#new life goal: tell lauren a joke so funny that she laughs like this in front of me

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: 5 WEBTOON Series We’d Love to See Animated!

  With Tower of God over and The God of High School hitting the midway point, it’s pretty obvious that WEBTOON Series adaptations are a hit, but what will come after Noblesse later this year? While we don’t have any real answers to that question, we do have five titles we think would be fantastic adaptations to see animated on our screens. The WEBTOON library is frankly huge and filled with tons of great possibilities, so we decided to try and narrow it down to five different genre titles we think would really shake things up on the “big screen!” If you want to learn about even more WEBTOON Series we think are great (some of which definitely deserve an anime), check out our previous article here.

    When deciding what would make a good anime, though, there’s more to it than just, “Wow, I really love this series, so it should totally get an anime!” It’s also worth asking the question: “Would this benefit from being animated?” What would they be able to do with it that they couldn’t do as a WEBTOON Series? What sort of changes might they have to make? As we’ve seen with Tower of God and The God of High School, action series benefit from animation greatly, but that doesn’t mean only action series deserve some lovin’. So with that in mind, I tried to grab a few different genres and styles of WEBTOON Series. But, of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and we highly recommend you go check out the WEBTOON website or app (available on Google Play and on the App Store) and see what types of amazing series you can find! 

  Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell

    I’m a huge comedy fan, some of my favorite series of all time are comedies. So when I started reading WEBTOON Series, I really wanted to find something that would make me laugh. I didn’t have to look too hard, but perhaps no series has been as funny so consistently than Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell. The main character, Paul, just can’t seem to get the attention of the woman he thinks he loves. So he chooses the best possible course of action: learning black magic and summoning Astaroth, one of the Great Dukes of Hell!

  The comic routinely features amazing, understated visual gags and humor while building an interesting and deep storyline over the course of its run. In fact, I really didn’t expect the characters and world that Duke of Hell creates to really suck me in as much as it did, but that just lends to its overall strengths. As far as an adaptation goes, I could see this as a fantastic comedy hit that either focuses on extensive, gorgeous animation for gags like HINAMATSURI, or a muted and simplistic animation style like Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san that lets the art and jokes combine without getting too big. Either way, just thinking about voice actors for the various characters, especially Astaroth, is perhaps one of the most fun fantasies to have—after all, it would need to be someone with enough gravity to play such an amazing Duke of Hell! 

  Purple Hyacinth

    Purple Hyacinth has long been on my read list and was actually one of the series that got me started on the idea of seeing WEBTOON Series animated. Unlike other series, Purple Hyacinth routinely asks readers to turn their audio on, playing ambient and specific music throughout the series to create a multimedia experience. Of course, that isn’t the only reason for it being on this list. No, Purple Hyacinth is here because it’s a type of story that, frankly, isn’t told very often in anime lately: a gritty crime mystery thriller!

  Lauren, the protagonist, has dedicated her life to avenging the death of her childhood friend and the elimination of Phantom Scythe, a terrorist organization responsible for the events that would alter her life forever. Lauren meets the assassin “Purple Hyacinth,” who just so happens to share similar goals as her. This series really just gets how to build a complex and deep mystery and the fact that you need excellent character drama to make people care about what happens next, especially when big twists and turns come! Lauren possesses the ability to detect lies, “seeing” them in red whenever people tell them. Just imagining the creative ways this could be animated alone makes me giddy at the idea of a Purple Hyacinth adaptation. But beyond that, the character drama and intrigue of the twisting mysteries here would turn this into a killer multi-season anime. I can just imagine the gleeful frustration waiting for the next season after the first one ends on a cliffhanger! If any of these series were worthy of being dubbed “binge-worthy” as an anime, I’m convinced it would be Purple Hyacinth. 

  Lookism

    Readers of our first article on WEBTOON Series pointed out Lookism as a favorite of theirs, and with good reason. This long-running ugly-duckling story packs a lot of punch, both literally and figuratively, as the story threads of school bullying, the ugly side of society, delinquent fights, and more together into a fascinating tapestry. Daniel is poor, overweight, and bullied to such a degree that his mother scrapes all the money together that she can to send him to a new school. However, his life takes a huge change upon arrival to his new school home when he wakes up in a different body: gorgeous, tall, and super-strong! The “new” Daniel gives him the ability to pursue the life he thought he wanted, but it comes with a lot more than he bargained for!

