#after that we'll be going back to people we've already seen

[noimnotmae]

𝐌𝐈𝐗-𝐔𝐏 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐏 — Lando Norris⁴

summary: After landing in Miami for his race, Lando carelessly places his bag next to an identical one as he rushes to the bathroom. And in a hurry, you mistakenly grab his bag, thinking it's yours. And during the next five days in Miami, everything took an unexpected turn, escalating into something far bigger than either of you had anticipated.

˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷ lando norris x female! reader 🔸

Ｐａｒｔ ５

Ｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓ Ｐａｒｔ

[INSTAGRAM]

ynusername

liked by livduh, lhea_theitgirl, landonorris, mclaren and 4,832 others

ynusername it was nice seeing you, Lando and thank you for having us @/mclaren. And congrats again on your first win! . . . more

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lhea_theitgirl I can't count how many times we've "seen" him

ynusername more like you can't count in general

lhea_theitgirl you need to stop hanging out with liv

livduh I've raised her so well 🥺

livduh my brother thanks you for getting the gifts ❤️ by ynusername

ynusername tell him I said thanks as well, for the chance to watch the race

mclaren It was wonderful having you at our paddock. Hope we'll see you in many more races 😉 ❤️ by ynusername

ynusername Imola GP when @/lhea_theitgirl @/livduh ?

livduh we literally just watched one. slow down

lhea_theitgirl Italy does sound nice tho

user1 cute 🤗

user2 pretty 😫

landonorris it was nice seeing you at the paddock ❤️ by ynusername

ynusername I'll see you later?

landonorris as long as you don't have another drink with you then yes

ynusername 😢 ig this is goodbye

maxfewtrell hello airport girl 👋

landonorris DUDE

ynusername hello friend of Lando 👋

landonorris I can't ✋

the comments on this post have been limited

.ᐟ 🅾 landonorris started following you .ᐟ

[IRL]

— After the race, you and Lhea headed back to the hotel while Liv returned to her apartment after dropping you both off. It had been a long day, and all you wanted was to relax in the comfort of your bed. The rising tension on the internet about you was getting hard to ignore, and you'd been doing your best to stay off Twitter. Despite everything happening in your life, you still found ways to enjoy it and not let others deter you.

"Earth to YN." You blinked, realizing you were already in front of your hotel room. "Oh, right, the key." You unlocked the door and stepped inside, kicking off your sandals and immediately collapsing onto the bed. Lhea, unfazed by your dazed state, grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to you. "Here, hydrate." You accepted it with a grateful nod.

"So, you're basically famous now," she teased. You groaned at the reminder. "I don't even want to think about it," you sighed, setting the bottle aside.

"What's so bad about being famous?" she laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"A lot. But mainly, it's how people invade your privacy," you explained, checking your phone and seeing thousands of Instagram notifications. People were commenting on old posts that you hadn't bothered to limit. You decided to let them be, knowing ignoring the chaos wouldn't make it disappear.

"Well, we're going home tomorrow. It'll die down soon," Lhea said, patting your back gently. Her sympathetic look quickly turned into a mischievous grin. "What about you and Mister Formula 1 Race Winner, Lando Norris?" You snickered, a smile forming at the mention of Lando. "What about him?"

"Don't play coy! When will you two meet again?" she pressed.

"Hopefully never," you joked with a shrug.

"Well, you should probably meet him now since we're leaving tomorrow," she suggested, her tone hinting at a plan.

"Why don't you go and get us something to eat?" Lhea said, grabbing your wrists and pulling you out of bed, steering you towards the door. You rolled your eyes at her obvious scheme but decided to play along. You slipped on your sandals and grabbed your spare key.

Lhea opened the door and gave you a gentle shove out. "Update me!" she called before closing the door behind you.

You scrolled through your phone while waiting for your order. Hotel food was nice, but it was starting to feel repetitive. When your order was called, you tucked your phone away and grabbed your food and drink from the counter. As you turned to leave, you nearly collided with someone. Luckily, they caught you with a gentle grip on your shoulders, preventing a spill.

"I'm so sorry—" you began, looking up to see the person who had saved your drink. It was him, the reason you had even went out despite your exhaustion. "Hi," you managed, offering an awkward smile.

"We can't keep meeting like this," he chuckled, releasing his hold on you. "I feel like my clothes are never safe when we meet." You laughed nervously, "I'm sorry, I was spacing out."

"It's alright," he assured.

A man squeezed between you, prompting an awkward shuffle to the side. "Uh, YN," he said, catching your attention. "Wanna hang out for a few minutes?" Lando's unexpected invitation caught you off guard, but you nodded eagerly. He motioned towards an empty seat by the window, and you followed him, feeling a rush of excitement.

As you settled into your seats, a waitress approached to take your order. "I'll just have an iced tea, thank you," you told her. Lando raised an eyebrow, "You're not eating?" You shook your head. "I already ate before you arrived," you explained. Lando nodded in understanding.

"Well, if you want, you can take some of my food," he offered with a warm smile. You returned the smile, appreciating his generosity.

After placing your order, the waitress left, leaving you and Lando alone at the table. "So, is this your go-to spot after celebrating a race?" you asked playfully. Lando chuckled, shaking his head. "No, usually it's the bar with a few friends, or I head straight back to where I'm staying and sleep."

"So, why a diner today?" you inquired, curious about his choice. Lando explained that a friend of his had been craving food from this place and asked him to pick some up. "Won't he be upset if his food takes too long?" you wondered. Lando shrugged. "He'll survive a few extra minutes without food," he replied, prompting a laugh from both of you.

As you chatted, time seemed to fly by. You shared laughs over embarrassing and interesting stories and bonded over shared interests. It felt comfortable and easy, unlike your previous encounters with the F1 driver.

"To think, accidentally taking my bag led to this," Lando remarked, a smile playing on his lips. You chuckled. "I'm pretty sure it was me spilling my drink on you that started it all," you countered. Lando shook his head. "Nah uh," he said, a brief silence before laughter took over.

"It's been really nice meeting you, YN," Lando said, his gaze sincere. Your cheeks flushed with warmth. "Y-yeah, it was nice meeting you too, Lando," you replied, feeling a sense of gratitude for the unexpected connection you had made.

And with that, the night went on with Lando spending his first race win celebration with you.

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lhea_theitgirl fill me in when u get back!

livduh suspicious

landonorris I had fun. Another hangout when???? 👀👀

user3 is that lando?

user4 cuteee

user5 Lando's hand? 🤨

[TEXTS]

[IRL]

You hurriedly slipped on your shoes and grabbed your essentials— wallet, spare key, and phone —before dashing out of the hotel room. "Lhea, make sure everything is packed, okay?" you called back to your friend, who nodded in acknowledgment as she watched you rush to the elevator. It was your last day in Miami, and you were eager to spend it hanging out with your newfound friend— and crush —Lando Norris. Though it was just a small crush, the many coincidental encounters with him had made it blossom into something more.

Arriving in the hotel lobby, you spotted Lando sitting and waiting for you. He stood up as you approached, stashing his phone away to greet you. As he walked over, he gave you a friendly side hug, which you gladly returned. "So, where should we go?" you asked, smiling up at him as you both pulled away. "I was thinking a classic movie date and then maybe we can try go Karting?" Lando suggested.

The word "date" caused a flutter of excitement in your stomach, but you quickly composed yourself and nodded. "Yep, that sounds nice. Can't remember the last time I went to the cinema with someone other than my girlfriends," you chuckled, trying to play it cool.

Lando let out a silent sigh of relief, grateful that you didn't seem to dwell on the word "date." He mentally scolded himself for slipping up. This was just a friendly hangout, nothing more.

"Shall we?" you prompted, nodding towards the door. Lando nodded in agreement, and you walked together, side by side, as you headed out for your movie hangout.

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viewed by livduh, lhea_theitgirl, maxfewtrell and 7,920 others

lhea_theitgirl tell him I want you back in one piece, thank you very much

livduh please stay alive. I'm praying for your safety rn 🙏

user6 "Did a Verstappen" 😭 I'm loving you already

user7 you guys are kinda cute tgthr

ynusername

liked by landonorris, livduh, lhea_theitgirl and 8,829 others

ynusername we'll hang out once we meet again, hopefully in a much better scenario than the usual . . . more

tagged landonorris

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livduh I wanna go Karting ☹️

ynusername next time babes 💋

lhea_theitgirl we're gonna miss you, Olives 😢

livduh I already miss you

ynusername ya'll being over dramatic, we'll literally meet in after two months

livduh THAT'S TOO LONG!

lhea_theitgirl exactly!

user8 this is so friends to lovers coded

user9 they're not dating?

user8 no not yet at least 😏

user10 omg, we can finally comment!

landonorris maybe next time you might finally win a race against me 😉

ynusername don't get cocky just because you're officially a race winner 😒

landonorris 😊

ynusername 🙄

user11 YN, my future favourite wag

ynusername what's a wag?

user11 😊 nothing you need to worry abt

ynusername curious

ynusername oh...

[IRL]

Lando insisted on dropping you off at the airport, and now it was finally time to leave Miami. You felt a pang of sadness, mostly because you wouldn't be able to spend more time with your new friend— crush. "Got everything?" he asked, as you checked your luggage one last time to make sure nothing was missing.

"Yep, all set," you confirmed, adjusting the strap on your bag.

"Please don't accidentally grab someone's bag again," he teased, a playful grin spreading across his face.

You rolled your eyes and chuckled, "No promises."

For a few moments, the two of you stood there in silence, neither wanting to say goodbye. Lando took a step forward and pulled you into a full hug. Surprised, you initially froze, but then you relaxed into the embrace, savoring the moment. He finally pulled away, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"I'll see you in Imola, I hope," he said, his eyes searching yours.

You gave him a big, warm smile. "I hope so too. We'll keep in contact?"

Lando nodded. "We'll keep in contact," he reassured.

Turning away, you started walking into the terminal. Just before entering, you glanced back and waved a small goodbye, catching his smile one last time.

[INSTAGRAM]

ynusername

liked by livduh, lhea_theitgirl, landonorris and 9,739 others

ynusername sad that I'll be leaving my friends (new and old), but I am very grateful for the memories we made 😘 . . . more

tagged livduh and lhea_theitgirl

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livduh I feel like this isn't directed to me 🙁

ynusername you're delusional

livduh I'M delusional???

lhea_theitgirl leave her alone. she's coping

livduh whatever 🙄 becuz I'm such a good friend I'll let it slide

lhea_theitgirl we need a whole album for our pictures cuz my storage can't take it no more

ynusername 🤝 agreed

user12 if this trio was a girl group, Liv would be my bias

livduh you're now my favourite person in the entire world

lhea_theitgirl what happened to to me?

ynusername 🍵

user12 I love you three so much 😭

ynusername they're arguing in the gc (we love you too)

user12 what have I done 😂

ynusername this is great entertainment

user13 I need a yt channel about you three tbh

ynusername we had a yt channel when we were pretty young. should we give it another try? 🤔

user14 absolutely!

user15 that caption is definitely directed to a certain f1 driver

oscarpiastri 😏

ynusername OMFG HII OSCARR!

user16 not YN fangirling about Oscar 😭

user17 pastry what're you doin' here? 🤨

user18 was I tripping or did I see you at the airport?

ynusername 👀

landonorris I'll see you soon ❤️ by ynusername

Ｐａｒｔ ６ — Ｍａｓｔｅｒｌｉｓｔ

A/N : I think this is the longest part so far in the series. I really liked this one. Was listening to lana del ray and I was really in my feels while writing this one. Anyways, let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed this part.

taglist @doofenshmirtzevil-inc @barcelonaloverf1life @tangointhequango @bbl3ssy @mxdi0 @d3kstar @multifandomdiva @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @laneyspaulding19 @ilove-tswizzle @lillysbigwilly @lemon-lav @minkyungseokie @nichmeddar @chonkybonky @starz4me1 @harrysdimple05 @spanishcorndogs @musicheaux @butterflyqueen234 @ilivbullyingjeongin

If you want to be added to the taglist, just comment and I'll add you :)

[fourmoony]

hello, you could do something with Sirius by going to meet the reader's parents (Sirius was insecure about this), but he is welcomed and the reader's whole family seems to love him

thanks for requesting, sweetheart!! 847 words f!reader

this is short and thrown together worse than Sirius' cookies. sorry.

