#i kept listening by like catching up on the episodes even a couple times a year until like. 2021

[fagmegumi]

Goddamn it you guys are we having a wtnv revival. Is this finally the moment

[cursingtoji]

a friday night for most mid twenties should be more exciting than yours, but you wouldn’t exchange yours for the world, not when you could order your favourite meal for dinner then cuddle with nanami watching a reality show he swears he doesn’t like but doesn’t miss an episode either.

“what a bitch” he gasps when it’s revealed the guy’s fiancé had a secret boyfriend, you hold back your laughter from his exaggerated reaction. his hand is on your back, rubbing it and playing with the elastic of your shorts without any malice while you lay on his chest.

after the episode ends he kisses your temple and gently rolls you over to remove himself from the couch.

“don’t go to bed too late” he says moving to the bedroom.

“yeah i’m going right after this one” you reply as a new show starts.

as promised, an hour later you stretch your back and turn off the tv moving to your shared suite and going straight to the bathroom.

“kento?” you call from the toilet, where you kept the door open, he hums in acknowledgement, “what time am i supposed to pick up yuuji from megumi’s?” you flush and go wash your hands and face, already beginning your skincare nightly routine.

“i’ll do it, don’t like the way fushiguro flirts with you” you look up from the sink watching him through the mirror, his reading glasses are on the tip of his nose and he licks his finger before turning the page of his book. such an old man…

“he’s just being friendly, love, besides it’s not like i flirt back” you justify.

“i know, i trust you, just don’t like him. megumi is a good kid though” you hum agreeing with your husband.

with a dot of retinol on the tip of your finger your walk barefoot to his side of the bed, leaning close to his face and gently applying the product under his eyes and where his wrinkles would be in a few years. would, since you’re trying your best to include a little bit of wrinkle prevention in your husband non-existent routine as well.

nanami doesn’t move his head, allowing you to put cream under his eyes, soft fingers tapping the skin behind his glasses, he said he trusted you but he close his eyes just out of precaution.

“i think that’s enough tapping, darling” he holds your wrist gently.

“just making sure your skin absorbs it well. in 10 years i don’t want people to think you’re my father” he watches your pretty ass march back to the sink in order to brush your teeth.

“i thought you liked calling me daddy” he resumes his reading listening to you choke, “everything alright in there?” he asks nonchalantly.

“y-yeah, just… caught me off guard with that, kento” he hears an additional ‘thankfully yuuji is not here’ and as soon as you’re done you apply some lip balm and brings it to him as well.

“no, that’s too glossy” he stops you.

“gojo uses this one too” he knows you say this with the intention of telling him it’s not too feminine but he now despised the little tube even more, “bad argument sorry” you hold his strong face and pepper his lips a couple of times to transfer the lip balm on your lips to his “there you go”

“that’s low even for you” he protests but doesn’t rub it off.

you make your way to your side of the bed, laying on your stomach with your head at the end of the bed catching your phone and scrolling through socials. your husband’s hand naturally finds the back of your thighs, rubbing the skin of your legs softly while reading.

“i scheduled my wax appointment for monday” you try to justify your cactus-like legs.

“you know i don’t mind” indeed, he keeps rubbing the back of his hand on your calf, finding comfort in the way your barely grown hairs trickle his skin, you murmur something about him being too good to you and focus back on your phone.

nanami finishes a chapter and quietly closes his book, he now pays full attention to you and the privileged view he has of your ass and the cute underwear peaking from the hem of your tiny shorts.

“darling? i think my lips could use a bit more of what’s on yours.”

[spdrvyn]

7 days until valentines

as compensation for my lack of posts, here's a short blurb of miguel with an autistic reader! i'm projecting really hard though

Miguel didn't know where the transition from his to 'our' workspace had begun. It was the little things, you'd leave a small cup with pens in it at his desk without bothering to pick it up after you leave his office. Eventually, that cup became a real pencil holder now you had journals, notebooks, and basically everything that wasn't work related neatly cornered into one part of his desk home with the scattered papers and unfinished gadgets Miguel has.

You also make home at his desk, efficiency was one of your strengths, but your productivity reached maximum capacity whenever you were with him. No words were spoken while the two of you worked, Miguel greatly appreciated it.

Not that he'd mind a little bit of small talk, but he enjoyed silence without feeling like the loneliness was clawing at his insides.

Though normally you (almost inhumanely) finished your work way earlier than he did, but you didn't leave. No, you didn't.

This habit of maintaining his presence while you're off doing something kept even when you were pursuing your own personal interests, Miguel would catch you on your laptop chatting to your friends whenever he had to check something on one of his monitors.

Other times, you'd have headphones on. Listening to music or catching up on one of your shows, your reactions are as muddled as they can be to not disturb. But one moment, he'll look away with you completely deadpan then look back to see your jaw widely agape and pupils blown wide from devastation.

Tonight was no different, if anything more convenient for you because a new episode of this unnamed media just dropped. Admittedly, your expressions and small noises entertained him as he worked. You did try to be discreet, but that super hearing of his could pick up on your small gasps and 'aww's on opposite sides of a workspace.

His concentration is broken when you practically slam your laptop shut, packing your earbuds into their case with an audible snap. You hop off of your place and solemnly walk over to where Miguel is standing, he quirks a brow at you.

Uncharacteristically, you slump your head against his shoulder with the biggest frown he's ever seen you in. "They're not getting back together, Miguel."

"Oh?" maybe feeding into your theatrics wasn't a smart decisions, but analytics dulled in comparison to whatever was going on inside your head. "Who?" he continued to interrogate.

"My only reason for light and happiness, my true inspiration for spreading love and joy across every corner of the multiverse." Miguel rolls his eyes. "Do not give me sass right now, I am so upset."

He genuinely can't tell if you're joking or not, perhaps a mix of both. "I don't get how I'm supposed to sympathize with this ex-couple when I don't even know the title of their story?"

"It's a cartoon. You'll laugh."

"Cartoon or animated?"

You quirk your eyebrow this time. "Huh?"

"I'm asking you, cartoon or animated? There's a difference, animated features aren't always classified as cartoons. Cartoon is more of a term for animated medias directed towards children. Aren't you the one more adept at this topic?"

He looks at you with an almost-smirk. It's teasing at his lips, full and plump. There are many sensations that you hold resentment for, but one you've always wanted experience is Miguel's lips against yours. The ultimate sensory triumph, all you've been waiting for.

God, you want to kiss him.

"Yeah, I- uh, animated. I mean, animated."

"Tell me about it when I'm not trying to keep the world from ending, please?" he grumbles, and you raise your head off of his shoulder. Damn right you'll tell him about it, and probably kiss him after too.

[phoxey]

Decide.

Lusher x Bebe!reader

This is part one, for part two click here

CW: Very angsty. toxic. homophobia.

AN: This is the Angst oneshot i promised my favourite Anon. Enjoy!

Seoyoung and you were known as the power couple within Bebe. You two had known each other since you were toddlers, your moms being best friends and neighbors. It was only natural for the both of you to become the same. You were best friends through both of your entire school careers. You two even started dancing together one day.

During Highschool you two got impossibly closer, through your family abandoning you as soon as you came out as a lesbian to them. Seoyoung’s family took you in and not much later you ended up confessing your feelings to your best friend, who promptly became your girlfriend. You became inseparable.

Your relationship wasn’t public, but SWF2 fans were quickly catching up on the sweet little interactions between the two of you. There were rumors about the two of you immediately after the first episode aired. But with the rumors, the comments started.

Lusher wouldn’t be with an ugly ass girl like her…

Fucking lesbians,,, so fucking disgusting

Lusher is wayyyyyyyyyyy too pretty…

Bada x Lusher >>>>> YN x Lusher

YN doesnt have a good character or visual… don’t know what Lusher sees in her.

And those were only the tame comments, that didn’t get filtered by the algorithm. You could also see the comments and DMs, that the public didn’t get to see. Wishing Lusher would break up with you, suggesting Lusher cheating on you with Tatter or Bada, death threats even…

They took a toll on your mental health, even though you knew that Seoyoung would never listen to the comments. She even told you to not mind them.

“It’s hard not to mind them. They are practically screaming it into my face.”, you sighed.

Seoyoung took your hand. “They will stop one day, I promise. After SWF2 is over, they will probably lose interest in us, so we just have to make it until then.”

She smiled gently and kissed your intertwined fingers as tears rolled down your face.

“We will get through this, okay? I promise.”, she said and you nodded slowly, giving her a weak smile.

But the comments didn’t stop or get less. They only got more.

They made you hyperaware of your every interaction with the members and especially Seoyoung. You tried keeping your distance and control your face around her. She usually always made you smile with her mere existence. But you couldn’t help hearing the comments. They were haunting your head, day and night.

Every time Seoyoung initiated intimacy you blocked her off, you weren’t in the mood. Not when the comments only said that she was too good for you.

During dance practice you were exhausted easily and hotheaded. You choreographed one part of the mega crew mission and were so short tempered that you even ended scolding Cheche and Kyma so harshly, that they ended up crying. Bada grabbed your arm and dragged you out into the hallway.

“What the hell was that?”, Bada said angrily.

“What? They kept making mistakes!”, you defended yourself.

“So? No reason to scream at them!”, Bada answered.

“I have explained it over and over. It’s not that hard, they should get it.”, you huffed.

“You know what? I think you can’t teach your choreography well right now. I think we should change the choreographer.”, Bada said.

You widened your eyes. “Bada! You can’t do that!”

“I can! And I will… I am the leader. And I will do what is best for all the girls. You are not in the right mind to choreograph.”, she said and went back into the practice room.

Frustrated you walked into the Bebe hideout and kicked against the couch and threw a pillow into the corner of the room. Fuming you stood there for a moment.

You heard the door open and felt arms wrap around you, but you immediately pulled out.

“Don’t touch me, Seoyoung.”, you hissed.

Pain was in her eyes. “Who are you?”, she whispered.

“Seoyoung, don’t fucking do this to me now.”, you groaned.

“Do what? It’s true! I can’t recognize my own girlfriend anymore!”, Seoyoung said calmly, her face changing from sadness to anger.

“Well, then maybe you should listen to your fans and finally break up with me, since I’m such an insufferable human being.”, you huffed.

“Please. Don’t be like that. You are being unfair.”

“I am being the unfair one? Really? I have been holding out! Silently accepting their comments. You don’t even see how the affect me. You just go around and enjoy their love and you happily pay the price. You pay for their love with my suffering! I think you are unfair.”

“Baby…”

“Don’t fucking ‘Baby’ me, Seoyoung. I have to watch you being friendly to the people that hate me.”

“It’s not like that. Please listen to me.”

“I listened enough. You don’t care about what they do to me.”

“I do! I just can’t change it! Not without admitting the rumors.”

“Then let’s go public. Defend me. Fucking fight for me. Just once.”, you said then.

Seoyoung shook her head, unbelieving.

“We would hurt Bebe if we go public. Just wait a little longer. After the competition, we go public. I promise.”, she practically begged.

“Are you ashamed of me?”

“No! I love you!”

“Then tell the world.”

“Baby, please. Bebe-…”

“Bebe or me, Seoyoung.”

Her eyes widened. “You are not doing this to me right now.”

“I am.”, your eyes were cold.

“You are joking.”

“Decide.”

[jellieland]

So. I've been thinking a lot about the fog, and what it represents, since shubble's latest episode.

---

Clearing up the tower wasn’t too bad, in the end.

Everyone he’s talked to seems to agree that this is his mess. It does, to be fair, seem like something he would do. He even sort of remembers doing parts of it, now!

He also sort of remembers a few people being a bit unhappy about it, so getting a head start on the repairs seems wise.

The mob farm was the worst of it by far, and that’s been dealt with. He’s taken out the skulk – which really is unpleasantly slimy to handle when it’s no longer the same texture as your hands – and brightened up the lighting considerably, which should take care of some of the mob spawning problems.

He hasn’t been able to find where all the catalysts are, yet, but it’s a lot easier to clean up the surface, and then deal with any more skulk when it presents itself. Sure, maybe it’s a little like just papering over the cracks, but eh, it’s functional enough for what they need. Leaving a couple of catalysts buried won’t be the end of the world, and there’s other work that needs to be done.

It’s late afternoon, and he’s putting the finishing touches to a new villager room when Scar comes crashing through the portal.

“Oh, Cub!” He calls, waving enthusiastically.

Cub puts down the lodestone he’s working on and strolls over, nodding a greeting. “Hey. How’ve you been?”

“Oh I’ve been so busy! There was Trouble Town, and Hermageddon, did you see the train I built, Cub? And Grian nearly released a wither there, and they kept trying to get me to choose between them – it’s hard being so popular, Cub, I’m sure you understand – and then I tried to Hotguy Fwhip but it did not go well – don’t tell anyone, that was so embarrassing-”

Scar continues, and Cub listens. He hears about Scar’s many exploits, and looks impressed, and nods, and interjects where appropriate.

“And what about you, Cub?” Scar asks, once he’s finished recounting his adventures. “What’ve you been doing recently?”

“Ah.” He says. He considers it for a moment, then grins. “That would be telling.”

“Oh you rapscallion!” Scar laughs. “Cubfan, man of mystery! Well, you seem to have taken care of that whole possession thing you had going on before anyway. Did you decide you’d had enough, then?”

He remembers, in a vague sort of way, being attacked by Pixl, fireworks painfully loud as they exploded. Standing still in the noise, sword sheathed, elytra folded. And later, sitting in a hole in the dark, comforting hum of the skulk beside him. He remembers sitting there for a long time.

“Yeah.” He says thoughtfully. “Something like that.”

“Well!” Says Scar brightly. “I’m glad we’ve both been having fun, then!”

He laughs. “Me too. Me too.” He pauses a moment. “Really though. I mean it. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” And he does mean it, too. He does.

“Aww, thank you Cub!” Scar looks genuinely touched, although most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between that and his usual sly charisma.

“No worries.”

Scar smiles brightly. “Well, I’m afraid I should be going now! Lots to do, you know. It was good to catch up, though, you were being super creepy last time we spoke.”

“Oh yeah?” Cub chuckles. “What, you’re not saying you were worried about me, right?”

Scar grins sheepishly. “Weeell, maybe a little bit- I know, I know, you know what you’re doing! But still, it’s nice to see you back to your old self again!”

“Thanks, man. Good to be back.”

“Of course it is, I’m here!” Scar laughs, then heads back to the nether portal, waving at him. “Bye, Cub!”

“See you ‘round.”

He vanishes through the portal. He’ll almost certainly be back in a minute or two, since whatever he’d come to Hermitopia for – probably materials – he doesn’t seem to have gotten it.

Usually Cub would wait for him to return so he could mess with him a little bit for forgetting. Maybe put some kind of rudimentary trap or ominous sign next to the nether portal for him to come back to.

Today, though, he doesn’t really feel like it.

In fact… now's probably a fine time for a break, right? That lodestone can wait a few minutes.

He won’t go too far from Hermitopia. If Scar really wants to find him for some reason, it won’t be too hard.

He nods to himself, pulls out his rockets, and flies out to circle away from the tower. All the nearby hillsides are covered in dark, pulsing corruption. He settles on one anyway.

Maybe he should cover over the skulk here as well.

…Maybe it would be better to just leave it. A black mark left on the world is, after all, better than leaving nothing.

He turns, looking out and away from Hermitopia. He finds it odd, looking at it. Being in the tower. Recently, he’s found it makes him feel restless. Empty.

It’s probably something about being surrounded by walls that he thinks he built, but can’t actually recall building. He’s been remembering a bit more, but it’s mostly placing skulk catalysts, or being sinister at people about skulk. None of the other things he must’ve been doing.

He wonders what it says about him, that this is what carried through the fog.

…Probably all it says is that he can get pretty single-minded at times. And that’s not really news to him, so. Well.

One thing he does remember, quite clearly, is looking up and away from False and Pixl, through a haze of confusion and pain and remnants of the potion, and seeing Xisuma looking down on him from the lowest roof of Hermitopia. His expression had been as unreadable as it always was behind his helmet.

He hadn’t moved as Cub staggered around, unable to escape the hollow ache in his chest as the skulk withdrew bit by bit. Xisuma had only watched him from the Hermit’s tower.

And there was nothing wrong with that! There was nothing wrong with that.

There’s just… there’s just a part of him that isn’t too upset that he hasn’t run into many hermits in the past couple of days. A part that’s just a little uneasy about the idea of encountering some of them. He’s not sure… why, exactly. Maybe some residue of the skulk.

Or maybe-

No. No, that’s enough. He cuts off the train of thought, glaring at nothing.

This has happened a couple of times lately. It almost feels as though he hasn’t quite got a handle on his own mind again yet; as though any moment not spent doing something has to be spent thinking round in circles like he’s still wandering through the swamp.

He's sure it’ll die down soon, but in the meantime it’s… well, it’s irritating, honestly.

As he’s frowning to himself, he hears someone landing behind him. Did Scar decide to look for him after all? A moment passes and he turns. “Hey, look, I-”

The sun is directly behind the new arrival, shrouding them in darkness and surrounding them with a halo of light. He squints, and they step forward.

There is, he thinks, for a split second, a hint of something greenish-blue like fog, or moss, or maybe some other greenery, but then- no. It’s just Bdubs, bright as the sun, looking up at him.

“Oh.” He says. “Hey Bdubs.”

“Hn.” Bdubs makes a short noise of acknowledgement, then stares at him for a minute, odd expression on his face.

Cub shifts slightly.

This seems to remind him to speak. “Yeah.” He says. “S’no fun getting left behind, huh?”

Cub considers this for a moment, slightly unnerved, although he does not, of course, show it. “Dunno what you mean, man. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Sure.” He somehow manages to give Cub a sidelong look while still facing him. “Have fun with the skulk?”

Cub narrows his eyes a little. What’s he angling at? “Yeah, sure. Wasn’t too bad.” He pauses a moment. He doesn’t think he saw Bdubs while he was possessed, though he could certainly be wrong. “How’d you know about that anyway?”

“Oh haven’t you heard?” Bdubs preens slightly. “I’m omnipresent now. On account of how I’m a god.”

“Uh huh.”

“I am!”

“Didn’t say you weren’t.”

“Well.” He pulls himself up to his full height, frowning up at Cub. “I just thought you might need some advice.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!” He crosses his arms. “You for sure need my advice, look at you out here moping.”

Cub raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “Moping? What, I’m not allowed time to myself now?”

“You heard me! Moping! And in fact-” He cuts himself off. “Wait, no. Stop distracting me!”

“Don’t know if you can blame me for that one man.”

“Look! My advice is this!” He gestures emphatically. “You just need to have a positive mental attitude, and then stuff like falling from the sky and dying for days on end, or being trapped in the rift for a week, or, uh, other things, well, they won’t bother you! Take it from ol’ Bdubs, for I am of course oh so wise and smart and powerful.”

Cub looks at him, and doesn’t say anything.

After a few seconds, he deflates slightly. “Oh come on, at least acknowledge that you heard me.”

“…Look, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“Uh huh.” Bdubs folds his arms.

“I’m serious. I know how to deal with these things.”

“Right…” He gives Cub a skeptical look. “So you’re saying it really doesn’t bother you at all that the only people to help you were strangers, because you were bothering them. Not your friends.”

“I kind of know Pixl.” His voice is level.

“Well yeah, sure, but everyone knows him, that doesn’t count.”

“And…” He hesitates, unsure of how far he can trust his memory. “...False?”

“Look, we both know that one’s complicated.”

“Either way.” He says firmly. “No. No, it doesn’t bother me.”

Bdubs squints at him. “If it did, though. With things like this. If you don’t want to get forgotten, you have to make yourself indispensable! You have to make yourself unforgettable!”

“...Ignoring everything else, really don’t know that that suits me, most of the time.”

“Well then you can’t complain when-”

“Was I complaining?” He asks sharply, not quite able to keep his voice as calm as he’d like.

Bdubs opens his mouth, thinks for a moment, and frowns. “Yeah ok, s’ppose you got me there.” He shakes his head as though to clear it. “What I mean, is that you need to make sure someone’ll come look for you. Not everyone’ll do that, you know, no matter how much they care about you.”

As if he doesn’t know that. “Hm. I guess that’s fine as a suggestion.” He shrugs, eyes cold. “If you think you’ll need people to rescue you.”

Bdubs looks affronted, draws in a breath, and- stops. He narrows his eyes. “Well you did though, didn’t you?”

“No, actually.” He snaps.

He feels a rush of anger warm him and decides, quite suddenly, to let it. Anger is always easier, which is why he doesn’t often give in to it. But it’s a nice change of pace from that irritating emptiness in his chest.

“Do you have any idea, Bdubs, how hard it is to persuade an ancient, powerful hivemind that sure, that first potion might’ve half destroyed us, but there’s no way they’re actually a threat, we should definitely just wait for them in this hole for a few hours while they go brew some more so we can taunt them when they fail, which they for sure will, don’t worry about it!”

He glares at Bdubs for a few moments, letting his breathing calm.

“It’s pretty hard. It’s pretty hard, actually, to do that.” He breathes out sharply and gathers himself, regaining his usual composure. “So yeah, sure, they happened to lend a hand.” He waves a hand dismissively. “It felt rude to say no, honestly. But I didn’t need them. I would’ve been perfectly fine dealing with it myself.”

“Uh huh.” Bdubs frowns at him.

“I would.” Cub narrows his eyes. “I- look, what do you want from me? I’m cleaning up, ok? I’m not gonna add any more catalysts to your builds. I’m not planning on going back in the fog, if that’s what you’re worried about …Is that what you’re worried about?”

“…What?”

Bdubs looks… genuinely thrown. It’s not clear why.

“Cub, what do you… why do you think I’m here?” His voice is oddly quiet. Serious.

“I just told you. I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I assume you found some skulk or something and wanted me to deal with it.”

Bdubs’ face does something… strange. “Cub.” He says. “I was worried about you, because we’re friends.”

Oh.

That- huh.

“Oh.” He says. “Well, I. My point remains the same.” He turns away, looking out over the nearby forest.

When he glances back for a moment, Bdubs is frowning. “What… what point was that, again?”

“Look,” Says Cub, feeling, unusually, half-obliged to explain himself, “I don’t really dwell on these things. Never seen the point to it. Just… got reminded that there are consequences for my actions, sometimes. Not often. But sometimes.” He shrugs. “Happens to the best of us, you know?”

“Care to elaborate on that?” Bdubs’ voice gets higher through the length of the sentence.

I’m talking about how I would literally rather be swallowed by the skulk forever than know you thought I couldn’t get out of it myself, he thinks. How I have no reason to complain when being possessed lands me as the villain rather than the victim, because I know perfectly well that’s what I’d rather be. How you all reacted exactly as I would want you to, and decided I wasn’t one of you anymore until someone else fixed me.

“Oh,” He says, “Just… hey, I’m sure you mean well. But you don’t need to worry about whether I could get out of stuff like that by myself. ‘Cause I could.” He shrugs, nonchalant. “And sure, maybe that’ll come back to bite me one day.” He grins. “Hasn’t happened yet though.”

