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dc41896 · 3 years

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It All Makes Sense

Another quick Christmas idea I had based on the first instastory of him watching a Christmas movie with Dodger☺️. Probably super cliché lol but hope you guys like it!

Pairing: Chris EvansxBlack Reader

⚠️: None, all fluff💕!

“Look who finally decided to join us bubba,” Chris smirks watching you get settled under your blanket propping your phone against one of your pillows.

“I know, I’m late I’m sorry,” you yawn making him laugh.

“You’re gonna be out within the first 15 minutes.”

“No I’m not, it was just a little yawn.”

“Sure, just like last weekend when that same little yawn left me watching Home Alone by myself.”

“Whatever. Are you gonna play the movie or what?,” you smirk back picking up your remote.

Counting to three, you both hit play on your respective TVs starting the opening sequence of the Grinch. For the past month this had been a weekend routine where one of you would pick a movie and you’d both FaceTime each other as if you were watching it side by side. Of course it didn’t compare to him physically being there, lazily dragging his fingers up and down your spine as your head lied on his chest gently rising and falling with every breath. It’d have to do for the time being though.

Having his phone further away, you could see his full body clad in a navy sweater and jeans lying beside Dodger who looked to be falling asleep himself with his droopy eyes.

“Are you watching me or the movie?,” he asks catching your gaze.

“For a second I thought I was looking at my grandpa since you have the same sweater and slippers,” you retort causing his head to tilt back on his pillow in laughter.

“This sweater and these slippers are very comfortable, so if me liking them makes me a grandpa then so be it.” Now was your turn to laugh at him sticking his tongue out at you as if he was a little kid. Sinking the side of your face deeper into the pillow, you sigh as you both adoringly look at each other softly smiling.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” he replies bringing the phone closer.

“Actually I was talking to Dodger, but yea you too I guess,” you joke making him gasp.

“I should hang up on you.”

“But you won’t. You love me too much.”

“Yea,” he sighs bringing his free hand behind his head. “You got me there.”

Throughout the movie, you caught up on each other’s day and how your families were doing along with your plans for Christmas Day. Continuing tradition, he’d be at his mom’s with the rest of his siblings and their families, who he couldn’t wait to see. Being with his family was the main reason he loved the holidays, and seeing his face light up at the mention of them or when he’d talk with them over the phone, you couldn’t help but smile yourself.

Not hearing you laugh at the Grinch trying to find something to wear, your favorite part, Chris looks at his phone to find your eyes closed and lips slightly pouted making him snort as he shakes his head.

At this point, it’s me and Dodger having the movie nights😆 he types attaching the screenshot of your sleeping form to his text before hitting send.

———

“Come play!,” Stella giggles pulling Chris’ much larger hand trying to get him to move from the couch.

“Okay, in a minute,” he laughs at her adorable efforts trying to use all the strength her tiny body could muster. “I’ll meet you outside.”

“Kay.” With a tiny huff, she turns on her heel running to her mom so she could help put on her winter coat and boots leaving Chris on the couch once again checking his messages.

He called you as soon as his eyes opened to wish you a Merry Christmas, only to immediately be sent to your voicemail. He didn’t worry too much at first, thinking maybe you forgot to charge your phone overnight since you fell asleep early. However as the day progressed and you had yet to call back or reply to any of his messages, he grew a little hurt.

“Maybe she’s just busy with family,” he thought standing up to retrieve his hoodie and coat from the closet before being stopped by Scott coming through the front door motioning for him to come outside.

“Hey there’s another package out here for you.”

“Scott come on, you’re not gonna get me like that again,” he counters still trying to head towards the backyard before having to be turned around by his brother and guided outside.

“It’s not a trick! I’m telling you, it just got delivered.”

Walking outside with a sigh, he scans the wooden floor of the porch not finding any sort of box but instead being pleasantly startled with smile growing on his face seeing you rise from behind the bushes. Equally bright smile tugging at your lips as well.

“I hope I’m not too late. Shipping took a bit longer than expected.”

He immediately picks you up crashing his lips onto yours as your legs wrap around his waist and arms around his neck not wanting to let go. Burying his face in your neck, the sensation of his nose and beard nuzzling against your skin makes you giggle.

A string of “aww’s” coming from the front door surprises both of you, taking a moment from your tender reunion to look up and see his immediate family all smiling at the sight of the both of you.

“Get a room!,” Scott shouts leaning against the frame and earning a playful smack to the arm by his older sister.

“So this is why you weren’t answering,” Chris smirks as you softly nod with your fingers grazing his beard. “Did you have this planned the whole time?”

“Well yes and no..”

“Don’t hurt baby!,” Stella shouts only to be hurriedly shushed by those around her and mouth covered by Scott only making her giggle more. Slightly panicked, you and his family both look at Chris hoping he didn’t hear what she just said. Judging from his confusion as he looked between all of you though, you knew hoping was futile.

“Baby? Is she calling you baby?,” he chuckles thinking maybe she’d somehow picked up his pet name for you from overhearing your conversations.

“No...she means baby as in our baby.” Sliding out of his grip to stand on your own, you unzip your carryon backpack removing the Santa themed gift bag to hand to him. His heartbeat quickens in anticipation for what he thinks you’re saying pushing the tissue paper aside to lift up a silver picture frame with four separate squares. There was only one empty slot left with the rest having pictures of the two of you cuddled on the couch, Dodger tilting his head with wide smile on his furry face, and an ultrasound of a small body. In the empty slot was a note that read “can’t wait to meet my family!,” making him quickly wipe his eyes as a soft laugh escapes his lips.

Smiling at you also trying to wipe your tears before they could pass your lids, he kneels down in front of your tummy as one hand roams where your protrusion would soon be and the other stays attached to your side.

“And you must be the reason mommy’s been so tired huh? Well more than usual, between you and me she could never watch a full movie without knocking out.”

“Hey,” you laugh smacking his shoulder. “Just for that, I should go back home.”

“But you won’t,” he chuckles, standing up with thumbs rubbing back and forth near your bellybutton. “Because you love me too much.”

“Hmm..maybe..”

“No, definitely.”

“Possibly,” you giggle as you peck his lips nearly touching yours.

“Absolutely.” Connecting your lips once more, he rests his forehead on yours loving the feeling of his arms around you, body fitting perfectly against him.

“Merry Christmas Chris.”

“Merry Christmas Y/N.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicanawrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in my masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

#chrisxblackreader #chrisxwoc #chrisxreader #chris evans

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isolaradiale · 4 years

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(full size comic image can be found here!) ☆ ☆ ☆

“And… that should do it.” 𝛿Caeli sighed, punctuating his words with a few taps of the keyboard and putting his drink back down on the desk.

“Look this over for me?” “Do I look like Bellatrix to you? You think I can just read code with my own eyeballs and say whether this should work or not?” “I wouldn’t sell yourself short.” He answered with a wry smile. A nice way of saying Aspidiske wasn’t getting out of this one, she regrettably realized. Moving from her spot with a groan, she propped her elbows against the back of the old man’s desk chair with a bored expression.

“Yeah yeah, looks great--Hold it. This isn’t even the same thing you were typing twenty minutes ago.” “Ah, very good! See, I knew you were capable of reading it with your eyeballs, as you said.”

“You think you’re funny don’t you, Grandpa.”

Gritting her teeth to block out the sound of a hearty laugh, she scrolled through each line, reaching a couple times to tap something on the keyboard in front of him.

“...What’s that line there.” “A choice bank.” “What for?” “I thought it might be courteous to allow them to decide where they want to go.” “Why.” “Well, if people choose an environment they like, they’re more apt to explore it, yes? Why choose someone who isn’t equipped to handle it?” “Because it’s fun watching them squirm, that’s why. I’m changing this.” “Hey--” “Oh nooo, I’m gonna hit Run! Ohhh nooo!” “Now see here, I--”

The next sequence of events all passed within seconds. 𝛿Caeli’s fingers hit ‘undo’, Aspidiske moved to push his hand away with her own and deployed the RUN button with the other. Both collided with the glass on the table, knocking its mostly full contents onto the desk. A mixture of ice and sweet liquid flooded between the keys and into the cracks of the dashboard as Aspidiske pulled her companion backward sharply, saving him the sting of electric shock. The monitor split into several bright, jarring colors before attempting to pull itself back together, and numbers and symbols jumped from place to place before everything went blank for a few agonizing seconds. Both exhaled when the monitor whirred back to life, with the following prompt flickering and glitching across the screen.

[ OPERATION S.H.O.R.E ] [ STATUS: ACTIVE]

Not too long after that ordeal, the click of the intercom and a long, disappointed sigh cut the silence. The deadly even voice of Pleiades spoke into the room. “You two. In my office. Now.”

☆ ☆ ☆ Your phones switch on by themselves; the cafe televisions turn on, the daily news changes, your phone calls all display the same message over any visual media they can. But the person who appears in the broadcast is an elderly man, sitting at a table in a semi-professional manner, and a smaller woman behind him cackling.

“Hello! Hello, good evening, everyone. This is the first time we’ve met like this, ah? It’s good to see you on a personal level--” “As personal as a giant broadcast can be.” “...Ahem. You can call me Delta Caeli. Behind me is Aspidiske.” “Don’t drag me into this, old man.” “I’m here to report that there are several islands off the coast of Spirale that have recently cleared from the mist. Given what happened a couple months ago when a mysterious object appeared, we’re unsure if the GPU has a hand in this or not. I’ll be frank with you, my friends, there aren’t enough of us to explore the islands ourselves. That’s where you all come in, I hope!” “Not like you all have that much of a choice, after all. Cooperation is key, or something, something...” “On your devices, I’ve sent something of a ticket for your island excursions. There are four that we’ve monitored in total, so you have the option of being transported to any one of those. Once we’ve collected enough information on the islands, we’ll bring you right back, safe and sound. We’ll be here, monitoring your progress as--”

From off-camera, something seems to spark and pop menacingly, along with a hissing noise that makes the old man lose a bit of color.

“...Well, I trust you’ll do fine! If you’ll excuse me.”

He grabs his cane, and with a bit of effort, 𝛿Caeli rises from his chair. Aspidiske takes the seat in front of the camera.

“Uh, guess that’s one way to get the job don-”

The monitors cut the broadcast abruptly, and on your devices, a prompt appears.

[ Welcome to Operation SHORE: Surviving Hazards Of Relaxing Escapes! Please choose your island destination: ]

Haugst Isle

Resources: Plentiful (manufactured)

Shelter: Provided

Danger rating: High

Tags: Monsters, Prison, Laboratory

Nommin Isle

Resources: Plentiful (natural)

Shelter: None

Danger rating: Low

Tags: Tropical, Deserted, Beautiful

Foss Isle

Resources: Plentiful (natural)

Shelter: Minimal (caves)

Danger rating: Moderate

Tags: Volcano, Dinosaurs, Jungle

Volaat Isle

Resources: Moderate-Low (luxury)

Shelter: Moderate (abandoned ships)

Danger rating: Low

Tags: Sunken ships, Storms, Small

(Detailed descriptions of each island can be found Here!)

Upon choosing your destination, your phone screen will glitch out for a few seconds, and you’ll suddenly and instantly vanish from your place in Spirale. As soon as you disappear, you reappear on the island you chose (or perhaps a different island than what you picked altogether) with your island-issued cell phone as your only belonging.

☆ ☆ ☆

So, what’s happened?

Your characters have suddenly appeared on one of the mystery islands outside of Spirale, and must survive and thrive on the island they’ve chosen/landed on. This includes things like finding food and water, making shelter, and fending off the elements and creatures that you encounter during your extended stays.

Am I limited to one island?

Nope! Due to the system shorting and glitching out on occasion, it’s entirely possible for your character to wind up on a completely different island in the blink of an eye. It’s also possible to build some kind of raft or ship and sail to one of the other islands! (If you know how to sail and the weather is kind to you…)

You can also use means like flying, freezing a bridge, riding a dolphin, or whatever your powers would allow you to do to get from one island to the other.

HOWEVER if you sail too far away from the islands, you’ll run into the mists that usually surround Spirale, and you’ll succumb to the safe effects they have under normal circumstances and sail right into Davy Jones’ Locker… (...and die.)

How do I get back to Spirale?

It’s impossible to get from the islands to Spirale by any means of transport (sailing, flying, teleporting, etc.)

However, if you’ve met a grisly end and died on one of the islands, you’ll respawn in Spirale, and won’t be able to return to the islands.

Do our phones work?

They sure do! You can even still use the internet on them, if you’ve met the rank requirement to get it. They charge with solar power and are waterproof, but they won’t survive being smashed or broken, so don’t do anything reckless with them!

Do I have to go to an island to participate in the event?

Not necessarily. As long as you have a thread or drabble that’s related to the event, that will count toward participation. (For example, if your character in Spirale City were to make a phone call to another character stuck on one of the islands, that would count.)

Do I have to explore and survive and put my muse in danger?

Not at all! This event is designed to be versatile; you can take the opportunity to build from the ground up and bond with your friends (and enemies?) and have a laid-back vibe if you want. You can have a dangerous expedition to find resources and shelter with peril at every corner, too. You can even ignore the survival aspect and finally have that cool one-on-one duel with your rival atop a rocky cliff during a lightning storm where no one will interfere!

You can help or hinder anyone who arrives on the island and make new friends or enemies. You can learn to fish, hunt or forage for food. You can play in the ocean or run for your life. It’s up to how you want to play the event!

Do drabbles count?

Yup! A drabble of 500+ words will get you credit for this event.

Is there an event reward for this one?

The reward is the friendships you made along the way… and maybe a cool sea shell.

How long will the event run?

This event will run until Friday, September 4th, at 11:59:59 pm EST!

#isola event

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seiin-translations · 3 years

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2.43 S1 Chapter 4.1 - Drifting Yunichika

1. LINE JUDGE

Heeeeeey guys I’m back

Translation Notes

1. Tora no Yu is the name of a public bath

2. A lariat is a wrestling move where a wrestler runs towards their opponent and “ strikes them by extending their arm straight out and moving it forward against their neck or chest area. “

Previous || Index || Next

“If that’s how it’s going to be, Yuni,” Nagato Ryo said quite simply after he stuffed all his belongings from the locker in the room into his enamel bag.

It had been less than three months since he joined the team in April, so he didn’t have much stuff. The inside of the empty locker was also clean. They didn’t have a lot of members, and they weren’t tyrannized just because they were first-years, so they were given their own individual lockers as soon as they joined the team. They were a small team where everyone had to work together, regardless of rank, or there wouldn’t be enough people to prepare for practice. It was very hard on the team to have people quit.

The volleyball shoes that were transferred from his locker to his bag—they went to a sports shop together to buy them when they entered high school because the ones from middle school had gotten smaller. He wondered what kind of fate would befall those shoes that they had bought together at the store entrance after they examined them seriously but still excitedly, after he brought them home. He wondered if they would be put away somewhere.

“Ryo, are you really…”

Even while standing by the doorway to clear his path, Kuroba said in a way as though he was still unwilling to give up, Is there any way I can talk you out of this? He and Nagato had been together since elementary school and middle school. Since they entered the same high school and joined the same club, he freely thought that there wasn’t really any doubt that they would hanging out together again for the next three years.

“If Haijima’s joining, I quit.”

His chest throbbed when he flatly said that. Even though he wasn’t the one being rejected, when he thought about Haijima, his chest ached. Nagato gave a little exasperated sigh.

“I want to have fun in club. I just don’t want to make bad memories with a guy who ruins the mood. What’s so weird about that? Do you have to put so much effort into club activities?”

“No…”

Kuroba shook his head, his face slightly looking down. The purpose for joining a club was different for everyone. There were those who were ready and willing to spend their entire high school careers aiming for nationals, and there were those who just wanted to enjoy their hobbies and interests with their friends.

Nagato shouldered his bag and walked past him. He turned his body towards him at the door.

“Yuni, you’re still doing it, aren’t you?”

He said, as though it was the final confirmation. He felt like he was telling him that they could still go together.

Until that point, he had been mumbling his words, but when he was asked that, Kuroba raised his head and answered without hesitation.

“I’m doing it.”

Last summer, the prefectural tournament of their third year of middle school. Though they advanced to the semifinals, Kuroba ran away from the competition. He ended his middle school volleyball career with the regret of doing something that couldn’t be undone and the indigestion that grew larger and larger within him afterwards. He didn’t want to feel those things a second time.

But most importantly, he finally brought Haijima back to the volleyball team.

His middle school teammate, Haijima Kimichika, was a volleyball fanatic who loved volleyball. It was already at a level where it went too far. He was always serious towards volleyball, and what’s worse, his ability was so high that he often left the others behind and went on a rampage. He had the irredeemable flaw of not being able to read the mood of the team. The way he spoke was also awful.

He certainly was a guy who was unusually good at making other people angry. Even Kuroba had been irritated by him many times.

…But even so.

