#I don’t know what an XL bully is

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

You got any thoughts on breed specific legislation, like how the UK is moving to ban the American XL bully?

*stares at the English bulldog* could we ban that instead.

[guinevereweepy]

A few fun facts of TGCF (MDZS) from MXTX’s interview for new fans

MXTX: Huahua’s communication array’s password and LWJ’s rabbits’ names, these are secrets only they themselves know, I don’t know too. But Wangxian’s 3rd bow is before their 2nd ***.

Comment: But Junwu knew too

Q: In the cave of ten thousand gods, what’s the last wall mural and Xie Lian’s statue?  MXTX: It’s that. Just that.

Q: Where was Hualian’s first time? Does Hua Cheng knows about Xie Lian kissing him on his own account in the Qiandeng Temple? MXTX: At the Royal Holy Pavilion Mount Taicang! He didn’t know before but was forced out of XL after much seduction.

Q: What did Xie Lian like to do when he was young? Did he like to act like a spoilt child (the cute way)? MXTX: He liked to swing the swing, write, draw, read books no one else could understand, stack gold foils. He was a little spoilt brat, wanted to sleep with the Queen. But after he stopped, the King didn’t find him cute anymore

Q: When they first met again, why didn’t Hua Cheng allow Xie Lian to touch him? MXTX: Because it was love and respect. Afraid that he would be too excited after being touched and make mistakes. After that a reason was, if he felt that there was something he didn’t do well, like unable to protect His Highness well, he wouldn’t allow himself to touch his God. Even if he longed to, as it was a punishment to himself.

TW: Suicide mention Q: Why did Hua Cheng bandage his face when he was young? Why did he fall from the top? Why was he constantly bullied but still had good physique? MXTX: He was beaten, his right eye was red, the others thought it was scary, even if his face was filled with injuries he wanted to hide them too; Once he was beaten to the extent where he couldn’t take it and wanted to commit suicide, and he was a really cruel and fierce kid, as he heard it was the Heavenly Ceremonial Procession soon, if anything happened the whole kingdom would be in trouble, so he chose that day to get ready to ruin the Ceremony, basically the whole “I’m that unlucky, Imma bring the whole kingdom down with me”. But in the end after climbing up he took the first glance at his future wife and was stunt, forgetting suicide. But as he wanted to take a closer look, wanted to go closer, he accidentally fell. His will to live was stubborn! Like Xie Lian’s, not dying no matter how much he was beaten, always able to breath his last breath, climbing up to change the tables.

Q: What did Mu Qing say when he chased Hua Cheng out of the army camp? MXTX: How Mu Qing talked was always like that. “You’re the kind of little brat that is useless to His Highness, will only be a burden to him, the army doesn’t need a piece of trash like you, don’t you think you really have some talent!” And as in the army the death of those kind of teenagers were on the higher percentage, so Mu Qing thought that chasing him away was right.

Q: Why was Hua Cheng so unconfident about his own looks? MXTX: He was called ugly, monster when he was young, and it turned into a deep rooted image of “I am ugly” in him. Later he then started to suspect “maybe I don’t look so bad”. But in front of the person he likes, he would still unconsciously feel inferior, at times he would still suspect if he was a ugly monster.

Q: Is Shi Qingxuan mortal? Will his limbs recover? If he dies and reincarnate will he still have the bad fate? Has Shi Wudu turn cold? (is he really gone?) What did Black Water do with Water Master’s head? What did he say to SQX at the end at the Black Water island? MX: He is mortal. Impossible to recover, and he doesn’t want to. In TGCF there isn’t a setting of reincarnation. 15 ° cold. Took his head as an offering. He didn’t say anything, as SQX was in a lifeless state, wouldn’t understand even if he said anything.

Q: Why did Xie Lian give himself the surname “Hua” (flower)? MX: He likes flower, and was crowned as the “Flower Crown Martial God”. And in the first setting, Xie Lian was a flower god when he was first banished, flowers blooming and withering at his palm.

Q: When Xie Lian was banished for the 2nd time, what did he do in the mortal realm? What did Hua Cheng do too? Why couldn’t he find Xie Lian? Hua Cheng swore to not let Xie Lian know he was protecting him, but what was the moment that made him decide to meet Xie Lian again after 800 years? MX: He tried many kinds of jobs but weren’t smooth-sailing, and would bring bad luck to others, so he could only collect scraps on his own. Hua Cheng had been looking (for XL) while practicing + earning money, expanding the range of his power, working hard to become a powerful person! It was really because Xie Lian was too unlucky, bad luck had been clinging on him so he wasn’t able to meet this person. Actually they almost met a few times, like at Banyue Kingdom, and Fangxin Guoshi period, but they missed each other in a split second, only when he ascended all by himself for the 3rd time, Hua finally couldn’t wait and rushed to him.

[somereaderinblue]

Jiang Wanyin VS Mu Qing

I once saw a post that mentioned how JC stans try to push JC’s characterization onto MQ and I’m just sitting there like.......wtf? Bcz frankly, if they ever truly met face-to-face, I’ll bet my left kidney that MQ will despise JC. Hell, I think MQ and JC couldn’t be anymore different from each other and here’s why.

(Note: This is gonna be a long rant but pls, bear with me.)

First of all, let’s look at their family backgrounds. JC was born as the heir to Yunmeng Jiang with two respected/powerful cultivators as parents. But MQ? He was born to a poor household in a dark alley, his father was a sinner that had been beheaded and his mother was a seamstress who eventually got bad eyes and could no longer continue her job.

Bcz of his poor background, MQ wasn’t even allowed to cultivate until XL noticed his potential and recommended him personally. You wanna say ‘oh poor JC, he’s always in WWX’s shadow’ well boo-hoo, it sucks to be in second place just as much as it sucks to have no place at all! 

How, just by knowing this, how can you think MQ is anything like JC? JC grew up with all the privileges as the son of one of the highest gentries. While he was raging about losing his dogs bcz of a traumatized boy, MQ was an errand boy/ servant working his ass off to feed his own mother. He was shunned and scolded just for wanting to give her cherries.

If anything, MQ probably resonates more with WWX who was in a similar position as him since he was constantly viewed as ‘the son of a servant’. MQ was constantly looked down upon, bullied and unable to fight back or he’ll get kicked out. His only protection was XL; similar to how only JFM could make WWX’s abusive life just a bit more tolerable.

Then there’s also this post which canonically proves how JC’s place in society was always set in stone. He grew up with everything already handed to him: a well-respected status, a fancy household, warm food on the table everyday, etc. But MQ? He had to diligently work hard, he had to put in raw effort to rise through the ranks and had to consciously prove himself worthy of it.

There’s also the fact that for all of MQ’s supposed prickliness, the children in his home area adore him. Him, the one whom us readers have come to assume was an unapproachable edgy character, has a soft spot for children and vice versa. They call him ‘gege’ and he gives them cherries and candy. He cares for them and relates to them.

As for JC, let’s face it. Without WWX as his social buffer, who would want to befriend him? Without WWX around to distract you from his unpleasantness, without him around as part of the package, who would willingly approach JC with a genuine offer of friendship? Would JC even know shit about forming non-toxic relationships?

Then there’s the fact that MQ can actually take care of himself and others. He was XL’s personal attendant; he knows how to cook, clean and sew. When everything was going to shit, he still tried to take care of XL and he could bcz he knows first-hand what it’s like to live a rough life of doing back-breaking labour and swallowing your pride just so you can put food on the table & a roof over your head.

But JC? After the Fall of Lotus Pier, WWX was the one to take care of him. WWX who had the foresight to ensure he had money stitched into the hems of his clothes as preparation and getting food for them to eat. WWX, the man he used as his emotional sandbag, the man he tried to strangle after saving his ass. All he could do was sit on his ass and wallow in misery. Okay fine, I’ll admit that yes, he has been through a shitty ordeal BUT! So has WWX and you don’t see him being mopey, do you? Without WWX around, JC would’ve died in a ditch if he hadn’t been caught by Wens first.

And unlike JC, MQ gets reconciliation and he does it right- he earns it. MQ actually takes action to fix his mistakes whereas for JC, literally the only thing he could do at the end was not take action to salvage what little was left after he kicked the dead dog over and over for the past 13 years. And even that alone speaks volumes- at the end, JC does nothing and still walks off with minimal consequences bcz of his high-ranking station.

But MQ willingly volunteered to help XL as Fu Yao again and again, stands by his side to face Jun Wu/ Bai Wuxiang and personally fixed Ruoye. If it were JC, you think he’d do that? Does the guy even know how to sew?? (He probably would’ve pawned it off to a lower subordinate to settle then take credit for it.) And unlike JC who only went to the Burial Mounds to drag WWX back and ignore the blatant injustice the Jins were doing, MQ continued to visit XL while he was waiting for HC’s return to check on him, to make sure he’s doing well, to show his concern and support as a true friend that cares.

Thus, I conclude my case.

JC stans, pls don't clown my post.

[plan-d-to-i]

I feel like fanon jc is comprised of a lot of good characteristic of other characters in the fandom. Namely Gu Xiang, Mu Qing, Yin Yu and other protective tsundere oniichan/oneechan in anime/manga.

Gu Xiang is the protective Jiejie who berates ZCL, Cao Weining (people she loves). She threatened them with ‘I will break your legs‘ often to those people (affectionately) and mean people (derogatory). She is the knife mouthed tofu hearted girl who doesn’t admit straight up she wants to protect people and gets attached, but at the end of the day, she gets attached to them and is a protective tsundere jiejie. Very similar to fanon jc who belittles, berate wwx of losing face, but Gu Xiang will deck anyone who FUCKING MESSES with ZCL and Cao Weining. And her master and ZZS, and she means it. She called ZCL names but will throw hands if anyone ridicule or bully him (the one episode where he cries and tried to hide it from her) yeah.

Yin Yu is the loyal person to HC, always beside him when we see him in Ghost City, MXTX told us that he has ‘forgettable face’ (but maybe XL only sees HC and seeing HC and YY side by side he definitely don’t remember this guy other than HC’s loyal subordinate). He resents HC, Hualian together perhaps and people who are lucky enough to have worshippers and have a good stable position in heavenly realm (since he died and eventually become HC’s subordinate in GC). He is unlucky, has no HC person who can repel his luck or a dedicated worshipper to keep him a martial god. He envies HC and Hualian but he doesn’t act on those jealousy. He stays loyal to HC after everything.

Also there is Mu Qing, Xue Meng and Liu Qingge who are the other tsunderes in danmei that might have been compared with fanon jc, and I feel like I said a lot of cents on this but fanon jc is a mixed of trope and personalities of these characters packed into one, it’s not bad but kinda irritating to see this guy everywhere when you want to read stuff where he is an asshole.

Also MXTX whole relationship trope of MDZS is reversed in TGCF. Xianle trio was a break it, and they reconciled (like what YMJ trio/shuangjie fans wants), YY and HC are essentially Shuangjie situations but YY has proven time and time again that he can betray HC or harm him at the very least, but he doesn’t. It doesn’t erase his feelings that are complicated re:HC. XL has no relationship or support system for years, until HC came, shit happens and XL trio reconciled and YY (who are associated with HC) also becomes his extended family of sort with HX (vs WWX who had a lot of support system in the beginning and he only has LWJ and juniors at the end eventually until the Lans warm up to him) (The meta by vrishchika made me connect the dots)

MDZS is like getting away from toxic family to new found family to its okay the world is against you if a person is by your side.

TGCF is about losing your found family first before reuniting with them at the end when you reach your happy ending after all this.

Its a beautiful after thought.

anon this is a full blown meta! 🙌

I don't even know which one of their comparisons is the most absurd. Xue Meng who calls Mo Ran BROTHER and who cares about his image but would never let a whole bunch of innocent ppl die bc he's too big of a coward or he's scared how it's gonna make him look; Liu Qingge who hasn't met a debt he didn't repay, or a fight he would back down from out of fear of losing; Mu Qing who didn't betray Xie Lian when the fucking Heavenly Emperor himself asked him to & threatened him; Precious Yin Yu </3 who didn't believe status determined someone's worth, who accepted he would never outshine Quan Yizhen and just wanted to do what he was capable of well, but who still ended up being immensely brave and self sacrificing. and Gu Xiang who they literally just compare bc she wears purple and cracks a whip. They're not just different from jiang cheng they're moral opposites. They would throw hands at the ppl making said comparisons, except for LQG who would just throw them.

[hualianff]

Mi Amor(tentia) II 《I》

Every Sunday, XL personally delivers the ingredients to HC to restock after each week. Sometimes it’s during the morning before classes, HC inviting XL to stay and chat over coffee.

Other times, it’s in the middle of HC’s classes because XL’s only has so many chunks of free time to drop the ingredients off. XL usually keeps himself scarce as he helps himself to deposit the ingredients off on HC’s desk in his office.

On days XL is especially busy with classes, meetings with outside personnel and tending to the school’s greenhouse, his sixth-year teaching assistant, BY, will deliver ingredients to HC.

HC is easily the person XL enjoys spending time with the most. They have such fun conversations and HC makes XL feel so comfortable and listened to. Plus, HC is undeniably charming and handsome. XL thanks whatever higher power there is that someone as refined as HC took XL under his wing.

XL has learned and observed that HC is a professor that students either love or hate. Some perceive the potions professor as sketchy-looking and unfair in his grading. They take HC’s pushing as ridiculing, then complain about their poor marks after refusing to do the bare minimum of the assignment.

(Unbeknownst to HC, XL has taken it upon himself to passive aggressively warn these students from bad-mouthing HC in the hallways.)

Understandably, The first year students absolutely cower in HC’s presence. But from fourth year and up, HC is one of the most loved professors. When HC begins to passionately lecture with really big hand gestures and funny word combinations, the students can’t help but admire him with starry eyes.

(Student: “Hua Lao Shi, I don’t think ‘impossibleness’ is a word.”

HC: “It is now. As I was saying, don’t let the impossibleness of a goal influence your confidence in working towards it. You should not pay attention to whether something is possible or not, but rather focus on what steps you’re taking to find your answer.)

He’s clearly smart; intellectually based from the readings he assigns students from his own books; socially as his humor is always on point and he never misses a beat to tease his students; and emotionally because HC does not tolerate bullying in his house or his classroom. (Nor in the school, if he can help it.)

HC himself was bullied back in the muggle orphanage and during his time at Hogwarts. He knows what it feels like to wake up dreading going to classes and interacting with people who had nothing better to do than put others down. 

So while HC can seem intimidating and blunt at first, he genuinely has his students’ best interests and wellbeing in mind. Witnessing how seriously HC takes his job as a teacher and trusted adult figure, XL’s feelings wrap around him like vines and squeeze him in their hold anytime he’s around HC.

XL’s never had a crush like this before.

Later in the semester, XL and HC are chosen as the professors to monitor the first years on their first trip to Hogsmeade. There is no doubt the transfiguration professor, SQX, took part in pulling some strings to make this happen for XL.

What no one knows is that the defense against the dark arts professor also played matchmaker. In an intense game of wizard's chest that unfortunately ended in his defeat, HX was forced to nominate HC to go with XL. 

HC and XL make the best guides. XL is very enthusiastic in answering first years’ questions while HC is good at describing things through muggle terminology.

During his years at Hogwarts, XL has always loved the Hogsmeade trips and bought new candies from Honeydukes each time. In fact, he has a huge sweet tooth that he can never satisfy. Cue XL showing the students around Honeydukes and HC buying all of XL’s favorite goodies in the background.

When it’s time to move on to the next store, HC presents the bagged sweets to XL with a smile.

(XL, staring at the bagged sweets: “San Lang! You shouldn’t have!”

