#this probably took like. three or four hours already. maximalism

[helielune]

the world in his eyes //wip

[sillybouquetsoul]

Cloud Castles - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Acting (ao3 link)

Rating: Teen

Word count: 1.7k

Pairing: Aisha/Sein

Story summary: They dance just out of each other’s reach, but each time brings them closer together.

OR

Aisha and Sein navigate through the dark fairy tale of their own making, one encounter at a time.

Chapter Summary: Aisha tries her hand at rewriting a story.

The book propped in Aisha’s arms is pushed down, and Aida’s beaming face takes its place. 

“Aisha, let’s do a play!” Her sister’s enthusiasm is infectious. Aisha can’t find it in herself to get angry at her. 

“What play?” 

“Oh, you know my favourite one. The Three Dwarves, of course!” 

Aisha groans. “We’ve done that so many times.” 

“Because it’s a classic! And it works best with four people,” Aida tugs the book clean out of Aisha’s hands, and like a fool, Aisha lets it go. “Come on. Carlo and Nemo already agreed. We just need one more person!” 

Aisha knows it’s a lost cause, but she asks anyway. “What about Sein?” 

Aida sighs. “He says he’ll only join if you play the main character. But that’s okay, I can take turns with you! You play the female lead and then I will, so we both get to act with Sein!” 

So, not a flat-out no. There’s still hope. But Aisha is tired of playing the same role. Ideally, she would exert the bare minimum effort that would satisfy Aida, and also maximize any opportunity to make Sein uncomfortable. Acting seems to be one of his pain points. She should, if she can, take advantage of his conditional response. 

Especially after the manoeuvre he pulled on her that hot summer day so many months ago. Her bottom lip tingles with the memory. 

“Sure, I can join you. I’ll play the lead so Sein will join us as well, but,” she holds up a finger before Aida can celebrate too soon. “On one condition.” 

Aisha’s mind comes alive with ideas. A smile grows on her lips, and she can almost taste the tantalizing sweetness of vengeance. 

“Let me revise the story.” 

After promising Aida that she would finish rewriting the story in two days, Aisha’s routine of reading in the library during the daytime switches over to writing. She requests for a stack of fresh parchments and inkwells in preparation for the project, which fills her with excitement. 

Reading and acting out The Three Dwarves is one experience; rewriting it is another entirely. 

She spends the first day discarding more drafts than saving them. She only leaves the library for meals and bathroom breaks; the remainder of her time is devoted to writing at the desk. Engrossed in writing, she even loses track of time. When she looks up, the sky outside the window has darkened, and the candles around the room are lit. 

Aisha sets down the ink quill to rub her aching eyes. She wonders how she could have missed a servant coming in to light the candles. It’s rather considerate of them, though also unusual because if they knew she was in the library, they left her alone. 

“Good evening, Aisha.” She jolts in her seat, lifting her head to see Sein standing beside a shelf. He holds a book in his arms, as always. From the distance and wavering candlelight, Aisha can’t make out which book. 

“Why are you… oh, it’s nighttime. You mentioned before that you enjoy reading here at night.” 

“Indeed. I usually carry one candle around for myself, but seeing as you were still here, I took the liberty of lighting all the candles in this space,” Sein comes forward, stopping at the edge of the desk. “I hope you didn’t strain your eyes too much.” 

He studies the mess of parchment papers and ink stains. He looks wide awake at this late hour, while Aisha’s body is now suffering the aftereffects of hunching over the desk all day. Her back is bound to ache badly tomorrow, and she’s not even halfway through the rewrite yet. 

As Sein leans closer, probably to read her writing, Aisha quickly gathers the written parchment and holds them close to her chest. 

Sein’s eyes drift from the papers to her, one eyebrow arched. 

“They’re not done yet. You’ll get to read them tomorrow.” If I manage to finish writing by then.  

He withdraws with a slight smile. “Ah. Then I’ll look forward to reading it tomorrow.” 

She waits for him to leave, but he doesn’t. He takes the couch adjacent to the desk, a little too close for comfort. Aisha debates whether she should ask him to leave; ultimately, she decides that it’d be rude, because their reading times have never overlapped until tonight. Now is Sein’s turn to read in the library if he wishes, and she’s encroaching on that time. 

“Will you play the lead this time?” 

“I am, so this means you will act too.” Aisha states, watching his face for any negative emotions. 

Even if Sein finds the idea of acting in a children’s fairy tale repulsive, he doesn’t reveal anything.  “Of course,” he agrees readily, leaning his head against his palm. “I don't break my promises. If you’d like me to act in this one, then I will.” 

“It’s not about whether I want you to act, because I don’t. It will make Aida happy if everyone plays a part, so this is for her.” Aisha corrects. 

Why does he have to phrase it like that? Like he’d do anything she asked of him. 

Sein hums. “If that’s how you want to think, I won’t refute it.” 

Candlelight dances in his eyes, and the faint smile he usually wears has faded away. When Sein isn’t smiling, he looks intimidating and impossible to approach. Out of Madam Sylvia’s children, Aisha thinks he’s the most memorable one; his noble features are strikingly beautiful. Aida had acknowledged his appearance since the first time they met, but it took ages for Aisha to accept it. 

Step siblings in fairy tales are almost always portrayed as deformed creatures because of their inherent penchant for wickedness and cruelty. He is Madam Sylvia’s son after all, and apples don’t fall far from their tree. So for the longest time, Aisha refused to think of him as handsome. 

But the candlelight softens the sharp lines of his face, just enough that the tension seeps out of Aisha’s shoulders. Perhaps letting her guard down around him is unwise—and she has seen firsthand how terrifying he can be, holding a bloody knife instead of a book—but for the moment, she puts those flyaway thoughts to rest. They would only distract her, and Sein is already a major distraction by himself. 

“Please don’t talk to me while I’m writing. I really do have to finish this.” Aisha says airily, returning her attention to the parchment. 

He doesn’t respond, but when she glances over after a few minutes, he seems focused on his book. Other than the turning of the page, the library is quiet, just how Aisha likes it. She’s glad that Sein is considerate enough to not initiate a conversation, otherwise she can’t concentrate on writing. 

So Aisha dips her quill and resumes her task. She’ll stop once she reaches the halfway point. 

Aisha wakes up on a firm surface. Not her bed. 

The ceiling above her is high and vaulted. The air also carries the scent of paper and ink. Not her bedroom. 

She sits up, every inch of her body protesting at the movement. She’s still wearing yesterday’s day dress; the fabric is wrinkled from her sleeping in it. The sunlight shining through the windows is what wakes her up, and she realizes she's slept on the couch in the library. The blanket covering her body slips down, pooling at her waist. It’s an unfamiliar blanket, definitely not from her own room. 

The last thing she remembers is writing… Sein was also there, though he was reading. 

She has no memory of falling asleep, nor moving from the desk to the couch. Someone moved her, and also gave her a blanket. Annie, perhaps? 

Aisha doesn’t waste time pondering her mysterious helper. She collects the stack of written parchment, intending to keep them in her room. Just as she’s about to nudge the library door open, someone pulls it open from the outside, causing Aisha to stumble. 

A firm hand catches her shoulder. Aisha looks up, breath sticking in her chest. 

Why him? Anyone but him. 

“Good morning, Miss Aisha.” Sein greets her first. 

She straightens, but his hand stays on her shoulder. Suddenly, she’s all too aware of her unbrushed hair, wrinkled dress, and ink-stained fingers. She lowers her head self-consciously, unwilling to look at him. “Good morning Sein. My apologies, but I’m in a hurry, so if you could let me pass—”

Some of the parchment slips and falls, landing in a heap around the floor. Aisha internally curses, bending down to retrieve them. In front of her, Sein also crouches, reaching for the pieces that fell further away. 

“Still not fully awake, I see.” He comments, amused. 

“Don’t read them,” Aisha says sharply as she notices his eyes running across the parchment. “Give that back, please.” 

Sein doesn’t move. “Interesting.” 

“Sein,” Aisha snatches the parchment out of his hand. “Goodness. Would you read an incomplete story?” 

He looks at her. 

“I suppose not, but I already know how The Three Dwarves goes. How far can you deviate from the original?” 

“If this is a trick to convince me to spoil my rewrite, I’m not falling for it,” Aisha huffs. “Wait and see.” 

Sein stands and extends a hand. Aisha frowns, but eventually accepts it. His hand is larger and warmer than hers, and she’s momentarily glad that her glove alleviates most of the physical contact. Once she’s on her feet, he lets go. 

“Are you planning to sleep in the library again tonight?” 

“I will try not to fall asleep,” Aisha says. “The couch is not the most comfortable place to sleep.” 

“Would you prefer that I wake you up if you do fall asleep? I could have brought you to your room last night, but that was a great distance away, and I didn’t want to risk waking both you and Aida up.” 

“You carried me to the couch?” Aisha repeats in a daze. “I thought… I thought it was Annie.” 

Sein shakes his head. His amusement grows with her discomfort. “I even let you borrow one of my blankets. Was it warm enough?” 

“It was sufficient,” she says calmly, though she’s fuming at the notion of Sein touching her again. How meddlesome and annoying. “But not to worry, I won’t let that happen again.” 

“You’re light as a feather. I don’t mind.”

Of course he doesn’t mind, because the humiliation belongs to her and her alone, and for some reason he finds great pleasure in embarrassing her. She turns tail and walks away. It takes a lot of effort to not break into a sprint. 

Even sprinting doesn’t feel fast enough to escape from Sein.

<< previous: chapter 1 <<

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Because I hate getting strep-

Strep. With Warriors. (You probably guessed that part.)

(thanks Anon, I’m glad you love the writing!)

Guess who’s going to have to deal with each other while feeling like garbage? >:)

(Click to read on AO3)

Legend smiled in satisfaction as he finished his mending. When he heard fabric shift, he glanced up to see Hyrule turning in bed, still asleep but clearly uncomfortable. He’d been ill since yesterday, and he’d really only woken to vomit or drink some water or broth that Wild had prepared specifically for him. They had been planning to leave yesterday, but after Hyrule had been bedridden everyone settled into domesticity for a little while longer. Twilight, Sky, and Legend had been taking rotating shifts to look after Hyrule since he was so ill, while the others filed in and out to visit.

The door creaked open quietly, and Legend turned to see Sky poking his head in. The veteran gave a small smile and a nod, and the two traded places. It was strange that the Skyloftian knight would almost always take the night shift considering Legend knew how much he enjoyed sleeping, but he didn’t argue the point. Nobody liked night shifts anyway.

Entering his own room, the veteran saw that the large bed was empty. Before Hyrule had gotten ill, the team had been divided into three groups since the rooms at the inn only had a single large bed. To maximize on cost efficiency, three heroes stayed together. Legend’s original roommates were Warriors and Wind, but after Hyrule took over a room for himself, Wind had joined Time, Twilight, and Four, and Wild and Sky had moved in with Legend and Warriors.

Warriors usually stayed up a little late, but the champion often went to bed before anyone, as soon as dinner was finished and the dishes were cleaned. Legend wondered where he’d gone off to.

Shrugging it off, the veteran settled onto the soft mattress, stretching and sighing in contentment, falling asleep.

…Until someone coughing woke him up.

Groaning, Legend squeezed his eyes closed, twisting in bed and accidentally smacking whoever was beside him.

A loud snore erupted from the person next to him, and Legend jumped. When he opened his eyes he saw Wild cupping his nose, grumbling, and Warriors sitting up in bed, clutching his throat with a grimace.

“What’s up with you?” Legend half slurred from sleepiness.

The captain remained silent, shifting and getting out of bed.

“Hey, you ignoring me?” Legend snapped, already annoyed at being woken up.

Warriors turned to glare at him, saying in a raspy voice, “The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know. I’m getting some water.”

“Was that so hard to explain? You woke us up anyway, might as well be courteous and answer our questions.” Legend snarked back.

Wild groaned from under his hands, muttering something that distinctly sounded like, “Why did I get stuck in this room?”

Legend rolled his eyes, slamming his head back onto his pillow and trying to get back to sleep. He vaguely thought he heard the door opening and closing, but he was too tired to care. When morning came and Wild hopped out of bed with his usual pep, Legend slowly sat up and looked around with bleary eyes.

Warriors wasn’t there.

It wasn’t unheard of. The captain didn’t wake up at the butt crack of dawn like a certain champion, but he was still an early riser.

He just got up early. That was all.

Legend nodded, deciding that was that, and got out of the bed, stretching. An hour later, he finally dragged his feet out of the room and paused at a window.

Warriors was outside alone, hunched over a railing on the porch.

He was probably fine. The captain sometimes went off to be alone. They all had moments where they’d had enough of each other. Legend’s first hour of every morning was like that.

Peeking into Hyrule’s room, Legend saw Sky and the traveler sitting side-by-side in the bed reading a book. Or, well, they had probably been reading it at some point; Sky had fallen asleep on Hyrule’s shoulder, and the traveler’s head was bobbing as he nodded off. It was an exasperating sight, even if it did make the veteran smile. Good grief, bird brain.

Hyrule noticed Legend’s gaze, and he gave a sleepy smile.

“Doing better?” Legend asked quietly.

Hyrule nodded, looking far more energized than he had since this had started. It reassured the veteran a little bit. It was good to see that he was on the mend. Hopefully it stayed that way.

Legend didn’t want to intrude too much, and so he nodded with a small smile in return and closed the door. Twilight had the morning shift, so he’d get Sky to bed.

Heading downstairs to grab some breakfast, Legend saw Time and Twilight head outside, the latter looking slightly concerned. Curious, the veteran followed them to see where they were going, and he caught sight of Warriors doubled over by some bushes, very clearly unwell.

Oh. Oh, no.

Legend groaned, rolling his eyes. Why was Warriors getting sick just as Hyrule was improving? They couldn’t be together; he might make the traveler worse! What were they going to do, get another room? Would Legend have to move?

What a nuisance.

Storming outside, Legend opened his mouth to get on Warriors’ case when he saw how pale the captain looked. The fire in his gut died out, and he hastily turned and went back inside, grabbing some water before returning.

By this point Warriors was sitting on the ground, head in his hands, as Twilight and Time flanked him with hands on his shoulders.

“I… I don’t… understand,” Warriors said hoarsely. “I barely got near… Traveler, and… everyone else is fine…”

Legend paused upon hearing him speak. The captain was right, after all; though he’d visited Hyrule, he was probably one of the least likely to get ill with how little he’d exposed himself.

Shrugging, the veteran held out some water. “Guess you’ve got a crappy immune system, Captain.”

“Or he got it from someone else,” Twilight muttered worriedly, looking at Time.

“No one else is sick, to my knowledge,” Time replied. “I’ll check on the others. In the meantime, Captain, let’s get you to bed.”

“Traveler’s just getting better,” Legend said cautiously. “He shouldn’t be with him.”

“We’ll just take him back to his own room for now and figure the rest out later,” Time decided.

Warriors, still curled in on himself, waved a hand dismissively. “I-I can… stay out here… for now.”

The captain shivered, his body tensing, and his head sank further into his knees as he clawed at his hair.

Time’s good eye narrowed. “Captain, either we can assist you back to your room or our Ordonian will carry you back to your room.”

Twilight chuckled and looked like he was absolutely ready and willing to do so.

Warriors raised his head long enough to glare at Time, mumble something, and then lower it again.

It seemed Time was willing, just for the moment, to be merciful. Instead of immediately sicking Twilight on the captain, he slipped a hand under the man’s arm and Twilight did the same on the other side. Both helped haul Warriors to his feet, and he stood well enough, albeit a little wobbly.

Sighing heavily, Legend turned around and went back to his shared room, grabbing his things and getting the bed ready for the captain’s arrival. As he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, he caught the last bit of Warriors’ seeming worried petition to Time.

“P-please… just make sure… everyone else is okay… makes no s-sense for me… to be t-the only one…”

“We’ll check, Captain,” Time said gently as they entered the room.

Legend crossed his arms. “Maybe you’ve just got rotten luck.”

Warriors raised his head, already glistening with sweat, to glare at the veteran, though the motion had little bite to it. Legend offered to take the morning watch for Hyrule after getting some breakfast, and Twilight stayed with the captain. Time checked in on all the boys and it quickly became apparent that no one else actually was sick.

Legend snickered to himself, leaning back in his seat as he grabbed some fresh clothes to mend. The miserable captain really did have terrible luck, poor guy.

That afternoon, Wind took watch for Warriors, who had spent the entire morning sleeping, and Wild took over for Hyrule, who the group quickly decided was healthy enough to not need a constant companion at his bedside after Wild left to make dinner. Legend decided it was as good a time as any to take a nap, and he settled outside on a nice hill with the softest grass he could find, plopping his hat over his face.

It wasn’t until he woke up from his nap that he realized the issue. Because of course Warriors didn’t magically catch Hyrule’s illness when everyone else had not.

And of course it was Legend’s rotten luck to have been the carrier.

Clearing his scratchy throat, the veteran tried to sneak into the inn to grab some water and then hide somewhere in the village. He wasn’t going to take the blame for this; Warriors would never let him hear the end of it. He’d rather just die of whatever this disease was than have the others find out.

With that goal in mind, Legend grabbed his belongings, which had been sitting in the hallway by Warriors’ newly repurposed sickbed, and started to creep down the stairs.

“Veteran?”

Legend paused, swearing internally. He couldn’t ignore the raspy voice. Turning, he saw Hyrule at the top of the stairs watching him curiously.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Legend asked, swallowing and grimacing.

Hyrule looked as if he were about to answer when he recognized the expression on Legend’s face. He frowned. “You got it too?”

“Veteran got what?”

Legend shriveled. No. Not Wind. If he found out everyone would know. “N-nothing.”

“I think Veteran’s sick too,” Hyrule said a little guiltily, looking somewhere to his right down the hallway.

There was a gasp. It might as well have been a death knell as far as Legend was concerned. “VET GOT IT TOO? That makes so much sense, he spent way more time with you than the captain!”

Aaaaand there it was. Great. Great.

Wild boxed him in at the bottom of the stairs, standing there with an eyebrow raised. “You’re sick?”

Legend tried to clear his throat quietly, but based on how everyone’s expression changed as soon as he did it, he clearly didn’t succeed.

Twilight was at the bottom of the stairs beside Wild in an instant. Time walked over a moment later.

“Well go on, then,” Time ordered calmly. “Get to bed. Someone will bring dinner when they get the captain’s food.”

Legend felt his hackles raise at the mere thought of it. “You want me to—to room with—”

Time slowly crossed his arms. Legend floundered for a moment, debating if he should argue more, and decided his throat would hurt too much from the effort. Twirling on his heel, he stomped up the stairs, belongings still slung over his arms, and marched into the accursed room.

Warriors was awake. Sitting up in bed. Clearly eavesdropping.

It was obvious from the sour look on his face.

“So you’re the… the one…” he whispered in a barely audible tone, shoulders shaking at the effort.

“Just shut up,” Legend grumbled as he kicked the door closed behind him and collapsed on the opposite edge of the bed.

Dinner was brought by a groggy Sky, and it was eaten in silence. Legend noticed Warriors barely eating the soup and couldn’t help feeling a little guilty, but he wasn’t going to voice it. He ate his own food heartily, thankfully not feeling sick to his stomach at all. When he finished, though, the world was decidedly spinning, and he groaned, leaning back against the pillows and covering his face with his blanket.

He slept fairly well until he was woken by Warriors throwing up. Legend sat up quickly, was hit with a dizzy spell, and then bent forward, covering his eyes to readjust for a moment. When he didn’t feel like his head was floating in the clouds, he turned and saw Warriors halfway off the bed, panting from exertion. Legend reached over and hesitantly grasped the back of the captain’s tunic to hold him steady, and when he was certain Warriors was finished, he pulled him back to the bed.

Looking around, Legend realized no one else was in the room. Maybe Time got paranoid that the illness would spread. That thought faded when the door pried open and Hyrule and Sky peeked inside.

Oh, those two were the last people who needed to be in here with the way this dumb illness was spreading. Hyrule was recovering, and when Sky got sick he fell hard.

“Get out,” Legend hissed, throwing a pillow at the pair. “I’ve got this.”

The door clicked shut quickly with a yelp as the pillow almost hit its targets. Legend rolled his eyes. Glancing at the captain, he saw that the elder Link had already fallen asleep. Nodding to himself, Legend slid back under the covers, shivering a little bit.

Shivering. Wonderful. He probably a fever.

This sucked.

The next morning proved to be far worse.

Legend groaned as his head pounded. His throat was still sore, he clearly still had a fever, and now he had a headache. He got up and walked around to stretch and continued to rub his forehead in a pitiful attempt to rid himself of the throbbing. When that didn’t work, he’d hoped breakfast would at least help, and though when it came it did alleviate some of the pain, the vestiges still lingered.

“This is the worst,” he grumbled.

Warriors glared at him from the other side of the bed. “At least… you… aren’t nauseous.”

Legend’s head snapped in his direction. “Oh, excuse me? I’m still sick, you ass!”

“Yeah, a headache and an… an achy… throat.” Warriors spat, swallowing hard between words. “H-how come… you get it… and give it to me… and you’re fine?”

“I’m fine?!” Legend repeated, incensed. “I have a fever, thank you very much! Not to mention my head feels like a moblin kicked it, punched it, and then sat on it! Oh, and my throat hurts!”

“Your—your throat—” Warriors couldn’t even finish his sentence as his voice completely died out with a whine. He tried again, his face growing redder by the second, and then he rolled his eyes and turned away, surrendering for the moment.

Legend kicked the nearest object in annoyance and pulled out a book to busy himself, letting out the occasional moan or curse when his head or throat decided to be particularly annoying. The pair didn’t speak until Twilight came with lunch.

“H-how’s… how…?” Warriors tried to squeak out with what was left of his voice. Legend and Twilight both waited to see if he would try again, and when he squeezed his eyes closed instead, the veteran sighed.

“I assume he’s trying to ask if everyone else is okay,” he interpreted.

Twilight smiled. “Everyone’s fine. Traveler’s up and about, says the only lingering effect is a sore throat first thing in the morning, but it’s gone now.”

Warriors smiled and then motioned with his hand for Twilight to leave. “V-Vet’s… got it… thanks…”

Twilight looked apprehensively between the pair, and then gave a small nod and left. Legend raised an eyebrow at the captain. “What do you mean I’ve got it?”

“T-thanks for… last night… s-sorry…” Warriors swallowed thickly, wincing, and then grabbed some tea. He turned slightly green after a few sips and sat up straighter, edging towards the waste bin.

Legend sighed heavily. “Maybe talk less, Captain.”

Warriors sat at the edge of the bed, waiting with palpable anxiety and misery. Legend watched him for a while and then hissed as his own headache throbbed again. “Ugh, I hate this.”

Warriors’ stomach finally gave out, and he lost the entirety of his lunch. Legend felt his own stomach churn at the sound of it, and he covered his ears. When he saw the captain was finished, he walked over and offered him his tea. “You know, you could try to vomit quietly before it makes me puke.”

Warriors glared at him while snatching the cup. “Very f-funny.”

“Hey, look, you said a full sentence this time.”

Warriors slammed the empty cup onto the nightstand and curled back under the covers with a huff.

By evening, Legend was ready to lose his mind. His throat was itching at this point, his headache was still nagging behind his eyes, and his fever was just present enough to make him too hot and too cold all at once. Warriors had been sleeping most of the day and was able to hold down broth brought to him a little after lunch, so he at least seemed like he wasn’t quite as ill.

Legend settled for trying to nap, bored out of his mind from being stuck in the same room all day, and found himself kicking off covers before putting them back on just a moment later.

“Could you not do that…?” Warriors asked after the veteran removed and added another blanket for the fourth time.

“Well, I can’t help that I’m feeling terrible!” Legend snapped.

Warriors slowly, painfully, methodically turned in bed to throw a withering stare. “You feel terrible?”

“Yes! I do!” Legend hissed, crossing his arms. “So you feel like shit, so what, I do too! Besides, your voice sounds better and you haven’t gotten sick since lunch, you’re probably on the mend! I’m just getting worse!”

With that, he flung himself into his pillow and faced the opposite wall, fuming.

“Unbelievable…” the captain muttered.

“You know,” Legend said as he rolled over to face Warriors. “For the record, I want you to know, from the depth of my heart…”

Warriors, who had been glaring at him moments ago, relaxed, raising an eyebrow in bemusement.

“…That you are the biggest baby I have ever met!” Legend finished, shoving the captain right off the bed.

Warriors yelped as he hit the wooden floor, and then he clawed at the blankets in an attempt to help himself sit up. Instead, it ripped the little protection Legend had from his feverish shivering, and the veteran yelled in protest as the blanket fell on the floor.

“Why you—I’m the childish one?!” the captain shouted hoarsely as he finally peeked his head over the mattress. “You’ve been nothing but insufferable since you got ill!”

“I’ve been insufferable?! Oh, that’s rich coming from you—”

Outside the room, Sky hovered by the door, a tray with two bowls of stew in hand. Twilight put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Best give it a minute,” the rancher said with an exasperated expression as obscenities were hoarsely squeaked back and forth in the room.

Sky grimaced as Legend shouted something particularly unpleasant, thankful that their throats were too inflamed for their voices to really carry across the entire inn. “You’re probably right.”

Twilight sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know if the Old Man wanted them dead, but it certainly seems like his intent for making them room together.”

Eventually, the younger knight chortled softly. “Maybe he knew they were the only ones who could tolerate each other in this state.”

Twilight had to giggle at that. “Probably. But still… I’d give them a minute.”

Hyrule paused as he walked by, and then he smiled brightly. “Oh, they must be feeling better if they’re arguing like that.”

Twilight’s giggles burst into outright laughter. “You know what, I think you’re right, Traveler.”

