#johnny got chill time in the middle that's my excuse

[factorialsotherfandoms]

Mild spoilers up to end of opd7, I'm making up backstory! This fic would be set around about the time of AOP, but the other side of the city.

Johnny is two stacks deep into stolen and useless paperwork when he realises that he is hungry. Checking his watch he finds it a bit after four in the afternoon. With a yawn he stretches and - and, fuck, right, no stretching.

A spike of pain shifts through his chest, radiating from the stab wound on his side. It’s exactly for that reason he is doing paperwork and not leaving it to his partner. Maybe he should, though? They met three weeks ago and dumped on this undercover mission, and Johnny isn’t quite sure what the fuck he’s done since. Pulled some documents off a computer, stolen paperwork while Johnny distracts whomever is there, dug out coordinates from the internet to find them the target even… Little that could neither be done from home or by Johnny himself.

And, Johnny is sort of aware that he is being disingenuous - he knows he couldn’t have nor decode the files to actually find the coordinates, gotten that computer working, nor trick the security system into letting them inside, but, fuck, he thinks he deserves it. He knows, he knows it isn’t Rubens’ fault that his training is insufficient, or that his response to someone pulling a knife was to completely forget his gun and freeze up at the first sign of danger - that is, again, a nobody bothered to practice with him problem - but, fuck, even running would have been more useful.

One run in with a cultist, just one, and two weeks of trying to convince Rubens to look Johnny in the eye was lost to the younger man locking himself in his room.

Not that that is the biggest issue - of course it isn’t. The biggest issue is the glaring stab wound in Johnny’s side, him having pushed himself between the blade and Rubens’ lungs.

Sure, Johnny is supposed to be helping him with the gaps in his skills, but fuck, it’s hard when Rubens won’t speak to him, eyes Johnny nervously every time they’re in the same room, and hides himself in his room over coming to the living room where Johnny can tell him things - if Sam hadn’t asked quite so nicely that Johnny keep an eye on them, he might just have let him get stabbed.

He wouldn’t, he’d never just let someone  get stabbed - but, again, Johnny thinks he deserves to be a bit pissy right now.

The fact that the behaviour reminds him of some of the kids he grew up with? It doesn’t help much either. He was never much good at making them feel comfortable either.

Slowly he gets up, and keeps his torso carefully still as he goes to the kitchen. He absolutely missed lunch, and there’s still a while before dinner. He cannot reach all of the shelves without bending - standing was enough of a concession from the doctor Rubens had dragged him to, let alone bending - but there are a few.

Fridge is entirely empty, the first cupboard only has a bag of pasta… It’s enough pasta to finish out the week, but then they’ll need more shopping.

The next cupboard has some crackers and a pot of jam. It is only when he tries that Johnny remembers that he cannot reach up to them; he kicks the counter and a couple of bags of dried… apricots and pineapple from a bowl by the chopping board instead. Leaving them on the counter he goes to get himself a drink and-

And stubs his toe on a bag full of trash.

A bag of trash that he distinctly remembers reminding Rubens to take out, because the collection was at noon and Johnny couldn’t pick things up.

The next one isn’t for a while, and they cannot just have bags of trash lying around the apartment. There are other places to take it, of course, but with Johnny out of action…

He doesn’t want to talk to Rubens, not really, but… Well it cannot just stay there, can it?

Johnny abandons his snacks, and makes his way to Rubens’ room. 

At least the apartment doesn’t have fucking stairs this time around.

---

He knocks on Rubens’ door. Johnny is not really expecting a response - Rubens never says anything - but he knows to at least try.

Sure enough, there is some shuffling around - Rubens clearly heard - but no actual response. Johnny sighs and pushes open the door, ignoring the twinge in his side as he does. He is met by the sight of Rubens sitting at his desk, already spinning around as he slams his laptop shut.

The headphones only come off a few seconds after.

Johnny recognises the look of utter panic in Rubens’ eyes, one not dissimilar from the wide-eyed expression he had made when that cultist pulled out the knife. Receiving the same look as a cultist aiming to kill makes something in Johnny’s gut hurt, but not as badly as the stabbing he took for him.

“You forgot to take the trash out again.”

Rubens’ face shifts a bit, first to confusion then to something else entirely as he checks his phone. He runs a hand down his face, squishing his palms into his eyes. Johnny, doing his best to be patient, waits for him.

“Where?”

Really? Not even an apology? “Where what?”

Rubens gestures a bit, hiding a yawn in his elbow as he shakes his head a bit, “taking it?”

Right. Because if they just put it out now, they’ll be done for blocking the pavement; there’s not another collection for two weeks.

And Johnny has no fucking clue where Rubens comes from, or anything really, but he himself is at least local, “should be some collection boxes near the park. Park on the east side, and should be there.”

He gets a nod from Rubens, who drags his hands over his face again before levering himself up. Johnny just stands and watches - fuck moving even a little hurts - as Rubens grabs a jacket from a heap on the bed. 

Relatively sure that he is at least going to fix the fuck up, Johnny drags himself back to the couch. It is only after he sits down that he realises he left his lunch in the kitchen.

And, fuck.

He could get back up and get it, but… Just from standing in Rubens’ doorway it already feels a bit like getting stabbed all over again. So, it’s fine.

He’s fine.

He’ll just… settle in with some of the research. Look it over a bit more, delay until it’s late enough for an early dinner, and /then/ he’ll stand up again.

Behind him, he hears the front door slam shut.

At least the bins are actually getting taken out, then.

---

It is over an hour later that Rubens comes home, from what should have been a twenty minute job - maybe thirty if losing a tail. By the time the door to the apartment slams open and then shut, Johnny is past annoyed and deep into the worried territory. He waits for something to be called for him, a reassurance that this isn’t a home invasion, but nothing; just feet on the tiles, then clattering in the kitchen, and then another slamming door as he returns to his room.

Which, fine, it sounds like Rubens and calling would be more, not less, out of character.

Still, Johnny wishes he had been assigned literally anyone else to work with - or perhaps not put on this job at all. He hates undercover work, he hates the layers of games and pretence and story-weaving, and the months and months of work that can be ruined with a single wrong word.

And Johnny? He’s not /good/ with words; it’s one of the few things that he and Rubens seem to share.

He gives himself another few minutes of research, carefully still even as reads through another few printouts, before pulling himself back to his feet. And, fuck, his side strains at the movement, sharp pain rippling through him. It takes a few moments for Johnny to catch his breath before he actually heads towards the kitchen; someone needs to make dinner, and Johnny remembers what the fuck happened last time Rubens tried cook anything more complicated than microwave rice.

The kitchen is just the next room, but getting back there still takes some effort. One of the stools from the breakfast bar has been left near the fridge - Rubens must have been clambering on it to get something from the upper shelves, though hell only knows why he went up there since Johnny was last in here - and there are a couple of supermarket bags are on the countertop.

Bags, still containing items, because /someone/ could not be fucked to put them away.

But, Johnny tries to remind himself, at least Rubens thought to buy some. It does explain a bit of the clattering at least, and shows initiative. Johnny is sort of grasping for straws, but he doesn’t want to hate the guy he’s just… Failing to communicate.

Badly.

So fucking badly - it’s not even that communication is going wrong, it’s that it’s not fucking happening at all.

With dread in his stomach, Johnny pulls open the bags. If he’s left milk out… 

A quick check shows that at least the correct things have made it into the fridge - all crammed into either the drawer or the bottom shelf, but perhaps it is all Rubens can reach, with the milk in the door. Johnny would put the rest away, if he could reach that high right now.

He’ll make Rubens do it later. For now Johnny sorts through the bags, looking for something more interesting than pasta and peas.

There is enough food for another week. Maybe more, if they are conservative or, more likely, order pizza again. There seems to be nothing within Rubens’ skillset to cook, but everything is easily within Johnny’s. A hint, perhaps, that would be taken more happily if Johnny were not injured still; it’s not that Johnny minds cooking, he even enjoys it - it’s relaxing - it’s just that with a knife wound between his bottom two ribs it is a nightmare.

He’s not bitter, he’s just… He’s tired, and hurt, and somehow they have to keep this up for months. He knows the other man is new to this, and everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and that they’re both adjusting, but if he could show a little more concern about the fact he nearly fucking died! Or, better yet, that Johnny got a knife in the side protecting him from one in the lung. And Johnny gets it, he really does, he’s even used to it; he knows Rubens is a waif of a man while Johnny is built like a particularly intimidating block of flats. He knows that Rubens cows even from talking to /Sam/, but seriously. If he can’t dodge a knife, he’s a god-damned liability.

And more than Johnny doesn’t want to hate Rubens, he doesn’t want him /dead/.

To make things somehow worse, it also seems they’re in too much fucking shit too fast for Johnny to be able to do his job and train him, especially when Rubens makes no motions towards /wanting/ help. 

Johnny cannot help someone who won’t cooperate with him, and that’s the root of the fucking problem, isn’t it?

Next time, Johnny should just leave him here with the data - go deal with the leads himself, and just keep the man on call. It would be safer for both of them, if he doesn’t have to worry about Rubens, and Rubens doesn’t have to worry about knives. Having a gun is all well and good, but you need to keep steady enough to /use it/.

At least next time will not be for a while yet; Johnny isn’t so stupid as to charge in before his stitches are out, not if there is another option. Even if he was inclined to, they don’t exactly have a target. Even if they did, if they stumble into these assholes too often it will blow their cover. Even if it wasn’t… Well then someone else would be doing this shit, wouldn’t they?

There is nothing to be done right now, though, not about Rubens or about the mission, so he just… adds water to one of the saucepans, still on the drying rack, and places it on the hob. He pushes the stool over to where he can sit on it and cut vegetables, tossing two people’s worth pasta into the water before turning on the heat.

As that comes to the boil he grabs a random selection of vegetables from the grocery bag, peeling and chopping them into another pan. The peeler and wooden spoon had also been left out, cleaned but then left on the chopping board; only two people live in the apartment, and Johnny knows that he is not the one to blame.

Tomato paste, spices, some already portioned out mince-meat from the restocked fridge… Johnny does not have the energy to do more than throw it in the pan, but if it cooks it cooks.

About halfway through he remembers the salt for the pasta. Cursing, he throws in a random amount, and hopes for the best.

It does not take long for everything to be done. Johnny calls for Rubens to come get food as he drains the pasta, splitting it between two bowls before adding the sauce. Both go on the breakfast bar - already laid out with cutlery when Rubens did the washing up - and he waits.

And he waits.

And he eats his own dinner, only to find that Rubens still has not appeared.

It is not exactly unusual for Rubens not to eat with Johnny, but usually he at least appears to grab things and take them to his room, then an hour later to get the washing up done. When Johnny cooks, Rubens washes up. When Rubens cooks… Rubens also washes up, because he only gets to cook if Johnny is incapacitated.

Like most of the last week.

And Johnny isn’t worried, not exactly, he doubts the other man is stupid enough to have gotten shot buying groceries and tried to hide it, but… Well, he cannot help it a little bit. No matter how tense things are in the house, Johnny doesn’t /want/ shit to happen to him.

Rubens probably just had headphones on, again, and decided to worry Johnny by not hearing him.

Slipping down from the high stools is much kinder on his side than standing up from the sofa. It does not take even a minute to cross over to Rubens’ room and knock.

No answer.

Definitely worried now - Rubens does know better than to put the volume so high as to not hear him this close, and Johnny knows this is normal enough but he cannot even hear him moving or typing or anything and- and Johnny opens the door.

Rubens is sprawled out on his desk, slumped onto his keyboard. For a moment Johnny panics about being found, about something worse happening, until… No, he’s just asleep. Nobody broke in and hurt them, he’s just asleep.

Johnny… he means to just go and wake him, to drag him down to eat /something/, even if it’s some of the fruit and not the pasta, when his eyes catch on the desk.

… The fuck?

There’s a selection of fruits, each slashed open - some neatly, some not - and about half pulled back together with butterfly stitches, or sticky gauze pads. Not from their actual emergency kit, but from another and new one - the bag is blue not green - that Rubens did not tell him about. There’s bandages, too, hanging loosely from Rubens’ arm - there’s no injury beneath them that Johnny can see, just… awkwardly tied bandages?

… Practising maybe…?

Glancing up implies that might even be true; open on the laptop and still playing into Ruben’s headphones, a woman in a paramedic’s uniform is demonstrating the recovery position. Two videos ago in the playlist is one on stab wounds.

Ah.

Johnny looks at Rubens again, notices the dark bruises under his eyes. Now that he thinks about it… Three nights ago when Johnny needed help with the bandages coming undone and texted him, Rubens had been there far too fast - and awake - to have been asleep. That had been at 5am, an hour Rubens had before their ‘field trip’ called an impossible hour.

Was he not sleeping?

Was this…

Johnny reassesses; every good agent needs to be able to reassess, to be able to admit that sometimes you’re just fucking wrong. 

If Rubens is tired because he has not slept enough, that explains him forgetting the trash. But then why wouldn’t he sleep? He certainly had not been having problems with that /before/ the last mission, and it wasn’t like he was the one up all night from the pain of a stab wound… But the video, so… Was Rubens, what, worried? But then why… Surely first aid stuff is easier on other people? Johnny only knows the very basics, but practising bandages with only one hand sounds like a nightmare. Why would Rubens do it alone?

… Because even if Rubens is worried, Johnny is still intimidating. Johnny knows what he is, and it’s neither welcoming nor friendly. And, he is not exactly in the best mood right now. Indeed, he’s in a pretty fucking shit one, helped by the hour on the couch but only so much. First aid videos are not Rubens training himself not to get hit, but… It’s something. It’s looking for how to fix the consequences of failure, even if Rubens should really be looking for how not to fail in the first place.

Or perhaps that, too, is unkind - with wrists like his, Johnny doubts Rubens can take to the punching bags without hurting himself. Not without guidance, at least. Guidance which he’s too… awkward, scared, antisocial? To ask for.

And maybe this isn’t what Johnny would want from him… But it’s something, isn’t it?

Why do people have to be so damned complicated?

Trying to be a little gentle, Johnny shakes Rubens’ shoulder. It takes a moment but the younger man uncurls himself, and stretches, and yawns.

The cracks along his spine sound unpleasant.

The noises Rubens make as he blinks himself awake - clearly exhausted, now Johnny is looking for it - are unintelligible. After a bit of confused blinking, he finally manages a “Hm? Need me?”

“Food’s ready.”

No reply, but Rubens does kick back and ease himself to standing. It’s then that he seems to notice his laptop was left open, quickly slamming the lid down before… hesitating. Watching Johnny.

Does he pretend or not?

Johnny’s never been much for pretending.

“Can’t take you to the gym right now, but I can be a practice doll if you want,” he says. “Even got a stab wound if you want to give that a go.”

Rubens’ arms cross defensively over himself, “don’t joke about that.”

It’s possibly the most words Rubens has said in a go to him.

It is also not a no.

“Sure,” Johnny shrugs instead, trying his best to look like a man who hasn’t killed too many people to count with his hands alone.“There’s pasta on the side for you. If it’s cold, the microwave is there.”

“Thanks,” Rubens’ hands linger over the laptop for a minute, before he hesitantly raises it in a fist. “Like this?”

Johnny takes a moment to realise what is going on, then looks at it. It’s not… the best, but it’s better than what he’d been doing previously. “Almost. I can show you in the morning?”

A nod, but not a lot more. Rubens still looks… tense? Tense might be the right word, but they’ve never been Johnny’s speciality.

What is it, what is it… Ah. Right. Johnny might be the stabbed one, but Rubens was clearly /trying/ to hide what he was studying for whatever fucking reason. The fist shape feels like an offering, so how does Johnny accept if not in offering to fix it…

Fuck, why didn’t they assign anyone else to this mission? Johnny is not cut out for this mentoring thing.

“Err…” What is the problem… Oh, right, obviously. Needing help fucking sucks. “After that, could you show me how to not get viruses when I’m checking SD cards we find? I don’t want to take my laptop in for repairs /again/.”

“Sure,” Rubens’ tone is a little odd, and Johnny gets the distinct impression he is being laughed at. Or, perhaps, he’s just not seen Rubens relax before.

“... We good?”

Rubens gives him a thumbs up, before pushing past him and through to the kitchen.

At this point, Johnny will take it.

[livredebelle]

Seven.

LUCKILY FOR ME, JOHNNY wasn't in today--flu or something--so it was a relaxing start to the day at the coffee shop. I leisurely watered the potted plants by the window, fluffed the cushions, swept the floor and made a latte for myself. I was enjoying a pretty chill Saturday afternoon when the entrance door opened with a flourish and I saw who had come to visit.

I couldn't help but grimace.

"Aw, come on now. Is this the welcome I deserve?" It was Seth, my distant cousin. Whenever he came to find me, it was nothing but trouble--he was my mother's personal messenger and dog, and it was awfully annoying having to deal with him every time he came to pass a message. 

"Sorry. I don't like dogs, especially mongrels like yourself." 

He chuckled. "That never gets old. Anyway, Auntie wanted me to tell you to--"

"To come home, I know. I got her text message."

"Then, did you see the one she sent after that? The one, you know, about killing herself?" Seth inquired with somewhat judgmental eyes. The bastard. 

In fact, I had. It was in the middle of the night--or rather, day--when I was halfway between sleep and clarity, and my mother sent me a threatening message: If you don't come home soon, I'm going to kill myself. There is no point living as the mother of a child who doesn't love her. It's heartbreaking. I'm heartbroken! Twenty minutes or so later, she sent a follow-up when I hadn't had the courtesy to deliver a response: I'm really going to do it. It'll all be over soon. Goodbye. 

It was haunting, sure, but not exactly new; Mother was a fan of the theatrics, and she had always had this dramatic flair inside her that had been, in the past, a potential skill that would enable her to study drama in order to become an actress. Turns out, though, she wasn't that talented, and of course you know the rest. It might have been heartless; nevertheless, I simply said, "I did. It was funny."

"Excuse me? Funny? How so?"

"Because she isn't really going to do it. She's never actually going to do it, but she'll make you think she might, because that gives her the advantage she wants over everyone. Mother's a master manipulator, Seth, I hope you are aware. Well, it doesn't seem like it, since you're still obeying her orders."

"Auntie's the head of the household, Irina. Without her you won't be able to do anything. Look at how you're living now--you're dirt broke, you're living in a tiny ass studio apartment, and you have no friends here..."

"You know Mother's broke too, right? Not too long ago she was ringing me up for money."

"Recently, she started dating this guy and I think they really hit it off--"

"OH. She's dating again. Or--wait--is she married? Again? Isn't this her third time? Jesus, I--" I sucked in a deep breath. It was a shocker, to be sure. I didn't think she was that stupid. "Please tell me."

"They're just dating for now, but it looks like it could potentially be serious." Seth's eyes narrowed. "Besides, why do you, of all people, care whether she gets married for a third time or not?"

"Oh, I don't. Believe me. I just have this bet against myself. A part of me thinks she'll never marry again, because she's been burnt so badly twice before and surely she's lost all hope. Another part thinks she's an idiot who will never learn her lesson, and keep burning herself out until she disappears, like a candle flame..." I snorted. "I think I found my answer." 

Seth stepped close to the counter, and I warned, "Don't come any closer. Employees only beyond this point."