  One thing about Lookism that caught me off-guard is that it seems, at first, to be a sort of traditional ugly-duckling story where Daniel learns to love his original self while teaching those around him to be better people. But it also features heavy delinquent style fights and action. While this might sound a little dissonant, it’s fair to say that Lookism would provide tons of great material for high school delinquent action and social drama—and the fight scenes in later storylines are truly amazing to behold on the page. Lookism also features an amazing supporting cast of unique and weird characters that tend to steal the spotlight from Daniel as they get introduced, meaning there are tons of characters to fall in love with here (I’m a big Vasco and Jay fan, myself!). With a unique mix of action, comedy, and heavy drama, Lookism really has a lot to bring to the table, and when animated, would surely take advantage of its mixed genre-typing to be a big hit.

  Let’s Play

    While many of the series we’ve talked about have a tinge of supernatural action or combat to them, Let’s Play is quite a bit different—just regular people here! Of course, these regular people are involved in all sorts of turmoil and romantic drama, but that’s to be expected. Let’s Play follows game dev Samara “Sam” Young, creator of the game Ruminate, and the trouble she runs into when her game’s biggest critic, Marshall Law, becomes her neighbor. Let’s Play is a fairly interesting drama due to the combination of game dev discussion—which veers into similar territory as shows like Shirobako that delve into making things—and the personal drama of the main cast.

  Although it is indeed a romance, the most striking part of the series is Sam’s struggles with anxiety; her internal monologues and issues make her an incredibly relatable and fresh character. Let’s Play would make an amazing romantic comedy with a woman lead, which we really need more of these days! The video game elements of the story add that extra touch that, in all honesty, feel like they would be amazing to see animated and played with using various graphical touches, allowing animators to play with the adaptation in ways that don’t rely solely on action sequences. 

  unOrdinary

    If you’re an avid WEBTOON Series reader, then it’s very likely you came to this list expecting to see this exact series, so don’t worry: we agree! UnOrdinary would be an amazing anime adaptation, likely to find a huge audience of new fans who would gobble up the series premise: a world in which some people are born with powers, or Abilities, and those who don’t find themselves treated as lessers and outcasts. John, unfortunately for him, is the latter, and as a result, he is relentlessly bullied by his classmates for his powerless nature.

  In a lot of ways, unOrdinary is almost like a darker My Hero Academia, except instead of a world of superheroes and villains, it's a world of the “haves” and “have nots,” where people without abilities are treated extremely poorly. Like quite a few WEBTOON Series, social class, status, and bullying are a big part of unOrdinary, which gives it a sharp, dark edge to its narrative at times. Similarly, John is a fairly interesting protagonist and, without spoiling things, certainly makes unOrdinary, well, unordinary! Given the popularity of My Hero Academia and Tower of God, unOrdinary would probably be the best possible candidate to get the anime treatment next, likely becoming a smash hit in no time—especially once the superpowers start showing up!

    With the continued success of shows like The God of High School and Tower of God, it’s only a matter of time before we see more and more WEBTOON Series adapted to anime. Of course, there’s no real plans or releases yet, but we think our list is pretty solid. No matter what, it seems like an exciting time to get into WEBTOON Series and keep an eye out for the next big hit title that might be showing up on your screens in animated form!  

  Which WEBTOON Series titles do you want to see animated? Do you agree with our list? Let us know what series you like and what you think in the comments!

  ➡️ Watch The God of High School today! ⬅️  

    Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[5hfanfiction]

Our Month - Chapet 30 (Last Chapter)

A/N: I’ll put the author’s note here, not after the chapter now, because I’m dramatic and I want the last words to be ‘THE END’. Sooo…. Thank you for this journey y'all. I’m grateful for every single vote, and read anddon’t get me started on the comment’s. They really made my day. And a special thank you for those who were here from the start, I literally know all of your username by heart :D. And if you’re new to reading this, I’m thanking you too, for giving a chance to my story. This is my goodbye and not just from this fic, but from the fandom as well, so excuse my emotional mess. This is it.

For the last time God bless y'all in Allysus voice. B.

Italics are in the past

3 years later

For the first time in her life, Camila was flying on business class and it’s safe to say she was more than excited about it. Not because she spent a whole load of money on it, but mostly for the food, As she heard, it’s way better, than what they serve on economy. She was working in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the United States, so she figured, she could afford this kind of luxury for once.

