“This Master, too, together~!”

“Come on, Fushiguro, there’s topping there, too!”

“Okay, e――moi!”

“E――moi!”

“...”

Fushiguro didn’t reply. However, the event continued.

“Well, now that we have added on the topping, let’s take a cheki[21] with the dish. Okay, come closer, come closer~”

“Eh, there’s that kind of thing in this cafe?”

“Because it’s the Preciouse Set.”

“Heeh, I don’t understand at all but I see!”

“There’s this heavenly-feel, right?

“I dunno, is there? Might be.”

“...”

“Well then, excuse me for sitting beside you~”

“Eh, aren’t you too close? I’m a bit embarrassed about these kinds of things.”

“You have to experience this kind of embarrassment to be an adult, you know~”

“Is that true?”

“Yup, it is~ Here goes, cheki☆”

“Che-cheki!”

“...”

“Thank you very much~”

“Oh darn, this is so embarrasing! Wah, my face’s so hot! It feels like I just paid off a really important thing! Am I okay? I’m still a minor!”

“Kyaa~ You’re so innocent it’s cute~ Well then, the Master over there, let’s go.”

“After all, the type of closeness is different to that of a folk dance. Fushiguro, be careful! You’ll get embarrassed! Super embarrassed!”

“Please prepare for taking the cheki~!”

“Fushiguro, it’s gonna start.”

“........................ No.”

Echoed a fragile, feeble, delicate voice like that of a dying duck.

“............ I’m......... okay......”

Fushiguro has finally reached his limits.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈« 

“Aah, I unexpectedly ate a lot. But the taste’s kind of ordinary, wasn’t it.”

“The inside of my mouth’s dried because of all the potatoes.”

Thirty minutes passed.

Fushiguro and Itadori safely got out of heaven that took 500 yen to go in to.

“Fushiguro, I got the cheki we took earlier, you want it?”

“The next time you joke like that, I’m going to jam in paprika up your nose.”

“Isn’t it just something you don’t like! No, I understand, I understand that’s the limit to your harassment!”

“There’s a temple near Kanda. We’re going to burn the photos there.”

“Does it have to be in a temple!?”

“The only thing to do to cursed pictures is burning it for offering.”

“I’m sorry, okay! I didn’t know you were in that much pain!”

From Itadori’s perspective, Fushiguro always looked like he’s in a bad mood, but today, once again he got a look at ‘an actually angry Fushiguro’.

Now that it’s become like this, even Itadori couldn’t get into his usual rhythm.

A bit awkwardly, he thought of how to continue the conversation as he scratched his cheek - and then finally he decided to go back to the start of everything.

“B-by the way, in the end we lost Gojou-sensei, huh.”

“Yeah, but who cares about that.”

“Wa-waah, I wonder where he went......”

“What’s this about me?”

““Uwaaaaah!?””

The person who stepped into their somewhat awkward atmosphere in a suprising timing was Gojou, appearing from behind them.

Moreover――

“Go-Gojou-sensei! Since when were you behind us...... huh? Kugisaki’s here, too? Why?”

“Don’t ‘why’ me, you ass.”

Behind Gojou, Kugisaki shows up in a bad mood... or rather, full of malice and resentment.

For Itadori, it would be that another angry classmate shows up.

“Eeh... Even Kugisaki’s in a bad mood.”

“Of course I’d be. Because you guys loitered around Gojou-sensei, we...”

“Oh, come to think of it, Gojou-sensei, is it your day off today?”

“Don’t ignore me, you!”

Sensing that Kugisaki would complain in a more assertive fashion than Fushiguro, Itadori quite bluntly changed the subject.

Although, in the end, the subject didn’t change.

“No, I’m working as usual.”

“Eh? But you ate crepes and walked around town...”

“If you’re as busy as me, you wouldn’t have time to walk around town and making rediscoveries if not as you work, y’know. I might look like that but I’m actually doing my job.”

“And that is?”

“Looking for a dungeon.”

“...... Dungeon?”

“To use a different term, I’m looking for a nice cursed spot that could be used by the first years to acquire experience. In other words, I’m doing preliminary inspection.”

“.........Yes?”

The memories from when he’d first transferred to the Curse Technical College resurfaced on the back of Itadori’s mind.

That day, they were going to sight-see Tokyo, but in the end they had to participate in a curse exorcism recreation in an abandoned building.

Gojou continued indifferently.

“That maid cafe’s neighboring building’s mostly empty of tenants, but a strange rumor seems to have shown up on the internet, you see. And, because of the old record shop with quite a long history rented the place, the curse story’s credibility went up.”

“Ahh, that’s why you kept looking at the window despite there being nothing to see but the building.”

“Then, this is supposed to be a task for another day, but in a happy coincidence, the three first years are all present, so... ‘This is nice, I’ll just have them challenge it today!’, I thought.”

“Eh... eh!?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve moved around the amp abandoned in the building, played recordings like what’s written on the rumors, and other stuff to provoke the cursed spirit. So, you guys will be able to meet a very lively cursed spirit no problem!”

“......... Eeh...”

Itadori immediately moved his gaze towards Kugisaki.

He finally understood the reason for her face full of resentment.

In contrast, Fushiguro looked sharp and firm.

“Alright, we’re going.”

“Wh-why are you so eager!?”

“I feel much better doing this than going to a game center or a maid cafe.”

“Eh, what, you guys went to a maid cafe? Forget Itadori, but you too, Fushiguro? You look composed but you’re actually a lecher, huh, all of you!”

“It was inevitable.”

“What do you mean, forget about me!?”

“Who cares, let’s go.”

“That’s why I’m asking, why are you already in battle mode, Fushiguro!?”

“’Cause Megumi didn’t get the chance to show his abilities in the abandoned building the other day, he’s still all about it.”

“I’m not all about that.”

“No, your face clearly looks like you’re all about it.”

“You’re actually the type to hold a grudge for a long time, aren’t you.”

“Well then everyone, be careful on the way. I’m going to go eat age-manjuu[16].”

“You’re still going to eat!?”

“Let’s just go.”

“Don’t ‘let’s go’ me! Shit, good bye, my day off――――!”

“My Ame-yoko―――!”

From a day off gone wrong, being able to get in touch with a shaman’s ‘usual atmosphere’ helped Fushiguro recover quite a bit.

On the other hand, there are Itadori who had his satisfying holiday cut off, and Kugisaki who’d missed eating Ame-yoko’s specialty, Hyakka-en’s fruits[22].

Gojou saw off the three, noisily heading to exorcise the cursed spirit, with his usual light smile.

“Hm?”

Something fell off from Itadori’s pocket. What is it? Gojou tilted his head in question as he picked it up.

And the next moment, he burst into a laugh.

“Mm, hahahahahahahahahaha!”

Gojou couldn’t stop laughing as the image leapt into his sight.

“Ku, kukuku......... Aren’t they actually having the time of their life, those youngsters.”

80% of his smile was due to the strangeness.

20% of it was due to the pleasantness.

It was said that for some time, Gojou laughed with the picture of Itadori and Fushiguro with a maid wearing angel wings in hand.

Megumi-sama ♥ ♥ Please come again!!

Notes

(p.s. I'm not very sure about some of these, please do tell me if I got anything wrong.)

[1] Mito Koumon is the titular character (also a real person, his other name is Tokugawa Mitsukuni) of a period drama. Each episode always end with Mito Koumon, in a disguise, winning in a brawl against bad guys.

[2] Sazae-san is the name of an anime that has aired every Sunday since 1946 in Japan.

[3] Ame-yoko is an area in Tokyo famous for its shopping districts.

[4] Parque Espana is a Spanish theme park in Japan.

[5] Ueno and Okachimachi is also area in Tokyo.

[6] Tachikawa is a town in Okachimachi.

[7] Chiyoda ward is a special ward located in central Tokyo.

[8] Masakadozuka is the tomb of a beheaded hero.

[9] Akiba is the short term for Akihabara.

[10] Pepper-kun is a really famous robot from Japan.

[11] Onsen is a hot spring.

[12] Super sentou: sentou means a public bath, but in super sentou they have much more facilities than a simple bath, like sweets shops, terrace, and rest areas.

[13] Yamanote-sen is a railway loop line in Tokyo. It goes through famous places like Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro.

[14] It's a place with a ball machine (like Mechamaru during the baseball event) that you use to just... hit balls with a bat.

[15] That small machine you put in money and roll to get some surprises. Some of them are really expensive...

[16] SHOW悪 is, I think, a pun on 性悪 (shouwaru) = ill-natured.

[17] 尊みセット・エモエモ A. I'm not sure how to translate this (this whole maid cafe sequence is giving me a headache), but 尊い (toutoi) means precious. It's usually an otaku language when one talks about their favorite characters. エモ (emo or emoi) means emotional or melancholic. It's also usually used as an otaku language.

[18] かしこまリィンカネーション☆　= Understood-reincarnation. How am I supposed to make this work.

[19] Omelette rice.

[20] I give up. It's emoi. It's just emoi.

[21] Cheki is those polaroid pictures you take with idols, usually.

[22] Hyakka-en is a fruit store that's apparently very famous. Kind of expensive (but fruits are expensive in general in Japan), and for older fruits they chop it up and place it on a stick.

Honestly the novel is a treasure chest full of cute moments and amazing characterization information. I really love it - it’s probably my best buy. If you love Jujutsu Kaisen, you should really buy the book!

By the way, they’re going to release a second light novel soon.

[giorno-plays-piano]

The Pretender Next Door Part 2 Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader  Warning: Swearing.  Summary: Lying is despicable, but nothing beats the humiliation of pretending you have a lovely boyfriend when, in fact, you have none. Could your handsome neighbor help you, though?  Words: 2138.  Part 1 _____________________________________ It went better you thought it would. Your colleagues were mostly friendly and open, your work environment seemed both interesting and challenging enough, and living in the new apartment was comfortable and pretty peaceful. Well, that man from the 5th floor was singing songs from Bridget Jones Diary on Friday mornings really loudly, but you were an early bird, so you didn’t care, truly. You hadn’t seen Steve much, though it was more an advantage rather than not. He wasn’t bringing any girls into his apartment, and it really bothered you. Worse, he wasn’t bringing any boys either. Your last hope was that Steve belonged to some kind of swingers club or something and had orgies in a different place.

Swingers club? Damn, girl. This man was making you crazy.

You did your best to forget about that perfection of a man living next door. You needed to build your life from scratch in this mad city of New York, and having relationships now was not on your list. In fact, it had never been.

One busy month had already passed when you got a chance to talk to Steve again. You were stepping inside the elevator, tired after work. Next week you were organizing a big holiday party for employees, and things were going more and more stressful with each day. It turned out that way more people had allergies they didn’t state previously, most of them new employees like you, and you had to adjust the menu; then that band your VP of Marketing wanted to have suddenly asked more money than you discussed before, and…

Well, event planning was always like that. Why complaining now when you spend all those years in college and then decided to move to NY? It was predictable. What was unpredictable was you lying to your married colleagues that you had a boyfriend. Why on Earth did you say that? Yes, it was a bit embarrassing to be the only woman who wasn’t in a relationship, but did you ultimately have to lie about it? It was so stupid and childish. Surely, there were more than one single woman in New York.

