#i can’t believes I sat through and hour and 40 minute video and now I’m watching another one

[shellyseashell]

I literally can’t take any willow criticism seriously there’s so much sexism it’s almost funny

[kimnjss]

just hanging out | jjk

⤑  series: cherry pickers

⤑ pairing: gamer(fuckboi)!jungkook x video vixen(virgin)!reader

⤑ genre: fluff!... some angst at the end if you squint.

⤑ rating: pg13

⤑ word count: 3.9K // unedited.

⤑ warnings: lmao second hand embarrassment probably.

⤑ A/N: hey :( love you all who have been enjoying this story nd sending your thoughts in - they really make my day. so thank youu! let me know what you think x 

FEBRUARY 22ND, 2020 | 16:49

Casual. You're constantly reminding yourself the entire time you're getting ready. This was supposed to be casual. This was not a date. So there was no reason for you to go through the process of getting ready for a date. You didn't shave, just took a regular shower with the regular soaps. 

Spent very little time in the mirror when getting dressed, there was no need for frilly shirts or form-fitting pants. Instead, you settled for a pair of ripped jeans and a hoodie that Taehyung had lost a little while back. Minimum makeup, hair up, and out of your face.

Needed to cement it in your mind that this was not a date. Steal away any reason for you to act like it was one. No matter how much you knew you'd enjoy the whole shebang, candlelit dinner, romantic walk admiring the night sky, kiss on the doorstep – you had to ignore that.

Bottle it up and stuff it down because there were many things you didn't know about Jungkook and the bits you did know weren't great. His shitty friends being at the top of the list. So, until you were sure he wasn't like the lot of them... not dates were what you'd settle for. Because at the end of the day, you wanted to see him.

It's a thirty-minute drive from your house to Jungkook's and you spend the entire car ride agonizing on how this 'not date' was going to turn out. And then immediately scolding yourself for freaking out over something that shouldn't matter as much as you were making it out to be.

For all you knew, he probably was just waking up... barely remembering that he had plans with you. Most likely hopping in the shower just minutes before you were said to arrive. Mmh, Jungkook in the shower. Droplets of water rolling over his tone skin, following the dips and ridges until...

It's hard to shake the image of Jungkook showering out of your head once you've got it there. Even with his insistent need to wear baggy clothes, it didn't take a detective to see that the kid was ripped. No doubt spent hours in the gym working on his arms, his abs, his thighs...

Nope. Not going there. No reason to go there when you were on your way to hang out, innocently hang out with a guy that you were just barely friends with. That's all it was. Two people getting to know each other after clicking the first time they talked. God, the way you clicked with Jungkook was unbelievable. 

He made you laugh. And it was weird because you don't remember ever feeling this comfortable around someone this quickly. Jungkook was different. At least you hoped he was. Instantly, you're shushing your thoughts. Refusing to mentally put so much pressure on something that more than likely become nothing.

Getting your hopes up too early was the reason why people got hurt in the first place. So this wasn't a date. And you weren't going to expect him to treat it as such. Just hanging out to get to know each other. That was it.

That was it. Your new mantra as you shove your car into park, heading up the walkway to his front door. Knocking while repeating those four words to yourself. Casual. That was it.

You're not even waiting a full minute before the front door is being pulled open, revealing a fresh-looking Jungkook. Dark hair falling in pretty waves, on either side of his pretty face. He seems to be glowing and you feel it throughout your entire body when he smiles.

A baggy pink sweatshirt swallows his figure, paired with equally loose gray sweatpants. His house is spotless when he lets you in, obvious that he spent the duration of the morning cleaning. The smell of Lysol still lingered in the air. Even the white socks on his feet seemed oddly clean.

You can't help but smile at the effort, allowing yourself to believe that all the trouble was for you.

Once he's setting your shoes in his extremely organized coat closet, he's leading you through the house. Smiling big as he gives you a mini-tour of the first floor and you swear you're paying attention. You're trying your best at least, but it's hard to concentrate on anything that wasn't how cute he looked.

“And this is the arcade,” He's showing off both rows of teeth with his broad gesture into the room located at the end of the hall. Obviously proud of this part of the tour.

As he should be. When the kid said arcade, that's exactly what he meant. Old school game machines lined the walls, ones that you'd actually find in an arcade. Some games that you've never heard of before. All with the high score name: 'Koo'. A dramatic two-person car racing game tucked in the corner.

There's a curved 90 inch TV mounted on the wall, in front of it on a stand is every game console ever made. He has his laptop set up in the room, with two monitors and two gaming chairs in front of it. In the middle of the room is the most comfortable L shaped couch.

All you can say is, “Whoa.” And he's laughing at your reaction.

“It's my favorite room in the house. Well... aside from,” His eyes shift up, obviously gesturing to upstairs where his bedroom is.

The insinuation has a blush darkening your cheeks, but you choose to ignore it, stepping further into the room with a tiny gasp. “You have Skee-ball!?” He's right behind you as you rush across to the room to where the game is set up. A manicured nail pressing against the start button, grinning wide up at him as the balls roll down.

Bright red numbers flash on the screen, the high score followed by his name: 310...Koo. A smirk instantly settling onto your features as you reach for one of the bright-colored balls. “I'm gonna beat that,” Lifting a finger to point at the numbers on the screen.

Jungkook is letting a loud laugh leave his lips, a pretty smile settling on his features as the sound dies down. “That took me two weeks... good luck,” Drawing your hand back, you release the ball on the swing. Watching as it travels upward toward the slots, dropping right into the gutter.

It takes four throws before you're getting it right, the ball traveling up the slope and directly into the 40 point slot. You're letting out a loud whoop, arms lifting in slight victory.

Eyes wide, you're turning your head to face him. “You saw that!?” You're shocked that he's already looking at you. With this soft lovey look that you were the one to hang the stars in the sky. And it makes you wish that this was a date because if it were you'd be able to let yourself enjoy the feeling that comes with the way that he's looking at you.

But it's not a date. So you don't. Shove the fuzzy feeling away with a shake of your head, reaching for another ball from the rack and thrusting it forward. 

FEBRUARY 22ND, 2020 | 18:08

Jungkook is scary good at games. Like scary good. If he wasn't matching your score, he was doubling it. Didn't even graze his high score in Skee-ball and every game after that was his domain. And he was having fun beating you, the smile growing on his face each time you were crossing your arms with a pout – claiming the game had to be rigged.

Foosball to Car Racing to Dance Dance Revolution (he had way more rhythm than you'd expect). You've settled down quite a bit since you first showed up at his house, finding it easy to relax around him. He was cute when he got competitive, not like you were much of a competition in these games... but it was nice to see him like this.

The scrunch of his nose as he focused on the screen. The cute dimples that popped out whenever he won. And how he mindlessly sat close to you, engulfing you in his sweet scent. There was just something about being with Jungkook that made you feel at ease, could someone who made you that comfortable really be as bad as his trash friends?

His shoulder brushes against yours as he settles further into the comfort of his couch, his thumbs moving over the controller quickly. Implementing combo after to defeat your character. In the fourth round of Mortal Kombat and you've only one once.

“Hey! You said you'd let me win,” He's laughing, not even letting your character get up before the large K.O. letters appear on the screen and his person is giving their little victory remark. A dramatic huff leaves your lips, the controller being tossed to the side to cross your arms over your chest.

All he wants to do is lean in and kiss that pout off your lips. Has wanted to kiss you since he beat you in table tennis. You're so pretty and he can't hold back from moving closer to you, guiding your movements just so he can have an excuse to touch you. And he doesn't miss the way you blush. The cute giggles that you let out when he flirts with you. Making him want to flirt with you more just so he can hear the sound.

“I tried,” He speaks through a laugh, taking in the skeptical look on your face. “I did! You're just so bad,” His eyes watch your fingers move around the controller, switching the screen to the character choice.

Gasping when his words sink in, landing dainty punches onto his shoulder. “You're mean! Rematch. I'm not bad,” Jungkook's pressing start on the game as soon as you both have picked your characters, leaning back against the couch as he instantly starts trying out combos on you.

Your whines and protests are cute. It's all he can focus on when he's supposed to be paying attention to the game. And the shout of triumph you let out when you're managing to knock his character down squeezes at his heart, he can't help but turn to look at the smile on your face.

“Look at you losing!” He's sure his health bar is at the end by now, but he can't tear his eyes away from you. In awe, because how could someone actually look like that? So effortlessly... beautiful? 

The tip of your tongue poked out the corner of your lips, brows furrowed as you work hard to take him down. So wrapped in the game, you don't even realize that he had stopped playing. It's his luck too, no telling how embarrassed he'd be if he was caught staring. Yet, he can't bring himself to look away.

Not until you're jumping up excited, clapping for yourself and your win. “Did you see that?” Your body is whipping around, forcing a surprised look on his face. Worried that you might've caught the way he had been looking at you. “I just fucking destroyed you! You can't even say that was beginners luck, either.”

You're lifting your hand for a high five, which he's happily giving to you. His smile matching yours as you flop down on the couch beside him, thighs grazing over each other and he feels it in his chest. “Do you want a chance to redeem yourself?”

Not even a minute is spared for him to answer because you're already starting up a new round. He's got his game face on now, shaking himself out of the daze. “Can you believe I just kicked your butt?” There's this taunting look on your face and all he wants to do is lean over and kiss you.

He takes for teasing you instead. Noticing your ridge posture that he had commented on in your picture. “I don't know how,” A large hand reaches over to touch your back, your body automatically leaning into his touch. “Your form is all off, it had to be luck.” Just a bit of pressure is applying to your back and you're slouching forward.

With a laugh, you're rolling your eyes – reaching a hand back to swat his away. “Watch me beat you like this too. I'll even let you pick my character,” You've been using the same girl since you started playing while he's surfed through the entire catalog. He's taking you up on the offer, picking one of the bulkier characters that don't do all the jump moves you seem to love so much.

And you still beat him.

This time distracted by the frustrated rants from you whenever your guy doesn't do what you tell him to. Time runs out and he ends up having less on his health bar and you're taking that as a proper win, lifting your hand for another high five.

Jungkook congratulates you quietly, more so trying to figure out just what was going on inside his chest. He's had girls over before. In much more intimate settings than this... but never has he felt like his heart was about to burst through his chest. This unbearable feeling to be close to you and it's quickly becoming all he can think about.

You're just so pretty. And you look oddly sexy in your sweats. But it's not just that. There's something else that he can't really place that's pulling him to you. Making it hard for him to stop thinking about stupid things like holding your hand or kissing your cheek. Imagining if days like today were the norm and after he'd grow tired of playing games, you'd let him stretch out his head in your lap – playing with his hair.

And it has to be crazy because this was only the first time the two of you were alone. The late-night texts being all he had to back up knowing you, but at the same time, he felt like he knew you. Like he's known you well. He can't describe it either, but he's almost positive that you feel the same.

“Are you hungry? Should we order a pizza?” You've already whipped your phone out, reluctantly putting a bit of space between the two of you as you scroll through your phone. Jungkook is quick to agree, fingers moving over the buttons on the controller to switch the TV.

No idea why he all of a sudden feels so nervous. “Sure,” He's managing to mumble out, but you're not listening. Already putting together a pizza for both of you. “Do you, uhm... do you wanna watch a movie? Something on Netflix?” Your thumb is stilling on the screen at the mention of Netflix.

Yoongi's playful warning ringing loudly in your mind. 'Playing video games was just Netflix and Chill with more steps,'. But there was the chance that he was actually tired of playing games and wanted to watch a movie with you. It didn't have to be that serious, you had been going at it for hours.

“Yeah, go ahead. Pick something.” His body slouches back on the cushions, scanning through the movies halfheartedly before choosing a random one with a really long title. After tapping his fingers against the screen, the neon orange lights in the room are dimming. A comfortable warmth settling around you.

Jungkook watches as you take your time putting the order together. The beginning credits playing on the screen and he's not even paying attention, too busy with his eyes glued to you. “I got meat lovers, you like that, right?” Setting your phone aside, you allow yourself to sink into the comfort of the cushions. 

“Mmh, my favorite.” Not a lie. It really was. And the fact that you had chose it without knowing just added to everything about you that made him want to kiss you. A small smile spreads across your lips as you nod, turning your attention to the screen in front of you.

The two of you sit side by side, watching the characters on the screen, but you're not listening. It's hard to hear over the pounding in your chest. The nervous bounce of his leg as if he was waiting for something. And you have no idea what because the pizza is no where near being on its way.

A pretty girl is in an argument with her male lead, something about debt and you're trying your hardest to follow the storyline. Although, you have no idea what this movie is and why he picked it. 

It's the thick yawn from beside you that catches your attention, Jungkook's arms lifting over his head in a stretch. You don't think much of it, other than the fact that he's being a little dramatic with his stretch. Until the arm closest to you is dropping down, not at his side like it had been before but around your shoulders – gently tugging your body into his side.

“Did you just do the yawn move on me?” You can't help but laugh. Even through the darkness, you can see the pink tint on his cheeks. “Shh, this is my favorite part.” You're actually positive that he's never seen this movie before, but don't put up a fight. Instead, you let yourself lean into his chest.

He's warm. And smells like flowers. His eyes don't move from the screen as he's reaching down, soft hands reaching for the outside of your knee. Slowly, he's lifting your legs onto his lap, only glancing in your direction briefly to gauge your reaction. Leaning back when there's no sign of you wanting to move.

“Your feet are so small,” Toes curling at the random attention, you're leaning over to reach for his face attempting to pull his focus. “Don't make fun of them! What the heck?” He's laughing loudly at you, allowing you to move his head. Shifting his focus from your feet to his face.

Your fingers are cold against his warm skin, but he can't keep himself from leaning into your touch. “They're cute.” Big eyes scan over your face, smiling softly when they're landing on yours. “You're cute.”

Almost instantly, the atmosphere in the room seems to shift. And you're not sure how he did it, but the way he was looking at you, the soft whisper in his voice... you can't but melt in his strong arms. Basically sat in his lap and it's nice. Jungkook takes his time with inching forward, entering your space which has your hand falling from his face.

He's quick to replace your hand with his one your cheek, tilting your head up toward his. You're sure he's going to kiss you. It's obvious with the slight pucker of his lips, the droop of his eyes, he's tapping a rhythmic beat against your knee ten times faster than the rush of your heart. He was going to kiss you.

Jungkook was going to kiss you and it felt like you couldn't breathe. Nerves on a ten because this wasn't even supposed to be a date. And now you were in this situation and you weren't the least bit unhappy about it. You wanted him to kiss you and it's a new feeling that you don't fully understand. It freaks you out.

Just inches from your lips and your face is twisting up, head jerking back before he can reach you. “What are you doing?” Instantly hating yourself for the embarrassed look on his features that slowly morphs into a puppy dog pout.

“I was going to kiss you...” Jungkook mumbles out sheepishly, dropping his arm from your body to push his hair back. Making an effort to put some space between the two of you, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong.

Because in his mind he had done everything right. Had been making you laugh all night, set some type of mood, told you that you were cute. And you seemed to be enjoying yourself... so what was he missing?

“Why would you do that? This isn't a date, Jungkook.” The mantra that you thought you had worked into your head seemed to be slipping. Not sure when you had forgotten what this was supposed to be, but now it was all rushing back to you.

The reasons you had rejected going on an actual date with him in the first place. And the realization of how stupid you were to think that this was a proper substitute for it. No matter what you decided to call it, it didn't erase the fact that this... tonight, with him... felt like a date.

And it wasn't supposed to.

“Do you kiss all the people you just hang out with?” It's wrong to put the blame on him and only him, but you can't help it. You're a mess in your head for a plethora of reasons, because it had been obvious. How he was looking at you, his arm around you, your legs in his lap... everything that you decided to ignore.

But in the same breath, he told you this wasn't a date... so why bother with all sweet shit. Turning movies on for one reason. Maybe you were reading too deep into all of this? Maybe you were overreacting. Jungkook didn't act like his friends when he was with you, maybe he was really different.

“Oh, come on, Yn... are you being serious?” He doesn't look all too embarrassed anymore, just a little bit sad from the rejection. It's fine, though. He'll live. “Dead serious, Jungkook. You got me here saying this wasn't a date. You need to stick to that,” You felt strongly on that part.

You had told him you didn't want to go on a date with him and even though this 'not date' was literally the same thing, he shouldn't act as if you had said yes to a date. Right? He should keep his word, that way things wouldn't get messy. Like right now.

Jungkook seems to put it together in his head, nodding his head in agreement – yet, the pout doesn't leave his lips. “Alright, alright. Fine. My bad,” He's tugging at the rolls of fabric on his sweats, avoiding eye contact with you. Dark hair covering his eyes, all you can really see is the pink of his lower lip.

And you feel bad, even though you know you shouldn't. It's not like you would've hated kissing him. It was just too nerve-racking to think of doing right now. You didn't quite understand it yourself, so there was no way you could go and explain it to him.

Instead, you're extending a finger. Poking the tip of your nail into his knee. “Don't pout. Come on, you'll miss the best part.” Referring to the movie that you're both watching for the first time, but it has a smile pushing onto his lips. His head lifting and gaze shifting onto the TV screen.

“Sorry,” He mumbles out after a moment, but you're not sure if he's apologizing for the almost-kiss or something else. Either way, you're flashing a genuine smile in his direction, lifting a hand to playfully shove at his shoulder. “Don't worry about it. It's fine,”

It really was.

— known for your body and surrounded by rumors about your sex life… rumors that he doesn’t think to doubt. until he’s meeting you… forced to realize there’s much more to you then the thonged shorts and lacy costumes.

⤪ masterlist ⤨

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A/N: timestamps make sense throughout the fic. if u want to be added to the tag list, send me an ask! + if you’ve asked to be on my permanent taglist, you do not need to ask to be added to this one !!

[steves-on-a-plane]

Trending Cap

Words: 843 Pairing: Sam Wilson X Reader Also Staring: Bucky Barnes Summary: When Reader finds out Sam, as the new Captain America, isn't planning on doing anything special to celebrate 4th of July she suggests he recreates a viral TikTok trend. With the help of Reader and Bucky, Sam adds his own twist to the trend to great success.

“So, what are you doing for the fourth, Sam Eagle?” You asked the newly minted Captain America. You tossed yourself onto his couch and made yourself comfortable in his Washington, DC apartment.

“Who the hell is Sam Eagle?” Sam laughed.

“He’s a Muppet.” Bucky supplied as he walked into the kitchen carrying a six pack of beers. “He’s an eagle Muppet who’s whole personality is freedom and loving America. You have wings and you’re Captain America now. Also, your name is Sam. It’s a very funny joke.” He assured.

“Now you expect me to believe you know who the Muppets are?” Sam shook his head as Bucky began packing his beers into the fridge.

“I have a television in my apartment.” Bucky reminded him.

“To answer your question, [Y/N], this is what I’m doing. Sarah’s taking the boys off on a long weekend trip so I invited my two friends over and I’m going to cook some food, we’re going to hang out.” Sam shrugged. “What more could I want?”

“Ok, but I meant more like what are you doing as Captain America?” You clarified. “Like I know Steve used to go way over the top because it was his birthday and all, but are you not even going to post like a Cap meme or TikTok dance or anything?”

“A TikTok dance?” Sam chuckled.

“Why not?” You shrugged. “Maybe not a dance, but there’s this audio that’s been getting pretty popular.”

You reached for your phone which was dangling precariously off the edge of Sam’s coffee table. You opened the TikTok app and searched for the audio you wanted. Once you found it you played it for Bucky and Sam. The Audio started with the Star-Spangled Singer’s singing the verse of The Star Spangled Man with a Plan, the song from Steve’s old USO shows. Once the audio reached the line “We can’t ignore there’s a front and a war we must win” the background music changed to a more modern beat mixed with Sam’s very recent speech “I know there are millions of people who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here, I feel it. The stares, the judgement, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum. No. Blonde hair or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.”

“The trend is sort of a way to celebrate you as the new Cap.” You explained. “What most people do is they’ll do something like wear 1940’s fashion until the part where the music changes and then they switch to modern clothes. There are also some pretty impressive cosplays on here with homemade suits. For those typically its someone who starts out in a replica Steve suit and ends in a replica of yours. Usually they’ll act all hokey and exaggerated during the first bit and switch to a very serious lip-sync when it gets to the Captain Sam part.”

“[Y/N]’s right.” Bucky commented as he scrolled through TikTok on his own phone. “Walker might not be the only one you have to fight for the shield. These are some pretty impressive…what did you call them?”

“Cosplayers.” You supplied.

“Dress up people.” Bucky nodded.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” Sam nodded. “But the two or you have to help me.”

“Perfect! I’ve always wanted to raid your closet!” C’mon Buck, you can be my onset 1940s fashion consultant.” You dragged him towards Sam’s bedroom.

“[Y/N]! Don’t even think about taking one of my flannel shirts!” Sam called after you.

“Two shirts it is then!” You shouted back.

With Bucky’s help you were able to piece together a presentable 1940s stye outfit from Sam’s closet. The outfit consisted of Khaki slacks, a brown belt, brown leather shoes and a brown and beige stripped shirt. The collar wasn’t exactly wide enough for the time, Bucky wanted to point out, but it would do in a pinch. Luckily the wallpaper in the living room of Sam’s apartment looked ancient. It probable hadn’t been updated since the 1920’s let alone the 40s.

So, you positioned Sam in a corner of the room where most of his modern amenities were out of sight and filmed him dancing and mouthed along to the Star Spangled Man song. When the music stopped you stopped filming. Sam changed most of the way into his cap suit. He gave you the signal and you began filming. Sam added on pieces to his outfit, like his wings, and his goggles while repeating his speech. When he reached his final line “I believe we can do better.” He looked directly into the camera. You held his gaze for a second before cutting off the recording.

“People are going to love it, Sam.” You told him confidently.

“We’ll see I guess.” He took his phone from you and added his own caption to the video. “Wanted to get in on the trend. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.” He added in a few hashtags before posting the video.

“Now will the two of you let me enjoy the rest of my day in peace?” Sam asked setting his phone down.

