#how many times have I tried on this account before? two times? yeah we're not talking about that

[aldryrththerainbowheart]

You get what you give

Note: We're leaving dmc3 era folks. I should probably state this at the beginning but the reader is a bit ooc. You have creative background, you're welcome. Dante and reader learn more about each other as they try to work as a team.

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“So…these are your accounts.” You spoke more to yourself than Dante as you turned page after page filled with various scribblings, none of which even closely resembled accounts. You spotted one with tic-tac-toe, on the other Dante just tried how many circles he can fit on one page, and on another two were very fifth-grader drawings of male and female anatomy.

“Yeah.” you heard from the opposite side of the office.

Jesus.

“There seems to be a gap here.”

“Is there?”

“Yeah. There’s a gap where should be accounts. I can see a big account-free gap between page one and page two hundred and ten.”

Dante fished a magazine out of the cushions of the worn couch and headed toward the toilet. To your horror, you heard the sound of the zipper opening, and when you lifted your head, your sight was greeted with a piece of pale buttcheek hanging out of oversized cargo pants. When you heard the sound of water running, you burrowed your face in your hands.

“Could you close the door next time?!”

“Don’t have ‘em.”

“What??”

“Don’t have the door,” Dante answered calmly, holding a magazine in one hand as he went about his business.

You decided to change the topic and occupy your mind so you won’t freak out about Dante's complete lack of decorum.

“This place is a mess! Not just its finances the building looks like it's about to crumble, I can’t barely walk for all the debris and pizza boxes littering the floor, and electricity falls out every two hours!”

You throw Dante an exasperated glare as he stepped from the bathroom, this time with his pants up.

“It’s not my fault that a bunch of…gangsters decided to wreck my shop, and if you didn’t notice the electricity gets jammed all around the city, thanks to the massive tower that spurted from the ground a week ago.”

“Please tell me you have insurance on this place.”

“I just moved here.”

“Argh! Where’s a phone?”

Dante walked over to a pile of debris, put his hand in there, and pulled out the dusty red rotary phone. To his credit, he wiped off some of the dust before handing it to you.

“All right, so thankfully, I have written some important numbers in my diary, including the insurance company. They should at least give us some advice on how to handle this.

“And the desk?”

Dante nodded his head to one piece of what used to be a wooden office desk cleaved right in the middle. Right.

You sighed. Sitting on the floor did not seem like the best idea, lest you wanted to throw away your pants as soon as you came home. So you just stood there, balancing the rotary on your hand while holding the earpiece with your shoulder to your ear. You handed Dante your diary opened at the contact list, so he is of some use. As you started putting in the numbers, the phone started ringing.

“Yes? Hello? Mr. Sparda’s office.” you used honorifics despite Dante telling you otherwise. Old habits die hard.

“Help! They swarming the entire area! The dem-” You didn’t get the chance of listening to the rest of the story as Dante ripped the headphone out of your hand.

He listened to them for a minute before giving you back the phone with the person still talking on the other line.

“Ah! Yes…Mr. Sparda will arrive soon. Goodbye.” You finished talking to them while you watched Dante stomping around the office, gathering his gear.

“Take care of the place will ya? And if you hear weird sounds from outside, don’t worry it’s normal here.”

As he headed towards the door, you called after him. “Hey! You still have to give me-” The click of the door closing was your only answer. “The employment contract, and CIN, and testimony about the accident in the shop…” you finished the sentence to yourself.

You stood there in the middle of decimated building, surrounded by garbage and unpaid bills, and reminders from the tax office. Wordlessly, you walked to your bag, pulled out two pills of aspirin, and swallowed them in one go. This’ll be a long day.

-

By the time Dante returned, you managed to get the office area into a somewhat manageable space. The trash you collected was enough to fill three large bags and you had a feeling that if you properly decluttered the entire building, you would fill thrice as much. With the desk missing, you created a small working area in a place where the desk should be and answered endless calls that gave you an idea of what sort of business is Dante running, or not.

You moved to Redgrave recently for your now ex-job. You had marveled at how cheap the housing expenses were here, despite Redgrave being one of the larger cities. Soon you found out why. Living here is…dangerous. Frequent disappearances, lots of crime, and natural disasters. Well, natural, recently Redgrave city experienced an earthquake, which caused some ancient monuments to rise from underground. The newspaper explained this phenomenon as an earthquake revealing old ruins hidden under the city. You didn’t question it. Neither did you question Morrison when he told you Dante Sparda does mostly pest removal. You assumed that the guy is an exterminator, and he is…in a way. The issue is in what exactly he is exterminating.

As you answered calls and booked him appointments, you learned that there is a side to the world that was unknown to you. There’s a group of what appeared to be grim reapers with massive scissors at 99 Greenview Lane. Then some gentleman was hiding in his car from two multi-limbed living statues between Rock St. and Lancaster Aven. And the last call you picked up was just screaming and inhuman hissing… Needless to say, you were more than a little worried, and you had to make an order in all of it. So when the door swung open you jumped up in shock and almost peed yourself at the sight of blood-covered Dante, hunching over like a predator ready to pounce and with his bangs covering his face in a way it made his eyes almost glow from underneath them. As he began walking, no, stalking in your direction you felt the same chill as the night you met.

“G-good evening mister-”

He shot you a look.

“Dante.”

You slowly rose from your seating position as if any quick movements would make him act up.

“The accounts are done. It took me twice as long because I’ve been answering calls between the accounts. You’re booked for two weeks.” You gave a nervous chuckle.

“Somethings different.”

“Huh?” you looked around in confusion. “Oh, I guess I cleaned the place a little.”

“You cleaned??” Dante’s eyes peered at you from the white curtain.

“Well, I have to make a working space. You gestured awkwardly to the calendar, notebook, lamp, phone, and few writing supplies in an empty can you found, all neatly lined up in rectangular shapes.

Dante put his sword against the wall and walked to you while fishing for something in his pocket. He pulled out a thick wad of banknotes, quickly thumbed through them, and gave you some.

“Thanks for today. You did a lot of work today. See you tomorrow.”

When you said your goodbyes, you were already pushed out of the shop. Only when the door closed behind you, you inspected your paycheck and almost choked. Now you are sure Dante has no idea how money works, considering the children’s coloring book he made out of his accounts and that he gave you during your first day what you normally earned in a month.

-

The next day you came a little late. It doesn’t matter, because, from the silence that greeted you, no one else was up and about in this establishment. You looked around the ground floor with Dante nowhere to be found, so you headed upstairs. You were a little uncomfortable entering his private space, but he had several appointments in the morning and you need to keep this business going if you wanted your next paycheck.

You opened several rooms, finding a small kitchen, storage, a room filled with…things, and a bathroom. As you were going through rooms, you realized something. The place was jarringly, surprisingly, miserably bare. Not personal in the slightest. The only sign that someone live there was empty pizza boxes and beer bottles, and dirty laundry. No photos, or posters on the wall. Dante said he moved to this place month ago. Surely he has to have boxes of stuff. Clothes, dishes, something…

You opened the last door and there he was, sprawled on the bed in deep slumber. A blanket wrapped around his hips and muscular torso was full on display.

“Dante! It’s time to wake up.” You put your hands on the edge of the bed. No reaction.

With a huff, you walked over to the curtain and pulled them open, then headed to the foot of the bed and gripped the blanket.

“I said, wake up Dante!” you raised your voice and pulled away the blanket. Only to screech in horror. Is this guy allergic to clothes?!

At your harpy screech, Dante finally woke up.

“Huh? What’s the time?”

“It’s almost eight!”

“In the evening?”

“No moron! it’s morning.” You gestured towards the window. Dante blinked once, twice, then flopped on the bed. “Too early.”

You felt your eyebrow twitch. You just called your boss a moron and you were in danger of kicking him in the butt he flashed your way. Without another word, you walked out of the room. Dante secretly grinned in victory and felt himself dozing back to sleep…only to have water poured on him a few minutes later.

“Hey-What the-”

“Good morning mister Sparda!” you singsonged, face dangerously close to his, smiling aggressively. “I hope you slept well, and now it’s time to wake up.” You gave two claps right in his face and Dante jerked away in shock. As you walked out of Dante’s bedroom, you could hear his silent grumbling, but also rustling of the sheets as he got up. Good.

When Dante walked down to the office dressed (?) and somewhat clean you handed him a piece of paper.

“What’s that?”

“Your appointments. I wrote the time and the address and number of…pests. However, I can’t tell you which kind it was. The customers were often…disoriented. You’re already running late for the first one, by the way.” You stated as you peered at the digital clock at your…table?

You noticed that only now. The improvised sitting area is made out of concrete blocks, planks of wood, and a car seat he found god knows where. It was a poor excuse for office space, but it’s more than what you left yesterday. You turned back to Dante who was still studying your writings and started to gently push him towards the door.

“I’m sure they’ll forgive a little tardiness. After all, they need you.”

“Right, I swing by once I buy some breakfast and…”

“No breakfast. You’re late, remember?”

“But I’m hungry!”

“You should’ve thought about that before sleeping in.” you sing-songed once more and pushed him out of the door.

“Happy hunting!” you called after him before closing the door in his face.

-

With the accounts taken care of, you mostly picked up phones and cleaned the office…again. That seemed to be like a neverending task. With Dante having no cleaning supplies, not even a bucket or a broom, you have to bring these things from home. You filled another pack of trash bags and the place didn’t look so sad anymore.

As you were sweeping around the couch, something crinkled under your shoe. You looked down and noticed you stepped onto a picture frame. As you bend down to pick it up, you noticed the glass front broke and several pieces fell on the floor. Once you carefully removed all glass and threw away the broken frame, you had a chance to inspect the photo. A woman, probably in her thirties, with long, platinum blonde hair and a smile that seemed to hold many secrets. She was wearing a red shawl and when you inspected her face closely, a yellow paling paper gave away two pale blue eyes.

This must be Dante's mother, you were sure of it. What happened to her? Surely, she would call into the office and check up on him by now. Are they not in contact? Why would he have her photo on his desk though? And what about the rest of his family? Does Dante have any family? The more pieces of a puzzle you had about the life of Dante Sparda, the more questions you had. You could have just put the photo away and mind your own business. However, you couldn’t look away from the shining red dot on the otherwise grey canvas that was your life. It was the reason why you’re still working here, after all. That and fat bills still resting in your wallet.

You were ripped out of your musings by the loud growling of your stomach. It’s been two hours after your lunchtime. When you prepared for leaving, you realized that you don't have the keys to the shop or any way to contact Dante. You have to get him a pager or something. Hopefully a sign on the front door with the message ‘Be right back’ will suffice.

-

When you came back, you found Dante laying on the couch with a magazine covering his face. Silently to not wake him up, you tiptoed to your improvised desk. Your efforts to be quiet showed pointless when Dante greeted you from under the magazine.

“The insurance lady called.”

You jumped a little in surprise, “Really? What did she say?”

“The government is sending funds to small businesses to help them after the earthquake.”

“That’s great!” you beamed. Finally, something is working out.

“Dante?”

“Hm?”

“You are enlisted in the tradesman…right?”

Your only answer was a low grumble.

“Dante?!” You felt your blood pressure rising.

“Listen,” Dante grabbed the magazine and threw it on the couch as he got up, “it’s your job to take care of these things! You’re the accountant!”

“I’m secretary!” you interrupted him, “my job is to pick up phones not be your maid. I’m doing everything in here, and I don’t even have a contract. Working in a place that’s on the verge of bankruptcy for a man who doesn’t even know what CIN is??”

“And you think I spend all these hours outside of the office scavenge hunting?! And for your information, I know very well who the CIA is, worked rather closely with them in the past.”

“What?!?”

“Is this a bad time?”

You both whipped your heads towards the entrance and notice Lady standing there.

“Great. You were the only thing missing here.” Dante snarled sarcastically.

“Don’t drag me into your shit.” she hissed angrily.

You still weren’t done with Dante. “I worked here tirelessly for three days now. Doing everything from chores to administrative work, to finance. Despite the working conditions” you threw your arm around the office to emphasize your point, “I was rather amicable-”

“You were a pain in the ass,” he snapped at you. “I was doing fine before you came. I don’t need you. I don’t need anybody.” He whispered the last bit, but you heard all the same.

You were completely speechless, only letting out a single gasp. Your patience finally snapped. Without another word, you grabbed your things and walked out of the office, but then you remembered something and put your head inside the office once more.

“I bought you lunch, by the way.” Then you left for good.

Dante and Lady simultaneously turned to the steaming, plastic container on the table.

-

Your nails nervously danced on the plastic table in what was probably the only standing McDonald’s in the city. You were supposed to wait for the head of the staff and discuss the contract details. As you watched a middle-aged man with a beer belly stuff his face with Bic Mac while his two gremlins (ahem children) smeared ketchup on the surrounding tables as one of the staff, a high school girl with blue hair in braids ran after them with a wet cloth and distressed look on her face.

You can’t wait for the shift to start.

You were so preoccupied with watching the scene in front of you that you haven’t noticed someone quietly slipping into the opposite seat.

“You need to go back.”

“Gah!” you jumped at the familiar voice in front of you.

“Seriously?! Do you and Dante enjoy freaking me out?” You saw Lady’s deadpan expression and realized how loud you were. Without commenting on it, she continued.

“You need to return to the Devil May Cry. Dante needs you.”

“Devil-what??”

“Devil May Cry. That’s how Dante wants to name the shop after he scrapes enough money to repair it, that is.”

“Well, good luck with that.”

Lady narrowed her eyes at you, then sighed.

“Listen, I understand that you’re angry and that the job is…difficult at times. But there’s plenty of cash in demon hunting. Especially now with the Temen-”

“Hold on, did you say demon hunting??”

“Well yeah. What else did you think Dante was doing?”

“Pest…control?”

Lady cackled. “That he does. Just different types of ‘pests’.”

You let that information sink in.

“So…you and Dante…hunt demons.”

Lady nodded, “And the bastard is pretty good at it, too. The best there is.” She admitted begrudgingly. “But the things like taxes and running a business? He’s hopeless. I don’t think he had anyone to show him the ropes.”

“In enterprise?”

“In…life.”

You remembered the bareness of Dante’s apartment, the single photo of a woman with the same eyes as Dante’s, the haunted look in Dante’s eyes the night you first met him, and the rumors.

“Lady…what kind of guy is Dante.”

She seemed to be taken aback by that question, but then she looked at the table with a frown. The events from a month ago came back to the forefront of her mind. The tower. The blood. The ritual. The man in red. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

“He’s…a guy who saved my life, for the start.” It wasn’t in her nature to depend on anyone and she hated owning someone, but Lady was not petty enough to deny this fact. She told you about the events of the Temen-Mi-Gru incident. At least the ones she was sure of, and left out gory details, leaving only relevant and important.

Just when she was describing them crawling out of a decaying tower, another voice chimed in.

“Excuse me, ma’am, I’m interviewing this person.” It was a storm managed, and she was giving Lady disapproving glare. Bold from someone who let you sit there for half an hour.

Lady clicked her tongue and answered, “Right, it’ll be just a minute.”

The manager put their hands on their hips, “But I have time now.”

Without looking at them, Lady pulled out a gun, and with its barrel pointing right in their face she growled, “And you’ll have it five minutes later.”

You’ve never seen a person disappearing that quickly before.

Lady spoke again.

“The thing is, he may appear like a cocky jerk at first, but once you get to know him as I did, well, he’s still a cocky jerk.” Lady chuckled. “Who puts his skin at the front line for people he barely knows and heads straight into places other people are running from, guns blazing.” She paused for a moment, twiddling with her gun. “So please, help him.”

You remembered how tired Dante looked every time he stepped into the shop, exhausted, bitter, and covered in grime. The surprise and gratefulness he displayed by simply you cleaning his office.

You let out a sigh. I’m too soft.

-

There was a bit of awkward air in the Devil May Cry office that day. Perhaps it was because there was an ex-employer who declared their departure with a slamming of a door and an ex-boss who kept looking at the floor with hands deeply wedged into his pockets, with an impatient angry woman with a rocket launcher on her back tapping her foot standing in between.

Lady jabbed Dante in the shoulder, trying to snap him out of it.

“C’mon!” she hissed through her gritted teeth. “Say it already!!”

With eyes still trained on the floor, Dante shuffled closer to you. He had the decency to lift his head for a split second to grumble with a visible pout.

“Do you wanna work at my shop.”

You bite your lip.

“Alright.”

His head whipped towards Lady, “See! I said it.”

“Don’t push it.” she pointed her finger at him threateningly. Then, she turned to you with something you dared to call a sweet smile and said, “I hope you’ll make the best of it!”

She strutted off after that, leaving you both in silence once more.

You took a good look at Dante. He looked more…ruffled than usual, and you could’ve guessed why, based on his reluctance and Lady’s pestering.

“Thanks for the lunch.” Dante ripped you away from your train of thought, making you jump a little. That made him frown.

“And you don’t have to be so skittish around me either. I…” he sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “I know I can be a little…too much to handle, but I don’t want you to be scared to tell me off if you feel like it. She does it all the time.” He motioned towards the now-closed door with a snark.

You looked into his eyes. He was truly looking at you for once and you couldn’t help but get a little lost in those baby blues.

“I don’t like that you’re afraid of me,” Dante said softly.

Your first instinct was to deny what he said, but you paused and went about your feelings regarding Dante Sparda.

“I’m not afraid. I’m…confused.” You shrugged.

“Confused?” Dante raised his eyebrows.

“You’re…strange.” You motioned with your hands awkwardly, looking for proper words.

Dante seemed to think about that comment and you were worried that you may offend him.

“Whaddya wanna know?”

-

“So, her name is Eva.” You spoke mostly to yourself, as you held the picture of who was - surprise, surprise - Dante’s mother.

“Was Eva.”

You lifted your head from the photo to him. Dante was sitting at the new desk, cleaning his guns. After that simple question, you and Dante talked away as he helped you get the office together. You talked about your lives and your families, you told him about how you attended art school, but then had to drop out due to not being able to pay the tuition and started working as an account, which you hated, as you described to him in vivid detail. Dante, told you bits and pieces from his past, albeit you could see that he was still uncomfortable with disclosing some details. By the time you were done, you sat Dante down and with his help made a few phone calls. You managed to wrangle some money out of the insurance company, and order repair work on the front facade, and Dante even agreed on buying new furniture and office gear together. By the time you were done with him, the poor boy was so wrangled out and out of his depth that you took pity on him and ordered a pizza. While you waited for the pizza to arrive, you gently probed him about the smiling woman in the picture.

“Has she…?” you left the sentence open.

Dante shifted in his chair, not once lifting his gaze from the firearm.

“It happened when I was a little kid. There was a fire..”

“I’m sorry.” And you were. You can’t imagine what would you do if you lost your dad. Sure, you didn’t have mom but as far as you can remember, she was never in the picture. Can’t miss something you never had. But Dad…he was your whole world, and every day you hoped he still has enough time. That once rehabilitation was over, he’ll be back on his feet again.

“It’s ok,” Dante said quietly. It seems he wasn’t comfortable talking about her.

Once more, silence settle over the office, and you desperately looked for things to say. You got up from the couch and walked over to him. Dante peered at you from behind his bangs.

“I doubt you can see anything with your hair like that.” You put the photo on his desk again and pulled out a hair band. Dante twitched a little when he felt your fingers carefully card through his hair. When you were done, a little tuft of white hair stuck out right above his forehead. He looked a little ridiculous.

“There, now you can see what you’re doing.” you smiled.

He looked up at you from his chair, a little taken aback and unsure what to say, he looked so sweet and boyish it made your heart twitch. You felt yourself being pulled into those blue shades once more. You noticed those whispy white lashes framing them and the petulant scrunch of his brow.

“You have really pretty eyes.” You have breathed out, feeling a little flustered by saying the compliment.

Year heard Dante swallow. Is his face getting closer, and yours warmer??

You were interrupted by knocking on the door.

“That’d be the pizza.” Dante finally spoke. “I…uh…I get it.”

You watched dumbly as he grabbed bills wedged in the demon's skull that served as a morbid decoration of sorts and headed to the door.

You completely forget to ask him about the whole demon-hunting thingy.

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️This Elimination DEVASTATED Me☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 8 “Questionnaire, If You Dare”

GABBY HAS BEEN DOMINATING THE GAME FOR THE PAST TWO EPISODES AND I AM COMPLETELY HERE FOR IT!!

POP OFF. SLAY. DOMINATE. QUEEN. 👑

Anyway, we're back!

Yeah I've been gone a few days for personal reasons. I'm not gonna get into them.

I was gonna do this earlier but it was already so late at night that I decided "Screw it, I'll react to it in the morning".

And it's been raining cats and dogs all night and still is where I'm at. So the weather is screaming Gabby Stan too. XD

That's what I like to think that weather is saying anyway.

I feel like Gabby would love the rain and enjoy playing in it even when it's heavy rain. That's my headcanon.

Anyway, let's get into it.

WHAT ARE YOU COOKING?!

That looks unappetizing, dangerous, and DEPRESSING to eat.

"I'm in a MOOD Golden! Let me eat my poison in peace!"

"I messed things up with Tom..."

Didn't you guys talk about it last episode?

Or, Tom didn't forgive him, did he? So yeah...

"It's never too late to tell someone how you feel. It couldn't hurt."

"It couldn't hurt" Watch it HURT beyond repair.

Or if it's an "I love you" "I'm straight" situation.

"Uh actually Jake, I'm not into genderbent Marinette's, so..."

"Go talk to him. Tell him how you really feel about him."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

No offense Miriam, but I think this is BAD advice.

"BRUH, I'm on a very important mission right now, and you think this is a good time to confess your love to me? You sick bastard!"

I mean it's not as bad as that episode where Marinette tried to confess to Adrian on his mother's funeral anniversary...

Is THIS how deep I've fallen into this ship?! That I'm now comparing it to THAT?!

Like, I've been crazy this whole time regarding it. It's not very healthy given the circumstances as of right now, but for some reason I choose to love it.

I need to go to therapy.

"Move your ass, boy!"

"AND GIMME THAT FISH! NO SURROGATE GRANDSON OF MINE IS EATING POISON ON MY WATCH!"

😂

"Eh, he won't want to eat this anyway, he'll get his own version of breakfast in a minute."

Why is Tom depressed?

"Can we speak?"

"I'm trying to wallow in the darkness in my heart."

"Shortly before I came here, I ended a relationship that was very toxic and I got hurt."

Oh he's telling Tom this. Okay. I approve. He deserves to know.

How many people have he told this to? Miriam, Ellie, now Tom?

"HEY GUYS, DO YOU THINK JAKE WAS IN A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP?! I CAN'T TELL!"

I'm not annoyed by it, I'm cracking a bad joke

"These aren't excuses for how I've been treating you, but I want you to know I feel terrible."

You yelled at him ONCE. And you apologized for it three times now.

I wouldn't count that as "I've treated you terribly this entire time".

I'm glad he's making this clear though. He knows when to take accountability.

"I said I was sowwy, pwease fowgive me!"

"I have a hard time trusting people, Tom, I just... talking to you makes me forget sometimes how shitty life can be. I don't want to lose that."

This is actually good on Jake's end. He's explaining his situation to Tom, not excusing it, and trying to be open and honest.

"After all this is over, I would love if... you and I... we... continue-"

"Jake."

Why is Tom so pissy? He wasn't like this last episode.

"I got a call last night... I got fired."

😨

WHAT?!?!?!?!

HE GOT FIRED?!?!?!?!?!?

WH-WH-HOW?!?! HOW-?!

*Golden.exe has stopped working*

OH MY GOD...

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT BEING WHERE THIS STORY WAS HEADING.

SO HIS MISSION FAILED?!

Maybe he'll explain it. I'll keep listening.

"A video in which YOU mentioned my work was uploaded to the Internet and my boss saw it."

OH...

*covered mouth* Oh my god...

JAKE, YOU FUCKED UP BEYOND REPAIR

THERE IS NO REPAIRING THIS

You got your crush fired, now you suffer significant consequences for the rest of your days.

Well Tom is DEFINATELY not gonna want to be around you ever again.

"I'm so sorry-"

"Not now."

"Tom, if you need anyone to-"

"I SAID NOT NOW."

*storms off*

GOD...

I can't imagine how that makes Tom feel though. Getting fired because of a guy you liked...

OH WAIT CAUSE I PUT TOM IN THE HEADING LAST EPISODE. SHIT. I CAUSED THIS.

I THOUGHT I DIDN'T JINX ANYONE LAST EPISODE.

"Why do I always say the worst things at the worst time?"

Jake, saying sowwy a dozen times is NOT gonna fix this.

"Congratulations! You made it to the merge!"

OH. MERGE.

I thought we had another episode before merge!

"I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you Gabby."

Yeah. Hail your queen and your savior.

"As long as Ellie doesn't snitch, they'll still think I'm an innocent little girl."

Hey Ellie, maybe you should tell them about the demon child.

And yes I mean it this time. I am using my overlord status to tell you to tell them about the demon child.

"I can tell them some lies about Ellie and Gabby."

They're not gonna believe you regarding Gabby. You two never talked.

"Hey guys, did you know Gabby is perfectly sane?"

"That guy is strange..."

"He sounds incredibly Scottish. And he looks like a thug. Hum hum, I wonder who Tom is after."