Thankfully, that was, in fact, the case. Within the next two days everyone was well enough for travel, and the group readied themselves outside of the inn, eager to hit the road once more.

Warriors approached Legend with a serious look on his face. The veteran watched him tiredly. Both were fairly sick of each other after having to room together for so long.

“Need something? Because I’m all done babysitting,” Legend grumbled once the captain stopped in front of him.

“You know,” Warriors said as he crossed his arms. “For the record, I want you to know, from the depth of my heart…”

Legend tensed, recognizing the remark, waiting for something bad to happen, already feeling his ire rise.

Warriors reached a hand out and put it on Legend’s head, soft and gentle. His face relaxed, and he gave him a small, sincere smile. “That I’m grateful you tried to take care of me even though you were ill as well. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you out as much.”

The fire went out of him, and Legend immediately felt an embarrassed blush scald his cheeks. He looked down, a smile ghosting his lips, muttering, “It was nothing.”

Warriors’ thumb traced along his scalp and then his hand moved slightly, fingers curling around his hat.

“But you’re also an ass,” Warriors said, and Legend could see the smirk on his face just from his tone.

And then the captain proceeded to pull Legend’s hat entirely over the veteran’s face as the teenager stammered and fumbled in rage.

[cedricslover]

Troubled pt.2

Pairing: Cedric x fem! reader

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 (Final)

Series summary: A very unfortunate situation happened and it resulted in very unfortunate events. You had everything, a good boyfriend that everyone dreamed of, best friends that you got in a twin pack, and a loving school. It was a calm before a storm and in your sixth year the storm came. You faced the consequences your deceased parents run from, you were only left with your only family, your little brother. What would you do in order to save him? The answer is, everything, even if it means joining a terrorist group of wizards, joining THE DEATH EATERS...

Chapter summary: The first task took place and after that the Yule Ball came. You reminisced memories from the past as your boyfriend makes a surprise.

Note: there is no specific house:))) i can make requests if y’all have one. Italicized paragraphs are the memories. (Also the notes, but you can distinguish them)

Warnings: a little tiny angst, and almost all are just fluff. 

Word count:  4,3k

"You got this alright" You said while brushing Cedric's hair, nervousness filled your voice. Cedric catches your hand that you used to brush his hair. He slowly put it in his chest, directly to his heart, you can feel his heart beating really fast. "I'm also very nervous, I'm scared, love, but if we continue to be scared then what will happen?" He said while looking at you softly, "You should be the one calming me down, not the other way around" he added that made the both of you chuckle. But that chuckle ended when a flash filled your surroundings.

"Aaah, first Harry Potter and that Granger girl, now Cedric Diggory and who might be this girl is." Rita Skeeter walked towards the both of you. "Mr. Diggory. Just one little change of what really happened, I can make you more famous than that little Harry, we all know he overshadowed you, that spot he has in the media? It should be you. Well, that-" Rita was interrupted by you.

"If you won't say anything nice, then just go, be a dung beetle or something" You said that made Rita’s jaw drop, no one knew that she was an animagus, but you saw it, one time when she tried to sneak in the Gryffindor's common room, probably to get more story of Harry.

Pathetic, you said to yourself

"I- let's go" Rita said to her photographer and left the tent. You looked around and saw Viktor Krum, Fleur, Harry, and Hermione look at you. "Everything's okay don't worry" you said to them. Viktor nodded, Harry and Hermione asked you again through a thumbs up and you replied with a thumbs up too, while Fleur walked towards the both of you.

"Ahre you sure you two ahre fine? Whaht deed zat lahdy said?"  Her soothing voice asked you, her French accent really mesmerizes you everytime. Fleur and you became friends the moment they arrived, even though she admitted she had an eye for your lover, she respected your relationship. "Of course, you should sit back, don't worry" you gave her a soft smile.

"Should we worry about Rita?" Cedric asked you after you talked to Fleur, "I don't know, but forget her for the meantime. You," you shifted your gaze to his eyes, your hands landed on his shoulder and straightened it. "still have a task to complete" you smiled.

"Good day champions! Gather round please" Dumbledore entered the tent, you also saw Barty Crouch, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, and others. The champions gathered forming a circle, you were dragged there as Cedric held your hand on the way.

While Dumbledore was talking he suddenly noticed you, "Miss Y/L/N, what are you doing here?" He asked you and you smiled awkwardly, letting go of Cedric's hand, Dumbledore then noticed Hermione who was just right beside him. "And miss Granger?" You hid your laugh and excused yourself from the crowd and dragged Hermione out.

"I thought he wouldn't notice" You said while you two walked your way to the bleachers, "Me too! I was just right by his side and he still noticed you first" Hermione exclaimed and you both laughed.

"Place your bets lads!!" You heard the twins' voice as soon as you arrived at the wooden bleachers. "Oh please give me a break" You said when the twins looked at you teasingly, asking you to place your bet on the champions. “Oh come on Georgie, we both know where she would put her bets on” Fred winked at you and you just rolled your eyes while smiling. They all know. The cannon was fired and it was the cue that the first triwizard task will start.

You breathed heavily when you saw Cedric went out, your gazes met and you gave him a little smile with a nod. “Good luck” you mouthed.

It was a rough start, as soon as Cedric saw the opportunity he immediately transfigured a rock into a Labrador, but luck was not on his side today. The Swedish Short Snout lost interest at the dog and chased Cedric instead. Tension was definitely in the atmosphere, a lot of cheering and a lot of grunts too as they all bent their bodies like it was them who was facing the dragon.

“CEDRIC!” You shouted. The dragon just breathed fire directly to Cedric's face. Without a doubt you immediately ran down not minding the people you bumped into. “Excuse me, sorry” are the only words that came from your mouth You arrived at the tent and was greeted by Madam Pomrey’s worried face.

“He’s fine dear. The burn is not that severe. I already applied orange paste, he’ll be fine in a few hours.” She said looking at you with a soft smile and tapped your shoulder. You felt relieved.

As Madam Pomfrey left, without a doubt you entered the space where Cedric was in, you knew it was him because of his silhouette.

“You doin’ fine there love?” you said softly as soon as he saw you. He smiled and tapped the space beside him, gesturing you to sit.

“How was it?” You asked and observed his face. You dared not to touch it, afraid that you might hurt him more. “Scary” he said and widened his eyes, trying to scare you.

“Rate it from 1 to 10, ten being the highest” you replied and crossed your arms while looking at him with your left eyebrow raised and lips slightly curved to a smile.

“Ooh! I would say an eleven!” Cedric answered while putting the back of his hand to his forehead, acting very dramatic. You shake your head while laughing. “No but seriously, how bad is it?” you stood up and faced Cedric. Now his level is only in your stomach, “It really was scary” he said with a gloomy tone and grabbed your waist with only one arm as his other arm was covering his face.

“People die in this tournament. I’m still scared” he added, laying down his head to your stomach. You felt his sigh, the heat from his breath. “And it’s okay” you replied to him while caressing his hair, “It’s okay to be scared”.

“Now that our lesson is done, I have something to say, better not pack your things yet” Professor McGonagall said as her class ended. “The Yule Ball is approaching- a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament. A formal dance that will be held on the evening of Christmas. Only fourth years and above are allowed to attend, but of course you can invite a younger student. This will be a great chance for all of you- especially you’re all almost grown ups, I suppose this is the best time to let our-er- hairs down. That’s all.” The room was filled with giggles as you all packed your textbooks.

“Who are you taking Fred?” you asked as you and the twins walked side by side in the halls. “Angelina” he answered that made you and George poke his waist and start teasing him. “Hmm Angelina huh” you said teasingly and made your eyebrows go up and down while George laughed. “Stop” Fred exclaimed while looking scarlet. His freckles are now more prominent, “you look like a strawberry” you pointed to his face and laughed. “Oh Godric” George did nothing but laugh too while Fred covered his face, trying not to laugh too as your and George’s laugh are contagious.

Days passed by and a lot of students had been asked out. You smiled at the thought of the future lovely evening. Christmas is getting nearer but to your absolute disappointment, your boyfriend hasn't asked you yet. You think of this as childish, he's already your lover, why would he even ask you, isn't that supposed to be automatic. But of course, you wanted to experience what others felt, how these Durmstrang men asked your friends including Hermione. The looks and giggles they gave each other. You wanted to experience it. Nevertheless, you knew Cedric was busy, figuring out the next task, the pressure he has to put up with. So you decided to shrug off your immaturity.

"Hey how are you?" You said and sat at the end of Cedric's bed. His broad back facing you as he was sitting at his study table, writing in a parchment, probably doing his homework. He answered you with a "hmmm" indicating that he's fine. You were still worried he might overwork himself but you already warned him before, besides, you're always there whenever he needs someone to stop him.

"Hey, hey" you walked to him and moved your hands smoothly on his back and hugged him from the neck. You rested your face on his shoulder while peeking at his work. "You wanna take a break first? You look tired baby" you said with concern visible in your voice. He shifted his head to your side, you both stared at each other for a while, his bags weren't there but you know he is tired, "come on, stand up, I'm not taking "I'm fine" for an answer" you stood up straight and offered your hands that he eventually reached and held.

"I surely needed a rest" Cedric said hoarsely, grabbed you and held your hips. "And thankfully my rest is here" he added before pinning you to him and greeted you with a kiss.

You tasted his lips, coffee, that was the first thing that you tasted, until it became him, his taste. You wrapped your arms to his neck to pull him closer, one, two, three, four, five. Five minutes before you two broke that kiss.

"So you're an ass grabbing boyfriend now?" You said and looked at his hand in your buttcheek. "Maybe" Cedric shrugged and chuckled as he squeezed it again.

"Come on, let's sleep, I'm tired too" but before you can even walk towards the bed, your feet were not on the ground, he was carrying you, bridal style. "Oh Godric" you exclaimed, shocked, and almost screamed when he playfully tried to throw you.

"Nahhh I can't do that" He said and laid you down carefully on his bed. "Now let's cuddle" he pulled you in a tight hug but not that tight that it will hurt. Your head on his chest and you breathed in his smell. "You smell good" you unconsciously said, hypnotized by his scent. "I know, I always do" he replied boastfully. "Couldn't agree more" were the last words you said before you sank to sleep in his arms.

You woke up at first not aware that it was a weekend, you panicked until you saw a note stating

"It's weekend love, Saturday, I know you might panic but don't worry, it's a weekend. Now I want you to take a bath in my restroom, of course your essentials are there. You can use any of my sweaters too. It's a cold day."           -Ced;)

You smiled at the thought that Cedric wrote this while you snore at your sleep, adding the winking face, winking Cedric is such a cutie.

You got a towel and bathrobe from his cabinet and headed for the restroom in his dorm, but before you entered you gazed at the other bed which was supposed to be his roommate's space, it looks like it wasn't even moved. You shrugged and just thought that Adam (Cedric's blonde and full of himself roommate) was just in another girls dormitory, he was definitely a playboy.

While humming your favorite song, you noticed a note just like the one at the bedside table earlier.

“Lookin’ and smellin’ good I reckon. Now, can you please go to the place we first met. There’s a gift waiting for you there;)”                    -Ced<3

You laughed at the heart at the end. Familiar butterflies started taking up space in your tummy.  You looked at yourself in the mirror, and in a snap, your smile was gone. Reality slapped you. This, what you are experiencing, will be gone. Gone. Everything. You didn’t even realize, tears started rushing down to your face. You questioned your decision, your life, your parents. Why? Why?!

“Y/N??” you heard someone called you from outside, right away you wiped the tears. “Y-Yeah?!” you slightly shouted, trying to cover up the crack in your voice.

“Oh you’re there. I’m just going to get my things. Don’t come out yet. I don’t want to see Cedric’s property with only a bathrobe covering her body” It was Adam’s voice, it was his playful laugh. You rolled your eyes while you started fixing your face.

“I’m no one's property Adam. Shut it” You said and just got a laugh as a reply. “Alright. I’m heading out. Peace!” you heard the door shut. Your cue to come out.

“Hmm what to wear?” You talked out loud as you wandered your eyes to Cedric’s cabinet. You noticed a note again.

“ Got you undies babyyyy. I want to try them though:( ”                   -Ceddie

“Merlin’s beard” you stifled a laugh but it immediately transitioned to your jaw dropping as you opened a drawer full of underwear for women. After processing the thought of how he managed to get the right size and WHERE DID HE BOUGHT THEM. You picked out what you felt wearing today and decided to wear Cedric’s caramel colored sweater.

Now to head to the Transfiguration classroom. Where you two first met.

“Late are we Miss Y/L/N? Care to explain?” Professor McGonagall greeted you as you entered the classroom. Other first years’ heads are turned to you. Waiting for your answer. “I got lo-” but before you can continue a redhead who stood tall with his prefect badge appeared beside you. “She got lost, professor, helped her, sorry for the interruption. Prefect duties y’know what I mean” he playfully winked at the professor who then let you off.

“Go sit beside Diggory” she said and started teaching as soon as you sat. You didn’t talk, your attention was all just to professor McGonagall. Transfiguration is a great subject but one of the hardest according to your father, that’s why you were so focused.

“Class dismissed” McGonagall stated and you carefully picked up your things. “Oi Diggory!” you heard a voice of a boy near you and the next thing you knew is that the boy beside you was thrown a crumpled parchment. “We don’t want your itty pretty face here! Shove off Hufflepuff” a boy laughed together with his friend. Your brows furrowed and remembered what your father taught you.

‘Never let someone step on you, but don’t use your blood as an excuse. Use your skills’

“Oi Goyle!” you mocked what he said and threw back the paper. “Next time, pick someone your own size.” you said, remembering that you were taught by your father to defend yourself at an early age. “And what size is that? Your size? You're smaller than Diggory! Both your princess and prince faces won’t defend yourselves” he replied, obviously pissed.

“Oh yeah?” You walked towards him, acting like an adult but deep down you were quivering. You only had your father as your partner in these types of situations, but here it is, you have to defend someone, like what your father expected you to do.

Kicking him in his groin was the only thing you did that made his ‘friend’ run. “I hope your little brother doesn’t turn out like you. It’s just the first day and you started picking on somebody. Pathetic” you grabbed your things and the little hand of Cedric Diggory and left the groaning Goyle.

“Why’d you do that?” the boy asked as you two walked, “I just felt the need to.” you answered without even looking at him. “Do you want some?” he suddenly stopped, and asked as he handed out a box of chocolate frog. “You mean it?” you were astonished. “Of course, you stood up for me there. I should thank you. Here” he reached for your hand, opened it, and placed the box. “I’m Cedric by the way, Cedric Diggory” he offered his hand, “Y/n-” you stacked the chocolate frog in your bag before you accepted his hand “Y/L/N”.

“Nice to meet you” you both said in unison.

“Here’s the spot” You stated and stood at the exact place where two first years shook hands in 1989. You looked around and suddenly a first year handed you a little paper, it was a note again, “thank you” you smiled sweetly to the girl and she giggled as she ran away.

“I had to buy cauldron cakes now, in exchange for that girl to give you this note. Anyway, I was really a gutless boy before huh? But thanks to you, you had all the guts, thanks for sharing by the way. Thank you for being at my side that time, and I know you will always be. Now go where I confessed, or more like, we confessed to each other ;)”                               -Cedric the lover boy

And again, another chuckle escaped your mouth. Without a doubt you walked fast towards the wooden bridge, a lot of students were there but you can’t find the person you wanted to see. “Ah there’s our pretty girl. Come on, Diggory wanted to give you this actually. Never opened it. Promise” George said and put his arm around your shoulder. “Cross our hearts” The twins said as they handed you a very very folded note. Of course you were suspicious of them, that's why you looked at them and squinted your eyes.

“We promise. We didn’t read it. Cedric told us not to, said it was very private. And you know how we respect your privacy.” Fred told you, they sounded sincere that made you believe them. You do agree, they respect your privacy so much.

“FRED AND GEORGE!” you heard Lee’s voice, and by the sound of it you knew, they pranked him. “Seriously? Lee?” you crossed your arms and asked them with disbelief. “We didn’t have any choices anymore!” they both said as they ran. Shaking your head, you opened the note.

“I know the twins won’t open this. I trust them. Remember when I confessed? I really thought it was one-sided. You always said we’re close friends, that you see me as a brother. I really thought about it, it made me stay awake all night. Until I realized I’ll take the risk to say I like you, very much.”                              -Cedric Diggory PS: head to our spot;)

You looked around as the winter breeze hit your face, blowing your hair, and making you shiver. It was this same time, winter, when exactly one year ago, Cedric confessed his feelings for you.

“Hey, sorry for waiting, got caught up in Potions” You said as you arrived at the wooden bridge where Cedric told you to meet him up. “What is it that you want to talk about?” You put down your bag next to his, both of you then stared at the view. The lake, the snow, the trees, and the chatter of people from afar.

“You’re amazing” he broke the silence, confusion wrapped your head. You looked at him and said “I know” and chuckled, looking back to the view again. “I can’t list down how wonderful of a person you are and you know I will always be here for you. Like what you did before.” Your smile slowly faded, your heart started racing, you felt your face heating up, you hoped, he might have felt what you were feeling. Maybe you don’t have to be scared of ruining the friendship you two built, maybe he likes yo- “As-as your friend of course” Cedric added, your heart dropped, hope disappeared in a snap, then you decided to shift your gaze to Cedric again. “Me too” you forced a smile as you look at his perfect face. That sharp jawline, slightly disheveled brown hair, his grey eyes that will make you forget your name. “Me too Ced” you said as you picked up your bag. “I’ve got to go. It will get dark soon” you said and turned your back to him, fighting your tears to drop, it can wait, you told yourself. It was your last straw, but turns out you’re just a friend.

Yeah, friends.

“Fuck it” you heard Cedric uttered under his breath, before you could take a step you were stopped when someone held your wrist. You inhaled first, trying not to pop, before you turned your face again.

“Do you still have something to say Ced? I told you it’s almost getting dark.” you looked at the sun on your side who’s now just peeking. The sky is a mix of colors, blue and orange, completely different but blended just right.

“I know you’re not doing well since your parents- and I don’t know. When you cried to me when you got the letter, I wanted to be by your side, all the time, day and night,  I wanted to protect you from the pain. I want to be the one to comfort you. I want to be the person you will run to whenever you want comfort. I want to be your home. I want to kiss you goodnight, I want to say that I’m always here. When you showed me your fragile side, all I wanted to do was protect you, take care of you. I want you to-” Cedric stopped when he felt your lips meet his.

“I like you too” You said as you distanced your face to his. Your heart beating really fast, butterflies, your stomach was filled with butterflies.

He grabbed your waist and pulled you again for another kiss. “I like you, very very much” he said between your kisses.

You smiled as you remembered the first kiss you two shared, the sun and the moon was your audience. The wind blew again that made you shiver.

“Now to our spot” you said to yourself and started walking towards the Black Lake.

You arrived at the Black Lake and roamed your eyes towards your spot, when you saw the tree you then slowly walked towards it, cautious about the snow.

You started searching the surrounding, looking for another note when suddenly you felt a presence behind you. In a flash you turned your back and was greeted by a sweet smile of Cedric Diggory.

“Hello” He said and opened his arms, which you threw yourself right away.

“What’s this for Ced?” You asked him as he embraced you, heating both of your bodies from the cold breeze. His chin resting on the top of your head as you leaned on his chest. “It’s our anniversary today. Don’t tell me you forgot?” he asked, surprised. You laughed and turned around, cupped his face and planted a peck on his nose as you tiptoed. “Why would I?” you said and reached for your pocket.

“In fact I got you this” you said, handing him a bracelet, a bracelet you made when you were young, with your grandma. “My grandma loved making these types of things. One time she told me to make one and she’d teach me. That’s the one I made. I cherished it very much. Because she said that I should only give that to the person that I’d like to spend my lifetime with. She even put a spell on it. She’s great at divination. A spell that if the right person wears it, your initials will appear.” You told him while reminiscing.

“I know it’s not that much but-” Cedric cut you off, “It’s the thought that counts. Besides, it looks great. What do you mean?” He wrapped the bracelet on his wrist. Tension grew and grew as you two looked at the bracelet, waiting for the initial to appear on the space where it should be.

C.D.

You two saw it, you almost cried out of joy while Cedric started punching the air. “Guess you have to spend your lifetime with me now” He told you and winked. “Now for my gift.” he reaches out to his pocket and brings out a velvet box. He opened it and two rings greeted you. Butterfly matching rings.

“Here” he slid yours to your finger and you also slid his on his finger. “It’s cute” you said and looked at it, yours was a butterfly while Cedric has a space for a butterfly. “We both complete each other” Cedric said as the two of you tried to intertwine the rings. Your butterfly fits perfectly in the space provided for it. You two looked at each other with smiling eyes that your mouths can’t compare. You felt that you two were the only people there, the only people in this world. In this moment you never cared, you let go of your burdens and just smiled with your safe space. Your safe person, that you know will wait for you, accept you, and be there by your side, helping you.

You smacked the back of Fred’s head after he asked Angelina to the ball. “You don’t ask a girl like that.” you said and rolled your eyes, “Don’t do that George” you warned George who just nodded enthusiastically. “Oh I almost forgot, mum told us that you should send a letter to her about what dress you want. Like your preferences, she’ll buy them the same time as Ginny’s and ours too. And if you’re so worried about mum spending money on you even though you know she takes care of you like a daughter, you can slip a few galleons on the mail, she wouldn’t agree with it but for your peace of mind just please do it” Fred said as he ate. “Really? Thank Merlin” you replied as if it felt like one of your problems faded. “But did Cedric asked you?” George’s voice was muffled as his mouth was full, “Don’t talk when your mouth is full, and yes, he did, yesterday.” you said and couldn’t even hide your smile.

“She’s still in love isn’t she?” George asked Fred who just nodded. While you just scoffed thinking about how Cedric asked you to the ball after he gave you your matching rings. Butterflies again, over and over again.

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 42

THE ROAD SO FAR

This chapter was a mess. But it's my mess.

FOUR weeks of Silence

Gary "Roach" Sanderson

Veteran's Village

A peaceful Sunday meant that Roach, Alex and Soap were chilling at the house Samantha and Maxine were in. It had been 4 weeks since that Cuban incident and Francine had gone to therapy for her near death traumatic experience. If it wasn't for Soap, she would've been left out there for good.

France thought that it would be healthy to stay in a more domestic setup rather than the base so she took her time off duty to recover in the veteran's village. And ever since that day in Cuba, Soap and France's relationship was more expressive than ever.

"If we're having a barbecue tonight, we better head off to the meat shop." Alex peeked by the door, giving a heads up to the rest of the people sitting on the couch. Soap turned his head to Alex and tossed his keys as Roach stood up and came with Alex.

"Any other requests?" He looked at the group then to Maxine, who shook her head and laughed. 

"Just be back safe." She replied.

"Got it." Gary nodded and waved goodbye at them. Soap wanted to come along but France had been falling asleep on his lap for quite a while. And Maxine and Samantha noted that she hadn't had decent for days.

"Oh, Roach! Grab me a cigar maybe." He whispered, trying not to wake France up.

"Roger that." He nodded and made his way to Soap's jeep, where Alex was already waiting on him. He sat himself on shotgun and let Alex lead the way to their destination.

He turned on the radio as it played a song about driving. Roach was quick to shazam it and found out it was Automobile by KALEO.

"Now this is going to be on my playlist." Alex said as his head nodded to the music, taking him where the winds take him, far away.

"Agreed. Oh, Soap actually asked for cigarettes so we might have to stop by a convenience store on the way back." Roach informed as the song ended. 

"Okay. That's cool. Maybe add a few sodas for the girls. They probably haven't had those i  ages." He said as he turned the radio off and switched it to AUX.

"Here. Grab my phone and play that song again." Alex instructed as he drove through the streets, and Roach followed him. Playing the song again.

"Ah yes. This song is good." Alex sighed.

"Yeah. It's fire." Roach commented, making Alex raise an eyebrow.

"You know, fire… lit… slaps… Modern terminologies." Roach explained shyly as Alex chuckled.

"I'll never understand the young ones of today." Alex chuckled as he stopped by the parking lot, pulling his phone and leaving the car.

Dinner was the best part of the Sunday evening as the three couples enjoyed a hearty meal together, sharing experiences and funny stories like an extended family. Roach talked about his raccoon story once again as one topic led to another until such time that the inevitable topic was discussed.

"Speaking of fires, do you have any leads on Nero?" Samantha asked innocently as the men fell quiet, looking at each other. Wondering who would open up the topic.

"Well, uh… After his assault in New York…" Soap trailed off, his eyes went to Alex, signaling him to continue.

"Alex, it's your girl's question! Go answer it!" Soap complained as France laughed, wrapping her arms around Soap.

"He's gone silent." Alex muttered. Samantha was kinda sad she asked about it so she tried to make up by brightening up the mood.

The night continued on as the group played charades, girls vs boys. For an hour or so the soldiers forgot about their worries and acted like they're normal people living their normal lives outside work. It wouldn't hurt to pretend like that, especially when the baggage of guilt was hard to handle.

"So, Gary. I've been meaning to ask you something…" Maxine said as she assisted him in the kitchen.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"How are you… like mentally. You seem… off." She asked, Gary sighed and eased his shoulders.

"It's just… we almost lost a life back there… for nothing. Lannister hasn't said any useful information and as the days go by another assault might occur." he breathed out his worries, earning a back rub from Maxine.

"People have their limits. Lannister could break anytime. Let's just hope we're not too late." She assured him. It was a very negative statement but somehow it's actually helpful. Gary smiled and gave her a hug.

"Thanks Maxine." he said.

