#ok which brings us to now. they had a small electrical fire at their house this weekend and they're living in a hotel atm

[florida3exclamationpoints]

.

[concealeddarkness13]

All’s Fair In Love And War (Especially When It’s Both) Powerpoint!

I finally made one for the worldbuilding and main characters! Tagging: @ratracechronicler​, @merigreenleaf​, @maple-writes​, @half-litpersonas​, and @incandescent-creativity​ (since you want to be tagged in Powerpoints)! Here, here, and here are other info posts about this story.

[Image Description: a page titled: All’s Fair In Love an War (Especially When It’s Both)

AKA: The story I already want to start writing, even though I already have plenty of stories. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Overview

One bit happy world

Except the fact that humans are stuck in a fairly small enclosure because they tried to conquer the other species centuries ago

At that time so long ago, a scientist made prosthetics that gave elemental magic to people but also adversely affected their bodies

More info on the magic in a later slide

So, humans aren’t very happy about being in the enclosure

Some humans have come to believe that being 100% peaceful and ignoring the victims of the magical cyborg experiments (because they’re still going on) is the best way to convince the species to let them out

While other humans are convinced that a show of force and violence is the only way to get out

But this group has shady connections with the magical cyborg experiments

So, both groups are iffy

Good thing there’s one POV protagonist who couldn’t care less and just wants to live her life. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Species (almost all these names are temporary)

Humans: Just regular, old, plain humans, nothing to see here, they certainly don’t have any inherent magic (that the author still knows nothing about), just the magic that is given to them through the prosthetics

The Shades: (Yes, this is the home world of the Shades from Bring Me That Horizon) the Shades eat human emotions, and they’re shapeshifters

The Snakes: This species feeds on human blood, they have snake scales, longer limbs in proportion to their body, large eyes, slit pupils, and snake scales all over their bodies; they have paralyzing toxins that are aerosols and are secreted by their hair; these toxins only paralyze humans

The Venus Girdles: This species feeds on human souls, they have hair that looks like a lot of Venus Girdle jellyfish fused to their head, they glow slightly, and they just have an ethereal feel; they feed using their Venus Girdle hair coming into contact with the prey’s skin and sucking up the life force, so a human can still live, and their soul will replenish the life force after a while; the feeding isn’t painful, just makes the human feel really tired

The Crabs (I suppose): This species claims to feed on human logic, they have carapace that grows over their skin, especially on their chest to protect their hearts, they’re usually faster and stronger than humans, and they have slit pupils; they actually feed on the inherent magic humans have (surprise, surprise the prosthetics are not even needed), and their carapace is especially anti-magic

The Celestials: This is a species no one has ever seen, but there’s a whole belief system around them, and they are actually real; I don’t know what they eat, but they live out in space around the planet, they protect the planet from invaders, their skin looks like the night sky, their hair and clothes are all flowy and wave in an ever-present wind, and they can change their body’s make-up to fit the atmosphere of the planet or space. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Magic from the Prosthetics

It’s elemental magic...with a nefarious twist!

The fire magic lets a person control fire, but the source of their fire resides in their lungs, and if they exercise too much or get stressed out, the fire stokes and burns their throat (but they can breathe fire), and occasionally, they’ll have to cough up smoke

The water magic allows a person to control water and swim really well, but after a year, they grow gills, and that’s a painful process, and randomly, their bodies will forget how to use lungs, so they will have to breathe through their gills for an unspecified amount of time, which sucks if there isn’t a good water source around

The wind magic allows a person to control air, but they grow wings, which sounds great, but it takes two to three years to grow those wings, and it’s very painful throughout the whole process, and they hurt more than they should even after the wings are fully grown

Finally, the lightning magic allows a person to control lightning, but they basically have lightning in their bodies the whole time, which means that they have 24/7 static electricity that makes their hair stand on end, and the energy the lightning gives their bodes means they really can’t sleep, which really sucks, so they’re chronically tired. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Characters

I have way too many characters

Seriously, there are a lot of them

So, I’ll only talk about the really main characters

But I’m having fun, so it’s ok! End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Chess

One of the POV characters

She was part of the most recent cyborg experiments (which are still going on), but she doesn’t remember any of it; her right arm and left leg are prosthetics

Actually, she doesn’t remember anything past two years ago, so she doesn’t know who she was before that

Because she was part of the cyborg experiments, people don’t particularly like to see her if they can identify her prosthetics

So, she keeps moving from city to city once people start to recognize her prosthetics

Survivor; the only time she doesn’t prioritize survival is when she goes to a bar and picks up someone so she doesn’t have to sleep alone

She doesn’t believe anyone would do anything for reasons other than selfish ones

Doesn’t trust anyone

Chill, though; she could see some alien she can’t explain and she’d just shrug; she also has no opinion on either of the different sides

One night, she’s found kissing the son of the leaders, and that causes a scandal

So, the leaders decide to cover it up by trying to say she’s really human and had been engaged to their son the whole time

Creed, their son, decides to cause some mischief, and she agrees

She keeps claiming that soon she’ll have to leave, but she never does

“I put my head down keep running away from it, anywhere I’m going can’t be worse than this, I need to get away before it pulls me in, I’m never ever getting close to anyone again.” (Right Left Wrong by Three Days Grace). End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Creed

He’s the son of the leaders

...But is he?

He’s known as Callum Miro Rey, but he likes the nickname Creed (spoiler reasons why)

When they met at the bar, he seemed to recognize Chess from somewhere, but of course, she doesn’t remember

He is genderfluid, and I’m still figuring that out; he likes he/him, they/them, and she/her on different days, and it changes every couple days normally

He seems to be easily amused and doesn’t have an opinion on whether peace or violence is the best way to go

He just likes to watch humans bicker about the different sides

Doesn’t seem to care about much, but he does seem to actually have some kind of fond feelings for Chess

They become partners in mischief, to more? Possibly.

“And now the silence screams that you are gone, you’ve tuned me out, I’ve lost your frequency.” (Frequency by Starset). End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Vesper

She is an important member of the peace group; she gives speeches about the logic of staying peaceful to get out of the enclosure

She grew up with parents who were hosts to the various ambassadors the different species would send inside the enclosure

Her parents always taught her to bury her emotions and never show that something affected her

While observing the ambassadors, she came to the conclusion that there was no way to fight the different species and expect to get out of the enclosure, that the only way to get out is to make the other species see humans as such a non-threat that they wouldn’t care about letting them out

Because she’s such a high rank in the peace movement, the violence movement sends the infamous demon twins, Thorne and Jude, to capture her

She’s logical, but she does have emotions, and she actually feels them very deeply, she just never shows them

And she’s also self sacrificial, very much so

“No one is coming to save you, the enemy means only to play you, and they take and they take and they give just a little.” (Save You by Manafest) End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Thorne

His full name is Thorne Ragnik (and I’m only saying this because I’m proud I actually thought up last names)

He’s part of the violence movement, one of the demon twins (even though they aren’t twins)

He grew up poor because both of his parents were part of the previous cyborg experiments, so they were ignored by society (because the leaders are part of the peace movement), and now he’s an orphan

As such, he stole to survive, and one day, he stole from Jude’s parents’ house, and Jude caught him

But instead of raising the alarm, Jude decided to help Thorne because he wanted to and also because of the mischief

They’ve both been part of the violence movement for a few years, and they’ve become infamous for capturing opponents to the violence movement in their special way

Which means dancing with their prey until the prey is thoroughly confused and dazed

Thorne is more of the serious one, but he also gets dryly dramatic really quick

He wears a normal suit most of the time. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Jude

His full name is Jude Laynor

His parents are nobles that believe in the peace movement

And he’s a trickster who loves mischief

So, he doesn’t get along with his parents much

And when he was young, he met Thorne when Thorne tried to steal from his parets’ house, and he didn’t care

He actually hangs out with Thorne a lot after that, and he’s one of the reasons Thorne becomes more lighthearted

He joined the violence movement with Thorne at the same time, and they quickly became known as the demon twins

He’s more playful and teasing, and he wears fancy, flashy stuff

He grins all the time. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Maisa

He’s a Shade who has taken an interest in Vesper

He’s actually part of a group of different species that are working to make sure the humans never leave the enclosure, and in fact, they want to control humans even more

Vesper came to the conclusion that peace is the only way on her own, but once Maisa took an interest in her, he started manipulating her to make her believe even more in the peace movement

He manipulates her by seducing her, because of course

And Vesper knows Maisa’s horrible, but she thinks her sacrifice is worth it to let other people out of the enclosure

Maisa’s selfish, possessive, and a jerk

He’s a shapeshifter, and he does change between male and female sometimes

He basically feels he’s entitled to Vesper (he’s so interested in her because she does feel deep emotions even though she doesn’t show them), so when Thorne and Jude capture her, he’s going to send minions after them. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Quin

He’s the final POV character, but he won’t show up as a POV right away

That’s because neither Chess nor Vesper know that there are humans living on the outside of the enclosure, so that reveal should be hidden a little

I’m not sure how yet, but Quin was captured by the group of different species that want humans to stay in the enclosure sometime before the story starts

They keep him as basically an animal in a small cage: they show him off to the other species to convince them that humans aren’t sentient (which the group knows isn’t correct, but they want the others to believe so)

The species speak in their language around him (that he doesn’t speak), but one day, while they’re showing him off, he speaks back to them in their language because he learned a few phrases from them talking it around him so much

Which leads to him getting tortured for interrupting their plans

Which then leads to the totally not inherent magic in humans coming to the surface for Quin and helping him escape

He’s scared and doesn’t trust people much

Which leads him to the becoming a part of a small group of one human and a few different species or half-species, who is moving around outside the enclosure (I don’t know all of the characters, so they’ll go on the extra characters powerpoint if I make one)

I’m not sure all that he’ll do in this story, but he’ll be fun! End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Aeflin

She is a human antagonist, she’s the scientist that is conducting the magic cyborg experiments now

She’s bubbly and happy, and she actually gives really good life advice

She just also doesn’t have very good ethics when she’s being a scientist

Very curious and will ask you tons of questions if she doesn’t understand what’s going on

She is with the other antagonist on the next slide, and they’re in a loving relationship. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Naivi

She’s the second human antagonist, she’s working on the outside of the enclosure to destroy the other species

She’s charming and teasing, at least to people who aren’t her enemies

I don’t know all of her backstory, but she’s a victim, while she also does some horrible things

Duality!

I already know she’s going to be a fun character. End Description]

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas : The Original Sin

Also on AO3! 

TL;DR: 

Midoriya Izuku is born incomplete, part of him lacking in a way that makes him abnormal - inhuman. When he turns nine, this changes.

( shamelessly based of the young loki storyline in marvel comics a while ago with the title stolen from there as well. Look - "I am the crime that can not be forgiven." is a baller line ok.)

Midoriya Izuku is born blue and silent. There is no gentle rise and fall of his chest, no pulse, no movement. The Doctors whisk him away in a blur of activity – they tell Inko they will do everything they can. They do not expect a happy ending.

20 Minutes later, Izuku begins to breath on his own. With no previous reaction to treatment this spontaneous respiration is shocking. They expect major brain damage, only to see the infant open his eyes and squint in the bright light of the room. He yawns. They cheer.

They return him to his near hysterical mother’s room. He’s hooked up to countless monitors, but they assure her its just a precaution. She is warned he may have some form of brain damage that will become apparent as he grows, but he is alive and healthy and that in itself they can promise.

Inko cries – her son is alive and he is smiling and that’s all she could ever ask for.

Izuku grows up strange. As a baby he rarely cries – so rarely in fact that Inko can’t stand to have him sleep in a different room, so scared her near silent son will drift away without her knowing. He never does. He seems to understand her from day one as she tells him stories about heroes and dragons. His little hands wipe her tears as she cries. She doesn’t know how, but her son is special.

He doesn’t speak a word until he goes to daycare and meets a firecracker blonde, upon which he shows he can speak far better than most of his peers.

Despite this he seems somehow – lacking – to the other children. Like he’s missing something he needs to be one of them, to be human. They hurt him and push him and take his things. He does not cry.

The only child mostly unaffected by this is Katsuki. He still admits Izuku is a “weirdo”, but he’s smart and fast, sure on his feet with dexterous hands. He seems somehow older and younger than all of the other children in a way that makes adults baby him, but children fear him. Katsuki will not be scared.

Katsuki gets his quirk first. It’s bright and colourful and everything they expected from him.

He asks Izuku about his quirk. His looks into the middle distance for a moment before smiling. It’s small but bright as ever. “Mine will be late.” He then frowns, looking down at his own two hands. They seem ever so small at the moment. “Not sure why.”

Inko asks if he wants to go to the doctor, to see if he has a quirk. Izuku shakes his head gently. “I have one – I know I do. It’ll be late though.” Inko asks him if hes sure, but she trusts her son. He’s much smarter than they remember to give him credit for.

Still, the others don’t believe him. He grows up labelled quirkless with all it brings. Katsuki stays by his side, the quiet and kind boy is something different from the extras - he knows this as well as he knows the sun will rise. They make an interesting pair. One quiet, calm, too knowing, the other brash and loud. They are both whip smart.

Izuku has an eye for quirks better than anyone, always teasing out their mechanisms and probably limitations faster than someone with decades of experience. Katsuki is convinced this will prove to be an aspect of the elusive quirk that refuses to show itself.

Izuku dreams of horrors he has never seen – blood on his hands and quirks at his fingertips. He feels powerful but oh so alone. In the dark on night when he retches silently into his bin, the feeling of hot blood still so real under his shaking hands, he vows to be nothing like the man in this dreams.

Never again.

Izuku is nine when it happens. Katsuki is dragging him through the forest excitedly, hands warm and gently crackling in his own. His head begins to ache.

What started as a nagging irritation quickly shifts into a blinding pain worse than anything Izuku has ever felt in his life. He stumbles to the ground, clutching as his head and he screams and sobs, tears hot down his face.

Katsuki has seen Izuku cry plenty – but never from pain. Not when they got their shots, not when the bully from two grades about them slammed his fingers in the heavy oak door, not when he felt from the tree Katsuki had begged him to climb; bone sharp and pink through his skin. Katsuki wraps his arms around his friend and screams for help.

The screaming stops. Izuku slumps. Katsuki panics. He can feel his friend’s breath on his shoulder but he will not wake. Katsuki can only hold his friend and hope.

All for One had known this day would come. He had known All Might would kill him – it was only a matter of time. That’s why he had a plan B.

A quirk he’d stolen nine odd years ago, creating a shell his mind and quirk would snap to upon his original body’s death. It would kill the original holder of the body, ideally leaving nothing more than an empty shell of a person he would become should he die. He felt some what bad knowing he had killed an infant before it got to draw it’s first breath, but the feeling was fleeting. He had work to do.

He watches Izuku grow. He always had a link to the boy – something about him being an extension of himself making it ever so easy to find him. The boy’s soul – because what else could it be – is stubborn. Parts of it linger in the body, only growing stronger as he ages. He can’t help be grow fond of him. The boy is almost like a son to him, in some strange and twisted way. A creature that should have died but refused to at every turn. All for One could empathise.

That’s why, them All Might’s final blow falls, he feels a flicker of sorrow. Izuku would be no more soon, simply a body he would wear as a puppet. There was no choice though. His work was not yet done.

All for One / Izuku finds themselves in a world of pain, two souls waring for life in a body that can only hold one. What astounds them the most is that Izuku is winning.

All for One plunges them into darkness – away from the pain, so they can talk. They have a time limit though, they are tearing the small body to pieces from the inside out.

Izuku doesn’t want to force All for One out – that will kill him. All for One doesn’t want him dead either. They strike a deal : Izuku will keep his own body until he dies, All for One’s quirk his to use (though the man will keep every quirk he’s personally acquired close to his chest). When Izuku dies – as he will, All for One insists, because the boy wants to be a hero – All for One will take control. They agree.

Izuku opens his eyes and smiles. What once was dull green is now bright and electric, flickers of crystalline white running through them. Izuku feels whole – normal. That makes Katsuki worried most of all.

He explains everything to his only friend – everything he knows. Its not a lot admittedly, only that there is someone else in his head now – their quirk his to use, and that when he dies he will no longer be himself. They do not tell Inko. They train – they will become heroes.

All Might meets Izuku under the bridge, a scraggly man trying to wring his neck as he screams incoherently. All Might knocks out the man before asking is Izuku has seen the villain he was looking for. Understanding blooms in the child’s eyes and suddenly the man on the floor is liquid once again. All Might feels deathly cold.

Izuku gets his autograph, the strange man sharing his mind griping idly about the “blond buffoon” as he insits on calling All Might. Izuku doesn’t mind, ecstatic to meet his hero. He doesn’t miss the flinch on All Might’s face when he lets the man’s quirk flow back into him, but he brushes it away. Everyone is scared of his quirk, its nothing new.

As All Might is distracted by memories long after the boy leaves, the slime villain slinks away

Izuku saves Katsuki, clutching the boy’s own quirk in his gentle grasp, pulling it into his own fold ever so gently, never truly severing it from the blonde. The villain recoils from the blasts as Izuku pulls his friend. All Might swoops in.

Later he asks to train the boy – revealing his smaller side. He says nothing of One for All. He is considering it but he is so scared of any possible connections to All for One he dares not mention it. Izuku takes this with a smile and open arms.

Other stuff:

Izuku is told about One for All a few months in to training because All Might sees his boy is good and kind and nothing like the monster the thought he could be. Izuku immediately goes on about all of the good someone with All Might’s quirk could do, never once assuming it would be his to use. That makes up All Might’s mind – he will pass it to him.

Izuku calls All for One Zero. For All for One it’s kind of a pun about he is One for All wielder number 0. He starts calling Izuku Ninth, or Niner just before he get’s One for All – Izuku thinks it’s a pun on his name.

Izuku can both take quirks and borrow them. Taking them severs their connection from the wielder, borrowing them is just like holding them for a second – they snap back when he stops paying attention. Borrowing is faster and easier and can be reversed without contact. Taking means he will keep the quirk even if he is knocked out or stops concentrating – he tries to avoid doing that because it hurts to give them back and he doesn’t trust himself to do it no matter how guilty stealing something would make him feel.

All for One is actually big soft on Izuku and really doesn’t want the boy dead. He chats to him a lot, offers to help him cheat on tests – which Izuku never takes – and subtly heals their shared body while Izuku sleeps. He wants to kill the children who hurt him. Izuku can’t bare the thought.

All for One and Katsuki get along like a house on fire, even if their interactions are all mediated through Izuku serving as a mouth piece, and its scary. Katsuki and Inko were the only people he told about Zero until All Might. Others in 1A find out at various points in time.

Izuku eventually finds out about the weird quirk hes a part of and has a crisis knowing he is not the Izuku that should have been born into the world. He tells his mother, expecting her to hate him, but she only smiles. "You're still my son - I couldn't ask for anyone better."

[pikemoreno]

if you ever wanna be in love

Chapter I: Coffee Cures All Ills

a/n: Here it is folks! The first part of a Marcus fic heavily inspired by the Netflix rom-com Set It Up. 

It’s more structurally and conceptually inspired and not an exact scene-for-scene remake because a) I was interested in the idea of this not even really being an AU. This is extremely canon-compliant and you’ll see more of that as we continue on. 😏And b) because I had lots of ideas that spun off from watching Set It Up that I just liked better for the purpose of this fic. So that’s what you can expect. It’s gonna be cheesy and fun and great.

The first couple of chapters are a lot of, well, set up (which has been infuriating). But we’ll get into the meat of it soon. My outline says so.

As a side note, a lot of the gifs I’m going to be using are from the movie, but these are not my face claims for any of the characters. I’m using them simply for the ~vibe~ of the chapter. Reader is not a small white girl... Or she might be. She is you. Or whatever OC you’d like her to be. Period. 

And that’s it. Let’s go, I guess.

pairing: marcus pike x f!reader

word count: 2k (probably one of the shortest chapters we’re gonna see out of the 14-ish lolz)

warnings: none, and i don’t expect there to really be any serious ones in upcoming chapters either. this is just fun.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love. 

He’d seen what it had done to him in failed relationships including everything up to a failed marriage. Some would argue that it wasn’t love then, that love doesn’t fail, so it couldn’t have been. But he disagreed. He knows it when it hits. It comes on you like lightning, bright and fast. You accept it, letting it run through your veins, and risk suffering a fatal blow to your heart. And it most definitely can fatally fail. It can cause joy and pain in equal measure. He’d already been struck so painfully once, the blow of the electricity going straight to his heart. He was beginning to hope to the high heavens that he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to be struck a second time, just in case it should reach his heart so painfully once more.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love.

He felt that especially strongly as he watched Adrian go through his recent break-up. He felt for his fellow agent, he really did. Adrian was completely convinced Sam was the one, sold to the point of going ring shopping soon. But one brief mention of an engagement sent Sam running for the hills. He’d been moping around the office for a couple of weeks now and, as much as Marcus understood the pain, he was already really looking forward to Adrian’s rebound or some similar distraction. He was needing his friend’s signature fire back right about now, not to mention his focus. His work had gotten sloppy in this mourning period. He was constantly distracted. Marcus was dreading getting him on this case today, but maybe it was just the push he needed. He hoped. He stepped up to Adrian’s desk, watching the glazed over look in his eye.

“Hey, Adrian, do you mind getting a head start on this? I’d really like you to be our head man on--” he slid the file onto his desk, but was cut short by Adrian’s response. A response that had nothing to do with anything Marcus had just said.

“I’m gonna die alone,” he muttered, hands supporting his chin, elbows on his desk. Marcus let out an exasperated sigh that he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re not gonna die alone,” he played along once again, rubbing his temple.

“Maybe I’ll go be a monk. They never have to worry about this shit.”

“An honorable profession.”

“Yeah.” Adrian blinked out of his dream-like state. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Marcus nodded rigidly. “Sorry, Pike.” He opened the file, nodding slowly, “Yeah, I’ll get on this.”

“You look exhausted,”

“I am,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“I’m making a break room run to get coffee, you want one?”

“Please.” Marcus nodded his understanding and made his way down the hall to the break room. He doubted a case and a coffee could get his friend back on track, but he could hope, right?

***

If you had to listen through one more of Wendy’s mood swings, you might just scream. You love the girl, you really do. She’s your friend and the best boss you could’ve asked for, but Lord Almighty, had she been in rare form. Some days she was perfectly fine, strutting around like she didn’t care that her asshole boyfriend Daniel gave her an ultimatum instead of a ring on their last anniversary. Other days would see her doing a complete 180, shutting herself in her office and weeping into suspect files. Your least favorite days, though, were days where the heartbreak made her angry, where thinking about Daniel saying “It’s me or your job” made her border-line vengeful. But, unfortunately for you and the rest of the team, he wasn’t around to take the beating.

You couldn’t say you entirely understood. The short catalog of even shorter flings that you boasted brought largely apathy rather than heartbreak. You couldn’t say you’d ever been in love like Wendy had been. You’d never felt anything quite that strong-- and thank goodness for that. It wasn’t something you particularly looked forward to, at least, not the way you’d seen it lately. It was an uncontrollable force, dangerous and all-consuming. You liked control, liked being in your right mind. If love was to take up it's unfortunate residence, you could only hope it was for someone worth losing your mind over. You hadn’t seen anyone of the sort so far. 

Unfortunately, it was already too late for Wendy Harrod. The already intimidating head of the Jewelry & Gem Theft Program in Texas was in rare form. You watched as an HR intern ran from her office in near tears. Poor Randy. Her sharp “come in” in response to your knock on her door made you wince.

“Harrod, I have the results of that house search you requested if you--”

“No, no! Absolutely not, I cannot handle this right now,” she was absolutely raging, leaving you grasping at straws for a response. 

“I-- Uh-- Of course. I’ll just leave it right here whenever--” you placed it gently on the end table by the door before being interrupted again.

“Ughhhhh,” she groaned out before flopping into her desk chair, the red leather creaking as she let sit spin her around once, “I’m sorry. I’m being mean.” There was your Wendy.

“Just a little.”

“Sorry, sorry. Bring that here please.” 

“What can I do for you? As your friend, I mean. You--” you weighed your words carefully as you hand her the report, “You haven’t quite been yourself since…” you stopped that thought, “Well, lately.” She sighed, shaking her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I need,” she began to skim the report before looking back up with you with a tight lipped smile, “Maybe a coffee? For the more immediate problems anyway.” You laughed.

“Now that I can do. I’m headed there now. Break room coffee ok?”

“That’d be perfect.”

“The usual?”

“The usual.” She yelled after you as you walk down the hall, “You’re an angel!”

She wasn’t gonna be saying that when you came back without coffee. 

The sign on the coffee pot reading “out of coffee” was going to seriously ruin your reputation and Wendy’s sensitive mood. You ran through the options: you couldn’t leave to get her a Starbucks; there were some bottled iced coffees in the fridge, but Wendy hated them; you could wait for someone to make a run at lunch and pass on the order, but this was too urgent. Then it hit you. Everyone knew the sixth floor had the better coffee stock anyway. The art freaks loved their fancy stuff. You could always just waltz down a floor and snag two cups from their stash. 5 minutes in and out. No harm done, no questions asked. 

Or so you thought. 

The sixth floor break room was already occupied when you walked in, finding another agent also brewing a morning cup in a single cup coffee maker. 

They really did have everything here: multiple pots, another much fancier looking machine that looked like it might come to life and attack at any moment, recyclable coffee cups, every type of creamer. You name it.

You’d have to sneak over here more often.

You stepped up to the larger coffee pot, rinsing out the carafe before reaching for the container of grounds. Empty. 

They had everything here. Except coffee. 

Was the whole damn building in a coffee famine? You didn’t have time to check.

“No, no, no, no,” you panicked, frantically searching the cabinet for another container. In your peripheral you could see the other agent look at you like you’d grown two heads. You couldn’t be bothered with his judgement, but you met his eyes to ask, maybe a little too frantically. 

“Is that the last of it?” you questioned, eyeing the cup he was brewing.

“Well, yeah, sorry.” It was obvious he meant it, but apologies were not what you were needing right now.

“Shit.” 

“Withdrawals?” he laughed a little at your panicked state, but it wasn’t demeaning. He was genuinely amused, and maybe a little concerned, but it made you narrow your eyes at him all the same. You were not in the mood for the mocking, no matter how light-hearted it may be. No matter how much it was softened by the bright smile next to you.

“It’s not for me. It’s for my boss. My very upset boss who needs just one small ounce of joy in her life right now. The kind of joy that can only come from the fueling of her caffeine addiction, so if I could please just have that cup?” You blinked at him innocently, but his dark brown eyes widened as he shook his head

“What? No. I have a friend who needs this. If I don’t bring him this, he won’t be working for the rest of the day.”

“If I don’t bring my boss a cup of coffee in the next two minutes, I will probably not be working again. Ever. I will be dead. Do you want to be complicit in a murder, Agent--” you glanced at his badge, “Pike? Can you really live with that?”

“You’re awfully dramatic aren’t you?”

“I wish it was an exaggeration.” He inspected your badge then too.

“Jewelry and Gem Theft. Floor 7, right? What brings you down here to steal our coffee?” The argument was pointed, but his demeanor was anything but. He was smiling, enjoying this. A little too much, you seethed. You couldn’t stand around arguing all day.

“We’re out too.”

“Try another floor?”

“Time is of the essence here, Art Squad.” There was no room for addressing him politely now, he was riling you up on purpose. 

“If you didn’t stand here arguing with me you could’ve tried another floor by now, Jewels.”

He must think he’s so clever.

“Please. This is DEFCON 5.”

“You do know DEFCON 5 is the good one, right?”

“You know what I mean. Please.” He looked at you and then the newly brewed cup, biting the inside of his cheek, thinking through the problem.

“Tell you what. I am willing to split this if you are. Maybe it’s enough to fix both of them.” The crease between his eyebrows was deep as he studied your face, “I know Adrian is too out of it to notice he’s getting jipped, not sure about your boss.” You shrugged.

“Wendy will manage. It’s enough to keep her from throwing something at my head next time I walk in.” He dutifully split the coffee between two of the recyclable travel cups and handed one to you. You took it gratefully. 

“I hope this keeps you from… Dying? What’s up with that anyway?” You’re not sure what made this person that was essentially a stranger so interested in your life, but something about it feels nice.

“She had a really bad breakup: anniversary, thought it was going to be a proposal, instead it was him being a piss-baby. She’s a little all over the place right now. They’d been together for years and now there’s just… A hole. She doesn’t know how to deal with it.” Pike’s nod in response is emphatic, giving the cup in his hand a little wave.

“Same with him. Terrible breakup. He didn’t see it coming at all. She broke up with him on a voicemail… Then moved. ‘Course it just put him in this crazy funk, though. Doesn’t wanna work or do much of anything. No violence. Yet. But it’s sad to see.” You winced.

“That’s a rough one. Best of luck with him, Art Squad. Thank you. I owe you one. Seriously.”

“You definitely do, Jewels.” His smile is blindingly bright as he jokes. It makes you smile back.

“See you around.”

series taglist: @whiskeyslasso​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​

forever tags: @acomplicatedprofession​ @hdlynn​ @makaela27 @space-floozy @catfishingmorales​ @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa​ @princessbatears​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @findhimfives​

[f-117-nighthawk]

Playlist Update? From MY Brain? More Likely Than You Think

can't remember the last time I posted these all together but I just put a few new songs in. I've been playing Arknights bc STARSET songs keep being used in the trailers, and then I was listening to Transmissions while making dinner, and uhhhhh there's two new Transmissions songs on the playlists, plus whatever else the spotify links needed to update to my ever-changing apple versions.

This is just the main playlist, because this one is now 3h 40m, and the other three playlists are about an hour each. I’ll give them their own post tomorrow. Under the cut, because it's also Write Random Snippits and Include Important Lyrics time

Dark Matter

Surprise surprise, this one’s got probably the most work done on it. A lot of that is moving things around, a few deletions, and the additions.

DM now starts with Your World Will Fail, Dark Matter, and Eater of Worlds. Turn the Lights Out still kinda applies, but I stopped vibing with it starting everything, and wasn’t really sure where else it should go so it got dropped. It’s role is sort of picked up by a UtA song later? Anyway, the opening three are still very much about not only the birth of [REDACTED], but the birth of the universe itself. And that’s why it feels better to start out with YWWF. Because it is the start.

(Your world will fail my love/It’s far beyond repair/Your world will fail my love/It is already there)

(Bring me your soul/Bring me your hate/In my name you will create/Bring me your fear/Bring me your pain/You will destroy in my name)

(Can’t imagine the violence/The rage and the love in my madness/I am the eater of worlds and I’m looking for someone to feed me)

Remnants of Stars is a hook to Filaments at this point, but stays way up here because the thing it’s about connects back up to those three ^ and is something slowly realized by the Paladins throughout the series. There’s kinda three different points that they realize something new about this (at the moment, I Am the One, Cosmic Vertigo, and Centigrade).

