#Do I want to be a freelancer........ UGH..........

[riverswater]

Having yet another existential crisis but idk if it's because I'm sleep deprived or because I'm sad. Maybe both. Who knows.

[gaycrittercentral]

Lol Same Max scars are cool ✨

And hey if your ok with it, others might too

For my Au, Sam gets severally injured after fighting his evil clone and becoming unresponsive for two weeks.

Let's say Max was not holding up with and visied him in the hospital daily...

Ooh that’s a fun one!! I mean not for Sam but hdjdhsjdhhsgs

For some reason the thing I think of immediately is just like. Are they visits, or does Max just show up and inform the doctors that he will be living here and driving them insane until Sam’s better shsjghfhdhs xD they’re like “sir you can’t do that there are visiting hours” and Max is like “good luck trying to make me leave then suckers! If you want me gone so bad why don’t you hurry up and fix my buddy’s brain”

Also this evil clone business is intriguing! I imagine Max would be rather torn between kicking his ass for severely injuring Sam and just kind of getting excited and trying to hang out with him lmaooo, like “how dare you hurt my partner!! But uhhh also that move you did was kinda sick as hell not gonna lie”

sgjdhshdgsg I’m sure it’s a lot better in your actual version of course, thanks for sharing it with me! ^^

[kilgourtrout]

I am so tired of writing cover letters I am so tired of applying for jobs SOMEONE HIRE ME

[imjustli]

Trying to feel better about my BRGDCC (Business Related Gold Digger & Clout Chasing) by sending the same links to my friend

[mikareo]

megumi doing smth pls

⌗ THIRTEEN YEARS ₊ ˖ ་. megumi fushiguro x fem reader (2.6k)

⊹ ⠀⠀ 3 times megumi wants to tell you he loves you, and the 1 time he does.

contains; attack on titan au, marleyan!megumi, eldian!reader, aot spoilers!!! (season 4), forbidden lovers, fluff, angst, kissing, major character death, cannabalism? (titans), annie cameo! author's note; here u get an old draft (psa none of this will make sense if you haven't watched attack on titan!!!!)

i. what is love at first sight

it's almost human instinct; knowing which people are more likely to have good fortune. some are simply born with an advantage— these people having the freedom to walk along the river bank, skip flattened rocks down streams, and laugh with their peers. with families who shop in the market together, hand-in-hand with woven baskets strewn over their shoulders, and all the time in the world to live their lives to the absolute fullest as true freelancers facing the rising sun that sees tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.

but in the truth of it all...the sun doesn't shine on everyone.

there are countless amounts of souls who aren't as blessed as marleyans like megumi. souls entangled with the devil herself, ymir, a woman who singlehandedly birthed the 'race from hell'...which he's never fully agreed with. everyone he knows refers to eldians as humanity's sin, but it's not their fault their biology is simply different.

humans are humans, right? they've done no wrong by being born. especially the warrior candidate he's been staring at for the past hour from a distance. you can't be that bad. after all, you're beautiful.

okay, yes. he has a little crush. he can't help it! one day, he was minding his own business on a walk home from the lab, when gojo had the bright idea of sneaking a peak at the warrior training. that's when megumi first saw you and his world stopped. sure, you were covered in mud and crawling through trenches with a rifle strapped to your back; but that didn't make him any less awestruck. since then he's hidden himself in the same bush, week after week, just to get a glimpse of your face.

"she's a cutie. you've got good taste." okay, creepy.

megumi rolls his eyes, glancing up at his mentor who's the only person who knows of his little secret. "don't you have women to harass?"

"ouch, sassed by a ten year old. i see how it is." gojo chuckles, ruffling his black hair and crouching down to the younger boy's level. "you see her out there? she's killing it. i heard she's the top contender for the female."

"i hope so." his blue eyes are locked on you, watching as your focused expression turns to determination whilst helping your teammate off the ground. "she'll have a better chance of living that way."

"...and maybe your family will let you meet her."

ugh, his family. since he was six, the zenin's have raised him with their questionable values and ideals. as the leading researchers in the modern world, they've revolutionized how eldians are studied! at least that's what he's been told. to be frank, he doesn't care about the right or wrong battle they've propagandized to the rest of humanity. all he cares about is knowing your name and telling you how pretty your eyes are.

"i want to talk to her, at least once." his voice is quiet, but gojo hears.

"why? you wanna tell her you love her?"

he hates him so much.

"no!" megumi exclaims, pushing back the older man in defense. his cheeks are bright red from embarrassment and he can feel the flames emitting from them. "i just want to be her friend, that's all. why do you always make things so weird?"

it's amusing to gojo how his little friend is so flustered. usually megumi is a shy boy, keeping to himself and avoiding contact with his peers; but whenever the conversation topic is you, he seems to perk up...and gojo loves to tease a lovestruck kid.

"don't worry," he smirks, "you'll understand your feelings when you're older. you don't need to tell her quite yet that you love her."

love you?

"just shut up and let me watch." megumi grumbles, resting his head in his hands as you're jumping up and down after being praised by your captain. he wishes he could make you that happy one day. "it's not love, i'm serious."

he'll understand what love means when he gets older. for now, he'll just imagine confessing.

ii. what is love that is forbidden

you're a lot more annoying than he thought you'd be.

after having been selected as the new female titan, your ego is boasting with energy and won't stop boasting no matter how often megumi tells you to zip it. though he was excited to meet you, his thirteen year old self now wishes you'd give him a moment of peace. instead, you insist on following him around whenever and wherever you can and yapping his ear off with comments on everyone and everything about your day. please, just give him a break.

"uh, fushiguro..."

he sighs with exhaustion. "what?"

"i think i locked us in here."

dammit.

"you forgot the key?" he asks.

"i forgot the key." you confirm.

of course you did.

with an exhausted grumble, megumi settles himself on the cold, cement floor of the supply closet you'll both call home for the next few hours. it's both of your days off, but he'd wanted to prep his supplies for his training on monday; to which you, of course, invited yourself along for the ride. you'll stay out of the way. it's fine, he can just ignore you. that's what he told himself...though, it's impossible for him to ignore you.

it's likely that no one will visit the storage room until the evening time— with most of his colleagues at home with their families, cooking a warm meal with lamb and stew. it's also uncommon for any of the researchers to be in liberio on their off days. megumi's just the special kind that doesn't think he'll be plagued by breathing the same air as eldians.

"mind if i join you?" he knows you're asking a rhetorical question and you know he'd never reject you.

with a small plop, you take a seat next to him. he's used to your warmth by now— considering you to be an essential part of his every day, despite how much he enjoys complaining about you— and leans his head against yours. it's obvious that you're sleepy. though, you never indulge in conversations about your training, megumi is well aware of how overworked you are. he can't imagine fighting in wars at this age, especially wars in which you're fourteen meters tall and smashing through brick walls; which is why he tries his best to be there for you when you need him.

your life is a battlefield and he's the peaceful conclusion.

"you know..." the sound of your voice is faint, a great contrast to your usual noise and megumi can tell something is wrong. "when they find us here, they're going to think i kidnapped you."

"i mean what else would the zenin heir be doing with a titan shifter?" you start to choke on your words and he instinctively wraps his arms around you. "you don't need to comfort me, fushiguro. we both know i'm going to be punished after this. you can't apologize and make everything okay like usual."

to your surprise, his pointer finger touches your cheek and gently wipes away your running tears. "...fushiguro—"

"it won't always be like this." he interrupts you, cupping your face as if you're a rare gem that he can't afford breaking. "when i'm in charge, i'm going to change things. you won't have to do this anymore. i won't let them do this to you anymore!"

the two of you are a mess on the floor, crying in each others arms, and wishing that the world was a better place. "you still have thirteen years left. please...please keep fighting for me. i promise i'm going to save you."

"fushiguro..."

"call me by my first name."

"...megumi."

you're beautiful. he wants to kiss you so badly, but he knows now isn't the time. he wants to hold your hand in public, but he knows you'll be berated for doing so. he wants to tell you he loves you, but he's too afraid.

megumi fushiguro is a coward.

...but he's a coward in love; and one day, when he's taller and stronger, he's going to be able to tell you that. he's going to be able to protect you.

iii. what is love that is hopeless

"hold still." megumi's voice is soft, his fingers of the same gentle malice as they tend to your open wounds that haven't quite healed yet. with titan steam wafting from the slashes scattering your forearms and shoulders, they blow into his face in a fury of pain. "dammit, i said hold still."

his brings both arms down to your shoulders, heart breaking at the sight of you wincing in retaliation to his force, but carries on. there's no telling what you would've gotten yourself into if he hadn't insisted he care for your wounds; after making it publicly known that he's to be the only researcher allowed within your vicinity after your tireless warrior missions, none of the other researchers even attempt to get near you. he hates how often you put yourself in harms way in order to save your comrades. you're too brave. you've never been just a warrior of marley, but more or less a warrior of all people.

"i've been sitting here for an hour already, megumi." you roll your eyes, swinging your legs over the metal rims and turning to face your very pissed off best friend. "i'm tired and i'd like to get at least an hour of sleep tonight."

his expression is somewhat terrifying. if you didn't know megumi was such a scaredy cat, you'd be intimidated by his reddened cheeks and eyes of fury. it's almost as if he's an inflamed torch held against fluorescent lighting, pasty and saturated in fear and exhaustion. "i need to make sure you're okay."

"well, i have another plane to catch at dawn," you deflect his concerns. "there's some issue i was assigned to when i landed this morning. i guess one of our enemies isn't afraid of titans yet."