He stepped back, then ran his hand through his hair. Obviously, he was frustrated. His mud-brown hair was starting to get long, and some of it was going into his eyes. I tried my best to hide my disgust. He was so effeminate with his long hair and the way he spoke. He was a sly little fox, and I wouldn't be fooled like everyone else by his flowery words; he was just another manipulator to me. Figures, as the saying goes, the apple does not fall far from the tree, and some genes can't be erased, I guess--wickedness apparently runs in my family. "Anyway... come home soon, even if it's just to visit. I bet Rosalie would be happy to see you. She's been asking about you, you know, and it breaks my heart because it's not like I have permission to give her your number. That's another thing--are you going to avoid your sister forever? Weren't you two close before?" 

"Don't talk to me about Rose." This time, I couldn't hide the rage he had ignited; how dare he talk about Rose as if he was concerned about her, after what he had done to her...

Rosalie had been pretty but frail ever since she was a child, and as sisters, we couldn't be more polar opposites. In the past, Seth had a thing for her, which made me want to barf--he was our second cousin, but still family, and it physically sickened me to recall how he used to court her. Actually, did he still court her...? I wasn't too sure, but wouldn't be surprised if he was. She was girly, graceful, and kind--everything a guy wanted in a girl and everything I was not. In contrast to her, I was always bitter and angry even as a child; growing up, I caused a lot of adults in my family grief because I had a sharp tongue, and wouldn't hold back if I felt I was being challenged. Once, Mother slapped me across the face in pure anger over a fight. Not losing my cool, I had calmly slapped her back. I still remembered the shock in her eyes at the time. How could a child slap her own parent? It was unforgivable, and I knew it. 

Rose was my half-sister; she was the offspring of Mother's second marriage, and was beautiful and thin, with luscious long golden curls. She, like Mother, was a dancer and a talented ballerina. There was a part of me that envied her, not because she was pretty and closer to Mother, but because she had a natural gift. She was obviously good at dancing, and I was a good-for-nothing. That was why nothing ever went my way. Regardless, Rose was a good sister who cared for me, I knew, but somehow that made things harder. How was I supposed to tell her what was wrong with me when everything was? She was too pure; she wouldn't understand... So I had chosen the easier route, which was to run away from the bullshit. Since I had moved out, I had cut off contact with almost everyone in my family. The only person who had my cell phone number was Seth, and that was only because he had had a classmate who knew me from a previous part-time job, and had obtained it that way. I couldn't change my number even if I wanted to because it was too expensive to do so, so I was stuck with him forever having that leverage. Of course, he was blocked as a contact, but still.

I think Rose just wanted to connect with me because she didn't know me. Surely, if she did, she would think I was insane...

True, at one point we may have been close. I'm not so sure--maybe when we were really little, like in elementary school. Otherwise, I don't remember ever having a decent conversation with her. All I remember is that I distanced myself from her on purpose, hated her for a while, and then grew indifferent as I realized we lived in worlds too apart from each other to bridge the gap. 

I felt bad, but changed the subject. "I need to get back to work. If you're just going to babble some more, then feel free to do so, but don't expect me to listen." And with that, I turned heel and started cleaning the espresso machine. Jeez, an afternoon shift like this would be super slow. I wished the place was full with customers, so Seth could leave me the hell alone. 

True to form, by 7 PM at the end of my shift, Seth was still at the shop, waiting for me while casually drinking his fifth espresso. The guy was a lunatic. Wasn't this going too far for my mom? God forbid, was he in love with her too? Sounds like something a freak like him would do.

When I saw Megumi head in for the night shift, I knew it was over. Groaning, I threw my apron into the locker as she and I changed, in and out of our uniforms, respectively.

"Jesus, what happened? You sound so depressed, I might blow my brains out." 

After assuring her it was nothing, I started heading out of the locker rooms to meet the inevitable when a voice stopped me. 

"Excuse me, miss. May I order a flat white, please?" 

I was a bit taken aback by how familiar the voice sounded. Sure enough, it was the guy I had met on my graduation day, when I had gone back to retrieve my diploma. His smile was still gentle. I glanced back towards the locker rooms--Megumi was probably still getting ready--so I shrugged and decided to ring up his order. "Sure. And your name, mister...?"

"Now you ask for my name, Miss Irina." 

[knoxvilleforever]

Visiting a Waterpark with Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass Crew

request: @ilovejknoxville Could you possibly do something where johnny & the reader going to a waterpark? Maybe some of the guys join in on the trip, one of them rents out a cabana for all of you to hang out at once lunch rolls around or something. I dont know ive just had this stuck in my head and i feel like you could have a fun time writing about it! <3 i love your work!! <3

when johnny suggested going to a waterpark you thought it was one of the best ideas you’d ever heard

especially in the middle of a heatwave

and when he let it slip to the rest of the crew, there was no way they weren’t coming too

so that’s how you ended up in the back of a van on one of the hottest days of the year

with pontius, steve o, bam, ryan, dave, ehren and jeff tagging along with you

you couldn’t deny that you knew you were about to have one of the most hilarious days of your life

when you got to the waterpark you got changed and revealed the bathing suit you picked for the day

johnny’s eyes almost fell out of his head

his hands were immediately on your hips

and you had to scold him a couple of times for trying to make out with you when you were very much in public

tells you that you definitely need more sunscreen on as an excuse to touch you

so when he’s stood for almost ten minutes applying your sunscreen for you the other guys start to chime in

starting with bam

‘damn, me next knoxville.’

and then ryan

‘i’ve been waiting for him to touch me like that for years!’

and then chris

‘everything with this group always turns sexual.’

the first thing on everyone’s mind were the waterslides

getting in line with a group of rowdy boys made the wait seem to fly by

and then they were arguing who was going down the slide with who

johnny had his hands on your waist still

and he was adamant you’d be on the slide with him and only him

watching the rest of the guys go down was hilarious

chris ended up sliding down on steve o’s back

whilst johnny pushed jeff down with dave and ehren

johnny was clinging to you as you both shot down the slide

and hearing bam and ryan bickering whilst they slid down after you made you laugh even more

the other guys were desperate to get you on some of the tall slides

‘let’s go, y/n!’

‘you sure about these, sweetheart?’

‘oh come on, i can’t let you guys go on them without me!’

johnny insisted he wanted to go down first because he wanted to watch you

he definitely cheered afterwards

and you were only slightly embarrassed

if you try to chill out in one of the pools expect anyone of the guys to pull you off your floatie

they’ll either tip you off it from underneath

or dive on it with you to make it sink

after a few hours of fun you all agreed you needed some food

and jeff surprised you with a huge cabana for you all to relax in

johnny wasn’t sure if he could be more in love with you

when you were sat with half dried hair and sunglasses sat on your face

hints of sunburn on your skin despite all the sunscreen he insisted you needed

you catch him staring

he actually took off his sunglasses to look at you

‘you’re staring.’

‘can you blame me?’

the last thing you do is hit the wave pool

and let me tell you

it’s chaos

ryan and bam go right to the deep end to jump in

and you can see them from where you were clinging to each other once the waves start rolling in

you’re actually surprised you and johnny are the last ones standing amongst all the waves

dave and ehren are bickering in the background behind the two of you

about how deep they wanted to go

and you’re sure you see bam float right past you in one of the huge waves

not long followed by ryan

chris and steve o ended up following bam and ryan to the deep end because it looked fun

to you it looked like the best way to be thrown back towards the shallow end of the pool

so you and johnny were wading your way to the deep parts, jumping over the crashing waves

it got to a point that it was getting too deep for you

johnny’s a literal giant so he didn’t have that problem

and once the waves were getting bigger, his grip on you was tightening

until eventually you end up on his back, legs wrapped around his waist

‘i got ya, sweetheart.’

it’s one of his favorite memories

with his family

and you laughing like a mad woman in his ear

[marky4l]

mark is soo hot when hes producing do you get me please do hes jusr sexy as fukc

I’m making this into a drabble .

make it quick – a mark lee drabble

smut blowjob (m receiving), handjob (f receiving), mark has Had Enough of the teasing

word count 1.2k

—

“make it quick,” you breathe, “stop kissing me so much.”

“can’t help myself, you’re so pretty, baby,” mark mumbles back, his hands sliding up and down your body, seated atop him. mark’s oversized hoodie on you doesn’t do much to conceal what’s underneath, a choked whimper leaving your lips. he conceals it quickly with a deep kiss, your grip sliding up to his hair as your revel in it for a minute.

“mmmm, i’ve got to be out of this studio by 1AM,” you note absently, but the way you touch him betrays your urgency, your fingers making their way under his black tee and up his abdomen. “says the one who started all this,” he grunts, squeezing your ass. “drivin’ me fucking insane.”

“something about how you get all hot when you produce songs,” you whine, your touch growing needier and needier. “makes m—”

you’re jolted out of your bubble when mark’s phone rings, the default apple ringtone blaring through your ears and shocking you back to the present. as if you’d gotten caught, you hike the hoodie down further, your cheeks warm with embarrassment as mark wraps an arm around your waist, the other stretching over to pick up the phone.

“johnny, hey,” he says, inhaling through his nose and fiddling with his glasses. you watch expectantly, the arousal in you anticipating the end of this call. by the looks of mark’s curious expression, though, it seems like the odds aren’t in your favor.

his grip doesn’t loosen, but he loses himself in the conversation. “i was just working on the thing we started two months ago, man,” he says with a smile, “and i was thinking the exact same thing, yo. like, drawing inspiration from that exact, exact album.”

producer jargon stuff is all you hear, so you lean in closer, pressing a kiss to his jaw. he inhales sharply but makes no excuse for it—unsatisfied, you move further down, intensifying your kisses as you move down his neck.

you’re halfway into marking your third hickey when his hand comes to cup your jaw, pulling your face away from his neck.

he says nothing, but the way he looks at you ignites a spark of teasing in you. you raise a brow in a silent acceptance of his challenge, your fingers wrapping loosely around his wrist. what? you mouth teasingly, returning to your previous antics as he curses under his breath.

your mouth moves lower, your hands hiking his shirt down so you can press kisses all over his collarbones. his grip tightens from where it had rested on your ass, eliciting a poorly hidden whimper from you. you barely catch a glimpse of his smug smirk, a throb of arousal waving through you.

you untangle yourself from your situation on his lap, slinking lower until you’re on your knees in between his legs. his hand caresses your jaw in a small warning, but you only smile against it, looking up at his quiet struggle to stay on topic. “and for that, uh, project, i was—er, thinking. um, yes, that. you know me, big mac miller fan. i kind of wanted to do something for—”

you tug the waistband of his sweats down, and then his calvins, watching his hard cock spring free. you smile at the sight, nearly dazed when you leave a kitten lick at the tip. he breathes ruggedly, his hand moving from your jaw to your hair, tugging slightly. don’t test me, he mouths, but you love to do just that. you wink before taking his tip into your mouth, wrapping your lips around it.

“listen, this”—you take him further into your mouth, gagging slightly and leaving him breathless—“has been great, hyung, but i’ve gotta go. oh, no, left earlier, had some stuff to do,” he says, his breathing strained. he watches you struggle to take all of him, like you always do, but eventually he’s in your throat, and the sight drives him insane.

you bob your head a few times before pulling off, pouting and mouthing fuck my mouth?

he could, honest to god, cum right there.

he bucks his hips up slightly when you sink down onto him again, his cock hitting the back of your throat perfectly, and he sucks in a shaky breath through his teeth at the sight. he does it again, maintaining a feeble silence while johnny talks about lyrics and melody and god he’s forgotten at this point, so much that all he can mutter is a “bye” when he hangs up.

his grip on your hair tightens, his pace quickening as you gag around his cock. “you like that?” he asks gruffly, “like when you can suck me off without me making any noise? like being a fucking tease, huh? can’t even shut up and let me take a call.” he tugs you off his cock and you suck in a breath, nodding.

“i love it, mark,” you croak. “love sucking your cock.”

“i know you do,” he says with a mirthful smile, lowering you back down again. “love how your pretty lips look wrapped around me, baby. who knew tonight would lead to this, huh? thought i’d just be doing studio shit…pretty slut.”

you whimper, nodding in agreement as you take what’s given to you, your throat flexing around his dick.

“‘m gonna cum, angel,” he says quietly, “can you take it?” you nod, pulling off to rasp a “please” and coercing him into cumming. he thrusts once, twice, and then spills all over your mouth, flowing into your throat as you swallow.

he tugs you up roughly, and now he’s standing, his demeanor intimidating as he whirls you around and bends you over the console. he pulls the hoodie up, revealing your shorts underneath, and pulls those down to reveal your pretty underwear.

“this is nice,” he says, but it’s only a matter of seconds until he drags them down your legs. “this is better. all wet and just for me, aren’t you? all big game, being a brat and a half, now you can’t even reply.”

he presses his middle finger against your core, evoking a choked sob from you as you spread your legs wordlessly.

he chuckles, the sound sending a chill up your spine as he shoves two fingers into you in one go. you struggle to keep quiet, your face smushed against the surface of the table as mark drives his digits in and out of you. “please,” you whine, “i wanna cum.”

“wanna cum?” he repeats, a smile on his face. his pace turns fast and your mouth opens in a silent scream. you look like a disaster, your panties pooled at your ankles and your hair a matted mess, drool at your lips as you push your hips back onto mark’s fingers.

“come on, then, baby, cum. i know you can. can you? for me.”

you lose yourself in his words, focusing hard on the sensation of his fingers rubbing over your clit. his other hand pulls you up roughly by your hair so you’re flush against his chest, and you cry out at the new angle. “i asked you a question.”

“yes, i can cum, i wanna,” you blubber, tears forming at your eyes. he chuckles, pulling his fingers out and slapping your clit. you squeak, your legs shaky.

“not just yet.”

—

hope you liked it :) ask me anything!

[nctsjiho]

Explode

warnings: there’s 2 swear words in there and it’s a bit angsty this one

❀ There’s some unexplained tension between the 6 youngest members of Dream and JiHo

A bunch of testosterone and very strong-willed men was a recipe for occasional conflicts. Getting into fights with your friends was never fun. It was even worse when that friend was someone you had to work with, live with and see everyday. It happened from time to time that the boys butted heads, but usually it was a very dumb and small problem which got resolved before the end of the day. (Often because other members got involved to tell them their problem was just dumb and nothing worth fighting over.)

This time however seemed like a very different situation. It wasn’t a small fight between the two youngest members about a dance move. It also wasn’t someone who was jealous of another member because they forgot about hangout plans to chill with someone else. No this time seemed a lot more serious. The older boys watched as the room filled with tension. JiHo had just walked in, not even saying as much as a hi or giving a smile. It wasn’t like her and before anyone had to ask anything they sensed the second source of the tension. The 6 youngest Dream members were all sitting together, blank to annoyed facial expressions and most uncharacteristically, not even one of them was talking.

The older boys were all exchanging questioning looks, but it was evident that no one knew what was going on. They even looked at Mark, hoping that if anyone, he’d be the one to know what was going on since he was a member of Dream after all, but alas. He seemed the most dumbfounded of them all.

Taeyong was about to speak up, but before he could one of their managers walked in, ready to brief them on their upcoming schedules.

Once the meeting was over everyone made their way over to the biggest practise room. JiHo had settled on the couch next to Kun and Yangyang, quickly putting her airpods in her ears, a clear sign she didn’t want to engage in any conversation. Since JiHo wasn’t going to talk the older boys thought that they could try prying some information out of the Dreamies. Not wanting to step on anyone’s toes though, they all agreed that Mark should talk to the boys.

He carefully approached the boys who had been talking amongst themselves and sat down in between Jisung and Jaemin. They made some small talk before Mark carefully brought up the subject. “So, did something perhaps happen? With- you know? With-...” Haechan scoffed, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes before standing up and turning to his backpack to find his bottle of water. Mark tried making eye contact with Jisung and Renjun who avoided it as if their lives depended on it. The other 3 boys just shrugged when Mark looked at them with Jeno starting to play with the strings of his hoodie.

Mark stood up defeated and went to report his lack of information to Taeyong. They decided to leave it at that for a little since neither party was going to talk and they still had a long day to go. Imagine what it would be like if their petty stare down evolved into a huge fight.

It had neared 3 pm. The members had been practising for about 2 and a half hours before they got their break. JiHo had seemed to become a lot less tense but Taeyong decided not to act on it yet. He had recruited Lucas, Johnny, Taeil and Hendery to come with him to the convenience store and grab snacks and drinks for everyone with the hopes that it would brighten up the mood and give everyone some more energy for the coming hours of practise.

What he didn’t expect was that on his arrival back at the practise room, a whole bomb would have exploded. Accusations were thrown around, and glares were being sent out. Yuta and Jaehyun were holding JiHo back while Kun, Ten, Mark and Yangyang stood by the Dreamies, Doyoung standing in the middle like some kind of referee. The other members standing off to the side, not wanting to intervene.

You’d might ask why 2 men had to hold a tiny girl back. Well Taeyong was confused as well, until he walked closer to see the deadly stares of the girl. He wondered how the younger boys hadn’t given up on yelling yet, one of those looks in Taeyong’s direction and he’d apologise straight away, even if it wasn’t his fault. JiHo was unarguably the scariest when angry, but the Dreamies were notorious for being stubborn and talkative, not backing down in the slightest.

“-if she would stop talking behind people’s backs!” Renjun had yelled. The boys who just walked in didn’t have a clue about what already had been said prior or what had ticked them off to start fighting right then and there, but their main goal now was to resolve the problem. “Oh what would you know?” JiHo scoffed, but Doyoung came to interject. “What did she say then?” “Why don’t you ask her!” Haechan argued causing Doyoung to groan. “I asked you didn’t I?” “I don’t even know what I did to get you guys so pissed of at me.” The girl was calm. Eerily calm and it send shivers down Jaehyun and Yuta’s spines who were standing next to her.

“Sure you don’t!” Haechan chuckled, not that he found it funny, he just couldn’t believe JiHo was feigning innocence right now. She rolled her eyes before turning around and walking over to the couch in the back of the room. She plopped down on it and pushed her head back against the back of the couch, her hands coming up to slowly massage her temples.

“Can someone explain-” “How dare you call Jisung a fake maknae and talk bad about him behind his back?” Jaemin had finally spoken up, his voice low. This comment shocked everyone. No way JiHo did something like that right? But before they could say anything Haechan fired another comment. “And say how Mark shouldn’t be in Dream anymore, because you’re just jealous that you’re not in Dream with us.” “Yeah! It’s not our fault you’re not getting any songs-” “What the fuck did you just say? I dare you to finish that sentence Renjun.” JiHo stood up from her seat, malice lacing her every single word.

“Wow wow wow- Guys I can’t imagine JiHo saying anything like that. It must be a misunderstanding-” Doyoung said before he once again got interrupted by the Dream members. “It’s true! We heard her say it!” Jisung said, his voice starting to crack as tears brimmed in his eyes. “JiHo?” Doyoung looked at her with hopeful eyes. “Please let this be a misunderstanding.” He thought. “Is it my fault that I didn’t get any songs to promote then?” JiHo asked, looking at Renjun, completely ignoring the question.

“Is that what’s important right now?! Jisung is crying for goodness sake! And it’s all-” Chenle started yelling but Mark silenced him. “Why would I argue about something that isn’t true?” The girl said in almost a whisper before turning towards Renjun again. “So? Is it my fault? Jaemin here gets to perform Work It with Jisung, Haechan and Jeno have 90s Love and Haechan sings From Home with you and Chenle. You guys also have Déjà Vu. Yes, maybe I’m not as great of a signer as you, or as great as a dancer as Jisung, or as great as a rapper as Mark. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl. Maybe it’s because I shouldn’t have been in NCT in the first place. But is it my fault?” Her voice was so steady and calm, causing everyone in the room to become quiet.

