#but i was dumb and didn't check the time in which the sun sets

[eleni-cherie]

a thief's origin✨ || bts • kth - chapter 0.4

"you're afraid I won't wait." "I'm afraid you will."

a criminal and a doctor should be as different as the sun and the moon - but unexpected things happened every day. like him finding his safe haven in her.

© 2024 | eleni_cherie

»»»

masterlist: here

— genre: thief au, gangster comedy, adventure, romcom, humour, angst, fluff, sexual tensiON, slowburn, mutual pining, strangers to friends to lovers s2f2l

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE. CHARACTERS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE THE REAL PERSONS. ALSO VERY UNREALISTIC PLOT LOL - JUST PRETEND READING A MANGA/COMIC OR WATCHING A FILM, REALLY.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES. MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE & BLOOD (BUT NOTHING TOO GRAPHIC, IT'S STILL A COMEDY!)

»»»

age 26 // 2nd year - assistant physician

13th August

Macau, China

"One, two - check, check. Can you hear me?"

Taehyung rolled his eyes hearing Jimin's dramatics in the in-ear as he was easing his way to the back of the extravagant casino. He walked behind a group of intoxicated men - who judging by their suits and platin watches were business men having come there to gamble a few hundred thousands just for fun - to cover himself from the cameras.

Reaching one of the secured doors leading to the back area, he smoothly placed a small button-like device behind the security scanner in the matter of a second while passing by.

"Yeah, I do," he eventually responded to his pestering friend with a grin. Earning an annoyed groan on the other line.

"Took you long enough!"

"Guys, don't start again," Yoongi piped up in a bored, yet warning tone. And Taehyung snickered under his breath.

Without showing any suspicion, he continued walking among the drunks until reaching the card tables. Creating eye-contact with Yoongi who gave him a brief glance from the dimly lit bar, focusing back on the whiskey in front of him. The two pretending not knowing the other.

"Bug is set," he announced in a hush, approaching one of the empty seats at the Blackjack table. "Gonna start the distraction now."

"Joining in ten."

"Good. I'm counting on you guys."

»»»

21st August

Barcelona, Spain

Despite the evening hour, a drenching warmth laid around him. Taehyung was in fact internally dying.

After arriving from the layover in Doha, another unbearably warm place, he took a nap at their hideout outside the city first - feeling more drowsy than anything. Only then deciding to go check out his friend's apartment, out of boredom but also because he had genuinely missed her. However, she wasn't there, which in eighty percent of the time meant one thing: she was at work. 

So half an hour later, he found himself at the back of the hospital, lingering around the emergency entrance out of habit.

The late shift would finish soon he assumed - if she didn't have a double one, which he hoped wasn't the case. Eager for her to see the small succulent he had secured as a redemption for the one he'd accidentally knocked off the last time there.

It had been months ever since, but he still felt bad about it knowing how much her plants meant to her.

After awhile he got tired of walking around the sparsely illuminated area though and instead settled at the wall next to the entrance. Propping himself against it and stretching his neck as he watched people come and go.

He exhaled deeply when the automatic door slid open once again. Only this time he could hear raised voices nearing him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Pretty sure my shift's over and Dr M warned us not to exceed our hours, remember?"

Taehyung's ears perked up at this. He instantly recognised the second voice despite the annoyed undertone. He didn't recognise the other one though. His foot setting to the ground and he straightened himself while listening intently.

"You know exactly what I mean. Don't act dumb, doll."

Cassandra turned around at this, crossing her arms as she faced her colleague with a raised brow.

"What did you just call me? Doll? Since when are we on that level?" she laughed, but Taehyung could tell she was surpressing an upset scoff.

And it certainly didn't go unnoticed by Pavlo, one of the bigmouths in the hospital, either. "Since you humiliated me in front of the fcking chief physician. Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

The way he raised his voice and accusing her of things that were his own fault, only made her temper bubble right underneath the surface. Trying her best to give him a blank stare instead of a nasty eye. 

She never liked Pavlo. She found him somewhat attractive in the right angle, but couldn't say anything positive about him otherwise. Frankly, she hated him. And no, not in a hot 'enemies-to-lovers' way. Rather in a 'the-world-would-be-a-better-place-without-him' way.

"I wasn't the one humiliating you. I only corrected you by stating facts," she spoke up, surprised by her own calmness, "The one humiliating you was your big ego. Who'd ever think to use activated vitamine C to treat a septic patient with such low thrombocytes? Everyone knows it'd cause brain heaemorage. Well, -" Pausing, she folded her lips. Failing to balance out the mocking judgement in her tone. ".. everyone but you, apparently."

Her male colleague clenched his jaw and she could swear seeing a vein popping up on his neck.

He couldn't care less about anyone hearing him, everyone knew to better not get on bad terms with him. So the fact she dared provoking him after always staying in line just like the rest, didn't sit right with him.

"Look, smartass," he said through gritted teeth and stepped forward. 

Cassandra instinctively taking a step back at this. Trying not to flinch and keep a stern face instead when internally she was beginning to shake.

There was a part of her fearing that she was pushing him too hard. She didn't know him well enough to know how he'd react to that.

She had heard rumours, unsettling ones, though which only added to her dislike towards him. And she wouldn't be surprised if they were true to some extent. But there was also another part of her clenching her fists and standing firm. 

"I don't have time for this, my shift ended five minutes ago."

She was ready to walk away when she felt a firm grip on her arm. Preventing her from leaving the spot.

"I'm talking to you though."

Her breath hinched and she looked down at his large hand, then back at him with what was probably the angriest glare Pavlo had ever witnessed on her. And that coming from a usually quiet and harmless person like Cassandra did take him off-guard for a second. Although he quickly found his demeanor again.

"Let go of me," she said, threateningly slowly. Voice low but only because she was trying her best not to jump him right there.

"No, first you -"

"I think she said to let go."

Both their heads abrubtly snapped towards the unexpected third voice. Seeing Taehyung appearing from behind the wall, stepping behind her.

The waves of chocolate brown, straight and and silky , was the first thing she noticed about him as she studied his face. She was startled to see him there.

Taehyung was arching a brow, staring blankly at Pavlo. His piercing glare neither mad nor threatening, rather judgy while staring straight into Pavlo's hazel eyes. Not even blinking once, which made the assistant physician gulp in irritation over the tall stranger. His grip around Cassandra's arm loosening.

"I don't know what you two were arguing about," Taehyung began then, pretending he hadn't eavesdropped the whole conversation. He glanced down at Cassandra before redirecting his glare to the male doctor, "But trust me, you don't want to upset her." And all of a sudden he cracked a grin. Taking them both aback. "Seriously, she looks innocent but she's got a mean upper-cut. And her kick..." He dragged out a whistle. "You don't wanna experience that."

Cassandra stifled a laugh at his acting, quickly understanding what he was trying to do. So she puffed out her chest and threw Pavlo a sinister look instead to play along with Taehyung's white lies.

"Listen to him. He knows what he's talking about," she smirked widely, leaning towards him to add, "From experience."

Pavlo immediately yanked his hand away and let go of her completely. His eyes alternating between Cassandra and Taehyung, shifting bewilderedly.

At one point his lips parted, as if he wanted to retort something, but shut just as fast again. Giving up, not seeing a point anymore.

And without further ado, he trotted back inside. Muttering something incoherent under his breath, clearly embarrassed and upset about the humiliating blow his ego had taken.

Cassandra and Taehyung immediately broke into a fit of laughter as soon as he disappeared.

"Who was that idiot?" The thief huffed then, glancing down at her with a scowl.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Dr. Pavlo Romero Diaz. First class jerk. Low class doctor."

He snorted at this, his irises lingering on the door her colleague had disappeared to before falling back to her. "You okay? Did he hurt you?"

"Nah, I'm fine." She waved him off. However, his eyes caught the clear red mark Pavlo's grip had left on her bare skin and something inside him boiled. Suddenly feeling the urge to go inside and find Pavlo, when her voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

"Huh, what?"

He saw her smiling at his confused face, clearly not having heard anything she'd just said. "I said thanks for the support."

"Oh, that.." he shrugged nonchalantly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You didn't seem like needing my help anyway."

She wanted to argue, but then again she appreciated how he didn't let her appear as a weakling. "Still, thank you. I might've ended up doing something irrational like kicking him in the balls," she giggled, half-embarrassed about her confession.

He huffed out a chuckle, knowing she'd have probably done it if that jerk wouldn't have let go of her. Giving her a nod then. "S'alright, don't mention it. You know I got your back."

Her cheeks blushed all of a sudden. It was a nice feeling, to know that someone backed her up.

They shared a small smile before Taehyung went behind the wall only to reappearing with the small plant. And he observed her brown eyes widening, a small squeak leaving her lips.

"A jade plant!" She instantly rushed to grab it from his hands, beaming with joy like a child getting a bag of candy.

"Ah, this is what it's called. So you like it?" he asked, amused about how gleeful someone could be over a small plant.

"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I?" she grinned, marveling over the random gift. Her eyes then narrowing on him. "Why did you buy me a jade plant though?"

He shrugged as they made their way out of the emergency area and into the parking lot. Catching her tripping over a protruding stone and almost dropping the plant, quickly composing herself. And he tried not to laugh not wanting to embarrass her. "Didn't want to appear with empty hands and besides.. I felt sorry for last time. You know.."

She giggled when recalling the accident of him knocking off one of her succulents, nodding understandingly then. "You didn't have to, but thank you."

The plant had survived back then, but it'd never been the same ever since. Something she still felt sad about it since she really tried taking great care of her plants. However, when the incident had happened, she hadn't said anything because of his apologetic expression. He hadn't done it on purpose after all. 

Peeking at him, she couldn't help but smile. She was glad he was there. Not only because of the scene with Pavlo, which who knew how it'd have ended without Taehyung intervening - worst case would've been her indeed punching Pavlo's smug face and getting fired. Taehyung's lie wasn't a complete lie after all. 

But she had also genuinely missed his charming grin. More than she liked to admit.

»»»

"So, why are you here?" Cautiously, she put the plant aside not to distress it, making space for the drinks he brought.

Taehyung hadn't promised too much. Inconspicuous from the outside, the door at the narrow alley hid a cool tapas bar in its basement. Cool both, in the colloquial and literal way. A needed escape from the lingering heat outside. The atmosphere still needing several hours to warm down.

He shrugged, taking a tentative sip from his red wine to hide his bashful smile. "It was the furthest away from Macau."

"Huh, so can I expect a postcard from there, too?"

"Of course," he nodded firmly, "Already on its way."

She grinned, still admiring the small plant set in front of her. "What did you do there?" she curiously asked then and folded her hands on the table top to lean in closer. Looking at all sides, seeing themselves getting accustumed to going there whenever he was in town. Whispering excitedly and with a lot of mischief then: "Was it for a heist?"

Her unapologetic curiosity for his profession amused but also worried him. And breathed out before chuckling. "A curious cat as always, Doc," he smirked, "But you know I won't feed into it."

His response made her groan in frustration and she sat back. Giving him a sulky pout. "Oh, c'mon, cool guy. Give me something. You know I like stories of you and the guys robbing filthy rich people. It's entertaining and fun."

The reason he tried avoiding telling her too many infos was so she wouldn't get dragged into this world. Even if, for some absurd reason, she didn't mind his workfield and even held some kind of adoration for it, Cassandra was still a normal person, an overall good person. So he'd keep trying his best to keep her away from this other part of his life. Even if she herself would probably not even mind it, he did. Because selfishly enough, he also did it for that illusion he lived when being with her.

Besides, his main concern remained that by visiting her, she'd sooner or later get in interpol's sight. So it was better when she knew as little as possible.

Yet, when those big brown bambi eyes were sparkling so inquiringly at his direction, he rarely could resist. He exhaled deeply, setting the glass of wine down.

"All I'm gonna say is that Macau is known for its casinos."

Her brows rose at this, her excitement returning. "Please tell me you robbed a casino like in Ocean's Eleven."

"It wasn't like this," he rolled his eyes, "Seriously, you need to stop with these films."

Cassandra, however, simply dismissed him with a beaming face. "You didn't deny robbing one though.."

Pursing his lips, he grabbed his glass again and took a sip. Making her grin only wider.

"Wow.. how did you do it?"

"Surely won't tell you."

The pout found its way back onto her lips and he laughed under his breath. A whole medical doctor, ready to fight her colleague but now sitting there in front of him pouting like a child. She was something.

"Fine," she sighed then, giving up. Her eyes catching the guests at another table playing a boardsgame then. An idea popping up in her mind. She got up and before Taehyung could ask her where she was heading to, she walked to the bar. Returning a minute later with a pleased smile and a stack of playing cards.

Taehyung looking at her with suspicion.

"Let's play a game," she announced then as she started shuffling the cards in her hands and he stifled a laugh at the way she did it. Shoving one half into another and almost dropping some in the procedure. She was struggling a little, it was obvious. There were way too many cards for her smaller hands and she didn't have much practice either. It was cute. So he played along.

"Okay. What game?"

"Whatever you want, I know many."

His eyebrows arched. "Is that so?"

"Mhm," she smiled as she continued her painful looking shuffling. "But have in mind, whoever loses the round has to truthfully answer the winner's questions."

Of course, he snorted, it was a trick to get more details from him. He pitied her though, after all he was good in card games. That was how they robbed casinos after all, by playing and cheating. Although, he didn't think he'd even need to cheat this time.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty good."

"So am I."

His lips folded and he bit down on them. It was adorable how certain she seemed to be, believing she'd have any chance against him. So full of herself. However, he knew not to insult her pride so he decided to go with it.

"Alright. You know how to play Blackjack?"

Quite to his surprise, she nodded virgoriously. Placing the stack down in front of him. "Cut."

He did so, deviding the stack into two. Cassandra taking the one that was underneath, beginning dealing the first open card to him and herself. Then she dealt another open one only to him.

Six and a queen. Sixteen in total. Against her ten.

He looked at his cards, then at her. Determination was set on her soft features and he had to confess, he liked that look on her. 

If she drew a six, it'd be a draw. If she drew a seven, eight, nine, ten or an ace, she'd win.

He tapped his fingers on the table top, signaling he wanted another one.

"You sure?"

"I am."

A three. Nineteen in total.

A smug smirk growing on his features as he began playing with his necklace. "Try beating that."

Cassandra's lips moved from side to side, glancing up to see him smile at her with a pitiful look. She huffed. She knew only a ten, face card or ace could save her, but she knew there had to be one in the following cards. Her fingers laid on the deck dramatically before in a swift move, she revealed the top card.

And the corners of her lips curled up.

"King of hearts. I win, cool guy."

He clicked his tongue. "Beginner's luck," he said unimpressed and reached over to shuffle the cards this time. "But fine, a deal's a deal. What do you wanna know?"

"You know what."

Dragging out a sigh, he cut the stack in two to skillfully merge the cards. "While me and Yoongi distracted security by winning constantly and very obviously in the front, Jimin followed the staff bringing the money from the tables to the safes in the back."

Her eyes widened in awe. "That sounds so cool."

"It's not, it's very bad," he chuckled, eyeing her with a wink. "You forget I'm one of the bad guys."

Cassandra only smiled at this though, looking at him fondly before reaching for her own drink and averting her eyes from him.

"You aren't a bad guy, Tae, even if you tried."

He dealt them each one card, before giving her another one.

She had two sevens against his jack of spades.

She tapped her cards and he slid another one to her, but before he could open it, she grabbed his wrist. Giving him an amused smirk.

"What will you give me if I get another seven?"

Taehyung pursed his lips before shaking his head amused about her confidence of getting a Blackjack that quickly. "Don't try pulling a Bugs Bunny on me, there's no way."

Rising one of her brows, she accepted the unspoken dare and let go of his hand. Gesturing for him to open the dealt card. And he did. Observing how surprise drained off any smugness from his face.

A third seven staring back at him.

"Blackjack."

His brows furrowed and he blinked, trying to process what just happened. Eventually nodding then with folded lips. Trying keeping his cool. It was a mere coincidence, surely. "Fine, go ahead. What else do you wanna know?"

"Your necklace.." she said then, catching a glimpse of the golden chain peeking above his collar, "Is there a special reason it's a tiger?"

His eyes went round, following her gaze when his lips tucked into a faint smile. "Ah," he said then, while reminiscing the past for a moment. His eyes finding hers again. "When I was a kid my grandparents used to call me 'little tiger', or something like that. I don't remember exactly anymore, it's been twenty years after all."

"And you're wearing it ever since?"

He nodded, fumbling with the necklace shyly.

"That's sweet." Her voice quieter then she intended, "It must mean a lot to you."

".. yeah, I guess it does."

And she gave him a soft smile, understanding the sentiment behind it now and why he always wore it. Reaching over to get the stack of cards then.

Thirteen rounds and another round of wine later, they set the cards aside.

There were significantly more people around them now as an hour ago.

But Taehyung only had eyes for the young woman who was happily humming another victory tune. Not even trying hiding her joyous grinning anymore.

And he stared at her in admiration but also with a new found respect, feeling much more humbled than before. "How.. how did you do that?"

"Do what?" Cassandra innocently asked as she chunked down the last bit of her second glass of sangria.

She felt the alcohol beginning to kick in as she'd been mindlessly drinking too quickly, once again getting fooled by the sweet taste. She had to be careful if she didn't want to fall asleep or blurt out her deepest secrets. She'd already had to spill some embarrassing things tonight. Like her writing a love letter to her crush in middle school or almost getting caught cheating in a French test, also in middle school.

Taehyung scoffed as they left the table and walked out the bar. A pleasant fresh breeze brushing past their flushed cheeks the moment they exited. "You know what. You won ten out of fifteen rounds."

"Beginner's luck," she shrugged with a teasing grin, making him wet his dry lips before chewing on it musing.

It wasn't like she had persistent on hearing more details of the heist. Despite her liking the stories, as undetailed as he usually kept them, and as much as it was entertaining her to tease him, she respected the fact he didn't like or wanted to talk about them. Instead, she'd asked about other things, more general. Like his first crush or which one was his favorite place they'd been to. And he appreciated it. Hence why he wasn't mad that she beat him in most rounds. More the opposite, he found her beaming face cute whenever she did. He was rather astonished.

"Again, how did you do it?"

Cassandra, holding the small plant securely in her hands, only folded her lips to suppress a sassy remark. Instead she only hummed, pretending being clueless.

They walked down the street towards the beach. The streets glowing under warm lights of lamps and shops surrounding them. Loud laughs erupting from a group at one of the tables of a restaurant they passed by.

"C'mon, tell me," Taehyung pouted then, nudging her arm. His almost whiny tone making her giggle.

"Well, you shouldn't underastimate me next time," she said in a sing-song voice then. And he observed her for a moment with a fond smile.

This girl was full of surprises and perhaps not as pure as he made her out to be after all, he realised.

"I really shouldn't, you're right. So what's your secret, Doc? Are you a secret gambler?"

"Hm.. remember I told you growing up with my grandparents?"

He nodded.

"My grandpa was and still is a highly gifted card player," she explained then, "That's how we mostly passed our time together, so he showed me a thing or two. And as fate willed, we always play Blackjack on New Year's. So Taehyung, I don't wanna hurt your pride, but your skills are nothing compared to my grandpa's."

A nostalgic smile crossed her face as memories of endless summer nights spent playing cards with her grandparents flooded her mind. 

He laughed out at this. "To be honest, I'm relieved. Thought you'd tell me you got these skills from one of your films."

She puffed out a breath at his anew teasing of her love for the crime genre. "Oh please. I don't need films for that. My grandpa's the only person I've never beaten in any of these games unless he let me. So really, it wasn't hard to beat you."

"But Blackjack is pure luck, you can't win all the time unless you count cards."

"Was that what you guys did in Macau?" she smirked.

"No, I'm not good at it. I used a-" He abruptly cut himself mid-sentence. Grinning back at her. "Nice try."

She simply shrugged though. "I didn't count cards. I don't even know how to do that."

"Then how -"

"There are some other tricks which help giving you better chances."

"Like what?"

"Family secret."

And he rolled his eyes. "So your family's full of gambling geniuses?"

"No. Just my grandpa."

Cassandra was a book with many chapters, each one of them more thrilling and surprising than the other ones and he began to see her in a slightly different light.

She was still the kindhearted, smart, fun friend he knew. But there was more to her. Way more. He always knew there was more to her, but he couldn't say what. Now he found out one new facette of hers.

"You tricked me," he plainly stated then, making her laugh out.

"How so?"

"You never said you're a card playing mastermind. I feel betrayed."

She faked pity. "Aw. Can I somehow make it up to you?"

"I'll think of something and let you know."

Their gazes met, holding each other's with soft smiles.

Usually, he didn't have an issue looking someone directly in the eyes. In his job, he had to be able doing that without batting an eyelash. However, when it came to her and her gentle eyes, something inside him twitched. 

"Well," she slowly began then, letting her eyes wander to the water in the distance. The Mediterranean sea peeking between the building. "Think quickly. When you leave there's no way for me to make it up to you anymore. You'd have to wait till randomly visiting me again.."

Her tone was teasing but he could see a flicker of something more in her eyes before blinking it away. A secret she didn't want to speak out loud. Like the fact it was a pity and sad she couldn't stay in touch with him when he wasn't around.

She knew it wasn't possible. They didn't use phones except if necessary and even then, it was burner phones - untracable for interpol. And yet, she couldn't help but find it an undeniable pity. And he agreed with that.

"I'll hurry up, promise."

»»»

29th August

A week had passed by since Taehyung had stopped by and Cassandra was getting ready for her shift at the hospital. Getting mentally prepared to see Pavlo again after having been spared of his presence for two days. She was tying her shoes when her phone on the side table next to the entrance door lit up. A new text notification appearing on the screen.

[message request]: finally came up with smth :P

»»»

next chapter: 0.5 here

Don't forget to like, reblog & leave feedback!♡ It motivates me to keep writing :)

taglist: @lilanyxta @naoolammao345 @memna234 @tetehion @myblacklilame @nanakamami

[sharaug]

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔

❝ everything beautiful comes with pain. roses have thorns, don't they? ❞ ─ unknown

AUTHOR'S NOTE ❳ this entire one shot was inspired by @skittlescripts triad au! please go check them out for more content on it, if you'd like! :>

➔ ᴅɪsᴄʟᴀɪᴍᴇʀ(s) :: this is my first time writing for anything lmk/jttw related, so forgive me if a lot of the characters in this are ooc. also, this whole thing is a completely self indulgent "what if" blurb on my interpretation of skittles's mc, so all of this is (obviously) not at all canon to their au aha-

mc in this one-shot is a mystic/demon monkey like wukong n macaque cuz i'm different (/j) also, in case it wasn't obvious already, she's based off of yor briar/forger from spy x family

blood, violence, and cursing will all be featured in this. i tried not to make it all too graphic, but i'd suggest reading at your own risk just in case if you're not a big fan of that stuff

not beta read + edited we die like my motivation to finish school work 🫡

NOT MANY WERE━━━brave enough to sleight the Great Sage Equal to Heaven these days, but Sun Wukong supposed that demons wouldn't be, well ... demons if they didn't make any foolish decisions every now and then.

Still, though, that thought couldn't possibly be enough to calm him back down into a more rational train of thought—especially when one of the 'foolish demons' just mentioned currently had a gun held up against his son's temple.

"Take one more step, Great Sage," mocked the bastard with a sneer as he pressed the weapon further against Xiaotian's skin, which in turn drew out a small whimper from the boy that made Wukong's rage flare even more. "Go ahead. Do it and see what happens to your kid right here."

This was frustrating. So frustrating—especially when his treasured staff was currently laying right in front of his feet, right where he'd dropped it after the demon threatened to pull the trigger if he didn't. Under normal circumstances, he could bless the world by ridding it of this pest's existence in under ten seconds flat, yet ...

