#yes I finally finished the run wooo

[rena-yume]

SKETCH REQUESTS OPEN!

[mbappebby]

Stargirl || Five

Ivy Carter (OC) x f1 grid

Summary: Ivy achieves her dream of winning her first ever race, making many people proud of her

Requested: Yes, by anonymous: Hi!! Love Stargirl, we need one where Ivy wins her first race and everyone is so proud of her!! Also, by anonymous, Stargirl is actually so good, I love it so much!! Can I request one where Ivy wins her first ever race? x

Series

Taglist: @myluvtaeil @eugene-emt-roe @itsjustkhaos

“We have watched her overcome every possible challenge, since the moment she first stepped foot in the paddock. She has faced it all, and today, she will finally stand on that top step, where she belongs!—

—the chequered flag waves for the 18 year old! And history is made today, Ivy Carter wins the British Grand Prix and becomes the first woman ever to win a race in Formula 1! What an incredible moment we have all witness!”

R- You’ve done it!! You done it! Ivy Carter, you are a formula 1 race winner!

Ivy- WOOO!! AHHH!! We did it!! Thank you guys so much, I couldn’t have done it without you all!!

R- Proud if you kid! Driver of the day as well!

Ivy- Awh thanks!! We did it Bono!!!

R- A huge congratulations to you Vee! You did it and I never any doubts you wouldn’t! Proud of you kid!

Ivy- Thank you so much Toto!!

R- That’s one for the history books, you’ve proved everyone wrong! So proud of you sweetheart!

Ivy- I love you Susie!!

After Ivy finished talking to everyone, she turned her radio off and drove around the track in silence, to try and realise what she had just achieved.

A formula 1 race winner.

First ever female to win a race in formula 1.

One of the youngest race winners in history.

She did it.

Ivy drove into parc-fermé and parked behind the P1 sign. She sad there for a bit before getting out of the car, and standing on the front of it while pointing to the crowd.

She jumped down and instantly ran into the arms of the Mercedes crew. Ivy took her balaclava and helmet off before making to way over to Ryan and Bono. “Proud of Vi, so proud of you!” Ryan said.

“You did it, Vee!” Bono added. “Thanks for everything, we won this together!” Ivy added as she hugged them both before running over and jumping in the arms of Toto and Susie.

Ivy couldn’t contain herself anymore, tears started to fall down her face and she hugged the pair tightly, who were basically parents to her. “We are so proud of you” Susie said. “You deserve this so much, Vee” Toto added.

“I love you guys, so much” Ivy mumbled as Susie kissed her forehead before they pulled away. Ivy made her way over to the weighing scales before putting her helmet down and had a drink of water.

“Ivy having a moment with Toto and Susie, we’ve heard about what these two have done to help Ivy to get where she is today, just a bit overwhelming for the young brazilian..”

“I think nearly the whole garage is down there with Ivy, she’s been a junior driver for years and the Mercedes team have all seen her become the driver she is today”

It wasn’t long before she was lifted up into a hug from behind. “You did it lil sis!” George exclaimed putting Ivy down as they hugged tightly. “Vee!! You did it!!” Alex added as he hugged her after she pulled away from George.

“I can’t believe it!!” Ivy replied. “Vi! You did it!” Lando exclaimed as he came running over, almost knocking Ivy off over. “Be careful, you muppet!” Carlos said as he walked over with Charles.

“Sorry! I’m just so happy for you!” Lando added. “Lando and Vi can actually be nice to each other?” Charles joked as Lando rolled his eyes. “Congrats Vee!” Carlos said.

“First of many, that is!” Charles added. “Thank you, it still feels surreal” Ivy replied. “Crazy defending Ve, you deserve this!” Max added as they hugged. “Thanks Max!” Ivy said with a smile.

“You can see many of the drivers congratulating Ivy, someone is like a little sister to them all! Many of them have known her for years, others only since the beginning of the season!”

“Well, the interviews will be starting soon with our race winner first, however she seems to be looking around and looking for a certain someone”

Ivy was waiting to be called over to do her interview but a lot of the other drivers came over to congratulate her. Ivy was about to be called for the interview, when she seen someone she’s been waiting to see.

Ivy ran over to Lewis and basically jumped into his arms. “I did it Lew! I did it!” Ivy exclaimed as they hugged tightly. “I never had any doubts you wouldn’t Vee, you deserve this so much. You’ve proved everyone wrong and inspiring so many girls like you” Lewis told her as they pulled away.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, I couldn’t have done it without you” Ivy said. “I’ve just been here when you needed me, this was all you Vee” Lewis added as he kissed her forehead.

“I think that answers what Ivy was waiting for, Lewis is down there with the girl who replaced him at Mercedes. They’ve known each other for years, just having a moment together!”

“Lewis has always talked highly of Ivy and has always defended her when someone has something bad to say to her! You can see how proud he is of her, been there since the beginning!”

“Ivy! Congratulations, first win in formula 1 and the first ever female to win a race, can you try and just explain how are you feeling right now?” NAOMI SCHIFF asked as the crowd cheered for the young girl.

“Thank you, I’m out of words really on how I can describe this feeling. I’ve been through and overcome a lot to get where I am today and it’s just so surreal to say that I’ve actually won a race in formula 1” Ivy said with a big smile on her face.

“I think it’s safe to say everyone is happy for you today, I also think seeing you win today will make many other girls realise that it is possible to achieve the goal of being in formula 1, what your thoughts on that?” Naomi added.

“I hope I have inspired all the girls in formula 1 academy and other girls who are karting and racing right now, you just need to keep on working hard and you’ll get the outcome you want. I hopefully will see some of you up here with me soon!” Ivy replied.

“Thank you Ivy, congratulations once again!” Naomi told her as Ivy waved up to the crowd who once again cheered loudly for her. After Max and Lando did their interviews, the three of them made their way to the cool-down room.

The three of the talked about the race while watching the replays, before they were all called out onto the podium. When Ivy walked out, the crowd cheered loudly for her as if it was her home race.

Ivy had a big smile on her face when she heard the Brazil national anthem playing, something that many people hadn’t heard in formula 1 for a couple years.

After the Brazil national anthem finished, the German one started playing for Mercedes. Before the trophies were given out and Ivy held her high in the year and pointed down towards her team.

Then, everyone’s favourite part about the podium. The champagne, Ivy couldn’t pick her up before she was already being sprayed by Max, Lando & Ryan who had come up to represent Mercedes.

Ivy just enjoyed the feeling, she had done it.

A formula 1 race winner.

//

instagram

@ivycarter

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Liked by vinijr, lewishamilton and 5,173,083 others

ivycarter: I DID IT!! On a serious note, I would have never of thought I would say that I was going to win my first race in formula 1, in my rookie year!! It's such a surreal moment for me, and I can't thank my team and everyone involved enough. I hope I have finally proven to those people who don’t think I belong here. To all the young girls who are racing now, never let anything bring you down and know you belong in the sport and will achieve your dreams!! Thank you everyone for the support this weekend, it means so much I love you all!!💗🇧🇷

tagged: mercedesamgf1

view all 41,946 comments

username YAY!!!

username Toto & Susie looked so proud😭💗

username Congrats Vee!! So deserved!!🤩

username What a race, what a drive!

lewishamilton proud of you kid❤️

ivycarter I love you Lew!!💗

username Ivy & Lewis >>

username Awhh, I love how Lewis just joined in the team celebration!😭

username The way Ivy jumped in Lewis’s arms!🥹

username Everyone looked so proud of her🥰

vinijr Parabéns Vee! Need to come visit us!🙌🏾🤍

rodrygogoes Ayyy congrats Vi! Visit Madrid soon?👀

ivycarter Ahh thanks guys, I’ll be there😊💗

username Awhh Vini and Rodrygo!!

username I completely forgot Ivy was Brazilian😅

charles_leclerc Congrats Vee, that’s one of many!❤️

ivycarter Thanks Char!!🤍

username Congrats Ivy!!

username Toto & Susie >>>

username Everyone is so proud of you!!

username Stargirl🤩

georgerussell63 That’s my lil sis, congrats Vi!🙌🏼❤️

alex_albon *My little sis, proud of you Vee!!

landonorris **Both wrong!! CONGRATS VEE!!🎉

ivycarter I love you ALL!❤️

username 2019 rookies fighting over Vee..who will win?

username I love how everyone is so proud of her!!

username Ahhhh congrats!!💗

carlossainz55 Ayy congrats lil one!🎉

ivycarter Thanks Carlo🫶🏼

username So deserved🤩

username Everyone is like a proud older brother😂💗

username Vee’s nickname for everyone >>

maxverstappen1 Finally! Huge congrats, Vi!🙌🏼

ivycarter Thanks Maxyyy!!!😊

username Nahh Ivy is literally the paddock princess!

username Has everyone wrapped around her finger😭

mercedesamgf1 That’s our girl❤️

ivycarter MY TEAM❤️

username Ivy at Mercedes was the best thing that’s could of happened this year!!

username When Ivy started crying with Toto & Susie😭

susie_wolff One for the history books, so proud of you sweetheart❤️

ivycarter Couldn’t of done it without you and Toto, I love you!!❤️

username Nahh Toto & Susie are literally her parents😭

username I think everyone started crying when they all hugged!

oscarpiastri Huge congrats Vee!!🙌🏼

ivycarter Thanks Osc!!💗

username SO HAPPY!! CONGRATS VEE!!

username What a race🤩🤩

prema_team That’s our Ivy❤️

ivycarter 🥰🥰

username I swear not one person isn’t happy for Ivy!

username What a season this is turning out to be!

username STARGIRL🤩

[pjmparadise]

3:23 am (don’t go, stay) Pt 1 || JJK

Pairing: jungkook x f! original character

Word count: 12.1k

Genre(s): fluff, romance, strangers to lovers, slight angst if you squint; neighbor au, pre-debut Jungkook au, pre-debut au, comic book artist Jungkook au, apartment au, neighbor au

Warnings: cursing, mentions of jungkook’s penis (yeah yeah... he sleeps naked ofc), brief injury (jk hurts himself bc he’s a dork); descriptions of anxiety and fear (jungkook is scared for a sec, oops); nudity mentions, jungkook is a little horny (what can I say....), jungkook gets a hard on lol; he’s also down bad pathetic crushing and is super clumsy, and brief mentions of home robberies (lol this feels random, but it isn’t I swear), very heavily dialogue based

Audience: 18+ (minors, DNI!)

Summary: Jungkook has had a couple of awkward run-ins with his pretty upstairs neighbor, who he may or may not be secretly pining over, and one night, she pays him an unexpected visit.

“My patio, though. Did you fall? I heard a thud.”

“Are you flirting with me? I’ve heard that pickup line before, but yours sounds a little different.”

He smiles. “I wouldn’t use pickup lines like those with you.”

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

A/N: WOOO! my first jungkook fic!! We recently got his birth time, and thus this title was born lol! I’ve been working on this baby for a few months now, and it’s finally finished!! After a long time of contemplating, i decided to make our female character an original character, and i know it’s kind of a rare thing in the community, but i felt it worked best with my story. It’s been a bumpy ride with this one since it’s my first lengthy fic (over 12k words... sheesh!) that will be a part of a short series. I’m very excited and a little nervous, but if you’re here, I’m glad to have you here. Thank you for giving my work a shot <3 (ps. italics indicate jungkook’s inner thoughts as well as flashbacks)

a big thank you to my lovely beta’s: @cherrysoulth @the-boy-meets-evil​ and @jeonjcngkook​ you’ve all helped me shape my fic and have been so helpful, and I am so so grateful. truly. seriously. thank you for brainstorming with me, for reading my work, and for being so sweet and so supportive.

a special thank you to @itaeewon​ for the lovely banner! I love it so so much &lt;3

Jungkook is awake to hear the sound of a muffled thud nearby.

His bedroom is dark and silent save for the alarm clock resting on a bedside table flashing bright red numbers at him. ‘It’s late, it’s late, you should be asleep,’ the time says. Jungkook shuts his eyes, groaning and rubbing a hand over his face. “I know, fuck, I know,” he mutters. He’s fully naked, lying on his back, eyes wide open and boring into the ceiling, blanket kicked off to the side, and arms folded behind his neck–still remembering a phone conversation with Namjoon earlier in the day.

“So she walked toward the elevator as it closed, and you didn’t open it for her?” Namjoon scoffs over the phone, shaking his head and clicking his tongue to show he’s disappointed. He knows Jungkook froze, Jungkook already told him he wanted to reach out and push the button for her, but Namjoon asked again anyway—he likes to give him a hard time. “Every time you see this girl, things just kind of go wrong. I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says with a sigh. “I’ve noticed too. Is it a sign? Should I give up?” In his apartment, he sat curled up on his couch, his chin on his kneecaps. He’s fallen silent in thought.

“No, nothing like that. Maybe she didn’t get to see it was you, so she thinks it was someone else, or maybe she doesn't even think about it anymore. You know, like things that happen in your day you forget about later unless something reminds you of it?”

“Yes!” Jungkook relaxed, falling back against the couch with a hand over his forehead. “That probably is what’s going on. She went on with her day; other things have to happen, right?”

Namjoon was quiet. In his apartment, he was opening mail and reading over a proposal he was meant to sign soon. A project he hasn’t mentioned to anyone else, Namjoon folds the letter and sets it aside. “Sorry, yes. Yes, don’t worry too much. It will ruin your day. I mean that. Sorry for the pause. I just opened some mail.”

“Ah, okay. Well, you’re right.” Jungkook rose from his seat then. “Namjoon-hyung?”

Namjoon nodded even though he couldn’t be seen. “Yeah?”

“Thank you. I don’t know if I say that enough, but you’re always helping and guiding me when I don’t even realize I need it.”

“Thank you, Jungkook. Finish your comic tonight, and submit it tomorrow. I know you’ll place in the contest and do well. You haven’t scrapped it have you?”

Jungkook sighed. Rubbing his eyelids, walking distractedly around his living room, he spoke with his eyes closed. “I have it. I finished it; I just don’t feel too good about posting it, even with the pseudonym; it feels like too much. Too much with what we already have going on as a group even. We’re trying to do something together, and the comic stuff is just… I don’t know. I don’t want it to distract me.”

Namjoon was on his back patio, leaning over the railing and looking out at the park across from him. “Jungkook, I’m going to tell you something and think about it however you want to. I respect your life, but I think—and these are just my opinions. I think you doubt yourself too often and need to take some chances. Luck turns out; it does.” Namjoon folds his arms over the railing, leaning his body against it. “No rush, bro. At all. The music we’re trying to pursue, it’s not going anywhere, you know?”

Jungkook nodded from his living room.

“Like, okay, look.” Namjoon fixed his gaze on a flock of birds rising from the trees. “The guys, we all have our passions. Yoongi with his piano, Jimin is passionate about his dancing, Taehyung with his instruments, Jin and his gaming, and Hoseok he’s been designing his own clothes lately; with me, you know I like poetry and painting, but we all share music. That is for the team, for a part of us, but we each have so many parts. You like art and storytelling; your comics are so cool, bro. You love watching Taehyung practice the trumpet, and Jimin dance after practice. We like to see you pursue your other dreams too.  Pursue it, and don't worry about the group, is all I ask.”

Jungkook almost cried. He stopped pacing. His heart was racing; it was all he had heard momentarily. If Namjoon were there in front of him, he’d hug him. Maybe he’d even cry. “Ah, Namjoon-hyung…” he swallowed hard at the saliva in his throat, blushing. ‘Namjoon always knows what to say,’ he thought. “I will think about it. I will set an alarm, just in case. I’ll decide in the morning, you know it’s my style to do that the day of. If I think about it now, it will be like this all day, and I’ll stress too much.”

“Good, then. Just think about it.” Namjoon smiled.

Jungkook lies motionless with his eyes shut, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, mouthing along to Namjoon’s words. “We like to see you pursue your other dreams too.  Pursue it, and don't worry about the group, is all I ask.” He sighs. How could he not worry about the guys? He’s twenty-five. Most idols start out much younger, and the mandatory enlistment is already so near for his hyungs. It’s bad timing, is all. My comic book can wait.

He wants to sleep, so he turns over, laying flat on his stomach, facing his wall. Resting his full body weight on his flaccid penis is slightly uncomfortable, but he ignores it. It’s the type of restless night that he has no chance up against, and even with his eyes closed, he feels painfully awake. Jungkook is thinking of her again—her pretty smile, the pink sundress she wore in the elevator, her ability to look him in the eyes and not shy away—and it’s almost like she's here, in the same room with him. He pictures the sundress again, the way it clung to her frame, highlighting every curve. Man, I want her. He shifts his hips around, surprising himself with a massive erection.

The thud strikes again suddenly, and he sits up, alarmed. Shit, is that here? Like outside my apartment? Jungkook squints in the darkness, bringing a hand to the nightstand to fetch his glasses. Any sign of arousal is now extinguished.

“Bam?” He calls out in a sluggish voice.  The clock beside him flashes bright red numbers at him. 3:23. “Ah, shit,” Jungkook mumbles, turning the clock away. A sound he can’t distinguish comes from his left, directly outside his bedroom. “It’s like home alone,” he says to no one.

Jungkook rests his head against the wall, the texture cold against his feverish face. He can hear the sound of a muffled conversation. “Shit, that’s right here, right outside,” he mumbles, stepping back. He reaches over mechanically to switch on the lamp beside him.

Now, Jungkook is painfully aware of his nakedness and frenetically searches for bottoms to change into. He’s thinking about how his legs don’t feel like his own as he walks to the chair by the door, where he sees basketball shorts. It’s like sleepwalking. Even though he’s awake, Jungkook feels as though he might’ve actually fallen asleep, and this is some strange anxiety dream he’s creating to cope with his qualms about submitting his comic. Still, he goes along with it, quietly changing into the shorts, walking out into his living room, and ducking his head when he passes the glass patio door.

Cursing under his breath, annoyed at himself for forgetting to throw on a shirt, Jungkook shakes his head at himself. I don't want to fight an intruder shirtless and commando in basketball shorts, damn... A part of him feels a rush of adrenaline as he crouches behind a potted plant and, chewing on his lower lip, fantasizes about a robbery gone wrong, one where he puts his boxing skills to the test—the other part of him wants this to be a dream, a sign from the universe that he ought to submit his comic. I’ll fucking do it if I survive this.

Jungkook stays like that for a while until he hears a sound again. Rising from his crouched position, he walks toward the back patio window, pulling back the curtain to peer out. He feels a tightness in his chest, and his hands tremble slightly. A shameful part of him is relieved that he’s alone and no one is around to see how shaken up he is.

He whistles quietly, calling to Bam, forgetting his brother is watching over him tonight. Craning his neck, he glances around his balcony patio and sees nothing. “Bam, come here,” his whispering is frantic. He whistles again, patting his leg lightly. Nothing. You’re okay. It’s nothing. It’s probably the cats again tipping over the plants. Just fix it tomorrow. Now, go back to bed. You need it. Jungkook is about to whistle once more when he remembers. His eyebrows knit together; shaking his head, he places his fingertips on his eyelids, murmuring a lamented, “Ah.”

Thinking better of it, he draws the curtain back again and sighs with relief before taking note of a figure crouched behind a chair with a hand shooting up to rub their head. Panic washes over him. His inner monologue consists of a string of every curse word he can think of as he ducks out of view. Fuck, fuck, fuck, that’s a person. If he’d been scared earlier, now he’s downright petrified.