(Shed all you know and make way for a galaxy of light/Answers found hidden inside the smallest stone/Bringing forth a new way of life/Open your heart to the sky)

Apocalypse 1992 hasn’t changed. Still about The Fall, still the turning point for the entire damn war. Still about poor Krolia. Still the Rogue One of DM. It happens between parts of Awakenings, detailing the rise of [REDACTED] and the final hours before the destruction of everything sentient species knew beforehand.

(Fly high through apocalypse skies/Fight for the world we must save/Like tears of a unicorn lost in the rain/Chaos will triumph this day)

Apex is the final moments of Apocalypse 1992 from the Red Lion’s perspective, and connects nicely (just as in the albums lol) to the next UtA songs. Which we’ll get to in a bit.

(Brother mountain/Now we sleep/For a thousand years/I will see you again/Something is coming/Coming for me)

You Keep What You Kill covers the slow degeneration of the Empire between The Fall and the Battle of Arus. The knowledge harshly taught by the Thuanial War is forgotten under the influence of Zarkon, Haggar, and [REDACTED]. Marzin and Galraasa quickly rise the ranks as the Empire’s left and right hands, like omens of destruction before them. The four are the ‘holy half-dead,’ the ones who shape the devouring of the universe before them.

(Defying dimensions/These ruthless creatures will steal your soul/Breaking away from the chains of mortality/They won’t be taken down/Bow now to the holy half dead/The master to death mongers calls)

The Glory and the Scum is partially here bc I missed having Delain, I’ll freely admit that. (Delain split up! Like six months ago! I’m still sad!) Here, it’s (most) of the reason why Krolia isn’t around until MGHM. Think Winter Soldier-ish. It’s also from Krolia’s perspective as she’s talking to Kolivan in a conversation I implied in Shatterpoint. Perhaps it shall see the light of day.

(Look at what we've done/Take a step back/Shake your head at what we have become/We're the glory and the scum)

The Seven Sisters is about Keith, mostly, and connected to Closure via its influence on Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) and also to Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met. Also the thing about the Pleiades has kinda become A Thing associated with my two favorite halfbloods.

(I cast my hope upon The Pleiades/The Seven Sisters who would come for me/They’d fall to Earth to grant a child’s dream/But I’m still waiting)

Starlight is the Adashi song. Here, it’s the sad part, based around the time that the SFSS Genesis launches for Kerberos. It also is sort of about Shiro’s thoughts throughout the war as he watches ‘from distant skies’ (and influences String Theory kinda)

(At night the earth will rise/And I’ll think of you each time I watch from distant skies/Whenever stars go down and galaxies ignite/I’ll think of you each time they wash me in their light/And I’ll fall in love with you again)

Waking Dream and Abyss are Awakenings. They’re specifically the Red Lion waking up on Sendak’s ship to her new Paladin, but also sort of the rest of the Lions as they find new Paladins for the first time since The Fall (and, also, an accidental hook to the end of Filaments just by virtue of being on the same UtA album…)

(Centuries like flowing streams as years go rushing by/Waiting in the dark for afterlife)

(Open my eyes in a daze/How long has it been? Am I so out of place?/Warmth I can no longer feel/My mountain is gone, I’m surrounded by steel/The strangest of structures arises ahead/Seems to be held up by nothing/Where have I gone, do I dream?/How can the stars be all I can see?)

Who Will Save You Now is about the Paladins in First Contact. It’s the video messages they send to their families, the warning that Something Is Out Here that they need to prepare for. It’s a declaration of protection for Earth, but a recognition that the Paladins may not be able to do what they say.

(I will not take from you and you will not owe/I will protect you from the fire below/It’s not in my mind/It’s here at my side/Go tell the world that I’m still alive)

Then there’s The End of the Beginning. Which is, well, the eponymous fic. And don’t forget the String Theory connection! Fun fact: part of the last chapter leads directly into part of String Theory at the moment.

(Every night I die just a little/All this time, I’m caught in the middle/All your life, you fought with no winning/This is just the end of the beginning)

A Simple Plan is about anything but a simple plan. Lotor is making his secret bid for the construction of the Sinkline ships, but there’s one more thing he needs before it can come to fruition. Haggar has suspicions, and knows one thing that she needs to keep from both him and Voltron. Team Voltron is still struggling to fit into their new roles, especially with a Black Paladin who adamantly does not want to be Black Paladin, and is in desperate need of one thing to fix the last of the damage done during the Battle of the Sarnan Nebula.

(How long can we hold off ending?/How long can we pretend we’re ok?/No one goes on fighting it forever/I know I’m better this way)

Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met. Such a short song for such an important fic. It skips all the way over Naxzela to the Mission to the Baaria Shipyards, the first major offensive that isn’t somehow connected to canon (even if only a very very small part of it is actually at the shipyards lol). This is also the song that solidified Keith’s very queer identity in Dark Matter. And more Pleiades stuff!

(In this lonely place, bathed in silence and thoughts of you/I can’t see your face but I’m trying to envision you/So are you really out there? Are you awake with memories/Of a boy you haven’t met yet who’s wished upon the Pleiades?)

There’s another fic in here that I’m still waiting for a song to catch my ear, but it’s pretty big so I’m putting it in here. For the moment, it’s called MGHM 2.0: Electric Paladinloo. Featuring the Whispers, Voltron, and a few mullets.

And then. Hoh boy. The beast of beats. TRIALS (reimagine), Dark On Me, String Theory, and I Am the One. We’ve got [REDACTED], we’ve got [spoiler], we’ve got the first major turning point in the entire war, and the first revelation of the true nature of [REDACTED]. Hence the honor of being the separation point of my two main DM folders. TRIALS is the first part, the horrifying realization. Dark On Me and String Theory itself are from Shiro’s perspective. I Am the One is… an image song? I guess? That’s all I’ll say on that. (I would like to note that the STARSET songs bar OWtT tend to be about the Shiroganes…)

(Hear me from the bottom/Forged in regret, I'm the silversmith/Doomsday, you we had it coming/Marching the streets with an iron fist/Obey no more in silence/The steel in our hearts will be monuments/Today, they'll hear the violence/We'll rise from the dark like Lazarus)

(You're the cause/The antidote/The sinking ship that I could not let go/You led my way, then disappeared/How could you just walk away and leave me here?/Light the night up, you're my dark star/And now you're falling away)

(You don’t believe in space/You don’t believe in light/You don’t believe that anything is well beyond your might/We walk across the sky and beneath the ocean floor/We’re never going anywhere we’ve never been before)

(I am the one/I am the architect to rule your fate)

House on Fire is the aftermath of String Theory, and a large vibe of We ARE Struggling Together! It’s about family, never letting go of something you care about, and the slow act of trusting.

(So I’ll just hold you like a hand grenade/You touch me like a razor blade/I wish there was some other way right now/Like a house on fire we’re up in flames/I’d burn here if that’s what it takes/To let you know I won’t let go of you)

Belgrade is The klance song! It is a) a bop b) always stuck in my head because it is That Good. The line in the chorus about ‘sweet songs of seduction’ is eternally funny to me bc a)they’re both ace and b)QPR’s don’t usually involve seduction. Belgrade also leads almost directly into…

(We pretend in the darkness/We pretend the night won’t steal our youth/Singing me the sweet songs of seduction/Let me be the fool, fool, fool/Who will live and die for you)

Here to Save You is about Sam. Mostly. It’s also about Pidge. And Zaivorge cannons.

(A slave for humankind/I made sure I would survive/To stay alive/Now it’s time to move on/When there’s nothing left to prove/I’m coming to get you)

Iron is the third Closure fic (the second is End of the Beginning, forgot to mention that. They’ve slowly moved away from actually being related to it in anything but name and general idea). It’s about Keith coming to terms with parts of himself, and learning how to use them to great effect. Also has a huge info dump about the Blade.

(You can’t live without the fire/It’s the heat that makes you strong/‘Cause you’re born to live/And fight it all the way/You can’t hide what lies inside you/It’s the only thing you know/You’re embracing that, never walk away)

The second major turning point in the war is Monarch, Birthright, and Firewall. I really recommend reading the whole lyrics for Monarch, because the entire thing is very much a Lotor song. I had a bit of trouble picking a lyric to use here. Monarch is here because Lotor is also the ‘singer’ of Birthright, and both songs are to a very specific high-level target of the Coalition. Firewall is a little different as it’s a Team Voltron song not a Lotor song, but happens because of the same thing the other two do. They’re all not exactly a direct result of Iron, but they wouldn’t happen how they do without it, and then [REDACTED] swings back into the fray and things learned in String Theory/the framing story for Through Apocalypse Skies hit in full force.

(I am not the person you remember from before/The one you patronized and stepped on, the one you hurt/And I have pulled the arrows, now my skin has become stone/No longer am I prisoner to your empty fucking words)

(The voices in my head have all begun to sing/(The voices in your head have all begun to sing)/And they sure as hell hope I am listening/(I sure as hell hope you are listening!))

(They come to your dreams with illusion/They come to bring shape to your mind/You know how to stop the intrusion/We all have to fight for our lives)

and then, The Day the Earth Collapsed

(How much time has been elapsed/Since the day the earth collapsed?)

Here Comes the Reign doesn’t come into full effect until several months after Birthright/Firewall, but starts with The Day the Earth Collapsed. It’s largely about Haggar and [REDACTED]

(You made something they can’t take away/Now bring the fire of the burning sun on everyone)

Supersonic is here… kinda as a placeholder? Things have shifted around since its original purpose, and frankly it’s here still as a framework for what I like to call The Meme Battle. It’s generally about the increase in Coalition support and general winning as they go after warlords in the aftermath of Feyiv, culminating in I Need a Hero which is, of course, The Meme Battle.

Yes, it’s the Shrek version. It’s the Meme Battle.

(Supersonic, polyphonic, this is our war/Mustering the armies, marching faster than before)

(I need a hero/I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night/He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast/And he's gotta be fresh from the fight)

But Tonight We Dance isn’t exactly a klance song, but it’s here for them. On a diplomatic mission gone wrong, the Red and Blue Paladins of Voltron uncover a literally-buried government conspiracy, a rebel cell, and nearly die. A normal days work for the two of them. But they’ve really gotta stop having relationship milestones in the middle of a warzone.

Another reason it’s here is Tonight We Dance is a very aro song to me. “A language universal, but I speak not its tongue” hits hard. I felt like I needed a bit in here to remind listeners/readers that romance isn’t a language Keith speaks. And it becomes very explicit in this fic, just like Belgrade.

(Tomorrow we might wake in servitude and silence/I will give you everything if only you would have me/Tomorrow we will sweat and toil/Our hands will quiver, caked with soil/Tomorrow we'll give it one last chance/But tonight we dance/But tonight we dance!)

But Tonight We Dance is the last of the Closure fics, which is why it’s here. Closure in general is a lot of Keith’s character development and some of the struggles he goes through to accept his place in the universe and the fact that yes, he does have people that care about him. The last fic is me shining a brighter light on Closure’s chorus and taking a ‘last goodbye’ as never needing to say it again

(I am the child from the stars/That got lost in the dark/Between heaven and hell/I am forced to live on/I am the cause when you sin/I am the demon you skin/But there is no more tears to beautify/This is my last goodbye)

Then we step back into the universe-level action with Soulbound. Revelations from String Theory and Firewall swing back in with a vengeance on a joint Whispers-Voltron mission, leaving them reeling and Krolia questioning her very identity.

(Soulbound, endlessly forever/Locked between the darkness and the light/Don’t drown in the swarming, blackened rising/Hold on to humanity and fight)

About three months after that is My Darkest Hour and Faster Than Light. Haggar realizes something and goes searching for her fifth [spoiler], sending the Blade and the rest of the Coalition scrambling. These also lead directly, and I mean directly, into…

(When the sun comes crashing down/When the world is spinning round and round/I will face what must be my darkest hour)

(Once more we’re flying fast as light/Dark matter passing in the night/Pursued by a force we can’t outrun/As we hurtle towards a dying sun/We maneuver through the remnants of a moon/On the solar winds of supernovas/There is not a place to hide, the Matriarch is close behind/It’s plain to see she’s coming for us all)

Cosmic Vertigo and Other Worlds Than These. Together they are the second of two revelations in what, exactly, is [REDACTED]

(Banish me like burned down planets/Write my fate with sparkling lies/I am the universe; you're just one sky)

(Pull the wool out from your eyes/It won’t shade your frail belief/In the end we cannot hide/There are other worlds than these)

Godhunter is Team Voltron, well, hunting for gods, even as one of them disappears.

(She’s been watching for a century/With hatred, and with scorn/If you know the hunter’s coming/Then you hide or keep on running/'Cause she’s slain the gods before)

Trophy Hunter, Ember, and Redemption are the culmination of Godhunter. I’ve been thinking of them as akin to the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, if that gives you an idea of what the hell they run into. Also I switched which specific Redemption is on the playlist, because I was listening to Red Handed Denial again and their Redemption was vibing way more than the Hammerfall one. They link up to Godhunter and Soulbound in subject matter, and lead directly into…

(You, you won’t escape me, I’ll rise from the deep/In this final moment, no words left to say/I can’t let you be when a life fades away/You, you won’t escape me ‘cause I’ll set you free)

(Dark matter falling from the sky/Dancing flames reflecting in your eyes as you watch them burn/Watching all your riches witches burn)

(Remember me not for the mess I’ve made/But who I could have been/Finally I’m going home)

World On Fire, This is a Call, The Reckoning, The Wind That Shapes the Land, and Louder Than Words. Switched the order up a bit so it makes more sense chronologically, because the message ‘sent by forces beyond salvation’ has to get there before the reckoning can begin.

(World on fire with a smoking sun/Stops everything and everyone/Brace yourself for all will pay/Help is on the way)

(This is a call to action/This is a call to arms/All lives for one, together/There are no false alarms)

(I see your face, find peace of mind/Between the madness and the sadness and the fire burning/The end of war, the great divine/We’ll see the day of reckoning)

(Search within/Uncover the will to win/Turn against the tide that washes o'er/Find the strength to fall and rise again/Open up the gates, unleash the force/I am the wind that shapes the land/Old as time and twice as strong/Oceans arise at my command/I alone can carry on)

(We have the force to fight/We have the blinding light/A war is more than heard/Coming in louder than words)

[thedumbguywithaheart43]

Boomlord weird adventure

Chapter 8 what time is it?

It was early morning in the omnispace void. Boomwood had gotten to the kitchen to start brewing coffee as the footsteps of a yawning purple hair woman enter the room."morning Twilight."Twilight mearly gave him a wave before sitting down. Looked at her noticing the look on her face. To be honest she looked exhausted.'ah shit'he quickly poured a shot glass of the Cuban coffee and handed it to her. She stared at the coffee for a minute."I appreciate the gesture but I doubt this is going to do much for me."good Lord gave out a chuckle."Twilight trust me this is Cuban coffee any more than this and you'll be wired."He gave out a chuckle before Twilight downed the shot, unsurprisingly her face scrunched up. This was probably the most bitter thing she ever had."bleh! Why would you drink something so bitter!"Boomlord shrugged."honestly I only drink it for the caffeine. If it helps I think I have some orange juice in the fridge."Twilight just looked down rubbing her head . Not long after the other girls walked in each of them heading into the fridge grabbing various fruits mostly apples. Pinkie pie was the only one who grabbed something else, looks like she found the flan and was in heaven."oh my Celestia this tastes so good!"At least she wasn't breaking the fourth wall again.

2 After everyone ate they all headed to the living room again."ok girls this is it we are heading to the next world. Now before I go this mission is not meant to be dangerous however the world we're entering can be a bit chaotic so be prepared for anything."The rest of the girls nodded they likely had assumed as much from the previous conversations."so where are we going anyway"dash blurted out as boom pulled out his pen."yeah I'm with Dash partner id hate to go in blind."Aj took a step forward to make her point."we're going to a place called ooo I spent a lot of time there and it's the only place I can really say I have friends anymore...."booms voice got deep as a sorrowful look overtook his face for a minute. This was enough to make Applejack back off. Twilight in particular took a mental note of this.'guess friends are a touchy subject for him.' boom grabbed his notepad An drew another circle, in the center he wrote °adventure Time 1°as always the golden electrical ring formed with a blackened middle. Boomlord jumped into the portal and when he landed his feet were on solid ground. Solid green grassy ground. He surveyed the area around him noticing he was in a grassy clear field however the ends of what looks like old nuclear bombs stuck out overtaken by the grassy plains. The girls enter next each of them still in their same outfits however 4 of the girls had notable changes to them . Twilight and rarity each had a sword at their side. Twilight sword with a sleek and purple short sword with her cutie mark on the hilt. Rarity sword on the other hand looked as if it were made of blue crystal with a white metal hilt her cutie mark also on it. Fluttershy and rainbow Dash had also had the return of their wings which Dash took this opportunity to fly up into the air a bit doing a few loops and swirls."Hell yeah I missed this!"boom couldn't help but smile."Real fly girl up there."a few of them awkwardly smile."so where's our destination?"Twilight asked giving him a quick grin knowing that he's trying his best to make everyone feel better about being in a strange world."we're going to see princess bubblegum at the Candy Kingdom."and just like that he found himself lying on the ground being pinned by pinkie pie."DID YOU SAY CANDY KINGDOM! A KINGDOM MADE OF CANDY IS THIS PLACE PARADISE O.M.C O.M.C."Twilight practically had to pry pinky off of him ."yes the entire Kingdom from the trees to the ground is made of candy including the people."He started to brush himself off as pinky smile only widen."but please don't eat the Candy people or I will probably have to stop you"pinky reluctantly nodded.

3"rainbow do you mind taking an aerial view try to find the place that looks like it's surrounded by Pink cotton candy trees.... Well because it is surrounded by Pink cotton candy trees."boom called out before stopping looking at the ground a large Shadow now loomed over them. It was Spike. All the ponies turn to look back in both shock and horror. Spike mostly remain the same with one slight difference... He was absolutely Giant. His whole body in total was about the size of a two sorry house and his wings could probably cover all of them with ease."oh yeah I forgot dragons are huge here but at least he still looks different from them normally they're just Giant tube dragons with big ass butts."The ponies/girls stared for a moment but in silent agreement they chose not to address it not that Spike would mind he was too busy checking himself out."oh crap I'm HUGE you guys look so small from up here!" It was the most adorable giant grin in the world. Rainbow decided now was a good time to take him to the air as she being flapping her wings disappearing above the clouds. Surveying the land below she was able to make out what looks like pink trees and a large structure that looked somewhat like a castle."guess that must be what I'm looking for."she kept looking around noticing in One direction was a rather large tree that almost looks like it had Windows in it and in the opposite direction she noticed tall mountains made entirely of ice."heh heh heh what do we have here"a voice from nowhere stated in a malicious tone from behind her. Is she turned to look behind her she saw a giant monster with a bat like face and long blue limbs with crooked nails.'OH SHIT'at this point rainbow Dash started nose diving down towards her friends with the creature in pursuit who was maliciously chuckling the entire way down. The rest of the group saw the creature and the girls had various reactions. Applejack rarity and Twilight look like they were getting ready to fight with rarity and Twilight pulling out their swords. Fluttershy and Pinky had decided to stick near Spike who is now using his wings to shield them.Then there was boom standing out in the open as dash passed him and he just smiled. Apon seeing him the creature stopped a look of surprise on our face."hey Marceline it's been a while"the creature began to shrink taking on a human form she had pale white skin and incredibly long black hair which reached down to her feet a simple jacket and jeans and her ,guitar-axe strapef to her back and a nice big floopy hat which covered her in a shroud of darkness. She give out a wide smile revealing her fangs before wrapping her arms around boom giving him a hug."holy glob dude!your back it's been like 4 months!"he returned the embrace from his old friend as the rest of the girls started to calm down noticing that whatever that thing was it seemed friendly at least now it did."oh that's right."he turned to the girls and dragon."everyone this is my old friend Marceline... The vampire queen"a few of the girls jaw started to drop."your freinds with a literal blood sucking vampire?"Marceline shrugged at Twilight comment."actually it's just the color I'm after."Marceline started floating on her back around them."so boom what brings you and your new friends back to ooo."Boomlord got quiet."I found it Marcy.... I found the Rose fire and they're here because Twilight here"pointing at the slightly flustered purple pony girl."is the key to everything."Marceline stopped moving for a moment the words settling in her mind."oh we need to get to the Candy Kingdom right away then."then without word Marceline started floating off towards the direction of the Kingdom and boom followed along with the girls and the giant dragon...... Yeah that might be a problem.

4 After a few hours of walking they all managed to reach the candy kingdom with Spike deciding to hide in the trees to avoid unwanted attention. Pinkie pie look like she was about to go crazy or more crazy."o.m.c so m-much candy!"she was practically foaming at the mouth."look pinky just eat the sidewalk or something just please don't start eating random people I don't want to deal with any drama today especially because we need the princess's help."the pony started walking forward into the rather nice town and to boomlord credit every building and every person was made of candy, And many candies citizens passed by. Mr cupcake crunchy punch bowl guy."wow this is actually really fascinating I can't help but wonder what they're DNA is like how do candy people procreate do they need to breathe or eat its quite fascinating"Twilight then begin rambling about a whole bunch of science jargon that boom did not know but he found himself listening to every word she spoke it wasn't until arsenaline tapped his shoulder that he snapped out of his trance."I see you found a real good friend~"she whispered in a teasing tone."w-what no she's just um cool you know for someone who was a horse the other day."Marceline rolled her eyes."horse or not you always did have a thing for a Smart ones~."boom felt his blood pump. "Oh you're one to talk."Marceline then backed off she knew how far she could go before boom would made her regret it. After a while of walking the group then found themselves at the castle as a pink cared and pink skinned princess in a long pink dress noticed them."oh my! Boom you have returned and with.. many female companions huh"princess bubblegum gave a smirk."oh don't you start now too!" Boom was probably going to say more before pb gave him a warm hug."so I assume this has to do with the rose fire."bubblegum look down at him and while she kept a smile her face was full of worry."yeah Twilight here um it's kind of a long story."bubblegum nodded."it always is."about an hour had passed after this meeting and boom had explained to Marceline and bubblegum how we came to meet the girls and discover the fire leaving out the parts where he burned himself or threw a skillet at Twilight."interesting I'll probably have to run a few scans on Twilight then with her permission."Twilight nodded."good we'll start by using the rejuvenation tank to monitor your body and vitals while I conduct a few scans"boom notice that she was pointing to the large tank filled with water and knew that this meant that Twilight was going to have to strip down which he then took his cue to leave. "I'll be back soon gonna check on stuff."and before anyone could say anything he left the room.

(oh and before I forget I'll be opening asks for boomlord and Friends so if they appear in the story feel free to ask them a question ask box is officially open)

[unadulterated-strawberryniall]

Normal People, Abnormal Jobs. [Chapter 2]

Normal People, Abnormal Jobs. Relationships in the entertainment industry are never easy. Scheduling is nearly impossible, paparazzi hound you down every date, and everyone seems to weigh in their opinion. Is it possible to have a soulmate with such a demanding career?

Loosely inspired by the 2020 Hulu drama, Normal People, this story explores the possibility of finding true love in a world motivated by reputation, scandal, and money. Touching on themes of love, mental health, and adulthood, Normal People, Abnormal Jobs navigates how two musicians from opposing worlds maneuver a destiny that consistently pulls them together. It’s challenging, yes, but if it’s true love, it’s worth it.

Chapter 1.

The thumping bass of whatever house music was playing was starting to give me a headache. I wasn’t really one for the club scene. I fell more into the hole-in-the-wall pub scene. Better yet, just having a glass of wine at home. 230 Fifth, one of New York’s iconic rooftop bars, felt like a universe away from where I really wanted to be.

It felt like I had been waiting here for hours, when in reality, as I checked my watch, I’d only been here for 23 minutes. I yawned as my phone screen flashed, reminding me of tomorrow’s packed schedule. I know I hadn’t been here long, but it all felt useless, and I figured now would be a great time to make an escape.

Pushing through the crowd on the dancefloor, I started to think how silly I was for even showing up in the first place. After finishing my interviews, I threw myself into a complex beauty routine, exfoliating my skin, tweezing any loose eyebrow hairs, and giving my nails a fresh coat of polish. All on the off chance I ran into Niall tonight, which clearly wasn’t happening.

Would your nails seduce him? Would he be so wowed by your clean eyebrows that he’d want to sleep with you? Stupid. Waste of time. Of course he doesn’t want you.

Don’t go to war with yourself.

If he wanted to see you, he’d be here. With you. You’re getting stood up.

Everything that’s happening to you is what’s supposed to be happening to you, so just relax.

I gave my head a shake, hoping the motion would physically shake the voices from my mind. I felt someone grab my wrist, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“‘Ey! I was hopin’ I’d see ya tonight!” The accent rang through my ears, over whatever high pitched synth was ringing through the speakers, and immediately brought a sense of relief. “Are ya leavin’?” He raised an eyebrow at me, flicking his gaze from my eyes to the direction of the door I was heading to.

“I…” I couldn’t find the words to say as the grip from his fingertips left me feeling more intoxicated than any cocktail I’d ever had.

“Let me treat ya to a drink.” He took a step closer to me, placing my hand on his chest. “What would ya like?”

“Vodka cranberry.” I breathed out, just loud enough for him to hear. My fingers grazed against the open buttons of his shirt, where little wisps of chest hair poked out. He grabbed my hand again, leading me to the bar.

As he leaned over the counter top to catch the attention of a bartender and order our drinks, I couldn’t help but begin to think how hauntingly beautiful he was. My eyes scanned his body, from his hair, thick and perfectly disheveled, to the flecks of gold in his facial hair, to his biceps, which flexed gently as he leaned against the counter, to his long, skinny legs, that ended with the off-white converse on his feet. I felt breathless around him. My stomach began to twist, and I placed a reassuring hand against it while taking a deep breath.

Niall glanced at me. “You alright?”

I didn’t respond immediately, but the bartender commanded his attention with the drinks before he could say anything else. He had ordered something dark, perhaps a rum and coke? I couldn’t tell.

“Let’s find somewhere t’ chat.” He whispered in my ear, leading the way out of the club to an outdoor portion of the bar. 

Since most of the party was focused on the dancefloor, this area was nearly empty, and Niall pulled me over to the balcony. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He looked out to the various buildings, most notably, the Empire State Building. The building was flashing rainbow lights towards the top.

“Yeah, it is.” I mumbled. But I wasn’t looking at the skyline. I was looking at Niall. A light breeze ran through the air, whirling a tuft of Niall’s hair with it. He turned to face me and smiled.

“That was a fuckin’ great performance earlier. But I saw ya cryin’ after. Everything ok?” He took a sip of his drink, not taking his eyes off me.

I blushed. “Oh, well… I’m fine now. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety leading up to this. First performance in a long time, you know? I guess it was just a release after the build up. I dealt with a lot of mental shit throughout the pandemic. Anxiety, depression, isolation… Not that I was the only one but… It was tough.” I realized I was rambling and took a sip from my glass to fill the silence that ensued. The ice rattled against the glass as my hand shook uncontrollably.

“It’s very brave of ya t’ talk about dat.” Niall pointed out.

“I didn’t mean to.” I looked down. 

Niall took a step closer to me. “No, it’s great. We need more people like ya. I deal with dat shit too sometimes. I don’t like to talk about it. You’re much braver than me.”

I shrugged, unsure of what to say. I wasn’t the best at handling compliments, and I hardly thought going on about mental issues was worthy of one.

“I didn’t get to catch your performance. Wish I did, though.” I placed my half-empty glass on the table beside me.

Niall turned out to face the view, leaning against the railing. “Eh, it was alright. Happy to be back on stage.”

“I didn’t think you’d be into my music, to be honest.” I chewed my lip, wondering what the hell caused me to say that.

That was the small talk you chose?

“What makes you say dat?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“I’m a bit more… grungier than your sound.” I was referring to my brand as a punk artist, while I knew Niall had settled into an acoustic pop genre. In honesty, I hadn’t heard much of his music myself. But I would have to live under a rock to be unaware of his presence in One Direction.

“I listen t’ everything. Rock, rap, country, dubstep.”

I laughed, but Niall kept a straight face.

“I’ve been following you for awhile. On the charts.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t have expected that.”

“There’s no one like you, Mina. You’re one of a kind.” Niall turned to face me once again, and I realized he’d already finished his drink. Our bodies were brushing up against each other at this point, and I could feel myself being drawn into him like a tidal wave.

“Is what I think about to happen going to happen?” I closed my eyes, feeling Niall’s breath hit my face.

“Yeh.” He whispered.

“I don’t think it would be good... If people found out…” But my hands were already slinking their way around his waist.

“No one would have to know.”

And before I could get another word out, his lips were pressed against mine. 

Fire, electricity, all the forces in the universe clashing together and colliding between us. I pushed my body against his, desperate to feel him. All of him. His hands were placed gently on my cheeks, which were growing hotter by the second. He nipped his tongue against my bottom lip, making me crave him even more. I nibbled at his lips, praying to every possible deity that this moment would never end.

Why are you so obsessed with him? Creepy bitch.

This is nice. Just let yourself be happy.

You don’t deserve to be happy.

I pulled away almost immediately, bringing my hands to my eyes.

“Are ya okay?” Niall mumbled simply, although he looked like he’d just been hit by a truck. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were wide. He was taking soft, shallow breaths.

“Fine.” I coughed, swallowing the lump in my throat. “That was nice.” I turned back to face him, forcing a smile.

He peered at me for a moment, but didn’t press whatever curiosities he had further. “It was. We should do it again.” He leaned in, brushing his lips against mine.

The sheer force made my knees feel weak. I wanted to collapse. It was all too much, too soon. My stomach twisted. I felt at any moment I was going to be sick.

This time, Niall pulled away. “Mina, I can feel something’s wrong. It’s alright. We don’t have to do dat anymore.” He nodded, taking a step back to give me space.

I leaned against the wall of the building, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. I took deep breaths to steady myself, cursing myself for reacting this way. I couldn’t figure out exactly how long I’d been standing there, but when I opened my eyes, I noticed Niall sitting in front of me, watching me intensely.

“You don’t need to stay.” I whispered.

“Of course I do. I’m not leavin’ you out here alone.” He shook his head. “Take all the time you need, I’ll get you back to your place when you’re ready.”

“Niall-” I began to protest, but he stood up and pressed a finger to my lips. I wondered if he was aware of the effect he had on me.

He returned to his seat, giving me a nod.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, before the pandemic, I went through this breakup-” I started again.

“You don’t need to explain anything t’me. Just relax.”

I stared at him for a few more moments before deciding it was time to wrap up the night. Niall hailed a cab for us, opening the door for me and helping me in, all without letting go of my hand. He never pressed for conversation, he never pressured me to kiss him, he simply offered a hand to hold. A hand that I held desperately until the very end of the cab ride.

“Would you like me to walk you to your room? Obviously not to…” Niall paused. “But t’ make sure yer safe.”

