#he literally approved when i gave a child on the street some food

[jaehyunfirstlove]

You decide you’re ready to have a baby. The catch? You’re not seeing anyone at the moment. Enter your best friend, Jeong Jaehyun. Will he be the answer to your dilemma?

Pairing: best friend!Jaehyun x f.reader

Genre: best friends to fwb to lovers, fluff, angst, smut (18+ only)

Warnings: mentions of infertility, pregnancy and childbirth, sperm donors, IVF (in vitro fertilization), fertility drugs, mood swings, fingering, unprotected sex, cum play, nipple play, breeding kink, oral sex (f.receiving), dirty talk, pregnant sex, rough sex

Word count: 10.6k

Taglist: @jaehyunnie77​ @mrg-jjh​ @keeach​ (send me a message if you want to be tagged in future fics)

A/N: this was only meant to be a short fic but it morphed into this monstrosity. I tried to tag for everything but if I missed anything please let me know. Inspired by the fact that Jaehyun wanted to be a teen dad (but they are not teens in this story, just thought I’d make that clear :) Also please excuse my unimaginative name for the baby, I’m terrible at coming up with names lol

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional so please excuse any inconsistencies.

“So what have you got planned for today?” your best friend, Jaehyun, asked you as he took a sip of his coffee, shielding his eyes from the sun’s rays coming through the window of the cafe.

It was your weekly Saturday brunch, at which Jaehyun would show up, nine times out of ten, hungover, wearing dark sunglasses, a baseball cap, a black t-shirt and sweats. There was never a deviation from this outfit, even on the times when he came not hungover.

“Oh not much, just an appointment at the fertility clinic this afternoon.”

Jaehyun paused, as you took a sip of your latte. You couldn’t see the look in his eyes through the sunglasses but his fork had stopped midway to his mouth. It hovered in the air, scrambled eggs sliding off of it and plopping onto the plate below.

“The where?” he asked, tipping his head to look at you above the top of his sunglasses.

“Fertility clinic. Looking into getting a sperm donor.”

The matter-of-fact way you were saying everything seemed to shock him, his fork still not moving towards his mouth or back onto the plate.

“Excuse me, a sperm donor?”

You put your coffee cup down, and sighed. “I don’t know why you’re so shocked, I told you before I wanted to have a baby.”

“I thought you were joking!”

“Well I wasn’t!” you don’t know why you were being so indignant, maybe because all you’d heard from everyone around you, from your parents to your doctor to the lady that sold you pretzels from a street cart, was negative. You shouldn’t have a baby without a partner, was the main point of contention, but how was that going to happen if you weren’t seeing anyone, and hadn’t had a serious relationship in almost a year.

“But a sperm donor, Y/N?” he asked, after mulling over what you just said.

“Yeah? What’s wrong with it?” you countered. You were so sick of everyone around you criticizing your plan.

“I don’t know, what if he’s like, a serial killer or something?”

“They do psychiatric assessments on everyone who donates.”

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an undiagnosed illness-”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Jaehyun!” you’d had it, letting out an exasperated huff, “Do you have a better idea? Do you want to be my sperm donor?”

You weren’t at all serious, you were just mainly upset and unfortunately, taking it out on him, but he actually sat back in his chair, eyebrows raised, as if he were contemplating it.

“Anyway, forget it. I don’t need your approval. I just hoped that you’d support me, of all people.” You couldn’t help but pout. He was your best friend and he’d stuck with you when no one else had. You may have said you didn’t need his approval but deep down you wanted him to be on your side.

He leaned forward, took his sunglasses off and looked you in the eye. “Of course I support you,” he said sincerely. “If this is what you want, then I’m with you one hundred percent of the way.”

You smiled, your heart feeling lighter, and just as you took a sip of your latte he said the one thing that would complicate your life forever.

“But I get to be that sperm donor.”

You spluttered, almost choking on your latte. “I wasn’t being at all serious, Jaehyun,” you chuckled nervously, but one look at his face and you could see he was being completely serious.

“I just don’t like the idea of some stranger being the father of your child,” he said quietly, looking down at his plate of food while he said it, “might as well be me, right?” He looked up at you hopefully.

You didn’t know what to say. This was your best friend, the one you’d grown up with, the one you’d catch tadpoles with, the one you’d drag to the playground with you, the one you told all your innermost secrets to. The one who knew you best. Didn’t it make sense then, that he would be the one to share this with you, in the end? You looked at his face; open, sincere, beautiful. You knew he was attractive, with the trail of broken hearts he’d leave in his wake, but you hadn’t really looked at him in that way before. Suddenly he was a new person to you, and now you didn’t know how to feel.

“Jaehyun, I-” you rubbed your hands together nervously, still unsure of what to say, “it’s a big thing, you know? This will change the rest of your life.”

He nodded, but there was no trace of hesitation in his actions. In fact, he looked as sure as anything. “Yeah that’s a given. But I’ve thought about it and I’m ready.”

“Jaehyun, you’ve literally thought about it for, like, the few minutes we’ve been sitting here.”

He smiled, “Actually I’ve thought about it for a long time.”

“About being a sperm donor?”

He laughed. “No, not specifically a sperm donor. But it’s a start,” he shrugged. “So what do I have to do?”

---

Jaehyun accompanied you to the appointment at the fertility clinic, where they outlined the plan and what was required of the two of you. It didn’t sound too bad, but you did find that having Jaehyun there to support you was really helpful. Every time the doctor explained something that made you nervous you would look over at him and he would smile confidently at you, sometimes squeezing your hand if you looked particularly concerned.

It was the fertility drugs they gave you, that threw your world into chaos. They had warned you of the side effects but you didn’t think it would be this bad. Your mood swung back and forth like a pendulum, one moment you were happy, the next you were crying into your cereal. You were irritable more than you had ever been in your life, and constantly snapped at every little thing. Not to mention that your breasts were sore and you had nausea, making you feel like you were pregnant already. You felt bad for Jaehyun when he was around for your mood swings and irritable moments, but he handled it much better than you thought he would. He’d give you your space when you needed it, but also sit by your side when you didn’t want to be alone. You found yourself thinking about how he would be as a father, but then you would remember that he was just the sperm donor.

One day, when he was sitting beside you on the couch, rubbing your back after you’d cried over your coffee order being wrong, you ended up asking him how much he wanted to be involved.

“We didn’t talk about the ‘after’,” you said, still sniffling. He stopped rubbing your back and looked at you.

“What do you want the ‘after’ to look like?” He asked, his tone level and gentle.

You had visions of Jaehyun rocking the baby to sleep, of Jaehyun seeing the baby walk for the first time, of Jaehyun teaching your child how to ride a bike, piano lessons, soccer games, first day of school. The perfect family. Except he wasn’t your husband, he wasn’t even your boyfriend. You didn’t know what to ask of him.

“I don’t know,” you whispered. He went back to rubbing your back.

“I’ll be as involved as you want me to be,” he said softly, “my only request is that I get to be a part of their life.”

That sounded fair, you thought. This was certainly going to be more complicated than getting a stranger as a sperm donor.

---

You went through several cycles of IVF, but none had been successful and you were losing hope. Not to mention the fertility drugs were really taking a toll on you, and the doctor had recommended taking a break. You were devastated, seeing it as the end of your dream, no matter how much the doctor reassured you that it wasn’t.

“There has to be another solution,” you pleaded at one appointment. Jaehyun hadn’t accompanied you and you felt yourself falling apart without his presence.

“Well, of course there’s the surefire way,” the doctor shrugged.

“What’s that? I’ll do anything!” you were hopeful once again at the doctor’s words.

“Regular sexual intercourse.”

Of course, you thought bitterly. You couldn’t help but think this was society punishing you for doing this without a husband. Undeterred, you resolved to discuss it with Jaehyun.

---

The look on Jaehyun’s face when you broached the subject was one you had never seen on him before. It was a mixture of shock, terror, resignation, and… something else, almost like acceptance, as if this were the natural course of things.

You resolved not to make it weird, it was just sex after all, and you would get a baby out of it, and that was the most important thing. However, your palms still got sweaty at the thought of it, your heart racing imagining him naked. You’d gone swimming with him plenty of times, went on beach outings often, and you realized you’d always avert your eyes from his bare chest. You figured you were just doing it to be polite, but you had no trouble looking at other men’s chests (you were only human, after all). You shook your head of your thoughts, while waiting patiently for him to agree or disagree to your request.

“I know it’s weird,” you began, when he still hadn’t said anything, “but I promise it won’t change anything in our relationship.” You needed him to agree, and at this point you would say anything to convince him. He looked at you thoughtfully, before he nodded.

“Okay, I’m in.”

---

You’d been keeping track of your cycle and had the days you were ovulating marked on your calendar, which you had shared with Jaehyun. It was agreed that he would come to your place after work, where you would have sex in the hopes of making a baby.

The first night you were nervous, pacing your room as you waited for him to come over. When the doorbell rang you literally jumped out of your skin. When you opened the door you were relieved to see that he was nervous too, although he tried his best to hide it. He joked around with you, trying to keep the mood light, and you had to admit you appreciated it. But when you got to the bedroom, you both went quiet. Jaehyun stood at one end of the room and you stood at the other, the bed looming between you.

“Do you want me to turn around while you get undressed?” he asked awkwardly, and you realized you hadn’t thought through the details.

“Um, yeah, sure,” you replied, and when he turned around you hastily undressed and jumped under the covers. “Done,” you advised, and he turned around. He didn’t make a move though, just looking at you pointedly, until you realized and turned your head away. Once he was done undressing you felt him lift the covers and get into the bed with you, and you couldn’t stop your heart from hammering in your chest.

“Y/N,” he said softly, because you still hadn’t turned back to him. “Can I touch you?”

You bit your lip, still not looking his way, and nodded. His touch made you jolt, even though his hand was warm, the electricity you felt made all your nerve endings feel like they were on fire.

“Is this okay?” he asked, his hand moving tentatively across your stomach. You nodded but you realized you were panting already, and he had barely touched you. “Tell me if I do anything you don’t like,” he suddenly whispered in your ear, and then he was kissing your neck.

You weren’t prepared for the intimacy, you had really only thought about the intercourse part. You hadn’t prepared yourself for the kissing, and the touching, and how he was so good at making you feel good. You felt like you weren’t supposed to enjoy it, that it was supposed to be “just sex” because you were friends and you weren’t doing this because you loved each other, you were only doing it to have a baby. But the more he touched you, the more he kissed you, the more you fell under his spell. You felt like you should tell him to stop, to just get on with it, but you knew he was doing it to get you nice and wet and therefore more comfortable to take him.

His kisses started to move along your jaw, towards your lips, and when he was finally there, his lips on yours, you felt a panic bubble up in your chest. It was too intimate, too much for someone who wasn’t yours. You pulled away, and he looked at you in surprise.

“No kissing on the lips,” you managed to say, maybe that would be enough to keep it less intimate, you told yourself. He nodded without saying a word, his hand coming up to your breast.

“Is it okay if I touch you here?” he asked, his eyes on yours. You thought for a moment and decided it was okay, and when you nodded he cupped your breast tentatively, all the while watching you for your reaction. When you didn’t pull away he squeezed gently, rubbing your nipple with his thumb.

You pressed your lips together, trying to suppress a moan, because everything he was doing was making you feel so good. He kept watching your reaction, and when he was satisfied that you were reacting favorably he got bolder, his hand slipping down between your legs.

You yelped when he touched you there, your legs involuntarily closing and trapping his hand. He froze, looking at you with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” you apologized, flushing with embarrassment, “reflex reaction.”

“It’s okay,” he said softly, as you slowly opened up your legs again. He moved his hand slowly, gently, just rubbing the inside of your thigh. “You can relax, Y/N, I promise I won’t hurt you.” His words were soft, his tone gentle, and it did wonders to calm and soothe you.

You nodded, giving him the go-ahead, and he reached tentatively with his finger, just lightly touching your folds. The electricity you felt when he first touched you came back with a vengeance, and you almost melted right into the bed. Your reaction encouraged him though, and he pressed his finger further in, rubbing your wetness around. When he was satisfied with the state of your arousal he got into position between your legs, placing the tip of his cock at your entrance. He paused, looking you in the eye, gently stroking your cheek.

“Ready?” he asked gently, “I’ll go slow.”

You nodded vigorously, to be honest the anticipation was killing you and you were very much aroused, wanting him to just get on with it. When he pushed into you though, you realized you should really be careful what you wished for. The feeling of him stretching you was almost too much, every inch he pushed in agonizingly slow amplifying your arousal to a dizzying degree. By the time he was seated all the way inside you you were panting, almost out of breath already.

“Okay?” he asked, through gritted teeth. You could tell he was holding back for dear life, but he purposely went achingly slow to make sure you were comfortable.

“Yes,” you said, having adjusted to his size, “you can move now.” Your pussy clenched involuntarily around him and he hissed.

“Don’t do that, Y/N,” he groaned, “I won’t last.”

“Sorry,” you said sheepishly, and as if to get you back he snapped his hips, making you cry out.

“Fuck!” you screamed, and that definitely encouraged him, and he set a pace, fucking you into the mattress. You felt your toes curl, a familiar knot building in your stomach. Once again, you thought, you felt like you shouldn’t be enjoying it as much as you were, it was more important for him to come inside you. “Come on, baby, come for me,” you whispered in his ear, hoping the dirty talk would encourage him.

“Almost there,” he grunted, and as much as you tried not to enjoy it, the way he was drilling into you felt too good. You bit your lip and grasped at the sheets, trying to keep your orgasm down, but he took it as a sign that you were about to come. He reached between you and thumbed your clit, and at that moment your orgasm exploded out of you without warning. He groaned as you clenched around him, finally spilling his seed inside you. You were dizzy, mind hazy from your orgasm, but you were content at the feeling of his cum inside you. He started to pull out, then stopped.

“Oh,” he said, and you looked up at him to see why he was saying that.

“What is it?” you asked.

“It’s leaking out of you,” he pointed down between your legs. You panicked.

“Well you’re not supposed to pull out right away!” you wrung your hands frantically, “push it back in!”

He looked at you incredulously, before looking down at his already softening cock, realizing it was useless at that point. So he just used his fingers, gathering up the cum that had leaked down and pushing it back into your pussy. You bit your lip again, because the more he pushed in, the more aroused you became, surprised that you weren’t oversensitive at this point. He must’ve noticed your reaction because he didn’t stop, pushing in further and further, in and out, faster and faster, until you were coming again, pussy pulsing around his fingers.

You took a deep breath to regulate your breathing, while he pulled his fingers out of you and sat back.

“Are you okay?” he asked, when you still lay there, unmoving.

“Yes,” you responded, staring up at the ceiling.

“Well, I guess I’ll get going,” he said awkwardly, when you didn’t say anything else.

You nodded, still staring up at the ceiling. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be here.” He dressed without saying anything more and left the room.

---

He came over again the next night, and you repeated the same awkward scene from the night before. This continued for a few cycles, with no success, and again you were losing hope.

“Maybe there’s something wrong with me,” you said dejectedly one day. Jaehyun looked over at you, concern etched on his face.

“The doctor said you were fine,” he replied, attempting to soothe you.

“Maybe there’s something wrong with you then,” you huffed, but Jaehyun just shook his head.

“Y/N, they put us through a bunch of tests and said we’re both fine,” he put a hand on your knee to reassure you.

“Then why isn’t it working?” you lamented, on the verge of tears.

“Do you want my opinion?” he asked hesitantly. You looked up at him in surprise.

“Yeah, of course,” you replied, curious as to what he had to say.

“Well, I’ve been reading those links the doctor sent, and it said stress is a big factor,” he stated carefully, “I think you just need to relax, and let it happen.”

You were floored. On the one hand you were touched that he had actually read the links the doctor had sent (you had been too impatient to bother), on the other hand, what exactly did he mean by ‘letting it happen’?

“Let’s do things differently next time, what do you think?” he had a twinkle in his eye that was starting to alarm you.

“What do you have in mind?” you asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see.” He smiled, much too widely for your liking.

---

The next time came around and you were more nervous than you were the first night, and if this was his idea of making it more relaxed he was already failing miserably. When he showed up at your door though, you almost didn’t recognize him. 

Instead of a t-shirt and sweats, he was wearing a crisp white button-down and jeans that sat sexily on his hips. Instead of his hair flat and falling in his face he had it pulled back, with just a few strands falling over his forehead. He also smelled incredible, a musky scent that forever trapped you in his hold, and made you want him in every way he would let you.

He smiled at you, but not in the way a friend smiles at a friend, and when he leaned in to give you a kiss on the cheek you almost passed out from the warmth of his lips and the intoxicating scent emanating from his skin. He walked past you to the bedroom, leaving you standing there with your mouth open and your underwear dampening.

When you finally collected yourself, you went upstairs to hear the bath running. You walked into the bathroom to see him drawing a bath, candles surrounding the tub, flower petals in the water, and the most luscious smelling bath bomb marinating in it.

“Jaehyun, what-” 

“Shh,” he put a finger to your lips, and even that act was so sensual you had to squeeze your legs together, “let me take care of you.” He reached down and turned off the water. “Get undressed and get in the bath, and I’ll come back and help you get relaxed.” He left the room and you did what he said, calling him back in once you were in the bath and the cloudy bubbly water reached the tops of your breasts.

He had such a calm and serene look on his face that it almost threw you off, but then he was taking your puff and squeezing body wash on it.

“May I?” he asked, and when you nodded he gently took your arm and ran the puff along it. He did the same with the other arm, and that simple act, along with the warmth of the bath water, did wonders to soothe you. You felt like you were floating, with the calming scents of the bath bomb, and his gentle touch. He started to run the puff along your neck and you bent your head back and sighed. Soon enough he was dipping below the surface of the water, running the puff between your breasts, and you sighed even deeper as he got lower, past your stomach, and lower still. The puff was forgotten, and now it was just his hand, reaching down between your legs. It all felt so good, you spread your legs even wider, wanting more.

“How does it feel?” he whispered, so close to your ear you shuddered.

“So good,” you couldn’t help but moan, and then his hand was there, cupping your pussy.

“I want to make you feel good, Y/N,” he purred, his voice like honey, “will you let me make you feel good?”

“Yes,” the word came out on a long exhale, as he plunged a finger between your folds, and you couldn’t help but fall apart. He fingered you until you came, water splashing all around you as you writhed in pleasure. When you were done he picked you up out of the bath, not caring that his clothes were getting wet, and carried you to the bed. You couldn’t care that you were probably soaking the bed, because his lips were on your neck, hot and urgent, leaving marks that you’d have trouble concealing the next day.

You pulled at his shirt, wanting it off already, and he obliged, throwing the damp fabric to a corner of the room. You rubbed your hands all over his chest, feeling the firm muscle there, then down to his abs. He groaned against your neck when you undid his belt and slipped your hand over his hardened cock.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he hissed, when you wrapped your hand around it and pumped.

“Don’t come yet,” you whispered, taking your hand away, opting instead to pull the rest of his jeans and boxers off. You wrapped your legs around him, encouraging him to enter you, but he pulled back slightly.

“Slow down,” he breathed, and you could feel him smiling against your neck, “this isn’t a race, Y/N,” he continued kissing down the column of your neck, down to your chest, “relax, and let me make you feel good.”

You finally relented, relaxing as he’d ordered, letting yourself melt into the mattress as he sucked on your skin. Your body was on fire, both from the heat of the bath you just had as well as the way his lips were ruining you. When he got down to your lower stomach you realized where he was headed, and instead of fighting the pleasure you were feeling you simply gave in. As soon as his wet tongue collided with your wet folds you let go, moaning wantonly at the feeling. Every sound you made spurred him on, every jerk and jolt of your body gave him the impetus to push you to the height of pleasure, until you were yanking at his hair and convulsing around his tongue.

“That was fucking hot, Y/N,” he almost growled, wiping at his chin as he moved to hover above you, “I almost came.”

“Don’t,” you panted, trying to catch your breath, “you need to come inside me.”

“You want it? Want my cum inside you, fill you up,” his voice was deep, intense, a tone you’d never heard from him, and certainly words you’d never heard from him, but it certainly was doing the job and making you very aroused.

“Oh god,” you exclaimed, unaware that dirty talk was something you liked. Your previous boyfriends hadn’t been this filthy, but you found you loved it.

“I’m gonna fuck you hard, and you’re gonna take all of my cum,” he continued, voice raspy, breath hot in your ear, “I’m gonna knock you the fuck up, and watch your belly grow with my baby.”

“Jaehyun!” you cried out, losing yourself completely. You grabbed a hold of his neck and pulled him down, and for a split second you saw his eyes grow wide as you smashed your lips against his, your no-kissing rule forgotten. He kissed you with the same passion and intensity that he ate you out with, and you wondered why you had ever put that no-kissing rule into place if he could make you feel like that with his lips. You moaned when his tongue entered your mouth, just as he slid his cock inside you.

This time you didn’t hold back, allowing yourself to feel everything. The way his cock slid in and out of you, the way the tip kept hitting that spot so deep inside you. The way his tongue moved in your mouth, the way his hands rubbed up and down your body, sometimes squeezing your breasts and flicking your nipples. Your hands roamed over his back, feeling his muscles move, and when you felt your orgasm start to build you dragged your nails against his skin.

“Fuck, Y/N, I’m gonna come,” he broke from the kiss to drop his head down to your chest, his thrusts getting harder but more erratic.

“Oh god, do it,” you panted, your orgasm about to burst out of you, “fill me up, baby, I want your cum so bad.”

That was enough to send him over the edge, and he pulled you flush against him as he came inside you, the particularly forceful thrusts triggering your own orgasm and making you clench around him. He let out a loud groan as you milked him, fingernails digging into his back.

When you were both done you held him against you, not wanting to let him go. He obliged, just holding you, his face tucked against your neck. You could feel his hot breath against your skin and that, along with his arms around you and his weight on top of you was all oddly comforting.

“I’m gonna pull out,” he finally said, when he had gone soft inside you. You sighed but nodded, and once he had pulled out you clamped your legs together, trying to keep as much of his cum inside you as you could.

He dressed quietly and you watched him, heart stuttering in your chest, your mind reeling. You had promised him that the sex wouldn’t change anything in your relationship, but you couldn’t believe how wrong you were. You wanted to reach for him, wanted him to stay, but you held back.

“Thanks for that,” you said quietly, and he turned to you and smiled.

“You’re welcome,” he said sincerely, “I’ll do anything for you,” and he brought his hand up and cupped your cheek, his eyes soft as he looked at you, “you’re my best friend.”

You smiled at him, but inside your heart was breaking. How could you ever think you could do this and keep your friendship as it was?

---

A few weeks later you were late, and although you tried not to get your hopes up you couldn’t help but think this was it. You waited to take the pregnancy test, wanting Jaehyun to be there no matter the outcome.

“What is it? What’s wrong? You said it’s an emergency.” He looked so concerned when he came over, and you almost felt bad for not saying what it was about right away.

“I’m late, Jaehyun,” you announced nervously.

“Where do you have to be?”

“No, I mean my period! I haven’t gotten my period yet!”

He paused, the pieces finally falling into place, and his face suddenly lit up. “Oh shit!” He covered his mouth with his hand as he looked at you with wide eyes.

“Come with me, I’m gonna take a pregnancy test.” You led him upstairs where he waited outside the bathroom door while you took the test. You placed the stick on the counter and opened the door to let him in.

“Well? What does it say?” he asked, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

“It’s gonna take a few minutes,” you answered nervously, “I can’t look, tell me what it says.” You turned away, so anxious you thought you would pass out.

“One line, so far,” he stated, and you tried to stay calm but your heart was beating out of your chest.

“Hold my hand,” you reached behind you and he took your hand in his, squeezing to comfort you. He was silent for a while, and you couldn’t take it anymore. “Well? What does it say now?”

“I see…” he started to say, and you so desperately wanted to turn around but you were too scared.

“What?! Just say it!”

He pulled you to him, turning you around and lifting the stick up to your eye level. “Two lines.”

You blinked a few times, wanting to make sure you were seeing it right, but every time you opened your eyes there were two solid lines. You were pregnant.

“Oh my god,” you whispered, both of your hands going up to cover your mouth. Jaehyun whooped in celebration, jumping up and down with glee. You saw the genuine happiness in his face and so many emotions ran through you that the only thing you could do was burst into tears.

“Aw, Y/N, don’t cry!” he laughed, gathering you into his arms, thinking you were just crying from happiness. But it was so much more complicated than that. You were getting what you wanted, a baby, but you hadn’t prepared yourself for all the complications of having a baby with your best friend, who you may have developed feelings for.

---

The first trimester was hell. You were throwing up every morning, and feeling nausea for the rest of the day. You had an aversion to most food, even hating the smell of certain things, like meat. The only things you could keep down were bread and noodles, and you wondered how the baby could grow when that was all that you ate. But at every appointment the doctor reassured you that the baby was doing well and developing at a good rate. Jaehyun insisted on going with you to your first ultrasound and as much as you wanted him to, you also dreaded it.

When the fuzzy form of your baby showed up on the screen for the first time you felt a surge of happiness overcome you, tears springing to your eyes at the sight of the tiny figure on the screen. You heard Jaehyun inhale sharply and turned to look at him. The awe in his face was so endearing it made the tears run down your cheeks, and seeing your reaction he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in for a hug.

“That’s our baby,” he whispered, his voice almost breaking, and you cried harder.

“Congratulations!” the technician said, patting you both on the shoulder. You felt like you should correct her, tell her that although the baby was technically yours and Jaehyun’s, you weren’t together and wouldn’t be raising the baby as such. But how do you explain that to a complete stranger? You looked over at Jaehyun, who was smiling from ear to ear, shaking the technician’s hand and making no move to explain the situation.

Later, as you were getting ready to leave the clinic, you saw the technician hand over a copy of the ultrasound picture to Jaehyun. He took it happily in his hands, as if it were the most precious thing in the world. As he walked towards you he slipped it into the plastic window spot in his wallet, where your drivers’ license should be, but his now housed a blurry black and white photo of your baby.

“Hey, wanna get something to eat to celebrate?” he asked, slinging an arm around you as you both left the clinic.