He joined the volleyball team in high school as well, had a good relationship with his senpais, and though the serious practice of high school was tougher than he expected, he had never thought that it was so painful that he wanted to quit. Every time he jumped off the gym floor with a squeak of his shoes, every time he hit a ball someone set to him, the feelings he had a year ago buzzed in the back of his body—while he chewed upon the joy of volleyball Haijima taught him, every day during club activities.

There was one thing he always thought.

“I want to play volleyball with Haijima.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Around seven o’clock in the morning, the sky was already bright as though painted in ultramarine blue, and thick columns of clouds were gradually rising. On both sides of the one-lane farm road that continued straight ahead were rural landscapes as far as the eye could see. The rice plants that were still green were growing quickly. The slightly hazy and blue-green mountaintops surrounded the perimeter at 360 degrees.

Blue and green and white. Monshiro’s summer, distinctly color keyed by these three colors, was arriving.

On the paved road in the middle of the rice paddies, a light pickup truck was driving fast with enka music coming out of it at a loud volume. His relative yelled cheerfully, adding embellishment to the song while he gripped the shaky steering wheel. It’s not a residential area, so it won’t bother the neighbors, but the Kuroba family acts way too freely in town… the son and heir to the Kuroba family sitting in the passenger’s seat, Kuroba Yuni, was feeling quite fed up. For the Kurobas, the entire town was like their own yard. Most of the mountains in Monshiro were privately owned by the Kurobas, so that wasn’t necessarily wrong.

“Uncle, can you turn down the volume a little bit…”

“Aah? You said something, Bon?”

His yelling voice returned from the driver’s seat, still with the strange intonations of enka.

“…Nothing.”

Exhausted, he leaned against the side door, his temple reaching the upper frame of the window. At that moment, they passed a bicycle that was travelling below the window and left it behind.

“Ah!”

He immediately tried to poke his head out of the window, but scraped his forehead against the window frame and groaned, “Oww…”

“Mm?” his relative stepped on the brakes. “Is there someone there?”

“Ah, yeah. A guy on my team…”

After he said that, he realized that there was also a delicate distance with “guy on my team.” He could say “team member” again, which was progress, but he didn’t feel like he could say “friend.” They were still more distant from each other than middle school—than kindergarten if they went back farther in time.

As his relative backed the truck up, Kuroba opened the door and jumped down onto the road. He stumbled a step forward and then ran.

Haijima, who had been pedalling his bike with his head down, looked up and stopped his bike by putting one foot on the ground. He was dressed lightly in a T-shirt and knee-length track pants, but heavily equipped with his baggage of box-shaped enamel bag and drum-shaped sports bag that were slung over his shoulders.

His relative stopped the truck.

“Oi, get in, get in. I’ll send you all the way to school.”

His relative tried to lift the bike that Haijima was riding on, and Haijima hopped his bike on one foot, looking annoyed. “You’re the kid at Ooe-san’s house, right? I’ll bring your bike home later. You’re gonna stay there for five days. If you leave it at the station, it’ll get stolen. I’ve heard things have been getting a bit dangerous around here lately.” His relative chatted as he carried the bike onto the back of the truck with an astonishing amount of power, even though he was past sixty. “It’s four stays over five days,” Kuroba corrected, but his relative basically didn’t listen to people. “There’s no way for this town to be dangerous. Everyone knows each other…” Haijima grumbled in a low voice.

“Well, get in. I said I’ll give you a ride while I deliver provisions to the training camp.”

Not being completely one-sided like his relative, Kuroba shyly stretched out his hand for the sports bag Haijima was carrying. He was relieved that Haijima didn’t push away as he obediently lowered his head and pulled the strap of his bag from around his neck.

“’Provisions’? You mean, all of that?”

While fixing his glasses, Haijima looked at the back of the truck with his eyes half-closed.

There were about ten bales of rice stacked in a pyramid on the tray. A huge mound of round cabbages that still had dirt on them. Tightly lined up buckets overflowing with potatoes, onions, and tomatoes…

“Do they think we have a hundred members or something?”

“I told them we didn’t need it. But they said it was Grandpa’s order…”

With the cargo of one bike and one human added on board, the truck started driving down the farm road again. This time, he and Haijima rode in the back of the truck, so they didn’t have to listen to his relative’s singing up close. The sound of the car radio in the driver’s seat and the rough voice of his relative were blown back by the wind.

Haijima sat with his back to the mountain of cabbages, hugging his knees, and Kuroba sat cross-legged with a bucket full of tomatoes in his arms. Haijima’s bike was precariously balanced in the gap between two rice bales.

“Ah, it’s hot…”

Haijima held up his hand to the sunlight beating down on the back of the truck and squinted his eyes.

It was now summer vacation, and the summer training camp for the boys’ volleyball team was starting today. It was taking place at school, so their practice environment didn’t change, but just the idea of staying there overnight made him a bit excited.

“Hey, how many pairs of underpants did you bring?”

When he inadvertently asked that, Haijima screwed his face up, looking very annoyed.

“Is this an elementary school field trip…Don’t get carried away.”

“Okay, but this is my first training camp. So, how many underpants?”

“I don’t know. Grandma packed enough for me.”

“What, you didn’t pack for yourself? I think you’re the one who’s like an elementary schooler.”

The man named Haijima didn’t have the nerves to spare time for anything else other than volleyball, so in the way of a first-year high school boy, he cared little about his clothes or looking good. However, looking at the shirt of his uniform and his T-shirts, he was always made to wear proper and pure white ones. It was probably the concern of his maternal grandmother who he lived with.

“This is my dominion, but…” With a haughty looking expression for some reason, Haijima pulled the enamel bag he usually carried around for club activities to his side. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said, indicating with his chin the duffel bag that thrown on top of the ragged pile of cabbage behind him. While he let someone else prepare his underpants, he was certainly very careful about his volleyball gear, to the point where he didn’t want anyone to touch them.

“You’re a guy who has clear judgement about your own ins and outs…”

Even while shrugging his shoulders and sighing, but he found himself reflecting on their conversation.

Their last tournament of their third year of middle school was held exactly one year ago, in July of last year. Because Kuroba evaded his responsibilities, Monshiro Middle School was lacking an attacker and were eliminated from the semifinals, and then Haijima got injured, so they ended up withdrawing from the third-place playoffs. Ever since that tournament, Kuroba and his other teammates had severed ties with Haijima. After a year of not talking to each other, he thought that they were finally able to communicate rather decently now. Even if for now, he was still no more than “guy from my team.”

“Hey, didn’t my mom go talk to your grandma? Can’t we make some kind of parents’ association or something…? It’ll make donations and gifts more convenient, Apparently she talked with Nagato’s mom at first, but Nagato quit, so she said she’ll go talk to Chika’s grandma…”

He began speaking in a good mood, but when he noticed Haijima’s expression becoming increasingly grim, he stopped talking. “Parents’ association…” Haijima spat out those words in a chilling voice. Kuroba faltered, wondering what set him off as his neutral mood was suddenly dropped into low gear.

“Haven’t you learned yet that club activities aren’t a good place for parents to butt in and meddle?”

“Well…sure, but it wasn’t my idea, it was Nagato’s mom’s.”

“Well, now that Nagato quit, there’s no need for this conversation then.”

Haijima turned to the side in a huff and sank his back into the mountain of cabbages. Even Kuroba felt annoyed at that attitude.

“Don’t talk like that. Whose fault do you think it is…”

“It’s mine, right? If he didn’t like me joining so much that he quit, then he wasn’t serious from the start.”

It’s no good. It’s not worth talking. Nothing changed…This guy’s lack of consideration. For Haijima, the people who played volleyball seriously and everyone else were clearly divided into those he cared about and those he didn’t. It was the same as the things he took good care of in his club activities bag and everything else he didn’t care about.

He didn’t believe Nagato’s quitting was Haijima’s fault, but he honestly wanted him to share a little bit of the bad aftertaste he himself felt.

However, when he tried to say something and inhaled, he couldn’t think of any words that would make Haijima understand. Ah, geez, sometimes I don’t know why I brought Haijima back, even to the point where I ended up cutting ties with Nagato.

Shit, he cursed, and took a tomato from a bucket and threw it at the side of Haijima’s face. He stopped it with his left hand, looking startled.

“You—”

“Eat it, it’s tasty.”

He also took out a somewhat large tomato and took a big bite out of it. The sweet juices trickled down his chin, and he wiped it off with the back of his hand.

“I picked them in my relative’s field. I’m sure our senpais would love them.”

It had actually become a traumatic experience for him, when he had gotten nervous and lost his bearings with the huge cheering squad of all his relatives appearing at that middle school game. He really wished they would cut it out with that sort of thing. At any rate, in this case, they overdid it with the scale of the “little favor”. But, putting that aside.

“I think you’re doing this with good intentions. Even if you don’t want a PTA, you should accept these. And then they’ll be satisfied too.”

Although he often felt embarrassed or irritated by them, he didn’t hate or detest his grandfather or relatives or his parents. If someone talked bad about them, he didn’t feel good about that.

Holding the tomato in his hand, Haijima looked at him in silence for a while. The dazzling summer sunrays reflected off his pale face, and he couldn’t see his expression behind his glasses. He then clicked his tongue and turned his face from him again.

“…That’s something a well-bred guy would say.”

He said bitterly, throwing his gaze towards the scenery streaming past them. In the end, the tomato just rolled around in his hand, and he never ate it. Even though it had been a year and a half since he moved to town from Tokyo, he seemed to persist in not becoming a member of the town. It felt somewhat lonely. I might still be dragging the image of “Chika” from kindergarten around, he suddenly thought. He knew that “Chika” went to Tokyo and got lost and would never come back. The only clue to finding “Chika” was volleyball, and it wasn’t like he was only playing volleyball for that reason, but it was probably a big part of it.

A light horn sounded from the driver’s seat.

They passed another bike near the shoulder of the road. Haijima, looking behind him, noticed something and muttered, “Ah.” Kuroba also took notice of a jet-black umbrella that completely disregarded the weather and was somewhat meandering along under the blinding summer sky. “Ah,” he said, and half-rose.

“Kanno-senpaaaai!”

When he called out to him from the back of the truck, a pale freckled face, even whiter than Haijima’s, peeked out from beneath the umbrella. He was holding his umbrella, so he was riding with one hand.

It was Kanno Akito, who, in his long jersey pants and long-sleeved hoodie, he looked just like a boxer who was in the middle of losing weight. On top of that, he was wearing his hood entirely over his head and his hands were tucked into his sleeves (by the way, all of it was apparently of UV cut). He was their senpai on the volleyball team and came from the same middle school, Monshiro Middle, as Kuroba and Haijima. He looked like a lanky and tall scarecrow wearing clothes and carrying an umbrella. He hated to say it about themselves, but it was unavoidable that the volleyball team’s boys were often described as pasty.

Recognizing the two’s faces, Kanno’s mouth moved to form a “’’Sup” and he bobbed his head slightly in greeting. Kuroba turned around to the driver’s seat and raised his voice to not be overpowered by the loud enka music.

“Uncle, stop! There’s one more passenger!”

***

“Great, as soon as camp is over, it’ll be time for the Autumn Tournament. We’ll finish up the team during these five days. Some of you might have come here thinking you’re going to play around at night, but be prepared to be worked so hard that you won’t have the energy for that.” The captain, Oda, gave them a pep talk. “Yes!” the first- and second-years shouted, somewhat out of sync. The vice-captain, Aoki, was standing half a step behind Oda. Oda nodded in satisfaction at the team members’ response and turned diagonally behind him.

“Anything from Sensei…”

He was about to say, and then his face stiffened.

The old teacher who was the advisor for the boys’ volleyball team was leaning his frail body back in his folding chair, snoring comfortably. Slivers of light shone over the handrail of the second floor gallery, creating a stripped spot of sun in the gym, and the advisor’s face, his wrinkled mouth half open, looked like a fish being cooked on a grill.

“…Someone. A first-year. Move him to the shade before he becomes a dried fish.”

Oda ordered with a grimace. “Ah, yes!” When Kuroba tried to run, Haijima jumped at the same time, and there was an atmosphere that restrained them both for an instant as they wondered which of them was going. “…The two of you do it.” Oda sighed.

Heave ho. They lifted the chair on both sides at Kuroba’s call. They carried the chair to a corner of the gym with their advisor, who showed no signs of waking up even when he was in midair. Kuroba was about three centimeters taller, so it was slightly tilted towards Haijima’s side. When Kuroba lowered the position of his hand, Haijima raised his arm high as though indignant.

He’s still the same guy who hates to lose.

Now, if “first-years” was called, then it would be himself and Haijima who would move. After the provisional club enrollment period in April was over, three first-years, including Kuroba and Nagato, officially joined the club. Of course Haijima didn’t join the team at that time. It was after the ballgame tournament in June when Haijima finally agreed to join after Oda’s persistent persuasion. However, Nagato and the other first-year quit at the same time as Haijima joined. Apparently Nagato asked him to quit, but he hadn’t bothered to catch that person to find out the truth.

Since the ban on first-years quitting or leaving clubs was lifted at the end of June, three months since enrollment, it seemed that every club had members who left one after the other after the ballgame tournament either way.

“It was us third-year’ decision to take Haijima, even knowing Nagato’s opinion. There’s nothing a freshman needs to feel responsible for. There’s nowhere you can complain.” Aoki must have sensed Kuroba’s worries, because he reassured him with that.

For the current boys’ volleyball team members, there were two first-years: Kuroba and Haijima. Four second-years—Kanno, Uchimura and Hokao who were there from the start, and Okuma, who transferred over from the rugby team. For the third-years, there were still the same two people—the imbalanced captain duo of the 163 centimeter Oda and the 193 centimeter Aoki. There were fluctuations within the grades, but if you added the three years up, there were eight people, the same number as before the ballgame tournament.

The finals of the ballgame tournament, where they were betting on getting either Haijima or Okuma, ended in the victory of Team F led by Oda, so the right to obtain Okuma (well, it hadn’t existed in the first place) had disappeared, but Okuma himself came knocking on the volleyball team’s door. The rugby team had an image of being a tightly unified group, and there must have been a good reason for him to change clubs at this stage of his second year. Perhaps something about volleyball appealed to him.

“It’s as Oda said about practice. I’ll talk about the rest.”

While Kuroba and Haijima carried chairs over, Aoki took over the talk and continued the meeting.

“Well, it’s the same camp as last year, so the second-years already know, right? There are no baths, so you can either use the school showers or go down to the Tora no Yu. (1) No bikes allowed when you’re going to the Tora no Yu. Either way, you’d be drenched with sweat on the way back. For laundry, you can use the coin laundry at the Tora no Yu. We don’t have a specific person on duty, but it’s cheaper to use it all at once, so ask each other. Don’t let it pile up since it’ll stink. After dinner and the meeting, we’ll have a study session until lights out. The only time I’ll look at your homework is during camp, so make good use of it. Lights out strictly at eleven. If there’s anyone awake, I’ll assume you have too much energy and have you do twenty dashes on the slope. Now finally, for the meals, which you guys are probably wondering about the most…breakfast and lunch are sold in the cafeteria, but we’re making dinner ourselves. I’ll post the rotation chart in the kitchen, so keep an eye out for it. Anyways, we’re having yakiniku tonight.”

A small cheer went up. Aoki held up his hand and said, “However, starting tomorrow we’ll only be having curry. Kuroba’s parents have contributed tons of meat and vegetables, so everyone thank him.”

His name suddenly brought up, Kuroba, who was about to put down the chairs and return to the meeting circle, shrank back.

“Yo, land-owning rich kid!” Okuma clapped his hands and teased, and the other team members also applauded. “N-no, it’s not my parents, it’s my relatives. They can’t possibly eat all these vegetables and they think there’s about a hundred people on the team…” Before he knew it, he ended up copying the lines Haijima said this morning. Although he said something self-important to Haijima, when he was praised before everyone, he was embarrassed about acting like a rich country bumpkin giving everyone a lavish feast.

“What are you saying, Kuroba? It’s the kindness of your guardians. We’re grateful for it.”

“Well, if you throw it all into curry, then it wouldn’t be too hard to consume.”

Oda and Aoki backed him up in their own ways. The third-years are so mature, he thought.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

“Hey, Kuroba!” The spike he hit with all his strength became a home run and hit the opposite wall, earning him a warning from the setter, Uchimura. “You gotta hit them with each and every one of your nerves. There’s no point in practicing. Oda-senpai says it’s during practice when you should think. On the contrary, you think too much during matches…”

“Oh, okay. Got it.”

He pouted as he answered, but his gaze was pulled in another direction. Oda had just beckoned Haijima over and started talking to him.

“So, Haijima, how’s our attackers?”

“They’re not bad at all. I’ll match up with everyone during the training camp. Since the right side hitters seem useful, I’d like to increase the combos involving them and the centers. Like A and D double quicks or a C quick and a right broad jump or a tandem attack with the center and the right side…”

Haijima began to easily enumerate tactical terms that Kuroba couldn’t imagine very well just by listening.