“I don’t know, I kind of want to see you make a Sam Eagle TikTok now that [Y/N] has put that idea in my head.” Bucky announced.

“This is my place.” Sam reminded you both. “I can kick you out any time.”

“I was promised cold beer and free food. I’m not leaving until I get both.” Bucky insisted. “And don’t bother asking if I’d throw hands with Captain America because we both know you wouldn’t be the first or even the second to find out that answer is yes.” Bucky sat down on the couch you’d once occupied. Sam had a witty retort prepped and ready to fire, but his phone began to buzz in his hand.

“Our TikTok’s got a like.” He shared proudly. His phone buzzed again. “Oh another one!”

“There’s a few comments too.” Bucky said. “’Welcome to the App Cap’ and ‘It’s the 40’s fit for me.’ [Y/N], what does fit mean?”

Within minutes Sam’s phone was booming with notifications. They were happening so frequently he had to set the sound to completely silent just so he could hear himself think. There were a few negative comments. Someone had dredged out the classic “Not My Cap” hashtag, but overall the response was positive. After twenty-four hours the video had over 500 thousand likes and ten thousand comments.

“[Y/N], you want a job as my social media/PR?” Sam jokingly texted you the next morning. “But seriously, it was a good idea. Thanks for the assist.”

“Anything for you, Cap.” You replied back. “You can pay me back with dinner next Saturday night. I’m still dreaming of last night’s dinner. Oh also, I stole a flannel from your closet.” You added a winking emoji before sending Sam a photo of you wearing his flannel shirt.

“It’s yours.” He replied. “That shirt’s never looked so good.”

“I can think of one place it might look better. You’re floor.” You sent, trying to sound flirty.

“That’s probably where you found it in the first place.” He messaged back with a series of laugh emojis. “You can return it if you want.”

“You’re so oblivious!” You told him with an eyeroll emoji. “The shirt is mine, and…” But before you could send another reply a new message from Sam came through.

“I’m just joking. Are you free tomorrow for dinner?” He wanted to know.

“We just had dinner together yesterday.” You reminded him.

“Now who’s oblivious? You have to eat every day don’t you? And Bucky wont be at this dinner.” He texted back all in one message.

“Ohhhhhh.” You typed several extra ‘H’s to emphasize your realization. “I’ll see you at 6, your place.”

[anothertimdrakestan]

Stop Talking And Kiss Me  -  Jason Todd x Reader

Words: 1.7

Requested? Yes! From a lovely anon!

“can i request 7 (no i'm not in love with him i like you idiot) and/or 8 (kiss me already) with jason? thank you!!”

LINK TO PROMPTS  -> REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!

I love this request! It’s super open so I hope I captured the energy you wanted to create in the studio today lmao. I went for the “will they won’t they” kinda thing because I like the idea of Jason thinking you like Tim but you really have been going after him for months. Jason is too cute I can’t Hope you enjoy!

“Hi. Yes Timothy the Luthor family comes in a week, no they won’t come earlier. No, I’m not calling anyone ‘again’ Tim shut up you’ll do fine we aren’t postpoining. Ok see you in 40 I’m going to another one of the finance meetings I know damn well you won’t be at” you tapped your earpiece, hanging up with your CEO. As the CFO you attended every meeting the higher-ups had about money, it way your job after all. Somehow being Tim’s right hand man meant making excuses to the board about his whereabouts and often his brother’s actions during meetings that were supposed to be money centric. Rushing to the meeting you felt a couple of the papers you were carrying fly off the top of your stack. Deciding they weren’t worth it you continued on not noticing the tall figure following closely behind you.

“Y/n! Hey! I got these uh - papers for you that you dropped” you skidded to a halt coming face to face with Jason Todd, currently the bane of your existence after his last social media storm where he vividly described a pornographic video he was hoping his following could find for him. The “Toddsters” always pulled through for Jason, to the Wayne Ent. board’s disgust. “Hey Todd, thanks.” you smiled up at him as he loomed over you. You really only knew him and Tim, obviously you were close with Tim but you were older than the teen-genius and so it was nice getting closer with Jason over the months. Months, this was because he used to never come in until a couple months ago when you requested he get brought in because you needed him to try to sell new W.E. tech to the “Toddsters”. After that he’d been coming in more frequently, sometimes he sat in on meetings with you and Tim, he was often bringing you and Tim lunch and the three of you would eat in your office while you prepared Tim for afternoon meetings.

Jason was surprisingly reliable. Occasionally you would ask him to bring you coffee or post a video of him asking his following for something, he always complied even if it took some coaxing from you, making promises to dinners together you assumed would never happen in return for W.E. paid promotions. He had grown on you, his goofy smile, aggressive finger guns, and occasionally dark and brooding persona was fascinating. You were constantly enamored by him, and since he’d been coming around the office way more you were beginning to fall for him. Tim knew since you two saw each other and was always trying to play matchmaker even though you both thought the other didn’t like the other, bringing you guys together was a task too difficult for the world’s second greatest detective so Tim just shipped the two of you quietly now. 

As Jason stacked you up with your papers he saw you could barely carry all of them. “Hey let me take these for you, anything for the princess of Wayne Ent” Jason took then out of your arms as you smirked at his nickname for you. He loved calling you princess, noting that Tim was the jester he never really asserted his own position. After an attempt at stopping the nickname it stuck, and you now answered to it happily, but only from Jason. Tim never tried it and when anyone else questioned it, either you or Jason just explained that it just fit. 

“Sure Jay but the board is gonna drag you into the meeting, it will be nice if you go! I’m sure we all want an explanation for your most recent social media activity” you poked his chest while he replied with a wink as he followed you into the meeting. You sat down as Jason dropped the papers on the meeting table with a thump. “Ah, Mr. Todd. Please we have just a few questions do join us” An older man looked up from his laptop, demanding Jason’s presence. Heaving a sigh he slumped into the chair next to you. 

As the second presenter for the meeting got up to walk you through slides at a turtle's pace you realized there was no sneaking out. Even though you were up to date on the company’s finances the rest of the room wasn’t and it was far too rude to leave. Looking over at Jason he had pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, rested his hand on his chin, and was asleep. You watched him draw in deep breaths and exhale, slightly blowing the corner of his hood with each breath, it was nothing short of adorable, but because this was a meeting you couldn’t snap a picture meaning you had to drink in every moment of cuteness. 

As the third presenter got up you considered faking a heart attack. Jason was awake now meaning you couldn’t steal anymore glances in his direction. Anytime you looked at him he was making a goofy face, winking at you, or trying to touch his tongue to his nose. Constantly concealing giggles, by the end of the third presentation your cheeks hurt from smiling. 

When the fourth presentation began you felt a little piece of paper poke your hand. Looking down you saw Jason trying to pass you a note like a fifth grader. Unwrapping his folding-job the note read: Y/n this is a boring meeting why do u go to these? You smiled, pulling a pencil from your bag you flipped the note over and wrote: because Tim makes me so he doesn’t fall asleep like you did. Jason smirked, tearing off a large piece of paper and writing: If you need to sleep you can rest on my shoulder. You scoffed looking at him as he gave his shoulder a little pat, grinning uncontrollably. You glared at him before deciding to shoot your mini shot: Flirting are we Todd? Your heart skipped a beat when a light blush appeared across his cheeks as he wrote: Not unless you’ll let me steal you from your boy toy Tim. Confused you looked at him replying: More like best friend Tim, I’m not a cougar idiot. 

Jason read the paper, his head snapping to you, blurting out in front of the whole board “wait you don’t like Tim!” You felt your own face redden when all heads turned to you. Quietly you mumbled “no I don’t like him” before grabbing the paper and finishing your thought: i like you idiot. Carefully sliding the paper to Jason, you cleared your throat. “Please continue Mr. Smith about the importance of gauging inflation” Willing yourself not to look at Jason you pretended to listen to the presentation while the rest of the board slowly lost interest in the little interruption. 

Deciding the coast was clear you glanced at Jason who was re-reading your note over and over again. He looked up, making direct eye contact with you, mouthing “I like you too princess” you couldn’t help but grin. His hand slip over, dropping the paper and grabbing your hand, pulling it below the table so as to not cause any drama. 

You gave presenter five no attention, too focussed on the fact that Jason Todd was holding your hand. Presenter five finished with a mini lecture to Jason on the importance of keeping his social media pg, he rolled his eyes but eventually nodded, effectively ending the meeting. You pulled your hand out of Jason’s and began organizing the papers you’d brought in as the rest of the board left the meeting room. As the last person left the room Jason practically ran to the door, shutting it quickly. 

Unable to process your excitement you began rambling “so uh, pretty eventful meeting huh? Did you hear anything the second guy said or -” Jason grabbed your hand, pulling you into his embrace. “Stop talking and kiss me y/n” he mumbled, leaning it. As his lips caught yours you could feel him smiling into the kiss, his hands snaking around your waist and pulling you in closer. Pulling away you couldn’t stop smiling. “I think I’m gonna come to Tim’s work more often” Jason admitted, winking at you. You hummed as you moved the papers into the storage system, moving towards the door to leave. “Hey princess lemme get that!” Jason dashed to the door, opening it for you and grabbing your hand as you walked out the door. 

Walking past your company hand in hand with their CEO’s older brother was a lot. For everyone. You blushed as people stole glances in your direction. Jason led you to your office where Tim sat in your chair, feet propped up on your desk.  “Uh hey Timmy” you sheepishly laughed as Tim took in your situation. “Todd I told you she liked you. Same goes for you Y/N. I just can’t believe I lost the bet with Roy I thought you were gonna be pining for each other for at least another week. Dammit” Tim feigned anger but then admitted how happy he was for the two of you. Sitting down for lunch you were exhausted. Finishing your meal you leaned back in your chair, resting your eyes for a few minutes while Jason stroked the back of your hand with his thumb. 

As you slowly woke up you felt your head propped up against something. You realized it was Jason when he gave you a light shake saying “Y/N while I did say you could rest on my shoulder I didn’t think it would be for half an hour, my shoulder fell asleep!” Your few minutes of rest had turned into thirty, jolting up from your position against Jason you checked your calendar realizing you’d missed a meeting. “Relax princess Tim took the meeting, you really think I’d let you sleep through another business meeting?” you snorted “yes I know you would Todd”

“You really do know me too well princess”

[hopelessromanticvirgo]

Ground Control To Us

Sobbe social media au 3.4

Chapter 3.3

Sander knew it was a wrong thing to do.

He knew he shouldn't have done it but the curiosity got the best of him. The chance of finding the boy he got so attracted to, past few weeks, was so big that he couldn't think about anything else.

And he was ready to do anything, ready to go through in each one of his 457239 dm's on his Instagram.

Even if he got lucky and found him, he still felt like he shouldn't read whatever the boy sent him. The other half of his heart was telling him that the boy who obviously sent him this, knew that it might had gotten read but the other half was making him remember how his mysterious crush told him that he knew after a while that, they would never get opened so he kept texting him.

And it specially made him more guilty and curious when he read the word "diary" in his messages.

What could he mean by that? Sander wanted to know.

Senne was right, he wasn't being rational and all of this mess was insane, just straight up crazy but Sander couldn't help his self, he got sucked into their conversations.

He started this thing to see what others thought about him, and he definitely got his answer but when this person appeared to know a lot about Sander, he was intrigued, wanted to figure out and see more. It became some kind of challenge, how much information would he be able to gather from this fan until it wasn't a competition with his self anymore. Until he wasn't texting him just for a video, but only to read how his day was going, only to listen to his rambling, only to feel normal while he was talking to him.

And he didn't realize when he started to act more personal towards him.

It just kind of happened, at the same time.

It felt like going down the stairs, he was in full control at first but then he didn't look down and slipped, and kept rolling and rolling and rolling until he fell right at the end of the stairs.

Originally, he was already going there but his slip up made him get down more quickly. And the worst thing was that it hurt when he fell.

And he was hurting now too.

By this time, Sander knows all about his symptoms, a horrible illness of his that he can't seem to run away from and he felt it creeping up on his back past few days, and he was waiting for it to finally explode, shatter everything around him into the pieces. And he was sure, if he kept going with his plan, it would completely destroy him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't stop now. It was already hard, with his fame and job and living up to other's expectations of his, and he definitely didn't need another thing to worry about, didn't need a stupid crush on somebody he didn't even know the name of. Senne was right, it was a very bad idea.

It was all he could think about while going though his dms. It's been already two and half hours since he started and he needed to take a break or his eyes would pop out. He would go in a new message, see what it was and log out without accepting it so the person wouldn't see that he saw. It was kind of ironic to think about, how this boy made him finally go though his text messages.

All his fans would be thankful for him. There were a lot of stuff and sweet things people had to say but he paid them no mind because he simply couldn't.

What will he do if he finds him?

He has no idea.

Would he read the messages or just stalk his account?

He also doesn't know.

All he needs right now is to just see his face.

It would be so devastating if his account would be yet another fan page without his pictures in it, or if it will look like a fake account, clear and empty.

God, what if he knows it's Sander and there are no messages and he just wants to mess with him?

There are so many other options that would be more logical than Sander finding the boy he's slowly falling in love with.

He never believed all this stuff, first glance of love, or meeting their "soulmates" through the internet but here he was, desperately searching for him without knowing his name or username, or profile picture, or anything.

What if after he told Sander that, he deleted the messages?

Sander groaned and shut his phone off, pulled his hair with his fingers.

He's trying to find a needle in a haystack and it won't work since it's nearly impossible.

Why is he so stupid, why didn't he ask his name?

Would it have him away?

God, so many things already gave him away. The boy straight up told him that he sounded like Sander just for his little cough, how more deep can he get his self in already?

He just needs to see him.

He made a little deal in his head earlier, if he finds him, that will mean that it's meant to be.

He went to the kitchen and made a coffee to clear his head.

It was his own fault, he should have stopped this when the week one was over. It feels like so much time has already passed since that.

He feels like they have been talking for years now.

Sander can't think about life where he wasn't in it. It feels so normal and usual.

Like it was already like this.

He also feels extremely bad, he lying to him, manipulating him, hiding the truth from him and he dreads the moment, he will have to tell him. And he's scared.

Why did he get his self in this mess? Why does he always get his self in the trouble?

He'd always use cheesy "I don't find trouble, the trouble finds me" line but in the end, it was always him, who couldn't get enough, who had to know a little bit more, who had to dive in deep and even if it never got him to a good place, he kept repeating the same thing all over again and again.

He took his phone again, pushed again the countertop with a cup inhis left hand while scrolling though his letters and after ten or fifteen minutes, he saw what he was looking for.

His eyes went wide and before he got over his shock, his hands went numb. He managed to clutch his phone close to his body but the hand which was holding the cup completely lost any power in itself and horrible piercing voice knocked the air around him.

"Sander?!" He could hear his friend calling him from the other room but was too shocked to even look up from the screen.

After ignoring his name and "what happened? Are you okay?" for a few times, he heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"Dude! I'm talking to you." He finally looked at Senne's confused face and just murmured with a soft, sweet voice, afraid of what he was going to say : "I found him."

"What?"

"Fuck! Senne! I found him."

Sander doesn't know what he must be feeling right now, all he knows is that he's speechlessly happy.

"Found who?"

His furrowed eyebrows only made Sander more aware of what he was actually saying and it made him more excited than ever.

"Him!"

He tries to put his whole force on this one word and when Senne still couldn't understand he added : "the boy!"

He really needs to know his name so he can stop calling him by pronouns.

"A fan?" Senne finally started working with him and Sander could only nod his head aggressively. And when he saw Senne's eyes going wide, it really hit him.

He found him.

That could only mean that it was meant to be.

"How?"

Honestly, Sander doesn't have an answer to that. He's still startled.

He's sure, if his boy would be here right now, he'd say it was the universe operating and Sander would only agree, it was definitely something from the sky and the stars.

Sander shrugged his shoulder, still couldn't perform words from this mouth.

"Wait. How all this happened?" Sander realized that he had to say at least something. He felt his hands shaking.

"It's a long story."

And before Senne had a chance to say something back to him, Sander dared and look at the username.

Sterkerdanijzer

Who is he?

"Wait, I need to sit down." He said and while he tried to go back to the living room, he slipped on the floor which was still indeed very wet with his coffee, but fortunately Senne was close to give him a hand.

"You are alive?" He joked but was really concerned for his friend.

Sander nodded and went back to the couch and after Senne cleaned the coffee from the ground, he went with him and sat down beside his friend still, who was still staring at his screen like it would disappear if he looked away.

"So? Will you tell me how you found him?" Senne tried to knock him out of it.

"I told you it's a long story. He told me something and I searched for it and I found him."

That literally didn't make any sense but since when does anything makes sense with him?

"How can you be sure that it's him?"

That was a pretty good question, he couldn't be sure. He hasn't even read the messages, he just saw some pieces and he just knew.

"I just feel like it must be him."

Some weird emotion inside his body was telling him that.

"Okay? Aren't you going to see what he looks like?"

Senne asked since he saw how Sander was only staring at his request messages.

"I'm nervous."

He finally confessed.

"Of what?"

"I don't know. I didn't want anything more than seeing his face and now I'm not so sure if I should."

"You want to, right?"

Sander looked directly at his face when he heard this question.

"I really want to."

"Then what are you waiting for?" He smiled and pulled one of his eyebrows up, teasingly.

And Sander knew, whatever he would see in there, he wouldn't be alone, his best friend would be there with him.

He doesn't know why he makes this that big of a deal but for him, it is.

"Okay." He whispered and clicked on the profile.

He didn't know what he was expecting, from his profile picture he could see that he was exactly the same age and had the figure, he imagined him to have and for his benefit, Senne wasn't right and he wasn't some creepy 40 years old man.

God, he was perfect.

Sander hasn't seen anybody this beautiful before.

He was already a goner from only texting him and now, looking at him, he freaking lost it.

"Fuck." He whispered.

He opened the second picture which had his face in it and his heart started beating so fast.

The only thing his mind could process was that, he was dead drop gorgeous and he was the one.

"Huh, who would have thought? He's cute."

He heard Senne told him and could only agree.

Who would have thought?

* * *

Sander isn't proud of his self at all. He spent the whole day stalking his account, his friends accounts.

He already knew who was whose crush or who was whose ex. It was crazy how many information one can gather from an Instagram account.

He was living in Antwerp as well, and Sander has never felt this close and this far away from the person at the same time.

The only thing he could think was how they were "equal", now that Sander was scrolling though his posts.

He still had no idea about his name, somehow the boy just didn't want to share it.

What would happen if he clicked "follow back" button? Would he die from the heart attack when he will see his notifications? Or if he liked one of his pictures?

He's not going to take any chances, not yet at least.

And the most interesting thing he found is that his friends had a YouTube channel and he literally ran to their account to check them out.

He didn't know what to think about his friends. He once mentioned that they had no idea about his account and stuff.

Were they close? Were the nice? Supportive? He has so many questions, all of course unanswered. He wishes that he could just ask the boy everything he wanted to know.

He wants to learn about his whole life, what he does, what he likes, who is he when nobody's watching.

Sander saw that he wasn't in a lot of videos but there were a few where he could be seen from the thumbnail.

Senne has been coming in his room constantly to check up on him and each time he was bombed with questions like "it's he the cutest?" And "look at him" and "okay I found when his birthday is" and so much more.

And once he heard his voice, he couldn't stop, so he watched them again until he had each spoken word memorized.

He finally heard his name and realized how much it suited him.

Robbe.

God, what is he suppose to do now?

He isn't ready for what's about to come, he never will be.

He still hasn't read any of his messages but he knows he has to.

It's not right thing to do but he doesn't care, he will do anything to get to know him better, now that he has finally found him.

And it was too late when he realized that it wasn't just a stupid crush and it wasn't just an attraction.

He thought that he was falling in love but now, he was sure, he wasn't just falling, he was already dead drop on the ground, captivated.

Chapter 3.5

[arminty7]

𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘦

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Mermaid!Jungkook x Reader [Part 1]

Trapped in this life of expensive wine and judgemental eyes Y/N met an unusual lady who offered her a job at an aquarium a few towns away. Despite being hesitant and uncertain for the future she decided to take the offer as it was her only way out, not knowing that many dangers might come her way. 

Jungkook swam his way through the small tunnel in wonder. He didn’t realise what he was ‘walking’ into as he took the entire night to explore a tunnel. He thought it might lead to you, how naive. It is only when he heard the piercing sound of drilling from the small tunnel entrance did he know what was happening, he was trapped. With that, his instincts took over.

Chapter: #1 Swimming in Wine

Words: 2719

Warnings: Mild Swearing // Fluff // Eventual Smut? Idk maybe depends // Spelling might be off because I am not from America so the spelling is not Americanised, sorry - I might edit it later so it is. 

Characters Mentioned:

Main: Y/N // Julie (Otherwise known as “Lady”

Background: // Trudy (Aunt) // Victor (Old man) // Mother

Key: Y/M/N = Your Mothers Name // P/N = Place Name

© arminty7 2020 - All rights reserved

This work shall not be copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission. In a case where this might happen, legal action will be taken as it would be a criminal act under the law and breaching these terms. Upon reading my work you are acknowledging that this work is mine and that you know the consequences if this work is copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission.

Authors Note: 

Hi! So this is my first fanfic. Chapter 1 is pretty boring but I promise more will happen in Chapter 2. I just kinda wanted to get some background of the character a bit more before introducing the story. I hope you guys like it. Also, It is my first time really using Tumblr properly so If you have tips on like little things like how to create a masterlist and anything else you think I might need to know please tell me! I’m a baby at this. 

Also this is in first person but the later chapters will be in second person using “You” and “your” instead of “I” 

Sorry for the confusion, I’ll fix it up soon. Trust me the chapters after this are much better

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Have you ever been to one of those fancy dinner parties where everyone appears to be over the age of 40 years old, yet you swore your parents told you that there would be people the same age as you? No? Lucky, because that's the life I live nearly every week and it fucking sucks. 