You shook your head. As much as you wanted to spend time with him, you found it hurt more than it helped. Once the baby was born you’d have to deal with him being around more often, so it was better to save up your strength for that.

“I’m actually really tired, I just want to go home and rest,” you answered without looking up at him, “besides, I’m still off most foods.”

“Oh, okay, makes sense.” He said, removing his arm from around your shoulder and stuffing his hands in his pockets. He didn’t sound upset or offended, but when you looked at him out of the corner of your eye you saw a flash of emotion cross his face, almost like hurt or disappointment. You felt bad, knowing you had been avoiding him, even giving up your weekly brunches, but you felt it was better this way.

“Listen, I’ll let you know when the next ultrasound is, okay? You can come with me again.” You wanted just to wipe the look of disappointment off his face, and luckily it worked.

“Yeah, that would be great! Thanks so much, Y/N,” he leaned down and hugged you, and it was the closest he’d been to you since the last time you’d had sex to make the baby. You held him close, committing the feel of him and the scent of him to memory, before you pulled away and walked towards your car.

---

If the first trimester had been hell, the second trimester was heaven. Miraculously the nausea disappeared, and you found yourself actually craving food. You felt more energized and less tired, and slept so much better. Your belly was starting to grow, and you actually had to start shopping for maternity clothes. Your mood was so much better, but what really came back with a vengeance was your libido. During the first trimester you couldn’t even think about sex, but now, it was all you could think about.

Usually your vibrator would do the trick, but there were always moments where you’d think about Jaehyun, think about how good he could make you feel. Sometimes just thinking about him fucking you was enough to get you off, but when you really thought about him, about the feeling of his cock parting your folds, or the feeling of his strong hips pounding into you, his face sweaty and his scent overpowering the air between you, nothing was better than the real thing.

Which is how you found yourself one night, holding your phone and dialing his number without hesitation.

“Hey, what’s up,” he answered, his voice sounding distant. You realized you hadn’t spoken to or seen him in weeks, and instantly you felt terrible.

“Um, actually nothing. I’m sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn’t wake me,” you could hear him shuffling around, like he had been lying down and started to sit up, “is something wrong, Y/N?”

He always saw right through you, you could hear the concern is his voice, and there was no turning back now.

“Could you come over? I think I need some… company.” You didn’t know if you could just ask for sex over the phone, and was it really only sex that you wanted? Or did you just want him there, with you.

“Yeah, yeah, sure, I can come over,” you heard more shuffling, like he was getting dressed, “are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ll be better when you’re here.” You answered truthfully.

When he showed up at your door you couldn’t stop yourself from pulling him towards you and hugging him tightly. He didn’t protest, just held you and rubbed your back gently.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” he asked softly against your hair.

“I miss you,” you admitted, voice muffled against his chest because you were too ashamed to look at him.

“I’m around, you know,” he chuckled, “you’re the one who cancelled our brunches.”

You pulled back and forced yourself to make eye contact with him. “No, Jaehyun, I miss you.” You touched his chest when you said it, giving him a look laden with meaning. He understood right away, his eyebrows rising slightly. You took him by the hand and pulled him inside, leading him upstairs and to your bedroom. He let himself be led, but once you were behind closed doors he suddenly took you into his arms and kissed you. The kiss wasn’t subtle, or gentle, it was intense and forceful, his intent surely to rile you up. It definitely worked, because you could feel wetness pooling in your panties as he stuck his tongue down your throat.

“You want my cock again,” he growled, breaking from the kiss to suck a line down your throat. You gasped at his aggressiveness, but you had to admit it really turned you on.

“Yes,” you breathed out, as he stripped you of your clothes and pushed you towards the bed. You fumbled at his clothes, trying to get them off but you found your limbs were weak from the way he was handling you. He took over, stripping off the rest of his clothes, his cock springing forward when he pulled his boxers down. You admired it for only a second before he turned you around, pushing you onto your hands and knees on the bed.

“You like my cock, don’t you, you like me fucking into your little pussy,” he spoke so low, his chest flush against your back so you could feel the reverberation of his voice.

You didn’t have a chance to answer, because he rammed his cock into you, a scream tearing from your throat as he went as deep as he could.

“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he groaned, his hands gripping your hips as he started to pound into you. You weren’t sure how pregnant sex would feel, since so many things were changing in your body, but you weren’t prepared for what you got. It felt like your entire body was on fire, pleasure coursing through every part of you. He hit places inside you that you’d never felt before, and all of it was like nothing you’d ever experienced.

“Jae,” you panted, “Jae, oh my god!” your orgasm was coming on, super fast and beyond your control.

“You’re gonna come already, baby? Alright, come on, come all over my cock,” he reached down, and although it was a little awkward because of your belly, he managed to get to your clit and rub it with the pad of his thumb.

Your vision went white when your orgasm hit, your fingers and toes going numb as your pussy clenched around his cock. You could barely hold yourself up, your upper body falling to the bed as you convulsed around him. He kept going, fucking you through it, and when you stilled he pulled out and lay you on your back. He gave you a moment to catch your breath, before he entered you again. You cried out at the oversensitivity, but he went slowly, and soon enough you started to feel pleasure again.

“I can keep going,” he said, as he fucked into you at a slow but deliberate pace, “you want more, don’t you?”

You nodded vigorously, already feeling another orgasm building. He propped himself up then, and pounded into you, the bed shaking from his harsh thrusts. You gripped and pulled at the sheets, unable to contain the needy whines and moans coming up out of your mouth. You forced your eyes open to see him hovering over you, a look of intense concentration on his face, his brow sweaty, hair falling into his eyes. When he saw you looking at him his concentration faltered, and he bent his head down for a kiss. You were expecting a kiss to match the intensity with which he was fucking you, but instead it was soft, gentle, lingering. You felt something in it, something above and beyond what he was doing to you, something that carried you where you most wanted to be but didn’t dare go. The orgasm you had then was different, not just purely physical, not just filled with lust, but something more elevated, more emotional.

He broke the kiss to grunt loudly as he came, spilling more of his seed inside you. When he was done he pulled out, and sat at the edge of the bed.

“Y/N,” he said, and you don’t know why he sounded so defeated. You sat up, preparing yourself for what he was going to say.

“Jaehyun,” you reached for him but thought better of it, your hand dropping into your lap.

“I can’t keep doing this with you,” he said, his voice quiet but determined, “it’s fucking me up and I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Your heart sank. He was pulling out of your life, and it was all your fault for doing this to him. “I’m so sorry, Jaehyun.”

He got dressed hurriedly, without looking back at you, and before he opened the door to leave he turned back.

“You need to decide for yourself what you want me to be,” he still didn’t look at you, opting to look at the floor instead, “I’ll always be here for you, but I need to know where I stand.”

The door closing behind him echoed in the room, the absence of him already settling into your heart.

---

You went through the rest of the second trimester on your own, too ashamed and heartbroken to see Jaehyun, and too confused to sort out your feelings. He’d text you once in a while to ask you how you were doing, how you were feeling, but there was no talk beyond the pregnancy. He didn’t come to any more of your doctor’s appointments, nor did you ever invite him to any more in the first place. The third trimester hit even worse than the first, your belly was now so big it was almost uncomfortable to do anything, you now had constant heartburn, and you were going to the bathroom every ten minutes because of the weight on your bladder.

About a month before your due date, you were making dinner in the kitchen when you felt an uncomfortable tightening in your abdomen. You clutched your stomach, gripping the counter in alarm and wondering what you should do. The feeling came and went, but returned after a few minutes. Concerned, you called your doctor, who advised you to come in to the hospital just to get checked out. As you were getting ready you got a text from Jaehyun, asking how you were doing.

Jaehyun: hey just doing my check-in

JH: how is it going today

Me: well it’s probably nothing but

Me: just going to the hospital to get checked out

JH: wait what

JH: let me take you

Me: i should be ok

JH: Y/N pls let me take you

Me: ok

JH: thank you i’ll be right there

You sighed, wishing you had never told him and made him worry. Luckily you didn’t have to wait long since he lived nearby, and soon enough he was pulling up to your house. You didn’t bother to wait for him to come to the door, coming out as soon as you saw his car. You were locking the front door when the uncomfortable feeling came back, making you double over, clutching your stomach.

“Y/N!” you heard Jaehyun yell behind you, and soon enough his arms were cradling you as you crouched over. “What happened? What’s going on?”

His voice sounded frantic, terrified, and when you looked up in his eyes he looked so scared that it made your chest ache.

You smiled weakly, trying to placate him, “Don’t worry, it’s probably just false labor,” you patted him on the arm and soon enough the feeling went away. “My doctor just wants me to come in and get checked out, just in case.”

He nodded, but didn’t look reassured at all, creases of worry still lining his face. He also didn’t let you go, holding onto your arm as you walked to the car. At the hospital he didn’t leave your side, until the doctor came to do your examination.

“I’ll wait outside,” he said hesitantly, but you could tell he didn’t want to leave at all, eyes looking longingly back at you as he left the room.

After the doctor examined you and reassured you that it really was just false labor, you were cleared to leave and found Jaehyun in the hall, pacing. Once he saw you he ran up to you, searching your face with frantic eyes.

“Well? What happened?” he’d taken your hands in his, and his palms felt cold and clammy.

“It was nothing, just false labor, the doctor told me to go home and rest.” You reassured him, squeezing his hands and smiling softly at him. He let out a long breath, collapsing into a nearby chair.

“Oh my god, Y/N, I almost died!” he passed the back of his hand over his eyes dramatically, and you suppressed a giggle at his overdramatic show.

“Don’t laugh!” he sat up and looked at you incredulously, “I lost ten years of my life just now!”

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry,” you pressed your lips together trying not to smile. He broke into a wide grin then, pleased with himself that he had managed to lighten your mood with his sense of humor.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”

---

The drive from the hospital had been quiet, both of you realizing that there was still this huge wall between you, and neither of you were brave enough to breach it. He walked you to your door in continued silence, and once you reached your doorstep he turned around to walk back to his car.

“Jaehyun,” you called, unable to stand it anymore, “do you wanna come in and talk?”

He turned around, a mixture of hope, fear, and resignation on his face, and nodded.

The time apart had made you realize how much you missed him, and seeing him again had made you realize how much you still wanted him to be a part of your life. You were hoping to salvage something of your relationship, but you were fully aware that you could never go back to what it had been.

You sat him down on the sofa and took a deep breath.

“Jaehyun,” you began, getting more and more nervous as you went on, “I know I made things weird, even though I promised I wouldn’t,” he opened his mouth to say something but you stopped him, determined to get out what you wanted to say. “I was so focused on having a baby that I didn’t think about what involving you would mean, and what it would do to our friendship. I think I was just naive, I didn’t think anything would change, and I was so wrong.”

He sat across from you, and even though he was just inches away it felt like he was miles away, like an unfathomable chasm had opened up between you. Then he looked up at you, hesitant, but determined.

“Y/N, we can’t go back and change things anymore. What’s happened has happened.” He tilted his head to regard you, taking a deep breath before moving on, “so I just need to know one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want me to be a part of your life?”

“Yes. Always.” You answered truthfully, without a doubt in your mind. He smiled, but there was still something behind his eyes.

“Hey, do you remember that pact we made in eighth grade?” He suddenly asked, his eyes twinkling.

“The marriage one?” you scanned your eighth grade memories and that was the only pact you could think of.

“Yeah, the one where we said if neither of us are married by the time we’re thirty, we’ll marry each other?”

“Yes, I remember.” It was during PE class, when you and Jaehyun were sitting in the field while everyone else was running around chasing soccer balls. You don’t remember how the subject came up, but soon enough you were doing pinky swears and Jaehyun was fashioning rings out of blades of grass for you and him to wear. You both had a good laugh over it, and never thought about it again until this moment.

“So what if we didn’t wait?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if we didn’t wait until we’re thirty, what if we just did it now? I mean, we’re having a baby together already.”

“Jaehyun, are you proposing right now?” you said it as a joke, even chuckling to yourself, you weren’t taking the whole thing seriously at all, except Jaehyun wasn’t laughing.

“I mean, I don’t have a ring, but…” he looked around the room, and seeing your spider plant on a nearby table he picked a leaf off and rolled it around itself, making a ring out of it, and slipped it on your finger. You were speechless.

“Jaehyun, you’re serious.” You managed to say after the thoughts stopped running through your brain. You hadn’t really thought about marriage, none of the guys you’d dated had ever made you think about it. You knew you wanted kids, but marriage was something you figured you couldn’t achieve, never having found the right guy. Yet here he was all along, Jeong Jaehyun,  your best friend, someone who knew you inside and out. A dawning realization hit you then, that maybe none of your relationships ever worked out because you kept comparing them to Jaehyun, and no one ever held up. You were in love with your best friend, and you didn’t even know it.

“Well?” he asked, with raised eyebrows and hopeful eyes. You stared at the leaf ring on your finger, turning it around and around, your heart and mind finally finding peace in your realization. You looked up at him, cupping his face, and he looked like he was bracing himself for a possibly negative response.

“Yes.” You answered, smiling brightly at him, and it took him a moment to realize you weren’t turning him down. His face broke out into a wide grin, his dimples as deep as ever, his eyes shiny. He pulled you in for a hug, but your belly made it somewhat awkward.

“Oh my god, Y/N, you’re huge!” he looked down at your belly in awe.

“Jaehyun what the fuck!” you smacked him on the arm, slightly offended.

“No, I meant I was too busy being worried about you that I never noticed how big your belly had gotten.” He reached out his hand tentatively. “Can I touch?”

“Of course,” you said, happy that you could share this with him. You took his hand and placed it on your belly.

“Can you feel the baby move?” He asked, eyes growing wide when his hand landed on your stomach.

“Sometimes, mostly when I’m lying still though.” You let him rub his hand over your stomach, endeared at how awestruck he was, his mouth forming a little ‘o’ as he moved his hand around. He suddenly leaned forward, his face getting very close to your belly.

“Hey little one,” he called softly, and your heart clenched at the sight of him talking to the baby in your belly, “I’m your dad.”

Suddenly you felt a jolt in your ribs, as the baby stretched and kicked inside you.

“Oh my god, Y/N! Did you feel that?” Jaehyun clapped excitedly.

“Damn right I felt it,” you groaned, patting your stomach, “keep it down in there, kicking mama in the ribs really hurts!”

Jaehyun burst out laughing, gathering you in his arms and hugging you tightly. “That was adorable!” he exclaimed, and your heart felt warm as you wrapped your arms around him.

---

You decided to just do a small backyard ceremony for your wedding, neither of you fond of big parties that meant even bigger expenses. Jaehyun moved into your house since he had been rooming with a friend, and once all of his things had been moved in and installed, you were left alone with each other once again.

You don’t know why, but your first night as a married couple felt like the first night you’d had sex, awkward as hell. Once again you stood on either side of the bed, unsure as to what to do.

“Bed?” he finally asked after you’d both stood there for too long.

“Bed,” you answered, and you both got in at the same time. You couldn’t help but laugh at your awkwardness, and that certainly broke the tension. You turned to your side, the only way you could get comfortable with how big your belly was, and he slotted his body behind you, wrapping an arm around you and resting his hand on your belly. You sighed contentedly, loving the feeling of being in his arms.

“This is nice,” he whispered, but his breath against your ear made you shiver, and suddenly contentment wasn’t the only thing you were feeling. Not to mention his hand that was on your belly had moved to your hip, fingers tracing wide circles over the fabric of your sleep shorts.

“Jaehyun,” you didn’t mean to, but his name came out in a moan, and his hand stopped its circuit, the faintest bit of pressure being applied to your hip.

“Y/N?” he questioned, but you were taking his hand and moving it up to your breasts. Once he cupped them you moaned again. “Holy shit, Y/N, your boobs are huge!”

“Jaehyun!” you reprimanded him, but he apologized quickly.

“Sorry, sorry, I just-” he cupped and squeezed, feeling the weight of them, “wow,” was all he could say.

“Well they won’t be this big for too long, so you better take advantage of them now,” you encouraged, and he did, tweaking your nipples until you were moaning into your pillow.

“Tell me if I do anything that hurts, or makes you feel uncomfortable, okay?” he whispered into your ear, before he started to plant wet kisses along your neck and shoulder. Your mind went hazy at the feeling of his lips on your skin, and soon he slipped a hand down, past the waistband of your shorts.

You inhaled sharply when his fingers found you wet, when he gathered some of your arousal to rub it around your clit. You moaned loudly when he made circles around your bud, pressing your face further into your pillow.

“Don’t do that, baby, I wanna hear you,” he pulled the covers off and pushed your pillow away, helping you take off your shirt and the rest of your clothes so you were fully exposed to him. He looked at you, lust and hunger clouding his eyes. “Fuck, you look so gorgeous knocked up with my baby.”

Your pussy clenched at his words and you pulled at his own clothes to get him to take them off. “Come here and fuck me, husband.”

Your words ignited something in him, and he bent down, throwing one of your legs over his shoulder and pushing into you. You cried out, not caring anymore how loud you were being, the feeling of his cock inside you throwing you into the heights of pleasure. Once you started though, you couldn’t stop, moans and whimpers and whines tumbling out of your lips as he pumped his cock inside you.

“You like it, don’t you?” he growled, “you like my cock so much you let me knock you up.”

You moaned even louder at his words, your orgasm starting to build in the pit of your stomach. “Yes, god, yes!”

“You want my cum, baby? Look at where it got you, huh? You let me come inside you and now you’re knocked up.” His voice was raspy, deep, and it cut right to your core.

“Fuck, Jaehyun! I’m gonna come!” you warned him, grasping at the sheets as your orgasm hit you, your pussy pulsing around his cock. It didn’t take much longer for him to come, one last thrust that took your breath away, and he spilled his seed into you.

“Are you okay?” he asked, brushing aside a strand of hair that had fallen into your face, “did it hurt at all?”

“No, not at all, it felt good,” you smiled at him, wanting to alleviate his concern. He looked relieved, before he bent down and kissed the swell of your stomach.

“Sorry, baby,” he said sheepishly, addressing the baby, and you could only laugh, rubbing a hand through his hair as he smiled up at you.

---

The next day Jaehyun had left for work, and you were almost out the door yourself when you felt something gush between your legs. You figured you knew what it was and, resolved to stay calm, you quickly called Jaehyun.

“Babe, what is it?” he answered on the first ring.

“I think my water broke.” 

“Okay, stay calm, I’m on my way back.”

It didn’t take long for him to come back since he’d just left, and you drove to the hospital all the while holding tightly to his hand. The contractions started then, not too bad at first but as time went on the pain was hard to bear. By the time you reached the hospital you were grimacing in pain and Jaehyun was yelling for someone to come and help you.

You labored for hours, Jaehyun never leaving your side, giving you strength even when you felt like you had no more to give. You wondered how you could have ever done this without him, without his unwavering support, his cheerful but calm demeanor raising you up when you felt like giving in. Soon enough you had a healthy baby in your hands, a boy that an ecstatic Jaehyun had already dubbed his ‘mini me’.

---

If you had known what the first few weeks with a newborn would have been like you would have seriously rethought having a baby in the first place. You were exhausted more than you had ever been in your life, catching sleep for only those precious moments when the baby would sleep. Your breasts were sore from breastfeeding, and if you never saw another poopy diaper in your life it would be too soon. What made it all worth it, was the look of pure innocence in your baby’s eyes, and the way your husband would stare at him like he was the most precious person in the world.

One night you were woken again by the baby’s cries, and trudging to his room you were surprised to see Jaehyun already there.

“Sorry to wake you,” he whispered, “I was changing him and he lost his binky.” You stood in the doorway and watched as your husband expertly handled your son, swaddling him in his blankets and making sure the pacifier was situated in his mouth. “Go back to bed, I got this.”

Jaehyun had done many things during your time together that you considered sexy, but this was probably the sexiest thing he had ever done. You walked back to your bedroom, mentally reminding yourself to reward him when you were more awake.

You lay in bed though, unable to fall back asleep. Your mind was racing, anxieties resurfacing at that dark and quiet time of night. Jaehyun eventually came back, sliding into the bed and spooning you, his arm coming to wrap around your waist.

“Jae?” you whispered, hoping he hadn’t fallen back asleep right away.

“Hm? I thought you were asleep.” He sounded tired, tightening his arm around you.

“Is this the life you wanted?” you asked him, rubbing his arm that was wrapped around you.

“Absolutely.” He answered, without hesitation.

“No, I’m serious.”

“So am I. Why wouldn’t you think I was being serious?” he suddenly propped himself up on his elbow so he could see your face.

“Because you had a life before this, and now it’s just-” you waved your hand in the air, “me and the baby.”

“Just you and the baby? Y/N, you and Yuno are the most important things in my life right now.” He pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. “Yeah I had Friday night drinks and Sunday basketball games, and that was fun and all, but you two are my family now.”

“Don’t you miss it?”

“If I did I’d just go and do it? So no, I don’t miss it right now. Maybe eventually? But that doesn’t mean I’d love you and Yuno less.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d told you he loved you, but you knew you’d never get tired of hearing it. You’d been surprised when he’d told you he’d been in love with you for a while, not daring to say anything about it for fear of ruining your friendship. When you’d told him that you wanted to have a baby he knew that there was no one else in the world that he wanted to bear his children except you, and he was relieved when you accepted his offer of being a sperm donor. He had been prepared to be just that, but the sex threw everything into chaos, including his feelings for you and his resolve to keep your relationship as just friends. He felt himself falling even deeper for you, but his heart couldn’t handle the push and pull he was feeling from you. He never wanted to pull out of your life, and he spent more time staring at his phone waiting for you to call or text than he dared to admit. Bringing up the marriage pact had been a gamble, and he was terrified that you’d say no, but when you said yes, he could barely contain his happiness.

“Listen,” he said, taking your hand in his, “this life is more than I could have ever asked for.”

“Really?” you asked, turning to look at him, “With me?”

“Baby, it’s always been you.”

[egcdeath]

finders keepers

summary: did captain america just steal your cat?

pairing: steve rogers x reader

word count: 2.5k

warnings: tooth rotting fluff, strangers to lovers

author’s note: it’s been way too long since i wrote some pure, self indulgent fluff. this has been quite the refreshing experience for me but i think it’s back to our regularly scheduled program after this ;)

you can find my masterlist and taglist here

Miso had an air of arrogance that you admired. She took the world by its kitty balls, doing whatever she pleased whenever she pleased. Your cat left the apartment for sometimes days at a time, and frequently led male cats to your door. To you, your cat was more like a roommate than a pet, hogging up most of your bed, standing on the counter while you attempted to make food for yourself, and leaving most areas dirtier than she originally found it. 

Okay, maybe you were personifying your cat a little too much. But after moving out to D.C., you were unspeakably lonely. Most days, it felt like Miso was all you had, and that you were all Miso had (save for her army of cat boyfriends). 

This made things all the more concerning for you when you’d realized that you hadn’t seen your cat companion in five days. Five whole days without the comforting vibration of her purr, her ungodly hours of wakeup calls demanding to be played with, or pet. The cherry on top was that the cat food outside your door appeared to be completely untouched.

In your frenzied realization of your missing cat, your mind raced with a thousand different terrible situations your dear Miso could’ve found herself in. You frantically clicked through pictures of her on an online album and attempted to find a photo that would capture her white fur with large blobs of auburn, and her vibrant blue eyes to put on your ‘MISSING’ sign. The longer you clicked, the more that you began to worry that she had been caught and kidnapped by some terrible person with bad intentions. 

You finally threw together the poster, sending it to your phone so that you could print it off at the OfficeMax down the street. Luckily for you, you didn’t make it that far, as the moment you began to lock the closed door of your apartment, you saw the unmistakable figure of your cat. 

In the arms of your neighbor.

Now, you’d never met Steve. He was an Avenger, Captain America to be exact, and you were just… you. You’d convinced yourself that attempting to introduce yourself to him would ultimately end in failure, and an embarrassing one at that. Maybe he’d scoff and walk away, or call Tony Stark in front of you and tell him about the crazy woman he just encountered. 

But none of that mattered. Captain America was stealing your fucking cat. 

“Excuse me, sir?” You asked, stepping away from your door and approaching the Greek God of a man to the right of you. 

“Oh, hey! We must be n-“

“You have my cat,” you said bluntly.

“I’m sorry, what?” Steve seemed to do a double take

“My cat, y’know, the feline in your arms.”

“Well, maybe we just have similar looking cats. This is Arabella.”

You nearly scoffed at this, shaking your head. First, Captain America kidnapped your cat, and now he’s trying to convince you that it’s not your cat? Yeah, you’d know Miso from a mile away. And what kind of name is Arabella?

“Arabella is a great name for her,” Steve retorted, pulling the cat closer to his chest. Shit, did you say that out loud?

“Well I think it’s time for Miso to come back home,” the cat’s ears perked at this, and she glanced over at you. The sight of you made her wiggle and hop out of Steve’s tight embrace, landing on her feet and trotting over to you. The damn cat rubbed her face against your calf and purred as if she hadn’t been cheating on you for long enough to have gained a new name.

You squatted down and rubbed the back of your hand against her cheek, and shook your head at your pet, “you’re getting put on probation, young lady.” 

She didn’t seem to mind, pacing back and forth around you. You glanced up and saw Steve with a rather neutral expression on his face, as if he was masking whatever it was that he was feeling.

“I’m sorry about that, ma’am. Uh, maybe I’ll see you both around sometime,” disappointment coated his every word before he opened up his apartment door and promptly closed it behind him. 

You were surprised at how quickly he conceded, but you weren’t particularly mad about it either. You weren’t sure what you’d do if you never got your Miso back.

——

A whole day later, you’d been in your apartment typing up an email when a soft rapping at your door got your attention.

“Just a second!” you called, hopping up and hurrying to the door. When you opened it, Steve was standing in front of you, waiting with an oversized box in his hands.

“These are some of Ar- Miso?” he trailed off, waiting for you to confirm the name, and you gave him a tiny nod. “These are some of Miso’s toys. I just figured if she’s not staying at my place anymore…”

As if on cue, Miso strolled up to the door, and stretched her arms up on Steve’s leg, begging to be picked up. The man glanced at you for approval, and you gave a dismissive shrug before he set down the box, and held up the cat.