HC, grabbing XL’s hand and physically transferring the bag: “Nonsense. Gege deserves a reward for working so hard lately. Giving him a few candies is the least I can do.”

XL, clutching the bag tightly, fingers tingling from brushing against HC’s own: “If you insist. Many thanks, San Lang.” 

XL snacks on some sweets for the rest of the trip. HC watches with a pleased eye.)

One day during finals week before winter break, XL falls ill with a terrible migraine. He’s been prone to migraines for a while now, which he’s used to enduring with medicine tablets that don’t do much to ease the pain. 

XL manages to get through his morning classes. But by lunch time, his stomach pain worsened tenfold to which HC, who planned on having lunch with XL, convinced the herbology professor to take the rest of the day off. 

“But my classes-” XL’s voice breaks off as he winces as another wave of nausea sweeps through his body. HC puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“I will fill in for you,” HC assures. XL looks like he’s about to protest, however, the potions professor holds a finger up to his lips. “I can quickly brew something up for your pain. You like the smell of eucalyptus, right? I can add a faint scent to soothe your sinuses too.”

“San Lang…”

HC fixes XL with a pointed stare. XL’s face softens, eyes closing in defeat.

“Thank you,” he says gratefully. Without thinking, HC reaches over to cup XL’s cheek, sliding back to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear before massaging his temple. 

“It’s not a problem. Gege needs rest.”

Luckily, HC doesn’t have afternoon classes lined up for the afternoon. Once XL has retired to his room to relax, HC settles behind XL’s desk as students filter in for class to take the final exam.

(Students who had potions that morning entering the herbology room: “Oh shit-”)

Between classes, HC completes the tasks written in XL’s planner he left during lunch. Unfortunately, HC has a certain TA who sidles up next to him out of nowhere, whispering inconspicuously, “I know you have the hots for Xie Lao Shi.”

HC, who had been marking scrolls, jolts in shock. His left hand streaks across the parchment, leaving a red trail in its wake. 

(Student who receives his scroll with a huge red line: “The fuck???? Does this mean it’s wrong? Do I need to do it again?”)

HC ignores BY as he continues about his business. Except BY rolls a chair right beside the desk, her prying eyes making HC feel like he needs to cover more than just his right eye.

“Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Liar.”

“Watch how you speak to your professor, young lady-”

“Watch how you speak to your professor, young lady,” BY repeats in a nasally voice. HC tightly clenches the pen in his hand. BY, unfazed about testing HC’s patience, sighs pitifully. “Sorry, Hua Lao Shi. I swear, I’m only trying to help.”

“Help with what?” HC asks, attempting to remain oblivious. BY gives HC a deadpan. “Ok, fine. How could you possibly help?”

“Well, I heard that Xie Lao Shi might be crushing on another professor-” HC chokes on his spit. “-and maybe you two…”

BY taps the tips of her pointer fingers together. 

“What!?” HC aggressively clears his throat. The scrolls are long forgotten now. “H-how do you know?”

“He told me,” BY reveals, smirking like the devil’s child.

“Who is it? Tell me more,” HC demands.

“Ah ah ah–you first.”

HC can’t believe this girl who has him cornered is the same timid third-year transfer student who couldn’t even look him in the eye. He bites his tongue, reluctant to discuss his person of interest with a seventeen-year-old. BY just sits there, looking unbothered as she examines her nails while waiting for HC to cave.

It doesn’t take more than ten minutes before HC admits it. 

“Fine. Yes, I like Xie Lao Shi.”

“What do you like about him?” BY asks immediately. HC itches to take points from Hufflepuff; what is this, an interrogation?

To no one’s surprise, HC spends the next half hour praising XL’s selling points (which are all of them) and subtly hinting how plans to ask the herbology professor out soon. BY unhelpfully inputs that HC needs to confess his feelings first. 

“And then he needs to accept your feelings too,” she adds, much to HC’s irritation. 

“I thought you were helping me?”

“I am,” BY smiles innocently. “By listening.”

“You’re not going to tell me who…?” HC falls silent, glaring at the last scroll he finished grading. A glance at his watch indicates there are fifteen minutes left before the final class of the day begins.

“Of course not. I don’t go around spilling professors’ secrets, especially Xie Lao Shi’s,” BY says. HC nods in resignation. 

BY doesn’t tell HC shit in the end, yet somehow made him unload a few things about his feelings regarding XL. HC supposes she was right about the listening part. 

Must be some sort of witchcraft. (HC tells himself that XL definitely would’ve laughed at this thought.)

Strangely, HC feels better after this little confessional session. Though he is incredibly curious as to who has caught XL’s eye in this school. HC’s heart painfully twists in on itself at the possibility that it’s anyone but him. 

HC desperately hopes BY’s rule about not sharing secrets applies to him as well. 

《III》

[vigilantegetawaydriver]

Could you possibly write a frank x female reader who is fairly androgynous. Like really short hair who mostly wears sweats and crappy shirts. Im tired of reading so many Uber feminine reader fits. Hard to relate. Thank you!

Thanks for your request! This is actually my first time writing a requested fic, so be warned.

Note :Since I can actually relate a lot to your request, as I myself often wear stuff that isn’t really feminine , and occasionally shop in the guys section. (funny how xs for women and xl for men fits me the same, seriously sizes are confusing af. ) I corrected this at 1 A.M. so be warned

Warnings: grapic descriptions of violence and language

Pairing: frank castle x reader

Anyways here a little summary: I decided to go with Frank from season 1 episode 1 aka Construction worker Frank. The female reader is a co worker of Frank, and those bullies at the construction who bullied Frank (calling him a gimp etc.) are occasionally picking on her too. She actually thinks Frank is alright , but doesn’t try to pry to much so she just keeps a safe distance. Frank Frank kinda likes her too, you’ll see.

It had been three months since you started working here and had completed your apprenticeship. You quickly figured out that you were the only female on this construction site. That didn’t bother you though, as long as you could do your job , you were fine. There were some things that annoyed you though, on this particular site were a lot of douchebags, some were bullying everyone that didn’t fit in, which included you and some guy that didn’t play well with others, and of course there were guys that couldn’t stop commenting on your figure , even though you wore the same work clothes as them, since they didn’t have any of them fit for women they were pretty baggy on you, but you never were one to put much effort into dressing feminine . That didn’t matter apparently. You didn’t let them bring you down though, if someone commented on your appearance or mocked the way you behaved you were sure to give them a hard time.

Today a new worker was joining the construction team. You hadn’t really been introduced yet; the bullies usually beat you to it. As always, they were showing the new guy around, making him familiar with the site. You went ahead to go do your todays task, you had been assigned to work with Pete, so you made your way up to his workplace. As you arrived the guys that were showing the new guy around were picking on Pete. One was poking him in the chest, calling him a “gimp”. Pete didn’t react though, just staring at the guy and then turning his back. They seemed to lose interest and moved on.

“I hate those assholes.” You muttered passing Pete and putting your gear on the ground next to you. Pete just gave you a wordless shrug as answer and picked up his hammer. From there on you two worked silently next to each other, until it was time for lunch.

You were just unpacking your lunch when you heard some guys talking about a gig , to make some fast money ,illegally apparently. Pete must have heard it too, because he was looking a lot grumpier than usual. Just as you wanted to say something one of the guys that had been talking started to walk towards Pete bellowing in his face that he was intruding. When the guy started stomping on Pete’s lunch, you had had enough of it. You knew that Pete could take care of himself, he was more that capable of that , but you just couldn’t let it stand that those guys were treating another human being like that.

” Hey dirtbag, I am here too , he isn’t the only one that heard you talking bout your fucking illegal business! Maybe you’re just too damn stupid to realize it but that ain´t exactly the stuff to talk about at your workplace with your coworkers around!” You bellowed in his face.

“What did you just say you fucking bitch?!” The dirtbag shouted at you.

“Your dick may be small, that’s okey , but don’t let your frustration at your inability to get laid out on other people!” You countered in a mocking tone.

Well you didn’t expect to hear Pete chuckle, and you certainly didn’t expect your coworker to smack you in the face. You saw stars for a moment , but then you recovered quickly to land a precise punch on his nose. In your peripheral you could see his friends emerging, and started to brace yourself for a real fight. Two guys were advancing you, when Pete suddenly pulled you behind him. While he was busy with those two you had to go against the guy that had started it all, he had picked up a sledgehammer and was trying to hit you with it. Seeing the hole in the wall it had produced next to you, you quickly started to get real nervous , you hastily picked up a metal bar that was lying beside you. It was clear by now that these guys were trying to kill you, and apparently Pete too. While you had been dodging the one guy , Pete had at least killed one guy and knocked two others out, one of them not wanting to stay down it seemed. You had heard shots too, apparently someone had pulled a gun , but Pete had quickly gotten a hold of it and killed them.

With a loud crash the hammer collided with the bar you were using to defend yourself with. Slowly you began to think that you might not make it out of here alive.

All of a sudden Pete appeared behind your assailant and grabbed a hold of the hammer. He smashed it into the guys skull , he fell down immediately. His lifeless form now decorating the ground with his blood. You looked up at Pete a shocked expression plastered on your face. He just growled:” You don’t fucking hit a woman.”

You wanted to say something when you noticed another guy aiming his gun at Pete. Pushing Pete out of the way you quickly charged at the man effectively knocking the gun out of his hand. It clattered to the floor, and before you could reach for it, Pete had it aimed at the guy and shot him straight in the head.

It was sickening the stench of blood everywhere, but your focus was on Pete , or maybe you should call him Frank.

You hadn’t been sure at first but his little massacre just now had confirmed your suspicions that he was indeed the punisher.

“We need to go,” was all he said before gripping your hand and pulling you with him. Wordlessly you followed him down the stairs.

When you arrived at the yard you said:” W-We can take my c-car.” Given that you were in shock you just handed him the keys to your black chevy truck.

Apparently there were no witnesses, since it had been around lunch there hadn’t been anyone else on the site at the time it happened. Since you two were missing , you were a suspect. So you stayed with Frank for a while.

It had been more than a while since the incident, and you and Frank were sitting at a diner talking. “I talked to a friend, and he said he can help you.Gget you a new identity, you could start over.” Frank suggested in a hushed voice. “We have been over this , I don’t want a new start.But if you don’t want me to stay with you anymore that’s fine.” You mumbled. Looking into his eyes , searching for something unknown. Franks response was a little agitated , he grabbed your hand that was laying on the table next to his. Squeezing it he mumbled: “That is not what I am saying, I just want you to have a choice.” You wanted to say something when the waitress called to you saying there was someone on thenphone for Frank.

It had been an awful couple of days, Frank and you both had tried to find out as much as you could about this Micro guy. Frank had cut off his beard and gotten a buzz cut, which you didn’t mind one bit by the way. You had had to change you appearance too, cutting off your hair till it was just below your ears and dying it black. You had just finished rubbing it dry with a towel and were putting on your cargo pants, Frank had the same ones just a few sizes bigger, when he walked in and looked at you :”You know you can still back out now, you don’t have to do this for me, we have no idea who this guy even is.” He tried to convince you.

“I told you already , I will not let you do this alone, I have your back. Besides if we are right then he is just some nerd guy that wants to get back to his family.” You walked towards him. He looked at you like he was in deep thought before he said, cupping your face with his hands:” You stay behind me , and remember what we talked about. If you get hurt I don’t know what I will do.”

It was the first time he admitted that you meant something to him. You got on your tiptoes and placed a quick kiss on his cheek instead of his lips , as you didn’t want to overstep anything. But he wouldn’t have it, leaning in he pulled you towards him once more , kissing you gently on the lips. You leaned into it trying to hold in the moan that eventually escaped your lips. You both parted panting and looking at each other.

“You want this?” He asked hastily while his hand squeezed your hip. “Yes , yes I do.“ You panted, just before he pulled you in again , crushing his lips to yours.

You barely made it to the bed.

Micro would have to wait.

[justascrollingghost]

At least Harry is still thriving and more famous than ever :) all that matters! Who cares about the fat alcoholic lmaooo

Usually I wouldn’t respond to your absolute shite but with comments like that you deserve your gross ass being handed to you so buckle in and next time think before you start typing.

Firstly, Harry was the one who struggled the most finding his sound and Harry has openly said he struggled finding himself and what he wanted after 1D. He also was the frontman and the one who was painted as a womaniser when he was 16 years old - for gods sake all the lads protected him with their lives so if you genuinely think he got off scot free living his best life you’re delusional as well as stupid. Harry has also been to therapy and had to hire full time security because he feared for his safety and to top it all off went to court to stop paps being able to sit outside his home.. just because you see someone smiling, successful and getting on with their life it doesn’t mean they don’t have shit going on so maybe stop assuming things about people you’ve decided you know personally because you listened to their album and think they’re fit..

Now we’ve established that let me tell you a thing about addiction and I’m a psych grad so go ahead and trust me but I also highly suggest you get yourself over to google scholar and do some reading - but it’s not a choice. Addiction changes your functionality. The drug (in this circumstance alcohol) changes the levels of neurotransmitters in your brain and those new levels become your functional state and before you know it your brain shuts down. It can’t function without its altered function levels - that’s where the shakes and vomiting comes from in recovering addicts because your body can’t handle it. It can’t handle day to day life without the drug.. sounds a lot less funny when it’s put that way doesn’t it?

As for your other comments about Liam - get a grip. We don’t accept shaming of any sort on this blog I don’t care what you’ve been through or how old you are, it’s not tolerated. Happy and healthy is happy and healthy and if that means you’re a medium or large or XL instead of a small then good for you I support. If your smile being bigger means your face is abit rounder then absofuckinglutely I support. It’s not Liam’s fault that you’re insecure. maybe you should consider working on that instead of projecting??

That whole message gave the vibe of someone who has never struggled with anything so amazing for you. Gold star, you’ve gotten through life so far but I hope to god you have better people than you around you when you do struggle because (and I’ll give you this for free) it fucking sucks. Next time you think about coming into my inbox as a little keyboard warrior with an attitude like that I highly suggest you just don’t babe

With that horrendous bullying mentality I don’t want you here and neither does Harry or Liam💛

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

Godzilla vs Kong review

I really liked this movie.  It has some really great fights. In fact I’d go as far to say it has some of the best fights in the Monsterverse so far. The fights are brutal and they don’t hold back. I love the viciousness of it. You have Kong and Godzilla going at it and they always change things up in the fight so its unique and never boring. Like in Hong Kong Godzilla goes on all fours just to bite Kongs feet. I’ve never seen him do that before. They even throw in some fun easter eggs like Kong shoving the handle of his axe down Godzilla’s throat as a reference to Kong shoving the tree down Godzilla’s throat. And the thing is it never comes off as distracting.

The human side of the story was kind of weak but serviceable. Weirdly enough the team Kong humans and team Godzilla humans never interact which I’m torn on. It would be interesting to see them interact but I don’t know if that would drag the film down. 

The one human character I found disappointing was Ren Serizawa. He’s the son of Serizawa so you’d think he’d be a big character and a dangerous opponent since he’d know the ins and outs of Monarch. Instead he’s just there to pilot Mechagodzilla. I would’ve like to see him get some characterization. Even something like him being angry at his dad for being more interested in monsters than his own son. It’d be cliche but it would at least be something. 

On Mechagodzilla it took me some time to get used to his design. He’s more boxy and bulky in this like a transformer and weirdly enough he reminds me of the Showa Era Mechagodzilla. I guess it’s all the rockets he has that does it. Personally, I always preferred Kiryu since he was sleek yet deadly. He had a long tail and felt like a real mech that could exist. Mechagozilla in this movie is brutal and I love it. He has a long tail which is nice and he has a spinning drill thing which was a neat touch. His design is a bit more basic yet it works in a way since he does appear a bit skeletal and has all these tricks underneath his armor so it surprises you. At first I was confused if Mechagodzilla gained sentience from the energy source after frying Ren’s brain or if Kevin was possesing Mechagodzilla. I thought about it over time and I think it’s Kevin possessing Mechagodzilla. I don’t think this version of Mechagodzilla is my favorite but he is an interesting incarnation of the character that is fun to watch.

