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darkacademicfrom2021 · 3 years

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The Dark Team (part 13)

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(Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87, @the-departed-potato, @jesuswasnotawhiteman, @idontknow296, @beksib, @spythoschei, @geekwritersworld, @whatafuckingdumbass, @mysticunicorn7 @shadowolf993 @toe-vind-ek-jou @joscelyn02, @t00-pi, @irwxnhugsx )

Warnings: creepy man, hungover (alcohol mentions), abduction mentions.

Chirping birds woke you up as the light hit your face. It was a slightly sunny morning, you could see. A cold one, too. Your head ached; yesterday’s wine was stronger than you’d think. You remembered very little, and the hangover weighed on your feet as you tried to stand up. Soon, that weight redistributed up to your head, dizziness almost throwing you back in bed.

With much more effort than before, you got up and walked slowly to the kitchen, glancing around. Last night, a sticky kid fell asleep on the doorframe. You chuckled and decided to not wake him up. Loki was nowhere to be found; must be sleeping in his own room, if he had one by then.

An ibuprofen and some cold water later, you checked the time. It was so early; six in the morning. You decided to get working already; maybe someone on the team was awake. If not, you could at least take things off your to-do list for the day and get time free at noon to play videogames with Peter, or help him with that Lego Stark Tower he has been trying to build for almost two weeks now. A nice walk in the park to get some fresh air until some coffee shop opened; that’s what you needed.

The streets were emptier than you’d imagine, and then you realized it was saturday. Peeping in, a coffee shop next block was already opening, and people were lining up to get in. You made sure to have brought money and a laptop with you, and as you reached your pockets you realized you had your suit on, under normal clothes. Well, at least I’m prepared for anything now. Even a sunday morning in a lovely coffee shop, you thought, laughing to yourself. If Tony saw you like this, he’d recall that word he says you inherited from him. Paranoid. But no, Stark, I’m just hungover. Good to know your first instinct once you get up off bed is to suit up. Tony'd be proud. And a little disappointed, too.

You got a table far from the window, wall behind your back making sure nobody could eye your laptop. Once you were settled in and your coffee was getting cold, you started working. You were so glad you were out of the public eye, so you could afford yourself all of these outside activities. Sounded stupid, but if you were to have dinner with Sam, or Steve, or Thor, you’d have to also deal with paparazzis all night long. Actually, in dining out with Thor, paparazzis would be the least of your problems.

“Hey”, greeted Bucky from the other line. “It’s so early, what are you doing up?”.

“Buck, it’s already ten”.

“Oh”, he said, and you heard a sliding curtain by his side. “Oh, there it is. Sunlight”.

“Why are your times all twisted?”.

“We stayed up until five”.

“Doing what?”.

“Let’s say the mini bar was not so mini”.

“Oh my God”, you laughed, and checked for your work on the laptop. “At this point, I think the only one who didn’t get drunk last night is Spidey. Ah. Listen, I’ve arranged today’s plan, and it has to go right or else you can get abducted again. And we don’t want that, okay?”.

“I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do now. Didn’t we already get the stick?”.

“That’s the point, there’s more… you know, bottles hanging around” you lowered your voice. The coffee shop was almost empty, but just in case, you kept it under your breath. “That’s why you gotta get into Hydra’s last base again. Do not go alone”.

You instructed Bucky and then he tried his best to put you on speaker to the rest of the team, but failed. None of them could actually figure out how to do it; Steve was even less familiar with cell phones, and Thor… well, not even elaborating on him. The only Asgardian who seemed familiar enough with Midgard’s technologies was sleeping soundly on the compound. You had to explain the plan thoroughly another two times individually, and then finally hung up and got to work, sending them coordinates and turning off Hydra’s hacked security cameras.

Once they were already in, you had not much more to do. At least for a few hours, they’d be completely submerged in there, and your help wasn’t needed anymore. You still planned for some outcomes and didn’t even notice the man standing in front of you.

“Excus…”.

“OH... my God”, you gasped, taking yourself off your hyper focused state. The man chuckled. His teeth, yellow, seemed like he didn’t know anything about dental hygiene. His clothes were perfectly cleaned, though, in a tidy office-type suit; but his hair was hidden by a peaked cap that barely let you see his eye expressions. Very weird looking. Hard to read. Just now unemployed? Dressed like that to get attention? You frowned and closed all tabs, opening a fake account of email and some cheap online magazine. “What do you need?”.

“Can I sit here?”.

“No”.

He smiled weirdly and manspreaded in the chair you told him not to sit in. You sighed and rolled your eyes.

“What are you doing?”, he asked.

You ignore him and keep pretending to read your mails, eyeing how many people were in there too. It was getting fuller than before. If he wanted to steal your laptop he’d have to do it in front of all of these people, and cross the whole coffee shop. He wasn’t planning on stealing. You made a security copy of all the files anyways.

“You have pretty eyes”.

You ignored him again, but now understood his intentions. God, people could be so shameless sometimes. You literally told him to go away. You’ll repeat it, just in case he would actually listen this time.

“Go away”.

He chuckled and stayed in place.

“I just want to talk, sweetie”.

“Sure. I’m not interested”.

“You have a boyfriend?”.

“I have a very strong fist”.

He got closer, leaning on the table, and lowering his voice said “You’re working on the supersoldiers mission, yes?”.

You froze. Suddenly, the creepy man was a bigger threat than you’d anticipated. Your hand hovered over the gun in your pocket, holding strong eye contact with him.

“Who are you?”.

“What do you have in your pocket?”, he teased.

“Wanna find out?”, you threatened.

Looking over his shoulder, an all-too-familiar fifteen year old hid behind a pile of coffee cups from the bar counter, holding his breath to not laugh. You sighed and broke the tension.

“Funny. Very funny. I almost shoot you, you know”.

“That’s not a very good instinct”.

“Not an instinct, I truly wanted to shoot you”.

“You sure were, pancake”, he said as he transformed back into himself, still in those ugly clothes covering half his face. As he looked down to himself, he frowned and changed his clothes to an Asgardian armor. “But your mortal bullets would be no more than a caress to my skin”.

“Let’s give it a try, shall we?”, you cocked your gun, joking. He laughed, and Peter got increasingly nervous as you played with your toys in a public and safe place, surrounded by civilians. “Don’t worry, Pete, it’s fake”.

Peter sighed in relief as you clarified and put it back in your pocket, and Loki smirked, knowing perfectly well you just lied.

“Why don’t we get something to drink, too, mr. Loki?”.

“Yeah, whatever you want, kid”.

“Not a kid”.

“Apologies. Actually, can you order it? I’m afraid Midgardians don’t usually take kindly to my presence”, he asked. Peter nodded.

“I do, mr. Loki”.

"What?".

"Take it kindky".

Loki smiled and raised his eyebrows, a bit confused. Muttered an “I’m glad” and instructed him to get an americano, while you packed your laptop in the backpack.

"How's the incognito working out for you in your shiny armor?"

"Better than before. At least now I'm comfortable while getting the same bad looks I always get anyways".

"Shapeshifter can't manage to hide, how ironic", you said, giving him one of the new earbuds, with an attachable mic. "Since you have good strategy plans and you sort of know what you're doing, work with me".

"I thought we were already working together. You know, in this stupid thing called The Dark...".

"Yeah", you interrupted him, rolling your eyes once again. "From behind the scenes, I mean. This is so you can listen to whatever my earbud hears. Don't bite your tongue if you have any inputs, I'm running out of solutions".

Your phone rang again as you were getting up.

“Yes?”.

“It’s all gone to trash, y/n. We need a new plan, I can’t find Buck anywhere. What’s your backup?”, rushed Steve’s voice. It sounded like it was from a public service phone, and the static didn’t let you hear Steve’s surroundings. Loki looked at the floor, concentrating. He didn't find anything either, and was too far away to read his mind.

“Wait. What do you mean you can’t find him? You were supposed to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t get kidnapped again”, you said, opening your laptop again and looking for Bucky’s location. He didn’t have it on him.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant with ‘it’s all gone to trash’”.

“Okay, don’t freak out. Where are you?”.

“Hydra’s last base, top of the buil…”.

“Hold up, I have another incoming call”. You put him on hold and see who’s calling. It was Bucky, this time. You sigh out of relief. Peter watched you two concerned while approaching you with two coffee cups. You gestured to him to not talk, and Loki had started to type things in your computer. “Buck, where are you? What happened?”.

On the other side of the line, you didn’t get a specific answer. You heard muffled noises that you still couldn’t quite figure out what they meant, and more than one person behind the phone.

“Buck, you there?”, you asked once again. Bucky’s voice filled the silence with a heartrending scream of agony. You almost dropped your phone, and your heart beated to the speed of light. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. They have him. “Buck!”.

“Three hours”, called someone, probably one of the Hydra butchers. “You have three hours”.

“Three hours for what?!”, you tried to hold them on the line while tracing the call. It was from a specific coordinate, nobody could get there unless they teleported. Luckily, you had the perfect person for the job. Loki looked at you quizzically.

"Do we not have better people on it? Can't Stark go?".

You returned to Steve’s call, while thinking about some other alternative than taking you three there (including Peter). “They have Bucky. Location’s very far away from where we all are, so you try to get out of there and go to Asgard with Thor; they’ll try to kidnap you too, and Hydra’s resources are global. No, don’t argue, you screw up, now you do exactly as I say”.

“Do you think they’re the same that hijacked the ship on the first part of the mission?”, asked Loki once you cut the call.

“They might. We have to go get him, there's no other way. The rest of the team comes back tomorrow and they can't leave”.

“No, I have to go”, said Loki. “But I’m supposed to stay with you two and make sure you’re not endangered, and I’m sure if I leave you here all alone, you’ll try to come by your own means”.

“Which means”, you added, “if you take us with you, you can make sure we don’t endanger ourselves”.

“This is a terrible idea”.

“But the only one so far”, you convinced him. “Pete, feeling like going on a dangerous mission?”.

“Hell yeah!”, he said eagerly. Loki was not very fond of his enthusiasm.

“I can do this”, you assured him. “Do you trust me?”.

“Yes”. He didn’t hesitate. “But I don’t trust them. You two will stay behind me facing the danger, alright? Nothing of wanting to play heroes”.

“Got it. Let’s suit up, fellas. Bucky’s waiting”.

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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S5 Ep 3: Apdnarg is Really Hard to Spell

Yo guys, people are getting vaccinated, the sun is parting through the clouds, and I felt so nice that I even stopped listening to quite so many throwback 00′s BTS mashups (and yet I keep clicking on these dissonant catastrophes thinking “this time it’s got to be better. This time they’ll figure it out.” and like, no. Turns out you can’t match Brittany’s Toxic with BTS’ Black Swan. You can’t do that.)

This must be a sign that things are getting better. If anything, it means my personal tastes are improving. I mean I only clicked on like 3 “Dark Academia” Playlists where I could pretend I’m some sort of spooky witch in an abandoned library with a bad music player and basic taste in classical music (like can we ban Satie from Youtube for a little while?). Hell, I might even do a prompt update to this blog!

Yeah, you heard me, I’m actually going to stay ahead of the update schedule for Yugioh Abridged (maybe. I haven’t actually watched cuz of spoilers, I just noticed the thumbnail pop up on Youtube and was like “Damn it, they came out of hiatus??? I got hurry UP.”)

Anyway, speaking of the sky parting.

I’ll have you know my bro said this is actually more like a circumcision and it was one of the worst thing I have ever heard.

We get a chance to take in this lineup of confusing and varied character designs, and Joey. who is...still Joey.

The animators probably had to hold a strike in order for them to put Yugi in the audience, lets be real. There are TOO MANY PEOPLE in this shot and one is wearing a turban where you draw every single wrap. I hope those artists charged by the line.

Tea has a subplot where she’s just very frustrated with everyone she knows. They have been traveling together for like many weeks and got trapped in a foreign country so I get it. But at the same time, it’s kind of hard to picture Tea with female friends.