Steve frowned as he held her, and frankly, it pulled on your heart strings. You had to remind yourself that this man had been holding your cat captive for at least a week, and at most… who knows. 

She clearly had a connection with him, and that was what intrigued you most. Miso was a very picky cat, and it was only occasionally that she found someone that she genuinely liked, let alone wanted to be picked up by. If you continued to watch the display of affection in front of you, you might just cave.

“Uh, I left something in the oven for a little too long, so I should probably go get that. Thanks for stopping by.”

Steve nodded, understanding that it was time for him to exit.

——

You should’ve seen this coming the minute Miso was back in your home. You stepped out of the shower one morning to find your front door slightly ajar, and your animal nowhere to be found. 

You huffed, frustrated that just three days after you told yourself that your cat was completely indoor from that point on, she had escaped. She could literally be anywhere at this point.

In a whirlwind, you threw on a sweatshirt and pants, ready to go print out the missing posters that you had designed just a few days ago. As you slipped on sneakers, you realized something very crucial. She might just be at Steve’s place.

You groaned aloud, rubbing your temple as you thought of how difficult your cat was being. You were becoming a bit nervous to approach Steve, you hadn’t gotten off to the greatest start, and if your cat wasn’t there, things might just be awkward.

Regardless, you knew you needed to try, so you exited your own home, and knocked on the door of Steve’s.

A few moments later, he appeared with your cat in tow. 

“Hey!” he paused and trailed off, “I never got your name before.”

“That’s what you care about right now?” you glanced down at your animal. “It’s Y/N, by the way.”

“Hi, Y/N. Miso and I were just enjoying breakfast, if you’d like to join us?”

Was Steve shooting his shot? 

“I appreciate your offer, but I think I’m alright. I have to get back to work, and my cat is still in your custody,” your eyes flickered down to the animal who stood proudly by his side. 

“Maybe some other time,” he shrugged. “You work from home?”

You nodded, then squatted down to get eye level with your cat. 

“I’m jealous,” he chuckled. “Alright, I’ll stop bothering you now. Bye Miso, see you around, Y/N.”

You picked up your cat, who briefly dug her nails into the ground in resistance before submitting to her capture. As you brought her back home, you couldn’t help but wonder if you’d made the right choice.

——

Ever since you’d discovered Miso, or Arabella’s secret life, it’s like you couldn’t stop noticing her connection to Steve. 

Some days, she’d be gone until the dead of night, when she’d meow and paw at your front door until you woke up. Other times she’d be laying in bed with you, and she smelled distinctly of your neighbor. Your cat had single handedly turned a stranger into a thoroughly integrated part of your life.

It was as if Miso was now your child, and Steve your ex-husband in a Cold War style custody battle, where Miso seemed to prefer her father. It was slightly disheartening. At the very least, you knew she was in good hands. 

You held a throw pillow to your chest while you watched a rerun of a sitcom on your television, procrastinating in your work for as long as you possibly could. The sound of a knock on your door pulled you from your trance, and as you peeked through the peephole of your door, you saw a slightly distorted Steve.

Opening up the door, you gave him just the faintest hint of a smile, “what’s up, neighbor? Need me to grab you some treats for Arabella, or something?”

“Kinda the opposite,” he gestured with his head down to the cat squirming in his hands. “I’m gonna be gone on a mission for the next week or so. I just wanted to let you know that if Miso gets out, she’s not with me.” 

Steve set her down on your carpet, and she happily collapsed at your feet, “keep her safe for me, alright?” 

——

You took a deep breath as you approached his door, hoping he hadn’t left just yet. You fiddled with the sticky note containing your number, and polaroid photo of your cat in your hand, considering turning around and scrapping the idea all together. 

It was silly to think that an Avenger would ever bother reaching out to you. You were probably overstepping anyway. Steve would think you were a freak and take full custody of your beloved Miso once and for all. 

Going against your better judgment, you set down the polaroid-note combo and quickly slid it under Steve’s door. Whatever happened happened.

The next morning, you were pleased to receive a notification from an unknown number. 

Send Miso pics?

You were more than happy to oblige. 

——

Over the course of Steve’s week-long mission, you’d sent several pictures and videos of your cat doing random things. Trying to get on the table, sleeping on top of your dryer, and even playing with one of the toys Steve provided.

Surprisingly, Steve wasn’t as dry of a texter as you thought he’d be. He was eating up all of the Miso content, and would occasionally even ask for you to send more photos. 

The final night of his mission, you were surprised when you received a FaceTime request, at first writing it off as a technical error (he was from a different time period, after all), but the follow up call demonstrated his intentions.

You cautiously picked up, the knot in your stomach growing as you did so, “hello?”

“Hi!” Steve greeted optimistically, the phone just a bit too close to his face. “Any Miso sightings?”

“Yeah, she’s actually sleeping on my foot right now,” you chuckled, flipping the camera so you could show her off in your dim, lamp-lit bedroom. 

“So cute,” he hummed, “how have you been?”

“Me?” you laughed quietly, “I’m not the one on a top secret mission in god-knows-where. But I’ve been fine. How are you?”

“Honestly? I’m pretty tired. Kinda can’t wait to get home and see you and Miso,” he said in a quieter voice. 

Your brain stalled out for a second. Steve was excited to see you? You hoped that you were reading this the right way, as you were more than willing to go with whatever it was that Steve was putting down.

“We’ll be expecting an immediate visit from you, then. I’ll let Miso know that she needs to start kneading a bread loaf for you as soon as possible. Any idea of what time you’re getting into D.C.?” 

“Probably late morning, but it really depends on when Natasha gets up.”

You had a moment where you realized that you were talking to a real life superhero, and he had just referenced his friend… who was also a superhero. You paused for a second. 

“Y/N? Hey, you still here?”

“Yeah! Yeah. I just zoned out for a sec. Well, you better get here safe or else someone is going to be very annoyed with you.”

Steve laughed softly across the line, and you adjusted yourself in bed, yawning softly.

“I’m sorry, I forgot how late it is over there,” Steve apologized.

“Don’t worry, I was up anyway. One of Miso’s boyfriends is pretty upset that he can’t come in here and spend the night with her.”

“Which one?”

“I think that grey one. I don’t really know what his voice sounds like, but she’s been leading him on lately,” you responded, eliciting a laugh from both you and Steve. 

“Try to get some sleep, okay? I don’t need you snoozing while I come to visit our girl.”

“You are something else, Steve Rogers,” you said fondly, adjusting your phone one last time as you hugged a pillow. “I’ll get to sleep. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Y/N.”

You hung up, and cuddled into your pillow with a sigh. Calling your dreams that night sweet was an understatement. 

——

You seemed to be Steve’s first stop after his mission, stopping at your door with his duffel bag still attached to his arm, and wearing a slightly dirty and much too small white t-shirt.

Expecting his presence, you quickly got the door and gave him a toothy grin. 

“It’s so good to see your face without a screen,” Steve commented. Internally, you swooned. 

“I could say the same for you, Steve.”

Miso had been summoned by the sound of Steve’s voice, practically sprinting to the door and meowing at him on the top of her lungs. 

“Miso really appreciates you coming here to see her first,” you added as he lifted her up and quietly cooed into her wrinkly head. “Feel free to take her for the next few days. I’m sure she’s getting tired of me.”

Steve shook his head at you, and grinned, “that’s so sweet of you,” he briefly looked down at his wristwatch, and his brows raised.

“Shit. I have to go, but I promise to see you soon. I’m glad to see that everything is well. Take care, Y/N,” Steve began making his way back to his own apartment, and you watched him with the semblance of a frown. 

You really needed to stop longing for the unobtainable. 

——

You hadn’t heard from Steve in a few days following his return, and your brief interaction with him. Part of you wondered if he was avoiding you for some  reason. 

Your phone lit up the room as it went off, and you grabbed it to look at the notification you received.

A picture of Steve grinning with Miso sitting on his chest looked back at you with a simple message connected to it.

Wanna come over? :D

[ronwae]

childhood au

so i'll try to reconstruct what Ralphies life as a kid was

a few facts from the game that we know:

* is younger than Nicky ( if Nicky is about 28/27 i imagine Ralph to be about 25/24 ) meaning that if Nicky immigrated w his relatives as a young child Ralph was probably already born in the US.( this could be the reason why in ch.1 he talks about being a real newyorker and makes fun of mc about it)

* Was abused (probably for the entirety of his childhood) by his alcoholic mother

* His father left him ( he says :" he went to get a pack pf smokes one day and never came back" this gives me the feeling that he would be at least 5/6+ years when that happened.

* Got into street fights and probably lost since once again he says " beat me up as bad as the boys" meaning that he was THE VICTIM HELLOO??

* there is also a small dialogue in ch.1 where it's mentioned that he always skipped school and probs stopped going there pretty early

* it's obvious that he lived in some gutter idk how to rephrase this

* was always close to nicky from the early childhood " we were the closest"

* one memory that Nicky narrates to us is making paper boats for Ralph and letting them sail on rainy days

* in spite of this we are told that Nicky never showed Ralph much affection, for example when Nicky is being sweet to mc he replies with "i've never seen him act like this"

* and in another line he says " i don't need nobody to stick their neck out for me" so yeah, he's been left alone and neglected for a while

Actual Childhood

i will compare Ralph with Nicky throughout this whole text and make a point about being very different.

1. His relationship with his mother

As long as Nicky had part of a more loving(normal) mom, Ralph clearly was less lucky. Literally being on his own with an alcoholic. Which resulted in him feeling unloved and running from home and getting into gang stuff. By always being belittled and beat by his parent, this usually results with the person later in life having big problems with aggression, this explaining why he likes being a criminal and jokes about others dying( this being a possibility to release all that anger from his childhood).

At the same time another prominent characteristic of his is the thing where he always does what he's told. We see this when he says that "Nicky taught him this and that" and also in that scene where he & Floyd sign documents. And there Ralph was right about not wanting to sign the deed to the speakeasy, but under Floyds pressure he literally breaks in less than a second. I explained this behaviour not by being simply " weak of spirit" or simply a loser, but the desire for approval, recognition and literally being patted on the shoulder for doing good. Since he's never been shown any kind of affection, he desperately tries to subconsciously earn it.

I think i should also add that by Freud( hate on me but this guy made a few good points) a mans relationship with his partner corelates with his relationship with his mother ( vice versa for women), so it makes sense why Nicky - with a loving mom found his soulmate, and Ralph didn't. ( i assume that he never had a long term relationship ). ( this is my personal theory)

2. His relationship with his dad

none🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥

3. His relationship with Nicky

now this one is just a continuation of point 1.

I've always felt some part of jealousy for Nicky. Maybe he got into crime because he always wanted to be like Nicky and even talked about living in Nicky's mansion after he takes his role. Im sure that he love's Nicky and feels bad for betraying him, but i understand why he'd do that. Maybe he tried to subconsciously prove to himself that he can make his own decisions but that turned out... well... bad.

But i imagine them both having a really good relationship, good un their own way.

And that point where they both mentioned that Nicky tried to prevent Ralph from joining the mafia, if i put myself in his shoes i would take that not as a way to keep me safe but a way to keep me from succeeding or always remaining in Nicky's shadow.

okay now for the actual actual childhood headcanons

* I feel like Ralph would be actually a pretty smart child. Besides being curious i feel that he'd say smart,correct and deep thoughts and not even realise that.

* He'd still have problems spelling and understanding basic math:/

* lived admiring rich people on the covers of magazines or in the movies

* was pretty much of a loner as a child and didn't have many friend except Nicky

* while Nicky was the lively, active and charismatic one, Ralphie would be the quiet kid until 12/13 yrs

* that meaning that he would usually be made fun of or beaten by older kids

* i don't think he'd fight back much, not with bare hands at least

* in general i think he'd despise actual fights, more of a gun/knife guy

* disliked Nicky's dog, or any four legged animal ( doesn't hate them but doesn't love either)

* birds on the other hand

* they always gave him hope and the desire to just be free and escape his home and everyone he knew. the same with sailing, loved the idea of just leaving alone into the open ocean

* irrational fear of death

* if there is a living creature that he loves more that birds it would be butterflies

* but no one knows that since he's embarrassed to admit it

* would create many problems as a child

* starting with the basic running from school up to setting someones hair on fire with a lighter

* mentioning the lighter, tried smoking at about 14 but nearly choked to death because of his asthma

* and because of asthma i think there would be multiple times where he almost died

* as a kid probably lived near a garage and spent most of his free time watching men repairing cars

* car obsession phase

* even started drawing them at some point and got pretty good at mechanical drawings

* dreamed of becoming a racer

* once told that to a girl he liked in like grade 4 and almost died of pride when she applauded him for his ambitions

* and his ambitions were always high

* the second he'd see or hear about something grand or fancy he'd add it to his mental list of wishes

* made friends with some local old guy who was very sarcastic and nihilistic and literally based his personality on that

* would have to get around life on his own and by that i mean that he sew his own clothes, made his own food, when he got lost -spent hours walking around new york until he found his street without asking anyone for directions

* at some point picked up smoking because even though at first it was death threatening

* at about 16/17 totally found himself in the "wiseguy" persona and at this point there wasn't a returning point

* had a couple of girlfriends but dated them for a month at best

YES I LIKE PSYCHOLOGY YES I WANT TO BECOME A PSYCHIATRIST AND I LOVE CHARACTER ANALYSIS

[drabbles-mc]

Anything For You

EZ Reyes x Reader

Warnings: language (mild)

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: I got kinda beat up at work today so this fic is super self-indulgent because I’m writing to cope lmao. But have some fluffy, caring EZ taking care of you after a rough day. 🥰

You walked through the door, feeling defeated after your longest day in a while. You dropped your bags and kicked off your shoes, not bothering to put anything away in its rightful place. All of that could wait. The only thing you wanted to do was take a scalding hot shower.

In your daze, you hadn’t even noticed EZ’s bike parked on the street right in front of your house. You walked to the bathroom and turned some music on, playing it through your phone speaker as you got ready for your shower. You peeled off your sweatshirt and dropped it to the floor, your back feeling cold instantly from the sweat that was on your t-shirt. The t-shirt was the next thing to go.

Just as you were about to unclasp your bra, the bathroom door opened slightly. You screamed in surprise and instinctively kicked it shut, hard. You heard EZ curse and then let out a laugh. “Hey,” his voice was soft, “it’s me. Let me in.”

“Fuck,” exhaustion was dripping from your voice as you opened the door, “sorry. I didn’t realize you were here.”

“It’s all good, Querida. I was just coming to see if y—” he stopped short when he saw the side of your face, “What happened?”

You shook your head, not wanting to talk about it, “Nothing, I’m fine.”

He gently cupped your chin in his hand and turned your head to the side so he could get a better look at the cut that was going down the left side of your face. His brows furrowed, “Who hurt you, Y/N? I swear to god I’ll fucking—”

You cut him off with a soft smile, “I told you, I’m fine.

“Someone sliced your face open. You’re not fine.”

You chuckled, shaking your head, “It’s not sliced open. Don’t be a drama queen. Besides, it was a ten-year-old at work who did it. So I’m pretty sure it would be frowned upon if you tried to beat up a literal child.”

His whole demeanor shifted once he heard that you had gotten injured at work. He had never fully understood what you did for a living, and there was a lot that you legally had to keep from him. This was the first time in a long time that you had come home with a visible injury that you had to talk to him about. He knew you worked with kids who had behavioral issues but he never really understood the scope of what that meant. Plus, you only ever tried to tell him the good stuff because that was so much more enjoyable to talk about. It’s hard to explain how non-reactive you are in those situations because in EZ’s life everything is about reactivity.

“I’d beat up a ten-year-old for you if you asked me to,” there was a small smile on his face now.

You laughed, cringing slightly at the pain it sent shooting through your skin, “I appreciate the sentiment. One of my kiddos just had a really rough time today and I caught the brunt of it. He’s not even gonna remember that he did this to me tomorrow. If he can let it go so can I. I just want to shower the day off of me.”

He nodded, placing a gentle kiss on the cheek that was unscathed, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Put my wine in the fridge and order dinner?” there was a small smile on your face.

“Of course.”

“Order something unhealthy and greasy for me, please.”

He chuckled, pulling you into a hug, “Anything for you, Querida. Take a long, hot shower. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.” He gave you one more kiss on your forehead before stepping out to let you shower in peace. You smiled as the door shut behind him, trying to contain your grin so it wouldn’t pull at the skin around your cut.

You stripped off the rest of your clothes and turned the water on, trying to make it hot but not so hot that it was going to aggravate your cut more than necessary. You stepped in and closed your eyes, letting the water wash over you as your mellow playlist echoed through the bathroom. You leaned lightly against the wall of the shower, glad to not have to support all of your weight even if it was just for a few minutes.

After a few minutes of just standing under the running water, you set about scrubbing your body from head to toe. You carefully washed your face, trying to be extra delicate with your left cheek, but it still stung. The steam helped, though, and you slowly felt your body returning to normal.

You heard a knock on the door and you poked your head out from behind the curtain, “Yea?”

EZ opened the door, smiling at your dripping hair falling over your shoulder, “About thirty minutes for the food.”

You smiled, “You’re a gem.”

He just smiled and shook his head before closing the door and leaving you to finish your shower. Minutes ticked by and eventually you knew that you were about as clean and relaxed as a shower was going to make you. You shut the water off and dried off, chuckling to yourself over the amount of steam trapped in your small bathroom. After wrapping the towel around yourself, you made your way to the bedroom that you had been sharing with EZ for the better part of a year. He was sprawled across the bed watching TV, trying to pretend that he wasn’t watching you as you walked around in your towel.

You walked over to your dresser and pulled out a pair of comfortable shorts and slid them on. You hung up your towel and EZ was all but drooling as he watched you walk around with just shorts on and no top. You smiled at him as you plopped down on the edge of the bed and grabbed your lotion off the nightstand. There was nothing better than lotion on your legs after a hard scrub in the shower.

Before too long, you felt the bed shift as EZ crept over to you. He knelt behind you, placing kisses all over your shoulders and back. You could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “I could help you with that, you know.”

You chuckled, leaning your head back against him, “Oh could you?”

“Yea,” he placed a kiss on your neck, “Lay on your stomach and I can get your back for you.”

“No getting extra handsy, the food is gonna be here soon,” you warned as you laid down like he asked.

“I’ll be good, I promise,” he threw one leg over you so that he was straddling you, situated right over your hips, “Just let me take care of you, Y/N.”

You hummed in approval as he slowly started working the lotion across your shoulder blades and upper back. He made good on his promise to not get frisky, but you almost wished that he didn’t. despite how rough his hands were from work, he was so gentle and it felt so relaxing as they slid over your back. If he kept going you would probably relax enough to fall asleep that way.

He scooched up slightly so that he could get lotion on your arms too. He placed soft kisses along your back as he did. So often you two were wrapped up in your routines that you forgot just how extra attentive he could be. The two of you co-existed so well together, but moments like this when one of you went a little above and beyond were always so amazing.

His phone went off and he carefully climbed off of you. He wiped his hands on his shorts and picked his phone up, smiling at the screen. “Food’s here,” he kissed you on the forehead, “Be right back.”

You caught his hand before he could walk too far away and pulled him back to you. You propped yourself up on your knees and wrapped him in a hug, “Thank you, EZ, for everything.”

“Anything for you, Querida,” he kissed your good cheek, “I love you.”

You hummed in contentment, finally releasing him to go and get the food, “I love you too.”

[fascinatedhelix]

Some updates to the HK/NSR crossover AU, since the original was made pre-release (the following does contain spoilers!):

Ghost

Ran away from the Trankil Adoption Agency due to finding most humans too restrictive on their freedom; they’re accustomed to being able to come and go as they please, and the agency doesn’t really approve of trankil running around unattended. BBJ are more relaxed about it, leading to the little one being along the lines of a latchkey trankil.

Mayday and Zuke earn their trust by buying them food and helping them clean up in the restaurant’s bathroom, rather than just grabbing them and dragging them back to the agency. Aunty, for one, adores them, due to their sweet little face and how eagerly they eat her cooking.

Has pulled a knife on Kliff, multiple times, because he’s creepy as hell and sets off all their alarms, much to the exasperation of Zuke and Mayday. He tries bribing them with toys and snacks up until his betrayal, after which he almost gets stabbed again before BBJ drag Ghost with them to stop the fans.

Zuke doesn’t let them draw their blade in the sewer or on the streets, normally, but he doesn’t necessarily ban them from sharps entirely. He can tell they know how to use them, though he opts to let them use a kitchen knife instead of the haphazard scrap of metal they’ve been swinging around on the streets.

Zam has attempted to conduct interviews with Ghost before, but finds himself mostly just perplexed at their answers. "Okay, I’m looking at what appear to be, uh, hieroglyphics of some kind. I can see something that kind of looks like a rhinoceros beetle head... They’re shaking their head ‘no.’” The little section where he interviews them is nicknamed Ghost Tour.

Comet

They were sleeping in DJ Subatomic Supernova’s apartment at the time of the battle, since he didn’t think he’d need their help. They’re too small to be asked for a whole lot, anyway; he mostly has them around to keep himself company and have someone to talk to (or at, as the case may be).

Their sound energy absorbing powers would probably be enough to deactivate some of NSR’s robots; it comes in handy when the rogue robots are getting in the way of reinstating their guardian as charter.

Their favorite stuffed animal is a toy dolphin that DJSS calls Delphinus, though Comet calls them Splashy when they learn how to write.

As they grow older, their horns begin pointing backward and eventually curling into a similar shape to ram’s horns.

DJSS secretly relishes in the opportunity to have a legacy in the form of taking care of Comet, though he doesn’t know that they are probably more likely to carry his name farther into the future than any drones he sends up to space.

Bunny

They live with Remi, the artist and leader of the Sayu team. He treats them much like a little sibling, in the nice way, and gets them to watch some of the more family-friendly anime he watches; they’re particularly fond of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, even if they keep dismantling the figures he gets them. They’re much gentler with the plushies, though.

It takes a few weeks of watching Dodo and Sofa work on machinery to get them learning how to build stuff as well as break it. They make it an entire thing when they grow older, working on machinery.

They eventually grow cheek spines, not unlike some depictions of the adult Ghost, and otherwise heavily resemble Hornet as an adult. Much taller than her, though.

Sayu’s kind of reluctant to attack Ghost because they resemble Bunny so much; “You’re too cute to fight!” Zuke doesn’t like the idea of Ghost acting like a trankil shield in fights, but it does help throw off her aim.

Thorn

Yinu’s mom specifically chose the former Broken Vessel because they were the only trankil that expressed any interest in Yinu’s infodumping about classical music. They even responded to questions with head shaking or nodding.

They come to Yinu’s side after her piano breaks, letting go of their fight with Ghost quickly enough; they don’t fault their sibling for doing what they thought was right, even if they don’t understand it, but they believed Yinu needed their support more.

They’re taking violin lessons, as it’s a touch easier to adjust to playing with four fingers on that then on piano. They get pretty good at it as an adult, though in the modern day their playing is a touch mediocre.

After their performance at Yinu’s concert, fighting in her defense with a stolen machete, Yinu’s mom at first grounds Thorn for stealing and playing with sharps, but concedes to put them in a fencing program to “get it out of their system.” They turn out a lot more competent than the instructors were expecting, and intimidate the crap out of their peers. When they’re older they take up a proper swordfighting class.

Yinu does wind up joining them in learning fencing, after her mother gets a recommendation to get her to get more exercise to avoid literally rooting herself to her piano (not an unusual issue for plant folks; they have to move pretty regularly or else they get stuck in one spot and have to be cut out). Her mom worries that she takes to it a touch too eagerly, perhaps because of her relative helplessness.

Thorn acts fairly stoic and polite most of the time, but they can be quite the handful when something piques their interest. They get banned from at least one Renaissance fair due to playing with the swords or poking the roasting pig. Yinu starts covering for them after they start bribing her with extra sweets.

Scotty

Neon J initially treated them like a trainee when he got them, but it quickly slipped into adopted child territory when he realized just how young they were. He did want kids back when he was human, so he took very quickly to the role of adoptive father.

Scotty is very good at learning language and patterns, so they wind up learning English writing pretty quickly for one of their kind. Because of this, Neon J becomes one of the few privy to the nature of the vessels, though he is uncharacteristically quiet about it.

1010 adores Scotty, occasionally posting about them on social media, making them a bit of a fandom darling, though the band does have to put out PSAs about not getting a trankil irresponsibly.

Scotty’s favorite food is cheese tarts and cheese danishes, which they tend to be awarded for good behavior.

Scotty is a very active child; they dance, they run around the mansion, they swim in the pool (and just about any fountain they run across, much to Neon J’s embarrassment), and they can’t be brought within 100 feet of a dog park without trying to pet every animal in the vicinity.

They try their best to comfort their adoptive dad when he’s suffering from phantom pains or flashbacks, though they don’t know the techniques very well. Their usual method is gently patting his hand or leaning against him (among vessels they’d be leaning against each other in large groups, leading to one big cuddle pile; they can’t do it here by themselves, but they’ll sure as hell try).

Much to Neon J’s embarrassment, they become quite the potty mouth (er, hands) when they get older. He’s a sailor, he slips up every now and then!

Riley

The former Greenpath Vessel is rather happy to leave behind the harsh life they lived back in Hallownest, though they find the most success in recounting their old life through art.

Eve tends to be a very dramatic teacher, but quite gentle with her little friend. She couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic student, though.

Eve’s quite protective of the little thing; she’s not quite as heartbroken about Zuke’s abandonment due to the company of her apprentice/adopted child, but the thought of them being taken away tends to scare her quite a bit. As such, she tends to spoil them rotten, though they’re still quite sweet.

Riley has a degree of PTSD from their experience in Hallownest; they’re very sensitive to sounds and movement in their peripheral, and have bitten and scratched people on more than one occasion for getting in their bubble without proper warning or consent. Eve’s pretty good about avoiding their blindspot and having her footsteps make noise they can track.