"Y/N, just this once come for dinner? We need to celebrate Aunt Trudy's promotion! Come on, she would be heartbroken if you didn't come." I remember her pleading eyes as if it's her dinner party we're going too. Even though she was probably there just to get the new latest gossip on, well, whoever she could really. 

"Just this once" I replied with a neutral look on my face. 

Man, curse those three words that came out of my mouth, I was ready to ditch this place as soon as I entered the door. The air smelled of lit candles and expensive wine, truly if I'm being honest, it smelled like rich old people and I did not like it one bit. I sat in the corner of the room holding a full wine glass, trying to avoid anyone and everyone, especially that one old rich business man Victor. It's not like he was doing anything to me but in the first hour being here I'd seen him chat up three ladies and drink enough wine classes to know that he was on the verge of being drunk. 

"Y/N!" My mother grabbed onto my shoulder, pulling me up from the small seat in the corner of the room.

Damnit.

"Yes? Everything okay?" I spoke sweetly, despite me wanting to show her that I had no interest in what she was saying.  

She dragged me out of the dining room and into the lounge. I look over to see my Aunty Trudy and two other ladies who smiled and laughed before looking over to me and my mother. 

"Oh hey... Y/M/N daughter, right?" she paused, looking me up and down at my black pants and hoodie. "What was your name again?" I raised my eyebrows, although I can't blame her for not remembering my name.

I look over at my mother, "she would be heartbroken if you didn't come" I remember the words vividly. 

She doesn't even know me.

"My name is Y/N. Congratulations on your promotion!" I look over to her, smiling. She smiles brightly, her hand on her chest as If I just told her she's the most beautiful woman I've seen. Which by the way, would be the biggest lie as her appearance reminds me that of a dried shrimp. 

"Oh really?! Thank you, you're too kind." I just smile at her, mentally rolling my eyes. Her eyes then lift. "I have an idea... How about I make a toast? This is just such a good memory to not say a few words to, don't you think Y/N?" I looked at her frowning, then quickly changing to a small smile and a nod. If there was anything I've learned over the past years is to not show how you really feel at this type of dinner party, it can cause a lot of trouble.

Ding, ding, ding.

I watch as she taps a small spoon provided by a waiter onto her wine glass. It took a minute before everyone looked over towards her but once they did, she started to speak. By then my mind was wandering aimlessly around the room, eager to distract myself from this tragic dinner party. I come across the television behind me that had the sound all the way down. I become intrigued as it showed blurry clips of what seemed to be something in the distance in the water, resembling a human although it swam away after a quick 2 seconds of filming it. The title on the screen read "MERMAID FOUND! MAN FOUND AND FILMED MERMAID JUST OFF THE COAST OF P/N" I roll my eyes. The media are stupid sometimes. A mermaid? Really? What a load of crap. The video was probably fake. 

I feel a nudge on my arm as I look over to my mother who is clapping happily with the rest of the guests. She looks at me warningly as Trudy comes over and laughs. "Did you like my speech Y/N?" she says holding her now a full glass of wine. Probably a wine too many if I'm being honest.

I look over at her and smile, "It was ah... meaningful. I can see you put a lot of thought in it" I stare at her and cocked my head as I see the waiter coming in the corner of my eyes. I give him my drink as I really didn't feel like drinking tonight, especially here. 

She cocks her head as well as if to challenge me. 

Ah, finally, she realised that I really don't give a shit 

She smiles walking off to another group as this one seemed to be too boring, not that I'm complaining though. One of the ladies who was standing with us looks over at me. "So, Y/N, what are you planning to do in the future?" I'm hesitant to speak but was interrupted by my mother, "Oh my dear Y/N, well at the moment you wanted to do something with marine animals am I correct?" she smiles at me, her arm over my shoulder. I look over at her frowning slightly but smile as I look back at the lady as she actually seemed to be interested, or perhaps she was just really good at faking it.

"Ah yes. I have a job at the moment at the aquarium nearby although it's a very small place, I haven't really got to experience anything grand yet" I take a look at my watch. "Uh actually speaking of work I'm gonna have to go soon, don't want to wake up too tired." That was a lie, I don't have work tomorrow.  

The lady looked at me as if she knew right through my lie. "Oh, that's a pity, I was going to see if you'd be interested in a job offer. Coincidently, I know someone who was looking to hire a young woman like yourself, interested in working in an aquarium with marine animals." She smiles as if she knew how much I wanted this. 

"I'm sorry what? Really?" I say, completely forgetting about how terrible tonight is, maybe it wasn't all for nothing. She smiled, "Yes you heard correctly. My friend is the owner of this brand new huge upcoming aquarium that apparently is opening pretty soon actually. Any interest?" 

I look at her smiling, "Oh wow... yes! Definitely." I felt my hands ball into fists as I was a little child accepting a lollypop for the first time in forever. I suddenly stop, looking down coming to a realisation, "But... there's only one Aquarium in P/N". she sighs, then shrugs before saying. "It's a few towns away from here and near the coast but I assure you, you won't find another job like this one." I squint my eyes at her a little, trying to figure out why she'd want to help me. "I'll have to think about it..." I say quietly. 

She nods, agreeing. "Well don't take too long, it's opening pretty soon. Get your mother to contact me by Friday with a decision" She then smiles, "I'll let you get home now, we wouldn't want you to miss work, now would we?" she winks.

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

I get home, barely making it through the door as I start to go upstairs shoving my jacket and shoes off before I make it to my room. I lay on my bed, somewhat uncomfortable in my jeans and hoodie as I start to think about the job proposal.  

"Did she really mean it?" 

"Was she just messing with me?"

See, in this world of silverware, wine glasses and private affairs, it's extremely hard to know If someone has your best interests or not. My father left when I was 12 and now I'm 18, as soon as he left I told my mother I didn't want her money or her help anymore as I felt it was cheating and it was the reason dad left. I can't possibly think that I should take this job offer right? It goes against everything I have ever believed in, everything he believed in. 

Although... he once said to me, "take every opportunity you can get, you never know what could happen unless you leap forward and see for yourself". 

With that thought in mind, I quickly changed into my bunny pyjamas and jumped onto my bed, ready for sleep to drag me away from my problems. 

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

5 Days Later

The sun rose up shining violently through my window across my bed as I slowly opened my eyes, ready to be blinded. I groaned as I grabbed onto a pillow on my left and shove it onto my face, mentally facepalming for not closing my curtains last night. It was now Friday and I was already thinking about that job offer. I couldn't help it. It has been on my mind for the past few days now and last night I quit my job before officially decided I am going to do it. 

I rolled on my right side and slid out of bed facing the wall, making sure the light didn't blind me. I went over to the window and closed the curtains, the room now becoming dark. I looked over to my bed, it looked inviting enough to go back to sleep for another few hours although I knew I had to get up. I couldn't be bothered to turn the light on, so I dragged myself around towards my closet and grabbed some jeans and a hoodie that was two sizes too big. I sighed and slowly walked outside my room towards the bathroom to get ready. 

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

I walked out of the bathroom, feeling somewhat more refreshed but in desperate need of a coffee. I walked downstairs, hearing my mother in the dining room eating her breakfast. I passed her not saying a word as I went into the kitchen. 

"Ah Miss Y/N, good morning! How are you? Did you sleep well? Want some breakfast?" Marina bombarded me with questions like she always did every morning, but I didn't mind. She's the house cook and a good one, in fact. She greets me with a smile every day and tries to protect me when she sees any of mother’s friends trying to harass me when trying to find out mother’s secrets. It just occurred to me now that I haven't told her I'm leaving yet.

"No, I'm okay Marina. I just wanted to grab a piece of fruit or something." I smile at her, a real smile. She playfully smacks me with her tea-towel that was sitting on her shoulder. 

"Ah no, you’re not! Here have some sweets I made, fresh out of the oven!" She stuffed a doughy substance in my mouth, only for it to be revealed as a doughnut.

I smiled happily eating the doughnut.

To think just last night, I declared that from today that I was going to eat healthier. 

Oh well. 

I sat on the kitchen bench and finished my doughnut, looking at Marina. "So... I know you have always been good to me and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner but-" Marina smiled and cut me off, "you're leaving". 

I stumbled with my words a little, a little shocked. "Y/N, I have known you since you were in diapers, don't act so surprised. Also, I'll be fine here, don't you worry." She gave me a heart-warming smile, but I still was shocked she guessed that I was leaving. She turned around to the fridge and grabbed some banana milk, putting it in my hand.

"I heard your mother talking about the possibility of you leaving Y/N, I may be smart but I'm not that smart." She chuckled and then looked over at one of the cooks. 

"Come on! Hurry up, stop dawdling" she yells and then looks at me. "And you missy, should go and get things sorted. You have your whole life ahead of you." She smacked me with the towel again as I hopped off the counter, my banana milk in hand. 

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

"Mother! What was that lady's phone number? The one who offered me the job?" I leaned on the outside door frame as I looked over at her sunbaking. 

"Oh, I don't know Y/N. Just call her off my phone." she reached her hand over to mine as she didn't move from her spot. I rolled my eyes and took the phone, heading back towards the lounge room. I sat down and took a long breath as I pressed the call button. It rang for a while and for a second, I didn't think she'd answer.

"Hello?" she answered. 

"Uh hi, it's Y/N." My voice sounded smaller than I wanted it to. 

"I know. Did you think about my offer?" 

"Yes, and I thought about it and figured I should give it a try," I said, feeling more confident about my decision. 

"That's good to hear. I talked to the guy who owns the aquarium and he said he'd be happy to take in new workers. Although you need to leave as soon as possible" Her voice sounded somewhat stern.

"Wait, by "as soon as possible" what do you mean?" 

"I'll pick you up tomorrow Y/N"

"Wait! Wait-" Oh great, she hung up. 

I still had way more questions, but I don't think they'd be answered until tomorrow. I sighed and got up putting the phone onto the coffee table and heading for my room. It was 4pm and I really needed to pack. 

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

I had to get up early tomorrow as the lady who I just recently found out her name is actually Julie was coming here really early. I was in my room, sitting on my bed with my huge ass suitcase getting my things ready before I heard a knock on my door. 

"Miss Y/N" I smiled knowingly. "Yes, Marina?" she popped her head in and looked at me. 

"I made some sweets for you, for the drive" she smiled with a couple of containers in her hand. 

"Oh Marina, I'm going to miss your cooking. And you of course." I grabbed the containers and put them next to my suitcase. 

"Y/N" My mother yelled from downstairs, "Your ride is here. Hurry up". I rolled my eyes before looking at Marina. I sighed as I saw her teary eyes, I could tell she was trying to hide it. 

"I'm gonna miss you, you know Y/N" She sniffles and looks over at the containers of food. "Who else is gonna love my cooking more than you?" 

I smile softly before reaching over to hug her, "Don't worry, I'll come back to visit". She sniffles and hugs me back, "Your very much like your father you know?" I stood back a little in confusion. 

"Because I'm leaving?" I ask. She shakes her head, "no, no, no. Not like that. He was always travelling and going places, always wanted to see if there was another better place... He believed in some absurd things at times, but he was always on the move. Ready for the next adventure..." she tucked your hair behind your ear. 

"Y/N!!" Your mother yelled again before Marina smacked you playfully with her tea-towel, "come on girl! Get a move on." I laughed and hugged her again before grabbing my awfully big suitcase and going downstairs. I looked over at my mother, "Don't go falling for some boy while you’re gone Y/N" I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. I guess that's her way of saying 'Be safe". 

"I won't," I told her as I walked out of the house heading toward the car. The house that will no longer feel familiar to me in a couple of months. Not that I had a profound connection with it, but it was my only home. Despite this, I felt ready. Ready to explore the rest of this vast ocean and see what mysteries will lie ahead once I leap forward.

Authors Note: 

I know it’s short. I’ll update soon! Hope you liked it. You’ll see more of JK next. 

[storiesforallfandoms]

loving father ~ daniel webber

word count: 1529

request?: yes!

@kellysimagines​ “Well i was womdering id you could make one with daniel where him and the reader are expecting a baby and the reader is a vlogger and when its happening like contractions she is making it a birth vlog and shows how much daniel.helps her calm down when contractions happen and its a home birth and later when the baby is born (you can decide the gender) we vlog it alot like bathing the baby and showering with tue baby and bringung the baby to the escape from.pretoria set and stuff? :)”

description: in which his wife is a vlogger and her favourite thing to film is how amazing of a father he is

pairing: daniel webber x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

“It is December 23rd, 2018, at 1am and - ” I stopped talking suddenly as I felt another contraction. I squeezed my camera so hard I was sure I was going to break it. When the pain passed, I sighed. “Yeah, as you may have noticed, I’m having contractions, which mean I am in labour! About 40 minutes ago, my water broke, because of course little Hailey wants to come the day before Christmas.”

“She already knows she’s our best gift,” Daniel commented. “The doctor should be here soon, let’s get you in the bath tub.”

I shut off my camera and winced as another contraction came. Daniel took my hand and let me squeeze his as I rode out the contraction. I sighed in relief when it passed.

“They’re getting closer together,” I noted. “And a bit longer.”

“The doctor will be here soon, let’s get you in the tub.”

Daniel helped me shed my clothes and step into the half full bath tub. I rested my back against the back of the tub, wincing as I felt yet another contraction coming. Daniel sat on the edge of the tub, rubbing my neck and shoulders.

“I’m never having a baby again,” I sighed. “It was fun at first, and I’ll be more than happy when the baby comes, but months 7 through 9 sucked, and labour extra sucks.”

Daniel chuckled, running his hands through my hair. “I’ll remember that and try not to get you pregnant ever again.”

I rested my head against his leg and braced myself for the contraction. Daniel stayed by my side the whole time, leaving only for a few seconds to let the doctor in. When the time finally came, Daniel knelt down next to the tub and held my hand as I began to push.

Within a few hours, he was cradling our baby girl in his arms. After regaining myself from the birthing process, I grabbed my video camera and began to vlog.

“It took 12 hours, but there she is,” I said. “Hailey Elizabeth Webber, born December 23rd, 2018, at 1pm.”

“She’s so tiny,” Daniel said as he lovingly gazed at our beautiful daughter. “I can’t believe we made this.”

I giggled as I turned the camera to face him. “He hasn’t let go of her since we dried her off. I have a feeling he’ll never let her go until she’s 18.”

“I’ll certainly tried.”

I turned the camera back to myself. “Daniel was such a rock through the whole night. He massaged my neck and shoulders, played with my hair, tried to keep my mind off of the pain. Throughout the whole pregnancy, in fact, he’s been fantastic. And I have no doubt in my mind he’s going to be a loving, devoted father.”

“Let’s get you out of the tub and to somewhere more comfortable.”

He placed Hailey into her bassinet beside our bed before returning to help me out of the tub. He carried me to our room and helped me dry off and change into pajamas, then helped me to lie back on the bed. I was glad to feel the soft bed beneath me instead of the hard bath tub.

Daniel climbed into bed next to me and I rolled over to cuddle close to him. We both looked over at Hailey, who was peacefully sleeping.

“we made that,” he said, softly.

“We did,” I chuckled, sheepishly. “She’s so beautiful.”

“Just like her mom.” He kissed my forehead. “Go to sleep, babe, you’ve had a hard 12 hours.”

I relaxed into his arms and slowly drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~

3 Months Later

I looked at Hailey through the rearview mirror. “Are you ready to go see daddy, princess?”

She cooed in response, making me smile. I turned to the camera set up on my dash. “Daniel recently started filming a new movie called Escape from Pretoria. He wanted to push it off for longer so he could spend more time with Hailey and I, but the director didn’t want to push it for much longer since it’s supposed to be released in 2020. He’s bummed to have to work and be away from Hailey, so I’m going to surprise him.”

I decided to vlog the drive, although it was long and not too eventful, but I was sure I could make some form of content from it. When I pulled onto the lot where the movie was being filmed, I spotted Daniel’s car almost immediately and couldn’t help but smile.

I pulled into the spot next to his car and shut the car off. I peered into the mirror again, to see that Hailey had fallen asleep. I wasn't shocked, the car always managed to lull her to sleep. I got her out of the car first, careful not to wake her, before grabbing my camera and locking the car.

The security asked for my ID, and when they realized I was Daniel’s wife, they allowed me to go in. I had been to many sets and filming locations for Daniel’s movies, but it never ceased to take my breath away when I visited a new location. I didn’t know much about the movie that Daniel was filming, as he was very rarely allowed to tell even me about them, but looking at the set gave me a slight gist of it.

“I can’t show too much of the set,” I told my camera, which was facing me and away from anything that could spoil the movie, “for spoiler sake, but I will film Daniel’s reaction. I’m not sure where he is, though.”

As if on cue, Daniel came from a room labeled “hair and makeup”. He was dressed in his costume and had makeup done up that made him look dirty and bloody. I hoped that Hailey wouldn’t get too frightened when she woke up and saw him.

I turned the camera around to catch his reaction, striding right up to him and asking, “Excuse me, sir, do you know where I can find Daniel Webber?”

His eyes widened in shock as he quickly wrapped his arms around me. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise you,” I told him as I switched my camera off. “And I wanted to show Hailey what her daddy does for a living. But, of course, she fell asleep on the way over.”

“Of course,” Daniel said as he knelt down to look into Hailey’s carrier. “She just got so excited to see daddy that she passed out.”

The fact that there was a baby on set quickly got around and soon enough, the other cast and crew were crowding around Hailey’s carrier to see her. Daniel carefully took her out, making sure not to wake her, so everyone could see her better, and, of course, so he could hold her.

“I might not be able to film today,” he said. “I might just hold her all day. We can work a baby into the script, right?”

“For her, I’d certainly try,” the director said in a slight baby voice. “She’s so precious! I understand wanting to spend as much time with her as possible.”

“Daniel’s been the best father ever to Hailey,” I said, putting a hand on Daniel’s back as I spoke. “When she was first born, he insisted on doing everything until I could walk without being in pain again; he cleaned, he changed her, and me sometimes, he helped me get to and from the bathroom, he’d bring me food in bed. He wouldn’t even let me sit up to get her from her bassinet when it was time to feed her! Now, he gets up all hours of the night when she cries so I can sleep.”

“I never understood the idea that the woman should get up whenever the baby cries in the night,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Unless the baby is breastfeeding, which Hailey isn’t, there’s no reason that the father can’t pull his weight and help out. It’s not fair if the mother is the only one parenting 24/7.”

“You found yourself a good one,” one of the female crew members whispered, causing me to laugh.

“Don’t I know it.”

In that moment, Hailey opened her eyes and looked up at her father. I braced myself for her to start crying, both due to his appearance and to how many people were around, but instead she began to smile and giggle. A chorus of “awe”s rang out as Daniel kissed her little head.

“We can start filming in 10, you spend some time with your wife and daughter,” the director told him as everyone finally managed to pull themselves away from us.

I smiled at Daniel and kissed him. He wrapped an arm around me and held me close to him as we both looked down at our cooing baby girl.

“God, I’ll never grow tired of looking at her cute little face,” he said, tapping Hailey’s nose and causing her to smile. “I’m so happy I have her, and you.”

“I’m happy we have you, too,” I told him as I kissed his cheek.

[tonydadisbestdad]

It’s Positive

Peter ParkerxReader

Dad!Tony

Word Count: 1,987

Summary: Pregnant by accident and dad tony finds out

A/N: this is stupid but I wanted to write something dumb so here it is. Sorry if formating it weird. I’m posting from my iPad bc I can’t be bothered to use my computer rn but it would have made it worth it if I had bc I can’t make this look how I want to on “mobile”. Whatever. Also sorry I haven’t written in ages, as some of you know, I work more than 40 hours a week and don’t normally get home until after 8 pm and am tired as hell. But since I’m fiinally quarentining (is that even how you spell that is it even a word?) myself I decided to try some writing instead of watching hours of tik tok videos. Enjoy! Sorry for my rant.

Perspiration collected on your forehead as you rode the elevator. Pain twinges in your abdomen as the pressure begins to become too much.

You had to pee. Of course you had to pee. You drank half a gallon of water when the thought occurred to you.

You ran through the penthouse, clutching your purse protecting the contents from jumping out, praying your bladder would not release it’s contents before you were seated on that throne.

Nervousness overtook you as you shut and locked your bathroom door behind you. You riffled through your bag for the thing you'd just returned from buying.

With shaking hands you unpackaged it.

After waiting the designated time, plus 10 minutes out of fear, you finally worked up the courage to look at it.

Your heart sank seeing the positive symbol. Your 19 years of life suddenly feeling like it all just ended.

You couldn't believe how absolutely stupid you were.

Grabbing your phone from your bag, you sent a text. Knowing you wouldn't be able to have the conversation in person.

“Pete, I got a meeting to get to. Do you got the rest?” Tony asked. They were in the lab, working on another new device.

“Yeah Mr. Stark, I should have it done by the time you get back.” Peter answered.

Tony left with a quick see ya later and was gone. Peter on the other hand returned to working.

Until his phone went off. He saw it was from you and opened it. His stomach dropped. There was no way. You were joking with him. You had to be.

All the message was, was a picture of a pregnancy test box and 2 words. “It’s positive.”

He thought about that one night a few weeks ago that you spent together. It was an event night, both of you required to be there per Pepper.

You might not be of age but that didn’t stop you from drinking and Peter liked to take his off nights to enjoy himself some so he was drinking too and next thing either of you realized your innocent flirting that usually happened turned into high key sexual tension and with nothing to stop it, well you both took advantage of the situation in a deserted bathroom two floors below the event you should have still been at.

And now you were about to pay the ultimate consequence.

Your nerves grew as you waited for a response. You practically shot out of your skin when your bathroom door opened.

“Please tell me this is some fucked up joke,” Peter said, not even caring that he just walked right into your bathroom without even knocking.

“Pete-Peter I-,” you shook your head. “Why would I joke about something like this?!”

“I don’t know!” He wouldn’t meet your eyes as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Retaliation for me fucking you in a bathroom at an event for your dad?”

“That’s all that was to you?” You asked quietly. Things just kept getting better and better. You sat down on the edge of your tub, you wrapped your arms around yourself. You were not going to cry right now.

“I-“ he tried to start but you stopped him.