Bdubs nods, slowly. “If that’s really how you feel, though.” He’s still frowning. Cub can see it in the corner of his vision. “Why’re you still here?”

That… well. It’s a fair question, he supposes, even if it kinda stings. “I mean, why not, you know? I wasn’t the one who decided to invite me, I just said yes. Why not keep hanging around?”

“What? I meant here as in here skulking on a hillside.” He sounds suspicious.

“I- right. Course.” He shifts a little, embarrassed.

“…Well?”

He opens his mouth, closes it again, and internally curses his hesitance.

“Cub.” Bdubs pauses a moment. “Why did you seem so surprised that I might be worried about you?”

“Oh, just. Y’know. Like I said.” He folds his arms and stares intently at the nearest tree. “Consequences.”

Bdubs sighs. “Can you just speak like a normal person for one minute and not like someone who’s gonna ask me to answer their riddles three?”

At that, he grins. Laughs. “Bdubs.” He says, lightheartedly reproachful. “Of course I can’t.”

Bdubs grumbles a little under his breath. “…hrm, nearly forgot who I was talking to.” He mutters, mostly to himself.

The stand in silence for a while. The bright glow of Bdubs’ cloak makes for an interesting contrast with the skulk they’re standing on.

 Cub continues to ignore the hollow space in his chest.

“We’re probably headed back soon anyway.” He says, turning back to meet Bdubs' eyes. “And then we can forget about all this…” He gestures dismissively at everything, “Stuff.”

“Can we.” The words sound heavy.

“Sure.” He shrugs. “You remember season eight.”

This time it’s Bdubs who turns away. “Course I do!” He says in a way that’s supposed to be light. “What an ending, right?”

Ending. Right.

He remembers season eight, a bit before the end. Fighting mobs in the dark, exhausted, surrounded by open lava rivers and deadly spikes of rock that he had spent so, so long painstakingly crafting to look both impressively intimidating and perfectly natural. In the end, they had probably killed him more than they had anyone else – he was the one who had to live with them, after all. Most of the others just started avoiding the canyon, eventually.

He remembers Scar, nearby, just on the other side of the towering mountain range that he had built along with the rest of Boatem. It was a beautiful, impressive collaborative build. Cub admired it. He did.

He remembers visiting one day and Scar, grinning, eyes alight, recounting with great relish the most recent way he and Grian had hurt each other, over on the latest death game server.

Cub never got the appeal of that, really. It was odd – on the surface it seemed almost made for him.

It was true that chaos was his raison d’être, his lifeblood, but it was always chaos in his own form that he lived for. Carefully prepared, curated chaos, that he could conduct and master without the risk of failure. He did his best not to show it, but he was never as good at improvising as he’d like to be.

But Scar was always an excellent improviser. As was Grian, apparently.

The end of the season was hardly noteworthy, really.

He had, after all, escaped on his own. And Scar had not.

“It’s distance.” He says. “It’s handy, most of the time. Does have its downsides, though. I mean, most of us left each other behind in the end, didn’t we? That’s just how it is.”

Bdubs still isn’t looking at him. The line of his shoulders is tense. “That doesn’t mean we don’t all love each other.”

He frowns. “Love,” He says, exasperated, “Is just grief that hasn’t happened yet.”

“…Yeesh.” Bdubs looks unnerved. That’s not surprising, really. This is probably the most maudlin Cub’s been around one of the other hermits in… well, ever. After a moment though, he looks up. His expression smooths out into the most serious Cub’s ever seen him. “Is that bad, though?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Grief. Is it bad?”

Cub rubs at his chest absently. “I mean it’s not very useful.”

Bdubs stands there, quiet. Glances up at the sky. The sun has been setting for a while, now. He sighs. “Does it need to be?”

Cub is silent.

“Anyway, it’s the other way round too.” Bdubs shrugs. “Grief is just love, afterwards.”

He looks at Cub, for a minute.

“These things.” He says, and glances down at the skulk, then back up. “They take stuff that’s already in you, and make it stronger. But it goes away, eventually. I promise.”

And with that he nods at Cub, pulls out a rocket, and flies away, presumably looking for somewhere to sleep as the light dims further.

Cub stays out there until the night turns to day, and then heads back to the tower.

When he arrives, Xisuma is there, looking through the barrels and making various dissatisfied noises to himself.

“Hey X.”

Xisuma looks up. “Oh, hello, Cub. You’ve been busy, haven’t you?” He gestures at the room Cub’s mostly finished building. “It’s looking good, my friend!”

“Yeah, I’ve been working on it. Lot to do, you know?” He starts gathering the last bits and pieces he’ll need to finish up here.

“Oh, very much so. We’ll all be needing to wrap things up soon, won’t we, with Grumbot on the way!”

“Seems so.” He nods. “By the way, don’t suppose you know what Scar was looking for earlier? He left without doing anything.”

“Oh, I dunno. Last time I saw him I think he was looking for you.”

Cub stops. “Oh.” He says. “Right. Yeah. I probably should’ve known.”

Xisuma tilts his head quizzically. “Did he find you, then? I think he was a bit worried after all that skulk business.”

“Yeah.” He laughs, just a little. “Yeah. He did.”

(Later, Scar comes back over to boast about being both the Deputy, and the First and Most Important hermit who should therefore obviously be in charge of the tower, Cub, I mean look at me!)

(It’s nice.)

[raw-law]

thank you L for encouraging me to share my dramatic life i think i will occasionally save these stories as i remember them✨

starting off with "how the FUCK did no one catch on that i was autistic" a series of mini stories from like- elementary school.

so when i'm like 6, my mom got custody over me during the school year (we will get into when/why they weren't living together and got divorced in another story) and that meant i had to leave behind my old tiny small-town school where i spent kindergarten. a lot of schools have this like- open house thing where kids can see their new classrooms and such, and i was at this open house, sitting at a desk in my new classroom and not looking at the other things around the room. so obviously the teacher comes up and asks how i'm feeling, and i respond by looking at her VERY seriously and ststing that i was "very concerned" about the upcoming school year. small reminder, i was 6.

around 2nd grade was the time i got SUPER into pokemon. like i was utterly obsessed from the moment i watched a couple episodes on my mom's ipad before bed. i liked many pokemon, but if i had to pick one, i would have picked pikachu. my mom got me a small pikachu plushie as a tooth fairy prize (there's an interesting story there too, believe it or not) like about the size of a hamburger. i LOVED this pikachu plush (and still do) and carried it with me everywhere. i cuddled with it every night. i had a frantic meltdown any time i didn't know where he was. and that was my first comfort object. i kept carrying him with me up until like 6th grade, where i went to only taking him to things like therapy or doctor's appointments because those places are scary, yet i still need to know where he is to feel okay.

the second comfort object was this pikachu jacket my mom got me from target one day because i begged her to. as soon as i got home, i Immediately put it on and went to watch one of the pokemon movies with it zipped up, hood over my head, my knees to my chest. my mom still has a picture of me from that day. and good god, i wore that jacket EVERY day, carrying little figures around in the pockets, and NO ONE could get it off of me. even in the middle of midwest summer. and as such, it got super ratty and dirty, but i refused to let it get replaced until mom finally just had to do it because it was 'unsalvageable' as she put it. keep in mind, maybe somewhat odd but excuseable behavior for a young child, but i had this jacket up until 7th grade when my mom finally managed to wrestle it away from me and replace it.

i have more similar ones but this ask is getting godawful long, i'm cutting it off now lol.

-rainbow dash

L:

my god.. this is. very amusing.

i feel like any child with an oddly sophisticated vocabulary and an odd obsession with pikachu should automatically be suspected of having the autism™. it's just too on the nose at that point.

i guess i can use this as an excuse to relate and share some weird things i did as a child.

i think i brought up the mancala set i had before in another ask, but i don't know if i properly emphasized how much i really liked that game. because, i think when i was around 7, i met a girl who liked mancala as well, so we would only ever play that each time we saw each other. i wasn't good at talking to other kids my age, so playing together was the only way we could really have conversations. it was just easier to communicate through the game. but then one day, for a reason i can't remember, i got really mad at her halfway through a game, pulled the board to where she couldn't reach, and started playing the game by myself.

she then proceeded to stomp on my foot, say i was stupid, and she refused to play mancala with me ever again.

i'm not sure if that was proof i was autistic, but at the very least i knew it was when i realized i liked girls. so.

i suppose i haven't changed much.

Light:

Um.

I'm very sorry, but I can't relate...I'm very neurotypical, so.

But I did rather enjoy listening to both your life stories. RD, kudos to you for managing to weasel a little of Ryuzaki's back story out of him. I'm very proud of you for that.

And I'd love to hear more of your stories, RD! Feel free to share them anytime, or when you're comfortable too.

[tinyshinysylveon]

I just saw on Google that Ochako confirmed that she is in love with Deku in the manga, is this true?

I'm really behind on the episodes, believe it or not I didn't even have the courage to leave the first episode. Yes, I ship BkDk, I'm following it through the community, you make me have hope, even though half the famdom hates this beautiful ship, I know there's a possibility that it's fake, I don't know, but I was sad about it.

I'm sending this ask to all BkDk analysis professionals, as you can see I'm a bit desperate, don't be surprised if you see this ask on other profiles!

(I researched more, it seems like everyone is against BkDk, even though the manga gives so many signs), can you explain it to me? what are the possibilities that BkDk will be canonized?

wooo i finally got time and caffeine to answer (sorry anon for the late reply!) -- i just realized you sent this ask to me bc you consider me a "BkDk analysis professional" and i am very flattered except i feel like i'm not one you say i am lol but thanks for the thought tho anon, so for you, i'll try my very best! ;;;;;

disclaimer: sorry for any spoilers if you decide to read on!

Anyway, when I saw that first question, I was so confused in the beginning because I didn't remember Ochako confessing to Deku that she's in love with him. However, I did go back to search it up and she did confess to Toga that she did fall in love with Deku (chapter 394) esp when Toga and Ochako had a heart-to-heart convo.

(i had to go for the raw ver. so that i can see what she says in japanese but it is basically the same as what it says on the translated ver. "...then, I fell in love with Midoriya Izuku and now, that's why I'm here to stop you!")

This chapter tho literally has togachako moments all over it! She was trying to reach out to Toga by revealing what her motives were and how they had changed from being a hero, not just bc her fam has poor income and she needed the financial stability, but for others (mostly influenced by deku) as well and that's why she's willing to even "reach" out a hand to Toga and listen to her feelings. (anon you made me read that chapter again and i'm in literal tears because i remembered she told toga she has the "cutest smile in the world" in the end aaa my heart asdfghjkl) Now, I'm not going to ignore that she revealed to Toga that she has feelings for Deku (even in the manga/anime, she's so obvious with her feelings by blushing, ashido teasing her, etc.) so we technically already knew from the start. It's just that she admitted it now, not really surprising tbh.

BUT, we have yet to know what Deku's feelings are in the matter or if he even reciprocates them. As far as I know (or I have seen so far), Deku literally gets blushy or embarassed around girls whenever he gets near them (like the time with hatsume accidentally landed on top of him) because he is still just a teenage boy with hormones who probably rarely have close girls as friends until he attended UA.

Please keep watching anon! Ngl, I actually had the same thought as you back then, but then I kept watching and watching until I finally caught up with the anime and manga. Hori does not disappoint when it comes to the BkDk dynamics, especially in the most recent chapters in the manga which I won't spoil for you, but it is definitely worth catching up to! I highly suggest you keep watching because season 6 by far has one of the best top moments I've ever seen that happened between bkdk. Also, a lot and I really mean a lot (bc I have posted a couple of bkdk posts back then when s6 was still airing so i read reblogged tags and chats lol) have even acknowledged that bkdk could actually turn into something special esp from the ones that were against it from the beginning. This means not everyone is against their relationship as you say they are. If anything, the people against it have actually lessened and the ones that are still hell-bent on being an anti are probably the ones that never read the manga, watched past season 1, knows that this is the top-ranked ship in mha and feel threatened it'll get in the way of their respective ship for bk/dk or just plain homophobes. I've never seen or recalled someone putting together a whole essay of why bkdk can't be together, other than, "he bullied him" or "guys can't get together in shonen anime!" or some other dumb reasons.

As for the other question, "what are the possibilities that BkDk will be canonized?" All I can say is anon, we just need to have hope for Hori to provide us that in the end honestly ;; Don't get me wrong, I love BkDk as much as the next person since I shipped them right from the start of episode 1 but I would still love it if Hori gives us a little panel at the end where they're working together in the same agency or damn, staying together as roommates under the same roof. He didn't even have to make it obvious, just make it indirect while us bkdk audience can fantasize about what's really happening behind closed doors while the others can think of it as them being platonic roomies asdfghjkl In any case, through my 'bkdk rose-colored glasses' tho, my answer would be a huge chance of them being canonized because of how much their relationship and character has grown so so much from the impact towards each other since s1, especially from Katsuki's end (i would love to show you the moments, but idk if i should spoil ;;;), but with the glasses off, I'm just really hoping it goes to that direction where Hori is one of the few authors that does it because I'm sure there are other shounen mangas out there that have their protags get together with the same gender, although subtle, but are not as popular as Hori's work.

Now, I would like to end this with a comment, please don't give up on shipping BkDk. You may feel like you're a minority who ships them, but we're actually a big growing community (esp in ao3 and djs) with just a lot of haters (mostly from the western side) because Hori gives us more of the spotlight and a whole lot of character development since the start of chapter one. I would say it doesn't really hit you for being proud to be a bkdk shipper until season 6. If you see it, you'll know what I mean because it still makes me tear up to this day ;;;

so here's to hori and to many bkdk moments we'll get in the future (hopefully in the upcoming movie!) and thank you anon, fellow bkdks, or prob other random but curious passerbys for coming to my boring Ted-talk haha

also here's dk looking at kacchan and kacchan looking away (๑ᵕ◡ᵕ)

[march-harrigan]

Feel like talkin' about my top 3 Jervi now. I don't mean top 3 like a ranking list but rather, these three Hatters are tied for first place in my heart. I love damn near every Jervis I've come across but these. THESE are the ones I'm thinking about constantly. Since they're all equal, I'll just post them in the order that I 'met' them. Spoilers ahead.

BTAS

Baby's first Hatter. I make it no secret on here that I'm an old fogey. Batman: The Animated Series got it's start when I was just a little thing. A couple of years later, I was watching reruns whenever I could catch them, and one of those was Perchance to Dream. So imagine a little hare, sat in front of the TV. I don't remember how old I was exactly but it was single digits and I could READ. I remember this because I was pissed when Bruce pulled the whole "can't read in dreams" line because I had absolutely read things in dreams. But anyway, probably about 7-8 years old. Now obviously Jervis wasn't revealed until near the end of the episode and we didn't get a whole lot of time with him but I was little, okay? So when I saw a character design I liked or enjoyed a character's voice, that stuck with me. Jervis had both of these things going for him in SPADES. I was very confused by "the Mad Hatter" being in a Batman cartoon but I was THERE for it. Not much later, I managed to catch a rerun of Mad as a Hatter and that cleared a few things up for me. By that point, I was smitten. His pretty blue eyes in the first half of the episode(god I wish they'd kept that), those big teeth, his SMILE, Roddy McDowall's voicework. And in some ways, even though I knew he was doing bad things, I kind of felt for him. Even as a kid, I could kind of recognize when a character was tragic. I just didn't really have the words for it at the time. I'd go through phases, in and out of BTAS throughout my childhood. But any time I could catch one of his episodes was an absolute joy for me. I fully admit that part of this one is the nostalgia goggles. But I truly do love him as well, especially as I've gotten older and better at analyzing why I like him, even coming to relate to him in some ways(mainly the hyperfixation on and tendency to withdraw into fictional worlds. I know this applies to all versions, but this is the one I grew up with and where the comfort of someone who was 'like me' in that way began). I also relate to the meek persona he shows early on, and the eventual temper more than I probably should. I've gotten better at managing it. But it's safe to say I've been the quiet guy with the eventual hare trigger temper. If there's one positive thing I can take away from my shared experience with him, it's that I've learned to drop the facade and be as cring-I mean WHIMSICAL as I want to be.

Arkham Games

You have NO idea how excited I was when I heard that Arkham City had a Mad Hatter side mission. My main goal when I started the game, even after doing the research and finding out how many I would have to play, was to get to him. I was definitely in it for the Riddler challenges as well, but Jervis was my top priority and bonus points for the audio logs(have I mentioned I hate every iteration of Hugo Strange I have seen to date?). I was... Disappointed? But not by Jervis himself. No, Jervis was absolutely delightful. From his dialogue, to the way he moved, and right down to his disheveled appearance. And lord knows Peter MacNicol's voice has an effect on me. This man does 'crazy little bastard' SO fucking well. Not just the voice but the mannerisms were absolutely flawless. I listen to Arkham Hatter voice lines at bedtime just so I can go to sleep in a good mood. He makes me giddy and giggly and I don't even know what else to say on the matter! No, the reason I was disappointed was that the side mission was so short! The cutscene leading into it was enough to have me instantly smitten with the man, only for it to be a short beat 'em up section. My heart hurt for him when I unlocked the audio logs. Just listening to Strange actively and purposely making Jervis' mental issues worse(Did I mention... I hate Hugo Strange?). After that I played Origins. I think it did better in giving us more Hatter content(uncomfortable ending aside). When I climbed out of that sewer and those rabbit mask goons started singing, I was CACKLING. I was SO excited to get into another Hatter mission, just hoping this time I'd get more and it delivered! Finally getting to go into the hat shop I saw in Arkham City, the 'sir' dialogue, taking screenshots because I wanted to capture how fuckin' SHORT he was. All leading into a fun and beautiful Wonderland platforming section. My first time through, it took me a damn while because I had to stop and admire every little detail. It might have bee a different dev team, but they went all out to make this section scream 'Jervis'. From the cards replacing the experience bats, to the stone faces and stained glass images of Jervis, right down to the tea river with sugar cubes floating down it. GOD, it was an experience. Also. "No one ever wanted to hear what Jervis had to say, he might as well have been INVISIBLE." That. Should not have given me childhood flashbacks, but MORE RELATABILITY I GUESS. And finally Arkham Knight. This game cemented his place as one of my favorite Hatters in any Batman media. He's gone from a sometimes rhymer to an always rhymer and as much as I hate it, knowing it's indicative of his mental state, I also find it kind of endearing? The interrogation recording with him and Cash never fails to make me laugh and, OOOOH speaking of laughs, his makes my heart flutter. By this point, Peter MacNicol had been cemented as my favorite Hatter voice(not an easy feat when you have Roddy McDowall to compete with). I liked this one because we get to talk with him a lot. SO much good dialogue. And the pop-up book setting of the finale was just... Masterfully done. I spent so much time taking screenshots, admiring all the little details in his face and hands during this section. The sweat and grime and stubble on his face, that little smirk as he turns the page the first time, the painful-looking cracks in his fingernails. Even the fuzz on his fingerless gloves looked good. I usually don't make a big deal about graphics in games, but this? I loved. PS - Diversity win, Jervis is bisexual.

Secret Six

Where do I begin with this one? At first, I read it because I wanted to see him fight Doctor Psycho. But by the end, I was madly in love with this Hatter. So how about the fact that he's introduced fully nude and looking like absolute shit, high off his ass and wrapped around a skull hookah? Or the nonsensical speech patterns that are introduced with that scene? How he manages to simultaneously be a horrid little bastard and the cutest man I have ever seen in my life? And the wide range of expressions that accentuate how awful or cute he is in those moments? The bizarre but honestly funny writing choice that is him being, to quote Deadshot, a 'hat junkie'? And when I say hat junkie, I mean he built a setting into his hat that allows him to hypnotize himself into a state of euphoria. Also, he likes to get naked when he gets high. Sensory thing, maybe? Hell if I know, but here we are. High, naked Jervis. Honestly, they went into such detail with all of his weird little quirks. From the hilarious shit that comes out of his mouth to the fact he was making little hats for his fruit before he ate it. But then in his moments of lucidity, he's easily the smartest fucker on the team. And dangerous too. The fact that he was their secret weapon to block Doctor Psycho's mind control(and keep in mind that Psycho is one of the most powerful telepaths in the DC universe) is enough to attest to that. But then they go and up the ante by showing just what he's capable of when he singlehandedly defeats the Doom Patrol. After all the fun we'd had with him up to that point, it was incredible to see. I like scary men, and in that moment, Jervis was terrifying. But THE big moment that had me in awe of this Jervis was in the final battle. Stabbed with Cheshire's poison knife, finding himself in a hallucination of Wonderland. He's happy there, he's ready to accept his fate until his teammates explain what's happening to him. And what does this little son of a bitch do? He takes the knife out, walks it off, and hunts down Doctor Psycho by himself. And why does he do this? Why, because he thinks Psycho's a little bitch, of course! "When the real fighting starts, you always run. Why is that, do you suppose?" he asks. "See, that's why you'll never make the grade, doctor. Always hiding from the eye of madness." He proceeds to comment on Psycho eating tuna and not flossing afterwards and cuts him with that same poison knife. This Jervis is a genuine fucking badass! But as many Hatter stories do, this one ends in heartbreak and I'm left feeling for him. Man feels like he's finally made some real, genuine friends and gets pushed off a building. I'm not about to join the Ragdoll hate club for that moment(a lot of my faves in various media hurt a lot of my other faves so I'm used to that). But damn it hurt.

[soundsaboutrighttumblr]

Okay, this will be the actual Alex meta ramble, after getting side tracked.

Because this episode 10, and that last after ending scene, really, was the first time we are finally learning a bit more of what goes on in his head, what his motivations are, hearing HIS voice, after we have only learned from the voices of others SAYING that he cares, is kind, is – obviously already taken, if you listen to Bai Lang.

It’s the first time I find myself hooked, because before I was charmed by RJ, but could not make out what made Alex tick. I was waiting to see and be shown, and yes, also happily distracted by the main couple A LOT.

(There’s threefold revelations in that scene: His spoken lines tell about his motivations. Seeing him look at RJ, like that, without RJ being aware, tells about his feelings. His behaviour, his pretend nap, tells about his choices.)

So, Alex, and those last few lines? The analogy of a young animal being curious and unafraid until it eventually must fall into a trap. Of course he uses that analogy for RJ, but it’s not far-fetched, that maybe, maybe the actual unafraid animal once was him, when he was young, and it ended up with a bad experience. (His face when RJ’s notes described him as an older guy that he kissed, lol, thanks RJ for observing that he is actually young in so many ways directly after, you are a wise young one, RJ, who SEEs things and people.)

So now he sees that young animal in RJ, and as an older guy he feels responsible, protective over the young one, who has it still all in his future… I think he is distorting RJ’s experience here, because he might be projecting, his view of RJ and his needs as he judges them might be tinted and romanticized by his own experiences and his desire to protect RJ and lead him, lecture and educate… it’s so good that RJ has a natural and/or hard-earned questioning of that and puts it in relation.