Sirius is crowded around your niece, boxing her in against the counter as she stands on her cooking stool. He'd been the only one left with enough energy to make cookies with her after dinner. It's sweet, the gentle tone he uses with her, the patience he has that allows her to do everything by herself. He doesn't balk when she spills all of the measured flour straight onto the counter, just hands her the bag with extra caution and tells her he'll tidy it up later, that mistakes happen.

They're in their own little world, unaware, or simply uncaring, of the eyes on them. You know a little about Sirius' past; his horrible family, his traumatic upbringing, how he never truly felt loved by anyone except his younger brother until he ran away and the Potters took him in. It would've been enough for you to assume the idea of doing such an activity, that requires such patience and acceptance of mess, would send Sirius spiralling. Except, he's embraced it openly, he was more than willing, and he seems to be truly enjoying himself.

In all the time you've known Sirius, you've known him to love loud and abrasive. He's jagged around the edges, a bright, shattered light of chaos and pure energy. He's over the top, loves too hard, is quick to anger. But with your niece, it's the first time you've ever seen Sirius quiet, soft. He's all gentle movements and murmured encouragements, and you like this version of him, but you find yourself waiting for your Sirius to return. The Sirius who can command a room with a single smile, whose laugh sounds more like a barking doberman, whose presence takes up every last drop of attention.

He'd been so nervous about meeting your family. Understandable, given his own upbringing. But, he never had any reason to worry. Not with the way your sister and mother watch him, black top and jeans covered in flower, dried egg white smeared across his cheek, and still, a wide smile across his lips every time your niece turns around, as if checking he's still there. Still encouraging her. He always is.

"You think you'll have one soon?" Your sister asks. There's a sly smirk on her face, as though the sight before you was purposefully designed to make you broody.

You answer with a shrug. You're not broody, but theres a glow to your heart with the idea of this being healing for Sirius. "Not sure. We've never spoken about it."

Your family don't know about Sirius' past, at his request. He'd wanted to earn their respect, not receive it through pity. You can't wait to tell him they respect him beyond what he could've ever imagined. He'll be so happy. He'd spent the whole way over fretting about whether he'd picked the right outfit, the right aftershave, what he should and shouldn't say. You didn't have the heart to tell him that your family, whether or not they'd met him before, already loved him, simply because of how happy he made you.

"You'd make cute babies." Your sister tilts her head to the side, very obviously ogling your boyfriend and you scoff.

"Subtle."

She shrugs, unfazed.

"I'm just saying. No man I've ever met has the patience for toddlers the way he does." She picks up her wine glass, takes a pointed sip, eyebrows raised.

"We'll see." You reply.

"He makes you happy. It's hard to watch your daughters grow up, navigate life and love," Your mother chips in, hands splayed out across the dining table, "It's hard to watch them fall, pick themselves back up, and fall again. Hard to watch them trust the wrong people. But I have no doubt that man would ever hurt you. He, perhaps, loves you more than anyone in this world."

It's a nice thought. The idea of Sirius loving you most. Your eyes find his, conversation coming to a halt as he lifts your niece out of her cooking stool and she toddles over to your sister.

The cookies are in the oven, and Sirius has gotten straight to the task of cleaning up. You join him, piling bowls and utensils into the dish washer whilst he wipes the copious amounts of spilled flour off of the counter.

"You think tonight went okay?" He asks, nervous eyes flicking to where your mother and Sister are fussing over your niece.

You lean across, lips pressed to the cracked egg white smudged across his cheek, "More than. They love you."

Your boyfriend breathes out in relief, "Thank god, because I have no idea how to make cookies and I need them to already like me when they taste them, in case they fail."

A startled laugh tumbles out of your lips and Sirius follows. Your Sirius, loudest laugh in the room, the man with the biggest heart you've ever known - even if it's bruised and battered.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, babe."

Sirius tsks, "You say that now, let's just wait and see if I give anyone salmonella."

[hunn1e-bunn1e]

Aether - "Mysterious Adeptus, Sky Weaver"

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.

In which the Traveler and Paimon unknowingly come across a mysterious adeptus by the name of Sky Weaver while the two are exploring near the sparsely populated cliffsides of Mt. Mingyuan. Or; In which the long-forgotten tale of the adeptus Sky Weaver is uncovered by Aether from the lips of the various Adepti of the Nation of Liyue and the people who know them.

Prologue | Part 1 | (1.5) | Part 2 | (2.5) | Part 3 | (3.5) | Part 4 | (4.5) | Part 5 | (5.5) | Part 6 | (6.5) | Epilog | Extra 1 | Extra 2

                                                                                                   

🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠

“Now that we've helped Fujin tend to the soil, Paimon has noticed that it's a lot prettier in Chenyu Vale.”  

The floating fairy-like creature chirps as she hovers along the dirt path by her blonde companion's side.

“Speaking of prettier things. Traveler, did you notice that the sky here in Chenyu Vale is much different from the skies in the rest of Liyue?”

The golden blonde next to her stops and turns his gaze onto her, raising a brow of skepticism. His eyes then raise to the darkened sky that hangs above them and take in the sight.

What Paimon said was true. The sky truly was different from the rest of Liyue and any other region that the two had visited so far. As it was night, the sky was a deep midnight blue with swirls of violet and turquoise that seemed to glow from within the cotton-like clouds that partially obscured and circled the shining white moon. Stars speckle the suspended landscape of night haphazardly, their droplets of white add an almost otherworldly quality to the already ethereal scene. And, of course, the faded silhouette of Celestia looms ominously in the distance, creeping north ever so slowly. It truly was unlike anything that Aether had ever seen before.

“That's–… how did I never notice it.”

The golden blonde mumbles as he looks up in wonder and amazement, but also confusion. 

Why was the sky in Chenyu Vale so drastically different from anywhere else? What was so different about this place? How was the sky this way in the first place? It was strange; like the sky was altered by something to be this way, and although Aether wanted to think that something like that was impossible, his expectations have been demolished and rebuilt countless times since he descended into Teyvat.

The small bob-haired fairy floated in front of his face and waved her arms about to attract his attention.

“Hey, if you're curious about the sky, why don't we head back to Yilong Wharf and ask the locals about it? Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into Cloud Retai– uhm… Xianyun again; she might know too!” 

Paimon suggests before turning and floating further down the dirt road toward their new destination.

“Hm.”  

Aether hums, giving a curt nod as he follows his guide back to the wharf.

“Uuugh! Paimon is so tired! Why is Chiwang Terrace so far from here anyway!? It's already daytime!”  

Paimon whines as she slowly floats along with her blonde companion at a snail's pace in a slumped-over position.

“How about we head over to Jiulue Teahouse? We can sit down and eat some of the local dishes then we can start asking around.”  

The outlander chuckles softly as he reaches over and pats the floating girl on the head in sympathy before grabbing her and carefully holding her under his arm. Paimon only sighs and gives her friend a nod as she's carried off in the direction of the teahouse. 

On their way over to one of the nearby stalls, Aether spots a storyteller on the outside stage; maybe this storyteller has a few tales about the skies here. Though, after a short deliberation, he lets his floating companion go and buy food for the two of them while he goes and speaks to the storyteller; with a reasonable allowance, lest the girl buy out the stall's entire stock and empty his mora pouch.

Once the two part ways, the golden blonde sees the older man leaving off the stage, seemingly emptied of his arsenal of tall tales. So he waves the man, who he learns is named Jiewu going by the nearby chatter of patrons, down.

“Excuse me! I know that you just got off the stage, but I was wondering if you had any stories about the skies of Chenyu Vale?”  

He asked straightforwardly; getting a comical sweat drop from the older man at his bluntness.

Jiewu mutters a bit as he pinches his chin between his thumb and forefinger; his crow's feet becoming more pronounced as he squints his eyes in thought. The older man takes a glance up at the magnificent sky with a bland expression, as if it were the most mundane thing that he'd ever seen before. It was almost as if he didn't notice anything significant at all. Strange.

“I can't say I have any stories about the sky, young man. I've no clue why you're interested in something like that, there's nothing very spectacular about the sky.”  

Jiewu confusedly drones out; raising a thick brow at the blonde and taking another glance at the sky above.

“Was there anything else you needed, young man? If I'm not home soon, my wife will have a fit”  

The older man asks in a still polite but slightly rushed tone, making it clear that he wanted the conversation to end quickly.

Aether only shakes his head and allows the man to take his leave. Turning around, he sees Paimon floating toward him with bagged food in hand and an annoyed expression on her face. He raises a brow at her, silently asking what was wrong.

“Paimon asked the stall owner about the sky while waiting for the food, but he only looked at Paimon with a weird face and said ‘there's nothing really special about the sky, is there?’. And the other people Paimon asked said something similar!”  

The floating girl loudly complains before digging her hands into the bag, pulling out a skewer of food and angrily chomping on it; letting out muffled mumbles about giving the stall owner an ugly nickname.

Aether only sighs as he motions for his fairy-like companion to follow him.

Their next stop: Mt. Mingyuan!

As the traveler scaled the cliffs of Mt. Mingyuan, he kept hearing the sound of a paper bag rustling and the unmistakable munching of food. A metaphorical vein bulged out on his temple as he whipped his head around to look at his floating guide.

“You— Paimon, give me the bag! If you eat everything again, I swear I'll feed you to a cryo slime!”  

Aether growled as he recklessly took one hand off the cliffside to swipe at the bag in Paimon's hands, the girl dodging every time.

Unfortunately, all the wild movements made him lose his foothold in the cliffside and sent him plummeting towards the ground below. In too much shock to deploy his wind glider, all the golden blonde could do was stare upwards at the screaming Paimon who too was frozen in fear. 

But then… on the wind, he heard a faint whisper of droplets landing on the surface of water…

From beneath him, Aether felt a soft embrace pushing him upwards; the quiet sounds of shifting waters made him look back. What he could only describe was a small cloud of heavy mist with a ring of water swirling around it. The strange cloud lifted him, and Paimon when it reached the height she was at, up and over the cliffside, where it then came to a stop and seemingly patiently waited for him to get off. 

The golden blonde shakily stumbled off of the helpful cloud and fell on his bottom on the grassy cliff top. His heart beat erratically and his whole body trembled as the adrenaline finally caught up with him. He didn't even register the tearful apologies of his floating friend as she hugged him and sobbed into his chest.

“...One did not think that mortals had become so foolish over such a short time…”  

A gentle voice softly whispered from a place that Aether couldn't locate.

“...You shall consider yourself lucky that one was present to witness your fall, lest you no longer be among the living…”  

The voice spoke familiarly; it reminded Aether of how Xianyun and the other adeptus spoke. Surely this voice must belong to another adeptus that he just hadn't met yet.

“...Descend the mountain and return to a safer location, the cliffs of Mt. Mingyuan are no place for young mortals like yourself…”  

The voice spoke again, this time though, it seemed to be coming from the cloud that saved him from his fall. With every syllable pronounced, the cloud of mist gave off a faint but ethereal glow in a medley of colors. Colors that were reminiscent of the night sky that he had seen just yesterday.

Breaking from his adrenaline-fueled trance, Aether shakily gets to his feet and takes the still-sobbing Paimon into his arms. He spared a glance back at the cloud, tempted to stay and ask it about its possible connection to the mysterious skies that he had been wondering about, but one look at the disheveled companion in his arms and he knew his answer. He'd have to worry about that later, his dear friend needs him right now.

“Can… Can I ask you for your name?”  

The golden blonde asked, almost sounding as if he was begging with how his voice trembled.

“...One's name should be of no concern to you at this time; you must go now…”

The ‘cloud’ softly answered back, as if it were trying to coax a sleepy child back into a dream.

With that answer, Aether nodded and headed down the mountain with careful and measured steps, occasionally giving quick glances down at the sleeping Paimon's tear-stained face. He sighs, perhaps he can just ask about this mysterious adeptus another time, he has much more important things to worry about now.

🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠•♡•🌠

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.

Wanna see similar content? Check out my Genshin Masterlist and my Series Masterlist!

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[harleehazbinfics]

Home is where my heart is.

