#I love his disbelieving/annoyed camera looks

[makeitquietly]

Hustling for Health (1919)

[silvervioletvalentine]

❣️!Theres a thin line between love and hate!❣️

Pairing : max verstappen X (single mom!Cherrie!)

Word count : 10k

Summary: in which there’s a very thin line between love and ‘hate’.

Max couldn't stop side eyeing the biggest pain in his ass, the sharpest thorn in his side , the mould to a perfectly good piece of bread - the most annoying woman who ever lived .. narrowing his eyes at her in confusion as he watched her move her body from side to side , looking down at her feet as she mumbled something to herself , seeming to be in her own little world .

Taking a deep breath to control the urge to snap at her to keep still, he glanced around at the track to see every other driver stood politely and still as each one of their national anthems played, they were all apart of a new ceremony to kick off the start of the season again.

Each driver was lined up neatly and had their hands either on their chest or crossed behind their back or front in respect . The host took turns introducing each and everyone of them, their faces appearing on the large screen that was hung up on the railings for everyone to see.

Placing his hand over his own chest too and pursing his lips when it got to his turn to be introduced , his national anthem playing as everyone went silent in respect.

Only His eyes started twitching as through the silence he heard Cherrie start to hum to herself, turning his head slightly as he watched her start to Bob her head and sway side to side as though she was dancing along to some kind of music that he couldn't hear.

Then his eyes zoomed in on her long wavy hair that was blew slightly back in the breeze and then he saw it .

She had in Wireless headphones.

Unable to stop the way his eyes widened in disbelief , as he watched her start to sing to the music that only she could hear . Seeming to not care that everyone else was respectfully standing still as they were presented to the excited crowd around them.

"And I'm crazy, but you like it ..Loca, loca, loca...You like that it ain't easy...Loca, loca, loca" she started singing to herself . Shaking her hips a little, not even noticing her teammates disbelieving stare.

His mouth opening and closing several times as he looked around him to see if anybody else was noticing this shit too.

But everyone else was too busy listening to the national anthem and doing their duties, smiling and nodding at the cameras screening them.

Everyone but Cherrie.

He really should have known that she would do something like this. She never took anything seriously! Feeling the familiar creeping of annoyance and anger drive him up the wall just at the sight of her next to him.

It was absolutely no secret that the two teammates didn't exactly see eye to eye... or wheel to wheel for that matter .

Max didn't know what it was about her that dug so deeply underneath his skin, but he just couldn't stand her .

And every time that they were near each other he felt a need to snap at her or run the fuck away. Usually a heavy mixture of the two.

She was just so fucking obnoxious and arrogant . She spent half of her time bossing everybody around and demanding that it was her way or absolutely no way.

She just didn't seem to care about the rules or about what was wrong or right, she just went right ahead and did whatever the fuck she wanted without caring about the consequences of her usually stupid actions.

The amount of times that he and Cherrie had gotten into a argument because of how stubborn and careless she was.

It Was slighty insane and no matter how many times max told himself to be the bigger person and not to retaliate , it was like all of his rationality and common sense just left him whenever she looked at him with her smug little smile, her eyes shining at him like 'ha! Fuck you!'.

It drove him crazy and no amount of forced team bonding or scoldings from their team could make them get along.

I mean , how could he get along with the same woman who had cut a large hole in the backside of his racing suit after he had told her that he was going to be the leading car on the track?

If it hadn't been for his laughing assistant pointing out the giant hole in his jumpsuit that showcased his ass, he might have had the most embarrassing moment of his career because of her .

And to make it all even worse, Cherrie had whizzed past him in her car and mockingly wiggled her fingers at him as she did so.

Max had never wanted to hurt a woman bedore. But In that moment he could have strangled her.

He turned to look at Charles besides him instead , wondering why no one else was noticing the infatuating woman dancing next to him.

"Do you see this?" He whispered underneath his breath to the Ferrari driver , a scowl on his face as he saw Cherrie wiggle her hips some more out of the corner of his eye.

Charles peered at him curiously, still keeping his hand pressed against his chest as another drivers national anthem played out.

"See what?" He whispered back to him confused to why he looked like he was about to blow a fuse.

Max nodded his head jerkily to his left , motioning rudely towards his teammate.

"She's listening to Shakira! She's got headphones in! Look!" He hissed at him.

The both of them turning their heads just in time to see Cherrie shake her ass to the music that was playing through her headphones , bobbing her head along obliviously .

"I guess she doesn't know the things that I'd do to please you ...I take you to the malecón por el caminito

They saw your girlfriend looking for me with a rifle

'Cause, we're dancin' Mambo, oh, what she don't allow it?" She sang along passionately , flicking her hair and trying hard not to start dropping low like she would at the club.

Charles just giggled quietly, shaking his head as he warily eyed max who looked like he wanted to throttle her

"She's a good singer." Was all he said to him, immediately looking away once max shot him a disbelieving look in return.

"Un-fucking-believable." He mutteeed to himself bedore glancing up at the screen and nearly jumping out of skin once he noticed that Cherrie was being presented , the cameras zooming in on her dancing beside him withoit a care in the world.

"Cherrie!" He hissed at her , kicking her ankle with his foot to get her attention.

She just lazily tilted her head at him, popping out one headphone and raising her eyebrow at him uncaringly.

"What?" She innocently mumbled bedore spotting herself on the big screen and immediately giving the camera a wave . Winking at it too even though she had no idea what the hell was going on, too busy in her own little world to care.

Max just blankly stared at her, not amused in the slightest.

"Turn your music off now! You're being rude. You're gonna make the whole team look bad!" He snapped at her before inhaling sharply when she just continued to wiggle her butt to the music she was listening to.

"And stop shaking your ass for fucks sake!" He almost shouted at her. Forcefully Tearing his eyes away from said shaking ass to glare at her.

He tried to ignore the way Charles and lando were snickering at them , Charles having nudged the other driver to get him to notice what was going on too.

Cherrie just glared back at him, smugly smirking to herself as she continued to shake her hips, even going as far as offering him one of the headphones for him to listen to.

"And I'm crazy, but you like it

'Cause the kinda girl like me, they're running out of in the market." She sang winking at him, dodging the incoming kick to her ass that he tried to give her.

"There's something wrong with you. You're an absolute rude asshole!" He insulted her , sighing in relief once the presentation was over. The drivers now being aloud to disperse and head over to greet the fans if they wanted to.

Max started walking back to where the redbull garage was, not wanting to be around her for another second. Unfortunately for him, she was his teammate and they both had to get ready for their race.

Skipping over to him so that they were walking side by side , she nudged his side over and over again just to annoy him so more.

Enjoy the way that he was stubbornly refusing to look at her , his face set and eyes staring straight ahead as he tried to ignore her.

Though she could see the angry flush creeping up his cheeks and the flaring of his nostrils the more she poked and prodded at him like a child.

The worst thing being that she actually had a child of her own too .

Max couldn't believe that this childish maniac was a mother and he grew more and more worried by the day. Wondering if little juniper was going to grow up and become batshit insane too.

He felt sorry for the poor kid if this was the bullshit that the three year old had to put up with at home.

"You need to lighten up Mad Max! When was the last time you got laid?! You're so tense!" She taunted him , trying and failing to hold back her grin when he gave up on trying to ignore her and instead shot her a look that to warn her that she was walking on very thin line with him.

But Cherrie had always had great balance on a tightrope so she just kept pushing.

Like always. Annoying max was her favourite thing to do. No doubt about it.

"Never mind I can already guess the answer. Judging by the giant stick lodged up your ass! No girl wants to deal with that. You're so boring!" She groaned loudly as she followed him into the garage , waving at a few of the mechanics that they passed.

Max felt red hot anger pass through him, shoving her in her side a little too hard and causing her to go flying into the shelf. Scowling at her in frustration when she just let out a loud laugh and straightened herself back up, picking up a spanner that she had knocked over during the fall and waving it at him with a grin.

"Maybe this will help loosen that stick up! Maybe we can asked Jerry to help-" she went to call one of their engineers over.

Max quickly leaping over to her side and pressing his hand against her big mouth, dragging her around the corner with him so that she couldn't embarrass him in front of anymore people.

"You need to shut the hell up! It's absolutely no wonder that Matt left you . No man wants to put up with someone this fucking irritating!" He snapped at her. Feeling a pang of instant remorse the moment he said it as she paused in his grasp.

He was expecting her to get upset , mabye curse him out and hit him. But he should have known better than wasting any guilt on her.

Because she just snorted out a laugh and grinned up at him, patting his arm like he was the stupid one.

"I'll have you know that I dumped his ass . Not the other way around! And where still great friends!" She informed him proudly , continuing to trail after him to the redbull hospitality room so that they could get ready for the race .

Max scoffed as he placed his hand on her head and gave her another little shove so that she didn't beat him to the door. Childishly nudging her away with his hip when she tried to push past him to get to the door again.

"If juniper wasn't his child there would be no way that he would willingly hang around you! I'm pretty sure that he's balding because of you Cherrie. That's how fucking annoying you are!" He snapped at her as they both stumbled through the door, neither willing to let the other one go first.

Both of their assistants looked up from the table that they were sat at with matching looks of exasperation as they watched the two champions continue to bicker with each other and shove at eachother like little kids .

Cherrie huffed at him, giving him a particularly hard shove back that sent him falling down onto the couch in the room.

"He was already balding! It's in his family genes! You however , what's your excuse asshole?! It's a god job that you wear that hat so I don't have to see your stupid face!" She shouted at him, picking up a throw pillow and throwing it at said stupid face.

He just stuck out his foot and tripped her , Cherrie yelling as she went flying over his lap. Her face smushing into the cushion as her legs hung off his lap at a weird angle.

Max snickering as he smacked the back of her thighs with the palm of his hand bedore pushing her off of him so that she rolled onto the floor into a heap of limbs instead .

"Fuck you!" He snapped back at her. Placing his foot on-top her back so that she couldn't get back up.

Smirking to himself as he watched her try to wiggle away from him, slapping her hand against his other leg with a pissed off huff.

Neither paying any mind to the disapproving looks that their team was giving them.

"There isn't a hat big enough to cover your hideous face!" He insulted her . Finally lifting his foot so that she could stagger back to her feet with a glare.

Placing her hands firmly on her hips as she stood right in front of him, squinting her eyes at him in disbelief .

"Hideous?! I was voted hottest woman of the year!" She reminded him arrogantly. Flicking her hair at him as she stomped over to where her bag was left, pulling out of her phone .

Max just scoffed , leaning back against the couch and placing his hands behind his head as he watched her .

"Yeah by blind people! Trust me if they knew what you were like they wouldn't be saying that!" He wasn't stupid enough to deny that she was in fact one of the hottest women that he had ever seen.

It was just her big mouth that put him off. There had been many a times that he had catched Himself gazing at her from across the room, in awe by how fucking beautiful she was.

Only for her to spot him looking at her , then she would swear at him and call him some creative insult till he remembered that it didn't matter how pretty she was, she was a fucking asshole. And she loved to make his life a misery!

Cherrie just ignored him as she focused on something on her phone, sitting down on the couch opposite him instead .

There was silence for a few minutes as max just continued to stare at her , wondering who she was texting as he saw a little smile creep on her lips making a weird sensation fill his stomach at the sight.

Unable to take his curiosity anymore , he broke the silence again.

"Which flavour of the week are you texting now?" He took a jab at the way that she seemed to go through men like they were candy. Spitting out the ones that she didn't like the taste of and only keeping around the best ones till she had enough of her fill of sugar.

Max was pretty sure that her newest fling had been some big shot footballer in france .

He had seen photographs of the two of them at a club together, dancing and kissing till they left together in the early mornings. He had stopped reading the article after that. Not wanting to know anymore.

Cherrie merely gave him a unimpressed glance before turning back to her phone.

"Matt just sent me some pictures of juniper in the new merch." She found herself telling him. The mothers pride in her making her want to arrogantly show of how cute her daughter was to anybody that would listen.

Max rose his brows, getting up off the couch and walking over to her . Plopping himself on the seat beside her , he bent his head so that he could see the screen of her phone as well.

"They do tiny versions?" He said surprised as he recalled just how small juniper was. Even for a three year old she was smaller than most of them.

But then again , he thought to himself as he took a glance at the 5,3 woman beside him, so was her mother.

Cherrie hummed and tilted her phone to show him a picture of juniper wearing a redbull top with her signature and car number on.

"I had them make it. She has a few now. The other drivers keep sending us their merch as well. She looks a little odd cause she loves to wear Charles Ferrari cap and Lewis's Mercedes shirt!" She mused with a grin as she flicked through the pictures to show him.

Max smiled , his eyes softening as he looked at the picture of a grinning juniper on the screen. With a hat far too big for her tiny head, her long curls a mess all around her face, her chubby cheeks pink and eyes as big as bambi's. Barely any teeth in her mouth as she grinned at the camera cheekily.

"She's got the wrong redbull shirt on. She needs the champions one." He said with a smirk , already reminding himself to get her a mini version of his own merch for juniper to wear.

There was absolutely no way that he was going to let the three year old wander around in Ferrari and Mercedes clothes. No fucking way!

Cherrie just rolled her eyes, nudging him for his cheek. "She had for the champions one. The champion is her mommy. She doesn't need a cap to prove that." She muttered smugly , locking her phone after she had finished showing him all the latest photos of her daughter.

A lot of people thought it was strange how she and max were permanently at each other's throats yet her daughter was Max's favourite person in the whole world.

As soon as max had seen the baby in her arms when she was just one years old, barely able to speak and just gargling strange noises at him, something inside him had melted .

Forgetting what they had been arguing about almost immediately as he held out his arms to hold her baby with a grin, juniper shrieking happily when Cherrie reluctantly passed her over to him.

A shocked look on her pretty face when she watched max casually walk away with her baby, talking down to her in a cute baby voice as he went around the paddock to show her off like he was the proud father and not the enemie of her mother .

Cherrie hadn’t been able to separate them after that , and whenever she brought juniper to the races with her , max would come over to spend some time with her one on one. Claiming that it was because he didn't trust Matt , her baby daddy, to actually teach the kid some 'manly' things .

Cherrie had merely laughed . Watching max let her baby put a tiara on his head as they had a pretend tea party in the paddock. Even letting her put blush on his face.

No one had believed a word that he said but she wasn't going to complain.

Max may have been an absolute pain in her ass but her daughter loved him and without him saying it, she knew that max adored juniper to pieces too.

"Is she at matt's tonight?" He asked her as he walked over to his side of the room to grab his racing suit, a wall dividing them so they could get changed .

Seeing her assistant motion for her to ger ready as well, she put down her phone and grabbed her own gear as well. Taking the racing suit off the hanger , she spoke around the fabric that covered her face as she pulled off her shirt.

"Yes and No. She's with him right now but the babysitter is looking after her tonight until I get back.." she informed him as she nearly fell over trying to get her fireproofs on.

Max hummed to himself as he put his arms through the jumpsuit , grinning to himself as he heard Cherrie let out a loud curse as she banged into something, a small 'ow' escaping her making him

Chuckle at how clumsy she was.

"Get back from where?" He asked her confusedly. Assuming that she would just be going straight home from the track once they were done racing.

Cherrie huffed "from the club. We go to them after every race . Well, you don't but I do.." she said.

Reminding him of the fact that his teammate was an absolute party animal, if there was a party then she was going to be there no matter what.

It was how she had gotten juniper after all. Though max hoped that she had leaned her lesson from that one, they really didn't need another mini Cherrie running around.

Juniper was already a handful. Turning into an exact replica of Cherrie with her sarcasm and little attitude. They even shared the same judgmental expression on their pretty faces. Max had almost had a stroke when the three year old had looked him up and down with a scrunch or her face as she asked him

"Why are you dressed like a ugly golfer?" When he had shown up in a polo neck and chinos.

She had made him go back to his dressing room and put on something else instead until she approved, all the while Cherrie just cackled proudly at what a menace her daughter was.

"You're gonna go even when you lose the race?" He said to her. Hiding his own smirk as he waited for her to snap at him.

He didn't have to wait long. Walking out from behind the changing wall to see Cherrie already glaring at him with her racing suit tied loosely around her hips.

"You mean when I win? And you lose right? I'll have a drink on you!" She told him arrogantly as she walked over to pick up her balaclava and helmet.

Their assistants ushering them along and to their cars.

Max just scoffed as he looked down at her with a glare . "I'm the leading driver Cherrie. You make space for me. How many times do I have to say it?" He bickered at her .

Cherrie, like usual, was having none of it. Shaking her head at him and giving him a little shove as they rounded the corner, aware of a cameraman now following them to get their pre-race reactions.

She pulled on her balaclava as she spoke "it doesn't matter who's the number one driver dickhead. It's matters who's faster. Which I am. You have to give me room then! Don't be a selfish moron max!" She snapped at him , ignoring the squeeze to her shoulder that her Assistant was giving her, telling her to behave .

But it wasn't the first time that the cameras had caught them arguing and it wouldn't be the last.

Max was scowling at her as his team started leading him away to his own car.

"I've already told you this a hundred times, I'm not doing it again. Just watch my back and do as you’re told!" That was completely the wrong thing to say to a woman who did the exact opposite of what he said.

Pulling a face at his back , she scoffed to herself at his cheek .

“Fucking bastard! He forgets that I’m a fucking world champion too! I didn't become that by being his bitch!" She muttered bitterly as she pulled on her helmet and lowered herself into her car.

Ignoring everyone around her as she tried to get herself into the zone. Ignoring the anger that Max's stubbornness had left her with.

She was going to win whether he liked it or not. She didn't pull back for anyone . Certainly not max.

They were nearing the end of the race when Cherrie finally managed to go from p6 to p3 in seconds , passing by the cars smoothly as she came wheel to wheel with Max's car.

Feeling excitement run through her as she realised thag she could do this. That she could push her car even further , she was the fastest one out of the two of them and she told her team so as she flicked on her radio.

"Max needs to let me pass! I can push! I'm faster than him!" She told them loudly , keeping her eye on the gap that was quickly getting closer and closer between her and her teammate .

Heart racing in her chest with adrenaline as they flew down the track, eyes widening as she realised that they were about to come into a sharp corner again. One that was only big enough for one car at a time.

"We have told him to make space. He's refusing to Cherrie. Just stay calm while we try to sort this out!"

She couldn't believe it. Fury flushing through her as she saw the distant close between their wheels. He was putting both of them in Danger as he refused to make a gap for her, instead closing it and nearly righting her off the track all together .

Managing to yank her wheel to keep her pace, the two cars racing side by side as the corner grew dangerously close.

She pressed the radio button that was linked between both of their cars so that max could hear her snap at him.

"I'm faster max! If you don't let me pass I'm gonna push the both of us off this fucking track!" She screamed at him. Struggling to stop their wheels from colliding as he moved his car even closer instead of letting her through.

She could hear their team frantically telling him to listen and pull back.

Then Max's pissed off voice reached her ears "I've fucking told you already! I'm not doing it! You need to pull back Cherrie!" He shouted back at her stubbornly .

Cherrie glanced behind her to see herself boxed in by two other cars. She couldn't have pulled back even if she tried otherwise she would end up causing them all to crash into a pile up.

Her heart was racing as she panicked "max I'm fucking serious! Let me pass now! There's two Ferrari's behind me!" She warned him.

Max wouldn't listen . Then the sharp corner approached and Cherrie inhaled deeply as she turned her car to try and take the wider line, hoping that max would realise what would happen if he didn't give her any space .

Praying that he would do the right thing.

He didn't.

Instead Cherrie could only yell out angry "fuck!" As she watched in almost slow motion as her front wheels hit the back of his own, sparks flying off the rubber as both of their cars were then flung at a ridiculous speed off the track.

Squeezing her eyes shut as she felt their cars hit against each other , flipping in the air a few times as she tried to keep her body safe.

Max's car went flying over her head as she ducked her head and pressed it against her wheel, thanking god for the halo above her as she felt his large wheel hit off the top of her car before crashing in front of her.

Her own car skidding until it hit the wall with a horrible crash, jostling her body as she tried to catch back her breath.

Staring in disbelief at Max's crashed car in front of her , quickly reassuring her team that she was alright over the radio. Before Turning off her engine and quickly removing the wheel as she hoisted her aching body up and out of the car.

"Fucking shit!" She snarled as she jumped down onto the grass, gritting her teeth in fury as she looked over at the other crashed redbull in front of her .

Watching with anger as max slowly pulled himself out as well, his head turning to look at her . Backing away a little , already knowing what was going to happen.

She completely lost her shit.

Yanking off her helmet furiously , she stalked towards him with a snarl. "What the fuck is wrong with you , you selfish bastard! You could have killed the both of us!" She screamed at him, eyes wide in disbelief at how stupid he had been.

Max lifted up his vistor and glared back at her as the safety car was deployed , glancing over the track to see pieces of their cars scattering the tarmac .

His chest tightening as it sunk in what he had just done, gritting his teeth as he looked back over at Cherrie and saw her holding her side in pain.

Shit.

"Cherrie-" he was quickly cut off before he could even attempt to make any excuses or apologise.

Rage was over taking her and all she saw was red "you stupid fucking idiot! We're both out now! God I could kill you!" She screamed at him before lifting up her helmet and throwing it at him at full force.

Hearing the Marshall's and the medics run over to them , trying to calm her down. She roughly shrugged off one of her hands from her shoulder , instead watching max flinch as he ducked to the side to avoid her helmet flying at him.

Watching it crash at his feet with a wince, he inhaled deeply . Guilt sinking low in his stomach as he watched her blink away tears of anger , being held back by two men as she tried to throw herself at him.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking!" He blurted out honestly. Ashamed of himself for being so selfish and wanting to win. That he put both of their lives at risk.

Not knowing why he couldn't just let his pride go and let her pass him. He knew that she was faster then, that she could have pushed and easy won the race. Yet he had froze up and her screaming at him to move had went in one ear and out the other.

So certain that he could have got around that sharp corner and been p1 if he just kept her car behind him to defend off the other drivers.

How wrong he was.

Cherrie pulled off her gloves and hauled them at his head as well. Slapping the multiple peoples hands off her as she yanked herself from their grip, ignoring them shouting at her to calm down.

Instead she stomped over to max and shoved him so hard that he went flying down to the ground with a startled huff.

Looking down at him with a furious glare, feeling utterly betrayed by her own teammate who was supposed to have her back.

"Fuck you max!" She spat at him . Shaking her head at him in disappointment as she backed herself away from him before she actually did some damage and attacked him.

"I hope you're very happy with yourself! You fucked over not only me winning but you as well! We could have been on that podium together! We're supposed to be a fucking team remember?!" She shouted at him , this time letting herself be pulled away.

Not caring that the scene between them was playing out on the screen for all to see.

She couldn't give a shit.

Instead all she could think about was the fact that her daughter had no doubt just watched her and max crash badly . That if it wasn't for that halo above her head, her daughter would have lost her mother within seconds. Because of Max's stubbornness to win.

Max seemed to be realising the same thing as he pulled himself back to his feet and said her name remorsefully .

"Cherrie please-"

She just shook her head at him , muttering another quiet. "Fuck you." Before turning her back on him completely and letting herself be took to the medics to be checked out.

Leaving max to stare at where she had been stood with his shaking hands on his hips, pulling his visor back down over his eyes so that nobody could see him cry .

Hating himself for what he had stupidly done without thinking .

By the time he was about to go to bed and try to forget this terrible day that he had, his phone rang loudly making him curse out loud in annoyance.

Picking up his phone from his bedside table and checking the time, his frown deepening as he realised it was one o'clock in the morning , looking at the caller ID with confusion.

Wondering why Charles was calling him at such a ridiculous hour. Especially when the rest of the drivers knew better than to disturb him once he had entered the peace of his own home.

Answering the call and Putting the phone up to his ear with a huff .

“What do you want?" He snapped down the line impatiently .

Wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep this whole mess he had created away. Unable to get the look of disappointment and betrayal that cherrie had given him out of his mind.

He was convinced that the guilt was going to haunt him forever at this rate.

Charles voice was clearly slurring as he answered him loudly over the music playing.

"'Max! I can't believe that you did that you naughty boy!" Charles tried to scold him in his drunken state , having re watched the shit show on his phone after it has been sent around the group chat.

Everybody talking about how max had fucked over his teammate again.