“Oh, oh, wait a minute. Oi, Kanno, the white board. And, Okuma!”

Oda hurriedly called the two second-years over. Kanno ran over with a sketchbook-sized whiteboard under his armpit. “Me too? Alright.” Okuma did a lariat (2) to Kuroba’s neck for no reason and passed him. “Gueh…” It was quite irritating that this senpai always seemed to not be satisfied unless he did one unnecessary thing.

“And, Kuroba!”

“Ah, yes!”

He responded while rubbing his throat.

“I said center and right. Let the guys on the left do receiving practice.”

Haijima said without even looking at him. Kuroba, who was about to run, froze. Even the other team members were startled at the way he spoke, like he was cutting him off.

Haijima was the only one who didn’t notice the tensing atmosphere, and he put the whiteboard on the floor and knelt down, beginning to let his mind unfold on a two-dimensional court. Haijima’s position, setter, was also called the playmaker, and it was the team’s brain, the backbone of all the attacks from its own side. In Haijima’s mind, he probably stockpiled an infinite number of tactics that could be combined as long as he had the right pieces to make them happen. Dragging in the centers Aoki and Okuma and the right-side hitter Kanno, Haijima’s talk became excited, and even the captain Oda was left out.

Oda approached them, scratching his head.

“Let me join you guys.”

The remaining four people began receiving practice.

“He was like that since middle school, right?”

Oda said, while underhand receiving the ball Uchimura hit to him.

“Yes…like that.”

“He must have something special in his head. Like, apparently shogi masters are able to visualize the movements of all the pieces of the board dozens of moves ahead in their minds. I don’t know anything about shogi though.”

“I know a little about it. My grandpa’s hobby is shogi.”

He unintentionally mentioned his grandpa and felt embarrassed again that he might get thought of as a grandpa’s boy, but Oda didn’t make fun of him like Okuma.

“For him, instead of shogi pieces, it’s the ball on the court and the opposing team’s players…he can picture the movements of everything on the court in an instant. He’s really the embodiment of a volleyball brain…but well, everything off the court slips out of his head right away.”

“He’s extreme. Inside and outside.”

“It’s up to the team to make the best use of him or hold him back. It feels like if he was such a good all-rounder, he could be the top player anywhere, but it’s actually the opposite. There might not be a lot of teams that can accept him. If he goes somewhere bad, he’ll be pretty easily destroyed, so it’ll be too dangerous.”

“Haa…”

Feeling dejected, Kuroba’s shoulders slumped. Haijima had failed because of that in middle school. Probably at his Tokyo middle school too… There was an incident that forced him to transfer from his powerhouse private school to this countryside. Would he just repeat the same thing in high school? What was he brought back to this court for?

“We’ll make use of him.”

Oda’s voice suddenly became stronger. After he received the ball with his knees bent, he turned his eyes towards the circle with Haijima in the center. Haijima had his backside towards them now and his forehead almost touching the floor, absorbed in moving the pieces on the whiteboard.

“I started thinking, ‘Isn’t it my responsibility to protect that talent and send it off to university?’”

“Senpai…”

Something hot spread in his chest. Our captain is so cool…he thought proudly. He knew that the other clubs made fun of the fact that boys’ volleyball’s captain was tiny. But he didn’t care what other people said. Oda had the ability to make them want to take this person to the national stage before he graduated. That was why for the members of this team, there was no question that Oda was their captain.

That kind of existence didn’t exist when he was in middle school, where there were only vague, indistinct horizontal ties. They’ve never decided on a leader, and Haijima only served as team captain at the time of the tournament because of the difference in experience levels. Their middle school team was completely reliant on Haijima alone. Haijima was the only one who seriously wanted to win the prefectural tournament, and everyone else, including himself, still felt like they were participating to make memories.

I’m sure that with this team, this time for sure we’ll be able to say, “Let’s fight together” with everyone.

Now, if I could just get stronger individually…

I’ll work even harder at practice. So that I’ll be an attacker who Haijima will firmly place his trust in for any situation.

Previous || Index || Next

#2.43 #2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu #2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club #2.43 book 1 #2.43 translation

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harryissuchalittleshit · 3 years

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Percy and Audrey with their grandchildren:

Lucas Fredrick Jordan:

The first grandson!

He’s smart and funny and loves his Grandad Percy sooo much

Percy just loves his grandchildren, he cries every time he holds one of his grandkids for the first time

Lucas was born at the beach house (the birth from One Night)

As he gets older, he becomes more confident and sure of himself

He loves to spend time with his Grandad Percy though, especially at the joke shop

When he gets sorted into Gryffindor, Percy is so proud of him!!

They write each other every other week through Lucas’ Hogwarts career, Percy is very proud when he’s made prefect and later Head Boy

When he graduates he gets a job at the joke shop and comes up with a lot of great ideas for the business

Willafred “Willow” Lucille Jacobs:

The first granddaughter!

If Lucas is attached to Percy, then Willa loves her Nana Audrey

They are kindred spirits

Audrey teaches Willa how to sew just as she taught Molly and Lucy

She goes to everyone of her Little League Quidditch games and actually starts to like the game (as long as her grandchildren are playing)

Willa and Lucas get put together often and it was a big thing when Lucas went to Hogwarts first

But then Willa goes and is sorted into Hufflepuff like her nana and her parents and is soooo happy

She and Audrey send different design patterns back and forth and Willa will create clothes for her friends

She does get into a bit of trouble when she’s older, but it’s how she meets her future husband Dannie Bones!

Audrey is the first person that Willa tells about her boyfriend and she’s the first person to find out he proposed

Willa gets pregnant in her last few weeks of school and finds out the day of her wedding

She names her daughter after Audrey, Riona Audrey

Charlotte “Charlie” Caralynn Jacobs:

She’s sooo shy

But she opens up when she’s alone with someone

She always finds Percy, climbs into his lap, and will refuse to leave

Percy refuses to give her up!!

She reminds him so much of Audrey, she’s stubborn, she’s funny, and she always goes unnoticed except to a well trained eye

She’s an amazing flyer and Percy gives her to confidence to try out for Little League Quidditch

She’s an amazing Seeker, even if she’s taller than most, but she has long arms and thin fingers

When she goes to school and gets sorted into Hufflepuff, no one is surprised

She gets on the house team her second year and Percy is soooo proud of her

When she becomes captain her fourth year, Percy reminds her keep her head up and make sure to be heard

She gets signed on to the Magpies as a reserve, but then gets her shot during the second game of the season

And she wins it!!

The line up gets moved around while the main seeker is in recovery and she takes over for the next few games

And when she gets benched again, the Harpies offer her a starting position, which is unheard of

She takes it, and within two years is captain and married to one of the beaters

Lee Percival Jordan:

He’s a character

He’s fascinated by pictures and the Prophet and any publication

Percy and Audrey get him his first camera and the first time he develops a moving picture he nearly cries

He likes to just document the little things in life

A lot of his photos are just of the family having tea or playing in the shops or riding on brooms

Percy takes him to his first Quidditch game and one of his photos gets used on the stadium banners for the next year

And he was only four

He doesn’t like flying himself, but Quidditch is so cool and his dad likes it and his Grandad Percy likes it and so does his Grandpa Lee

(He also loves it whenever anyone points out he was named after both of his grandfathers)

He becomes a Ravenclaw at school like his parents, but he’s the Quidditch commentator like his dad and grandpa and makes prefect and Head Boy like his grandad

He graduates and starts writing books about the evolution of Quidditch and how it’s played

When he’s older he writes a book about his childhood and includes lots of those early pictures of the family

Penelope “Penny” Audrey Jacobs:

She is very sensitive

When Artie and Molly have the twins, she’s shipped off to Percy and Audrey’s a lot more

Audrey teaches her to knit and sew like she does with ALL of her grandchildren

But she also teaches her how to cook

All of the recipes that her mother and the grandmothers in the town she grew up get passed down to Penny

She is just soooo hard working and determined, a cut, a burn, nothing slows her down

When she goes to Hogwarts, not even her schoolwork slows her down

She graduates and goes to the Ministry??? And no one understands why

Until five years to the day, she quits and opens a restaurant of her own

Five years she spent trying out her food on her coworkers and saving her gold to put a down payment down on a building

She brings the food she loves and grew up cooking with Audrey to the world

She names her resturant Rey’s after Audrey

Michelle Molly Jordan:

She’s the baby of her family and the only girl

She is sooo spoiled by both of her grandparents

She’s a lot like Lucy, so very smart and very emotional and very loving

While her older brothers are very close to Percy, she is very close to Audrey

She likes to knit and sew with her and finds a lot of joy in working with her hands

By the time she’s ten, she’s helping design and make clothes for Lucy and Molly’s shop

She gets sooo homesick her first year of school and feels so isolated

Audrey writes her every week, but it doesn’t help very much, so Percy takes over, and they start to get really close

She makes sure to spend a lot of time at their house over the summer and she comes to realize that it’s the life she wants

When she’s sixteen, she falls in love

She gets pregnant halfway through her sixth year, but doesn’t let it slow her down

She has her son and gets married and leaves Hogwarts, but she studies and works hard at home and comes back to sit her NEWTs

She gets seven O’s just to prove it to herself and goes into business for herself as a tailor

And she gets the life she wants

Francine “Fran” Isabelle Jacobs:

One half of the twins!

She and Gwen love to dance and entertain

They aren’t the best flyers like their siblings, but they’re still great on a broom

Fran is the louder of the pair and often follows around Percy everywhere he goes

She loves to visit him at the shop and be in the middle of all the chaos

He does make her sit down and listen and learn about what he does for the shop

It’s boring to Fran, until she’s about 15/16 and having a bad day and she can just disappear into the numbers

When she goes to school, everything is so exciting and wild and she’s having so much fun!! But even with her twin sister and favorite cousin Michelle, she’s still lonely and misses home

Writing to her grandparents makes her feel better because she doesn’t think she can tell her parents how she feels

The summer before her seventh year she spends a summer working the register at the joke shop and flirts heavily with her co-worker, in a plan that Percy may have had a hand in

She goes to work at the joke shop after graduating and helps with the books, especially around inventory

And the boy she was flirting with? He becomes her husband a few years after graduating

Gwendolyn “Gwen” Bailey Jacobs:

She’s the second half of the twins

She’s the quieter of the pair, usually following behind her sister

She adores Audrey and makes a point to be by her side anytime she can

Percy and Audrey make the point to treat them as different people at all times, they are not a matching set

They make a point to go to all of their recitals

Gwen really loves knitting with Audrey and it becomes the time where she gets to speak and always be listened too

On Saturdays Audrey always comes around to take Gwen to craft shows

When she’s about 15/16, she starts setting up her own booth and selling the things she makes, most of it is just baby clothes that she had made for Willa and Dannie that they didn’t need

She goes to work at Molly and Lucy’s shop when she graduates, but her Saturdays are for craft shows with Audrey

When she gets married a few years later, Audrey makes her a giant knitted blanket for their bed and Gwen is so happy

Rachel “Ray” Dominique Jacobs:

The last girl!

She is sooo mean to her older sisters it’s a bit funny

She just carries a lot of anger around, and it would be more funny if she could properly manage it

She gets into fights with all the boys at her primary and can throw a punch that can knock anyone out

She just hates being the last girl and not quite feeling as if she’s part of the family

But you know where none of this matters?? At Nana Audrey and Grandad Percy’s house!

She’s often sent over by herself and given the opportunity to be the little kid she wants to be

She becomes so carefree and happy

She’s an amazing keeper and is at home on her broom and in the air

She gets on the Quidditch team right away at Hogwarts (with Charlie as her captain it was going to happen)

Being on a team makes her relax and feel a lot better and as if she’s a part of something

But nothing makes her feel better than carefree afternoons with her grandparents

When she graduates she gets signed on to play for the Falcons and she is ruthless

Her coach is rude and mean, but she’s the only girl on their team and she doesn’t back down from a fight

He bad mouths her in front of the press and she punches him out and it sends the message

Her old coach gets fired and they bring in someone new and she falls head over heels, they both do

But the only opinion she cares about is her grandparents and they approve of him 100%

Ignatius “Iggy/Gee” George Jacobs:

The baby boy!!

He’s seventeen months younger than Rachel, but it doesn’t matter

He is so happy-go-lucky and adorable and weird

He follows after his older sisters and cousins, but nothing is better than being shipped off to his grandparents by himself

Afternoons playing chess and listening to his grandad read?? Yes!!

Afternoons kitting and sewing with his Nana Audrey?? Yes!!

Afternoons in the kitchen cooking with both of his grandparents, or more so Percy watching from his perch on the kitchen counter and Audrey doing the real work??? Yes!!!!

He just enjoys spending time with them, sitting down and having a cup of tea, or knitting in the living room, or listening to a game on the radio, it’s everything he can ask for

Audrey and Percy’s next door neighbors have a daughter just a few days younger than Iggy and they become quick friends

When Iggy goes to Hogwarts, he writes his grandparents and to his “friend” next door

It’s really cute

When he’s older, about 16 he spends the whole summer with his grandparents and he starts dating the girl next door

It’s really hard not to tell her about magic, as that is his whole life and everything that he has always known

The next summer, he’s seventeen and he bites the snitch and just shows her his world

He starts with the little things, mostly the pictures around his grandparents house and all the other little quirky things that he loves and knows

Leaving her behind to finish school is the hardest thing he’s ever done, but he stills writes her every week

They both graduate and go to working at their respective governments, he works in the Muggle liaison offices and she ends up working as a secretary to the Prime Ministry

They name their first son after Percy, Adam Percival, and their first daughter after Audrey, Audrey Elizabeth

#head canons #harry potter #family #molly weasley ii #lucy weasley #Artie jacobs #devon jordan #percy weasley #audrey weasley #grandparents #grandchildren #big family

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travelworldsthings · 3 years

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How to Travel

You know you're ready to hit the road and see the world, but you need a little help getting out the door. With some thought and careful planning, you can be headed for adventure sooner than you think. Start planning your escape!

Part 1 Deciding Where and When to Go

Determine how much money you can spend on a trip. You don't need to be rich to travel, but knowing how much money you have available will likely shape all other aspects of your trip. If things are tight, you may decide to delay your trip until you can save more money. Where you go, how you get there, where you stay may all rely on how much you have to spend.

Figure out how long you will be gone. If you are working, check how much vacation time you have saved up. Check your calendar for any important dates that might conflict with your travel plans--you might need to push your trip back a few days so you don't miss your grandpa's 100th birthday.

Choose when to go. Find out the high, low, and shoulder season for tourists at your destination by looking at their tourist bureau online.When you travel may also impact the cost of your ticket. If you're not choosy about dates, you can plan your trip around the lowest fares.

Decide what kind of trip you want this to be. Ask yourself what you'd like to get out of your time away. If you need a break from your hectic schedule, consider planning a relaxing beach vacation. If you are going crazy with boredom, look into an adventure vacation white-water rafting, zip lining, or rock climbing. Become one with nature by visiting a national park, or gain new perspective by visiting a country halfway across the globe.

Remember that in addition to any travel expenses, you still have to pay rent and bills at home. Make sure you have enough to cover these essentials before you spend money traveling.

Be savvy and cut out small, unnecessary purchases where you can. Eating in, avoiding ATM fees and skipping the $4 lattes are all quick, easy changes you can make to save extra cash for traveling.

If you can't afford to jet to a distant location but you're itching to explore, research where you can go that is within a day's drive of home. Search for national parks, weird roadside attractions, or even look at a travel guide for your area. If you don't have wheels you can rent a car or take a bus to get away for the day.

Don't forget to factor in travel time--if you only have a long weekend, it might be best to stick relatively close to home. You can determine the percentage of your vacation you will spend traveling by dividing the total number of hours you spend on the road by the total number of hours you plan to spend at your destination.

High season is when there are the biggest crowds, the best weather, attractions selling out, and the highest prices.

Low season usually means great deals, fewer tourists, the possibility of terrible weather, and the risk of some attractions being closed. You may also find that locals are a little more welcoming.

Shoulder season is considered the best time to travel. You get the best of both worlds--you will miss the crowds, snag the good deals, and still have good weather. Book right before or right after high season to take advantage of shoulder season.

Many travel websites will include inspiration and ideas for different types of trips: family, ecotourism, road trips, and more. Try a website like Triptuner that will give you suggestions based on your preferences.

Ask friends and family about places they've been. They may have some great recommendations and insights on what to do, where to stay, and what to eat.

Best places to treval

Part 2 Preparing for Your Trip

Set a budget. Do your best to estimate how much your entire trip will cost. Factor in travel expenses (plane or train tickets, gasoline if you're driving), hotels or hostels, travel insurance, passport or visa fees, transportation at your destination (taxis, buses, car rental), the average cost of a meal (or set the total amount you are allowed to spend on food each day). Be sure you leave yourself some cash to splurge on something special and something extra for emergencies.