Desperate, he begins to look around the room for a weapon. Anything. Jungkook stands still, breathing in heavy gulps of air, cradling his head as he adjusts his vision to the darkness of the living room. ‘Can’t even turn a fucking light on,’ he thinks as he drops to the ground and crawls around his living room. His home’s silence unsettles him. Jungkook can hear the nothingness aside from his ragged breathing, so he pinches the skin on his arm and hisses at the sharp pain. Okay, real life it is. His bare knees skid against the hard flooring, and his clammy palms slip beneath him; his heart is thudding hard and fast, the blood pooling between his ears. He’s scowling, chewing his lower lip, his chest heaving as he fumbles a hand under the couch; he fingers a cold object and remembers what it is. Aha! He comes up with a golf club Taehyung left behind a few nights ago. I love you, Taehyung!

Jungkook grips the golf club until his knuckles take on a pale color. Having a weapon gives him a newfound sense of security, and like before, he’s fantasizing about kicking someone’s ass. “You come to my house at three in the morning? My house?” he says as he walks through his living room, rolling his shoulders.

He draws the curtain again, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness; he sees the figure facing away from him and hunching over, a phone glowing against their face. He can call the police, and he almost wants to, but to avoid the drama of a police visit at three in the morning, he decides against it. Imagine the guys find out I called the police? He shudders at the thought. The stranger looks small anyway.

Jungkook reaches for the doorknob and pulls back the door. It’s a lot chillier than he’d anticipated. He folds his arms over his bare chest instantly, the skin covered in goosebumps—his teeth chatter of their own accord.

“Don't move!” He raises the golf club in a mid-swing position, ready to strike. The person shifts around, holding up the hand with the phone. “I said, ‘Don’t move’!” He sounds ridiculous, but he doesn't care. In the shadows, he watches the phone’s glow shut off. “I called the police, so don’t try anything. They’re on the way.” His voice doesn't even sound like his own. He takes a few steps toward the stranger, his grip tightening around the golf club. His heart feels heavy in his chest.

It’s hard to make out the features of this person, but they rise, walk toward the dim light spilling from the neighbor’s window, and he can see them now. The stranger looks straight at him, and he’s met with wide eyes staring at him. She’s standing, squinting at him with a hand on her hip, and she smiles wide. Damn! If this were an animation, she’d have a halo effect.

Jungkook has seen her a total of seven times—he can’t help it; he likes to keep track of these things. It’s his upstairs neighbor, their interactions before tonight being brief and in passing (the most recent engraved in his mind and tormenting him), and he’s thought of her tirelessly and has fantasized about a time they should meet, and things go well for a change.

Jungkook doesn't know her name, but he could recognize those beautiful dark eyes anywhere. He’s looking into them now, his body anchored, mouth turning into sawdust.

She’s talking to him; he’s just not listening. Not really. He can't grasp the reality that it’s actually her, and she’s standing on his patio, and she looks so beautiful. Should he be thinking that?

Her long black hair is in a loose ponytail, her eyebrows arch as her deep dark eyes blink at him, and her lips move. “Please tell me you didn't really call the cops,” she says, bursting through his trance.

Damn, I sounded so stupid! Jungkook blushes. He hopes she can’t tell from where she stands.

“I was trying to call my friend; I swear I was not snooping or breaking in.” She smiles, but her voice sounds worried. Her eyebrows furrow like she’s trying to read him. “Honest,” she says in a small voice as she leans on the railing and raises her hand with the cell phone for emphasis.

She’s wearing a dark gray sweatshirt twice her size and sandals with white socks, and he can’t tell if she’s wearing shorts or if the sweatshirt is all. He can feel his face reddening just from the possibility of her nakedness underneath the sweatshirt, so he decides not to focus on that.

Jungkook rubs the nape of his neck, abashed. The cold air surrounds him, and he folds his arms across his chest, remembering his exposed chest. His empty threat echoes and bounces around in his head, and he looks away from her. “I didn't call the cops, sorry. I didn't know what else to say. It’s what they say in movies.”

“You would be right anyway; this is your patio.” She laughs a little at that, and his heart rate picks up. She pushes herself away from the railing, smiling, and walks toward him with an outstretched hand. Her nail polish is glittery, and he doesn't notice, but this small detail makes him smile. “I’m Rei. I live upstairs. Maybe you’ve seen me before.” There’s a coy look on her face as she says this, and it makes him nervous.

So her name is Rei!!! Fireworks set off, exploding behind Jungkook’s wide eyes.

“Huh, maybe,” Jungkook lies. He shakes her hand slowly, his hand enveloping hers entirely, the contact sending a warm shock through his body.

“Maybe a few days ago,” she says, with a finger to her chin, like she’s thinking over something. “Oh, yes, have I seen you on the elevator?”

“The elevator?” He feigns innocence as he tongues his lip ring anxiously. “That’s strange. Every day is a blur for me.”

“For me, too,” she replies. She’s almost smirking, watching Jungkook lie. He can tell she’s caught him. “You just look sooo familiar.”

“That’s a first.” Still, he denies it.

“Maybe you just look like someone I’ve seen,” she says, looking into his eyes as if searching for something she placed there. “You have one of those faces, you know?”

Jungkook raises his eyebrows, lips parted to speak, but nothing comes out. 

Is she flirting with me or giving me a hard time? DAMN!

“I have an ordinary face?” Jungkook wonders after a moment.

“Either that or my memory is failing me,” she says, sighing and shaking her head. “Which do you think it is?”

“I don't have an ordinary face,” Jungkook says in a small voice, “I have piercings on my face.”

“That’s true…” she’s watching the ground and suddenly looks into his eyes again. She holds his stare unblinking, and then her lips pull back into a big smile showing off cute bunny teeth. Just like me. “I’ve always had a good memory; I was just kidding.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says, blushing.

He can smell her perfume when a cold breeze blows past him, carrying her real-life presence and enveloping him in it. It’s sweet and mixed with a scent of detergent he recognizes, and he’s watching how strands of her hair float beside her face. She’s so cute. Damnnnn.

“You should open the door for the ladies,” Rei says, raising an eyebrow, and stepping closer, she says, “Just harmless advice. Stranger .”

“I will consider that,” he replies, avoiding her fixed stare, attempting to ignore how she’s riled him up with a loud clearing of his throat. But his chest is on fire, his heart thudding hard against his rib cage at her closeness. “My patio, though. Did you fall? I heard a thud.”

“Are you flirting with me? I’ve heard that pickup line before, but yours sounds a little different.”

He smiles. “I wouldn’t use pickup lines like those with you.”

She laughs, and he internally swoons. If he were a cartoon, his heart would burst out of his chest in comical dramatic thuds, his pupils heart-shaped.

“I’m kidding. I know I’m giving you a hard time when I’m on your patio at three in the morning, but I can explain why I’m here,” Rei mimics Jungkook’s movements by crossing her arms across her chest, her lower lip trembling, “but can I come in? It’s cold out, and I'm in the worst attire for this weather.” She gestures vaguely at her exposed legs, and Jungkook’s stare lingers before she notices—so he responds with a nod as he gestures for her to follow him inside. “Though you might have me beat. You came out here without a shirt, damn.”

Leading the way, he blushes at her comment and gives his head a light shake. She’s so talkative! Yoongi was right about her.

With a dreamy air about him, he remembers Namjoon’s words. Except now, all he remembers is: “You need to take some chances. Luck turns out; it does.”

Inside, Jungkook excuses himself to his room to change into a shirt. He reaches for his glasses beside his bed and goes to the closet. “Shirt, shirt, shirt,” he mutters as his hands sift through empty hangers. When was the last time he did laundry? He groans. “Shirt?” he reaches to pick up a heap of white clothing in the deep corner of the closet. He brings the shirt to his nose, sniffs, and walks back into the room, raising an eyebrow and nodding with approval. His hands are shaky as he maneuvers his head through a t-shirt sleeve in a panicked rush. He yanks the shirt off again, the t-shirt now inside out and knotted up in his grip; he groans as his fingers work the fabric. What if she’s gone when I go back out there? Agh, what if I’m dreaming all of this up, and lack of sleep is finally getting to me?

Rei’s voice comes through the walls, and though this is their first official meeting, he knows she’s smiling as she calls out to him. “You okay in there?”

Smoothing out the wrinkles on the shirt, he glances at his reflection behind the bedroom door before stepping out, his chest heaving and his nostrils flaring. “I’m okay; all is OK. Sorry.” He offers her a thumbs up and a big goofy grin that makes her laugh.

“Did you go on a hike without me?” She asks from her seat on his couch. She rests her face on her palm, looking up at him as he walks past toward the kitchen.

“Hike? I just put the shirt on; it was fighting me, though.”

“No, I meant,” she shakes her head, laughing. “I meant that as a while for changing into a shirt. Bad joke, sorry.”

“Ah,” Jungkook says.

“You’re wearing glasses,” she comments, her eyes looking over his face.

“I am,” he says, glancing her way.

It looks like she wants to say something else but doesn't.

He raises his eyebrows, nodding and tonguing the inside of his cheek. It doesn't happen often, but he doesn't know what to say. He walks into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. “Do you drink tea?” He wonders as he fills a kettle with water and sets it to boil.

Rei nods, stretching her legs before her and craning her neck back to look up at the ceiling. “Chamomile or whatever you have, I’m not picky.” She points a finger above her head, motioning for him to look. “Those are stars. Is this wallpaper? It looks pretty. Is it glow-in-the-dark?”

Jungkook is in the kitchen, his eyes watching how her finger moves in a swift motion of the length of the ceiling. He thinks about how her hand felt in his grip and wishes he’d been more present. “It’s… I don’t know, actually. It’s not a wallpaper; it’s carved into the ceiling, and yes, it glows but not like the bright green; it’s softer.” He looks at her, and she scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. “Want to see?”

She twists her body to look at him, her smile so big he can’t help but return the affection. “Yes. Show me.”

“Grab the remote beside you; turn off the lights with it.”

She clicks the lights off, and the gasp she lets out makes his heart flutter in his chest. Aside from the hard thudding in his chest, the only sounds nearby are the buzzing of the refrigerator, the ice machine rolling out handfuls of freshly carved-out cubes, and the bubbling water in the kettle. Jungkook doesn't dare disturb the quiet; he’s leaning against the kitchen table, wanting her to stay. He looks for her in the dark, his eyes finding her silhouette on the couch, his lips pulling back into a smile. She’s better than in his daydreams; she smells sweet and of detergent, and she feels like a real person just like him, so near but out of his reach. And here, in the same room as him, so close to him, Jungkook realizes she could’ve left by now but hasn’t.

“I’d love it if I had this on my ceiling,” Rei pouts, “want to trade?” She clicks the lights back on, and Jungkook blinks, slowly adjusting to the brightness.

He pretends to mull it over, humming and tonguing his cheek. He puts on his best-thinking face. “No way, but you can come over and look at the stars when it's overcast or raining outside.” He walks toward the stove, where the water boils in the kettle. With his back turned to her, he’s hiding his blushing face as he sets two cups out before him.

“I think that sounds nice,” she replies, surprising him. “So what, I walk outside sometime, see a gray sky, and come downstairs to see you? ‘Hey, neighbor, can I see the stars?’ and you say, ‘Come in, I’ve just made cocoa, would you like some?’ and I say, ‘Thank you, are you sure?’ and then you say, ‘Sure’ except I never leave because I like the stars so much and you don’t know how to tell me I should go home.”

“Oh, that’s a good conversation. Is that what you’d like me to make? I like hot cocoa,” Jungkook says, brushing the hair out of his eyes. “You think I'd want you to leave?”

“Well, if I were here all the time….” she looks at him through her lashes, and he catches her eyes and raises an eyebrow at her, a playful smirk on his lips. And she shakes her head, laughing. “Do you mean it, though?”

“About you coming to see the stars whenever you’d like?” Jungkook asks, leaning against the kitchen island. She nods at him in two slow motions of her head. “Yes, I mean it.”

“The skies are unusually gray these days, aren’t they?”

“I’ve noticed that too,” he says, opening the fridge. He grabs a box of cherries and shuts the door with his elbow. “But no rain.”

“Exactly, I told my friend Kimi; she lives with me upstairs and is almost a sister to me, except we have different parents. Well, I told her, ‘Haven't you noticed how it looks like it’s going to rain every day, but it never does?’ and she says, ‘Rei, it rains. It just happens to be when you’re asleep,’ and can you believe it? I woke up yesterday, and it was early, not like tonight, but early for me, and I looked outside my window, and there was dew sticking to the glass, and it was all sweaty when I touched the windowpane, and I realized she was right, it rained during the night, and I just missed it. Isn't that something so lame?”

“Huh,” Jungkook says, chewing on a cherry and offering the box to her. She shakes her head no and mouths a ‘Thank you’ to him. “So we’re off asleep and just missing the rain, so it always works out that we’re missing out on something during the day. It’s always like that. Kimi sees the rain, and you’re off sleeping, but you probably get to see other things I miss when I’m taking a nap and on and on.”

“That’s true. But I thought about catching it tonight. When I went to bed hours ago, I kept thinking about the rain and wondering if I stayed up, I might see it, and it wouldn’t just feel like I kept missing it and living the same gray day.”

“It’s like Santa Claus,” Jungkook says, scrunching his nose as he tongues a cherry stem in his mouth, “waiting up all night for him to show up just for you to see your dad dressed up as Santa and realize he’s been putting the presents down there for years.”

Rei laughs at this and covers her face with her hands like she’s protecting her laugh from anything sharp. “Your dad did that? For real?”

Jungkook scrunches his eyebrows and pinches his nose bridge, and with a tone of feigned affliction, he says, “Yeah, he did. I knew the truth before a lot of my classmates.”

“How old were you? When he ruined Santa Claus. Do you remember a thing like that, like how old you were?” She rests her chin on her palm like she’s weighing her head. He thinks she looks cute like that but doesn’t say anything.

“I don't know exactly, but I was in the third year of school,” Jungkook says, suddenly thinking back on his infancy. He chews his lower lip when the answer suddenly comes to him, and he remembers the conversation he had with the guys a while back. They’d all taunted Seokjin when they found out Seokjin didn't know the truth about Santa until he was thirteen. “I was seven. I can't believe I remembered that. I was seven….” His mouth hangs open, and he remembers what he wore when he first saw his dad hunched over behind the tree with a gift in hand— a white flannel pajama set and his mother’s slippers. Where has this memory been hiding?  “Damn.”

“I was six,” she says, smiling. “My childhood was ruined a year before yours. Or wait, are we the same age? I just assumed we were.” She laughs again, bringing a hand up to her face to hide her smile.

“I assumed the same thing,” Jungkook admits, feeling his cheeks redden. “I’m twenty-five.”

“Oh wow,” she says, almost to herself. “Me too.”

He doesn't know what else to do but clear his throat and nod.  He never imagined getting this far (whatever that means). He’ll struggle to explain this later when Namjoon asks—Jungkook knows he’ll ask.

The kettle begins to whistle, and he’s reaching for the two coffee mugs as she says something behind him he doesn't catch. And he turns his head over his shoulder and nods at her. “What happened? Sorry, I didn't catch that.”

“I said, ‘You don't have to do that for me.’” She turns her head away as she says this, her long hair cascading along her profile, hiding her.

“I have a visitor,” he says, turning over to look at her with a grin. “I have good manners.”

“Oh, sure, manners,” she replies, rolling her eyes at him like a friend he’s known for years. “Is that my tea? It smells amazing.”

“It is, but it’s hot, so let’s leave it here.” Jungkook offers her a tight-lipped smile, shyly making his way toward her. “Mind if I sit next to you?”

“No, not at all; come, sit.” She pats the spot beside her and scoots over to make room for him. “Thank you for the tea and for letting me in. I know it’s late.”

Jungkook glances at the clock on the kitchen stove. 3:55. “It’s not that late. I was awake anyway, so I didn’t mind.” He’s toying with his lip ring again. “Why were you out there anyway?”

It’s been some time since Jungkook’s been this close to a girl. He feels his heart thudding away in his chest, her presence stirring up a desire that’s been dormant. Loose strands of hair frame her face, and his eyes follow her movements as she brushes the strands away. She looks embarrassed, her cheeks reddening. Still, he finds her so cute. “Truth?”

“Yes.” He scrunches his nose when he smiles at her.

“I locked myself out of my apartment. Before bed, I stepped out into my patio for a smoke and to read more of my book. I was also trying to test my rain suspicions to see if I could catch it while it happened. So, I’m out there romanticizing my life, pretending I’m in a movie; you know how we act when we’re alone and suddenly want to be poetic?” She looks at Jungkook, and he nods lightly. “That was me, except I got cold right away and said, ‘Oh fuck this, I’m going to bed,’ and that’s when I realized I’d locked the back door, and I was so mad I almost cried.” She places her fingertips against her forehead, continuing her recounting. “So, of course, I get the idea of calling a locksmith, but they’re closed; I don’t know what people should do if they need help during the night.”

“Most people sleep, I think.”

She clicks her tongue. “Right, some people do, but you and I are not those people, right?” She draws an imaginary line with her forefinger from her chest toward him. He nods and feigns oblivious as his leg brushes against her bare thigh as she shifts in her seat. “So, not only is every locksmith not available, but my service is horrible, so I am standing on my tiptoes trying to get a bar, and my phone slips. My heart almost burst.” She brings a hand to her chest for visual effect, and his eyes watch her chest as it rises and falls with each breath. He’s smiling at her—a wide smile that hurts his cheeks. “If it weren’t for your patio, my phone would be shattered to hell on the ground. I look over my balcony, and for the first time, I notice how close our balconies are.” Rei presses her hands over her thighs, leaning forward in her seat and fixing her eyes on the glass patio door across from her. “I mean, I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I don’t go out there much. Anyway, I’m rambling. I noticed I could jump directly into your patio because there’s a mattress out there, and well….” She makes a motion with her hands that says: ‘ Ya know?’

“You weren’t scared of jumping? The balconies are close, but we’re still six stories up.” Jungkook rests his hands on his knees, fully invested in this story; his eyes never leave her. She forms a tight line with her lips and gives him a serious look that makes him laugh. “Ok, so you were scared.”

“I was scared! But there’s a mattress out there, you know,” she says in a small voice. She’s blushing and scratching at the side of her nose to avoid his eyes.

Jungkook notices this and clicks his tongue, leaning back in his seat.  “So it was not an accident, then?” He raises an eyebrow at her, sucking his teeth in feigned disapproval.

The truth is, he’s not mad about it; he wants her here. He almost feels like he is in a dream.

“Not entirely. Don’t ask me how I thought about returning to my place after retrieving my phone because I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“Oh, there’s a mattress out there. You could’ve just slept there; no big deal,” Jungkook says with a laugh. Rei brings a hand to her face to hide behind, making a groaning sound. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to laugh at you. I just don't know what to think— this has never happened before.”

“And it won’t happen again; let’s hope.” She laughs, and it’s different from before; it sounds deeper like she reached into herself and decided to really show him. And Jungkook likes the sound of her laugh but does not comment. She moves a few strands of hair from her face and rests her cheek on her hand, leaning on the couch's armrest. It’s slowly dawning on Jungkook how badly he wants her. What am I supposed to do with her this close to me? Damn. “So, what’s your name? You didn’t say when I told you mine.”

He rises from the couch, remembering their tea.

“Jeon Jungkook,” he says as he pours the tea, “I guess I forgot to introduce myself. Huh.”

Rei’s looking at him with her chin in her hand and a serious look on her face as he’s walking toward her with an outstretched hand in offering. “It’s chamomile,” Jungkook announces.

“Jeon Jungkook,” She repeats with a light smile. “I like it. I don’t know any other Jungkooks.”

“Yeah? I’ve had this name for a long time. I like it too.”