Wukong's gloved hands tightened into fists at his sides.

The Great Sage, the Monkey King was immortal. His son, however, was not.

And mortality had always been such a fragile thing.

"Remind me, demon," Wukong began after wetting his lips. "What is it that you'll get out of all of this, exactly?" he asked.

The demon threw his head back and laughed, the action alone being enough to jostle the hold he had on Xiaotian. For a moment, Wukong allowed a small ray of hope to shine through for his son: believing that maybe he could use this as an opportunity to slip out of the large demon's grasp and run over into the safety that the arms of his father provided.

Unfortunately, though, that hope was quickly snuffed out when the demon sobered up and tightened his hold around the mortal boy he held captive. Xiaotian looked like he could start crying any second now, and Wukong had to internally count to twenty before all of his impulse control flew out the nearest window and set him loose to show this sorry excuse of a 'crime lord' what had made Heaven fear the Monkey King in the first place.

"Now, what kind of a question is that, o' Great One Equal to Heaven?" The demon grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth stained yellow. Wukong had to wrinkle his nose at the sight. "I figured it'd be obvious what I want, considering the fact that it's what every demon in this cursed city wants from you," he laughed again.

"Oh?" Wukong rose a brow, playing dumb to stall for time. "And what might that be?" He tilted his head.

The demon's brow twitched. "Don't play dumb!" he snapped. "I want your title! This city! Everything you have!" he raved.

He's getting worked up now. Wukong spared a glance to Xiaotian, who was somehow even more stiff than before. That would be a good thing if it weren't for the fact he was holding my kid hostage right now, he thought with a "Tsk."

"So that's it, huh?" Wukong pulled out one of his 'politician' smiles, as Macaque liked to call them. "Well, how 'bout we make a deal then, yeah? You let my kid go, unharmed, and I'll see about getting you all of that and more," he offered, using the kind of tone of voice you'd have when joking around with a friend.

Wukong felt one if his brows twitch when he caught the demon rolling his eyes with a smirk, looking smug. "Do you take me for a fool, Great Sage?" he questioned.

Yes, Wukong desperately wanted to answer. Anyone with half a mind would.

"I know of your tricks. Hell, after all the preparations I've gone through to get to where I am now, I'd say I even know you better than yourself!" he confessed, practically radiating with confidence with the way he puffed his chest out.

Wukong barely suppressed a snort. He saw Xiaotian bite his bottom lip and look away, eyes half lidded and expression practically the very definition of unimpressed.

Wukong suppresses a grin at the sight. That's my boy.

"Now ..." The demon lifted the arm he was using to hold Xiaotian in place up to the boy's neck and pulled him closer, the barrel of his gun once again returning to his temple. "Seeing as how I have you right where I want you at last, I say we discuss your inevitable defeat to—"

The demon was cut off by the abrupt sound of his men screaming out in agony from outside the room, followed by a persistent, almost pleading, knocking on the door.

"Sir! Sir, please! It's an emergency!" the voice of a younger demon spoke from outside, sounding panicked.

Wukong turned to the door, brows raised and interest piqued just as the demon released a frustrated groan.

"You may enter," he told, albeit reluctantly.

In an instant, the door was opened, revealing the younger demon's disheveled appearance and the blood coating his skin and attire in splatters.

Wukong perked up slightly. Had the backup he called for finally come? (Took them long enough.)

"What is it?" The demon took a step back, obviously stunned by his subordinate's troubling appearance. "What's going on out there?!" He growled.

"I-I'm not sure, sir!" the lower demon answered, visibly shaking. "S-some broad j-just—"

He was cut off before he could even finish his sentence by a silver dagger abruptly piercing through his throat, taking the life of his eyes away and leaving only his corpse to fall to the floor in a pool of its own blood.

Wukong blinked, pleasantly surprised. Not at the lower ranking demon's sudden death, but at the fact that he had never seen any of his own men wield a dagger in that style before.

"N-no ..." Ears flickering at the crime lord's voice, Wukong returned his attention to him and nearly did a double take when he saw that he was now trembling where he stood: eyes wide and face for some reason more horrified that it had been when the Great Sage entered the room.

What ...

The sound of heels clicking against the floor and then coming to a stop behind him made Wukong's ears flicker a second time, and the Monkey King turned around to see just what—who had inspired such fear into the demon who had been so proud earlier before him.

He found his breath hitching in his throat before he could stop himself.

Standing in the doorway in a sleek black dress and thigh high boots, there stood yet another mystical monkey much like him and Macaque, yet so different at the same time.

"Excuse me, Cheng Xue of this sector's crime syndicate ..." she spoke, voice eerily calm and eyes luminous. "I'm terribly sorry for interrupting this little meeting of yours, but ... tell me ..."

She smiled, sharpened thorns made of gold glimmering in her hands as she raised them into the light.

"May I have the honor of taking your life this evening?"

Against his will, Wukong let a shudder travel down his spine.

The demon, too caught up in his own fear, stumbled further away from the ethereal beauty standing at the door, her whisper of death enough to make his pulse race and send his arms into an unexpected spasm that sent Xiaotian falling to the side on the floor right next to the very gun his life had been threatened with.

"N-no, you ... YOU CAN'T!" he cried, back meeting the desk and putting a stop to his tracks. "I RAN AWAY CENTURIES AGO! I OWE THEM NOTHING, YOU HEAR ME?! NOTHING!!"

The monkey draped in ebony stepped closer, her smile never leaving and her eyes remaining pinned on her target as though he were a silly little mouse that had fallen into a cat's claws.

"I WILL NOT DIE THIS WAY!" the demon continued deliriously. "I WAS SO CLOSE! SO CLOSE, YOU HEAR?! YOU CAN NOT DO THIS TO ME!"

Another step forward.

The demon flinched back violently and opened his mouth yet again, a shriek on the tip of his tongue.

All that followed after, though, was the mere sound of his body falling backwards onto the desk: his mask of horror, forever engraved on his face, now painted with a crimson that ran down his forehead from the thorn-like blade that had been thrown directly into the center of it.

The room was silent after that, allowing the occupants to take a moment to process what had just transpired until two of them snapped out of their stunned daze and ran to eachother—one of them tackling the other in a bone-crushing hug.

"Holy shit, kid." Wukong felt as though a weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again," he decided.

Xiaotian only let out a watery laugh in reply and snuggled further into his father's chest, his hands shaky as he gripped the fabric of his suit.

Amidst their heartfelt reunion, Wukong lifted his gaze up to the lady of thorns, wanting to ask if she was single thank her for stepping in when she did—even if she most likely didn't originally come here to save them some trouble.

What he quickly discovered, however, was that she was no longer there.

Instead, what once sat in her place was that of a red rose with thorns.

[glowyjellyfish]

Narniapocalypse: Round One, Spring, DeBateau (part three)

I played through two days this time, although I'm still struggling to get the mods set up correctly. Mod Ur Dig still wouldn't work, and I THINK the trouble is that I only had the default version installed, not teaaddict's edit that I wanted for the purposes of finding seeds. I didn't realize because, again, I installed the whole thing and ha it working in ONE of my several game folders, an apparently had it partially installed in a couple other game folders, one of which I happened to choose to copy the Mo Ur Dig contents over. SHOULD work better now.

I also just could not stop the school bus from coming, and had to cheat everyone's grades up to remove the threat of an anachronistic social worker. In that case, I hunted around and found that I had two versions of the institution sign in, so hopefully removing the old one helped.

On the plus side, Sell From Inventory is showing up properly, although I didn't use it. I had the kids sell some rocks, bones, and old maps they dug up while looking for seeds, using their farm stand home business. Which earned them about $1000, so I'm debating the best plan here. The old maps are fine to sell, but Justin managed to dig up a treasure chest while hunting seeds, which is a tad OP at this stage and I wouldn't want to let them sell it either to the catalogue or at a normal business. I am considering only allowing them to sell it from inventory to the elf king directly, and have him buy it for no more than 50% of its worth? I'll have to experiment with that more. I don't object to windfalls and earning money, of course, but getting an inflated amount from dumb luck while I was trying to make a mod work is a bit much. They should be foraging and planting food, and selling extras to survive at this stage, not finding treasure.

Anyway. There was a lot of misery in this section, with toddlers miserable and refusing to be toilet trained despite wanting to, teens struggling to get enough sleep and accomplish anything during the day, and kids constantly trying to use the tub whenever I had it out, whether they had enough buckets for it or not. But I made it to the big birthday, and now Sofia's a teen (age 13) and Etsu and Marcus are both children (at age 6), so that should make life easier. I try to avoid frivolous catalogue purchasing at this stage of the game, but decided it wasn't really worth trying to force them to wait for the traveling merchant or something. So I sold the cribs and bought a pair of bunk beds, and now they finally have enough beds for everyone to make it through the night. I almost use Gussy Up to give the aged-up sims medieval rags, but then decided that was too cheaty. I adjusted things slightly with Plan Outfit, but that's it. They will have to meet with the traveling merchant to purchase new clothes (using the Sun&Moon single use sellable clothing pile, I think).

I calculated the Popularity aspiration for Sofia, and she's attracted to Fit and Supernatural sims. I'm going to check their memories next time I play, and anyone who grew up badly is going to get a random new trait, while sims who grew up okay will get a calculated new trait. I suspect Marcus and Etsu both grew up badly; I wasn't able to fulfill many of their wants, especially when they refused to potty train, and mainly was focused on keeping them fed, rested, and not smelly.

Also, I clearly need to edit a few more townies. The dude in a polo shirt bought two tattered maps and he isn't even in costume.

[marine-indie-gal]

My Very First New Fandom that was completely responsible for changing my own life was none other than the Famous Australian Webshow itself about Memes and Crossovers (SMG4). I myself had once made my own Fanfiction Arc to brighten up my actual very first AU back in 2021, but looking back at my first fanfic now...I realized just how cringey and godawful it was for a certain embarrassment, especially with the Greek Mythology stuff that I once had to it (which I now that using Greek Myths would then go on to be part of my SpongeBob AU). 

Considering that SMG4 has already been in a New Area lately, I wanted to go back and check out my very first AU just to re-write it (while still keeping a few elements from the Old Version) considering that my own Arc actually focused on the 2017-Early 2019 era before the 2020s that SMG4 had came to be (meaning that it was set to be a Non-Canon Prequel to the Anime Arc). But one thing's for sure is how that I absolutely would give credit to SMG4 for introducing Me to Splatoon (thanks to the character, Meggy) since I tended to use a lot of Splatoon/Aquatic Culture elements in my own first fanfiction. 

I know for a fact that this ain't really 2018 or 2019 anymore but screw it, cause I do whatever I want within my AU timelines like any fan would. So here's a little re-introduced to my very first fixed version of a first fanfic that I wanted to attend to re-write my very first AU of one of my other fandoms, "The Splatoon Arc" of My AU of SMG4 (aka my own prequel Arc to The Anime Arc where if Desti had more character to her own).

--Part 1-- The Fishing Trip

In a Nice Day out in the Sun, The Plumber Trio decide to go out on a little boat trip with Toad as the Driver just so that the Boys could catch some fish. Mario and Luigi wants to have some of the fish to eat but SMG4 on the other hand is hoping to pull out a big one so he could win an award for a competition. But upon the Trio's awareness of waiting so for long in hours to just catch some fish. But when Mario instantly caught a big fish that one of his pals truly wanted, he pulls up the Rod which surprises SMG4 and Luigi to see a Big Huge Fish. Impressed and surprised, SMG4 suggested to Mario to hand over the big fish towards him but when Mario was about to pass it on towards SMG4, the Big Fish immediately pulled back down as it wacked Mario with his own fishing rod as the Big Fish escapes the clutches of one of the Plumbers while still having a hook stuck in his lip from the Rod that the Big Fish dragged through in the Ocean. This made Mario lost his own fishing rod as the Red Plumber had no choice but to wait for the Big Fish to come back to return his own rod towards him while SMG4 and Luigi were still fishing. SMG4 on the other hand felt very disappointed in Mario losing the Big Fish as it was time to catch a New One.

Upon the ocean, a Snake was swimming under the water beneath the Boat of the Trio (who were unaware of the fact that there was another creature lurking in the waters) for a Creature instantly swam up towards Mario which surprised the Dumb Plumber out of curiosity. Thinking it was perhaps his own fishing rod, Mario instantly grabbed the Purple Snake out of the Water and used it as his own fishing rod to catch more fish. But when Luigi instantly noticed that Mario's New Rod wasn't exactly his old one, but rather a hybrid breed of a Snake that looked like a Python but had the teeth of a Rattlesnake. This instantly freaked out Luigi for a moment which also freaks out SMG4 (when he heard Luigi's cry from behind) as the Plumber Duo were frightened by the Snake creature, the Boys instantly scream while pointing out on the Hybrid Reptilian Creature but Mario didn't seem to mind. Hating that it was being used as a fishing rod, the Purple Snake with Pink Stripes attacked Mario from behind which made the Idiot Plumber throw the Snake right out of the boat and way far from the ocean as it was thrown right at the Beach.

Naturally enough, Mario does get his own Fishing Rod back when Luigi spots his Brother's own rod now back up, floating around in the Water, Luigi instantly grabs it out and gives it to Mario (who was in a relief to have it back). However, when Mario instantly pull his Fishing Rod up, a Great White Shark appeared out of nowhere which turns out to eat the fish (who was still stuck in Mario's fishing rod by the Lips) as the Shark was the one who now caught the bait. This causes the boys to scream for their own lives of a risk which causes Toad to wake up (who also recognizes the Shark since he was asleep the whole time while the Boys were fishing). Oddly enough, Toad instantly drives the Boat fast as the Shark still chases them in a Crazy Boat Chase. Luigi accidentally jumps off the boat which causes him to fall off but he is instantly saved by SMG4 (who gives him a safety ring which Luigi puts on) but while on the insane boat chase by a Shark, Luigi screams in terror while almost getting eaten by one as the Shark was about to eat the Green Plumber but then instantly gets hit by a rock. The Gang also crash into another rock which causes Luigi to fly back on the Boat after one quick chase.

Toad takes the Trio back on the Doc after one crazy fishing trip as the Boys decide to hang out on the beach for awhile (SMG4 was very disappointed that he did not catch a Big Fish just to win for an upcoming competition of the Fish). When Mario gets his own fishing rod back, he felt very proud at first but when the Same Shark that chased them instantly jumped up and ate his fishing rod, returning to the sea quickly, Mario becomes very disappointed again since that fishing rod of his was his own special rod that he had. 

Back at the Beach, Bob and Boopkins found the Strange Purple Python/Rattlesnake Hybrid on the sand, looking like as if he was in a deadbeat. Feeling sorry for the Poor Reptile, Bob wants to cook it for dinner but Boopkins suggests why not nurse it back for health as they take the Poor Snake in their own tent. When the Snake was nursed back to health, the Python/Rattlesnake Hybrid introduces himself as Lennie but since Bob and Boopkins were frightened at first after it first woke up, Lennie showed the Duo that he meant to no harm since he was just helplessly wondering around for new friends since his old owner had passed away. Feeling sorry again for the Snake, Bob and Boopkins decide to befriends the Snake after when Lennie thanked the Duo for nursing them back for health. So the Duo decide to go out around in the Streets and get some Ice Cream for themselves with their New Friend. For awhile, Lennie instantly turns out to be in a member of a Trio with Bob and Boopkins as the Boys have now down everything together like some guys stuff like Boys would always do.

The Golden Egg

The Next Day, Mario finds a Golden Egg behind a Tree after when he ticked Peach off with all of his own messy stuff, the Plumber felt intrigued by the Beauty of the Golden Egg that he decided to show it to his Brother (who was watching some Romance Movie stuff). Luigi felt curious to know exactly what the Golden Egg was as Mario explains to his Bro where he found it. Trying it out on his own, Mario decide to test the Golden Egg after when Peach shortly called out to Mario to clean his own mess up around in her castle. When Mario made his own first wish that the Golden Egg received to him causing all the mess that he had done to disappear, it turns out that the Golden Egg is a magical egg that can grant people anyone wish that they desire (just like a Genie). Oddly enough, Mario keeps using the Golden Egg for his own crazy deeds (such as getting more Spaghetti and other stuff that he wished for), even in both the Castle and around in the Mushroom City. 

SMG4 and Luigi did all of their own best as they can to stop Mario's madness for his own Genie Bottle, but when using all of that Magic from the Golden Egg causes the Egg to open it up, revealing a Golden Swan inside of it. It turns out, that the Genie (which was in a form of a bird) was inside of the Egg all along as the Swan exposed his own Beauty in front of the Plumbers (even Luigi was impressed by it). The Swan demanded to know the reasons to the Plumber Trio of who was the one that started to wake him up as the Two Boys pointed out to Mario that it was technically him who started it all. In rage, the Golden Swan decided to put a curse on Mario by having his whole Body be turned into an Egg for the rest of his own hours in his own Entire Half of the Day after messing up with the Swan's Egg as the Golden Swan magically disappears in thin air, leaving SMG4 and Luigi to take care of Poor Egg Mario.

The Fish Competition

After one crazy day of granting wishes from a Genie Bottle and receiving a Short-Lived Curse, SMG4 decides to put Mario up for a Job at a Super Market where he would work as a Cashier. In awhile at the Supermarket, everything does seem to start out so good but after when a few hijinks have been happening between Mario and the Fly, Mario then proceeds to start out going crazy because of the one fly that he can't seem to catch, making the Supermarket into becoming a complete utter mess thanks to Mario's craziness. Soon enough, when the Owner of the Supermarket (Jeeves) sees the colossal mess that Mario has been putting up with, Jeeves got extremely angry at the plumber and instantly kicked him out because of that. Meaning that Mario was now officially fired.

The Next Day, right at the Beach, When Mario lost his own job at the Super Market, he was sleeping peacefully on the Streets. But that is until when he is accidentally stumbled by The Trio (Bob, Lennie, and Boopkins). The Trio see on what's happened to Mario for the Dumb Plumber explains to his friends that he once worked at the Supermarket until a Fly kept pestering him around which caused him to get fired. Feeling sorry for the Poor Plumber, they wish that they could do at least something better for him. However, Mario instantly notices Lennie as the Snake that he once pulled out of the ocean (in which, he mistakes him for a fishing rod). Boopkins and Bob convince Mario that Lennie isn't really all that much of a Dangerous snake to begin with as they do explain on what exactly happened to him. After learning about his past, Mario apologizes to the Snake (only because that his Old Fishing Rod was eaten up by a Shark through a crazy Boat Chase). Lennie forgives Mario and accepts him as a New Friend. When there's a huge crowd around in Mushroom Beach outside of the City, Mario and the Trio decide to why not go a nice summer day and just hang out there for awhile, just so that Mario and Lennie can restart to where they first met.

Right around in the Beach, Jeeves was the Man who announced the Competition around in the Beach (to see on whoever got a bigger fish, wins a special award) as right around in the Stage in front of everybody, that whoever has the Most Biggest Fish, wins a Special Trophy from Him. SMG4, desiring to have that award must catch and find another big fish (since he didn't caught it last time), as he asks Tari and Saiko to help him out around the Ocean near the Beach. While the Trio of a Guy and Two Gals wait for the Fishes to come in and grab their own bait, Tari feels very nervous of what bad thing might happened during their own fishing trip while Saiko (who's not afraid of anything) doesn't seem to mind nor care.

When The Non-Plumber Trio and Mario enjoy their own hangout in the Beach, Boopkins instantly felt something strange around his legs as if there was a Bigger Fish predator about to attack the Poor Guy. Naturally, this makes the Boys come up with an Interesting plan to catch a Big Fish, so they use Boopkins as the Bait with a New Fishing Rod that they got for Mario as they head sail in the Ocean to look for a Bigger Fish. Meanwhile, Meggy (who was already out of her City, Inkopolis) is looking for Mario around the State of Mushroom City to see on where he is (because of how Splatoon is opening up a Rock Band competition challenge for Bands to sing on stage), she asks Luigi if he has seen his Brother somewhere but Luigi replies that he hasn't seen him but he has remembered that SMG4 had put him in a Supermarket Job, so Meggy goes to the Mushroom City to find her BFF.

An Hour later passes, Upon each of the Splitted Groups' boats, they've been quite willing waiting for their own Bigger Bait to come but when Boopkins gets instantly got by something, it wakes up Mario, Bob, and Lennie for the Trio pull out their own fishing rod, revealing a Fish (that's around the same size as Boopkins) trying to eat him up. Thinking that it's the right bait, the Boys try to get the Fish predator off of Boopkins but it eventually fights them back, causing the fish creature to return into the Ocean. Failing to catch a fish, the Boys decide to head right back on the Beach and continue their own hangout as Bob starts to drive the Boat to get back on land.

However, when the Big Fish was instantly spotted by Tari, she immediately points it out as she screams in fear which causes the Big Fish to come over and grab the Bait of SMG4's fishing rod. Granted, when SMG4 pulled it out with his own Rod, the Big Fish actually ate the bait. Unlucky for SMG4, he fails again. Fortunley for the Gigantic Fish, it instead heads for Mario's boat (in which the Boys were deeply aware of the fact that they were stalked by the Big Fish). When the Big Fish ate half of Mario's boat, the Boys ran through their own lives in a Wild Boat chase in which that the Giant Fish was chasing them for his special treat of food. When the Boys have their own list grip when they really felt exhaustion of running, they really felt frightened by the Big Fish (who was slowly getting ready for his own lunch to eat). But the Big Fish's meal gets ruined when Swag (who too was on a boat ride with Chris) pulls out a Giant Harpoon Gun and shots the Giant Fish, causing it to be instantly killed as it dies.

Luckily, after the Boys' survival on a crazy chase, Mario shows SMG4 the Biggest Fish that they caught which surprises SMG4 as he asks if they could share the Big Fish together (which Mario accepts). Jeeves judging each of the Four People on stage to see on which Fish that the folks caught was the biggest, which turns out, that SMG4 and Mario's was really the gigantic one (which surprises everyone including Jeeves). SMG4 and Mario both win the award for catching the Biggest Fish on Earth since Jeeves was really intrigued by the fish that they caught.

--Part 2-- Long Time, No See, Rival

After a long day at the Beach, Meggy finally finds Mario because of how that she failed searching for her best friend around Mushroom City (and wasn't sure on where he went). The Two visit Inkopolis as Meggy tells Mario about the Big Concert that her City has been having lately for all Inklings and Sea Creatures around her City and asks Mario if he would like to join. Mario agrees since he knows how much of an Awesome singer he is as the Two tend to practice their own instruments through a song. When Desti hears about the News for an Upcoming concert, she talks about it with her Father (DJ Octavio) if she would like to have her own Posse in a Band because Desti and Octavio plan to takeover and dominate Inkopolis once and for all, agreeing to this idea, Octavio signs it up for his Daughter so that way they could continue their own evil plans (in secret).

Upon the Streets where Meggy and Mario were walking, Meggy thanks Mario for helping her out on how to write songs but when they come across Meggy's Rival (Desti), Desti jokes about on how Meggy would win the Stage Competition with her Dumb Friend but Meggy sores to Desti that they could fight for better to in which Desti laughs about that as she sarcastically remarks on how Meggy will always lose in a Game as to how that she might never win in any game. Meanwhile, back at Octo Valley, Octavio is planning to take over Inkopolis with the DJ himself being the New Ruler of the New Land for his People with his Daughter helping by her Father's Side since the Octarians have been banished for so long, but Melody (the Queen of the Octarians) assures her husband to treat the new land fairly but maybe perhaps have reason with the Inklings but Octavio refuses his Wife's idea judging by the King's tyrant side and even hatred for the Inklings.