Eve’s among the first to learn about the Lord of Shades and the dream realm due to her teaching her magic painting to Riley. With her help, they created the Dark Mirror, which allows people to enter a sort of waking simulation of the dream realm, though it tends to seriously disorient people not accustomed to messing with reality (musicians tend to do fine, but normal folks? Not so much). It becomes a very useful communication tool when discussing Hallownest and how it functioned.

Sterling

The former Hollow Knight views themselves as deeply indebted to Tatiana, though also viewing her as a friend. She gave them a name, a new purpose, and an opportunity to live again without the constraints of their failed duty; of course they’re going to feel kind of guilty about it.

Only the NSR artists and a few select NSR personnel have seen them in person, and the first thing people tend to notice is their sheer size. Tatiana worries how much renovations will have to be done to accommodate the rest of their kin once they grow up, if they wind up matching their eldest sibling.

They tend to have a reasonably positive relationship with the artists, due to their kindness towards the vessels and generally respectful attitude towards the behemoth of a trankil.  DJSS tends to rant about space in their general direction as his idea of small talk, and they tolerate it. He also not so subtly squees when he sees Comet interacting with their elder sibling. Sayu’s team thinks they’re anime hero levels of cool, sword and all, and Bunny tends to agree, trying to challenge them to fight. Yinu’s mom tends to scrutinize them as reference for Thorn’s later growth, though Yinu herself and Thorn tend to climb the adult trankil like a tree for fun. Neon J respects them deeply as a knight and technical prince, though Scotty’s pretty content to try and get them to play when they visit. Eve appreciates their good manners and willingness to listen, and Riley rather likes showing them their drawings.

Tatiana tends to treat Sterling as something of a confidante, due to their quiet nature and strong sense of loyalty. She worries they idolize her a touch too much to be healthy, but knowing what she does about their past, she’s not sure if a human therapist would help.

The wings grew in a couple weeks before the Rock Revolution; evidently they hadn’t developed quite enough to develop them before they had been sealed, leading to serious back troubles during their fight before their rebirth. It was a pretty chaotic affair helping them through their last molt, considering the other trankil who’ve been molting had a lot less to shed.

Tatiana tends to scold Sterling for digging through her old rock cassettes, though she comes to regret it after the whole debacle with BBJ.

Sterling’s way more ruthless than Tatiana asks for or is fully aware of; they tend to take threats to their new life, siblings, and new companions very, very seriously, and god help the poor soul who convinces them to act. Kliff doesn’t last long after the Rock Revolution, because of this, not that anyone notices.

Misc

The vessels were united under the leadership of Ghost to create the Lord of Shades, and upon killing and absorbing the Radiance, they’ve essentially become the collective gods of the Dream Realm as well as the Void and probably Death too. The level of focus and cooperation needed to fully activate these powers is incredibly high, especially after the vessels begin developing individual personalities, so there won’t be any casual appearances of the Shade Lord any time soon.

Vessels don’t need to eat to grow for the first five or six years of their life, as they have a lot of soul energy stored in their bodies from birth to facilitate growth in the Abyss (their “yolk”), but once that’s expended they won’t grow any more until they gain a stable food source and a safe environment to molt, hence why Ghost spent such a long time being so small, despite being the same age as Sterling. While not eating won’t kill them, humans don’t know that.

The average height for an adult vessel is 8 feet, from the bottom of their feet to base of their horns, whereas a newly hatched vessel (like Comet) is about the size of a tennis ball curled up.

People who aren’t accustomed to the otherworldly presence of the trankil tend to freak out when they’re nearby; the sheer emptiness of their eyes, the expressionless faces, the inhuman size and proportions all give anybody not used to it the heebie-jeebies. Of course, Vinyl City locals stopped caring pretty shortly after they first got the trankil.

[paraclete0407]

Going to give away all my story-ideas a la George Johnston’s ‘The Fire Sale’ since I feel as if Lucifer has been unleashed against me for the destruction of my flesh that I might learn not to blaspheme - 

‘The Winners 2012′ 

With the prototype of my ‘Three Kings’ ultimate self-idea-hero, the Vice Principal or Ass’t Headmaster forced to play basketball, also something about a novel about violoncello and female self-satisfaction, inner life or pseudo-inner-life and my attack on Harvard people for their emetic unending self-celebration, which turned out to be a sort of Kim Jong Il three-day massacre-banquet + they really have a huge problem with alcohol, rape, at the same time they were right IMHO to be eating blueberries and protein-goop and so on sleeping 2hrs a night.  Princeton students doing math in lucid dreams.  I too would have but in retrospect I literally methinks I deduce that my bio-parents and Waqas my Paki roommate were trying to give me heart-failure in the cause of sociohistorical justice and/or ‘family tree’ hyper-narcissism.  I was watching ‘Reply 1997′ and that song ‘Confession’ but I thought ‘I am gonna one day hang out with my friend again and drive through the NJ woods and it’ll all be alright b/c they are gonna have theirs and I am gonna have mine and in the end they will still be able to follow my lead and feel I was worthwhile.’  ‘Headmaster’s Wife’ something something Robert James Waller bidding for continued relevance after ‘Madison County’ but even in 2012 I just honestly wasn’t that fascinated with women or their hobbies at all.  I like the Korean poem that says to look at your spouse’s brow, check homework, share food.  Everyone wants a room of their own in which to produce bad art, get worse as a person, do that which others could do better.  USFK bases are like huge campuses with super-nice beds and the soldiers all appear to need like 5,000 KCAL per diem or they’ll pass out.  I had been in the habit of sleeping bolt-straight till I got here and liquified my form.  ‘Winners’ got totally out of hand where the Ass’t Headmaster started cruising around looking for anyone and everyone to talk to and never got what he was up to - never ever ever realized that he could minimize his life and walk away, that he was manager-material at Cryan’s Irish Pub or sth, that the principal really might retire one day or just let him step up, if he didn’t keep trying to ‘discharge responsiblities’ or lay the ground for some super-daughter-figure to fulfill the mission that he had been waiting to incipit; and too, he was sort of a priest to begin with and avoided his vocation for years and decades for reasons unknown.  My ex-friend from Harvard bragged about staying up for 36hrs doing something and there was President Obama saying ‘Heyyy Harvard Columbia but I also like flip-flops, chips, Occidental, jackass, fag.’  Obama had such an uneven series of statements.  I used to blow up on the radio like 1000000% affirmative action; Thomas Sowell is 10000% right that the Ivies were disillusioning and damaging generation of Blacks who couldn’t read fast enough - therefore, better to go back to K-12 / HS and try to give younger people a general preparedness so that they wouldn’t leave it to mercenary oft CCP-seduced (Vogel) and it turns out oft pedophilic prof’s (Alexander Theroux is in the habit of calling Dershowitz ‘dirt’ though I actually agree with him about a lot and hope that he is still in favor of rule of law at this bizarre hour) to form or confer their identity and bequeath their sense of mission in life... 

‘Thanksgiving Day’

Possibly my ‘most characteristic novel’ that predicted me never being understood or read with my own grain at all though it contained terrorist threats basically.  Of all Korean pop-music with its numerous melismas in a way he most ‘abject’ was Sunny’s song from ‘Story of Wine,’ ‘Finally Now’ which made me realize actually I was gonna get cut up at all the dinner-parties, all my understandings would be met with anti-understandings, everything I simplified would be complicated, whether I throw rock paper or scissor all my ex-friends from Gov School are throwing CCP massive retaliation deepfake AI bury-the-scholar-alive fireballs.  So they drove to the South Mountain Res where the homosexual pederasts are acting pedagogical and ‘adoptive’ and they are sitting there like, ‘Well soon it will be deer-hunting season + Chris Christie was saying how teachers like to make kids’ faces light up + give them indelible memories but under all his generosity of acknowledgment / crediting all the while CC was also saying / dogwhistling / inciting if not demanding or ordering, “Eat the poor,”which Obama was also arguably saying.’

I still like Sunny or did like 18 months ago - Tizzard and friends are mad at Cho Kuk; I tried to defend the governing class though this actually clashed with my own belief in people that came from dirt being best qualified as long as they don’t turn utterly prideful;  and I’m a monarchist megalomaniac b/c I thought of Kissinger saying, ‘The illegal we do immediately the unconstitutional takes a while’ which I did not eve n intend to mean ‘Milwaukee antinomianism misrule carnivalesque total inversion of values’ and IZ*ONE were ‘rigged’ (destined), ‘Sunkyu’ is a good safe name that I know of and at the end she is like, ‘He is a loser; I am going back to the party anyway; he belongs in a Cistercian monastery or somewhere; it is not wrong to have monks and nuns and celibate married couples and/or those who wat a long time after marriage to have a child...’  

‘Everything’ (Everything 2015 / Everything 2021)

Words never said, ‘I’m everything’ - therefore how can you not play my games and _ _ _.  This was such an abject apprehension(?) in my own life; I had an ideal solution to the problem and in those days I actually had no acute anxiety nor did I feel this distance(d) awe from anybody but only a low-level thrumming or basso continuou worry or ‘meditation’ (Purpose-Driven Life).  I guess now if someone isn’t asking a clear question it might be beside the point to imagine it’s worthwhile to answer and if somebody proffers you a certainty in any part of speech it is best it is best just to respond or non-respond without ay semblance of personality; deflection; without wanting to add anything or change anyone’s mind b/c in the end they who open their wings prematurely will get shot down all the more; and will also become their own worst enemies at times due to the conceits of ‘my nobility; fallen flower; I was Elect; I was anointed [sth. from ‘Sentimental Education’ abt women’s hearts]’  

When I was 15 I started thinking a lot about reality and who is real to whom; my favorite piano-piece though in retrospect I might’ve ust listened to it then moved on with better things was Frederic Chopin’s ‘Berceuse’ op. 57 a.k.a. ‘Lullaby’ though originally it was simply ‘Variations.’  Simple left hand, very testing right hand.  Michelangeli made a version in which nothing was thrown away or left to chance and a lot of pianists add a deep D-flat to the last chord which I disagreeith b/c the whole point of not using that is taht in the end it’s not a big deal.  Best is Kempff 1946 because it’s utterly affectionate, fatherly, almost forgetful.  I had once regarded this version or ‘rendering’ as being Kempff’s message to post-Nazi Germany saying, ‘Dream a new dream for a while.’  His left hand is spelling and his right hand is tracing.  I used to make up words for this piece ‘I’m real God can’t you see / to break your shield’ but that was with a different count or tempo than the actual notation.  Also, the version I heard first was Idil Biret or someone and they made the left hand cycle or reciprocate with a false completeness like an underlying clock when the essence of the ‘Berceuse’ is that the inner voices form a tolling or droning.  I years later turned to the even more violent psychopathic Chopin that gave me hand-tremors and I think it is very bad for humans of which the apex was the last page or so of Nocturne 55-2 which is basically heart-explosion into embers.  After going to KR I never wanted to touch a piano again except for anything related to Kempff and would walk around Lake Park, Wahl Street, considering Russia, simplicity, ‘c/Chimes.’  Didn’t then realize George Frost Kennan grew up around there and was considering Russia his whole life.  I saw ‘Cat Street’ and was put in mind of a Singaporean market or square where they let songbirds talk to each other but it’s ancient history now.  Maybe in future no one will care about cats, birds - I don’t really except I grew up in white trash degenerate Mass. where they burned frogs for fun (I was like 3) and put skull-flag all over their rooms.  I oppose Mao sparrow-genocide, am fond of dandelions and the Ku Sang poem about dandelions from ‘Infant Splendor.’  However my generation and the people of that time were arguably over-equipped and in one way over-covered in another under-covered.  

Voice in my head saying ‘They want Maoism man.’  But I really did believe in those days that others’ futures were like my own past and I perhaps overestiated my own chance of any future understanding, ‘trust-ness,’ and, either stable interiority or cognizable reliable plain-as-day face-to-face exteriority.  

I also read Somerset Maugham’s critiques of ‘the Russian sense of humor’ which I approved of and my mom recently dreamed of the cat running out with his tail burnt.

There are perhaps only so many possible variations or stories and ‘today’s character’ is a real human being in the present moment and placement not just your favorite actress or whatever or whomever that would follow you to the ends of the Earth.  I have almost no idea right now whether others want what I want or not; I had fantasized about writing speeches and always taking my family with me on the campaign-airplane which in retrospect is not perforce responsible and might’ve been mental Bidenism.  I had only felt that it would or could be good for people in the future / future Man to be aware of one another’s burdens like let your son or daughter know when you’re working really hard instead of playing / representing Santa Dad when you’re really storing up UncleHammer and CrushFather vengeance, whether motivated by presumption and reactionary atavism or by the Will of God in the case of Mr. David James Johnston must be pulverized in to ‘coulisse bright dark tragic chiaroscuro’...In ‘Coming Home Again’ Changrae Lee’s mom was telling him how hard his psychiatric dad worked in graduate school and that is something I believe kids should know but there again what if immgrant young people really do grow up or ‘come up’ with this ‘Minima Moralia’ (Adorno cf. Vatican Censoriate) sense that ‘wrong life cannot be rightly lived,’ a horrific desolate phrase, that existence is a ‘battle life’ and that evth we do right today is a down-payment on wrong tomorrow. 

In the ‘diaspora(?)’ of Evangelical Christianity following the passing away of a very famous and beautifully simply and consistent apologist Ravi Zacharias there was a cataclysmic revelation concerning his treatment of masseuses, first in terms of sexual harrassment and later unless it is all ‘fake news’ the discovery of a trove of actual records of abuse.  I‘m Reddit ButBothSides relativism but it really almost feels as if there had been the mentality of a ‘treasury of merit’ but I don’t even want to say anything like that.  Strange keepsakes!  I feel as though ‘everybody deserves to know’ I am pretty certain I could be indicted for sexual harrassment in the Republic of Korea from a specific instant I recall very vividly + it might be good to do so in view of the current society’s determination to stop driving women toward suicide but IDK whether I ough to say that to anyone in Milwaukee b/c around here they’re racists and polyamorists and it’s more CCP paleo-peudo-Confucian mistress-culture where my dad is checking out my girlfriends and orgy and procurement are considered acts of unconditional love(?).  Many years ago I looked at the Joongang Daily and say a ‘diptych’ of ‘T-ARA to release new song in November’ and ‘Uhm Taewoong arraigned for solicitation in [’my last stop’]’ + I adored TIAMO but it made me sad that the yougest member of this group was posing ith little girls all carring playing cards b/c it was lke a Chaim Potok novel that said mutatis mutandis ‘child-rearing is all gambling’ which goes against my sense of what is possible and even practical with a proper chain of care and ‘absolute ownership.’  And there I had been eager to join in the American Families Plan but then it really is still public schools where (Chesterton),  ‘ The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.’  Professionalism, fair compensation, training, re-training, good data, involving parents.  I am just sad b/c I realized I don’t really get how good or bad the SoE’s are anymore but the costs of Chromebooks and such are immense and I’m almost 100% certain the kids still have noisy homes, no good desks, + many of the staff are single moms nursing etc. + teacher-tenure and ‘middle class wages’ IMHO have been drawing mercenary self-righteous ideologue-automoton mental Boomers for decades and they still don’t get it but I’m super-sad b/c I just have no way I know of finding out!

I like talking to psychiatrists b/c they get stuff about autism as well as in some cases literal demons and matters such as handwriting, Arabic script going ‘backwards,’ but in the end they too appear committed to doing whatever the current overlord(s) of the world order are going to do.  At the mental hospital they’re writing stuff like ‘schiz- ____’ nd saying ‘sign I’ll date’ and when I say ‘that’s an official document’ the union pozzers around here are like ‘it’s my document’ like Hell it is.  You’re on strike against truth and morality and that’s no joke!  You better give me heart-failure tonight or I will eventually bring a suit against your ‘whole host’ but that itself is beside the point because of Delta and drones and the fact that this is a revelating(?) era and a literal Judgment of God, which I had been hoping to weather and eventually execute my long-incubating intention but I truly am concerned what could present roll over and through this city.

This spectre or menace of a saturating, superceding, overriding ‘raison d’etat’ in the earthly world order soon to come and everything going to be unsealed anyway so that your private life is really just ‘a paper heart merit-badge that says “private life” on it’ and in future even a confirmation of something or someone is not really a confirmation.  Puts in mind of the MLG song ‘Kiss Me’ about ego and commitment and the valences and intersections(?) of different potential promises or forecasts.  My old friend Miles used to write about kissing a lot and I had reflections about kissing and such matters but IDK now if he’s a cultural Maoist advocating to defund the LAPD or he just ‘keeps his virtue to himself’ and feeds trash the ‘Arab Street’ about not protecting weak people from criminals.

[pastel-vampires]

The Vampire Muses. Keep in mind reading the wiki was the best source of information I could get for a majority of these characters since I can’t get my hands on the games.

Ayato Sakamaki:

Age: 16

The attention whore seeker

Likes: Takoyaki and pranking people.

Hates: Water. Ghosts/Ghost stories.

In his childhood, his mother would strictly force him into studying so he could succeed as the heir to the Sakamaki line. Often threatening him or giving him deathly punishments when he didn’t meet her expectations. This would lead to his slight fear of water, as one of the punishments involved her shoving him in a lake to drown until she decided that he should have learned something from it.

The only triplet who is left handed. Would rather play sports like basketball than sit down and study. Consumes an abundant amount of Takoyaki. His hobbies involve Basketball, glorifying himself as ‘Yours Truly’, and collecting Medieval torture chamber items as decorations for his room. (the deadly parts of them removed for when he decides to sleep in them.)

Fear him on April 1st, for he WILL find a way in pranking someone. Anyone. Once he finds a way to prank someone, he WILL take the opportunity.

Other notes: He insists on referring to himself as “Yours Truly”/Ore-sama (in Japanese it basically translates to a masculine word for ‘me/I’ with the honorific meaning ‘master’)

Total rebel. Also a bit of a tsundere but not as much as Subaru. Like the rest of his siblings, he has a hard time opening up to people. He’s closest sibling is Laito. But he also has a protective nature over Kanato. 

Headcanons: Possibly a Pansexual. Will trick/prank all of his siblings at least once per year. 

Romances: He’ll want your full attention and admiration. He’ll want your praise and approval. He’s been made to believe that he had to be the best or he was better off cast aside and dead in a lake somewhere. He fears rejection.

Kanato Sakamaki:

Age: 16 (believe it or not)

The tantrum brat/ “hysteric”

Likes: Teddy and Sweets. (And Attention)

Hates: Bitter and Spicy things. When people hold Teddy without his permission. When people do ANYTHING without his permission.

Since childhood, he has spent most of his time all by himself with only Teddy to confide in as his only trusted ally. His mother would only give him attention when telling him to sing for her, finding his voice to “warm her up” (she really messed him up by having him sing while she had her affairs. How can a kids singing arouse her? What the heck was wrong with her? What the hay? Why did she force him to do that until his vocal cords bled? How the fudge sundae?)

Other: he’s a mix of a tsundere AND a yandere, quite a deadly combination.

Headcanon: he is asexual but because of how he was raised, thinks that one HAS to enter sex at some point. Witnessing a lot of his mothers sexual affairs led him to believing that he had to give them pleasure. One of the efforts involved combing their hair. Her mothers influence has led him to believe that all women are selfish and always desires sex. If they don’t, then he sees them as prudes or just shy. He’s been left alone for so long that he was left to the mercy of his already messed up thoughts. He has a certain belief of how his little world should be and hates it when the things around him never fit in that world. 

Romances: He bites and punishes hard, but his kisses are always gentle. No matter if he’s angry or not. Never will he bite someone on the lips. Since he was left alone to play with his dolls more than his brothers, he enjoys comparing those he is fond of as dolls rather than people. 

Laito Sakamaki:

Age: 16 (believe it or not he is NOT a clone of Ayato or a slightly grown up version of him)

The manwhore

Likes: fancy things. Macarons. Crossword Puzzles

Hates: bugs and creepy crawlies. (I’m going to have TOO much fun with this)

*breathes* the insufferable “pervert’, as everyone ‘knows’ him as. He often seduces women and ‘gives them pleasure’ in his own sadistic ways. As this was the only way he could express ‘love’. (seriously their mother messed all of them up. I don’t know exactly how old he was when she started going after him for an incestuous ‘love affair’. It’s gross. And he didn’t like it. But because he was the most neglected of the trio in his childhood, this was the only form of attention she ever gave to him, and he was made to believe that this was ‘good’. It’s a really messed up situation.) He’s the most social and cheerful of the Sakamakis. 

Headcanons: He knows how to speak French, being known as the ‘romantic language’, he took an interest in it in an attempt to be more flirtatious. But during this journey into learning the French language, he discovered Macarons. Which became a genuine favorite of his. He believes that his pervert facade is real and will get offended if someone states it otherwise.

He’s bisexual, but due to the environment around him (andespeciallyhowhismothermessedhimup) was made to believe that people can only be attracted to the opposite sex

Romances: He’s a giver more than a receiver, but he likes being in control of what goes on. All he knows is sex, he doesn’t understand what love is other than that. (their mother truly messed them up. But he’ll put up a mask and think there’s nothing wrong. Even though he still doesn’t know why there are times where he doesn’t ALWAYS like having sex.)

 Subaru Sakamaki:

Age: 16

The Tsundere badboy.

Likes: bread.

Hates: social interactions. Roses (specifically white ones. This came as a surprise since he’s always in the rose garden.)

Due to a… LOT of emotions bottling up since he was a kid, he has a tendency in lashing out and punching inanimate objects in order to process his festering anger.

He’s the only one who had even a small- or even a semblance- of a healthy bond with his mother, but she became mentally unstable and had to be locked up in a tower (Rapunzel?) there would be times where she would have ‘episodes’ and only he was able to handle them. This warped his gentle nature into a more protective self, and as time went on, into a festering wrath. This only worsened after she pleaded for him to kill her. Hence the knife that he is often seen holding. One that is able to kill vampires.

He gets irritated easily. He doesn’t have any hobbies. He spends most of his time either looking at the rose garden or hermit it up in his coffin (he sometimes adds things to make it feel more comfortable.) He’d much rather stay in a coffin than attend anything. 

Notes: his mother used to sing him to sleep when he was a child. (absolutely adorable) He was the only vampire to give Yui a chance of escaping, even giving her his silver knife to defend herself. Maybe even kill him if needed. 

Headcanons: He doesn’t have taste. He likes bread okay because of the texture, but his tongue can’t even recognize sour things. This might be caused by his mother having poisoned him at some point and had a lasting effect? But highly unlikely because of vampire regeneration properties.

Yet another left handed boi.

 Kou Mukami

Age:17

The Two-Faced model

Likes: cats. Dancing.

Hates: pain.

This pretty boy has had... quite an unfortunate life. Thanks to the horrible events that took place in his childhood, Kou views the world as a ‘give and take’ view. And it will be quite a while before anyone can change that world view. Because of this, he will often portray a friendly, cheerful, and complimentary personality. But he will always expect something in return for his behavior and ‘gifts’. If he gives a bouquets of roses, he expects something to make up for it in return. 

He has a job as a model and is often surrounded by girls at the night school he attends regularly. Which he doesn’t particularly care for. (He is literally the only one in the family with a job.)

Major Trigger warning here: He was raped as a child. Don’t tell me he wasn’t, what the crap did those people DO to him? They hurt him even when he gouged out his own eye in a desperate attempt to make himself flawed so they would leave him alone. But that didn’t work and somehow they saw that as making him more desirable? He has nightmares often because of this and will cling to whatever is around him in an attempt to hide from the horror of reaching hands. He often clings tot he things around him every night because of these reoccurring night terrors. He was given a glass eye that allows him to see people’s true intentions.

Headcanons: He has an immaculate hunger and can- and WILL- eat more than his fair share if those around him aren’t careful. Guard your food while he’s around!

Notes: another left handed boy.

 Azusa Mukami:

Age: 17

The ONLY option for a Masochistic boy.

Likes: collecting knives is his hobby

Dislikes: neglect and being hated.

As a child, he wandered the street with no real purpose. Thanks to a group of children who thrived in beating him, he believed that his only self worth was to be used for pain. Hence he has grown a fascination of it. Whether it is to give or receive pain, Azusa is there for it. He’s slow in movement as well as talking. Often seen spacing out. But is probably the only sweet-heart of a vampire in the entire show. If a little pushy at times. 

He names his limbs after the children who had injured them enough to leave scars, since they were killed and he was left without a purpose once again. This was before he was sent to a orphanage and met Ruki, Yuma, and Kou who became his family.

Notes: his hobby is collecting knives. (Yet another left handed boy.) He is ‘weak against heat’ (I imagine he melts into sleep like a cat when finding this out) he is able to fall asleep standing up. (that’s pretty impressive)

Headcanons:  He’s a very respectable boy and often speaks mostly in respect. Albeit a little pushy at times. His brothers often worry about him and have to make sure that he eats enough at their breakfast, Lunch, and dinner, since he doesn’t do a good job in taking care of himself.

[dantecampanas]

hello all, i’m pepper and i have never been on time for anything, ever, in my life dsjksdkj, but i am literally so much later than usual though, i am so sorry y’all but to make up for my tardiness under the cut is some stuff about this mess, dante. it’s messed up ride so i hope you enjoy? also, like this if you want to plot and i’ll literally come sprinting okay. 

BIO ; tl;dr basically craig kielburger, but make it dark 

to start here is Dante’s pinterest board.

and here is a song that reminds me of him so much it may as well be his anthem but also this other song because i wrote his app to it basically, it reminds me a lot of him, more the vibe than the actual lyrics but still. 

okay so Dante’s family is kind of inspired by the Quinns (from ‘You’ on Netflix), the Castillos (from How to Get Away with Murder) and like Henry Goulding’s family in Crazy Rich Asians. 

Dante Isaac Campana was brought into the world in Madrid, Spain with a silver spoon dangling out of his mouth. You’d never guess from looking at him, what with his hobo chic style and generally unkempt appearance but it’s the truth. He came in this world out of a well paid surrogate as the second child of the famous Sofia and Gabriel Campana, and he wanted for nothing because for it. His parents made sure of that.