Because right now you got this 12 year old child, the other duelist who does not care about anything besides cards, and Kaiba’s 3 dragon cards that we’ve all collectively decided are female.

Hell it’s almost like the writers are asking themselves why Tea is here. Maybe they forgot. There’s no more ghosts to bus, no more people to knock out with her ass with random Olympic feats. Tea’s just sidelining.

(read more under the cut)

Mokuba is a itty bit bit taller this season, and so I guess that means he can legally climb on top of the cherry picker in order to give a riveting speech.

Really says a lot about Mokuba that he is so unphased about talking to, I dunno...an entire planet of people. Kind of a shame we never see this courage from Mokuba used for anything other than talking really, really big and giving everyone around him a really hard time.

Mokuba takes a moment to dunk on Yugi Muto, as is Kaiba tradition.

And then introduce the first pair of duelists, which obviously must be between the few people in this tournament that we actually know and care about.

Thankfully, in between last episode and this episode, Yugi has figured out who his own Grandpa is. This is a relief, because Yugi is such a mess, that I was fully convinced it would take over half a season for him to recognize it. I mean how long did it take him to figure out he shares a body with a ghost? Like half a season?

Instead Yugi recovered gracefully from not recognizing his grandpa, but it’s not like he bothered to tell anyone else, so the rest of our cast is just gonna be like “Is he my hairdresser? The guy who delivers my mail? Who is this guy who made absolutely no significant changes to his outfit or voice?”

Like sometimes this show goes full Spongebob silly kid’s show and you never know when to take it seriously or not. They might be sacrificing the entire cast next episode. I really don’t know. But for now their big concern is who is grandpa??? Like an innocent card version of “Are you my Mother?”

Faced with public speaking, Yugi decides to have a melt down.

We have seen him face monsters, we’ve seen him on TV dozens of times, he’s been in multiple competitions...but give a speech? Of course he can’t do that. The kid doesn’t attend enough school to know how to do that. Them’s learning skills.

And that was when a newly assembled wife-jet spliced through the sky like a souped up razer scooter and deposited 1 fully equipped Seto Kaiba in a Buzz Lightyear jetsuit.

THE RECOVERY.

Seto always watching over his Brother, ready to save this awkward party if it kills him (and it really should, that suit is held together by two seat-belts), making sure to get on that platform before Yugi starts going off about how he’s half an Ancient Egyptian. (Ah, life before social media. You could just be hella famous and also half a dead dude and people would just not know. I kinda miss the time before I knew literally everything about everyone.)

Please admire how close those flames are to setting Mokuba’s heavily hairsprayed mane completely alight. It would be an unforgettable spectacle.

These were absolutely just random ass jet packs that Gozaburo Kaiba made to kill hell tons of people, right? Like Seto found it in the family cabin, clutched to the heart of some crispy fried corpse and was like “neat! Mokuba! I found a cool toy!” and just plucked that thing out of that skeleton’s clutches and has been flying around for months?

Like this is Seto Kaiba’s Butter Glider, right?

Seriously what type of vehicle license do you need for one of these things? RIP My ‘Seto only has a scooter license’ headcanon.

Which I’m only even thinking about because I’ve had to try and make an appt with the DMV for days to get a freakin REAL ID. I went to sleep in 2019 and I could fly on a plane. I woke up in 2021 and it’s like “Want one last screw you?” and just...can 2020 please stop screwing me over? It’s March.

Anyway, the Jet is removed soon after, so no, this is not part of his new outfit. He goes right back to his Post-S4-Trauma-Normcore.

After wrestling this competition out of his brother’s hands and confusing everyone in the audience, Roland must have gotten the memo to cut the microphone before Seto got too excited and we were quickly ushered on to the next stage of the tournament.

One sec...the BTS Mashup playlist I just clicked on did a Black Swan X 7 rings mashup and it’s the worst thing my ears have ever heard.

Holy crap. I had to actually turn down my volume. Like...Ariana Grande already has music that has way too many overlapping singing parts on it--and then lets just stick a 52-person boy band on top? That’ll fix it. Yeah. Go ahead.

Wow. Even I had to change the song and you know how much I enjoy pop culture mistakes.

Spot the Mickey but like a million times easier because it’s a Massive Dick Shaped Dragon.

Yep. That’s my grocery shopping outfit. Except maybe not a lab coat and a duel disk. Wish I had a duel disk, that would make social distancing just a hell ton earlier. Just a “Yo, only one person in checkout, please” and then bap them on the head with a propelled discuss/hologram.

Anyway, Grocery shopping/Doctor man dueled the Purple Hair Boy, and considering that Purple Hair got screen time and shook Yugi’s hand once--I think that Doctor man doesn’t stand a freakin chance.

Good. I hate him.

Also, every time he breathes he’s gonna fog up his glasses. I have experience in this area. He can’t read his own cards in the same way I can’t read my phone if I’m in the refrigerated aisle.

So the way this tournament works, is everyone has to sit in the stadium to watch the show. Kinda like showing up to a football stadium just to watch a recorded TV monitor...but then again...that is how it feels to watch a football game at a football stadium when it’s live (at least with the tickets I usually get.)

And as we watch Grandpa waiting for his competitor, we find out that his competitor (Joey) is too busy eating snacks to give him the time of day.

Why do cartoon hot dogs always have lettuce? Is that seriously supposed to be relish? Or is there a place in the world where you put lettuce on your hot dog?

Sorry, bro has just informed of his favorite hot dog order, which is absolutely terrible so I will share it with you: a Five Guys hot dog with ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, onions, mushrooms, pickled peppers, and you guessed it--topped with freakin lettuce.

My own kin. How am I over 30 and just finding out that my baby brother thinks it’s normal to walk into a restaurant with normal god-fearing law-abiding people and order lettuce and mushrooms on a hot dog?

I have fully failed him.

The rest of this episode is watching both Joey Wheeler and Mokuba have a shared panic attack while Seto does freakin nothing.

Please remember that Seto has both a jetpack and a dragon wife plane and could have easily solved this problem. But nah.

Then again, Seto Kaiba has given this crew so MANY rides, that maybe he’s tired of being the Soccer Mom for the team?

Like they don’t actually say this episode, but Seto was the one in charge of like...this entire place, do you think he made the 2 for 1 special just to get Joey where it hurts the most? Or does it actually not take any subterfuge to screw Joey Wheeler because he’s just naturally this way?

Like Mokuba wasn’t there when Joey was told “stay right here, and then we will all go together to fight Dartz” and Joey was like “I’mma save Mai from herself although she told me not to!” and then he Hella Died. But, Mokuba did see the result, AKA, Joey’s dead body being carried on the back of Tristan. Maybe Mokuba never realized that Joey died because he went out of his way to be late?

Lets do a tally of every time I can recall with my dodgy memory that Joey was threatened to be DQ’d/pretty much was DQ’d either by his own fault or no fault of his own

-When he wasn’t allowed to go on the boat to Murder Island because he was a stupid nobody kid who did not have a dueling glove

-When he wasn’t actually supposed to be in Pegasus’ tourney and was, in fact, secretly using half of Yugi’s entrance ticket the entire time

-when Bandit Keith stole the ticket that Joey got from Yugi so then Joey had to borrow Mai’s ticket although she had just used it so it really shouldn't have counted. Because, really anyone could have just piggy backed off of each other’s ticket until the whole boat went through that castle.

-When his account was hacked to get entered into Kaiba’s tourney when Kaiba very clearly told him he could not apply solely because he was Joey Wheeler.

-When he was late to his sister’s eye surgery because he got mugged by Marik’s Rare Hunters, so she almost refused to do the surgery.

-When Joey got possessed by Marik, and as Marik, threatened to murder everyone else in the tournament including both of the Kaiba brother’s who’s tournament it was, and then chained himself to Yugi Muto to throw both of them to the bottom of the ocean.

-I think there was a point when he threatened to attack Kaiba in Kaiba’s own tourney while not possessed? Like several times?

-when he got struck by Lightning and almost did not stand up fast enough after being struck by lightning, which is apparently a type of DQ in Duel Monsters.

-When he tried to save Mai from getting hit by a fireball, but then Yugi did it instead, and then so many people were standing on the dueling platform that Kaiba couldn’t possibly DQ them all.

-When he entered the restricted area of the blimp in order to hassle Kaiba into landing the Blimp, which Kaiba did not do.

-When Marik killed Joey before Joey could press the “go” button on his duel disk to play the card that should have won Joey the match.

-When he was dueling a lawyer in a digital universe but then the dice was like...weighted? So Noah had to walk over and be like “The hell is this weighted dice? This is my perfect digital world? How did you even do that?” and then Joey won because the match was no longer legit.

-When Joey yelled at Noah too much and so Noah turned Joey to stone for being a rude ass spectator

-When Mai was like “Wheeler and Valon, listen closely: do NOT murder each other” and then Joey did a murder on Valon so she was like “I guess I have no choice, I was very clear” and killed Joey straight up.

-When Joey decided to block Seto’s fireballs while Joey Wheeler WAS a playing card, somehow disrespecting both Dartz and Seto Kaiba at the same time.

-When Joey was playing cards but then got absorbed into a giant Leviathan and basically couldn’t play anymore after that.

-There’s probably hell ton of S0 stuff I just haven’t seen yet.

-This episode

And Joey runs fast for a montage of wacky things that really have no business being in a theme park. Things like this:

(remember when Bakura almost died from a rock that ended up being a balloon? It comes full circle.)

The stuff that the Kaiba brother’s think is normal and fun.

Anyway Joey fights off a bunch of hologram snakes and bats and everyone is like “Should we tell him it’s just holograms???” And it’s like wow, guys, how many times have these ‘holograms’ straight up murdered Joey Wheeler and everyone else on this cast? Too many? Because I have a google doc with so many deaths on it. 7,805,844,048, to be exact.

Anyway, he gets there with five seconds to spare and Mokuba’s like “well at least you were still entertaining while we filmed you in front of a live audience being a total spaz for 15 minutes straight, so I’ll let you go.”

Grandpa and Joey start playing, Joey completely oblivious that this is just an older Muto, while Hawkins walks up awkwardly and is like “hey guys. I’m so sorry about this.”

(welcome to my font choices, for those new here, I have to make weird font color choices to make sure it’s legible for the colorblind and also for the non-colorblind. This one is not much contrast, so I may change it up in the future, but for now, this is Grandpa Muto’s new font. I apologize to every graphic designer reading this. Please don’t tell anyone who has ever hired me for graphic design about this blog.)

What’s funny about this exchange is that after they find out that Yugi’s Grandpa is Apdnarg (HOLY my brain cannot get around the spelling for that, and I will not change it in the caps. I cannot do a ‘pdn’ ever again), they don’t stand on his side of the field or anything. Hawkins is legit Solomon Muto’s only fan during this exchange and like...damn. Way not to back your Grandpa, Yugi.

Yugi immediately strides up to Mokuba to non-confrontation-ally inform him that he has stepped over a line and Mokuba is like “what are these things you say called ‘lines?’”

According to Mokuba, Solomon Muto begged him to be in the competition so he could relive his glory days (glory days making no sense here, because the game has only been released for the past 15 years, so glory days is like...the before times that can only be referring to disgraced archeologists and Pegasus ((who is, in his own way...a disgraced archeologist, too))) and Mokuba was like

“You trained Yugi Muto, right? Hey that’s good enough for me. This drama is gold. People will eat it up. Hell yes. Don’t be afraid to abduct him a little bit. Maybe trap a couple people in a digital hellscape for a little while? Now we go by Pegasus house rules here, so fire as many lasers as you want, but just make sure not to hit anyone in the face. Oh man, we are going to be swimming in cash. Love it, Muto Sr, love it.”

But I dunno, I feel like Grandpa won’t make it past next episode. It is Joey. We kinda need him to make it past Ep 4 of the arc. If Grandpa Muto becomes the new Joey Wheeler, that will be a weird transition for this show to make.