Anyway, you had a bottle of white wine and Netflix movies waiting for you at home. You would deal with everything else later, including your imaginary boyfriend.

“Wait, please!”

You snapped out of your thoughts and immediately pressed a button to leave the doors open, and the next second Steve almost flew inside the elevator. Oh, was he just in front of you and you hadn’t seen him again? Seriously, you needed to put yourself together.

“Hello.” You smiled a bit shyly and pressed another button to get the elevator moving.

He looked as handsome as always in his dark blue jacket and… oh God, he could wear nothing at all and still looked like a prince. No clothes at all would be far more preferable…

“Hello.” His glowing smile made it hard to keep your eyes off his face.

Nonono, just stop staring and keep your eyes down. You had enough things on your plate already, there was no place left for a giant sun named Steve Rogers who would indeed burn you to ashes the same second you decide to come closer.

“So, are we going the same floor?” He suddenly asked. Wait, did he forget you literally lived next door?

“Um, yes.”

Steve scratched the back of his head; for a few seconds he seemed lost in thought. You decided to drop it. Maybe he had a bad memory or something.

“Oh, I get it, you probably visiting my new neighbor.” He just grinned through those perfectly white teeth.

What? Did he already forget he spent at least half an hour in your hallway repairing your bookshelf? Just how bad was his memory if he didn’t recognize your face, for God’s sake? Well, anyway, if you wanted him to have a flaw, you had to be happy he got one. Better than being a secret swinger, wasn’t it?

“Actually, I am your new neighbor.” You let out an awkward laugh and stared at your pretty kitten heels shoes you bought before leaving Key West. Why were you upset? You just thought about not getting into relationship with anyone. Besides, you doubted you had a chance to date Steve Rogers even if New York’s female population would be five times smaller its actual size.

Lost in your thoughts again, you missed his immediate change of expression, his face completely red with embarrassment and shame.

“God, I’m an idiot with a fish’s memory span.” He groaned and looked somewhere up, shutting his eyes for a few seconds. “I’m so sorry! I mean, of course I remember you, Y/N, it just, ugh, you know… you just look a bit different and… Jesus Christ, I’m gonna say something stupid again, aren’t I?.. Just, ugh, sorry.”

With the guilt all over his pretty face he reminded you of a puppy who ate someone’s shoe, and you chuckled. It wasn’t as bad as you though, he still remembered your name. It was true you were different comparing to the day he met you – you were wearing way more makeup, including bright lipstick, to look older for your colleagues who were in their 40s and 50s. You also had a nice New Look black dress, and your hair were curled. Although you did not expect to look so different to others, maybe Steve simply didn’t take a closer look at your face that time?

And you could still take it as his flaw. Not bad enough, but still something!

“Don’t worry, you only saw me two times in your life.” You laughed it off and stepped out of the elevator once the doors were open. “Now if you see here a grumpy old woman with Ikea bags please remember the way I looked today.”

Steve followed you into a narrow corridor and burst out laughing, his face slowly losing its funny redness. You suspected he still felt kind of guilty, but he tried to keep it cool when you bid him goodbye and entered your apartment.

Thinking of any other possible flaws he might have, you took off your shoes and threw you bag on the comfy grey sofa in the middle of the room. You were finally home. Now you could change into your favorite blue pyjamas and fluffy slippers, take off your makeup and have some good time watching your favorite romcoms. Although you didn’t have anything for dinner, you could easily order something like a nice pizza or lasagna from that family-owned pizzeria around the corner.

The next hour you spent in a tub, washing away your worries. One was still there though: what were you supposed to do with your imaginary boyfriend? Your biggest issue was that your colleagues asked you to bring him to the party. Of course, they thought it was a nice gesture since they often brought their own husbands and boyfriends, but now they just made your life way more difficult. Even if you could say your boyfriend got sick or something at the day of the event, what then? Thankfully, no one demanded to see your photos yet, but they could. And they might ask you to bring him to dinners they had altogether sometimes, and God knows what else.

You were stupid enough to make up some super romantic story about a perfect guy any girl would like to date. It was embarrassing to think of it now, but you definitely got affected by the marriage stories of your colleagues who spent the whole lunch hour talking about their lovely husbands. Your problem was you tried to fit in too much.

Well, you probably had to come up with something about breaking up once you moved to NY. Funny, because your “boyfriend” was living here and waiting for you for a year to come over and transform your long-distance relationships into something bigger. Hell, you even said you might marry him. Why were you so careless? Why did your colleagues’ opinions matter so much?

You sighed, putting on an old black hoodie. You were hopeless.

Then you heard the doorbell rang and frowned. You were not expecting anyone since you didn’t order your pizza yet.

You hurried to the door in your slippers and put your hair into a ponytail on the way. It was around 8 pm. Who could it be? Did someone just mistake your apartment for someone’s else? You knew your aunt wasn’t coming without telling you first, and no one else knew where you moved to.

But you opened the door, and you found glowing Steve there with a plate in his hands. You were so stunned you just kept standing there until you heard him snicker. Wait, what? Steve? Did he need to borrow anything? Why was he here?

“H-hi Steve. Please, come in.” You stepped back awkwardly to let him go inside and saw him smiling even wider once he spotted your fluffy blue slippers. Could it get even more humiliating than that?

“Hi there. I’ve actually come to apologize properly for the… well, you know.” He almost looked like he was blushing a bit. “And I brought you a lemon pie. Although I baked it myself, I swear it’s not poisonous!”

Great, your absolutely perfect blue-eyed neighbor with blond hair and a winning smile was so nice he brought you a homemade pie. Girl, you were losing it. Maybe he was a serial killer instead of a swinger? It would make sense, indeed. Maybe it wasn’t wise touching this pie? Damn, you hoped he tried to kill you instead of just being nice, because Steve was clearly out of this world.

“I mean… not like baked it the way my mother did… more like googling an easy recipe online and putting everything I found into an instant pot…”

You were ready to slap yourself when you saw Steve fidgeting nervously in the hallway. You had to keep your lovely neighbor out of your mind.

“Thank you so much.” Taking the plate from his huge warm hands you felt your body temperature rising. “But you didn’t have to do that. There’s nothing to be sorry about!”

“No, I was being stupid and…”

“Well, whatever. Just come here and share this pie with me so I can check if it’s poisonous or not.” You tried your best to make a joke out of it and laughed, nodding towards the kitchen. “I can make either tea or coffee. What would you prefer? Um, if you’d like to stay, of course.”

“Only if you don’t mind the guy who couldn’t recognise his own neighbor.”

You spent the next hour chatting about anything and everything. Even though you had never been talkative with people you barely knew, Steve had seemed so trustworthy and friendly you were not able to stop. He talked a lot too, telling you more about himself, claiming he was “just a kid from Brooklyn.” He didn’t finish his university degree because of some financial issues and was now working in an auto repair shop. He still wanted to return to engineering, though, but the only jobs he was offered were some unpaid internships and things like that. And he also played guitar. And he had just finished renovating his own apartment.

The only flaw you found was his issue with keeping the rooms clean as he was overly impressed with your place and how tidy it was. Well, it was something.

Then you had somehow told him about your work, new company, colleagues, the event, and… and that imaginary boyfriend of yours. When you realized you complained about your silly lies, it was already late. Steve was biting his lips not to laugh. Oh, great. Now he was thinking how pitiful you were, pretending to have someone in order to gain some respect from your new coworkers. What kind of girl would say these things to a man like him? You were clearly out of your mind. The only good thing about it was that Steve would probably walk out of your apartment and never come back again.

“Please don’t think I’m laughing at you. It’s… a bit funny, I mean, that you think there’s nothing you could do with your issue.” He grinned at you, almost pouting like a little baby. “Think of it, you just need to ask some guy you know to pretend he’s your boyfriend. Ask him to come with you to this holiday event, and then some time later you can say you broke up with him.”

For a minute you fell silent, staring at the guy in front of you with wide eyes.

“Wait, but I don’t know anyone here. I can’t merely go to anyone on the street and ask him to do this for me, right?”

“Well, for starters, you know me.”

[sailing-elitsha]

Hallelujah

Thinking about a header for this report I am struggling, it’s from boring because of no wind from all directions in the doldrums, over: exited to come closer to the Amazon river, over: we saw Neptune, over: not being sure if we can do this up to total exhaustion. We have been so tired that we could not even show excitement and joy anymore by our safe arrival in Paramaribo, after a very difficult 11 days stretch.  Let me first write everything down and see which heading we will choose.

Very quiet Dick said, “I saw you praying with your hands folded.” “Yes, I did that.” Whoever up in heaven, the universe or wherever feels I could have meant him or her: Thank you. Dick agreed.

Towards the end of this stretch, we could not think straight anymore, did not sleep because of the funny moves, Elitsha made, encouraged by Jip and Janneke, and the waves. Sometimes we really heeled onto our side after sliding down steep waves or swell. Realistically and objectively, there was no real danger, but at times it felt differently. Elitsha did a great job.  And let’s be honest, while in a force 8, in gusts 45 knots on our wind vane at sea with a currant of 3,5 knots, 12 knots showing on our log, knowing shore was close even though you do not see a thing and to sail in a river mouth with low tide, you make one wrong move……… everything can happen. But we did not make a wrong move. Dick knows what he is doing, and I am not too bad a sailor too.  Most importantly: when I was losing it and panicked there was Dick for me and when Dick was tired and miserable, I was there for him: Interesting self-studies of a relationship therapist, I am telling you. Do not do this if you don’t have a good relationship. But if you have good relationship, this is so special and amazing to go through together.

And… perhaps or most probably, this is normal and not a big thing for cruisers on an ocean crossing, but for us as beginning cruisers, it was a big thing. The challenge was, that for the last 4 days we hardly found a longer stretch of sleep than 1 or 2 hours and that breaks you at the end. That was, I think, the reason why we were desperate to arrive and stay somewhere for a while.  

But let’s start at the beginning:

We started relaxed after leaving Fernado de Norunha. Although, sailing without wind is never relaxing. You are looking for wind all the times, changing your sails and finally if you can’t stand the slapping of the beams and sails anymore you start the motor and you get annoyed by the noise of he motor and the fact that you are a sailing boat and not sailing……all of those things. Fortaleza just didn’t want to come closer, and Suriname seemed unreachable far for us. The promise was that we at least will find the strong current which would push us along from Fortaleza to the Amazon delta and Suriname.

On the 8th of Mai at 2.23pm Brasilia time we saw Neptune and served him an Oude Jenever. He seemed to like it. We originally wanted to go and swim with Neptune but just at that time Neptune on his turn treated us with some wind and we made 7 knots: 3 of them from the current. But in the doldrums, you are happy with everything what moves you along. Anyway, he (Neptune) had to do it with the Jenever, and we kept on sailing.