Max pinched the bridge of his nose , trying to push down his anger as he told himself that charles wouldn't dare to speak to him like this if he was sober.

In fact , none of them would.

Except Cherrie. She would argue with him wether she was completely smashed or not.

"Is that it? You've called to make me feel even worse about it than I already do?" He shot back to him , rubbing the tiredness from his eyes and glancing down at the photo frame on his nightstand.

Feeling his heart squeeze painfully in his chest as he looked at the photo of him, Cherrie and juniper on a teacup ride that they had hired for her birthday. It was a rare day that Cherrie had actually been smiling at him, her eyes bright and amused as he clung onto her with a laugh, little juniper in his lap squealing the whole ride.

It had been one of the best days in a long time and he couldn't have been more thankful for lando capturing the moment for him to keep forever.

Charles scoffed " yesssss mate. I just wanted to tell you what an idiot you are! You're lucky that pierre had been filling her up with vodka all night bedore she looked ready to plan your murder when she met up with us!" He rambled onto him, hiccuping occasionally .

Max scowled "pierre is with her?" He almost spat in distaste.

Knowing how close that the two were, even more so when they were drunk, it only made him hate it even more.

Not understanding why she could be the best of friends with every other driver but him.

He hated to admit it but he felt a slither of envy whenever the two were around each other. He hated how flirty and comfortable they were, he had often wondered to himself if they had something going on between them.

Having seen pierre over at her house far too many times for his liking.

Max had pettishly made sure that juniper knew that he was the better race driver out of the two. Having had a great laugh to himself when juniper had relayed what he told her right to pierre's  shocked face.

"You're a loser with a shit car." Juniper had told him confidently when he waved at her with a smile, a smile that quickly dropped at her words.

The three year old looking up at max for approval after she had said it. Getting a proud pat on the head from him while Cherrie scolded him for being so childish.

"Yes! They are dancing together! They are soooo drunk mate!" Charles giggled to him, unaware of the fury that he was making max feel .

Swinging his feet over the edge of his bed, he put his phone on loud speaker as he hurriedly pulled on some sweatpants and a old shirt , shoving crocs onto his feet quickly.

"Where the fuck are you guys? Don't let her do anything stupid!" He told Charles firmly as he ran down his stairs and picked up his car keys, bolting straight to his car.

Charles sounded amused "like run you off the track you mean? She can't do anything more stupid than you! And pierre-" he hiccuped again "is making her happy! You made her sad max! That's not nice!" His drunk ness made him barely make any sense as his voice kept cutting in and out.

"Is it club blue?" He demanded , ignoring everything he said as he sped down the highway With his lips pursed . Trying not to think of Cherrie and pierre together in any way.

Charles gasped "how did you know? Are you here too?!"

Max just rolled his eyes as he turned his car around and sped in the direction of the popular club with a huff.

"I'm going to be! What is she doing now?" He wanted to know. Knowing how she behaved whenever vodka was involved.

He just hoped that she hadn't had any tequila yet.

Tequila was the very reason that she had gotten pregnant with juniper in the first place.

The thought of her , pierre and a bottle of tequila between them almost made him gag in panic.

He heard Charles laughing loudly just as he pulled up outside the club. Quickly getting out the car and easily being let into the club once they recognised who he was.

"She's on the table dancing! Oh wow!" Charles gasped in amazement . "She's a really good dancer mate! Look at her hips .." he trailed off in awe.

Max ended the call and quickly shoved through the crowd as the voice of Ricky Martin assaulted his ears.

It not taking him long to spot Cherrie, he just had to follow every mans gaping mouth to the direction of the left .

His eyes going wide as he froze in his spot for a moment, watching as Cherrie pulled off her shirt and waved It in the air with a cheeky smirk on her face as she spun her hips around seductively , tilting her back till her hair cascaded down her back messily .

"I'll let her rough me up

'Til she knocks me out

'Cause she walks like she talks

And she talks like she walks

She bangs, she bangs" he just about heard her sing along : dropping down to her knees as she bounced her hip on the stage. The crowd cheering her on loudly.

Max swallowed thickly and quickly pushed through the crowd till he reached the group of drivers that were also watching her seduce the club.

Running her hands down her bare stomach , rolling her stomach and pushing out her breasts in the tiny bra she was wearing, pushing her already tiny skirt low on her hips as she danced like a stripper.

He gave the nearest driver a shove, it just fortunately happened to be pierre who looked over at him with a frown once he noticed it was him.

"Why the fuck did you let her get up there?!" He snapped at him. His annoyance only growing once how noticed Charles and lando were also staring open mouthed at Cherrie as she turned around, lifted up her skirt so that they could see her ass that was barely covered by lace panties . Dropping down and shaking her ass at them without a care in the world.

"Oh my god." Max muttered , eyes stuck to her ass for a moment before he snapped out of it. Pushing his way through the crowd till he got to the edge of the stage.

Glaring up at her as he shouted her name "Cherrie! Get down now!" He yelled up at her, taking a hold of her ankle before she could start twerking some more.

Her head snapped down to him in surprise , bedore she took one look at him and rolled her eyes.

"Nooooo! Go away you backstabber!" She whined bedore containing to sing along to the music blaring around the club. "I love this song!"

"She bangs, she bangs

Oh baby, when she moves, she moves

I go crazy 'cause she looks like a flower

But she stings like a bee

Like every girl in history!" She sang down to him with a smirk, putting her arms above her head and winding her body like Shakira.

He was reminded then of just why Cherrie was one of the most wanted women in the world.

Max felt like he was going to have a stroke when she suddenly dropped down to her knees in front of him, winking at him once she noticed that he couldn't take his eyes away from her .

Taking a deep breath , he shook his head rapidly to try and clear any dirty thoughts away.

Reminding himself that if he was getting turned on by her dancing like this , then so was everyone else in the club watching her .

Grimacing to himself at the reminder , he leant over the stage and locked his arms around her waist, pulling her down and off of it Before she could even blink.

"We're going home!" He declared to her . Ignoring the way that she was hitting at his arms as she struggled to get out of his hold.

Max just held onto her tighter as he began to carry her towards the exit. Ignoring the other drivers booing at him for ruining the show.

Cherrie slapped at his head , whining . "Nooo! I was having fun! Why did you have to ruin it!"

He huffed as he spun her around so that he was carrying on his hip like a child , giving a casual nod to the bouncer that was watching them in disbelief.

No doubt he hasn't seen a f1 driver being carried out by another f1 driver who has crashed them

Both off the track and got a helmet thrown at him by said woman on life tv before.

"If they wanted to watch porn then they could watch it on their phone! You didn't have to give them it for free!" He snapped at her as he placed her down in front of his car. Pulling the edge of her skirt down as far as it could go over her ass. Which wasn't very far at all.

Cherrie just groaned as he opened the passenger side down and placed his hand on top of her head , not so gently pushing her into the seat.

"You're just jealous that I can shake my hips! Your about as flexible as a table!" She threw back at him, crossing her arms over her chest with a annoyed pout as he slammed her door shut and got into the drivers seat.

Quickly starting up the car and getting them back on the highway, he sent her a unimpressed glance.

"Shut up. There's going to be videos of your ass all over the internet tomorrow now!" He told her unhappily as he took the lane that led back to her house instead of his.

Recalling what she had said about juniper being with a babysitter till she got back.

He wondered how the three year old felt after seeing her mother crash because of him on tv. The guilt nearly made him sick as he sped up the car, wanting to see her and reassure the kid that they were okay.

Cherrie huffed "there's going to be videos of you betraying me as well! I don't even want to look at you!" She then muttered some curse words under her breath at him. "You bastard!"

Max groaned as he glanced over at her , frowning in frustration.

"I know! I know! I said I was sorry! It was stupid of me to do that. I don't know why I did!" He told her , pissed off with himself for doing it.

Cherrie pulled her knees up to her chest, kicking off her heels and holding them in her hands instead.

Glancing over to her teammate and seeing the way his jaw was clenched , his cheeks red with shame and eyes so fucking sad as he looked back at her.

Feeling a little bit of her anger chip away once she noticed just as remorseful he looked.

"Cause you didn't want me to win. That was such a asshole move max." She sighed tiredly , body still aching despite the vodka numbing her a little.

He pulled into her driveway and turned off the car , not getting out just yet.

Instead he gently placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed to her her to look at him again , looking at her earnestly.

"Cherrie, I mean this with every part of me. I am sorry okay? I fucked up and you're right I did want to win. I took our competitiveness too far . And I am so fucking sorry. I wish I could change what I did and just let you pass instead , but I can't ." He sighed , swallowing thickly .

His eyes  scanning her pretty face for a reaction. Just needing her to believe him when he told her that he was sorry.

Cherrie looked back at him silently for a moment before rolling her eyes and admitting silent defeat.

"Okay." Was all she muttered before opening up the car door and sliding out.

Hearing max quickly do the same thing as he jogged back over to her side. Carefully taking her heels from her fingers and holding them in his hand instead.

Wrapping his other arm around her waist as she stumbled into his side , letting him guide her up to her door, seeing the lights still on.

"You forgive me?" He whispered to her hopefully as he pushed open the door and stepped in, pulling her into the hallway with him Bedore closing the door behind them with his foot.

Cherrie just leant her head against his arm with a tired yawn, nodding her head .

"Only if you let me pass next time. Otherwise I'll be the one to push you off the track. And I'll make sure it's worse this time." She threatened him sleepily just as her babysitter came down the hall.

Smiling at them as she put her coat on, nodding her head respectfully at them.

"She's not long nodded off in her bed. She was a little  worried but settled down after a while." She informed Cherrie quietly .

Making max wince with shame at the thought of juniper watching their crash like that. God knows what the poor kid had been thinking.

After Cherrie had paid her babysitter, max carefully lead her up the stairs to her room. His hands hovering over her incase she stumbled again.

"Max?" She called over to him quietly once she had thrown herself down on her bed, max putting her heels back in her closet before walking back over to her with a raise or his brow.

Humming to let her know he was listening as he picked up a packet of makeup wipes and sat down beside her .

Lifting the wipe up to her face , he almost froze as she whispered  a "why do you hate me so much?" To him.

Sounding genuinely upset at the thought of him hating her.

He swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat and started wiping her makeup from her face, gently sweeping the wipe against her skin as he wondered just how honest he should be with her.

But then he saw her sad eyes and down turned lips as she sagged against him, trusting him to take off her makeup and help her into bed in such a state.

He decided just tell the truth for once . "I pretended to hate you because I thought you hated me." He muttered quietly .

Pushing her messy hair from her face and pulling back the covers so he could tuck her in, his hand lingered by her cheek as he gently stroked her cheekbone with his fingertips .

Watching her eyes flutter tiredly as she gazed up at him with a frown , yawning again.

"But I never hated you. I just liked annoying you." She told him innocently as though the years of fighting between them was no big deal.

Max blinked down at her in mild amusement , shaking his head in disbelief .

"Fantastic. So all this time I thought you hated me you were just at winding  me up for your own amusement?" He stated. Pursing his lips at the infuriating woman in front of him.

She just smiled , nodded her head and let out a small giggle . Snugging her face into her pillow as she picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Max felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

Inhaling sharply as her lips made contact with his skin, his face softening as she lifted up her other hand for him to do it back .

Maybe it was because she was drunk and being so uncharacteristically affectionate with him.

Or maybe it was because he loved her. But he gently took her hand and kissed each knuckle softly , letting out a sigh.

"You're such a pain in the ass." He muttered with a chuckle. Unbelievable. "You know that right?"

Cherrie just hummed , smiling up at him. "I know. But you love me though don't you?"

He didn't know how she knew it but she did. Her eyes told him the exact same thing.

Feeling his face heat up as he jokingly dropped her hand onto the bed and pinched her cheek, chuckling as he pushed himself up from the bed before he did something as stupid as kiss her.

"You're crazy cherrie." He just whispered to her as he pulled the blanket over her and flicked off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness so she couldn't see the smile that was taking over his face.

Walking over to the door, he paused as he heard her speak up again.

"You can make it up to me ya know.. might help me forgive you quicker." She told him quietly  , already half asleep.

He smiled , shaking his head fondly.

“Yeah? How can I make it up to you?" He wanted to know .

Already planning on making it up to her as soon as she was sober again.

"You can take me on a date and kiss it better." She told him in a whisper .

Max blushed. Laughing underneath his breath as he pulled open her bedroom door to leave.

"Sounds good. " was all he answered to her, smiling to himself contently .

“Sweet dreams Cherrie." He said before closing the door behind him.

Letting himself breathe again for a moment as he rubbed his hands over his face to try and sort himself out before he walked over to the room opposite Cherrie, smiling at the hand drawn picture of a castle that juniper had drawn being stuck on her door.

Gently pushing open the door he made his way inside , smiling once he made eye contact with the three year old that was already wide awake , seemingly waiting for someone to talk to her.

"Hey." He breathed out happily as he knelt down beside her bed, giving her his hand . "Hi."

Juniper grabbed ahold of his fingers and giggled , pulling at his hand happily.

"Maxi.." she cooed at him , wiggling on her back as she pulled at her blanket with her other hand so it covered her properly .

"You went vrooommmm!" She mimicked two cars crashing together with her hands, looking up at him with wide eyes. Clearly worried.

Max sighed and smiled at her sadly . "I know. Looked bad huh?" He muttered as he grabbed the beanie chair from the corner of her room and dragged it over to the side of her bed so he could still reach her.

Laying down on it and getting comfortable , he gave her back his hand to hold through the gaps of her bed. Juniper quickly latching on as her tiny hand clung onto him again.

"Hurt?" She asked him cutely, concerned.

Max let out a small laugh when she suddenly picked up one of her teddy's and threw it at his face.

Picking up the bright pink fuzzy bear and tucking it underneath his arm to make her happy . He gently squeezed her fingers three times.

"No. We're okay juney. Mommy is okay too." He comforted her quietly . Turning on his side so that he could see her cute little face properly .

She was an exact copy of Cherrie , that he glad for. They had the same soft button nose and long lashes, the same pouty lips and big judgey eyes.

It was too much for his heart to handle.

How was he supposed to just not fall in love with the two of them? Cherrie made him feel alive , she made his heart sing.

And juniper made him happy. The way she toddled around after him and looked up to him. Always repeating whatever words he said and looking up to him for approval afterwords .

He had watched her grow up from a barely one year old who cried at every little noise , to a stubborn three year old girl who was as sassy and sarcastic as her mother. The both of them not letting anyone get anyway with anything.

And now he couldn't imagine a life without them in it.

"I'm gonna marry your mommy one day." He found himself telling the toddler honestly .

Already planning out their future together. Smiling to himself at the thought of Cherrie in a wedding dress, no doubt complaining that it wasn't fair that he got a suit with pockets while she had to shove everything in her bra.

Maybe they'd have a baby like juniper one day too. One that was biologically his. One that juniper could be a big sister to.

That would be the dream. He sighed longingly .

Juniper just giggled "like prince and princess?"

Max laughed "like king and queen. You'll be the princess juney. You can wear that big tiara you like. Or maybe I'll get you a real one." He mused.

The three year old gasped excitedly . "Yay! Are you gonna marry mommy tomorrow?" She asked him impatiently. blinking her big eyes at him happily.

Max smiled , his chest warming . "I'm gonna take your mommy on a date tomorrow. Maybe after the third date. If it goes well." He joked , smiling at her in amusement .

Despite not knowing why he was laughing, juniper just squeezed his hand, happy because he was happy.

"Ok. Can I come?"

"On the date?" He grinned.

She nodded her tiny head. "Yup."

He chuckled "sure. Where should we take mommy?"

She lit up "Disneyland!"

Max smirked . Eyeing the toddler in amusement.

"Maybe. I was thinking maybe a picnic date or something more romantic." He replied. His mind racing with ideas.

There was a pause before "and Disneyland. We could have a picnic at Disneyland." She insisted having been bugging the two of them to go for ages.

Max just smiled , his heart so full of love for the two of them. "And Disneyland." He agreed , laughing when she clapped her hands excitedly .

Knowing that Cherrie was probably going to kill him for agreeing . Having told him once that Disneyland was a place of her nightmares.

But how was he supposed to say no to that cute little face? He wasn't that cruel.

Already planning on getting them a day pass at the Paris park. Then he could let his assistant babysit juniper on the night while he took Cherrie out for a romantic dinner in the city of love.

It was a solid plan.

He had to start making it up to her somehow and what better place to do that than in Paris?

[readerinsertsaremyguiltypleasure]

Hi!! P, 13 for Billy! Angsty but with a happy ending, please! Thank you!

Here you go, anon. 💕

This one is set while Billy is still a Marine.

P. Fighting/almost breaking up 13. 'What happened to us?'

----------------------------------------------

It all started with a really shit day. One of those days where everything that could go wrong did go wrong and all you wanted to do was to crawl into bed with your boyfriend and have him hold you for a while.

But you couldn’t. Because your boyfriend was thousands of miles away, in a desert somewhere in Afghanistan.

So, when you logged on to your scheduled Skype call, your mood was already dismal.

Usually getting to see Billy in any way you could was enough to brighten your mood, but today the low-quality picture and clunky signal just served as an unwelcome reminder of how he wasn’t there with you.

You needed him, and he wasn’t there. Just like he hadn’t been there all the other days you had needed him over the past several months. And all the months of his last two tours.

You were immensely proud of him for his service and would never ask him to quit the Marines for you… but it was hard being left behind. It was lonely.

In retrospect, you should have sent him an email and rescheduled your Skype call, claiming to be sick or something. But you had thought you could power through. You had thought that Billy would make you feel better.

You had thought wrong.

He had quickly noticed your sour mood, which only made his own mood sour in turn, and soon you found yourself in a heated fight while Skype kept freezing on your angry expressions.

‘Is it too much to want to enjoy this time together?’ said Billy in an angry whisper. He didn’t have the luxury of yelling, something that satisfied your petty side. ‘After all the shit that goes on here, I think I deserve a break and a chance to chat with my girl.’

‘We’re not together, Billy,’ you reminded him. ‘We’re on whole different continents. I love you and I’m proud of you, but you can’t expect me to always be okay with that.’

‘You’ve never had trouble before.’

You let out a bark of disbelieving laughter. ‘I’ve never let you see it before,’ you corrected. ‘I can’t count how many times I have cried myself to sleep because I missed having you next to me. Every Valentine’s Day and birthday and Christmas. Every shitty day that would have been made better with just one hug from you.’

‘That’s not my fault,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘I had already signed up when we got together. You knew what you were getting into.’

‘So I’m not allowed to miss you?’

‘No.’

You stared at the screen in shock. That had not been the answer you had been expecting.

Billy seemed to realise his mistake straight away, and he groaned as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. ‘That’s not what I… Look, my tour is over in a few weeks. Then none of this will matter.’

‘Unless the tour gets extended like the last one.’

Unless you don’t come home at all, you didn’t say.

‘Then we’ll just have to deal with it,’ he sighed. Something caught his attention and his gaze drifted to above the camera. He let out an annoyed growl and then looked back to the screen. ‘I gotta go. People are waiting to use the computers.’

You nodded, knowing that there was nothing you could do about it. You weren’t going to deny other people the chance to talk to their loved ones just because you and Billy were fighting.

‘I… I’ll see you soon.’

When the call ended, you finally let the tears fall down your cheeks.

----

Billy didn’t get the chance for another Skype call after that, and the only communication you had was emails which were kept short and succinct.

Only a few more weeks to go. I know.

Mission went well. I’m glad.

Got overlooked for the promotion again. I’m sorry.

Frank says hi. Hi Frank.

What happened to us?

That last message went unanswered.

But you would get your answer soon enough you supposed. By some miracle, Billy’s tour hadn’t been extended, and he was probably already on his flight home.

The thought made you equal parts happy and scared. You had missed him so much and couldn’t wait to see his face in person again… but what if this fight was not something you could both get past? What if the next time you saw him was also the last time?

It was those thoughts that had you stress-cleaning, and you were just about done with the kitchen when someone knocked on your front door. You almost ignored them but decided better of it when they knocked again.

‘All right, I’m coming,’ you grumbled as you made your way to the door.

Your annoyance disappeared the second you opened it.

There, on your doorstep, was Billy, dressed in a suit and holding his duffle bag in one hand and flowers in the other.

‘Why didn’t you use your key?’ you asked dumbly before you shook yourself out of it and stepped aside to let him in.

He gave you a small smile as he passed you. You caught a whiff of his cologne as he did, and your mind finally caught up with the fact that he was really there in front of you.

He was home.

Billy put his bag on the floor near the wall and then turned back to hold out the flowers to you.

You took them silently, and then immediately chucked them away as you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms around him as tightly as you could.

‘I’m so glad you’re okay,’ you cried into his shoulder. You could deal with the fight and the distant emails and the unanswered questions later. Right now, all that mattered was that he had made it home again. ‘I’m so glad you’re home.’

Billy’s arms wrapped around you, making you cry harder. ‘Me too, baby,’ he whispered, and he pressed a kiss to your temple. ‘It’s so good be back for good.’

That had you pulling away, but Billy didn’t let you get very far. He only gave you just enough room to be able to look up at him. ‘For good?’ you asked, hope welling in your chest.

Billy nodded and reached up to wipe the drying tears from your cheeks. ‘I’ve finally got enough saved up to get out. I’ve been emailing the bank, and I think I can get a small loan to set up Anvil at last.’

Anvil had been his dream for a while now, but you hadn’t realised it had been so close.

Your smile could have rivalled the sun at that moment. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ you said.

You wanted nothing more than to kiss him senseless, maybe drag him straight to the bedroom, but the fight still lingered at the back of your mind, telling you that he might not want that.

Something must have shown in your eyes, because Billy suddenly cupped your cheeks and crashed his lips to yours, dispelling every one of your doubts.

You would get past it. You were going to be okay.

You clung to the collar of his shirt like it was a lifeline, even after the kiss ended.

‘I’m not leaving you ever again,’ he said, voice suddenly more serious than you’d ever heard it. ‘No more missed birthdays or holidays.’

You shook your head, feeling silly for the things you’d said all those weeks ago.

‘I’m sor-’

Billy cut off your apology with another kiss, this one less impassioned and more tender.

More loving.

‘Me too,’ he whispered once he had pulled away again. He rested his forehead against yours, and you both closed your eyes, relishing in the fact that you were both together.

You were both still together.

‘You asked what happened to us,’ he said. ‘The way I see it, the only thing that happened is we became stronger than before. Because now we know we can get through anything.’

Tears pricked at your eyes again, but you didn’t let them fall.

You couldn’t agree with him more.

[onsunnyside]

:･ﾟ➴ 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐈

𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 | Chris Evans x short!reader

𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 | fluff, SMUT - minors DNI, short!reader, size kink, spitting, daddy kink, dirty talk, p in v, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it!), creampie

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 | Chris really loves your size difference. ➥ 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐈𝐈 | 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐈𝐈𝐈

𝗪/𝗖 | 2.1K.

𝗔/𝗡 | this is my first time writing reader insert smut !! this is also completely self indulgent. Bold is dialogue. I’m always up for feedback !! [all asks]

˗ˏˋ𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭ˎˊ˗ ⋰˚ 𝐂.𝐄. & 𝐂𝐨. 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

Chris likes to rub it in sometimes.

A pat on the head, using you as an armrest, or joking about packing you in his luggage whenever he went away for work.

He knows that you like it, love it even. There's something about your boyfriend being jacked and a foot taller than you that made you all hot and your mind goes blank.

He adores it. He feels this sense of protection over you whenever you go out. He treats it like his job; keeping you within arms reach, keeping you away from rude paparazzi. Keeping you safe.

Turns out, he’s big enough to mostly block you from the camera's view which comes in handy when you’re feeling uncomfortable and anxious.

Chris fucking loves it when you hold onto his arm, your small hands dwarfed by the size of his biceps.

Even though he’d rather avoid paparazzi whenever he went out, he loves seeing and showing you off in his clothes. Since you’re so much shorter than him, his shirts and sweaters are big and comfy on you and you wear them all the time.

(But sometimes Chris’ shirts are a size or two too small for him, “You’re gonna rip the seams, beefcake.” You tell him, unable to tear your gaze from the fabric stretching over his pecs and wide shoulders).

“You know, I swear I had more shirts than this.” He says, holding a small stack of t-shirts.

“Oh! Do you want one of mine?”

