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bubbabobabubbles · 3 years

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pt.2 of my ac x bnha crossover

uhh i really don't know how to do links that'll be fun to figure out

your hair is going to be split dyed (naturally) and the right side is going to be a pristine silver the other side you pick if you cant pick black goes well for what I have planned soo have fun!

it was near the middle of the day when one of the trouble makers came to class, more specifically our golden-eyed girl. she and her counterpart had already been briefed about what was going down and what they needed to do. now that day was the day the duo was supposed to come back to school, and it was a matter of time when they were supposed to come back. they had their mutual friend nagisa shiota fill them in on what the tentacle monster could do so she wasn't surprised to see two students get called to the front with blades in their hands. the first words she ever comes from a teacher were,

"try to strike me with those knives."

now if nothing piqued her interest that defiantly did the trick. who wants a knife to the head? she watched from a higher-up place as the other students murmured and their eyes widened in confusion. seeing as they were hesitating she jumped down from her spot and stole one from someone else's hand and rushed at the man with a murderous glint in her eyes and swung.

slash

swing

swish

the students were confused by the girl pinned on the ground, she got pretty close to karasuma and she hadn’t been in the class before. who was she? why was she here? and why in the HELL was she trying to stab their teacher? they all stared in bewilderment until karasuma's voice broke them out of their stupor, "I'm assuming you're [redacted] (y/n)? where's akabane karma, I heard you two are always together." with his almost monotone voice it seemed like more of a statement than a question.

"he was still sleeping and I was getting bored. I'm also assuming you're not the ugly octopus we have to kill? or are you and you just look like that so you're not disgusted with your own looks, ugly ass mother fu-" the girl gets interrupted by seeing a head of blue hair, "hi nagisa! is this the octopus or is he an actual human?" the girl was giving a bright smile, with her face still being held on the ground, but still smiling nonetheless. the class however was shocked, how did this sweetheart of a human being know this vulgar girl?

"no that's karasuma. i thought I showed you pictures?" the golden-eyed beauty (cause you're beautiful) finally escaped the grown man's chokehold and responded, "I mean yeah, you did. i was probably sleeping through. you and karma have long enough conversations as it is, it was probably the day i moved into his house." another look of mild shock came across the class. just who is this girl? well, it seems that she picked up on the confused looks she was getting and finally introduced herself, “oh hey everyone. please call me (y/n) happy to meet you.” the class looked at her and deadpanned. why was she so cheerful for class?

“the only reason even got close is because no one could sense you.” the girl that was finally upright looked at the teacher with a raised eyebrow and stated with a small smug smirk, “you could sense me i know it. i was just faster than you.” the teacher just stayed quiet, knowing it was true. ignoring the amazed looks coming from her peers she walked up to the blond female she stole the green blade from in the first place and handed it back to her with a wink, "this is yours, thanks for letting me borrow it." a light flushed look came to nakamura and started stuttering. with a laugh (y/n) motioned for karasuma to resume his teaching.

everyone was still standing outside while karasuma was talking and finishing his lesson, everyone was quiet standing to listening to him. what people had not noticed yet was the student standing on top of the hill with strawberry milk in his hand just chilling and watching from afar, waiting for a certain someone to notice him. as those two certain people turned around one had the reaction he expecting while the other didn't look like he knew what he should do to do.

"KARMAAAAAAA"

"hey there angel." the demon-like male chuckled to himself as the girl attached herself to his front after sprinting up the hill they were on and he supported her with one hand since he had his strawberry milk in the other, "you seem happy this morning what's up." she just smiled like a child, "karasuma is a good teacher I like him!" this made karmas interest peak. (y/n) was like him, neither of them liked teachers, both of them have wanted to kill teachers in the past. what was so good about this one? "oh really?" as the two conversed oblivious to the curious looks the rest of the class were giving them.

"yo nagisa, how are you doing? it's been a while" the sudden foreign voice interrupted their thoughts, "karma... you came back." this made karma give a close-eyed smile which sent shivers up the blue-haired boy's spine, especially since (y/n) had a small one to match.

karma walked down the hill with the girl still situated around his front with his hands holding her thighs and her hands around his neck to hold herself up. "so this is the infamous korosensei? i didn't expect nagisa to be completely right about that part, you really do look like an octopus!" he let the girl's thighs go in favor of setting her down, which she let him do.

in exchange, she gave a small grin and hid her hands behind her back. karma nodded to her and they walked up to their teacher in a sweet manner, thinking they were going to introduce themselves korosensei started to talk, "you're _____ (y/n) and akabane karma correct? i heard both of your suspensions were finished today. BUT i don't think that's an excuse for both of you to be late, and (y/n) you didn't need to attack a teacher the first time you show up here and come back." the yellow octopus' face turned purple with an 'X' in the middle. karma gave a soft and short chuckle.

"sorry it's hard to get back into things you know? feel free to use my first name, the same thing with (y/n). we both think it's less formal." he then held his hand out to shake, "it was nice to meet you, sensei!" something that korosensei didn't realize was that there was something on the student's hands, and another student slipping away. "likewise! let's make this a good and fun year."

as korosensei reached a tentacle to shake karma's hand, as soon as they made contact the tentacle gave a loud 'POP'.

"nyuu!"

karma slid an anti-korosenei knife into his hand from his sleeve, siding it around fast enough to give a fast swipe to their teacher's abdomen. not noticing (y/n) behind him, she had the same substance along her arms down to his hands, so jumping on the alien and getting into contact with about 4 tentacles making them explode as well. The knife she had acquired a couple of minutes prior was sitting comfortably in her hand, managing to cut another tentacle off with a slightly crazed grin resting on her features. the teacher finally had enough time to jump back, looking down at his arm with no emotion clear on his face.

"huh. these really do work against you and you're pretty fast. we tried cutting them into small pieces to stick to ourselves," he gestured to the back of (y/n)'s thigh and showed their hands, "but y'know i really didn't think you'd fall for a trick as simple as this. i mean as an assassin yourself you'd have to be an idiot." it was (y/n)'s turn to finally talk, "adding onto that you jumped back pretty far! aren't you a bit too frightened by some junior high kids?"

"we've heard that you had people call you "korosensei" because it means unkillable, but..."

"are you really that easy of a mark?"

'don't go anywhere, korosensei. we'll show you what it's like to be killed.'

as the duo kept lightly taunting the alien teacher kadae looked over at nagisa who seemed to know the two, "nagisa, it hasn't been long that I've been here and joined class-e so I don't know them. what sort of people are they?" with kadae asking the question a couple of the other student's tuned in so they could listen in as well.

"well for both of them, we were all in the same class for two years, i know that karma and (y/n) have been friends for years before that though. when we were in our second year, both of them were suspended for committing acts of violence repeatedly, even though whenever (y/n) fought she was always provoked first but none of the teachers believed her and since she's usually on edge it's not easy to sneak up on her to do anything. those are the things that landed them in e-calss" when they looked back at the two walking towards their general direction they just stared. "but with the situation we're in, they're probably going to be at the top of the class."

others looked at the light-haired boy in mild confusion, kadae finally asked, "what do you mean?" for a second nagisa took a breath looking at the two flipping the rubber blades around, "if you're looking for people that are proficient in weapons, sneak attacks, and foul play. you can bet those two are some of the best, and they'll probably excel. (y/n)'s really good at hand-to-hand combat too."

once the students got into the classroom and got situated, korosensei gave out a quiz, they were supposed to finish this within a certain time limit but the yellow man had been punching the wall with his tentacles making a squishing sound that started to annoy everyone there.

"what is korosensei been doing?"

"he's doing wall punches isn't he?

"yeah, karma and (y/n)'s comment's probably got to him. he's probably mad."

"his tentacles are too soft to do any damage, though."

okano seemed like she finally had enough of it and looked up from her desk with a scowl on her face, "that's it! enough with the squishing sound! we're taking a quiz here!" korosensei turned and nodded his head with vigor. "p-pardon me!"

in the back of the class terasaka and his buddies looked towards (y/n) on karmas lap, "why does she do that?" the red head looked at the girl in his lap and looked back up again, "we're very close and she's tired cant you see?" her breathing was even and her eyes were closed, no one even noticed she got up from her seat to go and sleep in karmas arms.

the three males shrugged and asked loudly, "so anyways, karma. you sure about this? the monster's pissed." yoshia looked back at the couple and spoke up next, "and we're sure as hell not getting involved." muramatsu then gave his two cents to the situation, "sure you two wouldn't rather be secluded at home again?"

karma gave a quiet chuckle as to not wake the sleeping girl in his arms, "if you were about to be killed, f course you would be angry." at that moment (y/n) decided to stir and say something about the situation, "it's a bit different to just having someone fail miserably and pissing himself instead."

terasaka being the prick he is this early in the show yelled at the newly awaken girl and red-headed boy, "wha- i didn't piss myself! are you two looking for a fight?!" karma being well... him, didn't lose his temper and kept quiet while (y/n) stuck her tongue out and pulled down her bottom eyelid. korosensei heard the last comments and decided to speak up, "hey, you guys over there! don't make a ruckus during the test!"

'tell that to your tentacles.'

"sorry korosensei but (y/n) and I have already finished," he pulled out a singular ice cream cone filled with strawberry icecream, "so we're just going to sit here now and I'm gonna eat my gelato." korosensei still looked angry, "not in class you won't!" korosensei paused between his words, "tha-that's my gelato i bought from Italy yesterday!"

'it's yours?'

karma looked up with a fake gasp while taking a small bit on his tongue, "oh it's yours? i just found it chilling in the staff room." he handed it off to the sleepy girl to hold who took it with care, taking a small bite surprising some of the people in the class, cause who bites their ice cream man?

"it was such a pain to fly through the freezing stratosphere to keep it from melting!" karma gave a smile while (y/n) just looked up at their teacher and took another bite making the other people in the room grimace, besides karma.

"is that so? well whatcha gonna do about it then?" she took another bite, "hit me?"

kororsensei's face turned red with anger. "I will not! I'll just take what's left of it." he began to walk(?) (glide??) over to retrieve the frozen treat until, "come on now, hand it ov-" a popping sound was heard from down below. korosensei had a look of shock cross his eyes, seeing one of his tentacles was gone for the second time that day, around him on the ground were red BB pellets.

karma and (y/n) had taken out their guns and began to shoot at him, (y/n) being slightly faster had shot one off with a white BB, while the others kept missing since the yellow octopus began doing with a cold sweat beginning to drip of his head.

"gotcha again sensei!" karma laughed while (y/n) gave a small grin, korosensei gave a groan in disapproval. the two troublemaking kids had walked up to their teacher the shorter of the two in front. their classmate's eyes were wide at the scene happening before them.

"we'll use these tricks however many times this takes. neither of us really care if it disrupts the class." (y/n) was the one who spoke up this time, "if you don't like this," she pressed her gun to his chest, "then you can kill us, along with our families."

karma walked in the front now opening his mouth to say something, "but from that moment on," he 'stabbed' korosensei with the remaining gelato (y/n) had put back into his hand prior, "no one will ever view you as a teacher. they'll all view you as just some murderous monster." karma took a step back, letting the gelato go, leaving a red stain on his robes.

"we'll be the one's to have killed your existence as a teacher"

"here's our tests by the way, the answers are probably all correct." (y/n) handed the papers to their teacher. "bye sensei! let's play again tomorrow too!" karma turned back to give a quick wave (y/n) doing the same with a small grin on her face, "we'll see everyone tomorrow as well!" as they were walking out he slung an arm around her shoulder and walked out.

'they've always been quick-witted.' nagisa thought to himself as korosensei wiped off the gelato with a sigh. 'those two have always been the same though...recognizing there's a line korosensei can't cross if he wants to continue being a teacher.' his teacher looked down at the wipe with the red looking like something else, 'karma's are going to use some cheap tactic to irritate our teacher. but they'll probably end up using (y/n)'s intelligence which can see others true intentions and his skills at handling others, no matter the type to clash with people.'

"they both seem like smart student's but, just as karma said," he held up thier papers karma's showing a 100 and (y/n) showing a 97, "if i want to remain a teacher I'm not allowed to kill or hurt them." he flew faster after putting the papers away. "so how am i going to deal with both of them?"

it was finally the end of the day, "see ya, nagisa!" said boy raised his hand in reply, "yup! see you tomorrow!"

"hey, look it's nagisa!" some kid came up behind him, continuing with his conversation with his friend, "he must feel right at home down in e-class." his dumbass friend replied, "what a lame guy. he'll never make it out of there unless he shapes up." the conversation just kept going, nagisa's eyes shining with self-doubt. "plus, i heard that (y/n) and karmas suspension is over now, i heard they're both in e-class too!" when will they shut up? "that's the pits! i would rather die than wind up there!"

glass shattering could be heard from both sides of the males, "really? you'd rather die?" a familiar voice rang through nagisa's ears. "how about right now then?" the other voice that normally accompanied it spoke. a small screech escaped the chubbier ones mouth, "akabane! ______!" they ran away not living up to their words with obvious fear reaching across their faces.

karma and (y/n) threw their glass bottles behind them, "ha like we'd actually do it."

'who'd want another suspension after discovering such a nice plaything?'

the duo walked over to their friend with steady steps, "karma, (y/n)..." nagisa started but the red headed male interrupted, "so nagisa, there's something we wanted to ask you." the trio walked through the scanners, scanning their passes as they went through. "we see that you've got a few notes on our teacher and that you know a few things about korosensei." nagisa paused for a second to think about his response. "uh, yeah. kind of."

"does he really get mad if you call him octopus?" (y/n) interfeared.

"an octopus?" he thought back to a paper that was graded, "uhm no i think it's the opposite. i mean he always draws himself as an octopus, and he always picks the octopus in video games. and when he was digging around in the sandbox..." 'octopus pot'

nagisa sweatdropped at the memory. "so if he's making jokes like that, i'd say that the octopus thing is kind of like a trademark, a one-line gag." karma laughed to himself, "i'd just thought of a silly idea." nagisa looked at (y/n) noticing she was being quiet and not being surprised when she was getting talked to by some blond kid, "what are you up to now, karma?" still not looking back he responded, "I'm just happy." the teen finally turned around, "i was just thinking about what i'd do if he was just some monster, but it's turning out to be he's an actual teacher."

the train passed behind the boy making it darker and his golden eyes stand out, a sadistic smile coming across his face. "so i finally get to kill an actual teacher." this is something no one has seen in a while, "i mean, the last one died went and died on his own accord." nagisa gave a small gasp but kept his emotions to himself.

(y/n) had finally finished her conversation with the blond guy that was honestly horrible at flirting by telling him that she had a boyfriend. after he backed off and apologized, she found out his name was kaminari denki and that he went to U.A. that's where her older sister went. they did end up trading socials after having a really fun conversation and agreed they could be friends.

after that, she went back to her friends as they got onto the train and they went home for the day.

#bnha #assassination classroom #x reader

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mackey-ado · 4 years

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I´m Yours Pt 1/2 Bender!reader x Aang

It was the next day and Sokka, Toph, and Katara went to a market to purchase supplies. They told Aang and I to wait outside, so we were just standing side-by-side in silence. “So, uh…. I like your clothes! They kinda match mine,”Aang said while blushing, trying to break the silence. I let out an awkward chuckle, before fiddling with the outfit nervously.

“Oh well-” I began to say before being interrupted by a man two times bigger than Aang and I. “What are you two kids doing? If you’re gonna skip school you should at least change outta your school clothes,”The man said, crossing his arms and looking at us with an irritated expression. I looked to my side at Aang with a facial expression that clearly said ´uh oh.’

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

We were sitting in our seats. Aang changed his name to Kuzon to avoid being exposed as the Avatar, and as for me, Izuma. The teacher continued on with the lesson, not passing us a second glance. I slowly turned my head to look at Aang, whose eyes were focused on the teacher. I smiled to myself, placing my hand on my chin. ‘He’s perfect,’ I thought to myself. His beautiful hair fell on his headband so naturally, I pointed out.

“Kuzon, Izuma’s staring at you,” Some kid pointed out. I felt my face warm up at being called out. I felt like I was going to throw up, I have never been this embarrassed. “Oooh!” The class teased. Aang looked over to see my eyes tearing up. I laid my head in my arms to avoid Aang’s gaze. “Everyone settle down!” The teacher scolded the class.

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When we were at recess, I tried my best to avoid Aang. “Izuma!” Aang called out. I looked behind me to see Aang running towards me. I paused where I was to give him the chance to catch up. When he finally reached me, he was out of breath. “I'm sorry, are you ok?¨ Aang asked. “I´m ok Aa- Oh, I mean, Kuzon.” I corrected, stopping myself from blowing Aang’s cover. I gave him a hug, causing him to nuzzle his face into my neck. I felt his warm breath, which sent chills down my spine. He pulled away, looking into my eyes with a soft smile.

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School was over finally. “School’s finally over, Momo.” Aang said happily. Momo poked his face out of Aang´s shirt. I giggled, Momo was clearly trying to get out of his shirt. “Hi Kuzon.” A girl said to us, causing Aang and I to jump. The girl laughed. “Don't worry, I'm not a tattle-tale. I´m Onji by the way.”

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Aang and I went back to the cave. “Where were you two?!” Katara asked Aand and I in a scolding tone. “School,” Aang and I said at the same time. ¨Wha- School? We were worried about you guys!” Sokka said. “Can we go back?” Aang asked. “No!” Sokka scolded firmly.

“Aw… but we were gonna learn about a secret river that leads into the palace,” I said. Sokka squinted his eyes and placed his hand on his chin. “I do love secret rivers.”Sokka stated. “Ok you can go back, just try to keep a low profile.” Katara said. Aang and I nodded.

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Everyone was asleep. I, on the other hand, haven't even managed a wink. ‘I can’t keep lying to them like this. I´m not an earthbender, well I am in a way, it's confusing.’ I thought to myself. I got up and went outside. I sat down, closed my eyes and started to meditate. “Y/N?” I heard a voice behind me call out. I turned my head to see Aang rubbing his eyes. “Are you ok?” He sat down next to me.

“Wait, why were you meditating?” Aang asked. “Who- me? Meditating? Pfft, you got the wrong girl.” I retorted. Aang raised an eyebrow, not buying what I said. “I was meditating,” \I finally decided to admit. I looked down at my fingers nervously. “Y/n.. can I ask you something?” He asked, trying to sound casual. “Sure, you know you don't have to ask, you can just tell me.” I said looking at him.

“Can you be my meditating buddy?” He asked in a childish tone. “No.” I replied. He looked down at the dirt with a sad look. “C´mon Aang you know I was joking.” I said, feeling bad for what I had done. “Yeah, I know. You wouldn't miss a chance to spend time with a handsome guy like me!” He stated. I laughed at what he said. “Think what you wanna think Avatar Aang!” I said in a playful tone. “I'm going to go back to sleep.” He said, standing up and walking away. I thought about what the next day´s would be like. I have to tell them, soon.

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Aang and I were walking to school. “So…. Why were you staring at me yesterday?” Aang asked. “What? Oh….. That… Well I needed to see what your hair colour looked like.” I said trying to sound smooth. “Oh..” Aang said, he sounded kinda disappointed. “Hey Aang, I figured out why our clothes are similar! We go to the same school…” I said trying to make a joke, clearly I was bad at making jokes because Aang looked at me in a way that said ‘please stop’

We turned left into an alley that looked pretty creepy. Aang grabbed my hand, and slowly walked through. I blushed at Aang’s actions. “Hello pretty girl.” A man said, tugging onto my hair. “What's a pretty girl like you doing with a slob like this…?” Another man asked. Aang looked at me with wide eyes. “Don’t touch her!” Aang said, pushing the man away from me. “Aang, we should go…” I whispered. Aang nodded, and he started walking a little bit faster.

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“Quickly, to your seats.” The teacher said, standing in front of her desk. We sat down before the teacher said to stand up and say the fire nation pledge. Aang mocked the whole thing. “Kuzon… as a consequence for mocking our pledge, we will start with a pop quiz.” The teacher said in an upset tone. The class groaned as a response.

“Question 1, what year did Firelord Sozin battle the Air nation army?” The teacher asked in a dull tone. Aang raised his hand. “Kuzon, you idiot, don’t!” I whispered to him. “Kuzon?” The teacher said, raising an eyebrow. “Is that a trick question? The Air-Nomads didn’t have a formal military. Sozin defeated them by ambush.” Aang explained, everyone’s face looked surprised.

Aang must have noticed his mistake, because he looked at me with frightened eyes. “Well, I don't know how you could possibly know more than our national history book...unless you were there 100 years ago….” The teacher said to Aang, disapproving of his answer. “I’ll just write down my best guess….” Aang said, rubbing the back of his neck. He sat down and quickly wrote down an answer, trying to avoid the stares he was getting. I was in the middle of writing something when a crumpled piece of paper was thrown at the back of my head. I picked the paper up and read it: Meet me at the bench during recess.

“Izuma?” The teacher said in an annoying tone. “May I ask you to hand over the piece of paper? Now!” She said grabbing it from me. “Oh Izuma’s got a note, allow me to read it to you all. It says, ‘Meet me at the bench during recess’.” She said, Aang whipped his head to face me. “Who gave that to you?” He whispered to me. I shrugged, not knowing why he cared so much about it.

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When we were at recess, Aang ignored me. “Hey… uh Kuzon I liked your dance.” Onji said to Aang. I watched from afar, feeling a little hurt that Aang wasn’t talking to me. I had no idea why, although I wish I did. “Thanks Onji, I could show you it again if you like?” He offered. I remembered that I needed to meet with someone. I slowly walked to the bench and saw a tall guy with bronze eyes and black hair. When I approached him, he blushed. Then his eyes widened and I raised my brow, looking behind me to see what he was gawking at. When I turned around, I saw Onji’s boyfriend throwing punches at Aang. I ran over to the crowd to get a good look at the fight. Aang wasn’t throwing punches, he was more like dodging them. When the boy gave one swift blow at Aang, Aang jumped out of the way, sending the boy to fall on the ground. “KUZON!” A teacher yelled, the fight ceasing at the call. “Picking fights on the second day of school? You will bring your parents in after school to discuss your behavior.” The teacher said looking down at Aang. “My p-parents?“ Aang repeated, sweat dripping down his forehead. I gulped, knowing that he- well… didn't have parents. I tried saying that as nice as I could.

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Toph and I were told to stay back at the cave.

“ Toph, can I tell you something? “ I asked eagerly. ¨Sure anything for my little friend!¨ Toph said while looking- well facing me.

Thank you @noyakru for helping me with this! I really Love working with you, and cant wait to work with you more!!

#aang x reader #atla azula #xreader #aang #avatar zuko #atla #avatar #avatar aang

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bitch-i-migth-be · 4 years

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Crash Course | Chapter 05: Priorities

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman,

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton & Vlad Masters, Ember Mclain & Kitty, Danny Fenton & Cujo

Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton,Cujo, Ember Mclain, Kitty, Lunch Lady, Younblood, Skulker, Johnny 13, Random ghosties mentions *boo*, Vlad Fucking Masters Everyone

Words: 6′582

Tags: BAMF Danny, Ghost zone shenanigans, Sibling bonding, Shenanigans, Swearing, Family dinners, Heteronormativity?? The fuck is that, Danny in Cosplay, Ghost King Danny,

Summary: He swore his sister was trying to make him go into cardiac arrest - considering his halfa status that was quite the accomplishment-

But there was no other explanation to his sister’s stubbornness, and if he knew her at all there was just no talking her down from interning at goddam Arkham.

A/N:

Some of you *coming here for the fights, angst and The Drama™ that a DP & DC crossover inevitably involves*: “Hey-”

Me *Trying to write fluffy shit to liberate and soothe my deranged soul from this mortal prison*: “S'up?”

-.-.-.-

This is so long compared to the other chapters. Whhy is this so loooong. UGH- It’s almost double the length of the first four chapters together? I thought it was less? This would have been bigger if I hadn’t posted chapter 4 first? What is happening

THIS IS ON AO3, IF ANYONE WOULD PREFER TO READ THERE. LOVE COMmENTs so if u have anything to say IwillBeReallyHappyYesThankU

CHAPTERS: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

-.-.-.-

Phantom was currently drifting on the Ghost zone trying to hunt down his next unsuspecting victim among the ghosts.

‘Oh, how the turn tables.’ the halfa chuckled.

Jazz had kept her word and after pulling an all-nighter they had come up with some interesting options.

Now he just needed to pull them off.

The sound of growling at his back made him freeze on his tracks. He turned around to look at the source of the sound.

“Oh,” Well, this certainly had not been on the plans. To stumble upon such a mighty beast this early on. He smiled. “Hi, Cujo!”

The happy barking that followed the greeting was rather endearing, normally whenever he crossed paths with the pup he would spare some time to play with him and teach him some tricks. After some months of the pup following him around and of the halfa trying to deny to anyone who would listen, especially Val, that the dog was not really his, Danny finally gave up and got him a new collar.

The little guy was quite spoiled nowadays.

Sadly, right now he was on a timeline.

“Sorry, bud. No playtime today, I’m on a rather tight schedule.” Phantom cooed softly, reaching down to briefly scratch behind the pup’s ears.

Cujo sat on his hind legs, paws in the air and tail wagging, effectively cutting off his path.

Not like he couldn’t try to fly around, mind you, but with a dog that could go gigamax on your ass, it was better to just talk your way out.

Just when Danny was about to open his mouth the pup upgraded to excited wiggling on the non-existent floor of the zone.

The halfa sighed to himself. Fond smile growing without his explicit permission.

“Cujo-” he tried, just to be interrupted again. “And there goes the whining, Oh. My. God.”

The boy covered his face with his hands, not daring to look until the sounds stopped completely. After a moment, he finally took a peek from between his fingers.