Because RJ already lives through traps and hardships on his own, maybe not romantic ones until now, but he’s not clueless about emotional rejection and how it shapes you, see: his parents.

So. Alex’s dilemma and struggle: What to do? Set that young animal free of yourself because you just might be the trap to hurt them, shoo it away, don’t catch its interest, protect it this way? Or take that doe eyed wide-eyed (a doe? a puppy? something wild to tame, something more domesticated but still untrained?)  animal (home) with you, to not let others harm them?

Until now, Alex has chosen the first one, mostly, he kept his eyes hidden, kept sleeping for all RJ could see, because anything more would have caught and bound too much of that young one’s curiosity, and can he be responsible for that and what comes after? (Ironic, and telling, that this strategy seems to make RJ even more curious lol)

But we know now, after that new version of that scene, and after all that has happened until now, that even back then, he was actually already awake, looking at RJ, delighted by his presence, interested.

That perfectly executed twist of learning his side to the scene, that while from RJ’s and our POV up until now, it looked like he was napping, he was ctually pretending to be sleeping, as this character’s metaphor, eyes closed by choice, unaffected, emotions kept off his face, and we learn that that is not all there is to it.

It opens up possibilities. That maybe he has been putting on an act in some ways all along, that he let us only see parts of it, of his character’s intent and design and the show’s narrative design, and now that we learned that there is MORE, oh, whatever all could that more be or mean.

We learn he cares for RJ in a protective manner, he also cares for his presence, lighting up just watching him work outside.  So suddenly, just with those glimpses of insights into him, options open up: there is the possibility of romantic attraction, like Bai Lang has already attested to him. There might be love, some kind of it, whether that will lead to a relationship, or shouldn’t, we’ll get to learn, hopefully in those last 2 eps.

And with this last scene, I find myself utterly invested, now. This show.

[absentcaryatid]

Jealous Yeosang

An ATEEZ fanfic by AbsentCaryatid

Inspired by Yeosang's Universe TMT quiz answer that he would rather have ATINY look at another idol than catch them going to another idol's concert.

1.2K words, Content note: gender neutral reader, rated all ages, the jealousy is teasing only

~

It was a cozy night in with your boyfriend over. Given Yeosang's fame as a member of ATEEZ, most of your dates were quiet evenings at your place or his and tonight was no exception. After the takeout meal he had arrived with was demolished, you ended up cuddled on the couch watching television together. Revisiting a favorite series on Netflix, you had brought up the first episode of Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung to introduce Yeosang to the series.

You thought he was getting into the show the way he was watching so intently but you were missing the way your devoted partner kept a close eye on your reaction every time the character Prince Dowon showed up on the screen. Finally he could keep it in no longer and paused the video. “That actor is Cha Eunwoo. I recognize him from the group Astro.”

“You are right,” you agreed. “I really like him....”

Yeosang cut you off with a snort. “So you have a thing for the visual in each group? He is taller than me and a model too.” His tone was taunting, but the slump of his shoulders hinted that an insecurity was exposed.

“Are you jealous?” Turning on the couch to face him, you caressed his cheek gently. “As I was saying, I really like him paired with Shin Se-kyung as Goo Hae-ryung. They make a great couple. Seeing them on screen makes me think of us and how much I love you.”

He visibly relaxed, but still looked stressed. “You are not just waiting to move on to him if you get the chance?”

You drew back in shock. “Yeosang, I could never. There is nobody for me but you.” He seemed to recover further until you made an addition. “Sure Eunwoo is handsome, and I like to look at him, but that is all. Okay, maybe I'd also go see Astro in concert.”

Yeosang pretended to be scandalized. “Not only do I expect loyalty as my partner, but as an ATINY as well.”

Wrapping your arms around him you bestowed a deep kiss then drew back. “As a couple we are exclusive, Yeosang, but as a music listener I can make no promises. ATEEZ will always be my ultimate group, but my heart has room for many musicians. You have seen my album collection after all.”

As someone who benefited from the occasional raiding of your extensive music library, Yeosang agreed it was okay to love many groups. Settling back into the cushions once more, you leaned against each other and resumed the series, liking it so much he binged three episodes before falling asleep snuggled into your side. Multiple dates went on like this until sighing together at the expected happy ending for the lovers in the story.

Such frequent time in close contact on the couch had been good to build up a reserve of loving touch to get you through time apart once Yeosang was on tour with ATEEZ. While the video calls and messages left on your phone were meaningful, you still needed ways to distract yourself from missing your adored boyfriend.

The best idea you came upon was to go to an Astro concert. Originally you had hoped to go with Yeosang when your boyfriend was back from overseas tomorrow, but that date was sold out before you could get tickets. While tonight's entertainment had been fun, it was not as enjoyable without your partner there at your side.

Show now over, you sauntered to the bus stop humming your favorite tune from the evening. Your way was lit by the white light stick with vivid purple star declaring yourself an Astro fan. You held it aloft, swaying, as you relived highlights of the performance.  

“Hey ATINY,” you heard a very familiar voice call out. Looking up, you saw Yeosang lowering the backseat passenger window as one of the KQ Entertainment sedans drove by and your face broke out in the largest grin. Opening the door, he pulled you into the vehicle.

Surprised by Yeosang's presence when he was not due home yet, you kissed him all over after being apart for so long. Once he could get a moment to breathe, he revealed that he caught an earlier flight home because he missed you so much. “I just left the airport headed to the dorm and we passed by the concert hall lit up for Astro. To see my own beloved partner walking down the street waving that group's light stick while I am supposedly still out of the country was hard to take.”

Professional as he was most of the time, the manager at the wheel was still heard to laugh as Yeosang mock berated you for going to see a concert that was not ATEEZ.

“It was one thing to have you looking at Eunwoo on screen, that I could endure. But to go to see him live on stage? Cheating on me like that is unforgivable!”

The way you laughed in return let Yeosang know you understood he was only joking. A truly jealous and controlling partner would have been ditched by you in an instant. Instead you both recognized his reaction for what it really was. Envy. Yeosang would have liked being at the concert too if he had been available. Even with his own tour stories to tell, he listened politely as you excitedly recounted everything you enjoyed about the show you had been caught headed home from.

“Sounds like you liked it a lot. Does that mean you wouldn't mind going again tomorrow night as my date?” Your look of joy gave Yeosang the answer he was hoping for. “You have sacrificed a lot for my fame and while I know you enjoy our evenings at my dorm or your place, I wanted to take you out on a real date and that's why I came back on the night flight instead of with the rest of the guys tomorrow. We have dinner reserved at that nice place you have been wanting to try, then front row seats for the second day of Astro's performance.” 

This was one of the many reasons you adored Yeosang. There was so much to him beyond a stunning face and witty commentary. He listened to what you liked and remembered that information to put it to use making you happy. That thoughtfulness went a long way with you because it was your love language too.

The next night as you sat side by side, you took note Yeosang knew all the fanchants by heart. After the fantastic meal he had gifted you the latest version of the Astro light stick so tonight he borrowed your older model and you bobbed them in time to the music. Yeosang was not even bothered when Eunwoo himself blew a kiss in your direction from the stage, especially not when you reacted by squeezing his own hand tighter, landing a kiss to Yeosang's cheek, and thanking him yet again for such a perfectly planned date with the only man you loved.

~

Yeosang Masterlist

General Masterlist

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 20: Rubber Duck

This was gonna be a weird day. 

Every night, I fall asleep. And that's when I have...the dream.

Told you.

I'm late for work, so I drive there in a tiny vehicle. I come out of the elevator and then, I hear something cooking, so I walk across the room to see what's up. And then, there's this girl, who I've never seen before.

"What's up, Henry?" She says.

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

"'Cause, you're wearing a name tag." She was right, I was. So, next, I say...

"What you doin'?"

"I'm steaming beans!" I'm like, "random, but okay". She's hard to find through all the bean steam and just when I almost get to her--

"And that's how my dream always ends. Pretty crazy, right?" Henry smiled at (y/n) and Piper as they sat at his kitchen table, the woman filing her nails and the girl doing what looked like homework. Being the big boy he was, Henry had been colouring in a kid's picture book as he told them all about this absurd dream he kept having, but honestly, neither was paying much attention. 

(y/n) had heard this story before...sort of. She knew bits and pieces from when he'd retold it in the Man Cave and she was only in the kitchen because Mrs Hart had asked her to be there. Yeah, that Mrs Hart, the one she found difficult to like because of unfortunate history, had politely requested her to come to the Harts' house, but those details could wait for a moment. Henry was needy for attention.

"Yeah, super weird." She nodded sympathetically, looking up briefly from her manicure as Piper did the same, only the girl hadn't kept one ear open like her. Well, she might as well get used to catching up with the kid, she was gonna be with him for quite a while it seemed and if she could help, she would. Small problem though, (y/n) wasn't a shrink, she didn't know much about dreams, especially ones filled with bean girls who mystically turn into Jasper.

*the only good thing this episode gave me was the opportunity to look at nice outfits on google to try and find inspiration*

"What? Were you guys talking?" Piper suddenly asked, taking out the earphones that had been blasting teen-pop into her eardrums the entire time her brother had been divulging what plagued him every time he got some shut-eye. That pissed the boy off; he'd spent the last fifteen minutes pouring his heart out to the girls and only one was listening. That sucked. He wanted advice or some kind of interpretation, not the blank stare of Piper or the apologetic shrug from (y/n).

"Were we--Yeah, I was--I told you and (y/n) the whole dream that I had!" 

"About what?" Piper frowned at his snappy tone and moodily threw her cute, red earphones onto the table now that she actually had to listen to him. Ugh, couldn't she just sit here and chill with (y/n), the one she liked because she didn't ask dumb questions? 

"Well, I'm not gonna tell it again!" Henry exclaimed. The story was longwinded and he felt like just saying it again would take all the mystery out of it, Piper should've been listening like (y/n), although saying that, she wasn't offering much counselling either.

"Thank you!" The girl returned to her work, making Henry sit back in a huff that caused his coworker to smile. Brother and sister feuds were always funny, particularly between these two, but then she had to stop smiling and filing because here came her employers for the night, Mr and Mrs Hart. Yep, employers.

"Henry, Piper, your dad and I are about to leave." Mrs Hart called out to her children as she and her husband came down the stairs, holding a lot of luggage. This was the sitch; they were going away for a couple of days and even though Henry was a very responsible young man and had never let them down in the past, they still felt that their home needed some adult supervision. That's where (y/n) came in.

Now, she wasn't exactly their first choice, come on, they weren't very close and the young woman always hesitated to go to the house since she was highly aware that her soon-to-be husband had a thing for Henry's mom. They'd called family, friends, neighbours, but coincidentally, they'd all been busy with holidays, work or their weekend plans, so they'd gradually worked their way to the bottom of the list. And with a recommendation from Henry, how could they go wrong?

She was flattered, really she was, but (y/n) was a bit nervous. After all, she barely knew these people except for Piper and Henry, she may or may not have some disdain for his hot mother and she'd never watched over someone's house for them. At the start, she was sure that Henry would do a fine job in keeping himself and Piper alive and their home not on fire for two days, but then when she was offered twenty dollars an hour just to sit on her ass and watch some kids, she quickly changed her tune. 

Hell yeah, twenty an hour? She'd be raking it in and even if she had to rearrange a few plans and fight Ray off as he begged her not to get into the elevator, she was gonna do it. It was hard to leave the comfort of the Man Cave and her adorable doofus behind but if she thought of this as a vacation, a weekend to recharge her batteries in different surroundings, it wasn't too bad, at least, that's what she kept telling herself.

"'Kay, bye!"

"Okay, later. See ya..." The teens weren't interested at all, they just wanted to finish their equations and giraffe picture. Honestly, they thought this was gonna be great; (y/n) wasn't strict or severe, more responsible in a cool way and they weren't dreading her housesitting, they were looking forward to it. And that's why they didn't care about their parents leaving because they were boring and old.

"Piper, come help me with the luggage!" Mr Hart ordered his daughter from across the room. He was feeling brave today, giving her instructions like that, or maybe he just didn't want to get his suit all sweaty since his wife had packed everything but the kitchen sink it seemed like.

"Ugh, why can't Henry or (y/n) help you? He's the boy and she's a grown-up!" Piper argued back, wishing that they'd just leave already so she could get her school work done.

"Because your father has to give them instructions for while we're out of town." Mrs Hart's tone was final and firm, meaning Piper begrudgingly got up from her seat and plodded across the room to help her dad, leaving (y/n) and Henry at the table. Right, the woman had to earn her twenty dollars an hour and she wasn't gonna get a cent if something or someone was broken.

"Good evening, Mr Hart." (y/n) smiled at the man politely, knowing she had to be on her best behaviour until they left. Once they were gone, that was a different story, although she wasn't the type to party and trash the place.

"Hello, Miss (y/l/n)--" Jake began, already feeling like he was leaving his house in safe hands. From his past dealings with Henry's boss, he knew that she was a very nice girl and even if she hadn't been their first choice, he knew that his kids wouldn't mess about with her since Henry said she was great and to his amazement, Piper seemed to like her. How she managed to pull that off he had no idea.

"Oh, (y/n), please. I'm not that fancy."

"(y/n)...are you sure you're gonna be all right here with Henry and Piper?" It was best to ask, of course. He didn't want to overwhelm the poor girl and if she needed any help, they were a mere phone call away. After all, he'd seen the size of her fianc�� and he didn't want to be on the wrong side of him at all.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine, they're great kids. And if I need anything, I've got you and your wife's numbers." (y/n) promised and offered him a reassuring expression. Rule one, don't let anything get broken. Rule two, don't let Henry and Piper fight. Rule three, no parties. Rule four, don't touch anything unless necessary. Rule five--and so forth. She had it all planned out in that tidy brain of hers and if there was one thing she could do, it was manage someone else's place. Hell, she'd been running a secret hideout for years, how much different was a house?

"Great. Okay, Henry, pick up your phone." And this was where Henry got his instructions. He was gonna be like the second-in-command. Piper was a handful, his parents knew that and even if (y/n) got on with her, they still wanted their son to be vigilant since he was getting to the age where they should've been able to trust him. The woman needed guidance and they wanted him to give it to her...responsibly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Still, it was quite a strange instruction.

"Your phone! I have instructions for you and I want you to get them on video." But when Mr Hart put it like that, it did kinda make sense. He wanted insurance from his own child--a teenager--that was smart. Well, Henry wasn't exactly the typical teen, he only had two friends and he focused on his work more than anything, but still. When the cat is away, the mice will play.

"All right, I'll shoot a video." The boy sighed and got his PearPhone prepared as his dad got camera-ready, (y/n) still sat in between them. Why was this necessary? "Okay, go!"

"Hi, my name is Jake "Dad" Hart. Now, Henry, your mom and I will be in Toronto for three days. Now, follow me, you too, Miss (y/n). I wanna show you both something. Come this way..." Mr Hart smiled at them mysteriously and after sharing a puzzled yet suspicious look, the two complied, following him to the decorative shelving in the middle of the room, the one that separated the kitchen from the sitting area. 

Each compartment was filled with books, knickknacks, a few family photos that (y/n) found adorable, just the general stuff that a family would display in their home - and that included Mr Hart's pride and joy.

"Okay, see this?" He showed them a small toy car, all shiny with its silver chassis polished to perfection and even though (y/n) knew nothing about its significance, she could make an educated guess. It was well looked after and the kind of thing that seemed ridiculous to most considering that it was a child's plaything by all accounts, but she knew it was much more than that. From her experience with her man-child, this wasn't a toy, this was a "collectable", or what normal people called a toy for grown men.

"Yes, I see it."

"It is right there in your hands, sir." They confirmed, eyeing the car with cautious gazes. Yeah, man-babies are protective of their "collectables", especially when they have some ludicrous explanation why no one can touch them, use them or even look at them without explicit permission.

"This is my vintage remote control sports car from the late nineteen-hundreds." Mr Hart's eyes flickered over it like it was his third child or something and that just confirmed her suspicion. No doubt about it, this was one of those and Henry wasn't impressed. At all.

"Wow."

"This is not a toy." There it was, the old saying, right up there with midlife crisis and receding hairlines; the epitome of the middle-aged man. However, even though smiles did threaten to worm their way on their faces, Henry and (y/n) did not break their stony expressions, no matter how amusing his dad was being because sheesh. If looks could kill...

"That is literally a toy." The kid did have a point though. It was just a toy, probably a rare and expensive one, but still. The difference between it and a Barbie doll was just that one was meant for little kids and the other one was meant for big kids...or maybe idiots with credit cards. Who knows.

"While your mom and I are gone, you are not to play with my car." The instruction was clear from the man, no car-playing, message received if a little unnecessary. If she wanted to, (y/n) could go and play with an actual car, a big one with horsepower, not My Little Pony power. Same for Henry, he was way past the "I-see-I-grab-I-ruin" stage, meaning he wasn't a child anymore. He had much better things to do.

"I don't wanna play with it..."

"Play-o, no-no."

"Don't-o, want to." With that settled, Mr Hart then directed his eyes at (y/n) as she shuffled nervously, wondering why all the attention was now on her. Had she broken a rule before they had even left?

"And Miss (y/n), if my car gets broken, you won't get paid tonight or any other night. Not one dollar." Mr Hart told the woman gravely, who was starting to understand just how deep this infatuation with man-child toys went for middle-aged men, but she nodded solemnly all the same. As well as not wanting a stain on her squeaky-clean record, she also didn't want to spend time away from home and her hot fiancé for nothing, she wanted that coin. No car, got it.

"I understand, Mr Hart. No one will touch your to--car."

"Fine. Now, I think your mother has something she wants to tell you." The man moved on, confusing (y/n) for a moment until she realised that he'd turned back to his son, who sighed and looked at the open door, expecting to see his mom there. In the time they had been talking, she'd silently crossed the room and was now standing in the kitchen in all her hotness. Jealousy was an ugly thing yet (y/n) could understand why some men found her attractive, she could almost justify it if it didn't leave a bitter taste settled on her tongue. 

Couldn't she have a bad hair day once? Or catch bubonic plague on the off chance that Ray stopped by to "check-up" on the Hart family?

"Oh, Henry, (y/n), over here!" She called out to them and they quickly angled the camera in her direction so they could get whatever rule she had on video. And this one was gonna be crazy because why else would she behold a goddamn egg? 

"Oh, hey, Mom..."

"Now, Henry, I assume you know what this is." The hot mom started, holding the pale, ovoid thing in between her index finger and thumb. Well, duh, he knew what it was, he had them for breakfast nearly every day but something about her face told him that this was gonna be a lot more serious than most people would deem it.

"It's an egg, Mrs Hart." Well, gold star for (y/n), top of the class as always. 

"This is an egg."

"My deductive reasoning wins again." The woman laughed to herself and Henry shared in her jokey smile, thinking that this was a joking matter, but their grins died down when his mother refused to break her sombre mood. Was it a special egg? Did it come from a lucky chicken? Was the egg the answer to world peace?

"It's hardboiled. Do not eat this egg." Right, no car, no egg, understood. Henry wasn't feeling particularly eggish and (y/n) wasn't a big fan of eggs anyway.

"All right..."

"Don't even touch it." Yeah, like a teenage boy and a grown woman went around feeling up eggs. Honestly, what did they think was gonna happen once they tootled off to the land of moose and maple syrup? Throw the damn thing at the car? "We don't wanna touch it..."

"And (y/n), if anything happens to this egg--"

"I won't get paid, I know. Mr Hart already gave me the drill, so trust me, no one is touching the car or the egg." (y/n) nodded assuredly, giving Mrs Hart a tight smile. Not that she was in the habit of pissing off her employers unless you count Ray, but he wasn't really an employer at this point and she wasn't an employee, more like someone who turned up one day and the rest was happily ever after. 

However, Henry's mom was starting to bug her a bit, call it unresolved beef or a simmering tension but she wasn't a child - she didn't need a lecture, lord knows she'd attended enough of those to know how to do a job properly.

"Good."

"Good for all of us." Henry smiled back at his mother with uneasiness plastered across his cheeks and he patted his friend on the back as the interrogation was over and Mrs Hart went to put her precious egg back in the fridge. She probably had biometric security on the thing to protect it, not that anyone would ever steal it or know what they were looking for.

"Okay, Henry, Miss (y/n)!" And there was Mr Hart, not with instructions this time, thank God, but still, there was something he wanted and the kid was still recording. Something they'd missed?

"Yeah, dad?"

"Mr Hart?"

"While we're gone, no parties." Well, that's more like it. That's more like what (y/n) had been expecting; she'd watched enough crappy romcoms about college students living it up on campus and throwing parties in their parents' house to know that life sometimes truly imitates art - and it gets ugly. 

Tee-peed everything, holes in walls, naked people in the guest bedroom, a bathtub full of cheap beer, looted jewellery, vomit in every plant pot and unspeakable little presents left behind in the beds since the toilet gets clogged with trash. Any homeowner's worst nightmare and for the next few days, she would be the proud defender, the guard standing by their castle. That's what most housesitters and teensitters have to do.

"I won't have any parties."

"If he even thinks of the word "party", I will make him regret it, Mr Hart." And she wasn't kidding, not if the stern, squinted look she threw Henry meant anything. Come on, twenty bucks an hour over three days, that was gonna be one hell of a payday if she did everything right and she kinda needed the money or at least, she wanted it. Badly.

"The only guests you're allowed to have in this house are Miss (y/n), obviously, Charlotte and Jasper....actually, just Charlotte." Mr Hart corrected himself after a few minutes of thinking. Having known the boy since he was a small child, he knew all about Jasper and the chaos that ensued when he was around, plus he just had a general dislike for the kid, so he wasn't welcome in his home.

"So, how are you guys getting to the airport?" Henry asked, trying to work it all out in his head. A taxi would be too expensive, especially if his parents were already paying (y/n), and they could drive themselves because that would mean having to pay to park at the airport, so, where did that leave them?

"Piper's driving us!" Child labour. That's how.

"'Cause I have a driver's license!" The girl smiled into the camera and flashed the fake I.D that had been sent to her so long ago. At least it felt like so long ago and practically everyone knew about it know, except for the government, but that was the whole point.

"Yeah, which they sent you by mistake," Henry argued, trying to gain the argumentative high ground since he was a teeny bit jealous that his sister could drive and was good at it. Sure, she was a bit heavy-footed with the accelerator but in a pinch, it was super useful.

"Still valid!" She growled and put her beloved license back into her bag as Charlotte of all people walked up next to her, which Henry hadn't been expecting. (y/n), being the superheroine badass with all the super-spy knowledge stuff that she'd acquired and what they'd just told her anyway, knew why they were there, but he didn't and certainly not smiling at his sister.

"Oh, hey, Henry! Hi, (y/n)!" The teen girl smiled and waved at the camera, behind which Henry pulled a confused expression.

"Oh, hey, what are you doing here?"

"After I drop mom and dad off at the airport, we're gonna go see a movie. (y/n) was gonna come but she bailed to stay here with you." And the secret was revealed. Piper looked at her brother with an accusing stare because little did many people know, but this wasn't a new thing. The girls made up a friendship group and the youngest sure didn't like it when her nice, older lady friend was taken away by someone like her dumb brother or that dopey fiancé of hers, even if they were couple goals.

