#which is apparently something that doesn’t matter to a large group of people

[delumineight]

I see you asking for asks… why is romione your fav 🌞? and so you have any fic recs (can be yours or others) bc I’m getting into the romione agenda and I very much love it here

so sorry this is a late reply but i seriously do not check this app… my main thing is that ron and hermione are the main romantic couple in the series. i feel like before shipping anything your supposed to look at them and consider first. i will die on the hill that romione is more centered than hinny btw! the hinny fandom is also miniscule like omg fight back? it’s also very obvious that they love each other and they both show it in entirely different ways but still both by acting absolutely insane (affectionate).

i am working on a much longer list of recs… because i got bored and started working my way backwards through all 3,000+ ron/hermione otp:true fics on ao3… but for some of my favorites if you just search “recs” on my account and go to the tag i think i have like 2-3 posts of recs? idk it’s been a while but im working on more. you can also find my ao3 with a few published works as well but i do recommend the one that’s 8,000+ words more than any of the others… and it may be getting a part 2 if i can get over writing awkward parent interactions. anyways thank you!!! please join romione are troops are decrepit.

[jeonstellate]

forever by my side

mingyu still honors the love signified by his ring, even after all this time.

๑彡 kim mingyu x gender neutral!reader

๑彡 divorced!au/ex-husband!au, post-break up!au — fluff(?), angst(?)

๑彡 paragraph format — 0.8K words

masterlist

[gif’s full credit belongs solely to its owner]

๑彡 title is taken from zack tabudlo’s by my side (ft. tiara andini).

๑彡 thank you sm for the overwhelming love for my future in your eyes! please accept this as a thank you gift :]

๑彡 this is connected to that fic, a prequel of sorts, but can also be read as a standalone. (i highly recommend reading that, too, though.)

Kim Mingyu is a man of confidence.

He exudes confidence, regardless of what he does. It’s a natural part of his aura — something that he can never control at will.

It comes in handy for his line of work, which often requires him to socialize and impress others. Occasionally, though, it also needs him to give presentations in front of large crowds.

As his audience continues to stare at him, with a mix of glossed eyes and awestruck expressions, Mingyu begins to appreciate his inborn confidence a little bit more.

He’s an extrovert. He does well with crowds. He’s comfortable striking up conversations with complete strangers. He’s talkative and spontaneous and outgoing, amongst other things.

And with his confidence, Mingyu can command a room with ease.

Yet, still, it doesn’t necessarily mean he enjoys public speaking — especially if the crowd he’s addressing is full of college students who are currently everywhere, just not in the classroom.

He can hardly blame them. He has been in their shoes before. He knows what it feels like to listen to professors and guest lecturers drag on when he rather spend his time elsewhere.

"Well then, if you guys thought of more questions later," he began his wrap-up speech, "feel free to email me. Thank you—"

A flurry of moment on his right caught his attention, effectively halting his speech. However, the cause of it is gone by the second he turns.

The only evidence he has that he didn’t hallucinate the entire thing is the murmuring that suddenly engulfs the room. And the small folded piece of paper on his right that seems to appear out of the blue.

Mingyu reaches for the paper and looks around the room. He immediately notices the students’ renewed interest in him. Or perhaps — most likely — they are just interested in how he responses to the note.

He looks down as he opens the paper.

Mister, do you have a significant other?

He chuckles soundlessly. Not because of how off-topic it is from the presentation he just gave, but because it is apparently enough to bring you forth in his mind.

After all, you are his other half. Someone he met and fell in love with within the walls of your college campus. Someone he put great effort to deserve the heart of.

The only one he could see sharing a future with. The only one he went down on one knee for and waited for at the end of the aisle.

The only one he loves with his soul. The only one he respects and cherishes to an unfathomable extent.

Mingyu gives a shy smile to the sea of students before raising his hand, palm facing inward. He lets the gold band around his ring finger shine under the spotlights aimed at him.

Their collective disappointment is loud.

Mingyu finds their reaction amusing. He has watched countless people react to his marital status over the years. Those who appear dismayed, he notes, often try their best to hide it, albeit unsuccessfully. As a matter of fact, this is the first time anyone has ever showed disdain so openly — a whole group, too, no less.

He can’t stop the soundless chuckle that escaped. He has always been proud of his marriage. He boasts about it — and you — every chance that he gets. It’s something that always brings a smile to his face. Something that he never gets tired of.

Even after the divorce.

The end of your marriage had been a mutual decision. You both agreed that it was the best action to take, before anything escalated to something unbecoming. And, at the time, it was the best decision to take.

The end of your marriage didn’t signify the end of his love for you, though. That’s why, even years after the court made your divorce official, his wedding ring stayed on his finger.

Mingyu may have failed to keep you by his side, but he absolutely has no plans to rid himself of the only physical reminder of your marriage.

Mingyu may have lost his rights to claim you as his spouse; but at least in front of strangers, he can still pretend that the gold around his finger is more than a remembrance.

"How are you going to find a replacement for your wedding ring if you keep letting people think you’re still married?" Minghao wonders when he meets up with him after his presentation.

Ironically enough, his longtime friend personifies the reality that his façade only works with strangers. Those who don’t know what happened. Nor can read him like an open book. Nor notice the hint of sadness in his eyes.

Mingyu simply shrugs at that, "Bold of you to assume I want a replacement in the first place."

(After all, his wedding ring isn’t just a conversational piece. It’s also his lifeline . . . something he can’t bear to lose, especially when he already lost you.)

[pixies-and-poets]

Expectations vs Reality with Kanya!!

Hello Rabbid warren! Here’s something I’ve been chewing over since beating The Last Spark Hunter. I wanted to talk a bit about the way some of my speculation about Kanya (heavily informed by all the mutually-discussed theories here) clashed with the reality, and the ways in which her story both disappointed me a bit but also surprised me and surpassed what I expected. And so, let’s begin!

Expectation 1: She’s Edge’s sister

The idea was that, unlike the relationship between the other Hunters, the as-yet-unnamed Mysterious Foe and Edge were directly created to be sisters, and knew each other as such. This was strongly held by a lot of people, largely based on their similarities in appearance (eyebrows, hair, being more typical rabbids than the other spark hunters) and then reinforced by some great observations and speculations that went around the fandom. I myself was like 99% certain this is where they were headed.

Reality: Well, not really

So, while Kanya was created as Edge’s replacement and therefore to directly fill her role (thus accounting for the similarities in appearance), they seem to have the same lack of familial relationship as the rest of the hunters. In fact they are probably the ones who are MOST distant to each other, since Edge didn’t even know about Kanya beforehand and they had never met.

Verdict: Kinda sad about it

It’s a bit unfair to judge the story for missed opportunities based off of something that turned out to be completely invented by us, no matter how convincing the evidence was. BUT STILL, those fan-theories really made so much sense and got me excited for a unique relationship to be portrayed. Based on their similarities, I can’t help but feel that them being perceived as sisters is something the devs at least considered, but didn’t have time or chose not to make the story about that.

I still like to headcanon that they instinctively view each other as such, or that Kanya at least has little-sibling-jealousy even if it’s entirely one-sided and Edge doesn’t consider her family. But since this has to remain firmly in the realm of headcanon, it would be technically no more problematic to ship them than shipping Edge with Midnite etc. However, because I do see them as sisters in at least a mental sense, it’s not something I will ever do.

Expectation 2: The Last Spark Hunter... was actually the FIRST Spark Hunter!!!

I remember seeing people talk about this pretty much as soon as the image of Kanya was revealed, combined with the broken statue; speculating that she was the “proto Edge” and created first, possibly first of all the Hunters. If she “backfired” in some way, or was rejected by Cursa and replaced by Edge, this would make sense why she was apparently living in some isolated spot and we never see her with the others.

Reality: Nah, The Last Spark Hunter was actually just the last spark hunter

She was the last one Cursa made, she was created after Edge left in order to replace her, if you’re reading this I’m sure you know the story.

Verdict: ....I actually like this better

So I tried not too hard to think about “Mystery Spark Hunter” story stuff before we knew the truth, but I found myself imagining she had been created first and rejected, or created to be a co-leader with Edge and they fought and Kanya was banished... basically all my theories were tending towards the idea that she had been created before or at least alongside Edge. I loved the idea of her being the older sister when she was actually the little gremlin of the two with the higher-pitched voice, lol.

But actually? Learning she was made to be a replacement hits so much harder, now that I’ve let it sink in. She was made to lead these three people who had known, and fought beside, and cared for, another person before her. She was a newcomer into their group, into EXISTENCE ITSELF, made to live up to someone she could never live up to. Given just as much free will in order to be an effective leader, but demanded and coerced and probably “encouraged” to be subservient. What a tortured (possibly literally) existence she must have lived until she managed to break away from it all.

Honestly the truth is a complete reversal from my half-imagined theories, but it makes her a far more interesting character in the end. There’s so much left unsaid, so much we don’t know, but her character is inevitably tragic in the beginning, and then gloriously free, free to be an absolutely unhinged villain with no apologies, formed by - but not dwelling on - her sad backstory. A type of character I love.

My ideal reality

So, as you can see I was disappointed that they weren’t acknowledged as sisters, but pleased with the fact she was actually the second-born, the replacement. If I could do a rewrite of the DLC, I would combine these ideas - keep her backstory the same, but have Edge come to see a reflection of herself in this newbie, and offer her a caring hand, much like she deliberately showed her old (ahem) “friend” Midnite mercy. This, of course, Kanya would reject- but there would be a direct admission that they shared a special bond, of being the same in some way- and then Kanya would leave of her own free will instead of being blasted off, swearing that they would meet again.

Instead, probably because of time/development limitations, Edge just basically... does not care at all about meeting her replacement LMAO, it’s kinda funny in its own way, she’s like “I am so done with that life.” And like yeah she hadn’t admitted her past to the others yet so I understand she had to play it cool- but ideally we’d get something a little more emotional between them, in a private moment. Or even something between them that the other heroes didn’t understand. Or y’know. Anything at all. :P

Thoughts, opinions, disagreements, anyone? :V

Also I might make a follow-up to this because I feel like I had more to say but it’s getting late; still, I wanted to type it up while it was on my mind. 

I really love my goth toothy girl no matter what

Be free and evil forever, perfect being

[shatterthefragments]

american shorthair, bombay, and fishing cat please ♥️

Ohhoho get ready for a ramble~

american shorthair — what’s your biggest comfort ?

Answered here 💖

New answer addition: when I’m with one of my best friends and we’re hugging 🫂

bombay — are you an introvert or extrovert ? what is your favourite time of the day ?

Ok ok. So. My whole life I’ve identified as and been told/assigned introvert. (While also being “the social one” of my nuclear family)

But let’s go look up the definitions. (Webmd is apparently one of the first results so we’re going with it)

If “An introvert is a person with qualities of a personality type known as introversion, which means that they feel more comfortable focusing on their inner thoughts and ideas, rather than what's happening externally. They enjoy spending time with just one or two people, rather than large groups or crowds.” Then fuck yes I am an introvert FOR SURE. I do vastly prefer spending time with just one or maybe two people (it can be a bit overwhelming in groups tbh)

“The term extroversion describes an aspect of a personality that is often characterized by expressive and outgoing patterns of behavior. People who are extroverts tend to be very talkative, sociable, active, and warm. Jung defined an extrovert as someone who feels energized by the external world and social interactions.” Hmm. I *can* be very talkative and social (case in point I like doing longer replies sometimes 😘) less so irl (since 3rd grade. Before that I was maybe fairly outgoing?) but 🤷🏻

I vaguely recall hearing that introverts get their energy from being alone and extroverts from being around others. And by that definition I’m both? I have briefly considered “could be an ambivert” and then I. Stop thinking about it bc it doesn’t really matter. I need to recover with some alone time always. But. If I’m with one of my friends 😁 like when I’m with her?!? I’m just so happy!! I don’t think I’ve ever loved another person more tbh (but no I’m not in love with her nor do I want to be in a relationship with her. Like yes I trust her enough to snuggle and I haven’t really thought about it much but I am almost certainly open to a QPR if she and her partner were okay with it. But I can’t imagine life without her.)

Favourite time of day… hmm. On my days off - sunset or sunrise if I happen to be awake :) (or if I make myself breakfast and a latte and go eat outside :))

On work days: that area where I’m still waking up while I’m at work but before we’re open (6-7 or sometimes 5-7 am) and I play music out loud from my pocket :) (sure I pass by my coworkers sometimes but I try to keep my distance in case they can hear) or if I get to bother/talk to one of my coworkers I went to school with :)

On Adventure Days: whichever time I get to see my friend(s)!!!!!! If not a friend adventure: whichever time I get to relax: be it staring at the ocean or chilling in a park or something, ideally with food.

fishing cat — what are your hobbies ? ALL of them

“ALL of them*” <- there’s the TLDR 🤣 *there are *some* I don’t do or want to do though

I’m a writing artist who plays instruments and games and loves the ocean. Is the quickest version of this. Or to quote my sister: “so many things”

So. For this we have the ACTIVE hobbies, the BACKBURNER hobbies, and the THEORETICAL hobbies. And i am hoping i remember all of them.

(Would it be easier to say everything BUT jewellery making and ttrpgs (so far)? Yeah. Probably)

Active is uh still relative to when I have a miracle of both time and energy to do them but alas.

Back burner I suppose is that i only do them every once in a while OR have paused.

Theoretical is more stuff i want to try but i have the supplies and/or the project ideas

I draw, paint (mostly watercolour and occasionally acrylic, one project was spray painting tote bags for a pride event!) (and it was a paint your own ceramics studio that actually revived my love of painting!) , do both lino and dry point and can do woodcut (if I have wood) printmaking, (would Like to do etching and mezzotint as well but I haven’t tried those yet and they require additional supplies and knowledge :()

I’m going to try my hand at making comics again bc of Nazareth Trans Allegory that I am still Consumed by the idea of (@bubacorn I am still working on more details for your ask about it from the Wip game!) (the last one I made was a few pages from a story I was writing as well.) (there are so many things I want to draw as comics. I don’t really draw things the same though so I Worry but why?!? Why worry?!? Just have fun, maybe the skill will slowly develop on the way!! I am trying to convince myself of this)

I’m a bookbinder!! I would love to be an apprentice for this actually!!! (I have made exactly one hardcover for a wedding present (classmate in college and on the board with me) and mostly I did a couple Japanese Stab Bound and some Coptic stitched notebooks/sketchbooks for friends :))

(I would like to make handmade paper too!! I haven’t yet but I got a cheap frame kit to start one day!!)

I’m a calligrapher since finding a book of calligraphy alphabets in fifth grade in my elementary school library but I am VERY out of practice bc I really only do it for cards now.

I’ve done exactly one leatherwork project but I really want to be able to be a leatherworker too! Also a career I would love to apprentice for! But the specific studio I want to learn at I can’t afford to move there. The sustainability of creating something that will last for generations is 🥹💖

I’m not really a ceramicist. Sometimes I enjoy it a lot sometimes the texture is Too Much. But either way the way clay sucks up moisture from my already easily cracked hands means it’s not something I can pursue professionally, though I do think I want to take more classes :) so. Sort of sometimes 🤷🏻 but it’s better for my poor hands to mostly stick to painting at the paint your own ceramics studios :)

I guess I take photos as a hobby, but even though I have over 21,000 on my phone… ok 2600 are screenshots… I do not consider myself a photographer. Mostly I just like to have reminders of things I’ve done bc I have a hard time remembering and I get things all jumbled up in my head all the time.

And I want to sew as well. I would love to be able to make and mend my own clothes and items! I have a half finished bag that I started in sewing club but uh. We’ll see if I’m ever able to finish it… (when I find it and my sewing case again… like?? Where did it GO?)

I mostly cook rather than bake. But I can. And I’m a cake decorator! (And FUCK I kinda want to make an Ivycakes cake but I can’t remember who said this initially of the ass cake but also I live with my family and while my sister will simply raise an eyebrow and judgementally go “okay”, my parents would Judge)

But I love making things and doing little experiments (mushroom chili French toast this morning anyone? Could’ve used more chili oil tbh. But it was good! Update!!! made it the next morning too (this morning) and added more chili oil and that was really good but it could’ve used more butter), and sometimes you just need to stir something (* when my wrists/hands are okay to)

I write - mostly poetry and lyrics, mostly of the vent variety but I’m trying to branch out into the euphoria variety and things that bring joy variety too.

I also write stories sometimes. Not very often currently. I’ve written scripts in my intro to scriptwriting class but I REALLY loved it!! Such a different format than I’m used to!!

In that vein I want to actually finish composing and arranging and (probably completely rewrite the lyrics) maybe record a song (with no guarantees of quality, I am set to do One (1) this year based off a flippant comment which a discord server said That’s Your New Year Resolution Now to and I agreed)

And also in this vein I am Playing Music Again (#shatters plays music again) and picking up instruments I haven’t played since high school ✌️ I was lucky enough to have my own flute since middle school (buying a cheap one was cheaper than renting one even just through middle school and I also played into high school) anyway I still somehow remember a lot bc I played for 6 years!! Which I am so delighted by!!! I’m not good and way slower than I used to be but excitement!! and I switched to tenor sax in grade 12 (I got to borrow one from the school) which was AMAZING and I found one off facebook marketplace this year!!! (I need to uh. Wash the mouthpiece. But then to reteach myself!!! Bc I only played for one year uh. Nearly a decade ago (we’ll round up in this case for Emphasis) so I don’t have that same muscle memory in place and I’m unsure on the fingerings even though they’re VERY SIMILAR to the flute. AND I can’t remember who said the fingerings are the same in alto and bari sax too but 👀 might have to see about alto at some point too?!? (My lungs simply would give out if I attempted bari)

BUT I HAVE A GREAT NEED TO LEARN STRINGED INSTRUMENTS!!! Partially so I can play while not in the greatest respiratory health. Partially bc I MUST. Have always been obsessed with cello. Used my free 30 min lesson for the cello instead of my flute like it was Intended for (to further develop skills for band) ✨ guitar is very versatile but honestly it’s cool ass guitarists and bassists that make me want to play. But getting to play the guitar last month is GROUNDBREAKING and I really want to!! (It uh. Might hurt my left wrist/hand too much to properly finger. But we’ll see. Maybe I need to try one of the left handed opposite guitars?? Idk.) (I used to play ukelele!) and I’d love to learn piano even though my fingers are too short (or so I’ve always been told) but even without knowing how to play they’re so much fun to make noise on!!

I got to play violin and guitar on my trip and even just open string bowing IS SO GOOD AND FUN AND NICE and screwing around with a guitar is too!!! (Maybe I’ll post one one day? But I have to edit for sure bc it has my full face there)

But guitar or cello or keys would be the first. Unsure which. (Sis says to “work on the ones I have first”, but there’s so much joy in noise in so many forms!!!!! (I could learn trumpet on hers!! But I remember it made my lips feel weird when we tried when she first got it)

Bc keys are more versatile and can have different instrument settings depending on the keyboard BUT. Idk.

(Why yes FB marketplace advertises instruments to me all the time and is pretty much the only reason I pop on every once in a while 🥺)

Uhhh anyway a future hobby will have to be very basic music production haha ✌️✨

Ah off that - I sing (badly?) too? I love singing along to songs!! When nobody’s there to hear! (Based on a couple lines of Blood Sport I sang to a coworker though “not that bad” bc he was talking about some of the drunk karaoke night people)

(Singing That Part of Ascensionism just immediately shreds my throat though 😭) fun fact I sang in the elementary school talent show at least once! I frequently sing to myself if no coworkers or customers are around!!

Snuggling my stuffies!!! Listening to music!!

Candles! Collecting things! Other things I am realizing are just stimming habits and sensory seeking activities!!

Like sailing i only do every once in a while, and im unsure of what capacity, if any, I’ll be able to continue on doing it after this year.

Other sports type things I do intermittently… I used to play badminton but the local clubs are SUPER COMPETITIVE and I am simply here to have a good time. Maybe I’d join an intramural soccer team again if it was casual. I did one set of kickboxing lessons in high school and would like to do it again one day. Especially now that I’m more comfortable driving around to where I’d need to go now than when I was freshly licensed :) I enjoy paddling more than swimming and take every chance to canoe or kayak or even dinghy sailboat I can! (…it’s been a while! I should see if groupon has any deals when I have any money again) One day I might get a cheap blow up paddle board so I can just kinda chill out on the water but. The life jacket is a very important investment for that. Tbh I’m not the strongest swimmer.

I don’t like hiking in rural Rural areas unless I’m with a group with someone who knows more about wildlife/safety than I but I’m also slower than a lot of people so I tend to mostly just do nature walks/ocean strolls when I can. Can’t be left behind if you’re on your own!! (And I enjoy being on my own) (but I do get sad when I’m left behind)

I dance a bit sometimes (a little less since I uhh Very Likely threw it back too hard to Granite and uh. Pulled something in my chest and ended up in the ER after a few days thinking I was dying. 😬)

I go to concerts again now :) hoping I continue getting to for a long time!! I love going to art exhibits! I love going to cat cafes! and really any cute cafe tbh. Going to try fancy croissants!

(Is getting tattoos a hobby? Bc I want more!! Too many ideas too little time and money and time for timing it for healing while still working bc I need my time off for other trips, mostly to see concerts and visit a semi local ish friend that’s maybe 3-5 hours away depending?)

Quilting i have both ideas (too many truly) and supplies for but no skills yet haha.

I inherited knitting supplies and maybe crocheting supplies from my grandma so. Probably those at some point? I liked finger knitting when I tried it at a library workshop ages ago (small child. I have no idea how I remember this…) so probably I’d start with knitting?

I love playing video games! Especially like. Stardew Valley! And anything potions! (I enjoyed Potionomics a whole lot even though I’ve never played a card deck game) and also dating sims ✨ (pacthesis games my beloved back then!! Would still replay now if I could) (I only play on PC or steam deck bc that was a decision I made haha but I was happy I got it when I was sick and at home and couldn’t be assed to use my laptop bc it was a Barrier and I just Couldn’t.)

I would love to make a silly little text based game (think sim date flash games (does anybody else remember pacthesis?) but like. Not a dating sim (ah well,, maybe also a dating sim? Idk. I’ve so far only scripted one adventure one out when I took a coding class in high school) and in theory all I have to do is brush up on python and I could do a very simple one 👀 but honestly given the time commitment I probably won’t for quite some time *if* I do bc I’ve heard other languages are better suited for nicer games. (I do indeed have two different game making engines, untouched (they were free at the time but I have no clue about now))

Shopping is less of a hobby and more of a necessary evil and also I love getting new art supplies or new supplies for a new hobby I *hope* to start 😬

AH also reading. (Looked at my bookcases haha) 🥰💖

If you made it all the way to the end I am kissing you on the forehead and we are hugging if you want!!!!!

[kyrionkrackers]

isn't this what you wanted? (pt 1)

summary: you're new in town - when you finally decide to step out of your house, you walk into a bar and end up straight in the basement of a snuff film maker. life isn't so bad, but you want to learn more about your kidnapper. you decide to do that by taking matters into your own hands.

contains: choking, kidnapping, noncon, self-harm (at the request of strade)

also posted on ao3, here. please enjoy :)

part 1 - meeting

  It’s been a long time since you’ve last spoken to a stranger. 

  You moved over to this town from your home about a month ago, leaving behind all your friends and family without a word – ever since you’ve been wallowing in a sort of all-consuming self pity within the comfort of your home. You think that you might be running from something, but you don’t really know what it is. (Is it the weight of the expectations piling up on you, your spine collapsing and body folding in on itself under the pressure? Is it the nagging feeling that you don’t really belong, the incessant longing to find some sort of bigger purpose?) 

  When you finally decide to step out of your home, intent on meeting some new people, you find yourself entering a bar named ‘The Braying Mule’ at 4pm on a gloomy Thursday afternoon. The place is nothing special – there are a few rowdy groups chatting over mugs of beer, it smells of alcohol and you can barely hear your own thoughts thanks to loud music blasting over the speakers. It’s exactly what you need. You take a seat at the bar and order a beer from the tired-looking bartender – his eyes scan your face briefly, then he gives you a polite nod and smile. You think that it’s pity which flashes through those eyes. 

…

  “What’s a cute thing like you doing here alone?” A kind voice, tinged with a slight German accent. You’re sitting at the same place with the same mug of beer on the table in front of you, untouched. Someone slides onto the empty seat beside you and you feel him before you see him – his presence is warm yet imposing as he makes himself comfortable. You turn your gaze over. He flashes his teeth. 

  His grin is wide, friendly and inviting, radiating an inexplicable sense of charisma. He looks a little messy with his brown hair falling over the nape of his neck and the stubble lining his face, but not necessarily unkempt; you think the scar on his chin adds a sort of charm, and make a note to ask about it later. Hazelnut eyes – almost a yellow – pierce into you as he holds one large, calloused hand out. 

  “The name’s Strade,” he continues, undeterred by your lack of response. You hesitantly grasp his hand – it’s very rough – and you swear his grin widens. “What’s yours?” 

  “Oh. Me? _____. My name is _____,” you fumble, wincing slightly at the firm handshake he gives you. “It’s nice to meet you, Strade.” 

  You think you’re in for a long evening. 

…

  The evening doesn’t go as poorly as you thought (or perhaps hoped) it would. Strade, as you come to learn, is easy to talk to. He is friendly, effortless quips sending you into giggly fits and laid back demeanour lulling you into a sense of comfort. By the end of the night you’re exchanging jokes with ease, leaning ever so slightly into his large frame as you down your third cup of alcohol. Strade is patient with you despite your initial awkwardness, so patient that you find it hard to believe he’s real. Some part of you screams to be careful, that this seemingly perfect man can’t possibly come with good intentions – you decide you don’t really care. 

  You learn a lot about Strade – he is apparently a performer of sorts, though he won’t divulge what exactly he does despite your best efforts to make him crack. He tells you that the scar on his chin is from a shaving accident, that he loves meeting new people (you figured) and all about his past. In a way, he is similar to you, having left his home in Germany in search of some peace and quiet. You find something akin to a kindred spirit in him, one which makes you feel inexplicably secure and seen. 

  When the night begins to paint the sky black, you tell Strade that you should go home. The man tilts his head at you and, with an endearing sort of excitement, asks if you’d like to spend the night at his place instead. You give the offer some thought, then turn it down with a tinge of regret. As much as you enjoyed his company today, you’re not really looking for anything more than that right now, and you tell him as much. You offer to leave your number with him if he ever wants to meet up in the future – Strade regards your response with a sort of detached pity that sends a brief shiver down your spine. 

