#it was her acknowledging the smart thing she said near the end of the movie that drew my attention

[lasarcasticpanda]

something that i thought was very well done in Barbie (besides yanno all of it) is how Margot's Babrie doesn't think she's smart, because she has been labeled as "stereotypical Barbie".

like, multiple times in this movie, she has moments of very well articulated and intelligent comments, which have excellent comedic timing, but serve a wider purpose of showcasing how women tend to be given a Trait and that is your thing. she mentions how she wishes Smart Barbie was here or to wait for Leadership Barbie to swoop in because she's Stereotypical Barbie, she's not smart, she's not a Leader, she can't do this.

at some point after childhood, women get pigeonholed into a category, right (sometimes even in childhood if I'm honest)? weird, smart, hot, pretty, ugly, bitchy, innocent, prudish, slut, nice. at most, you get two of these traits for your peers and friends to label you.

and its hard to see that when it happens! it's only as we go on and start having complex relationships and experiences and interacting with people outside of our space that we start seeing that and start putting a name to the feeling of constriction that we've been having for, what feels like, forever.

THEN you have to contend with the reality that you are so much more than even all of those things and that's scary! you cannot fit into these small boxes, humans were never made to fit into boxes, you have to throw it out even as others play tug-of-war with you in the rain and insist the soggy, tearing box is so important and where would we be without it? you have to constantly face that and insist that no, it's not, and we'd be right where we are now, arguing over a wet box in the rain when the only thing either of us wants is to be warm inside.

and you have to learn when to pick and choose to just let go and leave the box and the person in the rain and when to keep fighting, even if you're so tired and cold.

and this just! HAPPENS! like there isn't a manual, there isn't a magical age you turn where this becomes clear to you! it's different for everyone and some don't ever have that and some have it so young and others not until they're old! it's such a lonely thing sometimes!

but then you meet other women, different women, so many women with so many unique experiences to add. trans women, women of color, nonbinary women, disabled women, women of every differing religion, ALL have these unique experiences with this phenomon, some have more boxes to throw out in the rain, some have to try and throw out wooden or stone boxes in a hurricane, the danger they face in doing so is sometimes so much more than what others experience.

but that moment of realizing women all have this undertone of understanding and dealing with this gives us the courage to join and hopefully make the tug-of-war easier, to make sure we all get inside to be warm. it's hard to pull that stone box by yourself, but if we join behind you, maybe we can win.

this movie encapsulates that so incredibly well? that speech from Gloria about how tiring it is to see herself and other women feel this way and be made to feel this way and to buy into ourselves is just! that moment of looking every woman in the eyes and telling them they're seen and their struggles are seen and it is so unfair!

and then Barbie says something else smart and, for the first time, acknowledges she did. "Oh I can't believe that just came from me" it has the whole time, can't wait for you to realize that you were always human, and look forward to seeing you in the rain and for hot cocoa afterwards.

[wordsofapanda]

That scene in EEAAO where the alternate dad confessed he wished he could live a simple life doing menial tasks with the mom was so fucking relatable. I watched this movie with my ex. And let’s be clear my ex chose to be with someone else because she had things I didn’t. She wasn’t chronically I’ll, she had a full time job and more money, and was more “successful”. After months of him actually getting physically beaten by this woman and blackmailed, he obviously came crawling back to me. To be fair, I was the first woman he’s had a serious relationship with. When we reconnected, he told me how horrible it was in detail. During the time he was with her, he made it clear he wasn’t in love with her and continuously tried to reach out to me even though I was open to dating other people. Now he left me thinking he could get money out of this woman (long story), but she ended up being the complete opposite than me. Yeah she wasn’t chronically I’ll but she was an alcoholic and a mean one. She had a full-time job but no prospects to move on up in life or find a stable job. And yeah she could pitch in for him financially, but he wasted so much money getting alcohol for her. Now this is one hundred percent a rant where I’m bashing on another woman. Let me be clear. I have every right to be upset and she is not a good person. He told me she would bash me everyday in any way she could. She constantly would bash my fatness, my cooking, my looks, my financial situation, my health, you name it. But he realized how different it was with me. Yeah I sometimes cook unhealthy but she could ONLY cook eggs. I had a car, and she didn’t so he had to drive her to work. I go to the doctor constantly and she refuses to see a doctor even though she keeps getting UTI’s and literally sleeps around. I am fat but I’m nice. She’s skinnier but she’s mean. And I wish I was over exaggerating but he was literally beaten up by this woman. Near the end of my relationship he ridiculed me and said all I do was get excited when he gets home… and then he gets home to her sleeping with a beer in her hand. She has no hobbies or interests that they share and I build his furniture, make jewelry for him, and sew in my free time. She yelled in New York that he was raping her so that he would get jumped. She almost got them kicked off the plane to New York because she got too drunk and tried to fight the stewardess. And yet I’ve flown several countries with no one bad mark or ticket on my record. And I’m the opposite with NY, I got a fuck ton of friends in NY and have never been in trouble with the cops. She left him get drugged by himself and I would never. I could keep going but she was my literal opposite. And he noticed that. He realized that he was so in his head feeling like he had to be established that he took my ass for granted. So when we watched that movie together and he saw that seen, you bet your ass he took it hard. Because he realized that being an adult and having your own place and money was shit and he would rather be broke and around me. But here’s the thing, I’m not a fool. I’ve done so much therapy and I’m all about me right now. When I see that scene, I swoon. It’s sweet. It’s romantic, but I just feel pity for my ex. He lost someone like Key Huy Quan. Someone who is timid but fights battles with kindness. Someone who is silly and does weird things to make others smile. He didn’t appreciate me and he lost me. And during that time apart, I saw that people wished they could be with someone who was super happy every night to see their partner. I realized a bunch of traits I had that other women or other partners couldn’t do. I don’t need anyone. He told me he thought we weren’t equal because he made more financially but he couldn’t build his own furniture. He couldn’t make a meal for a family. He couldn’t navigate how to reroute his mail. He had a level of incompetence that he couldn’t acknowledge. But shit, for me not making much… I’m smart and fucking capable. And I will ALWAYS be better than her.

[imaginethoseguys]

Liquid Courage

Hi, I need to submit a seminar paper in 10 days so naturally I wrote this 3k+ fic for Itadori Yuji girl, bye

Pairing: Itadori Yuji x fem!S/O Word count: 3.3k Warnings: fluff, drinking, drunk confessions, slight angst, au motifs Summary: No matter the chosen activity, Yuji would be equally excited to simply spend time with her. He didn’t even need her to reciprocate his feelings. He felt comfortable in his lovable bubbly state, and she most likely loved him as a friend, so all was well. Trying to take things further would be a risky move anyway and he would not dare take his chances at the expense of making things worse between them because the last thing he would ever want is to make her upset or uncomfortable. He still remembered all her stories about friendships she inescapably lost after the “I need to tell you something” texts in the middle of the night from guys who she felt comfortable enough to be herself with.

Yup, no way that was happening. a/n: Itadori's in his 20s (as well as s/o)

gif credit

It wasn’t Yuji who offered to spend the Friday night at a bar. He didn’t enjoy drinking that much, and there was some weird old movie at the local theatre that they could watch and make fun of together. But it was an unusual occasion, they were on a week-long mission, dealing with curse activity in Osaka, and, well, it was  her  who asked, so of course he agreed. He never went against her suggestions, he trusted her fully, maybe even too much. Possibly, it was her way with words. Somehow, she knew exactly what to say in situations where Yuji often found himself at loss for words. She was reliable and reassuring and had a certain kind of warmness to her.

Or, possibly, it was Yuji’s six-years-long crush on her that had him blushing and hyperventilating at anything she did, so opinions were divided on this one.

No matter the chosen activity, Yuji would be equally excited to simply spend time with her. He didn’t even need her to reciprocate his feelings. He felt comfortable in his lovable bubbly state, and she most likely loved him as a friend, so all was well. Trying to take things further would be a risky move anyway and he would not dare take his chances at the expense of making things worse between them because the last thing he would ever want is to make her upset or uncomfortable. He still remembered all her stories about friendships she inescapably lost after the “I need to tell you something” texts in the middle of the night from guys with who she felt comfortable enough to be herself. Yup, no way that was happening.

“Oh, look, they have homemade plum wine!” her exclamation brought Yuji’s attention back to reality. “And it’s in pitchers too. Lucky!”

“You do remember you can’t hold your liquor, right?” he said, propping his face on his right hand while watching her mumble giddily “plum wine and soda, plum wine and soda.” She lowered the laminated menu sheet and leveled him with an annoyed gaze.

“I am a grown young woman who earns a living by exorcising curses, I’m pretty sure I can handle a glass or two,  Yuji .”

“Including that time when you threw up on Fushiguro mid-conversation?”

“That was graduation! And we did shots.”

“Yeah, it was also 7pm.”

“Enough of you, mister.” She threateningly pointed a finger at him and turned around to call the waiter. Receiving an acknowledging nod in return, she turned back. “Besides, if we’re talking about you, everyone is terrible at holding their liquor in comparison.”

“I’m just heavyweight.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You’re just a beast machine who suppressed the King of Curses and can run 50 meters in 3 seconds,” she shook her head at her own description, “no wonder you’re Special Grade. Why do you bother drinking at all? Pretty sure it does nothing to you.”

“I don’t do it on my own. I like the company.” He said timidly.

“Aw, see? This is why I love you.”

Yuji’s eyes widened unintentionally, but she didn’t look at him long enough to see it, her attention swiftly taken away by an approaching waiter. He assured himself he was better at controlling his feelings, but it was all falling apart now, like a bunch of lies, because he could feel his entire face and ears pulsate from heat. He stared at the way her lips moved, making the order.

as a friend as a friend as a friend as a friend as a friend

“Yuji? Yuji!”

He snapped back, looking even more surprised.

“You wanted the Ginjo-Shu, right?”

His gaze lingered on her face, open and bright, with eyebrows slightly raised.

“Yeah.”

This is fine.

* * *

“Ah, see? This is exactly what I was talking about.”

Yuji furrowed his eyes helplessly and took the glass from her hand. She tried to down her drink in one motion but missed and spilled it over herself. Looking back now, he wasn’t sure if it was her being lightweight or her not stopping in time.

“When did that even happen,” he mumbled to himself, “she was fine a minute ago.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” she moaned in drunk annoyance, “because I  am  here.”

“So it seems,” Yuji smiled.

“And I may be many things, but there’s one thing that I am not, and it is deaf. Or stupid.”

“Yup, that’s two things though.”

She sighed loudly and leaned back on the wooden wall of their booth. They were surrounded by soft mixes of white noise: distant frying and sizzling from the kitchen, clinking of glasses, and giddy discussions of the upcoming weekend. They could almost feel like they belonged here, to the normal crowd of Osaka drinking their weekly stresses away, complaining about their bosses, bills, and personal dramas.

Is that what it’s like to be normal?  Both of them thought.

Yuji looked over at her and felt the heat returning to his cheeks. This drink spill felt too deliberate to be accidental. And her bra was very thin, and the bar’s AC was on and—

Yuji groaned and swiftly took his hoodie off, almost throwing it in her direction.

“Wear this, please.”

She didn’t really fight it and slowly put it over her head, beginning to crawl inside. She stopped somewhere in the middle and breathed in.

Ah, it smells so good. Smells like him.

She pressed the fabric into her face, taking in his scent. When did he manage to put on cologne? That’s just unfair.

“You okay in there? Are you stuck?” Yuji looked questionably at the wrinkly bundle that was now his hoodie with her somewhere inside.

“Listen, Yuji.”

“You’re just gonna talk to me like this, huh?”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured in a soft voice. “I know this isn’t how you would spend your night, but—I wanted to—you know. But in the end, I just—and—”

Suddenly, she felt a gentle tug, and her head popped out of the hoodie, revealing Yuji’s face lightened by a warm smile.

“I told you, I like the company.”

There was a needle prick somewhere around her heart, and she pressed her lips together, taken by a sudden wave of sadness.

“Let’s get back, yeah?”

* * *

Their hotel wasn’t far from the bar, but due to her condition, the walk back took longer than usual. Summer was ending, the air was still warm, but there was a tingling coldness with each wind blow,  a careful reminder of the approaching grey sky and smell of wet concrete, covered by tired leaves.

The path to the hotel entrance was hidden among the sleeping quarters, illuminated by floor lights, and framed by tall bamboo sticks. Yuji walked first and was right in front of the automatic sliding doors when he stopped and turned around to check on her. Instead of right behind him, he saw her at the beginning of the entrance path with her head down.

“Hm? Are you okay? Wait, are you sick?? Then stay right there, if you wanna throw up, do it—um—” he swiftly looked around. Seeing a gardening pot near one of the doors across the street, he pointed at it. “Here, maybe in this pot? Wait, no, this is a nice neighborhood, imagine waking up and finding vomit in your plants… ah, maybe in this bamboo? I’m not sure if it’s real though… ah, but this hotel allows hosting of jujutsu sorcerers because the owner is a friend of someone from the higher-ups, and if we vomit here—"

“Yuji.”

“Oh, maybe vomit in my t-shirt? And I’ll carry it to the nearest dumpster? No, that’s a horrible idea. Are you sure you can’t hold it until we get to our room? Then—”

“I’m not sick, Yuji!” she said loudly, maybe even too much so. “Although all this vomit talk is grossing me out.”

Yuji raised his eyebrows. “Then what’s wrong? Wait, did drinking uncover your hidden phobia of hotels? I read that somewhere…”

She smiled sadly. “You’re such an idiot.”

He bared his teeth, clearly offended. “Well, I’m sorry for trying to be helpful! Jeez, if you can’t walk – just say so, I’ll carry you to our room.”

“I don’t want to go to our room!” she yelled again. Yuji’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t say anything.

“Because then we go to sleep, come back to Tokyo and—I—” She squeezed the hem of his hoodie, “and I’ll never get another chance.”

There’s a short silence after her outburst. Yuji glanced over her hands that were clenched in fists and looked to the side.

“I mean, it’s not like this is our only chance to visit Osaka, we can always book a vacation and come back here.”

“Huh? Who cares about Osaka? It's—”

“I’m not very smart,” he interrupted her quietly, “so you’ll need to be straight with me, otherwise I won’t understand what you mean.” Then, his voice got even quieter. “Or I’ll start imagining things that aren’t real.”

“Yuji, I—” she tried to speak fast, because she felt a betraying lump in her throat, “I never wanted to drag you into a bar. There was this old movie at the local theatre that we could have watched, but I—If I didn’t drink, I would have never gotten the strength to say the things that I’ve been meaning to say for a long-long time. And this trip felt like a perfect opportunity, and you’re right, I’m a lightweight and I overdid it, and I was so close to saying it, but I thought—I cherish you so, so much , Yuji, it hurts me to even think about it. I tried to tell you before, after graduation, but you distanced yourself from me that night, so I figured it was a bad idea. I still think it is, but I—Yuji, I—”

Yuji shortened the distance between them with a desperately fast sprint and grabbed her with both of his hands, squeezing her so tight that she could barely talk anymore, her face pressed into his chest. He was silent for a bit.

“I distanced myself from you during the graduation night because you looked so vulnerable. I thought you were doing things you would regret the next day, so I didn’t want to take advantage. Because when you’re like this with me, I,” his hands trembled, “It’s so hard for me not to be selfish.”

“Wait, Yuji,” she tried to move away from him, but no matter how hard she pushed, she would never win Yuji in a battle of strength. “Please, let me finish.”

“No,” he sounded uncharacteristically serious. He lowered his head and pressed his cheek to her forehead. “When you say that this is not the way I would spend my night… You can invite me to dumpster dive or read books about molecular physics in a public library, or lick poles in winter, and I’ll choose it over anything else. When I found out we would go on this mission together, I was so happy. I can be doing the grossest, most stupid, and pointless things, but if I’m with you – it would be the best way to spend all the time I have. I hate being alone, and it's all I ever felt for so many years of life. But when I met you—when I’m with you – I feel so warm. You make me forget about the bad stuff. When you’re next to me, I—I feel wanted. So please,” his hands weakened his grab on her frame, letting her lean back and catch a glimpse of his face. “Please, don’t give me false hopes.”

Their breaths were hot and shaky as they looked each other in the eyes, hypnotised by each other’s presence. She cautiously moved closer to him and cupped his cheeks. Yuji swallowed thickly, he had to stop himself, but her hand was soft and warm, and the number of times he dreamt about this exact moment didn’t let him move an inch of his body. She raised herself on her tiptoes and leaned to his lips. She smelled so sweet, and her body was so close to his that—

“Ghh, stop,” Yuji groaned and pressed his forehead to hers in agony.

“Why?” She asked breathlessly, “you don’t want this?”

“ No ! I mean, yes. God, I want this so much my head could explode, b-but,” he leaned back slightly, revealing his glowing red face, from the neck to the tips of his ears. “You’re drunk, and we’re tired and I,” he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I want this to be right. If you wake up tomorrow and don’t remember any of this, I—”

“Stop talking,” she moaned and pulled him back by the fabric of his t-shirt, crushing her lips into his, arms then moving up to snake around his neck. Yuji had to resist. He had to, but when she touched him like this, the taste of plum on her lips, and when her—

“Mhm,” Yuji groaned hopelessly, feeling her tongue explore the insides of his mouth. It was hot and wet, and he felt like his heart could stop. Suddenly, he was so putty in her hands, he would do anything for her to keep touching and kissing him like this. No, for her to do anything she wanted with him. He would make a pact with a curse and sell his soul to stay like this a little longer, or to never feel the need to breathe again, so her lips can remain sealed with his forever. Still desperate for air, however, he forced himself to pull away, a shining string of saliva stretching between their lips.

She breathed in, preparing to talk. “I—”

“No, please, don’t say it.” He pressed their foreheads together again, breathing heavily. “Allow me to be selfish. I—I want you to say it tomorrow, in the morning. So that—”

“—It’s real?” she finished for him.

“Yeah,” he smiled bashfully, looking into her eyes. He could see himself in the glassy reflection of her eyes. They were bright and kind, and they looked at him the way he never thought would ever happen. He never thought he would be close enough to her to have the chance of examining just how deep and gentle they are.

Yuji moved a hair strand away from her face. “C’mon, I’ll carry you.”

He lifted her in one motion and pressed firmly to his chest. She could hear the rapid pounding in his chest, and it made her heart race after it. Pressing her ear closer, she could almost hear his thoughts. She didn't really need to hear them, she got the general idea from how uneven were his breaths and how his fingers trembled around her form.

While they waited for the elevator inside, she looked at him.

“Can I keep kissing you?”

His face heated up for a hundredth time this night, as he diverted his gaze nervously. She could feel his hands now squeezing her a little tighter.

“Y-yeah. I would like that.”

* * *

Yuji did not know that pain can bring such an amount of happiness with it. There were two single beds in their room, but they ended up sharing one of them together, which resulted in soreness and numbness in different parts of Yuji’s body. His back ached from arching it so that he didn't fall, and he couldn’t feel his right arm anymore because he went to bed while hugging her. Not that he was complaining though. He could go to sleep on hot coals for all he cared if that meant she would lie on top of him. Feeling her body next to his sent vibrations down his spine. Suddenly, he heard her groan, and his heart fastened its pace.

Nanami Kento was right when he said that getting old is manifested in small things. One of them was getting morning sickness and headaches from any amount of drinking, moderate or otherwise. She hid her face in both of her palms and turned to the side, trying to hide from the morning sun. Sliding the palms down to her chest, she was met with Yuji’s glowing but anxious face: his hair was a mess, and there was a big imprint on his right cheek from the pillow wrinkles. She smiled softly, reaching out to fix one of his hair strands.

“Hi,” she rasped.

“Hi,” he responded, sounding relieved.

“Remind me to never drink again,” she said, turning on her back tiredly. “I lose years of my life from each hangover.”

“I mean, it’s exactly what I’m doing each time, but the strategy doesn’t seem to be working.” He chuckled, slowly getting up from the bed. “I’ll bring you an aspirin.”

Her eyes traced his features radiating in the morning sun as he made his way to the coffee table across the room. He had plenty of scars across his back and more on the chest. None of Jujutsu High students got anything close to normal school life, but Yuji certainly took the cake. And to remain so gratuitously giving and caring all while dealing with so much burden and pressure—her heart sank from just the thought.

She sat up as Yuji sat in front of her on the side of the bed, giving her a glass of fizzling water. She smiled in gratification and brought it to her lips.

“By the way, can you tell me what we ended up doing yesterday? I don’t remember shit,” she said nonchalantly before starting to gulp down the medicine.

The look on Yuji’s face filled with terror and chagrin; he felt his fingertips grow colder as he grasped the bedsheets beneath his hands. He lowered his gaze in silence, feeling the heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Meanwhile, she downed the glass and put it on her nightstand. Looking back at him, she lifted the corners of her lips.

“Kidding.”

He let out a questioning yell and grabbed a pillow, aiming a blow. “You’re so mean! Never  ever  do that shit again!”

He threw the pillow into her face, and she laughed, grabbing his hand, and pulling him on top of her. Yuji positioned his hands on both sides of her head and felt the familiar heat run up his neck to his cheeks, nose, and ears.

“Sorry,” she whispered softly.

“I’ll think about it.”

She lifted her hands and palmed his face, looking deep into his amber eyes. Yuji swallowed thickly, both of his palms twitching uncontrollably.

“Yuji.”

“Y-yeah?”

“I love you.”

The warmness from her hands went deep beyond his face. He felt her arms reach out gently into his chest and cradle his heart, calming its frantic heartbeat and holding it with such care that it sent lumps to his throat. He fought back the quivering of his lips as her thumb stroked across the scar right beneath his eye.

“I love you so  so much,” she murmured fondly, squinting from her growing smile. Yuji lowered his body closer to hers and hid his face in the crook of her neck, hugging her from behind.

“If you don’t stop, I might die.”

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t… feel this happy.”

She closed her eyes contently and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing a slow kiss to his temple. “Well, that’s not for you to decide, dumbass.”

She played with his messy hairs, breathing in his scent.

“But if you don’t reciprocate, I might die as well.”

Yuji rose sharply on his hands and leaned forward, crushing his lips into hers for a quick second.

“I love you,” he said loudly after breaking the kiss. Then he leaned in and kissed her again.

“I love you. I love you I love you I love you,” he kept repeating after kissing her over and over again. “I lov—” She interrupted him mid-sentence and took initiative, thrusting into his lips and parting them with a twirl of her tongue. He moaned and gave in, moving his head to the side.

Please, don’t leave me

I’m with you until the world collapses

[writerofshit]

(I mentioned briefly a story of how the Stream Team met. This is that story.)

Somewhere in Los Santos, in the late night hours of a Tuesday, a convenience store is robbed. So is one several blocks southeast. And one roughly in the middle of them both. After all, what's more convenient than 24 hour chili dogs on every other street corner?

Cash. Cash is more convenient. So are guns. Hollering, waving one to get the other. Most important, back alleys that twist and turn, snaking away from increasingly distant sirens. Three individuals find themselves running through these alleys, a couple grand each weighing their pockets down.

It's through serendipity and convenience that their paths cross.

The man from the farthest store arrives first. He's done this a few more times than he'd like to admit, so he'd had a plan. Of sorts. Cut through the park, take a few sidewalks like an upstanding citizen, under the bridge and find a fire escape to utilize from there. There aren't any that reach the ground, of course, because he's smart but not quite enough.

And so this is why Trevor is standing in an dark alley, contemplating whether or not the dumpster will give him enough height to reach the ladder, when the man from the middle store appears. He's around Trevor's height, but would probably win in a fight between them, if he were so inclined. He doesn't seem to be, though. He seems shaken, like he's not quite sure how he ended up in this alley. He's holding a gun almost gingerly, as if it might bite him.

Trevor pulls his own gun.

'dont you fuckin' try anything!'

This does not go over well with Matt. He takes a step back, and then seems to remember that he also has a gun so maybe this is even footing. He holds it aloft, finger nowhere near the trigger.

'same, asshole!'

At this moment the robber from the first store arrives, also, of course, with a gun. And a mask. And an entire purple and orange neon fucking suit, actually, topped with a white cowboy hat. It gives them a few extra inches of height they are distinctly lacking, comparatively. Somewhere in the back of his head, Trevor acknowledges that this newcomer could probably kick his and the other gunman's asses. It is not a pleasant thought.

'oh, what the fuck!?'

Jeremy sounds more annoyed and less scared than one would think, considering they've run into an alley only to find two men with guns. Two men who quickly turn those guns on them.

'who the fuck are you?'

The question surprises them all, including Matt, even though he's the one who asked. As it turns out, people have a tendency to say the first thing that comes to mind when in a stressful situation. Such as, having robbed a convenience store for the very first time and immediately finding himself face to face with other apparent robbers. It would get to anyone, probably.

'i don't want any trouble, but i've already robbed someone tonight and i don't give a shit about felony murder!'

Two lies and a truth, is what Trevor has chosen to play, for some reason. In reality, one does not rob a convenience store at gun point if one is intent on staying out of trouble. And he does, in fact, care very deeply about felony murder. Felony murder is the precise reason he'd shot a bag of Doritos and not a clerk. In his defense, the clerk had initially rolled her eyes at him, asked what exactly he thought he'd get out of this. He'd found this question rude.

The truth, of course, is that he did rob a convenience store. That did happen. No take backs.

'so did i!'

Matt and Jeremy speak so in unison it's almost scary. If they didn't know any better, they'd think the two of them had always known each other.

Trevor's gun wavers between them, unsure which is the bigger threat. The guy who clearly has zero experience with guns, or the weirdo who seems to have far too much? It's a toss up, really. So his aim pinballs back and forth, but his finger does not curl around the trigger. He's serious about that felony murder thing.

The air seems to shift, suddenly, and the sound of sirens is now growing closer. This evidently also annoys Jeremy, and they throw a glance over their shoulder to the direction they'd come from. Red and blue lights flicker past.

'shit. ok. we're all robbers, i guess, and we're all fucked if we keep standing here. who's got a plan?'

Jeremy's eyes are staring impatiently at Trevor. Eyes being the only part of their face Trevor can see. And their hands, a plastic bag in one and a gun in the other.

Trigger finger is an apt name.

He glances at Matt, still wild eyed and glancing back and forth. No, Matt probably does not have a plan. He sort of gives the impression that he's never had a plan ever, actually. That perhaps he'd simply woken up here and decided to wing it. So Trevor makes an offer.

'fire escape?'

There's another moment of tense silence. Well, minus the sirens. And oh, helicopters. Even better. Jeremy shrugs.

'good a plan as any.'

And then they're off, brushing past Trevor and hoisting themself up onto the dumpster. He knew it could work. Trevor blinks and Jeremy has caught the ladder, is quickly working their way up. Shit, how does five foot something manage to get that high on a good day, much less in this situation and with a bag and gun in hand?

Matt's gun clatters to the ground, and honestly, that's probably for the best. He's climbing onto the dumpster now, and he mutters something about not signing up for this shit. Trevor reminds him that he apparently robbed someone, so yeah, he kind of did.

Before Trevor climbs up, he shoves his gun into his jacket pocket. Smart? Probably not. Convenient? More so than climbing with a gun in his hand. He follows Matt up the ladder, wondering what happened to his plan. Yeah, the ladder had been involved. Two other people, however, were not.

Above them, glass shatters.

'warning, maybe!?'

'oops. careful, there's glass.'

Jeremy's voice is no longer directly above them. Instead, it comes from one story up and a little to the left. So they've broken into an apartment. Sure, add breaking and entering to the list of charges, that sounds great. But Matt and Trevor follow, because there's not really another option.

Inside the apartment, Jeremy's mask is gone. The suit is quickly disappearing as well, revealing a rather boring outfit of a white tank top and...sweatpants? The true mystery lies in where the cowboy hat has gone to, because that's a hard item to miss.

'do we really have time for this? don't you think someone might, oh, i don't know, wake up and call the cops?'

Trevor doesn't mean to hiss, it's just that he's sure there's more pressing matters to attend to than an outfit change. Continuing to flee, perhaps.

'nobody's gonna wake up.'

They don't even have the wherewithal to lower their voice. It registers to Trevor that Jeremy's bag and gun are missing as well. Had they dropped them on the way up? It was certainly possible. Trevor thinks he would have noticed a gun flying past his head, but there's a lot going on.

'can we maybe not kill anyone? he brought up a good point with that felony murder thing.'

It's the most words Matt has strung together since he'd shown up. It's damn near a whisper, but at least it's progress.

'i'm not- god, can you two shut up? i gotta make a phone call.'

Jeremy yanks the door open, hand carefully wrapped in the fabric of their shirt. For a moment, Trevor thinks they're leaving and steps forward to follow Jeremy. Instead, Jeremy turns and heads toward the kitchen, pulling open a drawer and digging inside it briefly. They come back with a cell phone.

Something dawns on Trevor.

'is this- do you live here? did you break your own window?'

Jeremy doesn't answer. They put the phone to their ear.

'you're gonna wanna hide whatever you've got. and try not to look like you just climbed in through a window.'

And then-

'hello? yes, hi, i'd like to report a break in, i think? i was hearing a bunch of sirens and then i don't know what happened but some guy just broke my window? he ran through and i just- my friends and i are really scared and we didn't know what to do- yes, we're ok, he's gone, but we- you'll send someone? ok, thank you. the address? oh, uh, it's the del perro heights building, apartment 7. should i shut the door? no, don't touch anything. ok- guys, don't touch anything, she said someone's on their way to check on us! thank you so much- no, i think we'll be fine. thank you.'

It's a marvelous performance. Jeremy genuinely sounds like some poor flustered victim of a crime. Trevor would applaud if he thought Jeremy would appreciate it. Almost immediately, their voice is back to normal.

'check things out my ass. they're gonna show up, ask which way he went and never call me again. feel real fuckin safe.'