"you're not going."

he's firm in his statement. megumi doesn't like how his colleagues take advantage of you and your abilities. they're working you to skin and bones. if they were the ones checking up on you after every battle they'd know so, but they wouldn't treat you with as much care. his only wish in the world is to keep you safe, which he's doing an awful job at as of yet. "i don't want you getting more hurt than you already are."

"as if it matters." you scoff, leaning towards him in an attempt to get him to back off. "i'll just give 'em a little taste of my titan and they'll run away like mice. it's easy, 'gumi. trust me—"

"life isn't a game!" he's furious.

"well mine is!" you're angry as well.

why don't you get it? why can't you just run away with him?

"i only have four years left! four years, megumi! i don't care if i die tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. i'm going to either way. you don't have that problem. you don't understand."

without warning, his lips are on yours in his best attempt to stop you from spouting all of his fears and worries from your mouth. he doesn't want to hear it. he just wants to pretend none of it is happening, and you're going to be okay. you are going to be okay. he'll make sure of it.

it takes a moment for you to respond until your intertwined in a feverish kiss that sends his medical supplies clanging to the floor— but megumi doesn't care about order, all he cares about now is being as close to you as possible. he's dreamt of this moment for years. what you taste like...feel like...sound like. he knows you're his soulmate. what he doesn't know is why it's taken him so long to kiss you.

but before your connection can move forward and become something more, your touch is gone.

"i'm sorry, i can't do this." there are tears creeping from the corners of your beautiful eyes. "i—"

he calls out your name as your figure dashes out the door, wishing that he was able to confess. he wants to tell you he loves you so badly; except he doesn't have the bravery he needs. with four more years left, megumi has two things on his agenda.

1.) find a way to save you.

2.) tell you he's yours forever.

iv. what is love everlasting

he's finally become a monster like the rest of them.

from the first time he saw you, he told himself he'd be your savior. he made countless promises that he'd find a way for eldians and marleyans to live in peace, that he'd find a way to save you from this shitty war; only to be the very person to lock you in chains, awaiting imminent death as the next female titan will be born.

megumi wanted to be brave. he wanted to stop being such a coward, but some people just aren't capable of changing so much— and what a disappointment that is.

"hey, fushiguro?" when did you stop calling him by his first name? "can you keep a secret?"

he's not supposed to be civil with you. his orders are to chain you up, inject the child, and watch as she devours you; but you're his weakness. he can't resist you. "of course i can."

a smile graces your lips. it's not a smile of happiness or joy...it's one of anguish and pain. "i wish i ran away with you. i should've run away with you. even though we only had four years, we could've been happy."

why are you saying all of this?

now of all times?

you should've told him years ago! you should've let him know your secrets before he let them change him! before he distanced himself from you and became distracted with his work!

"...megumi..."

"yes?" he's desperate to hear you.

"...i don't want to die."

a thought crosses his mind. it's a scene in which two main characters beat all odds and escape the chains and prisons they've faced, running off into the sunset, never to be seen again. this scene has a happy ending, one where there's a small and intimate wedding with no witnesses except the meadow's flowers. he lifts your veil away from your eyes and murmurs sweet nothings as you kiss him to start off your forever. his heart wants that to be true. he wants that to be true. it's too late, though. you have no time left. your thirteen years is up. his thirteen years of knowing you is up. it's time to say goodbye.

"i can't save you." he's struggling to get his words out while maintaining his composure; and your heart breaks as his promise does as well. "i'm sorry."

he's a monster.

you hang your head, nodding and accepting your fate as he makes his way down the stairs. seeing you like that, knowing what your fate is, almost causes megumi to pass out from lightheadedness. he knows he shouldn't be worrying about himself. after all, you're the one who's about to die. he has a whole lifetime to continue living, and your lifetime was a mere twenty-six years.

gently, he takes the newest warriors hands and tells her what he's about to do. the blonde girl nods along to his words, trying her best to ignore your radiating hopelessness as she's about to become the next you; and megumi injects his needle into her neck.

he wants to look away so badly as she grows into a pure titan with eyes locked on your frail body, but he doesn't want it to end like this. there's gotta be something that he can do to help you. anything to save you from this fate; but to no avail, he's powerless. so powerless that the only thing he manages to do is mouth three seemingly meaningless words as he locks eyes with you.

"i love you."

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⊹₊｡ reblogs are greatly appreciated! ˚₊⊹

[ceilidho]

why is your brain so wrinkly i'm eating up your ideas and thoughts about the cod boys in the fallout universe.

just ghost being unapologetically unbothered in the wastelands, soap being a raider because he's a wild man that needs something to do, price as a CULT LEADER (i eat that up every time) and our poor vault dweller gaz i just UGH

Ghost just lives on his own, eats whatever he can, sells the remains of whatever happened upon his property in town, and then uses that extra income on RadAway. he's either full ghoul or just deformed and deteriorating, but in either case he still wears the mask, and in this 'verse the skull on it is real. a grisly little memento of someone who maybe got too close to killing him. he catches you wandering a bit too close to his property, dehydrated and hallucinating because you've been out on your own for too long and rather than killing you, he hogties you and drags you home. it gets lonely without a pet to call his own.

Soap is a scavenger/raider who's been travelling with the same band of raiders for several months. before that he was on his own for a spell and before that he was in a much larger group that dissolved due to in fighting (dissolved = bloodbath, very few made it out). when his group breaks into your vault and kills most of the people inside, he takes you as his own and guards you jealously, territorially. bites you in order to put his mark on you. he makes you bunk with him and gets vicious mad when you stray too far from him because it's not safe. it gets to a point where he's too paranoid to go on raids anymore because he can't trust you to be on your own and he also doesn't want you coming with them and getting hurt. tells the group he's leaving and goes to take you with him and when they refuse to let him take whats "theirs" (aka anything they took from the vaults), he snaps and kills all of them

Gaz is a vault dweller who volunteered to come to the surface after his community's vault door failed, forced to scour the wastelands and nearby towns for replacement parts. when he comes across you working as a freelance mechanic, extremely taciturn and hard to get to know, he can't help but bring you back with him when you help him acquire the parts that he's been looking for, convincing himself that kidnapping you is for the greater good. he'll be able to give you a proper life free of stress and scarcity back in the vault, and you'll be able to ensure that the door never, ever opens again.

Price is the overseer of a vault that over the years has gradually devolved into what most would consider a cult. it's only too bad that there's no one objective enough to label it as such. his vault is also part of a dual vault system similar to vaults 31/32/33, but the two vaults haven't had any communication in the last two hundred years, so the other vault has no idea what's become of Price's vault. it's only too bad that due to a catastrophic blight in your vault, you're the only survivor of a plague that wiped out your entire community, forcing you to enact the emergency protocol and contact the vault adjacent to yours. Price is quick to welcome you in with open arms, but you only start to feel a bit uncomfortable when the other inhabitants start making comments about how nice it'll be to have a new resident as they've been lacking members of "good breeding stock". you don't like the way Price hums in agreement when someone brings that up at the welcome feast.

[desmorotu]

more redacted headcanons!!!

some might be angsty? most of them?

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

- i saw a hc where milo isn’t necessarily short, but the other guys are just unbelievably tall. in my head milo is 5’11, ash is 6’5, and david is 6’9. tank is the only one who looks deceiving bc they’re like 5’10 in my head but their wolf is as big as david’s. ppl from the outside make the joke that shaw security is secretly a tall person club

- guy was a music major before he switched to writing. i mentioned it in his playlist post but i get those vibes HARD. he also writes honey poetry because he knows they secretly like it

- i like the idea that darlin and angel came from a rough family upbringing because 1. it’s relatable to a lot of ppl and 2. it would explain why tank shoves themselves into harms way and why angel is so outgoing now. it shows different responses to trauma imo.

- babe sometimes has crippling panic attacks on the thought of angel being a latent empowered and leaving them alone as the unempowered person of the group, but in my mind babe is the latent one and they’re a fire elemental.

- sweetheart feels guilty sometimes for being empowered while the other mates aren’t. they know it has absolutely nothing to do with them and that they can’t do anything about it, but sometimes they feel a pang in their heart at the fact that the other two won’t feel their core swell and warm up when looking at their mates.

- starlight has night terrors about the time they fell down—both times. they also think about when avior fell and they can’t help but intrusively picture what he looked like when he finally landed. it makes them physically ill. avior has to be extra careful when talking back about their experiences sometimes.

- lovely is still goes to therapy every week to work through the trauma of adam, dying, and now they’ve added the summit on top of that. they’re withering away into a husk of themselves. they’re so exhausted with dealing with all of this pressure, but they’d do anything for vincent (and i think that’s going to be their downfall).

- gavin has been brought to tears on multiple occasions at the thought that freelancer loves him for him and not just because he’s an incubus. he’s had to muffle his sobs because he genuinely does not know how he deserved someone so loving. he hasn’t brought it up to them yet.

- i think that freelancer is on the ace spectrum (greysexual maybe?) and that gavin was the only person they’ve ever really had sex with, or wanted to have sex with. they trusted him enough to “show them the ropes” and he built their confidence to where it is now. gavin helped build their relationship with sex and while they’re still on the spectrum, they’re more positive about it and they enjoy that kind of intimacy with him.

꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

that’s all that i can squeeze out of my brain rn >:( i haven’t been on tumblr that much and UGH it’s just bc my real life is more interesting than my redacted life (which is a very good thing, but still it makes me sad) and i have no motivation to post 💔 but here are some hcs that have been on my mind lately :3 i hope they make sense

k byeee 💟

[thebibliosphere]

It’s been a while since I fever dreamed the plot to something, but I just woke up from a literal fever dream set in a futuristic version of New York where Tom Hiddleston and his pet cyborg owl are entrenched in a spy thriller buddy-cop narrative, only to get swept up in the conflicting heartfelt rom-com narrative of Dakota Johnson who, after a series of unfortunate breakups, has sworn off love and committed herself heart and soul to her job as a curator at Futuristic Met Museum. This is much to the distress of her weed smoking, shroom taking trans lesbian mothers and their elderly dog, Jeff, who just want her to find happiness and love.

As part of his cover, Tom and his cyborg owl, Frank, move into the same apartment where he’ll be staying for several months while he plans to steal a diamond from the Met. I think if you held it up to the light it would project nuclear launch codes that’d been etched onto it. Don’t ask me, my brain was more focused on making the cyborg owl into the wise-cracking comic relief. It kept saying things like “wow Tom, you really are a jack of owl trades” or “don’t worry, Tom, owl always love you.”

The pair meet in the lobby where Tom manages to piss off Dakota by not holding the elevator for her while she is carrying heavy boxes. The apartment building, however, is old and shitty, and he gets stuck in the elevator, requiring him to be rescued by one of Dakota’s mothers who also happens to be the super. Dakota huffs her way out the stairwell just in time to hear her mother inviting the “nice British man” to dinner, much to her chagrin as she realizes that her mom is trying to set her up with the asshole and the cyborg owl that sits on his shoulder like a parrot.

Tom, who finds out she works for the met over said dinner, decides to go along with it as he realizes she’d be the perfect cover to get into the Met Museum for an upcoming gala event—not to mention the perfect person to take the fall for his theft—and begins wooing her relentlessly, assuring Frank, the cyborg owl, that it’s all just part of the mission.

Eventually, the pair fall for each other for realzies, and Tom is conflicted over using her to steal the diamond but his time is running out because we also find out he went rogue for a while after his partner died and was using his skills to work freelance for an international crime syndicate and now the mob is after him?????

Anyway, he’s about to confess all to her on the night of the gala when she gets a phone call from her moms letting her know that their elderly dog, Jeff, is dying so the pair rush back to the apartment and take him to the nearest cyborg vet in the hopes of saving him. En route, the mob find them and start shooting at the flying car they’re in and it leads to a comedic shouting match between the pair along the lines of “what do you mean you’re an international spy and the mob are after you? Ugh, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this sooner! I told you everything about me!”

“Oh, yes, your embarrassing high school stories are exactly the same thing as divulging international secrets. Tell you what, after this let’s get a coffee and I can tell you some highly sensitive top secret information to even out the playing field.”

Anyway, Frank the cyborg owl manages to take out the mob car chasing them with a grenade (????!), and the pair get Jeff to the cyborg vet in time. The dream shifted after that to Dakota helping Tom to figure out how to break into the Met so he can get the diamond, not because she loves him and he helped save her childhood dog, but because she wants him gone. Tom accepts her help and storms off to his own apartment where Frank the cyborg owl is poignantly silent save to say “take some Tylenol”

“…what?”

“Wake up, you need Tylenol.”

Which is what sent me rocketing upright in bed, dizzy and dehydrated, pounding migraine headache, drenched in sweat and running what the thermometer tells me is a 102 fever.

Which brings us to now where I’m downing Tylenol in the dimly lit kitchen, guzzling water and typing this all up on my phone because there’s no way I’m going to remember all this in the morning but damn if it wasn’t a fun dream.

Anyway, shout out to Frank the cyborg owl for waking me up before my brain fried ✌️🦉. I’m going back to bed.

[theauthorinaugust]

Redacted audio as things me and my friends have said;

“It is my god damn car, we will listen to weezer if I want too,” -Darlin

“On a scale of one to ten how mad would you be if I grabbed your tits?” -Babe

“Zero, get the hell over here baby girl,” -Asher

“If you don’t want me to ride you ass don’t do stuff that’s ass-rideable,” -David

“We all agree that man slaughter is horrible-“ -Doc

“I don’t.” -Hush

“Wow, the mommy issues ain’t mommying today.” -Lasko

“Hey siri, what does ‘raw-dogging’ mean?” -Lovely

“God, I feel like I just had a lobotomy-“ -Freelancer

“You just ate a slice of cheese cake???” -Damien

“Cheesecake lobotomy.” -Freelancer

“Orgy’s are basically like clown cars but for sex.” -Gavin

“Canoes aren’t good for sex, and there are killer werewolves around.” -Gavin

“It’s a sexual position attributed to the 1985 film Back to the Future!” -Freelancer

“Ugh! Who did that? Who just crashed my car?” -Vincent

“I dunno, but he sounds like a very handsome individual.” -Lovely

“So you can go on about your nipples but me talking about eating biceps for dinner is too much for you?” -Angel

“I’m a dentist. Please put your penis away. There are no teeth down there; I checked.” -imp!sam

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 21

PREVIOUS

“What made you think taking on a mafia hitman was a good idea?” Andrew asks as he and FF were positioning themselves the best the could for an ambush on Romero.

Since, they APPARENTLY had time to talk.

Romero had gotten the text Andrew had sent him and INSTEAD of coming out right away to progress the whole SCHEME to kidnap and murder Andrew’s Junkie like any sensible goon Romero went to the BAR. Romero went to the Bar to get him and Jackson a round of CELEBRATORY drinks. Romero is still there at the bar waiting to be served by an INCREDIBLY nervous Roland if the number of exclamation marks and puking emojis is to be believed.

What the FUCK is there to celebrate?

These two idiots want to kidnap NEIL and so far the only thing Romero knows (thinks) that they’ve caught are two people that Neil would come for but even in Andrew’s text he’d been clear that he needed help getting ‘The boyfriend and the new friend’ to talk let alone getting them to call ‘The Wesninski Brat’ out. Andrew had hated typing the name in reference to Neil but it was the only thing the two ever referred to him as in their chats.

Is it some insane mental game that Romero thought he and Jackson were going to play on Andrew and Smith? Toasting to their torture so they’d give up Neil? Who knows.

He realizes that FF hasn’t answered him, his eyes focused on the door when Andrew’s thoughts had drifted. A reliable guy, steady in a pinch, and focused like most the others weren’t.

(Andrew does not know that FF is thinking about how one would go about becoming a Mafia Hitman. What is that career path like? Do they show up at job fairs? Do you get a job as a short order cook at a business that acts as a front and see to much but you’re also the only one that knows the secret spaghetti recipe the boss likes so you have to sign yourself to the family? Are you out doing your own freelance crime and someone higher up sees your work one day and literally head hunts you? Is it like in Saw where you survive an ordeal and then-)

“Smith?” Andrew draws FF’s attention away from the door.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea at any point.” FF says and Andrew is surprised by the admission and is more surprised by the twist of FF’s lips into a frown, “I just did what I thought I needed to do.” He adds.

(Andrew does not know that the twist of FF’s lips has more to do with the fact that he is realizing that Romero likely STILL has not washed his hands. Romero hasn’t washed his hands and he is going to hand Jackson a DRINK with those hands. Ugh. Honestly a contract killer AND someone who doesn’t wash his hands? Who RAISED him? What does his grandma think of this? FF hopes she’s disappointed in him.)

“You thought you needed to lure a hitman into an alley?” Andrew asks because the plan is stupid even if so far it has worked out for FF. The fact that Romero hadn’t just come out when he sent Jackson the signal is only due to FF’s good luck and their stupidity.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to think up anything more than the first plan I thought of. I saw him looking at Nicky on the dance floor.” FF says with another twist of his lips as he self-consciously rubbed at his cheek. It’s never fun to have someone who has time to pick apart a plan that you barely had time to form. Andrew can understand the irritation and is glad that FF isn’t lashing out at him for it.

(Andrew does not know that FF is not irritated he is just remembering that he had held up his broken toilet bowl phone to his face to pretend call Captain Neil. He’s contemplating asking if Andrew maybe possibly has a wet wipe? Actually the murder van probably has bleach to clean up evidence, maybe he can just dip his face in there for like a minute.)

“Don’t use a plan where you martyr yourself. I already have to deal with Neil’s bullshit tendencies.” Andrew says instead of thanking him. “You should have just called me.” He says.

FF just holds up his phone, “Dropped into a club toilet. Completely unusable.” He says and yeah that makes sense. FF would have probably just texted Andrew but coming out and seeing a hitman going after Nicky probably made it impossible for the freshman to go get help without drawing all the attention to himself first if he wanted to make sure Nicky stayed safe.

Still.

“You dropped it into a toilet? You haven’t even had anything tonight.” He says because that clumsiness is not something he expects from FF.

“You try taking a pee next to someone on the FBI’s most wanted list and see how dry your palms remain when he’s talking about grabbing one of Captain Neil’s friends to lure him out.” He says with a brow raised.

That’s fair.

He figures that Romero hadn’t even noticed FF standing there. FF was incredibly good at just making himself unnoticeable (to Andrew’s occasional great annoyance and to Kevin’s great desire to study him for Exy related purposes).

“You recognized him?” He asks.