Chris chuckles, "I don't think I can wear your shirts in public.”

“Wait!” You disappear into the closet and re-emerge with a bunch of shirts spilling over your arms. They’re all varying in colour and design. “Take your pick.”

With furrowed eyebrows, Chris studies the pile, “Sweetheart, these are all mine.”

You blink at him, dressed in one of his hoodies.

He sorts through each of them, becoming more disbelieved as he spots shirts he deemed as missing. “Hey! I was looking for this one months ago!” He unfolds a white and black button-up with blue-ish birds and mountains. "Has it been with you this whole time?"

“Well, it is mine."

"No, honey, it isn't." Chris laughs, his blue eyes lit up with amusement. "This one too! I wanted to bring this when we went camping but I couldn't find it." He holds a red sweatshirt.

"You could've asked me."

"I did!"

"Oh. Well... You weren't specific."

"Really—" Chris turns to you, only now realizing you were doing a terrible job at keeping a serious face. "Oh, so you just want me to walk around naked? Is that why you keep stealing all my clothes?"

You sit up, a little squirmy and a mischievous smile on your lips. "If you're offering..."

There have been a few instances where you’ll poke at Chris, annoy him, and act bratty until he’ll swing you over his shoulder and playfully swat your ass. Those particular photos are the quickest to trend worldwide.

Most people online joke about how Chris must maul you, or how they feel sorry for such a girl who has to deal with a six-foot tower of muscle. Others gush about the photos of you craning your neck to look at Chris, or Chris lifting you off the ground to kiss you.

Since you wear so many of Chris’ clothes, he has the marvellous idea to try on yours. Specifically, a red NASA top you found at the thrift store (Chris calls it's a child's shirt, but you know it isn't). Too bad that the narrow sleeves can’t even fit past his elbow and he can barely fit his head through the tight collar.

But ten minutes later, his head is finally through, but the shirt was so small that it looks like a red scarf around his neck. It takes another fifteen to get it off of him, mostly because Chris insists you sit in his lap while pulling it off and he keeps distracting you with his huge warm hands under your (his) shirt.

It's hard for him to keep his hands off of you. He always needs to be touching you.

When you’re doing your makeup in the bathroom, he wraps his arms around your waist and patiently waits for you to finish. When you’re cooking, he leans over you and rests his chin on the top of your head. When you’re walking past him, he pulls you onto his lap and keeps you there with a heavy arm around your waist. At family gatherings, parties with friends or with other celebrities.

If he’s had a few to drink, he grips your hips a little tighter and kisses your neck and shoulders, slowly moving you over the bulge in his pants.

You’ve accompanied him to a few events; premieres, launches, award/fashion shows and even those exclusive birthday parties of his fellow celebrity friends.

It took a bit of getting used to but you take it all in stride now. You love Chris and this was his life, you were lucky enough to know him and have him share it with you. Plus you sort of love getting all dolled and dressed up with him.

At those events, for some reason, Chris has a hard time keeping his hands in appropriate areas. On more than one occasion, his thick fingers will trail down your spine and his palm will cup your ass through your dress (another thing that trends online quickly).

Sometimes when you're sitting in the audience or at those tables with a bunch of other people in the industry, he'll slip his hand up the slit of your dress, and delicately pet too close to your core.

"Are you all right, hun?" Mackie asks after you squirmed and hit your knee on the table again. "You feel a little hot, sugar. We should probably get some air." Chris answers, his free hand touching your forehead before helping you stand. He slyly fixes your dress and ushers you to the washrooms.

"You're so pretty, baby. Just can't help myself." You're pressed against the washroom door, and one loud tear later, you feel the cold air on your heat. "I'll take these." He pockets your lace panties.

Let's just say that his publicist had quite the experience dealing with the several headlines and articles about the small bit of lace hanging out of Chris' suit jacket pocket. Although, days later when reports came out about you waddling back to your seat with messy hair and smudged makeup, there wasn’t really anymore denying what happened in that washroom.

He always wants to cuddle with you, mostly because you drape yourself over him like a small heated blanket and play with his hair or trace his tattoos.

He also completely pins you down with his weight and keeps you all warm and safe while you watch movies or your favourite show. Dodger always wiggles between the two of you for his own share of cuddles.

Sometimes when you’re out hiking and you get tired, he’ll carry you on his back with your short legs swinging on either side of his hips. You're afraid of him getting hurt or tired but he always reassures you that he's fine, so you make it up to him when you get home.

This consists of freshly baked sweets, softly scented candles and a massage, lots of massages that, more often than not, end with you sweaty, out of breath and your hole soaked with your and Chris’ cum.

He takes his time opening you up. Working one then two fingers with a heated gaze until you beg him for another. His response depends on his mood and whether you deserve it; he could give you what you want or he could make you work for it.

“You sure you can take another?” His ring finger traces your hole, “this pussy can barely take my two fingers, sweetheart.”

You don’t know how long he’s been teasing you but you know that you're dripping. With wide eyes, you ask nicely for his cock.

Chris hums thoughtfully, taking his fingers and rubbing them messily around your folds, wet noises filling the room. “You sure you can take it?”

After a few moments of kissing along your chest, and suckling on your neck, Chris manhandles you until your legs are on his broad shoulders, cunt spread wide for the red leaking head of his dick. Trailing the bulbous tip through your wetness, until you choke out a whiney daddy.

He thrusts forward slowly. He doesn’t know where to look; your rolled back watery eyes and raw bitten lips or your pretty cunt eagerly swallowing his wide girth.

“Look at you, such a little thing taking my cock.” “I’m stretching you out, huh baby?”

"M-More, please..."

"More? I don't think you can take more." "Your pussy is barely taking me halfway."

"I want," You whine, "Please, daddy."

Chris shifts above you, piercing you deeply before pulling out until his heavy tip rests on your opening. He grips your thighs, spreading you wide and looking down at your soaked core. Under you, the bedsheets are a shade darker. "You’re leaking all over the sheets, honey." He hovers, glancing at you before spitting on your pussy, the action making you thrust up before he's pinning you back down.

Rubbing the head of his cock at your slick entrance, slapping your clit and right next to your slit. "Did I say you could move?"

You're in near tears, and it's exactly what he wants. You choke out a whimper, "I'm sorry." A slap lands on your thigh. "I'm sorry, daddy!"

"That's right, sweetie." He spits again, this time it lands on your clit. He watches it drip and land on his cock. “Letting me do whatever I want to you. My dumb baby."

His thumb rubs your clit in harsh circles, his blue eyes drawn on your sweaty and twitching figure.

His cock sears into you, the sensation sending your mind into a foggy state. Your weak hands grip his arm as he speeds up, the wet slapping of your skin echoing throughout the room. You groan, jaw slack, dazed eyes following up his wide hairy chest to his tense neck, finally meeting his hungry gaze.

He's rough and passionate, messily kissing you and pulling back to spit into your mouth. He nibbles and moans into your neck, one hand gripping the headboard tightly while the other continues its tortuous rubs on your clit. You clench around him and your eyes roll back, you're drooling as you soak his dick.

"Little cock drunk baby. You gonna cream all over me again?" He ruts mercilessly into you, pinning you down with a hand on your tummy. "I can feel myself inside you. I'm all up in your guts."

You tighten around him again your cunt throbbing. Your breathy daddy's and squeaks, and Chris' groans flow over the banging of the bed against the wall. "Fucking—choke my cock."

"You want daddy's cum? Gonna fill you up, get you all plump and full." He watches you nod and struggle to answer, barely audible words between your ragged breaths.

He secures both your legs on his shoulders, readjusting until you're nearly bent in half under him. Then, just when you thought he was going to slowly grind into you, give you a break before he plows into your poor pussy. But he pulls out, except for the round head and rams forward so hard that your head brushes the headboard.

The intensity in his blue eyes tells you he's not stopping until you beg him to. He pounds into you, fucking you like he's using you. To him, there's nothing like being buried in your wet heat and have you squirming and whimpering under him.

Chris shudders when he comes, his praises alone have you spiralling into another high. He keeps you firmly on his throbbing dick with a harsh grip on your hips. You twitch in his hands, trying to get away. "Don't run from me. You want daddy's cum, so you take it." His warmth fills you to the brim, leaking around his big cock and onto the sheets.

Chris shifts, groaning from his sensitive dick and your tightness, he thumbs your lips apart wider, spitting onto your tongue before kissing you. One of his hands trails down your sweaty skin to lightly pet your sore pussy.

You can't move but you also want more. You tell him such.

A dirty smirk stretches on his face, "You gonna let daddy clean you up first?"

"Yes, daddy." You close your eyes, waiting for Chris to get up and go to the bathroom for the towel. You yelp when he yanks you until you're in the middle of the bed. He's between your quivering thighs, his face inches from your puffy cunt.

"What? You thought I'd let all this go to waste?"

𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: here's part two :^) - ➥ 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐈𝐈 and part three: 𝐈𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐈𝐈𝐈

[justwritedreams]

Jaemin and his plan to help you dump a random guy

Word count: 427 Genre: pure fluff Author: maari Warnings: none Note: Because I love this healthy jealousy with fake dating concept and I haven’t write anything with Jaemin and because I want one here it goes 

Your day was getting really annoying

It's been weeks you're trying to dumped a dude that insisted on you

You came with every possibly excuse and he still didn't get it

You even used the famous it's no you, it's me

So you reached out Jaemin, your neighbor and co-worker

He was always kind and very talkative to you 

You knew each other well

And also you have a crush on him but 

What's wrong with that right?

You wanted an advice to solve that problem, to be in peace again

No one better to help you find a way to kick the man than Na Jaemin, because apparently he was good with that

Every friend of him always looked for his help

You explained the hole story, you two went in a date once and it was terrible, probably the worst from your entire life

"He just didn't know how to kiss, it was a wet and gross kiss, I don't even like to remember. Even when he kissed my cheek, it felt like I was drowning" you said with a disgusting face

"You don't like wet kisses?" he asked and you looked at him at disbelieve

Really, from the entire story he only got that part?

You wanted to say that the only wet kiss in the cheek you actually liked was his in every single morning at work

"I do, when a man knows how to do it" you answered and he just smiled

In that creepy and cute way

"Ok, what you told him?" he asked, looking very curious

"Well, at first that I needed to work on me before jump in a relationship but he keeps insisting that we should try like it's that really hard to understand?"

Jaemin brought his hand to his chin and just let a “Hmm”

"And then he asked if I was in love with someone else because he thinks that’s the only reason why I don’t want to see him"

"Aaand?"

"Well, I said yes"

Jaemin looked at you confused

"But you don't... are you?" he asked, seems a little frustrated

"No!"

You weren’t actually in love but

You had someone in mind. Him.

"Then how you're going to convince him?"

Yeah, that's why you came to him

"I said this because I was thinking it would make him give up and because all the one I could remember was Sebastian Stan, you know I'm a huge fan"

In fact, he did

He always watched your mouth dry every single time that Buck appears in the screen

While you made weird noises

It was cute though, that's what he thought

"Why I feel like there's a but?" he smiled, crossing his arms

"Because there is!" you whined "He want a prove that I'm seeing someone!"

"Alright, he's weird. How you find those guys?" and that came from the most weirdest person you ever met

You roled your eyes, because yeah there's no argument on that

It was true!

"Can you just take a pic with me pretending that we're seeing each other?" you pout and he laughed

Hard and loud

Almost made you take back

"You want me to pretend to be your date?"

"Pretty please?"

Terrible idea

"Fine" Jaemin smiled again

But this time you felt a shiver

Why it looked like he was planning something?

"Fine" you said trying to keep cool

Jaemin shouldn't see how you were affected

You two went on his couch, you took you phone and open up the camera

Jaemin put his arm around you and wow

Another shiver

He was close enough to make you giggle

"Ok, so when I..." you lifted your head with you finger in the bottom to plan everything but didn't even finished

Jaemin used his other hand to bring your face closer to his

And you didn't even blink

He was kissing you in the most sweet, hot and good way

You were caught off guard and accidentally your finger took a pic in the same moment

When the kiss stoped, you saw him smiling proudly

"Wha... that wasn't the plan" you managed to say just that

"Yeah, but I think you needed a really good wet kiss from a man that knows"

And you just smiled like even being convinced he was handsome wtf

“Now give me that” he took your phone and rose up from the sofa

You yelled his name but that didn’t stopped him to open up your conversations 

“YAH! Leave my girlfriend alone, loser. Go find someone else to bother.” he spoke loudly and turned at you with another smile

You just shake your head, feeling your heart beat faster

Girlfriend? Yeah you liked

“Should I tell him to take kiss lessons?”

“Jaemin!”

[fruitcoops]

Could you maybe do that part 5 of truth or drink you alluded to?? :) with Jules and the lupins and basically Jules spilling ALLL of re’s secrets & Marley loving it 🥰

Oh, Jules, how I missed you. The truth or drink referenced in this ask is here (it's been an age since I did one, wow!) and SW credit of course goes to @lumosinlove!

“Please can we have alcohol?” Jules swung his legs under the table with wide, pleading eyes.

Marlene barked a laugh. “Over my dead body, baby Loops.”

“It would be,” Remus agreed with a teasing grin.

“Welcome back to Lion Pride, both of you,” she said, ruffling their hair. Both scrunched their faces up in identical expressions of displeasure. “There are fifteen cards in your deck, and if you don’t want to answer the question, you have to take a drink of apple juice. Not alcohol.”

“You used to be cool,” Jules sulked. Marlene rolled her eyes and Remus reached over to flick his ear. “Hey, that hurt!”

“No, it did not.”

“I’m gonna tell mom you hit me.”

Remus turned to Marlene with a long-suffering look. “Can I have alcohol?”

“Get crackin’, boys, the world wants to know your secrets.” She tapped the deck of cards with a wink and wandered behind the cameras again.

“Alright, here we go.” Remus sighed. “My name is Remus Lupin, I’m the Lions’ right wing, and I’m here with my baby brother to answer some questions. Take it away, Jules.”

“I’m not a baby,” Jules clarified to the camera. “I’m twelve. Who’s the most attractive sibling?”

Remus frowned. “Me? Just ‘cause I’m older.”

“As if.”

“Oh my god,” he muttered, reaching for his own card. “Oh, this should be fun. Name your favorite parent.”

“Dad,” Jules answered without hesitating. Remus’ eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“First, you’re not supposed to answer that fast, and second, what?”

“Dad’s cool!”

“Dad is not cool!” Remus laughed. “I don’t have a favorite parent—”

“Liar.”

“—but mom is the cool one. Dad’s a dork, and we love him for it.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. Mom would literally do anything for you. She learned to skate for you.”

“It’s not like I don’t love mom!” Jules protested as he took a new card. “I love her so much! And I know mom is your favorite, so it’s only fair. Which of us is the most successful, and which is the screwup?”

“I don’t have a favorite parent,” Remus insisted, leaning back in his seat. “And neither of us are screwups.”

“You’re more successful.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re a screwup. It means you’re twelve. Who’s the overachiever?”

“You,” Jules snorted. “You’re such a nerd. It’s embarrassing. What’s the meanest thing I did to you when we were kids?”

Remus rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment, then turned to look behind the camera. “Since we were only kids together for, like, three years, can I say something from a little later?”

“Anything before age 25,” Marlene called.

He nodded decisively. “Sweet. In that case, it’s the time this little monster let a rat into the house, freaked out when he didn’t know what to do, then locked it in my bedroom and didn’t tell anyone until I went to bed and something ran across my sheets.”

Jules shrugged. “You survived.”

“Yeah, and you almost didn’t.”

“So dramatic,” he muttered.

Remus whacked him over the head with the next card before reading it. “Oh, god. Share the most mortifying memory you have of me. If you drink that apple juice and don’t answer, I’ll get you ice cream on the way home.”

Jules leaned back with a hum, already grinning. “Let’s see…”

“No,” Remus groaned.

“Probably—” Jules broke off to giggle. “Probably when you took me into the locker room to meet the team and the whole time I was talking to Sirius, you looked like you were about to melt into the floor. You had this stupid grin on your face—”

“Shut up.”

“—and almost tripped over your own feet, like, four times. This was before you guys were dating, too.”

“You are the worst,” Remus said, though his voice was muffled by his forearms. “Next question?”

“I can keep going. There was the time you gave yourself a black eye hanging Christmas lights, and when you bounced off an enforcer when you tried to check him, and when mom asked you to defrost the chicken for dinner and you forgot so you put it in the microwave and almost set the house on fire, and—“

“Marlene.” Remus raised his head with a pitiful look. “Please make him stop. Please.”

“Okay,” Marlene laughed, a little breathless. “Alright, one sec. Jules, your turn.”

“Ugh, fine. Do you let me win at things?”

“When you were five, sure.” Remus tilted his head to the side. “Otherwise, no. Do you want me to let you win?”

“I’d be so upset if you did. I only get better because I want to kick your ass one day.”

“Language. Am I a good brother?”

“Well, yeah,” Jules said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He blinked at Remus, clearly confused. “Duh. You’re weird and annoying, but you’re one of my top three favorite people?”

“Before or after dad?” Remus teased, but it was soft with fondness.

Jules narrowed his eyes and leaned his elbows on the table. “Wouldn’t you like to know. Have I ever disappointed you?”

“Never. I don’t think you could if you tried. Who’s smarter?”

“Me.” Remus gave the camera a disbelieving look as Jules took a new card. “Ha! I like this one. Which of us was a mistake?”

“Oh, that is a good one. Honestly, I don’t think either of us were planned. Mom and dad definitely weren’t expecting a kid at 21 and 25, and absolutely weren’t planning on another one fifteen years later.”

Jules cast the camera a bright smile. “Oops!”

“But we’re their best mistakes,” Remus said solemnly with the ghost of a smile, as if he was repeating a sentiment that had been said many times before. “Okay, I need to have a talk with whoever set up these questions. Do an impersonation of me, or drink to—”

“Oh, look at me, I’ve got a fancy degree,” Jules mimicked, dropping his voice comically low. “I’m so cool, I’ve got a secret boyfriend and I’m not gonna tell anyone about it for three whole months even though I suck at keeping secrets. I’m tall, so I’m gonna grab my awesome little brother by the ankles and shake him around—”

“You asked me to—”

“Shh! I’m not done!”

Remus gave him an incredulous look. “They get the point!”

Jules stuck his tongue out, but grabbed a new card from the stack. “What are your best and worst memories of mom and dad?”

“Aw, man.” Remus tapped his short stack of cards on the table and bit his lip. “Best and worst…best would probably be Christmas two or three years ago, when we all went skating on the lake.”

“That’s a good one,” Jules mused.

“It’s hard to think of my worst memory of them. Um, maybe after I stopped playing hockey in college? There was a lot of walking on eggshells and it was really uncomfortable.”

Remus read the next card and his frown dissolved into laughter; he reached for the apple juice and filled both glasses to the brim, then pushed them across the table to Jules without a word. “What are these for? You have to read the card, dummy.”

“The most spoiled sibling has to drink,” Remus said with a wide grin.

“It’s not me!” Jules protested, though it was weak. “You were an only child for fifteen years!”

“Yeah, and?” His amusement only grew as Jules struggled to make a comeback. “See, you can’t even deny it! You’re the baby of the family and everybody loves you. How many times have you been to Gryffindor?”

Jules opened and closed his mouth a few times, going red with indignance.

“How many?” Remus’ expression was pure glee. “Buddy, I didn’t leave Wisconsin for anything other than roadies until you were old enough to travel, and then mom and dad had to show you off to everyone.”

“They love you, too!”

“I know they do,” Remus laughed. “They’re great parents and we both had amazing childhoods. You’re still the more spoiled one.”

“I don’t like this game,” he muttered as he drank one of the glasses. “And I’m not drinking that other one. Okay, last question. Should we see more of each other?”

“Of course,” Remus said. “I wish we lived closer to each other all the time. Do you think so?”

Jules reached for the glass, then burst out laughing when Remus’ jaw dropped. “Oh, I got you so good! But yeah, I miss you a ton during the school year.”

“You little…” Remus bit back his threat and ruffled Jules’ hair despite his protests, cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. “Keep that up and you’re gonna get flipped again.”

“You wouldn’t. Not on camera.”

“Try me.”

Jules bolted from his seat and tried to make a run for it, but Remus was faster—he caught him around the waist, hefted him under one arm, and turned him around until he could get ahold of his skinny ankles. “No!” Jules shrieked through his giggling as Remus started swinging him lightly back and forth. “No, no, put me down!”

“Just making sure you really don’t want to see more of me,” Remus said, alight with happiness. Jules’ fingers nearly touched the ground. “You’re almost too big for this.”

“Good,” Jules wheezed. “Are we done yet?”

Remus looked back to the camera. “Thanks for tuning into Lion Pride, everyone. Make sure to like and subscribe if you want a slow-motion tutorial on how to transform your little brother into an emergency pendulum.”

“No!”

“Can you get down by yourself?”

Jules stretched his arms toward the floor, but Remus pulled him up an inch just as his fingertips brushed the tile. “Hey! Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“Pulling me up!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Remus said, adding another inch.

[meryamthebadassbitch]

𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘑𝘦𝘳𝘬 || 𝘗𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘧𝘧, 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳

Soon on Wattpad~

"Do you have one of the Parasites like your dad used to have?" asked Mrs. Chen the girl who paid for the snacks, eyes wide she shook her head in disagreement before stepping out of the store

PARASITE?!

"it's not my fault, dad used to call you that man just don't kill her she can give us a lot of free food you know and you can have extra brains when they always rob her poor store?" "Fine, we'll let it slide" "what do you wanna do?" "We can do whatever WE want" chuckling slightly she nodded making her way upstairs to the rooftop, sitting at the edge with venom beside her they both ate the Pack of chocolate in silence, sure, she was terrified finding out about a symbiote living inside her body just like her father after protecting herself from some scientist, but for these past years she got used to it and they were more like best friends and if something happened to Venom it's like happening to her.

𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠-

Making her way toward the bathroom, attempting to hide from those Men but a voice inside her head made her scream in fear, hiding inside one of the stalls she stared into nothing but emptiness staying quiet as if a serial killer was following her, shaking in fear she tried not to sob out loud by putting her hand on her mouth a drop of a tear falling to the ground as the 10-year-old girl cried in silence with her hands still shaking, the sound of the bathroom stalls being slammed open made her heart stop beating as she started praying for her life, she was going to die that's for sure.

The next thing she knew was the lock breaking and her being pulled harshly by 2 men, screaming in fear she tried biting their hands off but the guns aimed in her head was worse, in a blink of an eye black tentacles came out of her arms and stabbed both of them in the heart, a pool of blood surrounded her as she watched in fear at what she has just done, she just killed two men trying to kidnap her, blood on her white shoes and arms as she tried to open the door and make her way out of this hell hole, but it was the same thing instead this time a group pointed their guns at her as she looked around in search of a place to run away, giving up she sat on the ground putting her hands in the air as told letting the 'police' handcuff her, she's just a 10-year-old girl what possibly could she do?

"mom! please I am begging you to tell them to let me go, we were supposed to be having a girls' night! I promise I didn't kill those men something came out of my arm and-" she couldn't finish her words, Tears welled from deep inside and coursed down her cheeks as she begged her mother for help with a high pitched voice, Anne on the other side stared at her with a guilty look before shaking her head, staring at her in disbelieve she was brutally pulled by the handcuffs away giving her mother one last look.

Did she stay in an Asylum for 8 years without seeing her 'mother' and outside? yes sadly she did, did she get out of the asylum once? no, she never did and that was driving her crazy she was the only one in here and everyone was afraid of her, this place wasn't like any other asylum they brought people with superpowers here, like Eleven from stranger things except Mery didn't have Telekinesis she had Venom.

Sitting in the chair defeatless with an emotionless look on her face, her hands tied to the table, as always, she stared at Anne straight in her eyes "Mery-" "hey doctor, can you please open these handcuffs and let me go back to my room before I do something?" she finally said looking straight into the camera about to transform into the big giant monster when a syringe was on her neck preventing her from doing so, 'how dare she says my nickname' she thought looking straight into her eyes after 8 years of not seeing each other how would you feel and how can she still manage to say her nickname, especially when your own mother is the reason you're looked in here "I Hate you and you don't deserve to be called a mother!" she yelled out struggling from their grip, black tentacles came out of her back as she grabbed every single scientist killing them with no mercy, "Venom, let's get the hell out of here" her voice deadly as she spoke "Copy, you're the boss" just as Anne described she looked just like her father, huge teeth, white eyes, and a long tongue.