Ever since that day when they went to see Galaxy Wars, way back when (y/n) would've disintegrated into atoms if someone told her that one day she'd be engaged to Ray Manchester, they'd been enjoying time with each other, like a small girl squad. The Man Cave was fun and all but sometimes, the woman and Charlotte needed to get out and Piper was a lovely girl when not being pressured to be the "it girl" for social media. 

"With Piper?!" Henry couldn't believe it and under his very nose. Why his sister? She was so mean and spiteful and horrible, and they...weren't. He couldn't think of any reason why they'd want to be friends with her, let alone spend time and money with her.

"Yes. We work with all boys, y'know, we're outnumbered. Sometimes, we need a break." (y/n) answered snappily, not liking what the boy was implying. Going out with them was fun, no matter what he said, she enjoyed it, they all did, no matter what he said. They split the bill, they saw a good movie, they chatted about everything from boys, to the engagement, to bitches in school, to celebrity gossip. What was not to love?

"Speaking of, you sure you don't wanna come with us, (y/n/n)? You can probably buy a ticket when you get there..." Piper asked the woman, hoping that her last-ditch attempt to bring her on board would work. Her house was so boring, her brother was so dull, why would she come and hang with the girls? Didn't she want to tell them all about her wedding plans and get mercilessly teased about how when she started talking about him she couldn't stop?

"I'm getting paid twenty dollars for every hour I watch this house. Trust me, you two go, I'll be fine and the next movie is on me." (y/n) smiled at them, knowing that whilst the offer sounded lovely a chance to express her deep and profound love for her soulmate without hearing groans or remarks of disgust, she couldn't accept. Something about needing to save for a wedding, minus the tickets and snacks ...

"Okay, Henry, (y/n). Well, we better go so we don't miss our plane." Mrs Hart stated as she returned from her eggscapades in the kitchen and smiled up at her husband. Those two were tricky to read: were they or love or weren't they?

"Shotgun!"

"Hey! I called shotgun!" Yeah, (y/n) thought they were. Only idiots in love acted like children, even if they were a little distant sometimes and perhaps a bit too hot towards other men.

"Bye, (y/n)! See ya, Hen!" 

"Dummy...stole my friend." Charlotte waved to her friends as she followed a stomping Piper out of the door. Eh, she'd cheer up once they were at the movie theatre and if not, (y/n) would make sure the next was so brilliant, it was sure to make up for it. 

Right, that's that. Parents in the car, daughter off to the cinema with a reliable friend, housesitting starts now. (y/n) carefully scanned the room for every detail, every little niggling thing that her temporary employers might pick up on if they got back and it was out of place. From now on she wasn't going to relax, but she sure as hell was on century duty, which begged the question--

"So, what do you wanna do now?" And Henry had some ideas. Or one, specifically one.

~Ten minutes later~

Now, Henry's idea of a relaxing time was not what (y/n) had been expecting, not at all. Screw video games or a movie, he opted to eat first, which wasn't so weird to think about until she was sitting with the kid at the kitchen table with a large, skewered corn on the cob placed in front of her, all buttery and perfectly boiled to eat, plus, a can of Wahoo Punch. Not her go-to meal but still, not too bad...until Henry made it weird.

"You're a real freak, do you know that?" She told the boy jokingly as she watched him place a single ice cube in his glass as if he was pouring himself a fine scotch whisky or something and then, this was the revolting part, started with sweet tea. And he was having both the tea and the punch in some crazy cocktail that frankly nauseated the woman next to him. It was like a quarter punch, three-quarters tea, just enough to turn the liquid into a deep rust colour and it was one of his habits that she'd never get over.

"Don't knock it till you try it," Henry smirked and took a long sip of his perfected beverage, appreciating the blend of flavours that seemed to work so well for him. This was what he wanted, a nice, quiet evening with one of his calmer friends, a tasty snack and no parents to bother him and it was all going so well until an unwanted intruder burst onto the scene.

"Hiya, Henry! Oh, hey, (y/n)!" Jasper slapped his hands down onto their shoulders, causing Henry's tea-punch to erupt in a comical spit-take as (y/n) chocked on corn. Thank god for super-regeneration, otherwise, Jasper would have been hunted down by Captain Man until the end of the Earth. 

Seriously, what was he doing here? The two stood up in surprise, thinking for a split second that burglars or mad strangers were trying to attack them but then they looked at their assailant and were filled with irritation and shock. Of course, it was Jasper, who else would sneak up on them like that and go in for such a heavy-handed approach?

"Dude, what the-- How'd you enter my house and why would you do that?!" Henry exclaimed in anger whilst (y/n) gulped down some Wahoo Punch to clear her throat, but to Jasper, there was no big deal, no panic and certainly no concern about nearly killing two of his closest friends via heart attacks. 

"Well, I waited until your parents were in their car, then I crawled through your window and waited until your mouths were full of liquid and food!" The boy explained happily, making their eyebrows furrow in confusion at how he simply didn't care. All he did was swipe Henry's cocktail as (y/n) began to scold him for being so weird and reckless, after all, scaring the shit out of people is thirsty work.

"Okay, Curly, normal guys don't do those things." She told him, trying to be as gentle as possible since she didn't want to hurt his feelings even though he needed to hear her advice. And she was almost certain that some guys did pull pranks like that, hell, she'd place money on her fiancé being one of those impish maniacs, but Jasper didn't need to know that, not when he already seemed so cocky at being able to spook two sidekicks. They'd faced the scummiest scum that had ever been scum on the planet and yet he scared them, the rush of pride was immense.

"Ah, true 'dat!"

Uh, my drink..." Henry limply pointed at his glass as Jasper took a large swig and fouled the sweet combination by tainting it with his saliva and mouth germs. Well, he wouldn't be drinking any more of that, thanks to him, but they were quickly drawn away from that problem as Jasper set out his ulterior motive for his so-called friendly visit to the Harts' residence.

"So, you ready?"

"For what?" Henry and (y/n) eyed him suspiciously, not knowing what he was referring to or what he was up to but they didn't like it. What happened to the peace from before? Couldn't they have that back instead of this headache?

"Fun! Crazy, weird, teenage fun!" Jasper cheered and revealed the first part of his "let's have fun whilst Henry's parents aren't here" plan. Oh no, definitely not, not on (y/n)'s watch. Now, it wasn't like she wanted to be a stick in the mud, she hated to be the one to kill the joy but fun sounded messy and dangerous and reckless, the sort of activity where things would get smashed and damaged beyond repair to the point where she'd be the one paying Mr and Mrs Hart at the end of their trip, not the other way around. 

"Jasper, whatever you're planning on doing, don't because--why do you have a boom box?"

"Where are you going with my corn? Where are you going with my corn?" They watched in confusion as the teen left his small yet stupidly powerful speakers on the kitchen island facing the couch and then walked towards the sitting area, leaving them to wonder what the hell he was doing. 

Firstly, he was ignoring (y/n)'s instructions, which normally wouldn't go down very well, but there was no Ray here, he could do what he wanted. And secondly, he'd again stolen something from Henry, for reasons yet to be revealed, not that they could do anything about it.

"Just get ready to hit play," Jasper instructed them and marched over to behind the couch as Henry continued to lament about his stolen snack, but that was soon put into perspective when Jasper started shuffling awkwardly and looked at them with a fierce gaze as if he was about to do something incredibly brave and stupid.

"All right..." He nodded and (y/n) tapped the play button and a funky if a little tinny, piano beat started to ring out from the speakers, and dear sweet lord, she wished immediately that she hadn't done so. Taking the first note as his queue, Jasper leapt onto the couch from behind, revealing to Henry's horror and (y/n)'s mortified blushes that he'd removed his pants and was intent on dancing on the damn thing, using the corn as a fucking microphone. Jeez, had he been sniffing something?

"Shake it! Like you're never gonna break it!--" The music faded into a rock classic that normally would've rendered them dancing along with Jasper like they were young and free without a care in the world...if only this didn't feel so wrong and weird. Jasper, the cute, awkward kid that (y/n) had watched grow up was prancing around in bright red, baggy, glittery boxers like an idiot, throwing the corn at Henry and splashing his drink like he'd lost control of his inhibitions. She did not need to see this...

"Oh my god, if I watch any more of this, I will be put on some sort of list..." She muttered and swiftly turn her back on the screen and screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to get a glance at something scarring. Henry could have the show, she could happily live her life without it, especially at how...icky it made her feel. 

Even for Henry, it was weird; he'd seen Jasper do a lot of insane shit, but this was one of the worst, particularly when he collapsed onto the cushions and began to wriggle and squirm like he was having some kind of inappropriate fit.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stop, oh my god, stop!" Henry barked at his friend and silenced the blasting music, having seen enough of Jasper "thinks he's Channing Tatum" Dunlop's performance for one lifetime. Never again would he let his poor eyes see that, even if the image was permanently tattooed onto his frontal lobe.

"What's wrong?" And the hilarious or...worrying thing was that Jasper didn't find any fault in what he'd done and couldn't think of any reason to explain why Henry was pulling such a disgusted face or why (y/n) had her face and scarlet cheeks hidden by her hands.

"That activity you're doing to my couch..."

"Yeah, what about it?" Seriously? Did he find nothing strange about the past few minutes? Not the sparkly red shorts that were so damn short they should've been illegal - honestly, they'd put Daisy Duke to shame. Not the dancing, not the corn-stealing, not the gyrations because what else could they be called? Was none of that weird to him?

"Dude, (y/n) is in the room! Don't do it anymore!" Henry protested, gesturing to the woman standing behind him, who still refused to look. It felt wrong like if anyone found out she'd be chased through town followed by an angry mob with torches and pitchforks, but Jasper didn't mind. (y/n) was like the big sister he'd never had and at this point, she was one of the lads, a member of his crew. They were all friends here...

"Duuuuuuuuuude!"

"That was a long 'dude'," Henry commented as Jasper threw his head back and groaned. This kid needed education on learning to let go of society's boundaries and bullshit expectations. Sometimes, Henry Hart just needed to let go.

"Come here. You too, (y/n), come here!" Jasper hissed, beckoning them over like he was about to tell them some revolutionary, top-secret information that could only be divulged to their ears.  But Henry and (y/n) were a little apprehensive - what if he started dancing again?

"Are you sure it's safe? If I look, am I going to see something I don't want to see?" The woman asked jokingly as Henry reluctantly led her over to Jasper by putting his hand in the crook of her arm and it was only when they were within touching distance that she dared to peek past her fingers. Okay, he was still clothed--only just-- but she could handle the hot pants, just as long as his hips stayed stationary. Jasper put his arm around Henry, who looked quite pale as his fingers clenched around his glass like he was fearing the worst.

"Your parents are in Toronto...all right, that's practically another country." Oh, this kid. He was cute but so...challenged. Still, his friends humoured him and chose to ignore his geographical error in favour of getting to the bottom of whatever the hell he was trying to say.

"Yeah..."

"They've left y/n) in charge of the house..." At least that one was true, however, it didn't reveal any more about what the point of all of this was. Of course, Henry already knew this, it had been drilled into him over the past week or so and he had it on video just in case he somehow forgot. It all seemed so futile.

"Sometimes, you just gotta say...rubber duck."

"Oh, not this shit again." (y/n) groaned as she heard the method behind Jasper's madness. It was this newfangled philosophy of his and he'd constantly used it around her in the Man Cave as an excuse. Spill her ice cream? Rubber duck. Break the supercomputer. Rubber duck. Get tricked into giving a conniving old lady a lamp for free in Junk-N-Stuff? Rubber damn duck.

"Why would I say rubber duck?" Henry asked in confusion, looking at them as if they were aliens. He'd never heard of this dogma before and found it strange, weird, crazy. It was just so random, so Jasper and he felt like he was on the outside of some inside joke or knowledge between them because when they were at work, it's not like he saw Jasper a lot. He didn't go up to monitor the boy in the store like (y/n) did or go to fix the things he broke so their interactions were few and far between. And that had led to some odd things occurring that she had been privy to and not him.

"'Cause! Rubber duck sets you free! It's a way of saying, hey world, I'm gonna have fun! And I don't care what happens...a rubber duck!" Jasper growled into his ear, trying to seem like some shaman imparting his wisdom onto a mere student, one who hadn't yet reached the enlightenment that came from the mystical bath toy known as a rubber duck. That sounded like some hippie bullshit to Henry, who was puzzled by the need to blur simple language with such a strange phrase as (y/n) pinched the bridge of her nose.

Again, not to be a stick in the mud, but in her mind, this rubber duck nonsense was just a way of letting idiots use their get-out-of-jail-free cards when they got into trouble for being too rowdy. And to her, that wasn't cool, that was just irritating to an adult like her who usually had to deal with the aftermath.

"Couldn't I just say that without the rubber duck part?"

"Or not say it at all because it's dumb?" Henry and (y/n) argued and the latter was at least partially happy that Henry wasn't completely sold by the idea, but if Jasper had his way then by the end of the night, he'd be saying it too. And that's what she was dreading; a two-against-one situation.

"No," Jasper replied firmly and took Henry's tea-punch combo away from him because y'know, best buds share everything and it wasn't like (y/n) could complain since she was a renowned beverage thief, even if she only stole from one doofus in particular. And before either of them could complain any further, the doorbell rang, signalling that the night was still young and many more people/challenges were ready to put the woman's housesitting skills to the test.

Just her damn luck.

"Huh, I wonder that is..." She wondered, eyeing the door with shifty eyes, similar to Henry since both of them knew that they hadn't ordered takeout just yet and there were no deliveries scheduled for the next few days just in case taking in a package was too much for the poor, weak dear that Mr and Mrs Hart had left in charge. 

"You'll see..." Jasper, on the other hand, had a shit-eating grin on his face and was looking remarkably shifty as he sipped on his friend's drink and they quickly guessed that he was up to something. They knew a kid with something to hide when they saw one and slowly, they approached the door, too curious to know what was on the other side of the wood to leave the person on the doorstep.

"All right, since I'm in charge, I'll get the door and Jasper, for the love of God, please put some pants on!" (y/n) told the kid strictly, pointing at his exposed legs and shuddering by the glittering fabric that only just covered the top of them. Honestly, she didn't know if she'd ever be able to see the same sweet soul as she did before but a good way to fix it would be to start with hiding away what should have never been seen.

"Rubber duck!" Or not. There was that dumb phrase again, causing her and the blonde boy next to her to turn and flash their serious eyes at him since this was a rubber duck moment - not that they knew what one of those was. 

"Stop saying that!" She snapped, giving him a flash of the anger that rarely rose within her. She very rarely got sharp with the kids, usually, they were angels and sometimes it was easy to forget that Jasper and Henry were teenagers and boys. That made them a bit dumb and arrogant and argumentative, ready for a challenge since they suddenly discovered that they liked biting back, even if they were outmatched. Still, she could keep them in line just about and with him backing off, she opened the door to a new problem.

"Hello, are you Henry? I'm looking for Henry." A chubby man stated as she held the door open and stared at him blankly as he did to her. What the--where had he come from? And since when did she look like a Henry? Why was he at the door? Didn't he know that she had been praying to every god in existence to strike every unwanted visitor with lightning so she wouldn't have to deal with them?

"I am obviously not a Henry." She replied, hoping that the guy would break a smile or move or hell, breathe to show that he was alive and not a wax model, but she got very little in return. The only sign of life was one singular blink, so slow he'd put a sloth to shame, which got even worse when he began to speak again in that monotone drawl of his.

"Are you sure?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty sure and I hope that's what it says here." (y/n) gestured to her face and how she was obviously not the teen boy this man was looking for, but her sarcastic tone did nothing to inspire some energy into him. He ould be a robot, that would explain the slow, drawn-out breaths, or her could be a nutter, that would just about explain everything.

"Uh, no, she's not--I'm Hen...ro." And like her saving grace, Henry was by her side quickly--as soon as he heard his name being mentioned--and now, it was his turn to talk to the guy who thought a beige, suede, unbuttoned waistcoat would go well with a plaid shirt. At first, he was gonna say his name, he didn't see the harm in confirming his identity, but then that paranoid little corner of his brain whispered to him that if this guy was an axe-wielding maniac, would he want him to know who he was if he'd been sent to kill him or something? Definitely not.

"Sounds pretty close to Henry." However, for a man who was pretty slow at speaking, their visitor wasn't too bad at spotting a poor lie, causing Henry to awkwardly smile as he debated just slamming the door in his face.

"Right, but it's different....'cause the O part." Oh, this was painful to hear and watch and (y/n) decided that she couldn't take anymore as she endured Henry's terrible performance, only to hear Jasper sniggering to himself in the background.

"Okay, 'scuse us just a sec..." She gave the man a bright yet false smile as she closed the door in his face, figuring that if Henry was too chicken to do it, then she'd be the one to step forward and give them time to grill Jasper. And grill him they did.

"Who is that guy? What does he want with me?"

"Why is that man at the door? Is he a serial killer? Please tell me he's not a serial killer!" They bombarded Jasper with questions as soon as the wood was in the hole and he scoffed at their worrying, thinking that they were getting way too excited over the little surprise he'd arranged. It wasn't that deep, to be honest, and to him, they were just being ridiculous, especially with the serial killer thing, though, the guy definitely looked like a lumberjack who strangled people in the woods.

"He's not a serial killer, (y/n/n)! I booked us manis!" He grinned, watching as their faces screwed up in thought. Come on, he thought it would be nice, just two guys and one gal getting their nails done because cuticle care is important and maybe it would soften the caretaker of the house up a bit; he was no stranger to the fact that she loved a good manicure since they made her fiancé coo over her shiny nails for days on end - how could she say no?

"What?!" Or, how could they say that?

"That guy does manicures!" He explained, causing the pair to pause. Seriously, the guy at the door did people's nails all fancy and stuff? Talk about confusing appearances...

"Wait, do you mean that that man out there, the one who looks like he would bake all three of us into a pie, he does things to fingernails?... And I don't mean retaining them as keepsakes from his victims..." (y/n) asked, peeking past Jasper's body to see the guy through the glass panel of the door. Jeez, if his skills were correlated to the shock of his job and looks, then he should be a damn good nail tech.

"Yeah, he works at the salon my mom goes to once a year." Ah, yes, the elusive Mrs Dunlop. The woman (y/n) had never met but had heard so much about and none of those whispers into her ears were good. Deep down, she couldn't find it in herself to trust the salon frequented by the woman who by all accounts was a massive weirdo. And she wasn't the only one...

Okay, what makes you think that I would want him to do our nails?!" Henry exclaimed, backing his older friend all the way because what the hell? That guy looked like he could eat him whole and then come back for créme-de-(y/n) or (y/n)-style cheesecake.

"Rubber duck!" Oh, give them strength, he was saying it again!

"That's a bad answer! You can't go through life using a random phrase to excuse every dumb decision you make! Tell him to leave!" (y/n) ordered him, well, politely yet firmly instructed him. Sure, getting a French manicure did sound nice and it would be extra fun to go home and surprise Ray with a fresh set that would make him "ooh!' and "ahh!' over her, but it made her nervous. So damn nervous because this wasn't her house and letting strangers in was against the rules given to her.

"Why should I leave?" Suddenly, the mystery man appeared behind her and Henry and spoke into their ears because that wasn't psychopathic at all. No superhero training could've prepared them for it, not when they suspected him of being a wrong'un and as such, the boy and woman hit the deck with embarrassing squeaks, kinda like small mammals that play dead instead of fighting or fleeing.

"Came in through the back door..." He told them as they sprang back up instantly, already feeling pretty foolish and if the nutjob did strike, then they wanted to be ready to sacrifice Jasper to save their own skins; y'know since it was his idea to invite a madman to the house.

"Okay, sir, I don't mean to be rude, but, uh, I was told by this boy's parents to not let any strangers---" (y/n) began explaining as nicely as she could, hoping that if she was kind and polite, she'd get to keep her head attached to her body, but it seemed like the dude hadn't come alone. And his partner was Leatherface or Freddy Krueger, far from it, the second nail tech was a heartbreakingly pretty young girl, close to the boys' age and for Henry, it was love at first sight.

"Hey...so, whose nails am I doing?" She asked with a flirtatious smile and her hand on a jutted hip. Damn, (y/n) would never get to finish her kick-the-weirdo-out speech because for a babe with luscious blonde hair, big blue eyes and a cute dress like that, Henry would do anything. Screw the murderer man, he wanted that girl to touch his hands and stare into his soul and he wasn't shy about or tactile.

"Mine! Me! Henry! Or Henro, doesn't matter, please do my nails!" Wow, that was subtle, definitely not hilarious for his friends to watch. To be fair to him, he hadn't exactly lucked out in the romance department recently, considering that the last time he showed an interest in a girl, he never heard from her again and what with his Kid Danger duties, he wasn't getting many offers. This angel of a girl had been placed on his doorstep for a reason and he was gonna get his nails done and get her number...or die trying.

"Look, kid, I know you're desperate, but think your mom and dad's--" (y/n) tried to lure him out of whatever rose-tinted love-fest was going on in his mind, but it was foolish to think that she could lure a teenage boy away from a pretty young female. 

"Rubber duck!" And she was left speechless and Jasper was left reeling as he not only left her to warmly welcome the girl into his house, ensuring that he subtly touched the smooth skin of her arm as he did, but he'd also fallen into the dumb trap set by his best friend. Come on, his resilience was pathetic.

"Y'know, I swear I saw something like this on the nature channel once. Something about birds or wildebeest going all goo-goo-eyed for a girl." (y/n) said grumpily, blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes as she and Jasper watched Henry turn up the charm. The girl was allowed to set up her nail things on the coffee table, in fact, she could probably get away with anything when Henry was concerned. He was utterly and totally smitten.

"You mean like the way you and Ray are with each other?" Jasper smirked, chuckling when her mouth opened and closed several times like a goldfish. Damn, checkmate...and it was Jasper Dunlop who rendered her without an argument for the first time in a while.

~

Well, this was cosy. As (y/n) admired her glossy French set whilst they dried, Jasper was getting sat with the lumberjack, who turned out to not be an axe-wielding maniac, just a bit weird. Sure, it was a bit awkward to sit and say nothing as the man filed, buffed and painted, which was a bit unnatural for a nail tech, but he'd done a good job and the woman was very thankful because her hands were now perfectly soft and so pretty. Ray would definitely approve and now, it was Henry's turn.

The boy was sitting on the couch, minding his own business and all the while, he was unaware that he was being hunted. The blonde beauty crossed the room, eyeing him with a mischievous smirk as she stood in front of the fireplace and put her hand on her hip. This kid was cute, she was cute and she wanted to see how flustered he got when she was holding his hands and face-to-face.