They all stood there for a minute, before a sob leaves Jisung’s lips. Everyone turns to look at him, but JiHo turns to grab her phone and bag planning to leave. “JiHo, wait-” “I never. ever! Said anything like that about Jisung. What you probably heard was me telling Johnny how I’m feel like the fake maknae of NCT 127. How I felt like I, NCT 127′s maknae, am just a silly excuse for an idol, and how I took Haechan’s place, while he’s 100 times a better fit for the role than I am. Oh! And that about Mark, I never said he shouldn’t come back to Dream. I was talking about how worried I was for him to join another unit because he already is in almost all of them plus SuperM. I was talking about the unit Lee Soo Man has been planning for 2021. Who would I be to tell him what to do and not to do? And yes maybe I’m jealous of you guys, but I’m not the kind of person to go behind someone’s back and talk shit. But if that’s what you think of me please go ahead.” JiHo said before putting her belongings in her bag. “Also Jisung? Thanks for trusting in Haechan so much, saying that you all ‘heard me say it’ when it was only Haechan there eavesdropping on my conversation with Johnny. I’m really happy that knowing you for all these years has build this much trust between us.” She scoffed sarcastically.

As JiHo walked out of the room she got stopped by Taeyong. “JiHo, we still have practise-” “What’s there for me to practise? I’m not in any songs anyway.” She pushed herself through the boys at the doorway before making her way to the dorm, supposedly.

With JiHo gone the boys had looked over to Johnny who sighed deeply. “I don’t wanna say it, but you guys really messed up. Everything she said was true. She was only talking about herself, she never mentioned Jisung, besides when she said she was proud of him.” The comment had sent all the Dream members over the edge, their actions finally sinking in and the severity of their accusations very clear now.

They had never meant to be so hostile towards the girl, but when they thought she had been talking badly behind their backs about one of their members, and definitely since they thought it was about Jisung, they couldn’t help but get furious. They had such a close bond and felt protective over each other. Jisung had taken the news of JiHo badmouthing him very poorly and that sparked protectiveness over the youngest from the other members. But now that they found out about what was actually said they all felt sick to their stomachs. How could they have said such awful words to her when she was already talking badly about herself? And out of all member Haechan felt the worst. How was he ever going to make things right again? What were the consequences for his actions? And how bad were they going to be?

---

Part 2

[nakamoto-aesthetics]

7:02 pm — “when was your first time?” jaehyun asks mark.

“um…” mark looks down at the floor. “never”

gasps are heard around the room, eyes almost bulging out of their heads, except for johnny.

“are you guys seriously surprised I mean have you met mark? have you seen the way he talks to girls? he looks and talks like he gets no pussy” johnny says and the group laughs.

“come on guys stop embarrassing the poor boy,” taeyong, the mediator states. his hand reaches up to the back of marks head and guides down it.

“Instead, we should talk about how harmonious and peaceful yuta and y/n‘s relationship is. they are top-tier goals. they barely fight unless it’s over jealousy of course, but other than that there is no problem once so ever” taeyong adds on, all eyes shifting to you and yuta.

you were sitting on yutas lap, his arms were wrapped tightly around your waist. he had been pressing small kisses to your neck and shoulder the entire time.

“I want what they have” haechan sulks, the boys nodding along with him.

“believe me we all do” jungwoo laughs lightly and you chuckle.

“do you guys really?” you ask smiling softly. yuta started to rub the sides of your hips, planting kisses on the underside of your jaw. you tilt your head up and look at the guys, yutas hair brushing against the side of your cheek.

“yes, like right now for example. just look at you guys, this is complete bullshit” haechan slouches, adding a small pout.

“I need a girl” taeil puts his head in his hand.

“I mean they do have a point, yuta and y/n are practically soulmates. if they break up I’ll know love isn’t real” johnny utters.

“I don’t think it’s that serious,” you laugh. “I mean, yuta is clingy as hell, he constantly has to be touching me or else he might explode, I don’t think you want that”

“you act like you’re not the same way,” he pulls away from your neck to look at you fully. “if I’m not all up on her, then she’s all up on me” yuta looks at the boys and they look at her, wanting some sort of explanation.

“he’s right” you shrug and lean back against his chest. there was no sense in lying to the guys. “we’re super clingy with each other and that’s it” you turn your head to look yuta in the eyes. his hands were still placed on your hips, no longer rubbing it.

“wait, wait, wait, are you telling me that whole time that yuta was kissing on her, he didn’t make a single hickey??” doyoung intrudes on the conversation completely steering it in a different direction. now their eyes were on your bare shoulder and neck. as true to doyoungs words, nothing was there.

“nope, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of them all over her body” yuta winks. you instantly slap his shoulder, making him chuckle.

“you guys are a pair of freaks I swear. it’s bad enough I can hear your sex sessions, I don’t wanna know about it too“ mark gets chills at the thought.

“they’re rabbits aren’t they mark? all you can hear is moans and grunts” jaehyun chuckles. “not that I mind though, the moans are music to my ears” heads instantly snap to jaehyun, including yours and yutas.

“what the hell did you just say?” yuta immediately clenches his jaw, looking directly at jaehyun. you could hear the aggression in his voice.

“yuta, baby, calm down please,” you whisper softly, reaching your hand up to his face and caress it. he looks at you for a few seconds, his eyes softened up a bit but he kept his jaw clenched. he then looks at jaehyun and presses his tongue to his cheek.

“I was just kidding, that would be weird dude” jaehyun raises his hands in an ‘I surrender’ position.

“yes it would,” yuta smiles with a closed mouth at him. “she’s mine, got it” he looks at all the guys, dropping his smile.

“got it,” they all say in unison, some of them gulping and widening their eyes.

“good” he grins. “now if you’ll excuse us,” yuta holds you tightly and stands up. “we have something important to attend to” yuta releases you from his hold and instead picks you up over his shoulder, making you yelp in surprise.

“yuta put me down!” you say loudly but he ignores you and slaps your ass, making you hiss.

“oh, and if you hear moans and grunts try to block them out” he turns to the members, winking before walking out the room. the door shuts and that’s when breaths of relief are heard throughout the room.

“yuta is really something huh?” jungwoo blinks multiple times.

“indeed he is” mark laughs and shakes his head.

“wait, can we talk about what jaehyun just said, that was bold as hell man” johnny laughs aloud and claps his hands together aggressively.

“exactly, you know damn well yuta doesn’t play around about that” taeil adds on.

jaehyun shrugs. “I was messing around, just wanted a reaction from him”

“well keep messing around with him and you’ll end up dead” taeyong retorts.

“yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, that was a one-time thing” jaehyun sighs and the atmosphere turns into a comfortable silence, that was until-

“wait a second, are we just gonna forget that mark is a virgin?” haechan says.

“dude can you just drop it?” mark snaps his neck.

“damn I was just implying that you need some pussy” haechan defends himself.

“i’m good. unlike you, i’m not gonna go out and hook up with some random ass girl. I want the time to be right, with the right person, a.k.a someone I truly love, but you wouldn't know anything about that would you?” mark fires back at all the guys but mostly at haechan. they all seem to understand his words because they widen their eyes and nod at his answer. the only person that had a problem with this was the one and only-

“you’re wrong, i do know a lot about that actually” haechan gets defensive.

“oh my bad, which girl was it again? the one you snuck in at 3 am two nights ago or the one you snuck in at 1 am last night?” mark sarcastically says furrowing his eyebrows at haechan.

“you know what fuck you mark lee” haechan sticks his middle finger up.

“fuck you too haechan” mark copies haechans actions.

“would you guys cut it out? it’s so exhausting, this is all day everyday, just shut the fuck up” taeyongs stern voice fills the whole living room atmosphere, his voice bouncing off the walls. mark and haechan both scoff and look away from each other, rolling their eyes. (summer fight?) it then gets quiet again but this time it’s awkward. everyone else looks at each other waiting for someone, anyone to say something.

“so-” johnny starts but gets cut off by the sounds of moans and grunts.

“they don’t waste any time do they?” taeyong says.

“not at all” jaehyun replies. “do you guys wanna go somewhere? this will continue on for at least an hour”

“i’m down” jungwoo says and surely the rest of them agree, not even mark and haechan wanted to stay home. soon you were both alone, bed hitting the wall, moans, and grunts filling the room, and not a single care in the world about who heard you both.

[skiitter]

Can the prompt be smutty? I've seen somewhere in the tags recently and ever since then I can't think about Johnny going feral over V wearing his leather jacket and nothing else (like, in the apartment). Alternatively non-smutty: One (or both of them) starting a fight because they realize they have feelings for the other and don't know what to do

I tried for smut but i am Sad Today and it didn’t happen. This is soft and sappy and here is the second prompt:

“V, fuck! You need to be more god damn careful.”

“Helpful, thank you.” V winces as the bullets whizz above her head. She cannot believe the turret evaded her probing of the scav’s building systems. Normally, she would never make such a rookie mistake. More and more, though, her brain feels like it’s full of cotton. The implications of that send a chill down her spine and, right now, the last thing she needs is more distractions.

“We are fuckin’ pinned here, kid.”

“Told you,” she reloads her (his) pistol with a flourish and peaks back over the rapidly disintegrating cabinet. “Stop fuckin’ callin’ me that.” She takes aim, holds her breath, and lets the shot fly. It misses. “Fuck!”

“God damn, just let it go. We don’t need this shit.” He’s frantic, anxious, and it’s pissing her off.

“Johnny, shut the fuck up and check our six. Is that scav still lurking?”

“Gotta stop relying on me—”

“Can we save the fucking lecture, please?” He glitches away a moment before popping back at her peripheral. With a sour expression, he just nods. “Thank you.” And she is running.

The turret tracks her with perfect accuracy, of course, but the Samurai jacket is good for more than just its roguish, rockerboy aesthetic. It’s lined with absurdly expensive Kevlar like fabric and most of the bullets fail to penetrate. The door to salvation approaches and just as her hands wrap around the handle, the skin of her neck burns, and she hisses. Still, muscle memory prevails, and she is free, sprinting off into the night.

A few city blocks later, V finally stops to take a breath. Her hand comes away from her neck red, but the wound seems mostly superficial. Resting against the wall of an abandoned industrial plant, she takes in a few gulps of air to calm her heartbeat as Johnny glitches into view, pacing.

“Well, that could have gone—”

"You stupid fucking bitch, god damn it, V. Fuck.” His absurd vitriol shocks her.

“What the fuck, Silverhand?”

“You have to be less stupid about this shit. ‘M not gonna be here to keep pullin’ your ass outta the fire.”

“Okay first of all, I was doin’ just fuckin’ fine before you showed up, so thanks for the vote of confidence. Secondly, what is happening? You are wound tighter than a corpo in a board meeting right now.”

“’M just sayin’ V. Stop being so fucking stupid.”

“Oh, excuse me for being a little distracted over my upcoming fuckin’ doom.” She spits, pissed off that he is being so unnecessarily difficult. He stops pacing and they glare at one another. “What is wrong with you?” They haven’t fought like this in weeks. She was sure they’d moved beyond such inane, childish shit. There was too much at stake, now, for them to be at each other’s throats.  

“Nothing.” It is ridiculously unconvincing, and she knows he knows it. Johnny flickers and glitches back into being beside her, leaning against the same wall. They are so close, his organic shoulder presses into hers, digital and cold. What she wouldn’t give, just once, for him to feel warm. “I just.” He stops, and the breath he takes shudders through them both. It carries with it a certain weight, something familiar, like that sharp pain always pressing into her heart and—oh. Oh.

Hanako is expecting them any day now. Every morning she wakes to the taste of blood, her hands already shaking. Really, she’s got nothing left to lose.

“You could just say you’re worried about me. I worry about you all the time and you’re not even real. Fuck, I think about you followin’ Alt beyond the Blackwall and I wonder if you’ll be okay, if you’ll be happy there.” V glances at him from the corner of her eye and he is staring into the middle distance, sunglasses no where to be seen. His expression is impossible to read and he keeps any feelings he may have contained on his side of the tether. For some reason, she feels like crying.

“This isn’t my thing, V. I don’t do this. Rogue, Alt, fuckin’ Kerry, they all had these expectations of me. Wantin’ me to rise to some occasion, be someone I’m not. Before all this, before you, I’d have rather died than loved someone. Fuck, I did die. And for what? Used to think people didn’t change, that there were parts of you that were just permanent, rigid. Now, though, after this bullshit with the Relic, meetin’ you I just.” Night City never felt so quiet and she holds her breath. “Fuck it.” He steps away from the wall and her heart sinks. So close, so fucking close and yet so—

“You’re the only thing in this fucked up world I love, that I have ever loved, and I don’t know how to handle that. Not equipped with the appropriate tools, alright? Never bothered to learn what to do so just, fuck. I’m sorry. This isn’t what you wanted for yourself I know—” The rest of his speech dies in his throat as she presses her lips to his. It’s cold, and he barely has substance, but it’s enough and she will take it. He kisses her like he’s never wanted anything more. When they come up for air, she touches her forehead to his.

“There is nothing else I could ever want. Just you, always you. Forever, you.”

[anjanettexcordonia]

Lady Liberty

*Trigger Warnings* -NSFW, Fluff  Pairing: Riley x OC, Liam x MC, Liam x Riley Word Count:3,348 Excuse any grammatical errors or misspellings. My first attempt at fluff. Disclaimer: All characters belong to Pixelberry & some dialogue. 

Thank you to @texaskitten30 for pre-reading & helping me get through my writers block at the end! 

Summary: Riley turns Liam down for drinks after their initial meeting at her bar. They have a serendipitous meeting later that night. Will Liam find is way to Riley’s heart? 

Song Inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMEOOgotuEs Love You Like The Movies- Anthem Lights

.

.

.

“Sorry I’m late. Thank you for your patience, Miss?” 

“Uh, Riley”

“Charmed to make your acquaintance, Riley.”

“The pleasure is all mine. It’s nice to meet you. Now let me put your order in. Be right back!”

Later that evening, a little after the bar has closed, you’re finishing up when someone taps you on the shoulder…

“I think we are about ready to head out. I just wanted to thank you… and apologize. I know we kept you late, and my friends can be demanding.” 

“Demanding? Nothing I couldn’t handle.” 

“I got the feeling that you could take care of yourself. If you don’t have any other plans tonight, maybe I can make it up to you by buying you a drink. We’re about to go to a club.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“We were hoping you might have some advice about that. We’re not from around here.” 

“I recommend going to the hottest club in town Kismet.” 

“I would love to show you guys around but I’ve already made plans tonight. ” Riley replies. Liam looks down at his hands. “It was very nice to meet you Riley. I hope you have a wonderful night.” 

.

.

. 

After her shift is over, she quickly changes into her short emerald dress and walks out of the bar with her bag and phone in hand. Riley couldn’t wait to see Ezra, they had been dating for two years. And this was the night! Her life was about to change, she could feel it.

Ping. Riley pulls her phone out to check the text message she received.

Ezra: I’m sorry.

Riley: What’s wrong? What happened Ez? 

Riley waited for a response. Nothing. She pressed the call button. The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please hang up and try your call again. End. 

Riley stood up and raced to hail a cab to her apartment. Riley burst through the door moments later. It’s dark and silent. “Ezra? Ezra where are you? EZRA?” She screams his name while she checks every room in the apartment. 

When she gets to the master bedroom, an envelope propped up against the pillows catches her eye.

Riley. 

She tears the envelope open and pulls out the handwritten letter.

“Riley, 

I’m sorry for what I’m about to tell you. I received a job offer in California. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to uproot your life in New York. I’ve always loved and always will. I know you were expecting a proposal and for that I’m truly sorry. I hope you find the person that deserves your whole heart. I’ll always carry a piece of you with me. 

I’ll always love you, 

Ezra” 

Riley sits on her bed, her legs threatening to give out beneath her. Riley crumbled the letter in her hand while she seethed with anger. She shot up off the bed and ran to his dresser drawer. She threw open the drawers with a force that pulled the drawer completely off its track and threw the drawer across the room. The drawer hit the wall and splintered into pieces. 

How could he do this? I would have gone with him. She wondered to herself. She was confused, hurt and angry. She had to get out of her apartment, their apartment. Riley grabbed her keys and marched out the door. She had no idea where she was going. 

An hour had gone by of Riley wandering around the busy streets of the city that never sleeps. She found herself in Battery Park. Exactly where she was supposed to meet Ezra. Where he was supposed to propose. She sat on an empty bench and stared at the beautiful symbol of freedom in front of her. The Statue of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” Riley whispered and the tears started. She put her head in her hands and let the tears flow, the more they flowed the harder she sobbed. 

“Are you okay, miss?” 

Riley snapped her head up at the smooth baritone voice. “Uh.. yeah sorry.. I..uh..” she wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Riley right? From the bar earlier tonight? It’s me, Liam, you were my waitress” 

“Oh yea, did you and your friends ever make it to Kismet?” 

“We did. Not my scene.” Liam shrugged. “Is everything alright Riley? I didn’t mean to disturb you but didn’t seem okay.” Fuck. Riley thought. “Yeah just a shitty night. What brings you to this view?” She asks, attempting to change the subject. Who is this stranger? And why does he care why someone is crying on a damn bench. “The statue was the one place I wanted to visit before we leave tomorrow but my friends weren’t interested.” Liam shrugged.  “This is where I was supposed to be tonight but things didn’t go as planned for me either. What do you say we go see her together?” Riley smiled. Oh fuck. What are you doing Riley? Ezra just left a few hours ago. There’s something about this stranger though. Riley pulls out her phone and makes a few phone calls to arrange a boat. Twice in one night. Not a coincidence Li. Fuck she’s gorgeous. I need to know why she was crying. Who did that to her? There’s something about her and I have to find out what it is. The boat reaches the dock and they board. “Wow this is nice” Liam was surprised by the elegance of the boat and the fully stocked bar in front of them. “I have connections,” Riley said, grabbing two champagne flutes and a chilled bottle of Dom Perignon. Liam took the bottle from her, popped the cork and filled both of their glasses. By the time they reached the statue they were on their second bottle of Dom. They were enjoying laughing together and forgetting all their troubles. They found solace in the company of strangers. But they weren’t strangers. Their souls knew each other. Maybe in another life. Riley thought. 

Lady Liberty drifted into view. “Wow,” Liam said in awe. “She’s gorgeous.” 

“That she is.” Riley said while she downed her glass of champagne. “I need something stronger. What do you say to some..umm..” she scans the bar “Johnnie Walker? Rocks?” 

“Neat please and yes thank you.” Liam said. He continued to stare up at the symbol. “Riley, what’s your dream?” 

“Dream? I don’t understand.” 

“We’re complete strangers in the city of dreams under the largest symbol of freedom in the world. You can’t be standing here without a dream. So tell me what’s your dream?” Liam turned to look at Riley. Riley could feel his crystal blue eyes seering into her like he was seeing her deepest darkest corners of herself. 