She boarded the plane pretty soon and she would have went up sooner, than the cabin crew if they let her, because she just wanted to get comfortable in those huge, puffy seats, plug her earphones in with her Christmas track list and get into the holiday spirit.

The brunette was more cheerful than usual and not only because of the food, the holidays but because she could finally see her family in person again. When she caught the sight of a blonde girl, sitting in the seat right behind hers slightly sobbing, she almost pinched her cheek and sang the Jingle Bells to her, she was that happy, but her reasonable side decided against it.

– Is everything okay? – she asked the another passenger.

The girl was around eighteen, a bit younger than Camila, when first came to the States, but she reminded the Latina awfully of herself, when she first left. The unknown traveler’s eyes were teary, her nose red and her cheeks puffy. Her whole expression screamed 'I’m so sad’ and the doctor in the brunette was concerned.

– Yeah, I’m fine… – the girl shrugged and gazed out of the window like she was searching for something.

Camila put her bag in place, then kneeled down into her seat, facing the crying passenger.

– Leaving a special someone or a special somewhere? – she asked with a gentle smile.

– I’m in a long distance relationship and with every goodbye it just gets harder – the girl answered between sobs.

– But that makes every time you see them next, ten times more amazing, right?

– I guess – the younger passenger chuckled. – Did you ever have one? I mean long distance relationship.

– Oh, yes. I had. I actually looked exactly like you, when I first left her – Camila explained. – And I would loved to have somebody to tell me, it gets better. So… it will get better.

– Her? You said her… I’m gay too! – the girl looked at the doctor with something similar to fascination.

– Well, I think an LDR is a must have in every lesbian’s life – Camila giggled.

– Wait… I know you! – the girl’s eyes sparkled up in an instant with recognition. – You are Lauren Jauregui’s girlfriend!

– I was – the brunette answered with a half smile. – But I usually go by Camila.

– Oh, I’m Gabby. And I’m sorry. You two were really couple goals. Was she the one you did long distance with? – she asked. – You don’t have to answer if it’s too private.

– Well Gabby, photos of me and Lauren making out, were all over the internet so you could even read up on the answer, but I rather tell you by myself. Do you want to hear the whole story? – Camila offered and Gabby just nodded frantically. – Sit back, because it’s the greatest love story I ever could imagine…

So Camila told the girl everything while another passengers started to fill the plane. She started at the very beginning. How she struggled with her sexuality back home, how she won the scholarship to work in L.A., how rude Lauren was to her when tey first met or how miraculous it was that the green-eyed woman and Dinah found her in Venice beach on that day. She detailed carefully how she got slowly used to the celebrity life in that one month and how afraid she was to get exposed to the media as a starting doctor.

– Actually, it gave me a huge opportunity, because now, I work with celebrities. They think I’m one of them, just because I ended up on some trashy magazine covers, but they trust me with their secrets and diseases because of that. I think it’s really funny, because I had to swear on secrecy just like every doctor, but if my appearance on gossip sites are the reason they come to me, I’m fine with that too – she giggled.

Of course, she let out the mature content, or the teasing she got for it from their friends. But soon she  came to the part when she told how she made the decision to leave her beautiful pale-skinned Latina behind.

– So you broke up with her? You didn’t even want to try? – Gabby gasped.

– I didn’t believe that we could work it out. I thought it’s gonna be better this way. To just let her live her life so I told her if we belong together the universe will find the way – the foreigner shrugged.

And Camila explained that the universe really did, because Lauren fainted and was admitted to the same hospital she was studying in, to the same tutor she was working with so they met again. And they were friends for a while.

– Friends? So you two basically did everything like in a relationship but you didn’t say that out loud? – Gabby looked at the older woman disbelievingly.

– I was still not into the whole long distance thing and I wanted to give her a chance to be happy with someone. And she already was out so I thought it’s the best way to keep her in my life and let her be happy. And that’s how I discovered my crazy jealousy – Camila grinned.

She explained how Lauren flew through the night just to surprise her and talk the things out, how her birthday party went and how she fell in love more with the green-eyed musician. Then she arrived to the part when the pictures about them kissing, exiting the van etc. ended up everywhere and how the phone died in the worst possible moment.

– So you broke up with her like that? – Gabby’s expression was between shock and anger.