Sad, puppy dog eyes were looking up at him, small little whine making a comeback.

Fucking shit.

He was going soft.

-.-.-.-

“Match head.”

The sound of the nickname momentarily dragged Ember’s full attention from the tuning of her guitar to the new arrival.

“Baby Pop.” She took notice of the green puppy posing as a hat on the white-haired boy’s head and snorted, eyes going back to the guitar. “Blessed the eyes. You going Cruella on us now or what?”

“Please,” The boy jested. “Like we need a remasterized skulker around here.”

“At least the woman did it for fashion.” She hummed. “You would make a horrid carpet, you are too fucking skinny.”

“Excuse you, bitch.” Phantom shot back, irritation clear on his voice. Ember rejoiced on it.

She faked a gasp,“ Are you saying you want Skulky to make you into a rug, baby pop? Scandalous!”

“T-that’s not-!” the halfa spluttered before Ember cut him off.

“What do you want, cupcake? It’s not like you to venture so far into the Zone willingly unless you are looking for blood.” She questioned, carefully putting her guitar back in the case.

The boy huffed.

“Whatever, Ashley,” he grumbled under his breath. “I think it’s time we revisited the terms of our agreement ” The boy sat by her side nonchalantly, not noticing — or outright ignoring — the sudden rise in temperature as the girl’s blue hair flared violently, a deep frown marring her face.

Cujo did notice. But the little doggo was more distracted with the movement of the pretty light-emitting hair, and the fluffiness of the hair on his current method of transportation to register the imminent danger to his fur.

Priorities.

“Revisit? You want to fucking revisit?” She growled. “I will tell you what you can fucking revisit-!”

The halfa just laughed at her reaction. Ember’s hair doubled in length. The laughter died off.

Her hand was getting dangerously close to her guitar.

Danny swallowed hard, deciding to just get on with it before Ember tried to use the instrument as a wanna-be war hammer again.

“It’s quite the contrary, my dear flaming hot,” he rushed to appease her “I want to expand on it,” he said, throwing in a sickeningly sweet smile for good measure.

He hoped it was enough to regain her attention in a more positive light. He didn’t want to explain to Jazz why his ghost form’s eyebrows were singed off. Again. He didn’t have time for more lectures. Thank you.

Luckily, If the hair-inferno reducing to a cheerfully blazing bonfire and the growing smirk taking over ember’s face was any indication he had succeeded. Cujo whined for the loss. Danny wanted to squeal for the win.

He did not. But it was a very close thing.

“Oh ho, now we are talking, baby pop.”

-.-.-.-

The window of opportunity to pull this off was very small. He had to take into account the amount of time that had passed since the last fight, the reason for the aforementioned fight, and how much of an emotional investment the objective really held for it to be a proper detonator.

This operation required surgical precision, which meant a lot of preparation. And research.

It was a good thing it happened so often.

“I will be direct with you, sister,” Phantom spilled, sprawling himself on the free seat on Kitty’s right side. “your bitch boyfriend doesn’t know the jackpot he hit with you and that just ain’t gonna fly.”

knowing where Kitty would end up after a fight with Johnny was not a problem. tracking down which bar she was going to be crashing for the aftermath was the real problem.

Danny hadn’t even known there were bars in this place.

In the last months of his treaty with one Ember Mclain, he had learned plenty of- interesting facts about the Zone that he would prefer to forget. Not that he really had an option, Jazz had taught him early on that information on the enemy — and sometimes on friends —was a valuable asset to ensure victory.

So he would play dumb about knowing these things. But he would not forget about them.

Couldn’t afford to forget them.

If the Ghost Writer pulled another surprise quiz on him and the answers were less than perfect the man would riot.

The halfa stretched out a hand to take a menu and leaned his elbows against the bar-top. Cujo chose that moment to leave his position on the teen’s head to sit next to his forearm so he could peer at the menu too.

He skipped the drinks section and went straight to the food. There was no way he was getting any alcohol.

Don’t get him wrong. They would serve him whatever the fuck he wanted if he asked for it on the zone, but the teen had tasted it before and hated it with a passion. Fuck the peer pressure. Never again. Good for when you are sad? Bitch, just get ice cream. Maybe he should have asked Ember for Kitty’s favorite flavor and save himself the hassle. Oh well.

Too late now.

Danny chose his order but decided to risk a look at the drinks for non-alcoholic options while he waited for Cujo to paw at whatever he wanted.

Kitty, who had been spluttering and getting progressively redder since he made his entrance, was about to smack him upside the head because even if it was true the brat shouldn’t just go saying it like it was any of his goddamn business. They were in the middle of a crowded bar, these people didn’t need any more confirmation for her relationship problems. Couldn’t she keep some dignity?

Before her hand could connect though, a pair of arms surrounded her, bringing her firmly into a backward hug against a warm chest.

A very familiar warm chest.

Startled, she looked up to stare into fiery green eyes.

“Cool it kitten,” Ember purred, clad in a leather jacket that was, most likely, scammed off some unfortunate soul. Still. She looked damn good. Kitty got so tongue-tied she couldn’t manage to even begin to stutter a response, let alone a protest. Danny took advantage of Ember’s intervention to finally place his first order. “Babycakes is right.” Ember continued, effectively cutting off all the air from kitty’s sails once and for all, because really, Ember was her best friend and if there was anyone who knew exactly how many times Johnny and Kitty had fought it was the blue-haired girl.

Kitty let out a defeated sigh and wiggled a little on the embrace to settle into it properly. Might as well get the best out of this-

“Oh, they have frappes!” Phantom trilled in awe. Kitty twitched.

If only Phantom would go away. Ugh. She couldn’t deal with males right now.

“Can’t you leave that thing alone?” Hissed Ember, who had seen the teen open the conversation with her kitty kat just to completely ignore her right after in favor of the menu. The bitch boy needed to focus, they were supposed to be on a mission here.

“Hey! You were the one calling me skinny earlier!” Remarked the teen, only to get a raised eyebrow back from the rockstar.

“As if a single frappe is going to fix that. Give me that!” She sneered at him and snatched the laminated paper from his hands. Phantom tried to snatch it back and failed. So he resorted to pouting and tried to give her the sad puppy dog eyes.

It wasn’t going to work with the matchstick, he knew, but it was good practice.

To pull this shit with Ember you had to be either Kitty, Youngblood, or an honest-to-god puppy. He was not risking ticking off Kitty more than he already had. Youngblood was not here — for obvious reasons—. Cujo was here and didn’t hate him, but sadly the dog wouldn’t be any help right now.

The pup was already accepting belly rubs from the waiters and completely ignoring the world around him.

Again: Priorities.

So really, Danny was just doing this for the sake of being extra.

While Ember and Danny continued with their dramatic standoff, the other girl blinked rapidly and turned her head towards Phantom.

“Oh” Kitty’s bad mood banished almost magically in favor of curiously peering at the teen’s figure. Danny fidgeted on his seat apprehensively.“I hadn’t noticed. You are really lean.” Ember snickered. Cujo — coming back from the belly rub induced coma — barked. Phantom sighed and just accepted defeat.

“I suppose that’s somewhat better-” He grumbled under his breath.

Kitty allowed a tiny smile to escape from her lips but shook herself slightly to get back on track. “What are you two even doing here anyway?” She asked, alternating glances between them.

“Pretty sure you already know,” Ember answered, rubbing her cheek against kitty’s green hair and sending A Look at Phantom. “Because someone is not subtle. at. all.” She ended with a hiss and a flare of her hair. Kitty winced lightly at the confirmation. Phantom rolled his eyes.

“Oh, Cry me a table, matchstick.”

Kitty knew alright. Ember made it her personal business to get involved in whatever petty fight Kitty got into, more so if it was about Johnny. Phantom getting involved in the aftermath — and not the fight itself — was new though.“It was just another stupid fight. And- You know, his obsession-”

“Nope. That’s no excuse, Kath.” Ember cut her off. “If you can work around yours for him, then so can he.”

“You can do better.” The teenage boy agreed while Ember continued squeezing her.

“What do you suggest then?”

Phantom and Ember exchanged a look, mirth flashing in their glowing green eyes and matching smirks growing bold, they turned to look back at Kitty. The green-haired girl gulped down her growing unease. In her experience, these two banding together was never a good thing for anyone.

“We are here to talk to you about the Remember Initiative.”

-.-.-.-

“Such a skinny boy!”

“Hey! I’m just lean-!” Phantom let out a yelp as he ducked under yet another juice box “What’s with you people and your obsession with my weight-! Ugh! If you would just listen-! Wait. Is that apple grape?” He said the last part in a hushed rush, looking in silent awe at one of the little juice boxes she was about to throw his way.

The Lunch Lady preened.

“Boxy got them for me! 100% Juice Fruit guaranteed!” She was radiating smugness about these facts.

“Oh my gosh- Wait! NO. That’s not what I came here for!” Danny managed to shake himself out of his stupor just in time to keep evading the Lady’s attempts to shove a spoon full of food down his throat while he was distracted with the juice.

The last time she had gotten a hold of him he had ended up feeling like one of his mom’s thanksgiving turkeys. Danny gulped. Best to just go for it and hope for the best.

“Did you know that there are 37.2 million people living in food-insecure households?!”

The screamed question froze the lunch lady on her tracks. At the look of horror his words achieved, he decided to keep going.

“1 in 6 American children don’t even know where their next meal is coming from.”

The lunch lady let out a horrified gasp, “Those poor children-!”

And with that, the woman exchanged her attempts at stuffing him for furious-but-mournful whisperings. She looked really constipated about this new information. Danny almost felt sad. Almost.

“There is a way to help, you know?”

The lunch lady’s head snapped back towards the half-ghost, eyes narrowed in a glare. Not the usual I’m-going-to-choke-your-skinny-ass-in-food glare, but an I’m-paying-attention-to-your-skinny-ass glare.

Danny refrained from openly cheering after sensing his upcoming victory. Better not chance it.

“Have you ever heard about old San Nicolas?”

-.-.-.-

“You know,” Danny murmured, slurping noisily from one of his juice boxes as he watched from a safe distance how Johnny and Skulker got wrecked by a pair of cute-murderous-girls, “I wasn’t expecting that to work so well.”

His only response was a pair of little barks from the green puppy that was happily squirming on his lap.

The boy paused on his watch to look down at Cujo. Danny extended one of his hands towards the puppy to carefully try to swat at him. The cub rolled onto his back and trapped Danny’s upcoming fingers between his paws with a playful growl, giving little nibbles to the appendage.

He couldn’t help the giddy giggles that escaped him.

Those little paws were precious.

At the sound of high pitched screams Danny’s head snapped back up to continue watching the ongoing smackdown, surrendering complete possession of his hand to Cujo to do as he pleased.

If the Initiative didn’t work out, both girls would do awesome on the wrestling circuit. Not like Ember lacked in the costume department.

Speaking of costumes, he wondered if the match stick would let him borrow her feathered hat. That thing was awesome.

Better just ask.

Once she was done throwing down with skulker, of course.

He was not about to become cannon fodder.

Priorities.

-.-.-.-

“Ahoy! me fellow comrades!! Your future Cap'n ’s talking!! I’m here on a recruiting mission to embark on the most perilous dangers of the Realms!! May ye, dear comrades, embark under your own risk! Arrrgh!! ”

Thanks to Youngblood’s presence the main residential area of Phantom’s keep was starting to become complete disarray. The adult ghosts were frantic for the possible kidnapping of the tiniest ghosts that was most likely going to happen. The children amongst them were cheering for the possible playtime in their future.

The guards were starting to panic. No one had seen the kid enter, much less bring along that enormous ship of his. The little brat was not supposed to be here!

“Who the freaking hell let Young Blood get in?!” One of the guards hollered.

“It’s fine, I invited him.” Came the cheerful reply from behind the guard. “I’m expanding the lair so the kids have more space to mess around. Just don’t tell them.”

The ghost was startled at the voice but didn’t panic anymore. Instead, they started to relax. They knew that voice, but they needed to confirm-

“P-Phantom?”

Phantom, in full cosplay and sporting the biggest feathered pirate hat on this side of the realms, landed lightly beside the startled ghost with a little chuckle, “Just play along, man.”

“Also, pretty sure there should be a ‘Lord’ in there somewhere.”

“I-I thought you preferred to not be called that, my lord?”

Phantom winced.

“Ah- No. It’s- You know what? Never mind, I keep forgetting you guys don’t really get updates of pop culture on this side of the coin” Phantom frowned. “I really should see about getting some wifi for this place”

He continued to murmur about the updates he would need to do to the tech to make that possible. But the guard was not paying attention to his words anymore.

They were staring speechless at the whole pirate get-up the halfa had managed to assemble. It had been mostly borrowed last minute — not that the guard knew that—. It looked really good. Especially the gold hoop earrings that kept swaying slightly alongside the fluffy white hair with every motion of Phantom’s head.

The guard let out a dreamy sigh.

Their Lord was so cute.

“How is everything going?”

“Wha-?” Getting suddenly pulled out of their daydreaming

“The preparations?” Danny hummed distractedly, diligently searching for his journal and pen among the numerous layers of clothing he had donned for the occasion. Why the fuck did this thing have so many pockets?

“Oh,” Came the ghost’s soft exclamation, suddenly remembering the requests the owner of the keep had left the last time he had come around. Finally emerging victorious from his search, Phantom turned to look at them, raising an eyebrow at the lack of proper explanation “Oh, yes! Everything is going smoothly, and we received the last confirmations this morning, sir.”

Danny smiled at the answer, completely unaware of the effect his playful smile had on the guard and the other ghosts that had started to converge there upon seeing their ‘landlord’. “Awesome.”

That was the last one.

-.-.-.-

Well, almost the last one.

He must admit that the shell shocked expressions on Sam and Tucker were funny the first few minutes.

But after having to repeat himself over and over again it had gotten increasingly less funny.

“Y-you are leaving?” Tucker stuttered.

Danny sighed, “Yes, we are leaving. As in, Jazz and me.”

After gaping at him for another few seconds, Sam finally gathered herself enough to start talking again.

“what about the ghost?”

“I- um- already took care of that,“ Danny mumbled, nervously avoiding eye contact while playing with his milkshake straw. “I also cashed in some debts and asked some favors from my allies, so most will be taken care of until we come back. Either way, I will leave enough Fenton Tech for the both of you and Val. Just in case.”

“Enough tech?” Sam repeated incredulously. “That’s it? Just leave some tech and jump boat just like that?” Danny frowned but refrained from answering her until he thought it through. Sam wouldn’t accept less.

Jump boat? That was not really the case. Jazz and he had really put some thought into this, heck even before the Internship on Loony Capital had come up — specifically, since Jazz’s breakthrough — the siblings had already been toying with ways to get some of the most persistent ghosts to back the fuck off, distract them with better and useful targets or entice them into submission.

At first, it had been a tentative thing, something fragile that they didn’t let themselves hope for. But with Jazz’s change of course of action, it had become something more urgent.

They had to pull it off. There were no other options.

Danny pursed his lips, then took a deep breath to strengthen himself for what was coming. “That’s not it-”

“You are just going to dump us.” She announced like it was final in a harsh whisper.

At least she was keeping her tone quiet.

“No one is getting dumped, Sam,” Danny tried to reassure her in the same tone of finality, sans the harshness. “I told you. We already thought this through. I already put some plans in motion and rigged some backups and- ok. Meaby they are not good enough to be permanent but-”

“You are going to put everyone at risk just because Jazz somehow got the ridiculous idea that ‘talking it out’ is the answer” She scoffed.

“Maybe it is. Maybe not. We won’t know until we try.”

“They are ghosts-”

“So am I.” Danny Interjected. Sam seemed to choke on her next words.

“You are not a ghost Danny.” She had, somehow, gained a tone even more quiet and harsh than her previous one.

“Aren’t I?” He was looking directly into her amethyst eyes. Daring her to fight him on this.

He already knew she wouldn’t.

She had opened her mouth to rebut but closed it immediately after. She took a long breath; most likely to prepare for her next rant than to calm herself. Weighing her options. She didn’t seem willing to have that particular conversation. Not yet. Danny had counted on that. “It’s still a goddamn risk.” She finally countered, a slight sliver of defeat coloring her words.

Maybe he had been a little harsh, but he needed her to understand. “There is risk in every choice I could make. This is not different-”

“What about us?”

Ok, so she was just getting her second wind. Fucking amazing. “Sam, please-”

“We are your friends!”

“And she is my sister!” He finally snapped.

She startled. Gazing at him speechless for a moment before standing up and storming out of her seat without a backward glance, making the people on her way part like the red sea. Leaving in her wake a bunch of curious persons staring after her and throwing shameless glances to their table.

So much for not causing a scene in the middle of the Nasty Burger.

The boys ignored the stares. They were already accustomed to being the focus of attention. Almost never positive, mind you. But that was what cleansings were for.

Tucker, who had been silent for most of the back and forth, finally spoke.

“She just needs time to cool off.”

The Fenton boy would be lying if he said he hadn’t seen this coming. Sam had always been very opinionated and believed herself to be right most of the time. In her defense, she usually was right and knew how to go about expressing it to her friends without resorting to this kind of standoff. This just appeared to have struck a nerve.

Living with her parents and having to fight for every single choice she wanted to make had left her on a constant defense mode that the boys had learned to navigate in their years of friendship. It hadn’t been easy for anyone. But neither Danny nor Tucker were perfect. They had their quirky shit to deal with.

The three of them stuck together and hadn’t bothered to try and expand their friend group that much over the years. Not like they had many options. But that was ok.

Until now.

With Danny leaving them the relative feeling of a support system was trembling at its foundation.

She was probably scared. So was Tucker if the wobbly but sincere smile he was giving him was any indication.

Danny had to admit that when he let himself think about it he got scared too.

They had been in the same boat for a while and parting ways was not something they had accounted for, not for the near future, at least.

In a weird way, they still would be in the same boat even after they were apart. Struggling to learn how to function without the other there. Sam and Tuck would have each other, they were resilient, he was sure they could cope. He would have Jazz like he always had, enough said. And they would keep going like they always did.

Tucker was right. She would come around. But-

Danny slumped on his seat, running a hand through his hair releasing a big sigh.

“Yeah, I know” He murmured looking pensively in the direction their friend had stormed off. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“So, you are not mad?” Danny asked when he finally turned around towards Tucker.

“Nah, man. Just a little squeezy about dealing with this without you. But if your sister is really going to do this she is going to need you there.” Tucker shuddered a little bit. “I have never been there personally but if the social media and forums are not lying Gotham is a goddamn beast dude.”

The halfa hummed in agreement. Not like Amity Park didn’t have its own reputation on their corner of the internet, but still.

Gotham.

Danny took a sip from his milkshake before doing a mental check-list and frowning, “I’m starting to feel like I’m forgetting something” he whispered.

“Oh god, please don’t say that.”

“It’s okay,” Danny had made his best at planning, so his friends wouldn’t have to deal with the ghost in his absence. But with things like this, you never knew for sure. Not until it slapped you right across the face.“Probably just the paranoia.” ‘I hope’ he finished mentally with a weak laugh.

“Dude,” Tucker started before taking hold of his friend’s hand and squeezing it. “If you need help with anything I’m your man. just say the word.”

Tucker may not understand the full extent of the situation, but he was trying, and that meant a lot to the Fenton. He squeezed back and shot his friend a small but grateful smile.

“It’s ok. Thanks, Tuck-” He cut himself off, being interrupted by the sudden ding of one of Tucker’s devices.

The afro American boy ignored the sound though, in favor of putting his full attention on his friend, an action that demonstrated how serious he was with his words, but Danny was already lost in thought, staring intently at the briefly, but brightly, illuminated screen.

“Actually-” The halfa suddenly chirped, turning his full attention back to the boy across the table. Tucker just blinked back, waiting. Danny leaned forward dragging the other boy towards him so he could continue with a whisper. “You could help me with a pair of things.”

The mischievous smile Tucker was witnessing had come out of nowhere and couldn’t presage anything good, but as it was not aimed at him — necessarily — he couldn’t help but join in.

Several cities over, some of Gotham’s more infamous residents couldn’t find an explanation to the sudden shiver that ran up their spines.

-.-.-.-

When Danny made it back home he didn’t waste time tracking his sister down. She was down in the lab, typing away on the main computer and using one of her shoulders to keep her mobile pressed against her ear.

She was in the middle of a conversation and still managing to rewrite part of the ghost portal code like a pro.

His sister sure loved multitasking.

At the sound of the door closing behind the younger Fenton, Jazz looked up from the screen to shoot a brief smile to her brother before carrying on with her conversation.

“Yes. That’s perfect, I will be sending the three files then-”

The boy froze on his step and blinked a pair of times. She was already talking with one of the G. A. proctors? When he left this morning he had just dumped his proposals on Jazz for a second revision. He wasn’t expecting to have them sent already.

Hmm. Well, to be fair, he had rambled at Jazz about his projects relentlessly whenever he had a chance and didn’t feel like death warmed over.

Which weren’t many times. But once he got into a ramble it was an Olympic endeavor to shut him up. He was a Fenton. It was in their blood. Jazz did it too, even if she tried to chalk it up to healthy-and-completely-natural excitement.

So. Jazz already knew the contents pretty well, it was just a question of pulling off the presentation, which was the thing that Jazz was supposed to check over.

His sister had given him some tips, and even if his parents were not as invested in the writing process as in the practical, the fruit loop had more than enough experience doing it and didn’t give two flying fucks over whether or not Danny wanted his knowledge.

Danny knew monologing was an essential part of a villainous experience but he had spent way too much time listening to Vlad bitch about most of his employees to last him a lifetime.

Even little Madeline couldn’t stop the loneliness that had brought the madness. Danny had put so many hopes in the fluffy thing.

Letting out a resigned sigh the boy decided to just let it go and be grateful that his sister - who had more than five Universities fighting over her- deemed it acceptable already.

He liked writing his ideas down, but using formal language and fudging APA was fucking exhausting.

Good fucking riddance. He thought, shaking his head slightly and sending a light sneer in the computer’s direction. As if the files on it could feel his disdain from his position on the other side of the room.

Danny spotted some of her sister’s nail polish bottles by her side on the table and made a beeline for them and took most of the little bottles before retreating to a chair on the other side of the desk.

He had heard some of the cheerleaders saying that the nail polish helped to keep the nails from getting all fucked up quite as easily, and it had caught his attention.

Danny had looked down at his hands and winced. Normally he didn’t pay much attention to his nails, but ever since getting on a constant string of fights he was more aware of how easily the goddamn things could break on you if you didn’t trim them properly, and it hurt like a bitch every time. It always seemed to be the tiniest things that told you to ‘fuck off’ to your face like nothing else.

Danny guessed that it was worth the try. And if anything, putting some color on them would help hide some of the blood — and ectoplasm — that got under his fingernails.

So he tried it out.

By this point, he was not sure if it really helped or he was just fooling himself into thinking it did work. The only sure thing was that he didn’t feel comfortable going without it anymore.

Danny liked to borrow the clear nail protector from Jazz, but most of the polish he had in his possession had been previously Sam’s. All pastels and cheery colors that her mom kept insisting on buying her because they kept being used.

“Thank you, Miss Gordon!”

If she had bothered to pay more attention to her daughter’s friends for more than sneering at them she may have noticed Danny’s pastel pink nails. But she hadn’t. And that had just ensured Danny a constant supply of pastels to cover his bloodied nails with-

“So, how did it go?”

“Uh.” The boy startled at the sudden proximity of the voice. He looked up from his nails and to his sister, who was now seated beside him.

“The execution.” Jazz prodded, smiling at him in anticipation. It looked downright creepy, considering the words she used.

“Seriously Jazz?” He snorted. “You make it sound like I went there to dispatch murder at random.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” His sister scoffed, watching how her brother resumed painting his nails. “They are already dead. You couldn’t kill them any more than they already are.”

“I could certainly try.”

“Danny-”

“Let’s just say the all-nighter paid off, and leave it at that.”

“So you had fun.” She teased. Stealing back one of the bottles of polish to finish her own nails with a second coat.

“For the most part, but-” He stopped, struggling to find words to describe the sheer mayhem that went down in the zone-

Jazz just hummed and gave him a little nod, still focusing on her nails. Danny relaxed. He could tell her later. When he had cooled off some more from the attack-protect mode he got into whenever he visited the zone. Remembering it all right now would just set him off again.

“So, what do you want for dinner?” The redhead asked suddenly.

Danny blinked a pair of times, perplexed, and stole a look at the clock.“It’s a little late to be asking that, don’t you think?”

“I suppose, but I decided to wait for you and then got sidetracked with the files.” She really needed to work on her awareness of time. “Didn’t even notice the hour.”

“I don’t even remember what we have in the cupboards.”

“Maybe we could-” She didn’t manage to suggest something before she got interrupted by their mother’s voice.

“Dinner is ready!”

“They made dinner?” Danny whispered to Jazz in dread.

“So it seems,” she responded, sharing his dread.

“Why did they make dinner? They never make dinner!”

“I mean, they do for special occasions, like-” She shuddered. “Like thanksgiving.”

This was ridiculous. Jazz and he were normally the ones cooking. Their parents spent most of their time in the lab or trying to hunt down ghosts. Today was not a holiday. They hadn’t invented anything new worth the ‘celebration’. There wasn’t a reason for them to-

“Oh! and Vlad is here~!”

Danny slammed his face against the desk with a groan.

Jazz winced at the sound.

“Time to face the music, little bro” She closed the polish bottles and patted him carefully on the back a few times before standing up and going to the kitchen.

“I still feel like I’m forgetting something…” Danny grumbled under his breath before following his sister upstairs.

-.-.-.-

It was the last Friday of the month and this could perfectly be one of Jazz’s many attempts to make them a functional family unit.