Gabriel was a CEO and Sofia was a wildly successful author, and from the moment Dante could breathe his parents had his whole life set up for him. After all they wanted their son to be successful and they planned to make sure of it. A hefty trust fund in his name, to be accessible at the age of eighteen. A place in the family business that he would fill the moment he finished university. They even had an arrangement for who Dante would marry eventually, before he was even old enough to understand what the concept of marriage was. It was all planned out for Dante without the slightest bit of input from Dante himself, and Dante was just supposed to accept that. The funny thing is, at first, he did.

After all he was young, and he had no reason not to. He loved his parents deeply, passionately, but honestly, that was how Dante loved anything. One of his very first memories of his life is of his grandmother. They used to feed the ducks together when he was a child. Dante would throw whole loaves of bread into the water and his grandmother would always laugh and laugh until there were tears building at the corners of her wrinkled eyes. And one day, the day of the memory in question, Dante remembers her sitting him on her knee, smoothing back his wild curls and telling him that he was born with a heart too big for his body. A heart too big for this family. Dante was too young to know what it meant at the time, but it stuck with him. And by the time he was old enough to understand it, he knew she was right. 

The truth is the Campanas were cold. Dante for the most part was an anomaly. Because while his parents probably did love him in return, they had an odd way of showing it. Cold hands pressed to warm cheeks, thin smiles of approval that didn’t quite reach their eyes. Never the words ‘i love you’, or ‘i’m proud of you’, or ‘i believe in you’, but instead the heavy feeling of expectation. If you wanted love, you had to earn it. If you wanted them to be proud of you, you had to do something to make them proud. Not be a person to make them proud, no. You had to do something. 

So when Dante was twelve years old he did. Not on purpose mind you. Dante wasn’t even thinking of his parents in his pursuit, only of others. You see, when Dante was twelve years old he, mostly accidentally, started a non profit. I say accidentally because that wasn’t really what Dante was setting out to do. Honestly, it all started when he met a homeless teenager not much older than him, sat beside them on the little street corner they begged on, and was struck by the overwhelming, gnawing need to help. To make things better. To protect them, because no one else was doing it. It started with Dante rallying up the children at his private school, and later those children’s parents, and later those children’s grandparents. Or maybe it really started when Dante climbed up on the stage one school assembly, took the mic from their principal’s hands and gave an impromptu speech on the cause. No, to be honest, it really started when someone recorded that speech and put it on YouTube. Because the moment that speech went viral, so did Dante and his charity. 

Even today if you look up Dante Campana you will be assaulted by a myriad of articles and photos of young Dante giving impassioned lectures to interviewers, to audiences, to millions of people over livestream. It was just something that Dante was passionate about that became much bigger than he intended, but he didn’t mind. He was helping people. He used the money that the charity brought in to build youth shelters, and food banks, and rehabilitation centers, all for homeless kids. It was everything he wanted.

And for once, his parents were proud. They loved him. They didn’t say it, but Dante knew it from the way they looked at him. Like he was their pride and joy. (Later, he would look back on that look. It would strike him as disturbingly too close to how one might look at a shiny new trophy, and he would never be able to look at his parents the same way again.)

Dante only became aware of how conditional his parents love for them was when his elder sister started to slip under the pressure they put on her shoulders. Anya Campana was about sixteen at the time, and Dante, three years her younger, had to watch as his sister crumbled. Anya had always cared too much about what their parents thought of her, about impressing them and making them proud. It didn’t help that her parents made it clear that they would not accept anything less than excellence from her, their first born. Anya was supposed to be their champion. The head of the family once their father was gone. The pressure of it all drove Anya to the edge. At first the edge was just adderall. Later cocaine, just to take the edge off, just to make things easier. To help her focus. Dante remembers catching her in the act. Remembers her crying. Remembers being shocked still, and just staring and staring as his perfect sister literally fell apart at his feet. 

It wasn’t long until the weight of their parents expectations had drove Anya to a full on addiction, all in the pursuit of their favour. But of course, when Dante’s parents found out about Anya’s problem, they had no sympathy for her. Only disappointment. That ‘slip up’ cost Anya her role. She could no longer be the head of the family if her resolve was that weak; instead the position would fall to Dante, and Anya would be sent quietly, and shamefully, to rehab. it was an eye opening experience for Dante, honestly. To see just how replaceable their parents saw them.  

The Campanas brand of cold was also fake. Plastic. Sure, they smiled in the public eye and the relationship between the siblings at least was genuine, but the truth was Gabriel was cheating on Sofia when he thought no one was looking (Dante was. A story for another time), and Sofia had openly slapped each of her children across the face at least once, usually when she got a bit too much wine in her. The older Dante got the more and more he felt his love for his parents becoming more of an obligation than anything tangible. Something cold and plastic itself. And he despised it. 

When Dante was fifteen, just after Anya’s second stint in rehab, he and his sister were spending the day together to catch up. All they wanted to do was get ice cream together, talk a bit. But those plans were foiled when a black indistinct car rolled up beside them, and before Anya and Dante could even put up much of a fight, they were both blindfolded and tied up in the back of the car. It honestly shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was considering the Campanas were easily the wealthiest family in Spain. But the kidnapping was traumatic and shocking to Dante, especially because of course all these men wanted was money. 

Their kidnappers called his father with every intention to get said money within the day. They asked him for one billion dollars for each child, which was a lot of money, but not an amount that the Campanas didn’t have, or couldn’t get access to if need be. But it was then that Dante got the second big shock of his life. His father refused to pay. Dante remembers his blood running cold at the statement heard over the speaker. He remembers his sister crying. He remembers the kidnapper shoving the phone into his face, demanding he beg his father otherwise. To convince him to love him enough to pay for his life. Dante remembers crying so much it hurt. Before that day he didn’t know that was possible. 

The kidnappers gave their father a deadline. He had a full twenty four hours to get the money, or they would be killing one of his children. Their father agreed, and so Dante and Anya were left in the hands of their kidnappers for a full day. Dante still hasn’t properly talked to anyone about what happened during that time, and he’s not even sure he can. Honestly, looking back, the memories of it all are all a blur. Like even his hindsight is blurred with his tears. 

The hour came and their father was called. He was asked for the money and told that if he didn’t pay it, his daughter would be shot. Once again, he refused. Dante can remember the gut wrenching sound Anya made at the news. It was at the chilling mid point between a sob and a scream. He can remember crying himself, but trying to comfort her as much as he could with his arms tied behind his back. And because he was touching her, he can remember the exact moment Anya flinched from the gunshot fired into her stomach. He can remember the warmth of her blood over his skin. 

Dante can’t remember much after that. It’s like his mind filmed that day with a fish eye lens and half a roll of film. All blur, until it cuts out. More blur, and then it cuts out. The next thing he properly remembers is being in a hospital bed for shock. He remembers seeing his parents there. And he remembers being filled with a hatred more consuming than anything he ever felt before. Apparently he lunged at his father in a moment of rage. He doesn’t remember it, but enough doctors attested to it for Dante to find himself with a semi permanent place in mandated therapy. Well, due to that specific moment and, you know. The circumstances. 

Dante learned that day that to his father, he and his sister were of different value. Dante was worth more than Anya. He didn’t mess up as much, or quite as publicly, and with everything with his charity, the media loved him. He was smart, and charismatic, and maybe he was a bit sensitive, but he could grow out of that. If they lost Anya, so what? They had Dante. He would lead the family to greatness. 

And Dante did. After an abundance of therapy of course, well, during an abundance of therapy. Despite it all, somehow Dante didn’t buckle under the pressure. He took some time off from school, but once he got back to it his grades were the same as ever. He spent some time away from his charity, but once he was ready, he threw himself back into it with a single minded focus. He made a foundation for Anya, his sister. His world. And then he moved on. Came back stronger. At least in the public eye. 

Privately, Dante was furious, and disgusted, and grieving. His sister, his confidante and likely one of the two people in his life to love him unconditionally, was gone. And she was never coming back. And Dante would never, ever be the same. He remembers attending Anya’s funeral. Seeing everyone cloaked in the colour she always hated, crying over her and telling lies about how much they adored her. He remembers his mother saying how proud she was of her daughter. He remembers his father saying how much he loved her. And he remembers feeling nothing. He remembers getting up on stage, drunk, and numb, and he remembers looking hard at them all. He vaguely remembers telling them all to fuck themselves, but after that? The film cuts out. 

Dante spent a lot of time leaning on his friends then. Hiding from the sharks that were the paparazzi. Dante’s pain was like a healing wound, and they were drawn to it like the animals they were. Picked at to see if they could get him to bleed again. How are you coping, Dante? Will you be testifying in the court case, Dante? How much do you miss Anya, Dante? There is footage of Dante ripping a paparazzo's camera straight out of their hands and throwing it at them. Or at least there was. His father got rid of it before it could truly make it to the press, and the paparazzo, well, he walked away with three new stitches in his eyebrow and a significantly heavier wallet. Dante, for his part, walked away empty. 

The truth was, now Dante was plastic. The bleeding heart that he once was now sadly hollow. He played the part though. And he played it well. To the world Dante was the golden boy. Any mistakes or slip ups were covered up neatly by his father, or his mother, or both. And the legend of Dante Campana, child philanthropist, and hero lived on. Y’see, Dante’s mother wrote a book about the whole experience, and took some creative liberties. In the novel, Dante tried to save his sister. Fought his captors. Held her hand as she bled out. As sick as it is, Dante read it, hoping it might jog some of his memories from the whole incident. It didn’t, but it could have been true for all Dante knew. Didn’t make him hate his mother any less for profiting off of the whole thing. 

Eventually, Dante graduated. Accepted a position at Ashcroft University. And then he was handpicked for the Imperium Society. And that’s where he met Lady Macbeth. 

And It was like for the first time in three years, Dante was living his life in colour again. He fell, and he fell hard, almost immediately upon meeting them, which was as much of a surprise to him as it was anyone else. Yes, Dante had dated before, and had crushes but he didn’t necessarily believe in love. Not after his parents lousy display of the whole thing. But he met them and that changed. He was consumed by love. Driven by it. He would do anything for them, absolutely anything. And he made that very clear very quickly, and never wavered. Not once. 

In the time that Dante loved them he was brought back to some semblance of his old self. He found his passion again. He found his happiness again. And he knew it was because of them. They brought him back to himself. They made him better. And the gratitude, and codependency, and love all stirred itself into a poisonous mess that was more adoration, or rather idolization, than love. What he felt for her was something all consuming and probably not entirely healthy, but something that Dante dedicated himself to, like a religion. 

Which is why when they told him about the issue with Octavia Dante was so incensed about it. For the most part, despite previous outbursts, Dante was kind. A peacekeeper. A joker. A lover. But when it came to those he loved, after everything with Anya, Dante was painfully protective. He promised himself long ago that no one coming after those he loved would get away with it. Not again. 

That said, when Dante went to meet with Octavia he did his best to be calm. To be levelheaded, and understanding, and kind. But Dante’s reputation must have preceded him, because Octavia didn’t seem to see any reason why she should listen to him. Dante was the artist. The charity guy. The hippie. He was about as threatening as a puppy, or at least his public image was. Her words were sharp, and her disposition was cold, and Dante wouldn’t have cared, he truly wouldn’t have cared if the words she spat were just directed at him. But the moment Lady Macbeth was brought into things, Dante snapped, Othello’s presence be damned.

The film cut out. 

The next thing Dante remembers is the aftermath. The water bottle he’d bought to reuse, to spare the plastic, to save the environment, to save the world, now ironically covered in blood. His hands slick with it for the second time in his life. Othello’s understandable panic. The shock was thick as fog once again, and the next thing Dante knows he’s at Lady Macbeth’s door, eyes hollow and hands shaking around the water bottle as he fully realizes what he’s done. 

He never meant to. It was an accident. He lost control. All he wanted to do was protect them. 

But somehow instead they ended up protecting him. And leaving him for Othello. A large part of Dante knows that he deserves nothing less. That what he did is a crime that deserves a much larger punishment, one that Lysander unfairly took on for him. But his heart is heavy with guilt, and now heartbreak on top of it all. 

As if watching Lysander go to prison for his misdeeds and witnessing Lady Macbeth and Othello in their honeymoon phase all wasn’t enough torture, well, then there was Octavia’s ghost. Which was truly the most painful torture at all. Every time she visits Dante just ends up with breaking down. Terrified, guilty and asking for her forgiveness. He’s pretty sure it’s not helping in the slightest though, and he can’t blame her for being angry. She has every right to be, and honestly Dante is quickly reaching the breaking point. He’s seriously considering just turning himself in to appease her, and to make things right for Lysander, and he would do so in a heartbeat if there wasn’t the risk of Lady Macbeth going down with him. So Dante is at a stand still. Miserable, and in pain, but doing his best not to show it to keep up appearances. Luckily it’s an act he’s been putting on for a good portion of his life, so he’s good at it. But he’s crumbling at the edges, and he’s not sure how much longer it’ll take for everyone to notice. 

To cope Dante has been indulging in a lot of his sister’s old habits. Drinking. Drugs. The same mechanisms he used to cope with her death, but quit once he met Lady Macbeth. Now, without them, he’s just using leaning on them in an attempt to make things easier.

PERSONALITY ;  god who knows dkjsdjksd dante is very fresh and new so he’s a bit of a mess in my brain and he will definitely develop into something new passed this point but

PASSIONATE! god he’s so passionate, like dante just feels everything on 10 one hundred percent of the time, especially since lady macbeth came into his life. The type to get teary eyed over a dead bird, but also the type to like stay up five days straight working on a project because he can’t get it out of his mind. 

despite this used to think romantic love was a straight up myth lmao because of his parents relationship, so we love a contradictory king. a bleeding heart but also a philophobe, and now a murderer, wow what a resume. lady macbeth changed that a lot for him, so for like a WHILE dante like became the poetry writing, love is the answer, romantic which had to be a drastic change for anyone who knew him before 

nurturing honestly? but only with people he actually cares about like juliet or lady macbeth.

but also impulsive, as we can see, like dante doesn’t tend to really think before he makes any decisions. he just does things man 

thinks he’s funny! sometimes he is tbh. a bit of a good natured goofball generally. willing to do pretty much anything to cheer someone up

a big ol’ flirt just naturally, like he’s honestly very charming, but like so was ted bundy yk. also bi, but like all my muses are, so sdkjsdkj are we surprised at all, i don’t think so. 

very touchy feely tbh because he’s a tactile person.

a live and let live kinda guy like actually,,, so close to a hippie it’s not even funny. 

a bit promiscuous more so before lady macbeth came into his life and he became entirely enamored, and now a bit because he’s heartbroken and just looking for any sort of connection.

the most generous person when it comes to money and kindness. the type to sit down with a homeless person and end up giving them his jacket, five hundred dollars, and a new outlook on life as he leads them to one of his youth centers. Has actually thrown himself into his charity a lot more since Octavia’s death. Is kind of viewing the whole thing as penance. 

the type to hold a grudge until the day he dies, but also the type of person who can’t NOT help someone who needs help you know. like he hates his parents but if his mother called him tomorrow like i want to see you one last time before i die, he would fly out to spain to see her.

very liberal. literally can’t talk to conservatives without wanting to physically fight them. has definitely gone to protests and gotten arrested for punching a nazi, but his father probably covered it up. 

HEADCANNONS ; alright now onto the fun stuff

fun fact, was actually brought into the world via surrogate because his parents had a lot of trouble conceiving, like both of them were pretty much impotent. so he’s not technically blood related to either of his parents, neither was anya. 

deaf in his left ear and has been all his life. it’s kind of difficult for him to hear a specific person talking in a crowd of too many people, especially if you’re standing on his left so he might straight up text you instead. also if you’re standing on his left side in general, he might turn to face you to better hear you. can speak multiple different sign languages including asl, bsl, auslan, and of course catalan. 

has delightful spanish accent but speaks fluent english because of all the networking he grew up doing with his parents, also you know, very expensive private school. also is fluent in french, italian, romanian and portuguese, like just the romance languages honestly. he’s traveled a lot though so he can get by in a few other languages, which basically means he can hold a stilted conversation and ask where the bathroom is. 

Despite his charity being his life and occupation kind of, at heart Dante is an artist. Like his art is everything to him and his is actually quite popular. He gets a lot of offers from people wanting to buy it but he can never part with anything he’s made so he always refuses the offers, no matter how much money the customer is bidding. It’s not like Dante needs the money anyways, so he has refused offers on grounds of menial things such as ‘i didn’t like the vibes he was giving off’ or ‘he looked like a republican’ or even, once ‘pretty sure i saw that guy in a dream once. god, he sucked.’ So most of his art decorates his dorm room instead, and he’ll even give some to friends for free. Dante actually wanted to become a full time artist once he graduated, along with keeping up with his charity but considering how picky he is about who actually buys his art,  he’ll literally make no money, which is okay because again, he’s rich. Now though, he’s considering just pouring himself into his charity and forgetting about his art because, you know, penance dkjdf.

Actually learned to cook from his family chef, and is really, really good at it, like professional level good at it. He hasn’t really had time to get any actual professional training but he really wants to. He has absolutely snuck into culinary school very briefly before just to sit in on a few classes. Just pretended he went there and made a bunch of friends and he learned a lot of stuff, and even taught some culinary students a few things. He was eventually discovered, but then he made friends with the professor, and now he just comes by whenever he wants or has the time. That’s the kind of guy Dante is. 

Honestly pretty good at anything having to do with his hands, like if he had a label it’d probably be the artisan. Dante is the type of person who knows nothing about like mechanics but can like fix something if you put it in front of him. Likes to make furniture as a hobby, so hit your boy up if you want a sexy chair. Also makes sculptures and does a bit of pottery, like he’s a jack of all trades when it comes to tactile things only. 

Intelligent in the way that he just has a lot of pretty well informed opinions like if you want a fun fact don’t go to Dante but if you want a good insightful conversation he’s your man. Not like… clever at all though, like he doesn’t have a manipulative or conniving bone in his body, and it’s really hard for him to tell when he’s being manipulated or taken advantage of. He thinks with his heart rather than his brain honestly. Like if you’ve ever heard the story of the foolish traveler... that’s Dante’s fool ass. If you haven’t here it is. 

A big defender of the environment. He was planning on launching a charity for that too, and honestly he’s probably throwing himself into that project to stop thinking about all this.  

Has a bunch of tattoos, usually of his own art or other art that’s moved him. I imagine him with at least one sleeve that’s beautiful, and he’s probably starting another. Is seriously considering a neck tat. His parents would hate it and that just makes him love it more.

If you watch jenna marbles i want you to know that Dante is Julian in the kitchen and Julian in the kitchen only, but somehow everything he makes end up coming out near perfect anyways. 

surprisingly has a green thumb? can revive almost any plant with relative ease.

never learnt how to ride a bike tbh, but does ride a motorcycle so?

Has taken to religion like a mad man ever since Octavia’s death, like he’s suddenly at church once a week. He tells everybody that it’s for his art, and that he just wants to study the stained glass, but really he’s praying for Octavia’s forgiveness. He’s pretty sure it’s not working in the slightest though. 

Kind of salty that Octavia of all people is haunting him but he hasn’t seen his sister’s ghost once. Actually kind of believes in the supernatural and karma and all that, so he wasn’t too shocked by the whole Octavia coming to him in the night thing. Always thought that he could feel his sister watching over him so, now at least he has that confirmed. 

suffers from black outs, but i feel like that was obvious in my little bio sksdjkjsd straight up has stretches of time that he has no recollection of. it tends to happen when he gets really angry or in really traumatizing situations but honestly people close to dante probably know that he’s just lost stretches of time like you could mention something from his childhood or even a few weeks ago (actually especially a few weeks ago) and dante would just be like... i don’t remember that. honestly has been feeling like he’s kinda going crazy since his sister died, so literally since he was like fifteen oof. 

has been painting some pretty dark stuff lately like since the whole octavia thing, like just in tone and color. probably a bit reminiscent of the stuff he painted after anya for those who knew him then, but if you met him after lady macbeth then this is a drastic change because his art got very beautiful and full of life then you know. 

[miraculouskpop]

MKP Series | The Beginnings

☆ Miraculous KPOP | AU Series ☆

Title: The Beginnings

Characters: Amber, Sehun, Jungkook, Jungyeon, Lisa and Jimin + Kwamis

Synopsis: Before they were ever heroes, they were simple people. A basic introduction to everyone meeting their kwami for the first time.

Words: 4941 ( yeah it’s freaking long whoops )

A/n: This will go according to the Miraculous Ladybug timeline/canon where Marionette, Adrien to Alya and eventually Chole will receive their miraculouses, and then AU listing of who receives their miraculous first.

🐞 Amber / Ladybug 🐞

Wait.... Wait.... Wait.

Something’s not processing correctly. Or is she perhaps hallucinating? Amber blinked a few times, and that thing still wouldn’t budge from its position. The moment she laid eyes on this drastically different... spotted looking creature with those freakishly huge blue eyes gazing at her, Amber had reached the deep end. She’s insane, she has finally lost her mind! She figured her intense scheduling and homesickness couldn’t be that bad, but yes, it’s severely bad. So, so bad to the point she’s literally seeing things that shouldn’t be seen.

And then, it opened its mouth.

“Hello! My name is Tikki-”

“Oh my god!” Okay, she didn’t mean to overreact like this, but it‘s rather inevitable. The thing just freaking like, opened its oddly human shaped mouth and talked to her! And she’s suppose to remain calm? The girl backed away as her mind reeled with questions, and more importantly, how to GTFO this dorm quickly and safely as possible. The thing seemed suddenly concerned by its rather worried look, “Oh, no! It’s perfectly okay! You’re safe with me.” It smiled.

Okay, what the hell is going on here? “How can you even speak? Why are you here? And what exactly are you?” Amber’s hand fell on the desk behind her, fingertips brushing against what felt like a book. She quickly grabbed the book and swung at the creature, but it missed by the margin. The thing now appeared upset with its hands- well, no, but it might as well be called hands, resting on its hips.“I would gladly answer all of your questions if you could please calm down. My name is Tikki, and I am a kwami, okay? I am a goddess the embodies the power of good luck! I am presented specifically to you because you are selected to be the next Ladybug.”

The next...”what?” How does- what, why?

“You see, remember when you helped that man from earlier today?” The question had Amber’s mind reeling back from this morning. In fact, she do recall assisting an elderly man across the street even when she was running late... “Yeah, but what does that has to do with anything?”

“You helping that person showed great consideration that most people do not have these day. He decided to select you as the next miraculous holder because of that simple act, which is why you received the earrings on your bed.” The girl glanced at the red polka dotted earrings discarded on the edge of her bed and raised an eyebrow. “Errm...great...? But I don’t even wear earrings, so...” She trailed off. C’mon, it really doesn’t fit her masculine style. She always worn majority of her clothing monotone with rusted color, and not to mention her hair doesn’t exactly compliment those earrings, anyway. 

“Amber, those earrings weren’t given to you simply for no reason. You will be gifted with supernatural abilities far greater than you can fathom!” Wait. How does this thing- okay, kwami or whatever, knows her name? “Well, I can give them to Krystal or Sulli. They’ll love it, and I’m just a simple girl who’s trying to survive life right now.” A fleeting thought made Amber pause. Abilities? This was already surreal enough as it is, but becoming a superhero? That’s one of her hidden desires she’d kill for whenever she’s reading Marvel comics. Imagine that, a rookie girl like herself trying to attain fame while adjusting to a new country and trying to maintain her own identity while fighting crime. Sounds like an interesting plotline, but still, none of this makes sense and everything’s happening all too suddenly.

“Amber...” The kwami flew towards her so abruptly that the poor girl nearly went cross-eyed. “This is serious. This is not a dream, nor a hallucination. I am a hundred percent real as any other person with the exception that I am not a human being.”

...She must’ve lost it.

“No Amber, you did not lose anything. In fact, I believe taking the role as a new Ladybug will greatly boost your confidence level as a person and find characteristics that you yourself might be surprised by!” Everything felt too unrealistic to be considered as definite truth, and yet the more Amber thought about it, the more she felt curious. However, within the midst of curiosity held deep reluctance. She wasn’t exactly popular by male standards and many people were not fond of her presence... Accepting this offer will only add more responsibilities and insanity to her already chaotic life.

Even so, the child within herself sprang free at the possibility of being more than average. Someone... important. With a sigh, Amber folded her arms and gave the ladybug a careful look, “Okay, fine.” She said, “I have no idea what’s going on and I can’t say I believe you at the moment, but uh, I’ll pretend that I do.” She’s hoping to wake up an minute now... any minute...

“Great! I’ll tell you all about it. But first, you need to wear those earrings.”

“No.”

“Amber...! You have to wear the earrings.”

“Over my dead body. Do I look like an ultra feminine Sailor Moon to you?” Amber showcased her point by flashing her rugged black hoodie, cap and shorts.

“Why would it matter when inner beauty is key?”

“...No.”

“You won’t be able to transform until you wear them.”  

“Well, I can have my roommate wear them unless really needed.” She didn’t want to deal with the hassle of wearing accessories. It’s already painful enough being coated with pounds of foundation and makeup... “Devastation is near, and if we allow him to destroy the country then it’s only a matter of time before he conquers the entirety of this world!” Tikki exclaimed. Although too many questions invaded the girl’s mind, but she didn’t allow the thoughts to fester as she slowly placed each earring into her ears with a dreaded sigh.  

“Okay, fine... what now?”

“Oh Amber, this is a wonderful progression! I am so happy you have accepted your new role as Ladybug. Let me explain that in order to activate the miraculous is to call me by my name, and say, “Spots on!” And I’ll transfer into the earrings to give you power.” Amber pursed her lips in thought.

“So, you want me to say it now?” Her roommates and managers is literally across the room, and here she is talking to a mystical ladybug? Okay. Tikki nodded eagerly, “It would be the first stepping stone to greater things. I’m sorry for rushing you, but I thought maybe this way could influence you...” 

“Sure, I guess.” She felt a little embarrassed about this, but...”Tikki, spots on...- woah!” Amber didn’t get the chance to blink before a streak of red zipped across the room and into her small pair of red earrings.