She takes the cup and brings it to her face, inhaling the scent and shivering, and says, “Thank you again. This tea smells sweet. It reminds me of this tea my grandmother used to make my sister and me when we were kids. She would put a little bit of honey, the real kind, and peppermint leaves; it was….” She sighs longingly. “I miss that tea; this smells like home.”

Sitting beside her, he takes a sip of tea, his gaze on her unmoving. Her lips part as she blows gently, the steam rising from the cup in lazy strokes. Jungkook’s heartbeat quickens when she matches his stare with her deep dark eyes that seem to look for something in his.

“This tea has honey, but I doubt it’s the real kind you mentioned, but I still think it’s good.” He clears his throat, looking away as he adjusts his glasses on his nose bridge.

“I like your glasses. I wanted to say that earlier,” Rei comments, taking a sip of her tea, “I don't know why I didn't say anything.” She moves around in her seat, tucking her legs beneath her, then asks, “Can I wear them? Are they prescription?”

“They’re just reading glasses. You can wear them. I put them on sometimes just because they suit me,” he pulls his glasses off, wipes the lenses on his shirt, and hands them over.

“Ah, so you like how they look on you,” she says, her eyes gleaming as she takes the glasses from him and sets them on her face. “How do they look?”

If he were a cartoon character from one of his comics, he’d have melted into a puddle, exploded like dynamite, turned into stardust, and returned to his original self. Except, she’s a real person just like he is, flesh and blood and so beautiful, and he’s off in space being reborn.

“Look at me,” he motions for her to turn his way. She looks straight at him, wearing his glasses and blushing at his attention. She begins to unfold in front of him, her playful demeanor softening. “You look pretty. If they weren't my prescription, I would give them to you.”

“Here, they’re hurting my eyes,” she says, laughing. She removes the glasses and starts rubbing her eyes with closed fists. “You’re sweet, though. I couldn't take a guy’s glasses. How will he go on drinking his tea and letting me in to watch the stars?”

Jungkook feels a warmth spread in his chest. God, how is she real? He runs his fingers through his long hair and coughs once, then again. His nerves are getting to him. She’s too close to him, her bare thigh soft against his leg. He begins to count backward in his head.

“Were you really awake already, or did I wake you?” She asks him all of a sudden. Her eyes stay on him as if waiting for him to say something else.

“You don’t believe me? I was awake. Swear.” He raises his free hand at his side.

She appears to mull that over for a bit, bringing her cup of tea to her lips but not taking a sip. “What were you doing?”

Jungkook is silent, and she sits unmoving until he speaks.

What was I doing? Besides dreading another deadline? Thinking about a comic I might not submit or thinking about not having a shot in hell with a girl like you? Images of the times they’ve run into each other flick by in his head like a slow PowerPoint slide. The registration office, desolate stairwells, crowded evacuations, elevators closing, Rei standing in front of him in a summer dress with a strange look on her face; Rei on his back patio, hunched over with a phone near her face; Rei in his apartment, on his couch, next to him. He feels the adam’s apple in his throat rising and falling. He’s been quiet for who knows how long.

“Thinking, I guess.” He breathes out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I don’t know why I took so long to say that. It sounded boring in my head, so I had to think if there was something else I forgot about.”

“That is pretty boring, just thinking. But that’s life, though, isn’t it? Kind of boring sometimes.”

Jungkook nods, blushing and avoiding looking at her. What if she can read minds? He straightens his posture and runs his fingers through his hair again, his eyes fixed on the ceiling of carved-out stars. It’s OK. It’s OK. She’s still here.

The living room is almost dead silent. Jungkook notices how Rei sips her tea and looks over the area. It’s neat, for the most part. Bam’s toys lay scattered near the laundry room entrance, along with some of Jungkook’s dirty socks the dog likes to chew on, and Bam’s food bowls are resting up against the wall beside his doghouse. The potted plants Namjoon gifted Jungkook are still alive and pop against the beige coloring of the walls in front of them. The TV is massive, his Playstation console resting on its side. Her eyes find the corner shelf where Jungkook’s Marvel figurines are on display behind glass doors, and she turns to look at him with a sparkle in her wide eyes. “Are those yours?” She gestures with her thumb. He nods, chewing his lower lip anxiously. “Can I look?” She rises from her seat when he motions for her to go on. Like standing in a museum, she silently peers into the display with her hands clasped behind her back.

“I just got that case a few days ago when I got that plant next to you,” Jungkook remarks, joining her.

“I remember,” she says distractedly.

“You remember?” His eyebrows raise, and he looks at her fixedly, bringing a fingernail to his mouth. He scrunches his eyebrows, rubbing at his forehead with his fingers; he remembers, too.

He’d bumped into Rei on his way upstairs, both arms holding the bonsai trees obstructing his view, taking long strides up the stairs, chanting to himself and grunting in rhythm. He was on the 50th stair.

“Hey!” A voice shouted at him. “What the hell?”

Jerking to the side of the staircase, flattening against it, Jungkook jumped at this voice. “Sorry! You’re okay?”

The voice struck him as familiar, but mostly, he was surprised he wasn't alone on the staircase. The person laughed a lively laugh, and he felt his chest tighten. He lowered the plants, meeting her eyes. “I’m okay,” she said, shaking her head. She grinned at him, and his heart gave a squeeze. “These things happen. I should take the elevator next time.”

“The plants, I mean. You walked past me going up the stairs and hit me on the head with it.” She glances to her right, catching his eyes briefly. He groans, nodding lightly. She continues, voicing their shared memory, “You were carrying two pots of plants that day and lost your balance or something like that.”

He nods with his eyes closed, his eyebrows drawn close together as he tongues his cheek. “I remember, too,” he opens his eyes to look over at her as he continues, “sorry again. My friend told me not to do that, and I didn’t listen.”

A Spiderman figurine holds her attention, and she’s smiling. He feels his cheeks burn at her sincere gesture. She pretends not to notice and says, “You like running into me like that, then?”

“Like how? It was an accident,” Jungkook says, standing beside her and stretching his arms behind his head.

“Riiiiight,” she says, smirking. “Accident.”

“I didn’t know you were in the stairwell. No one takes the stairs,” Jungkook counters, his voice taking on a defensive edge.

“I take the stairs, I like the exercise, and it’s less embarrassing for me,” She admits. “Running in front of people just looks so stupid. I get too worked up about it and think people are just laughing at me, and they might be, but this way, I can do it in private.”

“Running across the street when cars let you pass is very embarrassing for no reason,” Jungkook says with a laugh. “And okay, fair. I took the stairs that time just because the wait for the elevator was so long. I didn’t mean to hit you that time either.”

“Jungkook, we have to stop meeting like this.” She gives her head a light shake and looks down at her hands. She picks at the glitter on her nails distractedly. “So many accidents. We’re too clumsy.”

“I know what you mean. Namjoon told me to leave one of the plants in the lobby, but I was too impatient. I’m like that sometimes.” He can’t seem to stop blushing.

But Jungkook has to agree. There have been too many accidents in their run-ins with each other, and he remembers each encounter with extreme detail.

Jungkook saw her for the first time when he moved in and face-planted into her back as she stood by the entrance of the registration office. But it didn't happen right away, at least.

The office was big and bustling with sounds. Jungkook walked in, asked out loud if there was a line, and someone nearby replied that yes, there was a line, and he was right at the tail of it. He bounced on the heels of his feet, humming a melody to himself, tapping his fingers against the sides of his legs. A TV across from him played a K-Pop music video of a group he’d never heard of. Beneath the TV was a table with a Terra Kaffe espresso machine accompanied by a spread of dan-pat bbang, songpyeon, bingsu, and reusable cups. His stomach grumbled, but he kept still, willing himself to look away.

Rei stood in line, a foot or two in front of Jungkook, sporting her hair pulled back, secured neatly with a clip the shape of a butterfly. She wore casual clothing: a black long-sleeve sweatshirt, baggy pants, and white Nike shoes. She had earbuds in, and he could hear the muffled sounds of a guitar, and though he did not fully understand why, he smiled.

“Next in line, please,” a woman behind a glass window called out, taking an uninspired sip of her iced coffee as she waved a hand toward her. “Come on, next in line.”

Jungkook wore a black t-shirt, navy plaid bottoms, and socks with slides, though standing there, he began to regret his attire. His eyes looked over the office, and mentally, he tallied the number of girls he spotted. Nine. He felt his cheeks warming up, his neck growing hot, and when he looked over to his right, a girl waved at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He blushed, nodding at her. Why hadn’t he worn something nicer?

He was adjusting his sock, balancing on his right leg, when a dog ran past him, toppling him over. He hopped on his right leg, his arms flailing at his sides, and his face instantly smashed into Rei’s back. If he had a chance to do it over, he wouldn’t have cried out so loud. Even now, months later, he cringes at the memory. He’d turned away, cupping his aching nose after she whipped her head over her shoulder at the sudden impact. Their eyes met briefly, her pupils dark and wide; she mouthed something to him, his ears ringing, all of the sounds around him muddled into incoherence.

“I’m so sorry. Excuse me,” Jungkook mumbled, turning at his heel and speed-walking past a group of girls that giggled when he passed them.

Jungkook thought about her all day after that first day. While he unpacked, walked Bam, and cooked for himself later in the evening. She was pretty, sure, but there was something else. Something he couldn’t break apart and understand— it was new and brought on a strange sensation and desire to know her. He didn't know it then, but he’d see so much of her it would become nearly impossible not to think of her.

And here they are, five months later.

“You agree, don't you?” Rei prods. “Maybe you’re the clumsy one, Jungkook. I was just standing there.” She says that like she knows what he’s thinking. That first day they saw each other. She’s thought of it too.

He swoons at the sound of his name escaping her lips again. “Jungkook,” he mouths, taking it in—not wanting to forget how it sounds when she says it.

She turns on her heel, returning to the couch and fetching her phone from between the cushions. Her backside faces Jungkook, and he shyly lowers his gaze when he catches a glimpse of her ass in shorts that do a poor job of hiding anything. “I’m impatient too, as you know now,” she offers, looking down at her phone, her face illuminated with the screen's glow. She reads something and has a serious look on her face. “It’s getting late, isn’t it?”

He squints at the clock on the stove. 4:27. “Yeah, I guess so,” he replies, trying to hide his disappointment.

“Your figures are cool, by the way. They look like the real deal. Are they?”

He nods silently, tonguing his lip ring. Jungkook watches her with a gut-wrenching desire to step forward and take her face into his hands and kiss her.

“You’re a Marvel geek. I'm guessing,” she says, staring down at the ground. It’s like she’s suddenly shy. Her voice is quieter. “I like some of the movies. I saw the new Spider-man with my friends last week. I’m late, I know.”

“I have Disney plus,” Jungkook says, his eyes looking her over. “And I’m not trying to say anything like the ramen stuff, you know, all that stuff people say to each other recently to get together. It’s a real offer.”

Rei laughs, bringing a hand to cover her face. “So you don't want to get together?” She looks at him with a deep intensity in her eyes and smiles coyly, making Jungkook swallow hard.

“I said that, didn't I? That’s not what I meant. It’s just that nowadays, words have different meanings. Let me rephrase-”

She takes a step closer to him, and his chest feels ablaze. She’s so close he can smell the fragrance of her clothing much clearer than before. We use the same detergent.

“I’d like to come by sometime,” she says, her eyes lingering on his hands holding his cup, “for a movie, no ramen.” Now she smiles warmly and takes a step back.

She likes doing this to me. It’s torture.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? You seem nice. I don’t think you’d be a freak, right?”

“Right,” he says, nodding.

“I know we’re technically strangers, but you have a good vibe,” she says, shrugging. “I show up here so late, and you serve me tea. You’re a nice guy.”

“Am I?”

“I think so. Are you?” She quirks up an eyebrow, twitching her lips between a smile and a laugh.

Jungkook smiles at her. He feels his cheeks growing warm. “I am. I don’t know why I challenged you about it.”

“Because you like to flirt with me, I think,” she retorts, crossing her arms across her chest.

“I’m just a nice guy,” he says as he places his palms  against the kitchen counter for balance, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.” She glances at her phone screen, reading the time, and Jungkook does the same with the time on the kitchen stove. She's going to leave. I can feel it.

“I guess I should get going…”. Rei looks apologetic for some reason. A pink shade colors her cheeks, and she brings a hand to her forehead and lets out a deep breath as she says, “Kinda hot in here, no?”

Jungkook wants to tell her she doesn't have to go and that he doesn't want her to, but he only offers her a timid smile and looks away, nodding in agreement. “A little. I’ve been feeling it too,” he says, looking at her and catching her eyes.

Should I move now? Is it now? My move? Will she kiss me back?

Still, he brings his cup of tea to his lips as she stores her phone in the pocket of her hoodie, and she pauses as if remembering something. “And why is there a mattress outside?”

He’s drinking his tea and begins to choke. Coughing, his chest on fire, and his throat closing in, Jungkook rushes to double over his sink, and she’s standing behind him with a wrought-up look.

“Are you okay?” She steps closer to him, lightly touching his arm.

Jungkook coughs, clearing his throat; he can feel the blood rushing to his face as his eyes instinctively shed tears. The feeling of her touch on his arm feels like fire. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened. The uh, the mattress?” He looks toward his patio, a panicked look in his eyes behind the tear-stained glasses. He pauses, looking down at the floor. “I have them all over, so I can nap when I feel like it.”

She throws her head back and laughs, not taking him seriously until silence hangs between them. She raises an eyebrow. “Wait, really?” With that, her phone goes off in her pocket, and she reaches for it. “Sorry, one sec.”

He leaves her to talk on the phone with whoever and walks over to pick up Bam’s toys and dirty socks to throw in a hamper. Jungkook can hear the muffled phone conversation a room over, so he hums a song. She speaks in a hushed voice, but he hears his name mentioned.

He coughs before he reappears in the kitchen.

She’s humming to herself, lingering by the door, and his heart squeezes. ‘Don’t go,’ he wants to say. ‘Stay.’

“I should go…” she says, not budging from where she stands, chewing her lower lip, looking at Jungkook through full eyelashes. Almost as if waiting for him to interject, and him, not knowing how to.

“If you want,” Jungkook says. He swallows hard at a lump in his throat. The plead to have her stay pushed down into his chest.

DAMN!! 

A look he can’t decipher takes over her face, and then the next moment, she’s smiling at him, reaching for the doorknob just as he does. They share an embarrassed exchange of looks when their hands touch, and he shakes his head, an anxious chuckle escaping him. His face feels warm as he pulls the door open for her. Rei steps out into the hallway, turns over her shoulder, and raises her hand to wave at him slowly.

Again, he yearns to kiss her and again lacks the courage.

“Bye, it was nice meeting you, Jungkook.”

“Goodnight, Rei,” he replies, leaning on the doorframe, his heart sinking into his stomach.

The next day, Jungkook is cooking for himself. He submitted his comic in the morning and has endlessly replayed last night’s events in his head.

“I should’ve kissed her,” he says to Bam.

Jungkook’s phone pings a few times and is followed by a call. He answers, distracted as he serves himself bibimmyeon and pork belly. He props the phone between his chin and ear, tilting his head comically as he walks back and forward to the table, setting down a steaming bowl of sticky rice. “‘Ey, Namjoon-hyung!…” He drags the chair out from underneath and settles in front of his plate. Jungkook reaches over the table, yanks a paper towel, grabs his chopsticks, and begins digging into the rice. “Wait,” he glances at the clock on the wall. 6:47. “It’s almost seven,” Jungkook says, confused. “Your meeting with the record executive started at six… it ended that quickly?”

Namjoon smiles. “The meeting was quick. I have really good news.” He pauses for effect. He’s in the studio, eyeing the email on screen. “Hold on,” he says, placing the phone on the desk and turning the speaker on.

 Jungkook is chewing his cheek, the chopsticks loosening in his grip. He lets the silence exist for a few seconds, then he rubs the back of his hair, leaning back in his chair, his spare hand fisted over his mouth. “What?” He grumbles into his fist.

“He liked my demo. He had some comments about it but said it would do well. He said everyone else liked it; whatever that means, we’re in. He said we can come in for a group meeting where we introduce the guys, and that way, we can all talk about what we want to do going forward.”

Jungkook is speechless; they’re in. All seven of them. He can’t believe it. He stares wide-eyed at Bam, who tilts his head quizzically. “No way. No way. Is this for real?” Jungkook’s heart is thudding so hard he can see it beneath his shirt.

“I swear, Jungkook. It is.”

“Do the guys know?” Once more, Jungkook meets the eyes of his dog, and he’s smiling so hard he feels his nose scrunch.

“Some of them do, yeah. I was with Jimin earlier.”

“Yoongi,” Jungkook says, bringing his palm over his forehead. Smiling with his eyes crinkling, he feeds himself rice. “Yoongi will be so happy. We all are, you know but him .” Jungkook makes a sound with his teeth. “He’ll be so proud of all of us.”

“I know, I know. Yoongi hasn’t slept well since we first submitted our demos, and when I mentioned I had a meeting with an executive, he grabbed his jacket and took off to the studio. I don’t know what he’s been doing when he comes in, but I know he might cry.”

“I might cry too,” Jungkook admits in a hushed voice.

Namjoon wipes at his eyes, and a silence hangs between them. They’re both sniveling on the receiving end. After Jungkook clears his throat and allows himself another sniffle, he starts eating again.

“What did you make?”

“I have a lot of rice left. I made bibimmyeon and pork belly, but I have some noodles, too, if you want me to make them. Come and eat with me if you’re free. Let’s celebrate.”

“Can I leave my bike outside?” Namjoon asks. Namjoon shuts off the shared laptop in the studio, grabs his puffer jacket and the book he’s been reading, heads over, and flips off the light switch. His phone remains on speaker as he locks the door and shoots a glance down the hallway. From a distance, Yoongi does a quick two-finger salute in passing. Namjoon’s heart gives a squeeze.

Jungkook thinks it over. He’s never seen anyone leave a bike outside. “I don't know, honestly. Bring it to my apartment; it’ll be fine. I have something to tell you, by the way,” he says, referring to the previous night.

“Just saw Yoongi,” Namjoon says, jingling the keys on his finger and making his way out of the building. “I have to tell him, but I think he’s already in his studio locked up. You know how he gets.”

“He won’t let you in,” Jungkook says, scrunching his nose and stifling a laugh through a mouthful of steak.

“Exactly. And what is it? I’m bringing my bike, I thought about leaving it chained, but it’ll stress me out.”

“He’s almost done with his demos, Hobi said the other day,” Jungkook replies. “But it’s about her, bro. You won’t believe me.”

Namjoon laughs through the phone. “Mystery-neighbor-crush her, you mean?”

“Neighbor stuff, am I that annoying? Don't answer that. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you; just come in because I have to wash Bam.”

“All right, bro, give me twenty, and I’ll be there.”

Jungkook is sitting across from Namjoon, who raises an eyebrow at him as he chews on his steak. “So she came in here,” he swallows his bite and continues, “was on that couch?” he signals with his chopsticks, “and she went home after that?”

Jungkook nods. The moment he’s been dreading: admitting he chickened out. He’s not proud of himself and debates whether to omit a few things.

“Yeah, what else could’ve happened?” He takes a drink of his water, avoiding Namjoon’s gaze.

“So many things, bro. But, the very least that should have happened is that you got her number or something like that. Did you ask?”

Jungkook is quiet. His cheeks are flushing with heat. He’s chuckling at himself, remembering how he clammed up around her.

“You just let her leave, right? She walked out, thanked you, and you probably made her a tea she didn't drink.” Namjoon is laughing when Jungkook groans and shakes a fist above his head. “Ah, Jungkook!”

“I know!” Jungkook shakes his head. “But I got a name. I got a name; that’s something, isn't it?”