"Yeah. Don't ever think you're alone. I'm here for you. Actually, just last night. I had another memory restored. And it felt so important that you have to know it first. Before…" she said, her voice lowering down after every word.

"Before what?" Gary whispered jokingly. Maxine laughed and hit his chest gently.

"Nevermind that word. Back to my memory…

I…" she trailed off, looking like she was too shy and scared to finish the statement.

"You…?" Gary raised an eyebrow. Maxine took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"I had an ex-girlfriend." She blurted and paused right after saying it, bracing at what Gary's reaction.

"I- uh.. That's okay… There's nothing wrong with that, Maxine." He said like he meant it. Maxine was too shocked about his reaction. Maybe she thought about it too much.

"Like… does that change anything?" She asked.

"Nothing at all. Oh wait! Yes! It does." Gary announced and Maxine's smile almost dropped.

"It means that if I want to have you, I'll have to step up my game. I have more competition now." He realized and Maxime sighed in relief. This man was about to get some scolding.

"You worried me, you know!" He continued gently hitting on Gary's chest, giggling away all her fears. He still accepted her. This was great.

"My point's valid!" He laughed, defending himself from her hits,.like children playing house. This may seem like a simple event, but this was the beginning of something new for the two of them.

Task Force 141 Base - Interrogation Room

Price sat in front of Gabriel, they've been silent for about an hour now as Gary and Soap stayed on the viewing area to observe the interrogation. Alex was here thirty minutes ago but he left after he got a phone call.

"What kind of twisted play is this?" Soap asked, crossing his arms and looking at Gabriel.

"The bastard won't talk. Just cut off a finger or something." He scoffed. To Gary, it would make sense, but with all the cameras and the formalities, It wasn't allowed. Especially that Gabriel's alibi was that he got their first to investigate. Which was total bullshit.

"He still has his ace on his sleeve. As long as we don't find proof of involvement, he's going to be free soon." Gary commented, making Soap grumble some Scottish curses.

"It's pretty obvious!" Soap yelled as Alex entered the interrogation room, saying something to Price as they immediately left him alone. Whatever that message was, looked way more important than Gabriel.

"We've got a lead on Nero!" Alex said as he peeked on the door, making the two stand up immediately and head to the briefing room.

"Operation Eye of the Storm." Price announced.

"In 24 hours, Nero and his newfound friends will meet on a hotel in Prague. This intel was from one of the Resistance Leaders Alex once teamed up with. They reached out for help since Nero started to secure the whole city." Price paced back and forth on the big screen.

"The plan is to eliminate Nero and his allies. As simple as that. We have the element of surprise in our hands. Soap, I want you to position yourself on the clock tower, just by the hotel. A bullet to the head should work. Alex will be watching your six. Jack will be our eyes and ears inside the convention. He'll be signaling when they'll be out on the open. Roach and I will enter the building for cleanup. We only had one shot at this so let's make it count." Price briefed and everyone else murmured their thoughts, some were already thanking for a solid lead. This was it. The final showdown. The end of the war.

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Alex and Soap already left the resistance safehouse, they had to be at the clock tower tonight, using the concealment of the night and the noise of the rain for cover. The perfect opportunity to say under the radar. Meanwhile, Roach and Price stayed to defend the place as Nero's men once again ransacked the streets just to ensure his safety. The world may have announced that the war in US was over, but Nero still had some cities under his control. This minor setback was the reason he's planning for something new. And they're here to stop it.

"Alright, Roach. Your replacements here." Price said as he stood up from his spot. 

"Get ready for the big day tomorrow." He added as he nodded and left his gun for the next person to use. Tomorrow's battle is going to be tough, and even though he didn't want to admit it, Roach needed some rest.

Despite the occasional gunfire and screaming, Roach was able to sleep. He didn't mind the battle outside the building as his battle was with Nero. Once Soap shot him dead, he would also want to shoot him again, just to feel satisfied.

0639H 

Hotel Lustig

Prague, Czech Republic

Roach hid on the west wing of the hotel, while Price was on the other side. They were both clinging on to the walls as their entrance was at the small opening where Soap would shoot Nero. Roach eyed the convoy just below him.

"Convoy's up ahead. Nero should be in one of those cars." Soap muttered.

"Can't see shit through the lens. He could be anywhere." Alex added.

"Easy lads. We'll have a clear shot once they're in the balcony. Right Jack?" Price asked. Jack didn't respond, but maybe the signal inside was too weak.

"Jack? Do you copy?" Price asked.

"Da. I do copy, Captain Price. I'm just here to get my old prisoner back. I've had him in the gulag for quite a while but it seems this is our first time meeting face to face." A russian voice which everyone assumed to be Nero said in the most villainous tone possible.

"You're too predictable, Captain." he said as he clicked something, prompting an explosion on the clock tower.

"Get down! C4!" Price yelled as the two soldiers jump out, falling on to railings. Alex landed on a fruit cart by the tower while Soap landed on the car, crashing it as it alarmed.

"Roach! Go help them out!" Price ordered as Nero's men started to circle around the two while the resistance team helped them defend. 

Roach quickly pulled Soap up who was groaning in pain. Alex looked pained too but the look in their eyes says that they're still willing to end this today.

"Let's catch up with them." Alex said as a resistance member tossed them a rifle and quickly hid for cover, pushing their way into the hotel. At the corner of Roach's eye, he saw Price enter the building, loading his gun and ready to end this as well.

Next Chapter : THREE Bullets

Notification Squad my Beloved

@smokeywhalee @enderio @samatedeansbroccoli @whimsywispsblog @ricinbach @bumblingbee1

[prongsies]

Star-Crossed ⁕ Chapter Six

←Chapter 5 | Master list 

The days rolled by quickly, unnoticed by the Hogwarts students since they were buried under mountains of schoolwork anyway. The weather had slowly started to get colder the as November neared, and much to Thalia’s dismay, she found herself shivering slightly as she walked to the greenhouses from Hagrid’s Care for Magical Creatures.

A group of fellow-sixth years greeted her as she passed by them, her waving a hand in return as she continued her trail, trying to go as fast as she can.

“Are you alright there?” A voice stopped Thalia. She was unaware that among the group was Cedric Diggory, whom she met briefly weeks ago. He motioned for his friends to walk ahead of him, probably to Hagrid’s hut, as he approached her with a smile, “I always do wonder why you don’t dress up enough for the weather”

“It’s a mystery to me too” Thalia chuckled, rubbing her glove-clad hands together to gain a bit of heat. Cedric grinned at her, making a move to unwrap the scarf he had on, when Thalia stopped him. “It’s alright, Cedric! I’m heading off to the greenhouses anyway – it wouldn’t be too cold there”

“I insist, Thalia”  

Cedric reached over, wrapping the scarf around her neck snugly, smiling at his work.  

“Thanks”

“It’s nothing” Cedric said, starting to turn to join his friends when he stopped to face Thalia again, “I hope- well, I hope Weasley doesn’t find offense in my actions towards you. I just really enjoy your energy – I was hoping we can be friends”

“I don’t understand why he would”

“The man is clearly in love with you!” Cedric exclaimed with a laugh, throwing his arms up to prove his point. His eyes drifted towards the scarf he had given her, which proudly showcased the Hufflepuff logo, “that might do the trick making him jealous”

“Oh, sod off, Ced!” Thalia laughed, shoving Cedric’s chest playfully before stalking up towards the castle again, rolling her eyes when he called out, telling her to thank him later if it all works out.

She was grinning when she arrived at the greenhouses, joining Fred and George who were selling a bunch of dung bombs to third years, speaking to them in hushed voices. They looked up at the sound her shoes crunching against the grass, smiling briefly at her as they ushered the younger students off, reminding them to tell their friends where they bought the products.

“You’re happy” Fred noted once the third years were out of earshot, eyes snapping towards the scarf around her neck, “You’ve been with Diggory?”

“We ran into each other while I was on my way here” Thalia replied, shrugging as she made her way towards the entrance, “He insisted I keep it – said I looked cold”

“I’ll catch up to you inside, Lia” George broke their conversation, smiling at Thalia.  

He turned back to Fred, reprimanding him for his behavior, which the latter didn’t seem to be apologetic of.

Weeks passed and suddenly they were all outside, waiting to welcome the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbaton, all arriving today as scheduled. The air outside the castle was crisp, giving Thalia’s knuckles a papercut-like feeling. To her right stood Fred and George, talking to Harry and Ron about Godric knows what; and to her left were Ginny and Hermione, gushing about a Ravenclaw boy who took a liking to Hermione.

“We were thinking about whipping up an Aging Potion” Fred leaned down to whisper in her ear.

Turning her attention towards him, she was quick to protest against the idea, “It’s dangerous, Fred – you know that. Besides, it’s a fairly difficult potion to brew-”

“Which is why I want you to help us brew it” Fred interrupted, turning to face her completely. “You’re the best in Potions, I know you can make one”

“I doubt it’d work” Thalia reasoned out again, “Dumbledore will definitely put an Age Line there – and for a reason. I’m sure he’s thought to counter any method of attempt to go beyond it”

“Just admit you don’t want to help us, Thalia” Fred snapped, turning away from her.

“It’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s just-”

“There!” A Hufflepuff yelled, effectively ending the poor attempt of a conversation Thalia and Fred were engaged in.  

Thalia sighed, turning towards the Forbidden Forest where everyone’s attentions rested, seeing something rather large making its way over towards them. She gaped at a gigantic horse-drawn carriage the size of a house, pulled by at least a dozen elephant-sized winged horses as it landed to the ground.

Golden steps unfolded from the carriage a mere minute since it landed, before a gigantic woman stepped out. Dumbledore, standing at a corner, began clapping – which they took as a cue to imitate. He approached the woman, taking her hand and planting a kiss on it, not so much needing to bend down so he could do so.

The woman, Madame Maxime as uttered by Dumbledore, presented her students with a motion towards the carriage. A dozen boys and girls about Thalia’s age – if not, older – emerged from the carriage, taking their place behind Madame Maxime, almost disappearing due to her stature.

“I wouldn’t mind being that tall” Ginny whispered into Thalia’s ear, tugging her sleeve so she’d lean down, “Might help intimidating the guys, you know?”

Thalia nodded her head, agreeing with Ginny before a whirlpool appeared in the stretch of the lake, a pole ascending from its eyes. Slowly, a ship arose from the water, casting a magnificent silhouette against the sunset in its background.

An audible gasp left Thalia’s lips at the sight of it, and upon glancing down at Ginny and Hermione, they too seemed entranced by the sight. A few moments later, after they heard the splash of the anchor being thrown over, a plank lowered onto bank where people started disembarking.

“Dumbledore” the man who was leading the crowd called heartily as he walked up the slope towards their headmaster. The two exchanged pleasantries, Thalia easily getting distracted by the students trailing behind him. She didn’t know how it happened, but her eyes seemed to drift over to a particular student standing in front, with tan skin, and raven hair that curled out in different directions.  

She was about to turn away, she swears – but he looked up and suddenly his brown eyes caught her own, holding her gaze even until their headmaster started talking.

She wasn’t able to get a really good look at him, though, especially when Ron suddenly spoke, “Harry - it’s Krum!”

˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚

Thalia kept quiet as they made their way back to Great Hall, which brought confusion to George who nudged her, only getting a nudge in response. She was thankful he understood enough to give her some space, claiming Fred’s usual seat beside her in the Gryffindor table once they arrived.

Dumbledore welcomed the students to their school, wishing them to feel right at home in its grounds, before reminding them that the tournament will officially open at the end of the feast. With his conclusion, rows of food appeared on the table, providing a much wider variety than usual.

Thalia looked around as the hall dissolved into chatters, the Ravenclaws getting to know the Beauxbatons students that had joined them, and the Slytherins speaking to the Durmstrang students.

“Lia” a whisper beside her caught her attention. She looked towards Ginny who had a smirk plastered on his face, nodding her head towards the Slytherin Table.

Thalia followed the direction, eyes immediately meeting those of the boy she had seen earlier outside the castle. The stern expression he had on before had left his face, sending a small smile towards Thalia’s direction before returning his attention towards her cousin, Draco Malfoy, whose eyes darted from him to Thalia.  

“She’s a veela!” Ron exclaimed, voice hoarse as his eyes followed the girl who had just left with their plate of Bouillabaisse, astonished. Thalia couldn’t help but laugh at him, surprising everyone at the table as they joined in the hilarity one by one.

Once the plates were cleared, Professor Dumbledore stood from his seat, waiting for the conversations to slowly die down. Thalia noticed Ludo Bagman in the staff table, sitting beside Professor Karkaroff of Durmstrang.

“Didn’t you make a bet with him at the World Cup?” She whispered towards George, who responded with a nod.

“Best of luck tryin’ to claim your prize money, then” Seamus Finnigan butted in after overhearing the conversation, “I heard he’s got a bit’o’va gamblin’ problem – hasn't paid anyone their shares in years”

“That’s a shame” Fred replied.

“Better not mess with us, then” George added, “We’re very persistent”

The four directed their attention towards Dumbledore, who was asking for a few minutes of the students' attention so he could give his explanation before they brought in the casket.

“Blimey! Already the planning the deaths of the champions, huh?” Thalia commented towards their small group, somehow making Lee snort into his pumpkin juice.

Their headmaster started enumerating the procedure, telling the students that if they wish to submit themselves as champions, they are to write their name onto a piece of parchment and drop in into the goblet of fire presented in the middle of the Great Hall.

“Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forwards. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three champions. The goblet will be moved to the entrance hall tonight – accessible to those wishing to compete”

Confirming Thalia’s argument towards Fred a little while ago, Dumbledore continued, “I will be drawing an Age Line around the goblet of fire once placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line”

Thalia leaned back, tapping Fred in the arm to get his attention, only for him to pull his arm away from her. Dejected, she returned to her position, feeling George wrap a comforting arm around her, possibly understanding the conflict between her and his twin already.

“You know we’re still going to attempt to brew one, right?” Whispered George.

“I know” Thalia sighed. Thinking for a moment, she finally agreed leaning up to George saying, “Fine, I’ll help you brew one. But if something happens, you don’t get to blame me”

“Of course,”

The students piled out after Dumbledore’s speech, the twins and Thalia heading straight to the library to do their research on the ingredients of a reversible Aging potion. Thalia could tell Fred was still annoyed by their little spat earlier in the day, but he seemed to calm down a bit the moment George told him she’d be willing to help them along.

They arrived back to the Gryffindor common room, Thalia following the twins up the stairs to the twins’ dormitories after fetching the ingredients – surprisingly – in Thalia’s trunk. She settled beside Lee Jordan, struggling to keep her eyes open as she watched the twins work on the Potion on their own.

By three in the morning, they weren’t even half-way done, since the Potion hadn’t reached the exact description stated in the book. George and Thalia could tell Fred was starting to get frustrated, from the snappiness in his tone to the way he would toss the ingredients around.

“Can I please go to bed now?” Thalia asked for the third time that night, fighting back another yawn that threatened to leave her lips.

Fred glared up at her from across the bubbling cauldron, sneering, “I told you we need you here, Thalia”

“Pipe down, Fred” George warned.

“But this is Dumbledore we’re talking about” The yawn finally escaped, bringing tears to her eyes from her tiredness. “No matter how perfect we brew this, it still wouldn’t work”

“Why don’t you just leave then?” Fred asked sarcastically, motioning towards the door. George nudged him to get him to shut up, but he ignored it, “If you’re just going to sit here and whine like a child about how sleepy you are, then might as well leave”

“As if you didn’t tell me stay” Thalia snapped back, having enough of Fred’s treatment towards her.

“I didn’t ask for you to be here!” Fred exclaimed, his voice now rising, effectively waking Lee who had fallen asleep on George’s bed. “You’re just here so you can prove how much smarter you are than us”

“Calm down, Fred” said Lee from the bed, now more awake than he had been.

“No, I will not calm down”

“Fred-” warned George, voice stern towards his twin who just wouldn’t back down.

“We don’t need you, Thalia! We’ve never needed you! Merlin, you forced yourself into our lives just to feel better about your rich self – just so you could say you’re friends with people from the other end of the economic spectrum” Fred inhaled deeply, ignoring George who was pulling him away as he advanced towards Thalia, “You think you’re our friend but you’re not. You never were”

Minutes of silence passed between them, George and Lee not knowing that to say since everything that escaped Fred’s lips is practically irreversible by now.

Thalia stood up, her body numb and eyes stinging from holding back the tears that threatened to fall. With a nod, she seemed to have processed everything, “So that’s it, then? Ten whole years of friendship just-” She motioned a dive with her hand, “-down the drain, huh?’

Fred didn’t speak.

Thalia sniffed, feeling the first tear run down her cheek as she nodded again, accepting her fate – accepting her position. “Okay, then” She said calmly, avoiding everyone’s gazes.

She dropped the last ingredient of the potion into the cauldron, scaring everyone when the liquid began to fizz, before leaving the room without another word.

Master list | Chapter 7→

STAR-CROSSED TAG LIST

@elf-punk @bloodorangemoonlight @peachesandpinks​ 

[notoriously-blonde]

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

This is my gift to @gryffindorcls for @mlsecretsanta! Took me a long time and a lot of brain smacking to get this to be good enough! Sorry it took so long and I hope you enjoy it! Read on AO3 here. Beta-d by @xthreeravensx

Summary:  After a talk with Ladybug, Chat's actions and the consequences are brought to light, Adrien vows to never be the type of person he was before. Hist first step: move on from Ladybug. In his journey to greatness, Marinette sneaks into his heart completely under the radar.

Sitting in class, Adrien has his head resting on his fist. It has been a few weeks since his talk with Ladybug. Since his actions were brought to light. Since how his actions were affecting Ladybug was brought to light. It was the day that Adrien decided to move on from Ladybug. He can’t be acting like that, especially with his partner, they are supposed to be in sync, and the way he was acting was hindering their synchronization.

And now...well, with Ladybug no longer controlling most of his thoughts, he’s found himself to be...bored. There just isn’t much to do anymore. Piano is plain and simple now, he doesn’t even have to think about how his fingers should move. Fencing is easy, too easy. Kagami isn’t even proving to be a challenge anymore.

The abilities his miraculous bestow upon him while transformed have been bleeding into his civilian life for a while now. He’s processing visual, auditory, smell, and physical stimulus much faster. His reaction time is faster. He’s stronger, not sure exactly how much stronger, but he knows he is. Plus, he already has so many trophies, a whole shelving unit of them.

So, with the reasoning that fencing is too easy and that he has proved himself many times over that he is more than proficient in that field, he decided to go to Father and tell him how he believes that studying another form of martial arts would be beneficial, more specifically, the bo staff. He spent a few hours analyzing how he fights as Chat Noir and came to conclude that he often times uses the baton like a sword/Sabre and not as a baton/bo staff. If he wants to maximize his fighting as Chat Noir, it might be beneficial to learn the bo staff.

It took a few days, but eventually he got Father to agree. Now he’s working with a trained professional to better use a bo staff. And, if Adrien’s being honest, it feels really, really good.

His training with the bo staff has proved useful in his superhero training and in fights. And he’s found it a bit easier to provide an easier defense using bo staff training rather than fencing. Maybe he should pick up karate, or judo? He’ll have to look into it.

And, with better training and a better defense, he’s found that he isn’t getting incapacitated in battles nearly as much. Not worrying about impressing Ladybug is a pretty big weight off his shoulders.

He remembers that fateful night vividly. Her words still ring through his head. Her tone. Her eyes, the hurt in them, the tears. He remembers the stabbing pain in his chest when she told him that she had almost been akumatized twice. Not particularly because of him, but his actions hadn’t helped much. From that moment, he vowed to stop at all costs. Vowed to help her in any way. And, with how his actions have been affecting her, the only solution he saw was to give up the ring. Let someone else, someone better, be the partner she needs. Someone who wouldn’t make it harder not to be akumatized.

He remembers the tears he tried to hide, trying to suppress Plagg’s faint voice in the back of his mind.

He remembers how her hands felt on his hand, cupping the ring.

He remembers how it felt when she used her hands to close his hand into a fist, moving her hands to cup his fist, enclose the ring in both their hands. ‘Chaton...’ her voice was wavering slightly, but there was pride in her tone. Determination burning in her eyes, from deep in her core. ‘I’ve already found the perfect match for Plagg. And that person is you.’ The way she had looked at him right then, the way she looked at the butterfly image of Hawkmoth that second day, the way she looks at him after she casts the restoring ladybugs, the love, admiration, gratitude; it baffled him.

He is unashamed to admit that he had broken down a second later, that they stayed in a tight embrace for quite a while longer; that all through this time, he was sniffling and sobbing.

Ladybug brought the errors of his ways to light, and then, when he was ready to give up being her partner because of how he had acted, she decided that he didn’t need to. That her perfect partner is just beneath the surface of a boy who needed help to understand.

And now...now he’s more of the partner she needs than ever before. In the few weeks since The Talk, Akuma battles have gone easier, they’ve been more in sync than ever. Ladybug discovered a way to cast the restoration swarm without using a Lucky Charm, which then reduced the need for Cataclysm and Lucky Charm. Which allowed them more time to comfort the victim, reassure the public that they are doing what they need to to take down Hawkmoth. It allows them more time to grow together, grow stronger. They haven’t called in any temporary heroes since The Talk, either.

Adrien turns the tablet to the side, and starts scribbling down ideas. Ladybug has... three powers, possibly four now? He understands why she needs them. The universe is on a constant fast track toward destruction and death, so it makes sense that Creation needs to be a little bit more powerful, no? It’s just...having a single power makes him feel more like a sidekick than her partner. Like...like he’s just a permanent type temp.

And, before The Talk, before his improvements, he was perfectly content to be that. But... now that he has become better, it feels...slightly out of balance. The Black Cat is one of the two most powerful miraculous to exist. It seems a bit weird to have Ladybug have three powers and he only has one? He’s still fine with it, mostly, he can just admit to himself now that maybe having another power wouldn’t be that bad, would it?

He starts drawing a black ball. A black hole. The product of such a destructive death that the gravity makes it impossible for even light to escape. Black holes are such beautiful things, forces of nature that instill fear among every living thing. Except Plagg. He says he accidentally created one with a yawn. Or maybe that black holes are extensions of his mouth and stomach. It might be the latter option. He’s a complete pig.

Black holes are often viewed as portals to a different dimension. So...what if there could be a way his powers could develop to create such portals? That would be awesome!

Suddenly, a yawn interrupts his thoughts. A yawn from directly behind him. A smile creeps onto his face.

Marinette. Such an amazing person, capable of amazing feats. Capable of so much kindness, selflessness, compassion, bravery, desire, determination. It’s amazing how such a tiny frame can hold such big attributes. But, it isn’t all that surprising. That’s just who Marinette is. An amazing, determined, kind, smart, and creative person.

Plus, her yawns are adorable!

For the past few weeks, Adrien has begun to notice how stressed she’s become. She has so much on her plate that he’s surprised she isn’t spontaneously combusting under pressure. Then again, diamonds are formed under intense heat and pressure, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng? She is one heck of a diamond.

He’s been trying to think of ways he can help her destress, somehow. But he hasn’t had much progress. Talking to her doesn’t seem to destress her, he’s tried many times, but the bruises she still has are a testament to how much he stresses her out. Those walls didn’t look comforting. Or the light poles. Or benches.

Maybe he should start walking with her to make sure she doesn’t concuss herself, if she isn’t already living in one continuous concussion. Maybe Ladybug can lend Marinette some luck, only the stars know how much she needs it.

Another yawn comes from behind, and the smile creeps onto Adrien’s face again. Looks like someone didn’t quite get enough sleep. Maybe the akuma attack early this morning was a bit too loud?

Suddenly, an idea strikes him, and he looks to his cup of untouched coffee. A shot of espresso in it. Father would get an aneurysm if he saw the espresso in the coffee. He’d probably get the aneurysm from the knowledge that he even drinks coffee.

His smile turns sly at that. Oh, how he wishes he could tell Father about the coffee, but he won’t because coffee just so happens to keep him alive some days.

He picks it up and swivels around to look at Marinette. Her eyes are droopy, and there are slight bags under her eyes. Not noticeable unless you were looking for them. He smiles a warm smile and sets the cup down in front of her, and his smile turns a little bit more genuine when Marinette squeaks a little bit, her cheeks dusting pink. She’s so adorable!

“For you. I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed tired. It’s untouched, but that also means that it’s colder than it should be. Hope it helps.” Then he turns back around, the elbow to Marinette from Alya as well as the suggestive look, and the look of confusion from Nino going unnoticed. Adrien did, however, notice the faint growl emanating from the back of the classroom.

Lila, he growls inwardly. Ever since he told her to get Marinette back in school, she’s had an eerily quiet growl in the back of her throat at all times. It’s like she can’t contain her rage in any capacity anymore.

He’s not sure why she’s so enraged at the prospect of him and Marinette being friends, or why she’s so set on lying, but Adrien knows this for sure: Lila will do whatever she can to stress Marinette out further.

So all Adrien needs to do to thank Marinette for everything she does for everyone is to help get her out of stressful situations.

He’ll do all that he can to do that.

So far, all Adrien’s been able to do without stressing her out much is to bring coffee every morning. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like she needs it, but there are a few days where it seems to help out a lot. This in turn has helped Marinette to loosen up around him a little bit. While she still squeaks and flails, she has stopped running into walls.

He still thinks she needs to go check for a concussion. If she doesn’t end up having one, well, it’ll be more surprising than Hawkmoth surrendering his miraculous.

And, if Marinette is starting to loosen up around him now... maybe he can deploy a few tricks to help.  

Hopefully she likes inspiration!