“My dream.. “We are asleep until we fall in love”. True love. A love I don’t think really exists.” Riley’s eyes were huge. She didn’t mean to say that. Way to go Riley! You idiot. Liam cupped her face in his hands and leaned towards her. So close she felt his breath against her lips. She couldn’t resist. She knew she should stop but she didn’t want to. She melted into his touch on her cheeks. “He stepped down, trying not to look too long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking. ” Liam whispered before he pulled her into a passionate kiss. An instant electricity flowed through his veins. Riley pulled away from the kiss reluctantly. “Tolstoy” she smiled. “I should tell the captain to take us back.” 

“Oh uh yea” Liam slid his fingers through his hair. 

“We can’t use the cabin on this boat. We can go back to my place or your hotel.” Riley winked as she pressed an intercom button and informed the captain to take them back to shore. 

They decided to go back to Riley’s place. Liam didn’t want Drake, Maxwell or Tariq to disturb them. And he wanted to learn more about her. Hopefully he remembered in the morning. 

They made it hand in hand to Riley’s building. They rode the elevator to the penthouse and walked through the door. Riley lived in a spacious three bedroom modern penthouse. It had large windows all around overlooking the Hudson River and 10 foot ceilings. Riley must be well off Liam thought. Good to know. How does a waitress afford a place like this?

“This view is unparalleled Riley!” “Thanks” Riley kicks her shoes off and flops down on her Restoration Hardware Cloud Sofa. Liam turns around and sees her lying comfortably on the couch. “We have the same couch. Restoration Hardware? “Yep,” Riley laughed, “best twelves g’s I ever spent.” Liam laughed. He sat down and pulled her ankles in his lap. 

Liam glided his fingertips across her silky calves. Fuck it Riley thought. She sat up and pulled herself into his lap and kissed him so deep Liam felt dizzy. “Riley” he moaned into her lips “I don’t know what’s happening right now but I need to feel you. Every inch of you.” “Touch me Liam”  he ripped her dress right down the middle. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” They tore the rest of each other’s clothes off until they were completely bare. Liam kissed her neck to her collar bone. Riley let out a soft moan in his ear. Her nails digging into his muscular back. Liam picked her naked body up by the backs of her thighs and pushed her back into a large window. “I want the world to know I’ve been here, Riley, inside of you. You’re a masterpiece. His fingers went to her dripping core. “Mmm baby, so wet for me?” He slammed his fingers inside her and rubbed his thumb around her clit until he brought her to the brink of an orgasm. As soon as he felt her walls flutter she plunged himself inside of her. “Oh my God” Riley screamed as she came undone at his first thrust into her. “You’re so tight Riley. I could stay like this forever.” Riley pointed to her bedroom and told Liam to take them to her bed. Without ever pulling himself out of her, he walked them to her bed and laid them both down. He thrusted slowly reveling in the feel of her. “I’ve never felt anything like this, baby” Liam said as he bucked his hips into her. Her lips crashed into hers as they bucked their hips in rhythm together until they both met their release. “Liam… will you… will you.. hold me?” “I’ll never let go,” Riley smirked at his Titanic reference.

Liam laid back on the pillows with his arms wrapped tightly around Riley holding her against his chest. Liam pointed to the debris on the floor, “What happened over there? “Oh...I threw it against the wall. It’s a long story.” Riley got out of bed and grabbed her silk robe off the chair next to the bed. She tied the sash and walked out onto the balcony. She gripped the railing and took a deep breath. She had sobered up from their time at the Statue of Liberty. Liam walked out with the sheet wrapped around his waist. His arms snaking around her waist. He leaned his chin on her shoulder. 

“Liam…” Riley turned around looking into his blue eyes. “I’ve never felt like this. How I feel right now with you… I know Ezra just left. And I know how I should feel but I.. when we.. touch it’s like.. 

Liam leaned in and kissed her. His hands going under her thighs to lift her, not breaking the kiss at all. Riley pulled back. Her arms went around his neck. “Tonight I thought Ezra was going to propose. Instead I came home to a letter saying he left the country and wanted to move on. So two years wasted. That was tonight.” Liam kissed her and walked to the bed laying on top of her. “I’ll hold your hand while the ship goes down” Liam whispers in her ear. They got lost in each other again and she forgot about Ezra and he forgot about his future. 

They spent the entire night talking and getting lost in each other. He told her about his brother and the social season. About the pressure from his father now that he was the crown prince. She told him about the death of her parents and her aunt that raised her. She told him her parents had left her multiple trusts and real estate throughout the world. Liam felt a void he never knew existed being filled by her presence. 

Liam woke up forgetting where he was. He looked over and realized he was still in Riley’s penthouse. She was sound asleep with her head on his chest. 

“Riley..” Liam whispered. “Wake up beautiful” Riley stretched out and smacked Liam right in the face. She sat up stunned. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Liam laughed. “Want to have breakfast with me before I have to leave?” Liam said. 

“Sure.” She replied. 

A short while later they walked into Liam’s suite at the hotel. Riley let out a whistle. “We should have stayed here last night” she laughed. Liam smirked. “Being a prince has its perks. This is one of them.”  Liam called down for room service and ordered a whole spread of belgian waffles, cinnamon rolls, bacon, fruit.. He ordered EVERYTHING. “So Riley tell me more about you.” “Like what?” “Everything start from the beginning.” “It’s not that interesting Liam.” “Room service”, the attendant yelled from outside the suite door. Liam opened the door and pulled the cart in. He tipped the attendant, “let’s eat and you can tell me everything about you.” 

“I was born and raised in Connecticut. My parents and my brother still live there. We’re close. My parents are both attorneys and my brother followed in their footsteps.” Riley said while chewing her waffle. Liam listened intently absorbing her every word like it was his last meal. “I went to law school at NYU but ended up with a Bachelor’s in English with emphasis in creative writing. Hence working at the bar.” She laughed. “And Ezra?” Liam asked sipping his orange juice. “I might need to add some champagne to that orange juice for this.. Better yet Vodka.” She rolled her eyes. “We met in my language and logistics class. We dated for a couple years. Nothing out of the ordinary I guess. He was supposed to propose but left for a new job. Whatever. Wasn’t meant to be.” She took a big swig of her mimosa. “Did you love him?” Liam asked. Riley just stared at him. “No one has ever asked me that before.” She pondered the answer to his question. “Before yesterday I would have said yes. But now since I’ve met you… It wasn’t love. It became robotic. Honestly I’m glad he left, because I wouldn’t have been the one to call it quits. I hope the best for him wherever he is.” She shrugged. “I wish I had done everything on Earth with you” she wanted to say. 

“What about you?” She asked him. “What about me, what do you want to know?” “Everything, start from the beginning.”

“Well I was born in Cordonia obviously. My Dad is King. My mom died when I was young. My step-mom Regina is kind but ya know.. She’s not my mom. My brother Leo abdicated. He found some girl and they’re traveling the world together. I’m glad he’s happy.” “Relationships?” She sat back in her chair, full from her breakfast. “I’ve never really had an actual serious relationship. I mean don’t get me wrong, there have been women, but no one that I wanted to have breakfast with the next morning.” He winked. “Because I’m going to be King I have to have a social season to pick who will be the next queen. It’s an old and stupid tradition. But Cordonia is nothing without her traditions.”

 “Social season, what's that?”

 “Basically it’s just going through the motions and pleasing the nobles and the citizens of the country. And then at the end, I'm expected to choose the woman best fitting to run the country.” He replied. 

She could tell he didn't want to talk about this very much. “What about you?” She asked. “No one really cares about me as a person, only as the future king. I am expected to just enter into a Cordonian marriage agreement. Which is basically, a mistress. It’s a shitty concept.” Riley didn't seem fazed at all by his admission. He raised his eyebrows quizzically. “You don’t seem to care..” 

“Not really, Liam, that came out wrong. I do care about you. Not about where you come from.” 

Care about me? Where did this beautiful woman come from? 

He stood from his sweet and pulled her into a deep kiss. “Liam.. I.. what is this?” 

“Swoon, I’ll catch you.” He said against her lips. “Come home with me.”

“To Cordonia?” “What about your social season?” 

“You can join, my friend Max will sponsor you.” “But.. another country? My family..”

“Riley.. I think I’d miss you even if we never met. Please come. My soul needs you.” 

What do you have to lose Riley? A whirlwind one night stand with a Cordonian Prince. I’ve never even heard of Cordonia. She made a mental note to Google it. Mom and Dad will be livid. They might cut off my trust fund. Fuck it. He might be worth it. The way he kisses me makes me feel like he is the only thing worth it. 

“Okay Liam, I’ll come.” “Riley.. One night with you changed my life. They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true.” He whispered wrapping his arms tightly around her. “It’s the romantic quotes, isn’t it?” He laughed kissing her neck. “I want to formally introduce you to my friends, you remember them don’t you?” “Yea, I remember them. I wonder how they will react. One question though.. Love of your life?” 

“You want the moon Riley? Just say the word, and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. You changed my life. I can’t leave without you. I’ve been searching all my life for you and never even knew it.” 

'Cause suddenly, it hits me

As I watch you make believe

I want to make this your reality

And if you'll be my leading lady

Even though I may look crazy

I'll grab your hand, ask you to dance

In the middle of the street

Learn to sign, cheesy lines

Like "Baby, you complete me"And in case you forget

Where we've been and what we did

I'll write it all down, read it out loud

Again and again

“Come on, let’s go meet Drake, Max and Tariq. We have to introduce my future queen.” 

“I promise if you’ll let me, I’ll love you like the movies,” Riley said. “I’m the King of the world.” Liam replied. 

[cosmiclatte28]

Heterochromia (Lucas x reader)

ONE SHOT ... SOULMATE AU! .. HETEROCHROMIA (different eye colors)

Warning : none (?) It's fluff and safe for everyone

Enjoy!!

Heterochromia- when one person owns two different colors of iris.

Having one purple eye and one green eye is nothing new to the society. Everyone is born with it. One of the color belongs to you, and the other color obviously belongs to your significant others aka your soulmate.

Science proof that when you meet your soulmate, your eye color will change. You will finally have a pair of your true color and vice versa. Truth be told, this is such a cool indicator and people are all loving this new mutation.

Waking up to coffee and toast is a good way to start your day. You toss your blanket aside and push yourself away, you’re in a good mood to start college today.

“Morning Hendery,” you greet your flat partner.

“Morning (y/n)~” his bed head greets you.

“coffee, bacon and eggs?” his questioning tone is enough to offer you breakfast.

“That’s so nice of you. Yes just one egg and bacon,” you say while grabbing your towel to use the bathroom first.

You return to the small dining room ten minutes later and your plate is ready on the table.

Hendery pours you a cup of black coffee with two spoons of sugar “black with two spoons of sugar.”

He pushes the cup to you as he finishes his own breakfast plate. “Thanks” you whisper

“Morning class?” you ask as you spoon yourself some eggs and bacons.

“Uh-hum, why would I get up this early if I do not have morning class.” Hendery scoffs

“You go take a shower, I’ll wash the dishes.” You initiatively take the responsibility since he had cooked you breakfast.

You met Hendery through a friend when you’re looking for a flat mate. You don’t have much rules to sharing the flat, your urgency made you sign the contract with Hendery, a sophomore in engineering while you're a junior in public health.

“Are you going to Jaehyun’s party tomorrow?” He asks after coming out of the toilet in a clean and tidy shirt. Jaehyun is a member of the same frats as Hendery and tomorrow is his birthday. You've met Jaehyun since middle school and the two of you are good friends! thus earning you an invitation to the ‘hottest man in the campus’ birthday party.

You rinse the last plate and dry your hands, “It’s a Friday night after all, I am going to come I guess.”

“Awesome! We can share a cab.” He flashes his big smile and the last thing you saw before parting ways was his half green half blue eyes. The two of us start our daily routines.

--

Preparing yourself for a party is always fun. You enjoy decorating your half blue half brown eyes with eye shadows and you love dressing up. Tonight's pick is a simple black dress with a pink choker and some wedged boots. February is still cold and you don't want to come home freezing!

You paint your lips on your favorite shade color and with one last perfume spray, you're finally ready to go.

“Hey, i'm ready.” You notify Hendery, who has been waiting for you since like thirty minutes ago…

He glances at you and stands up, “Great! The cab will be here in five minutes. You look stunning by the way. Aren't you feeling cold?” he wonders after seeing your attire.

“Nah, i'll use a coat relax. Shall we go down?” you grab your coat and then pockets your key.

“Sure, let's wait down stairs.” He offers you his hand since you'll need to go down two levels by stairs in a wedged boots. Although he knew you're so talented in wearing heels, he is a gentleman for always offering a hand.

“You know I won't fall just by wearing a 5 cm boots.” You giggle while descending the stairs.

Hendery smirks, “A thank you would be better. I’m raised to be a gentle man miss.”

“Right… gentleman.. arraseo mr blue-green" you tease him. Well the first time you saw his eyes, you lowkey envied him for having one green eye, while Hendery always love your brown eyes. Funny how we cannot switch eye colors! Or else you're going to pick purple and ash grey!

--

The party Jaehyun held was the biggest you've attended since coming to university life. He rented a whole party house complete with a swimming pool, pool, a dj, and of course free flows of drinks and foods. The room was so big and there's hundreds of people! You're sure he almost invited every one in campus. This is like a prom, but without the fancy dresses.

“Look, don't go home with any one! You're going back home with me. Okay? Contact me or just look for me.” Hendery said before you parted ways. Well, Hendery and you had only been sharing the flat for seven months, but that is enough to grow a strong sibling bond between you two. Hendery treats you like you're his little sister and you see him as your big brother.

“Right, make sure you're taking me home okay and not other girl.” You taunt and before Hendery could get you, you disappear into the crowd.

“Jaehyun! Happy birthday brother!”

Once you see the man with sweet dimple in denim, chilling with his frats, you hug him and congratulate him. Well, after all jaehyun and you are close friends and calling him brother is nothing.

Jaehyun smiles upon your greeting and arrival, he returns your hug and excuses himself from the group. The two of you walk to the quieter part of the house, the kitchen and there was a comfortable silence.

“Sooo you're hosting this big party let me guess,” you tease him and put a hand over your head, “to I don't know find your soulmate? Or just win an attention?”

Jaehyun laughs at your remarks, well those two are not completely wrong. He takes two cups of drinks and hands you one, “Well both are quite true. I'm looking for my special person… maybe i'll find them tonight. Or maybe you can find yours too.” Jaehyun swirls his cup and gulps it down.

You can catch the sweetness his brown and blue eyes hold. Yes the two of you have the same eye colors, but no you're not made for one another! Your eyes and his never change and that means you two have to keep looking on.

“I don't know if this is a good idea Jae, but meeting someone here and then realizing he or she is your soul mate will not be easy! There's like three hundred people here!” you sip on the alcoholic beverage and noted you're not drinking this tonight.

“Well I need to say it is hard, but possible. Besides there are only two hundred fifty invitations sweetie, I am sure you can find someone interesting!” Jaehyun winks and pats your hair carefully in a playful manner.

“Now, enjoy the party! I need to entertain my guests. Oh reach out for me if you need any help! Mom will kill me if something bad happens to you. Bye!” Jaehyun exits the kitchen and like the social butterfly he is, he embraces every single friends coming in.

You found your friends from your sorority, they invite you over to a beer pong game against another frats house and you're always in for games. You join your sisters and the fun begins.

Two hours of fun and games passed by, you've won two rounds of beer pong game, one round of drinking game and you've moved on to the dance floor. The crowd moves along to the dance floor, surrounding the DJ blasting “shut up and dance" loudly on the stereo. You bumped to a lot of people and drunk quite a lot of alcohols from the drinking game earlier. Now you're regretting things since your brain can't really cooperate.

“Hey (y/n)! You free?” Jaehyun asked when he sees you taking some air on one of the empty spots.

You turn your head from day dreaming and nod. Jaehyun takes your hand to bring you and sit down beside a nice looking man. You see Hendery sitting across you with some girls you did not know.

“So guys, this is the one special friend I’ve always mentioned. Her name is (y/n), we've been best friends since middle school.” Jae introduces you to the guys and you take the queue to learn one by one. The room you're sitting in isn't bright, it's dim and so you cannot really study everyone's eyes.

You learn their names quickly, Taeyong, Mark, Ten, Lucas, and a tall guy Johnny.

You got yourself engaged in a deep talk with Taeyong and Mark about raps and lyrics writing. You learn that Taeyong and Mark are studying to be professional lyric writers and turns out you blend well with them. They suddenly talk about their current project and in the dark loud room, you help them with some verses and that's how you ended up exchanging phone numbers with them.

Night deepens, your head is spinning and all you know is you were standing up to grab some water and the blazing disco lights were blinding you, you did not know when someone knocked you out. Making you fall down on someone's body.

---

The loud ringing from your alarm forces you to wake up. You look around to figure out where are you sleeping. You squint your eyes from the bright sun lights entering the room. You take a deep breath and that's when you realize something is wrong. No this is not the usual smell your room has, this is nothing near the fabric softener scent you use.

Your hands rub the bed sheet beneath you and your eyes shot wide open when you feel something that's definitely not bolsters! You turn your head to the side and in a glint of an eye, you quickly check what's beneath your blanket.

You can breathe normally when you see your clothes still completely intact. Now where were you, you try to remember what happens last night, how you ended up sleeping on a foreign bed beside a man who turns out to be the host of the party.

Jaehyun looks so wasted and drunk beside you. Although this is not the first time Jae shared a bed with you, this is definitely the first time he was drunk asleep beside you. You make your way out of the bed and room slowly, not to wake him up.

You leave the room and concluded that this is the same house where the party was held. Turns out you passed out yesterday and someone brought you to the room. You peek on the other room beside yours which is not closed completely. You spot Hendery sleeping there too with Mark and Ten. You see several other bodies passed out on the couches and floor. The smell of alcohol is pungent, you find yourself running with a closed nose to the refrigerator. You take out a sealed water bottle and calm yourself down with it.

You hear some foot steps and turn your back.

“Oh it's you Taeyong!” you greet him and move aside when he heads to the fridge to of course take some waters.

“Woah didn't know you're sleeping here too, thought you went home last night.” He speaks in his bed voice

“I didn’t remember anything. I guess someone bumped into me and I fell? But don't know. Anyways pretty colors over there! Purple and blue. Last night was too dark, can't see the colors.” You drive the conversation away from last night's talk.

“Well yeah I'm still looking for my soulmate, unlike you! Lucky you for you've found yours already.” Tae smirks while looking into your eyes.

You froze, your brain process everything that had happened. Did he just say your eyes are the same colors already?!

“Wait say that again…” you squint your eyes at him.

Taeyong smiles, “sure, your perfect blue eyes are captivating honey,” he teases you a bit, seeing that there's no one else here

You leave the half empty bottle on the counter and drag Taeyong with you as you head to the nearest mirror. It's in the bathroom.

You stand across your own reflection, looking so surprised and bewildered. Taeyong is standing behind you confused as you did not let his hand go.

“I swear Taeyong, yesterday before I went to the party they were still different!” you turn to look at him.

“Well congratulations! You've found your soul mate!” he speaks in a sing song tone.

You squeeze his hand tighter “I did not know who my soul mate is Tae,”

Before Taeyong can react to your sentence a surprised scream erupted.

“(Y/n)?! What are you doing with Taeyong in the bathroom?!” a surprised man stood in horror over the toilet door.

“Oh Hendery hyung! Nothing I just brought Tae here after he saw my eyes! LOOK! LOOK! They're no longer different!” You blink several times to show Hendery your eye colors.