"Okay, Henry. I'm ready to do your nails." She said in a soft, alluring tone and the boy stood up with a gormless expression on his face. This wasn't exactly Henry's territory, he had no idea what to do in any manicure situation, let alone one with a girl as pretty as her. Speaking of the girl, as she bent over to rifle through her mobile nail bar case, Henry found himself at somewhat of a loss and extremely nervous, so he did what he thought made sense and offered his hands out to her, just y'know, as he stood next to her. Awkward...

"Do--do we stand? Do I give you my--I don't know what to do." Yeah, he was clueless, but it was also so damn adorable to witness. Since she wasn't exactly busy, just in the drying stage, (y/n) had all the time in the world to observe them as her friend got all sweaty and rubbed his fingers together; this was romcom shit, her kind of entertainment and it was live, almost as if she'd crawled inside her TV and was witnessing the boy meets girl stage. It felt real, and then the music started...

"The first time I saw you, I already knew that you could be mine and I was open for you. Then you took my hand and the sparks that went flying through the air..." Seriously, it couldn't have been more perfect as the two sat down and began to smile at each other with the kind of butterflies in their stomachs that only came from a teen crush. She held his hands so gently and didn't even comment on how they trembled from the anticipation - why did he mock the Man Cave couple again?

"I like you and you like me, together we could be. I bet you would like it, yeah, bet you would like it..." Okay, Jasper had been right, this was a great idea. 

The nail techs were no trouble at all for (y/n) as she sat back and read an outdated magazine she'd found in a cupboard; Henry and the blonde, who'd been identified as Layla, were getting on like a house on fire, swapping hushed giggles that were kept secret from everyone else, whilst Jasper laughed it up with her colleague, also known as Zack. It turns out that an odd boy and an odd man have a lot in common, so the house was cheerful yet peaceful for quite a while until a rather spooky incident occurred.

Out of nowhere, the door suddenly blew open, a new phenomenon that took everyone by surprise since a load of leaves were blown in at the same time. Weird, it hadn't been blustery earlier and the weather hadn't forecasted a storm, so they couldn't place a finger on why the door would swing open like that, but then, it all became clear. Doors only open with human intervention...

"Jasper, turn off the music!" Henry called to the boy as (y/n) left her magazine for later and stood up to go and investigate. If anyone was gonna take on a weirdo at the door, it might as well be her since she would recover from the mad strangling, even if it would be difficult to explain away. Jesus, the leaves were everywhere, no doubt something for her to clean up since Mr and Mrs Hart couldn't come home to a mess, that would just be sloppy.

"Okay, why did that door just blow open?" Henry asked (y/n) as she edged closer, but it was difficult to hear anything over all the noise, which seemed to be getting louder and louder like someone had turned a vacuum cleaner on right next to her ear.

"What did you sa--doofus?" (y/n)'s fists clenched and her eyes started to sparkle as the mystery was solved when Ray of all people came strolling through the door with a huge leaf blower in his hands. 

Okay, she didn't know why he was at Henry's house, but how could she send him away when he was looking so hot? His shirt was perfect, a classic Manchester special--cinched in at the waist and deliciously tight around his biceps. His hair was styled but not overly so, still floppy enough for her to run her fingers through, especially that one strand that never seemed to stay gelled with the rest. He was a goddamn vision, a sight for sore eyes and a very pleasant surprise.

"Hey, sweet girl! Hey, Henry! Look at my new leaf blower!" The man shouted at them excitedly as he trusted the device at them, no doubt knocking a load of stuff over with the powerful gales conjured by his new toy, but he was just too happy to be with his darling girl and best friend again. There was only so much Schwoz and Charlotte smartassery that a man could take and he thought his fiancée might like a little visit since it had been a whole three hours since he'd last seen her. 

The leaf blower thing was just a cover, but they didn't need to know that.

"It's cordless...No cord!" He grinned at them, making (y/n) struggle to hide her smile at how dumb he was. Yeah, that's what he'd been missing, her smile and even more the way she giggled at his goofy ways as he finally turned the thing off and offered an arm out to her - an invitation for her to jump into his arms.

"That's nice, sweetheart..." She grinned at him and rested her hands on his cheeks as they leaned in for a gentle kiss, a welcome greeting after not seeing each other for a while. 

She was staying the night here, had arrived at the house armed with a sleeping bag and some essential toiletries so she could camp out on the couch for a couple of nights, and that was a new thing for them. 

He didn't see the need for her to stay at the house and leave him at home. He hated the idea of going to sleep in their bed alone with more space than he was used to, but she'd insisted, something about wanting to make sure Henry didn't get loopy off sugar and throw an all-night house party. It wasn't exactly luxury and she'd miss him too but he'd be waiting for her to come home, right? That was motivation enough, his spontaneous visits and lips on hers were just bonuses. 

"Who's he?" Layla demanded to know, feeling a little uncomfortable at how the peace had been shattered by this unexpected and unwanted visitor, who was now canoodling with the woman in charge like no one else was in the room. Jeez, she was all for love and it was kinda sweet and they seemed to emit rays of sunshine and rainbows from just how happy they made each other, but jeeeez. They were so touchy and kissy and huggy and....cute.

"My boss."

"My fiancé," Henry answered at the same time as (y/n), giving the girl an idea of what kind of guy she was dealing with here. Her crush sounded tired in an annoyed sort of way, whilst the woman couldn't stop smiling and didn't even take her eyes off her lover once they'd pulled back. It was then that she took notice of the ring on her finger, still shining, still beautiful, even one month after the proposal and it made sense then; they were on cloud nine in romance terms, no wonder they couldn't focus on anyone else.

"That's right!" Ray laughed and pointed his leafblower in his sidekick's face, cackling when his blond quiff danced all over the place and his skin wrinkled from the powerful air. He only did it to get a laugh out of his sweet girl and because he was a massive child on the inside, but when she hit his shoulder and bit her lip to contain her chuckles, he stopped. Henry's bored face said it all.

"Oh, man..." He laughed and turned his head to peck his girl's forehead as he thought about his next move now that he'd annoyed some people. What else could he do that would excuse him from going home prematurely? Was he hungry? Was (y/n) hungry? Free food in the house, free utensils, what'd ya know, he had himself a plan. "I'm gonna go make a sandwich..."

"Raymond...don't make a mess and don't use everything!" (y/n) shouted after him as he plodded off to go and raid the fridge for whatever took his fancy (and whatever he knew she liked), and with her strict instructions, he found himself needing some sweet girl supervision. 

"Or you could come help me!" He suggested, placing the leafblower down on the kitchen counter as he passed it and the woman knew that if she refused, he'd just get pouty. Oh well, it had been a hot minute since she'd seen him, kissed him, felt his arms around her, so why not? At least this way she could make sure he didn't break something or create a spillage that he wouldn't clean up on his own.

"Fine, I think I saw some cheese or lettuce or maybe some ham in the fridge earlier, so what do you w--agghhhh!" Having left the boys to carry on their beauty treatment, (y/n) followed her doofus over to the kitchen, intent on taking a few things from the fridge and hoping that her employers wouldn't mind. 

They said so could eat whatever she wanted, but she supposed that came with the assumption of eating anything within reason. Obviously, they didn't want their fridge to be raided and she wasn't planning on doing that...mainly because she never actually made it to the damn thing. 

Ray got to her first. Rather embarrassingly, she let out a small yelp as his arms encircled her waist and dragged her body back into his, trapped between him and the island. In an instant, his head dipped to push his nose and lips against her neck, a sensation that made her giggle quietly at how ticklish it was, but it wasn't enough to cause suspicion, more like just enough to make him grin against her skin and her knuckles to turn white as they gripped the counter's edge. 

"I missed you." He confessed in her ear, causing her cheeks to heat up and her tummy to flutter when his hands started exploring. With nowhere to go, she just had to pray that Layla and Zack were too focused on their jobs to notice anything going on in a kitchen that was suspiciously quiet to say that they were supposed to be making sandwiches. 

"It's been, like, three hours, doofus. Still got another two whole days to go yet." (y/n) smiled, trying to stomp down that sad twinge in her heart that tried to pull her down too. It was just two days; it really wasn't that long, and although the thought of having no more visits like this one did seem to make the whole thing seem so long and laborious, the bigger picture helped to put it all in perspective. 

Comparing a harmless weekend to ten years of arduous, lonely nights of thinking that her heart was longing for something it would never get gave her her answer. 

If she could wait for a decade, she could make it two nights. 

"I know...don't know how I'm gonna sleep tonight without you next to me." Ray, not so much. Two days, ten years, it was all the same to him. He'd done his waiting, nearly lost his mind from it, and now he hated not having her close. It just brought back bad memories. Like all the times he cursed himself for admiring her in a particularly stunning dress, put himself down for dreaming that she might feel the same way or  when he shed a tear after waving her off on a date that wasn't with him. 

"Well, I could call you and then, we could talk until two AM like those teenagers in Fifty Boys I've Loved Before and do the game where we see who hangs up first." She teased him, reaching back to run her fingers through the hair that brushed against the nape of his neck - just long enough to feel silky smooth and just long enough for her to yank.

It was a novel idea, a situation that only existed with the three walls of a movie where teens wasted their parent's monthly wage on one phone bill but it was so cheesy and so them, (y/n) was up for trying it. Why wouldn't they stay up half the night giggling nonsense into the receiver until their sleep pattern was well and truly screwed? Falling asleep to each other's voices sounded perfect, just like normal and better than any lullaby. 

"And what if my mom finds out I've been calling a girl all night--oh, no way! No way, no way, no way!" Ray's joking around soon stopped when purely by chance, he happened to raise his gaze from his girl's pretty face, y'know simply to check if anyone was watching them, not that he cared, and that's when he saw it. The car. 

He was like a goddamn damn magpie, the minute he saw something shiny and silver, his interest was piqued and this specific treasure tugged at his curiosity like nothing else. It was difficult to choose between his love and getting a closer look, but it was just too great, his brain quelling his heart's objections by arguing that his soulmate was likely to follow after them if they edged closer, so that's what he did. 

Dear god, it was beautiful, not as beautiful as his gorgeous fiancée, but just like he'd seen in those middle-aged men's magazines and boy, did it satisfy the child within him. Come on, it was a toy meant for grown-ups, it was like it had practically been put there for him. The rarest of the rare, a trinket for him to admire but not touch. (y/n) wouldn't allow that. 

"Wait, Raymond, no, no, no, no! Stop touching, no touching, put it down!" She ordered, feeling her previously fluffy heart turn to water as her silly doofus plucked Mr Hart's precious plaything from its shelf so he could check it out. Great, that's just what she wanted, Ray's paws all over it and it's not like she didn't trust him it's just that...she didn't trust him. It sounded mean like that but it was true; he had clumsy sausages for fingers, a sponge for a brain and zero luck, so there was no wonder that she foresaw an accident when he picked it up.

"Dude, that's my dad's! We're not allowed to touch it!" Henry was quick to join in the argument too, having leapt to his feet and left Layla behind when his boss stopped being handsy with (y/n) in favour of being handsy with something else. Yes, they all saw but said nothing, they never did, it was just easier to carry on with the manicures and pedicures rather than split them apart, but now, he was being serious. His life depended on that thing staying intact and functional.

"Well, don't mean that I can't!" Ray grinned at them childishly. He just had to find a loophole, didn't he? It wasn't him getting paid twenty bucks an hour, he didn't care, all he had to do was just swan off and leave them to complain about it later, no skin off his back. Maybe if it broke, he'd get to sleep with his girl tonight, after all, maybe she'd quit before the heat was on her, that sounded more like it, but (y/n) wasn't about to risk that situation coming into fruition.

"Give it, doofus."

"Aww..." Immediately, Ray fell into a deep, sulking pout as she snatched the car from his hands, careful not to scratch the paint, chip the glass or knock a wing mirror off. Honestly, he was too handsome to pout, it caused too many lines on his face and it tugged on her heartstrings knowing that he wasn't happy about something but she had to toughen it out like any parent disciplining a child. Don't fall for the frowny face.

"If this thing breaks, I'm not getting paid and I'll have to pay to get it fixed or replaced, meaning you won't be getting laid for the next month. So, stop pouting and move." She told him firmly and knowing that she wasn't lying about any of it, Ray quickly sidestepped to let her past. As delicately as she could, (y/n) placed the car in the same position it had been in before, hoping that Mr Hart wasn't too strict about a few finger smudges here and there. 

And that allowed Ray to have another look around; just because that was off-limits didn't mean that he had to stop looking for something else to satisfy his childlike wonder. And it wasn't difficult to let the next best thing steal his attention, after all, this one had buttons, an electric current and something he could push and pull. It was perfect.

"Oooh, the remote!" This would do nicely. It was still connected to the car, but not the main attraction, so he figured that it couldn't hurt to play with it - a few taps of the buttons here, a flick of the joystick there. Where was the harm in that?

"No, Ray. Don't touch the remote!" (y/n) whined, making grabby hands for the thing before he broke it because if the car was worth a lot and treasured possession, then she guessed that the same could be said for the remote that powered it. What use was the car if the remote didn't work? None, but Ray wouldn't let her have it, not even as his eye caught the ring, not even when she was the pouting one. Nope, he merely kept it close to his chest.

"Uh, sweet girl, I think I know how to work a remote for a remote-control car, okay?" He scoffed, pinching her cheek because her concern was cute, but as always, he thought he knew better. 

Pressing the button under his thumb, the car roared to life with its back wheel squealing and its headlights illuminated. Sweet cheese, it was a cool bit of tech and in different circumstances, (y/n) probably would've loved to get a look at all that retro circuitry, but not with the toy that was the difference between a payday and a payout.

And it all went downhill from there. The thrust from the vehicle was too much for it to handle and when Ray took off the brake and pushed the joystick forward, only the inevitable could happen. The car skidded over the edge of the shelf, propelled by all the power generated from its tiny electric motor and to everyone's horror (and Ray's shame), it was headed straight for the discarded pedicure bucket that Jasper formerly had his tootsies in. 

"Nooooooooo!" It was like slow motion as Henry, (y/n) and even Ray ran to save the car from drowning its circuits. All that training was coming in useful, they each had impeccable timing but Henry was the fastest, a factor derived from those super-fast reflexes, which proved to be extremely useful as he sank to his knees and caught the car just in time. No fried electrics, no soaked seats, no soggy tires. Talk about having a heart attack

"Oh, thank god...See? This is why we don't touch things that aren't ours!" (y/n) scolded Ray as everyone breathed a massive sigh of relief and allowed their bodies to relax. The man offered her an apologetic pout as if he'd just received a telling off from teacher. Still, the car was safe, it wasn't damaged and they were out of the woods...

"Henry, careful! Your nails!" Layla exclaimed because for some unknown fucking reason, she was more worried about her crush smudging the clear coat she'd put on his nails rather than saving the car that his father had specifically told him not to break. And understandably upon hearing the pure urgency and panic in her voice, Henry yelped...and most heartbreakingly, dropped the car in the damn water. Shit.

"Aghhhhhh! No, no, no!" Henry screamed as he watched the car fizz and pop and die as the water ruined its components and short-circuited everything. Oh god, he was gonna get screwed for this and he knew exactly who to blame. The one who couldn't keep his paws off, the one who couldn't listen, the one who couldn't understand when no means no. Not Layla, she was too cute to be in trouble, no, his culprit was Ray, that stupid, stupid man-child who he would happily boil in oil if he wasn't indestructible. 

"Uh...all right. Just, uh, I know you're mad at me, but I think I know what to do here, I'll be...hang on..." Ray laughed nervously as Henry gave him a death stare, and if looks could kill then he'd definitely be dead by now. But luckily for him, they couldn't, meaning it was safe for him to circle the couch, his hand tightly gripping (y/n)'s as she followed him in confusion, possibly to kill him for being such a moron or perhaps to protect when Henry pounced. Either way, he was able to nervously return the remote to the spot that it should never have left and he tiptoed to the door dragging (y/n) with him.

"Ray, I'm not leaving, the car--" Her protests about how she thought he was pulling her away from the sinking ship were silenced when he kissed her in the blink of an eye. It was rushed, unexpected and not very coordinated as he moved his lips against hers in a desperate attempt to savour the experience before he had to leg it, but she sighed and melted against him just as she did with all the others. 

There wasn't a doubt in her mind that this was a goodbye kiss, he could never leave without one and it just reaffirmed that tonight was gonna be a lonely one. It was over too quickly; one minute he was there, the next minute he was gone, running off into his car and driving off into the night to save his skin. 

Her wrist carried his warmth for a few seconds after he tore himself away, a reminder of how tightly he'd held her before he realised why he was holding her so close and trying to commit everything he already knew to memory again. Maybe it would stave off the sadness.

With Ray gone, the group was left in silence, all eyes on the seething boy as he slowly lifted his dad's car from the bucket, water cascading from every gap that it seeped into. Jesus, even when he opened the door more poured out, showing that the thing was thoroughly drenched and unlikely to ever run again without some serious intervention. good thing that Henry was friends with a mechanical engineer, that shit was second nature to her, rewiring and fixing stuff. 

"Feels bad!" Henry whined to his friends, echoing his signature catchphrase but without his usual cheeriness. Okay, no need to panic, yes, it was bad, horrific even, hundreds of dollars were on the line here for everyone, but they had time to fix it. A couple of days to make things right was a good thing, a positive when everything seemed so glum.

"Okay, it's fine, we can fix this, no problem. Just don't turn it on and put it in rice while the manicure people give me their glasses and a spotlight." (y/n) was quick off the mark, ignoring the crushing guilt gnawing at her mind since it had been her responsibility to keep everything safe and it had been her lover who'd screwed everything up. Therefore, she felt like it was her duty to make it right, plus, she had the expertise to root out the problem and repair it.

"What? Why?" Henry asked curtly, still in quite a crabby mood since he was pointing the finger at one person in particular. (y/n) had always been like an extension of Ray and vice versa, where one was, the other followed, so he channelled all the anger he felt towards his boss into her, which wasn't very fair but hey, it made him feel better.

"Because the rice will absorb the moisture and I need something to magnify the electronics and light so I can look at them. I didn't do a degree in engineering just to do math, y'know." She replied in a flat tone, fully aware that the kid wasn't his best self right now and whilst it would be nice to snap back, it wouldn't help much. He was just mad and needed time to calm down and in that time, she could get to work.

"Well, I wouldn't need your stupid degree if your fiancé hadn't made me drop my dad's car in a bucket of water!" Well, rude much? It was so hard not to shout in his face, to say something harsh back because what he said was meant to be hurtful to some extent and of course, the kid normally wouldn't dare to be mean to the woman who'd given him so much advice and care over the years, but he was lashing out. (y/n) could take it, at least she didn't show any reaction.

"Just go find some rice!" That got him moving, thank god and Jasper shrugged awkwardly when they shared a glance. Obviously, he didn't know what to make of the situation either, Henry was normally so nice, but when it came to his dad disowning him or not, he could be a real monster. Scary...

~Forty minutes later~

After a good towelling and a stint in a sack of basmati, the car was ready for service. Climbing up onto the kitchen counter and lying flat on her back like she was under an actual car, (y/n) delved deep into every wire, every board and every connection she could find in the toy as Henry and Jasper held it over her face. This was her in her prime, in her element as it were and if wasn't for the elephant in the room she would be having a whale of a time.

It was a delicate operation, she didn't want to do any more damage than had already been done, not with prying eyes around, but the good news was that it was fairly simple for someone who'd worked under Schwoz for so many years. The nineties had produced some beautiful stuff and this little gadget was one of them, so it would be a pleasure to work on it for Henry as reparation, all he needed to do was give her the go-ahead and not insult her in the meanest way possible.

"All right, boys. Set the car down because I am done!" She grinned and slowly sat up from the cold granite once the car was out of danger from headbutts. Jeez, her back was stiff, lying flat really brought out her age, but oh well, she was vertical now and flicked the magnifying headset that the nail techs had graciously lent her up to her forehead. Not her usual kit; it stank of acetone but it did the job because if it worked for doing nail art, it worked for fine electronics.

"So, what do you think? Can you fix it?" Henry asked her, praying for good news since that would stop the nerves zooming around his stomach and lower his blood pressure. If it was broken beyond repair, then he was screwed, destined to die in two days because his dad would never forgive him, but her smile looked promising...maybe?

"Yeah, it's not actually that difficult, so I don't why you brought him here!" She snapped, suddenly turning to look at the elephant who'd been summoned at the drop of a hat by a boy and clearly doubted her skills. 

A spare mechanic as it were, a dude he'd found online who claimed to be an expert in repairing old gadgets as if he needed one. Seriously, she was quite insulted, just because she'd never been formally employed by a garage or company didn't mean she didn't know an exhaust manifold from a capacitor. 

She was better than some guy who'd appeared out of nowhere and judged her work like she was the scum of the Earth - a woman who dared to step into the world of engineering and think she could work with the big boys. Yeah, because he was really channelling Elon Musk right now with his dopey glasses and burger shirt, he looked like a real "professional". 

"Because I need my dad's car to be in exactly the same condition as it was before, so I want a proper guy to do it! So, can you fix it?" Henry's gaze then turned to the burger man, this so-called expert in retro toys. Maybe he did know what he was doing, maybe he knew more about the car than (y/n) did but still, she knew she could do this and the outside of the car was fine, it was the circuits that needed worrying about. The art she was good at and he wouldn't let her do it. The nerve of this kid. 

"Yeah, I can fix it. Too bad, sweetheart." Burger boy snorted at (y/n), making her bite her tongue to hold in the torrent of filth that would be heading her way if she wasn't so nice. She was a "proper guy", why couldn't Henry see that? And Jasper wasn't helping much, sure, he gave her a sympathetic smile, but he didn't want to upset his friend more than he already was. Looks like the pleb was here to stay. 

"Thank you!"

"Oh, that is great news!" The boys were so relieved at hearing the man could fix it because their other option was a tad more "risky". It's not that they didn't trust (y/n), it's just they wanted to get a professional in so they could say they gave the car the best TLC they could find, which was fine. Perfect. Fantastic. But didn't they know that commercial prowess came at a cost?

"It'll cost you three thousand bucks." There was the catch that had their grins falling and (y/n) choking. When he said bucks, did he mean cents? Because holy Jesus, that was a small fortune for two teens who had next to nothing in their bank accounts. 

"Three thousand?! Are you taking the piss? The repair is so damn simple, it should be one dollar!" (y/n) exclaimed, unexpectedly feeling quite protective over the boys, even if they had brought this by themselves. 

Yeah, this guy was the kind of asshole who was smug about his skills and a conman, praying on people who were desperate enough to pay anything if it meant their treasures could be restored. But she knew for a fact that he was just being a dick and even if they were millionaires, there was no way she'd pay that amount for something that would take two seconds max. Degrees do come in useful sometimes...

"Listen, darlin', this is a vintage remote control car from the nineteen hundreds." He looked at her in such a condescending way, (y/n) wanted to smack him right where that stupid moustache rested on his upper lip. Because she'd been able to come to the same conclusion as him, he now felt the need to stomp on her, put her back in her place as a guy who probably lived in a shed with nothing put empty takeout cartons and old motors to keep him company was obviously her superior. 

"Yes, I know. I'm looking at it." 