Judging by the slight wheezing he’s been hearing all day, Adrien’s assuming that she doesn’t quite like what he wrote on the cup. ‘Remember, the strongest, brightest gems are formed in intense heat and pressure. So far, you outshine the rest.’ Maybe he should tone down the Chat Noir?

Adrien slides into his seat, turns around and places his—Marinette’s—cup of coffee on her desk, right where she would see it and, hopefully, not knock it over, like the first time. With a smile, he turns back around and catches sight of Nino looking at him with that look again.

“What’s that for?” he asks, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against the front of the desk behind him. Closer to Marinette. Maybe.

“Dude, what’s up with you?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he says, furrowing his brows a bit. He only brought a cup of coffee for Marinette.

Nino cocks an eyebrow. “You’ve been bringing Mari a cup of coffee every day for the past week. Why?”

Adrien furrows his eyebrows in further confusion. “Is...it not acceptable to bring friends coffee?”

Nino looks confused and frustrated, then his eyes widen in understanding and he rests a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Dude, my man, that’s, uh, yeah it’s acceptable—”

“Then what’s the problem?” Adrien cuts in. “Why is it such a big deal?”

“Adrien, sure it’s acceptable, but normally, people buy coffee for the people they like.”

“I do like Marinette!” She is such an amazing person, his second friend, (Plagg is his actual first friend, but Plagg is an immortal god that represents all of destruction in the universe, he does not count toward his human friend count), she does so much for everyone. She’s kind and brave, and clumsy, and adorable, of course he likes her, they’re friends!

He regrets saying that so loud, he can hear how Alya’s heart rate is through the roof, it happens whenever she spots something she can get the scoop on. It’s been happening a lot this past week when he’s dropped off the coffee for Marinette.

...He doesn’t know why. It confuses him greatly. And, honestly, why hasn’t anyone else been bringing her coffee, she’s clearly in dire need of it!

Plus, Nino’s eyes widen even further. “Oh, do you now?” For a brief second, Nino’s eyes dart to the right. Right to Alya. He’s been doing that a lot too. What is going on?!

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? She’s an amazing person. One of the best friends I could have! What’s so wrong about bringing my friend coffee?”

At this, Nino is confused again, then an exasperated look crosses his face and only gets more exasperated when he looks to Alya again. Seriously, why’s he doing that? Are they planning something for Marinette? Her birthday isn’t for another few months.

When Nino looks back, there is something in his gaze that Adrien can’t quite read. It’s... like he pities him? No, Nino isn’t like that. He’s... disappointed? It’s like when parents look at they’re naive children in those movies when they say something that is completely and utterly untrue. Like an all seeing eye, but he can’t say anything.

It confuses Adrien even more. What’s Nino looking at him like that for?

Then, Marinette comes running in, a minute before the bell, as usual, but she’s a bit early today. Maybe she got some good sleep! He jerks his head to her, jumping out of his conversation with Nino, and focusing solely on Marinette. He hopes she’s doing better.

But... no, one look at her eyes, her posture, it’s normal, maybe even worse? Her hair is not quite as shiny as usual, her skin is lacking a little bit of that natural shine, the joy, the happiness. The area under her eyes is slightly darker than it should be, she might have used concealer to cover up bags? One pant leg is rolled up a bit too high, and she’s wearing different length socks.

Her heartbeat is pretty high, and it isn’t going down. In fact, when he looks back to her eyes and they lock gazes for a moment, her heart skips a few beats, then kicks into overdrive and she hurriedly breaks eye contact and gets to her seat.

Hmm...she still isn’t comfortable around him. Maybe this will cheer her up a bit. ‘Marinate’, deserves it.

And, judging by how her heart rate slows down a bit, he thinks it’s working. And, as she inhales the coffee, her heart rate slows even more.

Maybe he might just get some progress with her?

At the end of the day, Nino hands him a note scrawled in neat, loopy, beautiful letters. He’ll recognize that writing anywhere, it’s on his signed Jagged Stone album. It’s Marinette’s.

‘Thank you for the coffee, but if you’re going to keep doing this, is it okay if you add in a bit more caffeine?

(And by that, I mean three more shots.)’

Adrien’s concern skyrockets, he already adds an absurd amount of espresso to the coffee, how bad it it really if she needs that?

Well, a friend’s gotta do what a friend’s gotta do.

The next morning, there is a warm cup of coffee with three shots of espresso in there, waiting for Marinette on her desk. ‘Hope this doesn’t kill you! You are crazy Manatee!’ written on the side.

The next morning, Marinette comes in, but as she passes Adrien and Nino’s desk, she slides him a slip of paper. ‘The coffee helps, but would it be okay if you just got 16fl oz of espresso? I get...really, really tired and anxious.)’

He can’t hide his surprise even if he wanted to, as he whips around to look at Marinette, already downing her coffee.

This girl, she’s going to transform her blood into pure caffeine if he keeps doing this. Maybe, once they’re closer, he can start to wean her off of it?

Another week later, and Marinette is at 16fl oz of caffeine with two shots of extra espresso. Everyone at the coffee shop is giving him extremely concerned looks.

But, it’s helping her, and so are his little messages.

Her heart rate hasn’t broken 180 in the classroom in a few days.

Two days later, the ‘Days without Marinette Stress’ counter is reset to zero.

They are in Mme. Bustier’s class, waiting for the term project.

Everyone was anticipating that it would be a solo project, so when M. Bustier announces that it will be a partner project, everyone’s excitement skyrockets. She’s even letting them choose their partners!

Nino goes to Alya, Ivan to Mylene, Rose to Juleka, Chloe goes to get to Adrien, but Sabrina gets to Chloé first, bullet dodged . Kim goes to Max, Alix goes to Nathaniel. This leaves Lila, Marinette and Adrien.

For some reason, a dark, deep hiss builds in his chest as the prospect of Marinette partnering with Lila. Might have something to do with the fact that Lila is actively trying to hurt Marinette in any way possible.

So, without thinking, he jumps in in an instant (he hadn’t planned on using his enhanced speed, but it was Lila ). He’d much rather be seen as weirdly agile than have Marinette withstand any more stress and threats from Lila.

Once the partners are chosen, Mme. Bustier excuses Lila from the project, since she already missed so much of the assignments that she has yet to get caught up on, she doesn’t want Lila’s grades to drop any further.

Once that’s taken care of, Mme. Bustier announces what they’re doing for the project. They are to write a short story about anything they want, it just has to include a bad relationship turned good.

And...after a few minutes of trying to brainstorm, Marinette starts to wheeze a bit and rushes off to the bathroom.

It doesn’t make Adrien feel very good. He thought they were making progress, but... well, jokes and silly things tend to help her anxiety, he should brainstorm a few silly ideas.

Like...a baby is born incredibly smart, and is competing with the father for the mother’s attention and keeps taunting the father.

An old man loses his friend due to an argument about gum, and the other guy has been holding this grudge for 25 years.

A cat is having some extreme trouble opening a jam jar, so he brings it around to his human slaves for assistance, the humans aren’t much help.

...this is why Ladybug is the brains of the operation. She’s much more creative.

Adrien glares down at the paper, his hands in fists.

Maybe...maybe if he glares hard enough an idea will pop into his head.

When Marinette comes back, he still hasn’t gotten any other ideas.

She slides into the seat next to him, a bit close, but far enough away to still allow him some personal space. She’s so considerate!

A small giggle breaks him from his angry glare and he looks to its source. Marinette has her hand over her mouth, clamped hard, her cheeks pink, looking at his list of ideas.

...is there a way for the ground to open up and swallow him whole (hole)? Plagg, he’d do that.

...maybe, depends on the amount of cheese he’d get. How much cheese does he have in storage? 5kg? 10? He has no clue, but maybe if he promises the little glutton all of it he’d do the deed.

“They’re not bad, a bit silly though.” Her words, soft but amused, break him from his thoughts.

“Huh?” he asks dumbly, shaking his head.

“I mean,” she says, darting her eyes to his, then back down at the paper, her checks tinting an adorable shade of pink, “I-I mean they aren’t bad ideas. They’re fun and silly! Definitely a good way to relieve some stress.” She looks up into his confused gaze. “N-not that I think you’re stressed! You could be stressed, but I have no way to know if you are or not, you’re so calm and kind and perfect—” She cuts herself off, her breath hitching, her eyes going wide and cheeks going even pinker.

She swallows. Opens her mouth, closes it again. Swallows one more time before squeaking out: “perfectly well mannered.” She hangs her head a bit, her eyes downcast.

Adrien tilts his head a bit. What was she going to say before? Was she going to reveal just how “perfect” she thinks he is? Does she still not trust him after the Gum Incident?

“Marinette…” He reaches out, longing to rest his hand on her shoulder, provide some level of comfort beyond words. But...if she’s uncomfortable around him, he’ll give her the space she needs. So, he drops his hand to the table. “Thank you, but I’m not all the well mannered all the time. Heh, you should see me at home when Father isn’t home.”

This makes Marinette look up at him with curiosity burning in her eyes. He leans in, expression guarded in mock reluctance and secrecy, but in reality, he’s hiding a huge grin. “When no one is home, I turn on Jagged Stone and belt out all the lyrics.” He looks to her face, and fights against that ever growing grin threatening to show. “Thing is, I cannot sing.”

This makes her smile a bit. Her eyes gaining a small glitter of amusement.

“ That , is you not having perfect manners?” Marinette scoffs, raising an eyebrow. “Bet you’ve never chugged an entire jug of milk.”

This shocks Adrien. Why would anyone drink milk straight from the jug?! Cups exist for a reason—

Oh, he gets it.

And, by the victorious look on her face, Marinette knows she’s got him on that.

He narrows his eyes.

“I sneak out of my room on a daily basis.”

“I do too, you aren’t special.”

Adrien huffs. “I escape the Gorilla as much as possible.”

“And how often is that?” Marinette asks, her eyebrows raised in challenge.

“Plenty of times!”

“Name one time that wasn’t that one time I was mistaken as your girlfriend.”

Yesterday, for the akuma , is his immediate thought, and he almost says it, but clamps his mouth shut and thinks about how often he escapes from his bodyguard.

“When I tried to go to school on the first day of school.”

“That eager, huh?”

“Well, when you’re homeschool you’re whole life, you tend to be excited for things that others aren’t as excited for.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re having fun! You did name one other time, so I’ll let it slide.”

They fall into a companionable silence, both with smiles on their faces. One could argue that Adrien’s was bigger, Marinette showed him a side of herself that’s he’s been wanting to get to know, longing to get to know. The timid side was the only one she showed around him, yet she was like this, bantering, arguing, having fun with everyone else. It feels like he’s getting to know the full her.

And it couldn’t be better.

After a second, Marinette looks to him, opens her mouth, then closes it as her eyes widen. This concerns Adrien a bit, what did he do? They were having fun!

Then, a glint lights up her eyes, and it calms Adrien. He knows that look. He’s seen it in her eyes many times. It’s a sign that she has a plan.

If he’s being honest, it reminds him of Ladybug. Marinette and Ladybug both get a similar glint in their eyes when a plan forms.

But Marinette isn’t Ladybug, he knows that for a fact. Marinette—Multimouse—and Ladybug were in the same place at the same time. There’s no way she could be Ladybug.

Marinette turns to her paper and starts writing.

Adrien leans back, out of her space (when had he invaded her personal space? They were just talking!), he knows better than to get in the way of a girl with a plan.

But he wants to know what this plan is.

But he shouldn’t interrupt her.

But he wants to know.

But she is writing furiously.

But he wants to know .

In the end, his curiosity wins out. He blames Plagg and the bleeding skill sets and abilities for the insatiable curiosity.

“What are you writing?” he asks, leaning over a little bit.

Marinette startles, and whips around to look at him, her eyes wide in that deer-in-headlights way, a way he knows all too well. Back to square one.

“O-oh, I was just...” Marinette trails off a bit as she looks back at the paper, her cheeks pinking. Then she takes a deep breath and looks back into his eyes, the fear is still there, but determination is burning behind it. “I was just thinking, maybe it could be a story about how a kid misunderstands something and almost jeopardizes a friendship, but because of the other’s kindness and determination, they cleared things up?”

Adrien raises his eyebrows, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. “Like how we became friends!”

“Yeah.” Marinette replies timidly, tone soft and admiring, averting her gaze.

Friends really are the best, aren’t they?

Yes, yes they are.

“Let’s do it!”

Marinette looks up to his eyes again, and the fear has mostly gone away, a happy sparkle replacing it. “Okay, let's do it.”

“Marinette~!” An overly sweet voice rings out, and Adrien immediately perks to attention. Lila , he almost growls. He whips around, just in time to see Lila coming toward Marinette. Oh no, oh, no she does not . He can see it in her eyes, the malice, the hate, the anger. She’s a manipulative liar, and she’s good at it, but Adrien has been in the modeling industry for a very long time, he knows how to see people’s true intentions, he knows how to see through a mask.

And Lila does not want to play nice.

So, he shoots from his chair, and leans on Marinette’s, capturing her attention immediately. “Hey, do you want to go work on our project? I should have time to get it fleshed out a bit more.”

By the look in her eyes, the slump of her shoulders, he’s guessing that she very much appreciates the distraction. “Yeah, I should be able to.”

“Awesome!”

As Marinette starts packing her things, Adrien slides his gaze over to Lila, half way to Marinette, her eyes narrowed slightly. He narrows his right back at her, channeling as much of his father as he can.

Judging by the shock in Lila’s eyes, he’s assuming he did it just right. So he smirks, and turns back around to pick up his bag, then turns back to look at Lila, sending her another icy glare. She will not touch Marinette. Not when he’s here. She’s hurt the people he cares about too much already.

He and Marinette walk out, and as they walk through the door frame, Adrien sends another warning glare at Lila.

“Bro, what’s up with you?”

The voice startles Adrien out of his glare at the back of Lila’s head, across the school yard, making him jump a few centimeters, and whips around to find the his best friend, looking at him with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“What?” Adrien replies, calming a bit, and returning his gaze to the back of Lila’s head, surrounded by most of his classmates.

“Dude, you’ve been glaring at Lila all day.” Nino says.

“And?” Adrien prompts, not turning away from Lila.

“And you’ve been glaring at her for a week now.”

This makes Adrien furrows his brows, looking to Nino. A week? Surely it hasn’t been that long. “A week?”

“Yes, a week. It’s bugging the crap out of me.” Nino looks positively done with him.

“I... didn’t realize it was so long.” Adrien turns away from him, going right back to glaring at Lila.

“Dude, it’s freakin’ me out. It’s freakin’ everyone out. People are kinda scared of you.”

“Why are they scared of me?”

“You hissed at Lila two days ago.”

Adrien opens his mouth to reply, but no words are coming out. When he was with Marinette, working on the project, Lila had come by, and Marinette had tensed up considerably. So, he got Lila to leave and got back to the project. But Marinette was pale, her heart rate was moderately high, and she was starting to have some slight problems breathing.

So, he had set the project aside, and turned to her, tilting his head, and reached out to her.

She had flinched, and he hastily retracted his hand.

He learned many things that day. Like when she’s freaking out, people touching her doesn’t help out all that much, it actually makes it a bit worse. He also learned more about Lila.

“Okay, I admit, that was a bit freaky.” He’d hoped that the cat tendencies wouldn’t bleed through too, but he’s found that he hisses when mad, and purrs when content, happy, or in pain. When he hissed at Lila, he was incredibly freaked out, but he couldn’t let it show, not around Lila.

“’A bit freaky’? A bit freaky?! Dude, everyone is too scared to be around you when Lila’s in the same room!” Nino’s voice wavers a bit.

Adrien looks at Nino. He’s looking at Adrien with fear in his eyes, clutching his arms, and his legs are shaking ever so slightly.

Dang it Plagg, he scared his best friend due to the freaky cat tendencies bleeding through the miraculous!

Adrien breaths out a huff and stands up from his crouch, turning to fully face his friend. “Nino,” he starts, softening his tone. “I’m sorry. I learned something about Lila recently, and I just... I’m trying to look out for the people I care about. I’m sorry I scared you.”

The fear subsides a bit, but confusion takes its place. “What did you learn?”

Adrien sighs. “She’s a compulsive, manipulative liar.”

“Adrien...” Nino says, something in his tone that Adrien can’t discern. “She—”

“No, she is, I can’t tell you what she did to Marinette, but I know what she does.” Adrien cuts him off, ice creeping into his tone.

“How do you know?” Nino asks—no, challenges .

Adrien takes a deep breath. “When Lila first came to school, I found a book and was looking through it, it seemed like it had something to do with the miraculous. When Lila found me and saw the book, she immediately started telling me how she’s great friends with Ladybug and how she’s a miraculous wielder. When Ladybug called her out on it, Lila got pissed, and eventually got akumatized into Volpina.”

“She lied to Nathalie about my grades just so she could get into my house. She took the picture of her kissing my cheek against my will, then, without telling me, sent it to everyone but me.” Adrien looks into Nino’s eyes, his urge to protect Marinette manifesting into anger toward Lila, which was directed at his friend, making Nino duck his head to avoid the burning glare. “She lied about Marinette taking the test answers, then lied about Marinette stealing from her and planted the ‘stolen’ necklace in her locker, getting Marinette expelled . So forgive me, Nino, if I’m a bit pissed at Lila.”

Nino backs away from Adrien, his eyes wide, his arms half extended to Adrien, his body turned sideways. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to get words out, but his breath keeps getting hitched.

It hits Adrien right then that Nino is scared of him, borderline terrified, and Adrien forces calming breaths. Nino isn’t Lila. He didn’t know she was lying. Nino isn’t Lila, He repeats the mantra until his anger ebbs. “Sorry Nino, that was uncalled for, I’m sorry I scared you. It’s just that...I’ve sat back and done nothing about what Lila was doing, and she ended up hurting Marinette a great deal. I shouldn’t have taken my anger at her and myself out on you, or the other classmates.” He offers his best friend a reassuring smile, hoping that Nino trusts him still.

“Okay...” Nino takes a shaky breath. “Okay, t-thanks for letting me know about Lila. I-I’ll keep what you said about her in mind.” Nino turns to leave, but Adrien reaches out to brush his hand against his shoulder. He doesn’t want him to leave with the fear.

“Nino, I’m sorry. I’m mad at Lila and myself. And while, yes, everyone could have done something to realize sooner, I don’t blame anyone but...but Lila and myself. I didn’t mean to snap.” Nino looks into his eyes, and the fear fades away slightly, replaced by compassion.

“Bro, you shouldn’t blame yourself.” Nino places his hands on Adrien’s shoulders, squeezing. “Yeah, maybe you advised her to do something that didn’t work out in the end, but you gave her that advice because of who you are. You are trusting, maybe a bit too trusting, and you always look for the best in people you meet. For you to be this angry at Lila... dude, I can’t believe for a single second that you’re lying about any of this. I believe what you said Lila did. I’ll stay with you ‘til the end. I just... gotta go process things. And... maybe think about how I can help Alya believe you too.” Nino’s eyes still hold some fear in them, but there is nothing that indicates that he was lying.

“Thank you, Nino, so much.”

Nino takes back his hands, and point finger guns at Adrien. “You know it!”

The final bell rings, and kids all around scramble to pack up their things, or are running to or through the door, the instructor giving those students the stink eye. Adrien turns to Nino, but he’s already walking with Alya, deep in conversation. Dang it, when Nino’s with Alya, nothing can distract him from her. Guess that leaves just one other person to ask to hang out with. He turns to Marinette, but pauses.

Marinette is staring at him, her eyes slightly glazed, cheeks pinked, and mouth open ever so slightly, the sun rays from the window reflect off her hair making it shine a deep, raven blue. The same rays come into contact with her skin, making it glow. Her lips look plump and soft, and yet, he can see that they’ve seen war with her teeth, and many a healing balm.

Adrien swallows the sudden lump in his throat. “Hey, Marinette?”

The girl in question squeaks and startles, her arms flailing and face flushing before she locks onto his face. Almost immediately, her seemingly soft lips curl into a bright smile, her eyes conveying warmth and affection, the redness receding.  “Adrien! Did you ask for me?”

This makes him smile. “Yeah, I did.”

“...Well, what did you want?” She quirks an eyebrow at him, putting her chin in her hand, leaning against the table.

“Oh, I was just wondering if you’d like to hang out? My schedule is free, and Father approved already.”

Marinette’s eyes brighten, and her smile turns seductive. “Oh, I want to do more than ‘hang out’ with you Adrien.” She slides forward, her eyebrows raising.

His brain malfunctions. “H-Huh?”

Marinette huffs and leans back. “Fine, I’ll just show you~” Her smile turns into something more than seductive, and it does something to Adrien’s insides. She crosses her arms across her abdomen, hands resting on the hem of her shirt, her biceps framing her-

“Ewwwwwwwwww!” A voice suddenly cuts through and everything suddenly goes black.

“Ewwwwwwwwww! Cover up, man!” A tiny paw slaps his cheek. Five tiny pinpricks of pain accompany it, snapping Adrien from his dream.

“What the hel—” Adrien gets slapped again, by another tiny paw, in the same place—what are the odds of that happening?— sans the claws.

“I’m a benevolent, ancient, immortal representation of Destruction and Death, I do not want to see your teenage ‘urges’!”

With confusion written across his face, Adrien stares at Plagg. A second later, it clicks and Adrien groans, flopping back down onto his pillow. He takes some small measure of joy in Plagg’s indignant Squawk and “That makes it worse! ”

Adriens dealt with this plenty of times, but it’s always been Ladybug before.

...now that he thinks about it, Marinette has been replacing Ladybug in his dreams as of late. But it never got to this level.

...crap, he’s screwed.

“Plagg...” he whispers to the ceiling.

The only response is an annoyed huff.

“Plagg, I’m so screwed...” he admits.

Plagg snorts.

“You remember Marinette, right?”

Another snort. “What’s pigtails gotta do with your...oh.”

“Yeah.” Adrien sighs.

“ Oh . Oh! ”

Then Plagg burst out laughing.

Adrien groans.

Plagg only laughs harder.

Plagg cackles for hours, the only things disrupting the maniacal laughter is: “‘She’s just a friend!’” in a mocking, overly macho tone.

Adrien doesn’t get anymore sleep that night. Nor can he get that last image of Marinette out of his head.

A week after his revelation, Adrien finds himself staring at the board in complete incomprehension. “Free period?” What the living god of cats is that?!

Nino side eyes him, quirking an eyebrow. “Dude, you don’t know what free period is?”

Sheepish, Adrien rubs the back of his neck, ducking his head. “Not really...”

Nino rolls his eyes a bit, but it doesn’t convey anger, just exasperation. “Well, free period gives the class time to do whatever they like. Homework, projects, goof off, anything.”

“I doubt they’d let you do anything , but okay, I think I get it. I do need to catch up on what I missed yesterday.” Because of course Father scheduled a photo shoot during his history class, on the day they did a review. One he needed, because Mothman—awk Moth—doesn’t want him to sleep .

Nino raises his eyebrows in question. “You, Adrien Agreste, perfect boy of Gabriel Agreste, straight-A student, needs to catch up? Dude, I thought you were ahead of us!”

“I was, but Nathalie has me focus on things that the school curriculum didn’t think was important, so I ended up wasting three weeks memorizing Ancient Greece, only to find that we had the most basic of quizzes on Ancient Greece and moved right on to Ancient Rome. I’ve been scrambling.”

Nino purses his lips, and looks behind him, to Alya, and then briefly to Marinette before he looks to Adrien again; a smile forming. “I think I know just who can help you.”

Adrien furrows his brows in confusion for a second before things click and Adrien flushes, trying to stop Nino from standing, but he’s already up and slipping around the desk behind them and talking to Marinette, who’s face morphs into shock, amusement, concern, confusion, and embarrassment. She looks from Nino to Adrien, her eyes wide, cheeks tinting pink slightly. Adrien haunches his shoulders and gives a small wave. Marinette tilts her head, a small smile playing on her lips. She waves back.

Oh holy cheese lord, he’s going to die.

He can’t help but watch as she packs up her stuff, her limbs moving with purpose and grace, her lips, those gosh darn lips, moving in a hushed conversation with Alya and Nino, then she’s slipping around the desk and right next to him.

“Okay, so, I heard you needed help?” Marinette says, her eyebrows quirking in amusement. Lips curling into a hidden smile that just makes them look even more appealing and kiss-

“Y-yeah, spent a bit too much time on Ancient Cheese—Greece, Greece, I meant Greece, and need a bit of help getting caught up on Rome.” He stumbles out, cheeks and ears flushed red in embarrassment.

Marinette’s smile only grows, making her face, no, her being glow. “Okay, let's start by marking the important bits, I’ll show you where they are.”

She turns around to take out her things, and Adrien breathe’s a silent sigh of relief, turning to grab a highlighter. ‘Mark the important bits.’ For some reason, those words won’t leave his head.

When he turns back around, he has to grip his knee so hard he hears a “creak”, because Marinette is hunched over her paper, and a stand of hair has fallen from her braid, of which he is only now realizing she doesn’t have her hair in the usual pigtail ensamble. It hangs just by her temple, looking so soft and smooth and it looks like it would be annoying, hanging just out of eyesight, teasing your attention until you snap. Surely it isn’t good for studying.

Without giving it a second thought, he reaches out and stifles a gasp at how soft and smooth her hair is. If Adrien’s hair is soft, her hair is made of the freaking clouds . He slowly, gently, tucks the strand of hair behind her ear, his heart thumping against his ribs so hard he’s certain everyone can hear it, nervous system spiking at every brush of his fingers against her check, her temple, her ear.

His hand lingers longer than it should, and suddenly, reality snaps back into motion and he realizes that the classroom is silent. He snaps his hand back, ignoring Marinette’s red cheeks and wide eyes and frozen posture.