Jeremy settles themself onto the couch, choosing the spot closest to the door. Matt, who has apparently gotten over his initial terror, wanders into the kitchen. Searching for something to distract himself, if Trevor had to guess. Trevor is still standing in the middle of the living room, dumbfounded. How did a simple robbery become hanging out with other robbers, waiting for cops to show up?

'i'm jeremy, by the way. they won't ask, but y'know. just in case.'

They're flipping channels on the tv, seeming to arbitrarily skip almost a dozen programs. Finally, they settle on one and stand. Trevor recognizes it as an old Disney movie, and desperately wants to ask why the fuck Jeremy has put this on.

'uh, hi. i'm trevor. why are we watching Mulan?'

'matt. oh hell yeah, i love this movie!'

He sounds remarkably cheerful, considering the circumstances. How Trevor had seemingly switched places with Anxious McGee is beyond him. He needs to get it together. He pulls his gun from his pocket and takes it to the kitchen, sticking it in the drawer Jeremy had taken the phone from. There are several other phones of varying price point. He steps back to the living room just in time.

'that's why.'

They don't elaborate. Apparently Trevor is meant to just figure this out on his own, which ordinarily he might be able to do. After the course of events of this particular evening? Not a chance.

But he can't ask, because now there's a cop in the doorway and he's staring at Trevor and that will never be a good thing. Trevor stares back. He has no clue what he's meant to say. Hello? Welcome? He went that way?

'oh thank god! we've been so terrified, we didn't know if he'd come back or what he'd do.'

Naturally, Jeremy has taken lead on this. They're a phenomenal actor, Trevor has to admit.

'did you see which direction he went?'

'toward the stairs, i think. we've all been rooted to the spot, you know, it's so scary-'

Matt freezes in the doorway of the kitchen. He's just out of the view from the front door.

'right, well. you boys did the right thing by calling. can you give me a description of the man?'

The corner of Jeremy's mouth quirks.

'gosh, it all just happened so fast. taller than me, probably, but shorter than you, wouldn't you say, trey?'

Trevor nods, because he's not quite sure what else to do.

'alright, thank you. someone will be in touch with you for an official statement. in the meantime, if you remember anything else don't hesitate to call.'

He's holding a card out to Trevor, of all people. He takes it carefully, like if he does it wrong somehow the guy will know and arrest them all. The card is simply the number for a tip line.

As suddenly as he'd arrived, the cop is gone and they're all breathing sighs of relief. Jeremy closes the door.

'you guys can stay for Mulan, if you want.'

So they do.

Trevor asks about why Mulan again, and Jeremy explains that they assume most people have seen it, could answer any questions about it if they came up. Perhaps, if LSPD officers were less incompetent, they would have. Although if that were the case, they wouldn't be LSPD officers at all.

Matt asks about the window, and Jeremy says yes, they did break their own window. Of course they'd had an actual plan when they'd entered the alley. They were always going to end up exactly here, give or take the extras. Asking for a plan was simply a test, determining the merit in bring them along. They'd passed.

Jeremy asks if they want to stay for Mulan II, which is apparently up next. They do.

Somewhere in Los Santos, in the early morning hours of a Wednesday, three convenience stores are recovering from three separate robberies. Right in the middle of them all, their respective robbers are sitting on a couch together, watching a straight to video children's film.

It is the beginning of something far greater than any of them can imagine.

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

Linda Cardellini's Velma and Freddie Prince Jr's Fred also made me ship Frelma when I was a kid!!! Those are my first take on Frelma. Do you have any Frelma hc for that movie-verse? (I remember Fred looking at her with heart eyes in the second movie)

Their chemistry in this movie is seriously palpable and they are very near and dear to my heart!

I think I've said this before but my characterization of the gang is mainly derived from the way they are written in these movies. It wasn't intentional, it was more something I realized later on. I just like nuance each character gets in those movies through their imperfections and their flaws. It's not just Shag and Scoob who have issues - if anything their issues are understandable. Daph is a well-meaning pretty girl who just so happens to kick serious ass. Fred is a major dork who just gets lost in his own ambition sometimes. And Velma is very similar to him in that regard. But Velma also takes a new kind of center stage in those movies. She wants a different kind of acknowledgement from the gang. She's not just the smart girl who can pump out deductions and then get paid in fist bumps. Like Daphne, she wants to know where her value lies with the gang.

More specifically, where her value lie with Fred.

And she gets that because it's made clear that Fred has a huge amount of respect for her, as his equal.

I know that Fraphne over all win out in the end with that movie but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy all the content you get from Fred and Velma's lighthearted flirting.

Headcanons for this specific thing would be kinda slim seeing as Fred is dating somebody else. What I can tell you how I think the movie would have ended if Fraphne didn't get together.

I think the main thing here is that Frelma probably wouldn't be canon at the end of the first movie.

They just patched up a very broken friendship with only tiny inklings of being into each other romantically.

Fred and Daphne just randomly kissing after not talking to one another for years works because Daphne can and will always put passion above common sense.

Here's this guy that she's always had a back and forth with.

They just saved the day, her hair looks great. Why shouldn't she put her own cherry on top?

Velma on the other hand, she'll need time to move further along in her relationship with him.

It's clear they both want...something. But they don't know where to go from there.

So there's no dramatic and spectacular kiss (save that for monsters unleashed) but maybe Velma is brave enough to weave their fingers together.

He's a little shocked by her forwardness but smiles down at her.

She blushes and looks down at her feet because she never expected to see Freddie ever look at her that way. Completely and perfectly content being in her company.

Once she's recovered, she looks back up at him and says, "Let's get the hell off this island Jones."

[mi6-cafe]

WEEK 2 DRABBLES ARE HERE!

Now, let’s refresh your memory.

For the second week of LDWS, our true l- our writers were asked to write a drabble between 150 and 200 words, based on the word deck from the point of view of an outsider.

THEY DID SUCH A GREAT JOB!

(this is a purely illustrative gif of an outside observer of the goings on at Q’s flat, not a prompt)

READ THE DRABBLES AND VOTE!

hOW?

Read the drabbles & Pick three favourites!

Vote for them on this form!

Add some feedback for the writers!

That’s it! You have done your civic duty and voted!

Vote!

Read the drabbles below the line.

#1

Title: Eulogy for the Aston Martin Author: Misha / artsytarts Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (mainly directed at vehicles) Summary: Around 007, life and death go hand in hand.

The moment I leave solid ground and fly, pointed directly at the deck of the ship, I know my life is forfeit.

I realize now why the other machines pitied me after I was assigned to the man they call 007. I see his blue eyes blazing as he concentrates, gripping my steering wheel. They say he’s careless, but judging from the few days I’ve carried him, I know different. He’s not careless. His destruction is calculated. Only once I was obsolete, once he depleted my ammunition, blew my doors off, and pushed my motor to breaking point did he make his decision: To use me as his missile.

I count the milliseconds as the deck rushes towards me. Without a word, 007 pushes the ejector button and I fling him out into the open air, out into safety and freedom.

I am to be his sacrifice.

Before I hit the ship to perish in a blaze, I decide: I have no use for resentment. Like so many machines before me, I have granted him life.

That must count for something.

#2

Title: All In Author: sorion Warnings: none Summary: Bond is handy with cards, and Felix likes to watch.

There are few things as satisfying as watching James Bond clean a table in poker. Felix has learned that pretty much the moment he's met Bond, and the entertainment value hasn't changed in the years that have passed.  

On the contrary: Felix has learned some of Bond's tells. Not the kind of tells that would let him win against the insufferably unbeatable agent, but Felix recognises the spark that lights up in Bond's eyes, only seconds before he wipes the confident smirk off an opponent's face with a winning hand.  

Another thing he can see is whether Bond enjoys the game for its own sake or just really hates one of the other players. He knows it's the latter when the opponent asks for a rematch and offers the deed to a hotel in lieu of liquid funds, and Bond agrees, provided that they use a new, unopened deck of cards.  

The opponent blanches near imperceptibly, and Felix smirks into his drink. Oh, yes. Very satisfying.

#3

Title: Voyeuristic Displeasure Author: sunaddicted Warnings: none Summary: seeing everything is not so fun

Bond's hands were big and rough, stronger than they had any right to be.

He had been observing them with varying degrees of interest over the years, stuck behind his computers or out in the field - air straining in his lungs with the knowledge that the other's life depended on how fast and how smart he could be.

He watched Bond strut along the deck, hand poised low on someone's lower back, head tilted down in a way that suggested he was focusing on whatever he was being told, seemingly enraptured in them - Bond played the part well but he knew what signs to look for, to spot the seams of the almost perfect façade: he darted glances around, favoring his right side, trying to keep under the eye of the cameras that he knew to be in friendly hands.

The hand slipped lower, fingers teasingly dipping beneath the edge of the brightly colored bathing suit his companion was wearing - shameless.

Almost teasing.

He stood up with a weary sigh, empty mug held aloft: he was going to need a strongly brewed cup of tea, if he had to watch Bond flirt his way into another bed.

#4

Title: International Man Of Mystery Author: Merc / moon_of_mercury Warnings: none Summary: Some players never make it to places like Casino Royale. Others... acquire nice cars on the way.

She has encountered many interesting characters in her career, some more remarkable than others. Poker tends to attract extraordinary people. It isn’t always easily definable: something about this man arrests her attention the moment he walks up to the table, asking to join the game even though she’s already cutting the deck. 

He flashes a cocky smile at everyone, reads his opponents like a professional, and pleads with her to let the unlucky Mr. Dimitrios bet his car to win his money back. She complies, amused. Such self-sufficient arrogance would be offending if not for his friendly politeness. The way he eyes the man’s wife is not mere casual interest either. Those intense ice-blue eyes have already seen every opportunity. His body language may seem relaxed, but there’s an awareness in his movements that hints at explosive potential underneath the calm surface. 

For an exhilarating moment, she revels in being a part of this man’s story. It’s as clear as day that he’s used to playing for much higher stakes. She wonders what the real prize here is.

Dimitrios has lost again even before this stranger shows his cards. Men like him bend luck to their will. 

#5

Title: Crossroads Author: Hexiva Warnings: None Summary: James Bond visits a fortune teller.

The man’s cold blue eyes look past Serenity as he steps into her fortune-telling tent, and she shivers. His aura is like ice, a vast glacier with life frozen deep down inside it. He reminds her of a mobster from some old movie, wealthy but brutal. 

“What do you want to learn?” she asks.

“The future,” he says, distractedly. She follows his eyes to a bearded man standing at the high striker, speaking in Russian. 

She shuffles her deck. “There are two paths before everyone,” she says. “This choice is yours.” She draws two. “First path - The Lovers, the Star. Companionship and connection bringing hope. Choose the Lovers' path, and you will find a new beginning. A second chance.”

“And the other?” he asks. His tone is flat and apathetic. He doesn't believe in hope.

She draws again.  “The Emperor, the Hermit, both reversed. Rigidity and repression bringing isolation and misery. Choose the Emperor's path and you will end up alone.”

But the man is looking past her at the Russian, and he stands. “Thanks." A wry little smile. "But I think I already know what path I’m on.”

She watches him go. In his shadow, she sees the Emperor.

#6

Title: Observation Deck Author: Anyawen Warnings: none Summary: Mallory and Tanner contemplate employee relations.

Mallory surveyed the scene before him, sipping his scotch and trying, fruitlessly, to tune out the horrid rendition of 'Deck the Halls' playing overhead.

"We should do something about that," Tanner said, coming to stand beside him.

"About what?"

"That," Tanner replied, gesturing in the direction of Bond and Q. "Them."

The Quartermaster, decked out in a horrible Christmas jumper, looked exasperated. Bond, naturally, looked smug. They appeared to have entirely forgotten the holiday party happening around them as they argued. Flirted. Whatever.

"Trying to stop that from happening would be an exercise in rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic," Mallory said with a bemused smile. "Utterly futile."

"I don't want to discourage them," Tanner protested as Q cracked an unwilling smile at something Bond said.

"What, then?"

"A little push? Mistletoe? Lock them in a closet?" Tanner suggested hopefully.

"That might be construed as stacking the deck in your favor," Mallory observed mildly.

"You know about the bet?" Tanner spluttered as Q stole Bond's champagne glass and drained it to Bond's mock outrage.

"Spy," Mallory explained succinctly.

Tanner nodded wry acknowledgement.

They continued their silent observations a few minutes more, then Tanner asked, "What day did you pick?"

"April first."

#7

Title: Nighttime Invasion Author: SouffleGirl91 Warnings: vague references to blood, swearing Summary: Q’s cat is not impressed by 3am visitors

Thunk.

A crumpled heap hit the floor. She hissed, tail bushy, ready to pounce on the intruder.

“Oof!”

Gunpowder Man was invading her space.

Again.

“Q?” Gunpowder Man whisper-shouted. He sounded different. “Are you awake?”

Something dark dripped from his nose.

She sniffed cautiously. He stank of copper and salt. Still, it was better than the strong, sour reek of last time.

A light came on in Father’s bedroom.

Gunpowder Man lifted himself up and wobbled to the sofa. Walking on two legs seemed harder for him than usual.

“Bond?” Father came traipsing up behind him, making the room light up. “What the fuck? It’s 3 in the bloody morning. You couldn’t wait?”

“What, you’re not happy to see me?” Gunpowder Man used the false-happy tone Father used when he tricked her into The Basket.

Another dark drip.

“Don’t be stupid,” Father tsked, petting Gunpowder Man softly on the shoulder. That should help; Father gave the best pets. “Why don’t I put the - Christ, Bond! What happened to your nose?”

“It’s not broken. She hit me when I told her I was staying.”

“I thought psychologists were meant to keep their cool,” Father sighed. “Come on, let’s clean you up.”

#8

Title: A confession of a deck Author: scarytheory Warnings: none Summary: James Bond would be lost without me.

I'd like to think that James and I are not just colleagues, but friends.

You know, we’ve been through a lot together. Cottages in forgotten lands, first-class casinos, important fights – I’d always been with him and helped him along the way.

But this game is different.

“That’s not fair, James,” the opponent says, watching his stack of cards.

“I’m not cheating, Q.”

The opponent snorts. “You may be the best player the MI6’s ever had, but even you can’t be THAT good, 007. Aces again? That’s not very subtle.”

“You were the one who said poker is just basic math and all about the art of reading people. So stop whinging and take off your shirt.”

Beg your pardon?

There is something disturbing in the air. I don’t think I want to give the good cards to James anymore. “Happy?”

The shirt falls to the floor.

“Immensely.”

The next round, Q loses his pants. I’m starting to think that this isn’t even about poker!

“I won.”

Finally, it’s over and I can relax again. Even though I’m not sure what this young lad can have that James Bond would be interested in… oh.

#9

Title: Camouflage Author: IrishWitch58 Warnings: None Summary: A certain agent and their partner are in the field. The local perspective.

Grace's eyes were drawn to her first customers on the deck overlooking the harbor. They were as unlike as could be but Grace would have known they were together with just a glance. The subtle leaning in, the eye contact, the briefest brush of a hand. Not honeymooners but the established kind of connection that took time and patience. The younger man was dark and slender and had a tan that was honey gold. The older one was broader and blond and that one sent tingles up her spine. Her brother and his military buddies were like that, poised and watchful. She didn't see a weapon but suspected he was armed. They'd arrived three days ago in a beautifully restored vintage sailboat, walking the less traveled portions of the island.

Passing Grace, Mimi muttered “Spies posing as tourists.”

Gracie scoffed at Mimi's imagination. What were they spying on here, conch recipes? Then a new boat dropped anchor. The blond saw it first and the dark haired one checked the tablet he always seemed to have before nodding and finishing his chowder.

The pretty sailboat pulled up anchor the next dawn and the new boat was found derelict two days later.

#10

Title: Missing Him Author: Nana-chan Warnings: Summary: Austen the cat watches as her human pines for the Blond One

From her perch on the living room sofa, Austen looks disapprovingly at her bespectacled human. He is out on the deck again, smoking and no doubt pining for the Blond One. He is a relatively new addition to the household and has been gone for several days now, as is his habit. Keats—that dummy—misses him, too, as he meows and gazes forlornly at the front door.

She herself is unsure of the Blond One, but she doesn’t like it when her human is all sad and distracted, reeking of cigarette smoke and unresponsive to feline overtures of comfort. She feels powerless to help him. How did one man become so essential to her human’s happiness?

Then a key turns, the door opens, and there he is. The Blond One dumps his bag in the foyer and heads straight for the deck, pausing only to give her a brief head scritch. She watches as he folds her human into his arms and starts grooming him in that strange way humans have, with their mouths fused.

She hears her human laugh, gladness and relief evident in his tones, and finally, she makes up her mind about the Blond One.

#11

Title: Origin of a Voyeur Author: stormofsharpthings Warnings: none Summary: There was a legitimate reason to start going through all the Q Branch security footage, dammit!

After the small accidental volcano destroyed lab 7b, no one could recall who’d last checked the fire suppression system. Exasperated, R pulled up the security videos in hopes of spotting someone. The recording of Q and 007 was entirely unrelated, but she just couldn’t look away.

Q had been helping Bond dress for some formal event, tuxedo carefully tailored to conceal the equipment Q was arranging around his body. The scene resembled a squire helping his knight, except...

R bit her lip at the way Q stroked his fingertips down the front of Bond’s suit to check the drape of the fabric, evading Bond’s hungry gaze with a sly little quirk to his mouth. Then Q leaned close, reaching around to run his hands over the back of the jacket, lingering a little over Bond’s well-proportioned backside before he sank to one knee and brushed along the sides of the trousers.

“There, all decked out,” Q murmured.

Bond reached down to cradle Q’s chin in his hand and Q looked up with a provocative lick of his lips, the heat almost visibly simmering between them. Bond took a deep breath, his fingers tightening, and Q ‘s eyes widened and then slid shut as he turned to brush his lips against Bond’s thumb. When Bond made a low rough sound, both Q and Rani swallowed at the same time.

Then the outer office door slammed and she hurriedly shut her computer down, blushing. But she saved a private copy first.

#12

Title: The Bet Author: Venstar Warnings: none Summary: Bets are made, there will be blood.

Oh, yes. It was going to happen. The tension was palpable in the room, yes he said palpable in his interior monologue. Just fucking get closer. Do it already. He was going to win that bet today by fuck. He leaned forward in anticipation, eyes locked on target. Yes. Yes….Keep going...almost….

*AH-OOH-GA!! AH-OOH-GAH!! AH-OOH-GAH!!*

Fuck, goddammit. Not again! He narrowed his eyes. There was no way another attack by water was happening. Dammit. Fake or not they were going to have to clear the god damned building. He sighed heavily as he turned sad eyes back to where 007 and Q had been quietly eyeing each other. They were gone. “What the fuck?” Where? There! The orange of Q’s cardigan turned a corner.  He was not about to lose the 'THEY FINALLY MADE OUT DAY' be! He ignored the rest of Q’branch’s leads as they ordered the evacuation.

“Davis?”

Fuck. It was R.

“And just where are you going? Exit is that way.”

He turned with hunched shoulders to find R smiling at him. Her eyes flitted past him to where Q and 007 had disappeared to. “THAT bet will only be won when it’s officially my day.”

#13

Title: Specs and the Lady Author: solarmorrigan Warnings: None. Summary: Louis has been a bartender for a long time, but occasionally patrons can still surprise him.

The Friday night crowd seethes around the bar in waves, laughing and calling out their orders. Louis has been a bartender a long time, which means he can keep up with the steady roll of vodka-tonic-scotch-and-soda-bottle-bottle-pint and still keep an eye on the floor for trouble.

Trouble like the man in specs and a loud jumper bumping into an over-drunk man in a worn football jersey, spilling both their drinks.

Specs’ mouth forms the word ‘sorry,’ but Jersey isn’t having it. He grabs Specs’ jumper, but before Louis can even call for Paul—their unofficial bouncer-bartender—a lady slides in between them, curly hair and cunning eyes, and pulls Jersey’s hand away.

Jersey shoves the lady, and viper-quick, she decks him. Jersey goes down.

Louis lets out a surprised laugh. The lady looks quite pleased. Specs looks exasperated, though Louis doesn’t know why; if he had someone like that in his corner, all squared shoulders and terrifying heels, he’d be delighted. Then again, from Specs’ half-laughing attempt at chastisement that carries in the surprised lull in noise (“Really, Eve?”), this isn’t the first time it’s happened.

“Just take Jersey out,” Louis bids as Paul moves in, “Specs and the lady are fine.”

#14

Title: Eyes on You Author: oldestcharm Warnings: n/a Summary: The Quartermaster is enjoying his afternoon and Bond is far too concerned about his garden.

She's good at her job. So good, in fact, that she's currently hidden from sight with her scope right on MI6's Quartermaster himself. He's sitting on the deck of his house, enjoying the sunny weather with a girly drink in one hand and a laptop resting on his thighs. He's typing furiously, paying no attention to his surroundings. All she has to do is take one shot.  

Then, the sprinklers turn on.  

She does her best to not make a sound even as her phone buzzes.

4:27 pm:

There are over twenty cameras on the property.

4:28 pm:

I suggest you get out of my hydrangea bush. James worked rather hard on the garden and he won't be pleased to find you there.

A click behind her — probably a gun. "You've ruined my garden."

She turns around and finds herself face to face with the legendary agent. She cringes. "I'm... very sorry?"

Bond does not look amused. "You're fixing this before you leave."

"You're not going to kill me?" she asks, heart pounding.

"Q wants you for his team." Bond sighs, looking more annoyed than anything. "Either you accept or I'll shoot you."

Well, it's not exactly a choice.

#15

Title: Over It Author: MrKsan / starrboned Warnings: Canon-Typical language Summary: Tanner is nervous.

Ferrying through the maze of the Thames tunnels was often a nerve-wracking job. More so when his passengers were nervous. More so when it was the Chief of Staff who was sitting across from him, restless, tap-tap-tapping on his cardboard box.

Tanner gave Jack an awkward smile as they docked, climbing the narrow ladder just as the Quartermaster stormed into view.

“I’m going to skin the twat alive, Bill!“ he hissed, making Tanner stumble to a stop. “Didn’t even try to cover his tracks.”

Jack grinned. Only one man could piss Q off that much.

Tanner sighed, resigned. “I’ll inform M-”

“Already did,” Q huffed.

"Oh?"

"Not risking my career for him again, Bill."

Jack dared a peek at the couple; the conversation was taking an unexpected turn.

Tanner blinked, once, twice, before seeming to come to a decision. He shoved the cardboard box at Q.

“Thought we could share breakfast, since our dinner last night was interrupted? Bad timing, of course- ”

"Bill,” Q said, and Jack saw the silver of a smirk. "I would love to."

Pulling a crumpled cigarette from under his heavy coat, Jack couldn't help but grin to himself.

MI6 and their drama.

Go vote!

[anastyartist]

Cilan x Reader Chapter 1 A Fight For Love

This is honestly a spur-of-the-moment type of thing but imma keep doing it cuz I need something to do while I'm not in class or work. This starts in season 14 episode 22 of pokemon black and white because it felt easier to start partway through rather than starting from the very beginning. The reader is kept gender neutral so everyone can enjoy it, the reader is written kinda brash and loud as I felt it would be a good contrast to cilan and his more calm demeanor. Do keep in mind the book will still keep its kid-friendly language, sorry to those who want ash to say ‘fuck’, and no explicit scenes of any kind except maybe a few dirty jokes from time to time. If there are any spelling mistakes don't be shy to tell me so I can improve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pokemon have fascinated you as a child the way they grow and how many types and battles can happen.

The biggest dream you have is to be a gym leader one day. You could meet hundreds of people from around the world and get to see just as many pokemon. Your parents supported your dream when you came home from 3rd grade after a trip to a pokemon gym and raved about how cool it was.

So that was the plan from age 7 was to own a pokemon gym. Already getting a start on the pokemon your parents got you a deerling, they figured it would be a nice start to your dream. So every day you and deerling trained and battled the wildlife and got stronger together, the great part about being in Castilia city was that it was not too far from the forest so you two could train even harder. When you hit middle school age you expanded your team, catching a venipede and a joltik. You loved them with every fiber in your being, growing a strong bond with them as you trained. Physically you changed as well, running with your now evolved sawsbuck and racing through the forest finding pokemon to battle. For a time everything was perfect. Until your 16th birthday.

Everything was completely normal when you woke up, starting your normal routine of getting clean and heading downstairs, your mom made your cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The plan for the day was to have a birthday party that afternoon but when noon rolled around your beloved city was overrun by venipedes everywhere. While you specifically didn't have a problem with the bugs many citizens did. It was chaos with people running and dodging attacks, even a little old lady was getting picked up and moved by the venipede. Deciding the smart thing to do is to find Burgh, the bug gym leader of Castilia city, and see if he would need help. If anybody would have a clue what was happening it would probably be him right?

Thankfully it was easy to find him, being one of the only people out with all these venipedes. Though he had others with him. It was other kids that looked around your age, or at least the green-haired one.

"Burgh, what is going on?" Hoping he would know what is going on.

"I'm sorry (y/n) I don't know, we just saw hundreds of the venipedes in the sewers" not nearly as useful information as you had hoped.

"Burgh if you don't mind me asking, who are these guys?" Gesturing to the three teens standing across from you.

"Oh, this is ash, and his friends Iris and Cilan! Ash came to battle me for a gym badge until this venipede outbreak started" ash looked like the kid to do that, his friends looked calmer than him. His green-haired friend looked a few more years older than both ash and Iris, and cuter too. But before you could say anything else Officer Jenny rolled up in front of your group telling you to evacuate.

"But officer do you know what's going on?" Burgh tried to ask.

" Only that a venipede colony is swarming the city" the officer replied

You were not the only one to question why the venipede came to the city as Ash's friend Cilan asked the officer why they were here.

"We've got professor juniper working on that" before more conversation could go on there was a large explosion off in the distance

"That was near the pokemon center," Burgh said with concern

"Let's check it out" Ash exclaimed as he started to run that way.

When you all got there, you saw other pokemon trainers attacking the venipede with their fire types, and Ash seemed to know one of them too calling him 'trip'. The four trainers used flamethrower but it proved ineffective when the venipede shook off the attack and gathered closer together as one BIG angry clump of bugs.

One of the trainers, Trip, tried getting the others to use flamethrower again but ash jumped in before they could.

"Stop it!!, you can't do that" Ash yelled holding his arms out to block.

Trip didn't seem happy with it at all "out of my way, I don't have time to deal with you now" clearly agitated by Ash.

"Why are you attacking the venipede Trip?" Ash said, still blocking the venipede.

"Because they're attacking us for no reason at all, the only thing we can do is stop them" trip tried convincing ash but it was fruitless

But you were not happy about how Trip was trying to solve the issue "Well you don't seem to be doing a good job at it, all your doing is making the venipede mad!" Stepping forward to look at Trip.

Though Trip seemed to brush you off, not even acknowledging what you said. Instead of trying to solve the problem quicker, Trip took to insulting ash about how naive he was and where he lived which then made ash mad. You're sure it would have led to a fight, that you would gladly finish if the mayor of the city hadn't shown up.

The mayor went on about how his top priority is his citizens' safety and that the venipede poison is deadly and can harm others if not careful. To which burgh jumped in

"But sir if you try to remove them the fight will just escalate, the battling will grow even fiercer than before and both sides will surely end up getting hurt!" Burgh made a point venipede were strong-headed and wouldn't go down without a fight, you should know capturing your venipede was a huge challenge, but now you were all left with few options to take care of the stampede.

But Burgh, ever the bug-lover that he was, had an idea. "Mayor if we can gather the venipede into central plaza and keep them there while we figure out the cause of their migration" It was the only plan so far, officer Jenny informed the mayor that professor Juniper is already looking into the cause, the four of you teens spoke up as well begging for the mayor to agree and to help.

With little choice he allowed you and the other trainers to contain and lead the venipede to the plaza while Burgh asked Cilan and you to get nurse joy and audino so they could help which you both happily agreed to. Lucky for you two the pokemon center was right next to you so you could quickly run in to find nurse Joy.

"NURSE JOY ARE YOU BACK THERE?" You shouted leaning forward on the counter to try and see her "We need you Nurse Joy and audino right away!" Cilan added though his call for the nurse was calmer than you, said nurse came out from the back looking confused "what do you need? Is one of you pokemon injured?" She asked in that sweet soft voice.

"No but there is a colony of venipedes outside swarming the city and we need your help to gather them up" you responded to her quickly, it was an emergency surely she could come quickly. But as fate would have it she was in the middle of treating somebody's pokemon and couldn't leave until it was done.

Having no choice you and Cilan sat in the waiting area. You were bouncing your leg getting anxious by the second. You didn't want the people to attack the venipede, they were nice pokemon but many people didn't like them. Cilan saw this, the way your eyebrows frowned and how you didn't move staring straight at the wall across you, so he tried to help calm your nerves.

"(y/n) it'll be okay we'll get the venipede gathered safely" gently putting a hand on your shoulder. It pulled you out of your thoughts as you looked over at him. You smiled at him "thanks Cilan, I'm just worried I know venipedes don't act like this normally and they can be such nice pokemon, and I don't like that kid, what was his name? Trip? He seemed so angry with the venipede then to attack them like it would do anything was so rude!" Angry about Trip's attitude

"I understand, though I don't know Trip as well as ash might, I think he just wants to protect the city even if it was a little rude" he had a point, though you still didn't like Trip you could understand that frustration.

"I guess you're right, and it was a stressful situation. I don't know how I would have acted being surrounded by hundreds of venipedes!" Chuckling a bit at the thought

"That happened in the sewers!" He said excitedly though you looked at him in confusion "what?"

"Earlier Ash, Iris, Burgh, and I went into the sewers to investigate, there were hundreds of the venipedes going down one of the pipes" Cilan explained

"Really? That must have been freaky, did they follow you?" The idea of going into the city sewers was gross but then being chased down was straight out of a horror movie.

"They did indeed, I think that's the fastest I've run in a while!" You both started to laugh, it was nice especially right now. "Thank you Cilan, I needed that laugh!" Giving him a quick hug "My pleasure, I was happy to help!" Just then nurse joy came out with audino being ready to go.