“Well?”

“It’s Rei. I don’t know where she’s from and all that, but that name just suits her, doesn't it?”

“It does, it does. But come on, bro! This girl lives so close!  For starters, she stuck around. She could've just left after explaining herself. Instead, she sat down right where you’re sitting and stayed .” Namjoon feeds himself rice as he shakes his head and continues while he chews, “She looked at you the last time we evacuated; I saw her. And how many times have you bumped into her already? She probably thinks you’re out to get her.”

“I know. I kept thinking the same. I thought: ‘She could've left by now, but she hasn’t. I don’t know, hyung, I just froze. I just kept nodding; it was so stupid.” Jungkook closes his eyes and places his fingertips over his eyelids, shaking his head in lament.

“Not stupid, bro,” Namjoon offers, swallowing his bite. “I’ve seen her around too, and she’s really pretty, but it’s a weird sensation when she’s nearby; it’s like her beauty is different. I don't mean it like I want her now, nothing like that, but it sort of feels like I am stuck too. Like, what can I say right now?”

Jungkook nods, understanding the sentiment. “It knocks the wind out of me sometimes when I see her,” he says, reaching for a napkin. “I wanted to say so much more, but I couldn't. It was different being close to her like we were. This girl is killing me, Namjoon-hyung. You said she looked at me?”

Namjoon smiles warmly. “She did, at the evacuation a week ago. Was it a week now?” He wipes at his mouth and looks at Jungkook expectantly. Jungkook nods at him. “Well, a week ago, I went out last and caught her looking your way. She had her hand like this,” he brings his hand up to shield his eyes against nothing, “and she was smiling. She didn't see me noticing.”

Jungkook scoots closer. He rests his chin on Namjoon’s knee, looking straight at him until he’s cross-eyed. “At me?” he asks, loving that this happened.

Namjoon shakes his leg free and takes a sip of his water. “I think she likes you. She was looking at you the same way I’ve seen you look at her,” Namjoon reaches for his phone, checks a text, and continues, “so she would’ve been into you. Did she flirt with you?”

Jungkook mulls it over. He doesn't want to read too much into it, but he thinks she did flirt. “I could be wrong, and I’d hate to be wrong,” he says, “but I feel like she was into me, like, actually into me, and I thought about kissing her. Would that have been too forward?”

“Hmm,” Namjoon says as he chews his food. “Maybe. I have to see you two in action, to say. I think you can trust your gut, and if you felt that way, maybe she was giving you those vibes on purpose, you know? Sometimes girls are so forward that it's confusing. Like, ‘am I reading this wrong?’ When the whole time there was only one way to read it.” He gives his head a light shake.

“She was talkative like Yoongi predicted.”

“Oh, was she now?” Namjoon looks surprised. “I sided with Jimin when he said she seemed shy and kind of mean. Not mean, but you know the mean look girls have that makes them look kind of cool?”

Jungkook nods with a mouthful of steak.

“That’s actually interesting that she was talkative. That’s good. I think you’d do bad to get with a shy chick again.”

Jungkook once dated a girl in high school he didn't know how to talk to, and when he meant to break things off, he’d just ignored her for the entire year. She was too shy, too quiet, too reserved. He was everything else but.

“I agree with you on that,” Jungkook says honestly. “Back to Rei, she’s even prettier up close, hyung. I thought I was in a dream, that sounds so cheesy, but it’s true.”

“It was, what, four in the morning?”

“Three. Close to four.”

“Exactly. I would think that's a dream too. Seems like it. Are you sure you’re not messing with me?” Namjoon elbows Jungkook lightly.

“I want her. Is that so pathetic?”

“A little bit,” Namjoon teases, bringing his thumb and pointer finger to a slight pinch. “Like this tiny little space right here is where you live.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes as he walks into the kitchen for a beer.

“Honestly, Jungkook, I think she likes you back. Pass me the rice. Want some of the steaks?” He shows Jungkook his bowl, and Jungkook accepts, opening his mouth to be fed. “You can feed yourself.”

“Ah,” Jungkook says, mouth agape. “Just one piece.”

Namjoon is feeding Jungkook rice when the doorbell rings. The two exchange bewildered looks, and Jungkook shuffles from the ground, sliding on the flooring with his socks as he peers through the peephole. He falls to the ground as if shot, crouching with a deathly look about him.

Namjoon shifts in his seat on the floor and, stretching his neck, asks Jungkook who it is. Over and over, quietly, he’s asking who’s at the door.

Jungkook doesn't answer until Namjoon stands. He shoots a hand up to grab Namjoon’s sleeve, motioning him to crouch beside him. Whispering, he says, “It’s Rei; what do I do?”

“Get up!”

“I can't. I can't. I don't know what she wants. What if she knows?”

“Knows what? Get up; I’m opening the door in 3, 2,...”

Jungkook stands. He can feel his heart beating viciously, and his hands are sweating. He glares at Namjoon, raising his hand and motioning for a cutthroat. “I’ll kill you,” he mouths as his friend walks away.

Jungkook peers into the peephole and sees her turning away. He pulls back the door quickly, causing her to turn around. She smiles, and he wants her all over again. His relaxed demeanor vanished. “Hey, what’s going on?” are his first words.

Rei laughs, and he can feel himself blushing. He drops his head when he remembers Namjoon is a witness.

“Hey, neighbor,” she says, smiling the same coy smile she lent him last night. She pulls a paper from her pocket, extends it to him, and says, “It’s an invite to my birthday party this weekend; if you don't have any plans, I thought it would be nice to hang out and see you again. I’ll have friends over, and of course, you can bring yours.”

A party? Wait, see me again?? “I will be there. This weekend. I’ll make an appearance.” He stops talking when she laughs. He can feel the blood boiling on his face. What the hell is going on with him? “Sorry, yes, I mean, thank you.” Jungkook can feel Namjoon’s burning gaze behind him—he can picture how his friend stifles a laugh into his fist.

“No problem. Who’s that?” She points inside the apartment.

Namjoon waves when Jungkook turns around to see him standing behind him, a smirk tugging at his lips. Jungkook widens his eyes at him, mouthing for him to stop laughing. Stepping aside for his friend’s introduction, Jungkook signals toward his friend with a swift movement of his hand. “Namjoon, this is Rei. Rei, this is Namjoon, a good friend and gifter of bonsai trees.”

“I’ve seen you, no?” she talks to Namjoon, who nods, flexing his pointer finger, indicating that she has. He’s chewing cheese puffs, and Jungkook raises an eyebrow at him, silently questioning him: ‘Where did you get those?’ His stare says.

“At the evacuation, I was there.”

“Ah, yes, you had bright green hair like a highlighter pen then.”

He laughs. “That was me, yeah! You were with that girl, the…one with the red hair in pigtails.”

“Ah. That’s right! You have a good memory.” She sounds impressed.

Jungkook tongues his cheek, shaking his head beside them unnoticed.

“You too, you too. Cheese puff?” Namjoon offers a bag of cheese puffs.

“You’re tempting me, but I will have to decline. I just had lunch.”

“Your friend, the one with the pigtails, will she be at this party?”

Namjoon is nervous, but he plays it off well. Only Jungkook can tell.

“I think she can be there,” Rei replies, her eyes shifty and full lips pursing. She seems to think it over, anxiously looking at Jungkook and chewing on her lower lip. It’s as though she’s waiting for Jungkook to glance her way. Only Namjoon is seeing this.

Jungkook is annoyed. They’re talking so easily. He shifts uncomfortably, his fingers gripping the door. He watches how Namjoon chuckles and how she timidly looks down at her hands. The glittery nail polish made his heart feel like a stone in his chest. He wants to interject. But how?

“I’m sure the guys will be free this weekend too; we might celebrate our little accomplishment here sometime soon, so Jungkook can tell you about that and invite you when the time comes, right, Jungkook?”

Jungkook only nods. That’s all he seems to be capable of when she’s around. He feels so strange around her. He feels the same way each time, like he’s coming down with something suddenly. Didn’t it just get so hot out here with the door open like this? He wonders. Is anyone else sweating?

Their voices continue around him. He nods a few times when the conversation shifts toward him, but he feels lightheaded. He wants her so badly.

He doesn’t mean to, but he clears his throat, turning the conversation around him to a simmer.

“So, Jungkook, Namjoon told me he’d come this weekend and bring your other friends. There’s a theme, by the way.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “It’s fairytale-themed!” She raises her arms above her head like a big reveal and holds her pose, awaiting their reaction.

Namjoon laughs, turning away; he says: “I’ll give it good thought! Thank you for the invite, Rei!”

“And you?” She looks at Jungkook.

“Me?” Jungkook swallows hard at a lump in his throat. His brain seems to forget how to form sentences when she’s around.

“Yes, you. Do you have any ideas, JK?” she smiles, lopsided.

Is she flirting with me? Here? Namjoon-hyung! Come back!

“I have to rewatch all of my favorite fairytale movies to have an idea,” he says, bringing a hand to his head. He feels the heat emitting from his forehead. “I’m kidding. I think something cool like Dracula.”

“Is that a fairytale?” She laughs.

“Define a fairytale. Isn’t it just make-believe?”

“You don’t think vampires are real?” She raises an eyebrow at him, but he can tell she’s intentionally giving him a hard time. Her smile is surfacing and betraying her.

“I do, actually. Ah, okay. Give me time. I’ll think of something. What about you? Who are you going as?”

She pretends to think it over even though she already has an idea. “I won’t say; you’ll have to see.”

He’s fully leaning against the doorframe, his foot slipping under him, and he almost falls over. He mutters something to himself, and she’s biting back a laugh. “You want tea or something before you go? If you’re not busy.”

“Ah, I want to say yes, but my friends are upstairs; I just stopped by real quick but thank you.”

He nods. “That’s okay, next time.”

“I’ll catch you two later,” she says, waving.

She turns to walk away, and Jungkook doesn't know what takes over him, but he shouts after her: “Thank you!”

He’s too embarrassed to see if she turns around. He closes the door immediately.

He doesn't even want to look at Namjoon. He stands facing the door for a while, his head hanging low, eyebrows scrunched up in physical anguish. He chews his lip and winces at himself, remembering.

“I said that out loud,” Jungkook says, incredulous with himself.

“You said that out loud,” Namjoon reiterates from somewhere in the room.

Sighing, Jungkook turns over, and flinches at a grape Namjoon tosses at him. His nose scrunching, he catches another grape mid-air and chews noisily. “She wants to know me properly,” he says, with a dreamy air.

“So be her prince charming,” Namjoon jokes, plopping down on his couch, busy on his phone.

“So I will be,” Jungkook says, tilting his head back to look up at his ceiling. She’s up there, walking around, talking to her friends, and he’s beneath her, dreaming of the weekend. “What day is it?”

“Wednesday.”

“Let’s go; I need an outfit.”

“Now?”

“Now, get up! Get up!”

“Let me finish my grapes; I just washed them,” Namjoon whines, still not glancing from his phone’s screen.

“Okay, but after, we’ll go.” Jungkook walks into his room, grabs his glasses, and steps back out.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Jungkook nods, biting the corner of his lip distractedly. “Oh, I’m serious.” He reaches for the car keys on the table beside him. “I’ve never been more serious.”

And he is. He’s never been more serious about anything else. He wants Rei, but he wants her to want him, too. He can’t help but feel as though his luck is turning out.

taglist: @vsualitae​

A/N: thank you for being here! I hope those that looked forward to the full first chapter have enjoyed this! It's my first lengthy fic, as I've already stated, so any feedback is greatly appreciated! reblogs, comments, and anything that lets me know you've enjoyed this will make me the happiest writer :') I appreciate you for giving my work a shot <3 Let me know if you'd like a second part, what you liked, etc. I'd love to hear from you, reader >.< until next time!!

[toska-writes]

This was a little idea that I came up with for some reason but yeah.

“Ad’ika”

Summary: Fives have been patronizing you for the last couple of rotations with a word in a language you don’t understand. Now you’ll stop at nothing to figure out his little game.

Paring: Fives x GN Padawan Reader (PLATONIC WOOO)

Warning: none :) please try to enjoy

Word count: 902 This was meant to be a drabble but long then I expected, but shorter than my normal fics… if that makes sense

Notes: giving myself a pat on the back for actually proof reading something. Thank you thank you *bows*



Fives laughed as he practically draped himself over Echo's shoulder, he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Just tell me Fives!" You shot your hands up, running them quickly through your hair. Fives for the past few rotations started calling you a name in a language you didn't understand which was very unfair.

Ad'ika.

It has been haunting you since Fives started.

You knew some words in Mando'a but this was not one of the limited few.

A smirk flashed across his face again. Echo rolled his eyes at his batch mates actions knowing it was stupid to peeve off a Jedi.

"Echo come on." You tried him for the 100th time. "At least tell me it's nothing bad."

"It's nothing bad." Echo simply said looking from you to Fives.

"Then tell me!"

Fives only shook his head before looking down to his comms. "Maybe after training, which your going to be late for." He shot a finger up silencing your next thought, then jabbed towards the door the doors.

You took one last desperate glance at Echo which he only replayed with a shrug. Heavy footsteps stomped through the halls and out of their ear shot.

"Are you ever going to end their misery? I'm sure by tomorrow they're going to be threatening you with that lightsaber." Echo glance back at Fives as he now decided to get up once you were gone.

"Maybe." Fives said with a laugh. "I'm already in too deep, I said it on accident once but it's kinda growing on me." He bumped shoulders with Echo as they walked out into the halls.

"Besides it's making all the vodes very happy to have just a little fun keeping a small secret."

"And to be calling them that." Echo added as they both turned without thought to the barracks.

You dodged out of the way as you felt the air of the punch that Anakin sent right against your cheek.

The small training room aboard the Dominator wasn’t ideal but between missions it was perfect, or even to clear up some thoughts.

Anakin sent another kick that barely missed grazing your side. You could hear the load inhale that came from the Captain watching

“Y/N what’s going on today?” He asked in between punches and kicks. “Your distracted- I can barely hear myself think.”

With a grunt you sent another kick towards your master which he easily blocked. “Fives is driving me up the wall.” You said with a breath.

“What’s new? Welcome to my life.” Rex added from the wall he leaned on. “What did he do this time.” Anakin finished for him, bringing the sparing to a stop.

“He keeps saying something to me that I don’t understand. Every cycle I hear it but he won’t tell me, none of the men will.” You slide down the wall to the dusty mat that covered most of the floor.

Rex let out a small chuckle before Anakin joined you on the floor. “Well what is it?”

You leaned your head on the wall before answering. “Ad’ika.” The new language felt weird on your tongue. “Do you know it master?”

Anakin glanced at Rex before looking back at you. “Fives is calling you that?” He asked with a smile growing on his face.

“Yes! All the men are. Do you know what it means?” Your eyes lightened up looking form Anakin and Rex. Maybe finally you’ll get answers.

Anakin along with Rex started to laugh, clearly something about your misery was amusing to them.

“Well since Fives asked me not too I’m sure the general would be perfect to let you in on their little game.” Rex put his hands up in surrender as he joined the pair on the ground.

Rex watched as Anakin leaned over and whispered in your ear. You snapped your head towards his direction with a questioning look on your face.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m more than sure Y/N.” Anakin said with a smirk. “I’ve definitely heard Rex say it before.”

It made perfect sense now.

An old mission where you and Fives were in a Saloon when someone asked who you were- it rolled right off his tongue just as easy as his name did when introducing himself.

In the dead of night after a hard campaign- the comforting words seemed to wrap you up like a blanket.

All the times Fives has called you that seemed to be seen clearly through the light of day. They all came flooding back to you.

It seemed like a trance when you got up and walked away from the training room. Your brain didn’t really know where you were going but your legs did.

Around a corner, then another. You practically bumped into Fives as you turned into another corridor, the path to the barracks seemed engraved into your mind at this point.

“How was training Ad-“ Before he could finish his sentence you wrapped your arms in a rib crushing hug around Fives.

Caught off guard it took him a second to really register what was going on. “Is everything all right Y/N?”

You nodded into his chest, staying in his warm embrace for a moment longer before you said. “I like that name. Please don’t ever stop using it.”

You felt Fives give a little chuckle before he said. “I knew you would.

Ad’ika: Little one/ Son/ Daughter

_____________________________________

Taglist: @arctrooper69 @thereforepizza @padawancat97 @pb-jellybeans @floffytofu

[powderseas]

side order is here!!! its real!!! yippee

what do you think of it so far?

ok so im just gonna spit out all my side order thoughts so far

SPOILERS FOR SIDE ORDER AHEAD!!!!!!

EDIT: I ACTUALLY FINISHED THE GAME WOOO (just one run tho lol) im gonna write my thoughts under the previous stuff

OK SO. i think im a little..? dissapointed..? abt sider order?? like im kinda conflicted abt the lore, also i suck BALLS at the game

the thing is i have done 5 runs so far AND COULDNT GET A SINGLE WIN. the most i can do is up to floor 20.... im literally so bad at this game I ONCE DIED 2 TIMES IN AN EASY LEVEL. im newgen guys.

maybe im not fit for rougelike games but like... idk. i feel like me and the fandom as a whole expected so much more from side order. i feel like if the game is gonna make you replay the same stuff over and over again it should atleast have a SOUL CRUSHING LITERARY MASTERPIECE TYPE OF LORE like OE and Alterna

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW DIRTY THEY DID FOUR???? literally called them an irrelavent loser and then sweeped them aside... THEY DONT EVEN HAVE A PALETTE ICON???? theyre not even a secret boss smh.... agent 4 had so much potential I WILL NEVER FORGIVE NINTENDO FOR THIS. and like sure the parallel canon level kind of includes four but that thing is literally an npc??? like imagine what they couldve done with the story if they had included four in it:

when four is left out from the squidbeak splatoon they try to prove themselves by siding with marina with her project. it makes perfect sense. marina and four are both scared of being seperated by their loved ones. but four gets consumed by their anger and jealousy and goes full order mode LIKE DO YOU GUYS SEE MY VISION!!!! i will be forever mad that we didnt get this.

also why is murch out of all the chracters have a pallete??? why didnt they put in captain 3 or something????? sheldon i kinda understand since hes also kinda a part of the squidbeak splatoon BUT MURCH??? get the fuck out!!!

negative stuff aside tho. i love pearl and marina so much. THIS IS THE PEARLINA GAME GUYS!!!!! pearl literally mentions that marina and her sleep in the SAME BED???? marina is so autistic. my little autism creature. SHE MAKES DINO ARMS IN THE ENDING SCENE AUGHHHHHGHHH MY HEARTTT i love marina so much AND PEARL. SUCH A SILLY GOOBER. acht is so precious too... BUT I CNAT BELIEVE THAT THEY MADE THEM WHITE*??? ACHT IS NOT WHITE NINTENDO. anyways i love eight and her little found family full of lesbians. they are all lesbians your honor. we are raising lesbians in this house.

so yeah. i hope i can finish the run atleast ONCE. but like. idk i havent finished the game but side order jsut makes me feel. sad... and lonely...?? unlike octo expension where you could see more and more people using the metros and the chatrooms between marina and pearl are just AUUGGHHH OE IS A GAME. ABOUT CONNECTIONS OK. it makes me feel warm and happy and even though eight became traumatized i like to think that she healed and in the process met so many important people in her life.

in side order i dont see anything in eight*??? is she traumatized??? is she vibing??? is she happy to help??? I LITERALLY CANT TELL. side order makes me feel so cold and empty like do you guys understand what i mean. and its probably becasue it doesnt even take place in the real world. and the thing is. i understand that side order is supposed to be everything that OE couldnt be. i understand that. both games have their own quirks BUT. i just cant seem to make myself love it unlike any other story mode in splatoon...... im really trying to be not biased here but yeah. these are my opinions for side order

AFTER GAME THOUGHTS

HELLO. so yes i somehow managed to win the game. and honestly. the final boss was pretty fun and everyone was so cute at the end omg... but i still think that side order is a bit underdevloped.... i dont even know if ill try to %100 is cuz playing it makes me SO STRESSFUL im glad i get to finish a run BUT i will definetly not be touching side order atleast for a while.... but despite i had plenty of stuff i didnt like in side order the ending managed to make me forget all that haha

[spooky-circuits]

how did Floyd feel about seeing his baby brother again with a bunch of other pop trolls, like what was his pov during the interaction?