𝙀𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠-

"Don't open that door"

"Bitch, Don't order me to do something because you will die waiting?" she said with the usual level of sarcasm before taking off her apron making her way toward the door, what was shitty about this house was it didn't have a peephole, rolling her eyes she opened the door staring at the group in front of her "May I help you?" asked the girl in confusion to why the Avengers are in front of her apartment with a raised eyebrow the Black haired girl was about to close the door when black widow finally said a word after 10 seconds of silence "we need to talk to you?" "Listen, I don't have time to deal with superhero shit I've had enough" "please?" sighing she pushed the door fully letting them in sitting on the couch in front of them with her legs crossed "what?" "Can you introduce us to who you were talking to?" asked Captain America looking at her, raising her eyebrows once again, it was a habit sometimes she bites her nails "were you listening to us the whole time?" "no-" "Jesus, y'all are so famous and busy with superhero shit to the point where you don't understand a joke, Venom can you come out please?" annoyed, a black face appeared beside hers, that was the Parasite living inside her body?

"don't touch it, everyone this is Venom my best buddy and a parasite living inside my body, Her favorite food is brains and chocolate and we both kill robbers every day" putting a fake smile on her face she could see the look on their eyes, Bruce wanting to touch it so badly but stopped when Meryam sent him a look of disagreement, "alright this it, you guys can go, it was lovely meeting you, y'all are awesome superheroes and bye-bye!" "would you like to come with us we need your help, please?" asked Thor holding his hammer, glancing at Venom they both nodded at the same time, they were partners in crime anyways.

"We will but I'm coming alone, see ya at the Tower!" smiling she slammed the door shut

"Can you imagine Thor the god of thunder asking me to come with them, that is awesome right?" "not as awesome as us" nodding with a grin she grabbed her pocket knife charging the gun just in case tying her hair into a bun, putting on the mask Meryam grabbed the bag making her way out of the room.

"Hey miss Chen came to have some supplies?" stated the girl making her way toward the snack session she was probably the only customer here, the threatening sound of another robber echoed around the store as he pointed his gun at the poor woman, "That guy?" "yes bestie, free food for you tonight?" she said making her way toward the man, grabbing his wrist she punched him straight in the jaw, "Mask!" in a blink of an eye the same monster Mrs. Chen saw a long time ago was in front of her expect it was a woman, and that woman was Eddie Brock's daughter, Biting his head off she paid for the snacks before making her way out "night, thanks for the free snack!"

(venom ate the man, duh)

"This walk is boring!" "I know but we're almost there don't worry" "I Miss the Loser" "yeah, same he was the best dad" "and best Host, you both are the best" "aw thanks Venom you're the best too" a soft smile rose on her lips, The world was a better place when she smiled to Venom and he promised to Eddie he would keep her safe, thank god, she had her earphones on so people wouldn't call her crazy for talking by herself, "Jesus how many floors in this Tower?" "93"

"Excuse me is Tony Stark here, he said I can meet him here?" politely asking the blonde woman who was holding a little girl in her hand she took off her mask not to scare her, they didn't seem to recognize her right? "She's probably his wife" the voice of the symbiote echoed around her head as she nodded, "oh yes you must be Meryam, you seem kinda Familiar?" the blonde woman asked her, her heart stopped beating as soon as she said the last words, "o-oh really, who?" "oh never mind, you're so pretty by the way, I should probably go take Morgan to sleep Tony is having a meeting with the rest and they're waiting for you" "Yeah thank you?" "Pepper call me Pepper dear" nodding she waved at the little girl who had a cute smile on her face before making her way to where Pepper pointed

"Hey Old man, you wanted to meet us?" the same sound they heard 30 minutes ago echoed around the room earning their attention, chuckling at how startled they looked Meryam tried to hold her laugh while Venom was grinning evilly on the other side, "Ahh miss Brock come in" "it's Meryam, Anthony" okay that surely got him annoyed she could see how he rolled his eyes, sitting down on one of the chairs she looked around greeting the rest with a straight look.

"Tell us more about yourself?" not wanting to tell them her whole story, she shook her head with an emotionless look on her face "there's nothing more to know about me, I lived 13 years alone that's it, my life is useless anyways I only have Venom and kill robbers nothing more interesting?" one thing they learned about her was how fast she changed her emotions, 5 seconds ago she was trying not to laugh and now a deadpan look on her face. Pietro didn't trust her, not even a single bit and that was why a glare was attached to his stupid face

"So Meryam we're going to be on a mission for these past days and since you have nothing to do, you're going to catch the robbers around the city and take Morgan to school" tearing her gaze away from Pietro who was still glaring she blinked slightly trying to process what he just said, "excuse me, am I getting paid for that?" "yes" "fine, I'll do it, and will you stop glaring at me like I am some target?" her Black eyes met his as she spoke with gritted teeth's, anger rushing through her body Wanda slapping his shoulder before apologizing to her "I am so sorry Meryam-" "it's alright Wanda don't apologize in his place, he just needs to stop and do it all by himself if he's a true man, good night everyone" with that she made her way out of the place trying to calm her nerves down

Anger Issues

"Ohh she got you good" Teased Sam the twin who was still fuming in anger, rage thrummed through his veins as he swallowed down his frustration sending him a harsh look, "shut up birdy" with that he was out of sight just before Clint could say something

"oh these two are not going to be friends or work together, it's probably something worse"

[faeriescorpio]

Whumptober Day 1: All Trussed Up and Still Nowhere to Go

“You have to let go” | barbed wire | Bound

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34194514

not sure how to tag this. very wkm-themed. sorta character death?

-----------------------------------

Mark had been waiting for him.

“We meet again!” He laughed, arms sweeping open, cane in his grip. He had chosen their location to fight well; the dark colors and stark lines of the wallpaper made his red suit pop and the golden light from above gave him an almost ethereal appearance. “You seemed exceptionally furious the last time we crossed paths. I would love to know what I did.” His smirk suggested that it was so he could do it again.

“No more games,” Dark hissed, stalking forward. His shoes clacked against the pale, cold marble floor. His shoulders were hunched together, his fists curled up tightly; he was on a warpath. “I want to know what you did to them.”

“To who?” Mark looked thrown, surprise and confusion on his face. But it was an act, Dark knew.

“My district attorney,” He barked, straight to the point in a way Damien had never been before, but he was desperate and angry.

“What did you do to them?”

“The Dis…?” Mark let out a disbelieving chuckle. His hand holding the cane twitched. “I’m sorry?”

Dark punched the wall, watching Mark fail to suppress a flinch. “I’m not playing!” He roared. “Tell me where they are!”

“How would I know?” Mark snapped back. “I’ve never seen them since the party. I imagine they’re dead, Damien.”

“Liar!” Dark leaped forward and grabbed the actor’s red tie, yanking the startled man closer. “I saw them in your little projects. Your date,” He spat out in disgust, “And that stupid museum robbery too.”

“What?” Mark’s eyebrows furrowed. “My camera person? They aren’t your precious friend.” The words sounded only half-mocking.

“Stop lying!” Dark screamed, and Mark looked torn between laughing and being frustrated.

“I think you’re imagining things, Damien,” He said, scoffing. “I assure you, that they aren’t your district attorney. If you talked to them or even bothered to actually look at them, I think you’d know that.” He tilted his head, malice in his eyes. “Do all those shadows mess up your vision?” He mocked. Dark slammed him against the wall, seething. Mark’s cane tumbled out of his grasp with a clatter and Mark’s face twisted in a mixture of fear and fury.

“I don’t believe you,” He snarled, and Mark growled in annoyance.

“Is this how you’ve been getting my viewers' sympathy?” He barked. “By treating them nicely? I made you to be my villain, not my victim!” He lashed out, shoving Dark off of him. “Why the hell would I play around with your stupid little friend?” He straightened his clothes in a sharp, irritable movement. He scooped the cane back up in a white-knuckled grip.

Dark’s chest was heaving. “No,” He said, shaking his head. “No, no, you’re lying!” He tried to imagine what they looked like. It had to be them, it had to-!

“You’re not fun to me like this,” Mark complained, but part of the fight had left his voice. He stared Dark in the eyes. “Damien, you have to let go. I don’t have them. They’re gone.”

“No,” Dark repeated, and it came out as a desperate whine. He reached out to the man in red, but Mark smacked his hand away like he was a particularly annoying fly.

“They’re gone,” Mark chided mildly, and Dark faltered as he looked at the actor. His shoulders were straight and eyes were gleaming with a sick sort of satisfaction at the knowledge that he won a fight that he didn’t know he was fighting. Dark’s hand fell back to his side, devastated.

“Come find me when you get over yourself,” Mark stepped past him, and he let the actor go. His hands reached up to grip his hair, pulling tightly.

“No,” He whimpered to himself, feeling colder than he ever had before. “No, no, no...”

But his heart knew which one of them was right.

[readyplayerhobi]

Flower | 30

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Angst, fluff

; Warnings: Discussions of sex, questions of consent (no rape, don’t worry), body issues, body weight issues, self-esteem problems, self-confidence issues, brief mention of self-harm thoughts, mentions of bullying

; Word Count: 4.2k

; Synopsis: You finally decide to take a dip into the world of online dating and find the Flower dating app. One of the top matches for you proves to be a guy who looks to be your complete opposite; tattooed, pierced, a metalhead and oh…incredibly handsome. What happens when you throw caution to the wind and reach out to him?

; A/N: This chapter is one pretty close to me and might be tough for anyone else who’s also overweight or has been overweight during those tough times in school! Don’t worry about the MC, she’s okay. There’s no rape, the consent thing is briefly mentioned as a question. Please reblog this if you enjoyed so others can read, leave me comments or asks so I can know what you think :) only 10 more chapters left...

; Flower Masterpost

-

Giggling quietly to yourself, you scroll through the pictures on your phone carefully. It takes you forever to finally move onto the next one as you feel the need to carefully scan over each one in depth to catch all the little things. There’s so much to find in each picture and you spend as long as you can looking them over in amusement, grinning at the odd fashion choices.

“What are you laughing at?” Hoseok asks, coming over from the kitchen with a fresh glass of water for you and a cup of peppermint tea for himself. He’d only been home from work for about ten minutes while you’d been home for over half an hour now. Taking a sip from your glass, you smirk at him slightly as he sits next to you with a deep sigh.

Tiredness is etched into his face today, the dark circles under his eyes a little deeper than usual. He’d been struggling to sleep lately for some reason, waking up repeatedly apparently. Reaching over, you gently cup his cheek and stroke his skin softly, enjoying the welcome smile he gives before you turn your phone around to let him see.

“Interesting hair. How many jars of hair gel did you go through when you were a teenager?” You tease him, watching as his eyes widen when he realises what the photo is. It’s of Hoseok when he was a teenager; maybe fourteen or fifteen and with what looks like a bucket of grease on his head. The spikes of his hair turn quickly into an overly long hairstyle in the next picture, straightened but with a distinctive fringe covering one eye.

“You had an emo phase! Look at you! All that eyeliner and those neon streaks. I never had an emo phase, you know. I don’t think I had any phase to be honest. Except for a horse phase when I was really young.” Hoseok goes to grab for your phone, his mouth pulled into a cringe as you scroll to the next picture and reveal yet another emo looking Hoseok with an abundance of sweatbands, colourful wristbands and more. He looked distinctly drunk, even though he can’t have been more than sixteen.

It’s so strange seeing Hoseok with slightly chubbier cheeks, his body gangly and lean in that teenage boy way as it went through the process of puberty while his face still maintained such a youthful look. Despite that, you can see the template for the statuesque face he’d end up with already in the pictures. The elegant slope of his nose was still pretty, even if he’d not quite grown into it at that point and a jawline that’s not quite as strong as it is now.

“Mom sent you this, didn’t she?” He groans, rubbing at his eyes before peering back at the phone through gaps between his fingers. Chortling softly, you shake your head before looking back at the screen.

“No, actually. She put them on her Facebook. Apparently she found the pictures while cleaning and scanned them in. Reminiscing about your wild years.” That makes Hoseok make the strangest noise, a combination of a groan and a shout. He’s looking at his own phone instantly, face palming when he sees the pictures.

“Moooom,” He whines pathetically, looking through them. You place your phone down on the coffee table and shuffle closer to him, letting yourself see the photos through his screen. Glancing at his face, you take in his slight frown and the pout of his lips, hoping he’s not too annoyed that his mom has put them up.

“Are you angry at her?” Shaking his head, he sighs deeply before letting his phone drop onto the table too.

“Not really. Just...it’s more embarrassing. Though, isn’t that her job at this age? As you can see through; I’ve always been good looking. Maybe not always with the best style admittedly but...at least the music is still great. My Chemical Romance remains one of the best bands in my opinion, even if they’re not as heavy as what I listen to now.” Rolling your eyes, you pull your legs up and rest a hand on your knee.

“I mean...it was certainly a style.”

“So come on then, I’ve shown you mine. Where’s your embarrassing teenage pics?” Hoseok teases, sticking his tongue out at you playfully. The silver ball of his tongue piercing catching the light momentarily before it disappears into his mouth once more.

Awkwardly, you smile back at him before shrugging slightly. The sudden change in your behaviour is obviously noticeable as Hoseok frowns, tilting his head in a silent question at you. Licking your lips, you realise that you’re playing with your fingers. A nervous habit.

“I don’t have any,” At the confusion Hoseok shows, you clear your throat. “I mean, outside of graduation photos. I...I wouldn’t let myself be photographed back then.”

“Wha-, seriously? Like...none? I don’t think my parents would have let me, even as grumpy as I was to them all the time.” You can understand why he doesn’t understand. There’s not many people you can think of who have near enough zero pictures of those years. For many teenagers today, the very idea of not having a million pictures might be unthinkable.

“Have you ever been overweight?” You ask quietly, the question seemingly random as you lean into him until he has to wrap his arm around you to make it comfortable. For a moment, he doesn’t respond. Being with him for well over a year now means that you’ve come to understand him, the knowledge that he’s not ignoring you but considering your question carefully.

“No. Can’t say I have.” He finally answers, running his fingers along your arm slowly. 

Twisting your lips, you sigh heavily and let your head fall back against his shoulders as you let your mind wander back to when you were younger. Back to where your insecurities began, all those years ago. Swallowing hard, you decide to go ahead with it. You’d alluded to it enough and now felt like the right time to finally talk about your formative years.

But your breath stutters, throat closing tighter as you realise it’s hard to go back to then. To when you were so easily hurt and affected by everything. Even in the safety of Hoseok’s embrace, you felt the tremor of fear and anxiety as your memories came back tainted.

“I have. I mean, when I was a little kid, I was like a stick. I could eat whatever I wanted and I used to spend so much time running around having fun. We don’t have too many pictures from back then; my parents couldn’t really afford a camera. Occasionally they’d get a disposable one but that’s about it. But...when I hit puberty around twelve or thirteen...I just kind of, ballooned? I don’t think I even realised it at the time, but it’s like my metabolism just plummeted or something. And before I knew it...I was the fat kid in class.” The heat in your eyes tells you that you’re on the verge of crying and you take a moment to breathe, blinking hard before looking up at the ceiling.

Hoseok remains quiet, letting you tell him without interrupting or anything.

“I mean...no one outright bullied me or anything, you know? It wasn’t like in the movies where you’re getting beaten up or shoved into lockers. It was more...the comments, the looks and just the general knowledge that you’re not attractive. Teenagers are really good at making those sly comments that are so hurtful, especially when you’re so young and still finding yourself. It’d be like...we’d be watching something and a pig would turn up on the screen and somebody would snicker and say it was me. Or someone else would joke about dating me and...I could just tell that it was an insult. And that their reasoning was my weight.” The arm around you tightens suddenly, as if hearing the casual cruelty you’d endured had ignited Hoseok’s protective instincts.

Memories flit by in your mind as you recall incidents; someone in your class finding out your crush and spreading that you liked them. Their disbelieving snort as they looked you up and down, their eyes falling heavily on your stomach before saying it would never happen. Without even realising it, you’re cradling your stomach now. Still not flat like you’d always fantasised, but not like it used to be.

You didn’t hate it now at least. Never loved, but not hated anymore.

“That...that sticks with you. Something I’m not too sure people realise is that, like, when you’re overweight...you’re constantly aware of it. It’s not just your body, it’s your life. It is you. There’s this weird mentality that people think overweight folk don’t know it, that you’re oblivious. You’re never oblivious. You’re not allowed to be oblivious. People make sure you’re aware, you know? The people telling you it’s unhealthy or it’s ugly and stuff. If you’re overweight, you’re well aware of these issues. But trying to resolve them is just as hard. You go to the gym and you’re aware of all the fat rolls, the way you jiggle and roll. How you’re out of breath doing the simplest thing while super fit people are probably watching you in disgust, even though you’re there to get fit,”

“If you eat, then you feel uncomfortably aware that you’re not just eating. That you’re fat and eating. So you become self-conscious over food. If it’s something healthy like a salad then you just think everyone is laughing at you. ‘What’s she bothering with that for?’. If it’s unhealthy then it’s more like, ‘of course she’s eating that, the lard ass’. You’re hyper aware of every aspect of your life and that’s the worst thing. Just...being so aware. You’re convinced that everyone is judging you, staring at you or talking about you. I felt so many times when I was like, fifteen or sixteen that I just...took up more space than I should.” Wiping at your eyes, you sniff before looking at Hoseok and giving him a watery smile.

The concern on his face for you makes your heart swell, the knowledge that he’s listening to you openly. That he cares. Even if you’re exposing a part of you that you’ve never let anyone see. Not even Chungha or Soyeon. It had felt far too personal, something that they couldn’t understand.

“It’s like...everyone has a certain amount of space they’re allowed to have, but when you’re fat, you realise that you take up more. And you become so aware that other people don’t like that. That they’re disgusted by the idea, and you become afraid of things like...sitting on a seat in a bus because you’re terrified of spreading past your ‘space’. Or sliding through a small gap and the panic that you’re just being...too much. I’d always try and run to the school bus when class finished so that I could find a seat first. And I’d always let the other person sit next to the window so that I could hang as close to the edge as possible and get off quickly. Then I’d panic that I’d look disgusting to others, half-hanging off the seat. I just...it affects you. Mentally. You just do things differently because you’re always aware of your body. In negative ways,”

“I’d never go swimming with anyone else. Mandatory swim classes left me panicked because it meant people would see me. See all the lumps and the bumps, everything I hated. I’d never look at myself naked in the mirror, or even in my underwear because I hated it. I was disgusted. I used to fantasise about just...slicing off bits of me to make myself nice and thin. I don’t even know if that’s normal.” Your voice breaks slightly, going slightly hoarse as you recall the pure hatred and revulsion you’d felt for yourself back then. The way your body felt like a cage you were trapped in.

Sitting up straight again, you take a deep breath to fortify yourself before smiling at him gently. Taking his hand, you squeeze it for reassurance and feel comforted when he squeezes back.

“I hated myself. Didn’t ever think I was going to be anything amazing. Or that I’d ever fall in love. How could anyone fall in love with me when I hated myself, right? When I was seventeen, I finally took the plunge and joined this free gym. Started eating healthier. It was really hard. I hated it so much. Vomited everywhere from the exercise, cried a lot. I wanted to lose weight healthily though, not too fast otherwise I’d end up thin but with skin flaps. So it was gradual. I wasn’t hugely overweight thankfully, but I only felt finally happy when I was nineteen.” Now you laugh at yourself, rolling your eyes and poking at your stomach in amusement before kissing Hoseok’s cheek playfully.

He doesn’t laugh back, causing you to kiss him gently. A silent way of letting him know that you’re okay, that it’s okay for him to laugh and smile too. When you pull away, he hesitates for a moment before giving you a slightly awkward smile. It’s enough for you.

“That’s why I didn’t have any experience until college. I was nineteen when I met Chungha and Soyeon in class. They were like...these ridiculously beautiful girls who were so confident and full of life, you know? Partygoers and everything. And I wasn’t. But somehow, we found things in common and it’s like...they knew I needed encouragement. So, it was slow but...I did stuff. I went to the parties...hated them just as much as I thought I would. Finally kissed a guy; wasn't as good as I thought it’d be. Lost my virginity to a random guy at a party in some house when I was twenty. Also wasn’t that good. The extent of my dating life was a few guys who didn’t last long. Both in terms of relationship and sex.” You grin at Hoseok, wiggling your brows and causing him to chuckle in amusement.

His chest gets a little bigger as he pushes it up, a smug look on his face. “All those memories obviously pale in comparison to my amazing kissing and sex skills.”

Snorting, you push at him playfully before reaching up and pulling him down, hand resting on the short undercut hair on his neck as you bring him into a kiss. Hoseok obviously wants to prove his skills, kissing you a little more intense than you’d expected but you just laugh into it before pulling away and smiling at him happily.

“Well...I’m not going to say you’re wrong. It did kind of depress me a little that it seemed guys were only interested when I was a bit thinner but, I also felt a weird sense of pride. That I’d finally done it. Gotten what I thought I’d wanted. Until I realised I hated that whole scene and wanted nothing to do with it. So...I just kept myself as in shape as I could over the years and tried to come to terms with myself. As you know...I’m not quite there. But I’m better than I was, I promise. I just feel a little bad that I was convinced being thin would change things. It changes some stuff but...not everything.”

You can tell that Hoseok isn’t entirely sure what to say. It isn’t surprising really, you wouldn’t have any idea how to respond to someone telling you all these sad things they’d experienced either. But then again, you were just generally useless when it came to anyone else’s emotions and feelings.

When he does finally speak again, his question surprises you completely as it seems to have nothing to do with what you’d just been telling him. 

“Did you drink alcohol back then? I know you don’t drink it now because you don’t like the taste but if you went to parties…” He trails off, his face twisted in question as he considers what you’ve said. It was true that you didn’t like the taste, hence why you never drank it. You also just preferred to drink something like water as it was much healthier for you.

“I did. Too much. When I started going to them, I threw myself into the alcohol as it helped me to overcome my shyness. A drunk me is apparently very outgoing. I also have very little inhibitions when I’m drunk. Pretty sure the only reason I first kissed a guy was because I was completely fucked. And I’d drank a lot when I lost my virginity; there was no other way I was going to get naked in front of a guy.” You don’t notice the instant concern on Hoseok’s face when you say that, your gaze far away as you stare unseeingly at the TV screen.

You’re too busy remembering those wild years in college. Or what you can remember anyway. Another reason you hated alcohol was the way you didn’t feel in control of yourself and your emotions while inebriated along with the way you often end up forgetting parts of a night. Why anyone could possibly enjoy that all the time was beyond you.

“You...I hate to have to ask this but...you did...consent to it. Right? It wasn’t like...forced on you?” Hoseok sounds intensely uncomfortable as he asks the questions, causing you to frown as you look back at him. “I just...if you were really as drunk as you say you were, then I mean, well, I just...I wouldn’t have been comfortable sleeping with a girl who would only sleep with me if she was completely inebriated.” 

He shifts in position on the couch, bringing a knee up so only one foot remains on the floor while taking your hands. The look on his face is completely earnest and filled with worry. For you. And you finally click as to what he’s talking about. Hoseok is concerned that you may have been raped for your first time.

Smiling at him gently, you squeeze his hands and shake your head. “No, no baby. Please don’t think that, I swear. It was consensual. I wasn’t that drunk. Just...enough to let me get over my worries. I needed the alcohol for the confidence and the lights off. I remember it all though. He wasn’t good but he wasn’t mean or anything either.”

His worry seems to decrease a little, shoulders lowering as he lets out a deep breath and you marvel for a moment that you’ve found someone who gets worried about things like that. Things that you hadn’t even bothered to properly consider. If you hadn’t been completely sure in the knowledge of your first time then you’d be concerned as well.

Leaning forward, you kiss his cheek affectionately before grinning at him and cupping his chin. “Thank you for being concerned about me though. I promise, I’ve never been forced into anything like that. I may not have enjoyed a lot of sex but I did it openly in the hopes of it getting better.”

Hoseok’s cheeks flush ever so slightly and you laugh sweetly, kissing his lips quickly before shifting back. Leaning against the couch sideways, you let your head flop onto the back and smile at him.