Except that the Fenton girl had let said efforts slip in favor of pursuing her little brother’s scholarship.

Oh, And the fruitloop was here.

Vlad had weaseled into the family’s — unplanned — plans because of course, he did.

“Everything looks absolutely lovely Madeline.”

Jazz would have believed his words. If she hadn’t seen the man poke at the food on the table with the wariness of a man on the death warrant whenever mom was not looking.

The siblings had spent way too many family dinners doing the same thing whenever they couldn’t quite manage to keep the older Fentons off the kitchen. And even when they did, they didn’t lower their guard. The chance of contamination was always a latent threat to the house.

Jazz turned her head slightly to look at her brother. The boy was, very pointedly, not poking at his food and just watched it with all the scorn he could gather. He refused to do the same things as Vlad, which didn’t mean he was crazy enough to try and eat the food on his plate.

The dinner proceeded with making some catching up, abundant science talk, teasing, scathing remarks, sighing, and finally dissolved in a three-way match between the Fenton children and one Vlad Masters to see who could dispose of the food in the most sneaky way.

She had always wondered how the man survived with her parents for as long as he did back in their college years. She knew now.

“Oh! And Jazzrinces finally decided on a college! The G.S.A. is backing up her research on ghosts! Isn’t that incredible?!”

Vlad smiled blandly at Jack. Skillfully suppressing the sneer the man’s cheeriness was trying to invoke to his face. He had lots of practice.

“And Danny decided to tag along to help his sister! Isn’t he such a sweet boy?” Maddie added with a cheer a little more forced than her husband’s. But still, cheer.

Now, that. That got Vlad’s attention. And he decided to take advantage of the children’s distraction to get more information and decide a proper plan of action.

Dany was making it a point to completely ignore the three adult’s conversation. Jazz stuck to taking small sips from her glass of water. That was, until-

“Surely you’re not planning on sending them without some proper equipment, are you?” Vlad tutted. “Don’t get me started on weapons. I mean you never know for certain what will be indispensable, right?”

“That’s a wonderful idea!”

The heads of both children snapped up.

“I mean, most of my research isn’t-” Jazz tried hastily to stop this on its tracks.

Sadly, it was not to be.

“Nonsense Jazz,” Her mom interrupted her, “It’s better to be prepared!”

Vlad hummed in agreement, “They won’t, after all, have anyone else to protect them from those trashy ghosts.”

Just like that, the Fenton parents started to list out loud all the things the kids would surely need for the research.

Vlad smirked.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the pompous fucker.

Jazz resigned herself to keep sighing until the end of times.

-.-.-.-

“How are we supposed to take this with us..?” Danny whispered looking horrified at all the equipment his parents had just thrown their way

“Can’t you just put it in the thermos?”

“The ectoplasmic energies of each Item would clash horribly” Danny winced

“You tried to…?” Jazz side-eyed him

“Yes.” He said curtly, “Wouldn’t really recommend” he continued with the air of someone haunted by the consequences of their life choices. death choices. Both were accurate, she supposed.

Jazz swallowed.

Cue in more silent horrified staring at the equipment.

“Maybe if we start with some boxes-”

“BEWARE!!! THE BOX GHOST!!!”

“Oh my god-!”

“I Fucking knew it!!”

-.-.-.-

A little while after, once the ghost box was gone, and the siblings had retreated to Jazz’s room for safety and the opportunity of proper evening gossip. The fruitloop came barging into the room.

“Ok. I raided the kitchen. There is nothing edible in this house. How do you even survive.” He stated, not asked, in a deeply judgemental tone.

“Magic. Pokemon Magic.” Danny deadpanned from his place on the bed. Jazz, who was cuddled beside him, was still chewing on the dry crackers that managed to survive the onslaught of their parents, for the simple reason that the things had been in her room.

Vlad sighed and started to massage his temples.

“Fine. Truce. Grab your things, we are going out.”

Jazz slightly choked on her crackers. Danny just choked on air. “What? Where-?”

“To get some proper food, of course.” The man sneered like it was completely obvious and tagging a smirk on for good riddance.

“Why would-”

“You have directions. I have the money. Chop chop. Before your parents catch us.” With that, the millionaire turned around and left, leaving the door wide open fully expecting them to follow along.

The siblings stared at each other for a moment before scrambling after Vlad.

Food was more important than playing the archnemesis-game.

For the hundred time that day:

Priorities.

ENDNOTES:

I couldn’t help the fucking references. Danny is a dork and I am ashamed.

-.-.-.-

I headcanon Danny as someone who really likes pet names, be it because he really likes the person or because it pisses them off. Two stones a deader bird.

-.-.-.-

What do you mean The Avengers aren’t a boyband?

-.-.-.-

The siblings are firm believers of the borrowing culture. There is no shame in asking to borrow some things.

Are those Ember’s hat & earrings? Yes. Yes, they are.

Why does Danny have his ears pierced, you ask? BECAUse there is no absolute heteronormative bullshit in this household AND I MUST ADD THAT-!

-Danny & Jazz watched ‘The parent trap’ when they were small little beans and were really interested in whether or not piercing your sibling’s ears was the ultimate bonding moment.

Jazz insisted on researching a lot more about proper sterilizing, mind you- but like the tiny feral unsupervised cupcakes they were, they decided to try it.

Jazz already had her ears pierced, SO, yeah.

It hurt like a bitch for Danny, and Jazz panicked for a week afterward about infections, but it was indeed a good bonding moment.

-.-.-.-

If I ship Jason with some fucking therapy does that mean I can ship him with Jazz?

Ship’s name is JJ for you.

… I just gave myself YOI flashbacks.

Fuck.

-.-.-.-

You might want to say: ‘but author-san, those are not all the ghosts Danny deals with?’, and you are damn right they aren’t, but you must trust in Danny thousand-back-ups Fenton, my children.

(Also, where would be the fun if everyone was accounted for since now? You will see what went down later on. :p)

-.-.-.-

Don’t know if you noticed, but Jazz is not the only one that thinks Danny is a cutie patootie :v

Danny has long ago resigned himself to the being called “Lord” thing. Is better than the ‘K’ word.

-.-.-.-

The thing about the nails is something I do. I started because they looked pretty, I kept painting them because I felt they broke up more easily if I didn’t put like three coats of polish on them.

At least I don’t bite them as much anymore. :p

-.-.-.-

If there is someone on this green earth that knows about the struggles of living with Jack and Maddie Fenton, that someone is Vlad Masters.

Change my mind.

You can’t.

50 notes · View notes

musedblues · 5 years

Text

You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’

Summary: Your best friend Lucy introduces you to her new boyfriend, Rami and the other cast of friends she’s been hanging around with. Joe catches your eye and the rest is history in the making.

W/C: 13k

Warnings: Language. Mentions of sex and sexual situations (nothing graphic) But better safe than sorry, so... RATED R!

A/N: This baby has it all! Fluff! Angst! Friends to enemies, maybe? It was originally like... 20k words because I’m a sucker for a backstory but I reigned it in lads. This was all based on a prompt for @royally-rogers follower celebration! Big shout out to the babe herself! Here it finally is, lovies!

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Eekk! Come on, hurry!" Lucy squealed, pulling you close to her side.

She was your very best friend. Your partner in every shopping mall adventure, the first person whose opinion on everything you wanted to know. The only time you weren't attached at the hip was when she was working; and lately, she was on set all the time.

Lucy had fallen for her leading man, sometime last month. And it was high time you met the guy who'd been stealing away so much of your dear friends time. The trouble was, Lucy always tried to leave her work behind when the two of you got together. So, tonight was a big deal. Especially considering the rest of the crew of men who Lucy had grown close with were joining you, tonight.

Three statuesque men scattered around a high top table, in the modern wooden pub. Rami must have recognized Lucy's commotion as he stood up to greet the pair of you.

"You're here!" His voice was thick and warm and intimidating, even as he spoke with glee. The dark-headed fellow scooped Lucy into a short and sweet embrace before they both turned to look at you.

"Y/n, Rami." She beamed, holding out her lily-white hand to grab a hold of yours.

"I'm so glad you could join us. I feel like I already know you." Rami gleamed your way.

"And I, you." You pursed your lips into a coy grin, giving Lucy a look out of the corner of your eye. She was practically a live wire, beaming a smile that made her eyes sparkle.

"Well, come meet everyone else!" Rami held out his arm as you and Lucy followed behind the lad to step closer to the table full of charming men.

"Boys, the girls are here! This is Gwilym." Rami pulled out a chair, guiding you to sit next to a tall man with a face like a Greek god. His blue eyes glistened and he smiled right at you as you settled next to him. Lucy hopped into the seat on your left, pointing across the table to another pretty blonde.

"This is Ben," She mentioned, and the guy with the look of a Roman empire greeted you warmly.

"Joe is late, of course." Rami waved a hand at you, across from Lucy as Ben chuckled at his side.

And right in alarming time, a man waltzed up to the table breezing past everyone in a flourish.

"Fashionably late." The slender man with a closed mouth smile winked at Rami and moved to the empty seat across from Gwilym.

"And that's our Joe," Lucy chirped, giving you a look like she had so much more to say.

Even in your best efforts to prepare for such an evening as this, you felt winded by the introductions alone.

"Alright, everyone shut up so I can go on and on about my best friend!"

"Lucy-" You chided with a roll of your eyes. God, you loved her but you were not cut out to be paid close attention too.

"Oh, Luc, please. You know I don't like that sort of spotlight." Joe rang in some transatlantic accent from the end of the table, resting his chin on the heel of his hand as he gave Lucy a wink. He smiled a real smile then, and it was something of a spectacle to witness his features twinkle to life. He was the prettiest of the whole lot. And that was really saying something.

"While I do love you, Joe, I'm about to tell you why you'll all be wise to kiss the ground Y/N walks upon!" Lucy decreed. Before you had a moment shut her down, she was already speaking up again...

"She'd probably kill for me, and I'd probably ask her too, starting with your smart ass." Lucy playfully snapped at Joe who let a sheen of disgusted shock morph his expression. You found he was still attractive even when he looked like a hurt puppy.

"She can cook, she can sing, and she's smoking hot so, proceed with caution boys."

"Okay." You gave your friend a dismissive smile. The boys chattered in at once, all comments directed at Lucy's dramatic speech.

"You should know she talks about you like this when you're not around, too," Rami spoke up from the opposite side of the table. Most boys broke off into separate conversations while you leaned over the table to share your favorite facts about Lucy with her new beau. Somewhere along the way, you had Rami cracking up, catching his breath through choked laughs all the way until the end of your story sharing session. Lucy had to order for the both of you when the time came, as you'd been reduced to tears from all the laughter.

Rami left for the restroom soon after you'd both found composure, and Gwilym disappeared to make a phone call by chance. Joe took that opportunity to trade places, easing into the empty chair next to you like some kind of juvenile Romeo.

"Excuse me, your highness, we need to talk about this whole best friend thing." Joe was sipping some fruity drink from a straw, looking up to you through his long lashes. You'd be lying if you didn't have to take a beat to soak up the look in his dark eyes before you answered.

"What's there to talk about?" You countered, leaning a little closer toward Lucy.

"What's her favorite color?" He shrugged, looking to you through the side of his face.

"Oh, I don't think you're ready to play this game." You pointed toward Joe. Maybe it's because he and Lucy really were close, but something about Joe was already familiar to you. Not at all like you'd just met him. There was something in his persistence gaze that you recognized. Lucy watched on in utter amazement as you and Joe darted through the challenge of who knew her best. Favorite foods, songs she sang in the shower, her middle name.

"Okay... if Lucy had a dog what would she name it?" You doubled down, leaning in to stare right at the guy. Joe was watching you with a coy little grin that flickered a little brighter each time he got an answer right. And he hadn't gotten one wrong... yet.

"Uh..." Joe paused, watching you inch closer, searching your face as if you'd somehow be giving the answer away. "Maybe... uh... Bertha?" Joe tore his gaze from you to flash a hopeful look to Lucy.

"Bertha?" She stifled a laugh. "Joe. first of all, it's a trick question." Your best friend pointed knowingly. "I'd pick a cat over a dog. And its name sure as hell wouldn't be Bertha."

Joe pouted, bottom lip sticking out like a toddler. Lucy decided there was only one way Joe could come back from crashing and burning so severely in the best friend pop quiz. "Both of you go to the bar and order me a drink. The one I like better will be dubbed the winner of my heart and soul."

Joe's smile spread like a wildfire across his face, as he looked to you and cocked his head toward the bar. Oh, it was on. Lucy liked simple drinks, none of that syrup saturated shit. It was one of the first commonalities you bonded over with the girl. You practically raced Joe to the bar, trying not to stare as he hurried ahead of you. He was dressed in sharp bold colors and his figure was perfectly lean. The tired looking bartended gestured your way as you approached the bar, and Joe went first, seeming rather confident.

"Manhattan?" Joe asked, almost like he was wondering if the bartender would know Lucy's preference and approve of his choice. Good one.

"Uh, Sidecar." You decided on the spot, knowing it was something your friend had ordered a time or two. As the bartender turned around to mix your drinks, Rami appeared from the restroom and stopped next to Joe at the bar.

"Oh, please don't make this poor girl try that horrible drink you made up and forced us to try last night."

"Okay, first of all, how dare you." Joe pointed to his friend. Rami looked like he had seen some shit, and you had to chuckle under your breath wondering what Joe subjected everyone too.

"It was bourbon and tabasco sauce." Joe turned to you with a raise oh his thin brow.

"And he tried to add lime juice, like that was going to make it better." Rami waved his hands around, seemingly amazed he'd made it out of the situation alive. Your chortles had blown into laughter by now as Joe sulked in defeat.

"Do you hate your friends, Joe?" You teased, crossing your arms to your chest as the fellow rolled his eyes at you. Your drinks had been finished then; so there wasn't time to feel embarrassed by the way your breath caught in your throat, as Joe failed to think up a comeback and just bit his lower lip through a smile, shaking his head at you.

You settled back into your seats, and Joe stayed at your side since Gwilym seemed to linger outside the nearest window, chatting on the phone.

"Pick your poison." You turned to Lucy as you and Joe slid her drink orders before her. She hummed in consideration, shooting you a smirk as she reached for the Sidecar.

"Oh, come on!" Joe whined.

"Sorry dear," Lucy said, taking a sip of the drink she chose. "I like this better." Your best friend shrugged, taking another drink.

"But this is my favorite." You grinned, pinching the rim of the Manhattan and pulling the glass in front of you. Joe watched as you lifted the drink he ordered to your lips. You really did like it. And you especially liked the way Lucy's runner up best friend was piercing his gaze into yours.

The night moved on in a flurry of laughter and shared gazes. Gwilym shared his leftovers with you, and Ben insisted you come to his housewarming party over the weekend. You left arm in arm with your very best friend, but you found yourself thinking of Joe.

///

That's how it started.

Every time you saw Joe after that initial meeting was a collection of snowflake-like moments that lead up to an unpredictable avalanche.

The next time you saw the gang was when Lucy fetched you to attend Ben's housewarming. The pair of you danced around his new lush green garden while her other castmates slowly arrived to join the party, practically ignoring other random attendees for a while. Then, Ben, Gwil, Rami, and Lucy all went wild, telling stories to Ben's new neighbors and filling everyone drinks. You, somehow, ended up next to Joe on a patio swing set. The pair of you pointed to the strangers that scattered across Ben's new lawn and made up backstories on their behalf. Somehow, this translated to you and Joe trading your own stories. By the end of that afternoon, you and Joe knew each other high school prom dates and your least favorite parts of growing up.

You went home as an official member of the group chat, via Ben's excitable request.

///

The group chat was the source of every interaction between any number of you from then on out. It was where Ben invited everyone over to meet his new puppy, Frankie, with pictures to prove how sweet she was. A pile of wrinkles, pictured perfectly asleep in the actor's lap.

You drove twenty to Ben's home and Joe answered the door. He kept looking at you like he had a secret to pass on. Like there was something he thought you already knew and should have been mentioning. Regardless of the funny feeling you got when his forest toned eyes focused on yours, you took shots with all his friends and went about fawning over Frankie, like that was your only excuse for being there.

Then, there was the impromptu movie night at Gwilyms. He'd come to possess a VHS player and a copy of the Titanic and was desperate to know if it still worked. The film would pause every thirty minutes while black and white banners flashed across the screen. But watched on, you did. Everyone was hypnotized to sleep by the warbled recording, slowly, one after another, until it was just you and Joe. He sat next to you on Gwil’s sofa, and as you felt your eyes start to droop, another sensation stalled your slumber. Joe's hand had just barely nudged closer to yours. Almost like an accident. Like he'd moved in his sleep. But you cracked one eye open and noticed Joe was still focused on the movie screen. His hand stayed brushed against yours. It was just a couple of knuckles against your own. But it was a burning foreshadowing of a wish you didn't realize had been scratching below your subconscious until now. You drifted to sleep wondering if you'd been dreaming all along.

///

Next, there was a trip to the roller rink, at Rami's request. He held his own in a pair of skates and you figured he'd just wanted to show off. But in his typical, humble fashion, Rami patiently helped Lucy and Gwil learn to roll around the rink with ease. Then there was Joe, who made quite the show of turning his struggled flailing into dance moves. You caught moments of this on camera and posted it to your Instagram story, saying it was blackmail. But really, you just wanted something featuring Joe to look back on when he wasn't close by.

Joe heart reacted to the notification in your DMs that informed him he'd been tagged, and reposted your story his own, with the caption: "If you don't tell anyone its a dance battle, you'll win every time."

There was the time Ben invited everyone to a wine tasting, where you caught more of Joe's tipsy dance moves for your Instagram story. He danced slyly closer your way, as your friends galloped around the gift shop in their own wine-filled hazes. You swore Joe almost kissed you then. He stopped dancing and leaned against the wall you'd been admiring him from. His jungle eyes zeroed in on yours as you suppressed a nervous giggle. When Joe's gaze landed on your lips, Gwil came around the corner with pairs of matching sunglasses he demanded everyone try on. You decided that must have been a part of Joe's imaginary production. A way to get you a little flustered for the hell of it. You decided he'd had one too many complimentary sips of wine.

Then there was mini golf. The final fleck of frozen rain that caused your metaphorical avalanche to topple over in a way you never expected...

///

Joe: Mini golf tomorrow? Here's a link to the place...

Gwilym: I have a fashion show :/

Lucy: Maybe! What time?

Ben: Oh it's ON!

Y/n: Sounds fun to me.

And just like that, you had something to look forward to again. Joe set the time and date and threatened Ben to prepare to battle to the death.

You soared through your workday without a care and checked your phone on the way out to your car.

Lucy: Rami's brother just landed town, I forgot. I'm sorry to cancel last minute!

You missed Lucy. You had barely spent a single moment of one on one time since she introduced you to the boys. To her boy. But you knew Rami was her priority now. You admired how seriously she'd taken her relationship with him and sent a message back wishing her well in her boyfriend's familial affairs.

You raced home to change into something more appropriate. A nice flannel to protect you from the chill of the night since it wasn't quite summering yet.

Then when you checked the time and hurried back to your car, it wouldn't start. You didn't have time to worry about why, or try and fix it yourself. You just ordered an Uber and told yourself you'd deal with it after tonight's fun and games.

Ben was lingering outside the novelty put-put place, illuminated by the blue glow of his phone screen.

"Hey, my car wouldn't start." You shrugged as Ben shot you a curious glance, noticing the SUV you'd hopped out the back of.

"Oh, man. Sorry about that." The stunning blonde pouted, clicking his phone to lock before sliding it into his pocket.

"Party people!" The shout was heard across the sparse parking lot, and it undeniably belonged to Joe Mazzello. He walked toward you and Ben with a smile plastered on his face. He was alive with confidence and excitement, even at the prospect of playing a kid game with his friends.

"Alright listen." Ben countered like a tired coach. "I might have to leave early. If Chris Evans doesn't show up for an audition I'm the only other one on the callback sheet." Ben huffed. Oh, to have such worries.

"Okay, Casanova. Then we better kick this game night into gear." Joe placed either of his hands on Ben's shoulders and shoved him toward the line of families waiting to get in the place. Ben kept fretting over his pending audition, saying that if he scored the part, that he'd have to send Frankie to live with his parents and they'd fall in love with her and she'd never come back home. He hadn't even landed the roll yet, and he was in shambles of worry over the one con that seemed to outweigh the pros of living his dream.

"Ben I live like twenty minutes away. I can watch Frankie if you leave town." You shrugged. You cared for Ben, and you adored his darling puppy.

"You'd really do that?" Ben croaked, nearly moved to tears by your simple offer.

"I'd fly across the world for Frankie if someone wasn't so eager to land the job." Joe's elbow bumped into your side then, in just enough time to make your heart skip a beat. Ben murmured a thousand thank you's as the line slowly moved. As you waited behind a couple of middle schoolers and a family with three toddlers, loudspeakers crackled to life with Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

The speakers echoed into the parking lot, and the tune would have made you think of Joe even if he wasn't beside you, starting to shift his shoulders to the beat of the song. You knew what you had to do. As Whitney's song crept toward the chorus, Joe added more gusto into his dance moves, and you unearthed your phone from your pocket to capture the moment on your Instagram story. Joe lip-synced along to the chorus as he broke out the show choir dance moves and Ben cackled in the background.

"Next!" Some prepubescent voice croaked from behind the mini-golf ticket both. Joe's attention was torn from his dance break and you caught his shocked disappointment the moment just before the recording ended. Ben cackled with laughter as Joe sulked toward the ticket booth. He bought all of your bracelets that allowed your admission and you grinned gratefully to the guy before racing him to go choose a putter and a golf ball.

Ben was blue, you were orange and Joe was yellow. You kept getting stalled behind little kids, some who seemed to be trying their best, others, who reminded you of Joe- unabashedly enjoying whatever happened and making the most ridiculously enjoyable use of their time. You watched as he and Ben got into an argument over how to keep score, and laughed when Joe tried to mess Ben's shot up. You held your own, barely caring about how well you did, just enjoying the crisp air and the laughter of your pals- one in particular.

"We should get something to eat after." Joe shrugged. You'd ended up on hole seventeen and could see the final hole ahead of you. The jungle-themed play place was buzzing with kids of all ages, but you'd dared to believe you Ben and Joe were having the most fun.

"Yeah! I'm starving." You pipped up, stepping around Joe as he went to retrieve the golf ball he hit into the bushes. You skipped dinner to make it here in time.

"You down to mukbang, Ben?" Joe wondered, stepping back onto the green of the hole seventeen. Ben had pulled his phone out of his pocket and was staring down in a daze.

"Chris Evans backed out..." he murmured in his low tone, reading from the screen.

"Chris Evans back out!" He spoke up once again, turning his stary eyes to you and Joe.

"Get out of here, Ben!" You encouraged, pointing toward the exit, now in the distant view.

"Oh guys, I'm sorry." Ben scrambled to collect his golf ball and putter and Joe encourage his friend to hurry.

"Break a leg babe!" Joe chirped merrily as Ben started to jog away. "Run Ben! Run faster than Captain America!" Joe let his voice carry across the mini-golf field as families turned their heads toward you, and Ben hurried out, throwing his head back with laughter.

"At least we're basically done." You shrugged, watching Ben disappear behind the shack where you left your golfing equipment. You were alone with Joe now, like, really alone for the first time.

"Yeah," Joe seemed to realize, looking ahead at the eighteenth hole, where a group of little kids struggled to play the game. "We could like, quit and go get something to eat." Joe looked to you, raising his brows with the suggestion.

"Still? Even though Ben left?" You wondered. Joe had no reason to want to spend one on one time with you, as enticing as the thought was to you.

"Yeah, you said you were hungry, come on." He decided, stealing your putter and racing past hole eighteen. You laughed and hurried to follow him.

Joe had already disposed of your equipment by the time you'd met up at the exit doors.

"Where do you wanna go?" You jogged, following him out into the bare parking lot. "Oh shit." You realized. Joe shot you a curious glance as you stalled in place, remembering your ride here.

"I totally forgot. I got a uber here. My car wouldn't start." You frowned, thinking that the night had just come to an end due to your vehicular impairment.

"While I don't mind escorting you to a five-star dining experience, there is a pizza place across the street," Joe pointed. "And it looks like heaven."

The neon sign was flickering and the checkered awning was tattered. "Okay fine." You chuckled, following him across the one-way street.

Then, as he held to door open for a young mother and her warbling baby, it hit you. Joe was just being nice. He was that guy. He went out of his way to pour strangers an extra shot of whiskey at his best friends house warming party. He held doors open for mothers carrying babies. He escorted you to this pizza place just because you said you were hungry. He was just kind-hearted by nature, and that's when you realized you had it all wrong. Till now, you'd mistaken Joe's lingering eye contact on you as intentional. You realized that the one time his knuckles brushed against yours was a simple accident. If Joe wanted to kiss you, like you were so sure he nearly did at the vineyard, he would have by now. He was only ever kind to you because that's who he was. That guy. You couldn't possibly face your horrible delusion by letting him know you'd been dreaming of more. Oh, shit.

Joe held the door open for you, as a couple of bells rang from the handle. You wouldn't let your self search for his eye contact not now. You just smiled and kept walking toward a booth in the back.

Joe eased into the booth across from you and spent a very short time figuring out what to order, deciding to split a margarita pizza. Okay, you thought. Just look up, and don't think about it. Just be normal. When you finally locked eyes with Joe, you found he'd already had a steadied a sleepy gaze on you. Your stomach flipped so violently you had to wonder if he noticed, somehow.

"So the Bo Rhap wrap party is tomorrow night." Joe pointed, searching your eyes as you looked right into his, trying to suppress the butterflies that multiplied in your guts. "You should come! I can pick you up if your car won't start. Hell, even if it will."