The four of you sprinted towards the plaza to meet and find the others. It wasn’t hard to find them especially since the sound of an explosion off in the distance caught all of your attention.

“Burgh I found audino and nurse joy and brought them with me!” Cilan yelled while running towards the others. Trip was with them and they did not look happy again. Walking away while saying something about ‘I know how this will end' if there weren’t other issues going on you would surely get into an argument with him.

Burgh walked over to Nurse Joy and asked for audino to use a healing pulse to help calm the venipedes. This made you happy as it was a way to safely move them without hurting them. The Nurse agreed and let the audino do its thing. Calming the venipedes down Burgh pulled out a weird-looking flute and started to play it, Cilan pointed it out saying it was a bug flute, soon most of the venipede around you started to follow him. Burgh asked the rest of you to help gather up any venipedes left, which you all happily agreed to.

You brought out your Sawsbuck and have him use tackle and gently push the venipedes out of the ally and into Cilans' pansage, Cilan used bullet seed to help trip the bugs into the group, and the two of you continued to do this until reaching the central plaza. Ash and Iris had their pokemon gathering up the bugs, with Iris and Axsew using dragon rage that exploded on them rather than the venipedes. Ash using Pedove and blowing them away and his Pedove evolved into tranquil which is good. When all was said and done it was already sunset and the plaza now FILLED with venipedes, the city was safe. The mayor thanked you and the others for all the help you did. Officer Jenny led you all to the top of the building with a helipad, which is where you meet up with Professor Juniper. She congratulated everyone for their hard work, Burgh spoke up first and asked if she had found out why the venipede colony had rushed the city.

"Yes, we discovered a weird energy flow in the baron lands that surround Castilia City'' She explained that since the energy was coming from underground it would disturb those around it. Burgh and Professor Juniper talked a bit going back and forth about how the energy flow would scare the venipedes and that being the cause of the sudden stampede. The mayor wanting more details asked what could cause the energy.

Professor Juniper looked at him concerned, " That's what we're trying to figure out right now" Officer Jenny offered to tag along with Professor Juniper while everyone else would stay behind and help with the venipedes.

You were happy it was over, it was late and you were tired. Ash however wanted to celebrate with everyone and go eat at a nice restaurant. You agreed to go celebrate until your phone buzzed. It was your mom, you excused yourself to talk with her.

your mom’s voice was washed with concern “ (y/n) where are you? are you okay? I haven’t seen you all day. I was so worried!” You forgot to tell her where you were, you felt guilty about it.

You apologized for scaring her “ I’m so sorry mom, I was helping group up the venipedes in the city”

You could hear her sigh, you normally ran off doing your own thing so this wasn’t that far off to believe “I should have known, I’m so sorry this all happened on your birthday sweetheart, you were so excited about the party tonight but it looks like we have to reschedule it for another day”

“ It's fine mom, I made some friends today who want to go to dinner with me, if that’s alright” You were more excited to talk with Cilan and his friends than have a big family party. Your mom said it was fine as long as you were safe, and to be back home at a decent hour. You said your goodbyes and ‘I love you' before hanging up and walking back over to your new friends.

“ Hey Ash, I’m down to have that dinner!” putting away your phone in your bag.

“(y/n) I couldn’t help to overhear that it’s your birthday, Oui?” Now Cilan to start talking french surprised you, though it shouldn't actually be that big of a shock that he spoke french what with being a connoisseur and all.

“Yeah, I was going to have a family party tonight but since the venipede stampede it’ll have to be rescheduled” Again this didn’t bother you, “ But I would rather have dinner with you all, this has been the most exciting birthday ever!” Throwing your hands up in the excitement

Ash got excited “Then come join us it’ll be so much fun!” Iris grabbed your hand and started to pull you towards the street to find a place to eat. Cilan and Ash joining behind. You lead them to your favorite restaurant, a very nice pasta restaurant, while waiting for your food you asked the three about why they are in Castilia city.

"So Ash, Burgh said you came to challenge him, right?" You vaguely remember Burgh mentioning it.

Ash lit up excited to explain how he wanted to get all eight badges, and it's how he met both Iris and Cilan. How Iris wanted to help Ash get around the Unova and be a guide of sorts and that they met Cilan at his gym with his brothers. This surprised you, you had heard of the Striaton Gym but you didn't know it was run by a set of triplets, but that's how the conversation flipped to Cilan and his time as a gym leader for which you had a million questions. Cilan didn't mind and was rather happy to have someone interested in being a gym leader who wasn't his brothers. That's how it was for the rest of dinner was telling stories and making jokes, specifically when you threw a noodle on Ash's face which freaked him out. When everyone had finished food and paid everyone to say goodbye you agreed to meet up with the rest of them tomorrow for Ash's Gym battle. You went back home and talked with your mother about what had happened, who you met, and where you were going tomorrow which she was okay with. This felt like the start of a new adventure.

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

Alright, the first chapter is done! I have a few chapters already in the works, keep in mind these take me a bit to write especially with college-going on I write these during my free time, and that I have a couple other personal projects I'm working on as well, but I hope people enjoy this!

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

Tied in Green

Words: 5,858 Content Warnings: Food, Lonliness, Magical S//H in a weird way?  Characters: Remus (POV), Roman, Virgil Ships: Dukexiety Rating: T Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort

FFN Mirror - Playlist 

   Remus isn’t ashamed of himself. He agrees that sometimes he doesn’t like the things that suck him in. The things that he can’t get out of his head and make him feel horrible for even thinking. Those things upset him, too. But ultimately, he’s not ashamed of who he is or what he likes. But he’s pretty certain everyone else is. 

   He doesn’t keep friends for very long. His mom pushes him aside more often than not. Remus can be himself in private, but not here, she says. It’s what she always says. People will laugh at his jokes in school, but they never actually want to hang out. Remus is alone again, listening to his brother and friends laugh in the other room. They sound like they’re having fun and he’s jealous. But he knows better than to ask to join. He would do something to ruin it for Roman, anyway. Remus knocked twice at his desk.

   Roman gets all awkward and weird and it’s clearly just a pity invite even if Remus did ask to join. They don’t make fun of him, but there’s not much of an effort to include him either. Roman and his friends don’t let him in on inside jokes, don’t ask his opinions, and sometimes talked like he’s not there. They acknowledge him if he talks, but that’s it. Remus doesn’t get included, which hurts more than sitting alone, sometimes.

   Remus only wanted to spend time with his brother. His friends are always over and Remus never has the chance anymore. He’s too busy with his homework when they’re not over. He missed Roman. And Remus couldn’t deny that it hurt that Roman always seemed to make time for his friends, but never for Remus.

   They used to be inseparable. His mom used to joke that they were twins because Remus never acted his age and they looked so alike. They weren’t supposed to grow apart. When they were kids, they planned on having adventures together. But this was the third time this week alone that Remus is stuck listening to Roman playfully bicker with his friends the next room over.

   The headphones weren’t enough sometimes, and tonight was one of those times. Remus sighed and dropped his computer headphones on his desk. He wasn’t paying any attention to this book, anyway. They were playing a four-player game with three players and kept lamenting that the game was too hard. But they never asked him to join. He kept hoping they would. He considered just going over and inviting himself, but he didn’t feel like being pitied today. And what if he said something? What if he did something? Remus rapped his knuckle on the desk again.

   Remus slipped on his boots and a windbreaker and headed out of his room, glancing into Roman’s open door as he passed. They were laughing at a TV show together. He headed down the stairs with a sigh. “I’m going for a walk, ma,” Remus called into his mother’s office as he passed and she held her finger over her lips while she was on the phone. Right. Remus headed out the front door and locked up behind himself.

   The fall night was enchanting. It was somewhat chilly for a windbreaker, but Remus welcomed it. Remus enjoyed having sleeves to play with, so he liked fall and winter. This windbreaker has a zipper on the cuff that Remus fiddled with while he walked down the street. He didn’t have anywhere in mind to go, honestly. He just wanted to get out of there. It didn’t feel right. 

   He could go to the corner store that was near his house that had a great selection of weird gummy candies. He could also go for some pizza-flavoured chips. This was a stomach ache waiting to happen, but Remus wasn’t exactly known for self-control. He was known for taking dares from strangers and getting suspended for scaling the wall of the school just to see if he could.

   He kicked at an acorn as he walked down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He was going to eat an entire package of pizza chips and he knew it. And they always made his breath smell like throw up, which Remus thought was incredibly cool that the flavourings could taste so good and smell so bad as soon as they got wet. 

   No one else liked his pizza-chip breath, though. Actually, he was the only one he knew who liked those pizza chips. Sour cream and onion sounded good, too. He liked to eat them with the pizza chips. If you got the right brands of chips, it was like eating pizza and ranch. His mom might get mad at him for just leaving to buy snacks at the corner store, so he’d need a way to hide the bag from her.

   Remus wished he knew how to reign himself in, he honestly did. He was always running his mouth and getting himself in trouble before he even knew what was happening. He knew he could be unpleasant, too. And he was worried about what he was capable of. Remus had some bad thoughts and dark knowledge and he didn’t want to act on them, but they were there. He knew how to do lots of bad things. In a weak moment he could, right? He didn’t want to… but…

   He tried his hardest, but he wasn’t soft and cuddly. Roman’s friend Patton was sweet and nice and Remus would give anything just to sit with him and watch a movie sometime. Patton talked through movies, too. They could whisper to each other and split a bowl of popcorn. It would be amazing. Patton smelled like fabric softener and made Remus feel bubbly with delight.

   But Remus unsettled Patton. He was too nice to say it, but Roman asked him to dial it back for Patton’s sake more than once. Logan at least was interested when Remus brought up interesting things that popped into his head. But Remus had seen Patton recoil before. And Roman would sigh and roll his eyes and tell Remus that they shouldn’t talk about that. Patton would apologize sometimes. 

   That generally made Remus feel worse because it’s not like he intended to freak out Patton, but it wasn’t Patton’s fault for not liking the subject matter, either. They just came out of Remus’s mouth and it was his inability to not run his mouth that was the cause. Remus pulled at the zipper a few times, feeling bad all over again for it. It had been a while since Remus’s last fuck up with Patton, but Remus never forgot. He knew he should stop pining pointlessly.

   Someone was coming up on the sidewalk drew Remus’s eye and out of his self-pity pit. It looked like there was a fellow weirdo out tonight. Someone in a stylistic fox mask and a trench coat was coming down towards Remus on the sidewalk from over the small hill Remus had to walk up to get to the corner store. The outfit reminded Remus of a comic book villain. Actually, if they flipped the fox mask for a kabuki one, they’d basically be Yokai from Big Hero Six. Remus wondered what a cosplayer or whatever was doing on a nighttime walk, and also if Remus could join them. Remus had a mostly put-together Deathstroke cosplay in his closet he could go put on.

   “Hey, can I ask what the costume is? It looks great,” Remus waved when he got close enough for the stranger to hear.

   “Thanks, but this is just me,” The stranger shrugged, walking up to Remus. “How would you like to be someone else, though?” The stranger asked out of absolutely nowhere.

   “I’d give anything,” Remus replied before he even considered it.

   “Even your soul?” The stranger asked, and Remus stopped to weigh his options. What was Remus doing with his soul, anyway? “I kid, you don’t actually have to think about that,” The stranger chuckled out a deep rattling noise that shook their whole torso while they shook their head. “Nothing so permanent. How about some time?” They offered again, an amused smile barely peeking out from under the mask.

   “Like sitting through a seminar or something?” Remus asked, shifting his weight on his feet and furrowing his eyebrows.

   “No, that’s so dreadfully boring. Just a bit off the end for as long as you use what I’m offering. It’s a very fair trade,” They reassured him dismissively. This was red flag central for some grade-A weird, dangerous shit. Awesome. Not awesome? Remus wasn’t sure. He still wanted to be someone else.

   “Oh, is this some deal with the devil shit?” Remus hummed curiously, still not sure how to parse this situation.

   “No, no. Not affiliated. Just someone that gets called the devil often. I’m sure you can relate,” The masked stranger waved their hands.

   “Boy, do I ever,” Remus agreed and crossed his arms. Remus’s stupid suggestions often got him in the hot seat. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but… “The exact amount of time? Not some stupid equation where I’m getting screwed like a prom date?” Remus did the smart thing and double-check for once instead of his impulsiveness taking the wheel.

   “Damn, who are you dealing with usually? No, the exact amount of time. Second per second off the natural lifespan. If you started taking better care of yourself, you’d barely lose a thing,” They shrugged, speaking as if they didn’t understand the distrust.

   “What’s in it for you?” Remus furrowed his eyebrows at the masked stranger, tapping his finger on his crossed arms.

   “I get the time and the entertainment value of it all. The paranormal gets boring without doing this kind of thing every once in a while,” The stranger twisted their hand in the air and leaned on one leg. They put their hand on their hip and looked Remus up and down. 

   Remus was still suspicious about the whole thing. Something-something and deals with the fae? Not that this looked like a fairy or anything. Actually, how would Remus know how to identify the fae? The fae could look like anything, and Remus doesn’t have any iron on him. 

   “Iron does nothing to me, anyway. Soft and cuddly, right? Something Patton would like? I’ve got just the thing,” They held up a finger and a bright green ribbon materialized around it.

   “Ah, didn’t realize you were listening,” Remus chuckled to himself. The stranger clearly knew what Remus wanted. He hoped that was the only thing they heard, though. “You know what, fuck me up, fam,” Remus declared, holding up his hand in the air triumphantly. The ribbon appeared in Remus’s hand and he gripped it enthusiastically.

   “Just tie it onto yourself. Take it off to be human again, so put it somewhere easy to reach. And if it goes more than a small distance from you, it’ll show up in your hand again. This is only yours, so don’t bother trying to use it on someone else or giving it away. It’ll never work. If you try to show it off, it also won’t work, because that’s a fucking headache. You’ll have to change somewhere private. Have fun and try not to get yourself killed, please. That sucks for the both of us,” They sounded delighted while Remus looked at the silky ribbon. It was a bright green, like fresh leaves in spring and not subtle at all. Exactly his style. Remus shoved the ribbon in his pocket and bowed deeply, twisting his hand in front of him and stepping one leg to the side.

   “So what does it do?” Remus asked, looking up to the masked stranger from his bow. They had lifted their mask just enough for Remus to make out a sharp-toothed grin as they faded from existence. Well, that was delightfully creepy. “Oh, points for style,” Remus hummed, and he made out the faintest deep cackle that also faded away. 

   What a nice… whatever that was. Mysterious entities that could read thoughts and create things from nothing were good in Remus’s book. He felt the ribbon between his fingers in his pocket. It felt pleasantly warm. He could find out what it did by putting it on. But this probably wasn’t private enough to use it. He was out in the open. Maybe it only mattered if people were looking at him? Well, he still had his chip-acquisition duty to get to.

   Remus resumed his walk down the street. He couldn’t have anticipated a depression walk resulting in a deal with a demon or whatever, but it certainly was a better outcome than usual. He continued to feel the toasty ribbon in his pocket as he walked down the road. The possibilities filled his mind as he trekked on. Soft and cuddly, huh? Another Patton? That would be weird. A bear? Bears probably aren’t cuddly for very long. Remus would love to be a bear, though. Remus, but capable of fighting his impulsiveness? Unrealistic, even for magic.

   Were there… weird magic people always listening to his thoughts? He really hoped not. Remus had some awful thoughts. Terrible, horrible, sickening thoughts. Thoughts he was always thankful that at least no one could hear. And someone heard. Magical beings probably wouldn’t listen all the time, right? If they were listening to all of his thoughts, they never would have talked with Remus. Or they would have treated Remus way worse. He also couldn’t imagine some weird magical entity wanting to listen to Remus thinking about what cooked stink bugs might smell like and what he would look like with a giraffe neck even when he wasn’t having shitty thoughts. Maybe they only listened out for random wishes. Was that a genie? No, there weren’t three wishes and the fox mask demon got something in return.

   He should be more concerned about literally cutting his life short with a magic ribbon, but he wasn’t. Remus couldn’t think out that far. Every time he questioned if it was the right idea, he wondered what he got to turn into. It was something non-human, and it seemed like the random magic stranger didn’t like things that would make a big kerfuffle, so it was probably something that would blend in. It made the most sense with what they said. Unless it was all a trick, anyway.

   Remus opened the convenience store door and made a bee-line to the snacks aisle. He grabbed some gummy brains and rats and examined the shelf for anything else. Candy moustaches? Sure, why not? Remus turned aisles to grab chips and headed up to the register, also tossing up a bottle of soda from a cooler near the register. 

   The cashier kept one eye on the TV while checking Remus out, not even acknowledging him. That was normal, at least. Remus waved after he picked up his bag of snacks, but the cashier was staunchly watching the TV again. He cracked open the bags of chips to snack on as he walked down the sidewalk, taking a handful of each flavour and shoving them all into his mouth at once.

   It was a tasty combo. If Remus ate them down enough, he could roll the bags and make them easier to sneak past everyone, and since they were open, he’d have to eat them evenly, anyway. It was a win-win. Maybe not for Remus’s life span, but that was years out and Remus didn’t know how to even conceptualize that. He could start jogging or something. That’s healthy, right? Probably not enough to cancel out eating an entire bag’s worth of potato chips on the way home. But he already planned on doing that and just because he got a magic ribbon didn’t mean he needed to go changing his very important impulsive plans.

   How did his lifespan work, anyway? Mm, chips. Remus decided he didn’t care. Was that an awful thought? Well, maybe as long as it was only Remus’s life span. It’s kind of like deciding to only eat fast food or something. He could ask the mysterious fox mask person if he ever saw them again, but otherwise, there wasn’t much else to do about it. He had more important things to do, like make sure he ate the same amount of chips from each bag.

   The walk back to his house went much faster as Remus gorged himself on chips. He rolled up the remaining chips bags so they wouldn’t stick out of the shopping bag. Perfect, now he shouldn’t have to share if Roman saw and his mom won’t see and he won’t get in trouble. He still had a random grocery bag, but maybe luck would be on his side. He didn’t want to share any of this. It would throw off the balance of the bags.

   The front door unlocked with a click and Remus stepped in, locking up behind himself. He glanced at the wall clock and realized the trip took a solid forty-five minutes longer than it should have. Does talking with weird demons warp time? He hoped he wasn’t in trouble. He could legally be out, but his mother didn’t like him wandering around at night getting in trouble. Remus walked down the hall, waving to his mom in the office. She didn’t even look up from her computer. What was she doing working that late, anyway? 

   Roman’s bedroom door was closed as he passed it. Remus sighed as he stepped into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He had no reason to worry; it seemed. Nobody cared that he came home safe. Remus kicked off his shoes, which thudded on the floor, and dropped off the snacks bag on his desk.

   Remus looked around the room and reached into his pocket. Well, it was the moment of truth. Did Remus hate being perceived in the manner he was so much he was willing to literally shorten his lifespan to be something else? He stared at the ribbon. Finding out what it was he could turn into would help him decide, right? This should be an important decision. Or something. He didn’t care anymore. Remus put his foot upon his desk chair and tied the ribbon into a bow on his ankle. As soon as the ribbons pulled into place, Remus felt overwhelmingly dizzy. Like he did a backflip into another dimension and out again.

   His brain wasn’t working at first. There was so much new input he didn’t expect that it took him a moment to settle into even comprehending. Things were brighter and louder and stronger smelling. And… taller. Or he was significantly smaller. He did not know yet. Remus stumbled and fell over, reaching up for his head. There were no fingers, though, only a paw pad pressing into a damp nose. Huh. Remus closed his eyes and tried to get his bearings. He swore he had better senses and spatial awareness. Remus wobbled over to the floor-length mirror after he pulled himself up.

   That was the largest cat he’d ever seen, staring back at him with bright spring-green eyes in the mirror. It was not a cat breed he’d recognized. He was thick with fluff and had tawny grey fur spotted with black tabby markings. Remus swished his tail and spun around, looking at himself before turning back to the mirror. A big fluffy cat certainly fit the bill. Remus wanted to pet himself, even. 

   Walking on all fours didn’t take any adjusting to after he gained his bearings, and there was no pile of clothes where he was, so magic must have been helping Remus to adjust. His tail was weirding him out, though. He could only control it if it consciously focused on it, but otherwise, it swished about without his input.

   He licked his paw and ran it across the top of his head to make the big gray tuft there stick straight up. Other than being probably three times the size of his nana’s house cat, Remus was pretty cute. He sat on the floor and examined himself. He should turn back, right? No, he should check stuff out to help him decide. Remus headed around his room.

   Things were bizarre at this height, but it was an interesting type of strange. Remus weaved under his desk chair and went under the desk. It was a nice hidey-hole as a cat. He disliked small spaces less; it was comfortable under here. He pushed his head on the corner of the desk and his eyes widened. Fuck, that feels nice. No wonder cats do it all the time. Remus pushed his head against the side of the desk a few more times.

   Remus looked up at his loft bed. Could he get up there? Remus backed up across the room to get a running start and had to swerve to dodge the bed frame. Fuck, he was faster than he expected. He backed up to jump on top of his dresser instead and made it easily in a single leap. Remus primed himself for the wide gap at the edge of the dresser and bounded, landing easily in the middle of the bed. Wow, he could leap farther than he thought, too. It might have helped that he was big. He dug around in the sheets and curled up. Being a cat wasn’t the most fun possible choice when magic was involved, but he was loving every second of this.

   He hopped down with silent ease off the bed and jumped up to work the knob. It took him multiple tries to grip it, but he got the door open and walked next door to Roman’s room. The door was closed, but that was no match for his monster kitty paws now that he knew the trick. Remus opened the door with ease and strutted into the bedroom. Roman was doing homework with his headphones on at the floor-height table. He bounced his knee while he sat bent over the textbook and his notebook, humming along to the music.

   “Yeah?” Roman’s eyes moved to the door after a lag while he finished writing something. “Oh!” Roman chuckled to himself. “Did Remus bring you home or something?” Roman asked, holding out his hand. Remus walked up and sniffed Roman’s hand to keep up the act. It smelled strongly of pencil graphite and notebook paper, but there was a faint hint of some sugar cookies under that. 

   Remus bumped his head into Roman’s hand and Roman pet him. Remus thought it would feel more like a massage, but it was mostly that the motion was soothing. It made Remus feel safe and comfortable and loved. The petting was smooth and made his brain tingle in the best way. Remus flopped down on the floor next to Roman, who kept petting him. Roman leaned to look into the empty hallway.

   “Re?” Roman called out, and Remus meowed in reply. “Hm. You’re very smart to get the door open, but stay out of my mom’s office. She won’t mind if you visit us, but she doesn’t like pets,” Roman warned Remus. He was well aware. Can’t please everyone. Remus laid his head against Roman���s leg and started purring. It must have been reflexive because he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to.

   Roman continued petting Remus slowly while he went back to his homework. Remus’s ears twitched at the small noises the pencil made against the paper. He wouldn’t mind just sitting here doing homework quietly with Roman as a human, either. Maybe he could try again. But not right now. He couldn’t describe how happy he was to relax with Roman and get affection like this. It was honestly worth any minutes he lost off the end of his life. 

   What were minutes, anyway? They didn’t make a difference in the long run. Remus wasted minutes of his life on absolute shit. This was worth it. Remus closed his eyes and relaxed, listening to the muted sounds of Roman’s music and the rustling of pages while Roman worked. The time passed and Remus never second-guessed the use of his time again.

   “Hey, kitty. I’ve got to get ready for bed. C’mon, let’s get you back to Remus,” Roman alerted him, standing up. Roman stretched out his legs. Remus meowed in objection and rubbed against Roman’s jeans. Roman moved past Remus and headed out his bedroom door into the hall. Remus followed, rolling his eyes. Roman pushed open Remus’s door the rest of the way and stuck his head in. “Remus—” Roman stopped talking and looked around the bedroom. 

   “Huh. I wonder where he is,” Roman hummed. He squatted down and signed, picking up Remus. “I guess I’ll take you back out myself,” Roman told him, and Remus meowed in objection again. “Sorry, kitty, we don’t have food or a bathroom for you. You can come to visit again, though. I don’t know exactly where Remus found you,” Roman explained evenly and headed downstairs. He unlocked the backdoor and dropped Remus outside. Remus spun around to glare at Roman before bolting back into the house.

   “Cat, no!” Roman shot quietly, holding out his hand. Remus bounded up the stairs and rushed into his room. He couldn’t pull the door closed, so he rushed under his loft and yanked at the curtain before pulling off the ribbon with his teeth.

   That dimension-hopping sensation overwhelmed Remus again, and he fell against his desk while the world did a triple somersault and took him with it. Remus ran his hand through his hair and exhaled hard, the air hissing through his teeth. He held his head with both hands and filled his lungs completely. The world didn’t smell as strong as a human. He let out the air slowly.

   “Kitty,” Roman whispered, sticking his head into Remus’s room. “Kitty, where are you?”

   “I’ll handle it, Ro,” Remus informed him, pulling open the curtain on his loft bed to look at Roman.

   “Oh! I didn’t see you in there. Cute cat. It’s almost bedtime, so hurry,” Roman waved and stood up straight.

   “G’night,” Remus waved back.

   “Oh. Yeah. You too,” Roman sighed and turned into the hall. Remus slowly pulled himself up to his feet. The dizziness was all gone, but he was still disoriented from the missing senses and the height. Remus was so tall. How did he never notice?

   Remus needed some contingency stuff. He pulled a fashion scarf out of his dresser and tied it onto the doorknob so Remus could pull his door closed. Well, there was still the potential of getting locked out if he left and couldn’t turn back… Remus glanced at the window. It’s the second story, so it’s not a big deal if he left it unlocked, right? Remus didn’t know how he’d get up there just yet, but maybe he could jump from the tree? The gap was wide for a human, but as a cat, he should be okay. Maybe he could change back and move some stuff around in the backyard. Remus unlocked the window with a small nod to himself.

   He started to get ready for bed but ended up glancing at the window again. Maybe he should make sure he can make the gap, right? Remus kicked off his socks and opened up the window enough to get out, pulling out the screen and leaning it against the wall. He crawled through and sat on the slanted roof and closed the window again. He took a deep breath of the night air and looked up at the moon. 

   A good night to prowl. He tied the ribbon on his ankle and turned into a cat again. It was much easier this time, though it was still extremely disorienting. Remus waited to regain his sense of up and down before standing up and walking along the ledge of the roof towards the big honkin’ American Elm in the backyard. Roman and Remus’s tire swing still hung from a low, thick branch.

   Remus primed himself and took a running leap of faith towards the Elm. He soared across the gap easily and ended up overshooting just barely able to sink his claws in another branch in time and avoided hitting one that was on his lower left and tumbled to the ground. Remus scrambled to pull himself up and took a deep breath for his pounding heart.

   He looked down, and it looked like he was miles from the ground. He suddenly understood how cats got caught in trees because this was freaky. Remus knew intellectually that he could hop down to a lower branch or jump for the tire swing. The branch he was on didn’t allow for much mobility, so he made a hail-mary for the tire swing, landing in the net over the hole and getting his paw caught while the tire swing swung from the motion. Remus hissed at the net and pulled his foot out carefully before hopping down to the ground.

   Well. That was scary-awesome. But Remus was a free cat right now who happened to be able to jump farther than Remus could even comprehend. Remus made a run for the fence and used his back claws to propel himself up the fence and bounded over easily. He jumped down into the grass and ran for the sake of it. 

   All the fun of running away without actually doing so. There was a playground they used to go to as kids that Remus wanted to check out. It was long since not fun anymore, but as a cat, who knows? Remus wanted to feel like a kid again. He was too amped up to sleep anyway, and he was once again at a height he could enjoy a playground at and it was all he could think of.

   He bounded across yards and down the lane. The public park was between Remus’s neighbourhood and the apartment complex next door, so Remus had to make two blocks on much smaller feet. He was moving much faster, though, and had more endurance. He enjoyed the wind in his face as he ran down the lane.

   The playground’s parking lot was lit, but the playground itself sat shrouded in darkness. That was no problem for Remus’s cat eyes, though. They adjusted almost instantaneously as he stepped into the shade and walked into the park. The playscape was probably not comfortable on his paws, but there were other things to check out, still. Remus walked past the play structure. The web might be fun. That was still kind of fun as an adult. The park was technically closed, though, and he couldn’t play on it while kids were here. He could hurt one of them or someone would think he’s a pervert, and he’d get in trouble and go to jail.

   Remus wasn’t alone out here. There sat a person who looked Remus’s age sitting on the swings. Their head hung limply, and they held onto the chain at eye height. They were barely swinging at all. It was more like a minor despondent sway. They looked really miserable. Remus couldn’t swing as a cat, but he also was curious about the other stranger. One stranger tonight gave Remus magic powers, so random night strangers were much more interesting now. 

   That fact alone made Remus also wanted to return the favour to the universe if he could. The fox-masked being cheered Remus up. Maybe Remus could cheer up the sad person who appeared to be 70% hoodie by volume and kicking at the pebbles under the swings. Remus walked up in front of the person and sat down, meowing. Their head was down and their hood was up, so Remus couldn’t see their face.

   The stranger didn’t look up from soundlessly staring down at nothing. Remus stepped closer, meowing again. He looked up at the stranger’s face from the ground. They looked empty. Their eyes were unfocused and their expression was somewhere between numb and desolate. Remus meowed louder, and the stranger blinked. They recoiled their head and rubbed their eyes, blinking a few more times before their eyes focused enough to notice Remus.

   “Oh. Hey,” The stranger greeted Remus. Remus rubbed against the person’s legs. He hoped they weren’t allergic. They watched Remus weave around their legs for what felt like an eternity, but they never sniffled, so it seemed okay for now. “You’re really friendly, huh?” The person reached down their hand and Remus bumped into their hand right away.