Okay I guess it’s time for a proper Floyd reunion.

The snack pack winds up in a city on the outskirts of mount rageous it’s a lot more low key compared to its over the top neighbour. The kind of place where newer acts go when trying to make a name for themselves. They had just escaped the putt putt course a week ago and the mood was in serious need of a good boost and the traditional troll way to do that is usually music based. So when they see the signs advertising some new talent at the new club downtown they all decide they could use some fun. This is how they end up at the same venue Floyd is doing his newest set at.

Floyd had been practicing this show for a couple weeks now and he was pretty confident it was going to be a good performance. Once this show was over he was thinking it might be a good idea to try going home to check on Branch and grandma. It had been almost 15 years and he was starting to feel guilty about not keeping his promise to Branch to come back. He reasoned that he never gave Branch an exact time frame but he knew it was a shitty excuse considering his brother was a baby when he told him that. He’s shaken out of that thought when the manager of the venue lets him know his turn on stage is coming up soon. He pulls himself together and gets ready to go on stage.

Floyd walks out to the usual polite reception he gets before a show plus what sounds like some people yelling “Wooo!” This isn’t too weird some people are pretty enthusiastic when they go to a live performance. He makes it through about two songs when he notices a group of trolls in the audience. He might have almost mistaken them for rock trolls if it weren’t for their bright colours. He doesn’t let it affect his performance but he takes a moment to consider they’ll probably want to meet him after the show. It’s rare for pop trolls to make it this far out so when they see each other there’s always a natural draw to start a conversation.

Floyd finishes his set and sure enough there’s a group of pop trolls waiting for him in the alleyway behind the club. Upon closer inspection it’s a group of teenagers. He isn’t too thrown off by this since he was pretty young when he left home. Might as well greet the kids and get their opinions on the performance. “Uh hey did you enjoy the show?”

Poppy is the first to speak up. “Heck yeah it was so good!” The rest of the snack pack voices their agreements on the quality of the performance before scrutinizing Floyd for potential character flaws before Branch gets out of the bathroom. They had agreed to wait for him to get out as an excuse to meet Floyd and check if he was cool before letting Branch see him. After the whole incident with Clay they were feeling a bit protective of Branch.

Floyd is about to thank them for coming to the performance when there’s a shout of “what the heck guys! You said you would wait for me!” Coming from a grey troll being shortly followed by a silver glitter troll. He’s reminded of the way Spruce would sometimes ditch Clay to talk to a girl when he notices the vest the kid is wearing. It’s worn down but it looks almost identical to the one he left with Branch. As this thought is going through his head he hears “Floyd!” And footsteps running at him before being caught in a hug. It’s this moment where he he’s saying the words as he’s thinking them. “Branch?” The other troll lets him go and says “Yeah it’s me.” And Floyd is grabbing his shoulders in order to get a better look at his baby brother. “Holy shit look at you! You’re so tall now! You really grew into that vest B.” Branch lets out a groan and says “Yes! Finally one of you guys gets it! Clay went into the baby talk almost immediately when he saw me!” Floyd realizes that Branch must have seen their other brothers recently. “Oh you’ve seen the others? How are they?” Branch and his friends all make an annoyed expression at the question he can tell it’s not directed at him so he guesses that the reunions could have gone better. Branch’s friends are quick to step in with how Bruce was fine and a quick explanation of how Spruce was Bruce now (good for him) and how John Dory wasn’t really that bad aside from a couple of incidents (that’s good to hear) and how Clay had attempted to keep them all captive at a gold course. “Okay I’m definitely going to need more details on that. Want to come back to my place and you guys can fill me in? I’m having trouble believing Bruce is a dad considering how he hated changing Branch’s diapers.” He laughs at Branch’s offended “Uhg don’t tell them that Floyd they’ll never let it go!”

[kiankiwi]

Little TK request please- Carlos catches TK coloring on the walls 😊😊

TK was just doing the finishing touches on his masterpiece when he heard Carlos coming into the apartment. He froze, marker in hand and panicked. He was going to be in so much trouble. Tossing the markers to the floor, TK got up and scampered under the bed, his favorite hiding spot.

"TK, you home baby?" Carlos asked as he dropped his bag and keys.

TK heard the minute his daddy found his mural on the wall. "Tyler Kennedy! Get your butt out here right this minute!"

TK put on his cute face and inched out of the bedroom. "Yes?" Carlos sighed through his nose, his arms crossed. "Care to tell me what this is?" Carlos asked, pointing to the wall. "My art daddy..." TK explained softly.

TK's stomach filled with fear when daddy tilted his head to the ceiling, his eyes closed as he tried to calm down. He was about to be in a lot of trouble. "I-I wanted to draw a pretty picture for daddy... d-don't you like it?" TK asked, tearing up feeling guilty.

Carlos stepped forward and went down on one knee getting down on TK's level. "Baby, you know you're not supposed to draw on the walls.. we have paper for that, baby." TK shrugged, avoiding Carlos' serious and disappointed eyes. "Couldn't find any." Carlos put his finger under TK's chin to get him to look him in the eyes. "Tyler, you know that's a lie. You know that your construction paper is in the bin in the playroom where it always is, right?" TK stayed quiet, looking over at his nearly finished mural. "Right, Ty?" Carlos asked a little louder and firmer this time.

Tyler finally let his tears loose. He began to cry as he nodded. "Y-yes." Carlos sighed, squeezing TK's hands. "Baby, you understand you broke a rule, yeah?" TK nodded, still crying. "And because of that, you're going to go in time out for a little bit." TK nodded. "Can I have Pebble in time out?" TK asked, referring to his stuffed turtle that Paul got him at the zoo. "No baby, you know you're not allowed to have your toys in time out." That started a new round of tears and sadness even though TK knew what Carlos's answer would be.

Carlos picked TK up and placed him on the time out stool. TK hung his head while Carlos kissed his head. "Baby, you stay here till daddy's timer goes off and daddy's gonna clean up the wall okay?" "No! My PICTUREEEEE!" TK yelled. "Shhh, shhh, shhh, you know we can't keep it there baby. But you can redraw it for daddy when time out is over, that sound good? On paper this time?" TK was hesitant for a moment but eventually nodded.

Ten minutes later, the timer went off and TK ran to give Carlos a hug before running to get his markers and his paper before sitting at the kitchen table to recreate his picture.

***

WOOO MY FIRST LITTLE!TK FANFIC!!!

@im-overstimulated-and-im-sad I hope you like it!!! <3

Please let me know if you want any other ideas. Hopefully next one is gonna be a little!TK sickfic of some kind!

[hxney-lemcn]

Hi! 😊 Can I request a fluffy oneshot with prompts: "Um, C-can I touch your ears, p-please? B-because your ears are so extremely adorable, Hunter.” and “G-go on..I don’t m-mind at all, y/n” about what Hunter (toh) would reacts to his shy!fem!human! reader gentlely touches his ears then strokes his ears gently made him purring like a cat in her bedroom at Eda's house? I really love to see Hunter's blushing reaction to it! I live for flustered and touch-starved Hunter! Please?? ~🌼

Summery: Reader asks to touch Hunter's ears and fluff ensues.

tw: none.

a/n: So I did manage to finish both today, wooo! Once again, I didn't use any gendered terms, so I will mark it as gn! reader.

wc: 0.6k

Master List

“You kids be safe,” Eda said pointing at Hunter and I. “Hooty, keep an eye on them till we come back.”

“Yes ma’am, hoot,” Hooty replied, nodding. 

Luz, King, and Eda were going out on some errands and Hunter and I didn’t really want to go. Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend quality time with their boyfriend? 

“No funny business you two,” Hooty said slyly as Eda closed the door. Then he disappeared and I felt chills run down my spine. Creepy.

Hunter leaned back into the headboard and started to read a book. So I decided to busy myself with my own hobby. But focusing was getting harder and harder. I mean can you blame me? My handsome boyfriend was sitting right next to me and maybe I wanted to admire him. Not like I’d tell him that. I’d think I’d die of embarrassment.

I stared at him from the corner of my eyes. My gaze went from his pink lips, tired eyes, and landed on his pointed ears. They were the only difference between witches and humans. The difference between us. They suited him though, I couldn’t imagine him with rounded ears. 

I’ve been staring at him so long, I’m surprised he hasn’t noticed yet. I looked back down at what I was supposed to be doing, debating in my head whether or not to suck up my shyness and ask him something I’ve been wanting to or not. I mean I don’t want to weird him out or anything, but on the other hand…

I glanced back up to his ears. Sucking in a breath I decided to just go for it. If he was uncomfortable with it then he’d tell me no, simple as that.

“Um, c-could I touch your ears, p-please?” I asked, stuttering over my words slightly. Hunter turned to face me, and I felt myself start to ramble slightly, “B-because your ears are so extremely adorable, Hunter.” 

His face turned a fiery red, and I felt my face warm up as well. He stared at me, his brain appeared to short circuit. I shrinked slightly at his gaze, I should never have asked, this is so embarrassing. 

“G-go on,” Hunter finally replied, not meeting my gaze. “I d-don’t mind at all, (y/n).”

I reached out slowly, just in case he changed his mind. But he didn’t, and I gently felt the tips of his ears. They felt so soft! As I rubbed his ears, he leaned into my touch. I smiled softly at the sight. His eyes were closed, his cheeks red, and…wha-was he…purring? Hunter was letting out a soft sound that reminded me of a cat. How adorable!

I let out a slight giggle and kissed his cheek. He let out a whine, and I couldn’t hold myself back. I peppered his face in kisses, and he let out a small laugh. I smiled down at him, not exactly sure when I started to hover over him, but I wasn’t complaining. He stared back up at me with lidded eyes. I leaned down slowly, our lips meeting in a soft kiss.

We’ve kissed before. Not much, we both tend to be too shy to make the first move. And even though we’ve kissed before, it still was breathtaking every time we did. I couldn’t think of anything but him at the moment, butterflies dancing in my stomach. 

I pulled away, slowly opening my eyes. Before I could process anything, Hunter pulled me down onto him, holding me tightly against him. I smiled against his neck. I wouldn’t change this for the world.

[itsallyscorner]

Graduating with The Avengers

Pairing: avengers x fem!teen!reader (platonic)

Summary: since I graduated I was inspired to write something about graduating with the characters who helped me through my four years of high school :)

Warnings: none

A/n: This is gonna be a headcanon!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

(Go Wildcats)

✧───── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *. ☽.* :★. ─────✧

Graduating high school was a big deal for you.

After working your ass off for four years straight, you finished off the school year strong with good grades.

The team knew how much it would mean to you if they attended your graduation, so yes, they absolutely showed up.

Your graduation was around the afternoon, but being the perfectionist he is, Tony made sure everyone was awake by 6am.

It was hectic at the compound:

Tony was mass producing breakfast in the kitchen, making sure everyone was well fed then kicking them out as soon as they were done eating.

Since it was your special day he gave you a little extra time to finish your pancakes.

I think he’d be such a big dad about it and like add a smiley face made out of whipped cream and fruits on your pancakes :)

Wanda and Nat would definitely help you get ready for your big day. They would do your makeup and your hair, like the big sisters they are🥺

Steve would be going through his closet for an outfit that matches, Bucky’s probably off trying to figure out which leather jacket he should wear, and Sam is going back and forth between the two making sure they both look presentable.

I think Bruce would be chilling the couch, already dressed and waiting for everyone else to finish.

In this headcanon, you and Peter don’t go to the same school, but you’re both seniors.

Peter’s definitely going to show up to your graduation because you were there for his and cheered him on. It’d also make him a bad friend for not showing up.

Bby Peter might come into the compound with his tie in hand, not knowing how to tie the damn thing.

Here comes our other dad figure Clint, he’d help Peter do his tie after seeing him struggle in front of the mirror.

When everyone was ready (on time), Tony shoved everyone into some big ass bus.

Idk he’s rich, plus it’s more convenient since everyone would arrive on time.

When you get to school, you run off to line up with your class.

Meanwhile, the entire team is squeezing into your school’s auditorium trying to not attract much attention to themselves.

Though that failed because once Tony Stark, Captain America, and the rest of the Avengers walked in everyone was in shock.

You already know that they took up at least two rows in that damn auditorium😭✋🏼

Yes, there’s definitely seating problems.

Bucky and Sam can’t sit behind or next to each other. Sam kicks the back of Bucky’s seats and Bucky can’t stand Sam being so close to him.

Peter can’t sit behind literally anyone because he can’t see behind their heads.

The team is also joined my Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Scott, and maybe Carol, T’Challa, and Okoye.

Oh yeah and Thor.

Thor’s definitely going to show up late, like mid graduation ceremony, and squeeze his way towards the team😭😭

When the graduation theme plays and it’s time for all the students to walk down the aisle, the team’s already standing up with their cameras pointed towards the entrance.

When you finally appear, they’d all yell for your attention and try to get you to look at them and the hoards of cameras pointed at you.

Skipping through the ceremony because honestly it’s just a bunch of talking😭😭

Ooo, if you win any awards, they’ll be the loudest people in the room cheering you on.

When they finally call your name while handing out the diplomas, their cheering literally echos off the walls of the auditorium.

“WOOO THAT’S MY GIRL!!”

“YES (Y/N)!”

“GO GET THAT DIPLOMA BABY!”

“LOOK OVER HERE, LOOK AT THE CAMERA!”

I feel like Thor would get a little too excited and accidentally set off thunder outside, literally scaring the shit out of everyone.

“THOR!”

“I’M SORRY I CAN’T HELP IT!”

After you’ve turned your tassel and the ceremony finally ends, they watch you with proud smiles as you exit the auditorium.

They meet up with you outside and suffocate you with bear hugs and praises for how proud they are of you🥺

And they’d surprise you with balloons, tons of flowers, and cute little teddy bears.

Expect to take a shit ton of pictures outside the school. Taking pictures with everyone would probably take an hour and a half with how big the team is.

“I asked (y/n) for a picture first!”

“No I did, I asked first, get your ears cleaned out Wilson.”

“You can’t even take a picture on that damn flip phone!”

“Sam, Bucky, cut it out.”

“My mouth hurts from smiling.” You’d whine.

Tony simply smiles at the camera beside you, “Deal with it, kid. Beauty is pain.”

“(Y/n), I need another selfie with you, my thumb was in the camera!”

“Do any of you know how to take a proper selfie? It’s not that hard.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself, Stark?”

“My arms are too short.”

Some people might come up to the team and ask for pictures, but since the day was about you, they would politely decline and turn their attention back on you :’)

As a cute ending, you guys would go back to the compound and have a little party amongst yourselves. Maybe a movie night and a bunch of junk food with the team :))

This was a quickie, but I hope you guys liked it💖

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

🏷 Tags ↴

*if there’s a line through your url, tumblr won’t let me tag you:( *

Marvel cast/Avengers tags

↪︎ @ximaginx @lozzypoz321 @sunwardsss @pokemonbong @pjokotlcmarvel201 @whoslili @marvel-is-a-mood @blckyungblood @astroponyo @universemarvel @imthebadguyyy @roseke @this-is-gg @httpscarletwitch @msminutes @cristin-rjd @swords-are-cool @melaninfalconbucky @deamus-liv @elvish-sky @catsandbooksandstuff @ellajoy419 @moonlight-babe99 @teti-menchon0604 @bestillmystuckyheart @captainwans @mischiefmanaged144 @marvelfan2300 @hello-yoi

General tags (besties)

↪︎ @my-divine-death @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @thegirlwiththediary @agustdowney @bi-lmg @rqmanoff @sesamepancakes @stardustofreading @dracoswhore007 @alyssathesoftie @amourtentiaa @ifyouknewhowmiserylovedme @kaitieskidmore1 @6r4cie

[bradshawswife]

Can you do smut 27 “ I just want to please you” with rhett abbott please?

Yes anon!! Wooo!!

Let the thots run wild.

18+ nsfw

You and Rhett grew up together, solely due to the fact that your family ranches were side by side. Your daddy bid him forbidden, for obvious reasons. But did you ever listen to him after you turned 18?

Your poor daddy, bless his heart, thought you were with your bestfriend most Friday and Saturday nights. Little did he know, you were sneaking off with the town bad boy.

You came home from college quite frequently, to see family and friends, and the distraction from college was great too. But a major part of your weekends were dedicated to Rhett.

The locations varied, mainly in the back of Rhett’s truck, the flatbed, Rhett’s barn, the cottage located on your east pasture, sometimes Rhett’s room if his family is out. Very rarely did he sneak up to your window and surprise you, but here he was tonight.

Friday night, you didn’t come home last weekend because of finals, and you were overly cramming information into your head. Rhett missed you terribly that weekend, waiting for your text. You also seemingly forgot to update him on where you were.

So tonight, when he seen your room light on, something switched inside him. He quickly bolted to your house, without thinking clearly. Throwing stones at your window hoping your father wouldn’t see him, the guy he tried to protect you from, hoisting himself on the roof.

You didn’t hear the pebbles being thrown at your window, but you certainly did hear your window slide up. Watching that tall lanky brunette try and get through your little window was a treat and a half.

“Rhett, what on earth are you doing here?” you whisper, walking towards him.

“You were ghostin’ me darlin’” he admitted, running his hands down your sides when you came close to him, placing kisses up your neck.

“Aw Rhett no i wasn’t” you laugh quietly, “I got really caught up with school” you finish, his lips moving from your neck to your jaw, up to your lips.

“Well, i’m just here to please you, sweet girl” he starts, in between kisses. He starts moving his mouth from your jaw upwards, “Let” placing a kiss on your neck, “me” finally pressing one to the soft spot behind your ear. Trying to contain your moans, you quickly nodded yes, and Rhett was hoisting you up, legs around his waist.

Lightly tossing you on the bed, you both make haste on removing your clothes, and within minutes Rhett’s mouth is attached to your needy cunt.

Finishing embarrassingly quick, Rhett is instantly sliding into you.

“That’s my girl” he says, coaxing you through a second orgasm. He wasn’t long to follow after, pulling out and spilling himself onto your abdomen.

Rhett unfortunately, but quickly hurried out of your room as he heard your father come upstairs and make his way to your room.

You oughta make him wait longer next time.

phewww.. i need a cold shower

[krappykawa]

Hi !!! can I request oikawa, osamu, hinata (+ whoever you feel like adding) reacting to their female s/o calling them "hubby" (they have never used that nickname before since it's supposed to refer to a husband) to see their reaction??? i just saw this as a tiktok prank and they were like "omg you wanna marry me??? im definitely gonna marry you" and now im sobbing so precious 🥺🥺🥺

reacting to s/o calling them hubby

characters. oikawa x f!reader, osamu x f!reader, hinata x f!reader

note. in every scenario, reader is internet famous & posts little previews of their life on tik tok!

note 2. sorry for not posting in a while,, school started again and i’ve been mentally drained but i will try and finish other requests soon!

OIKAWA.