“So, yeah. That’s why I have no pictures of me from being a teenager. If you thought I don’t like being photographed now, then you’d be shocked to see me back then.” There’s a moment where Hoseok is stiff, unsure of what to do before he smiles back and shifts into a similar position, his head closer than you might have anticipated.

But you get the sense that he’s a little uncertain of how to proceed now.

So you make the move for him, gently pushing at him until he’s laying on the couch. The L-shape means he’s at the point the two halves connect, one half completely free except for Kasumi stretched out. But you want the safety and security of his body. Not only for yourself, but also to comfort him. Even if he hasn’t said it, you can tell he’s a little unsettled by your negative feelings towards yourself.

Hoseok let’s you move him with ease, smiling happily when you get yourself settled and comfortable. His natural scent is strongest at the base of his neck, and you inhale it happily while your arm rests over his waist. Even if you’d talked about your deep and painful teenage years as willingly as you could to him, it was still traumatic to remember. And you needed your own comfort to assure yourself that those years were over.

“Well, I don’t think you’d have wanted to meet teenage Hoseok. So it's probably a good idea we never knew each other.” Humming, you recall all the times Hoseok has told you about his own teenage years. Unlike you, he was much more open about them. Mainly because he acknowledged how bad he’d been.

“I doubt it would have mattered anyway. From what I’ve learnt from you, teenage Hoseok wouldn’t have given me one look. Nevermind two looks.” There’s a brief pause and you feel Hoseok’s chest rise as he goes to respond. He stops though and you chuckle, running your fingers along the soft material of his shirt over his stomach.

“...you might have got one look. I mean, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t exactly picky but that’s not a good thing. Just means I was an out of control teenager. Besides, it sounds like you were very shy and quiet. I was...not. Loud, brash, abrasive. Often drunk and high. God, I was terrible. I don’t know how my parents put up with me, honestly. I wouldn’t have wanted you to meet me. I’d have just hurt you even more.” Humming, you wiggle against him slightly and kiss his neck gently.

“I’m glad we met when we did. I think we’d both had enough time to grow and accept ourselves. There’s no way I would have reached out to you if I was still like my teenage self. And I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have said yes if you’d been like you were.”

“True. Three cheers for maturity! But on a more serious note; I’m glad you’ve told me. I figured there was something along those lines after all these months but...I understand more now. I hope I haven’t made you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.” Closing your eyes, you nuzzled closer to him while shaking your head.

“You haven’t. At least, not through anything you’ve done. It’s mostly been in my head. If anything...you’ve helped me to grow and become more...loving of myself. Just you accepting me has helped so much for my mind to understand that...well, I’m not ugly or anything. That you’re not judging me. And that you actually find me attractive. It’s a slow process.” You feel the press of Hoseok’s soft lips against your forehead, their warmth resting there for a few moments while the arm wrapped around you gently runs along your arm.

The very fact that you can talk with him like this is pure proof of the growth you’ve experienced over almost a year and a half with Hoseok. Just his welcome acceptance and love of you has created a safe space for you to explore yourself and grow comfortable in your own skin and mind. It was nice.

“I’m glad. And if I ever do anything that’s wrong, then please tell me. The last thing I want is to be an asshole by accident. Or remind you of a bad time.” Laughing gently, you smile and nod before tightening your arms around his waist fondly. 

“I mean...I’m still considering the whole lingerie thing. Especially those super revealing ones. I’d love to wear one but I just...don’t think I look sexy in them.” Pouting, you shift as Hoseok moves until he’s looking at you with wide eyes that quickly become stern. Poking your cheek gently, he tuts.

“I’m not gonna push you into that, but there’s literally no way you wouldn’t look sexy wearing black lace lingerie. Oh god. Just the thought of you in it makes me hard. But for now, I’m content with my mind for that.” The way he presses his hips against you lets you know that he’s being truthful, the mental image of you in the lingerie you’d bought on a whim the other month causing the erection that presses against you.

Grinning, you push at him until he’s laying back again and crawl on top of him, raising your brows. “I think you just get horny at the thought of sex full stop.”

“Well...duh. I’m a man. With a beautiful girlfriend. Whom I enjoy sex with.” Laughing loudly, you lean down and kiss his nose playfully. The whine he lets out when he tries to follow you for a proper kiss causes you to grin as you press at his shoulders, holding him in place.

“Glad to hear it.”

[hansoheeglobal]

Han Sohee - 1st Look Magazine Interview

I took lactobacillus that I don't usually take before the shoot. It's all thanks to Sohee. Haha, that's what I ask my fans a lot. Make sure to take lactobacillus. Actually, I skipped lactobacillus and only took vitamins today. I skip breakfast on the day of shooting, but I always take vitamins. You’re famous for your love for fans. You always cares about your fans' meals, starting with lactobacillus. Everyone goes through this and that in life. There are days when I'm flat without worrying about anything, days when I get tired as if my knees are about to bend, days when my head is heavy all day, and days when I don't like everything ···. No matter what day we spend, it was a greeting from the perspective of 'All we have to do is stay together. Rather than 'be happy' or 'cheer up', 'it must have been a hard day, but don't skip meals' seemed to give me more strength. I, you, I hope you all eat well and live a healthy day. You must be busier than anyone else these days, but is Sohee eating well without skipping meals? I talk about it every day, but I can't keep it. I haven't been able to eat well these days. I should reflect on myself. You’re going to meet the viewers through the drama <Nevertheless> which will premiere on the 19th. What attracted you to this work? Even if you don't believe in love, dating a woman you want is annoying, 'Some' is about romance between a man you want to date. As you know, it's based on Naver Webtoon, which received a lot of love. I played the role of 'Yoo Nabi' who became disbelieving about fate after failing in the first relationship. While watching the original webtoon, strange situations that everyone might have experienced at least once, came to me interestingly. Like the title, really, we all know. But there are many moments that you have to go through. It was interesting to see those moments through the eyes of Nabi. I think you’ve been playing a lot of rough love roles, but this time you’re very realistic and like a friend, right? Yes, that's why I think you'll be able to sympathize with me more. She’s even an art student. You actually majored in art, right? There are a lot of similarities with the character Yes, but it's complicated when it comes to Nabi’s In fact, I don't think I would do this if I were Nabi. It's sad to see Nabi like that's why I feel sorry for her. But if I were Nabi in the past, I would have made a choice that wasn't different from Nabi. I can relate to her, but I think we’re getting a lot of different emotions. What did you usually draw when you were an art student? I drew emotions and thoughts that come to mind at that's Or a day's work. I think I used to draw self-portraits often. There's a similarity between art and acting, right? I can't say exactly what it is, but I think there's a part where we exchange. Things that I feel when I see various works of art while watching exhibitions of Seochun. The way I look when I'm drawing a picture of odd affects me in front of the camera. How about meeting Song Kang, a friend of the same age? The drama <Nevertheless> based on the webtoon, became a hot topic from the casting stage with its high synchronization with the character. Song Kang and his partner are known to be perfect. Song Kang seems to have various aspects of his character 'Jaeeon' but doesn't. I think Song Kang's original clear and playful appearance was added to Park Jaeeon's character, making it much more attractive than the original. He's a person who gives good energy so that the other actor can be immersed in the drama. Your stylish look is always a hot topic. Did you pay special attention to anything in this work? What do you mean Stylish? I'm embarrassed. Actually, I usually wear comfortable clothes, but thank you for your support. I think I’ve been wearing track suits all year long. Haha. I know, but I want to show you a realistic image of a college student. Comfortable and clean at the same time. Instead of clothes, I pay attention to accessories when they look dull and boring. It's like a sophisticated yet lovely earring that gives off a small but definite sparkle Sohee, who compliments people by saying that she's 'unrealistically pretty', what do you think about yourself? When you first debuted, you were surprised to see the commercial paper in the commercial video that you were ugly. Well, I really don't know.  When I look at myself, I just think, 'I look like this'.  I know it looks a little odd, but it's still pretty good... Oh, will this be left as nonsense? haha. Still, as an actor, there must be a part where you try to pursue and show a beautiful side of yourself. I want to shine in my work. No matter what the character is, when it's completely focused and well-melt in the character, and when they wears their own color, I think that harmonious moment is the most beautiful moment. What do you think about the modifier "Top Actor" that is always in front of Sohee's name? I am embarrassed and apologized. To be honest, I don't think I've been able to show anything properly with acting yet. Since there are so many shortcomings, I think such a modifier is too early and too much for me. I guess you’ve been thirsty for acting. I think you've been working especially hard since "The World of the Married". Rather than just being busy with thirst, I think it's because I want to show you that I'm better than before in the process of gaining experience. Every time I finish a piece of work, I see some regrets and weaknesses, and I think about what to do in the future, so I quickly find another opportunity and jump in. Now I have a lot of thoughts about how to play various roles and changes. I want to continue to think about it and grow further. When did you feel the most joy while acting? I think it's a great pleasure that you can feel when you're together. The beauty of 'Ensemble' is that you make eye contact with other actors and breathe together. I think it's a very cool and meaningful experience to be a character in a movie and experience various situations and live a different life from myself in reality. The public especially seems to love Sohee's honest and natural appearance. It’s not just a pretty actress, but a new character thag never seen before? What do you think is the other difference that only you have? I don't know. I don't know myself yet. I think time is changing and building up. It's about loving and caring for yourself from time to time while trying to be a good person. I just want to thank those who love Lee Sohee before she is Han Sohee I like 'Lee Sohee's blog posts with vain humor and lovely seriousness. Even if you are busy, will you often leave a blog post? I wish we could talk more. Yes, I am writing this blog to record the moments of my life as an 'actor', which looks special, but not that special. It is also a precious space where I can connect with people who love and care for me. Not often, but occasionally I will leave a trace! Do you have a precious heart that you do not want to lose while continuing your activities? It's a promise to 'live a good life'.  I try to be kind, treat people, and look at the world. I want to cherish people who are more precious than anyone else. I don't think people should ever lose to their ignorance or mistakes. I hope you cherish and care for the precious people closest to you and live a brave life together. Everyone who's watching this video, stay healthy. Be sure to bring your meals.

credit: 1st Look Magazine Vol.221

PS: I’m sorry if there are a lot of mistranslate.

[ms-interpretation]

They are both so funny! Someone somewhere on tumblr described (jokingly) their relationship as being ‘Annoyed to lovers’. I love that take, I find it hilarious. I mean just look at Jeong Tae-eul’s face in the first screenshot when she’s just found the talisman. It just screams: “Are you actually serious?” and Lee Gon must know how strange he is coming across and just decides to... roll with it. I adore their dynamic. How Jeong Tae-eul is so straight-forward and Lee Gon so outrageously earnest. Tae-eul quickly becoming quite bothered by him during their interactions early on (wonder why? *cough* *cough*) and Lee Gon being so happy to have finally met her that he just decides to answer basically everything and anything she asks honestly and openly (the exception being his name) even though it makes him sound completely insane is all compelling stuff. In this scene Tae-eul outright teases him a lot. First about the talisman and then about the “monopoly” money. We see her get quite serious however when she asks him about why he told her "I finally get to meet you". She clearly felt his sincerity in that moment and wants to get to the bottom of what the hell is going on. To say that’s she’s taken aback is putting it mildly. She is quite frustrated by this whole situation and about this man in front of her who is seemingly spouting out nonsense, but who is simultaneously seeming to be incredibly earnest. You see her struggle with this paradox in their scene at the chicken place and while they’re in the bamboo forest as well. 

I would argue she feels something between them early on. There’s definitely some outright attraction. After he catches her off-guard with his compliment (”You look better in real life too”) the camera emulates her point of view and lingers on him as she is looking at him (he is hilariously framed in a very attractive manner in that scene). Then Tae-eul undercuts the moment as she tells him he looks like a criminal, however not before taking him aback by asking him why he is staring at her in a certain way (the implication being romantically). Lee Gon is even flustered for a moment in that scene (which is equally as hilarious as it is adorable). Tae-eul undercuts the moment deliberately, I would argue, to re-assert herself after having been flustered (I love her). A person on twitter has written some really great ‘meta-threads’ where they spell out some of the cultural subtext which cannot be fully translated through subtitles. An example is the “Will you continue talking down to me?” exchange. They bicker about how they are addressing each other (which has to do with who’s older and Korean speech levels). This adds to the emotional and somewhat flirtatious subtext of their interaction, an aspect slightly lost on international viewers. I have attached a link to the thread below. Tae-eul later teases Gon about how she might be older than him in episode nine, which can be argued is a fun continuation of their bickering here. I do think that some of the subtext in scenes like these might have been lost on the international audience (of which I’m part) at times due to the need to read subtitles + not having access to the characters’ tone through their use of language. Saying that however I don’t think that dramas should simplify their scripts to cater to international viewers (that would honestly be awful), but it can be worth keeping in mind when watching as an international viewer. Tae-eul is flustered by his compliment here, and then again when he compliments her at the hotel, but being the somewhat “tsundere”-like character she is she quickly hides it by basically insulting him instead. We see later that this slightly thorny aspect of Tae-eul is part of her personality, which at first glance may obfuscate her very passionate and kind character (her taking on KSJ’s bullies and telling him, somewhat rudely, to come back to the dojo springs to mind - I really like her). 

So two quite quick-witted and unapologetically straight-forward people meet and it all unsurprisingly ends up with them bickering a lot. One of the thing I like the best about their bickering is that it is really equal, neither of them simply “takes it”, so to speak, instead they respond in kind. This creates an air of honest reciprocity between them. Later in the episode stuff gets more serious. Tae-eul gets more and more genuinely annoyed by all the impossible things Gon keeps claiming. After he asks her if there might be a reason for her helping him, she doesn't respond. But she thinks back to that moment later. His lack of a name and the fact that his claims are genuinely insane becomes a bigger issue for her the more they get to know each other (i.e. the more they connect). Her frustration is quite understandable. Her well-honed instincts are basically at war with her rational mind and world-view (and she has started to like him, which makes it all personal). There’s not much Lee Gon can do however. We feel his frustration easily since we know that he’s telling the truth. It all results in their fairly cold goodbye in episode three. Then of course she misses him, and really starts to believe him. Resulting in their quite emotional reunion in episode four. It is so great that in episode five she continues to tease him after she arrives in the Kingdom and finally seeing that everything he has claimed is true. Why? Because it furthers their relationship instead of resetting it. It is also an indication that Tae-eul’s slightly ‘thorny’ attitude is part of her personality and not simply a consequence of her being annoyed with him. She starts to realize just how much she likes him in episode five and six but she also freaks out a little, because she's more emotionally guarded. Which is why after she first opens up, expressing admiration for him and apologizing for leaving him alone, she then states that she cannot compete with a person from his world (expressing some insecurity. I’ll write more about that scene later). Lady Noh’s warning words are fresh in her mind. Back in the Republic however, after missing him and being worried she finally decides to embrace her love for him when he returns. 

Let’s talk about the first mention of the Royal Ancestral Shrine. Lady Noh is referred to here as Tae-eul finds the talisman planted in Lee Gon’s wallet. A talisman which states it purpose as finding love for the recipient. This because Lady Noh is, as she stated in episode one, adamant of finding Lee Gon a Queen so that he can fulfill his duty as King (which entails providing the Kingdom with an heir). This talisman and this mention of the Royal Ancestral Shrine foreshadows this aspect of the plot and is brought up again later in episode 16. Where Lady Noh brings it up, hinting that Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul might marry in a year (‘completing’ the Royal Ancestral Shrine as she put it). A very nice person on soompi explained this for me. She also makes Lee Gon bring a talisman with him as he goes off to have a weekend with Tae-eul. Later on they find themselves back in the Kingdom, almost like the talisman (which Lee Gon accepted this time around which indicates his change of heart from episode one) have deliberately brought them back to the Kingdom to lightly push them to move forward in their relationship. One can definitely argue that it’s technically FateKid’s doing. A very good meta which has written about this in particular is linked below, this blog has a lot of really great posts about TKEM. I would highly recommend it. 

Lee Gon’s amused expression in the last screenshot is such a funny beat, especially in addition to Jeong Tae-eul’s disbelieving expression after she’s found the talisman and her subsequent “Good Luck”. I do so love the comedy in this show. It works so well with the quite grounded characters Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul are. 

Link one (spells out some subtext easily lost on international viewers): https://twitter.com/jungpilot/status/1304404562896277505?s=21

Link two (talks about FateKid and LG’s and JTE’s future and more): https://bitchesoverdramas.com/2020/06/16/the-king-ep-16-the-happy-ending/

[taiblogcomics]

I Can’t Pet Force You To Read This One, But...

Hey there, high school crushes. Well, it's finally here. Can you believe it? Yes, counting from the original Xanga site (which, yes, still counts. It's like our own Golden Age publication or apocryphia), this is our 10th anniversary of reviewing comics. That's fantastic. I'm excited, can't you tell? I can tell, since I'm writing this preamble a good two months before the actual anniverary~

So, last year we reviewed the absolute pile of dreck that is Heroes in Crisis. And while that was worth ripping into, I'd rather not spend the 10th anniversary hating on something. I'd like to do something actually meaningful to me. I've teased about this one for many years, probably for as long as I've been doing this blog, and I think it's time we stopped pussyfooting around and reviewed some Garfield. But not just any Garfield. It's finally time, my friends. This... is Garfield's Pet Force.

I dunno how many people will remember this one. Maybe you recall the direct-to-DVD movie adaptation from 2009, or at least advertising for it. I never saw it, but apparently it differs a bit. They also appeared a few times in those Garfield comics from back in the day. We even reviewed a couple (some were on the Xanga blog). But what we're looking at here are the original novellas published between 1997 and 1999. So yeah, these really are from my childhood. And since I've long espoused that Garfield was always funnier 20 years ago, this must be actual premium Garfield content, yeah? By golly, I hope so, because we got five whole books here today. So we should probably get into them~

Book 1: The Outrageous Origin

This is a classic sort of superhero cover. Standard team shot of poses, and that's fine for a first volume. In fact, that's great. Later editions of this would replace the lightning-filled gradient background with a pure white one, but I have this original version. We'll get to specifics about these characters in the meat of the story, but let's talk about the costumes for a bit. Very classic early-'90s sort of look, before the Dark Age kicked in. Reminds me a lot of Jim Lee's X-Men designs, actually. Making all your characters visually distinct is important in a team book. The heavy lean into secondary colours is unusual for heroic characters, but not unwelcome.

So we actually start with a cold open in the superhero universe. This is pretty much to introduce us to the characters as soon as possible, and thus I'll do the same for you here.

*Garzooka, team leader, super strong, has a razor-sharp claw, and can shoot radioactive hairballs from his mouth. That's... at least a unique power, I don't think anyone on the Justice League can do that~ *Odious, the dumb muscle with the accent on the "dumb". Possibly even stronger than Garzooka, and possessing a "super-stretchy stun tongue", an elastic tongue that can scramble the minds of whoever it adheres to. *Starlena, the team girl. She can fly, and she has a siren song that can put those who hear it into a hypnotic trance. Garzooka is the only one immune to its effects, for reasons that are never explained. *Abnermal, the kid-appeal character. He has ice powers, forcefields, and an ill-defined "pester power" that means he can annoy people on a greater scale than normal folks. It's pretty much only used for comic relief, but that could be a brilliant power in the right hands. *Compooky, the brains of the operation. Other than flight, his powers are limited to super intelligence, which means he's usually the exposition guy. There's probably a reason they left him out of the movie adaptation~

You got all that? Don't worry, we'll introduce you again later in the book. What actually happens in the intro chapter isn't really important, it's just setting up the universe. In fact, it's all taking place within Pet Force #99, a comic just enjoyed by Nermal. Yes, we quickly cut over to the main Garfield universe ("our universe", the narrator calls it), where Pet Force is just a comic book. The Garfield gang is all outside, enjoying a cookout prepared by Jon Arbuckle. Nermal is extremely enthused by his comic book, and brags about how he has all 98 previous issues sealed and polybagged, and this one will soon join them. Sorry, Nermal, this came out in 1997, the speculator boom already went bust~

Garfield dismisses comic books as stupid because you can't eat them or use them as a blanket, and declares that none of the stuff that happens in the comic could possibly happen in real life. Uh oh, irony! Because these things can happen, and do! It's a parallel universe, baby! This might be one of my earliest introductions to a "parallel worlds" concept. Much like Earths 1 and 2 in pre-Crisis DC, the events of the comic are essentially the real life adventures of their super-powered counterparts in another dimension. Most of the action in these stories will take place there~

So here's the setup: Vetvix (the parallel equivalent to Liz the veternarian) is an evil sorceress and scientist, who essentially wants to experiment on animals in peace, and possibly subjugate the universe while she's at it. You could argue that Liz is an odd choice for villain, since our universe's Liz isn't particularly evil. But then, our universe's Garfield isn't particularly heroic either. She operates out of a deadly space station called the Orbiting Clinic of Chaos, and at present she's waiting for the arrival of her henchman, Space Pie-Rat, who is a six-foot-tall anthropomorphic rat dressed in stereotypical pirate getup. Vetvix has just finished inventing a levitation ray, and she'd like Pie-Rat to go out and use it to steal all the food in the universe. Vetvix doesn't think small, is what I'm saying.

The counter to Vetvix is Emperor Jon, ruler of the planet Polyester. He's kind and benevolent, even if he's a little dippy and his fashion sense atrocious. Having gotten wind of Vetvix's latest plan, he contacts Pet Force in their ship, the Lightspeed Lasagna. Upon learning the problem, Pet Force gives chase to Pie-Rat. They eventually corner him on some desolate planet, landing and entering an abandoned factory. Unfortunately, they're not safe amongst the dangerous machinery, because this turns out to be a trap. Vetvix has been busy as hell, because she's also invented a metal that's impervious to their powers. And that's not all, because she's also basically invented the Phantom Zone, where she traps Pet Force forever. It specifically mentions it doesn’t kill them, because it wouldn't be kosher to murder the heroes in a Garfield book~

The Lightspeed Lasagna has both onboard cameras connected to the heroes' belts as well as automatic return protocols, so within two days, Emperor Jon knows exactly what's happened to Pet Force. He needs help, so he calls upon his most trusted and powerful advisor: Binky the Sorceror. Binky's just as loud and obnoxious as in the main universe, but he's also a powerful magician. He conjures up a spell for Emperor Jon that lets him pierce the veil between universes. It's basically Equestria Girls rules: parallel universes have similar characters between them. So to replace Pet Force, they need the nearest genetic equivalents from another universe. And that's the versions of Garfield, Odie, Arlene, Nermal, and Pooky that we know and love~

Back in the main universe, it's another day entirely. Another cookout is taking place, and Nermal has received his special anniversary issue of Pet Force #100. The cover's really special, dripping with '90s cover gimmicks like glow-in-the-dark and embossing. A rarely used one, though, was "portal to another universe". That was pretty expensive to print, so you won't find many comics like Nermal's. Maybe he had something there with the collecting after all. The cover glows, and while Jon is distracted by the grill, Garfield and Friends disappear~

They reappear in Emperor Jon's wood-paneled throne room, now transformed into Pet Force. Emperor Jon and Sorceror Binky try to explain the situation, but Garfield--now Garzooka--is disbelieving of the whole thing. In fact, even the idea that Jon can now hear him talk absolutely floors him. Since he's about to deliver the exposition for everyone, can we talk about Compooky for a minute? This spell has just granted sapience to Garfield's teddy bear. I don't expect deep philosophy from a children's novella, but the ramifications of this are really under-explored. Like, never mind the whole idea of a teddy bear having the same genetic makeup as an alternate universe equivalent. He goes from inanimate object to fully conscious being, and he just rolls with it.

Anyways, once everybody gets caught up on what's going on and accepts the new reality, a training montage ensues so the group can all learn to use their powers without killing each other. Once at least reasonably trained, the reborn Pet Force is sent out to stop Pie-Rat. He's gotten sloppy in the times with Pet Force dead, so they track him down easily. After a brief scuffle where Garzooka takes his eyepatch, Pie-Rat flees in his ship. They follow Pie-Rat back to the Orbital Clinic of Chaos, but they can't go in the front. That led the original Pet Force into a trap. Finding an unguarded maintenance hatch--standard on any big space station--they enter Vetvix's lair for a final confrontation!