I nodded. My eyes felt heavy and suddenly, I couldn’t stand the thought of not being in bed anymore. Niall helped me out of the taxi, and I dragged my feet along the shiny hotel floors, my eyes closing while Niall led the way. It suddenly occurred to me how emotionally draining the day had been. The anticipation leading up to the performance, the breakdown after the performance, the interviews, and of course, everything with Niall. I was too tired to feel anxious anymore. I could feel myself slipping in and out of consciousness.

I don’t remember getting to my room, or changing into pajamas, or even falling asleep. But I do know that the following morning, when my alarm blared to wake me up for today’s interviews, a pair of beautiful, blue eyes greeted me as I opened mine.

[bh7theseriesblog]

Fire and Ice Roses: BH6 Oneshot

www.fanfiction.net

*Across the Pacific ocean the sun begins to rise in the east, the ocean sparkles with light as the mist parted ways to reveal San Fransokyo. The lights eventually hits on a small house, where a family of three live. The light shines through a port window which roused a person on a futon mattress beside it, the person shifted before it revealed itself to be a 13 year old girl with dyed blue hair. She is shorter than most girls her age, and her figure still resembles that of a child and yet it is starting to curve a little bit. She stood up in her futon mattress as she looks at the sun outside. She stands up and makes her futon mattress decent, and then she looked at her surroundings; her room is decorated with posters ranging from robotics, the ocean, old anime posters like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena and various homemade mural pictures made out of seashells and had many homemade wind chimes/chandeliers also made out of seashells hanging from her ceiling. She straightens her baby blue nightgown before she walks out her room and into the bathroom, she looks at herself in the mirror as she brushes her teeth and looks at herself. She sighs in disappointment that her bust remained small, but she quickly shakes hear head from focusing on her lack of mature body and starts her day. With the dawn still young she dresses herself to her outfit, a yellow tank top with a sea green plated skirt, she brushes her hair and places her purple eye contacts in. She heads downstairs once more to prepare for breakfast, setting water to boil to put the rice in. A drop of hot water slightly burns her hand as she reacts with a soft ow; when she stirs the rice she hears footstep coming in the kitchen.*

Kaguya: Good morning Cora.

*The girl named Cora turns her head to give a small smile to the old woman wearing the traditional kimono with her signature cane.*

Cora: Good Morning Grandmama.

*After she was done cooking she places their breakfast on the table and walks out to wake the third person in her family. She gently opens the door to see her Father, who is slowly waking up from his deep slumber. Cora looks at the table in his room and found it filled with bills and job resumes. She sighs as she sits beside her father as his massive figure lifts up and his vision clears to see his daughter.

Cora: Morning Papa.

*Mizuchi slowly walks to the table where his daughter and mother-in-law are waiting for him. He sits down and eats his breakfast, his eyes weary and lost. Cora sighs as she begins to eat her breakfast as well. After breakfast the father and daughter are sitting in the living room where it had a TV with a VCR, a blue ray player, VHS tapes and DVDs of old and new anime and movies. Cora looks around before she brings out the small robot she made; the robot was small, sleek and pale as a pearl and resembled more of an egg. When she brings out her controller she activates the robot. The robot activates its eyes to a electric green eyes and floats around to Mizuchi where it begins to dance. Though it does not have legs the robot moved with grace and purity. Mizuchi looked at the robot and his daughter and gave a small smile...just for a little while. Cora's smile drops as she stops playing with the robot she made and puts it in her dress pocket.*

Kaguya: Cora, it's time to go grocery shopping.

*Cora nodded as she stands up and tiptoes to kiss her father on the cheek as she prepares to join her grandmother. She puts on her outdoor shoes, which are her favorite rain boots, and steps out.*

Cora: We're heading out Papa...We'll be home soon...

Mizuchi: Be safe.

*After the grandmother and girl get on the trolley the city begins to come alive. The stores are opening as people soon fill the streets to go wherever they need to go. Cora looks at her grandmother,who at the moment is checking over the money in her purse as she looks to the streets across them. She sees a group of young friends walking and talking happily as a young couple hold hands and kiss. Cora sighs sadly at the sight as she looks down at her feet, and her grandmother notices this but said nothing. Once at the stop they got off the trolley and walk to the grocery store, and once inside Cora grabbed a basket and begin to search for their groceries. Kaguya spots a familiar face nearby and places a hand on her shoulder.*

Kaguya: Cora, there's a music store nearby that you can visit right now. They are even having a sale right now, here.

*She places a few dollar bills in Cora's hand but Cora begins to shake her head.*

Cora: N-no Grandmama, groceries are important I-I don't need to-

Kaguya: I insist. You are still young, enjoy your life.

*Cora sighs in defeat as she hands the basket to her grandmother and walks out the store. Once she was gone the old woman turned around and saw the person she recognized.*

Kaguya: How are you doing today Felony Carl?

Felony Carl: Oh, hey Kaguya. I'm doin' fine, just getting some Tofu and apples as my doctor recommended. Was that your granddaughter I saw with you a while ago?

Kaguya: Indeed.

*Both Felony Carl and Kaguya walk over to the apple stand where they begin to look for good apples.*

Felony Carl: She's a lot quieter than what you told me.

Kaguya: I know. Cora has been shy and quiet yes, but she has this burst of life inside her. Like how she would splash around in the waves and search for seashells. In a way she's an oyster.

Felony Carl: Grey on the outside but a hidden gem within?

Kaguya: Exactly, just like her mother...but ever since my Son-in-law was fired he has been struggling to find a job and paying for the bills. Cora is worried sick about him, and it doesn't help that his weariness is obvious in his eyes.

Felony Carl: I understand that, when people look at me they get scared and want nothing to do with me.

Kaguya: Mhmm, Cora has been home schooled her entire life as I recall telling you.

Felony Carl: Yeah, cause she hacked into her dad's computer at age four?

Kaguya: And Mizuchi protectiveness kept her from going to real school in fear she will be ostracized. But I've seen how Cora looks at the children her age...she wants friends...and possibly someone who loves her.

Felony Carl: You mean as in a romantic sense?

Kaguya: Yes. But with Mizuchi's financial struggles, Cora will be forced to push away her desires. She's been the main chef and caretaker of the house for a long while now and has even been thinking of selling her seashell collection and homemade art. And she may think of never going to College.

Felony Carl: That's tough.

Kaguya: It's times like these I wonder what Akemi would do... I know Cora needs to make the first step to talk to people...and yet I hope that someone will see Cora for who she really is and cherish her... someone who can understand her and connect to her...

*Meanwhile around the same time, the cafe is buzzing with customers as Cass Hamada is busy taking orders. Upstairs at the moment, two brothers are up and ready to start the day. The older brother is putting on his baseball head while the younger is making some adjustments on a small, black and somewhat derpy-looking robot.*

Tadashi: OK Hiro, I'm off to meet up with some friends, and remember to call me if you need anything or if you're heading out.

Hiro: Kay, I will.

*The boy named Hiro is a 13 year old genius prodigy and his brother is Tadashi, a intelligent young man with a good heart. Tadashi calls out as he heads downstairs.*

Tadashi: And don't give Aunt Cass any trouble OK?

Hiro: I hear ya.

*Once Tadashi heads downstairs Hiro fixes up the bot with a satisfied smile.*

Hiro: OK, now that you're fixed up Megabot, I just gotta head to the mechanics store and upgrade your controller. After all, another bot fight is coming up tonight.

*He goes to his drawer where he pulls up a panel where he placed the cash he won over from the bot fights before. He had to admit, he was impressed of himself that he can make this large sum of money from bot-fighting. He supposed he could almost thank the bullies from high school for driving him towards Bot-fighting, where he can use his big brain for the thrill of beating everybody to a pulp. He shook his head to avoid the memories of high school and the harassment he endured there, after all he had just graduated last week and now has the summer to himself.*

Hiro: Alright, that should be enough.

*With that he heads downstairs and through the cafe where he sneaks in a cookie.*

Hiro: I'm heading off to the mechanics store Aunt Cass, I'll be back soon!

Cass: Be safe!

*With that, Hiro heads off down the street to get the parts for his upcoming bot-battle that night. Meanwhile at the other side of the town Cora wearily looks around the music store, spotting whole shelves ranging from vinyl record players to digital songs displayed on Holograms. She holds tightly to her purse as she looks at the songs available in the anime and movie soundtrack.*

?: Hey kid.

*Cora looks up and turns her head to see a woman in expensive make-up and rather revealing clothing. Cora diverts her eyes the other way as she addresses the scantily clad female.*

Cora: A-are you talking t-to me?

Scanty: Well I don't see any other blue-haired girls around here. So yeah, I'm talking to you

Cora: *Looking down in embarrassment* Um... I-is there a-anything you want?

Scanty: Not really...but you certainly do have something on your mind.

Cora: W-what do you uh...mean?

Scanty: You've been pressing the scroll button for too long that its speeding up and you haven't even noticed.

*Cora sees the scroll bar in the hologram as it became non-visible as blurry icons of songs zoom past her. She lets go of the button as she looks down again at her feet blushing.*

Scanty: I guess you do have something going on in your mind then?

Cora: Yeah... there's... a little trouble at home...Money trouble...

*The scantily dressed lady sighs before she grabs the young girl to a more secluded part of the store.*

Scanty: How old are you kid?

Cora: What?

Scanty: I'm asking how old are you?

Cora:...13 ma'm.

*The lady nods her head before she whispers to Cora.*

Scanty: If you're looking for quick cash, I might be able to help.

*Cora's eyes light up at the prospect that she could earn money to help her father.*

Cora: Really? What is it? I'll do anything!

Scanty: There's two people I know that are looking for a double date, and since my old business partner bailed out on me...you might be a possible candidate to date the other guy. And they are paying good money for the date.

*Cora's eyes slowly widened in shock as she realizes what the lady is offering her. The lady notices the look in the young girl's eyes.*

Scanty: Look kid, I know this is a big girl's game but if you want to help out your folks you gotta be out there. Sides, you're pretty enough for guys to see you, even if you are a little...flat.

*Cora consciously covers her chest as she looks down at her feet.*

Scanty: The date is nearby by Good Luck Alley where a bot fight is hosting.

Cora: A bot fight? I thought the Bot fight tournament was at the capital.

Scanty: That's not the bot fight I'm talking about. This one is where people bet on the fighters, and if you're lucky enough to win you might just get some good cash.

*Seeing this as a chance to make money, she quickly pulls out her robot that was in rest mode.*

Cora: I have a robot! It's in rest mode but it should-

*That is when the lady snickers at the girl, she clears her throat after a little bit and faces Cora.*

Scanty: That's a sweet thought kid, but there is no way you can beat those big boys at a bot fight, especially since your robot is basically an egg. You can be set for life by going on these dates with the guys offering good money. Sides it's not illegal, you're 13. You're of age of consent. Since it's you're first time, I'll just call them and tell them that we'll just going out for dinner and nothing more.

*The lady picks up her stuff and starts to walk out, and Cora follows her to the exit.*

Scanty: It's your choice baby girl, either your face money trouble or you can go out with these men and have them beg you to date them. Who knows, if you're good enough you'll be a favorite.

*The Lady walks away down the street leaving Cora looking at her robot in hand. She then looks at the direction the lady walked down and sighs. She then decided to head back to the grocery store, keeping the event the lady told her in her head.*

*Hiro arrives at the store as he immediately searches for the part for his controller. The cashier greeted Hiro, since he remembers the times both Tadashi and Hiro have come over to the store to buy the tools and gears they needed. Hiro only gave a dismissive hello before he inspected some of the gears on the shelf. Just then another person comes into the store, a big jock with a Letterman jacket coming in and spotting the young teenager.*

Jocky Jerk: Well well lookie what we have here, if it isn't Zero the brainiac twerp.

*Hiro sighs but refuses to acknowledge the older adolescent as he continues to rummage through the wires.*

Jocky Jerk: Hey! I'm talking to you freak.

Hiro scrunches up his nose in disgust as he speaks without turning his head to acknowledge him.*

Hiro: Hello Kurt.

*Kurt smirks as he heads over and ruffles Hiro's hair which made the young boy groan.*

Kurt: Haven't seen you since graduation, what sort of things you doing now you little twerp?

Hiro: I know I'm not repeating a year of high school and taking summer school while being kicked out of the football team.

*Kurt's smirk is wiped clean as it turns a murderous glare, he looks around and then has a devilish grin.*

Kurt: Looks like your annoying nerdy brother isn't here, so I'm sure you don't mind if we head out and talk-

Cashier: Sir, if you're not buying anything, I suggest you leave right now.

*Kurt scoffs as he shoves Hiro before he exits the door. Hiro gives a scoff in return as he grabs what he needs and pays for it; the cashier then directs Hiro to the back exit so he won't be attacked by Kurt and possibly his goons like Ram.*

Cashier: Seriously kid, I don't know how you handle those jerks. I probably wet myself if I made that comment to that big donkey like you did.

Hiro: Eh, guys like Kurt are idiots. He's butt-hurt cause I refused to take his SAT exam for him, sides I'm used to it.

Cashier: Why didn't you tell your brother? He's always stuck out his neck for you, so why haven't you told him this?

*Hiro sighs as he turns to face the cashier.*

Hiro: Tadashi's been really busy with an after school project and is rarely home. I don't want to bother him.

Cashier: *Sighs* OK then, well I'll see ya later. Tell Cass and Tadashi I said Hi!

Hiro: K.

*With that Hiro exits through the back and safely to the streets. He passes through the corner where the other jocks are waiting to ambush him. But they were confused on what's taking Hiro so long to come out. Once Hiro makes it safely to his street address he snickers quietly over the stupidity of those pea-brained jocks. He enters inside the Cafe where Cass is delivering juice to an group of elderly people.*

Cass: Hey Hiro, how was your trip out?

Hiro: It was fine, nothing much. I'm just gonna be heading upstairs K? I'll make sure Mochi's okay.

Cass: Alright Hiro!

*Hiro heads upstairs and starts getting to work on his controller, anticipating for the bot-fight tonight.*

*The day soon turns into early evening where Cora is back home, facing a dilemma, and her father is out looking for work while her grandmother is out doing whatever she's doing. She sprawled out two outfits on her bed for her to change into; one is a set of a black long-sleeved shirt with a black denim vest with cloth hood, along with dark cargo pants and boots and complete with a traditional Japanese cat mask, and second one is a sleeveless knee length red dress with black flats and a see-through black shawl. She paces back and forth as she thinks over what she should do. These two activities are both dangerous each in its own way. On one hand, she could battle off fighters that would be more aggressive since the rules of the tournament will not apply to the streets. But on the other hand, she will be facing older men who she has no idea who they are and may potentially be dangerous.*

Cora: What to do, what to do, what to do? *Sighs as she stressfully runs her hands through her her and over her face* Maybe I should get a glass of water.

*With that, Cora closes the door behind her as she heads down to grab a glass. She drinks the glass of water as she passes by the living room where she sees it...a small Butsudan dedicated to her mother... Cora sighs before she heads over to the small shrine. She kneels down in front of the bustudan and clasp her hands in a prayer, she takes a deep breath before she looks up.*

Cora: Hi Mama...how are you? I mean... I know you're dead, but I hope you're OK in...wherever you are now...

*Cora goes quiet for a few moments before she speaks again.*

Cora: Papa has been teaching me self-defense for a quite while now, and Grandmama says I'm becoming strong. Also, I've graduated...in a sense...I finished my high school course, I even got a diploma.

*Cora points to a diploma where it states that Cora graduated as a home-schooled girl. But Cora's forced smile fades as she looks back at the shrine and talks again.*

Cora: Mama...I'm really worried about Papa... Ever since he was fired he looks so defeated and lost and I can't bear to see him like this anymore... I want to help anyway I can...actually that's what's happening now... A lady from earlier told me that she's looking for a partner for a double date and that they'll pay me... she also told me about a bot fight that's happening at the same time but she says I have no chance... Mama what am I going to do? I don't know what these people will be like when I go against them, but I also don't want to go with these strangers for a date...what would Papa and Grandmama say...

*Cora turns her head to another section of the shrine and saw a picture of her mother when she was pregnant and her father, they were both smiling. That's when she gains a determined look on her face.*

Cora: You know what Mama? I'm not going to that double date. I'm going bot-fighting! If I ever do go out on a date, I want it to be with someone who I love and loves me back and is around my age, not be paid like a doll for a middle aged man whose desperate to buy dates from girls like me.

*Cora stands up but quickly kneels down again to end her prayer.*

Cora: Thank you Mama for listening. I'll be careful at that bot fight!

*She then stands up and leaves, not noticing how the candle flame brighten with soft warmth on the main picture of her mother, a beautiful woman with golden-blond hair and sea blue eyes smiling gently. She enters her room as she looks at her outfit for bot fighting.*

Cora: Alright now! Lets get to work!

*Cora spends the next few hours working on her robot so that she'll be more suited for an intense bot fight rather than the fragile dancing robot she made as a child. She upgrades the controller with spare parts as she adjusts wires. Once she was done she grabs the outfit and starts dressing up. Now she appears more of a rouge modern ninja as she packs her robot, controller, and cat mask in her bag. She then writes a note to her family saying that she is using the money her grandmother gave her to see a movie and won't be back for a while. She knew that her father will still panic since she's going out by herself, but this is a risk she must take. She then makes a makeshift rope to climb out the port hole window, and due to her small height and size she can manage with ease. Once on the ground she starts sneaking through the streets as she heads her way to Good Luck Alley. A decision that will change her life forever.

*The evening begins to darken by the time Tadashi heads back to the Cafe where Cass is making some cappuccinos for her customers and smiles when he sees Hiro helping out by picking up the dirty dishes.*

Tadashi: Hey Aunt Cass, how's it going?

Cass: It's been pretty good so far, Hiro has been helping me out for a while now. He even fixed the espresso machine!

*Said espresso machine coughs a few times before it resumes to normal.*

Cass: Hopefully it'll last long enough to save up for a new one.

Tadashi: Alright Cass.

*Tadashi heads over to Hiro who is struggling with the massive load of dirty dishes, where he surprises Hiro by lending a hand to carry the dishes together.

Hiro: Tadashi! You're back early!

Tadashi: Nice to see you too knucklehead, and yeah I've managed to get some stuff done sooner than usual and decided to come home early for a day off.

Hiro: Cool!

*Hiro gives a somewhat strained smile, because while he's happy Tadashi is here right now, he was hoping he would be gone long enough to sneak out without raising suspicion.*

Tadashi: Something on your mind Nerd?

Hiro: * Smirks* Who are you calling a nerd, Nerd King?

Tadashi: *Chuckles* Alright, if you say so.

*After a while with the Cafe closed up and Cass finishing up dinner, Tadashi and Hiro talk over their day.*

Tadashi: So you went over to the mechanics store? How's Willie doing?

Hiro: Willie's fine, just getting some stuff for me to experiment with.

Tadashi: Hopefully not like the time you turned every utensil in the house into a rocket which caused a fork to land on my forehead.

Hiro: It was funny and you know it Dashi.

*Tadashi shakes his head as he chuckles, his little brother is definitely up to something for sure. After dinner, Tadashi and Hiro head up to their room where the older brother opens the screen door and flops down on his bed.*

Tadashi: Welp, today was exhausting, I'm just gonna lie down here and sleep like the dead.

Hiro: OK, sides I think I'm gonna crash down soon too.

Tadashi: Alright, night Hiro.

Hiro: Night Nerd.

*Hiro gets to his bed where he simply waited for the soft snoring of his brother. Once he knew that Tadashi is in deep sleep, Hiro quietly gets up and takes Megabot, his controller, and the wad of money to bet. Once he gets out of the house he dashes towards Good Luck Alley, excitement running through his system as he can't wait to win the jackpot tonight, equally unaware that his life will change forever.

*At the time of Hiro and his family are having their dinner, Cora had arrived at Good luck Alley. She spots from the distance the scantily clad lady with two older gentlemen, and the men looking more impatient as the time goes by. She pulls up her hood over her head and hides behind a trash can as the men are finally fed up and they walked with the lady together.*

Enjo: Can't believe this, that little piece of s*** ditched out on us.

Kosai: Eh, maybe it's for the best. I wanted a busty lady, not some flat chested brat.

*Cora held her breath as they walked down her path, waiting for the men and the lady to go away. But she did notice that the lady gave what looked like a small sigh of relief over the girl not showing up. Once she was sure they were gone Cora headed up and waited for the person running the bot-fight. She immediately slips on her cat mask and makes sure her hood is secure over her head and hiding her hair as she meets up the person in charge.*

Hime Na: What do you want kid?

*Cora's mind went to a state of internal panic. What was she going to say? How will the lady respond?! What if they turn her away?!*

Hime Na: Well? I'm waiting.

*Cora then remembers the time her father had scared off a group of rude teenagers when they were at the beach. His eyes burned along with his height that made them run in fear. Cora's eyes became determined as she simply pulls out some of the money and points to the bot fight ring, giving off her best imitation of her strong father.*

Hime Na: Alright, ya can go on in.

*Cora gives a nod in thanks before she seats herself to the opponent seat, which caught the woman off guard since she thought that the kid merely wanted to watch the fight and not be part of it. The first person to come was a late adolescent male with serious acne problems and a neck beard.*

Neck beard: Well lookie here, a little cosplayer.

*The crowd began to snicker as Cora remained silent.*

Neck Beard: Anyway, I'll go easy on you kid since this is your first time.

*He pulls out a robot that appears to have muscle and doing macho like poses. Needless to say that he was compensating for something very important. Cora pulls out her robot as she activates it with her controller, the robot goes from her egg mode to her robot form, still floating with electric green eyes.*

Neck Beard: Aww is the little kid gonna beat me with their little EVE dollie-

*That's when Cora launched her attack.*

*Hiro arrives at Good Luck Alley as he makes his way through the crowd to sign up for the bot fight. Once he signs up by using his innocent boy charm, he sets out on the opposite side of the alley where another ring is open.*

Spector #1: Hey, have ya heard? Some new kid beat the living crap out of Yabo.

Spector #2: Oh man... I never seen that loser bawl so hard, and that kid just keeps beating everyone every single time!

Spector #1: Yup, I heard that tonight, the two best bot fighters here will get into a special event where'll there'll be a ton of dough!

*Hiro is intrigued by this news. A new arrival that may be the perfect challenge for him? This is going to be fun. He immediately starts his usual bit where he'll appear as a first-time bot fighter and purposely lose, then go around and beat them. Once he finishes a number of rounds the person shows him the person he'll face next.*

Hime Na: Looks like it's gonna be you two next. This ought to be very interesting.

*That's when he finally gets a good view of his new rival. A person around his age wearing a cat mask in modern ninja clothing using what looks like a slimmer version of EVE from WALL-E and mercilessly beat it's much larger opponent. Due to it's small stature and electro-magnetic suspension that causes the bot to float, it can easily dodge and land a swift hit that ultimately left the rival bot scrambled.*

Hime Na: Looks like we have our winner! Now then, Nekodome come here.

*The one called Neko stands up and walks over as they pick up their bot, not even uttering a word.*

Hime Na: Now that we have our two reigning champions...it's time for the Duo Dual!

*The crowd began to chant as both Hiro and the ninja-clad person become confused. They thought they were gonna fight each other, not partner up!*

Hime Na: Now that these two are placed in the duo dual, they will face more danger for the large cash prize! Can these kids beat the baddest of the bad? Lets find out!

*Hiro and the ninja-clad person look at each other before they reluctantly sit down next to each other. Neither of them spoke as they are face to face with two opponents. They brought out their own robots that appear to be much more tougher than the others. Hiro turns to the person as said person looks over their robot as it gently skims over the smooth metal.*

Hiro: So...you're new here?

*The person doesn't respond, but they nod slightly as they place their bot down. Hiro then places Megabot down beside the EVE robot as the lady begins to set the stage.*

Hime Na: Four bots enter, only two can escape...fight!

*Immediately the other two charge their robots as Megabot launches forward while the EVE robot flies up, dodging the attack. The robot pinned Megabot down while the other goes after Eve. Megabot separates to pull out its circuits but the robot simply threw it away. Megabot barely stays within the circle as it lands and stands up. Eve is facing a similar problem, as it is pulled to a magnetic armor the bot wore; Evie barely escapes as it slams its head to the enemy bot. Then by a complete and miraculous accident, Megabot is launched to Evie's bot as it knocks it down and leaves a rather large dent, leaving the magnetism useless. Hiro and the person look at each and realize how they can beat them and win the prize.*

Hiro: You thinking what I'm thinking?

*The person nods their head excitedly as they both charged their robots at the damaged enemy bot. Evie zings forward as it spins its head in a tizzy, once it falls down Megabot jumps up and knocks out its heads. The person controlling the magnetic bot throws their controller in frustration as the other gets tense over the fight. The large bot jumps up and tried to pin down Evie but Megabot stops the enemy bot and restrain its limbs, leaving Evie to strike the robot repeatedly until it was nothing more than scrap metal. The pieces of metal rain down on the two victorious bots as they returned to their cute mode when they ended their fight with a bow.*

Hime Na: And the winners of the duo dual...Hiro and Nekodomo!

*There was a mixture of cheering and disgruntled disappointment. The person went over to collect the money and the prize money, and just as the person is heading over to give the jar to Hiro... Sirens went off in the distance.*

Spector #2: Crap! The cops are here!

*The first spector grabbed a bottle of a beer and smashed it to the ground and yells out.*

Spector #1: SCATTER!

*Everyone else begins to run in different directions, desperate to avoid the cops. Hiro went to run towards a shortcut he knows when he sees the ninja-clad person stand still like a deer in headlights. They were still carrying the money in their arms as their knees shook in terror. Out of his better judgement he went back and grabbed their hand and they bolted out of there before an officer can spot them. Hiro drags the person far away from the police cars as the person could only stare at the young teen in what appears to be an awe. They were approaching a safe distance when the person tripped on a piece of loose concrete and falls on their face. Hiro picks them up and they continue to run, leaving behind a broken cat mask. Once they are in a safe place away from the cops, Hiro turns his attention to the person.*

Hiro: *wheeze* That...*Wheeze* was close...*Wheeze*...this really must be your first bot fight huh? I have to admit though, you are really...

*But Hiro's voice trails off as the person removes the hood from their head and he finally gets a good look at the person beside him. They was actually a she. And she was his age with large beautiful purple eyes and short blue hair that fluffed with elegance. And just her face is described as innocent and very cute. Cora also finally gets a good look at the boy beside her named Hiro. He was her age with large almond brown eyes, messy black hair and a tooth gap, and Cora couldn't help but think that he was very cute too. The two teens stare at each other as they felt something sparkle in their eyes..*

Cora:...H-hi...

Hiro: He-hey...

*Cora blushes as she looks down a little over the silent space between them. Hiro then clears his throat as he regains his state of mind.*

Hiro: A-as I was saying...You're a really good bot-fighter...

Cora: Thank you...

*They both stand up as they feel their hearts pounding heavily inside them.*

Hiro: So...Nekodomo is probably an alias right...

Cora: Yeah... but if you want to know... My name is Cora Mizichio.

Hiro: Cora...W-well my name is Hiro. Hiro Hamada that is.

*Hiro straightens his voice to be deeper to try and flirt with the cute girl, which causes Cora to giggle at his flirtation. Then Cora reaches out her hand to shake his.*

Cora: Thank you for being my partner in the bot fight...and for saving me back there.

Hiro: O-oh! It was no problem actually...

*Cora then looks at the prize money she stuffed in her bag.*

Cora: Oh right! So Hiro...do you want to split up the prize money?

*She begins to pull out the money, but in the distance Hiro sees a very familiar moped. Oh crap, Tadashi is coming!*

Hiro: Uhh... Actually, you keep it! I guess...hopefully I'll see you around again?

*Cora's face became a deep shade of red over his generosity. She expected that he would want half of the prize money, but this...this is the sweetest thing he has ever done for her, and they had only just met.*

Cora: T-thank you...I gotta go right now...but yeah, I'll see ya later... Hopefully we can team up at another bot fight again sometime?

Hiro: Y-yeah! T-that sounds great! See-see ya!

*Cora was about to run off with the money, but not before she unthinkably kisses Hiro on the cheek. Hiro blinks in shock as he watches the girl run off into the darkness as he slowly brings his hand up to his cheek with a stunned and lovestruck look on his face... At that moment, all he could think about was if this is how Prince Charming felt after Cinderella ran off from the ball when the clock stuck midnight. And that all that was missing from this moment was a glass slipper.*

Tadashi: Hiro! what are you doing out here?! Do you have any idea what time it is?!

*Hiro doesn't respond, as he's still staring off in the direction Cora ran off in with a derpy lovesick smile on his face.*

Tadashi: Hiro? Hey Hiro, are you alright?

Hiro: Hmmm...Oh hey Dashi... When did you get here?

Tadashi: *Giving Hiro a confused look, now starting to get concerned for his younger brother* I've been here for the last twenty seconds trying to figure out why your all the way out here this late at night, which by the way you still haven't answered me about yet. Are you okay though? You're acting kinda weird and you look a little flushed too. Are you starting to get sick?

Tadashi tries to place his hand on Hiro's forehead to feel his temperature, but Hiro snaps out of his newly developed lovesickness just in time to swats his hand away before he can get the chance.*

Hiro: Relax Nerd King. I'm not getting sick, I'm just...a little tired that's all... So what are we waiting for? We heading home or what?

*Tadashi just watches with concerned eyes as Hiro gets on the moped without another word and puts on his helmet. They both ride off to the Cafe in silence as Tadashi wonders what the heck happened to his brother at that bot fight?!*

*Cora climbed up the window as she quietly strips her ninja clothes and into her sleeping gown as she quietly puts the money into her father's savings. She blushes over the memory of the boy who gave her the prize money when he could have easily demanded it all. She sighs dreamily as she heads upstairs to finally sleep.*

Cora: Good night everyone...goodnight Hiro...wherever you are...

*Since then, Cora and Hiro have met up in the following four months after. They would meet up at night where they not only bot fight the other fighters, but chatted in private over their lives, interests and hobbies. Both are surprisingly similar and yet so different. Hiro talked about his life at the Cafe with his aunt and brother and their pet cat, his interest in robotics, anything that came to mind when usually he wanted nothing to do with conversations. Cora told him that she lived with her father and grandmother alone in a small house nearby his place, her love for marine biology, and how she was home-schooled her whole life. They both instantly connected when they learned that they are both genius prodigies, someone very intelligent like them. Even through their excitement and obvious feelings for each other, they never told the other in fear that they would consider it gross or reject them and thus ruin their newly formed, but already highly valued friendship. Young love at its finest.*

Kaguya: Cora, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you've seemed to be in a very good mood for a while now.

*Cora looks up from her daydreaming daze as she sees that she had not taken a bite out of her porridge.*

Kaguya: Not that it's a bad thing, it's like you have a new burst of energy that radiates inside your heart and making you glow with pure happiness.

Cora: *blushes with a small smile on her face* Well...thank you Grandmama.

*Kaguya did indeed see a big change in Cora. Her shy demeanor was slowly fading away as she became more confident over her voice, she began to sing more than usual, singing mostly love songs as she noticed, as she slightly dances with the broom while doing chores, and she has more energy in self-defense lessons with he father.*

*Across the kitchen, she hears her father talking on the phone, he was talking a manager of a job that her Dad applied for. His voice turns from soft and low to excited and booming.*

Mizuchi: Are you sure? No I will take it! Thank you very much!