Visit to Inkopolis

At Mario's house, Mario then tells Luigi about the Music Band Stage competiton with Meggy and how they're gonna win. Luigi then wonders if they would like to go down for a trip in Inkopolis for a little vacation. Thinking this would be a good idea, Mario accepts as he tells Luigi to tell SMG4 on what Meggy's homeland is like as he would like to show his Bros. what the City of Marine Life is like in Meggy's home. Eventually, the Next Day, Mario brings all of his Friends (Luigi, Saiko, SMG4, Tari, Lennie, Boopkins, and Bob) on a special trip as Mario even shows his friends the entire place of Inkopolis. The Gang starts quite having an interest in the City, due to how that they're suprised on how the Cultures of the Inklings is very similar to the Cultures of Japan. Even during the Day when Lennie was getting along with Saiko and Tari (mostly The Blue-Haired Gamer Girl), he often wondered on how he would like to meet Meggy, due to the Inkling Girl being one of Mario's famous friends.

Conditionally, when Bob, Boopkins, and Lennie are accidentally riding on a Hot Dog Truck, The Plumber Trio go after them through a crazy chase where they try to save the Other Trio from Danger. After one crazy heck of a Truck chase through the Streets of Inkopolis, the Boys are then found by the Girls in which both of the Trios ended up in a Hopsital.

The Practice 

After one day at the Hopsital since the Boys already got better, the Gang decide to stay at Meggy's apartment for a Vacation since they were extremly fascinated of the Cultures of her City. Meggy then takes out the Plumber Boys (Mario and Luigi) and the Girls (Saiko and Tari) off on a little shopping breeze where they go get some extra instruments for the upcoming band. Upon hearing out from the Main Gang thanks to one of the Octarian henchmen, Desti then figures out a plan on how to overthrow Meggy by cheating at her own Game through the Band competion, sparking the Snarky Octoling Rival a brand new idea. 

Back at Meggy's apartment, the Gang then try out their own instruments as although some turn out to be fine, others had a hard time doing it, so Meggy and any of the Friends help them out as they try to get good at it as if they were already ready for the Big Competion since the Stage Band competiton is only in Five Days which means that everyone in Inkopolis is getting ready to pratice their own songs to see on which judge would win them an award (especially to the Octarian Princess and her Father, the DJ King themselves)...

The Band Competiton  Everyone in Inkopolis got many tickets to visit the Grand Stage of the Music Competiton beneath Squid Festival as everyone at their own Bands was extremly ready to sing their own songs in order for who gets the best Judge might win the Special Award. Meaning that Cap'n Cuttlefish, Off The Hook, and even the Squid Sisters had to be the Judges to see on who sang it better.

After a few bands sang their own song, it was finally time for Meggy against her Rival (Desti) on the Stage as Meggy and her Friends at Stage began to sing their own song as the Judges didn't think that her own song wasn't that bad, but when it was Desti's turn, Desti and her own Band sang a Hypnotizing song (which posioned/possessed the Judges through a Siren's voice) as it turns out, Desti actually won the Competiton and recived an award which made Meggy lost. Meggy felt so pissed at Desti that she tried everything just so that Meggy can prove to herself of what she is capable of other than being an Althele but Desti denies, mocking her that she would never win anything.

The Takeover

When SMG4, Luigi, and Saiko are outside from the Stage since Luigi has to go to the Bathrom, they began to notice something very suspecious even after when Meggy lost her own chance. They see some Octarians roaming around in the streets as they follow one of them which turns out are luring their own King, DJ Octavio (who Meggy had told her friends about the History of Inkopolis) which shockens the Gang as they go right back to the Stage to warn everyone before its too late.

Unfortunately, when the Blackouts already came in, shots of Lights with DJ Music appeared in the Stage out of nowhere, revealing Desti (in her own Popstar Outfit) and her Father, DJ Octavio, revealing the shocking news that she framed her own win on the stage just so that the Entire Octarian race could take over (even they corrupted the Great Zapfish for their Power). Needless to say, this was shocking news in front of the entire Citizens of Inkopolis as chaos already began spreading outside of the City, capturing each and everyone of the Inkling race, Meggy then stood up to Desti trying to defeat her but Desti managed to fight it back when the Octarians had captured all of the members of the Glitchy Gang.

Octavio had an idea, so he decided to put the Gang into a Cannon Launcher which shot the Gang into midair, way far from Inkopolis, leading the Octarians to take over the City as their new home.

--Part 3--

Lost on an Island

The Next Day, the Gang woke up as they found themselves strainted on an Island far away from both the Mushroom City and even Inkopolis. The Gang were incredibly shocked to found themselves on an island, even Poor Meggy was tramatized at the fact that she was completely used over through mainuplation by Desti but SMG4 assures that they will figure out something of a way to get off the Island quick just to get back home, and even save their own entire towns. They decide to build up a shelter around in the Island as the Gang split up to look for each of the trees to chomp them down to make a camp and even use some of the Wood for Fire. Although when it came through crazy hijinks with Mario and the Trio (Bob, Boopkins, and Lennie) after being chased down by a Giant Bird, the Bird gets instantly burned up by a Dragon as the Gang use the Burnt Bird's corpse for Dinner to eat so that they can still survive.

Meggy is instantly both pissed and heartbroken at the same time that she was used by Desti for being part of her frame just to take over her City and fears on what might happen next during the takeover but SMG4 assures Meggy that they'll get home right back soon, since they only just need to find a way out on how to get off the Island.

Back at Inkopolis during the takeover, the Anthro Sea Creature citizens were now serving as slaves to the Octarians as they were forced to serve every word that they had to serve for their own New Ruler. But as for the Inklings, they were all kept in cages because Octavio had plans on what to do with them. While Octavio and Desti gaze upon the dominate over their own new land after they've been waiting for years, Melody looks upset and didn't agree upon the World Domination that her Husband truly wanted as she only wanted to serve peace between the Two Races as she only had to watch from behind, despite her other Children (Zoey and Ashton) agreeing upon their own Mother. As each of the Octarian heirs were on their own Parents' sides.

The Gang then start making a Home around in the Island as some of the Boys went out fishing while the Girls had to look for some New Food to find for Breakfast. After a few deserts to eat, the Gang decide to make their own way back home quick before things will be too late around the Domination (and who knows on what the Octarians might do if they capture the Other Cities next). So the Gang decide to make a Journey through the Island to find some supplies in order to built a Boat but it eventually fails out after every second of chance of trying to get back to Inkopolis.

Village of The Natives

The Next Day, The Crew decided to take up for a hiking trip just so that they could see if there are any planes out there that they could spot on to be noticed from the Mountain, but upon being noticed by some Natives through the Island, Mario knew something very suspicous going on as if he felt like that he was being spied on. They are eventually captured by the Natives after one crazy chase when they first captured Luigi where they taken in to their own Village and even be seeked by their own Chief Papu Papu. Papu Papu gives each of any of the Members of the Glitchy Crew a chase, either they drink his own spicy soup or they can let alone die. Mario is then chosen by the Native Chef to test the Chef's own recipe to see if he likes it or not. Mario does give it a dip, which makes him burp through flames as he does ended up liking it as the rest of the Gang decided to take a sleepover at the Native Village.

Back at Inkopolis, Octavio and his Wife do sing at the stage for a special concert in front of their people where back at the New Castle, Desti watches her parents sing as they celebrate while the Little Siblings (Zoey and Ashton) felt sorry for the Poor Inklings as they already knew on how much bad their own new future will be.

Meanwhile, in the Island, Papu Papu and the Natives celebrate their guests in a special honor as they all dance in front of the fire for their Spirits with the Glitchy Crew. 

A Strange Man

The Next Day, the Glitchy Crew decide to explore the Island as they head out on a Journey to look for more ways. They thank Papu Papu for Shelter as the Natives wave Goodbye as the Gang instantly keep heading through the Island. Step by step, it was an exhausted adventure walking through the Island since the Island that they land on was only a huge one, and they had no idea on where to go next. Upon on a Crazy Jaguar chase thanks to Mario, the Gang ended up in a dead end but they accidentaitly crash into a waterfall where they are then found by a Strange Old Man who takes them.

When they wake up, they are found by an Elderly Man who lives in a cave around the Island named "Mushroom Hermit" who was the one that took the Gang for Shelter as Mushroom Hermit was cooking some food for his new guests. SMG4 asks to the Old Man of who he is as Mushroom Hermit introduces himself to the Gang and explains his own Backstory of how he landed on the Island; Long ago, when he was a Young Man, his plane accidentaitly crashed down into the Island where all of the People of the Plane were dead but the Old Man managed to make it out alive since he survived the Horrible Plane crash and made the Island itself as his new home since he failed mutilple times on how to get back on his regular home and even study among the Island's creatures. 

Feeling sorry for the Poor Man, Meggy felt the same way when she and her friends got kicked out by the Octarians from the start of the World Domination of the Octarians. But Mushroom Hermit figures out on an idea for Meggy and the Gang on how to escape the Island and have Inkopolis be restored since he has known the History about Meggy's city and her people from a very long time. He basically suggests that there are Five missing pieces out there to be restored for a Cephalopod Crystal (which contain its magicial abilites) to stop the Octarians from taking over and even have Inkopolis be restored again. Agreeing upon this suggestion, Meggy decides that their own new plan should be to look for each of the Missing Four Pieces of the Cephalopod Crystal and then head all the way back to Inkopolis to save her own city for her People. But SMG4 assures that they will need a boat to get back home but Mushroom Hermit tells SMG4 and the Gang that there is a hidden boat somewhere beneath where one of the Crystal Shards is hidden.

Back at Inkopolis, Desti and Octavio have decided to make the Inklings their own slaves by first brainwashiing Callie which terrifies the Inklings (even Cap'n Cuttlefish) as Octavio has a new idea for his people is that they're gonna make the Entire Inkling race work for slavery.

The Journey

The Next Day, The Glitchy Crew woke up and began their Journey to look for some Missing Crystals to restore the Cephalopod Crystal (which are hidden somewhere around in the Island) as they thank Mushroom Hermit for Shelter as the Old Man wishes them good luck as the Gang head back right in the road to start their own New Adventure.

During their Journey to find each of the Five Shards of the Crystal, the Gang have come across Five Different Monsters on each part of the Island.

Part 1;The Cyclops  Up in the Mountains where they travel, they spotted the very First Crystal Shard (which was the Spinel of the Octopus) that was being protected by a Cyclops (who was in a sleep). So Bob, Boopkins, and Lennie were disgused as Chefs to wake up the Cyclops and even cook the One-Eyed Monster for breakfast so that way, the creature could enjoy his own meal. Not realizing the discration, the Gang make it through to get the First Shard. Fortunley, when they get the first crystal, Mario causes a big loud noise through a small fart which causes the Cyclops to turn around and realize that he'd been tricked. The Crew try to make it their way out but the One-Eyed Beast instantly blocks them. Luckily, Saiko was willing to put fire on a stick and blast it into the Cyclops' eye (which the Monster cannot see). The Gang instantly block the Monster within his own home with the First Crystal piece that they've got in their own hands.

Part 2; The Roc The Next Shard was the Amber of the Cuttlefish (which was hidden somewhere in the nest of a Gigantic Bird of the Island who was already out for lunch). Although most of the Crew were already indeed afraid of this Giant Bird, they needed to face up only for the sake of the next shard, just so that they can find their own way back home with the Crystals completed into one. Trying to figure out on how to climb up the Roc's mountain, some of the members of the Gang hike up through the mountains and even land on the Gigantic Bird nest which also shows a Giant Egg (which is a Baby Roc). While looking for where the Second Crystal shard is, the Baby Bird hatches up which shockens some of the Members (some were smitten by their cuteness) but most of them were terrified of the Giant Baby Bird that was about to eat them in one bite. Naturally, Lennie gets the Second Chase but when the Mother Bird immeditaly comes back, she notices that they were strangers on her nest as Mother Bird tries to attack the Gang with her Giant Beak. Luckily, the Others use Boopkins as Bait to lure the Mother Bird in their trap (which works as the Mother Bird accidentaitly grabs an Elephant in which the Giant Bird mistakens it for Boopkins to fed it to her own baby).

Part 3: The Bunyip The Next Day, after when the Gang decided to take a rest, they got lost around in a swamp field where they had no where to go through while still looking for the Third Shard (which was the Zicorn of the Nautilus). Upon the Cold, Dark, and Spooky fog among the Island's swamps, they have a creepy uncomrtable feeling as if though that they are being watched by unknown horrors. Hearing upon such creepy sounds, Luigi accidentaily falls into the swamp where he is then picked up by a Monsterous Swamp creature that being the Bunyip in its teeth which both freaks out and shockens the Gang in horror, since they had never seen a Bunyip before in their life. But knowing that Luigi was in terrible danger as he hid in a swamp tree, they knew how to figure out a way to save him from the Monster. Oddly enough, while the Gang try to figure out a plan to rescue Luigi, Luigi finds the Third Shard behind his back inside of a tree for he had found the Second Piece, but with the Bunyip roaming around in the swamp trying to get the Green Plumber, Luigi was too frightened by the beast and still wanted a way to get out. The Gang then decide to have Mario be the bait as they disguise him up as a fish to get the Bunyip's attention which causes up a crazy Boat chase throughout the swamp of the Bunyip trying to eat Mario. While that's happening, Lennie and Tari preced to help Luigi out of the Tree revealing the Third Shard in his hand. When Mario and the Others are then caught in a dead end trap, the Bunyip came closer and was about to eat them all down, but luckily a Scary Shadow figure appeared from behind which scares off the Bunyip. Revealing that it was Luigi, Tari, and Lennie rescuing them, the Gang thank the Trio for saving them and even showed the Third Crystal Shard that they got.

Part 4: The Chimera On the Final Day of the Island, they had to get the Two Last Pieces being the Fourth and Fifth (which was the Amethyst of the Squid and even the Head of the Cephalopod Crystal) which was hidden in the deep caves of a Dangerous Chimera. Meggy was excited for the big day for come, for she knew that once she restores all of the Crystals back to where they belong, they'll finally be able to save her entire city from the Octarians (including her own Rival). Trying to find another hidden cave, SMG4 accidentailty tripped over a rock causing him to fall right into a pit which leads towards the Cave, making the rest of the Friends jump down there as they were all now under the cave. They walked through the undergrounds to find where the Last Two Pieces are, assuming that this must be the cave that leads to where the boat is to lead back the way home, but no matter just on how they walked, they heard creepy noises beneath the cave and even small creatures roaming around the dark corner areas. Suspicous about this dark place, they somehow spotted a bright light flashing beneath their eyes and wouldn't they know it, what surprised them was that they found a Boat in the water inside of the cave. Both shockened with surprise, they couldn't believe but to find a pirate ship down underground. Checking around inside the Pirate Ship, Lennie finds a Skeleton Pirate sitting down in a chair with his own treasure chest in which reveals the Two Crystals that were hidden that Bob opens up, which means that they found two of the last shards. Unexepectedly, a Beast between Three Animals in One Body came out of the Dark and roared in Anger when it woke up (which frightened the whole gang) as it tried to attack them by the claws as they had to fight back (while some of the members of the Gang had to hide but could still watch from behind). Meggy tried to fight the Chimera but it completely attacked her, leading to Mario to have a crazy fight with the Beast as the Trio (Bob, Boopkins, and Lennie) joined in with Mario to fight the Chimera while the Gang watched. But as the Chimera fought back, the Fighters were in fear as they were about to get killed but Saiko instantly slays the Lion Beast's head with a Random Sword that she just found, causing the Hybrid Beast to be completely dead with only one kill by one of the Heads as its blood drips all over the ground.

They managed to get the Last Shards out of the Treasure chest and put the Pieces all together, completing the full Cephalopod Crystal. With that finished out of the way, they used the Pirate Ship to set sail back to Inkopolis.

--Part 4--

The Confrontation Back in The Octarian Domination over Inkopolis, DJ Octavio set on a Coronation to have his Eldest Daughter to become the New Queen of the Octarians over their New Land (which most of the Octarians were excited but most of the Non-Octarian citizens feared of the Big Bad Future that might come and happened even more when they're enslaved people to the Octarians). As the Royal Family were already seated along with their own slaves (that being the Squid Sisters and their Grandfather), DJ Octavio announce to all of his people that his own Eldest Daughter shall be crowned Queen, in which Desti shares her own plans to take over the Other Countries (such as the Mushroom Country) and then the entire world for more World Domination. Octavio was indeed very proud of his Daughter's evil plan but Melody disagree of how her Husband raised one of their children to be.

Meanwhile, Meggy and her Gang all return to Inkopolis and see the Horrible Tragedy of what has become in Inkopolis for what the Octarian race has done, seeing as to how long that they’ve been gone through that Island that they’ve been on. Hearing upon the Coronation upon the Royal Octarian Kingdom, they decided to come up with a distraction on The Royal Octarian Guards so that way they wouldn't see them. Bob, Boopkins, and Lennie do their own Hula dance (which SMG4 suggested) as the Octarian Guards chase after the Trio, right after when the Entire Gang secretly sneak inside of the Octarian Kingdom and even look for Desti and her Father, so that they can confront them. They see on what's happening around in the Coronation behind the Crowd as Meggy decides to sneak up behind the Royal Family for a Plan in order to fight back her own rival.

As Desti was about to have her own crown be put on, the Gang surprise the Octarians at the show by having the lights be flash a few times first, revealing Meggy on stage (as it turns out, she has survived the fall, along with her own friends, who tie down the Octarian Guards from behind). Even everyone (who had already been enslaved) were both shocked and happy at the same time to see that one of the first victims between the DJ's and the Daughter's had survive the fall. Meggy then confronts the whole crowd on stage through a Microphone telling the Whole New Domination that her own Kind and People to deserve to have Peace with Other Species (even with Octopus-species based). Even the Octarian Queen (Melody) did agree on Meggy's speech, along with Desti's Twin Siblings but Desti and Octavio were angered by the Inkling's own speech, Desti even took the microphone off her Rival's hand and did her own confrotation at her back. Eventually, this whole crash of the Coronation leads up into a Big Battle where Desti loads her own Octoshot Gun at Meggy which leads the entire Glitchy Crew battling against the Octarians (while some of the members of the Gang are freeing some of the slaves just to rescue them). 

Leading into a Big Huge Fight, Meggy instantly grabs the Small Zapfish from one of the Octarian servants as Desti chases after her for her Father, leaving the rest of the Octarians behind to fight with the Gang. But Melody and her Young Children (Zoey and Ashton) sneakily decide to leave out of the coronation (to get involve) as Melody and the Young Children secretly open all of the cages out for the rest of the slaves to be free. 

When Desti tries to find Meggy on where she is outside in the City, Meggy (who is still holding the Small Zapfish) has an idea that she will go up to the Tower and get to the Great Zapfish (along with the Cephalopod Crystal) to turn everything back to normal the way it was. When Meggy lands on the Inkopolis Tower (to where the Great Zapfish is tied down and is drained by all of its Power), Meggy decides to head up top of the tower to put the Crystals on top so that it could magically transform to stop the Octarian Domination but Desti stops her Arch-Rival as the Two get into a Big Fight in the Tower. When Desti tries to kill Meggy by hanging off a cliff hanger as Desti was about to step on Meggy's hand but Meggy quickly jumped up and kicked Desti off the tower as she instantly ran up all the way through the Great Zapfish (still holding the Zapfish from behind) as Meggy jumps up and puts the Cephalopod Crystal right on the Tower Top as everyone magically turns everything back to normal in Inkopolis (even the Citizens were no longer slaves as the Octarian Domination was finally shortly over).

The Award

With all of the Citizens no longer slaves to the Octarian race as Peace was finally here in Inkopolis as all of its glory had returned, Desti was arrested while Octavio was sent back to his Globe (Melody did split his own Husband apart from him and had to take their own children with her back to Octo Valley with the King and the Princess now in their own Jail cells).

The Next Day at Inkopolis, Everyone crowned Meggy as they all apologized to her and her friends for not listening to their own Warning as they even award her with only one Heroic Metal (not a sports metal, in case if you're confused). Meggy is welcome hearted as she was gifted with a Giant Statue of herself standing on top of the Octarians as an "War Hero" as she sheds a small tear while being amazed by the Gift that the City made for her as well as thanking her and her entire friends for rescuing the townfolks.  

Lennie on the other hand was now welcome to the Crew as he now joins the Glitchy Gang as a New Member ever since he was introduced to them as Bob and Boopkins were happy to have a Third Member of their Trio on their Block.

After a long adventure they've been having through Inkopolis as a few weeks passed, the Glitchy Gang decide to go on the Beach while Meggy (whose not with her friends at the moment) stays at home, remembering the days when she wanted to be like her own true hero (Oneshot Wren).

I might actually delete the Original Version (cause I thought it was too much of an embarrassment, giving on how I was actually 16 when I wrote it before I became much mature as I am now as of Today). But this here is ahead of a start of trying something very brand new of wanting to re-write the Entire SMG4 Lore in my own way for my SMG4 AU as a new fresh start of my very first fandom. Also, given on how that this is meant to be a prequel to the Anime Arc, I wanted to give Desti some more "Character Development" given on how that I'd wish to write her like More Memorable and Well-Written Redeemed Female Villains like Sunset Shimmer for instance.

So you might as well be expecting a Fan's re-write version of the Wacky Meme Worldbuilding (even if it means that I'd have to follow each step by step).

SMG4 (c) Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul Re-written version of an Old Fanfic of Mine (c) Me

[pbandjesse]

We are in the car going home from my parents house. It was really really nice to visit them. But I never really got over being tired today. Which made me really frustrated. I felt very frustrated with myself a lot today.

It started last night. I was able to fall asleep but not as early as I had hoped. I woke up a few times but it wasn't horrible sleep. I woke up before my alarm. James came in to check on me and I requested a little more time.

When I got up for real James was brining all of our laundry to the car. Because we were taking advantage of my parents' machines. I really liked my outfit but I felt kind of ugly. Not for any reason. I was just feeling bad.

I tried blow drying my hair a little and that helped a little. But I was feeling really upset inside. James has made me a little sandwich and poured me a soda but it was to syrupy and I didn't like it. And then I forgot my water and was upset when we got to the car and James didn't unlock it fast enough and it was all dumb stuff but I was not having fun.

Then the sun was in my face the entire drive. Like it was painful. I was sure I was going to get sunburn. And no matter where I put my hands I couldn't keep it out of my eyes. Eventually I would lay my head on the middle console and just try not to think about it.

It was a pretty quick two hours. We are closer to the 95 entrance now so we have shaved almost a full half hour off the drive to Philly so that's pretty cool.

I was really happy to see my parents. My dad was playing the guitar when we got there. And the dogs were all excited. Mom met us at the door. Hugs all around.

After James said hello they ran downstairs to start running out laundry through. Dad joined me and mom in the living room and James would join us soon. And we spent some time just talking. About the house mostly. It was really nice.

I really want them to come visit and see the house. I know that it might be difficult for my dad but I really hope they can come soon.

Mom asked me to come downstairs to go through some stuff. I was a little startled by her baby doll collection. But whatever makes her happy.

She had some lazy susans for us and a shadow box and a little metal shelf. I would go through some of my thesis diorama boxes to bring to a workshop I have later this month. And Mom gave me a couple bowls which are greatly appreciated.

We would sit in the kitchen for a little. Dad was on the phone so we didn't want to bother him but eventually we decided we wanted to order lunch so we all moved back to the living room. And decided to order from the pizza place they like.

While we waited for food we moved to the table, where mom had set up a cake and some presents for me. She had already given me some beautiful gold earrings, but the candle and origami book and container are all appreciated too! They sang for me and it was really sweet.

Me and Dad looked at pictures of the house and soon the dogs were freaking out because someone was at the door. It was our lunch!

And lunch was good. We talked. About the house. About trying for kids. No one said I was mean to James for once. We talked about me being in the ER and how scary it was being so sick. But my cough was still there today so I was struggling a little at time. I think it's probably why I never got any more energy today.