After dealing with the Waiting Room of Doom, which slowly fills with outdated magazines, they enter Vetvix's inner sanctum. Frustrated with Pie-Rat's failure, she uses her magic to turn him into an ordinary mouse. Vetvix then attempts to use her same weapon on this new Pet Force, but thanks to story contrivance, it only works on beings born in this universe. As other dimensional visitors already, they can't be banished to another dimension. She then pulls a Dr. Claw and runs off cursing Pet Force's name while her base self-destructs. Vetvix is a very "discard and draw" sort of villain, it seems. Pet Force, of course, makes a harrowing escape just in the nick of time.

Returning to Emperor Jon, they vow to be ready to return whenever they're called on, since evil never stays dormant for long. Odious even gifts Emperor Jon with the mouse-ified Pie-Rat as proof of their victory. Well, I'm glad they remember that, so they didn't accidentally murder a major villain in their first superhero outing. They're returned to their own universe, and the time differential between them places them back with Jon having not had time to even look up from the grill. Garfield begins to doubt the adventure even happened--until that night, when he finds Pie-Rat's eyepatch still on his person. Ah, definitive proof of... eyepatches, I guess~

Book 2: Pie-Rat's Revenge!

You have to wonder where, in a space-faring superhero setting, Pie-Rat got the inspiration for his classic pirate motif. It's a little incongruous is all I'm saying. And hey, remember when I said earlier that Garzooka's purple-and-green colour scheme was odd for a hero? Well, here he is as a villain! That'll catch your eye. This would be a terrific comic cover, which is what you want in a series like this.

The book opens with a brief recap of the previous story's events, then moves into the new plot. See, Emperor Jon has opted to keep the polymorphed Pie-Rat as his pet. How very Ron Weasley of him. That's pretty apt, actually, because similarly Pie-Rat has maintained his intelligence in his new mousey form. Pie-Rat gets sick of being Emperor Jon's pet and plans a daring escape, exploiting the emperor's dimwitted and loving personality against him. Pie-Rat jams the lock with a food pellet and makes his escape that night.

Once free from his cage, he encounters Binky's cauldron, still left in the throne room from when the sorceror summoned Pet Force from Garfield's universe. Figuring he has nothing to lose, Pie-Rat jumps in the leftover brew. Suddenly he finds himself growing. He returns to his original anthropomorphic state--but with a twist. He's now twice his original height, a staggering twelve feet tall. He scoops up the rest of the remaining potion for later, and sneaks out of the palace as best as a 12-foot rat can sneak. Desiring revenge on both his former employer and his longtime foes, he steals Pet Force's ship and makes his escape from the planet, headed for Vetvix's newest base.

After his guards help Emperor Jon put the pieces of the problem together, they decide they must once again call upon the powers of Pet Force to recover their missing vehicle and stop the newly embiggened Pie-Rat. Fortunately, Garfield and friends have been watching movies all weekend, so Jon doesn't notice when his pets disappear from the living room in a bright flash. Of course, once returned to the alternate universe and the situation explained, they still have a problem: how do they give chase to Pie-Rat when he's got their ship?

And speaking of Pie-Rat in their ship, he's followed the trail of a mysterious energy output, and it's led him right to Vetvix's new base, the Menacing Moon of Mayhem. See, this is why you don't blow up your base: the backup base is never as good. if it was, it wouldn't be the backup. Given that it's such a shoddy base, Pie-Rat is easily able to get inside and get close to Vetvix. She's expecting a technological attack, so she's unprepared when he pulls out that vial of magic potion and sprinkles her with it. And naturally, the potion that made him grow 12 feet tall makes Vetvix shrink to 5 inches. It's magic, we don't have to explain it!

Pie-Rat takes the magic crystal that Vetvix uses to fuel her powers, which of course didn't shrink because magic is just bullshit. See previous paragraph's last sentence. And while Pie-Rat takes over the base and begins plotting a further revenge against Pet Force, we cut over to them. They're at Sorceror Binky's own castle, and it's clear he's a bit of a hoarder. This is to their advantage, though, as they eventually piece together a working spaceship out of old car parts and other things, all patched together between Compooky's know-how and Binky's magic. This seems like the sort of book where I could use that "it's magic" quote every other paragraph. But craft a new--if small--ship they do, and speed off in the newly christened Planetary Pizza.

The rickety little ship does eventually find its way to Pie-Rat's base, saving him the trouble of being proactive as a villain. The magic thing keeps happening, and Pie-Rat basically becomes Discord for a bit while he fights them, doing things like turning Starlena's siren song into actual living music notes. One by one, the members of Pet Force are taken out, with only Garzooka is left. He and Pie-Rat struggle, while Pie-Rat tries to aim the magic crystal at Garzooka. Garzooka uses his claw to rip the crystal from Pie-Rat and defeat him.

Unfortunately, here's where the cover comes in. It seems the moments Pie-Rat was focusing the crystal during the struggle affected Garzooka's mind. He puts the crystal around his own neck. which turns him evil. He helps Pie-Rat to his feet, and the pair escape in the Lightspeed Lasagna. While Pet Force pursues them in their ramshackle ship, the new criminal duo strikes the storage planet of Deli to steal their food. Pet Force manages to catch up as the villains celebrate their spoils, and use a magic blast from the systems Binky installed to short out the Lightspeed Lasagna. This enables them to dock with the ship and climb aboard for a contfrontation.

The group fights, and once again the bearer of a bullshit magic crystal subdues the heroes easily. Annoyed now, Garzooka takes hold of Starlena and prepares to kill her or something. She taps into the one thing she has left: she's not fighting just Garzooka, but Garfield in his body. She drops some heavy put-downs, which resonate with Garfield, and he hesitates long enough for her to cut the crystal off him. The crystal hits the floor and shatters, undoing its evil magics on Garzooka's mind as well as on all his teammates. With Pet Force reunited, Pie-Rat is easily subdued and locked up.

The group waits for the ship to power back up, then speed off to apologise to the planet Deli. Following that, they head back towards Vetvix's moonbase. That night, though, the magic that was making Pie-Rat 12 feet tall wears off, and he escapes from his cell. He steals the remaining shards of the crystal, climbs into the Planetary Pizza, and makes a getaway. As a bonus, he also repeats the power-down spell against the bigger ship, giving him ample time to escape. And he's not the only one. Over on the Menacing Moon of Mayhem, Vetvix also returns to her proper size, and abandons this base as well. And when Pet Force fails to find her, they simply return to their own universe, ready to be called on once again in the future~

Book 3: K-Niner: Dog of Doom!

Another very basic comic book-style cover. K-Niner is a much more typical villain in style. This one's actually a wrap-around, and features the rest of Pet Force reacting to K-Niner on the back cover. Which is good because, other than the first cover, the covers all have a heavy Garzooka focus. Which makes sense for a book series, I suppose, you wanna assure the kiddos that Garfield's gonna be in the book. But as a comic book series, this would be a bad look for a team book~

So after our standard introduction and recap, we start off with Vetvix in yet another new base, the Floating Fortress of Fear. I'm sure it's very intimidating, if she can keep hold of it for more than a single book. She's picking up from the epilogue and putting the last touches on K-Niner, mostly enhancing his intelligence. Now, you look at the cover and tell me what kind of voice you'd expect. Some sort of German or Austrian accent, like the doberman on Road Rovers? Does anyone remember Road Rovers~? Anyways, but no: he speaks with a posh British accent. You know, the "I say, good chaps, looks like we're in a bit of a sticky wicket, eh wot?" type. Trust me, you can tell. But just because he sounds refined doesn't mean he's not evil.

I also love that after the initial "trapped them in the Phantom Zone" bit, the villains just go whole ham. K-Niner here demonstrates that he is indeed evil by threatening to rip out Vetvix's throat. Let your villains be villainous is all I'm saying. She's pleased he's so vicious, but feels he needs to learn his place as well. She force-chokes him until he complies. She then gives him his assignment: she thinks dogs should be liberated. The Boy Mayor of Second Life would approve, and so does K-Niner. Turning pets on their masters is just his style.

K-Niner takes a portable evolution gun, and immediately sets off. He begins on the planet Kennel. Isn't it neat how every planet is named after an English word that describes its function? K-Niner quickly takes over the dog population and turns them against their masters, because boosting their intelligence also makes them evil, of course. They use enslavement collars on their former owners, and within a few days, the dogs now run the planet. We cut over to Emperor Jon on Polyester, where a man has crash-landed a ship. He's an escapee from Kennel, and he's here to report the events so we can get the plot moving and once more summon Pet Force!

And summoned once more they are, Garfield and Friends once more conveniently disappearing in a split second while Jon's back is turned (this time they're outside playing volleyball). And once back in the parallel universe, Emperor Jon fills them all in on K-Niner's dastardly doings. Garzooka, naturally, takes great offense to dogs being in charge, and takes his duties as a hero completely seriously for once. Pet Force takes off for a confrontation with K-Niner in the Lightspeed Lasagna. And speaking of Pet Force's ships...

The Planetary Pizza, piloted by Pie-Rat, plants its pads down on polar planet Glacia. Pie-Rat is here seeking a way to restore his magic crystal and regain his mighty magic powers. He's sought out the home of a legendary evil wizard, who's known by the name of... Barfo. I see why Barfo keeps his location a secret. But anyway, Barfo is the one who made the crystal, so naturally Pie-Rat reasons he can restore it as well. Suprisingly once on Glacia, Barfo's evil lair is pretty easy to find. His manservant, Hobart the Gnome, brings Pie-Rat before the wizard, and within moments the crystal is restored! Pie-Rat turns to thank Hobart, but Hobart suddenly turns into Vetvix!

Yes, Vetvix knew all along that Pie-Rat's quest would lead him here. And as she was once Barfo's student in the ways of evil magic, she knew she could get the old coot to go along with her plan. Barfo returns the crystal to Vetvix, restoring her powers. And so Pie-Rat, a recurring villain in three whole books, is unceremoniously done away with, as Vetvix teleports him inside an asteroid, trapping him in solid rock. Even if the asteroid were hollow or he displaced the interior when he teleported in, no doubt he'll suffocate within moments. That's pretty harsh.

With that over, we rejoin Pet Force as they approach Kennel. K-Niner's battle cruiser spots them incoming, and shoots the ship down, even in spite of Abnermal's forcefields. Pet Force bail out of the ship, and Abnermal uses his powers to make snow to cushion their fall. Upon landing, a contingent of mutant animals attack. The mooks aren't much, but K-Niner himself puts up an impressive fight. However, one of the mooks pulls a gun and points it at Compooky. This is why Compooky usually stays aboard the ship, but that wasn't an option. Rather than let their friend get hurt, Pet Force surrenders.

Pet Force is held prisoner separately from Compooky, with both the cell's technology making it freeze-proof and threats of "don't break out, or we'll shoot your compatriot". Their imprisonment is not long, though, as suddenly the power goes out. Pet Force takes advantage of the situation and make their escape, quickly running into Compooky. K-Niner didn't think the hyper-intelligent teddy bear needed a high security cell, and just locked him in the basement. It was easy for him to then break out and shut down the local power grid. This also has the side effect of turning off the control collars the humans were wearing. How convenient!

With control of the planet now tilted in their favour, Pet Force now has time to both fix their ship and reverse the polarity of the brain-boosting weapons, turning the dog population of Kennel back to their normal selves. Though the experience did change the pet owners of Kennel. Having experienced life in their pets' shoes (so to speak) for a bit, they've resolved to treat their canine companions a bit more equally. More being allowed on the furniture, less stupid tricks for treats. Still, Pet Force can't stay long, and they head off in pursuit of K-Niner's battle cruiser. This is why most superheroes don't have spaceships (Jedis don't count): if your enemy also has one, they can flee way more easily than on foot.

Not willing to let another place go to the dogs, as it were, Pet Force catches up with K-Niner. With his previous success, Vetvix has stepped up the timetable and sent him after Polyester right away. Emperor Jon is in danger! They enter the planet's atmosphere, and are attacked by fighter craft. They fend them off, but their weapons system is damaged in the fight, so they can't simply use the reverse brain-rays and solve it quickly. The team splits up instead: Garzooka and Abnermal will go after K-Niner, while the other three will find the planet's power source and knock out the collars, since that worked so well the last time.

The two heroes quickly make short work of K-Niner's guards, and then turn the battle to deal with the Dog of Doom himself. While the struggle goes on, the rest of Pet Force reach the planet's power grid. Using a clever tactic, Compooky overloads the power and causes and electrical storm that simultaneously undoes the brain-boosting effect and shorts out the enslavement collars. There's only a few pages left, after all, and we have to wrap this up.  K-Niner is reverted back into an ordinary dog, and the emperor is reverted to an ordinary non-enslaved person. The day is saved!

And now once again, Pet Force prepares to return to their own universe. However... when the spell clears, the five heroes are still standing there. Something is blocking the passage between dimensions, and Pet Force is trapped. And while Pet Force's adventures have taken place between mere moments in their own universe, they have always returned quickly enough that Jon didn't notice a thing. But this time, as Jon retrieves the volleyball and turns around to his pets, he's surprised to find they've all vanished into thin air...

Book 4: Menace of the Mutanator

This one's very striking because of its more painted look compared to the heavy black outlines the rest of the covers have. Does this one count as having the whole team on the cover? Because, spoilers, that's what the Mutanator is: the rest of Pet Force mashed up into a villain. Again, though, that's definitely a striking image that'd draw in readers to a comic cover. In fact, while Garzooka may be over-used as a cover focus, several of these also show him imperiled in some way, and that's nice for character stuff. That helps balace it a bit~

I wanna say, before we start, that I'm impressed by the continuity for the series as a whole. They could've just written each story as a standalone, but for a series of 100-page children's novellas starring Garfield characters as superheroes, things happen in these books. Like, maybe not sweeping status quo changes, but events affect the plot of each next book down the line. And that's where we pick up! Right where the last book left off, with Pet Force now stuck in the alternate universe, unable to return home to Jon. But if they can't go home to Jon, well, maybe then events will conspire to bring Jon to them~

Yep, because Jon happens to wander into the room where they keep the copy of Pet Force #100 that acts as a portal to their universe, he gets transported into the Pet Force universe. And since Emperor Jon is still an extant entity, there's just two Jons now. Jon, of course, is a bit freaked out, and it takes several pages to explain the whole deal to him, and also have a showcase of all their powers to pad out the book some more. Eventually, they decide to call in Sorceror Binky to examine the problem. When he has a go of it, a sudden tornado emerges from the cauldron and whisks away Pet Force--save for Garzooka, whose prodigious strength keeps him anchored.

Garzooka heads out in the Lightspeed Lasagna to track Pet Force's signature, glad to get away from a double trouble Jon. And while he's searching, the scene cuts to Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear. Hey, one of her bases actually lasted more than one book! This is where Pet Force has been transported to, once more in a power-proof cell. Vetvix monologues to the heroes, as she is wont to do, explaining that she's the one who cast the spell to keep them from returning home. And further, she's brought them here to mutate them into her servants.

While Emperor Jon exposits about his backstory (turns out he is not of royal blood, and has about as much legitimate claim to the throne as you or I do), the search continues. Sorceror Binky detects Pet Force, giving them all a view of what happens next. The trapped members of Pet Force are literally broken apart and reassembled: Odious' body, Compooky's brain inserted into the chest, Abnermal's hands, and Starlena's head. She christens this beast "Mutanator", and it is soullessly obedient. I also wanna say, Mutanator's kind of a non-binary icon, aren't they? (The comic uses "it", but it was 1998 and alternative pronouns weren't really a thing yet.) Muscular, masculine body, but confident enough to still wear lipstick. It's a look, is all I'm saying~

Mutanator continues to possess the combined powers of Pet Force as well. Vetvix sends them to attack the planet Armory to gear up before attempting to conquer Polyester. And meanwhile, thanks to the convenience of being able to scan all of Compooky's memories now that his brain is part of Mutanator, Vetvix has the perfect trap to spring on Garzooka--or should she say Garfield. Yes, she really knows the whole origin for Pet Force now, and now she knows all Garfield's weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and probably blood type and other dating profile stats~

Thus, when Garzooka receives the coordinates from Emperor Jon and arrives at the Floating Fortress, he finds himself menaced by giant spiders. Vetvix couldn't think of a way to get Mondays to attack him, so the Giant Spider Invasion will do. Spiders are apparently very formiddable foes, Garzooka's personal fears aside. They can swat gamma hairballs out of the air, they can construct webs as quickly as certain Marvel heroes, and their hairy exoskeletons are resistant to both claw and strength. But despite his fear and Abnermal's running commentary, Garzooka manages to trounce the spiders with a carefully applied flame--taking Vetvix's blueprints with them.

Garzooka heads out once again to track down the Mutanator, leaving his less-than-all-together friends in the safety of their forcefield prison. While he's off, we return to the perspective of his target. Using their combined powers, the Mutanator swiftly conquers the planet Armory and sets their sights on Polyester next. It's not a bad plan, honestly. With the stockpile from Armory, not only will the Mutanator be more powerful, Polyester won't be able to use the planet for backup. Fortunately for the two Jons, though, Garzooka intercepts the Mutanator before they can leave Armory.

The fight's actually pretty good. Very back and forth. But even despite Garzooka's great strength, the Mutanator wins in the end. Thankfully, Vetvix puts her conquest of Polyester on hold to take the time to retrieve Garzooka and add his power to the Mutanator. This, of course will be her undoing--in a completely ridiculous way, of course. For back in the palace, our universe's Jon is watching Pet Force's struggles with the scrying cauldron. And he leans in a bit too close. Sowhile Vetvix is prepping the machine to divide Garzooka's body like she did the rest of Pet Force, Jon suddenly tumbles through the dimensional warp caused by the cauldron and lands on Vetvix, which causes her to put the machine in reverse. A real Jonnus ex cauldrona there, eh?

The Mutanator disappears, their existance as a unique being wiped out as their pieces return to their proper Pet Force owners. With Pet Force reassembled, Garzooka takes out Vetvix with one of his gamma-radiated hairballs while she's distracted by Jon. Pet Force decides that the vile veternarian should have a taste of her own medicine, and stick her in the body-splicing machine with some of her guards. This divides them all up and mixes them into bizarre combinations. It also has the side effect of disabling Vetvix's magic, so they can return to their own universe now.

The book wraps up here. Pet Force first returns to Armory to both return the stolen weapons and also make repairs on the buildings that were damaged in Garzooka's fight with the Mutanator. That's the sort of thing I'd like to see in more superhero stories in general. The two Jons part ways, with the Emperor believing the other Jon's heroism to have been deliberate. And thus are Garfield and friends returned home. And just like the end of their first adventure, where Garfield couldn't be sure if it really happened, so too is Jon's memory fading. Had he really witnessed all that? Only his pets know for sure--and in this universe, they can't talk~

Book 5: Attack of the Lethal Lizards

This one's another wrap-around, showing the rest of Pet Force engaging the remaining Lethal Lizards on the back cover. This is one advantage books have over comics: a front and back cover you can use for your story-telling. The Lizard designs are pretty good for a villain group too. Like Pet Force, they don't adhere to a particular theme, but they do look good individually. Garzooka roasting a hot dog on a stick might be a bit too comedic for a superhero story, though. It sets the tone wrong. How "lethal" can they possibly be if Garzooka is out here roasting hot dogs in the middle of battle?

So here we go, last book. After the usual recap, we open with Jon explaining to Garfield and friends his latest plans: they're going to WackyWorld, a theme park dedicated to Jon's favourite cartoon, The Wackies. Both Garfield and Nermal think the show is lame, and if those two agree on something, you know it must be so. In less lame universes, however, trouble is once more a-brewing. So it turns out Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear has been orbiting the swamp planet Reptilius this whole time. And her various experiments in the last two books have been radiating the planet in magical energy...

From that magical power, three reptiles find themselves uplifted in intelligence and granted fantastic powers. Please say hello to our three main villains for this book: Snake, an enormous snake (the only one without an anthro design) with stretching powers; Chameleon, who can shapeshift; and Dragon, a komodo dragon with fire breath and the bad attitude to match. While Snake and Chameleon figure out their powers, Dragon declares himself the leader as he's clearly the smartest, strongest, and most powerful. They name themselves the Lethal Lizards and start plotting how to rule the planet.

After that exciting intro, though, the book kind of slows down. First we get a whole chapter of Emperor Jon also deciding to go on vacation, to planet Funlandia. With Vetvix out of commission for a while, there's no better time. In short, he's out of the castle and Sorceror Binky is in charge. This is followed by a chapter of Jon and his pets at WackyWorld. It's certainly an accommodating amusement park to allow pets on its grounds. Garfield at least gets along with the food, but if you know anything about amusement park food prices, the amount Garfield eats will make your wallet weep. Jon takes his mind off it by dragging the pets along to a ride. Surely they have to be under the height restriction~

Fortunately, we get back to the actual stars of this book, and we see a bit more of their dynamic. Snake is the sort who sucks up to whoever's calling themselves "Boss" at the moment. Dragon is power-hungry, and it's clear he'll sell out his allies at the drop of a hat. Chameleon is Starscream. Anyway, they trek through the jungles of Reptilius until they find a downed spaceship. Reviewing the logs reveals it was a scout ship from Vetvix, and they also learn of Vetvix and her mission. However, they don't know where Emperor Jon lives, so they crowd into the the newly christened Rapacious Reptile and set course for the stars.

The first planet they come across is a world called Klod. Quickly the Lethal Lizards beat up the populace and find the local government. Chameleon shapeshifts into a dignitary, pretending to be an advance entourage for Emperor Jon, schmoozing with the governor until he learns both what Jon looks like and the name of his planet. With this information secure, Chameleon nips out suddenly, and the trio sets forth towards Polyester. Governer Klutz calls up the palace as soon as the reptiles depart, and reports the incident to Sorceror Binky.

Binky wastes no time, and he dials up Pet Force. Since all five are in one place, he's able to pull them through even without them being near the gateway through issue #100's cover. Convenient! Pet Force, however, does waste time, as a lengthy comedy scene eats up several pages before we just get on with it. Eventually, the situation is conveyed, and they figure it's safer to keep Emperor Jon on Funlandia for the time being. Compooky stays behind to help plan some strategies, while the rest of Pet Force boards the Lightspeed Lasagna to intercept the Lethal Lizards before they even arrive.

Pet Force spends the next few minutes both scanning for incoming ships and bickering with each other, so I'm very glad when the Rapacious Reptile appears on their detectors before too long. Dragon threatens the ship, telling them to move or he'll knock them aside. It's a spaceship, dude, you can move in three dimensions. The ships trade shots, and while Chameleon's piloting is actually pretty good due to his independently-rotating eyeballs, eventually both ships crash land on whatever planet is nearby.

Both ships crash right next to each other, which is improbable but less ridiculous than some of the contrivances in these books, so I'm okay with it. Now you'd think what with the enemies being reptiles and Abnermal having freezing powers that this battle would be over really easily, but no. In fact, Garzooka and Dragon are pretty evenly matched. Snake turns out to be immune to Starlena's siren song because snakes don't have external ears. See, now there's a contrivance I find a bit weird. Snake swallows Abnermal whole, and Chameleon and Odious get literally tongue-tied. The Lethal Lizards actually live up to their name pretty well.

As the fight continues, half of both sides are laid out when Compooky comes rushing up, saying he has an urgent message from the emperor. And that's when he sucker-punches the team. It was actually Chameleon in disguise, having gotten knocked away when he and Odious separated. So yeah, round one goes to the Lizards, and they make their escape first. Pet Force regroups, and they give chase. The Lizards have enough head start to really lay siege to Polyester before Pet Force arrives, though. They even get access to the palace using Chameleon's shapeshifting, leading to Sorceror Binky letting slip the real location of the emperor just as Pet Force arrives.

Another fight ensues--see, now it's really a superhero story--and the Lizards leave again 2 and 0. This time Snake uses his venomous fangs to attack Starlena. This leads to the weirdest contrivance yet. Maybe not the worst, but definitely the weirdest. They have only minutes to save Starlena. So how do they do it? Well, they notice that Odious drools quite a lot. It's very "fluid output". So they have Binky magically reverse Odious' drooling, so that he has "fluid input" on his tongue instead. It becomes a big suction sponge and sucks the poison out of Starlena. They then restore the drooling, and he just harmlessly drools out the poison. What.