“S-Sorry,” he stammers our, resolutely looking at his own paper. “I-I just thought that it- the hair- w-would be distracting a-and—” his breath hitches as she rests a hand on his hands, his cheeks aflame.

“Thank you.” She says, her voice wavering slightly, but it’s genuine.

“Okay...the important bits, right?” Smooth Agreste, smooth. He doesn’t look at her.

“Yeah, the important bits. Let’s start at—” The rest of her words are drowned out by his mind latching onto ‘the important bits’.

He looks to his highlighter. ‘Let's start by marking the important bits.’

Yes, let's do that.

He picks up the highlighter, uncaps it and turns to Marinette. Whatever she was saying trails off as she looks into his eyes.

He raises the highlighter, and marks her nose. In doing so, her eyes go, much to his joy, adorably cross-eyed. Even after he’s recapped the highlighter, she’s still staring at her nose.

“What? You said to highlight the important things.”

[sighmurderbot]

Irish Coffee Chapter Three

Title: Gatorade and Sixth Floor Coffee

Chapter Rating/Warnings: G, I don’t think there’s even any profanity in this one

Word Count: 2.9k

Summary: They meet over coffee and Kierkegaard. There was a spark in his honey-brown eyes that drew her to him. There was a sadness behind her bright smile that drew him to her. Spencer Reid/Original Female Character. Slow burn coffee shop meet. Strangers to friends to lovers. This fic is also available on AO3, it’s ahead of tumblr currently!

previous chapter//next chapter

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

One exhausting week rolled into the next. Spencer didn’t stop by every day, but the days he did I found myself smiling a little easier. He was considerate, always making sure I could clearly read his lips when it was noisy, always patient even when I could tell he had somewhere to be.

When the shop was empty he would linger an extra moment or two, giving me some sort of obscure fact about coffee, cafes, caffeine, or something else tangentially related. I soaked it up like a little knowledge sponge. The way he gestured with his hands when he got excited about what he was saying always put a grin on my face. 

When the shop was busy, with suits shoving in and out, Spencer waited quietly in line and was extra polite when ordering, as if his manners would make up for the harsh and hurried words I was subjected to from others. 

And every time he came in, no matter what time of day, rain or shine, he ordered a large mocha with extra sugar.

By the second week I started noticing him before he walked in. Something caught my eye, maybe it was his cardigans or incessantly mismatched socks, or maybe I was developing a Spencer radar, but I started to have his coffee ready before he reached the counter.

The first time I proudly plunked his order in front of him before he could speak I think I really threw him off. It wasn’t a busy day, and I was already leaning on the counter, allowing myself a little bit of rest. He paused, mouth still open, and tilted his head at the cup. He then pressed his lips together and frowned slightly. Was he disappointed? It certainly looked like it.

“It’s exactly how you like,” I hurried to assure him.

“Thanks,” he replied, slowly taking the cup. I felt my stomach drop as he began to turn away. I had been looking forward to his visit, especially since I hadn't seen him for a few days. Somehow the young doctor always found a way to make me smile. 

“I thought,” I called out after him, stopping his movements, “that it would help to have it ready. You know, so I don’t have to go make it in the middle of talking to you.”

He turned back, frown now bent into a small smile.

"How efficient," he said. I shrugged.

"I like to maximize the good things in life."

Spencer didn't reply right away, instead electing to shyly drop his eyes and take a sip of coffee. His muscles relaxed a little as the hot liquid worked it's magic.

"How have you been enjoying Asimov?" I asked, falling back to a safe subject for both of us: books. Any tension that may have been lingering dissipated as Spencer's eyes lit up.

"Fascinating!" He started, and I settled myself against the counter a little more, perfectly happy to listen. After noticing my hearing aids, Spencer made sure to speak clearly when we conversed, and for the few brief moments I was with him, it was like my hearing had never started to degenerate at all.

"Psychohistory as a concept alone is fascinating, and when applied to a well developed futuristic universe it practically crafts the story by itself. The field itself only really became recognized when Lloyd deMause developed a formal approach to apply to the study of psychobiology, history, and social dynamics. Even that was fairly recently; deMause is still an influential figure in the field today."

Without fail, whenever Spencer stopped in, I learned something. The information, the passion with which he presented it, everything down to his soft, first-year philosophy professor look had me longing to go back to school. Listening to Spencer teach, whether it was conscious or not on his part, was like sips of water in the desert.

Not for the first time I wondered what he did for work. He was skittish about the subject, the first time I asked he dodged the question, and any time the conversation had neared the subject again he'd start to clam up, avoid eye contact, and worry at his bag or cardigan sleeve.

If he doesn't want to talk about it he doesn't want to talk about it, I reasoned finally. Lord knows there's enough secret jobs in this city, why would he take a break from work for coffee just to talk about work with a random barista?

So I had dropped the subject, and our talks flowed around books and philosophy and whatever tidbits of trivia were on his mind that day.

Unfortunately, our discussion was brought to a quick conclusion when another customer entered, sending the bell above the door swinging with an annoying tone that ensured I always had a low-level headache.

I stood and exchanged a small wave with Spencer. Even the way he waved, hand low, arm tucked into his side, made me smile. When he left he was careful not to rip the door open, the bell barely moved as he slipped away. 

We continued like that for a time, but as fall turned towards winter, I found myself struggling to get out of bed in the morning. Exhaustion weighted my limbs before I even got to work, and even the heaviest concealer couldn’t cover the bruise-like shadows beneath my eyes. Whereas before I would tidy the shop during lulls, I now had to pause to catch my breath after rushes, as if every customer took what little energy I had with them. My Spencer radar didn’t go off for days at a time, sometimes almost an entire week would pass before he would stop in. I felt foolish for looking forward to a regular so much, but I couldn’t help myself. I enjoyed his company, even though I knew he probably didn’t give me a second thought once he was outside the shop doors. 

It had been one of the longer stretches since Spencer visited when I woke up in the middle of the night, head aching and throat raw. 

It was bound to happen eventually, I thought, dragging myself across my studio apartment and getting a glass of water. Even the simple liquid hurt to swallow.

I winced and returned to bed, grabbing my phone. Flipping it open, I navigated to the two numbers I needed and sent a message to my bosses for both the coffee shop and the diner. Surely they couldn’t begrudge me a single sick day.

Attempting another sip of water, I burrowed back into my blankets and slipped into a restless sleep.

Spencer

A few hours later, in another part of the city…

Spencer found mornings difficult, especially since he was left only with crappy sixth floor coffee until lunch. The team had handled back to back cases that left him drained and a pile of files towering on each member’s desk. 

“Morning,” Morgan greeted as his younger associate stepped off the elevator. Spencer gave him a noncommittal noise and a nod, beelining for the bullpen’s coffee maker.

Prentiss glanced up, sharing a look with Morgan, and they both shrugged. 

“I don’t know how you can drink this stuff,” Prentiss said, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. “Why don’t you just stop for coffee before you come in?”

Spencer kept his eyes on the cup into which he was stirring spoonful after spoonful of sugar. 

“I go out for coffee in the afternoon,” he replied evenly. Prentiss and Morgan exchanged another look, with the other man joining Prentiss and Spencer at the counter.

“Yeah, we noticed,” he said. “Must be really good coffee, in the years you’ve worked here you never used to go further than the cafe at the corner.”

Prentiss nodded in agreement. “And yet, you haven’t been there in two, three weeks, have you?”

Spencer turned, coffee held close to his chest as he looked between his coworkers.

“I thought there was a permanent moratorium on inter-unit profiling,” he frowned, lips drawn together in a slight pout.

“Not profiling,” Prentiss smiled.

“Just observing,” Morgan agreed.

“Hmph,” Spencer huffed, heading for his desk.

“So you're gonna take your favorite coworkers to your new go-to coffee spot?” Morgan called after him.

“I dunno,” Spencer replied, flipping open the first pile of his stack. “I’ll ask Hotch and JJ.”

“Oooh,” Morgan clutched a hand to his chest, as if injured, face drawn in overdramatic pain. “That hurts, Pretty Boy.”

The target of his teasing, however, was already working through the file before him. Morgan sighed, no more excuse available to keep him from doing the same.

At precisely 2:15pm, Spencer stood and gathered his things. He could feel Morgan and Prentiss studying him as he unclipped the gun holstered on his hip and carefully set the weapon in his bag. Slinging the strap over his head he settled it on his opposite shoulder, grabbed his scarf, and looped it around his neck.

“Off for coffee?” Prentiss asked, tone dripping with innocence.

“Yup,” Spencer replied shortly. “See you in a bit.”

“See ya,” she replied.

As the elevator doors slid shut before him, Spencer watched Prentiss slide her chair over to Morgan’s desk. They ducked their heads together, undoubtedly gossiping about Spencer’s mysterious new favorite coffee shop.

They were surprised, then, when he returned in almost half the usual time with no coffee in hand.

“Hey, kid,” Morgan leaned towards the small wall separating their desks. “You didn’t let our teasing stop you from getting your coffee, did you?”

“What?” Spencer looked up, as if Morgan had interrupted him in deep thought. Morgan raised one thick eyebrow. 

“Where’s your coffee?” Morgan asked. Spencer frowned slightly.

“Didn’t feel like it today.”

Morgan glanced towards Prentiss, who tilted her head. He raised and dropped one shoulder.

There was no way they could know that Spencer had hurried a few blocks down from the office, whether subconsciously speeding his steps or not. Neither Morgan nor Prentiss could realize the way Spencer looked through the window to the counter, ready to smile at the sight of a blonde barista with a tall mocha in her hand. They couldn’t know the way his stomach dropped and shoulders drooped when there was no bright blonde with a ready smile and sparkling hazel eyes behind the counter that day. Instead there was a stranger, a young man with annoyance written on his face. A cloud passed in front of the weak fall sun and before Spencer realized it he was walking back to the BAU. His mind was far away, wondering what would cause a break in such a strict routine. 

He hadn’t known Katie very long, but she was friendly, and she listened—really listened—when he spoke. She was so different from his world, so unusual, and yet so absolutely normal. There was much he knew about her: her determination, her punishing schedule, her devotion to cheerfulness, but there was so much more he didn’t know and wanted to find out, if only out of an academic curiosity to understand how and why she did what she did. Why she seemed to perk up when she spotted him on the sidewalk outside, why she let him ramble on far after anyone else would have told him to shut up. 

And why, why wasn’t she at the coffee shop?

Because she has a life, the little voice inside his head mocked. Because you are a customer who is nice to her and it is her job to keep you coming back for overpriced DC coffee.

Shaking his head, Spencer tried to put her from his mind and steeled himself for the inevitable tag team teasing that Morgan and Prentiss would subject him to.

Katie

I groaned curses at the sun as it found a gap in my curtains, slicing through my dark room as easily as any blade. 

Rolling over, the red LEDs of my clock told me it was far past time to attempt a shower and food, sick or not. I couldn’t really afford to be so late with my meds, but I hoped perhaps it would be an okay day and I could slip a few extra hours past my vertigo.

No such luck. I sat up slowly and the room tipped around me. It was a combination of floating and spinning while drunk, and it sent me stumbling to the bathroom on flimsy legs. It was like I had downed a bottle of jack and chased it with that soda from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory that made people fly. 

I almost overshot the toilet but an iron grip on the cold porcelain kept me anchored as I heaved. There was nothing to throw up, but my body hadn’t gotten the message. Nearly twenty minutes passed before I allowed myself to slump back on the tile floor, sweat sticking hair to my forehead and the back of my neck. 

It was like I was on a teacup ride at the fair and it was slow at the moment, but could speed up again at any moment. I just prayed I’d be able to handle it when it did.

Somewhere in the other room my phone buzzed. I hadn’t thought to grab it in my mad rush for the bathroom, and at the moment I didn’t think I had the strength to retrieve it. It wasn’t hard to run through the people who might be contacting me. The only options were one of my bosses or Liz, and I didn’t feel like talking to them at the moment.

You can’t just isolate yourself when things get hard.

The voice in my head sounded a lot like my therapist from school. I sighed deeply, frustrated and tired, tipping my head back to rest on the glass around my shower.

“Right, shower,” I muttered. That was what I had originally intended to do when I got up. Moving slowly and carefully, breathing to steady myself, I flopped into the small tub and turned the shower on full spray, letting the water pepper across my skin.

Eventually I stripped off the tank top and shorts I had slept in, leaving them in a sodden heap near the drain, and grabbed the soap, scrubbing myself until the water started to run cold. After I was clean and all the soap suds had swirled down the drain I shut off the water and cautiously stood, white-knuckling the support bar I had installed in the shower after my first fall. 

The room didn’t want to stay still, but it had stopped rotating enough for me to step out of the shower, make my way to the towel rack, and wrap myself in a large, fluffy towel. 

Water dripped from my body as I padded out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, leaving wet footprints trailing the wooden floor behind me. I pulled a frosty gatorade from my fridge and a sleeve of saltines from my cabinet. Setting the sustenance on my bedside table, I dried off enough to keep my sheets dry and climbed back into bed, not bothering with pajamas this time.

Thankfully, I was able to keep some of the bland crackers and alarmingly blue liquid down. I downed my medication and sunk back into my pillows, even the little I had accomplished that day taking all my energy. 

Hopeful that I’d wake with the cold gone and my meds working, I began to doze, and the dozing deepened into a dreamless sleep.

My one sick day stretched into two, then three. Fighting one disease was hard enough, and it intensified even the smallest infection from an annoyance into a massive burden. On the third day my phone rang. The conversation with my boss from the diner was quick and professional. I understood that he needed reliable employees, but I had hoped the fact that I was never late and always gave as much notice as possible for my sick days as possible would buy me some leeway.

Apparently not.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I snapped my phone shut.

It’s okay, I reasoned. I can pick up more shifts at the cafe and the bar. They’ve always paid better anyway.

Resting my head against the wall I studied my ceiling.

“What do I do, mom?” I whispered, closing my eyes.

“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.”

Emily Dickinson had been one of my mother’s favorites, and it was her voice I heard.

Right, I thought, steeling myself. What doors haven’t I tried yet?

Dragging my laptop onto my lap took more effort than perhaps it should have, but I managed it. 

Scholarships. 

Now that I had a full time work record to back me up, I might qualify for more money. And if I qualified for enough I could take the next step, instead of being stuck running in circles trying to earn enough over three jobs to pay for college by myself.

The sun had long since set on my third sick day when I finally shut my laptop and let sleep claim me once more. I now had a small spark of something to go with the stubborn determination my mother had instilled in me: hope.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

WhatsApp? Part 12. (Steve Rogers x reader)

Description: You’ve never been lucky with guys. You just wanted to catch someone’s eye, to be loved. One day, that’s about to turn completely - with one fake, completely imagined number a guy gave you

A/N: Here we go for the first time.

Word Count: 2.6 K

Warnings: Full of nervousness.

Tagging: @missdictatorme, @songforhema, @mikariell95, @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

Read the rest here: Part One  Part Two  Part three  Part four  Part five  Part Six  Part seven  Part eight  Part nine  Part ten  Part eleven

If you like to have your readings in order :):  H E R E  

"You've told something to him?" - You looked Bucky in the eyes with a serious frown. You almost exploded after you hung up on Steve's call.

Steve Rogers asked you out after soon to be six months of testing. You were out of your mind. The wanted to go fucking out with you on a date. You immediately called to Deena and she was excited as well, she told Bucky in the next few seconds because he was apparently staying over at her place.

"He finally got his thoughts together." - You heard Bucky yell. The excitement was shaded by a little frown. Was this Bucky's work? Did he nudge Steve to do that? That was the question you were thinking about the whole night. So naturally, when James drove Deena to the office, that was the first thing you asked. You basically jumped at him.

"What? No. I didn't do anything." - Bucky smiled with all of his nonchalance. You were sure that he's lying. One hundred percent sure. You began to know his expression when he was there almost every day. Even Peter befriended him by the course of the time. And when you texted Peter those exciting news, even he thought that James worked some behind the scenes magic.

"Yeah. Right. If you've told him anything, you can tell me." - You said with a slight furrow. Bucky smiled widely again.

"I just encouraged him. That's all that I've done. A slight friendly help." - Bucky answered and took another bite from his plum. He already gave you yours - so you two just stood in the middle of the office and chew on plums while talking. You were waiting for some papers the other girls will give you to work the economic accountant magic with them.

"I hope you didn't make him do it. Because then it would be really cringy." - You raised your eyebrows. Then the door to your office opened and May with Peter was coming in. Peter had a day off of school, so May told him to come over. He liked to do some paperwork to help you and the other girls.

Although Peter was a seriously chaotic person, he was good with papers. He found paperwork pretty fun. He waved at your and James, having his back lazily over his shoulder and he was grinning like an idiot.

"What you're doing here? You're having a crush talk or what? I can discuss with you." - Peter finished your circle of losers and he got a plum himself from Bucky as well.

"You do, youngling?" - Bucky raised his eyebrows playfully. You just nodded with a serious face, finishing your first plum. You were sure that Bucky will restock his supplies the very same evening and you'll have two others.

"Oh yeah, he does. Our Lil' Pete can talk for hours about his Liz." - You nudged his side. Peter looked at May, he was horrified that she could've heard something, but he exhaled loudly when he was sure that May is still oblivious about Liz.

"Shut the hell up, dude. May would larb to tell everybody then." - Peter held your shoulder tightly and rolled his eyes.

"Should I say it louder then?" - You teased Peter and everyone giggled when Peter tensed for a minute. - "Come, dummydumdum. We'll go through some archives. I need to find some financial report from the last quarter." - You bobbed your head in the direction of the archive room and smiled at James as you left him in the middle of the room with a swift conversation.

You were really grateful to Buck for what he has done in the end. He was a good friend to both you and Steve.

---

The evening when Steve was about to leave for your date, he was worse than a mother who had her first child. He matched together a few outfits, freaked out as hell and talked faster then Eminem rapped.

"Should I take a tux or not, should I go formally dressed or should I go just..." - Steve mumbled to himself and Sam watched him intensely ever tho he had an opened newspaper with a seriously interesting article, but let's be honest - this was way funnier.

Sam was sad about Bucky being absent. This would make Bucky laugh so much. So Sam had to keep his eyes opened to remember every little detail so he could tell Bucky.

"Should I use cologne?" - Steve stopped all of a sudden, shirtless with his hands on his hips and a frown, looking directly at Sam.

"Yo talkin' to Mr. Match Maker?" - Sam pointed at himself and Steve nodded with an innocent frown. He was so pure it hurt. - "So yo talkin' to me. Let me see what ya have in stock." - Sam stood up from his chair, entering Steve's room slowly, licking his lips.

He watched Steve's outfits like a fashion disaster. This old man had a funny idea of being seductive or sexy. Sam looked at Steve with a question in his eyes but Steve just shrugged his shoulders.

"Ya don't mean any of this seriously, do ya?" - Sam asked with a smile. Steve frowned even more at that point. - "Man, I'll teach ya somethin', alright? These would maybe impressed ladies back in your day, but now it's the 21st century. You're a handsome, well-built hunk. Don't be afraid of showing some of dat meat to your girl." - Sam opened Steve's not so huge wardrobe without asking, taking one specific shirt out.

Yeah, Steve took some shirts out, but those were terrible. This one was sewed from a silky material, it was in the shade of a dark ocean blue and it made Steve seriously appeal like the biggest trophy in the game. It was a bit lose around Steve's shoulders, but tight around his waist and hips, bringing attention to it.

"Are you sure about this one?" - Steve asked and he was not entirely convinced by Sam's devilish grin.

"Are ya blind? Look at it, boy. This is your key to her heart and her panties." - Sam gave him the shit to Steve. His face was deadly serious at that moment because he didn't catch that it's a joke from Sam.

"Sam, I don't it's appropriate to talk about this stuff right now." - Steve mumbled with a dead face.

"I'm joking, ya moron. But don't you try to make an idiot out of me. You thought about that nasty shit. Ya a man, so don't ya try to play that saint card on me." - Sam laughed and fetched him old jeans which were practically worn out. They used to be from Wrangler, but at that point, you could probably easily miss it.

"And wear those. Just nudge the shirt inside on the front, let it be a bit loosed around the hips and that's that. Let the magic of your charisma work. You'll be good." - Sam patted his friend's shoulder and went to the table again. Steve was redder than some bio tomato at that point of the conversation.

He would not say it out loud at any costs. Of course, he had thought about you in that sense. In the sexual one, of course. You were sweet, unintentionally racy and sexy in his eyes. For example, when you were sending him some selfies from the bed, all messed up, your hair fell out of the bun, your lips curled in a smile, sun shining on your skin.

In his opinion, that was way better than some Maxim or Playboy full of those models who did it mostly for the money. You were natural, so... Normal and yet you didn't stop to take his breath away.

"You didn't answer my question." - Steve leaned into the doorframe and Sam raised his eyes up from the newspaper while drinking some black coffee. - "Should I wear some cologne?"

"I don't know. Maybe a bit of aftershave water or balm, that smell usually goes well with the ladies, but I'm not entirely sure about that cologne. That can be a bit too much for now." - Sam answered honestly without thinking.

"And are flowers still a thing these days?" - Steve asked before he left the room completely. Sam had a poker face at that moment.

"Ya know. We are barbarians, on the first date, we take them out with a club and then we drag them to out the cave, ya nonchalant ass prince. Was that question even necessary? We, as real men, value our women. Flowers are still a real thing.” - Sam answered unbelievable tone of his voice. 

“Flowers, okay.” - Steve nodded and pointed at Sam when he slowly closed the door to his bedroom so he could calmly dress. 

---

You were a lot of more ok that poor Steve. For you, it wasn't the first date from the century ago like it was for him. To be fair, you dated two years ago for the last time and that guy was a dick to say at least. He acted like a complete idiot with no sense for public opinion whatsoever. And he came dressed like a fucking Texas cowboy.

You were sure that this will be different. But nobody could stop you from being at least partially worried. You stood in front of your mirror in a loose black blouse, jeans that reached your waist and some boots on slight platformed high heels and you looked at yourself with a frown. Was it showing too much for his taste or should you show something more? The slight valley showing your cleavage being pushed up was pretty visible, but nothing more could be seen. Only your naked shoulders.

Some scenarios crossed your mind - what if he takes you to the church? That was the most obvious bullshit you could come up with, but you were worried about your shoulders and jeans not being accepted in that scenario. Or a fancy restaurant? Or... Your head was full of what-if plans which were totally shitty, but you just couldn't stop yourself from thinking about them.

Let me say one thing as the narrator as I am, girl, you were looking burning hot. Trust me, I'm into girls, I can judge those things. Only you knew which makeup suits you the most, your hairstyling was absolutely adorable and you looked like a cute little bean.

Even girls in your group chat confirmed it. And Deena's text could be count as two because of course, she had shown Bucky. They sent a selfie back - they were eating grapes, not plums for this instance, Deena had a creepy black facemask on and she even made Bucky wear one. His was the typical white one; but while Deena looked like a demon, he had his typical big smile on and those blue eyes were piercing you even through the display, his hair somehow messily.  She overall made him do such girly things, whether he did it willingly or not.

But their compliment made you flattered and confident as you texted them back in a short text. Maybe that's why the bell surprised you as much as it did. Steve was there physically, standing in front of your house, waiting for you. That made your head stop for a second. Steve, a real one, was just waiting outside for you to come down. 

It was your completely first time seeing him, seeing his face and his overall look just as he was, you were about too see just him and nothing else. Just the way you’ve sighed and drooled about the whole time; the thing you’ve imagined for so long was just at the gasp of your fingers. The battle was on and you had no intentions to lose it. 

You felt strangely numb when you checked your apartment for the last time and then locked your door. It was the jitters hugging you everywhere on your body, that made your fingers tremble and breath to be stuck more and more. The last steps felt like the biggest hell because it was so close that you could just hold your hand, opened the front door and opened them up.

You were acting like a child, just about to slap yourself to concentrate and behave like the adult you are. So you opened the door up and let me say - he was huge. It made you shocked, surprised. You just stood there for a few seconds, watching the enormous silhouette of his back.

Even this man’s back was impressive as hell, he was huge and truly muscly. Naturally, your eyes slowly fell down to his butt. And that butt was a really nice butt, round and nice to look at.

“So that's you? I am still not allowed to see your face?” - You laughed nervously and just as he heard your voice, Steve stopped to look around the street and turned his attention only to you.

You were much shorter and your body was gentle, just as you would expect with a woman’s body. You took his breath away for a few seconds. 

But you studied him with a frown. A huge puget of roses was the first thing you’ve noticed in his hands. But then you travelled higher and higher on his body. And when you saw the face for the first time, your jaw just dropped down in shock. 

That wasn't just some random Steve. Nor some random Steve Rogers. This was the Steve Rogers, the Captain America you’ve seen on so many news, on so many internet pages, his photos were everywhere. 

Well, that must've been destiny pulling a prank on you - a seriously not funny prank on you. You knew him from the many texts you’ve exchanged. He was a romantic, gentle soul, so well mannered man that it was almost unreal. You almost didn't understand the situation at all. So, was it him, Captain America, all the time, or was it just a coincidence. Maybe Steve Rogers was around the corner and Mr America was just waiting for that hot widow on the second floor? 

“I'm so sorry, Captain. I... I thought you were someone different.” - You stuttered, ready to go back to your flat, ready to let him leave. But his warm, huge hand gently touched your arm. 

His magical made you weak - he had a boyish, bright smile and baby blue eyes. You felt like a fangirl who encountered their idol. He was really beautiful when he was leaning forward to you, his hand was warm and gentle on your arm. Captain was handsome, he reminded you of Adonis, the Greek god himself. 

You couldn't find the words to describe him at all. Captain looked like a man, but he had the energy of a boy in him. But somehow, even though he was tall and huge, he was so warm and nice, it just shined from his eyes. You liked him.