“Damn! You're right, you've met your soul mate!! Congrats girl" Hendery gushes between you and Tae, he engulfs you in a hug and carries you while spinning you one time. He's too happy for you.

“So who's the lucky guy?” Hendery shoots a look at Taeyong's eyes checking their colors.

“Hmm not you. Who else then?” Hendery ponders

“last night I met a lot of people! Too much to actually remember one by one… I don't even have memories on who I met.” You usher the two men out of the bathroom and talk in another space.

“We can start by checking who's here…” Tae suggests and with that the three of you along with Jaehyun start to observe everyone's eyes. Jae needed to use the bathroom and found the three of you there pondering on where to look for your soulmate.

“Nope. None of them have the other color.. or had their color changed yesterday.” You slump on one of the sofa and bite your lips. One habit you always did when you're thinking fast and hard.

“Look, there were like hundreds of people last night and… I met my sisters.. which of course were out of the list. I knew them already and if our eyes were to change colors that won't happen last night.” You try to narrow down the options, because hell who is not excited to meet their soulmates?!

Hendery adds in, “You did play with some of the boys from Omega Lambda and you bumped to some of the boys on the dance floor?”

You shake your head, “didn't make eye contact with the crowds in the dance floor.”

“Then you made eye contact with some boys from Omega Lambda and probably from our frats.” Taeyong clicks his tongue.

“The omega lambda is a five minutes walk from here, we can check on them… there were only 9 of them last night.” Jaehyun stands up and walks to take his jacket. “Shall we? Our frats have 21 boys… might want to meet them at lunch… better that way.” Jaehyun decides everything by himself.

“Sure, Baekhyun is a good friend of mine and he's on Omega lambda.. let's go my car is free.” Taeyong plays with his car keys and the four of us depart.

Upon entering the Omega Lambda house, I definitely did not expect to see the frat house so clean and tidy.

“You're looking for someone whose eyes changed color?” Suho, their leader who answered the door, repeats the question.

The four of us nod eagerly. Suho puts on a sad smile, “am so sorry but nine of us had found their soul mates already and the other three are still…” Suho turns his head to see the living room, “taking shower.”

Baekhyun joins Suho in the front door, he greets Taeyong warmly and smiles brightly for us too.

“Oh looking for someone? Hmm let's see Sehun's still looking for his other pair.. Kai and Tao too. Tao didn't come yesterday so we can check Kai and Sehun.”

Your heart beats faster when you hear Suho calling Kai and Sehun. However to no avail, Suho confirmed that both Kai and Sehun still have different eye colors and none of them have blue eyes before.

The group parted and you're now on your way back home to wash and rest. You're not joining the boys for lunch, you don't feel close yet.

Hendery waits for you to finish showering and when you're out of the steamy door looking all relaxed in a pajamas he can only smile and ruffles your hair.

“Nice blue eyes over there! I kinda remember seeing someone with those blue eyes too, but I can't get the clear face or name… trust me I'll notify you when I find the man!” Hendery pats your shoulder and takes his turn to shower.

You go to the kitchen and start cooking your lunch. Hendery leaves after a cup of coffee and you're finally alone. You try to remember anyone from the party that might be your soulmate, but your brain was not cooperating.

You give up, finish lunch, clean the flat a bit, then you drown yourself on your assignments and papers.

Hendery must have gone to the cinema or somewhere else with the boys, because when you look up from your works, your phone shows 15 missed calls and 10 unread message from Hendery.

You glance to the clock and realize it's already noon and you see a pile of your dirty laundry. You tidy up your books, take your phone and you walk to your dirty pile of clothes. While humming to your favorite song, you take the basket and leave to go to the washing room, before that you borrowed one of Hendery's big sweater. Finally you make your way to the laundry place one block away from your flat.

There was no one when you enter the small area. The lights are bright and the sun has not yet sunken down, so you're not afraid even when you're alone here.

You unload your clothes and after putting in your favorite detergent and softener, you close the door and press the button to start the machine.

You take a step back and lean over one of the machine. Taking a glance to the right and left,, seeing if there is anyone else.

Turns out you're not alone. You spot a man wearing his ear phones, unloading his dirty laundries and ooh my gosh… he’s taking off his clothes.

You let out a small surprised cough and the man turned his body around quickly.

“Sorry…” you whisper as you close your eyes. Your cheeks burn from the embarrassment

“Ah sorry didn't see you there!” the man continues stripping his sweater off and tossing it into the machine along with his other things.

“You can open your eyes … I mean if you're not comfortable I can turn away.” He awkwardly explains.

“No it's okay..” you finally reply after collecting yourself back. Come on it's not the first time you see some man bare chested. Hendery and Jaehyun did that a lot, not to mention your younger brother who liked to strip too.

Once your eyes open, you're already face to face with the man.

“LUCAS?!” you run your eyes to meet his face.

“Yeah it's me.. you remember me!” He smiles genuinely but it didn't last long.

“Why? Something’s wrong?” you ask when you see his surprised face.

“Look at me (y/n)…” Lucas takes your face in his hands and bends himself to match your height or at least to be able to see your eyes.

You were confused at first, but now when you see it… you're suffocating.

“Hey hey..” Lucas can feel your body shaking and your breathing short, “easy easy.. breathe in.. out..”

He guides you through your small panic incident and his big generous smile is back on his face. His hands were already holding on to your shoulder and when your breathing stabilized he cups your cheeks on his large palms. His eyes widens and you're spaced out.

The two of you remain silent… with just one eye contact.. the world feels different. Your skin tingle and your heart feels so warm. No words can explain the exact unexplainable feeling happening right now.

“Lucas..” your voice cracked and a tear escaped from your blue eyes. Your hand creeps to hold onto his which are still cupping your face. You give it a gentle squeeze just to make sure this is real and he is real.

Lucas smiles and with glistening eyes he pulls you into a warm embrace. The linen Hendery's sweater provided to you, cannot hide the fast heart beat behind this man’s wonderful abs.

His hugs feels like your missing piece, his skin feels soft under your touch, and his heart beat sounds like home. You cannot hold back your tears from falling down. You make your arms slowly around his waist and gosh how you fit perfectly on his chest to snuggle.

Lucas carefully brushes your hair away from your face and with most care he locks contact with you one more time.

If time can stop, you'll want it to stop right now right at this moment in a laundry place with no one else. Your machine still buzzing and his too still rocking back and fourth. But amongst those loud rocking voice of water mixing, you find yourself hypnotized by a pair of brown eyes… the exact color you've woken up to for the last 20 years of living. You cannot mistaken that brown for anything else. Lucas too, seems to adore the blue eyes he’s now staring at.

“I love your blue eyes they look magical.” Lucas leans in closer to drown himself on those blue orbs of yours.

You blushed, “and I've finally found the man who gave me those fresh brown iris!”

Lucas crawls his finger to your chin and while keeping eye contact, his face inches closer to you. Your reflex made you close your eyes and your leaping heart flies to cloud nine when his soft lips mold into yours. It’s definitely a new sensation and you found yourself craving for more. What first was a resting lip, slowly moves. He leads you through the kiss and as your feet grow weak from matching his height, Lucas bends down for you. You tangle your hand over his neck and plays softly with his hair. The sweet soft kiss did not end there, you feel a strong hand over your hips and with one tap you jump as he lifts you up to one of the machine.

Thanks to the machine, you're now giving him an easier time to finish what he's doing. Lucas waits for your permission and soon his tongue was dashing through your rows of teeth. Your eyes were still closed, you did not really care if someone spot the two of you making out here not to mention Lucas is in his half naked state.

The kiss ends when you tug his hair as your lungs run out of air. With heavy heart he lets go and your eyes flutter open. Chest heaving up and down, Lucas stare at you in awe and adoration. He tucks your hair behind your ear and cages you between his strong hands.

“So.. look at my blushing princess… so cute.” Lucas coos. You playfully slap him and earns an “ouch" from him.

“Did you just steal my first kiss?” you ask while looking to the distance, your right hand finds its way to touch your swollen lips.

Lucas raises his brow, “That was your first?”

You stare into him with big eyes and nod your head slowly, “why?”

Lucas shakes his head and smirks, “You did amazing for a first timer"

You swing your legs and face your head down to the tiles. You're suddenly so shy in front of the man who just stole your first kiss… and was he even the right man?! What if he's not your soulmate?

“You're now doubting if I am really your soul mate right?” Lucas seriously can read you like an open book.

Your surprised face was enough to ensure him, his guess was right.

“Look, I met the boys earlier and no one has their eye colors changed.. well Mark did but his was not blue. Mark has a green violet eyes… and I was the other lucky guy.” Lucas leans over one machine that is in front of you.

You hide your blushing face, “I know it is you Lucas.. because I don't know.. my heart just tells me you're the one! Your kiss feels wonderful, your touch, your hug … and your eyes! Those were the colors I owned before.”

“And those blue… I cannot mistaken them for another color too! Plus my heart also leads me to you.” Lucas exhales a relieved breath.

There was silence and you hear your machine stopping. You quickly jump off to the ground and take your clothes out. They were dried already and you take your time to fold them.

Lucas is still waiting for his to finish as he chats with you. Now you're exchanging name hobbies and silly facts to one another.

“umm mind to tell me how you ended up half naked here?” You finally found the courage to ask him the first thing that bothers your mind.

Lucas looks puzzled from your question but he answers you anyway, “Clumsy Jaehyun spilled an ice cappuccino on my last piece of fresh sweater. I've had him clean it quick with tissues and some water, but heck I cannot stand the stickiness. So I decided to skip the movie and wash my clothes. Apparently because of Jaehyun's clumsiness I finally met you! The love of my life, the one for me.” Lucas explains as he dresses himself back in one of the fresh laundries.

“Starving?” Lucas asks as the two of you head to the exit door.

You nod.

“Got any schedule tonight?” he asks once again.

You shake your head, “I'm free for the night.”

“Great! Let's put our clothes back and we'll go to this restaurant I love.” Lucas holds one of your hand and just like that the two of you walk on the side walk hand in hand

You pass his house first and he came back with his motorcycle

“Hop on, we'll drop your laundry and we’ll go eat!”

You sit behind him and encircle your arms around his torso. Lucas zoomed to your flat and you rush your way to the door.

Quickly you put on a lipstick, grab your bag and wallet, tossed Hendery's sweater aside and you dress yourself quickly in a warm garment. Motorcycle ride on February after the sun is down will be chilling.

You descend through the stairs and greet Lucas with one twirl “How do I look for our first date?”

He pecks your lips quick, “perfect! Now hop on and hold on tight sweetheart, tonight will be unforgettable!”

Life has twists and unpredictable turns, yet in the end you'll find your soulmate just like finding your way back home. It feels assuring, safe, and wonderful. You'll know he or she is the one, once your eyes meet and your lips touch.

The end 🙌

Thank you for reading 🤧🥺🥺💖

[taejeonie]

taehee in america!!

— i can’t find a gif from one of their interviews :// also the events aren’t in sequence,,whatever i remember watching will appear here so if i missed something, u guys can tell me!!

okay so taehee’s like

different

like most of the tweets were ‘american air changed taehee’

like in korea she’s chill, semi-shy but still chaotic

but in america it’s that but x82848, minus the shy part it’s like gone now

and she’s more interactive with czennies so that’s probably why (*^_^*)

like in one of their interviews someone asked, “okay, so i have a question from tumblr...do you know tumblr”

“yes i know tumblr ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”

and she loved doing rpd with them it’s so cute

she kept hyping them up and dancing in the sidelines

but when cherry bomb comes on

she was like: this is my song. must. dance.

and she was center for the nananananana part so it was p e r f e c t

when they did flinch she was paired with doyoung

james was trying to talk to them but they were mODELLING

let them do their work james

“oh i see how it is now”

her eyes flinched a bit when the fruit came out but they didn’t notice....hopefully

anyways youngtae won

speaking of interviews

awkward faces. disgusted faces. bored faces. fake smile faces.

‘oh shit did they just say that?’ faces.

“so how’s it like being the only girl in the group?”

in her head she’s like: stfu i didn’t go to america for this ಠ╭╮ಠ

but outside she’s like: hahahaha looks like i gotta answer this ∩^ω^∩ gotta pay rent u know?

the genius interview oh god markhee was a MESS

they kept pinching each other when they had to explain the s t e a m y parts of the song so johnny did it for them

in the end they just gave up on explaining so she said “you don’t have to take the lyrics word by word, line by line. you can take it however you want and the feelings aren’t just limited to a significant other. it’s just love between two people and that could be a friend, a partner-“

inside they’re like “good job, taehee. good job,” until she says

“-your mom.”

and when they were teaching cherry bomb she couldn’t keep her mouth shut

“okay so you spread your legs like this” - johnny

“that’s when you feel the air coming in” - mark

and when doyoung thought it couldn’t get any worse

“oh, really? i don’t” - taehee

and yuta, taeyong, johnny, and mark just try to hold their laughter

doyoung @ the rest: just smile and wave boys, smile and wave

also stayzens got crumbs of (han) jisung and taehee’s friendship when they were guessing the dance based on the silhouette

when the choreo for ‘get cool’ showed she immediately answered

“oH OH GET COOL STRAY KIDS”

she scared everyone with her excitement but that’s okay bc they got a point

“that was fast,” the host told her

*proudly* “yeah i’m friends with one of them”

taehee stans were served

she wore dresses to award shows bUT THERE WAS A TIME SHE WORE A SUIT

everyone died

she looked amazing hot spectacular show stopping

#miamiwithtaehee

“hey guys! welcome back to my channel ( ◠‿◠ ) so today we would be going toOoOoOo miAMIIIII *fake sound effects* um so like we’re going to buy some stuff for the beach coz like it’s really hot hahahaha but that’s because i’m here *slowly pulls shades down*”

“why do you talk like that”

“just let me be, mark. let me be.”

but she went back to taehee mode so it’s aight

“taeyong oppa broke his slippers and the sand’s really hot so i don’t know how he survives.”

“noona~”

“hAECHAN I DONT WANNA GET WEEEET”

she gets caught anyways

and hyuck drags her to the deep deep deep part

but she knows how to swim :>>

#athletic

she came back to shore to dry off,,,so she watched the surfers with jungwoo while the others are having fun

“waahh, that’s so cool. did you see that?”

“my dad taught me how to surf back in australia”

“really? :OO”

“yeah but that was when i was still younger. i think i forgot now.”

“woah” jungwoo’s amazed by this girl

OH MY GOD WAIT I FORGOT ABOUT 19 EMOTIONS

so when she was asked to do flirty

she got shy, that was the shyest moment of her life but you gotta do what you gotta do

*starts twirling a piece of hair on her finger* “hey,,,,” *winks*

then she starts playing with her hair more aggressively until she had to stop and fix her hair bc the manager told her to

producer: is that how you flirt?

taehee: i don’t flirt. *confidently* people flirt with me ;))).

johnny, off-screen: excuses! this is why we don’t let her out

her and johnny just kept giving commentary on poor mark it’s hilarious

*mark raises his eyebrow*

“you’re so flirty”

“damn, that eyebrow tho. i’m swayed.”

taehee kept eating ice cream

like everytime the camera pans to her she’s just eating ice cream

when they watched alicia key performing ‘if i ain’t got you’

she was star struck

markhee: Aw sHIT

when she rapped “knet knet talk talk” she blew up the whole bird app

she was feeling herself everytime they performed it was sexc

american air really is different

concerts omg don’t get me started

johnny started shaking his booty as a joke but then there’s taehee on the side of the stage lowkey twerking

you know how bp were feeling themselves during their cons?

well taehee is just like that and czennies wERE SO LOUD

her ‘baby don’t like it’ fit .....

it was different from the boys’ since she’s wearing like a dress like damn what if she sLIPPED

she was wearing a blindfold too

her performance is still flawless tho i mean it’s taehee come on

and when they performed ‘superhuman’

istg that markhee part everyone flipped

they were so close (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡

like i swear they could feel their breaths on each other’s faces

but it’s what the czennies want and you gotta give it to them even if the management said nO

#rebel

markhee stans were fed this season they kept hanging out with each other

they rode that horse carriage thing together

they ate donuts together

they shopped together

they messed up their korean and english at some point together

best friend goals

taehee was so excited for the dodgers game she was so adorable in the jersey

she was more than glad to be the first pitch and list off the names of the players to the members

jungwoo and hyuck trapped her so they could get on kiss cam

she was struggling

but that’s okay bc she still gets to see the dodgers play

brooklyn boys

the title’s still boys the producers are like whatever just name it brooklyn boys

after they ate they went shopping right

taehee was in the ‘don’t forget your tools’ team

taeyong mom johnny dad jungwoo child mark child taehee child

“i wanted to be the cousin!!”

“.....taehee child”

#markheebesties we love it

markhee separated from the group for a while to buy ingredients to make cocktails for the older members + staff

“you know how?”

“yeah, my dad taught me.”

“your dad is so cool.”

“i know right- *immediately* mom, i still love youuu <3333”

“we’re both minors and we’re the ones getting alcohol”

“mark, we’re in america. we’re not minors anymore.”

but later on they don’t drink alcohol to respect their korean culture :>>

when jungwoo wanted to get the pie thingy and taeyong won’t let him it was comical

mark’s like that youngest good kid

jungwoo’s like the middle kid who wanted to bUY SOMETHING BUT THEY WONT LET HIM

and taehee’s the eldest bad influence kid

*whispering* “just hide it. yeah, hide it in there. then just put it out when they’re paying for it*

mark’s just laughing off cam they were so serious

anyways they’re cooking and taehee made the guac :p

she kept on laughing at markwoo it’s cute

but she kept on eating the other group’s pasta

“hey! why do you keep eating our food?”

“diversity.”

they complimented her on her guac since she doesn’t cook that much

but she’s a great cook she learned from taeyong!!! and her dad

when they were playing beer pong the maknae line was sOOO HYPED

“LIKE A WHAT?” “LIKE A LIGHT”

“LIKE A WHAT” “LIKE A LIGHT”

and hyuck’s just looking at them weirdly like wtf hahaha markhee tingz i guess

she acted like a ring girl every time they switch to the next round

“wAIT LET ME WALK” *catwalks from side a to side b*

while they were karaoke-ing she made the cocktails and mark watched her

she kept doing tricks with the cups to make mark laugh

she let the staff taste it and they were amazed she’s such an angel i swear

“this one’s for you!!!!”

“is it good?”

“oh i should add more of this? okay, hold on”

and then the older hyungs came and were amazed

doyoung doesn’t even drink but she managed to get him to have a taste

when they were all going to sleep, she chose the bed at the very end

she used mark’s arm as a pillow

they all kinda...didn’t shower...

jk they still smell great ig

“mark you stink”

“shut up”

and then they fell asleep but the others caught them

“mark and taehee are asleep”

“really?” *laughs*

“i’m not asleep i’m just closing my eyes”

“okay but taehee’s already snoring”

*sleepily* “i DONT SNORE!!!”

[konpithepuppy]

[TRANSLATION: POTATO 07.2021]

7 MEN SAMURAI

Proofread by aji10647731 (Twitter)/ @janiappend

Scans not mine

Neither an English nor a Japanese native speaker

Feel free to correct me, thanks

7 MEN 侍

Anyone must have an experience of breaking into cold sweats when accidentally leaving behind something. Trying to search for the members' "situations about leaving a belonging behind," episodes of a member leaving behind things came out, they were revealed...!!! (Interview was done during the first 10 days of May)

Questions:

Q1. An experience where you left something behind that gave you cold sweats.