"Then, why'd you go dunk it in water?" Wow, stupid as well as ignorant. They knew the value of the car, did he really think they'd do something like this on purpose? The more he talked, the less faith (y/n) had in him and she just wanted to push him out of the door and do the job herself because everything was becoming a lot more complicated than it needed to be. And a lot more shouty.

"I didn't mean to! It was her fiancé's fault!" Henry yelled back, still feeling quite touchy about the events that had transpired not too long ago, everything was still too raw to poke at. Whilst he'd stopped firing too many insults, he was still being irrational and loud, which stemmed from the fear of his dad returning home and finding the car broken and slightly damp, and now, his glare was on the burger man. 

"All right!... If you ever want a new fiancé, I know where you can find one, darlin'." Why did she always attract the weirdos? Giving him an eye roll and folding her arms, (y/n) turned her back on the revolting man, who obviously thought he was god's gift to women or something. Like she'd ever leave her loveable doofus for a moron like him, the thought made her shudder, more than the idea of him effectively stealing money the boys didn't have. 

As if that wasn't enough, here came Piper and Charlotte, right on cue, like they knew the perfect time to come home - in the middle of a situation. The youngest was still holding her soda from the movie, Charlotte had some candy, but neither was aware of the shitshow they were walking into and for them, it was all still giggles and swapping jokes. No stress, no panic, just a blissful ignorance that didn't break until Henry's foul mood clouded their happiness.

"Hey!"

"We're back from the movie!"

"Oh, great! Did you bring me three thousand dollars?" He asked sarcastically, coming over as they came into the room, wondering what had made him so crabby. They had no idea what he was talking about, all they knew was that their movie was great, they'd had an amazing time and now they were hoping to chill with (y/n) and tell her all about it. What was his problem?

"No..."

"But I brought you half a box of Mild Doods." Charlotte offered, hoping she could appease the angry beast with a peace offering. It was a small sacrifice if it meant he wouldn't bite her head off and whilst Henry wasn't so keen, Jasper could go for a Dood. And that gave them a chance to throw their questioning eyes at (y/n); she'd tell them what was wrong, that was the girl code.

"Ooh, I'll take some Doods."

"Wanna manicure?" Zack sudden;y appeared behind the girls. Yeah, the car fiasco wasn't his problem, therefore, he didn't care about his client's problems. Their money was much more appealing and if he could squeeze a few extra dollars, he'd be doing all right to say that he and Layla had been called out to a madhouse.

"Uh, who are you and why are you in my house?" Piper asked, eyeing the new stranger with a cautious gaze. Stranger danger and all that, and this guy was asking to look at her nails, meaning she got the same serial killer vibe that the others did before, but as always, Jasper was quick to respond.

"Oh, they're professional manicurists. That's Layla and that's Zack. He is unbelievab--" Just as Jasper started bragging about how the serial killer was actually a pretty nice guy and a wicked nail tech, Piper happened to glance at the man next to him, who (y/n) was still glaring daggers at. And then she saw it. The car. Broken. In his hands. Three thousand dollars worth of memories and threats in his palms and now she understood why the atmosphere in the house was so tense. Because they were in massive trouble.

"Oh my god!" She gasped and stormed over to the mechanic to snatch the car out from his hands. "You played with dad's vintage car?"

No, I didn't play with it! Okay? My boss, also known as (y/n)'s dumb fiancé, came in here and drove it into some foot water and now, it's gonna cost me three thousand bucks to fix it!" Henry replied, stress colouring every tone. Okay, only (y/n) got to call Ray dumb, but a fair point, it was a pretty stupid move, not that arguing about it would get them anywhere. 

"You are not paying him three thousand dollars for that! Just give it to me and I'll do it for free!" The woman offered, trying to get through that stubborn side that had hardened the more the boy grew. He could be so annoying sometimes, if he just let her get hold of the thing, she'd show him that it was a simple flick and twist and that was the repair over, but he didn't trust her. Jerk.

"No, (y/n), I already told you! I need someone who knows what their doing and that guy does, so I'm paying him three thousand dollars!" Henry argued back and (y/n) just left it there, preferring to sit and seethe than waste her breath. What was the point? Every time she tried to say something, he shot her down, every time she tried to grab the car, he yanked it back, he just wouldn't listen and she figured that the only way he'd learn was to let him see that she was in the right and he was in the wrong. 

"Uh, I hate to bring this up but you and your friends owe Zack and me seventy-five bucks for the manis." Layla's voice tapped into the conversation, adding yet more bad news for Henry to stress over. Great, now it was three thousand and seventy-five bucks - an added expense from the treatment they'd each had done, which to be fair, wasn't a lot for the superb job they'd done but it didn't help. 

"Yeah, okay..."

"Whoa, seventy-five dollars is pretty cheap for three manicures," Charlotte commented, making the manicurists go all smug. Yeah, they were cheap but good, that's what made them so popular; what little they lost in the discounted price, they made up for in the sheer number of clients they received.

"Yeah, it's pretty cheap..."

"Okay, people! Look, my parents are gonna be back in two days! And when my dad sees that I broke his dumb toy car, he's gonna make my mom kill me and (y/n) because she was supposed to be the responsible one!" Henry shouted over the idle chitchat, feeling his self-control burst when they all went off on a tangent that wasn't helping him get the money to fix the car. 

And (y/n) could understand that because technically, as annoying as he was right now, he was right. Mrs Hart would kill her and then refuse to pay, so even if she couldn't repair it, they had to find a way to get the bozo over there to do the honours.

"He had a point. I've been here for five hours, that's one hundred dollars and I would like to cash in at the end of this." She muttered. Getting her money was pretty important and of course, she wanted to make sure that Henry survived this, so for all his whining and moaning and complaining and insisting that she was just an idiot with a degree, she was gonna stay. Siblings annoy siblings but they stay together, right?

"Look, son, if I may..." And that pig-headed mechanic just had to stick his nose in, it wasn't enough for him to take advantage of a couple of teens who were too scared to trust one of their closest friends, but now, he was stirring the pot. If he wasn't careful, the guy was gonna earn himself a smack in the nose.

"You need me to fix your dad's car before your parents come home, so you need to get your hands on three thousand bucks--"

"Still a rip-off." (y/n) butted in, causing the man to send her an irritated side-eye but she didn't care because it was the truth. She knew it, he knew it, the only people who refused to see it that way were the ones scrounging to find the money.

"Yeah..." Henry batted (y/n) away so she'd stop throwing in her sly comments and gave the man a tired look. This better be good for him to waste his precious time like this.

"So, why don't you have a party? Invite a bunch of teenagers here on Saturday night and you two! You must know other people who give manicures..." Oh, god. He wasn't serious, was he? That was the opposite of what they needed; did (y/n) need to bring up the scenario of what teenagers do at a house party? Plants dying from being watered with vomit, trees decorated with toilet paper, and the beds, dear lord, the beds. 

"I know a lot!"

"Yeah, we do!"

"There you go! You get your friends to get their friends, you have a wild mani-party, make some money, split the profits and you should have enough cash left over to pay me to fix your dad's car." The repairman proposed, sending Henry into a deep pondering state, which the woman on his right couldn't believe. Was he thinking about it? Oh, sure, it would be great when Mr Hart came home to both a broken car and a decimated house, that would be brilliant; bye-bye dignity, bye-bye wedding, bye-bye to their friendship because she'd never recover.

"You're not actually considering this, are you? You know I can't let you do this..." (y/n) whispered to Henry, acting as the angel on his shoulder when the burger-shirt guy was the devil, tempting him into sin. God, being the killjoy was hard but it was the smart thing to do, they could get three thousand dollars somewhere else or y'know, just let her do it. Parties weren't her thing, from both a personal and professional standpoint; they just filled her with dread, much like the way Henry sighed at the mechanic.

"I don't know...she's right, my parents said I'm not allowed to have parties while they're out of town. They won't give (y/n) her money if something goes wrong..." Henry told the dude and the woman felt grateful that he was at least considering her interests as well as his own. It was nice to know he cared about her efforts to pay for the best day of her life, whenever it would be, but no matter how worried he looked, her rival seemed relentless in his struggles to squeeze every penny he could get.

"Kid, sometimes you just gotta say...rubber duck!" Fuck her, it was like that damn phrase was following them, haunting their every move. As her eyes closed in frustration, a method of trying to quell the anger settling in her stomach, Jasper leapt up at the sound of someone else using his new motto. It wasn't just him, he wasn't alone in this, sure, the only other person was an asshole but still.

"See?!" Burger boy had truly made his day.

~A while later...party time~

"The party was off to an amazing start."

Remind (y/n) why this was a good idea again. The neighbours surrounding the Harts' residence were starting to get grouchy and for good reason; having decided to just "rubber duck it", Henry and his friends had contacted everyone they knew to try and get a party going and holy shit, it had worked.

"Charlotte, Jasper, Piper and I invited tons of our friends. (y/n), of course, hated it but she didn't say anything. We couldn't hear her over the music anyway."

The floor was vibrating and the walls were in danger of cracking from the loud, thumping bass beat from the music and the crowds, well, they were swarming. Friends had phoned friends, and then they had phoned their friends, leading to masses of people flocking to Henry's home like it was the place to be because honestly, it was. The manicurists were loving it, all their nail artist friends had come over to take advantage of all the teens living it large and the money was rolling in.

"And Layla, the prettiest manicurist I ever saw, she invited a bunch of her friends, other manicurists."

Jasper, naturally, was the doorman, greeting and vetting anyone who tried to get in since they weren't gonna let just anyone into the house. As per (y/n)'s frantic advice, they were trying to avoid that apocalyptic tale of a trashed house and whilst the riffraff was staying outside, it didn't mean to say that things were staying squeaky clean. 

These people didn't care if they threw their trash on the floor or wiped their sticky hands on the curtains, they weren't the ones cleaning up. All they did care about was the sad-sack adult hovering over them with an eagle eye for troublemakers - that would be (y/n).

It was like college all over again, the noise, the stench, the heat, the tangle of sweaty bodies trying to dance and fumble to take a selfie all at the same time. She wasn't a big fan of them, then, she wasn't a big fan of them now, especially not when she had to be the one telling arrogant boys and bitchy girls off for getting a tad too rambunctious for her liking. You'd think that she'd be used to being called a nerdy little twerp, who should go and crawl back to whatever math paper she'd left behind, by now, but no. It still stung, but at least it wasn't true.

Popularity after high school doesn't mean shit; they'd all leave for college and then the real world where they were nobodies. The jocks would just become assholes, the bitches wouldn't be able to step on people and they'd find themselves being the losers for once, the ones with no experience. That was comforting, knowing that one day, someone would smack them in the mouth and they'd learn their lessons.

"And the money! Oh, man...it's, like, insane how much these kids will pay for a quality manicure." Henry chuckled as he narrated the events of the night to some dude he'd never met before. He didn't know why, but he just felt so cool and was riding the high that came from being the one to organise a great party. He had some dark glasses, a soda, a porch to sit on and chill, he felt like a god...but the same couldn't be said for the other guy. He just felt awkward.

"Uh, yeah...do I have to sit here and keep listening to you narrate?" He asked, glancing up from his phone so he could look at the boy who kept talking to him like they were friends. But Henry was just walking down memory lane, too blissed out from the recollection to care if he was being weird...

"Then, at one point, earlier in the night, I went to get a soda and Layla walked up to me. And out of nowhere, she says..." Henry remembered the sway of the crowd as he moved through the house, careful not to spill his when Layla stepped in front of him.

"Have you ever made spaghetti on a sailboat?" Okay, random, but she was so cute, he couldn't bring himself to laugh at her and just smiled softly. How could anyone not smile softly around such beauty?

"Hmmm? On a--on a sailboat?"

"Yeah, a boat with sails..." The conversation was awkward and limited to a few words, but his heart couldn't stop fluttering, not when she giggled at his smiley reaction.

"And I was thinking, why not make spaghetti in a kitchen?" It was a fair question and as Henry broke out of his daydream, he found himself pondering it again. He'd never been on a sailboat so he couldn't say if it was a good place or not, but surely, it would rock and dip and sway from the water, not to mention the seasickness. Was it a good idea?

"Y'know, 'cause a kitchen is where most people make spaghetti, right?" He turned to look at the dude he was sitting with, who at this point, had had quite enough of his tall, Jackanory tales.

"I just want to get a manicure..." He told him flatly and then, Henry gave up trying. Well, he tried to be cool and it failed, all he had left was his half-drunken soda and his shades. That was depressing, but he was the host of a house party, it was hard to ever be alone when that happened.

"Henry, Charlotte has good news..." (y/n) suddenly appeared in the doorway, the usual bounce in her step missing since she'd just unclogged the toilet and scrubbed her hands raw at how it made her skin crawl. This was the worst, why do teens think destruction is fun? Anyway, after losing her epidermis, she'd bumped into Charlotte as she tried to find Henry to give him an earful about how she should get paid extra for this shit and the girl was much more excited than she was.

"Henry! We did it!" She cried, clutching a safety deposit box and a wad of cash in her fist so they wouldn't lose a dollar. Now that was a reason to be excited about and (y/n) found her energy growing steadily once more since with that money, the end of this puke fest was in sight. Was it a bit much to call these animals degenerates?

"You made spaghetti on a sailboat?" He really needed to stop obsessing over everything little thing Layla said.

"What? No! Look, three thousand dollars!" Charlotte squealed and spread the bills into a fan so he could see every little number. Holy shit, three grand right in her hand, it seemed impossible for a group of kids and their nagging grownup friend, but they'd done it. Henry's neck was saved and yet more good news was still to come.

"And Piper's in there collecting more money right now! We're raking it in." (y/n) smiled as Charlotte carefully passed the money to Henry, who cradled it like it was his firstborn child. A quick flicker through the notes and a calculation that took every ounce of mathematical ability he had, and he knew that he had the mechanic's money, which the heroine in front of him still thought was ridiculous but at least they'd enjoyed the party. 

"Oh, man! Okay, problem solved!" The boy smiled, looking at them with hopeful eyes. This meant that the party was over, right? A shame but a necessary one because the house, the car, everything had to be perfect for when his parents came back, which was still some time away but the sooner this mess was fixed, the better. 

"Well, unless we have some other unforeseen complication, we should go and pay that charlatan you call a repairman and get this over with." (y/n) replied dryly, still not believing that the kid was actually gonna hand over the money from what had turned out to be a brilliant plan (maybe the burger guy had been smart with his suggestion there). 

It didn't seem right, not when the damage flashed into her brain and the problem's solution screamed out to her. The kid could keep his money and still fool his parents into thinking everything was fine, wasn't that better?

"Right..." Clearly not.

~

The time had come to hand the cash over. Sitting in the armchair by the fire, the "expert" repairman sat back and smirked at the woman watching him with cold eyes as Henry counted every bill they were giving him and the manicurist did his nails. This had been a good night for him, he'd been pampered and was being ten times the normal rate for a restoration. It felt good to be bad...

"Twenty-nine hundred and sixty, twenty-nine hundred and eighty, three thousand! Right there, three thousand dollars!" Henry slammed the last twenty down onto the table next to the guy, relieved that all the counting was over and the debt had been paid. The mechanic could pick it up, look at it, smell if he wanted to, but they'd given him the money, time for him to uphold his side of the deal.

"Yeah! You can count it if you want!"

"I just counted it right in front of him..." Oh, Jasper, he could see but he could never observe. Whatever, as quickly as he could, the man shoved the bundle into his top pocket and patted it happily before leaning back to enjoy his hand massage. Why should he go fast? It's not like he had a lot of work to do.

"You know, you've been sitting in that chair for so long, you're beginning to look like it." (y/n) snapped when a pleased sigh escaped the man, infuriating her, Henry and Jasper at how lax he was in his efforts to help them. Sure, she knew that he didn't have a mammoth task ahead, but this was just taking the piss.

"You just stand there and look pretty, darlin'. I'll do the work when I want to..." He grumbled in return as the girl next to him buffed his nails and chased away all of his worries. Three thousand dollars richer and he hadn't even lifted a finger, something which enraged Henry and fanned the flames of his panic.

"Come on, man, I really need this!" The kid cried, letting his desperation fly out as tears in his eyes and a needy yelp. That made the man wake up and put his hands in the air, startled by the loud tone that shattered his tranquillity. Jeez, couldn't the woman tell them that it wasn't that big of a deal?

"All right! Open my toolbox." He told the boys, making (y/n) scoff when Henry open the tiny red box that housed a series of screwdrivers, mini spanners and a small soldering iron - perfect for delicate operations. It was right next to him, literally ten centimetres away from his hand yet he couldn't be bothered to do it himself. Rather, he simply selected the tool he needed--the tool (y/n) would've gone for if it was up to her---and took the car from Jasper, ready to "earn" his three thousand bucks.

Turning the car upside down, his eyes raked over the circuitry until he saw what the pretty girl had told her friends about. Two loose screws. That was it. Nothing more. That's why (y/n) had been adamant that her skill was sufficient because all that needed fixing was two damn screws. When the electrics short-circuited, they popped out as a safety feature to protect the car from damaging itself; that killed the system and after drying out, it just needed putting back into place. Hardly a job worth what the man had taken.

"Penny in the air..." (y/n) muttered, watching as the screwdriver's head was jammed into the screws and twisted in three full turns, precisely what she'd been trying to do all night. If she had just been able to get her hands on it, things could've been so different and she'd be the one laughing at this clown.

"So, how long are you--"

"Done!" And like that, it was over. The car was perfectly fine again, ready to go for another drive, not that they were gonna even attempt that. Henry and Jasper fell silent as he presented the toy back to them, a smug smirk on his face now that the contract between them was over. They couldn't believe it, they must've misheard him because that took two seconds, just like (y/n) had said...

"You're done?"

"And the penny drops." (y/n) rubbed at her forehead as she saw the light leave Henry's eyes. Just because he didn't want to believe it didn't mean what the guy was saying wasn't true and if he didn't trust him, then all he had to do was test the car for himself. 

"Yeah, push the green button on the remote and move the joystick forward." The repairman instructed Jasper, who nervously did as he was told. Raising the controller, he pushed the accelerator button down and pushed the joystick as commanded and low and behold, the car roared to life. The wheels moved perfectly, the headlights glowed, and the toy was in perfect working order again. 

"Ta-dahhh!"

"It works!" For a moment, the rush of exhilaration and relief blinded the boys from what was important. They forgot about the price tag and focused on the genius man who'd saved their asses because it felt so good to not be in trouble again until Henry clocked onto the wad peeking out from his pocket. Right, he gave him that...wait...

"Oh my god, you're like a geni---wait, you charged me three thousand bucks and then fixed it in five seconds?!" Henry snapped, causing a grin to break out on the man's face. He found the fact that he'd only been caught now hilarious because it was too late and knowing that he'd gotten away with it was hilarious, especially considering that he'd beaten another mechanic to the chase.

"Rubber duck! Face it, kid, you should've trusted your friend here." The man laughed and slowly, Henry's face dropped. With thinking, he turned to look at (y/n), who'd been suspiciously quiet for the last few minutes and he felt his heart crack when she offered him a watery smile. Well, now he just felt like a jerk; all that shit he said about Ray not listening and suffering the consequences had echoed with him, it left him feeling rotten because he'd depended on a stranger when he already had everything he needed with her.

"What? No, no, no, no, no, that's not cool! That's not cool, man! Why are you laughing like that? She's my friend and because of you--" This was becoming a habit, all the finger-pointing. As the man continued to cackle at his furious questions and accusations, across the room, another problem was stewing, only this one was a big one. A really big one.

"Henry! Henry!" Piper shrieked over the music, urgently needing her brother to stop playing around with that moron mechanic and get over to her. She'd just gotten off the phone and what she had been told was bad. Very bad and it would affect everyone in the room if they didn't act quick.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Mom and dad just called." Well, that was normal, at least from (y/n)'s viewpoint. She'd get over the car thing but something didn't feel right. She knew when Piper was panicking and that certainly sounded like her panic voice, even if the newsflash wasn't particularly interesting. Parents liked to call and check up on their kids when they were away, there was nothing to worry about, just one of those things that happened. There was no need to get all worried, no reason at all.

"So?"

"They're on their way here!" That, however, was. That was a big reason to panic. (y/n) meltdown incoming, system shutdown impending because what the fuck? They were coming home? Early? When there was a party in full swing in their house? The one she was meant to be guarding against parties? Oh Jesus, oh Buddha, oh Superman, literally any deity out there, please come help her.

"What? They're coming here?! Oh, god..."

"No, no, no, no, they're in Toronto!" Henry calmed her fears with foolish rationality, kinda like he was sticking his head in the sand and hoping it would all go away if he didn't think about it. They were going on a trip, they hadn't even made it through the first night, and they weren't coming back. She was worried about nothing.

"Nu-uh. When they were changing planes in Chicago, dad went to the men's room and dropped his passport in the toilet!" Typical Jake Hart, clumsy and stupid. Yep, that was their dad.

"Why didn't he reach in and grab it?" Sure, that was gross, but for a passport, it wasn't a big ask, not when they needed to catch another flight, but again, this was a classic Mr Hart moment.

"He tried but it was an auto-flusher!" Oh god, he lost the damn thing and gave his arm and swirlie. They couldn't make this shit up; it was funny and they'd be laughing in any other circumstance but this was now just turning into a farce. 

"Oh my god, is he okay?" (y/n) asked, feeling a bit concerned because the arm that was paying her was now down a toilet fishing for a passport. And of course, she worried for his safety but still, money, money money...

"So, his arm got stuck in the toilet then they had to call the fire department to pull him out!"

"So, mom and dad bailed on the trip?" It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened and Henry's voice was starting to get just as panicky as Piper retold the story. His house was full of strangers and trash and manicurists, they couldn't see this, they'd ground him for life, Piper too. (y/n) wouldn't get paid, Jasper and Charlotte would be permanently banned from his house and his life would be over. And that was all true.

"Yeah! They just called from Nacho Ball and said they'll be home soon!" Soon wasn't good, soon was exactly the opposite of what they needed, but one thing remained. Depending on the Nacho Ball, they might just be able to squeeze out a few extra minutes to think before their impending doom arrived.

"Wait, wait, wait, which Nacho Ball? The close one or the nice one?" Everyone loved the nice Nacho Ball, the service, the food, the restaurant, it was perfect family, fast-food dining, the only catch being that it was quite far away, in a classier part of Swellview. The close one was disgusting, probably only a health inspection away from getting closed down and don't get Henry started on the whiny staff. Plus, it was close by, hence, a real problem if his parents were at that one and not the nice one.

"The close one!" Piper screeched and shot forward to grab his jacket and shake some sense into him. That's what he was dreading. The bad news settled into his bones and froze his core, making chilling waves of fear run through him as he pictured the worst; his parents walking in on this scene. Nope, not on his watch, if they could scrounge three grand in one night, then they could fix this shit in fifteen minutes, that was their only choice. To at least try and hide the evidence.