*Mizuchi hangs the phone up as he lets out a joyful booming laugh.*

Mizuchi: Mother-in-law! My little Cora!

*Mizuchi runs to the kitchen where he picks up the two ladies and spins around happily.*

Cora: Did you get the job Papa?

Mizuchi: Yes!

Cora: I'm so happy for you!

*Cora hugs her father tightly as the grandmother gently pats his head in approval. He puts them down as he starts preparing for his big job coming soon. As her father prances around happily while her grandmother goes to make herself tea, Cora's heart suddenly drops as she realizes what this means...*

Cora: Oh no...what am I gonna tell Hiro?

*She only joined the bot fights so that she can support her father, and now that her father is no longer unemployed, she would have to stop going there. But that also meant she coudn't see Hiro anymore...*

Cora: I...I should tell him that this will be my last night...

*As of while, Hiro was also busy daydreaming over the blue-haired girl he had gotten close to, playing with the yolk of his eggs as leans his head to his hand.*

Tadashi: *Waving his hand over Hiro's face and than snapping his fingers trying to once again get his younger brother out of his daze* Hello? Earth to Hiro, earth to Hiro! Where are you?

*Hiro snaps out of his thoughts as he stops playing with his food. The funny side up egg glared at Hiro for destroying their friend's face.*

Tadashi: Seriously Hiro, you been acting really weird for the last few months. What's gotten into you Bro. Are you sure you're feeling alright?

Hiro: *Clears throat* Y-yeah, yeah! I'm fine Tadashi, totally fine! There's nothing to worry about at all!

*Hiro finishes his breakfast as he puts away the dirty dish. While Tadashi's eyebrows furrowed, Cass leans over and bumps his shoulder with her elbow with a wide and excited smile of her face.*

Cass: I don't know about you...but I think he's really got it bad!

Tadashi: It? What 'it?' And why does Hiro 'really got it bad'?

Cass: Oh Tadashi...don't you see? I think Hiro might be in love!

*Tadashi's eyes widened as he takes in this information his aunt told him as she hums merrily to continue working.*

Tadashi: Hiro's...in love?!...With who?!

Cass: Well obviously he's not gonna just tell us. You don't know this because you haven't found someone yet, but everyone always keeps their first love a secret, especially when it's young love! *Sighs* Our little Hiro is growing up so fast!

*After his aunt tells him this, Tadashi begins to think over Hiro's behavior ever since that night he found his brother in a daze. And the following months since then, Hiro has been much more helpful around the house and Cafe, been in a much more cheerful mood than he's usually in, constantly dazing out and daydreaming with a dopey lovesick look on his face, and if all that hadn't been odd enough, he has also been looking up information about the ocean lately with the newly developed focus on killer whales. So if what his aunt just told him did in fact ring true, along with the fact that Hiro wasn't gonna tell him about it since this was his first love and what-not, He than decided that when Hiro goes out to another bot fight, he will finally meet the young person his little brother has been seeing for the past four months.*

Tadashi: Alright Hiro, since your obviously not gonna tell me who your new little friend is, I'm just gonna have to follow you and find out myself.

*Later on, Tadashi waited for Hiro to sneak out of the house to follow him in the cover of night, determined to find out who this mysterious person that had stolen Hiro's heart.*

*Cora and Hiro are at the bot fight as a tag team where they are currently facing off a representative of Yama, a notorious Yakuza leader in San Fransokyo. They were head to head as both Cora's bot Evie and Megabot held hands as they spin fast enough to chop off the head off the bot. However the crowd didn't exactly cheer so loudly this time...The man playing against Hiro and a disguised Cora had made a bet using Yama's personal cash he made from his illegal businesses... And he just lost it to the two teens. Hiro happily accepts the money and stuffs it to his pocket.*

Hiro: Thank you very much, now lets see... who else want some?

*But then he notices Cora walking away after the bot fight, and she appeared downtrodden. Hiro stuffs the money in his pockets as he runs to catch up with Cora, all the while the loser was giving the stink eye to the two teens, and his buddies are standing behind him dangerously.*

Hiro: Hey Cora! You a...y-you heading out early? What? Did you're Dad figure out or...?

*Cora sighs as she removes the mask and hood and looks at the boy.*

Cora: Hiro...You do know that the reason I come to bot fights is to help my Dad out with money issues right?

Hiro: Yeah...?

Cora: Well, my Dad finally found a job...and since he's not so stressed out anymore and our money problems are settled out now... I can't go to the bot fights anymore...

Hiro: W-what?

*Hiro, though being a genius prodigy, is still a 13 year old boy. His thoughts were running through his head as he felt his heart begin to tremble. Cora felt her eyes grow warm as she looks at her feet.*

Hiro: Does this mean...I-I won't be able to see you anymore?

*Cora continues to stare at her feet as she does her best to hold back her tears. But before either can respond, they hear footsteps behind them, stopping as their shadows loomed over them.*

Dead Meat: Well lookie here...seems these little kids are having a little trouble...

*Hiro recognizes them as the people who lost the money that belonged to Yama, and they most likely want it back. He then turned his head to Cora who looks at the grown men with wary eyes.*

Dead Meat: Either way...I want that money back.

*The men grab Hiro and pin him to the wall where they begin to punch the boy. Cora rushes towards them and begins to try and pull the men off Hiro.*

Cora: Leave him alone!

Goon #1: Don't get involved girly.

*The man throws Cora to the ground where she injured her leg. She looks up to see the men now kicking Hiro where he fell to the ground and curled up in a ball trying to shield himself. Cora's eyes changed from fear to pure fury. She looks at the men with a low and dangerous voice.*

Cora: I said...Leave. Him. Alone!

*Tadashi finally manages to arrive at the location where the bot fight is taking place, as he stills to a halt he hears distant screaming coming from his right. His throat tightened as he fears the worst. He speeds up towards an alley, immediately getting off his moped and ready to use his karate skills to protect Hiro...What he saw was the opposite of what he expected. In front of him is a young 13 year old girl with blue hair punching the men in the face and delivers a hard kick to their groins. He then spots Hiro on the ground where he rushes to his brother's aid.*

Tadashi: Hiro! Are you alright?!

Hiro: *Groggily* I'm f-fine... just check on...C-cora...

*Tadashi raises an eyebrow before he realizes what's going on and ultimately, the identity of the person Hiro was gushing over.*

Tadashi: *Looks up at the girl who was beating the men to pulp* So..that's Cora...

*Cora finally flips them over as she breathes heavily over the bruised men.*

Cora: Now Get Lost!

*The men stand up and run with their tails behind their backs. Cora takes a few breathes before she turns around and sees a young man holding Hiro. She straightens her clothes and clasps her hands together as she recalls the pictures Hiro showed her on his phone that showed his family and the stories he told her about them.*

Cora: O-oh! Um...H-hello... My name is Cora Mizchio! I'm Hiro's Gir- uh...h-his friend! You must be Tadashi. Hiro's told me all about you.

*She gives a sheepish smile as Tadashi looks over the girl and his brother, deciding that they all need to figure out what the hell is going on.*

Tadashi: Uh, do...do you mind if we all head to the cafe?

Cora: Sure?

Tadashi: Also...we may need to call your parents...

Cora: *Suddenly looking very nervous*...Oh...

*The ringtone playing Sebonzakura loudly got Kaguya's attention as she answers.*

Kaguya: Moshi moshi...Who are you...Wait...What?! Alright. We'll be right over.

*Kaguya hangs up her phone as she heads to her Son-in-laws room and pulls off the covers.*

Kaguya: Get up stupid son-in-law! Cora is out there in the middle of the night!

*Mizuchi barely heard anything as his senses were not fully activated. He was ready to doze off when Kaguya then told him what he feared most and would most likely listen to.*

Kaguya: Cora is at a Boy's house in the middle of the night!

*That shot Mizuchi awake as he immediately runs out and gets dressed, yelling loudly on how and why is his innocent daughter doing at a boy's house in the middle of the night. Kaguya shakes her head as she mumbles to herself.*

Kaguya: ...That girl better explain herself...

*As of while Hiro, Tadashi, and Cora got inside the house where Tadashi takes them upstairs.*

Tadashi: Alright, I'm going to get some bandages for you guys, also Cora, you're grandmother and father are on their way now... Man what a night...

*Tadashi goes of to the bathroom to get the medical supplies, leaving Hiro and Cora alone...*

Cora: So... this is where you live huh?...it's cool...and the Cafe looks pretty..

Hiro: Thanks... I'll tell Aunt Cass what you said..

*After a few minutes of silence, a chubby white and calico cat walks over to the two injured teens*

Cora: *Gushing* Oh! Hey there little guy, aren't you a cutie! Is this your pet cat Hiro? The one from the pictures you showed me on your phone?

Hiro: Yep, that's Mochi alright.

Cora: Well the pictures clearly don't do him justice. He's even cuter and adorable in person!

*Mochi starts to sniff the young girl as she says this and purrs. He than jumps up and rests himself on her lap.*

Hiro: Wow, he must really like you.

Cora: *Petting Mochi* Really?

Hiro: Yeah, he usually never trusts anyone this quickly.

*However, While Mochi senses she is in fact a good person, he is more attracted to the fact that she smelled of the ocean, therefore fish and therefore food.*

*They both start petting Mochi for a moment more before Cora finally breaks the ice as she begins to laugh.*

Cora: Oh my god...I just realized something...

Hiro: What?

Cora: Hiro, just because I can't go to bot fights anymore doesn't mean I can't still see you again...

Hiro: Oh! Oh...

*The two teens begin to laugh, while unbeknownst to them Tadashi is listening to the conversation, along with Cass who woke up from the commotion, along with Cora's father and Grandmother who had just arrived and were at the moment observing the two teens from the top of the stairs. They all look at the two teens with still breaths.*

Hiro: Yeah...so much for us being teen geniuses am I right!

Cora: Yeah, after all we can see each other at other places like the movies.

Hiro: Yeah! There's also the arcade and maybe that aquarium you like so much!

Cora: Uh huh! After all, they would make some awesome dates-

*Cora stops talking as soon as she realizes what she said. Hiro looks at Cora with also wide eyes as he too blushes over Cora's words. The two teens remain silent for a while as the adults ponder what's going to happen next. Finally Cora speaks up.*

Cora: Hiro...I know this is going to be really crazy for you to hear...but when I'm with you I feel like I can do anything, like I'm not afraid of what's outside anymore... You helped me when I was scared or confused over the slightest things... What I mean to say..is...

*Cora clenches her eyes as she finally spits out her feelings.*

Cora: I really like you Hiro! As in Like you-like you...You know what, screw it! I love you Hiro!

*The adults held in their gasps as they watched the young girl who have been so quiet and demure confess her love to the boy with such a loud and unwavering voice. Silence rang for a few moments as Cora mentally prepares herself for rejection. She opens her eyes as she sees Hiro holding her hand in his, Cora blushes intensely as Hiro gathers his courage and rushes out his words.*

Hiro: I...really like you too Cora, I don't think you should really like me cause I'm a huge freaking nerd and I'm awkward and I don't really know what I'm doing or if I'm doing it right, I don't even know if I'm holding your hand right! Also you're very pretty and smart and sweet and in just these last few months we've known each other... I'm just plain crazy for you!

*Cora's face blossoms to a loving smile as she tightens her hand in Hiro's.*

Cora: But you being a nerd and awkward are two of the reasons why I like you, and to be honest I thought you wouldn't like me because compared to other girls I'm not exactly...developed is the best way I can put it...

Hiro: I... I actually don't mind that you're n-not developed. I-I mean you're still really pretty...and I don't really like girls who put way too much effort into being attractive anyway... I mean it kind of makes them look fake you know...?

Cora: Yeah...

*As they spoke they begin to lean closer, their hearts pounding as their eyes slowly close...*

Cass: Wooh! Go Hiro!

*The teens snap out of it as they realized they were watched by both of their familes.*

Hiro: W-what the heck guys! What ever happened to privacy?!

*Cass simply hugs the two together which in turn they let out cringes and soft ows. She lets go as she realizes that they have yet to be treated for their wounds.*

Cass: Oh! Sorry! Sorry! My bad! Didn't mean to hurt you two through hugging! Alrighty then! I'm...I'm gonna go make some tea! Does anyone else want tea? I'll make that tea!

*Cass leaves the room with an excited squeal while Tadashi heads over to Hiro and Cora with the bandages with a sly smile on his face.*

Tadashi: Nice job Hiro.

Hiro: *Awkwardly rubs the back of his head while blushing* Hehe...thanks...

Tadashi: Even if you did one up me by getting a girlfriend first.

*Tadashi jokingly said this as he ruffles Hiro's messy hair.*

Hiro: Dashi...

*Tadashi looks at Cora who shyly looks up at him as she swings her legs back and forth. He leans to Cora's ear as he whispers.*

Tadashi: *Whispers* Cora, whatever you did, thanks. I've never seen Hiro this happy.

Cora: *Giggles as she whispers back* Your welcome, and I'm glad he has an older brother like you to watch out for him.

*Both smiled at each other as Cora and Tadashi shook hands. Finally, Cora acknowledged her family.*

Cora: Papa! Grandmama! I know you two are here, so you can come out now!

*The sight of Mizuchi's Goliath-like stature kind of made Hiro lean towards Tadashi as the older brother keeps his cool over the massive man who is looking at Hiro with an intense stare...*

*WHACK!*

*Both boys are caught off guard as the small elder woman whacked the taller man with her cane.*

Kaguya: Stop trying to scare the poor boy Mizuchi! Cora and that boy Hiro are dating now! So you better not try to scare him or break him!

Mizuchi: But Mother-in-law! We don't know anything about hi-

*WHACK!*

Kaguya: Then take the time to get to know him better! *To Hiro* I am so sorry for my son-in-law. I assure you, he means well. But I'm afraid sometimes he can be a little too intimidating and protective of Cora for his own good. Now then, lets get a good look at you shall we.

*Kaguya than leans down to get a better look at Hiro. She looks deep into Hiro's eyes, which caused Hiro to feel a little unnerved with how intense the older woman's gaze was and wondering exactly why she felt the need to stare him in the eyes like this. When she finally stopped gazing into his eyes, something he was grateful for, She was smiling approvingly at him.*

Kaguya: Yes. Oh yes, you are a true keeper my dear boy, a true keeper indeed. Definitely perfect for our Cora, no doubt you'll treat her as the treasure she truly is.

Cora: *Looking down in embrrassment* Grandmama...

Mizuchi: But...Mother-in-law, are you sure that he's-

Kaguya: Mizuchi!... I know how you feel about all of this, but you and I both know that this was bound to happen eventually. And need I remind you, I myself was overprotective of Akemi when she first met you, but in the end I accepted the fact that you were both made for each other. Besides...it can't be helped. They obviously have true feelings for each other...they both need each other now Mizuchi...

*Both Kaguya and Mizuchi looked at each other intensely for the next few moments. Though it wasn't exactly a stare down as some people would think, it was more of a silent conversation. Hiro and Tadashi shared a glance with each other before both boys looked over to Cora hoping she could explain the situation, however Cora just shrugged looking just as confused as the boys before all three of them went back to watching the two intensely staring/silent communicating adults wondering how long this was gonna keep up. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as Mizuchi finally relents as he sighs heavily and runs his hand through hair.*

Mizuchi:...It really can't be helped can it... Alright Mother-in-law. I'm still not thrilled about all this...but I guess I don't really have a choice now do I?

Kaguya: You already know that answer as well as I do son-in-law.

*The three shared another confused glance with each other, still not fully understanding as to what was going on. But thankfully at that moment Aunt Cass returns to the living room with the tea cups as she finally sees Cora's family.*

Cass: Oh! You two must be Cora's Father and Granmother! Hi I'm Cass, I'm Hiro and Tadashi's aunt.

*Cora yawns loudly as she felt the sleepiness start to run to her head.*

Kaguya: I'm sorry Miss Cass, but it's pretty late now...

*Cora then speaks up.*

Cora: However that doesn't mean we can't meet up again.

*She turns to Hiro as she smiles*

Cora: Would you and your family like to come over to our house and stay over for dinner?

Kaguya: Would you like to stay over forever?

Mizuchi: Mother-in-law!

*Hiro covers his mouth to suppress his giggles before he clears his throat and faces Cora.*

Hiro: Dinner would be great.

*With that the families parted their separate ways, Cora giving a kiss on the cheek for Hiro as she gives him her phone number but not before she apologizes for what happened between her father and grandmother, still having no idea as to what that was all about. To which Hiro told her it was fine, a little weird he was willing to admit, but fine, much to her relief. As she flops into her bed, she felt like she could float on a sunbeam. She is officially in a romantic relationship with an amazing boy, someone she can relate to and talk to, someone who made her feel special. Hiro also flopped onto his bed, exhausted, but happier than he had ever been in years. He now has a girlfriend and had scored said girl's number, although Tadashi wouldn't stop teasing him about this. Like when are they gonna have their first kiss? When are they gonna get married? Could he be his best man at the wedding? He knew it embarrassed Hiro and made him freak out, which is why he did it. Hiro couldn't wait to show Cora the inventions he and Tadashi had invented over the years! Maybe he'd even share his secret stash of gummy bear with her.*

Tadashi: Hiro, get into your pj's, you can't be comfortable sleeping in your normal clothes.

*Tadashi is in his bed and ready to pass out. Hiro just groaned in response, his eyes already closed as he drifted off to sleep with the thought of Cora on his mind.*

A.N: Here is an updated one-shot of the story 'Fire and Ice Roses'. With the help of Wolfwithchuntress1314 and Thank you for following Big Hero 7 the Series and for being patient. Love you!

[give-me-back-my-rhodey]

Life is a Circus - AUgust Day 25

Title: Life is a Circus

Author: Purple_ducky00

Rating: M

Warnings: Violence, Animal attack, Blood and gore

Pair: Bucky/Clint/Tony

Square Filled: B3: Occupational Hazard @buckybarnesbingo

Link: Read on AO3

Summary: The Avengers as a found family of circus performers

++++++++++++++++

The SHIELD circus is the most well-known circus in the country. People flock far and wide to see the amazing Hawkeye, the best sharpshooter known to man. Iron Man’s pyrotechnics are more spectacular than ever. The Winter Soldier has the big cats trained to a single command. The acrobatics of the Black Widow are unmatched. Thor can create electricity with his hands. The Hulk is a small unassuming man who can lift record weights. The ringmaster, Captain America introduces each show with a loud booming voice. It is quite a show to see.

  Clint Barton joined the circus when he was quite young with his brother, Barney. They ran away from an abusive father. They both worked behind the scenes until the owner, Mr. Fury, saw Clint shooting a bow and arrow for fun. He noted that no matter how far or difficult the target, Clint never missed. Fury offered him a place in the show. Barney was supportive, up until he died from the newest sickness that passed through the circus train. His symptoms didn’t show up until too late, and he died quickly.

Tony is the son of a millionaire. His father has disowned him because he had refused to follow the family business of making weapons. Tony is a pacifist and will only blow things up for entertainment value.  He has bad dreams that keep him up most nights. Clint likes to be the one who holds him when the terrors get too bad.

  The next to arrive are two adopted bothers, Steve Rogers and James “Bucky” Barnes. Once hearing Rogers’ voice and enthusiasm, Mr. Fury makes him ringmaster immediately.

  Bucky always had a way with animals. Mr. Fury had acquired some new cubs, and Bucky raised and trained them, never once using a whip. He loves those cats, and they love him. It’s always a wonder to see them interact.

  Thor comes next, then Bruce Banner, who is Hulk. Everyone fits in well together, becoming a found family. Clint, Tony, and Bucky grow closer and begin to date each other. Life on the road is tough, and one needs to love those around them.

  “Next stop is St. Louis,” Bucky says, resting his head on Clint’s bicep. “I wonder if they’ll let us look around. I always wanted to see the Gateway Arch.”

  “It usually depends on how quickly we set up and the weather. Hopefully we can, though.” Tony looks up from his drawing. “I can’t wait until we get to Philadelphia. My best friend in high school lives there. We’ve talked a little recently, and I want to see him.”

  Sam Wilson, the human cannonball and Steve’s boyfriend, saunters into their train car. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Fury says if we get set up right away, we will have time to explore. First show doesn’t start til three. As long as Barnes’ kitties cooperate.”

“Shaddup Wilson.” Bucky flips him the bird. He and Sam have a love/hate relationship on the outside, but they truthfully enjoy each other’s company.

  Sam is right, though. Sasha and Angel have been sick the past couple of days, which makes them cranky. When the big cats are cranky, Bucky is the only one they allow near their sleeping areas. He hopes they will be ok without him for at least an hour.

  As Sam takes a seat at their table, Clint produces a deck of cards. Tony puts away his drawing, and the four play a game of Texas hold ’em until they arrive in St. Louis.

  Set up goes fairly well, and Bucky, Tony, and Clint make their way to the Gateway Arch. Clint buys them all turkey legs for lunch. Tony buys pins that they stick on their bags. They hope to collect at least on pin from each major city in the US.

  All too soon, their fun is over, and they have to prepare for their show. Clint chooses his targets and arrows, Tony finds the perfect area to set off his chemicals, and Bucky gets his girls ready for the show. Sasha is feeling better, and she shows it by pouncing on him playfully. Angel is more reserved, but he can tell she is happy to see him. Gloss runs in circles around him, and Petey practices her stalking routine. Sultan, the old tigress, lies on her bed watching them tiredly. She doesn’t do much, except emit a loud roar on cue. Bucky loves her.

  The show is about to start. Steve begins the show by welcoming everyone. He goes on his routine spiel about the wonders to be seen. Clint is part of the first act, and he kisses his men on the way out. Bucky and Tony never get tired of watching his show with Nat; the way they fly through the air, twisting and bounding. Clint shoots arrows at targets behind Natasha, and the crowd gasps as she lithely slips out of the way. Sure enough, Clint’s arrows always hit each target dead center.

  Bucky goes on near the end of Clint’s show. The crowd oohs and ahhs at the young cats’ tricks. When prompted, Sultan sits up straight and lets out her mighty roar. Bucky is happy. Everything is going well.

  Tony’s act is not until the end. He sends everyone off with a beautiful light show. Bucky is wowed by the show even though he has seen it every night for the past three years. Tony somehow outdoes himself each night.

  One week later, the circus is in Toledo. Unfortunately, so is HYDRA circus. They are known for poor working conditions and animal cruelty. Mr. Fury sets up a guard so that SHIELD circus does not get sabotaged.

  Someone still somehow sets off firecrackers near the cat car. Confused and agitated, they young cats don’t recognize Bucky when he comes to feed them the next morning. They attack, badly mangling his left arm. He is able to get them to recognize him before they do too much harm, but his arm is broken and barely attached to the shoulder. He will be unable to perform for a few months at least.

  The owners of the circus sent Bucky a letter, firing him and sending a large severance check. In the letter, they tell him they are sorry for the unfortunate circumstances, but his job does have the tendency for occupational hazards. After reading, Bucky throws the letter down in frustration. “I raised those cubs for him. I trained them all to be completely obedient. And now that I’m indisposed for a month or so, they’re going to fire me?”

  “They what!?!?!” Tony is incensed. He storms over to Fury’s tent, Clint following closely behind, with the letter and demands to know what’s going on.

  Fury shakes his head. “I didn’t vote for it. Barnes is the best in the field, but you can’t reason with dumbasses.”

  “You call the owners.” Tony smiles sweetly. “And you tell them that if they fire Bucky, I quit.”

“So do I.” Clint puts in. “And you know I bring in most of the crowd. I haven’t missed yet, and you know about the betting pools.” He crosses his arms. “Let us know what they think.”

  Bucky cries when Fury tells him that he is ok to stay on. His arm heals as best as it can within the span of a few months. Steve and Tony design tattoos for Bucky to get to hide the scars on his arm.

  When the circus finally gets to Philadelphia, Tony introduces his best friend, Rhodey, to them. Rhodey fits in quite well with the others for the few days they stay in Philly. They say goodbye to tour the rest of the country, but once this tour is over, everyone as a whole decides to retire from life on the move.

  They buy a large house in the Philadelphia suburbs and live as one happy family. Rhodey moves in once his apartment lease is up. Tony’s parents die a year later in a car accident, leaving their fortune to Tony. He buys a bigger house and becomes their sugar daddy. Everyone lives happily ever after.

~Fin

[whispersafterdusk]

Lost in Time - ch 10

On the morning of Winter Solstice Selene found Eli outside exercising; in fact, over the last three weeks that's how Eli had started her mornings.  She knew the woman wanted to get back to her pre-tube physique but she hadn't been pushing herself this hard before -- discovering her dead husband had triggered the change in her and Selene didn't know what to do about it.

'Hopefully Dr. Xu is making headway...' she found herself thinking as she headed over to the corner of the yard that Eli had taken to exercising in.  It was a fairly flat area, mostly shielded from the sun in the afternoon and evening, and would have thick grass coverage once the seasons changed; it also was outside of the stable area so there wouldn't be animal droppings to worry about either.  Maybe she could pave a small area to give Eli something solid to exercise on too?  And when spring arrived with its downpours a paved spot would keep her out of the mud as well...Selene mentally stuck it on her To Do list. ((Continued below cut))

Eli was currently doing push ups, and doing them really damn well -- far better than Selene could ever hope to do.  She didn't look up as the builder approached, and Selene waited silently and counted out 52 push ups (and who knew how many she'd already done before Selene had even come outside) before Eli finally came to a stop and shifted her legs around to sit cross-legged in the cleared area of frozen grass.

"Did you still want to go to the Solstice gathering?" Selene asked. For a long moment Eli was silent, then she simply nodded; Selene returned the nod and smiled at her.  "Yay, all right -- did you want to be the bringer of cheese or the meats?" She took a step back as Eli got up; once the woman was up and out of the shadow of the edge of the nearby stables Selene could see sweat droplets sparkling in the woman's eyelashes and a thin sheen of it over her face -- she'd need to get inside and get dried off before she froze.

"Cheese, I guess."

It wasn't enthusiastic but she'd take it.  "Ok then - I'll go get the foodstuffs while you get cleaned up.  We've got a couple hours before everything starts but usually people gather early to watch Django get the hot pot started.  It'd be a really good time for you to meet and mingle, talk to people."

"I don't know that I feel up to mingling."

"Oh.  Well, uh..."

Eli gave her a strained smile.  "Sorry.  Don't mean to make things awkward, I just..."

Selene didn't press her to continue; instead she nodded and led the way back into the house where Eli disappeared upstairs to her room and Selene turned into the kitchen.  She'd bought some nice cuts of beef and chicken and a very soft and delicious white cheese from Sophie and Emily a day ago.  After her first Solstice in Portia Selene had decided to vary what she brought each year; the first time she'd brought diced up layered carrots and last year she'd brought cornballs from her own garden which had turned a small spot of the pot into a spicy chowder. This year would be the first time she'd brought any meats.  Hopefully they were sliced thin enough that they'd cook up quickly once they were in the pot...maybe she should have checked with Django first.  Oh well.

Eli should at least be well-received for bringing the cheese; the soft white was a Portia favorite and it tended to sell out quick when Sophie had a new batch ready to go.

A quick glance in the fridge showed that the wax paper wrapped around the meats hadn't leaked, and there weren't any grease marks on the paper bag that the cheese was in - it was nice to see that she wouldn't need to put them into other containers or worry about the bags ripping on the way in to town. Selene grabbed a potato fruit fritter out of the bag next to the cheese (she liked Sophie's pies and fritters, what could she say?) and retreated to a chair, slowly munching on the fritter as she waited for Eli.

She was washing grease off her fingers when she heard Eli coming down the stairs; the Dubei woman was combing her hair off to the side as she walked, and was wearing a sweater Selene hadn't seen before - it was a burnt orange color with goldenrod colored trim along the sleeves and collar.

"That looks nice.  When did you get that one?"

Eli glanced down and smoothed down the sweater's hem.  "Couple days ago.  Carol was nice enough to tailor it a bit so it fit better across my shoulders."

"Going to need a lot of tailoring soon, huh?"  That got a faint smile from Eli; Selene grabbed the meats and cheese and led the way out of the house toward Portia's gates.  "What were celebrations like, in the Old World?  Were there a lot of holidays?"

"Saying there were 'a lot' would be a massive understatement. You could find a festival or holiday going on almost every other week," Eli answered.

"Wow... That sounds hectic, but also fun."

Eli shrugged.  "Isn't that true of any holiday?"

"True.  Oh, here-" Selene briefly spun around and walked backwards, holding out the bag with the cheese in it.  "Best cheese anywhere around."

Eli took the bag and tucked it into the crook of her elbow.  "So...how does this festival work?"

"Well, we have a giant hot pot that Django gets started with a broth base.  We wait 'til it gets boiling, then everyone starts tossing ingredients in.  Everyone is welcome to eat as much as they want and because of how big the pot is you'll find little pockets of dozens of different flavors -- and, when we're done, all the leftovers are divvied out to everyone to take home, or available to eat for free at the Round Table for the next couple of days.  After we've all eaten we have a snowball fight -- or, WOULD have a snowball fight.  What snow that's out in the fields right now isn't all that packable since it's not fresh so I'm not sure if Gale has something else planned instead. And THEN, after that, we all take pictures together."

"...'all,'" Eli repeated.  "Who does that include?"

"Everyone in Portia, if they want to," Selene giggled.  "I help build the riser platforms each year.  When we're done with the hot pot and everyone heads off to the snowball fight I, Paulie, and a couple others move the pot out and get the risers in place for when it's picture time."

"Are the pictures just...for free? For anyone?"

Selene nodded.  "Yep.  And a lot of the pictures get printed in the newspaper too so even if you don't manage to grab a copy today you can clip it from the paper later."

They were approaching the central plaza now and Selene could already smell the vegetable broth; Dawa and Paulie were standing near the massive hot pot helping Django feed logs to the fire burning beneath it.  Gale, Gust, Ginger, and Russo were already there too, and so was Carol and Martha and standing with them were the triplets, Toby, and Jack as well.  Their arrival immediately caught the attention of the children; Selene subtly moved Eli around the plaza's edge in the opposite direction.

They stopped at the benches over near the Research Center and Eli sat down, and sat the bag of cheese on the bench beside her.

"That is definitely a large hot pot."

"Yep.  No idea who first forged it but it's been in use for awhile - not sure what they used before.  Maybe just a giant cauldron or something."

They sat and waited, and watched as more of Portia's residents began to show up.  There were a lot of curious and uneasy looks tossed their way; few people seemed willing to do more than nod or wave, and Selene was pretty certain most of the friendlier gestures were aimed at her and not Eli.  Really made her wonder what Lee might have been telling others since Eli definitely hadn't done anything to warrant the weird looks she was getting.

Eventually, as more people showed up and more greetings were exchanged, Martha's attention wandered enough that Toby broke away from the group they were all standing in and as Selene suspected the boy made a beeline toward them.