Q2. I completely saw 〇〇 forgot something!

Q3. What will you do if you realized about your girlfriend's birthday after a day it had passed since her birthday?

REI YABANA

A1. When going to my destination, I have a habit of leaving behind things and leave like Hansel and Gretel, that's why I lose a lot of things. When I left in the classroom in my university the earphones that I got from Rinne-kun as a birthday present, since it was gone when I went back to pick it up, so I bought the same kind of earphones and use it.

A2. Daka-san (Motodaka) is really bad with forgetting things. All of the members must have seen him walking around searching for the other side of his wireless earphones (LOL). Just recently too, he forgot his coat at the studio where we do our band rehearsals and went home with just his turtle neck. Since he called me, "Is my coat in there? But I want to wear it for our YouTube filming tomorrow~" so I brought it home and gave it to him the next day (LOL).

A3. When I realized about it, I will immediately contact her and apologize first of all. If she can make time, I will bring her a present somehow or another and will meet her on that day.

[Recent Happening].

7 MEN 侍's blog in Johnny's WEB has started, and I am in charged of Wednesdays. *I ramble a lot that's why writing the sentences is fun, and I am happy that I can deliver my way of wordings without getting edited. They're long but please read them by all means!

TAIKI KONNO

A1. Basically, I don't forget my things. At home or at Jr. activities, I check my things before going out. Since the things that I must not forget like phone, wallet, pass case aren't a lot, so it's better if I check them before going. The experience that gave me chills when I forgot about it was about a homework during my school days. I do my homeworks properly until when I was an elementary student, but I started to forget my homeworks when I was a middle schooler, it was a lack of vigilance when I think about it now (LOL).

A2. The time when we went to Kyoto for our stage play, when I met with Katsuki to go to the convenience store, Katsuki forgot about the card key of his hotel room. It was a single room so no one is in the same room with him, that's why we had to ask for the hotel personnel to open it. I thought it is hard to be forgetful while looking at him saying, "I am sorry!" (LOL).

A3. That is bad, right? Yeah, it is really bad. I will call her immediately the moment I realized it and I have no choice but to ask for forgiveness. From there, I will wish her a happy birthday. As an apology, we will go on a date with everything she likes to do for a day.

[Recent Happening]

I had a long time of staying still at home, and I came to think that if I can freely go and play somewhere, where will I want to go (LOL). For now, I want to go to the sea. I approximately go to the beach every year but I couldn't go last year, so I definitely want to go this year!

KATSUKI MOTODAKA

A1. I cried losing a number of times my previous wireless earphones before having the one with GPS function, and even though I am using the lipbalm I am obsessed with, when I noticed it, I already lost it. It happened a lot of times and I really feel down over it. Recently too, I accidentally left behind the coat that I was wearing and went home, my mind and body got scared (LOL). For the things that I forget, I basically don't know where I forget it, *the hopelessness that I have lost them is tremendous.

A2. Honestly, I haven't seen anyone who got in trouble for forgetting things more than I do (LOL). Sometimes, when my family goes out, my mother forgets something and goes back to get it. But when she goes back to get it, the thing that she forgot is there at the house so there is no real incident that happened.

A3. That's the end our the relationship...I will probably freak out when I realized it.

But if I apologize, I will be busted for forgetting it, so I will make her the opposite by urgently preparing a grand plan and make her feel, "He planned all of these that's why he was late for my birthday." (LOL)

[Recent Happening]

The filter for kids of my phone got lifted. Since I have my Jr. activities when I was in middle school, so my father bought the phone for me and got the filter for kids be activated in my phone. Since for it to be lifted, I had to go to the store with my father so the filter for kids had always been activated in my phone. Because of the policies, I had a hard time not being able to see what others can normally see, but I have finally become a proper adult (LOL).

TAIKO SASAKI

A1. I forgot my key when I went out of the house, since it is an autolock, so I got locked out of the building. I contacted the control office but it seemed like it will take time for them to respond, so I took my chance and pressed the doorbell of a unit of someone who I don't know. I explained the situation but the owner of the unit is a foreign guy. I cannot communicate in complicated Japanese with him, I used a translation app in phone to explain and I got the door opened for me (LOL).

A2. When I went to have barbeque with my friends, even though I entrusted my cooler to the friend who was in charged of bringing the drinks, when I was about to hit the freeway, a person from the barbeque place contacted me saying, "you forgot your cooler." It seemed like for my friend, it was not his so he completely forgot about it (LOL). I'm glad I received the message before entering the freeway.

A3. This is a person who you must not forget her birthday, right? The moment I realized it, I will contact her immediately and I have no choice but to apologize. Or, I will think of a fancy surprise and and will tell her as an excuse that that have taken up my time.

[Recent Happening]

I am watching again the anime 「Dragon Ball」. When I saw a scene from it by chance, it made me want to watch the whole series again. It has around 300 episodes though (LOL). I've become absorbed at it when I was in 1st grade, but I still enjoy watching it now. It is interesting to think like, "What was this episode about again?" and also the way how my feelings [for the episodes] change.

REIA NAKAMURA

A1. I relatively don't forget things.

I think I don't have a story here that is a massive failure at least. It's just that, I may forget my promises with people. Getting a message, " You are not yet here!?" and replying "Huh? What was it about again?" kind of situation happens a lot. My excuse during those times is, "I overslept." Lately, I put a memo in my phone about my plans with people, I wonder if my mistakes reduced.

A2. Yabana forgot his contact lens and panicked, but no one can lend him, right? But, when Katsuki forgot his contact lens, the colored contact lens that I ordered with wrong prescription matches with his prescription by chance, so I gave them to him. Katsuki has a good luck, right?

A3.  I'll call her to my house the next day and will solve it through a surprise. I will adjust back the date of the calendar and the clock to my girlfriend's birth date, and I will tell her, "You are probably busy celebrating your birthday with everyone yesterday, right? Today, let's celebrate your birthday with just the two of us."

[Recent Happening]

Heading towards 「Johnny's Ginza」, I come to the gym at the office 5 times a week, and the trainer-san is pushing me to workout hard. The other day, I was told, "let's rest first because you've overworked" for the first time. Since I didn't feel that I overworked, at that time I realized that I am really looking forward to the live.

RINNE SUGETA

A1. When I remove the bracelet that I super treasure and wrapped it in tissue paper during a photoshoot, I completely forgot about it and went home. *When I realized that I left my bracelet, I immediately got it checked, but I felt uneasy until it was confirmed the next day. I kept thinking that since it was wrapped in tissue, it might be mistaken for a trash and be thrown away...and my heart kept pounding.

A2. Katsuki forgetting things might be a usual scene (LOL). Before, the members took Katsuki's belonging and attached to the white board that is in the room as a prank. And yet, since he didn't notice it, we also forgot about it and went home. It was left there for 2 days (LOL).

A3. I will send her a message saying, "happy birthday," like nothing happened, and I will write a sentence at the end saying, "The last birthday message you have received is from Rinne, right?" Moreover, if her birthday is on 06/07, greeting her at 6:07 or something, matching her birthday with a time that has a deep meaning and send the message to her is effective [as an excuse], right?

[Recent Happening]

The takeout box for Thirty-one Ice Cream (Baskin Robbins) is Yamada (Ryosuke), that's why I went to buy it yeasterday. It is embarrassing to be seemed aiming for Yamada-kun, so I brought along my little brother and made it looked like "my brother wants it so I am buying it for him" (LOL).

[tabloidtoc]

Globe, January 4

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Ghislaine Maxwell buying her way out of prison

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Gavin Rossdale playing tennis with his pup Chewy, Brooke Burke holding holiday balls topless, James Franco takes his cellphone into the sea 

Page 3: Leighton Meester surfing in Malibu, Robbie Williams, Lisa Rinna wearing two masks 

Page 4: Angelina Jolie is bracing for major humiliation after being dragged into Johnny Depp’s latest legal showdown with ex-wife Amber Heard -- Angie’s run-ins with Johnny who she starred with in 2010′s The Tourist are coming under intense scrutiny as Depp gears for a second court battle with Amber -- Angie and Johnny were so coy about their white-hot connection at the time even though their romance was an open secret but they got lucky because nobody had the smoking gun to prove it but now it’ll all come out in the open -- at the time Johnny was still dating Vanessa Paradis while Angie was five years into her doomed love-in with Brad Pitt -- there’s talk bisexual Amber was kind of obsessed with Angie so Angie is central to the plotline whether she likes it or not

Page 5: The Bachelor host Chris Harrison is worried he’ll follow Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron out the door -- both these shows have been on TV forever and the world has changed around them and to keep up with Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement changes are being discussed and that’s left Chris fearing he’ll be the next Tom Bergeron and replaced by a woman of color 

Page 6: Aging divas Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton are caught in a bitter country catfight and long-dead Patsy Cline is the excuse -- although there’s been little love lost between the Nashville icons for nearly 50 years their simmering feud exploded weeks ago when Dolly apparently took some veiled public shots at Loretta’s BFF Patsy who was horribly disfigured in a car wreck two years before dying in a 1963 plane crash -- in an interview Dolly recalled standing in the wings of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at age 13 and watching Patsy perform and she remembered thinking about how awful it was that she got her pretty face scarred up like that -- Loretta was fit to be tied over the comments Dolly made about her old pal and thinks Dolly should stop running her mouth about Nashville legends like Patsy and Johnny Cash -- Dolly’s heard about Loretta’s complaints through the grapevine and brushes them off as quarantine boredom mixed with old age 

Page 8: Blake Shelton’s going bonkers after fiancee Gwen Stefani told him she wants to skip the mega-million star-studded wedding shindig he’s been planning and elope -- Blake is all bent out of shape over Gwen’s latest switcheroo which calls for them to get hitched on the sly at a Mexican resort and she’s got him so mixed up he can’t think straight because for the longest time she wanted the Hollywood-style wedding with all the bells and whistles and was very particular about details but now she’s telling him to ditch those plans which have already cost them a small fortune and book a trip somewhere exotic so they can just just get it over with -- Gwen wants to elope so they can hitched at the Riviera Maya resort in Cancun where they could swap vows on the beach witnessed by her three sons and Blake has no choice but to give in to Gwen and he’s saying he’s fine with it as long as she’s sure this time 

Page 9: Hollywood horndog John Mayer is back sniffing around old flame Jennifer Aniston after his mom gave him a shove -- John and Jen had a steamy fling for about a year before he dropped her in 2009 and now John’s mom Margaret Meyer is scolding him for letting Jen go and John’s mom is always on him about settling down and she feels that at 43 he should be married and she recently had a heart-to-heart talk with him and told him she thought Jennifer was the most down-to-earth of all his exes and because John considers his mom one of the smartest people he knows he decided to reach out to Jen and he’s always admired Jen and thought of her as a classy lady and now he’s reaching out to her again in hopes of getting her to agree to see him again once things leave lockdown 

* FKA Twigs has socked actor Shia LaBeouf with a bombshell lawsuit claiming he subjected her to relentless physical, emotional and mental abuse and gave her an STD and she also accuses him of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress -- although Shia says she’s lying Twigs insists Shia once choked her in the middle of the night and kept a loaded firearm by the bed leaving her terrified to get up at night for fear he’d think she was an intruder and shoot her -- she claims during an incident around Valentine’s Day 2019 Shia threatened to crash his speeding car unless she professed her love for him so when he pulled into a gas station she got out of the car but he threw her against the car while screaming in her face then forced her back into the car -- Shia also had rules about how often Twigs had to kiss and touch him -- Shia has been arrested several times on now-dismissed charges including assault and disorderly conduct 

Page 10: John Lennon didn’t have to die -- that’s law enforcement experts’ explosive analysis after reviewing newly discovered evidence about the Beatles legend’s December 8, 1980 murder in NYC -- an odd series of coincidences and simple decisions put Lennon and his killer Mark David Chapman in the same place at the same time -- a review of the details concludes Lennon’s death was a strange result of flukes including his penchant for running around without protection and a missed appointment with his photographer and without these quirks of fate John would still be alive and recording hit songs 

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Pink flashes her bandaged thumb after getting stitches in Santa Monica (picture), Amanda Seyfried confesses she made a terrible decision for turning down the role of a lifetime as Chris Pratt’s love interest in Guardians of the Galaxy and now she’s watching from the sidelines as the director’s second choice Zoe Saldana skyrockets in the money-making Marvel franchise, Katherine Heigl will star in the upcoming limited biopic series Woodhull about Victoria Woodhull the first woman to run for president in 1872, Big Brother alum Zach Rance has come out as bisexual after admitting a sizzling same-sex romance with his former reality show housemate Frankie Grande who is the real-life older brother of pop star Ariana Grande

Page 13: Jaime King slurps down a meal on the streets on L.A. (picture), Jax Taylor mowing the lawn (picture), Guns N’ Roses axman Slash loads up on supplies at an L.A. grocery (picture), former teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray admits his inflated young ego got the best of him and now he looks at photos of himself and thinks what a dweeb

Page 14: Julia Roberts is headed for the small screen headlining the limited TV series The Last Thing He Told Me where she’ll form an unexpected relationship with her teenage stepdaughter while searching for the truth about her husband’s mysterious disappearance, Emma Stone is also heading for the flat-screen in the comedy series The Curse alongside Nathan Fielder about a couple starring on an HGTV-style show who are trying to conceive a child amid an alleged curse, Nicolas Cage is hosting a new series called The History of Swear Words in which he’ll delve into the origins and pop culture usage and science and cultural impact of profanely shocking expletives

* Fashion Police -- Peyton List 8/10, Sofia Carson 9/10, Vanessa Hudgens 2/10, Neve Campbell 1/10, Chelsea Handler 4/10 

Page 16: Cover Story -- Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s $30M jail break -- terrified and tortured Ghislaine risks family fortune to buy her freedom -- the accused sex predator and her fat cat inner circle are set to plunk down an obscene $30 million to buy her way out of federal prison in what outraged investigators fear is a brazen plot to cheat justice 

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Mayim Bialik

* Lizzo is admitting she’s having negative thoughts and is hating her 300-pound body but adds she knows she beautiful

* The Spice Girls were likely liquored up on cut-rate champagne when they made their first album according to Emma Bunton a.k.a. Baby Spice who says she and her bandmates swilled the cheapest sparkling wine in the studio 

Page 20: True Crime -- a chilling message left by the elusive Zodiac Killer has finally been cracked by a team of code breakers after 51 years -- a hodgepodge of numbers, symbols and letters called the 340 cipher was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 and lawmen believed it contained key clues to the serial killer’s identity but the truth is even more chilling -- according to the experts the message says I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me, I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me 

Page 21: Caitlyn Jenner is terrified after learning her skin cancer has returned a second time -- she was diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer a few years ago and had an entire layer of skin removed from her nose -- since then she’s been slathering on sunscreen but a new red spot on the right side of her nose popped up along with some crusty areas on her scalp but the nose patch was not cancer but hypertrophic keratosis or scaly damage from sun exposure -- however the dozen spots on the top of her head was squamous cell carcinoma which is a skin cancer that’s known to be aggressive so her doctor burned off the offending spots -- her doctor recommended she replace her 1960 Austin-Healey convertible but the chances of Caitlyn selling her prized ride are slim 

Page 23: Your 2021 Horoscope -- love, luck, health, wealth, happiness -- plus surprising celebrity predictions -- Elton John, Valerie Bertinelli, Johnny Depp, Jessica Simpson, Matthew Perry, Cameron Diaz, Will Smith, Katy Perry, Howie Mandel, Savannah Guthrie, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood 

Page 30: Larry King has reached a deal with estranged wife Shawn but she’s royally peeved about the payoff -- Larry has agreed to pay her a lump sum of $20,000 plus $33,000 a month in spousal support which lasts until at least their next scheduled hearing in April but Shawn claims the 33Gs only covers a third of her monthly nut which includes $25,000 for rent on her home, $12,000 on clothes, $3500 on groceries and $4500 for hair and nails and pet care and gym 

Page 31: Kim Kardashian is reading husband Kanye West the riot act over his junk food benders that are sabotaging her healthy eating program and it’s led to more than a few arguments with no peace in sight -- he’s telling her to chill and let him live by his own terms but she can’t do that because it’s driving her crazy -- what really ticks Kim off is his junk food has totally taken over her section of fresh cut veggies, fruits and water and she wants him to get his own storage in a different part of the house where she won’t have to see it or hold her nose 

* Kardashian momager Kris Jenner’s faux reality TV home is on the market for nearly $8 million even though she never lived there -- the L.A. estate was used for exterior shots of the image-conscious family’s compound on Keeping Up with the Kardashians but it was all for show -- dubbed the Iredell Estate the house also appears in True Blood and Chelsea Lately 

Page 33: Health Report 

Page 34: Wrestling Ring Kings: Where Are They Now? Sable, Bret Hart

Page 35: Lex Luger, Steve Austin, Ric Flair 

Page 36: The Undertaker, Tito Santana, Diamond Dallas Page 

Page 37: Kane, Kurt Angle, Sunny, Mick Foley 

Page 39: Despite an astounding 30 No. 1 country music hits legendary singer Charley Pride took a haunting regret to his grave that he never made it as major league baseball star -- Charley had so much success but he died tormented his baseball career short-circuited -- Charley was singing and playing guitar by the time he was 14 but his real goal was to pitch for the New York Yankees -- Charley signed with a Yankees farm team as a flame-throwing phenom at 17 but in his rookie season he threw out his arm and was just never the same -- after he struck out in baseball he put his full energy into singing but faced an uphill battle -- Charley was the Jackie Robinson of country music and he endured a lot of racism 

Page 40: Kelsey Grammer admits he often breaks down and blubbers like a baby and it makes him feel better and he cries when he’s upset or sad or scared and it provides him a lot of relief and he believes years of tragedy in his life taught him to cry as a healing mechanism and now he sheds tears whenever he has sad feeling bottled up inside him 

* A moneybags James Bond fan coughed up a whopping $256,000 for the handgun 007 Sean Connery toted in the first spy epic Dr. No -- the disabled Walther PP semi-automatic was supposed to bring in no more than $200,000 but the unidentified American buyer who claims to have seen every Bond epic went even higher 

Page 44: Straight Talk -- Miley Cyrus is now blabbing about why she broke up with husband Liam Hemsworth after years of togetherness and just nine months of marriage and it sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle black 

Page 45: Furious Queen Elizabeth has booted Princess Eugenie and her husband out of Prince Harry’s Frogmore Cottage home in a bit to foil Meghan Markle’s plan to completely cut him off from England and the royal family -- pregnant Eugenie and her booze-seller husband Jack Brooksbank were ordered to quit the cottage and move back to Kensington Palace just six weeks after Harry and Meghan secretly leased them the home meaning Harry and Meghan are still on the financial hook for Frogmore which was a gift from the queen and they will have to underwrite the cost of keeping up the property and it also ensures Harry has a home in Britain if he ever wants to come back -- by moving Eugenie and Jack out the queen has made sure Harry still has a place to hang his hat if he decides to come back to leave his American wife 

Page 47: Bizarre But True 

[gaiapaia]

Kermit and Friends: A Work of Art

Elisa kicked this week’s show off with a lovely prayer in honor of Kermit that was inspired by a caller from last week. Fozzie started kissing Elisa like crazy when she began talking about Kermit... it’s not possible to have started the show in a sweeter manner.