But that’s all for today, as always, here is the link to read these in chrono order becuase there’s SO MANY that you don’t need to read backwards--don’t do it--just use the chrono tag (and I don’t know if you can add compound tags, but I did separate the Season from the Episode, so if you write S4, it should only pop up stuff from S4. I didn't’ do that to seasons 1-3 though because I just...didn’t.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

And because I brought it up: here it is, the best BTS Mashup that I found on my deep dive. Like legit--this one isn’t a mess:

youtube

Most of other ones are horrible in a fascinating way. Like I’m not even a BTS fan, I think I sort of age out of that metric, I’m just bored and quarantined. And lets be real, we all appreciate a good bop when we hear it.

#yugioh #ygo #yu gi oh #photo recap #recap #episode recap #yugi muto #seto kaiba #mokuba kaiba #Joey Wheeler #Apdnarg #Grandpa muto #tea gardner #tristan taylor #professor hawkins #and then I ranted about BTS #but please don't quiz me about BTS I know nothing about them aside from the music #I actually thought there were over 12 of them because every time I see them perform it feels like an entire stageplay production of people #like a 101 dalmations situation where every time I saw BTS there were 3 new people #I assumed it was like the Gorrilaz where people just show up and then disappear in a rotation #but no. There's 7 BTS members #that can't be right #there has to be more than 7 #is this a berenstein bears situation?#how is there only 7?#I swear there used to be like 16 #and they would be introduced like here's jimin and Jungkook and red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and pea #like is google seriously telling me there's only 7 kids in this band?#this is the biggest scam google has ever played on me #this weird alternate timeline that not only has an epidemic but also only 7 members of BTS

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averykedavra · 4 years

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Love Runs Its Course

Is it clear yet that I’m just using this as an excuse to write sappy, indulgent human AUs with queerplatonic relationships? Because if not, I need to try harder. Anyway, commence coffee shop AU.

(Tagging @tsshipmonth2020! Title is from Call My Name by the Unlikely Candidates! You can find this story on Ao3 here.)

Prompt: Everyone has a timer that counts down to when you will meet your soulmate. 

Pairing: Pre-relationship Anxceit.

Words: 9501

Warnings: death and murder mentions but nothing actually occurs, anxiety, minor panic attack, cursing, self-deprecation, scars, mention of a car accident

If there was one thing Virgil hated about people—which there wasn’t, he hated a ton of things about people, from their annoying voices, to their questions about what he was going to do with his life, to the way they always stepped a little too close to him, to the fact that they generally existed and that put a cramp in Virgil’s style, but if he had to pick one thing—it’d be that they always asked about his soulmate.

He kept his timer covered. Countdowns freaked him out, and he’d rather not be staring at his wrist all day. He had a general idea of when he was going to meet his soulmate—probably in the next year or so, or maybe he should have met them by now, or maybe something had gone wrong and he’d never meet them ever and that was why he didn’t look at the goddamn timer. He tried not to think about soulmates in general. It was easy enough. He just focused on panicking over the things he could control, like his college courses and remembering his coffee order and not destroying every friendship in his life.

Soulmates were an enigma, an unknown, and Virgil did not do well with unknowns. They promised a person—or persons—who would understand you, complete you, show you a path you’d never even considered.

That was a terrifying concept. Virgil did not like to be known, for starters. He’d perfected the angry-emo look over the years, complete with shredded jeans and liberally-applied eyeshadow, so he would be the exact opposite. Intimidating. Off-putting. People looked once and looked away, and that was just what Virgil wanted.

He didn’t need a soulmate coming in and prying him open.

He was doing just fine on his own.

Except everyone kept asking. They’d glance down at his wrist, covered by his favorite purple hoodie, and ask if he’d met his soulmate yet. If they were dating. If they planned to get married. Apparently, by the age of twenty-one Virgil was supposed to have met his soulmate, even though he hated going outside and the world had literally billions of people in it. And planning to get married? Virgil wasn’t out of college.

Fuck people.

Sometimes, Virgil would just growl a noncommittal noise and ignore the question. If he was in a talkative mood, he’d say “Haven’t met them.”

Some people took that as a cue to change the subject. But others immediately started reassuring Virgil that he’d find them soon, that the universe would bring them together, and how long did he have left anyway? And Virgil was stuck in the conversation until he could find a polite way to leave, or his friends could bail him out.

They didn’t seem to get that he didn’t want reassurance. That being without his soulmate wasn’t a terrible isolation. He had friends—shocking but true, and something Virgil was still getting used to—and he had a life. He wasn’t going to drop everything to chase some mystical match. He had exams coming up. And soulmates were bullshit, anyway.

Roman would probably take offense to that. But they were. Virgil wasn’t about to trust fucking fate to pick out his missing piece or whatever. God might not play dice with the universe, but it was still a pretty weird matching game—or it was like when the whole class got gift bags and they tossed different gifts randomly into each one. Some people got toy trains or glitter pens. Virgil got a small wooden duck.

Yeah, that was what soulmates were like. Surprise gift bags filled with good toys and bad toys, and some people lucked out and some people didn’t, and some people’s gift bags got lost in the mail, and it was really fucking stupid to have gift bags anyway because who even asked? They’d just been handed them, sparkly and crinkly and leaking confetti, and been told “Here, you get this, take care of it.” No opt-out program. No “thanks, but no thanks” option. Just a heavy gift-bag filled with stuff nobody wanted, being told that they were special for having it.

And of course there were timers.

Because it wasn’t horror-movie enough to have a person specifically assigned to your soul. There were timers, and the numbers counted down, thick and black and rolling through the years, then the months, then the days and minutes. It was like being branded. Virgil had tried to scrub his off in ninth grade, just to see if he could, and the skin around it was left raw but the numbers never disappeared.

Virgil hated numbers. He’d never liked math, and numbers usually came in statistics about death or statistics about poverty or algebra he didn’t understand. And timers. Numbers came in timers and counted down to the moment where Virgil would be stuck with someone for the rest of his miserable existence.

Great.

Fucking fantastic.

Yay, soulmates.

Virgil guessed he should count himself lucky that he hadn’t met his yet. It wasn’t all luck, though—like he said, he barely left the house. But his soulmate wasn’t in his college, either. He’d been worried about that. Or maybe his soulmate was just as antisocial as he was. Maybe that’d be alright. They could avoid each other for the rest of their lives.

He covered up his timer, tried not to think about soulmates, and let the anxiety hum in his chest as a constant low-grade buzz. He’d made it this far. Everything was fine right now, no matter what his wrist said, itching under his hoodie and a black smudge in the mirror.

Everything was fine and Virgil was going to graduate college and become a graphic designer and live with several pet spiders and die at a ripe old age from colon cancer. Soulmate-less and perfectly happy.

Well, as happy as he could ever get, which wasn’t very.

People said that was because he didn’t have his soulmate yet. As if diagnosed anxiety and low self-esteem would be magically fixed by some asshole walking into his life and smiling at him. And they wondered why Virgil hated soulmates.

So yeah. Maybe Virgil wasn’t happy happy. But he was alright, and he was alive, and he had friends and a life and some kind of future. He’d stayed on his feet, which was more than he or his therapist really expected, and he had a job, too—at a coffee shop, but a job. It didn’t pay well and each shift was a nightmare and Remy the manager wasn’t the hugest asshole but was still a little bitch, and Virgil hated it utterly. But it was a job. And fucking student loans weren’t going to magically vanish if he just ignored them. Much as he wished that was possible.

He wished the universe spent less magic on soulmates and more magic on paying off student debt. Now that would be useful.

“Student debt,” he’d recite to himself after the third customer called him a name.

“Student debt,” he’d mutter as he mopped up a spilled caramel machiatto.

“Student debt,” he’d remind himself when Remy popped out to talk with his soulmate, which left Virgil with extra shifts he couldn’t say no to, because student debt and also crippling social anxiety.

“Student debt,” he’d groan into his pillow as he collapsed in his bed, surrounded by textbooks he didn’t know well enough to avoid studying the next morning, wondering whether he should just quit school and become a mime. At least it didn’t involve talking to people. Or studying. Or spilled caramel machiattos.

On nights like that, he wondered if he’d even manage to get up the next morning.

But he always did.

Here, queer, and full of fear. Alone, on his own, and fine with never being known.

And working at a coffee shop at three in the afternoon, trying to memorize his science notes in-between orders, the day cloudy and soupy and making Virgil’s purple hair frizz up under his hoodie. His nametag had broken mid-morning, forcing him to duct-tape it in place. And he’d ran out for some groceries during his lunch break, and the groceries had fallen out and now he had to buy new ones in the time he didn’t have, and he hadn’t actually had lunch and was running on three shots of espresso that made him even more jittery than usual, and in general Virgil was about three seconds from curling into a ball on the counter and waiting for the world to stop existing.

That was when he walked in.

Afterwards, Virgil figured he probably should have had some huge moment of shock. A love-at-first-sight thing. Or at least, he should have noticed the guy before he was at the front of the line.

But he didn’t, and even when the dude was right in front of him, he’d just nodded and asked “What can I get for you?” in his best I’m-a-helpful-employee-and-three-seconds-from-killing-everything voice. Vaguely, he noted that the guy had a black beanie and dyed blond tips and a bored smirk like he was also three seconds from killing everything but in less denial about it.

Guy rattled off his order, Virgil nodded and tossed it over to Remy, told the guy to have a seat, the dude nodded and adjusted his beanie, shaking out his wrists--

And froze.

The next person in line bumped into him. He just stood there, staring at his hands, then back up at Virgil.

“Um, you can sit down,” Virgil said awkwardly. He’d been joking about the killing everything--ugh, if this was gonna be a scene, Remy would kill him. And he really wasn’t in the mood to shepherd some customer out the door.

The guy kept staring at Virgil. Virgil decided to stare right back with his patented don’t-fuck-with-me glare. That didn’t send him packing. Guy just kept on staring, and Virgil looked back at dark brown eyes and an old scar on a tan cheek, and blond curls and a flannel shirt and a mouth dropped open.

“Dude,” Virgil said, trying to crack a joke to deflect from his growing discomfort, “stop staring. I get that I’m awesome, but we do have other customers.”

Other customers who were starting to whisper. Remy was shooting Virgil a glare over the coffee machine. Shit. Some asshole was definitely making a scene on Virgil’s shift, and fucking dammit, of course he was.

“Hello?” Virgil waved a hand. “Dude, hello? Why are you just standing there like a deer in headlights?”

He hated himself the minute he said those words. Now the asshole was gonna snap and kill him or something.

“You--” Asshole pointed at him. He seemed to lose his words as soon as they came, just pointing a few more times. Then he turned his wrist over.

A black zero. It shone in neat ink on the skin.

“Um, good for you?” Virgil said hesitantly. “Sure your soulmate is very lucky. I don’t get what--”

Then it hit him.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Fuck. Fuck, piss, shit, goddammit, why.

Almost automatically, Virgil pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie.

A zero.

Virgil opened his eyes and closed them again, shook his wrist like it was a flashlight with an iffy battery, turned his wrist over and back again, rubbed at the skin. The number refused to change.

He’d met his soulmate.

Virgil looked up slowly. Asshole was still standing there, looking both patient and somewhat terrified all at once, with his stupid beanie and stupid flannel and stupid, stupid timer.

Fuck.

This.

Shit.

“We’re soulmates?” Asshole asked, as if it wasn’t abundently clear.

Virgil opened his mouth to snark “Yeah, apparently, and fuck this” or say “Maybe, who knows?” or ask the dude if he was ever going to sit down and let Virgil do his goddamn job.

He swallowed and closed it again.

His hands started to shake.

“We’re soulmates,” Asshole said, sounding not entirely pleased but not completely disappointed. It was like a package he’d long expected had finally delivered, but the edges were scuffed up and a few pieces were missing. Which was pretty fucking accurate. Poor guy--he might be an asshole, but he didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve Virgil.