“It wasn’t conventional or perfect but hell Peter it meat more to me than just a quick fuck.” Before you could even register the tears you were holding back slid down your cheeks. You shifted, your head going to your knees and your hands covering your head. It was getting hard to breathe and his silence was not a reassuring thing.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, sitting down on the floor in front of you. He pet your head.

“What are we going to do?” You sobbed.

“Hey,” he said, tugging you forward so gently, bringing you into his lap. He secured his arms around you. “We’ll figure it out, I promise. We don’t need to have all the answers right now. Okay? Let’s just take this a step at a time.”

“How are you not freaking out,” you asked, pulling back some to look at him.

He finally looked you in the eyes. “I’m terrified,” he admitted. “But I know we can get through this.”

You gave a hesitant nod.

He kissed your forehead and didn’t leave you the rest of the night.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The two of you tiptoed around the topic for 3 weeks before you were finding yourselves cornered by your dad.

“What’s going on with you two? You’ve been acting weird for a couple weeks now.” Tony stated. He’d called a team meeting but as soon as you arrived, Peter was already there, you discovered that no one else on the team was arriving.

Peter looked at you, you both knew he was a terrible liar when under pressure like this.

But you? You were a great liar. You learned from the best after all. You arched a brow at your dad. “What do you mean? How have we been acting weird?”

Your dad hummed. “Let’s see, the two of you get all jumpy when the other shows up. I keep catching the two of you whispering to each other whenever I’ve left you alone for a few minutes. There was the fact that at that banquet I had a few weeks ago the two of you disappeared for a while. Y/N you’re not eating normally, Peter everytime I ask you something you either jump out of a daze or I can’t get your attention at all. I can go on guys, so tell me. What’s going on?”

You leaned back in your chair. “Peter asked me out, we didn’t want to tell you, things are a little weird right now.”

Tony looked at you in surprise.

You prayed that as Peter did the same your dad wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t realize that the look he was giving you wasn’t the “oh my God you had to go along that route to avoid the worse one? You shoulda just told the truth and not lied!” Look.

“Oh,” Tony said, nonchalantly he added, “Here I thought you were pregnant.”

Your eyes went wide, fuck.

“What do you take me for, kid?” He asked. “Did you think the cleaning staff was going to not gossip about having found a pregnancy test in your bathroom trash?! That I wouldn’t find out about it?”

You took a shaky breath.

“I know when you’re lying, you can’t lie to the person that taught you to lie, Y/N. It doesn’t work.”

You had to try, “Well then why is Peter here if that’s what this is about?” Maybe you could get him off the hook.

Your dad’s face went blank. “Now you’re just insulting my intelligence. Of course it’s Peter’s! Kid’s been in love with you since before you two even met!”

Peter’s face went red as he twisted the computer chair he was in away from both of you.

You blushed lightly. “Dad stop!”

Tony sighed, finally he sat down in a chair across from you. “What was your plan?”

You glanced at Peter then down at the table. “I… we-we don’t have-have one.”

Tony reached across the table and took your hand in his. “Okay, that’s fine for now, sunshine. Whatever you decide, I'll support you. There’s options if you don’t want to keep the baby or if you do. I suggest though that you two figure out what this means for the two of you before you make any of those decisions first.”

Tears welled in your eyes.

Peter was looking off to the side but he had returned his chair to facing your dad. “Thanks Mr. Stark,” He added quietly.

Tony smiled at him. “If you hurt my daughter, Parker I will kill you and no one will find the body. Understand?”

Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat he nodded in response.

Tony stood, he leaned across the table and kissed your head. “Sorry I forced this out, but you two were driving me crazy. I’m here when you want to talk more baby girl.”

You nodded and wiped at your face.

Your dad left, leaving you with Peter and impending conversation about the child growing inside you and what your futures held.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

“So,” Peter started after the two of you sat there for 10 minutes in silence after your dad left. “I… I think now would be a good time to have this conversation, Y/N. So, I’m gonna just lay everything I’m feeling about this out.”

You glanced at him, he’d scooched closer to you and faced you.

He took a breath and started. “Your dad wasn’t wrong. I… do love you. I just… this is all messed up, but you know, it’s me why would anything go the way it should go, right?”

You went to speak but he continued.

“I’m not ready to be a dad. But I’m willing to take the responsibility because of my actions if you want to keep this child and want to raise them together. Or if you want to do it on your own. Or if you want to give them up for adoption. Or just want me to-“

You turned your own chair to be facing him and wrapped your arms around his neck.

He relaxed some and hugged you back as best he could with the angle.

“Would it be alright if… if maybe we just start with a date first?” You hesitantly asked.

He let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, yeah please.”

“I don’t want to get rid of them. But with that being said, we have plenty of time to decide on what we want. And I just really want us to give being together a try before we make any life changing decisions.”

Peter nodded then kissed your cheek.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Of course your date went perfectly. As did the one after that, and the one after that and the, you get the point.

Peter went with you to your first doctor’s appointment and made sure he’d be there for all of them after that.

After that first ultrasound, well to say your minds were set on a decision was an understatement. You couldn’t believe you were so hesitant to want them.

Everything after that was a blur. You and Peter got closer, as did your expecting date.

Your dad and Pepper supported both of you the entire way. As well as Aunt May and the entire Avengers team.

You couldn’t have asked for more.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/

“Shh,” You whispered to the little girl. She giggled and held a tiny finger to her lips. The two of you poked your head through the cracked door.

A tuft of wavy brown hair stuck up everywhere from the pillow.

“Go ahead baby,” You whispered.

The little girl pushed the door open and ran for the bed. She jumped up, right on top of the man laying there. “Happy birthday, daddy!” Shouted as she sat on his back and shook his shoulders. “Wake up! Wake up! Mommy and I made you breakfast.”

You got into your side of the bed, set the plate down on your nightstand as Peter pretended to still be asleep.

He let out a loud fake snore.

“Daddy, wake up!”

You chuckled. “I think daddy might need some raspberries with his pancakes, Rory.”

Her eyes lit up. She smashed her face right into her daddy’s neck, making him flinch and laugh.

“Oh my I see how it is my girls wanna play games with me huh,” he scooped his little one up in his arms and raspberries her cheek before she could get away.

Rory squealed and struggled against him.

You laughed at the scene before you. But this caused both to stop, share a mischievous look before they’re both pouncing on you and giving you the raspberries now.

Which led to a full out tickle war, cold pancakes, and warm morning cuddles.

Tags: Wanna be tagged just ask!

@manchurian-barnes, @marrvelle-fics, @chloe-geoghegan1 , @buckysendoftheline ,

@peterparkerscamera , @esistmon , @httpmcrvel , @karlitabi-rrito rrito, @ximaginx

[mylifeasaserver]

My 4th of July Weekend: Master Post

Normally I’d have broken this up into 3 separate posts, but since anything that isn’t a meme gets about 6 notes, I’ll do what I want.

July 3

8AM - My phone rings, it’s the GM calling to ask me to come in ASAP because of callouts. It goes to voicemail because I’m not waking up - much less getting out of bed - this early for what I already know will be a shit show.

10AM - Wake up, notice a voicemail. I don’t listen to it or clear the notification.

11AM - Finish scrolling through the memes and videos my friend sent me, taking care not to clear any notifications. I know what’s up here and I’m not playing.

4PM - Show up at work right at my scheduled time and am asked why I didn’t answer my phone or call back. Well [GM] I’m not paid to be on call so I do what I want. Pretend not to have seen the notification. Get a section.

4:02PM - Somehow have 8 tables in my 5 table section because the server next to me wants cut and is refusing to take his 4 tables. Alert GM to this problem.

4:04PM - Other server is all kinds of pissed off at me, but fuck him in particular. 

5PM - Other server is cut, leaves without doing his side work, section, or rolling silverware. In fact, all of day shift leaves without doing their side work, meaning we have to stock while we work which is a shit sandwich all its own.

5:30PM - Get sat a party of 13. Get assigned a new server to take it with me. He disappears when we’re supposed to greet. Find out later he decided to hide in the bathroom.

5:45PM - Party of 13 has drinks, and the order is in. I’m asked why the other server’s section looks like shit. GM is displeased with my response of “the lazy ass didn’t bother cleaning it. Didn’t do his side work either.”

6:30PM - Kitchen finally gets the food out for the party of 13. New server actively avoids the 13 top, which is just as well since at this point I’m not splitting the tip with him.

7PM - 7 separate checks later, the 13 top is done and leaving. Reap the rewards of about $8 on their $200 bill. They thank me for the excellent service, but don’t see me mouthing “fuck you” under the mask. Immediately upon clearing the tables, get sat a 14 top.

7:05PM - New server comes looking for his share of the tip. I tell him to go away. No work = no tip. He runs to the night manager.

7:10PM - Night manager tells the new server he’s on the 14 top with me and he best actually serve them this time. He doesn’t. He’s still pissed off he didn’t get half of the $8.

8PM - 14 top is finishing eating, new server hasn’t been to the table a single time. He walks past, picks up a plate and makes it a point to tell the night manager he’s helped me.

8:15PM - 14 top is done paying, I reap the rewards of $15 on their $150 bill. Much like the last table the thank me for the excellent service but don’t see me mouthing “fuck you” under the mask. New server sees them hand me money and comes asking about his share. Gets the finger. In retrospect, probably shouldn’t have flipped him off on camera.

10:30PM - Last table finally leaves. New server tries to leave without doing his side work or section. He’s very displeased when he learns that night shift doesn’t do that and vows to only work day shift from now on. We all think that would be best.

11PM - Kitchen and dining rooms are finally clean and I make my escape. For all the bullshit I put up with I get about 8% on sales. The people coming in normally can’t afford to vacation in this tourist trap, but covid has dropped the rates enough for them to slither out from whatever hell that spawned them.

July 4

5PM - Show up to my host shift. This is a favor to the night manager, otherwise I’d never have done it. Seat a total of three tables in the next hour.

6:15PM - All hell breaks loose. We’re 40 people over capacity and telling people to wait outside after putting them on a wait. We have thirty takeouts waiting to come out, and people chewing my ass about having to wait. I tell them to social distance away from the podium unless they want removed from the wait list.

7PM - Wait list is at an hour. One woman in particular is having a hard time with it and looks in the dining room and sees a table with nobody at it, and demands to be sat there. No. Some tables are deliberately left empty due to social distancing. She demands a manager. I tell her no, I am the manager. I’m told what an incompetent moron I am, so I remove her from the wait list and tell her to eat somewhere else. She leaves, and takes her party of 7 with her. Not a tipping table anyway.

8PM - I help servers out by bussing and resetting their tables for them - whether they like it or not. Wait list is still an hour, many people choose not to wait and leave. I wouldn’t wait either. Some tables get tired of waiting for their food to come just leave. Kind of stupid since they waited an hour for a table, but that’s their business.

9PM - The server who yesterday leaves without doing side work or anything else orders me to stop seating him because he wants to leave. He’s told it has to come from a manager. Instead of getting the manager (Captain Hindsight) he chooses to leave his tables dirty so I can’t seat him.

9:10PM - I’ve cleared and reset and sat all 4 tables in his section. We’re still on a wait and until the Captain tells me to stop seating him, I’ll do what I’m supposed to because it pisses him off and that pleases me like you wouldn’t believe.

9:15PM - Captain Hindsight emerges from the office where she’s been hiding all evening to come chew on my ass. The server that wanted to leave whined that I sat him too fast, but neglected to mention about coming to the host stand to demand I stop seating him and not clearing his tables. When she tells me she should have expected me to screw it up I clocked out and left. My end time was in another 45 minutes, but I’m not paid enough for that level of bullshit. I tell the Captain I’m leaving so she can do a better job of it and walk out into the balmy air and go home.

July 5

5PM - I show up for my shift and am promptly pulled into the office with the GM and the Captain to explain why I left. I explain, and tell the GM that I’m not putting up with that shit. He knows. He also knows that I’m too lazy to make shit up and tells me to go get my section. I don’t know what - or if - anything else was discussed. 

5:10PM - Go to the host stand to find out my section and discover I have 5 tables already. Host can’t see me mouthing “fuck you” under my mask.

5:30PM - Got the 5 tables sorted, with drinks, and orders in. Kitchen is running tickets nearly an hour long. I make sure all the tables know this up front. Discover that like always, day shift didn’t bother with side work.

6:30PM - All 5 tables finally have food, one demands a discount for waiting. Since I already know there’s no tip coming, it’s denied. He was told up front that the wait could be up to an hour, chose to stay.

7:30PM - All 5 tables have paid and left. The table that I suspected would leave no tip surprises me by leaving a whole dollar behind. Assholes.

7:45PM - I have five new tables. The last one is a 5 top. One of the women at the table - clearly the leader of this little squad of shitheads - orders a water with lemon for everybody at the table and dismisses me with a wave of her hand. I stay and tell them the featured food and what food is prepared the fastest - and let them know it’s taking about an hour for food to come out. This obviously pisses her off a bit because I didn’t scurry when she wanted. I decide that she’s Sergeant Karen, and the mental image of her being a frumpy fat drill instructor pleases me.

7:55PM - I bring the waters with lemons and begin taking food orders at the 5 top. Everybody at the table orders a drink with their food. Sergeant Karen tells me that if the food isn’t ready in 30 minutes, they’re leaving. I tell her that I can’t force her order ahead of other people, and ask if she’d just like to leave now because it won’t be ready. She says no. 

8PM - Their order is in and I tell Captain Hindsight about her threat. I also tell her that she should expect to be demanded at the table.

8:05PM - Two of my five tables get their food because they ordered the things that I said cook exceptionally fast. Sergeant Karen shows me the timer on her phone already at seven minutes. I tell her that means she only has 53 minutes to go. 

8:30PM - Sergeant Karen demands a manager. She can’t see me mouthing “fuck you” under my mask. I get Captain Hindsight.

8:35PM - Sergeant Karen doesn’t make good on her threat to leave, instead ordering Captain Hindsight to give them a “substantial discount” for their inconvenience. To her credit, the Captain reminds her that I said that it was an hour wait and there would be no discount. 

8:40PM - Sergeant Karen makes a big display of packing up her stuff, but doesn’t actually go anywhere. Two more of my tables get their food, and the two that got their food earlier get their checks and pay. Sarge then demands to know how they got their food so fast and is immediately unhappy when I tell her it’s because they ordered the things that I said cook fastest.

8:55PM - The food arrives for the 5 top, brought out by my coworkers since I had other shit to do (fixing the mistakes of a newer server.) Sergeant Karen again demands a manager.

9PM - Captain Hindsight goes to the table and again a discount is demanded...but ultimately denied.

9:15PM - Sergeant Karen changes a diaper. On the table. While everybody is eating. It smells like a septic tank backed up into a nursing home. She then puts it under the table for reasons unknown.

9:30PM - I get two more tables, and two more get their checks. The kitchen is closer to caught up and it’s only taking about 30 minutes for food to come out.

9:45PM - Sarge hears me tell my new tables to expect about a 30 minute wait for food and again demands the manager. I flatly say “no.”

9:47PM - I drop the check at the table and Sarge complains one final time about how unfairly she was treated. She can’t see me mouthing “fuck you” under my mask, but the realization that I really don’t give a shit hits her and she passes the check to the poor bastard that married her. 

10PM - The restaurant closes, and Sergeant Karen leaves. Before she goes, however, she picks up the filthy folded up diaper and drops it on the host stand. Lovely.

10:30PM - The last of my tables leave, and I discover that I made over 21% on the evening - despite Sarge making sure I got no tip from her group. This would be great but with the kitchen so backlogged I still didn’t make squat. Fuck it. 

11PM - All the shit I needed to do is done. Captain Hindsight asks me what was up with that 5 top, but doesn’t see me mouthing “fuck you” at her. I just shrug my shoulders and go home.

It’s like a barely-readable story that nobody wants to scroll through. -J

[mysteryartisticwriter]

Alright, Spider-man // Peter Parker X Reader

A/N: Hey loves, I know I need to do a part two of “What’s Stopping You?” but I just had this idea and I really wanted to write it! Every time I see an AU where the reader is the daughter of Tony, I always like to think of how they would actually meet if they met in the actual MCU. So, I made this! I hope you guys like it because I still need to do several other stories to do, such as my Wattpad story and that part two. Anyway, enjoy!

TAKES PLACE IN CIVIL WAR

REQUESTS ARE STILL CLOSED BTW (FOR NOW)

Requested: Nope

Warnings: None

Not my gif!! (Please tell me if you, the owner, would like me to take the gif down!)

-

“Why do I have to come, again?”

Your father, Tony Stark, had forced you to come with him to pick up a new recruit. You’ve heard the situation currently happening at the moment, Uncle Cap and your father having a disagreement about the Sokovia Accords and a division between the Avengers.

Soon, Tony was going to Germany with Auntie Nat, Uncle Rodey and two other recruits, one being the one you were going to pick up right now. The two of you were in front of the small apartment door and were about to knock.

“Because the kid is your age, he might feel more comfortable around someone his age. It’ll be quick, I swear.” Your father answered.

You sighed, patting down your black dress suit and blowing a few strands of (h/c) hair, usually braided but now in a bun, from your face. You knew better than to argue with your dad, it never went anywhere since his stubborness was passed down to you.

While wiping a stray hair from your face, you knocked on the door and stood next to your father.

A middle aged, yet young looking woman opened the door. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Tony Stark and this is my daughter (Y/n),” you waved at the woman. “We’re here to speak to Peter Parker.”

The lady’s face turned to shock and she seem flustered for a moment then she regained her stance.

“Oh my- um...come on in!”

She opened the door wider to let you two in and you walked in after your dad. You looked around her apartment and felt a comfort and homey feeling. It was nice and simple, definitely a humble family.

“My name is May Parker, I’m Peter’s aunt. He’ll be home soon, he just finished school. But until then, I made tea and meatloaf! Take a seat and have some!” The woman, May, picked up a tray of cookies from the kitchen top.

You graciously took a piece and smiled at her, giving her a thank you in responce. Your dad took several pieces and sat on her couch, you following him.

May set down the tray on the table in the middle of the living room and sat on the couch next to you.

“I don’t mean to be rude, I mean it’s an honor to have the Tony Stark and his daughter in my home but what do you need to talk with Peter about?” She questioned.

“I assume Peter has told you about the grant, yes?” Tony lied.

“Grant? Um, no, he hasn’t. I-I don’t think so, at least.” May replied.

You and your dad exchanged fake shocked looks.

“Well basically, your nephew applied to the Stark Inc. Internship; a internship where young smart minds, like Peter, get the chance to work around my company part time. He got accepted.” He explained, taking another bite out of his meatloaf piece.

May’s eyes widened at your father’s words and looked over to you, as if not believing him. You nodded and a large smile grew on her face.

“O-oh wow! I can’t believe he hasn’t told me about it!”

Just then, the door of the apartment opened. You could see a young brown haired boy in a thin, navy blue sweater walk through it. He hadn’t said anything so you guessed he just didn’t notice you yet.

“Hey, May.” You assumed was Peter, greeted before dropping his keys on the counter and heading to the kitchen.

“Hey, how was school today?” May asked.

“It was okay, but there’s this crazy car parked outside.” Peter turned towards his Aunt but saw you and your father as well. You and your father pretended to not notice him while he came in.

His face showed silent shock, his mind not believing what he was seeing. From what you saw, you had to admit he was pretty cute and good looking. For a second, you didn’t believe he was your age because he looked to be about maybe 18, but looks can be deceiving.

“Oh, Mr. Parker.”

“Um,” Peter took out his wired headphones. “W-what are you- hey! I’m uh...I’m-I’m Peter.”

“Tony.” Your dad gestured to you.

“I’m (Y/n).” You smiled.

“What-what are you doing here?”

“It’s about time we met. You’ve been getting my emails, right?” Tony winked with his eyes, telling the boy to go along with what he was saying.

“Yeah-yeah...regarding the-”

“You didn’t even tell me about the grant?” May interjected.

“About the grant! Right.”

“The September foundation? Yeah? Remember when you applied?”

“...yeah.” Peter sheepishly replied.

“We’ve approved!” Tony pointed to him and you.

“So now, we’re in business.” You finished for him.

“You didn’t tell me anything. What’s up with that? Are you keeping secrets from me now?” May asked, a little hurt.

“I just- I just know how much you love surprises so I thought I would let you know...anyway, what did I apply for?”

“That’s what we’re here to hash out.” You told him, his eyes looking towards you.

“It is so hard to believe that she is someone’s aunt.” Flirted your dad, you gagged on the inside.

Aunt May just laughed. “Well they do come out in all shapes and sizes, you know?”

“This woman’s meatloaf is exceptional.”

“Lemme just stop you there. Is this grant like got money involved or whatever..?” The brown haired boy wondered. You giggled at his words.

“Yeah, its pretty well funded. Look who you’re talking to.” You stated, smirking a little.

“Can we get five minutes with him?” Asked Tony.

May agreed and the three of you headed towards a more private area, more so, Peter’s bedroom. Once you entered, you closed the door behind you and did a quick scan of his room.

It was filled with many layers of technology around the room and his desk was full of it. His room was smaller than the average bedroom, definitely smaller than yours and one twin sized bed laid in the middle of it against the wall.

Peter walked towards his desk and your dad spat out the meatloaf in his mouth to the trashcan. You almost laughed at his distaste to the woman’s food.

“As meatloaf goes, that wasn’t too bad.” He said then looked around the room.

Your dad looked at the old computer and other devices on Peter’s desk.

“Oh, what do we have here? Retro-tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?” Tony asked Peter.

“The garbage, actually.”

“So you’re a dumpster diver?” You raised an eyebrow at the boy.

“Yeah I was...um anyway, look. I definitely did not apply for your grant-“

“Nah uh! Us first.” You looked over to your dad, he waved his hand and you took out the small device in your pocket.

“Quick question of the rhetorical variety,” as you held up the device, a hologram popped up and a video started to play of a web swinging person stopped a man from breaking into a car. “This is you, right?”

“Um, n-no. What do- what do you mean?”