Make travel arrangements. There are dozens of websites you can use to search for reasonable flights all over the world. Take the time to check multiple booking search engines, as they don't always feature the same deals. Try the airlines' direct websites, too. If you're not flying, you can book train and bus travel online, too.

Book your accommodations. From hostels to luxury hotels, tree houses, campgrounds, and private apartment rentals, there are tons of options when it comes to deciding where to stay. Consider how you plan to use your accommodations. If you want to meet other travelers and don't mind sharing a bathroom, a hostel may be a good choice. If you want to sleep late and order room service in a fluffy robe, you probably want to find something upscale.

Make a rough itinerary. If you plan to visit multiple cities on your trip, try to determine how many days you will spend at each location. Decide which attractions are priorities and find out if you need tickets in advance. Don't be too strict, though. If you're stressing out because you're 15 minutes behind your itinerary schedule, you (and your travel companions) aren't going to have a very good time.EXPERT TIPCARMELA RESUMA, MPP Traveling Specialist

Make a packing list. Check the average weather at your destination for the time of year you are traveling. Many blogs and travel websites have compiled suggested packing lists, so if you search “what to pack for a week in Bali,” you should find lots of good recommendations.

Research the cost of the activities that interest you--look up the admission fee to the Musée d'Orsay or the price of a ticket to a Broadway show. The more accurate you can be with costs, the better you can plan your trip.

Many cities offer some kind of tourism pass, which, for a flat fee, grants free or discounted entry into popular attractions like museums, tours, and historical sites.

If your plans exceed your budget, you may need to make a few sacrifices. Stay at a hostel instead of a hotel or skip the four star restaurant. Being flexible will make it easier to stick to your budget.

Don't forget to look up the money conversion rate if you're going abroad and work that into your budget.

Be sure you have plenty of time to switch planes if you have a layover in another city.

Studies have shown the best time to buy a ticket for a domestic flight is between 100-50 days (3.3-1.5 months) before to your departure date. Tickets for international flights are usually lowest between 171-50 days (5-1.5 months) before travel.

If you're not sure how you want to get to your destination, a website like Rome2Rio will give you estimated cost and travel times for just about every mode of transportation.

Train travel is big in Europe, and websites like Seat61 can help you plan a route and look for deals.

There are even ways to arrange for a free place to stay--sign up at couchsurfers.com to crash with someone local, or try WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) to exchange work for room and board.

Make reservations ahead of time. It may decrease the spontaneity of your trip, but it's no fun to arrive and find every hostel in town is booked for the night and you have nowhere to sleep.

Researching the transportation system will make it easier to plan and budget your time. Learn how the metro works before you visit Paris, or find out which train lines will take you to Pisa from Florence and how long the trip will take.

Add the addresses and contact numbers of any hotels, car rental agencies, so you have them in one place and can reference them quickly.

Share your itinerary with your family, and include all your travel information. It's important someone knows where you are and how to reach you in case of an emergency.

Email your itinerary to yourself so it's easily accessible.

Try to make the first 24 hours as stress-free as possible. Make sure you have very reliable transport from the airport to wherever you're going and a nice place to stay, even if it costs a little more. Having that first day planned out will help reduce your stress.

Pack light. Pick basic clothes that coordinate so you can mix and match over the course of your trip.

If you are flying, remember the safety restrictions, including the 3-1-1 rule: each passenger can have one 1-gallon bag of liquids, gels, or creams, each in a 3.4oz container. Most drug stores sell travel-sized shampoos and moisturizers you can pack.

Make sure you pack any medications you take and that you have enough for your entire trip, plus a little extra.

Other must-haves: a light rain jacket, a back-up battery for your phone or other electronics, something to read or pass the time on flights and bus rides.

Consider the weather. It might be snowing outside, raining cats and dogs, windy, or it might be as hot as the desert sun. Well, it all depends on the weather, and so the type of weather is the type of weather activity you'll be doing.

Roll your clothes up when packing. Don't fold your clothes-roll them up! You'll have tons more space in your bag. To make things even easier, roll up each outfit into one big roll. That way, you can grab the whole thing at once, no search required.

Trip on your budget

Part 3 International Travel

Get your passport. First things first--you aren't going abroad anywhere if you don't have a valid passport. The average processing time for a U.S. passport is 4-6 weeks and costs $110-$135. If you are applying for a new passport, you must submit your paperwork in person at a passport agency or approved facility (usually a post office), and some are by appointment only. Save yourself a lot of stress and get your passport in order before you do anything else.

Find out if you need a visa. Some countries visitors to obtain a travel visa to enter the country. As with your passport, you should apply well in advance, as it could take days or weeks to process.

Go to the doctor and get vaccinated. Tell your doctor where you are going and discuss which vaccines you will need. Some countries require proof of certain vaccinations to enter the country. Your doctor can give you an International Certificate of Vaccination, or Yellow Card, to provide as proof of inoculation.

Learn the language. Even a few key phrases--"hello," "thank you," "excuse me," "where is the bathroom?"--can go a long way. Often people will be more willing to help you if you make an effort to speak their language.

Research the customs of the country you are visiting. Traveling somewhere unfamiliar can make you vulnerable, and the last thing you want to do is inadvertently offend the locals. Things that are perfectly acceptable at home may be frowned upon in your host country. Buy a travel guide or check out the forum on a travel website like Lonely Planet to get tips.

Notify your bank or credit card company you will be traveling abroad. If your account shows sudden activity in another country, your card may be flagged for fraud. A quick phone call will keep your card from being declined or, in some cases, lost to an ATM machine that won't give it back.

It is possible to expedite the process and get your passport sooner than 4-6 weeks (even as quickly as 24-hours in an emergency), but you will have to pay an extra fee.

If you are renewing your passport, you can skip the lines and submit by mail.

When you receive your passport, scan a copy and email it to yourself. You may also want to make a photocopy and keep it in your suitcase. These copies will be very helpful if your passport is lost or stolen while you're out of the country.

Keep your passport somewhere safe while you are traveling--a jacket with an inside pocket or a money belt that goes under your shirt can keep you from losing your passport or having it stolen.

You may need to arrange your hotel accommodations before applying for a visa and be asked to present the address and contact information when you apply.

Vaccines can take several weeks to start working, or you may need multiple doses, so don't wait until the last minute. See your doctor 4-6 weeks before travel.

You can also visit a travel clinic for vaccines--the staff specializes in travel medicine and will be well-versed in what precautions you should take while abroad.

English is common as a second language in many countries, but you should never assume everyone will be fluent.

Pay attention to things like how locals typically dress (some countries are more modest than others and you may get unwanted attention by showing skin), if tipping is expected, and how much "personal space" is normal (you may find people stand and talk much closer than you're used to).

Check for travel warnings or alerts for the country you plan to visit. You may learn that certain areas are experiencing conflict or are considered unsafe to visit and decide to alter your plans.

Ask your bank if they have any international partners or branches you can visit. The fees for ATM withdraws in foreign countries are fairly high and can add up quickly.

Using your ATM card for withdraws will almost always get you the best exchange rate. Just watch for those fees.

#nature #culture #travel

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pinof · 4 years

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i’ll likely never be able to donate this much towards something ever again, but this one hit too close to home not to

i’ve lost very close people in my life to lung cancer - my grandpa and uncle

they both passed within four months of each other and it was a pain like nothing i’ve ever felt before

i’ve had some years to process it now and while the pain does become more bearable with time, it never fully goes away

i miss them as much today as i did the day they left us

it’s not something i ever talk about- not that i pretend it didn’t happen, but my family has never really opened up with one another about it all happening so quickly, so i’ve never really had anyone to discuss it with

we all have coped in our own ways and i hate reopening old wounds, but seeing the twins talk to each family member one on one about the person really made me want to do the same

everyone has their own story with the individuals and we could share stories that the others may not have heard before

i don’t think any of them realize how much it would help if we did that

grieving is natural but something that should never be done fully alone and recalling memories makes it seem as though the people are still with you

i’m gonna see if i can set this up to happen very soon

anyways, i encourage anyone and everyone to watch ethan and grayson’s documentary titled “losing a best friend” because it shows the raw emotions that come with death in a way that’s rarely done

emotions are part of being human and there’s no need to hide how you feel

this doc helped me realize that even more and i can’t even explain how much this has helped me in ways i didn’t even know i needed help

the cancer charity i donated to above is called love from sean and it was founded by the twins in their father’s name and if you’d like to donate, you can do so: lovefromsean.org

to the twins, their family, friends, and the support system around them (who won’t see this but it needs to be said anyways) - i love you all and thank you for everything 🎗️💜

#taylor talks #dolan twins

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71tenseventeen · 6 years

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Baba and Mima

A timestamp for When You Least Expect It

Playoffs

Troy and Trina fly in on a Saturday. It’s an off day for Sid but he stopped picking them up years ago, far too recognizable to even idle by the sidewalk. Instead he’s waiting for them at the house and comes out the front door holding Katya in his arms when they pull through the gate.

Katya gives a little wave when Troy gets out of the car but when Trina approaches and says hi to her, Katya smiles and ducks her head shyly into Sid’s neck, letting her hair fall over her face. Trina gives Sid a resigned smile as Sid reaches out and half hugs her from the side. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, baby.” She’s careful not to crowd into Katya’s space.

Later, as they’re getting ready for bed, Troy says, “You’ve been quiet tonight.”

“Hm? Oh. I guess I’ve just been watching them together. Hearing her call him ‘daddy’ and seeing him with her really drives it home, I guess.”

Troy frowns. “We’ve talked about this a lot. I thought you were feeling better about everything. Trina, you have to accept this—”

Trina holds her hand up and cuts him off. “I know. I do, I swear I do. That’s not what I meant. I just…” Trina exhales. “I really messed things up with her, Troy.”

“Ah, Trina. She’s just shy.”

“But less so with you. You two connected at Christmas while I was too busy trying to hold back and now, Troy what if I can’t fix it?”

Troy takes her hand and they sit together on the edge of the bed. “Listen to me, you will. She’s shy because she doesn’t feel like she knows you. She just needs time to get used to you, get to know you. Once she knows you better, it will all work out, I promise.”

Trina takes a deep breath and smiles gratefully at him. “Okay.”

The next morning Sid is already in the kitchen holding a sleepy Katya when Trina makes her way in.

“Morning, Mom. Coffee’s ready, if you want some.”

“That sounds great.”

She reaches for a mug while Sid ducks his head lower and says quietly to Katya, “Would you like to say good morning?”

Katya is still blinking heavily but she reaches up and pushes some hair out of her face, head still heavy on Sid’s shoulder as she says softly, “Good morning, Trina.”

Trina’s face lights up and she gives Sid a grateful smile. “Good morning, Katya. I was thinking about making us some pancakes. Are you hungry?”

Katya nods without lifting her head, watching Trina.

“Then I’ll get them started right now.”

Sid moves to sit at the breakfast bar, Katya still in his arms and they watch as Trina start to pull out ingredients. Zhenya wanders in, just as messy-haired and sleepy-eyed as Katya and drops kisses on both their heads before Sidney tips his head up for a real kiss. “Morning, sunshine.” He grins up at Zhenya and Zhenya just snorts and settles in next to them, rubbing a big hand over Katya’s hair.

“Good morning, Katyusha. You sleep good?”

Trina watches out of the corner of her eye as Katya nods but doesn’t make any move towards Zhenya. It surprises her at first and then—then it doesn’t. Because it really hits her that Sid is Katya’s dad. He really and truly is and it’s not something that happened overnight but it’s something that he worked and committed to and now he’s got a beautiful daughter to show for it.

And Trina wants more than ever to fix things, to find a way to be the grandma Katya deserves.

To be a grandma.

Trina has to look away for a moment and when she finally looks back as she’s stirring the pancake batter, she notices that Katya is sitting up straighter now, watching.

So she takes a chance and moves the bowl a little closer and says, “Would you like to help stir, Katya?”

Katya hesitates for a moment but then she nods. She stays put in Sid’s lap so Trina slides the bowl to her and watches Katya’s sweet face lights up as she stirs. It’s then that Katya starts to talk a little more. Slowly at first, asking Trina a question and then another and listening as Trina answers.

By the time breakfast is ready, Troy has shuffled in and Katya is chattering at all four of the adults and Trina can’t get enough of it. It’s the best conversation she’s had in a long time.

Outside of away games, Sid hasn’t spent a night away from Zhenya and Katya in months and his parents being in town doesn’t change that. They alternate between houses which means sometimes Sid’s parents are on their own at night but he can’t fathom not sleeping in bed with Zhenya now. It feels wrong, somehow, and he needs to be with them.

Thankfully, his parents seem to understand.

They’ve been in town for a few days when they go to Zhenya’s house for dinner and meet Zhenya’s parents for the first time. Trina loved them and she loved Zhenya, regretted ever doubting him.

Katya was definitely most comfortable with Sid and Zhenya. But it was obvious she was incredibly close to her Babushka and Dedka, as she called them. That wasn’t what stung, though. Katya had known them her entire life; in many ways they’d helped raise her so of course she was close to them. But seeing Katya with Troy, warming up to him so much more quickly, asking him shyly, “Will you read to me, Baba Troy,” was harder than she thought.

Baba Troy. It stung.

It was something that had come up a few days after they arrived. Sidney had explained before the visit even happened that Trina and Troy were her Grandma and Grandpa, so when she asked him one night, a few days into the visit, what to call them, he replied, “Well, when I was little I called my Grandma Mima and my Grandpa Baba.”

“Was that their names?”

Sid laughs at her confused expression. “No. It’s just what I called them. Kind of like you call Babushka Babulya sometimes and Dedushka Dedka sometimes. But it’s okay if you don’t know what you want to call them yet. We’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.”

But within a couple of days she tries Baba with Troy and it sticks And Trina’s really happy for him. She is.

But she’s just Trina to Katya and she hopes more than anything that, with time, that will change.

A few days later Trina and Taylor join Natalia at Zhenya’s house to watch an away game in Philly that both Zhenya and Troy had gone to. Much to Katya’s delight, Taylor declares it a spa day and beaks out a case that’s filled to the brim with manicure and hair styling accessories. They take turns painting each other’s nails and styling their hair.

Things have been going well and Katya has seemed more and more comfortable around Trina, even asking her to make pancakes again two mornings before. They made them together and Katya was thrilled when everyone complimented her on them.

Now, it’s Trina’s turn for hair styling and Katya asks carefully, “Can I comb your hair?”

Trina grins at her. “For sure. I bet you can fix it right up.”

Katya perches herself on the couch behind where Trina has slid down to the floor and starts running a comb through Trina’s hair and putting random clips and barrettes all over the place. Trina looks in the hand mirror and makes impressed faces and compliments Katya’s work, much to Katya’s satisfaction.

“You know, “ Trina says, “your daddy used to do this.”

“He did?”

“Yup. He used to brush my hair and decorate it all up with clips. He called it playing hairdresser.”

Katya lights up. “We play that too! He lets me put barrettes and headbands in his hair!”

Trina eyes her reflection again. “Well I can see why. You are the best hairdresser.”

Later, as they’re cleaning up spare hair accessories, Katya says quietly to Trina, “Daddy says he used to call his Grandma a special name.”

Trina’s breath catches in her throat but she forces herself to look calm. “He sure did. He called her Mima.”

“Mima sounds like your name too! It rhymes.”

“It does!”

Katya pauses for a moment and Trina thinks the moment has probably passed but then Katya says carefully, “Daddy says I can call you Mima if I want to because you’re my grandma now like Baba is my grandpa now.”

Trina stops and crouches to be on Katya’s eye level. “That’s right. And I am so happy to be your grandma, Katya. You can call me anything you want to.”

Katya thinks for a second and then says, “I want to call you Mima.”

Trina takes a deep breath and blinks back the wetness in her eyes. “I would love that, Katyusha.”

#when you least expect it #my fic #timestamp #baba and mima

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rainorshinesblog · 2 years

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I found out some news that made me feel weird. My relationship with death and grieving is so odd. I don’t know how to face or handle it. I have experienced three major deaths in my life and two more “minor” ones. I can definitively say that I have not dealt with any of them.

2007 was my first encounter. Both of my grandpas passed within six months of each other. I was 9/10 and had no idea how to cope. I buried both of those pretty deep.

Then in late middle school early high school, I found out that a childhood friend who I went to preschool through with had brain cancer. He later passed away. His passing taught me to live life to the fullest and helped me realize that you never know your last day. I still buried the grief though.

Right after graduation, another friend passed away tragically as well. That one was a shock. He was a great guy and had a very bright future. His passing re-taught me that same lesson as the death before.

Finally in 2017 my grandma passed. The first deep dark pit I ever consciously entered. I knew I was going to experience the hardest time of my life when she passed. That woman was the light of my life, my best friend, the woman who I learned so much from, the one who put me back together, and my greatest role model. Her passing was the greatest loss in my life. I didn’t know how to function. I turned to drinking to numb my feelings. I turned to the gym to take up all my extra time. I picked up extra shifts at work to hide from my feelings. I was never alone. I never dealt with the grief either. I once again buried my feelings.