Or maybe he did. Virgil knew literally nothing about him, not even his name.

Just that they were soulmates.

A gift in a gift bag, shoved into his hands in the middle of his shift, dropped on his doorstep with no return policy.

Here. You’re meant to get this. Keep it.

Virgil tried to take a deep breath and found his chest was too tight to allow it.

Shit, fuck, shit.

“Hey,” said Asshole Soulmate, stepping forward. “Are you...you look like you’re definitely taking this well.”

Oh, really? Virgil would have snapped if he wasn’t busy hyperventilating. Can’t imagine why my soulmate showing up out of the blue and ruining my shift wouldn’t be fucking ideal!

“I--” he stammered out instead. He looked wildly for an exit. He couldn’t be here anymore. Asshole was going to start asking questions, and he didn’t have answers or explanations, couldn’t piece together anything that explained how terrified he felt--

Breathing exercises. He used to know them. They’d all gone from his head. Fuck, shit, fuck. The whole place was too small. Too loud. The air was too hot and too still and brown eyes watched him, too concerned, too close--

“I have to go,” Virgil burst out.

And he pushed his way out from behind the counter, grabbed his backpack, and bolted out of the shop.

The door slammed shut behind him.

The last thing he saw was the face of his soulmate, staring after him, looking like he was three seconds from swearing as much as Virgil currently was.

In his head, of course. He didn’t think he could speak if he wanted to.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Virgil ran. He tore down the sidewalk, sprinting around corners and skidding away from the road. People were probably staring. He couldn’t see their faces, though. They blurred around him. Too many colors, the air was thick and heavy and pressing onto him and he couldn’t breathe--

Virgil ducked into the nearest subway entrance. He stumbled his way down the steps, sure he was going to fall. Somehow he managed to get all the way to the bottom. A few people were gathered at the edges. It was blissfully cool.

Virgil’s feet rung out against the tiles. He rushed over to the turnstile and tried to push through. Fuck. His card. Fuck, fuck--Virgil yanked on his zipper, breaking it, and practically tore his way into his backpack. It took him three tries to scan his card. He slammed open the turnstile and sprinted into the station, took the first turn he saw, and ended up next to an empty track with a glowing sign proclaiming that the next subway was in fifteen minutes.

Perfect. He’d just stay here for fourteen, then. Subways themselves freaked him out--too loud, too sudden, and the people on them always sent Virgil shuddering--but the cool underground darkness of the station was a relief. No one was here to stare as he sunk to the ground, pulling his legs to his chest, stuttering his way through his breathing.

Five things he could see.

The dim yellow glow of the lights far above him, the dark tunnel, the dirty stairs covered in gum, the old mosaic walls, his smudged sneakers.

Four things he could feel.

His hoodie, soft and comfortable around him. The strap of his backpack around his arm. The cool floor below him--probably filled with disease and germs, but Virgil was past thinking about that. His bangs falling over his face.

Three things he could hear.

The scuttling of a rat--ew--the whistle of a subway far above him, the distant strains of a street performer strumming their way through Stairway to Heaven.

Two things he could smell.

He could smell a lot of things, all of them very bad and most of them unidentifiable. He took another deep breath. His own sweat, and moldy pizza. Maybe. It could be moldy anything.

One thing he could taste.

Virgil ran his tongue over his lips. The remains of this morning’s espresso.

His heart was hammering just a little bit less.

Virgil took one more deep breath, leaned back, and kicked out his legs. The pavement was cold and rough under his hands but helped pull him back into his body a little more. The rat shimmied into a hole and disappeared.

Ten minutes until that subway came.

So.

He’d met his soulmate.

“Fuck,” Virgil said out loud to the empty tracks and the lurking darkness around him.

Nobody responded.

Okay. Virgil met his soulmate. This was fine. This was fine! He’d just never talk to the guy again. They’d go on their own way and never have to interact again. The dude probably wouldn’t want to see Virgil again, after Virgil had run out of the coffee shop like he’d been lit on fire.

That was another problem.

“Shit,” Virgil said, more quietly. He didn’t think he’d be fired for it. Remy would be pissed, but Remy liked Virgil well enough, and Remy wouldn’t fire him over a panic attack. Still, it was really fucking embarrassing. And he’d have to go back. He had a shift to complete today--

Virgil paused and shook out his hands. His whole body felt like it had been wrung through the wash. Or run over by a subway.

He pulled out his phone.

One text from Remy: girl u ok?

Virgil rolled his eyes and huffed.

It took him three minutes to compose a text back.

taking the day off. u dont have 2 pay me. sry.

Virgil tapped on the ground to the rhythm of Remy’s little dots, trying and failing not to overthink what Remy was typing.

paying u anyway, but u owe me a cappucino tmrw, bitch

And then:

soulmate guy is still here btw. says he’s waiting to see if u want to come back

Virgil’s heartbeat, which had just reached a relatively normal resting rate, skyrocketed again.

The guy was still there? Didn’t he have stuff to do? A life? Why was he waiting around for some dude who’d stared at him then run out of the shop like a fucking weirdo?

Well, they were soulmates, weren’t they? That was the sort of romantic shit soulmates were supposed to do.

God, he hoped the guy wasn’t a fucking romantic. That’d be the worst. Virgil didn’t do romance, period. If Asshole Soulmate was looking for someone to smooch and bring flowers, he was out of luck.

Except it didn’t matter. They would never see each other again.

Virgil didn’t want to see him ever again.

He read Remy’s text again.

The sign above the tracks read three minutes left. If he didn’t hurry, he’d get caught off guard. He needed to go back up and walk home, then spend the rest of the day playing video games and eating snacks and practicing some fucking self-care.

He read Remy’s text a third time.

“Fuck,” Virgil remarked, just because he could, and because he hated everything about this.

He stood up, adjusted his backpack, and walked back up the steps.

The hot air hit him like a wall when he stepped outside. He shook himself and wished for a second that he could be comfortable meeting people without his hoodie. But he hated life without it, and he looked fucking awesome in it, so now he had to suffer.

Virgil pushed through the crowds, head low, and made his way back to the coffee shop.

It was still crowded when he peeked through the glass windows. Remy and the others were bustling around in their aprons--that’s when Virgil realized he hadn’t taken his apron off. Fuck. He untied it and shoved it mercilessly into his bag. Then he straightened.

A small tap sounded on the window.

Virgil looked over and almost spiraled into a second panic attack.

Asshole Soulmate was staring straight at him.

Virgil looked at him, gave him a little salute, and started to back away.

Asshole Soulmate gave him a piercing look. He was sitting at a small table, his laptop in front of him. He looked about Virgil’s age, Virgil figured, and he had a few piercings in one ear. That scar Virgil noticed earlier dipped into the curve of his mouth and made him look perpetually smirking. His beanie was lopsided like he’d been pulling at it. For some reason, Virgil found that kind of endearing. He had a firm nose and those deep brown eyes and long fingers that tapped at his laptop even as he watched Virgil--

And it didn’t matter what he looked like, because Virgil was leaving.

Something twisted in Asshole Soulmate’s expression when Virgil turned to walk away. Virgil pushed down the guilt in his chest. This was better for both of them. His soulmate would see that too, eventually.

Another tap on the window.

Virgil looked back despite himself. Asshole Soulmate was scribbling something on his notebook. He held up one finger as he wrote, clearly telling Virgil to give him a second.

Virgil gave him that second, shifting from foot to foot, hands deep in his pockets. It was a mistake coming here, it just made him look weird, he needed to go--

Asshole Soulmate pressed his notebook against the window.

In neat black cursive were the words I will be here for twenty-four hours. If you’re interested in stopping by, I can make room for you on my schedule. The coffee here is mediocre, and tell your boss to add more sugar to the scones.

-Janus

Virgil stared at him.

Asshole Soulmate winked--actually winked, what planet was this guy from--and gave Virgil a secretive smirk. As if they were in on the joke together.

Virgil had never been more fucking confused in his entire life.

He’d met his soulmate, stared at his soulmate, and ran away. And said soulmate was waiting for him. Said soulmate was a dyed-hair college student with a smirk that screamed hide your wallet and neat cursive handwriting and glittering brown eyes.

His soulmate.

Janus.

J-A-N-U-S. Clear and dark against the window.

Virgil swallowed.

Janus. A weird name, but not bad, and it definitely matched the general weirdness of this guy. He swung the notebook away from the window and returned to typing, somehow completely ignoring Virgil and yet making it perfectly clear he knew Virgil was still standing there. Like a lost duck. Alone on the sidewalk, watching his soulmate tap at his computer at the smallest table in the coffee shop.

Another chair was pulled up on the other side. Room for two.

If Virgil wanted.

Virgil didn’t want.

Virgil turned away. Virgil walked home, backpack swinging from his shoulder, and didn’t go back because he didn’t want a soulmate. Virgil spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV and eating ice cream, and didn’t go back because he didn’t want trouble. Virgil ate reheated chicken and old celery for dinner, and didn’t go back because he didn’t want a relationship. Virgil curled up on the couch and listened to his music, and didn’t go back because he didn’t want someone to complete him, someone to be stuck with him, someone who was a perfect match for Virgil according to the universe, but who knew what that actually meant in practice. He knew nothing about this guy.

And he didn’t want to learn.

Because he knew how this went. Love would run its course, and then there would be heartbreak, because Janus would learn that Virgil was just a screwup with dark clothes and anxiety and trust issues and a life with no trajectory.

Janus would stop waiting. No matter if the guy was a romantic or really nice or just stubborn, eventually he would give up.

Everyone always did.

Including Virgil.

Virgil didn’t want Janus, and he knew Janus wouldn’t want him, and the smartest thing to was just to move on with his life.

The zero on his wrist itched.

Fuck soulmates. Fuck Janus. Fuck the whole entire fucking universe.

It was eleven o’clock, and Virgil couldn’t sleep.

He wondered if Janus liked hugs. He wondered if Janus liked old, weird costumes. He wondered if Janus liked makeup and horror movies and drawing and coffee. He wondered if Janus was his age. Maybe they went to the same college. He wondered if Janus used the same hair dye he did, and if they could help each other with their hair, because Virgil always did it on his own and ended up staining his hands and his face and the whole kitchen sink.

He wondered if he was a fucking idiot for even considering this.

No, he knew that. Virgil was an idiot. Virgil was a complete fucking moron who looked at a dark hole, knew how to avoid it, and thought about falling in anyway just to see what it was like.

Just to see what he was like.

Janus, with his stupid smirk and stupid cursive and stupid hat.

It was a really stupid hat. Only Janus could even pull it off, and he barely did. It was just on the edge of charming and if Virgil was being really uncharitable, it was crossing that edge into straight-up ridiculous.

Virgil wondered how he got his scar. Where he got his shirt. What he was working on in the coffee shop, whether he’d been there before, who told him. He’d ordered a scone. He had complaints. Maybe he liked to cook and bake. That’d be pretty cool, Virgil missed home-cooked food, he usually just microwaved some takeout--

What was he even thinking?

Virgil groaned and turned over on the couch, grabbing one cushion and pulling it over his head. Fuck home-cooked meals. Fucking beanies. Fucking domestic little scenes that he now found playing out in his head, as if that was realistic, as if he hadn’t just met the guy and immediately ruined it and decided he’d never see him again.

Soulmates.

Fucking soulmates.

Fucking soulmates who were probably still at the coffee shop. He’d said twenty-four hours. He’d still be there. It was a twenty four-hour shop and he’d still be sitting there, maybe working on whatever he was working on, smirking with that smirk of his and waiting for Virgil.

Stubborn. Kind of stupid. Maybe a little desperate, too.

Virgil was all three, so he had to respect that.

It was midnight now. Virgil should be sleeping. Sleep deprivation was bad for his anxiety, which was already a thick mass in his chest. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have his second panic attack of the day, and that’d be a fucking nightmare.