  You quickly pay for your drinks, thank Strade for the company and hop off the stool. As you’re moving away from the bar, you swear you can feel his gaze burning into the back of your skull – he stares with such intensity that your heart begins to speed up with discomfort and anxiety. Is he angry at you? Guilt eats at you as you make your way between the tables, towards the door – maybe he is angry at you. Strade has been an absolute gentleman the entire night and here you are, practically running from him. Here you are leaving him behind because of your own fears and worries when he’s been nothing short of perfect, when he hasn’t done anything wrong and you’re just being selfish again, and maybe you should’ve stayed at home after all, maybe–

  Strade calls your name from behind you – you turn around, and he’s standing now, making his way over to your side within a few large strides. He’s smiling, still, staring down at you with those piercing eyes. You feel so small next to his large frame and suddenly the guilt is gone, replaced by a sinking feeling that you can’t shake no matter how hard you try. He offers – no, demands – to walk you out. You see no other choice but to oblige. 

  The sense of comfort and security from earlier begins to fade away as the two of you exit the bar, leaving the crowd behind. Strade is practically a shadow always just one step behind, mirroring every step you take with a sort of practised ease that sends your heart pounding faster and faster. Are you overthinking this? He is still chattering away with the same friendliness and excitement from earlier, but something… something is different. He’s pushier now, just a little bit too close and getting under your skin with every question he asks. (“Is something wrong? Why do you look so scared?”) Under the dim illumination afforded by the flickering streetlights, his grin looks almost predatory.

  By the time the two of you are behind the bar, entering the sort of alleyway all horror movie sequences begin in (unfortunately the way home, and boy do you want to be home right now), you decide that enough is enough. It’s been three minutes, max, since you set foot out of the bar but it feels like it’s been an eternity with Strade looming by your side. His eyes are fixed to your form and there’s an emotion you can’t quite place dancing in them. When you thank him stiffly and suggest that he should leave, the smile on his face grows wider.

  In an instant you’re slammed against the wall, neck in his hand. A gasp escapes you at the impact and your hands fly up to claw at him, but it’s no use. Strade is larger, stronger than you and your head is spinning from all the alcohol you had – you can’t reach his body and you’re too weak to pry his fingers apart, so you’re left batting powerlessly at the arm holding you in place as he watches you struggle. He barks out a laugh as you begin to sputter and choke in his grasp, and you can only imagine what a pathetic sight you make right now, kicking, writhing, probably turning redder by the second. This was a terrible idea, you seeth as you glare at your assailant with as much menace as you can muster up. You should’ve stayed at home, you should’ve never–

  Strade mutters something in what you can only assume is German as he presses his body against yours. He’s close, too close – you can see every detail on his face, the crinkling in the corner of his eyes as they narrow, feel every deep, shuddering breath he takes. His other hand flies over your mouth as you try your best to make some kind of sound, any sound that could possibly get someone’s attention and help you find salvation and, god, he’s too close.  

  You want to scream, to yell at him, to punch him in the face and maybe give yourself a good slap for not listening to your gut earlier. Unfortunately, you’re hard pressed to do anything more than try to stay afloat as your body is deprived of oxygen and your vision begins to fade away.

  Is the sick fuck getting a kick out of this? You can feel yourself begin to slacken in his hold, the lightheadedness kick in to mix with the dizziness from the alcohol and as you stare into his excited eyes. It’s amusement, you realise with a small, pathetic wheeze, just before you completely lose consciousness – the emotion in his eyes is amusement. The last thing you see is the grin on his face, wider than ever.

… 

  You wake up in pain. 

  There’s an incessant pounding in your head that won’t go away no matter how much you scrunch your brows together, your neck aches and you can’t feel any of your limbs. Everything hurts, and you can barely remember your own name, much less you got here. Where the fuck are you?

  You look around and realise that it doesn’t really help much because the entire area is completely cloaked in darkness, making it hard for you to see even your own body. You try to get up but your legs are weak, and much to your alarm your hands are restrained by something. Despite your best efforts, you can’t free them from whatever is holding them down, and the only thing your attempts leave you with are sore, painful wrists when the feeling begins to return to your limbs. 

  You think that maybe panicking would be a good reaction right now, but you find that you’re oddly at peace with this whole thing. Perhaps it’s the headache ruining your ability to make good decisions, or maybe it’s the nagging voice in your head that tells you dying really wouldn’t be so bad. Either way, you decide to just stay put and enjoy the quiet for a bit instead of continuing to struggle for now. Even if you manage to get your wrists out of their prison, you feel like your legs will likely crumple beneath you if you try walking anytime soon. Might as well take some time to gather your thoughts.

  Bits and pieces of your memory begin returning to you during your wait, and your headache only worsens as you try to decipher them – a bar, a bartender and Strade – fuck, Strade. The charming, large German guy? The one who took you to the back of the bar and fucking choked you out? Yeah, that guy. It’s all beginning to make sense now, the whole pounding headache, achy neck and being tied up thing. You make an educated guess and assume that he’s the reason you’re here. Where exactly? You honestly… wouldn’t put it past the man to have some kind of secret sex dungeon.

  Speak of the devil. You hear loud, heavy footsteps getting closer from somewhere above you. A door creaks open and you watch as a ray of light seeps through the crack, casting a ray of light over your surroundings like some kind of fucked up angelic halo. It illuminates the area enough for you to finally see where you’re being held captive, and your eyes immediately fall on the table saw coated in something you’re pretty certain is dried blood. Not a sex dungeon, you realise with alarm – this is worse than a sex dungeon. You’d laugh at the absurdity of your situation if your throat didn’t feel like sandpaper right now – hell, you laugh anyway, though all you manage to get out is a pathetic whimper. 

  A familiar loud, barking laugh comes from the doorway in response; it’s Strade, of course it’s Strade, standing at the door in all his 172cm glory. He looks no different from how you remember him – maybe a bit less put-together, but you don’t suppose you have the right to judge when you probably look like a flaming piece of trash right now. His stocky frame casts a shadow on the floor, eyes practically glowing in the dark as they drink you in. He flips a switch on the wall and suddenly it’s too bright. You close your eyes at the sudden increase in brightness – Strade takes the opportunity to trudge over to you. You can practically feel every menacing step he takes, and you can definitely tell when he’s directly in front of you. He’s just so, so warm. You carefully peel open your eyes and sure enough, he’s squatting right in front of you, looking down with that same damned grin still in place. 

  “Good morning, kleine Maus! Sleep well?” Strade’s voice is still friendly, cheerful. His show of concern almost feels genuine, and you laugh at the thought. Your kidnapper, showing concern? Strade didn’t tell you about his talent in lying last night. You stare into his eyes and look for signs of his deceit. That amusement from before, hatred, a sadistic glint, anything – you don’t find it.

  “I asked you a question, buddy,” he reminds you after a brief silence – his eyes narrow so slightly that you would’ve missed it if you were not staring straight into them. You hum thoughtfully in response, which seems to be good enough for him even though the sound comes out strained and soft. He proceeds to look you up and down with so little shame and so much hunger that you can’t help but shrink back slightly under his gaze. Even though you’re fully clothed, you feel so exposed before him. Just when you begin to think it can’t get worse than this, he pulls a fucking knife out of his pocket. 

  “I have so many plans for you, friend,” he laughs, loud and boisterous. It’s cheerful enough that it throws you off guard for a moment – it’s not sadistic or mocking, like you’d expected, it’s just… a genuinely happy laugh. So happy that you can’t find it in yourself to be mad, even when he slices up your clothes with the sharp knife in his hands and leaves you shivering, stark naked before him. His next question throws you off guard. “Before we start, do you want anything? Water? Food?” 

  He asks this in such an honest tone that you find yourself at a loss once more. You almost laugh in his face – the man who choked you out at the back of a bar, the same man who tied you up in his basement, offering you food and water? Asking if you slept well, sharing his plans like he’s telling a friend about the next outing he has in mind? You want nothing more than to rip his facade of kindness into tiny little shreds, to tell him to stop pretending and just get on with it already, but there’s no facade to be found. At first you thought the friendly disposition he presented back at the bar was just an act to get you to lower your guard, but you’re beginning to believe that it’s just who he is. Strade is an enigma, and despite everything he’s done so far you find yourself longing to learn more. 

  “Water,” you rasp after taking a second to gather your thoughts. “Water would be great.” 

  Strade tells you he’ll go grab some and requests that you stay put– you humour him with a dry laugh. A minute later, he’s holding a cup filled to the brim with water and tilting it for you to drink. You open your mouth and gulp the liquid down with zero hesitation, which elicits a laugh from the German man. (“Calm down, it’s not going anywhere.”) 

  When you’re done with the entire cup your throat feels much better, your headache has subsided a little bit and you find that Strade is staring down at you with that same hunger in his eyes. The cup is left on one of the tables and Strade has a knife in his hand again – when he raises it, you brace yourself for the pain, only to be surprised when the things he cuts are your restraints instead of you. Your surprise must show on your face because Strade laughs, the same genuine laugh that leaves you wondering how such a happy man can be real, and how he can be such a fucking psychopath at the same time. 

  “You’ve been so good for me, liebe,” he begins, watching as you crawl to stand on unsteady legs and rub at your sore wrists. He’s not scared that you’ll retaliate –  he either thinks you’re weak or has confidence in his own strength which, on closer thought, are both pretty fair things to believe. Then he hands you the knife. “I thought I’d give you the chance to… ah, prove yourself.”   

  You stare down at the weapon in your hands and then look back up at your captor, mouth falling open slightly. Is this man… Did he seriously just hand you a weapon? After untying you? Where in the world did he get his confidence from? 

  “Now cut yourself,” he demands. When you comply with almost no hesitation, you realise that maybe his confidence is not entirely misplaced. 

...

part 2 here <

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Need Some Space?

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Twelve

A JSE Fanfic

Field trip time! :D The boys are heading to the planetarium with the rest of their school grades. It should be fun, except that Chase knows he has to tell Stacy about all their fun paranormal adventures and he really doesn’t know how to do that :( On top of that, there’s apparently some more weird stuff happening here, too. Wonder what that’s all about? ^-^

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

Chase had never been to the planetarium before. It wasn’t technically in town, but actually a thirty-minute drive away, and that had always seemed too far to get interested in except for special occasions. But he was definitely interested in getting a day off from classes, so he was kind of excited for the field trip.

Schneep was definitely excited. He kept staring out the window of the bus, waiting for the planetarium to appear with a big grin on his face. When the large concrete-and-glass building came into view he gasped and grabbed Chase’s arm excitedly. “It’s so much bigger than I thought it would be!”

“Wow. Yeah.” Chase leaned against the window and watched as the school bus approached the building. There were a few steps leading up to the glass doors that were the front entrance. Above the doors were bronze letters spelling out “Hollewych Planetarium,” with a picture of the Earth and moon in the middle.

Two school years were going on this trip to the planetarium, so the outside was just packed with kids. Teachers and parents had come along to supervise, but Chase wasn’t sure there were enough adults for all the students. As soon as he and Schneep got off the bus, one of the teachers—Mrs. Karter, the Chemistry teacher—began trying to coral the students into a buddy system. Chase immediately grabbed Schneep’s hand. There. Already worked out.

And yet—“Chase, we’re gonna be buddies.”

Chase jumped, then sighed, and turned to the side to see Stacy staring at him intently. “Hi, Stacy,” he said. “Sorry, you’re too late. Schneep and I are buddies.”

Stacy raised an eyebrow. “Really? Don’t you have that friend, uh... what’s his name? Chad?”

“Well, yeah, but...” Chase trailed off. For some reason, Chad hadn’t talked to him at all once the school year started. Even though Chase tried to find him in the hallways or at lunch. He didn’t respond to him calling out to him when they walked past each other. Chase... wasn’t sure if this bothered him. It probably should have. 

“Well that doesn’t matter anyway because I want to be your buddy,” Stacy said. “I want to talk to you.”

He was expecting this. Exactly one week ago, Stacy had said that if Chase didn’t tell her what was going on with all the weird stuff in town, she was going to tell everyone about the monster dog and how Chase and his friends did something with it. People might not believe her, but the rumor alone was guaranteed to do damage. Chase glanced at Schneep, who jerked his head towards Stacy, as if saying ‘go ahead.’ “You don’t really know anyone here,” Chase said. “Not yet. It’ll be easier if we stick together.”

“How am I supposed to get to know anyone if we are together all the time?” Schneep asked.

“Uh—good point, but I don’t think this is the place. It’s a big building, and it’s kinda far from home.”

“I can’t believe you’re going this far to avoid me, Chase Brody,” Stacy said. “You leave me no choice.”

“Huh?”

Stacy turned around and waved her hand in the air. “Mrs. Karter! Can we make a group of three?!”

“Hmm?” Mrs. Karter looked away from the pair of students she was currently sorting out. “Well, we do have an odd number of students... alright, since you were the first to ask.”

“Thank you!” Stacy turned back around and gave Chase a smug grin. He just stared at her, dumbfounded, which Schneep chuckled. “She likes me, you know.”

“...alright...” Chase said slowly. “Uh... well... we’re about to go inside anyway, so—we can talk once we’re in there.”

“Fine.” Stacy nodded.

Walking through the front entrance took the students to a wide entrance hall, with star-patterned carpet and a giant globe in the center. The kids all immediately clustered around that, leaning over the surrounding railing to try and touch it, while the adults started coordinating with the planetarium tour guides. Chase, meanwhile, lingered over by the front counter where people would normally pay the entrance fee. He stared at the list of activities and prices hanging on the wall and tried to ignore the way Stacy was staring at him.

“Stacy, do you like space?” Schneep asked.

“Huh? I mean, I guess it’s kinda cool,” Stacy said, surprised that he asked her.

“It is! It is so—so interesting!” Schneep nodded enthusiastically. “Did you know that Venus rotates backwards? The opposite direction of Earth? And Uranus rotates on its side, like a bowling ball! And if you had a giant container of water, big enough to put Saturn in, the planet would float!”

“Wait, really?” Stacy asked. “How can a giant planet be lighter than water?”

“It is not lighter, it is less dense. Saturn is made of a bunch of gasses, just like Jupiter—and technically Uranus and Neptune, too, but those two are frozen because they are so far from the sun—”

Chase zoned out. Not because he was bored or annoyed, but because he already listened to Schneep telling him all these facts on the bus ride over. He only snapped back to attention when he heard a voice say, “Hey, aren’t you Jackie’s little friend?”

“Huh?” He shook his head a little. The voice was coming from a teenage girl standing behind the counter, wearing the white-button-down-and-blue-vest uniform of the planetarium staff. Her blonde hair was pulled back in two pigtails. He recognized her. “Oh yeah! You were on the camping trip with us! Uh...” He struggled with the name for a while, until he realized she was wearing a name tag. “Mincy!”

“That’s me.” Mincy grinned. “I saw you look at the tag. Don’t worry about it, I’m bad with names, too.”

“Well, I’m Chase,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Working.”

“But aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“Well, with careful schedule planning, you can eventually get yourself an entire day free!” Mincy winked. “But between you and me, I’d rather not be here now, either. I don’t usually work Mondays, but I took this shift as a favor for a friend. If I’d known it would be this busy, I wouldn’t have done it, though.”

“Ah.” Chase nodded understandingly, only half-understanding. You could work on days that you didn’t have work? Weird. “Well, uh... is it fun?”

“Working here? It’s alright. The planetarium is pretty interesting.” Mincy leaned a bit closer. “But between you and me, there are some weird things going on.”

Chase straightened. “Weird how? Is it like... especially weird?”

Mincy laughed. “Jackie asked me the same thing when I said that! No wonder he gets along with you guys. Uh, it’s a lot of little stuff, you know. There are some staff-only doors that I’m not allowed to go in, which is like... I guess not as big a thing, because maybe that’s for the bosses or something. But also, did you know we have a basement? Because I didn’t, until I overheard people talking about it in this, like, hushed conversation. They said it’s sealed up when I asked about it, but it’s still weird, right? And a lot of the people who’ve worked here a while act a little strange. They have this like... this stare that gives me the chills. And they don’t talk much. There’s this one guy, Dave, who I don’t think I’ve ever heard say a word.”

“That is pretty weird,” Chase said, nodding. He tried to look mildly interested while secretly his mind was scrambling. Was this more of the supernatural? Something else caused by this—as Anti had said—greenlight?

“It is, huh?” Mincy nodded. “Well. Don’t let me keep you. Looks like your teachers are getting ready to get you all into groups.”

Chase looked over at the group of teachers and planetarium staff. He wasn’t sure how Mincy could tell they were getting ready, but sure enough, Mrs. Karter soon said, “Alright! If you came here on the bus with me or the one with Mr. Fitzgerald, I need you over here with us!”

“Chase.” Schneep reached over and tugged on his sleeve. “That is us.”

“Yeah, I know.” Chase glanced at Stacy. He knew she’d come on the bus with them; he’d seen her sitting at the front when he and Schneep got on. So it seemed she really was coming with him. “Let’s go.”

The three of them joined the rest of the group around Mrs. Karter and Mr. Fitzgerald, all gathered around an archway leading into what looked like a series of rooms. There was also a planetarium staff member there—a tour guide of some kind. The moment they meshed into the crowd of students, Chase felt something grab his shoulder. He yelped and spun around. “Who—?! You!”

JJ grinned and gave a little wave. Marvin, standing slightly behind him, leaned around and also waved. “Hey! Isn’t this cool? The four of us are all in the same group! I knew the good luck spell I cast last night would do great things!”

“Haha... yeah...” Chase glanced around. The other students nearby were staring at them. His skin prickled with embarrassment. “Marvin, you shouldn’t shout in a planetarium.”

“I shouldn’t?” Marvin looked confused. “But it’s not like a library, right? And there are a lot of people shouting besides me.”

“Well, they shouldn’t be doing that either.” Really, Chase didn’t want to draw that much attention to themselves. “Anyway, I guess it’s a good thing you two are here. I got to tell you about something that just happened.”

The four boys clustered together as the group started to move into the series of rooms, and Chase quickly recounted his conversation with Mincy. Schneep asked him to repeat once, as he’d gotten distracted by a diagram of how a telescope worked, but other than that, there were no problems. Well... there was Stacy. She was standing close enough to overhear, and in fact seemed quite keen on overhearing as she tried to lean her way into the boys’ cluster.

Do you think there’s more of that greenlight stuff here? JJ asked, using the individual signs for “green” and “light” to convey the name.

“I don’t know,” Chase said. “Maybe. I think we should pay attention.”

Stacy poked her head into a gap in between Marvin and Schneep’s shoulders. “Pay attention to what? Are you looking for some more monster dogs?”

“No, we got rid of that one, and we’re pretty sure it was the only one,” Marvin said. “We’re not really sure what we’re looking for this time, but anything strange, like something glowing green—”

“Marvin!” Chase hissed.

“What?” Marvin blinked in confusion. “Doesn’t she know?”

“I... haven’t shared... the details yet,” Chase said haltingly. He glanced at Stacy, who looked very interested in this conversation.

JJ frowned. You said you would. And none of us had a problem with that.

“He is just worried about letting in new people,” Schneep said.

“Are there no girls allowed in your club?” Stacy asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“No, it’s not that you’re a girl,” Chase said. “And it’s not a club.”

Marvin gasped. “Can it be a club? Can we have a name?!”

“We can talk about that later,” Chase said. He was noticing people staring again. “Let’s shut up for a minute. We need a... quiet place. Where we can be alone.”

The others agreed. Even Stacy, though she didn’t look happy about it. They all started paying actual attention to the planetarium now. This area they were in was dedicated to physical objects, like telescopes and samples of moon rock. Diagrams on the wall explained things like the Mars rover and the rocket people used to go to the moon. It didn’t interest Chase that much, but Schneep found it all fascinating. Marvin and JJ were sort of forced to take interest in the exhibits, as their teacher had given their class a worksheet to fill out while on the field trip—something Marvin complained about.

Stacy was sort of into the exhibits, but most of her time was spent constantly glancing at Chase and the others, as if afraid they would try to ditch her.

The last thing in this series of rooms was a giant pendulum, suspended from the very top floor of the three-story planetarium and hanging down through a series of holes. It was constantly moving, and a plaque nearby said that this was because of the Earth’s rotation. There were a series of domino-like things in a circle around the pendulum, some of them knocked down. The five of them watched it for about ten minutes, waiting for the pendulum to knock down another one. When it did, they all cheered, as did all the other students watching.

Then it was time to move on to a different section of the planetarium. The group went to a pair of rooms entirely dedicated to the sun, moon, and Earth, and the relationship between them. Here, Marvin got fully immersed in an interactive display that let you simulate a solar and lunar eclipse, to the point where Schneep had to fully drag him away so he could have a turn. Chase thought this area was a bit more interesting. He didn’t know that the seasons were caused by the tilt of the Earth. Or did he learn that last year? Science wasn’t his strong suit, and last school year had been his worst school performance.

All this time, he tried to pay attention to his surroundings, looking for anything strange. But he didn’t see anything.

They went up to the second floor and came to a long hallway with giant models of the sun and planets in the solar system. And these models were giant. The smallest planet, Mercury, was big enough that Chase’s fingers would barely touch if he wrapped his arms around it (not that he could, since there was a railing.) And Jupiter was taller than the teachers! The sun wasn’t even a full model, just a partial circle embedded in the wall.

Schneep kept talking about how this hallway wasn’t anywhere close “to scale” but Chase was impressed anyway. Stacy was, too, as this was the first room where she wasn’t constantly keeping an eye on the others. She spent most of her time playing with a scale that would tell you how much you would weigh on each planet—and complaining that Pluto wasn’t part of the model. “It’s still a planet!” she said, and JJ nodded in firm agreement. The two of them probably would have talked about that if Stacy could understand sign language.

“Alright, everyone!” Mr. Fitzgerald announced. “This way, please! We have a viewing scheduled in the Astrodome!”

“The Astrodome,” Chase repeated. “That sounds cool.”

It’s a bit like a theater, JJ said. Except the movie screen is a dome above you and around you.

“Cool,” Chase said again, grinning. “This place is cool.”

“We should come back here some time with Aunt Jess, Chase,” Schneep said. “When we left today she said she wanted to see this some time. I think she mentioned something about it being new and her not having time.”

“Yeah.” Chase’s smile slowly faded. He remembered when the planetarium had opened. It was last year. Around November, he thought. That was when Mom and Dad... That was when he first noticed that they were... different. He’d seen some things before that, of course, overheard conversations he probably shouldn’t have, but... The atmosphere in those conversations had been isolated before. November was when it first started to spread to every interaction they had. Neither of them had been in the mood for a family trip to the planetarium.

“Chase, come on!” Schneep tugged on his arm. “We are behind!” Then he turned and hurried ahead.

“Ah, sorry!” Chase hadn’t even realized he’d frozen in place. He started to hurry after Schneep... but then he noticed something. Mrs. Karter wasn’t heading towards the hall leading to the Astrodome. She was walking the opposite direction. He stopped, and watched as she opened a gate in the railing separating the model planets from the rest of the solar system. She had a key to that? Since when? Did all the teachers have a key?

He glanced back at the retreating group, then followed her. He just wanted to make sure. If something strange was happening, he’d go back to get the others.

Mrs. Karter closed the gate behind her, but left it unlocked. Chase slowly eased it open and stepped through. He watched her disappear around the model of Neptune.

“What are you doing, Chase Brody?” Chase turned around to see Stacy standing there, hands on her hips. “We’re going to lose the group!”

“Mrs. Karter just... went this way...” Chase said slowly.

“She did?” Stacy said doubtfully. “I didn’t see her.”

“Hey, what’re you guys doing?” Marvin approached the two of them. “Schneep and JJ are getting away from us.”

“Hang on.” Chase walked forward and peered around the giant Neptune model. And he saw... a door. One marked “Staff Only,” hidden behind Saturn. But he didn’t see Mrs. Karter. “I think she went through a staff door.”

“Wait really?” Marvin hurried through the still-open gate, and Stacy gasped in surprise at his audacity. “Like the staff door you were talking about earlier? One of the maybe-weird ones?”

“Yeah.”

“Well we have to check it out, then,” Marvin said.

“It could just be a staff door, you know,” Stacy pointed out.

“We won’t know that unless we peek through,” Marvin rebutted. “If it’s just, like, a closet or something, we’ll catch up with the others.” He walked past Chase, leaving him to follow.

“You can’t just—!” Stacy glanced around, then ran after the two of them, catching up as they reached the closed staff door. “If there’s someone in there they’re gonna be so mad, you know.”

“Then we just tell them that we saw Mrs. Karter go this way.” Chase shrugged. “It’s the truth. And she’s our teacher. So of course we would try to follow her on a field trip.”

“Do you think she locked the door?” Marvin asked, reaching out. He grabbed the handle. It twisted easily. “Oh, I guess not.” He pushed the door open—

And suddenly, Chase felt himself fall forward. He yelped and tried to regain his balance but something was pulling him. Stacy, standing behind him, also fell forward, knocking him over, and he then knocked over Marvin, and the three of them were falling through darkness.

There wasn’t enough time to scream before they landed hard on the ground, knocking the breath out of them. Chase groaned. That was worse than wiping out on his skateboard. His entire left side hurt, and his arm felt funny. He hoped it wasn’t broken.

“What... just happened?” Stacy’s voice said in the darkness.

“A-are you guys alright?” Marvin’s voice asked.

“Everything hurts,” Chase said quietly.

“Yeah,” Stacy agreed. “I don’t... want to move.”

Chase heard movement—the sound of cloth rustling—and then a hiss of breath. “Yeah. Moving not good yet,” Marvin said. “Let’s just... stay here until we feel better. And try to figure out where we are.”

“It’s pitch black,” Stacy said.

“Wow, no, really?” Chase replied sarcastically.

“Where are you? I’m gonna punch you.” More movement as Stacy tried to find him. Luckily, she seemed to be out of arm’s reach, and she gave up. “Fine, whatever.” She paused. “Okay. So... you guys opened a door. And then it like—like sucked us in?”

“Oh, is that what happened?” Marvin said. “Well. Goes to show the staff doors really are part of the weird shit. D’you think Mrs. Karter got sucked in like this?”

“Maybe?” Chase guessed.

“I don’t think she’s nearby, though,” Stacy said. “Or she would’ve heard us and come over to ask us what we’re doing here.” More cloth rustling, then some footsteps. Stacy was standing up. “Hello?” she called.

There was no reply.

Chase took a deep breath and slowly stood as well. His left arm really felt weird, but it didn’t hurt and he could move it, so it probably wasn’t broken. “Alright. Does anyone have a flashlight or something?”

“Who just carries a flashlight around?” Stacy muttered.

“Don’t those fancy cell phones with the touch screens light up?” Marvin asked. “Do either of you have one? I don’t.”

“I thought you did?” Chase said, confused.

“No, it’s technically JJ’s cell phone, and he was carrying it in his bag today. It’s not a fancy touch screen model, either, so the light from the screen wouldn’t be enough anyway. What about your phone?”

“I didn’t bring it. I’d normally leave it in my locker at school but we weren’t going to be in the school building today so I left it at home.” Chase paused. “Um... Stacy, do you—”

“My parents won’t let me get a cell phone until I’m fifteen,” Stacy said. “Ugh. It would’ve been so helpful to be able to call someone right now! Whatever. We’ll just feel our way along.” Footsteps. “Okay, here’s a wall. Feels normal. So there’s gotta be a door or a light switch somewhere around here.”