Joe rose a brow your way when a waiter brought you each plastic red tumblers full of soda. He sipped his drink, his eyes peering up at you through fluttering lashes.

He's just being nice. You mentally cursed. You wound up alone, and he was only trying to make sure you didn't feel out of place, because he was that guy. Your heart was doing somersaults and your mind was racing, each conclusion coming back to Joe. You had been and currently were head over heels for Joe Mazzello.

"Yeah okay." You nodded shyly, hoping to God your voice wouldn't be faulted as you sat coming to terms with your feelings. You could pull yourself together, before falling too deep, right? Couldn't you accept his kind-hearted invitations? Couldn't you keep watching from the sidelines as Joe dance alone at parties? You could live with those blips of heaven on earth, right?

While you waited for your pizza Joe started to gush over his family. How much he missed them and how he simply couldn't wait to return home after all this time. And at the mere mention of Joe being so distant, your heart sunk to the floor. Oh no, you were in a very dangerous way.

"You good?" Joe pointed. You had rested your temple on your hand, propped against the table like a student exhausted by homework. Your mind had yet to stop filling in answers to questions that appeared in droves.

"Huh? Oh yeah, just a little tired I guess." You decided. A better excuse than give the truth away. "Oh don't mind me I'm just trying not to fall for you. Just trying not to ruin this random lucky moment."

"I know it was probably exhausting to lose so hard at mini-golf," Joe smirked at you.

A chuckle escaped your throat but your heart felt as if it might pop. What were you supposed to do? Your pizza came and conversation died out while you picked around pieces. Every passing minute felt like the count down to a life-altering game show. Joe must have noticed how quiet your internal battle made you.

"You sure you good? If you need-

"Uhm, actually," You decided in a flash. "I think I better head home now." You pulled your phone out and order the closest Uber while you spoke. Two minutes away.

"I can take you. You don't have to pay."

"No, Joe. It's fine really." You scrunched your brows together like a weak apology. "I... I need a bit of space anyway. Thank you... for tonight, for everything." You stood in a hurry to leave, feeling conflicted but listening to the panicked voice in your head calling you to go. You shelled out a few pounds to cover the pizza and booked it out of the place.

On the ride home, you posted the video of Joe dancing to Whitney Houston, with the caption: "never a dull moment."

You admired the clip on loop, studying every way Joe managed to make you laugh with a turn of his lips or a perfectly timed flail.

By the time you got home with a much steadier heartbeat, you wondered if you were too quick to run off. You didn't quite feel the need to apologize, but something deep within you took control of your fingers and made you text Joe.

You: Seriously, thanks for the fun night, Joe!

You were grateful to have been invited along to join in the fun. But you knew it was best to take a step back and solve your feelings before they got the better of you. Still, you couldn't fucking resist taking one last stab at pulling a bit of Joe's attention toward you. Pathetic.

Later that night as you slipped into bed, Joe had responded to your text. All he said was,

Joe: :)

Then you just had to check your Instagram. Joe had always heart reacted to the notification in DM's when it showed you'd tagged him in a story. Tonight was different. Joe had opened the DM, but hadn't liked the notification. Nor had he reposted the video.

You did tell Joe you needed a bit of space. But as you started to fall asleep, you wondered if you'd royally fucked everything up by your efforts to keep things steady...

///

The next day was torture. Absolutely agony. You spent silent breakfast avoiding all motivations, and lunchtime pouting when none from Joe appeared. The wrap party was tonight. He invited you. You said yes. But that was before you left the pizza place in a rush. And you'd still never called off those loosely made plans.

So around dusk, you hovered over Joe's name in the contact list, wondering if you should send another text. The thought seemed all too desperate. Asking if your plans were still on was exactly the kind of behavior you were trying not to succumb to. So you waited a little while longer.

But as the sun dipped below the horizon, your heart seemed to fade with the light. Was it wrong to be sad? You wanted space. You needed space. But just from Joe. Just from your feelings. Just time to figure out how to stop your thoughts of Joe from whirring into romanticism.

///

"It's midnight! where the hell were you? I thought you were coming!" Lucy stood in your doorway wearing a sequined party dress, and big worried cartoon eyes.

You sulked in your pajamas, gawking in disbelief to your friend who was concerned enough to come knocking on your door without calling first.

"Come in." You shrugged, almost nervously. Lucy had come to track you down. She must have been expecting to see you tonight. You must have let her down.

"You were supposed to be at the party! Didn't Joe invite you last night?" Lucy fretted, sashaying behind you, kicking off her heels as you lead her to your living room.

"Last night was weird. I haven't heard from him since." You revealed, the pair of flopping onto your patterned loveseat.

"Joe made a really big deal over asking you to the party." Lucy eased, wringing her hands and looking to you as she tried to understand why you hadn't shown up. "I just got worried when I hadn't heard from you at all today."

"He did... ask me." You sighed, slinking into the sofa and wishing it would swallow you whole. Your feelings felt so minuscule now, in the brink of explaining them to your best friend. This all felt too much like a low budget high school rom-com.

But Lucy eventually begged you to tell her what was going on. So, you gave her a play by play of what had been on your mind the past couple weeks. You told her how you felt about Joe. And exactly when you realized it. You told her how you could never stop thinking of him, even when your mind went blank, it always came back around to Joe. You told her how it scared you to feel that way and why you left Joe alone in the pizza place. You wanted space to figure your feelings out, but how maybe you'd only made things worse. How maybe his leaving you hanging tonight must have been payback for your basically ghosting him, last.

"Well, I'll talk to him, love." Lucy decided like a mother after you'd spilled your guts.

"No, you don't need to do that." You chuckle remorsefully. "If we were supposed to like... ya know... we would have by now." If he really meant to hold your hand he would have. If he really meant to kiss you, he would have. But he didn't.

Lucy just gave you a purse-lipped grin before standing to make hot cocoa. She rummaged through your cabinets as if they were her own and you loaned her a pair of pajamas you knew you'd never get back, because who wanted to lounge around giggling at Parks in Rec in a ball gown?

Lucy fell asleep on your sofa in your clothes while you suppressed thoughts of her stupid, pretty, friend.

///

Two and a half weeks passed until you saw Lucy again. Bohemian Rhapsody was finished being filmed, and everyone had gone their separate ways.

Lucy was always busy, but she invited you to help pack her things for a trip to America, where she'd be staying with Rami for the first time. The pair of you left each other with long faces but how could you not be excited for your friend, on her way to mingle with the future. To build her life alongside someone who adored her the way she deserved to be adored.

You spent the next week desperately alone, your only company being the characters on the telly. Till your phone rang at the break of dawn, tearing you from sleep.

"Y/n!"

"Joe?" You worried over his random call, and the alarming tone if his voice.

"Y/n, I'm in New York and it's not right," Joe whined like a boy. He was well and truly drunk, you didn't even have to ask. Chatter clouded the background of his call and he was still mewling pathetically as you proceeded it all.

"Why are you calling me?" You wondered honestly. If he was all the way in as New York, and as hammered as he sounded, you were no use.

"Because... Because..." Joe sounded as if he were trying to pick between one answer or another. "I miss my friends." He decided in a slur.

"Uh-huh." You croaked, gazing out your darkened window as this bizarre interaction went on. You could hang up...

"See, I miss everyone so much. And I'm no good all on my own. I don't know what to do now. What's my job now?" Joe let a little hiccup escape his throat and somewhere between his incoherent rambles you felt anger bubble within you. Joe had everything. He had a contact list full of friends, and endless options of fun to have. But he'd called you.

"Your job is to smile, Joe. For the cameras and for pretty girls. New York is no different than London."

"Yeah." Joe seemed to agree. "But Lucy said..."

"Lucy?" You realized, all of a sudden. Of course. She'd totally put Joe up to calling you, and saying something. And you knew the girl had only done it out of the best of intentions. But Joe had only managed to phone you after a slew of drinks, hopefully, so he could move on without the memory of speaking to you the next morning. He wasn't calling because he wanted too...

"Call someone else Joe. Get a ride home, okay?" You huffed, trying to sound fed up. But your voice only deflated as your anger turned to something a little more bittersweet.

///

You watched the seasons slowly change and spent Christmas with the people you loved. You scrapped snow from your car windows and drove to work as silence filled your mind. Your free time was far less enchanting, with Lucy always gone. She never came back from New York, when she left that first time. But she facetimed you every Sunday, to weep over how in love she was, and to fill you in on all the group chats you'd failed to keep up with. Then she'd ask how you were doing and the two of you would pretend the pixilated date was the same as any other.

Your days were full of work, and your nights were exceptionally bland. But one, miraculous and furry hope gave you something to look forward too.

Ben landed the role in some action movie. You kept your promise to watch over Frankie while he spent his days in Italy, covered in fake scars. ///

Frankie was a bundle of pure joy. You stopped in to let her out every morning before work, on lunch breaks and again on your way home. You took full advantage of Ben's Netflix, and stayed a little later each night because Frankie was the dearest company you'd had in months. She snuggled up with you during movies and followed you around every corner.

You sent photos to Ben and he usually responded almost immediately with crying emojis and every different heart shape.

You posted a few shots of your daily walks to your Instagram story but saved one very special selfie for your feed. It was a photo of you and Frankie laying on Ben's bathroom floor. You'd tripped over the edge of his laundry bin, and Frankie came to check out all the commotion. She laid down across from you and looked in the floor-length mirror like it was a camera and you were on The Office. You clamored to grab your phone in time for the photo, and you did.

You asked Ben for permission to showcase his darling fur baby on social media and he agreed without hesitation.

But almost immediately after slapping a filter on and posting, you regretted it. Comments from user names like queeniedarling123 and hoemazzelo flooded your notifications.

That's Frankie! Tell Frankie I love her!

Are you and Ben together?

I thought you were with Joe? We demand Joe and Frankie selfies.

Your heart dropped then. You thought of taking the photo down, but it was already liked by a few thousand. So you quickly moved to make your account private and deleted a few select comments that really made you queasy.

When Ben returned home, he came bearing the news that he would have to leave again very soon. You could tell he wanted to ask, but something held him back. So you stepped up and offered to hold your spot, checking in on Frankie while Ben was away.

Through the next couple of months, you kept up the same schedule, taking the pup on walks and sending photos to Ben. You realized that the best kinds of friends trusted you to linger around, even when they were miles away.

///

Lucy facetimed less, but when she did, the chats lasted for hours. You managed your slumber party rituals as best you could while separated by a screen. But somedays the distance made you feel exceptionally alone.

When your phone rang, midweek on your lunch break and Lucy's name popped on the screen, you worried. She would facetime you on schedule like it was set in stone, and text in between with any trivial news. She never called. In the nanoseconds it took you to answer, your mind buzzed with every bout of horrible news your friend would have reason to call in the middle of the weekday with...

"Hello?" You asked, standing alone outside of your car, stalling your return to work.

"We're coming home!" Lucy informed merrily. She sounded as she were on a bus, now. Muffled voices and metallic clangs screeching in the background.

"Home?" You asked hopefully.

"Listen! We've rented a cabin for this weekend and everyone is coming to celebrate the last weekend of the decade. So I'm gonna come by your house tomorrow round five, yeah? Pack warm clothes and maybe some board games!" Lucy informed you all at once.

"Tomorrow?" You spun around, looking around the snow-covered parking lot. "I mean, I am off work but are you sure-"

"Tomorrow round five! It's going to be a good time okay? Joe is going to be there. I'll see you soon love, okay, bye!"

Lucy ended the call before you had time to protest or ask any more details. Were you being warned or enticed?

///

From the outside, the cabin looked more like a resort. You supposed that when a handful of actors who'd just been in a blockbuster vacationed together, this was somehow justifiable. How had you found yourself in the midst of all these people's lives? How were you worthy of four nights in a cabin with just as many levels? Lucy was the first one inside, greeted by a chorus of warm hello's. She and Ben shared some kind of knowing smile as the blonde man rose from a massive leather couch he was sprawled out on. He was dressed in designer joggers, and there was a large fire crackling from behind some painted bricks in the living area. The floor plan went on for ages, tall ceilings held up by wooden beams that lead your eye toward the open kitchen in the distance.

"Hello love." Ben stretched his arms over his head as he walked toward you. He found no qualms in grabbing your head in both his hands and planting a kiss on your forehead. Your insides had been abuzz with nerves, but a softer fuzzy feeling warmed your heart at Ben's gesture.

"Sorry we're late to the festivities. The weather, you know." You sighed, looking at Ben who was already waving off your apology.

"Better late than never! We've been stalling the party until you showed." Gwilym rounded the corner dressed like he might have been camping outback, layers of thermal decorating his tall frame. Rami trailed in after him, taking Lucy's matching overnight bags in clutch. Behind him, his twin brother.

"At long last! Sami, y/n, y/n Sami!" Rami's brother was just as handsome as the actor himself, and you were certain he was full of his own dynamic qualities. You'd also caught on to the few slight hints Lucy dropped about Sami to you. Painting a glorious picture of her boyfriend's brother, ultimately for you to yearn over, fall for so you could like, be one big happy family or some best friend bullshit. But other than a kind smile your way, Sami seemed to hold little interest in you, and your interests were occupied vastly by the one person you had to see appear.

"Come pick a room!" Lucy called after you, and you had no choice but to follow her orders. There were eight bedrooms. Eight. Rami and Lucy had snagged the biggest, and Sami had chosen the one at the opposite end of the hall. Ben and Gwil had taken the only two rooms on the third floor, and that left you to choose between the middle of this hallway or the basement. And you really didn't want to treck all the way back down to the basement with your things. So you darted into the room nearest the bathroom and were charmed to see the sleeping quarters weren't outlandishly lavish. The cabin still held the charm that any good cabin should, with wood paneling and a quilted iron-framed bed. Just as you dropped your duffle bag onto the dresser in the corner, Lucy came in to tug you back downstairs.

The boys were breaking out the liquor and the festivities were abound. You settled between Ben and Rami on the massive leather sofa, clinking your red solo cups of whiskey together and cheering to the gathering.

"Joe said he'll be half an hour more." Gwil grimaced looking at his phone screen. You were glad for the warning. More time to practice how you'd act once he landed. But you did a damn good job of pretending that wasn't what you were doing at all. You listened to Sami tell you about himself and laughed when Gwilym spilled his whiskey all over his trousers, complaining about how he couldn't change because he'd been wearing both pairs he'd brought, at once. It was all fun and games, which lead you to discussing such.

Sami revealed that he'd never played beer pong. Ben dashed toward the kitchen to collect solo cups, and before you knew it a game was set up on the coffee table. Then the front door opened. The lads abandoned their excitably flutter around the beer pong table to greet a frigid looking Joe.

"You're just in time for beer pong! But I think the only room left is the basement, mate." Ben patted his friend on the shoulder as you sat stone still on the sofa, watching the scene unfold. Joe didn't seem to mind the boarding situation and moved to hug Rami on his treck to abandon his things. Just before Joe left the room, his eyes drifted to notice yours. You'd planned for this; to see him. But all the things you practiced saying or doing were coated in white-out, and as soon as Joe's eyes met yours, they moved on. Oh, this wasn't going to go well, was it? He seemed happy. He seemed like he could care less that you were existing in the same space as he was. That only made you realize that the work you'd been putting in to ignore your feelings for Joe had worked. You'd definitely been ignoring them. They hadn't gone away at all.

You sipped your whiskey to look preoccupied, and let out the breath you'd been holding as your friends bustled around you without a care. Ben was pouring beer into the cups on the coffee table, and Rami was explaining the rules of the game to his brother. When Joe reappeared, shy of his coat and looking a little warmer, he was appointed to Lucy and Ramis team, where Sami belonged swearing he needed all the help he could get. But you had Ben and Gwilym. What could go wrong?

Were you doing this right? You'd played beer pong before, but you were playing a harder game of trying to avoid Joe's eyes. You weren't even sure if he had cast a single glance your way. You weren't sure of anything besides how awkward you felt. But the more you drank the less you worried. Everyone else seemed to be letting loose just as well, you were certain you'd never seen Gwilym so wasted, (funny considering he spilled more whiskey than he drank earlier.) Ben would cheer for everyone no matter who was playing, and Lucy was practically falling asleep at the wheel. Under Rami's wise direction, Sami played just fine, your team was loosing after all. But maybe that's because Joe kept switching the rules around.

He would rearrange the cups and allow way more redos than necessary, especially when you wound up playing against each other. You stood and waited for Joe to make his winning shot until somewhere around the seventh time he missed. When Joe reached for the ping pong ball again and you'd had enough.

"No, come on, you don't get another chance." You huffed. Those were the first words you'd spoken to Joe since you'd seen him tonight. He looked up at you with a roll of his stunning eyes.

"We've been playing by the same rules all night." Joe countered cooly.

"Yeah, for Sami's sake. Not yours. It's over anyway!" You gestured wildly. Rami drunkenly nodded with you in agreeance, somehow lifting Lucy from her alcohol-induced sleep on his lap. When your best friend's feet hit the floor, Lucy and Rami slinked off to bed.

"You can do it!" Ben weakly cheered from the armchair behind you. Joe lifted a brow and gestured toward his friend from the opposite team.

"He's not on your team!"

"But I'm almost done! You can't change the rules all of a sudden." Joe fired at you, seemingly genuinely angry.

"But you can?" You countered. Gwilym chuckled from the sofa beside you, and when you tuned your attention back to Joe, he just gave you a shrug as he lifted the ping pong ball in the air.

"Oh, fuck off." You groaned, reaching for the last cup of beer and taking a swig as you stepped over where Sami had passed out on the floor near the fire. Joe watched on is disbelief as you stomped up the stairs, in a hurry to outrun your regret. You shouldn't have snapped at him like that. You should have just kept your anger bottled up like you had been all along.

You dashed into the room you'd chosen and shut the door behind you. It was quiet. The loud laughter and chatter from your friends had ended and it was time to go to bed. Thank God you had so much to drink, or your thoughts would have certainly kept you awake all night.

///

You woke up with a dull ache all over and had to talk yourself out of from under the warm quilted covers. A hearty breakfast was just what you needed.

At the bottom of the stairs, you were greeted by Ben who was munching on a cheap granola bar. Joe was at the table, scrolling through his phone in his damned dinosaur patterned pajamas like it was Christmas morning. You held back an audible scoff as you gently tore the granola bar from Ben's hands, skipping over a proper good morning.

"Let me make you a real breakfast." You begged like a worried mother. Ben shrugged happily in agreeance, following you in the kitchen. You took the chance to teach some pseudo cooking class while Ben stole his granola bar back and leaned against the counter watching you. You found a few eggs and some other breakfast staples hiding in the cupboards, talking through every step like this was your audition for the Great British Bake Off. Ben chuckled at you along the way offering no other help. Sometime during your lesson over how to best fry bacon, Joe strolled over and shifted his weight next to Ben.

"You're doing it wrong." He noted. As if there were one right way. Even you knew that wasn't true.

"Yeah yeah." You pushed, trying to keep your cool. There was no need to let his presence make you manic any further. But then Joe stepped closer, taking your place in front of the stove to finish what you'd started without asking.

You huffed in disbelief, sulking over to stand next to Ben.

"You should help me make something in the morning." Ben shrugged, polishing off his granola bar. You happily agreed and managed to let Joe take over the last half of breakfast. There was more than enough to serve everybody as they slowly appeared, each more hungover than the last. Lucy drank coffee like it was her job, hardly enjoying the taste as much as she longed for it to cure her ailment. You sat with her near the now-empty fireplace, snuggled under a single blanket and sharing a laugh about one thing or another. When the girl reached to take another drink of coffee, she peered in to find her mug empty. The coffee pot was also visibly empty from the kitchen and Lucy let out a groan.

"I don't want to go all the way over there. But I need more coffee to live." You couldn't help but chuckle at her dramatics, considering jumping to do what she could have just as easily done. But Joe was on it. And out of nowhere, in some moment of daftness- no, true wonder, Joe turned to you and asked if you wanted a cup, too. It was like he'd forgotten you were supposed to be at odds with each other. Like he'd never know you were at all. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you wanted to drop it just as easily. But your sharp tongue had a mind of its own. You gave Joe an empty "no" and couldn't even look in his eyes as you spoke. God, this was going to be a long weekend huh?

Lucy gave you a look then. It was a cross between 'Whoa, what was that for?' and 'Oh God are you okay?' You pretended not to notice. You went on ignoring Joe when he was in the room. Thankfully a couple of classic films played on the TV and Sami held your attention in between, asking about how you and Lucy met. As the sun dipped low through the patio doors, your party longed to be entertained. It was Ben's idea to play charades, and you almost enjoyed playing along. But Joe was raking in points for his team left in right like this was some sport he'd been playing professionally. You tried not to roll your eyes, but let out a sigh of relief when the game finished.

"What now?" Gwilym looked at you. Maybe it was because you were the first person in his line of vision. Or maybe this was your divine chance to have a little fun.

"Let's do karaoke." A devilish grin spread across your face as Lucy squealed in delighted agreeance.

"That's not at all fair," Joe spoke up from the sofa near your side.

"If you get to turn charades into the dam Cannes Film Festival, I'm calling karaoke." You pointed right at him. So far, you'd let Joe shift your mood into something sour, but this was your vacation too, and Lucy was already setting up karaoke of the flatscreen. You were up first, and weren't shy about belting out Oh! Darling in front of everyone, most of whom danced and backed you up with their own array of vocal talent. You laughed as Ben and Gwil danced together, and even tossed Joe a glare as he sat watching you from the sofa, biting his lip to keep from saying something he would regret you were sure. It felt magical to finally let go, and to have a reason to scream, melodically so. Joe must have known what you were singing about. Hell, everyone probably did. But soon everyone was singing together and you were worn out by your efforts to steal a little thunder. A pipping hot shower was in order.

You bathed, soaking up every way you'd felt for the past 42 hours and letting your fleeting thoughts wash away. You'd sung your heart out, and now you felt your tension melt under the hot water. You felt almost like everything was going to be different back downstairs. After you were squeaky clean, you shimmied into a super large sweatshirt and a pair of leggings, heading back down the stairs to join the gang in what was supposed to be a carefree weekend in a super large cabin. Outside the distant patio doors, you spotted Gwilym and Ben pelting each other with snowballs in the setting sun. Lucy was lingering near the end of the hall, checking her cellphone. As you approached her, Joe appeared in your sight.

"Do you wanna order pizza?" He asked, looking to his friend with a quirked brow. Lucy seemed to consider for a moment before shaking her head with a shrug. Joe started to walk away in acceptance when you noticed Lucy's neutral expression morph into a barely noticeable frown.

"Uh..." Lucy cautioned, strangely enough, to stop Joe in his tracks. The man spun around to look her way.

"How come you didn't ask y/n?" Lucy countered. You could see in her eyes, she knew she was walking a thin line. But it was already crossed, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Joe turned his eyes toward you, they were blank as ever. You had to stop yourself from holding your breath.

"She doesn't." He decided on your behalf.

"Well, how do you know? You didn't even ask me." You wondered in a pissed off tone. Joe clenched his jaw, looking all around as his heels slowly turned the other way like he wanted to walk away from this. But you, for some reason, couldn't let that happen.

"What you don't have a good enough comeback for once?" You snapped, shifting a little closer toward the man.

And that's when everything exploaded. You'd seen it in movies and read it in books, the trope where a pair of people bicker over each other in an incoherent fashion. You didn't think it was appliable to real life. But it was happening now. You were arguing over ordering a fucking pizza. Joe was going on about how he "knew you would have said no just because I was the one asking." And you were standing your ground, arguing that he'd "never even given you a chance to answer!" It was so dumb. It was the stupidest squabble you'd ever been apart of. You weren't even sure if Joe heard you, or if you were speaking clearly between his own pissed off rambles. You were both just arguing at each other.

"Stop!" Lucy's shrill tone cut through your grumbled arguing. You and Joe had no choice but to shut up on command and turned your shocked glares to Lucy, who spoke up once she had your attention. "I figured things might be weird but this has got to end."

In one swift move, Lucy grabbed your wrist in one of her hands, and Joe's in her other. Your shared bickering started back up the moment your best friend marched the pair of you down the hall.

"Go down there," Lucy released her grip on you first once you were on the landing of the basement bedroom Joe had been occupying. "And don't you dare come out until you've settled whatever the hell you have to settle!" Her eyes bore into Joe's as she turned the inside lock for effect, and slammed the door on her way out.

"I mean it!" Lucy's shouts were muddled through the door as Joe sighed, spinning around to shuffle down the small flight of stairs that led to his room. You stared at the doorknob in disbelief, knowing full well you could unlock it, and leave. You could even go home if you wanted. But... you didn't really want to be anyplace else, did you?

You swallowed your pride as you sulked down the staircase, fully prepared to finish dishing out the last of this crash and burn with Joe. The basement room was dimly lit by a lamp beside a quilt covered bed. A small window was covered with insulation near the ceiling, and the wood-paneled walls were bare, save for peeling wallpaper, a clock and a calendar, like this was some kind of bomb shelter. Fitting for the explosion to finish here.

"I guess we don't have to like each other, but maybe we can pretend in front of the others-" You started meekly, standing in the middle of the room.

"That's the problem! I do like you." Joe groaned. He was sat on the end of a quilt covered bed, looking utterly exhausted.

"You didn't even look my way until we started playing beer pong!" You reminded Joe of the half-hour you spent ignoring each other at the start of last night.

"And you didn't have much to say until you started shouting about beer pong!" Joe countered, crossing his arms.

"Shit." You let out a sorry chuckle. You were tired of shouting. It was time to stop running in circles.

"I mean... I wasn't really mad about the beer pong was I?" You breathed shakily, staring a the rope rug under your feet. You were finally all alone with Joe and it felt worse than you thought it could have. But the time for talking about why was now or never.