Tom, you're taking the loss of your job well.

"I may have gotten fired, but I get a bed now so I'm gonna chill."

"Ellie, I'm sorry I voted for you."

Ellie don't forgive him. Vote him off. Talk to the others and vote him and Fiore off. You know you want to.

"Dude, I'm not a villain! Back off!"

"It's okay Alec. I was a little angry at first, but it's over now."

NO WHY WOULD YOU FORGIVE HIM?!

HE'S JUST GONNA BETRAY YOU AGAIN

"She thought all hope was lost! The city cried for a hero! And suddenly a beacon of light, Gabby, that's me, saved the day with the immunity totem!"

God I love Gabby.

"I still don't fully trust Alec, but I trust him more than my other teammates."

WHY?

THEY ALL VOTED YOU.

ALEC VOTED YOU OFF TOO.

And you're friends with Jake, right? He didn't vote you! And he has Miriam on his side.

Be on good terms with Jake, you get his vote, and you get Miriam's vote, + Gabby and that's four votes. THEN if Jake can get on good terms with Tom again that's FIVE.

YOU GET IN THE MAJORITY ALLIANCE.

+ They're people LESS likely to BETRAY you. The Teal Team voted you because of Dan, who is gone, AND their reason was they didn't know you.

Alec DID know you, and he STILL CHOSE to side with the demon child over you. HE'LL DO IT AGAIN.

AND they're with Grett, who you have NO connection to! So siding with Alec is not gonna do you favors, as Grett is more likely to persuade them to betray you!

I'm just saying Ellie. I have NEVER agreed with a single plan you've come up with so far.

I'm not saying she's bad. I'm just saying, I don't agree with her.

"I'm worried you guys could be in danger."

What...?

I thought you were interested in working with Gabby & Ellie, that's what you said. You get the majority alliance that way.

Why would you try and save these guys?

Tom's the most physically gifted person here. Get a majority to vote Tom, and Jake and Miriam stand no chance.

"I'm worried you guys are going to try to eliminate each other."

'JAKE'

'TOM'

*Episode 6's Tribal Council*

...she do have a point though.

"How do you know about the totem?"

THANK YOU TOM.

WE HAVE A SMART GUY HERE.

"But since you're my old teammates-"

"And you voted me off the first day."

Why is Fiore doing this though?

This is my confusion with Ellie, but even more so.

She knows Tom is a bigger threat than Gabby & Ellie, right? And thanks to Ellie, she has an easy way of having Gabby & Ellie in Fiore's majority of five.

With that alliance of five, she can get Tom out, the biggest threat, and then Jake & Miriam stand no chance against them.

There's NO REASON to try and side with them when it's THAT EASY.

AND YOU KNOW THERE'S NO IDOL. SO THEY CAN'T PULL THAT ON YOU.

I'm sorry, in my POV, it's just stupid reasoning.

Oh god I don't like this...

I guess I should be thankful they're not being put in jars-

"These questions are all based on your opinion of everyone."

OH GOD IT'S THE TWITTER CHALLENGE-

"Some of these questions are kind of rude."

That's the whole point of Twitter. NO MERCY.

"I will ask the questions that you just answered one by one in a series of rounds. This time however, you won't answer based on your personal opinion, but rather, what you think the majority of the group answered."

...I'm so confused.

"And what are the cages for?"

GOD I'M ACTUALLY GONNA GET FLAGGED. STOP IT.

I do not understand these rules one bit.

"Guess you'll learn on the fly."

THANKS. LOVE THAT. /s

"If we intentionally answer the questions wrong, we won't have to take out anyone's lives."

YEAH BUT YOU PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER.

WHAT-WHY-I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR PLAN HERE.

"I don't think you quite get the game."

THANK YOU GRETT.

"Who would NEVER survive out here alone?"

Fiore.

OH COME ON DON'T BE LIKE THAT

*Fiore & Alec voted Grett*

Grett "WOW. WOOOOOOOOW."

SHE VOTED HERSELF XD

"Welp, I can admit my setbacks."

"You can each cut a life"

"Ellie"

WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU COULD ONLY CHOOSE THE PEOPLE THAT GOT IT WRONG-?!

*Golden.exe has stopped working*

I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

"Who would spend a million dollars in less than a month?"

Grett? I think?

*Jake*

😂

OH MY GOD I'M GLAD I WAS WRONG THAT'S HYSTERICAL

"HEYO WHY YOU GOTTA ROAST ME LIKE THAT?!"

GRETT KEEPS VOTING HERSELF 😂

"I'm not that great and I know it."

"Ellie"

"What?! Again?!"

What did she do to you?!

"Why are you trying to get us out?!"

"You were doing the same with us."

Yeah. You were. To be fair.

"I'll pick Jake, just to keep things fair."

"Fair?! I didn't even do anything!"

"I'm sorry Gabby."

Uh huh. Sure. You didn't do anything.

"Who is the most trustworthy?"

Miriam.

*Miriam was wrong*

I'M SO BAD AT THIS GAME

*Jake voted Tom*

XD

THAT'S BOLD COMING FROM YOU

*Fiore*

Wow. You are idiots.

XD He has to lean over cause he's so tall XD

"You're crazy, what did I even do to you?!"

"Crazy?! Who are you calling crazy?!"

NOT THE BEST CHARACTERS HAVING BEEF

"No one has, even once, tried targeting us."

YEAH. CAUSE THEY'RE STUPID.

LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT. THERE'S PEOPLE YOU CAN TARGET.

PLAY THIS SMART.

"Fiore is a genius."

I wouldn't call Fiore a genius, I would call everyone else stupid.

"Who is the least trustworthy?"

I think that's Tom.

Yeah.

"Wow, I didn't expect that."

YOU'RE LITERALLY A SPY.

Well, WAS. You know what I mean.

Jake looks SO DONE XD

"OI, NO ONE INSULTS HIM BUT ME"

"May I remind you that YOU TRIED TO VOTE ME OUT?!"

YES. THANK YOU.

JAKE NOOOO

"It appears I get consequences for my actions yet again..."

Jake I hope you learn a valuable lesson from your experience in the penalty cage serving your time.

DON'T BEEF WITH EVERYONE YOU MEET.

"Who wouldn't you like to see win the million?"

Grett?

Yep.

Jake's just chilling XD

"I'm just serving my time, you know?"

"I'm not surprised. You're all morons."

CALL EM OUT QUEEN

"I said... everyone has an opinion and it's valid."

Girl, that's not how Twitter works.

On Twitter, THERE IS NO VALID OPINION.

One happy family of five chilling in prison

"Who is dressed the worst at camp?"

Have to say it... Grett.

She's wearing a swimsuit. Like come on, you couldn't make a better design?

*Miriam*

SHE LOOKS GREAT, Y'ALL ARE JUST MEAN.

"Who never shuts up?"

Both of my favs...

I feel called out.

"The correct answer was Gabby!"

"Aw... I'm sorry."

AWWWWW, GABBY HONEY...

"I guess we won't be able to vote together this time again."

YES YOU CAN. YOU'RE FRIENDS.

"I can tell you're gonna vote one of us."

Well... he got a point.

"But at least Tom and Miriam are voting Gabby instead of you."

...

WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY.

JAKE

DON'T YOU DARE.

WHY?!?!? WHY CAN'T YOU VOTE ALEC?!

"Whatever happens, no hard feelings, right?"

At least Ellie's cool with this.

Not personal. You vote my ally, I won't take it personally.

"One vote won't change anything."

At least they're on good terms about this. Not personal. They get it.

AWWWWWW

SEE?! NO HARD FEELINGS. THEY CAN WORK THIS STUFF OUT.

I feel like he's gonna vote Gabby though... I know it's not personal, but you know.

But Fiore has the majority alliance, so it won't matter. Gabby's fine.

I FEEL LIKE THEY MIGHT PICK JAKE THOUGH... OH NO...

"Ellie is friends with Jake! And he could persuade her to betray us! Better get him out before he has that chance!"

I can see that happening...

Gosh darn it...

"That challenge strategy was very impressive."

Except Ellie caught onto it.

Moment she gets an opening to process a betrayal, SHE'S the one that'll do the betraying and she's gonna side with the Tom Jake & Miriam alliance.

That's what I'm predicting.

And if you get Gabby out there's NO WAY IN HELL she'll work with you!

"Who will be first?"

Alliance of 5. The alliance of 3 is voting Gabby. They all vote together Gabby's not going.

You can pick Tom, who is a physical threat in the game.

You can pick Jake, who has a social gameplay advantage with Ellie and getting rid of him would spare her from possibly betraying you.

You can pick Miriam, who... idk.

I THINK it's gonna be Jake tonight.

And it's gonna HURT.

"Tonight, we won't just be reading the votes..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH MY GOD IT'S A TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND REFERENCE

THEY DID THIS SAME THING ON THEIR FIRST MERGE COUNCIL TOO

YEAH YEAH WE KNOW...

OH GOD I'M SCARED NOW...

IT'S EITHER GABBY OR JAKE AND BOTH ARE GONNA HURT

"This is for getting me out of today's challenge."

BEEF.

And then it's gonna be all the Jake votes piling up.

OH WAIT THEY'RE VOTING TOM. WAIT A MINUTE.

NO IT'S TOM THAT'S GOING.

I mean I'm not saying that's a bad move, it's a good move, but...

OH I'M SORRY TOM. THIS IS IT FOR YOU.

WAIT WHAT??!?!?!?!

NOOOOOO!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!??!?!

SHE'S ON YOUR SIDE!!!!

"Now without Gabby, Ellie will have no choice but to return with us to her old alliance."

SHE WAS ALREADY WITH YOU, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT!

THAT RUINS YOUR CHANCES TO ALLY WITH HER!!!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!??!!

OH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

NO COME ON THAT'S BULLSHIT

THAT'S A BULLSHIT GAME MOVE!!

DON'T DO THIS!!!!

😨

"Gabby. That's six votes. You're out."

GABBY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm actually HURT

I'm actually DEVASTATED...

OMG GABBY NOOOOOOOOOO

Okay, I'm calming down...

GOD I'M MAD. I'M SO MAD.

"I knew something was wrong."

HUH, at least now Ellie KNOWS who to trust, right?!

At least Jake came CLEAN about who his alliance was voting for! Fiore's DIDN'T.

HUH, I WONDER WHICH ALLIANCE I SHOULD SIDE WITH

That's a nail in the coffin. Ellie is NEVER siding with the villains.

I hope that gameplay was sounded smart on your ends.

Okay no I'll talk about this later.

"They ruined my plans."

OH YEAH NOW SHE'S OUTTED.

Fiore, you fucked up your entire game.

"You can make fun and celebrate all you want, but it won't last long! The three of you are still outnumbered."

OOF. And she just flat out said it.

"I am NOT working with you after this! You can't make me!"

"If you still had your totem, you could've saved yourself."

Yeah... should've kept that idol.

OH WAIT I PUT GABBY IN THE HEADING, I JINXED HER ELIMINATION, GODDAMMIT!!!

NO, I CAUSED THIS!!!

I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT HER IN THE HEADING!!!

"I'm happy I saved you. You're the only person here who has ever taken me seriously, and possibly the only person I've ever met who has made me feel... valid."

💗

"Because you are! There's nothing wrong with you."

YOU BET THERE'S NOT. YOU'RE WONDERFUL, GABBY.

"I hope we'll keep talking when this is all over."

"We will."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

YEEEESSSS!!!

*I got a 'Speak No Evil' trailer ad*

WOW. TONAL WHIPLASH THERE.

So that was the episode... oh my god...

I'M HURT.

THIS ELIMINATION DEVASTATED ME. OH MY GOD.

GABBY WAS MY BEST GIRL, I'M GONNA MISS HER.

Okay, okay, I'm NOT someone who hates it when my favorite characters get eliminated and call that 'bad writing, they should've won'. Because sometimes that doesn't make sense for the story.

I CAN see a scenario of Gabby winning in my head. BUT if that's not the direction they want to go and they want a different winner, that's fine by me.

If anything, if you're gonna ask me who I think is gonna win... Ellie.

And I feel like the other finalists would be Jake and Fiore.

Cause I feel like Tom is a big threat so they'd want him gone and I think Alec and Grett are gonna get betrayed.

HERE'S MY BEEF THOUGH.

This plan, on Fiore's end, makes NO SENSE.

She has Alec and Grett on her side. That's an alliance of three.

Alec was successfully able to convince Ellie and Gabby to join them, and since both aren't close with the other three, that's easy. I can accept that.

So Fiore has an alliance of FIVE. The MAJORITY alliance.

Tom Jake and Miriam are the minority.

And thanks to Gabby, Fiore KNOWS that there's NO IDOL in play. So the minority CAN'T pull that trick on them.

So she and her alliance CAN successfully vote off one of the three. And ANY of the three would've worked.

Tom is the most physically gifted of the three and can be a threat in challenges, especially if he made it to the finale.

Jake has the social high ground as he's on good terms with Ellie.

Miriam is the glue keeping those three together.

Voting off ANY of those three would've worked on Fiore's favor.

"But what if Ellie betrayed them?"

She's NOT on good terms with Teal. The ONLY one of those three she IS on good terms with is Jake.

SO BETTER REASON TO VOTE JAKE, so Ellie betraying them is BARELY possible.

I'm a Jake Stan, but I can accept a Jake elimination in a gameplay move like this.

Ellie was already weary about Fiore's alliance as well, ESPECIALLY Alec. You NEED to PROVE that you're not gonna stab her in the back!

SO VOTE JAKE. And then she realizes "Oh shit, I CAN trust them!"

And you have her on your side!

By eliminating GABBY, the ONE person who Ellie WHOLEHEARTEDLY trusted, you BETRAY her YET AGAIN.

You LOSE one of your alliance members, therefore majority, AND you lose Ellie's trust that you'll be loyal to her! SO SURPRISE SURPRISE, SHE WON'T WORK WITH YOU.

You're in the minority, Ellie sides with Jake Tom & Miriam, AND YOUR ASSES ARE GONE.

"But why would she side with them? They voted Gabby too & and they tried to vote her too."

AGAIN, JAKE. Jake came CLEAN about who they were voting for, AND ELLIE SAID "NO HARD FEELINGS".

She's gonna trust someone brutally honest OVER someone who LIES to her!

IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO SEE WHAT I'M SAYING.

So the better game move, in my opinion, would be to NOT approach the Tom Jake & Miriam Alliance because they were ALREADY beefing with Gabby & Ellie without your help. Do your game move in the challenge to give Grett immunity. AND THEN VOTE. OFF. JAKE.

NO, I'M NOT SAYING THIS CAUSE I WANT JAKE OUT. I LOVE HIM. BUT I'M JUST SAYING IT WOULD'VE BEEN A BETTER GAME MOVE.

I have to imagine another idol comes into play now. That's the ONLY way Fiore can defeat the other alliance now. She Alec or Grett need an idol to nullify the votes and get one of the heroes out.

And on top of that, YOUR KID ACT GOT OUTTED.

YOU. ARE. FUCKED.

*Rant Over*

...so yeah, I'm sad that Gabby's gone.

At least we got a Gabby & Ellie kiss.

Ngl, I wish we had more time with them. Cause they were on opposite teams, they couldn't interact a lot. Even when they WERE on the same team for an episode, Ellie interacted more with Jake than Gabby. I understand that may be building up to... that entire rant I did, but I would've swapped the screen time of the two is all I'm saying. At least in that episode.

But they're cute and perfectly healthy and in a show like this... THAT IS A DAMN MIRACLE.

Also Lesbian W.

I don't know for sure if they're both in Season 3. I would hope they are just so we get more of them as a couple.

Cause Ellie is GREAT for Gabby. And that final interaction with them proved that.

Like I said, I think Ellie is gonna win the whole thing. I think that's the payoff here.

If you guys want me to continue these reactions, be sure to let me know.

[briteboy]

Someone is sending an ask about your past blog and your fanfic you wrote about two teen anime boys. I suggest you acknowledge it on this blog to let people know instead of trying to rebrand and have a “redemption arc” when what you did is more than wrong, it’s disgusting

if i was really trying to rebrand i wouldn't leave my previous url permanently in my header so people wouldn't forget. ("redemption arc" is from an anon message i received, just for clarification.) i've said this before, but i'll reiterate: anyone who's curious can go to that url and see the post that lives there where i've made my final statement about the situation (and reposted on this blog as well at the time), where i also make it clear that i'm not "rebranding"...i simply got sick of my last url. believe it or not i am just a person and not everything i do is purposely diabolical.

i've tried to handle this as responsibly as i can, i've spoken about this ad nauseam and i've apologized multiple times. what more am i supposed to do or say if i'm not actively harming anyone or contributing to the problem, and haven't been for years now? genuinely asking. like...yeah, it was weird and gross. i'm not disagreeing with you. i'm sorry and i'd go back in time to stop myself from writing fanfiction of aged up personifications of teenage anime characters– or better yet, urge my even younger self to question the norms of fandoms and the like that i'd grown up in, where this was commonplace– if i could.

i don't know how many different ways i can make it clear that i'm not even remotely the same person i was then in any capacity. anyone who's known me for years could tell you this. i could apologize again and again but people would still hold it against me. so at this point i think it's well within my rights to live my life and enjoy my hobbies (completely unrelated to the situation at hand) without being indebted to those who know me through the narrow lens of sims tumblr for a mistake i made 5 years ago and took accountability for at the time, and again even now. as long as this keeps being rehashed, i will continue to do so. it's all i can do.

i know that very insular online communities like to think some people are just Bad Forever but that's just not how life works, especially in the case of ignorance where people actually take the time to reflect, learn and grow after realizing the wrongness of their actions. but if believing that makes you feel more comfortable, then i invite you not to engage with me. we're both better off that way. more than that, i encourage you to consider the fact that people change. that's all i have to say.

[theoracleofgiana]

Coming Out - The Pixie and The Dyrad

Emi sighs as he applies more concealer to his neck. Lexi just had to leave so many marks. Speaking of the dryad, Emi is startled out of his thoughts when he feels an arm wrap around him. He sighs and leans into the girl's touch. "Something wrong?" She asks and Emi remembers his thoughts. "Yeah, nothing you could do about it though," He responds, the discomfort making his stomach swirl. Lexi raises an eyebrow. "You sure?" She holds Emi just a bit closer and Emi feels his anxiety scream at him.

"I can't love you," He says before he can stop himself. Realizing what he said, Emi looks down and stares intently at the sink. Lexi from behind him blinks in confusion. "Uh, I don't love you like that either?" Emi feels a bit better at the words and lifts his head. He meets Lexi's gaze with a hopeful smile. "I do have to ask what made you say can't," Lexi says, curiosity taking over. Emi's smile fades and he sighs again. He thinks about the words carefully before answering the dryad.

"You know how we're friends with benefits," Lexi nods in response. "How we don't kiss a lot, just occasionally?" Lexi hums and gives Emi a little nod to continue. "Well, I despise the idea of making out and I can't imagine myself committing to someone. I've never gotten butterflies or had a crush before that wasn't superficial. But, I still crave to take someone on dates and buy them gifts. I want to cuddle and know everything about someone without the whole dating aspect."

Lexi takes a moment to think before speaking. "So, the relationship benefits without the romance?" Lexi asks to get a little more information. "Exactly!" Emi exclaims. "Does this include sexual benefits?" Lexi says trying to gauge Emi's response. Emi nods and sighs once more. "I'm sure that seems weird and confusing. I thought I was pansexual for the longest time for it. I'm actually under the aromantic scale, it's called cupioromantic. It's the desire for a relationship without the romance part. Also, you don't or feel very little romance for people either," Emi explains the best he can. Lexi nods and takes everything into account. It explained a lot about the pixie and who he was.

"I'm not asking you to be that either, by the way. I mean, I want you too but, if that's too much and you prefer we just stay fuck buddies, I'm cool with it. Hell, you can even cut off contact with me if you want. I just want you to know the truth and how I feel," Emi rattles on but Lexi has already made up their mind. She takes Emi's face and gently makes him look them in the eyes. "Emi," Lexi starts and Emi is immediately nodding. "I would like that with you. Platonically dating sounds wonderful." Emi can't help that his eyes start to water. "You mean it?" He asks, his fear still lingering. Lexi chuckles. "Yeah, as long as you don't mind if I get a partner or anything," The dryad says with a gentle ruffle to the pixie's hair. Emi grins at the affection. "As long as they don't mind what we do, I'm okay with it," He responds with his own teasing grin.

The two would need to talk about boundaries and more but, for now, they were okay. Emi's heart bursts with happiness and contentment. They could talk about it more in detail later for now they enjoyed being in the present and in each other's arms. The peace is unfortunately broken by one of their phones going off. "Shit!" Emi says as he quickly tries to finish hiding the hickeys. Lexi smirks at the response. Yeah, they were going to be just fine together.

(A/n: Meet Emi. An oc who is cupioromantic like me. The experience that Emi describes and how he feels is a mirror of my own. The differences are not having a partner (of any type) and we have different wishes about the sexual benefits. I was coming to terms with being cupio and I thought what if an oc had this? Maybe it would help me understand myself more by writing it out. I can confirm that it did help a lot. The fwb was just something my brain thought would be an interesting dynamic and a good way to approach the topic. So what if a character has a buddy and he's scared the other is in love with them? Thus, Emi the pixie and Lexi the dryad were born. Their dynamic is going to be a fun one to write and I hope I do more writing for them. I already have ideas. I'm going to hopefully finish chapter 3 of Home of the Lost first. It's currently longer than the first two chapters and I'm so excited to share it when it's done. I hope you enjoyed and have a fantastical day!)

[the-firebird69]

We are doing this report and they're trying to threaten his credit card again and mind you the charges did not go through last time at all and they got caught and beat up and now it's going to happen again except for the charges are not going to be allowed to be made and people are stopping them and it's a bunch of these idiots and they're getting screwed and on the way out our son was telling the guy with some idiot watching so how many accounts do you have cuz they have a lot to lose and he was not smiling and didn't figure it out but yeah we start going after you and yeah we take you down and we take good stuff and the pseudo empire was ready and they tried to run the credit card from somewhere other than the good old days restaurant and they did not try and run it from there at all fraudulently it just they changed the name on the credit card bill and our son didn't recognize the dollar amount until later and it was before they tried online and it was Trump and stuff but this time it looks like bja and he's getting hit and these people try to s*** all the time with people and they constantly get killed and there's too many of them. They're ruining things for other people and it is his sister and Lily his own family and they're going to go after him and he's a spaz and we are going to cripple them you should see what it looks like to our son it looks like a very very stupid person is trying to do something cuz he knows what happens they can see him it's like he's saying it showing a knife and really f*** that guy that's what it really turns into is I'm going to kill that piece of s*** is what he says and he means I need to get rid of that guy and we really do doesn't have any right to mess with our son didn't have any right to be a spy in westborough I didn't have any rights try and take over the world and harm our people and now they just sit there saying it all day long and they say it by trying to do this messing with the card stuff and I tell you we have to go after them right now aggressively here and we're not doing it that aggressive and we need to show them that they're wrong we need a lot more we need teams to sign on to the studio right now

Thor Freya

Olympus

Really it turns your stomach their phone stupid and mean and ridiculous and they're going to die here's a guy who's running a museum and he had famous people in it and he's trying to blame bill for some reason that wasn't aware bill was there so now he's repeating some of the history and he was somewhere else and Preston is up and they're going to go after this little retard and kill him and his family it is too many times for this s*** heads for us way too many times everyday 10 or 20 attempts and you got to get lost two people are done so people are at the finance centers right now and then going after the s******* Brian and he's been taking stuff and now he's blowing his deal and he's going to blow his deal at the stashes and caches

Zues Hera

I'm going to announce a couple things in a moment

Thor Freya

Olympus

[sevileviathan]

Yo Kirby made a callout on you, I’d check it out

I saw and I see no issue with it! (Explaining my part) (Also sorry for using your ask to respond to everything)

although some information is wrong and made to make me look worse than I am I will be fully honest that yeah- everything Kirby is saying in that post is real and I will never deny it

I see no reason to point out I am the same person (Sevi and Tokyo) when I posted about it before on my Twitter account

I just don't bring it up because why would I bring up an old username? (Kirby knows this first hands)

I understand Kirby is using my past to hurt me but I'm okay with it, there are lots of friends who know, and most of my followers but I don't spit it out to the world (Kirby doesn't tell people what he did in the past does? probably not till he's called out) that I did that if they come to me asking what happened in late 2019 to early 2020- I'll tell them

I have done it many times with friends and new friends I even told my recent ex about it

(Dead naming Kirby)

I've gotten more Anon questions and I know they're all from Kirdy and Kirby, I am sorry I thought you were still going by Eden and just only changed your username as you have done before, I didn't mean to dead-name you as I am also a trans man and I know how it feels to be dead-named a lot I never intended to do it on purpose, for now on I will only say, Kirby

please understand that if I ever bring up the old drama before you changed your name to Kirby, I will say Eden so people can know who you are

(Saying we were friends and that I never told them about the minor)

and Kirby- we were never really close friends back then you and I were only friends as long as I and Bron were back in the Hazbin days you ended up just cutting me off from talking to you and not till you called me out, so we're in the world are you getting at I never told you? I never told you because we weren't friends

The minor's and my friends knew mostly the adults (I won't be saying names but my point still stands)

I never said the minor forgave me and how I know till this day I hurt them but how dare you Kirby to lie about that, the minor has a right to hate me, to cry about what I did, to tell what I did but the fact that you're saying that I made this post to say I never did anything wrong- no that's just wrong, I have said so many times on Twitter before that yes it was my fault, that yes I was horrible and I can't imagine the pain the person is going through

my apology back then was cheap and horribly written, and if I could tell them again how sorry I am I would but I can't because I go by their wishes to never speak to them! ever!

as to the videos Kirby, Lio has said many things with proof I may not know much of your personal life and if you were hurt by family, I fully understand but you never owned up to the other shit you've done (like stealing money from a victim, harassing a minor, trying to sell nudes to Kiwi farm, making lies about people who you don't like, and YOU yourself tried to get a YTber talk about your issues then about a man who groomed a minor) but made excuses to make yourself look like the good guy for YEARS and most recently two months ago harassing Hazbin OC creators for not siding with you

you harassed most if not all people who are big in the HH fandom and not only till Lio call you out again you went offline to make your Kirby account to promote pro-ships

Now let me get this Kiby

when was this about me?