Now another person is about to pass away in my life and their passing should be a big deal to me. But I am too numb to death now? Like I don’t fully understand. This person is one of the sources of my trauma though and I am sure that has something to do with the lack of emotion. I literally feel nothing about the impending death. I can’t bring myself to feel anything about it.

I am still learning how to deal with my grandma’s passing and it been four years. Everyday is a struggle to function without her. I wonder everyday if I am making her proud. I wonder if she would like the person I am or turning into. I am so sad she will never meet my person when I find them. I am so sad she will never meet my future children. Maybe I am still too preoccupied with trying to deal with her passing to even spend time on the passing of this other person. The skies are cloudy now.

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luluxcreations-blog · 6 years

Text

Chosen Path: Chapter Two

Chapter 2: The Underworld

Seventeen years had passed since the Pirate King's execution and in those years, chaos and all its friends ruled the world. It has been said that the Pirate King's death was their undoing, because what followed afterwards was disaster. But as it was, history tended to repeat itself; humans tended to never learn, especially the nobles. The more gangs rose up, the more the nobles wanted them gone, even going so far as to burn the people alive. The most dangerous place to be was Edge Town in Goa Kingdom; there the nobles had plotted many times to eliminate the dirty scum that lived there. Everyone in that town was considered a criminal, a gangster. Even children were looked upon with disgust. Truly, Goa Kingdom was the one kingdom that was leading the extermination of non nobility. Those living in Edge Town who weren't strong enough or smart enough were eliminated quickly. But still, even then gangs kept coming and coming to this kingdom to find the legendary treasure left by the Pirate King.

Out of those gangs, it was said that three of the four strongest lived in Goa Kingdom, while the fourth was the ruler of their own country. The most powerful gang was the Whitebeard Gang, their leader being Whitebeard himself. They were said to be the closest to reaching the One Piece. The second and third of the four were said to be tied. Was that true? No one actually knew, but no one would ever rise up to challenge these two powerhouses. The Red Haired Gang and the Beast Gang, just one look from them had even the bravest people running. The Red Haired Gang were lead by Red Haired Shanks, a one armed man who was said to be a monster even with one arm. The Beast Gang were lead by Kaido of the Beasts, this man was said to be immortal. Nevertheless, almost no one had ever challenged them. The last strongest gang was the Big Mom gang, lead by Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin. Their base was on Whole Cake Island, a country that Big Mom had taken over.

These four monsters were called the Yonko. Each of these Yonko have territories all over the world, including in the town of Edge Town. Edge Town is a mostly lawless area, though in the recent decade that has changed; the Yonko have become the protectors of their areas. However, Edge Town had been split into five parts, not four; the last area was known as a completely lawless area, which was where all of the other gangs had their bases. Edge Town was set up like that so that the Yonko wouldn’t be pissed off by the activities of the lesser gangs; in reality almost no gang wanted to fight these beasts. Even the government feared them greatly and would surely think twice about going against them. Though, the question still remained whether the government and marines were willing to stand by and let one of these Yonko become the Pirate King. If not, then would they even have a slim chance of beating them or would destruction be their path?

x~Chosen Path~x

Luffy licked his lips as the delicious aroma flowed into his nostrils and bolted up in bed with drool going down his chin. "Meat!" He cried out as he looked around his room searching for the delicious food that he was sure was there, only to pause in confusion when he saw that he didn’t actually wake up in his own room. "Where am I?" He didn’t remember going out last night, but then again he didn’t really remember a lot of things that he did. Something caught the boy's eye, making him tilt his head and study the object. "Oh, I know!" He remembered as he stared at the photograph of Ace and himself when they little. "This must be Ace's room." He had a nightmare last night and crawled into his big brothers bed out of fear; said big brother of course let him in without a problem. His big brother was such a great guy!

Sitting up, he threw his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He was ready to face the day! Well, almost. He looked down and sighed when he saw that he was still in his pajamas. There was no way he could go to Edge Town looking like that! He would probably get mugged or at least threatened there. Shaking his head, he headed off to his own room across the hallway and went straight into his closet. On the left side, there were all these stuffy noble suits and clothes that made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. Those were the clothes that Shanks bought him and made him wear them on occasion. On the other side were the clothes that both Ace and he picked out for their casual wear. Going straight for the right side, he took out a pair of blue shorts with cuffs on them, a white tank top, and a red hoodie. Put the clothes on himself, he nodded in approval as he looked over, before going to his desk and picking up the Straw Hat on it. There's no way he would go out without it, it was his treasure after all. The treasure that Shanks had given to him the first time they met. He put the hat onto his neck like a necklace and tucked it into his hoodie. And lastly, he put on his sandals.

When he was finished, he went straight for the kitchen with a big grin on his face. "Ace, meat!" He yelled at the other make as he sat down at the kitchen table and pounded on it. "I'm so hungry!" He declared as he over at his older sibling. Said sibling just chuckled and shook his head as he continued to cook. The older boy had always taken care of him, especially when Shanks was away; he figured it was probably because of their late mother. But then again, Ace was weird sometimes. He chuckled at that thought as he continued to watch the older man. "Ne, when do you think Shanks is going to be back? He's been gone for a whole month now!" He complained as thoughts of his godfather flew into his mind. Ever since they met, the redhead had always gone on his "business" trips, though he would be gone for more than one month. He was the main caretaker for the two brothers, though Garp did stop by once in a while, especially when Shanks was away. But still, Luffy missed him a great deal.

Ace listened to his brother as he continued to make Luffy his omelet, it had everything the boy had wanted inside it. It was filled with different meats that both Shanks and their grandpa brought home after they went to the market. He didn’t know when it started exactly, but Luffy… he was his most important person in the world and seeing that bright smile on his face was worth everything. And even though he wasn’t his parent, he was hell bent on taking care of the boy no matter what challenges come their way. Luffy was the only real family he had left, besides Pops and his crew. "Here you go, Luffy. A meat omelet, enjoy!" He told his baby brother as he served both plates with their breakfast and sat down across the other boy with a smile on his face.

In reality, they had different dads, not connected by blood of course. Luffy had Shanks, the man who he considered his dad as he didn’t know his true father, and if he had anything to do with it, he never would. Ace on the other hand, he had Edward Newgate, the only man he considered his father. The man was the leader of his gang and the only person who was there when he was questioning even his entire existence. As he ate his omelet, he watched the other boy with furrowed eyebrows, hoping that the other boy wouldn’t catch on. He wondered how Luffy would feel if he found out that Ace was part of a gang, or even Shanks? He truly hoped that he wouldn’t have to find out soon. "Don’t know, but my guess is that he'll be here within a couple days. He'd never leave you alone for too long." Red Haired Shanks, he was a noble by blood, and a leader of a gang by choice. He had made the choice to become a gang leader long ago, even before they were even born and because of that, he had to travel a lot. It was a miracle that the red haired man even stayed for as long as he had. But he loved Luffy, even loved him as a son even if they weren't as close as his brother was to him. Still, Luffy loved him dearly and that’s all that really mattered.

"I hope he comes back soon!" The other boy whined as he continued to eat his food with a pout on his face. He didn’t really understand what was so important that he had to keep leaving them. He loved staying with his brother, but Shanks was important to him, as well. He was his only father figure, the only man that stayed constantly in his life since he was seven, besides his grandpa and Ace. He hoped the older man was alright wherever he was and that he came back as soon as possible. "This food is good!" He licked his lips as he ate the last piece of omelet on his plate, before he looked at his brother's plate and saw that the older boy had also finished his breakfast. He stood up from his chair and grinned as he put his hand on his hips. "Ne, Ace, I'm going to go to Edge Town, are you going to hang out with Sabo today?" Their childhood friend Sabo was like them, he hated the nobles even though he was one himself. He had always loved hanging out with the other man just as much as he loved hanging out with Ace. The three of them had many adventures together when they were young, and even now they hung out together when they weren't busy. It was too bad though, today he already made plans with his crew.

Ace smirked at the younger boy before he stood up and picked up the dishes and forks after them, moving to the sink to wash them after themselves. God knew that Luffy would never do it; he had to clean up after the kid constantly, not that it mattered much really. When he was finished he came over to the other boy and smiled as he patted the other boy's hair. "Don’t worry, when I see him, I'll make sure to let him know that you'll hang out with him next time." Truthfully, they were just going to get some lunch together and talk about things, but other than that he also had to go into Edge Town to meet up with his crew. Ace knew that Luffy had a crew of his own, when they were younger all that kid could ever talk about was becoming King of the Pirates. And even though he planned on making Whitebeard king, he wished the best for the other boy. But still… "Hey, Lu, make sure to stay away from the docks today, alright? I heard that some dangerous gangs were coming in today." These were dangerous times, especially for rookies. He didn’t want the boy getting hurt and causing trouble. There was also his identity he had to worry about; if he was ever discovered to be Monkey D. Luffy, a noble of the Monkey Family and Straw Hat Luffy, the gang leader of the Straw Hat Gang, he didn’t think that even his status as a noble would save him from the same fate that befell their uncle.

"Don't worry, Ace!" The smaller boy smiled brightly, before he turned to go towards their foyer and out the door. He pulled up his hood over his head and hid his noble insignia inside his pockets, knowing full well that this was the only way he would be able to return to his home. The guards would never let him in without it, since all of the residents of Edge Town were prohibited from entering their "paradise". He didn’t understand any of that, though. It was all just so bizarre! Why did it matter if they were nobles or not, it just didn’t make sense to him at all. Shaking his head, he got rid of his thoughts as he raced through the front door and went straight out, almost crashing into Garp who was about to come inside. "Bye, Gramps!" He yelled back at the older man as he continued to run through the town.

"Luffy?!" The old man asked in surprise as he watched his grandson leave and in those clothes, no less. It could only mean one thing. He sighed and shook his head as he went inside to find his other grandson sitting on the couch while lighting a cigarette. He walked over to the boy and sat right next to him as he eyed the two bottles of sake on the table in front of them. He really needed a drink that was for sure. "I wish that you two would have become great marines instead of becoming criminals and endangering yourselves." When that red haired gangster took the boys in, Ace was ten and Luffy was seven, he had sincerely hoped that the man wouldn’t let them become gangsters themselves. He cared about them, just as much as he cared about his son, maybe even more. But what was he to do now, he couldn’t fix the situation no matter how hard he tried. They were both members of notorious gangs, there was no way either of them would be able to become marines. Not unless they died and somehow came back to life. "Did you see Luffy's latest escapades?" He asked as he looked down on the floor.

The black haired male took a deep drag of his cigarette and closed his eyes in thought. "Look, old man, there's no way that either Luffy or I would ever be able to becomes marines. We have the blood of two demons running through our veins, the two biggest criminals in the world." Even if they did want to become marines, they would be executed just like their uncle was. Even their mother was almost put to the death, because they didn’t want Gol D. Roger's bloodline to continue. But it was all for naught, their mother died anyways after giving birth to his brother and all because of those bastards. He blamed them all for her death, especially his father. The man wasn’t even there to see their beautiful, sweet, kind mother die. No, he didn’t care enough to be there, he didn’t even care about them. When he was just a toddler, he had seen the man maybe three times? After Luffy was born, he never saw the man again. He didn’t understand how their mother could love that man at all. Speaking of his precious little brother… "Of course, that boy is something else. He has already earned a bounty of three hundred million beri, I think that calls for a celebration." He smiled at that and eyed the sake sitting on the coffee table in front of him, before picking it up and taking a swig.

Celebration, huh? He guessed that to his grandsons, a bounty was something of a reward. It was too bad that he just didn’t think that way. He was really getting too old for all of this, first his son, now these two. What Ace said about his father and uncle was true, as much as he loathed admitting it. The world had feared another pirate king from emerging, if they ever found out that someone with Roger's blood survived… well, let's just say that Dragon had the right idea of moving Rouge to Foosha Village, he just wished the woman survived the entire ordeal. Child birth was a nasty business for those living in Edge Town or other poverty stricken areas. He didn’t pity her, though. No, he pitied the sons that she left behind. After everything that happened with their family, it was these two boys that have suffered the worst for their family's sins. It was exactly why even though he severely disliked that red haired bastard that he let the man take care of the two. He had seen it with his own eyes, Shanks loved the two boys as if they were his own. He couldn’t have hoped for better and that was something that he would never admit out loud. Shanks was a great father; now if only his own son was, as well. "Ace, I've been meaning to talk to you about your father-" He started, but sighed when he was cut off.

"Don’t ever talk about him again, not in front of me or Luffy." He bit out angrily as he clutched the alcoholic drink in hand. The old man knew how he felt about that man. He was a deadbeat father and a shitty lover to boot. Nothing, but a nuisance with demon blood in his mind. He knew what he was, a revolutionary, someone who was trying to change this world. He called bullshit on that excuse, it was nothing but an excuse that he kept telling himself and others. He wasn’t even there for them, how could he expect to be there for the entire world?! Just the thought was ridiculous! And his grandfather was sitting there, trying to make up whatever excuses that he had out of his ass. Well, that wasn’t going to work. "My only father is Whitebeard and Luffy's is Shanks. And you know that, don’t play around, Old Man." He stood up and grabbed the black hoodie on the couch, before going straight for the door. "That man will never be our father!" He declared as he left, slamming the door shut on his way out.

Garp sighed as he looked up at the ceiling with a troubled and sad look on his face. "What am I going to do with them, ne, Rouge?"

x~Chosen Path~x

Walking through the gates of High Town which lead right into Edge Town, it was as though he was walking through a portal. High Town held such a beautiful outward appearance, flowers everywhere. It was truly a paradise that the nobles got to enjoy. On the other side, just as he walked through the gate with his hoodie pulled, it was the complete opposite. The buildings were torn, the ground was littered with trash everywhere, and people were sitting outside, in their torn and old, dirty clothes. Most of them were homeless and hadn't had anything to eat in days, much less hours. He could see their bones sticking out of their skin, the hollowness of their cheeks, and most frighteningly of all, the dead look in their eyes. They knew, all of them knew, that they were going to die and no one was going to help them. It was times like these that he really hated being a noble, because while he got all the luxuries and as much food as he wanted without a worry in the world, these people had absolutely nothing.

Shaking his head to get rid of his thoughts, he pulled down his hood and slipped his straw hat onto his head. There was no need to get upset; he had seen this almost every day, so it was nothing new. Though that didn’t make it right, he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t exactly give these people money or food, because then he'd be found out as a noble; and if that were to happen, it would be all over. His life as Straw Hat Luffy would be finished and he wasn’t ready for that. He made a promise that he would become Pirate King and he intended to keep that promise.

Finally, seeing their hideout, his grin widened as he opened the door and entered inside. "Oi! Nami! Sanji!" He was sure that out of all of his gang members, these two would be there; it was almost guaranteed in fact. Nami lived with her sister Nojiko on Cocoyasi St. which was of course in the lawless area and had seen their own share of problems, because of that. Sanji on the other hand, had lived in the Whitebeard Gang's territory so they fared much better. His adoptive father had even owned The Baratie, a restaurant that had a reputation of being one of the best, even if it was in Edge Town. However, his adoptive father Zeff had always encouraged Sanji to follow his dreams. Licking his lips, he tilted his head when he finally spotted all eight of his gang members sitting around on the couch. "Ne, did you hear? Something exciting is happening at the docks!" His brother confirmed it, some gang was coming there and it wasn’t a small time gang either. It made him so excited to find out which gang was coming!

"Luffy!" The orange haired girl scowled at him and crossed her arms; he could practically feel the anger coming off of her. When he turned to look at the other Straw Hat members, all of them were frowning, not one person was excited as him. It made him pause and tilt his head in confusion at that. Normally, they would get annoyed, but nonetheless would go along with his plans. So, the question still remained, why not? He knew that Ace told him not to go there, but as much as he loved his big brother, the other boy was too overprotective of him sometimes. His crew members weren't supposed to be like that, they were supposed to go along with his ideas as he's the leader of his gang; and besides, what was so bad in going to check out the new gangs that were coming? "You didn’t hear? The marines are stationed at the docks and are ordered to capture any gangs they see."

He blinked in confusion as he looked around at his whole crew. "The marines?!" He couldn’t understand why the marines were even stationed at the docks, it was all so strange! Usually, the marines stayed away from both Edge Town and the docks, it was even more so particular for them to actually get orders to capture any gangs they see. The fact of the matter was that everyone knew, unless you were notorious you were left to die on the streets like a rat. Only the most notorious gangs and gang leaders got the privilege of being captured, then of course being sent to Impel Down, the underwater prison. However, this was a really unusual situation and he could tell that something else was going on; something was wrong, really wrong. And with Ace so worried before, it made him really wonder what was going on exactly? "What's going on, guys?"