"Then what?" Joe wondered. It sounded like a plea. His tone had dropped an octave as he leaned back, propping his hands behind his back. A sign that he was all open to what you had to say next...

"Oh, God... I'm going to sound so dumb." You realized, covering your burning face in your hands. As you thought back to what upset you so greatly in the first place, you realized you were going to seem horrifically stupid mentioning it after so long.

Joe wait for you to go on and you knew there was nothing to do but dive headfirst into the thing you'd been avoiding forever. You drew your toe around the rug's circular pattern as if to gear up for your next question.

"You never... the wrap party. The next day we were supposed too..." It was too embarrassing to address directly.

"You... you said you wanted space." Joe's eyes were wide under his furrowed brow, but his voice was less gruff than before.

"Yeah, space, not an ending!" You emphasized. Joe looked utterly defeated, then. "I guess I should have made that a bit more clear." You sulked in realization.

"Shit. This whole time I'd been waiting for you to give me another green light. I thought I should have kept my distance until you said."

The air between yourself and Joe had always been supercharged with tension. You never knew what was going to come next. When the tension turned negative, it never went away. It just stayed there, festering until now. Until you saw him again and the space between you clicked back together, perfectly fitted, but clouded over by every conclusion you'd each come to on your own.

"And I kept waiting for you to call. I guess we're both a couple of idiots, huh?" You shrugged. There was nowhere left to go but forward.

"Well, I did call, eventually." Joe challenged. He was drunk then. You didn't let it count. But now, you wished you would have. You started at the carpet, understanding that he was right, and fate had might have been swayed. But this tiny, bomb shelter turned basement bedroom was all you were left with. A silence filled the air as you found the right words to speak.

"I'm sorry." You fessed through a grimace. "I'm sorry about beer pong. And for all the other stuff, I just let my feelings get the better of me the past two days."

Joe gave a single nod, chewing his lip as his brows slowly pushed together. You stood, closing in on yourself while you waited for Joe to say something, anything more.

"Your feelings?"

"I've always had feelings for you, Joe. They've just been hurt is all."

"Does that mean you still have feelings for me?"

"Seems that's the case." You nodded sorrily. "I know I've got a funny way of showin' it."

"Well cut it out, I'm the funny one." His brow was still furrowed but his tone was the lightest it had been all weekend. A grin flickered to life on your face as you looked up to Joe, who was still sat on the edge of the bed staring up at you.

"So, can we be done fighting?" You asked with a hopeful hint in your tone, still keeping your arms crossed all the while. You missed having fun with him. But you understood if all bets were off, by now.

"Well, I haven't apologized yet," Joe said.

"Why would-?"

"I'm really sorry I just let you go like that. I shouldn't have. And for hurting your feelings. For what it's worth, I haven't stopped thinking about you once."

"Oh."

He looked up to you, totally spellbound. No words came as he willed them out through a weak gesture. So Joe caught his lip between his teeth and bore his shinny eyes into yours. All you could do was what came naturally. You uncrossed your arms and held them out like a peace offering.

Joe slowly rose from the edge of the bed, keeping his eyes on you. He seemed cautious of getting to close, cautious of mistaking your intention and spinning into another round of shouts. But you kept your arms outstretched, and Joe accepted your embrace with his even stronger pair of arms, totally wrapping them around your middle.

"We can be done fighting, now." Joe muffled into your hair after a moment of all-encompassing peace washed over you. Your arms latched around his neck as you melted into his long-awaited hug. Before you could totally lose yourself in Joe's arms, you had one last thing to say...

"I promise to start saying what I mean, from now on." You spoke into Joe's shoulder. You could spend all day apologizing and coming to an understanding, but you couldn't leave the room until some resolve took place.

"And I promise to listen better." Joe spoked pointedly, slowly starting to pull away from the embrace.

"Do you think Lucy will let us out of here now?" You laughed. You'd nearly parted, but his fingers were still splayed over your ribs.

"I dunno. She said we had to settle everything, and... I don't think we have." His voice was a whisper, and it was in that moment everything about the moment hit you like a rushing wave. The way he smelled like a Christmas candle, his big hands pulling you closer toward his warm body, the sound of him sucking in a breath to hold, everything.

Joe kept his gaze in you while his eyes started to close, enchanting yours to do the same. Then he kissed you. Like really kissed you. Joe's lips pressed against yours as if he was trying to meld your worlds together in one perfect motion. His mouth was warm against yours. When your lips parted with his in a slow-paced sync, you decided it was quite possibly the best kiss of all time.

When Joe stopped kissing you, you could still feel his hot breath on your lips as you stood there utterly stunned.

"I've wanted to do that since the day I met you," Joe whispered. You allowed your hands to slink back around his next then and initiated another short and sweet kiss, a gesture that meant your interaction didn't have to end there. When you pulled away and Joe's lips chased your own, you were hooked.

"What else have you always wanted to do?" You wondered with a coy grin. Because you felt, then, like you used to with Joe. But better.

He tightened his grip around your waist and started to walk backward toward the bed; keeping his pretty jungle colored eyes glued in yours. And when he eased onto the mattress you didn't see a point in holding back any longer. You practically jumped into Joe's lap, attacking him with kisses. He actually giggled.

When Joe let his brilliant fingers creep bellow your sweatshirt that was three-time too big for you, he unclasped your bralette in nanoseconds, like he'd done it a million times. You were far too anxious to shed your layers and nearly knocked Joe in the nose with your elbow in your hurry.

"Easy there," Joe chuckled, watching your garments fall to the floor. That's when he pulled your hips flush against his own and nipped at your neck in the process. You couldn't help but let out a yelp of surprise, overwhelmed by the intensity of your interaction.

You and Joe became a mess of giggles and fumbles. You reprimanded him for yanking your hair and he almost fell over trying to take his pants off. It was wonderfully hilarious. Your laughter dissolved into contented sighs when your hot skin stuck together, when your kisses felt more like you were trying to devour one another.

When you finally eased into Joe's lap completely, you had to plaster your hand over his mouth to quiet his groans. You couldn't be sure if your friends could hear the next floor up. You almost wondered if they had been crowded around the basement door, trying to listen in on what kept you and Joe away so long. But all your thoughts were soon occupied by Joe and the way he was making you feel.

You found the best way to keep quiet was when Joe flipped you over and captured your lips in his. You traded sighs as soon as the escaped, and your toes curled while everything came together at the center of you and Joe.

After your vision went white, and Joe nuzzled his head in the crook of your neck, you found the cabin was deafly quiet.

"Why did we never do that sooner?" Joe's voice rumbled against your neck. His body was pressed warm against yours. As you took a beat to consider his question, Joe propped himself up on an elbow so he could look at you.

"I thought you were just... I dunno, I thought you couldn't possibly feel the same."

Everything was out in the open now, and Joe was still gazing at you like you lit up the sun every morning, so it might shine just right for him, and him alone.

"I was always kind of head over heels if I'm being honest. But I never imagined you'd feel the same. That's... that's why I left the pizza place. I didn't want to freak you out."

"Okay, well let's make a pact to say what needs to be said in a timely manner. Because that's exactly how I felt too." Joe sort of nodded, moving a strand of your hair from your eyes. You had only ever dreamed of a moment like this. What if that's all this would ever be, now? A memory to keep you occupied?

"So, what now?" You were almost afraid to ask. But after everything, you knew you had to.

"We'll figure it out. But together this time around, yeah? We should be together." Joe gleamed, tracing a finger along the curve of your hip. You couldn't be sure if his touch gave your chills, or if it was the look in his big adorable eyes.

"Really together?" You rose a brow.

"Facebook official, drive-in movie date, vacation cruise together."

"I do." You giggled, pulling Joe down for a quick kiss. He held on to you and kept you against him as you both drifted to sleep, together.

///

Your eyes fluttered open reluctantly. They wanted to sleep, but your stomach wanted food, much much more. You had skipped dinner last night, after all.

The clock on the wall read somewhere around five in the morning, and Joe was sprawled out beside you, draped in dark green sheets like an angel.

"Hey. Joe!" You whispered, snuggling closer. You could have left him to keep dreaming, but you only had a day and a half left in the cabin to spend every waking moment making up for all the times you'd missed together.

Joe grumbled, shifting into consciousness.

"I'm going upstairs to make cookies and if you don't come with me, I'll be absolutely heartbroken." You plead through a sleepy whisper.

"I'll do whatever you want for the rest of forever," Joe smirked, keeping his eyes closed as he pulled you closer against him. You'd never felt more content. As Joe's secure embrace started to lull you back into a daze, he suddenly jolted awake, ready to do your bidding.

"The last one upstairs is lame and gets one less cookie." He decided calmly, searching for his discarded pajamas pants. You stretched into the day with a smile. How'd you get so lucky? Just hours ago you and Joe were passing cold glares across the massive cabin. Now, you could hardly keep from clinging to the guy as you lazily crept upstairs.

The kitchen was empty, decorated with a few discarded mugs and some paper used to keep score for last night's game of charades. There was a dark navy light creeping past the patio curtains, a hint of the coming sunrise.

You and Joe kept mostly quiet as you found a tray to bake on and threw together ingredients for a cookie recipe you had a keen memory of. He kept stealing bits of dough and pretending to fall asleep against the refrigerator while you rambled about the baking process.

While you waited for the cookies to bake, you shared a single cup of coffee and talked. You talked about the days when you were just getting to know each other. You found out for every moment back then, that you'd gravitated near Joe, that he was equally as nervous of the magnetic pull between you two. He laughed about the time he nearly held your hand on Gwils sofa but admitted he was more petrified than a virgin schoolboy to cross any lines with you. You laughed too, admitting that you were sure you had been overthinking everything.

Then the timer went off on the oven and your scrambled to keep the noise down, creating more of havoc by doing so. You kept laughing and ate a few cookies before they had time to cool down- and then just kept laughing. Sleep-deprived chuckles of unadulterated glee. Everything was finally the way it should have been.

You were busy cleaning up the last of your early morning baking mess, scolding Joe when he offered to help clean, but only kept reaching to grab a cookie.

A different voice called from around the corner, then. Ben sauntered around the kitchen island, rubbing his eyes.

"You've either finally stopped fighting, or you're laughing like loons at seven in the morning because you both snapped, and a murder mystery has taken place." Ben reached for a fresh-baked cookie quirking his brow your way as you spun around to put the clean cookie sheet back in the cabinet.

"Oh, yeah," Joe beamed, rising out the coffee cup you'd shared. "We kissed and made up."

"Oh my God!" Ben practically rocketed through the raised roof off the immaculate cabin. You spun around, fleetingly worried over his cries. But then took another bite of his cookie and said something more. "Finally!"

"Finally?" You scoffed, moving to bodyguard the cookies before any more could be stolen. You'd already had a few and the others would be pissed to wake up and find that you'd never saved any for them.

"Yeah, finally," Ben spoke through a mouthful of cookie, reaching into the fridge for some milk.

"All Joe has ever done since you've met is drone on about you." Ben pointed the jug of milk your way. "And all you ever did was check his Instagram like four times a day, more when I wasn't around to spy I'm sure."

Ben moved to the cabinets to find a glass while Joe cocked a quizzical eye your way. The man with faded copper hair and earth-colored eyes moved to stand by your side. His smirk widened as you studied his face, considering every moment you'd glanced his way before now. You hopped for an infinity of shared glances, from here on out.

"Alright, come help you said you would," Ben demanded, setting up the stove with a few pans. Oh that's right you promised to make another breakfast alongside Ben, this morning. Soon, the three of you were bustling around the kitchen whipping together an English breakfast for your crew of friends. You plated the last of the cookies and set them at the center of the table, surrounded by dishes for everyone to fill up.

Gwilym was the first to appear, happy as ever just to be apart. Rami followed close behind. He suggested you go wake Lucy, who apparently refused to leave the comfort of the warm cabin bed. You could hardly blame her.

"It's a brand new day!" You hollered dramatically, bursting through Lucy's door and waltzing up to the lump she'd reduced herself to under the sheets. Your best friend groaned in protest, but when she pulled the sheets from her face she was grinning like mad.

"We made breakfast. You'd better hurry before the good stuff is gone." You informed Lucy, flopping onto the empty side of the bed at her side all the same.

"Oh, who's we, then?" Lucy chirped, propping her head in her hand against a slew of fluffy pillows. She was even radiant in the early morning. A visual display of all the beauty she'd stored up and selflessly showered you with over the years. She was the best friend you ever had.

"Me and Ben, and Joe." You shrugged, settling against the pillows.

"Sooo..." Lucy hummed, glancing at the painted nails on her free hand, then batting her lashes back up to you. "It worked?"

"You devil." You hissed through a smile. You knew Lucy hadn't necessarily planned to lock you and Joe away together, but you also knew that while you stayed hidden away, that Lucy had her own hopes of the outcome. She maybe even went so far as to cast a spell or two.

"It worked!" Lucy decided, based on the smile you tried to keep hidden between your teeth.

"Okay, it worked! You're a matchmaker, damn it!" You squeaked as Lucy sprung from her relaxed pose to throw her arms around your shoulders. "Thanks for being you, Lu." You cooed after hugging her back. When Lucy sat up next to you, she leaned close to pass along a secret.

"I only stayed up here so Rami would send you, so you could spill your guts in private. I simply can't go on with my day until you give me every gory detail."

After chastising your friend, you told her everything. She stifled giggles and awes and her eye's sparkled while you spilled the details that you lived through last night, and early this morning. She, like Ben, was naturally elated that you and Joe had finally wound up together. She said that you and Joe deserved each other. Lucy promised you that she would always be around to help you get the things you deserved in life. After a few sappy best friend speeches shared on the massive kingsized cabin bed, you left the room together.

You somehow ended up carrying Lucy down the stairs on your back, nearly toppling down the last couple of steps. Gwilym was there to steady your antics. The rest of the vacation went on with the same unbridled glee.

Everyone sat around together, laughing. You played board games for hours on end, told ghost stories, and made even more cookies. Somehow, Rami ended up teaching you how to do the salsa. You'd didn't know it, but Joe caught your dance lesson on camera. You found out later that night when he posted it to his Instagram story.

You ended that final night in the basement, by choice.

When the morning came and you and Joe laid awake together and began to say goodbye. But you didn't feel sad. Joe filled your head with visions of your next meeting. He planned dates and surprises out loud as you lay together, relishing the closeness you'd always dreamed of. You had him, now. Joe was a collection of atoms, willingly existing just beneath your fingertips. He spoke of attaching himself to your hip the very second the next opportunity arose.

You helped each other get ready to leave the cabin going so far as to imagine coming back with everyone next year, together. All your friends dragged haphazardly packed bags to the living room, you didn't feel sad to leave them, for once. Everyone awaited separate ubers to separate places, but you still had your group text. You still had concert tickets to buy and bistros to try out, together.

Joe kissed you in front of everyone before you parted. It was a display that put all your friends at ease. A gesture that seemed like promised that everything was the way it was meant to be. You had Joe now, and even though everyone was happy to accept the long-awaited fate, you were the most ecstatic of all. You finally had Joe. Even as he reluctantly clamored into his ride and you lagged behind, you were finally together.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

#joe mazello x reader #joe mazzelo x reader #joe mazzello #borhap fanfic #joe mazzello fanfic

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maaaaaatryoshka0325 · 6 years

Text

Not Afraid of the Dark - Seo Changbin gang AU series part 3

Requested: Seo Changbin modern gang series.

Description: you’re a college student, so is he. Big difference? He’s a gang member.

Warnings: violence, cursing, all that good shit.

(Part1) (Part2) (Part4) (Part5) (Part6) (Part7) (Part8) (Part9)

He almost seemed soft. But he was a gang member, right? Can he be soft?

“If you ever need anything, let me know or one of us know.” He said.

“What?” You asked, thrown off guard.

“You kinda saved my life, I owe it to you. The guys trust you too.” He said.

“You already helped me.” You said.

“How? That man? That was nothing. I would’ve done it whether you had saved me or I had happened to pass by.” He said.

“Would you have really?” You asked.

“Yes. I don’t like when men do that to women.” He said, looking serious.

You nodded and gave him a small smile.

“Alright.”

“I should head back. See ya.” He said.

“Wait. Give me your phone.” You said.

“You haven’t even taken me on a date first.” He joked.

“Well I was gonna say let me give you my number so you can tell me if you got home safe but never mind. I don’t care.” You rolled your eyes and was about to turn away but he put his phone in your hand. You put your name and number in it.

“Be careful.” You said.

He smiled at you and nodded before walking away. You walked into your dorm and threw your stuff on your bed before pulling your hair back and washing your face. You felt refreshed and laid in your bed. An unknown number appeared on your phone.

Unknown: hey I just got home, now that you have my number you can call me whenever you need something. Goodnight Sweetheart

You: Goodnight

You plugged your phone into your charger before falling asleep. You dreamed about being chased down an ally, a man screaming for you to stop. You ran into a dead end, panting and gasping for breath. Two strong hands grabbed you and spun you towards them. They had no face, just a shadow over a head. You went to scream but nothing came out, and then you felt yourself fall and land on something soft. You saw black feathers on the ground and when you looked up, you saw a man with long, black feathered wings standing protectively in front of you. For some reason, you felt safe. You felt secure. He slowly turned around.

You woke up instantly and sat up. You checked the time. 11 AM. You groaned and got up to brush your teeth and take a shower. After your shower, you sat down at your desk and started to work on your homework. It was about proper surgery care and you honestly couldn’t focus. The dream had you all kinds of messed up. You let out a dramatic sigh and decided to go to a cafe to get some caffeine in you in hopes of it distracting you and so it can get you a little pumped.

You texted Nina to meet you and she was seated at a booth with Chul.

“Hey guys.” You said, sitting down with them.

“Hey Y/N, how has your weekend been?” Nina asked.

“Pretty good. Have you been studying for your test?” You asked her.

“Yup! I brought some flash cards with me so Chul can quiz me.” You said.

“Did you bring your homework Y/N?” Chul asked.

You nodded and pulled out your pen and notebook as you sipped your coffee and took notes. You read the textbook and then filled in the sheet while also writing notes in your own book. You knew writing it down helped it settle into your brain, so you did it quite often. You heard Chul quiz Nina over her vocab and what you could hear, she really has been studying. Nina has an attention problem and tends to procrastinate a lot (ok but same LMAO), so you and Chul constantly push her to do better, and she’s been improving.

“I’m impressed Nina. You’re doing so well.” Chul praises her and she giggled excitedly.

You took a good look at them. Nina was one of the cutest people you know besides Nari. She had big eyes, gorgeous, shiny black hair, and she’s half Japanese. She speaks both Korean and Japanese fluently. Looking at Chul, he was very handsome and he has brains. He’s pretty tall, being 178 cm. He had a nice undercut and dark brown hair that he would sometimes part like an idols. The more you looked at them, you thought they’d be a cute couple. Nina needed someone to take care of her and Chul has a nurturing personality, mainly from being the oldest of two little sisters.

“Earth to Y/N, are you listening?” Nuna asked.

“Huh?” You asked.

“And I thought I never pay attention.” She said, face palming.

“Sorry.” You laughed.

“She asked if you did well on your test.” Chul said.

“Oh, yeah I have it with me.” You said, pulling out the test paper and showing them.

“Wow, you only got one wrong. Probably because of the wording.” Chul said, reading over the question.

“That’s what I was thinking. It was easy but I was so nervous about the test I didn’t even bother thinking it was a trick.” You sighed.

“You still scored a 95% Y/N, that’s incredible.” He said with a smile.

You like it when Chul went over your work. He noticed how good you were at what you wanted to do, and it you were ever confused with academics, especially anything to with numbers, he’d gladly help you. You treated them both to some yummy cafe food and then headed back to your dorm to finish your project. You bought two extra coffees, one to finish the rest of your homework and study and one for the next day. You sat back down at your desk after putting the second coffee in the fridge and went over your homework and notes. You didn’t have a test for another two weeks, but you planned on getting every word right. After studying you went to bed early for once, wanting a decent nights sleep.

As you sat in class taking notes the next day, your phone buzzed and a number popped up. You saw the messages from before and knew it was from Changbin.

Changbin: Can you come outside real quick?

You: For what? I’m in class

Changbin: C’mon it’s important!

You sighed and raised your hand, asking to be excused for a bit. Good thing you never skipped class, so your teacher allowed you to go. He was lucky it wasn’t a busy day and you finished your notes. You stepped out of class and walked down the hall and outside to the garden. You saw him sitting on part of the wall that came down and around the middle of the garden. He was wearing tight black jeans with zippers on the thighs and a chain attached to his right side, alone with a black hat and a long sleeve black shirt that complimented his chest with a chain around his neck.

“What’s so important you needed to call me here during class?” You asked.

“Can you take these out or can I do it myself?” He asked, pointing to the stitches.

“You can’t take them out yet! It’s only been three days, it’s not even healed yet!” You whisper yell.

“They’re making my skin itchy.” He groaned.

“Are they? Or is it because you know they’re there?” You asked.

“Yeah, that.” He said.

“I’ll take them out when it’s healed. Don’t scratch at them or anything.” You sighed.

He nodded then looked at the small pond. You couldn’t help but admire his side profile. He had a recently cut under cut and his hair was parted under the hat. His jaw line looked great off to the side too. He looked at you sideways and smiled at you when he saw your eyes on him.

“Like what you see Sweetheart?” He asked.

“Shut up. I was just wondering how a dummy like you could be the best fighter. And stop calling me that.” You huffed.

He turned towards you with a smile and shrugged.

“We dummies have to be good at something.” He said.

“Y/N.” You heard your name and turned your head to see Nina and Chul approaching you. Chul had a suspicious look on his face and Nina looked confused.

“You two know each other?” Chul asked, giving Changbin a dirty look.

Before you could respond, Changbin stood up with his hands in his pockets.

“Don’t worry, I’m going, see you later Sweetheart.” He said, giving you a small smirk before walking away.

“You two are friends?” Chul asked.

“It’s complicated.” You said, walking back to class.

Chul walked into his business class. He knew Changbin well after being in class with him. He was no good, even if he hardly talked. He still hung around with that group. They were a gang and he knew it. Why else would all of them be in business?

He walked into class and walked straight in front of Changbin’s desk. Changbin wasn’t paying attention until he saw Chul’s hands on either side of his desk before he looked up.

“Oh, I know you. You’re Y/N’s friend. I thought you looked familiar.” He said.

“What are your intentions with Y/N?” Chul asked.

Changbin looked confused at first then realized what Chul was saying.

“I don’t have bad intentions with her.” Changbin said.

“Bullshit. I know what you are. You’re no good.” He hissed.

“That’s enough.” Woojin said, approaching Chul.

“No, Woojin it’s fine. He’s protecting his friend.” Changbin said as he looked Chul straight in the eyes. “She helped me and I owe her a lot. I’m not going to hurt her in any way, shape, or form.” He said calmly.

Chul stared hard at him until he heard the teacher walk into the room before walking over to his seat. The other members glared at him and took their seats beside Changbin.

You walked back through the garden after classes ended and saw the boys standing there. Changbin was once again sitting on the wall as they talked. You saw Jeongin look up and he smiled at you.

“Hey Y/N.” He called and waved you over.

“Hey guys.” You said as you approached them and smiled.

They all greeted you but Changbin was pretty silent.

“You okay?” You asked him.

“Your friend was about to get himself in some big trouble.” Jisung said.

“What?” You asked.

“We have business class with him, and he confronted Changbin about being friends with you. He got real rude.” Jeongin said.

“I’m so sorry Changbin. He can be a little over protective. I’ll talk to him.” You said.

“Nah, it’s cool. I understand.” He said, look at you with a small smile.

You nodded and leaned against the wall as the members talked.

“I’m surprised you kept your cool. You used to love fighting.” Hyunjin said.

“Yeah, I also like not being kicked out of college.” Changbin said.

You felt slight anxiety fill you. Chul has run his mouth to a gang, who were potentially dangerous.

“Hey, we won’t hurt Chul.” Minho said.

You looked at him in shock. Did he just read your mind?

“You have it written all over your face. He’s no threat to us, he won’t be touched.” Minho said.

They all nodded in agreement. Chan rubbed your shoulder to calm you and Jeongin squished his cheek against yours.

“It’s ok Nuna, we promise.” He said.

You felt better at their words, and when you looked up, you saw Changbin’s genuine eyes on you. And for some reason, your heart fluttered.

#straykids #kpop #kpop imagines #stray kids #straykidznet #changbeanie #changbin #seo changbin

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occasional-drabbles · 5 years

Text

What a Familiar Means

Soooo to try and make this available again, here’s a drabble I did a whiiile ago to explore my original story idea, and I deleted the original post of it so uhhh tada?

Looking up at Aiden, Olivia lowered her head while trying to catch her breath. Despite all of her training and practice, he still had the upper hand. He always did.

Sparing a glance to her partners, she assessed the damage. Blair had reverted to their normal appearance, focusing their magic on Aiden and tricking him into fighting a version of Olivia that wasn’t real to buy her some time to recover. Carson meanwhile rushed over to her, the limp not escaping her attention, before he knelt down beside her and placed a worried hand on her back. “Are you ok?” He asked, looking at the fresh scratch wound on her side.

Nodding as she worked on getting her voice back, she gave him a tired smile. “I’ll live...he’s smart enough to know where to hit that it hurts, but not enough to cause major damage,” she assured, carefully pushing herself up to her knees, leaning on Carson as she got to her feet. “I just wish I could talk him out of this...he’s too smart for this. If he could just learn not to brute force everything…” she trailed off, getting an idea.

“‘Liv, I know that look, and whatever it is you’re planning, please just...be careful,” Carson pleaded, well aware that he couldn’t dissuade her. He’d tried and failed multiple times before, so he found it best to just be there to help her in case it goes sideways. However his concern was met with amused laughter, mischief twinkling in his friend’s eyes.