He stopped just short of the bench, eying Eli for a moment or two; despite having a heavy coat on along with his backpack he had managed to also strap a wooden practice sword to his back and the handle jutted awkwardly over his left shoulder.

"Hi!  Are you really three hundred years old?"

Eli blinked at the boy for a moment, then sat up a bit straighter.  "I think I'm closer to 370, but yes."

"What did you do in the Old World?  Were there adventurers?"

Selene watched as Eli's gaze moved from the boy over to where his mother was standing and chatting with Carol and Alice; after a pause Eli looked back to Toby.  "I was a ranger.  It was a type of soldier."

"Ha!" was Toby's response.  "Django said there was more to you than it looked!  Did you fight in the war?  Did you shoot robots with guns?   Was there really robots everywhere you looked? Did you use only guns or did you still use swords and stuff?  Do you know how to use a sword?"

"Toby, one at a time," Selene interrupted dryly.  Eli got bombarded enough as it was thanks to those nosy scholars.

A small smile crossed Eli's face.  "I didn't fight in the war - I was already injured and inside that tube by the time the Calamity hit.  I'm not even sure what event started it.  As for AIs - yes, we had a lot of them.  They did a lot of the work for us, but not ALL of our work.  We didn't use swords but we had some long-handled machetes as part of our camping kits and if we fought in close combat we had bangsticks.  They were these metal rods of varying length that, if you swung and hit something with it, would release a little electric shock with a loud bang, hence their names.  And, I know how to dance with a sword but not how to fight with one."

Selene had been listening quietly as Eli rattled off the answers to Toby's rapid fire questions but the last answer caught her attention.   "Dance?"

Eli nodded.  "Dubeian saber dancing.  Was a hobby I picked up when I was a teenager and carried it along while serving - I wasn't especially limber or graceful but it was still fun."

Toby pulled a face.  "Dancing?  That sounds boring."

"Maybe, to someone who hasn't ever seen it.  You started out with plastic practice props, worked your way up to wooden ones, then blunt metal, then sharpened metal, and the last 'rank' was sharpened metal with a middle, inner strip that you lit on fire."

THAT got Toby's attention.  "You danced with fire?"

"Me?  No.  I only made it up to the sharpened metal rank - live steel, as it was called.  Once I was out of school I only got the chance to study and practice when I was on leave from active duty."

"That sounds pretty neat, actually," Selene mused.  "Sounds kind of dangerous too though - a sharp edge AND fire?"

"It WAS dangerous, and that's why it was fairly challenging to work your way up the ranks.  You learned the basic moves with the plastic, then added weight and balance with the wooden ones.  From there you began picking up the advanced stuff with the heavier but blunt metal props, and you needed a perfect score from a certified instructor to move on to the sharpened ones.  When you got to the sharpened rank you had to have so many hours of supervised practice as well as a certain number of dances performed and scored by eight different instructors, all perfect scores and with no injuries or else you had to start over and put in the time and effort again.  Being as it became something I did on the side to keep myself busy when I was on leave I never had the time to put together the dances or log the hours needed."

"Are you bothering Eli?"

Selene jumped at Arlo's voice and spun around to find him standing behind her with his arms crossed and his attention squarely on Toby.  

Toby jutted his lower lip out at Arlo.  "No!  I'm learning about the Old World."

"Fine, but your mother is looking for you either way."

"Aw man..." Toby slouched off through the crowd back toward Martha who greeted him with a glare and what Selene imagined was a very short and to the point lecture on running off when she clearly wanted him to stay put.  He...did that a lot, and could probably recite any lecture by heart now.

When he was gone Eli leaned back against the bench and stretched her legs out.  "He wasn't bothering me.  Just asking questions."

"Fair enough. Martha WAS actually looking for him however."

Selene shifted around to perch on the arm of the bench, looking up at him.  "Are the scholars going to work today too?"

"Not that I know of.  Gregory and Adam are going to stay out at the sinkhole just in case they do, and also to keep guard.  Mali and the others planned to come take part in the festivities but I've no idea if the scholars will too."  Arlo glanced over a shoulder and skimmed the crowd, then returned his attention to Eli.  "I did want to mention that Lee gives a sermon every year before we eat - whatever he might say today know he's more or less said something similar every year.  This might be the one time I can honestly say it shouldn't be personal."

Eli nodded but didn't say anything in response.  After a few moments Arlo moved to sit on the bench with the bag of cheese between himself and Eli, and not too long afterward both Sam and Remington found them and stood about chatting as they waited for Django to signal that the broth was ready; it already appeared to be boiling and Selene spied what she thought were vegetable bits floating around in it.  Shouldn't be too long now.

"-Eli, I had a question about Stewart," Sam suddenly asked, abruptly changing the subject away from the weather.

"What about him?"

They'd all had a chance to talk to Stewart at least once now; the All Source AI was polite and helpful but Selene found his constantly shifting facial projection to be massively distracting.

"What are we going to do with him?"

That was a question Selene had thought about too.  Wendy, the other All Source AI they'd found, was currently in the Research Center and wouldn't be able to ever leave it now that her original power supply had been damaged beyond repair -- she'd always be tethered to the power supply they'd rigged up for her.  Stewart, on the other hand, had been specifically built to be mobile; his inner battery needed repair due to the ravages of time but he was confident they could fix it even with limited technology, and that would leave him with about three months worth of power if he was forced to go without his docking station. Could they move his docking station out of the facility and figure out how to power it up here?  It seemed like a huge waste to leave him down in the facility or for him to walk back and forth between there and town.

"I'm not sure yet," Eli answered after a lengthy pause.  "He seems convinced the reactor is still fully functional for now, so we've got a bit of time to figure something out.  But he'll have to be moved somehow -- the fuel inside a reactor has an expected lifetime and to be honest I'm surprised it's still working after all this time.  It won't last forever though, and there's no way we can make more of what fuels it."

"We were able to make a new power source for Wendy," Selene said.   She glanced toward the Research Center -- Wendy had seemed satisfied with the power output of the high voltage dual engine set up they'd put together.  "Could we move the docking station and make do like we did with her?"

Eli was silent for another long moment - Selene could only imagine the calculations going on in her head.  "--it's...possible, I guess.   But it'll need a lot of room, first and foremost - we'd need his docking station for sure, along with his memory cores and server banks, and then space enough for whatever power source we come up with to run it all.  He might need his own dedicated room entirely."

Remington's eyebrows shot into his hairline.  "He really needs that much power?  That much room?"

"Yeah, that seems-" Sam paused, then shook her head.  "Wendy didn't need that much of either.  What's the difference?"

"They're different models," Eli answered.  "They might both be All Source AIs but their duties are drastically different and they have different specs.  And I bet if we could find Wendy's original memory cores and servers her power and space requirements would shoot through the roof too."

Selene huffed out a sigh at that.  "Man...we've lost so much, haven't we?  I hope we haven't damaged Wendy on accident."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Eli replied, looking over to her.  "If she says she can manage with her current power level then she knows what she can and can't safely process."

"What would happen if we got her hooked up to more power?"

"Probably nothing.  Her memory cores aren't attached and she's not connected to anything else to warrant more power right now."

"She DID say that she couldn't teach us anything because all she did was give orders, but she's given us a few blueprints since she said that," Selene said slowly, tapping a finger against her chin as she thought - what did a memory core or server bank even look like?  "If she had her memory cores, would that make a difference in what she could teach?"

"A huge difference.  You can't teach something if you don't remember knowing it in the first place.  With her it's likely she DID know the inner functions of certain technologies but that information was stored in a separate memory core than what she's carrying onboard now.  If we separate Stewart from his servers and cores he'll lose a lot of what he knows too."

"Which seems like a poor idea," Arlo broke in.  "Having those medical texts is helpful but having something on hand that actually knows it and could teach it to others is way more valuable."

Sam shrugged. "The clinic DOES have that storage room upstairs, and also the space around it to add on another room or two - it'd make more sense to install Stewart in the clinic than it would here at the Center, since he's a medical AI.  I think it was just last year that Dr. Xu was talking to Albert about a possible expansion too."

Remington shook his head at her.  "He only did that because Phyllis wants to open her own office.  I think the plan was adding on and giving that space to her to start out with but she found a place out in South Block that she's trying to buy instead. He probably wouldn't say no to an expansion to house Stewart but I don't know that any plans or budget from before would be useful now since he wasn't factoring in an All Source AI's needs."

Selene stood up and stretched as she noticed Gale taking his place at the center of the crowd.  "Eh, leave it for another day - looks like it's about time to start."

Portia's townsfolk had all clustered around the hot pot and Selene and the others were basically at the back of the group; Gale was a little hard to hear but, as he did every year, he greeted everyone and then invited Lee to start his sermon.

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

Eli listened quietly as Lee detailed how, after the Calamity, the sky had darkened and sunlight had disappeared.  AIs had gone rogue, crops were failing, people were starving - humanity already pushed to the brink was getting even closer to extinction.  To hear that finally, in a moment of need, people came together to ensure survival was nice...even if the story as a whole was very bleak.  

'To think I outlived all that because of a stupid tube and science I can't understand...'

One of the first things she'd asked Stewart was why she was down there - why she was in that tube - and the AI couldn't tell her.

Not because he didn't know but because he'd been ordered not to tell anyone outside of the project involving the tubes.  And what that project was was also something he couldn't share, and no amount of administrative access he could grant her would give her access to those files.  He couldn't go against his orders or his programming and had been very apologetic but ultimately she'd gotten nowhere with that subject.

The rest of her questions had been directly answered, at least, and it painted chaotic, terrifying, and destructive final days for the facility and the people of Dubei.

First had come a bombardment from orbital railguns.  Eli hadn't even known there WERE railguns up in orbit, and if they had fired freely on Dubei she imagined no one in charge had known they were there either (or if they HAD known, why weren't there defenses in place?).  Who could have gotten railguns into orbit without anyone detecting them?  Maybe they were inside something else...hidden, so that no one would suspect. And if that were the case then it could have been any nation behind it, and while Eli knew diplomacy had been breaking down she didn't think the Generals would have kept something this potentially devastating a secret...

Then Stewart had detailed how, in the immediate aftermath of that first attack, a small group of unknown assailants had forced their way in and appeared to be there to steal top secret information from various government-funded research projects.  Stewart didn't know what files in particular they had come for but they were systematically searching floors and attempting to breach his encryptions and firewalls before they'd been subdued either by security or by circumstance; the orbital bombardment had leveled over half the city and obliterated that part of the facility that had been above ground, and the damage had caused the air filtration and circulation system to go haywire during the infiltration. Several of the underground sections were subsequently flooded with such severely polluted air, smoke, and particulates that it had caused many to suffocate (even some who had tried to get protective equipment on had been killed before it made a difference) before Stewart had been able to get the systems under control again and broadcast an order to begin evacuation once the intruders had been dealt with.  

A small silver lining to this was the suffocation had taken out some of the attackers too, though their losses paled in comparison to the number of employees that had died. There was a mad scramble by those left to try and pack and prioritize, and to the credit of the survivors a lot was able to be salvaged and taken with them as the remaining living AIs were able to carry a lot more than a human could. But it was during the rush to leave that they'd been hit with a second bombardment and Stewart lost all contact with the surface world.  In the chaos of the second attack Stewart had issued a total evacuation order: if it couldn't be immediately carried out on one's person then it had to be left behind...supplies, personal effects, the fallen, everything. Those few that were left alive to hear the order made it out through old maintenance tunnels.

And that was it.  Ever since then Stewart had been the lone guiding force within the facility and had struggled to keep it functional (especially after an earthquake struck about 73 years after the second bombardment and had destroyed even more of the facility), and make certain that the remaining stationary AI assistants like Pauline as well as Eli in her tube survived until help arrived (something Stewart admitted he had lost hope for several times over the centuries).

That was a touchy subject... Eli had been in a tube, and so had all but two of her squadron.  It had definitely hurt to know that most everyone she'd worked with AND her husband were all dead in the same room she'd spent over three hundred years "sleeping" in and that it had only been sheer dumb luck that the earthquake's damage hadn't reached far enough into the room to take her out too.  Thinking about it, even briefly, was enough to make her eyes sting and well up and she quickly squashed it down and tried to focus on the end of Lee's sermon.

Better times...  Yeah, compared to what she'd been told had happened, and what had been been endured, these times were certainly better.   Humanity had a future even if it felt like she didn't.

 Don't think about it.

At least, don't think about it until the next session with Dr. Xu.   Or, bare minimum, she should aim to make it through today without falling apart.

"-all right, time to start adding things."

Eli flinched a bit as Selene - she hadn't even noticed the woman had moved from the other end of the bench - grabbed her by the elbow and tugged her toward the enormous hot pot, giving her only a moment to pick up her sack with the cheese in it; Arlo stayed with them and had produced a small bag of eggs from somewhere - she was about to ask where he'd been hiding it when she noticed Sam pull a cluster of some leafy green herb out of the bag she seemed to carry everywhere.  She handed whatever the herbs were to Remington and then pulled out a parcel wrapped in wax paper; Sam wasted no time in approaching the pot and dumping the contents of her parcel in and Eli watched as a small shower of tiny meatballs plopped into the boiling broth.

"What'd you end up bringing?" Remington asked then.  He had a small pocket knife in hand and was carefully cutting off the string that held the bundle of herbs together; she caught a whiff of it as well as a closer look and thought it was coriander.

Eli opened her bag and pulled out the chunk of cheese inside it, and managed to smile a bit as Remington's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

"Ha, you actually managed to get your hands on some of Sophie's cheese?  That'll win you a lot of friends today I bet." He wiped the blade of the knife clean on the hem of his shirt then offered it to her, handle first.  "Here, this'll help."

The cheese was the size of her two fists put together and it cut smoothly.  She did notice a couple of approving looks as she dropped the first few pieces into the pot and watched as it melted and floated on the top almost like a cream.

"Should I try to spread it out?" she asked, glancing over to Remington; Arlo and Selene seemed to have moved on to other spots around the pot, chatting with the other townsfolk as they walked and dropped in cuts of meat and freshly cracked eggs at random intervals.

"You can, or you can claim a little spot and let others come to you," Remington answered.  He started gently twisting the coriander into small handfuls that he sprinkled over a wide area of the hot pot's surface; the boiling broth quickly sent the little green bits floating away or sinking inward.

Along with the sudden surge of various types of foodstuffs appearing in the pot there were a lot of people and a lot of separate conversations going on around her; for now she decided to slice up about a third of what she had and spread it in the same area.  As she was carefully cutting off a few more slices one of the short, hairy men appeared at her elbow with what looked like fresh fish fillets.

"Hey, look at that," was the man's greeting as he spied the cheese in her hand.  "I always end up eating all that myself when I manage to get my hands on it."

She recognized him in that he was identical to the three others like him that she'd met, but his glasses were more opaque and a different size and shape than the ones his brothers wore.  Quadruplets?  "Would you like a piece to eat?"  She cut off a decently thick bit and offered it to him; he accepted it with a grunt and smile and popped the whole thing into his mouth before beginning to carefully slip the fillets into the broth.

"-so, you're Eli.  I'm Qiwa.  You meet the rest of my brothers yet?"

"I've met Dawa, Sanwa, and I saw a third brother on the night I was introduced but I'm guessing that wasn't you.  How...uh, how many of you ARE there?"

Qiwa began to chuckle, and didn't respond until he had all the filets in the pot; after wiping his hands on his shorts (Eli couldn't fathom how he wasn't freezing) he began to point to various spots in the crowd.  There was Dawa, and Sanwa, and there was...three, four, five...

"-there's SEVEN of you?" she asked, looking down at Qiwa in amazement.  "What's in Portia's water and should I be concerned?"

That got a deep belly laugh out of Qiwa.  "Don't worry, you'll get used to it!  We at least color code ourselves."

He kept on laughing and Eli shook her head - seven identical brothers, good grief.  She cut a couple more slices of cheese and let them drop in; Qiwa headed off, still chuckling, and for a brief moment Eli was left standing more or less by herself as people milled around.   Seeing that the pot was pretty cheesy where she was standing she decided she would move around after all and carefully edged off to the left toward a  dark-haired woman who was carefully adding in what looked like dumplings but before she got too far another woman stepped in her path and cleared her throat.

"Oh, uh - hello." Her brain stalled on the woman's name; she knew she owned the bakery and she recognized her from earlier when Arlo had sent Toby scampering back to her.

"Hello.  Sorry to bother you on a holiday but could I have a word in private?"

"Sure."  Eli returned the cheese to the crumpled up bag and tossed the knife in with it as well, then tucked it under an arm and followed Martha - THAT was her name, right - as the woman headed over toward the far wall and gate that led out of Portia.

Once they were away from the crowd Martha inhaled deeply and seemed to be trying to force a smile but it didn't quite cover up how tense the woman seemed.

"You might have guessed this already or been told but I'm Toby's mother," Martha started.  "I know he ran off earlier to pester you with questions and now all he can talk about is you being a soldier and fighting robots."

Eli winced a bit.  "Sorry about that.  I didn't mean to-"

Martha waved her hands and shook her head.  "No, it's not that - I'm used to him being a nuisance and overly excitable when he gets fixated on something.  It's more that I know exactly what he's going to do next and I wanted to ask you NOT to indulge him."

"...huh?"

Martha sighed and ran a hand over her headband and then through the hair it was just barely holding back from her face.  "His father was an adventurer, and it got him killed.  Toby is dead set on being an adventurer too, and while Django has been humoring him and teaching him some very basic swordplay I know without a doubt that he'll come asking after you to teach him how to fight as well.  And I don't want you teaching him anything, because I don't want him encouraged to go off into the wilds like his father did."

...well, that's not what she'd been expecting.  Eli mulled that over for a few breaths - it was a reasonable enough request, on the surface. "I can abide by that, sure.  Can I ask you something, though?"

"Oh good!  And, of course."

Eli shifted the cheese from one arm to the other, turning her head to skim the crowd and pick out where Toby was standing with the other children again; he had that practice sword in hand and was waving it wildly as he spoke, and the others were laughing along with him.  "I don't mean for this to sound insulting or belittling, but how confident are you that you can keep him from running off, if he's determined to follow after his da?"

Martha's expression faltered a moment and then she sighed heavily.  "Well...so far I've not had much luck..."

She trailed off and Eli nodded, more to herself than to the woman -- that was what she thought the answer was going to be.  It would seem little boys are just as headstrong now as they were three hundred years ago; it was a bit endearing but knowing how concerned Martha was just based on how she was acting now...

"I won't teach him anything if you don't want me to, but it sounds like - at least for the time being - he's not going to let go of that particular dream.  And if that's the case, maybe he SHOULD be learning how to take care of himself in a fight."  She turned her attention from the kids back to Martha.  "Since you worry he's going to run off anyway learning how to handle himself in a dangerous situation and how to deal with injuries and survival techniques would be valuable information for him.  THOSE are topics I'm well versed in, and I wouldn't mind teaching him.  But, I've got an idea for a compromise: I could bore him to tears with it in the process and see how much he likes the adventuring life then when he gets to see what all is needed for it."

Now it was Martha's turn to mull things over, glancing between Eli and Toby but seeming to be looking through them rather than at them.   "I...didn't think of it like that. I try not to think about it in general because I just don't want to lose him like I lost his father.   And, what do you mean when you say you could bore him?"

"I am definitely well-practiced in not thinking about things," Eli said quietly.  She took a breath and then flashed Martha a half-smile.   "And yeah, bore him with it.  If we make learning the skills and the act of adventuring seem like more trouble than its worth that might work better than forbidding him from doing it.  He's a kid after all: I've not met a kid who didn't push boundaries or rebel against their parents. This might be a phase you can turn him away from but if not at least he's not walking out into the wild unknown not knowing a thing about how to take care of himself.  -- and actually, I had another deterring idea.  How's his grades?"

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

After the hot pot gathering they'd all gone out into the fields for the largest game of "flag tag" Eli had ever participated in.  Everyone was exhausted and muddy by the end of it but they all remained in good spirits as they trudged back in to town to goof around in front of cameras (old-fashioned film cameras...another thing that had been old even in her time).

While she'd admittedly not felt like mingling or even really felt human this morning Eli found she was glad she'd let Selene drag her out.  The weird looks had mostly stopped by late afternoon and while only a handful of people had been brave enough to walk up to her she felt less...like an outsider, more or less.  And she hadn't run into that minister either so the whole day had been pretty peaceful; she had a small photo of herself with Selene, Xu, Arlo, and Dawa posing beneath the large tree that took up the center of the plaza, and her jacket smelled faintly of wood smoke as she walked back toward Selene's place.

In the morning she'd be heading back into town to meet Martha at her bakery, before Toby had to be at school.  He didn't know it yet but he was about to be offered survival and combat lessons, taught by Eli, on the condition that he had to get high scores on all his schoolwork for the next two quarters.

Martha had been tickled pink by the idea as it seemed Toby was a little terror in school too, and while the prospect of having to focus in school may not deter him initially Eli still vividly remembered her boot camp days...they'd find out how determined Toby was when she started putting him through his paces (both physical and mental - took more than just being strong to be a good ranger).

But, on the flip side of that particular coin, if he kept with it he'd be one heck of a well-trained adventurer.  At the very least that ought to relieve a bit of Martha's worry about the kid if their combined efforts couldn't turn his attention away from a future career of adventuring.

She would also need to drop by the Civil Corps building and give Remington back his pocket knife - she hadn't been able to find him after the tag game so it was currently in her own pocket (and she'd made sure to clean the cheese off before closing it).

When she got inside she borrowed a thumb tack from Selene and stuck the picture to the top edge of the headboard of her bed, then changed into the loose pants and shirt she'd designated as sleep wear and crawled under the covers.  Along with needing to talk to Martha and Toby, and return Remington's knife, she was also expected down in the facility to babysit the scholars...it was going to be a very busy day.

[kmindset]

Grief & Hybrids: Three

❧ synopsis. Ready to begin healing from the death of your boyfriend, you become a volunteer at the local hybrid home. When you catch the attention of seven hybrids you begin to open your heart again. But are you ready to move on?

⁣❧ pairing. hybrid!ot7 x reader

❧ word count. 1.5k

⁣❧ warnings.  Mentions of traumatic event, Sexual Language, Strong Language, mentions of death

    ⁣⁣    𝒶𝑜𝟥    ❦    𝓀𝓂 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝑒𝒸𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎   ❦    𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃

Sorry it’s short but I wanted to release something as it has been a while Reposting with the new format.

Problem number one: Your car is a five-seater.

Instead of speaking to the curious hybrids, the main priority is finding someone to help bring them home.

“Barbara!” You catch her organizing the large stack of leftover pamphlets. “I have a dilemma. Could you help me? My car isn’t big enough for all of them.”

“I didn’t drive today but my son is coming to take me home. He probably won’t mind helping out.”

You gave a grateful nod and went to speak with another volunteer.

“This isn’t going to end well.”

“Having a home is good enough for me.”

“She can barely look at us.”

“Roof over our heads.”

“She must hate us.”

“No smoke inhalation.”

“Whatever.”

You didn’t have any words. There were many things you know you should have said but instead, you depended on the radio to fill in the silence. The ten-minute ride wasn’t too bad though. The three most familiar were quick to jump in your car, a tall doe-eyed boy being dragged along by Taehyung. The feline from Alana’s bed, Yoongi, didn’t seem like he wanted to talk. The three in the back however only lasted about two minutes before whispering excitedly to each other. You made eye contact with them a few times through the rearview mirror.

“They’re going to be a handful,” Yoongi muttered with a chuckle, his gaze never leaving the window. You were sure only you heard him as the three were in their own world.

You believed Yoongi. And there were still three others.

Once you reached the house, the demeanor of the three shifted back to tense and unsure.

“My goodness _______!” Barbara was staring in awe at your home. Her son and the others were behind her.

“I didn’t expect any of this so it may be a little messy. Follow me.” You led everyone into the house. The spacious front room was basically untouched. The large tv was dusty. The fruit on the table would have surely been rotten if it wasn’t wax. Completely untouched. Most of the time you were curled up in bed jumping between every streaming service. The TV in your bedroom was probably the main thing your electric bill was spent on these days.

“Since you’re here you could follow me while I give them the tour. You would be the one doing most inspections anyway right?”

From the way she appeared to be in love with your home, it didn’t take much to convince her. You led everyone down the stairs. A large area in the middle was lined with doors.

“The one straight ahead is my room. The others are free for you all to claim.  Every room has an en suite bathroom. The hall to the left leads to the library. There is also an entrance from the upstairs as it is two stories. The hall to the right leads to the theater and game rooms .” Everyone was shocked even the ones that hadn’t spoken. The tour continued with the upstairs. Your office, the kitchen, the living room, and the top library entrance.

“My word! This is wonderful. I was curious as to how you would fit all eight of you if your car couldn’t but this is more than enough.”

You shifted on your feet. “I suppose it is a good reason to upgrade to a van.”

“You may need a church bus darling.” she joked. You chuckled some as she and her son began walking to the door. You gave multiple thanks for helping you out before finally being left with the men again. This time was much different though.

“I CALL THE ROOM NEXT TO HER!” Taehyung blurted. Your face turned red.

“I CALL THE ROOM WITH TAE!” Jimin yelled next before the two took off.

“Hey stop running!” The one with brown hair yelled as he chased behind them. The broad shoulder one followed close behind as well as the one with the sunny smile.

“I’m assuming the gravity of your decision is now hitting you.” You jumped as you hadn’t realized Yoongi was still there. He walked away behind the rest before you could respond. “I call the room on the other side of you.”

Again your cheeks burned with a sort of embarrassed tinge.

It was finally settled. Jimin, Taehyung, and the koala, Jungkook, who are the maknaes you found out, would room together. Yoongi and Hoseok, then Jin and Namjoon.

There was an extra room but no bed yet. Depending on how the arrangement worked out you would invest in more furniture. That thought made you stop. That was a long term plan. Were you planning on letting them stay?

It was too early for even a second of that thought. Luckily the hybrids that were excitedly exploring outside your bedroom door brought your thoughts back to the present. The sounds of feet going back and forth made you wonder what they were up to. A quick glance at the clock which showed 1:50 am brought the day’s fatigue down all at once. Before you knew it, you were engulfed in something familiar. Your theatre. You were standing in front of the door, the smell of smoke becoming almost insufferable.

“D-Darling? Darling, what is that smell?”

Flinging the door open, the smell hits you almost as hard as the flames burning angry orange before your eyes. The sound of his puppy-like cries urge you forward. The fire grows looking like skyscrapers of flames.

“Where are you?? Darling?”

A broken cry of your name startles you. The iron-like grip of hand stopping your movement and the dream at once.

You shoot up. For a moment not registering the soft sheets you are tangled in or the sweat from every part of your body. Nor the hybrid pulling you close at the sound of your horrified breaths.

The familiar feel of comforting licks startles you right off the bed. “It’s only a dream. It’s only a dream. Please-” Your hushed and scared whispers cease as gentle hands grab your wrists.

Eyes watering, you look at the person in front of you. It is not him but only

“-Jimin. R-Remember?” The empathetic eyes looking back at you remind you of the present. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I couldn’t sleep but I could hear you from the other room. It sounded like you were having a nightmare. I-I just wanted to make you feel bett-”

Before he could finish, you were scrambling to your feet. “It’s alright Jimin.”

You quickly left the room. Unsure of where you were going, it was no surprise to find yourself heading toward the kitchen. Almost at the archway, you paused. One more careful step you were in the room you used to spend large amounts of time in. Something stopped you again.

A figure snacking in the dark. This was no moment for socializing.

But his ears perked up and he called your name.

“I was too hungry to wait until morning but too shy to come ask.” He chuckled. The inquisitive look on your face must have shown more than you wanted to as he spoke again. “Seokjin. Or just Jin.”

You attempted to sputter something like an excuse but he only chuckled again. “ It’s fine. We’ve never spoken so I can understand you not remembering. It’s a shame though, my face should elicit a better reaction.” A shameless grin was on his full lips as he took another bite of the leftover chicken. After a moment of silence, he pats the seat next to him.

Reluctantly, you take a seat. No words come to mind so you take to examining the profile of your new tenant.

“Alpaca and fox.”

“Huh?”

“Double hybrid. Alpaca and Red Fox. Twice as special and three times as handsome.” He picked up a wing and took a big bite making a satisfied noise. “Wow, I’ve never had chicken this good.”

The unintentional praise turns your cheeks pink.

“The food at home is ok but nothing like this. Well, there was one day a few weeks back but-”

“Would you like any tteokbokki?”

His perked up. You took that positively.

A few minutes later, a small thing of microwave tteokbokki is already being devoured by his eyes.

“Go ahead.” you encourage.

He digs in with no more hesitation.

Between the food, he manages a good look at you. He could smell the uncertainty and hint of fear before you even sat down. Like Jimin, he heard your distress but was less comfortable in entering your room. The scent coming from you was much calmer. He was even pleased to see a tiny smile on your face. He was curious about you. The surprisingly good* food in your fridge, the surprise gesture that allowed them a home, no matter how temporary, and especially the trauma he always noticed behind your eyes. Even in the shelter, passing you while offering a friendly smile, he could see it. Something about hybrids makes an unmistakable pain wash over you in contrast to the slight pride he could sense at that moment. It was apparent and heartbreaking.

But right now was nice. He stayed quiet.

He could handle unanswered questions if you continued smiling.

[youllallriseintheink]

The death and rebirth of Susie Campbell

Alright, you asked for this and I’m glad there was an interest. Contact me if you think it needs a trigger warning and I’ll add one.

---

April 20th, 1941.

Susie stared at the door to Joey Drew's office. This was it. She'd spent all morning going through scenarios in her head as to why Joey had called her here.

She was getting laid off, surely. Joey Drew had little in the way of voice work for her now that she couldn't play Alice anymore, so he was going to lay her off. Adding to that the little accident she'd caused with Bendy a week ago, it seemed like that was the most likely reason.

At least, it would have been, if he hadn't called her in at 11:30. He'd done that a bunch of times over the past eight months, and it was always for the same reason: to take her out for lunch, then give her the afternoon off to head to his house and into his bed. She'd convinced herself that there was no problem with it. Sammy wanted to wait until marriage, and, well... well, Susie couldn't quite find a justification that didn't make her out to be a monster. She didn't know why she always fell for his charms, and eventually she stopped even planning to resist. Joey made her feel like the most desired girl in the world, and she just never knew how to say no.

And she always wanted there to be a next time, even if she wouldn't always admit it to herself. She remembered the first time it happened, he'd called her to his office and apologized the next day. He even called her Ms. Campbell- a show of distance and respect. He'd called their affair inappropriate, and an abuse of his power over her. Then, as she was leaving, he'd said, "And Alice?" She'd turned around. "I'll see you around." He'd had a vaguely predatory look on those electrically, intensely blue eyes of his, and it made her heart race. Susie liked it. Since, she'd always paid attention to what he called her: Ms. Campbell (I'm hanging my head, keeping my distance), Susie (we've forgotten last time, right?), or Alice (I'm coming for you). It was fun. Was he all torn up about it, or was he just keeping her on her toes?