Sanji cleared his throat as he sighed and pulled out his cigarette, before looking up and straight into Luffy's eyes. "From what we heard, there are eight gangs coming here, each of them has a leader that's worth more than a one hundred million beri bounty." The other man grimaced as he took a drag of his cigarette and blew out some smoke as he looked back at his leader thoughtfully. "With you and the mosshead over there, that's going to make eleven Supernovas, that's what they're calling you all, you know." Supernovas? Luffy never heard of something like that before and nine other individuals with more than one hundred million beri, not counting Zoro? That was so exciting! He really wanted to meet them! It made him wonder just how strong they were; after all having more than one hundred million beri was a big deal, at least for him. And to have them all on in Goa Kingdom? That was like a dream come true! "Luffy, before you get any ideas, there's more to it than that."

He opened his mouth to completely dismiss the notion of there being something more to it and went to sit down on the couch right next to Usopp. "Don't worry about that! Don't you get it? There are eight more gangs who are just like us!" He grinned happily as he looked at his gang with excitement in his eyes. It made him so happy to know that he's going to have more rivals to find the legendary treasure! Though, in the end he's the one who was going to find it and become the Pirate King! His dream, his complete freedom, he would definitely achieve those things, even if he died trying he would still become Pirate King! His friends worrying about the details of the other Supernovas coming here was just plain annoying. What did it matter if they came here to find the One Piece?! They should have more faith in him that he was going to find it. Giving them an annoyed look, he reached for the chicken leg sitting on the coffee table along with mashed potatoes and some vegetables he didn't care to know about. "So good!" He cried out as he bit into the leg and licked his lips at the blissful taste that came from eating it. Sanji was such a good cook! He even always knew when he would show up so he was always prepared a meal for him. He had such a good crew!

Nami growled at him and gave him a mean glare as she stood up, though before she could start yelling at him, Robin intervened between them. She cleared her throat and turned to look at her captain with a grave expression on her face. "Captain, I'm afraid that what Mr. Cook and Ms. Navigator actually mean is that there's a reason that these crews are coming to Goa Kingdom." The young captain looked up at her with a questioning look on his face and furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to listen to what she was saying. Judging by the look on her face, though it wasn’t good; not in the least. Something was going on and while he wanted to have fun, something told him that this was going to be very bad. And in this kingdom, the bad was always horrific. Taking the meat out of his mouth, he gave frowned and gave her his full attention. "In two weeks time, it will be the twenty fourth anniversary of the Pirate King's death, from what I've heard, Saint Jalmack ordered all of the marines to burn down Edge Town and all of the scum in it." His entire crew looked away from him, all of their expressions were serious and dark, even his own expression had turned serious as he looked at his friends. "The Yonko…they won't take this sitting down. It means there will be war."

Luffy's eyes bulged as he let out a heavy breath and dropped his meat on the ground in shock. "W-what did you just say?!"

x~Chosen Path~x

Footsteps echoed on the ground as a figure walked down the dreary hallway, voices could be heard discussing a new development in the making. Even the figure had a dark look on his face as he finally reached the room and crossed his arms. "Oh, good you've already started the meeting."

The leader in the room turned to look at him and gave him a dark smile. "It's so good of you to finally make it. Tell me…what did you find out about Whitebeards plans, Sabo?" The leader turned to look at the figure very carefully, watching him for clues of deceit. "Surely, Whitebeard won't take this new…development lightly. There will be war, I can almost guarantee it."

#fanfiction #chosen path #my fic #one piece #lawlu #dark #angst

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jos-corner-of-the-world · 6 years

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Last House on the Left - {15}

{1} – {2} – {3} – {4} – {5} – {6} – {7} – {8} – {9} – {10} – {11} – {12} – {13} – {14}

The next six weeks passed quickly.

You’d gotten comfortable in your job, and even more comfortable in the friendships you’d forged. You’d visited Wonwoo at his bookstore, spending more money than you made in a month.

You’d visited the radio station Jooheon worked at. You’d even gone to the company Jihoon and Hoshi worked for.

To say Hoshi was a good dancer would be a disgrace to his art. He was absolutely magical when in his element.

Before you knew it, Halloween was fast approaching. You loved Halloween, but tended to go a bit overboard with the decorating and planning.

This year, however, would turn out to be a bit different. Life had a way of trying to break one down, even when they were doing their best.

Minghao was sitting in the couch watching TV with Seokmin, Jihoon and Jooheon when his phone rang.

“Hello?” He answered, confused why Kihyun would be calling him.

“Hey I have a weird question.” Kihyun said.

“Okay… What’s up?” Minghao asked.

“I know I’ve met all the guys, but is there a guy named Jisung I haven’t met yet?” He asked.

“Nope. Why?” Minghao asked.

“Y/n’s in the parking lot and she seems to be arguing with some guy. I heard her tell him to go away and she said his name. I can’t tell the tone and I didn’t want to interrupt.” Kihyun said.

“Do any of you know a Jisung?” Minghao asked the guys.

“Just Y/n’s shitty ex. Why?” Jihoon said.

“Kihyun, is Y/n still in the parking lot?” Minghao asked, on his feet in an instant. You’d only ever really talked about your ex one time the night you cried over him, and Minghao couldn’t remember you ever calling him by name.

“She just tried getting in her car but he blocked her. She’s walking east.” Kihyun said.

“Okay she is walking towards the house. I’m on my way there, make sure she keeps walking East.” Minghao said, hanging up the phone.

“Where are you going?” Jihoon asked.

“Y/n’s ex is at the school. Kihyun said she’s arguing with him. She’s walking towards the house now because he wouldn’t let her get in her car.”

“What the hell. Are you serious?” Jihoon asked, getting up to follow Minghao.

“Unless you know another Jisung she’d be arguing with, I’m pretty sure.”

Minghao walked out the door quickly, all three guys following behind him.

It only took them a couple of minutes to see you down the block, away from school, Kihyun standing next to you and a tall guy arguing with the both of you.

The foursome picked up their steps, getting to you within a minute.

“I don’t want to, just go away.” Minghao heard you say. Your tone was exasperated, but Minghao could tell you were close to tears.

“Are you okay?” Minghao asked being the first to get to you.

He placed his hands lightly in your shoulders, eyes searching yours.

“I just want to go home.” You said, looking up at him tearfully.

“I’ll take you home.” Minghao heard Jooheon say.

“Give us your keys, the house door is unlocked. I’ll bring your car home.” Seokmin said, not taking his eyes off Jisung.

“What the hell is this?” Jisung asked, looking between you and all you the guys.

“THIS is you being done talking Y/n.” Minghao said, turning towards him.

“Excuse me? Who gave you the right to interfere?” Jisung spit out.

“I did. You don’t get to mess with her.” Minghao said.

He turned back towards you quickly.

“Go home with Jooheon. We’ll be home soon.”

You just numbly nodded your head.

“No, you’re not going anywhere until we talk. That’s all I wanted to do is talk to you and you won’t even do that.” Jisung tried reaching for your arm.

Jihoon grabbed his arm first.

“Yeah, you’re not gonna touch her.”

“Jooheon, just keep walking.” Minghao said, watching out of the corner of his eye as Jooheon put a supportive arm around your shoulder and led you away from the guys.

“Who the hell are you people?” Jisung asked as he watched you walk away.

“Doesn’t matter who we are. Either way you’re not getting to her.”

“What? Are you her boyfriend?” Jisung asked, venom lacing his tone.

“I live with her.” Minghao said, not answering the question.

“I call bullshit on that. She didn’t want to move in with me and we were together for four years” Jisung protested.

“Yeah, and I wonder why that is.” Jihoon said. “Spend four years with a woman only to up and leave her as soon as something different comes along. She probably knew all along there was something off about you.”

“She told you that? Why would she tell you that? Who the hell are you people?�� Jisung was growing more confused by the second.

“I told you, she lives with me. These three..” he said, pointing to Jihoon, Seokmin and Kihyun “are her friends. She’s got about twelve other ones. I’m telling you right now, that is not a girl you want to mess with. She can take care of herself, but she will always have us behind her. Think about that the next time you try cornering her again.”

The group left Jisung standing there surprised.

Seokmin and Kihyun walked back towards the school to collect your car, while Minghao and Jihoon walked home.

Minghao found you in your room, head laying in Jooheon’s lap. Your eyes were puffy, your face tear stained.

“Give us a minute?” Minghao asked Jooheon.

“Course. I hope you feel better soon Y/n.” Jooheon said.

Minghao had never heard him use such an even voice before. To him, that signaled how much Jooheon had come to like and respect you in just a couple months time.

“What happened?” Minghao asked, coming to lay next to you on the bed.

“Nothing.” you said.

“That was more than nothing. Are you okay?” Minghao asked.

“I’m okay. He just wanted to talk. But I can’t talk to him. I feel like I’m fine, and then all the emotion came back tenfold when I saw him. He’d found out from one of our old mutual friends where I was working. He didn’t come to attack me or anything, I just…I can’t talk to him. I hate him so much Minghao. I hate that he threw me away. And now that the other girl left him, he ‘realized what a mistake he made’ and wants to talk about it.”

“What are you going to do?” Minghao asked.

He didn’t want you to talk to him. It wasn’t for any other reason that he didn’t want to see you get hurt again. He could vividly recall the night you’d cried in his arms. It was the first, and only time, he’d ever seen that side of you. He didn’t like seeing you cry, questioning why you weren’t good enough for someone. Especially someone like Jisung. Granted, Minghao didn’t know much about him, but what he did know, he didn’t like.

“Same thing I did today. Nothing. I can’t bring him back in to my life. The way he ended things…the things he said, I could never forgive.” you said.

“What do you need me to do?” Minghao asked.

“Exactly what you’re doing now.” You said, moving closer to Minghao.

He wrapped his arms tightly around your shoulders and held you as you cried out your emotions.

Back in the living room, the guys were quiet. Kihyun and Seokmin had returned with your car and joined Jooheon and Jihoon, sitting in silence.

“It’s weird right?” Jooheon asked the quiet room.”

“What’s weird?” Seokmin asked.

“That.” Jooheon said pointing to your bedroom. “Seeing Y/n like that. I’ve only ever seen her upbeat and happy. Barring the time she kicked Minghao in the kneecaps for dropping the cheesecake she had just made. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Not everyone is happy all the time Jooheon.” Jihoon pointed out to him. “She has a lot of unresolved issues in regards to him. I understand why she reacted the way she did. But I agree, I don’t know what to do with that either.”

“You do nothing with it.” Minghao said as he came out of your bedroom.

“She won’t like there having been a scene because of her. She will come out, possibly not until tomorrow morning, and she will act like it didn’t happen. She’ll stuff her emotions down and pretend like they aren’t there. She’ll more than likely give a bland, sarcastic apology for what happened, and act like it’s not a big deal.” Minghao was walking to the fridge to get you a water. You’d fallen asleep, but you’d want it once you woke up.

“That doesn’t seem healthy.” Seokmin pointed out.

“I agree. But it’s how she deals with things. Who are we to dictate how she copes with and overcomes things that cause her emotional distress? I don’t like it anymore than you guys do, but it’s just how she is.” Minghao said, retreating back into your bedroom.

“Do you really think it will be like that?” Kihyun asked.

“Minghao knows her better than anyone. So, yeah, I’m thinking so.” Jooheon said.

“Man…Now I wish I would have punched the guy in the face. He deserves it.” Jihoon said, angry he missed his opportunity.

A few hours later, Minghao still hadn’t come out of your room. Kihyun had gone home, Seokmin had fallen asleep on the chair, Jihoon and Jooheon were watching TV from the couch.

They heard your bedroom door open and close.

“How’s she doing?” Jooheon asked, not taking his eyes off the TV.

“Who? Minghao? I can’t believe I’m the one to tell you this…But Minghao….is a man.” you said, surprising both guys watching TV.

“Oh hey, Y/n” Jihoon said.

“Oh hey Jihoon. Whatcha guys doing?”

“Just watching some TV. What are you doing?” Jihoon remembered Minghao’s words, and thought it best not to bring the earlier situation up.

“Going to the store.” you said, grabbing your jacket.

“For what? It’s almost 9:00.” Jooheon pointed out.

“It’s fine Grandpa. I need pumpkins.”

“What the hell do you need pumpkins for?”

“To carve and put on the front steps. Duh. Halloween is coming up.” you explained.

“Yeah, in like two weeks. People will just smash the pumpkins before Halloween gets here.” Jihoon said.

“Then I guess I’ll have to carve more. So, anyone want to come?” you asked.

Neither guy said anything, just shared a look with each other.

“I’m planning on carving a pumpkin with Minghao’s face on it…” you said, hoping to entice them.

“I’m coming!”

{16}

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kmealovesthemeals · 4 years

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My Biggest Sin

I was my granddad’s dearest granddaughter. I am the first grandchildren in the family. I grew up with so much love and affection.

All that I can remember now is that he always granted every single thing I wanted. I visited his house every weekend, then on Monday, he would drive me and my family to where we lived (my grandparents from mother side’s house). Once as a child, I wanted this laptop toy, because it looked so cool in the supermarket catalog. I told my grandma and grandpa about the laptop toy I saw. The next weekend I visited them, there was that laptop toy I wanted.

I remember we had our own language because of my unavailability to say some words correctly as a little kid. I pronounced “hiu” (dolphin in Bahasa) with “hui” just because I couldn’t remember that “hiu” word. We also had our own language to say I miss you to each other. We said “au” instead of “I miss you” as an ending in every telephone call we make. “Eyang, auuu,” I remember myself saying those words as a kid. Cuuute.

In my elementary school, we were obliged to wear a skirt in every school’s event that allowed us to wear anything instead schools uniform. I didn’t have a lot of skirts back then. I said that I wanted to have some to attend school’s events. He bought me four of them. Later, I wanted to have a jeans skirt. Instead of buying it, he bought me jeans fabrics and asked my mom to take it to the nearest taylor from my house. I love him.

In my junior high school, I liked reading novels a lot. On every school’s holiday, I visited my grandparents. I brought some novels I wanted to read. Then, within few days, I have read them all. I told my grandparents I wanted new novels. Then, my grandpa brought me to the bookstore twice in a week. With his motorcycle. I love him so much.

There are a lot more things he has done to me. A lot of wonderful things.

In 2017, my grandpa passed away. He always grumbled of feeling sick (later I found out about this fact). One night, he sat on a sofa couch in front of the tv, then told my aunt that he felt hurt everywhere within his body. My aunt gave him some massages then left him because she thought he already felt relax.

I woke up with a nightmare the next day. On 4 am, my father told me to open my eyes then informed me that grandpa already passed away.

Hari itu terasa begitu cepat sekaligus begitu lambat. Eyang uti yang baru saja berangkat dua hari sebelumnya untuk liburan bersama teman-temannya ke Manado langsung terbang pulang ke rumah. Kami menunggu. Banyak orang datang ke rumah. Aku tidak berhenti menangis.

Eyang uti akhirnya tiba selepas zuhur. Eyang kakung dimakamkan selepas ashar. Aku masih belum bisa berhenti menangis.

I saw signs.

I knew he felt hurt, he would find it hard to let go of my hands every time I was going home after visiting him. I felt like he didn’t want me to go, or something like asking for help. He was in pain. It was not only once or twice, but happened like every time I visited him for 3 months just before he passed away.

He informed me with the secret codes of his two deposit suitcase. I remember the code of one deposit suitcase, but not the other. Later, I found out that I was the only one being told about the secret codes. Even my grandma didn’t know them. I am feeling the guilt up until now.

In July 2016, I made it to study in the best university of the country. I was busy with new students admission activities, while he was sick and rushed to the hospital. I was trying to make time to visit him, but I just missed my chance. I was both excited and scared about all of the activities, so I put all of my energy and mind to them. What a bad granddaughter.

After he discharged from the hospital, all I know was he was good and healthy. I didn’t know that he was still feeling sick and pain from time to time since then.

On January 2017, I visited my grandparents because the college breaks finally came. I was coughing badly that time, I just couldn’t stop coughing. I and my grandpa sat in front of the tv one noon, he rubbed and patted my back gently while I was coughing. He also bought me some medicine just to make me a lot better and not coughing anymore. The next day, my grandma asked me to join her visited Ancol for the next week, and I decided to come along. The day before, he asked Mas Gafur to buy me a medical mask because I was still coughing.

And one fine Sunday noon, we I and my grandpa watched a news on the tv. It was about the Jakarta election debate that will be held with my current faculty dean as the moderator. I told my grandpa as I saw the dean on the tv, “I know him! He is my faculty dean! I have to watch the debate!” And as always, he rubbed and patted my back gently. That was the last time we had together before he passed away the next Wednesday night. It was good.

So, that’s it. My biggest sin, is to ignore the signs I saw.