Chase walked towards her voice until he also found the wall. “I’ll walk the other direction,” he said. “We’ll find one eventually.”

Marvin finally stood up. “I’m going over here,” he announced, voice and footsteps retreating into the other direction. “Oh. There’s another wall here. This is a pretty small room. Do you think this is a closet? It would be a big closet, but not too big, you know? But there’s nothing in here, I think, and closets are for storing things.”

The three kids walked around the edge of the dark room, looking for an entrance or anything else helpful. But too soon, they all bumped into each other. “Omg, you guys totally threw me off!” Stacy complained. “I don’t know where I am now! Where’s the door?”

“Stacy...we’ve just met in the middle, and there hasn’t been a door at all,” Chase whispered.

“What? That’s impossible!” Stacy protested. “How’d we get in?!”

“I think we fell?” Marvin suggested.

“That’s right.”

That was not any of their voices.

Stacy screamed, which made Chase scream and spin around. “Who’s—” he started to say. Then the voice fully registered in his brain. He knew who that belonged to. “No. No, what are you doing here?”

“Am I here?” Anti’s voice sounded like it was coming from right in front of where they were standing with their backs pressed against the wall. “Or are you just hearing things?”

“Don’t bullshit us!” Marvin shouted. “Why are you here?”

Anti laughed. “I’m just watching. But it looks like you’re stuck, so I’ll give you a little hint.”

Chase heard a sound like fingers snapping, and something started glowing green right in front of them, the light reflecting off the features of a familiar face. Anti grinned. It looked even more ghoulish than usual. The light was coming from a glowing ball he held with his pointer finger and thumb. He flicked his fingers, and the ball bounced over to the corner of the room. “The walls aren’t put together well. Try pushing in the right place. Good luck.” His smile widened, and then the green ball flickered and disappeared. Anti’s presence disappeared as well.

Stacy gulped. “What... w-who...?”

“That’s... Anti,” Chase said slowly. “He’s... we’re not sure what. But he’s been messing with us.”

“I still think he’s a ghost,” Marvin added. “Anyway. Do we do that? What he said about pushing the walls in the right place?”

Chase paused, trying to think of something else, but nothing came to him. “I don’t have any other ideas. And whatever happens can’t be worse than being stuck in a box.”

He walked over to the corner where the green ball of light had disappeared. Then he braced his hands on either wall and pushed. Sure enough, he felt something give slightly. He pushed harder, grunting with exertion. Marvin and Stacy hurried over to help, joining him in pushing. Slowly, the walls tilted outward... and then fell to the ground with a loud CLAP! noise.

The three of them stared out into a wide, nearly-empty room. Its ceiling was twice as tall as normal and lined with rafters. Square pillars were dotted around, connecting the high-above ceiling to the cheaply-carpeted floor. It looked like a basement. A really big basement, since they couldn’t see the walls.

 There were no lightbulbs or lamps, but the area was well-lit anyway. Because dotted throughout the area were floating spheres of glowing yellow light. The spheres ranged in size from ping-pong-ball to two-fists-together. And they weren’t the only things floating. Random items hovered in midair: rocks, mostly, but also paper cups, pens and pencils, scissors, and more.

“Whoa,” Marvin breathed. “It’s like—it’s like space.”

Stacy stepped forward and poked a stapler hovering around head-height. It floated away from the touch. “What the heck?” she whispered, and looked at Chase. “Is this—is this something you guys deal with a lot?”

“Uhhh we’ve never seen this before,” Chase said. He started walking, and found he felt... lighter. Each step sent him a bit farther into the air, and he came down a bit gentler than normal. After taking a moment to get used to this, he walked over to the nearest ball of light and reached out. He couldn’t actually touch it, but when he waved his hand through it, he felt warmth. “But... we’ve seen a lot of weird stuff.”

“And only you and your friends know about it?” Stacy asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, we did see Mrs. Karter walk through the staff door that sucked us down here,” Marvin said. “So, unless the suckage just happened when we opened the door, she has to know about it too, right?”

Chase frowned. “I guess. And Mincy said that some of the staff at the planetarium were acting weird. Maybe... they also knew about this weird... basement? She did mention she overheard a conversation about a basement.”

Marvin’s brows scrunched together in confusion. “Do you think the staff knew about this and are keeping it a secret?”

“Maybe. But why?”

“Maybe for the same reason you guys didn’t tell anyone,” Stacy muttered.

Chase looked over at her. The two of them stared at each other for a while. Then Chase sighed. He still wasn’t happy about it, but after this, it wouldn’t be fair to keep it from Stacy any longer. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as he thought. “Look, you can’t tell anyone what I’m gonna tell you, okay? I mean, people might not believe you, but just in case, we don’t want anyone to try and stop this.”

Stacy nodded slowly.

“I mean it. Especially don’t tell Heather Westing.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Stacy said.

“Wait, I thought you were friends with her?” Marvin interrupted, confused.

“We are friends!” Stacy protested. “It’s just—she’s been acting a bit weird lately.” Stacy folded her arms. “I think it’s because my mom doesn’t want me to go to this movie Heather wants to go to. It’s based on a book and my mom read the book description and she said it was too dark for me, but it’s really not, I mean, it’s a romance, and even if it wasn’t I want to read it anyway because I bet it will be cool. Anyway Heather realized I didn’t read the book and my mom won’t let me go see the movie and she got a bit weird. But the movie comes out in November so I hope I can get the book from the school library and read it by then and I’ll tell Mom that it was fine and that I should be allowed to go to the movie.”

“Uh... okay.” Chase didn’t really get all that, but he got that Heather and Stacy weren’t on the best of terms right now. “Anyway. This place is kind of creeping me out. So let’s try to find a way out of here and I’ll explain everything while we look around.”

Stacy nodded. “Alright.”

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

Luckily, the mysterious space-themed basement wasn’t that big, so Chase didn’t have to go into too much detail. He gave the basic explanation of each of the group’s encounters with the strange things going on: the library ghost, the pool monster, the weird mushrooms, the monster dog, and Anti. Marvin kept trying to give more details but Chase quickly redirected the conversation back to the point. By the time they reached the basement wall, Chase had told Stacy everything.

She was quiet for a while, processing all this information. “I wouldn’t believe you if I didn’t see that crazy dog. And if we weren’t surrounded by all this stuff.” She waved her hand through the air, breaking up a cluster of floating paper clips. “But alright. I won’t tell anyone. Because if I wouldn’t believe you, I doubt anyone else will.” She held eye contact with Chase. “But I want to know.”

“You want... to know?” Chase repeated.

“Yeah, I want to know about all the stuff you guys do. And what you figure out about this greenlight stuff. I dunno if I’ll be able to come with you guys to check any of it out. My mom and dad wouldn’t let me walk around town on my own like your mom does. And a lot of the time I have to watch Roxy, so—”

“Who?”

“My little sister. She’s eight and sometimes my parents are at work for longer than they wanna be so I sometimes have, like, an hour or two where I watch her. It’s not too bad. But the point is, even if I can’t go there, I want to know.”

“Uh... yeah. Sure.” Chase nodded. “We can keep you in the loop.”

Stacy smiled. “Thanks.” She turned her attention to the basement wall. “Now. Which staircase do we take?”

Spaced out evenly among the basement wall were staircases leading upwards. They were about six feet apart and all looked about the same. Normal, brightly-lit metal stairwells that, after about ten steps or so, led into sudden darkness. 

“You’d think they’d all go to the same place,” Marvin said, looking at the rows of stairs. “Because they all look like they’re going the same direction. But I don’t think we can trust that. This place is already weird. There’s no real way to figure out which one is which, so maybe we just pick one? Hang on, I’m gonna try to divine which way to go. It’ll be hard cause I don’t have any of the right stuff, but it’s worth a shot.” He traced a pattern in the carpet with the toe of his shoe: a star in a circle. Then he knelt by the pattern and closed his eyes.

Stacy stared at him. Then she looked at Chase.

“He just does stuff like this,” Chase mumbled, not looking directly at her or Marvin. “It’s fine.”

“So, uh, is it real?” Stacy jerked her head at Marvin and the pattern in the carpet.

“I dunno. He used his crystals and rocks to save us a couple times, but... I don’t know.”

Stacy nodded. “And... the cape?” she whispered.

“That’s just him.”

Marvin opened his eyes. “Okay. I think we go this way.” He stood up and walked over to a random stairwell. Stacy and Chase followed him and the three started walking up. The stairs were always lit ten steps ahead of them, but no farther.

As they did, Stacy continued to ask Chase questions. “So, not even your parents know about this? Your mom just kinda lets you do whatever?”

“Well, I have a bedtime,” Chase said. “And it’s gonna be harder to ‘do whatever’ with school and stuff. As long as I give a good explanation, she’s happy. She likes that I’ve been hanging out with people again. Besides, she wouldn’t believe me. Like you said earlier. No grown-ups would. We’d just be kids playing games to them.”

“But you haven’t told anyone our age before me, either,” Stacy stated.

“No. I don’t want to be... You know people would...” Chase tried to put his thoughtsinto words that wouldn’t spill all his feelings and fears to a girl he’d barely talked to. “If anyone at school knew that I was doing this, it wouldn’t matter if it was real or not, because it’s all really... different. Like, magic rocks? Used to channel green energy? That’s weird. And nobody would ever forget that. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as the weirdo ghost guy from a group of weirdo magic people.”

Marvin stopped walking.

“Marvin?” Chase asked. “Why’d you stop?”

“...it is all weird, huh?” Marvin said quietly.

“Y-yeah.” Chase nodded.

“Yeah.”

Chase had never heard Marvin so quiet before. Was he upset? No, he couldn’t be. Marvin would probably be swearing at Chase if he was angry, as loud as ever. “Did you hear something?” Chase asked.

“I dunno,” Marvin said. “Let’s stop talking for a moment.”

“Right.” Chase also went quiet, paying attention to the world around him. And because he was now paying attention, he noticed that Stacy was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. “What?” he whispered to her.

“Are you serious?” she whispered back. “Chase Brody, you just—”

“Wait, there’s something,” Marvin interrupted.

Everyone fell silent again, and that’s when they heard it. Footsteps coming down the staircase towards them. The three of them exchanged silent looks of panic, and then Stacy turned and started walking back down the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. The boys followed, making slightly more noise than she did.

Voices also drifted down the staircase, coming closer. Two people talking. “—those kinds would be fine, really,” a man’s voice was saying.

“It’s not easy to find this stuff out,” said a... familiar voice. The three kids exchanged surprised looks. That voice belonged to Mrs. Karter. “Not all of them are trusting. I’ve been trying to ask Gina, but she keeps her lips shut tight.”

“Have you thought about recruiting her? It would be helpful if she was on our side.”

“I’m not sure she would be ideal. She might not understand the bigger picture. And it would be so much trouble if we showed her, and then she rejected us, and then we had to find a way to get rid of her—she’s pretty well-connected, people would notice.”

“It may be worth a shot anyway, given her position. We can move slowly. You’ve already mentioned talking to her, keep being friendly. I think if Olivia and Wendy can also befriend her, we might have a shot at bringing Gina in.”

The three kids reached the end of the staircase, but where to go from there? The basement was wide-open, nowhere to hide. Chase glanced at Marvin and Stacy, then gestured forward urgently. They’d just have to run! Stacy nodded, but Marvin looked confused.

“Just double-checking,” the man’s voice said. “You’re sure we got an intruder alert?”

“I am,” said Mrs. Karter. “They must’ve come in right after me. Hopefully they’re kids from the field trip. That would make this easier.”

Chase grabbed Marvin by the wrist and broke into a run. Stacy followed—she was surprisingly fast! The wall of staircases already started to fade into the distance when there came a shout of “Hey!” The three of them sped up.

The basement seemed even larger than it had before. They could hear the footsteps of people running after them. Marvin glanced over his shoulder but Chase and Stacy were too focused on getting out of there. Floating objects bounced off them and flew in different directions. The footsteps were still behind them, not getting closer, not getting farther.

CRAK!

Stacy yelped and went down. The boys skidded to a halt. She’d stepped in the wrong place, and her foot had gone into a crack in the floor that they hadn’t seen before. Had they come this way earlier? Or had they just not noticed it? The crack was pretty big, Chase wasn’t sure how they could have missed it.

Why did it look so familiar?

Stacy tried to stand up but couldn’t. She looked at the two of them, silently asking for help. Chase grabbed her hand and started to pull, and Marvin did the same with her other hand. She was really stuck in there. It felt like something else was pulling against them. Chase spared a moment to get a closer look at the crack. It was barely big enough for Stacy’s foot to have fit through, and it led into pure blackness. For some reason, that gave him a chill.

The footsteps were getting closer. Chase put all his effort into pulling, and finally, Stacy popped free. She staggered, falling into the two boys, then quickly recovered and dashed away, leaving them to catch up.

The opposite wall of the basement finally came into view. It looked just like the other one, lined with staircases. The kids didn’t discuss which one to take, they just ran up the first one they came to, sprinting up stairs in the darkness. The footsteps behind them receded slightly, but they didn’t stop. Chase started to get winded, but they didn’t stop.

Until finally, the staircase ended in a closed door. Chase threw himself at the door—and stopped short when it didn’t open all the way. Stacy and Marvin slammed into the door next to him, pushing it open further. There was just enough room for them to wriggle out of the gap, and they did so. As soon as they were out Chase slammed the door behind them and pushed the heavy object partially blocking the door back against it.

The three of them stopped to breathe, listening for footsteps or voices on the other side of the door. Nothing. They collectively slumped in relief, and started to look around. “Where are we?” Marvin whispered.

It was a small room, mostly taken up by metal cabinets—which was what had been blocking the door earlier—and weird computer-y looking equipment. A swivel chair sat in front of a wide window, and through the glass they could see some sort of projection of the night sky.

Then another door opened up to the side. “What the fuck? When did you kids get in here?”

The three of them stiffened and stared at the guy who opened the door. He wasn’t too much older than a teenager, and he wore the planetarium uniform. He also had a pair of headphones with an attached microphone on his head. “Uhhhh...” Chase said.

The young man sighed. “Just get back to your seats.” He pointed behind him.

Chase, Stacy, and Marvin glanced at each other, then silently walked out of the room, passing by the man.

They were in a place that looked like a movie theater. But instead of there being a screen on one wall, the screen was a giant dome overhead. This was where the projection of the night sky was. They were standing at the back of this circular room. To their right was the room they’d just come out of—a small booth covered in fuzzy black material. To their right was an identical booth. And in front of them were the rows of seats, almost completely full of kids. A woman’s voice came from an intercom, narrating something about constellations.

This was the Astrodome. They’d ended up here after all.

“I guess... we just sit down?” Stacy whispered.

“I guess,” Chase whispered back.

They found the nearest group of empty seats and sat down, trying to pay attention to the presentation and the fake night sky overhead.

After the presentation, the three of them lingered in the same seats as all the other students filed out. Chase was pretty sure Stacy and Marvin were doing the same thing he was: looking for Mrs. Karter. But she wasn’t in the room.

“There you are!”

Chase jumped and looked around. Schneep was running up the aisle between the seats towards them, followed by JJ. “Oh. Hi.”

“Where were you?!” Schneep demanded. “I thought—I-I thought—what happened?! Did something happen? A-are you alright?” JJ put a hand on his shoulder, and that seemed to calm Schneep’s nerves a bit.

“We’re alright, but...” Chase looked at Stacy, who held his gaze. Then at Marvin, who wasn’t looking at any of them, not even JJ. Just staring up at the blank dome, staying quiet. Chase wondered if he was okay, or if something about that detour had bothered him. He could ask him about that later. Right now? “We have stuff to talk about.”

[illegiblewords]

This is tied to a twitter debate going on. I’m unable to talk to the artist privately and would rather not jump into a whole debacle there, so talking about the subject in a matter of principle here. Might or might not delete, heads up it is a controversial point.

Speaking as someone who is part of a minority culture that is still discriminated against, has experienced genocide in recent history, and continues to see/experience side-effects of both today. People will probably be able to guess what I am but I prefer not to be public because frankly there are still issues. It is something I’ve alluded to before though. I’m not personally in favor of cultural segregation. I think it creates stagnation, ignorance, misunderstanding, conflict, and reduces the circulation of ideas as a whole. It goes against human nature and human history, and perpetuates the idea that the only ways different different cultures can interact are through oppression and exploitation. I fundamentally do not believe this is the case and think we’d all be better off learning to navigate in healthy ways than to shut down all interaction. Humanity has so much wonder and diversity of thought, to artificially limit ourselves would be a tragedy. It is possible, through art or otherwise, to mishandle cultural elements according to their connotations. When understanding isn’t present that mishandling is even more likely. An example of this from FFXIV I can point to is the New World Headdress--which is essentially a Native American war bonnet. In the past I actually encountered two indigenous fans debating on it (I can’t remember which tribe but it was large and apparently they were part of the same one), with dramatically different stances. One was really excited to see their culture included in the game in any capacity, didn’t want the developers discouraged from future inclusion, and didn’t think there was any issue. The other felt the New World Headdress was insulting, trivializing, and exploitative. I asked if my understanding of the real world connotation (being similar to a medal of honor--a huge mark of personal recognition, bravery, and achievement) was correct, then asked if it would have made a difference if it wasn’t craftable/available on the market board and was instead a non-sellable reward for completing a quest related to the Whalaqee (Native American influenced group) that was obtained by the Warrior of Light only after they’d really earned it. The first fan didn’t think it was necessary but did think that would be cooler because it would have more meaning to it and help share information. The second fan was uncertain, but did say it would have been better/more respectful. To me, there are different levels of interaction. Non-sacred and commercial elements without profound cultural meaning attached I think should be free to interact with. Most food (ex. not communion wafers or similar) and good luck charms that are sold would easily fall under this category. Fashion is often part of it too. When it comes to ceremonial, religious, or otherwise profound elements--there needs to be thought and respect put into the subject. That isn’t the same as making it strictly off-limits. Ex. A Western bride wearing Eastern bridal clothing for her marriage to her Eastern husband, and participating in his cultural ceremonies, is not appropriating imo but being brought in. It’s very different from a random Western tourist wearing bridal clothing and posing for lewd or otherwise inappropriate pictures at a holy site while getting mud on the outfit or tearing it. And likewise, drawing from a culture’s myths, histories, or even religious beliefs isn’t inherently bad so long as it’s done with thought, purpose, and respect. FFXIV’s Japanese creators frankly do some of the best representation of concepts from Judaism I’ve seen in media that doesn’t hinge on ‘people murdering Jews: the sequel’. While it would be nice to see that approach spread, it’s a wonderful thing to have explored at all. The Tree of Life for example with its ten sephirot is a huge deal and is a sacred concept. The way it’s referenced in FFXIV shows attention to research and respect. Not a problem, actually exciting to see. If someone claimed it was insulting because ‘it depicts a sacred concept in a fight mechanic’ frankly I think that discourages discussion of the ideas, shows lack of understanding for the concept itself, and would be overall destructive/disrespectful as a censorship attempt. The point of contention I saw recently involved an Asian FFXIV artist drawing on a specific good luck charm from another culture in art. The good luck charm is often sold commercially--including to outsiders. The artist showed understanding for how the charm works in how it was depicted, and the depiction was thought-provoking. People from the culture being drawn from were excited to see the art, but some outsiders were doubtful regarding whether it was okay. I think discouraging the artist under these circumstances would be a mistake and contributes to people losing awareness of ideas/traditions. We don’t need to keep culture stagnant, isolated, or sterile. It’s not how culture works, because culture reflects human beings and human beings aren’t those things. There’s room to discuss better or worse ways to handle cultural subjects, but ‘segregate or else you’re a bigot’ I think isn’t appropriate. It’s a nuanced subject.

[justsome-di]

WIP: Untitled

I was working on this WIP for a while and then I decided to change almost everything about it. I’m keeping this chapter in! Skye (stagename: Angel) will be the main character in the re-write. 

Skye is a pop star from a fictional country. He’s part of a boy group, arguably one of the biggest in his country. But Kai, their leader, is having his own romcom in America and might be leaving the group--which will disband them all.

And meanwhile, Skye doesn’t know why he’s never been in love with a woman like Kai. And he’s caught in a lot of trouble. He’s 23 and has been in entertainment since he was a teenager. He might be gay. Fans spread nude pictures of him around the internet. He probably parties and drinks too much. And all of his friends are fighting.

Here’s the chapter:

Skye sat at the dining table as quietly and as professionally as he had been trained to do. Even though it was only Kai pacing in front of him, he knew what was expected of him. Don’t make a sound. Don’t move a muscle. Wait for someone to talk to him.

Maybe if he showed Kai that he could do all of that right, he wouldn’t worry so much.

“If I don’t come back,” Kai said, “you have to promise me you’ll behave.”

“I will.”

“I mean it, Skye.”

“I’ll behave!”

Kai stared at Skye and bit his thumbnail.

Skye never meant to be the troublemaker of the group. It was just that it was so hard to stay out of trouble. No matter what he did, drama followed him. He just wanted to have fun. But whenever he got drunk, there was paparazzi with a camera. If he ever ran off to try to do something with people his own age, he got caught. If it wasn’t anyone tied to the media, it was someone tied to the company who would drag him out of bars and clubs and parties and tattle on him to Dae and Kai.

And then there was the most humiliating instance of his “bad behavior.” The naked pictures that had circulated around the entire world.

It had just been a joke between his and his friends. He had lost a card game and had to strip until they pulled closer to shore. But of course someone had followed him out to the middle of the ocean. Why wouldn’t they? Why would he ever expect even the vast, endless water would give him any privacy?

Dae had yelled for hours, ranting about how much damage control their publicists would need to do and how much money it would cost to get the pictures out of tabloids and off entertainment gossip shows. Kai was too shocked to speak and had looked at Skye with a look that was a mix of disappointment and half-concealed anger.

Dae and Kai only cared about the group’s image and how they would possibly recover. They didn’t ask if he felt violated (he had), they didn’t ask if he needed to talk about it (he did). It wasn’t until Ste visited him later and let him vent and tear up about the whole thing.

According to Cas, Ste had apparently sternly reminded Kai that Skye was a person and that being sexually exploited had done a number on him. But Skye was the youngest, so he was largely kept in the dark about inner-group tension and confrontations. All he knew was that Kai had suddenly become gentler about the whole thing.

“If we’re not NXT.” Kai clenched his jaw. “If we’re not NXT, I’m not your leader. I won’t know everything that’s happening.”

Skye hadn’t thought about it like that. He hadn’t thought much about Kai not being his leader anymore. What was he supposed to do without Kai telling him where to go and when? What would he do without Kai’s little pre-show speeches?

He had mildly entertained a solo career that was possibly coming. He knew how things went. He was cute. He was a popular member. He would be pushed into a solo career as soon as NXT’s contract ended. He knew it was coming, but for some reason whenever he thought about it, Kai was always there.

His eyes stung with tears. Kai laughed.

“Skye,” Kai said. “Skye, it’s okay. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“Yes, you have.”

Kai wrapped his arms around him and pushed Skye’s head into his stomach. He rubbed Skye’s arm.

“I haven’t.”

“You’re leaving us.”

“Skye.” Kai pulled Skye’s head back and forced him to look up. “I’m not leaving you guys.”

Skye felt like such a child, but he couldn’t help it. He never got the chance to be an adult.

[hmt5u]

The Labyrinth - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Etwin!

want nicer typography? - read it on my website

I was born early morning on Varsday, the 34th day of Lapis, in a small village called Allunis, about 3 days ride from Darn.

At the time of my birth, my father had been out with a small group of the villagers hunting a herd of Horned Pigs that had been getting into the crops for the last few months. This wasn’t a particularly rare occurrence, but in the last few months the attacks had become more frequent, and more fierce, until the decision was made we were due for a culling.

Our village, you see, was pushed up against a large and particularly dense forest. And in that forest there was what once, long ago, had been the entrance to a Labyrinth. The entrance itself had collapsed well before the village had been established, but there was still enough residual magical energy that emanated from what lay beneath to occasionally attract monsters like the Horned Pigs. They would start poking around with the intention of making the forest their home. Sooner or later they would get confident enough to start encroaching on the farms. Whenever this started getting out of hand, the villagers would round up a group of the burliest farm workers, and march into the forest.

The hunters had been out for a few days already at this point, and not having had much luck were itching to return home to rest, when by sheer blind luck they’d finally come across the Horned Pig den. Even though they were exhausted and well beyond their limits, they were in luck: the pigs were all asleep inside. They snuck into the den and killed a dozen of the monsters while they were sleeping.

By the time the men came back to the village, lugging the carcasses back on improvised sleds cut from tree branches, I had already been born for a few days. Since my arrival coincided more or less with the discovery of the den of monsters that had been plaguing the village, it was decided I should be named after that episode somehow.

My father’s first suggestion had naturally been to name me Horned Pig. This apparently sparked an instant barrage against him from my mother and sisters. Unfortunately, my father had always been obstinate, so the complaints only made him dig his heels in.

“The boy will be called Horned Pig!” He stamped his foot and crossed his arms.

To which my mother replied, “do you honestly want to wander out into the village yelling out Horned Pig! Horned Pig! Every time your son wanders off? People are going to think you’re looking for a lost pet! We’ll be a laughingstock!”

“If I say the boy will be Horned Pig, then the boy will be Horned Pig! And not another word!”

Fortunately, once cooler heads prevailed, there were more words, and this is how I came to be called Etwin.

For most of my youth, I thought I’d dodged a nest of hornets on that one. As it happened, that name would come back to haunt me. In the old language, the one my parents were familiar with, my name translates out to something like ‘bountiful victory’. I would not discover until much later that there was an even older meaning from an even older tongue meaning ‘victory achieved through great sacrifice’.

This wasn’t common knowledge where I came from, and so nobody was able to point out the irony when, a few weeks later, the Horned Pigs raided our village again, seeking revenge for their destroyed den.

This time they weren’t messing around, either. They didn’t just come in small waves, but called in their big brother, a particularly angry and dangerous Horned Boar. I suppose that no matter the species, all kids think alike: if you get beaten down, come back with some tougher, older kids to take care of your mess. I can almost imagine them standing behind that giant boar, sneering at our village.

Anyway, the pigs raided again and again, and even caused a few injuries as some younger, more stupid men tried to take on the boar.

The problem was that on the surface, a Horned Boar doesn’t look like much more than a bigger version of a Horned Pig. If you’d never really dealt with one before you might assume it was little more than a slightly hardier version of the smaller one. But as those young men discovered soon enough, this kind of thinking is entirely off track.

Horned Boars aren’t just Horned Pigs that have been around long enough to get bigger. They’re the evolved form of the weaker species. They’re not just physically larger, they’re also much smarter. And they’re not just a little tougher, either. A Horned Boar’s hide is so thick that it pushes away blades like a steel armor, and its tusks are powerful enough to launch a fully loaded wagon straight into the air. And finally, not to put too fine a point on it, but these things are big. A regular Horned Pig is already large, but no larger than a large dog at best. A Horned Boar could easily carry a few people on its back and have room to spare for cargo. They’d make great pack animals if they weren’t also incredibly aggressive and territorial.