FF’s gaze slides to him, “I looked up a lot about the Foxes after I signed.” FF answers before his gaze slides back to the door. Roland had just texted Andrew that he’s getting Romero’s drinks ready (Two bud lites. Those are the celebratory drinks he waited for?? Embarrassing.) “I really looked up to Captain Neil. So, I read a lot more about him than anyone else.” FF admits but the fact that FF looked up to Neil was not in any way shape or form a secret.

FF was the only one who was ALWAYS paying attention to whatever Neil was saying and never argued with it. Even Andrew tended to just get lost in the sound of Neil’s voice when he’s going over Exy plays and not actually listen to the plan. FF’s eyes were always right on Neil and his actions on the court showed that he had been paying attention and knew what he was doing. Kevin also listened but he tended to fight Neil on the finer details of plays, strategy or anything else. FF was the one who would just nod and do his part in whatever possible play Neil had broken down for them.

FF was also categorically incapable of referring to Neil as anything other than Captain Neil.

Neil had bristled early on at it. He had thought it was a mocking title, something FF was saying to rile him up because that’s what Freshman Foxes did. That’s what Freshman Foxes always do. FF slid into the team without a whisper of rebellion and it hadn’t taken long to realize that FF was using the title with sincerity even if his monotone did not perfectly convey that.

It’d been that sincerity and that ease that had FF be the only option he’d considered when Bee said he should consider expanding his friend pool.

So if FF looked a little deeper into Neil’s past and sees Neil’s part in it as something to respect, something to admire?

Well, he personally thought he always had great taste in people. (He ignores the voice in his head that sounds like Nicky complaining about Kevin still not knowing German despite it being the family language.)

“You sure you don’t want one of my knives or the knife Jackson had?” It was pretty big and Andrew didn’t think it would work well with his general style but maybe FF could use it somehow. He was uneasy that FF was going into this fight unarmed. FF still hadn’t talked about how he’d taken out Jackson when the man had a knife like that.

“Do I look like Crocodile Dundee to you?” FF asks with a raised eyebrow and Andrew has to pause a moment for the movie to load into his brain before he offers an amused quirk of his own lips.

FF is a funny guy.

His phone dings. “He’s on his way.”

***

Aside from thinking about how nice the conversation he was having with his friend Andrew (his friend! His friend Andrew! God how is he going to admit to Gran that Andrew was never planning on stabbing him? She threatened to come over and square off with the ‘mean young man’ bullying him. He’s gotta go grab the makings for a secondary pie to even start to make up for this. Maybe Andrew would prefer a cobbler? He should ask his friend his preferences.) he was thinking about how he really wished they hadn’t had a cut away from Gracie Hart showing all the various forms of self defense she knows in the movie.

He had no idea if he could do a repeat performance of S.I.N.G. with Romero.

It’d be nice to have a few more things in his repertoire because all he has is striking Romero with the heel of his hand in the nose, getting grabbed from behind to throw him over his shoulder (which what if Romero is shorter than him? How will THAT work. Gracie Hart guide my steps!), and of course S.I.N.G.

If he survives this he might write a letter to the writer.

The door opens and honestly FF and Andrew agreed that surprise and speed were going to be their best weapons. The two of them go in for a full body tackle but Romero must just be a higher class goon than Jackson was since he manages to body them away. The door shuts which is mostly what they wanted anyways. Romero can’t go back in and grab someone to use as a shield.

He sees Andrew pull out his knives and now FF realizes that any level of threatening Andrew had done before must have mostly been in jest or just as intimidation. When Andrew wants to stab someone it’s obvious that he’s aiming to stab them.

Romero manages to parry Andrew’s first stab with a move that FF had seen on the ‘how to handle someone coming at you with a knife’ videos. FF sees Romero go in to bash one of the Bud Lite bottles over Andrew’s head so he launches his water bottle at Romero’s hand. The bottle falls and shatters harmlessly on the ground.

He kicks Romero’s other hand since the water bottle bought him time to get close. “You fucking brat!” Romero hisses.

He sees Romero reaching for something at the same time Andrew is going in for the second round of stabbing. Romero dodges out of the way but FF can see what might actually for real be an entire gun concealed in his jacket.

He can see Romero going for it. Sees the same smile on his face he’d seen inside as his hand wraps around the handle.

FF doesn’t think.

FF doesn’t think because if he does he’ll freeze.

So FF acts.

“Gun!” He yells and runs full force tackling Romero as hard as he can but unfortunately he tackles Romero into Andrew.

The three of them grapple on the ground. It’s hard to keep track of what limb is who’s and he’s pretty sure he’s accidentally hit Andrew a few times instead of Romero but he’s also pretty sure that Andrew punched him in the stomach so he thinks they’re equal. Finally FF gets a hand on the gun that Romero had been trying to get the safety off of and he knocks it out of Romero’s hand. “You kids will-“

Romero doesn’t get to say anything else because Andrew manages to land a punch right to his jaw that has Romero go limp under the two of them. They look at one another and Andrew manages to pull the handcuffs they’d purloined out of the Van while they were waiting off of the belt loop they were hooked onto and gets them around Romero’s wrists.

They stare down at the second unconscious man on the FBI’s most wanted list in the alley.

Then they roll off of him and onto their backs. Both of them wheezing from a combination of exertion, adrenaline, and (at least in FF’s case) a fair amount of pain (Christ Andrew packs a PUNCH his stomach is already sensitive. It’s a miracle that punch hadn’t made him puke.)

“That was…so stupid.” Andrew pants.

“Yeah probably.” FF admits.

They lay there for about a minute and FF thinks that maybe someone will need to carry him because his stomach is KILLING HIM with all this.

“Alright let’s-“

Andrew is sitting up and looking at him when he stops talking.

FF doesn’t really know what the issue is but starts to sit up, “Don’t you DARE.” Andrew hisses and FF finds himself being pushed back down to the ground to lay flat. “Don’t move Smith.” He demands and is pulling his phone out of his pocket as he keeps a hand on FF’s shoulder.

FF doesn’t really understand what’s got Andrew so upset all the sudden. “Andrew, what’s-“ he tries to sit up again. Is there a third person and Andrew wants him to keep down? There’s not really cover here they should move towards the dumpster maybe?

“Smith, I told you to not move.” Andrew hisses before whoever he’s calling seems to pick up. “I need police and an ambulance. We’re at Eden’s Twilight in the back alley.” He looks to FF, “What’s your blood type?” He asks.

FF has NO idea.

“I don’t know.” He answers and Andrew makes a disgusted sound. “Andrew, what’s-“

Then he sees it.

He doesn’t quite get how he missed it before now.

“Huh.” He hears himself say.

That’s Andrew’s knife handle sticking out of his stomach.

It appears that Andrew Minyard may have stabbed him in the stomach.

“Well, that’s about what I expected.” He says and lets his head rest against the pavement.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

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The requests to be added to the tag list keep being spread out across a few different areas. If I missed you please just ask again in the replies I promise I just missed you.

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

[bitchesgetriches]

Take care of your body

Why You Should Take a Break: The Importance of Rest and Relaxation

I Think I Need to Go the Emergency Room?

Run With Me if You Want to Save: How Exercising Will Save You Money

Your Yearly Free Medical Care Checklist

Ask the Bitches: Ugh, How Do I Build the Habit of Taking Meds?

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Survive in an Apartment with No Heat?

Take care of your mind

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Everything Is Stressful and I’m Dying: How to Survive a Panic Attack

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Making Decisions Under Stress: The Siren Song of Chocolate Cake

Ask the Bitches: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Absolve Myself of Financial Guilt Over My Pricey PS4?

The Frugal Introvert’s Guide to the Weekend

Update: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Take care of your time

Stop Measuring Your Time in Beyoncé Hours

Help! I’m Procrastinating and I Can’t Get Up!

You Won’t Regret Your Frugal 20s

Actually, Fuck Big Goals

How to Insulate Yourself From Advertisements

I’ve Succeeded at Every New Year’s Resolution I’ve Ever Made. Here’s How.

Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough

8 Free Time Management Systems To Try in the New Year

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD

I Am So Over Productivity Porn

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High School Students Have No Way of Knowing What Career to Choose. Why Do We Make Them Do It Anyway?

The Actually Helpful, Nuanced, Non-Bullshit Way to Choose a Future Career

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

My Secret Weapon for Preparing for Awkward Boss Confrontations

Freelancer, Protect Thyself… With a Fair Contract

I Hate My Job and I Don’t Know How To Leave It: A Confession

A New Job, a New Day, a New Life, and I’m Feeling Good

Season 1, Episode 9: “I’ve Given up on My Dream Career. Where Do I Go From Here?”

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How to Successfully Work from Home Without Losing Your Goddamn Mind (Or Your Job)

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Ask the Bitches: I Want to Move Out, but I Can’t Afford It. How Bad Would It Be to Take out Student Loans to Cover It?

How To Maintain Your Car When You’re Barely Driving It

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How Dafuq Do Couples Share Their Money?

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

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Love in the Time of Coronavirus: How to Protect Your Community and Your Soul from COVID-19

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Ask the Bitches: How Can I Make Myself Financially Secure Before Age 30?

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

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Slay Your Financial Vampires

Should Artists Ever Work for Free?

Don’t Spend Money on Shit You Don’t Like, Fool

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Financial Math

Share My Horror at the World’s Worst Debt Visualization

Stop Undervaluing Your Freelance Work, You Darling Fool

[makeitmingi]

Cause Baby You're My Muse [Chapter 20]

Genre: Romance, Idol!AU, Music, Slight angst

Pairing: Mingi x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Producer!Reader, IdolLyricist!Mingi, IdolProducer!Hongjoong, Idol!Seonghwa, Idol!Yunho, Idol!Wooyoung, Idol!San, Idol!Yeosang, Idol!Jongho, cameo(s) by other celebrities

Summary: You always preferred producing underground, having an unknown face and governed by your own rules. But when you start freelancing for idol groups, you say goodbye to your lone wolf lifestyle as you learn to work with idol producers and lyricists.