I called you out because I heard the recent news of something you did and I do apologize for not saying what but I really don't think it's my place to say what happened to the victim but this wasn't about me

why not just make a post about how you changed as a person and explain yourself? Oh right because you don't want to

you rather make a call-out post on the person who called you out so you look better than them in every way possible, am I right?

I'm basically easy to call out because I was a gross and disgusting person back in early 2020 but what happened to change Kirby? people change, I haven't gotten any other issue from anyone for 2 years now (besides a small OC drama) what about you?

Let me see- oh right, you harassed a HH creator till you went as Kirby and during to since they called you out AGAIN! during that time

I don't know what to tell you, Kirby, and Kirby's fans I believe in change, I really do but Kirby has been like this for years Kirby has lived longer than me and keeps going to make people mad at things he does

Keep trying to fight back at me Kirby

but unlike you- I ain't gonna use my life of abuse to make people feel bad about me and I will talk like a normal human being and talk about how wrong you are

as a victim myself, you can't keep using your abuse as an excuse to keep people feeling sorry for you

[chaos-in-bright-pink-hair-dye]

Mars AU Part 1

What if our favourite 'joys lived on Mars instead of California, scavenging for forgotten tanks of oxygen while there are S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W units on their tails. Night skies covered in neon colours and the cold grip of the red planet being the last thing one can feel out there millions of kilometres away from home. One last human colony called Battery city with handful of kids running on gasoline against it.

Ok just kidding they use solar energy not gasoline XD

word count: 1 368

tw: near death experience from second person's point of view

And thank you so much, @ordinary-dust for being my awesome beta tester

Jet was pissed, he spent hour driving to ruins of what used to be one of the biggest cities, hoping that its distant location would mean that it wasn’t completely raided yet like the others. And what was he rewarded with? One can of water, that has been laying around for years so who knows if it really is even drinkable, and a spare helmet that is probably older than the city itself. And as if it wasn’t enough, he had about forty minutes before sundown and the battery in his car was already running low, he will be lucky if he makes it home in time.

He just finished adjusting the solar panels on the roof hoping he could get few more minutes out of the setting sun when he noticed something that didn’t belong out there, just few meters in front of him. He did consider it nothing more than just few rocks before, nothing uncommon but now that he was closer, he could see it had too round and organic shapes to be part of the surface and he could recognize folds of fabric. As he got closer, he could recognize two people one laying on the ground, from how it seemed one was probably unconscious and the second one hunched over them probably trying to hide them from any dangers that could come.

As he stopped next to them, he could see that they were both around his age, possibly siblings? But for fucks sake how did two kids such like them get so far from the city? Based on their suits that even though not in the best state seemed quite new and like ones that Battery city's citizens or troops would wear, they couldn’t have been in the zones longer than for just few days. Sure, most killjoys wore suits like these but you pretty much don’t meet one that wouldn’t have their suit covered in patches, colourful fabric and pretty much any crap you can find out there. These two could maybe fool someone with their bright jackets that they had over their suits since that is very killjoy thing to do but when you paid even a slight attention to the way they looked it was obvious they were very new runaways.

The younger kid moved in front of the older one’s unconscious body to protect them with their own body when Jet stepped out of the car. But judging by the way they moved their oxygen was almost gone too and they couldn’t do much damage, knowing that, Jet slowly approached them. ‘Hey, I know you’re scared but I’m not gonna hurt you, okay? Look I’m not even armed’ Jet slowly showed the kid his empty hands. And for once it was true, he did leave his blaster in the car, not that it was really a gamechanger since he could take them with his bare hands but it at least seemed to work as in calming them down. He didn’t need his spacesuit either, thanks to the air field provided by the car but he could already feel the cold biting into his uncovered face and arms, he had to do this quickly.

‘Is that your sibling? They don’t look good, you run out of oxygen, right? I can help them. And I can help you, I can take you both to a safe place.’ Jet asked them to which they slightly nodded. Jet decided to take it both as an answer and as a permission to come closer. He went past the kid and kneeled down next to their sibling, the other one didn’t seem very happy about that, Jet could see they were still terrified but at least rational enough to realize that Jet was their only chance of surviving. ‘I’m just gonna take their helmet off so that I can have better look at them alright? You can take your helmet off too, there’s air around us.’ he was lightly annoyed at that point, he got that the kid was scared but there wasn’t much time left so some co-operation would be nice.

The younger sibling looked at them with very obvious distrust but they still took their helmet off, streaks of blond hair falling over their eyes. Jet took that as a sign of at least some trust and carefully removed the older sibling’s helmet too, covering the ground in bright red hair. They remained unconscious but Jet could see that they were still breathing, very mildly but there was chance for them. Just few more minutes and it would be probably too late, Jet couldn’t imagine telling the kid that was now sitting next to him, that their sibling is dead, he has seen many people die and he had to deliver the message to their families, friends or lovers too many times but for some reason this would be different, these two seemed to innocent, like they didn’t really belong into Jet’s world and yet one of them was lying almost dead at his feet. ‘They will make it, but only if you help me. We have to get them in the car and then somewhere where they can get real help.’ Finally, that was something that made the kid move, they got up helping Jet pick their sibling up. Jet still had to carry most of the weight but at least they weren’t working against him now. They quickly laid the red head down on the back seat of Jet’s car and the kid climbed in next to them nursing their siblings head in their lap.

Jet sat behind the driving wheel and got going. There was no way they could make it into his shelter in time and it wasn’t like he could help them much anyway, he had barely enough food and O2 for himself. The only option was Dr Death’s radio station. He hasn’t been there in months but apparently the universe was telling him it was time to pay his kind of adoptive family a visit again. ‘So can I at least know your names, since I’ve let two complete strangers into my car?’ Jet smirked and looked over his shoulder just to see the kid passed out too.

It was already dark when Jet arrived to the station and his breath was condensing in the cold air around. He parked right in front of the main door and rushed in. ‘Oh, look who’s back, I thought I would never see you again.’ snickered Pony without looking up from some video game he was playing. ‘Great to see you too, but where’s D I need some help.’ that seemed to get Pony’s attention ‘D’s on air right now but what’s the matter?’ he said as he stood up, his typical roller skates clacking on the floor. ‘Picked up some kids, must have escaped the city, gotten lost and run out of oxygen. One of them isn’t looking very shinny.’ Apparently, that was all he needed to hear because soon he was helping Jet carry the red head into the spare room with the younger kid right behind them, suddenly completely awake. They laid them on a mattress in a small dark room left for situations such like this one.

Jet left the room to go wait for D, leaving Pony to take care of their two guests, he was way better at it anyway. It didn’t take long for Dr Death to finish his part with Cherri taking his place. When they came into the room, they could see Pony had done quite a work, both of the kids had their space suits off and the older one was now in bed covered under several blankets while the younger one was sitting next to them holding their hand, they themselves were half asleep bundled up under a blanket of their own but they made it very obvious they weren’t leaving their sibling. Jet was really tired himself so after D stated that the kid would make it and that there’s nothing more, they could do at the moment he decided to go to sleep too, leaving the two foundlings alone. Not like they could disappear suddenly anyway.

[karolinesvrsion]

just this once, okay? | bruce yamada x fem!reader

part 1 part 2 part 3

okay i made a playlist go like it! here's my spotify

a/n: for the sake of the story, everyone is the same age (16-17) and in junior year of high school, except gwen, who is a freshman. and the grabber doesn't exist because i said so.

when a crushing and helpless bruce yamada seeks aid from an unaware and breezy y/n, he suggests they fake date in order to make his crush jealous. what could go wrong? they were friendly, and y/n was beautiful. bruce’s plan is fool proof. at least that’s what he thinks.

italics = flashbacks

❦

it had been two weeks since you and bruce went public with your "relationship". many jaws dropped when you and bruce walked into school holding hands.

"you're dating bruce yamada!?" donna exclaimed, slamming your locker closed. the impact made a loud noise, causing multiple people to look over.

"wow, good morning to you too!" you retorted sarcastically, earning an eye roll from donna.

"you're dating bruce yamada and you didn't tell me!?" she continued. "you're not supposed to keep secrets from me! we keep secrets from everyone else!"

"okay, okay!" you chuckled, leaning against the lockers. "it just slipped my mind, that's all." donna didn't look very convinced, but she shrugged.

"okay, so, tell me!" she giggled, linking her arm with yours. "what did he say? how did he ask you? i thought you two hadn't talked in two years!"

"we started talking again during the summer, and we were at the library, and he just... asked!" you replied. earlier, you and bruce talked about what you'd tell people if they asked so that there wouldn't be any miscommunications.

"wow!" donna feigned excitement. "that's— wow!"

"it's boring, i know, but i like him, y'know?" you and bruce spent the previous evening at the baseball field, laughing while practicing what to say to people who asked about the relationship.

"are you two gonna go to the carnival next saturday?" donna smirked, nudging your shoulder. "should be a pretty sweet date!"

"shut up, d, we have calculus." you tried to brush it off, but donna wouldn't let up.

the first day after going public, bruce sat next to you in physics— like he said he would. he gave you the classic bruce yamada grin and slid right next to you.

it was easier than you thought it would be to fake date bruce. after making the rules, you two seemed to get closer in a short amount of time. very short. two days, actually. you two didn't spend every single minute of every day together, obviously, but in the time that you did spend with one another, it was in the library, not studying, not doing homework, just.. hanging out.

mrs. schultz was growing agitated with how loud you two would talk and laugh in the small library, but she kept it a secret on account of "they're such a cute pair!" martin, her husband, was also growing agitated. not with you two in particular, but with how much mrs. schultz would talk about you two.

you were seated in the very corner of your physics class, bruce sitting next to you. he was telling you about how his little sister, amy, begged him to let her make little braids in his hair the night before.

"your hair isn't long enough to be braided, though!" you laughed. donna looked over her shoulder at the two of you, smirking slightly. since she was in the photography club, donna had to have her own camera. she very discreetly snapped a photo, chuckling to herself.

"yeah, i know that!" he smiled. "but she still begged for fifteen minutes!"

"okay, class, settle down," mr. hanson walked in, placing an enormous stack of papers on his small desk. "today, we're starting a new topic. we will be starting momentum and collision. please take notes on this, because you will have a test on it soon."

bruce looked over at you. "point for you, i guess." the day you two created the rules, he decided to make a point system. whenever you two had to study for something, you would get a point. whenever you missed one of his games or practices, he would get a point. so far you had three points and bruce had one.

"what? it's just momentum and collision, that's easy!" you whispered. "come on, you don't know if we'll have to study for it yet."

"oh, y/n, please!" he scoffed quietly. "it's a topic about physics! you know how bad i am at physics!"

"you are so dramatic, bruce."

"oh, am i?"

"you are—"

"mr. yamada, ms. l/n, is there something you two would like to share with the class?" mr. hanson glared at the two of you with an unamused expression on his young face.

"no, sir." you and bruce muttered, your faces a matching shade of bright red. the class snickered at this, and donna mouthed the words, "how adorable" to you.

"good, now let's get started."

the next day went by slowly. you were in your room, reading the silence of the lambs by thomas harris. the book creeped you out, but you just couldn't stop reading.

you were snapped out of your trance when wyatt came knocking on your door. "hey, there's some dude at the door looking for you."

"jeez, wyatt, that's super clarifying," you retorted sarcastically. "did you get a name, by any chance?"

"yeah, i think it was bryan." he looked beyond confused. "or maybe it was bruno? oh, oh, bryce! definitely bryce!"

"you mean bruce?"

"oh, yeah, that's the one!" wyatt grinned. "bruce is at the door, looking for you. he said you two are going to the carnival today?"

"crap, that's today," you frowned, putting your book away and pushing wyatt out of your doorway. "don't tell him i forgot or i'll put your diary entries into the paper and make billy deliver them."

"okay, okay! jeez, how did you even find out about my diary!?" wyatt grumbled.

"you're terrible at hiding things." you finalized, closing your door in his face.

you changed into a comfortable flannel, paired with your dark-wash mom jeans and your white converse. basic, but cute.

as you hurried downstairs, you heard giggling. more specifically, allie's giggling. it was rather surprising to see bruce bonding so well with allie, seeing as the eight year old wasn't too keen on interacting with people she didn't know.

"so you play baseball? like finney?" allie gasped. "can you teach me how?"

"well, i can try." bruce smiled, making allie blush. he saw you descending from the stairs and stood up. "hey, are you ready?"

"yeah, i'm ready," you chuckled, walking into the kitchen for a bottle of water. bruce trailed behind you, sending a small smile to allie. "you're making allie fall in love with you, y'know?"

"yeah, i have that charm." bruce laughed, staring at you a little too long.

your mom walked in unexpectedly, making bruce snap out of it. he shook his head, questioning himself. why couldn't he take his eyes off of you?

"hey!" your mom cheered. "who's this?"

"mom, hey," you groaned slightly. "this is— um, this is bruce. my, uh, my boyfriend."

your moms eyes widened. "boyfriend? wow! this is great news! bruce, hi, its nice to meet you!"

"oh, hi, mrs. l/n," he shook your moms hand politely, looking at you for some help. "its so wonderful to finally meet you!"

"and its so nice to meet you, bruce. i have heard nothing about you, actually." your mom wasn't trying to be rude, she just didn't really think before she spoke.

"oh, that's nice," bruce trailed off. wyatt and allie were silently laughing behind you three.

you took bruce's hand in yours and tried to drag him away from your mom. "c'mon, lets get going before she asks about your family."

"have fun, be back by ten!" your mom laughed.

"bye mrs. l/n! bye allie and wilbur!" bruce called.

"it's wyatt!"

"you called me bryce!"

"okay, we're leaving now, bye!" you yelled, dragging bruce out of the door.

you and bruce arrived at the carnival a little bit past six thirty. to say he was excited was an understatement. "okay so, amy asked me if i could get her some of that gross cotton candy stuff, but i think we can get that later! we could go on the bumper cars! or, we could go to the ring toss things! ooh, maybe we could get one of those giant teddy bears or something—"

"jeez, bruce, you're more excited than your girl is." one of his baseball friends, nolan, joked, making bruce turn beet red. "hey, man, i'm just teasing."

"yeah, whatever." bruce shrugged him off. "we'll see you all later. nolan don't be a dick to colin, okay?"

"no promises, bruce."

"do you wanna get food first?" you asked after all of his friends took off. you knew bruce didn't like doing things on an empty stomach.

"yeah, let's go!" he smiled, taking your hand in his.

bruce chose hotdogs, much to your dismay. you weren't too fond of them, but then again, it was a carnival. you couldn't go to a carnival and not eat gross food.

you two ate the hotdogs quietly— they were disgusting, but you tried to power through, for bruce. you grimaced as the foul taste reached your stomach. it appeared that bruce was tasting the same thing, because you two made eye contact and he looked like he was going to throw up.

"that's disgusting." bruce swallowed the last of his bite, then threw the hotdog away.

"those are horrible, bruce." you laughed, throwing the hotdog in the trash.

"yeah, we're never eating those again. ever." he groaned, beginning to walk away. he put his hands in the pockets of his black jacket. "so, where do we go first?"

"do you know if clara is here?" you asked him, making him squint his eyes a little. "clara reid?"

"oh, right, right!" he straightened a little. "i think nolan told me she'd be here with joan and eliza."

"okay, well then, let's go find something to do so clara can see us or something." bruce nodded and you two looked for the trio.

"look, there they are." he subtly pointed to where they were standing— near the ring toss stand. "let's go."

and so, you two went to the ring toss. the guy working it said it was easy, you just had to get a ring into the empty bottle in the very middle, and you could win the ginormous teddy bear.

bruce was determined to win it. "hey, check to see if they're looking." he whispered lightly.

you discreetly turned around, and did, indeed, see clara looking at the two of you. oddly enough, she didn't look jealous, or bothered, or annoyed. in fact, her expression was uninterested, almost like she didn't even care, like she didn't even mean to look at you two. but you didn't want to tell bruce that. he'd probably get bummed out. "uh, yeah, yeah, they're looking."

"that's good, right?" bruce chuckled, focusing on the bottle in the middle. he missed two of them, which really added to the suspense of whether or not he'd get the bear. finally, on the last ring, he drowned out everything else and put all of his attention on the bottle.

you held his hand, attempting to make him feel more confident in the last throw. bruce looked down at your now intertwined hands and smiled slightly. putting all of his attention on the bottle, he threw the ring.

the loud 'clink' made bruce ecstatic. he threw his arms around you happily and spun you around the air. "i did it!"

the guy, whose name was actually doug, rolled his eyes at this— probably because he had seen four other couples do the exact same thing. he handed the large teddy bear to bruce, saying, "here you go, thanks for playing, congrats." in a monotone voice. he really wanted to go home.

"here, hold todd." bruce said, handing you the teddy bear.

"todd?" you questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"yes, y/n/n, todd!" bruce explained. "we have shared custody of him now, keep up!"

"you're so weird, bruce." you chuckled. bruce smiled at you, slinging his arm around your shoulder.

"weird? im not weird, i'm— ooh!" he trailed off, looking at the spinning teacups ride in amazement. "can we go? please!"

"bruce, are you crazy?" you choked, slipping out from under his arm. "we'll throw up those nasty hotdogs you got us!"

"ugh, fine. you stay here with todd and watch as i have a great time." bruce taunted, placing his hands on your shoulders. "i'm gonna have a blast on these spinning teacups, and when i don't throw up, i'm laughing in your face."

"okay then..."

you watched as bruce picked the teacup closest to where you were standing and quickly claimed it. he gave you a thumbs up, a wide smile on his face. you felt another presence on your right, and turned your head to see clara standing next to you.

"hey, y/n!" she smiled sweetly. "i heard you're dating bruce! how's that going?"

"oh, hey clara. it's going good, i suppose." you responded kindly. you and clara weren't friends, barely even classmates, and there was no reason to be rude to her, so you kept your answers short.

"that's great!" she sang, her brown hair framing her face nicely. "y'know, people used to say i had a crush on him, but i never did. he's um, not really my type, y'know?"

your heart sank for bruce. clara had no interest in him. like none. zero. you couldn't be the one to tell him, though. his heart would be crushed.

"um, so, i just wanted to clear that up, just in case you thought i like him or something." clara said, placing her hand on your bicep for a moment, and then walking back to joan and eliza.

bruce got off the ride, walking up to you. "did you see that!? it was freaking amazing, and you missed out!"

you quickly plastered a smile on your face, not wanting bruce to think something was wrong. "i did, and i can tell you're dizzy. oh, you are so throwing up later."

"i am not going to throw up, i have a great digestive system." he defended, faltering after he realized what he just said. "ew, i didn't mean for that to sound so gross."

you laughed, taking his hand in yours. "i figured."

"ooh let's go to the bumper cars!" bruce urged, swinging your arms around. "and then we can go to the funhouse, or do you prefer haunted houses?"

"i definitely prefer haunted houses, but let's go!" you grinned.

you and bruce rode every ride twice, the second time being better than the first. you had to admit, fake-dating bruce yamada was not as bad as you thought it would be. it was almost.. fun?

it was about nine-thirty, and bruce's friends approached the two of you as you got off of the small roller coaster seats.

"hey, have you two gone on the ferris wheel yet?" nolan asked, holding a large red slushie.

"uh, no we haven't actually." bruce answered, looking at you from the corner of his eye.

"oh, you two should totally go on it! the guy stops it right when it's at the very top and you can see the whole town from there! man, bruce, the view is incredible!" lucas— another one of his friends— rambled.

"alright then, let's go!" bruce beamed, leading you to the ferris wheel. you two were standing in line talking when bruce realized that lucas and his girlfriend violet were right behind you two.

"lucas, hey, i didn't realize you were behind us, man." bruce said, causing you to turn around and look at them. "hey, you two wanna share a compartment with us? they're pretty big and it's just us, so.."

"yeah, sure! sounds good to me!" lucas chimed, his green eyes brightening. violet nodded, smiling at the you and bruce.

lucas was right— the view was incredible. you could see your house, the porch light still on, indicating that your mother was waiting for you to arrive. bruce pointed out where his house was, where the baseball field was, and even where favorite diners were.

your hands were still intertwined, not that either of you noticed. bruce had a weird feeling in his stomach, but it wasn't nausea like you thought it would be. he had felt this before, when he realized he liked clara. but he didn't like you, not like that, did he?

you were still admiring the view when you felt bruce place a small kiss on the side of your head. when you looked at him with a confused expression, he cocked his head to the side, signaling that lucas was watching the two of you intently. you nodded in understanding, placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

once the ride was over, you two said goodbye to lucas and violet, but not before lucas pulled bruce aside.

"dude, you're totally in love!" he said. "your face said it all i mean the way you looked at her all in love and shit! jeez, man, anyone would forget that you had a thing for clara reid if they saw how you look at y/n l/n!"

bruce shook his head. "shut up, man, you look at violet like she's the only girl ever."

"because she is! to me, at least." lucas defended. "anyways, i gotta get going, vi has a curfew, and i cannot risk getting on her dad's bad side! oh, and buy y/n a slushie, jesus. see ya, man."

bruce walked back over to where you were waiting patiently. "come on, let's get slushies."

"you are so gonna be sick tomorrow morning. just you wait, bruce. you'll see that im right." you mocked, your hand finding his again.

"yeah, yeah." he dismissed, smiling at you.

bruce walked you home, making sure to say goodnight to your mom and allie— who probably only stayed awake to see bruce again. "you can have todd tonight. we'll have to come up with a schedule for him."

"hmm, i take this week, you take next week?" you offered.

"and then we just keep doing that?"

"sounds like a plan."

"okay, then! goodnight, y/n/n." he gave you a hug, the scent of your perfume was almost intoxicating him. you gave him one last kiss on the cheek and stepped back inside.

that night, bruce couldn't sleep. was lucas right? did he really like you? he didn't even care that amy was whining about him forgetting her cotton candy, all he could think about was you. he laid awake, thinking about you and your perfect smile, your perfect eyes. he knew this feeling.

crap. oh, crap.

bruce yamada was slowly falling for you.

[fanficimagery]

Misery Business pt. I

Imagine moving in with the Molina's after an incident back home. Instead of being angry, you realize this is your second chance to be truly happy and you really hope it goes better than your first attempt.

Words: 6.1K Author's Note: I'm a sucker for three idiot ghost boys which is why I'm back, only in this imagine everyone is alive. Yes that includes Rose Molina as well :) Soulmate!AU too so have fun with that. FYI, Y/N will be "musically talented" but since I can't write music to save my life then "Y/N's music" will come from a little band that goes by the name of Paramore and by James Arthur.

Julie and three of her best guy friends are in the family studio outside, writing and jamming and just having the time of their life. Alex, Reggie, and Luke are about two years older than Julie, but the boys overlooked the teeny tiny age gap because her killer voice was exactly what their band was missing. The entire high school knew exactly who the boys of Sunset Curve were so they were all surprised when they took sophomore Julie Molina under their wing and rebranded their band.

Julie's family was very supportive of her music, especially her mother Rose, and she let Julie and the boys use her studio whenever they wanted so long as they all kept up their grades. They're usually left alone when Julie and Luke are in writing mode, so it's a bit of a surprise to see Ray and Rose entering the studio.

Alex is the first to notice them, nudging Reggie and gesturing to Mr. and Mrs. Molina, and then Reggie tosses a pillow at Luke's head to get his attention. Luke's rather rude remark is on the tip of his tongue, but his eyes widen upon seeing Julie's parents.

"Jules. Julie!" He hisses. "Your mom and dad are here."

"Hmm. What?" Julie finally looks away from her journal, her eyes widening before a beaming smile breaks out. "Mami! Papi. What brings you two here?"

"Hey mija," Ray says. "Can we talk real quick?"

"Of course!"

She glances at the boys and they're quick to start packing up, but Ray gestures for them to stay put. "It's okay, boys. You can stay for this."

Rose smiles. "After all, you are family too."

Every time Rose or Ray mention that the boys are family, they can't help but smile goofily. None of the boys have the type of relationship with their parents that Julie has with hers, so they're all grateful the Molina's accept them as if they were a Molina as well. Julie smiles as the boys, who are all practically older brothers to her, gather around her and Luke to hear what's going on.