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retro-scorpio · 4 years

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Dreams and Photoshoots

Until I can come up with a better title for this story, that’s what I’m calling it. Essentially, the “Dreams” bit comes from a dream I had about being a maid of sorts for a religious family and attending church one day, and the “Photoshoots” bit comes from the photoshoot Harry Styles did for Beauty Papers a few months ago (at this point). The dream came after the photoshoot, and this little story was born. It is explicit in nature, as it talks about triggering subjects and progressively gets more sexual in each part, so if that’s not something you’re interested in, then continue scrolling.

There’s currently four parts to this story, but they’re written in such a way that for the most part, each part can stand on its own, since they focus more on character interaction than actual plot. This first part centers around the dream I had and features a fictional version of this Harry.

So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy this story. Feel free to comment whether you want me to write something for you, and I would be more than willing to do so.

The town I live in is a bit bizarre, and not just in the stereotypical small town way. Sure, everyone knows each other, new residents and visitors passing through while on vacation are met with wary glances, and the two most important things are church and football, but that’s to be expected in a small town like Roseden. What makes this town stranger than even the smallest of small towns is that the people who prioritize church and the people who worship football are not one and the same. In fact, they’re two entirely different groups. The group that glorifies football live for the most part like any other normal family. They use modern technology like cars and TVs and smartphones, and they venture out of town to enjoy the wonders of other larger cities, like shopping malls and movie theaters. The churchgoers, on the other hand, live their life similar to the Amish, only they’re not of the Amish community. They travel by foot everywhere, they shun most things technological, and they’re in church every Sunday from the moment the sun rises to when it sets, even if there’s only an evening service that day.

Thankfully, I wasn’t born in Roseden, so I have some sense of what the real world is like. Not a whole lot, but enough to get me by in an emergency. My dad drank himself to death and my mom jumped off a 10-story building and collided with the cold concrete below before I hit junior year of high school. Both of my parents were only children, as am I, and all of my grandparents died by the time I entered high school, so it’s not like I could have lived with a family member. I couldn’t stay in my home city, either, for I was infamous for being the daughter of a suicidal mom and a good-for-nothing drunk, which brought nothing but trouble on my end. About a month before my 18th birthday, I was given two options: get shipped off to Roseden and work as a maid for the Vranovsky family, or get kicked to the streets when I turned 18 and hope for the best. Obviously, no one in my city—or in the neighboring cities—was going to hire me, so I chose Roseden.

The Vranovsky family were the most religiously devout family out of all the churchgoers in Roseden, which is saying something. They were among the first families to settle Roseden, though, so I suppose it makes sense. It also makes sense that their family is one of the largest ones in the whole town. So, consequently, we live in one of the largest properties. The Vranovsky mansion is occupied by the head of the family, Grandma and Grandpa, their 6 children, and nearly 20 of their grandkids, ranging in age from mere infants to almost-adults. I’ve been working for them for nearly four years, and there is never a dull moment in the household or an end to the list of chores I have to complete. I wouldn’t trade the anonymity I’ve gained from working for the Vranovsky family for just about anything. They’ve given me a roof over my head, food to eat, and a place I can call home. Sure, I may have to dress in the plain, beige-colored dresses that all the girls wear and follow their religion, but it’s a small price to pay, considering where I came from.

Everything changed on the Ides of March.

The day starts out like any ordinary Sunday. The Vranovsky family got up at three in the morning to prepare to leave the mansion at five in order to get to the church by six. I was responsible for preparing breakfast, waking all the kids up, dressing the younger ones in their church clothes, and making sure the teenagers weren’t dilly-dallying, just like normal. We left the house and arrived at the church right on time like we always do, and we were enthusiastically greeted by Pastor Bowie, even though the service wasn’t to start for another 12 hours. If there’s one thing Pastor Bowie loves more than giving sermons, it’s children. So, while the Vranovsky adults go off to the main part of the church and help the other church workers prepare for the horde of families about to enter the sacred walls within the next hour, Pastor Bowie takes the children to a special room where he plays games with them and teaches them dances. Since my main responsibility is keeping an eye on the children and making sure they’re on their best behavior, I go along with Pastor Bowie and participate in his activities. They’re all religious in nature—except maybe the dancing—but Pastor Bowie has a way of making his religion fun and exciting for even the worst skeptics in Roseden. Everyone attends his Christmas sermon for that very reason.

The activities last until 10, which is when the kids join back up with the adults for brunch. Normally, I would eat brunch with the Vranovsky family and the rest of the congregation, but on this particular day Pastor Bowie stops me before I leave the room by simply calling out,

“Elizabeth?”

“Yes, Pastor Bowie?” I reply, stopping at the doorframe and turning my head to look at him.

“A word with you, if I may?” he asks. I nod my head, telling Jerry, one of the older Vranovsky children, to tell the adults of my whereabouts before stepping back inside the room.

“Close the door,” Bowie instructs. Once I do, I start cleaning up the mess that the children had left.

“I want you to have brunch with me,” he tells me, making me almost drop the small stack of papers I had in my hands from the last game we played. Having brunch with the pastor is an honor that’s not easily given out. Even the Vranovsky family has only had brunch with Pastor Bowie twice in the entire time he’s headed the church.

“May I ask why, Pastor?”

“I’m expecting a guest, and I want you to meet him. If all goes well, I can persuade the Vranovskies to relieve you of your duties and allow you to enjoy the pleasures of the real world again.” I stop in my tracks and stare at the pastor in confusion.

“May I ask who you’re inviting to brunch and why you would want me to meet him?” He nods, gesturing for me to stand in front of him before he gives his response.

“We’re having brunch with Harry Styles.” This time, I drop all the papers I had in my hands, and they flutter to the carpeted floor. In the town of Roseden, the name Harry Styles is synonymous with the word evil. Stories about him doing unspeakable things circulate the church community of Roseden every Halloween to serve as a warning to all the children to do what they’re told or they’re going to end up like him.

“May I speak freely, Pastor?”

“You may,” he responds kindly. I begin ranting.

“Bowie, how are you going to convince the Vranovskies to allow me to go off with the man that tortured the citizens of Roseden for fun? They were the family that got him banished for his heinous crimes! And for that matter, why would you want me, the fucking maid of the Vranovsky family, to meet this demon? Do you think that lowly of me, Bowie?” I recoil internally when I realize that a forbidden word has left my lips, but Pastor Bowie doesn’t seem to take note of me cursing.

“No, I don’t, Elizabeth,” he answers, trying his best to be soothing. “In fact, I think very highly of you.”

“Then why would you even want me in the same room as that monster?!”

“Keep your voice down,” he whispers with an edgy tone, reaching out to touch my shoulder. “No one else knows that he’s coming, and I want it to stay that way. Do you understand?” I silently nod my head, still in shock at the fact that Pastor Bowie wants me to have brunch with Harry Styles.

“I’ll explain more when he gets here, but for right now, know that everything you heard about Harry is wrong. He’s not the devil spawn Roseden makes him out to be. If he was, I wouldn’t be friends with him.” Before I have the chance to protest further—I mean, how can the most beloved pastor in Roseden be friends with such a satanic figure—there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Pastor Bowie calls. One of the nuns, Mary, meekly pokes her head in the room.

“Your brunch is ready, Pastor Bowie,” she tells him. She quickly glances over at me and smiles.

“Hello, Elizabeth. Madame Vranovsky was wondering where you were.”

“Miss Mary, I told Jerry to tell her that I will—” I start to say.

“—be dining with me,” Pastor Bowie finishes. “I wanted Elizabeth to meet a dear friend of mine.” Mary’s eyes light up in awe. If only she knew who exactly Bowie’s “dear friend” was. Then she’d be screaming in horror.

“Of course, Pastor Bowie. I’ll let the Vranovskies know.” Mary closes the door and presumably scurries off to tell the matriarch of the Vranovsky family the marvelous news.

“Well, we should probably get going,” Bowie states. “Wouldn’t want our brunch to get cold, would we?” Despite my urge to run away from the pastor and tell my family who Pastor Bowie really is, the instinct to listen to authority and follow orders takes over, and I walk out of the room with Bowie and unfortunately smack right into someone rather hard. Immediately, black-gloved hands reach out to steady me.

“Are you alright, love?” a deep, surprisingly calm male voice with an accent—British, maybe—asks. I casually catch his concerned gaze and quickly get entranced by his eyes. They’re an interesting, transparent mix of green and blue, and they’re accentuated by a reddish eyeshadow and a hint of maybe brown eyeliner? It’s been a while since I’ve seen makeup of any kind, so I’m a bit rusty on what colors look like on the skin. In any case, this man’s eyes appear to be piercing into my soul, begging to know my most inner secrets.

“Ma’am?” he asks worryingly, drawing me away from his eyes to his mouth. “Are you alright?” He still has his hands on me. His lips are a deep, muted shade of pink.

“I’m just a little dazed, sir,” I quickly answer, embarrassed that I didn’t answer the man’s question the first time. He lets go of me, allowing me to step back and take in his entire appearance. With his messy brown wavy hair, navy blue suit, and shiny black loafers, he could pass for a businessman. At least, he could if his business involved spies or the mafia. His rather harsh appearance combined with his tall stature that causes him to nearly tower over me intimidates me, in all honesty. Him staring at me isn’t making me feel any better.

“This is Elizabeth,” Bowie tells the tall man in the navy suit. “She works for the Vranovsky family.” His eyes narrow scornfully, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Elizabeth,” Bowie continues, turning his attention to me. “This is Harry, the only person from this damn town that has amounted to anything.” My blood runs cold as Harry chuckles and smirks.

“Why, Georgie, you’re cursing in the house of God!” he scolds sarcastically, finally turning his head to face the pastor. “I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed, especially since you’re now the head of the congregation.” Bowie shakes his head, returning the playful look on Harry’s face.

“Sorry, sorry,” he replies. “You know what they say about old habits.” The two men burst out laughing; it sounds incredibly cruel.

“May I please speak freely?” I ask angrily. Bowie and Harry stop laughing. The latter glares at me while the former simply responds,

“Not here. Say, why don’t we step into my chambers? Brunch awaits us inside.”

“Do you still have to eat the vile porridge and stale bread now that you’re the pastor?” Harry asks as the three of us begin walking to his chambers. Thankfully, they’re located away from the dining hall, so no one has to see the traitorous action I’m being forced to commit.

“Thankfully, no,” Bowie answers. “I made sure to change brunch up as soon as possible. So, today we’ll be having soft-boiled eggs, English muffins with jam, and a nice strong cup of coffee.”

“Excellent!” Harry exclaims. Bowie charges ahead, allowing Harry to slip back to where I’m walking.

“I should have known you were involved with the Vranovskies by that atrocious brown paper bag of a dress,” he snarls softly. “It makes even the hot and sexy look dull and boring. And believe me; even in that godawful family there’s a few beauties that look stunning once they put on something of a more daring color.”

“Don’t you dare talk about my family that way,” I hiss back. “You’re the devil that nearly tore this town apart.”

“Is that what they have you believing?” he quietly argues. “Because you’re sorely wrong, darling.”

“Is everything alright?” Bowie asks, forcing Harry and me to end our little spat. Harry clears his throat and smiles.

“Yes, George; everything’s fine. Elizabeth and I just had a little…misunderstanding.” Misunderstanding my ass.

“Well, I’m sure it’ll all get cleared up over brunch. Come.” He gestures us inside his chambers and shuts the door behind him once we’re all in the room. It’s rather spacious and full of red and gold. In the center of the room, there’s a large, shiny, mahogany desk and three matching ornate chairs, two on one side of the desk and one on the other. Sitting proudly on top of the desk is a silver tray containing the eggs, muffins, and coffee that Bowie had promised.

“Sit down and dig in,” Bowie invites, walking over to the side with the lone seat and forcing Harry and I to be seated next to each other. The only noise in the room for a few minutes is the sound of spoons clinking and lips sipping coffee. Unsurprisingly, Bowie’s the first one to break the somewhat tense silence.

“You know, Elizabeth, I’ve kept my eye on you these past few years, and I must say, you’ve done an incredible job at blending into this community. Almost everyone sees you as a sweet, quiet maid who does what she’s told with a smile on her face and balks at the slightest wrong. You could very nearly pass off as a Roseden native, except for one little thing. Well, it’s not so little, considering that it’s the very thing that got Harry into trouble the moment he entered school.”

“I refuse to believe that I have anything in common with that scumbag!” I shout.

“It’s Mr. Scumbag to you, Miss Elizabeth,” Harry quips. “Don’t forget your manners.”

“Sounds rich coming from you, you slimy bastard,” I snap back. Harry looks at me in amusement while Bowie points a finger at me.

“That right there is what I’m talking about,” Bowie observes.

“What, me cursing?”

“That’s part of it, yes. The truth is, you and Harry are both too big for Roseden. It suffocates innovation, art, and complexity in order to promote a bland simplicity. You’re the type of people that want to color the sky purple, the trees blue, and the water orange because the idea excites you.”

“That’s how I got my first flogging,” Harry interjects. “At the ripe old age of six.”

“They beat you when you were six?” I ask in disbelief. “I thought the schools didn’t start until the kids hit double digits! That’s horrible!” Harry and Bowie exchange knowing glances, then Harry turns his attention to me.

“It was administered to me by a Vranovsky. Miss Emily, I believe. My mother was outraged, of course, because why would any rational person flog a child over expressing creativity through coloring? But as you’re very aware, the Vranovskies have a lot of influence in this little town, and so Miss Emily was able to convince the entire school staff that I was a delinquent destined for prison.”

“At the age of six?” Harry grimly nods his head.

“For four years, I tried my best to please the adults at school, but nothing I did was ever good enough for them, especially Miss Emily. If I made the slightest noise, I would be sent directly to the dean. Margin two centimeters off? Dean. My shirt slightly wrinkled from daily activity? Dean. If an adult spotted a kid being friendly to me, they were sent to the dean and told to stay away from me because I was nothing but trouble. I received less food than everyone else, I got the hardest assignments and the harshest critiques, and there wasn’t a single thing I or my mother could do about it, because if either one of us complained about my inhumane treatment, Miss Emily would ensure that I got treated worse as a lesson to keep my mouth shut.”

Tears start welling up in my eyes. To demonize a mere child like that who really didn’t do anything wrong is extremely cruel, and I’m sad that Harry was treated like a monster. I’m also incredibly angry. One, I know exactly what Harry’s gone through, because the minute my mom and dad passed away the way they did, I was treated the exact same way by my teachers and peers; and two, if Emily, the person that graciously accepted me into her home and has been nothing but kind to me these past four years, was the one that first painted Harry to be the human version of Lucifer…what if I did something that made her suddenly turn against me?

“So, I assume once you were ten, you began lashing out, not because puberty activated a demon in you, but because you felt like you had no other choice,” I reply quietly, wiping away the tears before they begin rolling down my face. “If you were already getting severely punished, then you might as well do something that warranted that punishment.”

“Just to be clear, Harry didn’t hurt anyone,” Bowie cuts in. “He was nice and well-mannered to anyone and everyone that was kind to him, and he never killed or mutilated animals. That’s just propaganda that’s unfortunately stuck throughout the years.” Harry adds,

“I’ve lived by the motto ‘be nice to nice’ for many years. I don’t go around being an asshole all the time, but if someone starts giving me shit for no reason, I’m not just going to sit there and take it or ignore it and hope it goes away; I’m going to stand up for myself.”

“That’s quite admirable, Harry,” I compliment. Harry smirks at me, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

“Perhaps there’s hope for you yet, Miss Elizabeth. A true Vranovsky would never say anything pleasant about me, let alone to me.”

“So, are all the stories about you false, then?”

“Most of them, yes,” Bowie answers. I raise an eyebrow, silently inquiring and looking between Bowie and Harry.

“Well, obviously I wear makeup and wear women’s clothing, but not as often as they would have you believe,” Harry responds. “I became fascinated with the arts and used them to express myself in many different ways—still do to this day and make money off it—but the most famous story of them all is completely factual.”

“So, you did get expelled from school and consequently kicked out of Roseden at the age of sixteen due to you being—”

“—sexually promiscuous, yes,” Harry finishes my sentence. “With both men and women. There were two groups at Roseden Academy by the time I left: those that hated my ass and those that fucked it. Sometimes quite literally.”

“Your parties were legendary!” Bowie exclaims. “Every couple years, there’s always a brave soul or two that tries to replicate them after hearing about them, but they either always get busted or end up being lackluster at best. No one is as good a host as you are, Harry.”

“And I’ll take that to the bank,” Harry replies, laughing heartily. Bowie glances up at something hanging on the wall behind Harry and me and immediately gets a worried look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask Bowie.

“Brunch is nearly over, which means you have to reunite with the Vranovskies and you have to sneak out of here,” he answers, pointing at Harry and me at the parts that apply to us respectively. “Unless…” Bowie trails off in thought.

“Unless what?” Ignoring me, Bowie focuses his gaze on Harry.

“Do you like her?” he asks Harry.

“I’m warming up to her, yes.”

“Enough to take her with you, if she so chooses?” Harry glances over at me, his eyes scanning me up and down before looking back at Bowie.

“I don’t see why not. She has potential.”