“I'm pretty sure you’re the one who am I waiting for.” - He stopped you from going back inside, making you close your eyes and giggle as you definitely closed the door, stepping on a socially acceptable distance from his body.

“So you’re Captain America.” - Your cheeks reddened and you covered your face in your palms. You giggled like hell. - “Oh my God.”

[tetrakys]

Memories lost, Memories found - Armin

This ended up being way longer than expected, and I am not sure I am ever going to write about Armin again, it’s painful and this took everything I had from me.

First, read the Intro here.

I looked around the square trying to get my bearings. This had probably been a stupid idea. After the longest and most uncomfortable bus trip ever, I didn’t even know Armin’s precise address. That night at the Snake Room Alexy had blurted out just the name of the town and neighbourhood. I looked at my phone biting my lower lip pensively… I had only two options, call Alexy and ask for his brother’s full address or give up and go back home.

I wasn’t sure Alexy was willing to talk though, after what had happened between him and Rosa I didn’t know where we stood. However, I was willing to beg. I knew exactly what was waiting for me back home, uncertainty and drama. I had been almost on the verge to offer my heart and body to someone just a couple of days ago, and now… now I wondered if there was anything left to offer at all. I had already given both to someone else a long time ago.

I was just about to look up Alexy’s number when something caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks in front of a gaming shop, a sign hanging on the door:

‘Last One Standing tournament TONIGHT!’

Armin loved this game. I remembered the hours spent playing together in his room, we both had a serious competitive streak. We could spend the whole day just playing and eating take out. Sometimes… well, many times, the passion we put in the game turned into something else and we ended up getting distracted for a while. Had there ever been happier days than those when all I needed was my laptop, a slice of cold pizza and him?

I pushed the door and walked into the shop. A brief conversation with the sales assistant confirmed that the competition was about to start but I was just in time to join the if I wished to. Mostly, he was probably surprised, usually there weren’t many hardcore girl players. At least not many respects to the sheer number of male players anyway. I payed my entrance fee and headed to the basement.

Of course the competition was in a basement, or rather the ‘gaming den’ as he had called it. The place was very dark, and each gaming-station, there were about fifty of them, had everything any geek could hope for: state of the art gaming gear, energy drinks, snacks… also everything was positioned in a way to guarantee each player their own privacy for maximal concentration.

I only had a few minutes to set me up and log in. I froze when I got to the choose-your-nickname section, memories rushing over me.

 —–o—–

“Why do you always choose the same nickname?” Armin asked me, turning around in his desk chair.

“You are not very original yourself” I pointed out from his bed, “yours is always one of the Ninja Turtle’s names.”

“At least I have four to choose from depending on my mood, and it totally makes sense, the TMNTs are my spirit animals” he replied “you can’t deny how much we have in common” he grinned pointing at the half empty pizza box and his small collection of nunchakus and sai on the walls.

“I do see a resemblance…” I said with a fake pensive tone of voice. He threw a pillow at me that I easily dodged.

“I am serious though, you always use either Tetraktys or a misspelled version of it, what does it even mean?”

“The Tetraktys was a sacred metaphysical symbol for Pythagoras and his disciples” I explained, “You can see it as a geometrical representation of the number 10 as the fourth triangular number. It has many meanings and embraces in itself the harmony of the cosmos and the divine. It was seen as the image of perfection and, well, of course, it reminds me to aim to perfection in everything I do.” I grinned “the misspelling part is my way of pointing out that something imperfect can be perfect in its own way.”

He just looked at me for a few moments, then joined me on the bed. Hovering over me, his hands at each side of my head, eyes staring into mine “You do are perfect, you even educate me on ancient philosophy.”

I cupped his face with my hands “Happy to oblige” my lips drawing closer and closer to his.

  —–o—–

I shook my head to wake up from my daze, I didn’t have time to walk down memory lane. I wasn’t sure Armin was even in this room, but if he was I didn’t want to be too obvious. I wrote Tenn in the nickname space and chose my character. I picked Syberia, she was my favourite, very fast and perfect for long range shooting. The upside was that she usually wasn’t great for close quarters combats, but I knew her as the back of my hand and, in time, I had created my own fighting strategy.

Last One Standing was a game of strategy more than brute force. It consisted of three levels each one different but just as complicated as the others.

I waited for the first level to load. This part was about environment survival: the game loaded some kind of scenario for all players to face, it could be a jungle, an alien invasion, or something similar. Everyone had an hour to get to the safe zone, all players out of it at the end of the timer’s countdown were eliminated.

I stared at the screen, my heart beating fast, the list of players rolling in front of my eyes.

Tenn entered the area

Asterfox entered the area

Shaman entered the area

…

Other thirty or so names followed, then finally

Michelangelo entered the area

I knew it! It was him, it had to be him.

And now? It wasn’t like I had a proper plan, I had (possibly) found him which had been my goal all along, should I just get up and go talk to him? To say what? I wasn’t sure I would accomplish anything other than ruin his night.

I was still trying to figure out what to do, when the first level scenario loaded, and a very distinct memory came back to mind.

—–o—–

“Welcome to Zombie city, Candy” he said gesturing towards the screen, a few days after he had introduced me to the game for the first time.

“Yikes zombies! Disgusting things, I am going to kill them all!” I replied eagerly.

“You will do no such thing” his voice serious “the level starts with just a few of them here and there, but the longer it takes you to reach the safe zone, the more of them appear. At some point it’s going to get impossible to move forward unless you have incredible fire power, and even then, only reckless players or thrill seekers are going to choose that option. No, the smartest way to get to the safe zone is this.” He pointed to a specific route on the map that read ‘sewers’.

“You are kidding, right?” I replied dumbfounded.

“You don’t believe me?”

I shook my head. We teased each other half of the time, it wouldn’t be the first time he pulled something like this just to get a good laugh.

“Go on then, run through the city, collect weapons, try whatever you want and see how it goes.”

“You can be on it! It’s on!”

It was a disaster, I died in the first five minutes. The second time was even worse. Eventually, at some point, after many maaaaany attempts, I managed to get to the safe zone. But he was right, it wasn’t worth it, the fire power alone and the time it took was just too much.

“Fine!” I cried out, throwing the gamepad on the bed out of spite. “You were right, happy?”

“Immensely” he grinned with mischief “I do love the fact you spent most part of the night relentlessly trying until you made it though. I find it really sexy” he added with a glint in his eyes.

“How sexy?” I replied raising a highbrow, turning slowly towards him.

“Very.”

  —–o—–

I knew what to do.

As soon as the countdown started I headed straight for the sewers entrance. I could tell from the little red dots on the map that about seven other people had had the same idea. Once I got there I knew I had been right all along. The player called Michelangelo was there too, he had chosen Markus, a big tank who was great for hand to hand combat, but slightly slower than average without a boost. It was Armin’s favourite character and, if it wasn’t proof enough, he was wearing a blue beanie. The beanie was Armin’s good luck charm.

I stared at the screen like I was trying to drill a hole through it. We were together in the same room, but more than that we were in our element, playing together. I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought, we had to run, sewers were safer but not completely zombie-free.

My character was the fastest one in the group, so I was immediately in front of the pack. I was so focused on just running and surviving the first level that I didn’t notice the recess in the wall until the in-game chat lit up.

Michelangelo wrote: Watch out on your left!

I sidestepped the zombie at the very last moment, one millisecond later and it would have been on me. Given Syberia’s stats it would have been a real pain to get it off in such small quarters.

Tenn wrote: Thanks, it almost got me.

SpiderWeb wrote: Dude, shut up. Less competition in the final level.

Michelangelo wrote: Level 2 is team-up dumbass, any strong team needs a Syberia.

I knew how he felt about team stats, but I also knew that he was just a nice person. I was happy to see some things hadn’t changed.

SpiderWeb started replying obscenities, but dividing his attentions between two tasks was complicated. I chuckled between myself when I saw him being tackled by two zombies soon afterwards.

The next fifteen minutes became a frenzy of just running and dodging. I was a little rusty and risked getting caught a few other times. I hadn’t played in a while, now that I thought about it… I hadn’t played since our breakup. There wasn’t a specific reason why, I had loved the game in the past, but more than anything I had loved playing with him. At the end of the day it didn’t seem to make much sense to play without him. It just hurt.

After another couple of minutes, I managed to fall back into a familiar rhythm, I felt confident enough to start keeping an eye on Armin’s game. Markus wasn’t very fast without a boost, and there had been none to collect in the sewers to this point, so he couldn’t hope to dodge all the zombies like my character did, however he was very good at hand to hand combat. Also, Armin was a real pro at that, he could do miracles with just a pocket knife. I saw him pinning a zombie to the wall and stabbing it in the temple and, ten seconds later, kicking another one in the guts and stomping on its head.

Hot.

Soon after I reached the last turn, but stopped right before entering the safe zone. Level 2 was a co-op game, people who completed level 1 close to the same time ended up in the same group and had to survive it together. Groups were usually of around five or six players, so I had to be careful if I wanted to be sure to end up in the same group as Armin.

I had been chilling in front of the finish line for a couple of minutes when I saw him running towards it. When he crossed it, we did it together. A few seconds later my private chat lit up.

Michelangelo wrote: were you waiting for me?

Tenn wrote: I saw you playing back there, I wanted to make sure to team up with good players for the next round.

Michelangelo wrote: I’m flattered, I hope we end up in the same team, you’re not too bad yourself. Also, I’m partial to Syberia.

My heart skipped a beat, was it because the character reminded him of me?

—–o—–

“Come on Candy, are you ready? We don’t have the whole day.”

“Get in here if you are bored” I replied from the other side of the door, taking one last look at my reflection in the mirror. Tight brown leather trousers, dark green tank top that left part of my midriff exposed and knee-high military boots. I tied my long hair in a ponytail before setting aside the fake shotgun to open the changing room door and letting him in.

“Wow!” Armin looked me up and down with a glint in his eyes “you are every nerd’s wet dream. I’m not sure I should let you walk around Comicon dressed like this.”

“Please” I replied with a dismissive snort “there isn’t a single jealous bone in your body.” I turned back to the mirror and leaned forward to apply some lipstick. I should have probably been the one on the lookout, in that full military attire (bar the beanie) he made for a really dashing Markus.

He locked the door before coming to stand at my back, putting his hands on my hips.

“You’re the sexiest Syberia I have ever seen” he whispered in my ear “all those geeks on the other side of this wall can only dream abut touching you.” His hard chest pressed against my back, our eyes locked in the mirror. “But that’s the only thing they can do… dream.” Running his tongue from the bottom of my neck up to my ear, he caught my lob in his teeth.

“Armin…” I moaned “what are you doing… we don’t have time for this.”

His right hand came up to my breast, while his left one made its way down the hem of my pants.

“No one else can touch you Candy” he whispered, brushing against my sensitive spot, dragging a groan from deep in my throat. “Let me hear you say it.”

“No one can touch me” I shivered in his embrace, his fingers keeping their circling motion.

“Only me.”

“Only you.”

  —–o—–

Michelangelo wrote: I mean… It’s always useful to have a good sniper in your team.

Tenn wrote: Yes. Plus, Syberia is hot. Every nerd’s wet dream, right?

A part of me wanted to bait him, confuse him, make him wonder. I hadn’t talked to him in four years and now that we were finally here… I was kinda pissed. Fuck… was this my great plan? Catfish him?

Level 2 loaded, my plan had worked, Armin and I were on the same team. All players had been divided in small teams with randomly assigned names (we were The Eagles), and each had a mission that was either to protect a suitcase from another team or steal it from them. This time we were the protectors.

I smirked, I knew Armin would not be happy, he much preferred being on the offense side. I, on the other hand, was in my element and knew exactly what to do.

“Okay guys” un unknown voice spoke to my ear making me jump in my chair “let’s talk about this.”

Fuck… fuck fuck fuck!!! I had completely forgotten that this part of the game allowed for the players to communicate through their microphones. What was I going to do now? He was going to recognise me right away; four years wasn’t that long of a time to forget someone’s voice.

“Tenn should cover the area from the top of the building.” My heart skipped a beat, it was him! His voice… I would recognise it between thousands. “SpiderWeb should stay back and take out any enemy that manages to infiltrate the outpost. I am going to draw attention to myself at the entrance while GhostVoid and Silver take them out.”

I recognised the nicknames of some of the players who had been in the sewers with us. Damn… the idiot from before was here too.

“Who made you captain of the team, asshole?” SpiderWeb replied as expected.

“If you have a better idea I am all ears” Armin replied calmly.

“Yes I do, I don’t see why I should stay back and leave all the fun to you.”

“Michelangelo is right” a guy, Silver, replied. His character was Lilith, a little girl with pigtails and a huge axe. She was absolutely devastating but easily damageable, she needed a tank to take her hits and Markus was perfect. “Your character, Teslan, is a ninja assassin, he moves in the shadows and specialises in sneak attacks, he should stay inside and protect the target.”

“Teslan is also good for open attacks, let GhostVoid be at the back!”

“But it makes no sense!” GhostVoid cried “I’m a nuker!”

They fought about this for a while, in the end SpiderWeb begrudgingly accepted to wait inside.

“You haven’t said a word Tenn” Armin pointed out “are you okay with this strategy?”

Here it was, the moment of truth. I deepened my voice and replied. This was going to be a disaster.

“Syberia is a sniper so that’s fine with me.”

A few seconds went by.

“Wooooow are you a chick?!” Silver exclaimed.

“Great. A girl on the team. We are fucked.” SpiderWeb said in a monotone.

“Shut up idiot!” GhostVoid replied “I swear to God if we weren’t on the same team you would be dead by now.”

They kept bantering for a few more minutes while getting into position. The game started a few minutes later. I stood on the edge of our base rooftop, rifle in my hand, waiting for the attack.

“I’m sorry about SpiderWeb” Armin’s voice said to my ears on a private communication channel “he’s a real prick.”

“None taken, I’m used to idiots underestimating me because of my gender when I play” I smirked “It usually comes to bite them right in the ass.”

He laughed, the laugh I remembered so well and hit me in the heart. “I bet it does.”

Another pause. Everyone stood still and silent while we waited for the enemy’s arrival.

“You sound familiar Tenn… where are you from?”

I closed my eyes defeated… he was onto me, I knew it! When I opened them back I instantly noticed something that only I could, thanks to my higher vantage point.

“Guys at your back!”

An enemy’s Teslan was sneaking behind my teammates to infiltrate our base. He was just about to strike Armin’s back with a fatal blow when I shot him right in the eyes and killed him instantly. Soon after all hell broke loose. The whole enemy’s team rushed to meet us on the open field.

“Thank you Tenn, a second later and I would have been a goner” Armin said in our private channel while shielding Silver and fighting the opposite team’s tank at the same time. I checked his game with admiration, he really was a force to be reckoned with. When we were together seeing him play had always turned me on a little. I kept shooting enemies whenever I had a chance, but in the crazy melee it was impossible to get another deadly shot. I managed, however, to make a few hits that saved GhostVoid and Silver in more than one occasion.

“You are great” Armin said after I hit the guy he was battling with, dropping his life span “I’m really happy I have you on my team.”

“Thanks…”

“You didn’t reply to my previous question, are you from around here?” he asked.

“Something like that…” I replied evasively.

“What’s your name?”

“So many questions… are you hitting on me?”

“What if I were… I do like hot girl gamers” he said with a hint of mischief in his voice.

“How do you even know I am hot?” I asked trying to hide my nervousness.

“Your game is too good.”

“This… doesn’t make sense at all.”

In that moment I spotted SpiderWeb jumping in the fight.

“Dude, what the fuck!” GhostVoid cried “who is protecting the target now?!”

“Fuck that” SpiderWeb replied “it was boring as hell just watching you all play”

“Guys… there is a missing player in the other team” I said and quickly scanned the map “fuck there is someone in our base… they had another Teslan!”

I left there my long-shot rifle and rushed into the building armed only with a gun. I was the closest one to the target. From the headphones I could hear the voices of my team members arguing and accusing SpiderWeb who was running back trying to make it into the base. I tuned everyone out while running the remaining two flights of stairs.

The moment I got into the target area a ghastly scene presented in front of my eyes, the enemy’s second Teslan had just grabbed our suitcase and was running out of the room. If he made it out of the building we were done for.

I run after him to the hall of the building, I was never going to make it, so I stopped and took aim. Right when he was about to make it through the threshold I hit him in the back of his head, killing him instantly. A second later SpiderWeb entered the area and I shot him in the chest, killing him as well.

“Fuck!” he cried “you killed me!”

“Sorry” I replied with zero conviction “I got confused between Teslans.”

“The hell you did, bitch! You did it on purpose!”

“Mind your words, you useless prick. Another breath and I am going to have you kicked out of this place forever.” Armin replied seemingly calm but with a very cold tone. “We have won, no thanks to you, just shut up and be grateful.”

I looked at the stats and saw that he was right, while I was dealing with the target the team had managed to take out all the remaining enemies. We had won. I sighed of relief and slumped in my chair, closing my eyes.

Now the final level… all against all… no complicated rules here, the game was called Last One Standing for a reason. Looking at the screen I saw that the other battles had also ended, there were three winning teams and, since all players of a winning team moved to the final stage, there were fifteen people left in the game. Which was starting again in five minutes.

“Nice shot” Armin’s voice said, coming from my headphones.

“Thank you, but I was also lucky, the guy was almost out of the base.”

“I am talking about the one that offed SpiderWeb, but the other one was great too” I could picture the smirk on his face.

“Well… he wasn’t wrong, I can really be a bitch sometimes.”

“He deserved it, and I like this ruthless mean streak of yours. Is that how you act in real life too?” he asked.

“Tsk tsk… why do you keep asking me so many questions?”

“I’m interested.” He was serious, no hint of laughter in his voice.

“You shouldn’t be” I murmured guiltily “I’m a mess.”

“I like a challenge” he said self-confident.

“Why don’t we make this more interesting?” he said after a pause “whoever wins this can ask the other one a question.”

“Why should I agree to this?” I asked with a snort.

“Think about it. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

I thought about it for a moment. There were so many things I wanted to know. What was his life now, if he ever thought about me… if he had moved on.

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

In that moment the game restarted and I run to take cover. “Deal” I said, before disappearing from the starting area. I run around for a little while deciding what to do.

There were 15 players, the best and safest option was to hide for a while and let them murder each other until there were just a few of them left. The setting was a post-apocalyptic city and, in a street, I found an abandoned building that looked promising. There was no map in this level and I couldn’t see where the everyone was, the only indication of the state of the game was the players count on the side of the screen and the announcement that appeared anytime a player was taken out and by whom.

I got in the building and ended up face to face with a someone right away. So much for the idea of the place being empty I thought. He must have been even more surprised than I was because, gun already in my hand, I managed to shoot him killing him immediately. The count went down by one and the message ‘Asterfox was killed by Tenn’ appeared on the right side of the screen.

I paused for a second, checking if anyone else was in the area and, when no one came out to kill me, I went upstairs and, laying on the rooftop, bracing my rifle, I waited while looking at the street below me. I had no intention of drawing attention to myself, so I was going to shoot only if I was sure I had a perfect chance for an instant-kill.

With that strategy I managed to take out another couple of players. After fifteen minutes there were only six left. Soon after the message ‘SpiderWeb was killed by Michelangelo’ appeared on the screen. I smirked, five to go.

“Where are you Tenn?” said Armin’s voice to my ear, our private channel still open.

“Like I am going to tell you” I snorted.

“Nah, that’s good. I like the chase” laughter in his voice, “some things are worth fighting for.”

I drew my breath feeling like I had been suckerpunched.

—–o—–

I was on the bed, laying on my side and hugging my knees to my chest. I was so tired… my eyes were red and swollen, having been crying for the past hour. Since our phone call.

“I am tired Armin” I had said “I don’t feel close to you anymore.”

Last time I had seen him had been three months before, when he had managed to visit me for a weekend.

“You are the one who left Candy. I am trying here, I really am. You are the one who is always busy either with school or new friends” he sounded defeated, we both were. This wasn’t the first time we were having that discussion. “Maybe some things are not meant to be and not worth fighting for.”

After those words I knew it was going to be the last.

  —–o—–

“What do you mean?” I asked him, my voice barely shaking.

“That I learned the hard way when it’s time to give up.”

Hot rage washed over me. In that moment I saw him running below my outpost and went for the kill. I really hadn’t thought it through because the position was completely off and I missed him by a long shot. That, however, had been enough to alert him of my position.

“Gotcha!” I saw him running towards my building. I had to leave the roof immediately.

I had just made it down the stairs when he barged into the building and, a moment later, we were both standing there, our guns pointed to each other.

“Well…” he said chuckling “isn’t this a classic case of Mexican standoff. Really funny.”

“Funny?” I barked “nothing funny about it.”

“Oh yes, very funny indeed, because whatever happens to this point on, I have already won.”

“W-what?”

“Yes, if I shoot and kill you, I can ask you whatever I want. If you kill me, you can ask me whatever you want, effectively achieving my goal of having a conversation face to face with you. So winning in the end doesn’t really matter anymore. I would love to be the one running the show though, so I am going to try to win this anyway.”

“Would you throw away the whole competition?” I replied with poison in my voice, “the moment you shoot me I am out of here, and you still have other three people to take before winning the game.”

“I don’t care. As I said, some things are worth fighting for.”

Picking up a stranger girl in a game yes, but me? Not me.

“Well, maybe there’s nothing worth for me here” I pointed my gun at my own temple. “Goodbye Armin” I said, and shoot.

The moment my screen went black I was gathering my things and running out of the shop as fast as I could.

I heard a “Shit!” at my back but didn’t bother turning around. I knew I had surprised him, no one had killed the other, I didn’t owe him any fucking conversation whatsoever.

I got drenched as soon as I stepped out of the shop, it was raining, almost storming. I didn’t know what to do or where to go, I just knew I had to make as much space between me and the man who had given up on me. The man who I loved and who hadn’t found me worth of his time since a long while ago.

“Candy, stop!”

And like a magic spell, I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. We were at the opposite ends of a narrow alley, it was so dark and the rain so heavy that I could barely see two feet in front of me. But I could hear his steps while approaching me. A few moments later, I raised my head and saw him standing in front of me.

Armin was exactly like I remembered him, except well… wetter. Taller and broader than one would expect anyone spending most of his days sitting in front of a pc. His black thick hair was a little longer than before, and were now plastered down to his face by the rain, and his eyes… in the dark I couldn’t see their colour, but I could never forget that deep blue I had lost myself in so many times.

We just stared at each other for a moment.

“Why are you here, Candy?” he said breathless.

“Neither of us won, I don’t have to tell you anything” I replied trying to turn around and leave, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me closer to him.

“Why did you come here?” he repeated “Don’t run away again goddammit.”

“I didn’t run away in the first place, you were the one who gave up on us”, I started to cry, luckily the rain was masking my tears.

“We both did. You had your new life and I was standing in your way. I was in a bad place because of my family and my crazy hacking. I wasn’t strong enough… but I am now.”

I stood there in the rain, with no idea of what to do or what to say.

“Why are you here?”

“Because… I had to know.”

“Know what?”

“How I felt about you.”

“And…?”

“It doesn’t matter” I forced myself to reply, “it’s been four years, you never came back for me.”

“You didn’t either.”

“I just did!” I cried.

“So, you are here to get back together.”

I tried to reply in protest, but his mouth came onto mine with strength, he started kissing me with a passion and ardour I hadn’t felt in so many years. He pushed me against a wall and caged me between his strong arms. His chest pressing against mine.

“I knew it was you from the moment I heard your voice” he said in between kisses “I suspected it even before, the way you play… I could recognise you anywhere, behind any mask.”

He kept kissing me and I realised I hadn’t done anything to stop him.

“When I play that game… part of me does it to feel closer to you. I see you behind every Syberia, I remember all the times we played together, all times we were together…”

He grabbed me by the back of my thighs and raised me so that my eyes were now aligned to his, and my legs around his waist.

“You left but the memory of you never did. I love you Candy, I never stopped and never will.”

Now I was the one kissing him with all I got. I put my hands under his shirt, I had to feel his warmth, to feel him.

“I love you too.”

“There’s no going back from this Candy, you’re mine” he said serious.

“I’ve always been…” then added “And you are mine.”

“Forever” he replied, staring me right in the eye.

My hands on his cheeks I stared back at him, “Forever.”

Then I kissed him again, for what would be the first of many, many times.

-----------

Edit: After a prompt request I ended up writing a NSFW sequel for this, you can find it here

[hellobengski]

In Another World: Japan 2019

Maybe to love is to learn – and learning Japan for quite some time is just beautiful with all its chaotic yet fulfilling desire at heart.

December is the season for family and friends and having to spend it another country again is different – a very memorable one. It is such a good grace of embracing new culture from a 5 hour trip  away from home – living a temporary life, what it’s like to live in a world where everything seemed to be provided. The place itself is an art, where you can experience the calmness of the streets although I had to enjoy the freezing weather in which I was forced to wear almost four layers of clothing, including multiple heat packs to keep us going along the way. Nevertheless, Japan has its own way of welcoming you to the best possible ways it could offer, making exceptional memories of more than a dream.

Japan is in the top of my bucket list yet the very least to make it happen when I was younger. Given that it’s expensive, it requires you to apply for visa in which chosen people are only given the opportunity to process it. Maybe timing wasn’t for us then hence watching anime films was an alternative way to feel it. Japanese characters itself with perfectly triangular shaped faces used to be my hidden desire, like there’s something mystical about their personalities. And maybe timing could be right too. It could be right when the High Power allows you – specifically when you’re ready.