– Oh, no! I was already out to my friends and family, Lauren was out too and as much as I was afraid that it will effect my carrier, I just decided not toworry about that because still had a year left from school. I was not about losing her after everything…

“I’m sorry Lauren…” – Camila started.

“No sorry! I love you Camz, I love you, I can’t lose you! Tell me there will be next time! Damn it Camila! I have to board the fucking airplane soon and I have to know that you won’t break up with me! Tell me that’s not what you’re doing now! Tell me I will see you again!” – Lauren begged and she let her tears fall freely.

– Fuck! – Lauren smashed the telephone to the ground and it broke into pieces along with her heart.

“Last call for passengers to gate 54, flight 1125 to Los Angeles”

– No! – the musician kicked the air in anger.

– Laur, calm down, we have to go, you can talk to her up there. The plane has Wi-Fi – Ally tried to talk some sense into her friend.

– But what if she will disappear again? – she started crying violently.

– Lauren, it’s Shawn’s number – Normani ran towards her, with her ringing phone.

The Latina’s eyes lit up in a second and she tried to take away the device but the dark-skinned beauty wasn’t giving it to her.

– You can answer it if you start moving! – she commanded and Lauren grabbed her belongings and begun walking impossibly fast.

“Hel…” – she tried to greet the caller, but she was cut off in an instant.

“Oh thanks God! I though you won’t answer. It’s Camila! I have to talk to Lauren immediately!” – the brunette stated eagerly.

“It’s me, Camz” – the American sniffed.

“I love you Lo, so much, don’t you dare think I’ll leave you okay? Not again… We will talked this out when you landed, okay baby? I love you” – she jabbered the sentences out in one breath.

“I love you, too.” – Lauren exhaled and her tears continued to fall although they were caused by happiness this time. – “I’ll call you when I land. I love you so much. I’m sorry, I put you in these kind of situation”

– Lauren, come on! The gate is going to close in a second! – somebody informed her from the background.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault baby. Now go get on that plane. You better not sit with some sexy brunette.” – Camila joked and Lauren laughed wholeheartedly.

“I won’t, I’m sitting with Dinah.”

– And you own her a new phone, now come on Casanova! – The Polynesian shouted before handing her passport to the check-in lady with an apologetic smile.

– Well, that was very anti-climatic – Gabby stated with an unimpressed smile. – I thought you ran to the airport or went after her or something.

– Sorry for not living in a romantic movie – Camila chuckled and she continued to explain the events after. – So we started to do the long distance thing and it was really working. We both put effort into it and although we had our fair share of fights about nonsenses, we loved each other so much, that breaking up just wasn’t an option. So it went without a big storm until my graduation came. She said she can’t come because she have to be in an award show and I thought she’ll just surprise me and tried to keep it secret. Turned out, she really wasn’t kidding. She didn’t came and I was severely pissed, because it was a big moment in my life and I wanted to share it with the woman I love. Then I started thinking… Will it always be like this? Missing the big events and breaking each other’s heart with it? Because I couldn’t be there, when they won the first Grammy, because I had an exam that day.

– So you two broke up then? – Gabby asked.

Camila’s expression became unreadable as she thought back to that day. It was the day she realised, she was right all along. Long distance wasn’t for them.

– I’m here now, Camz – Lauren tried to hold the brunette’s hand, but she pulled it away like her touch burns.

– Yes, now! Congrats to us! I only missed your biggest achievement by one and a half month and you just missed my proudest moment by three days. Fucking great! – Camila sneered angrily and walked to the end of the room, shoving random clothing items into her luggage.

– Shit like this, was bound to happen. I know you’re sad, I’m not ecstatic about any of that either, but I love you – the musician tried to calm her girlfriend down.

– Is that enough for you? – the brunette looked up from her stuff with teary eyes. – I love you, but is that enough for you?

– It’s more than enough – the pale-skinned Latina smiled gently.

– But you’re not happy. – Camila stated this firmly. She didn’t asked, she didn’t assumed, she just stated it.

– I am happy as long as I can call you my girl.

– You don’t get to be all cheesy and romantic on me now! – the younger woman stepped in front of the singer.

– I’m sor… – Lauren tried to apologize but the doctor cut her off with a fiery kiss.