I love the hollow earth. It’s so weird and creative. It shows some bizarre creatures and hints at a larger world. Even the way gravity works there is bizarre. Like when Kong jumps in the air and starts floating and lands on the other side of the canyon. Its kind of surreal to watch. The Warbats look cool and remind me of Kobra from Godzilla the Series from the 90′s. I wonder if Quetzlcoatl is a feathered Warbat? I look forward to them exploring the Hollow Earth some more. I’d like to see how the ecosystem there works. How does the food chain work? Where is that light source coming from? It gives you a tease they’ve been building up through out this film series and I want to see more.

I know they cut scenes from the film and it feels significant. I remember seeing stills on the internet of Alexander Skarsgard punching out a guy on a beach in Waimanalo. Or a still of some bully giving Emma Russel grief at school. Those scenes are never in the film. I even remember hearing a rumor Giancarlo Esposito was supposed to be in the movie yet he wasn’t. I kind of wonder what those scenes would have looked like. Would it have helped or hurt the film? I’m not sure but I am curious to see what it would have looked like.

The soundtrack is surprisingly good in this movie. It’s by Junkie XL who I’m normally not a big fan of but here it works. You get a sense of power and energy from it. It kind of reminds me of Primal Rage almost.

Regarding who won I think Godzilla won in the end. The way I interpret it is Godzilla beat Kong in the third fight and in the end he respects Kong and Kong respects him. Kong recognizes Godzilla as the Alpha, while Godzilla recognizes Kong as a worthy opponent that deserves respect. I know some fans will interpret it how they want to on whether or not Kong or Godzilla won. I think  that’s inevitable since some fans will just see things their way and twist the scenes to make it fit. It’s human nature. Overall, I liked this movie. It’s a big dumb fun monster mash and it does that extremely well. I look forward to seeing more of the Monsterverse if they decide to continue it. If they don’t, at least they ended on a high note.

[tsubasabasahazard]

reacting to

Three Gods and one Ghost King vs Bad Omen Reverend

or whatever the fuck that dude is

I have no idea if this was funny or terrifying for fucks sake what was this arc

btw I stopped reading when they entered black waters territory

Hua Cheng staring furiously at Ming Yi when he got closed to XL aljsksjjsjskkskksksk I dead

Qingxuan laughing at Xie Lian’s unlucky ass and then Hua Cheng pissed at him and I was thinking “I’m so happy I didn’t laugh, I was too shocked to laugh”

This reverend of bad omens (the actual name is hard and didn’t stick to my brain) reminded me of my parents always reminding me how I’m gonna fail kakksjwkjskakkakkakskkwkskkskskkahajk

also Xie Lian’s unlucky ass really reminds me of my bff, she’s so unlucky it started rubbing on me since we started living together

this bloody parade reminded me of AHS smh and I’ve never even watched it, seems cool, I would cry tho

Ok who had the grate idea of playing truth or dare with Qingxuan???? he’s clearly the type to make you do nonsense or ask really personal questions (I love this so much come come come)

YES UNDRESS EACH OTHER I LOVE U QINGXUAN MY BELOVED

omg did he just ask this of Hua Cheng fuck Imma cry my eyes out....OMG THE ANSWER HOLY SHIT NOOOOOOOOOOO YESSSSS XIE LIAN KIND OF FELT IT YESSSSSSSSSSS FUCKKKKKKKKKK

Ming Yi will probably ask something borin- BELOVED?????? oh- okay....now I wanna know details of XL second ascension, he just mentioned he stabbed daddy

oh look annoying people

“That wasn’t me!” said Ming Yi and I almost shit myself scared (I’m easily scared, really easily)

oh we can switch bodies heh? I like it- Hua Cheng doesn’t, keep going

Ok I still understand nothing of this Reverend guy but I like how Xie Lian couldn’t even IMAGINE Hua Cheng being harmed and he lost it

now Hua Cheng is pissed and hit Ming Yi....smh this is funny

if Ming Yi and Qingxuan don’t end up married by the end of this book I’m gonna flip it (bullshit I’ll just read fanfic to cope)

ok now let’s run to save Qingxuan...where’s Qingxuan???????? that motherfcukeer can’t follow a simple rule of DONT OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR

bye bye Hua Hua I miss u already Love u

okay this is looking way too much like a horror movie is Qingxuan dead?????

and here’s the three musketeers (it took me so long to write this word right) I like Ling Wen but the fact she’s friends with these two makes me rethink my liking

oh no, I bet Qingxuan is human again (yes I got the spoiler he becomes human and his brother dies) FUCK WTF IS HAPPENING HERE?????

THE PALANQUIN HUA CHENG SENT FOR XIE LIAN I AM DYINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

omg he’s getting on too wait a second I’m having a gay panic and so is Xie Lian

“Gege, wanna get married” I would give my life to slap Hua Cheng for saying this was a joke after he saw Xie Lian was having a gay Panic

Hua Cheng telling XL to not get involved with those gods he’s always involved, XL “how abt I do it anyway?”

LOOK AT MY BABIES FARMING TOGETHER

Hua Cheng saying he’s married and I’m having a fan panic here while Xie Lian just stopped working

HE SAID ITS TRUE HE LOVES SOMEONE JUST DIDNT CONQUER THAT SOMEONES HEART YET MY BOY IS IN LOOOOOVEEEEEEEEE

Xie Lian and Ming Yi helping Qingxuan flee through a whole under his bed was the funniest shit that ever happened in heaven they’re bffs

Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok that makes sense, Shi water master sucks, u can die now I won’t cry for u anymore (or so I hope)

Now I wanna meet the Rain master he is so cool and I don’t even know him yet

YES BULLYING MANWHORE PEI IS MY FAVORITE THING IN THIS WHOLE BOOK AFTER HUALIAN

ok we’re going to the water anyway yeey

[sjw-publishings]

Stay Straight Babe

“Im so glad I still have my lovely boyfriend with me during Quarantine, Amirite Cherry?”

“Yeah...hehe, so glad to have Sammie with me too...”

Anton, the Drama Queen laughed with his lesbian shy bookworm bestie as they discussed about theatre and all about. Of course, they would’ve invited their lovers along, but they were too busy being techno geeks and talking computer games in their gaming rooms.

“Did you have lunch yet?”

“Yeah, tried takeout from that famous Chinese restaurant downtown! Was super good!”

“Oh my god! Me too sistah!!!”

“OooooooAHHHH!”

A large groan came from their study, where his boyfriend’s currently at. Anton naturally looked concerned for his boyfriend.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know! But something came from Sammie’s room too...”

“Yeah! I gotta check Kenny, Brb!”

Ending the call, Anton left the bedroom, and headed his way outside the study, about to open the door, but then a loud masculine voice rumbled from behind the door.

“Samantha? You’re just such a great fri... girlfriend... eungh so hot...”

Samantha? Who is that....But more importantly, why would his friend...boyfriend be moaning to a lady? Is he...cheating on him? But that can’t be, his geeky nerd cutie is as queer as a three dollar bill! But still, he had to check it out....that deep voice certainly did not sound like a nerd’s...

“SO HOT!”

As Anton walked into the room, his eyes widened at the pile of clothes and tossed garments on the ground. Large XL sandblasted jeans, track pants, sneakers. Tons of sports posters and trophies decorating the shelves, and a large television screen playing the latest soccer match...though for some reason, he vaguely recalled seeing football and baseball at intervals.

But it definitely did not look like a study room...despite him initially thinking that it was. Alongside a couple of dart boards, some sports equipment, and a pool table, seemed like a recreation room...but since when could they afford...

“oooooOOOOAAAAAAHHH!”

A large moan came from the couch, as Anton came to the front of it, all his eyes focused on was an incredibly muscular asian hunk man-spreading in bliss, dressed in a white tee with an iconic sporting good logo in the front, left hand gripping his cellphone while his right hand dug deep into his clean white boxers. The man panted out of relief, and relaxation, like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Whispering into branded phone with his deep husky, asian tone.

“Stay Straight Babe~”

CLICK!

So hot...NO! Anton get a hold of yourself! Who was this Asian man? Where was his roommate? He had to get questions, even if this...extremely hunky cutie, looked so sexy dazed and looking up.

“What?...Who are you!”

The Asian man snapped out of his trace, eyes opened...but ever so slightly. He was asian after all, but he was chill...in control. Still leaning back on the couch, he looked at Anton, puzzled, before looking down at his exposed boxers and then back at the stranger. His mind cleared up in an instant, forcing out a-

“Kevin Lang, Fag!”

The man said it, and gave that signature sarcastic response from only a jock bully like him. Smirking condescendingly, he was in charge, and that theatre gay started to tremble.

“Listen Queer, I know you’re thirsty and all for men during this. But some of us got girlfriends who we can’t visit. So stop being a WUSS and deal with it.”

“I...wasn’t...I...”

Now this really pissed him, not even caring about the stickiness on his right hand, or that he had a pitched tent. All he knows now is to deal with this gay of a roommate who spied on him and his girlfriend. The tall 6ft 2 jock cornered Anton to the door.

“Go jerk to your boyfriend or something...oh that’s right! Even a FAG like you doesn’t have one!”

Anton was in tears, he remembered the countless dates that he had, alongside the taunts made by this douchebag Kevin who somehow managed to wolf his way into his life throughout college. He had to get out of there..., quickly opening the door and running back to the bedroom, locking it.

“I...I have to call Cherry...”

As he typed for her number, a sudden ringing notification popped up for the name Chelsea. Must be a typo when he was saving Cherry’s contact right? Cause that number definitely was Cherry’s.

“Anton....”

“What happened?”

Almost suddenly, his mind shrugged off of whatever his homophobic roommate had said. His best friend was weak right now, he had to help her.

Gripping ahold of the phone, he didn’t notice the warm tanned spot spreading on his palms, down his wrists every second as he held the cellphone.

“Samantha...called me a dyke.”

“Samantha?”

“You know! My roommate, the one that’s dating yours!”

It made sense now, the two of them bonded over how much they despised their roommates bullying...and the strangeness of how the douchebag jock and queen bee couple somehow always interfered in their respective love lives...

Clutching the phone tighter, his wrists tightened as definition thickened his forearms. Curling his biceps subconsciously, toning strongly till they were the size of baseballs.

“Yeah Kevin was such a douche, had to defend myself from him tryin’ to whoop me...”

“Yeah, had to backflip and dodge Samantha’s attacks. Didn’t feel good knowing she still holds a grudge about me being a dyke.”

Heh, he knew his best friend could handle herself. She was still a cheerleader in training, but could whoop Samantha’s arrogant butt anytime. Must also be her half asian genetics like his.

Sitting up straighter, Aiton’s broad shoulders filled out his sweater, which almost ripped if it was not for that white stain sealing up the cracks. That white stain...which came from Kevin...right? Was there a stain?

The white coloration spread all across the attire, shrinking up the sleeves to simply resting just below his shoulders, accentuating his large biceps which he proudly admired. Alongside his large back which occupied his entire bed...wait, didn’t he?

Taking a closer look at his bedroom...wait, looking DOWN at his bedroom. He was on the upper bed of a double decker, with training equipment at the side and a couple of sports memorabilia which looked reminiscent of the recreational room.

Yeah of course that douchebag Kevin had to have most of the room with his crap...though it was not all bad. He worked out quite often during his spare time...outside of that artsy degree he had no idea why he took...did he take an artsy degree? He shrugged, doesn’t matter, he worked out.

Anyways it showed, leaning back and taking full charge of the entire bed. At least he was the alpha HERE! Listening to what his best friend spoke...though she was mostly talking about drama with her roommate, not the kind of thing he was interested in.

But he always liked her voice...

“At least...I think I like girls? But that was an accident! I don’t like Samantha!”

Aiton nodded, unsure of what to say, but felt...pretty cool about it. Crossing his legs, as he saw those large trunks that trained...almost like for years. They which reached the end of the bedside, as those khakis lengthened and stretched into XL sweatpants...gotta snatch that back his junk from Kevin later, but not now. He was cool, now. Kicking off his large trainers which went-

CLUNK CLUNK!

As they hit the floor, wiggling his size 12 feet beneath those white socks. Kevin could insult him all he wants later, it was his room too. The fledgeling Jock can say whatever he wants to anybody, and he says-

“You were like ‘I think I like girls’, sounded pretty dyke to me.”

Aiton smirked, teasing the cheerleader from across the phone. He always liked doing that, he was in charge after all.

He knew how icky the two cheerleaders felt towards homosexuals...but then again, wasn’t he a bit rude towards them as well? Not as bad as Kevin but an occasional joke here and there meant nothing right?

“Who you callin’ dyke, Fag?”

“Who you callin’ Fag, Dyke?”

Okay...maybe he didn’t like being called Fag either. But it was just insults between him, Cherlse, and Kevin and Samantha. Anyone else and they answer TO HIS FISTS....except maybe ladies...especially hot babes.

He began to palm himself, and as he kneaded his hard rocket, he sneered in disgust over a rainbow wristband on his wrist. He blinked, in its faggy place was a white sports watch. His rocket doubled up in size, while darkening in tan, its always time to be a Jerk, just like his Bro Kevin.

“You know i get weak when you use my own words~”

Cherlsea opened up her phone webcam, and Aidon did the same. Both smirking at the other. The Jock knew it was always ladies first, but he was a Jerk so-

“Oh damn...she’s hot!”

“Of course I am, do I still look pretty dyke to you~?”

Watching her seductively pose on her bed, it felt like ages since he had seen a woman like that! In that revealing tank and double Ds he could just!

SQUEEZE!

“Oooaahhh!”

Squeezing his own chest, feeling rock solid muscle layering his nipples, pectorals filling his sports shirt massively like the man he was. Feeling those abdominals as a well deserved 6 pack emerged from years of crunches.

“I....I NEED RELEASE!”

“So hawt~”

“I...I AINT A FAG!”

“Course you aren’t hunky~you are so hawt, ooooooaaaaah!”

The Queen Bee’s second in command had let out her mating’s call, the asian babe was too much for the Douchebag Jock’s right hand man, and vice versa. As their desires linked up, with the help of a fortune cookie they ate prior, they were about to finally be set into motion.

Each of them felt a tight stinging to their holes simultaneously. As the Asian Jock’s butt hole tightened, the Cheerleader’s lady hole expanded. Like a trade of preferences, but that is not all.

As testosterone pumped in the man, churning larger sacks, as he watched his babe’s hair lengthen, his shrunk, and BUZZED off the sides and back, leaving a stylish gelled top, maintained with a pair of shavers, scissors, and his Bro. Not actually brothers, but they were asian , jocks, and total jerks. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were related.

Speaking of Asian, his tan had bathed his facial features alongside the rest of his body. Cleansing the GAY away from him as his jaw hardened into a fierce square. His lips snarled in momentary disgust, before his raising his cheeks, as that scowl shifted to an arrogant smirk as he watched his girlfriend do the same.

“Ooooaaaaaah~”

His brows complimented his prominent features, as they frowned, closing his eyes as his girlfriend’s moan was too much to bear...he needed RELEASE! RELEASE!

“OAAAAAAAH!”

Aidan Long expelled a thick goo from below, as his eyes gave way to a thin fierce asian dark brown. Staring into the ceiling in a haze...before the sounds of his lover’s panting sent him back to reality.