I have no idea what to hate in a place where it appears to be perfect. Utopia, as what they say. I went with a group of twenty people with various ages and personalities so there were two things that needed to be considered in this trip; to conform and to be patient. I have watched some documentaries, travel vlogs, and even movies like Hachiko to prepare myself with an expectant heart.

From there, I know Japan would lead us to wander and be lost.

Upon arriving in Japan, our group was picked up by huge sized black colored van including drivers who were definitely dressed well with their coat and tuxedo. We were late. And there is something wrong with that. It’s a bad Impression for Japanese people to be late since time is valuable – unless you have reasonable excuses. The tension was starting to fire up so I decided to apologise. The family did too. During the one-hour travel from Narita Airport to the first place where we stayed, I was mesmerized. The overwhelming emotions from visual presentations turned into reality. Maybe this is love, like seeing a person for the first time letting your head turn into 360.

Fallen leaves, chirping crows, and whistling of the winds. So this is winter – I have never felt this in my life. It surprised me as I was enjoying the giant automatic buildings. We toured several of Tokyo’s places, all of which had their own unique culture.

I experienced the towering skyscrapers and offices of Shinjuku and the shopping and pop culture of Harajuku. I learned how diverse Tokyo was: three blocks from the Tokyo Skytree, an observation tower that symbolizes Japan’s cutting-edge technology; Asakusa, an ancient Buddhist shrine where people prayed under enormous red lanterns and burnt incense for their ancestors. I noticed that this dramatic juxtaposition between the old and the new is what most characterized Japan: pop culture and technology contrasted yet blended with traditional customs and culture. While polar opposites of each other, these two aspects of Japan coexisted in perfect harmony. I believe that harmony sends an important message: you do not need to disregard the old in order to embrace the new. It is possible to honor and accept both.

And the bikes were electronic. I grew up learning how to ride a bike but never got the chance to do it in Japan. Maybe if I was just a solo traveler, I could use it to explore the clean roads.

Every train is a safe space.

With Haruki Murakami’s novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, fragments of imagination have conveyed my emotions to become a fan of train stations. I have seen some parts of myself through Tsukuru, how darkness made him feel as an empty person, lacking in color and identity. He was real to me. From millions of people that passed through me, he could’ve been there. That’s when I started to love the train stations even more.

They are always on time– and of course, a delay of even just one minute will result in profuse apologies from the conductor. Train stations are always staffed with employees who are ready to answer your questions and do so very well. Though we weren’t able to ride city buses, I believe they’re also great though I wasn’t sure if we can pay their fares with the same card we used to ride the train.

I have seen people coming in and out of the trains, like every person has its own story of why they needed to ride the train. On Tuesday, I remember some old man trying to stop his son from crying. On Friday night, I smelled ginger flavored beer from Japanese employees who just got off from work from Shibuya station. I liked the smell, it didn’t make me feel that I was in danger. Probably weekends are for Filipinos, like Saturday, who came all the way from Grandberry mall outlet to purchase almost half price of some original brands that are dying for.

It is just solely convenient. There were convenience stores that are open 24 hours a day and you can simply find one just about anywhere. We found some food, basic toiletry items and magazines. Another thing that’s a go-to in Japan is the vending machines. Vending machines are even more common than convenience stores, and you can find one by just walking a block or two. Most of them just sell drinks like water, coffee, tea, juice and soda. They’re usually quite cheap (100 yen at the cheapest), and you can get them hot in the winter or cold in the summer.

I personally bought drinks from vending machines almost all the time and they were worth it. And the food, oh the food. Japanese don’t have the highest life expectancy in the world for no reason. Never in my life have I tasted the best apple pie in the world until Japan let me. From its first bite down to last, it was beyond my ultimatum. No words could express it.

Even so with Ramen after a whole exhausting day, the warm soup with its perfect texture of noodles satisfied us. I believe that every food regardless if it’s in the streets or in a luxurious restaurant was served with love. They would want to make you feel like you deserve to be well treated with a quality of food that they could offer you.

Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language but in Japan, it has brought me to both --- tranquility and complexity. The demeanor of place demanded me to breathe. It gave me the power of wanting to be alone, looking back to nostalgic feelings that I felt and decisions I have made in my life.

Until another Utopian world took me to the fun and excitement part --- Tokyo’s Disneysea, the most brilliant story world’s ever created: a living ode to Walt Disney’s love for storytelling, world-building, and lovable characters. You see, Disney isn’t just made of Story Worlds – it’s also a story world in itself, and its star is Mickey remains the most iconic character ever drawn. Mickey belongs exclusively to the world of Disney; his presence invokes the idea that all of these smaller story worlds are part of something bigger, something uniquely magical. Mickey Mouse is the linchpin to the whole operation. He’s the reminder that Disneyland is more than the sum of its parts – it’s an experience unto itself.

Ultimately, the story of Disney sea is the story of my visit. My presence with my family defines the day; we get to pick rides and shows. Disney Park will always be an “open world,” where you explore, collect things, and meet characters in whatever sequence you choose.

Until sooner I realized we have one more day left to pack things and luggage. Items that were bought in Japan were already sort out, from gadgets to food, fridge magnets and even branded shoes. My mom had to buy another big trolley to maximize all the stuff so we could all bring home the goodies.

Just before the plane took off from Narita airport, I met an amazing couple from Japan. The lady’s Filipina, Marissa Suzuki, who’s married to a Japanese and been living in Japan for 30 years. The old man, Mr. Nori Suzuki, was 20 years older than her, had 2 children who were left at home. I was sitting from the window seat trying to calm myself from my episodic anxiety. The first thing she asked me was if there’s any book to read while waiting. I told her that there were just couple of magazines but probably wouldn’t satisfy her husband. It was a budget airline. She was hardly putting her bags on the bin until her husband helped her.  And then she sat beside me. They smiled at me like they wanted to know me.

The two hour conversation started.

I felt the joy from their eyes, especially from the Japanese old man as they kept asking my whereabouts. They insisted on buying coffee and oatmeal cookies for me. I wanted to be polite so I smirked. Of course I was very hungry and didn’t eat some breakfast. They even offered wasabi nuts and matcha flavored round shaped sticky bread. I had to appreciate it although I didn’t really like the taste too much.

For once in my life, I tried staring to someone while sharing personal stories. I felt bittersweet from her expressions, how she left our country when her older sister brought her to Japan. It was like she didn’t have choice. She was only 17 back then when she faced the reality. I know she wanted to make me feel what she has been through. I could see through her eyes how she learned to love her husband from the first few years of their relationship.  The difference of the culture and language didn’t really matter to her, instead, she was challenged by it. Mr. Suzuki was quite a storyteller, I was pretty convinced that he loves the Philippines with its warm people and weather. I love his words of wisdom; to treat people equally because we all deserve it; to value time because we all work for it; to give as much as you can because there’s no better feeling than to serve.

Funny how they wanted me to date a Japanese guy, or at least I should’ve met someone in a span of week. I could always go back, but will be definitely choosing a different weather. I admit I didn’t really have good sleep from the entire trip but maybe travels are for people who seek for adventure and stories.

From what I have learned in this trip, through its any lifestyle, people have survived. And we will always be. And those who survive have a duty. Our duty is to do our best to keep on living. Even if our lives are not perfect.

With all my sincerity and respect, in another life, will always go back to you, Japan.

[thesinglesjukebox]

CARLY RAE JEPSEN - WANT YOU IN MY ROOM

[7.80]

Give a [10]! or a [4]! We don't care! Anymore! (actually we clearly do care)

Josh Winters: The sound of the heart set aflame. [10]

Tobi Tella: Oh my god. The synths, the sultriness, that goddamn HOOK. Dedicated had a lot of great and fun, pop music, but this comes out of left field in the best possible way. It's one of the most direct and sexy things, she'd ever done. Is this what gay heaven feels like? [10]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Big "looks-up-grinning-like-the-devil" energy: when CRJ sings, "I wanna do bad things to you," the mischief is both inexplicably sweet and dirty. [8]

Michael Hong: "Want You In My Room" might be Carly Rae Jepsen at her horniest, but it's also Jack Antonoff at his least restrained, together making something that's thrillingly giddy. Carly Rae Jepsen drops some of those thinly disguised hints for more straight-forward temptations, coming across as intense where Dedicated erred more towards tepid. There's still room for coyness, with the distorted "want you in my room" bashfully buried in the mix and the way Jepsen's voice brazenly glides across the instrumental on the line "slide on through my window." But most importantly, "Want You In My Room" feels completely uninhibited and absolutely freeing as Carly Rae Jepsen delivers any line with as much of a wink as she desires. [9]

Kayla Beardslee: Pure joy. [9]

Edward Okulicz: Every song that goes by, I find myself enraged by how average I find the average Carly Rae Jepsen to be, and I'm not entirely sure that I'm not jealous of the euphoria she inspires in others. But honestly, she's no Vengaboys, let alone a Paul Lekakis; I believe Jepsen, but I don't buy her abandon. [4]

Alfred Soto: With Dedicated proving an ephemeral listen, "Want You in My Room" does a professional job as any discrete track at isolating her strengths: finding a hook for any title and singing as if any doggerel were Heidegger. The outro sax wipes the smear of the redundant vocoder, suggesting other paths that the arrangement avoids. [4]

Kylo Nocom: Given the runtime and production choices, one would think somebody had went out and decided to parody the style of Emotion with its Wikipedia article and five hours to complete the task. "Want You in My Room" slightly lacks sophistication in both songwriting and in aesthetic: it feels like half of the song is missing by the time the track decides to fade out, and the wonky percussion/clean guitars/fucking SAX are rather ungraceful signifiers of '80s kitschiness, as if hints were taken from Carly's turn with the Fuller House theme song. These tiny grievances immediately disappear once those robot-voices and shouts burst out, an exercise between restraint and shamelessness that's completely undeniable. I didn't register that the vocoded voices were actually saying anything the first few times I heard this, let alone the title, but it's quite sly how that turned out: the most explicit demand of the hook is obscured, leaving "I wanna do bad things to you!" which beats around the bush a tiny bit (thankfully, less embarrassingly than Camila) and additionally gleeful cheers before that lovely inquiry of "baby, don't you want me too?". I'm still frustrated this ends so quickly, but even this doesn't matter when it's the Carly song I've been using to soundtrack the crush-anxiety interludes of my life. Really, this could cut off after the first chorus and still be more exciting than nearly every other song on Dedicated. [8]

Joshua Lu: It's tempting to draw connections between Emotion and everything Carly Rae Jepsen has done since Emotion -- thematically, her work hasn't evolved much since 2015, with her primary concern being PG-13 depictions of love and heartbreak. But Emotion's portrayal of affection was grandiose and imposing, fit for blasting out the windows of your car as you get lost in the streets of LA, while Dedicated's take feels distinctly slighter and more intimate. "Want You In My Room" takes more of its cues from Kiss, if anything -- even overlooking the disco tinges and how that was the first time she worked with Jack Antonoff, Kiss employed intimate lyricism that could verge at times on the diaristic, with songs like "Turn Me Up" and "Curiosity." The song's title, conveyed through Antonoff's phalanx of robots, renders that closeness literally, but that intimacy comes through metaphorically as well, especially with that quintessentially Carly-esque grotesque lyric of "press you to the pages of my heart" and that absolutely filthy request to "slide on through my window." I'll always prefer this mode of Carly, whose depictions of carnal affection feel more genuine and evocative when she's cooing them in your ear instead of bellowing them to the world. Even the outro works for me; the music video helps to explicate that her lover has finally made it to her room, and the bleating saxophone becomes an aural metaphor of whatever the two of them are doing, now that the song has accomplished its purpose. [10]

Will Adams: The discourse around Jack Antonoff and his status as the supposed ingenue behind female pop stars' critical reappraisal is exhausting, mostly because it ignores my biggest gripe with it: the production is bad. As we've seen before, his penchant for vocoders sinks the songs and, in this case, the entire chorus. The rest is his typical beige, vaguely '80s, vaguely '90s, vaguely everything feel, as if those "Dreams" guitars haven't been done better elsewhere. Carly's not off the hook either, with lyrics as empty as "press you to the pages of my heart." The sax riffing at the end would have been nice had it not resulted in a fade-out, which only serves to let you know that no one involved bothered to write a bridge. [4]

Joshua Copperman: That post-chorus is peak Carly - her songs are best when they're anxious but sensual, innocent but winking. But that's the problem with this song, content to be an E*MO*TION throwback when the best cuts on Dedicated ("I'll Be Your Girl," "Everything He Needs") push her sound forward in ways that still remain consistent with her past. Antonoff's on autopilot, lifting his own Tom Petty rip from "Don't Take The Money" for his usual mix of 80s and non-80s signifiers. Singles Jukebox editor and writer Katherine St. Asaph's issue with Dedicated was that Carly didn't play to her fanbase enough. This goes too much in the other direction giving the gays exactly what they want but nothing more. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it's too slight when Carly's beloved for her maximalism. [6]

Andy Hutchins: Fun, frivolous, brisk, and brief in the way so many great pop songs are, and a better spiritual successor to "Africa" in 2019 than Weezer actually covering it. But I will admit that listening to the potential [3] or [15] that would have been CRJ riffing on Rye Rye's spin on Vengaboys was deeply distracting. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: "Want You In My Room" is the worst kind of song to write about: so self-evidently joyful and skilled in every aspect (those synths!! that sax solo!!) that it's hard to point at any one thing to analyze. Is it enough to just say that the song is the best execution of crush pop in the catalog of an artist who is the queen of crush pop? Is it enough to say that I listen to the song in the shower and my morning walk to class? Is it enough to say that this song (and really, the whole starting run of Dedicated) is an excellent soundtrack to a roadtrip with the one you love? I don't know, and I don't quite know how to express how good it is that Carly Rae Jepsen is around and making music like this, but I hope this helps. [10]

Jackie Powell: Carly Rae Jepsen knows her base just as well as she knows herself. All of the elements of "Want You in My Room" confirm that."...And I'll press you to the pages of my heart" in the pre-chorus proves how Jepsen simultaneously views love and her music. She loves fantasy and probably adores fanfiction (Does anyone have confirmation on this?) "I think I like when people look at music from a way that's this childlike magical thing that happens to us," she said at Electric Lady Studios recording her Spotify singles session. She has made it her brand for the nerds who love love--but struggle to capture it-- feel at home with the awkwardness and desire that they feel inside. Jack Antonoff knows how to extrapolate Jepsen's inner feelings and give them a sound; the track begins with three different percussive loops which symbolize the racing heartbeat of sexual and romantic excitement. The aforementioned Spotify session version of the cut further echoes the idea that this song is an orgy that would take place at a campfire for young adults. (I guess I just described Woodstock. Imagine Woodstock in 2019...oh wait.) She proves once again that both fantasy and desire are natural and shouldn't be a source of any shame. [8]

Vikram Joseph: There's probably not much that my 11-year-old self has in common with me right now. But I remember getting up an hour before school to listen to the radio, and the way that I would lose myself in pop music and it would carry me through the day, painting the cyclical banalities of breaktime and double chemistry in weird, vivid colours that I didn't fully understand back then. And it's not so different to the way that I respond to it now; the way that caffeine and Dedicated made my commute shimmer and glow on sticky mornings this summer. For me, "Want You In My Room" has been the album's febrile, halcyon peak from the start - a high-camp maximalist fantasia of love and lust, the rare ecstasy of uncomplicated desire played out in a technicolour dreamscape of synths, vocoders and sax solos. It took four months for it to acquire a music video, but there must have already been a million existing in our imaginations, us as the stars, cameras panning as we walk down streets as flamboyantly as our queer little hearts dare to. It's garish, sugary and barely sounds real, and that's fine - because great pop is escapist, always has been and always will be, and "Want You In My Room" makes me believe I can have it all (even if it's fake). [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[purkinje-effect]

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 52

Table of Contents. Second Instar, Chapter 19. Go to previous. Go to next. Deenwood’s mirrors are just broken enough. TWs: discussion of chemical artillery, hair clippers, some manner of identity politic maneuver.

___________________________

“Now then,” Angel remarked as ‘Choly stepped out of the enlisted barracks’ baths. “We can all collectively agree to be civil, can’t we?”

“I don’t think either you nor I can be civil, all things considered,” ‘Choly quipped as he hopped up on the Handy’s foot pegs for a ride across the compound grounds, already dreading what could come next. “Today, I’m in uniform and ready to get tasks taken care of. We’ll be agreeable. Sticks can be civil.”

A Gutsy rushed up to give directions.

“Not entirely correct, to consider Sticks a civilian, Captain Carey. Come with me. The General is in Wing IV of the R&D.”

Sticks noticed both the army green robot’s verbiage and the chemist’s flinch as to where they headed next, and he straightened to stuff his hands in his khaki pockets to pretend he hadn’t noticed anything at all.

The Gutsy, G-5, led them to the smallest but most fortified of the three standing warehouse-like buildings on the property. In previous visits this week, Deenwood’s robotics had escorted ‘Choly here to Olivia’s office, but today, he was taken past encrypted pneumatic doors to the high-security laboratory floor. It was the most minor of consolation to ‘Choly, that this was not the floor where he and his colleagues had developed the Psycho which they perfected through exacting trial and error--but it was, instead, an area which required even higher clearance, and none of the equipment here was familiar.

Under the mixture of fluorescent and incandescent lighting, ‘Choly nearly didn’t recognize the back of Olivia’s head at the terminal where she sat, already hard at work supervising the computer-assisted manufacturing process. She heard the doors open and shut, and footsteps and flames approach, but she didn’t look up, only waving a hand at the Gutsy to dismiss it.

“Thank you, Green Five.”

“At your beck, Madam General.”

“I’m sorry to say you’re ahead of me. The synthesis process is still yet incomplete. When I said to give me a day, I meant twenty-four hours or so.” After a moment poring over figures, she saved the programming variables and spun about face on the swivel stool to clap her hands with a firm smile for her company. “Still, though, we can discuss the game plan while we wait.”

“A hundred units of X-Cell-Root,” ‘Choly parroted dully, dismounting Angel to look around. “This is the wing where they created X-Cell, isn’t it.”

“There were thirteen wings during your last tenure on base, for ten branches of research. Most of them are no longer in use. Right now, you’re currently standing in the only known laboratory on the Eastern Coast with both the precursor and formula for Day Tripper.”

“I’m sure you spend a lot of time in this room, then,” the chemist remarked a little too sharply.

Sticks snorted with a dumb smile, and shook his head at him.

“I’m sure I do.” A strange knowing glint filled her dark eyes. “The raw materials I needed for one of the shells we’re to use against the Rust Devils are stored, and best processed, here.”

“I’m going to pretend you’re pulling at least a few punches,” Sticks quipped, no longer of any humor. “Mixed artillery, I’m guessing?”

“Artillery? What are you--” ‘Choly shut up abruptly, recalling how she’d mentioned the day before that MKExcell had begun as a Chem Corps study, only to shift to a Pharm Corps study. “You’re planning on using the Day Tripper ‘Root’ on the Devils.”

“Quick on the draw.” Olivia grinned, appreciating the fact ‘Choly could keep up. “You’ve got it backwards, though. Klutz was engineered from Day Tripper. We researched both X-Cell’s pharmaceutical refinement as well as its weaponization, remember. Once under the influence of the gas grenade, the affected party is far more readily plied. Provided key frequencies, someone affected by Klutz also exhibits a tendency to spontaneously disrobe. Klutz shells are shaped such that they...” she snickered at the thought of it, pantomiming the trajectory, “whistle one such pitch.”

“They’re notorious for wearing heavy armor gutted from robotics,” Sticks nodded, appreciating the disarmament tactic. “Not questioning the use of the Klutz... but you still haven’t said whether it was only Klutz.”

“The game plan, Sticks. Are you going to let me speak yet?” When he crossed his arms and watched expectantly, she slouched back on the stool and lit a cigarette. “The Furriers’ greatest skill set is their stamina hunting and their ability to set traps. Provided proper firearms, they’re exceptional snipers, but my Eyebots that survey Lowell and Chelmsford estimate three hundred raiders in Back Central, and at least another hundred in RobCo Towers. Deenwood has less than a hundred robots at her employ, and the Furriers don’t even have a hundred heads. Considering the Devils--”

“I dunno,” ‘Choly mumbled under his breath, “one of them might have a hundred heads.”

Olivia glowered at him for acting as her peanut gallery. He looked over to Sticks, who was straining not to die laughing.

“...Considering the Devils have their own handcrafted robotics,” she continued, through her teeth, “much of which is crafted from robotics they have captured and stolen from Deenwood, we must have the element of surprise on our side. Or we will lose.” She stood, to pace with her smoke. “That said, I plan for the Furriers to shepherd the Back Central Devils into one central location to maximize the efficiency of the gas grenades. Once the Furriers utilize the indicated formation to pin the Devils in position, my Sentry Bots will fire Rad-I-Canned shells. We’ll do the same with RobCo Towers once we’ve secured Back Central.”

"Rad-I-Canned!” Sticks blurted out. Incredulity flung his fists to his sides and his face into an exasperated scowl. “You’ve only used that once before, to my knowledge! I know you could cut the conflict tension with a knife here, but do you really take this for some Gordian knot! Surely we can achieve this with less.”

She took a long hit off her cigarette, and she stopped and turned to make unblinking eye contact with Sticks while she exhaled all the smoke his way, through her nasal gap.

“Wars have been started over less.”

‘Choly finally noticed where the Assaultron Helen had been in waiting all this time, by the door where they’d entered, and couldn’t stop staring at her. With a coughing fit, he broke the uncomfortable silence with his guts full of moths.

“About making me colonel... Green Five still called me captain earlier. You did mean it, that you wanted to make it official, right? Colonel Carey?”

Getting caught in her misdirection, she softened in place and resumed pacing. Sticks appreciated the shift in subject.

“Oh, I just didn’t consider it all that time sensitive. Figured we could get into all that after this debacle’s through with. But, if you insist, it probably wouldn’t hurt to look the part of the colonel in charge of the Voire troop.” The ghoul general strolled over to the nearest standing ashtray, took one more hit off her smoke, and extinguished it in the sand. “Go get your prescription updated. Those godawful glasses aren’t regulation issue. And you’re going to have to get a haircut, if you plan on wearing the officers’ martial dress uniform, you know.”

She made a buzzing motion with one fist at her own nape in a mild jeer, then glanced to her steel-tone Pip-Boy to flick a series of dial settings. ‘Choly touched the temple of his glasses with a frown, then felt of the back of his head with anxiousness. Green Five reappeared while he stressed, and he straightened when he noticed he was visibly losing his cool over a handful of superficial alterations. She held out an upturned hand expectantly.

“Before you get out of my hair for a few hours, fork over your nameplate and ribbon rack. I’ll update the RFID data while you get cleaned up, so that the base responds to your... new rank. I’ll have your designations, and new uniform, delivered to your rowhouse.”

“Leave the supervision of Mister Hawthorne to me, Miss Francis,” Angel offered helpfully as its owner complied. “I’ve already been his shadow this morning, whether he likes it or not.”

Olivia picked her eyes up before her head, glancing first to Angel, then to Sticks. Her brow piqued as her lips furrowed in thought, and she paced some more while Sticks sweated.

“You know, I could fix that. Reboot Angel’s imprint matrix. Reintroduce yourselves to its fixed variables. It would have to relearn who you both are, of course, but the second time it gets acquainted would go much faster since it’s already learned both of your personalities.”

‘Choly gawked between them all in a stupor over what was being proposed. Sticks nearly cut through the pause to agree on ‘Choly’s behalf, but ‘Choly cut him off.

“--I don’t want to wipe Angel’s memory of me.” He hemmed, hating where this was going. “I, I’ll think about it. Let’s get going, Green Five.”

“We’ll come with you,” Sticks blurted out, drawing Angel along as he stayed twenty paces behind ‘Choly.

“I’ll send for you all when I’m done with the Furriers’ chem cache,” Olivia called after them fake-sweetly. “Don’t bother me again until then.”

“Was that a gesture or a threat, to offer that... service,” ‘Choly asked with a flat distress, once they were no longer in her presence.

“Probably both, knowing her,” Sticks replied, just as terse. “Angel, you don’t have any arrangements with me. Could I bum a smoke and light off you?”

“Certainly,” it provided without skipping a beat. It also gave ‘Choly his cane, which he appreciated. “Do you need one as well, Mister Carey?”

“Why the fuck not,” he resigned, nearly concussed by being jerked around by so many different individuals. The leathery taste did little to soothe his nerves, or his disorientation, but he persisted.

Once ‘Choly stepped inside the storage hangar, and the Quartermasters’ Wing, Green Five directed him to the left hall. Angel and Sticks remained outside.

“The General has instructed that you begin with Optometry. As you’ll recall, the barber is at the other end of the hall once you’re done.”

“Why hello!” the Miss Nanny inside the office greeted in a soothing, effeminate affect. Green Five vanished again on its way, trading off ‘Choly’s care to the white robot. “It’s been so long since I had someone to examine! Let us get started with the phoropter, shall we?”

‘Choly took the ashtray from the waiting area with him, and puffed at his cigarette intermittently throughout the examination. The Handy, nicknamed Lunette, did not object provided that ‘Choly kept it out of the way and kept the ashes tidy. With a flurry of numerical annotations and shuffled lens metrics, Lunette determined his prescription. It felt like the Nanny leaned nearer when its optical lenses craned into his face to inspect him, and he sat back in the high-back exam chair, cradling the ashtray close to his chest with a frown.

“Our diagnostics equipment indicates that your cataracts are severe enough to require surgical correction. The cause of these is unknown, however, and it seems to chiefly impact your light sensitivity rather than the acuity of your vision. We would have to refer you to an ophthalmologist to receive corrective surgery, but it’s my understanding that it’s neither necessary nor afforded at present. I can script you medical permission to wear a visor or other such brimmed head gear on duty, if you like, Sir.”