– You don’t get to be all romantic now – she lifted her brown eyes up to meet green ones – when I’m trying to tell you that I’ve got a job in the States and I’m moving to Los Angeles next week. Don’t steal my moment Lauser.

– What? I’m sorry, but what? Did you… you… – Lauren stuttered because of her pure shock. She was half-ready to talk the brunette down about breaking up, with a heartfelt speech, so she was definitely not expecting this.

– I’m done with the distance. I’m gonna be a half-hour drive away from your place – Camila grinned.

When Lauren finally registered the words in her brain, she picked up the smaller Latina and twirled her while she let out the cutest squealing noise the doctor ever heard.

– Are you kidding? I thought you’ll tell me, you threw her stuff out of the window and never saw her again, not that you moved in together! – Gabby smacked Camila’s shoulder.

– We didn’t moved in together instantly. It took us an another month – the brunette smirked. – But we did have a huge fight before I got my acceptance letter. “And we did had earth-shattering sex after” – she added the last information, only in her mind, to herself.

– Then please, continue, because I feel like I’m sitting here with Ted Mosby – Gabby groaned.

– Okay, so things were pretty smooth after. I settled in well in the hospital, she moved in with me and I even started to attend to the red carpet with her. The gossips died down, we were no more interesting and I learned to ignore the rude comments on Instagram and stuff. We went strong and then her family called. I still remember Clara’s exact words: ’ Mija, how is that possible that you’re dating with someone for years and you didn’t bring her home?’ And let me quote Gloria Gaynor. When Lauren asked me to meet her parents and siblings, first I was afraid then I was petrified. I knew she is family centric and I have no idea, how I managed to avoid her relatives so long. I knew, if they don’t like me, it would break Lauren’s heart and it could end us, but I agreed to meet them anyways and let me tell you, it didn’t went the way I expected… – Camila gazed out of the window, seeing the line of the still boarding passengers.

– Camila,  this is my mother Clara and my father Mike. My brother Chris, my sister Taylor and her boyfriend Luke. Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Camila – she pointed to the younger girl who looked like a deer in headlights.

– Nice to meet you! – she managed to inhale out.

– It’s nice to finally meet you. I can’t imagine why was my girl hiding you for so long – Clara said with a suspicious expression which just made the young doctor more uneasy.

– Probablemente, porque ella es muy buena [Probably, because she is really hot]  – Chris wiggled his eyebrows while he mutter it to the couple, expecting the foreigner to not speak the language.

– Habla espanol, pendejo [She speaks Spanish, idiot] – Lauren slapped his brother’s shoulder who turned red and avoided Camila’s gaze since then.

The family dinner was like an interrogation for the doctor and she tried her best to answer every single question correctly and it was quite the job. The Jaureguis weren’t afraid to dig into really uncomfortable topics and her girlfriend was more entertained with her misery, than to help her dodge the inappropriate ones.

Everything seemed to go okay, up until Clara called her into the kitchen and started a little private talk with her.

– Do you think my daughter would be a good wife? – Clara asked, but Camila knew this gonna be some kind of trap.

– Yes, Mrs. Jauregui, she’s gonna be an amazing, the best one – the brunette tried to answer with confidence, because she did thought that Lauren’s gonna be the freaking jackpot, but the older woman intimidated her a lot.

– So you could imagine a future with her, as your wife? – she pierced her eyes into her daughter’s girlfriend’s soul who was already terrified where this was going.

– Yes, actually, I can’t imagine my future without her, I’m really in love with your daughter ma'am – Camila gulped and was utterly mortified, because Clara’s expression didn’t change at all.

– So do you plan to ask her hand in marriage anytime soon? – “Well, there it is. The trap and I just walked straigth into it” – the doctor thought.

– N-no, but… – she muttered, but Clara cut her off.

– Good. I don’t think you should – she stated and walked out of the kitchen, leaving there a heartbroken Camila.

– O. MY. GOD. – Gabby exhaled. – Now, this is interesting! So she hated you? What did Lauren say?

– I was confused, because I didn’t think that I did or said something wrong. Damn, I just said I didn’t plan on asking her to marry me, so I was horrified to face Lauren after that. But I didn’t even had thechance to fully digest what just happened, because the next minute, Clara was calling Lo’s name and they went away to chat. I think I had a mild stroke then – Camila giggled.

– But what did she said to her daughter? – the blonde urged the doctor to finish the story before everybody was up on the plane.