Just before the Amazon river at the end of day 6 of 11 it started blowing. Yeah!!!!!!!! 180 miles a day and no motor anymore. That’s great. Forecast: 12-15 knots with gusts of 20 knot. Lovely!!!!! From late afternoon of day 7 the constant wind was 32 and the gusts up to 40, RAIN and it started with a close-by lightening flash and a thunder clap. And that carried on till close to Paramaribo. The funniest: Nothing of all was forecasted on the Iridium weather report: as I said: ENE wind 12 – 15 knots, gusts of 20 knots and some possible thundershowers, but in our case they were not gusts any more, but constant hard wind 30 knots plus for 3-4 days in a row. The Amazon, even we passed him on a big respectable distance, and later the Suriname river brought trees down to the sea. You had to have your eyes everywhere. A whale, a humpback, close to the Amazon, just next to Elitsha, I saw him thinking: you are here and not in Africa? (we see whales in Hout Bay on a regular base), that close he was. For weeks we didn’t see more than a handful ships. They were huge, okay, but we saw them on AIS far before we could see them in real. Now there were lots of fisher boats around who didn’t feel like using AIS (they don’t want to be seen by their colleagues), tankers from Venezuela who switch on AIS only last minute, and this all at night, without moon and stars assisting…...and then………..always this “gale wind”, waves and massive swell.  Another thing made us nervous: the “shallow” water.  After having sailed for month now in blue water, REALLY blue water of 4 000, 5 000 meters deep, we suddenly sailed up the plateau of the South American Continent: only 200 meters of depth. You should think: That’s deep enough, Sylke. Yes, but it’s just what you are used to, right?! And we were used to 4000 to 5000 meters. The water was green, closer to Suriname, when we had no more than 20 meters it was yellowish. The Amazonas brought trees with big branches and fields of green-brownish weed, leaves…. and always the strong wind, the rain and thundershowers and you can’t step out of this train or leave the movie……you have to hang in there. This paired with not sleeping and being exhausted and Navionics giving us problems at this very moment, we saw the lights of French Guyana as the lights of Suriname (same character) and panicked that we would have passed Paramaribo already. After having struck sails and heading Elitsha into the wind, to check out if we are right or wrong, we finally followed our way towards Suriname with only the Genua, which was still fast enough. Holger, one of our shore captains confirmed, that we have the entrance of the Suriname river 20 mile ahead and not behind us. Ufff, what a relief. We still didn’t see land………. only 60, 50, 40, 30 foot of water under Elitsha, no entrance buoy in sight…….  Via radio we got in touch with  MAS ( Suriname Harbour authorities). Anneke, our other shore captain, had arrange contact and allowance with them already. In times of Corona regulations this is essential. You can’t just go to a harbour. Everything has to be pre-arranged. When we called MAS, to ask if we were somewhere close to the entrance buoy of the river mouth, a deep voice in Dutch with a heavy Surinam’s accent answered: “ik zie jullie on AIS.” YES!!!!!!!!!!! Eventually, we saw not the entrance buoy, but the first green buoy and shared this” achievement” with him. His dry and short reaction: “Mevrouw, u bent op de goede weg!!!!!” (“Lady, you are on the right way”). Not more and not less, but it was like music to our ears. It was low tide and our echo sounder told us, 20, 10 and then 9,60 foot. Elitsha needs at least 5,50 foot of water to float. We motor sailed (to be more controllable). Still 30 knots of wind, rain, and buoys not visible all the time. On the river we almost got stuck twice in the mud: 6 foot on the depth sounder. We were blessed to have sailed for years on the Dutch Waddenzee. This was very similar. The only difference: ELITSHA is not a flatbottom with leeboards.  It looked exactly like you sail from the Stortemelk into the Schuitegat towards Terschelling with low tide and it felt exactly like that.

I could tell you more about my fear of sailing over the many wrecks alongside of the coast, our chart showed us and Dick’s fear of hitting ground in the bottom of the waves (that’s why he looked for more shallow water without swell and waves), about comforting and encouraging each other that we will make it, that the fishermen would look out, that 30 - 40 knots of wind is actually not that bad and we are not in real danger but that we just needed some sleep and rest, after 2 antibiotic courses and, and………  And then we just arrived……just like that!!!! We picked a mooring buoy, made the dingy ready to go and went ashore. I did not eat for 4 days, actually ate the other way round (if you know what I mean). In the bar of the Marina, where everybody welcomed us, we ate and drank because we felt, we must celebrate. But the feeling was not there like in St Helena and Fernando. We went back to our brave ELITSHA and slept like we got paid for it. The next day we celebrated full time. We ate the whole day, talked to everybody who came across. We did 5 washes in the Marinas washing machine, had I don’t know how many showers and Elitsha got a very good clean up: you don’t want to know how it looked like inside her: flour everywhere, everything everywhere and because of the salt water everything was sticky, wet and just ick.

Now we have a fruit bowl and candles on the table, new sheets on our beds, nothing moves, and we can just move without getting thrown into one of the corners of the ship, fall of the toilet and stuff like that. Okay its rainy season and if it rains, it REALY RAINS, buckets of water coming down, but that is not such a problem: cleans the boat and fills the water tank. A bar with nice music and good food where you meet nice and friendly people, a shower, free internet: that is what we were craving for.  We are on the Suriname river in Domburg, close to Paramaribo. We hear the howler monkeys on the other side of the river, where it’s already  pure jungle. I am telling you, it’s REAL heaven.

I remember from the old days of sailing in Holland: the feeling of arriving after a tough stretch in bad weather and under poor conditions is unbeatable. Leaving under difficult condition makes you nervous, hanging in it, you just do what you must do, and arriving is heaven.

Wednesday we will go for the stamp in our passports and on Friday we will sail with ELITSHA  70 miles down the river to meet caiman, anaconda, howler monkey and jaguar in the real jungle. No Sonny and Crocked anymore, Dick as Tanzan and I will be Jane.

………to be continued.

[steves-on-a-plane]

Mason Jars & Fifty Percent

Title: Mason Jars & Fifty Percent  Words: 2068 Content Creator: @steves-on-a-plane Square Filled: AU Wedding Planner/ Divorce Attorney  Rating: G Pairing: Bruce Banner x Reader Warnings/Triggers: none Summary: Reader and Bruce have been on a few dates when they realize they’ve never discussed their careers in great detail. Would they really be able to make things work if one of them is a cynical divorced attorney and the other is a romantic wedding planner?   Link: @brucebannerbingo

Your relationship was very Mr. and Mrs. Smith if Angelia Jolie had played a cynical divorce lawyer and Brad Pitt’s Mr. Smith has been a lovesick wedding planner. It was unbelievable how the two of you had managed your double act for so long. Maybe, you thought one night over dinner, that the success had come from the secret of not knowing what each other’s profession was.

“You know, I just realized,” Your boyfriend Bruce observed as he glanced over the menu. “This is our fifth date and we never once talked about our careers. I mean I know that you’re a lawyer, but what sort of law do you practice?”

“Yeah…” You looked up from your menu awkwardly. “I usually try to avoid the topic until I get to know someone, but I mean we’ve talked about your job before, right? You’re an event planner. At least that’s what I remember you saying.”

“Well that’s the general idea.” He said, now looking up from his own menu. “But I really specialize in one particular event, weddings.”

“You’re a wedding planner?” You practically coughed on the word.

“Well, yeah.” He smiled uncomfortably. “Everyone loves weddings. The fresh cut flowers, the intricate decorations, all the things a person can do with mason jars!”

“Ugh, the mason jars are the worst part!” You rolled your eyes. “Everyone hates weddings! You get stuck at a table full of people you don’t know, the food is always bland as hell, the music is terrible and it’s all pointless because 50% of all marriages end in divorce.”

“50% is better than all!” He countered. “And sure, the wedding isn’t everything, but it’s the start of everything! For one magic day I get to give two people everything they’ve ever dreamed of. They could be a fairytale come true or pirates on the high seas or any number of fantastic fantasies.”

“And that’s just what it is a fantasy. Weddings are an illusion and once the dust settles and the illusion’s worn off, your happy couple ends up in my office.” You complained.

“Your office?” Bruce leaned back in his seat, scandalized. “You’re a divorce attorney. Well if you hate weddings, and by proxy love, so much why are we on this date right now?”

“Just because I don’t like marriage doesn’t mean I can’t go on dates and have a little bit of fun.” You answered.

“If all I am is a little bit of fun, I think we should stop things now before we get ahead of ourselves.” Bruce set his menu down and began putting on his coat. You glanced back down at your menu, prepared to let him walk out. You’d been planning to have a nice dinner at this restaurant for weeks. You weren’t going to let the fact that you were suddenly dateless stop you. Still, as you watched him walk away, you couldn’t help but feel guilt and regret already burning inside you.

You took the night to think things over. Bruce had a point. Why had you allowed the relationship to go on for so long if you were only ever interested in a fun little fling? Why had you been so ashamed to tell him about your job? Sure, you didn’t mention it to anyone on a first date before, but you’d also never waited so long to bring it up. The truth was that you hoped he’d never ask. You went to bed that night with your mind brimming with questions.

In the morning you returned to your office as if it were any other day. You were greeted by your all too cheerful assistant, Steven and plethora of messages that had built up over the weekend. You went into your office and sank into your chair. You unpacked your laptop and began reading your emails for the day. There was a knock at the door. Steven appeared and offered to go out for coffees. You told him that would be fine and returned to work.

You had placed your cellphone screen side up on your desk. The screen was dark, just like it had been last night. It seemed Bruce had been serious about stopping before things went too far. He hadn’t tried to call or text since leaving the restaurant. Not even so much as an emoji. Twenty minutes passed and though your attention was mostly on your work you hadn’t been able to full shake Bruce from your mind.

“Uh, [Y/N]?” You heard Stephen’s voice as he returned to your office. Normally he’d slip in quietly with your coffee and place your mug in front of you before sneaking back out. It also didn’t normally take him twenty minutes to make a coffee. You looked up to see what was wrong, immediately spotting a foreign cup in his hands. “It seems something happened to your mug last night while the cleaners were here. I had to improvise this morning.” Steve place the cup in front of you and tried to disappear as soon as his hand disconnected from the handle.

“Who the hell has a clear glass coffee mug?” You commented as you reached for the beverage. You stopped with your hand hovering just inches away as you got a closer look at the glass “coffee mug.” In your opinion calling it a coffee mug was a very loose use of the term. The object next to your laptop was no coffee mug at all. It was instead a mason jar with a handle. All the things a person can do with mason jars! You found yourself chuckling, a chuckle that turned into laughter. Why the hell was there a mason jar in your office? The irony was too much.

Staring intently at the mason jar, you knew that you owed Bruce an apology. You just hoped he’d still care enough to hear it. Unsurprisingly he didn’t answer when you called. You left him a voicemail anyway.

“Bruce, I owe you an apology and I know it’s already overdue, but if you could find it in you to indulge me, I’d like to meet you for lunch. I have some things I want to say that shouldn’t be left in a voicemail. So, I guess let me know if you’re free.” You ended the call, placed your phone screen side up again and waited. Yu almost given up hope when a text message notification flashed across your screen.

I’m looking at venues with a client until noon. I can meet at your office at 1.

You texted back a very grateful “thank you” and returned to work. You could make it until one o’clock without completely losing your mind, right? The next four hours were agonizing, but you had enough work to keep you busy the entire time. You really only thought of Bruce when you spotted your phone, or the mason jar out of the corner of your eye.