“Man...that feels good, but still miss our hot damn ‘Dragon and Empress’ sessions before all this happened.”

“Yeah totally...stuck with bestie the whole day is fun and all but...she and your douche roommate keep doing it all day.”

“Caught him jerkin’ off too jus now...”

“Whaaaaaat! Omg same, saw Samantha doing that too!”

“Course...nothin’ beats my empress...”

“Same for you too...my long muscular dragon.”

Almost instantly, the doors slammed open. Of course, Kevin had the spare keys to the bedroom too, and he was sneering right at the door.

“AND YOU SAY IM A FAGGOT!”

“SHADDUP KEV! YOU GAY!”

“NO YOU GAY!”

“NO YOU GAY!”

“HAHAHA!”

The two jocks laughed arrogantly, before sneering at each other. The two of them were thirsty, and they understood and respected that.

“Ohhh almost forgot, mwah mwah mwah!”

“Mwah mwah mwah back to you GAY!”

Kevin left the room, most likely going to order more of that Chinese take out or something. Doesn’t matter to Aidan though...he was friends with the man, but he wasn’t INTO INTO him.

“I swear this stay at home thing is turning me gay...”

“Oh there’s nothing wrong with some bonding sessions. Me and Samantha are pointing each other’s nails later on, and that isn’t DYKE!”

“Yeah, should probably binge watch soccer with that douche. Felt like We haven’t did a sports marathon in ages!...No homo of course.”

The two of them chatted for a while more, loving the company of the other intimately as they teased one another like the lovers they are.

But they eventually have to go to other stuff. And by stuff he wants to do, is CHILL.

“Love you hunky, talk to you l8r!”

The Jock simply posed to the camera,and spoke.

“Stay Straight Babe”

[fragmentedink-archived]

Hell to Pay: Chapter Fifty-One

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, IX, IX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XVIIII, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII, XLIV, XLV, XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, XLIX, XLX

cowritten by @lux-scriptum

A/N: Happy Holidays fuckers

A/N: also trigger warning for Nik's pos dad, and,,,,, nah i think that's it. Enjoy <3

Not a day after Lev was officially banished, Biela showed up. She was brisk, not even giving Lev the chance to acknowledge the two people she’d brought along. He was to be on house arrest, enforced by a spell that the witch she’d brought along would place on him. The fact that he was allowed up to fifty feet away from the house caught him by surprise; he’d fully expected to be confined to the inside. At least this way he could follow the kids in the pool or out into the yard, though Biela had made it clear he wasn’t to be outside alone.

She’d concluded this meeting by warning Lev that the house arrest would last until he proved he wasn’t a security risk. That meant Lev needed to learn how to defend himself, to Biela’s standards.

Lev understood. There was no third chance. If Lev got killed by a demon, it’d be detrimental to Cameron’s functioning. Not to mention Lev wasn’t sure how he’d handle being kidnapped by one. All of that aside he did want to know how to protect his children.

Biela had left with the witch when it was all done. The man she’d brought, who Lev learned was her brother Caius, stuck around long enough to exchange a few words with them, though Lev got the feeling it was more to get a good feel for who Lev was as a person than anything else.

Once all that was done and over with, Lev realized he still had a full day. Cameron had Eden, and Lev didn’t have the energy to fight him while Cameron reestablished his schedule. Instead, Lev ventured downstairs, something else on his mind.

He found Sazra in her room, like he’d expected. He knocked on the doorway when she didn’t look up right away, but having her silver eyes pinning him in place didn’t exactly put him at ease.

“Hi,” he said lamely, unsure of where to start.

“Can I help you?” she clipped out.

“I hope so,” Lev said, trying not to fidget. “I wanted to ask you about suppressants. I don’t know if demon suppressants will work for me, or if I need to get angelic suppressants, but-”

“And you’re asking me why?”

Lev blinked. “Because you’re a healer?” He said hesitantly. “I figured you out of everyone in the house would know about the way I’d react to demonic suppressants.”

Sazra lifted a brow. “Why would you think that when you think your healing is superior to mine?”

Oh. Lev fidgeted for a moment, before, “I’m not versed in medicine,” he started, and then hesitated. “If I’ve offended you...” He trailed off, looking for the right words. “It’s what I was taught,” he finally said, honestly. “And I never stopped to check my bias. I just parroted what I've been told for my entire life. I didn’t think about it at all.”

“I can see that. It’s rather arrogant of you.”

Lev didn’t think he’d ever been called arrogant before in his life. She wasn’t wrong though. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “It was.”

“Hm.” She thrummed her long nails against the wooden table, but didn’t offer any more words other than that.

Lev stared at her for a long time, unsure of what to say. In the end, he said simply, “Can I try to make amends? I was out of line.”

Her nails clicked on the table. “I’ll help you. Not because you apologized, but because Cameron is my boss and I owe him my life. Anything else?”

“No,” Lev said. “Thank you.” He paused halfway out the door, and turned back. “I haven’t had a heat in about a month and a half. If that helps anything?”

“I am aware. You can go now.”

Lev took that dismissal and slipped back upstairs.

---

After some searching, Lev found Nik in the back with Eden. He had her in the pool, in a cute black swimsuit with pink polka dots and ruffles. Eden was screaming happily as she splashed Nik. Lev padded to the edge of the pool, sitting down and dropping his feet in the water.

“Hi,” Lev said, smiling slightly.

Nik paddled over, dragging a giggling Eden with him. “I had to put sunscreen on her,” Nik said solemnly. “She probably burns faster than Cameron does.”

“Probably,” Lev agreed. He reached out, patting Nik’s hair. “Nik... do you want to talk about it? Any of it?”

“What part of dragging a screaming infant out to the pool suggests I want to talk about anything?”

Lev shrugged. “I thought I’d offer. We probably should eventually.”

Nik dunked under, though he kept Eden above the water. “Sure.”

“Are you okay?” Lev asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I have you, I have Eden, I have Cameron. Everything is going back to normal.”

“You’re pregnant, I’m exiled, and I told you I lost my pregnancy in the worst way possible.” Lev hesitated. “A lot has happened. And... it’s easier to worry about you than it is to deal with everything right now.”

“Well as you can see, I am the picture of health.”

“Physically, sure,” Lev agreed. “I don’t think anyone in this house is mentally healthy.”

“Hm. Well.” Nik moved Eden to his hip, not even blinking when she smacked his face. “Is that your professional opinion, Doctor Lev? I had not realized you had gotten a psychology degree in Ghost Land.”

“Nik, please,” Lev said softly, but he really didn’t have it in him to fight. In the end, he just gave a small sigh. “Fine. We can talk about it later.”

Nik went back to playing with Eden, so Lev splashed a foot lightly and watched Eden grabbing at the water. Lev would have been content to watch, but Nik grabbed his ankle. “Nik, don-”

Nik yanked Lev in the pool, clothes and all. After sputtering at Nik while Eden shrieked, first in surprise and then in delight, Lev glared at Nik. “I’m dressed.”

“Oh?” Nik said innocently.

Lev swatted his shoulder gently. “You could have let me go find a swimsuit. Now I’m soaked.”

Nik simply hummed. “Yeah... Oh well. Better luck next time.”

Lev huffed, and reached for Eden. “Give her over. I want a turn.”

“Mm. My baby,” Nik said, kissing Eden’s cheek. “Isn’t that right, baby?” Eden shrieked, grabbing at Nik’s hair. “See? All the ladies want me.”

Lev huffed, wading closer. He grabbed Nik’s sleeve when Nik tried to pull back, but was distracted by Cameron appearing.

“Phone,” Cameron said, looking annoyed.

Lev patted his pocket, and then held up the waterlogged device. “Nik pulled me in,” he offered apologetically. He set it down on the side of the pool. “I forgot I had it in my pocket.”

“I’ll get you a new one,” was all Cameron said. “Don’t do that again.”

“Tell Nik to not to pull me in,” Lev mumbled, before looking up at Cameron.

“I’m not his mother. You do it,” was all Cameron had to say before left.

“Yeah,” Nik parroted. “He’s not my mother.”

Lev splashed him and Eden both. Eden screeched, slapping the water herself. A laugh bubbled up, real and genuine. Lev turned away long enough to take off his sopping sweater and drop it beside the ruined phone.

This was worth it, he decided, dropping a kiss on Eden’s cheek. It was worth all of it.

---

Nik spent the next few hours getting a restless Eden under control and unconscious while also wandering around the house. Cameron seemed to be off in his study, doing Cameron Things and Lev was doing Lev Things. He was about to go see if he could bully Cameron into making stuffed peppers, when there was a knock at the doors. He was this close to ignoring it, and letting one of Cameron’s lackeys get it themselves, but he was closest to the door.

When he pulled the doors open, he felt his stomach drop. He had no idea why his father of all people decided to stand right in front of him, with that irritatingly neutral look on his face, especially in Demonic Territory. But he was. “Papi.”

Az’ril looked Nik up and down slowly enough Nik folded his arms over his chest, trying to hide his stomach out of sheer self-consciousness. Though it was completely useless and they both knew it. “You are pregnant.”

Nik felt heat rise in his face. “It’s Cameron’s,” he said, instantly.

“Hm.” He looked past Nik for only a second before saying, “Are you going to let me in?”

Nik took a wordless step back and to the side. There was no point in arguing, not when he was pregnant and he wasn’t going to risk the safety of either himself or his baby just when he decided he was going to keep the little leech who decided to continuously steal his food.

His father wasn’t even two steps in the house before both Cameron and Lev decided to come into the hallway from two separate directions.

Well that was just fantastic.

“Az’ril,” Cameron said, mildly. “To what do I owe this unannounced visit?”

Az’ril’s golden brown eyes flicked Cameron’s way. “I was not aware that I needed an invitation or to announce myself to visit my youngest.”

Cameron lifted a brow and stopped right behind Nik, close enough Nik could almost feel Cameron’s body heat. “How would you be aware when you do not ask? Or visit in the last year or so, but I digress.”

Lev stopped next to Nik and tried to take his hand. Nik only shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and said nothing. Az’ril’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but completely dismissed Cameron and turned his full attention back to Nik. “Let’s speak. Alone.”

“Nik,” Lev said, quietly.

He could feel Cameron’s gaze on him, letting him take the lead on however Nik wanted to move forward. Nik only lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, sure. I think we can find a room.”

He shouldered past Lev, without so much as a glance, aware his father was right on his heel without needing to be told to follow. He found the nearest office space and went in, immediately going to open the windows when he heard the door click behind him.

“So,” Nik said, leaning against the wall, with his arms folded over himself once more. “You wanted to talk…?”

Az’ril made himself at home by sitting in the desk chair. He glanced around the orderly office, taking note of the very sharp, immaculate furniture. “He seems to have inherited a great deal from his former station,” Az’ril noted.

“Yeah,” Nik said. “I imagine being raped every day for five hundred years, a fancy house was the least they could give him. But what do I know.”

The vaguest look of distaste crossed his father’s features. “Your crassness is bound to lose its charm,” he said, leaning back. “Especially now that you are pregnant. Even if it is with a demon’s spawn, and an illegitimate one at that. That cute attitude isn’t going to get you far much more.”

“I’m sure my cute looks will make up for it,” Nik said.

“We’ll see.”

The tightness in his chest didn’t let up a single bit, if anything it just reached further into his throat, making it that much harder to keep an unruffled appearance. The razor sharp look in his father’s eyes suggested Az’ril was more than aware. And he was unimpressed.

“How does the demon feel about your pregnancy,” Az’ril said. “Doesn’t quite seem the paternal type. As far as I’m aware, demons tend to eat their young.”

Nik chewed on his lip piercing. “He’s fine with it.”

“Is he?”

“That’s what I said,” Nik said, not able to keep the irritability out of his voice. “If you’re wanting a birth announcement, I’ll be sure to ship you one in the post. Is there anything else you wanted?”

“Actually there is,” Az’ril said.

Nik waited expectantly, trying to not squirm under that golden look.

“I do not think your demon is equipt to adequately care for a pregnant angel,” he said. “And I do not wish for a disgraced outcast to be caring for my child.”

Nik blinked. “I- what? Then where, exactly, do you expect me to go?”

“Your rooms are being set up as we speak,” his father replied. “A nursery as well, as you’re obviously keeping the child. Even if it’s part demon, your status is of mine, and I will not be having it or you here any longer. It’s about time you stopped playing house and returned to where you belong.”

“...I belong with Cameron and Lev,” Nik said.

Az’ril stood fast enough that Nik’s spine straightened on sheer instinct. “You need to stop with these convoluted fantasies of yours,” His father said, sharply. “You will come home, even if I have to drag you by your ear to do so. It’s for your own good, Nikolas.”

“But- what about them?”

“They are not my concern.” He crossed the desk. “This is my own fault,” he said. “I gave you too much freedom and left you unchecked and now your inability to take responsibility for any of your actions has led you unmarried, unmated and pregnant. So now, you will be coming home, and you will be letting me take care of you. End of discussion. Are we clear.”

Nik’s eyes trained to the ground. “Yes sir.”

“Better. Now go get your things, because we need to be leaving.”

Nik pushed off the wall and left the office as fast as he could go without sprinting out of the room. He shoved open the bedroom doors and went for the closet. He stopped dead in his tracks outside of it, anxiety clawing at his throat, but he forced himself forward to get his shit so he could get out of here.

“What’s going on?” Nik heard Lev ask from the doorway.

Nik stopped dead in his tracks before resuming once again. “Going home,” was all Nik said, going to toss a few of his jackets onto Cameron’s bed.

“This is home.”

Nik chewed on his bracelet and went back into the closest for more clothes. “Yeah, and so is Tullum. Papi is insistent on me coming home so he can take care of me while I’m pregnant.” He tried to keep the irritability out of his voice. It wasn’t Lev’s fault that Nik’s omega decided to kick into self preservation mode now.

Horrible timing, really.

“He won’t take no for an answer,” Nik said, dropping the rest of his clothes on the bed. “So I’m going home.” He fixed a smile in place. “That’s what’s best for the baby, am I right? Got to get the special angel healers and- and it’s a family thing. I’m sure you wouldn’t get it.”

Lev stared at him for a moment. “You can’t go with him. It’s not what’s best for the baby and it’s not what’s best for you.”

“And you devised that in what, the five minutes of interaction with him?” Nik asked, sharply. “Family clearly does not mean the same thing to you as it does to me and mine. There are traditions and- and I just.” Nik exhaled sharply through his nose and muttered under his breath in spanish and went back to packing. There was no point. “I don’t have a choice and it’s not like you can stop him.”

“Nik,” Lev said softly. “I know people scare me all the time, but... not like him. Not like that.” He crossed the room, trying to take Nik’s hand as he said, “I won’t let him take you.”

Nik shoved his hands in his pockets. “Do you want to die again?” Nik demanded, voice cracking. “You seem to forget that I am the only one in my family without magic. My family deals and trades in death and he has the power to absolutely obliterate anyone. Especially someone with no ties or protections offered by angels anymore. You literally just defied the laws of nature. Don’t get between us and ruin it for nothing.”

Lev’s face was the fiercest he’s ever seen from him. “You’re mine, and I’m not going to let him take you from us.”

Nik bit into his lip so hard he could taste the honey sweetness of his blood. He didn’t have an argument for that, especially when Lev’s head was annoyingly big when he was being annoyingly protective. It clearly meant he couldn’t listen to reason or fact. His father was just… he was death.

He put his head on Lev’s shoulder, not saying another word.

Nik was snapped out of his trance the moment he heard the sharp order in spanish to hurry up. His head lifted and sure enough his father was standing in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest. “We need to get going.”

Lev looked at Az’ril. “He’s not going with you.”