Chapter 4: Family Table of Contents | Profile

Word Count: 2000+ A/N: WHERE ALREADY AT CHAPTER FOURRR AAA this concludes the life they had while they were human, but we'll still have a few flashbacks to see cuz plot. also thank you for over 1,000+ of likes and reblogs that means so much to me that you enjoy my works. i think y'all really liked the devout one lol, i'll just say now that i have plans to make it about lucifer so if you're into that please expect more and hit follow, really helps when peeps comment on stuff <33 much love, enjoy!

there were so many errors bro LMAO also I added a few paragraphs to this, so pls enjoy my scuff (edited as of Feb 20)

“I’m home~,” my husband’s voice calls out from the doorway.

Wiping my hands on my apron, I greeted him coming from the kitchen, “Al! Welcome back. How was your day?”

“Same as always. It’s gotten quite dusty out, I wouldn’t recommend you and the lil’ munchkin to go out for a while. I’ll take a shower first,” he responded dusting himself off briefly by the door before removing his shoes and coat. Heading towards the bathroom past me, but not before giving me smooch on the cheek and a gentle rub on my swollen belly.

Yes. Miledy got pregnant with Alastor’s child. He slowly warmed up to the idea when he saw her babysitting the neighbor’s toddler and when they both visited an orphanage, albeit to Al’s hesitance, where he saw her dote on the children, as she was also a kid that grew up in an orphanage feeling great empathy towards them. If Alastor didn’t stop her, she would have adopted all of them. At the end of the day, he concluded that you would be the best mom possible out there and gave her wish. Making him very sentimental and missing his late mother, which she often comforted him about.

I sighed happily and rubbed my stomach. I stared at the cradle with much longing, I couldn't wait to see our baby. Above the cradle was a mobile, it was a string of ornaments that were meant to be a toy for them, it was decorated with shells, dolphins, rabbits and a deer—as requested by Al.

I picked up a music box that had our favorite music. Alastor had this requested as a gift for your child, I was surprised when he presented it to me. I didn't think he'd be attached to them as much as I was, but I guess he adores them in his own way. Making a family does make it seem more real.

It makes me think back all those lives we've taken just to protect our family. I wonder if those people had family too? Did they look for them?

I was pulled from my thoughts when Alastor stood beside me, gazing at the cradle as I was.

“And how have the two of you been, my love,” Alastor asked, his hair still wet and changed clothes.

The both of us walked towards the couch, him making me sit on his lap as always after work, where he would rub my stomach and lower back, and even sometimes my chest whenever they get too heavy.

“Been kicking and moving around so much lately. I’m so sore all over,” I moaned as I leaned my back on his chest, letting him massage my lower back.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll give them a good talking to,” he joked poking around my stomach.

Giggling and squirming in his hold I cried, feeling fluttery inside when the baby kicked in response, “Al, that tickles! Haha!”

“What?~ I’m just disciplining our child,” he explains himself in a light tone.

“You’re such a loser,” I rolled my eyes playfully at him.

“Oh, please,” he scoffs, “I’m anything but a loser. Have you seen my wife? The most sought out singer in all of Louisiana? You must have heard of her surely.”

“I have indeed,” I giggled, “but I heard she unfortunately got knocked up by some random radio broadcast guy that does his shows in a basement.”

Alastor gasps dramatically clutching his hand over his chest and exclaims, “You did not! One, I own a studio in the city where I do my shows, thank you very much. Two, how dare you say unfortunately, I’m the most highly paid broadcaster. Any person would drop on their knees to even get to be in the same room as me.”

I chuckled at his haughtiness and conceded lying on his chest once more, “You’re right, you’re right, your royal highness.”

He lets out a hum similar to a purr contently embracing us.

(3 years later)

“Abigail!”

A little squeal sounded down the halls along with little pitter patters of her tiny feet as she tried to get away from me.

“Come here, Sunshine. You need to get changed. Don’t you wanna go and see Dad?” I asked her walking to her slowly.

She excitedly jumps from behind the couch and yells, “Dad! Dad! I wan’ta see Dad!”

“Alright, alright. Come’re,” I called her to come closer to put on her little yellow sundress. I took my bag that had all our necessities while Abby tried to put on her shoes that she immediately showed off when she did it all by herself.

���Well done, Abby! Dad will be happy that you can put on your shoes by yourself now. Do you want to tell him yourself?” I asked putting on her hat.

“Mhm! I’ll tell him myself!” she answered cheerfully holding my hand after I shut the door and locked it.

“Alright then. You ready?” I asked her again with a doting smile.

“Yes! Let’s go meet up with Dad!” she replied excitedly trying to drag me with her.

After we arrived at his studio, we went to his office and waited for him to finish with his morning show so we could take Abby to the park and eat at a restaurant for lunch after. She was on the floor playing with her toy doll and stuffed bunny, playing pretend by herself.

“Hello there, darlings,” Alastor greeted with a smile. Arms already open for his daughter to dive in.

“Dad!” She yelled excitedly jumping into his arms, “Are you done with work?”

“Yup. You excited to go to the park today?” he asked booping her nose playfully.

She laughed delightedly making both Al and I’s hearts to melt.

“Yeah! I wanna go now please!” she requested politely hugging her father’s neck.

“Okay, Sunshine,” he replied petting her back.

Hand in hand, the three of us spent the day together happily on our family outing. Of course, it couldn’t be helped that we would be stopped a few times, but we immediately excused ourselves from them to enjoy as much time as we could while we were together, not letting all the disturbances get in the way for our plans today.

Reaching home with a tired Abigail in my arms. Alastor carried all our bags and toys that we bought for our daughter along with a balloon with a smiley face on it tied around his wrist. As he was opening the door for us, he stopped suddenly, making me look up to him alert.

I clutched Abby closer getting ready to run. Alastor fully opened the door and dodged a swing from a brass knuckle to his head.

“Run!” he yelled as he fended off the intruder from getting to us. Abigail waking up from the shout of his father, she trembled in fear as she saw him fight another man.

“Mom? What going on?” she asked, confused and afraid grip tightening around me.

“Shh, I’m sorry but mom’s gonna ask you to stay quiet, okay? Just-just close your eyes, honey.” I requested seriously making her tuck her head in my neck.

I ran as fast I could, reaching our other house that was used for emergencies. We entered together and pushed her inside a bunker in the bedroom.

“Baby, you need to listen to me. I need you to be quiet for me, okay? No matter what, don’t open this door if it isn’t me or Dad, got it?” I ordered her with a serious face making her nod despite being afraid out of her skin. I swiped the tears under her eyes and gave a kiss on her forehead saying, “I love you so much, Abby.”

I left her after locking the door and pushed the vanity on top of the door. Holding my gun close to me and creeping my way out the bedroom to check for any of followers, as I was rounding a corner someone tugged at my hair making me throw my head back.

I whacked him with my gun up on his chin making him back up from me, taking this opportunity to shoot him in the chest twice. I aimed my gun to the window when I saw a sliver of light catch the corner of my eye, shooting when he jumps in through the window stopping him from letting him move further in.

I turned my gun to the door when I heard it open, only to feel relieved when I saw the familiar tuft of brown hair styled in a certain way that I could immediately recognize. I run towards him for an embrace that he returned.

“Where’s Abby?” he asked looking around the room.

“She’s in the bunker. Did anyone follow you?” I asked placing my hands back to my sides.

“None. I had 4 people outside, you?” he said rushing into the room making sure Abby’s safe.

“Just 2,” I sighed rubbing my face frustratedly. “I’m sorry. It must’ve been Alex’s men. They’re getting pretty fucking desperate if they’re attacking from our house,” I snarled.

“It’s fine, darling. That’s why we prepared this to make sure Abby stays safe,” he said assuring me, and giving me a quick peck on the head. Then helping him push the vanity off the door and took our daughter out.

“Let’s stay in the cabin for a while, we aren’t safe here,” Alastor suggested which I agreed to.

Morning come; Abby woke up confused, she then realized she was in her father’s cabin seeing his prized hunting gun on wall. Her eyes scanned the room for her parents and found none of them there, so she slowly opened the door and was greeted by the smell of cooked meat. She found her father in the kitchen cleaning while you were knitting on the sofa. Hearing the door creak, both the adults turned their heads to their daughter’s little round head.

“Good morning, Sunshine~,” Alastor greeted waving his spatula.

I got off the sofa, leaving my knitting materials and scooped her up into my arms, “Hello, bunny. Did you have a good sleep? It’s already 10pm.”

“Mhmm, but I had a bad dream. Mom and Dad where fighting some bad guys and I was so scared that you got hurt,” she mumbled making my face ridden with guilt.

I never wanted my baby to experience this, I never knew that Alex’s obsession would ever get this deep.

To briefly explain what happened over the years, I sang in a private bar where some very important people were having a meeting. Unfortunately for me, one of people there was interested in me. So, I explained to him that I had a husband, but he refused to leave me alone until Alastor came with the owner of the establishment to diffuse the situation. However, it didn’t stop there, he insistently showered me with gifts and letters that I had to refuse each time. I confronted him saying that I would never be with him as long as I lived, so in retaliation his obsession turned sinister, believing that if he couldn't have me then I was better off dead.

Alastor, fueled with irritation, confronted him almost successfully killing him in the process if it weren’t for Alex’s group to look for him and warded Al off. And to this day he’s eager to hurt our family.

“I’m sorry, honey,” I replied eyebrows furrowed kissing her head, “it’s just a bad dream don’t be scared.”

“Exactly, nothing to be worried about. Why don’t you have some breakfast first? Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day, Sunshine,” Alastor spoke up after setting the plates, taking Abby into his arms, and placing her on her chair.

At the end of the day, when Abby passes out from exhaustion from playing in the meadow all day. Alastor takes his gun off the wall making me stand up in worry.

“Where are you going?” I asked, holding his arm.

“To finish this once and for all. I don’t want Abby to be in danger anymore. Most of all, I don’t want you to live in fear that we’re going to lose Abby, neither do I,” he reason placing his hand on your cheek.

“Just please... please be careful, Al,” I pleaded him covering his hand over mine.

He gave me a smug smile and replied, “I’ve never lost before, darling. I’ll be back before sunrise. I promise.”

I nodded as he gave me a kiss, as much as I was worried about him, I knew Al could take care of himself.

“Stay safe,” I said staying by the door frame while he waves goodbye, painfully unaware how devasted I would be when he never returned the following day.

[jmdbjk]

Looking back and forward.

2023 was one for the books.

It is Thursday, Dec. 7 where I am... Friday, Dec. 8 in Korea.

It is the last Friday for Namjoon, Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook to be civilians. This is their last weekend to spend in their homes, at the company to work, running along the river, doing boxing workouts, ordering delivery food, loving on their dogs, doing the things they've been doing the last over ten years. It will be about 100 days until they get time off and can maybe spend some time back at home.

They are tying up loose ends, getting their shit together, preparing to put their lives on hold.

They will return to us in mid-June 2025.

I've watched their last group live several times after the english subs were up. There were a lot of things I saw and I have a lot of mixed emotions about it all.

None of us know these men, we are observers and all we know is what they choose to show us. Unfortunately, they can't control every single thing and people and the media insist on prying and publishing images and things about them that lead to unconfirmed rumors and misinformation.

In the approximately 38 minutes they shared with us, they conveyed that they are getting ready to go, they seemed in positive spirits. They conveyed that they were still working on things for us (except Jungkook).

They said there was A LOT of content coming, so much... they've NEVER ever reassured us like this before.

They asked fans to NOT show up at the induction site out of respect for the other men and their families also entering the military those days. They explicitly said "we are their face and to do them proud."

During this live, I saw Tae being the fantastically funny guy that he is. Tae was alight with excitement. He was anxious to learn from his fellow soldiers. He is a flower waiting to bloom. And seeing his friendship with Jimin maturing, flourishing, same age friends forever was wonderful.

And Namjoon trying to keep up with the crazy shenanigans of the maknae line. Trying to be the voice of reason: "it'll go by quick, we've left a lot of content. Jin will be back soon. We'll all get strong." But there seemed to be a bit of push and pull between he and Jimin... it was interesting. But he was lighthearted, positive, going into with an open mind. Get in, get out, get back to work.