You smirked before pulling up another video of the hero you knew was him. It was footage of him stopped a car from crashing into a moving bus.

“Look at you go!” Your dad joined in.

“Wow, nice catch. 3,000 pounds and 40 miles an hour? It’s not easy. You’ve got mad skills.” You complimented Peter while putting the tech away.

A small smile grew on his face until his washed away almost immediately.

“That’s all- that’s all on YouTube though, right? I mean that’s where you found that? ‘Cause you know that’s all fake, it’s all done on a computer.” The boy tried to lie but you and your dad were not having it.

“Mhm.” Your dad hummed, looking up in the ceiling and noticing something. You followed your dad’s gaze and grabbed a nearby bat from the floor.

While Peter continued to prattle on, you pushed the top part of the bat into the attic opening and a red and blue suit, attached on a string came flying down.

“No!” Peter managed to grab the suit before you could and hid it in the small part of his room where the rest of his clothes were.

You high fived your dad and he gave you a proud smile. Peter turned away from his hidden suit and awkwardly looked anywhere but you two.

“Ahh...that’s uh...” The hidden hero sighed, knowing he was finally caught.

“So, you’re the ‘Spider-ling’? ‘Crime fighting Spider’? You’re ‘Spider-boy’?” Asked your dad.

Peter hesitated for a moment before answering. “Spider-man.”

“Not in that onesie you’re not.”

“It’s not a onesie.” Peter gave a hard glare at your dad, walking past you both.

You grabbed his suit out of the corner of his room, handing it to your dad.

“You know, I was actually having a really good day today, Mr. Stark. Didn’t miss my train, found this perfectly good DVD player that was just sitting there and algebra test; nailed it.” The boy told you.

“Who else knows? Anybody?” You inquired.

He just shook his head in reply. “Nobody.”

“Not even your unusually attractive Aunt?”

“Dad, no.”

“No! No, no, no! If she knew, she would freak out! And when she freaks out, I freak out.” Peter pointed towards the outside of his room where his Aunt was still sitting.

Your dad then tapped you on the leg with his own and showed you a small container filled with some type of fluid. He passed it to you and you examined it, looking at it with fascination.

“You know what I think is really cool? That webbing.” Tony pointed towards the container in your hands and you tossed it to the web slinger, who caught it right before it hit his face. You looked at him with an impressed expression and smiled at him, earning a shy one back.

“The tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured this?” You brought into the conversation.

“I did.” Answered Peter, throwing the web fluid back into the corner.

“Climbing walls, how do you do that? Adhesive gloves?”

“It’s uh...long story.”

“Lordy! Can you even see in these?” Your dad teased as he brought Peter’s suit goggles up to his own eyes. You laughed as he made weird sounds with them.

“Yes! Yes, I can!” Peter yanked the suit away from your father and tossed it into the clothes pile.

“Yes, I can see in those, okay? It’s just that when whatever happened...happened, its like my senses have been dialed to 11. There’s way too much input so they just kinda help me focus.” Explained Peter.

‘This is going nowhere.’ You thought. Gazing back to Peter and his suit, you walked to Peter’s desk.

“Dad, mind if I talk to Peter alone for a bit?” You insisted.

Tony looked between you and Peter, sighing then got up to leave the room.

“No funny business, Mr. Parker.” He said, using his ‘dad voice’ as you called it then walked out.

It was silent for a few moments until you spoke up.

“You are in dire need of an upgrade.” You snickered, sitting on his bed and looking at him.

The boy just leaned against his wall, shy and awkward. You just figured he’s never been alone with a girl before, nonetheless, in his own bedroom.

“Okay, start talking.” You pat the bed part next to you, offering a seat.

Peter shuffled quietly towards his bed and sat next to you, looking away and slightly blushing.

“Why are you doing this?” Peter just looked to you, confused. “I gotta know, what’s your MO? What gets you out of this twin bed in the morning?”

Fidgeting with his hands, the hero replied, “Because...because I’ve been me my whole life and I’ve had these powers for six months. I read books! I build computers! And yeah, I would love to play football but I couldn’t then so I shouldn’t now.”

“Sure, because you’re different.”

“Exactly. But I can’t tell anybody that so I’m not.”

Peter began to grow shy again so you gently rested a hand on his fidgeting ones in his lap. He looked to you, shocked but no words came out of his mouth. The brown eyed boy sighed and looked to you.

“Look, when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t,” you slightly leaned forward, but not enough to envaid his space. “And then the bad things happen...they happen because of you.”

You knew what he was talking about, your dad always told you about how it was dangerous out there in the field. You were kidnapped with Pepper years back, getting hurt in the process and your dad almost lost it. Tony didn’t want you to get involved with any hero stuff to avoid you getting hurt or killed. Your dad felt guilty, guilty for letting you into this life where someone was always after him. Therefore, after you.

“So you’re just looking out for the little guy? You wanna help out the world, do your part and make your home a better place on that, right?” Quietly, you responded.

“Yeah-yeah, just looking out for the little guy. I mean, it is what it is.” He stuttered.

A couple seconds go by until you stand up, looking around his room one more time.

“You got a passport by any chance?”

“No, I don’t- I don’t even have a driver’s license.”

“You ever been to Germany?” You interrupted him. He shook his head.

“Oh well, then you’ll love it.”

Peter looked at you with a mix of a strange and shocked expression on his face.

“No, no I can’t go to Germany!” Exclaimed Peter.

You chuckled, “Why?”

“I-I...I got homework.” Peter stuttered. You rolled your eyes and stuffed your hands in your dress pants pockets.

“Okay, I’m gonna just pretend you didn’t even say that.”

“I mean, I’m serious! I can’t just drop out of school!”

“Why not? I did. And I’m your age.” You gestured to yourself.

“W-well, why can’t you just go?” Peter tried to argue.

You scoffed, “As if my dad would allow me, his own daughter, to go against Captain America. He barely lets me out of the house.”

The brunette sighed and ran his hands over his hair in distress. You knew you only had one more chance to get Peter to come to Germany, and a bright idea came to your mind.

“Welp, it might be a little dangerous so I think I’ll just tell my dad to tell your Aunt May-“

Right before you could touch the doorknob of his room, Peter sprayed a douse of web fluid onto your hand, sticking it to the knob so you couldn’t turn it.

Smirking, you turned to look at the new recruit, whose arm was pointed outwards and fingers in a position so he could spray the webbing at you.

“Don’t tell Aunt May.” Peter warned.

“Alright, Spider-man.”

-

TAGGED:

A/N: Tell me if you wanna be tagged in my Marvel stories!

@dear-selena​ (i know this is what you requested but i promise you i will make the part two of the last one you liked!)

[saiilorstars]

Dare To Forget Me

Ch. 14: Wonderland Blues

/ Previous Chapters /

Fandom: Law & Order SVU

Pairing:  Rafael Barba x Original female character

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ` 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Montserrat begins to feel the dread of her upcoming birthday. She also loses something of hers...

Montserrat checked her phone one more time as she headed into the D.A's building. She'd gotten a text - several texts and calls - from Casey and Rafael, both leaving urgent voicemails. She had to be at Rafael's office ASAP. She hurried down the hallway and made a swift turn for Rafael's office.

"Hi," she gave a quick greeting to Carmen and pointed towards the shut doors. "Is he in there?"

Carmen didn't get the opportunity to answer because Montserrat had gone right in. She came to a skidded stop midway when she saw her brother sitting at the desk, along with Casey and Rafael.

"Oh n-n-n-n-n-no," Montserrat began to shake her head - and finger for that matter - once she realized what the plan was. "I am not-"

"Montse," Casey rose from her seat, but Montserrat violently pointed at her to stop.

"Don't!"

"Novak-"

Montserrat turned her finger on Rafael. "Especially don't!"

"For once I agree with her!" Gael also stood up, ready to go.

"Yes, I think for once we're on the same page," Montserrat shrugged and turned to leave...only to bump into her father. The ginger stumbled back a couple steps. "...Dad?"

"Hello Montserrat," Thomas Novak looked down at her daughter with a sharpness only a father could have. "Sit down."

Montserrat lost her bravery there and then. I'm almost 30 and he still does this to me! With a frown, she turned and headed for the chair Casey left open. She glared at her ginger cousin. "I can't believe you called our Dad on us." Her eyes then flickered to Rafael standing next to Casey. "And I can't believe you were on board with it."

"On board with it?" he scoffed. "It was my idea."

If Montserrat was irritated before, she was now furious. "What...the hell…?"

"Was exactly what I said," Gael muttered in his chair.

"Can we have a couple minutes alone, please?" Thomas asked the two lawyers in the room.

"Of course, uncle Thomas," Casey nodded her head. She looked over to Rafael and when he nodded, she took the lead out.

Thomas cleared his throat once they were alone. "I cannot believe my grown up son and daughter are fighting like...children."

"Dad-"

"Montserrat Irene, I suggest you not talk until I am finished," Thomas snapped. "It is ridiculous, and frankly embarrassing, that your argument has gotten to the point where your cousin, and your co-worker, felt the need to call me." He brought a hand to his nose, pinching the bridge of it. "What, pray tell, is it that has you two arguing like cats and dogs?"

Gael took the lead in answering, and fast. "Montse, here, said you weren't a good father-"

"-that's not what I said!" Montserrat exclaimed, turning on her chair. "Daddy, that's not what I said!" she almost whined like when they were children and she was accused of being the typical annoying little sister.

"Yes it was!" Gael shouted at her.

"Enough!" Thomas overpowered the two with a mere call.

"Daddy, that's not what I meant when I said that," Montserrat pushed herself up from her chair. "I was doing a case where a mother had to leave her kid alone for a couple days because she had no one to watch her. I was only making a comparison, saying how you used to leave Gael and I alone too. But I would never say that you were a bad father."

"Well, I know that, sweetie," Thomas walked over to her, setting his hands on her shoulders. "Is that really why you're arguing?"

Montserrat shot her brother a glare. "Yes. Gael, over here, doesn't get it. He started bringing in things about Mom and-"

"I said that Regina-" Gael made a point in saying their mother's name as if it belonged to a stranger, unlike his sister who still called her 'mom' despite her abandonment, "-was the bad parent. She was the culprit of our difficulties growing up."

"It's not how you said it," Montserrat snapped, turning to face her brother. "You made it seem like I was ignoring what Mom-"

"-Regina-"

"-who cares!" Montserrat exclaimed. "Point is, you made things a lot bigger than they needed to be. You took my words the worst way possible. You think I forgot what Mom did to us? You think I forgot that Mom abandoned us? That she left us? well I haven't. I know exactly what she did. I may not remember her, but I will always remember what she did to us."

Montserrat's eyes had teared up with memories she couldn't even remember. Regina Novak was a scarce memory of a four year old. She never knew what hurt most: barely remembering their mother, or remembering everything about her and missing her completely.

"Montse…" Gael sighed, bringing a hand to his ruffled dark hair.

"I am sorry about things, about shouting…" Montserrat moved towards her brother with the intention of hugging him if he allowed it. "About everything I'm...I'm sorry."

Gael nodded, acknowledging her words. He took his baby sister into a tight hug. "I'm sorry too, Montse."

"Great, now that it's settled," Thomas clapped his hands together, "If you ever make me do this again I will ground both of you until you're sixty."

"Gael's almost there anyways," Montserrat mumbled and earned a playful shove from Gael.

"I'm 40 and you're 10!"

"Twenty nine," Montserrat smirked.

"Going on 30. Soon, I may add."

Montserrat's smirk faded. A minute later, she turned back to her father. "Dad!"

~ 0 ~

Kara Mackie strode into the precinct's bullpen with a cheery, secretive smile until she came to the first desk with a familiar detective. "Good afternoon, detective."

Sonny smiled almost as brightly as she had coming in. "Afternoon Miss Mackie, Your roommate isn't here right now."

"Good, I was aiming for a moment where she wasn't here," Kara looked around and saw the rest of the squad in the break room. "Montserrat's birthday is coming up next month. It's the big 3-0 and I'm throwing a surprise birthday party for her. Think your team's interested in going?"

Sonny leaned back in his chair with a growing smile. "I think they might be. What's on the menu?"

"Whatever you're cooking," Kara easily answered with. Sonny raised his eyebrows in amusement, nearly laughing at how easily Kara had set everything up.

"I'm just kidding, though. I haven't thought it through exactly but I'm thinking of having the party at a restaurant. That's why I'm starting early on this planning thing."

Before Sonny could say something about that, they started to hear familiar voices carrying into the bullpen until they saw Montserrat coming in - in a quick paced walk - with Rafael tailing her.

"Are you really doing this, Novak?" he followed her directly to her desk.

"You mean, like, never talking to you again? Yeah, I am!" she shook her head and plopped down into her chair. "That's my plan and I'm sticking to it. You can pass the message to Casey."

Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose, so irritated with Montserrat right now he could shake her like a salt shaker. "Montserrat, Casey and I were trying to help. I was trying to help!"

"So you called my dad!? Like I was 10!? You see the problem with that, right?"

Kara exchanged a look with Sonny, both thinking the same thing.

"It's like if I would call your mom and...how old are you again?"

Rafael dropped his hand to his side and took in a deep breath. "Montserrat, I swear to God you're making this-"

"-I'm doing what now?" Montserrat frowned at him, her voice sharpening. "You're going to tell me I'm doing what now?"

Rafael sighed. He knew that challenging voice was just a trap for him. Whatever answer he gave, she would kill him. He sat on the edge of her desk and looked down at her for a good minute in which her glare did not waver. "Can I buy you lunch?"

Though she tried her best, Montserrat couldn't help the brief smile that came to her face. She rolled her eyes and looked away. "You can't just fix things with lunch."

"I can certainly try," Rafael said in amusement. "We can go for dinner later if you prefer."

"Stop," she ordered but she was near smiling again.

"We can try that French place you found last week," he continued on since it was clear he was getting through to her. "Or we can go to the bistro from down the block. Pick one."

Montserrat made a show of rolling her eyes again, as if he were just annoying her again, and practically forced herself to agree as if she wasn't hungry. "Fine," she got up and reached for her bag under her desk. "But I'm getting dessert. Twice."

"Of course you are," Rafael smirked as Montserrat took the lead out. He walked on after her, still carrying that confident air the others knew so well.

"Those two need to get a room already!" Kara nearly burst into laughter once they'd left. She looked at Sonny who couldn't seem more at home, as if he'd seen this before. "They just squabbled like an old married couple and he-" she pointed in Rafael's direction, "-just totally catered to her. Montse you idiot!"

~ 0 ~

"You're not off the hook," Montserrat said to Rafael after leaving their chosen restaurant. "You and Casey are... something else. You just happen to owe me a little less than Casey right now."

"I should be way ahead, I listened to you talk for an hour and a half straight."

Montserrat made a slow turn in front of him, forcing him to stop for a second. "Really? You didn't look that bored."

Rafael leveled her look with his own sarcasm. "Oh, right, because I was so excited to learn your biggest dream as a kid was to be a ballerina. Real original, by the way."

"What - hey!" she frowned. "Most girls at ten wanted to be a princess. I was original." Rafael scoffed and moved past her, leaving her to follow. "And I did practice! I was actually good, thank you very much."

"I'm eager to see the videos," he plainly said, making her roll her eyes. Truth be told, he was glad to have her back to normal. Sure it also meant she was in her prime state to irritate the hell out of him, but it was more fun anyways.

It gave him the chance to come up with new quick-witted responses.

~0~

In the evening when Montserrat was leaving work, she got a call from Kara asking her to stop by the salon first. It gave her the perfect chance to tease Sonny right before leaving.

"Unfortunately, you're not going on a date tonight," she stuck her tongue out at Sonny, very maturely of course, as she grabbed her things to go.

"No worries, I'll see her tomorrow," he suavely responded with, ending Montserrat's smirk.

"I hate that you two are dating," she pretended to shiver. "It's just not right." She took her leave when Sonny began to laugh.

Montserrat arrived to Kara's salon to find the place nearly empty. There were no customers, just two employees of Kara's and Kara herself cleaning the mess of the day.

"Big night?" Montserrat crinkled her nose at the sight of a pile of hair in the middle of the salon.

"Thursdays are like false Fridays," Kara looked up from a desk she was clearing. "A lot of people come in thinking there'll be less people because it's Thursday and not Friday night. Still, we did good...right ladies?"

The two employees with them - one brunette and one black-haired - both nodded their heads. Montserrat didn't know them as personally as Kara did, but she was still good friends with them. The black haired woman was named Madison - sometimes nicknamed Maddie - while the brunette was Caroline, a petite girl.

"I think you all deserve drinks," Montserrat chuckled as she walked further into the salon. She swiped a magazine from a waiting table and skimmed the pages. "Maddie can get one, right?"

The black-haired woman stopped brooming for a moment to snort. "Drinking tonight, detective? Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Hey, I'm just here to pick up my roommate, but she's taking forever," Montserrat gave Kara a smirk. "Bet you don't move like that when Sonny's at the door."

Now Kara smirked back. "Well, when you look like him I'll come running."

"Cute Italian one?" Madison stopped brooming again just to gush. At Montserrat's questioning look, because there was no way Madison could know what Sonny looked like, Madison pointed at Kara. "She had pictures."

"You already have pictures!?" Montserrat groaned at Kara.

"They've gone out for a couple dates, it's natural," Caroline answered on Kara's behalf. "What's the big deal, Montse?"

"She's just mad cos I was able to snatch up a sexy detective and she can't get with her hot ADA," Kara said so easily Montserrat nearly keeled over from shock.

"WHAT!?" the detective practically screamed right there. While Kara laughed at Montserrat's fury, Madison and Caroline were echoes of 'what' in the background.

"Kara, what the hell!?" Montserrat stomped her foot to get Kara's attention since the blonde was still busy laughing. "You need to stop saying things like that or else someone hears and thinks it's true!"

"But...it is," Kara shrugged casually, even looking around as if she were genuinely confused. She walked over to Montserrat, ignoring the detective's protests as she dragged Montserrat to the nearest chair.

"Stop saying that, please," Montserrat's weariness was catching up with her. "We're just friends. You know, like I'm friends with Finn...with Nick...Sonny…?"

"All good looking," Kara assured Madison and Caroline as if the two were hanging on to their every word. "Though, as you know, Sonny's mine."

"I've seen pictures of them," Caroline admitted, a faint blush coming to her pale cheeks. "On the news...when they make reports or catch the criminals. They are good looking. And they seem to be kind."

"They are," Montserrat sighed. She was letting Kara brush her hair, though she had no idea what Kara intended on doing besides that. Sometimes it was just a thing they would do to each other to calm down after something happened. When they were teenagers and had bad break ups or problems, they would find comfort in this. "And they're my friends, okay?"

"Yes, they are," Kara agreed. "But Rafael isn't. Well, technically he is, but...you know what I mean." Montserrat shook her head but Kara forced her to stay still. "Stop denying it, Montse. Besides, what's the big deal anyways? He is attractive."

"Yeah, I know you think that because you were the one who first said it, not me," Montserrat scrunched her face after having her hair pulled by Kara's brush. She thought that was on purpose.

Kara chuckled. "It's like I'm talking to high school Montse. Remember when you liked Hayden from the baseball team? You were head over heels for him and you never admitted it."

"Because I wasn't!"

"She literally loved him," Kara told Madison and Caroline on the side. "He had all the muscles but not a lot of brains. She never confessed so he started dating this stupid cheerleader. And I literally mean stupid cheerleader. She was an airhead...just like Hayden was. One for the other."

"Kara!"

"Anyways," Kara smiled and paused her brushing for a minute, "Rafael's a different story. For one, he's not an idiot like Hayden. Sonny said he studied in Harvard-"

"-please stop," Montserrat closed her eyes and sighed.

"And, as I have said before, he's really attractive," Kara stopped for a moment just to mouth 'really' to the other women then continued on as if Montserrat wasn't shooting daggers at her through the mirror. "You can't deny that, Montse. Don't even try."

Montserrat said nothing but rolled her eyes. She wouldn't deny her face was a little warm, but Kara would never know that.

"The good news is, you're attractive too and he probably knows that," Kara reached for a spray bottle of water and started spraying Montserrat's hair with it.

"Woah, woah, woah what are you doing!?" the detective swatted Kara's hands away.

"I'm cutting your split ends off. You asked me to do that last week," Kara reminded her and so Montserrat calmed down.

"Oh, sorry…" Montserrat got back in her chair and straightened up.

Madison handed Kara a pair of scissors and continued with her clean up duties. Kara started cutting off some of the tips of Montserrat's hair, though apparently the conversation hadn't finished. "I'm just saying, you already do the couple-bickering and the dates."

"It's not - ow!" Montserrat flinched after Kara pulled her hair again.

"Oh no!"

Montserrat froze in her chair the moment Kara had gasped. "What...happened…?"

Kara was covering her mouth with one hand while the other held onto the scissors. Montserrat's eyes landed on the mirror and saw a chunk of her hair missing. There were a lot of things that ran through her head right now, most of those -- if not all -- being how to hurt Kara. She was very proud that she was restraining herself.

"Kara...I know I say this a lot, but this time I really mean it: I'm going to kill you."

~ 0 ~

It was morning when Kara walked into Casey's office. She passed Casey's assistant and found the Homicide ADA working fervently at her desk.

"Good morning," Kara greeted Casey as she closed the office door.

"Kara," Casey made a face of surprise. Kara never came to the DA's office. "What can I do for you? You're not in any kind of trouble are you?"

"No," Kara chuckled and moved towards the desk. "I'm just stopping by and inviting people to a little party I'm throwing for Montse next month. It's early but I want it to be perfect."

"Oh, that's right," Casey passed a hand down her face. It was too early to be on her third coffee and yet here she was. "Thirty years old...poor Montse."

Kara playfully rolled her eyes. "Don't tell her that."

Casey smiled to herself. Everyone knew Montserrat was trying to ignore the fact she was entering her thirties. "I will make my best effort not to. So then, party's at your place?"

"As of right now, I'm thinking about Montserrat's favorite restaurant," Kara shrugged. "You'll be there?"

"Of course!"

"It's a surprise, so don't say anything to Montse."