The thought of all that made her teeth grind. Thankfully, he'd been smart enough not to do anything of the sort in the last three weeks. He'd be the most tactless man in existence to try such a thing after taking her role away without even telling her to her face. She, however, had tried such a thing. She'd taken him out drinking, gotten him nice and drunk, and asked him: "why did you start pursuing me?" His answer?

He'd just been diagnosed with post-polio disease. He felt powerless. And then he saw a tiny woman, pretty, barely over half his age, under his employment, and in a relationship. He saw a way to feel powerful again. And Alice (he'd called her "Alice" while drunk. She'd taken notice) had just folded like putty in his hands. A little flattery and a little charm was all it took. He did it once on impulse and thought he could leave it at that, but he was wrong.

Susie had left him right then and there and taken a cab home. Needless to say, there was plenty of screaming that night. She wasn't sure Joey even remembered his confession the next morning.

One thing was for sure, though: whether Joey called her Ms. Campbell, Susie, or even Alice today, she was going to summon her inner Alice and take it with grace. If he wanted lunch, she'd slap him. If he wanted to fire her, she'd accept it without a fuss. She'd never show him tears. Never.

Alright, she thought to herself, time to do this. She briskly opened the door and took a seat across from her boss, meeting his eyes with a blank stare on her face. Joey was giving her a warm smile.

"I know how much that part means to you, Susie," he began. Good, her neutral name. "Alice means a lot to me, too. All my characters do! In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I, too, really believe my characters are more than just drawings. They’re alive. They’re a part of us. And I want people to know them as well as I do. I want people to be able to shake their hand, spend an afternoon with em’. Love them. Susie, I’ll be straight with you. I’m putting together a small project… a little ceremony. If it works, a lot of dreams will come true. And I want you to be a part of it. I want you to bring Alice to life once again. What do you say?"

"Ceremony? Well, I- can Sammy come with me?" Susie had no idea what this "ceremony" business could mean, but first and foremost, she wanted to make sure there was nothing lewd about it.

"Why, yes. In fact, he's already coming."

So it wasn't about getting her undressed. This was real- she was going to be Alice again! Susie's heart fluttered at the thought. "Perfect! I won't miss it for the world!" she sang. She got up to leave.

Then, a thought came to her. "Wait," her voice turned cold as steel. "Why me? Why aren't you giving this to Ms. Pendle? I thought you wanted her to be Alice!" Susie grit her teeth and glared at him.

Joey reached over and lifted her chin. "Susie, look at me. All I want Allison to do is stay cooped up in that recording booth. I want that because I have bigger plans for you. You're a better Alice than she ever was, and after this ceremony? Well! Not only are you going to be remembered as the face of Alice Angel for years- no, decades- you'll make her character more famous than you could ever imagine! Someone has to voice her, but you... my real Alice? You'll be her."

Susie could practically feel herself tearing up. "Thank you. I'll do it. Come Hell or high water, I'll be there.

"Good. Sammy will pick you up at 7:15."

---

"So, what is the ceremony going to be like?"

Sammy knew that the ritual was for the best, but looking upon his girlfriend, he couldn't help but feel guilty. "Well, sweetheart, it won't be pleasant," he warned.

"Oh, I don't even care!" she said dreamily, draping herself over him in the back seat of the taxi. "I'm so happy. I'd been agonizing for weeks, hatin' him because I thought he replaced me. But it turns out I'm his favourite after all!" she chirped, adding in, "I'm Alice Angel!" in a sing-song voice.

Sammy smiled. It was good to see Susie so happy. It always was, but especially since she'd been so bad-tempered lately. They really were like twins: two essentially happy people with serious bad sides (hers, admittedly, harder to arouse but harder to live with). That was good: it meant they knew how to handle each other. "Well, that's good. Now, listen. This is going to change more than you think, but I promise, it's gonna be what's best for you. It's going to make you and a lot of other people happy. I can explain the whole thing afterward. Oh, and here we are."

Sammy could feel Susie's nervous anticipation as they entered the building, but it was clearly a pleasant anticipation nonetheless. He led her to a small, empty room, where they met Joey Drew. He smiled warmly. "Good evening to you two! So, Susie, are you ready for our ritual tonight?"

Wanting to look independent, she let go of Sammy's hand. "Yes," she said with confidence.

"Step one, put on this blindfold." He handed her a white piece of cloth. Susie obeyed without hesitation. Joey struck out his fist, allowing it to end up inches from Susie's nose. She did not flinch. Satisfied that she was blinded, he turned to Sammy. "She's ready. Guide her down to the special room with me, alright?"

Sammy nodded. They traveled down to the giant ink machine and went inside of it, finally arriving at a room containing four glass pillars. One of them had a pentagram drawn before it. This did not surprise Sammy: he'd helped draw it. He even knew what kind of pentagram it was. Unlike a revival pentagram, which with a demon's help could revive the dead, or sacrificial pentagram, which sent the slaughtered straight to the Gods, this was a binding pentagram. Joey Drew retrieved a bottle filled with liquid and containing a rag from a cabinet kept on the side of the room. "Alright, Susie," Sammy began. They'd decided ahead of time that he should be the one to guide her through this step. It would be the most difficult part for her. "We're going to put a cloth over your face. All we need you to do now is to breathe in, alright?"

"But why?"

What Sammy supposed to do? Lie to her? "Susie, it's hard to explain. But just trust me that it won't be painful in any way. I promise. Ready?"

Joey put the rag over her face. Susie collapsed, and he caught her and lowered her to the ground.

"Joey! She hadn't agreed yet!"

"Oh, my bad."

"Damn right, your bad. I'm not doing this to her without her consent. We're waiting until she wakes up to try again."

"Consent? She already agreed to this! You were just asking if she was ready. And if we wait until she wakes up, then she'll know that we're using chloroform on her. Come on, let's just get this done."

Sammy hesitated. Then, he gathered up all 95 pounds of his girlfriend and carried her over to the pentagram. She'd agreed to this earlier. This wasn't wrong. Joey took a razor-sharp blade and a strange, hand mirror-shaped object out of the cabinet. Sammy got the paper with his lines out of his pocket. "Ancient Gods of the world, I summon you. Bind the soul of this sacrifice to the ink. May you reign eternal, amen." He repeated the lines over and over as Joey approached Susie with the knife. Elsewhere in the studio, two carefully tended shrines were glowing.

Then, Susie stirred, subtly at first, then violently. Joey wasn't sure what to do and simply put a hand on Susie's chest, centering his weight over her so she couldn't get up. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice raised in panic. Sammy was stuck chanting. If he stopped mid-ritual, God knows what could happen- spells like this were finicky and dangerous. Susie's cries for help made it a serious test of willpower. Joey looked over to his grimacing friend and began to recite the lines with him. Glad to be able to stop, Sammy went over to his girlfriend and cupped one hand around her face.

"Sh... it's okay. It's gonna be okay. This is only gonna hurt a moment, alright?"

"What's going on, Sammy?"

"Normal procedure. Everything is according to plan. This going to hurt, but only for a bit."

The thought occurred to Sammy that rituals probably weren't meant to be this time consuming. Could something as simple as that disrupt the spell? He didn’t want to find out. He nodded to Joey. Susie tried to say something, but Joey began to slit her throat before she could speak. Her cries turned into gurgles as the blade sliced ear to ear. She took over a minute to faint from panic. Joey got out the seeing tool and held it up. By now, his voice was shaking as he recited the lines. It was only his second time murdering someone, and hadn't gone cleanly. Sammy was so distressed that he wasn't sure he could take over for him. It took several minutes for her to bleed out. When she did, her soul escaped, and, watching its movement through the seeing tool, Joey caught it. He pressed his palm against the glass tube. "Ancient Gods of the world, I summon you now," he said. Ink flooded the tube.

The two men stood in silence for several minutes. Once the shock of the situation wore off a bit, Sammy spoke up. "That. Was an unmitigated disaster!"

"Yes. Next time, I'll make the chloroform five times as strong, and we won't waste time arguing," Joey said blithely. Then, he noticed how upset Sammy looked and realized he ought to show some empathy. "You alright? I'm sure Susie will be ecstatic."

"Sure. I'm fine," Sammy answered, sounding not at all fine. "Does it get easier, Joey? Killing?"

"Well, I can only speak for myself, but this one was actually a lot harder for me. The last one I just knocked out with a paperweight and had his throat slit in not even a minute. It was almost... fun."

Sammy hoped it didn't become 'fun' for him, or Wally Franks would be dead eight times over. A lot of other people, too. He glanced at Susie's corpse and felt like he was staring into the abyss of what he could become. "Well, let's go to the ink nozzle. She'll be coming out soon," Sammy said.

When she did, however, all that came out of the ink machine was a shapeless blob of ink. It fell to the ground with a plop and began writhing, attempting to figure out how to move. It emitted a cry like a baby. Sammy gasped. Joey was first to speak. "Don't worry. I'll figure this out. She won't look like that for long. Just help her back onto the pentagram, Sammy."

Sammy gathered the slug-like ink creature up in his arms like a baby. It-she, he supposed- was heavy, cold, wet, and ugly, and he could feel cold ink running down his shirt, but by now the situation had put him in such a daze that very little could have upset him. Walking back to the room with the pedestals, he looked down blankly at what was supposedly Susie, and gave her his best attempt at a comforting smile. Once he was back at the pentagram, he plopped down with the creature on his lap.

"Done!" Joey called from the other room about a minute later. "Twist in the film, is all. This time, I promise it'll work!"

Sammy got up, moved Susie's corpse, and gently lowered the creature onto the pentagram. "Sorry about this," he said, before repeating the process as before: the chanting, the throat-slitting, the capture and use of the soul. He then went back to the ink machine and held his breath that Susie would turn out alright this time. In minutes that felt like hours, the slender figure of a woman appeared from the machine, panting and shaking. She looked at her hands, felt all over her body, then turned to Sammy with a shocked, ash-grey face. "Sammy, what happened!?" she cried as tears began to fall from her eyes.

[itisannak]

Christmas Fairytale (Ashton Irwin Fluff)

Summary: (Y/N) and Ashton get snowed in on Christmas day. Based on "100 ways to say 'I love you'" Prompts: #15: "I made your favorite." #30: "One more chapter." #53: "Sit down, I'll get it." #66: "Stay over." (Request) (Words: 2.1k)

"Need help with anything else?" Ashton asks me as he enters the kitchen. "No, I can handle this. Thank you for staying to help." I reply, turning to look at him as I leave the dishtowel on the counter. "Of course. Thank you for throwing the party. We all needed it." He says, smiling. It brings out his dimples, which make him look like a child. For a moment my brain stops, all I can focus on is how sweet he looks. "Please, I was looking for an excuse to throw a party." I giggle, trying to keep my mind together. "I should get going. It's getting really dark outside. And I think the storm will make it hard for me to make it home." He says, pointing towards my front door. It takes everything in me to decide to mouth my next words. "Stay over." I blurt out, making Ashton look at me surprised. I lower my head and look at my feet, sighing, mentally cursing myself for not wording my thoughts. "I mean, it is late, it is dark, you have had a couple of drinks, and there is a blizzard approaching. It will be risky to drive home right now." I explain and he smirks at me. "You worry too much, (Y/L/N)." He cocks an eyebrow. I practically feel my blood rush to my face, giving me a blush like nothing before. "Of course I am. You are my friend. I would hate it if something happened to you on your way home." I reply, smiling at him.

"I'll make the bed inside for you and I will take the couch for tonight." I say to Ashton as I hand him a large t-shirt of mine and a pair of baggy sweats. "You really shouldn't go out of your way for me." "It's not like I have a guest room. And there is no way I would let you sleep on the couch." I insist and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. "There is no way I will let you take the couch." He replies and I sigh. "Ash, it is really not a problem for me. I will be fine." I try to assure him but he shakes his head no. "No, you are not sleeping on the couch. Your bed is big enough for both of us. We can sleep for one night on the same bed. I won't bite, I promise." He states. My stomach feels like it is tightening every second I spend thinking of laying next to him. "At least let me take the couch." Ashton suggests, snapping me out of my thoughts. "No. I'll go change and we can share the bed." I smile and grab my good pair of pajamas. "Are you sure? You seem uneasy." He asks me. I feel my heart flutter a little as I realize that he is worried about me; stupid crush... "No, I am fine. I am just really tired and my brain is flicking on and off. I'll go change in the bathroom, you can change in here." I say, but Ashton moves ahead of me. "I'll take the bathroom." He sings, strutting out of the room. I can't help but smile at his behavior; Gosh, I wish that I could just shut my feelings off for a second. This is going to be a long night.

I shimmy out of my dress, letting it pool at my feet; the whole day has been exhausting, and shoving my body in a dress so tight that leaves intends on my skin has not helped me much. My pajamas, however, feel like heaven on my skin. They are soft and warm and so comforting, they almost help me feel at ease for a moment. I grab my dress and hang it on its hanger while I wait for Ashton to come and pick a side; I am restless, anxious, but happy for that. Even in the slightest, I can bring part of my dream into reality. As Ashton enters the room, I can't help but burst in laughter. "What? You don't like my outfit?" He asks, giving me a spin. My clothes look ridiculously small for his frame, making every inch of them stretch against his skin. "This is amazing." I snortle, holding my stomach while I laugh. "Why, I think that those yoga pants are spectacular, especially the way they hug my ass." He shrugs his shoulders. "I wish I had something bigger for you to wear... I am scared that those might cut your circulation." I state, between breaths as I still try to calm down. "I'll wear my shirt to bed, don't worry. Thanks for the outfit, though. I think I might adopt it." He snickers and I bite my bottom lip, nodding my head. "Uh, which side would you like to sleep on?" I ask as he begins undressing. I try not to look at him, I really do. But I can't help but peek as he grabs the back of the t-shirt and pulls it over his head. "I am fine with whatever. Sleep where you normally sleep." He replies and I nod my head, picking up the covers on my side and slipping under them. I fix my pillows as Ashton walks to the other side of the bed and gets under the covers as well. "Lights on or off?" He asks me. "You are the guest here." I reply and he sighs. "I'll turn them off." He replies, reaching for the switch above the headboard.

I don't remember when and how I fell asleep, but I wake up by the sound of my security alarm going off. I shoot off my bed, but Ashton grabs my wrist and pulls me back. "Sit down... I'll get it..." He says sleepily, reaching to turn on the light. But instead of light, nothing comes out, making me knit my eyebrows together. "I think we are out of power..." Ashton announces, turning on the flashlight of his cellphone. And as I thought that this is the worst thing that can happen, we found out that it snowed in, covering my front door and Ashton's car with inches of snow.

Ashton volunteered to bring some wood for the fireplace from the little closet I keep it while I dug some candles out of my drawers. I also turned on the lights of my Christmas tree, seeing that they are powered by batteries and they can at least provide some kind of luminance until morning is here. "Not so bad after all, huh? I mean, if we took pictures of the place and showed them to people without context, they would believe it is actually a Christmas scenery." Ashton comments, kneeling down to start the fire. "I guess it does, huh?" I say, looking around us. "Do you need help with anything?" I ask him but he shakes his head no. "Go sit on the couch, I got this." He assures, turning his head and smiling at him. I sit and stare at him as he struggles with the wood and the matches. For a moment, I let myself pretend that he is not just my friend, that this is a typical Christmas morning for us and we will be cuddled up in a bit, watching the flames dance around the fireplace. I pretend that he will lean down towards me and press a kiss on my lips as takes his seat. But of course, I know that this is all just a trick of my mind, it's all nothing more than imagination. "A penny for your thoughts?" He snaps me out of it as he plops on the couch, covering his body with the blanket I've brought. "I was just thinking that I ruined your Christmas. I insisted on not letting you go home, and now you are here, stuck in a house on Christmas day." I make up a lie. But in reality, I kind of feel like that as well. "I like the fact that you are thinking I had better plans than this. I would eat a meal for one and sleep all day, maybe have some coffee with Calum in the evening." He says, bringing his knees to his chest. "Same. Without the part where you have coffee with Calum." I sigh. "See, at least we are together now." He smiles sweetly, looking at me. It feels like his eyes are not moving an inch from mine, for a moment all I can think is him, nothing else in the world matters. "Want some tea?" I ask and he nods, while I move to get up from the couch.

As I return with the tea pot and the mugs, I find Ashton standing in front of my bookshelves, holding a book in his hand. "I figured that since there is no electricity, and we can't do much but wait, why not read something..." "And you picked the book that narrates stories around a snowstorm. Smart." I comment and he chuckles. "I didn't know what it is about, I just saw 'Let it snow' and thought that it would be Christmasy..." He says, walking back to the couch. I hand him a glass as I open the wine to pour us some. "Well, you weren't wrong." I reply and pour him a bit of wine. "What about we read to each other, take turns in reading chapters?" He suggests and I nod, sitting on the couch as well. I curl into a ball, trying to keep my body warm. Ashton raises his arm and motions me to nestle next to him under the blanket. It is like something is moving my body next to him, it feels effortless. Ashton begins reading, eyes focused on the book, words coming out of his mouth in a calm, soothing tone. I sneak a couple of peeps on him, just looking at his characteristics for a moment as he reads. It feels weirdly natural, being cuddled up to him; it is like a little part of my fantasy comes to life.

We took turns reading to each other, for God knows how many hours. I know that my eyes flutter open and close as he reads to me, but I don't want him to stop. "Want to stop? You need some sleep." Ashton suggests, turning his head to look at me. "No. One more chapter, please." I plead, getting more comfortable on his side. "Ok, bub." He replies, picking back up where he left off.

My eyes open and I hum, trying to rub sleep off my eyes. I am found laying on the couch, tucked in with the blanket. I turn on my other side and my gaze falls on Ashton, sitting in front of the fireplace, doing something I can't put my finger on what it is exactly. "Hey." I say in a groggy voice. "Merry Christmas." Ashton cheers, turning his body a little to look at me. "Merry Christmas... What are you doing in there?" I ask, standing up from the couch. "I thought we would need to eat something, and I didn't know how to work your stove with no electricity, so I used the fire. I made your favorite." He smiles as I kneel down next to him. "Wow, thanks..." I gasp, looking at the chocolate chip pancakes in the plate on the floor. "You are welcome. I'll take the last one out in a minute, so, relax on the couch I guess." He suggests. "I am sorry I fell asleep on you... I guess I was truly tired." I stutter. "Don't be. I liked that." "You did?" I ask surprised. "God, you are so oblivious... I stayed last night to help because I wanted more time with you. I said yes to staying because that way I could live this scenario that has been in my head for so long. I wanted to stay up and read to you because it could feel like we are something more than friends, finally. I like you, a lot." He states, standing up. He stands in front of me, looking at me for some kind of reaction. For a moment my brain goes blank; I can't believe what I've just heard. It takes me only 10 seconds to react. I almost jump him, pulling him in for a kiss as I hang on his body. He holds me to his body as he responds to the kiss. It is a bliss; smooth lips dancing against mine, hands holding my body, I don't want this to end. We only pull away as we get breathless. Ashton looks at me, pupils fully blown out. "I will not touch you. Not until I get you on a formal date." He breathes out; I think it is mostly targeted to himself like he is trying to hold back himself. "Ok. But that doesn't mean I will not touch you." I cock an eyebrow at him, making him smirk. "I like the way you are thinking." He replies before he goes back to making our breakfast.

My Masterlist

[kookadoodle]

Best Served Ice Cold (Finale)

PLOT: Getting snowed in is the least of Y/N’s problems, when she finds out that she shares the cabin with Hoseok.

PAIRING: Hoseok x reader GENRE: fluff, suggestive smut, E2L, Birthday!AU WARNINGS: swearing, drinking, tiny drop of angst WORDCOUNT: 3.6k A/N: better late than never kekeke x

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After spending another day on the slopes with the self-claimed “professionals”, the four of you are exhausted to the bone. At first, you did not have anything against the little one with the same experience level as you, but apparently, the boy is a natural on the snowboard according to Hoseok. It honestly annoys you a bit to see Yoongi getting a hang of it so quickly, when you are literally risking your life, yet it annoys you further to hear the biker-bastard yell encouraging words to his friend. He really just has to rub it in your face. Maybe the thing that annoys you the most today is that it is Hoseok’s birthday, and Namjoon will not stop talking about it. With a big dimpled smile, he keeps side-hugging his friend and letting him choose everything from the place where you ate lunch to the number of hours spent on the white mountains. Hoseok really milked that opportunity, choosing the whole day in the cold. Luckily, you have bettered yourself, managing to stay upright on the board instead of dipping your butt in the snow. At least you have that.

After finishing with eating buffet at the main house for dinner, you cannot take it anymore. Your bed is calling you from afar, you can hear it as clear as day. You have sat and talked by the table for almost an hour now, and you fear that you might slip right off the chair from tiredness. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, I’m heading back,” you say as you rise from your seat. The boys look at you as their conversation halts. “Already? We wanted to stay here a bit and maybe get some birthday-beers at the bar later,” Namjoon explains, hoping to get you to stay with them. You are his best friend after all, and he really wants you to have a good time here. You would not say that you are having a terrible trip so far, since you really enjoy the landscape and being away from home for once yet staying and getting Hoseok drunk for the fun of it is not really on your bucket list. You think that you would actually prefer getting punched right in the face to put it nicely. “I think, I’ll head back too,” Hoseok says, and it makes you stiffen. Namjoon questions his friend with a simple frown of his brows. “I’ll come back and get a drink later, but I could use a nap first,” the boy explains. Apparently, the many hours snowboarding has even made the pro tired. Hoseok looks at you as he rises up, seeming to wait for a reaction of yours. You give him nothing. You just turn around on your heels and make your way towards the cabin without caring for him to catch up with you. He does eventually, but words are still not exchanged.

You are reading the book that you brought, lying under the covers of your bed. The fresh air from the walk to the cabin gave you new energy, so you could not sleep when you had finally laid down. Hoseok did not even make it to his room before crashing, so he is currently hogging the sofa in the living room of the cabin. It forced you to move in behind closed doors, but it does not bother you at all. It means more privacy, which you definitely want when you are alone with him. Boy should not even try to small talk with you. You do not need his fuck-boy moves tried on you, let alone look at his black James Dean-styled hair and smirk. One chapter takes the other and suddenly, you have read through most of the book. Considering it is a pretty thick one, you have spent at least a few hours on it. You put down the book, giving in to the thirst you feel that brings you to the kitchen. Stepping out into the living room, you notice Hoseok’s sleeping figure still lying on the couch. You thought that he had already left to join the guys at the bar, but clearly not. Why, you are not aware, and you do not really care. You steal a quick glance at the windows to check if it is still snowing as it did earlier, but there is nothing visible. It is dark, so you note it down as if the snow has stopped. “What time is it?” you hear Hoseok mumble groggily to himself as he checks his phone that lies on the table beside him. “Shit, I forgot to set an alarm,” he states as he sits up, running a hand through his messy locks. You study him for a moment, and had he not been such a dick to you, you might actually have found him quite attractive. He has that boyfriend type of look that usually has you weak in the knees, but not today. You will not let him get to you. You go back to your room and get comfortable under the duvet as you look through the apps on your phone. Only ten minutes or so go by before Hoseok is knocking at your door, spilling your name from his lips. “What?” you say, allowing him to enter. He walks in, and the look in his eyes has your brows furrowing. It is like he saw a ghost or something, but with more intrigue than fear. “Have you looked outside?” he asks with slightly widened eyes. You shake your head. “Come with me,” Hoseok says and walks back to the living room, expecting you to follow, which you do with a groan of irritation. You join him by the front door and wait for the big reveal that he is clearly planning. “Open the door,” the boy says with a chuckle, and you sigh. You humor him and open it, expecting the cold from outside to hit your warm body, but it barely does. You are not met with an outdoor wind pulling in, but a wall of white snow that has gathered over the last hours while you read. Your jaw drops, and your eyes match Hoseok’s widened ones. “Is that?” you say with surprise. “Snow?” you add and press a finger against it, watching it deepen into the icy mass that cools your skin from the touch. Some of it falls to the floor and slowly melts at your feet, though most of it keeps shape. A wonder of nature, one might say. “I was heading down to join the guys, but…,” Hoseok explains, gesturing to the snow as his reasoning for not going. “I guess, I can’t,” he says with a laugh that illustrates his surprise. You are almost out of words. You knew that the weather had worsened and that layers of snow had been promised, but you had not expected this. You are literally snowed in. You close the door back up, not wanting the wall to suddenly collapse and leave a big pile of snow on the floor. “What are we going to do?” you ask as your gaze move to Hoseok’s face. “Maybe text Namjoon that we’re stuck?” the boy suggests, seeming only lightly fazed by the situation. You nod at that, which makes him pull out his phone and text his friend. It only takes a few minutes for a reply. Hoseok shows it to you.

[Today 20:17] Hoseok: dude, we’re snowed in y/n and I we’re stuck inside the cabin

[Today 20:18] Namjoon: shit, are you guys ok? there is a snowstorm outside, so we can’t get to you guys right now It’s pretty crazy

Hoseok raises his brows when your eyes meet his. “Looks like we just have to wait it out for a bit,” he says. “I guess,” you say back, looking around the room. Neither of you has any idea of how long it will be. You will just have to make do with what you got. Hopefully, it will not take long before some of the staff comes and digs you guys out. It suddenly hits you that you are not only locked inside this cabin indefinitely, but you are locked in with Hoseok of all people. This fucking dude. “I’ll be in my room till this is over,” you state and leave him by himself. Honestly, it is what he had expected.

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

Another hour passes, and nothing has happened yet. You step out of your room to check, finding Hoseok on the couch with his phone. He notices you and speaks as if he has been waiting for you to come out. “I’ve been texting with Namjoon, and the storm will probably go on all night, so they are staying at the main house till tomorrow,” Hoseok says. For now, it is not such a big problem for the two of you, since you had no plans of going out anyway, but it is worrying to not know what it means. You try to not let your thoughts run wild, but you know that you do not want to die in here. You repeat, you try not to let your thoughts run wild. “The good thing is, we’re safe,” Hoseok states, hoping to cheer you up a bit. “Yeah, at least we got electricity. In some storms, the power suddenly goes o--,” you start, and as if your words are cursed, everything goes dark as the lights turn off. “I spoke too soon,” you say quietly, statement laced with regret. After his realization, Hoseok chuckles. “I guess, you really are unlucky, Y/N,” the boy jokes, referring to the several times that life has toyed with you already, including the first day you met. “It’s not my fault!” you quickly spit, not letting up. You cannot see his face, but the light smile he just had suddenly turns a bit bitter. “I didn’t say that,” he sighs. You are making it an uphill battle for him, and it is honestly a bit tiring. He is trying his best to not snap back at you, but you are testing him. “I guess, we will freeze to death if we don’t keep up the heat, so I’ll light a fire in the fireplace,” Hoseok says, changing the subject. You just stand there in the dark without a clue of what to do. You find yourself impaled whenever sight fails you. Shuffling through the dark, you manage to make your way across the room to the couch, feeling the armrest under your palms. Hoseok turns on the flashlight of his phone, and you suddenly feel a bit embarrassed, considering you could have easily just done the same. You straighten up, realizing he can see you now. “Could you hold the light for me?” he asks. You take his phone from him, lighting where he needs to see. You do not really want to help him but lighting a fire would be beneficial for you both. He lays newspapers in the bottom and gathers some logs, placing them inside the fireplace. He then pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, opening it up and taking out a lighter tugged inside the pack. It makes you scoff with judgment.  “What?” he asks as he notices your reaction. “It just doesn’t surprise me that you’re a smoker,” you state with a tilt in your stance. It completes his bad boy image, you think. “I’m not,” he says, and you scoff again with disbelief. “Not that it’s your business, Y/N, but I actually took these from Namjoon to keep him from smoking,” Hoseok explains in a firmer tone, showing he is getting tired of your attitude towards him. You are filled with prejudice against him, and he is not a fan of what you are making him out to be. “Namjoon’s not a smoker,” you huff. “Thanks to me, he’s not,” Hoseok says back. You might think that you know everything about your best friend, but you do not. Not every single thing like how he took up smoking a few weeks ago but just did not want to tell you about it. He wanted to try it out without you talking him out of it, but Hoseok found out and made him quit. The two of you are more alike than you realize, and Namjoon is his friend too. Hoseok lights the newspaper at the bottom, letting it get ahold of the flame. It takes a little while for him to get it going, but the flame eventually spreads to the wood and the fire grows strong. You turn off the flashlight of his phone as the fire is emitting both warmth and lighting up the room. Hoseok stands up and brushes off his knees before meeting your eyes with his own. It surprised you to hear that Hoseok had helped out Namjoon that way, taking his cigarettes from him. It makes you question your view of him. You clear your throat. “Nice job,” you say a bit stiff, but it is said, nonetheless. Hoseok smiles humbly. “Thanks,” he says, appreciating your compliment. He steps back and sits down on the couch with a thump. He sighs as he rests his head back against the backrest. You decide to join him, sitting down on the opposite side of the couch, watching the fire take hold. It crackles in a cozy way. “Why do you hate me?” Hoseok then asks carefully. You turn your head towards him, finding him looking at you. It is as if there is hurt in his words. It pulls at your heartstrings. You are not made entirely of ice. “Don’t say because of that first day, cause I already apologized for that,” he adds, wanting to know why you will not give him a chance. “I--,” you stutter as your words fail you. You honestly do not know what to tell him. It is hard to admit, but you have probably been giving him a tough time despite not knowing him at all. You never really gave him a chance to change your first impression. If you had, he would have changed your view of him from the first time he smiled or said your name. Hoseok is a kind person, a beaming sun, but you rejected him from one mistake that he made unintentionally. You cannot blame him for questioning it. “I don’t hate you,” you sigh, crossing your arms. He keeps quiet to let you explain yourself since you seem like you want to, searching for the words. Thinking about the whole thing, you cannot help but laugh at yourself. Laugh at your own childishness. “What?” Hoseok smiles, finding your state intriguing. Realizing your reasoning for not liking him makes it all seem so stupid. Your laugh is bitter, and it does not go unnoticed by him. “I think, I’m scared of losing Namjoon to you,” you state with realization in your tone, letting him know that it was somewhat subconscious on your part. Hoseok raises his brows slightly in surprise. “Namjoon loves you, Y/N,” the boy says honestly. He remembers all the times that Namjoon talked about you so proudly, showing you off to them. Neither he nor Yoongi as ever doubted that among all of Namjoon’s friends, you would always come first. His very best friend. You nod at Hoseok’s words. You know that Namjoon loves you as much as you love him. He is like a brother to you, and you are like a sister to him.  “But why me and not Yoongi?” Hoseok asks, and you give him a knowing look, thinking it is a bit obvious. “You kind of gave me a specific reason to,” you answer, and Hoseok smiles at that. “Right,” he says. Of course, you could have been cold towards Yoongi as well, but you do not really live your life trying to be a bitch. Hoseok had already wronged you, so you used it as an excuse to get back at him, when really it was all just a product of your own concerns. It does not make it right, but it explains it, you guess. “I’m sorry,” you say as your gaze drops to your hands. You feel bad about it now. “I forgive you,” Hoseok says back with a smile. You look back up and meet his eyes, seeing candor in them. He is studying your face carefully, looking at your soft features with adoration. He likes you like this - honest. Even though you are sitting at each of your end of the couch, he suddenly feels so close, his gaze so intimate. He is not as bad as you had initially thought.