Virgil sighed and curled up tighter on the couch. He wasn’t tired. His brain was running at the speed of light and kept circling back to Janus, Janus waiting, Janus his soulmate and bound to be disappointed but what if--what if--

Virgil wasn’t a hopeful person. He liked being either pessimistic or downright cynical--it left less room for disappointment.

He was hoping now, though, and it terrified him.

“Fuck!” he yelled into his empty apartment.

The only response was the dull throb of a party downstairs, a steady beat that made Virgil’s head swim.

He’d never wanted to be stuck in the city. But he hadn’t thought he could handle the college dorms, so he’d grabbed an apartment, and found he could handle that even less.

Virgil was a mess. A failure. A twenty-one-year-old disappointment with a test tomorrow and a brain that wouldn’t shut up and a bunch of pipe dreams he knew would never come true. This was just one of them. Soulmates, lucrative jobs, moving to Venus and becoming a planetary god--they all seemed like crap in the light of day.

It wasn’t day, though. It was late at night and Virgil’s brain was fried and the heat had finally died down. It would be nice outside. Walking around the city at late wasn’t super safe, but he’d take a switchblade and some pepper spray, and the coffee shop was just down the street.

He was actually considering this, wasn’t he?

Fuck.

Janus was waiting for him. Janus wouldn’t leave for twenty-four hours, and at the very least, he should give Janus an excuse to stop waiting. Janus would need some sleep.

Virgil needed some sleep too, and Janus was the thing keeping him from it, the face in his mind when he closed his eyes.

He should at least apologize.

Virgil sighed, rolled off the couch, pulled on his hoodie, and slipped into his shoes. He double-checked the lock on the apartment door, ran his hands over his pepper spray, and took the stairs because the elevator might get stuck or catch on fire. He walked as fast as he could down the sidewalk, avoiding the crowds of people under the neon lights, clouds drifting over the sky and skyscrapers gleaming in the distance.

The coffee shop was lit up when he approached. He told himself Janus was probably gone. He was fucking with Virgil, maybe, or he’d just gotten bored and went home. This was stupid, this whole thing was stupid, and Virgil could just turn around and go home--

Janus was still sitting there. He was nursing a huge cup of coffee and a plate next to him with a half-finished croissant. His chin was in his hand and he kept yawning, but he was still blinking blearily at his laptop screen.

Well, fuck.

Virgil sighed. He’d come too far to turn back now, and any minute Janus would look up and see Virgil standing outside the coffee shop again.

Okay. He was...he was going to order some coffee. And he’d sit down and if Janus motioned him over, he’d sit with Janus. But he wouldn’t make the first move. That meant he’d have plausible deniability if...well, he didn’t know exactly what, but maybe if Janus was trying to argue with him or kill him. How would he know?

Midnight coffee shop. The perfect place for a murder.

Virgil shook himself. It wasn’t empty. Remy was right there. And if shit got real, Virgil had pepper spray and could bolt out of there again.

This was fine.

This was completely fucking fine.

Virgil took a deep breath, buried his hands tight in his hoodie, and opened the door.

Virgil barely ever took late-night shifts at the shop. They weirded him the fuck out--he preferred to stay inside when it was dark. And when it was too sunny, and when it was crowded, and just generally, but especially at night. Night was filled with murderers and vampires and shadow demons. Weirdass people got coffee at midnight and Virgil didn’t want to ever have to deal with them.

And now he’d become one of those weirdass people.

And he was seeing the coffee shop in a whole new light, the floor gleaming with yellow, the windows practically opaque except for pricks of red and white lights from the city around them. It was dead quiet except for the low hum of music, the occasional shifting of one of the only customers, and Remy wiping down the counter.

Virgil let the door swing shut behind him. It thudded way too loud and he jumped. All the customers looked up. Old dude with a salt-and-pepper beard, younger woman with long blue hair and more piercings than skin, and Janus. Janus. Janus looked up at Virgil and raised one eyebrow.

Virgil pointed to the counter, hoping it conveyed “I’m gonna get a coffee and decide whether or not I’m gonna bolt again. Stay there.”

Janus nodded and turned away. The light from his laptop illuminated the planes of his face and the way his eyes kept flickering up to Virgil. Virgil hunched into his hoodie and pointedly ignored him.

Remy gave Virgil a searching look when Virgil reached the counter. “Hey, babes.”

“Hey, Remy.” Virgil looked around at the menu. “Espresso with--”

“Hold on, no way.” Remy tipped his sunglasses down and shook his head. “You had one this morning, girl, and that stuff ain’t good for you.”

“Says you,” Virgil pointed out.

“Shut up, this stuff is my lifeblood. But there’s still hope for you.” Remy took a swig of his own coffee. “Anyway, you won’t sleep for a week if I give you more espresso, so nah, girl, try again.”

“It’s midnight,” Virgil complained. “And Rem, I’m not gonna get through this conversation without it.”

Remy paused and sighed. “I guess the customer is always right. One espresso, double shot--”

“Triple shot.”

“Double shot, bitch, or I’ll throw it at your head.” Remy slid over to the coffee machine and started it up. “So...you’ve got a boyf.”

Virgil almost hissed. “I do not!”

“Fine, you’ve got a pre-boyf.” Remy popped up and began filling a coffee cup. He glanced at Janus, who was studiedly not looking at them, though Virgil was pretty sure he was listening. “He’s alright, kinda fine, the hat is stupid.”

“The hat is stupid,” Virgil agreed.

Janus stopped typing. Virgil watched to see what he would do.

He turned around and flipped them both off.

Well. That was more entertaining than expected. Virgil smirked and returned the gesture, and Janus snorted before returning to his work.

“You’re made for each other,” Remy drawled.

Virgil growled, the smile immediately falling off his face. “Give me the fucking coffee.”

“Yikes, girl, would a ‘please’ kill you?” Remy slid Virgil’s coffee over. “Now pay up.”

“I’m an employee.”

“And I’m fabulous and don’t want to be here. Tough tits, emo.”

Virgil groaned and slapped a five on the counter. “One of these days I’m quitting.”

“Sure, babes.” Remy slipped the bill into the register and gave Virgil a little wave. “Say hi to your pre-boyf. And don’t worry,” he added, smile growing a little softer, “I’ll kick his ass if necessary.”

“You couldn’t fight your way out of a coffee cup,” Virgil said, but he gave Remy a little salute anyway.

And with coffee in hand, he took another deep breath and walked over to Janus.

Janus had already moved his things off the table, which meant there were several stacks of binders and textbooks by his feet. He shuffled a few papers, stuck them under the lid of his laptop, and closed it slowly. Virgil nodded at him and sat in the other chair, kicking at the ground, taking a sip of the coffee. It wasn’t espresso. It was a pumpkin spice latte. Goddammit, Remy.

“Hello,” Janus said slowly, and Virgil looked up.

There was a good three inches of space between them. It wasn’t enough to make Virgil feel less trapped, less gutted under Janus’ gaze.

Virgil fidgeted with his coffee and kicked at the table leg instead. It made the whole table wobble. Janus gave him a look and steadied his notebooks.

“Lot of stuff,” Virgil remarked, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “Do you usually bring the Amazon Rainforest to a coffee shop?”

“Yes, I carry it upon my back as penance for my many crimes.” Janus snorted. “Patton dropped it off later, after I decided I was staying.”

“Patton?”

“My roommate.” Janus waved a hand. “I figured I would get some studying done while I waited.”

“You’re in school?” Virgil asked. He wished he’d brought his fidget toy or something. Instead, he was left sipping a pumpkin spice latte and staring out the window instead of at Janus. Janus didn’t seem to mind, but still, Virgil wished he could curl up in his hoodie and disappear.

“College,” Janus said. “You?”

“College.” Virgil shifted. “I’m--assuming the same one?”

Janus shook his head. “I actually live in Britain. I just teleport here for the coffee.”

Virgil stared at him for a second before his tired brain realized the sarcasm. He snorted in surprise. Janus looked weirdly pleased with himself.

“What do you study?” Janus asked after a few seconds.

“Oh, um--” Virgil shifted. “Graphic design.”

“Graphic design,” Janus repeated, a smile playing around his lips. “So your career aspirations are poverty and well-designed party invitations.”

Usually, that would make Virgil angry. He didn't like when people made fun of his major. But the obvious tease in Janus’ voice, plus the way he laid it all out on the table, made Virgil weirdly relaxed. Janus could bite back. And that was kind of a relief. He wasn’t just a bland nice guy, which meant maybe--just maybe--he was a little bit equipped to handle Virgil.

“What about you?” Virgil asked.

“Double major,” Janus said. “Theater and psychology.”

“Got it.” Virgil smirked and decided to take a risk. “So your career aspiration is being a super villain.”

And Janus laughed, bringing his hand up to his mouth, eyes crinkling.

It was a nice laugh.

Not that Virgil cared, of course.

“Of course, can’t you tell?” Janus asked, still chuckling. “I think I could pull off a cape.”

“Sure,” Virgil said, a little bubble of confidence forming. “Just like you pull off the hat.”

“I don’t understand all the hat hate!” Janus exclaimed, a twitch at the corner of his mouth showing he was teasing again, and Virgil usually hated sarcasm and in-jokes. Too confusing. Too double-edged and shifty. Except with Janus, it was so blatantly obvious every time, and Virgil didn't have to worry about hidden meanings. He just got to...talk. And tease back.

He almost never got to do that.

“Surely you’ve worn a hat once,” Janus continued, folding his arms. “You must understand the art if you’re to judge me. Have you worn a hat?”

“Wow, pretty quick with the personal questions there,” Virgil said. “You don’t even know my name.”

“It’s Samantha.”

“Fuck you.” Virgil paused. “Um, not literally. I’m ace. And--aro.”

And Janus looked ridiculously relieved. “Oh, thank fuck, you’re sensible. I was worried about that.”

A flicker of hope in Virgil’s chest. “You’re--”

“Aro too.” Janus waved a hand. “And sexuality is a quagmire that baffles me. We’re on the same page.”

Virgil almost smiled.

“What is your name?” Janus asked idly, stirring a spoon in his coffee and watching Virgil with that same piercing look. “I've been calling you Emo Soulmate in my head and it’s not at all annoying.”

“Well, you were Asshole Soulmate,” Virgil said, and enjoyed another laugh from Janus. “But no, I’m not telling you my name. You’re a stranger.”

Janus gave an offended little gasp and pressed a hand to his heart. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Nope.”

“That’s fucking rude, Emo Soulmate.” Janus shook his head sorrowfully. “No manners at all.”

“Deal with it.” Virgil gave up on his pumpkin spice latte entirely. He shot Remy a glare. Remy was cleaning the counter again, humming to himself and occasionally giving Virgil finger guns. Virgil flipped him off and Remy cackled.

“So,” Janus said finally, “if names are off-limits, is there anything I do get to know about you?”

“I told you my major.”

“Lots of idiots are graphic designers, you’re not special.” Janus paused. “I...I feel like we got off on a less-than-great foot--”

“Yeah, you think?” Virgil caught himself before he could continue. “It, um--wasn’t your fault though. Um. Go on.”

“Thank you,” Janus said smoothly. It was unfair that he got to be so poised and Virgil was still trembling under the table. One of the customers left, the door thudding shut behind them, a blast of night air whipping Virgil’s bangs and making him shiver in his hoodie. “As I was saying, I’d--I’d like to get to know you.”

“Creepy,” Virgil said. “What do you want, an ice-breaker session? What color matches your soul?”

“Yellow,” Janus said immediately.

“What--” Virgil laughed. “You actually have an answer?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Janus spread his hands. “What about you?”

“I don’t--” Virgil covered his mouth as he laughed harder. “Dude, no. Just--no.”

“You’re probably black,” Janus said, undeterred.

“To match my coffee and my soul?”

“And the emo aesthetic, of course.” Janus paused. “Actually, I think you'd be more purple. Since you like purple.”

“I like purple?”

“I would hope so, since you’re wearing that hoodie and fidgeting with the sleeve like it’s your only lifeboat in a sea of insanity.”