Jimin, Jimin, Jimin... There was a bit of resignation wrapped up in Jimin's positivity. He wouldn't agree that it would go by fast and he didn't want to show himself with the buzz cut. I wanted to reach through the screen and hold his hand and reassure him we'd be here waiting and that we know it's hard to leave everything right now to do this. This man lives to do work on his passion. He's already had to stop once. Now he has to do it again. I think he is going into his MS kicking and screaming because he does not want to leave his youth behind. It is unfinished.

He said he had been sick. He coughed, sneezed and sniffled the entire live. I hope all of these symptoms have disappeared by Monday/Tuesday. I remember his friend Sungwoon had to delay his enlistment date because he tested positive for covid. Please don't let that happen to any of our four.

During this last group live, I saw a Jungkook that I'd never seen before. His vibe was so in tune to Jimin. I know he's been that way since... 2017? 2018? But this was so in your face I was dumbfounded. Jungkook constantly soothing Jiminie. The things they probably talked about while they were in Japan a few weeks ago, man, to be a fly on the wall.

ALL of those lives he did this past year flashed through my head, how unhinged he was the first few months, falling asleep drunk with the candle, calling out stalkers. ALL those times WE said he was missing Jimin because he was begging him to come eat chicken and drink beer, or come do a boxing workout, or better yet, "let me come over and we can shower together..." No... I meant to say: he can go over to Jimin's and wash up and do a live together. Yes, that's what he said. Beggged him. Tried to use Army as leverage. And all we got was Jimin saying he "can handle it" and "you know how my personality is"...

Jungkook watching all that Jimin content... something happened, some decision was made early in the year. Jungkook embraced it and ran with it.

And to know they are going into the service together, it still has me astonished but it all makes sense now. Y'all... they knew they were going to do this wayyyyyy back, not just in August or September when they applied. Jungkook said back in February (before someone lit a fire under his butt in March to start working on music) that he had to take care of his body for the next year. This has been the plan and Jungkook said "no worries, I got this."

2023 was A LOT.

Jimin, Face: the melodies poured out (as they seem to be free-flowing from him at any given moment) but he had to pry those lyrics out of himself. Jimin achieved a #1 BBHot100. And yes, it appears there were not just one, but TWO of those blasted cakes. I didn't know much about PDogg before Jimin's documentary but now I know how much he supported Jimin during this process.

Yoongi, D-Day: I got to see Yoongi in real life. That weekend flew by for me. One of the best weekends ever. As soon as the concert was over I said out loud, I need to see all seven on that stage. His concert tour filled a void for us. We needed that so bad after last year's gut-wrenching news that there would be no tour. And now he's fulfilling his social service. Let him serve quietly with dignity.

Hobi, Military: after tearfully sending him off, what we hear now is he's cracking the whip, though ever-so empathetically (not to be confused with emphatically) over those new enlistees every day. I need to see his boom chakalaka marching drills. Jimin said when he visited Hobi, he wasn't greeted with his ebullient "Jaman!" but more of a lowkey "oh, you're here."

Jungkook, his solo songs and album: Jungkookie chose to go the route of choosing songs that resonated with him. Over the course of years, Kookie has always shared songs with us. We used to love his song recs and his covers of very poignant songs. He KILLED those songs with his vocals. He did what HE wanted to do. And look how well he did with it, also a #1 BBHot100.

Taehyung, Layover: again, Taehyung did what he wanted to do. Not on his album, but Taehyung singing along with Karen Carpenter was never on my bingo card, ever! (a clip on his Instagram stories where he was singing along to "Close to You")

RM, we kept wondering: why isn't he enlisted yet? Someone had to wrangle the maknae. Not that he ever did that this past year. He cut himself over his left eye and had to get stitches... that's gonna leave a scar. Good thing there are 40 bajillion plastic surgeons in Seoul...

Jin is coming. The Head of Ministry of the Military making the decision that no celeb will be doing anything special, instead they will serve just like regular civilians. Sergeant Kim Seokjin will become civilian Jin of BTS on June 12, 2024.

Their constant looking forward to 2025

Skipping over 2024 for the moment...

BTS has to evolve. They must evolve. They are not going to be a 30 something year old K-pop boy band. Some groups might be stuck but BTS will not stay stagnant, they never have. They have to step forward out of that niche and they have been trying to do that incrementally for a while now. They’ve taken us in baby steps already through chapter 2, and Joon said the REAL chapter 2 will begin when they are back from fulfilling their service.

What will they be like? Will they reinvent themselves? Perhaps, but not overnight. I don’t see any sort of extreme makeover for BTS once they come back together. I do see them addressing more mature topics (as we’ve seen), I do hope we see songwriting from all members.

They don't need to abandon their Korean-ness in order to accomplish this. There is nothing stopping them from being a mainstream artist who just happens to be from Korea and who release songs that are in Korean.

I think the accomplishments that Jungkook achieved will continue to pull BTS out of the K-pop realm and into the main stream Pop music realm. They worked that western market. They got pushback, especially western industry institutions: Billboard and the Grammys. And they learned.

Progress is slow but progress nevertheless. They will cross over to general pop one way or the other. They are not going to stay in the kpop box in the future. Straddle both at the same time. They can do it.

For 2024:

I think comeback/HYYH 10th anniversary reboot is already in the works and has been.

I think PDogg will be working on the songs over the next year. I think they have recorded all this year.

I think when Jin and Hobi get back, they might record their parts. I also am pretty sure we'll see a full-bodied solo effort from Jin and more from Hobi. I think we'll get a ramp up to his discharge with some Hope on the Street content that he recorded before he enlisted.

I think we'll slowly see wheels start turning to get the machine going again much sooner than we imagined.

I think what we see next year will all be primed to pre-promote and whip up the excitement for 2025.

I just feel strongly that Bang PD would NOT have mentioned that specific thing and we would not be hearing the members constantly saying 2025. And especially saying 2025 is not that far in the future and that they are looking forward to the incredible synergy the group will have when they get back together. They've got a lot of work done already. They know already.

They said there is A LOT coming to us.

In about two weeks BTS: Beyond the Star docu-series will begin.

We know we're getting some sort of Jimin and Jungkook traveling content, whether a series or not...I'm leaning toward it being a multi-episode series. Camping? Drinking? Breweries? Beaches? Boating or sailing or both but separate? Fishing? Snow sports? They said it was fun.

We will see activity around all the solo album anniversaries. We still have an RM documentary, a Taehyung documentary and a Jungkook documentary. I bet the latter two will come out towards the end of 2024.

We might have Tae acting, we know he'll be in an IU MV soon.

About aging bangtan ...

Remember when we said this is Bangtan in 20 years?

I joke about it but seriously they are aware that things will be different as they evolve and age as people and as artists.

There are new groups debuting all the time and BTS is aging out of a certain demographic (as they should).

Yoongi saying "cruise with BTS" would be the best case scenario for their future.

I would love to be on that cruise if it ever happens.

[pixiemage]

So do you ever, like - accidentally get inspired to create a whole AU based on an old Tumblr text post, and you know you can't add it to your actual fic list because your existing WIP's are waiting for you, but you end up writing a snippet of it anyway? Yeah. Yeah, me too.

Jimmy knows he's not fully with it when he walks into the villains’ bar this time. He has a new name on his list from Make-a-Wish - Supreme this time - and he's only halfheartedly searching the by-now-familiar faces for the person he needs to talk to. He's not registering much of anything though, and it becomes apparent when two people step in his path and he doesn't notice until he's almost running into them. It's Joel, and it's Tango - Trickster and Phoenix - and the expressions on their faces are different flavors of the same thing. Anger, maybe, but not at Jimmy, simmering below the surface in Tango's case and being held back by a tense jaw in Joel's. And concern too, he thinks, concern and sympathy and- "Hey Songbird," Tango greets him, sounding just to the left of the normal fond tone he uses when he sees Jimmy. "How're you holding up?" "I...sorry?" Jimmy blinks, not quite understanding, and Joel casts a glance around the bar before settling back on Jimmy. "We heard about Mercy." Mercy - oh. Mercy Children's Hospital. Susie. Jimmy's chest goes tight and he swallows past a lump in his throat. A warm hand settles on his shoulder and he's steered over to a booth in the corner, Tango sandwiching him in on one side and Joel taking a seat across the table. Jimmy sucks down a shuddering breath. "...you heard?"

Joel scoffs. "We've been trying to find that bastard since the news broke this morning," he bites out. "The minute the Count gets back we'll know where he is." "You - what?" Jimmy stares, surprised. "You're trying to find him?" "Absolutely." Tango, this time, his arm around Jimmy's shoulders emanating a warmth that he hadn't realized was helping to calm him down. "We're going after that jerk the second we have the chance. The guy crossed a line, big time." Oh. Oh, gosh. Jimmy's vision just barely begins to blur with tears, and he feels Tango's arm tighten around him. There's quiet murmuring around him but he can't bring himself to listen. They're going after Vortex. Jimmy's biggest mistake in his life, and here Tango and Joel are ready to help fix it the second they have the chance. And Grian always said villains weren't to be trusted... "There's a bunch of others who signed up for the mission," Tango is saying, and Jimmy tunes back in. "Supreme and Iris and  Worm Man and some o' the others. They were pretty pissed when they found out-" "And we'll keep your name out of it, o' course," Joel goes on, and Jimmy blinks away tears to focus on him better. Joel rakes a hand back through his green-streaked hair and shrugs. "You're not involved. Keep your record clean, all that-" "No."#Jimmy is almost surprised to hear himself say it, and Joel looks surprised too, his eyebrows flying high. "What, you want us to leave him alone? Dunno if I can do that, Jim-" "No, I mean I want to be involved," Jimmy insists. "I want in." This time it's Tango who's surprised, ducked forward to catch Jimmy's eye. "You sure, sweetheart?" he murmurs, his hair licking with tiny flames. Concerned, probably. "It's not gonna be pretty." "I'm sure." And he is. He's seen fights before, and he's been in even more. He's fought criminals on the streets who were going to hurt people, and he's not about to balk at going after someone who already has. "I can handle it." "You're gonna need to hide your identity," Joel drawls, his voice low. "Wouldn't want our favorite civilian going to jail on our account." "I know," Jimmy nods. "I've got something I can wear." He's already picturing the yellow-and-black costume currently hanging at the back of his closet, of the feather-trimmed mask in his top dresser drawer. The suit and the mask that even Tango doesn’t know exists, not yet. Jimmy ponders for a moment before making a decision. His eyes catch Joel and Tango's in turn. "Actually...I think there's something I need to show you."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The arrest had gone far smoother than expected, in Grian’s opinion. It’s not often that a high-priority villain is found bruised and bloody and practically gift-wrapped right where an anonymous tipper said he would be. Sure, vigilantes were kind enough to help them take down bad guy when they were able, but this time was different. This time there was no masked wannabe hero trying to take credit for a takedown, no signature calling card or note beyond the unsigned “He’s all yours, boys” that had been scribbled on cardboard hanging around Vortex’s neck. It had felt odd, is all, though Grian had agreed with his partner when Scar had said he was just grateful to have the guy off the streets. As Grian slips into his apartment through the bedroom window and shoulders open the door to grab some food, he has to force himself to brush the buzzing thoughts aside. He can ponder oddities later. It was a long shift, and he’s about ready to crash the second he gets some fuel in him. It's only when Grian is tugging off his mask and setting it on the table by the bedroom door that he realizes he's not alone. Familiar yellow wings catch his eye, and when he turns, he spots Jimmy sitting on the couch in the middle of the room. He looks exhausted, his Canary costume on and his mask hanging around his neck, and his hair is a wreck - like when he's anxious and has been running his hands through it constantly. "...heya Tim," Grian greets him slowly, not sure what his brother's presence here means just yet. He drops his crossbow on the table and crosses the room, sinking onto the coffee table in from of Jimmy so he can see him better. His expression is one of a man worn and run down, something shadowed in his eyes that has a frown tugging at Grian's lips. He almost opens his mouth to ask what he's doing here - but then he spots the dark stains on Jimmy's fingerless gloves, and the patch of red that's barely splattered across the yellow parts of his suit's design.  It clicks, then. The timing of it all, the villain - Vortex - that Grian and Scar had been called in to take care of tonight. The man who Grian also knew had been spotted at the Mercy Children's Hospital a few days ago, where that little girl had- "You were there," Grian says, not a question, just a fact. "Tonight. You went after him." Jimmy sucks down a shaking breath and nods. Grian would almost say he looks guilty, but he doesn't think Jimmy would feel guilty about going after the person who hurt one of his kids. Perhaps he feels guilty that a kid got hurt at all. "They helped," he says shakily. "All of - you know, the ones who said yes to visits with the kids. They've been trying to do better, and when Vortex-" He trails off, and Grian shifts over to the couch, tucking his brother under one of his wings and letting Jimmy slump sideways against him. "He's locked away, Jimmy," Grian tells him. "I promise. You did good."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[chefkids]

what do you think is going to happen to ebraheim in s3 :(

Grief and loss is a big part of the series with the loss of Mikey obviously, Sydney's mom, and now Marcus' mom, but we don't talk enough about Ebra who objectively has had it worst and seen horrific things. Everyone loves to talk about how Carmy is so traumatized, but Ebra literally lived through a Civil War.