At twelve thirty Steven announced there was a man outside claiming to have a meeting with you. You told him to let the man in and braced yourself to see Bruce again for the first time since your conversation the night before. You wanted to comment right off the bat that you felt Bruce wasn’t playing fairly. He’d arrived looking very professional in a charcoal grey suit and blue dress shirt. His hair was styled in the way he always wore it an effortless waviness to it that you were sure had to take lots of hair protect to perfect. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept much more than you last night.

“I was promised an apology.” He said, not moving from the door.

“Would you like to sit down?” You invited, gesturing toward the two empty chairs across from you. “I can have Steven bring you a coffee...”

“Will it come in a mason jar?” He asked, still not moving from the door. “Because you know, mason jars are the worst.”

“Ok, I deserve that one, I admit it.” You nodded getting up from your desk. You walked over to the small couch on the adjacent wall and invited him to sit again. He seemed hesitant, but finally moved away from the door to sit next to you.

“You know, maybe I’m the one who should apologize.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “We never said we were a serious thing, so this whole thing is on me. I overreacted last night.”

“No, no.” You assured him. “It was me. I wasn’t always like this so, cynical about love. People aren’t born to hate love. But my parents were divorced when I was young. I thought it was just them. I thought there was just something about them that didn’t work. I always swore I’d never let their relationship define my own opinions of love. I’ve even been in love once or twice. And nothing like my fiancé William. Will was, he was everything I ever thought I wanted. He ticked off every little box from the checklist in my mind. But either I stopped being shiny and new or I just wasn’t worth keeping around because he left me. So did my second Fiancé Taylor and after that I just decided I wasn’t going to wait and see if the third time was a charm.”

“You’ve got baggage.” Bruce nodded. “I get it, we all have something. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on ever finding love. If those guys could leave so easily, they might not have been worth keeping around anyway. I mean I was really hurt when I walked out of that restaurant last night, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about you all morning. My-my client is complaining to me because her daughter can’t possibly have her wedding anywhere without at least six chandeliers and all I could think about was how I was going to miss that little smirk you make when you win an argument!”

“I don’t...That’s not the point. The point is that I’ve felt sick to my stomach ever since I let you walk away last night. I know now that I love you.” You confessed. “I was kidding myself thinking that this was just a fling, that I wouldn’t get attached to you. You’re so full of light! When I’m around you I don’t think about my past. I don’t think of all the ways that I’ve been hurt or how I could get hurt again. I’m thinking about your laugh, or the way that your eyes crinkle just the slightest when you smile. And honestly, I think about your hair a lot. How do you get it so perfect?”

“My h-it’s gel mostly.” He confessed running a hand through his own hair. “Wait did you just say you love me?”

“I-ah-yeah. I did.” You cast your eyes downward. You couldn’t look at him. “I know its too soon and it’s corny.”

“Babe,” He laughed.  You looked up in time to see that crinkle beneath his eyes. “I’m a wedding planner, corny is what I live for.” He glanced down at his watch. “Say we’ve still got some time. What do you say I take you to a real lunch?”

“You still want to keep dating me?” You asked. “Even though I just dumped all that stuff on you and technically I never really apologized?”

“You didn’t dump anything on me.” He promised, getting to his feet. “You were opening up to me about your past and explaining why you’d reacted so severely last night. Who could fault you for that? And truthfully, I never expected you to apologize. You told me on your first date that you never apologize because it admits guilt.”

“Hey, any good lawyer knows you never admit guilt if you want to win.” You shrugged, also getting to your feet. Bruce offered you his hand and you took it eagerly.

“Just promise me one thing,” he said as the two of you started to leave your office. “If we get married, mason jars will not be involved in any capacity.” You couldn’t stop yourself from changing your expression to the lopsided smirk that Bruce loved so much.

“I knew it! No one likes mason jars that much!” You said. “But I kind of like the idea of having at least six chandeliers…”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He chuckled.

[anikimanystories]

“Neki kar dariya me daal” 

(Do good to somebody and forget, never expect anything in return…..automatically u will get it back  some day……some way…..that u never expected)

I have heard this proverb but never known that one day I will become an example of this proverb in a very filmy way.

Some 10 years back I used to stay in PG…my office was hardly 500m from my PG. Every day I used to go to my office by walk….in the middle of the way, one of the biggest hospital of that city was there. I was very happy with my job, office…..then one day I have been shifted to a project in which for some operational requirement, twice in a week…. I need to travel to our another office which was nearly 65 km from my PG. Whenever I need to go to my far office I used to tell to my office they used to book cab….they used to provide cab details etc….I used to do my work …..and mostly I come back late night as it was far….and traffic was also too much…..that far office was about 35 km from the main road….the path was  in between some village….some time while coming back no road light used to be there…..anways the cab driver is being provide by our office so I wasn’t bothering so much….he will take care like dat was my attitude…..while coming back I used to sleep in the cab….it was far and I used to be tired also. It was that day…December month ….it only my 5th visit to my far office….till dat time I wasn’t so much familiar of the path after the main road….it was nearly 7pm when we started from my far office…..bcz of some operational requirement I stayed late dat day…..anyways we started at 7….it was so dark….no road light was there….but our car light was sufficient……and road side some houses were visible…..very dim light was coming from them….I told the driver open the window…very nice air ……some small shop were also visible….i was feeling sleepy…..I was about to sleep but….suddenly our car stopped….I aksed ….what happen bhaiya…..he replied …don’t know madam, suddenly it got stopped, I will check….I told..ok…..I saw outside it was dark…..after sometime driver told me ….madam you be inside the car…..he closed the windows also…. I will just check if some mechanic shop is there or if somebody can help…..I told ok….I was acting bold outside…..but actually I was so scared from inside….nearly 20 min passed  the driver didn’t come back…I called him many times but he didn’t pick the call…..very bad thoughts started coming in my mind…..whether really some problem is there in the car….where the driver gone…..why he is not coming back…..I was so much scared…I was feeling to pee….not able to control….mind wasn’t working ….whom to contact…I tried to call some of my friend….some of my friend picked also….but they couldn’t understand……may be my network was weak ….I messaged to many of my friends about the situation….dat somebody may reply or call back…..I wasn’t able to control…wanted to pee…..I thought I will pee and immediately I will come inside the car…..I saw near far if it is safe to go out…..from the nereby housed light… I felt dat I can come out…..I came out…..after finishing…..When I stood I felt somebody is behind me…..and I didn’t dare to turn back…..I didn’t think for a fraction of second and started running…..my heart sound I was able to listen…..some hot air was coming out my ears….I started running towards the village house….to ask help……I don’t remember how much I ran…..I don’t know whether really somebody was there……or driver would have come back…I don’t know….my mind was going through so many thoughts…and actually I was crying….i was seeing houses but not knocking thinking that whether some women will be inside or only men will be there….I did’t have any idea of this area……slowly I started seeing more houses.…more lights……I got some hope….people were there….I was feeling safe…..suddenly I remember I left my purse….phone ….everything I left in the car….I don’t know where is the car parked…..i don’t remember from which direction I came. Then I saw a shop in which a lady was selling…..some snacks…..all were closing their shops…..I went to the lady…..All people there was turning back and seeing me…..obviously I was a stranger for them….I asked that lady…..Aunty do u have phone…..I want to call somebody….I told I don’t have money….I was talking then I realized Aunty could understand only there local language…..I asked her …Hindi or English…..Then see called one nearby boy….I was explaining the things to the boy….may he was in hurry….or don’t want to get involve in some stranger’s problem……he locked his shop and left…..I saw Aunty also started packing…..I told Aunty what is the time….She saw in her phone it was 8.50pm….I asked Aunty plz give me phone…..maybe she understood….she gave me phone….but I only remember my own number & my father number, who was in my native…..I called my number if driver would have come, maybe he will pick the call….he didn’t pick then I called my father….then I got the info that balance is insufficient to make the call….I was losing hope….what to do….I moved from there….all were closing shops….before that I should ask help…..next shop I asked about the auto stand or bus stand…..that old man has given me direction for auto stand…..I asked him if he can with me….he didn’t respond……only told the direction that this way I may get auto……I was about to leave from there ….suddenly from the next shop….one man was there……he greeted me with a big smile and he was looking very happy & surprised…he acted as he knows me……”Namshate madam…..kaisa hain?” Aap idhar kya kar raha hai madam….kisi ke ghar pe aaya hai kya….ghar jao madam….idhar ab sab band hone ka……ye lo madam….aapka paisa….mai bhoola nai madam….aap phir mila hi nai…..he gave me 2000rs….and he was giving me so many blessings…..I was very happy to take the money bcz at that time I was really a beggar…..but who is he…..he was may be of 45-50 age……after taking money I felt as directly God has come to help me…..why he gave me 2000rs…..whether everything is real…..what is happening……whether this man is genuine….shall I believe him…..I was trying to remember that whom I have given 2000rs…..I couldn’t …..anyways I have money I should leave now….may be this man has misunderstood me for someone else…..I don’t have mind or time to think about this man…..it was going to be 9.30pm….almost all shops closed……I was still scared and feeling very unsafe but at the same time I was brave and conscious also. The man was also closing shop…..I was simply standing and thinking whether I shold ask help from him….shall I explain everything to him…..again he asked “kya hua madam…..aap ghar jao madam…..kiske ghar me aaya aap….idhar ham sabko janta…..ye mera gaon….idhar he janam liya hai….bolo kiske ghar aaya aap”…..I didn’t tell anything that I am lost here….I only asked that …..can you come with me to the auto stand or bus stand……? He turned back to me…..Itna raat ko kidhar jayaga madam…..why this man is asking so many questions….again he started ….subah me jao madam…..chalo mai aapke sath aat kiske ghar jana aapko…..I was only willing to get an auto…..I started in the way to auto stand…..the old man has told…..dat man also started coming behind me…..I started running…..that man also stared running…..madam….ooo madam….ruko itna raat ko kidhar jana aapko bolo madam…..I was not able to run much…..dat man came behind me…. I wasn’t able to run now…..I was getting sacred….this man was scaring me…..I told him dat I will manage by myself….you plz go….but he still coming behind me…..I was getting angry….suddenly I saw a big bamboo stick I took dat and threatened him dat don’t come behind me….don’t think dat I will give you any favor and I am not going to give you money also…..get lost from here…… Dat man was suddenly looking little sad…..aap kya baat kiya madam….hamko kuchh nai chahiye….aap itna raat ko akela jara iske liye mai puchha……aap mere ko help kiya so mai aapko aisa akela nai choor sakta…..by that time I was so much irritated…..I shouted hey don’t do so much drama….and get lost from here…..what help ha?? He told aap iss (told name of the hospital) hospital ke paas rahta hai na madam……I was surprised…..yes….how you know dat….he told the exact location….slowly I calm down….we both started walking toward the auto stand…..I told him I want to go to the same place plz find an auto for me….he told…..ekdum madam……he came with me to the auto stand and talked to the auto person ….in start they were not willing to go so much far in this much night…..but he told to the auto person…. ye mera daughter hai…..ye jidhar bole udhar isko drop kar do….then one auto person got agree to drop me…. Auto started then I asked auto person to stop for some time….I told that man in few days I will return his money…..he told ye aapka hi paisa hai madam…..aapko yaad nahi kya…..I told no may be u have misunderstood me for someone else……he laughed….bahut duniya aur log dekha hai madam….aadmi pahchanane me galti nahi karta mai…. With curiosity I asked….what help I did to you?? He told…..some 1 year back he was in a very need for money ….his son & wife both were hospitalized in that hospital…he was asking help from people…..no body was listening to him….people were not giving even 5 rupees….suddenly I came and kept 2000rs in his hand and left…..I told you so much thank madam….bahut der tak mai aapko dekhta raha….jaise God aaye ho……aap uss din bhi same kapda pahna tha madam. After some time the auto started …..I started recollecting my memories…..but I could not remember any such event……and if I would have given also……may be 2000rs note I would have misunderstood for 100 and given….hahahahah…and as today I have become beggar….may be that day he would have become beggar…..anyways I was feeling little relaxed….all these paths were known to me….I was going in the correct path….The auto wala dropped me to my destination. Next day I came to know dat my cab driver has fallen down in big dig….he lost his phone there….his leg was fractured…..village people have admitted him to the hospital… It was so filmy…..next day I reported the event in my office…..they have given official mail…dat for any work in our far office….we should go early….and we should start before 2pm in any case. In the next visit to my far office….I told the cab driver to find that man shop…..we found….I saw him from inside the car…..but I could not remember anything dat I would have seen him anytime near the hospital.