"Not gonna say a word," Casey promised.

Kara smiled and headed out the office. She'd been making a list of everyone she'd invited and there were only a few people left on the list, including her own brother and Montserrat's brother as well. She'd get an earful from Damian, no doubt. She strode down the hallway with her phone in hand, ready to call her brother when she spotted a familiar ADA. Saves me the search, she thought before picking up her pace.

"Rafael?" her call stopped the ADA from leaving with another co-worker. His confusion was beyond evident, almost amusing but Kara knew from Montse (and Sonny) this was not the man to joke around with. "Morning, did I interrupt?"

"Not really...what are you doing here?" he asked with the same tone Casey had earlier. "Are you in some type of problem?"

"Why does everyone ask me that?" Kara chuckled.

"Because this isn't the type of place you visit just because?"

"Right," Kara nodded and cleared her throat, preferring to get to business. She'd never talked to Rafael on her own, and now she realized that she would never be able to have anything with him. He kind of scared her. "I was inviting people to Montse's surprise party next month and you and Casey are in the same building, so…"

"Montserrat's birthday is coming up?" he asked with the same confusion as before. "She...didn't tell me anything."

"Don't worry!" Kara quickly said before he jumped to conclusions. "She's turning 30 so she probably doesn't want anyone to know."

That caused a smile for Rafael. "Really? She's afraid of 30? Try 36."

"You're 36?" Kara blinked but quickly shook her head to avoid any awkward conversation. "Sorry! Point is, she's 29 going on 30 and she's not very happy about it so don't feel bad about not knowing. I'm sure she's desperately trying to forget herself."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"For women, it kind of is. The party's probably going to be at Montserrat's favorite restaurant and it's a surprise, so...don't say anything."

"Promise I won't," Rafael gave a light nod.

"Great," Kara smiled. She made a move to leave when she remembered something important and whirled around with a loud "Oh!" She walked back to Rafael and said, "By the way, when you see Montse...if she looks...different...don't make comments about it. Please. For my life."

"Comments…?" Rafael raised an eyebrow at her. "As in…?"

"You know, your typical sarcasm Montse talks about," Kara innocently smiled. "Just a warning. She might actually kill you."

Rafael watched her rub the side of her neck as if there were something she was remembering. "O...kay. Sure. I have to go."

"Okay," Kara's smile was rather uncomfortable for his liking so he preferred to leave.

Though now he was curious about Montserrat. Maybe he'd make a stop earlier than planned.

~0 ~

Montserrat hugged her coffee cup like her life depended on it. She emerged from the precinct's elevator and made way for the bullpen. She could already hear Amanda and Nick going at it over something no doubt unimportant. They seemed to bicker a lot, now that Montserrat thought about it. She silently came in and walked straight for her desk. As she began to settle her things on her desk, some of her team members had already noticed her.

"Montse…" Sonny began, even leaning forwards on his desk as if he needed a closer look.

"Don't," she quietly warned. "Kara Mackie is dead to me."

Sonny chuckled and looked at the others. "No wonder she called so scared."

"You look nice," Amanda kindly remarked despite Montserrat picking at her new shortened hair.

Montserrat's long, wavy red hair had been cut to her shoulders now. It retained its waviness with a few more curls than usual. Her straight bangs were no longer in front of her forehead. Each half was now curled to the side.

"Thanks…" Montserrat sighed. "But it was an accident. Kara was cutting the tips and then...her hand slipped. And now here we are."

"You do look great," Amanda reassured her with the same kind smile.

"Is Kara still alive?" Nick couldn't help but ask, sharing a snicker with Fin.

"Barely, but she's there," Montserrat answered with a straight face.

The door to Olivia's office opened up and out came the Sergeant with a grimness no one could match.

"What's going on?" Fin asked once Olivia finally lowered her phone to her side.

"Do you remember Sarah Walsh?"

"Right, the piano student, the one whose rapist got off."

"Yeah. She just texted me. She thinks she was raped. Again."

"Hold on, when did we do this case?" Montserrat asked the others for some help.

"A case from 2 years ago," Fin started getting up.

"We need to go question her, and fast," olivia declared. "This girl has been raped before, gone to trial and lost. We have to be extra cautious."

"Aren't we always?" countered Nick with a thin smile.

Olivia gave a bob of her head before walking off, though as she passed Montserrat she remarked, "Nice hair."

Montserrat scrunched her face but kept her mouth shut.

~ 0 ~

When Olivia and Nick went to talk to Sarah, the rest of the team got ahold of the needed special teams to go through Sarah's apartment once again. She was taken to the hospital for her rape kit and in the meantime, the other detectives did their own paperwork for the case.

"So Michael Wedmore got off scot-free in a trial?" Montserrat reread the report of Sarah's previous trial and came to the awful conclusion. "And now he's raped the same girl?"

Sonny, who was also reading with her, took a look for himself. "Bastard is hitting in his comfort zone."

"But it's stupid," Montserrat moved around their desks so that she could sit at the edge of Sonny's desk. "He would obviously know that he'd be the prime suspect if he attacked Sarah again. This doesn't make a lot of sense."

"None of our cases usually do," Amanda called from her seat. She'd just hung up the phone and was looking rather disillusioned. "Finn and Amaro just finished talking to Wedmore's boss and mother. Apparently, he was on a shift last night but today he's at a church retreat with his fiancee."

"Great," Sonny let the report drop on his desk. "So where does that leave us now?"

"Well," Amanda went through her own papers again. "Hospital did confirm Sarah was assaulted. She had a torn earlobe, bruising, and trauma consistent with dot, dot, dot…" she trailed off and looked up. "She's not crying wolf."

"So, just to recap," Montserrat started back for her own desk. "Neighbors didn't see nor hear anything. There were no signs of forced entry and to top it off, there's no security cameras in the building. Lovely Friday it is."

Sonny's cellphone dinged with a call, and upon seeing Olivia's name on the screen he quickly answered it. It was a quick conversation but full of information. "Rape kit came back," he announced to the two women with him. "Sarah was drugged. G.H.B. in her urine. No semen. No DNA. Liv says we need to talk to Sarah's friends. Maybe they can help put together the timeline that we don't have."

"You two go," Amanda nodded him and Montserrat out. "Finn and Amaro are coming back so maybe we can try to see if we can get any security cameras from the street the bar was at."

The other two detectives nodded and gathered their coats to leave.

~ 0 ~

Talking to Sarah's friends led Montserrat and Sonny to a higher income neighborhood, specifically one nice two story penthouse. A dark haired girl was cleaning the living room when the two detectives arrived, but she was more than willing to help.

"So how do you and Sarah know each other?" asked Sonny.

"Sarah and I met at the music academy, and we used to cater together."

"Nice place you got here," Montserrat had to remark after catching sight of a beautiful chandelier on the ceiling.

The girl chuckled. "I wish! I just house-sit, and I feed George and Martha." She gestured to the two lizards inside their glass tank.

Montserrat struggled not to shiver right there and then. "So...now, you and your fiance... You guys went out with Sarah Friday night?"

"Yeah. She left me a message, but I haven't called her back yet. I'm so busy with the wedding." The girl walked past the detectives to put her cleaning supplies down. She got the vibe, from their sharp looks, that she was missing something. "Um, is she okay?"

Sonny exchanged a glance with Montserrat before answering. "Something may have happened, and now we're hoping that you can help us. Now, did you see Sarah with any guys that night?"

"No, no. It was just the three of us."

Montserrat held out a black tablet she'd been carrying, loaded with men's pictures for her to look through. "Recognize any of these guys from the bar?"

The girl skimmed through them but she shook her head after finishing with the last one. "No. Was she raped again?"

"How late were you out with Sarah?" Montserrat took the tablet instead of answering. Maybe if the friend had called back she would know.

"Um, like, 11:00. We gave her the watch, and then Matthew and I went home."

"The watch?" Sonny repeated in confusion.

"Yes. I thought you knew. It's like an entry pass to an underground party."

"Where was the party?"

"You never know. That's the thing. It's... Last weekend, it was at an abandoned subway station."

"Oh, okay, so it's one of those deals where you meet a guide on the corner, and he…"

Nicole nodded. "You give him a pocket watch that you got from someone who went to last weekend's party."

"And you gave Sarah one?" Sonny inquired. Nicole nodded again. "Do you have another one?"

"Yeah, um... " Nicole went towards a backpack sitting at a dining table. She reached into the front pocket and pulled out a silver pocket watch. She came back and handed it to Sonny.

Sonny saw there was a message inside the pocket-watch and read it out loud. "Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' She asked."

Nicole smiled. "It's an Alice in wonderland theme."

"Kinda got it," Sonny made a face before taking a tighter hold on the watch. "Has Sarah been to any of these parties before?"

"Nicole?" a man's voice called from downstairs. Nicole glanced back to see her fiancee coming up. 'Everything all right?"

"Uh, yeah, Matthew, these are S.V.U. Detectives. Sarah was attacked," she felt guilt to say since they were just now hearing about it.

"Oh, my God. She was just starting to have fun again," Matthew said in horror.

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at the two, her disapproval so evident the younger couple seemed to shrink. "So neither of you guys have checked in with her since that party?"

Nicole awkwardly shifted in her spot. "Is it okay to call her now?"

"Gee, it just might be," Montserrat shook her head and started to head out.

"We're keeping the watch," Sonny informed them before leaving as well.

~ 0 ~

On their way back to the precinct, Montserrat and Sonny let the others know what they'd discovered in hopes that they could get a head start on the research of the underground parties.

"I wonder if the actual culprit is a regular guest at these parties," Sonny wondered while they waited for the precinct elevator to open up.

"Well, if he is then he has a lot of time for it," Montserrat said. "These parties are every week on Sunday and sometimes Saturday by what Amanda texted. This guy has to set apart two whole nights for these things."

"They make time," Sonny said and pressed the elevator button again, impatiently tapping a foot too.

"So maybe we'll have to make time too," Montserrat blinked when an idea popped into her head.

"Detectives," Rafael called as he entered the building, "Tell me you're the ones who have something good for me?"

"What do you mean?" Sonny frowned.

"Liv called, and I've learned to recognize her 'I don't have anything' tone," Rafael shook his head, already weary for this case that started off badly. He suddenly did a double-take at Montserrat and immediately remembered Kara's words from the morning. "Hm."

"Don't say it," Montserrat warned. The elevator doors dinged open and in she stepped first.

"I didn't say anything," Rafael said, but his smile was worth a thousand words.

"No, but you want to," Montserrat's eyes flickered to the side.

Sonny was the last to step in and therefore the one to press for their floor. "I'd be careful, councilor. Kara took a punch in the neck."

Rafael then remembered poor Kara rubbing the side of her neck. "That's violence, Novak. And against someone who just gave you a nice haircut." Montserrat quickly looked at him for his words. Rafael met her glance with a light smile. "You do look nice." He knew his words were out of place, at least in the wrong time due to their work hour but he did mean what he said. Her ginger hair seemed to be even more red, like a blazing orange that was neatly styled into soft curls. It made her smirk more...striking.

When the elevators re-opened, the two detectives and ADA stepped out and headed for the bullpen.

"So, how'd it happen?" Rafael couldn't keep his curiosity at bay. Kara seemed quite scared in the morning meaning she couldn't have planned something like this.

Montserrat sighed. It was getting tiring being mad about it. "I mean...she was just going to cut the tips off and then suddenly her hand slipped or something, I don't know, but the next thing I knew there was a big chunk of my hair missing."

"To be fair, Kara does feel bad about it," Sonny thought it was worth mentioning.

"To be fair-" Montserrat mimicked his tone, "-I'm the one walking around with half my hair missing."

"It's fine Novak," Rafael motioned with a hand not to get worked up about it. "It'll grow back."

But apparently, that wasn't any better. "Says the man with the set of fluffy hair." Her eyes then flickered to Sonny and groaned. "The two of you, actually." She moved past them, missing them both reaching a hand up to their respective hair.

After a few minutes, the entire team gathered in the conference room to review the development of their case. Unfortunately, it wasn't heading in the right direction.

"Okay. So, Sarah was a cooperating witness as long as she thought we were going after Wedmore. Now she's backing off?" Rafael asked just to make sure he was hearing correctly.

Olivia raised her hands for him to stop and not jump to conclusions. "Not on her story. She's realizing that she was assaulted by a different man. We've seen it before. You get victimized a second time. You blame yourself."

"Either way, she still can't I.D. anyone," Amanda reminded them, but she received the same gesture from Olivia.

"Look, we're not gonna drop the case. I mean, whoever slipped g.H.B. in her drink, he's still out there."

"Alright," Rafael said, giving Olivia a sharp look. It's not like he was going to leave things as they were. "Any luck tracking this underground party?"

"We know the corner where she met her guide, but it's Sunday night," Nick answered, seeming a little too casual about it.

Rafael impatiently waited for him to continue, but when Nick didn't he pushed for it himself. "Yeah, so what?"

"The kids that go to these things, they don't have day jobs."

"So we catch them at night," Montserrat said once she followed Nick's game. She shrugged at the others with a secretive smile. "Ourselves."

"You mean like UCs?" Fin raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's easy," she plopped down in a chair, still smiling so casually, "We go as undercovers and just follow them to where the party is tonight. I've gone to one of these things when I was younger. I know how it works."

Olivia made her motherly disapproval face. "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just hear that."

Montserrat smirked like a child would when they knew they were going to get away with something.

Olivia then turned to the rest of the team. "But she's right. We'll need to interview each guest that was in the previous party. Best guess at where they'll be tonight is at this party so let's prepare ourselves."

~0~

SVU had a parked van across the street from where the underground guide was meant to be at. Fin and Amanda were stationed at the head of the controls, ready to listen in, while the remaining detectives were outside getting ready for their roles.

Olivia was leading Rafael down the street, explaining their intentions in detail. Since this was a second time tape for Sarah, Olivia was adamant in getting this right. Rafael could tell.

"Liv, it's just a routine UC job," he stopped the sergeant at the end of the block. "We'll get them."

Olivia tossed her head to the side, weary in the late hour. "We need to get it right this time."

"Liv!" called Sonny. He, Montserrat and Nick were walking up to them, the first two donning unusual clothing for their liking but perfect for their UC roles.

"They're ready," Nick assured the Sergeant and ADA. "Everyone is."

"I'm freezing my ass off, so let's go," Montserrat urged everyone to take their positions. Her short sleeved blouse seemed breezy just by appearances, and even more so when wearing it.

Thankfully, Olivia was on the same page so they split within the second.

Both Montserrat and Sonny arrived at the other end of the street, where the underground party guests were waiting for their guide, in time because the guide approached them not a minute later.

The tall, dark skinned woman eyed every guest before speaking up. She gave a peculiar look in the detectives' away before saying, "Your old man alright climbing stairs?"

Montserrat nearly laughed there and then. Though maintaining his role, it was easy to tell the comment did not sit well with Sonny. And perhaps Montserrat's comment didn't help either. "Yeah, my old man will be just fine."

"Are you serious?" Sonny hissed at her once they began moving. "I'm only a couple years older."

"Settle down, Carisi," Amanda's voice rang through their earpieces. Though a minute later she added, "Though maybe it's time to dye the gray hair away."

Sonny bit his tongue even as he heard some of the others snicker through his ear piece.

The underground party guide led them down several blocks, crossing two intersections before coming up an abandoned building. They made it to the rooftop where the guide stopped them I'm front of another ladder.

"To go down to wonderland, you start by going up," she flashed the group a smile and started up the ladder. "Follow me!"

"Wait, old man," Montserrat grabbed Sonny's arm before they could move. "Let me go in first." Her smirk was truly irritating for Sonny as she followed the guide up the ladder.

Montserrat peered into the second part of the ladder that led down to the underground party. It seemed crammed, honestly, and stuffy. She was definitely not a 20 year old anymore. She crinkled her nose at the foul scent of alcohol inside. It wasn't good alcohol, that much she knew.

"Hey! Call it in," she shouted down to Sonny. "No one's getting out of here!"

Sonny happily flashed his badge at the others.

~0~

There were various detectives questioning the underground party guests, including the guide, but so far it seemed no one remembered Sarah Walsh.

"They're playing stupid," Montserrat stopped by Amanda after interrogating another clueless guest. "They're acting as if they don't remember Sarah but if Sarah was as drunk or drugged as we think she was, someone has to remember her."

"Not everyone here is clueless, Montse," Amanda nodded towards the young man Fin was interrogating across them. "That's Cameron Tyler. He just sold his game app, sweets rush, for $180 million."

"Fine, then it goes back to what I'm saying: they're lying," Montserrat crossed her arms, though it was probably more because she was cold than upset.

"Then it's your job to make them say the truth," Rafael said when he and Olivia walked up to them.

"We're trying," Amanda assured, but it was easy to see she was already frustrated.

"Hey," Sonny called just as he joined them. "One of the guests just said the club promoter was Sarah's last boyfriend."

"And which one would that be?" Olivia asked, eagle eyes already searching for the club promoter amongst the guests.

Amanda was the one to answer by turning her back on them and nodding ahead. "The guy I just talked to. Conveniently left that detail out."

Olivia narrowed her look on the precise man. "Then let's talk to him again, see if he'll remember new things." She took the lead without another word. Amanda briefly glanced at the group with a smirk before heading after Olivia.

"Did anyone else get something useful?" Rafael asked the two remaining detectives.

"Well, Fin just talked to some gaming app guy who apparently has no clue," Montserrat began then Sonny finished.

"And all Nick got was drunken, fuzzy memories of last week."

"Hm, so, nothing," Rafael gave a nod of sarcasm.

Sonny side-glanced Montserrat with a knowing look. "Yeah, we'll see if we can get something else."

"Yes, do," Rafael nodded him to get going. "Novak?"

"I will use nice words," Montserrat said, thinking he would be on her case for her lack of proper interrogation skills. It wasn't a big problem, he just probably liked irritating her with it.

"Sure," Rafael said with a roll of his eyes then moved on. "I just wanted to confirm something I heard about you…"

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at him. There were no rumors about her...as far as she knew. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she thought - even suspected - that maybe he'd heard about her history in Queens…The reason she left the precinct maybe…? Her fingers immediately went for each other and started picking at the skin around the nails.

"Is it true you'll be turning 30 soon?" Rafael's question didn't register until a minute later.

She paused just as she was about to successfully lift a piece of skin from her right hand thumb. Her eyes seemed to squint for a minute until she could speak. "What? This is about my birthday?"

"Yes - what did you think it was about?" Rafael noticed her twitching fingers. She hardly ever got nervous - that's what made her a good detective - and this was no reason for her to be nervous.

"Nothing," she quickly said and drew her hands to her back instead. "U-um, so...my birthday? My age? Who the hell told you I'd be turning 30? That is no one's business!"

"I just heard it and I was curious. Didn't think it was that big of a deal…" Rafael remembered Kara's warning about Montserrat's sensitivity towards her age and it was frankly amusing. "It's a number. Literally."

"This is hardly the time to discuss my age," Montserrat's gaze flickered to the side where more interrogations were going on. "Do I look that old to you?"

Rafael playfully rolled his eyes at her. That was a question no man should ever answer a woman to. "No. I told you, I was merely curious. You never mentioned anything about it."

"Maybe because I didn't want anyone to know? It's not a good number no matter what anyone says. So please don't say anything about it to anyone. I want to skip it."

It took everything Rafael had not to scoff right there and then. If only she knew Kara was already planning a party and, he assumed, Sonny now knew of the exact date Montserrat's birthday fell on. Poor Montserrat.

"Hey, Rafael, promise me that, okay? Don't say anything," Montserrat pleaded, none the wiser about anything. "Might not seem like a big deal to you but…" she sighed and paused for a minute. If she was being honest, her dilemma with her birthday didn't exactly pertain to the fact she was turning 30. Every time she thought about her birthday, her mind raced back to the horrible event that happened almost a year ago. It was nearly a year since she'd been raped, and though she was aware she'd made good progress on her healing, there were still things that hindered her from being a truly normal person. Turning 30 meant she had completed another year of life but it hadn't been the best of years for her. In fact, it's been the worst year of her life. She lost her job, she lost her home, and she lost the friends that she made in Queens.

With all the years of his profession, Rafael learned to read people's faces. He leaned to pick up on the quirks of his clients and foes in order to help him succeed. Looking at Montserrat, he knew right away her problem wasn't the one she was describing. Or, it was at least part of her problem with her birthday. But, the reality was that she was keeping something from him. Maybe she was keeping it from everyone, he didn't know. But the point was there was something she wasn't saying, something she didn't want to say for whatever reason. And that something was a heavy load.

"They won't hear it from me," he promised what he could because he knew Kara would be doing the exact opposite.

The change in Montserrat was instantaneous. The color returned to her face and her lips stretched into an everlasting smile. "Thank you," she said fast. "I really appreciate it."

There's definitely a secret there, he silently concluded. Still, he wouldn't push. He had no right to. "No problem." He saw the comfort his words gave Montserrat, a near peace she'd lost for some reason. It just made him want to know what troubled her so that he could help put an end to it.

"I'll see you around," Montserrat sheepishly said.

"Hold on, Novak," he called without thinking of what he could say to make her want to share. She waited for him to speak, but it was clear she had no intention of sharing. What a shame. "It's cold," he came up with instead. Montserrat blinked in surprise (and perhaps confusion) when he started shaking his coat off. "Take it."

Montserrat's eyes flickered from his coat to him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Novak. You're not going to freeze because no one was gentlemanly enough to offer a coat. Take it," Rafael practically waved the coat in front of her face.

With another sheepish smile, Montserrat took the coat. As she wrapped it around her shoulders she could smell the faint scent that was Rafael Barba. It was a mixture of his usual cologne and alcohol. It was just the right amount of each.

"Thank you," she said one more time, her face warm once again.

Rafael gave her a smile, actually finding it endearing to see her in his coat. Once he realized that admission he decided it was time to leave. "Until tomorrow." He moved on past her, afraid that if he so much as looked at her from the corner of his eyes he might get another of those thoughts.