- you guys are filming a snack review video because oikawa lost all self control while grocery shopping and literally was picking things off the shelf left and right

- he insists that he’ll finish them this time but you know that’s a lie

- but you also decide that it’s also the perfect time to try out this tik tok prank on him so he won’t be suspicious of the camera

- the camera is set up and everything so now all you have to do is say it

- “hey guys today we’re going to do a snack review because my husband bought wayyy too many snacks” cute rolling eyes and cute little smile directed at oikawa that makes your watchers go 🥺🥺

- IT TAKES HIM SO LONG TO REALIZE

- like you’re literally staring at him waiting for him to realize but he doesn’t

- you’re halfway through opening your first bag when he finally realizes

- “WAIT”

- you look to the camera to make sure you’re filming this whole thing

- “you said husband.”

- “i did?”

- “YEAH! you did. i heard you say it.”

- “no i didn’t!”

- “check the video y/n-chan. i heard you say it.”

- he makes you replay the video because he will whine and pout until he makes sure that you hear it

- practically lights up when he hears it again

- “hmm does that mean you wanna marry me yn-chan?”

- “no it doesn’t”

- he notices the small blush on your cheeks points all over your face. “ooo you wanna marry me so bad huh?”

- the living incarnation of the 😏 emoji

- big cocky smile on his face bc he takes it as an accomplishment that you called him your husband on accident

- his eyes are secretly all teary-eyed though because HUSBAND?,$3;!9 💓💓💓💓💖💞💘💞💘

- he decides right there and then that he’s gonna propose soon because he thinks his heart physically bursts at the idea of you calling him husband for real

- the only reason he doesn’t propose right there is because 1. he doesn’t have a ring and 2. his an extra little bitch that wants to keep you on your toes while also making sure that his proposal is so good that you’ll end up crying happy tears

- when you post the video on tik tok oikawa makes sure to like every single comment that says “THEY’RE SUCH A CUTE COUPLE UGH WHY DONT THEY JUST GET MARRIED ALREADY”

OSAMU.

- his ass loves food so he literally lights up at the idea of doing a mukbang

- at first he insists that you don’t film it because he’s lowkey creeped out about the idea of eating in front of a camera just for people to listen to him eat

- he finally agrees to filming it when you promise to make the mukbang have all his favorite foods

- what he doesn’t know is that you’re simultaneously trying a tik tok prank on him

- “hey guys! welcome back to my channel! today we have a special guest, my husband, osamu because we’re doing a mukbang and you will always find this guy with food in his mouth, no joke.”

- he catches your little slip-up right away

- “husand huh? ya got something ya wanna say?”

- doesn’t even care that there’s a camera in front of you (he thinks you’ll just edit it out anyway)

- you play innocent because where’s the fun in telling him it’s for a tik tok right away?? “hmm what are you on about miya?”

- “what i’m on about is that yer telling me that you want to be a miya.”

- WEE WOO WEE WOO OSAMU EYEBROW RAISE WEE WOOO WEE WOO

- “i guess i do like the ring on miya y/n”

- “is this a proposal then?”

- cue shit-eating grin from you. “nah, the man in question isn’t here. you don’t happen to know atsumu’s ring size do you?”

- osamu’s little impish grin drops so quick and now he’s playfully glaring at you

- “ya say shit like that again and i’ll make ‘sumu switch places with me on the altar when we get married.”

- you're laughing into your knee at that point until you make a realization

- “wait. you said when we get married. not if.”

- “i didn’t stutter did i miya?”

- tik tok comments blow up with squealing fans bc OHMYGSOJD

HINATA.

- you’re a proud gf so you’re more than happy when someone asks you to live stream with your volleyball famous bf

- you also thought it might be a good time to pull this prank on him that you saw on tik tok and get his reaction on live camera because it’s bound to be funny since he’s hinata

- after one of his games you run up to him and hug him before telling him that your followers wanted to live stream with him

- “oh ive seen those!! i’d love to say hi to your fans!! do they know i play volleyball??”

- “yes, babe that’s the whole reason they wanted to meet you.”

- “REALLY???”

- you laugh at how cute he is and then turn on the live

- “hey guys, the long wait is over! here i am with my husband, world famous hinata shoyo! he just finished a game and-”

- “HUSBAND?” he interrupts you and he looks kind of giddy at the prospect. “does this mean you want to marry me y/n??” blushy happy hinata because you bet your ass he’s thought about it before but just didn’t know how to go about talking to you about the idea of marriage

- “what happens if i say yes?” you’ve thought about it too, so you playfully entertain his excitement.

- “then let’s get married!”

- you have to do a double take because you didn’t think he was actually serious. “wait really?”

- “you want to right? that’s what you said!”

- “of course i do! i just didn’t think you would propose right here right now.”

- “why not? i love you, you love me. you want to get married, i want to get married. so let’s get married!”

- the comments are blowing up because oh my god you just managed to accidentally capture your future husband’s proposal on an instagram live

- bokuto and atsumu overheard the whole thing and tackled the two of you into a group hug

- let’s just say your live ended on a frame of bokuto’s face close up because he’s so happy that “the student is getting married!!!”

- atsumu pulls out of the hug for a second and being the little shit he is, runs to the locker room and comes back with a ring pop

- “can’t propose without a ring shoyo! where are yer manners??”

- hinata actually gets down on one knee and proposes with the ring pop and you’re so red because at this point the entire stadium is watching

- you say yes anyway

[word-scribbless]

Oh Baby Chapter 10

Wooo there’s a lot happening in this bad boy! And a lot of cute dad Gibbs moments! Enjoy! Thanks to the lovely @leroyjethrogibbsgirl for the brainstorming and writing sessions!

Masterlist | oh baby master list

—————

Since Amelia’s party the Gibbs family had been doing pretty well. They were still doing family counseling sessions, and Y/N and Gibbs had been going together as well. Y/N knew since gibbs wasn’t a talker, if they went together he’d get to hear strategies that they told Y/N to try and wouldn’t feel so alone.

Gibbs had even agreed to start a low dose of medication to help with his panic and episodes. Y/N was beyond proud of her husband and couldn’t believes the process he made. Sniper was also a big help, and the fact that his little girl loved snuggling up to him, which always calmed him down.

Y/N was feeling close to normal again until Gibbs got a call from Vance that had him seething. She set Amelia and Piper up with toys in her room and went in to check on Gibbs.

“Hey baby wh-“

“He’s out”

“What? Who?Y/N asked and then froze. “That maniac that tried to take our daughter is out?”

“Escaped during transport. Agents are coming here to guard the house, but I’m staying and working the case from here. Dinozzo’s got point at NCIS. I’m not leaving you girls.”

She hugged him tight, amazed that he was not running to the navy yard to make sure he can tackle the man himself.

It had been a solid week of fear for the Gibbs family. All three of them stayed hunkered in their home with police details around the perimeter. Y/n made sure to not scare Amelia by making it like a mini vacation but Gibbs could tell it was getting to her. And y/n could tell it was wearing Jethro down. She had even began to suspect that he had stopped taking his medication.

He was on edge, more so than normal, moody and a little snappy. Y/N also noticed that when she went to put her bottle of new meds away that Gibbs’ hadn’t been touched.

Y/N had woke up that morning, expecting her husband to already be up grumbling around like usual.

She was surprised when she walks downstairs to Jethro making breakfast. She smiled and kissed his cheek, scooping Amelia from her seat.

“Hey there my cuties! How are we doing?” She asked as she goes to put coffee on.

“Good just got up” Gibbs said as he kissed both girls.

“I can tell, no coffee yet.” She laughed and Amelia said.

“Poppa love coffee!”

“He sure does!” Y/N agreed.

“Coffee and my girls, all I need” He said with a smile.

As they sat down for their breakfast they suddenly heard a loud bang and yelling at the front door. Suddenly their door was knocked down and the man that had once again put them through hell was facing him.

“Where is my grand daughter!?” He screamed.

Gibbs grabbed his gun quickly from the safe and Pushed Y/N with Amelia in her arms behind him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Gibbs yelled and moved further between his girls and the man.

“I’m here from my grand daughter!” He lunged forward and Y/N thought quickly throwing the freshly brewed coffee at him, giving her time to get Amelia out of the room and lock them both in the bathroom, calling 911.

By the time Y/N was off the phone, she heard a gun shot and huddled Ami closer to her until Jethro knocked on the door “it’s me it’s safe.”

He whispered and Y/N leaned enough to unlock the door while huddling Amelia close. Gibbs pushed in and scooped his girls in his arms.

“He’s gone” he said and kissed her head. “We’re safe.”

“Gone gone?” She asked.

He nodded “pulled a gun on me, officers saw it. It’s already been declared self defense... it’s over.”

She nodded and snuggled into him allowing Amelia to cling to them both as he continued to sooth them both.

“We need to head to NCiS to for debrief and report officially.”

“Bad man gone? We see my Ziva?”

“Yeah baby the bad man is gone and we’ll see your Ziva and uncles probie and Tony.”

“Yayyy daddy keep us safe”

“Always” Gibbs said as he snuggled her close.

The Gibbs family showed up and NCIS a little worse for wear. Y/N was holding onto Amelia pretty tight, she clung back around her neck even tighter and had her little hand around her dad’s finger as they walked.

Gibbs was very agitated and y/N could tell. He separated and went to debrief with the director.

Y/N and Amelia say and Gibb’s desk with Ziva and the rest of the team when Gibbs came out. “I’m done with this, you should have done more they heard Gibbs scream and slam the door, his flip phone bouncing off the floor.

“Gibbs” director Vance shouted as Y/N and Tony stood up to go after Gibbs and Amelia became crying.

“Jethro!” Y/N yelled as she and and Tony caught up to him as he reached the elevator.

“I’m fine!” He grunted.

“You’re not” Tony said

“You’re shaking” y/n pointed out and held his hand. He shook her off and gruffly said “I am fine.”

“Boss you’re not. You need to get yourself together.” Tony said

“For us, for me and your daughter” she said and Gibbs looked up to where Amelia was crying in ziva’s arms.

He sniffed and nodded his head taking Y/N’s hand.

“I scared her”

“We’re all scared, we need you. It’s okay if you’re scared but we need you.”

He nodded again and y/N started to pull him toward the desks

“will you hear us out? Let us help you? Please?” Y/N asked as he scooped Amelia from Ziva.

“Peas let us help poppa! We no want you be angy! Me and momma give you huggies and we all feel better!” She squeaked as she hugged him. “Get help for mealia poppa!” She said nuzzling into him and he could feel the last of his walls breaking down.

“I’m sorry I yelled baby! I’m so sorry.” He sniffled and held onto her and Y/N’s hand.

“It’s Otay poppa! Me and momma and da team help you!”

“That’s right boss we’re here” Ziva said and Tony and McGee nodded.

“Jethro” y/n whispered. “Needing help, needing medication or a counselor isn’t weak.”

“I know” he whispered. “You’re the strongest person I know I just, I shouldn’t need all that to protect you.”

“You don’t need that to protect us but you do need help to manage the anxiety of the situation. We all do. And most of all we need you. So please do whatever it takes to make sure we have that?”

He nodded and hugged his girls to him “anything for you both.”

“We can all go together tonight, I’ll call in an emergency appointment, please?”

Gibbs nodded and looked at his team.

“We’ll wrap this up and we’ll deliver dinner to your house tonight” ducky insists.

“Thank you all” Gibbs whispered as he and his girls got on the elevator.

“Thank you for sticking by me, I’m so sorry I scared you.” Gibbs said as he guided his girls towards the car.

“Poppa no scary” Amelia said “poppa saved us and was angry at scary guy!”

“Yup poppa is our hero!” Y/n said

“Momma was pretty brave today too, I taught you well but where’d that coffee trick come from.” He smiled.

“Needed to protect our baby bear” she chuckled and ticketed Amelia’s side.

Gibbs smiled whispering “I love you momma bear”

“And we’re both very glad we have you as the poppa bear to our momma and baby bear!”

Gibbs smiled and kissed Y/N before driving home.

About 2 weeks after the incident at the Gibbs home and the impromptu intervention, things were looking up for the Gibbs family. Gibbs, Y/N and Amelia had all been attending counseling, together and separately, whatever any of them needed.

Gibbs was getting back into the swing of taking his medication and finally feeling safer and more relaxed about Amelia not being right near him. There were tough days for all involved but they always had each other to lean on.

Lately when Gibbs was working on his boat the girls would sneak away to Amelias room to work on a “secret project” or “the -ecret propject” as Amelia called it. Gibbs played along and smiled after Y/N told him she promised she’d give his first mate back to help on his boat as soon as the project was finished.

Gibbs knew Father’s Day was coming up and couldn’t deny he was pretty excited for their “propject”. So he would take Sniper down the basement with him instead of his girls to keep him company.

While Gibbs and His puppy son were having bonding time with the boat, the girls were hard at work on a few very special gifts and Amelia (and Y/N had been having a very hard time keeping a secret. The night before Father’s Day Y/N wrapped up the gifts in brown butchers paper and had Amelia color all over it. She hid it away and smiled as she thought about his face when he would open it.

The next morning Y/N woke up bright and early somehow succeeding in waking up before her perpetually early husband. He didn’t stay sleeping long, when she moved to get up he rasped “morning baby”

She huffed and turned to kiss him. “Good morning handsome, but it’s Father’s Day so please either go back to sleep or just lay here and pretend we woke you up in like 15 minutes. “Yes ma’am” he smiled as she got and went to leave the room before popping her head back in. “And happy Father’s Day, thanks for doing this whole parenting thing with me.” She added, causing his face to break into a big smile.

She left the room and snuck into Amelias room, kissed her head.

“Hey baby” she said and watched her daughter sleepily open her eyes.

“Hi momma” she whispered and the. Promptly added “poppa?”

Y/N giggled and answered “it’s poppa day so we’re gonna bring him coffee in bed!”

“Yayyy!” She cheered

Y/N and Amelia prepared Gibbs coffee and presents and headed upstairs.

That snuck into his and Y/N’s room and “woke” him up by kissing his cheeks.

“Well hello there my beautiful girls, and boy” he said and kissed them both, patting sniper, who had followed them in, on the head.

“HAPPY POPPA DAY POPPA!” Amelia squealed as Gibbs set his coffee down to scoop her up!

“We has presents!”

“You do?” Gibbs asked with a smile as Y/N set them down for Amelia to give him.

“We worked really hard on these ones huh meals? We started a few months ago.” Y/N said as Gibbs began to open the larger package leaving out that they had actually started this project when they were in protective custody, to help them not miss him so much.

As he tore the paper he saw 2 scrap books and couldn’t help but smile as he flipped through the first one that said family.

There were over a dozen decorated pages with pictures of his family. Every group he’d ever called his family in fact. Old pictures of when he was a boy, pictures with Mike franks and dwayne pride from his early days of NCIS, pictures with Shannon and Kelly, pictures of his current NCIS team with hand written notes from each of his 3 agents and plenty of pictures of him, Amelia, and Y/N. On the back page was a picture Amelia had drawn (with Y/N’s help) of all the people in her family. Gibbs teared up when he saw it included a scribbled frame in stick figure Amelia’s hand labeled “Shannon and my sister Kelly”.

“Poppa you like it?” Amelia peeped as she climbed up to wipe his tears.

“I love it baby! Thank you so much. He said as he smiled at Y/N.

“Momma you said da other one would make poppa cry!” She giggled as she went to sit in her mom’s lap so her dad could look at the second book.

“All happy tears though” y/n clarified as she kissed her head.

Gibbs picked up the second book and quickly understood why Y/N would say he’d cry. One the front cover were bright stickered letters that said “Gibbs’ girls” and smaller silver font that said “a picture book of proof that you’re the best dad ever”

The tears came as he opened the first page and saw 2 pictures, one of Amelia and himself sanding his boat, and one of Kelly and him sanding a boat. With decorations and Y/N’s hand writing that said “2 girls lucky enough to be their dad’s ‘first mate’.

Gibbs looked up and pulled both his girls into a hug. “I love it” he whispered.

“We used pictures we knew you were okay with sharing with us and they are all copied. Originals are safe in their boxes.” Y/N explained.

“What could be better than a picture book of all of my girls huh?” He smiled as he turned to her page that proudly showcased photos of all 4 of his girls.

“We were hoping you’d tell us the stories of some of them” y/N said and Gibbs nodded as he began telling a story about riding horses with Kelly.

“Poppa one more!” Amelia peeped after his story.

“Another gift?” He asked an took the small box from her.

“Yup, this one we didn’t hand make, but it’s still special” y/N explained.

Gibbs opened the box to see a silver with a small silver tag holding a link of chain together, the tags had the initials K and A etched in it, and on the back that laid against his arm it said “#1 dad to Kelly and Amelia Gibbs”

He couldn’t even talk he was so loved by the gift.

“Thank you” he said as he tucked both of them under his arm.”

“We wanted you to know how lucky all your girls were and are to have you J” Y/N said with a kiss to his cheek as Amelia added “best poppa Eva”

“I don’t know what I ever did to deserve any of you.” He said as Y/N clasped the bracelet on. “But I am so lucky.”

The Gibbs’ spent that day enjoying and celebrating being a family, as well as visited and calls from each of the team to their ‘work dad’ and Y/N put it. Gibbs couldn’t have asked for a better ‘poppa day.”

——-//

@mac99martin @kittenlittle24 @viper-official @ilovemark1951 @theofficialzivadavid @averyhotchner @andreasworlsboring101 @diesinspanishbcimhispanic

[kasey-writes-stuff]

Wooo I finally finished the prompt! I hope you like it @tickly-floof (let me know if you want I tagged!)