We had cake and soon after that my brother called to let me know he was outside. It was so nice to see him. He felt terrible about missing my birthday. But it was just good to have him there. Even if he talks so much. While accusing me of talking to much. Silly.

The afternoon was great though. Just talking and telling stories. Talking through dad and his fears and how much me and Steve want to encourage him but also not wanting to push to hard. We both understand and don't understand. We just want him to be healthy and happy.

Mom is taking a lot of steps to take care of herself though and I'm so proud of her for that. And Dad I starting therapy again this week. So I really hope they can get him to a place where he isn't so afraid. I was really happy to see he had moved for the walker to arm crutches. That's progress! And progress is so important.

Around 4 I was starting to get very tired. Steve and dad were on a long rant and I wanted to tell them a joke before we left and I had to wait forever but it got a very good laugh in the end and then it was time to go.

Around 445 we had lots of hugs. And we grabbed the last of our things and headed out.

James took me to Wawa to get a pretzel. Held my hand. I appreciate them so much. Giving up their whole day off just for me. They're the best husband.

And now we are heading home. We should be back at 7 and I'm hoping to take a shower and get in bed. I'm not feeling amazing. Not feeling emotionally defeated but physically I still feel not great. I really hope tomorrow I feel better.

Tomorrow we are also getting the movers for the last few pieces and we can really pull everything together. I'm excited.

I hope you all have a great night. And take care of yourselves. Goodnight my friends. Until next time.

[stormcrow513]

Hagging Out- Semtember 2022- Hand Baskets

@graveyarddirt

So as some of you know this month went off the rails on me almost immediately, with my cat Shy passing on the 8th, which is the day after my oldest sister who died birthday, and also childhood trauma, September fucking sucks for me already, so I tried my best to occupy myself with #haggingout but well this probably won't be my best entry just heads up going in, also I wanted to do a separate Autumn Equanox post but lost the spoons so I'm Hulk smashing em together hope that's alright Dirty

It was appropriately overcast on the Equinox this year, also check out my nails I've never had em this long before (I chewer) and this weeks the fist time I've painted em since I was like fourteen! Having em long was helping me detangle Shys fur, she also liked me runing em across her head, so I was motivated to not chew, I couldn't cut em or chew em right after she died so the other day I decided to paint em for spooky season, funnily the last time I painted they were probably black to,

I didn't do to much for the Autumn Equinox this year I was having a pretty bad brain day so I did offerings to the land, to the Horae (the seasons), to the Anemoi(the winds) asking for a wet winter, they've been to dry lately, and thanking them for the harvest I got/am getting,

that loaded backwards, but fuck it you get the idea, I gave oats and some tea that was starting to go bad, I figure rotting leaf juice is a good land offering, I also finished the last of my solstice/equinox working, I started December 2021 I finished September 2022, whew, and I almost forgot to do it too!

So while I still have some pumpkins on the vine mostly the harvest is winding down, here's my broom seeds!

The strawberries were in great form this year though if I'm honest there freaking me out a little, back you mangy vegetation! back I say!

And I'm so freaking proud of my broom this year, last year I only got a couple up, this year I got 20 sets of three seeds to come up, we did have an unfortunate bird attack so I had to rapidly cut the seeds down before I lost them,

Here's a shot before they'd all seeded and rippend, and then got mauled by evil little birds lol

honestly I think my backyard itself is my basket this year, I'm so amazed at the work ma and I have done to it, I told you all in my bed hagging out earlier it was struggling in the heat this year?

Well as soon as the temps dropped a bit the everything started blooming, the butterfly hit, and we've got like forty different bee species, I saw a fucking praying Mantus going up our lattice, my dudes I've NEVER seen one of those in nature! Also ma saw a fucking humming bird at our butterfly bush! Never seen that around here! Also also a humming brid mouth took residence here for like three weeks, I'd seen one up in the mountains once a few years ago got it on camera and was like the fuck is this, and it was so cool to have one just hanging around chillin on all the flowers and really liking the sunflowers that crop up every year,

This backyard was such a ugly waste land when we got here,

We'd moved in October 2017, I worked my ass off that first year getting all that wood bits off the ground to keep my dogs from cutting up there paws on it, there was also plastic crap under it and the dirt I pulled up, and there were these metal things around the rocks I had to get up also a paw slicing hazard, and don't even get me started on the fire pit, I went to move it thinking it was a ring with spikes pushed into the ground oh no these dumb fuckers varied a regular fucking big fire pit into the ground, anyway here she is now:

Only sad thing is the line tree died on us, there was a bad winter followed by fires near by that bolted out the sun a had a film of soot over everything, it tired but this extremely hot summer did her in,

All in all though while I can't fit my whole yard into my hand basket I've got broom and pumpkin etc and hopefully more next year!

I also was able to get a Hekate statue I've been wanting since last year! I spent all month praying over her while passing her through smoke,

And finally, with how upset Mittens has been with the loss of her sister ma and I after discussing and prayers to my Gods decided to go look for a companion for her, I found a pretty 4 month old kitten in a shelter nearby, we've been having her be a little apart so they can get used to each other and we've kept kitten in the bathroom at night, funnily enough we had a basket in there full of stuff and I walked in couldn't find her at first only to see she'd stuffed herself in it around the stuff, we ended up giving her a different basket cause she kept smacking her stomach on the hard rim and they'd recently fixed her, so ouchy stitches!

I've named her Circe, she's the third cat I've had whose name I plucked from Greek mythology

Does she count? She is in a basket, lol, also took me a bit to show y'all her cause I needed to get her added in to my protection spells,

actually does any of this count I had a little trouble trying to fit this one with where I'm at right now, anyway thank you for the challenge Dirty and for hosting these! Love to you dear♡

[dastardlyobnoxious]

My experience with Outer Wilds

Haven't seen everything in Outer Wilds (And I plan to dig into some of the achievements) but after beating it once I can see why it gets so much praise online.

A riverbed of choices and discoveries awaits you from the moment you start the game shooting into this personal adventure after the introduction/tutorial. Really reminds me of those old timey choose your own adventure books, the story is already set in stone but what you experience and see, and in what order those events are seen and done is all up to you!!

It's a wonder to me how spoiler free I went into this game; I'd heard its praises but never seen a Youtuber play it nor looked into it. Maybe that's a result of the games genre or the community being rather tight knit? I'm not sure, didn't deeply impact me like I've heard it's done to others, but I can really appreciate the experience. From here I'll talk spoiler stuff so don't keep reading if you ain't prepped for a text dump of just impressions.

Okay, hoping I did that right, here's my impressions of Outerwilds planets. Nothing profound but wanted to write my thoughts down.

Timber Hearth and the Attlerock were the first two locations I explored, and in hindsight one was much more interesting than the other. Call it dumb luck I'd actually stumbled on Timber Hearths underwater sections really early by killing myself in the geyser pit once or twice, what I thought was just some sort of easter egg turned into a network of stuff that had me do a double take on the planet as a whole. For what it was, it was fun but will say I probably should've done a late game refresher on the ruins here since with it being the first area, I struggled to remember over my 4 weeks or so of game play what happened even with ship logs. Rip Esker though, homie must be some mix of lonely and bored up on that grey rock I actually popped by to check on him once or twice and don't know how they stand it up there.

Brittle Hollow was hands down my favorite planet, knew from the start I'd head there after lifting off and will say it didn't let me down. I lost my ship to that planets crust quite a few times before figuring out the white hole station and still adored it. That feeling of being on a time crunch while having to use your scout to check if the ground you stood on was about to collapse was such a tense mixture at first. Love the general look of the collapsing planet and figuring out the gravity crystals was wild. Took me three or four times stumbling across the surface/core of the hollow to accidentally come across Riebeck and they definitely didn't disappoint. Being the first traveler after Esker that desire to learn/discover easily made them one of my favorites to revisit (alongside me just loving the Banjo playing in particular). That said the white hole station being the first time I realized the sun was exploding was surreal, flying away in my ship to try and escape the supernova to confirm to myself the sun was blowing up is burned in my memory. I found a majority of this planets content on my first sweep, so I didn't come back much aside from chilling with Riebeck and the Black hole Forge puzzle which was rough.

Giants Deep was next, and gotta say aside from the giant fish planet this was the scariest planet for me. Such a mix of anxiety landing there the first few times, between the unpredictable cyclones roaring, the dense gravity, and being unsure of how many islands there were as I was thrown into space the whole thing was terrifying. My ship actually blew up once or twice leaving me stuck on the Construction yard and suffice to say I didn't find it exactly relaxing. In terms of exploration, I could dig it, Gabbro takes the cake with their chill demeanor and that first time visiting them was both calming and reassuring (until we crashed into another island). Liked that it wasn't just the player living through this time/info loop and that we found meditation through them. This was definitely the planet I had to revisit more than once, between reaching the outer and inner core alongside discovering the Tower of Quantum Trials (Which thematically and look wise is the best Quantum thing in game in my opinion) figuring it out was really satisfying even if it was terrifying at first. Struggled hard on landing and searching the remains of the orbital probe cannon and honestly wondered if it'd crash on the Deep if I wasn't quick.

Then we have the Hourglass twins, as I slowly figured out Giants Deep/Brittle Hollow through these two they were also my least favorite to explore. I can dig the mechanic of sand falling from one planet to the other on paper but unlike Brittle Hollow where I felt I had time (with most of the structural collapse just making it harder to navigate until late into a loop), both twins left me feeling like I was on a tight deadline. It worked best in parts of the Sunless City but on the opposing end the Lakebed cave mystery and the Way into Sun Station were one of the few times I felt so stuck I needed a walkthrough to at least guide me past the start. This isn't to say the planets weren't interesting either, my first time in the Sunless City was crazy and, in some ways, I like it more than the Hanging city with it feeling more lived in via the Nomai text remanents. The planets weren't bad just brought about most of my late game gripes, speaking of which Chert for me was odd, as a traveler I ran into them first when they were panicking about the sun exploding, which at first had me thinking they were also aware of the loop. But when I came back, and that misconception was broken felt kind of mixed on Chert feel bad that the player has to watch them panic against the supernova countless times but aside from that? Eh, I'm largely impartial to Chert and largely only hang around them cause of the Ash Twins timer.

Then we have Dark Bramble, which as time has gone on, I've kind of warmed up to. Sure, the Angler Fish are some mix of terrifying and annoying going from the worst thing you've seen to a sorta tense time delay as you sprint for the True ending. But even looking past those terrifying fish? Whole things a tragedy and I kind of love it, from Escape Pod 3s distress beacon just whaling in a kind of chilling manner as you went through the mist to encountering the actual vessel the Naomi arrived on. Because of escape pod 1 and 2 both leading to mostly thriving Naomi colonies it just leads to this idea that maybe just maybe the Naomi survived here, but no. Finding their bodies floating is some mix of tragedy as they've been thrown into an environment that's inhospitable and unfamiliar only to be left floating for so long for you the player to be the one to find them first. The other Naomi could only assume they died or lived and to me that's what makes it so impactful this sticks in my memory so much as it was the last thing in-game I found. Feldspars camp was really refreshing and the first thing I encountered in the mist, and I dug their loner vibe as they encompass that almost reckless explorer attitude alongside being the most experienced explorer aside from the player. I think the same can mostly be said for the Interloper, once you actually descend it's crust the mystery of the Nomai's eradication is answered.

The Quantum Moon is an odd duck that ties into the eye of the universe, this puzzle was hands down the trickiest for me even having known each of the Quantum towers and their rules. It was something that took me quite a while to figure out even with hints and even eventually using a walkthrough to pinpoint where I had to go to reach the eye. It was both thrilling and interesting to have met a Nomai even if only briefly and I think that really makes the experience after all that build up for this puzzle. Landing on the moon blind without blowing my ship was pretty difficult in its own right alongside getting a scout to line up with it.

As for the true ending it was an interesting experience, with the game knowing you can't stop the sun from exploding with the Interloper serving as this sort of red herring while also putting you on a time crunch to warp into the eye of the universe. Even now I'm not quite sure I understand all the implications of it but nonetheless it was a fun and insightful experience that leaves me excited for the DLC!

[the-firebird69]

I'd like to say this the sun is on the ball for where he is and he's on the ball for any situation really but we know about what the order is he said that Tommy f is a judge and Guantanamo Bay and he set Trump up and it's for doing what he's been doing the Apocalypse now is like Trump firing back in order to hit the same thing he ordered the code red I had it done actually so how do they get to Guantanamo Bay everyone's saying it's top gun and doesn't fit perfectly but it's still fits and it is starting up over there and the Intel is what he said after and they go really hard after that. Right now Tom Cruise is starting to get recruited for that kind of transport because people want to threaten use the Corky and such to threaten to say there trying to move down there and they are and used Tom Cruise and he's at the airport nearby quite often and it's bringing drugs it like you used to and they're threatening him like they used to with it and now it's going on today it starts through tonight and tomorrow and then he crashes tomorrow tons of movies start tomorrow

*American made is today it's the start date. Runs into tomorrow Saturday and that's October 29th

*top gun begins Saturday October 29th and runs into Sunday October 30th

*top gun 2 begins Sunday October 30th and runs into Monday October 31st into the evening in the Pacific

*Black rain is beginning after a short series of movies with John remillard in them including War of the roses first then falling down , romancing the Stone starts momentarily is a precursor or prequel

*Black rain rolls into Ghost in the Shell to find out the money is indeed in Japan and from BG who accidentally told them and he did that in a different movie and it is a Stallone movie and it's

*cobra which starts today, the several people in it one of them is the freak with a knife and that's Donald Trump calling his own pigs and stuff he's frequently stupid

*A few Good Men then begins Monday as I said and they are held there for 3 days during that period they are considered to be outlaws including Mac Daddy no he's the one who calls them all outlaws and clean the whole place out heaven for years. It's a huge problem with a giant giant solution... The clothes go stealth and we do and we mess up there playing big time.

Exclude the whole rat pack including Ken and the whole series of movies happens because of it but immediately after one terminal Bay we should be Friday of next week is Soundgarden I am the highway. The packages are returned to Utah they checked and recent the same day they go out regular mail takes five to seven days to get here usually 5 or 4:00 so that would be November 10th to 12th. And that would land the reading mid December right around bja birthday and the Queen's birthday he says is true that's he thinks December 5th and that's true and Ellie's fake birthday is December 31st. It's still not far away. And they'll have money for him to get there and back he says he better make it 10 grand we were thinking about that if I run into Dumb and dumber The witches of the millennium and we need food and we and we're big. Didn't think about it and it's true. So they're trying to get you out of the money no we are. Really that's not that long, it's almost 2 weeks like 13 days and that's not too long. And that's when he has to go over there no that's when the package would be here. But he has to do some stuff deposit a check if very clear check the status of the airliner getting ready for the trip check the weather check other stuff get clothing together apparently can wear whatever you want it says but usually people wear formal clothing like a suit thinking of renting one. It's not a bad idea cuz this won't fit and someone will let it out like Tommy f that's what he looks like in the movie just trying to imitate Chris's physique. So it's going to be a little bit of fun but we're already revamping the airport and fixing things and probably be on American airlines or United or Delta not one of the other ones. And the story is going to begin today it already has with Tom Cruise and it's very fitting and that's why it's getting kicked out

Thor Freya

So he says to Ken you better get that stupid son of a b**** moving and I agree it's language we use on them

Hera

Was trying to roll and everything and it's moving and it's going to be a lot of fun it's very good work for everybody you've done great work everybody and we have tons of work and we're hiring tons and tons and tons of our people as we must there's a lot going on and we need plenty more people he's got these bikes going he's got cars going out the door and now illegal trucks pick up trucks and a whole bunch of heavy equipment illegal stuff tons of contraband and you believe me it's it's a lot of work we're selling light armor it's used for those motorcycles that go too fast tons and tons of them so let's get to it. Today was a banner day for sales they do hard knock kicker 5150s and the original hand of God have sold today about 15 an area on average that's 50 octillion not 15. It is a giant number of motorcycles it's going upwards and we can't believe it and we have sold about $700 trillion zero fuel electric motorcycles each area that's a very big number it's not humongous but for us because of what it is it's huge so got to get it out there. And hard knock kick her 5150 is now the most famous motorcycle company on Earth it sold more motorcycles than anyone. And we're offering wicked art and all the bikes and the artist name is sponsored and he's the aliens artist it's awesome tons of people want it and we've got alien bikes and all sorts of stuff it is a crazy genre to begin with he wants us to help design a series of hard knock kicker 5150s called The crazy eights his are having a 8 ball tank and a 8 ball shifter and basically it's blacked out the whole bike and that's what crazy eights are like and black spokes black tires black engine and everything is black that headlight has a black cover on it so you only see you at night it just looks like a black spot during the day and black handlebars and black fenders everything is blacked out it's a nice black it stays full it's not flat black tons of people going to start ordering the series as a 8 ball hand shift we can start Garth doing the shifter on it it's just black and eight ball tank that's the only white you have on the whole bike a little bit of white rest of his black and it's two-tone black the black 8 Ball from pool and a different shade of black on the tank and you can see it a little tons of people on them now they want to buy it now and this is an idea from Luke George who knows not his brother and it's not Trump it's not even Dan and it was a different plan of mac and they got killed n**** killed in Afghanistan. It is what it says that they're targeted and they're crazy and they do crazy stuff it's supposed to say that's why I want you to buy it so we know who you are

Olympus

[etsuven]

pretty dumb boy (part 1) rating: smut characters: xiao, diluc, kaeya cw: jealous behavior (diluc, kaeya) includes: denial, overstimulation, 'toy' usage, cursing, bondage, male receiving! penetration (diluc), (kaeya), crying (kaeya) summary: you have the smartest boyfriend, but sometimes it's kind of fun to... dumb him down a bit. note: i was originally supposed to have six characters here, but then i checked the word count and realized that it was over 2.2k... also it's late and i've been writing this for days... anyways, i hope you guys enjoy the first part!!!

xiao

you and xiao were having a cute little picnic date on the hidden, mini balcony of the wangshu inn. you were chatting about your day, and xiao was enjoying his almond tofu, letting out little 'mhmm's' to let you know he was still listening.

it was a lovely evening, and the sun had begun to set in the seemingly nearby horizon. xiao was planning on going back on patrol in a bit, but you couldn't just let your pretty boy leave you without a kiss :(

little did either of you know, that little peck turned into another one, and then another one, and maybe a few more... until he was nestled into your lap, tongues intertwined and moaning softly into the cool breeze.

"(y-y/n), i have to... ngh- patrol..." xiao spoke in between kisses, his hands clutching at your shoulders. you squeezed at his hips, maneuvering yourselves so that you were now hovering on top of him. "but you're always so busy, sweetheart... let me take care of you for a bit..."

you trailed your kisses down xiao's jaw, nibbling slightly at the soft flesh as he whimpered in your ear. his leg wrapped around your waist, pulling you down and groaning once your hips met his. hmm, he gave in rather quick.

"m-make it quick," he cut himself off with another whimper, throwing his head back in pleasure when your hand brushed over his cock through his pants. "there's a lot- ah!- for me to do-" you let out a laugh, sucking at a sensitive spot on xiao's neck as you pulled his pants down.

"i can't guarantee it."

and that's how you ended up with a super sensitive xiao an hour later, his hips bucking into your hand as he desperately pleaded for you to let him cum. his face was hidden, loud moans muffled in your neck. xiao was never one to be on the louder side, but sometimes when you pushed the right buttons, that would all change.

"p-please, i can't!" he groaned, clutching at the blanket under you as he thrusted faster into your hand. his pretty face was flushed, and you had to admit- red looked quite nice on him. "let me cum, (y/n), please!"

xiao couldn't think straight at all. his head was all fuzzy, and the only things he could focus on were your hand on his cock and the hope that, if he begged enough, maybe you would finally fulfill his wish.

diluc

angel's share. the lovely little tavern that diluc owned and bartended at. the place was normally very loud during the hours where it was open, and it would only really get quiet once everyone was gone.

earlier in the night, you had decided to stop by to help clean and keep diluc company as he took note of everything. during your unplanned visit, you had noticed donna getting... rather close with your boyfriend.

not too close, as she was restricted by the bar in front of him, but she made up for the space with her flirting. lots and lots of flirting... you were tempted to do something about it, but diluc seemed to handle it quite well.

the flirting was spurred on by donna's drunkenness, which diluc figured out quickly. she confessed her love for him a few times, which amused you as you knew that diluc only had eyes for one person.

he restricted her alcohol intake soon after, telling donna that she was quite drunk and that she needed to go home and rest. after a bit of persuasion, she finally left. you were -of course- relieved, as you didn't have to deal with someone flirting with your lover.

the night ended without any other mishaps, surprisingly so. even venti was quite tame. you spent the time after hours helping diluc clean, all while thinking of a way to reward diluc for his efforts...

"donna was... something tonight, wasn't she?" you spoke up, putting a now dry glass to the side before picking up another one to take care of. diluc rolled his eyes, an amused look on his face as he watched you dry the last glass. "perhaps i should have declined to give her more alcohol earlier."

you glanced at him, taking note of how good he looked tonight. pretty red hair in a high ponytail, a short sleeve shirt that showed off his arms... walking up to him, you placed your hands on his hips, pulling him close to your body. his cheeks flushed, and a pretty little smirk showed on his face before you leaned in, pressing your lips against his.

somehow, around half an hour later, diluc was being bent over the bar and fucked by your strap/cock. your simple little kiss turned into a makeout session with diluc pressed against the bar and your fingers tangled into his hair. and after that, it turned into him being fucked.

how did that happen?

“you did good handling donna, my love…” you had to admit, she had quite the confidence confessing her love for diluc almost every chance she got. she was definitely better than you when you had begun falling for the pyro user. you were all shy and stuff, but a sudden burst of confidence made you confess that fateful day.

diluc let out a whine at your praise, red hair falling around him and on the bar as he moaned loudly. he tried to hide them every once in a while, but he always stopped once you managed to hit that sensitive spot in him.

you looked down at the man, entranced by how gorgeous he looked in that moment. “she doesn’t get to fuck you like this, does she?” diluc shook his head, more moans falling out of his mouth as he grasped at the bar top.

“she doesn’t get to watch you fall apart at her hands, does she?” diluc let out a whine, his hand falling back to rest on yours that had been on his hip. “n-no! only you!” he stuttered. you found yourself laughing, squeezing harshly at the other side of his hips.

oh, how lucky you were...

kaeya

jealous after you caught someone flirting with him

the two of you were hanging out in the tavern that night, a drink in hand as you told each other about your long and exhausting days

after a little bit of chatting, you had to go to the bathroom

you weren't even gone for that long, but when you came back, there was someone standing next to your boyfriend having a whole chat.

you thought that maybe it was just one of the off duty knights? maybe they were just saying hi to their superior. nope, the body language told you everything.

their hands fumbling behind their back, most of their weight on one leg as they moved anxiously with the other, the tilting of their head as they replied to something kaeya said.

no way... they were totally flirting! right?

you walked over to him, giving him a big smile as you sat back down. kaeya raised an eyebrow, seemingly figuring out what the smile actually meant. he looked back up at the knight with a smile of his own, watching their face fall as they finally connected the dots. they quickly said their goodbye's and ran off. a strange sense of satisfaction filled your body.

"something wrong, sweetheart?" kaeya reached for your hand from across the table, gently squeezing it as reassurance before rubbing the back of it with his thumb. you shook your head, making up an excuse. (he obviously didn't believe it.) whatever, you'd deal with it tomorrow.