With their teammate saved, Pet Force pursues the Lethal Lizards to Funlandia. They get there just in time to rescue Emperor Jon from their clutches, with Garzooka and Odious combining their strength to literally rip a kiddie ride out of the ground. Starlena corners Chameleon in a hall of mirrors, turning his own trick against him. Snake is undone by Odious' strength. And Garzooka fights Dragon to a standstill, finally trapping all three on a roller coaster still operating. When the ride comes to an end, Abnermal freezes them all until the authorities can retrieve them.

Naturally, Emperor Jon thinks it's all part of the show (because Jon is dimwitted in any universe). The Lizards are sent to a lizard-proof prison (seriously, it specifies this), and Pet Force returns to their own universe. As usual, Jon didn't notice his pets go missing during the dark amusement park ride. The book concludes on an ominous note, however, as the ship carrying the Lethal Lizards makes its jump to lightspeed just as it passes the Floating Fortress of Fear. The shockwave knocks over some debris that reactivates the combining machine, restoring Vetvix to her full evil might once more!

The end!

No, really. Those five books are all there was. I hear it may have continued into the comics, but I don’t know how accurate that is. I didn’t really look into it.

But boy, what a ride, huh? Let’s dissect the books one at a time, since it only seems fair to take them as individual stories.

The Outrageous Origin: It’s a fairly basic origin story, I’d say. It kind of has to be. I guess my main gripe is that, like Rita Repulsa’s entire run on Power Rangers, the heroes never fight the main villain directly. In fact, there’s barely even an evil plot in this one. You have henchmen and some traps, and that’s about it for the menace.

Pie-Rat’s Revenge: A cautionary tale about why you treat your minions with respect. This one’s pretty good, but the events depicted on the cover make up such a small part of the book. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if Garzooka was turned at the beginning of the story? Book 4 would at least do the reverse of that, so it’s not a major complaint~

K-Niner, Dog of Doom: I think this one’s about as middle of the road as you can get. What a coincidence that it’s also the middle of the series! Like I said in the recap portion, it’s a shame that Pie-Rat’s story ended here. This one definitely feels more “villain of the week” than most.

Menace of the Mutanator: This one might be the best book in the series. Garzooka, alone, battling against the best parts of his team? That’s gripping stuff. I guess the main problem is that the Mutanator isn’t really a character in and of themselves. Like, K-Niner, he may have been a generic rent-a-villain type, but he had a personality. Mutanator is little more than an extention of Vetvix’s will.

Attack of the Lethal Lizards: I’m a bit split on this one. The bits with the titular Lizards are great. They steal the show! But the parts where it focuses on either Jon kind of drag, and Pet Force is a bit too jokey here. Like, I get the point is that they’ve relaxed into their roles now, and there’s not much point of doing it as a Garfield story if they don’t actually use the character personalities, but... I dunno. It’s good, but it could have been better~

And that’s it! Like, I dunno how to wrap this up. Pet Force was neither my first exposure to superheroes nor my first introduction to the Garfield brand (you can thank Saturday morning cartoons for both of those). But for some reason, maybe just the absurdly goofy premise, it always kinda stuck with me. And I think that’s a good enough reason to make it my 10th anniversary review, don’t you~?

[min-youngis]

Run! - m.l

gif not mine

~ Pairing : Mark Lee x Reader

~ Genre : Fluff, Humour, Lowkey Crack

~ Summary/Excerpt : “What?” you whisper, suddenly noticing how close he is. You can feel his breath fanning across your nose. “Can we start hanging out at your place again?” he asks, ruining the unintentional moment. “Why?” you enquire, shaking off his effect, eyebrow raised as you keep half your attention focused on what’s happening in the adjacent room and the other half on the conversation.

“There are less people to piss off there."

OR

Your boyfriend has an oftentimes shocking presence of mind that's very beneficial to you.

Established Relationship

~ Word Count : 2,499 (nice!)

~ Warnings : uhh some suggestiveness, some kissing

~ A/N : mark lee has come for me and i am very confused bc suddenly, i'm seeing him in a way i've never seen him before, i just wanna hold his hand.

i'd love to hear feedback, spread the love!