Word count: 3.2K

So what was this now? You couldn't just sit still anymore. Your foot tapped against the floor as you tried to make yourself focus on the screen in front of you but your brain just wasn't corporating. There was a weird feeling in your stomach.

"Ugh." You slammed your forehead down onto your desk, your arms tiredly hanging down. There could be a few reasons why you were productively producing anything now. One, it was 4 am. Two-

"What are you doing up?" There was reason two and possibly the biggest reason.

"Couldn't sleep so I thought I could get some work done." You replied, head still pressed against the surface of your desk.

"It's 4 am..." You felt fingers on your chin, gently lifting your head up from your desk. Despite the sleep evident on his face, Mingi still maintained a soft smile as he met your eyes.

"Go back to sleep. You have a schedule tomorrow and you need to go back to the dorm before that." You held his hand.

"We should both go back to sleep." Mingi corrected.

Mingi raised his hand to cup your cheek, leaning down to give you a peck. He tugged your body upwards and out of your chair so that you fell into his arms. You scoffed at how he was using his strength to move you, making him chuckle. His deep voice, ridden with sleep was even deeper, making you shiver.

"Can we go back to bed, please?" He rested his head on top of yours, his cheek pressed to your crown. When he felt you nod, he led you back to your room.

"You need to wake up in two hours." You told him as Mingi laid his head on your chest, his arms around your torso.

"That's fine." He mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" He asked out of the blue.

"Not at all." You denied. You weren't lying because it's not that he made you uncomfortable. There was just a lot of other emotions and feelings that made you feel overwhelmed now.

"I'm glad you're here." You raised a hand to stroke his head, your fingers running through his hair.

"I promise, we'll talk about this later." Mingi removed one of his hands from your waist to lace fingers with your free hand. He just wanted to be as close to you as he could now. You let out a hum of acknowledgement, grateful that he said that.

"Just sleep now. You need the rest." You spoke softly. The continuous running of your fingers through his hair put Mingi to sleep in no time. His warmth and scent also sent you back to dream land quickly.

When you woke up, Mingi was gone. You realised that it was close to 9, which meant he was probably at his schedule now.

'Hey, I didn't want to wake you up when I was leaving. Thanks for having me over. We'll talk about whatever this is when you're ready. Have a nice day! - Mingi'

'I just woke up. And yes, we'll definitely talk. Have a great day, stay safe at your schedule. - Indigo'

'See you later at KQ? - Mingi'

'Of course. - Indigo'

After that short text conversation with Mingi, you got ready to go back to work. You brushed your teeth and went to pack up the equipment you needed. Only when things were packed, you went to shower. You decided to forgo breakfast and took a cab to KQ with all your things.

"Glad to have you back, Indigo." The other producers welcomed you back with hugs and smiles. You still wore your mask around them so they couldn't see you return their smile.

"Thank you for accommodating and sorry for any inconvenience." You bowed to them.

"Nonsense. Family always comes first. And you were still working anyway, doesn't matter whether you're here or at home." Eden patted your shoulder.

"Agreed." Maddox smiled.

"So regarding the meeting I had with the executives yesterday, I would like to share the updates that concern us as the production team. Is everyone able to meet later in the afternoon?" Eden asked.

"Sure." You all agreed after checking your respective calendars. You went to your studio to unpack your equipment.

"Feels good to be back." You sat back in your seat. With all your monitors working, you put your headphones on and got into the zone of working. In your studio, there was a different type of flow and energy for your work compared to your home.

'Updated guide recording. - Eden'

'Thanks. - Indigo'

You opened the file that he sent you. Now that you were back in the studio, you could start recording for the tracks that needed guide vocals or actual song recordings.

'Congratualations, Prod. Indigo! Your track was chosen for CJ E&M's upcoming drama OST. The production team will be contacting you soon!'

"Drama OST?" You were intrigued. Your works have never been used as a drama OST before. You wondered if it would be different.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

You went to open the door and saw Seonghwa and San there. Seonghwa had a box of cupcakes in his hands, holding it out to you with a big smile.

"Welcome back!" The two of them grinned. You chuckled, stepping aside to let them in. Once you shut the door, you pulled down your mask, inviting them to sit down on the couch. Even if you were not expecting anything, trust the boys to be kind enough to do something to properly welcome you back.

"I was still working, you know? Just remotely." You laughed as you went to your desk to get your coffee and to wheel your work chair over to the seating area.

"Still, you like the surprise, don't you?" San teased. You had to admit, you did like it.

"Don't you guys have a schedule?" You folded your arms, taking a cookies and cream cupcake to eat.

"Nope. Oh, I like the red velvet." Seonghwa pointed. But instead of taking the cupcake for the older, San broke out into song, singing and dancing to a popular Red Velvet song.

"Just give me the damn cupcake." Seonghwa slapped San's arm in annoyance, making you and San burst out laughing.

"Looks like there's a lot of work." Yunho noted, nodding to your computer monitors.

"Actually, it's not much. It's mainly things that I couldn't do at home. And since Hongjoong was able to come over to work with me, it helped a lot. Or else I might actually be swimming in work now just trying to catch up." You explained.

"Could these tracks be in our next album?" Seonghwa asked.

"Maybe... I'm deciding which ones I will present to the judging panel. But we're meeting Eden later to discuss what the higher ups told him for your next comeback." You informed.

"Ooh, that sounds fun, yet intimidating." San said with a conflicted look and you nodded with a giggle.

"I agree. I honestly haven't done this in real life before. Usually if companies want to use my song, they would approach me. I've not had to present my song before." You scratched your head.

"You'll do fine, Indigo. Have more faith and trust in your ability." Seonghwa smiled.

"I'll propose the track we worked on for song camp. Since it was a group effort, the company might be more inclined to promote it, knowing fans would like it... But it also depends if the songs fit the concept that the company wants for your comeback. In that sense, it's out of our hands." You said.

"Agreed. But it would be nice to promote a song as one that we all wrote together. You know, it has our own personal touch to it." San said and Seonghwa nodded.

"I think you guys add your own personal touches to anything you do. Even if you aren't a part of the producing team, you still record, you still dance. That's adding your own touch." You defended.

"How smart." Seonghwa patted your head. You blushed, chewing on your bottom lip.

"Aww, look at you get all embarrassed by Seonghwa hyung?" San cupped your cheeks, cooing cutely at you.

"Stop it!" You slapped his hands away.

When the recording called for a break, Mingi excused himself to the bathroom. He emerged from the stall to see his best friend there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Mingi shot him a quizzical look.

"Where were you last night?" Yunho asked.

"Uh... Sorry, I didn't know I had curfew, appa." Mingi rolled his eyes with a scoff, wondering why Yunho was suddenly asking him this. He walked to the sink to wash his hands.

"You were at Indigo's place yesterday, weren't you?" Yunho let out a sigh and locked the main door.

"What's up with you?" Mingi was now genuinely confused.

"No, I should be asking you that. What's up with you? Or rather, what's up with you and Indigo?" Yunho asked, raising an eyebrow. Mingi blinked, hiding his surprised with more confusion.

"What are you talking about? Me and Indigo? There's nothing going on with us." Mingi lied.

"Liar."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Yunho ah." Mingi sighed. But his brain was scrambling on what to reply next, wanting to keep up this facade. Mingi only just made his move last night, how could Yunho already catch up to something so quickly? Plus, Mingi didn't even have any chance to give anything away.

"Mingi, we've been friends for years, we grew up together. I don't know why you're still trying to lie to me when I can see through you. I know you more than you know yourself." Yunho said.

"I kissed her last night, okay?" Mingi gave up easily, knowing he can't hide from his best friend.

"You WHAT?!" Yunho's eyes widened as he yelled. Mingi leapt forward, wrapping his hand around the other male's mouth.

"Shhh, do you want the whole broadcast to hear you?!" Mingi hissed. Yunho was still so frozen from shock as he processed what Mingi just told him. He lightly slapped his cheek.

"So you're together?" Yunho asked.

"No... Yes... I don't know. I kissed her, stayed the night then left in the morning. We were supposed to talk about it when we have the time to." Mingi explained.

"Wow, that sounds cruel, Mingi ah." Yunho clicked his tongue in disapproval. Mingi punched his arm.

"Get your head out of the gutter. We didn't do anything except sleep, that's all. And it's not like I'm not going to contact her again..." Mingi glared. Yunho nodded his head, rubbing his chin as if he was in deep thought about this whole thing.

"Stop that. There's nothing for you to think about. It's a kiss, that's all. She may not even like me back." Mingi rolled his eyes. Then it dawned on him now that he said it out loud.

He likes you.

"Oh my god..." Mingi face palmed. So that's what he has been feeling around you... Mingi has feelings for you.

"Did you actually just realise that you like her?" Yunho snickered, knowing the look on Mingi's face. Mingi nodded slowly as he was still stunned. How could it take him so long to notice his own feelings?

"I so knew before you even realised. I knew you liked her." Yunho smirked proudly.

"Wow, I'm dense." Mingi slapped his own forehead. Yunho hummed in agreement, unlocking the door to walk out. But Mingi grasped his arm.