Cameron appeared like a wraith in the doorway behind his father, eerily silent and perfectly unruffled as he sidestepped Az’ril as if he were little more than a stool in his way. “Nikolas can take his time,” he said, coolly. “As much of it as he wants.” His pale eyes slid towards Nik, looking for his stance.

Cameron was going to follow Nik’s play, no matter what he wanted for himself. He’d let them all make their decisions and damn themselves, but it would always be their decision. He’d have no part in shaping it.

When Nik looked down at the ground, Cameron then said, “Of course, if I wanted, I could keep him here. He’s pregnant with my child and as it would be my property, so is Nik.” The sheer, so very faint distaste in those words in Cameron’s tone didn’t go unnoticed by Nik. “I’m sure you, someone of such high political standing, would understand that.”

Nik didn’t dare say a fucking word, even as Lev positioned himself between Nik and Az’ril.

His father locked eyes with Cameron. Cameron was several centuries younger than his father, even if Cameron felt eons older in the icy, composed stance he was taking. “My son is not your property,” Az’ril bit out.

“By demonic law,” Cameron said, mildly, “he is. The moment you decided to send your son into spy on me and mine forfeited your right to Nik, and made him mine.” Cameron looked over at Nik and Lev, gaging the both of them with calculated stillness. “Come here.”

Nik was frozen in place for a split second before Lev gently took his arm and nudged him over to Cameron’s side. If Lev hadn’t made him move, Nik would have been torn between standing still and being at Cameron’s side in a split second with the sheer Alpha in his tone.

Cameron fixed his eyes on Nik, and then Nik’s throat. “Of course,” he said. “I am speaking in demonic terms, and not angelic terms. So let me be very clear about this.” A chill rippled down Nik’s spine when Cameron's very sharp teeth sunk into Nik’s throat.

Lev ushered out of Cameron’s way, but Nik could sense his eyes were still trained on Az’ril as Nik instantly went limp at the claiming bite being branded into his flesh. Cameron caught him easily before he collapsed onto the ground from the amount of hormones being flooded into his body.

Nik whimpered when Cameron’s teeth came out of his skin. He caught the golden sheen of blood still on Cameron’s pale lips before pushing his face into Cameron’s chest. Cameron’s arm held him firmly in place as Nik reached for Lev’s hand.

Lev took it but didn’t take his eyes off Az’ril.

Cameron didn’t blink at the way Az’ril’s eyes narrowed. Angels held mating bonds to one of the highest standards in their lands and Cameron knew it. “You know where the door is, yes? If not I’m sure someone can show you out.”

Nik didn’t dare look up from Cameron’s chest, but he heard his father retreat from the room, and hopefully the house. “I’m sorry,” Nik mumbled against Cameron’s chest.

Cameron tugged on his hair. “Quiet,” he said, not harshly. The order did mellow the anxiety curling in his chest.

Lev lightly bit Nik’s shoulder. “You’re staying with us,” Lev mumbled against his skin. “You belong with us.”

---

Breakfast the next morning was quiet. Though, admittedly, most of their breakfast lately were quiet. Nik couldn’t drink coffee and so it took even longer for him to wake up. Cameron rarely had much to say in the morning, and Lev was always tired nowadays so quiet it was.

However, this morning, Lev had something on his mind. “Cameron?” he asked. “I had a question.”

“Hm?”

“Can we start working on a nursery? I imagine it’ll take some work, and...” He shrugged.

Before Cameron responded, he walked out of the kitchen. Lev stared after him, and looked to Nik. Nik was still staring at his decaf coffee, face blank and definitely not awake. Cameron reappeared, book in hand. Lev lifted the cover as Cameron went back to fixing breakfast.

Inside the book was... plans. Color swatches and crib options and even a sketched layout or two. Lev traced a picture of a crib made of dark brown wood and with little sea stars carved into the headboard. “You already started planning without me?” he asked, trying to not sound petulant.

Cameron flicked a look in his direction. “You were sleeping.”

A low blow, but a fair one. Sleeping had been preferable to being awake. “Point,” Lev finally muttered. “Well can I help with the rest?”

“If you want.”

“I do,” Lev said, flipping back through the book carefully. He would have called it a scrapbook if it hadn’t been so brutally efficient. Besides. If he had, Lev had the feeling Cameron would have been offended. “I’m guessing an ocean theme?” he said, peering at the options Cameron had deemed acceptable for baby mobiles.

Cameron placed a plate of bacon down in front of him. “It seemed to fit Nik’s tastes.”

“This isn’t my coffee,” Nik suddenly complained, rubbing his face.

Lev looked over. “Looks like coffee to me?” He wrinkled his nose. “Gross.”

Nik frowned. “This isn’t. My coffee.” This time he sounded more irritable.

“You’re not supposed to have caffeine, if that’s the problem,” Lev said, taking a bite of bacon.

“Says who?”

Lev offered him a piece of bacon. “Ash, probably. But also every pregnancy health book I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a lot.”

Nik slammed his mug down. “Well Ash isn’t here, and you’re not my boss.” He pulled out his phone, muttering in Spanish. Lev only got another piece of bacon before Nik startled him by shoving the phone in his face. “See? I can.” He was practically yelling, mostly from excitement from what Lev could tell.

Indeed, Ash had typed out a terse, “1.” Period included.

“Somehow that feels coerced,” Lev mumbled, before pointing out, “You have to convince Cameron too.”

Cameron sipped his tea calmly. “No,” he said. “Sit down.”

Nik plopped down, defeated. He stared at the counter sadly. “You’re all monsters.”

“Well, four more months and you can have caffeine again,” Lev encouraged.

“This leech is taking everything from me,” Nik mumbled.

Lev reached over, brushing his hair from his face. “Soon,” he promised, kissing Nik’s cheek.

Nik wrinkled his nose. “So what were you talking about before you decided to ruin my life?”

Lev closed the book carefully. “Nursery plans. Which- Cameron, do you think Nate would come paint the walls for us? I bet he’d do something pretty.”

Cameron put a plate of eggs and fruit down in front of Nik. “I already called him. He’ll be here tomorrow to start working on it.”

Lev huffed. “You’ve already thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“It’s easy. You’re both predictable.”

“What the fuck is this?” Nik demanded. “You give Lev bacon, and I get rabbit food? I’m a growing boy. I deserve bacon.”

Lev decided not to comment on the fact that he’d offered Nik a piece and Nik had decided to bemoan his coffee instead. “Eggs aren’t rabbit food,” he pointed out instead.

Nik took Lev’s plate. “Well fine then, you eat it. I’m eating your bacon.”

“Hey!” Lev reached for his plate. “Nik! Give it back.”

Nik just put his hand in Lev’s face, but Cameron switched the plates anyway. Nik whined, and all he got in response was a baring of Cameron’s teeth. Despite that Lev put a single piece of bacon on Nik’s plate.

Before any more bickering could start, a knock sounded. Lev peered over his shoulder in time to see a sentry leading a short woman into the room. She was hauling bags with her, though she set them down when she set eyes on Nik.

Nik had been in the middle of grumbling as he picked at his food, but when he saw her, he dropped his fork. “Mami?”

Lev watched them, mystified. He’d never met Nik’s mother, but when he looked to Cameron, Cameron just shook his head subtly like he knew what Lev was thinking. That left Lev even more confused, but he just looked back to see her cupping Nik’s face and fussing at him in rapid Spanish. In Nik’s defense, he looked pleased.

“Hello,” Lev offered when she seemed done. “I’m Lev?”

“I’m Mami Coco.” She looked to Cameron. “You can call me Socorro. I’ll be sleeping in a room next to Nikolas.”

Lev could see the annoyance flickering in Cameron’s face, but Nik looked happy, dark brown eyes shining as he got a hug from Mami Coco. Somehow Lev doubted Cameron would be irritated enough at the disruption in his plans and schedule enough to upset Nik over this. Instead, Cameron filled a plate for her too, and said, “Sit.”

There was a certain look to her that promised much headbutting in the future, but she sat beside Nik with a simple, “Okay.”

Tagging:  @incandescent-creativity @solangelo3088 @lil-miss-red @halstudies @littleyellowdinosaur @caelisis @idreamonpaper

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

From: Cace, Jae, and Calum

Cace and Calum meet at a Christmas and for being in their mid to late twenties that’s feels right. But things change when a baby gets involved and Calum just wants his best friend to enjoy her time, especially at the holidays. 

Female OC. Uncle Cal. Baby fluff. Enjoy! 

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__________________

Calum giggles mostly to himself, his index finger wrapped up in the fist of his nephew laying on his lap. Well, he’s not technically his nephew by blood but the bond is still all the same. Calum never misses an opportunity to show off his picture to anyone that will give him the change too. Jae looks so much like Cace it’s insane but he gets it now, all the comments he and his sister used to get, and even now. Calum met Cace only two years ago while at a Christmas party thrown by someone that he can’t remember. They found each other by fate, as Cace liked to say. 

Calum had been nursing his one drink for only half an hour before flipping the switch, rather than sulking, he was going to enjoy himself. Nothing too far, or too crazy but Calum knew he was definitely going to need a ride back home and he was going to enjoy the night. And it was in that, going back for another drink that Calum tripped. Nearly face planted with someone caught him with a laugh. “Let me guess, you’re not normally this much of a klutz.”

 He laughed in return, still holding onto the girls forearms. “Give or take.” His balance returned soon, but his hold never fell away. He wasn’t sure if he had seen her around before, outside of the party. She looked so familiar. But in the drunken cloud taken over his brain he couldn’t answer his own curiosities. 

“Cace,” she states. 

“Calum.”

“And you might want a water at least one before going for whatever else tickles your fancy on this spread.” She guided him towards the drinks and snacks and quickly tossed him a bottle of water. “Drink up, buttercup.”

“Thanks,” Calum said, watching her turn to head back to the depths of the dance floor. “Hey, Cace,” he called out. When she turned, eyebrow raised and head cocked to the side, Calum had a shot prepared, raising up into the air. “Oh, don’t make a man drink alone.”

 Cace walked back over with a grin on her face. “You know it’s bad luck to cheers with water right?”

Calum’s sly grin never wavered and he pulls up a second shot prepared. “Just give me two minutes to finish this water and no bad luck for us.”

And that brought them to grabbing lunch on Cace’s breaks--while she’s no singer, she does know her way around a contract--hanging in studios, the two of them taking day trips to get away from the noise of the city. Calum would ask for advice and Cace, being a year and a half older, happily gives it. But for all the advice she can give, Cace’s track record in the dating department wouldn’t ever show for it. 

Jae kicks a little but a grin lights up his face. Calum laughs, stroking a finger along his cheek. “Hey, hey, what’s got you all giggly?” Calum’s voice is soft. The couch dips just a little next to him and Calum looks over to Cace. 

Her smile is soft but still clearly holds the exhaustion that she hasn’t been able to shake yet. “How long have I been out?”

Calum keeps a hand on Jae’s tummy before sliding back into the cushions. “Not long enough. You’re off Mum duty. Remember. Uncle Cal and Nephew Jae taking the world by storm--no mum’s allowed.”

Cace scoffs, pushing up to to glance at the clock on the wall. “By the looks of it, it’s been an hour and a half and you haven’t left my house.”

Giving Jae’s tummy a rub, Calum tries to hide his smile. “Little booger here preoccupied me.”

“Oh just admit it, he’s too stinking cute.” Cace stares down at her son, watches the way he giggles and coos at the tickle of Calum’s fingers. “Like really stinkin’ cute,” she states in a whisper. For the moment she tried not to think too much about how she could kill the son of a bitch that got her pregnant only to bolt--though Cace wasn’t sure she’d call it bolting. He had a line of women and as Cace steadily refused to give up her baby, he went onto the next. 

“I know that murdery look in your eyes. You’re exhausted. That guy’s a dick. But you have a happy and extremely healthy baby boy. Take the day, Cace. You deserve it.”

Cace sits up, folding her feet under her. “I love my son. I just wish he wouldn’t have any pain.”

“Jae’s got Uncle Cal, and Uncle Ashton, and Uncle Michael, and Uncle Luke. We’re all he’s going to need--you’ll be there for his first crush and we’ll beat up bullies.”

Cace laughs, hand rubbing gently over Jae’s head as Calum rests Jaue against his chest. “I’ll be there to beat up bullies too.” 

“I did say we,” Calum grins, the twinkling lights of her decor. Her living room’s already been decorated. He helped last weekend with that and even helped her put a tree. “You know what you need?”

“You already told me it was sleep.”

“In addition to sleep,” Calum starts. The tree’s beautiful. Cace always makes sure of that for Christmas. “You need Christmas photos in cheesy matching outfits with your baby boy and we’ll send them out to your family and make really bad Christmas ornaments and we’ll stamp Jae’s little hand on one and you’re going to enjoy this holiday season with your son and your best friend.”

“Do you remember the Christmas party we met at?” 

Calum nods. “Of course I do. And this year will be the absolute opposite of that, but it’ll be good for you, Cace.”

There’s a moment silence. Cace studying the feature of Calum’s face and Calum studying the features of her. She notices the worry on his face, the way it pulls down his lips and makes his eyes dimmer. He notices the bags, but a certain bright spot in her eyes. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. Homemade Christmas ornaments and cheesy photos. I’ll go get dressed.”

“No, no, you stay home. Rest up. I’ll go out and get what we need. Jae can tag along. He gets a vote in the really cringe onesie I buy him.”

“Cal, c’mon. Jae gets fussy sometimes and in a mood. I don’t want you have to tackle that all on your own.”

“Cace, let me do that. For you. Just one day. I know Jae, when he gets fussy I check diaper first, try the bottle second, and if that doesn’t work. you taught me the swaddle. We’ll take five and I’ll make him a cozy bean wrapped in his mum’s smelling blanket,” Calum punctuates the part by tugging on the blanket Cace snuggled up with in her sleep, which admittedly she might be just a tad too big for, “and he’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

Pushing to her knees, Cace holds Calum’s cheek in one hand. Calum didn’t have to step in. Surely, there were better things to do than go with Cace to appointments and stay home on nights when she knew the guys were out. And he helped put together the nursery. He got the guys to help him too, but Calum would be on the receiving end of 7 am phone calls to fold baby clothes and lift packages into her house when she got too big to bend over or lift anything.

 “You’re more than a girl could ever ask for, you know?”

“Good thing you didn’t ask for me.” 

Cace rolls her eyes. “Yeah, no, I called it fate. But still, I appreciate you. For everything. It means a lot.”

Calum kisses her cheek. “You’re welcome. Now, text me what size you wear and then go back to sleep. Shower first. I can smell you.”

A chuckle escapes Cace’s throat. “That’s-that’s not me, Cal.”

“Oh, Jae, buddy.”

With Jae in a fresh diaper and the diaper backpack Cace keeps packed at all times on his shoulders, Calum straps Jae into the carseat he bought for his own car. Cace told him to just use the one she had, but Calum wanted one in his car, just in case he needed it for emergencies, for Uncle and Nephew days. His phone shakes in his pocket as he connects the last buckle into the middle. “All good? Snug in there?”

Jae’s on the verge of sleep, and Calum knows the ride will lull him right into the deep sleep. Calum responds to his own question. “Yeah, Uncle Cal, I’m snug as hell. Drunk of some milk. But, oh, boy, was it good.”

I wear a XL. Still have baby weight. Who knows if I’ll loose it all. 

A sigh escapes his lips. Cace hasn’t let the baby weight fixation go. She lost some of it, but the last little bit was still holding strong. You know XL just means extra love, right?

What happened to the e then?

Xtra Love. It’s cool guy spelling. You look great. You had a baby. Give yourself some kindness.

Cool guy spelling for Cool guy Cal.