[hostgalli19]

Hallowvide Day 26: Samhainophobia

Chapter Summary: Samhain used to be scary. The costumes were meant to protect you for spirits and demons who wanted to harm you, nowadays, not so much.

Note: Here's today story, hope you enjoy it

Sir - Head of Manoir Vide Less - Member of Manoir Vide Mae - Member of Manoir Vide

Varga - Member of Manoir Vide Demon - Member of Manoir Vide Para (Paradox) - Member of Manoir Vide

Length: Tag List: @darkipliersdesk, @wilfordwarfstacheisbae, @lamiasluck, @scuttling-thoughtfully, @matt10nt, @bexiblitz, @kraefandoms, @ameliachastain, @ze-doktar-is-here​, @ that-1-demon, @posts-random-art, @sack-the-kitsune, @royalspaceace, @wheezes-in-unsolved, @etcha12322, @thefrenchiestfry-jpg, @howchildishofme, @crazykuchen01, @sireniana,

Link to Ao3, Day 24 and Day 25

Date: 26/10/20 - 27/10/20 Time: 10:50 pm - 2:05 am

The Manoir was louder than usual given the Guests were getting their costumes ready for the party on the 31st. This was my first year attending the party.  

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to go as I've only really dressed up for Halloween three times. 

The first time was as a vampire, the second an angel with an ex-friend and the third was for work and I only remembered it was Halloween because of the decorations and the fact everyone was dressed up. 

I honestly have no idea what I'm going to dress up as. Maybe a vampire I'm not entirely sure. I poked my head into the cinema after checking to make sure there was no bucket of blood over the door this time.

Mae, Deer, Demon, Para and Varga and promised they would never try and make either me or Sir like that ever again. I'm not scared of Samhain. The costumes now days were nowhere near as scary as they used to be. 

The costumes were meant to scare unwanted spirits and demons away but now they invited trouble, that's how it seemed anyway.

I was on my way back from a craft shop with some supplies need to make some decorations for The Manoir (Lumin's webs were looking a little bare) when I was catcalled. 

I looked around and groaned when I saw the group of humans standing at the mouth of the ally I walk down to get to the Manoir. Lovely, just what I need. 

I smiled at thinly at the humans and tried to walk through the ally as quickly as possible. 

I would have gone around but the other way closed and I wanted to get back to the Manoir as quickly as possible. I quickly flicked through my phone trying not to tense when I heard the group of humans start to follow me.

I wanted to walk faster but forced myself to keep walking like I hadn't noticed them. There was no way in hell I would be able to escape them. 

I was wearing my running shoes, leggings and my black and blue polo shirt and my black vest. 

I was suddenly very thankful the bag I was using to carry everything in didn't have a handle on it, that way the group of five humans following couldn't grab it.

 I stumbled when one of the humans grabbed one of my braids. I yelped and clawed at the hand holding my hair until they let go. That's when I started to run. 

The entrance to The Manoir wasn't that far away, I just needed to get near it and I would be perfectly safe. Sir never let anything happen to his Guests. I smiled when I heard the five humans stop at the sight of the building. 

Manoir Vide looked like a run-down mansion to outsiders. They could see how truly beautiful it was, though the Manoir itself was currently over in Lumin's webs, horseshoes, and of course jack-o-lanterns. 

It looked very much like a Haunted Mansion but to me, it was home. I gasped, completely out of breath when I finally reached the "Front Gate". 

I took a minute to catch my breath, turning around to see the five humans had finally made up their mind and were following me, a few of them had picked up stones. 

I turned back to the Manoir and dashed inside, being careful not to trip over the uneven stones that made up the pathway to the huge wooden front door. 

I stumbled and fell over, scraping my hands, shins and knees on the stones. I tried to get up but my ankle protested. I just have rolled it when I fell over. I looked up when I heard a scream, no doubt someone had scared Deer. 

I stumbled to my feet and limped towards the front door. I looked over my shoulder and smiled, Deer's scream had clearly alarmed the five humans following me. Good.

Walking was painful but I was safe. I stumbled and leaned against the table near the front door. I had never noticed it before. I yelped when I was grabbed and slammed against the wall, my ankle and knee making a dull pop sound. 

Tears started leaking from my eyes as I stared at the person who grabbed me. It was one of the humans, the others in the group were laughing and telling jokes.

I opened my mouth to scream but the human holding my against the wall put their hand over my mouth. I breathe in through my nose and almost gagged at the overpowering scent of alcohol. 

It was nauseating. I bit into the humans male's hand hard, hoping it would be enough to get them to let go. It wasn't unfortunately. They pushed me hard against the wall, the other hand across my neck. 

I slammed my knee into his groin.

"HELP! AH, LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARD," I screamed, the man holding me slammed my head against a wall. I groaned and tried to stop myself from crying even more. 

The Manoir had gone quite. I couldn't hear the piano in the ballroom, nor could I hear the movie playing in the Cinema. It was eerie. The Manoir was never this quite. 

The humans had seemly noticed how quiet it suddenly was. 

I could help but smile. Sir hated uninvited Guests wandering into the Manoir. If they were polite they were allowed to stay for a while, some never left while others, much like these humans were, dealt with in a much harsher way. 

Intruders weren’t welcome.

We had several over the last month. Some from the nearby town thought to came investigate (stick their nose where it doesn’t belong), they had gotten a rather nasty surprise but they had escaped with their lives, and sanity intact.

Another, more recent intruder wasn’t so lucky. He may have gotten out of Manoir alive but he wouldn’t soon forget his time here. This particular intruder decided to insult Sir and the Manoir after he was kindly asked to leave. 

"Hello gentlemen, lady. What are you doing here?" Sir questioned, appearing at the top of the staircase, sip a glass of wine. He did not look pleased, not that I really blamed him. 

He very much hated it when there were intruders, or that’s the impression I had gotten from how he reacted when have had… unwanted Guests. The humans looked startled to see anyone here. 

I groaned when the man holding my let go, I rubbed my throat and slide down the wall, quickly wiping away the tears dripping down my face. My eyes were stinging. 

I yelped when I was lifted off the ground. I relaxed a little when I realised it was Sir’s aura. I giggled a little. I leaned against the railing to the stairs, enjoying the frightened look on the humans far too much.

The Humans looked alarmed and I couldn't help but smirk at the frightened look on their faces as Sir walked down the stairs, one hand still behind his back. I looked up when I heard a creak and saw Mae, Deer, Less, Paradox and Demon standing on the landing. 

Demon looked down at the humans with a curious look on his face before scuttling up the wall and onto the ceiling to look down at the humans. They seemed unnerved. 

While Demon's ability to climb the walls and stick to the ceiling was creepy I had since gotten used to it. 

The humans tried to run out the door but were stopped when it slammed shut, the sound was deafening, the humans paled when they saw Lumin. He was reached halfway up their thighs. He did not look pleased. 

They tried to scramble away from Lumin, bringing them closer to the staircase. 

Sir stopped just before the bottom of the stairs, I didn't notice his cane until he removed his hand from behind his back. The humans back away as much as Lumin would allow them too. 

He took another sip of his wine while he waited for the humans to speak. The man who had slammed be against the wall was stammering, trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. 

"She told us to follow her. It was her doing," the man answered, I stared at him. That was a horrible excuse and was never going to work. Sir stared at them with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head when I looked over at me. 

I winced and hopped around to sit down on the bottom step. It a little too painful to stay standing. 

"I was walking from back the craft shop with decoration, they catcalled me and decided to follow me. I ended up tripping on one of the loose stones outside. I think I twisted my ankle and knee when he slammed me against the wall," I answered, leaning against the railing and briefly closing my eyes, I groaned when I felt myself being shaken. 

I stared at Less wondering why she was trying to keep me awake. 

I was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

"No Galia did not. If she had then you would not have slammed her against the wall given her a concussion after she screamed for help..." I didn't hear what Sir said after that as I passed out. 

I woke up my couch in The Parlour, a cold bag on my head, my ankle and knee had already been wrapped. I had no idea what happened but didn't really care I just wanted to sleep. 

I opened my eyes again when I heard a soft chittering and realised it was Bug and Lumin. Bug called onto the couch as did Lumin, he was much smaller now. I laughed at the feeling of Lumin scuttle up my body and settle in my hair. 

It was his favourite place. I relaxed and went back to sleep. I could find out what happened later. 

Note: Thankyou for reading. I may add to this later. If you want to read the other stories go to my profile and search “Hallowvide” and the particular day you want.

Link to Picture 1, Picture 2

[shesawriter39049]

|FAMILY TIES| M| MAFIA AU| 4

2K SNEAK PEEK (Full things looking like it will be between 10-11k)

GENRE:SMUT/ ANGST

AU SUMMARY :  A powerful alliance made up of of 4 families spanning over a decade, is suddenly turned on its head when one family has a new leader after an unexpected death. Well let’s just say he’s not down to follow the somewhat civilized rules your families have inforced. Sooo now, it’s game on…

WARNINGS: Very,very breif mentions of somone OD’ing and breif mentions of sex work! Just so ya can’t say I didin’t warn ya!

LOCATION : 40 Sudbury St, Boston, MA 

TIME: 2:07 PM

“Don’t look too excited to see me…” A coy smile tugged on the corners of sheriff Morales lips as closed the door walking over to take a seat in front of Taehyung.

Facial expression still reading the same amount of inconvenience, annoyance,exhaustion, unamusement, lack of interest, shall I continue?

“You litterally arrested me, after I just hopped off a 15 hour flight, outside of Leo’s viewing, yes...Monti I’m fucking thrilled to be here…” The level of crass that danced throughout his voice earned a chuckle from the elder.

“It’s not like I took you away in cuffs I just simply asked if we could talk down at the station, you know you didn't have to tell me yes..” There was an underlying condescending demeanor that laid within his voice.