"Don't mention this to anyone, just act like you don't know anything. I don't even know what this is. I haven't even got a chance to really speak to her on what we are and what's going to happen going forward from last night. The last thing I want to do is pressure her." Mingi said, almost pleadingly.

"I'm offended that you think I would mention it to anyone. But Mingi, you need to be careful, okay? You and I both know how relationships crumble in our industry." Yunho cautioned.

"What do you mean? I'm sure I can protect her."

"I know you can protect her. Just... take care of yourselves." Yunho said.

After filming, Yunho, Mingi, Wooyoung and Hongjoong headed back to KQ. Hongjoong was sitting in the passenger seat, on his phone.

"Aww, look. Seonghwa and San brought cupcakes to welcome Indigo back to the studio." Hongjoong said, lifting his phone to show the photo that Seonghwa sent.

"Ask them to leave some for us!" Wooyoung yelled from the backseat. Yunho shot Mingi a side glance but Mingi didn't react to the news at all, continuing to focus on the game that he was playing on his phone. He did clear his throat, knowing Yunho would look at him.

"I didn't know she was coming back to the studio today." Yunho said. Hongjoong nodded, humming in agreement.

"We've got some guide recordings to catch up on. Those were the things we couldn't work on while I went to her place to work." Hongjoong explained.

"Mingi ah, maybe tomorrow we should schedule studio time with Indigo." Hongjoong suggested.

"Sure, hyung. Our dance schedule only starts at 4." Mingi replied.

"Speaking of." Hongjoong's phone rang. It was you.

"Oh, Indi ah. We were just talking about you... Nothing bad, don't worry. Unless you did something bad?" Hongjoong laughed as he teased you.

Yunho and Mingi, who were only in the second row, heard your outraged yelling through the phone. Mingi did adjust himself to sit up and hopefully hear the conversation more.

"Producer meeting with Edenary? I'm still on the way back though... Sure, you guys start first. I'll just join you guys when I arrive. We're not too far... Yes, Mingi is with me... Okay, I'll bring him if he doesn't have any schedule after this." Hongjoong spoke. Mingi perked up at the sound of his name being mentioned.

"We'll see you soon. Bye." Hongjoong hung up.

"Indigo said Eden hyung called for a meeting with the production team to talk about comeback concepts. So we'll join them when we arrive." He said to Mingi.

"Yes, captain." Mingi lazily saluted. He knew he was going to see you again but just the thought of it now made him feel giddy.

"Hyung, could you drop us downstairs? It'll be easier for us to run up." Hongjoong turned to their manager.

"Sure." He said. When the van stopped at the front door, Mingi and Hongjoong ran into the building. They took the lift up to the producing floor. Hongjoong hushed Mingi as they entered.

"We're looking to submit 3 songs per producer and they are hoping to maybe push for sub unit pieces." Eden was speaking. Hongjoong and Mingi came to sit beside you. Mingi sat next to you but you were too focused on Eden to greet him.

"Should we push for the group produced song?" You raised your hand and questioned.

"We can... How far along are you with that?" Eden asked.

"The final revisions and edits were done with Hongjoong last week. I'll try to do the guide recording some time this week. If Jongho can come into the studio." You replied.

"Alright, keep me updated on the progress." Eden said and continued on while you wrote the info down.

"What are we doing for the b-sides?" Maddox brought up.

"If we are going with the third installation of The World, I would think they're looking for more techno, EDM type of songs." Hongjoong voiced out.

"It would be nice to have or two ballads in there though."

"Those who have ballads ready can submit ballads for the song pick. If the higher ups like it then they'll pick it. At most, they'll add 1 inside. Because like Hongjoong said, they want more upbeat, heavier beats in this album with the concepts from the first two parts of the collection." Eden proposed.

"If there are any questions, just ask. Meeting dismissed." Eden adjourned the producers meeting. Mingi heard you let out a long sigh at the end.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Mhmm." You nodded. As Mingi opened his mouth to talk to you, your phone rang and you stepped aside to answer it.

"Indi, busy?" Hongjoong came over to where you and Mingi were after talking to Eden. Mingi nodded his head, watching you speak with some production company.

"Let's wait for her by her studio." Hongjoong suggested and the two left the meeting room.

"Sorry, guys. What's up? Come in." You ran over after seeing the two rappers waiting outside your studio. You opened the door for them. They let themselves in while you went to sit by your desk.

"Busy day?"

"I would say it's normal, just catching up. I'm sure you heard Seonghwa and San dropped by with cupcakes to welcome me back." You chuckled, not taking your eyes off the screen as you typed away to reply to a message.

"Yes, we heard. Glad you like the cupcakes. We won't take up too much of your time though. Just wondering if you have time to work tomorrow for studio time with Mingi and I." Hongjoong asked.

"Tomorrow?... What time are we looking at?" You finally turned to them, pulling your phone calendar up.

"We have a schedule at 4." Mingi said.

"Meet for lunch? Then we'll work until 4?" You asked. The two nodded, taking their own phones out to input the timing into their schedules for tomorrow.

"Actually, Hongjoong, do you have time now? I just want to ask you something real quick about another project." You suddenly said. Hongjoong nodded, taking a stool to sit beside you.

"Mingi ah, if you have another schedule, you can go first. Don't wait for me. Or you can stay." Hongjoong said.

"I-I'll stay." Mingi sat down.

"I got a message this morning saying my beat was chosen for some drama OST. I have no clue how an OST is edited and made. Do I have to make it in line with the genre of the drama? The producers just called me and said they'll be sending me the info pack soon to work on the instrumental." You said.

"Wow, Indigo. Unfamiliar territory, huh?" Hongjoong laughed at your completely lose expression.

"Like a fish out of water." You sighed.

"Hmm, I know you can't tell me much but maybe just the genre of the series? And send me the track they chose. I'll work on it and get back to you tomorrow." Hongjoong said.

"Ah, Yeosang is calling me. I'll see you upstairs, Mingi. Bye, Indi." Hongjoong jogged out of the studio.

"You alright?" Mingi towered over you. You looked up from your seat, eyes growing soft at the sight and feeling of him being near you.

"I'll be okay. I'm sorry, I know we're supposed to talk about stuff but I just... All the work came rushing in and I feel like there's so much to do." You said guiltily.

"Don't worry about that. We have all the time in the world. Don't stress yourself out too much, hmm? With both work and us." He smiled, resting a hand on the top of your head.

"Thanks, Mings." You said. Seeing that the door was still closed, Mingi leaned down to quickly kiss your forehead.

"I'll call you tonight." He whispered.

"Okay." You hummed and he withdrew his hand slowly as you watched him exit your studio.

~

Series Masterlist

[elisacaleisa]

People say I am a big brain. Idk about any of those things but to that I say: have one more again. This one is weaker but you get it, same thing as the ones before

Jax's Personality Swap AU (4)

Pipeline: Elliott > Morgan > Vega > Regulus > Caelum > Camelopardalis > Hush > Elliott

Elliott > Morgan

Hopeless Seer

- ok but childhood friend seer cooks

- Morgan is a deeply caring person

- Seer Obscura gets a nickname: Dreamer

- "dreamer... I've been calling you that for ten years. maybe more, heh."

- the softest boy ever, he is a walking teddy bear

- "I've realized... we will never reach the future, but we will always live in the present. it's the time, that changes. the time changes us"

- slow burn perhaps? But...

- "dreamer... i... I'm sorry, it's just... You're so warm and... i wish to hold you. please."

- he is alone in this world. it's just you, that keeps him alive. he doesn't have hope for this planet, but you are his world.

- he sleeps, eats, walks on the path, that was established for him since he was born. But you... You became his future...

- he craves you as a lover, but is afraid to lose you as a friend

----

Morgan > Vega

Melancholic Demon

- sigh trademark

- "... what do you want, warden? Cant you see im grieving for my pet?"

- you ask many questions, but barely get any answers around of him

- he only talks to you out of everyone

- "why? heh. Dumb question, warden."

- you still ask anyway. he laughs. full of pain

- "did you kill my pet, warden?"

- what? What is he talking about? And why would you do that...

- vega turns his back to you. Until you confess, he says

- he has been in here for a long time. maybe it was someone from the past and he can't live in the present.

- he wants his pet back. he wants noone else but them. but you dont know who that was...

----

Vega > Regulus

Raging Fallen Daemon

- he is pretty pissed i imagine

- "if i can't have you, no-one can."

- OH HE KIDNAPS YOU

- he is angry, upset, but never alone. Now that he found you.

- everyone is looking for you two

- "precious, don't leave"

- you try to resist, but he is in your head now

- and you dont. You listen. You are now his company. He never stops holding your hand.

(jax note: this specific swap might be edited or completely reworked later)

----

Regulus > Caelum

Self-claimed Prince Daemon

- Was Polaris' greatest student, perhaps that got into his brain a bit,,

- this is a headcanon fun bit of what if Regulus wasnt fallen and was Leo constellation, so enjoy!

- he is all huffy and puffy at first

- "hey! Wake up! You do not sleep on Caelum like that!" owie! Did he just hit you by a pillow??

- "you are awake. Good. Now up! We have so much to do!" god what is this flying pipsqueak?