For a whole month the village was plagued on and off by this giant monster and its underlings. They would peer at us from the edges of the forest, then bound out and destroy our property and crops the moment our backs were turned.

After the boar fatally mauled one of the farmworkers keeping watch at night, the village finally decided to call for help. See? Pigs aren’t the only ones who can call on their older brothers. We sent a messenger to Darn.

Allunis was a small village, and there were only a dozen or so families living there, maybe a hundred people all told when you factored in the workers. But there was a lot of farmland, and we generated a lot of food. Seven in ten grains worth of everything we produced or gathered went straight to Darn, both as tax and as payment for the lease of the land.

It sounds like a lot, but it isn’t like we needed a lot to actually eat ourselves, and in return for all that food we were entitled to protection by the small army stationed there. Darn wasn’t about to let the pigs destroy everything or they’d potentially face shortages over winter. We might not be a huge center of trade, but we did account for a noticeable percentage of their overall food stores.

So, a few nervous weeks later, there was a buzz of excitement as the lookout caught sight of a city standard flapping in the wind on the outskirts of the village. The excitement soon fizzled out as the villagers saw what Darn had actually sent.

Instead of a regiment of spear wielding soldiers, only five people rode back into town, including the messenger we’d sent in the first place. One older gentleman in well-worn leather armor, and three recruits trailing behind in an otherwise empty wagon.

My father, who had for some reason unbeknownst to anybody else taken it upon himself to be the town’s representative in this matter, stormed up to them almost before they were even properly inside the village.

“What’s the meaning of this? Where are the rest of you?” Or something like that.

The older gentleman had looked at him with what I can only imagine was an overwhelmingly tired expression, and replied, “what? Who are you?” Or something like that.

“Are you all that Darn sent to deal with the problem?” My father demanded a second time.

The other soldiers were starting to buzz at this point and one of them stepped forward.

“Hey, watch your mouth, bumpkin! Do you know who you’re tal—“

But the older gentleman had held up one hand and cut the recruit off.

“He probably doesn’t know who I am.” Then to my father he bowed low and said, “my name is Bertrand Nightowl. I am in the employ of Darn just now, and when they heard of your troubles, my liege dispatched me right away.”

“Just you? What can one man do against that Devil?”

“There’s a Devil here?” Bertrand looked genuinely confused.

“The pig! The Horned Boar!”

“Oh,” Bertrand nodded his head. “That’s a relief. If it was an actual Devil I might have had to go back and get some help.”

Through this exchange, my father’s face had been growing increasingly redder.

“How dare you take this situation so lightly! People have died here trying to take down that… monster! What is that old fool thinking sending an old man to deal with this!”

Bertrand had frowned at that and said levelly, “it’s precisely because people are dying that my liege sent me. There will be no more deaths in this village from the Horned Boar, or it’s brood. You have my word on that. And I’d ask you to be a little more pleasant in your choice of words. Do not take the Count of Darn for a fool.”

My father threw his hands in the air and stormed off. From where he was standing he was the one being taken for a fool.

The soldiers who had come with Bertrand looked furious at the exchange, but the older man calmed them down with a smile and a wave of his hand. “Now now, not much we can do about that. You didn’t sign up as soldiers to have everybody love you, and neither did I.” He looked around expectantly at the villagers still standing there gawking. “That said, we would appreciate it if somebody could tell us a little more about the situation.”

The soldiers set up a little camp right there in the middle of the village, and my father started fuming about how they were going to have to take care of the Horned Boar themselves. Just as soon as it showed up again. Which as it happens was that very night.

Being that my father had made such a big deal about the Bertrand, he started patrolling the outskirts of the village as soon as it got dark. He strapped his sword to his belt, found himself the longest pitchfork he could find, and started marching from one corner of the town square to the other, much to the increasing annoyance of the soldiers.

After a long night of uneventful marching, as my father was about ready to sneak off back to bed, it finally happened. The giant Horned Boar made an appearance.

Like a dark black bolt from the forest, it hurdled into the village, bearing its tusks, and that single gnarled horn atop its head, aimed straight at my father. Maybe because he was already tired from marching around with a pitchfork, but more probably because he was an idiot, my father froze and stared as the Horned Boar raced towards him.

But just before those tusks ripped into him, there was a sound like a thunderclap, and then a tremendous rush of wind. Bertrand, who had been sitting patiently at the fire drinking herbal tea, flew past my father like an arrow. There was a ringing chime, and then before my idiot father could fully process what had happened, the old man was standing where the body of the Horned Boar had become separate from its head, which rolled along the ground until it stared up at my father with lifeless eyes.

I think at this point in the story, my father could have done an number of things that would have cemented him in the permanent role of bumbling villain. But to his credit, he immediately tossed his pitchfork aside and dropped onto his knees in front of Bertrand, prostrating himself in front of the older man.

“I’m sorry! I was wrong! You’ve saved me! You’ve saved the village!”

My father was immensely proud, and often stupendously stubborn. But he was also grown up enough to know when he’d been entirely wrong, and he wasn’t going to let his pride get in the way of settings things straight.

And to Bertrand’s credit, while he might have chosen that moment to lay into my father, he didn’t. Instead he calmly put his sword away, then knelt down and dropped one hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright. It’s not a bad thing to be passionate about the place you live. Come on, get back to your feet. With the Boar gone I don’t think the Pigs will be back any time soon.”

And so, the Horned Boar that had been terrorizing our village was dispatched. By Bertrand Nightowl, in less than a second. The soldiers who had come with him, as it happened, mostly earned their pay by loading the boar onto the wagon they’d come on.

The next day, my father rallied the village into a celebration. In a complete reversal of what had happened when the soldiers had arrived, the villagers were now tripping over themselves to shake hands or offer up their children. Bertrand, though obviously pleased with the outcome, was not entirely at ease.

“Why would something like a Horned Boar even be around here?”

“That’s the fault of the old Labyrinth entrance, isn’t it? It’s been sealed over since forever, but we’ve always had monsters come through now and then,” my father explained.

“But as large as that boar?” Bertrand insisted. “Has there ever been anything like that?”

“Not that I can remember,” my father shrugged, and the consensus about the villagers gathered around was that they couldn’t remember either.

Bertrand looked up at the sun, which was only starting to crawl to the middle of the sky, then called over one of the soldiers, who was at that moment politely trying to talk her way out of an offer of marriage to one of the town’s many sons, and was no doubt glad for the excuse to leave the family and rush to her commander’s side. To my father, Bertrand said, “this is Fynnis. Get somebody to take her to this entrance. If anything happens, let her take care of it.”

My father had looked at Fynnis, who back then barely looked like she was in double digits, but apparently he had learned not to judge packages by their outside appearances. Rather than lump the work on anybody else, he volunteered to do it himself. The two of them had packed a few provisions, and left on foot before the hour was out.

The entrance to the Labyrinth was not too far off, just half a day’s hike, but far out enough they had planned to make their way out, camp, then return in the morning.

And yet, they returned that very night, Fynnis looking like she’d seen a ghost, and my father obviously disturbed whatever she’d explained to him on the way back.

“What is it? What did you find?” Bertrand demanded.

Fynnis had looked him in the eye and said in a trembling voice, “I understand why there are more powerful monsters about now. It’s the entrance to the labyrinth. It’s not sealed at all. It’s opened.”

And so went the first three months of my life.

[im-constantly-fangirling-backup]

Here Comes the Cavalry

REPOST BECAUSE TUMBLR HATES ME

Thomas Shelby x Reader

Warnings: Swear words

Word Count: ~2.3k

A/N: Thank you so much for requesting this, anon! I had a really fun time writing this and I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Charlie's 10th birthday finds itself the center of a showdown between Thomas and his ex-wife over the new woman in his life.

[Masterlist] [Taglist Form] [Join my 200 followers celebration!]

Being a friend of the Shelby's- didn’t matter how close or distant- was like walking around with a target on your back. But you didn’t mind. As much violence and chaos that the family attracts, and as much as they try to have power over each other, there was a mutual love and respect between every Shelby that you hadn’t seen anywhere else. For example, when Polly found out Tommy had hidden crucial information, she was pissed; but also proud. It was a bit concerning, if you were going to be honest. Even Grace was kept in the loop after the divorce. Once a Shelby, always a Shelby, you supposed. Grace wasn’t involved in the family business at all, but she and the family met occasionally. Although, as time passed on, it was mostly so Charlie could spend time with his father. Grace was now remarried and her visits were far and in between. She drifted apart from all the Shelbys- not that they minded, as her betrayal was still in their minds all those years later. Thomas started to move on from her as well, now very much used to Grace not being a part of his day-to-day life. Today was the day that Grace and Charlie were making a rare visit to the Arrow House for his 10th birthday. Thomas postponed all of his meetings for the entire week to make time for his son, an action that made you smile when you heard Tom tell his clients of his absence. And they call him heartless, you had laughed to yourself. “Ada! How are you doing!” you said, hugging your best friend before walking into the Arrow House. You took off your coat and hung it on the hook next to the door. “Oh I’m doing great sweetheart,” she said. “Auntie Y/NNNNNN!” you heard a little boy’s voice yell from the stairs. The pitter-patter of their feet running across the wooden floor echoed through the large room and made you chuckle. “Hello, Karl!” you kneeled on your knees and opened your arms for Karl, who ran into them and almost made you topple over. “Someone’s excited to see me!” You squeezed him lightly, resting your cheek on his head. You pulled away from him and reached into your purse, grabbing a chocolate bar that you had bought for Karl. “I got you something!” Karl smiled, his cute crooked teeth on display. “Thank you!” He grabbed the bar from your hand and started unwrapping it, running away from you and towards the living room. “Uncle Arthur, look what Auntie Y/N gave me!” he yelled. “What did I say about the chocolate?” Ada chided you. You laughed. “I couldn’t help it Ada,” you defended yourself. “He’s too adorable to not spoil.” In the background, you heard Karl laugh loudly. “You can’t have any Uncle Arthur, it’s for me!” You chuckled and shook your head, looking down at the floor in mock exasperation. The Arrow House would be nothing without the echoes of Karl’s screams bouncing around the walls from time to time. Even Thomas seemed to brighten up a bit more whenever Karl and Ada visited. You supposed it was because his nephew reminded him of his own son that he barely got to see. At the thought of Charlie, you looked up to Ada. “When are Charlie and Grace showing up?” Ada shrugged. “They should be here in a couple of minutes. Why don’t we head to the living room? Tommy bought a shit ton of food for Charlie so we might be able to steal a bit.” _______________________________________________________________________________________ You and Ada made your way into the living room and smiled at the exquisite birthday decorations. There were balloons of every color bunched up every couple of feet around the room, a large birthday banner hanging proud and true on the wall across from the fireplace. “Hello, Y/N. Ada,” Tom said from where he sat on the couch, his elbows on his knees. You smiled at him. “Thomas.” Tom smirked slightly- which was a fucking bright-ass grin when it came to Thomas. “We’ve been over the ‘Thomas’ shit, Y/n/n,” he said, quirking his brow. You chuckled. “We have,” you said. “Tom. ‘S just fun to be all fucking formal.” Tom pat the spot on the couch next to him while Ada left your side, sensing that you two wanted some

time alone. You walked over to Tom and sat next to him. “You excited?” Thomas nodded, his blue eyes brightening slightly. “I hardly get to see Charles anymore. You bet your ass I’m spoiling me boy when he’s here,” he joked. You laughed. “I’m sure Charlie’s going to like all of this,” you gestured to the decorations around you. “Oh! Before I forget! Where should I put this?” You reached into your purse and pulled out a folded mancala board that Charlie had begged you for the last time he visited. Thomas smiled and took the board from you, leaning down and sliding it under the couch. “We’re going to open presents after cake, so just remember to pick it back up.” From there, you and Thomas began to talk about the family business. Unlike with Grace, Thomas found himself consulting you on many decisions that he made. You weren’t directly involved but your advice was greatly appreciated by the family. Especially since Thomas wanted to get into politics- a field that you knew well because your father ran for MP multiple times before his death- your advice on what not to do gave him valuable insight on how to maintain a favorable public image. “I know your past is something that can’t be erased,” you said in response to Tom’s concerns about the subject. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t be hidden. Or at least left ambiguous enough that people can’t ask the right questions. You keep the public from asking the right questions, and you make sure they can never find the answers.” “It’s a bit unnerving that you know this,” Tom noted, a smirk on his face. In truth, he was impressed. Your knowledge of politics was quite extensive considering your father tried to keep you away from it for most of your life. But you knew how to eavesdrop and read gossip, and so you gained a wealth of knowledge about politics. You laughed. “You’re acting like you don’t already know this.” Thomas took a drag of his cigarette and chuckled. “You got me there.” Your conversation was interrupted by the distinct shrill of the doorbell. Tom perked up and smiled. “Charles is here!” He practically jumped up from his seat on the couch and made his way to the hall. You followed him to the hall, beckoning Karl, Ada, and Arthur- who had been quietly eating food in the corner, thinking Tom hadn’t noticed- to come with you. You and the group walked into the hall to the sight of Thomas laughing and picking up Charlie in his arms and bouncing him up and down, making his son giggle. “Happy birthday Charlie!” you exclaimed, clapping. Arthur, Karl, Ada- and John and Polly, who had been talking in the hall after you arrived- clapped and joined in wishing Charlie a happy birthday. Charlie and Karl shared a hug that resulted in you awing. You looked at Grace and smiled. “Welcome, Grace,” you greeted her respectfully. Grace simply nodded at you and took off her coat. Turning around to put her coat on the coat hooks next to the door, she gasped lightly in shock when she saw your coat resting next to Tom’s. “Whose coat is this?” she asked casually. You apologized profusely. “It’s mine, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to impose. I can find a different place for it-” Thomas waved his hand nonchalantly. “Oh, no need. You’re not imposing, Y/n/n.” You blushed slightly. “Frances can take your coat, Grace. I trust you remember who she is?” He jabbed at her lightly. Grace huffed and nodded. “Alright.” The tension between Tom and Grace was palpable and made everyone make excuses to leave the room. You left as well, saying something about wanting to play around with Karl and Charlie. You knew things were bad between Thomas and Grace. So bad, in fact, that Tom had approached her with a divorce. Tom was many things, but he wasn’t the type of person to reach for a divorce. He believed that marriage lasted for life. But after Tom’s and Grace’s arguments over his ambitions and dreams started to grow from skirmishes to screaming matches littered with threats, Thomas had enough. He told you the night that he decided to divorce Grace that he didn’t want to spend his life with a woman

that didn’t support his political and business ambitions. You found yourself sympathizing with both of them. You understood Grace’s concerns about the target that would always be on her and Charlie’s back because of Thomas’s ambition. But you also understood Thomas’s argument that his ambitions were also the thing that would provide his family with more opportunities than he had. Thomas’s goals were a double-edged sword. Although, Grace had become quite cold to Thomas in retaliation for the divorce, often sending him and his family veiled insults. So you didn’t feel much remorse for her when Tom made barbed comments like the one made in the hall. You sighed while watching Karl and Charlie play. It was going to be a long party. _______________________________________________________________________________________ All of you were eating cake, you talking with Polly about some gossip that you heard when going shopping for groceries. “Apparently Brandon was just using her for her status,” you said, licking the frosting off of your fork. “But then Brandon caught Melissa sleeping with her boss-” “No fucking way!” Polly interrupted, putting her plate down and gasping. “How the hell do these things happen to people!” You laughed. “I know right! My life is boring in comparison- and I hang out with you insane idiots!” “Hey!” John said from across the table, his mouth full of cake. “We’re not that bad!” “Speak for yourself,” Ada muttered from next to her brother, cringing when John stuck his cake-covered tongue out at her. “Honestly, Y/N,” Grace’s refined voice reverberated through the dining room, “You shouldn’t be gossiping this much. It’s a boring pastime.” You quirked your brow. “I’m sorry?” “Oh it’s alright, I understand that some people have nothing better to talk about. I’m just saying, gossip signals a bland personality and I’m sure you don’t have that, hm?” Grace’s implied message was clear. You sat in silence for a moment, surprised. “No?” you said, going along with whatever Grace said. In all honesty, you didn’t care what Grace thought of you. She barely visited enough for you to give a shit. But apparently, Tom didn’t want to let it slide. “Look, Grace, it’s not a big deal to gossip, alright? You’d be a big fucking hypocrite telling Y/n/n not to gossip when pretty much everything you talked about was who was fuckin’ who-” “Thomas!” Grace chided. “What? If you’re going to walk in here and criticize how Y/n/n spends their time, you can fuck off, alright? I don’t need some posh stuck-up woman in me house. So either behave yourself and let Charlie have a good birthday,” Thomas threatened, “Or get out of me house and have fun on the streets for a week.” “You’d let your own son live on the streets for a week?” Grace asked, shocked. “My threat regards only you. Charles is me blood- you make me see blood.” Grace looked down at her plate and picked up her fork and ate her cake again. Tom took that as an agreement to get along with everyone and started eating again as well. You were just thankful that you had sent Karl and Charlie to play upstairs. But regardless of the tense situation, a smile graced your face at the immediacy that Tom defended you with. _______________________________________________________________________________________ “Hey,” you tapped Thomas’s shoulder when you both found yourselves alone in the back room. “Thank you for defending me.” Tom nodded and smiled slightly. “Of course.” “I mean it. No one really defends me so I really appreciate it. Especially since it’s Grace.” Tommy’s brows raised slightly at that comment. “What do you mean?” You shrugged, looking anywhere but at Tom. “I mean, she was the woman that made you the person you used to be before France. I understand there’s some bad blood between you two now, but she’s still special to you.” Tom hummed and walked closer to you, stopping at around 2 feet away from you. “So are you, you know. You’re special to me.” You smiled. “You’re special to me, too.” Thomas’s hand cupped your cheek lightly, his thumb stroking

back and forth. A flush made its way to your cheeks and you smiled shyly at Tom. There was always some unspoken bond between the two of you that you danced around. You were always scared that it was too early after his divorce, but with the way that he was looking at you, he probably got over it a while ago. You don’t know who leaned forward first, but one second later your mouths were connected in a feverish kiss. Tom’s hands were traveling places, touching parts of your body that you caught him eyeing from time to time. Your hands rested against his chest and reveled in the feeling of his heart thumping against his chest as erratically as yours. So you had the same effect on him as he did on you. The kiss was a good indicator of that, but it was nice to have reassurance. Tom pulled away and rested his forehead on yours. “Fuck, I’ve wanted to do that for months now,” Tom confessed. You smiled, pecking him on the lips. “So have I,” you replied, pulling his mouth back to yours.

[honestlyfragile]

JUMPSTREET - Mark Lee x Johnny Suh

Pairing: Mark Lee x Fem!Reader, Johnny is Mark’s bestfriend, Mentions of Jaehyun and Yuta

Genre: university!au, police!au, a dash of fluff, smut,crack, fraternity!au

warnings: mild violence, mentions of guns, drugs, sexual themes, language

Summary: Mark and Johnny were partners in crime, but when feelings get in the way, will Mark stick to the law or go against it?

Wc: 15.4k

also posted in Ao3

a/n: I hope you enjoy this story heavily inspired by the 21 & 22 Jumpstreet movie franchise, and hopefully I was able to deliver it with my own ideas. Enjoy!

Mark and Johnny start their first official day as policemen after being together in most of their high school years and studying criminology in college. They could not be more excited to see people make trouble until today.

"Let's see who's going to be able to make his first arrest." Johnny bets, scanning around the area with a cup of coffee in his hand, the other on his waist.

"Dude it's a park, what the fuck could possibly happen here?" Mark retorts, unamused.

"Oh you know, it's a crazy world we live in these days." Johnny defends, his gaze fixed on his surroundings.

"Sure it is." Mark continues to read his newspaper as he stands side by side with Johnny.

The two try to at least roam around and patrol over the area, looking for at least an ounce of any violation, it didn't matter if it was serious or not.

Mark spots a kid of about 9 years old near the pond, about to drop a piece of bread into the water.

"Excuse me kid," Mark bluffs, as if it were his first catch of the day. Technically this is his first catch of his career, hopefully.

"What?" the child frowns and looks at him obnoxiously.

"Read the sign," Mark points to it and the kid's eyes follow, but disobeys him anyway. 

"It says don't feed the ducks!" Mark argues, but the kid is unbothered.

"Let it go Mark, it's not like bread will kill them. Plus, you can't arrest a child." Johnny scoffs and tries to drag Mark to another area.

Mark lets out a sigh as the kid sticks his tongue out and he does the same before turning his back.

The two had nothing better to do, they were rookies who just got newly assigned to an area that didn't even have any trouble. Almost like they were just there for the sake of. Of course the department treated them as rookies.

Johnny takes out his pistol out of boredom and tosses it for fun. "Woah you know those are loaded right?" Mark warns him while involuntarily taking a step back.

"Yeah and?" Johnny continues to toss and play with it.

"Unload it first!" Mark panics like the goody two shoes that he was.

"Then that would be no fun." Johnny shrugs.

Mark spots a group of middle aged men from afar, but not quite. He squints and tries to take a closer look with his binoculars.

"Yo check it out, aren't those the Outlaws?" He nudges Johnny's shoulder as he takes a look himself.

The Outlaws are a known motorcycle gang in the county, they aren't always bothersome but the both of them are determined to find a loophole.

The two approach the group of men and tell them off because they have parked their motorcycles illegally. But that's not the only thing they notice, these men were stoned. One lights up a joint of Marijuana shamelessly, and Johnny loses his temper. "Excuse me Sir, you do know that the use of Marijuana is illegal right?"

"Oh look," the hideous man spits on the ground. "They must be new. He has the guts to talk to us like that. Nice to see some fresh kids here. You sure you aren't dressing up for... halloween?" The man specifically has his eyes on Mark when he said the last sentence.

Feeling offended, Mark straightens up his stance and acts more like a grown man. "That's a nice joke sir, now hand it over." He says in a stern voice.

"What a scary fella, keep up the good work! Sorry I don't have candy with me." They tease and the two have had enough.

"I'm going to have to search your motorcycle now sir." Johnny insists and doesn't wait for a response, and opens the seat and finds packets of a fine white substance. "These are.." he halts.

"DRUGS!" Mark shouts and immediately gets pushed by one of the gang members.

Johnny immediately gets a sample and keeps it in his pocket and takes his gun out. Mark gets up and does the same. The men try to run away and escape, Johnny runs after them and Mark takes his bike. The two finally get to corner them and Johnny pits one of them on the ground.

"You have the right to," Johnny tries to utter the Miranda Rights as he puts handcuffs on the man that is trying to eagerly resist him. "To shut the fuck up!" Johnny was being too focused on trying to handcuff the suspect and forgets to recite the rest,

Reciting those did not even cross Mark's mind as he just also focused on trying to handcuff the man.

"You are coming with us!" He yells and drags them to the police station, which was only a few meters away from them now.

--------

As the case was investigated, their chief commends them but then discovers that they forgot to recite the Miranda Rights, which can possibly make the charges be dropped, but thankfully the violation to the law was enough for the men to remain in jail.

"Technically you still did this wrong," the chief puts a hand on his chin and taps the polished wooden table. "But since you're just starting out, i'll give you another offer."

The two young men eye each other, anticipating the chief's suggestion. "An offer?" Johnny asks, straightening up in his seat.

"Jump street." The chief says.

"Wha- what's that?" Mark furrows his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Since the both of you look younger than the rest of the people here, our undercover police unit is in need of officers." The chief informs.

"Please, continue." Johnny lets him explain further.

"You pretend to be college students. It's practically the same, but it would be more suitable for the both of you because it's your crowd. You see crime and injustice, you report. But, you will be disguised as college students to ease the procedures of trying to find what those students have been up to. We have your back." The chief explains.

"Cool." Mark simply says because he is astonished by the idea.

"So where do we report? Do we have a new head quarters?" Johnny asks. 

"You will be transferred. Down in 21 Jump St." The deputy Chief declares.

____

They head to the headquarters that was disguised as an old chapel. "You sure this is the one?" Mark questions as he gets out of the car.

"It does say 21 Jump St. so, let's have a look." Johnny turns off the engine and both of them enter.

The setting was a typical chapel, but it was dark and full of stock equipment. Mark takes a look at the altar that was dimly lit, and bows before the image of Christ to show respect . Johnny on the other hand was not a person of religion but follows Mark's simple gesture anyways.

"The both of you!" A man shouts from afar, and it echoes, "come over here." 

The two are startled but proceed to the hidden room. When they enter they see two women who are already disguised as cheerleaders. Meanwhile the two are still in their police uniforms. The ladies take a look and have a good laugh at them. "You do know that you're supposed to go undercover right?" She says, eyeing them from head to toe. 

"W-we didn't get the memo that it was gonna be today.." Mark trails off and fidgets with his hands.

"Go and dress like teenagers! Now!" The chief commands and the two quickly change right away. 

When they get back they are briefed by the set of rules they have to follow and about the goals of this undercover project.

"Rule number 1. DO NOT get expelled. No one in the system knows that you are undercover. So be disciplined and don't cause major trouble. Getting expelled would mean that you'll get your asses kicked out of jump street." The chief sternly explains, making the assigned officers hold their breath from fear.

"Rule number 2," the officer walks past the rest and stands in front of Johnny. "DO NOT have any sexual or intimate relationships with the students and professors. You hear that pretty boy?" And specifically locks his eyes on Johnny, making the boy gulp and purse his lips. After the general meeting, the two were called for a detailed one, personally with the chief.

It was said to them that they had to find a synthetic drug that has been spreading around the campus called NCT. A sample of its packaging was shown, it was definitely something you wouldn't think of as a drug. It was about a size of a large coin, and looks like a small biscuit. It was sealed using assorted hand drawn stickers of different objects. They were also advised to never give out their real names, because new identities have been assigned to them. Johnny's being Rolan Kim and Mark's being Kalen Park.

"When the youngsters take this drug, it apparently makes them laser-focused on studying for about an hour. And for the succeeding hours, they party like it's fucking 1999 until they pass out. Infiltrate the dealer, find the supplier." The chief gives his final orders and sends off the both of them for their mission.

-----

"Dang, we're really going back to college?" Mark says as he finished up packing his things for the dorm that the agency assigned to them. They had to be as realistic as possible.

The two head to the university, reminiscing their own college days. The two might perhaps over-do this whole "blending in" thing, which might give out the disguise.

"Woah their campus is HUGE." Mark says, mesmerized and wears both straps of his backpack.

"Bro, that's not very college of you." Johnny fumbles with the strap of Mark's backpack.

"What?"

"You're two strapping dude. You have to just sling one of them on your shoulder, so it's cool and grown up. You're in college, not middle school." Johnny fixes Mark's bag for him.

"Right. College." He utters to himself. He seems to be enjoying it too much, and starts saying hi to everyone he sees.

"Knock it off, Mark. You're giving us away." Johnny nudges his arm and tries to cooly stride along the campus, keeping his composure.