“Aren’t I always?”

With that she was off, using a blast of wind to get Aiden’s attention, ignoring the pain from her bleeding side as she charged at her twin, getting out of the way with another strong gust. “Pop Quiz!” She called with another little laugh, taking advantage of the confusion her exclamation had caused to get closer to her twin.

Behind her, Blair and Carson shared a look of disbelief.

“Is she really doing this ...now?” Blair asked incredulously, shaking their head and taking a knee while they recovered.

“She is…” Carson confirmed, standing beside them and ready to help, even if his familiars weren’t much help at the moment.

“As most know, a person’s familiar is a representative of them, typically a major trait of theirs, good or bad,” Olivia began, ducking under a blast of fire and directing it upwards with wind to avoid a forest fire. “What traits are associated with a lion familiar?”

Aiden had no clue what his sister was doing, his guard up and keeping track of those two friends of hers to ensure that this ‘pop quiz’ wasn’t some distraction. However, he was curious where this was going, so he figured he’d humor her, his attacks weakening slightly as he thought it over. “Nobility and power, ferocity. Some say loyalty.”

Olivia ducked to avoid his owl familiar, Jin, not wanting a facial scratch to match her side. “Cat Familiar?” She asked, noticing Carson perk up out of the corner of her eye. In the moment it took for her to give him a playful grin, Aiden had created an illusion of himself about to punch her, causing her to scramble back and fall down with a grunt.

Glaring at Carson for a moment, Aiden answered as he walked closer to his sister, who was staying on the ground for the moment to try and catch her breath. “Cat Summoners are clever and flexible, intelligent and sneaky.” He checked that his sister’s two little helpers were still in place, the Illusionist’s appearance flickering for a moment before returning to default while the fellow Summoner watched the two of them closely. His focus was on his sister again once she was on the move.

Forcing herself up to one knee, then staggering to her feet and holding her side again, Olivia pulled her shoulders back to keep herself from slouching. “Owl.” It wasn’t a question this time. It was a demand.

Aiden’s expression hardened some as he watched her, the duo nearly eye to eye as she looked up at him. “Owl Summoners are typically wise, quick learners. Some are more nocturnal than most other people.”

Olivia’s cape fluttered as her own owl familiar, Kin, flew out from behind her to perch on her shoulder. “Exactly. We’re both smart, and you’ve always been ahead of me. But please, just this once...listen to me.”

As she spoke she had slowly closed the gap between the two of them, holding her non-bloody hand out to him, palm up. “We can make this right. We can’t fix the past, but we can make people see the truth. But we have to do it together. Think it through. Use the wisdom that decided our familiars.”

A tense silence fell over the slightly charred clearing, no one daring to move now. Aiden watched his sister closely, unable to look at her watering eyes for longer than a moment. He could regain the only blood relative he had left, right now. But it would come at the cost of everything he’s worked for so far. He would have to follow her rules, which would push the day of justice they deserved further and further away.

#text post #original post #my writing #familiars #carson #aiden #olivia #blair #mairi twins

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amazildoessomethingstupid · 5 years

Text

Chapter 95: Love Again Part 2

Well boys we back on it again! I hope you’re ready cause I’ve been spending most of this week after the response pumping out response images for this next part! So let’s waste no more time and jump right into it!

…

Oh shut up, you know you laughed at it.

So we start off with one of mah boi Bee’s favorite pages! Just look at this great update of a page! Just jam packed with so much stuff to sink your teeth into, and digest. It’s a magnificent piece that is not only worth waiting 2 full days to see, but waiting 2 to 3 more days to see what’s next! And while I was not a dedicated reader, waiting hours on end for when this page update I can only imagine how elated those readers who did wait, must’ve been to see this page!

No wonder this chapter’s 50 pages long… AND IT CONTINUES!

Okay, okay, no I’m not really going to bitch about these splash pages and how fucking tedious and restless it would’ve made me as a serial reader to go into this. Partly, because the way I’m reading these now and with the rant series of going chapter by chapter was all inspired by the great advice by Bear Kidney that he gave me years ago on the forum. That the “proper” way to read BCB is as full chapters, and to just wait for them to be finished…

Which meant in order for an average person to read this “properly” they’d have to wait…

Five full months…

Sure! But since we are reading this “properly” I will say that these splash pages do help to set the pace. It sets the tone for this scene pretty well and makes us slow down and appreciate what’s happening, and immerse ourselves into the past.

But enough praise! You know what’s coming, I know what’s coming! Let’s get to it! I’m ready! I’m hungry for some strawberry pancakes! Let’s tear int-

Wait what?

Right when I have to transfer? Wait, this is a flashback right? Is she talking about the private school? I thought we only learned about this private school thing this chapter. What is she-

THEM? Do what? Uhhhhh What?! A-am I missing something here? This is a flashback to when Lucy attempts suicide, right? This is after December, I thought that’s why she did that. Is that not it? Am I missing something?! I THOUGHT I WAS ALL PREPARED WHAT THE HELL?

Okay so this IS about the new school? Okay. Why? I thought what happened in December was enough! Was it not enough? Did that just push her further into this point? Wait, no. This had to be after December. So the move was done because of December? So the first course of action upon realizing Lucy had been acting depressed was to immediately move her to a new place? No like therapy or anything? No counseling? What the…

Okay, hold that thought one second here, I need to resort to a third-party source on this shit.

Hello? Yes, I’m doing the rant and I am now not only angry but very confused! You’ve read further into the comic than me, what the fuck is Lucy talking about here?!

….

WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS A SCENE WHERE THEY MENTIONED LUCY MOVING AWAY?! I DON’T REMEMBER ANY SCENE LIKE…wait a second…

ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT THIS SCENE?! HOLY CRAP, EVEN I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SCENE! What the fuck?! You mean this one little scene. This little one-page moment shuffled in early, in a chapter that had its own memorable bits of drama and character moments that easily overshadow it; was not only meant to be a very important scene that hints at one of the main reasons Lucy is trying to kill herself…BUT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO- NO WE WERE *EXPECTED* TO HOLD ONTO THIS ONE LITTLE BIT OF DIALOGUE FOR ALMOST FIVE FUCKING YEARS IF WE WANTED TO FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY LUCY’S ATTEMPTING TO KILL HERSELF?!

Yeah, thinking about it I’m not that surprised, honestly. And people think I’m crazy for looking this deeply into the comic and characters and motivations. Apparently, I wasn’t looking hard enough! Jesus, good thing I missed that. If I knew that Sam was so on board with not letting Lucy have say on her treatment, or what happens to her, January would’ve crumbled apart! Not to mention, according to this False Idol shouldn’t have happened since Lucy would’ve been moved away before the summer…

Hey by the way, do we get any follow up on what exactly Lucy did while she was in that private school? Like how was her treatment, care, and stuff? How she was doing?

Why are you laughing?

Alright, I’m not gonna lie. I felt something there. You got me, Taeshi. This bit of paneling. The build up, the expressions, it works here. But sadly I’d be remised if I didn’t make this joke.

You know I had to do it to em’.

But instead she goes for the cannonball! Bold move there, Cotton! Let’s see if it pays off!

Oof! She’s gonna lose a lot of points for not sticking the landing. But I still give it a 5/10 for style points. Okay, okay, I joke but I gotta give props to this scene for well execution (…no pun intended)

The structure of this page is very well done, and reminds me of Korean style of web paneling which uses a lot of negative space and vertical structure to build tension, and slow down the reader’s pace by forcing them to scroll down in order to read forward. If you’ve seen any of those Korean horror webcomics you’ll know what I mean. It’s very effective, and it works to build this tension and intrigue into what happened. It’s a very good trick, and Taeshi’s use of it here is very nice. It’s just…

What….

What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU BUILT THIS SCENE UP FOR YEARS AND THIS IS WHAT WE GET?! YOU FUCKING HACK! YOU WERE DOING SO WELL! IF YOU JUST TOOK IT SLOW FOR ONE SECOND, AND NOT FUCKING GO OVER THE TOP WITH YOUR EXECUTION OF SCENES! THE ONE TIME! THE ONE SCENE THAT DESERVED TO STAND ON ITS OWN AND HAVE A FUCKING OUNCE OF SUBTLETY AND REALISM, AND YOU COULDN’T FUCKEJWOIGHSLKDA;J

HGNGKJFJLGKFHBN LFKGJHLLJDFGKLJ;LHKGFLKJIUCUCBITCHLKJBVKJLHKJXHCVH

*WHUMP*

Uhhh…

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED RANT TO BRING YOU BIOLOGY CLASS WITH DR. CAS MARIE!

Hello, kids! Did you know, that hidden inside every animal including you, me, and sharks. Is this thing we call a skeleman! And he brings with him these things called “bones” which are integral for not only fast movement, and articulation in our moving parts, but also they help keep our vital organs safe by surrounding our heart, lungs, and livers. We’ll get more into him in a second, but just know he lives inside almost every living creature!

Well except for invertebrates….

Fuck invertebrates! Think you’re so bad, just cause you ain’t got no bones!

But anyway, beyond that skeleman has with him his best friend. MUSCLE MAN! Who is sort of like a squishy version of the skeleman. He is the one who keeps the skeleman safe. For you see kids, the skeleman’s bones are very hard, pretty dense too if you drink your bone juice! But that hardness makes him very brittle. That’s why muscle man is here to add a tough layer on top of the skeleman. But that’s not all he does! He sort of acts like a bunch of rubber bands that tighten up in order to perform actions and move those lazy bones! Cause bones can’t move themselves. Now these muscles are controlled subconsciously through the central nervous system. That might sound like some big words, but the central nervous system when talking about the skeleman refers to the skull as well as the central part of the skeleman. And what’s in the center of the skeleman?

WHY IT’S THE SPINE OF COURSE! And directly attached to that, is the brain! The spine serves as the main messenger for the body to tell everything else what to do! Limbs, organs, and all that good stuff. It’s why the spine is the most important bone of them all! Without a spine, you would literally not function, and die. Now I know you’re all very intrigued, but before we go any further there’s a little experiment I’d like you folks at home to try real quick!

Take your hand, and place it on top of your belly. Now give it a nice squish, just a little jiggle. Now lift up your arm, and squish your hey babies with the other arm. You feel that? Feel that squish? Feel that jiggle?

That’s what’s known as “fat” like when I say “You fat fucking slob.” It makes our bodies more buoyant, as well as protect our nice tight muscle man, with a pliable squishy layer right under the skin! Now of course, some parts of the body have more fat than others, as the fat is meant to protect vital parts of the body and its functions such as the breasts, the thighs, and of course the abdomen! While we’re talking about skin, there’s an interesting fact about skin. You see, skin is meant to withstand blunt force very well. Often times, you’ll notice that skin will scrape, bruise, bend, and squish, but hardly break except for certain circumstances like if you used a sharp object on it. This is because the skin is meant to absorb and be pliable enough that it’s a bit hard to tear with blunt force. Usually whenever it does, it’s due to the skeleman’s bones breaking and causing a tear from under the skin for the blood to come out or when it is pinched between the hard bone and a hard surface such as asphalt. This is why you’ll often hear the term “internal bleeding” thrown around during certain traumatic injuries. Because while the skin layer hasn’t broken, there is still something inside the body that is bleeding, but it’s not coming out of the body because of the skin layer! Not to say of course, that you can’t of course break skin through sheer blunt force trauma. But it would take a lot of force that would most definitely cause you more problems than just breaking the skin. Now I hope you were taking lessons back there, because POP QUIZ HOTSHOT! I got a surprise question for you~ With everything I’ve said about the human body and how it is able to take blunt force trauma, please tell me.

HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS HAPPEN? HOW THE FUCK DO YOU SURVIVE THAT?! AND HOW DO YOU SURVIVE THAT WITHOUT ANY LOSS OF LIMB, SCARRING, OR LASTING EFFECT?!

I’m sorry, but you can not achieve that sort of blood splatter by sheer force of gravity alone. Or if you did, then this scene should’ve been more like this!

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The only explanation I’ve heard that makes any sense is that there was just some random ass rock that was there that Lucy landed on that. Which. Okay, then. Okay, sure. Yeah, okay. Then how the fuck do you survive that? That is no small wound based on the amount of blood that was expelled on impact. And if this rock is big and sharp enough to cause that amount of blood loss on impact, it would be big and sharp enough to do immense damage to the abdomen. But oh that’s alright! It’s just the abdomen, there’s nothing going on in there! It’s just your stomach, your liver, your kidneys, your colon, your womb (if you have one) your pancreas, your bladder, y’know stuff you don’t really need. But of course if that gets compromised, and based on the force and damage you could easily break a rib, puncture a lung, and really fuck up your life. That’s not even counting what sort of damage the fall did on her arm! That shoulder must be fucked! Look at how its bent even! You’re not moving that thing any time soon! Your pelvic bone must be shattered if this is the kind of force you took. You are now a vegetable. But that’s not even the biggest point! That’s not the worst part, those things? I know some of you are gonna say, “Oh Amazil, you’re not a doctor! She could survive that! People survive insane things like that all the time!”

Well okay, but riddle me this. Let’s say the rock doesn’t kill her, and by some miracle none of her internals are FUBAR right now. She didn’t cause a bone break, and destroy her limbs. Remember what we said about the central nervous system. The most important bone of the body is the spine and skull. And one of the most vulnerable parts for the spine is the neck. If you fall to the ground with enough velocity, the whiplash you should have from your body going from 60 to 0 in an instant should cause your neck to snap or leave you paralyzed for a good second if not immediately kill you because the force of momentum would carry all that velocity to make your head connect with the ground at its resting speed. And while I know I said that skin is very hard to tear, y’know what makes it tear or break? When the hard contact with the ground, meets hard contact with your hard skull! If she landed so hard on a rock that blood spew out a good foot or two in front of her, how the hell does she not crack her head on the pavement?! And don’t you give me no bullshit about the snow either! I’m sorry Lucy, but by all accounts.

If this scene wasn’t a flashback and we knew Lucy wasn’t dead, there would be no doubt that she was fucking dead if we saw this.

But it seems we aren’t alone in judging this scene. Augustus is here too! (which we kinda already know because of how this scene was set up but nonetheless). And he’s here to say

Wait, let me take a selfie an-

No…

Oh my fucking god…

OH MY GOD! NO!

DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS RIGHT HERE?!

NO LUCY THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SAYING! WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SAYING IS

Sgdslkhg;sldlkdshgknxcv;jhdf;kldgsasdn

Translation: OH GOD, PLEASE HELP THERE IS BLOOD CLEARLY POOLING IN MY MOUTH! MY MOUTH IS FILLING WITH BLOOD! THERE IS BLOOD IN MY LUNGS AND I CAN’T BREATHE!

Your body should be in shock right now! You just suffered traumatic physical injury! Your brain and body is still trying to comprehend what the fuck just happened. You shouldn’t be this lucid, let alone this active and coordinated! Not to mention, the first rule of dealing with someone who has suffered traumatic injury and is on the ground, is NEVER. EVER. MOVE THE PERSON UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO, AND IF YOU DO, YOU DO IT VERY SLOWLY AND AS CAREFULLY AS POSSIBLE. This is because like I mentioned, Lucy’s body has suffered a lot of damage. Her spine could and should be fucked up after that fall. And the reason every EMT or anyone who has the basic knowledge of first aid will tell you not to fucking move if you’ve suffered a traumatic fall, is because if you move and your spine WASN’T fucked up by that fall, it very easily WILL get fucked up if you try to move the body while it’s still injured! They are very careful about that shit, because if you slip up you turn a situation from salvageable, to fucking vegetable in one solid motion! All it takes is just curving your spine a bit immediately after it’s suffered from the shock an-

Oh yeah kinda like that. That might do it or-

Oof, yeah arching your back like that and trying to crawl after a fall. Yeah that ought to do it. Add on top of this, the aforementioned likelihood she broke a rib, and is probably suffering from a pierced lung and oh yeah

And if you’re not double-dead, you are at the very least fucking paralyzed, or require some serious physical therapy. You are not walking away from this.

What was that?

“UP here”?

I-is this not the ground floor? Is there a lower part to this? DID LUCY FALL ONTO ANOTHER LEDGE? QUICK LUCY! YOU CAN JUST ROLL OVER; YOU DIDN’T HIT THE ACTUAL GROUND APPARENTLY! THERE’S MORE FALLING YOU CAN DO TO FINISH THE JOB!

Wh-what? I-it’s a cut? It’s just a cut? What the…How…What is this scene?! You mean to tell me the only injury she got was some abdominal cut?! From falling off a building? What? Did she just see the first 2-story building she came across and say “oh that looks good enough, yeah that should do it!” I swear to god. It’s almost like…

It’s almost like…

She didn’t want to die. Maybe she was just doing it for att-

NO! NO! DON’T YOU DARE! THAT’S NOT TRUE! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT BACK! THAT’S NOT A POSSIBILITY! LUCY DID NOT DO THAT! SHE IS BETTER THAN THAT! SHE DOES NOT DESERVE THAT! AND I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT’S THE CASE!

So a girl jumps off a building to try and kill herself. But the height she falls from is so low that the only damage she got was from some random ass cut that she no doubt wasn’t expecting. Despite the assumed physical trauma that would’ve come if she jumped from a height any person would assume to be lethal enough; she doesn’t have any physical impairments, no lasting damage that we can see 9 months after the fact, no scar, no limp, she doesn’t even seem to be taking it very seriously in the current time. How else would you explain that, except that she didn’t put much thought into it. The kind of thought people who attempt suicide would, in planning out their attempt, climbing those stairs, knowing the area, and finally committing to it. Despite all that contemplating, she didn’t go high enough to do anything more than get a freak accidental injury. How is that not a sign that maybe she wasn’t really trying to die.

But hey, I don’t read this junk. I’m just going off what I see here. I don’t know this character. Do you think that would be out of character for her at this point? What other reason would you have for someone surviving this, but not dying?

….

Maybe they have a lower force of gravity in this world?

Hmm…

Or maybe Taeshi’s just a fucking hack who decided to go over the top and add a stupid gore effect that was far too much; instead of keeping the scene simple, subtle, and letting the action speak for itself, with a realistic tone and visual to keep things grounded (no pun intended).

Atta’ girl! I knew you had it in you!

But it’s such a shame. Looking at this script, I’m already close to eclipsing the rant I made for the first part of this chapter and it was all for this one fucking moment. And you can call me harsh all you want, but this seriously pissed me off. I remember when this page came out, I was fuming. I broke my vow of illiteracy to check the previous pages just because I had to know what the fuck lead to this, and what the fuck was happening. This one panel haunts me and is one of the few moments in BCB that legitimately triggers me, because of how poorly handled it was.

This should’ve been a fucking bombshell moment. This should’ve been the moment that shut my cynical, hardass mouth up or glue my jaw straight to the floor. It should’ve been an awe inspiring moment where Taeshi really showed us and reminded us just how fucking great she can be. This was a moment that everyone was waiting for with bated breath. I remember, I created January years ago specifically because we didn’t get this sort of scene. We didn’t get to see Lucy’s last struggle, or giving in. We were just told that she was gone and faded away, leaving us hollow and wanting for more. Yearning for years and years for resolution to come.

And this is what we got.

FUCKING YAMCHA’D!

But y’know what’s the best part? And if you know me, and are familiar with my stuff you know damn well what I’m talking about. The absolute best part about this whole fucking thing?

I beat Taeshi to the punch by miles. And not only that, but (and this is what really pisses me off) reading this page showed me that I gave more fucking respect and thought into this character and this moment than Taeshi did. Because, y’know why? Because of this.

That’s right. Lucy was supposed to cry out and deny and fight Sue in January to let her die. Kind of like…

HRMMMMMMMMMM Now don’t get it twisted. I’m not trying to make a comparison in saying that my idea of having Lucy fight with Susan to let her die is the same thing happening here. What I’m talking about here, is this wonderful thing in storytelling called TONE. And this scene, starting with that panel and Lucy’s reaction to Augustus kills what should’ve been a serious, and somber tone by adding in this layer of mystery, and doubt, and mistrust, and fear. Which COULD’VE been interesting and done well to make us invested.

Like oh no, what’s he doing? Who is he calling?

Oh my god, is he calling Alejandro? Is this how Lucy dies? (although, I doubt there would be much he could do since she’s already dying. Putting Alejandro in that mix would’ve just been weird, what’s he gonna do? Beat up her corpse or something?)

Oh what a relief! He’s calling an ambulance how nice, this is so relieving except wait-

WE ALREADY KNOW THAT AUGUSTUS IS GOING TO SAVE HER! SO ALL THAT BULLSHIT TENSION IS POINTLESS! So what did we learn or get from this scene?

We see how Lucy tried to kill herself. Which was poorly done.

We see how she was conflicted after Curtain Call with Mike talking to her about stuff.

We see that her moving to some other place and getting transferred to a new school wasn’t just something that happened in response to her suicide attempt but was pre-planned.

Okay.

Let me go make a call and see if any of this gets brought up or used later on.

Dude I’m being serious here. Why do you keep laughing? I just want to know if anything comes from the information from this scene. Otherwise, what’s the fucking point of dropping this bomb here other than because Lucy’s here now so we must have this scene now.

STOP LAUGHING!

But what am I saying? We haven’t even talked about January yet! So let’s do that shall we? Cause I know you think I’m just tooting my own horn by saying I put more thought into January’s suicide attempt scene but allow me to indulge myself. As I dive into one of the best scenes I’ve ever written. A scene that I put all my heart and mind into, to make it the best it could be. Because this character deserves it.

Right off the bat it is meant to make the reader perk up and raise a red flag to note that something is going on and you need to take notice. If you’ve read January, you’ll know that it is a very wordy comic. It’s jampacked with panels, words, jokes, dramatic moments, and it is meant to be a very fast paced comic that rarely slows down or shuts up. So when greeted by six panel pages that are wordless, and seemingly benign it is meant to illicit intrigue into the reader, to make them wonder why has the train slowed down.

It doesn’t waste your time either, as only two pages later do we get words again but it only adds more mystery into what’s going on. The paneling is still broken up, and scarce. And as the reader follows along, the tension and mystery builds. The lack of panels, the more prevalent backgrounds, it is visually demanding the reader slow down and immerse themselves into this scene and what is going on. Sue acting as the surrogate for the reader, as she gains the information and is left questioning in tandem with the reader.

And just as it dawns on the reader what’s going on, it dawns on Susan. The tension builds, and the question shifts. No longer asking what’s going on with this scene, but rather: How can Sue stop this? Or Can she stop this?

And at the same time, we are being drip fed Lucy’s words and perspective. We know what’s about to happen, it’s no longer a mystery. And the tension mounts until the final moment…

This is why I give props to the canon for its portrayal of Lucy’s jump. It was well done, well paced. It had this nice tension, and for that I appreciate it. But where it differs is what happens after Lucy commits to killing herself.

You see, there was a lot of thought I had put into how exactly Lucy was going to kill herself. If you’ll allow me to be cold and dark for a moment; I went over a few different modes of suicide for Lucy. And really thinking about which one would be the best one, not just for dramatic effect, not just for realism, but also which would be the best one for this scene. It came down to what would be a method that Lucy could survive from if she attempted it (so no toaster bath); what would be a method that Susan could dramatically save Lucy from, while still being able to talk to Lucy and understand her (so no over the counter cocktail); and how can I make it absolutely 100% sure to the audience that both of these characters are committed to what they’re doing? And to me…

Nothing shows that more, than Lucy fully committed to kicking the chair out from under her; and Sue clinging to Lucy for dear life, physically and emotionally trying to prop her up even as Lucy has fully committed to giving up. (if you’ve ever wondered how this overthinking, overanalyzing, cynical mind of mine works towards building my own stories. This should give you a good idea of what I go over with these scenes when I take them seriously)

If you remember the comment I mentioned earlier about changing Lucy’s reaction to Sue’s rescue, this is what I changed, and how it elevates this scene. Narratively, this should’ve been the moment where the reader catches a breath and relaxes knowing that Lucy’s safe now. But instead the reader remains in Sue’s shoes, clinging to Lucy and wanting to tell her everything’s okay, but Lucy explains that it’s not. We see into Lucy’s mentality. And it heartbreaking, because it’s not yelled at, it’s not cried out, it’s spoken somberly, with expressions and responses that fully capture how hopeless Lucy feels, and how true she feels it is.

And when Lucy finally does yell, and shows emotion it isn’t done to add some extra tension or drama in actuality, this is a moment where Sue breaks through Lucy’s armor and she shows her vulnerability. And even still the tone does not change. The tension is still tight, and it refuses to let up. But not only that.

This scene comes with a flashback, but instead of leaving us with more questions, or scratching our heads as to what it had to do with anything or what it means. It adds context to the situation, and its message is meant to be absolutely clear to you why it’s happening and what it means for the story and for these characters. This is Lucy’s moment. This is where we see her at her lowest point. Broken. Defeated. Unable to cope or push on.

But we’re reminded that there are two characters in this scene. We see both sides of the coin fully understand what Sue is feeling right now. Guilty. Ashamed. Stupid. Naïve. This scene builds, exposes, and fleshes out its two main characters. Showing each of their struggles.

It’s this scene that sets the stage for these characters, and it’s a jumping off point (again, no pun intended) for them to grow from. This entire scene sets its serious tone from the start, and holds the reader hostage, keeping the tension up and forcing them to take this seriously because it has something to say.

(god damn it, I really should’ve rephrased that to “cause I am not letting you go” that would’ve been so much better) But that’s its final message, and final note. A promise that carries on, that is reflected in the characters every action from this point on. Lucy’s suicide attempt is what kicks off(…no pun intended?) the rest of the story. It lingers over everything and is a main point that is brought back constantly, time and time again. It is an integral part of not only Lucy’s character development, but Sue’s character development.