On his way further into the studio, Ray grabs a chair for Rose and she takes a seat while Ray stands behind her, gripping the back of her chair. "Okay," he exhales a little roughly, "so you know the drama your cousin went through a few months ago?"

Julie frowns. "Yeah."

"Well it seems Y/N isn't doing so well," Rose says. "Your tía thinks a change of location is what's best for her."

"Y/N wants to move here?"

"Well not exactly," Ray says. "Y/N doesn't know. If we agree to take her in, then Y/N will be told of her relocation."

Julie nods, looking thoughtful. "Okay."

"Okay?" Ray muses. "What does okay mean?"

"Well I'm assuming you're only telling me because you never make a big decision without seeing what me and Carlos think," Julie says and then smiles brightly. "I love Y/N. Carlos loves Y/N, so I know he already voted yes."

Rose chuckles. "He did. I believe his words were I will throw down for Y/N any day of the week. Bring her home."

Julie snorts. "Of course he did." Then after glancing between her mom and dad, she nods with a gentler smile. "Whatever she needs. I'll even decorate the guest bedroom for her."

"That's nice, mija." Ray then looks over the boys, eyes settling on Reggie. "No flirting."

"I- what?"

"No flirting!"

Luke and Alex snort as Reggie gasps in mock outrage, but everyone knows Reggie is the one to flirt first and ask questions later. Ray and Rose laugh as they ready to leave the studio, Rose walking over to kiss her daughter on the temple before disappearing after her husband.

As soon as the teenagers are left alone, the boys whirl on Julie.

"So who's Y/N?" Alex asks, smiling innocently.

"And what was the drama a few months ago?" Luke wonders.

Julie glances between all three boys before sighing. "I'm only telling you this because it's highly likely she'll be coming soon." She has their full attention. "Y/N is my older cousin. Last year she met her soulmate."

"Aww," Alex coos.

"Or so we thought."

His smile immediately falls. "Oh."

Julie cringes. "Yeah. Apparently some new transfer student at her school liked my cousin so much that he decided he wanted to be her one and only. Really creepy dude," she says. "So somehow he figured out what her words were and made sure those were the first words he spoke to her." Their eyes widen. "When she spoke to him in return, he memorized the words and had them tattooed on. Then he refused to let her see the words, under the guise that they were in a private spot she couldn't see until they got to know each other better, until they healed."

"What the hell," Luke breathes. "That such a-"

"Dick move," Reggie mutters.

Alex nods in agreement. "Yeah. What they said."

Julie smiles sadly at her friends. "She was with him for a year before he met his real soulmate and then he tried to juggle them both. Y/N was really torn up about it."

"Who wouldn't be?" Alex says. "That is so messed up."

"It is. But if there's one thing I know about my cousin it's that she doesn't want people to tiptoe around her." Julie grins then. "So be yourselves like you are with me, just don't flirt with her."

Alex stares down his two guy best friends until they huff and nod in agreement. "I think they can handle that."

Stepping out of the Uber in front of your tío's house, you're grateful you stopped being annoyed with your mom for making you move long enough to accept the money she transferred into your bank account. The ride from the airport to the Molina household wasn't exactly a cheap one and you regretted not letting your family pick you up when you saw what you owed.

But now you're here, one duffel bag hanging from your shoulder and a medium-sized suitcase sitting by your feet. You only have a moment to take it all in before the front door is opening, and your tío and tía are exiting the house to greet you.

"You're here!" Rose smiles and is quick to pull you into a hug. "How was your flight?"

"Decent. Just a little turbulence. I might have barfed. Twice."

Rose and Ray laugh, and then Ray's tugging you into a hug of his own. "We're so glad to have you, mija. Julie and her friends have just about finished with your room. They're really excited to have you here."

"And I'm excited to be here." Pulling out of the hug, you're met with two identical expressions that practically say Are you really?. "Well now I am." All three of you chuckle. "I was a little upset at the short notice, but I'm totally over it. I am a little tired though, so yeah."

"Oh. Of course. Just head on up, mija. You know where the guest bedroom is," Rose says. "Ray and I need to go get some groceries for tonight. Does arroz con pollo sound good?"

You groan quietly. "It sounds fantastic. My mom could never quite make it like you do."

Ray laughs. "Well my sister is not the cook she claims to be. Now go on. Rest up and we'll see you for dinner."

As Ray and Rose take their leave, you grab your suitcase and drag it inside behind you. You can hear laughter coming from upstairs so that's where you head towards, and you're not surprised to see Julie, Flynn, and who appears to be Julie's bandmate Alex tacking up some fairy lights and draping them across your headboard. The bedroom, which was usually bare except for the bed and dresser, has many of your personal things scattered about that had been shipped a little over a week ago now. However the sheer black curtains, the maroon comforter bed set, and the lights they're hanging up are all new.

"A-hem." You clear your throat, smiling when all three teens freeze and turn towards you. "Are you guys seriously having fun without me?" The blonde boy grins as the two girls squeal, you dropping your duffel bag next to your suitcase just as Julie and Flynn launch themselves at you. Your arms are spread wide as they wrap themselves around you and you bring your own arms down around their shoulders to squeeze them in return. "Did you girls miss me?"

"Uh duh!" Flynn is the first to retort.

Julie pulls back just enough to look you in the face. "We're going to have so much fun."

"So much." You can't help but chuckle, your attention then sliding to the quiet blonde. "Alex, right?"

He smiles. "Yeah. Hi. It's nice to meet you."

"You too, man. I keep up with the band on Youtube and can I just say that you absolutely kill it on the drums? I mean holy shit. You're awesome!"

Alex blushes as Julie points at him. "See! Own your awesomeness. My cousin thinks you're cool, therefore you are cool."

Both girls finally release you, Flynn stumbling back to sit on the edge of what is now your bed. Julie stays right where she's at, arm wrapped around your waist as you both stare at her bandmate. You nod and smile at him. "You really are. We definitely need to jam some time."

Alex seems to perk up then. "Y-You're into music too?"

Flynn snorts. "The Molina's are all freakishly talented. I'm almost jealous."

You roll your eyes fondly at Flynn. "Shush. You're talented in other areas." Then looking at Alex, you grin. "I sing and write. Not as amazing as Julie, of course, but I can hold my own. I like to perform-"

"Just not in front of an audience," Julie muses.

"-and just let go. The rush of it all feels good." You turn to pout at your cousin. "And yeah, not in front of an audience of strangers." You stare at Alex once more. "Friends and family is fine, just not like a legit stage. I'll projectile vomit like that one girl in Pitch Perfect." All three teens snort, that movie having been popular with all of them.

Alex then grins. "We'll definitely have to jam then once you're settled in."

A brief moment of silence descends upon the room, but Flynn is not having it. She claps her hands once, garnering everyone's attention. "So before we get comfortable, lets address the elephant in the room." You groan as she smiles broadly. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, guys."

"Really? Your sudden move states otherwise."

"Flynn!" Julie scolds. Alex seems to freeze, his gaze darting between you and Flynn.

Flynn grimaces as she seems to think she's crossed a line, but you merely roll your eyes. "What exactly did my mom tell your dad?" You turn to ask Julie.

"Um," she gulps and fidgets in place. "I was just told that you weren't doing so good after everything that happened."

You snort. "Seriously?" Julie nods and you chuckle, shaking your head. "Guys, I'm fine. Honestly! I got over the heartbreak like a week after it happened and then I was just pissed off. But my friends helped me realize some things and I'm good now."

"But then why did your mom say you weren't?" Julie wonders.

"I love my mom, but she's a moron," you say. You drag Julie over to your bed, kicking off your shoes along the way and crawl to sit against the headboard. Julie does the same and you gesture for Alex to join Flynn at the foot of your bed. He does, smiling to be included. Once everyone's settled, you say, "So Jerry, who was the guy pretending to be my soulmate," you explain for Flynn and Alex, "has been trying to get in contact with me ever since I blocked him on everything I could. A couple weeks ago while I was out partying with some friends, Jerry and his soulmate were at the same party I was at. I didn't notice them, but they noticed me and they somehow managed to come up with the idea that I was stalking them."

"What a bitch," Flynn immediately blurts. Alex nods along with her.

"Anyway, Jerry's soulmate confronted me and I was completely blindsided by how angry she was with me. I mean, Jerry's the one who tricked me! Not the other way around." You shake your head in annoyance. "She made some hella stupid accusations and she threw a punch."

Julie gasps. "She didn't!?"

"She did. Now I'm not stupid, so I let her hit me a couple of times before I took my first swing. Fortunately for me, she clawed me," you pull your shirt down to show them three marks just above your cleavage, "and she was arrested when the cops got there. After giving my statement and getting statements from the witnesses, they determined I acted in self defense and let me go home. Mom took the little altercation as me spiraling and acting out, so she shipped me off."

"Jesus," Julie sighs. "That's messed up."

"It really is. But oh well. What happened, happened, and now I get to live with my favorite people."

All four of you laugh before Alex gestures towards your chest, sobering up some. "I have some cream that you can use so it'll fade the scars. My soulmate likes to skateboard and he gets pretty banged up every now and then so I keep a stash of that stuff for him."

You smile fondly at him. "Yes, please. The first time my real soulmate sees the girls," you shimmy your chest just the slightest, "I don't want him to see my battle wounds."

Julie swats you with the back of your hand and you laugh at her exasperated expression as the other two break down into giggles.

Lounging around in your room, you ask Julie about her other two bandmates but Alex tells you they had family obligations they couldn't get out of. Carlos gets dropped off by his friend's mom and he joyously jumps onto the middle of the bed when he realizes you're finally there. So that's how Ray and Rose find the five of you, laughing and joking in your new room before dinner is ready and making plans to hang out the following day when everyone could meet up.

After explaining to your tío and tía the real reasoning your mother had you sent away, it was like a weight was lifted off their shoulders and they were more at ease in your presence. You laughed at their sheepishness, at how they thought they had a rightfully heartbroken teenager on their hands with no clue how to ease said heartache. But when all was said and done, everyone seemed to be themselves around you.

Alex had shown up that afternoon, soulmate in tow, and immediately you asked to play with Willie's hair. Both boys had laughed, Willie agreed and readily sat on the floor between your knees as Julie and Alex Facetimed Flynn about any upcoming open mic nights they could book. Willie had a box of random hair supplies in his lap and you saw how he kept running his fingers over a feather and some small silver hoops. Without even asking him, you grabbed a couple of silver hoops, a feather, and set them aside. You had him tilt his head and he did so without questions, closing his eyes as you started to part and section the hair on the right side of his head. Alex smiled every time he looked over at the two of you and you happily gave Willie three thin braids about five inches long before letting the rest of his hair hang loose. The two outer braids had the silver hoops clipped in and the braid in the middle held the feather you had braided in with a thin leather cord. When you were finished and then combed out Willie's hair one last time, you told him you were done and had to bite back a laugh at the way Alex gulped. Willie eagerly went to check himself out in the mirror, beaming at his reflection before turning around and pulling you into a hug.

While your tío Ray and tía Rose worked, and Carlos spent time at his friend's house, you and Julie ordered in some pizza for yourselves, Alex, and Willie. They had no plans at all for the day so the four of you went out to Rose's studio garage when Flynn finally showed up.

Flynn has the bright idea to do karaoke, pulling out the equipment and setting up a laptop Julie had in the studio for this occasion.

Flynn killed it on Nicki Minaj's Starships, you and Julie sang Mamma Mia and were joined by a very enthusiastic Alex. Willie absolutely refused to sing, but that was okay because he knew the choreography for Backstreet Boys Everybody and you eagerly pulled him up to dance with yourself and Julie. Tío Ray and Tía Rose showed up with Carlos in tow, and you and Julie laughed joyously as her parents sang through Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time, but as the sun was going down the parental figures went inside to talk through dinner ideas and clean up a little.

You ask Julie if she has any originals you have yet to hear, but as she goes to go grab a journal Alex speaks up. "What about you? You said you wrote, right? I need to hear an original."

"I, uh, sure." You shrug. You turn towards Julie, eyeing the laptop. "Are my instrumentals still on there?"

She grins. "Yeah. Can I choose?"

"Go for it." You get up to go see which song of yours she's going to choose, smiling softly when you see her choice. Alex is practically bouncing in his seat, Willie is shaking his head at him in fond amusement, and Flynn looks torn between recording with her phone. When you nod at her, she beams and gets ready to hit record on her phone.

"So before Julie hits play, I just want you guys to know I wrote this song while I was Jerry. He absolutely loathed it when he first heard it because he thought I was singing about someone else." You huff a laugh. "The song was honestly about a couple on a TV show I got fixated on, but he didn't believe me. So anyway, I might be a little rusty, but Julie loves it so here goes nothing.

Julie hits play. The violin starts and you smirk when you see Alex's eyebrows raise. Then the drums, guitar, and bass kick in and his eyes widen just as his jaw drops when your attitude completely changes.

"I'm in the business of misery, let's take it from the top. She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock. It's a matter of time before we all run out. When I thought he was mine, she caught him by the mouth."

You keep singing, singing to Julie, but then it goes silent before the chorus kicks in and you find yourself back to back with your cousin as she joins you. "Woah, it was never my intention to brag. To steal it all away from you now. But God, does it feel so good 'cause I got him where I want him now. And if you could, then you know you would 'cause God, it just feels so.. It just feels so good."

Willie whoops and you laugh your way through the next few lines, rocking your shoulders and even throwing in a couple of head bangs for good measure.

But then the music quiets just so and you face the boys. "I watched his wildest dreams come true and not one of them involving you. Just watch my wildest dreams come true. Not one of them involving.." You head bang now, twisting your head back and forth so your hair wildly flips back and forth. Julie plays the air guitar and you're laughing, having made yourself dizzy in the process. But then as one particular part comes up, you sidle up to Julie's side, your face just inches from the side of her own face as she stares forward. "Woah I never meant to brag, but I got him where I want him now."

Your chest aches from putting your all into your own song, sweat beading at your hairline as you jump around dancing. You're exhausted by the end of the song, but it's well worth it to see Alex's gobsmacked expression.

The studio falls silent, but it's Willie and Flynn who jump to their feet. Their utter amazement and joyfulness makes you a little sheepish, but then Alex is standing to his feet. "Holy shit."

"Right?" Julie cackles. "I've been begging her to play live with us for one song, but she won't."

"Are you frickin' kidding me?!" The new voice has your head snapping in it's direction, the boy in a leather jacket and red flannel wrapped around his waist staring at you in wonder. "What is it with you Molina's and your musical talents?"

Your face flames at his praise, eyes then darting to the boy with shaggy hair and a sleeveless shirt gaping at you. You chuckle nervously and Julie wraps an arm around your shoulders, grinning as she introduces you. "And here we have Reggie and Luke. Guys, this is my cousin Y/N."

"Dude, will you marry me?" Luke's words make everyone laugh out loud, but you freeze.

Julie, having felt you tense up, stares at you. "Y/N? Are you-"

But you cut her off, eyes solely on Luke as you say, "Bro, don't call me dude." Your mocking tone makes Flynn snort.

Not only is it Luke's turn to freeze, but so do Alex and Reggie. Their eyes widen as they stare between you and Luke, your heart beating triple when you realize just who this is.

"Oh my god," Alex mutters.

"Oh my god!" Reggie exclaims, smile instantly beaming.

"OH MY GOD!" Julie shouts, arm tightening around your shoulder. "Did he just- did you just say.." You nod, your breathing becoming a little erratic. Julie notices and turns you so she grips you by the shoulders and you're staring directly into her face. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine. Luke's one of the good ones."

You gulp. "I- it's not that," you murmur. "But he said.. and I need to see-"

Before you can finish, the presence of said boy is right next to you and Julie. You startle at his appearance, but then he's holding out his arm between you and your cousin and you glance down to see the words that have been stamped into his skin since the day of his birth. There on the space just below the crease of his elbow are the words bro, don't call me dude.

You laugh, a little wetly, but no one dares to call you out on it. Instead, you turn and lift your shirt so he can see his own words stamped on your ribs. A faint touch has you flinching away and giggling, and Julie snorts as you pout at Luke who seems to realize you're ticklish.

"OH MY GOD! YOU GUYS ARE SOULMATES!" Flynn shouts. "THIS IS SO COOL!"

And just like that the tension is broken, everyone laughing and cheering. You're having trouble holding Luke's gaze, his crinkled eyes and swoon-worthy smile making you want to reach out and hug him. So when you see his fingers twitch and tap out a beat against his leg before he clenches his fists closed, you cave and pull him into a hug. He hesitates a moment before he sighs, wrapping his arms tightly around you in return.

"Hey. ¿Qué está pasando? (What's going on?) Rose wonders. Apparently the cheering had caught tía Rose and tío Ray's attention.

You and Luke break apart, but your arms remain touching as you both stare at Julie's parents like you'd been caught doing something wrong. And since the two of you can't seem to form words, Julie giggles before filling them in. "Luke and Y/N are soulmates. They said each other's words."

Ray and Rose immediately look at you in shock, and you can feel your face heating up. Slowly, you smile at your tía's concerned expression and immediately she's beaming as she makes a beeline for you. "Mija! That's wonderful news." You laugh as she hugs you and then laugh even harder when you see your tío Ray clamp a hand down on Luke's shoulder. Then releasing you and turning towards Luke, tía Rose smiles as she opens her arms wide before moving in to hug him. "I'm happy for you too, mijo. Welcome to the family." Then pulling back, she says, "Not that you weren't already part of the family, but you know."

Luke chuckles, ears turning red. "Thanks, Mrs. Molina."

"Well this is a cause for celebration," Ray says. "Anyone feeling up to pasta?" Julie, Flynn, and Reggie all whoop in unison. "You going to join us, Willie?"

Willie, never usually around for long periods of time with Julie's family, is surprised to be invited. Alex beams at his soulmate and Willie knows he can't say no. "Sure, Mr. Molina. Thanks for the invite."

"Great," Rose smiles. "Well now that that's settled, I'm going to go make a reservation so we don't give the hostess a stroke when we all walk in. Everyone has two hours before we leave."

Tía Rose and tío Ray congratulate you and Luke one last time before they take their leave. Everyone follows after them, excitingly talking outfit choices, but Reggie remains by the opened doors smiling between you and Luke. A second later, Alex returns and marches a reluctant Reggie away.

Now that it's just you and Luke, the two of you laugh nervously.

"So.."

"So.." You both laugh nervously again and then you're groaning. "This is so weird, but like I'm also really excited."

Luke loses some of his nerves and his shoulders slump. "Really? You're excited?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

He turns sheepish then, averting his gaze as he shoves his hands into the front of his jean's pockets. "Julie might have explained the shitty thing your ex did and yeah. I would understand if you weren't stoked to meet me on your second day here."

He's so genuine in his explanation that you can't help but mentally swoon at this boy before you. You're not sure where the sudden confidence comes from, but you're grateful for it when you step closer and take his face in the palm of your hands so he's staring right at you. "Okay one, my mother didn't properly explain why she moved me here. I'll fill you in later, but I'm telling you right now it's not because I'm heartbroken or anything. And two, I am stoked to meet you. You wanna know why?" Luke can only nod as he pays close attention and you grin at him. "Because the moment realization sunk in, everything just felt.. it felt-"

"Right?" He asks, voice low.

You nod. "It felt right. There was no uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, there was just elation. Like I found something I didn't know I was looking for until you uttered the words etched on my ribs."

Luke slowly smiles and you let your hands fall to your sides, leaning in and quickly kissing his cheek. "Now come on. We need to get ready for tonight."

His cheeks turn red almost immediately, but you don't say anything as you grab his arm and drag his hand from his pocket. Then clasping his hand within your own, you drag him out of the studio and up towards the house.

Dinner was quite the affair, everyone pushing you and Luke next to one another at the table and cooing over how adorable you two were. Even his parents, Emily and Mitch, had been invited along and everyone smiled throughout the entire dinner. The table was quite loud, but not a single customer nearby or the waitresses could blame you when Reggie loudly explained that they were celebrating newly found soulmates. There was even applause that had you and Luke turning red in the face and then trying to aim a kick at Reggie's shin under the table. Unfortunately, Alex took the brunt of both kicks.

When the weekend was over, Luke and the boys stood by your side on your first day of school. The band had quite the following and those fangirls of theirs were not impressed to see you and Luke hand-in-hand. It was a bit daunting navigating the hallways with a majority of the school's population looking down their nose at you, but then Julie, Flynn, and surprisingly Carrie Wilson (your cousin's arch-nemesis) came to your aide. You understood Julie and Flynn's protectiveness, but Carrie's was a shock and she merely flipped her hair over her shoulder while giving the excuse that no one should be shit on just because they found their soulmate. The girls were stunned, but shrugged it off and let Carrie do what Carrie wanted to do.

Tía Rose and tío Ray saw a lot more of Luke at their home, but didn't put up any fuss. The only thing they asked was that if they were alone in the room, then the bedroom door was to remain open at all times. And not wanting to disappoint them, you and Luke abided by their rules. Because being with Luke.. it was the complete opposite than being with Jerry. There were no nerves, no second guessing, and no jealousy. You were happy to be with Luke and vice versa, and either of you could go out with friends with no twenty questions about who you were going with and where (Jerry seriously did a number on you).

You became Julie and the Phantoms number one fan, alongside Willie and Flynn, and sat up in the loft with Willie while the band rehearsed downstairs. The times you did go downstairs after rehearsals and Luke bounded over to you like an eager puppy, you had to fight the urge to chuck something at Reggie and Julie when they cooed over how cute you were together.

Luckily for you, Luke wasn't into PDA other than hand holding or hugs. But it still didn't stop your friends from mockingly groaning for you to get a room when Luke would hug you from behind and stay there with his chin hooked over your shoulder.

Today is one of the rare days the band left Luke alone so he could spend the time with you, but you're stuck doing Algebra II homework and Luke is going through one of your old writing journals for abandoned lyrics to give him inspiration.

You've been stuck on the same problem for what feels like twenty minutes when you hear Luke sharply inhale. You glance up at him, watching him read through something that's clearly caught his attention. You can't help but grin at his look of concentration and then his expression falls and your heart suddenly aches.

Luke glances up and you gulp. "What's this?"

"What's what?"

He glances back down at the journal in his hands before looking at you once more. "Something titled Train Wreck. It looks like a completed song."

Your expression completely goes lax then. "Oh. That's, uh, I wrote that a while back when my mom and dad were going through their divorce." You close the math book in your lap and hesitantly meet Luke's gaze. "That was not a fun time for all involved. My mind was kind of.. messed up back then."

Luke gulps. "I don't want to seem inconsiderate of what clearly was a dark time for you, but this- this is really good, Y/N. Do you have a melody for it?"

You huff a laugh, shaking your head in fond amusement. Only Luke would be this invested in a song. "I do. I think it's on the laptop in a password protected file.."

His eyes light up. "Can I hear it? You don't have to, I just-"

"It's fine." You get up, heading over to the laptop and powering it up to find what you need. After a bit of searching, you find it and open it up. Letting the melody play, you look up at Luke. "I won't sing the whole thing, but I'll sing a portion of it."

He eagerly nods. "I'll take anything."

You smile at him, nervously taking a seat on a crate in the middle of the room. He finds another crate and places it close to you, wanting to be as close as possible. You close your eyes, smiling, and let the melody wash over you as the lyrics come back to you in a flash. Your heart beat is beating double, but you inhale deeply and let it out slowly.

Losing yourself to the music, you mouth the lyrics to yourself until letting your voice ring out. "Underneath our bad blood, we've still got a sanctum. Home, still a home, still a home here. It's not too late to build it back 'cause a one in a million chance is still a chance, still a chance and I would take those odds."

You open your eyes, chest aching as all those feelings from so long ago come rushing back and make your voice just that much stronger. "Unbreak the broken, unsay these spoken words. Find hope in the hopeless, pull me out of the train wreck." Luke grabs your hand and you squeeze it for all your worth as you keep looking forward. "Unburn the ashes, unchain the reactions now. I'm not ready to die, not yet. Pull me out of the train wreck. Pull me out, pull me out, pull me out."

You meet Luke's gaze then, a little surprised to see his eyes red rimmed and teary through your own blurry vision. "You can say what you like, don't say I wouldn't die for it. I'm down on my knees and I need you to be my God, be my help, be a Savior who can-"

Your voice cracks on the next word and Luke tugs on your hand, pulling you into a hug. A sob escapes your throat as you cling to Luke, but you quickly stifle it against his shoulder. As the melody plays out, you press your forehead to his shoulder before pushing back and sniffling. "I, uh, I'm sorry about that. Everything came rushing back and I-"

"Don't apologize." Luke catches your face in the palm of his hands, thumbs brushing away your tears before his lips press against your forehead. The action is so soft that your expression crumples momentarily, but you quickly mask it when Luke pulls back to catch your gaze. "That was amazing, Y/N! So amazing. And I'm sorry it brought up bad memories, but.. wow."

You huff a laugh, pulling back so you aren't hunched over. Luke, however, refuses to stop touching you and catches your hands within his own. "I should have guessed you'd be easily impressed."

"For you? Always."

You shake your head, grinning. "You're so freakin' cheesy, Luke Patterson."