Yeah, something like that. It doesn’t shock Calum that she doesn’t respond to the other parts of his text. 

Calum makes his first venture to the craft store. It’s the furtherest stop on the agenda today, so he heads there first. Jae sleeps the majority of that stop, even with all Calum’s wondering up and down aisle he doesn’t seem bothered. Calum gathers some popsicle sticks, glue, felt, glitter, various body safe paints, string, ribbon, and everything else he can think of. He knows it’s going to be a mess, but what’s Christmas without a little bit of a glitter bomb. 

Jae sings, or as close to singing, from the backseat as the radio plays. At a red light, Calum glances back. “Huh, that was a nice nap you got in. Let’s hope your mum got the same.” 

Calum knows by the parking lot this store is going to be a bit crowded and noisy. But it’s the first one he could think off that would family matching onesies. Calum figures instead of the stroller he’ll strap Jae to his chest. Hopefully that will keep him calmer seeing as the little guy’s still not totally a fan of a lot of noise. He does alright by prolonged exposure makes him just a tiny bit fussy. 

It’s a good sign when Jae looks around, eyes bright. “Oh yeah, lots of new sights around here,” Calum states softly. The store is not as bad as he originally thought. There’s still a lot of people out and about but somehow they don’t seem to be all swarming the shopping floor. He can only imagine what the checkout line looks like, but that’s more of a worry for later--if he even finds the matching onesies. 

The speakers overhead pump Christmas music through the store. Thought Calum wouldn’t call himself big on Christmas, he finds humming along, fingers brushing along the various fabrics as he weaves through the aisles and racks. Calum gets sidetrack on his way to the Christmas displays spying an intriguing button up--it’s black with a dotted pattern. Up close he can see there’s little snowflakes instead of actual circles. 

He shouldn’t get it, but he finds his size and figures he’ll hold onto it and debate whether or not he’s going to give into the impulse buy. Returning back to his assigned course, Calum debates if he’s going to go for the reindeer onesies or if he’s going to go for the ones decorated in various trees. “Your mum’s going to kill me if I show up with reindeer onesies, but you’d be cute. Maybe death ain’t so bad.” 

It takes a few minutes to consider all the options though, checking out what’s available in all the sizes they’d need. Calum catches the tiny whine Jae starts up with and soothing bounces him. “Okay, bud, I got it. I’ll be quick.”

Calum hopes death comes swift as grabs the reindeer onesies. Calum rushes over to the baby section. He knows without a doubt there are Christmas onesies hanging out. And sure enough, with only a two minutes search, Calum is able to grab Jae a matching outfit too and turns for the registers. On his trek, Calum does put back the button up--he doesn’t need it at the time being. 

The line is long. Jae’s settled for the time being, but Calum knows it might not take much to set him off. The cashier’s seem to be working fast so Calum risks it. He steps into line with a deep exhale. The first couple of minutes is goes by without a problem. And he manages to inch up just a little. However, by the time they get halfway through the life, Jae’s earlier whines start back up. 

Softy, Calum shushes him, running his free hand up and down Jae’s back. “It’s okay.” If this doesn’t work, Calum will just abandon the line and hope once Jae’s settle he can find the outfits again. 

 For a minute Jae seems to be settling and the line shuffles up again. However, they seemingly get stuck under/near a speaker hidden in a ceiling tile because the beef between Heat Miser and Snow Miser gets louder and that in turns sets off Jae. A cry spills from his throat. Not ideal, but Calum looks to see how many people are behind him--there’s only a few in front. But the sound of Jae’s cries tells Calum not to push it. 

“I gotcha, I gotcha,” Calum whispers to Jae, turning and shimmying past the people in line. He mutters a few apologies and though, he would normally find the rack to place the clothes back on, Calum doesn’t want to take too long in case this is a diaper change cry. 

“I know loud noises aren’t a favorite of yours, buddy. We’ll get somewhere quieter, promise.” 

Free from the line, Calum shuffles to the bathroom. “Alright, let’s see what’s causing these tears.” It’s partially a diaper change. Though in a clean diaper, Jae doesn’t settle completely. “Hungry?”

It doesn’t hold interest. Calum tries a few other things before just resigning to the fact that it might’ve been sensory overload on Jae’s part. Calum drags Jae’s blanket over his shoulder  and nestles him into it. Holding him close to his chest, Calum slips the backpack back onto his shoulder. “Okay, we can go chill out in the car. Try another store--hopefully less crowded.”

The cries haven’t completely stopped but they have faded. Calum doesn’t even glance over to where he stuck the onesies. They’re not important right now, an always be attained at some other point. Right on the mat that leads out of the store, Calum catches some voice shouting, “Sir!”

He doesn’t stop, assuming it’s someone trying to reach someone else. however, another, “Sir!” fills the air and Calum slows, turning his head. He doesn’t spot anyone at first, well not anyone that he recognizes are seems to be trying to get his attention but on a second pass over the faces, an older woman at the register holds up a bag. 

“Me?” Calum questions, readjusting Jae quickly and tucking him more into his chest and neck. 

The woman waves him over, before quickly turning back to the cashier. Calum steps a step forward, still unsure of what’s happening. He doesn’t know her. He thinks she might’ve been in the line either in front or behind him, but he doesn’t really know at all. 

“Is-is everything okay?” Calum tries to see what’s in the bag and then mentally runs through his mind of what he could’ve dropped in line. All the bags from the craft store are in the truck. His phone and wallet are in his pockets, along with his keys. 

“I should be asking the little one that,” she grins. Calum studies her face. He’d figure forties at the latest, two younger kids at her side. He wishes he did know her, then this would make this last strange. “Double check that these are all that you needed. Two adult onesies and then one for the baby, right?”

Calum’s heart nearly drops to his ass. “Wh-What?”

“Check that it’s all right,” she returns holding out one bag. The two kids hold bags of their own. “I don’t know if you were getting anything else, all I saw you put back were the onesies.”

“I-I can’t.” Jae wriggles in his arms and Calum sighs for a moment before bouncing him gently. “You really didn’t have to.”

“Well, now, I don’t have to do anything, you’re right. But I wanted too. I’ve been down this road. And the fact that you put your son above all, besides, it’s Christmas.”

Calum doesn’t even think to correct her thoughts on Jae instead he peeks inside the bag to see three outfits and a receipt. “Ma’am, really, I-I don’t know what to say. Thank you. I-I can pay you back.” Calum fumbles for a second to reach his wallet but she stills him with pat on his arm and a smile. 

“No need sweetheart. Take care of that handsome one and enjoy your holidays.” With that, she takes a hand of each of the kids with her and then continues on past. 

Calum watches her, unsure if it’s real or not. Unsure if he’s really living this. Someone, possibly a manager, comes down to the register he’s standing in front of. “Everything okay, sir?”

“I-yeah. Maybe a Christmas miracle?” he exhales facing them. 

It’s another woman with a smile. “She’s a regular here. Does stuff like this all the time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The second you got out of line, she was on it trying to get the stuff you put down.” Lined on the front of the registers are a line of gift cards. No good deed should go without something good in return. 

He grabs one quickly. “Can I put 50 on this?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” The question clearly comes as a surprise. Calum knows by now in all his shock he’s not likely to find the woman in the parking lot. As the machine asks him to remove his card, Calum instructors them to use it for the next person in line. 

“You sure?”

He nods. “Yes, I’m very sure. Thank you, for taking me.” He grabs the bag and hurries back through the door. 

“You really bought reindeer onesies?” Cace sighs, peering into the bag. 

Jae sits in a rocker nearby. The moment Calum got him into the car his nerves completely settled and he went back his is normal bubbly self. Calum gulps down a third of the glass of water. “I didn’t buy it. But yes, reindeers.”

“What do you mean you didn’t buy them?”

“The line was long and I got stuck under the speaker in the store. Jae had been getting a tiny fussy beforehand but the music was the tipping point. So I stepped out of line. Just as I got Jae mostly settled, I figured I’d take him out to the car let him completely reset basically before trying again to snag the clothes. A woman in line saw me leave with him and she paid for it. One of the managers or something said she does stuff like that all the time.”

“She what?”

“Yeah, she paid for it while I in the bathroom. I guess the line was moving faster than I thought but I didn’t want to just ignore Jae, so I just made the call to leave line.”

“A Christmas miracle,” Cace returns. 

“Something like that. Did you rest well?”

“I didn’t wake up until you called and said you were on your way. So yes, much needed.” Leaning into the kitchen table, Cace uses her foot to add extra bounce for Jae. “I noticed there’s a second adult onesies in there.”

“Sue me. I wanted in on cheesy photos too.”

“Good thing phone cameras come with timers,” she grins. “Sticking around for arts and crafts too? I gotta feed Jae in another half an hour. Or am I still in Mum jail?”

“I’ll stick around. But you’re still in Mum jail, so that means I make Jae’s ornament--you sip on the non-alcoholic bubbly and gingerbread cookies you bought.”

“I do vote pictures first. Because there’s bound to be a mess.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine.” It can be that much of a mess, especially if Calum doesn’t bother with glitter. 

“You say that now,” she laughs. “But if you think there won’t be a mess, be my guest. I’m going to sip on non-alcoholic bubbly, eat gingerbread cookies, and enjoy this show.” 

Cace pops open the white grape sparkling juice and a fancy wine glass. Her second trip into the kitchen is for the tin of cookies--actually full of cookies--and settles at the kitchen table. She sits opposite of Calum’s ornament crafting setup. And it takes him until Cace has to feed and rather than fussing about with moving to another room, she drapes the privacy blanket over. The amusement is settled in deep on her face as she watches Calum try to sketch out his design. 

“I will say, I’m glad you’re a musician,” she teases. 

“Ya know what, not everyone can have a Dad who’s like a world renowned artist.”

“Tattoo artist, and trust me the drawing gene skipped me.”

Calum scoffs. “Then you’re talking a lot shit for a non-drawing-gene. But that does explain who you got into legal things.”

Her laughter is sharp. “Something like that. Though I think it might be more about me liking raining on some parades. Besides, who else can you call that will scare your team at just a name-drop?”

Calum points the pen cap in her direction with a nod. “I never suspected that you’d shake grown men to their core. But just the casual mention of you and you’d think they’d seen ghosts.”

Cace winks, readjusting the burping blanket. “I have that effect sometimes.”

“Can I burp him?”

“You’ve stolen my son!”

“Oh c’mon, I’m his Godfather.”

“You now Godfather Cal has a certain ring to it.” Cace turns down her mouth into a frown, dropping the octave in her voice, as she hoists Jae onto . “You come into my house on the day of my daughter’s wedding.”

Calum giggles at her impression but doesn’t push on the burping request. “I still prefer Uncle Cal. Easier to say.”

It’s as Calum can only watch the paint splatter onto the page does he immediately regret not taking Cace’s advice and taking photos first. Jae continues to hammer into the paint and thankfully, Cace doesn’t lose her head about messes. But Calum can only imagine what the green paint is going to look like against her yellow walls. 

“Jae, c’mon, work with me,” Calum sighs, lifting his tiny hand and then presses onto the felt. “Your Mum’s going to murder the both of us. But very slowly.”

Cace gasps from the end of the table. “I can hear you you know! I wouldn’t kill either one of you. Just tell you I told you so, repeatedly. Until you’d wish I have of killed you.”

“Just be glad I decided against opening the glitter.”

“Why would you buy glitter, Calum?” 

“I don’t know. I was in a craft store. I blacked out and when I came to, there was glitter in my basket.”Jae watches the exchange and slams a hand with paint onto the table. Calum’s sigh is audible and she watches him deflate in the chair. “It’ll come out I promise.”

“Or it doesn’t and I can forever mark that as the spot that Uncle Cal and Jae DIY’ed Christmas ornaments and when I’m old and nothing but skin and bones, I’ll pass the table onto him for his kids to make arts and crafts on and it becomes a legacy.”

Calum feels the wet hand on his chest through his t-shirt and cringes. Cace continues on. “Or what doesn’t come out is that stain on your shirt and you forever think twice about not listening to me. The pictures will be a story to remember. When my dad ask me why does Jae have a green nose and I tell him before pictures were taken he and Calum made ornaments and I advised ornaments second but Calum wanted to do that first and I scrubbed my son down as best as I could, but you know how green paint is.”

“You are not helping,” Calum whispers. 

“Oh, no, I’m not. But you’re right. I needed Mum jail.” Her raised eyebrow and pointed sip from her glass tells Calum he’s going to be the one cleaning up and only him. 

He doesn’t want her to be right. But even after ornaments are left to dry and he scrubs down Jae there is still a bit of residue, a hint of what color once took up residency on his skin that don’t completely fade reminds Calum to maybe listen to Cace since she’s the one dealing with a baby day in and day out. Though Calum would’ve liked to think he was a pretty good second. He’s there for a lot but there might be some things he hadn’t had to think through just yet on the whole baby front. 

His t-shirt is ruined and the battle of baby vomit vs t-shirts should’ve warned Calum to not wear anything he holds too precious. But clothes are just clothes in the grand scheme of things. “You’re lucky you’re cute, Jae.”

Calum gets him into the onesie and settles him into the rocking seat to see what he can do about the wall. The table made it with very minimal damage and Calum’s sure with another passover the little that does remain will come out. Cace kneels on the floor, a bucket beside her and the sounds of scrub hits his hears. “Hey, Mum jail, remember,” Calum returns. 

“Oh, I couldn’t let you suffer for that long without helping. I’ll probably have to repaint in some points, or I wait until he gets way older and just let whatever mess he creates exist and possibly turn it into some masterpiece.”

“You said the art gene skipped you.”

She laughs. “I did say possibly. As in an option.”

“I can help you repaint next week.”

“Wanna borrow one of my--what did you call it, an ultimate robe?”

“What are you on about?”

“Undershirt. I call them a white beater. You’ve got tons of them. You called it the ultimate robe in an interview once.”

“You said you didn’t watch those.”

“I don't normally. I saw a clip.”

“And you remembered from how long ago?”

Cace shrugs, dipping her rag into the water at her side. “Who knows at this point? You’re lucky I still remember my own name.” 

The thing Calum’s learned about Cace is that’s it’s true. She can hardly ever remember things about herself, but she’s always got it together for those around her. And that’s why he pushed for her to take today--because she needed the time for herself. And even if it’s hard because of a baby he still wants to be the one there for her. He would always have her back. He’d buy cheesy matching onesies and hold bells behind the camera to get Jae to look up and he’d fake pose decorating an already decorated Christmas tree and he’d hoist Jae into his arms and tickle the little boy’s side and he’d take the most unflattering pictures of Cace only to make it up with the most flattering ones right after if it meant that at the end of it all, she knew he had her back. 

Cace reclines into Calum’s side, Jae seated in her lap. The phone’s still counting down but she’s not worried about that. She looks up, watching Calum watching her. “I’m not the camera,” he teases. 

“Nah, but you’re a close second.” 

Calum kisses the top of her head, mostly aware of the shutter of the camera. “I’ll take that. Though I should be number one. Now actually face the camera once I set this up again.”

“No promises,” Cace laughs. Though she does look at the camera the second time. She can faintly see the slightly out of focus string lights on the trees. And inside the square it’s bound to be picturesque. There’s no walls with green paint or t-shirts ruined, or still open can of cookies that she absolutely thought she had covered and put back up. And maybe it’s okay if perfection only exist inside that square. And maybe it’s okay if her house is a mess and she’s a mess, and Calum’s a mess because at least she had the few people that cared around still.

********

Joy hadn’t anticipated seeing Calum’s handwriting on a letter just yet. His card usually came with him in person. But she doesn’t let the curiosity simmer too long and flips over the white envelope to pop the golden sticker holding it close.  A beautiful white, gold and green card greets her, with Merry Christmas on it. 