   The sad person let out a weak chuckle through their nose and scratched at Remus’s chin. Remus froze for a moment and pushed down into the stranger’s hand to help them scratch harder. That was better than pets. That made Remus feel like his entire body was tingling with elation. The stranger stopped scratching and sat up on the swing. But Remus wasn’t having that. He jumped up and deposited himself right on the person’s lap.

   “Woah,” The stranger seemed amused and went back to gently scratching behind Remus’s ear. Remus purred like a motorboat idling on a lake. One that might explode and kill twenty bystanders and sink a dinghy named Frank. Remus’s back leg twitched automatically as he settled down. He was probably vibrating the entire stranger he purred so hard.

   When the stranger stopped again, Remus meowed and licked at their hand, sitting limply next to Remus again. “You’re kind of needy,” The stranger sounded amused, switching to petting Remus with their other hand instead. Remus carefully laid down and licked the stranger’s hand again. 

   Remus liked it when cats did this, so he hoped this person would, too. They reached up to rub their eyes again and paused, sniffing the air. They sniffed again and tried smelling where Remus licked them. 

   “Fuck, cat, that’s noxious. What the hell did you eat?” They snickered, putting their hand back down. Remus tried to say ‘chips’, but a weird meow came out instead, so he rested his head on the stranger’s hand.

   “Do you belong to someone?” The person asked curiously. They sat up more and looked around the area. They dug around at the thick fur on Remus’s neck and hummed in dissatisfaction. “A nice cat like you deserves a good home. It’s not safe out here for you,” They shook their head and went back to petting them. “But thanks for visiting,” They smiled down at Remus. “I’ve got school, I should get going,” They sounded sad, but Remus jumped off and spun around to sit and watch them get up.

   The stranger dragged themselves off the swing and waved to Remus. Remus meowed and waved a paw back, which made the stranger give a small smile in return. Remus had school too, so he should probably get home. But he got them to smile, so it satisfied the need to do something nice for the world in return as he bounded down the street back towards his house.

---

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[enchantedlokii]

Know Your Value

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: language

Characters: Edwin Jarvis, Ana Jarvis, Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, Maria Stark, Tony Stark, Daniel Sousa, Steve Rogers

Mentioned: Whitney Frost, Jason Wilkes, Rose Roberts, Aloysius Samberly, Joseph Rogers, Michael Carter, Bruce Banner, Loki Odinson, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Pepper Potts, Jack Thompson

When Edwin Jarvis first learned that his wife would never be able to have children, he had been devastated. He couldn’t understand what he had done to deserve this. What Ana had done to deserve this. She was never supposed to be injured at the hands of Whitney Frost. She was never supposed to be injured at all.

He only realized it was his own fault as he followed Peggy through the desert. The woman’s words hit him like a truck. He had almost lost the woman he loved because of his actions. Then, he thought it would make it better if he got revenge. Even if he died in the process. For years, he thought he would never forgive himself, but that forgiveness came when he learned that Howard’s wife, Maria, was pregnant.

As much as Edwin loved his friend, he knew that Howard wasn’t the fatherly type. He was rambunctious, inappropriate, and a bit crude at times. And he was a busy man. Especially now, with Stark Industries having reached its peak. He knew that this poor child would never have the father figure that he deserved. So he promised himself that he would do whatever he could to help this child once he was born.

Edwin and Ana didn’t meet Tony until the day that Howard and Maria brought him home, but they immediately fell in love with him. Ana had took him carefully and held him close to her chest, rocking him back and forth and humming a Hungarian lullaby. If it were possible, Edwin believed he fell in love with her all over again in that moment.

As he had expected, Edwin and Ana helped a lot with raising the boy. They could see early on that he didn’t have a good relationship with his father. While he and his mother were closer, Maria Stark was a busy woman and often had to leave him in their care. They never minded, of course, but it seemed to take a toll on Tony. Especially as he got older and was able to understand exactly what his life was.

But there was something special about the boy. They all knew he was smart. To be the son of Howard Stark, one would have to be a genius, but this was more than that. This child was on a whole other level.

“What are you working on?” Edwin asked as he walked into the common area. Tony, ten years old at this point, was sitting on the carpet with parts spread out around him. He didn’t look up as Edwin spoke, but did acknowledge his presence with a nod.

“Hey, Jarvis,” he started, focusing on his project. “I’m trying to. . . Get this. . . Woah!”

The boy pulled his head back as a bolt went flying through the air, landing a few inches away. He grinned and looked up at Edwin. “I found this old radio set in the garage and was trying to fix it, but it’s pretty rusty. I’m not sure I can get it to work.”

“Right, I—” Edwin was interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. Confused, he looked up. “I wonder who that might be.”

Edwin started towards the door, hearing footsteps behind him as Tony followed. He was surprised when he opened the door and saw a familiar face. “Hello, Mr. Jarvis. Sorry to arrive unannounced.”

“Why, Mrs. Carter,” Edwin replied, stepping to the side. “Come in, come in. It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Peggy replied, dropping her bags at her feet. “I would have called, but I feared you might be busy. Daniel and I need a place to stay for a couple of weeks. You don’t suppose Howard would mind us crashing here?”

“Oh, not at all,” Edwin told her. “He will be glad to see you.”

Peggy smiled before her gaze lowered to look at Tony, who was watching her with a confused expression. “You must be Anthony,” she started, crouching down and holding out a hand to shake his. “You’ve grown since I saw you last.”

Tony hesitantly took the woman’s hand and gave it a small shake. “Don’t call me Anthony,” he told her.

“My apologies,” Peggy said quickly. “What would you like me to call you then?”

“Tony,” he said simply, taking his hand away. Edwin was a bit surprised by the stiff movements the boy was making. It was as if he didn’t want to see Peggy. He supposed that he would not remember the woman, it having been several years since they relocated to Malibu, but it was unlike him to be so detached.

“Well hello, Tony,” Peggy replied. “My name is Margaret, but you can call me Peggy. I’m a friend of your father’s.”

“I know,” he said harshly before turning to Edwin. “I’m going to work on my radio now.”

Before Edwin could stop him, Tony was already returning to his spot on the carpet. The man was going to apologize before he saw Daniel struggling to carry a bag in. “Oh, let me get that for you, Mr. Sousa.” He took the bag from the crutched man and nestled it in the corner to move later. “Come, we have a lot to catch up on.”

Peggy was perplexed by the way Howard’s child reacted to seeing her. The boy seemed to want nothing to do with her, trying to avoid her in any way he could. It confused her, honestly, and worried her a bit.

“Are you sure about this, Peggy?” Ana asked. “I can stay with him. I don’t mind.”

“It’s not a problem, Ana,” Peggy assured her, holding her friend close in a hug. “You and Mr. Jarvis deserve a break.”

“Oh, thanks, Peg,” Ana said, smiling a bit before pulling away.

The moment Edwin and Ana left, Peggy turned to look around the building. It had been years since she had been here, but it still felt like home to her. She was beyond grateful when Howard and Maria agreed that it was completely fine for her and Daniel to stay as long as they needed.

It felt like old times again. Especially when Howard had proposed that they invite Jason and Rose and Aloysius over for dinner one evening in the near future. It just felt right.

But a lot had changed over the years. Her and Daniel were married now. They had two children together; a twenty-four year old daughter and a twenty-one year old son. Rose and Aloysius were married, but they didn’t have any kids. They did have a cat, however. Jason never got married, but he was one of the top scientists at Stark Industries now.

Then there was Howard. Peggy never imagined Howard settling down. The whole time she knew him, he had bounced from woman to woman. There were only a select few he saw as more than a toy. But he had changed when he met Maria. They ended up married a few years later, and then they had Tony.

“Right. Where is that rascal?” Peggy asked herself, starting her search. She found the boy in the garage, searching through a box. “Hello.”

“Hi,” he said dryly, not looking up.

“I was wondering if you might like to watch a film with me,” she started, trying to not let the boy’s tone phase her.

“I’m busy,” Tony said, continuing to search through his box.

Peggy contemplated for a moment, trying to figure out how to hand him. She started forward and crouched down, reaching to hold the flap of the box. “Maybe I could help.”

Tony glared up at her with a mixture of emotions in his eyes. “Can’t you get the hint and leave me alone?!” he snapped, pulling the box away from her. “I don’t want your help.”

Part of Peggy thought it might be wise to leave Tony be. She could always try to talk to him later, but she knew that it would be harder to get him to open up when there were others around. She had interrogated enough people in her life to know that. So, she instead put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He flinched noticeably, but didn’t swing at her like she expected him to. “Is there a reason that you are acting this way?”

“Acting what way?” he muttered, refusing to look at her. “I just want you to leave me alone.”

“How come?” she asked. “I only want to help. I would like to get to know you, and I know this is not how you normally act. I asked Mr. Jarvis and he said that you’re usually an extreme good kid.”

Tony was quiet, looking down into the book. He looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came. Carefully, Peggy continued.

“You won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me what’s wrong, Tony,” she told him. “I can see you don’t like me, and that’s okay. But I would like to know why so I might be able to fix that.”

Finally, Tony looked up at her. “My father cares about you more than he cares about me,” the boy told her, his voice wavering slightly. “He talks about you all the time. You and Captain America. Every. Single. Day.”

Peggy felt her heart break for the child. She could easily see how upset he was by the fact. That’s something a child his age should never have to worry about; his parents loving someone else more than they loved them. It wasn’t fair. “I had no idea,” she told him. “I greatly apologize.”

Tony held her gaze for a moment before he sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I guess it’s not really your fault,” he admitted. He opened his mouth to speak again but quickly shut it, looking back down at the box.

“I suppose you want me to leave you alone now,” Peggy started after a few beats of silence. “I apologize for upsetting you.”

Peggy stood and started to turn away. She knew that she would need to talk to Daniel about finding someplace else to stay. She didn’t want to make this child miserable, and she didn’t see any way that she could turn things around. He had a good reason for disliking her, and frankly, she wanted to punch Howard for it. Because he had made his own child feel like there was someone more important than him.

“Mrs. Carter?”

Peggy stopped and looked over her shoulder. Tony had stopped looking through the box and was standing up. He looked hesitant, but finally met her gaze. “Yes, Tony?”

Tony shuffled his feet as he replied. “A movie. . . A movie sounds nice,” he told her. “If. . . If you still want to watch one.”

Peggy smiled and nodded. “That sounds splendid,” she replied, feeling her heart melt at the way his eyes brightened. A smile formed on his lips and he hurried after her. Maybe she could turn this around.

“Ow, hey!”

Howard held his cheek, rubbing it gently. He had been punched by Peggy Carter before, more than once, but this time he had no idea what he had done to deserve it. “What was that for?”

“Do you care to explain why your child believes you care more about me than you care about him?” Peggy asked. Howard could see fire in her eyes as she spoke. She was furious with him.

“Peg, I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Howard huffed. “The kid is probably just looking for attention. You should just ignore him when he acts like that.”

“Ignore him?” Peggy questioned, following him as he moved to put his suitcase on the table. “Is that what you believe parenting is? Ignoring your child when he’s upset?”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Howard said sharply, turning to face her once again. “I don’t ignore Tony. I’m busy. You understand that, right?”

“You’re supposed to make time for your children, Howard!” Peggy snapped, throwing her arms out. “They’re impressionable. Especially one as smart as yours. He’s going to remember this when he’s older and it’s not going to be good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Howard asked. He was a bit offended by her criticism. It was unusually harsh for Peggy. “That I’m a bad parent?”

“If you can’t see that you’re hurting your son, then yes! Yes, it means that you’re a bad parent!” Peggy hissed at him. “Do you not realize how lucky you are to be able to be there for your son?”

“Peggy, you’re talking out of your head. Have you been drinking?” Howard asked lightly, trying to lighten her mood.

Peggy took his shirt in her fist. “Do you forget that Steve’s father died before he was born?” she asked. “Do you forget that my nephew grew up without his father because my brother died when he was f*cking five years old?”

“Peggy—”

“Do you forget that Ana cannot have her own children?” She pressed. “That her and Edwin would give so much to have a child, yet you act like yours doesn’t even exist!”

“Come on, Peg,” Howard started. “The kid doesn’t need me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said, letting go of him. “To be a genius, you’re a bloody idiot. F*ck you, Howard!”

Howard watched as Peggy turned to leave. Before she slammed the door behind her, her gaze burned into him. “Steve would be so disappointed if he found that you idolize him. That you use the fact that you knew him to make your child feel inferior.”

Without another word, she was gone; leaving Howard to run his hands through his graying hair and try to comprehend what just happened.

“You’re leaving already?”

Peggy frowned as she heard the small voice behind her. When she turned, she found that Tony was standing there, giving her a sad look. She sighed and crouched down in front of him. “Is it because of me?” he asked. “I-I’m sorry, Mrs. Carter. I changed my mind.”

“Hey,” she said softly, putting a hand on his cheek. “This is not your fault, Tony.”

The boy was quiet, looking down at the ground. Peggy turned to Daniel and the man understood, limping away into the other room to give them some space. She took a breath and turned back to the child, giving him a small smile.

“You are so incredibly smart,” she told him. “I can see that just from being here a couple of weeks. You have a wonderful mind.”

Tony gave her a small smile but didn’t say anything. “I know that things aren’t perfect here,” she continued. “But I want you to promise me something. Can you do that for me?”

The boy nodded quickly without hesitation. “Y-yeah.”

“Good,” she replied. “I want you to promise me that you will do your best to do what’s right, no matter what the cost. With a brain as big as yours, you could change the world some day. I have no doubt that you will, but I want you to promise me that you won’t let that opportunity pass by when it comes to you.”

“Okay,” he breathed. “Okay, I promise.”

“Thank you,” she replied, pulling the boy close and kissing him on top of the head. “One more thing; know your value, Tony. Know what you’re worth and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. No matter who they are or what they’ve done. No one knows you better than yourself.”

“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away and what are you?”

Tony wasn’t sure about Steve Rogers even before those words. He had spent his whole life hating this man. The man that his father had always cared about more than him. And then to hear him say that. To hear that he after all Tony had done, this man refused to call him a hero.

Yet here he was, standing in the elevator next to this same man. The man who was holding an opened watch, looking at the picture of the woman they were going to see. Why he had agreed to this, he had no idea. Why he had been the one, when Steve asked him if he knew Peggy; “her and your dad were really close;” he had been the one to say “sure, I still do.” He had actually laughed at the man’s reaction to finding out that she was still alive.

Now that they were here, in the same building as Peggy Carter, he felt like he was betraying her. That he was going against the promise that he had made to her decades ago. That he wouldn’t let anyone talk to him the way Steve had talked to him on the helicarrier.

It was only because of what Bruce had told him after the Battle of New York that he didn’t back out or even humiliate Steve in front of Peggy, telling her what the man had said to him. Because they were all being controlled that day. The stone in Loki’s Staff, the Mind Stone, had been influencing them. All of them. That’s why he and Steve were butting heads. That’s why Natasha tried to convince Fury to lock Bruce up. That’s why Bruce had picked up the staff without realizing it.

“I’m worried she won’t be happy to see me.” Steve’s voice pulled Tony from his thoughts.

“Right. About that,” Tony started. “She might not actually remember you. Not at first, at least. Never fails, she calls me Howard every time I step through that door. I have to remind her who I am. Never remind her he’s dead, but I think she figures it out.”

“She has Alzheimer’s?” Steve asked, a sad look crossing his face.

“Afraid so, Cap,” he replied, sticking his hands in his pockets before making his way out of the elevator. “But she’s a strong woman. It doesn’t bother her.” He paused outside Peggy’s door. “Let me go in first. Try to explain it to her so she doesn’t completely freak out, okay?”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, standing against the wall so he wouldn’t be seen when Tony opened the door.

Tony took a shaky breath and knocked before pushing the door open. He gave a small smile as Peggy turned to look at him. “Hey, Aunt Peg,” he started gently.

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Howard,” she started. “It’s good to see you.”

Tony tried to hide his annoyance as he moved closer. “No,” he reminded her softly. “It’s Tony. Remember?”

“Oh, yes,” she said with a small smile. “I apologize. You look so much like him.” She shifted in her bed and Tony moved to help her sit up. “You were on the news.”

“Yeah?” he asked, acting surprised. He glanced towards the door, wondering if she had seen Steve too or if had been an interview clip. Either way, she might not fully remember.

“Yes,” she said, lifting a hand up and placing it on his chest where a faint blue light was visible through his shirt. “It was you.”

Tony smiled and put his hand on hers, gently lowering it to her bed. “I brought someone with me that wants to see you,” he told her, speaking a little louder to make sure Steve heard him outside the door. “Is that alright, Aunt Peg?”

Peggy’s eyes flashed with confusion, but she nodded in reply. He closed his eyes and stepped back. “Capsicle?”

Steve stepped in, his hands clasped in front of him as he smiled at Peggy. He looked uncertain at first as Peggy searched his face, trying to recognize him. “Hey, Peggy,” he said quietly. “How’s my best girl?”

Tony could see the moment that Peggy recognizes Steve, and that’s when he decided to step out, leaning back against the wall and trying to collect himself. Part of him said that he should leave. That Steve would be done with him now that he had gotten what he wanted. He would be disappointed if he waited behind. But he stayed anyway, trying his best to not eavesdrop on the conversation that was happening inside. His phone dinged with a message from Pepper asking how everything was going, and at the same moment he went to respond, Steve stepped out of the room, slowly closing the door behind him.

The man stood there for a moment with his forehead pressed against the door. His eyes were closed, Tony noticed, and he was frowning. “I don’t like seeing her like this,” he breathed.

“Yeah, me either,” Tony admitted, standing up straight and pocketing his phone for now. Hesitant, he brought a hand up and patted Steve’s shoulder. “But she’s happy.”

Steve nodded. “Who is he?” He asked after a moment. At first Tony was confused, but then he realized the other man must have saw the pictures in her room.

“His name was Agent Daniel Sousa,” he told him. “A P.O.W. One you saved. He was injured in the war and went on to work for the SSR. She always said he was the first one to treat her as an equal. I met him a few times. Good guy, really.”

Steve nodded slowly, straightening up before facing Tony. “Thank you,” he started. “For bringing me here.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” Tony replied, putting his hands in his pockets again. “I should get back to the tower. Ms. Potts has some evening plans, I believe.”

“Right, right,” Steve nodded again. “I should. . . Um, Ms. Romanoff and I were going to train later.” He put a hand over his forehead. “I completely forgot.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” he snorted, remembering his own experience sparring with the woman. “I guess I will see you the next time Fury gets in over his head.”

Tony turned and started towards the elevator before he heard Steve sigh. “Wait, Tony,” he started, causing him to look back. “What I said. . .”

“Is forgiven,” he finished for him, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal. Like it hadn’t caused his thoughts to spiral every night since. “You’re not too bad, Old Man. You have a lot to learn, but you’re not too bad.”

He saw Steve roll his eyes, but he held a smile. He turned and continued towards the elevator. “Natasha’s single, by the way,” he called over his shoulder as he pushed the button.

“And there it is,” he heard Steve mutter. He smirked as the elevator dinged in front of him.

“I don’t need a congressional honor, I don’t need Agent Thompson’s approval, or the President’s. I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”

[jaehyun-eclipsed]

Before I Met You | Twenty-One

Next Update: ~January 10, 2021

Pairing: NCT (Jaehyun, Lucas, Mark, Jaemin, Johnny) X Reader/OC

Genre: Romance, Angst, Coming of Age

Summary: Four. There were four people before I fell in love with you… Here are their stories.

Before I Met You Masterlist

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The following day, I woke up and began packing to go home for winter break. Jia had left early this morning to catch a flight back to Beijing, so I was left to my own thoughts about the upcoming lunch outing with Johnny.

I threw on some black jeans, a brown off-the-shoulder sweater, and black knee-high boots. I was finally able to go back to my norm of taking the morning to do my hair and makeup after showing up with minimal effort during finals week.

Yes, I wanted to look cute for this “date,” but I was also just happy to not look like I had just rolled out of bed before going out every day.

I meet Johnny in his room and walk out of the house together with Hendery who was on his way to the airport.

“What are you doing here, Y/N?” Hendery asks.

I’m taken by surprise because I thought Hendery knew Johnny and I were hanging out today, but quickly realizing that Johnny didn’t mention it, I’m not sure how much to tell him.

“Oh, um, Johnny and I are just hanging out today. I think he needs to drop off a book and then we’re gonna grab some food.”

“Oh.”

We wish Hendery goodbye, parting ways as he gets onto a bus heading to the airport. I follow Johnny to drop off his book and afterwards, we opt to grab lunch at my favorite Korean place near campus. The restaurant is basically empty midafternoon with the exception of a few students celebrating the end of finals.

“So, you’re not seeing anyone?” Johnny asks.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Why not?”

Because I’m me. I get involved with people that seem to have weird issues and the person I’m currently interested in has a girlfriend, and yet, I’m still hanging out with him.

Shrugging, I press my lips together before finally saying, “Haven’t found anyone I’m interested in, I guess.”

“What are you looking for then?”

“Someone respectable and smart. Someone I can talk to about anything,” I say. “Someone who isn’t going to have a problem with me having guy friends.”

“Having guy friends?” He quirks an eyebrow. “That sounds so specific.”

“Believe me, when you have guy friends whose girlfriends hate you, you learn quickly that you’ll need to find someone that doesn’t have severe jealousy issues.”

“Your guy friends’ girlfriends hate you?”

“Something like that.”

Johnny scrunches his face in confusion. “Why?”

I shrug. “I suppose they see me as a threat. Not really sure why. It’s not like I want to date their boyfriends.”

At least, that’s been true until now. Though, it’s not like I’m going to do anything to actively steal him. None of this, “you should leave you girlfriend and be with me.”

“My girlfriend doesn’t want me to have girl friends,” Johnny says.  

“Oh.”

I wonder why. If I knew he acted like this around other girls, I guess I might understand.

“Does she not trust you around other girls or something?” I ask.

Ah ha. That was a loaded question.

“I guess so. She talked to all her friends and they said the same thing: boyfriends shouldn’t have any other girl friends besides their girlfriend.”

“That’s kinda…” —I grimace— “I don’t know how I feel about that. I feel about that. As long as you aren’t flirting with other girls, then I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to have other girl friends.”

“That’s what I said!” he exclaims.

Except, I’d argue that you are flirting with other girls, but that’s none of my business.

“Does she have other guy friends?”

“I don’t know. She says she doesn’t.”

I turn away briefly, hoping he doesn’t notice my look of skepticism. That sounds like a lie.

“Does she go here?”

“No, she’s going to a community college in Santa Clara. She’s trying to transfer to a CSU in SoCal.”

So that’s why we never see her around.

“How long have you been dating?”

“Almost two years.”

“So you met in high school?”

“Yeah, she went to a different high school, but my friend introduced me to her and we used to meet up to study a lot during the school year.”

“Oh that’s nice. Do you see her often?”

“Like every few weeks when I go home or during breaks,” he says. “Do you want to see a picture of her?”

“Sure.”

Johnny pulls out his phone and shows me a picture of the two of them at a park. She’s decently pretty—a six and a half at best—but nothing particularly special.  

My eyes narrow at him as puts his phone away and begins looking through his menu. Maybe he’s not trying to hit on me if he’s being so open about his girlfriend? But that doesn’t explain everything else that’s happened unless he’s just naturally flirty. I highly doubt that.

“I think I’m going to order bibimbap,” he says to me, putting the menu on the table.

I nod in acknowledgement. “I’m going to order the sundubu-jjigae. It’s cold out.”

“Do you want to do anything afterwards?”

His question catches me off guard. After learning more about his girlfriend and seeing how comfortable he is talking about her when prompted, I’m surprised he wants to continue hanging out. But perhaps this really just is a friendship.

“Was there something you wanted to do?” I reply. 

He shakes his head. “What’s your favorite place around here?”

“Um, there’s a bookstore I like that’s a few blocks from campus…”

“Great! Let’s go there afterwards!”

After finishing lunch, we make our way to the south side of campus, surprised to come across a small street fair on the same street as the bookstore. The booths are decorated with fairy lights, creating a very cozy and romantic atmosphere at twilight. We browse the novelty soaps, keychains, and various trinkets briefly before squeezing through two booths to get to the bookstore.

“What kind of books do you like to read?” Johnny asks, trailing behind me as I browse a recent release table.

“Mm, mostly young adult fiction leaning towards the adventure side. I like dystopian novels. You?”

“I like reading nonfiction. I don’t really like fiction.”

“That’s a shame.”

I grab a recent release and begin flipping through it.

“Oh what’s this?” Johnny asks from behind me.

As soon as I turn around, a brown dog puppet is two inches from my face. Johnny is smiling down at me and moving his hand inside the puppet to make the dog look like it’s talking.

“Hi Y/N, my name is Coffee Bean! Will you read me a story?”

My mouth is agape in amusement, part of me unsure how to respond. I chuckle nervously and put down the book in my hand, and quickly scan the table next to me for the closest children’s book.

“Um, do you like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Coffee Bean?”

Coffee Bean nods his head enthusiastically. “Yes! Woof!”

I force a nervous smile, still uncertain as to how to respond to this other than to play along. I read a few pages of the book and look up at Johnny. “Do you really want me to keep reading?”

He laughs. “No, it’s okay.” He turns to Coffee Bean. “Did you like that Coffee Bean?”

“Yes!” Coffee Bean turns his head back towards me and presses his mouth against my cheek. “Thank you!”

I smile at him and begin walking towards another section of the store. That was weird. Cute, but weird. Sighing heavily, my mind flashes back to our discussion earlier about Johnny’s girlfriend. He clearly was very comfortable talking about her in front of me. Realistically, it probably would’ve been better for me to completely drop the idea of the two of us ever dating and stay away from Johnny because I didn’t want to get in the way. I’d certainly never want my boyfriend to do something like this.

Y/N, you are going to get hurt if you continue to hang out with this guy. This never ends well when you get involved with a guy who’s already in a relationship. He’s obviously not going to leave his girlfriend. And even if he did because he wanted to date you, wouldn’t it be a bad idea? He could do the same thing to you.

Johnny suddenly appears next to me. “So, it’s six o’clock. What do you want to do? You want to watch a movie?”

I blink several times, surprised yet again by Johnny’s continuing desire to hang out today. Most of everyone at the house has left, so I suppose it only makes sense. If we went back to the house and parted ways, there wouldn’t be anything for us to do on our own. I’d probably just sit in my room and watch a movie by myself.

“Sure… I guess. What do you want to watch?”

“Didn’t you mention that you recently watched some movie… Sally something?”

My forehead creases. “You mean, When Harry Met Sally?”

“Yeah! Let’s watch that!”

What? He wants to watch a rom-com?

Okay, movie and that’s it. You shouldn’t hang around him anymore and after today, you won’t even need to see him.

“Okay then. We can watch in the piano room,” I say. “I don’t have an HDMI cable to hook up to the TV, but the couches are comfy.”

He hums in thought. “Can we just watch in your room? It’ll be more comfortable.”

Um, there must be something about a guy wanting to hang out alone with you in your room to watch a movie, right?

“Like, we sit on the bed?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

I bite the inside of my lip. “Okay.”

“Okay! I’ll bring snacks!”

“This is my blanket now!” Johnny grabs my fleece blanket and stuffed dog off my bed and begins hugging it. “This is mine now too.”

He jumps up onto my bed and crawls into the corner, wrapping himself in the blanket and hiding the plush underneath. He cracks into a wide grin and I can’t help but begin to pout a bit, feeling rather protective over my stuffed toys.

“So what do I get?”

“I brought pistachios and cookies,” he says, gesturing over to the snacks he placed on my desk. “You can have those.”

I glance at the packages and then turn back to face Johnny, dissatisfied with the consolation prize. I pout again. “But I’m not hungry. I’m cold.”

“Hmm,” he hums, pretending to ponder as he holds a playful smile on his face. “Okay, I guess I can share with you.”

I scoff in amusement. “Share? That’s mine!”

A cheeky grin makes its way onto his face. “You said you were cold. It’s easier to stay warm if the blanket is already warmed up!”

I roll my eyes and bite back a smile as I go to set up the movie on my laptop. Slowly, I make my way onto my bed and Johnny trades me my laptop for my blanket. I make no comment as I wasn’t keen on sharing my blanket in the first place anyway.

Before leaning against the back wall, I turn to look at him. “Do I get my dog back too?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “No, I think he likes me better.”

“Okay, fine,” I say, letting out a huff and crossing my arms as I move to sit up against the wall.

Our arms are touching, which is to be expected since we’re attempting to share a twin-sized bed. I’m a bit distracted, not really focusing on the movie, but rather on the predicament I see myself in. Clearly, Johnny has no problem with taking my personal belongings or sharing a bed with me. Originally, I thought we would sit up against the wall length-wise, giving both of us plenty of space not to make any physical contact with each other. But instead, Johnny had other plans and also wanted to use my pillows. So here I am, watching a rom-com with a guy that I happen to like and find very charming, is very kind and playful, but I am very uncertain as to where I stand.

After a while, Johnny hands my dog back to me and I pretend to be unfazed by the famous fake orgasm scene in the movie. What an awkward thing to watch with a guy I barely know.

When the movie ends, I shut my laptop and hop off my bed to put it back on my desk. Johnny crawls over to the other end of the bed, lies on his side and hangs his legs off the foot of my bed. I seat myself back against the wall and pull out my phone.

“So now what?” I ask.

“Um, you said that you’re good at giving advice, right?” Johnny responds.

I lift my head up from my phone and turn to look at him. “Uh, I mean, my friends ask me for advice a lot. So maybe?”

It’s quiet for a moment as Johnny contemplates whether to ask me for advice and how to formulate his question. My thumb scrolls through Instagram, though my mind is somewhere else as I wonder about what Johnny could want advice on. Life? Career? School?

“I’m not really sure what to do about my girlfriend,” he finally says.

That’s not… that’s not what I want to talk to you about.

“What do you mean?” I ask, keeping my gaze on my phone. 

“I’m… not really happy with her.”