He is a refugee from Somalia, we've seen him share little bits of information about his past, like his family meal suqaar, or when they were talking about forming a brigade he mentioned his time being in a brigade during the Somali Civil War. In Review when he's helping Richie after he got stabbed, he tells him the story of Black Hawk down battle of Mogadishu.

He definitely has some level of PTSD, he didn't want to wear a uniform at culinary school, and Tina had to reassure him that it "was not that kind of uniform" and then when she said there were a lot of Sydney's in culinary school he told her "Don't look them in the eyes." But honestly seems to handle things pretty well and is generally unphased by the chaos of the kitchen. Carmy clearly also has some PTSD from his traumatic upbringing that makes him panic, and I think they both find comfort in the kitchen but in different ways. Ebra enjoys the chaos and loudness while Carmy is about the perfectionism and order.

He was also arguably one of the nicer people to Sydney from the start and respected her quickly, I think because she reminded him of Tina in a way with how assertive she is but still looks out for people. He's also a feminist icon. He also knew they needed help and Carmy wasn't cutting it. He quickly saw the good in her by how she was giving confidence to Marcus. He was the one reading the review and being excited for Sydney and for The Beef getting positive recognition. He was happy to see it change for the better because he cares a lot about The Beef.

But seeing turn into something completely different and riskier with The Bear is scary for him and he didn't really feel like he was changing with the place and felt like he was getting left behind. He was very close with Mikey and worked there for decades, so hopefully we see them together in Mikey's flashbacks. He was also very worried about Carmy messing up the place and the system. I'm sure we'll get more Tina Ebra shenanigans, I think Ebra is a bit of enigma who is always going to be throwing in random bits of his dark lore. He's going to be in charge of the sandwich window in the back when it opens. He was the only one still wearing The Beef uniform, he's an embodiment of the past. But it's not just The Beef that is changing, the entire neighborhood is. I think the window in the back and the main kitchen are going to kind of battle it out. The Beef already has an established clientele and regulars, which are quite a different demographic than the people who are likely to dine at The Bear and it's going to be interesting to see how they all fit in together in Season 3.

[altocat]

Complete Speculation

It's actually REALLY interesting--assuming that the main conflict of First Soldier is Glenn and Co. becoming traitors to Shinra and Sephiroth having to fight/kill them, it actually adds an extremely neat layer to Sephiroth's insanity.

Angeal and Genesis were his second chance after losing the trio. A new found family after losing the old one, a means of moving on and finding people who love and respect him. Atonement. Redemption. And when they both turn traitor, Sephiroth finds that despite the fact that he let go of the past, the past just came back to bite him again. And this time, rather than simply going along with it, he TRIES to keep his friends alive. He refuses to fight them. He lets them escape. He does everything he can not to harm them.

But it's not enough. Because it just comes back again. Angeal dies. Genesis actively HURTS him, hurts him even though Sephiroth was doing his best not to hurt anyone. He can't escape. It was never enough. Because of who and what he is, he can never be free. He will always be that weird solitary cyborg kid, without friends or loved ones or people he can trust. Alone. And so he follows his old mentality--kill them before they kill you. And everything comes full circle.

If they actually go this route, it could be really engaging in understanding Sephiroth's psychology. We've already seen seeds of the notion of Sephiroth feeling resigned and trapped within Shinra. This could be a cool way of hammering home the idea of Sephiroth being effectively doomed since birth, lacking agency until he chooses to surrender his humanity entirely.

......which is why none of this is probably going to happen lmao. We'll see.

[staytinyville]

OUTLAW (47)

ATEEZ poly!ot8 x Reader

Cowboy AU / Wild West

Series Masterlist

Warning: none

A/N NOT BETA READ. We have only two more chapters left of this arc! After that I might be taking a break for a bit. Not only to focus on some original novels I have planned but to also have a few chapters ready for you all to read. Cause this having to write chapters the day of updating--hate it lol.

It was a quick affair for when someone had come in to take away Hendricks. He struggled for a moment but after Wooyoung got annoyed with the man’s shouting and fighting, he was quick to shove a rag into the man’s mouth. Seeing as he was cuffed, Hendricks was only able to huff and puff into the fabric. 

When you turned back around to face Klein you watched as he was looking over the papers once more. He had a somber look on his face, one of regret as he sighed at each word that seemed to process into his head. 

“I'd like to thank you for bringing this to my attention.” Klein said, not meeting any of your eyes. 

“You don't seem like it.” Hongjoong raised his brows, crossing his arms as he stood in front of the man. 

“You're still criminals in the eyes of the public.” Klein finally looked up, sighing to himself as his eyes skimmed over all nine of you. 

“We understand.” You spoke up. “You're a respectable man who has a city to protect.”

You watched as Klein suddenly thought about the entire town, going back to clenching his jaw as he began to think lowly of himself. It was a tough job to take on, especially for a town that was the second most populated. You were never going to be able to make everyone happy, but you were able to make the world a better place. At least in your own image.

Your family had always supported Klein–a vast majority of the town did–so he must have felt a heavy pressure on his shoulders knowing that he was close to putting all of them in danger. There aren't many people you are able to trust when it comes to positions in office, especially not with times growing more and more. People were getting greedy as things began to change, which led to problems. But that shouldn’t stop the few who were trying to keep things at peace from doing what they must. 

While Klein had the right intentions–wanting to see Cromer grow into a modern city–he didn’t realize he would fall into a pit of snakes. Human era was inevitable. You were just glad to have stopped everything before it got too far. 

“Will you leave soon?” Klein asked. 

“We have a mission to finish.” Yunho explained. “This was only a side quest.” He chuckled.

Klein huffed a little laugh, pressing his lips together. “This drug.” He asked, tapping on the papers and envelopes. “What happens if it gets out?”

“The world falls.” Seonghwa answered. “It becomes baron of the joys we see everyday.”

“We've seen what it could do.” Jongho called from the back of the group. “It's not something this world should suffer from.”

“Why hasn't Aurora done anything then?” Klein shook his head, not understanding the whole thing. 

“They don't have evidence to prove corruption yet.” Hongjoong told the mayor. “That's what we've been trying to do for the past couple of years.”

The man took a moment to gather his thoughts before moving to grab the things from his desk. “Here.” Klein began to gather all the papers between Quaid and Hendricks, handing them over to you. “Take these then.” He told you.

“What about Quaid?” Mingi asked.

“I've already sent people after him.” Klein answered the boy. “We'll take care of him here in Cromer seeing as it's my jurisdiction.” He turned to look at you, giving you a thankful bow of his head. “Should anything else come to light though, I'll be sure to send word to you.”

“Thank you, Mayor Klein.” You smiled in thanks. 

You watched as he suddenly clapped his hands, rubbing them together. He gave you all a raise of his brow, pursing his lips. “You've all committed crimes that should be punishable but it seems to me you're all hard to catch.”

All of you suddenly looked at him oddly, frowning a bit at his words. You were a bit worried that Klein would somehow punish the boys for all they had done, but as you registered the rest of his sentence you concluded that wasn’t going to be the case. 

“You're letting us go?” You said, being the first to realize what it was he meant. 

“If what you say is true about this drug, then it seems we have a common enemy.” Klein nodded to himself. “I have a city full of people to keep safe. It's what I signed up for as mayor of Cromer.” He took a breath, coming to a stand. “I'll tell the city it wasn't you who stole the money.”

“Tell them you had money left over.” Hongjoong suggested. “You'll be seen as the hero again.”

“As much as one would love to take credit for that, I could not.” Klein shook his head. “I was going to send that money somewhere terrible. I could never live with myself had you not taken it.”

Your shoulders dropped at the man’s convention. He was right in thinking a majority of people would have loved to take the glory and credit for saving the town, but Klein wasn’t a majority of people. He was someone selfless who took care of others first. It was something each of the boys were quick to realize after speaking with him more. 

At least by what you could tell from the looks on their faces. 

“What will you say then?” Wooyoung asked. 

“The truth.” Klein spoke up, smiling as he thought it over. “ATEEZ were the ones who took the money.” He smiled, watching as the boys all gave him skeptical looks. 

“They have never seen your faces.” The mayor added. “I don’t believe they will suspect 8 handsome, young men who work for one of Cromer’s hotels. Unless you have warranted for people to think that.” Klein joked. 

The boys all looked at each other for a moment, humming in thought as they pondered on what they had all done so far in your town. “They haven’t.” You answered for them, sending them looks that called for them to behave. 

You turned back to Klein, bowing your head and giving him a smile. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Klein nodded his head, giving you a kind smile as well. 

Just as the boys all turned one by one to leave the office, you suddenly gasped, stopping to turn back around. “One more thing!” You called back.

“Yes?” Klein answered. 

“My father.” You began. “He's kind of in jail at the moment.”

Klein laughed, nodding in understandment. “I'll have him released, don't worry.”

“Thank you, Mayor.” You bowed one more time, turning to Hongjoong who waited closer to you.

“Be careful on your mission.” Klein called out before you all left the door. “It doesn't seem easy.” He added. 

You watched as the boys gave each other knowing looks again, Hongjoong sighing as he bowed his head. “It never is.”

Series Masterlist

@thefrog3223 , @iarayara , @0rangemilk , @explorewithd , @detectivedoodle , @bangtanxberm , @a1i33a , @loveforred , @drunken-deitence , @0325tiny , @the-ghostest-with-the-mostest , @atinyreads , @atinytinaa , @lexiigom , @smilingtokki , @mismatchfluffysocks , @brain-empty-only-draken , @sousydive , @alex-tinyy , @h3arteyes4mingi , @onedumbho3 , @popcatx0 , @blue1amory , @mommahwa1117 , @sunnyhokyu , @cloudieclair , @puppyminnnie

[nomoreusername]

Bless You

Pairing:Newt x female reader

Summary:After crawling through the vents you end up meeting a cute British boy.

Aris and I are the only ones left from our Maze. We've been told all of our friends are safe and happy. We'd believe it if we were complete idiots.

Now we spend our nights on look-out for any clues we can find. Any possible escape routes, our friends, or ideas of where the bodies go is quickly noted.

"I swear we're just going to fall through these things one day,"I mumbled, crawling next to my friend.

"That isn't even funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be. I'm just adding more terror to this already horrifying place. Maybe you can put it in your list of fears."

"We have enough of those,"He pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm just saying-"

"Stop,"He hushed, putting his hand out. I gave him a questioning look, but he only shook his head.

"Go back,"He mouthed, pointing behind us. This was understandably confusing and irritating, but I didn't ask him about it. I'm sure I'd get an explanation later.

Apparently, that came sooner than I would have hoped. Someone sneezed, and I did probably the most idiotic thing in my life.

"Bless you,"I said, absentmindedly. Aris looked at me in disbelief. It was then that it clicked in my mind how much I just messed up.

"What? Who's there?"Someone asked.

"Let's go,"He mouthed again.

"What if we just see who they are?"I suggested.

"No. Go back now."

There was the rustling of bedsheets. Aris was silently begging me to leave. I know I probably should, but maybe we could trust this stranger.