When she open the card, a couple photos slip down and she can see the black ink with Calum’s telling handwriting. She spies Cace and Jae standing in front of a tree, a decorating dangling in her hand. The second photo is Cace, Calum and Jae seated on the floor, smiling with the twinkling lights fading in the background. There’s a third of Calum and Jae too. All three of them matching with reminders antlers poking out from the hood of their pj’s. 

The typography of the inside of the card is the same as the outside, Season Greetings. But just above it is a note, from Cace, Jae, and Calum. And then just below the standard greeting of the card is more from Calum. 

Hi Mum, 

I know this card normally comes with me attached but I didn’t want to forget to send these pictures. 

I made Cace take a day and partially it was successful. Another part was disastrous. Disaster struck with paint and ornaments but I know you said you wanted more pictures of Jae too. These felt appropriate. He’s getting bigger, like everytime I blink he’s in a new size. I don’t know how Cace does it. How she just watches him everyday and doesn’t worry that time is moving too fast. Maybe she does worry and does her best just to focus on the day at hand. I don’t know how you did it with Mali and me. I’m sure it was the same thing--everyday just us shooting up with almost no end in sight. You’ll be happy to know Cace and Jae are doing well too. She started work again and takes him most days. Some days she drops him off at a daycare. He seems to handle it well for now. Soon, she says she’ll be dropping him off more than half the week at the daycare. So we’ll know for sure how Jae feels about that when that happens. 

Send me some Oz summer. I wasn’t sure I was ready to jump into onesies just yet and even after this pictures, I still don’t think I am. Love you and miss you. 

Calum. 

[seiraheron]

Last day of Calamity Week! It’s 6th prompt, “The one to trust” and I decided to go with He Xuan and Hua Cheng. Nerd’s Talk and spoilers below:

Ok, for first, why those two instead of HC and XL? Or HX and SQX? Or literally any other characters pair? Let me tell you - because I’m a big shipper of those two, that’s why, not gonna lie (but not really in a romantic - romantic way, more like deep bromance with no warm feelings. I know it sounds weird, maybe my nerd’s rambling tell you more).

So, flower for today is blue tulip. There are quite a few flowers that mean “trust”, but most of them means also things like “innocence”, “sweetness” or other fluffy things I clearly wanted to avoid. Blue tulip means “respect”, “tranquility”, and, finally, ‘trust”. I think all of them suit well for HC and HX; “respect” is obvious - even if HC looks like he doesn’t have any esteem for HX, we can see it in his discomfort at Black Water Island. They respect each other’s powers - even if they don’t look friendly, they are still more comfortable next to each other. “Tranquility” - for me, it’s kind of certainty, that you are not alone. They could simply destroy the world, you know? After all those years of loneliness, everyone could go mad, and with all those powers they held, it would be nice to know, that there is someone who can take you down if you are getting too crazy. A safety-button only for you.

Ok, but what the fuck they are doing, fighting? Hugging? Both, actually? Look at their hands - the left ones have a meaning of “limit” - HX hand covering HC’s eyes, and HC’s hand covering HX’s lips. It’s not romantic - it’s mean “don’t talk, don’t look”, they are holding a lot each other's ugly secrets, but at the same time they are helping each other - HC was HX’s lips in Black Water arc, HX was HC’s eyes over XL. If this is not trust, I don’t know what it is.

The right hands aren’t so clear - they are holding each other, helping and allowing to set limits, but at first sight, it looks like they are pushing or repel. Well, both meanings are true, but I want them to mean “comfort”. Their relationship was complicated, right? I think they fought as much as they helped each other. The certain thing is, that they are close.

Ok, so that’s it! Thank you so much for reading my rambling for a whole week (also, I’m really sorry for my English, I know it’s not perfect, but this one person just said “whatever, I want to know what you mean and I “sh*t on your English”, so, bully him, not me, I just deliver). It was GREAT experience and simply fun to do - hope you guys stay with me, I draw a lot of TGCF fanarts :D And no, not everything I draw has Deep Deep Meaning but I’m sure you can read some of my shitposts in more than one way :D

Thank you so much!

[mischiefandspirits]

Doppelgänger (2/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Parental Bonding}

“We can possess people!” the trio said, Tucker bouncing in midair. Sam crossed her arms. “That seems really wrong. We didn’t do it on purpose. Imagine how many dates we could get this way. We don’t need dates. We know we want to go to the dance.”

Sam turned human, dropping onto Tucker’s bed with a scowl.

Danny floated closer to her with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry,” he and Tucker said.

“It’s okay. I know you guys aren’t intentionally prying. It’s just kind of annoying sometimes.”

“We’re getting better at keeping things separate,” they said as Tucker sat down at the end of the bed. “Maybe we’ll be able to figure out secrets as we work on it. Do we need to have secrets though?”

“Yes, Danny, we do,” Sam said, poking the boy. “You might have loose lips, but I like my privacy.”

Danny pouted and transformed. “I don’t have loose lips. I just don’t get why anything has to be a secret between us. We’re best friends.”

Sam grabbed his arm and tugged him onto the bed with her.

His pout immediately fled as he curled up in her arms, his head tucking beneath her chin.

Tucker gasped and turned human. “It’s a cuddly Sam day!”

She shot him a glare. “Not for you it isn’t.”

He ignored her and joined them on the bed, pressing up to her back and draping an arm over both his friends. She grumbled, but relaxed back against him as Danny poked his head up to give them both kisses on the cheek.

They rested together for a while before Sam’s phone went off.

She nudged Danny, who’d been dozing. “Come on, it’s getting late. We should get home before someone realizes we aren’t in our beds.”

“No one will check on me before morning,” Danny said with a nuzzle.

She pushed him off the bed.

“Well then.”

Tucker sat up as the two stood and transformed. “Sam, wait.”

They turned to him.

“Uh, you know, since neither of us have dates and you really want to go, the two of us could go to the dance together as friends.”

Danny smiled and Sam tilted her head.

“Really?” they asked.

“Sure. I’ve pretty much struck out with everyone in school anyways and someone has to keep an eye on Danny.”

“Hey! True. HEY!”

{One of a Kind}

Skulker looked between the human boy he was tailing and the ghost child glaring down at him. He could have sworn the half-ghost was the child of the hunters Plasmius had paid him to investigate, not the boy's female friend.

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

No, that can’t be. He was sure the girl was the ghost child. He knew he had seen the technology-boy asleep with the hunters’ child!

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

Skulker gaped at the three ghost children surrounding him. “What are you?”

“We are Doppelgänger, and you are done here,” they somehow said together while sounding like only one.

At least he'd still accomplished the job Plasmius required, Skulker thought as he was pulled into a cylindrical device.

{Attack of the Killer Garage Sale}

“You’re not going to go to the party?” Sam asked as Danny tossed the invite Dash had given him in the trash.

“Sam, I don’t think we’d need our bond to feel your hatred for this entire situation,” Tucker said.

“Sorry.” She’d really been trying to hold back her more jealous and controlling nature since the accident. It wasn’t fair to her partners.

“It’s fine,” Danny said, knocking their shoulders together with a smile. “It’d feel weird without you guys anyways. Who would talk trash about the A-listers in our heads or get turned down by every person in the room?”

“Rude,” Tucker said.

“Besides, what would happen if a ghost showed up. Dash’s place is too far from either of yours for our mind link.”

“That’s true,” Sam agreed.

“You could always just call our phones,” Tucker said and his partners paused, surprised.

“Phones,” Sam chuckled. “How did we forget phones exist?”

“We might be getting too dependent on the mind link,” Danny laughed, rubbing his neck.

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

Sam and Danny looked up as Tucker dropped down onto the couch between them.

“You guys could have helped,” he huffed, passing the thermos to Danny and turning human.

“Tech’s you thing,” Danny said with a shrug, tossing the thermos into his Space Fold.

“Did you need help?” Sam asked, handing Tucker a bowl of popcorn.

He snorted. “Technus, master of technology and destroyer of worlds, was running an old version of Portals XL. It was easy to slip through the cracks with my powers. That’s not the point though.”

{Splitting Images}

Sam and Tucker watched Danny’s parents run off, then turned to their partner. “Watch it, Danny. Your parents almost c-” they stopped, then glared. “Who are you? Where’s Danny?”

The boy who was mostly not Danny frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Sam grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the lockers, her eyes glowing yellow.

“Tell us where our partner is now?” she and Tucker said as one and he stepped up next to her, his own eyes purple. “We can feel you’re not him!”

Poindexter immediately caved. He was smart enough to know he’d have a hard time taking on one halfa on in a fight, let alone two.

Sam was a lot more willing to hear out the old school nerd once her own nerd was safely in her arms and the three decided to let Poindexter stick around, so long as he agreed not to hurt or humiliate any of the bullies he went after, only spook them away from their targets. Especially when Danny told them about how Poindexter was treated in his own version of Casper High.

And they thought Dash was bad.

{What You Want}

You said she’s a genie ghost? Why didn’t you just wish her into the thermos? Sam asked.

Tucker and Danny shared a look from where they were hovering over the sick girl’s home.

You both are idiots. Get out of here before one of my parents spot you.

We’re invisible, they pointed out, but said their goodbyes and left all the same.

“Why didn’t we think of wishing her away? Because only one of us got all the common sense when the portal mashed us together. True. Oh, man! What? We forgot to share about the plasmablasts! Shoot, we’re dead. No puns right now, this is serious!”

{Bitter Reunions}

“Bad news,” Danny said as soon as he picked up the group call. “My parents are dragging me and my sister with them to their college reunion in Wisconsin.”

“That sucks,” Tucker hissed.

“Yeah, but our news is worse,” Sam said. “Knock knock.”

Her words were matched with a knock at Danny’s window and he opened the curtains to find Sam floating outside.

“Who’s there?” Tucker asked.

“Sam,” Danny said, gesturing her in.

“Sam who?”

“Sam’s at my window,” Danny snorted as she floated through intangibly. “What’s going on?”

“Wait, she’s at your house? Why? Do I need to come?”

“No, we took care of the problem for now.” Sam reached into the bag she’d strapped to her belt -- Danny could open the Space Fold for her and Tucker from a distance, but they only really did that for the thermos -- and pulled out a torn picture. “Look familiar.”

“Is that my dad?” Danny asked, taking it. The man in the picture certainly looked like his dad did in his collage pictures.

“That’s what we thought too.”

“What’s going on?”

“We took on this group of vulture ghosts just now and they had a picture of Mr. Fenton,” Sam explained. “They said they were on a search and destroy mission.”

“They want to kill Danny’s dad?”

“Why?”

“We don’t know,” Sam sighed. “They got away from us before we could interrogate them properly. We could have used our speed.”

“Sorry, my parents are in an inventing lull so they’re actually paying attention to my curfew,” Danny said, still looking at the picture.

“I still don’t get why Danny’s faster than us.”

“Tiny.”

“You mean smol.”

“No.”

“Yes. And it’s not fair.”

“You take hits better than Sam and I,” Danny pointed out. “And Sam’s stronger than us. It balances out. Now can we get back to the fact that someone put a hit out on my dad?”

“Sorry, we don’t know anything else.”

“At least you guys are going out of town. Hopefully, Sam and I can track down the birds before you get back.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

Sam took her partner’s hand and pulled him into a hug.

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

“Holy crow.”

“Tell us about it,” Danny groaned.

“We should have been there,” his partners said.

“We’re kind of glad we weren’t,” Danny said, poking his head into the RV for a second to make sure his parents and sister were still asleep. “Who knows what Vlad would have done if he knew about us? He thinks we use the royal we.”

“We can’t believe there’s another halfa out there. And he’s such a creep. Do we think he’d want us? Or only one of us?”

Danny frowned, rubbing his chest. It was weird being in ghost form, hearing his partners in their ghost form, and yet not being a part of the mind link. “We don’t know. And we don’t want to know. He doesn’t need to be anywhere near us. He’s a fruit loop.”

“Agreed.”

{Prisoners of Love, Part 1}

The trio floated back to back as they looked around the Ghost Zone. Danny pressed closer to his partners, eyeing a group of small blobs that he swore was following him, while Sam vibrated with excitement and Tucker snapped pictures with his phone.

“Can we just find the gift already? This place is amazing. No, it's not. It's creepy. And it goes on forever. We don't even know where to start to look! Maybe we can ask for directions?”

Tucker flew up to one of the doors. He knocked and opened it.

“Excuse me,” they said. “Would you be able to -”

“Get. Out. Of. My. ROOM!”

Tucker shut the door.

“Well, that won’t work. This is hopeless. We’re never gonna find that present. Our folks are gonna get divorced and it’s gonna be all our fault.”

Sam wrapped her arms around Danny.

“We’ll figure this out. Maybe we just need to think like a box. Think like a box? Well, the box isn’t a ghost. It’s from the human world.” Danny’s head popped up. “Yes, maybe the ghost zone’s gravity affects human world stuff differently than ghost stuff. If we can track the orbital paths, then we can figure out where the box went. But how would we figure out these orbital paths? We know one way. No.”

Tucker flew down to one of the floating islands, then transformed.

“Stop!” Sam and Danny shouted, flying up to him. “We don’t know how the Ghost Zone will affect a human. Our parents haven’t run any tests yet!”

“I’m fine, see,” Tucker said, gesturing at himself. “I can even breathe just fine. Everything’s okay.”

“For now.”

“I think it’s a little too late to worry about ectoplasmic radiation, so what are you two so worried about.”

“Only one of us is worried. We’re both worried.”

Sam shoved Danny, then shoved Tucker when he started laughing.

The boy yelped and braced himself when the shove knocked him towards a tree.

He passed right through it.

“What the heck?” the two said.

Tucker stood up and set his hand on the tree. Then he pressed down and his hand slipped through the tree, coming out the other side.

Danny dropped down next to him and tried to do the same, but couldn’t get his arm to go through the tree even when he turned intangible.

Sam snapped her fingers.

“Ectoplasm. Everything here is made of ectoplasm. Maybe being in the ghost zone naturally puts everything in a semi-intangible state, which means humans can pass through it if they try.”

“So we’re the ghosts here!” Tucker cheered, bouncing. “Sweet!”

“It’s definitely something to keep in mind.”

Tucker smiled and held up his arms. “Now that that’s settled, let’s see how this human gets affected by ghost gravity.”

Danny hesitated, but Sam shrugged and picked Tucker up and threw him into the void.

He flew a few yards before slowing down until he was just floating in place. They waited a moment, but nothing else happened.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Tucker said then transformed.

Danny and Sam flew up to him, all three saying, “That should have worked though. There has to be some sort of orbit or else the box would have just been right outside the portal and we check right after it got knocked in.”

Tucker shrugged and pulled out his phone. Danny’s eyes locked onto it. He grabbed it out of Tucker’s hand and tossed it.

“Hey! Look, it’s moving!”

The trio watched as the phone’s trajectory slowed, then started again slightly to the right of where it had been heading before.

“Humans might just be too heavy or dense for ghost orbit. Or maybe it’s a consciousness thing, like with the intangibility. Whatever it is, let’s just get going. If we lose our phone, we’re going to regret it.”

The three set off drifting a short ways behind the phone. They stuck close enough to be sure they didn’t lose it, but far enough that they wouldn’t accidentally alter its course. Eventually, the phone floated intangibly through one of the doors, this one looking like a rolling warehouse door.

The trio shared a look then opened the door and flew inside.

The lair was just a purple void filled with a variety of random items.

“So this is where all that stuff ends up. It’s like the void of lost items,” they said as Tucker grabbed his phone.

“Yes!” the trio turned to see the Box Ghost flying up. “It all ends up in the possession of THE BOX GHOST!”