He chuckles and again you're hit with a sudden boost of confidence that you lean forward, one hand finding the back of his neck so you can bring him to meet you halfway in a kiss. He smiles against your mouth, but the smile quickly falls the second you tilt your head to deepen the kiss. Unfortunately, just as the tip of your tongue flicks against his bottom lip, you're interrupted.

"Can we come in now?" Reggie's voice rings out. "I really wanna give Y/N a hug after hearing that song."

"Reggie!" Julie scolds.

You and Luke pull apart laughing. You both straighten up and look towards the door just in time to see Reggie rubbing at the back of his head as he walks in with Alex and Julie behind him. Hand in hand, you and Luke stand up and chuckle at Reggie's put out expression.

Had you known that having a soulmate felt exactly as you feel right now, you would have known something was definitely up back home with Jerry. And though you will always hate your ex for tricking you the way he did, there's an ounce of gratefulness for the misery he put you through because had he not then you wouldn't have moved and met your true soulmate.

[misfit-fics]

Demon Rehab For Dummies

Summary: (Y/N) started seeing seven demons when she was 10. Through the years they all disappeared, all but one. Namjoon. A demon who has not so creepily, creepily, very creepily been in love with her for years.

Genre: fluff, crack, extremely minimal angst, idiots to lovers, romantic-comedy

Word count: 7384

Rating: Teen

Warnings: mentions of suggestive & kinky themes, a handful of cursing, a story with a plot but not doesn’t exactly have a plot, a stubborn (Y/N) who dismisses love confessions & genuine flirting, an unspoken confession

A/N: Hey! we're back, it's been a while. We're starting school in a while but it will be gamble if we'll be more active or not. Well... we ARE active but just not posting? Yeah, you know what I mean. This has been sitting in our drafts for a while now and we're posting it now... although it's pretty unedited, feel free to address any oopsies. Hope who ever finds this enjoys reading!

At the ripe young age of ten (Y/N) began seeing seven men. Which- would’ve (should’ve) freaked any kid out but you know (Y/N) is just kinda quirky like that so she didn't really mind much. The men were nice and played with her anyway, and the only weird thing was that sometimes they would bring her dead birds.

At age eleven (Y/N) noticed that one of the men was missing.It didn’t affect her much except for the fact that this particular one would help her find things and she’d lost almost all of her socks since he disappeared. Not to mention the increase of bug bites after he left. The darn things seemed like they multiplied exponentially after a month.

By twelve only two of the men had disappeared, at this point (Y/N) not only lived in sandals (she still couldn’t find her socks) but she also couldn’t explain why her hair was burning off every time she tried to straighten it (her lil demon friends didn’t want her to, you’d think after almost 3 years of having men following her around and telling her what to do she’d get with the program already.) Her dog her parents had given her when she was 9 started disappearing quite often after he left. He always came back with a single sock that would disappear the next morning.

By thirteen (Y/N) had developed a crush (more like unhealthy obsession) on one of the men, Namjoon. The third year was also the year when Jimin disappeared, taking all of her favorite shoes with him. That year she had prayed to whoever was listening because her parents really couldn’t afford to keep buying her socks and shoes, and because she definitely couldn’t afford to shave her head.

By fourteen, Hoseok, the man who had cheered her up whenever she needed it, had gone, leaving a tidal wave of bad luck in his wake. He had a great deal in keeping (Y/N) happy, although some of his antics made her want to punch him, it never turned out that way.

When she was fifteen no one left… except for the dog. Aside from that, the only thing that left was her social life (It wasn’t like she had one before but you know it was still a little rough). (Y/N) began to depend more and more on her demons. She had become great friends with the oldest, Seokjin, who cooked for her when her parents went on trips.

At sixteen Yoongi left and the nightmares began. And with the nightmares came the growth of (Y/N)’s relationship with Namjoon. Namjoon became her protector, along with sometimes Seokjin, who still cooked for her and cared for her altogether when she couldn’t.

At seventeen, (Y/N) was informed that when she turned eighteen Seokjin would be leaving, on account that they didn’t need each other anymore. (Y/N) had been torn up when he told her and even more when he left. He didn’t take anything when he left other than a piece of (Y/N)’s heart.

At eighteen, (Y/N) moved away from her parents house with Namjoon trailing behind her (He even had lil demon suitcases and everything,) following her every move.

“I really don’t understand why you had to follow me out of my parents house. I thought spirits are supposed to be attached to a general area…” (Y/N) took to unpacking a box in the small apartment she now lived in.

“(Y/N) how many times do we have to go over this, I'm a demon, DE-MON.” Namjoon clapped his hands with each syllable. (Y/N) rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist at the self-proclaimed demon.

“Demon, ghost, same thing.” She shrugged her shoulders, “same thing as to-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“It is not the same thing!” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) like it was obvious.

(Y/N) snorted, “Okay Casper.” She continued pulling out the items in the box.

Namjoon looked flabbergasted, “CASPER!?” Namjoon put a hand over his chest and widened his eyes. (Y/N) looked up at the demon with a raised brow,

“Geez Casper, why are you so offended? I’ve called you Casper before, Casper.” (Y/N) struggled to keep in her laughter, trying to keep a straight face as she looked at Namjoon.

Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “I think I shall simply cease to exist in your realm.”

(Y/N) looked back down at the almost empty box, “You wouldn’t do that, you love me too much, my dearest Casper.” She said in a singsong voice, “Oh hey I found a sock.” She pulled out said sock from the box, it had yellow stripes. :]

“I think Jungkook took the mate to that when he left.” (Y/N) threw the sock at Namjoon with a loud ‘FUCK!’

“I mean we could try and summon him to see if he’ll return your socks.” Namjoon shrugged.

“I wouldn’t even try.” She started putting the random items in their new places.

“You should put Juno on the window sill rather than the coffee table, I mean cacti do need sun.” Namjoon looked at the little green prickle plant.

“I’m sure if i didn’t tell you how to parent your child, it would’ve been confiscated by child protective services.” Namjoon crossed his arms and looked at Juno who had been (rightfully so) moved to the window sill.

“Casper- Juno is a cactus. There is no CPS (Cactus Protective Services).” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon with her own arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised, “Now if you could- Can you please go unpack a few boxes?” (Y/N) shooed Namjoon away before her eyes widened and she added in, “NOTHING LABELED FRAGILE!”

“You know if we painted a wall or two in here, it would liven up the place so much…” Namjoon looked around the bland apartment, “Maybe an accent wall over here. A floor lamp over there. A new plant in the kitchen. It wouldn’t hurt you to give Juno some siblings.”

(Y/N) looked flabbergasted, “You want me to pop out another child?!”

“No I mean-” Namjoon’s eyes widened.

“-OUT OF MY WALLET?!? MY BARELY 21 DOLLARS!?” (Y/N) got her wallet out and zipped it open. She shook it in the demon’s face, about 26 pennies, 2 nickels, 1 dime, and a quarter fell out. It was followed by a single, folded, 5 dollar bill.

“I don’t think that’s 21 dollars, (Y/N)” Namjoon looked down at the floor, where one or more of the coins had caught onto his feet.

“I have a gift card.” She pulled out the cheap plastic, silver, $25 visa gift card (that didn’t have 25 dollars) with a bit of a struggle.

“How much exactly is on that gift card (Y/N)?” Namjoon eyed the flimsy silver object.

“You expect me to know- I mean probably more than 10 dollars!” Namjoon raised a brow at the statement. “Okay, maybe about 3.69.” Namjoon sighed, massaging his temples. (Y/N) bent down to put the money back into her wallet like a pigeon eating bread crumbs the old lady on the bench threw onto the floor.

Namjoon walked away from the pigeon-girl and grabbed a notepad and pen that was left on the kitchen counter. “We’re making you a to-do list.” He stated, clicking the pen.

“WE haven’t even unpacked all the boxes yet.” (Y/N) whined, pointing at the last large box in the middle of the hallway. Namjoon looked to where she pointed and shrugged.

“It says Christmas decorations.”

“EXACTLY! VERY. IMPORTANT.” she clapped her hands in between each word.

“It’s February.” He said.

“It’s still winter.” (Y/N) reasoned, finally done picking up the money. She plopped herself down onto the small brown couch.

“Okay so first off you need a job.” He wrote it down onto the notepad, the pen scratching being overlapped by a loud gasp from the human in the room.

“You dare ignore me?!” She yelled offendedly at the demon who glanced at her before looking back down at what he was writing.

“You also need to go to the supermarket.”

“I told you I barely have any money.”

“Your parents gave you some money.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“And also, you should walk to the school and find a short route to get there.” Namjoon pulled out a literal map.

(Y/N) pouted, “I thought you were gonna walk me to all my classes to deter all the frat boys from coming my way…”

“I did say that,” he confirmed before continuing. “But I mean to get to the actual school grounds.”

“But we have a car.” She had drawnout the ‘but,’ trying to make her point that she didn’t need to walk.

“But you need exercise.” He reasoned, mimicking the way she had said her words.

“Are you calling me fat?”

“No.”

“Yes you are.”

“(Y/N) i’m not.”

“Yeah you ARE, Casper.”

“Would you PLEASE call me by my actual name for once?”

“Sure thing. Rap Monster.” She teased, the ground started shaking. (Y/N) let out a loud screech looking up at the demon who’s eyes were rolled back. “OH FUCK YOU!”

The shaking died down, Namjoon staring down at the girl who was now underneath the coffee table. “This is why you’re still here!” she cried.

“You want me gone?” Namjoon questioned, offendedly. (Y/N) army crawled her way from her ‘safe spot.’

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!” She yelled, returning the offended tone.

“I’m out,” Namjoon pivoted on his heel, walking to the front door robotically.

“Noooo!”

“Will I ever see my socks again?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon with hope, “I mean having shoes would be great too though.”

“What’s wrong with living in sandals? Birkenstocks are very comfortable.” Namjoon pivoted around with a candle in his hand.

“It’s winter.” (Y/N) frowned.

“You could always use mine?” He gestured to the shoes at the shoe rack at the front door. The ones that were closed toed…

“Your feet are too big.” (Y/N) looked over at the shoes, then looked down at her own feet, then at the demon.

“Size didn’t matter Last night with your sweaters?”

“That’s different, Namjoon.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“Size.” Namjoon smirked.

“Different.” (Y/N) stood confidently.

“You know, you could always just go buy new socks?” Namjoon looked at her oddly.

“I usually wait to get them for Christmas, you should know this by now.”

“Independence.” He stated.

“You’re a hypocrite.” Namjoon let out a ‘huh?’ and (Y/N) continued, “You said independence when you’re dependent on me.”

“That isn’t my fault.” Namjoon raised his hands in defense.

“It kind of is though…” (Y/N) shrugged, Namjoon opened his mouth to retort but was quickly cut off, “I’m literally a rehab center for you.”

“Apparently you’re not a nicely rated one.” Namjoon shook his head.

“I’ve helped 6 other demons, Namjoon. You’re just being difficult.” (Y/N) poked his chest really hard before retracting her hand.

“Ouch,” he put his hand over his heart where she had poked him, “You shouldn’t be saying these things to your client.”

“I didn’t ask to get a client or even BE a rehab center.”

“The reason why you became a rehab center was because you decided that humans were ugly and disgusting.”

“The reason why you ended up with me was because you did something bad and you just now decided to be a good person and it’s not turning out well for you.”

“For your information, I could have left a long time ago.” Namjoon crossed his arms, with an audible exhale from his nose. He stared down at the rehab center.

“And why didn’t you, hm?” (Y/N) crossed her arms also with a raised brow. Namjoon kept quiet, debating how to answer, keeping eye contact as if it was an olympic staring contest.

“You.” He said. (Y/N) snorted, ready to insult the patient. “-would’ve starved to death by now if I hadn’t stayed with you until now.” He finished, (Y/N) gasped, reaching up and hitting Namjoon on the shoulder.

“You. Jerk. Get. Away. From. Me.” She hit him harder every word before waddling away into the hallway from the chuckling demon.

“No problem,” Namjoon disappeared with a veil of sparkles out of view.

(Y/N) thrusted open the door to her new bedroom. Continuing her waddle to the end of the full size bed. Facing the head board, she plopped the top half of her body onto the bed front first. Namjoon reappeared about 6 feet away from her with a loud poof and a burst of sparkles scattering around the room.

“Go away.” (Y/N)’s face was still shoved into the mattress, “Seriously shoo.” (Y/N) lifted her arm off the bed to wave him off.

“I won’t go. You can’t make me.” Namjoon walked towards the bed hesitantly, scared to get fucking murdered by his prison warden, “Move over. Give me some room.”

“Go sleep in my closet.” (Y/N) flipped the demon off.

“You’d prefer nightmares over your dearest Casper?”

“Yes.” Namjoon sat down on the bed, his knee almost hitting the girl’s head. “I thought I said in the closet.”

“And I prefer the bed.” Namjoon leaned forward and took (Y/N) by her hands and pulled her closer to himself with an annoyed groan from her. She was pulled until her head was laid on his chest, wrapping his arms around her.

“I hate you.” (Y/N) grumbled into her demon-pillow.

“I know.”

“You live because I allow it, and that is it to be my flesh pillow.”

“Okay, now sleep.”

“But why do you have to leave?” (Y/N) looked up at her bunk buddy, her chin was impaling the person’s chest.

“I have to. I'm ready to go.” Yoongi looked crestfallen, “They said I could have one more night. But then, when I leave, I can pass on my role.”

“Could you maybe not steal my socks?” (Y/N) pouted at Yoongi who chuckled in response. “This is a genuine request.” She said with slight seriousness in her tone.

“You don’t have any to steal anyways,” he rolled his eyes with an endearing smirk that replaced his dispirited look just seconds before.

“Ok just- don’t go stealing any of my clothing, I need it.” (Y/N) clicked her tongue, not denying the fact that she was sockless.

“I won’t. I don’t need your clothing.” Yoongi shrugged, “I might take your guinea pig though. Meatloaf is cute.”

“YOU wouldn’t DARE take Meatloaf from me.” She glared

“I can and I will.” Yoongi crossed his arms over his chest and looked towards the cage that housed Meatloaf. (Y/N) groaned, unlatching an arm that was sandwiched between the bed and Yoongi’s back. She planted her palm smack in the middle of the demon’s face, covering his view of the poor guinea pig.

“No.” She patted his face, Yoongi’s eyes now squeezed shut.

“I can lick your hand.” he threatened, his voice muffled and jumpy from the wacky hand.

“You’re gross,” she moved her hand up, now only covering his eyes and revealing a gummy smile from Yoongi.

“It’s sleep time,” he declared. (Y/N) whined in response, “I’ll be here in the morning to say goodbye one more time okay?”

“Promise?”

“Never said that,” he hummed.

“You jerk,” she groaned, laying her head sideways. Her ear over his heart, engraving the sound into her mind.

Like a cliche love story, (Y/N) woke up to no one but herself on the bed. Through groggy eyes, she could see that poor Meatloaf was gone too.

“I tried to stop him from taking Meatloaf I swear.” Namjoon uncrossed his arms from over his chest when he noticed that (Y/N) was awake.

“Did you really?” (Y/N) sat up in bed.

“I did, I swear,” he said immediately, “I have proof.”

“By proof, do you mean you broke something?” Namjoon took a deep breath figuring out whether or not to say yes or no.

“I… never said that.” He decided on dying, his words drifting off in nervousness.

“So… you did?” She concluded, Namjoon nodded slowly, his eyes down on the floor.

“Yea…” (Y/N) sighed, trying to find anger to cover up a tsunami of sadness that was approaching.

“It’ll be okay. We can summon him every once in a while. Maybe while we’re at it we can try to get your socks back.” Namjoon smiled and hoped it would make her feel better while the reality of things had begun to set in for him. All of the boys loved (Y/N) with all of their hearts but he was the only one willing to stay for the long run.

“I don’t think people want to go back to a rehab center, Namjoon.” (Y/N) let the tears begin to pour.

“(Y/N) it’ll be okay…” Namjoon went over to sit on the bed next to (Y/N), “Seriously we’ll get through this.” Namjoon put a hesitant hand onto (Y/N)’s shoulder and began trying to comfort her.

“I know- I know but-” (Y/N) sniffled, “Hold on, my mascara will run.”

“You’re not wearing any?-” Namjoon raised a brow and looked at (Y/N) like ‘bih-’

“Shush.” (Y/N) shushed Namjoon before shaking off his hand and placing her head on his shoulder.

“You know you can’t prevent me from getting a boyfriend forever.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon before continuing to pack her bag for school.

“I can and I will.” Namjoon slung his own bag over his shoulder. He was definitely a professor.

“You can’t make me be single forever.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes and slung her backpack onto her shoulders.

“Your preferences in men are horrible (Y/N), I'm not trying to prevent you from getting a man.” Namjoon said in a matter of fact voice, moving and opening the front door, letting (Y/N) pass through before he walked out behind her.

She scoffed, “maybe you should hook me up with someone, maybe then you can leave rehab.”

“I miss Meatloaf,” Namjoon said solemnly, changing the subject.

“Why do you always change the subject when I bring up my love life?” (Y/N) complained, stomping her foot as they walked down the hallway of the apartment building toward the elevator.

“Do you think Yoongi will respond if we try to summon him?” He ignored the question.

“Hey Joon? Is your dick ribbed? I heard all the demon dicks were ribbed.”

Namjoon stopped in his tracks, putting his feet together and staring down at the human with a face screaming ‘what-the-fuck?’ (Y/N) had a boxy smile on her face, waiting for a response. “Who the fuck did you hear that from?”

“A fanfic I read, it was a group called DTS,” she shrugged. “Is it right though?” she leaned forward slightly in high expectations.

“Well-” Namjoon paused, “uhhh…” his eyes darted around. “Mine… isn’t.”

“Damn- that’s really disappointing,” (Y/N) frowned, throwing down an imaginary hat onto the ground and continuing walking with Namjoon following behind her.

“Why is it disappointing? You’re a virgin.” Namjoon raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you think I’m a virgin?” (Y/N) looked offended. They stopped in front of the closed silver elevator doors, Namjoon hit the down button before responding.

“You literally had no social life in middle and high school and depended on demons who were attached to you by force in order to not lose your ability to speak in English.” Namjoon raised a finger, “Plus I’ve known you since you were ten and unless it was before that… I would know.” He slipped into the elevator, turning around and walking backwards. A know-it-all smirk plastered on his face while (Y/N) had an annoyed look on her own.

“Can we just- stop before we start arguing about my sex life?” She marched forward into the elevator like a preteen going into their room after an argument with their parents.

“How did you even become a professor?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon confused. “Couldn’t you have just you know… poofed yourself from people’s view when I go to school?”

“I need something to do while you’re in class. I might as well teach asshole frat boys how to do business math amiright.” Namjoon chuckled.

“I mean… you can just be the ghost you are and haunt me n’ stuff?” (Y/N) suggested, “I mean you already do that, Casper.”

“That’s Professor Casper to you.” Namjoon laughed too hard at his own joke.

“Ew,” (Y/N) cringed. “I’d rather call you Daddy Casper.”

“Only in the bedroom.” Namjoon looked at the human.

“Sex doesn’t always have to be private.” (Y/N) stared back at the demon, flipping her hair back. “Wait- are YOU a virgin then?” She asked, bringing back the topic from earlier, but this time about Namjoon.

“Classified.” Namjoon glared.

“So you ARE a virgin?” (Y/N) snorted a laugh, “And you call yourself a demon.”

“Not all demons are incubi or succubi, your demon-racist.” Namjoon accused.

“I am not demon-racist.” (Y/N) looked up at the tall demon, “I’m human.”

“You’re not a human, you’re the personification of the word ‘dumbass.’” He said, poking the proclaimed dumbass on the forehead.

“Rude of you to assume what I am, Casper.” (Y/N) smacked away his hand and pushed Namjoon not so gently on the shoulder.

“Now you’re the hypocrite,” Namjoon glared, “Professor Casper.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes, “Daddy Casper.”

Namjoon frowned, “If you’re so persistent on not calling me Professor, then just Daddy works fine.”

The girl shrugged, “I’d prefer to just call you Daddy Casper, but without the Daddy part.”

“But what if I want to be called Daddy Casper.” Namjoon wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as they walked through the gates of the school, the walk soon enough would be coming to an end.

“Woahhhh down bessie.” (Y/N) lifted her hands and moved them in a downward motion, “Save it for the student who’s gonna try to fuck you for their grade.”

Namjoon laughed again, “You say it as if it won’t be you trying to fuck for an A.”

“I don’t get how an idiot like you got a job as a professor.” (Y/N) punched Professor Namjoon on the shoulder who was still laughing at the insult he pulled out his ass against the girl.

“I don’t know how an idiot like you got into college.” Namjoon rubbed his shoulder and then pushed (Y/N) back with a grin on his face. The bell conveniently rang, ending the conversation and forcing the pair to speed their way over to the classrooms.

“You know I saw one of the sorority girls eyeing you, I think we’ve found our fuck-for-a-grade person.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “You wouldn’t fuck her right?”

“I would never fuck one of my students.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “Plus I don’t like cheerleaders, I like depressed freshmen who can see demons and that double time as rehab facilities.”

“I am not a rehab facility. I am a struggling freshman.” (Y/N) clapped at Namjoon.

“No you’re not a rehab facility, you’re my rehab facility.” Namjoon smiled cheekily, “And the way I see it you are not a struggling freshman, you live with a professor that helps you with most of your homework.”

“Eh- The one thing you don’t help with is stress relief.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “The least you could do is let me go out and find a boyfriend.”

“You HAVE a boyfriend.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) seriously.

“WHERE? WHO?” (Y/N)’s eyes frantically searched the room.

“HERE! ME!” Namjoon pointed at himself and then widened his eyes.(Y/N) looked at Namjoon with a raised brow, her frantic eyes stopping and looking the demon up and down.

“I didn’t know you had a rental-boyfriend service?” (Y/N) said in genuine shock, “I don’t have any money though so-“

“You don’t have to rent me.” Namjoon scoffed, “I’m right here and I cost no money.”

“I don’t take charity work, sorry.” Namjoon groaned and covered his face with a hand.

“You’re literally the most stubborn person I know.”

“I’m trying to keep my single streak here, thank you very much.”

“Wait so we aren’t dating?”

“You thought we were dating?”

“You didn’t think that?”

“You like me?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I mean- you never said it-”

“I literally said it seconds ago, (Y/N).”

“Well yeah, seconds ago I guess but I mean before?”

“I literally confessed to you when we were looking for apartments to move out of your parents house.”

“When?-”

“What about this place then?”

“I like it.”

“More than you like me?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Are you questioning my love for you?”

“Bitch, maybe I am.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why shouldn’t I be questioning it then, hmm?”

“I’m literally helping you look for a home that we both will move into.”

“That proves nothing.”

“Bitch- If that doesn’t say ‘I LOVE YOU’ I don’t know what does.”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe saying ‘I love you’ straight up?”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“I love you.”

“Nice.”

“Ohhhhhh.” (Y/N) smiled, “You meant that?”

Namjoon looked at her with a blank face. She stared back waiting for an answer that didn’t come.

“So… you do mean it?” She confirmed it herself. The demon nodded slowly, waiting for her to process it.

“(Y/N)? You good?” Namjoon waved a hand in front of her face.

“You know,” she started, finally having rebooted her system. “There’s a lot of things wrong with this relationship. First of all, you’re a demon and I'm a human.”

“Not the first time I've heard of that type of relationship.”

“Secondly, you’re supposed to leave soon considering you’ve delayed it enough. Even using my personified dreamcatcher as compensation to stay longer.”

“I’m pretty sure at this point, they’ve given up on trying to get me back.”

“Third of all, it’s weird that you’ve literally known me since I was ten.” She held up ten fingers, “How old are you again?”

“Not that old for a demon,” he shrugged.

“Exactly. For a demon, thank you for proving my point.” Namjoon went to retort but (Y/N) continued. “Fourth, teacher and student relationships are weird.”

“People roleplay it in the bedroom?” Namjoon shrugged once again.

“Exactly,” she said again.

“It’s technically not weird since you’re not my student though. You’re definitely not a business major so…” Namjoon weighed the pros and cons of being caught with a student even if said student isn’t even one of his.

“I’m an English Major- BUT that’s besides the point. You’ve still known me since I was ten.” (Y/N) poked Namjoon’s chest.

“Hey it’s not like I was creeping on you when you were a kid…” Namjoon raised his hands in defense.

“No you just started creeping on me when I was around sixteen.”

“It’s more acceptable than pedophiles!”

“You’re like three hundred!” She exclaimed, she threw her hands above her head to

“Add about seven-hundred years to that.” Namjoon added with slight hesitation.

(Y/N) stood there, mouth agape, trying to do the mental math.

“You’re one-thousand?!”

“Give or take some.”

“I- I’m going to remove myself from this situation.” (Y/N) walked away.

[:] I ran out of image things, so we get text from now on. [:]

“Maybe I should start sleeping in the closet.” Namjoon voiced his thoughts as he was grading papers one night.

“You don’t have to sleep in the closet.” (Y/N) looked at the demon from across the kitchen table.

“The closet is comfortable.” Namjoon shrugged before voicing his concerns about the student’s work, “I’m pretty sure this student is gonna try to suck my dick for an A. This work sucks ass. How did she even get x=34? The answer is x=0!”