I swallow nervously. “Why not?”

“You know how I told you earlier that she doesn’t like me having girl friends?”

Can’t imagine why.

“Yeah?”

“It’s stuff like that. She gets upset with me and it’s hard to talk to her. She doesn’t really apply herself in school and doesn’t have a lot of ambition.”

I keep my facial expression neutral, but I’m already not impressed with this girl.

“Just out of curiosity, what do you parents think of her?”

He shrugs. “My dad doesn’t care and my mom keeps asking me when I’m going to get a doctor or lawyer girlfriend.”

“Sounds like your mom doesn’t really like her.”

“Well, my mom likes her, but…”

“She wants you to find someone she thinks is better,” I say, finishing his sentence.

“Yeah,” he admits sheepishly.

Yeah, so basically she doesn’t like your girlfriend.

“What’s her name?”

“Minji,” he responds. “We’ve already broken up twice.”

God, he sounds like Siwoo.

“Why?”

“Because she didn’t like my friend Hyoyeon.”

“Who’s she?”

“She’s my friend from high school,” he says. “She’s two years younger and we were friends in band.”

“Did you like her or something?”

“What? No!” he says emphatically. “She’s like my little sister, but we hung out a lot together.”

I take in the information to create a coherent story. “So… Minji was jealous because you spent a lot of time with Hyoyeon and Minji got angry or something… and you guys broke up because of that, right?”

“Yep.”

“Why did you get back together?”

“The first time was a year ago and I missed her so I thought we could make it work. Then a couple months later, we got into a fight and I broke up with her again, but then I thought I made a mistake so we got back together,” he says. “So what do you think I should do?”

I sit there, staring at my bed spread, trying to figure out how to respond. There is a conflict of interest. I am obviously interested in Johnny and would definitely like for him to be single so that I can date him, but I also do not want to tell him that he should break up with his girlfriend because I’m afraid that I can’t be totally objective in this situation. Personally, if this had been Siwoo, I would’ve told him to break up with her. Perhaps Siwoo is not the best example, but that’s what we have to work with. Johnny’s not happy with Minji and he’s obviously flirting with another girl he likes more. What’s the point of prolonging it?

What’s with me in having guys with girlfriends being attracted to me?  

Either they’re unhappy or unsatisfied or I just have a lot more power than I thought. The other explanation is that they’re just assholes.  

Wow, Y/N, now you just attract assholes? That must say something about your personality.

Attempting to be as objective as possible, I decide to say the most neutral, yet important, thing I can.

“People don’t change, Johnny.”

He tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

“If you’re upset with the jealousy and the lack of ambition or whatever, that’s not going to change,” I say. “People only change if something drastic happens that causes them to be different.”

“So… are you saying I should break up with her?”

My eyes widen. “No, no,” I say quickly. “I did not say that. I’m just telling you that people don’t change. So it’s up to you whether or not you think it’s something you can handle.”

He’s quiet for a bit and then turns to look at me. “Do you really believe that?”

“Believe what?”

“That people don’t change.”

I nod slowly. “Yeah.”

“But I’m different now from a few years ago. I know a lot of people I grew up with who are different now.”

“Fundamentally, people don’t change. Yeah, you might pick up some new habits here and there, but generally, it’s hard to change unless you know there’s something you need to change,” I say. “And acknowledgement is only the beginning. You have to want to change too. If you don’t, then it doesn’t make a difference.”

“So, you don’t think Minji is going to change at all?”

I’m hesitant to make any comments specifically concerning Minji. So I give another open-ended answer. “If she thinks something needs to be changed and wants to, then maybe.”

In thinking about it, Siwoo is the perfect example here. No matter how many failed relationships he gets into, he never changes his behavior. Get together with one girl, cheat on her or treat her horribly, break up, feel bad for about two seconds, rinse, repeat. Somehow, it never fazes him.

I often wonder if there’s one girl out there that would break his heart enough that it would cause him to change. Even a little bit.

“I’m going to break up with her,” Johnny says after some time.

I look at him and say nothing.

“Yeah, I think it’s time to break up with her,” he says again.

“It’s your decision.”

He sighs. “Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to see her on Monday, so I’ll do it then.”

I remain silent and keep my facial expression neutral. If Johnny actually follows through with it, I’d be happy. But I don’t want to be the reason he breaks up with her. That’s not my place.

“Thanks,” he says and smiles. “You are pretty good at giving advice.”

“Oh, yeah,” I remark. “Sure.”

I put my phone down and lie back onto my pillow at the head of the bed. Crossing my arms across my chest, I close my eyes as a sudden drowsiness overcomes me. I hear some shifting at the end of the bed.

“Are you tired?” Johnny asks.

“Mm, a little,” I mumble.

A blanket is gently draped over me and I hum a quiet “thank you.” Everything is still and peaceful, but I can tell that Johnny is watching me.

And then he asks me a question.

“What if I told you I like you?”

My eyes shoot open in shock and Johnny is smiling down at me, a hopeful look etched into his features. I stare at him for a moment and knit my eyebrows together, having been rendered speechless by his confession.

My lack of response causes a bit of a panic in his eyes and he asks another question.

“Is that good or bad?”

Trying to remain calm, I close my eyes as if his question hadn’t just shocked me.

“It’s okay…” I respond.

Though my eyes are closed, a small part of me is laughing inside, half-aware that my unenthusiastic and non-idealistic response is not how he anticipated this to play out.  

“So…” The unsteadiness in his voice is detectable. “What about you?”

“I do,” I answer simply.

“You do what?”

“I do like you.”

I open my eyes again and there’s a shy smile on his face.

“I think you’re really cute and I enjoy spending time with you and I want to keep spending time with you,” he continues.

He climbs up towards the front of the bed and lies with his back against the wall. I feel an arm reach around my waist.

“You—you can’t do that,” I say.

Johnny slowly removes his hand. “Why not?”

“You’re still with someone else.”

My voice is unsteady and I don’t trust it. But quite frankly, I’m not sure I trust my own judgment either.

I shut my eyes again, unable to fight the fatigue. A few moments pass before Johnny speaks again.

“Can I stay here?”

Y/N, you know that he shouldn’t.

“Yes.”

He pushes himself up off the bed and climbs over me. His feet land on the floor with a thump and he flips off the light switch. He quickly climbs back onto my bed and places himself where he was before. I’m on the edge of the bed and there’s about a foot of space in between the two of us. I hear him shuffling around and suddenly there’s a hand lightly resting on the exposed skin of my waist.

“No, you can’t do that,” I say more forcefully. “You’re still with someone.”

He quickly removes his hand this time and then says, “I think I’ll leave you alone then.”

He climbs off the bed again and I remain still until I hear the door open and close. Then I’m alone.

I slowly sit up. There’s a thin stream of moonlight peering in through the missing blind. Looking around the room, there’s enough light to see that Johnny had left his bag of pistachio nuts and the package of cookies on my desk. Biting my lip, I decide to go brush my teeth and wash my face, but when I look at my reflection in the mirror, I feel scared.

What are you doing?

What are you supposed to do with this confession?

Hell, you confessed yourself.

There’s a part of me that feels excited that a boy of interest has returned my affections, but suddenly I’m finding that I don’t know how to process it. I’ve had plenty of confessions before, but this is different and I don’t know why.

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Before I Met You Masterlist

Masterlist

[ahmedmootaz]

For the writing, How about some fluff between Donald and the kids? :)))

Dear Anonymous,

Hello! I did it! Hah! Take that, laziness, I wrote the thing someone requested!...Yeah, sorry about that. The whole delay. Both to you and to everyone who kindly sent me requests. As said before, short things aren’t my style, so I hope you enjoy this!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26468854

Do share your thoughts with me, if you would so kindly do that. I like receiving feedback.

Oh and for those of you that don’t want to go to Archive Of Our Own, here’s the magical Read More button:

Ah, McDuck Manor. It was a wonderful place, really. Its rooms were almost endless, the hallways spanned on for miles, and the collection of mostly lethal items and antiques that got expanded every other day certainly made it unique in a sense. It was where Donald Duck had spent most of his childhood, and it was often a pretty, if empty place.

Perhaps this was how monarchs envisioned their castles. Spotless, massive, elegant. Or perhaps this was...this was...oh, forget it! He wasn't good at descriptions anyway. What mattered was that this manor was large, expansive, eye-pleasing, and basically was everything Donald never had for the last twelve or so years. Though it was rather lonely at times.

Not the current times, however, as now it was privy to the footsteps of little paddles running around in it all the time, and Donald couldn't be happier about it. After all, who wouldn't be happy seeing his favourite little nephews running around happily in their new home? He still used his house-boat, admittedly for no real reason other than how hard he worked to get it, but the children were more than happy to stay in their new home, a castle in comparison to where they lived before.

Of course, Donald didn't get to see the kids much these days, what with their mother returning and all. He still couldn't believe it. Twelve years. Twelve years stuck on the moon because of a giant termite just had to rattle a dust storm. He honestly had to admire his sister's ability to not murder the thing and whatever hellspawn it had the moment she could. He would've. Maybe. Probably. He was still prone to fits of rage, but he felt the rage would've been justified at that moment.

Disregarding that, it was truly miraculous how the triplets loved Della so much. Duh, she was their mother, but they never saw her for twelve years. Not one single time. To them, she was the ghost they never asked questions about or he'd just remain silent and give whoever asked a glare. He truly feared that they may never get used to her as family. Luckily, however, a few near-death experiences and some adventures later, they learned to love her as what she truly was: Their mother.

At first, it alleviated some stress off of him, but then he realized he still needed to remain as mentor, not to the children, but to Della. She was doing a fine job, learning when to discipline and when to let things pass, but he still had to intervene to stop her from convincing Huey that crossing a piranha-infested river wasn't all that dangerous.

Still, whatever critiques he gave Della, his beloved sister had grabbed the boys' attention for the time being. He couldn't blame them; both as someone new and the person they longed for their entire lives, she was certain to outshine Donald as the parental-figure for the moment, something that he absolutely had no issues with. No issues at all. Nuh-uh. What, was he fifteen? He could handle being outside the lime light for a few weeks. Months. Whatever it took.

-"Yep...no issues whatsoever...", he mumbled to himself, listening to his distorted voice as it plopped unceremoniously with no echo. He was sitting in his house-boat's living room, situated in Scrooge's pool. He had to swallow quite a bit of ego to bring the boat this far, not because it necessitated Scrooge's help, oh no, that was the easy bit. The difficult bit was seeing the fact that his uncle's swimming pool was bigger than the boat he struggled to purchase.

Well, whatever. He could handle that. He handled many other situations that jabbed at his ego and you didn't see him crying. Not on the outside, anyway. He tapped rhythmlessly on the couch he sat on, sighing as he did so. Today was a slow day. A very slow day. No adventures, nothing that needed fixing, and Della seemed like she wasn't intent on putting herself in a life or death scenario, oddly enough. He was supposed to be happy about that, but honestly, it just bored him to death.

It wasn't as if the kids somehow left him and only sent him greeting cards, either. They, alongside Webby, saw him everyday, talked with him, but somehow...he felt like a third wheel. He didn't want to force himself in, but even if he wanted to, what would he do? He never had to go to the kids, they always went to him. He was watching something on his T.V. and trying to focus on it. It wasn't Ottoman Empire, surprisingly enough, it was something about...Uh...The African Penguin's migration to the island of Mayotte to save the world from the evil Lepoard Seals...? He rechecked the program. Ah. It was a movie. And here he was thinking it was a documentary.

Donald was a fan of movies. He really was. But today, he wanted to move and do something. Anything He thought about that last sentence for a split-second before deciding he'd do anything that isn't life threatening. Last thing needed was for Scroo- sorry, Unca' Scrooge to somehow read his mind and send him down the Mariana Trench to search for some old treasure. He still needed to remember that he was living with his uncle again, and as such, politeness was due. Even in thought, because you never know when you'll think out-loud.

 Knock Knock KNOCK!

He suddenly jumped. Well, not quite, he still ended up on the couch again, but he turned off the television, wondering if Mrs.Beakly was going to tell him he accidentally put an omelette on the mansion's cooker and then headed for his house-boat. He really didn't need to spend the afternoon putting out a fire before it reaches some mysterious artefact that shouldn't be touched. Not again. But at least it'll be something to do. He took a few quick steps, turned his door knob and opened it as quick as he could.

-"What is it, Mrs.Beakl-", he started, having thoroughly convinced himself that this was the situation before noticing nobody was in front of him.

-"Down here, Unca' Donald!", huh. How odd. She lost height and lost her deeper tone. He moved his head down, suddenly realizing the past conclusion was probably made by some part of his brain that decided intelligence is for losers. The red hues immediately told him all he needed to know. It was Huey, accompanied by Webby, an overexcited smile on her face and her eyes practically glowing. She was cute, but also...unnerving?

-"Oh, Huey.", he brought a hand to his forehead, suddenly feeling very relieved he was not going to spend an afternoon putting out a fire. "What brings you here? Do you need more information on the Marines? The Navy?", he asked, bringing a smile to his beak.

Admittedly, his time in the Navy was cut short because his sister suddenly disappeared into space, swallowed by the unknown dark abyss, and so he never really got to experience most of the...fun action the Navy got itself into these days. Still, he had enough knowledge to satiate Huey's thirst for information, and Webby's too, if the way her pupils dilated was any proof. He felt smug; he still had it in him.

-"Well, not really, I needed some help inside the mansion. I need someone to hold me some test subjects so that I can confirm whether or not the temporal anomalies the building sustained throughout the time changed the surrounding gravity or not. It would certainly explain why I've been having difficulties with liquids far more often now.", the younger Duck started, losing himself in an explanation that Donald tried to simplify into simpler terms. Huey's intelligence was most certainly gained from his mother's side. It wasn't that Donald was dumb, per say, it's that Huey was smart. Too smart for any duck his age.

-"Okay then.", the older Duck replied, happy to be of help. He took a few steps forward, closing the door behind him. Expecting a nod of acknowledgement from Huey, it was Webby instead who started speaking.

-"Hello Mr.Duck Unca' Donald sir!", she jumped in front of him, somehow managing to stick the landing and continue on walking backwards. Donald loved Webby. He truly did, as any responsible adult would love a girl her age with such a bubbly personality, but he couldn't ever shake off the feeling that there was something a little...off in her. He always shrugged it off as her superior training, and so he did at this instant. He wasn't one to make the poor girl feel alien, she already had difficulty with everyone else. "While we're on our way to test the stability of the mansion, do you mind telling me what the world's greatest adventurer did in the Navy? How many bad guys did you beat up? Did you have to stop Glomgold or Magica in the Navy? Did you fire guns? Are dreadnoughts still in action?", she shot question after question at the overwhelmed sailor as they entered the massive house.

-"Well...uh...I mean, they still have battleships. We don't have dreadnoughts.", he began, following Huey to the triplets' room. "As for my work...I had training. Aim-improvement firing sessions. I think I had an encounter or two with those chumps in The Navy, but it didn't really change anything; they still lost, after all.", he boasted, taking in Webby's amazed glare as he entered Huey's room, having gone up the stairs that lead to it.

-"Alright Unca' Donald, hold this tube for me, alright? Tell me if anything happens to the water inside it.", the cap-wearing duckling handed the former-sailor a tube of water. He was expecting it to be a bit more...interesting, but as he stared at it, he found nothing. Just a tube of water. "Now this could take anywhere from an hour to two, so if you think you can't do it-"

-"What? Pffft, of course I can do it! I can do anything!"

-"That's mom's catchphrase.", a lazy voice announced from his bed. It would've made Donald jump had he not been used to it. It did, however, ruin his dramatic affirmation.

-"Well, yes, but since I'm her twin, I have the right to use half of the things she says, Louie.", his uncle answered, not without some dignity. The hoodie-wearing duckling slowly rose from his bed, laying his laptop beside him as he stared at the sight unfolding in front of him.

-"Do you have legal documents for that? Because I believe you may have just broken a copy-right agreement, which could allow one to sue for monetary compensation...", of course, con-man that he is and trying to be sharper than the sharpies ever since Unca' Scrooge told him he can be, would find a method to make money out of this. Well, he was certainly impressive, Donald gave him that. In fact, every one of his nephews was impressive in his own way. But Donald also had methods to impress people.

-"Your mother still doesn't know why the gas pipes exploded two weeks ago.", he bluntly stated, and yet his nephew kept a wide, if forced smile.

-"Yep, that'll be all the documents I need. By the way, do you really want to teach your cute little nephews how to blackmail?!", he obliged, feigning shock at the end of his sentence.

-"Louie, I have literally learnt how to blackmail from you. Also, isn't it blackmail if you threaten me with a lawsuit for a catchphrase? I don't really think that has much legal basis.", came the reply, shutting down the last argument the cunning duck could hold onto.

-"Yeah, okay, fair point.", and that was that. For the moment, anyways, Louie would always fund something to argue with, and Donald would just have to find a counter-argument. Somehow. It has gotten a bit difficult these days, but Donald loved a good challenge. Well, actually, he didn't, but he dealt with them all the same.

-"Any new results, Huey?", the perky, energetic voice of Webby asked as she ran around, fixing some tubes and...balls attached to ropes? It was only now that he realized how unconventional the contraptions Huey set up looked. It was basically gears, nails, and various building materials cobbled up together to make a sort of...measuring device? And that was the least worrying one; the entire room was filled with makeshift machines of all shapes and sizes.

-"Nothing yet...If you could steady your hands Unca' Donald, that'd be great.", he said absently, prompting Donald to turn the tube in his hand a few centimeters. Well, he went from doing nothing and watching T.V. to doing nothing while watching his nephews. That had to amount to something.

-"Wow, you're really just going to stand there for Huey so he can prove that it wasn't his super shaky hands that made him spill the milk this morning, aren't you?", the smugly lazy voice of Louie called out, now under Donald. He'd heard him going down from his bed.

-"My hands are *NOT* shaky, Louie!", the older triplet yelled, outraged by such preposterous claims.

-"Okay, Doctor Butterfingers.", his sibling teased, keeping a neutral face. Donald knew that was what got to Huey; the teasing, he could somewhat handle, but Louie's lack of expressions simply made his mockery get to Huey more easily. Luckily for the inhabitants of Duckburg, Duck War One-Thousand and Whatever could wait, as Donald was there to interfere. For now.

-"Actually, I will. It's a bit unwieldy, but I'll do it for the greater good!", there. A nice, dramatic statement, that should prevent the 'Do you really want to say that' ultimatum. Man, he really had to be a diplomat someday.

-"I don't think you'll call it the greater good when Huey realizes he just has butterfingers.", the little schemer whispered to his uncle, and suddenly, a very dark future flashed in front of his eyes. Well...all in time, he supposed. "Still, I guess you must really have one heckuva patience to just keep holding this tube.", he continued, this time a bit louder before adding under his breath 'uselessly'.

-"Well, yes, I am the most patient person in the world, no? I couldn't dream of starting fights with even the most annoying of people.", the older duck proudly claimed before making an expression that clearly told Louie to shut up about the four-digit number of times he lost his temper. It was better than being five-digits, at least.

-"Yeah, yeah, whatever.", the green-wearing duckling dismissed without second thought before picking up his sentence. "Still, I guess the mad scientist over there has reason to trust you; you are pretty reliable."

-"Aw, Louie-"

-"Extremely reliable in fact!", Huey intruded on their chat, lifting his head from the calculations he was calculating. "I mean, really. Unca' Donald was there for us the entire time; remember that one time in the house-boat when the plumbing stopped working all of sudden and you tried going to the-"

-"Please, for the love of all that is Holy, remember any other time I was useful. Just not....that!", the once-calm sailor begged, his voice filled with dread and his eyes going blank. Well, that's untrue; he still had pupils, but he just wasn't...there. Lost in his flashbacks. The Great Toiletening. The horror.

-"Oh, right...forgot that we don't talk about it...well, either way, all I'm saying is that we really do appreciate what you do! Even if we never really talk about it. Or thank you.", the smarter duckling reflected, bringing a hand to his beak.

-"Well, it's the thought that counts!", Webby chimed in, positive as always. She was right. To an extent. A lot. Okay, maybe she was right, but Donald didn't have to let her know. He wasn't a mind reader, and so he appreciated whenever people spoke their mind to him.

-"I mean, yeah, she's got a point, doesn't she, Unca' Donald?", ah, Louie. Every time Donald thinks he cannot get any more smug, he goes and proves him wrong. "But I guess I should say thanks for everything. Even though you didn't buy me that self-refiling can of Pep Gyro offered...Hey!", he objected as his uncle ruffled his head-feathers with his free hand, a smile on his beak.

-"It was going to go evil and try to strangle us in our sleep and you know that.", he bluntly stated, keeping his smile.

-"I still think it was worth a shot.", the con-man replied, moving towards the room's door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a new method of getting richer than Uncle Scrooge, and I'll be accomplishing it by six in the evening.", he declared, opening the door to a beaten Dewey. "Dewey.", he nodded, passing by him.

-"Louie.", his brother nodded in return, waiting for him to close the door behind him. He looked horrible; a few scratches scattered on his face, his feathers were pointing in all directions, and his left eye felt less...firm than the other. "How much to you guys want to bet we'll have to save Louie from a demon or something by six?", he asked, pointing with a thumb to the door behind him.

-"What on earth happened to you, Dewey?! It's not even three in the afternoon and you look like you crawled out of the grave!", Donald yelled, heading over to the energetic duckling, almost spilling the water in the tube. "Are you okay? Can you see with your left eye? Did you disinfect the wounds?", he shot question after another, trying to judge the severity of the injuries with his free hand.

-"Yeah! What happened to you, Dewey?! Don't you know that the demon-scheme was last week? This week it's the 'Try-to-trick-a-rich-man-scheme'! We'll probably have to discuss some silly law-whatchamacallit with a bunch of angry lawyers by five at most!", Webby happily corrected him, looking just a teeny bit oblivious to Donald's source of worry here.

-"I'm fine, Unca' Donald. It's nothing big, mom was just...y'know. Doing mom stuff. Teaching me how to fight with the wilderness of the forest. It's no biggie.", the daring duck tried to deflate his uncle's worries, waving his hand nonchalantly, as if this was some regular occurrence he had to deal with. He failed.

-"Your mother took you to fight the wilderness?!", he repeated, grabbing his nephew's shoulder with his spare hand and trying to keep the other tube balanced.

-"Oh, come on, Unca' Donald, it's just basic stuff to learn!", he argued back, trying to shrug his shoulder before he winced from the act with an 'Ow!'.

-"Wha- Is your shoulder hurt? Did you encounter bears? How did you fight them?", he kept asking, barely giving the self-proclaimed adventurer any time to breathe.

-"I-It's nothing, just a bad landing, that's all. I mean, we were fighting bears, wolves, and flying beavers with nothing but our wits and bravery, the Heros of the For-Hey!", he tried to finish his sentence, only to be dragged by the sailor to his bed and forced to sit on it.

-"Oh, what am I ever going to do with your mother!", he grumbled, taking the first-aid kit they kept under the bed for emergency situations and trying to manipulate it with his one hand. "She just...she just thinks it's some jolly old fun to bring you over like it's nothing! Like you'll just bounce back from a fifty-meter jump and be okay!", he kept ranting himself as he took out some bandages and started unpacking them before heading to Dewey and starting to cover his wounds.

-"Heeeey! I told you I was fine, Unca' Donald.", the duckling huffed, unable to resist his uncle's medical aid as he kept putting bandages wherever he could reach. "And...Mom's trying her best, you know. No reason to get all mad, y'know...", he added, looking both offended and embarrassed.

-"I know she is.", Donald softly mumbled, putting the last of the bandages. Dewey's face wasn't too far from a mummy at this point. "It's just...sometimes her best isn't the best for everyone, and it's not her fault but...I'd rather you don't get mauled by a bear, Dewey.", he explained, taking a step back and paying attention not to let the tube in his hand tilt. Last thing he needed was to stand there again holding a tube full of water because the first one got spilled.

-"Yeah...me too, I guess.", he conceded, rubbing his arm and trying to chuckle. Donald responded in kind, trying to make his nephew be more at ease. "But she's so cool whenever she does it. How she kicked that bear and then it just turned over and winced in pain.", he dreamily recounted, looking to the ceiling before coming back to reality.

-"She kicked a bear and it just turned over?", Donald repeated, baffled; he knew his sister was strong, but weren't bears made for fighting harsh fights? Layers of fat and all that?

-"Well, I didn't get to see the fight in all its glory, but all I saw was that she flipped over the bear, managed to go behind him, and then she...kicked...", the young adventurer clenched his fists, enthusiastically recalling what his mother did until the realization dawned on all of them. 'Oooooh', was all he and Donald could say for a minute.

-"I don't understand. What did she do?", Webby asked, tilting her head as she carried some machines around the room.

-"O-Oh, it's nothing, Webby. Nothing at all.", he was lying through his teeth. Donald knew she knew. But as long as he wasn't the one who needed to tell her, all was going to be fine. "Ahem...Regardless of her strategies, you're not going to be your mother in one day, Dewey. De-, uh, sorry, your mom is an extremely talented person, but she also...slips. She needed years of broken bones, internal injuries and other injuries to reach where she is now. All I'm saying is that you can learn it all from her the easy way without breaking your neck. I know, not very fun to you,", he paused to add under his breath 'somehow', getting a glare from Dewey, "But it's what I think is better. You don't have to prove anything to us, you know.", he finished both talking and applying some extra bandages, looking at his nephew.

-"I can't promise anything; I can and probably will dew anything.", the blue-shirted duck began, receiving a sigh, "But it makes enough sense. I guess I don't have to be the star of every adventure, but...eh. Maybe I can sit back sometimes. The world needs a break from my awesomeness from time to time.", he finished, flashing his titular proud smile and forcing Donald to hold a smile, making the former's smile drop a bit. Oh, the world needed a break from Dewey alright. Just not for those reasons.

-"Yeah, Unca' Donald has a point, mom means well, but a bear's teeth are stronger than good will.", Huey added, though almost absently as he kept tinkering with the various machines throughout the room and re-reading his notes, as proven by his late response. "This just...this just...It doesn't add up! NONE of these numbers add up! The conclusion...it's wrong! Incorrect! It...It...", he yelled, almost unable to form a coherent sentence at the end. Oh, no. He was going into another rush of his. "Show me the tube, Unca' Donald!", he ordered as he made his way over to his older relative, who tried to remain calm. He did not succeed too well.

-"Uh, Webby? Did...did Huey take some sugar? What's going on in here?", Dewey asked the enthusiastic young duckling, who followed Huey to the triplets' bed.

-"Oh, it's nothing. Huey's been researching the surrounding gravity of the mansion to make sure it didn't change gravity or anything after it nearly got destroyed a couple dozen of times with us inside it!", clenching her fists and raising them to the air, her enthusiasm would've been infectious if Huey didn't look on the brink of a meltdown.

-"Riiiiight...", the blue-shirted triplet processed as his brother practically ripped the tube from his uncle's hand. "And he's doing this becauuuuse...?"

-"Oh, well, he spilled his milk this morning.", she immediately answered, reflecting on her words. "Yeah, not the best incentive, but it's for the greater good!", she confidently boasted, turning to her research-partner. "Right, Huey?"

-"The...The water's okay? How is it okay?! WHY IS IT OKAY?! I NEED TO KNOW!", said research partner was currently yelling at a tube of perfectly okay water, as any great man in history did. His eyes bulged and he ground his beak, looking ever so close to that breaking point.

-"Uh...Listen, Huey, I wasn't there this morning...but is a spilled milk cup really worth all of...this? Your hand probably just slipped. I spilled my milk last week, too.", well, that wasn't exactly true, but Donald didn't have to let them know that he mixed up which hand was holding the cup and which one was holding the brush. In his defence, he'd just woken up and...yeah, that was the only thing he could say for himself.

-"No, you don't understand! I've been pouring myself a glass of milk every morning for three years! I mastered a technique of holding the bottle and the cup for three years! What if I needed this technique for a dangerous artefact...or...or...Or maybe so Scrooge's keys don't fall down a drain! What if I needed to fly a plane with this knowledge and it fails me like it did now?!", ah, how Donald loved Huey's rants. He was just so passionate about the things he did. If there wasn't a chance of him picking up a knife or some other dangerous object and going around on rampage with it, he'd have encouraged him to do it more. No pent up feelings and all that jazz. It was also threatening that his left hand had a screwdriver that looked just a bit too sharp to be waved around.

-"Well...when the time comes to that, you'll come up with a solution. I know you will.", he smiled encouragingly, making his ranting nephew look at him and eyeing the screwdriver in his hand. "But sometimes, a glass of milk is just that. A glass of milk. There's no bigger meaning behind it most of the time and you don't need to beat yourself over it.", he argued, slightly snapping Huey out of his momentary madness. "And that's uncle Scrooge to you, Huey."

Well, yes, there were times when knowing how to play the guitar saved him and his family, and screwing that up would've killed them all, but in the end, you need to prepare yourself mentally for when the time comes, and not by beating yourself for every small or big mistake. There are times for that, but this was certainly not one of them. Donald would know. He did it as an emo teenager. Man, he missed those days. Why did going emo fall out of fashion?! It's all about gothic movements these days, and he wasn't about those clothes.

-"I...Yeah, you're right.", the mad-scientist in Huey gave the wheel back to his rational self. Thank goodness. No new paint-coats for this screwdriver. "Sometimes a glass of milk is just that. Milk.", he repeated, taking the tube out of his uncle's hand and letting the water fall. "Thanks, unca' Donald. I needed that. Don't know what came over me there for a moment.", he too smiled, allowing the houseboat sailor to pat his shoulder.

-"Bah, don't sweat it, Huey! We all had this moment when we went on an insane scientific adventure to prove something that's probably unreal because we...uh...Yeah, I can't dig myself out of that one.", Webby admitted, slumping near the end of her sentence as she suddenly looked a bit tired. Helping Huey all day on his quest probably wasn't the easiest thing to do today. The quadro of ducks shared a laugh.