"Okay, okay, okay, Jasper! Jasper, turn off the music!" Thinking on his feet, Henry gave his first instruction to the friend closest to the speaker system because step one had to be shutting down the party. With all the people gone then it would just be a case of tidying up, so how do you stop a party? Kill the music.

"Okay!" Jasper swiftly took a remote from his pocket that was connected to the PearPad that had been shuffling a cool party playlist, full of modern music that (y/n) wasn't very familiar with, and hit the pause button. The crowd stopped swaying and chattering when the beat reverberating through their bodies stopped and that meant it was quiet enough for Henry to tell them to fuck off. But y'know, more politely than that, just with the same effect.

"Okay! Everyone, please listen up, please! I need everyone to get all their stuff and get out immediately!" Henry yelled at the top of his voice, which would no doubt be red and sore afterwards but whatever, he had a crowd to address. And they weren't happy with the sudden eviction notice; the party had been going so well and so many were still waiting for a manicurist to become free, so they were reluctant to leave. That is, they still hadn't heard the best part.

"Why?" Oliver Pook asked as he sat at a pop-up nail bar, watching as Henry kept jerking his body to try and inspire some energy into everyone. Like the others, he was enjoying himself and it wasn't like he got invited to many parties because big-eating is weird and disgusting, so his butt was firmly wedged into the sofa. 

"Uh, 'cause--" Now, Henry had another problem. This had been the greatest party he'd ever thrown and it would go down as one of the best ever thrown by someone in his school, so he didn't really want to ruin that by saying he was scared of what his mommy and daddy might say. Social suicide was not how he wanted the night to end, but he had to get rid of them somehow, maybe his friends could say something?

"'Cause a snake's got loose! Yeah, a real big one that loves to eat annoying teenagers." (y/n) interjected, coming up with something that would scare people out of the premises whilst simultaneously saving Henry's street cred and giving her something to chuckle about. Yeah, she wouldn't mind seeing some of these brats getting gobbled...do snakes eat burgers?

Immediately, there was a stampede. Upon hearing that a snake was slithering about the place, the partygoers, the manicurists, everyone ran for the exits, rushing to get to safety before they could get bitten or eaten. Small problem though, Jasper, who had been standing guard by the door as a watchman spotted a small flaw within the plan, mainly that something was worrying pulling into the driveway.

"Henry! Your parents just pulled up in the driveway!" He yelled to his best friend, having seen the unmistakable sight of a sorrowful Mr Hart and a furious Mrs Hart, who was not in the mood for taking any shit after what she'd been through. 

"Okay, everyone, go out the back door! The back door!" Change of plan. Henry redirected the stampede to the back of the house, worried that the sight of a herd of teens and nail tech gushing from his front door might just tip off his parents that something was going on in the house. Thankfully, the crowd quickly changed directions, not caring how they got out as long as they did - the snake could strike at any minute.

"Charlotte, go outside and try to stall my parents!" That was step two. Henry needed every second he could get and if Charlotte could get him a few more then that would be great. It wouldn't be a lot but it would be something, perhaps even just enough time to clean the place up a bit.

"Quick! Help me with the furniture!" Step three: get everything in order. (y/n) and Jasper didn't need telling twice, a lot was a stake here, so they all snapped into action as Charlotte faked smiles and kept her grip anchored to Mrs Hart and her feet glued to the driveway. 

They shifted the nail bars out of the way, ready for Jasper to return them to the nail salon downtown when no one was looking.

"Go, go, go, go!" Was the mantra of everyone as they carried the furniture out to the backyard for whichever stylist wanted to pick it up themselves and as they did that, (y/n) got her game face on. With Piper as her apprentice and her years of experience cleaning the Man Cave in record times, she was ready to tackle whatever the house threw at him. 

They plucked trash and nail equipment from the floor where people had just sat down to work before pushing the table back into the kitchen. It had been pushed aside to make more room for their guests, but now they were gone and they only had a few seconds to get everything perfect.

"Come on, come on...flowers!" (y/n) gasped as she, Henry and Piper each carried an orange chair back into place, not forgetting the little pot of tulips that Mrs Hart always had in the centre. There wasn't time to make them look too nice, there was still more to do; the coffee table was wheeled back into position as Jasper helped Henry push the couch back into its normal L-shape. Okay, the house looked good to say there had been forty people in it five minutes ago, and just in the nick of time too.

"Okay, good, good, good. Jasper, now get out!" 

"Right!" It seemed mean to send him away after all of his help and hard work, but Mr Hart had been very specific - no Jasper in the house. So, if the kid was about they might smell a rat or assume the worst and that's not what they were going for.

"Piper, go upstairs and blow your nose!"

"Right!... Wait, why blow my nose?" That instruction made no sense. This was her house too, why couldn't she be sitting on the couch for when her parents' grumpy asses came through the door?

"'Cause, you got something hanging out right here!" Henry replied, gesturing to his nostrils to suggest that Piper, for once, wasn't on fleek. The thought of looking so disgusting made the girl shriek in fear, and in a flash, she was running up the stairs to blow her nose. (y/n) hadn't noticed anything, maybe it was a brotherly trick to make the house seem more natural because Henry and Piper hanging out wasn't something you'd normally see.

"Okay, kid, just sit and act--" (y/n) panted as she plumped the scatter cushions and dragged her old magazine to the couch so it would look like they'd just been chilling all evening. Calm was finally setting in over the house again, well, as much calm as there could be when the final judges were yet to assess if they'd pulled the whole thing off or not, but it didn't last. Not when there was one guest left who didn't get the memo about leaving and never coming back.

"Henry!" It was Layla. She'd returned to save the boy she'd been crushing on all night because, for some reason, he wouldn't leave the house despite the snake problem. Neither did she know why he scream like a child when she yelled his name but she could ignore that, anything if it meant they could run off into the night together.

"Come on, we gotta get outta here!"

"What?! Why? Why, why, why?!"

"I think you left out a why..." (y/n) muttered, barely glancing up from the magazine that she was pretending to read. If Mr and Mrs Hart walked through the door now then they see her just sitting on the couch and reading, definitely with a stomach full of butterflies as she read but failed to absorb any information. If Henry wanted to go, that was up to him, but she was gonna be the diligent housesitter.

"The snakes!" Did he forget about the lie they told?"

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, you know what? You go first, I'll follow you! Save yourself, don't worry about me!" Yeah, he'd definitely forgotten, but he couldn't leave, not even if he wanted to. Nevertheless, he stayed chivalrous to the end, letting Layla think that he was a true gentleman who didn't want her to fall victim whilst waiting for him.

"Okay! See you tomorrow for spaghetti on a sailboat!" She cried as she skipped out of the house, offering his perplexed face one last cheery smile before leaving, her nail case in tow. All those opportunities and Henry never even got to ask what the hell that meant.

"What?! Sailboat?! What is the thing with the sailboat? I don't understand--" He exclaimed as he shuffled over to the couch, following (y/n)'s beckons as she laid the magazine on her lap. They had bigger things to worry about, namely looking like they hadn't just cleaned the house from top to bottom.

"Just sit down and look norm--oh my god, the car!" (y/n) screamed when her eyes lazily dragged over the room and then spotted a flash of silver, still in the same armchair that the mechanic had "worked" on it in. Shit, they had to move it, cars don't drive themselves across the room by themselves.

"Oh my god!" Henry echoed, jumping up like he'd been burned as he saw that the gadget that had caused them so much grief was still a goddamn problem. It was official, he hated that thing, but nonetheless, he sprinted over to scoop it up from the chair and ran back over to the shelves to cautiously place it back into its rightful spot. The remote was returned too, everything in working order, no scratches, no water pouring out from anything, now, everything was fine, just in time.

As Henry jumped over the back of the couch to sit down and act casual, pretending to share an interest in whatever (y/n) was reading and hiding his glasses in the meantime, the door opened to reveal his tired-looking mother with all of her luggage and husband in tow. Showtime.

"We're home!"

"We're back!" The husband and wife announced as they crossed the threshold, relieved to see their home again after such an ordeal, but Henry and (y/n) didn't let on to the fact that they knew about the said ordeal. For them, that was still a surprise and they grinned politely like they were shocked to see them.

"Hey, mom and dad?"

"Mr and Mrs Hart! I--we didn't expect to see you back so early. What happened to Toronto?" (y/n) asked with her best manners, trying to play it well until the very last minute. Seven hours later and she was owed one hundred and forty dollars for keeping the house in one piece (for the most part) and if she sweetened them up, she might just get away with being paid.

"I don't want to talk about it.." Mr Hart said glumly and they both knew what that meant. Knowing that he'd had his arm around a U-bend was hilarious when they heard all of the little clues to what they were alluding to, although they didn't break out a giggle or smile.

"Just don't smell your father's arm." Mrs Hart told Henry, who huffed in amusement at how annoyed his mother seemed to be--pissed, even. A trip to Toronto would have to wait and maybe next time she wouldn't take her dumb husband with her.

"That's a deal."

"I'm gonna go wash my arm." He closed the door and walked upstairs, his suitcase in hand. He didn't even notice the car, this was perfect! The pair found themselves sinking into the couch as they breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the night was coming to a draw and anything that had been broken was now fixed. Everything was good...

"Henry, (y/n)..." Or not. Mrs Hart's voice was surprisingly calm as she called her son and his friend from the couch. It was almost a crime what they had done, the one thing she'd asked them to do and they'd failed. Disgraceful.

"Yeah, mom?"

"Yes, Mrs Hart?"

"Can I see you both in the kitchen?" This sounded ominous. What was the worst that could happen? Maybe she was about to congratulate them for a job well done and hand (y/n) some crisp, green bills for protecting her house from hoodlums whilst she and her husband were flying to Chicago and back. Maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed.

"Hey, what's up?" Henry asked cheerfully once he and (y/n) were face-to-face with her, having gotten up from the couch with a new nervousness settling in the stomaches. She wasn't smiling, she looked...disappointed and (y/n) suddenly felt a little faint like she'd done something wrong and was now facing the music. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of what could be the matter.

"There's a problem," Kris stated with an icy calmness and their hearts dropped. Oh god, they had missed something. A nail polish stain on the carpet, a hidden flaw with the car, a piece of furniture that hadn't been put back in its proper place, what was it?

"A problem?" (y/n) asked with a gulp and it was only when Mrs Hart raised her hand and thrust something into their faces that she remembered something very important.

"With my egg." The fucking egg. They'd forgotten about the egg. In all the chaos, they'd just left it in the fridge where it was safe but that didn't mean that one of the party people or a manicurist couldn't have touched it. They didn't have eyes in the back of their heads, someone could've easily swiped it and done something bad, not that they could see anything wrong.

"W-w-what do you mean?"

"It's cracked. My egg is cracked." Oh, shit. That was definitely a crack now that they looked closely, a very small one, but a crack nonetheless. What had she said? Anything happens to the egg and you won't get paid, did a crack count as anything?

"Well, I mean, you could still eat it and you could, y'know, pay me the one hundred and forty dollars you owe me for being here for seven hours...right?" (y/n) theorised, thinking that it would still taste the same, a small chip meant nothing. That money was important to her, maybe it wasn't the thousand she had expected to earn but still, every cent counted towards the dress, flowers, everything!

"No, (y/n), I can't still eat it and no, I won't be paying you tonight." Mrs Hart replied coldly and handed the now worthless eg to Henry, not even flinching when (y/n) looked at the floor with tears in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to cry, it wasn't a lot of money, but to say how much they'd done to make the house right again, it felt like a just reward and the blonde woman wasn't being fair. How her soon-to-be husband fancied the mom was beyond (y/n) at that moment; she now had a reason to dislike her.

"I'm way upset with you." Was all she said when she turned back to give them one final glare before sauntering away, her heels and pencil skirt giving her a bit more sway and bitch energy to make them feel extra bad. Was that necessary? They already felt like letdowns, adding salt to their wounds was just cruel, not that Henry cared.

Whilst (y/n) felt gutted, Henry took one look at the egg, one look at the house and one look at her before making his final decision. All things considered, tonight had been a blast; he'd had a great manicure, met a cute girl, thrown a great party, raised and lost three thousand bucks and raced against the clock to work with his friends to trick his parents. His night had been like a goddamn movie, he wasn't sorry at all. "Rubber duck!"

"Stop! You know I hate that!" (y/n) sniffed as he chuckled and let all of his guilt go because his mom would get over the egg, there were millions of them and even his dad's one-of-a-kind car was good, that's what mattered. But for the young woman, it was more than that; that must've been the first time she remembered being fired for one reason or another, fired being the best word she could think of to describe this situation. Not getting paid was getting fired in her books--and a new thing. 

Henry didn't know how to respond, not when she had her lips turned upwards but her eyes looking so damn sad. This was Ray's department, cheering her up with something went wrong but Ray wasn't here and whether it was his fault or not, he was the only one around to make her feel better for losing out. For starters, he should've let her repair the car, he could admit to that, not trusting her was a mistake. 

"Sorry...it's not your fault, you know. The car, the egg, the party, none of it, I should've listened to you." He confessed, looking at his shoes because admitting he was wrong wasn't something Henry did often but when he did, he meant it, especially now. Sure, it had been impossible to predict Ray's sudden appearance at the house, but after everything that had happened, none of it could be pinned on (y/n), who deserved her money more than anything. 

"I know, not your fault either. You didn't know that guy was a dick." (y/n) smiled, knocking the kid slightly by putting her knuckles on his arm and pushing his body away. He was still young, still cocky, it was only expected for him to not listen sometimes and for him to be annoying sometimes, so she wasn't gonna hold a grudge or anything. She could never, not with Henry.

"No...but you did." He murmured, her gaze meeting his sorry one. He'd learn that rick eventually, being able to separate the good guys from the bad was one of those things you sussed out with a little life experience and it had only taken her getting kicked down a few times to realise that not everyone out there was who they said they were.

"Yeah, I learned the hard way what happens if you trust someone blindly. I don't want the same to happen to you." She told him, remembering the time when she'd been naive enough to ignore the warning signs until she found herself loving a monster. Never again, lesson well-learned and she wouldn't let Henry go through something similar. Being used is horrible and seeing something like that happen to a kid as sweet as Henry would be awful. Tonight was just a taste of how mean people could really be.

"I'm glad I've got you, then. You know, I've never really had someone to look out for me like you do, like a big sister thing. It's always been me looking out for Piper and nothing else...I don't why I just said that." Henry whispered. He didn't know why he was letting himself appear so vulnerable for a minute but he couldn't help it. He felt safe with her, she actually listened and cared, she knew what to say even if to her it wasn't even that helpful. He was the eldest, the responsible one in the family, no one ever saw it his way until he met (y/n).

"I've got one of those faces. People like to tell me stuff." (y/n) joked, happy to see that she could still extract a smile from the kid after he felt so glum. But she knew what he meant though, he saw himself as the kind of kid who could face the world and sort it all out with a bit of luck and stupid phrase like "rubber duck", people relied on him as the oldest child, big brother and best friend, Henry Hart and more so as the always happy to help sidekick, Kid Danger. 

"...And I'm always gonna look out for you, Henry Hart. You're like the annoying kid brother who drives me crazy but I wouldn't give up for the world." She added, smiling at how his cheeks flushed from the embarrassment of hearing something so sappy, and he confirmed it by pretending to hate the hug she brought him into, complaining about the way she ruffled his hair. 

He liked it, deep down. Having a big sister was meant to be sweet and icky and annoying sometimes, but always good. She had his back and he drove her up the wall, just as it should be. She gave him a lecture or two and he gagged when she kissed her doofus, that was just how it was. 

No one ever said siblings were perfect. No one ever said they had to be blood either.

[death2normalcy]

I don’t know if I’m gonna post this one, but I’m going to keep a post going just in case I do.

I haven’t seen all the SKZ Talkers. In fact, I haven’t seen most of them. So, I’m going to slowly watch all of them (minus the earlier SK Talkers, as they don’t have subtitles), and keep a commentary going.

There isn’t anything super new or super deep here, I’m just watching them, taking screenshots of moments I like, and pointing out when they are pretty or funny. That’s about it, lol.

So, these are only going to be a couple episodes per post, because I’m using screenshots for context and it adds a lot of length, lol. (Specifically, this one as the first 3 SKZ Talkers)

SKZ Talker, EP. 01 - Posted on August 15, 2018

It’s really adorable that even this early on, Hyunjin was looking at the two maknaes like that. He loves them so much.

Also, loving that short, dark hair on him with that waviness.

Hyunjin’s laugh is so cute. Love that Seungmin and I.N. have always been able to make him laugh like that.

I absolutely love that you can hear Han in the background, singing, while they’re making fun of him, lmao.

Black-haired Lee Know, my beloved. (Also, they’re so cute!)

Curly-haired Changbin, my other beloved.

THEM

HIM

SKZ Talker, EP. 02 - Posted on August 22, 2018

Seungmin looks so cute in his blue beret

HIM

lmao at Felix’s lock screen

these dumbs. they kept turning off the light, yelling, then turned it off and turned on the phone flashlight and just started being weird, lmao

i can’t get past how young they are here. so small

the way han keeps looking at i.n. here is cute as hell

SEUNGBIN. but lol at seungmin just watching him sleep.

yes.

listen. i adore him. i would fight for him. look at this cupcake.

same goes for this absolute weirdo, i love him. i was literally just thinking there wasn’t a lot of him in this episode and then he pops up at the end, lol

SKZ Talker, EP. 03 - Posted August 29, 2018

he’s so pretty and cute at the same time

this is the best shot i could get of this moment, since it happens so quickly, but HAN. lmao. not him trying to kiss hyunjin’s hand

the i am groot stuff is even more adorable considering how far chan has come and how he now has a big fan in ryan reynolds. the marvel connections are so funny

do you ever just get blown away by how absolutely stunning lee know is

also, look at them

shit like this is why they were the first duo to catch my attention

the amount of changjin in this episode is just *chefs kiss*

wait

what the actual fuck is going on in the back seat

[a-moth-to-the-light]

facetime with my dog tonight (nov 26, 2022)

The Day, In Short

Flight home, laundry, and showering! I even washed my comforter, so my room is very nice and clean right now, which is unusual for just getting home from a trip :)

My favorite part of today was an unusually peaceful bus ride home from the airport! It came early, and it was a much smaller, homier bus than usual, with no strangers unnecessarily approaching me (which is quite a victory in any outing)! I got to listen to the new Friendly Space Ninja video, which I found delightful and finished in just a few sittings (I would gush about them right now, but I'm saving that for an end-of-year post). Now I'm just sitting doing homework, which is mostly reading (yay!!!), and then I might start filling out a form for course credit which I've kept on the back burner for a week or so now!

the little dot thingies

So I have a self-care board in my dorm, where I have a rotating cast of self-care activities that I get to put dots next to every time I complete them! I usually update my board on Fridays, but I was out of state yesterday, so I did it today! My favorite of last week's was watch TV before bed, something that really helps me relax--I'm so glad I made it a priority this past week, and I decided to add it to my mega-list of self-care inspiration! The TV show in question has mostly been Psych, which I randomly ran across on Prime Video a month or so ago and almost immediately fell in love with--I made it through season 2 in this week's binge!

The activities I can get points (which equal dots--just putting the little dots on the board is satisfying in itself!) for in the upcoming week are: leave something unfinished, flirt, healthcare, and journal. Healthcare is a big one, because I'm currently quite behind on getting in contact with my doctors, and there are a few pain-relief things I've been wanting to buy that I think I'll try and finally get this week!

OMGOMG LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT

pensando en ti: I had never heard of Lara91k before, but a clip of "pensando en ti" showed up on one of the music-focused Instagram accounts I follow (jenesaispop, I think?) and caught my attention! I posted about Clara Cava brainrot a little while ago, and my recent obsession with this song is a direct extension of that. Like "No Vaya a la Fiesta" and "Cosa Suya", my two favorite Clara Cava songs, "pensando en ti" is smooth, catchy, and, above all, simple, washed in a layer of gray skies and cold ocean waves. This is chill study music at its finest, but the gentle groove and vocal layering are enough to keep me interested, even when I'm not multitasking. Really, though, it all comes down to: ME PASO LOS DIAS PENSANDO EN TI-IIIII VI TU FOTO Y NO PUDE DORMI-IIIIIIR

prenderle fuego a todo: Andrea Santiago's "Materia Viva" is more of a legend than a song to me. Listening to it is an ethereal experience, and it hasn't lost its luster in the two years since I first added it to my playlists. Santiago released her first album this year, including a new version of "Materia Viva", but it's the title track I've been obsessed with recently, ever since I got around to listening to it. "Prenderle fuego a todo" is lovely soft rock in the vein of "Materia Viva", anchored by Andrea Santiago's raspy soprano--the typical "indie girl" voice, but with enough energy behind it to make it feel unusually compelling and natural. I've been too distracted by the first couple of songs in the album to get very far through the tracklist, but I'm so excited for more!

their coffee shop: I've been reading this Webtoon for a few weeks now--I'm not nearly caught up (I'm on episode 42 of 72), but once I am, I have a feeling this is going to become one of my consistent reads, along with Idiots Don't Catch Colds and (formerly) Let's Cast Off. The art is soft and youthful, and I find considerable joy in following a main character who reminds me so much of myself when I'm in my obsessive phases. It has always felt taboo for me to talk about my desperate, obsessive tendencies when those phases happen--in fact, I've taken this taboo so far that I'm uncomfortable with showing need at all--so I really appreciate finding a story where they're talked about honestly, covering their good, bad, and ugly aspects with compassion.

let's cast off: I mentioned above that LCO is one of my two consistent reads currently (meaning ones I read updates of whenever they come out), but it actually just ended today, when the epilogue was released early behind an ad. It's been really hard to watch this story end, as it has been a consistent part of my life for about two and a half years now (since the start of the pandemic, as you might guess), even providing my reason to live for a solid couple of months in 2021, and it's actually one of the first stories that got me writing the kind of analysis content I love creating today. I haven't posted any of my LCO writing here, but let me just say there is a lot of it stored up in my personal Discord server!

The finale definitely hasn't been my favorite part of the story, but there are some elements of this section of narrative that I really appreciate (including my second-favorite panel in the entire story, a resolution to one of the plotlines that hit me hardest back when I first started reading that's done in such a sweet, subtle way, so wonderfully mindful of all the violence that precedes it). I'm not really sure how I feel about it--it's just kind of a weight on my chest and a lump in my throat right now, leaving me too teary-eyed to do much except echo the sentiment of this quote from Mera's YouTube video "Finally, the Album":

The fact that I get to enjoy this moment in Blackpink's career, and that I get to celebrate how far they've come in 2020 alone, means a lot to me personally, because there were moments where I convinced myself I would not get that chance... This album gives me a chance to look back at my love for Blackpink, way back to the very first day, and it's like I'm looking my younger self in the eyes.

things that make brain buzz

I've gotten some work done on a couple of fiction pieces today, ones like the prose poems I've posted here before. One, I wrote a few weeks ago, and now I'm just trying to work out paragraph breaks & clean up messy sentences. The other is a random idea that hit me in the evening, so I've just been jotting notes down and trying to flesh it out a bit!