Taehyung’s eyes instnatly rolled to the back of his head as he huffed out a exaggerated sigh “Yeah because I’d totally prefer the alternative which would be you on my door at 1am while I’m in the middle of having sex. Yeah no, I’m good on that, I’d rather just ride down here, in that gaudy ass ford and talk ...” Reclining slightly in his chair as, lacing his fingers together to cradle behind his neck.

“Oh for fucks sake, I’m sorry my work car isn't boujee enough to go with your Gucci…” Tone snarky as every as he gestured to Tae’s baby pink, slim fit, Italian cotton dress shirt.

Earning an unamused brow raise from the younger “Actually this is one of my more modest pieces it’s Hugo but continue..” A smirk tugging on the corners of his lips as he continued pushing the officers buttons. Clearly the two of them were very comfortable with each other by now, weather that’s a good or bad thing is currently up for debate.

“Oh my bad Fugo…” Sheriff Morales rolled his eyes not even aware of the miss pronunciation triggering a low chuckle from Taehyung.

“Hugo…” he countered almost sign-song like, always one to have the last word and at that point Morales was over it. 

“Listen kid, I don’t care about your overpriced Easter Sunday shirt! I care about the two 18 year- old boys that have turned up dead within barley 72 hours!”

Taehyung’s brow furrowed in confusion as he ran his fingers through his hair, actually deciding to stop being a little shit and listen.

“I don’t know if you’re aware , or if you were already out jet setting while buying more Gucci, and Hugo” Making sure to put  emphasis on the pronunciation of “Hugo” since Taehyung corrected him moment’s prior.. “But almost 3 days ago, we found him…” 

Raising his Ipad to show a picture of a person Taehyung didn’t even remotely recognize, earning no type of physical reaction. Which is what Morales was secretly checking for, but taehyung knew that already, trying to catch him off guard to see if the faces would trigger any emotions. Only in all honesty this one really didn't!

“He was found dead in the back of car on the side of the highway, a really nice one actually...Mercedes AMG, completely doped out, he appears to have OD. There were some needles,and a combination of other drugs in addition to some cash left in the car ...” 

Okay, now Taehyung was really confused, that it definitely was NOT the kid from a couple nights ago. Dropping his neck, squinting, adjusting the angle of his head  slightly as he continued investigating the picture. Almost as if he was trying to see if the face would change the more looked at it  but no, that just wasn’t him!

After a few seconds, of observing Taehyung’s body language and lack of response, he moved onto the next picture .Keeping the device facing him until he was ready for Tae’s reaction..

“Around 11am today….we found, him…” Flipping the Ipad around to show the  second picture and thank god Taehyung was a pro when it came to his poker face , because THAT’S the boy he recognized..gazing straight ahead, almost aiming through the paper at this point.

“Channel 2 don’t even know about this yet-”

He heard Taehyung clear his throat as he re-adjusted in his seat “So, why am I here, why am I getting the breaking exclusive!?Not like I’m some damn reporter  reporter running around in penny loafers.” Keeping the same dry snarky tone, not wanting to show any inflated emotions in response to the second image.

“No smart ass your not...if you’d shut up and let me continue maybe will get to why your here yeah!?” Brow arched at the implied question, whilst tae didn't even verbally respond, just flagging his hand gesturing for him to continue.

“ANYWAYS,it appears the two of them are, well were kinda sorta friends, but this kid, the druggie if you will, is pretty well known around that area as such. His name is Jeff, he’s 18 and has been in and out of rehab more times than anyone can count. The boy on the right..”

Cringing internally he never wanted to know the boys name...he just didn't, almost a second away from internally screaming so he didn’t have to put a name to the face! 

“Chritstian, 18, foster kid….he was found in the back bathroom of a packie he works at down in the Dot-”

“Again, no disrespect but why. Am. I. Here!? I’m tired, I have a migrane and I’m hungry please get to the point.” The aggervation was dripping from his tongue at this point, way past exhausted and disgusted to listen to some long drawn out story.Even though after the past 50 some odd hours he’d just spent in China all he really want’s is to go home and crawl in bed with you!

Rolling his eyes at Teahyung’s lack of patience before continuing the story.

“This packies a little shady, actually a lot shady, everything from drug deals to sex work has been rumored to happen in the storage room. The only cameras they have outside, angled in front of the back alley entrance. There low quality, probably intentionally but the quality was atleast good  enough for us to see this…” 

Pulling up a video on his ipad, propping it on it’s stand for the two of them to watch together. Around 1:30Am they can see Christian, who phsycially backed into the alley, get out of the Mercades heading into the store. Gazing at the screen as Morales speeds up the tape a good 10 or so minutes. Only to find Jeff walk up to the same door, due to the time, the packie was technically closed, it even seems Christian willingly let him in. 

Just as Taehyung was about to make a snarky comment about how this has nothing to do with him, you can see the tail end of a car parked at the end of the alley. It’s unclear if Jeff actually got out of the car or not, but just the placement alone at this time of nigh is hella suspect. 

Zoomining in slightly on the car in question ...even through the pixelation, there’s a little custom badge by the back fender. 

The realization has the loudest cackle ripping from Taehyung's throat, while Morales jerks back in his seat not even sure how to process current display unfolding before his eyes. The combination of jet lag and just utter disbelif has Taehyung’ combusting until his face is damn near the same color as his shirt, and tears are threatening the corners of his eyes. 