[chuckepisodes]

Chuck vs. The Sandworm Part 2

You and Chuck drove back to his place. You called Sarah asking her if she can meet you both at his place. "Hey. Um, is Sarah here?" you asked Ellie and Devon as you both walked in. "She's waiting in your room Chuck." " Is everything okay?" Ellie asked. "Oh yeah! Just hanging out! And we just have something to talk about." you said as you and Chuck headed to his room. When Chuck opened the door, you both found Sarah standing there looking out the window." "Hey!" you greeted. " Who is this Lazslo character? He just ID'd us as agents." Chuck said getting right to the problem "Relax. We're looking into him. And you guys did the right thing." Sarah reassured. "We... We didn't do anything. We just flashed on the guy. " you said. "You followed protocol, and I'm going to check in with you first thing in the morning." " Wait, wait. Wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Wait, um...Look, if it's cool with you, could you hang out for a little while?" you asked. " Look, awesome and Ellie think that we're all hanging out so it would look a little awkward if you just left now." Chuck explained. "Oh! Um...sure! How long?" "Ummm I don't know. I would say 40 minutes to an hour tops?" you asked "Uh okay." You all then just sat on Chuck's bed awkwardly.  You decided to lean against Chuck as you all waited this out and Chuck put his arm around your shoulders. "Oh. I wanted to surprise you guys with a little something." Sarah spoke up, taking a couple frames out of her bag. You and Chuck looked over at her wondering what she would have for you two. Sarah handed over two of the same photos for the both of you of you three at comic-con. "What do you think?" Sarah asked. " It's... It's great. But we've never actually been to comic-con, have we?" Chuck asked. "Wow...we look like a real group of friends." you said. "Yeah we really do." Chuck added. "We we are a real group of friends. We are just a different group of friends." "That we are." Chuck said. You and Chuck then looked at each other, both of you thinking the same thing.

The next day at work Chuck was on his break when Casey came barging in. "You! What do I have to do to get timely intel out of you, Bartowski? Or L/N?" " Look, we briefed Sarah last night, all right?" "Oh, of course you did." "I thought we were all supposed to be part of the same team here, huh-- team Chuck and Y/N." " We are, but I'm starting to feel like the guy who always gets picked last, and I do not like feeling like team Chuck and Y/N's little fat kid." "Okay, you know what, the next time we have a flash, we'll come straight to you, all right, Casey?" " What did you tell Lazslo?" "Nothing. He asked me where we got our watches, and I told him Y/N's friend who I have become close to as well, gave it to us, okay?" " So you compromised yourselves and agent Walker? Bang up job, Chuck."

You were coming in to see Chuck on your break when you saw him and Morgan and it looked like Chuck was yelling at Morgan. You walked a little closer but still stayed out of the way. 'No. You know what you are, Morgan? You are this close to getting fired for sexual harassment." Chuck yelled at him. "What happened, Chuck? You used to be cool." " I-I used to be cool? When was that? When we were 13? Well, I'm sorry to go changing on you, buddy. But if you hadn't noticed, we are now chronologically-speaking, adults. So, unless you wanna work retail for the rest of your life, and by the way, drag me down with you in the process, I would suggest that you grow up." Morgan just walked away and Chuck sighed. You started to approach him slowly. "Chuck? Everything okay?" Chuck looked over at you and then just looked down again. You were now next to him and put your hand on his arm. Just one touch from you would always instantly calm him. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out then looked over at you and smiled. You smiled back at him. ""Heavy is the head that wears the crown." couldn't help but notice the way you handled that, uh, Morgan situation. That was most impressive, Chuck. " Lester said walking towards you two. "That's great, that's great." "You gave me goose bumps." Jeff said joining in as well. " Super, Jeff." You and Chuck walked away and you stopped at the Nerd Herd desk. "You okay Chuck? Why were you yelling at Morgan?" "I just have been feeling a little stressed out lately with what we are going through and this job interview..." "Hey it will be okay." you said softly. Chuck looked at you and nodded his head. "Listen how about I meet you back here when you're done work and we can hangout after and talk. Sound good?" "Yeah. That would be perfect." "Okay then. I'll see you after your shift."

It was night time and Chuck's shift was over. As he walked out the doors he saw you, changed and waiting for him outside. He smiled at you. "Long time no see." you said. Chuck laughed and came over to you and put his arm around your shoulders as you both walked to his car. All of a sudden a man with a freaky clown mask jumped in front of you both and you screamed. Chuck jumped but he kept his arm tight around you. Oh! Nice try, buddy, but, uh, Halloween's tomorrow, okay?" The man then raised a gun and pointed it at him. " Or today, or today. It could be today if you want it to be today." Chuck said trying to stay calm. The man then took off his mask. It was Lazslo. "I didn't kill anybody." he said. "Look, we-we never said you did." you said. " Then why am I on the FBI list?" he yelled now pointing his gun at you. Chuck did not like that. " I don't know. Just calm down." you said calmly. "I was framed, okay. You have to believe me. I am not a murderer." "Okay, okay. I believe you. But FYI? You're kinda acting like a murderer. And if you're going to point that gun at someone then point it at me. Please stop pointing it at her." Chuck said. Lazslo did as he was told and pointed the gun back at Chuck. "You told the undercover agent about me, didn't you? He's talking to pentagon operations right now. I tapped into the encrypted video feed at the store. I helped design that home theater system. " "Look, I-I-I don't know-- " You all heard a car honked and you all looked over. Chuck then looked back and jumped on the guy trying to grab his gun. "Get it. Get it. Get it." "Chuck!" you cried out feeling terrified for him. I got it, I got it. I got it." Lazslo eventually pushed Chuck down onto the car with the gun in his face. "No!" you cried. As Chuck lied there he all of a sudden felt drops of water on his face. "Is that a water gun?" " No." "I'm pretty sure it's dripping on my face." Lazslo let Chuck go and you breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran over to Chuck's side helping him up and giving him a side hug, putting both your arms around him as Chuck put his arm around you, trying to catch his breath. " I'm sorry. Name's lazslo. And I need help." " What the Hell are we supposed to do?" you asked. "You're on the inside. You have access. Look, unless you help me clear my name, they're gonna keep chasing me. You two are my only hope." "Breaking out the Star Wars quotes." you said quietly. " But first... I could really use some pancakes." You and Chuck just stared at him confused.

The three of you were now at a diner, all enjoying some pancakes. You and Chuck were sitting side by side on one side of the booth while Lazslo was on the other. "What else did you make for the CIA?" Chuck asked. " Whatever the jobs called for actually. I mean, if an agent wanted thermal-vision ray bans I'm the Guy they call." " You're like a real life Q." Lazslo just looked at Chuck, not understanding. " You know. You know Q. The guy who used to make all the gadgets for Bond, Q?" you said trying to help. "Bond was that spy-guy, right?" "What, have they been keeping you in a friggin' cave?" Chuck asked. "Underground lab actually. For the last 10 years, all I did was work in that lab pretty much. Well, that and play video games. But, uh... No friends, no family." "No Bond. No wonder you blew up all your research and busted out there. That's just inhumane." Chuck said. "So what kind of work do you guys do?" "You know, it's kinda, it's kinda, uh, complicated." you said. " Right, but you gotta be some kind of a geniuses. Or prodigy? I mean feds don't bother recruiting somebody, guarding them with undercover agents, unless you're super good at something? What are you super good at?" "Let's just say we're the computer guys."

A little while later, the three of you were beginning to wrap it up. "This is great. I mean just being able to sit in a coffee shop and talk." You and Chuck let out a laugh. " Just talk. With somebody who knows what it's like working for the company. You know, if I had to do it over again, I never would have gone to that pier." "What pier?" you asked. "I was 11... And... Some agent saw me playing tetris at an arcade. So he asked me if I can take all these tests. The next thing I know, he's offering to pay my way through school. My parents, like, they didn't know what to do with a kid whose IQ is higher than both theirs combined. So they signed me over. And that's when I became property of the United States government. Sweet story, huh?" You and Chuck looked at him, both feeling sorry for him. A lady then came over with your bills. " I'm a little, I'm a little strapped. You know how government work pays." Lazslo said. " Dude, yeah. No, no, no, no, don't even worry about it. Y/N I have yours too." he said looking at you. "Chuck you don't have to." "It's fine. Don't worry." You rolled your eyes but gave him a soft smile and Chuck gave you a wink. "Here. Here's an IOU." Lazslo said handing Chuck a drawing he was doing on his napkin. " Thanks." "Guys, listen you can't tell your handlers you ever saw me." "What? Why? They can help you, Lazslo. They're the good guys." you tried to explain. "There's no such thing in this business. I mean, you don't believe me? Go home and search your room. See what kind of bugs your good guy handlers planted on you. From now on, you should trust your handlers precisely as much as they trust you." Lazslo explained. You and Chuck then looked at each other wondering what he could mean.

[dc41896]

Champagne Showers-Mini Imagine (1)

Ok so me and @fumbling-fanfics were talking about when he posted this on his insta, and I was saying how the video of him spraying Joe with the champagne (I’m guessing..?) gave me two separate ideas for imagines but I didn’t know which one to write. Long story short here’s one of the 2 short imagines based on said video 😂. The second one I’ll put in a separate post 😊

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by LEWIS TAN (@lewistanofficial) on Dec 13, 2019 at 10:57pm PST

Today was the day you had been waiting for and you couldn’t be more excited. Your husband would finally be returning home from close to a year of filming and you were more than ready to see him in person instead of over the phone via Skype or FaceTime.

Just as you dropped him off at the airport, you planned to pick him up too and spend the rest of the day together finally able to spend a bit of quality time as husband and wife. Because filming started soon after your wedding, you chose not to have a honeymoon so he could complete his last bit of preparation before leaving.

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: Hey I’m looking on the screen and it says I have a couple more hours until I’m home 😝

Y/N: Yay!!! I’m excited!!! Can’t wait to see you at the house 🥰

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: Wait what? I thought you were picking me up?

Y/N: Oh...I thought you were getting an Uber👀?

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: I mean I can if you’re busy

Y/N: I’m kidding! 😂 Do you really think I’d let you take an Uber home? I’ll leave the house in an hour so I can be there in time

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: I would hope not but then again idk you might be busy! Lol and ok so by an hour than means 2 and I’ll be waiting for you outside then? 😏

Y/N: Haha such a comedian 🙄😂, no I mean an hour smarty. Keep it up and you won’t get the second part of your surprise😌

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: Surprises?! 👀🥺 ok I’m sorry don’t be mad. LOVE YOU!!! 😘😘

Y/N: Mhmm yea now you say you love me when I mention surprises lmao

~~~~~~

Just as you said, you arrived at the airport about 40 minutes early and decided to wait in the lobby. Plus given the chance that his flight arrived early, you’d be there ready to go.

Y/N: Hey! Just got to the airport, waiting near the gift shop 🥰

Sitting in the leather seat, you felt as if time was slowly ticking by. Every time you looked at the time thinking five or 10 minutes had passed, you were sadly proven wrong by the clock only increasing by one or two minutes.

To keep yourself busy, you scrolled through your Instagram feed, as bystandards passed by. Although you didn’t look up, you could hear excited squeals and ‘welcome home’s as families and couples were reunited.

You tried not think about it, but the more you heard and occasionally saw it made you more anxious to see Lewis. This was the first time you guys were separated for a long period of time and although you hated it, you knew it was part of his job.

Nearly finished watching your third makeup tutorial, your screen was interrupted with a notification from Lewis.

⚔️❤️Boo Tan❤️⚔️: Just landed. See you in a few ❤️😘

Y/N: 😍😍 Ok!! Meet you by the luggage spinning thing? Don’t judge you know what I’m talking about 😂

Heart racing, you paced back and forth trying not to miss your husband when he finally appeared, although you knew it would be hard to miss him seeing as though his stature was very distinct.

Soon though, you see a black ball cap through the crowd paired with shades, a simple grey tee, jeans, and converse walking towards you and causing all your anxiousness to immediately disappear. You told yourself ahead of time that you wouldn’t be one of those dramatic couples in movies that crash into each other and have this grand reunion in front of everyone.

However, your limbs seemed to have a mind of their own as they made you take off towards him and jump into his arms wrapping your legs around him. Kissing him, you feel all eyes on the both of you, but you don’t care or even think about it.

So much for not being THAT couple.

“I take it that I was missed a lot,” he laughs as your reunion is momentarily interrupted. Burying your face in his neck you nod your head, taking in his cologne that you loved so much.

You also didn’t expect yourself to cry, but again your body did what it wanted to do and you were just the vessel that happen to be part of it.

“Aww it’s ok babe don’t cry I’m here!,” he soothes, rubbing your back. “I know, I’m just so happy to see you,” you respond, leaning up to meet his eyes, now visible from him removing his shades.

“I’m happy to see you too love,” he smiles, showing those heart melting dimples.

~~~~~~

After getting his luggage, you both made your way home to start your evening together. You drove as Lewis sat reclined in the passenger seat holding your hand that he occasionally peppered with kisses.

Of course during the ride he kept asking about the surprises trying to make you spill, to which you either told him no to not ruin it or tried to distract him by changing the subject.

“Please keep your eyes closed. I’m too short to reach up there so I’m trusting you to do it,” you instruct using one hand to lead him up the walkway to your house and the other rolling one of his bags.

“I promise my eyes are completely shut. Here I can let your hand go and try to make it to the front door myself,” he replies about to let your hand go to hold his out in front of him.

“No no, let’s not do that and you end up falling in a bush somewhere,” you laugh opening the door. “Ok stand here and don’t open them until I say.”

Letting his hand go, you close the door behind you and place his bags beside it. The only thing that could be heard was your sneakers against the hardwood floor as you moved about the house getting what you needed. “Ok now you can open.”

Revealing his brown eyes, he immediately smiles, mouth slightly agape in shock, seeing the floor filled with balloons as well as black lettered balloons along the wall that read “Happy Wrap!” Before he could say anything, the pop of a champagne bottle made him slightly jump followed by liquid spraying out and covering his clothes from you shaking the bottle.

He tried to run to avoid any further hits from the foaming drink, but you were just as quick keeping up with his every move. “Happy Wrap Day babe!!,” you shout as the bottle seems done with what all it would spray out. “I know it’s not technically today and you guys already celebrated, but I still wanted to do something.”

“Aww thank you, I love it! And there’s nothing wrong with celebrating more than once,” he smiles scooping you up in a bear hug as you wrap your arms around his neck. “So this was the big surprise huh? Spraying me with champagne?”

“Part of it yes,” you laugh kissing his cheek before escaping his grasp to run into the kitchen to get the final surprise. As you returned, you held a small circular cake that had “Welcome Home!” written in red icing in your hands.

“Welcome home love!”

“I cannot believe you did all this for me,” Lewis smiles using his finger to lick some of the buttercream icing off the cake. “Well you deserve it for doing such an amazing job,” you respond before being brought to his lips by his gentle hands.

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicana @crushed-pink-petals @themyscxiras @lady-olive-oil @melinda-january @felicity-x0 @lovelymari4 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @nina-sj @itshinothey @wildfirecracker

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged and doesn’t see their name, or only wants to be tagged for certain people I write about, just let me know 🤓

[mattsammonsez]

Hockey’s Voice

Sometimes you meet people who embody everything you believe makes a good person. Mike “Doc” Emrick is one of those people, and I enjoyed the few times we interacted in the past 13 years.

Mike “Doc” Emrick in his second home. 

When you work in sports broadcasting, your path crosses with the paths of a lot of prominent people, including athletes, coaches, and executives. It’s all part of the job, and admittedly one of the many perks that comes with the territory. While it’s fun to cross paths with these people, there are a select few where you feel blessed that your paths crossed. Mike “Doc” Emrick is one of those people, and you always felt like you knew him and he knew you all your life even if your real life interaction was only 5 minutes. With the announcement from Emrick earlier this week that he is retiring from calling NHL games, I wanted to share a few stories about the times my path fortunately and blessedly crossed with Doc’s.

Like many people my age, we got to know Doc on a regular basis on national television. For me, it was his weekly appearances on the NHL on Fox game of the week in the mid 90’s, as well as numerous New Jersey Devils highlights earlier in the decade as that team was building into a dominant team. In 2005, Doc became the primary voice on the NHL on OLN broadcasts (later Versus, then NBC Sports Network). In 2006, I became the pregame host of Tampa Bay Lightning radio broadcasts, and as I started to settle into my role that season I started gaining new job duties. One of those duties was to pull together guest interviews for our weekly radio show Lightning Hockey Night. In the 2007 playoffs, the Lightning drew the Devils in the first round, and thus my first interaction with Doc would happen as I was trying to get a guest for the program.

We weren’t looking to get Doc on the show as a live guest, but with Doc at the time still calling Devils games I figured he’d be the perfect guest for the show as he was a well-known voice and face even to hockey fans in Florida. Before the morning skate of game 4 with the Lightning up 2-1 in the series, I introduced myself to Doc and asked him if I could get him for just a few minutes to talk about the series. He said he could, and we continued with our usual morning skate routine for the next couple of hours. I hung around the rink until the Devils were done with their skate, and after the locker rooms were closed to the media I approached Doc again to see if he was still able to do a quick interview. This was close to 1 p.m., and with a game starting at 7 or 7:30 that night Doc had plenty of prep to do. Plus his color analyst, the humorous Glenn “Chico” Resch was hungry and wanted lunch. Yet when I politely asked, Doc without hesitation obliged and we sat down in the stands for a few minutes to discuss the series. It was such a special moment, and such a fun interview, I’ve saved it 13 years and counting.

Emrick yucking it up as Jim Carr, the carpet-coiffed play-by-play announcer for the Johnstown Jets in the cult classic film Slap Shot, at Hockeyville USA, 2015.

Fast forward to September 2015. I’m now the Director of Broadcasting & Programming for the Lightning, and I’m on the team plane to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as the Lightning and Penguins will be squaring off in the first Kraft Hockeyville USA preseason game. Game day was hectic, as the NHL and NBC rolled out the red carpet not only for both teams but for as much Slap Shot as possible since Johnstown was the location of the film shoot 40 years earlier. Along with being that night’s radio engineer for our broadcast, my mission was to pull together as many interviews as possible for a podcast on the event. Knowing the legendary Hanson Brothers would be there, I targeted an interview with them which I was able to score. 

The Cambria County War Memorial Arena was opened in 1950, when comforts such as being able to stretch your legs were not baked into many civic building blueprints. In a tiny locker room I waited for the Hansons to come in, and I did so next to Doc who agreed to also do an interview with me once I was done with the Hansons. The Hansons came in, and not only played the part of their characters well for my interview, but they too were incredibly friendly and great to talk to. While the interview went on, there was that brief fleeting moment in my head; “I’m interviewing three of the greatest hockey movie characters while one of the greatest hockey announcers is sitting in the background watching this.” Quite the moment to say the least. After my conversation with the Hansons, I sat down with Doc to talk to him about what the game meant to him, a former college teacher and newspaper writer in Western Pennsylvania 45 years earlier. You could sense in Doc’s eyes and voice this Hockeyville experience in his old backyard with all the Slap Shot fun and frivolity mixed in was quite the moment for him. The Hanson Brothers and Doc interviews were the cornerstone of my podcast, and all these years later it’s still one of my favorite podcasts of more than 100 I did.

Emrick could make any broadcast better, including a Morning Skate Show in desperate need of some good news in 2018.

Fast forward to May 2018. We’re not in the preseason, we’re in the thick of the postseason, and the Lightning are about to battle the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Final. Prior to game one at the morning skate, Doc and I are two of seemingly 200 people gathering around Alex Ovechkin for pregame interviews. We looked on from a distance, laughing more at the spectacle then actually listening to anything Ovechkin was saying. When the scrum was done, I casually asked Doc if we could have him as a guest on our streaming video program The Morning Skate Show when the series shifted to Washington D.C. for game 3. Doc said he wanted to, we just needed to route the request through NBC public relations, which is always a coin flip on if your wish gets granted. Thankfully for us, it was.

Never before did we need a personality like Doc Emrick like we did then. The Caps humiliated the Lightning for two easy wins in Tampa before the series went to our nation’s capital. In planning for the show, we decided to talk as little as possible about the first two games, and simply turn the show into the Doc Emrick talent show. For almost 45 minutes, Doc talked about everything from the NHL playoffs to memories of AHL games in Halifax 40 years ago when birds in the rafters of the old Halifax Forum pooped on the ice during games. At the end of the show he very quietly but confidently reminded our viewers that if any team was able to get out of 0-2 hole to the Caps, it was the Lightning. It was the reassurance and the fun story telling we all needed, and low and behold the Lightning rallied for three-straight wins before the Caps pulled it together and won the series in seven games on their way to their first Stanley Cup championship. As of 2019, it was still one of the most-watched episodes of the show.

Finally, fast forward to October 2019. Two months earlier, I was informed my position was being “eliminated” at the Lightning, but I refused to be eliminated from the scene. Newly hired to provide a weekly Metro Express podcast to the Philadelphia Flyers (and later the Capitals), I arrived at Amalie Arena for a morning skate prior to a Lightning and Penguins game that was being aired nationally on NBC that night. Once I found out Doc was on the call, I knew I needed to get him for a few minutes to talk Metropolitan Division hockey. I saw Doc sitting in the first couple of rows of seats when I arrived, and I quickly slipped in next to him and asked if I could get his thoughts real quickly. Doc was there to study lines and defensive pairings of both teams, and now at the age of 74 had to double-check all players and facts before putting on another flawless broadcast that night. I was very respectful of his time, and as always he was respectful enough to grant me a few minutes of his busy day.

While there were many similarities to that first interview with Doc in 2007, this time around technology would come back to bite me. Feeling satisfied my iPhone would work as a microphone just fine, I started the interview. Midway through Doc’s first answer, my phone started ringing, cutting off the voice memo app I was using. Thankfully I silenced my phone so it merely buzzed, but in my head I was cursing while Doc was talking. There was no way I was going to ask him to start over again, I was just going to have to eat the moment as I feverishly hung up on the call and pressed record on the voice memo again. While I did this without interrupting Doc’s thoughts, I still got a good 7-8 minutes from him and used it in that week’s show. It was special to connect with Doc again, and I was reminded even as a veteran hockey broadcaster at this time to never ever again do an important interview on my iPhone.