"in my defense, i didn't know they were flirting with me. i just thought it was a simple chat." kaeya spoke out in a teasing voice, watching you with lustful eyes as you walked across the room to the closet.

last night, you had caught someone flirting with kaeya in the angels share tavern. you could tell immediately that he wasn't flirting back, but at the same time, he was still talking to them. was it bad for you to punish him like this when he didn't even know what was going on? maybe, but you didn't really care right now.

you picked up a box that was on the bottom of the closet, opening it and digging through the contents until you found the two things you were looking for. a wand vibrator and its remote and a prostate massager, two of your lovers favorite toys.

after closing the box, you went back to your boyfriend, picking up the bottle of lube that was already sitting next to him. you had prepped him a few minutes ago before tying him up in preparation for what was to come.

"rest your feet on the bed, knees up." you sat on the bed, waiting for him to obey your orders. while he did that, you lubed up the massager. you went further on the bed, placing a hand on his knee and pushing it a bit further back in order to get a good angle.

pressing the tip of the massager against his hole, you rubbed it around the rim, teasing kaeya a bit before slowly starting to push it in. "deep breaths, baby.." the captain nodded quickly, his teeth biting at his lip as he held in his whimpers. once the toy was all the way in, you moved it around, only stopping when kaeya let out a small gasp.

"shit, t-that's good..." you laughed softly, saying a quick 'you're welcome' before picking up the other vibrator. you pulled kaeya's legs back down, adjusting his legs before placing the toy in between them. you then stood up, smiling as you took in his form.

his hands were tied to the bed posts, making it so that he wasn't able to go anywhere. his legs were spread apart slightly, and his half hard cock was practically begging to be touched. the tiny bit of stimulation from the massager seemed to be affecting him quite a bit.

picking up the remote from the bed, you turned it on to the lowest setting, watching as kaeya's arms pulled against the bonds before he finally settled down. you also turned on the wand vibrator, setting that to the middle setting before finally getting back up.

"i'm going to leave you here for a bit, okay? i have to get some groceries... think you can handle it?" you looked towards the man, raising an eyebrow as his face already became contorted from the pleasure.

"i can totally handle it!" he spoke confidently, but there was a bit of strain in his voice. remote in hand, you nodded, walking towards the door before looking back as if you forgot something. "oh yeah!"

you flicked the switch on the remote once more, changing the setting to one you knew kaeya loved. it was one of the strongest ones, one that vibrated quickly for around 15 seconds before cutting off for around 5. it always made him cum quite quickly, and you were confident that it would make him break before you came back.

"alright, now have fun, love!"

now, kaeya was fine for the first few minutes. he handled it well, resisting his urge to pull against the ropes that kept him from touching himself. but it all went downhill a few seconds after his first orgasm.

the overstimulation seemed to hit quicker than normal, and kaeya found it harder and harder to keep himself from squirming, the massager was hitting just the right spot, but the wand vibrator was just shy from where he really wanted it.

one part of him wanted to run away from the feelings, the knot in the bottom of his stomach was becoming overwhelming, and he so desperately wanted to touch himself. but at the same time, being unable to move and at the mercy of two vibrators was exhilarating...

it wouldn't be that hard to keep going, right? you'd be back in a few minutes.

an hour later, you finally came back home, a bunch of bags in your hand. upon opening the door, you were immediately met with the sound of moaning and soft cries coming from yours and kaeya's shared bedroom. you quickly put up the groceries, grabbing the vibrator remote from the table beside the door before finally making your way to your room.

and there he was. your pretty boy, all laid out for you. there was a large amount of cum resting on kaeya's stomach, and some of it was even going down his stomach. how hot. you walked towards him, noticing the tears streaming down his gorgeous skin. (seriously, his skin was perfect, you wondered what he used to get it like that.)

the sun shone through the window, casting itself perfectly on his brown skin and making it seem almost golden. at this moment, he seemed to notice you, and he let out a small cry as he pulled against the rope. you decided to grant him mercy, finally untying the ropes.

you cut both of the vibrators off, gently pulling the massager out and laughing once kaeya let out a long groan of exhaustion. he placed his hands on his face, wiping off the tear streaks on his face. while he was doing that, you took the time to grab a cloth to wipe him off with.

"how was it?" you asked, gently wiping the cum off of kaeya's stomach. he let out another groan, and you concluded that he may not be able to speak at the moment. you set the cloth to the side, pulling him close to you and pulling his head to your chest.

perhaps some aftercare was in order.

[tbmunson]

Little Harrington; Dreams - Steve Harrington x Pregnant!Reader

Summary: You have a dream Steve cheated on you and you're mad at him for the day. Requested by anon Here

Warnings: Pregnancy, Fluff, Cheating in a dream, Slight angst, Alluding to sex.

WC: 1.1k ish

Check out the Little Harrington Masterlist for more from this series!

Check out my Masterlist for more from me!

"See you tomorrow!" Robin called as you closed her passenger side door to walk into the house you and Steve shared.

You had shopping bags filled with things for the baby: onesies, toys, diapers, even decorations for the nursery. The sun was setting outside and you noticed a strange car in the driveway, one you hadn't seen before. You opened the door and called out for Steve.

There was no answer.

You sat the bags down on the table and made your way up the stairs. You heard noises that you knew for a fact belonged to Steve.

His grunts and whimpers rang through the hall, muffled only by the door to your bedroom.

You thought maybe he had been helping himself. That was until you heard a very feminine moan echo through the house.

You gasped, waking and sitting up in your bed, Steve sound asleep next to you. You glared down at him, pissed about your dream. The dreams you had been having recently were way more realistic now that you were pregnant. Some of them were wonderful visions of you and Steve and the baby, or even babies, of your life together, but some were like this.

The clock on his side of the bead read 6:28 so you decided to get up. You got in the shower and then styled your hair. You even put a bit of makeup on, only out of spite for the dream.

The time was nearing 8:00, when Steve had to get up to get ready for work. You went down stairs and called Robin, who had the closing shift.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded like she'd been awake, which was typical for her. She didn't sleep in often.

"Do you wanna go out for breakfast?" You asked, twirling your keys around your finger.

She thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah. I'll be ready in ten."

"I'll be there." You hung the phone up and scribbled a note for Steve.

Meeting Robin for breakfast. - Y/N

You knew it was dumb to be mad at him about a dream, but it felt so real. It was insanely vivid and it felt like you'd been stabbed, which is what you explained to Robin over your hashbrowns and eggs.

"So he was really doing it in the dream?" She asked, leaning forward.

You nodded and sighed, pushing the food around with your fork. "Yeah. Like I know you probably don't wanna know, but he has this one whimper when he's about to, ya know, and he did it and then she, whoever she was... I wanted to smother him with the pillow when I woke up."

"He's gonna interrogate me when I get to work, you know. Do you want me to tell him?" She questioned, reaching over and putting her hand on your arm.

You shrugged. "No. I'll tell him. I might go in and see him when I drop you off." You replied, finally setting your fork down on the plate with your barely eaten food.

Robin knew it was eating you up since this was one of your cravings and you'd hardly touched it. She nodded and waved at the waitress for the check.

The two of you soon pulled up to Family Video and you killed the engine, looking at the sign.

"Come on, I know it seemed real but it was just a dream. He would never do that."

You sighed and nodded. "I know. But it felt..." You shook your head and groaned. "Let's go." you climbed out of the car and walked up to the door with Robin by your side.

Steve looked up, a huge smile instantly plastering itself onto his face. "Hey, I missed you this morning." He said, coming around the corner to hug you, resting a hand on the bump.

You returned the hug and mumbled a small "Missed you too." And that was the truth. You did miss him. This him. The one you knew better than you knew yourself. The one that would never do what you'd dreamt he did. Then there was that thought. The dream. The pain came flooding back and you pulled away, glowering slightly at him.

Robin noticed and coughed, bringing the attention to her. "Has it been busy today?" She asked, taking a look around behind the counter. There were no return to be rewound, nothing to be reshelved, and the candies were fully stocked.

"Not even a little bit." Steve groaned, dropping his arm from around you to talk to Robin about the display she would need to put up around closing, as instructed by Keith.

You usually would insert yourself and give your opinion on what was going on, but you couldn't bring yourself to do so. "I'm not feeling well. I'm gonna head home. See you tonight. Love you." You were already making your way to the door, sending a wave over your shoulder. You managed to miss the look of pain that crossed Steve's face.

"I love you too." He replied as the door closed.

You'd spent the day cleaning the whole house, scrubbing from top to bottom which is what you did when you didn't want to think about anything else. You sighed, rubbing the bump as you looked around at the spotless house.

"Honey, I'm home!" Steve called as the door opened behind you.

You turned to see him with a bouquet of flowers and a smile on his face. "Hi." Your voice was again small, this time due to the guilt of being mad at him.

"Hey." He pressed a kiss to your cheek and looked around the space. "You wanna tell me what's wrong, now? Robin wouldn't say a word about breakfast." He raised his brows slightly, waiting.

You flushed and shrugged, taking the flowers and smelling them. You nodded as you grabbed a vase and filled it with water before dropping the flowers inside of it. You stayed silent as you grabbed Steve's hand and lead him into the living room, which was also pristinely vacuumed and decorated.

"This can't be good." He stated, a small worry line appearing between his brows as you sat, tugging him down gently.

"I was mad because of a dream." You stated, looking down at your tangled hands.

He nodded, his brows furrowing gently at your admission. "And what did I do in this dream to upset you, love?"

You sighed and explained what happened in detail before finally looking up at him.

"I'll get to the main problem in just a moment, but I'd like to ask this first: Robing was driving, and you didn't realize then that it was a dream right then?" He had one eyebrow cocked at you, a small entertained smile on his face.

You couldn't help but giggle and shrug. "I don't know! I was too busy being sad and mad!" You replied, pushing him gently.

He grabbed your hand and pulled you into him. "I would never, ever, ever cheat on you. You are the love of my life and the mother of my child. I'm not going anywhere. I swear." He pulled you into a soft, slow kiss that showed all of the love he had for you.

"I love you, Steve."

"I love you too, Y/N."

[remingtonisleithal]

I Don't Wanna Be Alone

Andy Biersack x Reader (gender neutral)

Word Count: 1,894

Warnings: trigger warning self harm and depression

Summary: Y/N feels terrible, and Andy comes over to cheer them up

This is for the anon who sent an ask, I'm sorry I wasn't sure what you wanted so I made it similar to the other Andy fic i made that you mentioned :) I hope you like it!!

It was another night in the dark surrounded by your stuffed teddy bears, hugging your pillow, and tears streaking your face despite that lack of feeling inside. You put on one of your favourite albums and the music blasted loudly through your bedroom. You just sat on your bed. Numb. Broken. What little you could feel was tinged with pain and you weren't sure which was better; feeling nothing or everything at once. So you sat crying, stuck.

Your phone buzzed and you checked the screen, moving slowly, lifelessly. Andy: Hey :) .You ignored the text. What good was trying to talk when you couldn't even make sense of your own mind? Why was he even texting you? You were a horrible friend. Maybe he just felt bad for you. So many people only pitied you, no wonder you were alone.

You tired to shake all these horrible thoughts from your head, but the voices were too strong. You turned the music up, squeezed your eyes shut, desperate to make it end. Then came the one thought that hurt you the most, because you believed it. You put your hands over your ears, like that would help, then cried out “shut up!”. Depression didn't listen, neither did Anxiety. Your problem teamed up tonight.

The shadows in the back of your mind crept forward, and you wriggled uncomfortably in your hoodie, wincing at the fluffy fabric brushed against fresh wounds. You felt the shame rise up. Why the hell were you like this?? You'd probably never find an end, no relief for the fucked kid that they made. You were walking around your house slowly, padding around the carpet in fluffy socks, feeling the need to end things. Hell was scary, but life seemed harder. You were thinking of the least painful way to depart when you heard buzzing. Your phone. Andy.

You picked up after a few rings, but waited for him to speak first.

“Hey,” was all he said.

You didn't respond.

“You OK?” he asked.

Still no answer.

“Y/N?” panic in his voice this time.

“Yeah,” was all you managed to say, toneless.

“What's wrong? Want me to come over.”

Desperately, yes, but all you said was “yes please. Sorry.”

“Hey it's no problem. I'll be there in a few, OK?”

You said your goodbyes and hung up. OK Y/N,you thought, all you have to do is stay alive until he gets here. Your best friend. The guy you love more than life... Shut up that's not helping. Just don't do anything dumb for 5 minutes, OK? Wipe your tears. Your sense took over but you didn't manage to move. Just sank down to the ground under you (the kitchen floor) and starred blankly. You hadn't realised just how dark it was, but the Sun had set hours ago. You had been crying for hours. You couldn't even remember why anym- wait. Nope, you remembered. Ah fuck, more tears.

You heard a knock on your apartment door, attempted to fix your hair but failed (no time to changed but at least your bun could look less bad, right?...Right? Wrong). You opened the door to see Andy Biersack holding a plastic bag, some cheap and dying supermarket flowers, and the cutest smile ruining the tough effect of his leather jacket. You tried to smile but Andy knew better, and gave a sympathetic sigh, dropping the bag and flowers to pull you into a tight, hug. His arms wrapped around your back and neck/head, and he squeezed you gently, the pressure grounding you. He rested his cheek on your head and you began to cry for different reasons then. It wasn't out of self-loathing. It wasn't The Problem. It was because you just loved him and needed him, and you were sure he didn't need you, you were just a burden. You loved him with your whole soul, but weren't sure if it was romantic or platonic. Just that you would kill and/or die for this man, just to see him smile.

Andy gave you a soft kiss on your head and loosened his arms, enough to hold you but look you in the eyes. You sniffled, and looked away. Your eyes were too open, and you were scared to show your soul. He understood without a word. Just let out a soft breath and put his forehead against yours, eyes closed. After a moment he pulled you back in for another beautiful hug, cut short as he let you go to pick up the bag and the flowers.

“So,” Andy said, finally speaking. “Can I come in?”

“Sure, you vampire.” you teased, and he chuckled. You suddenly felt a lot better.

Once you were inside and the door shut, he gave you the flowers.

“Sorry they're a bit wilt-y, but I thought they smell nice and may make you smile a little?' he said as though it was a question. You did, in fact, smile, and carefully took them with one hand.

“Thanks, they're really pretty.”

“Any time.” your smile was returned, and Andy kept talking. “So I thought if you want to talk about it, I'm here. If you want to ignore it, I've got some your favourite chips and chocolate, pizza, because why not, and few DVDs, crier's choice, and” he reached into the bag and pulled out a hoodie “this bad boy. I know how snuggly you find it, so I thought I'd let you borrow it, you know, just this once.” he said, leaning forward with a cheeky smile like he was sharing a secret.

You were so touched you were speechless. Your mouth didn't know how to respond, but your eyes did, by way of the waterworks.

“No no no, this was supposed to make you feel better, not cry!” he grabbed each of our arms and bent down a little to look into your eyes. Again you looked away. And he gave you a big hug.

“'M sory,” Andy mumbled against your head. After a moment to recover you sniffled and let out a big breath.

“No it's fine, it's amazing actually. Thank you, really. I can't explain how much I appreciate this, this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. Thank you.” you looked into his piercing eyes and your breath caught for a moment.

The moment ended. Andy picked up the bag in one hand, and your hand in the other, and led you into the kitchen.

“C'mon, let's make the pizza. Do you wanna talk about what's upsetting you or just ignore it?” he asked.

“Honestly, I'm what's upsetting me. Just the depression, all my issues, you know.” You said with a small shrug.

“Hey, it's fine. I've got you, OK?” He put the tray he was holding down to look at you, with eyes that saw every part of you. “I know what it's like. Just take it easy, 'K?” You nodded and gave him a small smile that melted his heart (not that he would admit it).

The pizza was put in the oven, chocolate and chips put in bowls along with some popcorn you microwaved. You both sat on the lounge, and played a game to work out what movie to watch, consisting of scientific arguments for which movie you should watch, and once it was limited down to two, both were thrown in the air, and which ever you caught with your eyes shut was the winner. It took a while for there to be a winner, but the smiles and laughter was worth it. By then the pizza was ready and the movie started. You turned the lights off and snuggled next to Andy, wearing the hoodie he let you borrow instead of your own, and you curled up next to him, his arm around you, your head on his chest. Half way through the movie you dozed off a bit to the soothing beat of his heart. He just rubbed your back in slow circles, wishing he could stay with you in his arms forever. You wiggled a little in his sleep, and it was so adorable that he let out a little giggled, but being the light sleeper that you were you woke up.

“No no no no no,” he complained when you tried to move away from him “go back to sleep!” he teasingly demanded.

“How much is left of the movie?” you asked.

“Ah, about half an hour maybe.”

“OK, I can stay awake for that, then I've got to go to bed. I'm really tired,” you said, pushing up your sleeves and fixing your ponytail without thinking. Bad move.

“Hey, Y/N/N?”

“Yeah Andy?”

“Your arms.”

“My- oh.” time for an awkward laugh. You finished retying your hair and pulled your sleeves back down. “I'm fine now. Just, not a good day, you know?”

He looked over at you with pain in his eyes, as if he was the one bleeding.

“I'm so sorry. I know I should it's just-” you tried to explain but Andy cut you off.

“You don't have to explain to me, and you don't have to apologise. I just wish I could fix this somehow, take the pain for you, from you. You don't deserve this.” His eyes were so open and bore into your own.

“I,” you didn't know where this sentence was going. “It's ah, it's getting late. Maybe you should get back home, and I mean I gotta go to bed, so,”

“Oh no, you are not getting out of this. I am going to help you, OK? I'm not going to leave you alone, even if it is,” he checked the clock and blew a soft whistle. “One in the morning. I'm seeing your point about going to bed now. How you mind if I stay over? I don't want to leave you on your own like this,” he said, finishing the sentence in his head with I just want to hold you until the sun rises and kiss you until you feel better. But, ya know, in a friendly way.

“Yeah, yeah that sounds good.”

So you got ready for bed together, brushing your teeth (him with a spare tooth brush), and you changed into your jammies. Andy stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do outside your room while you changed.

Once you were done, you went out to him.

“I know this probably sounds weird but, um, do you, ah, want to maybe say in my room with me? It's just that your presence is really soothing and I... I don't want to be alone.” you said, scared about being so honest with your heart.

“'Course,” Andy stated with a smile. “Um, OK, my turn to be weird, but do you mind if I take my jeans off? I don't really want to try to sleep in denim.”

You giggled and said it was fine. The two of you curled up in your bed, snuggled, happy and scared about how ever it was that you felt. But you knew you'd be OK, you didn't have to cry, at least not tonight, because you were safe in Andy's arms.

Taglist: @sab-falco @smiling-girl please let me know if I made a mistake tagging or if you want to be on the list!

[crackheadgeminibby]

mistakes were made

pairing: chris evans x black!reader

warnings: language, age gap, angst, mentions of sex TW body insecurities and talk of weight gain

word count: 2.9k

i do not consent to my work being copied in any way, shape or form or reposted on any other platform

picture credit: screengrab from "Captain America Dinner Party" on youtube

You finish getting dressed and pick up everything you need to go for a run. As you’re walking down the last steps, you see that Chris is sitting on the couch, working on something on his computer. You come up behind him and softly kiss his temple before saying,

“Hey baby. I just put Emma to sleep and I’m gonna go for a run. Can you just pay attention and make sure she doesn’t wake up, please?”

Chris absentmindedly nods and mutters a “be careful”. You faintly smile and roll your eyes at his unwavering concentration but make sure to turn the volume of the baby monitor all the way up before leaving.

You go out through the garage and smile up at the sky, feeling the heat of the sun warming up your face.

You start to run the route you used to before getting pregnant with your baby girl. Last Sunday, it had been five months since your bundle of joy had been born. As much as you utterly adored her and the experience of carrying your own child, you had not appreciated the effect that the pregnancy had on your body.

On the contrary, most mothers-to-be were described as glowing and full of new energy but while you were pregnant, you always felt like you were about to get a cold and you had put on so much weight that you could barely recognize yourself. You had thought that it was only the pregnancy hormones changing your body that way as you were still very young, but today, five months after giving birth, your body had stayed the same and that certainly was not helping your confidence.

You weren’t sure if Chris had noticed your insecurities that manifested themselves by you eating almost the same meager meals every day and pushing away all sorts of sexual interactions with him. Since he had never mentioned anything or ever seemed frustrated with you, you thought he simply didn’t notice it or just didn't mind it.

Lost in your thoughts, you’re back home before you know it. As you’re entering the garage, you faintly hear Chris’ voice travel through the house all the way to you. Slightly confused, you assume that he must have forgotten to tell you he had an appointment or something, so you make sure to be as silent as possible to not disturb him.

“Bro, I know, it’s fucking crazy. I actually have my own child now.”

You smile softly at his excitement. You’re downing a bottle of water you took from the fridge when your ears perk up at your name coming out of Chris’ mouth.

“Oh, Y/N? Yeah, you know, she’s fine, she's good.”

Tilting your head slightly, you try to understand the sudden shift in Chris’ mood: even from two rooms away, you could feel his energy change.

“No, it’s fine, it’s just that she’s been kind of weird since the baby.”

You frown at hearing Chris say that. He never mentioned anything to you so why the hell was he talking about it with whoever was on the other end of the phone?

“No but like bro, look, it’s like this. I’ll be out all day doing whatever, and then when I come home, she’s all over me, being super clingy and all. Like, she will literally not let me go anywhere. But then, whenever I try to ease the mood into, you know, something more sexual, she just shuts down and says that Emma needs some food or something and she leaves. Then, when she comes back, she’s practically running from me like I have the fucking plague or something!”

As Chris is listening to what the person on the phone is responding, you start to feel a knot in your throat and you know that if you don’t do anything soon, you’re going to be full-on sobbing. As you’re working on your breathing and a plan, you hear Chris say,

“Dude, I literally thought the same thing. I swear. But, when we went for her check-up a little after she gave birth, the doctor said we couldn’t have sex for 6 weeks. It’s been like 20 weeks now!”

Unable to contain your emotions any longer, you leave your water bottle on the counter and run back to the garage, as silently as you can. Once in the safety of the garage, tears stream down your face as you let out a sob that brings you to your knees. You let yourself cry for what feels like forever, but you know it must not have been more than 5 minutes.

When you start to calm down, you focus on finding a plan to make sure Chris didn’t know that you were eavesdropping on his phone conversation. You take deep breaths before wiping your face and fixing your appearance as best as you can while using the rear-view mirror of your car.

Once you’re certain that you can’t do anything more, you take a final breath before opening the door and slamming it loud enough for Chris to hear that you’re in the house. As you’re approaching the living room, and thus, the staircase leading to your room, you faintly hear Chris say, “Yeah, man. I’ll talk to you later.”

You pass behind him while keeping your head held high and not giving him a single glance. As you start to climb up the stairs, you see that Chris is turning towards you.

“Hey baby, I didn’t hear you come back. How was your run?”

You take a deep breath before answering as calmly as you can, “Fine. I’m going to take a shower.”

Chris hesitates for a second before responding, “Um, okay, I’ll start dinner then.”

You don’t answer and run up the last couple of stairs as you feel your resolve crumbling. You hurriedly take some random clothes and a towel before locking yourself in the en suite bathroom. As soon as the door is closed, you put your hand over your mouth as a cry escapes you again. You put your clothes and towel on the counter before sitting in front of your bathtub. You don’t know how long you stay there, stifling your cries, but you suddenly hear the doorknob jiggling before a loud knock resonates through the bathroom.

“Y/N? You okay in there? I heard some weird noises.”

You clear your throat as softly as you can before answering, “I’m fine, I just stubbed my toe.” You cringe as your voice breaks halfway through your sentence.

The doorknob jiggles again before you hear, “Are you sure? And why is the door locked? You never lock it.”

“Uh... I'm on my period.”

You roll your eyes at your dumb and illogical excuse but it was going to have to do for now.

Before Chris can say anything else, you start the shower, rapidly take your clothes off and step inside. Both Chris and you knew that when the shower water was on, it was almost impossible to hear anything else in the bathroom.