Mark acknowledges him and goes with the flow. The two arrive in their dorm that they gladly share only among themselves. Mark is new to this, because when he went to college he stayed with his parents. Thankfully he could trust Johnny to always have his back.

The two set their things down and pick their beds, it didn't really matter much since the room had two singles and separate desks for the both of them. It also had a small book shelf that could come in handy, if they ever plan to take lectures seriously.

"Let's just fix these later. We have to go to the Dean's office to confirm our enrollment. Act natural okay?" Johnny lazily brushes his hair back and straightens up his shirt in front of the small mirror that the vanity had.

"Oh- uh okay." Mark leaves the pile of his clothes undone on top of his bed and grabs his phone and keys.

It was the afternoon of fall, the campus has been covered with different hues of orange leaves and subtle sunlight. The breeze was cool but not strong as it blew against their hair. The university seemed peaceful, but they had no idea what went on once the sun sets and the lights are off.

After a couple minutes of walking, the two arrive at the Dean's office for their interview. 

"Good afternoon gentlemen, please take a seat." The middle aged man smiles at the both of them. 

The two are slightly nervous, but eventually get over it. "Nice to meet you, Mr..." Johnny reads the name plate on the desk "Mr. Bennet." and gives the man his signature smile. Mark does the same and they start their interview. 

"Okay, so which one is Rolan and which one is Kalen?" Mr. Bennet asks and there was a short period of silence. Two had seemed to forget which identities were theirs. 

Johnny raises his hand, "I'm Rolan sir. Rolan Kim." and he nudges Mark's shoulder. 

"Ah yes and I'm Kalen... Park" he barely manages to blurt it out. 

The dean furrows his eyebrows but lets it go and proceeds. "So the two of you are?" He asks. They were not prepared for that question. 

"Brothers."

"Family friends." the two say at the same time. They give each other a funny look, and Mark gladly saves them from the mishap. "Well we do really treat each other as brothers sir, we grew up together pretty much." and clears his throat. A close call. 

"That's good to hear. So Rolan is going to be trying out for the football team and Kalen will try out for the Music club. Those two are very different from each other, but don't worry the opportunities in this school are endless. You can always transfer if you feel that you aren't happy with what you chose." The dean explains and the two acknowledge. 

Mr. Bennet goes a little further with the interview and gives them their schedules for the semester then eventually dismisses the two, wishing them well.

"Dude how can you forget the identity that was assigned to you!" Johnny quietly scolds Mark for his slip away. 

"I'm sorry okay it's a little confusing!" Mark scratches the back of his head and looks at the floor. 

"Ayt, I'll see you later. I have Chemistry in 15 minutes. I can still catch up. What about you?" Johnny asks, putting his hand on his pockets and the other on Mark's shoulder.

"Well, I don't really have any classes for the day anymore. I guess i'll head back to the dorm so I can start unpacking already. I'll see you then. Let me know if you find any leads." Mark gives him a small salute and heads back to the dorms.

-----

Johnny arrives in the lecture hall and receives strange looks. He tenses up a little but nonetheless shrugs it off and takes a seat next to a boy who looks like a whole generation younger than him. 

"Yo, you look really old. Were you held back?" The boy asks in a nosy manner, unintentionally pushing Johnny's buttons.

Johnny clenches his jaw and keeps his composure. "No I don't... You look young. Super young. Were you held forward?" he tries to redeem himself. 

"No? Whatever. I'm Haechan by the way." The boy introduces himself. 

"Im Joh- Rolan." Johnny almost slips but the latter doesn't notice. 

The professor immediately hands a quiz, which Johnny has no idea of because he arrived at an odd time of the semester. He guessed all the questions with all his might. But to be quite honest he also wasn't the best in chemistry when he still went to school. 

He turns his paper in and walks towards the exit but gets stopped by Haechan. "Uh do you need help with the topic? You seem to be clueless about it." Which came off as a little rude, but that wasn't his intention at all. 

"No." Johnny insists because it hurts his pride. "I know everything." He stiffens up.

"Yeah? Do you know what a covalent bond is then?" The boy cheekily asks. 

Johnny bluffs, because he doesn't. Or to put it in a better light, he forgot. "Fuck man, I don't have to tell you what it is."

"Woah, I wasn't trying to be rude. But anyway if you need help you can just ask me. See ya." Then Haechan was off and got lost in the sea of people. 

Apparently, it was Johnny's last class for the day because it was already almost evening. He texts Mark to inform him that he's heading back to the dorm as well. He doesn't let his guard down and continues to observe the students if they're up to anything suspicious.

As he walked to the dorm, he saw a bunch of boys that were about as tall as he was but more athletic gather around the corner of the football field. He acts nonchalant but keeps an eye on what they are up to. He tries to move closer to the scene without getting caught and acts like he's only passing by. 

"Yo hook me up with some more of those, I can't fail my classes or else i'll get kicked out of the team." One says to the other. 

Johnny immediately pulls his phone out to text Mark about what he just heard and hurries back. 

-------

"Dude, as expected the football team has it. I'm trying out tomorrow and I'll surely get with them." Johnny discusses with Mark.

"Yeah? Can I come watch your tryouts? So I can see what they look like." Mark requests. 

"Sure. 2pm at the field." Johnny informs him.

The two were mostly busy arranging their stuff in the room until they heard a knock on the door. Mark offers to get it. 

"Hey new neighbors!" two men appear with big smiles. 

"Oh hey, uh... thanks?" Mark blankly answers as he was usually awkward meeting with new people.

Johnny comes and checks to see who it was, and to his surprise, it was Haechan and his roommate. 

"Oh hey Haechan, and hey..." Johnny looks at the unfamiliar guy. 

"Renjun." He smiles.

"Right Renjun." Johnny nods. "Oh by the way Kalen, I go to the same biology class as Haechan." Johnny calls Mark by his fake name.

"Oh cool, what about you Renjun, what's your major?" Mark asks. 

"Classical music!" Renjun enthusiastically says. 

"Oh I'm in Music Prod! I'll probably see you around during org meetings." Mark smiles.

Their neighbors introduce tips for them that could be useful during their stay and seem to be genuinely nice people. But Mark and Johnny cannot trust anyone, so they keep their guards up and try their best to not give anything away. 

Although it may have seemed like an easy task for them, it wasn't. The drug was all over the school, it was going to be difficult to find the root of it if they ignored even the smallest details that could lead them to find out the supplier. 

---

The following day, the two wake up early ready to officially start the day. Mark and Johnny head to their own classes, hoping that they find out something about the case today. 

Mark enters the lecture hall for his Philosophy class. It was almost 80 percent full as it was a basic class for almost everyone. He awkwardly looks around, hoping to find a seat that wasn't as far because of his bad eyesight. 

"Psst." You try to catch his attention. When he looks over, you tap the vacant seat next to you, "you can sit here." You offer. 

"T-thanks." He says and gives you a smile. 

"You seem like a new face. I'm Y/N" You say to him because you have observed the people in this class every day. 

"I'm Kalen. Kalen Park." he scratches the back of his head. "I uh, just got enrolled yesterday. You know, when your family moves into another town... yeah" he trails off with his made-up excuse. 

"Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it." You genuinely assure him, "It's college. You can take your time." You chuckle because he was so awkward, but seemed very kind. 

"Definitely." He bites his lip, unsure if he should keep talking or not. But the professor arrives just on time. 

He observes his surroundings and keeps an eye on suspicious students that might have a link to what they were looking for. He whispers to the guy in front of him who was just playing games on his laptop and wasn't listening in class. "Hey, do you know where I can get myself some NCT?" 

The guy raises his brows in doubt, "are you a narc?" and might have said it way too loudly. 

Mark tries to brush it off with a stiff laugh "What are you talking about man? I'm not I swear." and refuses to make eye contact. 

The airhead lets it go and slips mark a cellphone number that could possibly be a step closer to what they were looking for. "Just text them "looking for a hookup" and they'll know what you're talking about." 

"Thanks, man." He gives him a small pat on the back just to show that he wasn't up to anything, which actually just makes him more suspicious. Thankfully, the guy didn't really care. 

Mark was delighted to have found a lead easily, and immediately texts Johnny about it. After that, he actually paid attention to the class, just because it genuinely fascinated him. 

When it ended he immediately gathered his stuff and put on his backpack, ready to meet Johnny. 

"Psst, two strapper!" You call out and try to barely tap his shoulder. 

He looks back and immediately drops one strap of his backpack off his shoulders, he definitely forgot about what Johnny has advised him. He scratches the back of his head with his hands on his pocket, "yeah?" 

"You free this evening?" You casually ask. 

He nervously gulps because he really has to be somewhere right now, but he didn't want to be rude. "Uhm, I guess? I don't know yet. Why?" 

"We're having a poetry slam at the art hall, you might be interested. I saw some good stuff you wrote in your notebook" you smile, hoping that it doesn't freak him out that you saw one of his works. 

His eyes widened, "oh, okay cool I guess I can try. But I have somewhere to be right now, I'll see you..around." And he awkwardly walks off. 

You furrow your brows because of his strange mannerisms, but he seemed like no trouble at all. In fact, it was kind of cute, how awkward he was. 

------ 

It was time for Johnny's football tryouts. Given that he was already good at it during the time that he was actually in college.

Johnny was naturally a sociable person, he blended well with crowds and easily made friends. That's why this was the perfect place for him to be in. He sits himself at the bench while he wears the spare uniforms from the team and is greeted by a dude that was a little shorter than he was, "Goodluck" the boy with ash purple hair says. 

"Thanks!" he enthusiastically replies. 

"Captain! We need you for a sec." the coach calls, then the boy who has wished him luck gets up and reports to the coach. Well, he did give off an impression of one. He was highly presentable, his smile was hospitable, his form was great and his attitude was pleasant. Everything else—was just the ideal makings of a captain. 

The tryouts start and Johnny looks around for Mark, who had just arrived and casually sat himself on the bleachers, waving at Johnny from afar. As the tryouts went on and finished, the coach praised everyone who attended for a job well done and announced the new members who had qualified. All of which included Johnny of course. 

"Hey man, great job out there." The captain is back on Johnny's side to praise him. 

"Yeah, thanks. I'm Rolan by the way." He introduces himself.

"Of course I know, I was the one who picked you from the list." He laughs, "Jaehyun. Jeong Jaehyun." 

-----

"Hey!" Mark hears a familiar voice faintly calling his name. He searches for it but takes him awhile because of how wide the campus is. "Over here two stapper," you chuckle and he finally sees. 

"Oh hey," he muttered quite embarrassed at how awkward he was. 

He takes a seat next to you at the bench near the hall of the poetry slam event, he wanted to go together. "Chilly night huh? I should've brought my sweater.." You trail off, rubbing your arms for warmth. 

You didn't mean for it to come off that way, but Mark willingly takes off his jacket and offers it to you. "Oh it's alright really-" you insist.

"No it's fine, I'm from Canada, this is nothing." He laughs. 

You nod your head with his remark, and proceed to wear his jacket. It was quite big on you, but it was definitely cozy. "Shall we go?" You ask, standing up.

He nods and lets you lead him to the hall. The campus was only lit by lamp posts at this hour, but there were many sculptures in the school of arts that he had wished to see better. Well, there was always next time. 

The both of you enter the hall which was quite filled with students already. It had been set up like a cafe, with a small platform in front that was lit with a spotlight. 

"Give it up for Naya Kim everybody!" the emcee announces, encouraging everyone to give the person a round of applause after presenting a spoken word. "Do we have another volunteer?' 

The crowd falls silent as everyone looks around, mindlessly making eye contact with each other, waiting on who was going next. 

"Anyone?" The emcee taps the mic. 

"I have one!" You yell, and Mark looks at you with wide eyes. 

"Dude no-" he resists, trying to shrink himself into his chair. 

"C'mon it'll be fun!" You nudge his shoulder, "We have Kalen over here!" You grab his wrist and raise his arm for him, even if he was resisting it, he had no choice. 

The emcee squints and eyes the both of you and acknowledges you volunteering your new friend. "Alright we have Kalen next! Stage is yours." The emcee steps off. 

He had all eyes on him now, eyes hungry of anticipation and to witness raw talent amongst themselves. 

"G-good evening everyone." he greets, holding onto the mic tightly and takes a deep breath. His expression changes into a serious one. 

Will it ever come? 

The nights know me well. 

I was a frequent by-passer but now I am no stranger. 

A boy who grew up with sharks does not need to be taught how to swim.

Good night,

These words feel like the vast sky

Darkness, but not hollow.

Black but not bitter. 

After he recites his poem he becomes flustered again from the faint applause he had received from the audience that was present, he puts the mic back to its stand and does a small bow. 

"Not bad, tiger" You pat him on the back. There was more to him than what meets the eye, you just knew. 

"You think so?" He says with hopeful eyes. 

"Yeah!" You assure him. 

The rest of the evening passes by with the both of you having a splendid time watching others unleash their passion and talent for reciting spoken word and poetry. Some were tear jerking and some were downright hilarious. So this is college. Mark thinks to himself.

In the past he had always been a loner who didn't go to many parties because of his strict and conservative parents. 

 He was way beyond his borders now. But he couldn't get carried away. No, this isn't a time for him to redeem himself from his early years, this was time for him to perform his duties. So he snaps out of his little daydream. 

As the both of you were seated at the bench in front of the hall where he found you, he had asked you about your major. 

"Fine arts." you laugh bitterly.

"What's wrong? You don't seem like you're happy with it…" He trails off, swinging his feet that was hanging off the bench. 

You shake your head no, "I am. It's just that my parents don't really know I took this course. I told them I got a scholarship and they were just relieved that they didn't have to pay anymore. Otherwise they'd force me into some business course or something "more practical"" you emphasize with air quotes. 

"I see. Okay so fine arts huh?" He tries to lighten the mood. "What can you say about that one over there?" Mark points to the sculpture to your left, about 20 metres away. 

"They're like two beings, leaning on each other" you pause, dramatically for impact, "They support each other so one doesn't fall." you interpret. 

He seems impressed, then asks "Support huh? How about you? Do you have anyone—who supports you?" 

"Hm, not really, no. I like to be alone and just spend time with myself." Your eyes wander but all you could think about is how he's looking at you with such attentiveness and interest.

He chuckles, "I feel you. You know I'm an expert at being alone. Don't you just love it when you're in a room full of people but no one gives a shit about your presence?" He claps his hands together just once then purses his lips into a bitter lopsided smile. "Yep. Had a lot of those." He masks his personal statement with humor.

"Well," You say, kicking the shortly-trimmed grass on the building's lawn. "If you don't wanna be alone, you walk me to my dorm" you offer.

He looks around and takes no time to think about it, feeling that it was unsafe for you to go alone. "Sure." He smiles.

The walk to your dorm was silent but comfortable. You weren't sure if he was quite a talker or just shy. But one thing you couldn't get out of your head was how unconventionally attractive he was. You've never gotten a vibe like his before and you've been in this university for 2 years already. You wanted to get something out of him even if it takes you to be the bold one here. 

"We're here," You whisper, looking at him seductively. Like you were a puppy begging to not be left alone. "Do you wanna come in? My roommate left for the weekend" you smirk. 

Mark gulps. He had been resisting this kind of tension he had with you ever since he met you. But you made it so hard. "Come on," you say, putting your hand at the back of his neck while tracing mindless patterns on it with your finger. 

"My brother he might be-" 

"Oh you have a brother? Is he hot?" You joke. 

His eyes are wide with stitched eyebrows. But eventually catches on. "Nah." and he pulls you closer to him by the waist. His eyes now staring at you deeply, so hungrily like he was that tiger you called him as earlier. Come and get it.

Without any words said, he had finally crashed his lips onto yours. And you kissed him hard. Like you wanted to have him to all yourself at that very moment. Your tongue grazes his lower lip, begging for entrance which he had granted. Your tongues meshed together at a quick pace, with the heat of your core starting to throb. 

You push yourself closer to him and you start to feel his prominence and unconsciously grind on his jeans, making him grunt. You break the kiss for a quick moment, his eyes are glazed and his mouth agape, out of breath. You turn around and enter the code to your dorm and pull him inside. 

For a brief moment that your bodies were detached, Mark couldn't stop wanting more. Not even thinking the slightest of the consequences of this act that will dawn upon him if it ever gets out. 

You were back to slamming your body with his as you took off his jacket, making it fall to the floor. His hands snake underneath your shirt and started roaming around your body while he peppered kisses on your neck. With a swift flick of his fingers he had unclasped your bra and his hands groped your breasts, you threw your head back as he buried his face in your clothed cleavage. Like he was begging for this bothersome piece of clothing to be gone. 

You grant his invisible wish and quickly lift your shirt off, while your bra falls off your arms naturally, his mouth watering at the sight. You trace his abs underneath his shirt, your core getting wetter with how toned they were based on your touch.

And you didn’t doubt the results one bit. When you lift his shirt, his torso was delicately lean, toned in all the right places that your mouth could water at the sight of it. You bite your lip and roll your eyes at the sensation of him sucking your tits, his grip on you intense but gentle. 

“I don’t have condoms right now, so this is going to be all about you.” He whispers seductively, feeling your wetness through your soaked panties. You softly moan at the sensation and hungrily kiss him again, not having any moment to waste. 

When he slides two fingers to massage your folds, you whimper. "Fuck," you breathe. 

"God, that's hot." He says with a hitched breath. You couldn't possibly get any more turned on right now. 

When he slips his digits in your cunt—you go fucking insane. You haven't felt this good in quite a while, it made you ecstatic to remember how fucking good this feeling was, you hoped that this wouldn't be the last. Mark was different.

He picks up his pace, and you try to keep your composure, but the forced arch of your back says otherwise. You grab a pillow to cover your face, scared that you would be too loud and get caught, or else this would be the last time for the both of you. 

“My fucking God.” You whimper, pulling Mark’s head on your chest, holding onto him for dear life because you just entirely lost control of it all. He finishes you off like his life depended on it, licking your wetness from his fingers, savouring it, then wipes his fingers on his jeans.

“You were so good to me, yeah?” He chuckles when you are left speechless.

“What about you?” You ask, looking at his crotch that was painfully hard. 

“It’s- It’s alright. You don’t have to” He says, and it makes your heart thaw like ice. You didn’t deserve him. 

“But I want to.” You plead, you couldn’t possibly resist him. “Come here,” You say, rubbing your palm against his jeans.

You didn’t waste anymore time and unzipped his pants, lowering it with his boxers just enough t make his cock lightly hit his stomach. His size is definitely more than what you expected.  You take his wet, glistening cock in your hands and pump it gently, smirking in satisfaction when you hear him hiss and moan softly. 

“Can you keep it down for me, tiger? We might not be able to do this again,” You coo, and he obediently nods, grazing your lower lip with his tongue, asking for entrance which you gladly grant but not for long. 

You smile as you lowered your head down to his throbbing member, licking the precum that had escaped the tip. Mark bites his lip, trying to keep as quiet as possible. You slowly put his dick in your mouth, testing a few times how far you could go. He bucks his hips by accident, making you gag very slightly. “I’m so sorry,” He strokes your hair away from your face. You keep going until you reach the brim, a throaty moan escapes his lips when he couldn’t take it anymore. 

You bob your head up and down in a consistent pace while he holds your hair, “You’re such a good girl” He says, throwing his head back. You keep going until you feel tears slowly coming out of your eyes and tried to hollow your cheeks as much as possible, he was so close. 

“You don’t have to swallow,” he says, pulling back from you. Nonsense. You were more than willing to. 

“I want to.” You say, putting his cock back in your mouth. 

With a few last pumps, his member twitches in your mouth and you feel his warm release and take it all in. You wipe the sides of your mouth as you finish, giving him a sweet smile. 

After the both of you pass out on your bed, Mark has lost track of time and receives a text from Johnny. 

"Dude where the fuck are you? Do you know what time it is?" 

Mark jolts up and checks the time, 2:45am. Shit, he was screwed. He quickly gathers his clothes that had been thrown around your room and dresses himself in panic. 

"I'm sorry, uh Joh- Rolan, my brother has been waiting for me at our dorm, I lost track of time and i think he'll beat my dick off," He nervously chuckles, almost forgetting to use his fake identity again. He has got to get used to it.

"Not if i did it first" You both burst out laughing. "Alright, I'll see you in class." You say, snuggling yourself in your blanket and shutting your eyes. 

He leaves your dorm quietly and runs a hand through his hair before giving Johnny a call. 

"Dude listen-"

"Are you fucking around Mark?" Johnny answers, clearly enraged. 

Mark was scared as shit but never misses the chance to fuck around Johnny. "I might've." 

"Get your ass back here, Lee" 

"Ayt." 

He slips his phone back to his pocket and starts walking briskly to their dorm. Damn this campus was mad creepy that it actually brought chills to his body. He wondered why he felt so cold then realized he left his jacket at your place. It was too late for him to get it back so he settled by running to warm his body up. 

Finally, he was back at the dorm. He hesitates to turn the doorknob because he knows he will be dead meat or nagged to death by Johnny. Or not. 

"Where you been huh?" Johnny examines him, standing up from his bed. He sniffs Mark and the latter flinches. "You smell like sex!" He slaps his shoulder. 

"You crazy? Some expert or something" Mark brushes him off. Wincing at the sting Johnny's palm gave to the skin of his shoulder.

"I should know, Mark." His mood was lighter now. "But who did you fu- i mean have sex with? we just got here wildcat"

"A girl I met in class like uh… awhile ago" The younger bites his lip trying to keep a smile from escaping his lips. He shouldn't be feeling this giddy over a rule that he broke for you. 

Johnny could not believe what he was hearing right now, "Dang. Cheeky boy." He laughs, actually feeling happy for Mark. He can have a little fun, Johnny had his back when it came to these things.

The elder changes the topic and lets this slide. Johnny talks about the leads he gathered from hanging out with the football team. Which were still very much confusing since this substance is all over the campus. Meanwhile, Mark didn't have much besides that number he gave Johnny. Considering he was with the "decent" crowd of people today.

---

The two head to their quarters to report to their chief the next day, trying to ask for help on how they could improve this investigation. 

The chief dumps a folder on the table and says, "This is what the deputy gave us recently. Take a look." He opens the folder into a specific case file to discuss with the two. 

"Who's this?" Mark points at the picture of a girl, who seemed like they were around the same age as the people at University. 

"Lee Minjung." the chief rubs his hands together. "Took some NCT and got locked out of her dorm, so she ended up falling off the roof and dying." The two are shocked by this revelation, it was more serious than they thought. 

The chief flips a page, "Here's a picture of her buying the drug." The photograph had two people in it, one that had a visible face which was Minjung, and one guy who's back was facing the camera. He wore a hat so they couldn't really tell who it was. But one thing they could point out is the reflection on the window of the car beside them.

"Dude, look at this," Mark points out his observation to Johnny. "He has a tattoo, we could start with this." 

"Bingo. There's your lead." The chief closes the folder and puts it back in his file. "The next time you get back here your asses better be presenting me some actual progress. Understand?" 

"Yes sir." 

----

Johnny and Mark head to the resident tattoo artist that was near the university, apparently they do most of the tattoos of the students there. 

"Excuse me," They knocked on the table of the artist who was currently at the back of the shop.

The tattoo artist arrives out front and asks how they could help the two. 

"We're looking for this tattoo, is it familiar to you?" Johnny asks while showing the artists the photograph.

The artist tries to think hard, but gives a hasty answer. "I'm not sure, there's too many of them who got that." 

Mark pushes the subject, "Them? Do you think it's some kind of group tattoo?" 

"I guess so. They were boys, all of them. Very masculine, had the body of an athlete if I were to put it at that." The artist states. 

Mark and Johnny look at each other as if there were light bulbs above their heads. "Thank you!" Mark says and they run off the shop. 

The possibility of this being in the football team was huge. They were athletes, and under a lot of pressure. They had reasons to use this drug but it wasn't an excuse for them not to eliminate this. They had to get to the bottom of this before it ends up like Minjung's case again. 

---

Johnny was at football practice while Mark stood by the bleachers, watching the team and trying to look out as usual until Johnny calls him over to come down for a bit. 

"Jaehyun, this is Kalen, my brother." He introduces him. With his assigned name. 

Jaehyun chortles in disbelief when he sees Mark. "You have a brother?" He asks and Johnny nods. 

"Sup," Mark tries to give him a bro hug, but Jaehyun shakes his hand instead. 

Jaehyun pays no mind to Mark's presence and diverts his attention back to Johnny and proceeds to talk about their game plan.

When practice ends he tells Johnny that the football team plans to host a party tonight. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to keep an eye on everyone. 

"Can I come?" Mark asks.

Jaehyun eyes him from the side, "Yeah uh sure" and only bids goodbye to Johnny. "See ya bro." 

Mark could already feel that he didn't belong in this crowd, but he and Johnny had to stick together and investigate. 

The night of the party came and the two brothers were stoked. "Our first frat party." Mark thought. 

"Your first frat party." Johnny spat playfully, trying to meticulously style and wax his hair. 

Mark scoffs, still trying to figure out what shirt to wear but at the end, he settles with a navy blue Ralph Lauren shirt. He was too lazy to fix his hair and wears a cap instead. 

Johnny tosses Mark something that he thinks the younger might need later on. 

"Are you for real? A condom?" A baffled Mark says in disbelief, but sliding it in his pocket anyway.

"You'll never know wildcat. You'll never know." He gives him a mischievous wink.

This wasn't just any party to them, this was an operation. Though they chose to leave for the party unarmed, they were thankfully trained well for hand to hand combat, just in case things went extremely wrong. But that was besides the point, they couldn't destroy their chances of blending in.

When the tandem arrives at the party, the elder was the only one to be greeted enthusiastically, Mark shakes it off simply because being friends with these jocks were the last thing on his list. It was Johnny's call if it didn't work for him, they had their roles. 

"Go around for a bit, I'll take care of him." Johnny whispers to Mark with a drink already in his hand.  

Mark shrugs his shoulders and explores the frat house, lit with red and blue, music blaring through speakers and the muffled conversations from the people that filled it. 

Nothing seemed too off the bat here, it was everything you would expect a frat party to be. There hasn't been a trace of NCT anywhere, or maybe it was because they were being taken too discreetly. 

"Want some?" a random guy nudges him, discreetly handing a packet of the substance. He takes it and plays it cool. 

"Yo, sick. Thanks man." He pats him on the back. 

“Yo it’s not free.” The guy laughs then it disappears. “20 bucks.”

Mark's smile fades, embarrassed. Thank god he brought his wallet. “Here. Thanks.”

"Don't sweat it." and he gives him a small salute.

Mark quickly slides it in his pocket, to keep as evidence later. 

"Bad boy." You snake your hands around his shoulders. "Want some?" You offer your red punch with vodka. 

His eyes widen, but eases under your touch. Finally, someone who's familiar. Overly familiar. "Hey, y/n" he shakes his head no. "I don't feel like drinking tonight" he makes up an excuse. 

"So are you…" 

"Am i?" 

"Are you going to take that?" You say, pointing at the pocket where he hid it.