“Ah, shit, that’s funny…” Leaning up to bracing his weight on his arm as he cradled the side of his face between his middle finger and thumb. A smug smirk tugging on the corners of his cheeks as he gazed back in Morales direction. 

~~~~A GOOD 72-ISH HOURS PRIOR~~~~

(Picks up where part 3 ends) 

You found yourself almost caressing the back of his head the more the reporter talked, apparently it was some random woman who found him. She said she was just driving home from work around 5am, she was a nurse and the light was left on, out of habit she just felt the need to see if everything was okay.

[Woman on the new’s being interview ]

“The position of his head, and the way his jaw laxed, could just appear as he was sleeping to the naked eye. But I’m an ER nurse have been for almost 15 years I recognize the symptoms right away. I tried to revive him prior to calling 911, even against my better judgment ,but he had been out for at least an hour, it was no use…” 

[Reporter]

“The police are still trying to put two and two together as it really doesn't make sense, there was cash in the car, as well as the car itself is a mystery. We have finally identified the young man in the car, his family as also been contacted-” 

Right as she was about to say his name, and ask if anyone knew anything to please contact the police he shot up, almost bolting for the door. Almost as if he knew the boys name it would seem all too real. Little did you know it’s because Taehyung puropusly never asked for his name, he’s not stupid is men knew, they even had a pciture of his ID. But Tae felt like this boy deserved to have something for him, and him only...so his name was never spoken.

You contemplated back and forth for a couple moments before ultimately decided to go check on him.

The sound of your heels echoed through the hallway of the “Employees only” area..trying to figure out where he could be “I’m over here..” The bass in his voice rumbled off the walls , almost startling you, not expecting for him to actually reach out to you.

You found him resting against the wall hands in the pocket of his jack, gazing up at the ceiling

 “ The boys did a full z30, and went over it with a black light..not that it even matters now.” Voice trailing off slightly as he brought his attention down to his boots, fidgeting with the rings on his fingers.

 “They actually ended up taking the car to some park,I guess they decided to change locations  after I knocked the mother fucker out. Opting to not sterilize an entire car on his property,while he tends to his dislocated dorsum. “ A slight smirk moved up his face as he gazed over at you “So if you're thinking I’m worried about me..I’m not..the plate was switched, garmin removed, and the cars not even registered.I’m just….” Shaking his head in slight disbelief as he runs over the past 24 hours in his head.  “I don’t think he really even know how fucked up and dangerous this all really is, especially when you barely know what you're doin’ to begin with. He’s a walking death wish and he’s gonna fuck around and have it granted by someone that coudle been his ally..” 

Even though his tone was hushed you could still feel the anger radiating off his body, raking his fingers through his hair, sinking back into the wall. “Come’ere, I know you didn't come out here to listen to me bitch from a far…” Signaling for you with his fingers, trying to hide the smile that was tugging up your face as you swayed in his direction. Opting to give him his space, not in the mood to get your face cracked, emotions far too fragile for that right now. You’ll end up shooting his indecisive ass, at this point. 

Once you were in arms reached he pulled you into his frame, a slight squeal leaving your throat from how quickly he grabbed you

One hand resting on the hinge of your jaw the other one your waist , palm soothing up the small of your back. “How are you feelin’?” The question threw you off a little you found your eyes fluttering away from his and he noticed instantly. Tilting your head until you had no choice but to look at him. The emphasises on the  word “you”  let  you know he was well aware that your always the one checking on him ..asking how he’s feeling. Now it’s his turn to do the same, I mean sure a good 17 years a litter but at least it’s a start right!? 

Letting a deep sigh leave your body before responding “I’m angry, confused, and a little scared if I’m being honest but-”

Cutting you off immediately , shaking his head, a scof leaving his body in response “Over my dead body, will anything ever happen to you, so you can scratch that shit off your list of issues real quick..” He wasn’t asking , he was telling you how this was going to go and his tone left zero room for debate.

Tilting your head back slightly, blowing out a slow breath , you could feel your eyes burning as you kept fluttering them. Attempting to cut off the tears desperately trying to run down your face, funny thing is, even though you cried eariler today. That’s not a common trait for you no matter how upset you get, your not the most intune with your emotions either if we're being honest. You didn’t open up easily and hated, crying in front of people more than anything, you were just as much as a working progress as Taehyung.

The phrase “over my dead body…”was used very frequently, typically over minor issues, even jokingly for most. But it would always hold a deeper, darker meaning in your heart, the last person to say that to you was your mother. Used in the same context as Kim Taehyung and she meant it, wholeheartedly!  You found yourself trying to pull away, not wanting to let him see you fall apart, because you knew you were going to. The more you tugged the tighter his grip became, “Tae please. Let. Me. Go…” You wouldn't look at him, staring up at the light fixture to your right, tone extremely dry, almost passive. The grip you held on his forearms got even tighter as you waited in silence,almost clinging to him.

He wasn’t going to fight you on this, if you wanted out..here ya go, the last squeez on your waist wasn’t possessive. Almost comforting as if he was letting you know if you wanted to come back he’d be right here. Tentatively loosening the grip he healed around your waist, letting you pull away from him, almost losing your balance in the process. Not realizing how much you were leaning on him despite trying to pull away all at the same time. 

Yet you didn't move, the grip you held on his arms never faltered, dropping your gaze down to your feet, as he gently took you back into his arms. Bringing your hips flush to his, I guess you never realized he eased you the same way you did him. The feeling of your chest rising and falling against his as you coxed yourself out of crying, a single tear managing to slip out of your right eye before you could stop it. Turning your head, brushing it onto your shoulder hastily, your grip tightened as both eyes started to betray you simultaneously. Even though you refused to look back at him, he could feel your stomach tensing as you tried to slightly choke back the tears that were now streaming down your face.. 

Not forcing you to look at him, respecting your privacy in that aspect bringing his hands up to rub lightly circles into your back as he nuzzled his nose into the side of your neck.  A side of Kim Taehyung that few would ever get to see, bringing your arms up to wrap around his neck, cradling the back of his head in your hands. “I’m not going anywhere…” the words brushed against your skin, funny how he automatically knew what triggered this without you even having to say anything. You didn't respond, only squeezing him a little tighter before pulling back, almost aggressive whipping your face before racking your fingers through your hair. A sheepish smile tugged on the corners of your lips as you finally made eye contact with him.

Neither of you said anything as you stepped a little closer, soothing your hand down his chest, over his stomach slowly. Suddenly feeling almost uncomfortably open and vulnerable in front of a man that’s been inside you more times that you can count. His eyes felt like they were burning straight through you as he gazed back in your direction. You couldn’t help but let your hand trickle down his zipper, trailing your fingers up and down his clothed length earning a hiss as he gripped your wrist.

“You know your thighs can’t handle another round from me right now, you need to fuckin chill before I have you bent over the bathroom counter.” 

THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE, OR I guess...that’s all she posted lol ! Hopefully you guys are excited for part 4 !!! Lemme know! 

Love you guys as always,

Rocki

[angsty-nerd]

Fictober #15

Oyyy! I wasn’t sure I’d finish today! They just kept talking and wouldn’t stop! If you’d asked me a few hours ago, I was seriously considering looking to see if I could double up with tomorrow’s prompt and do 2 in 1. But somehow I managed to finish. My longest one yet..don’t think I can even call this a ficlet. At 4400 words, it’s a fic, right?

Anyway....

#15. “What are you talking about?”

Roswell, NM fanfic

Sort of Miluca, but not really all that romantic or anything... and then Maria & Liz friendship too.

Under the cut because long.

“No, Michael! You can’t just waltz in here at closing time, grab a drink, and expect that we’re going to...no." Maria shoved him as he leaned in to try to kiss her.  "No more. I'm not touching you again until you agree to talk to me.”

"What's there to talk about?" Michael sighed.

"You, first off.  You're a mess." Maria stood and watched him take another swig from the bottle of whiskey with her hands on her hips, before she reached across the bar and tugged it away from him.  "Something's wrong, Michael. I can tell. You were finally getting your shit together, and now? It's back to sloppy nights and drunken brawls. You can't honestly pretend like nothing is going on with you."

"Once a shitshow, always a shitshow, DeLuca."

"You know I don't believe that anymore, right?" He didn't respond. Maria sighed and continued. "And we still haven't talked about you and Alex, and that bothers me. A lot. He's my best friend and I need to know if I'm getting myself in the middle of something I don't belong in here."

"Well, maybe you should ask Alex then."

"Alex isn't the one who keeps kissing me." Maria shot back. "And if you’re kissing me while you've got some unresolved feelings for Alex, then you've got some serious explaining to do, Guerin."

"I keep telling you it's over."

"And somehow that just doesn't seem to be the whole story."

Maria waited to give him a chance to talk, but he stayed silent.  He wasn't leaving at least, but he wasn't talking yet. She sighed, and grabbed the bottle of whiskey that she set aside, pouring him a drink and then taking her own share straight from the bottle. A sip of courage before she brought up the hardest question of all.

"And then I want to know about your hand."  Her eyes fell to where it lay on the bar, wrapped in a bandana.  "You're hiding it now, but I saw it that night." Slowly, gently she reached across the bar to it. She expected him to pull away, but for some reason he didn't. "I know it's healed, Michael."  She pulled the bandana off of his hand, revealing his perfect, flawless, uninjured hand. "You're gonna have to tell me sometime how it’s possible that the permanent marks of a decade old injury were miraculously healed."

Michael knocked back the whiskey.  Then, with a heavy sigh he met her eyes.  Maria almost gasped out loud at the amount of pain that was suddenly exuding from his gaze.  "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

Maria shook her head sadly. "No. Not if you want to maintain any kind of relationship with me." She gave him a little smirk to lighten the moment. "Or my bar. So unless you want to start drinking at Saturn's Rings with the tourists, you'd better start talking!"

Michael stood, turned his back, and walked a few steps away from the bar. For a moment Maria thought that he was going to walk out the door. But then he stopped and dragged a frustrated hand through his hair, before turning back to her.

"You know, I like that you don't know anything about this stuff? It simplifies things.  I like just being able to be a normal guy with you. You're the only person left in my life who sees me that way.  I don't wanna lose that." She stayed silent, arms crossed, waiting for him to start. His shoulders slumped as he finally gave in.  "But I'm gonna lose that no matter what."

Maria nodded.  She as certain that their relationship would change from this moment forward. Either Michael was going to be honest with her and they could move forward, or he could walk out of the bar and end it for good.

He took a deep breath, and then started talking. "I was in the 1947 UFO crash.  I don't remember it or anything. I was just a kid. But after the crash someone hid us in these stasis pods in an old turquoise mine. 50 years later, in 1997, we woke up and emerged from the pods, and were found wandering naked in the desert. We looked like normal human kids, so no one ever suspected that we're really aliens."

As Michael spoke, Maria felt pain and anger boiling up inside of her. It was one thing to not want to tell her the truth, but to use this? To use the same story, the same elements, as whatever was wrong with her mother?  Tears stung her eyes as she interrupted him, trying to stop the lies flowing from him.

"That's not funny, Guerin." She whispered harshly. "If you're going to lie to me you may as well walk out of here and end this right now.  You don't need to break me first."

"I'm not lying," he replied gently. "I'm an alien."

"Yeah? And let me guess, Will Smith is the one who found you wandering in the desert and picked up an alien kid on his way to saving the human race?"

"What are you talking about? Will Smith? It was a trucker that found us."

“My mom likes to make up stories about the alien invasion too, but at least she can blame it on mental illness. I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

Michael suddenly hurried back to the bar to her, his eyes wild with fear and concern. “Listen to me, Maria.  I am telling you the truth. We’re aliens. Me, Isobel, and Max.” His voice wavered a bit on Max’s name, but he pushed on. “I can prove it to you. We have powers...we can do things that no human could possibly do.  Max’s power is healing. That’s what happened to my hand. He wasn’t himself...he wouldn’t have done it normally, but he was on this crazy power trip and he healed my hand—” Maria cut him off with a firm wave of her hand.

“Stop. Max? Max Evans.” She stated, disbelieving. “An alien.  He’s sleeping with Liz!”

“You’ve slept with me,” Michael pointed out.  He sighed heavily, sitting back down on his barstool. “Anyway, Max wasn’t himself, like I said.  He was doing stupid things, like healing my hand...and other stuff. Anyway, now he’s not sleeping with anyone, Maria, because he’s dead.”

“What?” Maria gasped. “Michael—” This time he was the one who cut her off.

“Can we not? I don’t want to talk about Max right now.  I can’t…” he swallowed, and Maria could see his eyes shining with unshed tears.  “I could really use another drink right about now.” Maria turned to get their bottle, but before she could, Michael shouted, “WAIT!”

She turned and looked back to him.  “I promised you proof,” he reminded her.  And then he held up his hand, narrowed his eyes...and Maria waited for something to happen.

“What the hell?” Michael grumbled, blaring down at his hand like it had betrayed him.  He closed his eyes, shook his head and shoulders out, and then returned to the same position, hand out and eyes narrow.  Again, there was nothing. This time he stared at his hand in horror and then looked up at Maria, worries. She raised an eyebrow at him.  “My powers aren’t working.”

"Or maybe you're an actual crazy person?"

"I'm not. I swear to you, DeLuca.  I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, talk to Liz. Or Alex."

"They both know about this?"

"Actually, go see Liz, Maria. Seriously. She could probably use a friend right now. She's going through a lot."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria slept fitfully that night.  She couldn't stop thinking about Michael's crazy talk...or whatever it was.  The words sounded insane, but the look in his eyes was so serious. It was like he was pleading with her to believe him.  It was that look that drove her to go to the Crashdown for breakfast the next morning.

Liz was working the morning rush, and paused at Maria's table to give her a brief hug hello and pour her a cup of coffee. "I've gotta keep on top of the masses," she quickly told Maria, "but it should slow down in an hour or so and then we can talk."