- "pipsqueak?! I beg your pardon?? I am Caelum, an empathy daemon and now, you are my charge! Simple to understand, now chop chop! Clean your face and ugh... Please, wear some clean clothes, looks like you didnt change for three days. We have to fix that! Coooomeeeee ooooonnnnn!!" okay he is pulling you from the bed. You cant win here freelancer

- he sounds like a spoiled brat and he maybe is, but slowly by time, you get to know him more and see that he is just a little guy with a job and heart on the right place. His methods can be dramatic, but he means well

- he says that you are ready for D.A.M.N., that the hidden talent in you is more than just your powers.

- "i think Gavin will help us here. He is a bit stupid, but he always gives me cookies!" blunt much, Caelum?

----

Caelum > Cam

Bubbly Serenity Daemon

- always so curious about human culture, both old and modern

- he especially likes bubbles

- "wow, how fascinating... this is truly wonderful!" he loves colors too

- "e-ehm, pardon my, uh... excitement. My name is C-Cam-Cam-Camelopardalis and i am your today's... wait, no, that doesn't make sense... does it?"

- he is a very polite, kind guy. he tries to always help, he just had a problem put words to the correct order (me fr)

- he loves walking outside in the sun. He is like a cat - he likes sunbathing and is kinda afraid of water (hmmm)

- he is a very tall guy, always hits himself in the head, god bless,,,

- he just stands out by how pretty and tall he is

- he writes little notes about his clients, mostly positive ones with stars and hearts! Perhaps mostly about you

- the walls of his office are full of fun stuff, like globe, astrology maps of constellations, dreamcatchers, oil paintings, etc.

- "i... i cant believe i found a friend between humans... thank you."

----

Cam > Hush

Soothing Entity

- you dont know who he is, what he is, but he is following you for days like a lost cat. Something about you is... attracting him. He wants to be near you.

- he is always sitting in your window, watching, but never daring to take a step inside

- "what are you doing?" he finally asks, after days of just watching you.

- "you're always here. And im always waiting" but for what? You ask

- "i dont know, doctor." and he goes to rest.

- you believe thats not true and you might be right. He seems to be hiding.

- there are demons around your place, around Dahlia. It drives you insane. You feel afraid. What are even those guys doing here? You did nothing wrong, right?

- and with hush, it got worse...

- "please, dont be afraid of me, doctor. I'm here for you. Please, doctor."

(jax note: this one might be changed too)

----

Hush > Elliott

Unknown Dreamwalker

- you didnt have to do any of this. You could've just leave him there, you could've had a normal life. Normal in rubbish and loneliness, but...

- just look at him. He is not normal. He is a fucking... superhero?? Supervillain??

- "sunshine..." oh yeah and that dumb nickname. Better than a nightmare, but... why does he looks at you that way??

- "I'm grateful." yeah yeah

- apparently, those guys are from some department he escaped. He was always an orphan, somehow sneaked into a normal orphanage and got adopted, but a mess happened and now... You dont understand any of it

(jax note: i just didnt have more ideas but take it as Elliott being mysterious /j)

[silencingspellsongs]

Early Access 5/24

awakens from my slumber, pulling at the bars of my enclosure like a frantic and rabid animal

PORTER SOLAAAAAAAIRE

GOD i love him. every little tidbit we get about him makes me love him more and more he is pookie he is my rotten soldier he is my little so and so

mmm his reaction to sam and vincent leaving was so interesting, seems like as much as he likes to act apathetic it does upset him to think about them no longer being solaires.... i do hope we get some kind of group audio talking it all out at some point, a nice complementary piece to the group audio before the summit.

also porter was actually unempowered before getting turned. man that's crazy, he has such a good control over magic for a vamp... how interesting! i wonder what got him so interested in studying magic post-turning, was it something his maker required or when porter finally got free of him is it something he pursued on his own?? tell me your secrets, funky british magic man 🤲

and ugh the flash fire to simmering burn of porter and treasure's love life is SO tasty. the fuckbuddies to now wanting to actually get to know each other outside of their many "dalliances" is so nice compared to a lot of the relationships we've had so far with the boys. it's similar to early gavin and freelancer which was always such a great romance buildup 🥰 i can't wait to see porter start to open up more to treasure ugh i love them so much inject this shit into my veinsssss

[igotanidea]

Date gone wrong : Jason Todd x plussize!fem!reader pt 1

@jasontoddsthickbabe - here you go :D

summary: being bigger girl is not always easy. Especially when it comes to the dating and relationships. However, they say that there are plenty fish in the sea, so maybe some people are just to stubborn to realise they are looking in all the wrong places,

This can be read as a story preceding to my other plussize!fem ff: Beneath and Snickers and Hoodies

Warning: mention of past trauma and eating disorder.

Clarification: I have nothing against make-up, dresses, woman's magazines and girls who are feminine. I'm just creating reader as more of a tomboy, because I seriously believe we need more representation of such.

***

„What are you doing?”

„Thinking.”

„You sure you are not worrying?”

“Yes, Dick, I am pretty sure I am not.”

“You got that face you know. “

“What face?”

“The face you do when you are worried” he grinned, making her roll her eyes

“You are unbelievable….”

“I know. Now come on, if there’s anything you want to share with your best friend….”

“On second thought there may be one thing.” She tapped her chin “and you may be right , I may want to share with my best friend.”

“Well then….”

“I’m gonna go find Tim. Have you seen him around?”

“That is so not fair!” Dick rushed right after her, not wanting to miss any of the gossip that she may tell Tim. After all, he was the oldest brother, and her oldest friend, it was his dutyto take care of Y/N.

***

Before Y/N started working in tech department of Gotham’s press and met Dick, she was a freelancer for a woman’s magazine. Now, thinking back it was the worst time of her life. She was never really interested in all those articles like  “12 make up tricks to make your eyes look bigger” or “10 ways to make a man fall for you” Ugh! This was just too objectifying – was it really the purpose of a girl to play pretend just to catch attention?  But she was newly graduated and needed money to keep herself afloat, so the best option to have any income was to adjust to the realities. And that meant accepting the open slot and cut down on her ambition. Just a bit and just for the time being.

“One year” she was telling herself “you have to stick here one year, get a name for yourself and then you will be able to choose any other newspaper to work for.”

Biting the bullet she was writing all those silly news and gossips, counting the days to the desired promotion and submitting to the wishes and whims of her boss. The editor was not the person to discuss with, she always knew better what would turn out to be popular, and when one day she called Y/N into her office, the girl knew there was a task for her. Arguably the one she would not like.

“I’m sorry, boss, you want me to do what?”  she raised an eyebrow involuntarily, but quickly realized it was not professional. She was the newbie, with no power to bargain, treated rather like a coffee delivery and courier than a real journalist. If she was to act even a bit too cocky with the boss that would end with her on the street.

“I’m pretty sure you heard me the first time, but I’ll repeat it for you. I need you to go to ten different dates with ten different boys found on dating app and write a reporting on it. “

“But….”

“No buts.” The boss cut her off “you got two weeks and I want to see it on my desk.”

“Two weeks?” that would mean she would be forced to go out almost every night “But…..”

“You can go now, Y/n. Good luck.”

This was like a nightmare coming alive. Y/N did not have good experiences with men or with dates or with that whole relationship stuff. Maybe it was partially because of her childhood issues. She never felt wanted or accepted for who she was. Her father practically did not care about her, only willing to acknowledge her presence when he was in need of help or feeling lonely enough to settle for her in the absence of someone better. Not exactly a role model. Y/N did not have any male friends in school as well, to focused on being an A grade student to please her strict mother. Burdened with pressures and expectations from everyone, herself included, she got dragged into eating disorder that left her a bit bigger than her friends. At some point it felt like food was her way to suppress all the emotions, good and bad. Instead of letting her feelings out she was drowning them by sticking food in her mouth and stomach. It was shameful and embarrassing and the more she tried to hide this sick self-defense mechanism the worse it got.  Finally, after a lot of hard work she dealt with it, but her weight and curves stayed in place. She was still bigger.   

On good days, the outlook and weight never bothered her, she was just doing her own things, not caring who thought what about her, but on the bad days – she didn’t even want to leave the house and show herself. On those days she watched comedies and sitcoms that would lift her spirits and help her regain some confidence. But not with men. Her sarcastic and a bit harsh attitude alongside with emotional unavailability was not helping either. There were countless times when she heard from her mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins that she should be sweeter, lighter, feminine ….. All those words made her laugh inside. To hell with those comments. She was not going to be the men pleaser, and if that meant being alone then so be it.

But now, the task to come was bringing back all her insecurities. Again. So instead of treating it like a cruel joke from the boss (since at first she believed it was assigned to her only to mock her) she started thinking about it more like a job.  Involuntarily she created a fake account on the app and started her work. Maybe this would turn out to be a good social experiment.

***

“Hey Tim, can I have a minute of your time….” Y/N asked noticing the middle Wayne seated on the couch with some newspaper in his hands  “what are you reading…..? Oh, shit……” she hissed realizing the article Tim was so engaged in.

“Y/N?” the boy raised head and his eyes landed straight on her face “You did work for this magazine in the past, right?”

“I…. um…. Yes” there was no point in lying. Knowing Tim, he already got everything figured out.

“And you had one very particular nick you used for your articles, right?”

“Yeah, I…..”

“I am sorry.” Tim put the paper down and stood up to hug his friend. Y/N just stood frozen for a second not sure what to do, but after a few seconds reciprocated his embrace “you did not deserve any of it.”

“It’s in the past, Tim. I haven’t really thought about it in a long time.”

“Still. You did not ….”

“Mhm, you said it” she cut him off “and thank you for that. But what interests me the most here is how the hell did you find this outdated magazine?”