Uncertain, he shakes his head no. "But should I? Have you ever had one of these?" 

"Oh god no." You say in disgust. "I have seen people's reactions to it though. It's borderline batshit crazy, those things." You explain. Hoping that he wouldn't ever try taking those. You knew about the whole Minjung incident. "One of the girls who lived next door died because of it." 

Your remark sparks an interest in him. "Minjung?" He questions. This could be a big help to their operation. But it wasn't a good time to interrogate you.

You raise your brows, "How'd you know her name?" 

He fakes a cough and tries to quickly think of a reason. "Mr- Mr. Benett told us. He said that recently a student passed away but never said it was because of the drug…" 

You crease up, "That old man is fucking clueless." You cross your arms. "But I'm just looking out for you okay? There's safer ways to have fun." 

"Right " He pursues a smile.

Too much fun wasn't part of the plan tonight but you made it difficult for him to do his job. Effortlessly. 

You fake a pout. "C'mon tiger, live a little! It's not going to be that bad." You try to convince him, wrapping your arms around his neck, trying to keep your drink from spilling, his arms naturally overlapping and resting just right above your ass.

To hell with this. He's been dreaming of this his entire life. After being in such a conservative family and all, he deserved to try new things out. He was old enough. He thinks to himself, while catching a glimpse of Johnny chugging down a keg. "You're right." he smirks, and you offer your drink for him to taste. 

Mark's face scrunches a little from the alcohol, but it felt nice. Good enough for him to grab you by the arm and head to get one himself. 

He scans the counter full of different drinks with a variety of colored juices. He chooses the blue lemonade with vodka which you gladly made, handing him the red plastic cup after. "Cheers" you say, delighted with the smile he gave you. 

It wasn't long enough until the both of you were back to dancing again, not giving a care like everyone else. He could kiss you right now. And he did, he couldn't miss the opportunity to make your tongues turn purple. 

----

Johnny has done everything with all his might to get along with these jocks, kids these days do party harder huh? He doesn't remember having this kind of intolerance to alcohol before, he had to get it out of his system before he forgets what he's really here for.  

"Nah this dude's a goner!" Yuta enthusiastically points at Johnny, who now had both of his hands on his knees. 

"Hold on, I gotta have some air outside" he raises his arms in defeat, words slurring out of his mouth and vision so blurred he could barely tell where he's going. Finally after much stumbling and ending up in filthy corners, he managed to find a bathroom. Not a usable one though.

"Oh god- sorry" He says as he sees two people fucking each other's guts out on on the sink. "Nevermind" he immediately shuts the door and leaves them alone. It didn't take long for him to just head outside and vomit on the lawn of the frat house. Oh yes, great fertilizer. 

Johnny regains a very small amount of composure and he felt someone tap and rub his back. "You okay?" Jaehyun chuckles, with a drunk Yuta tagging along.

Johnny takes a deep breath and tries to stand straight with all his might, trying to act like everything was under control. "Shits wild here" He chaffs, but his brows furrow when he sees a familiar pattern on Yuta's skin. "What's that you got there?" Johnny tries to reach for the latter's arm carefully. 

Yuta excitedly raises his sleeve, revealing a tattoo. "Oh this? It's a tattoo man. Gotta get inked at some point!" Yuta says, proudly. "Do you want one? I know a place!"

Jaehyun sighs. He was hyperactive again. "Yuta-"

"What? C'mon look I got this as soon as I got out of my parent's house. Those folks made me feel like I was in jail!" The drunk boy overshares. Johnny pays attention because there was a possibility that these thoughts were sober. 

Johnny was quickly disappointed, but not surprised. "Yeah? That's cool. I'll pass. Kinda scared of needles..." He trails off. 

"Pfft. Pussy." Yuta spat, Johnny was ready to give him a piece of his knuckles. 

Jaehyun blocks Johnny with his arm, "Cut him some slack man, I've known this guy since high school. Let him have his fun. He won't even remember this." 

The three head back inside to enjoy the rest of the party when the duo completely forget what they were initially here for. Johnny had spent the rest of the night enjoying himself, so did Mark.

You and Mark decided to play along with the drinking games these people planned, with the faces that you will surely forget by tomorrow. 

You've already had a couple to drink, so it became harder for you to aim in beer pong. Luckily, Mark was right behind you, with a steady grip on your hips and one arm helping you aim for the ball. 

You close one eye trying to focus as he helped you aim for the cup. "She shoots, she scores!" he shouts playfully and there goes another drink for you. 

"You still alright? We can stop if you want," He whispers, lips tingling on your collarbone, sending chills to your spine. 

You turn to face him, a gentle hand on his lean chest. "I want you.".  You whisper, dragging a painfully slow finger to his lips. You were so knit together that you could feel the growing tent in his pants on your throbbing core. He was irresistible. 

He gulps. Here comes nothing. Johnny sure knows his shit huh?

Mark quickly leads you upstairs, looking for a vacant room to settle in. He turned the knobs one by one but they were all locked, your last resort was a surprisingly available restroom. 

"Will this do for you?" Mark hesitates, because he didn't want you to feel uncomfortable.

Your tipsy self playfully pinches his cheek, "You do it for me, tiger." And it was enough to drive him to the edge. 

As soon as the both of you enter the bathroom, your lips connect once again, sloppily kissing each other like you were out of your minds. Like you wanted to swallow and consume this man whole. 

"I want you to see for yourself how crazy you make me." You say through the slapdash kisses.

He puts a hand under your dress, feeling your drenched cunt. "You're so fucking wet. Is this all for me?" He says out of breath, mouth almost watering with the thought of your pussy in his mouth.

"All yours baby." You bite his lower lip and stick out your tongue for him to suck. 

He raises your dress just below your ribcage and slides down your black lace lingerie as it fell to your ankles, "Just so you know, I'm keeping this." Mark smirks as he quickly puts it in his pocket. 

"It's meant to be yours," You purr, setting your back flat on the cold tiled wall, throwing your head back at the sensation of Mark leaving wet kisses on your thighs. 

He kneels and places your legs over his shoulders, lifting your feet off the ground. He was sturdy as a rock as his two arms held your thighs for support while you removed his cap for you to wear over your head and your fingers to be locked in his hair. 

"Fuck." You hiss as his tongue lapped on your folds, slurping on your wetness like he worshiped you. He sucked repeatedly on your clit making your legs tremble, so good that you might fall over but his reflexes were out of his world and he knew where exactly to support you. 

Your eyes painfully roll to the back of your head from the sensation he was giving you, "God, Kalen don't fucking stop-" you moan and you swear this man had some spell casted on his mouth by how magical it worked. 

You grind your hips involuntarily as his mouth followed it, like this could not get any better than it already was. But you could only take so much. "Kalen I'm gonna cum, fuck" 

"It's not over until it's over baby," he sets you down and removes his mouth from your pussy, you could barely stand with your legs feeling like absolute gelatin. 

Mark gets a condom out of his pocket and quickly unbuckles his belt, making his jeans fall to the ground and expose his throbbing cock, boxers wet with precum. 

"You think you can last longer for me baby girl?" 

You could only nod your head eagerly because you were growing extremely impatient. 

He wraps your legs around his waist in a swift move. "Good girl" He whispers, and you were more than ready to take him. Again and again. 

He inserts himself inside you, stretching your walls and you whimper, wrapping your arms around his head to keep his face close to the valley of your breasts. 

"That's right, open up for me, pretty girl." He pleads as he continues to thrust in a steady pace. Breath hitched as he brought his face up to you, slurping your tongue once more like it was a popsicle that he couldn't get enough of. "Taking me so well like always huh?" he chuckles and picks up his pace, throaty moans escaping his mouth. 

Thank fuck the music in this house was loud enough to blow off people's eardrums, making your moans almost inaudible outside, but loud enough for Marks pleasure. For his ears only. 

“Fuck I’m almost-” Mark huffs, “there.” he breathes. When his pace becomes sloppy and finally comes, you hold onto him, your legs numb that you could barely stand on your own. Conscious with the fact that Mark will get to see how fucked out you look, but he absolutely loved it. 

-----

"What'd I tell ya? That condom didn't go to waste." Johnny snickers while laying in bed, tossing his football. 

Head in the clouds with the thought of you, Mark could only smile to himself but quickly changes the subject before they both lose all purpose. 

"Find anything out yet?" Mark asks mindlessly, because all he could think about was you. 

"Nope." Johnny says, popping the p. He lied.

And something clicks with Mark. That packet of NCT he managed to keep in his pocket. He rushes over to his hamper and flips the pockets of his pants. 

"Someone handed it to me yesterday, I kept it for evidence to bring at the headquarters." He hands the packet to Johnny.

The elder observes it, trying to push the thought of Yuta possibly being a dealer to the very back of his head right now. Give it time. Mark was just starting to enjoy being with you, Johnny has been enjoying being one of the new aces in the football team, it wouldn't hurt to hold it out for a little while. 

"Also," Mark adds, "Y/n knows about Minjung. Said she lived across the hall."

"And?" Johnny anticipates. 

"That's all I know for now. It's still a big step though." Mark concludes.

----

Johnny spends his free time hanging with Jaehyun and the rest of the boys. If not in practice, they hit the gym to always be in tip-top shape. 

Yuta swings a heavy arm over Johnny's shoulders, "Well isn't it our quitter!" 

Johnny shoots Jaehyun a look, "You told me he wouldn't remember." 

Jaehyun could only chuckle, "Well he did." 

Yuta was loud as a goose, he seemed to have so much more energy than the other members of the team that Johnny became suspicious of where it came from. 

He recalls the time when the chief described the effects of the NCT substance, and one of them was being focused and hyperactive.

Yuta, besides being silly, was on top of his own game. After joking around he was a hundred percent focused on the gym, his reps were consistent, his routines were clean. Jaehyun tells Johnny that Yuta was also one of the greatest instruments of the football team. Though not gifted with the brightest mind, he worked hard to stay in this university to prove his parents wrong—and to avoid business school.

He was a potential heir to a known electronics company in Japan, but he insisted that he pursue being part of the varsity team to keep his scholarship in sports science. Which until now was an endless debate between him and his parents. 

Jaehyun had invited Johnny to stay over at the frat house to hang out, and he did. 

It was different to see it in daylight, with no people partying, no vomit and crushed chips on the floor, it looked well taken care of. 

"You guys clean this up yourselves after every party?" Johnny asks, impressed. 

"Yep," Jaehyun proudly says. 

"You gotta look out for the shit they leave behind here. It's amusing." Yuta retorts. 

Johnny raises a brow, "Oh yeah? Like what?" 

Without wit, Yuta replies, "Drugs"

Johnny, absolutely being taken back by his bold remark was immediately clutched by Jaehyun, "He doesn't mean it." 

His suspicion grew so much that he couldn't help but finally bring up the subject. "Like what? Like NCT?" he enunciates. 

Jaehyun, quite astounded by Johnny's knowledge with the substance replies, "Hm maybe. You know about that?" 

And he was in the trance. "Heard of it yeah, can you hook me up with some?

"Oh sure it’s right-" Yuta reaches for his pocket, "here." and sticks his middle finger out playfully. Johnny swats it away.

"Woah there-" Jaehyun almost bust a gut while laughing. "You're definitely new to this. We don't have any." He tells Johnny. "Don't be such a narc." 

Way too defensively, Johnny retorts, "I'm not!"

"That's what they all say." Yuta shrugs with a chuckle.

 He spends the rest of the afternoon with them and surprisingly hasn't dealt with unusual rituals and behavior. They acted their age, playing games on a PS5, drinking soda until their bladders exploded, filling themselves with junk food and spray cheese. He could be wrong about them after all.

----

Days passed and not a single thing has led them closer to their target person, it was harder than they thought even when everything felt like it was right in front of them. 

"Student-Parent day is coming soon, are you going?" You ask Mark as you take a sip of your coffee. 

You took him to your favorite coffee shop for the first time, it's a nice and quiet place for you to study and relax. 

"They have those?" Mark hesitates because then he'd have to tell his parents that he's undercover and they'd forget and blow it for him. "I guess so." 

"Good. Because I'd like you to meet my parents." You smile. Though you didn't know where you stood with Mark, the past few weeks with him had been a breath of fresh air. He was kind, funny and supportive. He was simple yet his ways of showing his thoughts were sophisticated, never had you once thought that you would get along so well with a person in such a short time. You weren't the one to ask for labels though. You simply liked to enjoy whatever you had at the moment. In your experience, putting labels on things just always gave a reason for it to vanish. 

"What why?" He says, a little too surprised.

"Look Kalen, don't break a sweat with this. I'm just going to introduce you. They won't mind." You assure him. 

He simply leaves the topic behind and ponders on how he could make this work. He was scared because you had no idea that this was all temporary, and he's terrified by the fact that he wishes it wasn't. He was finding all the possible reasons and excuses to retract himself from this relationship he has with you, but all you ever gave him was a reason to stay. It broke his heart knowing that one day, he'll have to disappoint you with the truth. 

"Something wrong?" 

He snaps out of it. "Nothing." and forces a smile. 

-----

"We aren't making any progress man," Mark runs a hand through his hair and sighs. His back falls heavily on his bed.

Johnny anxiously bites his lap, eyes fixated on the floor. "Yuta has a tattoo…" 

"What?" the younger jolts up. 

Johnny backs up defensively, "But it wasn't the one we saw! You know how the tattoo artist said he's done a couple of those."

"Are you shitting me right now? We've been trying to find it for weeks! Why didn't you tell me?" His voice raises, and a vein on his forehead couldn't help but emerge. 

"I don't think it's him man, I told you it’s not the same tattoo" Johnny defends. 

Mark lets out a pungent laugh, poking his tongue on the inside of his cheek, his jaw stiffens. "Right. I knew it. " He says in disbelief. "Everything's right in front of you already! Too scared to bust your new besties now?" 

"They aren't my new besties stop making up bullshit." The elder stubbornly defends. 

"No you stop because I'm actually trying here!" 

"Oh you are? Explain why you're getting so serious with that girl of yours. Wait until she finds out that she's just part of the plan." He jumps on Mark's throat and walks out of the room. 

The thing is, you weren't even part of the plan. Not at all. 

-----

"You better have good shit for me today." The chief clearly was not being in his best mood today. 

Mark scoffs, he and Johnny had not settled their differences since the fight from two days ago, they were doing their own investigations without communicating. Which was a big no.

"Ask the big guy here, I'm sure he has something." Tongue in his cheek, Mark glares. 

The chief slams a big hand on the table and shouts, "Stop acting like fucking children!" 

Johnny stiffened up on his seat, and gulped before he spoke. "I think we need to initiate a drug test on one of the students, chief. I have my eye on this one person. We could pretend to say that the thing is randomized and mandatory. If the intel can look up information about his parents, we could send a pretend automated message about their child being randomly selected for a drug test." 

The chief seems to be taking Johnny's point well, "And who is this you suspect?" 

"Nakamoto Yuta." 

Mark looks at Johnny with wide eyes, he thought Johnny wouldn't be turning him in. 

"I see. I'll get the department to execute this idea of yours and we'll let you know right away. Dismissed." 

Mark catches up to Johnny who had been walking ahead of him and tries to reach for the elder's shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Let go of me," Johnny knocks Mark's hand off his shoulder. "Are you happy now?" 

Dumbfounded, Mark couldn't seem to understand where Johnny's irritation was coming from. "Look man, I'm sorry you had to turn one of your friends in but you know it's our job." 

"I know okay? I don't need you telling me what to do because so far, I know pretty damn well that I'm not meddling in your fucking business." 

Mark pushes a hard hand on Johnny, making him stumble a little. "My relationship has nothing to do with this. Are you jealous? Because if you are, I know pretty damn well you can score a lot of chicks here. I don't see the problem." 

Johnny tries to speak but was unable to because Mark had already stormed off elsewhere. 

----

 "Shit. My parents are coming to fetch me today." Yuta runs a veiny hand through his ginger hair; another reason for his parents to pull him out of university. But here's the first: 

Jaehyun, disinterested even if he knew it was serious whenever Yuta's parents butt in and ask why.

"They wanna do a drug test on me." 

Jaehyun chortles, "What? You? What made them think that? Besides you acting like a crackhead?" 

"They got this stupid email from the dean that I was amongst the randomly chosen individuals to get tested." He pops a sour kid patch in his mouth, "They're never letting this go." He pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. "I have never even tried NCT." he rolls his eyes. 

Yuta, though by the looks of him, gave an impression of a boy who would try everything in front of him, but he's a wuss with a good conscience. Too good.

"Well, you are innocent after all, right?" Jaehyun shrugs. "There's nothing to worry about. Um, besides your dyed hair, your tattoo, that lip piercing." He eyes him up and down. "No biggie, just probably uh—two weeks worth of grounding. And no allowance." 

"Fuck you man." the ginger-haired boy glared.

------

Johnny walks around the campus, alone. It sucked to not be on good terms with Mark, what ever happened to bros before hoes? It just wasn't the same doing things without him. Johnny had given Mark his personal space for the both of you, but at times like this—it was the hardest to stay out of it. 

As he passes by the back of the Fine Arts building, he sees two familiar faces on the exposed staircase. 

He squints his eyes and tries to focus on who those people might be, the mop of ash purple hair too familiar. But one thing that utterly shocked him was the sight of someone he expected the least.

It was you and Jaehyun, standing way too close to each other for anyone's liking.

Johnny takes a deep breath and sucks in his cheeks. He didn't know what this meant, and he wished he wouldn't have to be the one to give it any interpretation that would disappoint him and especially Mark. 

He walks away from the scene before you get a chance to see him.

"Jaehyun, you don't have to stand this close to me," You backed up, hips hitting the ledge lightly. 

He looks to the side, then back at you. "Sorry," he cockily says, backing up with both of his hands raised. "Can't help it. My best friend's too fine. And someone was looking." he mumbles.

"What?" 

"Nothing, he's gone"

"You know I'm with Kalen right now Jaehyun." You say with worry, it could've been anyone. "Quit. Don't ruin this for me." 

He manages to let a disgruntled chuckle, "And yet you still can't put a label on it." 

And with that, he was off. 

The entire time Johnny was battling with himself if she should tell Mark about what he saw or not. Them being in a misunderstanding right now doesn't change the fact that he was still his best friend. 

After the excruciatingly slow walk to the dorm, he had hoped that Mark wouldn't be around, so he wouldn't have to face him with the information he had right away. He couldn't even form the words for it. The. again, when did anything ever go his way, right? 

Johnny enters the room and there was Mark, munching on some chips while viewing something on his laptop. Something probably for one of his classes. Mark didn't have to take this so seriously (by this he meant his classes) but he did, because the Mark we all know just loved to learn. Good for him. 

He ignores Johnny's presence; though he was very much aware of it. The elder plops down his bed and grabs his football to toss around. It was so awkward; not greeting each other with their usual weirdness and excitement. It felt like there was this gaping hole between them that both of them were afraid to cross, and no one had the initiative to take a risk—for now. 

"Find anything?" Johnny asks Mark, eyes on the ceiling. 

"Nope." 

"Why not?" 

"Do you have anything?"

Well, he did. But not about their task. Instead, he says "Nope." but he couldn’t help but ask. “How are you and y/n?”

“Good.” Mark plainly answers.

“Good.”

And left it at that. 

-----

You were going to let your parents meet Mark today, and his would meet yours. You were new to this, there was not a single man you had introduced to your parents, aside from Jaehyun. But that was a different story, because Jaehyun was a childhood friend. 

So Mark was the first… whatever this was called. You couldn’t get yourself to call him that, you didn’t deserve to. For you labels were earned, not just given. But this will do for now. 

You see him from a distance with his parents, he resembled his father’s face structure and his mother’s eyes. His smile was uniquely his own. You wave a hand in the air and he catches the sight of it, smiling even wider. 

“You’re in college again honey?” Mark’s mom asks, clueless.

“Mom, I'm undercover please don’t bring that up anywhere. Please keep quiet for me.” He whispers sternly. 

His mom zips her mouth figuratively, his dad got the idea of the whole thing, so they acted according to the assignment. 

As he got closer to where you were, his legs grew weak. But he couldn’t falter, he had to put on a strong face. But at that moment, Mark wanted to be buried alive. He wanted to turn his back and run away.

“Mom, dad, this is Kalen.” You present him to them with a grin. 

“H-hello.” Mark lets out, his chest clenching. 

“Kalen. You sure I haven’t seen you before?” Your father says, gripping Mark’s hand firm, he could almost squeeze the guts out of it. Your father was his deputy chief. 

Mark, crushed under the man’s grip, “N-no sir.” he manages to blurt out. 

You sense the tension and tell your dad, “Dad, that’s enough.” 

Your dad let go, with a smug and bitter look on his face. Your mom, who- with absolutely no idea what Mark has to do with your father, greets him politely. 

You greet Mark's parents with glee, and proceed to walk with him, keeping a fair distance from both your parents. "Sorry about my dad, he's just stressed about his job. He's a deputy chief, rustling with knuckleheads all the time." You explain. 

Sure he's been through a lot. Mark thought. "Yea yea, I totally get it. It's fine." he nods. Knuckleheads. He laughs to himself. 

The rest of the parents’ day event was a total drag, every time Mark got into eye contact with their chief, it had seemed like the man wanted to rip his head away from his body, or maybe skin him alive. Mark had no idea, because if he did he wouldn’t have risked going this far with you. What is left to do now? How can he ever face his boss knowing that he broke the first rule given to them right in his face? And with his own daughter? He should start digging his own grave at this point. 

But the chief didn't lay a finger on him, not now when his daughter was at stake. 

----

Mark has been itching to tell Johnny about what had happened. He was willing to set aside their differences because he needed his best friend, now. 

"Johnny-" Mark breathes, not making eye contact with the elder who was on his phone, this room had been dead silent for days. 

Johnny's head perks up, it was nice hearing him call his name again. "Yeah?" 

"I kinda messed up… big time." Mark scratches the back of his head, shameful. 

Johnny sits up, and listens to the younger more attentively. "What do you mean?" 

"Y/n.." he trails off, "Y/n is the chief's daughter." And catches his face on his hands. 

"Fuck…" Johnny didn't know what to say. "How'd you know?" 

"The student-parent weekend thing. God, I swear dude he was going to skin me alive if he could. But shit, I didn't know!" Mark exclaims, hands all over the place. "If I did then I wouldn't have gone through with this. She has never told me about her parents until that day. I don't know what to do." 

He seemed so helpless, he didn't want to break to you like this, it was too messy. But damn if he didn't want to keep being with you. It couldn't end like this, not yet. 

"I- I don't know what to say man… God I'm sorry this sucks ass. You know I always let you do what makes you happy right? But what if," Johnny stops, debating if he should go on with what he planned to say. 

"What if?" Mark anticipates. 

"What if she isn't who you thought she was?" 

"Great. I'm so fucking stupid for thinking you would be with me on this one." Mark slams his hands on his lap and stands, slamming the door on the way out. 

"Mark-" Johnny reaches for the door but misses a beat, it was too late. He let his best friend slip away from him again. 

And as soon as Mark left their room, he was on his way to meet up with you, hoping you would be free. He hadn't had much time with you after the following days of the event because you had always excused yourself with how busy you are with your submissions and requirements, or that's what you would like to tell him. 

Your phone rings in your pocket as you excuse yourself from the people you were with at the moment, when you check to see who it was, you find the quietest place possible. 

"Kalen," You spoke, "What's up?" 

"Are you free? I was hoping I'd finally catch you." 

You sigh, you missed spending time with him. "I am," you say in advance before you bail out of this place you were in. "See you at the cafe in 10?" 

You hear him chuckle over the line, and you just knew he was smiling when he said "Great, I'll see you." 

"See you, Kal." You smile and tuck your phone back in your pocket. 

"Who was that?" Jaehyun asks when he bumps into you in the hallway of the frat house. "Oh you've got that sickening smile right now. It must've been Kalen" He rolls his eyes. 

"Whatever Jae," You brush past him. "I'm heading out." 

"But we're not done!" 

You didn't respond and left, shutting the door behind you. 

The cafe was a short walk from your university, but you just happened to bump into Mark on the way, now you don't have to walk alone. 

He smoothly slips his hand in yours, holding it gently and reading your expression. You look to the side with a wide grin on your face, unable to help the fact that you were blushing like crazy. 

"Nice hoodie," he comments. The garment looked a little too familiar to him, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. “You never gave back my jacket..”

You mentally facepalm, forgetting the fact that you were wearing Jaehyun's hoodie. You pray that Mark wouldn't see this on him anytime soon, you wouldn't want him to get a bad idea. 

"Oh right that, I’ll get it dry cleaned and I’ll give it back" you utter. "Something bothering you?" You ask, trying to read his sulky expression. 

He shakes his head, "No no, I want you to keep it. And I just missed you." He forms a small smile, making your heart melt. You were so easily captivated by his presence that it scared you. He always left you feeling unhinged—in a good way. 

"I missed you too, tiger." You grip his hand a little tighter.  

When he licks his lips, only by then you realize how much you missed kissing him. Right then and there, you just wanted another taste. This was exactly why you were trying to keep yourself busy and away from him for a bit; you had to convince yourself that you couldn’t be attached to him because you could never take care of the things you keep. 

He opens the door for you like always and the chimes in the cafe ring in a sweet melody, a sound that always reminds you of your moments with him. The both of you always shared comfortable memories in this cafe, from small coffee dates to working on papers until it closed. You couldn’t imagine sharing it with anyone else. 

When you settle down he automatically takes your usual orders right away. You could not take your eyes off him, he was such a dream.

He sets the tray down with your drinks, and a pastry that you shared a love-hate relationship with. Cheesecake.

You chuckle at the thought of recalling all the times that you convinced Mark that cheesecake slices weren’t supposed to be as huge as they are and that there are definitely better one’s in other places, but Mark’s favorite was Starbucks’. Maybe that’s why you have learned to love it somehow, because you get to enjoy it with him. 

"I thought you didn't like this? You almost finished the whole thing… I literally bought this for myself." He says sarcastically, very much amused at how you barely even noticed that you were close to finishing the entire thing. 

"Oh shit.. sorry" You show him a pout and feed the last piece to him. "Here." You smile cutely. 

He rolls his eyes and bites it off your fork, you both bid goodbye to the cheesecake. 

Mark’s phone rings in his pocket and when he checks to see, it was Johnny. He lets out a sigh and puts his phone back in his pocket. 

“Are you going to take that?” You ask. 

“Nah”

But Johnny was persistent, he did see this coming. He knew that Mark would ignore him at first so he decided to send him a message. This was about their job. 

“Mark, I know you hate me right now but we have to go to the office. Yuta’s tests came back.” Johnny sends. 

Mark takes a peek at his message, immediately standing up. 

“Where are you going?” You say, surprised. 

“I’m sorry I gotta go- meet my brother. He needs me for something.” He hesitantly leans forward, wanting to kiss you on the lips but kisses your forehead instead. “Text me when you get home okay?.” And with that, he was off. 

Mark rings Johnny and the elder quickly answers the call, Mark informs him that he would be heading to the office by himself since he was already closer to the location. 