– So, I just had a chat with my mom – Lauren started and Camila’s heart stopped for a second.

– Yeah?

– Yeah. So, would you like to come with me for a walk? I think we should talk… – the musician lifted her gaze up and saw her girlfriend is absolutely freaking out.

She decided to take the brunette to a nearby pond. While they were walking to their destination, neither of them said a word. Lauren looked nervous and the young doctor could tell which just made her anxious and she also knew that if the Jauregui family doesn’t accept her, then she doesn’t have a chance for a future with their oldest daughter. Camila knew the singer loved her, but Lauren would never marry someone who her mother doesn’t agree with. The brunette knew this was the end.

When they arrived, she didn’t even care how beautiful the view was,all she saw were the tears in those green eyes.

– So, my mother told me, you weren’t planning on asking me to marry you – Lauren whispered.

– I ’m not now, but eventually. I-I… I love you Lo, so much, please don’t break up with me – she pleaded, but the other girl wasn’t listening.

– You know, I was actually happy to hear that… – the raven-haired Latina looked straight into Camila’s eyes. – Because it means I don’t ruin your plans and you won’t get mad at me…

– No! You misunderstood, I want to marry you! I really do, I just… – the younger woman cut her off but she had to take a deep breath and calm her heart. It gave just enough time to the American to spoke up again.

– Because I know how you can get when I steal your moments. And I was really nervous when I thought about this before, but now that I heard what you said… – Lauren descended to one knee. – So the thing is, that I have this white-gold ring with a small, elegant diamond. I have the blessing from your parents, sister and best friend and I also have my heart which only beats your name to offer with it…

– YES! – Camila jumped on the older girl and started to kiss her everywhere.

– Camz, I haven’t asked yet! – Lauren giggled.

– But YES!

– Will you…

– YES! – the brunette shouted again and she got a very unimpressed look from the green-eyed musician.

– Camila Cabello, will you marry me?

– YES! – So Lauren kissed her with everything she had.

– I don’t understand. I thought her family didn’t like you – Gabby looked at her fellow traveller confused.

– I thought that too. But turned out, Clara actually was asking those questions for Lo and she didn’t want to spoil anything, so she acted a bit rough – the brunette explained.

– But… Then why the hell did you two broke up? – the blonde asked frustrated. - Because, you said you were Lauren Jauregui’s girlfriend…

Camila just looked down at the beautiful engagement ring on her left hand before she noticed the last passenger boarding. Her smile grew, her eyes filled with adoration and love, and her heart swelled with happiness, when her fiance stopped in front of her with her singature smirk.

– Camz, that’s my seat!

THE END.

[fourteenacross]

molly, from the study of the chair from the 'ghost included (we hope)' story?? like, what happened right after 💜- Myah

I meant for this to be more about the chair, but it’s mostly just Molly backstory. WHOOPS.

original ficlet

*

Molly has to use two different EMF detectors before she believes the numbers she’s getting off of the chair.

“Holy shit,” she mutters, flipping one off and on again just for the tiny thrill of seeing it go from dead quiet to flashing off the charts. “I have never seen a single object haunted like this before in my fricking life.”

“I know!” Hamilton sounds almost giddy as he hooks up an audio recorder in preparation for more tests. “So much energy compressed into such a small space–I’ve read about stuff like this but I’ve never seen it in person before.”

“Don’t thank me all at once,” Laurens says, and Ham practically has hearts for eyes. He puts down his recorder and throws his arms around Laurens, nearly hanging off of him as he beams. Laurens beams back through his bravado. Molly is torn between puking and cooing.

“I’m not going to kiss you,” Molly tells him, eyebrows raised, and Laurens rolls his eyes.

“I’m devastated.”

“Stop trying to out gay each other,” Ham says. He unlatches himself from Laurens and picks up his audio recorder again. “Let’s start figuring this thing out.”

Molly does most of her work with von Steuben and a portion with Abby Adams, so it’s strange working in Washington’s lab. It’s strange for many reasons actually–for one, it’s like a mirror image of von Steuben’s lab space, with everything backwards and just off enough that it feels almost surreal. For another, Washington’s lab is such a sausage fest, a fact which she doesn’t shy away from sharing with Hamilton and Laurens and Burr, who’s sulking in the corner for some reason beyond her comprehension.