You end up talking for several hours about the trip so far and stories of Namjoon that has you both laughing in reminiscing. It is chill between you for the first time without the tension and frustration that has dominated for the last two days. Suddenly, something hits you. “It’s your birthday!” you state in realization. “It is,” he says back with a smile, finding it amusing that you suddenly remember. “We should drink to that,” you add, getting up to grab a bottle of wine from the rack in the kitchen. Being in Namjoon’s parents’ personal cabin has its perks. You get two glasses as well and bring it all with you back to Hoseok. You sit down again, this time closer to him while he opens the wine and pours you both a glass. “Happy Birthday,” you say as you clink your glass with his. “Thank you,” he smiles back before taking a sip.

One glass leads to the other, and soon the bottle holds nothing but an aroma of red wine. Your cheeks are flushed, and lips tainted red by the drink, matching the two of you to each other. Giggles escape you both in unison at words that bear no deeper meaning than to entertain. It makes you forget that you are stuck here since neither of you wants to leave. You pour back the last of the wine in your glass a little too quickly, letting a drop spill and run from your lip. Hoseok is quick to catch it before it lands on your shirt to stain it. His thumb wipes it off, and your giggles halt at his act. Your eyes meet with his while his hand still rests against your skin. His touch is gentle, and his eyes the same. He drops his gaze to your reddened lips that look too inviting for him to resist. He gently leans in while studying your face, searching for resistance but find none. You want this just as he does. His hand palms your face as your lips meet with his soft ones, and he tastes just like the wine. You move closer to him and deepen the kiss, letting a small whimper escape you that has him smiling against your lips. The two of you are alone, and with the wine that you shared, you are prone to make some irreversible decisions.

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

You wake up beside him to the soft breathing that leaves him as he sleeps. The memory of last night is still intact, and so is your new view of him. You feel stupid now that you rejected him as you did at first, but he made you come to your senses. You rest your head on his chest, feeling his warmth against you, bringing you comfort. Hoseok tightens his hold on you and smiles when you look up at his face. He blinks open his eyes, meeting yours without words. You look at each other for a moment as you breathe, letting the feeling of the two of you sink in. “Can I kiss you again?” he asks softly, and it makes your eyes gleam. Since the wine has worn off by now, it cannot take the blame for what the two of you do. Hoseok still wants you. You nod gently, and it has him placing his lips on yours. Despite how good your first kiss was, this one is better - honest. It intoxicates you in a way that wine never could. It feels good. “Y/N? Hoseok?” you hear as Namjoon and Yoongi step into the cabin. You and Hoseok both panic a bit, surprised that the guys have already gotten the snow cleared. You rise up and get dressed quickly. “What do we tell them?” you ask, not knowing what to do. Hoseok pulls on his pants, zipping them up. “The truth?” he suggests, smiling innocently. He wonders if you would want to tell them or if the shame will soon kick in. His heart beats a little too fast, waiting for your reply. Finally, you nod. “Okay,” you say, and it makes him sigh with relief. He walks over to you, kissing you again. The door to Hoseok’s room suddenly opens, and Namjoon steps inside. “Oh,” he says with surprise as he sees the two of you. He blinks a few times before his mind registers it. “I guess, you two are just fine,” he chuckles, making you both grin. “Yeah, we’re fine,” Hoseok says genuinely and takes your hand in his, smiling at you. He gives your hand a little squeeze, and it tells you everything you need to know.

[insanely-creative-things]

Fire and Ice Roses

www.fanfiction.net (In case you want to read this one shot in there.)

*Across the Pacific ocean the sun begins to rise in the east, the ocean sparkles with light as the mist parted ways to reveal San Fransokyo. The lights eventually hits on a small house, where a family of three live. The light shines through a port window which roused a person on a futon mattress beside it, the person shifted before it revealed itself to be a 13 year old girl with dyed blue hair. She is shorter than most girls her age, and her figure still resembles that of a child and yet it is starting to curve a little bit. She stood up in her futon mattress as she looks at the sun outside. She stands up and makes her futon mattress decent, and then she looked at her surroundings; her room is decorated with posters ranging from robotics, the ocean, old anime posters like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena and various homemade mural pictures made out of seashells and had many homemade wind chimes/chandeliers also made out of seashells hanging from her ceiling. She straightens her baby blue nightgown before she walks out her room and into the bathroom, she looks at herself in the mirror as she brushes her teeth and looks at herself. She sighs in disappointment that her bust remained small, but she quickly shakes hear head from focusing on her lack of mature body and starts her day. With the dawn still young she dresses herself to her outfit, a yellow tank top with a sea green plated skirt, she brushes her hair and places her purple eye contacts in. She heads downstairs once more to prepare for breakfast, setting water to boil to put the rice in. A drop of hot water slightly burns her hand as she reacts with a soft ow; when she stirs the rice she hears footstep coming in the kitchen.*

Kaguya: Good morning Cora.

*The girl named Cora turns her head to give a small smile to the old woman wearing the traditional kimono with her signature cane.*

Cora: Good Morning Grandmama.

*After she was done cooking she places their breakfast on the table and walks out to wake the third person in her family. She gently opens the door to see her Father, who is slowly waking up from his deep slumber. Cora looks at the table in his room and found it filled with bills and job resumes. She sighs as she sits beside her father as his massive figure lifts up and his vision clears to see his daughter.

Cora: Morning Papa.

*Mizuchi slowly walks to the table where his daughter and mother-in-law are waiting for him. He sits down and eats his breakfast, his eyes weary and lost. Cora sighs as she begins to eat her breakfast as well. After breakfast the father and daughter are sitting in the living room where it had a TV with a VCR, a blue ray player, VHS tapes and DVDs of old and new anime and movies. Cora looks around before she brings out the small robot she made; the robot was small, sleek and pale as a pearl and resembled more of an egg. When she brings out her controller she activates the robot. The robot activates its eyes to a electric green eyes and floats around to Mizuchi where it begins to dance. Though it does not have legs the robot moved with grace and purity. Mizuchi looked at the robot and his daughter and gave a small smile...just for a little while. Cora's smile drops as she stops playing with the robot she made and puts it in her dress pocket.*

Kaguya: Cora, it's time to go grocery shopping.

*Cora nodded as she stands up and tiptoes to kiss her father on the cheek as she prepares to join her grandmother. She puts on her outdoor shoes, which are her favorite rain boots, and steps out.*

Cora: We're heading out Papa...We'll be home soon...

Mizuchi: Be safe.

*After the grandmother and girl get on the trolley the city begins to come alive. The stores are opening as people soon fill the streets to go wherever they need to go. Cora looks at her grandmother,who at the moment is checking over the money in her purse as she looks to the streets across them. She sees a group of young friends walking and talking happily as a young couple hold hands and kiss. Cora sighs sadly at the sight as she looks down at her feet, and her grandmother notices this but said nothing. Once at the stop they got off the trolley and walk to the grocery store, and once inside Cora grabbed a basket and begin to search for their groceries. Kaguya spots a familiar face nearby and places a hand on her shoulder.*

Kaguya: Cora, there's a music store nearby that you can visit right now. They are even having a sale right now, here.

*She places a few dollar bills in Cora's hand but Cora begins to shake her head.*

Cora: N-no Grandmama, groceries are important I-I don't need to-

Kaguya: I insist. You are still young, enjoy your life.

*Cora sighs in defeat as she hands the basket to her grandmother and walks out the store. Once she was gone the old woman turned around and saw the person she recognized.*

Kaguya: How are you doing today Felony Carl?

Felony Carl: Oh, hey Kaguya. I'm doin' fine, just getting some Tofu and apples as my doctor recommended. Was that your granddaughter I saw with you a while ago?

Kaguya: Indeed.

*Both Felony Carl and Kaguya walk over to the apple stand where they begin to look for good apples.*

Felony Carl: She's a lot quieter than what you told me.

Kaguya: I know. Cora has been shy and quiet yes, but she has this burst of life inside her. Like how she would splash around in the waves and search for seashells. In a way she's an oyster.

Felony Carl: Grey on the outside but a hidden gem within?

Kaguya: Exactly, just like her mother...but ever since my Son-in-law was fired he has been struggling to find a job and paying for the bills. Cora is worried sick about him, and it doesn't help that his weariness is obvious in his eyes.

Felony Carl: I understand that, when people look at me they get scared and want nothing to do with me.

Kaguya: Mhmm, Cora has been home schooled her entire life as I recall telling you.

Felony Carl: Yeah, cause she hacked into her dad's computer at age four?

Kaguya: And Mizuchi protectiveness kept her from going to real school in fear she will be ostracized. But I've seen how Cora looks at the children her age...she wants friends...and possibly someone who loves her.

Felony Carl: You mean as in a romantic sense?

Kaguya: Yes. But with Mizuchi's financial struggles, Cora will be forced to push away her desires. She's been the main chef and caretaker of the house for a long while now and has even been thinking of selling her seashell collection and homemade art. And she may think of never going to College.

Felony Carl: That's tough.

Kaguya: It's times like these I wonder what Akemi would do... I know Cora needs to make the first step to talk to people...and yet I hope that someone will see Cora for who she really is and cherish her... someone who can understand her and connect to her...

*Meanwhile around the same time, the cafe is buzzing with customers as Cass Hamada is busy taking orders. Upstairs at the moment, two brothers are up and ready to start the day. The older brother is putting on his baseball head while the younger is making some adjustments on a small, black and somewhat derpy-looking robot.*

Tadashi: OK Hiro, I'm off to meet up with some friends, and remember to call me if you need anything or if you're heading out.

Hiro: Kay, I will.

*The boy named Hiro is a 13 year old genius prodigy and his brother is Tadashi, a intelligent young man with a good heart. Tadashi calls out as he heads downstairs.*

Tadashi: And don't give Aunt Cass any trouble OK?

Hiro: I hear ya.

*Once Tadashi heads downstairs Hiro fixes up the bot with a satisfied smile.*

Hiro: OK, now that you're fixed up Megabot, I just gotta head to the mechanics store and upgrade your controller. After all, another bot fight is coming up tonight.

*He goes to his drawer where he pulls up a panel where he placed the cash he won over from the bot fights before. He had to admit, he was impressed of himself that he can make this large sum of money from bot-fighting. He supposed he could almost thank the bullies from high school for driving him towards Bot-fighting, where he can use his big brain for the thrill of beating everybody to a pulp. He shook his head to avoid the memories of high school and the harassment he endured there, after all he had just graduated last week and now has the summer to himself.*

Hiro: Alright, that should be enough.

*With that he heads downstairs and through the cafe where he sneaks in a cookie.*

Hiro: I'm heading off to the mechanics store Aunt Cass, I'll be back soon!

Cass: Be safe!

*With that, Hiro heads off down the street to get the parts for his upcoming bot-battle that night. Meanwhile at the other side of the town Cora wearily looks around the music store, spotting whole shelves ranging from vinyl record players to digital songs displayed on Holograms. She holds tightly to her purse as she looks at the songs available in the anime and movie soundtrack.*

?: Hey kid.

*Cora looks up and turns her head to see a woman in expensive make-up and rather revealing clothing. Cora diverts her eyes the other way as she addresses the scantily clad female.*

Cora: A-are you talking t-to me?

Scanty: Well I don't see any other blue-haired girls around here. So yeah, I'm talking to you

Cora: *Looking down in embarrassment* Um... I-is there a-anything you want?

Scanty: Not really...but you certainly do have something on your mind.

Cora: W-what do you uh...mean?

Scanty: You've been pressing the scroll button for too long that its speeding up and you haven't even noticed.

*Cora sees the scroll bar in the hologram as it became non-visible as blurry icons of songs zoom past her. She lets go of the button as she looks down again at her feet blushing.*

Scanty: I guess you do have something going on in your mind then?

Cora: Yeah... there's... a little trouble at home...Money trouble...

*The scantily dressed lady sighs before she grabs the young girl to a more secluded part of the store.*

Scanty: How old are you kid?

Cora: What?

Scanty: I'm asking how old are you?

Cora:...13 ma'm.

*The lady nods her head before she whispers to Cora.*

Scanty: If you're looking for quick cash, I might be able to help.

*Cora's eyes light up at the prospect that she could earn money to help her father.*

Cora: Really? What is it? I'll do anything!

Scanty: There's two people I know that are looking for a double date, and since my old business partner bailed out on me...you might be a possible candidate to date the other guy. And they are paying good money for the date.

*Cora's eyes slowly widened in shock as she realizes what the lady is offering her. The lady notices the look in the young girl's eyes.*

Scanty: Look kid, I know this is a big girl's game but if you want to help out your folks you gotta be out there. Sides, you're pretty enough for guys to see you, even if you are a little...flat.

*Cora consciously covers her chest as she looks down at her feet.*

Scanty: The date is nearby by Good Luck Alley where a bot fight is hosting.

Cora: A bot fight? I thought the Bot fight tournament was at the capital.

Scanty: That's not the bot fight I'm talking about. This one is where people bet on the fighters, and if you're lucky enough to win you might just get some good cash.

*Seeing this as a chance to make money, she quickly pulls out her robot that was in rest mode.*

Cora: I have a robot! It's in rest mode but it should-

*That is when the lady snickers at the girl, she clears her throat after a little bit and faces Cora.*

Scanty: That's a sweet thought kid, but there is no way you can beat those big boys at a bot fight, especially since your robot is basically an egg. You can be set for life by going on these dates with the guys offering good money. Sides it's not illegal, you're 13. You're of age of consent. Since it's you're first time, I'll just call them and tell them that we'll just going out for dinner and nothing more.

*The lady picks up her stuff and starts to walk out, and Cora follows her to the exit.*

Scanty: It's your choice baby girl, either your face money trouble or you can go out with these men and have them beg you to date them. Who knows, if you're good enough you'll be a favorite.

*The Lady walks away down the street leaving Cora looking at her robot in hand. She then looks at the direction the lady walked down and sighs. She then decided to head back to the grocery store, keeping the event the lady told her in her head.*

*Hiro arrives at the store as he immediately searches for the part for his controller. The cashier greeted Hiro, since he remembers the times both Tadashi and Hiro have come over to the store to buy the tools and gears they needed. Hiro only gave a dismissive hello before he inspected some of the gears on the shelf. Just then another person comes into the store, a big jock with a Letterman jacket coming in and spotting the young teenager.*

Jocky Jerk: Well well lookie what we have here, if it isn't Zero the brainiac twerp.

*Hiro sighs but refuses to acknowledge the older adolescent as he continues to rummage through the wires.*

Jocky Jerk: Hey! I'm talking to you freak.

Hiro scrunches up his nose in disgust as he speaks without turning his head to acknowledge him.*

Hiro: Hello Kurt.

*Kurt smirks as he heads over and ruffles Hiro's hair which made the young boy groan.*

Kurt: Haven't seen you since graduation, what sort of things you doing now you little twerp?

Hiro: I know I'm not repeating a year of high school and taking summer school while being kicked out of the football team.

*Kurt's smirk is wiped clean as it turns a murderous glare, he looks around and then has a devilish grin.*

Kurt: Looks like your annoying nerdy brother isn't here, so I'm sure you don't mind if we head out and talk-

Cashier: Sir, if you're not buying anything, I suggest you leave right now.

*Kurt scoffs as he shoves Hiro before he exits the door. Hiro gives a scoff in return as he grabs what he needs and pays for it; the cashier then directs Hiro to the back exit so he won't be attacked by Kurt and possibly his goons like Ram.*

Cashier: Seriously kid, I don't know how you handle those jerks. I probably wet myself if I made that comment to that big donkey like you did.

Hiro: Eh, guys like Kurt are idiots. He's butt-hurt cause I refused to take his SAT exam for him, sides I'm used to it.

Cashier: Why didn't you tell your brother? He's always stuck out his neck for you, so why haven't you told him this?

*Hiro sighs as he turns to face the cashier.*

Hiro: Tadashi's been really busy with an after school project and is rarely home. I don't want to bother him.

Cashier: *Sighs* OK then, well I'll see ya later. Tell Cass and Tadashi I said Hi!

Hiro: K.

*With that Hiro exits through the back and safely to the streets. He passes through the corner where the other jocks are waiting to ambush him. But they were confused on what's taking Hiro so long to come out. Once Hiro makes it safely to his street address he snickers quietly over the stupidity of those pea-brained jocks. He enters inside the Cafe where Cass is delivering juice to an group of elderly people.*

Cass: Hey Hiro, how was your trip out?

Hiro: It was fine, nothing much. I'm just gonna be heading upstairs K? I'll make sure Mochi's okay.

Cass: Alright Hiro!

*Hiro heads upstairs and starts getting to work on his controller, anticipating for the bot-fight tonight.*

*The day soon turns into early evening where Cora is back home, facing a dilemma, and her father is out looking for work while her grandmother is out doing whatever she's doing. She sprawled out two outfits on her bed for her to change into; one is a set of a black long-sleeved shirt with a black denim vest with cloth hood, along with dark cargo pants and boots and complete with a traditional Japanese cat mask, and second one is a sleeveless knee length red dress with black flats and a see-through black shawl. She paces back and forth as she thinks over what she should do. These two activities are both dangerous each in its own way. On one hand, she could battle off fighters that would be more aggressive since the rules of the tournament will not apply to the streets. But on the other hand, she will be facing older men who she has no idea who they are and may potentially be dangerous.*

Cora: What to do, what to do, what to do? *Sighs as she stressfully runs her hands through her her and over her face* Maybe I should get a glass of water.

*With that, Cora closes the door behind her as she heads down to grab a glass. She drinks the glass of water as she passes by the living room where she sees it...a small Butsudan dedicated to her mother... Cora sighs before she heads over to the small shrine. She kneels down in front of the bustudan and clasp her hands in a prayer, she takes a deep breath before she looks up.*

Cora: Hi Mama...how are you? I mean... I know you're dead, but I hope you're OK in...wherever you are now...

*Cora goes quiet for a few moments before she speaks again.*

Cora: Papa has been teaching me self-defense for a quite while now, and Grandmama says I'm becoming strong. Also, I've graduated...in a sense...I finished my high school course, I even got a diploma.

*Cora points to a diploma where it states that Cora graduated as a home-schooled girl. But Cora's forced smile fades as she looks back at the shrine and talks again.*

Cora: Mama...I'm really worried about Papa... Ever since he was fired he looks so defeated and lost and I can't bear to see him like this anymore... I want to help anyway I can...actually that's what's happening now... A lady from earlier told me that she's looking for a partner for a double date and that they'll pay me... she also told me about a bot fight that's happening at the same time but she says I have no chance... Mama what am I going to do? I don't know what these people will be like when I go against them, but I also don't want to go with these strangers for a date...what would Papa and Grandmama say...

*Cora turns her head to another section of the shrine and saw a picture of her mother when she was pregnant and her father, they were both smiling. That's when she gains a determined look on her face.*

Cora: You know what Mama? I'm not going to that double date. I'm going bot-fighting! If I ever do go out on a date, I want it to be with someone who I love and loves me back and is around my age, not be paid like a doll for a middle aged man whose desperate to buy dates from girls like me.

*Cora stands up but quickly kneels down again to end her prayer.*

Cora: Thank you Mama for listening. I'll be careful at that bot fight!

*She then stands up and leaves, not noticing how the candle flame brighten with soft warmth on the main picture of her mother, a beautiful woman with golden-blond hair and sea blue eyes smiling gently. She enters her room as she looks at her outfit for bot fighting.*

Cora: Alright now! Lets get to work!

*Cora spends the next few hours working on her robot so that she'll be more suited for an intense bot fight rather than the fragile dancing robot she made as a child. She upgrades the controller with spare parts as she adjusts wires. Once she was done she grabs the outfit and starts dressing up. Now she appears more of a rouge modern ninja as she packs her robot, controller, and cat mask in her bag. She then writes a note to her family saying that she is using the money her grandmother gave her to see a movie and won't be back for a while. She knew that her father will still panic since she's going out by herself, but this is a risk she must take. She then makes a makeshift rope to climb out the port hole window, and due to her small height and size she can manage with ease. Once on the ground she starts sneaking through the streets as she heads her way to Good Luck Alley. A decision that will change her life forever.

*The evening begins to darken by the time Tadashi heads back to the Cafe where Cass is making some cappuccinos for her customers and smiles when he sees Hiro helping out by picking up the dirty dishes.*

Tadashi: Hey Aunt Cass, how's it going?

Cass: It's been pretty good so far, Hiro has been helping me out for a while now. He even fixed the espresso machine!

*Said espresso machine coughs a few times before it resumes to normal.*

Cass: Hopefully it'll last long enough to save up for a new one.

Tadashi: Alright Cass.

*Tadashi heads over to Hiro who is struggling with the massive load of dirty dishes, where he surprises Hiro by lending a hand to carry the dishes together.

Hiro: Tadashi! You're back early!

Tadashi: Nice to see you too knucklehead, and yeah I've managed to get some stuff done sooner than usual and decided to come home early for a day off.

Hiro: Cool!

*Hiro gives a somewhat strained smile, because while he's happy Tadashi is here right now, he was hoping he would be gone long enough to sneak out without raising suspicion.*

Tadashi: Something on your mind Nerd?

Hiro: * Smirks* Who are you calling a nerd, Nerd King?

Tadashi: *Chuckles* Alright, if you say so.

*After a while with the Cafe closed up and Cass finishing up dinner, Tadashi and Hiro talk over their day.*

Tadashi: So you went over to the mechanics store? How's Willie doing?

Hiro: Willie's fine, just getting some stuff for me to experiment with.

Tadashi: Hopefully not like the time you turned every utensil in the house into a rocket which caused a fork to land on my forehead.

Hiro: It was funny and you know it Dashi.

*Tadashi shakes his head as he chuckles, his little brother is definitely up to something for sure. After dinner, Tadashi and Hiro head up to their room where the older brother opens the screen door and flops down on his bed.*

Tadashi: Welp, today was exhausting, I'm just gonna lie down here and sleep like the dead.

Hiro: OK, sides I think I'm gonna crash down soon too.

Tadashi: Alright, night Hiro.

Hiro: Night Nerd.

*Hiro gets to his bed where he simply waited for the soft snoring of his brother. Once he knew that Tadashi is in deep sleep, Hiro quietly gets up and takes Megabot, his controller, and the wad of money to bet. Once he gets out of the house he dashes towards Good Luck Alley, excitement running through his system as he can't wait to win the jackpot tonight, equally unaware that his life will change forever.

*At the time of Hiro and his family are having their dinner, Cora had arrived at Good luck Alley. She spots from the distance the scantily clad lady with two older gentlemen, and the men looking more impatient as the time goes by. She pulls up her hood over her head and hides behind a trash can as the men are finally fed up and they walked with the lady together.*

Enjo: Can't believe this, that little piece of s*** ditched out on us.

Kosai: Eh, maybe it's for the best. I wanted a busty lady, not some flat chested brat.

*Cora held her breath as they walked down her path, waiting for the men and the lady to go away. But she did notice that the lady gave what looked like a small sigh of relief over the girl not showing up. Once she was sure they were gone Cora headed up and waited for the person running the bot-fight. She immediately slips on her cat mask and makes sure her hood is secure over her head and hiding her hair as she meets up the person in charge.*

Hime Na: What do you want kid?

*Cora's mind went to a state of internal panic. What was she going to say? How will the lady respond?! What if they turn her away?!*

Hime Na: Well? I'm waiting.

*Cora then remembers the time her father had scared off a group of rude teenagers when they were at the beach. His eyes burned along with his height that made them run in fear. Cora's eyes became determined as she simply pulls out some of the money and points to the bot fight ring, giving off her best imitation of her strong father.*

Hime Na: Alright, ya can go on in.

*Cora gives a nod in thanks before she seats herself to the opponent seat, which caught the woman off guard since she thought that the kid merely wanted to watch the fight and not be part of it. The first person to come was a late adolescent male with serious acne problems and a neck beard.*

Neck beard: Well lookie here, a little cosplayer.

*The crowd began to snicker as Cora remained silent.*

Neck Beard: Anyway, I'll go easy on you kid since this is your first time.

*He pulls out a robot that appears to have muscle and doing macho like poses. Needless to say that he was compensating for something very important. Cora pulls out her robot as she activates it with her controller, the robot goes from her egg mode to her robot form, still floating with electric green eyes.*

Neck Beard: Aww is the little kid gonna beat me with their little EVE dollie-

*That's when Cora launched her attack.*

*Hiro arrives at Good Luck Alley as he makes his way through the crowd to sign up for the bot fight. Once he signs up by using his innocent boy charm, he sets out on the opposite side of the alley where another ring is open.*

Spector #1: Hey, have ya heard? Some new kid beat the living crap out of Yabo.

Spector #2: Oh man... I never seen that loser bawl so hard, and that kid just keeps beating everyone every single time!

Spector #1: Yup, I heard that tonight, the two best bot fighters here will get into a special event where'll there'll be a ton of dough!

*Hiro is intrigued by this news. A new arrival that may be the perfect challenge for him? This is going to be fun. He immediately starts his usual bit where he'll appear as a first-time bot fighter and purposely lose, then go around and beat them. Once he finishes a number of rounds the person shows him the person he'll face next.*

Hime Na: Looks like it's gonna be you two next. This ought to be very interesting.

*That's when he finally gets a good view of his new rival. A person around his age wearing a cat mask in modern ninja clothing using what looks like a slimmer version of EVE from WALL-E and mercilessly beat it's much larger opponent. Due to it's small stature and electro-magnetic suspension that causes the bot to float, it can easily dodge and land a swift hit that ultimately left the rival bot scrambled.*

Hime Na: Looks like we have our winner! Now then, Nekodome come here.

*The one called Neko stands up and walks over as they pick up their bot, not even uttering a word.*

Hime Na: Now that we have our two reigning champions...it's time for the Duo Dual!

*The crowd began to chant as both Hiro and the ninja-clad person become confused. They thought they were gonna fight each other, not partner up!*

Hime Na: Now that these two are placed in the duo dual, they will face more danger for the large cash prize! Can these kids beat the baddest of the bad? Lets find out!

*Hiro and the ninja-clad person look at each other before they reluctantly sit down next to each other. Neither of them spoke as they are face to face with two opponents. They brought out their own robots that appear to be much more tougher than the others. Hiro turns to the person as said person looks over their robot as it gently skims over the smooth metal.*

Hiro: So...you're new here?

*The person doesn't respond, but they nod slightly as they place their bot down. Hiro then places Megabot down beside the EVE robot as the lady begins to set the stage.*

Hime Na: Four bots enter, only two can escape...fight!

*Immediately the other two charge their robots as Megabot launches forward while the EVE robot flies up, dodging the attack. The robot pinned Megabot down while the other goes after Eve. Megabot separates to pull out its circuits but the robot simply threw it away. Megabot barely stays within the circle as it lands and stands up. Eve is facing a similar problem, as it is pulled to a magnetic armor the bot wore; Evie barely escapes as it slams its head to the enemy bot. Then by a complete and miraculous accident, Megabot is launched to Evie's bot as it knocks it down and leaves a rather large dent, leaving the magnetism useless. Hiro and the person look at each and realize how they can beat them and win the prize.*

Hiro: You thinking what I'm thinking?

*The person nods their head excitedly as they both charged their robots at the damaged enemy bot. Evie zings forward as it spins its head in a tizzy, once it falls down Megabot jumps up and knocks out its heads. The person controlling the magnetic bot throws their controller in frustration as the other gets tense over the fight. The large bot jumps up and tried to pin down Evie but Megabot stops the enemy bot and restrain its limbs, leaving Evie to strike the robot repeatedly until it was nothing more than scrap metal. The pieces of metal rain down on the two victorious bots as they returned to their cute mode when they ended their fight with a bow.*

Hime Na: And the winners of the duo dual...Hiro and Nekodomo!

*There was a mixture of cheering and disgruntled disappointment. The person went over to collect the money and the prize money, and just as the person is heading over to give the jar to Hiro... Sirens went off in the distance.*

Spector #2: Crap! The cops are here!

*The first spector grabbed a bottle of a beer and smashed it to the ground and yells out.*

Spector #1: SCATTER!

*Everyone else begins to run in different directions, desperate to avoid the cops. Hiro went to run towards a shortcut he knows when he sees the ninja-clad person stand still like a deer in headlights. They were still carrying the money in their arms as their knees shook in terror. Out of his better judgement he went back and grabbed their hand and they bolted out of there before an officer can spot them. Hiro drags the person far away from the police cars as the person could only stare at the young teen in what appears to be an awe. They were approaching a safe distance when the person tripped on a piece of loose concrete and falls on their face. Hiro picks them up and they continue to run, leaving behind a broken cat mask. Once they are in a safe place away from the cops, Hiro turns his attention to the person.*

Hiro: *wheeze* That...*Wheeze* was close...*Wheeze*...this really must be your first bot fight huh? I have to admit though, you are really...

*But Hiro's voice trails off as the person removes the hood from their head and he finally gets a good look at the person beside him. They was actually a she. And she was his age with large beautiful purple eyes and short blue hair that fluffed with elegance. And just her face is described as innocent and very cute. Cora also finally gets a good look at the boy beside her named Hiro. He was her age with large almond brown eyes, messy black hair and a tooth gap, and Cora couldn't help but think that he was very cute too. The two teens stare at each other as they felt something sparkle in their eyes..*

Cora:...H-hi...

Hiro: He-hey...

*Cora blushes as she looks down a little over the silent space between them. Hiro then clears his throat as he regains his state of mind.*

Hiro: A-as I was saying...You're a really good bot-fighter...

Cora: Thank you...

*They both stand up as they feel their hearts pounding heavily inside them.*

Hiro: So...Nekodomo is probably an alias right...

Cora: Yeah... but if you want to know... My name is Cora Mizichio.

Hiro: Cora...W-well my name is Hiro. Hiro Hamada that is.

*Hiro straightens his voice to be deeper to try and flirt with the cute girl, which causes Cora to giggle at his flirtation. Then Cora reaches out her hand to shake his.*

Cora: Thank you for being my partner in the bot fight...and for saving me back there.

Hiro: O-oh! It was no problem actually...

*Cora then looks at the prize money she stuffed in her bag.*

Cora: Oh right! So Hiro...do you want to split up the prize money?

*She begins to pull out the money, but in the distance Hiro sees a very familiar moped. Oh crap, Tadashi is coming!*

Hiro: Uhh... Actually, you keep it! I guess...hopefully I'll see you around again?

*Cora's face became a deep shade of red over his generosity. She expected that he would want half of the prize money, but this...this is the sweetest thing he has ever done for her, and they had only just met.*

Cora: T-thank you...I gotta go right now...but yeah, I'll see ya later... Hopefully we can team up at another bot fight again sometime?