“I’m bad at math, don't look at me.” (Y/N) jotted a note down on her work before closing her notebook.

“But anyway- Back on track. Why do you want to start sleeping in the closet?” (Y/N) raised a questioning brow.

“Because the bed is awkward now.” Namjoon sighed before writing a bold ‘10/35’ down on the paper and circling it. (Y/N) glanced over at the paper that was marked red at every inch of it.

“You should put ‘see me after class’ on it. Maybe she’ll suck your non-ribbed demon dick.” (Y/N) suggests as she puts away her notebook. Namjoon’s fist hit the table in annoyance with a loud sigh that definitely said ‘i’m not getting some dumb bitch to suck my dick.’ The girl snorted, “Geez, no need to be so rough on the table.”

“Stop bringing up my non-ribbed demon dick.” Namjoon glared across the table.

“You admit that it’s not ribbed? That’s rough, man.” (Y/N) sighed sympathetically. “Some people are into that, you know.” Namjoon facepalmed, a bit too harshly, a loud smack echoing in the cramped apartment. “No need to be so rough, Casper.”

“You’d probably like it rough, and why the hell are you so bent on the fact that my dick isn’t ribbed?” Namjoon glared, moving onto the next student’s paper.

“We’ve taken the god damn BDSM test together, Casper. You KNOW I'd like it rough.” (Y/N) said in a smart-ass tone, knowing for a fact that they’ve done the test before.

“That shit lies,” Namjoon declared, “I’m not a bottom.”

“We know sweetie, we know. The test did you dirty.” (Y/N) weighed her options before ultimately deciding not to cross the room to comfort her demon. “But you know, the test DID have some direct questions-”

“You mean like the golden showers?”

“Ew, why would you even bring that up.”

“You said ‘direct questions.'” Namjoon shrugged.

“That question was traumatic.” (Y/N) shuddered, “But anyway, You can keep sleeping in the bed. It’s only awkward for you. Plus you can’t even be a demon dreamcatcher from a closet.”

“I can and I will. Now go get ready for bed. I'll join you in a bit. I have to email the kids' advisor.”

[:] Oh wow, another spliter [:]

“What’s awkward about this?” (Y/N) asked, ignorant to the fact that it was very awkward. Her legs were wrapped around the demon’s waist, who was laying down as straight as a log uncomfortably.

“Everything is uncomfortable.” Namjoon tried to push (Y/N) off of him.

“This is where you’re wrong,” (Y/N) states. “Your chesticles are very comfortable.” She furthered her point, by moving her head and weirdly nuzzling her cheek into his chest.

“(Y/N) get off of me.” Namjoon was now really uncomfortable.

“No.” (Y/N) pulled Namjoon’s log-body closer.

“Please?” Namjoon wiggled some more, “Seriously (Y/N) get off.”

“No…” (Y/N) held Namjoon tighter, “Imma go sleep now.”

“Ok (Y/N).” With that Namjoon pushed (Y/N) up and off of him and climbed out of bed and into the closet.

(Y/N) whined, “Nooooooo!” She looked at the closet through her eyebrows. “Are you hiding something from me?” She accused the demon.

“Excuse me?” Namjoon opened the closet door a bit.

“Oh my god- are you a closet gay?” She gasped loudly.

“WHAT?” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) from the crack in the doorway.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to use a fake confession to hide it from me.” She comforted the demon, “I will support you 1000 percent.”

“I’M NOT GAY!” Namjoon wiggled around in the closet before emerging from the space.

“Okay okay- but just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, Casper. Closeted or not.” She hummed, her words being muffled as she slowly put her face into the mattress.

“It’s been awkward since you basically called me a cradle robber, you stubborn piece of shit.” Namjoon blushed at his confession.

“I thought you didn’t care about that earlier.” (Y/N) looked back up, taking a deep breath of air after almost suffocating herself.

“Well I did.” Namjoon huffed out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Well that sucks,” (Y/N) said blandly, “I was thinking of saying I love you.”

“The fuck- wait,” Namjoon’s eyes widened.

“Night night.”

[:] Cockadoodle-Doo it's morning [:]

The next morning came around quickly for (Y/N), though I wouldn’t say the same for Namjoon. Having him overthinking the “postponed” love confession from (Y/N). Meanwhile, though the night was quick, the morning dragged the girl by the toilet paper stuck at the bottom of her shoe.

Frown plastered on her face, seemingly deep in thought. She was unmoving in her seat aside from her wrist moving to stir the half eaten cereal in front of her. Namjoon sat across from her, “You can stop thinking, you’re going to hurt your head.”

The insult snapped the girl out of her concentration, she looked up and clicked her tongue. “I was just thinking about you. You want me to stop doing that?”

Namjoon raised a brow, “Depends on what you were thinking about.”

“I was wondering if we could summon the boys,” (Y/N) smiled before continuing, “Maybe get my socks back…”

“Are you saying you’d enjoy the company of your socks more than you with me?” Namjoon asked rhetorically with a shocked expression. (Y/N) gagged and rolled her eyes.

“Namjoon…” she said with a honey coated tone. “Are you saying you don’t know that I know you’ve used MY socks before?” The accused had a shocked look on his face that looked like he was on the verge of throwing up.

(Y/N) started snickering, amused by the demon’s expression. “As if I'd use your cheap ass yellow striped socks,” Namjoon aimed his nose at the ceiling. The girl laughed harder, finding the insult to her socks a bit too amusing.

“Okay, back on topic,” she said in between giggles, “We’ll get back to this later.” Namjoon shook his head, unamused unlike the person across from him.

The offended sock insulter cleared his throat, “We should have enough time before we need to go to the school to summon one of them.” He said in a factual voice, (Y/N) nodded as she took a glance at the time that read 7:23 am.

“What did we need again?” She got up from the stool she sat on, abandoning the poor soggy cereal. Namjoon got up also with a hum of thought.

“Candles and a lighter are the main things, obviously,” He says. (Y/N) nodded going into one of the kitchen cabinets for the items. “And if we’re summoning all of them, we’d need offerings…” Namjoon drifted off.

(Y/N) put down the candles onto the marble counter and looked at Namjoon questionably, “So… we need another hamster and dog?” This made the demon pause before nodding slowly, the situation becoming a bit more difficult than it needed to be now.

“And then what about Hobi? What he took wasn’t exactly… a physical object?” She also put it into consideration and clicked her tongue. “I’m still mad at you for sacrificing my literal source of happiness and good luck for yourself.” Namjoon’s jaw dropped.

“I thought we were past this!” He threw his hands up in the air, (Y/N) flipping him off simultaneously.

“Maybe you were,” she sassed, pointing fingers with a half assed glare.

“Technically, it wasn’t a sacrifice, (Y/N).” He said, crossing his arms.

“Well-” She was cut off by the demon.

“Nuh uh, It was just him choosing to leave and wanting to stay,” he snapped, not in a harsh way though.

“But-”

“You know what, let’s just try and summon them another day. I don’t think it’d work anyways.” Namjoon said, dismissing the topic by waving his hand, taking a glance at the tree outside.

[:] Wooshy flash back time I guess [:]

“Why are you still here?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “I mean weren’t you supposed to leave this year?”

“I was supposed to leave instead of Hobi last year. I asked to stay.” Namjoon was sitting nonchalantly in one of the lounge chairs in her parents' living room reading the book she was supposed to be reading for school.

“Why didn’t you leave when you were supposed to?” (Y/N) looked at the demon, a look of confusion evident on her features.

“Who else is supposed to write your book reports for school?” Namjoon smirked while holding up the book before going back to reading said book.

“Then why did Hobi leave? Did he not want to be attached anymore?” (Y/N) began to tear up.

“It’s not that. I asked to stay because I felt I wasn’t ready to leave yet and Hoseok felt he was ready to leave. Most of the time, we leave when our time comes (Y/N). Hobi and mine were at the same time and I wanted to stay so I stayed.” Namjoon smiled at (Y/N).

“But why didn’t Hobi want to stay?” (Y/N)’s tears were flowing freely at this point.

“(Y/N)! Are you crying?” (Y/N)’s mom came rushing downstairs to investigate why her only child was crying.

“I’m fine.” Even (Y/N) wasn’t convincing herself, “Really Mom, I’m just over exhausted. I’m gonna go up to my room.”

[:] And back to the present :) [:]

“Are you almost ready to go?” Namjoon popped his head into the bedroom, “We have to leave soon if you want to be on time for school.”

“I’m almost ready, relax. And don’t you have a class to teach and a non-ribbed dick to get sucked by that one bitch for an A?” (Y/N) scoffed from where she was printing an essay that Namjoon had written the night before.

Namjoon started counting down from five, “Five- You better fucking get your ass in gear or you’re gonna be late. Four- Seriously (Y/N). Three- Professor Howard can’t give you another pass just because he likes you. Two-” Namjoon got cut off by (Y/N).

“I’m ready, asshole.” (Y/N) looked at him, “You better not let that bitch Brianna suck your dick.”

“I won’t let her suck my dick!” Namjoon raised his hands in defense, “What about my toes though?” (Y/N) looked at the demon with a face of disgust and looked at him from head to toe.

“Are you Namjoon or Taehyung?” She squinted, looking at his face.

“It was a joke!” Namjoon smirked, “But I'm sure she’ll do it for an A anyway.”

“I’m done with this conversation Casper.” With that (Y/N) slung her bag over her shoulder and left.

“Hey wait!” Namjoon grabbed his own bag before speed walking after (Y/N).

[:] Professor Casper or Daddy Casper? [:]

“SO.” (Y/N) sat down across from Namjoon in his office, “Rumour has it that you’re dating a cute english-lit major and are up for evaluation. What say you in your defense?”

“I mean I am dating a cute english-lit major. But I’m not up for evaluation, I used my demon charms to get out the punishment.”

Namjoon looked at (Y/N) seriously.

“Did you actually?” (Y/N) gaped at Namjoon.

“No. I explained that dating you is punishment enough.” Namjoon smiled, his dimples popping.

“Bastard.” (Y/N)looked at Namjoon.

“Bitch.” Namjoon smirked at (Y/N) before leaning over the desk and kissing her on the forehead, “I love you.”

“Good.” (Y/N) blushed.

There, through the window of the office, there were 6 peeping toms watching the couple.

“Adadada-uda,” Taehyung stuttered, “THEY’RE SO CUTE!”

“This looks like it’d turn out like a straight porn video on the hub,” Yoongi says bluntly.

Jungkook looked at Yoongi, “Ew straight.”

“Moving on,” Seokjin cleared his throat, “Does anyone remember when (Y/N) said I love you back?”

A series of “No’s” could be heard.

“Maybe we weren’t watching!” Jimin raised his hands, “But when were we not watching?”

“Oh I know!” Hoseok interrupted, “When they split up because of classes earlier. We left Yoongi hyung in charge just in case something happened.”

“I took a nap and must've missed it.” The guilty demon shrugged.

“No, (Y/N) definitely isn’t someone who confesses straight up.” Seokjin said, stroking his chin. The rest nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that's why she didn’t have a man when we were still there.” Jungkook snorted.

“No JK, we all know the reason why (Y/N) was always single. Was because she was pining after Namjoon.” Jimin stated the obvious.

[:] Damn. Imagine having someone to kiss in public. Or at all. [:]

“So how do you reckon the staff caught onto us… I mean PDA really isn’t our thing.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “Who have you told?”

“I haven’t told anyone!” (Y/N) frowned, “Maybe someone saw us go home together? I bet it was that bitch Brianna. She gives off the stalker vibes.”

“I’m not gonna let her suck my dick.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “And she’s already failing my class so even if I did let her suck my non-ribbed punisher, she still would probably only have a D-.”

“Hey- I thought we stopped referring to your dick as non-ribbed.” Namjoon raised a brow, making a face that said ‘you’re-the-one-who-started-it.’

Reading his expression (Y/N) glared at the demon, “Technically you’re the one who started it because you freely admitted it freely.”

“What makes you find out the hard way that my dick isn’t ribbed?” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) suggestively before flopping namtiddie first into the couch.

“I think I would've preferred finding out the hard way.” (Y/N) flopping onto Namjoon’s hard back.

“So I can’t even have the couch to myself?” Namjoon groaned before realizing what (Y/N) meant by ‘finding out the hard way,’ “Are you saying you rather had found out in the heat of the moment after having prepared yourself for a ribbed demon dick?” Namjoon leaned his head up to bump (Y/N) who still had her fat ass on his back, “I can’t breathe, get off.”

(Y/N) rolled off of Namjoon before plopping herself down in front of Namjoon, “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

[:] Smh stalkers at every moment [:]

“And I got a big fat ass!” (Y/N) shook her ass while singing off-key.

“Your ass is everything but big, baby.” Namjoon passed (Y/N) to reach for the garlic from the spice cabinet.

The girl turned and looked at Namjoon with an offended look, “You know. As my rental boyfriend, you’re supposed to be nice.”

Garlic forgot, Namjoon turned to (Y/n) and grabbed her waist, “I’m not your rental boyfriend and you know that.”

(Y/N) laughed, “Okay go off I guess, not my rental boyfriend.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes before pushing Namjoon away.

“Woman,” Namjoon placed a hand over his heart, “You wound me.”

(Y/N) turned around and smiled at her demon, “I could argue that you’re the one that wounds me.”

“I do not wound you.” Namjoon scoffs, “But I could very well wound you if you keep saying i’m a rental boyfriend, love.”

“Well we wouldn’t want you to wound me now would we,” (Y/N) smiled up at Namjoon before leaning in and placing a quick peck to his lips, “I love you.”

Namjoon smiled before returning (Y/N)’s peck with a chaste kiss, “I love you too, baby.”

*Meanwhile from the dining room 6 men were watching from not so afar*

“Hyung! Hyung! Did you see that!” Jungkook excitedly pointed towards the couple in the kitchen.

Yoongi groaned, “See what?”

“Le gasp! How could you have missed that!” Taehyung held a hand over his heart, “(Y/N) initiated affection for once!”

Jin smiled, “It really was adorable.”

[:] Oh look, you're at the end. [:]

“Every kiss begins with consent.” Namjoon wiggled his shoulders while grading papers at the table.

(Y/N) smirked before leaning over the table and planting a large whet kiss on Namjoon’s cheek.

“Rude.” Namjoon scoffed before pulling (Y/N) in for a proper kiss.

“You know that kiss didn’t have much of my consent in it.” (Y/N) smiled before leaning in for another kiss.

“I don’t think I consented to that either though.” Namjoon smiled.

“Get back to work baby.” (Y/N) nudged Namjoon towards his pile of papers.

“Yeah yeah.” Namjoon smiled before looking down and putting a big red ‘F’ on a paper clearly marked Brianna Simms.

“When will she just drop the class?” (Y/N) chuckled, “Dumbass.”

all rights reserved © misfit-fics

do not repost, translate, or claim as your own. :]

[bunchofstraydogs]

Dazai Osamu character breakdown as I understand him

Meaning that this might be inaccurate and your opinion and visage of him might differ from mine, which is just fine. We perceive the world and the people around us through our experiences and expectations. I'm curious to know how you guys see a complex character like Dazai, just please respect everyone's opinions.

Warning: Manga plot mentions, s2 spoilers, BEAST light novel spoilers, Dazai Osamu

Dazai Osamu was introduced into the scene of Bungou Stray Dogs at 14 when Mori found him.

Even at that young age, Dazai had suicidal tendencies and had been wrapped in bandages similarly as he is in the present. Already dealing with too much trauma for a child his age, the fire is fuelled as he was forced to bear witness to the death of the Port Mafia boss at the hands of Mori, the person that took him under his wing. To use him; which was becoming very apparent to Osamu if he hadn't been aware since the start. Now, I'm not saying that death of the previous boss left a particular scar on Samu, he even agrees with it and is something he himself would have done. But that that is the scene that bore fruit of the following quotes:

"Or could it be that you're afraid, Mori-san? That one day i will slit your throat and take over as the boss?"

followed by

"Everyone seems suspicious to those who have an axe to grind."

This tells us right away that he can tell what type of person you are just from the way you perceive your surroundings, which is logical, but not something many think too deep into.

Even less who have their evaluations of others on point like he does. And he has to, since Dazai's plan is always to understand his allies, his enemies, possible allies and possible enemies. He also takes into account important neutral parties that can still, in one way or another, affect the outcome of his plans or decide to align with one side out of common interest. After comes realising the main goals, along with side achievements (just in case some of those maim his allies or ruin the future plans he made) of every party. Taking in their morals and motivation, and being familiar with the ground the confrontation will happen on, he now has the view of the whole chess board and it's pieces in his head. He moves his allies in the right places, knowing how they'll react in the situation to come, and awaits the enemies with open fire arms. He was tought to think like that. At all times. Mori made sure of it. You know how specialists never really stop thinking in their areas of expertise, like doctors, for example, will naturally notice people's posture and look for scoliosis or whatever? How your foot hits the floor, if you're walking straight, your knees and shoulders, etc. Same for Dazai. His brain maps out person's expressions, reactions, choices, personality, etc. in great detail. I'm pretty sure he has eidetic memory, if his conversations in manga with Fyodor are anything to go by.

Another thing his brain does is think of worst possible outcomes.

Not in a fear of what if things go wrong, but as a possible route. He uses it to determine how big of a threat the opposing force is and what steps they'll have to take to achieve that. Knowing that, he'll know how to intercept them. Also, like everything else, it's not something he can control since we're talking about thought process here and that's just how his brain works. Can't magically turn that off. It's especially annoying to him when he's genuinely enjoying himself with, let's say, ADA members and then his brain goes brrr.

•"A lot happened recently and we're a torn in many people's eyes." *Tanizaki and Atsushi drinking punch* "There's a possibility, while a small one, about 8% at this very moment, but as time goes on will increase, that an organisation outside of Yokohama decided we're an unavoidable threat and poisoned the drinks. Don't drink that. Nothing will happen, they'll wake up tomorrow in pristine condition don't drink th-"

Yeah, i feel bad for him too.

He has PTSD and insomnia, besides the hectic brain,

so he's not getting proper amount of rest. Actually, he drinks almost every night by himself at home. Pretty sure it's canon as well, because if you search for a picture of him in his room, you'll see him surrounded by multiple bottles. Two of the PTSD symptoms are hallucinations and night terrors (no, that is not the same as a nightmare). What people usually do is use opium to cause hallucinations in a safe environment so that there's little chance of them happening uncontrolled. He's probably using alcohol to numb himself while he's reminiscing, since if he does still have hallucinations after years having passed by (which isn't impossible), they're probably few and far between. Not saying there's no chance he isn't using opium. He would know where to get what he needs, after all.

Osamu's haunted by his own actions as well, not just by trauma caused to him.

At an uncountable amount of occasions, he found himself looking into a mirror and not really comprehending his image. It was like dissociation. Looking through a fog at what's supposed to be your carbon copy, but not knowing all of your features perfectly, so whatever you're seeing could only be an impostor, yet you're not sure because that would take comprehending physical proof of your life to the fullest and how it works and he just... can't. He can but he doesn't want to. He already knows he's despicable and broken, doesn't really feel the need to see just how much. He can't, for all his perfect memory, remember the faces of the people he has killed. He hadn't even seen all of them, but he was responsible for their demise. Causing havoc and misfortune in general through other crimes besides murder as well. We've seen his expression when he listened in on Atsushi talking to Kyouka over the earpiece how the 35 deaths don't matter anymore. He knows they do and he knows that the change of heart won't justify what he's they've done. Ango thought him to value each life. But he also knows that even murderers can change and become good. Oda did that. It's also what's keeping him in the agency.

When Oda died, his last words mentioned that Dazai doesn't care about good or bad and that was correct for Dazai Osamu back then. I genuinely think that his present self does mind the difference.

He believes in necessary evil and will do dark shit to get the good outcome he's envisioned.

He doesn't separate outlaws and lawful people, however.

He knows that generally speaking, the line is thin and easy to cross and that many were born or forced into the situations they are. Those that fight the life thrown at them are an exception, not a rule. That's also why he likes Atsushi, probably the main reason. The boy has every right to hate the world and yet. Dazai is envious, he doesn't really have the same capacity.

I want now to talk about why does Dazai Osamu do what Dazai Osamu does.

The reason he attempts suicide, joined the mafia, made friends at all, is because for all his intelligence and observations, ability to understand others, he doesn't really understand himself.

He doesn't understand his worth. He doesn't understand his purpose. In all of that confusion, he finds no reason to live. He laughs but can't get the high, he bruises but can't fully heal. In all of the things people find happiness in he can't feel joy from. He is emotionally stunted. He thinks too logically. He doesn't understand actions out of emotions because to him, it doesn't make sense. Emotions cloud your mind and when you're not thinking straight, you make mistakes. Plain and simple. He just accepts it, that most people simply cannot control themselves and prefer lashing out instead of methodical approach. All the better for him, he has leverage. Even when he does act on impulse, which is incredibly rare and not as explosive and dramatic, his brain rationalises it as to why his actions were a good way to go. And if his reaction was one that bore fruit, than it was a tactical one.

"If you place yourself somewhere close to raw emotions, where you're exposed to raw violence and death, instinct and desire, you can brush against man's true nature. I though that way i could find a reason to live somehow."

From this, i can tell that he was hoping that, in a situation where he's pushed far enough, he'd realise what's important to him, what he wants to protect or destroy, what's one thing he wouldn't want to leave unsettled before dying. What is that one thing he'd regret dying before achieving? What should he fight death for. What is worth living on for? To him, it doesn't matter if that something is good or evil as long as he gets to keep it in his life.

It seems he hadn't found it exactly, but is satisfied with what he has for now, in the agency, to just keep going. But he still tries to commit suicide, hoping that one day, when the clear picture of the world around him is fading away, when he's becoming light headed from the lack of oxygen, when he's loosing control over his body and thoughts don't seem to flow well, there will be one thing, anyone, screaming at him to fight it. New day new chances. It didn't happen today, better luck tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomo-.

Now, like Mori, Dazai feels the need to, at all times, be in control of the situation. Including people.

That means no one, but perhaps Ranpo due to his own abnormal intellect, is aware of their own role. They know their mission, but they're not expecting to be given that particular one because they'll come across an obstacle they would react to in a way that would satisfy Osamu's plans.

Dazai Osamu is more of a chemist, than a chess player, if you ask me.

Throwing different people into the mix, under different conditions at different times and is noting down their reactions in safe surrounding if possible, so that when the time calls for it, he'll be able to make a perfect concoction for the predicament. A chemist and his substances; A chess player and his pawns; A puppeteer and his puppets. Now, Dazai is meticulous and never rash, but like everyone else (except effin Lovecraft what is he even) he's only human and he bleeds when he falls down and humans aren't perfect. He isn't always right. That means he makes mistakes. The issue with big shot players that control the board is that, when they fall down, everyone on their side crashes and burns as well. So the day Dazai fucks up everyone else will follow because of lack of insight on their part that's completely out of their control. All it takes is for him to underestimate or overestimate one person and chaos ensues. There is no such thing as happy little accidents small mistakes for someone like him. I have crippling anxiety and a sole thought that one hiccup could blow up in everyone's face... damn. I would try committing suicide myself. But it's his fault, he brought upon himself an obligation and pressure like that. To be fair, it was Mori that drilled that type of thinking where no one should know what you plan because they can't ruin what they don't know If they turn against you, they can't stop you.

For his own sake, and everyone else's, Dazai needs to learn how to show his cards and share the burden.

Again, going back to the emotionally stunted guy that has commitment issues (where he either can't commit or can't let go) trope.

He never outright does something good for someone where people would acknowledge it, he uses his underhanded tactics here as well.

He casually makes himself look like a bad guy, an asshole, to conveniently move attention from the inner turmoil a person is struggling with to a present problem at hand that they can fix and let their frustrations out on. But he hopes that, one day, someone just might notice his intentions for what they are and do the unspeakable- see through him.

"I'm a very private person. You don't ask, i don't tell."

Yes, and your whole existence is just a huge cry for help. He wants to be asked. He's begging for attention. A specific type of attention. One that will see him without making him feel imposed on. One that will understand his sins without making a big deal out of it. Accept him as a person he is, makes him feel like one as well. Makes him feel alive. Makes him feel... period.

The day he finds that thing is the day he completely turns his life around and fully dedicates to it. It's where the part of not being able to let go commitment issue ensues.

Since Oda's death he's been secretly keeping an eye out on possible ways to bring him back. If you've read Beast AU you know that when Dazai gets his hands on the book, he'll create a universe where Oda doesn't die. Should he find an ability user that can bring back the dead, just tell him what it will take, he's ready to destroy his own soul for it and if that isn't enough, well, he'll have no hesitation ruining theirs. After all, BEAST!Dazai Osamu never actually met Odasaku, he just had the memories he'd gotten from his canon self and that was enough for him to do everything he did.

He's incredibly selfish and has a weird come in but the door is a wall dynamic he rolls with in his self imposed solitude.

It's like the walls of the space in my brain are ugly and terrifying, so i closed off the entrance to keep myself in. I'm doing you a favour but please break the wall down and tell me it's okay to come out i don't want to be here-

Happy little thoughts woah woah yeah~

That's what i got from what I've seen of him. I may have missed some things, some things might prove to be wrong as the series progress further, but yeah.