You spend at least an hour under the scalding water, and you finally get out as you see a glimpse of the time on the bathroom clock: 6:45pm. It was time to start getting Emma ready for bed and you knew that she rarely slept through the night if you weren't the one to put her to bed. Knowing that this meant that nobody in the house would really get any sleep, you reluctantly turn off the shower water and get out of the shower.

As you’re toweling off, you can faintly hear music coming from outside of the bathroom. You put on the clothes you had taken from your room and put them on.

How ironic. You were wearing the same shirt from the first time Chris had told you he loved you. You smile bitterly as you look at the shirt in the mirror and pick up the rest of your things before getting out of the bathroom.

You walk into your shared bedroom with Chris and immediately recognize “Wicked Games” by The Weeknd. You roll your eyes as you remember the time you had told Chris that, for whatever reason, The Weeknd’s 2010s phase could always get you in the mood. You take your time doing your skincare routine before taking care of your workout clothes.

After finishing in your bedroom, you close the door and head to Emma’s room to get her ready for bed. However, you frown confusedly as you see that everything in Emma’s room is clean and organized. Emma is clearly changed, dressed in her nighttime pyjamas, tucked in and soundly asleep while Dodger is snoring in front of her crib. You smile softly. Even before Emma was born, Dodger was extremely protective of her and when she was born, he was practically attached to her hip. Wherever Emma was, Dodger was also there.

You’re watching Emma and Dodger sleep, a seemingly permanent smile on your face when you suddenly feel a hand on your shoulder. You turn around rapidly and slightly jerk away from Chris when he attempts to put a hand on your arm. He frowns slightly before saying,

“I got Emma ready for bed and dinner’s ready downstairs.”

You sigh and walk around Chris before making your way downstairs as you hear his soft footsteps behind you. When you turn the corner to enter the living room, your breath slightly hitches as you see that Chris has set a candlelit dinner table. Chris softly sets his hands on your shoulders and starts to gently massage them as he says,

“I made spaghetti with chicken parm, your favorite. And extra cheese, just how you like it.”

As your resolve starts to crumble, Chris’ words from earlier in the day echo in your mind. The memory makes you instantly tense up and you let out a shaky breath while trying to control your emotions. To take the focus off of you, you sit down and start to serve Chris and yourself some water. You hear Chris sigh loudly before he sits down in front of you. He serves you a hearty serving of pasta with a whole chicken breast before serving himself. Chris looks at you, clearly hesitating to say anything for a couple of seconds while you’re poking at your food before saying,

“So, I thought you would like the chicken parm tonight since you seemed kind of down after your run.”

You let go of your fork, which loudly hits your plate, and put your head in your hands before you say, “Oh my God, Chris, I can’t fucking do this.”

“Woah, Y/N, you can't do what? What's wrong?”, Chris asks, shocked.

“What’s wrong, Christopher, is that I heard you on the phone this afternoon. Talking about how I’m supposedly clingy and never want to have sex with you anymore.”

Chris visibly tenses up as he hears your statement and stammers trying to find an excuse to justify his behavior.

“Wait, I… I can explain.”

You hold your hand up, signifying to Chris that you’re not done.

“First of all, you have absolutely no right to talk to anybody about our sex life without at least asking me first, which you know I would absolutely not agree with. Second of all, you should know by now that if you have any problems with me, you come to me. You don’t go talking to some random person about it behind my back.”

You angrily get up from the table and narrow your eyes at Chris as you continue.

“And third, not that you deserve any justification whatsoever for me not wanting to have sex with you, but I gained weight, Chris. Way too much weight. I find myself fat and gross and I didn’t want you to see my body and think the exact same things I think every single time I see myself in the mirror.”

You sniffle as you realize that you had been crying.

“And you can help yourself to the couch tonight.”

You walk up the stairs and, mindful to not wake Emma up, you softly close your bedroom door. You immediately snuggle into the covers while soft sobs rake through your body. You’re not sure how long you lay there crying but you eventually fall asleep from exhaustion.

You groggily wake up a couple of hours later while the sun is starting to rise as you hear Emma’s cries on the baby monitor. You rub your eyes as you get out of the bed and head over to her room. You take Emma out of her crib and immediately identify that her diaper is full. You feel your headache from crying developing further as you’re changing Emma.

When you’re finished, you take Emma in your arms and bounce her up and down while softly humming to help her fall back asleep with Dodger dutifully following you.

You head downstairs in search of painkillers for your headache while continuing to hum to Emma. While passing through the living room, you can see Chris’ head resting on the couch armrest. As Dodger spots him, he heads over to him and whines softly before setting himself at the end of the couch, prepared to fall back asleep.

You chuckle slightly before downing the painkillers and heading back up to Emma’s room, ready to put her back in bed. You set her down and tuck her in before exhaling softly and heading back to your bedroom.

Your headache and the painkillers had effectively made you exhausted again as you fall asleep almost as soon as your head hits the pillow.

When you finally wake up for the day, you groan at the faint traces of your headache still present. You look over at your nightstand and see that it’s now 7:30am. You roll your eyes at this. You had barely slept an additional hour.

Figures. You never really slept that well when Chris wasn't in bed with you.

As your senses start to really awaken, you smell some coffee and hear the shower running for a couple of seconds after which, it stops.

Before you know it, Chris walks out of the bathroom, body steaming, with a towel loosely wrapped around his waist. He suddenly stops in his tracks as he realizes you’re awake.

God… Even when he pissed you off, he was still hot as fuck.

He lightly clears his throat before saying, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I just wanted to take a shower after my workout.”

You gently shake your head before responding with a raspy voice, “You didn’t wake me, it’s fine.”

Chris nods his head once before tightly smiling. You can feel the tension in the room as Chris stands in front of the bathroom door and looks anywhere but at you. After a couple of seconds, he softly sniffles and croaks, “Y/N, I’m so sorry.”

You sit up in the bed and lean on the headboard as you frown softly. Chris makes his way to you and softly sits on his side of the bed with his head hung. You can see from the various expressions that are passing on his face that he’s trying to find the words to talk to you

“I didn’t really sleep last night because I kept thinking about what you said. And I realized how much of an asshole I was.” He balls up his fists as he shakes his head and continues, “I never should have talked about any of those things with Matt and I’m so sorry that I did. I’m also sorry that I never came to talk to you, like a grown man, and instead just talked about you behind your back.”

Chris hesitantly reaches for your hands and takes them into his when he sees that you’re not negatively reacting to him while tears are dropping on the covers.

“Above all, I’m especially sorry that I ever made you feel like I wasn’t there for you and like you couldn’t come to me. I really didn’t know how you felt about yourself and it breaks my heart that I let you go through this alone when I should have been there to support you after Emma was born."

He shrugs gently before finishing with, "And for what it’s worth, I think you’re as beautiful now as you were while you were pregnant and before you got pregnant.”

Chris looks up at you with red eyes as he waits for you to say something. You open and close your mouth multiple times as you’re trying to find the right words to respond to him.

You finally settle on, “I don’t know that I can forgive you right now, Chris. What you did really hurt me. Like a lot.”

Chris’ head slightly hangs down before you finish with, “However, I don’t think it would be beneficial to our family for us to be apart right now.”

As soon as he hears this, Chris’ head snaps up, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

“I’m gonna need space and time to work through this but I believe that our relationship is stronger than this.”

Chris nods excitedly and bites his bottom lip before asking, “Is it okay if I hug you?”

You lightly nod your head and chuckle slightly as Chris practically throws himself at you. He rests his head in the crook of your neck before whispering “I love you so much, Y/N.”

Without hesitation, you whisper back, “I love you too, Chris.”

If there was something that you knew would never change is that you loved Chris, forever and always.

[nanaminokanojo]

Play the Game | Nanami Kento X You | Part 2/8

CHARACTERS: Nanami Kento X You (fem!reader | PLEASE READ THE NOTES BELOW*) | Gojo Satoru | Geto Suguru | Shoko Ieiri | Utahime Iori | other JJK Characters CHAPTER COUNT: 2/8 WORD COUNT: 4500+ GENRE: romance | fluff | slight angst | eventual smut | ooc depictions | female reader with described appearance* | modern au | rich people au | aged up characters CHAPTER TRIGGER WARNING: profanity | age gap | strong/mature/suggestive language | mentions of bullying, macabre stuff SPOILERS: n/a

collection masterlist

one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight

"Play the Game" Masterlist

The sun hasn’t even risen when Nanami came to consciousness as usual. It did not matter whether he was on vacation or working, he just automatically wakes up at the same time each and every morning without miss. It’s regardless of whether he slept enough or not. He saw no point in tarrying in bed – it was unproductive – and immediately got up without skipping a beat in his routine.

“You’re too vanilla,” he remembered you commenting when you stayed one weekend at his place in the city for an art symposium, having met him on the hallway on your way to bed after staying up all night playing video games. He just brushed your remark off with a grunt back then, but at present, he couldn’t help but muse over the fact that everything he did reminded him of you.

It was a bit light outside when he emerged from the adjoining bath of the guest room. He threw on a pair of grey sweats and a white shirt and grabbed a water bottle and a small towel on his way out of the room, mind set on going for a run. If there was something great about staying at Gojo Manor, it was the fact that it was surrounded with acres of grassland and forest with trails great for walks and jogs.

Nanami particularly grew fond of the path that led to the lake at the bottom of the hill where the mansion stood. There was a direct view of it from the balcony at the back of the structure, appearing like a jewel in the middle of the woods, and it had always been his favorite spot. The late former clan head told him it was man-made and has been there for more than a century that it became a natural feature of the estate. It was a spot in the property with a great history and great value to the clan, thus his gravitation towards it.

It’s her favorite place in the whole estate, too, he thought indulgently.

Inhaling deeply, he set out to the back doors that led to the patio and the walled gardens, starting in a slow jog before building his momentum as he reached open grounds.

And thus, his day began as such.

He came back from his run when it was already too hot, heaving deep breaths and desperate for a shower as his white shirt and grey sweats stuck to his body, drenched in sweat. His leg muscles ached, but it had been a good run.

Greetings from the staff met him as he reentered the manor which he returned with polite nods. He was headed to the stairs when he passed by the breakfast room and happened to hear Gojo talking to you. It went against his principles to eavesdrop in an evidently private conversation but he stayed rooted on his spot upon hearing you speak.

Despite your seeming foul temper upon leaving him the previous night, you seemed to have bounced back to your usual self, your tone sounding more jovial than usual. Your words were at odds to your tone as you told Gojo not to piss you off so early in the morning.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Kento?" Gojo asked just as the person in question was about to pass the doorway.

"It's really none of your business," you responded, voice devoid of any emotions. He did it, Gojo. He finally fouled up your mood.

"But I'm your brother!" Gojo protested, acting all dumb around you again. He just had that complex where you were concerned. He has always been very soft on you yet he was also fiercely protective. You hated his attention though. Yours was a strange dynamic.

"Worry about your wedding, will you? Geez. Don’t you have a luncheon to host?"

"Why did you kiss him then? On the mouth no less!"

Nanami’s heart skipped a beat, anticipation rising like cold water from his toes going up his chest. He wanted to hear what you had to say. Fuck principles. He needed his answers, too. It did not matter in what way he was getting them at that rate. He was secretly hoping you will say something a little bit more revealing about what goes inside your head given that he cannot just pry inside it even if he wanted to.

"Because I wanted to." You stated it so matter-of-factly that Gojo was at a loss for words for a moment. “Didn’t you hear me? I was dying to do that since he arrived.”

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“You tell me.” That’s becoming your signature line. “You won’t understand unless you kiss, Nanamin, too,” the tenor of your words turning fanciful. “He has such an alluring taste to him.”

What is this woman on about?

“Oh, god, stop it!”

"You should have seen the looks on your faces though. I was half expecting your eyeballs to roll on the floor. Wouldn’t that have been grand? It’s definitely shocking but a good subject for art if not a medium." At that, you laughed, the sound hitting Nanami like tinkling bells. It was such a happy sound that reminded him of better days although the thought that prompted it was utterly macabre. “Maybe that should inspire my next work. It would be like Munch’s The Scream, the next of its kind.”

"Hmm. Good point…” Gojo mumbled, sidetracked, obviously sharing your sentiments on the idea of such grotesqueness, but regained his composure just as quickly. “It's not funny!"

"But it is." Your laughter subsided as quickly as it erupted from your throat as if it wasn't even there to begin with. Your capricious nature was surfacing once more, and if there was something that was more frightening than your strong, habitual liking for trifling with people, it was that. "So what if I have other intentions behind it? Are you gonna get mad at me or something?”

"Well, do you?!" Gojo sounded like a manatee on the throes of death.

“But what are you going to do, brother? Stop me perhaps?"

He of all people should know just how unstoppable you were when you have set yourself into doing something. “N-no –”

“And what if Nanamin has the same intentions? What will you do then?”

“Hey, that’s enough of you. I know you’re trying to trap me into saying something again.” He clucked his tongue. “I seem to be the only one who isn’t in on your games, and if it is one, I have to know. You’re just way too outrageous these days that I cannot tell what’s serious and what’s not anymore.”

Gojo took a deep breath, sounding distressed as he exhaled. “Is there something else going on?”

"Maybe,” you answered noncommittally.

"That's not an answer at all!" he snapped.

You clucked your tongue, sounding irritated. "Stop screaming, Satoru."

"Do you like him?"

“Is your emphasis on that word supposed to change its meaning?”

If Nanami’s heart was skipping earlier, it has now stopped completely, robbing him of air as it seemed to have affected his lungs, too. You were maddening, not only to Gojo but to him as well. It was evident that you were in your gaming mood again, and although you were only intentionally riling your brother, he was also directly in your line of assault.

Gojo sighed in defeat, mirroring Nanami’s feelings. “Y/N, please, just answer the question,” he whined.

“I guess.” There was a pause then you said, "I mean, what's not to like?"

"What?!"

“Like it or not, Nanamin is a very excellent specimen of the male populace. He’s fucking irresistible and that’s an understatement.” You scoffed. "Even you like him."

Your voice was followed by your footsteps as you neared the door. In a daze at your vocal expression of how you find him physically attractive, instead of backtracking, Nanami stepped forward and collided with your form, nearly knocking you off your feet. He was after all twice your size and a good foot taller than you.

"Careful," he said between deep breaths, one arm securing you by the waist while his other arm gripped onto the door jamb, the position making the veins and sinews of his arm rather pronounced.

“Speak of the devil…” You straightened up, not making any effort to hide the fact that you were checking him out. Your head turned towards the direction of the breakfast room, making him mimic the action only to see Gojo standing slack-jawed, watching what was unfolding before him with eyes wide with shock. Nanami could've sworn his best friend just went into a state of catatonia.

"Didn't see you there," you said, addressing Nanami, your blue eyes assessing him as if in suspicion.

"I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath, feeling the tips of his ears heating up. Before you could notice, he stepped aside, heading towards the direction of the stairs.

"Hey, Nanamin," you suddenly called, making him halt and turn his head to your direction. You were smirking at the direction of your brother as you said, "Nice ass."

He shook his head. It was really just a ploy to get to Gojo’s nerves, and he was your pawn.

**

The sound of graphite scratching on paper like a harsh slash of sword punctuated the impending absence of thought in your mind. Nothing mattered but the sight of your hand gripping a pencil as it created unintelligible strokes on the plain page of the sketchbook on your lap. It progressed to furious scribbling, your movements becoming faster, the sound dominating your corner of the room. Everything has been drowned out – the endless chattering, the sound of porcelain and silverware hitting each other in chaotic cacophony – heightening in a painful crescendo of auditory abomination and dying in the air, overwhelmed by the picture you were creating on the blank expanse of space.

“You must be so proud of your daughter.”

Scratch.

“Who wouldn’t be? It must be great to have geniuses for children”

Scratch.

“She’s just as famous as Satoru.”

Scratch.

Just like that, they didn't exist. The room was empty save for you and the view outside the window coming to life on paper. Your eyes darted from your sketch to the familiar yet equally exhilarating view just outside the parlor. Gojo was animatedly talking about something, easily excitable as always. His fiancée laughed on the side while Nanami was witheringly eyeing him, stoic as always. Shoko, who arrived the previous evening, also joined the group. All that was missing was Geto. You wondered if you should draw him somewhere in the sketch.

The image before you reminded you of those days when reality seemed far away, back when Gojo was still a student, exceptional as always but still young, not the renowned genius tycoon he was at present. His friends would always be around him, lounging around the manor like they hadn't a care in the world.

His crowd grew in number with Geto and Nanami being the two closest pals he had. Shoko joined in shortly in middle school. On the other hand, Utahime came during his university days, also starting off as Gojo’s friend and eventually becoming his girlfriend. Now they were about to get married and it seemed to punctuate all the changes that came with being the grown-ups that they are.

It scared you.

Fact is, growing up and growing old and the changes that come with it was terrifying. Even if you yourself were already twenty four, seemingly had your life together and appearing to have matured without a hitch, that wasn’t the case at all. Genius or not, your brother also had his issues even while he was rising to his current position in society.

The problem was within you, you knew it. That and the fact that you did not really know what growing means. Your work grew, matured like crazy. You didn’t think you yourself grew, stuck in those days when everything was relatively easier. At least then, you only had to worry about your classmates hating on you. Now a part of the public did.

Looking at Gojo and his gang, they’ve all handled that well, making you wonder how they did it. He is one of the youngest CEOs in the country, having built his business empire at just seventeen. Your future sister-in-law is a professor, Geto is a sought-after model and Shoko is a forensic pathologist. They were all great at what they did, struggled as well, but came out with perfect grace.

However, you think the best one out of them was none other than the object of your pining – Nanami Kento. The man made transitioning to adulthood look rather easy. Maybe it was because he had always been mature and held himself in perfect equilibrium. Sure, he was no Gojo Satoru, but he was innately intelligent and became one of the youngest barristers who held the position of a famous attorney’s partner. He handled controversial cases and is one of the best prosecutors in the country with a high winning percentage. His work aside, he seemed to have the least struggle out of everyone.

Your lips curled up at the corners at the thought of the man. Your gaze flicked to him from the sketchbook, sitting there with a beverage in his hand, the noon sun glimmering on his hair and the planes of his face, looking more laid back without a blazer on. He was dressed rather casually in a pair of khaki trousers and dusty blue button-ups, but he still looked smart. He always dressed that way which you found very attractive although seeing him in more casual clothes like that morning was another level of hot altogether. He’s quite a bit formal, making him seem monotonous, but it’s that consistency that you liked about him. It was only a bonus that he was devastatingly handsome with those sharp features and the suits made him look so sexy in that it left everything about his real physique to imagination.

One just could not get enough of him, at least you couldn’t, but you did see how his partner’s paralegal eyeballed him all the time. (You secretly wanted to gouge her eyes out.) That’s the kind of man Nanami was. He doesn’t speak much, but when he does, it leaves profound dents to one’s psyche. And man, was he hot in court! He’s fucking sarcastic when he wants to be, to the point of being vile, but one just can’t get offended with the kind of logic he has. Once he speaks his mind, one wishes he wouldn’t stop, but he does and leaves that person craving more, his hypnotic, deep voice a rare treat. He wasn’t big on actions, wasn’t expressive, but when he does something, it’s always with purpose and precision, never over the top and always with disciplined stoicism.

You chuckled quietly, your pencil drawing perfect strokes of his hair when you were pulled out of your trance.

“Yuuji!” you heard Gojo say, pulling your attention to the direction of the window.

You broke into a grin at the mention of the name, hurriedly getting on your feet and running out of the room, deaf to your mother’s protests against your unladylike behavior – the commotion foreign to the ladies in the room who moved with the minutest rustles. You made your way out to the patio, that familiar tuft of pink hair coming into your line of vision. You sprinted through the glass doors towards the person whose name your brother called, smile wide and genuine.

“You kept me waiting long enough,” you called out, voice louder than usual. You’re hardly ever giddy nor were you easily excitable like your brother, but Itadori Yuuji was a different story altogether. You loved the boy with a fierceness akin to a mother and were always ecstatic to be around him but suppressed it by acting gruff. You were crazy like that.

“That’s because you won’t help me with my final requirements,” he retorted good-naturedly, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and nuzzling the back of your head as if you were a fuzzy plush toy, making you drop your drawing implements. Well, you were considerably smaller than him, and he was probably the only one who could do that to you and get away unscathed.

You rolled your eyes, noticing how Gojo had picked up your stuff, looking at the page where it was opened. “You should exert yourself more. You’re no genius after all.”

“That’s mean!”

You smirked at him, your eyes straying to your brother who was smiling at your drawing. He had such a proud, fond look on his face that you couldn’t do anything but stare. He has always been ever since you first held crayons and drew him as a cat. “You even included Suguru,” he cooed, pointing at the missing person you included then proceeding to show it off to his friends. “Guys, look. My baby sister drew us.”

“Surprise, surprise,” you sallied, but you were happy that he’s always showing you off.

Utahime and Shoko stood beside him, also looking at the sketch. The latter raised a thumb at your direction. “Damn, kid. You’re really great at what you do. How do you make things come alive with just a pencil?”

You smiled awkwardly. “I –”

“Give it here,” Nanami suddenly butted in, hand reaching for the sketchpad which Gojo promptly handed him.

You felt Yuuji elbowing you while you stood there, observing the man who was in possession of your drawing.

Nanami blinked then, handing it back to you. “How come I don’t have a face?” he asked, expression expectant of your response.

Annoyed, you snatched it back from him.

“It’s obviously not finished yet,” Shoko commented, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

It was not that you cannot, but you would never draw his face. Ever. You tried tons of times if the tens of pages of sketchpads at your apartment filled with different angles and parts of him would be a basis for that. You could draw everything else about him, just not his face. No amount of contemplation and practice helped you to know why, but you attributed it to the fact that you could not do his face justice, at least in the sense that you would not be able to bring it to life as Shoko said.

Finally, you said, “I didn’t feel like drawing your face.” You turned away, dragging Yuuji with you. The boy was still giggling like a hyena until you got to the second-floor balcony where you propped yourself up on the balustrade, looking sulky.

"You might fall there, you know," he commented, jumping up the marble balustrade to join you.

"I can say the same for you," came your quiet reply. "Where's Megumi?"

“He’ll be here before lunch.” Yuuji leaned close to you with a mischievous grin on his face. “What, or rather who, is that look on your face for?”

"I think you know the answer to that."

"Did you tell Nanamin?" He addressed the man just as you did and got away with it, too, for some reason.

"Tell him what?"

He scoffed playfully. "Are you seriously playing this game with me? I'm your best buddy. I know everything."

"As irritating as that is, it's true."

Yuuji pouted at you. "I heard what you did yesterday. Why do you have to make games out of everything?"

"That's how I communicate. I thought you knew everything."

Harsh as always, he thought. "Be a normal person for once and just tell him." His brows knit together. "Well, you're anything but normal," he mused aloud. “I meant that nicely.”

You blew a raspberry. "You're just as normal as I am if you claim to be my best friend. Which you are. No take backs."

Yuuji couldn't help but smile at that. You have always been a loner and you did not mind being alone. He was grateful you wanted him around despite that.

"But you should stop doing this. He wants you. It's obvious."

"It's not that simple."

"What isn't simple? If it's Satoru, he'll understand for sure if you just try to be honest. I'm sure he just isn't for it more because he doesn't know how you feel. I mean, if I were him, I'll also protect my baby sister from my male friends. That's just how it is."

You blinked, pivoting your whole body so you were facing him.

"Well, of course, Nanamin needs to fight for it, too," he was quick to throw in, rambling to himself when he suddenly felt you reach out towards him, gently running your fingers through his pink hair. He leaned towards your touch, smiling contentedly.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"I'm not –"

You narrowed your eyes at him. "Are you seriously playing this game with me?" you asked, mimicking his words earlier. "I'm your best buddy. I know everything, one of them being the fact that you worry worse than my mother."