And even when she does come down, and the reader is given a moment to take a breath and crack a joke. It’s clear that this is just the beginning, and there is a lot of work left to be done. And things for the reader to look forward to. Lucy’s suicide attempt was something that I knew I had to treat with the utmost respect, and love. In the end, we don’t know what’s going to happen now, but we do know Lucy’s problem. We completely understand and can empathize with her character, for what she’s feeling, what she’s going through right now.

Nothing is left unclear.

You’re never asking what’s going on.

You’re not meant to search and assume the answers on your own.

It’s clear cut.

It’s gutwrenching.

It’s brutal.

But most importantly.

It’s fucking real.

You don’t doubt that Susan, with adrenaline pumping through her veins could force herself to hold Lucy up. You don’t wonder how Lucy could survive her attempt. You don’t wonder what is going through her mind. Or why she’s being saved. The scene is meant to be impactful (Jesus I just keep walking right into it. God damn! I’m sorry, no pun intended) It deserves so much better than what it got. After everything that this comic did…This.

This just kills it for me. You had the opportunity to make this amazing, something more than just its premise. But instead it just falls flat on its fa-OH GOD DAMN IT WHY CAN’T I STOP DOING THAT?! I JUST CAN’T AVOID ACCIDENTALLY MAKING THESE DAMN PUNS!

A friend of mine made a good point on how this chapter could’ve been salvaged. First off fuck that blood splatter it’s gratuitous, it’s excessive, and it’s distracting. Just imagine for a second that it wasn’t there.

(look I tried to clean it up, it’s getting really late and this is getting absurdly long) But imagine instead Lucy fell and we just see her lying on the ground. Her mind is in shock. She is struggling to move. Her body feels almost numb. She doesn’t know what’s going on, her mind hasn’t fully comprehended what has just happened. We start to see blood slowly pool beneath her and blend into the snow. Growing as she starts to feel the pain set in. The chilly breeze cooling her wound and making her feel unbearably cold. Her vision fades, the scene zooms out as she starts to accept her fate, maybe thinking of final apologies, lamenting on the things she’s done, the words she’s never said, the life she never lead. And just as she’s about to pass out.

She sees a silhouette of Augustus. It’s unclear what he does, why he’s there, or what happens to Lucy as she passes out unsure if it was even real, what will happen to her.

And THEN the chapter starts! And we see her, and the suicide attempt can stand on its own! (maybe you can insert Augustus’ point of view of the scene in the place of this scene when Lucy says “this is the boy who saved my life” and we can maybe see Augustus care a bit about Lucy, or how he really feels. It also would’ve been better if this scene came out earlier in the comic when this was more fresh in our minds. But let’s wrap it up shall we?

We get a nice few bits of Augustus interacting with Lucy’s family and it’s really heartwarming. It’s so cute, and it is a wonderful reminder of how Lucy’s actions impact not only our main characters but their families. Not to mention Augustus is just adorable, and seeing him interact in this new environment, with people who legitimately care for him is very refreshing. I like it a lot.

And come on, just look at how cute and amazing Lucy’s mom is. She’s the best thing about this chapter. It’s really nice to see Lucy’s family and how they act.

and the chapter ends with cute Augustus finally finding a place to call home~

Overall, this comic is just a bunch of disappointments with one nice little light at the end. There were many chapters I’d point to as infuriating but this one…

For what it set out to do, and what it tried to do, and what it should’ve done. In a word it is utterly disappointing. And leaves me so hollow.

I give it a 2/10. I hope to god that Taeshi does better. I’d say it can’t get worse than this, but I keep hearing about this carnival chapter, and man…

I’ll see you guys when i miss the next update. Till then, this is Lt_Amazil signing off.

#Bittersweet Candy Bowl #rant

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 2.2

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time, as chapter 2 began, Kaito took Kaede’s wish to heart and started constantly looking out for Shuichi, Maki found her lab and became consumed by the fear of people learning her secret, Shuichi tempted fate by noticing way too many details about the pool, the casino’s slot machines joined in with the narrative’s attempt to imply Kaito is expendable, and Kaito encouraged everyone to keep being brave and proactive, except for Kokichi who is still being a coward.

And now, time for more Kaito. I mean free time.

Shuichi: “There’s still some time left today… I need to think of a plan!”

It’s a little odd how Shuichi often thinks something along these lines before starting a free time segment, and then just goes on to hang out with someone and talk about nothing that has anything to do with plans or escaping.

And by “someone”, I mean Kaito, of course! They’re not officially friends quite yet, but Kaito’s still been good enough to Shuichi at the end of last chapter and the beginning of this one that it seems reasonable that Shuichi would feel most inclined to hang out with him already.

But first, a little bit of asking around the others. Most people’s minds are on the Ultimate Hunt, trying in vain to figure out what the hell it is.

At some point in between when he left the dorms in the morning and now, someone changed the icon over Shuichi’s door to one of him without his hat on. Monokuma did, I guess?

You can also go around and examine things that have to do with the previous case for some bonus inner monologue, by which I mean you can take Shuichi on a huge guilt trip about not having noticed and stopped Kaede.

Examining the moving bookcase in the library…

Shuichi: (Rantaro noticed the trick to this bookcase. Just like me… The only difference between me and him… is that I had someone I could trust. I wonder what I would’ve done… if Kaede hadn’t been there…)

This is a nice little observation that’s also brought up during chapter 6’s trial! I imagine that if he hadn’t had Kaede, Shuichi would have just done nothing, not having the confidence to follow his deductions through.

Miu: “What the fuck is up with that Flashback Light? You can’t just mess with someone’s memory using light…”

Except apparently, in this universe, you totally can. Clearly they didn’t give the Ultimate Inventor memories of that particular technology in case she figured out what was really up with the Flashback Lights.

Gonta: “Not even trying to survive… That even possible? Cuz everybody got someone who would feel sad to lose you…”

Gonta is one of the handful of people who are thinking about what Ryoma said instead. He’s so pure, not even being able to consider the idea of not having anyone who cares about you. Also it’s very him to be thinking of the idea of a reason to live not as having someone who makes you happy, but as the fact that your existence makes someone else happy and so you don’t want to make them sad by dying on them.

Kaito: “You seen Kokichi anywhere? I saw him a while ago and tried to tell him something, but he got away again.”

Meanwhile, Kaito is still focused on Kokichi’s words about not co-operating and trying to make an attempt to get through to him.

(Doesn’t your Monopad’s map magically tell you where everyone is at any given moment, Kaito? No? Does Shuichi just have a special Protagonist Perk Monopad?)

Shuichi: (Kaito and I spent some time looking for Kokichi.)

…and apparently totally failed at finding him. But that’s par for the course with Kokichi’s hide-and-seek skills.

I gave him the Hand Grips, which improve strength for punching.

Kaito: “Are you giving this to me? Haha, you know me so well!”

…I mean, you did punch Shuichi last night and threaten to punch Kokichi this morning, so. Not that hard to figure out.

Kaito: “You got something to tell me? Don’t hold back! I’ll listen!”

It is so very Kaito to assume that Shuichi would come to him for the purpose of unloading his problems onto him and immediately try and make the conversation about that. It’s a little bit forward of him to think Shuichi would be ready to do that already. All Shuichi actually wants to talk about for now is what it’s like to be an astronaut trainee.

Kaito: “No problem! My training’s a piece of cake!”

Shuichi: (Kaito was grinning at me, but then his expression turned serious.)

Kaito: “Well, to be honest, it’s about as intense as intense can get.”

I like how Kaito starts out pretending that his training’s no big deal before admitting the truth. He knows and is willing to admit that it’s really very challenging, but that’s not the first impression he wants to put in people’s heads. It seems he’d rather people have this image of him as the heroic Luminary of the Stars who can do everything effortlessly.

Kaito: “Alright! Pop quiz! What’s the most important thing an astronaut needs?”

I am very amused by the fact that one of the possible answers to this question is “a healthy body”. Yeah, to be an astronaut, you need to, I don’t know… not be dying from a mysterious illness? That sounds like a good start.

Kaito: “And that thing is… Communication! The most important thing for an astronaut is teamwork. The universe is a frontier that the people of the world challenge together. And since we need to work together, communication is vital!”

This explains so much about Kaito’s character. He was written to be someone who is such a perfect candidate to become an astronaut that the space program accepted him even though he’s too young and cheated his way into the exam. So he needed to be given the exact qualities that an astronaut needs – not necessarily in terms of specific skills, which he can learn during his training, but in terms of the kind of person he is and the potential he has even before being accepted. Of course he would have to be someone who is really good at communication and co-operating with others and values those things so much!

Kaito: “They check that in the recruitment exam.”

Exactly – all the other more specific skills you need, they can teach you during training. But communication is so important that you have to be talented at it already to even get in at all.

Kaito: “Of course, I can speak Japanese, English and Russian all fluently!”

The localisation worded this line in such a way to not have him mention which of those three languages he’s speaking right now, because it would sound awkward for him to mention that he’s speaking Japanese… in English.

Shuichi: (He can speak multiple languages, is well-learned, and has what it takes to be an astronaut. …I’ve been underestimating him. Kaito is incredible!)

Damn right he is! And it’s interesting that, despite there being a number of actual concrete reasons why Kaito is a pretty awesome person that he’s just been chatting to Shuichi about, Kaito never mentions those things when he’s talking himself up as the Luminary of the Stars and trying to get people to be inspired by him. There’s no sense during this conversation that Kaito is actively trying to get Shuichi to look up to him by telling him about all the skills he’s learning in his training; he’s just stating the facts like it’s no big deal.

Kaito: “I wanna get back to training! The universe is getting away from me! The world needs this Luminary of the Stars to shine even brighter!”

…Well, until this line, at least. Even so, this seems separate – he’s not saying that he’s the Luminary of the Stars because of all of those things. This is something he wants people to think that he just is.

This is probably because Kaito believes he’s more inspirational to others this way than if he frequently talked about all the proper reasons why he’s talented. If he talked about those all the time, then other people might get discouraged, thinking they’ll never be able to do all the things Kaito can do and so they’ll never be able to be as talented as him. But if Kaito just presents himself as this general idealised hero who is The Coolest Ever for no specifically-defined reason, then that’s a much easier thing for any given person to want to aspire to be a little bit more like in a way that suits them. Most people aren’t going to be able to become an astronaut like Kaito is, but everyone can become a bit more of a hero in their own way.

(Kaito is so good.)

Shuichi: (…I don’t have the heart to tell him I’m not so sure about that.)

Really, Shuichi? Because I think that Kaito still needs to be a bit more luminary in order to fully inspire you and give you the strength to carry on Kaede’s wish and end the killing game. He’s made a start, but he hasn’t done enough yet.

(Did you know? The word “luminary” means “someone who inspires or influences others”, but also “an object that emits light, especially the sun or moon”. Kaito’s self-proclaimed title is perfect for him.)

Kokichi: “Everyone’s got it all wrong! I only act like a bad guy so you guys don’t get too soft, y’know?”

See, this is at least what Kokichi likes to think he’s doing – deliberately playing devil’s advocate to foster more open suspicion because he’s convinced that’s better than people pretending to trust each other. In reality, all he’s doing is decreasing the chances of everyone working together and managing to escape and survive and not have more killings happen – in other words, what he’s really doing is actually being a bad guy, if still less of one than Monokuma.

Tsumugi: “I just remembered… The phone game I was playing is having a collab with an anime I like… and I’m missing it…”

Well I guess those are just the kinds of sacrifices you make when you decide to take a few weeks out to force a bunch of people to kill each other, aren’t they.

Meanwhile, Kaito is now hanging out just outside the door to Ryoma’s lab.

Kaito: “Damn it, Ryoma… The famous Ultimate Tennis Pro…”

Seems like he’s still hung up on Ryoma’s behaviour, too.

Kaito: “O-Oh, it’s nothing… Instead of talking about that, it’s a better use of our time to think of ways to escape.”

But he doesn’t like being hung up on it, and he certainly doesn’t want to show it in front of Shuichi. There’s no point in moping around when you could be doing something to make a difference!

Kaito: “Alright! Today I’m gonna tell you about me!”

That’s what you ended up doing last time too, Kaito, but sure. At least this time he seems to have realised that Shuichi came to hang out for the sake of learning more about Kaito and not for the sake of talking about his own issues.

Kaito: “You wanna know, right? Why I feel so strongly about the universe!?”

Shuichi: “Ah…”

Kaito: “Good! I thought so!”

Shuichi: (I haven’t even answered yet!)

This might not have been quite what Shuichi wanted to hear about, though. I love how Shuichi’s so awkward and passive that he just ends up getting utterly swept along by Kaito’s ridiculousness.

It’s also interesting to note that when it’s Kaito making the choice of what things about himself he wants to tell Shuichi about, and not Shuichi asking to hear about a certain thing, Kaito doesn’t choose to talk more about his astronaut training and actual genuine talents. Instead we get… this ridiculousness that’s about to happen here.

Shuichi: (So not only are you going to force me to listen, it’s a long story…)

I also think this is a pretty good indication that this event should be happening this early in the story. Shuichi seems mildly annoyed here, whereas I feel like if this happened after the training session in which they properly become friends, Shuichi wouldn’t mind so much at being subjected to this.

Kaito: “When I was a kid, I’d go to my gramps’ place to play sometimes…”

Keep this in mind for a bit later when I’ll talk about Kaito’s grandparents. The fact that he calls it his “gramps’ place” and says he’d only go there “sometimes” implies that when he was younger (I’m picturing him as being about six or seven in this story), he wasn’t permanently living with them.

Kaito: “After I found that map, I made a decision and set out… I went to the nearest pawn shop and sold the map for some cash!”

Shuichi: “You sold it!?”

Kaito: “There’s no way I, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, would ever follow a map to adventure! A life free from maps, finding my own adventures… that’s the life for me!”

Even though this is all just a silly game he played when he was a kid, that’s still such a Kaito thing to do. Of course he’d want to carve his own path and be unique, rather than do the same things everyone else would do!

Kaito: “But the sea still called me, so I bought a boat and went on a voyage.”

Can we talk about tiny Kaito pretending to be a pirate and how adorable that must have been. (Apart from the fact that it never actually happened, shush.)

Kaito: “Soon after becoming a captain, I met my destined rival!”

Shuichi: “Your rival?”

Kaito: “Yeah! The boss of the Great Pirates!”

I wonder if this “rival” he talks about was an actual friend of his who joined in his games or if he was also imaginary.

Shuichi: (…So what happened to outer space!?)

Shuichi is so bewildered I love it.

Kaito: “We clashed on the field of battle many times, to the point we became friends…”

I also like that Kaito clearly adheres to the idea that competition fosters friendship, whether this rival was real or not.

Kaito: “But during our final battle to see who would conquer the seas… I could’ve won, but I’m not the kind of guy to be satisfied with just the sea. No! I’m not the kind of guy to be satisfied with just the world!”

Of course you’re not, Kaito. That’s why space.

Kaito: “That’s why I couldn’t finish him off with a final punch… He got mad at me for holding back. We haven’t met since that day…”

…If this rival was a real person and not just someone he made up, this is apparently Kaito talking about the time he fell out with his at-the-time best friend. Which means it probably happened absolutely nothing like how he describes it here and he doesn’t like to think about how it really went. Getting mad at your friend for holding back sounds like the kind of thing Kaito would do – holding back your full strength isn’t being true to yourself! – but not something many other people would, especially not when they’re like six years old or so. So that part’s definitely something Kaito made up just because it made sense to him.

Shuichi: (I’ll just keep listening…)

Kaito: “Hey… it’s written all over your face…”

Shuichi: “Huh? What is?”

Kaito: “You’re not taking this seriously, are you!? If it’s boring, just say so! Pretending to listen is super unmanly!”

As much as I feel a little bad choosing the option that makes Shuichi show obvious disinterest, I had to, because here’s another example of Kaito talking about manliness. And again, it’s about being true to yourself – be open and honest about how you really feel about things, rather than trying to pretend you feel differently!

Shuichi: “Ah, no! I’m not bored or anything! It’s really interesting, Kaito!”

…To be fair, I don’t think Shuichi actually is bored, precisely – just exasperated at how obviously made up it is. At the very least, Kaito’s story isn’t boring to listen to.

Regardless, Kaito decides to leave it there for now and continue the story next time.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate part of the summary of this event on the report card, which was apparently written by Shuichi based on the use of first person:

“It went on and on. I have no idea where he is going with this.”

I’m not sure he does either, Shuichi. Kaito is such a ridiculous dork and I love him.

Shuichi: “I wonder… how it was for Kaede…” (I’m sure she had plenty of reasons to live… That’s the kind of girl she was. But I—)

Shuichi is still being plagued by awful intrusive thoughts about Kaede’s death. To be fair, Kaede’s main reason to live seemed to be to make other people smile, which also ended up being the reason she died.

Monokuma: “Oh, but Spike Chunsoft games are fine. They’re specially made to improve your focus.”

Do Spike Chunsoft even make games any more, Monokuma? I thought Danganronpa had been a live-action “real fiction” thing for a while now. Then again, there was that Ultra Despair Girls 2 poster, so maybe the games they still make now are just spinoffs.

Monokuma: “Back by popular demand, it’s time for the motive video!”

Hah, popular demand indeed. They probably did an audience vote on which of the classic motives they wanted to see again.

This photo of Kaito with his grandparents is cute. They’re so proud of their grandson! …It’s a shame it’s completely faked and the “grandparents” are presumably just actors who don’t actually give a damn about him.

But from Kaito’s point of view, they’re real, so let’s talk about the fact that his grandparents are the most important people in his life. That one line I brought up from his most recent FTE implied that at least when he was a kid, he didn’t live with his grandparents. So it’s not just a case of his parents having died when he was too young to remember and he was always raised by his grandparents. Something happened with his parents at some point while he was growing up.

There seem to be two trains of thought among the people who like Kaito enough to have thought about this: that Kaito’s parents died, or that Kaito’s parents are assholes. I’m personally on the “Kaito’s parents died” train. That part back at the end of trial 1 where he gives advice to Shuichi on how to deal with Kaede’s death, where I mentioned that it sounded kind of like he was speaking from personal experience? Yeah, this would be that experience. It ties these two dangling unexplained subtleties together nicely. Kaito probably lost his parents while he was growing up – not while he was so young that it would have left a permanent, noticeable scar on his psyche, and also not so recently that the wound is still raw, but long enough ago for him to have developed a healthy, positive way of dealing with grief that he’s then able to try to pass on to Shuichi after that trial. It might even have influenced his more general optimism and go-getter attitude, since he’d know first-hand that life is short and so you should live it to the fullest and not waste a second of it.

I’ve seen quite a few people on the “Kaito’s parents are assholes” train instead, and their reason for it is usually something to do with the idea that all of Kaito talking himself up to be such an awesome person is actually because he’s desperate for the validation that he never got from his own parents. But that just doesn’t quite fit for me. Don’t get me wrong; I love characters like that whose outward confidence is just a façade born of a desperate need for acknowledgement. But that’s the thing: there are so many characters like that from other works of fiction that I like and enjoy and have spent a lot of time thinking about that I feel I’m pretty good at spotting that nuance, that subtle need for validation beneath the surface – and I don’t get that sense from Kaito right now at all. Perhaps part of the reason I feel this way is because of what I mentioned earlier in his first FTE, about how he never brings up any of the concrete reasons why he’s talented, which would be the first thing you’d think he’d do if he was secretly desperate for everyone’s validation. It really feels to me like Kaito’s confidence is completely genuine.

Not that I don’t also enjoy reading people’s headcanons about how Kaito’s parents being assholes would affect him, mind you, but I just don’t personally think it quite matches up with canon.

I also really like how, even though the deal with his parents is never explicitly revealed because of course Kaito wouldn’t want to talk about it regardless of which version is true, this is still a thing anyway. It wouldn’t be hard to remove it entirely – the writers could easily have gone with the most obvious option of having Kaito’s most important people be his parents instead, meaning nothing bad happened with them. But they did it this way, even though we never learn for sure what’s up with his parents – because the out-universe writers had an idea in their heads for what the deal was, and they didn’t need to explicitly explain it for it to still be a thing that’s true about Kaito that would have subtly influenced the way he acts, even if it’s only a little. Subtle character writing is great. Writers knowing more about their characters than they ever outwardly mention in the story is great. Kaito is such a great character.

Monokuma: “Thanks to his exceptional talent, this young man is already an astronaut trainee! Wow!”

I love the audible air quotes as Monokuma says “exceptional talent”. (Screw you, Monokuma, we just established how genuinely talented Kaito is in one of his FTEs yesterday.)

Kaito’s Grandfather: “No matter what happens, you must live. You must *never* give up.”

Kaito’s Grandmother: “Please… live on. For our sakes, too.”

Monokuma: “Their only wish… is for Kaito to live.”

This particular wish is very interesting. Consider the fact that Kaito’s grandparents aren’t real and don’t have any actual feelings about him and are just saying whatever the in-universe writers think would be most likely to make Kaito murder someone to escape. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a very good motive for that! If they wished for him to fulfil his dream of going to space, or even just to see them again, that’d be something that would actually require him to escape in order to do. But just living? The safest way to guarantee that in this killing game is to keep your head down and not murder anyone, while trying to avoid becoming a victim too. Sure, you’d be stuck inside this academy for the foreseeable future, but at least you’d be alive. Murdering someone to escape is significantly less likely to achieve your survival because of the incredibly high chance you’ll be found out and executed.

Except for the fact that Kaito is the one person among these students who has a deadly virus. If he just keeps his head down and stays here and doesn’t try to escape, he will not live. The only way for Kaito to live is if he can get medical treatment before his illness kills him, and to do that, he needs to escape and get to a hospital, in theory sacrificing everyone else here for the sake of his own survival. This message from his grandparents is trying to make Kaito feel more inclined to do that, once he realises what’s wrong with him. (Not that it’d ever work. Kaito selfishly putting his own survival before everyone else’s, even if it’s the only way to fulfil his grandparents’ wish? Ha ha, nope, not ever.)

…On the other hand, this could instead be a reference to the backstory with the Gofer Project and how Kaito’s grandparents would presumably know that everyone left on Earth is super doomed but at least Kaito will get to live. Apparently they were unaware that their grandson also has the virus and is equally doomed. That said, if this were the case, then you’d think everyone else’s motive video would also have the subject’s loved ones saying something similar, wishing for them to live on since they’re the only ones who can. The only other motive video we see that is an actual motive (aka not Ryoma’s) and isn’t explicitly connected to the end-of-the-world plot (aka not Kirumi’s) is Kokichi’s, and there’s nothing in there about his goons wishing for him to live on and spread mischief across the new world or anything like that. So it still seems more likely to me that the motive videos’ creators were thinking primarily about whatever would make someone most likely to commit murder, and only tying it into the overarching backstory if it happened to fit.

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sailor-cresselia · 5 years

Text

Zi-O 35: *chuckles* I’m in danger

(Using the RiderTimeFansubs version today)

Now... it’s show Rider Zi-O Inoue time.

(I’m out of opening jokes guys.)

Now that is a Black Widow if I ever saw one. Seriously, lady, you’re creeping me out. I am literally 33 seconds in.

Lady, er, sorry, Yuko, I don’t know what you were convicted of, but. Um. You’re not really giving off the impression of someone who is exactly going to be… okay if you go outside.

I will give Hora kudos for not shoving the watch into her chest, though. Good call. And apparently Another Kiva gets to summon the Real Kiva’s… support? I don’t actually know what those three Fangire are to Kiva, but. Yeah. I’mma go with either ‘support’ or ‘retainers’ for now.

Flip-cut to 2008, with… Woz… creeping on 2008 Yuko. This Is Fine.

Woz. I know you somehow make it into the Gaia Library in FOREVER. I know you don’t get much to do in FOREVER. I have not seen FOREVER yet, that’s next on the agenda.

BUT YOU DON’T GET TO SAY KEYWORD. YOU JUST DON’T.

(But still, kudos for the possible nod to the film having just gotten it’s home release, that’s clever.)

A quick note on the opening. Nothings changed in a few episodes, not since we got Trinity. But I can’t help but be uncomfortable with the fact that they still have the last scene with characters be the section with Zi-O and Geiz back to back, and then turning around and clashing.

It’s right up there with Cross-Z Charge staying in the OP for Build through the entire season, but Cross-Z Magma never making it in.

Keeping something that was relevant, but became quickly outdated. I’d say they should have swapped this segment somehow by at least the end of the Another Zi-O Arc, if not before. … Nah, end of Another Zi-O would be the best place. I was thinking that after Geiz gave Sougo his belt, and that whole shindig, but there was still an amount of animosity after that for a while.

OH NOOO MY HEART! THEY’RE ALL GETTING ALONG AND FAWNING OVER JUNICHIRO’S APPLE PIE! It’s too cute, help!

But really, all four are immediately smiling, and it’s adorable. Woz kind of seems like he’s lost all of his stoic traits from even two arcs ago, though.

…oh no, Sougo’s Space Case tendencies transferred to Woz when they started using Trinity.

That’s the only answer. Sougo’s been increasingly competent, and both him and Geiz are getting better at talking to people… and Woz has become comic relief. Oh no personality blending nooooo…

But that is exactly the right set of reactions to Sougo saying he’s been in love. A+ to Tsukuyomi pointing out that he’s ‘like a kid.’

Sougo: Of course I’ve been in love! :)

Geiz: Oh god you’re telling us about it. End me now…

...HUH. Just realized. Junichiro wouldn’t know about this, would he? Kiva – and thus our past segments – were in 2008, but Sougo came to live with his uncle in 2009. So Sougo’s parents were still alive at this point.

2008 Sougo didn’t have friends, either.

Tsukuyomi and Geiz looking on in confusion, Junichiro messing with his nephew (while also confused) and Woz… continues eating pie. I’m worried about you, dude. Character Decay’s not a good thing.