Virgil flushed. “Um. Yeah. I do like purple. I--made this hoodie, actually. Back in high school. It’s a comfort thing, makes it easier to feel like I’m hiding, which makes my brain shut up for a bit.”

Then Virgil decided he was going to die in a hole, because why had he said all that, Janus was gonna be weirded out--wait, since when did he care about that--

“It looks good on you,” Janus said, and Virgil almost choked on thin air. “It’s stitched quite well--edgy yet strangely charming.”

Virgil recovered himself enough to smirk. “That’s what I was going for.”

“Why am I not surprised.” Janus glanced out the window. A car careened past them on the street, headlights swirling in the darkness.

“It’s late,” Virgil said idly, because he might as well just dig himself deeper at this point.

“You were the one who chose to meet at this time,” Janus pointed out.

“What would you do if I didn’t?” Virgil asked. They were entering dangerous territory, but he clenched his fists and soldiered on. “Fall asleep on your mountains of paper, alone and bereft?”

“Oh, darling, no.” Janus swirled his coffee. “You see this? Seven espresso shots. If I want to stay awake, I do.”

“Remy let you have seven?” Virgil blurted out. “Not fair!”

“It’s because I seduced him,” Janus said with a poker face.

Virgil snorted. He didn’t like his laugh much, which wasn’t usually a problem because he didn’t laugh very often. Now, though--maybe it was the late night, but he almost couldn’t stop himself.

“Anyway, it’s not like I’m new to this,” Janus added, taking a sip of coffee. “I am double-majoring, after all.”

“Yeah, and that’s fucking impressive,” Virgil said. “I think I’d die of stress.”

“The jury’s still out on me,” Janus admitted.

Silence again. Virgil tapped his fingers against the glass. It was cold beneath his touch and he shivered.

“I still like the question idea,” Janus finally said.

“Then shoot,” Virgil said, shrugging. “I don’t bite.”

“I doubt that.”

Virgil grinned and bared his teeth. Janus hissed back, his nose wrinkled. It was actually really adorable.

Janus composed himself quickly, though. “What’s your favorite animal?”

“Spiders,” Virgil said without hesitation. “Favorite food?”

“The souls of the innocent.” Janus snickered when Virgil did. “I suppose...caviar?”

“Caviar,” Virgil repeated, shaking his head. “You can’t be real, you pretentious little fuckwad.”

“Charming, do you treat all your acquaintances this way?” Janus didn’t sound mad at all. “And I’m most certainly real. Unless I’m not.”

“Dude, don’t give me an existential crisis, c’mon.” Virgil bit his lip. “Your turn for questions.”

“Favorite book?”

“Black Cauldron. Favorite movie?”

“The Godfather. Favorite musical?”

“Um, Heathers.” Janus gave Virgil an of course look and Virgil swatted at him. “Favorite show?”

“Pride and Prejudice miniseries, 1995.” Janus paused. “I’m simultaneously learning nothing and everything about you.”

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause this is shallow shit,” Virgil said. “If you wanna actually know what I’m like beneath the eyeliner, you have to dig deeper.”

“Am I allowed to?” Janus asked.

Virgil opened his mouth to say no, of course not, vulnerability was his kryptonite and trust was his poison, and in fact he really had to go.

“Yes,” Virgil said.

Janus looked surprised. He couldn’t possibly be more surprised than Virgil felt. Virgil, who figured he’d lost control of his brain or something, because he was talking to a stranger who was his soulmate and it was midnight in a coffee shop and Janus glowed golden against the dark windows.

“Well, then.” Janus tapped on the table. “Where did you grow up?”

“Stalker,” Virgil muttered.

“You did say--”

“I know, I know.” Virgil hunched his shoulders. Honestly, that wasn’t as bad as he expected. “Outside of the city, actually. Few miles out. Suburbs.”

“You in suburbia? Perish the thought.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t a good match.” Virgil chewed on his lip. “Do I? Get to ask you questions too?”

“Yes. My turn.”

“Hey!” Virgil complained. Janus laughed.

“Who’s your best friend?” Virgil blurted out before Janus stole his question.

“Look who’s the stalker now,” Janus drawled. “I...Patton, my roommate, I suppose. I don’t--have many close friends.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said, “me neither.”

There was a long moment of silence. Remy had gone in the back and all the customers except for them were gone. The tables and floors gleamed in the light. Somewhere in the distance a siren wailed, muted by the gentle hum of music and the bubbling roar of traffic. It felt surreal. Too polished, too bright, too sharp to be real. Like Virgil would wake up tomorrow and know he’d never met his soulmate, his timer still counting down, Janus just a figment of his imagination.

Virgil looked down at his wrist for confirmation. A zero, in black ink, outlined in yellow by the harsh lights of the shop

“What do you want?”

Virgil looked up at Janus, who had that penetrating expression again, like he was trying to commit every bit of Virgil to memory. Virgil didn’t get what was so interesting. He had purple hair and purple patches on his jacket and messy eyeliner and probably some sort of scowl. But Janus looked at him like Virgil had all the secrets of the universe and Janus was decoding them, one by one.

Again, it should have been scary.

Virgil wasn’t scared.

And that, in itself, scared him.

“Be more specific,” Virgil said. “Like, right now? Right now I want some real coffee, for starters.”

“Not that,” Janus said, waving a hand. “From...life, I suppose. What’s your biggest dream?”

Virgil shifted. “I dunno. I don’t think about it much.”“You don’t?”

“Nah, anxiety makes it pretty freaky to think about the future.” Virgil thought for a second. “Um. I guess...I wanted to be a fashion designer, when I was little.”

Janus tilted his head. “What changed?”

“Didn’t have the time or materials.” Virgil shrugged and looked at the table. “Or...the drive, I guess. High school was rough and I needed a career path that gave me a quick buck.”

Janus snorted. “So you chose graphic design?”

“Shut up!” Virgil complained, swatting at Janus again. Janus dodged out of reach, grinning. “They both have design in them!”

“Whatever you say,” Janus chuckled.

“Anyway, yeah.” Virgil fidgeted with his sleeve. “Making clothes, making stuff--I still like to do it. So I guess that’s my dream, maybe.”

Janus looked thoughtful for a second, and Virgil felt like an idiot. Being a fashion designer was stupid. And here he was, dumping his life and regrets on a stranger. Fucking idiot.

“You’d be a good one,” Janus said, and once again, Virgil was thrown completely and utterly off guard. How did someone so surprising still set him at ease? “Of course I haven’t seen your work, but I like your jacket, and I think you’d be good at it. However, you have to promise to make me any outfit I want when you become famous.”

“Oh really,” Virgil said, feeling completely fucking exhilarated by the compliment. Which was pathetic, but it also gave him another burst of confidence, so worth it. “Let me guess, a cape, a red-and-black tunic with gold trim, a supportive uncle and firebending powers--”

“Scar jokes,” Janus said, his mouth twitching. “Bold.”

Virgil’s confidence immediately left him. “I--yeah, sorry--that was--”

“Funny,” Janus interrupted. “And it’s better than just ignoring it. I have a scar, it looks incredible if I do say so myself, and Avatar is a great show.”

Virgil smiled sheepishly. “You sure?”

“You’re fine.” Janus was silent for a long time, twisting his fingers together. Lights played across his face. The scar was old, Virgil noticed, and ugly, like it had never gotten properly stitched back together. Virgil rubbed at a grease spot on the edge of the table and let the quiet stretch between them.

“It was a car accident,” Janus said, his voice soft. “I was seven."

“Oh,” Virgil said, hating himself for not thinking of anything else. “That sucks.”

“Yes, it did.” Janus folded his hands on the table. “Your turn to ask a question, Emo Soulmate.”

“Oh! Yeah. Right.” Virgil bit his lip. “Um. Greatest fear?”

“Coming for me psychologically, I see. Excellent plan.” Janus shrugged. “Government control, I suppose. Or dying in obscurity.”

“Yeah, for me it’s just dying,” Virgil said, “but good for you.”

“Thank you.” Janus laughed and was silent again for a few more seconds. And Virgil usually hated the quiet, but this quiet was nice and comforting and felt more like a lull than an awkward pause, and why was this guy taking everything that usually made him anxious and somehow making it fine?

“Why did you run?”

Virgil’s fingers spasmed on the table. Well. So much for that.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to respond,” Janus said slowly, “but I’m curious.”

“I--” The words stuck in Virgil’s throat. “I was scared.”

“Of what?” Janus’ voice dipped. “Me?”

“No!” Virgil was surprised by the vehemence in his voice. “You’re--you were fine. A little awkward, but that made sense, and...yeah. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Good,” Janus said, and Virgil was surprised by the relief in his voice. He’d been worried about that, hadn’t he? He’d thought Virgil saw him and didn’t like him, or maybe he was even worried about his scar, and yet he’d still waited just in case Virgil came back and changed his mind.

God, Virgil didn’t deserve this soulmate.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Virgil said. “I’m sorry, I--”

“I’m not asking for an apology.” Janus’ face was achingly soft. “I’d just like to know.”

“Yeah. I--” Virgil curled his fingers. “I was just--scared. I was scared of...soulmates. Having one. Being one. I guess I--I never really wanted one, and you just showed up, and I know you didn’t ask for me as your soulmate but--”

Janus didn’t prod Virgil or push him to continue, which weirdly, made him gain the courage he needed to keep going.

“I’m not--” Virgil waved at himself. “And you’re--ugh, I just, I hate what everyone says about soulmates, that they’re supposed to complete each other, to fix it each other. You--I’m not--you can’t fix me. I’m not--I’m anxious, I’m a mess, I’m not going to be good enough for you and you’ll be stuck with me for the rest of your life! That’s not--” Virgil swallowed. “That’s not fair to you.”

Janus was quiet. Virgil slammed his mouth shut, sat on his hands, and decided he was going to leave the city and become a strawberry farmer. Strawberry farmers didn’t have to talk to their soulmates and brace themselves for inevitable rejection, because Janus got it now, and now he was going to leave--

“I don’t like people,” Janus said.

Okay, yeah, Virgil didn’t expect that. He looked up hesitantly. Janus looked more determined than ever.

“Society is an illusion and the world is corrupt,” Janus continued. “Most people I meet are either mindless, dull, or sickeningly sweet. It’s a very rare person who actually manages to entertain me, and even rarer for them to be kind and funny and intelligent and very clearly a good person.”

Virgil stared at him. He thought he knew where Janus was going, but that couldn’t be right--why was he--

“And I’m a liar.” Janus shrugged. “It’s a defense mechanism. I’ve barely trusted anyone in my life, I lash out when people antagonize me, and I’m such a fan of vulnerability in general.”

“Mood,” Virgil said, his brain still screaming what the fuck is happening.

“So I’m not perfect,” Janus said. “And I must admit...I hoped, for a while, that a soulmate would magically erase those problems. It’s what society tells us. I had higher hopes than were healthy. I projected a lot of things onto that soulmate--trust and honesty and a chance to be--more than myself. To be, to use your word, fixed.” Janus laughed a bit. “But then I actually met you. And...no.”

“Rude,” Virgil muttered.

“No, I don’t mean it like that.” Janus leaned forward. “You’re not--you’re a person. You’re edgy and snarky and a little nervous but it’s incredibly adorable, and you make me laugh, and even though you were clearly terrified you came back and gave me a second chance. It’s hard to project anything onto you when you’re actually here, sitting in front of me, and that’s when I actually realized--” Janus shook his head. “You are not my soulmate because you’re supposed to fix me. And I am not your soulmate because I’m supposed to solve your problems. We’re soulmates because we make each other laugh, and because I think your hoodie is cute, and because you didn’t make any comments about my scar. We’re soulmates because we make each other feel better. Not perfect, not ‘fixed,’ just a little bit better. The rest of the work we have to do on our own.”

Virgil stared at him, mouth open.