But he suddenly remembers about his conflict with the chief. So he waited for Johnny to arrive outside. 

Lowering his pride he says, “I’m scared.” 

Johnny looks at him with empathy and says, “We can’t change what happened Mark. Just take it all in for now and we’ll figure out what to do about it later.” He pats the younger’s back and gives his shoulders an assuring squeeze before heading inside. 

Mark could not look at his boss, the feeling of wanting to be eaten alive was back again, why did he have to be your father? 

When Mark finally gets the courage to face him, the chief yells, “The fuck are you looking at?” making Mark flinch and shrink into his seat. 

Johnny felt the need to protect his friend and at the same time, to get what they were really here for. “Um, Sir can you save the ass beating for next time? We really need to look into Yuta’s results now.” He scratches the back of his neck. 

The chief grunts angrily, getting the file from his drawer. “Negative.” He says. 

Mark and Johnny give each other a look and take the folder that had the results, trying to analyze how it could possibly be negative. 

“Dammit.” Johnny whispers to himself, they had to move quickly before everything slips away from them. He takes note of Yuta’s contact number in the file to use for later. He closes the folder and places it back on the desk. “We’ll take care of this chief.” 

“You better. And you,” He presses a hard finger on Mark’s chest, “Stop fucking around with my daughter. I’ll cut your dick off.” 

Mark purses his lips before speaking, “She’s-” he gulps, “She’s really great sir. I’m not playing around with her. I’d never do anything to hurt her.” 

“You already are.” 

-----

The following day, Yuta receives a text from an unknown number, asking him to meet in an unusual location on campus. He was very skeptical at first but  believed that it was probably harmless. 

“Yah, Rolan! Sup.” He offers his fist to bump. “I was just waiting for someone here too. Some random number texted me and I was like "you know, fuck it"” he shrugs.

Johnny couldn’t help but chuckle. Was innocence even the word to describe this? "And you believed them?" Johnny shakes his head.

“Yeah! Look here’s the number” he flashes his phone screen to Johnny, “I wonder where they are. Let me give them a call.” he mindlessly puts the phone next to his ear. Yuta hears a muffled cellphone ringtone and looks around for it. “Yo, your phone’s ringing you should get that.” Yuta says to Johnny, still having absolutely no idea.

“It was us who texted you, dummy.” Mark retorts, appearing from the shadows, now both of them are cornering Yuta. 

“Yo,-” Yuta laughs, still not getting the point of this all. “What’s your name again?” 

Mark rolls his eyes, “Kalen.” 

“Right! Kalen wassup? You’re his brother right?” Yuta points to Johnny with his thumb up.

Johnny pops a tongue in his cheeks, and cocks his brow. “Alright, fun’s over.” It was a shame he had to do this too early, but it had to stop. He locks Yuta’s throat with his arm, pushing him onto the solid brick wall. 

Yuta tries to toughen up and tries to push Johnny’s arm off, but due to their size difference, Johnny definitely kept him still. 

“What do you know about him” Johnny asks sternly. 

“A-about who?” Yuta coughs.

“Jaehyun. What does he do?” Mark follows. 

“Besides being the most handsome man I know, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mark shakes his head, “Well,” and gets a gun out of the pocket of his hoodie. “Will this make you talk?”

Yuta looks at him with wide eyes, he was now scared shitless. “Why- how- who are you guys!” He exclaims. 

“The police mother fucker.” Johnny says. 

But despite everything, Yuta’s tactless mouth was definitely not his best asset. “I knew it. you looked too old to be a freshman.” He looks over at Johnny. “And you, I didn’t expect you to be a cop but you did give Narc vibes in that philosophy class.” 

Mark and Johnny give each other a look, they could not be sidetracked. 

“Are you done?” Johnny tells Yuta, and he simply nods. “So are you going to talk?”

“I’m telling you I don’t know! He never trusts me with his business, he says I have a big mouth.” 

Mark snickers, “I can tell.”

Yuta scoffs, and follows, “He’s been out often recently, but he never tells me where he’s going. So I don’t know what I can do for you.” 

“Listen here buddy,” Johnny warns. “If this gets to your parents that you’re involved with someone who supplies and distributes drugs, you’re going to get your entire family deported. Do you want that?” 

Yuta gulps, “No.” then helplessly says, “I don’t know how to earn his trust with these kinds of things. He’s known me since forever but-” 

“No buts.” Mark interrupts. “Use that head of yours or your ass is going back to Japan.” 

-------

Yuta had been on edge ever since that encounter with Mark and Johnny, now this entire thing would be up to him if he cooperated or not. Yuta’s heart had been lost a couple times, but it was definitely looking to be in the right place. So he’s trying his best to help out, even if it meant that he would have to turn in his best friend. 

When he gets the time to be alone with his thoughts he looks back at all the times that Jaehyun had made him feel like he wasn’t enough to be his friend. Not giving him a good position in football, walking out on him whenever he wanted to, keeping secrets from him. Maybe he was too busy trying so hard to be validated by Jaehyun that he never really got to realize that he lost himself in the process. Letting himself be trampled all over by everyone; this was his time to do something not just for himself, but for everyone else.

On the night when Jaehyun could not escape from Yuta’s presence any longer, he thought that it would be harmless to let his friend tag along for once. It’s not like he had other friends to be with, right? Right. Jaehyun could believe that if he wanted to. 

“I’m a bit sore today, you think you can drive me?” Jaehyun asks Yuta as they were walking in the parking lot after practice. 

To be fair, Yuta was sore too. But of course they wouldn’t care. “Alright, where to?” He still manages to say. 

“I’ll tell you along the way.” 

Yuta simply shrugs and Jaehyun tosses him his car keys, placing their gym bags at the trunk of his car. Jaehyun had given him directions while driving and it was somewhere he had never been and seen before. “Are you sure it’s here?” He says, trying to drive into a dark abandoned building with only the car’s headlights being the source of light. 

“Yeah yeah, wait for me here.” Jaehyun opens the door of the car and slips away from it. “Don’t worry, this place is safe.” He tells Yuta and shuts the door close. 

Yuta immediately whips out his phone, thinking that this might be his biggest clue and texts Johnny. 

I don’t know where I am, but I’m gonna send you my pinned location based on what my gps says alright? I think this was where Jaehyun had been going. 

Johnny immediately tells Mark about this and they immediately take their car to go to where Yuta had told them. 

 Rolan: Yuta, it’s not safe for you to stay there. Can you drive away and head back here? It would be better if we keep you alive. 

I guess I could, Jaehyun’s pretty far out now. I saw him go in somewhere, I’m sure you’ll find this entrance when you get here.

With that Yuta drives off and tries to find his way back to the campus, hoping that this would be successful for Mark and Johnny. He had such a strong feeling about this, everything could go right, or just extremely wrong. But he had to expect both to keep his feet on the ground. He did the right thing. He kept telling himself that. 

“Dude this place is sketchy as hell.” Mark says, looking around. “Do you think Yuta told us the truth? I mean he’s Jaehyun’s bestfriend right?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try Mark, he seemed pretty genuine about it. Besides, all Jaehyun does is use him. I’m sure he’s tired of it.” Johnny says as they searched the place with their flashlights, their guns ready to fire if they ever go under attack. 

Finally, they find the entrance Yuta has been talking about, the chain attached to the door unlocked and loosened. When they get closer they arm themselves and keep their guard, Johnny kicks the door open and Mark could not believe what he had just seen. 

This couldn’t be. He kept repeating to himself, he didn’t want to believe that this was his reality. 

The reality that you were the one who was behind all of this.

“Hands up! We’re the police.” Johnny shouts, echoing throughout the entire warehouse. 

Mark gulps, he could not bring himself to move his feet and go closer. When you see him, you feel like you have been the biggest disappointment in someone’s life. “Kalen,” You plead with your hands up, terrified with the fact that Johnny had called off a warning shot, making you and Jaehyun back up. 

“Y/n.” Mark says, still struggling to get closer to you and lift his arm to aim his gun towards you. “Why- how could you?”

And you couldn’t answer him. The last thing you ever wanted to do was disappoint him, and yet you turned out to be every single disappointment that this world could think of. 

“Great.” Jaehyun says in anger, remorseful with the fact that both of you just got caught by the two people who had been the closest to you these past months. 

“Mark, come on. This is just as hard as it is for me than it is for you. We have to do this. It’s all we’ve been working for.” Johnny faces him, also extremely disheartened by this revelation.

Mark? His real name was Mark? “Who’s Mark?” You ask before he continues to approach you.

“Right. Now you know.” He takes a deep breath. He gets his handcuffs out of his pocket and races towards you before you could even get away. It was bizarre; how you even thought of escaping this. 

“You have the right to remain silent,” His hands shake while putting them against your back, “Anything that you say can and will be held against you in the court of law.” He swallows, and you sob. 

 “I’m so sorry I-” he cuts you off.

“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” He concludes the Miranda rights and adds, “It’s one thing to disappoint me, but another to disappoint your father.”

-----end------

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Six. Movies and Speedruns

warnings: swearing, many memes word count: 3.8k (not including pictures) (wow okay ash pop off!) 

behind the screen (irl!dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

A/N: LETS ALL JUST AGREE TO NOT LOOK AT THE DATES ON TWEETS AND STUFF BC SOME CHAPTERS ARE SO SCUFFED WITH DATES!!!! JUST KNOW THIS STORY STARTS MID NOVEMBER!!!!!!!! (in a world where covid doesn’t exist btw)

**********

.

**********

Unknowingly and unintentionally, Y/n let out a big sigh as she poured a glass of water.

"What's wrong, Y/n?" Naomi asked gently, coming up behind her and hugging her tightly.

"Peter."

Naomi hummed, a sign that she was waiting for Y/n to lead the conversation so she could follow because if it were up to Naomi, she would immediately start trash-talking Peter and she wasn't sure if that was the vibe right now or not.

Y/n shook her head in disbelief as she jumped up to sit on the counter. "He got so mad when he found out I slept over at Karl's."

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I wish you would just cut him off completely."

"I don't know. I know I should but... part of me wonders if he could ever go back to how he was when I met him. I would probably date that guy again but not who he turned out to be."

Naomi looked horrified. "No. You sound like you're considering hearing him out. No, is that a joke? He's a bad person."

"I'm not," Y/n reassured. "I'm just thinking hypothetically. Probably because I miss having someone..."

"Y/n, you have a ton of thirsty people in your mentions. If you really want someone that bad, just scroll through, land on one and I bet they're a million times better than that sack of burned potatoes."

Y/n rolled her eyes but smiled lightly. "Most of those are jokes."

"Not all of them," she teased.

"I know you're going to tell me anyway so just say it. Who specifically do you think isn't joking?"

"Dream," Naomi sang.

"Okay, crazy." Y/n reached over, staying seated on the counter as she grabbed a bowl from a cabinet on her left. She then leaned all the way right, reaching as far as she could, but couldn't quite grab a cereal box from the top of the refrigerator.

Naomi rolled her eyes as she helped, handing Y/n the box. She even went the extra step to get Y/n a spoon and the milk because she was that nice. "I'm not joking. Neither is he. Karl and I have talked about it and we both agree."

Y/n paused at her friend's words, her hand hovering over the milk that Naomi held out for her. "You guys gossip about my love life?"

Naomi set the milk next to Y/n, tired of holding it out for her. "Of course? Like we don't do that about Karl? Or you and him about me?"

She couldn't argue there.

"Karl says there's a different vibe from Dream when you join calls and I believe it. I mean, I've seen it during streams myself so I can only imagine how much more obviously in love with you he is during private calls.

"That 'vibe' is Karl's delusional mind creating things. He's too scared to talk to cameragirl so he's projecting onto Dream and I."

"Yeah, okay," Naomi agreed sarcastically.

Y/n huffed. "Besides, he's in Florida. I'm in North Carolina, in case you weren't aware."

"So you're saying if you lived in the same state, you'd date him?"

"I didn't say that." She honestly had never thought of it. Sure she liked hanging out with Dream and her stomach got butterflies when he talked directly to her and he made her smile harder than anyone ever had and he—

And she didn't like him like that. She had only officially met the guy like a week and a half ago and she didn't know what he looked like. There was no way you could catch feelings for someone without seeing them.

Naomi's expression fell again. "Distance doesn't matter, anyway."

"I swear if you say something about George I will slap you," she threatened through a smile and Naomi gave her an innocent grin back.

"If you're lonely, get on Tinder, not Peter. Or get on Dream. I have no qualms with that."

"Peter isn't even an option, Naomi." Y/n sighed, ignoring the comment about Dream.  "Also," she swallowed the last of her cereal and set the bowl down with a clank. "I'm gonna tell Peter I don't want to be friends anymore. Dream and George can be added to the list of Peter haters."

"You talked to them about it?"

She nodded. "You know how I have little gossip sessions with George? Well, Dream was there too this time."

"Well, of course Dream would hate Peter. We've established that he likes you."

"No, no, you and Karl delusionally hypothesized that."

Naomi tapped the counter methodically, a sign Y/n knew to signal that she was thinking hard. "Somehow, one day, I'll prove he does."

"Good luck."

"Wanna watch a movie?"

"Yes," Y/n perked up. "Go pick something, I'll get blankets."

She went to her room, grabbing her favorite cuddling blankets. She started leaving her room when she heard a ding on her open desktop, signaling that she had a call incoming from Discord. Cool timing.

"I'll be just a second, Naomi!" she called across the house before dropping the blankets on her bed and sliding her headset on, answering the call from Dream. "Hi, Dream!" She sat on her chair and tucked her knees to her chest.

"Hi," he greeted sweetly. "How are you doing today?"

"Much better than when we last talked. How are you?"

"Great now that I'm talking to you," he said smoothly. Y/n rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Are you busy?"

"Unfortunately, yes. My roommate and I are about to watch a movie."

"Ooh, what movie?"

"Not sure yet. Any suggestions?"

"Dark Knight. Unless you wanted me to say, like, Tangled or something."

"Yeah, girls' night is exclusively princess movies. Do you know nothing?"

"Apparently," he said with a laugh.

"What's up?"

"Oh, well, I was just gonna see if you wanted to be on call later with me, George, and Sapnap while I stream speedruns, but you're hanging out with your roommate so nevermind."

"Oh," Y/n deflated. "That sounds fun."

"I can push it back if you want to be part of it. If not, that's fine. I just thought it would be cool."

"No, no, no I really do want to, but I don't want you to have to push it back. When were you planning on starting?"

"In about an hour."

"I'll just join later if you're still playing. If that's okay that I come late."

"No. You have to be on time or not at all," he joked. "Of course that's fine," he assured. "And if I'm not playing anymore, you can still join... we usually talk for forever after we play games and it's fun. I would, er, we would love for you to hang out with us."

Y/n couldn't help the large smile on her face from staying even after they hung up and she walked back into the living room with her pile of blankets. She couldn't help it even when Naomi pointed it out and asked why she was so happy.

"Oh, uh, I've been invited to join Dream and them later for a stream."

"That vague answer doesn't warrant the shit-eating grin you have."

Y/n shrugged and cuddled more into her blankets. "What movie did you pick?"

*****

As the end credits rolled across the screen, Y/n yawned and looked over to Naomi in the dark. She was out like a light. Y/n stood up and made sure Naomi was covered in the blanket and she had a pillow. She crept back to her room and slid her headphones on, pulling up Discord where she saw the three boys' names still in a voice call.

She pulled up Twitch on her second monitor and looked for Dream's stream. It was already about an hour in. She clicked on it and her headphones echoed with the sound of George and Sapnap laughing like they said the funniest thing in the world.

"Shut up," Dream muttered. "Guys, what were the coords for the portal? Seriously, come on."

"Nobody tell him," George joked.

"George!"

"Where's Bugsyyyy?" Sapnap whined. "I want her to make fun of you with us."

"Half the stuff we're making fun of him for is about his big fat crush on her so..."

"George!" Dream yelled again. "No, it's not!"

Y/n smiled as she heard that, knowing it was a joke but laughing at the way Dream laughed at the accusation. She knew it wasn't serious or else they wouldn't talk about it on stream. George and Sapnap teased a lot, but certainly, they wouldn't out someone's crush in front of a hundred thousand viewers live.

"Oh!" Sapnap spoke out loud as George laughed loudly, both reading the text at the same time. "Speaking of..."

Dream waited for either of the two boys to elaborate but neither of them offered one. "What happened?"

"Bugsy texted us," George said off-handedly, typing a response to her. "She's coming in a second."

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" Sapnap laughed.

"You guys have a groupchat?"

"Aw, jealous?" George asked.

Y/n joined at that moment, the first sentence coming from her Discord instead of Twitch being from Sapnap saying, "Would it make you more jealous to know our group name is Bugsy's Boys?"

"No, Sapnap, that's the one with Karl," George corrected. "The one with just you, me, and her is Bugsy's Boyfriends."

"WhAT?"

"I still don't approve of that, by the way," Y/n commented.

"Bugsy!!" Sapnap giggled happily. "You're finally here!"

"BUGSY!" George cheered.

"Hi guys!" Y/n laughed at the enthusiasm she was greeted with. "Hi, Dream!"

There was a few seconds of silence before, "Dream!!" George yelled right before the death screen appeared on the Twitch tab still opened on Y/n's right screen. "You idiot, what are you doing?! Why did you throw that run??"

She covered her mouth with the hoodie collar and laughed. "Off to a great start, bud."

"NO!" Dream yelled, knocking something, or somethings, off his desk. "Noooo! I didn't throw it, George, I FELL! Oh, that was going to be such a good run."

"What happened? How did you miss that huge ravine?" George asked while laughing. "It was literally right in the open. You didn't even try to use your water bucket."

"I-I was... I was distracted."

"By what? The completely open field with nothing blocking your vision?" Sapnap criticized with a laugh as well.

Y/n giggled to herself before letting her eyes trail to his chat, which was filled with the same accusations and guesses.

user5: BUGSY!

user2: DISTRACTED BY BUGSYS VOICE

user4: imagine saying hi so cutely that you make a man fall into a ravine

user1: are they dumb? obviously bugsy saying hi made his brain short-circut

user6: guys stop it wasn't bc she said hi. it was the g i g g l e

user3: DISTRACTED BY BUGSY!!!!

user8: HI BUGSY

user10: how to kill a man: hire bugsy to giggle and say hi directly to him

Y/n immediately blushed and covered her face again. She really had a habit of hiding even when no one could see her.

"Oh my gosh," Dream groaned, leaving the world and starting a new one. "Oh. My. Gosh. That's so annoying. I was doing so good."

"Oh," Sapnap laughed. "I understand now."

"What? What did I miss?" George asked.

"Just read chat," Sapnap explained. "They have the answer. Dream, your chat is so smart. Thanks for solving the mystery, chat!"

"No, they aren't ri— that isn't true!" Dream defended. "Chat, shut up."

"You sure?" Y/n asked teasingly, watching as his character paused when she started talking. Was she really making him this flustered just by talking? Surely not. He was just playing into the joke. He continued playing without saying anything, which made George and Sapnap laugh more.

The subject eventually changed and the atmosphere quickly became more relaxed and chill. Tonight was not a feral night like George had texted in all caps.

"Hey George," Y/n started, biting on her hoodie string with a smile because she knew Naomi would hear this when she watched the VOD the next day. "My roommate says hello."

"Oh my gosh," he muttered, making her laugh. "Let it go."

"Wow, I guess that's one way to treat your fans..."

"Fine," he sighed. "Tell her I say hello."

"Well, not if you don't mean it," Y/n teased.

"Yeah, George, you sound so unenthusiastic?" Sapnap asked.

"He's just flustered," Dream commented. "It's okay George, you can have feelings."

"Dream, you fell into a ravine because Bugsy said hi."

"Oh, come on! That's not—I just— I missed the jump! That's it!"

"I'm not flustered or unenthusiastic, I'm just tired, okay?" George explained, ignoring Dream, a yawn spilling out of him to prove it.

Y/n smiled. "Well, you could always let me give her your number if you really want..."

"No. If she had Discord you could give her that but not my phone number."

"Wait, really?" Y/n gasped. "Seriously?"

George laughed lightly. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"YES! Okay, a huge win for the girls. Well, a huge loss for the fangirls but a huge win for the girls of this apartment."

"Oh my gosh," he muttered and she could practically see him rubbing his face in embarrassment.

"I'll send you her hashtag when she makes one so you know who to add back."

"She's going to make an account just to talk to George?" Sapnap giggled.

"Yes, dude!" Y/n defended. "She at least wants to be his friend, let her shoot her shot!"

Dream ended the steam soon after, not being able to focus enough to beat the end on any of his runs. He had streamed for just under two hours so he seemed to be getting tired as well. George went to bed soon after and after 20 minutes of talking with Sapnap and Dream, Sapnap mysteriously disappeared.

Y/n was about to leave as well, not wanting Dream to feel obligated to stay on the call with her when he spoke up.

"Does Naomi actually like George?"

"Yeah, she does."

"Then I want him to accept her love."

Y/n laughed. "How is he with long-distance relationships?"

"Well, he and I do just fine..." Dream joked. "Oh, not what you meant. I don't know, you guys are the ones that talk about each other's love lives apparently."

"You're still bitter about that?"

"Yes!"

"Suck it up," she laughed. "Naomi would do probably anything to date him so I doubt distance is a problem for her."

"George's sleep schedule is completely messed up, so the time difference wouldn't matter too much. And when he comes to America they can meet in person."

"Wait, he's coming to America?" Y/n gasped happily. "When?"

"There's no set date, but yeah eventually. He'll probably just come to Florida but we've all talked about having a huge meetup with a lot of our friends."

"Oh... cool..."

"Bug? You know you'd be invited to that, right?"

"Oh, really?" she smiled.

"Of course. You're part of the group now."

"Sick," she muttered to herself, but he heard.

"Bug, you're one of my favorite people, do you know that?"

She blushed. "Really?"

"Really."

"You barely know me, Dream."

"Yeah, well, I know enough to know that I'm sorta attached to you."

"Attached to me? In what way?"

He suddenly sounded nervous as if his brain caught up with what his mouth was saying. "I don't know, nevermind."

"No, Dream, what do you mean?" her voice was soft and understanding and it made him feel safe.

"I just... I don't know. I care about you a lot. We met only, what, like a week or two ago, and I already worry about you a lot. Playing games doesn't feel the same anymore unless you're playing with us."

"To be fair, we have been tweeting at each other for much longer than a week or two."

"Yeah, that's true. But it's not the same as actually talking to you."

She smiled shyly. "I care about you a lot too, Clay." His name sounded strange as if it suddenly made everything much more serious. "Sorry, that just kinda slipped. I won't call you Clay if you don't want me to—"

"No, it's okay, it, uh, I like hearing you... say it. But, uh, you can call me whatever you want."

She smiled widely at the nervousness in his voice and the hard pounding of her heart. "I've heard from multiple people that you never stop talking about me."

He laughed timidly. "Maybe. Do you talk about me?"

"Ask Karl," she giggled. "My guess is yes." Her stomach felt tingly and her hands shook lightly. Why did she feel like this all of a sudden? It was late, she reasoned. That, or it was because Naomi had planted the seed of curiosity in her mind. Did Dream like her? No... right?

"I'm sorry if my chat was making you uncomfortable at the beginning when I died..."

"Don't worry, I wasn't uncomfortable."

"It was true, by the way," he paused, "what they were saying. Just... in case you were wondering."

Y/n couldn't wipe the smile off her face, which was growing painful at this point. "What, my voice makes your brain short-circut? That was one comment I saw."

Dream laughed. "More like your entire presence, but... yeah I guess so."

How is someone supposed to respond to something like that? The sweetness in his voice almost made her sick but in a good way.

And just like when he named her Minecraft flower something sweet knowing that no one would see it, why was he still playing up the joke when no one was around?

Not knowing what to say, she decided to let him in on a little secret. "If it matters, you're one of my favorite people too."

"It does."

There was a deathly moment of tense silence as if both of them were screaming to say something but neither did.

"Basically, if we do have a meet-up, I'll sue you if you don't come."

Y/n laughed. "My pockets are empty, sir, so... good luck."

He laughed and it was music to her ears.

"Are you not nervous to show everyone your face? Like, if or when we do all get together."

"Not really. Especially not if it's just to our friends. Are you?"

"Yeah," she admitted.

"Why?"

She sighed. "I'm sure people have me painted in a specific way in their heads and I've seen fanart of me that is way different and way more attractive than I am. I just don't want to let anyone down by not living up to their expectations."

"Bug," Dream said softly, "you couldn't let anyone down."

"You don't know that."

"You can't disappoint real friends or real fans with the way you look."

"To be clear, Dream," she laughed nervously, afraid she would sound conceited, "I don't think I'm ugly. I like the way I look. I'm happy with me. But that doesn't mean I can't still let people down."

"Different than expected doesn't mean disappointing."

His words smacked her in the gut. He was right. Reality and imagination are very different. Neither has to be better or worse than the other. She could look the complete opposite of how someone expects but that doesn't mean they will be either disappointed OR pleased. And why does it matter anyway? If she likes how she looks, who cares what other people think?

"It's also scary to think of getting recognized in public," she admitted. "Being recognized from the start is one thing because it starts off slowly with only a few people knowing your face but if the first time people see your face is when you have millions of fans, the recognition would be overwhelming."

"That's true. I don't think I would mind that much, though."

"Of course not, you're you."

"What does that mean?"

"You like the spotlight."

"I guess. Not all the time."

"Well, what about you?" she asked. "Are you afraid of people knowing what you look like?"

"No. I want to do a face reveal soon but I don't know how I would do it. I want to do it at some kind of event or something but I don't know."

"I need to schedule around when you do it because you'll break the internet. Give us content creators a warning so we can prepare to not get viewers for a week."

Dream laughed. "Oh come on."

"Twitter would just be full of the same picture of you in every single tweet."

"It won't be that big of a deal."

"Something tells me your millions and millions of subs say otherwise."

"Whatever," he said. "As if you wouldn't break the internet too."

"Maybe for a day or two. But you'd break everything for weeks."

"Sure." There was a long pause before Dream softly said, "Karl's lucky."

"How so?"

He didn't speak for a moment, almost like he wasn't prepared for that question because he didn't mean to be heard. "I wish I could know you the way he does."

"You could. He and I knew each other in person first so it's different. You and I could get there eventually."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I trust you a scary amount for someone I met weeks ago."

"I didn't mean to sound like I'm trying to pressure you into showing me your face or telling me your name. I didn't mean like he gets to know what you look like and I don't. I meant, like, I wish we could hang out in person because I prefer that over talking in Discord."

"I get it, Clay. I feel the same way," Y/n said softly. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke again.

"Oh, gosh, it's already four."

Y/n's head snapped to look at her clock, which read 3:57am. "Already?" she whispered. "Dang."

As if acknowledging the time changed the atmosphere, it suddenly felt like 4am. Her back ached from her shifting in her chair so much over the last few hours, never being able to find a good position. The house was eerily quiet and all she heard was the low hum of the heater. The house felt stale, not used to its occupants being so alert and awake at that hour.