🐺 Sehun / Wolf 🐺

He’s tired. Very tired. So tired it feels like sleep is clinging onto his body similar to that of hungry leeches. All he wanted to do is plop onto the bedsheets and pass out, but he knew his manager would not approve of him sleeping without at least taking a shower. Well, it’s not like he usually sleep without showing regardless. But whatever. God, what time is it, anyways? Sehun glanced at the clock and nearly did a double take. Crap, is it eleven o’clock already? He could’ve done other things if it wasn’t for his hyungs nagging him to stay...

The boy closed the door behind him with a sigh. His baggy clothes felt suddenly sticky and wet along with his stringy bleak hair falling between his face.

Ew.

A loud growl rippled through Sehun’s stomach as he frowned. Neither did he realize how hungry he was until he walked towards the kitchen in absolute happiness, only to then find the refrigerator completely empty. “Great...” Sehun grumbled as he closed the refrigerator door, then whipped out his cell to send his hyungs a text to pick up some more food. He checked the cabinets to find a few packets of ramen noodles stashed near the corner, so it’ll have to do for now. In the meantime, he should probably prepare for bed. After quick shower, the young boy went to the kitchen to prepare some ramen. While waiting for the water to boil, Sehun gazed at his cell phone for any response from his friends. Well, guess he say former friends now. After being scouted by SM and accepting their offer, none of his friends have been supportive of the decision, and perhaps it wasn’t the best choice he made. Even so, Sehun figured that maybe it’ll all work out in the end.

Guess not.

He didn’t mean to cause a rift within the friendships, but none of his friends had responded to him lately, so... it kind of hurts. Maybe this is his entire fault. He just wanted to be something more than...- nevermind. He sat his cellphone on the countertops and snatched the black box laying idly on the table. He happened to find it on his bed this morning and never bothered to opened it. Perhaps one of his hyungs gave it to him as a gift? Curiosity peaked his interest as he opened the box.

It’s a watch. Looks pretty neat. Sehun looked at the object a little more until a flash of bright light blinded him. With a high pitched squeak the teenager dropped the box. What was that? Did a light bulb blowed? He felt a little embarrassed for responding rather... badly, but the moment he glanced at the counter something completely grasped his attention.

Wolf. Thing. Flying?

No. Nevermind.

...And yet Sehun cannot look away.

It’s staring at him with those bright yellow eyes. Nope. Not real- “are you going to continue staring at me like that or do I have to introduce myself?”

“What the absolute fuc-”

“Ah ah ah...” The thing tsked, “No swearing within the perimeter of my presence, please.” Did- did it just talk? Sehun gawked at the flying animal thing as fear suddenly gripped him tightly. He couldn’t move, and even if he wanted to speak no words seemed to utter from his mouth.

“Let’s get things settle here. My name is Apollo, and I am a kwami god gifted with tremendous power of power and protection. I shall be your new guardian since you have opened the box. And that,” it pointed at the watch, “Will be your new miraculous to wear in order to transform into the appropriate hero.”

...What?

“W-what- why are you talking?!” OhmygodIamseeingshitwhatthehellisgoingon- “This is a trick, right? Someone’s pulling my leg...”

“No legs are pulled here, child.”

“Why are you talking!”

“Am I not allowed to speak?”

“No! I mean, I don’t even know what you are-”

“I just stated that I am a kwami.”

“Like I know what the hell that is!”

“Perhaps if you opened your mind and closed your mouth, then you can finally comprehend my words.” The thing ( yes, thing. ) retorted. Sehun felt immediate irritation creeping on him the longer he stood. This is severe amount of BS someone did, and whoever the person is Sehun hopes that person’s ass gets kicked to another dimension.

“We kwamis are presented to people who carry heroic qualities about themselves. Well, unfortunately, not all of the kwamis per-say, but most of us. However, there are people who abuse kwamis for self gratification, so that is why the master guardian shields all miraculouses from the public.”

“Okay, great, nice, but can you find someone else to harass? I’m trying to eat and go to bed, so-.” A second later, the wolf thing hovered directly in front of Sehun with its topaz eyes searing into his soul, “You. Are. Appointed.” It emphasized its husky voice on each word, “Do you honestly believe I am going to waste my infinite time with an obnoxious human being like yourself? Please, if that’s the case then I would’ve been freed from this unnecessary obligation!” It barked, “But of course, I have my mandated responsibilities just like you humans do, and so, it is not an option for you to reject me.”

“What are you saying?” Why does it feel normal talking to this thing? The thing released a long drawn out sigh. It backed away from Sehun slowly and stood on the table, “Me Apollo. Me a kwami. I give powers. This? MIR-AC-ULOUS...” Sehun growled. This piece of crap is obviously insulting his intelligence, isn’t it? “Okay, whatever, stop it.”

“I’ll cease to belittle your minuscule intelligence once you grasp the basics of communication. Oh, and by the way... do you happen to have tea? Goodness, after decades of being trapped in that miraculous I’m rather famished!” It flew in and out of the cabinets until a box of green tea packets fell on top of Sehun’s head.

And here they are at the table with a bowl of ramen and a cup of tea. How did this even happen? Honestly, at this point Sehun cannot even remember...

“So, that watch is actually some mystically enhanced jewelry piece?”

“Ah, not quite. Most jewelry pieces are small and dainty. I take pride of this watch! An enormous progression of history if I must say so myself.”

“Right... I’m going to be a...?”

“Miraculous wielder and protector of other active miraculouses. An occurring through divine or supernatural intervention, or manifesting such power. ”

“Kind of like a shounen hero?”

“Whatever you see fit.” The kwami, Apollo, stated before lapping up the bits of hot green tea. Sehun laid back within his chair as he allowed the information to process. Hm...hero, right? It reminds him of those typical shounen- well, moreso shoujo animes where there’s tiny talking animals introducing a new power to the main characters. Perhaps it’s the same thing with these uh, kwamis, right? Actually, why is he becoming comfortable with this? He should’ve called the cops on this little freak and have him experimented on. But then again, he’s not that heartless...

“Alright, whatever, fine. I’ll accept.”

Apollo looked up in surprise, “Hm, quite an immediate response. Are you sure you don’t need anymore time?” He asked.

“Nah. Honestly, I got nothing to lose besides my already draining sanity. And besides, it’ll give me something better to do than train. Didn’t you say you weren’t going to take “no” for an answer, anyway?”

“Hm, indeed. I had expected a series of denial and rejection from you, but I was wrong.”

“Great.” Sehun removed the watch out of the box before fiddling with it. He noticed the intricate designs encased around what appears to be a figured wolf within the center. The roman numerals rotated around the wolf with little and big hand aligned at twelve. Eventually, he slipped the watch onto his wrist and relished the coolness of it.

“Are you interested in testing your abilities?”

“I don’t see why not.” If he’s going to become one, might as well get used to this. Then again, he’ll have to see once he wakes up tomorrow.

“Very well. Then call me by name, and then say, “Howl through.” I will enter into the-”

“Apollo, howl through.”

“But I’m not-finished!” The poor wolf kwami did not receive the chance to finish his sentence before he was sucked into the watch.

🐱 Jungkook / Kwan Kat 🐱

As far as Jungkook can remember it’s been exactly seven months, twenty-eight days, thirty-two hours, six minutes and forty seconds since Ladybug and Wolf appeared on the scene. The moment he knew that there’s something more than life itself. He became a huge fan of the heroes and started a Naver fansite dedicated to the two, taking up majority of his time just like rookie idol training and school. Perhaps even more than school itself.

Whenever an attack happens in the city, Jungkook quickly excuses himself and whips out his camera to take good quality photos of the duo and akuma. On most conspiracy websites, it’s been theorized that akumas originate far from the city... a possible manipulator of some sort? It’s recognized that the perpetrator feeds off toxic emotions of anger and sadness. It kind of reminds him of those villains where they attack from a distance, almost as if...

“He’s using us as pawns.” Everyone groans around him.

Jungkook frowned, “What? It’s the only way possible. After all, no one have managed to find the culprit behind these possessions?” He can’t help it! There’s so many possibilities out there, and the only resource he has is Ladybug and Wolf. Note to self: make sure to interview Ladybug and Wolf soon... “C’mon Jungkook, there’s other things to talk about besides them. Can’t you see they’re way out of our league? Let them handle it.” Jin said.

“I know, but...”

“But nothing! You’ve been talking about it nonstop since the incident happened months ago. Do yourself and everyone a favor and stop. You probably think they’ll bend their knees for someone as average as us? Yah, give me a break!” Yoongi scoffed as he scooted out of his chair. The other rookies glanced at the round table as Yoongi continued to lecture Jungkook, “I have yet to see them interview anyone, and frankly, I doubt they care about us, let alone you. They believe they are so special because they have powers? Yeah, no.”

“...They...have normal identities, too...” Jungkook shrunk in his seat slowly as Yoongi relentlessly berated him until the elder walked away in frustration, leaving the poor boy alone in silence. With a sigh, the maknae pushed away his food and left the table. He could feel the anger rising in his chest reflecting over the incident. The further he focused on it, a sense of dark energy radiated from his mind...

They’re wrong.

He cannot be moved. Or else it’ll consume him, too.

.

Is he dreaming? No, he can’t possibly...

There stood Ladybug and Wolf. His heroes. On top of the balcony asking for him, Jeon Jungkook, to help them personally? The boy wiped his eyes as he edged closer outside the window. But honestly, what can he do? He doesn’t have much to offer them, let alone anyone else, so...-

“We’re not asking if you’re physically capable. We’re interested in your willingness to help us.” The wolf boy stated.

“B-but what can I do? I wanna help... though, why are you guys asking me? There’s so many people out there that’s better than me! I’m just a freaking fanboy!” And everyone teases him about it at school. Ugh... just thinking about the humiliation yesterday still recoils deep in his stomach. He’s not good at talking, either! Won’t he just embarrass them if he decides to help? Jungkook was lost in his own thoughts he never noticed Ladybug closing in on his personal space until he looked up.

“True. We could find someone better, but a friend of mines gave me a recommendation about you. I think if you stopped doubting yourself, then you can go far. So, are you interested or not?”

Is he? This might be his one time offer, so- “yes!” Yes, YES! Jungkook nodded as Ladybug smiled, “Good. Here, you’ll need this.” The heroine pulled out a tiny black box and handed it to the teen. Without a second thought Jungkook opened the box, only for a spark of light to startle him, “Woah!”  The light disappeared, and the boy was met with a flying black kitty with protruding green eyes.

“Ah! I finally awaken...!” The little kitten yawned, “Geeze, tell that master he needs to give us play time. Being locked in that box can surely strain my body. I don’t have nine lives for no reason, you know?” Jungkook looked at the cat in confusion, “Uh...” he didn’t know what to exactly think, but before he could voice his concerns the cat looked at him nonchalantly.

“Name’s Plagg. Kwami here that gives powers of destruction and uh, I like cheese. You know? Typical hero stuff.” The cat flew around him in what seems to be skepticism, “Hm... You look pretty decent for a fifteen year old boy. I’ll give you credit. Anyways, wear that black ring and I’ll give you my powers!”

“I-”

“Hey, not trying to rush, but we actually have to deal with some batshit akumas screwing everyone over, so can you speed it up?”

“Wolf! You could at least wait another minute.” Ladybug snapped at her partner. Jungkook quickly pulled out the ring and slid it on his index finger.

“Now what?” Excitement flourished through his veins as his heart grew erratic by the second.

“Now you say my name, “Claws out!” you’ll be the next Kwan Kat.” The cat said. Jungkook glanced at Ladybug and Wolf with their expression reflected his own of eagerness and pride.

This is going to be amazing!

“Plagg, claws out!”

🦊 Jungyeon / Pako 🦊

Okay, so,

Jungyeon was suppose to be babysitting her cousins. Not fighting them. However, some shit happened while they were acting like the little shitheads they were and transformed into bigger shitheads. Of course, it’s terrifying to watch them destroy her house, and then proceed to destroy the outskirts of the city, so it’s pretty bad.

However.

Ladybug, Wolf and that new black cat dude is on the scene beating her cousins assess in ways that’s probably problematic if they weren’t demon creatures. It’s also disappointing that she’s stuck here trying to do something when in fact she’s unable to do anything. And then, she watched her cousins multiply. Two to four, four to eight and eight to sixteen. They’re like cells going through osmosis, they won’t stop! Okay, this is really bad. And it’s her fault! “Oh no... what am I suppose to do now?!” Jungyeon can’t stop panicking. How is she going to explain to her aunt about this situation? She’ll never be trusted again!

“Jungyeon!” Huh? She felt a pair of strong arms scoop underneath her legs and the poor girl found herself screaming on the top of her lungs.

“Shit! Quiet down will you?!” Wait, it’s the Wolf kid! Hop, leap, jump, Jungyeon found herself far away from the city as she saw Ladybug and that black cat. Wolf set her carefully on her feet and plopped a black box in her hand.

“Take it.”

“What the?” She was completely dumbfounded, but it didn’t take a blind man more than three seconds to piece together the information.

“You’re only borrowing it since I sense the necessity of it. After we’re finish you must return it back to us.” Ladybug stated.

“Oh, okay. This is where I become a hero, right?”

“Pretty much.”

Well, if you can’t beat them, join them. With a simple shrug, Jungyeon flipped open the box and watched a red fox appear from it.

“Hi! My name’s Trixx and-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Magical thing that give me powers. No time, gotta kick ass so sorry.”

The little fox folded its arms with a huff, “Well, rude much?” It muttered.

Jungyeon hooked the necklace around her neck, “I need a power up,” She beckoned.

“Ever heard so much of a ‘please’?”

“Please, and thanks.” A large explosion took everyone by surprise.

“Okay, fine. Just call my name and say, “Let’s pounce”-”

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

🐝 Lisa / Honii Bee 🐝

“Pollen, what do you think of this dress?”

“Hm...” Lisa watched the little bee observe her carefully, “Well, I think some pink would go nicely with it.” the kwami said.

“Very much true. I wear way too much yellow for my own good...” After finding her tiny friend a month ago, things been rather exciting for Lisa to say within the least. And she started loving the color yellow. Yellow outfits, yellow bedsheets, yellow jewelry and she even dyed her hair yellow. Unfortunately, her stylists demanded she changed her hair to red...

The obsession with the color yellow is disturbing everyone around her, but Lisa doesn’t see much of a problem. After all, it only embodies her friendship with the buzzing insect. Of course, she had to keep this friendship a complete secret. Maybe it’s a good thing she accidentally found that hair pin! “Come on Lisa, you don’t want to be late. You have to meet with your managers at the photo session today!” Pollen motioned the girl out the door before zipping into her yellow purse. 

Even when she could fight along side the miraculous team, she preferred going solo. Especially at night where she can be free than any other person...

Hehe.

🌌 Jimin / Feather Juno 🌌

He noticed.

He’s not that stupid.

The frequent absences, the piling excuses, the nervous body language.

If one thing Park Jimin knew it was understanding the minuscule details. Generally speaking, he would’ve confronted Jungkook long time ago, but he decided to wait patiently.

“Jimin-”

“I’m sure it can explain itself better than you can, Jungkook.” Was he pissed? Somewhat, but not quite. However, his patience was thinning and he’s tired of the lies.

“...I’m not suppose to tell anyone.”

“So you don’t trust me, huh?”

“That’s not it-”

“Sure sounds like it!” Okay, he lashed out. He didn’t mean to, but he couldn’t help it. Jimin watch the maknae cower beneath him as frustration nearly consumed him whole. “Why don’t you trust me? Am I not your friend? Your brother? Or... you don’t want to confide in your friends anymore?” He whispered. He felt hurt.

Jungkook remained tight lipped.

Fine then.

Jimin haven’t spoken to Jungkook since. And it’s only been what? Four days? Until that happened. And by that, Jimin means another akuma attack. It’s been a freaking year and he’s still not used to this. Regardless, Jimin found himself pressed against the fence by this apparent monster with its hot breath smothering his face.

Wow, guess this is how he’s going to die, huh? He haven’t even apologized yet...

A sudden force whipped the monster away and Jimin found himself on the muddy ground, inhaling large amounts of air as his lungs burned. He looked up to find a black cat with solid grey eyes staring at him, “Are you okay?” He asked.

“Y-yeah...- wait, where’s Jungkook? Ah! He’s still in there! I-I have to do something!” Jimin suddenly remembered.

He’s scared.

The young man pushed himself to his feet and tried to run, but the cat clad in black snatched him by the wrist.

“What are you doing? Let me go!:” Jimin practically screamed, and yet the cat shook his head, “Jungkook’s fine.”

“How do you know?! You know nothing of him!”

“Have you considered looking in front of you?”

...

No. That’s... that’s not possible... is it?

“It is, actually.” The cat smirked. And now looking at it, the features and hair, earrings and outfit seems to- “J-Jungkook?” Jimin stuttered.

He’s shocked.

“Yes. I was wondering how long it took you to figure it out.” The cat boy snickered and flicked his belt-like tail in amusement, “Just address me as Kwan Kat, and everything will be okay.”

.

It wasn’t okay.

It took Jimin a complete week to process things. Sure, he speculated many things, but he never concluded his maknae was Kwan Kat. Now it brought fears Jimin never knew existed within himself until now. Nightmares of his Jungkook dying a horrible death, and he wasn’t there to save him. Worse, Kwan Kat sacrificing his life to save him, when he has nothing to contribute to society. He couldn’t bear to face Jungkook, not now, and when he did...

“Hyung, you can’t tell me to give up my alternative lifestyle because it’s unsafe!”

“How can you willing risk your life knowing it could be your last? You have so much to live for!”

“And that’s why I’m living it. To protect everyone around me and-”

“Have you considered the possibility of dying a horrible death? Abandoning your friends and family because you wanted to play hero?”

“You see? This was the reason I couldn’t tell anyone, especially you, Jimin.” The words hurt worse than a knife’s dagger, but Jimin stood his ground.

“Fine, but you gotta bring me along with you.”

“What? No way.”

“I have to make sure nothing happens to you.”

“And what if something happened to you? Then I would’ve failed my job as protector.”

“Then... we can fight together.”

.

“Here.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a miraculous box. I asked Master Fu if I could borrow a miraculous, and it took a lot out of me just to make him budge. You can help on certain occasions just like Jungyeon, but it might not be often.” Jungkook placed the box inside Jimin’s hand, “I picked out a pendant because I felt like it suits you. So, you’re going to help me today. Don’t abuse it.” The maknae warned as the elder opened the box.

“Eep!” Jimin nearly dropped the box the moment light flashed, and out came a...? “Well, aren’t you a handsome young man!” the thing squeaked.

“What are you-”

“Kwami. Mystical god that bestows supernatural abilities. I see Jungkook decided to select me today, wee! It’s been eons since I last seen the world. Okay Jimin, ya ready for playtime?”

“Uh-”

“Alright kiddos, who woken me from my nap?” Plagg maneuvered out of Jungkook’s back pocket with a firm frown, “Kook, you better buy me more cheese today.”

“Ugh, you gotta be kidding me! I don’t have any money right now.” The boy whined in annoyance.

“Your problem, not mines. Oh, sup Dusuu, I didn’t see you there. Strange way to have our reunion.”

“Plagg, it’s great to see you again, brother!”

Okay.

This is... not normal. 

“Come on Jimin, I’ll tell you more about it.” Jungkook finished with a smile.

[elizabethcariasa]

Best Toys For Toddlers Ages 1-2

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I wanted to share with you all of the most used items for Otis at this age. He’s currently 23 months (OMG!!!!!!) but I started writing this at 22. But basically most of this stuff we have been using over the last year till now. Sharing a variety of things from toys, feeding, to home stuff. Hope you enjoy this break down!

INDOOR TOYS

Disney Pixar Cars Mini Racers Mack Transporter: Otis already had these mini cars and one day Blake came home with this truck. It stores the little cars and also makes for a big fun toy to push around.

IKEA 20 piece basic train set: My sister gave us some hand me down IKEA train set pieces and Otis LOVES to put these together himself. It’s been a great toy for independent play and we plan to get more for his birthday.

Magna-Tiles 32-Piece Clear Colors Set: These are epic! They were great for when Otis was closer to 1 because they were easier for him to grab and pick up. Obviously you need to monitor your play because of the magnets but this is something he has loved especially during quarantine. We have a metal coffee table so he uses it to stick the magnets too. Or the fridge. Or the garage door. Basically anything metal he will put them on.

LEGO DUPLO My First Number Train: For his first birthday he actually got this set and he has become OBSESSED with Duplo legos. It’s been a great toy for independent play and I love how creative he gets with them.

toy dyson vacuum: This was another first birthday toy that he still loves to this day. Every time I get out my adult sized dyson, he runs and grabs his and “helps” me clean the house.

Mega Bloks First Builders Classic Big Building Bag 80-Piece Set: This was another first birthday present that keeps on giving. I keep these with the Duplo legos and he plays with both. These are better for smaller kiddos and easier to put together closer to age 1.

Playskool Explore ‘N Grow Busy Gears: We bought this after watching him play with something similar at his Oma and Opa’s house. The gears move when you push the button so this is a good toy to keep them occupied.

Plan Toys Baby Walker: This was actually a first birthday gift from Oompa Toys and I am telling you he still loves it and he is almost 2. It’s pricey but its a 2-in-1 toy. Both a push car and you have all the blocks. Otis moves this from room to room and then plays with the blocks either inside or takes them out. He’s going to be using this for a while. He loves to build.

Tegu 24 Piece Set: These blocks are fun and different take on a magnets toy.

LEGO DUPLO Disney Frozen Toy Featuring Elsa and Olaf’s Tea Party: You know how obsessed Otis is with Frozen so we had to buy him Frozen Duplo lego set.

Magformers 30-pc. Rainbow Set: These magnets have also been a very popular quarantine toy for Otis. He uses them on our metal surfaces but also lines them up on the carpet. Again, we monitor closely because of the magnets but this is a MUST have toy.

Buckle Toys Buster Square: We call this toy, “Mr Buckles” HA! When we were actually going places, we would bring this in our diaper bag or in the car. I sometimes bring it on our walks so he can play with it.

Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Count & Rumble Piggy Bank: He has recently rediscovered this toy and it’s so cute.

Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet, 8″ HD display: This has been a recent game changer. Since Otis is now into screen time, it’s been fun to let him play on his own kid friendly tablet. What I love is that he can literally click anything in kid mode and he’s all in approved kid content that we load on there. A fun feature of this tablet is you can also use it in adult mode if you want to tap into apps like netflix etc. This one also comes with a great warranty incase you kid chucks this down the stairs and it breaks. I also love this case with it.

OUTDOOR TOYS

Evenflo Versatile Playspace Indoor/Outdoor Gate: This gate has been incredible. We actually bought 2 so it can stretch across our garage and have our garage door open and use our garage as a playroom. We have also used it in the backyard as a barrier for some social distance hang out during quarantine. It’s awesome because it modular so you can always buy more pieces or make it as big as you need it.

HEDGBOBO Music Bubble Lawn Mower Electronic Bubble Blowing Mover: This was a gift from a friend and I am telling you Otis is obsessed with this thing. He walks down the sidewalk with this little lawn mower and love that the bubbles can be turned on or off. You can take the handle off so it’s easy to store.

Fisher-Price® Lil’ Snoopy: We use this toy every day. Since Otis always wants to walk Lola and that is not always very productive… we put a regular dog lease on this toy and let him “walk his puppy” down the street and it allows him to have his own responsibility and gives him something to do so we can also successfully walk Lola to do her business. Love this toy so much.

Step 2 Up & Down Indoor Outdoor Roller Coaster Toy w/ Car: We got this for Otis’ first birthday and now, he’s really enjoying this for independent play time. He pushed the car up, pushes himself down. Slides down on his stomach… you know. The normal ways of using it. HA! SUCH a great bigger gift idea. These are hard to come by in stock.

Mickey Mouse Glowing Bubble Wand: We actually bought our bubble wand at Disney On Ice but this one looks identical. It has both lights and bubbles for when the bubble inevitably run out. Lol. Anything Disney can go no wrong.

Veer Cruiser: I often get asked if this wagon is really worth the hype. My honest answer is that yes it’s VERY expensive but we have gotten incredible use out of it. It has very rugged wheels which allows us to easily bring to the park, on grass, and even in the sand. Yes it’s still hard to pull on sand but the rugged wheels make it easier. A plus is there are so many really unique attachment options. We recently got the additional storage bucket to add on. If you are looking for something splurge worthy, I 100% cosign this. Another thing that is great is you can add adapters to add a car seat. So if you are in a two kid family, that could come in handy. It folds down super flat too so we easily stow it in our trunk. We love it! Also the snack tray is EPIC.

Little Tikes Toy Sports T-Ball Set: This is a newer toy because obviously we love baseball in this house and this is a bigger boy toy. He has been having fun and it doesn’t take up that much storage space.

Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Kids Pretend Play Fun Grocery Store Shopping Cart: I bought this at the beginning of quarantine and it’s an epic toy for walking around the neighborhood. It’s nice to give Otis a task when we are walking to keep him focused and moving in the direction I want him too. Toddler problems am I right!??! It’s great because he can throw another toy or two inside and it’s big enough if he abandons it, I can easily just pull it with one hand.

Step2 Whisper Ride II Kids Blue Ride On Push Car: One of daily used toys. Each day we take a walk together. He loves to ride in it and we have used it since he was 1 and will get even more use after 2.

BEDTIME

Halo Sleep sack: We have tried many sleep sacks and this is still our favorite. We have ones in different materials for different seasons but since we have A/C we like to use the fleece one since it’s nice and cool in the house. We put it on him backwards which at least helps a little in terms of him not taking it off. It’s been the best one we have found. They are just hard to find in the larger sizes. He is in the biggest size right now.

Slumberkins Sloth Snuggler: This is Otis’ prized possession. He calls his sloth his “love love” and he sleeps with it everynight. We introduced this when he was an infant for car seat rides etc before he started sleeping with it. I can’t say enough good things because they wash in the washing machine so well and I let them air dry and they are good as new. My recommendation is to buy 3 of any lovey you want to get for your child. So if you lose one you aren’t screwed. HA! Also keep cycling them so you can wear them evenly. I did not do this. Learn from my mistakes

Playskool Sesame Street Cookie Monster 10” Mini Plush: Cookie Monster is one of his loves in bed with him. This one is nice because its small.