“So.” Janus swallowed. “I completely understand your reservations, but...it’s getting late, and I think we both need some sleep. So I’d like to request your number?”

Virgil pressed a hand to his mouth and laughed. “That whole dramatic speech was just a ploy to get my number? Shame on you.”

“You caught me,” Janus said. His face softened. “If you’re not ready, that’s okay. I just...it’s hard to let go of all the expectations. But how about we try? How about we be you and me for a while, and see how that goes?”

“But--” Virgil shook his head. “Soulmates--they’re supposed to be your whole life--”

“Supposed to be. As I said, society is a sham.” Janus reached out a hand and laid it on the table, palm up. “I’m not asking for your whole life, and I never will. I’d--I’d just like to be a part of it.”

Virgil tried to catch his breath. His eyes were stinging. He giggled a little, because he couldn’t help it, and because Janus was staring at him with such open hesitation and fuck, he was cute.

He was cute.

He was Janus.

Janus was his soulmate--and Janus was Janus, and that was more important.

Virgil looked at the zero on his wrist, turned it over, and took Janus’ hand.

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “That--that sounds great. Actually.”

“Lovely, darling.” Janus smiled, bright and beautiful, and Virgil was dizzy with affection. “In that case, may I have your number and your name?”

“Whoa, two at once? Easy there.” Virgil chuckled and tightened his grip on Janus’ hand. “Um. My name’s Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Janus repeated.

“Yeah.” Janus smiled wider. “It’s lovely to meet you, Virgil.”

Virgil looked back, at the guy he’d been so afraid of, the soulmate he’d hoped he’d never meet. Who wanted him. Who knew who he was and wanted him anyway.

Virgil’d had it wrong and also right, which pretty much added up. Yeah, he’d been wrong about the whole running thing. Janus wanted him. Janus waited, and Janus smiled, and Janus thought he was funny. Janus wanted his number.

Yeah, Virgil thought he’d been fine on his own. But he was so much better than fine with Janus across from him, holding his hand.

He’d been right, too. Soulmates didn’t matter. Not that much. Janus was his soulmate, and who the fuck knew what that meant? Not Virgil. It was just some gift bag dumped randomly on his doorstep, a timer clicking down to zero.It didn’t matter that Janus was his soulmate.

Because Janus was Janus, and Virgil’s skin was on fire where Janus touched it, and suddenly his wild dreams of a roommate and home-cooked meals and dyed hair didn’t seem too far off at all.

It didn’t matter that Janus was his soulmate, because even if he wasn’t, Virgil would stay.

Meant for each other? Maybe. Destined? Apparently. Supposed to complete each other? Yeah, only in the loosest of terms. Virgil was still Virgil and Janus was still Janus, soulmates or no.

And for some reason--for some incredible reason--that just made things better.

It didn’t matter that Janus was his soulmate.

Virgil liked him no matter what.

“Nice to meet you, Virgil,” Janus said again, as if he was repeating it to himself, rolling Virgil’s name around in his mouth. It sounded beautiful in his voice. Janus had a beautiful voice--thick and smooth and deep, like a river Virgil would gladly drown in.

And he glowed bright in the yellow lights of the coffee shop, the world rushing outside, the darkness kept at bay and the world polished and gleaming and on fire.

“Yeah,” Virgil said, finding that he was smiling wider than he ever had. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.”

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terrible-fanfiction-of-course · 4 years

Text

All thanks to you follow up kinda

Lila walks into a meeting dressed nicely as she goes to meet Marinette with her new cut shorter hair dyed lilac. She sits in a booth of an ice cream shop in the corner and orders herself a Sunday no point in waiting for Marinette to get her before she ordered.in her bag was a copy of the book a bestseller. She ate as she waited for, Marinette to arrive

While Marinette stood at the door nervous but determined, she needed to know why Lila asked her here. The message she left with her parents was so different than she would ever expect Lila to write, she didn’t come alone of course. In the shop was Luka who had come and apologized to her saying she had gotten a detailed letter in the mail explaining how Marinette was not a terrible monster like her sister and everyone else had described. Marinette after about a month had forgiven him and they were back to being friends. He hadn’t actively done anything to make her life worse but he still took responsibility for not talking to her and abandoning her which is more than she can say about her other old ‘friends’ with most all the messages not one of them had taken any responsibility for what they had done. The one and the only message she ever got from Lila was her taking responsibility for making her life hell in the beginning and wanting to meet up. And that's why Marinette is here.

Marinette sits down and gives Lila a nod and orders some ice cream herself to calm herself down. “So what am I doing here?” marionette asks nervously. Lila puts down her spoon and gives her a smile and hands her a book. “I would first like to again say I’m sorry, really I’m sure I put you through so much emotional distress, honestly I was using you as inspiration for that book, it’s about you and losing friendships but gaining what you needed in the end, I think it’s a very nice story and rather popular I must say'' Lila finishes with a smile letting Marinette have a few minutes to reflect. Marinette’s eye grows wide and angry “But this was all your fault and you did it to write a stupid book! I lost all my friends there is no way you could ever make up for what you have done” Marinette shouts in the near-empty ice cream shop. Lila just nods “were they really your friends? From what I know first and as I was there and from what I heard of before one of these people cared about you, they let you get bullied by Chloe for years and did nothing “ Marinette interrupts Lila speech with a “don’t bring Chloe into this she was the only good thing for me while you were here” Marinette pushes a finger into Lila’s chest. Lila seems to get the messages but resumes with “ yes she had a very good redemption, amazing really all I’m saying is that I don’t think these people are actually your friends, even when I was here and they thought you were some terrible person they still tried to use you for free things. They didn’t see you as a friend, they saw you the same way they saw me, an easy way to get what they really wanted. They were greedy and or just stupid. And can you really say your life now isn’t better than it was before?” Lila finishes and watches Marinette. Marinette sits there eating her ice cream and just thinking really having her come to Jesus-kun moment, where she suddenly understood Lila was right the way she when into showing her was wrong and terrible but she was right about this one thing and that was what kinda killed marinate her life now was so much better. She had better friends and come to understand her old friend better and had become closer. And she had a boyfriend who beloved her and didn’t take stupid nonsense.

As Marinette finishes her ice cream she spokes calmly “your method was terrible, and for that, I won’t forgive you.” Lila huffed at her and pulled two large notebooks out of her bag. “Well honestly here take this then the first one has all the evidence of you being bullied, which was already sent to the school board. I already reported and the famous people have already been given letter as sorry of course, and this one has something special for you,” Lila says with a wink as she handed the two large binders over “if this doesn’t at least out us at neutral ground don’t know what will.” Marinette nods at all the bullying evidence was good for her to keep to remember to not forgive them so easily. And the second was binder all about hawkmoth. With a lot of circumstantial evidence that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth. Marinette took her time reading through it all and yeah, it all added up, and while she had suspected him for a while she never would have time to put this together so much evidence. “Why are you giving this to me? I’m not ladybug” Marinette says lying through her teeth. Lila just rolls her eyes'' I'm sure that somehow ladybug will get this information. And be able to take him down once and for all.” Marinette takes all the binders and book and stands up as her boyfriend Felix come in to pick her up, “if this is real we are square, if this is fake I will never forgive you Lila” Marinette then walks out along with Luka joining them as they all start talking guilty. Lila gives a bow and leaves after a few minutes after. She heads home to pack for Italy.

The book became a best-seller pissed Alya off as she and the class read it it was different enough that no one who didn’t know what had happened wouldn’t be able to relate them as the charter inspiration but for the class it was obvious and it made each of them feel a mixture of anger and guilt. None more than Alya who called out the book out on social media and pretty much outed the class as being the inspiration for the characters, which backfired so badly for everyone. Running many opportunities for them causing their own lives to be further into chaos than before. This only caused Alya to try and make Marinette tell the public that Lila’s book was a lie. Which got her nowhere and her blog was deleted by her parents and she was taken off social media altogether. Alya and Nino broke up because of the tension and because they didn’t agree on how to face this issue. Leaving Alya super bitter. And she stayed that bitter always blaming one Marinette and two Lila for ruining her life.

2 months later Hawkmoth was gone and all was well in the world. The superheroes had all but been retired and Marinette couldn’t be happier with her current life. Marinette and Chloe had started a new business where Chloe surprisingly is a really good jewelry smith and they make stuff and sell them together. She and many other of her old classmates who choose to read it. Got something out of it, usually anger and resentment. But some of them took what they saw to heart and decided to make a change, nearly a year later. What set this about was a short not quite poem more warning than anything that went Life is a series of choices, no one can make them for you and you could choose another whenever you. You must live on the path you traveled and on the ones you stayed on. You cannot change which path you have already traveled only the ones ahead. Don’t be blind to the path you have traveled, or you’ll never get on the path to true happiness. Nino being the biggest change, he really understood how much he messed up and made an effort to become better and gave Marinette a nice genuine apology. Years after she had gotten some kinda similar ones from some classmates but she could tell that many of them more or less wanted something from here usually, by the way, there would be asking for something in the apology. Things that she never responds to. Adrien was also a big change, he never really understood what he did wrong so he can't really keep a romantic relationship but because his dad was arrested, he was raised by his uncle who let him be what he wanted to be. He never got into contact with Marinette but he lives an OK life. In the years to come, she met up with Lila and her grandmother who she went to live with after telling her mother everything she had done and how this was affecting her mental health she was able to stay with her grandparents and really be happy and make real friends once more. Shockingly, Lila and Marinette and Chloe stayed in contact for years to come and she along with older and former miraculous users reform the guild (can’t find the correct word) to protect the miraculous.

#class salt #alya salt #Lila spicy #not really sugar but close as ill get with her #ml salt #I was nice to Adrien because he doesn't matter in this fic #I'm bias and I'm ok with that #here is the followup like maybe 3 of you wanted

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danadeservesadrink · 4 years

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Do You Believe in Fate?

Chapters 1 and 2 available on AO3 Do You Believe In Fate (2750 words) by Samwritess

Posting both chapters 1 and 2 together here! Hoping to make this a longer series with tons of fun prompts and cute fluff!

Words: 4k

Rating: T for now

Tagging @today-in-fic

“Dana Scully speaking”

“Hi, um, I think I have your pants”

“Excuse me”

“I’m sorry that came out wrong…”

“Who is this?”

“Um, sorry, this is Fox Mulder, I live in the Guardian apartment complex on Columbia St. I think I keep getting your mail”

“Oh. Are you in apartment 52? I used to live there.”

“Yes. That makes sense, actually, but um I’ve gotten some letters and today I got a package with some pants”

“You opened my mail?”

“I only opened it because I thought the shipping information would have a phone number.”

“I see. You know you probably could have looked me up before you rifled through my Loft purchases”

“Didn’t think of that. Anyway, I have your pants.”

“Thank you for letting me know. Are you planning on returning them or are you also a size 0?”

“No, no right, I’m sorry. Where would you like me to meet you?”

“I’m actually in D.C to pick up some supplies from my office on Tuesday. Would the coffee place on the corner of 11th work?”

“Yea that’s perfect actually. What time?”

“Let’s say noon?”

“Great. I’ll see you then Fox”

“See you then Dana”

He knew it was her before she even walked into the shop. He saw a glimpse of red hair about a block down and got to spend the entire block watching her small figure push through the pedestrians on the sidewalk and he felt like he knew her in seconds. She was wearing probably exactly the same pants he had in the box sitting next to him. Probably ordered them as backups for her backups. Navy goes with everything. She walked with her head down, and even with her small frame she seemed to get people to move out of her way with no effort. Dana Scully was a no fuss, no frills, independent woman. And god damn if that wasn’t his kind of woman.