Yuuji jumped off the balustrade, reaching out to grab you in a bear hug despite your protestations. Just like how you were with everyone else, you shunned his affection, but he knew better than to let go when you were saying exactly that. He found that trait of yours adorable.

"You're so irritating," you hissed, flipping your platinum white hair over your shoulder when you finally managed to get off his grip but he wrapped an arm over your shoulder nonetheless, undeterred by your words.

"You know you love me."

"Shut up."

Yuuji pouted. "You sound like Megumi."

"I heard that," the person in question suddenly spoke from the direction of the entry, his deep voice making you and Yuuji turn towards him. "They're calling everyone for lunch."

Yuuji followed behind as you approached Megumi, also one of your closest friends and practically your brother, keeping you in check more than Gojo ever can.

"Guess what," Megumi said to you as you walked beside him. In one of the rare moments you would see it, he grinned and you knew it wasn't because of anything good.

"What?" you and Yuuji, who thought the same by the look on his face, chorused.

"Nobara switched your name card with Miwa's. You're now seated next to your man candy. You're welcome."

“Isn’t that more of a perk for Miwa? She’s scared shitless of Nanamin, you know.”

The three of you laughed while Yuuji could just shake his head at the inescapable trouble that will follow. His only consolation was that it’s fun when it involves you.

**

What were the odds, Nanami thought to himself. He didn't have to look twice to see whose name it was on the card on the spot next to him. He exhaled loudly, unfolding the napkin and placing it on his lap. This could only lead to hullabaloo he was not exactly in the mood to deal with especially after you just told him you did not feel like drawing his face. You sure were mean when you wanted to be.

He surveyed his vicinity. Your father, the current head of the clan from whence your blue eyes came from, was seated at the head of the table, your mother to his right, while Utahime’s parents sat to his left. It seemed to have been the only formalities observed in the arrangement. From across Nanami sat Utahime and Gojo while on his right were a couple he only knew as cousins to the Gojo main family.

He was internally pinching the bridge of his nose. You really had to be the one seated next to him and right across your annoying brother, too.

The luncheon started without you. It wasn't a formal gathering after all except they were serving a full-course meal. It was more of a way to get everyone to know one another over the week for some reason he cannot fathom, and he was glad that only your father was the one who had engaged him in a conversation, mostly about work. It was easy enough to deal with.

"Where are Y/N and her friends?" your mother asked Gojo out of the blue.

Utahime, answering for the clueless person beside her, pointed towards the direction of the door to the banquet hall where you were leisurely walking towards your designated seat with Yuuji and Megumi. The former rounded the table to sit next to Gojo.

"Still managing to be late even when you're already at the venue, baby sis?" Nanami heard Gojo say as you assumed your seat. It was evident in the way his eyes shifted from Nanami to you that your tardiness wasn't exactly the problem.

You blatantly ignored his comment and turned your attention to Nanami. "Had a good run this morning, Nanamin?"

"Just so," he answered, side-glancing at you.

"Yeah. You looked super hot this morning," you said just as Gojo was taking a sip from his wine glass.

Megumi snorted when the older male started choking on his drink while Yuuji was trying hard not to laugh.

Nanami knew he would have reacted the same way except that he had been bracing himself for whatever you will say the moment Gojo opened his mouth. Of course you will use him in your counter attack. It's yet another game, not that he was less affected by your words.

"You should have seen him, Iori," you continued, addressing your brother's fiancée. "He looks so much less uptight in casual clothes."

It didn't escape Nanami’s notice how Gojo was looking at him. He looked about ready to drop onto the floor, but paid him no mind as he leveled his mouth to your ear. "Y/N, let's not make your dear brother snap, shall we?"

"Oh, sweetheart, maybe that's what he needs right now," you deadpanned, meeting his gaze squarely, your disposition unreadable as you let your eyes linger on him longer than was deemed appropriate.

Yuuji finally laughed, earning him a kick to the shins under the table courtesy of Megumi.

What it was about you that made everything else irrelevant and nonexistent when you’re that close to him was something beyond him. You always made him lose control, tempted him to break the rules. He only knew he couldn't act on it. Most of the time anyway. He also felt like laughing, oddly enough.

Utahime just chuckled good-naturedly breaking the tension. "Since the two of you are here, I should tell you that the final fitting for your clothes for the wedding is this afternoon. So, you better go together at the shop."

"Traitor." Gojo pouted at Utahime but nobody was really paying attention to him anymore. For someone so important to society with a flawless image, the closest people around him sure were good at disregarding him when they deemed it fit.

"Okay," Nanami said, looking at you for confirmation.

It was you who looked away this time. "I'm free."

"That's set then." Utahime clapped her hands and to Nanami she cheekily said, "Maybe wear something less formal."

At that, you grinned wickedly at him. So much for avoiding trouble with you.

-end of part 2-

*I used “you” here, but since my character is Gojo’s little sister who is established to be his female clone for reasons essential to the plot, she possesses the same blue eyes and white hair. I did not exactly want to create an OC (although technically, I did by describing Y/N), but I opted for the best of both worlds in this fic, leaning more towards the literary aspect of it as opposed to it just being reader/you-oriented. I hope this isn’t iffy to anyone, and yeah, i’m not being exclusive or whatever.

If you want to be included in the tag list, please DM me :)

Thank you so much for reading. Likes, comments and reblogs are deeply appreciated! Hope you enjoyed it.

© ORIGINAL WORK BY nanaminokanojo. CHARACTERS ARE INSPIRED BY GEGE AKUTAMI'S JUJUTSU KAISEN. [20210709] PHOTO/IMAGE/GIF/FANART SOURCES CREDITS TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

[procrastination-queenie]

Baby | JJK

Pairing: husband!au Jeon Jungkook x Wife!au reader.

Warning: c-section surgery, nothing too detailed. Baby fever. Very slight mention of smut. Fluff. The reader is a foreigner. Mentions of cultural differences.

The part written in italics is a flashback

Synopsis: You and Jungkook agreed not to have babies right away after your marriage, yet you find yourself witnessing a cute situation that leaves you thinking otherwise.

A/N: I am begging you guys for the gazillion time to please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.😊

Word count: 4,178.

This part can be read as a continuation to Marry you.

Babies! Oh God! You cannot express how fed up you were because of that word. After you and Jungkook got married, your family members had nothing to talk about to you except babies. It's like they were pressuring you, well scratch that, they were, but unconsciously though. You couldn't blame them. You grew up in a culture that was not really open to the idea of "we are gonna wait a few years until we feel like we're ready."! Yeah, this ideology does not exist!

"Wait until when? I am not living more than I already am!" Your grandma would say, or "wait for what? Are you still getting to know each other after a five-year relationship?" Your grandpa would scoff, and your favourite one was "Hunny, are you kidding? You'll never be ready! No one is ever really ready! … You think me and my sister had you, kids, because we were ready?" Your auntie would say in disbelief laughing lightly at your logic with said sister, your mum, sitting next to her shaking her head in disappointment with a "can you believe her?" murmured in annoyance.

You didn't have the heart to blame your family that's how they were raised for generations, and for you to try and change their mind-set would be difficult, almost impossible. That is until you and Jungkook refused to talk upon the matter anymore saying that this is your life and you're free to do whatever you both agree on, only then did they stop nagging you; however, you knew they were not happy about it.

Jungkook on the other hand never really minded the idea of babies, in fact, if you told him that you were ready, he would gladly help you right away, if you know what I mean, but knowing your concerns, not only did he comfort you, but also respected that you were not there yet, mentally. You would always tell him "I sometimes think that I am still a baby, myself. How can I have one when I think like that!" He would chuckle, patting your head and cuddling you closely "Baby, it's okay. We don't need to have one right now! Why are you so worried about it?" He asked looking down at you since he was resting his chin on your head. "I mean, aren't you bothered about it? Don't you want to have your own child?" You pouted thinking that maybe you're holding one of Jungkook's wishes back which can make you feel that you're not good enough for him. "Well, baby, of course, I want a child, but I want to have it with you, and if you're not ready that's totally fine! I mean when I think about it, it is a huge deal, you're going to house a human being in your body for 9 long months, and your body would go through drastic changes, plus you'd have to not only take care of yourself but the baby growing inside you, as well!" Jungkook cradled you to his chest moving aside a lock of your hair behind your ear. "It's all amazing, but you're the one who's carrying a baby, I would never pressure you to do that if you're not ready!" He said looking into your eyes sincerely. "Oh, I love you so much!" You said giving him a few repetitive pecks on his lips. "How did I end up with such an amazing man!" Your lips barely meeting his, whispering before you closed the small gap between you, kissing him with all the passion and love you held for this wonderful husband of yours.

That all changed when one day you were at the hairdresser's getting a new hair cut. You were looking through your phone waiting for your turn until you noticed a woman entering the shop. She had this unusual aura to her, like something about her seemed to interest you, she walked around as if she had accomplished something amazing but wouldn't brag about it as if to let her accomplishment speak for itself. You understood why you felt that because minutes later, two identical accomplishments followed her suit. They were two identical boys who were probably 4 or 5 years of age. You were in awe when you saw them following their mummy, like lost puppies. They resembled her greatly, and behaved very well as if their mum promised to buy them Disneyland if they did. They stood next to her looking up at her as if she is their whole world.

For a moment you imagined that with Jungkook, and what would it feel like to have a baby in both of your lives. How would it feel to have a child of your own looking at you the way these boys looked at their mum.

For weeks to follow, you were almost obsessed with the twin boys you saw at the hair salon. How they dressed, how they behaved, how they sat obediently eating their sweets waiting for their mum to finish, how their mother would look at them through the mirror every once in a while to check on them, how they cutely complimented her saying that "mummy is the prettiest girl ever!" With wide eyes looking up in amazement and cute small sticky fingers from the sweets reaching up in the air in excitement. The whole thing kept repeating over and over in your head which led you to look up some photos of babies and reading more about them and what's new in the parenting world that parents try and apply with their kids. You even reached the point where you would stop at the babies section, racking through cute onesies, making Jungkook arch an eyebrow in amazement. "Are you pregnant or something?" He would ask eyeing your belly before looking up at your face trying to see what's going on inside your head. You would shake your head slightly before reluctantly letting go of the tiny baby clothes and taking Jungkook's hand to move to another department of the store.

Jungkook, too, could feel a change in your behaviour, like how you would gaze longingly at kids playing at the park when you had your picnics there, how you would pause to listen to a show that talks about babies and how to care for them, he even caught you reading a book about pregnancy. His heart skipped a beat when you went to visit your brother after his wife delivered a healthy baby girl; you kept holding her the whole time refusing to let anyone hold her unless it was your brother's wife because she needed to feed her. He even took a photo of you, you were looking at your niece so lovingly when you looked up at Jungkook smiling brightly as if she was your own. He put it as a background for his phone.

"Yaaah! If you want a baby that bad make one of your own!" Yoongi yelled playfully at Jungkook who wouldn't stop looking at the photo. "Ay! Don't pressure the kid." Namjoon said looking disappointedly at Yoongi for saying that. "Well, there's no pressure. It's just … I don't know y/n has been acting weird lately!" He took a last look at his phone's background before it displayed his worried features as he closed the screen. "What do you mean weird?" Jimin asked looking at Jungkook quizzically. "I don't know… it's… she'd stare at baby clothes when we go shopping even though there's no one we know who's going to give birth soon. I mean I could have brushed it off thinking that she wants to buy some as a gift or something, but no." Jungkook ruffled his black locks resting his elbows on his knees. "And you know she looks at them as if … as if she's imaging them on a certain baby, not the way she'd look at them as if inspecting the design or something, do you understand what I mean?" He looked up at his hyungs waiting for a confirmation that he's not imagining things. Namjoon nodded "you mean she inspecting the clothes as if she's buying it for her own baby, not just going through them?"

"YES!"Taehyung jumped at Jungkook's sudden outburst. "Sorry Hyung!" Jungkook muttered to Taehyung before focusing on Namjoon again. "Well, it's easy she wants a baby!" Hobi said shrugging and looking at Jungkook as if he's dumb and that this was as obvious as the sun. "No shit Sherlock! I know that. It's just she never said anything about it ." Jungkook was bewildered he didn't understand your sudden change of attitude, and if you had a change of heart about having a baby, then why didn't you tell him? "Just talk to her about it. See if she's ready or not, maybe she is, but something is holding her back, you never know!" Jin said patting Jungkook on the back. "we are definitely having a talk." Jungkook sighed lighting up his phone's screen to look lovingly at your photo holding your niece.

"Baby, you home?" Jungkook looked around the house for you while taking off his shoes and closing the door. "In here!" You answered from your bedroom. You heard his footsteps on the stairs knowing very well from the sound of it that he was skipping some. You rolled your eyes at your husband's child-like behaviour. "BABE!" He suddenly opened the door to your room, a huge smirk on his face as he stepped slowly towards you. "What? What's wrong? Why are you giving me that look?" You looked him up and down as if he's gone mental. Out of nowhere, he pounced on you like a cat making you put your book aside as you squirmed beneath him. "Oh my God, Kook get off. What's wrong with you!" You started laughing because he started leaving small pecks on your neck, and it was ticklish. "Tell me!" He suddenly stopped and looked into your eyes. "Tell you what?" You searched his face thinking that he might be drunk. "Tell me what you're not telling me!" He said, face getting closer to yours as you backed yours from his. "Are you drunk?" You said laughing, again. He was being unusual. "Nah, I am not. I just want to know what's wrong. Lately, you've been acting weird as if you're hiding something." He claimed as he sat beside you, taking you in his arms as your upper half laid on his bent knee; this was your position when you both had deep talks, he'd let you rest your back on his bent knee as he held you closely, usually playing with your hair locks. "You keep on checking baby clothes whenever we go shopping, you're reading a book about pregnancy and parenting, you listen to anything related to babies on the T.V. are you not telling me something?" He asked with concern filling his doe eyes as he caressed your cheek. "I … I've..." You sighed closing your eyes; words were not getting out of your mouth. "What? What is it baby? You can tell me." His thumb brushed your cheek in a soft motion encouraging you to speak up. "I … I want a baby." You said out of nowhere and looked at Jungkook to see his reaction. "Well, baby that's great. You know I don't mind, then what stopped you from telling me?" Jungkook flashed you his bunny smile, happy to know that you're ready to take this step with him. "It... It's just, you know I have been reading about it, pregnancy and stuff." He nodded, a sign for you to go on. "And it's all great and everything, but what if something went wrong?" You looked worriedly into your husband's confused eyes. "Like what if I have a miscarriage? What if something happens to the baby? Like what if …"

"Hold on, hold on … baby why are you trying to predict everything? Why can't you focus on the positive side?" He said trying to calm your raging thoughts. "What if my body is not strong enough to have a baby?"

"Baby,nooo!" Jungkook pulled you closer into his arms. "No, none of this is going to happen, we are going to keep checking up with a doctor, and everything will be fine. I'll always be by your side." He said pulling your head under his chin, then he pulled back to look you in the eyes, "and even if something happens, We will go through it together. I know it will be harder for you, but I swear that there's nothing in this life that could be offered to help you lessen your pain that I won't do it." He whispered sincerely, holding your face between his big warm hands. You hugged him tightly, "I love you so much, I don't even know what I did to deserve you!" You said crying over the fact that a man like Jungkook existed, a man who's willing to do anything for you. "Ah, baby I love you, too so much. I don't want you to doubt us or the future. You know why?" He chuckled feeling you shake your head. "Because the future is never guaranteed, but the only thing that is guaranteed is us, and I know that we're strong enough to face anything life throws at us, together." He said hugging you tighter. "Okay, baby?" He pulled back to look at you. You nodded as he wiped away your tears. "Now, about that baby..." He smirked as you laughed at his goofiness. He always knew how to make you laugh. Always.

Now fast forward a few years, you and Jungkook are parents now. It didn't take that long to get pregnant thanks to Jungkook's stamina. Your pregnancy went on smoothly and nothing bad happened. Just as Jungkook promised, he was always right there for you, for everything; from the moment you both found out, to birth-giving, till now. Speaking of which, the poor thing was so terrified when he knew that your doctor would perform a C-section and that you wouldn't be giving birth naturally.

"Is she supposed to be awake during the surgery?" Jungkook worriedly asked the doctor as he could see that the medication they have given you were not putting you to sleep. "Oh don't worry, Mr Jeon. She won't feel a thing, we drugged the part that we will be working on, and it's normal for her to be awake." Your Doctor smiled kindly at him knowing that this was his first time undergoing something like this. Jungkook was dressed in scrubs holding your hand to keep you from panicking, the doctor also hung up something like a sheet in front of you so you won't see them perform the surgery. "Are you okay?" Jungkook whispered, trying to make small conversation with you as you kept looking at him. You nodded still looking at him as he was getting more anxious by the minute because of your intense staring, "Jungkook why are you panicking, I am the one who's having her stomach open, not you." He laughed squeezing your hand, his nerves easing a bit. "How are you so cool with this?"

"I don't think me panicking right now, would do us any good, you know." Jungkook chuckled then kissed your forehead.

An hour has already passed by when they informed you that you delivered and that the surgery was almost over, they needed to stitch you up. "Jungkook go with the nurse!" You said urgently turning to look at him. "No baby, it's okay, your mum and my mum are waiting outside, I'll wait with you here." He said calming you down, he promised that he won't leave your side until you both get out of the surgery's room together. "But, this means that they'll know!" Jungkook chuckled at your worried expression. "It's okay baby, let them know." He said kissing your forehead. "You did great, and I am so proud of you!" He was tearing up because he could not understand how women could go through all of this, he was truly amazed. "I love you." You said looking into his teary eyes, "I love you, too baby so much!" He pecked your lips before the doctor announced that you were good to go.

It definitely wasn't easy, but with Jungkook there, everything was better.

Right now, you and Jungkook were asleep in each other's arms, appreciating the few hours of silence before everything turns back to its chaotic state in the morning. Since you've given birth, you could swear that you became a light sleeper. Your mum brushed off your marvellous discovery with a laugh claiming that it's normal for most mums to become light sleepers because you're always worried.

Just like now, your ears perked as you felt tiny footsteps softly padding towards your bedroom. And you were right, as you slowly turned in Jungkook's arms, so not to wake him up, you found your 3-year-old, Haneul, standing quietly by the door, sucking on his thumb and trying to search for you in the dark. "Haneul, baby I am here." You whispered and got up to see what's wrong. He padded softly towards you in his Stitch Kigurumi onesies that he insisted you buy from your last trip to Disneyland because that's his favourite character. "Oh baby what's wrong." You picked him up and held him in your arms cradling him as if to protect him from all the world's evil. You already knew what's wrong, he needed to change his diaper. "Come on baby, let's go to your room, daddy's still asleep." You left the room quietly hoping not to wake Jungkook up.

Haneul whimpered lightly in your arms seeing that he was irritated because of his diaper and he was still super sleepy. "Okay baby I'll change it for you, just please be quiet, your brother is still sleeping!" You prayed than Haneul won't throw a fit and wake up his twin, Hyun, from his sleep. It was too early to wake up the whole household right now.

"There, all done!" You whispered enthusiastically as he flashed a bunny-like grin at you just like his father. "Thanks, mummy." He grinned shaking his body cutely from side to side still laying on the changing table. "Anything for you baby!" You dived your head to his stomach attacking him with kisses as he squirmed beneath you. "Come on let's get you back to bed." You said putting him back in his crib and giving him a goodnight kiss. Before you could shut the door to the boys' room, you saw Haneul still standing in his crib giving you puppy eyes as he whimpered. You heart squeezed in your chest at the sight of your baby in discomfort. He wanted to sleep with you and Jungkook, but you can't let them get used to it. "Mummy!" Haneul whimpered reaching his tiny arms out for you. You sighed, your heart was too weak to leave him alone in the dark, you just couldn't do it. His eyes were starting to tear up as you went up to him. "God, you guys are my weakness." You muttered to yourself. As you were about to pick Haneul up, Hyun started to turn in his sleep, slowly waking up. Another pair of doe eyes slowly opened up, fluttering due to the dark smooth locks that were getting in its way. "Mummy!" You sighed great now both of them are awake and they will refuse to go back to sleep in their cribs.

Jungkook woke up to an empty bed, he jolted awake thinking you must be with the kids and that you might need his help, but didn't wake him up. He walked to the kids' bedroom to see you holding Haneul in your arms with him sucking on his thumb, drowsy eyes fighting sleep as you looked at Hyun who was carefully climbing out of his bed. "Careful baby!" You seemed to be fine, but your voice told otherwise, it was laced with worry, fearing that his leg might slip and he would get hurt. Hyun climbed down carefully then went up to you tugging on your nightdress and whimpering grumpily. Jungkook entered the room, "come here, buddy." He said scooping Hyun in his arms. "Baby, you woke up!" You frowned not liking the idea of him getting up so early. Since giving birth to your beautiful baby boys, Jungkook has put you and the boys as his top priority, and he was always there making sure you don't need anything. You didn't want him to wake up so early for once so that he could enjoy his sleep before going to the studio. "I didn't find you in my arms, so I got up to look for you." He said gazing at you lovingly. You kissed him on the cheek, he smiled and told you to go to bed with Haneul "I'll change Hyun's diaper and come right behind you." He said planting a kiss on your forehead. "Okay, baby." You said pulling Haneul closer to your chest.

A few minutes later, Jungkook and Hyun joined you and Haneul in bed. Haneul was fast asleep with his head resting on your chest, and Hyun was still awake looking up at Jungkook. "Come on buddy, go to sleep," Jungkook whispered running his fingers through Hyun's black locks that he inherited from his dad. "Appa!" Jungkook hummed softly in response. "Sing to me." Hyun traced his small fingers over Jungkook's cheek. Jungkook smiled closing his eyes for a few seconds enjoying the feeling as he started singing softly and quietly so that Hyun would go back to sleep.

You smiled, recalling all the things you've been through up until this moment. You remembered how you both were shocked when you found out you were having twins. That day was the best day of your life, you cried in happiness so much that Jungkook thought it was your hormones getting the best of you. "No... I'm just … I'm so happy." You said whipping your tears. That night you sat on the bed with Jungkook holding you in the same position that he would hold you when you're both having a deep conversation. You told him about the twins you saw that day, and how you were so fascinated by them and how they interacted with their mum. Jungkook smiled softly at you as he rubbed your belly. You both decided that you wouldn't tell anyone that you were having twins, and that it would be a surprise to your family and friends. The shock on their faces when they entered the room to congratulate you to find each of you holding a baby was priceless.

"Oh my God, are...are... You gave birth to twins!" Your grandma said in tears astonished by the surprise. "Oh, my dear bless you." She cried as you nodded with a big smile on your face. Your mum and Jungkook's mum were the ones who were in great shock because they were the ones who were waiting in the waiting room to suddenly find two nurses coming out with two babies. "How could you not tell us something like that?" Your mum asked whipping her tears as she looked at Haneul who was sleeping soundly in Jungkook's arms. "We wanted to surprise you." Jungkook replied as your dad smiled with tears in his eyes as he kept looking between you and Jungkook. "Congratulations sweetheart!" He planted a kiss on your forehead, proud of you. "Thanks, dad."

To say that the boys were shocked is an understatement. Poor Hobi kept looking left and right at each baby. "What the … twins?" Jimin burst in excitement as Yoongi grinned down at Haneul and Namjoon patting Jungkook's back smiling at Haneul, too. "They're so cute!" Jimin said excitedly as you handed him Hyun. "Careful, hyung!" Jungkook said worriedly, eyes watching Jimin like a hawk. "Look at our Jungkookie being a protective father," Jin said laughing with Taehyung bursting in laughter.