masterlist in my description.

~~~

“Y/N, no.”

“Y/N, yes.”

“Y/N, maybe?” Jisung meekly asks from his place in between the two of you glaring at each other from either end of the couch.

“Shut up,” you both say simultaneously. He retreats immediately, leaning behind and letting you snap back to doing what you were doing earlier. When Taeyong stuck him there in the hope that his presence might abate the standoff, he hadn’t foreseen the poor child being passingly bullied.

“I won’t do it,” Mark says again, obstinate, lips set in a determined line. “We could get in trouble.”

“I’ll ask Haechan and then you’ll get in even more trouble,” you confidently reply, gratified by the gasp you get from Jisung next to you and vaguely rueful that you had snapped at him earlier.

Mark looks like he’s struggling with himself, fists clenched on his lap as his dark eyes don’t leave yours, fight slowly leaving them in recognition of a lost challenge.

“Fine, but only if Jisung comes along.”

Both of you ignore the boy in question squawking out an alarmed, “What?” as he shoots forward, only to be pushed back by you and Mark leaning forward, identical scowls on your faces; yours annoyed and vaguely impressed at his condition and his cocky about managing to cause this minor inconvenience to your, in his opinion, delinquency.

You wonder if you can scare him into agreeing to your terms by glaring hard enough, but you know that he’s probably immune to it by now.

“Fine,” you bite out, cursing his stupid, glinting eyes and the stupid, satisfied upturn quirk of his lips that annoyingly soften the blow of your defeat. “But Haechan is on look out.”

Jisung moans lowly in misery, head cupped in his hands. Mark makes a big show of patting his shoulder in reassurance, accusingly looking at you as if to say ‘See what you’ve gone and done to him.’ There’s a small crack in the façade, as his lips pinch together in an effort to keep from twitching in amusement at the sheer gravity of the situation and how seriously you’re all taking this, and it’s all you can do to not call off the project and drag him to his room and just make out.

He knows. Of course, he knows. And now you’re both playing a different game, a more dangerous game of Who’s Going To Cave First as the staring turns more intense, Mark’s hand subconsciously stilling on Jisung's shoulder and your arms tightening in their crossed position.

“Backing out? Wanna go do something else instead?” Mark asks, voice low and leaving no room for doubt about the something else he’s referring to. It’s a daring move, one which he wouldn’t have attempted if any of the older members were in the room.

The tiny hitch in your breath is masked by Jisung, who hasn’t quite picked up on what’s going on, whining with suppressed hope, “Yes, please go do something else. This is a very, very bad idea.”

Before you can reply (in the negative, because you aren’t a coward and you will not be side-tracked by Mark’s whore-ish propositions even if he’s looking at you like you’re the camera lens and he’s in the middle of a spicier kind of photoshoot), a curious, excited voice comes from behind the couch, making all three of you snap your necks in its direction to look at the new entrant.

“What’s a very, very bad idea?” Haechan asks, gleeful expression on his face that distantly reminds you of the purple, smiling devil emoji.

No turning back now.

You don’t bother with any preliminaries. When there’s mischief involved, Haechan doesn’t need any convincing. Just an audience and somebody to antagonise.

“Doyoung's white chocolate,” you whisper-shout so nobody in the kitchen can hear, breath slowing down and brain moving focus to the extraction mission at hand.

Haechan’s eyes gleam in anticipation as he asks unhesitatingly, “What’s the plan?”

Satisfied, you get up from the couch, signalling the new entrant to take your place as you contentedly say, “This is why you’re my favourite.”

Mark scoffs and you shoot him a wink, standing in front and facing the boys. Haechan looks feverish in his excitement, Mark looks partly betrayed and partly amused, and Jisung just looks like he’s regretting every decision in his life that’s led him here.

“Jisung, you’re our first line of defence. You need to lure Taeyong and Jaehyun out of the kitchen and then go make sure Doyoung doesn’t leave his room.”

He whines is consternation and mumbles to himself faintly, “I just came here for food.”

You move on. “Haechan, you’re on look out.”

“I don’t think you’re fully utilising my potential.”

“You can stop everybody at the door with embarrassing stories about Mark,” you cajole, dangling your worm on a hook.

Haechan shushes Mark’s offended ‘Hey!’ with a wave of his hand as he scrutinises your unmoving frame, fingers stroking his non-existent goatee. “Do they have to be true?”

“Not at all,” you reply, pleasantly grinning in approval at the way his mind works. He nods in satisfaction and shoots a finger gun at Mark who’s in the middle of an eye roll, before leaning back languidly and stretching an arm along the top of the couch, beginning to mutter encouragement to a defeated and vaguely disbelieving looking Jisung.

You turn to your sullen boyfriend, petulant pout on his face as he sits with his arms crossed.

“Mark.”

He grunts shortly in reply. You’ll take it.

“You’re with me. We enter the kitchen when Jisung gives us the signal. I get the goods, you cover me in case anybody gets in.”

He seems relieved with his position, grudgingly nodding, probably realising that he can get away with pretending to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time if you guys get caught.

“What about the distribution?” Haechan asks, suddenly suspicious.

“Forty, twenty, twenty, twenty,” you reply, first pointing at yourself before running through the people on the couch.

Immediately, you’re assaulted by loud protests of ‘Absolutely not!’ and ‘I’m going through this shit for twenty percent?’

Your only ally is Jisung, who looks startled at the sudden noise and worriedly shoots a glance at the kitchen door to the left out of which the steady sound of conversation pauses momentarily before resuming once you pacify the clamour.

“God, okay, fine. A quarter each, are you happy now?” you hiss in annoyance.

They stand down, appeased. Haechan’s evil, gremlin smile is back as he stands up, rubbing his hands together in expectation. “Let’s get this party started.”

Mark and Jisung are significantly slower in their approach, and you try to infuse as much enthusiasm in your voice as you can when you tell Jisung to ‘Go, go, go.’

The rest of you tip-toe towards the kitchen, crouching behind the island counter right outside as Jisung shoots one last pleading look to the ceiling. On receiving no divine intervention, he sighs slowly and shakes his head a bit before squaring his shoulders and entering the kitchen.

You’re crouched in between Haechan and Mark, all of you slightly leaning towards the open door so you can hear what’s happening. Behind you, your boyfriend gently pinches at your waist and you turn around impatiently.

“What?” you whisper, suddenly noticing how close he is. You can feel his breath fanning across your nose.

“Can we start hanging out at your place again?” he asks, ruining the unintentional moment.

“Why?” you enquire, shaking off his effect, eyebrow raised as you keep half your attention focused on what’s happening in the adjacent room and the other half on the conversation.

“There are less people to piss off there,” he replies, looking pointedly at you as a loud laugh comes from the kitchen and you hear footsteps approaching. Jisung’s got a bright future ahead of him.

Before you can respond, Haechan’s hissing at you two to shut up and the next second, Jisung, Taeyong and Jaehyun are walking out, the latter two in dance clothes and Jisung wearing a strained sort of smile. The three of you bend down lower, quiet as mice until the youngest in your group shoots a thumbs up behind his back as they all leave the living room, after which you softly but urgently rise.

“Haechan, I’m counting on you,” you say in farewell as he takes his post a few feet from the door, Mark getting antsy next to you.

“Let’s get this chocolate,” he replies with a curt nod, shortly saluting before he leans against the wall, shooting surreptitious glances this way and that completely unnecessarily because there’s only one entrance to the living room and it’s dead ahead. But who are you to begrudge his proclivity for drama?

“Can we get this over with?” Mark sighs, resigned.

You enter the kitchen, eyes focused on the refrigerator. Silently, you walk towards it, signalling Mark to stand behind you as you slowly pull it open, muting the suction as well as you can.

“Why do we have to be so quie-"

“Shh,” you harshly whisper, interrupting his dumb question. In the living room, you hear Haechan cheerily say, “Hey, Jungwoo! You remember that time Mark farted in his sleep?”

You stop rummaging around long enough to turn and raise a single eyebrow at a scandalised Mark. “Tha- That isn’t true!” he sputters at your amused expression.

You only hum in response before turning back to the fridge. You spot the wrapper behind a bottle of water and pull it out as you softly grin. “Got it,” you mutter, making to close the fridge, chocolate cover in one hand.

Mark is fidgeting from side to side, waiting for you to finish up and you finally turn around with a victorious smile.

And then from outside, you hear footsteps approaching.

“Doyoung, you wanna watch that interview where Mark’s voice broke three times in a minute?”

“Maybe later. I’m gonna get some food first.”

Immediately, you both freeze.

“What do we do?” you mouth at Mark, panic evident in your eyes.

He looks at you, then at the damning packet in your hands and back up to your face before darting to the door. Any moment now, Doyoung is going to walk in, catch you in the act of stealing his beloved white chocolate and raise hell. An angry Doyoung is a scary Doyoung.

You’re still frozen in place, mind racing but reaching nowhere, when Mark gets this determined look on his face.

This had better be good.

In a single, long stride, he’s right in front of you, eyes blazing as he mumbles, “Let’s get this chocolate,” echoing Haechan’s words from earlier before he bends down and kisses you firmly, arms coming around your waist.

You squeak in surprise against his lips before you relax and your eyes flutter shut, hand holding the cover trapped safely out of sight between your bodies, your other arm coming up to rest on his shoulder.

It is, in fact, good. You’re vaguely impressed by his enterprise and his...er, methods.

Distantly, you hear Doyoung gag as he enters the room before he whines, “Guys, come on, not in the kitchen.”

Mark grins against your lips as you both pay no mind to his protests. If anything, it only spurs you further, him tightening his arms around your frame and you pressing closer.

And then, in the silence that follows, the loud sound of plastic crinkling emerges from somewhere near your abdomen.

For the second time in maybe as many minutes, you’re frozen in place, body stiff as Mark stills too.

He slowly, very slowly moves away a minuscule amount so as to not disturb the cover any further. “Do you think he left?” he mumbles, too scared to turn around and check.

Your eyes are still closed, preferring to believe that you’re both alone in the room, but the dangerously low voice that comes from somewhere near the entrance of the kitchen says otherwise.

“What was that?” Doyoung asks in a tone that suggests that he knows exactly what it was.

Of course, at that moment, Haechan enters, observes what’s going on and quickly says, “I tried to warn you. I just wanted to spare you the sight of Mark and Y/N sucking face.”

You peek over Mark’s shoulder, subtly shaking your head, trying to tell Haechan to shut up, fool. In the movement, the offending wrapper lets out another loud sound.

Your eyes snap to Doyoung. He looks like he’s forcing himself to be calm, taking slow, deep breaths but his eyes fixed on Mark’s back, like he’s trying to use X-ray vision.

“Is that my chocolate?” he asks threateningly softly. Haechan’s once cheerful expression morphs into one of abject worry and Mark’s breath hitches.

There’s only one thing to do then.

“RUN!”

At your yell, Mark jumps away from you, faking left before running right, Doyoung’s fingertips skimming the fabric of his hoodie. With an anguished yell, the aggrieved man turns his attention to you, eyes narrowed at the packet in your hands. Behind him, you see Haechan and Mark waving wildly above their heads, the former making monkey noises just to add some spice to the scene.

You wait until he advances a little closer, wait for him to finish his slow threat (“Y/N, I don’t want to hurt you,”), before lobbing the packet quickly over his head as you shout, “INCOMING!”

Both you and Doyoung watch with bated breath as the chocolates soar, arcing higher, going beyond his outstretched fingers, just out of Mark’s reach before landing neatly in the hands of a startled Jisung.

There’s silence for a long second. The boy looks confused, like he just caught the thing on instinct. His gaze slowly moves from the cover to everybody staring straight at him with varying degrees of desperation.

“Jisung,” Doyoung starts cautiously, gently moving forward so as to not startle him. “Why don’t you give me the chocolates?”

You follow suit, standing next to him. “Jisung,” you state, voice firm. “Twenty five percent.”

He scans each face standing in the row in front of him, from Mark to you to Doyoung to Haechan. His expression becomes sly, eyes narrowing, jaw set.

“You know what?” he begins, backing away but still keeping an eye from all of you. “I came here for food. And I’m going to leave with food.”

He holds up a commanding hand as all of you open your mouths, causing you all to abruptly shut them.

“Bye,” he says simply before rapidly walking backwards to the living room, chocolates dangling from his hands.

“What just happened?” Haechan asks, astonishment writ large on his face.

You’re grudgingly impressed and you’re about to say as much when you feel a gentle touch on your forearm. You turn to Mark only to see him looking warily at a slowly huffing Doyoung who bears a shocking resemblance to a volcano about to erupt.

Silence.

“RUN!”

~

[thetriggeredhappy]

Sniper teases Scout about his height just a little too much and he gets genuinely upset over it and a little self conscious about his figure, at which point Sniper has to reassure him that 'no you have a great figure and being short is adorable and not a bad thing in the slightest'

camera cuts to me writing scout tf2 with RSD for i think the 800th time, just as feverishly as the previous 799

(warnings for body negativity)

-

He thought maybe something was wrong when he noticed Scout being much more quiet than usual even as the rest of the team continued to be rowdy. He thought that maybe something was wrong when Scout was one of the first to toss his cards onto the table and grab his beer to leave. He thought that maybe something was wrong when he ducked into the camper twenty minutes later and saw that Scout was already in bed, curled up and facing the wall.

“Bun?” Sniper asked, and that was when he became certain something was wrong, because Scout didn’t answer at all.

Silence for a few moments as Sniper tried to figure out what to do.

He sat on the edge of the little cot he called a bed, pulling free of his boots and hat and stripping off his button-up. Silence.

“You awright?” he asked more directly.

Scout made an ‘I dunno’ sort of noise. Sniper shifted.

“Feel like talking about it?” he offered.

Scout made another quieter ‘I dunno’ sort of noise, and yeah. Something was definitely wrong.

He stood to go get some semblance of pajamas on and returned not long later, a little relieved when Scout at least budged over to make room for him in bed. He hesitated for a few long moments before putting a tentative hand on Scout’s arm. After a moment Scout moved to pull the arm in question around his waist, and alright. That was a relief too in some ways, because at least Scout wasn’t angry at him, but also worrying because Scout tended to be pretty upset before he tried to be little spoon. Either he’d curl up facing Sniper or he’d insist on being big spoon, wanting to face away was generally a bad sign.

“It’s awright if you don’t want to talk about it,” Sniper said carefully after a few moments, soft against Scout’s hair, “but... if you do, I’ll listen. Promise.”

Quiet for a second. “I love you,” Scout mumbled, and nothing else.

“You too, bun,” he replied, and eventually Scout fell asleep, and he resolved to ask more questions in the morning.

Except Scout wasn’t there in the morning, he’d apparently managed to wriggle himself free without waking Sniper up and left to go somewhere else. And he couldn’t ask Scout any questions before the fighting started because all the blokes were around, and the closest thing to privacy he could hope to get before that night would end up being in the locker room at the end of the day.

And he didn’t even get that, which confused him plenty. Because usually Scout took his time, trying to wind down from battle a little bit. Would chat and goof around like plenty of the others, and always had to spend a good while in front of the mirror trying to get his hair back in some semblance of order.

But this time he showered in five minutes flat and just put his hat on without even drying off properly, out the door before Sniper could get himself together enough to follow after.

He ended up at Scout’s room, knocking on the door hesitantly. And there was a long few moments before Scout opened the door just enough to peek through, hair a bit of a mess, chest bare and visibly surprised to see him standing there.

“You busy?” Sniper asked.

“Uh, not really,” he said, and paused, and finally stepped back from the door, letting it swing open a short way.

Sniper stepped in and took note of how Scout moved away, picking up a towel next to where he had his mirror hung and holding it up near his chest, trying to get his hair in order. He seemed closed off. Nervous, almost. It was a far cry from his usual relaxed bravado, the general sort of ease he tended to move and stand with, the casualness. He seemed... he didn’t know what.

“You awright?” Sniper asked quietly, taking a seat on the edge of Scout’s bed and looking at him.

Scout hesitated. “I mean, yeah. Just... I dunno. Yeah,” he tried.

“Yeah?”

“I, I dunno,” Scout shrugged, and his hair seemed to be in order, but he kept messing with it. “I just, I... I dunno.”

Sniper stayed quiet and waited. Predictably, Scout continued talking a few moments later.

“I just kinda feel... weird. About some stuff,” he said haltingly. “Like... I don’t want you to be worrying about it.”

“Same to you,” Sniper replied easily. “But maybe talking will help.”

Scout hesitated. Hesitated. “...Maybe.”

A long pause. “Go on, then,” he urged gently.

Scout fidgeted with the towel. “I... I dunno. I guess I’ve just kinda been wondering if... if you like me.”

Sniper blinked. “I like you plenty,” he said, not sure what Scout meant.

“No, like—like, if you like this,” he said, gesturing up and down himself loosely with the hand not holding the towel. “Just—how I am, what I’m... like. Because, like, I dunno, I know I’m kind of a big dummy about pickin’ up on hints and stuff sometimes, and I figured, y’know, what if the jokes and stuff are you just sorta hinting that you aren’t into, like...”

He trailed off. Sniper’s expression largely conveyed confusion, he was sure, so eventually Scout managed to spit out the end of his sentence.

“...Guys like me,” he managed.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like—“ Scout tried, fought with his words. “Like, guys who are kinda short and all scrawny and weird, and the, the babyface thing and just, just being built the way I am, I know I’m not the biggest guy around or on the team or whatever but I just figured if you joke around about somethin’ like eighty times maybe it means you seriously have a problem, and it’s just that I can’t really... can’t really do shit about it but I guess if it’s—“

“You—wait, hold it,” Sniper cut in, surprised, “you—you think I’m being serious when I poke fun about that?”

Scout hesitated for a long moment before managing a jerky little nod.

“Scout, of course I—when I make those jokes, I’m not—“ he tried, stammering, shocked. He managed to wrestle his words into order long enough to get a sentence out. “How long have you thought I was serious?”

Scout shifted on his feet. “...A while,” he said hesitantly. “But... I dunno. You really laid into me the other day and then all the guys were laughin’ and I figured I’d have to be a pretty big idiot to think nothin’ was up. Like, if that was your way of hinting about it and I didn’t pick up on it by then, I’d seem pretty stupid. And I know I kinda am stupid—“

“Scout,” Sniper cut in, brows furrowed together. “That’s not it. Really it’s not.”

Scout’s expression looked doubtful. Sniper continued talking, trying to be careful as he chose his words.

“I like the way you look, I like it a lot,” he insisted. “I make those jokes just to push your buttons a bit, it’s really nothing to be taken this seriously. If I knew it bothered you—“

“But like why wouldn’t you hate it?” Scout cut in suddenly, not quite looking him in the eye. “I’m way smaller than like any of the guys, and not as strong as them, and I just look like a goddamn stick figure and all, and I’m just—I’m, what’s there to like about this?”

“Plenty,” Sniper insisted, and Scout just looked at the floor, doubt crossing his expression again. “Scout, plenty. I’m being serious. Right, look here—“

Scout tried to turn away, cutting him off. “Look, this doesn’t gotta be a whole thing—“ he tried.

“No, we’re talking about this,” Sniper insisted, taking the towel from Scout’s hand and setting it aside. The next thing he took was Scout’s face in his hands, looking him in the eye. “Hear me out.”

Scout went still and quiet, as expected. Sniper was silent for a few moments, thinking about how he wanted to phrase all of this.

“This, here,” he began, smoothing thumbs over Scout’s cheeks as an elaboration, “is comfortable. You’re just the right height for this. And for this,” he continued, leaning in to kiss Scout on the temple, “and for this,” he said, leaning in further to kiss Scout briefly on the lips, “and even more for this,” he said, pulling Scout into an embrace. “You’re just the right size for this. Feels right to hug you. You’re not too big or too small.”

“I’m all bony,” Scout protested under his breath.

“What’s wrong with that?” Sniper asked lightly. “Just a detail, same as what your hair does, same as where your freckles are. Wouldn’t change the fact that I like you.”

“You wouldn’t like me more if I was tall and built?” he tried, sounding disbelieving.

“I’d like you about the same,” Sniper shrugged. “Anything different would be something I still liked, because it’s you either way.” He paused. “Though, to be honest, if you were too good-looking I’d never talk to you.”

Scout laughed a little.

“I’m serious! If you looked like some bloke from a magazine, I’d never get on with you, I’d be too busy being jealous or annoyed,” Sniper continued. “You’d be unbearable! I’d much rather be around you. A real person.”

“So it doesn’t bug you?” Scout asked, earnest, more vulnerable than Sniper expected.

“Not in the slightest. And s’nice sometimes.” He squeezed Scout harder for a moment before pulling back to look at him. “I like the way you are.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Scout seemed to consider that. “...Like, for real?”

“Why’s that so hard to believe?”

“I, I dunno. Just... I dunno. Maybe it’s just that I don’t like it,” Scout mumbled, picking at his fingers.

“Well, that’s a different problem altogether,” Sniper shrugged.

Scout nodded absently. Seemed to think hard for a few seconds. Glanced up at Sniper. “Can I have another hug?” he asked, and Sniper obliged, and Scout squeezed him tight around the neck, leaning heavily against Sniper. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

“Anytime,” Sniper said.

“Not just the hug, the... the bein’ nice thing too.”

“Anytime,” Sniper said again.

It was silent for a long few moments before Sniper decided to cut Scout some slack and break it.

“Y’know one good thing about you being smaller like this?” he asked idly. Scout hummed in question. “Means I can do this.”

He shifted the hold around Scout’s waist and bodily lifted him up over his shoulder.

Scout was set to laughing in an instant, even as he loudly and feverishly began to protest such treatment. “Snipes! Put me down! Snipes put me down you can’t just do that—“

He continued to laugh protest all the way back to the camper, where they stayed for the rest of the night, Sniper deciding every other part of his day could wait—apparently he had a boyfriend who needed assuring.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

My niece just mistook her daddy and called him "mommy" and I couldn't stop laughing. Imagine kai being called mommy by kaito for few days 🤣 my neice just started to throw some words and she confuses alot of things. Like she points at her nose and say "ears" and I feel like her older brother is tricking her 🤣.

You muffled your laughter at seing your husband having a serious discussion with his one year old son on the couch.

You knew that ever since Kaito started to form and speak ACTUAL words, your husband was very relieved, since now he could understand; at least a little; what the boy was trying to talk about onstead of just pretending like he get a word of the usual babbling.

But now, the baby just seemed to misunderstood some words or change then sometimes, and now, that scene in front of you, was the most hilarious out of every one you saw.

"Kaito, for the love of the yakusa itself, your first word was my tittle as a parent, so at least speak correctly."

"Mama!"

"No. Its not that. Your mother is on the other side of the room." He turned to glare daggers at you while growling in clear irritation "Laughing."

"You can't blame me! Its so cute and funny what he is doing!" You exclaimed pointing with both of your hands dramatically at your favorite boys.

"It is not. This kid will son grow up and if he doesn't learn his mistakes and correct them, he will keep calling me that until he is at least 8..."

"Ma?"

"No. Not that. Its father. Dad." He returned his attention to his son, now with a hint of desperation. "You said it once, it was your first word brat. Now stop calling me that."

He didn't...

You snorted before you made your way to the couch where your little family was. Looking at Kaito sweetly, you smiled from your husband's shoulder and did a tiny wave with your hand at the infant.

Kaito's eyes soon grew wide along with a toothless smile, as he started to make grabby hands at you.

"See this woman?" Kai asked seriously, pointing at you with his gloved palm "She is your mother. I am your father. Understand?"

The kid giggled before you scooped him up in your arms to sit on your lap shortly after, the baby now with a hand curled in a fist on the hem of your shirt, while the other tried to reach for your hair.

Carefull he has a death grip.

"... I am starting to think that he is doing this on purpose." Chisaki suddenly commented as he stare his son down with one of his eyebrows lifted up.

"Calling you mommy just to torment? No way! He is a little angel!" You brought the baby up to give a raspberry on his cheek, making the little boy laugh warmly at the action and kick his little chubby legs in the air in excitement.

"... a fallen one."

"Kai!" You exclaimed with a disbelieved smile as you notice the hints of a smirk starting to growing behind that mask of his.

"It is true and logical my statement." You pocked your tongue out at him for that coment and returned your attention at that tony human in your lap.

"Mama!" Kaito exclaimed pointing at a very annoyed Chisaki.

"Kid. It's father." He sighed before he turned his chest to you and arched his back a little to look at Kaito in the eyes.

"Da-da okay? It's that what you need to call me. Dada. At least that is a start." He sayed slowly in hopes that his son catched the message.

You stare at Chisaki in disbelief yet with soft eyes at the way he was speaking to his son, it wasn't normal for him to use a simple vocabulary, not even when talking with a infant; but looking at him, just reapeating the word 'dada', was just so out of the character but yet so precious to see.

A shame that you didn't have a camera to record this rare moment neither could grab it because of the baby in your arms and legs.

"Alright, lets see." Kai surprisingly grabbed his son tiny hand that was curled on your shirt and pointed at you "Who is?"

"Ma!" The kid exclaimed with excitement.

Chisaki nodded numbly before he pointed with his son's hand at him.

"Now me. Who am I?"

"Dada!"

"Finally." He exhaled while smilling, letting go of his son's hand only to mess around with the tuff of dark brow hair in his small head.

"Point to daddy." You joked while he only glared and scoffed as a response for your comment.

"I was starting to lose my pacience on this. I looked like a fool spealing like... that."

"You didn't!" You interjected "You sounded cute!"

"Dare to say this again looking at my eyes (Y/N)." He said with a piercing glare which even made you yelp slightly.

"Okay okay! I take it back!"

"I appreciate it." He said in false aprwcoation and more sarcasm on his tone of voice.

[dettiot]

Fic: Anakin vs. the Feelings

Title: Anakin vs. the Feelings Author: dettiot Summary: Anakin tries to cope with how he feels for Padme as their mission shifts.

Notes: Written for Anidala Week 2020, Day 7: Free Day. This is set just after my story Don’t Freak Out, which was a gender-swapped fusion of Star Wars and Chuck. I have a bit of a recap at the start of this fic, but if you’re not very familiar with Chuck, you might want to give the first story a read before this one. Find it on AO3 or on Tumblr!

XXX

Hi, I’m Padme, and here’s some things you might need to know. 

My life is filled with spies, car chases, computer-stealing ninjas and me saving the day. You see, everything changed when I got an email from my college best friend, Sabe. I thought she was an accountant from Connecticut--but Sabe had been working for the CIA when she stole a whole bunch of government secrets. Big, important secrets. Really scary, nasty, you-get-killed-for-having-them secrets. Next thing I know, these super secrets are downloaded into my brain. Which means every moment of my life is in danger.

Fortunately, the CIA sent their best agent to protect me: Anakin Skywalker. 

[montage of Anakin wearing a tuxedo, charming a woman at a cocktail party, taking out six bad guys effortlessly, looking at Padme and smiling] 

Yeah, I know. 

The NSA sent their best agent, too: Ben Kenobi.

[montage of Ben cleaning weapons, arguing with a roomful of terrorists, giving Padme a blank, judging look] 

Yeah, he’s . . . he’s not so nice. 

XXX

“You know this isn’t going to work.” 

Heaving a sigh, Anakin Skywalker, CIA Agent, did his best not to think about all the ways he could kill Ben Kenobi without breaking a sweat. 

It was a long list. Which gave him enough time to actually come up with some good reasons to counter Kenobi’s negativity. 

“Look, it’s just as easy to bring Dr. Zarnow here as it is to take Padme to him,” Anakin said. “The Ring is crawling all over D.C., looking for Sabe. This way, we keep Padme off their radar.” 

“That’s fairly cold, sacrificing the woman you used to be in love with,” Kenobi observed, an eyebrow going up as Anakin shifted his feet. “Because you weren’t just partners with Sabe, after all.” 

It was true: he wasn’t just partners with Sabe. But . . . they hadn’t been much more than partners in a long, long time. 

“Sabe betrayed the CIA by stealing the Intersect,” Anakin said, gathering some papers so he could hide his face from Kenobi’s piercing stare. “ Padme is a civilian. And a good person. She helped save General Stanfield when she didn’t have to. And all she’s asking is that we let her stay with her friends and family. It seemed like a fair trade-off to me.” 

Kenobi tutted. “Intelligence agencies generally aren’t interested in fairness. But Yoda agreed with your crazy plan, so I’ll back you.” 

“Thanks,” Anakin said, holding the papers against his chest, his arms folded over them. 

“Don’t thank me. I’m just doing my job.” 

The tone of Kenobi’s voice made it clear he thought Anakin wasn’t, which annoyed the hell out of him. But he had spent a long, long time holding his emotions in--and he wasn’t going to stop now. 

So when Kenobi saw he hadn’t gotten a reaction, he grunted softly and left their quasi-office, also known as the home theater room at the Buy More. 

He was probably going to his hotel, sharpening some knives or something. Not that Anakin didn’t have his own weapons to take care of, but . . . 

Sinking down on the sofa, Anakin dropped the papers on the coffee table and leaned back, trying to get his thoughts straight. 

His thoughts and his emotions. 

If there was an agent he thought would turn out to be a traitor, Sabe wouldn’t have been his pick. She was smart, determined, dedicated. But also guarded, secretive, and slightly too prone to violence. 

But even if she was a traitor, he wouldn’t have expected her to draw an innocent person into her web. But that was what Padme was: innocent. 

It bothered him, seeing Padme involved in all this. Anakin couldn’t remember the last time he had so much contact with a civilian. He would have thought it would be boring. Grating. He had long ago accepted that his job meant sacrifice, meant keeping people safe so they could go about their normal, everyday lives. 

But spending time with Padme . . . it wasn’t boring. There was something about her--a glow. She looked like Sabe, just shorter, but she was also so different from Sabe. 

She was the last person he could imagine fitting into his life of secrets and shifting loyalties. He hoped Dr. Zarnow would be able to get the Intersect out of Padme’s head, so her life could go back to normal. 

And he would be back to his normal life, traveling all over the world and kicking ass and . . . 

Anakin shook his head. That was what he wanted: to get the hell out of Burbank and back to work. 

XXX

There was something about Dr. Zarnow that Anakin didn’t like. The man came off as too glib. But it didn’t really matter what Anakin thought of him--not as long as he could extract the Intersect from Padme’s mind. 

He stood at the Nerd Herd desk with Kenobi and Zarnow, listening to Padme and watching her on the cameras as she went through the testing to confirm the presence of the Intersect. Which seemed stupid to Anakin, but he hadn’t been asked. 

“Amazing,” Zarnow breathed out. “The amount of data inside her head . . . how has she not injured herself?” 

Injured herself? What? The Intersect was supposed to be safe--before Sabe had stolen it, it had been slated for implementation. Would the CIA and NSA endanger an agent by frying their brain? 

And did that mean that Padme could--

Giving himself a bit of a shake, Anakin said, “So you can remove the Intersect from the subject’s mind?” 

“Oh, yes. Quite easily. As soon as tomorrow night.” 

Anakin looked at Kenobi, who nodded. “All right,” Anakin said, looking at Zarnow. “Agent Kenobi will take you back to your hotel. We’ll pick you up tomorrow night at ten.” 

“Agree,” the doctor said, shaking Anakin’s hand before Kenobi escorted him out. 

As he watched them walk away, he wondered at the strange feeling he had. What made him not trust Zarnow? There was absolutely nothing to say the doctor wasn’t to be trusted, but Anakin couldn’t help it. Sometimes, you just had to work on a gut feeling. It was what made him trust Kenobi, even though they barely agreed on anything.

It was his gut that made him trust Padme.

His eyes were drawn to the video screen, watching Padme. She was rubbing her temples, her shoulders hunched. When her hands fell from her face, it was easy to see the strain from the flashes. 

The last thing he should be doing was staring at Padme, letting her hurt, when he should be taking her home and putting her mind at ease. After all, she would be excited to know that soon, this nightmare would be over for her. She could be safe, her loved ones would be safe, and she would never again have to think about Agent Anakin Skywalker. 

And why did that make something inside him twist?

Shoving all the unhelpful emotions aside, Anakin stepped over to the home theater room. “Okay?” 

Padme nodded, her face pale. “Yeah . . . did I do all right?” 

“You did great,” Anakin said, reassuring her. “In fact, Dr. Zarnow thinks by this time tomorrow, you’ll be free of the Intersect.” 

“Really? Wow,” Padme said softly, her soft brown eyes locked on his for a long moment before she looked away. 

What was going through her mind? Gratitude, probably. Relief. 

Or . . . could she be sad about an end to all of this? Seeing the last of him?

A sarcastic voice inside his head snorted. “Yeah, right, Skywalker.”

“This is a good thing,” Anakin said, not sure whether he was trying to make her feel better or himself. 

“Yeah--yeah, of course,” Padme said. “Um, what time? Sola wanted to have dinner as a family. And . . .” 

Anakin looked at her, noticing how she was gnawing a little on her lower lip. “What is it?” he asked softly, lowering his head a little to be closer to her.

“She said I should invite you,” Padme said, looking up at him. “I mean--I can tell her you can’t make it--”

“No,” Anakin interrupted quickly. “I can be there. I mean, I have to eat, and--and I’ll have to pick you up anyway, so . . .” 

A soft, dazzling, disbelieving smile lit up Padme’s whole face. “Really?” 

He had to swallow before he could reply. “Really.” 

“Oh, thank you! I mean, I know you’ll be leaving as soon as the Intersect is out of my head, but it’s made Sola really happy to think I’m dating someone,” Padme said. “And she’s kinda mad that Jar-Jar had met you even before she heard about you. You’re saving my life.” 

“No problem,” Anakin said, leading Padme out of the store and to his Porsche. 

Padme kept chattering as he drove her home. Anakin stayed silent, trying to figure out the odd feeling going through him. It wasn’t until he was nearly to his hotel that he realized what it was. 

Sadness. 

XXX

Grimacing, Anakin used the toe of his boot to push aside a burned clump of metal and plastic, then turned to look at the remains of a late-model sedan. 

“You’re sure Zarnow was in the car?” 

“Security cameras show him driving away from his hotel in this car,” Kenobi said, drawing up beside Anakin. “Looks like the good doctor wanted to do some sightseeing and ran off the road.” 

“But why?” Anakin asked, not really talking to Kenobi. He walked around the burned-out car, moving past crime scene techs. He nearly stepped on another piece of plastic, but something made him stop at the last moment. 

“Kenobi!” he said, crouching down and pulling out a pen to push at the object. 

“A cell phone?” Kenobi asked from behind and above him. 

Anakin nodded, turning over the phone. “How much you want to bet there’s explosive residue on this?” 

“No bet,” Kenobi said, folding his arms over his chest. “I never bet on a sure thing. So someone wanted to kill Zarnow.” 

“Looks like it,” Anakin said, before his head jerked up to meet Kenobi’s eyes. “Padme.” 

Kenobi’s eyes widened, and then in one movement, they each began running towards their cars. 

XXX

When Padme opened the door of the apartment she shared with Sola and her husband, her eyes widened. “Anakin!” 

“Hi, hi, sorry I’m late!” he said quickly, leaning down and kissing her cheek. He held the bouquet of flowers in his hand out to her. “These are for you. I brought wine, too.” 

“Oh . . . thanks,” she said, still looking surprised. She put her hand on his chest and pushed him out of the apartment a few steps. “I thought, with the doctor being dead--” she whispered, glancing back towards her sister and brother-in-law. “I thought you weren’t coming,” she said.

“I’ll explain later,” Anakin said, desperate to get her inside. To get her under cover, away from anyone with a sniper rifle who wanted to take her out. 

His stomach had been churning for the last hour, ever since he realized that anyone who killed Zarnow might want to move against Padme. Making himself stop at his hotel and change into a suit and button-down shirt, getting flowers and wine--doing everything to play the part of a boyfriend meeting her family--had been agony. Because whenever he thought of Padme with a hole between her eyes . . . 

Padme looked confused, but she rolled with the punches. “All right. Come on in and meet everyone.” 

Nodding, Anakin rested his hand on Padme’s back, feeling her warmth through her soft dress. He stepped inside the apartment, feeling instantly welcomed. Padme’s sister, Sola, and her husband Darred were both nice people. Jar-Jar was a little strange, but he was Padme’s best friend. 

It all felt so . . . normal. Passing over the bottle of wine, exchanging small talk with Darred, watching Sola and Padme talk in the kitchen. Padme’s cheeks flushed at whatever her sister said, and Anakin wondered what they were talking about. 

A knock on the door made Anakin tense. Darred called out cheerfully, “I’ve got it!” and had the door open before Anakin could get into position. He relaxed slightly when he saw Kenobi, although he still felt a spike of annoyance at the older man not trusting him to protect Pamde adequately. 

“Hello there!” Kenobi said with a genial smile. “I’m Ben, a coworker of Padme’s. She invited me over for dinner, and I brought one of my famous chocolate souffles for the occasion.” 

Anakin blinked. Well, he hadn’t seen that coming. 

“C’mon in!” Darred said brightly. “Any friend of Padme’s, etc. etc. I’m Darred, Padme’s brother-in-law. That’s Anakin, her boyfriend, although as if you don’t know! Padme talks about him all the time, am I right?” 

“All the time,” Kenobi agreed, smirking at Anakin.

He gripped his glass of wine tightly and tried not to blow his cover. 

“And right over here is Sola, the light of my life,” Darred said, introducing Kenobi to her. “This is one of Padme’s coworkers, babe.” 

“What are you doin’ here, Ben?” Jar-Jar asked, sounding suspicious. 

“Oh!” Padme said loudly. “Silly me. I forgot I invited Ben. Let me take that souffle from you--doesn’t it smell great?--and we’ll get you some wine.” 

And here he thought Padme could roll with the punches. She certainly was thrown by Kenobi’s arrival. Although Anakin couldn’t blame her for that--he would be confused by Kenobi just showing up, too. Especially with how he was acting. 

Somehow, they all got through dinner, souffle and all. All too soon, Sola shooed Padme out of the apartment, telling her to walk Anakin to his car. 

Echo Park was quiet as they stepped out into the courtyard. “So what happens now?” Padme asked him as soon as the door closed behind them. 

“I don’t know,” Anakin said with a sigh. “Dr. Zarnow was the only one who could remove the Intersect.” 

Padme scuffed the toe of her flat against the ground. “So . . . is it time for the bunker?” 

“No, Padme,” he said, turning to face her. “I’ll figure something out. Something that will let you stay here. I promise.” 

In the moonlight, her eyes were luminous. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” 

Anakin opened his mouth, wanting to make all kinds of promises to her. Promises that went against everything he thought he wanted. 

But then he felt a sting against his neck. Padme’s eyes widened, and then she lifted a hand to her neck. “What . . .?” she slurred. 

There was just enough time to see her hand drop, revealing a tranquilizer dart in her neck, before Anakin felt the same drug run through his system. Then his eyes closed and everything went dark. 

XXX

If there was one thing Anakin Skywalker hated, it was waking up after being drugged. 

Correction: waking up after being drugged and finding himself chained up. 

Grimacing at the cuffs around his wrists, Anakin yanked again, trying to break the chain loose from the ceiling. But it was no good: this setup was solid. And the cuffs were latched so tightly around his wrists, he didn’t think breaking his thumbs would let him get free. 

He ran his hands up the chains, then jumped, bringing his feet up. If he could brace against the ceiling, he could definitely get the chains loose . . . 

But even at just over six feet tall, his legs weren’t long enough for him to reach the ceiling. 

His curse was muffled, thanks to the duct tape over his mouth. Anakin dropped back to the ground and made his peace with waiting. 

Padme!

The thought of her made the last fog of the tranquilizer clear his mind. Looking around quickly, Anakin realized she wasn’t here. There weren't any other restraints in view, so . . . where was she? 

Anakin yanked again on his chains, trying to get free. He had to find her--he had to protect her! 

It felt like the chains were looser, but before he could try again, the door of the dark warehouse slid open, revealing a small woman in a soft dress. 

“Padme!” he barked against the duct tape. “What are you doing here?” 

And why was he talking with the gag over his mouth? Maybe it was how angry he was at her being here. Because what the hell was she thinking?

She hurried up to him. “I know, I know, just shut up!” She reached up for the edge of the duct tape and winced. “Sorry!” 

Then she yanked the tape off cleanly. 

He grimaced at the sticky residue and the pain, then shook his head. “What are you thinking?” he hissed. “Go home!” 

“No!” Padme said. “When I woke up, I flashed--Dr. Zarnow has been working with North Korea. He faked his death to throw you and Kenobi off the scent.” 

“So he could take you and sell you to the highest bidder!” Anakin said angrily, glaring at Padme. “And so you came running after me?” 

Padme glowered back at him. “I had to! You were in trouble!” 

God, her desire to protect people was going to get her killed!

“I can take care of myself,” he said firmly. “Before Zarnow or anyone else shows you, you’re going back to the car. That’s an order, Padme.” 

“Good thing I don’t take orders from you!” Padme said. A sound from outside made them both look in that direction, then Padme gave him an apologetic look. She plastered the duct tape back over his mouth before he could say anything more.

It was wrong to be . . . a little bit impressed, right? To admire how strong and determined she was, even when she was doing incredibly idiotic things?

She looked around and found a rusty crowbar, then hurried over to one side of the door, crouching in the shadows. He could see her readying the crowbar, even as he mentally tried to tell her to run, to get out of here. 

And then Kenobi stepped through the door and Padme lifted her weapon to strike, only to stop just in time. “Kenobi!” she cried.

“Yes, yes, it’s me,” he said, holstering his gun. “C’mon. I’ve got Zarnow locked up in the car. We gotta get out of here.” 

Kenobi showed no problem with yanking the duct tape off Anakin’s mouth. The older man smirked at him. “Nice job, bein’ bait.” 

Anakin shook his head. “Thanks, I guess. How did you find me in the first place?” 

“Trackers in the souffle,” Kenobi said. He reached up, wrapping his hands around the chains. “On three.” 

Together, they pulled the chains free and within a few moments, they were all in Kenobi’s SUV, Zarnow unconscious, bound and gagged in the back seat. 

Rubbing a hand over his face, Anakin looked back at Padme. “Are you all right?” 

She nodded. “I’m fine. Kenobi found me, and then we found you. He took care of Zarnow while I looked for you.” 

“I can’t believe you brought her with you,” Anakin grumbled to Kenobi.

“And leave her passed out in the courtyard? She woke up in the car on the way,” Kenobi grumbled right back. “Not my fault she’s got a scary-fast recovery period for such a little shrimp.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Padme said in annoyance. 

Anakin turned in his seat to really look at her. “Yes, you are. But it was luck alone that allowed everything to work out. If this arrangement is going to continue, you have to listen to Kenobi and I.” 

Padme’s eyes flashed. “Or you could teach me how to take care of myself.” 

What? There was no way Padme could defend herself. She was so small, so soft . . . 

“It’s not the worst idea,” Kenobi said. 

“Kenobi!” Anakin said in shock, staring at the NSA agent. “You can’t be serious.” 

“And why can’t he be serious?” Padme asked, sounding hurt. “No one would expect me to know what to do in a fight.” 

Kenobi nodded as he parked outside the apartment complex. “She’s right. Being a damsel in distress only works in fairy tales.” He looked back at Padme. “We won’t go easy on you.” 

She lifted her chin, her jaw set. “Give me your worst.” 

“I haven’t agreed to this!” Anakin protested. “And I doubt Yoda will agree, either.” 

“Then we won’t tell him,” Kenobi said smugly. “C’mon, Skywalker--afraid that the girl will kick your ass?” 

Anakin grimaced. He could care less about Padme, or any woman, beating him in a fight. But Padme . . . she wasn’t cut out for this. She was normal, a civilian. She shouldn’t have to defend her life with punches and kicks.

But then he looked at her. At the hope in her eyes, at the courage in her face and body. And he knew he couldn’t stand in her way. 

He had a feeling he would never be able to tell her no.

It was another strange, unique feeling that Padme brought out in him. 

With a sigh, Anakin nodded. “All right.” 

Padme’s face lit up with one of those smiles he would kill to get. “Thank you! Thank you!” 

“All right,” Kenobi interjected. “Get inside. It’s late. See you tomorrow, Amidala.” 

She gave them both another bright smile before hopping out of the car and hurrying into her apartment. 

“This isn’t the right thing to do,” Anakin said quietly.

“It isn’t the right thing for you,” Kenobi corrected. “But then, it doesn’t matter what either of us want--it’s about what she wants,” he said. 

And Anakin couldn’t argue with Kenobi on that. 

He would do everything in his power to give Padme what she wanted. No matter what it was--he wanted to give her everything. 

Even if it broke his heart to do so.

End.