Co-host Sugar then showed off her beautiful Kermitarian shirt, much to the delight of a lot men in the audience. If you would like to purchase any Kermit and Friends merchandise, you can do so here. 

You know what? I’m positive if Kermit was asked what would be the best way to end 2020, she would have answered to make a new awesome friend for her awesome show. Well, Kermit would have got her wish granted with Trumpster Bob!

Trumpster Bob is a gentleman Elisa met on the Drunken Peasants podcast (which you can watch here). They clicked well and Elisa invited him to KAF and voila - here he is!

If I were to describe what I know about Trumpster Bob thus far, it’s that he has the patriotism of Honest Frank, the drinking capacity of Corey, the sexual appetite of Claire, and the no-filter gift of gab of Kleenex. He contains pieces of all these classic Kermit and Friends stars, so of course he’s just perfect for Kermit and all her amazing friends. Bob was actually dubbed COO of KAF by Elisa, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what all he will bring to the show in the future.

Other than that, of course Trumpster Bob is a big Donald Trump fan. He’s also an Adonis in the bedroom with the way he describes his ability to pleasure women. And he gets a lot flirtation from men too, as multiple male callers called in to announce their attraction to Trumpster Bob. He’s just an all around stud I guess!

Speaking of studs, William Quigley made his triumph return to Kermit and Friends this week. If you remember Quig from previous episodes, he’s the guy who sold a Donald Trump painting to Trump himself, and he also likes to cam up in the shower. He’s very fun and very accomplished.

Elisa asked Quig a question, which led to Quig sharing a long story about how he missed out on a big investment opportunity with Red Bull and Grey Goose vodka. The main point of the story was how much of a mistake that was, but then he used the story as an excuse as to why he shouldn’t invest his time and energy into helping Kermit and Friends without being paid or having some sort of contract.

Honestly, I will never be looked at as a real contributor because I’m not an on-screen participant on the show. Nothing I do really matters, the on-screen talent is the bread and butter for KAF’s success. But as a huge fan of KAF, as someone who loves Elisa very much... I do put a lot of effort into helping in the ways that I can. I don’t ask to be paid for it. I’m a fan; it’s not much different from being a fan of a sports franchise. The Houston Astros don’t pay me to watch their games, give supportive tweets, wear their merchandise, etc. I do those things on my own because I love the Astros, just like I love Kermit and Friends.

If Quig truly cares about Elisa, if he truly enjoys Kermit and Friends... he should want to help out. I’m not in the position where I can snag big guests for the show, but if I was, I’d happily do it. So Quig, my respectful advice to you if you read this is to just contribute in the ways that you can. And if Kermit and Friends becomes a huge multi-million dollar success, you shouldn’t be upset if you don’t get a piece of the pie - you should be elated for contributing to Elisa’s dreams coming true. That’s how it will be for me. I pray it happens in 2021 or 2022, even if that means I lose direct contact to Elisa due to her fame. I will just be happy for her, no regrets.

Okay, I’m rambling on like my man Quigley did... sorry! Back to the review.

There was a funny gimmick on the old Kermit and Friends that featured a Zebra music video. Elisa has brought that cute little video back and she is on a never ending quest to try to find out who the real Little Zebra is. A mysterious woman called in... could it be her? There was a cartoon zebra on cam... could it be that person? There was another caller who claimed to be Little Zebra... could he be the real one? Maybe we’ll find out in the upcoming weeks, but the video was a joyous experience every time it was randomly played by Elisa.

Laurie was back on Kermit and Friends this week, looking nice in her colorful hijab with Marylin Monroe pictures in the background. William Quigley kindly painted a portrait of Laurie and presented it to her on the show. That was a sweet and also somewhat hilarious moment. Maybe Quig will paint Trumpster Bob next!

Kermit was lucky enough to make even more awesome new friends this week with M3 and Etan. Unfortunately neither guy could stay long but it was cool seeing them both and I hope we’ll get more time to get to know them further in the future.

Billy the Fridge also returned this week and had an interesting discussion with Elisa about certain enemies they’ve made over the years. Elisa shared her experience with an awful radio host in Florida (I remember that interview vividly, it was back in 2016 when Elisa was in the middle of trying to get her writing career going... I was infuriated with how that went). She also discussed her beef with Jimmy Kimmel, which I always find intriguing. I still hope Elisa finds it in her heart to forgive these people one day, but for now at least they could be used as fascinating topic points for the show.

So one complaint I do have about KAF right now is the phone calls. Everyone watching was at one time in their lives a Howard Stern fan, so they should know that you turn down your radio before you call in. If you want to call in to sing or flirt with Trumpster Bob or read definitions about Republicans, please turn down the volume on the device you’re watching the show on beforehand, PLEASE! Maybe as the show grows, Brandon the Neighbor can start screening calls for Elisa.

But back to the good stuff... all heck broke loose when Trumpster Bob met Laurie. Bob isn’t fond of Muslims and let his opinions be known. Laurie had none of it and fought fire with fire, and her father Johnny B even joined in on the action to stand up for his daughter. Then Corey comes out of nowhere to defend his mortal enemies Johnny and Laurie against Bob. It was absolute PANDEMONIUM on Kermit and Friends!

Once the chaos chilled out a bit, Elisa allowed Laurie to play some Islamic prayers that sounded like the Satanic orgy ritual scene from the movie Eyes Wide Shut. Sincerely though, that was very kindhearted of Elisa to do. 

Following the Muslim prayers, Elisa gave her beautiful Greek definition of church (ecclesia - to assemble a group of people), and then Johnny B ended things with a lovely performance of God Bless America.

Lastly, in typical Kermit and Friends fashion, we were treated with an awesome surprise after the outro video, where Elisa showed some home movies of her late precious dog Kermit. It was just like a post credit scene in a Marvel film, only 100000x better! Thank you for that Elisa, Kermit would be so so proud of you...

[imagineredwood]

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5 

Pairing: EZ Reyes x Camila

Warnings: None 

Word count: 1.5k

***Angel can be a little shit, but he’s a good wingman***

“You should invite her to the clubhouse for the party this weekend. Show her around the place, your life you know.” 

EZ nodded, taking another swig of beer as he looked forward, Angel doing the same, both sat on the couch in their father’s home. 

“I just don’t know if it’s too early. We’ve only been on a couple dates. She knows about the MC but I just…I don’t know.” 

Angel knitted his brows as he looked at his baby brother. 

“You don’t know what? She likes you, you like her, she makes you happy and she’s accepted that you’re in the club. What’s the problem?”

EZ stayed quiet, wishing that he could confide in his brother and tell him the truth. Tell him that he didn’t want to drag her into the mess, that he didn’t want her getting tangled up in the cartel and the club and the DEA deal, but of course that was a secret that he couldn’t share. Not with Angel. So EZ shrugged, coming up with an excuse. 

“I just don’t wanna move too fast. Soon.” 

Angel nodded silently, feeling like there was something his brother wasn’t telling him, but he left it alone. He figured he was probably still trying to get back into the swing of things and move on from the situation with Emily. Angel would be happy when he finally moved on and allowed himself to be happy, but until then, he would support his brother no matter what he chose. Both boys stood up as Felipe called out to them, telling them lunch was ready and they headed to the kitchen to grab their plates. 

They ate together as a family, making small talk about the club and the shop and before long they had finished up, Angel saying that he had to get going, him and Coco having plans. The older brother left after saying goodbye, EZ and Felipe there together along when they began talking, Felipe filling EZ in on what had happened that day at the shop when KJ had shown up and Camila was there. 

“He came in before I could get her out. We were talking and I wasn’t paying attention. He knew her name. She played it off well but she’s a smart kid. It was obvious she was uneasy at him knowing her. I got her out quickly, but he still saw her, with me having lunch. He’s going to know that she’s close with us now. You need to figure out what you’re doing with her. If you want something serious, tell her. If not…end it. But you can’t have both Ezekiel. You’re already living with enough secrets. She can’t be another one.” 

EZ nodded silently, biting at the inside of his cheek as he listened to his fathers’ words. He knew he was right. He needed to decide what he wanted. If he wanted Camila just as a friend or if he wanted her as something more. Felipe could see the war waging behind his son’s eyes, and he reached over to drop a comforting hand onto his shoulder, squeezing softly. 

“Whatever you choose, I’m behind you mijo. Don’t forget that.”

Felipe pulled his son further into him, pressing a kiss to the top of EZ’s head, a soft smile coming to his lips. 

“I really like her pops.”

The older man smiled in return and nodded his head at his son in agreement. 

“So do I.”

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

“Long time no see.”

Camila looked up from the stack of books in front of her to see the older Reyes brother standing in front of her and another man she hadn’t seen before, shaggy dark hair and a kutte as well.  Camila smiled at the two men, looking back at Angel. 

“What’s up?” 

Angel shrugged looking around the bookshop. 

“Oh nothing, just checking in.”

Camila eyed him with a smirk, waiting for him to continue, which he did leaning down to rest his forearms on the counter. 

“And I may have also come by to invite you to a party we’re having this weekend. EZ wanted to come and tell you himself but he got a little busy, so he sent me.” 

Angel gave a grin and Coco did as well, knowing full well that was a lie and playing along.

 “It’ll be cool, you should come.”

Angel nodded, pointing over at Coco with his thumb. 

“This is Johnny, we call him Coco.” 

The other Mayan reached his hand out for Camila to shake and she did with a smile as did he.

“I’m Camila.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Angel watched the interaction and smiled, speaking again. 

“So, the party will start this Friday, around 8 PM. It isn’t anything crazy, just a little get-together. Music, food, drinks, dancing, playing pool, just chilling. Wear whatever.”

“That sounds cool. I haven’t really done anything fun since I moved here. I’ll be there.”

 Angel grinned and slapped his hand on the countertop, standing up straight. 

“Cool. Take my number so you can call, and we’ll let you in.” 

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

EZ took a drag from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke through his nose as he looked around, his eyes settling on his brother who sat across the table from him, a girl in his lap grinding down to the rhythm of the music. He rolled his eyes and called out to him. 

“What the hell am I waiting for Angel. I’ve been sitting here for 15 minutes waiting for my ‘surprise’.” 

Angel looked away from the girl in his lap, a smirk on his lips as he looked at EZ. 

“Just be patient baby brother. She’ll be here soon.”

EZ knitted his eyebrows in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened. 

“You didn’t.”

Angel laughed, hands gripping the girl’s waist. 

“Oh, but I did. Already ran it by Bish. He’s cool.”

EZ was about to lay into him when Angel’s phone rang, him answering it with an obnoxious smile and looking dead at his brother. 

“You here Camila?”

EZ watched as Angel listened, nodding once before saying goodbye and hanging up, pointing over that the gate. 

“Go let your girlfriend in.” 

EZ snorted in disbelief but smirked nonetheless, unable to hide the satisfaction of hearing her being called his girl, even if she wasn’t. Yet. 

He stood from his seat and made his way over to the gate, pulling it open just as he saw her headlights driving up. Camila pulled in slowly and he pointed over to the corner where she could park, closing the gate behind her and walking over to her door, smiling as she stepped out. He looked her over, liking to see her in her regular clothes, not her work clothes or date clothes. Just jeans, a regular white tee, and pink Nike Cortez. EZ smiled immediately, opening his arms to her. Camila smiled as well and stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his middle. The two hugged for a moment before pulling apart, EZ resting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her over to where he had been sitting before. The girls that were there at the table looked at her suspiciously, but once they saw the smiles that came to both Angel and Coco’s face at the sight of her, they relaxed some and smiled softly as well. Camila locked eyes with Angel and waved, his throwing her a wink. 

“Glad you could make it. EZ wouldn’t stop talking about getting you to come over.” 

EZ made a mental note to kick Angel’s ass later, but for the time being, he would take it in stride, especially considering the bashful smile that came to her face. EZ tossed his arm around Camila’s shoulders and nodded towards the clubhouse. 

“Come on, let's get you a drink.” 

The two walked inside and EZ pointed over towards the bar, Tranq and Bishop sitting there talking. They looked over as the two walked up and smiled at Camila warmly. 

“Hi, sweetheart.” 

Bishop introduced himself to Camila, same as Tranq while EZ went and grabbed them both a beer. As he came back to stand at her side, he caught the end of Bishop’s sentence. 

“-nice to finally meet you.” 

Camila grinned and looked over at EZ as he handed her one of the beers. 

“Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me.” 

Both Bishop and Tranq raised their glasses to her and she turned around walking with EZ. 

“They were nice.”

 EZ nodded and took a sip from his bottle, happy to see her comfortable. 

“Yeah, they are. Can I get you anything else?” 

Camila shook her head, smiling as EZ reached for her hand and began to lead her back outside. She noticed he was being touchier and while it gave her butterflies, she chucked it up to being purely possessive, making sure the people at the party knew she was there with him. It was different than she was used to, but she couldn’t deny that it made her feel a little giddy. They walked back outside, hand in hand and he softly maneuvered her in front of him to sit in the seat he was in before as he took the seat next to her. Coco smiled softly and nudged Gilly to get his attention, the girls also looking at the newcomer with friendly smiles. EZ knew it was all or nothing like his father had said and made up his mind, welcoming the new addition to his life.  

“This is Camila.”

[crue-sixx]

Save the Girl

Title:  Save the Girl

Author: tiddly-winx

Fandom: The Dirt (Motley Crue)

Summary: The reader is getting married to her fiancee Jerry and Tommy has feelings for her, but thinks that she's happy with Jerry so he doesn't say anything.  Looks can be deceiving though.

Warning: Domestic abuse mention, swearing, fluff.  If any of these makes you uncomfortable please don't read.

Things were all ready for the wedding, just a few weeks away.  You were happy to be marrying Jerry, the love of your life.  He had his moments, but he was only human.  We all have our faults, like you couldn't cook for shit or do housework correctly.  Of course, you'd never even thought of doing housework when you were going to university for finance.  You were the top of your class, graduating valedictorian will a full ride to the best business school in the country.  Then you met Jerry and everything changed.

He told you of all the things he'd do for you when your first got together- get a job so you'd never have to work, stay home and take care of the house and eventual children.  That seemed like a beautiful dream, then he started doing things to hinder your chances at being your own person.  Like hiding your acceptance letter from business school and the accompanying forms for you to fill out.  He only mentioned it after you asked about it, which of course was after you called the school to see what was taking so long.  By that time, the acceptance date had passed.

You got into a screaming match with him, and in the middle of a sentence, that was the first time he hit you.  The both of you were stunned into silence, before you left the apartment you shared with him and went to your mother's house.  There, you got yet another shock when she said "It's your fault he hit you.  You should give up on your silly dream and settle down" you mother had always been the traditional housewife and all you saw was a miserable shell of what she used to be.  You then left her house and went to a hotel for a few days.

Then you made the biggest mistake of your life-you went crawling back to Jerry begging for forgiveness.  He took you in and said "Now don't make me hit you again, Y/N" you looked to the ground in shame.  He let you apply to the school again, but he had to know all the names of your teachers, classmates, when you had class and when you'd be home.  If you were even a few minutes late, you'd be in one of your lover's quarrels again.

In time, you got a job in an accounting firm as a financial advisor to one Mick Mars, the guitarist from the notorious rock band Motley Crue.  He seemed cool at first but when you saw notes in his financial record for $10,000 loans under the tag "snacks" you knew you were dealing with a substance abuser.  You looked up at him during one of your weekly meetings and said "Mr. Mars, if you keep taking out loans for 'snacks' you will be bankrupt in four months" you didn't care about what he did, but if he didn't have enough money to pay you to keep his checkbook balanced then you'd have to drop one of your most notable clients-an event that would have ended your career.

"Okay Miss L/N" he sighed, getting up with a grunt.  He had disclosed his medical condition to you, and you felt for him.  You would make sure that he'd have enough money for medications and treatment, even if it meant that you'd secretly put some of your own money in his account.  He remained quiet a moment then asked "Would you like a drink with me when you get off?"

You were taken aback by this offer, but it had been a long time since you had a drink with another person.  Jerry never let you go anywhere without him-even to your mother's house on holidays.  He'd even call you at work multiple times a day to see what you were doing, and if you didn't answer he'd interrogate you when you got home, accuse you of cheating on him and he'd hit you again.  "Just a quick drink wouldn't hurt" you smiled at Mick, since you'd be off the clock in a few minutes anyway.

When you drank with him, you found him much more interesting than you originally thought.  He was only a year or two older than you and you'd been his financial advisor for over a year now.  You felt a real connection with him and he was a perfect gentleman.  You started talking about Jerry, how he never lets you do anything and you always had to be on call for him.  Mick looked at you with utter shock.  "If he's such an asshole to you, then why are you with him?"

"I don't know" you answered truthfully, playing with your engagement ring "he's the only one who talked to me when I was in school, the only man to show interest in a nerd like me..."

"That's not a reason to marry someone" he told you "Hell, even dating him sounds like a nightmare!" he laughed, but you just shuddered.  You became very uncomfortable at that point and excused yourself, saying you'd see him at next weeks client meeting.

After you'd left, Mick scolded himself.  "I'm such a goddamned idiot..." he had liked you from the first client meeting.  You were intelligent, courteous and explained everything in layman's terms so he'd understand what you were doing for him.  He was quite impressed at the delicate way you told him to stop with the "snack" runs.  The last few financial advisors he'd hired cursed him out and dropped him as a client after a month.  He sat at the bar and sighed, taking a swig of vodka.

Jerry was waiting for you when you came in "Who was that old dude you were just with at the bar?" in the calmest tone he could muster.  The pit of your stomach fell through, knowing that tone meant a beating.

"Just one of my clients" you choked out "we had a weekly meeting today and he invited me for a drink afterward..."

"Is that so?" Jerry got up and grabbed your wrist tightly "are you fucking him too?"

"Jerry, let go" you winced "You're hurting me..."

"ARE YOU FUCKING HIM LIKE THE LITTLE SLUT YOU ARE?!" this was the last thing you remember before he hit you again.

The next morning, you surveyed the damage to your face-a black eye and a busted lip.  Your eyes started tearing up as you put on make-up to cover the injuries.  The looks you got at the office were a mixture of sadness, horror and pity.  This you expected after a beating, but what you didn't expect was Mick Mars coming in to apologize for saying what he did last night.  He took a good look at your face "What the fuck happened?!"

"It's nothing..." you assured him.

"A black eye and split lip isn't nothing!  Who did that to you?!"

It was then your best friend Lily walked by and answered "Her good for nothing, woman beatin' fiancee!"

"Lily!" you scolded "I told you that in confidence!"

"Yeah!" Lily shot back "I am confident that man'll kill you if you don't leave his sorry ass!  Hell, you can come stay with me a while!  Me and Johnny love havin' you around!" Johnny being her husband.

Mick looked like he was about to explode in rage "Or me!  I wouldn't mind having you in Mars Mountain with me!" that being the name he'd chosen for his residence, as he bought a whole mountain for himself.  Lily looked Mick up and down in a playful, quizzical manner.  He grew annoyed and said "What?"

She smiled and said "Nothin'" she shuffled some papers on the desk "Just that I've been seein' the glances you been eye'n Y/N with ever since she took you on as a client" her tone had changed from serious to flirty.

He blushed a little and said "I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Don't play dumb!  You've wanted to hold her in your arms for a long, long time!"

You too were blushing, you having the same thought from time to time.  Just the other night, you dreamed that you were getting married to him instead of Jerry, and you were happy.  You cleared your throat and said "Mr. Mars, if you have no other business today, please leave..."