Actually, now that I'm thinking it through that's a bad idea. Quickly but quietly we got ready to leave.

Everything next happened in a flash. The vent cover was off, and some strange boy climbed from his bunk into the ceiling. We all sat there staring at each other. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion while I just was frozen with wide eyes.

"Who are you two?"He asked after a minute of dead silence. While there are a thousand other questions probably running through his head that's probably the most obvious one.

"You're dreaming,"I blurted out. Aris gave an exasperated sigh from next to me.

"No. I've definitely seen you before, and I doubt I'd dream of strangers."

"I'm just the girl of your dreams,"I shrugged.

"Y/N, you are terrible at excuses. Listen, I'm Aris, that's Y/N, and we're just trying to figure some things out."

"Are you taking a bloody midnight stroll through the vents?"The boy asked. It was clear now that he had an accent. It was strangely nice to listen to. That's probably not something most people would think about when a stranger is sitting across from them in a vent, but nothing about this situation is normal. There's no way any thought could make this weirder than it is.

"We're doing some things. Before I explain why we're in a death trap do you want to tell us your name?"I asked, tired of referring to him as stranger in my mind.

"What?"He asked quickly.

"Y/N, that's a terrible thing to say,"Aris scolded.

"It's the truth. Now tell us your name stranger,"I repeated.

"I'm Newt. Now what are you talking about?"

"I like your name. Well, since you've disturbed our mission we'll explain tomorrow. Meet us at our table. You'll find it in no time."

"But-"

"So long Newt. Have a great sleep,"I said before he could get another word out. Judging by the paranoid expression on his face I don't think that's happening, but we pretended not to see as we made our way back to our rooms.

"Seriously Y/N? That's the way we get caught? Because you said bless you?"Aris whispered.

"It's a reflex. It's not my fault I have manners,"I defended.

"We know nothing about him. He could think we're insane."

"We know his name is Newt,"I reminded him.

"That's not what I meant. Tonight think of how we explain this to him. I'll do the same. I'll see you tomorrow Y/N."

"Will do. Goodnight Aris,"I responded, before making my final stop of the night.

Carefully dropping into my top bunk I laid down and stared at the ceiling. All the while I thought more about the random boy I had just met. Something tells me the mysterious blonde with a cute accent will believe us just fine.

[yujeong]

Hello everyone. I'm currently losing my mind.

BOC released a new teaser for the final episode of DFF, in order to promote their live event for it and it gave me so many thoughts. In case you haven't seen it, it's this one on Instagram (they've also posted it on Twitter).

It's so trippy and cool and it gave us a lot of good shots of all the characters and what haunts them in regards to Non, but I'll focus on Tee and White, because I have my biases and that's so valid of me.

(I'll assume everything in the trailer is symbolic, like in the first trailer they had released and do my analysis with that assumption in mind.)

Long post ahead:

After we get a brief montage of moments we've already seen in the show with some beautiful background music (it's this one, I love it), we see the brothers and then we start seeing everyone's fears. We see Fluke being scared of the police catching him, we see Top being scared of a haunting, bloody Non chasing him in the forest and then,

we see Tee.

Tee is holding Non's knife in his hands, looking arguably disgusted with it (with himself). The scene cuts to three consecutive visuals which you have to pause the teaser to see clearly. I tried my best here, apologies if the quality is bad.

But the real winner is the two images after that.

Tee feels guilt for what happened to Non. I think everyone can understand this by now. He observes the knife in his hands drowning in this feeling, and it creates the image of himself pointing the knife directly onto Non's stomach, who's wearing the T-shirt he wore the day he got drugged and taken away to Tee's uncle. It's very intriguing to me how Non seems to either be trying to stop him or urging Tee to stab him. We'll find out soon enough what's the case.

Because they involve White.

OK first things first, the shot is gorgeous. I love the colors and the framing and everything about it.

They're inside what seems to be a gaming room, which I'll assume is where they probably met, based on the Without Me MV BOC put out a few weeks ago.

(Notice how the color pallette is the same, too)

Tee is wearing his school uniform (stuck in the past, stuck to Non), while White is wearing the clothes from the cabin (in the present, away from Non but not really). They already are in two different timelines, which is also evident by their positions - Tee is a few steps behind White in the visual.

What caught my attention, besides everything else, was those shiny things on the floor. I can't see them very well, but in my opinion, they're condom wrappers. They go all the way back, symbolizing the duration of the relationship between Tee and White.

The interesting thing here, to me, is how they stop just before Tee's body, and then reappear after him, in front of White, with some of them dipped in blood.

A lot of people, me included, think NonWhite is a possibility, which makes this choice here very interesting. I'll grab onto it with two hands and wait to see what will be revealed tomorrow.

Speaking of Non, I think it's fair to assume the blood on the floor is Non's blood, which makes White staring directly into it become another version of Non, narrative wise. Both innocent boys entangled in Tee's life, both suffering because of Tee. My good friend @wretchedamaranth told me it reminded them of this painting of Narcissus by Caravaggio: White is looking at himself, as if the blood has become a mirror.

Which makes the next visual even more telling: blood separated by a thin line (it's almost blurred but it isn't, White becomes Non becomes White in Tee's eyes). On the right, the big amount is Non's, on the left, White's shadow is creeping into the shot.

It's White's blood. White is going to die.

We get zero things on White besides this. Absolutely none. Does this mean White is indeed a bystander in all of this? Should we take the words of Fuaiz here at face value?

(Source: DFF BTS Ep10)

Fuaiz could be talking about the scene we have seen, not what will come after. But he could just as well be talking in general about White as a character.

All I have to say is: Brace yourselves, fellow TeeWhite fans. We're in for a tragedy.

[sokkastyles]

I'm already seeing people saying they are gonna "soften" zuko in the first season heh it made me think of your prediction

Listen, the marketing team of this show knows their audience. Zuko is already being marketed as one of the main protagonists. His character and his redemption arc is hugely popular and known as one of the main draws of the series. Does anyone honestly think that the writers of the show are gonna be like "now, listen, we can't make him too likeable." He's their cash cow, and they know it, and of course they're going to play that up.

That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to soften the character, but we'll probably get more of him being portrayed as a protagonist and not just a villain early on.

A lot of this is par for the course with an adaptation. You have to remember that when ATLA was airing, people didn't know how Zuko's arc was going to play out. Oh, there are lots of hints early on that the writers intended for him to be redeemed from the first episode, bit they themselves have said they didn't know how it would happen. That developed along the way.

Netflix has the advantage of knowing all the beats in advance, in an arc that in the original, was more ambitious than any of the other character arcs. But this poses a new problem, because an ambitious arc that we haven't seen before is less ambitious the second time around. So what to do? The obvious answer is to change things up a bit, to play up the things we know are going to happen later. So I suspect we will get some of that.

Am I worried that Dallas Liu won't be able to quite pull off what Zuko did in the original? Yeah, but that's a testament to how good OG Zuko was. It's challenging to pull off that kind of characterization. That and hindsight are both going to affect how people view Liu's performance.

Even so, there are already people who say that OG Zuko is too soft, or that fans soften him, or try to make him seem worse even after his redemption. That's a testament to how complex of a character Zuko is. I find myself analyzing the few seconds we've gotten of Liu's performance, looking for that complexity. That's a lot to put on the young actor's shoulders.

Especially since everything is going to be more subdued going from live action to cartoon. So my guess is that we'll get a less shouty Zuko. The other thing is that a lot of Zuko's early vulnerability is revealed to us by seeing him getting comedically smashed into a wall over and over again, so there will also be less of that. Which means the show will have to show Zuko's mix of simmering rage, petulance, vulnerability and insecurity in other ways. That plus hindsight plus the netflix episode format of less and longer episodes means we'll probably also get Zuko's backstory much more early on, or at least parts of it, probably as early as the first episode.

As for specifically the fear that Zhao being present on Kyoshi Island means Zuko will play less of a role there, I think it's more likely that the show is expanding Zhao's role both as an antagonist for Zuko and as an antagonist for the rest of the gaang, in anticipation of the season one finale. That also goes back to the fact that things will probably need to be toned down in the move to live action anyway. I've said before that it makes little sense to hold Zuko burning Kyoshi against him since it's the result of reckless cartoon bending and Aang puts the fire out very easily via Unagi in an equally cartoonish way. My guess is that in the adaptation Zhao will follow Zuko there and we'll get a three-way fight, and even if Zhao does most of the burning, Zuko will still be responsible for bringing Zhao there, so it's not like they're exonerating Zuko for something the original show didn't even treat seriously to begin with.

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Gray 17

First / Previous / Next

Nal and Fen stayed strapped into their pod for the better part of an hour before someone opened it up. Being an escape pod, provisions are made for opening from the outside - you never know when the people inside are injured and can't escape themselves. They had unstrapped and were just sitting around waiting to be let out. What else could they do?

Finally, they heard banging on the other side, and with a slight puff of pressure differential, the door opened and a human technician peered inside. Immediately behind here were two heavily armed soldiers in armored pressure suits - but their helmets were open. "Uh, you two all right? Do you need medical attention?"

Fen's eyes flicked to Nals, and she barely twitched one of her ears. The earring jangled just a little bit and Fen figured she meant to play along. "We've been drugged. We're doing better now, but we could probably stand to be checked out by a medical team. Do you have someone familiar with K'laxi physiology?"

The tech turned and looked behind them and gestured to someone Fen couldn't see. Another human, this one in a white medical uniform stepped in. "My name is Doctor Tiems. We can check you both out, I am familiar with K'laxi physiology. What happened?" As she spoke she started to help Nal out of her seat.

"We were aboard that starjumper, Spyglass and as soon as your group of ships linked into the system, we were drugged and placed onto this escape pod and dumped. I saw Spyglass fire her stardrive, and I assume link away, but I didn't see that. Honestly, it was hard to concentrate."

A little reader chirruped when Dr. Tiems pressed it to Fen's neck. She looked at the readout and blanched. "I'll say it was. You were given enough antinausea sedative to knock someone out for a whole day. How are you awake?"

Fen smiled weakly. "I don't know Doc, I guess they don't effect me as much."

Dr Tiems stepped out and offered her hand to Fen. "Come on. Let's get you to medical and get that flushed out. Don't worry about your stuff, we'll take good care of it." As Fen stood the world started to swim around her. Maybe she wasn't as lucid as she thought. Dr Tiems had two chairs ready for them, and Nal was already seated. Her eyes followed Fen as she carefully got out and fell into her own chair.

It was hard to believe the Super Dreadnought was a human made ship. It was almost completely opposite Spyglass. Where Spyglass was cramped and cozy, this ship - Fen hadn't asked which one it was, and they didn't mention it - was bright and airy with tall, wide corridors, lots of light, and so many people.

Fen had never seen so many humans in one place, not even back home. There was a K'laxi here and there, some in the same blue uniform as the humans, and a few in other uniforms, maybe visitors. The vast majority of people aboard were humans though. It was almost unnerving.

They were wheeled into medical, and placed in beds near the entrance. Fen's upper arm had a cuff placed around it, and she felt an icy coldness and then a numbness spread over her. Something appeared on a screen over her head, but she couldn't turn to see it. Soon after though her thoughts began to clear, and after maybe half an hour she felt like herself again. Dr Tiems came over and fussed over them. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm much better now, thank you."

She nodded. "Good. How about you?" She turned to Nal.

"Yes, thank you. I nearly feel like myself again."

"Wonderful. Please, what are your names? I didn't get them when we got you out of your pod."

"I'm Fen, and this is Nal." Fen gestured towards Nal, who nodded and flicked her tail.

"Good to meet you both. I'm going to request you stay connected a few more minutes to make sure all of the sedative has been flushed from your systems, and then you'll be meeting Captain Cooper for a debriefing. Spyglass was the first starjumper we had seen in nearly a century, we thought they were all gone!" Dr Tiems got up and went into her office. They were alone for a few minutes.

"So uh, what do we do?" Fen quietly asked Nal in K'inmar.

"Keep doing what you're doing. Tell them the truth. Just... maybe not all of it. Don't lie though. These ships have things that can detect outright falsehoods."

"What? How?"