Hiro: Y-yeah! T-that sounds great! See-see ya!

*Cora was about to run off with the money, but not before she unthinkably kisses Hiro on the cheek. Hiro blinks in shock as he watches the girl run off into the darkness as he slowly brings his hand up to his cheek with a stunned and lovestruck look on his face... At that moment, all he could think about was if this is how Prince Charming felt after Cinderella ran off from the ball when the clock stuck midnight. And that all that was missing from this moment was a glass slipper.*

Tadashi: Hiro! what are you doing out here?! Do you have any idea what time it is?!

*Hiro doesn't respond, as he's still staring off in the direction Cora ran off in with a derpy lovesick smile on his face.*

Tadashi: Hiro? Hey Hiro, are you alright?

Hiro: Hmmm...Oh hey Dashi... When did you get here?

Tadashi: *Giving Hiro a confused look, now starting to get concerned for his younger brother* I've been here for the last twenty seconds trying to figure out why your all the way out here this late at night, which by the way you still haven't answered me about yet. Are you okay though? You're acting kinda weird and you look a little flushed too. Are you starting to get sick?

Tadashi tries to place his hand on Hiro's forehead to feel his temperature, but Hiro snaps out of his newly developed lovesickness just in time to swats his hand away before he can get the chance.*

Hiro: Relax Nerd King. I'm not getting sick, I'm just...a little tired that's all... So what are we waiting for? We heading home or what?

*Tadashi just watches with concerned eyes as Hiro gets on the moped without another word and puts on his helmet. They both ride off to the Cafe in silence as Tadashi wonders what the heck happened to his brother at that bot fight?!*

*Cora climbed up the window as she quietly strips her ninja clothes and into her sleeping gown as she quietly puts the money into her father's savings. She blushes over the memory of the boy who gave her the prize money when he could have easily demanded it all. She sighs dreamily as she heads upstairs to finally sleep.*

Cora: Good night everyone...goodnight Hiro...wherever you are...

*Since then, Cora and Hiro have met up in the following four months after. They would meet up at night where they not only bot fight the other fighters, but chatted in private over their lives, interests and hobbies. Both are surprisingly similar and yet so different. Hiro talked about his life at the Cafe with his aunt and brother and their pet cat, his interest in robotics, anything that came to mind when usually he wanted nothing to do with conversations. Cora told him that she lived with her father and grandmother alone in a small house nearby his place, her love for marine biology, and how she was home-schooled her whole life. They both instantly connected when they learned that they are both genius prodigies, someone very intelligent like them. Even through their excitement and obvious feelings for each other, they never told the other in fear that they would consider it gross or reject them and thus ruin their newly formed, but already highly valued friendship. Young love at its finest.*

Kaguya: Cora, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you've seemed to be in a very good mood for a while now.

*Cora looks up from her daydreaming daze as she sees that she had not taken a bite out of her porridge.*

Kaguya: Not that it's a bad thing, it's like you have a new burst of energy that radiates inside your heart and making you glow with pure happiness.

Cora: *blushes with a small smile on her face* Well...thank you Grandmama.

*Kaguya did indeed see a big change in Cora. Her shy demeanor was slowly fading away as she became more confident over her voice, she began to sing more than usual, singing mostly love songs as she noticed, as she slightly dances with the broom while doing chores, and she has more energy in self-defense lessons with he father.*

*Across the kitchen, she hears her father talking on the phone, he was talking a manager of a job that her Dad applied for. His voice turns from soft and low to excited and booming.*

Mizuchi: Are you sure? No I will take it! Thank you very much!

*Mizuchi hangs the phone up as he lets out a joyful booming laugh.*

Mizuchi: Mother-in-law! My little Cora!

*Mizuchi runs to the kitchen where he picks up the two ladies and spins around happily.*

Cora: Did you get the job Papa?

Mizuchi: Yes!

Cora: I'm so happy for you!

*Cora hugs her father tightly as the grandmother gently pats his head in approval. He puts them down as he starts preparing for his big job coming soon. As her father prances around happily while her grandmother goes to make herself tea, Cora's heart suddenly drops as she realizes what this means...*

Cora: Oh no...what am I gonna tell Hiro?

*She only joined the bot fights so that she can support her father, and now that her father is no longer unemployed, she would have to stop going there. But that also meant she coudn't see Hiro anymore...*

Cora: I...I should tell him that this will be my last night...

*As of while, Hiro was also busy daydreaming over the blue-haired girl he had gotten close to, playing with the yolk of his eggs as leans his head to his hand.*

Tadashi: *Waving his hand over Hiro's face and than snapping his fingers trying to once again get his younger brother out of his daze* Hello? Earth to Hiro, earth to Hiro! Where are you?

*Hiro snaps out of his thoughts as he stops playing with his food. The funny side up egg glared at Hiro for destroying their friend's face.*

Tadashi: Seriously Hiro, you been acting really weird for the last few months. What's gotten into you Bro. Are you sure you're feeling alright?

Hiro: *Clears throat* Y-yeah, yeah! I'm fine Tadashi, totally fine! There's nothing to worry about at all!

*Hiro finishes his breakfast as he puts away the dirty dish. While Tadashi's eyebrows furrowed, Cass leans over and bumps his shoulder with her elbow with a wide and excited smile of her face.*

Cass: I don't know about you...but I think he's really got it bad!

Tadashi: It? What 'it?' And why does Hiro 'really got it bad'?

Cass: Oh Tadashi...don't you see? I think Hiro might be in love!

*Tadashi's eyes widened as he takes in this information his aunt told him as she hums merrily to continue working.*

Tadashi: Hiro's...in love?!...With who?!

Cass: Well obviously he's not gonna just tell us. You don't know this because you haven't found someone yet, but everyone always keeps their first love a secret, especially when it's young love! *Sighs* Our little Hiro is growing up so fast!

*After his aunt tells him this, Tadashi begins to think over Hiro's behavior ever since that night he found his brother in a daze. And the following months since then, Hiro has been much more helpful around the house and Cafe, been in a much more cheerful mood than he's usually in, constantly dazing out and daydreaming with a dopey lovesick look on his face, and if all that hadn't been odd enough, he has also been looking up information about the ocean lately with the newly developed focus on killer whales. So if what his aunt just told him did in fact ring true, along with the fact that Hiro wasn't gonna tell him about it since this was his first love and what-not, He than decided that when Hiro goes out to another bot fight, he will finally meet the young person his little brother has been seeing for the past four months.*

Tadashi: Alright Hiro, since your obviously not gonna tell me who your new little friend is, I'm just gonna have to follow you and find out myself.

*Later on, Tadashi waited for Hiro to sneak out of the house to follow him in the cover of night, determined to find out who this mysterious person that had stolen Hiro's heart.*

*Cora and Hiro are at the bot fight as a tag team where they are currently facing off a representative of Yama, a notorious Yakuza leader in San Fransokyo. They were head to head as both Cora's bot Evie and Megabot held hands as they spin fast enough to chop off the head off the bot. However the crowd didn't exactly cheer so loudly this time...The man playing against Hiro and a disguised Cora had made a bet using Yama's personal cash he made from his illegal businesses... And he just lost it to the two teens. Hiro happily accepts the money and stuffs it to his pocket.*

Hiro: Thank you very much, now lets see... who else want some?

*But then he notices Cora walking away after the bot fight, and she appeared downtrodden. Hiro stuffs the money in his pockets as he runs to catch up with Cora, all the while the loser was giving the stink eye to the two teens, and his buddies are standing behind him dangerously.*

Hiro: Hey Cora! You a...y-you heading out early? What? Did you're Dad figure out or...?

*Cora sighs as she removes the mask and hood and looks at the boy.*

Cora: Hiro...You do know that the reason I come to bot fights is to help my Dad out with money issues right?

Hiro: Yeah...?

Cora: Well, my Dad finally found a job...and since he's not so stressed out anymore and our money problems are settled out now... I can't go to the bot fights anymore...

Hiro: W-what?

*Hiro, though being a genius prodigy, is still a 13 year old boy. His thoughts were running through his head as he felt his heart begin to tremble. Cora felt her eyes grow warm as she looks at her feet.*

Hiro: Does this mean...I-I won't be able to see you anymore?

*Cora continues to stare at her feet as she does her best to hold back her tears. But before either can respond, they hear footsteps behind them, stopping as their shadows loomed over them.*

Dead Meat: Well lookie here...seems these little kids are having a little trouble...

*Hiro recognizes them as the people who lost the money that belonged to Yama, and they most likely want it back. He then turned his head to Cora who looks at the grown men with wary eyes.*

Dead Meat: Either way...I want that money back.

*The men grab Hiro and pin him to the wall where they begin to punch the boy. Cora rushes towards them and begins to try and pull the men off Hiro.*

Cora: Leave him alone!

Goon #1: Don't get involved girly.

*The man throws Cora to the ground where she injured her leg. She looks up to see the men now kicking Hiro where he fell to the ground and curled up in a ball trying to shield himself. Cora's eyes changed from fear to pure fury. She looks at the men with a low and dangerous voice.*

Cora: I said...Leave. Him. Alone!

*Tadashi finally manages to arrive at the location where the bot fight is taking place, as he stills to a halt he hears distant screaming coming from his right. His throat tightened as he fears the worst. He speeds up towards an alley, immediately getting off his moped and ready to use his karate skills to protect Hiro...What he saw was the opposite of what he expected. In front of him is a young 13 year old girl with blue hair punching the men in the face and delivers a hard kick to their groins. He then spots Hiro on the ground where he rushes to his brother's aid.*

Tadashi: Hiro! Are you alright?!

Hiro: *Groggily* I'm f-fine... just check on...C-cora...

*Tadashi raises an eyebrow before he realizes what's going on and ultimately, the identity of the person Hiro was gushing over.*

Tadashi: *Looks up at the girl who was beating the men to pulp* So..that's Cora...

*Cora finally flips them over as she breathes heavily over the bruised men.*

Cora: Now Get Lost!

*The men stand up and run with their tails behind their backs. Cora takes a few breathes before she turns around and sees a young man holding Hiro. She straightens her clothes and clasps her hands together as she recalls the pictures Hiro showed her on his phone that showed his family and the stories he told her about them.*

Cora: O-oh! Um...H-hello... My name is Cora Mizchio! I'm Hiro's Gir- uh...h-his friend! You must be Tadashi. Hiro's told me all about you.

*She gives a sheepish smile as Tadashi looks over the girl and his brother, deciding that they all need to figure out what the hell is going on.*

Tadashi: Uh, do...do you mind if we all head to the cafe?

Cora: Sure?

Tadashi: Also...we may need to call your parents...

Cora: *Suddenly looking very nervous*...Oh...

*The ringtone playing Sebonzakura loudly got Kaguya's attention as she answers.*

Kaguya: Moshi moshi...Who are you...Wait...What?! Alright. We'll be right over.

*Kaguya hangs up her phone as she heads to her Son-in-laws room and pulls off the covers.*

Kaguya: Get up stupid son-in-law! Cora is out there in the middle of the night!

*Mizuchi barely heard anything as his senses were not fully activated. He was ready to doze off when Kaguya then told him what he feared most and would most likely listen to.*

Kaguya: Cora is at a Boy's house in the middle of the night!

*That shot Mizuchi awake as he immediately runs out and gets dressed, yelling loudly on how and why is his innocent daughter doing at a boy's house in the middle of the night. Kaguya shakes her head as she mumbles to herself.*

Kaguya: ...That girl better explain herself...

*As of while Hiro, Tadashi, and Cora got inside the house where Tadashi takes them upstairs.*

Tadashi: Alright, I'm going to get some bandages for you guys, also Cora, you're grandmother and father are on their way now... Man what a night...

*Tadashi goes of to the bathroom to get the medical supplies, leaving Hiro and Cora alone...*

Cora: So... this is where you live huh?...it's cool...and the Cafe looks pretty..

Hiro: Thanks... I'll tell Aunt Cass what you said..

*After a few minutes of silence, a chubby white and calico cat walks over to the two injured teens*

Cora: *Gushing* Oh! Hey there little guy, aren't you a cutie! Is this your pet cat Hiro? The one from the pictures you showed me on your phone?

Hiro: Yep, that's Mochi alright.

Cora: Well the pictures clearly don't do him justice. He's even cuter and adorable in person!

*Mochi starts to sniff the young girl as she says this and purrs. He than jumps up and rests himself on her lap.*

Hiro: Wow, he must really like you.

Cora: *Petting Mochi* Really?

Hiro: Yeah, he usually never trusts anyone this quickly.

*However, While Mochi senses she is in fact a good person, he is more attracted to the fact that she smelled of the ocean, therefore fish and therefore food.*

*They both start petting Mochi for a moment more before Cora finally breaks the ice as she begins to laugh.*

Cora: Oh my god...I just realized something...

Hiro: What?

Cora: Hiro, just because I can't go to bot fights anymore doesn't mean I can't still see you again...

Hiro: Oh! Oh...

*The two teens begin to laugh, while unbeknownst to them Tadashi is listening to the conversation, along with Cass who woke up from the commotion, along with Cora's father and Grandmother who had just arrived and were at the moment observing the two teens from the top of the stairs. They all look at the two teens with still breaths.*

Hiro: Yeah...so much for us being teen geniuses am I right!

Cora: Yeah, after all we can see each other at other places like the movies.

Hiro: Yeah! There's also the arcade and maybe that aquarium you like so much!

Cora: Uh huh! After all, they would make some awesome dates-

*Cora stops talking as soon as she realizes what she said. Hiro looks at Cora with also wide eyes as he too blushes over Cora's words. The two teens remain silent for a while as the adults ponder what's going to happen next. Finally Cora speaks up.*

Cora: Hiro...I know this is going to be really crazy for you to hear...but when I'm with you I feel like I can do anything, like I'm not afraid of what's outside anymore... You helped me when I was scared or confused over the slightest things... What I mean to say..is...

*Cora clenches her eyes as she finally spits out her feelings.*

Cora: I really like you Hiro! As in Like you-like you...You know what, screw it! I love you Hiro!

*The adults held in their gasps as they watched the young girl who have been so quiet and demure confess her love to the boy with such a loud and unwavering voice. Silence rang for a few moments as Cora mentally prepares herself for rejection. She opens her eyes as she sees Hiro holding her hand in his, Cora blushes intensely as Hiro gathers his courage and rushes out his words.*

Hiro: I...really like you too Cora, I don't think you should really like me cause I'm a huge freaking nerd and I'm awkward and I don't really know what I'm doing or if I'm doing it right, I don't even know if I'm holding your hand right! Also you're very pretty and smart and sweet and in just these last few months we've known each other... I'm just plain crazy for you!

*Cora's face blossoms to a loving smile as she tightens her hand in Hiro's.*

Cora: But you being a nerd and awkward are two of the reasons why I like you, and to be honest I thought you wouldn't like me because compared to other girls I'm not exactly...developed is the best way I can put it...

Hiro: I... I actually don't mind that you're n-not developed. I-I mean you're still really pretty...and I don't really like girls who put way too much effort into being attractive anyway... I mean it kind of makes them look fake you know...?

Cora: Yeah...

*As they spoke they begin to lean closer, their hearts pounding as their eyes slowly close...*

Cass: Wooh! Go Hiro!

*The teens snap out of it as they realized they were watched by both of their familes.*

Hiro: W-what the heck guys! What ever happened to privacy?!

*Cass simply hugs the two together which in turn they let out cringes and soft ows. She lets go as she realizes that they have yet to be treated for their wounds.*

Cass: Oh! Sorry! Sorry! My bad! Didn't mean to hurt you two through hugging! Alrighty then! I'm...I'm gonna go make some tea! Does anyone else want tea? I'll make that tea!

*Cass leaves the room with an excited squeal while Tadashi heads over to Hiro and Cora with the bandages with a sly smile on his face.*

Tadashi: Nice job Hiro.

Hiro: *Awkwardly rubs the back of his head while blushing* Hehe...thanks...

Tadashi: Even if you did one up me by getting a girlfriend first.

*Tadashi jokingly said this as he ruffles Hiro's messy hair.*

Hiro: Dashi...

*Tadashi looks at Cora who shyly looks up at him as she swings her legs back and forth. He leans to Cora's ear as he whispers.*

Tadashi: *Whispers* Cora, whatever you did, thanks. I've never seen Hiro this happy.

Cora: *Giggles as she whispers back* Your welcome, and I'm glad he has an older brother like you to watch out for him.

*Both smiled at each other as Cora and Tadashi shook hands. Finally, Cora acknowledged her family.*

Cora: Papa! Grandmama! I know you two are here, so you can come out now!

*The sight of Mizuchi's Goliath-like stature kind of made Hiro lean towards Tadashi as the older brother keeps his cool over the massive man who is looking at Hiro with an intense stare...*

*WHACK!*

*Both boys are caught off guard as the small elder woman whacked the taller man with her cane.*

Kaguya: Stop trying to scare the poor boy Mizuchi! Cora and that boy Hiro are dating now! So you better not try to scare him or break him!

Mizuchi: But Mother-in-law! We don't know anything about hi-

*WHACK!*

Kaguya: Then take the time to get to know him better! *To Hiro* I am so sorry for my son-in-law. I assure you, he means well. But I'm afraid sometimes he can be a little too intimidating and protective of Cora for his own good. Now then, lets get a good look at you shall we.

*Kaguya than leans down to get a better look at Hiro. She looks deep into Hiro's eyes, which caused Hiro to feel a little unnerved with how intense the older woman's gaze was and wondering exactly why she felt the need to stare him in the eyes like this. When she finally stopped gazing into his eyes, something he was grateful for, She was smiling approvingly at him.*

Kaguya: Yes. Oh yes, you are a true keeper my dear boy, a true keeper indeed. Definitely perfect for our Cora, no doubt you'll treat her as the treasure she truly is.

Cora: *Looking down in embrrassment* Grandmama...

Mizuchi: But...Mother-in-law, are you sure that he's-

Kaguya: Mizuchi!... I know how you feel about all of this, but you and I both know that this was bound to happen eventually. And need I remind you, I myself was overprotective of Akemi when she first met you, but in the end I accepted the fact that you were both made for each other. Besides...it can't be helped. They obviously have true feelings for each other...they both need each other now Mizuchi...

*Both Kaguya and Mizuchi looked at each other intensely for the next few moments. Though it wasn't exactly a stare down as some people would think, it was more of a silent conversation. Hiro and Tadashi shared a glance with each other before both boys looked over to Cora hoping she could explain the situation, however Cora just shrugged looking just as confused as the boys before all three of them went back to watching the two intensely staring/silent communicating adults wondering how long this was gonna keep up. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as Mizuchi finally relents as he sighs heavily and runs his hand through hair.*

Mizuchi:...It really can't be helped can it... Alright Mother-in-law. I'm still not thrilled about all this...but I guess I don't really have a choice now do I?

Kaguya: You already know that answer as well as I do son-in-law.

*The three shared another confused glance with each other, still not fully understanding as to what was going on. But thankfully at that moment Aunt Cass returns to the living room with the tea cups as she finally sees Cora's family.*

Cass: Oh! You two must be Cora's Father and Granmother! Hi I'm Cass, I'm Hiro and Tadashi's aunt.

*Cora yawns loudly as she felt the sleepiness start to run to her head.*

Kaguya: I'm sorry Miss Cass, but it's pretty late now...

*Cora then speaks up.*

Cora: However that doesn't mean we can't meet up again.

*She turns to Hiro as she smiles*

Cora: Would you and your family like to come over to our house and stay over for dinner?

Kaguya: Would you like to stay over forever?

Mizuchi: Mother-in-law!

*Hiro covers his mouth to suppress his giggles before he clears his throat and faces Cora.*

Hiro: Dinner would be great.

*With that the families parted their separate ways, Cora giving a kiss on the cheek for Hiro as she gives him her phone number but not before she apologizes for what happened between her father and grandmother, still having no idea as to what that was all about. To which Hiro told her it was fine, a little weird he was willing to admit, but fine, much to her relief. As she flops into her bed, she felt like she could float on a sunbeam. She is officially in a romantic relationship with an amazing boy, someone she can relate to and talk to, someone who made her feel special. Hiro also flopped onto his bed, exhausted, but happier than he had ever been in years. He now has a girlfriend and had scored said girl's number, although Tadashi wouldn't stop teasing him about this. Like when are they gonna have their first kiss? When are they gonna get married? Could he be his best man at the wedding? He knew it embarrassed Hiro and made him freak out, which is why he did it. Hiro couldn't wait to show Cora the inventions he and Tadashi had invented over the years! Maybe he'd even share his secret stash of gummy bear with her.*

Tadashi: Hiro, get into your pj's, you can't be comfortable sleeping in your normal clothes.

*Tadashi is in his bed and ready to pass out. Hiro just groaned in response, his eyes already closed as he drifted off to sleep with the thought of Cora on his mind.*

A.N: Here is the one-shot of the story 'Fire and Ice Roses'. With the help of Wolfwithchuntress1314 who edited this story. Hope you enjoyed the story of how Hiro and Cora became a couple! Love you!

[fallenesspoetry]

Venus and the Wolf (A Blindspot AU)

Summary:

A Roman/Tasha AU story, in which Jane’s memory hasn’t been wiped yet. Instead, she’s missing and presumed dead after the Orion mission had been taken down. A story, in which Roman makes a different decision, and a story, in which Tasha already is an undercover agent for the CIA, posing as an identity dealer.

It’s based on the scene in 2/17 when Roman remembers staring at Alice’s name at the papers for the trust fund (with the bank in the Bahamas) he was asked to cash out, sobbing.

A collab with @eachdressiown (Roman), I'm writing Tasha's POV.

Warning: Swearing.

Chapter Two “A Venus on Ice”

The heat was unbearably stifling, literally crunching on the tip of the tongue, its gritty taste rolling in the mouth. The sky was cloudless, and the sun shone in its full force, leaving no chance for the weather to change into something more humid.

A young woman stretched herself in the chair, desperately wishing the heat to slacken at least for a tiny bit. Her day had just started, so she had, at best, ten hours to go. Or more, if it was a busy day. But it seemed some people were followed by a trouble, so every day had become a busy one quite too often.

Usually, the clientele started coming in ranting how fast they needed the things done and refusing to agree on the price. It never ceased to amaze her how ridiculously dumb most of the people were. No one could comprehend a simple truth:

If you want to get something, you need to give something in return.

It was as simple as that. You could bend the rules, break the laws, but in the end of the day there was always something you had to give up.

The woman clicked the remote, lowering the temperature on the AC, not really expecting it would help. Just as it hadn't helped at all for the past hour. Right now she wished nothing more than to sink into the icy cold bath.

Her outfit made her even more irritated: the white tank top was clinging to her body, and denim shorts almost itched the skin. Her dark straight hair was pinned at the back into a messy knot, a few loose strands tickling her wet neck from time to time. But she couldn't care less about appearing unprofessional.

Anyway, lots of her clients were often hanging by a thread, and judging by their you-are-my-last-hope looks, they could have been fine even if she were naked. She just needed to make them dissolve as if they had never existed.

There was something rough about this particular woman. One could say various tests at the FBI and later at the CIA had certainly left their mark on her: a fit and tough figure as well as outstanding marksman skills made her an invaluable asset for any kind of an op. Especially off-the-books ops.

It was no time though, when the untamable nature got the best of her. Soon enough she got sick of constantly getting under one's thumb and being dependent on someone's dirty secrets.

And so, here she was, in Bahamas, running a business — well, not exactly a business — but it was much better than slaving on one's behalf in the middle of nowhere, risking to be thrown away at the exact second the things went sideways.

Just as she came back with an ice cube taken from the fridge, now pressing its refreshing coldness to her neck, sliding it back and forth, the phone rang.

The number was unknown. Well, it didn't matter. She would answer it anyway.

“¡Hola, señorita! ¿Cómo estás?” cheerfully wondered a cheeky voice, with raspy softness to it, masked by a quite decent Spanish pronunciation. She immediately recognized it:

Richdotcom.

For the past few years she got used to this man's eccentric way of having a conversation. She had to, anyway, since they both had started off this small ‘enterprise’.

Together they developed an intricately sophisticated way of bypassing any kind of security measures allowing to craft a completely untraceable new identity for those in need.

Her business partner was the most skillful hacker of the century who breached dozens of secure and unbreachable systems. And she was the rogue CIA agent going off the radar.

“What's up, Rich?” the woman asked, sounding as nice and polite as she could. Actually, the time went by and she got to like him, but it didn't change the fact he was nothing but a pain in the ass.

“Cold as ever, huh, Toots?”

“I swear if you call me anything but Tasha…”

“Would you mind to keep going? I don't want that ice cube to be wasted,” completely ignoring her, leisurely said Rich, his voice getting silkier and raspier.

“What if my gun is accidentally stuck somewhere it doesn't belong? What do you say about that?”

“I'll say, I'm all game for a good gun-play.”

Un-fucking-believable!

Just as Tasha thought about it, Rich continued:

“As much as I like to chat with you, I actually have a job here.”

“Ok, shoot.”

“So, the lead came from a guy we both know, so it should be solid. Let me double-check real quick...”

Rich made a pause, and Tasha heard the drumming strokes followed by occasional ‘What the…’ and “You're fucking kidding me!”

Meanwhile, the ice cube between her fingers had melted into a liquid. It trickled down her neck to her cleavage, tickling her a bit. She put the phone on a speaker mode, and rose, walking to take another one or two.

The sun seemed to penetrate with its scorching fingers even though the closed curtains. It felt as if one was trapped in the microwave, which was getting hotter and hotter with every second.

The place once was a two-storied flower shop, but Tasha and Rich expanded it into a cozy two-bedroom apartment on the second floor, and the office on the first floor.

For all the nosy go-byers there was a sign that this building was currently on sale, but the price was so sky-high that soon enough no one even dared asking for an estimate. There were a lot of much more cheaper options, and soon enough everyone had just quit to come. Rich also made sure the mayor didn't bother them too. Rumors travelled fast, so only those who had an urgent matter of disappearing from the radars could find their way in here.

Despite the house had been mostly her office for seven days a week, 365 days a year, Tasha liked it. It reminded her a bit if her own apartment with its minimalistic decor, yet preserving the coziness she remembered since that time.

Finally, sounding extremely angry, Rich hissed through his teeth:

“We have a problem. A fucking serious problem.”

Tasha had never heard him talking like that. Hell, she couldn't even remember when it was the last time Rich got angry over something.

“What is it? It can't be that bad, can it?”

“I can't confirm this fucking passport. Not a single trace. It's a damn fake! A good fake, actually. It took me a lot of effort to crack it. It's as fake as the whore's...”

“Please, don't even… So what do we do?”

“‘We’ don't do anything. You, on the other hand, have to meet with this guy. Because according to our idiotic middleman, this fella is on his way to you.”

Tasha got used to different kinds of clients as some of them were either thugs or complete jerks. But this time her gut told her that the guy she was about to meet was a different story. And certainly, confident as hell.

We'll see about that, — thought Tasha to herself. Rich was still murmuring curses as he fiercely typed something. Soon her laptop dinged with a few emails.

“I hate to bring it up, but what if he's… Well, he gets here, sees the place. He could be anyone, you know. What do you want me to do then, Rich?”

To be honest, such things happened not too often, but happened. Just like at any job, there were some complications. And in her line of work, these complications acquired a physical embodiment. It wasn't foreign for Tasha to kill in cold blood and cover her tracks, but it had become very much tiresome.

“Listen, we've talked about this. I'm not a big fan of dead bodies. That's why you get your extra clean up fee, right?”

Well, it was true. Leaning back on the chair, stroking her neck and arms with the ice, she said:

“I'm hoping you're right. I'd really hate to stick to my gun-play promise.”

They said good-byes and hang up. Just as Tasha was checking her gun, she noticed it became dark outside.

Apparently, the sun had finally hid behind a thick set of clouds slowly floating by. The clouds seemed to stall and become filthy gray, but it wasn't raining yet.

But Tasha didn't have time to admire the view as rushed to hide the case boxes with files. Once she was done, she also cleaned any papers left on every shiny surface in the office. A few of her other guns had been also re-loaded, and sticked with tape under the table and the chair.

For obvious reasons there was no alarm, but a special self-destruction protocol and other security measures had been in place. All the files being deleted, one could remotely set the house on fire by provoking an electric circuit failure.

Satisfied with how well she had prepared for her 'guest', Tasha took a quick shower and changed into another pair of shorts and another tank top, this time black.

Just as she got back to her laptop to open the email from Rich, the doorbell rang.

She rose, hiding the gun behind her back, and walked to the door. Pausing for a second, the woman took a deep breath, put on a polite smile and turned the doorknob.

Tasha blinked, making sure it was real.

The man, probably in his early thirties, stood in the doorway, curving his lip in an undecipherable grin.

He perfectly blended in with the environment, wearing a pale-blue shirt, loosened the way one could notice a hard, defined six-pack, and a pair of light shorts as well as sneakers.

Once he saw the door opened, he idly took his cap and sunglasses off, meeting her with the keen gaze of his light brown eyes with a bit green to them. His oval face was slightly tanned, and he had a one-day bristle. Grinning, he looked like a well-fed cat, glowing with a smug satisfaction.

One thing was certain — this man was making her skin crawl. She had dealt before with the most unpleasant and, sometimes, very horrifying men. But he... He was different. The inner strength was emanating from him, though she wouldn’t say he was a typical 'muscle' type.

The stranger was a bit taller than her — almost six feet. His fit figure, wide shoulders and well-defined muscular arms indicated he was always on the move, letting his vigorous self free.

Tasha had an odd feeling she could have known him. But, of course, that wasn't true.

He had something vaguely familiar about him. Was it his roughness reminding Tasha of her own untamed nature? Or, perhaps, the lone wolf-like intense stare?

He kept himself at ease, but she felt he was putting up a show. No, it wasn't nerves — Tasha was sure he was pretty much confident about himself as such a man could be.

The thing was, she sensed this particular man had a bunch of very unpleasant reasons to hide behind this carefree mask.

Meanwhile, the guy was shamelessly checking her out, not even bothering she would notice it. Well, she was used to get dirty looks so it wasn’t a big deal. Those who dared to cross the line got a set of a painful punches resulting in a few broken ribs. This guy hadn’t crossed it yet, so he might enjoy himself while he still could.

Returning him a smile, Tasha noticed a long and thin scar on his cheek. The wound edges were rigid, as if someone was using a piece of glass to cut him. The scar made him look even more dangerous and somehow attractive.

Certainly, this guy was constantly alert, always aware of the situation, and if needed, he could struck swiftly and ruthlessly. His veined, skillful hands with spider-like fingers, lean and long, had told the story to anyone who had a keen eye — he was undoubtedly capable of killing someone, no weapon needed. And one hadn’t needed to guess what happened to the person leaving him with the scar.

At least he seems to know what he wants.

Because most of the time the clients coming in here were nothing but a hopeless whining pieces of shit. It felt good to meet a man like him for a change.

Something told her, things were going to get very interesting.

TBC