Tommy decided to go to snowchester to visit tubbo! He was not excited to have to see ranboo there though, okay that’s a bit of a lie he didn’t mind having to see ranboo and he didn’t wanna admit it he wanted to keep his angry persona up but ranboo was actually growing on him! Little did he know today would be a big step towards a friendship with ranboo…

Hearing a knock on the door tubbo excitedly ran to it his little ram tail wagging and his ears flicking, he opened it and immediately yelled as he tackled Tommy in a hug! “TOMMY!” Tommy yelped in surprise as he barely managed to keep from falling over as he hugged tubbo “GAH! Hi tubbo” Tubbo smiled excitedly burying his face in Tommy’s neck as he says “I missed you toms” Tommy couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he says “I missed you too but now let’s get inside before we both freeze” tubbo giggled and nodded as he got down off Tommy, and so the two went inside…

Ranboo smiled very softly nearly unnoticeabley so as he waved to Tommy “hello Tommy” Tommy rolled his eyes as he says “hello ranboob” Tommy smirked softly as he says it and tubbo gasps playfully hitting Tommy’s arm “TOMMY! No!” “What why can’t I call him that that is his name after all” “TOMMY YOU KNOW IT IS NOT!” Ranboo snickered softly as he says “No no it’s alright tubbo if he wants to call me ranboob he can! Just as long as I get to call him tom toms” Tommy’s eyes widened and then narrowed in digust! “Absolutely not! No you can not call me that horrid name” tubbo turns to Tommy pouting “hey! I call you that nickname sometimes” Tommy rolls his eyes softly “Well its different when you call me and he calls me it” tubbo smiles softly as he hugs Tommy once more

“Okay okay you two how about we just settle down and watch a movie so you guys don’t even have to worry about talking to each other” ranboo nods smiling, Tommy shrugs “yea sure sounds good to me” tubbo claps excitedly as he says “I’m gonna go with bolt! Seeing as it’s the best Disney movie ever” Ranboo is quick to interject “actually I think you’re wrong, lilo and stitch is the best Disney movie ever” tubbo shakes his head “no bolt is” ranboo now shakes his head “no no it’s lilo and stitch” tubbo scoffs and says “agree that bolt is the best Disney movie or they’ll be consequences”

Ranboos eyes widen as he already holds back giggles seeing tubbos hands in claw shapes “tuhuhubohhoho nohoho!” Tubbos smiles deviously as he says “I think you mean tubbo yes!” He quickly tackles ranboo scribbling on his sides, making the enderman hybrid burst into giggles “EE TUBBO NO hahhahahahahahhaha!” Tubbo continued smiling deviously as he says “You know what you have to say boo!” Ranboo shakes his head through his giggles “nohoho iihihi wonohonntt shahayyy llihihehehesss”

Tubbo shrugs and is about to say something but then hears Tommy cough from where he’s awkwardly standing and tubbo gets an idea “Toms! You can come help! I’ll tell you all his spots!” Tommy is hesitant at first but then shrugs, who is he to pass up an opportunity to tickle ranboo to pieces, it’ll probably embarrass ranboo and it’ll probably make tubbo happy so he nods and comes over “Alright yea sure I’ll tickle the crap out of discount oreo man”

Ranboo squeaked as he began pleading out nos as Tommy approached him but it was too late tommy was already over there and on his waist as tubbo held his arms above his head, “tuuhubo tohommy noho!” Tommy smirked “wow discount oreo is already giggling and I haven’t even touched him yet” tubbo nodded excitedly already sensing the bonds of his best friend and platonic husband increasing “yea he always gets like this hehe, okay so since we wanna watch the movie we won’t go to in depth and I also wanna give you a chance to eventually find some spots on your own sometime! So I’ll give you a okay spot and then one really bad spot!” Tommy rolled his eyes softly “yea yea okay so where first?” Tubbo says “Okay I’d say his sides first because they’re not too bad of a spot”

Tommy nods “Alright then, ready ender boy” ranboo blushed a light almost glowing purple as he shook his head, “n-nohoho!” Tommy smirked as he shrugged “Oh? Too bad I don’t think you’ll ever be ready so we’re doing it now!” Tommy got quick to work squeezing up and down ranboos sides stopping just below his ribs! Ranboo squeaked and began giggling non stop as he squirmed beneath Tommy “EEK TOHohommmyy!” Tubbo smiled brightly hearing his platonic husbands giggles “awe boo! I never get tired of your giggles!” Tommy rolled his eyes at the affection, and ranboos blush grew brighter and had more of a glow to it “tttuhuhubbbohoho ssstohohopp!” Tubbos eyes shined with slightly mischief as he says “what can I not compliment my wonderful platonic husbands giggles?” Ranboo shook his head through his giggles “nohoho yoouuu cahanntt” tubbo scoffed in mock offense as he says”Well fine! I’ll compliment your laughter instead! Tommy go for his feet!”

Tommy nods and shuffles down to sit on his ankles, he runs a single finger up from his left heel to right under his toes making ranboo squeak and let out a variety of enderman noises as he tries to pull his legs up but to no avail “EEP *enderman chirp*” tubbo smirked softly as he senses Tommy’s energy increase, tubbo leans down and whispers something to ranboo and ranboo nods smiling before breaking into giggles as Tommy runs a single finger up and down both his feet this time “EE tohohohmmmyyy!” Tommy grins deviously although it’s unseeable since he’s faced away from them both

Tommy decides to waste no more time as he begins scribbling up and down ranboos feet! Ranboo let’s out an enderman type yell as he falls into loud laughter “AAHAHEE TOHOHOHOMMMYYY EEEEEKKK NOT THE TOES!” Tubbo smiles widely as he says “oh yea his toes are the worst!” Tommy says “oh really now? Guess I’ll focus there for a bit then” He quickly began scribbling under ranboos toes making him shriek before falling into his loudest laughter yet “AHah HAHHAHAAHHAAHHHAHAHAHAHHA TOHOHOHOMMMYYY AHHAHAH NAHAHAAHAA!” Tommy smirked “yea take that discount Oreo!”

Tubbo rolled his eyes letting Tommy continue for only a few seconds before he looked to ranboo and winked… after he winked he quickly tackled Tommy, Tommy yelped as he was tackled “GAH TUBBO WHAT THE HECK?!” Tubbo quickly sat above Tommy holding his arms above his head “BOO NOW!” Through his giggles ranboo quickly came over and sat on Tommy’s waste “lohokks lihikkehe it’s my turn now” he smirks very slightly as he looks to tubbo , tubbo smiles happily as he says “okay so to start go for his ribs! He’ll snort a lot!” Tommy blushed a slight pink as he says “I will not shut up!” He looked away trying to seem fake upset but a smile a brighter blush was brought to his face as ranboo began poking around his ribs “*snort* nohoho! Gehettt *snort* ohohofff”

Ranboo shook his head “no I’m getting revenge!” Tommy began to say something but then noticed ranboo signaling something to him and he realized he was signaling that they would get revenge on tubbo, Tommy nodded discreetly and ranboo wasted no time as he began scribbling on Tommy’s ribs! Tommy snorted as he fell into snort filled giggles “*snort* WHAhahahttt thehehe hehehehcckkk!” Ranboo snickered “what like I said I’m getting my revenge” he grinned smugly as he began scribbling inbetween the bones making Tommy snort before squeaky giggles poured out “*snort* EEK! nhahahttt ihihnn behehettwhwhehenn yahaha oohohoff bbrrhahahnnddd zzhehehebbbrrhahha!”

Tubb smiles deviously “Oh not in between? Alright ranboo you heard him so let’s go a head and move spots!” Ranboo smiles before looking at Tommy and smirking “sounds good” he stops and awaits for tubbos instructions on where to go, “Okay so there’s quite a few different spots we could choose from but hmm I think we’ll go with his knees!” Tommy’s eyes widen as he shakes his head “nononono knees!” Tubbo smirks slightly as he says “alright then if you don’t want us going after your knees then pick a different spot” Tommy looks up at him, his eyes widening in slight nervousness at the idea of having to pick a spot “I uh um well…” he grumbles softly before saying “just do it already”

Tubbo claps excitedly and motions for ranboo to begin, ranboo smiles as he squeezes one of Tommy’s knees making for Tommy to squeal as his legs try and kick up but our unable to seeing as ranboo shifted to sit on Tommy’s shins before squeezing his knee “EEP NOHO AHA” ranboo’s eyes widen with excitement as he says “holy cow I only squeezed his knee once!” Tubbo bursts into giggles and says “just wait until you scratch the back of his knees!” Ranboos excitement grows as he says “let’s do it then!” He winks to Tommy signaling that soon he would tackle tubbo! Ranboo quickly holds up Tommy’s left leg scribbling quickly but not harshly underneath it making Tommy scream a bit before falling into hysteric laughter

“AAHH RHAHAHANNBOHOHOO NAHAHAHA!” Ranboo simply chuckles continuing only a few moments before stopping, tubbo tilts his head “done so soon?” Ranboo nods “yea I don’t want him getting too tired otherwise he wouldn’t be able to help me” tubbo looks at him curiously “help you what?” Ranboo smirks “with this!” He quickly tackles tubbo sitting on his waist, tubbo squeaks in surprise “EEK BOO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Tommy’s giggles slow to a stop and be comes and grabs Tubbo’s arms “We’re doing this!” He nods and ranboo quickly scribbles in tubbos armpits making him squeak as he falls into giggles “EEK rrhahhannbhohoho nahahah!”

Tommy smiles triumphantly “Yea take that tubso! Oh hey ranboo if you vibrate your finger tips in the middle of his armpits he squeals and twists and turns a lot” Ranboo smiles “oh thanks Tommy I’ll try that!” And so he does and as expected tubbo squeals as he begins to twist as his giggles increase “EEK BOHO nohohoho!” Tommy smiles “see told ya so!” Ranboo nods “I do see! Oh wait did you know if you hold your hand in a claw shape over his belly and pretend you’re a claw machine it tickles him loads and flusters him so much that his ears turn red!” Tommy shakes his head “no I didn’t know that! Can you show me?!” Ranboo nods excitedly “Of course I can!” He quickly lifts tubbos shirt as he holds a claw hand over tubbos Tommy and tubbo is already giggling in anticipation

“Bohohoho plehahssehehe gohoho ehehahahssyy” Tommy and ranboo melt as ranboo nods “of course, okay so what you do is form the claw shape and then you slowly lower your hand while making claw machine noises” Tommy nods being sure to properly watch and listen to what ranboo is doing for once, “And then when you touch down, you just scribble back and forth to make it seem like you’re moving the claw back and forth to get the prize!” He does as he says and tubbo shrieks as he falls into laughter “AhAH HAHAHAAHAHAH BOHOHOHO AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Tommy smiles widely at his best friend’s laughter “oh that is really good, what else!” Ranboo nods “Okay so next you start squeezing his belly to make it like you’re trying to grab the prize see” he begins squeezing tubbos tum and tubbo squeals as his laughter increases especially when he squeezes the lower part of his tum “EEPPP NAHAHHAHAHHAHAH AHAHEHEHE HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!” Tommy nods “is there anything else?” Ranboo shrugs slightly as he pauses “well usually I repeat this process a few times but tubbo asked for easy so I’ll just go and ahead and go for the ender, you know how the make sounds when you lose sometimes or sometimes when you win?” Tommy nods “yea yea” Ranboo says “well I always switch it up but since he asked for gentle I’ll do the losing noise, so basically when you do the losing noise all you do is blow raspberries! Any size but for today we’ll just do a couple small ones and one big one, and when it comes to the winning noise you cheer and then slider up and down his sides and ribs while blowing raspberries!”

Tommy nods as he watches, ranboo wasted no time as he blows a small raspberry on the left side of tubbos belly and then a small one on the right side and last a big one right on his tum button! Tubbo squeals at each one each squeal getting louder as loud laughter pours out of his tiny frame once more “Eep! EEp! EEP! BOHOHHOHOOO PLEHEHAHHASSEHEHHEE!” After the final raspberry ranboo quickly begins rubbing the tingles away and Tommy releases his arms as ranboo climbs off him, tubbo curls up giggling residually and ranboo and Tommy share a smile nodding to each other and as tubbos giggles stopped he smiled brightly seeing them smiling at each other

He sat up smiling “okay so who wants to watch bolt?!” Ranboo and Tommy roll their eyes as they raise their hands and tubbo giggles excitedly as he rushes over to turn the movie on, Tommy and ranboo sit on the couch and tubbo quickly joins them

And so the night ends with cuddles and plenty more Disney movies

The end

[itsclydebitches]

V8’s loss is so baffling to me. V3’s loss was disheartening because the heroes did all that they could, but the atmosphere spoke that this wasn’t going to end well. V8 had “Everything is going great!” then Salem and Cinder won…just because!

Pairing these two asks up!

Okay, so we all understand on a plot level why the group lost: Cinder arrived unexpectedly, Neo "kills" Yang, Penny takes a critical hit, the lost Staff obliterates the walkways, etc. There are a ton of reasons why the execution of that plot is stupid imo–How did the group just forget about two of their longest running enemies? How did Neo's single sword hit break Yang's aura and knock her across the walkway and put her into a semi-unconscious state so she couldn't save herself? Why is Jaune, the healer, so easily swayed into killing Penny?–but if we're willing to just go with it, fine. Makes sense. The final two episodes do, in some ways, reflect the tone of Volume 3. Both started on incredibly hopeful notes, only to end in failure. "It's the Vytal festival! We've always fought and come out on top, we can do this! ... omg wait, Pyrrha is dead, Beacon is gone, and Yang has lost an arm." From "We have a plan now! We're implementing it! We always manage to save people in the end! ... omg wait, Team RWBY is dead, Jaune is dead, Penny is dead, two Relics are gone, and our civilians are getting picked off by desert grimm." If we're willing to be very generous in regards to that execution... I buy it. The group nearly succeeded in keeping everyone safe, but the villains screwed things up. We've seen it happen before.

What doesn't work for me–where I think the real problem lies–is in why the heroes were fighting this fight in the first place. I don't mean that in the grand scheme of things (like, why fight Salem) but in the literal, immediate battle that they wound up losing. This isn't a Volume 3 situation where the villains attacked the heroes, they defended themselves, they lost. This situation came about because the heroes were trying to transport an entire Kingdom's worth of people across a deadly walkway. So why were they doing that?

...and that's where we run into the snags.

See, none of the motivations across Volume 8 add up. Yeah, we've discussed Ironwood to death, but it's the same with everyone else too. Ruby initially told Yang that she wanted to use Amity not just to warn other people about Salem, but to call for help. She reiterates this during the staircase talk: I'm childish and I wasted everyone's time because I thought people would come and then they didn't (which, frankly, is not what Ruby should be criticizing about her own leadership, but I digress). So my question is, what was Ruby planning to do with that help? Let's say the other Kingdoms broke all internal logic and did manage to get there to help Atlas. What in the world does "help" mean in this instance? What was her plan once they got there? Ruby acts as if she's just very, very broadly planning to fight Salem with this desired assistance, but then she doesn't fight her. Not just in terms of staying inside when Salem's army attacks, but also in terms of remembering that she has access to a Relic that can create anything... but then using that to run, not try and face Salem down.

Ruby's entire stance isn't just that Ironwood is evil for leaving others behind, but that he's wrong to run at all. She emphasizes that Atlas is just Salem's first target, implying that it's foolish to Kingdom hop when she'll just turn around and attack them somewhere else instead. There were a number of compelling reasons for why they should have left when Ironwood suggested it. We can continue to debate the ethics of that until the end of time. But for the purposes of this conversation, the important takeaway is that by the time Ruby decides to leave, there are even more compelling reasons not to go. By this point they have learned that Salem isn't interested in Mantle at all, only the Relics/Maiden housed in Atlas. By this point they have destroyed her whale, cutting her off from a huge portion of her army. By this point they have turned two of her subordinates against her, as well as obliterating her for a time. By this point they know that Oscar still has some amount of energy left in the cane, giving them another weapon to use against her. By this point everyone has been evacuated to the crater, meaning the heat is no longer a threat. By this point the Hound is dead. By this point they're about a half hour away from capturing Ironwood and saving Penny.

To top it all off, yeah, they don't juDst move everyone from the Kingdom of Atlas, they d is anywhere nearby... the threat is gone. It makes absolutely no sense to me why, at this point in time, after everything else they've succeeded in, after Ruby was waiting on an army of her own, after she reminded everyone that nowhere is safe, they would just up and move an entire Kingdom's worth of people. What's the point of this goal? Based on what we see–based on what the characters know–everyone in Mantle would be safer at home with some hacking assistance to get the heat back on. The people of Atlas would be safer provided the group takes those magical Relics, their Maiden, their Silver Eyes and skedaddles. Why the group decided to move the entire Kingdom when they could have just gone to Vacuo themselves, taking everything Salem wants with them, makes no sense to me. It could have very easily made sense if they'd evacuated at the beginning of Volume 8, or if we established something like Salem's intention to murder everyone if the heroes run... but we didn't get anything like that. So we just have the heroes putting civilians through increasingly dangerous situations (deadly walkway, Cinder's attack, dangerous desert, overpopulation in a hostile city) for seemingly no reason. All while bringing the Staff with them so it can get captured too. The group's decisions of who/what should be where all come across as backwards to me.

To top it all off, yeah, they don't jut move everyone from the Kingdom of Atlas to Vacuo, they sacrifice the Kingdom in order to move them. I've said before that I stand by Robyn's observation that the people are more important than the place, but as established, the point is that this sacrifice never needed to happen. We desperately needed the show to establish not just why the group feels like evacuation is still the best option after so much has changed, but why that reasoning is powerful enough to justify the entire Kingdom's destruction. Because–finally getting around to your point, Anon #2–it's not just about losing a place you're used to living in. It's about the loss of everything Atlas provided for the world: the Dust, the tech, and yes, even the army. It's easy to reduce Atlas to that racist Kindgom wooo glad it's gone... but canonically we have so many characters with positive connections to it. The disability angle is just one, particularly disheartening example. I have no doubt that the show will ignore the logical consequence of the Kingdom's destruction... just like it ignored Yang receiving the arm as a gift, just like Maria's eyes were turned into a joke, just like Penny had to be given a flesh body in order to understand how nice hugs are. Yes, the people and their knowledge live on (if Pietro survived), but they no longer have the resources to provide that work. If helping the rest of the world even makes their top ten priority list when trying to survive homelessness.

The point isn't that the group can't go through with that act, the point is to justify the act for us through their perspectives and have them grapple with what a huge, world-changing decision it is. The fact that no one, but especially Weiss, so much as blinked at this decision, especially when the decision comes across as in many respects unnecessary, is crazy to me. I'd be so much more on board with this choice (even with the "Why are we still evacuating?" question) if the group had a solid plan in place to finish before Atlas touched down on Mantle, they were shown ensuring everyone actually had a portal to use, they demonstrated basic intelligence in remembering the two villains they fought in the last 48 hours (Penny fought Cinder, all of JNOR fought Neo), and were allowed to fight with their canonical strength and skill. Then it really would be a case of the group doing everything right... but still losing, simply because the villains were better. AKA, a Volume 3. As it stands, their reasons for doing this are shaky, thus they don't justify this incredible sacrifice, the group comes across as incompetent for much of the battle, and their total disinterest in what this will do to the rest of Remnant doesn't come across as particularly heroic. That kind of sacrifice needs to be attached to a "We had no other choice" situation. Problem is, they bypassed that moment at the end of Volume 7. By the end of 8, they absolutely had other choices.

Disability has no meaning in RWBY anymore. I think it did–back in Volume 4, Volume 6 when Maria was first introduced–but now the story has reduced disability to something "extra," something to fix, or something to outright ignore. Yeah, we can think about the long-term consequences for disability across Remnant, but at the end of the day, the story entirely forgot about the blind and paraplegic characters trapped on a broken tower. These problems, sadly, run a whole lot deeper than RWBY potentially not capitalizing on the impact of destroying 1/5th of the world.

[nickiewrites]

Rough Day. (Andy Barber)

I never know what to put here so. More Andy, wooo! lol

Waking up to the sound of the shower running in the room next door, I rolled over onto my side, pulling the covers over my head to try and drown out the noise. I huffed and closed my eyes again. Soon enough, the water turned off and I heard the door that was connected to the bathroom open. Sounds of drawers opening and closing and hangers scraping against the metal rod in the closet. I groaned at the awful sound.

“Hey, hey. I’m sorry sweetie, did I wake you?” Andy turned and walked over to where I lay in bed. He sits down besides me and pulls down the covers. Pushing some hair out of my face, he chuckles as I blink rapidly to see him. His hair was wet, little droplets came off the ends still, a towel wrapped around his waist, showing off his fantastic abs for an almost 40 year old and his pendant dangling down on his chest. He smiled softly as he noticed me staring at him.

“Good morning, peanut.” He whispered, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

“Do you have to go to work today?” I grumbled, sighing and closing my eyes.

“Yes baby, I do have to go to work. That job pays for this house, so that I can keep my beautiful girl safe.” He said smirking. “And if I remember correctly, you have to go to school.” He finished and then turned to get up and finish getting dressed.

“Yeah but I have another hour until I have to get up so I am going back to sleep.” I say, flipping back over facing the middle of the bed. I heard Andy finish dressing, hearing the zipper of his dress pants. He runs into the bathroom to dry and style his hair. He comes back out and slips on his watch and his phone in his pocket. He comes back around to my side and leans over.

“Goodbye pumpkin. I love you so so so so much, I hope you have a great day, I’m so sorry I have to leave.” He kisses my cheek in between sentences.

“I love you, Andy. Bye baby, I hope you have a good day.” I say, turning to him and kissing him on the lips. He smiles afterwards and leaves the room, heading down the stairs and off to work.