Doc’s retirement announcement didn’t come totally as a surprise to me. I figured with COVID-19 still a factor in our lives for at least the next year or two, the last place a 75-year-old cancer survivor needs to be is in a pressurized airplane cabin or travelling from one cold city to another in the winter. And even though Doc is a pro’s pro, it’s extremely difficult to call a game from a television screen. Whoever is named his successor at NBC has some very big shoes to fill. 

As for me, my career has moved forward from my exit with the Lightning, and while potentially great things await I don’t know if I’ll be able to cover a daily beat in an NHL arena anytime soon. That’s perfectly fine with me, as I’m always looking for a new challenge and can’t wait to see what is ahead for me and my family. That also adds even more emotional value to the times my path crossed with Doc’s path. Hockey fans have been blessed to have him as a prime voice for decades, and I was blessed to interact with him several times in my career. A visit from this doctor was always welcome in the homes and hearts of hockey fans.

[retphienix]

This is the second time I've sat through this scene because I fucked up a QTE and felt bad. So let me start with this:

This scene is a nonstop whiplash of STUPID and AWESOME. Rubber bullets AGAIN - STUPID Helicopter throwing the money - AWESOME Daigo apparently tossing out some growth from previous games to just say "I gotta crack some eggs for an omelet!" - STUPID Each of our main characters squaring up appropriately for a QUAD BOSS RUSH - AWESOME The ENTIRE reason Saejima's sister was relevant was because they assumed Kiryu and Saejima would leave if she was alive???? When they both (mostly Kiryu, but Saejima after Hamazaki's death) have infinite reason to remain BEYOND her???? WHAT??? - STUPID

God, the rubber bullets though, man. Arai seriously shot a dude in the forehead and just... walked away? No blood? Just walk? Fucking lord that plot point is stupid.

Also Arai being a cop was such a pointless reveal that DURING the reveal he has to reveal that he's also not a cop anymore since he "killed" Munakata.

Now this text is written after actually beating it and let me say SOME THINGS.

They really left the big bad next to the gun not once but twice, eh?

And I nearly spit laughing thinking they pulled rubber bullets AGAIN with Akiyama but no, that was much cooler.

Also funny how they replaced Kiryu with Akiyama for the "Will he die at the end?!!" scene.

AND HANA-CHAN OH MY GOD I LOST MY SHIT AND I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC SO MUCH I LOVE THEM.

Oh shit and I forgot I told myself I'd write a 3 page rant about how FUCKING STUPID that final fight was but I think that sums it up. Click play on the video if you actually wanted to know what I mean but yeah, fuck that final fight. As if I needed more reasons to despise Tanimura.

Okay all that behind me let me do my wrap up on Yakuza 4.

Uniquely, I feel like I actually posted so consistently on it that I don't have too much to say. So I'll sum things up pretty succinctly I believe.

Yakuza 4 was Okay At Best. It is, BY FAR, the worst Yakuza I have played thus far. It's arguably fucking trash. BUT. I understand why and it has a lot to like as well.

The why is the fact they wanted to shake things up with 4 protagonists to prevent Kiryu burnout. That demands a different set of skills for writing and is infinitely harder to write, and they failed. This is likely why so many plot points were fucking stupid, because it was a stretch to make them work for 4 POVs.

Now the things to like aren't all that exciting but they are worth saying. The 4 protags are mostly a win. Saejima is a little bland but it's interesting to see a 'fallen yakuza' type so despite not being a 10/10 "I love this guy" character, he's a win. Tanimura is a loss, next question. Kiryu is great in this, he doesn't 'do' much but, I mean, it's Kiryu. He also has the benefit of having the BEST substories in this game simply because the ideas the other 3 focused on were meh and Kiryu's were almost all references to past games so fanservice won out. Akiyama is a BIG win, everything about him is a win. His backstory, his personality, his specific realm of influence especially Hana, his morals being interesting, the interesting dynamic he brings as a BILLIONAIRE who doesn't care about money. He's great.

But I can sum up Yakuza 4 pretty well. It introduces Akiyama and he's great. The rest ranges from FUCKING GARBAGE to terrible plot points to "well this is okay, like C to B- Yakuza" to a few genuinely sensational moments, all of which generally involve Akiyama being Akiyama and Kiryu doing a thing (and I genuinely can't think of any 'top Yakuza 4 moments' that were Kiryu, so best moments are pretty much just Akiyama and Hana.)

It's got an INTENSE range but sadly most of that range is on the bad end of things with only a few outlier great moments. Honestly? And I know no one is asking me of all people, but again- Honestly? If someone came to me interested in trying the Yakuza series, as a whole, I'd tell them to their face that they can skip 4.

Read a wiki entry, maybe watch some Akiyama scenes, watch a recap on Saejima's assassination attempt to understand that he's a badass in future games, that's it. Wouldn't even bother reading about the truth behind the attempt or any major events in 4. Just know who Saejima and Akiyama are and move on, this game was not worth it as an entry in Yakuza.

All that negativity aside, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever played, just the worst Yakuza I've ever played, and I so desperately want to end this with "Overall I'm glad I beat it/ liked it" but I just really can't type those words sincerely. It hurts to think- I didn't, I just didn't.

I really enjoyed like 20 minutes of this game total and it took like 76 hours to beat. THANKFULLY that 75:40 wasn't a nonstop living hell, most of it was alright or okay, but some of it- as in more than 20 minutes of it- was trash, so not a great return.

Yakuza 4. It was fine. Skip it if you can.

Oh and the post credits was fine. Apparently it mislead some to think Kiryu takes over as the chairman but that makes no sense and a quick google seems to disprove that. I only checked because I wanted to make sure he wasn't coming back on as a patriarch, and he's not, he's just overseeing Saejima's inauguration. Apparently a lot of people really took the ending as Kiryu giving up his entire orphanage life to become chairman again and that's quite a stretch from what was shown, I mean he says he's coming back and Haruka and him both act like this is just an afternoon affair- I think people just really want Kiryu to go full yakuza despite the fact that goes against his character so much.

[daffodilsssss]

The Last Thing I Do

Summary:  Yeri loves Joy, Lucas loves being loved and Mark loves his life just the way it is right now.

But nothing can ever stay the same forever. So if you had to choose, would you rather risk everything you thought you needed, to try all the things you never thought you would be able to do? Would you try to do something you never thought was possible?

A/N: Hey so this is my first fancfiction. Cross posted on AO3 (this is my backup basically). Trying to post weekly but don’t hold me to it. 

AO3

Chapter index:

Chapter 1

Summer in New York is different. It’s just different from anywhere else on Earth.  

I mean, that’s a bit of an obvious observation. Literally no two places are exactly the same, and New York is definitely one of the most unique places in the world no matter the weather. But there is a certain beauty in the oppressive humidity summer brings. The world becomes weightier, people move slower, time seems to congeal, and moments last much longer than they should. Summer is the season of innocence, of childhood, of beach parties and bonfires. The heat feels live a warm hug from a parent, or an arm thrown over your mid-section as you lie, now awake in bed.

Yeri stares at the slanting light filtering in through the blinds as Joy softly snores beside her ear. These were the moments she wished could go on forever. Just her and Joy, blissfully co-existing. No responsibilities, no past, no future, just the perfect now.

She could hear shuffling and chatter in the hallway now. Laughter and more footsteps in the kitchen before the switch of the radio being turned on and some overplayed Top 40’s hit instantaneously blasting through the apartment.

“Who’s gonna wake them up today?” she heard Seulgi sigh as her spoon clinked against her cereal bowl. Light but trudging footsteps approached the door before a loud knock reverberated off the hardwood.

“Hey, Squirtle, Bigfoot. Get up already!” Wendy shouted through the door.  

Joy’s breathing stilled, before she rolled over on her back groaning. “We’re coming!” She replied. Yeri turned over onto her other side to face her now.

“God, I hate that song.” Joy said, bringing her hands to rub her face as she gradually regained consciousness.  

“Good morning to you too, I guess.”  Yeri lightheartedly snorted.  

“Good morning,” Joy placed a kiss to her cheek. “Sleep well?”

“I always sleep well when I’m with you,” Yeri stood up from the bed. “We should seriously get up now though.” Joy groaned and rolled over onto her side as Yeri opened the blinds fully now, peering down onto the miniature-sized people visible from their penthouse view. “Fine, I’m getting up. You get breakfast I'll be out in a minute.”  Yeri smiled again as she walked into the hallway.

Irene was standing by the coffeemaker scrolling through her phone and Seulgi seemed completely absorbed in her breakfast sitting on the island.  

“Good morning, hags.”

“Good morning problem child.” Irene called back, not looking up from her phone.

“Wendy’s in the shower and me and Irene are next.” Seulgi said through mouthfuls of overpriced Whole-Foods granola.  

“Cool. What’s with the cereal I thought you were starting a diet today?”

“When’s the last time you met a person that got fat off eating muesli?”

“Granola.”

“Muesli, there’s a difference.”

“Granola, and no there’s not.”

“There is, muesli is healthier for you.” Seulgi said through another spoonful of mushy grains.

“Oh! Ok so one is pretentious and one isn’t.”

“Guys, it’s way too early to put whiskey in my coffee right now so could you both do me a solid and shut the hell up for 20 minutes?” Irene said finally looking up from her phone.  

Yeri sat down at the island, grabbing a bowl and Seulgi’s box of cereal. A new song began playing through the room as the door to the bathroom squeaked open and Seulgi scarfed the last of her food before rushing to take her place.  

“Hey,” Wendy said walking through the kitchen still drying her hair. “what’s on the agenda today?”

“Nothing much,” Irene took a sip from her coffee as she leaned over the counter. “Taeyong needs people for a job on Friday but other than that there doesn’t seem to be anything else going on.”  

“Ooh, intriguing,” Wendy half-spoke into the fridge, pulling out a carton of orange juice. “who’s going?”

“Looks like it’s all hands on deck,” Irene hummed, opening the message in question. “Just us and 127.” She explained. “Oh, except for baby.”

Yeri let out some mixture between a groan and a sigh. “Seriously? Why do they keep treating me like a child? I’m 21.  I’m older than Haechan for Christ’s sake.”

“Calm down Sappho,” Wendy deadpanned. “No one treats you like a baby, you’re a hacker. There’s no reason for you to go on these missions.”  

“Who the hell is Sappho?” Yeri raised her eyebrow towards the blonde.  

“She was this famous lesbian poet in Ancient Greece, didn’t you learn about her in school?”

“Well Wendy I don’t know how to break this to you,”  Yeri’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “but I’m actually a high school drop-out.”

Wendy simply shrugged, popping a slice of bread in the toaster. “Fair enough. I could’ve sworn I learned about her in sophomore year though.”

“Aw, looks like your mind’s starting to go grandma.” A high-pitched melodic voice rang out through the hall.

“Oh my God! She’s returned from the grave!” Wendy raised her arms in mock horror as Joy stepped into the room. A now accustomed warmth began forming in Yeri’s stomach as she glanced at the still disheveled Joy, unconsciously tugging her lips upwards at the sight. There were a lot of things that were weird about Yeri and Joy’s relationship, too many to discuss in a single sitting with any therapist. But sometimes it would hit Yeri, at the most random of moments, just how much she really loved her. Like this morning, her long and usually sleek black hair was currently pointing at different angles, and her cheeks were still red and swollen from sleep. But still, Joy made butterflies form in Yeri’s stomach like it was there first-time meeting. (Well, actually maybe not their first-time meeting specifically. As that moment had been tinged with fear and self-hatred. But certainly like butterflies that form in that new, perfect glow of a budding relationship.)

Yeri had never really been in love until she met Joy, but she was almost certain she could never love anyone more than she loved her. Statistically speaking, only a fraction of a fraction of high-school sweethearts stay together in the long run, but that had never fazed her. Statistically speaking, only a fraction of a fraction of all people are involved with an international Korean organized crime syndicate, and yet here they were. Joy was Yeri’s reason to get up in the morning, her reason to go to sleep at night. Of course, she loved the rest of the girls, they were closer and more caring to her than her parents had ever been. But Joy was the real sun Yeri’s Earth revolved around.

“Kinda hard to sleep after your delightful wake-up call Seungwan.” Joy said reaching for a glass and the near-empty carton of juice.

“Oh? Would you rather we removed the door to your room altogether?” Wendy chuckled.  

“Ah yes, I'm sure you’d love that Wendy,” Joy’s voice turning low and seductive. “But you don’t have to try that hard, if you wanted to watch us then you could’ve just asked.”  

“Straight girl seduced by sexy lesbians,” Yeri laughed. “sounds like the title of a PornHub video!”  

“One day!” Irene suddenly interrupted. “All I ask for is one day without anyone talking about their sex lives while we’re eating! Why is that so hard to ask?”  

Seulgi existed the bathroom in a cloud of steam. Irene leaving the trio in the kitchen in their own again.  

“Look, just start getting dressed already. We’re leaving in an hour.”

Denial is funny. Honestly, it’s probably one of, if not the most ironic emotion.  

Because on some subconscious level you know that you’re lying to yourself. And because you know what you’re doing is wrong, your actions change. You tell yourself over and over everything is fine, thinking you can ignore your problems out of existence. Driving past the exit signs you see because you don’t really believe in that upcoming cliff. And at the same time, you doubt your whole reality. “Is this real or am I overreacting?”, “Are they ignoring me or are they just not in the mood for talking?”, “Are we becoming closer or are we actually drifting apart?”.

Sometimes, in a relationship, people begin to grow apart. This can be one person’s fault, maybe both, maybe neither. Maybe the place you were, whether it was physical or mental, just doesn’t exist anymore. And you just can’t make your relationship work anymore. It’s fundamentally broken.

The drive to SM’s New York building had been uncomfortably quiet again. Joy’s hands were locked in a vice grip on the steering wheel. Her face in an impassive, disinterested glare at the road. The silence in the car weighed heavily on Yeri’s shoulders. It had been like this between the two of them for a while now. When they were both alone and awake, they didn’t speak as often. Overbearing, it didn’t let her relax. The uncomfortable tension between the two of them was suffocating, like smog. Conversation never really broke it, sex didn’t either. But it was one of the only ways she felt she could really make Joy happy these days. Her naturally vibrant and humorous personality seemed to disappear when it was just the two of them. One minute she would be laughing and friendly and only a few minutes later she would be terse, everything Yeri did seeming to annoy her in tiny but apparent ways.  

Yeri knew that the better option here was to confront Joy about these issues. But she couldn’t work up the nerve to ask her. Acknowledging their problems, shattering the illusion that everything was ok had never worked out in the past. When Joy would hide the messages on her phone from Yeri, promising to her that she had only slept with someone for work purposes. Telling Yeri she was the most important person in the world, only to ignore her for days afterwards. Saying she was beautiful only to criticise every aspect of her appearance in excruciating detail. Sure, Joy had faults. But that didn’t mean she was a bad person. Yeri knew the real Joy, behind the constantly happy facade. The one whose parents always told her she was a disappointment, who escaped a conversion camp in her teens, who took a scared, friendless girl under her wing and gave her a new life.

Yeri was a tumor slowly killing Joy’s spirit. It was painful to think about, but it was the truth. Yeri was never good enough for Joy, and she knew this. To bring their problems to the forefront risked Joy coming to the realization that she didn’t want Yeri. And that would, as far as Yeri was concerned, be a fate worse than death.  

So here they were again, outside the glass walls to the lobby of their grey-bricked office. The building stood so tall that looking up from Yeri’s eye level the building seemed to stretch directly into the sky.

“Bye,” Yeri hesitated. “Love you!” she called out again as Joy continued on unfazed to her section inside the building. Getting on an elevator several floors up Yeri moved through the same set of hallways to her desk in the I.T department. Logging into her computer, about the take another look at the schematics of a new bomb 127 were planning on using to break open a safe, when a fluffy mop of dark hair suddenly came into her eyeline.  

“Morning Yeri,” Jungwoo said. “Taeyong said he needs to see you.”

Yeri paused for a moment in confusion. “Taeyong? Like right now?” It was barely 8 o’clock, work had just started.

“Apparently,” Jungwoo said, taking a seat across from her in his cubicle. “He said it was urgent.”

Yeri stood up and began walking towards Taeyong’s office. Taeyong was the leader of NCT’s 127 unit and was the only member with a private room. Taeyong himself, despite his job position, was without doubt one of the least threatening people in the world. But past experience had proved that Taeyong never asked for a private audience to deliver good news.

Yeri’s stomach began to twist in knots as the knocked on the door to Taeyong’s office. Pushing the door open when she heard a faint “Come in.”

Taeyong was sat in his chair, posture ramrod straight and hands folded diplomatically in front of him. There were two chairs facing him, the one on the right already pre-occupied by a tall head of slick-backed hair.  

“Good morning Yerim, please take a seat.” Taeyong said through tight lips. Now that she was sitting next to him Yeri could remember meeting this other man before. He was gigantic, maybe several years older than her but still had a boyish face, brown hair combed back with gel and dressed in a well-fitted suit. He must take pride in his appearance.

“You two have met each other before? I assume.” Taeyong said. “Yeri this is Wong Yukei, alias Lucas. He’s in the China-based unit of NCT, WayV.”

“Nice to meet you.” Lucas said extending his hand for Yeri which she shook.

“And Lucas this is Kim Yerim, alias Yeri. She’s a member of SM’s ‘Red Velvet’ Specialised Foces team.”

Lucas’s eyes seemed to light up in acknowledgment of Yeri’s position. “Wait, you’re a member of Red Velvet? I thought there was only 4 members! How old are you?” Clearly his looks were well-suited to his childish personality if interrupting Taeyong was anything to go off. Though the low baritone of his voice was completely mismatched to the whimsical cadence at which he spoke.

“I’m 21 and I’ve been a member since 2015, I work mostly in the hacking and mechanics field, so I don’t go on missions often.” Yeri said.

“Actually, I’ve called you both here today to discuss your positions in your respective groups.” Taeyong said, clearing his throat. “I’ve been informed by my superiors that you’ve both been chosen to move up from your current stations into more, permanent features of your units.”  

Yeri’s breath stilled in her chest, eyes widening in shock and elation, a quick glance at Lucas showed a reflection of her own emotions on his face too.  For years, Yeri’s future in SM had remained uncertain. It took a long time to build up trust within an organized crime company, even with a friend on the inside. And while Yeri was by all means satisfied with her current job with the I.T crew she knew that she was just a cog in the machine. Easily disposable if she ever got too loose-lipped. ‘Permanent’ in SM meant you were acknowledged for your skill and importance. You could always rely on your fellow co-workers to have your back if things ever went to shit. It was a policy better than any 401k and it was never guaranteed and it was fucking hard to get and it was right in front of her right now.

“Of course, this move is conditional,” Taeyong said. “You’ve both been trained in firearm use, and Lucas your accuracy as an assassin is greatly admired by your superiors.” Taeyong paused briefly looking at them both before sucking in a deep breath.

“So, you have both been tasked with assassinating Mark Lee.”  

There was a beat of silence in the room. Taeyong’s lips were set in an emotionless, straight line. The shock didn’t resonate in Yeri’s mind. Nothing did. Her head felt empty, she didn’t even look t Lucas to gauge his reaction. All she could do was stare into Taeyong’s deep brown eyes. Searching for any emotional reaction from him.

“Unfortunately the task is not optional.” Taeyong said. “Mark has been told to meet you both in a private location at 7pm tomorrow. You will both be given a handgun and a bulletproof vest, as is standard. You will use these to kill him. Once he is dead you will each have to cut off one of his fingers so we can verify his identity. After this, Yeri,” Taeyong looked at her directly. “you will activate a bomb which is to be detonated several minutes later. If all goes according to plan the bomb should destroy all evidence of the assassination. You are to return to headquarters immediately, with the fingers, and then you can officially be welcomed into your permanent position as a member of SM. Are there any queations?” his voice was neither malicious nor regretful. He sounded composed, business-like. Not at all like he had just given a detailed account of how his two co-workers were going to murder a member of his own unit.

“Why are we both being asked to kill him?” Lucas said. “Assassinations are nearly always safer with just one person.” Yeri looked at him now, his eyebrows were knit together in what seemed like confusion. This oddly enough did relax her slightly; this abrupt assassination didn’t appear to be desirable to him either.

“Well firstly, you’ve both proven yourselves to be totally loyal to SM in the past,” Taeyong said. “but the main reason you’ve both been asked to ‘take care’ of this person in particular, is because you both have an emotional attachment to this person.” He stood up from his desk, circling his juniors in a slow pace. Keeping as much eye contact as possible with them. Taeyong had never intimidated Yeri in the past. He had only ever been kind and friendly to her, even in the workplace. Even at work, he always looked after her like an older brother. And despite their current circumstances she could still feel a calming aura radiating out of him.

“The reason permanent positions are so scarce is that the opportunity to become one doesn’t present itself often. Both of you trained together with Mark Lee,” Yeri winced at the mention of Mark’s name. “and it has been decided that he has become too much of a liability to keep anymore.” Taeyong sat back down in his seat before opening a drawer and pulling out two brown envelopes and placing them in front of Yeri and Lucas.

“Those are your instructions, memorize them.” Taeyong looked at them both again.

“I want to be clear with you two,” He said. “There is no option to refuse this assignment.” Yeri glanced at Lucas again, for the first time he was looking at her as well. “You’ve worked hard to get where you are now, this is the ultimate test of your loyalty to your fellow members. But I have faith you will both come out the other side.” Yeri’s throat went dry, a painful throbbing stated pulsing from her temples.  

“So, do you both agree to it?” Taeyong said.  

Kill Mark Lee or die? Mark Lee or you. Yeri had 1 second to choose the most important decision of her life.

“Yes.” Lucas replied, releasing a soft breath of air. Mark Lee or die? Mark Lee or die? The question began repeating in Yeri’s mind incessantly. She realized they were both watching her now. She had to decide.

“Yes.”