He nodded tersely, and put his round frames back on. Lunette eased off the personal space intrusion, to retrieve a catalogue and provide it. To skim through it, he put out his cigarette and set the ashtray aside.

“Our inventory hasn’t been updated in around two hundred years, I’m afraid,” it apologized. “The General hasn’t revised dress code to forbid any of them, at least. Hopefully there’s still something available to your liking.”

The booklet fell open in his lap when he found the crescent-shaped acetate frames were still listed. He pointed at them, shakily, and Lunette snatched up the catalogue to see the model number he’d indicated.

“Ah yes! My records indicate you ordered these 218 years ago. Gravitating towards the familiar! We’ve still got several. Shall I fill your prescription with these then?”

“I’d like that very much, Lunette. Thank you.”

“As you like! Off you go, then. I’ll bring them down the hall to you once I’ve got the lenses cut. Shouldn’t be but fifteen minutes or so.”

He caned his way down to the barber’s office, to sit in the chair. A Mister Handy with a cockney accent approached him.

“What’ll it be, Gov?”

“I’m in a bit of a predicament, Burns. I’m told I... have to get a cut appropriate for the officer’s martial dress uniform. But between you and me? I don’t want to cut off my hair.”

“I hear you. Remember you objected to a crew cut in 2066, too. Martial uniform, though.” It gave him a thoughtful whistle. “‘Bout to get a might bit hairy, I imagine.”

The pun made him flinch, and the Handy guffawed.

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“Oh, say no more. Leave it to ol’ Burns. I’ve got just the thing for ya. It’ll take a Love guide to get it trim proper 'nough for regulation, but you’ve got the Burns guarantee you’ll appreciate the results.” Its tendril attachments whirled to comb, snips, and an electric razor. “Let me take a little off the bottom ‘ere, mark the state a yer Barnet off the list of things you could possibly be worryin’ about.”

He swallowed, and sat up straight as Burns fetched the barber’s cape.

“I trust you.”

“Attaboy!”

Given the indication to begin, the Handy removed ‘Choly’s glasses. Then it unpinned his hair and brushed it out, and it proceeded to pin back sections to isolate the patch from his nape to just above his ears. He tried to watch, but couldn’t really see in the cracked mirror, with or without his eyesight. The sensation of the clippers jolted down his spine and he shivered, barely keeping still enough for Burns to steady the attachment along his scalp. It touched up the hair in front of both ears, then with scissors trimmed his split ends as well. Once done snipping away, the Handy swiveled the chair one-eighty to dip the back to the counter at the wall. It gave him a quick rinse and blow dry, and propped him back up to use fresh bobby pins to return his hair to a taut, slick french twist, positioned slightly higher up on his head than before.

By the time Burns was done with him, Lunette entered.

“Burns, I’ve got Colonel Carey’s prescription ready,” the Nanny said.

“Ah, yes! Let’s have ‘em. Perfect timin’. He’ll get to see how it matches up with the ‘do we’ve done him up wif.” As he took the glasses gratefully from Lunette, Burns turned the chair to his right, to face the wall where a full length mirror remained in tact. “How’s about it, Gov?”

To have heard the Nanny say Colonel, though, he thought to himself. Olivia must have just gotten finished with his designation updates. He shivered, and put on his new glasses. He let out a low whistle, his face long as he turned his head to run a hand over his shaven nape. He could see. Truly see.

“Doesn’t feel so bad, after all,” he appreciated quietly, both awing and dreading the context which such a cut came requisite. He repeated flatly, “The colonel of the Voire troop. Huh.”

“Just one step left before you’re off to your camp, Colonel,” Burns remarked, watching him appreciating the trim. “Gen says Green Seven’s en route to your place as we speak. Better get goin’.”

“Oh, tell me they’re to your liking,” Lunette begged.

“It’s perfect,” he ingratiated, his head ringing when he saw the hair Burns now swept up into a dustpan. He started off toward the front door of the hangar, trying not to think about it too hard. “Thank you, both of you.”

Where’s your loyalty lie, Carey? Do you even have to be Carey anymore? Does Carey even exist now? Should I have asked her to program my nameplate to truly be Melancholy? To properly be Melano Kara? Is becoming Melancholy a step forward? Would becoming Kara again be a step backward?

He choked down the urge to ask Angel for a Mentat, or another cigarette, only to open the door to find neither the Handy nor his ghoul had waited up for him. He snarled and hobbled along back to the rowhouse, knowing G-7 would without question beat him home.

Go to Next »»»

[oppof11-blog]

Oppo f11 pro best mobile review 2019

A Smartphone companies try to maximize screen size it's hard to find phones without screen cutouts for the selfie cam.  But there are some more creative options making their way under the mid-range scene and will for gsm marina and this is an Oppo f11 pro review.

The Oppo F 11 Pro comes with a stunning gradient finish ours goes from blue to black to purple and though it is made of plastic.  It does look like glass the phone seems pretty durable and doesn't feel cheap even though the plastic but of course at this price point waterproofing is a bit much to ask for it.

Probably wouldn't even be possible either thanks to one of the f11 pros key features the motorized pop-up selfie cam it hides inside the body and comes out when you need it.  It isn't slow, but we've seen faster on other phones OBO did an excellent job with the aesthetics here though this healthy cam is directly in the center in line with the rear camera bump it all looks symmetrical and satisfying.

And since the crack is centered the phone doesn't wobble much on a table, of course, you could slap on the included case if you want the most stability.  Thanks to the hidden selfie cam the Oppo F 11 pro's big six point five three-inch display has minimal bezels and is not free, unlike the regular f11.

 What are the best updates oppo f11 pro?

It's an IPS LCD with a 1080p resolution here you get a great full-screen experience with pretty deep blacks and at 400 PPI content looks crisp.  Color accuracy is just average by default, but you can't improve it by turning the color slider to warm in settings maximum brightness sits at 414 it's, and there's no boost.battery life really awesome and you can use whatsapp web perfectly with this model, so download whatsapp apk today to this model if you already bought.

If you're in auto mode is OK for the class though, and sunlit legibility is excellent.  Here you can unlock the f11 Pro with the fingerprint reader located on the back it's always on and very fast, and of course, you can open your phone using face unlock.

It's a bit less secure, but it's an excuse to play around with a selfie cam and impress people the Oppo F 11 pro has one loudspeaker at the bottom it posted a score of very good in our loudness test.  And quality is excellent with a rich and deep sound plugging in headphones through the 3.5-millimeter jack degrades the stereo quality quite a lot and loudness is only average.

 Oppo f 11 storage and chipset

There is FM radio though you get 64 or 128 gigs of storage on the F 11 Pro. and it is expandable through the hybrid slot unfortunately Oppo is still sticking to micro USB ports on its mid-range phones instead of switching to USB see the f11 pearl runs Android 9 Pi with color OS 6 on top it looks a bit different from stock Android you can choose to store your apps in an app drawer or to keep them all on the home screen swiping to the left takes you to smart assistant panels which give you things like a calendar step tracker and a space for shortcuts and swiping from a bar on the right edge of the screen opens a space for shortcuts to there's a game space where you can store your games and change settings for performance and blocking notifications.

And the phone comes with some gesture options, and you can swipe up and hold the Siri synapse swipe from the bottom left or bottom right to go back.  And swept up from the meadow to go home oppo f11pro is powered by an Helio P70 chipset neither four or six gigs of RAM. this model has amazing storage even though you not need to download music this smartphone now, because Pandora apk app now helps to listen music online.

It also has a dedicated chip for All driven tasks performance is smooth with no heating or throttling issues games run well.  Especially if you take the time to tweet their settings in the game space with a four thousand milliamp-hour battery.  You'd expect battery life on the F 11 Pro to be pretty good.

And you'd be right it scored an excellent endurance rating of 109 hours, not proprietary tests the phone also brings 20 watts VOC fast charging.  It isn't blazing fast but decent we were able to charge from zero to 40% in 30 minutes the Oppo alpha 11 Pro comes with the dual camera setup.

 Oppo f11  camera and features

There's a forty-eight megapixel F 1.8 main cam with face detection autofocus and a five megapixel one for depth sensing in portrait mode.  Because of quad Bayer technology the default output of the main cam is 12 megapixels in good light shots come out excellent, there are plenty of detail high dynamic range lively and accurate colors excellent contrast.

And overall lovely processing, we did find one issue in areas of uniform colors there are noticeable patterns of noise.  You can toggle on the dazzle color mode, which uses advanced image stacking to improve the dynamic range further than HDR.

It also adds some saturation to the colors, but you lose some beautiful details.  If you want to shoot in 48 megapixels, you can do it.  But the photos you'll get are far from impressive they're just upscaled versions of the 12-megapixel ones with no improvement in detail the images we took in portrait mode are excellent subject separation works very well.

And transitions from sharp 2d focused are quite smooth these are among the better portraits we've seen flagships included thanks to the bright F 1.8 lens regular shots in low-light come out excellent.

As well way beyond what we expected for the class, there is beautiful detail low noise levels balance highlights and excellent contrast.  There's even a dedicated ultra night mode each shot takes a few seconds, but it gives you a brighter exposure and cleans up dynamic noise range is improved, and you get boosted contrast and saturation.

 Final conclusion about oppo f11 pro

But you lose some fine detail onto the selfie cam it's 16 megapixels in F 2.0, and there's no auto focus here it does a decent job there are beautiful colors in particular, and dynamic range is suitable for a selfie shooter for video the f11 Pro maxes out at 1080p at 30fps even though the Helio p7 II can handle 4k videos quality is excellent.  Though there's plenty of resolved detail accurate colors low noise and stereo sound recording GIS is always on, and dynamic range is average.

Thanks to the high-res sensor you can also shoot videos with two times lossless zoom and their quality are on par with a regular 1080p ones, so that's the Opel f11 Pro with this shiny package you're going to sell the chipset a large nacho screen surpassing battery life and excellent camera experience.

There are only a few things left to complain about the micro USB port is a bummer Plus this isn't the cheapest mid-range er around at around 25,000 rupees or 320 Euros that said if you're looking for a not free device the Oppo eleven pro is one of the best you can find right now.

[quarterfromcanon]

You and Me, Always Between the Lines

Heather & Valencia - Femslash February - Day 18 - Right and Wrong [1,828 words]

Valencia opened a new message but hesitated over the keyboard. She chewed on her lower lip while she began to type.

Hey, girlfriend.

Highlight text. Delete.

Hey, girl.

Nine backspaces.

Hola, chica.

Valencia sighed and closed her eyes. She exited the app and returned to the home screen only to reopen messages immediately.

So, today’s the day. I’ve decided. I’m going Facebook official. 

Her thumb tapped send. She gripped the case with white knuckles. Within a minute, a reply appeared.

Whoa. Big step. How’re you feeling?

Good but also freaked out. I’m overthinking.

Have you talked to Beth about it? Is she with you?

Not right now. Multiple meetings until like seven o’clock tonight. She’s been sending me supportive texts in between.

Maybe you could postpone until she gets back?

I thought about it, but the time of day is kind of important to me. It’s a whole thing to try to explain here. I don’t know. This is probably silly. I’m just not sure if I can wait that much longer by myself.

A pause.

Do you want company?

She gulped past the sudden lump in her throat and gave the honest answer.

Sort of. I don’t want to ask for too much, though. I feel guilty. You’ve had to help me so many times as it is.

Valencia wiped a fingertip across her cheekbones. She watched three dots fade in and out of existence.

You’re my best friend. Best friends are supposed to come through when you need them.

The breath she’d been holding left her in a rush. Fresh tears spilled down her face.

I’ve been trying with all I’ve got to keep it together, but I guess reality’s hitting me pretty hard right now. If you’re positive you don’t mind... I do need you.

What time?

12:30, if you can make it?

I’ll be there.

___

“The door’s open!” Valencia responded to the familiar knock.

Heather turned the handle and poked her head into view. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Valencia greeted in a tremulous exhale. Her entire body was tense. The rims of her eyes were a vivid pink from crying. She flipped the phone between both palms on autopilot, faster with each passing second.

Heather entered the apartment and crossed the room. She held Valencia’s hands in hers until her friend relaxed. “How long have you been sitting here?”

“Since eight, if you don’t count the floor pacing and bathroom breaks, so... four-and-a-half hours?” 

Heather settled on the couch beside Valencia. She waited a moment to consider her advice before she voiced it aloud.

“V, listen, it’s like we toasted on your balcony that time, y’know? You make your own rules now. Whatever pressure you feel... This thing people have about online transparency...” Heather shook her head. She took a deep breath and met Valencia’s gaze. “It’s no one else’s call but yours.” 

Valencia nodded, although the worry did not fully leave her features. Heather searched for the right way to articulate what she wanted Valencia to understand.

“If this is part of what you need to feel comfortable in your skin, it’s cool. If you don’t want everyone on your friend list to know your business, that’s okay, too. You’ve already had so many super intimidating conversations. Your sisters, your dad, your mom -- oh my god, your mom -- like, that alone is such a huge deal. You got through all that in less than a year. You’re really brave.”

Valencia smiled feebly, but then sobs overtook her. Heather spotted a box of tissues. She got up to pull a few free and brought them back. 

“Thank you.” Valencia blotted her cheeks with the Kleenex. “I know I’m making myself sound like a damn liar, but I really do want to do this today.”

“I get it.” Heather shrugged. “People don’t make this easy. Even with ones who seem like they’ll be chill, you don’t actually know until you tell them. There’s always a moment of uncertainty. Also this many people at once? That’s a lot of variables.”

“Yeah.” Valencia pocketed the crumpled tissues.

“So what’s the ‘whole thing’ about the time?”

Valencia rested her chin on a throw pillow. “1 p.m. to 4 p.m. is the prime posting time for Facebook.” She grimaced and searched the reaction that flickered across Heather’s face. “It’s not to maximize likes or get more attention, I swear. It’s just that --”

“You’re doing the Band-Aid approach,” Heather realized. “Quick as possible, all at once. If you post during hours with less dashboard traffic, that means even more waiting for stragglers who might have something to say. You’ll keep checking for notifications over and over. Doing this now means dealing with most of it in one cluster.”

“Exactly.” Valencia noticed the clock at the corner of her open laptop. “Oh God. It’s five ’til one.”

She restored the minimized tab to confront the rectangular button on the page. 

“Already set up,” she said, more to herself than to Heather. “Just a command away.”

She hovered the mouse over it, slid the cursor aside, and returned to the spot -- back and forth ad nauseam while Heather waited patiently beside her. Valencia withdrew her fingers from the touchpad like it scalded her. She rubbed the knees of her leggings and shook her head. “I can’t do it. I can’t press it. Here, you click it.” 

She tried to push the laptop to Heather, but Heather slid it back to her.

“It’s gotta be you,” Heather insisted softly.

Valencia tapped once and then flopped sideways to hide behind Heather. “I did it,” she acknowledged in disbelief. “It’s out there for everyone.”

Valencia Perez is in a relationship with Elizabeth Brighton.

“Yep.” Heather twisted her arm to pat Valencia’s shoulder. “You stuck to your plan.”

Valencia clamped her eyelids shut. “Now comes the more difficult part: the wait for the first response.” She texted Beth with trembling fingers to tell her that the news was publicly shared. Then Valencia sat up, but she still couldn’t bring herself to peek at the top blue bar. “Is there a bubble with a number?” she asked while inspecting the ceiling. “Did someone say something?”

Heather looked up from her own cell phone. “Oh, hey, you’ve got one.”

Valencia verified the statement in a split-second. Her complexion went ashen. She touched the single digit with the cursor and gave the inbox a moment to load.

Heather Davis (1)

“You sent me a message?” 

Heather could see Valencia in her periphery, turned toward her. She continued to sift through sites without actually reading anything and did not raise her head. “Yeah.”

“What does it say?”

Heather couldn’t suppress a faint laugh. “If I tell it to you out loud, that kinda defeats the purpose.”

Valencia returned her focus to the laptop. Heather glanced at Valencia’s face but then flicked to the screen instead.

I usually save this for major breakthroughs because it already sounds mushy and fake, and I don’t want it to lose all meaning, but today’s a milestone for you so it totally counts. I’m really proud of you, Valencia. I know everything about coming out has been so fucking hard, but you kicked ass. Congratulations. Digital high five.

Valencia scrolled up once more so she could scan the entire thing again. Heather decided to examine the plants on the balcony, but then Valencia’s arms were around her. “I don’t deserve you.”

Heather returned the embrace with some reticence. “I’ve gotta agree to disagree on that one.”

Valencia laughed and tightened the hug. Heather’s arms shifted to fully enfold her. A new red update appeared. She relinquished the hold and gestured to the laptop. “The bell’s got a number now, too.”

Valencia picked up the computer. She set it on her lap, clicked the notification, and beamed.

“What is it?” Heather prompted.

“‘Elizabeth Brighton commented on your post,’” Valencia read. “She says, ‘I’m a lucky lady.’”

Heather mirrored Valencia’s pleased expression. It didn’t quite reach her eyes.

___

Later, when Heather was back in her car, a couple of text messages sprang to life on her phone.

ROOMIE

Valencia’s dating a woman? HER VERY FIRST WOMAN? Since when??? 

ROOMIE

I’ve never even met Beth. Have I met Beth? Have you?

Heather sighed and retreated behind her eyelids. She folded her arms against the steering wheel to lean on them. 

Incessant buzzing announced more messages.

ROOMIE

Do you think I was, like, her awakening?

ROOMIE

Holy crap. Who knew I had so much untapped bisexual influence? I PROMISE TO ONLY USE MY POWERS FOR GOOD. [wizard emoticon] [rainbow emoticon]

Heather peered at the ramblings without sitting upright. She bumped her forehead against her wrists in annoyance.

ROOMIE

Hey, where are you, by the way? If you’re already out and about, can you buy us some more eggs and coffee grounds? We’re running low. And by “low,” I mean I finished off both this morning. Don’t kill me! xoxo

Heather opened the conversation. She addressed only the most recent question.

I can get them on the way home. See you at the house.

She tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and left Valencia’s parking lot in the direction of the grocery store. While stuck at the first stoplight, Heather’s eyes began to bother her. A dull ache surrounded them. She blinked in an effort to calm it.

By the second intersection, her vision started to blur. “What the hell?” Heather rubbed furiously with the heels of her hands. “I’m trying to drive here.”

Her lungs burned as she rounded the bend.

“Can everything just chill? It’s kinda important for me to be in control of my faculties while I’m steering a three thousand pound vehicle.”

When the market was in sight, she heard an alert vibration.

“Rebecca Bunch, I swear...,” Heather mumbled. She parked and snatched up the cell. The contact name wasn’t ROOMIE this time.

V

Twelve comments, all positive. I can’t believe it. Thank you again for everything.

Heather’s eyesight swam until the letters were beyond recognition. She felt the warm moisture overflow and tumble down her cheek. A similar trail of water traced along her nose.

“Oh my god, stop.” Heather swiped upward with a curved finger and touched the irritated ducts. “What is going on right now? Get back in there.”

It was no use. The more she fought the urge, the more tears emerged to join the first two. Heather puffed out an exhale. She rolled her eyes skyward. “Okay. This is happening.”

She sat miserably still and permitted the unshakable emotion to rise. A faint whimper escaped the back of her throat, but she gulped it into silence. Minutes ticked by on her dashboard. “Ugh, get it together, dude.”

Heather dabbed the evidence away with her sleeves, picked up her phone, and texted back to Valencia.

See? The worst is over. I’m really happy for you.

She meant it.

Truly.

But it was some time before Heather regained her composure.

[royvelasco]

Exploring Nami Island and More of South Korea in a Day with Klook!

Finally, the day has arrived for me to use my Korean visa! I immediately applied for it months ago when I found out that I’ll be exempted with the financial document requirements using my credit card (Click HERE to find out how). And it’s not just for a single entry; I can go back to South Korea anytime I want in a span of three years! It means that I can still experience more of Korea despite of this quick weekend getaway.

My trip to South Korea was very spontaneous. My brother messaged me on Facebook telling me that he was able to score cheap roundtrip tickets to Seoul for the two of us and asking me if I can accompany him to this trip. I was overseas that time and was about to go back to Manila after a week-long travel to Myanmar and Thailand so another travel plan for the coming months was surely a great idea. I excitingly approved to his plan. But for only 3 days, how can we maximize our stay?

Probably one of the most iconic destinations Korea has is this wonderful half-moon shaped island located about two hours away from Seoul. Nami Island is a must visit for tourists especially for K-Pop fans as it served as a shooting location for some well-known K-dramas such as Winter Sonata. I am not a fan and haven’t watch a single K-drama but seeing the beautiful pictures online of this island made me include this destination on our itinerary.

Since we were constraint in time (and unfortunately, it was continuously raining that day), booking an organized trip beforehand was a great decision. We went with Klook which we have been using for the longest time already. I actually have tried booking with them on their early years when I purchased our Hong Kong Disneyland ticket way back 2015. It was the cheapest I could find online and the process in redeeming the ticket onsite was hassle-free. Since then, Klook has been my “buddy” for most of my travels. ;)

Booking with Klook is just very easy. Just go to their site at www.klook.com, select the destination then choose your desired activities and items. Select the date and package quantity then you can go ahead with the payment. You can also download their mobile app for more convenience. Make sure to create an account so you can have access to amazing discounts they offer from time to time. As a welcoming gift, create your account HERE and get HK$25 off as soon as you sign up.

The tour that we booked was for a full day visit to four of South Korea’s most popular attractions outside the capital. We found it the most worthy as we could be able to visit a lot in just a matter of day. The included destinations are interesting as well and picturesque enough to make your Instagram feed flooded with loves.

Good thing our hostel was just around Myeongdong as the pickup point was on one of its subway exits. We easily found our driver and we were immediately escorted to the car that we’ll be using for the whole day. I was quite surprised as it turned out to be a semi-private tour with only four of us in the group, two being me and my brother and the other half If I’m not mistaken were a couple from Malaysia. It was indeed a comfortable ride with more than enough legroom you could expect from a car and it also came with a complimentary bottle of water.

  Garden of Morning Calm

Those who love nature will surely be amazed with our first destination for the day. The Garden of Morning Calm is a 30,000 square meter garden located at Gapyeong district, just east of Seoul. Considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in the country and has also been a K-drama site, the Garden of Morning Calm houses an array of flowers and plants beautifully landscaped to spread the concept of Korean beauty to the world.  

The Garden of Morning Calm has various themed gardens connected through scenic walkways. Beautifully maintained plant arrangements and flower beds can be seen all throughout the place. The garden has about 5,000 kinds of plants of which some are native to the Korean Peninsula.

For the picture-perfect shot bursting with colors, one must visit on their springtime when the flowers are in full bloom. The garden is busy though during that period so have patience to get that desired shot. Don’t worry if you can’t come on springtime as the Garden of Morning Calm is still beautiful and open for public whatever the season is. Various festivals and displays are also held throughout the year.

  Nami Island

We went to our second destination right after lunch (which by the way was already included on the package). I could say that Nami Island was definitely the highlight of the trip.

This beautiful small island in the middle of Han River is a famous destination for tourists as it offers that K-drama feels we just normally see on screen. With trees tall enough to occupy the lens of your camera and its orange leaves during autumn, it would surely be a magical shot screaming K-drama in every angle.

Unfortunately, we were there on springtime thus not seeing this picturesque scene. But nothing to depress about, as Nami Island is still as beautiful as it is whatever the season is. Trees were in full bloom that time with overly saturated greens everywhere. Colorful flowers can also be seen throughout the island. Delightfully, animals such as rabbits and squirrels were freely roaming around.

  Petite France

After a decent amount of hours of stay in Nami Island, off we went to our next destination which was Petite France. It is a French-style theme park with a small replica of Eiffel Tower. You’re hitting two birds in one stone by being here as you can be both in Korea and France. ;)

As projected, this theme park consists of French-style buildings painted with different colors connected through stairways and alleyways. This place seems to be dedicated as well to puppetry and the famous French novel “Le Petit Prince” internationally known as “The Little Prince”. Various images depicting these were scattered around the village-themed park.

Don’t worry if you get hungry as there are restaurants nearby. For cheaper options, a coffee shop and a convenience store are located just across the street.

  Gangchon Rail Park

We were already bound for our last destination for the day but our excitement was still soaring as we were about to make it a lil’ bit extreme. Our next destination was more than picture-taking; we need to muscle up and ready our tired feet (not complaining) as we will be biking along the countryside.

Gangchon Rail Park is also now considered a must visit if you’re here in South Korea. One needs to cycle along the old train track using a two or four-seat bike passing through tunnels and rocky roads while seeing the amazing scenery of the countryside.

Honestly, this activity exceeded my expectation. It might sound tiring but it’s actually fun. The cold breeze as you bike and the astounding view of the surroundings will ease the weary away. I’m glad that we took the package that includes Gangchon Rail Park.

  It was dark already when we’re done with the tour. We were able to get back to Seoul around 9PM. It was indeed a fun day full of exciting activities. The places we went to were all remarkable making me want to visit them all again on my next visit. I was so pleased as well with our tour and will still book through Klook on my next travels. For sure, I’ll be here longer the next time and will check out other exciting activities South Korea and Klook have to offer.

  Book your tours through Klook for quality experiences at the best price. If you want to try the same tour that we had, click HERE to book.

DISCLAIMER: Details like prices, contact information, etc. may change due to different factors. Feel free to comment down below for updates.

NOTE: I own all the images used on this blog post unless otherwise stated. Please don’t use these for any purposes, unless you acknowledge the owner. Thank you.