He bit his lip and showed himself out, after he left you chewed out Lily for bringing your personal business to a client.  "Girl, when are you gonna see that man isn't fit to be your pool boy much less your husband!  Does he have to put you in the hospital for you to leave him?!"

"Jerry loves me!  He just gets rough sometimes!" you defended him.

Lily stared at you like you had seven heads.  "That isn't what love is, Y/N!  He loves the control you let him have over you!  That man you just put out" she motioned to the door "that man loves you!"

"How do you know that?" you asked sarcastically.

"Because he looks at you the same way my husband still looks at me after ten years of marriage!"  she slammed her hands on the desk "he even offered his home to you, you stupid bitch!"

That was all you could take for today, so you informed your supervisor that you'd be taking the rest of the day off and to cancel all your appointments.  This was a rare thing for you so you'd been granted the off time right away.  You went back to the apartment and went to sleep.  When you woke up, Jerry had come home and asked "What are you doing home?" in the calm, dangerous voice.

"I had a bad day at work, so I came home to chill out" you wiped your eyes.

"Were you waiting for your other boyfriend?  The old guy from the bar?" he asked.

"No!" you got up to defend yourself "Yes, he came by the office but that was to apologize for something he said yesterday!" you then felt his hands around your neck and squeeze.  You were gasping for air, hearing the words "slut", "tramp" and "I'll kill you" before the world began to shrink and spin, until there was only black.

The next week, Mick went to his meeting with Miss L/N as usual, but he was greeted by Lily, who had taken all of Y/N appointments for her.  In her most professional voice, she said "I'm very sorry Mr. Mars, but Miss L/N is indisposed for a few days" she was writing something on a note card and slide it over to him "If you'd like to reschedule for when she comes back, I'd be more than happy to set that up for you!"

"No, that's okay" he read the card, putting it in his coat pocket "Please let her know that I stopped by" he shook Lily's hand.

"Go save that woman from that devil, ya hear me?" he nodded and walked to a payphone, where he dialed three numbers and asked for the same favor from all three recipients.  They all know it had to be serious-Mick Mars never asked for favors.

The note card read "L.A. General Hospital.  Room 342" he knew from experience that the third floor of L.A. General was the   intensive care floor, so you HAD to be in a bad way.  He was met by Vince, Tommy and Nikki at the door and they all made their way to 342.  He wasn't ready to see you in a comatose state with a tube breathing for you.  He was expecting Jerry to be there, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Doc" Mick pulled the doctor inside the room "What the fuck happened?"

The doctor looked over the chart and said "From what her fiancee told us, she tried to hang herself with a leather belt"  he was skeptical and added "but those bruises look an awful lot like hand prints, wouldn't you agree?"

The four of them nodded their agreement when Tommy asked "Where is her fiancee now?"

"Jail" the doctor said "we didn't believe his story one bit and the police investigated the scene, found no belt in the apartment at all and questioned some of her coworkers" Mick gulped and his eyes began to water.

"How long's she been like this?" he nervously asked, his band mates putting their arms around him to comfort him.

"Six days" the doctor answered "she does show signs of improvement, brain activity and such.  The bastard crushed her windpipe..." the doctor had gotten angry.

"So there's a chance she'll wake up?" Vince asked, Mick too distraught to continue.

The doctor smiled "She's stronger than she gives herself credit for.  She was dead when they bought her in.  She gets better everyday."

Mick had composed himself and asked "Has she said anything since..." he couldn't finish the sentence.

"She keeps saying 'Mick' from time to time.  Who Mick is, we don't know" Mick smiled a weak grin, but he went to sit next to you and held your hand.  The doctor had a spark of realization and he excused himself, explaining that if they had any more questions, just ask him.

"So what do you want us to do now, Mick?" Nikki asked him.

"Go to her apartment, pack her stuff and take it to Mars Mountain" he interlocked his fingers with yours "Go to Underhill Financial Advisors, ask for Lily Collins.  Explain who you are and what's happened.  She'll give you everything you need" they did as they were asked and Lily did help them, her and her husband Johnny helping move your things to Mick's house.

A few days later, your eye fluttered open.  The tube having been removed from your throat seeing as it wasn't needed any longer.  The day Mick came to you and held your hand like a lover for the first time, you began breathing on your own.  You looked around gathering your surroundings.  Mick felt you stir and he looked down at you "Y/N?"

"Mick?  Where am I?" you said in a hoarse voice, you flinching at the pain it caused you to talk.

"The hospital" he answered "Jerry choked you into a  coma about a week and a half ago" you bolted upright at the mention of Jerry's name.  Not out of concern, but out of fear he'd come back to finish you.

"Is he here?!" you looked like a scared meerkat, scanning the area for danger.

"No, honey he's in jail" he stroked your hair lovingly "he can't hurt you any more..."

You cried silent tears of relief as he comforted you, thoughts of what that man put you through the last three years melting off you like wax.  "What about the apartment?" you asked him, looking up with your big E/C doe eyes.

"My friends, Lily and Johnny moved all your stuff into my place" he said, kissing your hand "if you'll have me that is."

"Mind if we take it slow?" you asked.

"Of course, honey" he then kissed your forehead "We have all the time in the world."

[thotful-writing]

A Devil Like Jesus (1)

Reader x Seed Brothers

Description:  How long could you have kept it up? Running from the Seeds was proving to be harder than you thought and when they finally catch you for good you're willing to give in just for some peace.

Warning: Torture and blood, eventual smut, sexual tension, language

It happened, finally, not that you were happy about it, but you were kind of relieved, you’d been running for a while. You put up a good fight though, got a few shots in, almost made it out, but there were just too many of them. The first time they got you, they underestimated your abilities, you got out of those zip ties so quickly they didn’t even know you had gone until the next morning. The second and third time they caught you it was more of a challenge to yourself, to see if you could escape. You’d never seen John so mad as when you blew up his giant ‘Yes’ sign, he came at you with everything he had, you finally let him tattoo ‘wrath’ into your skin, he thought he’d won, but you slipped away again.

This time they weren’t taking any chances. Two guards sat in the back of the van with guns pointed at you, your hands were handcuffed with ropes tying your legs and feet to your hands. They put a gag in your mouth too, because last time you convinced one of the followers to let you go, in all fairness they were too blissed out to really know who you were. The van stopped, you knew you were there, your home away from home, John’s Ranch. The van doors opened and you were pulled out, obviously they hadn’t thought this through because your feet were tied together you couldn’t walk, they pretty much had to drag you.

“Ah, good to see you back home, Sweetheart. I’ve missed you.” John waited on the porch for you, a dumbass grin spreading across his face.

You tried to say something, but it only came out in a muffled sound. You were being held up by two men, John slowly strode over to you.

“Now, I’ll remove your gag, if you promise to keep that foul mouth in check. Deal?” He stood in front of you, you nodded your head. He pulled the gag out of your mouth.

“Fuck you.” You spat out, which earned you a slap across the face from John, pain radiating through your cheek.

“What did I just say?”

“Sorry, it slipped. I’ve missed our little back and forth, Johnny.” You smiled up at him, blood dripping from the new wound on your lip.

“Good, because I have your room all set up for you, I have made a few… changes.” John turned motioning for the men to bring you inside.

They carried you inside, you never could understand how Joseph signed off on John’s lavish and over the top cabin. They took you down to the basement, that familiar smell of mold and blood still in the air. You approached a big steal door with a small window in it, John unlocked it using a key code and a fingerprint scanner. He opened the door and they dragged you in.

“You two can leave now.” John said as they sat you on the bed.

“Before I untie you, I want to tell you about the upgrades to your room. I’ve added 3 cameras, they are hidden this time since last time you smashed them to bits. There will always be a guard posted at your door, which will remain locked unless I come in. There are a few other safety measures in place, but I won’t bore you with the details.”

“No, I’d love to hear all of the ‘improvements’ you’ve made. It will make escaping much easier for me and honestly I’m tired.”

John walked over to you, pulling his knife out and cutting the ropes off of you. He left your hands cuffed. He grabbed you by the collar of your shirt and picked you up off the bed, slamming you into the concrete wall.

“I have missed that smart mouth.” He pressed his lips to yours and kissed you hungrily, if there was one thing that could be said about John, he definitely knew how to kiss.

You moaned into his mouth as he deepened the kiss, his hand wrapped around your throat, holding you still, pressing you against the wall. You bit down on his bottom lip, sinking your teeth into it, your tongue lapping up the blood you had drawn.

“Bitch.” He pulled back touching his lip, seeing the blood on his finger.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away. Why don’t you uncuff me so I can show you how much I missed you?” You smiled at him coyly.

“You know, if Joseph weren’t on his way here, I’d tear into you right now. Maybe later.” His hand squeezed your throat tighter before releasing you.

“Better keep that promise, Johnny. It’s not polite to leave a lady hanging. So, what does Joseph want?”

“He still thinks your soul is worth saving. I’ve tried to tell him to cut his losses with you, but you know him, he’s determined to save as many as he can.”

“You never know, maybe I’ll let him save my soul, it’s hard work running from you guys.” You walked over and sat down in the chair against the wall.

“I’ll believe that when I see it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to take care of.” He turned and left, making sure to lock the door.

Every one of them would probably have heart attacks if you did let Joseph save you, if you Atoned and joined the Project. It’s not like you hadn’t considered it, you had been captured so many times the Resistance were skeptical of you and cast you out. They thought you had been turned and were spying for The Father. You’ve been running for so long it feels like you haven’t had a chance to catch your breath for a moment, maybe you’d just chill here with John until you were ready to run again. You were curious what Joseph was going to say this time, and you were hopeful he’d bring Jacob with him, you felt kind of bad with the way you left things with him last time, he really didn’t deserve that bloody nose. It didn’t take long for John to return with Joseph, no Jacob though, maybe he was still brooding.

“I hope John is taking care of you, my child.” Joseph walked in, John close behind him.

“It’s like staying in a five-star hotel. What’s the good word today, Joseph?”

“I know my brothers want me to give up on you, but I wouldn’t be a man of God if I did that. We have big plans for you this time, John has obtained your confession and branded you with your sin, you still need to Atone and just for you, we’ve added a few extra steps, just to make sure your soul is extra clean.”

“Um, ‘extra steps’ doesn’t sound very good, what does that mean?” You furrowed your brow at him confused.

“John has convinced me that maybe you need a little more work than the average person, maybe you need to suffer a little bit more before you’re truly ready to Atone.”

You were taken aback, you must have really struck a nerve with him. Joseph approached you and leaned down, inches from your face.

“You will reach Atonement this time, or you’ll die on your way there. The choice is yours.” His gaze was intense, he wasn’t playing into your game this time, he was serious.

He pulled back from you and left the room, John smirked at you before he did the same. You couldn’t help but think about the ‘extra steps’, what the hell could that mean? You stood up and went over to the bed, laying down, it had been a while since you’d slept in an actual bed. It was difficult to get comfortable with your hands still cuffed behind your back, you settled on laying on your side, closing your eyes for a moment.

“Where the fuck is she?!” You heard someone shouting, you struggled to sit up.

“She’s down here, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to see her right now.” You heard John trying to calm Jacob.

“Open the fucking door.”

John unlocked the door and opened it, Jacob quickly entered the room, his eyes fixed on you as you sat up in the bed. He walked over to you angrily, grabbing you up by your throat he slung you against the wall.

“Hey, Honey, I missed you too.” You choked out.

“Shut the fuck up. If it wasn’t for Joseph I’d shoot you in the head right now and end this.” His eyes burned into you, John standing behind him looking genuinely worried.

“I’ll have to thank Joseph then. I see your nose has healed, though it looks a little crooked.” You don’t know why you did it, but you loved pushing their buttons.

Jacob pushed you against the wall, his large hand pressing in the middle of your chest, making it hard to breath.

“Okay, okay, look I’m sorry about last time. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, sometimes I don’t know my own strength. But you did look so peaceful passed out in that field.” You smirked, but you shouldn’t have, Jacob’s fist landed hard against your stomach knocking every bit of air from your lungs as you dropped down to the floor.

“You never know when to quit do you?” John moved closer, making sure you weren’t dead yet.

“Maybe… I’ll learn… one day.” You coughed and choked to fill your lungs again.

John leaned down and uncuffed your hands, “It’s not going to be a fair fight if you can’t use your hands. Don’t kill her, Jacob.” He stuffed the keys in his pocket as you rubbed the indentions on your wrists, shakily getting up to your feet.

“You want a rematch? Alright, but you may want to ask John to leave, don’t want little brother seeing you get beat again.” You brought your hands up in front of you making fists.

“I’m going to enjoy bringing you down a few pegs, then I’m going to enjoy fucking that smart mouth of yours.” He removed his jacket and clenched his fists.

“Promises, promises.” You grinned.

Jacob lunged at you, you dodged his attack, moving around the small room, it was going to be hard to move out of his grasp for too long, you were still tired. You evaded the next three swings, landing one in his stomach, finally evening things between you. He coughed for a moment before standing straight again. You let your guard down for a moment, looking at John as he seemed to be cheering you on silently, that’s when Jacob got you, you saw his fist coming straight for your cheek in slow motion. It landed hard, if you didn’t know better you would have swore you got hit by a brick wall. You immediately fell to the floor, consciousness fading in and out as your head pounded.

“I told you not to kill her.” John said as he rushed over to you.

“She’s not dead, just out cold. Shame, she must not be on the top of her game today.”

You woke up in the bed, your head felt like it was vibrating with pain as you sat up slowly.

“Fuck me.” You said to yourself, feeling your swollen face.

“Hungry?” You heard someone speak, but didn’t see anyone, maybe you hallucinated.

“I installed an intercom so I can bother you whenever I want. Are you hungry?” John said over the intercom.

“Yeah, just don’t speak so loudly.” You rubbed the side of your head.

John entered your room shortly with a sandwich, water, and some Tylenol for your head. You took the pills immediately. You remembered when you were taken for the first time, you were skeptical of taking anything from them, worried it would be poisoned, now you’d take whatever they gave you.

“You always take the best care of me.” You smiled up at John.

“Why should it all be torture and pain?” He pulled a chair up and sat in front of you.

“So, what are the ‘extra steps’ Joseph has implemented?” You took a bite of the sandwich.

“Nervous already?”

“No, just curious. Will it be more beatings from Jacob? Because I’m not sure if my face can take anymore.”

“You’ll see tomorrow. Try to get some rest tonight.” He stood and walked towards the door.

“Sometimes I forget you’re a sadistic asshole.” You said, he turned and smirked at you before stepping out of the room and locking the door behind him.

You decided to take his advice and get some rest; not like you didn’t need it anyways. You finished eating and laid back down. Out of all the trouble you’d caused him, John was always able to step back and make sure you were alright.

“Time to get up. Atonement waits for no one.” You heard the intercom crackle.

You stretched your muscles, waiting for whatever John was about to do to you. It didn’t take him long to come down to the basement.

“What? No breakfast? I’ll have to leave a bad review, Johnny.” You smarted off the second he walked in.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better. Stand up.” He closed the door behind him, carrying his toolbox.

You stood up shakily, your legs still kind of weak. John approached you and bound your wrists together with rope. He led you over to a hook on the cement wall, raising your arms and tying the rope to it. He stayed silent as he moved around you, he moved behind you cutting your shirt off you with scissors, and removing your pants as well, leaving you in only your bra and panties.

“I’m not so sure this is the kind of ‘extra’ Joseph meant.” You leaned against the wall.

“Keep going. Keep making your jokes, I know they bring you comfort, I know that deep down you’re really just a scared little girl hiding behind clever remarks. Get them all out now, because when I’m done with you, there will be nothing left. You will be stripped down to the bone, your greatest fears exposed, and just when you’re begging for me to show you mercy, I’ll start all over again, destroying what’s left of you.” He stood inches from you, his eyes dark, you’d not seen him like this before.

“Promises, promises.” Your voice was low and trembled slightly, you were legitimately worried.

John smirked at your tenacity, your commitment, but he knew you were about to drop all of that. He turned you around to where you were facing the wall. Your arms were already aching from being stretched out hanging on the hook. You couldn’t see what John was doing and figured that was part of it, the suspense, leaving you wondering and waiting.

That first strike really caught you off guard, it felt like someone had taken a hot iron and slowly dragged it down your back. You lurched forward, pressing yourself against the wall, screaming out in pain. Two, three more strikes and you could feel the blood streaming down your back as you sobbed.

“Hush now, we’re only getting started.” John caressed your cheek briefly before stepping back and striking you again with the bundle of wires.

This round he focused on your legs, the wires would separate on contact and wrap around your legs, leaving marks all over you. You shook and trembled as he continued his assault on your body, you cried out in pain, over and over, at one point you were sure you were going to pass out. John’s breathing was ragged, he finally stopped, dropping the wires to the floor. He reached up and removed your hands from the hook, you instantly fell back against him, pain surging through you as your back touched him. He sat you down in the chair and removed the binding from your wrists.

“You did well. I’m surprised, figured you would’ve been begging before it was over.”

You remained silent, your body was in too much pain to respond.

“What’s that? Nothing to say? No smart retorts? Maybe there’s hope for you yet, Sweetheart.”

Your gaze fell to the floor, you knew now what Joseph meant by ‘extra steps’, they were going to beat and torture you worse than they ever had to for however long it took. He said you’d die on your way to Atonement, they were willing to kill you to get you there. Everything before was just a game, you played cat and mouse with them for so long, you never stopped to think about what would happen when they got tired of playing. There was no escaping this time, you had two choices, to Atone, or die. John packed up his toolbox and decided you’d had enough for now, leaving you sitting with your blood dripping into the floor.

You stayed in the chair because you knew the second you moved you would be in too much pain to even think straight, you knew you’d have to move eventually but you wanted to put it off for as long as you could.

“Did she break?” Joseph asked John as he saw him come up from the basement.

“No, and I didn’t go easy on her. I’m sure she understands now there will be no leaving this time.”

John washed your blood from his hands and led Joseph to watch the cameras in your room. They watched as you sat in the chair, not moving, not even crying anymore.

“Did she say anything before you left?”

“Not a word. I think she’s exhausted, she couldn’t keep her own in a spar with Jacob last night.”

You decided it was time, time to get up and at least move to the bed. You took a deep breath before standing up quickly, the sudden movement pulled at your skin causing the wounds to all shoot waves of pain throughout your body, making you fall to your knees and cry out. You didn’t know where the cameras were, but you knew he was watching you.

“John… Please help me…” You hated asking for his help, but there was no way you could move again without someone.

John looked over to Joseph as if asking for permission, they were both surprised by your plea. Joseph nodded in approval, John left the room and headed down to you.

“Begging so soon?” He opened the door to your room and stood over you.

“Please, John. Just help me to the bed so I can bleed to death in comfort.” You were still on your hands and knees in the floor.

John bent down and grabbed your forearm, pulling you up to your feet as you yelled out in pain again. He helped you walk slowly over to the bed, he looked over your back and legs, the wounds he had inflicted were still bleeding and red, if he didn’t do something, they’d get infected for sure. You sat down on the bed and laid down on your side facing away from him. You wrapped your arms around yourself as your body trembled, John left the room momentarily but returned. He pulled the chair up behind you and applied medicine to your back, trying to be gentle, but each time he touched you, you winced in pain, tears streaming down your face.

“Once these heal, we’ll open them back up again. We’ll purge every sin from your body.” He said as he turned to leave.