I feel doomed, so so doomed, and yet I don't want to go yet. I see the pain in front of me, and I cry for it, but I open my arms to it, too. I don't know how real it is, how accurate my visions are, but I feel them in my stomach and I feel their shadows stretch out and yet... I walk to my doom.

Content warning for references to death in the next quote!

I can't stop imagining Nadia tomorrow morning, messaging me as she curls up against the headboard of her bed, only half-awake and slowly adjusting to the five a.m. cold. Glancing down at her phone as she goes through her day, opening our messages again and again, just in case the notification never reached her lock screen. Reassuring herself: Oli sleeps in on weekends; she might need an extra people-break after such a noisy party; oh, doesn't she have a big paper to work on? I doubt Nadia would believe that I could find it in me to write in the mornings, but it feels right to think that she might start grasping at straws by noon. Too polite to show up at my door, she would worry all day and start crying by evening: did I say too much yesterday? We call each other pretty all the time, it can't have been that bad. But then, I knew what I was trying to say, and I'm sure she did, too. Maybe this is it; maybe I killed it. But no one killed it, Nadia. It's just... my time, I suppose, though it doesn't feel right to act as though I have any ownership over it. Time has chosen me.

These are from the bits I jotted down last night--as I'm sure you can guess from these, my anxiety has been particularly merciless recently, but writing was quite a helpful exorcism for it :)

Will I Do Anything Interesting Tomorrow?

I'm planning on going shopping with my friends, plus the school dining hall will finally reopen--I'm so excited to head down there again, because I miss their tea! I have an overdue library book (as usual... sigh), so maybe I can try to get done with reading that today and turn it back in later this week!

Otherwise, it'll just be homework--I have a makeup test on Monday that I want to do some studying for, and we're nearing finals, so there are plenty of papers I can do some work on.

Quote of the Day!

Wait, isn't it a bit late for soccer practice?

-- me, at 10:30 pm, completely believing my friend when he told me he was getting dropped off at soccer practice (I PROMISE I CAN USUALLY READ DEADPAN HUMOR ITS JUST AN OFF DAY)

[brucenorris007]

So, remember that episode of BTAS that’s all an elaborate illusion created by Mad Hatter where Bruce just gets to be happy with Selina as a fiancée, his parents are alive, and being Batman/protecting Gotham is someone else’s business?  I imagine that, like every other scenario that’s managed to catch him completely unawares, Bruce has done some intense mental training/mind palace thing to prevent falling for that sort of trap again. Thing is, whether it’s the Hatter, or some new strain of pollen Ivy came up with or a drug of some kind, it’ll still take at least a few minutes for his brain to Batman its way back to reality, which leaves Bruce aware yet still interacting with his parents. And instead of running off to brood about their deaths, because he knows he can’t physically make his body go anywhere until he comes to, he just talks to them. Thomas and Martha are, of course, Confused, but eventually just happy to listen to their son, and what does B talk about? His kids. About how he’s watched Dick grow into one of the most resilient men he’s ever known; the fact that regardless of how many times he’s found himself evicted, he’s kept his position in Bludhaven as an officer with prospects for making captain; how he’s actually been putting off a promotion because doing the work himself is so important to him, interacting with the people and being a teammate. That even so, Bruce still worries about Dick’s brittle, too-often smiles, that he puts too much responsibility for his family’s well-being on himself. About Jason’s latest essay that he wrote just because he could, how he casually quotes themes in Shakespeare and Austen in a given conversation; how, despite his history with the place, he’ll still visit Crime Alley armed with little more than worn out copies of Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes and clear away trash from what were once playgrounds and read aloud until he’s gathered a small audience. About Tim’s mind, the capacity to organize and locate the thread of logic amidst chaos that still surprises Bruce at times. How, as a brother, he’s finally starting to allow himself to be the child the Drakes always discouraged him from being; how he’s made real friends, gotten more than half a dozen acceptance letters to schools across the country. About Damian’s kindness, flourishing in an environment that actually allows him to express it; how he’s slowly shedding his militant outlook, gradually less befuddled by the dynamics of how a family works, that his insistence on the importance of pedigree are now more token and habitual than truly dogmatic. How many damn animals are in and around Wayne manor, now; how he’s started volunteering at animal shelters and how Bruce has started searching for veterinary internships for a couples years down the line. About Cass, who spent the vast majority of her formative years being raised solely for violence; how she possesses a staggering capacity for love that, as a sister and a daughter, she finally has an outlet for, taking every opportunity to hold Dick’s hand, bump Tim’s shoulder, or hug Jason and Damian just because she can and because she knows they need one. How she’s started picking up ASL because she wants another way to communicate without words that isn’t the one she was raised with; that she asked Bruce recently if she could find a way to work with nonverbal children and impart the practical cues she’s learned about body language and microexpressions to young women in Gotham.  About Steph, who isn’t even his in the same way the others are, but whose day he still asks after whenever he can. How brave she is, how bright despite coming from much the same Gotham that Jason was born into. How great she is for the rest of the kids; a sister for Cass, a reminder to Jason of what he used to be before the worst of his trauma and perhaps the one who understands him best, a friend who isn’t afraid to push Tim out of his comfort zone and doesn’t mind when he feels awkward.  Bruce spends around twenty minutes just... bragging about his kids to his parents, and it’s all he’s ever wanted. In an ideal world–Bruce’s ideal world–his kids would never have needed him to offer safety and shelter in the first place. Short of that? He wants to share what makes him proudest with his mother and father; not the crime-fighting, not Wayne Enterprises, but his kids.

[collecting-stories]

Under Duress - JJ Maybank

Request: Hi!! So Ive been binging your work and trying to rewatch OBX. I was wondering if you could do like a oneshot with JJ from the episode he and John B go check on Miss Lana? Anyway I love how Rudy subtly shows how upset JJ is at the situation and I wanted to ask if you could write one where the reader comforts him (either while theyre there or back at the chateau) bc she knows why he’s triggered and knows hes panicking? I was thinking of the “man I was under duress” and his little “dont listen” and I just wanna give that man a hug. If you get to this, thank you!

A/N: Sorry this has been sitting in my inbox for so long...it’s been a hard couple months and I haven’t been able to catch up as much as I thought I would. 

Outer Banks Masterlist

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

It was difficult to follow JJ and John B’s recounting of Lana’s house. The details were scrambled between their collective memories and JJ was so wired from the ordeal that he was still visibly shaking as he snapped at Kiara, insisting that he was ‘under duress’ the entire time. It was impossible to even process the story once you saw the look of anxious panic in his eyes; JJ was sucking on his vape like it was filled with barbiturates and he was trying to knock himself out. 

You wanted to grab him right there, wrap him up in your arms in the middle of his rant like you were a human security blanket and make sure that he was okay because you recognized that look in his eyes. You knew the nervous twitch of his hands as he tried to steady them and the frantic pace of his words as he tried to work through his emotions to get to the root of the story. John B looked exasperated by his best friend’s antics and Kiara did nothing to hide her annoyance with him but you were sure that you just looked concerned. Something that John B mistook for worry about Miss Lana when he assured you that she was alright.  

You only nodded dumbly, raising from your seat on the arm of the couch Pope was sitting on, and followed JJ when he headed into the Chateau. He went straight for the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of the beer you’d nabbed from your dad’s stash in the basement and brought to the Chateau a few nights earlier. The fact that it’d survived this long was surprising but beneficial to JJ, who drank the cheap beer like it was water and he was dying of thirst.  

“Hey,” you called, grimacing when he jumped, chest heaving as he realized it was only you in the kitchen and he wasn’t still back there at Miss Lana’s, or worse. “Sorry...you okay?” you chanced asking as if he would give you a straight answer.

“Yeah just, you shoulda seen Lana’s...it was like,” He shook his head, unable to relay the words to describe the place to you.  

“Are you okay otherwise?” You asked, moving closer to him and reaching a hand out to hold his elbow. His skin was warm under your touch and he relaxed just the slightest, leaning back against the countertop. “I know-”

“It’s not like that.” JJ defended, though he remained relaxed, “it’s not always like-”

“Yeah, I know. I just...with Luke I just worried maybe-”

“It’s not like that,” he repeated firmly, “god, I’m not some fucking baby.”  

“I didn’t mean that JJ, I just felt like...maybe-”

“Well I wasn’t! I’m fine.” He insisted though his own appearance betrayed his words. His hands were shaking so bad he’d put the beer bottle down and his eyes were glassy and red. He looked sunburn but you knew it was just that he was upset, the pinkish tint of his cheeks and neck reflecting his inability to keep his cool. “I’m fine,” but when he repeated the words his voice cracked and you wrapped your arms around him, pulling him into a hug.  

JJ wrapped his arms around you, pressing his face against your shoulder, the feeling of wet cheeks against your bare skin the first indication that he was crying. He held on so tight you thought you might lose your breath but you just kept holding him back, rubbing your hand along his back. “It’s okay, you’re back here, you’re okay.” You promised, turning your head enough to press a kiss to his salty blond hair.  

“I just wanted to book it,” JJ admitted, his voice half muffled, “John B wasn’t even scared, just kept waiting for them to leave and all I wanted to do was get out of there.”

“That’s okay,” you promised, “I would’ve wanted to get out of there...you know what a wuss I am,” you replied, the insult a familiar one. When you were younger, when you used to play hide and seek after school in the woods you were always insistent that the game end before dark and JJ always called you a wuss.  

He laugh half-heartedly against your shoulder and slowly stood up enough that you could see his face. He loosened his grip and you found yourself missing the hug as he reached for his beer once more. “You were right...just kept thinking about my dad.” JJ admitted.  

“No one would blame you for that.”

“Yeah but...Lana needed our help and I just kept standing there like a fucking moron thinking about my dad...John B was the only one who kept his head on.”

“It’s the other way around plenty of times J, don’t compare yourself.” If you were listing best friends John B always made the cut but he wasn’t your favorite person and you were never shy about expressing your contempt for your ‘friend’, especially when he did something that made JJ feel shitty.  

“I just feel like I fucked up,” he replied.  

“Yeah well, you didn’t. And I’d happily remind you of that continuously until you believe me.” You pointed out.  

The front door opened and you stepped away from JJ, looking over to see who had walked inside. John B, looking like he’d finally worked something out, the rusty compass in his hand as Kiara and Pope followed him.  

“We’re checking the office,” Pope said, as if it was a question. He looked at JJ for a second, pausing in the space between the hallway and the kitchen, “you okay?”  

“I’m good.” JJ replied, downing the last of the beer and laying the bottle on the counter. You lingered a moment after him before following them, a little disappointed that they interrupted whatever sort of moment you and JJ were having.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Looking for a Place to Happen

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), age gap, general stupidity.

This is dark!biker!Sam Wilson x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s lots happening in Birch and you find it all too amusing.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, Little Bones, and Fully Completely

Note: We’re starting Sam’s installment but this weekend I’ll probably only be catching up on my headcanons and drabbles because I’ve been a lazy bitch and I’m sorry to those who have been waiting.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 1: I've got a job, I explore

💀💀💀

The sleepy town of Birch was awake. 

In those last weeks, the arrival of outsiders had roused the attention of many once passive residents of the timeless territory. Those brick buildings unchanged by the tick of the clock inlaid into the old tower above the library that chimed every hour on the hour. They still stood with only chips in the mortar but the air tasted different. The frost was more bitter and the sky more grim. An omen of something no one could predict.

It was the perfect setting for a screenplay. The isolated town with its unsavoury secrets and the visitors who threatened to bring them to the surface. It was inspiring to you, to imagine what was hidden behind the stern wrinkled faces of the town elders and under the jackets of those men who wore the cut of the local club. The bikers ruled the town covertly but everyone knew that Bucky Barnes’ palm was lined with the map of Birch.

As a bystander, an unnoticed observer, just another ant in the hill, you watched from the side and amused yourself with the drama of others. It was like a soap opera or another HBO hype machine. Those things you aspired to when you could be free of this ho-hum town.

The snows added to the natural gloom of the place. The deep heaps smothered the noise and harkened back to those days of colonial settlement. Forgotten, desolate, fearful. 

You ventured down in your heavy boots that stretched to your knees and pushed your chin down into your scarf. As a child, you ran and jumped in those piles, now you were out of breath just trying to walk past them.

You stopped in the bakery that doubled as the only café, a place where the owner, Babs, tried to to intimidate the last caffeinated trends. She was always a few seasons behind but you didn’t mind so much. 

You ordered the salted caramel mocha and waited patiently as the quiet woman fought with the steaming machines. She was older than you but you’d work with her for one summer during high school, only five years ago. She had the eyes of a child still, but there was something worn in her. As if she’d been exposed to far too much in her three or so decades in that place. She was a harbinger of what you didn’t want to become.

You thanked her for your drink and set out once more into the billowing winds. Birch winters were never kind but this one was crueler than most. Your teeth chattered as you blew the steam away from the lid and hugged it with your mittened hands.

You stopped short as you heard the familiar ding of the diner door across the street. You recognised the mechanic who kept to herself and once growled at you in the grocery store. She stormed across the street, followed closely and quickly by a black-haired man you’d only seen once before. He was one of those outsiders who came to deal with the club men.

You sped up as you sensed chaos brewing and pulled out your phone as you balanced your paper cup in your other hand. You flicked your camera on just as you got to the front of the shop and the man grabbed the mechanic. You let out an ‘oop’ as she turned on him and you aimed the lens at the couple as they fell into the snow, the man’s shoes giving little traction to his steps. 

You moved closer, stunned by the scene, and kept your cell phone rolling as you found a better angle around the snowy walks. As she choked him on the ground he elbowed her and she coughed as she rolled away. She snarled as he clamoured to his feet, slipping and sliding as he marched away.

You killed the recording and watched the man cross the street again, nearly wiping out as he did and when you looked back to the mechanic, she was gone behind the clattering door. You chuckled to yourself and tucked away your cell. It was prime footage for TikTok; with a bit of editing, it would be comedy gold.

💀

You stomped up the steps of your grandmother’s house, this time through the front door as you heard her chair rocking in the front room. You usually took the stairs in the back as you paid her to live on the upper floor of the duplex. You checked in with her daily, she didn’t get out much more than the occasional trip to the grocery store when you couldn’t or you dragged her out to join you for a tea at Babs’.

“You’re late,” she grumbled as you set your cup down and unzipped your coat.

“For what?” you scoffed.

“It’s after noon and you don’t even come down to say hello? A ‘good morning, nan’,” she harrumphed.

You chuckled and hung your coat before shoving your boots over on the mat. You grabbed your mocha and leaned on the doorway as you watched her crocheting in her chair, reruns of some court show playing from the boxy television.

“I was working,” you said, “sent in some stuff for review. Hopefully not much work to be done.”

“I don’t know how you make money on that interweb,” she bemoaned, “I don’t trust it.”

“Maybe you’d trust it more if you used the Netflix subscription I got you,” you crossed your arms, “then you wouldn’t have to watch trash daytime TV.”

She shrugged and muttered under her breath. She could be crotchety but you liked her sense of humour. Your aunts and uncles never came around because they just took it as spite. You were the only one who knew how to handle the jaded old lady.

“Maybe you coulda looked out the window,” you snickered, “quite a show going on in town.”

“Hmm, what’s that?” she stilled her needles and reached for her tea stained cup.

“Just a fight. You wouldn’t believe it, that lady mechanic beat the shit--”

“Language,” she huffed.

“Anyway, she had this guy in a chokehold. It was awesome.”

“What guy?” she squinted at you over her glasses.

“I dunno. Some out of towner. Remember I told you about that burly dude hanging around the library?”

“There’s more?” she sucked on her teeth, “those bikers have never been good news and now they’re bringing in more.”

“Yeah, well, what’re you gonna do?” you sniffed as you took out your phone and rewatched the scuffle with the volume down. You shook your head and opened up your TikTok. 

“I don’t understand why you’re always on your dang phone,” your grandmother pestered.

“I’m not always on my phone,” you smiled at her smugly, “there are those time when I’m listening to you prattle on or you know, making you tea, oh, and cooking you dinner. What was it I did last week? Oh that’s right, I got Pippin out of the crawlspace.”

“I’m too old to be chasin’ that cat all around,” she huffed, “where is he anyway?”

“He’s your cat, I don’t know? Last time I saw him, I sent him back out the window for shredding my charger.”

“He knows you need to give it a rest,” she laughed to herself, “got your nose to that screen too much.”

“And what do you do, old lady? Crocheting doilies to put where exactly?”

She gave you that dry smile, the one that said watch it but carried a hint of humour still. You hit post and put your phone away as you waved off her irritation.

“Well, you know what, I sit all day at my computer, doing who knows what and you know what it got me?” you taunted, “a large mocha!” you sipped as you sat on the sofa and grabbed the remote, “and it’s paying my rent and putting bullet points on my resume.”

“Mhmm,” she scowled, “just remember, real life ain’t online. Those videos you’re always laughing at like hyena, that’s not reality. You forget it and it’ll come back and bit you. ‘Specially with those bikers.”

“Oh, nan, you know too well, don’t you? Didn’t you have a fling with one back in your hippie phase?”

“Two, actually,” she raised her brows, “I was young and stupid. Not like you, but still.”

“I love you too,” you chirped and sipped from your cup, flicking the station to Jerry Springer, “that’s more like it.”

💀

Your usual TikToks were sarcastic and dull complaints about your small town life. The response was less than pleasing but it gave you an outlet to vent. You liked to goof around and document the very specific type of weirdos that resided in Birch. But the video of the fight in the snow blew up your phone and made it difficult to ignore the buzzing as you went back up to your room to eke out the last of your captions for the ad agency.

When at last you could call your day hard-earned, you logged off and sent in your hours to the agency. Social media promotion was easy enough but the working gigs for a thousand different companies was tedious. You hoped you could build your portfolio enough to manage a single corporate page as you continued to chip away at your creative outlets.

You picked up your phone as you waited for Netflix to load on your tiny smart tv and flopped onto your bed, not two feet from your desk. You hit the icon in the upper panel of your phone and scrolled through the notifications, pausing to turn on another episode of the cable sitcom from ten years before. You snorted as you read each comment but the number under the video made your eyes round. The thing was bound to go viral.

As usual, you went down to help with supper. Pippin, the orange tabby, returned to cry at his dish and you fed him too. Your nan peered through her glasses at a crossword as she tasted the tangy pasta sauce. 

“More basil,” she snipped.

“Well, I asked if you wanted to help,” you muttered, “I think it’s good.”

“Hmmp, I need milk,” she jutted her chin out, “for my after-dinner tea.”

“You couldn’t say something like three hours ago?” you blinked.

“I could have but I didn’t,” she snickered. You rolled your eyes and she took another forkful of penne and filled in another line on her puzzle, “ah, no hurry, girlie, you know I’m patient.”

“Patient? You?” you chuckled as you took your plate and shoved it in the microwave to keep it warm. The ancient thing had a dial and the door stuck, “I’ll just go get it over with.”

“Don’t forget your mitts,” she called after you as you tramped into the front room, “it’s cold.”

You pulled on your knitted cap and matching mitts. You zipped up your parka and shoved your feet into the deep boots. You grabbed your wallet and buried it in the spacious pocket. You bounced out the front door and down the steps as the sky sent down another coat of powder for the night.

You went up White Forge Street and through the short path behind the diner that led to the main road. You glanced over at The Asp, the beacon of the dull town, and turned towards the grocer. Like anywhere in Birch, the store was outdated and stuffy. It felt like stepping into another time with the paper bags and chunky tills.

You went down the center aisle and stopped at the fridge to search through the frosted glass. Your nan only drank whole milk and the last time you carelessly grabbed skim, she whined that even Pippin wouldn’t drink it. She was particular but that was just her nature. You couldn’t say you were any less fussy in some instances.

You grabbed a jug and the door slapped closed against the worn rubber seal. You headed up the candy aisle and brushed your woolly thumb over your chin as you considered gummy bears or Reeses’ Pieces.

“Hard choice?” The deep voice jolted you.

You snatched the box of chocolate and looked over at the man in leather, his chin tucked down behind the collar as snow dusted his shoulders.

“Sure,” you said as you brushed past him.

The cut of the leather told you he was better not entertained. While you thought the men amusing, you weren’t stupid enough to engage with them. You rarely listened to your grandmother but she was wise in her own way. 

You knew a girl in highschool, she was fucking around with one of the club men in her junior year, she ended up with a baby and no support. You didn’t think he was into you that way but he could hardly have innocent intentions.

“How’s the old lady?” Clayton asked as he rung in your order at the end of the belt, you moved along with the groceries and pulled out your wallet.

“The usual, you know? She’s tryna quit again. Don’t know how long it’ll last.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll keep a carton aside for her,” he kidded as you felt your phone vibing in your back pocket.

“Don’t encourage her,” you swiped your card and punched in your pin, “although I don’t know what’s worse; the smoke or her sucking on those mints all the time.”

“Oh, it’s not the bitchin’?” he laughed.

“That, too,” you scooped up the paper bag and put your wallet away, “have a good one.”

As you came to the end of the first counter, you were nearly cut off by the club member as he swept around from till two. His own purchase of a car magazine and jerky was tucked under his arm.

“Ah, sorry,” he smiled, a sparkling smile, almost charming.

“No worries,” you continued on and he followed close behind.

“Those mitts look real warm. ‘Specially in this weather,” he said as you pushed open the door.

“Uh huh,” you kept on as your boots crunched out into the snow.

“You know where I can get a pair. Leather isn’t exactly thermal, you know?”

“These? My nan made ‘em. I’m sure Clayton got some hung up back there,” you looked across the street as you stepped up onto the ledge of snow between the sidewalk and the road.

“Am I bothering you?” he asked.

You looked at him dumbly and almost laughed in his face. You glanced back across the street then down towards The Asp.

“Sorta,” you answered.

“Make you a deal. Leave ya alone for your name.”

You eyed him. He was older than you like many of the Commandos. At least a decade, likely more than that. You chewed on your hesitation and cradled the bag more firmly against your side. His eyes strayed as he tried to see through the thick layer of your coat.

“Nah, I’m not s’posed to talk to strangers,” you said and hopped off onto the road.

You heard him behind you as he struggled to follow and as you came up to the other side, he came parallel with you and kept stride with you easily.

“I know you’re young but you’re not a kid,” he intoned, “what’s the harm in a name?”

“It’s a small town,” you stopped short of the end of White Forge, “I think I know enough about you to avoid you.”

“Oh ho, is that it? Well, I’m Sam, I’m not a stranger now, am I?”

“Not interested, Sam. Sure there’s women your own age over at the bar,” you nodded behind him.

“You wanna come see? Maybe have a drink?” he gave a crooked grin.

“You don’t give up, do you?” you shook your head, put off by his forwardness.

“Well?”

“Not tonight, Sam,” you turned around and headed down White Forge.

“Then what night?” he asked but you didn’t answer and he didn’t follow.

You turned down onto your street and refused to look back in case. It would be best not to mention the run-in to your nan, she was paranoid enough as it was. Besides, you’d forget about it by the end of next week.