“Elizabeth?” Even though Bowie’s only stated my name, I know the underlying question he’s asking. If I stay with the Vranovskies, I have to live with the knowledge that they hurt an innocent little boy and pretend that everything’s fine and dandy when people shit on Harry behind his back. But, staying in Roseden would bring security and safety, whereas if I go with Harry, he could choose to toss me aside the second he got bored and tired of me, and I would have nowhere to turn to. I find myself looking into Harry’s eyes again. Even though they seem neutral, they manage to dig through the piles of fluff and knick-knacks inside me and pull out a cold, hard truth that shines through the dust.

I want my life back.

I want to make something for myself and not spend the rest of my life stuck in a rut.

I need to get out of Roseden, for good. I look away from Harry, close my eyes, and take a deep breath, mentally bracing myself to say the sentence that will be my ticket out of this wretched small town.

“Pastor Bowie, tell the Vranovskies that I will not be rejoining them for tonight’s sermon, or any sermon for that matter.”

#harrystyles #fanfiction #beautypapers

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stuntiteachers · 6 years

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Masterpost of all the Post-series conclusions to Stuntiteacher AU stories

Mun: Here you go everyone! All the conclusions to stories I’ve had in my head these past few months, I hope you enjoy them for as long as it took me to write them all. I think I’ll probably draw some of these for my own enjoyment, as well as in general stuff regarding my favorite designs and what not. Like previously stated, I’m not done with this blog yet, this is more a precaution and just an in general “open endings to the stories”. I know some of these things are things people wanted to know about!

Post-Stuntiteachers AU

Please note that Cybertron and Earth are treated as two continents on the same planet in this AU.

Bee Team and Steeljaw travelled back to Cybertron to confront the corrupted high council. Very similar to in canon events, Cyberwarp managed to be a reckoning force that took Cyclonus down. The five were sentenced to prison, with Cyberwarp being in a separate jail and with a lessened punishment for her actions.

The new council is set up, with Windblade having to leave her teaching position in Earth until Cybertron elects their new council properly. Steeljaw, having the most authority regarding Decepticon affairs at that point, becomes an ambassador for Decepticons both in jail and out (until Soundwave and/or Starscream come out of their comas). He chooses to return to Earth to be with his own allies but keeps communications open and active with the Autobots to keep his post (he wants to make a change happen, and this is his best opportunity). Bee and his team return to their true home in Earth and resume their teaching/police jobs.

But you’re all here for the shipping side of things, so here we go on post-series fates.

Bee and Steeljaw awkwardly become friends through the Autobot/Decepticon alliance. At first it was still just strictly work related meetings but over time Steeljaw would just pull stuff to get his attention. Nothing past platonic, but an interesting development to both of their characters. Bee becomes more aware of what life is like for the Decepticons and becomes more sympathetic, while Steeljaw learns from Bee how to be a better person and strengthen his own existing relationships with his teammates and partner. After a while, they decide to make life easier for them work wise and do video chats every now and then (in private locations cause you don’t need cops finding out where your hideouts are).

Sideswipe and Strongarm both come out and confess their affections to Windblade when she returns back to Earth, and awkwardly ask which one of them she would consider dating if interested. Windblade takes a day to think, and decides if it was alright with them, she’d like to date them both. The three of them are very happy together, even if Strongarm and Sideswipe still squabble like children every now and then.

Grimlock and Drift remain good friends after Drift confides in Grim how he’s not particularly interested in romantic affairs (Grim is totally understanding about it and started asking before giving Drift big hugs). Drift even assists Grimlock in attempting to try asking Bumblebee out. Bee, although extremely flustered and nervous at the advance, accepts.

Slipstream and Jetstorm grow up with their ambitions of wanting to be police rookies and maybe one day becoming private investigators. They both suspect they’ll end up chasing down Airazor and Divebomb one day, as the two are trying to become bounty hunters like their dad. But until then, in their teen years, the four of them became close friends, and try double dating for a while, much to their fathers’ hesitation (“I’m not becoming an in-law to HIM no matter what”).

Fixit becomes an official un-official addition to the Clay family, moving in with Denny and Russell. He’s extremely happy every time he’s referred to as family although he lacks a proper connection to them in terms of title (“This is Fixit! He’s family!” “So what, your uncle or?” “He’s family!”). Fixit is also on great terms with Russell’s mother, funny enough, they bonded quickly. When they got to college, Russell and Hank, who recently transitioned, became roommates.

They’ve never been mentioned in this AU, but Optimus and Ratchet got married and went on a month long honeymoon vacation when everything was over that marked the start of their retirement until they were ever needed again. I don’t make the rules…except I do, and these grandpas need a break.

A number of the captured Decepticons were given revised trials and changed sentences after Steeljaw became a temporary part of the council. The more violent and likely to cause harm cons stayed, but ones with less malicious motivations were granted pardons under the guise of “being a part of the mind control plot from the previous council”, thanks to Steeljaw’s manipulation. This allowed him to free his previous pack team of Thunderhoof, Quillfire, Underbite and Clampdown as well as some cons like Fracture, reuniting them with their families and loved ones. In addition to this, Decepticons were given more rights in their government, granting them more job opportunities, resources to shelters for the homeless cons, and marriage and adoption rights (proper official ones instead of the shady ones they got away with for years).

After they awoke from their respective comas (a few days apart ironically), Starscream and Soundwave were told of what the High Council was trying to do in terms of trying to summon Megatron. After a very one sided conversation between the two former commanders, they both understood exactly what it meant when Megatron left them both behind, Soundwave facing the grim acceptance at last and Starscream slowly but surely taking a step forward to his own mental recovery by not pursuing his abuser for a satisfaction he might not even get. Once hearing about how there was elections for a new high council, Starscream went to run for an official position promoting rights for the Decepticons while also bringing Cybertron to equal footing in terms of alliances (essentially taking over Steeljaw’s temporary position), while Soundwave, true to his nature, worked by his side if only to make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble and was actually following through with what he was saying. The two do well to mark a significant change in the Cybertronian government system, and although neither knows this, Megatron is extremely proud of the two of them.

Steeljaw and Thunderhoof finally got a proper sit down talk about their relationship, thanks to Bee’s side assistance with helping Steeljaw understand Thunderhoof’s side of things. They decided to separate for a while, just to give each other a healthy amount of distance and time to figure out where to go from there. Six months or so later, they started meeting up again as friends and within a year start dating again, far happier than they were before.

Quillfire and Springload started doing the odd travel expedition together once Back and Forth became teenagers and could be left alone with the house for a few days without too much chaos. During one of which, they found an undiscovered ancient civilization, which to Springload’s mind was his long lost Doradus, much to both of their pure joy and happiness. The archaeological find gave the family enough financial stability that Quillfire didn’t have to always steal for Springload’s medication, and Springload was given enough credibility that he was hired to work with other history seekers professionally. Springload thanked Quillfire for all his support when they brought their kids back to see “Doradus”, and proposed to him (Much to Back’s excitement and Forth’s bemoaning about going to a wedding).

Underbite and Scowl do pretty awesome together. After being together for five years, they end up adopting a baby from Shadow Raker and raise him together (they choose to never get married out of personal preference). They raise a little one named Stomper, affectionately called Stompy, who’s as destructive and excited as his dads are. They love their little one, with Scowl acting as a stay-at home dad for the first few years before switching with Underbite. Scowl genuinely loves giving his son a chance to be whoever he wants to be in life, a choice he didn’t get to have growing up. Thunderhoof and Clampdown also have a tenancy to visit specifically to see the kid, both having a weakness for little Stomper, melting their hearts every time. It’s legitimately the only time where no death threats are made by Thunderhoof.

Clampdown is still as sneaky and information filled as ever. Never really locked down to one place, he’s just doing his own thing, gaining few friends and more people wanting his head. He’s honestly fine with it though. He’s looking out for himself in the best way he can, and he knows when life gets too hard he can always crash at one of his few friends’ places for some kindness and positivity.

Crazybolt and Slicedice, after being together for twenty five years, immediately got married when the law was passed. Slicedice bawled he was so happy, which made Crazybolt tear up, which made their employees wanna gag over how sickeningly love dovey it all was. They invited practically every con they knew, it was a fun time all around.

Vertebreak and Nightstrike pretty much never changed their ways. Kept being the murdering duo they were, only now they changed workshops every now and again. In addition, Wingcode started joining them upon finding out about her brother’s way of avoiding capture (“My boyfriend destroys the bodies for me”), much to both of their displeasure because, oh man, is she prideful. Not to mention acutely aware of everything they do, so they got interrupted a lot any time they wanted to be romantic.

Glowstrike, Scorponok and Saberhorn’s business got officially recognized and they started allowing Autobots and non-Cybertronian raised humans into the neighborhoods they owned. Media broadcasted this as a kind gesture ushering in a new era of peace and unity between factions, but really they stopped caring, money is money. Their relationship was good and functional until Glowstrike ended up collapsing one day, much to her partners’ immense fear and concern. After taking her to a hospital (a good proper one, thank you new laws) they found out she was pregnant with twins and that it will take a lot of her if she keeps them. This lead to a conversation the three weren’t expecting to have, with Scorponok worried for Glowstrike’s well being, Saberhorn worried about parenthood and Glowstrike worried about how this’ll change things for them. All of course, boiling down to the question of “do they keep the kids or not”. It took them a week after finding out about it to decide to keep the kids, under Glowstrike’s request to have a quick group marriage before they’re born and before she starts showing (because she refused to get in a wedding dress for that and she’d be damned if she couldn’t have a nice dress for her day). They had two healthy little girls named Lightbreak (taking after Saberhorn) and Firestrike (taking after Scorponok), and Glowstrike (although grateful her daughters were born) had her husbands’ take care of the babies the most in the first week, wanting to isolate herself for a while after the whole ordeal before going into her full motherly duties.

Nightra and Scatterspike are happily in love. Neither rushing things too much, but just enjoying each other’s company to the fullest. It was very hard for her to say goodbye, but eventually Scatterspike did move out of the Scavenger residence in an effort to live with her girlfriend and pursue work in construction. She still tags along for the big scavenging trips in the winter though. Nightra keeps her work as being a thief, although she admittedly enjoys the pay she gets from the cops for tipping them off to some really nasty criminals she works with.

Paralon eventually gets gently rejected by Dragstrip after trying a proper confession (Dragstrip mostly was just wincing cause he’s pretty bad at reading these things in general), but wasn’t too worse for wear. He’s still got his ambitions to make a name for himself, so he started experimenting with his talents by trying a lot of different jobs. He hasn’t found anything in particular to pursue yet, but he’s hopeful.

Thermidor and Clawtrap are still as bickery as ever, and after Scatterspike and Paralon moved out, it got worse for a while. Being alone with each other for so long made them remember how much the other irked them, at least with the whole group they could avoid each other. It took a while, but eventually some of the other cons got fed up and forced them into a couples therapy-like session with Kickback (who considers himself pretty neutral with all relationship-like shenanigans he seems to get wrapped into). After answering in stubborn and snarky attitudes for majority of the questions, Kickback managed to sneak some truth serum (courtesy of Scatterspike and her experimental syringes) into their drinks, and they started spilling what they actually loved about each other. It was messy and embarrassing as heck, but it worked out in the end, and they could actually admit out loud that were dating.

The Corvicons are doing pretty alright for themselves. Filch has been doing really well gathering her shiny things to sell, but she’s also made formidable improvement with her customer service, becoming a favorite of frequent customers. Boostwing one day comes home with the proud statement of having successfully asked out his shiny friend from the scrapyard he visits (it was Kickback), and that motivated Jacknab to properly pursue Razorhorn (“He’s shiny to me! He’s really stupid shiny!”). Pilfer is perfectly content staying single for a while longer, amused by his brothers’ antics in courting.

Through a lot of emotional comfort and confiding between themselves, Shadelock and Roughedge started dating, Roughedge gladly being Shadelock’s shoulder to lean on on the hard days and Shadelock giving Roughedge all the love he deserves. Wildbreak cried when Roughedge told him, while Dragstrip just sighed heavily over his stupid partner being stupid.

After being worn down, Motormaster eventually accepted trying to fix things with Shadow Raker. At least that’s what it seemed, but Motormaster actually had a plan of faking it until he could reach a point where he could destroy Shadow Raker’s heart like he did to him all those years ago. Slashmark and Heatseeker avidly mention how stupid that plan was, holy shit, what a STUPID PLAN, but Motormaster is honestly king of stupid ideas so he goes to that dinner date an hour later than he should’ve been, watching Shadow Raker wait in the cold the whole time. Thing is, as the date goes on (and on, because Shadow Raker refuses to let the night end yet) both of them start picking up on facts from the other regarding that “betrayal” that separated them. After going to the warehouse in question, both tried to recount the whole event in detail and after a while, they figure out what actually happened was one of their mutual enemies set it up so while Motormaster got arrested, Shadow Raker would come out of hiding to save him and would lead to setting them both up for an assassination attempt, but there was miscommunication and Shadow Raker didn’t find out about the arrest until much, MUCH later, when the damage had been done. Motormaster lost it when he figured it out, and after smashing some things in the warehouse to vent his rage, started hardcore crying cause all these years he’s been hurting over hating someone he loved for something that wasn’t even either of their faults. Shadow Raker laughed through his own tears, cause he almost forgot how emotional his partner could get. They embraced and Motormaster really couldn’t understand how Shadow Raker could wait for so long for him, and he replied saying Motormaster was worth it, he was always worth it. They got back together, and in a little less than a year got engaged like they wanted to be since the war days ended.

As a result of the reunion, Motormaster told his team he was aware of their relationships (“Very, VERY aware”) and that they have his permission to be open about it and that he’ll stop wearing his own copies of their rings out of possession (Shadow Raker side commented it was to wear his own ring to which he was promptly cut off by an embarrassed Motormaster). The other Stunticons were ecstatic about not having to hide or lie or be apart anymore and they all went out to celebrate and as a result came out to their fellow cons. There was a lot of cheers/groans from the cons that had bets going on about them.

Heatseeker and Slashmark didn’t change too much in terms of their relationship, although parties and gatherings were a lot healthier for Slashmark, not having to bite his tongue or drown his sorrows in alcohol. And Heatseeker was more than happy to have his favorite person next to him. The group still continued to be pretend teachers to new generations of cons, however Heatseeker and Slashmark actually found that they really enjoyed being teachers and started going an extra mile with their jobs with some extracurriculars for the students that wanted them. In addition, with the new laws in place Heatseeker found himself motivated to making sure his students wouldn’t suffer in their youth like he once had, and any time he noticed one of them not having a consistent lunch or new bruises, he’d pull them aside and ask them what was up, and if it was bad, let them know about soup kitchens and shelters for the nights it gets too hard. In addition, if he knows their parent personally he’ll make sure to make their life hell cause “c’mon, is this how you want to go down in their life? As the asshole they want dead?”. Slashmark and Heatseeker also decide to show sympathy to their teammates and gave them their extra mattress in return for a week off of their after hour crime jobs. They used that week to have a trip to Cybertron, just the two of them and their homeland’s sights. They got married a few months after Dragstrip and Wildbreak did.

Wildbreak and Dragstrip actually managed to end up having some good luck for once. Their jobs ended up getting them more money; their quick work and (in Wildbreak’s case) good attitude got the attention of some of their employers and they got raises. They managed to get enough to move out of their shitty apartment building and into a better one without roaches or awful landlords, with a similarly small apartment, but now with a decent bed. They still aren’t overly fond with their teaching jobs, but they aren’t quitting those. They do, however, get into some new weekend jobs through their hobbies. Dragstrip got to test out new race cars thanks to Kickback, Crazybolt and Slicedice’s jobs, while Wildbreak would volunteer at Shadow Raker’s foster care to take care of the younger kids. It was weird at first, having separate jobs, but both enjoyed it enough to make it work out, still happy to come home to each other. After many years of consideration and consulting others on it, Dragstrip did eventually go to Vertebreak for top surgery, Wildbreak by his side as long as he could. His dysphoria was still present, but Dragstrip did find it worked out well for him, occasionally patting his chest every now and then in pride (Motormaster continued to provide his own advice out of mutual experience). He also stopped smoking since he had to two weeks prior to the surgery anyway (and Wildbreak never was fond of it, he noted). Wildbreak was actually the one to properly propose; nothing fancy or public, just the two of them having a simple candlelit dinner in their little apartment, with Wildbreak proceeding to list off all the things they’ve done in the years they’ve been together and how he hopes they’ll still have plenty of new adventures to come together. It was beautifully cheesy, cause Dragstrip actually wanted to propose to him the same gosh darn night and they both just kind of collapsed on each other laughing and crying over how stupid they were but if that wasn’t them, who knows what is. Their wedding was sweet and simple, and after of few months of being newlyweds, they started talking about potentially adopting a kid.

Thanks for reading everything up to now! I hope you’ve enjoyed :D

#mun speaks #IT'S THE BIG POST

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