"I should probably go to bed..."

"Yeah, me too," Dream agreed. His voice sounded tired. "Thanks for joining us, it was really fun with you."

"Thanks for inviting me. Sorry I made you die. Hopefully you'll still let me back again."

"You're always invited to barge into my streams. Actually."

Y/n giggled again and mentally slapped herself for sounding like a little kid. "Well, you too. You can interrupt my streams anytime."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Goodnight, Clay."

"Goodnight, Bug."

**********

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**********

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[lazyliars]

/rp

Before I get into it, I want to state that is EXPLICITLY an analysis of the Characters, and is not intended to touch on how the cc’s played them in a meta sense unless specifically stated otherwise.

Also, this is technically a part two to my other post, which took a more in depth look at Techno and Phil’s reactions to Tommy’s death. It’s not necessary when reading this post, but I don’t address their reactions here.

So. The question must be asked.

Are we [the Syndicate] the baddies?

Yes.

The End.

 Why are the Syndicate the baddies?

They got damn logo is a wither skull.

The End.

That's not how this works.

Yeah, yeah. You’re right.

The Syndicate's goals as an organization are not inherently bad. They seem to have good intentions behind them, and the focus on the freedom of it's individual group members is important to remember when talking about it; It is not a government. There is no hierarchical power system. No one is forced to do anything against their will, or surrender any of their rights or power to remain a member. It is not a government.

I also want to address Techno and Phil backing Ranboo into a corner – I see them getting a lot of flack for this, but I personally do not think it is relevant to the greater discussion, or necessarily representative of any contradictions within the organization. It was clearly played for laughs, and after they back off they clarify to Ranboo that they won't force him. Then later when Phil and Ranboo are alone, Ranboo feels safe enough to express that he felt like he was pressured into it, and Phil assures him he is allowed to leave whenever he wants; He is not being forced to do anything, and he is not being coerced or blackmailed.

None of the Syndicate members have done any wrongs against each other in the context of the Syndicate, OR gone against any of the Syndicate's core principles.

That, said, holy shit are they the baddies.

Listen, there's trying to telegraph a meaning or message to the audience and then there's having your logo be wither skulls on blackstone. That is straight out of the skit I keep referencing, seriously.

Okay, but, they laughed at it! It was played as a joke, just like the Ranboo thing!

The Ranboo thing was improv, the Syndicate's headquarters were planned – the artistic choices that they made reflect on what role they want the build and the organization inhabiting it to play in the future storylines.

Wither Skulls kind of have some CONNOTATIONS. Techno is an English major, I don't think he chose the most threatening imagery possible on accident, and then joked about the way people would interpret it just to stir the pot. This reads as hugely intentional.

And beyond that, the jokes they make during this part aren't “haha yeah, we look bad but we're actually good!” they're “you can tell by looking at these that we're the good guys wink wink, this is good guy stuff right here :)” It is a joke about how they are definitely not the good guys. This isn't even a case of unreliable narrators, this is one step down from flat out saying the meta intent.

But okay, I hear you, I'm talking about things that haven't happened yet. The Syndicate hasn't used any Withers, they could be an aesthetic choice.  Lets look at what they do in practice.

So, they barge into private property, assess Snowchester's right to continue existing based entirely on their own ideals of what Freedom is, and then only once Tubbo assures them that they have no standing leader do they grant the place their approval to, and I gotta stress this part, continue existing.

 In my Quackity meta, I already talked about how Government in the context of a M1necraft RP cannot be compared to IRL Governments on a one-to-one scale. They don't serve the same purposes or have the same type of power. What I didn't talk about was Agency in the context of m1necraft governments.

In an irl government, if you are born into one, you can't really leave without committing a massive overhaul on your life, which can be expensive and difficult, if not impossible for many people. Even in a “benevolent” government, the simple physicality of where you were born can prevent you from leaving it easily.

The same hurdles do not exist in the Dream SMP. People who join M1necraft governments choose to. They want to, either at the beginning when they form one, or later on when they join up. So far, no Government has just Sprung Up and forced the current residents of an area to become dependent on them, except maybe the Eggpire, who's status as a government is... shakey.

And even when people want to leave or separate from the government, they have been historically able to do so without any trouble or any effort from said governments to stop them. Jack Manifold emancipated from Manberg. Fundy and Quackity both left to start new nations. In all cases they were allowed to do so without any attempts on the part of the governments to stop them, either through force, or institutions preventing them from doing so.

The most anyone has lost when leaving a government is their house, which is still usually their property anyway, and is something that is easily rebuilt elsewhere and is inconvenient to move anyway.

The only exceptions to this might be Schlatt exiling Wilbur and Tommy - but even then, they weren’t trying to leave, they were trying to get back in, and of course the original L’manberg revolution, where Dream attempted to force L’manberg back into the Dream SMP, which wasn’t even a government at that point in time.

I don’t consider Phil’s house arrest an example of a government forcing someone to stay a citizen - that was treated less as a matter of a citizen wanting to leave the country and more as a threat to national security. Still pretty fucked up, but it’s a different issue.

What I'm saying is, If Tubbo wants to create a government out in the middle of nowhere, threatening no one, forcing no one to join either through force or desperation, and allowing people to join willingly because they want to, then he should be allowed to do that.

The Irony of the Syndicate, a group of people consisting of some of the richest, strongest people on the server, going around and enforcing 'Freedom' that entails no one person having more power than any other, is absurd. 

It shows an extreme lack of self-awareness and/or self-righteousness, as they seem to think that they deserve to be the ones who decide what constitutes a government.

Snowchester is a small independent nation - they shouldn’t have to live in fear of being obliterated if they don’t walk on eggshells to meet an arbitrary standard decided by people who’s only authority on the matter COMES FROM THEIR PERSONAL POWER. No one elected them! No one chose them! They were not “approved” by the server at large to enact this kind of law.

The Syndicate are not a government, but they are an unsupervised power structure exerting their ideals on a land that did not ask for them. Like, These people have invented an actual Authoritarian-Anarchist faction. How the hell did they manage this?????

Back on topic.

Tubbo shows them the crater left by his nukes. The reaction is oddly positive – the nukes are fine by the morals of the Syndicate, apparently. I'd argue that they come across as more impressed than anything else; they seem to respect Tubbo for having gotten ahold of “real” power.

(There's a few good memes out there about “We can excuse nuclear weaponry, but we draw the line at Government!”)

So. By the Syndicate's standards: A single person or group of acceptably equal persons with weapons of mass-destruction are only worth “keeping an eye on” because they might provoke other people.

Like, I consider Project Dreamcatcher to be one of, if not the most morally ambiguous thing Tubbo has ever done, largely because it was all on his own initiative. He holds some culpability for The Butcher Army and Phil's house arrest, but they weren't his ideas and he was mostly following Quackity at that point.

And Phil tells Tubbo, IMMEDIATELY AFTER SEEING THE NUCLEAR CRATER:

“Looks like you've reformed a little bit Tubbo, I'm proud.”

And it's fine. Crimes against nature? Fine. A sign of healing in fact!! Tubbo is having a sweeeelll time and he definitely didn't make these nukes specifically in fear of being attacked by these exact people! Tubbo is doing great. Tubbo is doing fine. Tubbo. is. FINE.

Anyway.

I don't think this presentation of the Syndicate was an accident. Looking at the greater lore of SMP right now, after the Egg is done, their list of enemies is slim, and considering that they seem solely invested in taking down governments, that leaves maybe Snowchester, Kinoko Kingdom, and Eret and the greater Dream SMP.

Snowchester has not been shown to be corrupt, evil, or have any intent to go down that route. The most ambiguous thing they've done is, again, is the nukes. Other than that, it's pretty much your average cottagecore snow village.

Kinoko is presented in an even more morally 'good' light, Karl having founded it specifically for his Time-travel library purposes, which are currently being treated by the narrative as a selfless act, if not downright heroic.

Eret is also a fairly 'good' aligned character atm. He's been on that redemption grind since the og betrayal, and doesn't seem keen on backtracking. He's actively tried to leverage his position as king to make things better, and hasn't been quiet about that. He was also 'validated' by Tommy*, a character who has been described both by his allies and enemies as “the hero,” so take that as you will.

What I'm getting at is, all of the current potential enemies for the Syndicate aside from the Egg, are currently being cast as 'good,' and if they were to be attacked, they would undoubtedly have the moral high-ground, unless something drastically changed.

The only potential shakeups I can think of is are a Dream escape and/or a Wilbur revival, both of which could draw the Syndicate's attention and ire, depending on how things go. That said, it's just as likely that either or both of them would join the Syndicate – Dream still has that favor, and Phil and Techno both seemed to think Wilbur would've agreed with their blowing up L'manberg.

Both of those characters are currently **villains – the fact that they're both prime candidates for the Syndicate is a huge indication of the direction it's going to go as the plot moves forward.

((*I know some people are gonna come at me for painting Tommy as the “deciding factor” of what is morally good, so lemme just stop you there. I'm not talking about Tommy somehow having the 'right' to decide who is and isn't good, and definitely not the right to decide who should and shouldn't be king. I'm saying that Tommy, a character who the narrative treats as, if not a good person, then a person who is trying to be good, was in support of Eret, a character who has also been trying to be good.

Eret doesn't gain the moral highground because Tommy said so, he gets it because a character who the narrative treats as trying to do better, acknowledged Eret's earnest attempts at doing the same.

**I'm referring to Wilbur here as a villain because Tommy seemed convinced he would be if he were to be brought back. There is always the possibility that he's wrong.))

So, to summarize this: I read the Syndicate as being intentionally positioned as future antagonists, if not outright villains of a future arc. They are NOT a Government but their goals are contradictory with their means, and it is important to keep in mind that they plan to enforce their own brand of freedom on people who did not grant them either the authority or permission to do so.

So, uh. Can you tell I loved these streams? They were seriously so good. I kept switching between Ranboo and Techno's POV's trying to keep up with everything. I still have to watch Niki's!

All in all, I'm super, super excited for whats coming next, egg stuff, Syndicate stuff, Tommy stuff, all of it.

[violenceenthusiast]

im curious why people are saying supernatural is jewish like idk if jewish writers makes an inherently jewish story especially when things like following out the christian apocalypse from revelations and showing a real physical g-d who is just some guy i think is super jarring since though christians claim to be against idolatry they seem totally fine showing depictions of gd or whatever i dont get jesus honestly but jews are far more strict and the idea of showing gds appearance is pretty wrong

WOOF okay um. Maybe this is one of those Tone Doesn’t Come Thru Well Online things but to me this is soo fucking rude… I’m half way between John Mulaney we don't have time to unpack all of that & Ben Wyatt wait it’s gonna bother me if I don’t explain why you’re wrong. 

This turned into all my thoughts. 

So like. First off, it’s all fun and games. We’re all just joking and joshing and projecting here on destiel dot tumblr dot com and Jupernatural is not an exception in a lot of ways. And so when someone shits on what we’re doing here (yes, even unintentionally) what you get is what happened: oh you think you’re funny well I’m about to be hilarious!!! aka I’m gonna do it even more now out of spite specifically because you said not to. Like it really is all jokes but also you know what’s not a joke? Antisemitism in all its forms, even the casual shit! It’s really draining and it builds up in your veins!! Just. Yeah. You saw a lot of people talking about it today in particular because much like other topics of the day, one thing kicks off a whole other turn of events. So like. one misguided comment that’s playfully antisemitic and then one more little one, and then one big/obvious one launched us (Jewish spn fans) into a whole bigger discussion about antisemitism and erasure of Jews in the spn fandom writ large. It’s one thing to be descriptive, offer a headcanon/what if, or employ a certain mode of analysis. It’s another thing to definitively say This Is The Truth, specifically when to do so overrides something else, especially in this case when what’s being overridden is Jews, an ethnoreligious minority. It’s also another thing to talk over Jews. And mind this has been building for days. Not in a bad way just like, it’s been topical for days and then today one big thing pushed it over the edge to us actually posting abt it (partially bc at that point it’s a pattern, which feels like it needs to be addressed). Like, destiel tumblr is small we pretty much all see all the same posts, and then Jewish spn fans… we’re friends, we chat about life? We joke around together, y’know? If you’re being antisemitic (yes, even unintentionally) we’re all gonna hear abt it. It’s how we stay safe or in this case, curate the online exp.

That being said tho projecting on fiction is like fun and even a good thing at times, and def opens up new modes of analysis. But! the other big thing here is that there IS a LOT of evidence for a Jewish reading of spn, in a lot of ways, and particularly if you know what to look for. Like there’s lots of niche Jewish slang (non-Jews just don’t know these things, and that is a reflection primarily of the writers but once you put it in the script it implies things about the characters too of course), the theology of the early seasons (I’ll get to that in a second), main character motivations (hold on), “Moishe Campbell” implying Mary is (and therefore Sam and Dean are) Jewish, etc. 

It’s not surprising to me or anything that non-Jews don’t catch anything/everything Jewish about spn but that Jews catch both sides of it, because that’s just how being part of a marginalized group works. You learn about your own stuff AND the dominant culture’s stuff because that’s how you survive (socially, psychologically, literally). Members of the dominant culture don’t need to learn the marginalized one, are never confronted with it, and so they just.. don’t. I don’t even mean that in a normative or accusatory way, that’s just an observation on the state of things. Non-Jews who aren’t part of another marginalized religion, aka expressed xtians and cultural xtians, have a ton of misconceptions about Judaism, for example, “Jesus was Jewish” and not, “Jesus was an asshole of an apostate who made life harder for Jews at the time in a myriad of ways and whose movement has had a lasting negative impact on world Jewry (and other peoples) for the ensuing millenia”. I truly Don’t Have Time right now to get into the varied and intense history of antisemitism in all its forms but. the point I’m making here is that I’m not shocked I need to explain that life experience shapes your worldview?? So if you’re Jewish you’re always gonna be living life through that version of the world and it does impact you?? Same as anything else?? As unwell as they may be, spn writers aren’t exempt from that. Jewish people writing about xtianity are doing so thru a primarily Jewish understanding and vice versa. Jews can (and did!) write about xtian lore but in a Jewish way! Some core Jewish themes: wrestling with angels/G-d, questioning G-d, IF there’s a G-d they will have to beg MY forgiveness, the afterlife isn’t really a big thing so all that matters is your time on earth, make amends to others directly and thru your actions rather than seeking absolution with G-d, you are not obligated to complete the work nor may you abandon it, etc… So that’s the other reasoning why we say “spn is Jewish” based solely on it being written by Jews. Rather than Death of The Author, let’s look at what the author has imbued the story with, both intentionally and unintentionally. And re: Chuck and idolatry… I don’t even know where to start with the way you phrased this but. the Jewish Spn Writers of Note are apparently Kripke, Gamble, and Edlund. All of whom stopped writing for the show years before the Chuck Is God plot! 

Like yes it feels very stupid to be writing a thousand words on antisemitism and supernatural but like. this is a spn blog run by a Jew so. This whole thing is also just the same every time. This is very representative of typical casual antisemitism.

[thattimdrakeguy]

I blocked a guy who gave me an ask about why I like Tim ‘cause apparently he’s a dirty sexist, racist, rich, white boy. 

Since well, I’m never going to have an interesting conversation with them, ‘cause I’ve never once seen anybody say that, and continue onto their other posts and see anything to make me think they’d believe that if they weren’t over-invested in their interests.

But I’ve been seeing that idea thrown around a lot lately.

Just to say quickly, because it’s not really the Tim part of this I’m concerned about, I’ve yet to see any proof of Tim being sexist, that’s actually proof of him being sexist. It’s done nothing but show me people don’t know what sexism is, or at the very least can’t understand what the term ‘context’ means. Because they’ll blatantly ignore that and throw in their own version of it. Which, I’m gonna be blunt, I think if you’re bothering to do that over somebody that doesn’t exist. I think you’re an idiot. As harsh as it sounds I doubt anyone could give me a reason why I shouldn’t think trying to prove a fictional character, that’s obviously never intended to be portrayed as a sexist is sexist, isn’t a massively stupid thing to do.

And all I can say for the part that bugs me more is: Rule of thumb, if someone makes everything about race without a reason that can be explained as having some thought and reason put into it beyond bad faith, you probably shouldn’t take it too seriously, because social media has become increasingly more obviously filled with people looking for attention rather than actually saying anything worth saying.

There are a lot of intelligent people out there on social media giving good lessons about subtle racism, and things that people do that they don’t realize can actually come off as condescending to minorities or other things. And they are extremely good reads can help you better yourself. Or even larger issues that you may have never thought about, and how it pushes down on minorities. Sometimes just representations in fiction.

Because talking about race, and gender, and sexuality isn’t my problem with it. There’s still a lot to learn. It’s people who use it because they’re petty, and want to convince themselves their doing the morally correct thing by talking about it. Incredibly the number of likes on a post doesn’t mean jackshit. And here I was thinking more people have learned this by now.

And as shocking as it may be, I’ve never seen any of these people who have brought up intelligent matters with thoughtfulness and reason, act like reading way too much into fiction because a popular blog did it, is any actual act of activism. Or that simply being white means something. I’ve actually seen them think that stuff is ridiculous and has a negative impact on the actual real life matters.

I’m sorry but if you genuinely think that a character is as well-liked as they are because they’re white, you live in a delusion. I’m not claiming no one ever likes a character ‘cause they’re white, because look, there’s a lot of bad people out there. But to act like everyone that likes a character, that conveniently is in constant comparison to your fav, is racist, or at least a large enough group of people to say it, is simply idiocy. You’re not doing anything but making things look like a joke to anyone that isn’t desperate for their virtue card.

There is a lot of things that deserved to be talked about. Playing stupid over petty arguments doesn’t deserve the time of day.

And pro-tip if someone in the fandom constantly undermines everything one character does to lessen it’s impact, but exaggerating everything another does to overblow another's impact, they likely are only using something as a tool to just fulfill what’s in their head. Often enough with the intention of just wanting a lot of attention, even if they’re desperately trying to make it come off like it’s more than that. You aren’t likely to learn anything real from them.

If you can’t process an actually well-thought out reason why someone is saying such a thing, there are very good odds it’s not well-thought out.

Why do you think fandom’s get laughed at everywhere outside of them? Or even sometimes inside of them? It’s because they’re ridiculous, and you have to take everything with copious amounts of salt. You’ll legitimately become less intelligent otherwise. And I’m not saying this because “Oh I like Timmy”, ‘cause I’ve seen stuff said that’s even stupider than this specific argument I got.

There’s a lot of serious topics I wish people would talk about more out there, but won’t get taken seriously anymore because so many people overuse it for things that don’t actually concern it. It’s like crying wolf, but for a whole entire group of people, that just want to be equal without some dickhead making a fool of themselves.

If you think saying anything negative at all towards a woman is sexist, or you have to say “Should’ve talked about in the comics more” (Since that likely means, as shitty as the writing was. Whatever you’re getting out of it likely isn’t there since these characters are supposed to be heroes), or any negative emotion towards a POC character regardless of context is a racist. You’re not exactly supporting those communities. You’re fucking babying them. You’re making a joke out of it that is in no way helping them. You are severely undermining them the more and more it happens.

When an actual, honest to God moment of sexism or racism comes along. It is time to talk about it.

Acting like everything about a character (Since I don’t see these people ever worrying about anyone that’s a real human) is their minority status, when it clearly isn’t, is a roundabout way of ending up being sexist, or racist, or whatever bigotry. Because you’re just not treating them like people ever. It’s patronizing.

Like I’m not even talking about the Tim thing anymore. I just know that I actively see people of color, or different genders, in some contexts and situations members of the LBGT+ community actively express annoyance and disgust about these things, but no one cares because they want their virtuous card. It’s about doing these things that in reality are making people treat real life issues a little less seriously every time.

Yet, boy oh boy, random people have to take serious issues and make it about their fictional fav.

And I feel like I talk about it a lot. Usually not in paragraphs. But the more I see people doing it, and genuine people talking against it, that these people doing it think they’re defending, it gets more depressing.

Supporting minorities isn’t fetishizing them or infantilizing their own issues, or generally obsessing over whatever it is that makes them a minority.

Supporting them is treating them like equals and learning to recognize the warning sign of what to say and what not to say becomes an ignorant moment comes along, and supporting them when a genuine bigot comes along. Not sounding the alarm over nothing because you’re crying over a drawing with words on it.

I appreciate authentic people, but people who have a bad habit of sounding this alarm over nothing, never feel authentic.

Real issues deserve to be treated with respect. Not as a buzzword.

[chemicalpink]

☾✧゜BTS Numerology Chart | Heart's Desire: a peek into their relationships and career ☾✧

Disclaimer: Look, we know the disclaimer by now, although numerology is heavily reliant on maths, it's still not a definite way to define someone as they have a lot of other phases to them as human beings. I am diving a little into uncharted territory as I usually don't speak about their sexual relationships but know that the observations here are applicable to every other person with the same number so it's impersonal. With that being said, for entertainment purposes only. Note that this reading is based on their romanized names.

What is the Heart's Desire Number? based on the softer parts of the self, it shows the inner and deepest cravings that the soul needs to grow and evolve.

Kim Seokjin ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 11

So it's a Master number, we are already starting off strong.

Seokjin is bound to have incredible manifesting power.

He's magnetic and wise while holding a very broad outlook in life.

Very curious and intuitive

Masterful leader in situations

He's got a fear of being limited in any aspect of life

Can sometimes doubt his power and vision.

He's prone to have his own business so that he isn't told what to do.

Takes things at his own pace and likes to have fun.

Natural charmer but are we even surprised?

Innately intelligent

He's VERY selective when it comes to partners.

Only interested in someone who has a common outlook in life as well as being equally committed to personal growth.

Listen- this man knows exactly what he wants and that is copious amounts of truth and integrity in any relationship.

He's living on the fast lane of life

Fitness is important on his day to day.

Has a very VERY busy schedule that doesn't help him stay committed.

Good sense of humour

Has zero trouble attracting people.

While he's apparently not lacking in the whole having a lot of different partners department, he's not easily impressed.

Number also determines an ultimate destination of greatness

Will definitely leave a mark on humanity.

Min Yoongi ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 3

Has a smile that lights up the world

Highly magnetic, everyone seems drawn to him.

His greatest asset is his imagination

Has a strong calling to express himself through music

Has a contaging wit and charm that others find inspiring

He enjoys the spotlight but not in an attention seeking way

His soul urge is to light up those around him.

He does tend to doubt himself and be very wary of other people.

When it comes to relationships, he's a hopeless romantic

He'll pull all the stops for someone he loves.

Definitely not afraid to put himself out there and express his feelings, which leads him to feel rejected if said feeling aren't recirpocrated immediately.

Has a history of countless heartbreaks yet he rebounds quickly.

Never finds himself single for long.

He's most probably had quite some partners of different types

Not interested in people that fall at his feet

He's bound to have his own business

AND leave his mark on humanity.

Jung Hoseok ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 2

He's a man with deep empathy, intuition and finesse

He seeks to understand those around him more than be understood.

He's incredibly diplomatic.

He tends to disagree with alphatype personalities.

His soul urge is to cooperate rather than be told what to do.

LOVES turning uncomfortable situations into peaceful ones.

He's rarely in conflict with others.

This man knows right away when something is off

He's too empathic and caring that he often gives too much of himself to others.

He's more into commitment than he is to a single life.

Thrives in partnerships

No sacrifice is too great when it comes to someone he loves.

However his vulnerability is bound to cause him heartache.

He loves more openly and deeply than others.

A natural charmer

Bound to own his own business.

Living in the fast lane at this point in life

Likely to be extremely successful

He's probably learning a second language

Has had his fair share of different type of partners, but not in a playbloy type of way.

Kim Namjoon ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 22

We've got another master number.

He's got everything to be wildly successful

Intuitive, powerful, and practical

Has a strong calling to be a masterful builder and to create a legacy that will support generations to come.

Bound to work on something that involves a large number of people.

Has very high ideals but is very down to Earth

Tends to overestimate abilities and takes on tasks that he is not yet prepared to tackle just to please others.

In relationships, he is very practical

He values growth and companionship more than he does love itself.

He's perceptive and romantic nonetheless

Bound to be extremely successful

Has had plenty of different types of lovers

Not impressed at all by shallow people.

Park Jimin ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 1

He has incredible talent and creativity

Isn't afraid of taking risks

He's always honest and true to himself

Completely dislikes being micro-managed at work and in his personal life

Refuses to play second fiddle or give into the demands of others unless it is to avoid serious conflicts.

His soul urge is to be in the lead, not carried along behind it.

In relationships, he's the one in charge.

He tends to be the one that calls the shots

Since he's used to being in charge, he needs to make an effort so as not to come across as too uncompromising.

He has a deep need for independence so he's very careful with who he gives his attention to.

When his heart is open he is very loyal

He's bound to be extremely successful

Is living on the fast lane of life

Will own his own business

He's had a lot of different types of partners so far yet he's selective due to how he carries himself.

Kim Taehyung ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 9

He's an old soul

Has deep intuitive wisdom

People are naturally drawn to him

He's very appreciative and caring

He goes for altruistic matters rather than logic

He always wants everyone to benefit from situations.

He's willing to give regardless of the cost for him.

Has a strong moral sense and natural compassion.

He tends to be impressionable which might make others take advantage of him.

He's a very romantic person.

Incredibly compassionate and understanding

He can become quite impersonal or neglect his feelings when preoccupied with helping others.

Even though, he's more loving and present than most.

He's great with people.

He's bound to own his own business.

Bound to be extremely successful

Has had a fair share of partners of all types yet he's not attracted at all to shallow people

Jeon Jungkook ☾✧゜

Heart's Desire Number: 8

He's one to move on quickly

Has a long list of achievements

And an ability to achieve great goals

He's a natural leader and a great source of security for others.

Has a strong call to be in a position of power.

Gets easily frustrated with people who slack off or think small.

The embodiment of go big or go home.

In relationships, he has very VERY high standards

Due to him being as ambitious as he is, he tends to lack emotional flexibility and neglects romantic gestures

Fun and adventure are his things

Is able to excel in a lot of stuff

He's likely to own his own business

A natural charmer.

He's innately intelligent.

Bound to be extremely successful.

Fitness is a big thing in his life.

Has had quite some partners of different types yet not in a bad way.

Not interested in shallow people/ people that don't fulfill his standards in some way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'd say for the most part it seems consistent with things that come out of readings, some of their pointers are REALLY straightforward on them being meant to be on the path they are (we'll explore the life path number sometime later on) but it does seem to point to them being big and successful both on their own and as a group since their numbers seem to cooperate amazingly. It does look to me like they're meant to either take over HYBE or have their own company. The 'plenty of partners' wasn't much of a surprise, they're men in their mid-late twenties, handsome, on top of the world, it is just funny to see most of them having 'high standards' yet having a lot of partners, seems to me like those standards are more applicable or more strictly applicable to a deeper/ more committed relationship.

Sources: Marsilio Ficino and Hans Decoz texts