The boys kept pampering your kids to no end. Jin and Jungkook would even make sure that you and Lilly, Jin's wife, have play dates for the kids, seeing that Jin and Jungkook are the only fathers in the group. Life was treating you good with everyone surrounding you with love and care.

"What are you thinking?" Jungkook whispered. You looked at Hyun to find him fast asleep. "Nothing I was just remembering the day the boys blessed us with their existence." You smiled patting Hyun's back as you lifted the blanket to his shoulder. Jungkook's eyes gleamed at you as he smiled, probably remembering that day, too. Having kids is a huge deal to any couple but with Jungkook being there as he promised, you felt that everything is alright, and you didn't have anything to worry about. You and Jungkook fell into a deep sleep holding each other's hands as both Haneul and Hyun slept soundly between the two of you.

A/N:

Haneul means heavenly 🌌

Hyun means bright or intelligent.🤓

[siren-virus]

Luckyboy!AU thing. So I went looking some stuff up, and I can perfectly imagine that Ben would name himself Nekomata, the name for the lucky cats in japanese; you know, because he wants the victims he rescues to have luck in their lives and to bring some of that to himself. However this confuses the Plumbers a whole lot, after all, why would a vigilante want to bring to himself and the others luck in education and love? Green Nekomatas bring luck in education and pink ones (close enough to magenta) bring luck towards love. Spoiler: Ben didn't know what the colors mean, he just thought that the lucky cats bring luck in general to people. His stickers could be coins in order to keep up the theme, or it could be some kind of cats to keep the cat aesthetic.

I also need some fluff between the different "people" (still don't know which noun to use to represent both humans and aliens that isn't "beings" (kinda uncomfortable using that one, since it also encapsulates non inteligent creatures) ) that visit the coffee shop while Ben is working there, like some conversation that he would have with Rook or Gwen, or how he could give some ideas to Cooper over the next technological thing to create/modify, a chat with Kevin about what alien technology he could sell to the civilians that would make him money AND avoid the eye of the Plumbers (and his vigilante persona too if they aren't dangerous)

Would his parents and Max surprise visit him to the coffee shop? I'd imagine that they would, not only to see him but also to have an excuse to give him money in the form of tips without being returen the money XD "You guys just gave me a big ass tip" "Well we just happen to like the service" "I GAVE YOU A GLASS OF WATER" "We REALLY like your service *wink*", meanwhile, Max's watching everything from the table sipping his own extravagant coffee (don't tell me he wouldn't find a way to add some tentacles to his coffee one way or another, forcing Ben to make one that way XD)

Also, what would happen with the love interests that Ben had in the prime dimension? Would he have met any of them in this timeline? How would his relationship with them be? Would any of them come visit him to his job?

Also also, I imagine that Ben would ask grandpa Max any time some of his friends want a tour through the Plumbers HQ to give them all a pass of some kind and do the tour himself (sometimes with his grandpa by his side, sometimes it's Rook, sometimes he's alone, and the best of times he would be with the other Plumber kids going alongside doing lots of pranks at the same time)

I wonder how many charms does Ben have in his home, since some of them are really useful and would help in a lot of things, like I imagine he would use a light charm and reduce his living costs that way, or a heating charm for the same effect.

Finally, I have to say that I love that animation you did of Ben hating early mornings (and if he was out all night and went without sleep, then thank fuck he works at a coffee shop XD), and that tiny detail of him snapping his fingers with both hands, it's just, ugh, I LOVE IT, it reminds me of The Addams Family opening theme. Maybe whenever he does a spell he does that double hand finger snap as a way to focus himself? It'd be a funny easter egg for anyone who would be able to discern it (aka Jimmy, 'cause let's be honest, he would totally find a way to link the double snap with the show somehow, and he would be totally right XD)

Damn dude, I love that whole thing. He would totally choose that name without thinking about it. Nekomata... Rolls off the tongue nicely.

Fluff, eh? People is good enough.

With Gwen, like I said in another post (did I? maybe...) Their conversations would be brief, usually Ben just trying to get a rise out of his cousin to force her into a chat.

Rook is similar, their conversations are brief, but if Ben asks the right questions, serves him a particularly good drink, saves extra amber ogia tarts for him. Rook would be more than happy to indulge. They don't talk about plumbers business, Rook's smart enough to know not to exchange information with a civilian. (Even though Ben probably knows it already.) More, Rook discusses Earth culture with Ben, trying to play catch up with slang, sometimes he'll even indulge some info about his home planet, his friends, family, and girlfriend.

I don't believe Ben and Cooper would talk much, the only reason he's in the cafe is because Manny, Helen, and Alan (if he's not working) forcefully dragged him from the lab, kicking and screaming.

"i'll have an espresso shot. with some honey too... please." Is the only thing he'll before engrossing himself in what tech he managed to bring along.

The one with Kevin is interesting, I do like the idea of Ben tryna push Kevin in the right direction. But Kevins love of tadenite, and the fact he sells weaponry would propbably prevent that.

Instead Ben would try to get as much info from him as possible, subtly giving Kevin a little extra when it comes to info exchange. Kevins lips are sealed. Unless Ben decides to spill some info on Gwen. Kevin plays dumb, but it's easy to spot his interest.

Absolutely, Max, his parents, AND Patelliday all come for visits. At first his parents would be super cautious entering the cafe, they did their best to try to make Ben quit and find a "normal cafe" to work at. They also did their best to convince Ben to move back in. They would deffinitely use any excuse under the sun to tip Ben. They make regular visits on saturdays for morning tea. They don't stick around long though, aliens still spook them a little.

Max and Patellliday - are a unit- would always order a drink together. Max going with the basic Flat White, with some tentacles, of course. Patelliday going for the Boba Fish Tank... they have to restock their gold fish tank every week.

Ben has a good poker face, having to make such a... variety of drinks, and watch how his customer drink/eat. It leaves scars...

Love interests.

Well with Julie, Ben unfortunately never got the confidence to ask her out. But they're really good friends still. (Ben also learned as he got older that not every girl he's friends with wants to date.) Julie comes by the cafe every now and again, always checking if Bens there first before entering, she still managed to get Ship surprisingly, so Ship is always happy to get a pupacino, can't drink it or anything. Just happy to smoosh his face into it.

With Kai, they never had that meeting when they were 10. She comes to Bellwood every now and again, she and Gwen are surprisingly good friends. They clash alot though.

Kai comes by the cafe sometimes too, Ben think she looks nice, but they've had no interactions. (She's not a coffee person, just a water gal.)

Esther, there's no meeting between them, as Ben that is. However, Esther can't deny she feels something towards Nekomata. The guys charming.

I think there's another girl, but I can't remember ;;;

Tour guides? At plumbers HQ? Much as Ben would love to guide his friends around, the amount of jailbreaks that happen there is too many (the plumbers have shit security)... He's not even allowed there most times unless there is someone capable by his side.

More often than not Ben would be disappointed to see one of his regulars, Fist Rick out on the streets the day after he was arrested.

Yes yes yes!! Ben uses a lot of his mana on little things to make his life easier and more convenient. This also comes at the cost of using too much energy, so normally he makes sure to do this when he knows he doesn't have work.

Thank! I work best when I have a visual setting ;; Maybe I should switch careers to be a vis dev.

Also ngl, the whole finger snapping thing, Idk where that came from ;; Could be a cool easter egg thingy

Some days Ben has to be stopped from drinking the coffee. Mr Baumann (yes, he's the head honcho) threatens to send Ben home on those days.

[spicycreativity]

Howl - Chapter 1

Rating: Teen

Fic Content Warnings: Blood, injury, suggestive content, alcohol use

Characters: All

Pairing: Analogical, background Moceit because apparently I can't help myself

Add'l Notes: dw if you don't know what a loup-garou is or how the lore works; all is explained in the story / Have I ever been to Louisiana? No 💕Did I write an entire story set in rural-ish Cajun Louisiana anyway because I hate myself? Yes 💕 / If you're from Louisiana and noticed any screw-ups, pls correct me so I can fix it

It also comes with a playlist! For ambience, not necessarily for the lyrics

Summary:

Two things happen to Virgil Landry on Halloween:

1) Logan Doucet, his longtime friend and slightly-less-longtime crush, asks him out

2) He becomes cursed to spend his nights as a half-man, half-wolf monster: a loup-garou

Despite his new affliction, Virgil strives for normalcy all the way up until he can't anymore and everything falls apart.

The floorboards creaked in their familiar pattern as Virgil paced over them, his feet sliding around awkwardly in his over-the-knee boots. He was supposed to meet Logan alone in an hour, an hour! His heart thumped painfully under his ribs. What did Logan want?

Virgil yanked his phone out of his pocket to re-read the message for the 85th time, ignoring a few new messages in his assorted group chats:

Logan: If it's not inconvenient, could you meet me early at the Plaza tonight? Maybe 6:30?

Virgil: yeah sure 

Virgil: everything OK?

Logan: Yes :-)

What did it mean? Was everything okay? Or was Logan just lying to make him feel better? Because if so, it wasn't working. Virgil ran his hands through his hair, careful not to smudge his makeup. It had taken him an hour and a half to perfect his vampire makeup in the mirror and he didn't want to risk messing it up.

With a sigh that turned into a groan, Virgil threw himself down on his couch. It made the walls rattle, nearly displacing a few trinkets on his crappy, rickety shelves. He heard a tell-tale scrape above his head and knew that his favorite painting had gone crooked again. God, this place was a wreck-- Just like Virgil. He made a mental note to ask Patton for help patching up the leaky roof. It was as good a time as any, as they were well out of rainy season, but it did seem a little rude. What was he even supposed to say? Hey, Patton, I know carpentry is literally what you do for a living, but could you help me for free since I'm broke and sad? Thanks, bud. Yeah, right. He sighed again and tugged at his medallion, a rusted old thing with a glass gem in the center. He had picked it up from a thrift store months earlier in anticipation of Halloween, but maybe he should have made some effort to restore it. It smelled strongly of rust and decay and felt terrible between his fingers, all oily and sticky.

So far, the only saving grace of the day was that it wasn't raining now. Virgil had spent his workday in silent anxiety, eyeing the storm clouds through the shop window and rubbing a small piece of sunstone between his thumb and forefinger. It seemed to have worked, as the clouds had dispersed a little and allowed the watery light of the autumn sun to peek through.

Virgil's phone lit up with a few more messages in his group chats: Roman having hysterics over some detail of his costume, Janus and Remus discussing how to avoid the small army of toddlers that always ran rampant at the Halloween parade. Virgil ignored them all. He was in no mood to be friendly, would probably snap at them. Logan hadn't said anything since his message to Virgil, which he had presumably sent on his lunch break. The question haunted Virgil, that great unknown lurking behind him and instilling a fear that no ghost ever could: What did Logan want?

Virgil set his phone down and leaned forward, heaving a sigh that turned into a yawn. Great. Whatever. That meant he was on the verge of hyperventilating, his breathing already irregular. Damn it, Logan knew better than to leave him hanging like this! They'd known each other for so long and he'd always been more perceptive to Virgil's needs than the others.

Especially lately… They'd been spending more time alone, and Virgil couldn't deny the sweet, warm giddiness that enveloped him every time they were alone together. First meetings were always his favorite, seeing Logan's face light up with a smile. He hadn't dared to think that Logan might feel the same way, but it was getting harder and harder to keep his fantasies on a leash. Worst-case scenarios and best-case scenarios dueled in his head: Logan kissing him, Logan telling him they couldn't be friends anymore, Logan confessing, Logan announcing that he had some incurable disease.

Virgil grabbed his phone and jumped to his feet. He couldn't do this anymore, couldn't sit here and torture himself. He would just leave now. He would rather arrive freakishly early than face another minute of this self-inflicted torment 

He double and triple checked he had his wallet and his plastic fangs, which he

was planning on putting on later. The medallion bounced against his exposed chest as he walked and he wondered briefly if it might be more trouble than it was worth. He could always swap it out for one of his pendants, maybe amethyst to calm his nerves. But it looked so good against his skin, falling perfectly in the deep V of his flowy white poet shirt. Unlike his other necklaces, it screamed vampire. And Janus would tease him if he caught Virgil wearing a subpar costume, and then Roman would join in, and Remus, and it would turn into a whole thing . He could wear the stupid medallion for one night.

 -

Virgil regretted this decision as soon as he got his moped going. Even at its 30 mph crawl, the heavy necklace bounced against his chest in a maddening rhythm. At least it was distracting. Every time he started to worry about Logan, the erratic tap-tap-tap of cold metal on his chest brought him back to Earth.

It was a long ride into town down a windy country road. He hugged the shoulder as best as he could despite the lack of traffic; Virgil's neighbors were few, but they all liked to take corners at frighteningly high speeds. The one person who did drive by honked at him and flashed their lights. Virgil's heart dropped and he nearly flipped them off before he realized that they liked his costume. It occurred to him then that he must look pretty absurd: A vampire riding a purple moped, cape fluttering on the wind.

Upon reaching the Plaza, Virgil did a few laps around downtown, smiling at the spiderwebs decorating Vaillant City Hall. Another lap revealed that empty parking spots were already becoming scarce, so Virgil pulled into one and checked his phone. Nothing from Logan. Just more hysterics from Roman, and Patton's best attempts at comfort. Virgil rolled his eyes. Maybe Roman did need some tough love. He scanned through the messages to orient himself, to make sure he didn't look dumb, and then typed out his reply.

Virgil: look, Prince Charming. 2 rolls of body glitter is more than enough. Stop freaking out

Roman: That's DOCTOR Prince Charming to you

Virgil: :*

He put his phone away, tucked his keys in his pocket, and forced himself to walk slowly toward the Plaza. He was still excruciatingly early, but maybe he could pop into a bar or grab a coffee or even swing by his work-- Oh.

There, standing by the reflecting pool with his hands in his pockets, was Logan. Virgil smiled despite his nerves and sped up. Leave it to Logan to somehow be earlier than early.

"Hey, Data," Virgil said once he was in earshot.

Logan's face lit up, and even the yellow contacts he was wearing couldn't mask the fondness in his face. "Evening, Virge," he said. His smile dropped too quickly and he kept his hands shoved in his pockets. Virgil surveyed all this with dread. Was he reading too much into it? Most definitely. Could he stop? No way.

"Everything okay?" Virgil asked, tugging at his medallion and turning his nervous gaze upon the placid waters of the reflecting pool. Great. Now he had two awesome reasons to be nervous. It was an old Vaillant legend that anyone who disturbed the waters of the pool would be cursed, and Virgil did not mess with curses. He usually took pains to avoid the Plaza, even if it meant he had to take the long way to work.

"Yes, Virgil," Logan said in a voice that was far too breathy. He cleared his throat. "As you know, we have been friends for a long time. I…" He paused, blinked. "I forgot what I was going to say."

"Jeeze, Lo," Virgil tried to tease. "You're making me nervous."

"But I--" Logan ran a hand through his hair. "Virgil. I had prepared something far more eloquent than what I am about to say, but I can't seem to remember it at the moment. Forgive me if this comes across as confusing."

"All good," Virgil said, making only a minimal effort to hide his confusion. The medallion was cold and oily under his fingertips, but he couldn't stop messing with it, tugging at it, rattling the chain. He needed some outlet for all this nervous energy.

"We've been spending more time alone together and I

thought-- I wanted--" Logan touched his face and Virgil realized a second later he had tried to push up his glasses, which he wasn't wearing. Oh, how cute. "Virgil, I would like to go steady with you."

A rush of vertigo smacked into Virgil with such force that he had to take a step back just to keep his balance. "Go steady?" he heard himself say. "Like-- Like, boyfriends?"

"If you are amenable to that," Logan said, furiously running his fingers over the piping on his uniform. "If not, I-- We can pretend this never--"

"Yes," Virgil interrupted. "Yes, yes, yes. Logan, I do want that."

"Oh," said Logan, his face breaking into a smile. "Good."

Virgil clenched his fist around the medallion wondering if it was too soon to ask for a kiss. He took a breath and felt something give with a quiet snap. The broken chain snaked along his neck, dragged down by the weight of the pendant. Virgil watched in silent agony as the necklace landed in the water of the reflecting pool with a quiet splash. "Shit."

"Allow me," said Logan, already in motion.

"No!" Virgil caught his hand and held it. "The curse." He realized what he had done and let go of Logan's hand.

"I don't believe in such things, Virgil, but if it's important to you, then I'll leave it."

"Thank you." Virgil stared down at the water and sighed through his nose. He'd already disturbed the water. Would it be better to leave the necklace or take it out? Littering seemed more disrespectful, he supposed. So he bent and grabbed the necklace before he could change his mind. "I'll, uh, de-curse-ify myself later."

Logan nodded, looking preoccupied. "Let me know if I can help. I might be able to repair the chain."

"Actually," said Virgil, stuffing the wet necklace into his pocket, "I was wondering if maybe, um…"

"Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"Please do."

Virgil closed his eyes so he wouldn't get weirded out by Logan's contacts. He had been expecting a short kiss, sweet and chaste, but Logan's hand tightened in the loose fabric of Virgil's poet shirt and his teeth grazed Virgil's bottom lip. Fuck propriety, then; the Plaza was still fairly empty. Virgil raised a hand to grab a fistful of Logan's hair and ran his tongue along the edge of Logan's lip.

They were interrupted by a wolf whistle and golf claps. "I'll be damned." Crap. Why did it have to be Janus? He was never going to let Virgil live this down.

Virgil pulled away so fast it made pain shoot through his neck. He exhaled sharply and covered the area with his hand for all the good it would do, turning to face Janus with a blush blooming on his cheeks. "What are you supposed to be?" he asked, looking Janus up and down. Janus had always been unnecessarily private about things that really didn't matter. He had evaded all of Virgil's attempts to guess his costume, and now presented wearing an old-fashioned suit including top hat, gloves, and cane.

"Don't change the subject," said Janus, dismissing Virgil with a wave.

In true vampire fashion, Virgil snarled and bared his teeth, then remembered something. "Oh, shit, my fangs!" He dug in his pocket for them, leaving Janus to do… whatever he was going to do.

"Logan, I presume?" Janus asked. Virgil stopped in the process of sticking on one tooth, heart hammering again. Janus and Logan had never met, and they could both be… a bit much in their own ways.

Logan nodded. "Logan Doucet." He held out his hand for a shake.

Janus took it. "Thank God you didn't bother to paint your face, else Virgil would have more than smudged lipstick to contend with. You've got some on your mouth, by the way."

"Thank you," Logan said stiffly. He withdrew his hand and used it to wipe away the lipstick stain on his face. "Nice to meet you, Professor Moriarty."

Virgil's eyes darted back to Janus, who smiled. "When I'm not acting as the Napoleon of Crime, you can call me Janus. Janus Bellefontaine."

"Where's Remus?" Virgil interjected, looking around. "Didn't he ride with you?"

"He got waylaid by some angry mothers because his costume made their kids cry," Janus said, nonchalantly running a

fingertip over the brim of his hat. "He'll be along." To Logan, he said, "Virgil tells me you're an accountant."

"Yes," said Logan. 

"And you haven't killed yourself yet, so I assume you must like it."

Virgil busied himself sticking his fangs onto his canines so he wouldn't worry about the conversation at hand. A sideways glance at Logan revealed that he seemed to find the comment amusing, thank God . "I've always been good with numbers. People, less so."

"Never would have guessed," Janus said, and Virgil didn't have to look at him to know he was smiling that crooked, tight-lipped smile that might have been genuine or might have been mocking. Asshole. "Well, if you have any rich clients, send them my way, won't you? I sell nice suits to dumb men with low self-esteem and too much money and I'm always on the lookout for another rube to swindle."

"If the suits are any good, I'd be happy to," Logan said.

Satisfied that his fangs were in properly, Virgil's attention shifted suddenly to the cold, wet medallion in his pocket. Right. He was cursed. Despite his interest in the occult and the supernatural, Virgil didn't have much experience with curses. His friends weren't really the type to play around with magic (well, maybe Janus, maybe- maybe Roman) and he wasn't the kind of guy who made enemies. No one had ever cursed him before. How soon would this one take effect? Should he go home and come back? Should he hop into the bayou, makeup be damned? Did bayous even count as running water?

He was so caught up in his panic spiral that the sudden sensation of hands on his shoulders made him jump. "Fuck!"

To his surprise it was Roman, not Remus, who laughed from somewhere behind him. "What, are Logan and Janus boring you?"

Virgil looked up and flinched again. While Roman looked relatively normal in his glittery Doctor Frank-n-Furter costume, Remus, who was lurking just behind his brother, was a horrorshow of fur and face paint and fake blood. "Um…" He shook himself and noticed Patton standing a ways off, peering at Remus. Distracted, he went to introduce Patton to Remus and Janus only to learn that he and Roman had run into Remus on their way over and rescued him from a brigade of shouty young mothers.

"He's Macavity," Patton said in a tone like he was pronouncing the death of the family goldfish.

"The other Napoleon of Crime," Janus agreed. "And you are?"

"Patton Haydel!"

A pause. "I gathered that. " Janus gestured at Patton's costume, which he had also kept a secret. Virgil had been staring at it as well, trying to figure it out. Patton was wearing what appeared to be a headless bear costume, round glasses, and what might have been a cowboy hat, though Virgil wasn't 100% sure. "What are you?"

"You have to guess!" Patton said, extending his arms and backing up so everyone could get a good look at him.

Virgil stared at him, running his tongue over the edges of his plastic fangs. "I got nothin'."

Logan took a sideways step and tapped Virgil's hand. Virgil nodded, and Logan interlaced their fingers as casually as he might clock in for work. "He's Teddy Bear Roosevelt."

They all groaned. "Good work, Pat," Virgil said begrudgingly.

"You have a big wet spot on your crotch," Remus pronounced, pointing at Virgil.

Janus raised his eyebrows, turning to Virgil with undisguised schadenfreude, but Logan stepped in before anyone could say anything. "It's water. He dropped his necklace in the reflecting pool."

"Well," said Patton, "that's not good."

"You dropped something in the reflecting pool and didn't immediately run for the nearest source of running water?" Janus asked. He looked from Virgil to Logan, then to their intertwined fingers and grinned. "Ah. More pressing matters at hand?"

"Maybe it's not too late," Roman said, drumming his acrylic nails against his thigh. "We can still dump him in the bayou."

"There's alligators in there!" Virgil said. "Fuck that. You know my house is plastered with wards. I'm sure I can make it through one evening."

"Your funeral," said Remus, leering. "Let me know if your dick falls

off.

 -

Despite his friends' concern, Virgil had a wonderful evening. Logan stuck close the whole night through, and they even snuck a few kisses here and there like infatuated teenagers. Each one sent a lightning thrill down Virgil's spine and made him want a dozen more. His friends noticed in turns and either teased or cooed, but each reaction was encouraging.

Logan kissed him goodbye at the end of the night and he practically floated back to his moped. He was so caught up in his daydreams that he only remembered the curse when he caught sight of the nazar hanging on his kitchen wall. Cursing under his breath, Virgil went to his bookshelf and began to compile a few methods of curse-breaking. Did a shower count as running water? God help him, he was not getting in the bayou. Maybe he could combine methods.

A few moments later, Virgil had everything set up in the bathroom. He lit the last candle, tightened the herb sachet around his neck, and stepped into the shower. Okay, time to focus. He was washing himself free of the curse and wouldn't it be nice if Logan were here? Logan didn't believe in magic and his clear-headed confidence would undoubtedly make Virgil feel better, too-- Focus! Wash away the curse. Logan would probably help him if he asked, helping Virgil set up the crystals and making sure his candles stayed lit-- Virgil! The curse! Wash away the curse.

The bathroom smelled of candles, incense, and herbs. Almost like Virgil's workplace, except that Virgil was using lavender and his boss preferred nag champa.

He stepped out of the shower and inhaled deeply, letting the mixture of scents relax him and draw him toward sleep.