And we have a customer, interrupting story time!

OH WOW! He’s here to get a watch fixed! That’s a first from a non-Time Traveler! The only people bringing in actual time pieces have been Woz and Mondo – you know, Quiz, remember him?

(Customer thinks the shop may have become a cafe – fair, given the scene he’s just walked in on – and Uncle’s stuck in cat-pun mode. Whoops.)

(I’ve started Decade, and the apparently recurring ‘I thought this was a cafe’ joke from there with regards to the Photo Studio just popped into my head. Nice.)

Yuko is. Scary. She wants to take over the world to change the laws.

:casts a nervous glance over at the Kiva and Ryuki arcs of Decade:

Hora’s got a point – the only female Another Rider was Amane, as Another Blade, and she was selected by Hat!Woz. But… looks like Hora’s still in the ‘looking for a new King’ state. Even Heure seems to have moved past that. Last arc, he was trying to find Hibiki, not a candidate. Interesting.

Customer is a lawyer, and knows that he can’t always be the ‘gallant hero’ that Sougo seems to think lawyers are. After all, he couldn’t help ‘that pretty lady.’ But he’s forgotten something at the counter, and Sougo – good boy that he is – rushes off to follow and return it.

YUKO. STOPPED A CAR. WITH HER FOOT. IN HEELS. AND A TINY SKIRT.

:siiiiiigh: Did we really need that pan shot along her leg? Did we?

No. No we didn’t.

And we didn’t need Yuko being a CREEPER to her former lawyer – aka Customer. She’s got a… really sensitive nose. That’s really creepy, especially since she’s using it to unnerve literally everyone around her. It’s not even an Another Kiva thing – she was doing this to identify the exact wine her former boyfriend had in the cold open.

Yuko Kitajima, okay, so that’s her last name. And her doing this ‘ah, yes, it’s that aroma’ trick is what lets her lawyer know it’s her. So she’s done this for a long time.

Another Kiva has some nice touches – roses at the lapels of her cape, where the chain attaches, the stained glass aesthetic.

HOWEVER. I’m NOT here for the eyes. That bright piercing blue is both unnerving AND doesn’t go with the rest of the look! Not to mention the eyes on her shoulders! NO NO NOPE NOT HERE FOR THAT.

...When did Zi-O drop the ‘dial’ eyes, anyway? Definitely by Another Zi-O, I know that… but the Future Another Riders had them, too. Then again, the years have all been ‘2019’ for the last few arcs. Blade, Hibiki, and now Kiva definitely have said 2019. Huh. Wonder if it’s something to do with that.

Another Kiva: I’m going to be queen, and this world will be ~mine~.

Sougo: Queen? :o

SOUGO! THIS IS NOT THE TIME! DO NOT APPRECIATE THE COLORS! YOU ARE UNDER ATTACK!

Ooh, hey, she’s even got a version of Kivat-Bat on there! Nice!

Sougo, please at least put on one of your armors. Like. Any of them would do, right now. Build would be good! You can tank hits really well in that one! Decade’d be better! But just something to give you defense! This is four on one you fool you are outnumbered

AND NOW you are also outgunned, because she can turn her Summoned Fangire Replicas into their weapon forms. Delightful.

And after getting hit by the hammer, sword, and gun, Sougo’s knocked right the hell out of his transformation. Whoops.

Yuko. Yuko don’t – don’t stand over him like that, what are you doing? No, no, don’t do the chin thing, Sougo’s already a wreck, we don’t need him losing sensibility already! Don’t leave the braincell to Geiz! Nooooo-

Hora: So, a queen, huh?

Yuko: How dare a servant talk to me.

OH MY GOODNESS WOW

Hora’s not having this. Just. Teleports out of the way of Yuko trying to slap her. Good call.

YUKO. FRICKING. Kicks up a manhole cover. THROWS IT LIKE A FRISBEE at Hora.

Hora just TURNS HER HEAD to dodge. All she gets is a cut on the cheek – HORA YOU’RE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE OH MY GOD.

Hora’s gonna do a violence.

(Hey, Heure, back when we met Swartz, you told him not to treat you like a child. So… what’s with you two getting ice cream? That’s. Weird. And creepy.)

HEURE. HORA. GET OUT OF THERE. BOTH OF YOU. YOU CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS.

Cut to evening in the shop.

I can believe this lady did a murder. She certain plans to do some murders now.

The day of the crime she’s ‘falsely’ accused of was April 10, 2015. Just felt like noting that.

(And noting that that fits right in with when a Roidmude could have taken someone’s identity. And noting that we haven’t seen Drive yet.)

(I know there’s like, zero chance it’s connected. Why would they link two different arcs like that? That is, aside from Fourze and Faiz, but that was different.)

(But, you know. Just saying.)

She’s almost definitely going after people who got her imprisoned, there’s no maybe about it. And, er, I can actually understand why Sougo would relate to that, what with. You know. The whole ‘demon king’ thing.

Except that he thinks she couldn’t have done it, because she was his First Love. Woz is all “suggestive raised eyebrows” while Geiz and Tsukuyomi just. They just want the inanity to end.

I fucking LOVE how everyone keeps making cat puns / noises with regards to this story. I mean. Really. She scratched you under the chin, dude. That’s weird.

(Nya.)

Weirdo guy in a coffee bar, insulting the coffee but still coming here, because the waitress is pretty. “Yay.”

Also, he’s got this fancy ring on. That’s probably significant, since P-Bandai’s releasing a ring for one of the Kiva characters. They had Amane wearing the Chalice themed necklace, too, so-

OH LOOK Weirdo’s eyes lit up gold when he was talking about ‘seeing a vision of the end of the world’! And his reflection is a blue wolf! You know! The one from Kiva! That the ring is modeled on! Okay!

Right! Legacy Characters! I somehow forgot that they’d try to bring someone from Kiva back!

Cut to Yuko being creepy at a pier, going after the Chief Prosecutor in her case, right up until Sougo and Geiz arrive.

Sougo’s got one question for you. (Just one? Sounds fake, but okay.)

Sougo: “Why do you want to be a queen?”

Yuko: “To correct the laws of this world, to enforce those correct laws.” (all said with an angry face)

Sougo: “So… it is to help people, then?” (confused)

Geiz: “Oh, for f- That’s not how you should go about it! This is just revenge!”

Geiz has the Trinity brain cell today, and he’s making good use of it!

Oh-ho-hohoho- Hora’s PISSED. She chose poorly. She’s gonna get some revenge of her own.

And now Yuko’s gonna do a violence, because all of them are ‘guilty.’

Geiz transforms, but Sougo doesn’t get that far.

No, he’s just gotten into some weird flashback to 2008.

So, a woman – possibly Yuko, I’m not sure, and ‘Tetsuya’ in one of those swan boats. And then it jumps to 2015. With a (presumably) dead female body… and Tetsuya standing over her.

Right. Sougo’s got time powers independent of the belt. He’s only ever looked into the future before now.

SOUGO! I don’t really care what sort of crisis of faith you’re having, you need to go help Geiz! He’s in a four on one, in an even less ideal location than you were! GO HELP HIM!

What’s this? Something’s going weird up in the sky. First to notice is Swartz, who looks up at the ripples of light. Then Tsukuyomi. (“The two of us aren’t so different after all.”)

And then Garulu. The one on the dock. Who I’d thought was a copy. But, um, maybe not. Maybe that’s the actual one? The real one was talking about a ‘vision of the future’ earlier, after all. But what about the other two Fangire? Are they the real ones? How is Another Kiva summoning them, anyway?

Geiz is knocked out of his transformation – and Sougo didn’t even get to activate his own. He never finished turning the belt before noticing a meteor streaking down the sky. The same one that Garulu was seeing in the coffee bar.

I don’t know WHAT that is that just hit that cliff face, but I don’t like the looks of it.

It – it’s alive? Is it an egg?

No no no NOPE it’s a space egg. It’s got a dude inside. It’s got a kitbash Rider inside. And he’s just blasted everyone down.

Everyone except the very noticeably absent Swartz.

Another Kiva tells him to stop – she is the law here.

But Ginga is from deep space. He doesn’t care about your Earth Laws. He’s going to blast you off of your cliff, too.

(I’m sorry, but I’m having a little trouble taking Ginga seriously with that UFO on his helmet.)

“Alright, let’s go!”

“WAIT NO! WAGA MAOU, STOP!”

“ASK US BEFORE YOU USE TRINITY, DAMNIT!”

Turning into a watch is not fun times.

“There is only one law. Everything dies.”

Yoooo I can take Ginga a little more seriously with those barriers. Yoooooo this guy is WAY overpowered.

Seiji Takaiwa is a god of suit acting~! Making just the little adjustments to show which loser is in control of Trinity moment to moment takes timing.

Also, the only person who can talk is the one in control? That’s. Unfortunate. For them. It’s HILARIOUS for us.

(Tsukyomi, I’m sorry, you don’t deserve to have to deal with these three.)

Nothing they throw at Ginga is working. He’s kicking everyone’s ass. Ass, singular, because bodysharing.

HOO BOY. We have our second female Another Rider… and she doesn’t get to be the main threat in her arc, either. Come on, Toei. … Let’s blame Inoue for this one. He’s here, after all.

Looks like Woz gets a Super mode in Ginga.

Well. At least he didn’t get completely shafted in the power-up regard, once his Character Decay set in.

Justice for Alain. (He! Deserved! Better! Yuujo Burst should have been IN SHOW damnit! Not relegated to the STUPID GOD AWFUL SPECTER V-CINEMA!)

(IT’S NOT EVEN HIS OWN SPECIAL! IT’S MAKOTO’S! IT COULD AT LEAST HAVE BEEN IN THE ‘LEGEND OF HERO ALAIN’ SPECIALS!)

(Yes I will always be salty about how Alain got treated.)

Well! Until next time!

#kamen rider zi o #sailorcressy says

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stunudo · 6 years

Text

BAU Prep School AU: Class of 18

Welcome to the Frederick Buchanan Institute located in scenic Quantico, Virginia, a senior high academy that shapes the best and brightest minds. Its motto is “Behavior, Analysis, Unity,” the mascot the Submariners, colloquially “the Unsubs”. The small school supports the most accomplished faculty from across the country. (image link)

2016- 2017 Class of 2018 Previous Chapter: Adjustments

Sidelines

February 14, 2018 4:08pm

The daycare was just North of their place, but it also happened to be the opposite direction of the Institute. JJ had insisted on driving separate since soccer season was coming up and she didn’t want to start a routine to have to adjust it in two weeks’ time. Which left Emily with pick up duty. It was a brisk afternoon, winter lingered, and she made her way in towards the infant pick up desk. Emily hadn’t told JJ, but the staff were always rather short with her. Perhaps because she wasn’t Henry’s biological mom or because she wasn’t a semi-famous athletic model type, either reason she chose to kill them with kindness in return. Let them deal with their own baggage; she had a baby to snuggle into his seat.

It was Valentine’s Day, a milestone that hadn’t escaped her radar, despite having had a rather romantic weekend at home with JJ. This was their first Valentine’s after everything that happened last year, and Emily had a few tricks up her sleeve. Henry would just have to accompany her for the final details.

JJ had been itching to get the field prepped and try out exercises nailed down, but the weather was not cooperating. She ran sprints in the gymnasium, using the bleachers for extra resistance. She was excited about the coming season, knowing her veteran players would be solid leaders for however many new faces made their way onto the roster. She had stayed in her capris, sports bra and over-sized tank top from her eighth period Yoga class. Something she never thought she would be enjoying teaching, reiterating that self-discovery is a never-ending process.

When she had scribbled enough notes on her clipboard and her own stink started to overwhelm her, she headed home. Windows open and music loud, she invited the chilly winter air as she thumped her palms against the steering wheel in time with the drumbeat. Her sweat had frozen in against her forehead by the time she got home, the bags and clothes slung over her shoulders as she stomped up the steps to their home. Emily’s car was already in the driveway, JJ silently begged she had cooked. She was assaulted with heady scents and spices; the kitchen was filled with food. A tired, yet appreciative smile grew on her face as she spotted Henry in his high chair.

“Hey! You’re early!” Emily accused, but smirked as JJ snaked an arm around her waist.

“Pretend I’m not here, I need a shower, but it smells fantastic.” JJ kissed Emily’s cheek before slipping away from her girlfriend at the stovetop.

A half hour later and they were seated at the table with wine in hand and easy smiles. Henry had fallen asleep in his spot between them, but they didn’t want to move him and risk waking him, yet.

“So, you cooked?” JJ raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah, well… Yes, I did the heating, but it was from one of those prep stores.”

“I would have settled for leftovers, Em. Thank you, it was a good idea.”

“We’re going to see each other a lot less soon,” Emily mused. “And since it is Valentine’s Day, we figured we’d surprise you.”

JJ laughed at Emily using Henry as a co-conspirator. Their eyes locked across the table, bright and playful, yet feelings that ran so deeply just below the surface.

“We should clean up,” JJ sighed.

“We should, but not now,” Emily stood, pulling JJ from her seat and walking her upstairs. As soon as their mouths broke apart, she reassured JJ, “I left the baby monitor on, he’s fine, love.”

Monday Feb 19 7:25am

Hotch opened the door to his office to an unexpected visitor, “Good morning, Alex.”

“You’re usually early, Aaron,” she didn’t get up or seem upset. Her large lips full, holding back an immeasurable amount of ammunition. His guard was raised, but she didn’t strike, she sat quietly as he settled in for his morning, sipping her coffee from home. He sat down, her eyebrows were ticking upwards, the impatience no longer masked.

“What brings you by, first thing, Monday morning?” He bit back a smile, knowing she was not amused with his overt friendliness.

“Why did you keep Simmons on staff after Coach Jareau came back?” She came out of left field, but it wasn’t aggressive, it was as if she were a prying psychologist or a detective. The bell rang out across the grounds, the school day at begun, but she had no class this period.

“The Board and I agreed we need to continue to expand our courses, Matt Simmons has a breadth of knowledge that is crucial to building future leaders. Is there a reason his permanence upsets you?” Hotch countered, cool and thorough.

“I was curious, he seemed kind of like a dark horse of a hire in the first place. Not like Luke, stable,” Alex was saying more than the words she used.

“It’s been a while since a new position was created, but that probably wasn’t wise on our parts. Are the students questioning the changes, I know you hear more than they think you do” Hotch asked, genuinely concerned now.

She gave him a half smile, “More than anyone thinks I do.” She sighed, placing her empty cup upright into her bag that leaned against the leg of her chair. “I have not heard any negative comments from students on the changes or on his placement.”

“So, these are personal reservations?” Hotch leaned forward, eyebrows cinched.

“Perhaps.” Alex popped the p’s, face indifferent and calm. They regarded each other, her a vintage beauty with untapped mental capacities and he a golden boy champion of underdogs. The uncertainty in her motivation left him searching, she stood and grabbed her things.

“Staff meeting still three weeks out?”

“Yup, have a good one,” Hotch replied, sitting back in his chair, amused by and questioning her mercurial nature.

Tuesday, March 6, 4:01pm

The fields were hard, and the grass was a dull blanket across the grounds. Their breaths clung to the frigid air, layers insolating, to be discarded the longer their bodies burned. The girls came in every color and shape, their voices distinct on the carrying breeze. He never got tired of watching a pass connect from seeming impossible gaps in space and time, Jareau ran her team with unwavering support and structure. Luke Alvez stood mesmerized, watching girls that usually refused to answer a question aloud dive for the sidelines, charge the defenders and spin around to do it over again, never stopping or backing down. The playing field was an entirely different universe and he was proud to be part of a program that brought out the fighters in the students. The tough-as-nails tenacity that the world would test over and over again, alive and thriving in pure competition.

He wore a fleece zip up and his pair of uniform pants from the boys’ season, he felt naked without shin guards on, but warm. He knew Grant hated how early she insisted on using the pitch, as the seasonal weather hadn’t let him get it up to standard. He smirked at the distressed expression he had been given when he told his boyfriend that he was going down to check out the lady Submariners. It was the cusp of Grant’s busiest stretch of the year, so Luke knew not to linger when Grant would have dinner waiting for them.

Hannah was the clear leader both on and off the field, her midfield position perfect for mediating and observing. They were running passing drills, weaving in and out of each other in twos and threes to help navigate their lanes and ball handling without looking down, too often. He heard more enthusiasm than he thought a bitter afternoon could muster in those usually prim and coiffed teenagers. Cissy helped Maya and another freshman by explaining the drill on the sidelines before their turn in the rotation.

A terse whistle blast sent the group sprinting to the top of the slight hill, Jareau’s voice carrying as they got their rhythm down. Luke shuffled back towards the pathway towards the main buildings and away from the football field. A well aimed ball hit him between his shoulders as he strolled off, he tensed but turned with a big grin.

“Hey, walking here,” he teased, tapping the ball back to Coach Jareau.

“Yeah, like what you see or just miss the action?” she volleyed, juggling the ball as the team continued behind the adults.

“A little of column A, a little of column B. Why?” Luke’s chin jutted out, sensing a reason for her pursuit.

“Can I ask you a favor?” JJ’s eyes melted into hopeful groveling.

“Shoot.” They talked and passed the ball between them as the plans began to solidify. The team bored with the drill started on a new activity without their Coach or teacher noticing. Hannah and Cissy guiding the girls into groups and worked on headers and controlling the ball with other parts of the body.

Friday March 9 3:13pm

Elle answered the phone with a quick apology to the clients in front of her.

“Tell me again, we’re doing the right thing,” Spencer’s voice croaked in a rushed whisper. She smiled into the mouth piece, rolling her eyes gently.

“Spence-,” Elle began, but was quickly cut off.

“No, I know it’s the right thing for us and I like to think it is the right thing for her too, but, ignore me. Only child guilt slipping through, it will pass, and come back eventually in passive aggressive banter and indigestion.” Spencer looked out across his A.P. Physics glass, watching their faces contorted in misery at the equations in front of them. Pencils and erasers rustling against the quiz sheets.

“If you’re having second thoughts, we don’t have to do it this weekend,” She also whispered, not wanting to pressure him, yet slightly worried he would back out of their plans.

“It’s more like five hundredth thoughts, but no, rethinking hasn’t done anything to change my decision. I just seek reassurance because I don’t want to become my father.” Spencer swallowed, trusting Elle like he had no one before.

“None of that. Two different circumstances entirely. I have clients, but I will call you on my way?” Elle gave the people waiting on her an apologetic glance, their half hour appointment slipping away with each minute of her conversation.

“Sounds good, love you.” Spencer hung up the old phone on the wall.

“Back at you.” Elle sighed, bringing up the case file and applications back to the center of her desk. “Gracias por esperar. Su reunión con el abogado está programada para la próxima semana. Continúa como has estado y tu solicitud se procesará en dos o tres meses.”

The rest of her day was a paperwork and following up for clients’ services. She hurried out of the small office building as the Friday night commuter traffic groaned to a halt on the overhead interchange. Elle sat in her car and dialed Spencer’s new cell phone number.

“I’m going to be late, backroads will be quicker, but I wanted to warn you.”

Spencer paused, checking his watch, though he knew the time from both the phone’s screen and his innate internal clock. “Take your time, we have all weekend to get her settled, I just thought she would like to ease her way in.”

“How are you holding up?” Elle put her keys in the ignition and let the car’s warning bells whistle as she waited to put on her seat belt.

“Better, thanks.”

“And Diana?” Elle followed, listening to his breaths and hesitations as scrutinous as his words.

“She’s watching Jeopardy and laughing, it’s like it doesn’t faze her or she hasn’t realized its happening.”

“Spencer, stop worrying, I’ll be fine.” Diana’s voice jeered from the background, he squinted his eyes, he hadn’t realized she had heard him.

“Maybe you should listen to her,” Elle taunted.

“It will be so much easier when you don’t gang up on me all the time.” Spencer muttered. “Drive safe.”

Elle hung up and got settled, mirrors and belt in place before creeping into the soul-sucking reality of bumper to bumper traffic. Just two more days and she and Spencer would be living alone, the last thing she had hoped for during the past year of recovery. Sometimes miracles do happen.

Mon, March 12, 7:28pm

They really didn’t have much to go over, Hotch just kept talking. He did this sometimes, drawing out the agenda until people’s minds wandered enough to bring up tangential concerns or frustrations. Once the teachers relaxed, he could really gauge how their semester was going. Call it a calculated observation or an interrogation technique, but it worked, nine out of ten attempts.

“Plans for Alumni Association Gala have started, and I think it is going to be quite a surprise for everyone, really,” Penelope offered. “Besides that, I am not really working on much, personally.”

“Let us know what you need and when, Penelope,” Headmaster Hotchner offered, giving her a supportive nod. “Stephen how is everything on the entertainment end of the Gala?”

“Good, yeah, the kids really don’t start their numbers until after Spring Break. But we have a good assortment this year. Should be another fun night.” Stephen’s deep voice replied, “I don’t know about you, but I am just looking forward to the food.”

Everyone laughed, agreeing in various exclamations. “Lord, keep that man from retiring for as long as possible.” Jordan Kyle added, drawing everyone’s attention to a shared look between her and the Band Teacher.

“Uh, you can’t say something like that out of the blue.” JJ tisked.

“I mean, in general,” Jordan tried to down play it. “Look, if anyone is due for retirement around here, it’s me. But that is not happening anytime soon, these kids aren’t getting off that easy.”

Stephen cleared his throat as the speculative stares bounced around the room. “Anyway, the Gala is gonna be lit, as the kids say.”

The moment passed with patchy relief laughter, Hotch making mental notes to follow up with more than a few of his staff for one-on-ones.

March 15th 12:48pm

The muted clacking of fingers on a keyboard wafted through the half-open door. Michel knew that meant she was there and willing to see anyone, especially them, but they lingered just outside of the guidance office during sixth period lunch. There were four unopened letters in Michel’s backpack, from places near and far. Places that meant so much more than D.C. suburb of white bread snobs and politician spawn; places that meant escape. That was why they had waited, because the possibilities were scarier than Michel had imagined. Now that the answers had arrived, decisions would have to be made and the inevitable fork in the road would be taken.

“I can see your blazer, just get in here already,” Penelope snarked. Michel sighed, a soft huff of a laugh burst through their lips as they turned around, dramatically entering with their head held high. Penelope snickered, “Why were you being all creepy out there? On your phone? You know Hotch would snatch it if you took too many selfies in one of his blessed hallways.”

“Selfies need better lighting than this school provides,” Michel replied, falling into their usual spot on the couch of contemplation. “Guess what happens to be torturing me at this very moment. I will give you some hints: Ivy, Beach, Paris and Apple.”

Ms. Garcia’s face twitched with each word, until realization dawned on her contoured features, “You got your acceptance letters?!”

“Well I got letters, I haven’t opened them yet. I have been stalling, but should I?” Michel looked to their dear confidant and inspiration.

“Of course, you should, but don’t you want to do it with your parents, at home?” Penelope gaped, exhilaration getting the better of her composure.

“Nope, don’t need their opinions clouding my mind, thank you very much,” Michel held up a hand as if to block the imagery.

“Well?!”

In a tizzy, Michel tore open all four envelopes without looking at them, eyes scrunched shut until Ms. Garcia came over to take one at a time, like the final puzzle prize envelope on Wheel of Fortune. Four letters, four acceptances, four shredded envelopes littering her office floor.

“I am so proud of you! You can go anywhere! I need pictures, no matter what.” Penelope demanded, holding their sweaty thin hands in hers.

“Of course, oh my gosh, I can’t believe it. Sweet freedom is coming, I can feel it!” Michel stood up, clutching the papers to their chest like a favorite stuffed animal. “I don’t think I am going to ever throw these away, they will be buried with me.”

Penelope stood and hugged Michel, swaying slightly until the bell broke their revelry. In a flurry the letters were tucked back in Michel’s messenger bag and they waved a brisk farewell. Penelope watched wistfully as her favorite student, though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone but Derek or Michel, headed to Emily’s class with a bright future at their feet. She squirmed on the spot as it began to eat away at her. She shuffled over to her desk and dialed Kate’s office on the internal phone lines.

“Kate? Can you be my shoulder because I am kind of having a moment and I don’t want to bug Derek and Hotch will question my professional stability?”

Wed. March 21 4:12pm

Midterms were right around the corner, sending the weekly tutoring sessions into a near panic. Spencer and Derek were fielding questions for a half hour before they got some unexpected help. Sr. Alvez stopped by because he had wanted to see if his students that were hovering at the low end of the grade borderline had taken his advice. They had not, but that didn’t stop one half of the foreign language department from sticking around.

“You guys do this every week?” He asked impressed, yet slightly pitying.

“Uh, yeah, how do you think I manage to have a full roster every season? This is a year-round effort.” Derek explained slyly.

“It’s nice to see you, Luke, though I do wish Simmons would stop by, Korean is not my best language and that’s the biggest concern for half of the new faces this month.” Spencer nodded to the table that was obviously housing everyone but athletes.

“Wait, you speak Korean?” Luke ducked closer to watch Spencer’s eyes spark and eyebrows hitch.

“Barely.”

“And Russian.”

“I read Russian, I haven’t spoken it aloud in four years.”

“Quomodo ergo tu Latine?” Luke bated the science teacher.

“Honestum,” Spencer didn’t miss a beat.

Derek eyed the subtle yet star-eyed soccer coach and the bean pole Brainiac. Suddenly, he somehow felt like a dumb jock in this scenario and he didn’t like it. He decided he was being petty, and walked it off, ducking down to overhear students while he paced the library. He caught the librarian smiling briefly at him behind a shelf, but she was gone before he could even return the gesture. Something weird was going around.

Next Chapter: The Scavenger Hunt

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