-"C'mere, Huey.", the older duck held his arms out, allowing his nephew to nestle in for a hug. He gestured to the two other ducklings.

-"GROUP-HUG!", taking advantage of the situation, Webby grabbed Dewey's arm and threw the both of them onto the sailor, who felt the air get knocked out of him for a moment as the two ducklings slammed into his stomach. Regaining his breath, he wrapped his hands around the three duckling around him.

-"Okay that's enough.", Dewey was the first to pull out, never one for too much emotional content when he didn't need it. The other two slowly pulled out, looking satisfied.

-"Welp. I guess it's time to clean this mess up.", the former mad-scientist in Huey was now firmly dead, it seemed. He let out a sigh, looking at the various contraptions he had set up in the room.

-"Don't worry about it, Huey, we can help you out. Not like I'll be doing much like this, anyways...",  his brother gave him a pat on his back, pointing with his other hand to the various bandages that covered his face.

-"And I can help you, too! I want to get back granny's knives and laser guns, you know.", the young Vanderquack chimed in, looking cheerful as always, but a bit more down-to-earth now that the experiment she was assisting in turned out to be a bust. She pointed at a strange device that was, surprise surprise, made with various knives and what looked to be laser guns tapped together. What was even the point of that thing? To look science-y?

-"Ah, goodie, I think I'll help, too.", Donald added, trying to encourage this little aide-circle. He didn't really want his nephews to live in what looked like a madman's dump, which...for a few hours, it was.

-"Actually...I think you'd better prepare to try and bail Louie out of a lawsuit.", Huey suggested, starting to pick up the papers and small machines that covered the floor.

-"Oh, come on, Huey, I'm certain Louie is smart enough to not get himself into much trouble!", even before the older Duck finished his answer, the room's occupants began laughing. Oh, what a scenario that would be. Louie, not getting himself into trouble while searching for fortune. What a joke. "Yeah, okay, you're probably right.", he finally concluded, heading to the room's door and opening it before turning his head back, "Now, if you kids need anything, you can tell me, alright?"

-"Yes, Unca' Donald.", the three ducklings replied in unison with their usual boredom to his patronising acts. Ah, how he loved that tone of theirs.

Closing the door behind him, Donald started going down the stairs, taking in a deep breath. Well. This wasn't really the way he thought he'd be spending his afternoon, but you know what? It wasn't like he was complaining. A small bonding session with the boys was as good as any, after all, and the little motivational speech at the end? Mhmmmm, peak uncle performance right there.

Good job, humble Donald, you did well. What, he was allowed some sort of internal pride, wasn't he? If Gladstone could do it externally because he's lucky, then he could feel some pride for being a good uncle. He hoped. Well, thinking about it now...a good uncle wouldn't have let Louie go get himself into trouble...Hmm...

Well, maybe he wasn't a perfect uncle, but with his uncle and sister promoting this adventurous life-style, there was only so much he could do. Besides, people learn when bad things happen to them. He just had to hope nothing too bad happens, which, luckily, it doesn't. Most times.

He shielded his eyes as he got out of the building and had his eyes blinded by the sun and thought back to the smiles Dewey, Huey, Louie and Webby gave him. What he would do to have them smile like this all the time. Take that, Della, today, Donald had won the...uh...race? The contest of who's a better parent-figure? Well...all of them were good parent-figures but...Oh, forget it! What mattered was that he felt he did something good today and that was it.

He basked in that feeling of pride for a moment, opening his houseboat's main door before noticing a small green figure running towards the mansion from an enraged older man. What worried Donald wasn't the situation; it was that whatever Louie did, it made this man, who couldn't have been any younger than eighty, manage to wake his dormant muscles.

Well, he thought, guess it's time for more uncle-business. Ooooh, that was good. Maybe he could make it a catchphrase and actually copy-right it.

Whenever he calmed this older gentleman, of course. He took a step forward, readied his mind, and mentally prepared to save Louie from a butt-kicking. Yep. Typical Tuesday, alright, and he couldn't be a happier uncle about it.

[factoffictionwriter]

Tiva Fic Amnesty #14

More from Chaval Extras. Things to know: Ziva has 2 Aunts back in Israel whom she took Tony to meet. The Aunts are friends with Shmeil as well. Oh, and Tony and Ziva are totally a thing. Like a thing thing.

“Wait a second. So I wasn’t imagining it? Ziva really did have a motorcycle?” 

Shmeil nodded enthusiastically, “My Ziva had a motorcycle before she even learned how to drive!” 

Tony chuckled to himself, “That explains a lot, actually.” 

“What explains a lot?” His beautiful Israeli asked as she breezed into the room, delicate looking teacups in either hand. She carefully handed one of them to Shmeil before crossing the room to take a seat next to Tony on the couch. 

“I was just telling Anthony about your, shall we say, preference for dangerous modes of transportation.” 

Her eyebrows came together as she wracked her brain for what he could possibly be talking about. But when she saw Tony’s smug little grin beside her, she put the pieces together. 

“The motorcycle?” She asked. 

“Oh yeah,” Tony chimed.

She eyed him warily, “Remember what I said about stories being exaggerated? Keep that in mind.” 

He just laughed at her. 

“What is so funny, Anthony?” Nettie asked as she too emerged from the kitchen, her two sisters trailing behind, each with their own teacup.

“Ziva was just about to tell me about her motorcycle.”

“Oh, goodness. Why would you want to hear about that horrible thing?” Adina asked as she settled into the couch across the room. 

“Because he is a man,” Shmeil laughed, “And men like two things: hot women and fast vehicles.” 

Tony nodded, “And this story promises to have both.” 

“Very well then,” Nettie sighed as she sipped on her tea.

“We do not know where she managed to get such a horrible contraption, much less how she managed to keep it secret for so long,” Hinda was giving Ziva a disapproving look, “But somehow she managed to drive that thing to school every day for an entire year before we even knew it existed.” 

“She parked it a few spaces down from her father’s car in one of the neighbor boy’s spaces. Lord knows how she convinced him to let her have such a coveted spot,” Nettie shook her head. 

“I can think of a few ways,” Tony whispered to himself, but Shmeil managed to hear it. 

“David women can be quite convincing,” the old man winked at Tony, causing his smile to grow wider. 

“Anyways, we never would have even known about it if she hadn’t gotten in that accident.” 

“Which was not my fault, by the way,” Ziva added. 

“They never are,” Tony remarked, sending her a look of such pure adoration that she couldn’t help but forgive his jab. 

“Okay, but this one really was not. The man should have looked over his shoulder. Even I look over my shoulder when changing lanes.” 

“And how fast were you going, dear?” Nettie asked, the stern look on her face telling him she already knew the answer.

“That is not important. He still should have looked.” 

“I seem to remember the officer telling us you were going 110 mph… in a 45 mph zone,” Adina provided helpfully. 

Tony let out a long whistle before pausing, “Actually, I’m not that surprised. That does sound like something you would do.” 

She rolled her eyes, biting back a tiny smile. 

“She was thrown clear across the highway. A couple more feet and she would have rolled right off the cliff and into the sea below.” 

Ziva just shrugged, “I walked away with a few scratches.” 

“If by scratches you mean 3 broken ribs and road burn up your entire left side,” Hinda corrected, “But yes, you were able to walk away. You were very lucky.” 

Tony leaned into the couch cushion, slowly sliding his hand over to rest it on her side, right where he remembered seeing a long patch of scars, mostly faded until they looked like delicate white flames dancing across her skin. 

She nodded slightly in his direction as if confirming that the marks were, in fact, the remnants of this exact accident. 

“Tali would not go near the thing,” Nettie spoke, breaking up the moment between the couple on the couch. 

“Of course Tali wouldn’t go near it. She was smart. She understood the concept of danger,” Hinda acknowledged. 

Ziva let out a quiet huff as she leaned back against the cushions, and inadvertently his arm. 

“Yes, but I understood the concept of fun.” 

Tony let out a hearty laugh at her comment before smoothly transitioning it into a cough when the aunts shot him disapproving looks. 

“You only truly understood how to piss off your father. Let this be a lesson to you, Anthony. When you have children, do not rule with an iron fist, lest they turn out to be anything like their mother.” 

“Doda!” Ziva cried, sending Adina a truly incredulous look. 

---

“Did you ever get the chance to meet Eli, Anthony?” Nettie asked. 

He felt Ziva stiffen beside him, and took that as a sign to proceed with the utmost caution. 

“Yeah, I did. A couple of times, actually. He… wasn’t a big fan of me.” 

“Nor you of him, I assume,” Hinda offered. 

“I think Eli David was a complicated man… in a complicated situation. It’s really not for me to judge. I will never understand exactly what he was going through.” 

“It is quite alright, Tony. You are surrounded by fellow Eli-haters here. I am sure there is nothing you can say about the man that Ziva has not already heard from one of us,” Shmeil assured him. 

Ziva’s shoulders heaved as she let out a long sigh. 

He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, “I obviously don’t agree with many of the decisions he made, particularly in regards to his children. But at the end of the day, I think he was doing what he thought was best. He just happened to be wrong.” 

“He just happened to be wrong?” Hinda spat. 

“Doda…” Ziva warned. 

“No, Zivaleh. I am tired of listening to Eli’s excuses. He may have brainwashed you into believing them, but I will not let you bully Anthony into believing them as well.”

Tony sat forward, sliding his arm out from behind Ziva and resting his elbows on his knees, “She hasn’t bullied me into anything. Well - she has - but not with this. I just think that I’m coming at the situation from a bit of a… different angle than the rest of you.” 

“How so?” Shmeil asked. 

“Well, for starters, I didn’t meet Ziva until after Eli did a number on her. I can sit here and listen to you guys tell stories about her tending to a garden or flying off a motorcycle, but I’ll never fully understand what she was like back then.” 

“All the more reason you should be upset,” Hinda grumbled. 

Tony shook his head, “How do I explain this…” 

He looked around the small living room for a few seconds, trying to find some sort of inspiration for-

“Star Wars!” He exclaimed. 

Five heads all turned in his direction, their eye brows furrowed in confusion. 

“A movie. Really?” Ziva asked from beside him. 

“Not just a movie. A series. 7 movies. Filmed and premiered out of order. 3 movies, then 3 prequels, only to return back to the original timeline for the new one.”

“I do not follow,” Adina sighed. 

“Okay… it’s like you guys are watching the series in chronological order, and I’m watching them in the order they premiered. And you,” he pointed a long finger at Ziva, “are Darth Vader.” 

She looked confused, “The guy with the mask?” 

“Exactly,” he brought both his hands up to cover his mouth, creating a deep echoing sound as he pulled out his oldest and most adored character impression, “Luke, I am your father.” 

She had to focus hard to keep the corners of her mouth from curling up into a small smile. They both knew that she would never admit it, but she liked his little impressions. She thought they were cute, even if they were annoying. 

But then she remembered the single Star Wars film he had forced her to watch after one of his million references went over her head, and her face fell a little, “He is the bad guy, yes?” 

“No. Well, yes. But no. That’s just what they want you to think. In the original series, he’s portrayed as a total monster who betrayed his friends and killed his father. It’s not until you get to the prequels that you realize, hey, this Darth guy isn’t so bad. In fact, he was just a normal Jedi until his master took advantage of him and made him a monster.”

“And as the series comes to a close, he gets one of the most epic redemption arcs in movie history when he realizes that he had been duped into using his powers for the wrong side and then kills his master to save his son,” he turned back toward the Aunts, “So, if you guys watched the prequels first, then you would have already known that Darth was actually a good guy before he joined the dark side, making his fall all the more dramatic. But when I watch it in the order that the movies were made, I can’t help but think about how different the story would have been without that corrupt Jedi Master.” 

“And this changes your perception of Eli… how?” 

“Well, when I met Ziva, she was already a Mossad super spy. And yeah, the more I learned about the way her Dad treated her, the more I started hating the guy. But I will never be able to see him the way you guys do because without him, I likely would have never even met her.” 

“Because without what happened in the prequels, there would have been no need for the original series,” Adina nodded along as she slowly made sense of his convoluted explanation. 

“Exactly!” he flashed a dazzling DiNozzo grin at the older woman, thankful that at least someone had been able to follow his train of thought. 

[a65232-joshywoshy]

Colorado Crybaby

Chapter 9     

     "I'm so sorry, Penny. I didn't mean to get you in trouble." Rachael reached out for her friend's hand.

     "Oh, Rachael, no." Penny snickered and smiled. "I'm not in any actual trouble. I'm not being assaulted or unjustly punished or anything. I mean, I will get my butt spanked, but I broke the rules. I broke a play agreement we had discussed a while ago. We're play partners. We set up a scene, like we did here, we have boundaries in place, and we still make sure to have some fun. Through this whole 'getting in trouble' thing, there wasn't one time where I got near any of her or my actual boundaries. I didn't ACTUALLY offend her. I broke her play rules…” Penny smiled a mischievous grin, “kind of on purpose."

     "Oh. Wow. I guess I don't know much about how that kind of relationship works." Rachael sat back in her chair and eyed Penny inquisitively.

     "Yeah. And we never do anything sexual. That's a hard limit. I mean, she'll spank my butt with her bare hand. She probably sees… me... but she doesn't touch anything. She's..." Penny giggled, remembering her past infantile states, "She’s my Mami. She's changed my diaper before. So she saw me all laid out, but we never do anything sexual. I mean, don't get me wrong. Once she leaves, or that night, I'll hump my brains out. But… that just works for us."

     "Okay.” Rachael was smiling. “That sounds like a lot of fun, honestly. Especially being babysat. It's partly terrifying, partly amazing."

     "Like she said, you can play with us this weekend, if you want. She's so much fun to be with. See, me calling her “V” was actually an agreed-upon trigger to begin a small play session. If she didn't want to, she would have started talking about how the weather will affect her outdoor plans. Veronica is a little annoyed by that name, so we decided to use that name as a starting point to escalate me getting in trouble. When I didn't tell you about the diapers I bought earlier today, that was on purpose, too.” 

     Penny continued. “Sorry. I'm supposed to announce the diapers to my close friends when they’re around. It's part of our agreement. If I don't acknowledge my little side by saying it out loud often enough, she forces me to acknowledge it when she’s around. When I don't acknowledge that side of me, I have a valid reason to be in trouble. I've let that side of me build up too much before and It wasn't good for me. It can take me to bad places, which is why she’s in my life. She helps me to stay leveled out. The bratty whining at the end was just me acting out, because it's so fun to do."

     “That… is amazing.” Rachael just kept smiling. “So you two have all these little phrases and words set up so that you can play…” Rachael gestured to the club. “Pretty much in public? That’s really cool. And nobody knows any different. I’m sure the dialogue is a little more laid back when it’s in public public, like at a movie theater or something.”

     “Of course. We don’t want any nilla’s getting their panties in a bunch. Do you want to go cuddle the giant teddybear now? I know I do. Just leave the…” Penny huffed, “diapers... here. No one’s going to touch someone else’s diapers.”

     Penny got up and walked over to the bear in the corner of the room. She plopped down next to it, rested her head on its arm and closed her eyes. Rachael followed her over to the bear. As she walked across the room, she was much more aware of the diaper under her shorts. Penny was padded, too. She had almost forgotten. A couple to her left were wearing onesies as they shared a plate of nachos. A woman to her right sucked on a pacifier as she played a game on her phone. There was an aura of familiarity to the room and Rachael felt like she was in her element. She felt as though she belonged here, with these people. It was a group of people who didn’t know each other, but had at least one common trait. They were people whom she could immediately identify with, at least in part.

     "Can I borrow your sweater?" Rachael was starting to get cold, just like Penny had predicted.

     "Of course.” Penny snickered. “Silly babies like you don't know how to plan ahead." Penny smiled as she took off her sweater to hand Rachael, then leaned back against the bear.

     Rachael put on the sweater, then sat down cross legged on the other side of the bear. She looked over at Penny.

     "Silly babies like Penny get in trouble for not following instructions." Rachael grinned at Penny again.

     "Well… " Penny blew raspberries at Rachael and they both chuckled.

     It was fun to act childish. They both believed that adulting was too hard, at times. It seemed like the best way to wind down was taking time to be childish, play, and relax. They had both heard their grandparents say that retaining youthfulness was best accomplished by acting somewhat childish. So acting childish, at times, was a key to retaining youth. The girls fully intended to do their best to act childish when they could get away with it.

     "Penny, I'm thirsty. What do they have to drink here?"

     "Only the finest of concoctions, prepared by artisan crafters and aged to perfection." Penny looked at Rachael with a mock seriousness. "Strawberry… or chocolate. The flavor is but a minor choice, for the decadent liquid which you will consume will satisfy your palate in ways you've never imagined.”

     Rachael laughed. "You are ridiculous. What do they sell here, thousand dollar wine?"

     "Strawberry or chocolate? Pick!" 

     "Chocolate, ma'am."

     "As you wish, my lady." Penny got up and bowed at Rachael. "I shall fetch the lady her royal beverage."

    “Thank you, Penny!” Rachael put on her best British accent. “Mr. Bear and I will discuss your exceptional service while you’re away. Hurry, now.”

     Penny laughed as Rachael watched her walk away. Rachael marveled at how wonderfully silly and adorable she was. She could see that Penny's dress had caught on the diaper underneath. Nothing showed from underneath, but Rachael couldn't help but stare at the distinct fold in the fabric that was caused by fabric hung on something underneath. 

     “Mr. Bear,” Rachael watched Penny walk towards the bar as she started a pretend conversation with the bear. “I like that girl. I mean, I really like her. She’s sweet, smart, fun, kind of a rebel at times. She’s a diaper girl, which is, of course, amazing. I mean, for so long, I thought I wanted a guy. But, I mean, it’s really just different parts. People are people. She's got a great personality. She’s just a great person to me. She might have literally saved my life today, too, Mr. Bear. Some scary dude came up to me and Penny drive him off like it was nothing. She’s perfect, Mr. Bear.” 

     Rachael sighed and leaned back against the bear's shoulder, still watching Penny order drinks from the barkeeper.           

     “Part of me wants to throw myself into a serious relationship with her, but another part says it’s too soon. I mean, we’ve known each other for 5 years, so we’re not strangers. We took a nap in the same bed today. We’re close friends that are getting closer as time goes on. She’s coming back.”

     Rachael whispered as Penny started to walk back. “Are those bottles? We’ll talk later, Mr. Bear. Thanks for listening.”

     Penny came back with two baby bottles, both larger than normal. One had strawberry milk inside, the other had chocolate. Penny stuck one of the bottles in Rachael’s mouth as she sat in the bear's lap to face Rachael.

      "Hey!" Rachael mumbled through the bottle, smiling all the while.

     “See? Finest of concoctions.” Penny started to drink her bottle unashamedly, seeming to have done this before.

     Rachael blushed slightly, having had a baby bottle shoved in her mouth. She took a drink of the cold chocolate milk, enjoying the richness of it. 

     “This is good,” Rachael said, taking a break from drinking. “And out of a baby bottle. You’re right. This place is amazing.” Rachael smiled and continued drinking.

     Penny sat and drank her bottle, staring at Rachael all the while. She was enjoying watching Rachael in her element. She could tell the experience was still a little new, but Rachael was taking to it quickly. Penny had felt uncomfortable for the first several times here, too. After having visited for over 2 years, drinking a bottle here was as comfortable to Penny as breathing.

     “Penny?” Rachael had been too busy looking around the room to notice Penny staring at her. 

     “Yeah?” 

     “I like you.” Rachael smiled brightly as she looked at Penny.

     “Well, I like you too, silly.”

     Rachael blushed a little more.

     “No, I mean, I LIKE you like you.”

     Penny had caught Rachael’s meaning.

     “Oh.” Penny smiled back at the woman sitting beside a giant stuffed bear. “I… um… I like you too, Rachael.”

      Penny looked away, though she was happy to hear how her friend felt about their relationship.

      “Do you want to… you know…” Rachael’s cheeks burned red now.

      “Date or have sex?” Penny’s cheeks started to turn red now. 

      "What?! No!" Rachael laughed. "Sorry. Date. Can we start dating?" 

     Meekly, Penny said, “Yes. Who could be better to date than your best friend?" She smiled.

     Rachael moved to be between the bear’s legs, next to Penny, who was sitting on a leg. She wrapped her arms around Penny’s waist. Penny wrapped her arms around Rachael’s neck.

      “I love you, Penny… DeLa Cruz.”

      “Wait. Whoa. Why did you pause? Are you so blushy that you forgot my last name?”

      They both laughed.

     “No. I forgot your middle names that Miss Veronica said.”

     Penny huffed. “But then you’ll know my full name for when I’m in trouble.”

     “But it’s part of who you are, Penny. I really want to know everything about you. Including your middle names! Which you have a lot of, by the way.”

     “Yeah, it’s a common thing for us Mexican girls." She sighed. "My full name is Penny Rosita Eleana De La Cruz. You better not repeat that ever again.”

     Rachael laughed. “I won’t. I know your whole name is to be used in emergencies only. It’s very pretty, though.”

     “Thank you. Drink your milk. You drink so slow.” Penny continued drinking her bottle. It was half way gone already. Rachael had barely drank a fourth of hers.

     “Hey. I’m not a baby bottle guzzling champion like you, Penny. I guess you really are a baby if you know how to drink from a bottle fast.” 

     They both smiled.

     “I guess maybe I am kind of a baby.” Penny said. Having Rachael here with her at the club was helping Penny feel more comfortable with herself as well.

     "I'd rather you be a complete and total baby than be like Nick. I hope I never meet another soul that's like him." Rachael shivered.

     Penny moved to sit beside Rachael, between the bear's legs.

     "It's been a while since you talked about him. He was the guy who started trying to gaslight you, right? The guy who wanted to convince you that he was the best thing since sliced bread?"

     "Yeah. That Nick. Can we get out of here? I don't want to talk about him here."

     "Yeah. We can go. We've done everything I wanted to do here. I just wanted you to see this place."

     The two got up and walked back to their table where they picked up the box of diapers. They walked back out, said goodbye to Pablo and got back into Penny's car.

     The mention of Nick put Rachael in a bad mood. She was quiet as Penny drove to Rachael's house. Penny didn't say much, either. She only commented about other drivers on the road on occasion. Penny knew that Rachael would need some time and space to relax.

     They finally arrived at Rachael's house, and Penny got out to take her box of diapers inside.

     "I'm so happy I got to hang out with you today, Rachael. I know you just want time and space… just… call me if you need me."

     Rachael had been lost in her head for several minutes, but she still processed what Penny had said. Rachael didn't want Penny to go, but she knew they both needed to get ready for work tomorrow. They had to go back to being adults, living their separate lives again.

     "Thank you for today, Penny. You make me so happy." 

     Rachael kissed Penny on the cheek. It was the first time their faces had ever touched. Penny smelled wonderful to Rachael. There wasn't any particular scent to her. She just smelled like Penny. Rachael's lips had felt her warm cheek against them and it felt wonderful.

     Penny hugged Rachael. 

     "I'll see you at work tomorrow, okay, kid?" 

      Penny kissed Rachael's forehead, then turned to go back to her car.

      "I love you, Rachael."

      "I love you too, Penny."

[put-a-lil-alright-in-the-world]

Hcs about the small ways Delia and Charles take care of each other would be bombbbb

anon this prompt is beautiful and so are you! this isn’t something i would have come up with to write in a million years but now it’s all i can think about!

ok so these two have been through a lot in their brief relationship; from trying to find a ~quiet country life~ and instead finding ghosts in their attic, to fighting off a demon, to having that same demon reappear one day sobbing on their doorstep, to essentially adopting him- and that’s in addition to all the difficulties and stress that come with getting married with children.  as a result, they learned the importance of taking care of one another pretty fast

around the start of their relationship, it was a little bit one-sided, just because charles isn’t great at expressing emotions and delia just has so much love to give, but, in the first few days after beej leaves, something changes

delia is…exhausted, emotionally and physically.  she’s dealing with the aftermath of a demon running rampant through her house, and the fact that her future stepdaughter only just found out about her relationship with charles, and she’s starting to question if any of this is actually worth it. 

she loves charles, and she loves lydia, and she desperately wants to start a life with them but it feels like she’s giving everything she has and not having it returned

her grand romantic gestures for charles seem to just make him uncomfortable, and, while her and lydia have grown somewhat closer, they’re nowhere near where delia wants them to be. acknowledging this takes a lot out of her, especially her confidence and enthusiasm, and it shows

charles begins to notice that she’s not herself.  she’s sleeping a lot, not taking part in any of her hobbies, and just doesn’t seem like her usual peppy self

he’s a smart man though, so it doesn’t take him long to figure out why that is, and the businessman in him is eager to formulate a plan to show how much he cares. 

before long, he finishes, and has a great plan!!! it’s really fantastic!!  delia would absolutely adore it!!!! however....the thought of actually putting it into action just makes him want to die!!!

the problem is, he’s just not particularly (read: not AT ALL) expressive, and the plan is all “grand gesture” this and “proclamation of love” that.  it’s not him, it’s not real, and it’s really not comfortable for him

so, at the last minute, he scraps the elaborate plan and instead pours two glasses of wine, grabs some chips, and brings everything over to the family room couch, where delia is staring blankly at the TV, clearly thinking about something other than the soap opera currently playing out on the screen

he hands her a glass, puts the chips in between them, looks her in the eyes, and chokes out words more emotional than he’s ever said to anyone except lydia

he explains that, even though he has a hard time showing it, he loves her, and that he wants to help her through whatever she’s struggling with. delia cries a bit, and, though he’d never admit it, charles shed a tear or two as well.

after that, things change just a little, but a little is enough for the two. charles is in no way openly emotional or over-the-top when it comes to showing his feelings, but now, every once in a while, he’ll bring delia something small, sit down next to her, and ask what she needs

and every once in a while, despite how clearly difficult it is for him, he grits his teeth and tells delia how he’s feeling and if he needs something, emotionally. delia has never been more in love with him

delia changes a bit, too. she realizes that sometimes, it’s the small things that count, especially when your partner isn’t particularly comfortable with grand gestures

ALSO: charles can work from home fairly easily, which means him and delia get to spend a lot of time together each day. they don’t struggle to find ways to fill the time, though!

they do yoga together in the mornings! it was delia’s idea (obviously), but charles was thrilled to try it. despite his underlying fears of embarrassing himself when delia realizes that he can’t do anything more than “corpse pose”, he’s always one for trying new things, and mornings become a time for the two to connect before the day begins

despite being at home quite a bit, they lead busy lives, and when one notices that the other is getting stressed, they make it an unspoken rule to pour their partner a cup of coffee, have them take a break, and ask them what they need at that moment. usually it’s something as small as “a working pen so i can finish these forms”, but it’s the little things that count, y’know?

once a week, they will make a fancy lunch together, formally set the table, and gossip about charles’ coworkers and the ladies at delia’s yoga class. charles sometimes finds himself wondering why he’s so captivated by delia’s list of “10 reasons why i hate cheryl and deborah and they should just leave the yoga class before i forcibly remove them”, but he doesn’t mind at all. after all, he was just as enthusiastic sharing “5 reasons why Brad from the board meeting deserves to die” last week

they also have “date nights” at least once a week, which usually just consist of sending lydia and beej to go hang out with the maitlands, ordering a pizza (and not letting anyone else in the house have any), and watching cheesy rom-coms

usually, though, the date nights will end up with lydia and beej coming downstairs to steal some pizza and sneaking their way onto the couch to join in watching the movie.

charles and delia still manage to find some romance in it all, even if “it all” is nudging beej and lydia awake and cleaning up takeout boxes as the credits roll onscreen

their relationship isn’t something that either of them ever imagined: sharing a house with their best friends (who also happen to be ghosts), their adopted undead son, and their strange and unusual daughter, but neither of them would trade it for the world

[kwanisms]

English is My Favorite Subject - 2

⤑ genre: smut, college au, enemies to lovers ⤑ pairing: Chan x Reader ⤑ warning: *ahem* smut, S I N, soft dom!Chan, rough sex, phone sex, sexting,  slight degradation, mention of alcohol, foul language ⤑ summary: After taking the English tutoring position at your university, hell comes to you in the form of Lee Chan. He needs help passing his exams and tutoring is his only option. As your time with him passes, you come to realize he’s not the cocky and arrogant asshole you previously assumed. He’s even worse than you thought when he finds out he isn’t the only student you’re tutoring. ⤑ word count: 11.6k

⤑ 01 | {02} | 03

⤑ tag list: @gamerwoo

A/N: This isn’t nearly as long as the previous part, but it’s still long on its own. I didn’t expect the feedback on this series. You guys really seem to love it so I’m glad I can deliver with three long parts.I also just hit 1.5k as well!!  Thank you guys so much for all the love and support you guys have shown me. When I started this blog, I really wasn’t expecting much but it took off and you guys are so supportive and wonderful! I hope you guys like this part and let me know what you think! ~K♡

Monday morning, you ran into Soonyoung near the coffee bar, Chan in tow. Soonyoung greeted you warmly with a kiss on the cheek while Chan didn’t bother acknowledging you. What the hell was his problem? “You look much better than you did Saturday,” Soonyoung said, smiling at you and you nodded in response. “Much better, yeah,” you replied as his hand found yours and he laced his fingers with yours.

“I got really worried when you left early that I couldn’t stop thinking about you. If you made it home safely, if you were feeling alright. I couldn’t even sleep that night i was so worried about you,” Soonyoung said, your cheeks flushing at his words. “You didn’t have to worry about me!” you said softly. Chan’s attention was caught and he looked at his friend curiously.

“What? You didn’t stay?” he asked looking at you. Soonyoung nodded. “Yeah, she wasn’t feeling well so she went home early,” he said looking at Chan before turning to you. “I felt so bad because I was having a good time with you,” he added. You smiled, looking down at your intertwined hands. How was he so sweet? Chan cleared his throat and you looked up. “We should probably get going. Class,” he said.