Jellycat Bashful Turtle Stuffed Animal, Small: Otis loves his little turtle. The jellycat toys are so soft and I got him the tiny size since it’s easier to carry around and snuggle.

Hatch Rest + Sound Machine: By far one of my must haves from the newborn phase till now. I love this thing so much I have 3 of them in my house. 1 in his room, 1 outside of his room in the hallway to drown out any noise in the house, and 1 in our bedroom on my night stand because I got so used to the sounds when Otis was in his bassinet in our room. This newer version is pricer than the older but what is EPIC about it is that is has some reserve battery in it. So for instance, if the power goes out, the sound machine will stay on. EPIC. I have convinced many people to buy this including my sister. I had forgotten it at her house and her sons borrowed it and loved it so much she bought them. It also has time to wake functionality which we have not used yet but hope to in the future.

EATING

Skiphop Zoo 11 oz. Insulated Food Jar: Love these insulated food jars when toting around lunch or dinner for Otis.

Summer Infant Pop ‘N Sit Portable Infant Booster Seat: This is a must have item! We have gotten so much use out of this portable high chair even just in our own house. We use it for outdoor picnics and the detachable tray makes it great to kind of contain them in one place when you don’t have your highchair etc. It’s easily washable and it also can be attached to another big chair to serve as highchair height at a table. I have a slightly different version but buy this if you like it it’s been sold out.

Skiphop Zoo 7.5 oz. Snack Cup: These snack cups are like gold in our house. I constantly have at least 2 filled with goodies for Otis and love that they have a cap that closes so things are leaking out everywhere.

Inglesina Fast Table Chair: This is our current fav high chair. I LOVED my large high chair from stokke but one day Otis started fighting us to sit in ANYTHING. We were able to eventually get him to sit in this clip on chair so now we have two. One on our kitchen island and one on our dining room table. The best thing is that while the instructions don’t recommend it being machine washable, I was reading a couple blogs of people that put theirs in the washing machine. I tried it and holy crap it looks like new after! I just let it hang and air dry. We also used to take this to restaurants when Otis was too young to sit in their highchairs as well as taken to hotels etc.

Inglesina Fast Table Dining Tray: You NEED to get this tray if you buy the chair. Keeps clean up easier so food doesn’t cake under the handles. It’s easy to loosen and clean under but this helps prevent that as well as being something we can easily remove when mealtime is over. Otis tends to want to rip his plate up when he is saying he is all done so its easy to just remove this tray and get it out of the way.

UNICOO- Bamboo Height Adjustable Kids Learning Stool: I always get asked about this kitchen stool and the white is sold out right now but here is the wood version. What I love about it is that it is pretty compact because we have a pretty small kitchen. It’s been epic for Otis to be at the counter and help prep meals, have a snack, help make my morning coffee etc. It also allows him to be a menace and mess with literally everything but I love this tower so much. No regrets!

OXO Tot Transitions Straw Cup: We tried a bunch of sippy cups and this is the one we have used and loved when we transitioned him off the bottle to a sippy straw cup. It’s relatively easy to clean. But let’s be honest, any straw is annoying to clean. They do leak if there is milk in the straw but it’s the best option we have found so far.

Lollaland® Lollacup 10 oz. Sippy Cup: This is our #1 water cup. With the handles it’s easy for Otis to grab one handed when he is filthy eating dinner. Lollaland makes such great kids feeding stuff and we own quite a few of their products. This is by far my fav and most used water cup.

Bumkins Disney Silicone Grip Dish, Suction Plate: I love all the bumkins suction plates. They REALLY stick. You know we are Disney obsessed so this Mickey plate is in heavy rotation.

Bumkins Baby Fork and Spoon Set: These are the forks and spoons we are using for Otis right now. They are short enough to make it easy for him to eat.

Shop toddler favorites below:

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Best Toys For Toddlers Ages 1-2

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I wanted to share with you all of the most used items for Otis at this age. He’s currently 23 months (OMG!!!!!!) but I started writing this at 22. But basically most of this stuff we have been using over the last year till now. Sharing a variety of things from toys, feeding, to home stuff. Hope you enjoy this break down!

INDOOR TOYS

Disney Pixar Cars Mini Racers Mack Transporter: Otis already had these mini cars and one day Blake came home with this truck. It stores the little cars and also makes for a big fun toy to push around.

IKEA 20 piece basic train set: My sister gave us some hand me down IKEA train set pieces and Otis LOVES to put these together himself. It’s been a great toy for independent play and we plan to get more for his birthday.

Magna-Tiles 32-Piece Clear Colors Set: These are epic! They were great for when Otis was closer to 1 because they were easier for him to grab and pick up. Obviously you need to monitor your play because of the magnets but this is something he has loved especially during quarantine. We have a metal coffee table so he uses it to stick the magnets too. Or the fridge. Or the garage door. Basically anything metal he will put them on.

LEGO DUPLO My First Number Train: For his first birthday he actually got this set and he has become OBSESSED with Duplo legos. It’s been a great toy for independent play and I love how creative he gets with them.

toy dyson vacuum: This was another first birthday toy that he still loves to this day. Every time I get out my adult sized dyson, he runs and grabs his and “helps” me clean the house.

Mega Bloks First Builders Classic Big Building Bag 80-Piece Set: This was another first birthday present that keeps on giving. I keep these with the Duplo legos and he plays with both. These are better for smaller kiddos and easier to put together closer to age 1.

Playskool Explore ‘N Grow Busy Gears: We bought this after watching him play with something similar at his Oma and Opa’s house. The gears move when you push the button so this is a good toy to keep them occupied.

Plan Toys Baby Walker: This was actually a first birthday gift from Oompa Toys and I am telling you he still loves it and he is almost 2. It’s pricey but its a 2-in-1 toy. Both a push car and you have all the blocks. Otis moves this from room to room and then plays with the blocks either inside or takes them out. He’s going to be using this for a while. He loves to build.

Tegu 24 Piece Set: These blocks are fun and different take on a magnets toy.

LEGO DUPLO Disney Frozen Toy Featuring Elsa and Olaf’s Tea Party: You know how obsessed Otis is with Frozen so we had to buy him Frozen Duplo lego set.

Magformers 30-pc. Rainbow Set: These magnets have also been a very popular quarantine toy for Otis. He uses them on our metal surfaces but also lines them up on the carpet. Again, we monitor closely because of the magnets but this is a MUST have toy.

Buckle Toys Buster Square: We call this toy, “Mr Buckles” HA! When we were actually going places, we would bring this in our diaper bag or in the car. I sometimes bring it on our walks so he can play with it.

Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Count & Rumble Piggy Bank: He has recently rediscovered this toy and it’s so cute.

Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet, 8″ HD display: This has been a recent game changer. Since Otis is now into screen time, it’s been fun to let him play on his own kid friendly tablet. What I love is that he can literally click anything in kid mode and he’s all in approved kid content that we load on there. A fun feature of this tablet is you can also use it in adult mode if you want to tap into apps like netflix etc. This one also comes with a great warranty incase you kid chucks this down the stairs and it breaks. I also love this case with it.

OUTDOOR TOYS

Evenflo Versatile Playspace Indoor/Outdoor Gate: This gate has been incredible. We actually bought 2 so it can stretch across our garage and have our garage door open and use our garage as a playroom. We have also used it in the backyard as a barrier for some social distance hang out during quarantine. It’s awesome because it modular so you can always buy more pieces or make it as big as you need it.

HEDGBOBO Music Bubble Lawn Mower Electronic Bubble Blowing Mover: This was a gift from a friend and I am telling you Otis is obsessed with this thing. He walks down the sidewalk with this little lawn mower and love that the bubbles can be turned on or off. You can take the handle off so it’s easy to store.

Fisher-Price® Lil’ Snoopy: We use this toy every day. Since Otis always wants to walk Lola and that is not always very productive… we put a regular dog lease on this toy and let him “walk his puppy” down the street and it allows him to have his own responsibility and gives him something to do so we can also successfully walk Lola to do her business. Love this toy so much.

Step 2 Up & Down Indoor Outdoor Roller Coaster Toy w/ Car: We got this for Otis’ first birthday and now, he’s really enjoying this for independent play time. He pushed the car up, pushes himself down. Slides down on his stomach… you know. The normal ways of using it. HA! SUCH a great bigger gift idea. These are hard to come by in stock.

Mickey Mouse Glowing Bubble Wand: We actually bought our bubble wand at Disney On Ice but this one looks identical. It has both lights and bubbles for when the bubble inevitably run out. Lol. Anything Disney can go no wrong.

Veer Cruiser: I often get asked if this wagon is really worth the hype. My honest answer is that yes it’s VERY expensive but we have gotten incredible use out of it. It has very rugged wheels which allows us to easily bring to the park, on grass, and even in the sand. Yes it’s still hard to pull on sand but the rugged wheels make it easier. A plus is there are so many really unique attachment options. We recently got the additional storage bucket to add on. If you are looking for something splurge worthy, I 100% cosign this. Another thing that is great is you can add adapters to add a car seat. So if you are in a two kid family, that could come in handy. It folds down super flat too so we easily stow it in our trunk. We love it! Also the snack tray is EPIC.

Little Tikes Toy Sports T-Ball Set: This is a newer toy because obviously we love baseball in this house and this is a bigger boy toy. He has been having fun and it doesn’t take up that much storage space.

Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Kids Pretend Play Fun Grocery Store Shopping Cart: I bought this at the beginning of quarantine and it’s an epic toy for walking around the neighborhood. It’s nice to give Otis a task when we are walking to keep him focused and moving in the direction I want him too. Toddler problems am I right!??! It’s great because he can throw another toy or two inside and it’s big enough if he abandons it, I can easily just pull it with one hand.

Step2 Whisper Ride II Kids Blue Ride On Push Car: One of daily used toys. Each day we take a walk together. He loves to ride in it and we have used it since he was 1 and will get even more use after 2.

BEDTIME

Halo Sleep sack: We have tried many sleep sacks and this is still our favorite. We have ones in different materials for different seasons but since we have A/C we like to use the fleece one since it’s nice and cool in the house. We put it on him backwards which at least helps a little in terms of him not taking it off. It’s been the best one we have found. They are just hard to find in the larger sizes. He is in the biggest size right now.

Slumberkins Sloth Snuggler: This is Otis’ prized possession. He calls his sloth his “love love” and he sleeps with it everynight. We introduced this when he was an infant for car seat rides etc before he started sleeping with it. I can’t say enough good things because they wash in the washing machine so well and I let them air dry and they are good as new. My recommendation is to buy 3 of any lovey you want to get for your child. So if you lose one you aren’t screwed. HA! Also keep cycling them so you can wear them evenly. I did not do this. Learn from my mistakes

Playskool Sesame Street Cookie Monster 10” Mini Plush: Cookie Monster is one of his loves in bed with him. This one is nice because its small.

Jellycat Bashful Turtle Stuffed Animal, Small: Otis loves his little turtle. The jellycat toys are so soft and I got him the tiny size since it’s easier to carry around and snuggle.

Hatch Rest + Sound Machine: By far one of my must haves from the newborn phase till now. I love this thing so much I have 3 of them in my house. 1 in his room, 1 outside of his room in the hallway to drown out any noise in the house, and 1 in our bedroom on my night stand because I got so used to the sounds when Otis was in his bassinet in our room. This newer version is pricer than the older but what is EPIC about it is that is has some reserve battery in it. So for instance, if the power goes out, the sound machine will stay on. EPIC. I have convinced many people to buy this including my sister. I had forgotten it at her house and her sons borrowed it and loved it so much she bought them. It also has time to wake functionality which we have not used yet but hope to in the future.

EATING

Skiphop Zoo 11 oz. Insulated Food Jar: Love these insulated food jars when toting around lunch or dinner for Otis.

Summer Infant Pop ‘N Sit Portable Infant Booster Seat: This is a must have item! We have gotten so much use out of this portable high chair even just in our own house. We use it for outdoor picnics and the detachable tray makes it great to kind of contain them in one place when you don’t have your highchair etc. It’s easily washable and it also can be attached to another big chair to serve as highchair height at a table. I have a slightly different version but buy this if you like it it’s been sold out.

Skiphop Zoo 7.5 oz. Snack Cup: These snack cups are like gold in our house. I constantly have at least 2 filled with goodies for Otis and love that they have a cap that closes so things are leaking out everywhere.

Inglesina Fast Table Chair: This is our current fav high chair. I LOVED my large high chair from stokke but one day Otis started fighting us to sit in ANYTHING. We were able to eventually get him to sit in this clip on chair so now we have two. One on our kitchen island and one on our dining room table. The best thing is that while the instructions don’t recommend it being machine washable, I was reading a couple blogs of people that put theirs in the washing machine. I tried it and holy crap it looks like new after! I just let it hang and air dry. We also used to take this to restaurants when Otis was too young to sit in their highchairs as well as taken to hotels etc.

Inglesina Fast Table Dining Tray: You NEED to get this tray if you buy the chair. Keeps clean up easier so food doesn’t cake under the handles. It’s easy to loosen and clean under but this helps prevent that as well as being something we can easily remove when mealtime is over. Otis tends to want to rip his plate up when he is saying he is all done so its easy to just remove this tray and get it out of the way.

UNICOO- Bamboo Height Adjustable Kids Learning Stool: I always get asked about this kitchen stool and the white is sold out right now but here is the wood version. What I love about it is that it is pretty compact because we have a pretty small kitchen. It’s been epic for Otis to be at the counter and help prep meals, have a snack, help make my morning coffee etc. It also allows him to be a menace and mess with literally everything but I love this tower so much. No regrets!

OXO Tot Transitions Straw Cup: We tried a bunch of sippy cups and this is the one we have used and loved when we transitioned him off the bottle to a sippy straw cup. It’s relatively easy to clean. But let’s be honest, any straw is annoying to clean. They do leak if there is milk in the straw but it’s the best option we have found so far.

Lollaland® Lollacup 10 oz. Sippy Cup: This is our #1 water cup. With the handles it’s easy for Otis to grab one handed when he is filthy eating dinner. Lollaland makes such great kids feeding stuff and we own quite a few of their products. This is by far my fav and most used water cup.

Bumkins Disney Silicone Grip Dish, Suction Plate: I love all the bumkins suction plates. They REALLY stick. You know we are Disney obsessed so this Mickey plate is in heavy rotation.

Bumkins Baby Fork and Spoon Set: These are the forks and spoons we are using for Otis right now. They are short enough to make it easy for him to eat.

Shop toddler favorites below:

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The case of one Song Hanbin, youth lost in the depths of countryside quaintness and simple delights. A 27-year-old spending days in the small suburbs of Muhan as a spiritual guide to Muhan’s cult leader, an upstanding citizen like many others in town. An unremarkable little story that takes odd turns when you take a second look. Because, in Muhan, nothing as it seems. In Muhan, you must trust no one.

        Song Hanbin is one with the vertigo.

CONTENT WARNING.

Religious themes, mentions of cults.

THE STORY.

he’s an enigma, a shroud of mist in the distance, all the questions and none of the answers. where his life has been prior to muhan is a hot controversy, his answer changing every time someone asks, and few ever know what he’s done the day before, much less what he did years before. some speculate he came from old money, had inherited a business, a name, and sold it all to live very comfortably in the countryside. some whisper that he’s a foreigner who possessed a genie in a bottle - how else did someone so young earn such devoted acolytes, wealth, credibility if not by the influence of a djinn? all of it was ridiculous, all of it it was true by the very nature of rumors, but here was the truest truth: he was born knowing the taste of dirt. how it felt on his hands and between his toes when he dug at the ground for scraps and roots to eat and bones to suck on, what it was like to sleep like a dog. he was a boy forsaken, a boy who learned how to run before he could walk. hanbin’s family was no better, they’d all been born neglected, forced to become scavengers to survive, and they were some of the many invisible undesirables of the forgotten shantytowns in the countryside of korea. while other children spent their days in the sun, hanbin and his siblings traveled from street corner to street corner, pickpocketing slim pickings and selling their meager bounty to buy their meal for the day, teaching themselves to make it last just short of a week. it was a miserable existence, being born to die in the gutter, and so dismal that he could not even imagine a better future to hope for. with hanbin, and all nameless street urchins, there were no false suppositions, no daydreams, no ambition, no sights beyond what was in front of him - only resigned acceptance.

supposedly.

but resilience was an unspoken virtue - no one cared for an urchin with an iron will until he was already rich - then it was a story to be retold over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres; nothing like a tale of poverty to whet one’s appetite. but he’d never give them the satisfaction of knowing how desperately his grubby little heart hoped to possess something all his own, not to sell for food, but a single trinket of sentiment, to reaffirm his humanity, that he wasn’t just born to die. it was this pride that spurred him to abandon the only family he’s ever known, hitchhiking his way to the city - dirty wealth was easier to come by in the thick of neon lights and velveteen pleasure rather than pastoral destitution. the work he did could not be spoken about in polite company, but he built up his own income, had the self restraint not to blow it on something short-term or shallow - he hated the work. made his skin crawl with the acid he imagined pouring on himself, and he was sure to to put it behind him as quickly as he could - he left abruptly, as good as a shapeshifting nomad - his image of himself in the city didn’t suit him, and so he adopted another one. a pious one - a man on a pilgrimage, a saint, a prophet with literal visions of the lord himself. but prophets were ignored in the big city - there were dozens of them on every street corner panhandling for some generosity, and if hanbin wanted to make his mark, it would be in the countryside, the rural towns and sleepy villages that time forgot that he’d have to supplant himself as savior. he went first to his home village and met with his family once more, telling them and his neighbors within the village that he’d left to go on a pilgrimage of sorts to a monastery where he’d experienced a religion conversion and epiphany and touted himself as a holy man.

they were skeptical - but when his prayers starter bringing them answers, curing their ailments, kept storms at bay, they began to believe in miracles - they began to believe in him. perhaps the healing was really the power of prayer - or perhaps leaving their health to another power led them to relax and get the rest they needed. perhaps it was the single unmarked pill he’d offer at the end of the prayer (oftentimes simply over the counter acetaminophen or ibuprofen or diphenhydramine he’d brought from the city). perhaps the storms’ changing paths was merely coincidence. it didn’t matter. their belief in him gave him power, gave him clout, and he traveled the countryside like this, a nomadic prophet, performing prayers and miracles, gathering acolytes and believers - it’s a strange power, that of a holy man, to grab a throng by their hearts and feel them twist between his fingers.  but it’s not enough. the common lore that floats around muhan now is that hanbin had found his way to busan where it was known that a very prominent political figure - some say the mayor, some say a council member - had a child sick from a terrible  illness and had heard of the holy man traipsing across the countryside working miracles and, out of desperation and perhaps thoroughness, invited him to come pray with him, for the child. the story goes that the next day, the child is healed, the politician is grateful, and hanbin is lauded. the politician rewards him with wealth beyond imagine, his modern day genie, and he invests wisely and, perhaps with divine intervention, grows into something great. his path takes him to muhan, drawn to the rumors and sleepy small town intrigue where he would be a giant of a man, and he supplants himself into the prestigious community, nestling himself into a role that was carved for him. this was how the story went and ended, neat and tidy and predictable, and it was the story he told in polite company, to outsiders, to waitresses who asked and to the wandering eyes who found him.

how he came to be father hanbin.

THE TWIST.

but neat stories are better known as fairy tales. there was no magic genie, no politician - he’d come to busan as a man with a wealth of reputation and acolytes, but not much else, certainly not tangible wealth that would open the doors he truly wanted - religious clout, as romantic as it was, would never hold up to money. he’d heard of a rather peculiar cult of tycoons and heirs and ceos who worshipped a golden devil in busan and envied them furiously - for as long as there was a step for him to climb, a door closed to him, he could never be satisfied.

there’s a man who he knows to carry the key he seeks. the spiritual guide to the cult leader, obscenely rich and nefarious, a wicked man but no more wicked than hanbin, and perhaps that was his flaw. finding him on his way home was easy, dispatching was easier - hanbin still remembers the frantic beating of a pulse fighting for air and life beneath his fingers, how very much like ripe fruit the poor man resembled with his face turning blue, then purple, then blue again before he went slack in hanbin’s hands. how hard it’d been storming something awful the night he dumped the body into the nakdong river, how it’d surely dump the corpse into the south sea before the night was over. then luck struck twice - the spiritual guide was old-fashioned enough to keep a cache of solid gold in his home under lock and key - the literal key to wealth was on his person, which hanbin had snatched before dumping it. how fortuitous. it was easy still to stage it as if the man had taken his treasure and ran off into the night - he was no angel, after all, he knew it and the community he served knew it well - his disappearance raised little hubbub and was forgotten within a month.

hanbin, however, was savvy enough to waltz into the cult so soon after their key figure disappeared. he took his time, invested his newfound wealth and built it to be greater than anything he’d ever seen - this much, at least, was true. attracted organic attention with shows of philanthropy across busan until he was impossible to ignore.

“i’ve heard he’s some tech genius who’s sold his company at twenty-four. he’s retired now, isn’t that right? so young, my goodness.”

“i heard he’s a millionaire who’s a born again christian. invests his money real smart and donates the extra to the poor.”

“he’s a prophet alright. at least when it comes to stocks. maybe it’s divine wisdom. maybe god’s a millionaire too.”

it’s a year before he approaches the cult - or rather, they approach him - under guise, of course, and through implicit words and half codes. but their intent - or rather, their invitation is clear.

it’s another two years before he rises through the ranks as spiritual guide and makes the move to muhan - truly his holiness has granted him his prosperity. same practice - different deity.

[artificialqueens]

Dina’s Fun Aunt Holiday Bonus Part 1 – Ellen Thwoorp

Summary – Katya has a proposition for Trixie, but it takes some upturned dinner plans, some Shakespearean quotes and some stupid puns before she can actually get around to it.

A/N: Surprise, more Dina’s Fun Aunt because I had more ideas and didn’t have the power to resist the temptation to write it. I’m going to try and update this roughly every week with my new AU series until it’s done. (Was originally going to post in one go but I’m pushing 13k and it ain’t even finished.)

“If it isn’t two of my favourite girls!” Katya cried as Trixie and Dina stepped out of the school. Svetlana rolled her eyes but smiled at the pair as they came towards them. Dina took Trixie’s hand as they walked down the steps at the front of the school. The teacher smiled, she was so thankful Dina’s jealousy phase hadn’t lasted long. It had been just over a month since their very public outing, and the girl somehow got over her jealousy within the space of about two weeks. Trixie suspected that either Svetlana or Katya had spoken to the girl as one day she came into class as bright as anything, said good morning and gave her a cupcake with a pink frosted t-rex on it. The thing that had made Trixie stop in her tracks that morning was the ‘good morning’, of all things. Dina hadn’t spoken to her for a full two weeks at that point.

“Are you going to watch the Disney film on tv tonight?” Dina asked, hopping down the steps and nearly causing Trixie to drop the two binders she had tucked in her arm.

“Ah, no I’m afraid not. Your Auntie Katya and I are going on a date.”

“Where?” The child asked as they stopped in front of the Russian sisters.

“We are going to the lands most prestigious eatery this side of the equator fair maiden, why doth thou ask so many questions?”

“Stop talking silly.” Dina giggled, letting go of Trixie to move her long hair out of her face.

“Shakespeare may be a bit advanced.” Trixie laughed.

“Exit pursued by a bear.” Katya cried, shaping her fingers into claws and lunging for Dina who squealed and ran to hide behind her mother.

“Now we can’t hang around here all day, someone has got karate class tonight.” Svetlana said with a clap of her hands. She suddenly turned to Katya making the other woman jump in surprise. “Have you asked Trixie yet?”

“No, I hadn’t gotten to it yet.” Katya mumbled, avoiding Trixie’s eye.

“Oh well. It’d be great if you could come.” Her sister added, giving the other woman a meaningful look. Katya just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Do you guys need a lift? I can take you to the restaurant if you like."

"Thanks but I’ve got my car and I need Katya to help me out of my clothes.” Trixie said with a slightly awkward smile. “I MEAN OUT WITH MY CLOTHES. She’s helping me choose an outfit.” She amended at the look on Svetlana’s face. Katya was trying not to laugh, thin hand covering her mouth.

“Ok…well I’ll let you go. C'mon bean.” The older woman said slowly, turning to her daughter with a fond smile. “Nice to see you again, Trixie.” She added as they walked away, although Trixie couldn’t be sure she actually meant it. In fact she doubted Svetlana ever meant it, each time they met Trixie somehow managed to make a tit of herself.

“You want to me to help you out of your clothes anyway?” Katya asked once the pair were out of earshot, smirking at her girlfriend with sly eyes.

“We hardly have time for that. Why is talking to your sister always so awkward?” Trixie moaned, taking Katya’s hand with her own free hand. She adjusted the binders in her arm and congratulated herself in not looking around them before she made the affectionate gesture.

“It’s taking her time. She’s never actually approved of or really interacted with my girlfriends before.” Katya responded, lacing her fingers with Trixie’s as they walked toward the carpark. “It’s kinda new for all of us I guess.” She shrugged.

“Have your girlfriends met Dina before?" Trixie asked. It was a question that had played on her mind before. She wondered if she was just one of many women Dina had met and then refused to talk to for two weeks.

"Only one and that was because I bumped into her in the street. After we’d broken up, thought she was mine.” Katya mused, swinging their hands. Trixie wasn’t sure she ever realised she was even doing it. “As if I could be anyone’s mum.”

"I think you’d make a great mum.“ Trixie confessed as they got to her car. She let go a Katya to search in her bag for her keys.

"Oh. I was taking about my youthful looks and tight pussy but thank you.” The Russian clarified with a half shrug and a wink.

“Katya!” Trixie gasped, pushing her girlfriend with a scandalised look as she checked around them. She saw Mr Parker across the car park and waved. He waved back heading towards her with intent that suggested work was involved. She bit back as sigh as she put a hand on Katya’s back. “Run while you still can.” She whispered, causing Katya to look up at the sky in confusion.