After another hour of sleep, I woke up and started getting ready for my day. I had a slight headache when I woke up so I tried to pick out a comfortable but stylish outfit and decided to let my hair air dry and decided to skip the make up today. I stopped at the coffee shop on campus before my first class and downed some ibuprofen with it. After an hour and a half in that class, my head still hurt. Got another coffee. An hour in my second class. Another coffee, a continuing headache. After my third class, it was 1pm and I still had one class left but my head was still killing me and I had been given homework in all of my classes. I decided to ditch it and went to my car.

I sat inside it without turning it on or moving for 10 minutes. I didn’t want to go home and be alone and I was already in town. I finally pulled out of my spot and headed out onto the street. After 20 minutes, I pulled into the parking structure of the huge building. I already felt better walking up the stairs to the front doors. I opened the door and checked in at the front desk, heading to the elevators. I got off at the 5th floor and hurried off, walking just a couple doors down and found the one I was looking for. I knocked lightly and waited to hear ‘come in!’

I opened it slightly, leaning against the door and pearing in. I smiled. Andy was sitting at his chair, legs crossed, a case folder in one hand, his fingers of his other grazing his lips, his head tilted down as his eyes scanned and pondered what he was looking at. His eyes flickered up after a few seconds to see who it was and the minute they landed on me, his face lit up. He moved from his position and put the folder down on his desk.

“Hey baby! Come in, sweetie.” He says happily, getting up and walking towards me. I slip into the office and shut the door, Andy walking up to me and kissing me on the lips, reaching behind me and locking the door. “What are you doing here, my love?” He asks, pulling me to sit down with him on the couch, one of his hands rubbing my shoulder and the other caressing my thigh.

“I just.. I’ve had a rough day.” I said quietly. “I woke up with a headache and I downed ibuprofen and it didn’t help and I have homework in all my classes, I didn’t even go to my last one, I just-” I stopped and put my head in my hands and just broke down, crying.

“Love bug…. Baby, if you had a headache, you could have stayed home. Missing one day wouldn’t hurt, not when it comes to your health.” Andy says, engulfing me in a hug. I leaned my head into his shoulder and sobbed into his very expensive work suit. He rubbed my back for a few more seconds before he stood up and pulled me with him.

“I-i’m sorry, Andy. I knew you were working and I shouldn’t have come here and bothered you, I-i didn’t want to go home and… and be alone.” I sobbed. “I’ll leave so you can do your work.” I said, starting to pull away. He pulled me back to him, grabbing my face in his hands and whipping my tears away with his thumbs. “Sweet girl, don’t say that. I’m so happy you came here, I love seeing you! I was just so worried. I think about you all the time.” He whispered before planting a kiss on my lips. I smiled through the stain from my tears and hugged Andy as hard as I possibly could.

“Listen. I have to get back to work but I don’t want you to leave me, so will you be a good girl and sit on my lap while I work?” I shake my head vigorously. He smiles and gives me another peck. He walks over to his desk and he picks up his phone to call the reception desk.  “Randy, my door is locked and i’m in the middle of an important case, let everyone know if they need anything from me, call first.” When he hangs up the phone, he looks over at me and I give him puppy dog eyes and within seconds he knew what I wanted.

He pulls a blanket out from the bottom of his desk that he keeps here just in case. I smile and pull off my shoes and shed my layers, my sweatshirt, my shirt and my bra. Andy smirks at me before bringing everything he needs and puts in on the coffee table and the blanket on the couch. He pulls off his jacket and his tie and then unbuttons his shirt. He sits down and pulls me into his lap and wraps the blanket around my back as I leaned into his chest, feeling all my stress leave my body and immediately calming down. I nuzzled my head into his neck and smelled his cologne and let out a deep breath. Andy rubbed his hand all around my back as his other one reopened the file to begin working again. He gave my kisses on my forehead every once and a while and I listened to the soft music playing in the background. We sat in silence for about 45 minutes before I started to drift off, speaking before I fully succumbed to sleep.

“Thank you. For taking care of me.” I whisper. He looks down at me. “Anytime, baby. I love when you just want skin to skin with daddy. I know it calms you down.” He says, giving me one last kiss before my eyelids become heavy and the surrounding noises fade out.

I woke up to the sound of Andy writing notes on his laptop and drool coming from the side of my mouth. I start to move and Andy stops what he’s doing.

“Hi cutie.” He whispers. “Sleep good? Feel better?” He says, putting his laptop away and wrapping me up in his arms. “Really good. Headache is gone. Thank you so much Andy.”

“Baby you don’t have to keep thanking me. I’m your boyfriend, I love taking care of you.” He smiles. I giggle and give him a kiss. “I guess I should head home now, I still have so much to do still.” I sigh, pulling away from his chest and looking for my clothes. He sits there with both his hands on his thighs, looking like a fucking model.

“Okay, you know you’re welcome to stay.” “I know, and I appreciate it.” I situate my clothes after they’ve returned to my body. “What do you want for dinner, baby?” I ask. “I don't want you to cook tonight, beautiful. Just tell me what you want before you leave and i’ll order it later so it gets to the house right when I get home, okay?” I nodded and gave him one last loving before making my way out the door and back down to my car.

At 6:30 pm, Andy walks in the door, just a few minutes after our food was dropped off. He dropped his briefcase on the dining room table, throwing his jacket on the hanger and pulled his shoes off. I was pulling our food out of the bag and he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “How was the rest of your day, my love?” He whispered in my ear and started leaving light kisses down my neck.

“It was good.” I giggled, leaning back into him and giving him a kiss on his hairy cheek. “I uh actually, got an email from my dean today.” I started, turning around and facing him, putting my hands on his shoulders. “Oh? What did it say?”

“It said that he saw my father today, when he came in and told him that there was an emergency in the family and I would be gone for the rest of the week. So he said that I could work on studies from home this week, homework free and could turn in my already assigned work next week.” I looked at him. “Would you have...anything to do with that?”

Andy smirked at me. “I’m sorry. Just, after I saw the way you were today, I knew you needed a break. And it’s not like you're not going to be doing school work, just on a lighter level.” He said. “Are you mad?”

“Well, I was… irritated at first but. Then I realized I was so lucky to have someone as special as you looking out for me.” I said, my eyes starting to water for the second time today. “I love you so much, Andy. I’m so happy you’re mine.”

He smiled. “And you mine, baby girl. I love you more than anything.” He said before kissing me passionately before I could burst out in tears again.

Oh was I ever so lucky for my Andy.

[peppersonironi]

Duke Thomas VS The "Good Child" Stereotype Chapter Three

Wooo! Chapter Two (not including the prologue) is up now for my @dukethomasbigbang fic! Today's art is by @a-sketchy-character and you can find the glorious piece HERE

thx again to my betas @queerbutstillhere & @theycallme-ook

Today has a special thanks to @batgirls-appreciation who dropped out as a beta, but this chapter couldn't exist without her!

Summary:

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave. But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

Read on Ao3

Duke frowned down at his empty pad of paper, trying to brainstorm. It had been a mere twelve hours since the failed Rick Roll (though, the Rick Roll itself wasn’t a fail. Duke would be daydreaming about the chaos for years to come), and the day shift bat was itching for a way to make up for it.

Alas, the creative juices were not flowing that day. Duke had tried everything - taking a walk, training, meditation, writer’s sprint, and even resorting to watching prank compilations on YouTube. But nothing worked. So, he found himself watching the target Bat - Bruce - in his “natural habitat.”

Also known as the living room, mid lecture.

“But I don’t know what I did!” Tim pleaded desperately, trying to convey to Bruce his confusion.

Bruce shook his head. “No, you do, Tim. Dick told me you all will appeal to my affection to get out of the consequences for your actions -” wow, Duke remembered Dick using that exact tactic just yesterday, and it worked - “So I will not allow you to shirk the punishment.”

Tim groaned. “This is tyranny! I’m an emancipated minor, I don’t need to deal with this.”

“Actually, yes you do. You will be doing chores for Alfred for the next two weeks, and you aren’t allowed to run off to Mount Justice.”

“Then at least tell me what I did wrong!” Tim cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Bruce rubbed his temples, then glanced briefly at Duke.

“You know what you did, and how it affected those around you. And you’re grounded because of it. No room for arguments. Now go work on the sprinklers, Alfred has mentioned they’ve been finicky.”

Tim scoffed and stalked out, soon after followed by Bruce.

Duke considered relocating as well - he couldn’t very well observe Bruce if said wild furry wasn’t present. But something about that conversation that sent a light shiver up Duke’s spine, some small spark of inspiration.

An idea began to form in his mind, and Duke smiled slowly.

*****

“For all Bruce’s waxing poetic on the merits of high tech stuff, this pipe organization is seriously ancient,” Duke muttered under his breath as he glanced from the blueprints he had secured to the mess of pipes and spigots and nozzles in front of him.

Though to be fair, this wasn’t the Batcave. Duke was in the basement of Wayne Manor - yes, he was just as surprised to find they actually had one of those that wasn’t dedicated to the dark and mystique training of Gotham’s Protectors. And impromptu Mario Kart challenges, because as Tim had once told Duke “We all know that’s the real reason Bruce got a giant computer setup.”

Duke cursed softly under his breath when he dropped a wrench that began to clang around in the messy cage of metal. He set the blueprints aside atop the gallons of paint he had chosen, and reached around and down to get the wrench. When he came back up, he found himself face to face with his sister Cassandra.

Oh shit, Duke thought, as he tried to figure out how to cover for what he was doing in the plumbing of the Manor.

Cass squinted at him and, not for the first time, Duke felt like he was an onion trapped beneath her gaze, slowly being peeled back layer by layer till the young woman before him knew every little detail about him. Every thought or plan he ever had.

Duke began to sweat, unable to keep his panic under wraps. Cass was scarier than Bruce, that was just a fact.

Cass tilted her head a fraction of an inch, and Duke thought he was a dead man. But, much to his relief and confusion, Cass shrugged and turned. She walked lightheartedly out of the basement and to the stairs, whistling tunelessly as she went.

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave.

But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

*****

As all members of the Wayne family knew, the Library was one of the best places, period. Aside from the living room which was always a mess of pillows, bean bags, inflatable dinosaurs, spare semi-automatic weaponry and knives, the Library was the most personal room in the expansive home that was the Manor. Sure, it was cleaner and home to fewer surprise nerf gun fights, but It still had an air of warmth about it. It was the place that they would go to to rest after a difficult patrol. Where you could find Jason reading some book in a corner, Tim busy with WE work at the large table, Damian trying to teach Alfred the Cat and Titus to read picture books, Cass and Steph trying to be subtle about making out (though to be fair that was only half the time, other times Cass was working on reading with Steph helpfully giving her guidance). Dick would always be trying to decide what to read and but he would never actually succeed, Bruce would sit in his tall armchair in the corner overlooking every small detail of his children with a not-quick-smile-but-pretty-darn-close on his face.

Duke himself also had his own spot that he would work on writing poetry, or just surf Tumblr. It was a window seat at the far side of the library which was technically big enough for three people, but Duke had a strict policy that it was his and his alone and no he totally wasn’t bullied by Cass that one time to snuggle. Why on Earth would you ever consider such a thing?

It was in this spot now that Duke was situated, though he was not alone. Titus - yes, Damian’s dog - was draped across his lap. Now, Duke didn’t mean to steal his little brother’s pets, but it just happened. Titus was in need of snuggles or belly rubs when Damian was away with Jon or on patrol at night, and Duke just happened to be the only one that said canine could bully into granting him.

Thankfully, like all bats were, Duke was a multi-tasker. He wasn’t put off by having to scratch a dog behind the ears whilst simultaneously checking the twelve blinking dots on his laptop screen that represented his family members.

Duke stared intensely at the diagram of the Manor as all the dots slowed down and finally stayed in their predetermined positions. Huh, Tim was right. Stalking family members did pay off!

The dots suddenly stopped blinking, and Duke snapped out of his self congratulations. It was go time . He switched windows, then quickly pulled out his phone and pressed a button.

There were several screams that echoed throughout the ancient halls, those screams spoke of terror and surprise, and passed along the message that something was very, very wrong in the world. The status quo had been broken, and there was no returning from this.

Duke smirked down at his computer, where a dozen different squares displayed camera footage of the real time happenings of the Manor. Said footage was showing several members of Duke’s family drenched in paint. The same paint that Duke had meticulously divided and poured into the ceiling sprinkling system that the Manor had for some totally-not-plot-related reason. The same paint which had been primed and ready to be sprayed out of the spigots coating each bat with the perfectly calculated, even layer.

The paint had just finished being deployed, and yet several people were for some reason trying to fight it off like it was an attacker. Duke noticed that the swinging of bo staffs, AK-47’s and katanas were altogether unsuccessful. Honestly, the people who were standing completely still in shock, or who were trying to shake off the paint were having much better luck.

But then everyone finally realised that they weren’t being sprayed anymore, and a collective sigh spread out across the Manor. The onslaught was done, and they could finally gather together and grab the pitchforks to hunt down the responsible party.

It was then that the glitter was deployed.

The chaos immediately multiplied tenfold, and the screams sounded up again. The air was filled with the sparkly dust that was way too thin to swat away. (No, Duke totally didn’t spend extra time researching to find the world’s finest glitter)

Duke was outright laughing at this point, so hard that he almost fell off the window seat. Titus barked suddenly, and Duke sobered enough to get back upright and watch the finishing up of the chaos. He had to admit, this felt wonderful. If he had to describe his current state of thrill in two words, he would have admitted that he felt altogether too close to the Hellmo Meme.

Unfortunately, Duke was not Stephanie, and ran out of glitter eventually. The vents stopped blasting the film of fairy dust, and the bats were given a reprieve.

Though the break was short lived, as just then, Bruce’s loud bellow sounded throughout the giant house.

“ALL OF YOU GET IN HERE!”

Duke chuckled as he scooched Titus over and set his laptop to the side so he could get up. This was all working perfectly! He’d arrive at Bruce's interrogation completely free from all paint or glitter, which would immediately prove his guilt. And if that didn’t work, then he supposed he could outright confess. But that wasn’t the point of this. The point was for Bruce to come to the conclusion on his own.

He walked down the hall, completely carefree. So happy and confident in his own abilities that he never even noticed that Cassandra’s paint or glitter didn’t go off. That she wasn’t even present where the tracker he had subtly placed on her earlier that day said she was.

*****

Duke hummed to himself as he skipped along the carpet, past the antique vases and random finger paintings, past the drawing rooms and bathrooms, and towards Bruce. All was quiet.

Though that began to trouble Duke, as he got closer to one of the rooms which was very special. It was where Cass had been situated, playing with Selina’s cat Isis, for the past hour. Now, Cassandra was quiet, sure. But not that quiet. And besides, wouldn’t the cat be screeching right about now? Cass didn’t seem like the person to give a nerve hit to an animal just because it was being loud ( cough Jason cough ).

He slowly entered the room and looked around, but was surprised to find it completely empty. Not just of girl and cat, but of paint and glitter too.

“You were mistaken.”

Duke whirled around to find Cass sitting in an armchair, wrapped in shadows, and stroking Isis in a manner not altogether different from that of an Evil Mastermind™.

“Uh…” Duke replied, “about what?”

Cass smirked, and Duke felt a shiver run up his spine. “Actions have consequences. ”

Duke frowned. Wait, what? He glanced around again, trying to figure out what Cass meant. On a surface level he understood, but there was something about the way Cass was eyeing him that told him something else was up.

The only thing he could find that was out of the ordinary, however, was the camera he had placed just yesterday. Huh, now that he thought about it, he was at just the right angle to see it. Which meant he was in direct view of the camera itself. Pretty darn to close to where he had been planning Cass would stand, actually.

Then a faint spitting noise came from above him.

Oh.

*****

Duke trudged forlornly into the room where the rest of the bats - except Cassandra, who had disappeared after the glitter had deployed onto Duke - had gathered. He was one of the last to arrive, muttering curses under his breath, so all eyes were on him as he opened the door and joined them.

Though that also meant that Duke could see them. He had to admit, that as disappointed as he was, it was still hard to keep a grin from spreading across his face. Boy, he had done a great job with color coordination, hadn’t he?

Bruce was front and center, covered in a dark gray paint which had the sheen of yellow glitter. Dick had black paint completely covering him (much more than Duke planned. Did Dick roll in the stuff?) along with blue glitter. Jason had both red paint and glitter on him. Tim had started off with a lighter colored paint - this time red - and then the look was finished by black glitter. Damian looked like a small Christmas tree in his green paint and red glitter. Harper had blue paint then covered in purple glitter, both of which were the exact shades of her hair. Duke wasn’t a monster ; he knew how to match colors.

The cousins - both honorary and actually - had also been present. Bette had been appropriately targeted with a flaming orange and gold combination. Kate had black paint and, instead of red, Duke had picked a rainbow glitter for her. From the slight glint in her eye, Duke supposed he had chosen correctly. Jean-Paul had been doused in yellow paint and red glitter, and he honestly looked like a very large and human shaped version of his sword. Luke was covered in silver paint and an electric blue glitter.

Bruce, however, didn’t give Duke a second glance, covered in yellow paint and black glitter (which had been meant for Cass, but honestly, it fit Duke quite well), though he was.

“Good, now we just have to wait for Steph,” Tim remarked, rolling his eyes.

Duke frowned. “What about Cass? She’s here too.”

Everyone gave Duke a weird look. “Uh, no she isn’t. She’s been hanging out with Selina and Babs all weekend.”

“Then your intel is wrong,” Duke countered. “She was just here! I planned on her being here!”

The silence in the room was palpable. Before, where there had been bickering and accusations, the quiet had taken over. Everyone stared at Duke with suspicion in their eyes.

Finally, Duke thought, sighing in relief.

Bruce opened his mouth about to question Duke’s statement when the doors to the room banged open.

“What’s up, Bitches? The Waffle Queen has arrived and looks as fabulous as ever!”

Duke stared, completely amazed that she actually seemed to like the purple on purple combo Duke had picked for her. Oh, yeah, now that he thought about it made perfect sense that Steph was the only one to like this.

“Wow, whoever did this really got my colors right!" Steph continued as she waltzed in and posed in front of everyone, her hip cocked and arm thrown up dramatically.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, and he began to growl at her. “This is not funny.”

Steph pouted. “What do you mean? I sure think it is!”

Oh boy, she didn’t notice she was digging her own grave, did she? From the looks of the other bats, they shared Duke’s sentiment.

“Stephanie Brown, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Stephanie smirked. “Yup! I look way better than you, you old fur- hey wait! Are you blaming me ?!”

Bruce glared even harder, and Stephanie started to protest, claiming that she was but an innocent victim of these pain-filled proceedings! It was not her fault! Nor was it her fault that she happened to get colors that she liked better than everyone else.

Bruce refused to hear what she said, and told her to go get changed. “You will be cleaning up this whole mess, and no patrolling until it’s done.”

Bruce turned and stalked out, and Steph was left speechless - for once - in the hall. She backed away, seeing the angry stares from the others. The only one who didn’t seem mad at her, was Duke himself. He opened his eyes wide, conveying pity. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed silently.

Instead of being reassuring, however, Steph squinted in suspicion. Oh shit, that probably hadn’t been the best move.

Just moments after Steph left, Jason threw up his hands. “Okay, who wants to have a water gun fight to clean off?”

There were several cheers of assent, but Duke quickly made his own escape at that time. He honestly wasn’t in the mood to get splashed in the face with water. Now was not the time for fun, as the failed prank still hung over him.

Now was the time for plotting.

*****

“Okay, but why on earth do you have a fully functioning sprinkler system in every room?”

“Yeah, Bruce, even for you that’s paranoid! What caused you to think that was necessary?”

“You.”