“I…..” Tim hesitated  and scratched his head

“Oh, you were spying on me.” She smirked

“That’s not the word I would use, but…. Look, you have been sad lately and Steph suggested….”

“So she was involved in this as well, great. I guess I should have known it from the beginning.”

“Don’t be mad at me, Y/N.”

“I am not.” she assured “I just need you to keep it to yourself, all right? Can’t risk your brothers finding it and…..”

“Finding what?” Dick peeked through an open door with a shit eating grin on his face

“NOTHING!”

“Oh you two are hiding something.” He muttered coming closer to the sofa. Predicting his next moves, Y/N quickly reached for the magazine, grabbed it and started running the other way but before she was able to escape Jason stood in her way and she ended up crashing into his chest.

“Auch!” she yelled, the paper falling from her hands, while Jason’s arm grabbed her securing her before hitting the ground.  Too close, too damn close.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked, eyes switching between Tim, who just shrugged, Dick who quickly throw himself to gather the magazine and Y/N who wriggled out of his embrace, being the first to grab the paper.

“Come on, Y/N. Don’t be like that. Show me what is it.” Dick hissed, while Y/N hid behind Jay using him as a shield. “Don’t be a kid.”

“I am not the only one who’s acting like one! This is mine!”

“And yet, you let Tim read it!”

“In her defense, she didn’t know about it.” Tim chimed in

“Irrelevant. If Tim knows, we all knows.”

“Is that how it works now?”

“Pretty sure it was always like that.”

“I wonder why the hell do I even came here in the first place” Jason sighed and without any effort grabbed Y/N from behind, snatching that damn paper off her hands. “And you claim I am the crazy one here.”

“Give it back!” she struggled against his arms, but he did not let go. Just one of them was enough to keep her in place.

“What even is it? 10 dates that went wrong? Wait, did you write it?”

“Please…..” she whispered “please, give it back to me…..” her eyes were so pleading that it almost, almost got Jason wavering. He wondered why. Y/N just seemed to have strange effect on him and he wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not.

“I…..”

“Hey, Y/N. Relax. It’s just some funny article of yours, right. Nothing to be ashamed of. Or worried. Or…..” Dick opened the article, clearly ready to read it out loud “Y/N? Are you all right?” she was sobbing now and that was an unexpected view.

“You know what. I’m done fighting with you. Read ahead, but it’s not a funny little article.”

“Y/n….” Jason looked at her carefully. He recognized that look in her eyes. It was the same as he had when after coming back from the dead and dealing with all the shit in Gotham he still felt not wanted. Like a piece of trash. Clearly, just the title from the past brought some bad memories in her.

“I’ll be fine.” she took a step back “like I said, read ahead. Just…. not with me here” turning on her heels she rushed out of the living room.

“Tim?” Dick glanced at his younger brother.

“I’ll check on her. And just a word of advice to you two – prepare for some additional trauma after this.”

***

Date number  1 – he showed up late using some lame excuses about having an important job and being a really big fish. For the whole night he was talking about himself, not asking a single thing about me. After an hour of his monologue I excused myself into the bathroom to catch a breath and when I came back found him flirting with the sexy looking girl on the other table. “What, can’t blame me for being attracted to a good looking girl, for a change.

Date number 3 – he seemed like a nice guy. Came right on time, focused on me (perhaps a bit too much, not caring about personal distance), saying that he enjoyed my company. He paid for the meal. But when I started thinking that maybe, maybe he was a good one, the situation turned around. Despite my clear “no”, his hands were all over me, definitely in the places they should not. “come on, honey, you know no one else would want you. You’re just not the kind of girl to be desirable.” I used my pepper spray on him and got away, chased by his yells that I was a bitch

Date number 5 – “You should have posted your profile picture on the side. I wouldn’t have to waste my time if I knew you looked like this”

Date number 8 – “I believe man are far superior to woman. We are just stronger, tougher, smarter. Oh, and you probably did not know this, but color red is believed to be attracting to you, girls. I had plenty of woman falling to my knees just because I was wearing it.”

“Jason?” despite the seriousness dripping from the article Dick could not help a laugh

“What? That’s not why I chose to be Red Hood and you know it!”

 “Maybe that is why you are just staring at me with those dumb, pretty eyes without a single word.” I was staring, but definitely not because I was enamored by his behavior.

Date number 10 –Honestly, I was planning to skip it, but much to my surprise my date found me. “You must be Y/N” he smiled approaching the table “I knew it from the second I saw you sitting here all alone.”

“Did you?” I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed, sipping on my drink.

“Mhm. You are smart girl. And those are rarely wanted. If you were pretty however….”

Ok, that was the end of that joke of a date.

So, to sum it all up, I am pretty sure finding yourself a good partner is a challenge I was not able to tackle. But if you follow all the rules and guidance we prepare for you in our magazine your chances for meeting your price charming are rising significantly. Go check our tips for weight loss and new trends in make up for the spring……

Dick voice broke at the ending, not capable of finishing.

“Poor Y/n” he sighed “she’s been though a lot.”

“She shouldn’t have searched on the Internet. “ Jason scoffed but clenched his fists. “She should have known better.”

“It was for a job.” Dick pointed out “she would never come up with something like this on her own and you know it.”

“How much time ago was it written?”

“Three years ago, why….? Jason! Jason! what the hell are you planning on doing?!”

“Making it right.” The younger brother muttered walking out of the room, grabbing his helmet on the way.

“Don’t you dare! Jason!” now Dick really felt like it was his responsibility to make sure his brother won't do anything stupid.

to be continued

@pinksirensong

[lizardperson]

can't win them all

[on ao3]

fandom: fallout new vegas characters: female courier/original male character rating: m cw: non-graphic discussion of killing/canon-typical violence, guilt/remorse wc: 779 prompt: #fff269 living weapon for @flashfictionfridayofficial

---

"You're quiet."

"Hm?" Mika looked up, then she chuckled. "Shouldn't you be happy that I’m finally shutting up for once?"

"It's just always a bit worrying," Gabriel remarked gently.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, as usual ignoring his concerns. "Ugh, whatever." Silent again, she went back to staring into the campfire. After a while, she started gnawing on her lip. "Can I ask you something weird? Do you know how many people you killed? Like, ever?"

He wanted to ask where the hell this was suddenly coming from, but then it dawned on him what was going on in her head - the damn Fiend thing again. Of course she was still mulling over that. "No. Stopped counting eventually."

"Doesn't that bother you? That it's so many that you've lost count?" She didn't sound accusatory, just… sad. It's not like she hadn't killed before - that's what life in the wasteland was like. But Mika usually only resorted to lethal force in self-defense. Gabriel preferred to keep it that way too - but their definitions of what constituted 'self-defense' differed somewhat.

"Mika, I've been a soldier for thirty years. It's literally part of the job, as cruel as it may sound. You need to disconnect that from yourself or you go insane," he tried to explain. "I was a tool. A weapon."

"Just following orders, hm?" she retorted gloomily, and they both got quiet again. This whole thing really ate away at her. Eventually, she looked up again. "Maybe we can negotiate some kind of peace deal with that Motor-Runner guy."

Gabriel sighed. "Pretty sure the NCR brass already tried that. What makes you think you'll have more luck?"

Mika made a face. "I mean, it's not like they have such a great track record when it comes to diplomacy with the locals. I think I'm a bit more persuasive than your buddy Hsu," she objected. "Got nicer tits, too." Her stupid joke dissolved the tension a bit and they both chuckled.

Gabriel paused for a moment. "Mika, we don't have to assassinate those damn Fiend leaders." He wasn't happy that Colonel Hsu had brought this whole thing up anyway. Was the army really this fucked that they had to outsource their raider troubles to some random freelancer? The Fiends had been harassing the surrounding settlements for a while now, killing and abducting people, and the army seemed to be unable to put an end to it. "We don't have to make this our problem."

"It already is our problem! If we do nothing, even more people get killed. And just because we didn't shoot them ourselves doesn't mean it's not on us!"

Gabriel listened to her patiently and sighed. "I wish you would stop putting the whole damn Mojave on your shoulders," he remarked quietly. "You can't save everyone."

"But I still have to try."

He pulled her into his arms and stroked her back, both lost in thought for a while. "I'll go alone," he then proposed. "I'll take Boone and ED-E and we'll handle it without you."

Mika frowned. "How is that any better? Sending you in there to pull the trigger instead of doing it myself is worse, actually."

He didn't expect her to go for it, but it was worth a try. Gabriel hated seeing her so distressed; why did she always have to care so damn much? It was one of her worst traits - and one of her best at the same time, and he admired her for it. If only it wouldn't bring her so much pain all the time.

"We have to try talking to them," Mika eventually declared. "There has to be some kind of peaceful solution."

He snorted. "What, you want to just waltz into Vault 3 for a friendly chat?"

"Yeah. Maybe the Khans can set something up." She crossed her arms defiantly. "You don't have to come if you think it's such a dumb idea."

"Well, I certainly won't let you walk in there alone," Gabriel objected.

"Why not?"

He pulled her closer and kissed her head. "Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble."

"Good luck with that," she chuckled, snuggling into his arms.

They sat in silence again for some time and Gabriel considered their options. "Fine," he sighed. "Diplomatic approach. We'll figure something out." This way, he could at least keep her from rushing in blindly. They would try to gather some intel, come up with an actual plan, and hopefully not die in the process.

Mika noticeably relaxed, and he wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Thank you," she whispered. The lengths he was willing to go for her peace of mind…