Nal's ears twitched and she shrugged - carefully so as not to disturb her cuff - "I'm not exactly sure. It's not like they have mind readers, I think just really good body language processors built into cameras. So, if you're going to lie, be really confident about it." She smiled.

A few minutes later, a woman dressed in a much more elaborate version of the uniform that Fen saw everyone else wearing walked in. She was tall, with closely cropped hair and an imperious expression. Two armed guards flanked her, their expressions carefully blank. Dr Tiems rushed out. "Captain Cooper! I was just about to signal you. Our... guests have been checked out and can be debriefed."

"Thank you doctor." The Captain just watched as Dr Tiems removed the cuffs. "Please, come with me." Without waiting, she turned and left. The two guards both flicked their eyes to Fen and Nal and gestured with their heads.

Fen and Nal walked behind the Captain with the two guards following them a respectful distance behind. They walked quite a long distance on the ship, maybe five minutes before coming to a conference room. The Captain didn't even slow as she approached the door, and it parted for her just in time. Nal and Fen followed her in, and the two guards took up station outside.

Inside was a long table, with a dozen chairs. Captain Cooper sat at the head and gestured for them to sit next to her. Fen and Nal dutifully sat down. The Captain took out a pad, and set it on the table, face up. Fen and Nal could see two dossiers on the pad, one for each of them.

She slid the pad to Fen. "Please. Is this you?"

Fen took the pad and scanned it. It was her all right. The Gren station she was born on, her human parents, her K'laxi caretakers, Ma-ren, her work with Tam'itarr, everything." She slid it back to Captain Cooper. "Yes, that is me."

She nodded and slid the pad to Nal. "Same question." Nal scanned the dossier, scrolling a little, and once or twice flipping back and forth. She slid it back. "Confirmed. That is me."

Captain Cooper took the pad and closed it with a snap. "Fenchurch Whitehorse, we have no outstanding warrants for you, though the Gren Star League has a bench warrant for you. We currently do not extradite to the Gren though, so you are safe with us." She turned. "Nalenni Bightiarr, K'lax has already requested your return. We understand you are overdue for a debriefing with the Provisional Authorities."

Nal blinked. "Y-yes, that is correct. Captain Cooper, with all do respect, how do you know all this?"

"It is our job to know."

"O-okay then. What is to become of us?" Nal leaned back in her chair. Fen was able to see that while she was doing her best to put on a quiet indifference, Nal was actually quite worried. The fur around her ears was poofing out more than normal.

"From us? Nothing. We see no reason to keep you. We are going to ask you a few questions about Gord, as he is a wanted individual, and then we'll release you. Fen, you're free to continue on to K'lax as you had originally planned, or we will ferry you anywhere in human space as a one time sign of goodwill and apology for your... circumstances. Nal, we will drop you off at the Provisional Authority Starbase."

"That's it?" Fen was flabbergasted.

Captain Cooper's face softened. "That's it Fen. We're not monsters. You weren't even on our radar until you started paling around with Gord. We did our due diligence, found out about your history, and decided that you've had enough. You are a result of your parents and their parents choices, not yours. You have the right to see human space for yourself and make your own decisions."

"But what Gord said about the AIs..."

"I imagine it was colored with his experience of things as well as his perspective. We know a lot about Gord. He never means to do harm, but history will show that on more than one occasion his cohort did quite a bit of harm to humanity at large. The AI faction's drive for agency wound up costing quite a few human lives as well as threatening the existence of the Empire when it had barely begun. We were only defending ourselves, Fen. You deserve to see our side."

Fen's head was spinning. The Empire - the people that both the humans and K'laxi back home would talk about in hushed tones, or with acid in their voices was... was being nice to her. They were going to ask her about Gord and then let her go. They were even going to offer her a ride anywhere she wanted. She didn't know how to process it. Captain Cooper turned to Nal. "Nal, you do not have to disclose your mission - that's between you and the Provisional Authorities - but please tell us about Gord."

Nal shrugged. "He fit the description. He is frightfully intelligent, always aware, and watches when everyone thinks he's not. He is driven to recreate his species, and every decision he makes is colored by that. I think he was close to a breakthrough and that's why he kicked us out. You'll notice he lit Spyglass' stardrive and boosted away at a high gee; higher than either of us could have taken. He wanted to make sure he had a clean getaway. If he wasn't close to something, he probably would have allowed himself to be caught and just played along."

Captain Cooper made some notes. "Yes, we suspected that as well." Fen, did he ever talk to you about building more AI bodies?"

"What? No. He never talked to me about it. We spent the two years we were together running cargo and earning money and repairing Spyglass. We went from one broken reactor to a full compliment and last I heard the matter printer was nearly full of material."

"Was it now? That is news to us." Captain Cooper raised her eyebrow, and made a few more notes. "It sounds like Spyglass is in much better shape than we had anticipated. We had figured it was barely holding together. We knew that when it landed at the Gren station it didn't move again until Gord stole it."

"That's what I understand to have happened too. Honestly when I was a kid, we mostly went over and played in her. She was dark and cold my whole childhood."

Captain Cooper stood. "Thank you for cooperating, ladies. I will have the bursar set you up with accounts for your funds, and give you the most current exchange rates. We'll be docking with the Provisional Authorities first thing tomorrow. Fen, we'll need to know your decision by then. Please, explore the ship, talk to people, ask things. I'll let everyone know they have permission to speak to you about non-classified things. Nal, we'll drop you off when we dock."

The Captain walked out of the room, but the door stayed open. Fen sat there, dumfounded. This was happening so fast. Just this morning she was with Gord and getting ready to finish a job with a huge payday. Now it was nearly dinner time and she was aboard an Empire Super Dreadnought being offered its use to carry her anywhere she wanted.

"Nal, what should I do?"

Nal's ears flicked. "You're asking me? Go do what the captain said. Talk to people. See what they're like. You don't have long to decide, but once you're off their ship you can do what you want. Gord made it sound like you had some money. Buy a share in a ship, join up with a Merc group. Hell, buy a house on Parvati and just live like a bum planetside. You can do what you want, Fen."

[jmdbjk]

My head is spinning...

Let's spend the next two weeks (or however long) arguing about who, what, when, where, when we could be enjoying content or music.

Yes, it's all over the news media and social media: RM, V, Jimin and Jungkook will enlist December 11 and 12.

Buzzwords being used: companion enlistment and battalion, company, barracks, training center... etc.

The more information is reposted and quoted, the more it gets twisted because words get left out, translations aren't clear and people generally misinterpret what they are reading because most social media posts are not complete sentences (omg the internet is ruining language writing and reading comprehension skills).

The initial report was RM and V would be going to a training center together (or at least at the same time/same date) in the "rear" and Jimin and Jungkook were going to one on the "front" and this base is organized so that it is considered on the "frontline." The initial report implied all 4 would be at the same location, 2 going to the front training center, 2 going to the rear training center.

Then reports began to surface that Jimin and Jungkook had chosen "companion enlistment." Which is a thing and they very well could have done. Siblings, relatives, friends, can request this but only for those whose birthday is 1995 or after.

After all of that, somehow, now we have Jimin and Jungkook going to the training center where Jin is located. Which may or may not be true.

You might even start seeing stuff about men with tattoos that are visible if they wore a singlet (tank top) or short pants are not eligible for training instructor assistant positions and therefore that's why they chose companion enlistment. (??!! eh?) That one is all over the place, I'm not sure what the accurate explanation is.

It's a frenzy of confusion. We don't know for sure. We won't know for sure until the day of, when I'm POSITIVE the media will be camped out along the roads into those military boot camp facilities with their cameras set up on tripods waiting for the black KIA Carnivals to show up.

Just me typing this and posting it will add to the never-ending confusion. I would rather talk about Jungkook explaining how the buttons failed him onstage during Fake Love or the quantity of naked Jimin we've seen in the last few days...

One thing I will say with conviction is that they were committed to this plan. They tried to tell us that. They did their best to remind us that 2025 was the target. Yes, they had some things to wrap up, some important things to finalize this year and some stuff that was hard to pin down. But in their minds and on paper, they had the general plan.

And I will also say that when they are all discharged, they will hit the ground running. They didn't do all of this extensive planning to be discharged and sit on their ass for a while to get used to being a civilian again. They're gonna kick ass as soon as they land, shoot some footage for an MV and get the show on the road.

Next year (which is a month away) there will be a ramp up when its time for Jin to be back with us, then Hobi, and then we'll be on the downhill side of all of this enlistment business and the wheels will start turning to get us all whipped up again. Stadiums will have been booked years in advance (as we speak they are being booked). They've got this plan in motion already.

All that being said, I hope our men do well, stay healthy, safe and without drama until June 2025 when they will be discharged from active military duty.

[canirove]

In The Name of Love | Chapter 30

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Masterlist

"And on our last day in Ibiza… we meet Pedri! He was super nice, asking us if we liked the photos after we took them and if we wanted to repeat them. Such a sweetheart… And he was with his girlfriend. She also was super nice and the one who took the group photo. She asked us to say Pepi instead of cheese and that's why we are laughing. She made the photo look perfect and one of my favourites from this trip. After that we saw them again outside a bar and you should have seen the way Pedri was looking at her and her smile. So cute! They are couple goals. See, just good comments. And we are couple goals, Val" Pedri says after reading the caption one of the girls we met yesterday wrote on Instagram. 

We've been in Ibiza for a week already, and so far everything has been going smoothly and I've kept my promise of enjoying my holidays and my boyfriend. We've gone out for dates or walks just the two of us, to the beach with Ferran and Eric, to some parties… And when people have stopped him or the boys to take a photo, everyone has been lovely both offline and online. 

"Yeah, sure" I snort.

"We are. Aren't we, Eric?"

"Uh?"

"Val and I. Aren't we couple goals?"

"What you are is extra cheesy lately. What's gotten into you?" he says.

"Jealous?" Pedri smirks.

"The only thing I'm jealous of is the shirt you wore the other day for dinner. Can I borrow it tonight?"

"Why? Are you meeting with someone?"

"We are going to Ushuaia, remember?" Eric says.

"Are you meeting with someone there?"

"Can I borrow the shirt or not?"

"Don't change the topic, Eric. You are the only one who is single, you know? I have Val, Ferran has his ginger girl, Gavi is seeing someone new too…"

"Pedri, shut up" I say.

"What?"

"Just shut up, those comments aren't funny. They actually are very annoying and can be very hurtful, I know it from experience. And yes, you can borrow his shirt. It's on our room's closet."

"Thank you, Val" Eric smiles.

"I was a prick, wasn't I?" Pedri says when we are alone again.

"Yes, you were."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be apologizing to Eric, not me."

"I will, I promise. And since he talked about tonight… Are you ready to sing your lungs out like the last time?"

"Is Martin going to dedicate me another song?" I ask.

"Maybe" he shrugs. "Or maybe he'll ask you to go on stage with him."

"Pedro!"

"Ouch!" he complains. "I was just joking, there is no need to hit me like that."

"Your jokes suck today, you deserve it."

"And you deserve this."

"Pedri!" I laugh when he starts tickling me.

"You asked for it when you hit me, Val."

"Pedri, stop. Please!"

"Saying that won't help you."

"Pedri… Pedri!" I laugh again when he pushes me on the sofa until I'm laying on my back, he on top of me. "Stop!"

"You really hurt me. I think it is gonna bruise."

"Aww, poor Pepi…" 

"Don't tease me, Val."

"Or what, uh? More tickling?"

"Maybe" he says, slowly moving his hands under my t-shirt. "I may not touch you for the rest of our holidays here in Ibiza."

"Ha! You'll be all over me tonight."

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will, Pedro. You'll see."

"I won't" he repeats, leaning forward until our noses are touching.

"Yes, you…"

"Val, do you… oh, c'mon" Eric says, rolling his eyes. "If you want to have sex go to your room, you aren't alone!"

"We weren't going to do anything. In fact, we won't do anything for the rest of the trip" Pedri says.

"Yeah, sure" Eric snorts. "You will be all over Val tonight, you can't help yourself."

"See?" I say.

"I won't" he insists.

"Ok, then. 24 hours. If you don't manage to go that long without making out with Val or touching her in a sexual way, I'm keeping your shirt."

"And if I manage to do it? What do I get in return?"