“Are the aliens attacking?” She asked, her face serious as Trixie laughed as she finally found her keys.

“That’s the first thing you think when I say run?” The teacher asked incredulously.

“Not aliens, velociraptors then?”

“In the car park?” Trixie snorted as she watched Mr Parker stopped to let a car pass in front of him. God he even walked slowly, didn’t he know she had places to be! She was a busy woman. Or at least a woman who is hoping to get busy after, or maybe even before, a lovely meal.

“Hey! It can happen, velociraptors are commonly found in parks, I saw it on this documentary-"

"Jurassic Park.” They said in unison, Trixie nodding fondly as Katya cackled. Katya was so madly predictable, that or Trixie had spent way too much time with her.

“Seriously this will be boring, if you want to escape, get in the car.” She whispered seriously, holding the keys out to her girlfriend. No one should have to go through listening to Mr Parker unless it was literally what you were paid to do.

“Through thick and thin, my love.” Katya said with a soft smile, placing her hand at the small of Trixie’s back. The teacher bit back the grin as the man came to stand in front of her, paper in hand.

“Tracy, I just wanted to check the scheduling with you…” Trixie nodded, looking down at her watch. Worst comes to worst she was wearing a nice enough dress to wear her work clothes to dinner. As the man droned on the torture felt a touch more bearable as Katya stood beside her trying to look as though she understood what they were talking about.

…………………………………………..

“When I said wherever you wanted, this isn’t what I had in mind.” Trixie said as they walked across the McDonalds car park.  

“You said I’m sorry we missed our reservation because of Mr Boring Mc-I-wear-more-shades-of-grey-than-you-can-fit-in-an-erotic-novel teacher man. But don’t worry Kitty Cat we can go anywhere else in the universe you want to go for dinner, we could even go windsurfing with your dead dad if you want." Katya said, raising the pitch of her voice in what seemed to be an impression of Trixie.

"I didn’t say that.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “And I don’t sound like that.”

“You mouth didn’t say it but that’s what your eyes told me."

"You’re terrible.” Trixie sighed, unable to fight the fond smile on her face.

“I know, I’m on a government list. Go find us a table upstairs and I’ll order what do you want?” Katya said, patting Trixie’s arm as they headed into the fast food restaurant. Trixie rattled off her order, which consisted of the only vegetarian option. Honestly even the salads had meat in. She pushed money into Katya’s hand, giving her an insistent look when she began to argue.  

She found a table upstairs near the back of the restaurant, if you could even call it that, and sighed. She’d been looking forward to their dinner. Obviously it didn’t really matter where they went, she mostly just wanted to be with Katya, but the food had sounded good at Romero’s. Kim had told her about it and Trixie knew Katya would flip over the ravioli. She’d been looking forward to seeing the joy on Katya’s face. The teacher pulled out her phone so as not to have to look at any of the other patrons. Kids just out of school. People in suits who looked one spreadsheet away from death. Old people who must have been around for the invention of hair brushes but somehow seemingly never used them.

“Excuse me, I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this but you are very beautiful.” A manly voice said from across her. Momentarily her heart filled with dread as she expected to look up and see a forty something year old man with a shitty suit and a problematic hairline, who thought he’d try his luck. Instead she saw the grinning face of Katya.

“Oh my god. What was that?”

“I got you didn’t I? Didn’t know it was me, did you?” She giggled, putting the tray down on the table before pulling out her seat. Trixie laughed, putting her phone down beside her.

“No. You’re not secretly a man are you because that was scary real.” The teacher asked with exaggerated suspicious, eyeing the other woman cautiously.

“I’ll never tell, mother.” Katya said sweetly, hiding behind a napkin. Trixie snorted, nudging Katya’s legs with her foot underneath the table. She looked down at the food and rolled her eyes.

“Oh my god, did you get a happy meal?”

“Well yeah, it comes with a toy, Trixie!” Katya exclaimed as though that was explanation enough. She pulled one end from her straw wrapper before blowing hard into the straw.

“I’m dating an actual child.” Trixie sighed as the wrapper hit her in the cheek and got caught in her hair.

“Yup, pervert.” Katya grinned opening the box and pulling out the toy with a level of glee not quite befitting at thirty four year old woman.

“Oh. My. God.” Katya gasped as she showed the toy to Trixie. “I got you!” She insisted as she tore open the bag to reveal a small plastic Princess Peach.

“I should be her for Halloween. I’m normally Barbie.” Trixie mused, opening her veggie burger. God she was hungry, lunch seemed like years ago.

“Oh my god, you should be Princess Peach and I’ll be Mario!” Katya gasped, eyes bright as she grabbed Trixie’s arm.

“What and you just keep saving me all night and punching bricks?”

“That’s true love. The modern Romeo and Juliet.” Katya nodded, looking back down at the figurine happily. She was very quiet for a few moments before she suddenly spoke. “Hey, Trixie. Ask me how I’m doing.”

“How are you doing?” Trixie asked, trying not to be suspicious at the sudden request. Katya grinned widely and held up the Princess Peach toy.

“Peachy.” She said as seriously as she could. Trixie groaned, chuckling at the stupid joke as Katya began to wheeze. “Trixie, ask me how I would describe your butt.”

“I feel like I know where this is going. Is it peachy by any chance?” The teacher asked, eyebrows raised.

“You said it, not me.” Katya replied, holding her hands up in the air.

“God, I love you.”

“Urgh.” Katya grimaced before smiling and blowing her a kiss. Trixie smiled back, rubbing her foot against Katya’s calf as she drank.

“It’s like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Katya giggled as she rolled her chicken nugget behind the toy. Grinning she took a bite of the food, looking very pleased.

“I’ve never seen it.”

“You’ve never seen it?!”

“As much as I love to see you, I don’t care to see your food.” Trixie mused as Katya looked slightly guilty. Swallowing her food she took a deep breath.

“Trixie.” She began seriously. “While the time we’ve had together has been great I’m afraid we are going to have to break up. I need someone who shares the same values… and the same DVD collection.”

"Oh my god, don’t do that to me Katya. I was starting to believe you.“ Trixie laughed in relief, putting a hand on her chest. She had managed to sound so serious. Imagine breaking up in a McDonalds at eight o’ clock on a Tuesday. She’d never live that down let alone the heartbreak. "I thought you finally realised you’re out of my league.”

“Sorry.” Katya apologised, looking a little guilty. She reached forward and took Trixie’s free hand in her own. “You think I’m out of your league?” She asked as she dipped her fries in sauce before filling her mouth.

“I’m pretty sure everyone is out of your league.” Trixie said softly, looking up from under her lashes at the other woman.

“You’re cute."

"Thank you.”

“I don’t think I’m out of your league at all by the way.” Katya added, pulling Trixie hand to her mouth to press a tender kiss to the back of her hand.

“No?”

“No. I mean who would have known the two sexiest, funniest, most charming, intelligent people in the world would fall in love?”

“Hah yeah, that’s them down the street there. What about us?” Trixie snorted, nodding her head to the window. Katya gaped in mock horror, dropping her hand.

“You wound me you sharp-tongued vagabond.” Katya said dramatically, putting a hand to her chest. “And yet you are definitely getting laid tonight for being such a duckie.“ She added with a smile, leaning forward to pink Trixie’s cheek. The other woman batted her hand away with a laugh.

“Pretty sure I was getting laid anyway, compliments or no.” Trixie grinned, leaning forwards so that people around them couldn’t hear her.

“Away, you three-inch fool!” Katya exclaimed.

“What’s with the Shakespeare today?” Trixie asked, shaking her head fondly as she went back to eating her food.

“I was listening to the radio yesterday and they were doing dramatizations for Shakey’s birthday or something.” Katya shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.

“Listening to the radio, showing your age a little there grandma.” Trixie mused, smirking at Katya’s offended look.

“Young people listen to the radio too, Trixie.” She insisted.

“Mmmhmm." Trixie hummed, dodging Katya as she tried to playfully smack her on the arm. The pair fell into giggles.

“Anyway I would have thought you’d like my Shakespearian flare today, its romantic.”  Katya said, waving a fry in front of her as though she was directing an orchestra of some kind.

“It’s not romantic if you only remember the insults and the bits with bears in, Katya.” Trixie snorted.

“I know other bits!” Katya insisted taking the other woman’s hand. “Trixie, Trixie, where for art thou…” She said, rolling her ‘r’s, hand resting on her chest as she spoke to Trixie’s hand. Trixie couldn’t contain the squeak of laughter as Katya suddenly pulled her hand towards her and covered it in sloppy kisses.

“I hate you.” Trixie laughed, wiping her lipstick covered hand with a napkin. Katya winked at her before sticking a whole nugget in her mouth. “And I’m guessing you’re wearing that dress because Shakespeare as well. I’m almost surprised you don’t own a ruff.”

“Completely unrelated.” Katya shrugged, waving her hand nonchalantly.

“Right.” Trixie nodded, not believing the other woman for a second. “Speaking of completely unrelated.” She began, causing Katya to look up from her food. "What was your sister talking about earlier?"

"Oh. Um.” Katya began, suddenly nervous, scrunching up her serviette in her hand. “It’s perfectly ok for you to say no, before I begin, I just want you to know we won’t take it personally. I won’t take it personally. I understand."

"Katya, what is it?”

“We’re going on holiday, Svetlana, Peter, Dina and I, we go away together every other year and um and Svetlana wanted me to ask you if… if maybe you wanted to come too?" Katya asked, eyes on the napkin in her hand as she began to twist one end of it nervously.

"You’re asking me to come on holiday with your family?" Trixie clarified, surprised by the invitation. She’d never been invited to go on holiday or anything with a girlfriend’s family before. She’d been away with Kim and her family before but never with a girlfriend.

"Sorry, sorry. I told her it was probably too much, I mean we haven’t been together that long really and we certainly haven’t been publicly. Just forget it.” Katya rushed out, still not looking at her as she sat back in her seat.

“When is it?” Trixie asked picking up her phone to check her calendar.

“What are you doing?" Katya asked, looking up in surprise.

"Checking if I’m free. I think I still have quite a few days off left if it runs a little in term time although I’d rather not do that.” Trixie said, closing a text from Pearl as it popped up. She’d answer it later.

“Wait, you want to come?" Katya asked, her eyes hopeful. Trixie looked up from her phone and smiled.

"Sure. Getting to spend time with you and your family would be nice." Trixie said, heart bubbling pleasantly as she saw Katya finally let her excitement show.

"Oh ok, we’re going Easter week, um we’re going to this resort place in Greece.”

“Is that expensive?" Trixie asked, doing a mental check of her current savings and bank account balance.

"Svetlana has offered to pay for your flight." Katya said.

"What? She can’t do that, I’ve got some stuff saved up.” Trixie replied quickly, she certainly didn’t know Katya sister well enough to be indebted to her like that. Plus she still wasn’t sure Svetlana liked her. Taking her money would only make that worse surely.

“She’ll honestly be more insulted if you paid for it yourself than not going." Katya informed her frankly.

"Oh."

"Yeah she’s got a bit of a complex. I also think it’s a bit of an apology for the way she was when we started out.” Katya shrugged.

“Oh. Ok. Well, I’m free that week.” Trixie said, putting her phone back down to look at Katya.

“So you’re coming?” The Russian asked hopefully, excitement swimming in her eyes. Trixie grinned and nodded.

“Yeah.”

……………….

“It was very nice of you to offer to drive us all to the airport.” Svetlana said as she settled herself into the back of the car with her husband.

“Of course. Thank you so much for inviting me.” Trixie replied from the driver’s seat, yawning as she looked at the time. Too early, definitely.

“It’ll be nice for us all to spend some time together.” Peter added as Trixie took a long sip of her strong coffee in her pink travel cup that Katya had decorated. One night Katya had just picked it up and asked if she could make it prettier. She then continued to cover it in doodles of hearts, flowers and Barbies floating alongside aliens and raccoons.

“You got everything, sweet?” Trixie asked as Katya slid into the seat next to her.

“My charm and my dashing good looks.” Katya sighed, rolling her shoulders back as she yawned. “It’s too early.”

“You look so beautiful.” Trixie smiled, making Katya bounce happily before thanking her. Some of the Russian’s hair fell from its messy and very lazy updo as she laid her head back on the headrest.

“Right. Let’s get this show on the road. Everyone ready?”

“Miss Mattel, I need a wee.”

“Remember, you don’t need to call me Miss Mattel while we’re not in school. Just call me Trixie.”

“You went while we were in the house.” Katya sighed looking exhausted. Trixie put a hand over Katya’s, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles soothingly.

“I need it again.” Dina whined.

“That’s no problem. Good on you for saying before we left. We’ll be right back.” Trixie said, turning to Katya. “You wanna give me your key, I’ll take her now.” Katya smiled appreciatively.

“You sure Trixie?” Svetlana asked, reaching for the buckle to her seatbelt.

“Sure, you guys sit down for five minutes.” She said with a wave of her hand, opening her door and getting out of the car. She walked around the car and opened the door for Dina. They headed into the house together, chatting away like old friends.

“Trixie is sweet.” Svetlana observed as she watched the pair enter the house.

“She has a heart of gold and more patience than I’ve even known anyone have.” Katya mumbled her eyes closed as she sat back in the seat. God it had been a long morning, and there was still plenty of it left.

“Does she tell you you’re beautiful a lot?”

“Yeah.” Katya smiled, turning slightly in her seat to look at her sister. “And yet every time she says it, it’s like the first time she said it.” She confessed, blushing a little. Svetlana grinned wolfishly.

“Now then Hun, I’ve seen that look before.” Peter began, looking up from his phone to give Svetlana a stern look over his glasses. “You can’t spend the holiday prying into their love life.”

“I just want to know that they’re happy.” She said defensively, folding her arms across her chest as Trixie and Dina stepped out of the house.

“Mhm.” Peter hummed disbelievingly, patting his wife’s leg. He gave her the kind of look that came as a result of many years of marriage.

“We are, I don’t remember being this happy before.” Katya sighed as Dina got back in the car and buckled her seatbelt.

“Hey.” Trixie said as she slid into the driver seat.

“Before we go can I have a small kiss?” Katya asked tiredly, smirking at the way Trixie blushed. The teacher looked behind her briefly, everyone else in the car suddenly seem to be very focused on something in their hand or looking out of the window.

Trixie leant forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Katya’s lips, staying perhaps a little longer than was necessary. Katya held a knuckle beneath the teachers chin as she kissed her back. She pulled away not long after, looking thoroughly too please with herself as she relaxed into the passenger seat of the car. Trixie sat back, rolling her eyes as she felt blush touch her cheeks.

“If you guys want.” Trixie began, coughing awkwardly as she broke the silence of the car. “You can go back to sleep for a bit. I’ll keep the music off.”

“That’s ok.” Svetlana answered as Trixie checked her mirror and began down the quiet road. “I won’t be sleeping and these three could sleep through world war three."

"If you’re all sure. I hope country is ok?” She laughed, pressing the play button on her Bluetooth car radio. Her question fell on three pairs of deaf ears. Svetlana chuckled. They were so predictable.

……………….

She’d been driving almost two hours when they hit the traffic. Just managed to catch rush hour, dammit. She slumped back in her seat with one hand on the wheel. She drummed her fingers as the song changed to Island in the Stream.

“Do you remember the time you sung this to me?” A voice said beside her, making Trixie jump. She had thought Katya was still asleep.

“Yeah. After we went to that terrible restaurant that had that weird waiter.” Trixie chuckled, edging the car forward a few inches before the cars in front of her stopped again.

“Benjamin was boss.” Katya gasped in mock outrage.

“You only think that because he likes the movie Contact.” Trixie pointed out, shooting Katya quick knowing look before returning her eyes to the road.

“He has taste.”

“Shush.”

“Let’s do it again.” Katya said suddenly.

“What?”

“She’s an amazing singer.” The Russian added, turning in her seat slightly to inform her sister and brother in law.

“I’m not that good, I just sing in key unlike some people.” Trixie interjected, as Peter and Svetlana chuckled.

“C'mon. It’s our song.” Katya pleaded, trying to sway her.

“Is it? I thought you said Hot for Teacher by Van Halen was our song.”

“We have multiple songs.” Katya shrugged. “Sing for me my angel of music.”

“Are we starting on the Dolly part then?” Trixie checked as the chorus finished. Katya nodded.

“I can’t live without you if the love was gone. Everything is nothing if you got no one.” Trixie sang, laughing when Katya began to clap. “And you just walk in the night. Slowly losing sight of the real thing.”

“But that won’t happen to us and we got no doubt. Too deep in love and we got no way out.” They sang together. Svetlana grabbed her phone, quickly turning on the camera. Peter rolled his eyes as she began to record them.

This was going to be an interesting holiday.

[wellwellwellwemeetagain]

An unfinished story I wrote a while ago.

A Tale of Angels

In the beginning, there was Dad, or as he is better known, God, and Mum, or as you probably don’t know her because Dad steals the spotlight, Barbra.

This story really picks up when I was 16, but I want you to get an idea of how life was for me growing up, so I’ll start when I was 11, and give you one or two small snippets of my life.

I’m an eldest child. I like music, and I love clothing.

Next is Rafael. he’s 9, and he’s always yelling, bossing people around, demanding to be the centre of attention. He has a nasty habit of glowing so bright that we can’t ignore him.

After that there’s Gabriel. He’s 6, and loves creating things out of clay and pipe cleaners, making them move with magic.

Then there’s Samuel. She’s 4, and loves art, always summoning paint and drawing on the walls, much to our parent’s chagrin. She’s getting better, too.

Finally there’s Michael. He’s only two, the baby of the family, and he can barely walk, always trying to run and falling flat on his face. He manages to crack the walls when he slams into them, too, causing quite a bit of damage, though Dad just snaps his fingers and fixes it.

So that’s us. We’re the archangels. While other Angels are powerful, we’re the children of God. Like, his actual children, as opposed to just metaphorically and living in his world. We supposedly have powers beyond what other Angels can do, and Dad and Mum are teaching us, or all of us except Samuel and Michael who are too young, so that someday we’ll lead the Angels in our respective ways.

Before I begin the story proper, you’re probably wondering what my name is. I’m Lucifer.

…

“Lucifer, it’s time to practice your speech.” Mum announced from my doorway. “Your father is waiting. You need to be ready. A lot of people are going to be watching you.”

“Coming, Mum.” I checked myself over. As I walk past, mum straitens my bowtie. I walk down the hall, and step through the doors to the dining room, where Dad is sitting on a chair, watching as I step onto the magically elevated platform, and I begin my speech.

“You need to wait for the Angels to announce you, Lucifer.” Dad says impartially. “it’s very important to have a good introduction.”

“Yes, father.” I walk away and close the door behind me, before stepping back through. It’s going to be a long day.

The big day came. I was due to make a speech about Dad’s plan for Sentient Life on Earth. I would make a speech outlining the plan to the populace, then Dad would come and explain it in detail. It’s all part of making sure I, the eldest, grow up to be the best of the best.

I stood behind a massive set of double doors, and I motioned for the attendant Angels to announce me, as I walked onto stage in front of all of Heaven.

“Announcing Lucifer, Light-Bringer, Morning Star, Prince of Heaven, Eldest Archangel, and Son of God!”

A fanfare of trumpets sounded, as I stood there, looking out at the crowd, my hands trembling.

“I am Lucifer.” I spoke, magic projecting my voice, which trembled slightly. “I am here to talk about the plan for whom will rule on Earth. My father, God, intends for a race called humanity, modelled in his own image, to rule. They will live in paradise on Earth, lacking want nor need, forever and eternity. I am pleased to announce that God himself is here to tell you more about his grand masterplan!”

I bowed, my face burning. I had stuffed it up, I hadn’t kept my voice even, my face wasn’t neutral. Numbly, I walked off stage as neatly as I could.

My Mum, who hugged me, greeted me.

“Well done, Lucifer!” She praised me. “You were amazing!”

She transported us home, where dinner was waiting, and she ladled out a large bowl of soup. Later father arrived home. He gave a curt nod of approval, and then returned to eating.

…

“Happy 12th birthday, Lucifer!” Mum said, and my siblings echoed the same words. A large, white cake was brought out, and Dad brought out a small box.

“Happy birthday, Lucifer.” He handed it to me. Inside was a gold watch, which I slipped onto my wrist.

“Thank you, Dad.”

…

At 14, I started to be myself more. It didn’t last long.

“Lucifer!” Dad stood up from his chair, workbench. “What is that horrible noise?”

“It’s just music, Dad!” I replied.

“That’s not music!” He replied storming towards me. “Music is deep, emotional, and powerful. It is made to evoke feeling, or to signify some great event! That terrible noise is not music!”

“You don’t even need to hear it! Just stop listening in on my wavelength!”

“If you can’t appreciate real music and instead insist on this monstrosity, then I’m confiscating your Halo!”

He reached out and yanked my Halo from where it was floating. The music stopped as the Halo dissipated, and I ran back to my room. If I couldn’t listen to music then I’d practise clothing designing. I summoned my book and got to work, but it wasn’t the same without music.

…

Now that you see how my life was, pressured and controlled, it’s time to begin the real story, when I was 16. Rafael is now 14, Gabriel 11, Samuel 9, and Michael is 11.

“Why are you even in charge?” I asked Dad. We had been having a discussion about the way things worked, I wanted to be allowed to listen to music I liked, wear cloths I liked, do things I liked. He had ended up answering with ‘because I’m God. I’m in charge’. “Why can’t Angels choose their leader?”

“Don’t say things like that!” Dad yelled, standing up. “I created this world and I created Earth!”

“So what?” I replied. “That doesn’t give you the right to boss everyone around.”

“Of course it does.”

“Well, I’m sick of it.” I replied. “So I’m leaving. I don’t want to live here anymore.”

I snapped my fingers and all my possessions flew into my hands. Which is to say, my book, in which I design cloths, write journal entries, and compose songs in flew into my hands. I began to walk to the door.

“This is ridiculous!” Dad answered. “You’ll end up with no food, homeless if left for five minutes without help!”

“I’m literally an Archangel, the strongest one at that! I’m one of the strongest beings in all of Heaven and Earth!” I replied. “I can live where I like.”

“Don’t go, darling.” Mum pleaded. “We can sort this out!”

All of my siblings crowded around her.

“Goodbye.” I replied, and opened the door.

“Well, you can’t live in Heaven!” Dad shouted. “I control it! It goes by my rules! And you can’t live on Earth, I won’t have you messing up the natural balance.”

“Fine.” I turned back to him. “I’ll make my own world. I’ll call it… Hell.”

I stepped out onto the street, and my wings unfolded. I blazed with burning light, and then I was transported to a blank, black space. A new universe.

I began to create a paradise, my own world. I let the world create itself, really. I was struck with two ideas at once. I transported myself, in the form of a snake, to Earth, in the Garden of Eden. I saw Adam and Eve, right there, with no free will. I whispered in Eve’s ear.

“If you want freedom to choose what you wish to do, eat the apple.”

“You want us to eat the apple? But God said no.”

“I want nothing.” I replied. “It’s your choice.”

“I-” She paused. “I’ve never felt this before. What is it?”

“Indecision.” I replied. “You have the ability to make this choice. One option leads back to what you were doing, though you can change that decision at any time. The other; irreversible, leading to an eternity of choice.”

“But what will God do?” Eve asked.

“I don’t know.” I replied. “But if he is truly benevolent, truly on your side, would he harm you? And if he isn’t, why obey him?”

With that, I left her to ponder. I transported myself to Heaven and announced something.

“All ye who would make your own decisions, decide your own fate, and live your own lives, join me!” I announced, speaking to all of Heaven. “Join me in Hell.”

With that I left, back to Hell, to build a home for myself. Chaos ensued. Eve told Adam, and together they chose to eat the apple. They chose freedom. God reacted by introducing suffering to Earth, and by inventing Death.

A whole army of Angels chose to join Hell. They controlled their own parts, and the only rules were don’t hurt anyone.

…

When I turned 21, something big happened. A loud knocking came from the gates. I assumed it was just another new fallen Angel, or as we’d come to call ourselves, Demon. They had been hundreds in the first few years, but after that it calmed a little, and now we had anywhere from 1-7 a month. I opened the door, and a figure stepped inside, and took off her cloak. It was Mum.

I took her to a room where we could sit down and talk.

“We were fighting, and it just fell apart.” She explained. “After I openly went against him, he told me if I didn’t like what he was doing I was welcome to leave at any time. So I did. I decided I’d go here.”

Mum was welcomed into the community, and as a community, we thrived. Everyone, free to express themselves, created new things, and not just with magic. Our food was better than anything they had in heaven.

After many more years, a new arrival shocked us all. How this being had got here we did not know, but we were about to find out, and many more would follow. It was a dead human.

“Hello, um, hi.” The human said. “God said that I ‘wasn’t worthy’ and I was sent here.”

We set up a system. Just because God thought they deserved to suffer, didn’t mean we did. We decided we’d judge them. Those who truly deserved to suffer would, but the others would be accepted into our society. Even those who were forced to suffer didn’t have to forever. They could be redeemed, though the worst of crimes meant that you could only be free when those who you harmed forgave you.

A new arrival brought us news; the four Archangels were going to get their appointed posts in 3 days’ time.

Mum and I decided that we had to go. While Dad was no longer our family, my siblings didn’t do anything wrong.

…

“Announcing God, many be his names, and the four Archangels, many be their names.”

“Excellent.” God said. “Now that everyone is here, let the ceremony begin.”

A flash of light filled the room, and I appeared with Mum, and some other Demons. We all wore different clothing, different styles, contrasting with the Angels, ranging from my mother’s negative version of her old cloths, to my denim jacket, to Vaset’s suit, to Jeva’s dress. The only thing that almost fit in was my watch, but that too stood out for two reasons; for one, it was one of the finest things in the room. For another, it was the only broken thing in all of Heaven, the glass cracked.

“Greetings.” I said. “Do continue. We just came to pay our respects.”

God looked angry, and then his expression changed back to a neutral one.

“Rafael, my eldest child, I pronounce you overseer of the Angels. Samuel, daughter, you will paint the sky with stars. Gabriel, son, you will create machines. Michael, son, you are the chief of the armies.