Soonyoung nodded before turning to you and pressing a short kiss to your forehead, making your heart flutter and your stomach do somersaults. Chan narrowed his eyes but looked away quickly before Soonyoung could see. “I’ll see you later,” Soonyoung said, giving you a warm smile and a wink. You nodded, not trusting your voice to say anything. You watched as Soonyoung and Chan left but not before Chan glanced over his shoulder at you. His face was expressionless but his eyes were something more. Something you couldn’t quite pin.

After grabbing your usual coffee and muffin, you made your way toward your first lecture. You were 45 minutes in when your phone buzzed and you discretely checked it. It was a text from Chan.

[2018/10/14] L.Chan [09:47]: why did you leave the party early? You [09:47]: i wasn’t feeling well. I got nauseous and so Soonyoung took me to Jeongguk so he could take me home. L.Chan [09:48]: … so you and Soonyoung didn’t hook up? You [09:48]: not that it’s any of your business, but no. we were going to but I didn’t feel good. You [09:48]: why does it matter? L.Chan [09:49]: … it doesn’t. I was just confused, that’s all. See you Wednesday.

To say you were now confused would be an understatement. Why was he so interested in whether you and Soonyoung had sex? He had gotten his dick wet from Mina, or whatever her name was. Why was he so invested in what you were doing or who you were hooking up with? You shook your head, returning your attention to your professor, but determined to find out Wednesday what Chan’s deal was.

You texted Chan to meet at your building as the student center hadn’t remedied the problem. You found out that a pipe had burst, spraying water and other nasty things all over the room you had been using to tutor in. So you would now have to tutor in your building, but seeing as the common room was overcrowded with students, you decided to, unfortunately, have the sessions in your room.

Chan sent you a text telling you he had arrived so you went downstairs to let him in. He followed you to the elevator, looking around as he went. The ride up to your floor was silent and once the doors opened, you were met with loud yelling and boisterous laughing. Chan followed you past the common room where the entire floor was having a movie night.

Pillows, blankets, and beanbag chairs were strewn all over. Nearly everyone was in their pajamas and taking up almost every flat surface as the RA made his way over to the entertainment system, a DVD in hand. He was yelling at everyone to shut up because he was gonna start the movie now. You rolled your eyes and told Chan to follow you. At the end of the hall, far from the common room, was your room.

You opened the door, allowing Chan in before shutting the door behind you. Chan stood in the center of your room, looking around at all your decor. “This is…” he started and you panicked, wondering what he was going to say about the most intimate part of your life. “Cozy,” he finally said and you relaxed a bit before moving to sit on your bed. Chan dropped his bag on the floor and took a seat at the end of your bed. “Let’s get started,” you said picking up the workbook you had lying on your bed.

The first hour passed without incident but unfortunately, as he missed the last lesson, you had to make up for that. This was going to be almost a four hour long session. Chan didn’t complain, surprisingly, as you made him go over the same points again and again until you took the book from him and made him do it from memory. He passed and you handed the book back to him.

After the second hour, you told him to take a 5 minute break while you got into your storage cubby and pulled out two cups of instant noodles. A gift from your parents had been a hotplate so you could boil water in your room. You filled the kettle with some water and turned on the hotplate.

While you were waiting for the water to boil, Chan excused himself to use the restroom. He shut the door behind him and turned to face the sink. What the hell is your problem? He asked himself. Why are you so nervous? You’ve been alone with her plenty of times! He stared at his reflection before another voice in his head spoke. You’ve never been alone in her room before.

Chan shook his head and moved to do his business. After relieving himself, he washed his hands before something caught his attention. The door he somehow hadn’t noticed before. He stepped toward it cautiously and pushed it open slowly. Light from the bathroom filtered into your closet and before he could think twice, he turned on the light and stepped inside.

You had a lot of black and grey clothes, he noticed. Lots of joggers and sweats. One entire side of the walk in closet was hoodies, sweats, joggers, and tee shirts. The other side was full of dresses, pastel sweaters, skirts, blouses, and jeans. Against the wall opposite the door was a chest of drawers and without thinking again, he walked over and opened the top drawer, regretting it immediately.

The drawer was split in half by a divider. One one side were all your bras. Some very plain in nudes, whites, and blacks, but the rest were lacy designs in blacks, reds, pinks, and purples. Some looked to be awfully low cut. On the other side of the drawer were all your panties, folded neatly so they all stood up like little files. They too were sorted by very plain basic ones to the lacy ones in the same colors as your bras. Matching sets? Chan didn’t know how to process this information so he shut the drawer.

Had he been smart, he would have turned around and walked out, but he figured since he was already here, might as well continue. He opened the second drawer down and found what looked to be old shirts and shorts. Pajamas, he told himself before shutting that one and opening the next drawer.

Lots of athletic brands met his eye and he knew instantly this was your workout clothing. The bottom drawer had been divided into many sections and contained all of your socks. He had never seen so many socks before. They were all sorted by color. Lots of whites, grays, and blacks, but also plenty of pastels. Lots of soft colors.

He kicked the drawer shut with his foot and exited, pulling the door closed to the position he found it but not before turning the light off. He unlocked the door, and stepped out into your room. You had made ramen and were already eating yours. You pointed to the other cup on the desk with a pair of chopsticks next to it and a bottle of water. Chan thanked you and grabbed the snack you had prepared for him.

The two of you ate in silence before he spoke up. “So… Soonyoung,” he said looking up cautiously at you as you slurped your noodles. “You must really like him?” he asked and you stopped to finish your food. “I do,” you admitted. Chan said nothing, thinking his next words carefully as to not make you mad. He heard your phone buzz and you picked it up to look at it.

A smile crossed your face as you read the text you had just gotten.

[2019/10/16] Soonyoung [19:03]: hey gorgeous, how about we go out tomorrow night? I still owe you that date and I’d like to cash in that raincheck you gave me (: You [19:04]: you got it, handsome. When and where? Soonyoung [19:05]: i’ll pick you up say… 7:30 tomorrow? I know a really good place not far from campus You [19:05]: it’s a date (: Soonyoung [19:05]: perfect 😍

Chan noticed the smile on your face and his heart sank. He knew who that was. He cleared his throat and caught your attention. “Is that Jeon?” he asked nonchalantly and you shook your head. “No, it’s Soonyoung,” you replied and his heart sank even further. Tell her the truth! He lowered the cup of noodles watching as your fingers tapped across your screen. He opened his mouth, hesitating. I can’t tell her.

He resumed eating as you set your phone down, a huge grin still plastered on your face. Instead of responding the way he wanted to, he scoffed and you looked up from your noodles. “What?” you asked and Chan looked up, suddenly aware that he had not been silent. “Nothing. It’s just…” he trailed off.

You waited, watching him with raised brows. “It’s just what?” you asked and Chan looked up, his eyes meeting yours. “It’s just Soonyoung isn’t as great as you think he is,” he said shrugging. “It’s cute that you think so highly of him, but there’s a reason he’s still single,” Chan said before taking another bite of noodles. You rolled your eyes. “Maybe he’s single because he chooses to be?” you suggested.

Chan shook his head. “Or maybe because he’s a terrible boyfriend?” he retorted and you narrowed your eyes at him. “I’ll learn for myself, thanks,” you said before downing the rest of the broth in your cup. Chan chuckled lowly. He didn’t mean for it to sound so cynical. He didn’t mean for it to come out that way. He didn’t want you to snap at him. “What is so damn funny?” you hissed.

“Your crush. It’s so admirable that you have so much faith in someone you don’t even know. I’m Soonyoung’s best friend. I think I know him better than you do. But by all means, keep pursuing him. You’re only going to end up getting hurt,” he said and you stood up. You swooped down and picked up his bag before shoving it into his arms. Chan looked up at you. Shit.

He could tell his words had affected you. Damn it, he did it again. He had said too much and hurt you again. “Get out,” you said in a calm, even tone. Chan hesitated. Were you really kicking him out? When you didn’t relent he sighed and stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading for the door.

“I’ll see you Sunday at the library where your lessons will be from now on,” you said as he stepped out into the hall. “(Y/N),” Chan began turning towards you but you didn’t let him get another word out before you slammed the door in his face and left him standing in the hall alone. When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut? Chan thought as he headed for the elevator to see himself out.

The next day after your classes, you headed back to your room to shower and start getting ready for your date with Soonyoung that evening. Chan on the other hand was relaxing in his common room, dreading when Soonyoung would ask for his opinion on what he was wearing when he heard Seokmin, Jihoon, and Soonyoung talking as they came back from a late lecture.

“I still can’t believe you got her to agree to go on a date with you. I thought she was smarter than that, seeing as your reputation is all over the school,” Seokmin said from around the corner. Chan shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep on the couch he had been lazing on. “It’s her crush. She likes you too much that she can’t see or even listen to anyone talking sense into her,” Jihoon’s voice said. He sounded disappointed but Chan couldn’t tell if that was disappointment with Soonyoung or you.

“You’re taking her to that cafe, right? The little one you took what’s her name to?” Seokmin asked, their voices drawing closer. “Yeah. Dinner first and then maybe if I order some wine, it might loosen her up a bit. If I can get her to open up some, I should be able to bring her back to my room,” Chan heard Soonyoung say and he wrinkled his nose. He didn’t want his hands on or anywhere near you.

“I’m really hoping she says yes. I really wanted to fuck her at the party but I decided that letting her leave would paint me as a good guy and maybe the next time around, she’d be more willing to open her legs,” Soonyoung’s voice said as they rounded the corner. They didn’t seem to notice Chan on the couch, pretending to be asleep as they continued walking down the hall before going into their respective rooms. Chan’s eyes snapped open and he fumbled to pull his phone out. He had to stop you.

Your phone buzzed on the desk and you ran to check it, expecting a text from Soonyoung but instead you were greeted by a text from Chan.

[2019/10/17] L.Chan [19:24]: I’ve never asked you for anything, have I? You [19:24]: ...not really, no? You [19:24]: why? L.Chan [19:25]: please, do not go out with Soonyoung. You [19:25]: why are you so insistent on telling me what to do? L.Chan [19:26]: please! I’m telling you, no I’m begging you, don’t go out with him. L.Chan [19:26]: I overheard him just now talking to Jihoon and Seokmin about trying to get in you in bed L.Chan [19:26]: that’s literally all he wants! You [19:27]: Jesus Christ, Chan!! Knock it off already! You [19:27]: I like Soonyoung. I get that you don’t like me and that he’s your best friend but the world doesn’t revolve around you, Lee Chan so stay out of my business!!

Chan stared at the words ‘you don't like me’ in your text. That couldn't be further from the truth. He did like you. At least he thought he did. He cared enough about you to stop you from getting hurt, that had to mean something, right? He typed quickly across the keyboard on his screen to reply.

L.Chan [19:28]: (Y/N)!! Please!! Listen to me! I’m trying to save you the trouble! L.Chan [19:28]: Soonyoung just wants to get in your pants! Don’t let him. L.Chan [19:29]: He’s just going to drop you after he sleeps with you! He’s done it plenty of girls before! I know he looks nice and sounds nice but he’s really not a nice guy! Trust me, I’m his best friend!

You scoffed and turned off the notifications to his messages. I’m not gonna let him ruin my night. You returned to your closet, opting for a cute black dress that hit just above your knees. You pulled on your cardigan, hoping it would be enough for the night. Your makeup and hair done, you headed back to grab your phone and your small wristlet wallet. Soonyoung had texted you.

Soonyoung [19:30]: I’m outside (: You [19:30]: I’m on my way down!

Soonyoung had already left and no doubt already picked you up by now. Chan sat in his room playing video games on his desktop. He couldn’t focus on the raid he was currently on with his friends. He kept checking the clock and his phone. He hoped you would come to your senses and see that Soonyoung was only trying to get in your pants. He wanted you to be better than that. He needed you to be better than that.

An hour passed and he kept checking his phone, expecting a call or text from you any second though he didn’t know why. If something went wrong, she would call Jeon, Kim or Park long before she would call me. He shook his head, trying to get any images of Soonyoung taking advantage of you out of his head.

It wasn’t his business, like you said earlier. It didn’t concern him If that was true, why couldn’t he stop worrying about you? Why couldn’t he focus on anything else? He groaned, telling his friends he had to go. His head just wasn’t in the game. He was just bringing the team down.

Another 30 minutes passed while he waited, listening for his phone to vibrate and when it finally did, he jumped forward in his seat, snatching the device off the surface of his desk. He opened it and was greeted by a text from you.

(Y/N) [21:03]: S.O.S

Chan jumped to his feet, grabbing his jacket and car keys before he slipped on his shoes and rushed out down the hall, passing Jihoon and Seokmin who sat in the common room playing Xbox. He pressed the little green button next to your name and held his phone to his ear as he pressed the button for the elevator. You answered after 4 rings with a very shaky “h-hello?” Chan was relieved you answered him.

“Where are you?” he asked as the doors to the lift open and he got on, pressing the button for the lobby. The elevator started to move before you answered. “I’m at t-the restaurant. I-I think Soonyoung l-left,” you said in between hiccups. Oh no, he thought. Were you crying? What the hell happened? If Soonyoung did anything, Chan was going to kick his ass.

“Calm down (Y/N), I’m on my way. What restaurant are you at?” he asked as the doors opened to the lobby and he hurried outside, not bothering to put his jacket on. “The-” you said but stopped. Chan’s heart skipped a beat, thinking something had happened to you. “(Y/N)?! Are you there?” he asked and you took a shaky breath. “The same one you took me too,” you said in a small voice. Chan closed his eyes and sighed. That asshole.

Outside it had started raining. He hurried down the steps to the parking lot and ran to his car. “Don’t leave. Are you inside still?” he asked as he ran. “I’m in the bathroom,” you said and Chan thanked whatever deity was watching overhead. “Stay there. I’ll be there soon!” he said and you thanked him as your voice cracked before hanging up.

Once inside, he flung his jacket into the passenger seat and started the car. He took the familiar route to the cafe, pulling into a space he looked around and didn’t see Soonyoung’s car. He cut the engine and hurried inside, grabbing his jacket last minute. Once inside he pulled out his phone and dialed your number again.

You answered it. “C-Chan?” you whispered. “I’m here, (Y/N). Soonyoung isn’t here. Come out and I’ll take you home,” he said and you hung up. He put his phone back in his pocket and looked up in time to see you emerge from the bathroom. You made your way over to him.

You had definitely been crying. Your dress was also wet, meaning you had been outside recently. Chan took his jacket and put it around your shoulders. “Come on,” he said softly and led you outside where he did his best to shield you from the rain.

He led you to the car, opening the passenger for you and letting you into the car. Shutting the door before he ran around to the driver’s side, Chan got in and started the ignition, the engine purring. He pulled out of his parking space and made his way back toward your dorm.

He didn’t pry, but he threw glances at you, noticing the way tears slid down your cheeks and he felt his a tug at his heart in his chest, as if your pain squeezed it. Without thinking, he reached over and took your hand in his, lacing your fingers. You didn’t recoil from his touch or ask what he was doing. Instead you embraced it, seemingly finding comfort in his gesture.

The ride back was silent except for the patter of rain on the roof of the car. At a stoplight, Chan looked over. In that moment, you were quite possibly the most breathtakingly beautiful girl, bathed in the bright red from the light in front of you. Your tears had seemed to stop flowing at this point but on occasion, your shoulders lifted as you sniffled. Chan wouldn’t say it out loud, but you were stunning.

It wasn’t until Chan pulled into your building’s parking lot and cut the engine that you spoke.

“You were right,” your small voice said, cutting the silence like a hot knife. Chan looked over at you. You were staring out the windshield. He didn’t let go of your hand. Instead, he rubbed your knuckles soothingly with the pad of his thumb while you searched for the words to say. How he wished he hadn't been right. He would have given anything to be wrong, to save you from this.

“Aren’t you going to say something smug?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper. Chan shook his head. “No,” he said hoarsely before clearing his throat. “I’m not. I didn’t want you to get hurt. I knew it would happen, which is why I tried to stop you from going,” he said, sticking his tongue out to lick his lips.

He looked around the car before continuing, “but I’m not that much of an asshole, despite what you think of me.” You turned to face him, your eyes still shining with unshed tears.

“I wish I listened to you,” you said and Chan shook his head. “You should have, I won’t sugar coat that, but at least things stopped before it went too far,” he said and you nodded. “I’m not going to ask what happened,” Chan said, looking down at your hands intertwined. “But if you want to tell me when you’re ready, I’ll listen,” he added and a small smile graced your lips. Finally.

“Thank you,” you whispered and Chan nodded, giving you a small encouraging smile. “Let’s get you back,” he said nodding toward your building. He got out, jogging around to your side to help you out and shield you again from the rain as he led you up the steps to the door.

You punched in the code and Chan followed you up to your door. When he was satisfied you had made it back safely, Chan turned to leave but your hand around his wrist stopped him in his tracks. He turned toward you. You looked up at him and in a shaky voice asked him, “w-will you stay with me?” If seeing you crying in the car earlier hadn’t broken his heart, the quiver in your voice and the look you gave him now completely shattered him. He turned and nodded.

You unlocked the door and let him in after you before shutting it and locking it. You excused yourself to your bathroom to change. Chan sat in the chair at your desk and waited. He pulled out his phone to check if he had any missed texts and saw that Jihoon had messaged him. It was a brief messaged asking where he was and telling him Soonyoung was mad. Chan shot a text back that he was hanging out with a friend, telling Jihoon he would be back in the morning.

In your bathroom, you removed your makeup with a wipe before washing your face and looking in the mirror. Before stripping your makeup, you had looked like hell. You turned away from the mirror and walked into your closet to change into your favorite shorts and hoodie. You hung your dress over the shower rod and stepped out into the room where Chan was waiting.

He perked up as you walked past, tucking his phone away as you sat on your bed. “I think I just want to sleep,” you said and he nodded. “Okay, lay down. I’ll be right here,” said and you nodded, laying back on the bed and pulling the covers over you. Chan pulled his phone out and sent a text back to Jihoon.

Woozi [21:54]: Is (Y/N) okay? Soonyoung is in his room, so he won’t read this over my shoulder. Chan [21:54]: she cried a lot after I picked her up. She hasn’t said anything but I’m staying with her. She asked me to stay Woozi [21:55]: she likes you Chan. Chan [21:55]: idk if that’s true Woozi [21:55]: come on. Why else would she ask you to stay the night with her? She could have easily asked Jeongguk or Taehyung or Jimin. Why ask you when she has three best friends?

Chan stared at his phone, uncertain how to respond. Jihoon was right. You could have called any one of your best friends. Why him? His thoughts were interrupted by your voice calling to him through the darkness. He put his phone down on the desk and looked up at your form under the blankets. “Yes?” he asked softly and you stirred, presumably to roll over and look at him.

“I don’t know how to ask this,” you whispered in the dark. “But will you lay with me?” you asked and Chan’s heart hammered against his ribcage, his breath sputtering and nearly causing him to choke. He took a calming breath and stood up, leaving his phone behind. He stopped by the edge of the bed and looked down at you wrapped in the blankets. “Are you sure?” he asked, not wanting to overstep the boundaries.

When you nodded he kicked his shoes off and removed his sweater, leaving him in a tee shirt before he climbed into the bed next to you as you scooted over, leaving him ample room. He laid down beside you and immediately, you rolled into him, pressing your body into his, feeling the warmth from his body transferring to yours and blanketing you.

Chan’s body tensed when you pressed against him and after a couple moments, he relaxed, his hand resting on your waist. He didn’t realize how tired he was and must have passed out soon after because he woke up to a partially lit room as the sun slowly made its ascent in the sky. He looked down at you, his arms wrapped around your blanketed burrito form, face barely peeking out at him as you slept.

He had never seen something so cute in his life. Chan lay there, watching the rise and fall of your shoulders as you slept peacefully. He brushed a lock of hair out of your face and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. He smiled against your skin before he heard the blaring of your alarm going off. He reached over to press the snooze button quickly and looked at the numbers that told him that it was 6:15 in the morning. He rolled back over, his arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you tight against his chest.

A small murmur left your lips as you woke up and Chan cursed the alarm for rousing you. He watched as you woke up slowly, eyelashes fluttering before your eyes opened and you looked up at him sleepily. “Good morning,” he said in a deep voice and you broke into a sleepy smile that made his heart melt. Damn, I'm screwed.

“Morning,” you said with a content sigh. Chan tightened his hold on you, pulling you against his chest again and burying his face in your hair. “What are you doing?” you laughed, muffled by his chest. “Just let me stay like this a little longer,” he replied. You said nothing, instead allowing him to hold you against him, relishing the warmth his body provided, despite being wrapped in a blanket.

The longer you stay wrapped up in linens and his arms, the later you would be to your first class so you cleared your throat before asking him, “you, uh, gonna let me go to class anytime soon?” and he chuckled, the deep sound coming from somewhere in his chest. “No,” he bemused and you wiggled around so you could look up at his face. He smiled at you sending your heart into a panic as you tried to control your breathing. Chan hadn’t been this close to you since he tried to kiss you.

That time you hadn’t wanted it. This time however, you found yourself more and more enamored by his lips. Before you could process what you were about to do, your lips brushed against his and as if waiting for this the whole time, Chan pulled you in, deepening the kiss as his lips moved against yours. Why hadn’t I done this sooner? You wondered. His lips were softer than you had imagined.

After a few moments, Chan pulled back and flashed you a stupid grin. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he admitted softly and your cheeks flushed at his words. You knew that. You knew he wanted to kiss you. Hell, he tried to before. What you didn’t tell him was that you wanted to kiss him all night. A thank you for coming to get you and perhaps something more.

You pressed your lips to his once more, a quick peck before you started moving. “As much as I’d like to stay in bed all day and kiss you,” you started as you sat up. “We have classes in an hour,” you finished trying to climb over him. Chan grabbed your waist, holding you in place over him so you were straddling his hips. “Screw class, stay here with me. Who cares if we stay in bed all day?” he asked and you leaned over him, your lips inches from his. “Because,” you whispered teasing him with another kiss. “You’re failing English,” you whispered against his lips.

Chan groaned as you grabbed his hands and removed them, allowing you to get up. “Come on,” you said grabbing his arm and pulling him up into a sitting position. He laughed before jerking you towards him and wrapping his arms around you. “Come here,” he said kissing your cheek and then your neck. You giggled at the sensation, the night before but a distant memory to you now.

You wriggled out of his grasp and headed for the bathroom. “You need to go back to your room and get ready for class,” you reminded him before closing yourself in the bathroom. “I don’t want to!” he said sliding off the bed and grabbing his phone to check it. He had thirteen texts and 5 missed calls. All from Jihoon. He opened his messages quickly and read, his eyes scanning the screen.

Woozi [22:47]: Soonyoung keeps asking who you’re with. What should I tell him? Woozi [22:59]: please tell me you aren’t asleep Woozi [23:14]: shit. You have to be asleep. You wouldn’t purposely avoid my messages. Woozi [23:26]: Soonyoung is MAD. Woozi [23:32]: did you tell him you were with (Y/N)?? He seems to think you’re with her Woozi [23:41]: yeah. He knows. Idk how but he knows. Woozi [23:47]: god please see these messages Woozi [23:49]: he’s trying to call (Y/N). tell her to block his number. Woozi [23:51]: he left a really nasty voicemail. Woozi [23:54]: and he called back to apologize to her voicemail box. Woozi [00:01]: you better just be asleep and not fucking (Y/N) or i stg i’m gonna kick ur ass Woozi [00:23]: Soonyoung finally passed out but we’re scarred for life now Woozi [00:41]: if you care about (Y/N) protect her from him.

Chan was about to respond when he heard shouting from the bathroom. It sounded like it was coming from your phone. You cut the sound quickly. “(Y/N)?” Chan called and you opened the bathroom door, dressed in sweats and your hoodie. “Soonyoung called me last night…” you said softly. Chan nodded. “Jihoon warned me. Said he left you a voicemail,” he said and you nodded. “He called me some choice words and then left a follow up voicemail, apologizing.” Chan took your hand in his as you approached.

“Ignore him. He’s not worth it. He’s just mad. He’ll get over it and move on in a week or so. That’s how he works. Just ignore him now,” Chan said moving his hands to take your face gently between them and pressed a sweet kiss to your forehead. You nodded and sighed. “You should get going,” you said softly and he shook his head. “Nope. I live here now,” he joked and you prodded his shoulder.

“My RA would have a heart attack,” you laughed. Chan joining in before he groaned and let go of your face to put his shoes on and grab his sweater. “I’ll see you later,” he said taking your hand and bringing it up to his lips, pressed a couple kisses to your knuckles before he unlocked the door and stepped out into the hall. You waved to him before he disappeared down the hall.

Chan made his way down to the lobby before heading out to his car. He was elated. He’d never felt like this before. He’d been with girls before, sure, but none had made him this happy just with a few kisses. He was really screwed. He got into his car, throwing his sweater into the passenger seat and started the car, pulling out of the space and heading back toward his dorm.

Back in your room, you were staring out the window, fingers brushing your lips. The same lips that had been kissing Chan just moments earlier. Your heart thumped as you remembered the feeling of his lips against yours and your cheeks turned pink. He wasn’t even in the room but he still had an effect on you. Mustering up your self control, you took a few calming breaths before grabbing your bag and heading out for class.

As usual, you stopped by the student center, intent on ordering your usual coffee and muffin from Namjoon. When he saw the smile on your face he immediately leaned over the counter. “Spill,” he said and you looked at him confused. “What?” you asked and he shot you a sly grin. “I’ve never seen you this happy before. Clearly something has happened, so, spill!” he said and you shook your head. “I don’t want to jinx it!” you said.

Namjoon groaned before asking if you wanted your usual. You shook your head and his jaw dropped. “What is this? Who are you and what have you done with (Y/N)?” he asked and you chuckled, ordering a blended caramel frappuccino and a lemon poppy seed muffin. “I felt like changing it up,” you said with a shrug as he punched in your order and gave you his discount again. You paid the amount and waited at the pickup counter.

You felt the presence of someone close to you and looked up. Jeongguk wrapped an arm around your shoulder and smiled at you. “What’s up with that stupid grin?” he asked and you scoffed, shaking his arm off. “Rude,” you said as Taehyung and Jimin slid up next to him. “Hey guys!” Namjoon said as he completed your coffee, giving you a swirl of caramel over the whipped topping and put your muffin in a bag. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jeongguk exchanged looks with Namjoon who shrugged.

“What is going on?” Taehyung asked and you looked up innocently. “What?” you asked. Namjoon rolled his eyes. “Something happened but she won’t tell me!” he said before turning to help the next customer. Jeongguk grabbed you by the arm and dragged you away from the counter, Jimin and Taehyung in tow.

“Tell me,” he said and you shook your head. “Not until I know things aren’t going to blow up in my face. Just trust me on this, okay?” you asked and Jeongguk groaned exaggeratedly. “Fine,” he said, pointing at you. “But if something goes wrong, I am the first to hear about it, got it?” he asked and you nodded. “Yes, sir,” you stated and he smiled. “Ooh, I like when you call me sir,” he chortled. “Makes me all tingly.”

You pushed past them and headed for your class before calling out “you’re GROSS!”

You were halfway through your class when Chan texted you.

L.Chan [08:41]: you want to skip next class and go makeout in my car? You scoffed and glanced around before sending a text back. You [08:41]: what are we? 16? L.Chan [08:42]: no. you still wanna? 😜 You [08:42]: no lol you can’t afford to skip class L.Chan [08:42]: ): L.Chan [08:43]: but i wanna kiss u

You had to stifle your laughter as you read his texts.

You [08:43]: how about later tonight? You [08:43]: we can order takeout, drink some wine, maybe watch a movie in my room? L.Chan [0844]: okay! (: I’ll make sure to keep my lips moistened for you 😙 You [08:44]: ew. Not if you’re gonna use that word 🤢 L.Chan [08:45]: ): okay. I won’t use that word. You [08:45]: good 😊 L.Chan [08:46]: ...I’ll make something else moist though 👀 You [08:46]: OKAY GOODBYE L.Chan [08:47]: 😉 L.Chan [08:47]: you know, you could always shut me up L.Chan [08:48]: ...by sitting on my face? 👅 You [08:48]: I take it back. Don’t come over tonight L.Chan [08:49]: ):

You giggled to yourself and tucked your phone away to focus on your lesson. You could hardly focus with the vibrating against your stomach in your hoodie pocket. You did your best to ignore it until class ended. Once you were free, you pulled your phone out as your classmates packed up and started leaving the room. Chan wouldn’t stop.

L.Chan [08:52]: come on bby ): L.Chan [08:56]: don’t ignore me!! L.Chan [09:03]: ur so mean ): L.Chan [09:15]: jesus how long is your class? L.Chan [09:17]: i miss u~

He got sappy so fast, you thought as you texted him.

You [09:20]: class just ended lol

Chan was quick to text back as you packed up.

L.Chan [09:20]: I’m free too (: L.Chan [09:21]: meet me outside the humanities building~

You rolled your eyes but nonetheless, when you headed out the door, you made your way over to the humanities building, entering the courtyard outside the building. The courtyard was a decent size, a large fountain in the center, the sidewalk circling it before pathways branched off in different directions.

For benches were placed around the path, facing the fountain. You looked around as you entered the courtyard, noticing that it was rather busy with students bustling around meeting friends and hurrying to their next classes before quickly locating Chan.

He sat on one of the bench, arms resting on the back as he looked the opposite direction. His dark chocolate colored hair blowing gently in the cool breeze. He wore a white long sleeve shirt with blue thin stripes, another pair of black skinny jeans and white Converse. That boy sure loves his tight pants, you thought, though you weren’t complaining.

He must have sensed your presence because he looked your way, a huge smile pulling the corners of his lips up. You returned the smile before moving to sit next to him and were surprised he didn’t shy away, instead opting to drape his  arm over your shoulders and you felt your cheeks turn light pink at the contact.