There is, however, one more thing i want to put out here. Since Dazai was already like this before Mori found him, that begs to question as to why? What happened to him?

Now, since the characters are based on real people, is it crazy to say that Dazai Osamu has had a horrible childhood because of his father? Real life Dazai was terrified of his dad and was very intimidated by him. He always tried to stay in his good graces out of fear of punishment. Neither of his parents felt like a parent to him, actually. His father didn't care and his mother was often ill, but did care for him when she could. Both of them died eventually.

This could be the plot Kafka based Dazai's background on, but we'll have to wait and see.

[liibrii]

fem!Miya!reader x Suna Rintarou || mostly platonic || part of the Third Miya series

Synopsis: A glimpse into your friendship with Suna during your 1st year at Inarizaki High school.

Warnings: barely proofread, general stupidity, there's a serial killer joke, reader is a lil shit

wc: 1.6k

a/n: naming chapters is hard 😭 as always feedback is greatly appreciated and if you wanna be tagged in future chapters let me know!

Friendship with Suna is one of those where you can't quite remember how or when it started. One week he was just that lanky guy sitting at a desk to the right of you, the next week you walked home together and you told him your brothers' embarrassing childhood stories in exchange for chemistry homework. In a way it's an echo of all your childhood friendships forged on the beach with other kids you only knew for a week but during that week you'd take over the world for them if they asked. But the one week friendship with Suna became two weeks, three weeks, and after the fourth you stopped counting.

Suna Rintarou is a funny guy. Not funny as in telling jokes or spouting quips and smirks. He's funny in a way that even now you can't really tell who he is. He's quiet. But not shy in the slightest. He moved over from Aichi and you cringe at the memory of saying: “Oh so that's why ya talk funny. I thought yer just pretentious,“ when he told you. Your ears catch on fire by just thinking about it. So embarrassing. But he must have pretty low standards for his friends because at the time he didn't really seem bothered by your slip of the tongue. The next day he offered you a chuupet and that was enough to buy your undying loyalty.

Suna's a funny guy. You don't know how he became your friend, you don't know what he sees in you that makes him put up with you. But you're glad to have an inside man on the volleyball team.

Years of living together with the same person makes one develop the ability of sniffing out trouble before they even start to happen. In this case it's four empty pudding packages in the trash bin that make you decide to nope right out of there before Tsumu tries to blame you for their mysterious disappearance. Again.

You put on music and walk aimlessly through the streets, one of those walks where it doesn't matter if you get lost because you have no clue where you're headed anyway. Everyone needs a stroll like that from time to time. Often they lead to situations that would otherwise probably never happen. Like running into a serial killer, but luck is on your side today so the only person you run into is a familiar lanky figure stretching by the side of the road. “Sunarin! Didn't expect to meet ya here!“

He looks up and his blushed sweaty face wears the same expression as ever. In the last months you've learned Suna has two expressions, the deadpan one, and the deadpan one with furrowed brows. “O, Miya. Well, I live nearby.“ Oh right, you did pass the bus station where he exits just a song ago. “Taking a stroll, are you?“

“Samu and Tsumu are having a screamin' match right now so I decided to get myself out of there before they'd drag me into it.“

“Tragic. Where are you headed?“

Your destination is 'who cares' so you join Suna on a walk. It's good he already ran his evening route because you're not in the mood to reenact a wanna be healthy person's only free time activity.

Just a short walk between the apartment buildings by the side of the road you reach a path of cobble stones that leads further between trees.  

“What? You didn't know there's a park here?“ Suna smirks and you're surprised his face muscles are even capable of stretching so far.

You shake your head, slightly embarrassed. “No, I really didn't. To be fair this neighbourhood used to be ruled by another clan so we never played around here,“ you quickly add as if children clan wars from years ago are a better excuse than simply being unfamiliar with this part of the town.

Suna doesn't comment but the corners of his mouth keep tugging up even after you walk through the park. Or maybe that's because you tripped over nothing while watching a cat cross your path.

“We have a cat back home,“ he tells you and shows you the picture of his little sister with a big fluffy orange cat on her lap.

“So cute,“ you coo, “looks just like ya.“

“Oh yeah, lots of people say she looks just like me. I think I'm more handsome though.“

“No, I meant the cat.“

This time you're the one prepared to jump away form a well aimed kick but Suna only gives you a disappointed glare. “I thought you were the nice Miya.“

You sympathetically pat his shoulder. “Sorry. My sincere condolences. Shall I send some flowers for the funeral of yer last brain cell? Samu always wanted a cat but dad wouldn't let him.“

“Really? Why not?“

“Oh he made the mistake of asking just after the mango incident.“

“The-“

“Only Miyas are allowed to know about it,“ you say, snickering at Suna's furrowed brows. You know curiosity is going to eat at him for weeks to come. Maybe you should come up with a cover story, just in case. “Do ya miss yer friends? Ones from Aichi I mean?“

Suna thinks for a moment, maybe still trying to figure out what a mango incident could possibly be. “Sometimes,“ he says after a while and a poke to his side, “but I met a lot of new people at the dorms. Inarizaki isn't that bad either. There's you and Ginjima, and your brothers sometimes, and ehm,“ he mumbles as he tries to remember whom else he could call a friend.

“If Tsumu or Samu bring this topic up just let them know ya were my friend first,“ you pout. That's the problem with having had siblings in the same class for the entire grade and middle school; all your friends were also their friends. “It can't be easy,“ you say, half trying to make him feel better, and half just changing the topic that's starting to turn his ears red, “movin' over here I mean. Ya really left all ya knew behind for volleyball. That's pretty admirable. Ya just might be as crazy as Samu and Tsumu.“

“Please don't compare me to your brothers,“ says Suna.

“That bad, eh? So what's it like? Livin' in a dorm?“

“Oh. Well. We're four in a room-“

“Yikes. And I thought havin' two other people in your room is a lot.“

Suna laughs. Oh, so he can do that. It suits him, you decide after a moment. “Now take into account that two of those keep leaving dirty socks around.“

“Oh I know what that's like,“ you nod, all too familiar with dirty socks under table, under bed and other parts of bed you'd rather not think about.

“I doubt you'd get in trouble for punching them though.“

“Oh I would.“ You look him over. “Ya don't really look like a punchin' type to me. More a very petty guy. Soy sauce in mornin' tea kind of guy.“

“You're giving me ideas.“

“Thanks, that will be one kit-kat. Or none if ya put some in Samu's water bottle.“

“All in all dorm isn't that bad,“ Suna tells you once you both stop laughing over the prospect of putting soy sauce into Osamu's drink. “Wish I could sleep a bit longer in the morning but what can you do? And I miss mom's cooking. We cook ourselves and the food is good. Usually. It's just not the same, you know? Want a chuupet?“

“Ya brought a chuupet to an evenin' run?“

You still gladly take the fruit stick. It's a rare occasion in which it isn't in danger of being snatched away by one of your co-spawns. You don't comment but the next day a neatly wrapped bento box waits on Suna's table.

Suna doesn't quite remember when you became friends. One day you were a girl from his class that looked suspiciously similar to those loud Twins on the volleyball team (the moment he realised your last name is in fact Miya too he felt incredibly stupid for not noticing sooner), the next day you're hanging with him during breaks and sending him messages along the lines of 'I'll buy you as many chuupets as ya want if ya tell me what happened at practice yesterday, I need to let Tsumu know who's the boss' that usually arrive in the middle of the night. Even if they wake him up your name popping on his screen still makes him smile.

Really it takes impossibly long for Suna to realise he doesn't enjoy being in your presence only because being friends with you is as easy as getting the ball around a block or because you're the one Miya to voluntarily share your food with him.

The moment the cogs finally fell in their place and began to spin, making the little 'there might be something more' thought appear is one he'll remember for the rest of his life, and will quite probably haunt his nightmares too.

That's the thing about emotions (truly the revelations of that day are almost too much for his volleyball focused teenage brain), they take over neurones in charge of sending information around the brain, bribing the ones running toward mouth to run faster than the ones heading towards the comprehension centre, and then you find yourself in awkward situations such as saying your name out loud in the packed locker room followed by: “She's really funny and amazing. I like her a lot.“

But the situation being awkward is the least of Suna's problems as two pairs of almost identical brown eyes stare him down.

Oh, shit.

tag list: @espressons @trashy-simp @nachotrash @megumiisee @foxxtrot-116 @e-wwis​

[khaleesiofalicante]

I really said fuck classes who needs notes anyway (i do I have 5 tests in the next two weeks)

before I post my live blog here, I feel like people really underestimate how bad rumors are and how much they fuck with your mental health. they don't lose sleep over them, they don't think twice. but these things are harmful as fuck. they leave wounds that take so long to recover from because you keep on thinking about these lies who to others are "just words"

I've been there. it's not fun. I wish I had the courage back then to stand up to those rumors which I have now. these things never leave you. others might move on but the healing process is a journey that is long and hard. I wish more people understood just what effect their words can have.

Yeah, he knew a thing or two about family members going overboard with glitter.

IT'S RAFAEL CENTRIC GHSYGUJDUYDFUIKFDUIDFIUDF

TAVVY

TAVVY

TAVVY

DCSUIHDCSUIDUYUDICUIVSDUIHFVSUILFBUHKIFSV

I feel like I keyboard smash A LOT

“You will never drink even if you are not riding the bike,” Dad had pointed out – all Consul Voice and threatening glares. “The legal age for drinking in New York is 21.”

“But it’s 15 in Idris!”

“Well unfortunately for you, we are in Exile,” dad had grinned.

DAD ALEC UHIKSFDUIHKSGUIKSDVUIHKDVUHIKSVD

Max had a habit of ‘borrowing’ things and selling them on eBay. In his brother’s defense, Bapak had so many clothes that he never noticed when things disappeared. But Rafael did since he had a habit of wearing his father’s clothes.

The warlock – not the shadowhunter.

He wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those sweaters.

Now that Rafael was 18, he was almost as tall as his father.

The shadowhunter – not the warlock.

I AM SCREAMING

I love how he's clarifying which one he's talking about

“Do you know I used to have a crush on Lily Chen?” Tavvy blushed. “But then I found out she made out with Helen once and it kinda got weird.”

Ah yes. I remember. Does Rafael know that Alec also walked in on them?

ARCHITECT TAVVY

SDHDVUHDFSV,YDSFVUYVSFFUSVFUVFS

SHADOWUNTERS ATTENDING MUNDANE COLLEGES

“Dude, college kids don’t give a shit,” Tavvy laughed. “You could walk into a lecture covered in runes, holding a seraph blade and they wouldn’t give you a second look.”

“Cause they are chill?”

“Yes. But mostly cause they are dead inside,” Tavvy chuckled.

Surprisingly that's exactly what my grade 6 prefect told me (DAMN WHY AM I ALWAYS REMEMBERING GRADE 6 IT'S BEEN YEARS. that was a horrible year *shudders*)

ANJALI IS A CENTURION

LMAO THIS IS WHAT RAFAEL MEANT WHEN HE SAID HE WOULDNT WANT TO GO TO THE SCHOLOMANCE FOR PERSONAL REASONS

I still ship them.

“The meeting is going to go perfe-What is SHE doing here?”

Well, that was a quick change-

Unlike Aunt Maia, Lily did not like to be called Aunt Lily. So, Rafael respected her wishes. Max of course continued to call her Aunt Lily and sometimes Abeula Lily since his brother had a pathological condition of pissing people off.

THAT'S SO MAX OMG JHSXUHSCUHISDHUHUKIDVS

great now I miss Raphael

I HAVE A CLASS IN 7 MINUTES STOP MAKING ME CRY

that is so thoughtful of him though...

tears.

“There are no photos of Raphael,” Lily sighed.

“Because he is a vampire?” Tavvy asked sympathetically.

“Because he is Raphael,” she grinned. “Vampires can most certainly take photos. You should follow me on Instagram. My handle is simp_for_carstairs.”

Of course, it is. No one is surprised.

Tavvy picked one up, took a large bite and it threw it back immediately. “Holy shit, that’s spicy!”

“White,” Lily and Anjali snorted at the same time.

white people and their bland foods smh

“She is not wrong,” Lily nodded seriously. “I’m a Jem Carstairs fan first and a vampire second.”

As she should be

UHDSUHDFSUHFDH ANJALI AND RAFAEL COMPETING ABOUT WHO'S LILY'S FAVORITE

He observed Anjali’s long dark hair spilled over her shoulders as her eyes stayed on Lily – sharp, protective and beautiful.

"Beautiful"

I AM NOT LETTING THIS GO

I'm THE DAMN CAPTAIN OF THIS SHIP

FUCKING RUMORS

I'm GONNA KILL SOMEONE

“Shadowhunters are awful gossips,” Anjali said. “Let’s not waste our time with this nonsense.”

There was something in her voice. Something he couldn’t put his finger on.

No, wait I want to know what was in her voice.

But no. It couldn’t be. They weren’t dating.

YET

Rafael was sure there was something more than friendship between them. But David was polite to a fault and Max was an oblivious little shit. So, obviously nothing had happened yet.

OH MY GOD THESE TWO

But this was different. He would tolerate rumours about himself. But he would not tolerate rumours about his family.

I and Rafael will beat up the people who spread these rumors together :D

“She once told me she likes sipping tea more than drinking blood.

I-

same.

NOT THAT I DRINK BLOOD-

RAFAEL LMAO NO

"I hate her she's so annoying"

continues to daydream about her and how tall she'd be without those boots, lies to tavvy about her dating someone

Why did he do that? What was the purpose? Did he not want other people to date just because he wasn’t dating anyone?

And he calls Max oblivious.

oh class started

shit

IDC IDC I'LL STILL BE READING

LEXI AND SELENA ARE AT THE ACADEMY

JACE HYPER FIXATING ON THINGS BECAUSE HE'S BORED IS SUCH A MOOD

“David and I added rosemary to this one,” Uncle Jace wiped his hands on his apron. “It has definitely improved the taste, hasn’t it?”

“Save me,” David mouthed from behind the man.

LMAO POOR DAVID

“Empty nest syndrome,” Rafael chuckled. “I’m glad neither Max nor I had to leave home. My fathers are much worse.”

He remembered his first sleepover at the institute. His parents had waited for “an excruciating hour” before crashing the institute and joining the sleepover themselves.

yup, that's them.

“David,” Rafael grinned. “Are you afraid of my father?”

“What? No! He is the just a regular person…who can throw me in the silent city any time he wants,” David rambled and then shook his head. “Where is Max?”

He tried to sound nonchalant. But Rafael noted the way the other boy’s eyes fluttered every time he said Max’s name.

Just the way a crooked smile appeared on his brother’s lips every time someone said David’s name.

Idiots

ok, there is so much to unpack here.

DAVID HAS A VALID REASON OK??

These two are such IDIOTS HUSDUHISCUIDSVCUIHVSDUHI

“Max said Bapak is biased, and that he needs an unbiased tutor. Uncle Ragnor volunteered,” Rafael chuckled. “God bless the poor man.”

“Max isn’t that bad,” David replied.

“Looks like you’re biased too, David,” Rafael winked and picked up a spare bow from the training room.

of course, he is.

G-FORCE KJHSDCUISDYUKDFSUYKDSVYUSFD

oh shit

oh shit

WHO DID WHAT THIS TIME

what's the rumor and who do I need to kill

He didn’t know her well. But she knew a lot about him. Just as she knew a lot about the twins. She was one of those people who was oddly invested in his life just because Rafael happened to the Consul’s son.

what is her problem?

what the fuck

I need a minute

I need a minute to digest that

I'm so glad I closed my camera in class

what the actual fuck did she just say

tell me I'm hallucinating

times like these I wish I was Jared 19

no, because I'm actually speechless right now

Paige and Irene need therapy

OH SHE WENT THERE

“Paige, that’s enough!” the Dean snapped at her. “How dare you talk to him that way? You talk about warlock corruption but where all of you when Valentine exploited Jace and Clary? Where was this moral obligation when Valentine lied to his children and played with their feelings as if they were nothing but toys to be controlled and manipulated? I’m sick of shadowhunters victim blaming children instead of holding people like Valentine accountable.”

THANK YOU

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK SIMON

I feel like we all focus so much on the "incest" and hate on clace we forget that this part of the story was literally an abuser seeing that the victim was recovering and took the only thing which made him happy from him

I can't believe this

“Children have been suffering for a long time now, Paige,” Uncle Jace said now, his fists balled at his sides. “Where were you when Alec proposed the child protection bill? We didn’t see any of you supporting it.”

“We had other priorities,” the older woman replied. “People were dying! It was not the right time for a new law. We could have always signed that bill later. There was no rush!”

OTHER PRIORITIES MY ASS BITCH FUCK YOU

hey just realizing Rafael is the token straight

I'M SORRY IM TRYING TO DISTRACT ME

“The Cohort who made children kill themselves to prove a point?” Uncle Simon asked dryly. “That Cohort?”

I am so close to either crying or killing someone or both.

This was Max’s spot since it had the best Wi-Fi coverage.

yeah trust me I spend all the time in the guest room because it has the best wifi coverage or the study.

MAX IS SMOKING TOO

YOU FUCKING IDIOTS

oh wait

oh they might be alec's

yeah

For the next thirty minutes, Max paced around the room, threatening to portal all the shadowhunters to hell.

Then he went on about a plan to attack the cohort and portal them all to hell too.

He kept talking about portalling people to hell.

MAX YES LET'S DO IT!!!!

But here is the thing about people, they don’t get to you. You get to them.

They simply say something and leave. They probably don’t even mean the things they say or lose sleep over it. But it wasn’t the same for you. You obsess over it. You stay awake at night and let it consume your dreams.

YES! To others, it's just words. meaningless. to you, the effect can be so so deep. it's not easy to always brush them off.

NO MAGNUS

THAT'S IT

MAX AND I ARE PORTALLING PEOPLE TO HELL

WE'RE DOING IT

why do we hurt others?

my teacher: ill take a test on this chapter. all 20 units

me: softly crying because people are little shits and they hurt others.

“Fuck everyone else,” dad hissed. “They’ve hurt our family enough.”

EXACTLY. LEAVE THEM ALONE.

“I am simply being honest with you,” Dad interrupted. “I could never be okay when you are away from me. But I will manage. Max is going to raise hell though. So, that’s going to be fun.”

AS HE SHOULD

Neither Rafael nor Max would never admit it out loud, but on the day of that sleepover, on the day their parents had crashed the institute bcause they had missed the kids too much…Rafael and Max had been only a moment away from calling their parents to come pick them up.

He's right though.

it'll take time. lots of it maybe.

BUT THE ACTUAL AUDACITY.

It fucked with his mind so much.

Rafael...ALRIGHT WHERE ARE MY FLAMETHROWERS

“DAD! BAPA! WAKE UP! RAFE IS TRYING TO RUN AWAY!”

MAX REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF MY LITTLE BROTHER

He had forgotten about the bloody paperwork. Shadowhunters on their travel year had to notify the Clave and get their paperwork in order.

Well, it shouldn’t be a problem since the Clave was standing across the hall.

EXACTLY

Because it was killing him. It was killing him not to be lying on the couch, his head resting on his Bapak’s lap just like every other Saturday morning.

It was killing him not to touch, not to love, not to care.

GET MY FLAMETHROWERS AND CANNIBAL GOLDFISHES WE HAVE SOME WORK TO DO

(goddamn every class I have taken so far the teacher has told us there is a test coming up it's 9 am in the morning.)

His brother growled at that like the little feral animal that he was.

that's adorable actually.

“Fine,” Max rolled his eyes. “Does this mean I can also travel? There is a Twenty One Pilots concert in Sydney and-”

“Nice try,” Dad said. “But no. You are staying here.”

“Excuse me, but what about my healing?” Max demanded. “I’ve been traumatised by this thing.”

“You can go to therapy,” Rafael winked at this brother.

Therapy is boring but useful so-

He needed to survive this. So, he decided to go back to the place he had learned how to survive in the first place.

He needed to go back home.

UGLY CRYING WHILE TAYLOR SWIFT PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND AND MY HISTORY CLASS IN 2 MINUTES

I'm so proud of him for this...

I still say we kill these people.

JOAQUIN AND JULIETTE

UHISDCUIHFSDUGUIDFVDSDVFJHGDFVHUKDVHUKVF

Camilla Alvarez.

well well.

OH THEY KISSED

“Right,” Rafael had said. “Gap year. Besides, I do talk them. My brother threatened to paint my room in hot pink if I don’t text him every day.”

hands max a pint of paint HAVE AT IT

Max: Also – New Rumour. Dalliance between Lily and Tavvy.

Rafe: OMFG WHAT

Max: They are running with it and freaking old n*philim out.

AS THEY SHOULD UFUHIFUIHFUIHKFU

THE CENSORED N*PHILIM I'M SCREAMING

“He is hot.”

He laughed out loud. “Yeah. I hear that a lot.”

“Your dad looks kinda scary,” she pointed out.

Rafael laughed again. “Yeah. I kinda hear that a lot too.”

I'm liking this ship...

I'M STILL LOYAL TO THE RAFAEL AND ANJALI SHIP

but I'm happy for him. I'm glad he's getting the space he needs

Dad: Jst found legal age fr drnkng in Buenos Aires is 18.

Rafe: ????

Dad: I hv friends thr.

Rafe: ???

Dad: Thy r watchn u.

Rafe: Creepy but okay.

HJSDCGUIHJGSDCYUICVXUHVUHKDV

THE BOY'S DRINKING Y'ALL

Do it

MILA IS GOING TO NY!!

I like her. she's nice.

He was leaving soon. He didn’t see the point in lying to her. “I ran away from home. Kind of.”

“Why?”

“I hurt someone I love,” Rafael confessed. “The person I love most in the world.”

honey, it wasn't your fault... hugs

Shit. Why wasn’t Bapak going to the accords signing? He had been there for every single one since the very first time.

no no no no is something wrong?? I'm worried.

“You look taller,” Rafael told his brother who hadn’t grown an inch.

LMAO

Max and I are vertically challenged.

“Rafe, go to talk to him. Or I will tell everyone you’ve been smoking in the balcony!”

So, he was going to pin this on him, huh? This little shit.

well-

“You’ve progressed from freaking to fucking,” he pointed out.

“That’s not the fucking point, Rafael!” Max said in exasperation.

“You did it again,” Rafe pinched Max’s cheek. “My little brother is all grown up now. Linguistically I mean.”

“Dick."

I CAN'T WITH THESE TWO

When he had gone back to Buenos Aires, the place was completely different - even the shadow market.

There were no abandoned children in the streets. There were no racist and ignorant leaders exploiting innocent downworlders.

There was only growth.

His father had done that. Alec Lightwood had helped Joaquin and his people create a new world in Buenos Aires.

This shows how much people can flourish under good leadership if they really try.

YOU KNOW I'M SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING THESE NOTES DOWN, NOT CRYING OVER THIS.

“I will protect our family. I will protect our friends. I will protect those who ask for my protection. But I will not tolerate their hate. I will not turn my head and pretend it doesn’t hurt. Because it does hurt and that’s not okay.”

Rafael smiled at that. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s not okay.”

“The accords is important. But so am I. There is no point in signing a treaty that is meant to value equality if I have to sign it while being surrounded by those who refuse to respect me or my identity. I simply cannot do it, Rafael. I hope you understand.”

I'm sobbing like YES YOU DONT OWE THEM SHIT. THESE UNGRATEFUL BITCHES.

“It’s taken me a while to realize this. But I don’t owe the nephilim anything,” Bapak said firmly. “It’s about time they realize that too.”

YES EXACTLY

“I’ve known shadowhunters for a long time, Rafael. Good ones. Bad ones. All kinds of them – and shadowhunters have always defined themselves by their love. Not by your weapons. Not by your runes. Not by your last names. Not by your laws. Shadowhunters have always defined themselves by love. So, don’t ever let them take that away from you.”

I want this on a T-shirt. These damn shadowhunters and their love.

“Like the Accords Hall kiss?” Rafael grinned.

“It’s the stupidest thing your father had ever done – which is really saying something,” his father laughed. “But it’s also the bravest thing I’ve ever seen him do. And that’s how I knew.”

affectionate sigh that's alec.

“Good. Max is sitting in the porch and singing All by Myself,” Tessa chuckled and closed the door. “Just thought you should know!!”

Rafael giggled at that. “He must have given you hell.”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Bapak shrugged, and Rafael raised an eyebrow. “Fine. I might have promised to buy him a car when he turns 18.”

“You’re hoping he would stop aging by then, aren’t you?” Rafael chuckled.

Max is so dramatic I aspire to be like him.

Blue banners when the lost return, the shadowhunter rhythm said.

Rafael had returned home – and he was no longer lost.

I'm ok I say as I cry during my history class

I'm so proud of him.

“Well, that needs to be rectified immediately,” Dad said in the Consul Voice and literally yelled. “I am about to kiss my son – on both cheeks! You better gossip about this too!”

“Oh my god, stop!” Rafael giggled and tried to escape.

“YAS!” he heard Uncle Jace yelled from somewhere. “GIVE US A FOREHEAD KISS TOO!”

THEY ARE SO DRAMATIC I LOVE THESE IDIOTS SO MUCH.