“Ugh, this guy. What are you doing here? Don’t you have a cardboard box to haunt.”

Boxy blinked looking between the three before pointing at Sam, who was floating in the middle.

“I am The Box Ghost! Where do you think we go when you release us from your round, cylindrical trap?”

Danny looked unimpressed, Sam crossed her arms and started looking over all the junk, and Tucker ran a hand over his face.

“It is not our turn to deal with this. You mean the Fenton Thermos? The gift has to be here somewhere.”

He looked between them then threw up his arms menacingly. “I am the Box Ghost!”

“We know.”

“And beware! For I am merely ONE of your foes who reside in this realm! In fact, you might say,” the box ghost snorted, “we’re a PACKAGE DEAL!”

“I swear if we laugh at that, we’ll punch us. We’re not laughing at that. It’s the Box Ghost. We would laugh at that. That was a bad pun even for us.” They groaned and Danny floated closer to Boxy, holding his hands up in a show of good faith. “Look, we’re looking for something important, we don’t have time for your box puns.”

Suddenly police sirens sounded and the trio looked around.

“Flee!” Boxy shouted. “Lest you be hermetically sealed and shipped to your doom!” He tried to fly off, but a blast of green energy hit him, causing his wrists to be bound in handcuffs made of energy.

Sam and Tucker flew up to grab Danny’s arms. “Hey, what’s going on? We need to get out of here! Let’s -”

A blast hit them and they were bound together.

“Unauthorized duplication. That’s against the rules.” The trio looked up to see a large white ghost hovering over them. He pulled out a green book. “Or at least it is now.”

“Duplication? Like Plasmius? Wait! This is all a big misunderstanding! We’re not -”

The ghost moved so it was like he was crouched on invisible ground and shoved his face into Tucker’s. He grabbed Tucker’s phone and said, “There may be chaos everywhere in this Ghost Zone, but there’ll be order in my prison.” He stood up and turned to a group of ghosts in riot gear. “Merge them and ship them off.”

One of the ghosts smiled and pointed a police baton at them.

“Hold on! You’ve got the wrong -”

He shot them with a blast and a ring of energy wrapped around them and squeezed. It grew tighter and tighter and their bodies were pressed closer and closer.

“Stop! Wait! Please!”

And then there was a snap. It wasn’t audible. It wasn’t even physical. It was just a feeling as three bodies became one.

Doppelgänger looked down at their hands in shock, their mind a whirl of emotions and thoughts. They barely noticed as the ghost police grabbed their arms and threw them in the back of a prisoner transport van.

“We’re one?” they whispered, staring at their hands.

They certainly didn’t feel like one. They could feel Sam's and Danny's and Tucker’s minds rioting against one another in their head. It was like the trio were all trying to overshadow each other at once. Their body shook with hot and cold and lightning. They tried to pull apart, but the bands on their wrists, ankles, and waist kept their powers dulled and their ectoplasm merged.

The police returned and Doppelgänger shuffled into the corner of the van to keep away from the monsters. Thankfully they only shoved the Box Ghost inside and shut the doors.

Doppelgänger turned to the wall of the van. “If we transform, we can slip out. Can we transform with these bonds? Better question, what would happen if we transformed like this?” They shivered at the idea of being merged in their human forms. “Yeah, no. We need to figure out how to separate, then we can transform and get away from these psychos. Seriously, as if living corrupt police weren’t bad enough. We need to focus. Can this situation get any worse? Our folks are splitting up, our sister’s a basket case, and we’re going to ghost jail.” They curled up, trying to hold themselves as best they could with their bonds. “It will be okay. We’ll be okay. They’ll have to remove the bonds at some point then we can get away. It will be okay.”

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Utsukushii Kare

Title: Utsukushii Kare (美しい彼)

Author: Nagira Yuu

Artist: Kasai Rikako

Release Date: 2019/06/28

Cast: Ono Yuuki x Saitou Souma

Synopsis: The gloomy, friendless, class bottom-feeder, Kazunari Hira falls in love with boy on top of his class’ caste, Sou Kiyoi, at first sight. No one could hold a candle against Kiyoi’s authority and beauty—Hira could not help but worship the ground he walked on and treat him like a god.

Review Proper

First of all, I’m so sorry for the inaccuracy of the synopsis for this in my June Releases. I’ve changed it now.

I listened to this on Christmas Eve since I had nothing else to do because the typhoon cut our power out. I know, some Christmas I had. While everyone else was having a White Christmas, my ass was having a blackout on Christmas Eve and the day itself with our roof blown off. Yo, imagine me, lying in bed listening to Sweet to Yobu ni wa Mada Hayai and this in the dark while the devastating winds trashed our house. 😂 

Needless to say, I was pretty upset going into this because of the storm and Sweet to Yobu, so I was a bit biased about this from the start. I HATED Kiyoi in the beginning. I mean, I still do find him insensitive and rude up until now, but hey, he’s apologized and he does have a point—Hira was and still is creepy. 😂 I will forever be upset about how no one stood up for Hira back in high school and even though Kiyoi never participated in the bullying (yes, he actually didn’t because Hira voluntarily became Kiyoi’s gofer), he didn’t stop nor say anything about it either. When you stay silent, you side with the bullies. There I said it. As with Customer Masquerade!’s Etou-san, the bullying is actually one of the things that caused him to become “disgusting” as Kiyoi always calls him. Boy, you shouldn’t complain about how disgusting Hira is when you did jack-shit about the bullying and actually made it worse even if it’s involuntary. 😤

Now, as for Hira, I felt so bad for him in the beginning that it made me almost cry. But Jesus! He’s so creepy! This is exactly how serial killers are made (and school shooters)! Thank goodness that his only outburst was him giving Shirota the beat down. Shitora (don’t correct me) deserved it. I was honestly so scared for Kiyoi because I thought that he could be raped or even mauled to death by Hira. 😂 I mean, he’s an asshole himself, but that’d be too much.

That being said, hello I’m a fucking idiot nice to meet you. 👋 I didn’t fully realize it until the middle of track 2 that this is by Nagira Yuu! It was a trap! I thought that I had a good two years away from them after being destroyed by Shortcake no Ichigo Niwa Sawaranaide in 2016 and Oyasuminasai, Mata Ashita in 2017. And just as I realized that fact, I was sent on a fucking roller coaster loop (don’t correct me, A-san)!

Man, how’d I get from hating Kiyoi to finding him so damn stupid and adorable? Girl, this is basically romanticizing bullying and stalking, but what the hell? Call me trash or whatever, but I rooted for this relationship to happen! I wanted to cry because they were just so fucking mute oh my god. At the end of the day, Kiyoi and Hira are just two dense suckers with their own traumas and mental health issues who love each other. They deserve happiness, fight me. 😂

Moving onto the voice work,

Yooooooooooooo what the hell? I’m sorry, but have I ever named anyone to be Saitou Souma’s best partner this year? Because if I did, I’m taking it back because it looks like Ono Yuuki’s in the running for that position. And speaking of Ono Yuuki, didn’t I just come from Sweet to Yobu where he bottomed? I know like, look at my log:

Rakka Ryuusui=Hatano Wataru x Saitou Souma

Golden Sparkle=Furukawa Makoto x Amasaki Souhei

Sweet to Yobu=Furukawa Makoto x Ono Yuuki

Utsukushii Kare=Ono Yuuki x Saitou Souma

No Color Baby=Kumagai Kentarou x Saitou Souma

Konomi ja Nakato=Hamada Kenji x Ono Yuuki

Itoshi no XL Saizu=Nakajima Yoshiki x Saitou Souma

Whatever happened to not listening to BLCDs with the same voice actors consecutively??? 😂

Anyway, my god. Ono Yuuki and Saitou Souma are on a different level! They DO NOT sound like their other roles here! I found myself asking who was voicing both Hira and Koyoi several times throughout the BLCD because their voices were so unrecognizable! Wow, they are so talented! I wonder if they’ll surprise me further later on as I go through the other BLCD of theirs I have in this log (I’m done with No Color Baby as of this typing). They’re both running for best voice actors of the year!

On the topic of voice actors, another one that surprised me is Horie Shun! He’s done nothing but improve! I’m honestly so proud of him, and I really think that he's ready to play a lead role again. 

What more do I have to say? I loved and hated this work—Nagira Yuu just always manages to make me feel a myriad of emotions! The plot wasn’t perfect, as are the characters and their relationship, but the execution was just so goddamn amazing that I can call it one of my favorites of 2019 even in my confusion. Notice how long my review of this is as compared to the other ones? Well, that’s because it got me so invested in the plot in a good way. Do remember that I listened to Sweet to Yobu before this and I fell asleep, but Utsukushii Kare got me woke. 👏👏👏 Definitely listen to this because of the plot and the voice work! I’m excited to see what’ll happen on the second volume!

[dididrawsblog]

Mr. Perfect // slow burn

Part I

Summary: Steve Harrington was the coolest guy at school and now he’s working with you at the rental store. Very complicated story about complicated feelings.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warning: language, very slow burn

A/N: I’m pretty sure I’ll write smut later.

On the second month of summer you decided you need a job. You really wanted to buy a car and your parents said you’re old enough to earn money by yourself. By the way, most of your friends had already worked somewhere. Fortunately, your uncle had some connections with the film rental store manager so you got a job without any troubles. Also, you were glad you didn’t have an interview.

You were standing in front of an old building with the sign ‘Family video’, waiting for a miracle. There were a couple of cars in the parking lot with a fat red cat lying on the top of the black one and an old lady smoking near the entrance. It didn’t look like a place for your dream job but you had no choice. You walked into the shop and came to the girl in a uniform standing near a movie stand.

“Hey. Umm.. I’m Y/N. It’s my first day and your boss told me you can show me everything here” It was awkward. The blue-eyed girl looked at you for a second and then shook your hand.

“Right, I’m Robin. Come with me I’ll give you your form. It’s just a blue t-shirt, actually”

She led you to a small storage room. There were a tiny yellow table, two chairs, shelves with shirts and old tapes and four lockers. Robin stood up on a chair, took a t-shirt and threw it to you.

“You can change here. We usually have lunch in this room while having a break. You’ll have two or three breaks during the day. Depends on how many hours you work. This is the key from your locker” Robin handed you a key from the small box on a shelf. “It’s number 3, leave your clothes in it. I need to get back to work. Find me when you’re done here”

You took your shirt off putting on the blue one but turned out it was too small for you. You looked at the size and yeah it was ‘S’. Fuck. Okay, you just took it off and stood up on the chair looking for the right size on a shelf.

“L, XL, L, XXL...” You murmured while looking through the stacks of t-shirts.

“Nice view” There was a male voice behind you, you shivered. You turned around quickly then you understood you were standing without shirt just in your bra and turned again screaming.

“GET OUT” You closed your eyes because of shame. Your cheeks were burning red and you screamed again. “OUT!”

“Jeeesus. Okay, okay, fine. I closed my eyes. Let me just put my bag over here and I’ll leave”

You turned your head and saw Steve Harrington trying to put his bag on the table with closed eyes. No, Lord, why him? Out of all the people in the town...why Harrington? It’s not like you hated him. You just knew he’s an asshole. He annoyed you since the beginning of your high school days. He bullied Jonathan and sometimes other “weirdos”. Every girl had a crush on him except you of course. Mr. Perfect, Mr. Cool, the King...Just a douchebag.

When you woke up from your thoughts he was already gone. And you were out of time so you decided to wear ‘L’ size and get back to Robin. You actually liked wearing oversize shirts. You felt more...confident? Steve smiled at you from the counter as you walked passed him. He does work here. You found blu-eyed girl near the thriller movie stand and she told you about you work hours and shifts.

“Today you are working with me and the dingus” she told you while placing a pack of new films on a shelf.

“Dingus? You mean Steve?”

“Yeah, but i call him ‘dingus’” she smiled with a corner of her mouth and glanced at him. “I know he might look cool and mean and all that but he’s not”

“I know he’s not cool” it came out a bit harsh and you just looked away from Robin. You felt tensed today.

“He’s not that bad” she said after a minute. You looked at Steve flirting with a girl while brushing his hair with a hand. The girl smiled... and she definitely gave him her number. “Your task for today is just to sort all the movies from the boxes. If you have any questions you can ask me”

You picked up a big box full of horrors, romcoms, thrillers and... God it’s heavy. Right, so you were taking some films from the box and putting them on the right shelves. It was...well, boring but you noted some films you wanted to watch. ‘Jawls’, ‘Sixteen candles’ maybe. Robin and Steve were talking and laughing, they seemed like good friends. You were a little bit jealous. You wished you had some real friends. The one you could watch films with. You picked the last tape from the first box and tried to put it on the top shelf but you weren’t tall enough. You couldn’t reach it.

“Hey, need some help?” Steve’s voice behind you. Again. He was leaning on the wall with crossed hands and the smile you couldn’t stand.

“No” you didn’t even look at him, just kept trying and jumping as high as you can. A minute later he just grabbed the movie from your hand and placed it by himself. “I don’t need your help, Harrington”

“Yeah, you’re welcome”

“No, Steve, you don’t get it. I don’t need your help. I don’t wanna talk to you or interact with you in any possible way. I don’t like you. I know you enough and I don’t want to get to know you better. So, please, let’s pretend we don’t exist in each other’s universes. There’s no Steve Harrington in mine and no Y/N Y/L/N in yours, okay?” You breathed out as you looked at his concerned face and a sudden compassion hit you with a wave.

“Um.. okay. In case of emergency call Robin. I’ll be... you know.. in my universe” He rubbed his back awkwardly and walked away.

You`d finished the last three boxes walking down the hall with a chair in your hand. Robin said you can take a break after you`ve done with the assignment. You were tired and hungry and felt like shit. It`s probably because of Steve. Even though you have your reasons to push him away he wouldn`t known them. He obviously didn`t remember you from the high school. Why would he? Because you`d been standing close to her when they broke up? Because when she`d slapped him and left you were the one who stayed to pick her bag from the ground? And you`d seen him smiling as his gaze was fixed on her moving silhouette. You were mad at him because of the girl in the past. She was a bitch too though. Those memories surfaced in your mind and you felt goose bumps. Past is in the past you reminded yourself. He should just stay away from you.

You carried the chair back to the storage room, grabbed a can of coke and a sandwich from your bag and sat at the table. Robin came in and looked at you with a face your mom gives you when you leave too many mugs in your room. Yeah, and now you have to have this conversation. You put your food away and prepared yourself.

“We need to talk” Of course we do. “It`s about Steve” What a surprise.

“What`s wrong with him?”

“There`s nothing wrong him. I know you don`t like him. I`m sure he did something bad to you but he changed. And he is my best friend so.. I care about him” Your eyes went down when she sat in front of you. “Listen, I like you here. For a whole month it was just me, dingus and Kieth. And I`ve started having suicidal thoughts. I want you to stay but you have to keep it cool. You either talk to him about what happened or you just forget about it”

“Okay. I…uh..I won`t hurt his feelings again?” She chuckled. “It`s just-

“ROBIN! There`s a mad customer and I need you” Steve flew into the room with a check in his hand. “Remember that old lady from yesterday who said she really enjoyed the turtles documentary? She`s actually watched a porn”

“What!?”

“Yeah, and now there`s a guy screaming about turtles out there”

“What the fuck?! Okay, come on, dingus. We need to fix it” she handed you a piece of paper. “This is your shift schedule with my number. I think you can go home now. AND we haven`t finished yet. So-

“ROBIN!”

“CAll me tonight and we will talk about it. SEE YA!”

They ran away slamming the door. You packed your stuff, changed your clothes and walked out. It was fresh outside. Summer wind in your hair and you shivered. Maybe you should talk to someone about that accident.