Several people looked over, some murmuring to their friends while giving you a side glance. Your heart thudded in your chest and your cheeks turned pink as you felt a few pairs of eyes on you. God, why was everyone watching?

“Chan,” you murmured as he leaned in, his lips tickling your cheek. “People are watching,” you said and he took your chin in his hand, turning your head to look at him. “I don’t care who’s watching,” he said softly before kissing you. Your cheeks burned but you accepted his kiss without hesitation. When you parted, you felt as though all eyes were on you but in reality, no one was really watching. They passed by without a second glance. Chan smiled pulling you closer before looking up and his smile dropped.

You followed his line of sight where you saw Jihoon, Seungcheol, and -- “Soonyoung,” you whispered as he stared at you from across the courtyard. He was mad alright. If looks could kill. You looked away and felt Chan’s grip on your tighten protectively as he looked across the court at his best friend. He fucked up. Soonyoung was at fault, not Chan. It’s not like Soonyoung liked you like that. He made it plainly clear he was only interested in fucking you and Chan wanted more than that.

Soonyoung backed off, looking away from Chan’s glared and he turned and walked away, leaving Seungcheol and Jihoon behind. Jihoon looked from Soonyoung’s retreating back to Chan and gave a short nod of understanding, one that Chan returned. Jihoon and Seungcheol left the courtyard after Soonyoung. Chan sighed and looked at you as you looked down at the sidewalk. “He’s gone,” he whispered, leaning into you. You looked up and glanced around, visibly relaxing.

The two of you sat there for a few more minutes before you looked down at your watch and nearly jumped. “We’re gonna be late for class!” you said and Chan laughed as you got to your feet, taking his hands and pulling him to his feet. “Come on!” you urged and he got up, following you as you led him away from the courtyard.

You stopped when he pulled you back into him. “My class is this way,” he said nodding in a different direction. “Oh,” you remembered and he leaning in, kissing you quickly. “I’ll see you later tonight. I’ll bring the food,” he said and you brightened up. “Okay!” you leaned in, kissing him again before hurrying away to get to your class on time. Chan smiled as he watched you retreat, thinking how lucky he was.

Upon entering his class he took his usual seat and waited for the professor to begin the lesson. He heard the thump of someone sitting down heavily beside him and looked up to see Soonyoung had taken the seat beside him. He did his best to avoid the look Soonyoung was giving him before finally he couldn’t take it anymore. He rounded on his best friend. “What?” he demanded.

Soonyoung tilted his head. “How is (Y/N) doing? You guys looked pretty cozy earlier.” Chan scoffed and looked away. “She’s just fine, no thanks to you,” Chan said and Soonyoung nodded looking down at the table. “I don’t know what she told you, Chan --” he began but Chan cut him off. “Nothing. She didn’t tell me anything. I told her to tell me when she was ready,” Chan interjected. Soonyoung looked taken aback. “She really said nothing?” he asked and Chan nodded, his eyes landing on the teacher as he entered the room.

“Well, if you see her later, tell her I’m sorry if I made her feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention,” Soonyoung said, his voice dropping to a whisper as the professor began the lesson. Chan didn’t know what he did to upset you, but he didn’t think it was important relaying the message from Soonyoung. He did his best to focus on the lesson but all he could think about was, what had Soonyoung done?

You hadn’t expected to talk to Soonyoung again, let alone see him waiting outside of your dorm when you returned after your lessons later that night. Yet there he was, sitting on the steps leading up to your building. You tensed up when he noticed you and froze when he stood up. He walked down the remainder of the steps and stopped a few paces away, hands in his pockets. “Hey,” he said.

You eyed him suspiciously before responding. “...hi?” you uttered. You were being cautious, and rightfully so after last night. Soonyoung hesitated before he went on. “I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I didn’t want to hurt you. I must have misread the signals you were giving mean but I promise, I did not mean to hurt you.” You crossed your arms in front of your chest.

“I see,” you stated, unsure how to respond. Soonyoung took a step forward and you backed away. “Can we talk?” he asked and you nodded. “Just,... don’t move too quickly,” you answered and he nodded.

Chan left his dorm after finishing his assignments for his classes Monday. He made his way to his car, getting in and heading to pick up the food he ordered. He drove, listening to music on his phone, drumming on the steering wheel as he made his way to the his favorite Chinese place. He had sent you the menu earlier in class and asked you to pick what you wanted.

Pulling to a stop at the light, he called out, “hey Siri.” His phone screen lit up as the Siri screen came on with the familiar “What can I help you with?” Chan smiled as he opened his mouth to tell Siri, “call (Y/N).” The screen lit up with color voice wave before the screen changed. “Calling (Y/N).” The phone started ringing.

The light changed and Chan continued down the road, making his way toward the restaurant. Your phone continued to ring before it went to voicemail. Chan thought that was odd but left a message all the same.

“Hey, I'm on my way to the restaurant to pick up our food, I wanted to know if you needed any extra sauce but I'll get some just in case. I'm also gonna stop by the liquor store and grab something but I don't know what you want. Send me a text. I'll see you soon,” he said before hanging up.

He pulled into the parking lot as the clouds moved in. Ugh, more rain? He wondered as he got out of the car and dashed for the door. Once inside he paid for the food, adding extra sauce and grabbing napkins and utensils. He also bought two sodas before heading back out to his car to find you had answered him in a text.

You [19:43]: I like wine and ciders but I'll drink whatever you buy (:

He smiled and shot back a response.

L.Chan [19:49]: Idk what wine goes with Chinese lol You [19:50]: malbec. Get a malbec L.Chan [19:51]: …how the hell do you know that?? 😂 You [19:51]: I have my ways 😊 L.Chan [19:52]:

L.Chan [19:52]: wizard You [19:53]: 🧙‍♂️🔮

Chan smiled, laughing lightly as he placed his phone back in the holder on his dashboard. He started the car and pulled out of the parking space and headed for the nearby liquor store. He parked the car and ran into the store. It was a small store with aisles in the middle, an open cooler with shelves full of all different kinds of beer. The very back of the store was a huge walk-in cooler.

Once inside he started looking around when the store owner who had been previously sweeping stopped at the end of the aisle he was in. She was a short woman with her brown wavy hair pulled into a messy bun on top of her head. “Do you need any help?” she asked with a smile. Chan smiled and nodded at the wine selection.

“I’m trying to find something to pair with Chinese takeout, I was told to get Malbec?” he questioned as she came over and smiled. “What dishes?” she asked looking up at him. “Beef and broccoli,” Chan said with a grimace and she smiled wider. “Come on,” she mused nodding toward the walk-in. Chan followed her into the fridge, the cold air hitting him, a shiver working down his spine.

“If you’re eating takeout, you’re definitely going to want something cold,” she said reaching up and grabbing a bottle from the top of the rack. She turned and handed it to him. “Here. That should go with your beef and broccoli well,” she said with a wink. Chan smiled, taking the cold glass from her. “Anything else?” she asked and Chan shook his head. “Nope, this is all I needed,” he said.

“Alright,” the shopkeeper said. “I’ll ring you up.” Chan followed her out of the walk-in and to the cash register. “Can I see your ID?” she asked and he pulled it out of his wallet, handing it over. She checked it out and handed it back before ringing up the wine. “Your total is $32.48,” she said and Chan pulled out the change. He handed it over and she cashed him out before putting the wine in a paper bag.

Chan thanked her and headed for the door. Outside, it had started to rain. Chan got into his car, setting the wine next to the food and started the car before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road heading for your dorm. He pulled into the parking lot where he cut the engine and looked up to see you standing on the stairs talking to -- “Soonyoung?” he whispered when he recognized his best friend.

He watched as you nodded and smiled. Soonyoung waved and started back down the stairs. You gave him a small wave as he jogged toward his car and got in. Chan grabbed the food and wine and got out only when Soonyoung pulled out of the parking lot. Chan headed up toward the door where you were waiting under the awning with a wide smile.

He reached the step and you wrapped your arms around his waist, burying your face in his chest. “Everything alright?” he asked and you nodded. “Yeah. Soonyoung came by to apologize and we agreed to stay friends,” you replied and Chan nodded, relieved that Soonyoung hadn’t managed to toy with your emotions again. You turned to put the code in and opened the door. Chan followed you as the pair of you headed for the elevator, thunder rumbling in the distance.

Once the lift arrived, you lead Chan down the hall to your door and opened it, letting him in behind you. You shut the door and hopped on your bed as Chan set the food on the desk. “Did you want to watch a movie or something while we eat?” you asked and Chan nodded, as he untied the takeout bag. You slid off the bed and turned on your desktop, letting it boot up before logging in while Chan pulled out the to-go containers. “Do you have any glasses?” he asked turning to you.

You looked up from your computer as he pulled the wine out of the bag to show you. You pointed to a small storage cupboard and he opened it, pulling out a package of red solo cups. “These?” he asked to which you nodded, signing into your account and pulling up Netflix. Chan pulled two cups out of the package and opened the wine, thankful it was a screw on cap instead of a cork.

“What do you want to watch?” you asked and looked up at him. “I don’t mind. You pick,” he said as he poured wine into both cups. He turned to you as you were putting on a movie. “How do you feel about scary movies?” you asked, taking the cup he was holding out. He smiled, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a sip of the wine. It wasn’t what he expected but it was surprisingly smooth.

Chan turned to you and handed you one of the togo containers as you got up on the bed. You accepted it and settled into position making sure all the pillows were pushed up against the wall. Chan grabbed his own food and turned to you. “Do you need any sauces?” he asked and you shook your head. Chan got on the bed, scooting back until he was sitting beside you and once you were both comfortable, you dug into your food while the movie you picked started.

Halfway into the movie, you finished eating and set your to-go container to the side, preferring to lean against Chan, your eyes glued to the screen. Chan had set his container to the side and had one arm wrapped around your shoulders. He squeezed you gently, whispering, “you done eating?” You looked up at him and nodded. Chan moved, sliding off the bed and grabbing the to-go containers and setting them on your desk. “Do you want anymore?” he asked holding up the now half empty wine bottle.

You shook your head, stretching and he downed the rest of his glass before taking up his previous spot next to you. Once he was back on the bed, you wrapped your arms around his waist and hugged him closer, the alcohol in your system making you bolder. Chan laughed, pulling you onto his lap and hugged you closer, kissing the top of your head. “Are you sleepy?” he asked and you shook your head. “No,” you replied in a muffled voice.

Chan smiled, turning his head to look at the computer screen. Your shirt had ridden up a little and you sighed at the feeling of Chan’s fingers absentmindedly rubbing circles into your exposed hip. He must have noticed cause he asked if you were okay. Instead of answering him with your words, you answered him with a kiss, one he was surprised by but accepted gladly.

Your hand moved from around his waist and up to his chest as one of his hands cupped the back of your neck, deepening the kiss. Chan’s lips parted, your own following suit and his tongue slipped into your mouth. Your stomach flipped as you tasted the wine on his tongue. You moved, without breaking the kiss, to straddle him, snaking your arms around his neck. His hand on your back held you close as the two of you fought for dominance with Chan winning rather easily.

Your hips moved of their own accord, rolling against his slowly. Chan moaned, the sound muffled by your lips against his. You smirked, grinding down on him again, the friction felt amazing against your growing arousal. You could feel the affect you had on Chan in the bulge in his pants pressing hard against your core and growing harder and harder the more you grinded on him.

“Fuck, (Y/N),” he groaned when you pulled back for air. His head fell back against the wall while you moved against him, soft whimpers leaving your lips mixed with your pants. Chan grabbed your hips, stilling your movements. “Jesus, you’re going to kill me, woman,” he whispered, enjoying the way your lips worked down his neck, stopping at his shoulder as you tried to move your hips again.

“Stop. Moving,” Chan said trying not to laugh. “Please,” you whined. “I need you,” you said and with that, Chan pushed you back on the mattress, hovering over you before leaning down to press a kiss to your lips. “Do you want me that badly?” he asked and you nodded, biting your bottom lip. His hips moved, pressing his erection into your core, earning a moan from you.

“You want this?” he whispered against your ear and you moaned again. “Yes,” you breathed. Chan pulled away, pulling his hoodie off before reaching for the ties on your sweatpants. “These need to come off,” he whispered as he reached around to lift your hips and slide them down your thighs. He tossed your pants off to the side before moving between your thighs to kiss you again.

Your hands tangled in his soft hair as he moved his lips down, kissing to the collar of your shirt. And this too,” he said pulling you up so he could remove your shirt, leaving you in your bra and panties. You blushed but you were sure if it was because you were exposed or intoxicated. Chan resumed his ministrations, kissing down your chest. He stopped to look up at you before he smiled. You whined, running your fingers through his hair urging him to continue.

Chan went on, kissing down your stomach before stopping near the waistband of your panties. He took the fabric between his teeth and pulled back slightly before letting go, the elastic snapping softly against your skin, a soft cry leaving your lips. Chan moved back up, his hand sliding up the outside of your hip, stopping at your waist while his lips moved against your neck, kissing and nipping at the sensitive skin.

You gasped, arching into him as his hand moved from your hip and ghosted over your breast stopping to cradle your neck. “God you’re so much more beautiful in person,” he breathed against your skin. His hand moved from your neck, sliding down your body before pressing his fingers against your heat, your arousal seeping through the think material of your panties. A whimper escaped your lips.

Chan moved, slipping his hand into the waistband of your panties. He hesitated before asking, “can I?” You nodded, biting into your lower lip as his hand slid further until his finger pressed past your folds finding your clit easily. You gasped, grabbing his wrist with one hand while he circled the sensitive nub slowly. “God,” he groaned. “I love how wet you get for me.” You moaned at his words, whimpering when he slowly pushed a finger inside you. He smiled against your neck. “You like that?” he asked.

You hummed in response as he moved his hand, sliding the digit in and out of you at a painstakingly slow pace. “Stop teasing me,” you whined, bucking your hips slightly. Chan chuckled, speeding up as you grew wetter and wetter. You moaned in his ear as he added a second finger, enjoying the feeling of being deliciously stretched. “Can I take these off?” Chan inquired of your panties and you nodded.

He withdrew his hand, bringing his fingers up to his mouth and cleaning your juices off of them. He groaned, his cock twitching in his pants. He reached down and pulled your panties down your legs, smearing your wetness down the inside of your thigh. Once he discarded the thin material, he pushed your thighs apart and laid down, settling between your thighs.

“What are you doing?” you asked but he only smiled, placing a few kisses on the insides of your thighs. He sank his teeth into the soft flesh, sucking a fresh mark in your skin on each side before kissing your sex. He ran his tongue up your folds, pushing your legs apart further, giving him better access. His tongue found your clit and slowly began circling it, toying with you.

“Don’t tease me,” you panted, your fingers knotting in his hair as you held him in place. He smiled against your sex before speeding up, flicking his tongue against your clit. You whimpered loudly as you felt your orgasm building. Chan wrapped his lips around the sensitive bundle of nerves, sucking it softly. With one hand in his hair and the other gripping your sheets, your hips bucked and Chan moved his hands to hold you down as he continued his onslaught.

Just as your orgasm approached, he stopped, pulling away and you whined, your body reeling from the stolen climax. Chan smiled, kissing your thighs again. “What’s wrong, baby?” he cooed and you groaned trying to buck your hips but he held them firmly in place. “Please,” you begged and Chan chuckle, his hot breath fanning over you. “Please what baby? Use your words,” he repeated.

“I need your tongue, please, please,” you whimpered wiggling your hips. “My tongue?” Chan asked. “Where do you need my tongue baby?” he asked. You wiggled your hips again, hoping he would get the message. “Hmm?” he hummed. “Please,” you whined. Chan gave your sex another kitten lick. 

“Is that what you want?” he asked. “You want my tongue all over your pretty pussy?” he asked and you nodded quickly. “Yes!” you breathed. “Say it,” Chan answered. You whined when he flattened his tongue, licking a wide strip slowly up. “I want your tongue all over my pretty pussy,” you whimpered.

Pleased with your answer, Chan continued his torture, alternating between licks and sucking until you were shaking as your orgasm built up a second time. Again, Chan pulled away allowing your release to ebb away. You whined louder as he moved away from between your thighs and sat up. “Where do you keep your condoms?” Chan asked and you pointed at the bathroom. “Top left drawer,” you panted.

He hopped off the bed and hurried into the bathroom, pulling open the drawer you said and he found the pack of condoms. He grabbed on and returned to you on the bed after pulling off his shirt and pushing his pants down his thighs along with his underwear, allowing them to pool at his ankles. He stepped out of the material and got back on the bed.

He leaned over, kissing up your stomach and stopping at your chest. “Sit up for a second,” he murmured against your skin and you did as he asked, sitting up. Chan reached around behind you and undid the clasps of your bra, sliding the straps down your arms and pulling it off before throwing it somewhere in the darkness. His hand reached up, cupping your breast.

“Damn it, baby. How are you so fucking hot?” he asked kissing your shoulder. He gently pushed you back on the bed, kneeling between your thighs as he tore open the silver packet. “Wait,” you muttered trying to sit up. “I should reciprocate,” you said but he pushed you back with a chuckle. 

“As much as I would love to have those pretty lips around my cock, I’m plenty hard without it. I really just need to be inside you, (Y/N),” he said as he rolled the condom onto his length. Your tongue peeked out to wet your lips as he lined himself with your slit, teasing you through your folds. “Chan,” you whimpered.

He chuckled, pushing himself into you, hissing as he slid easily into your wet heat. He stopped, whether allowing you time to adjust or just focusing on the feeling of you slowly engulfing his cock, welcoming it into your warmth. He continued, pushed deeper into you, the sting of being stretch causing your lips to part in a silent cry until he bottomed out, fully sheathed inside you. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

You forced yourself to relax around him before he moved. He pulled out slowly before pushing back in. “God you feel amazing,” he said in a deep voice. “Fuck,” you choked out as the sting was replaced with a dull ache instead now. “Please,” you begged again. “Please move,” you whimpered. Chan pulled back again slowly, this time snapping his hips  into yours. A gasp ripped from your throat as he gained momentum, holding your hips as he thrust into you, hitting deep .

“Ah~” you moaned, gripping the sheets beneath you. Chan moved his hands, resting them on either side of your head as he leaned over, thrusting faster into you. “F-fuck,” he stammered. “You f-feel so fucking good, baby.” One of your hands moved, gripping his wrist as he pounded harder into you. “Chan,” you breathed and he hummed in response. “Harder,” you pleaded. Chan sat up, his hands moving to your hips as he slammed harder into you, earning a cry from you.

He stopped, looking down at you. “Are you okay?” he asked and you groaned, “yes, don’t stop, you idiot,” and he laughed, resuming his previous speed. “Ah, fuck!” you cried out, grabbing his wrist again. “You like that?” Chan asked and you nodded, whimpering as he pounded into you mercilessly. “Ah! There, right there,” you breathed when he hit your sweet spot.

“Yeah?” Chan asked breathlessly, continuing to hit the same spot with every thrust. “Yes!” you moaned, your voice bouncing off the walls. Chan reached forward, covering your mouth. “Do you want to wake the whole floor, baby?” he asked amused as he continued to fuck you, your incessant moaning muffled by his hand. “Goddamn,” he said thrusting into you. “Here,” he added pulling out of you and turning your over. He put a pillow under your hips before pushing into you again.

Chan pulled you back into him, his hips hitting your ass and his cock reaching a spot deep inside you. “Ah!” you let out a high pitched cry when you felt the palm of his hand hit your right asscheek. He ran his hand soothingly over the spot before leaning over you, his chest pressing against your back as he continued to thrust into you. “Ah~! Fuck, Chan!” you whimpered into the sheets. One of his arms wrapped around your upper chest, his thrusts growing more erratic as his high approached him.

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold back,” he panted in your ear. “I’m close too, you breathed as you felt the coil in your lower abdomen tightened, tension building in your body as you grew hotter and hotter with every thrust. Chan groaned, sinking his teeth in your shoulder, sending you over the edge as you came around him with a cry of his name. Chan continued, thrusting into to you chasing his own high, which came moments later as your walls convulsed around him and he came, releasing into the condom with a deep groan, muffled by your shoulder.

His hips faltered, coming to a stop still buried inside you. He kissed the bite mark he left on your shoulder, whispering an apology to the sensitive skin. After a few moments, he pulled out of you, rolling off onto his back, his chest heaving with labored breaths. He looked over at you when you turned your head to face him. A lopsided grin graced his features.

“Told you I would take care of you,” he said in a low voice. You rolled your eyes and rolled over on your back, looking up at the ceiling. Chan rolled off the bed, removing the condom and tying it off before tossing it in the waste bin by your desk. He stooped to grab his boxers, stepping into and sliding them on before he made his way to the bathroom. You watched him as he moved around in the bathroom before hearing the sound of running water.

A few moments later, he returned with a warm wet washcloth and started wiping you clean. Your body shuddered when he ran the cloth over your swollen sex. His eyes snapped to your face as he pulled back. “You okay, baby?” he asked and you nodded. Chan continued, wiping off your cum off your inner thighs. When he was certain he cleaned you thoroughly, he tossed the washcloth in the hamper and walked into the bathroom, passing into your closet to fetch you a clean pair of underwear.

When he returned, he helped you slip your panties on, before pulling you up into a sitting position. Chan reached down, grabbing his shirt from the floor. He pulled his shirt on you and laid you back down, getting under the covers beside you.

“Go to sleep baby,” he whispered, pulling you into him, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing a kiss to your cheek. You fell asleep quickly, light snores filling the room as the movie had already ended, the computer going to sleep due to inactivity. Not long after you passed out, Chan followed suit.

P.S: *Jeongguk voice* FINALLYYYY~!!! I knew some of you were probaby waiting for this so I hope I delivered. I will try to have the final installment up Friday or Saturday! As always, thank you guys so much for reading and leave any feedback you deem necessary! ~K♡

[lawrenceviewhotel]

Lahore – Saga of Pakistani’s hospitality

When I made a plan to visit Pakistan, I hadn't initially intended to visit Lahore. I ache for mountains, forests, and valleys. My first dream place to visit was Islamabad. But as more as I researched about Pakistan, the more I got drawn to the beauty of Lahore and its startling places. So, I thought it would be a pity not to visit Lahore and its chaotic streets after all; who knows if I ever get a chance to revisit Pakistan?

       Exploring Lahore with Ayesha was truly an exceptional experience.

Sparkling, cluttered, and busy! That’s what I felt putting my first feet on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan. I was standing near Lahore museum which was an art itself. Even though I was outside, I can still feel the warmth, energy, and beauty of aesthetic sculptures from inside. My mind truly wanted to go inside, but the drained energy from a tiring flight stopped me, and I just stood there, waiting for my friend Ayesha. She said she would be here at 11 pm, but it was already 11:30, and I didn’t see a sight of her until I saw her waving at me from an old Mustang, which really felt like it came straight from a classic 80s movie. I waved back at her, on which she excitedly came out of her car and ran towards me. She was wearing a long traditional shalwar kameez with black shoes, and I must say, she was looking gorgeous. Ayesha welcomed me with a broad smile and a warm hug, which instantly gave me the first taste of Pakistanis hospitality and kindness.

Due to the busy and frantic ajaib ghar road, it was hard for me and Ayesha to cross the road all by us with two backpacks and one luggage when unexpectedly, one man offered to help. I still remember the loneliness, hard work, and solitude he had on his face. He carried my suitcase on his head while the other two behind his back. With him leading the way, Ayesha and I quickly crossed the ajaib ghar road and sat in the car. While leaving, I offered him some money, on which he replied, “Miss, we don’t take money from foreigners, you are our guest, and we are your host.”

 That one actual moment flashed back so many memories of mine, but above all, it reminded me of the quote I read in 6th grade “True hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to your guests” He gave me everything in that one minute, but in return he took nothing.

               Lighten up your mood with an Interaction of Rose at signal:

Before the heat dispirited my enthusiasm for visiting Lahore, we took off for Lawrence View Hotel. While traveling, our car stopped on a red signal where I came across a girl selling flowers. She had tied her hair in two braids, Dupatta in the middle of her neck, and had worn shalwar kameez.

I rolled down the window of the car and asked her, “How much for one?” on which she replied, “where are you from” I was quite astonished at how straightforwardly she asked me, but the innocence yet desperation on her face made me answer her question “I am from America, I came here to visit Lahore” she kept staring at me for a while, and said “your eyes are beautiful” I smiled and said “Thank you, you are beautiful too” The signal was about to go green, so she rushed to the corner of the road but before that she quickly gave me a rose for free of cost and said “A beautiful rose for a beautiful lady.”

That day still makes me smile, how that little rose bloomed a rose in my life in just a minute.

                      Get lost in the miraculous sight of Anarkali Bazar

Ayesha was a great person to talk to; whether it was about travelling or fashion, she had the reply for everything. We had an amazing conversation while driving when all of sudden Ayesha took a right turn to a busy street, and my jaw dropped. There were thousands of people wandering here and there. I have never seen such a crowd of people in one place. I was observing the entrance of the street when Ayesha told me, "its Anarkali Bazar, the most famous yet amazing Bazar to shop in."

I have been to many Bazars before but what makes Anarkali exceptional is its valid look and environment. It is a spot that catches the indigenous bazaar life of Lahore. A road merchant sells dates near a neighborhood mosque with a blue arch ("Neela Gumbad"). Ladies customers with plastic packs stop at a well-known café to appreciate some "Channa chaat." Or a beggar follows guests escaping vehicles as they advance toward the shops. It was one hell of a view I sighted while sitting in a car. The euphoria I felt was mind-blowing, and the intense sensation of buying "Jhumkas" (Earrings) from the street vendor or eating "Dahi bhala" from the nearby chaat shop took over me, but the pain in my feet was enough to hold my excitement inside myself. While making the last turn out of Anarkali Bazar, I unexpectedly moved my face out of the window and screamed, "I will be back, Anarkali Bazar."

                                     Brunch to engrave your hunger

After an hour of a car ride, we finally reached the Lawrence View Hotel. I was already exhausted due to check in procedures when they finally allotted us the desired room; Ayesha helped me in settling my bags in the room. The room was huge; it was an amalgamation of sophisticated decor and homely comfort. Most of all, it had a wooden bed contrasting with an appealing wall and a red rug. It was spacious having majestic interior, safety locker, high definition smart curved led, a wide bathroom and an access to soothing Jacuzzi. I was looking forward to sleep in it after such a tiring flight and car ride.

Ayesha left the room, and while leaving, she waved me goodbye with placing a handwritten note on the door. I smiled at her gesture and went close to the door to get a good look at it. It said, “Have a great sleep because I have a surprise for you tomorrow morning that can make you tired” I Laughed and straightly went to grab my shawl. I was hungry, so I thought of fetching food before I sleep.

Instead of ordering room service, I went downstairs. The Lawrence View Hotel had already amazed me with the room, so I thought of viewing their customer’s services and dining area.

As I walked past the entrance of the dining area, my eyes wandered across the hallway. It was heavenly designed with white and black tiles contrasting with the brown furniture and red wallpaper. The floor had comfortable creaks, and above all, there was staff standing all over the area with a polite yet compassionate smile on their face. They truly implicated the art of service.

The soothing environment lessened the tiring feeling in my bones as I sat down on the chair. I ordered a club sandwich with mineral water, but one of the staff suggested me to try “Biryani,” The specialty of Pakistan food, which I happily accepted. The denim jeans, white t-shirt, and blue eyes were indeed a representation of me being a foreigner. Even though it had so many drawbacks but the best thing about it was, people were genuinely hospitable towards me.  

The food finally arrived after the long wait, but as soon as I ate the first spoon of “Biryani,” the wait was worth it.

                 Unleash your patriotism with the trip to Wagah Border

With delicious food and comfy bed, I had a fantastic sleep, and I got up at 8:00 am with the knock at my door. I was expecting room service, but as soon as I opened the door, I saw Ayesha standing with "Naan and chane bathure" in her hand. I was astonished at how Ayesha is so punctual in following the schedule. Apparently, while we were in the car yesterday, I asked her to pick me up at 8 am, and there she was standing with food in her hand.

After breakfast and gossips, Ayesha and I left for the Wagah border. I didn’t have much idea of the Wagah border, but as Ayesha said, it was a surprise. I didn’t even ask her anything.  

The trip from the Golden Temple to the Wagah Border was a carefully long hour. It is about 35km, and there were six of us pressing on the Rickshaw – one next to the driver, three at the secondary lounge, and 2 of us sitting at the rear of the Rickshaw. Ayesha suggested it would be an amazing experience if we take the Rickshaw instead of a car inside of the Wagah border.

Even though it was, but I was too tall to sit in a back seat. I consistently wind up, extending my neck. The rough ride also meant that I ended up practically falling now and then had to stick onto the seat frantically.

It didn't help that I was additionally in front of the searing sun, and numerous times local people would just stare at me like they have never observed a foreigner before.

And, it begins

After a long hour of standing in a queue, I was already feeling tired and drained. But as soon as I acknowledge, the individuals in Wagah border decked in bright sarees and conventional ensembles filled the pitch, and officers adorned with identifications and pins stood firm, guarding the renowned function. My mood lighted up. They guided us towards the traveller seats instead of locals.

Ayesha and I sat on these seats, which seemed to be like an hour until all of sudden the music blasted. Girls were gradually moving their bodies to the music, and when more ladies went along with them, they broke out into a lively dance. It was charging – ladies were moving, hollering, and transmitting their pride for the nation. Just ladies were permitted to join the gathering while men viewed from the stands with their cell phones and cameras up high.

After the females went back to their seats, some of the ladies were invited to hold the flag and run to the border gate and back. They bore the flag like it was a shield and ran like they were in a race. It was the most electrifying yet patriotic moment one can notice. Ayesha and I were enjoying each and every moment of it.

After an hour of stimulating performances, electrifying Wagah border parade, and cheering, the ceremony finally reached a conclusion with officers from each side standing off and shaking hands. I asked Ayesha about why they shake their hands at the end, to which she replied, "It symbolises an image of the two nations' competition, fellowship, and collaboration.