"You won't, Pedri" Eric laughs. "But if that's the case, we'll think of something. Deal?" he says, offering him his hand.

"Deal" he says, shaking it. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Val… Stop doing that."

"Doing what?" I ask.

"That."

"I'm just dancing."

"And killing me. Can't you feel it?"

"I actually can, yes" I laugh.

"Then please stop" Pedri says, kissing my neck.

"You are the one who has to stop, we are somewhere public."

"I can't, you look fucking hot tonight. Why did you have to wear this dress? And with your hair up?"

"I know it is one of your favourites" I smile.

"It is. God knows it is" he says as the hand he has on my leg moves up a bit more.

"Pedri…"

"What?" he says against my skin, making me feel goosebumps down my spine.

"Behave yourself."

"I can't."

"Well, you must. Because I'm here to enjoy the full show, not just half of it."

"And I want to enjoy all of you" he says, the arm around my waist tightening.

"Once it ends we can go home if that's what you want. But now you have to behave."

"Urgh" he groans, resting his forehead on my shoulder. "You are the worst, Val. And you've made me lose one of my favourite shirts."

"Oh, poor Pepi" I tease him.

"Rude."

"Pedri!" I yelp when he bites my shoulder.

"You deserve it" he says in my ear. "Gonna go get myself a drink."

"Yeah, go cool down" I laugh.

"I'll be watching you, tho."

"Like a creep?"

"Like the boyfriend who is taking notes of all the things he's gonna do to his girlfriend once she stops torturing him with her dancing and they are home alone."

"Sure" I laugh again. But like has happened it the past, it sounds like a nervous laugh, because he is looking at me in that way that tells me that he isn't joking. 

"Enjoy the rest of the show. Then it'll be my turn to enjoy you" he smirks before walking away, leaving me trying to compose myself and focus on the music and not on what will be happening when it ends.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Got to meet these cracks last night in Ushuaia. Top lads! And thank you to Pedri's girlfriend for taking the photo of all of us together. She is hot as hell, no wonder my boy couldn't keep his hands to himself. Told you you looked hot as hell, Val. He's added three fire emojis. Three!" Pedri says after reading another Instagram post, this one from a guy we met last night and who took a photo with him, Eric and Ferran. 

"It was just a dress."

"But it is the dress."

"And speaking of clothes… How are you  feeling about Eric owning your favourite shirt? Still gutted?"

"Yeah. But mainly because I loved seeing you wearing it."

"We can always buy another one."

"Nah, it's ok. You actually look better like this. Naked."

"Pedri…" I say as he moves to be on top of me and starts kissing my neck.

"I can't keep my hands to myself, Val. I couldn't last night, and I can't right now. You are three fire emojis hot."

"You have loved that, haven't you?" I laugh.

"I have" he says against my skin, the feeling making me gasp. "But there is something that I love a lot more."

"Enlighten me."

"You" he smiles before kissing me.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"I can't even recognize myself."

"Yeah, we both look so weird… But I guess that happens when they take the photos from so far away" Pedri shrugs.

Because the paparazzis had finally caught us. 

It had been on our last day in Ibiza, when we had gone out on a boat with Ferran, Eric and Gavi, who had joined us for a few days.

"How do you think they found us?" I ask, still looking at the magazine in my hands. 

"Ibiza isn't that big and they know many footballers go there for their holidays. They just have to wait around the most exclusive and touristic places, and sooner or later someone will show up."

"Told you you guys are too predictable. It's like you all share the same brain cell" I tease him.

"We are predictable, yes" he chuckles. "Are you ok, tho? About the photos."

"I mean… It isn't ideal, but yeah."

"Good" Pedri smiles. "Should we buy the magazine?"

"What?" 

"We can keep it and share it one day with our grandchildren, telling them: look, this is the first time we were in a magazine." 

"Ok" I chuckle. 

"And we can do the sudoku and the crossword together on the plane."

"Good idea. So much thinking with your dick instead of your brain isn't good. I don't want you to turn into a Jack Grealish."

"Rude" he says, sticking out his tongue. "But I will never turn into someone like that because, unlike him, I know what an encyclopedia is and I have actually used it. And the paper version, something many people my age can't say."

"Oh, impressive" I laugh.

"Also, have you seen my legs?"

"Your thigh is as big as his calf, yes" I laugh again. 

"Exactly. So I will never be like him."

"Good" I smile. "Shall we pay for this, then?"

"Let's go. But we'll need to buy some pens too, one for each. Red and blue?" Pedri says with a teasing smile.

"Fine" I sigh. 

"You are the best, Val" he says, kissing my cheek and making me giggle like an idiot. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Pedri, can you please slow down?"

"No."

"You are gonna end up with a horrible stomach ache if you keep eating that fast. Or worse, you may choke."

"I won't choke. Relax, Val" he says. 

"I'm not so sure of that…"

"I won't. But ugh, I just can't help myself. I haven't eaten this in so long, and it is so freaking good" he says, giving his food another huge bite. 

"You are such a kid" I laugh.

"Yef yu lof me."

"What?"

"Yet you love me."

"Sadly I do, yes."

"Fuck."

"Please tell me you aren't choking."

"Worse" he says, cleaning his face and getting up.

"Pedri, where are you going?"

"To have a word with that guy."

"What?" I say, turning to look at the person he is walking towards. "You gotta be kidding me." 

A paparazzi. How did he find us in Tenerife? Did someone tip him off?

"What did you tell him?" I ask Pedri when he comes back to the table.

"That he can take all the photos he wants now, but that he better not follow us back home or I will be calling the police."

"Will they be able to do something, tho?"

"I don't know. But it seemed to scare him enough."

"Hey, Pedri. Are you ok?" I ask, reaching for his hand.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just that… This is my home, you know. Where I get to be just me, where I, we, should be safe. Having them here, following us around, feels…"

"Intrusive?"

"Yeah" he sighs. "I mean, it always does but… yeah. And now I've lost my appetite."

"Why don't we ask them to put all this for a take away and go back home?" I say, giving his hand a little squeeze.

"That sounds great. I could do with some cuddles right now…" he says, trying not to smile.

"Let's do it, then. We can cuddle and then go for a walk around town, maybe watch the sunset on the beach and have dinner there."

"So romantic, Val" he chuckles.

"I have my moments" I smile. "Shall we?"

"C'mon" he smiles back.

The next day our photos are all over the internet and printed in many magazines. And this time, you are able to properly see our faces.

"Is it too bad?" I ask Marina.

"I mean… There are more people talking about it than when the others came out. Most talk about Pedri's funny faces while he ate and the way your were looking and smiling at each other, that you looked really cute."

"But…"

"But now that your face is more visible there are more comments just about you."

"I see… Has anyone put two and two together and realized I'm Ferran's supposed girlfriend?" 

"Not yet, they are too busy looking for you on Instagram. But the moment someone does…" Marina says, biting her lip.

"It'll be the Hunger Games" I sigh.

"I don't know what that means, but yeah."

"You don't… what?" I laugh. 

"Sorry" she shrugs.

"Ok, remind me to make you watch the movies when I'm back in Barcelona. And read the books too." 

"Oh, am I gonna be part of your movie/book club? I'm sure Pedri is as clueless as I am."

"He probably is, yes" I chuckle.

"What am I now?" he says, sitting down next to me. "Hello, Marina."

"Hi" she smiles over the phone. "And you are clueless about the Hunger Games."

"Oh, I know what that is, I've watched the movies."

"Really?" both Marina and I say at the same time.

"Why so surprised?" he laughs.

"Well… you know" I shrug. "Anyway, I'm still making you watch them, Marina."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I have to go. I'll keep you updated about everything going on online, ok?"

"Thank you" I smile.

"Enjoy what is left of your holidays!" 

"You too" Pedri says before I hang up. "Is it too bad? Online, I mean."

"Not yet. Hopefully the preseason and you looking hot and sweaty will make them forget about me."

"Hot and sweaty, uh?" he says, putting his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. "Do you want to end like that too?"

"Now?"

"Why not? Marina told us to enjoy what is left of our holidays, and I can't think of a better way to do it."

"Pedri!" I giggle when he kisses my neck.

"I love you, Val" he says while leaving kisses all over my jaw, the hand that isn't on my waist moving up my thigh.

"I love you too" I reply, my brain starting to disconnect, letting me just feel and forget about everything going on outside. The crazy fans, the paparazzis, the hate…

Right now, it is just me and Pedri.

[playertwotails]

Per the poll I put out I'm gonna ramble about how Tails displays his genius vs how Eggman does.

It's long so under the cut it goes

We'll start with Eggman. Now Eggman clearly has a complex. He's talked about being compared to Maria his whole life which has made him want a lot of attention. Which a valid feeling but then Eggman being Eggman takes it to the ^nth degree.

See he has to make sure EVERYONE knows how smart he is. He plasters his face over everything he makes, names everything after himself to some degree, and is loud bragging all the time about his latest greatest creation and everyone being inferior to him and his genius.

He's gonna make sure that people recognize him and what he's done no matter what.

With this mindset, all of his creations are only for the benefit of he, himself and no one else. Every invention he creates falls under 3 categories.

Expanding the Eggman Empire

Kill Sonic

Or both

Even when he has "allies" he very rarely gives them any of his inventions unless they directly benefit himself (hello start of the Zombot arc). His selfishness and self importance has him only making things that fuel his own desires and wants.

On the flip side of this though we have Tails.

Now Tails also has houses that look like him and has his own logo (and I'll get into that a little later). But in contrast to Eggman Tails doesn't brag much about his creations. He'll be proud of them and talk about them but never in a condescending manner.

(Side note: off the top of my head I think the only times we may have seen a slightly more condescending tone is a few times when he's talking to Sonic but it always came off as more of a "little sibling being a little shit" kinda tone)

Tails showing his friends his inventions is never in a "Look how much better than you I am cause I made this" kinda way. It's always felt more like a kid showing people their macaroni art cause they're proud they were able to make it. (which he is 8 so def fits lol)

And half the time his inventions are for the benefit of not only himself but all their friends, allies and just other people in general. He makes things to share and help improve what people already have to make their lives easier/safer. I mean look what he did to Sonic's plane. and their communication devices.

Now onto my next point: Quality over Quantity

So switching back to Eggman, he gets so focused on making these massive armies and sprawling cities/bases with his face plastered and designed into everywhere he's not gonna be able to do that by himself. So most of his creations are made in production lines not by his own hands.

Most of the time when we see Eggman he's not making something he's at a control panel directing things to be made. He's very hands off with the majority of his own creations with the exception of his more one of a kind creations like Metal Sonic.

Meanwhile we see Tails is always fiddling with things, taking them apart, and improving them, sometimes it's Eggman's own creations Tails messes with. Tails is typically shown to be very hands on. And yeah his house and inventions have his logo or face on them but their all one of a kind, hand crafted creations not massive bases that go on for miles (lol). So it feels more like a signature than an announcement like Eggman's does.

Now bringing this all together it comes down to the one person Tails is boastful to and constantly saying their not as smart as him --- Eggman.

Now, Eggman on multiple occasions has recognized how smart Tails is but we rarely if ever (off the top of my head) see Tails saying the same about Eggman.

Most of the time Tails is roasting him about shoddy craftsmanship and how Eggman's plans are dumb. One thing I've noticed too is we always see Tails hacking and messing with Eggmans tech but we've never really seen the reverse as far as I can recall.

Heck we've seen multiple time Tails taking apart Eggman's machines and talking about how weird and unorganized all his bots insides. We've seen Tails casually hack into Eggman's networks in the middle of fights.

Which brings us back to the quality over quantity thing. Because Eggman's armies and bases are mass produced mostly at this point so the craftsmanship quality goes down. Eggman is a genius for sure but even if his designs are great since he's not behind every robot creating them, his own genius suffers. He's too busy trying to make it big and loud that what's actually produced it of a lesser quality.

And then we have Tails who is one on one with all his creations and that makes them harder for Eggman to destroy cause Tails can personally check everything is up to snuff for all his inventions. (meanwhile too Tails rips Eggman's robots apart for extra screws probably)

I just think that it's very funny that while Eggman goes to great lengths to show the whole world he's smarter than everyone else, Tails just needs Eggman to know he's smarter then him.