THEM ADDING TO THE ACCORDS AS THEY SHOULD OMG

“The hell is hate speech?” someone asked.

Do you not have a dictionary you uncultured swine

“There is a very clear difference between free speech and hate speech,” Cristina Rosales pointed out. “The fact that you don’t seem to know that is all the more reason for us to include this provision.”

YES CRISTINA

“By the angel,” an old man gasped. “There is no need to be so emotional. The younger generation can be such snowflakes.”

What if I just strangles him

“Discriminatory language?” a woman demanded. “What does that even mean?”

“Calling vampires bloodsuckers,” Lily Chen answered.

“Calling warlocks demon spawns,” Ragnor Fell pointed out.

“Calling werewolves fleabags,” Maia Roberts declared.

“Calling faeries half-breeds,” Kieran Kingson all but yelled.

The fact that they have had to deal with this shit for YEARS. (also why Kingson? isn't Kieran the king?)

THE QUEEN HERSELF IS HERE Y'ALL

“Which one of you shitheads said hate speech is harmless?” Anjali demanded, her voice booming over everyone and everything else.

YES ANJALI

Anjali had a grin of her own. “While that might true, Paige, there is most certainly a law on child protection. You didn’t just hurt Magnus Bane. You also hurt his son. Section 7 of the Child Protection Bill states that any person who physically or emotionally injures a child through ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment or abuse is guilty of breaking the covenant.”

“Damn straight!” someone yelled from the crowd – it sounded suspiciously like Kit.

CALL THESE BITCHES OUT YES

“Rafael is not a child!” someone yelled again. A lot of them this time. “It’s still not illegal. The law doesn’t say so!”

“By the angel, for someone who is obsessed with the law you people seem to know nothing about it,” Anjali said in exasperation. “The child protection law defines a child as a person under 18 years OR younger. The incident happened when he was still 18. It’s illegal.”

YES ANJALI FUCK THESE PEOPLE

“I’m the Inquisitor’s daughter,” she said. “Next time, think twice before you quote the law at me.”

SHOW THEM, QUEEN

How did she know his birthday????

ahem

“So, if you do hurt him emotionally, you can still be implicated. You will face charges and you can possibly be stripped of your runes,” Anjali pointed out seriously. “Now I ask you again. Does anyone else have to say anything about him?”

There was absolute silence then.

“Didn’t fucking think so,” Anjali spat. “I literally had to mention the stripping of your marks for you to respect another person’s basic rights. If you give half the value you place on your precious runes to other people, we wouldn’t be in exile right now.”

The Cohort looked terrified – of Anjali or their future in the Clave, Rafael didn’t know.

“People are dying,” Anjali said, her voice heavy now. “Our people are fucking dying, and you seem to be more bothered with who is sleeping with whom. Shame on you. Shame on all of you!”

She turned to the Council. The Inquisitor looked like he was going to cry from pride. Rafael’s dad looked half terrified but mostly impressed. Lily was blowing kisses at Anjali. The other downworld leaders looked quite pleased.

Shadowhunters are so fucking bigoted and narrow-minded. I'm seething right now.

also, alec looking scared-

“THAT’S THE BEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!” Emma Carstairs yelled.

“Goddamn, I wish Magnus was here to see this,” Uncle Jace grinned. “That was satisfying as hell.”

“No worries, I recorded the whole thing!” Kit put up his hand.

YES YES AND YES

“Fuck the Cohort,” Rafael giggled.

“Actually, I would prefer you use the word screw,” his father pointed out. “Screw the Cohort!”

“Oh my god, Dad!” Rafael rolled his eyes. “I am allowed to swear once in a while.”

“No, you are not,” Dad said firmly – this man was so not ready to meet Max’s new persona. “As your friend pointed out, you are still a child.”

Alec seeing Max curse left and right: 👁️👄👁️

"She hates me!"

“Rafael, she stood up for you in front of the entire Clave. She fought the Cohort. It was incredibly brave. I wish she had spoken to me before without causing all the chaos. So, it was a little stupid of course. But still brave.”

Stupid but brave.

YESYESYESYES IT'S HAPPENING!!!

ANJALI WHO HURT YOU

WHO DARED TO

Names. Give me names NOW

Jaime no...please no not Jaime.

please please, please

ok, I searched it up. And he can get treatment. He can live. It doesn't have to be serious. please, Jaime...

“If you ever tell anyone you saw me crying, I will drag you to Idris and drown you in Lake Lyn.”

This is such an Anjali thing to say.

OOO MILLA (Mila?) MESSAGED!!! Is there gonna be some sort of love triangle here??

me who despises love triangles (aside from TID of course): ...

BUT SINCE IT'S YOU I'M SURE IT'LL BE AMAZING. I'm still nervous about this though...

UHCUHDVUKDVHUKVHUVHM I LOVED THIS CHAPTER SO SO SO SO MUCH IT WAS A LITERAL ROLLERCOASTER AND ANJALI QUEEN I LOVE

see ya on Friday!!

OKAY I AM LOVING THIS ENERGY BUT PLEASE FOCUS ON YOUR CLASSES FJKSDFHJKSJFHKD I PROMISE THE STORY IS GOING TO BE HERE WHEN YOU GET BACK LOL.

But I am so glad you like it. Amidst all your screaming and chaos, I always find very perceptive and profound observations. It's fantastic! I love it so much!

Thank you for enjoying LBAF - and good luck with your tests!!!

[pepperf]

for the weird writer's asks: 5, 14, 18, 33, 35, ahhh I want to ask you too many of these, even though I kind of know the answers to some of them! I just like hearing you talk about writing and related topics. :) So answer those, if you like, and then please pick one or two more that YOU would like to answer. <3

lol - I love all these questions but this took me so long! XD

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

I think the only one is that I don’t post WIPs. It’s not so much a superstition as it is self-awareness: I know that historically I am massively less likely to keep going once I’ve started getting comments. And if I do get comments, I create a situation where I’m relying on more of them every time in order to keep my motivation up (and that’s not how a lot of my fandoms work). Plus I like to be able to go back and make small tweaks to the start, once I get to the end, because often it’s not until I finish a story that I know the theme of it.

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I do lend books to people, and mostly I forget where they've gone, aside from one that I tried to get back, but the person insisted that it was in fact theirs and they'd bought it years ago - and I had to let it go because I actually still have a book I borrowed from them but I'm still annoyed about it (but I went and bought myself another copy because it's the kind of out of print short story book that I might want in 20 years and be unable to find) (yeah I'm still annoyed about it but I bought it when it was NEW dammit and I've had it since I was a teenager) (look it's just words it doesn't matter). I used to write or stamp my name into books, but I got bored of that, tbh, and I've tried to learn to let go and be less possessive of material objects, because it doesn't bring me happiness. XD And I do want people to read things I love!

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

Okay, just bc I wanted to talk about it, have this bit from ‘and all my scars remind me (my worst days are behind me)’:

"Are you a cop?"

He stops short, a series of reactions flashing across his expressive face. He was never any good at hiding his emotions. "Are you a cop?" he counters.

"No, but then I never applied to join the police academy."

He hates lying. She can see him struggling to answer, and that's answer enough. "You still live here, don't you?" Ire rises in her. "Is this what you've done with your life, since I left? Absolutely nothing?"

His expression hardens. "Okay, we're done here," he snaps, gesturing to the door. "I'm not accountable to you. Get out!"

"Jesus Christ, Diego!"

He drops his arm and steps towards her, apparently resigning himself to this fight. "Oh, what, like you've gone on to such great heights?" he snarls. "Last I heard, you were working for a debt collection agency! Still breaking people's kneecaps for unpaid medical bills?"

He was always more dangerous when cornered. "Fuck you, I never did that kind of shit," she retorts, stung into anger.

"Extorting old ladies for back rent, then!"

This came from a discussion I had with @wheresmytowel about the idea that Diego and Lila ought to work on themselves alone before they get together, and/or the idea that they’d bring each other down in their current disorganised states. We both felt, I think, that actually there was no reason they couldn’t grow while they were together - and, even more, that they’re actually good for each other in that way, they help each other to improve.

I wanted to show my take on it, with them both stagnating after they’d had a relationship and broken up - how that combination of being alone and brokenhearted, and just the simple fact of not having someone in their life who loves and supports them, means that they both kind of end up in a similar place to where Diego is at the start of s1, pottering along in fairly unhappy existences.

They both believe the best about one another, that’s one of the things I love about them as a couple - they think each other is pretty fucking amazing, even when no one else does. That’s why Lila in particular is bitter, here - she’d thought she was breaking up with Diego for his own good, but he’s not taken that freedom and gone on to achieve his dreams, like she’d expected. And Diego is hurt that she left him, and pissed that she thinks she’s still got the right to judge his life.

I took a while to figure out where Lila would be, in this. I knew that she’d broken up with him just before he entered the academy, so in her head he’s already made detective, etc. I wanted her to have gone from a starting point of being with Diego at 19, learning some stuff about professional fighting, and then being out on her own again. It had to be a bit of a tough-guy career, because she’s competitive, but something a bit on the grey market, because she’s keeping her head down and avoiding the attention of any authorities. I think this one was @wheresmytowel‘s suggestion. :D

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

I do! I am a visual artist as well - drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, video, animation...you name it, I've tried it. And it definitely ties in. I did a Fine Art degree because I wanted to be a writer, and I thought that doing an English degree would tie me up in knots too much. I still don't know if that was the right choice, but it was certainly A choice (honestly, actually, I stand by that reasoning, but I should've gone to a better art college). And it's good to change it up: I find that at times I just need to step away from writing and do visual stuff instead, or crafts, or or baking, or something that is Not Words. But almost always I've tied words into the stuff I do, somehow (one of my favourite artists is Jenny Holzer, who is All About the words). I don't see how you could ever truly separate different arts, even if they seem unrelated, they're all coming from one central point - and that's beautiful, man. And words are my bag, ultimately.

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

Uhhh...oh! I love to write tropes, I refuse to call them clichés, I think these things are well-established for a reason, that people love them and have a connection with them, and they create something really satisfying. They are also a good framework to play with expectations, to subvert them or use them in a different way. That’s what I love - playing with the fact that this is fiction, that there are established expectations, and that those can be used in all sorts of ways.

And one I’d like to answer...

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

I’m actually doing this at the moment. I decided to write an AU in the inexplicably-under-explored world of British local government, and it’s weird how much it feels like I’m speaking my own language. I never feel like I’m writing in another language, almost all the shows I love are American so that’s what I’ve been submerged in for the last, god, 30 years??? But, as you can attest, @bethanyactually, it’s still not actually my native tongue, lol! I still have to ask about some things, and speech patterns don’t necessarily come naturally to me. So writing Lila has been great generally - but even more so when I put her in her/my own country, in a setting that I know. It’s making me want to write more of the kinds of stories I love, but set here.

Okay, I think I’ll stop there! Thank you!!!

[the-firebird69]

They sent it to the secret service report shows that he was grabbing the wheel and telling the secret service to take him to the Capitol they said it's it's a hostile atmosphere you cannot do that in all good conscience and we will be perpetrating a crime and so would you so instead of coalescing the president disobeyed their protocols and procedures what should times he is obliged to do but not at a time like this when an insurrection is going on where he might die and he forced the wheel out of the hands of secret service to continue going towards the White House and endangered his life and the mission which is to protect the president in the United States they could have gotten in an accident and who knows with Trump he could have had a really bad day and our son said they don't hear anything you're sitting here doing the stuff and you just this a****** with a fat ass and he starts yelling for them to do stuff and he's not the little office but he is on the grounds and his monitored and listened to and it's all in tape and it was true they're not listening at all because you have like 10 of those power wagons you had in with Simon and Simon coming down the road and they probably won't make it because they're mechanically not sound honestly God come on give me something I can use so he started laughing and said the competition's mad cuz there's nothing they can see and he told people they said what are we supposed to do take over take over I said we're not in office in office and they started laughing and said oh yeah so and he's in the back of the White House yelling get those tanks going I want them out here now and the phone and he's calling people and his people in the national guard is saying you have to go global and here first and he's telling me to get it out to a certain units and they're saying we can't do that we're pinned down and said pin down by what so that spaceship that you're avoiding outside and send the English and everything so this is maybe he doesn't understand the formula. So he's explaining to come down the road he thinks that he can come down but we cinch it and we force him out and then he says push them out with what and he says his people before us to do it and he's saying the whole thing I know how it turns out and you're on tape and their witnesses and so the witnesses took off and he goes that f****** blue and they're trying to get the tapes and there's a big fight cuz he has it on tape from the ship too and he says you're a f****** stupid mother f***** that's like an hour drive and it's like 5 seconds is it like 10 minutes since he has a lot quicker and he started yelling at him he said you're an idiot the guy's just going to sit there and he thought about it and then he said oh yeah so he's trying it too also they got this idea that he is the one who's in trouble and it was Tommy really a good idea to fight each other and I know his son's not in trouble you got a refuse to take a complaint and he should be fired and people are going to go after them for this stuff to hockey losers used to ruin your whole realm and it works is a joke and he was right this realm is a joke so many people try so hard to have these two bar fans come by and he says it's not ruined and we're fighting those two idiots and others of his and people inspiring them but boy talking about sticking it out but now there's nowhere else to go except where our sun is pretty soon so that's what they'll probably end up doing and they'll have to get him out of here somehow but he's not going to move so they're going to be at a loss and they're going to be up to the bunkers fighting the clones and disappearing

I've actually had it with these two idiots and I'm putting the order out and those notes are going to do them in they know exactly what they mean go there stay there don't come back he wrote a note and put it here all right now. A list of places to go and tore it up cuz I don't have any money those people around here are illegally blacklisting me and I used to work for Raytheon so he goes into the store and they get beat up he's doing now and his cops are saying yeah that's me and they're going to get hit yeah that's right future cop you're crying in the future they're going to pay for it and it's called conspiracy to and a whole bunch of stuff you conspire to is illegal and you can get burned for it here

Thor Freya

Olympus

[lifeofkaze]

When Stars Ignite - Chapter 8

HPHM Rockstar AU

A/N: Welcome back to Part 2 of the HPHM Rockstar AU! New location, new songs, new drama. Buckle up, we're going for a ride!

General Warning: This whole fic has a general warning of being NSFW / 18+. We will give specific warnings for every chapter in itself, but several adult themes will be more or less present in every chapter, may it be explicitly or in mention. These include sexual topics, drug abuse, (ab)use of alcohol, smoking and a whole lot of cursing.

Specific Warning: Language

~~~

Find the masterpost here, the previous chapter here and the next one here. The songs featured before every chapter can be found on this pretty badass playlist here.

~~~

This work is a collaboration with @the-al-chemist

Taglist: @slytherindisaster @night-rhea @carewyncromwell

You keep on saying you'll be mine for a while

You're looking fancy, and I like your style

You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy

You keep on shouting, you keep on shouting

I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day

~ Kiss - Rock And Roll All Nite ~

Despite it being her third tour with Equinox now, Lizzie would probably never stop being amazed at the incredible machinery that stood behind every single one of their shows.

Now, two weeks after they had started out in London, their route had seen them through Bristol and on to Birmingham. All the familiar routines had established themselves again as if they hadn’t spent a whole month apart at all. Like cogs in a well tuned machine, everyone was working together in well established patterns to make each show unforgettable for those who came to see them play.

It didn’t matter whether one was part of the tech crew, the management, security or the band themselves; they were all like a big, chaotic but loveable family. Of course, Lizzie couldn’t deny that this time around there was considerably more tension to be felt backstage than she was used to, but fights were something happening even in the best of families; at least, that’s what she was telling herself.

Their soundcheck being over, Lizzie had just left the stage with Skye, waiting for the others to catch up. Even though the roof of the arena they were playing in tonight was still closed, Lizzie could feel a bead of sweat running down her spine.

It had been uncharacteristically hot for weeks now, very unusual for a British summer. Not that she was complaining, Lizzie typically loved everything about the hot weather; but the dampness that it brought with it made it almost unbearable to move, setting everyone’s nerves on edge. Hopefully it would just rain soon and be done with it; there was nothing better to clear the air than a good summer storm.

At least for them, however, the heat of the sun would soon be replaced by the spotlights burning down on them. Even after so many years of playing on stages of every size and format, Lizzie had trouble fighting the nervous feeling spreading from her stomach through her body. She was always the first one to enter the stage, the beat of her drums building up the mood until one after the other of her friends would enter and add their own instruments to the sound. As soon as she started playing she was in her element, every flare of nerves forgotten; but until then, she was stuck feeling like in free fall.

Lizzie reached into the pocket of her shorts, her fingers finding the familiar shape of the red plectrum she was always carrying with her. It had belonged to Orion before it had found its way into her possession; it was one of the plectrums he had used on the first tour they had ever played. Without thinking about it, she drew it out and let it wander through her fingers, a fun little trick Orion had taught her to help channel her focus when her stage fright was setting in.

“What’s that you got there, little rockstar?”

Charlie had finished his work on Merula’s keyboard and joined them at the stage entrance. Lizzie hadn’t noticed him approaching and jumped when he spoke, dropping the plectrum to the ground. Before she could pick it up again, Skye had gotten hold of it, turning it around between her fingers with a confused look.

“That looks familiar,” she mused, examining the colourful piece of plastic. “Is that one of our old plectrums?”

Lizzie tried snatching it from her hands but Skye quickly moved it out of her reach.

“No, it’s not, it’s just a lucky charm.”

She could tell Skye didn’t buy her explanation. “Why would you have one of these?”

Lizzie scowled at her friend as she tried in vain to reach Skye’s hand. “None of your business, Parkin. Give it back.”

Skye made an indignant sound as Charlie jumped to Lizzie’s aid; playing out his advantage in height, he unceremoniously plucked the plectrum from Skye’s fingers and handed it back to Lizzie with a wink. Giving him a grateful look, she let it disappear in the depths of her pockets.

“You’re a real spoilsport, Weasley,” Skye snorted.

“And you’re a nuisance,” Lizzie said in Charlie’s stead.

Charlie shook his head. “Hearing you two talk, I might just believe the rumours about your relationship.”

“I do have standards, you know,” Lizzie rolled her eyes, chuckling at Skye’s sound of protest.

Lizzie’s attention was drawn away from their bickering when she saw Orion and Everett were still standing on stage, engaged in a heated discussion. She stifled a sigh; Everett was still at odds with Orion’s decision to perform the new songs himself. There wasn’t one day he would spare them his complaints. Although Everett had always been a person with a temper, Lizzie couldn’t remember him ever being angry at one of them for so long.

Orion, however, wasn’t responding to Everett’s aggressive demeanour. Ever the calm and collected person, it took a lot more for him to lose his centre; Lizzie wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him anything but level-headed at all. And sure enough, even when Everett left him standing with a dismissive gesture, he only looked after him with a tired expression.

In contrast, Everett’s face was clearly showing his annoyance. He tried to hide it behind his usual sneer when he saw them looking, but the way his shoulders were tensed was speaking volumes. His posture only changed when he walked past where Artemis was still working on her explosives. She was bent deeply over the igniter she was wiring, so concentrated on her task she didn’t even notice Everett coming up behind her.

“A little lower, sweetheart. If you have to mess with our pyros, you might as well give us a proper show.”

Artemis straightened up with a face like thunder. “Go fuck yourself.”

Everett shrugged. “I don’t need to, I have plenty of people willing to do that for me. I can bump you up the queue if you like?”

Rolling her eyes, Artemis gathered up her things and moved to the other side of the stage, as far away from all of them as possible.

“Why can’t he just shut up for a second,” Charlie growled as they watched Everett strut off with a self-satisfied smirk. “I’m making no progress with her whatsoever. I’m still trying to convince her that we’re not all dickheads. Ev’s attitude is definitely not helping.

“Is it still so bad with her?” Lizzie wanted to know.

“Yeah,” Charlie admitted, “I don’t know how to get through to her. She’s a tough nut, that one.”

“Tell me about it,” Lizzie said. “I’ve never met anyone so determined to not be nice to anyone.”

“Surprised there’s people out there not wanting to be your friend?” Merula scoffed as she joined them.

“Actually, I am,” Lizzie said. “I even managed to convince you to be my friend, after all.”

“If you want to call us friends,” Merula snorted, but Lizzie knew she was teasing her.

She chuckled and turned to Charlie. “Do you have any idea why she’s so frosty?”

Charlie shrugged, looking as clueless as they came. “If only I knew. She’s giving me no chance to find out either, as soon as the work’s done, she’s off.”

“Sounds like she needs to get a few drinks in to loosen up,” Skye said. “Probably much easier to handle her then.”

Charlie looked at her incredulously. “You do realise how creepy that sounds, right?”

“Don’t be stupid, you know what I mean,” Skye rolled her eyes, “but seriously, who says no to a free drink and some good company?”

Charlie watched Artemis work her way through the remaining igniters. He didn’t seem convinced by Skye’s suggestion but shrugged anyway. “Might as well give it a shot at this point, but if she bites me, I’ll hold you accountable.”

***

Just like the weather forecast had promised, the temperatures hadn’t dropped one bit until it was time to enter the stage. And even if a cooling breeze would be blowing outside, it would stand no chance of reaching the fired up masses filling up the arena.

Lizzie wasn’t sure where it was warmer, down between the thousands of people singing along to their music, or up with them on stage where the heat of the spotlights made her wish for a cold shower.

They were already halfway through the setlist and as always, time seemed to be racing by.

Their fans were fantastic tonight as well; the arena was sold out up to the last seat and the crowd was incredibly enthusiastic. They were reacting to every prompt they were given, whether it was a challenge to cheer louder, sing along or clap to the beat. It was shows like these that reminded Lizzie time and time again that she had the best job in the world.

Everett was giving a stellar performance tonight; he had the whole stadium wrapped around his little finger like only he could, and the fans were cheering him on as he stepped back from the microphone to join the sound of his guitar with the rest of them.

Lizzie turned her head to Orion, who was already waiting for her to give him his cue. She counted down the remaining beats in her head before she gave him a nod. When he turned his attention from her and began playing his solo part, Lizzie couldn’t help but grin. The people were screaming themselves into a frenzy as Orion worked his magic on his guitar.

He never planned what he was going to do beforehand, not one solo the same as the day before. His brow was furrowed in concentration and his lips ever so slightly parted as his fingers flew up and down the neck of the guitar. In moments like these, everything else faded into the background for him; there was nothing left but him and his music.

As Lizzie watched his fingers dance with dizzying speed, her flushed skin burned at the memory of what other magic they were able to do. The thought almost made her miss a beat.

Almost.

She caught herself at the last moment before anyone could notice. She was glad everyone else was too busy to see the blush spreading on her face. But even if they had, they would never have suspected that it didn’t come from the incredibly high temperatures, but something else entirely.

The song ended with a bang, Lizzie hitting two cymbals and the bass drum at the same as KC let all the spotlights flare up. Almost blinded by the brightness flooding the stage, Lizzie closed her eyes and dipped her head back, breathing heavily. For a fraction of a second, the fading sound of the music was still hanging in the air, everyone holding their breaths, before it gave way to the cheers erupting from the crowd.

Lizzie smiled to herself, waiting for her racing heart to slow, before setting her mind onto the rhythm of the next song. The crowd was still cheering and she waited a moment longer until everyone was ready and Orion had stepped behind his own microphone. The next song was one of the unpublished ones and even two weeks after striking their deal with the label, Orion hadn’t let Everett sing one single verse of them.

Lizzie took a deep breath and set the rhythm by hitting her drumsticks against each other a few times. Luckily, it was one of the slower songs so they all had the chance to calm down a little. Orion’s melodic voice carried into the vast space of the stadium over the hushed crowd and Lizzie felt a shiver run down her spine; she had loved this song from the first time Orion had let her hear it.

The crowd seemed to share her opinion; many had taken out their phones and lit the screens, waving them through the darkness in what was looking like a sea of stars. It wasn’t quite the same sight as it had been when lighters had still been allowed in the auditoriums, but Lizzie was loving the sight nonetheless.

All of the new songs they had played so far had been very well received. They made sure to switch them every night so no one got too overexposed, but whatever ones Orion chose, they were always met with great enthusiasm.

The only unrecorded song they were playing night after night was, much to everyone’s surprise, not one of Orion’s creations. Even after Orion had given his consent, Everett hadn’t stopped pestering Ethan until he had agreed to give a few of Everett’s songs a shot. Most of them weren’t nearly as well liked as the ones Orion hadn’t even finished yet, but there was one song that had instantly become so popular with their fans that Ethan had decided to make it a permanent addition to the set list for the rest of the tour.

Everett had revelled in his triumph over Orion; at least that’s how he saw it. And Lizzie had to admit that it really was a catchy melody. But much to Everett’s dismay, whenever Orion picked up his guitar and did what he did best, all eyes were on him, and him alone. He was pouring his heart and soul into the music he played, and people could tell. Like the Pied Piper, he commanded everyone’s attention without even trying to.

That was probably what angered Everett most; the fact that Orion wasn’t even trying.

Even now, Everett was scowling darkly at Orion as he was singing the song in Everett’s stead. Lizzie tried to concentrate on keeping a steady beat, but her eyes were drawn back to their frontman’s menacing expression.

She couldn’t help the feeling that a storm was coming.