“On one hand, the part of me that supports equality and inclusion notices that pretty often,” Laurens admits. “On the other hand, the part of me that’s a big proponent of sausage is not disappointed.” He waggles his eyebrows. “And, fuck, this is a very attractive platter.”

“Jesus fuck, kill that metaphor with fire already,” Ham says, shoving Laurens absently as he leans over a tablet to review some readings. “Also, have I mentioned lately that your lines are terrible?”

“Every day,” Laurens says, leaning over Hamilton’s shoulder to look at his tablet. “Go back to that other reading, will you?”

“I’m just saying, compared to Abby, or even Steubs, there are a lot of dicks in this room,” Molly says. She climbs up onto the table to get a better look at the chair from above. She doesn’t miss the way Laurens’ hand soccer-moms out to make sure she doesn’t fall. Laurens is a good egg.

“There are no white people in our lab,” Hamilton says absently. “So, you know, it almost shakes out.”

“Almost,” Molly says.

Sausage fest aside, it’s actually pretty cool to work with Laurens and Ham. She’s worked with Laurens in the classroom regularly since last semester–once Steubs saw how well they tag-teamed classroom management, he was sure to assign them a shared TA class in the spring as well. She likes Laurens; she considers him a friend at this point. Ham, however, she only knows from being the loud know-it-all in class and never being more than five feet away from Laurens if he can help it. They’re cute, she’ll give them that, and they seem crazy about each other, but watching them work together is something else. She knows Laurens is smart as hell and she knew, academically, that Hamilton was kind of a genius, but…wow. The guy’s got a recall to rival her own and knows the weirdest minutiae. It’s almost creepy how quickly he can answer questions and solve problems. It’s definitely creepy how he and Laurens can communicate without talking.

Still–it’s cool.

Molly tells people she chose MUNJ over MIT after seeing what people in Cambridge called a bagel, but the truth is, even particle physics can’t hold a candle to the thrill of studying the paranormal. She loves it. But there aren’t a ton of people who love it the same way she does, even here at Morristown. A disproportionate number of her fellow doctoral candidates are hyper-focused on field work or on some very narrow, practical field of study. Cameras, audio, chemistry–she sees the appeal in that, she does, but she didn’t get into parapsych to chase ghosts. No, Molly wants to know every single thing about them. She wants to know where ghosts come from and why, she wants to know why paranormal encounters seems to be on a very slow but steady up-tick over the past ten or so years. She wants to know where they go when they can’t be seen. She wants to know how they manage to do the things they do. How are they sentient? How do they interact with the living world?

They’re hard questions and she doesn’t fool herself into thinking all of them will be answered in her lifetime. She’s going to do her damnedest to try, however, and it’s such a relief to be around other people who have the same goal. Sure, Ham and Laurens do freelance IP work and seem to get a thrill from hunting spirits all around northern New Jersey, but they’re also just as fascinated by theory as she is. They get just as nerdily excited over weird shit as she does.

Working with them is definitely cool.

Washington stops by as lunch drifts into dinner and Molly starts to think about eating something other than pudding cups. He seems surprised to see her, but ultimately pleased. Laurens and Hamilton rarely seem to go anywhere without one another and if they’re not alone, they’re usual with Lafayette. She figures he’s just happy to see that they have other friends. He’s kind of like a dad, sometimes.

“Ms. Ludwig, it’s a pleasure,” he says. “I trust the boys haven’t gotten you into trouble?”

Molly can’t stop the laugh that slips out of her at that, which is awful, because now she has to explain her dumb joke.

“It’s funny because that’s what they used to say about girls who got pregnant out of wedlock,” she says, tugging on a strand of hair. “That a boy got them ‘in trouble.’ And it’s funny because I’m a lesbian. And these two are dating each other. So. No trouble. Of that kind.”

Laurens laughs. Washington looks vaguely amused. Ham rolls his eyes.

“No wonder you get along with John, your jokes are just as bad,” he says.

“My jokes are amazing and so are Molly’s,” Laurens says, tipping his chin up haughtily.

“I can’t believe I let you touch my dick, sometimes,” Ham says. Laurens cackles and Molly rolls her eyes and Washington pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I’m going to order some pizzas,” he says, heading towards his office and waving dismissively at them as he goes.

Haunted chair, other science nerds, and free pizza. Molly definitely needs to swing by Washington’s lab more often.