Maria didn't mind waiting.  It gave her a chance to observe her friend for a little while.  Liz didn't appear to be in a bad place on the surface. She kept a smile on her face when she spoke to the customers, moved quickly through the motions of waitressing. She looked completely on point.

At least, she did at first, on the surface.  The more Maria watched, the more she began to notice cracks in Liz's facade.  The smile on her face was a little too wide, like she was trying a little too hard to look like everything was good. But anyone who knew her could see that it didn't really reach her eyes, which looked tired, weary.  They were a little red around the edges too.  

Once she saw her friend pause at the jukebox. All of a sudden her shoulders slumped and she looked exhausted, leaning on it like she needed it to hold her up. And for just a split second Liz's face crumpled. Maria almost jumped to her feet to come to her friend's aid, but as quickly as she saw Liz fall apart, she suddenly put herself back together, hit some numbers on the jukebox, and went back to work, Counting Crows blasting from the speakers.

Finally, the tables began to empty and Liz's speed began to slow.  She finally turned towards the kitchen to shout, "I'm taking off. You guys got this?" Once she heard confirmation, Lis turned her attention to Maria. "Okay, I'm all yours."

Maria pointed upwards. Liz nodded in agreement and led them up to the Crashdown's roof.

“So what’s going on?” Liz asked.

“Guerin showed up at the Wild Pony last night.  He said a bunch of stuff to me…and it all sounded crazy.  Frankly, it was a little scary. He sounded like my mom. I told him I didn’t believe him, and then he tried to prove it and couldn’t.  But he swore it was all true and told me that you would confirm it.”

“Maria, What did he tell you?” Liz pressed her carefully. “Specifically.”

“He...he said that he and Max and Isobel are aliens from the 1947 crash.  He said that they were, like, asleep in stasis for 50 years and then, like reborn as kids in 1997.  He said that Max can heal, and fixed his broken hand. And he said that Max is dead, but that’s crazy, right?  Well, all of it’s crazy, but if Max was dead we’d all know about it, right?”

Liz was quiet for a long moment.  It looked like she was glaring at her hands, but she kept her eyes down for a long time, while Maria waited. When Liz finally turned to her, Maria realized that her friend was fighting tears.

“Max is dead, and no one really knows.  I’ve been covering it up.” Liz confessed.  “I put him back into stasis to preserve his body while I try to figure out how to bring him back.”

“How to bring him back?” Maria gaped. “Liz, if he’s dead, he can’t come back. You should understand that better than almost anybody.  Are you okay?”

“I know I sound crazy,” Liz insisted. “But I swear I’m not. I just...it was so much easier for Max.  His hands could work miracles. I’m only human. I’m exhausted and I’m nowhere near figuring this thing out yet.  But I do believe that it’s possible. It has to be possible.”

“What makes you so sure?” Maria asked.

“Michael didn’t tell you how Max died, did he?” Maria ran back through the conversation with Michael in her head, trying to remember. “No… he said that Max wasn’t himself...that he was on a power trip and making dumb choices.  It didn’t sound like Max to me though.”

Liz nodded. “It’s probably a fair statement though.  He did do something incredibly stupid. He decided to try to heal a dead person and bring them back to life. And it worked, but it killed him. That’s why I’m sure it’s possible, Maria.  Because Max did it. So it has to be possible to bring him back too.”

Maria shook her head. “Liz, this all seems so crazy.”

“I know.” Liz agreed. “But it’s true. And I can prove it to you.” Liz’s eyes dropped to Maria’s necklace, and she stared at it thoughtfully.  “Maria, were you wearing your necklace last night?”

Maria reached up and felt the familiar glass of her mother’s pendant. “Yeah, of course.”

“Michael tried to prove it to you by using his powers, didn’t he? And it didn’t work?”

“That’s what he said,” Maria confirmed.

“The flower in your necklace...its pollen has protective properties.  Among them, it blocks alien abilities. That’s why Michael couldn’t use his powers last night.”

“You mentioned that you were researching it a while back… this is why?”

“Yeah,” Liz admitted. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Maria.  I have a lot to catch you up on. The short version of that story is that the night of the gala, we caught an alien serial killer.”

“WHAT!” Maria exclaimed. “Seriously!?!”

“Seriously,” Liz confirmed. “But before we got him, he tried to sabotage us at the gala.  He knocked out Max and Michael somehow and locked them in an old fallout shelter with a pile of that pollen inside.  So they had no cell reception, couldn’t use their powers, couldn’t get out. After that night I decided it would be a good idea to research that stuff so that we’d know what to do in the future.”

"Sure, but go back to the alien serial killer, because what the hell, Liz!?"

Liz sighed, "No, you're right. That is more important. And actually, it might help me give you the proof you need that this is all true."  Maria gestured for Liz to continue. "So...a variety of investigations kind of converged on the realization that we had 14 murders by an alien on our hands in the last decade.  The first was Rosa, and there were 13 more since, all targeted at Ranchero Night."

"My Ranchero Night?" Maria gasped. "But that's for charity.  It's supposed to be a night for good."

"And one person was taking advantage of that. The people who go to Ranchero Night are also the kind of people that the system are less likely to look into when they die. Easier to hide the death of a homeless man or a prostitute. Or an illegal immigrant." Liz spit out the last words angrily.  Maria placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She knew it was a sensitive spot for her friend. Anyone targeting her people tended to light Liz Ortecho on fire. "Sorry." Liz sighed. "I think he was going to target my dad next. That's how I figured out his identity. Max figured it out from you."

"Me?" Maria asked. "God, that night is such a blur for me. I barely can remember a thing."

"Yeah." Liz's voice sounded guilty and Maria looked sharply at her. "What? Tell me."

"He kinda drugged you that night. There was a date rape drug in your champagne. That's why you can't remember anything."

"Me? Why would he drug me?"

"He was trying to keep his identity a secret. But there were enough clues that we knew that he had to be someone close to us.  So you were the perfect target to throw off the scent."

"Liz, what did he do to me."

"Just… I'm getting there. He was a lot more powerful than Max, Michael, and Isobel. He could do everything they could do, plus even more. And he had no morals holding him back. He liked to possess humans when they were blacked out and use them as his puppets. So he drugged you so that he could use you to get at me."

"That's...insane." Maria protested.

"At least he didn't use you to murder anyone.  He used Isobel to murder Rosa, and he used Wyatt Long to try to kill me at Grant Green's warehouse."

"Well thank goodness for that!" Maria laughed bitterly.

"But I think this might help us prove it to you, Maria. I'll bet if we go over to the UFO Emporium, I can talk them into showing us the security footage from that night. You'll be able to see the difference in your behavior when you were just drugged versus possessed.  Let's go!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria was thoroughly impressed by Liz's persuasive skills.  A smooth story about a misplaced purse the night of the gala and a promise of a free lunch at the Crashdown, and the pimply teenager working the counter at the emporium led them to a back room with a computer.  The kid logged in and pointed Liz to the file folder with the security footage. Liz crossed her heart and promised not to delete anything, and Maria promised to keep Liz in line, and then they were alone.

"That was almost too easy." Maria commented after the kid left.

"Investigating Rosa's death gave me a lot of practice at talking people into telling me things they didn't want to share." Liz explained while scrolling through the video files.  "I actually feel a little bad for the kid. I kept looking at him and envisioning little 16-year-old pre-goth Alex. Here we go."

Liz clicked on the video file from the night of the gala and blew it up.  The camera was set in one corner of the main ballroom, which gave them an overview look at the main event. Liz watched as people began to arrive for the gala.  She saw Maria walk in. Almost immediately one of the caterers walked past her with one last glass of champagne on the tray. He offered it to Maria, who immediately grabbed it and took a sip.

"That must have been how he got you." Liz mused. "He probably mindwarped that caterer into delivering the drugged champagne to you and only you."

Liz skipped ahead a few minutes, and there was the two of them, laughing together after Maria's slip of the tongue.  "I should have realized that something was wrong then," Liz chastised herself. "You deserved better."

She skipped ahead again to see Isobel speaking, and then Graham Green.  Maria laughed as Liz shuddered and swore under her breath in Spanish. "Hey, I saw his twin brother's murdered body! Cut me some slack!" Liz protested.

Soon after the speeches, the real party was getting going, and Liz spotted Maria dancing sloppily in the middle of the masses. She pointed and raised her eyebrows at Maria.

"I don't look all that put together, do I?" Maria sighed.

"It's not your fault." Liz reminded her.

They watched as Maria lost her balance and started to fall, but was caught and helped away by Noah Bracken.  "My hero." Maria said with a roll of her eyes.

"No." Liz stated firmly, hitting pause on the video. "No." She repeated, staring at the screen with a haunted look in her eyes. "He is not a hero."

Maria gasped as she suddenly understood what Liz was implying.

"Him? Noah is the serial killer?"

"He was." Liz confirmed. "He's gone now.  Max killed him." Maria couldn't help noticing that Liz seemed frozen, her eyes glued to his figure on the video.

"Liz, are you okay?"

Her friend just shook her head and hit play again on the video as they watched Noah and Maria leave the ballroom.  "Sorry. It's just…he murdered Rosa. And he tried to kill me at least four times that I know of. Somehow I kept surviving him, but I feel lucky that I did. The last time I saw him, he literally stabbed me in the gut with a kitchen knife."

Liz paused the video again and pulled up the bottom of her shirt to show Maria the wound that was still healing on her stomach.  "Kyle pulled the stitches out a few days ago, but he says I'm gonna have a hell of a scar."

"So you said four attempts. This stab wound is one, and Grant Green's warehouse was two...what were the other two times?" Maria carefully asked.

"The hospital shooting...although I'm not actually sure he was trying to kill me that time...it might have just been a diversion to access and destroy my research.  And then…" Liz nodded at the computer.

"He tried to kill you at the gala?"

"Once his cover was blown, Max and I tried to stop him from escaping. He tried to fry me with his powers, but I had injected him with a serum I created that blocked his powers and it kicked in just in time."

Liz hit play again. "We should see something soon here." They watched and waited, until a few minutes later, Maria casually sauntered out from the hallway that Noah had taken her down.  Her eyes were clear and wide, a smug smile on her face, and there was zero sign of the date rape drug in her system as she made her way through the room, casting flirty smiles at both men and women she passed, occasionally slipping a stray hand to caress a passerby.

"God, it's like I'm a totally different person," Maria gasped.  "That's not me."

"I know," Liz agreed. “That’s what I’m talking about. It was so obvious to me that night."

"What am I doing, d'ya think?"

"I'm pretty sure you're looking for me," Liz guessed.  "That serum I just mentioned? Most of it was destroyed in the hospital shooting, except for one last dose.  Noah wanted to get his hands on it so that it couldn't be used against him."

They watched as Maria left the ballroom.  "You found me in the ladies room. I left my purse with you while I did my business, and you went through it and stole a decoy serum that I had stashed there and then left without saying goodbye."

After a few minutes, Maria reentered the ballroom and crossed the room again. This time she was all business and no games, with her task complete.  She disappeared down the same hallway as before, and then a moment later, Noah emerged.

"Ugh," Liz groaned at the sight of him, literally twirling the syringe between his fingers before he slipped it into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket. "He thought he had won."  

He wandered into the ballroom, looked around for a moment, and then approached Arturo Ortecho with a friendly handshake before starting a conversation with him.  Noah then led Arturo to a table, got them both drinks, and started talking emphatically at Liz's father.

"I can't." Liz cried out, skipping the video ahead. "I just can't watch him manipulate my Papi."

Liz skipped the video ahead a few more minutes, but nothing relevant seemed to be happening...until suddenly, about 20 minutes further into the footage, she froze and let the video play.  Maria could sense the tension and pain building in Liz at the sight of her and Max walking out onto the dance floor together in the video. A noise escaped from Liz's throat that sounded almost like a whimper of pain.  Maria could tell that her friend was trying, and failing, to fight the tears that were coming. She slid an arm over Liz's shoulder, and covered the hand that Liz had slid off of the mouse and onto the desk with her own hand for comfort. "I've got you," Maria murmured, and just like that, the tears began to flow down Liz's cheeks.

It was clear that Max and Liz were having a conversation as they danced, because the dancing slowed as their body language grew more intense. Then, Liz pulled Max into a kiss, before they separated and Liz turned to dance with her father.

"Well, you're too small for me to see on that camera, but by the looks of it, you certainly smeared your armor all over Max that night after all, huh?"

The comment tricked a laugh out of Liz, and soon they were just holding each other, laughing and crying.

"Okay, so you've convinced me," Maria finally said between laughs. "How about we get out of here? I guess I'll owe Guerin an apology."

"He means well," Liz told her, "but he's pretty messed up about losing Max...and something else too. Kyle has implied some things to me but refuses to go into detail. He just says something happened to Michael on this trip they took with Alex, but that's all he'll say."

Liz closed the video program and hit the log out button on the computer, and then the two friends headed for the exit, waving goodbye to the kid at the counter on their way out.

As they headed back towards the Crashdown, Liz turned to Maria and asked, "So was that enough surprises for one day, or could you handle one more?"

"Why not," Maria said with a laugh as she threw her hands in the air. "Go ahead and blow my mind some more, Liz."

"Do you have time to take a drive before work?"

Maria glanced at her phone. "Yeah, I can spare another couple hours."

"Great," Liz said with a smile. "Because - and I'm really surprised you didn't push this one earlier - I did tell you that Max succeeded in resurrecting someone."

"Yeah…" Maria replied curiously.

"Well, Rosa would love to see you."

Maria stopped dead in her tracks, staring at her friend, as Liz laughed, while leading Maria towards her car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, just like the night before, Michael walked into the Wild Pony right at closing time, black cowboy hat in his hands, as he walked slowly up to the bar.

He looked uncertain, like he didn't know what he was walking into and he didn't know if he should leave.  His whole body was tense, like he was just waiting for a sign from her on what would happen next.

Maria looked him up and down, and shook her head with a half smile.  She grabbed two glasses, and their special bottle of whiskey from under the counter, and poured them each a couple fingers of it. She slid one across the bar to him, and raised her glass to him.

"Salud." They clinked glasses lightly and each took a sip.

Maria leaned forward, elbows on the bar surface, chin in her hands.

"Soooo," she started. "I hear you're an alien."