When he figured out she had lived in his apartment, he knocked on the door next to him to get the inside scoop. The gunmen had lived in the apartment for a few years longer than he had, so maybe they had seen this woman around before. It took three seconds after he mentioned her name for Frohike to start gushing about her. “She’s got these blue eyes that stare right into your soul Mulder, red hair like fire, and God her voice...” he hadn’t shut up about her until Langley interrupted. It seems like Frohike’s adoration was more of the ‘we met in the laundry room once and I think I’m in love with her’ type. And with Frohike, you never really know if the woman will live up to his fantastical expectations. Apparently the last they saw of her was about two months before he moved in she packed up and left in quite the hurry. “God we were disappointed when you moved in after she moved out”. So far she fit the description.

She walked in the shop and before the twinkling of the bells had ceased to announce her presence she had spotted him and begun her march over to his table.

“How did you know it was me?” he smirked as she came to a halt next to his little table in the corner.

“How many other people sit in a coffee shop with a week's worth of letters and a Loft package?”

She takes off her sunglasses and he gets to take in all of her face for the first time and it almost knocks the wind out of him. Those blue eyes looked right through him. He had to tell Frohike he was right later. She wrinkled her brow when he spent too long staring so he started to shove the package in her face before she thought he was too much a creep.

“Can I buy you some coffee?” he tried to stand but it was awkward and he got way too close to her as he clamored his way up. He could smell her perfume and he swore he would never forget it. She stepped back.

“It’s no problem. I should be going anyway.” She started to back away from him and he felt a little piece of him move with her.

“No please I insist” He reached out to her and she backed up again, fumbling with the packages she was now holding. “At least let me help bring the packages to your car”

She huffed and shifted to packages again, clearly fully capable of carrying them back herself.

“Listen, Fox. I’ve got an office to drag back to Annapolis and I really don't need your help. What I do need is to get going” She turned and walked back out of the shop and someone must have slipped something into his coffee that morning because he found himself slipping through the door behind her, abandoning his half finished decaf in the bin on the way out.

Maybe it was because Mulder had never felt as much connection as when she looked at him with those baby blue eyes. He had been with more women than he cared to admit, been in love with a fair few, but Miss Dana Scully with her navy blue Loft pants that she probably owned six pairs of had stolen his heart entirely. He felt this infatuation overtake him and every cell in him was screaming not to let her go. So he followed her out onto the busy street and walked next to her as she practically sprinted through the afternoon foot traffic.

“Why are you following me?” She huffed as she tried picking up the pace, but his long legs easily kept up with her tiny strides.

“Do you believe in fate Dana?” She turned to look at him as if he had grown a second head, and at that moment a passerby jostled her shoulder, causing her to trip forward, losing her balance and crossing her feet over, bumping right into his side. He grabbed her elbow to steady her and for the second time met those ice blue eyes. He thought time stood still. If the hard corner of the cardboard package hadn't been poking him in the ribs it would have been the most romantic moment of his life. Fuck, it was still the most romantic moment of his life, with her breathing heavy and the two of them staring at each other on a crowded sidewalk, pressed together by circumstance and fate.

“Logically I’d have to say no.” She breathed out, but the blush on her cheeks told him he wasn’t the only one who felt this.

It took another shoulder to hers from an old woman with an umbrella and too much perfume to knock her back into herself. She stepped back from him clutching the package into her chest like it was Kevlar.

“I have to go. Please don't follow me again.” He watched as she walked away into the crowd, her red hair enveloped into the mob of civilians like a balloon into the sky. Never to come back.

I’ll see her again, he thought. I have to.

---

“Dana Scully speaking”

“Hi, it's me again.”

“What do you want?”

“You got another package. I didn't open it this time”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“When would you like me to return it? I don’t know if you’ll be in town any time soon…”

“I have a friend’s wedding in a week on Tuesday in Alexandria. I can pick it up then.”

“Ok sure I should be home. What time should I expect you?”

“I’ll probably come earlier in the morning on my way to the ceremony if that's alright”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

---

He was sweating. This isn’t even a date and he was practically sweating through his shirt at the idea of Dana Scully showing up at his apartment door. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind and he’d seen her for maybe 20 minutes tops. He had come home that day and pounded a beer like his life depended on it. The gunmen called his apartment not long after to check on him because apparently Frohike thought “he might have suffered a stroke when he saw her”. He walked into their apartment and was handed a glass of whiskey and an invitation to spill it all about the girl he was now undoubtedly infatuated with. Maybe it was love or maybe just obsession but he was stuck with the image of only her in his head. And she was going to be at his door any minute forcing him to have to look into those beautiful eyes and not have an absolute breakdown.

He was busy deciding between continuing to stare at the clock waiting for her arrival and calling her again when the wrap of knuckles on his door sounded through the apartment. He sprinted to the door, took a second to compose himself and opened it to greet his fate.

“Wow”

She was in a little navy dress that hugged her hips and cut deep down her chest, revealing freckled collarbones to match freckled knees. Was it bad that those knees almost brought him to his? Of course Miss Dana Scully didn't wear little black dresses. She had a little navy dress that matched all of her navy pants and was just as sexy and somehow even more alluring. His eyes followed her freckles from her clavicle to her shoulder and up her neck like connect-the-dots and yet again he looked into the eyes of an angle, noting how the deep blue of her dress made them look even more piercing. She broke his gaze to stare down at herself with an embarrassed blush and smooth the front of her dress.

“Come in. Please.” He stepped aside and her strappy heels clicked into his apartment. He fought every brain cell telling him to drink in her figure from behind. He was a selfish bastard but later tonight he’ll remember her walking through his door in that little navy dress and dream that it was just for him, not for some high-school friend’s wedding 20 minutes away in Alexandria.

“So…” She took a careful look at the room and he suddenly remembered she used to live here. She touched the counter top like she was familiar with the dust that had settled there. Something in her eyes looked almost sad, like she was reconnecting with an old friend. “I like what you've done with the place.”

“Thanks. It’s a great apartment. I was lucky to get it.” She grimaced and it dawned on him why he happened to be so lucky, her having moved out halfway through her lease with the landlord practically begging him to pick it up. He shoved his hands in his pockets like maybe that would stop him from saying something stupid. She hummed and looked up at him expectantly.

“Oh right. Package.” He almost forgot why she was actually in his apartment.

He heard her chuckle as he walked into the kitchen to grab the box from behind the counter. It was significantly heavier than the last time. If it was clothes it was some diamond studded platform boots by the weight of it. He found her staring at the fish when he returned.

“This is heavy. You want my help with taking it down to your car?” He couldn’t help himself.

“Actually, under normal circumstances I would say I can handle it, but these heels aren’t exactly made for transporting boxes of baby food.” She laughed again and he tried to hide his shocked expression.

“Baby food?” She recognized his confused gaze and explained.

“It’s for my sister. She likes to order her baby food in bulk because apparently they don’t sell it in non-organic grocery stores. She must have used my account by accident and they sent it here.”

He really was a lucky son of a bitch.

He gestured towards the door and she walked first, him following her with the package in his arms. They boarded the elevator together and it was just goddamn unfair how those heels made her the perfect height so that if he glanced over he could see straight down that little navy dress of hers. Unfair.

She clicked her way off the elevator and dutifully he followed her to the parking deck. She popped her trunk open and he plopped the case of organic baby food in.

“Well, I think I finally changed all my accounts to my new address, so hopefully this problem gets solved” She must have seen his face fall because she blushed again. “Thank you for all your help Fox.”

“Mulder. I even made my parents call me Mulder. Hated my first name. Hope that's not too strange” He doesn’t know why he was telling her, if she was going to exit his life after today. Maybe the dress had truth-inducing powers.

“Mulder.” She tasted his name like a cherry on top of a sunday, the way that would leave a red stain on her lips like the lipstick she had on now. The way that dress was cut made him think that she was the kind of girl that could secretly tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue. “It’s certainly not weird. Being a doctor I get called Scully most hours of the day.”

Dr. Dana Scully . It fit her perfectly.

“Well Dr. Scully, Dr. Mulder is always ready to be your personal mailman.” Her eyebrow quirked up, obviously impressed with the title.

“M.D?” she questioned like a judge running a trial.

“PhD in Psychology. Oxford University.” He stood up a little taller. She smirked.

“Impressive. Although I would be careful calling yourself a doctor unless you can complete a surgery with a Myers-Brigs test” Her eyes lit up when she challenged him. He was more than willing to submit to her.

“Nah I’ll leave the surgeries to your…” He grabbed her wrist and her eyes widened, “capable hands”. If pedestrians were not there to bump them together, he figured fate wouldn’t mind if he gave it a helping hand. The energy between them was palpable.

Psychology may not complete surgeries, but it did give him the ability to peg Dr. Dana Scully down to a tee. If he had to guess, she went to undergrad somewhere close to home, but went far away for medical school, probably the best school she could get into. She gets the buttoned up look and her quick pace from a military background, probably her father. A gold cross like the moon in a sky of stars on her chest said she was religious, likely from childhood. But that low-cut dress and strappy heels made him think there were many many layers under the stiff exterior.

“Where did you go to school?” he released her hand and tried to inhale without giving away the fact that he’d barely taken a breath while she was in his grip.

“University of Maryland for my bachelors, then Stanford for medical school. Impressed?”

She licked her lips and he wanted to peel back every layer of her, including that tantalizing dress of hers.

“Very.”

“Well Dr. Mulder, I need to head to the ceremony.” It was goodbye again and he hated every second of it. Now or never.

“Listen, Dr. Scully . If you're ever in D.C again, you should give me a call. I would really like to take you to dinner some time.”

He wanted to bottle the grin she shot back at him. The color of her blush should be sold on every makeup counter because it was the perfect shade. Everything about her made him fall harder and faster.

“I just might take you up on that. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to some of the good restaurants around here.”

“I’ll take you to your favorite” He’d take her to a dumpster behind a pizzeria if that's what she wanted. Just to get to see her again.

Her phone rang and she answered, a voice through the phone likely asking her where she was, as she responded with “I’m just leaving, I’ll be there in 20.” She sighed and hung up, then looked back up at him again with a small smile.

“Enjoy your wedding.”

“I will. Goodbye Mulder.”

“Bye Scully.”

He walked on air back to his apartment.

#the x files #The X Files Fanfic #txf fanfic #txf #Dana Scully #Fox Mulder #msr #msr fanfic #msr au #sam writes

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mahou-queen · 4 years

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Spreenow / Taobao Item Review

Hello all, recently I used a shopping service called spreenow to order some things from taobao, and I wanted to review the items I got as well as the service I used.

♡The backstory: I’ve been wearing lolita for approximately 10 years and I have never used a shopping service to buy from overseas despite how much I wanted to, I was afraid to. I had heard over and over that it was so complicated and confusing and you had to be really careful and blah blah blah. Back in my early lolita days there was no devilinspired, or my lolita dress. We had clobbaonline and their site was much smaller, very limited, and you had to order through their email. Today I am here to tell you that using a shopping service is not scary or difficult! I got fed up with losing money to resellers and decided that since I needed so much stuff I was going to use a shopping service to buy directly from taobao and save some money!

♡The info: If you don’t know, or are new to lolita; taobao is a Chinese website that hosts a bunch of sellers shops, kind of like Amazon. However, almost no shops offer shipping overseas so to shop there you have to use a shopping service.

A shopping service is someone who buys the items for you and then sends them to you, like a middleman basically. They charge a fee, usually 10% of the order total. I used spreenow at the recommendation of another lolita.

♡The review:

this is spreenow.com. To order, all you have to do is (make an account first) put the taobao link in their search bar.

Here I entered a link for this cute cardigan from taobao brand Cute Q here is the link if you’re interested: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=621813887915&_u=t2dmg8j26111

As you can see, you can select the size and color you want and then add to cart. Very easy. Once your cart is ready, you submit the cart, Spreenow checks the cart and then you have to pay.

**note** spreenow does not email you when things are ready, you have to check back to the site periodically.

paying was the only ~kind of~ hard part because instead of paying directly, you have to add funds to your account. They call this “Top up” they do all the conversions for you so you know exactly how much to transfer for the currency conversion. They do accept paypal!

after that they order the items, pack them, you pay shipping in the same way (through top up) and they mail them to you. The customer service is very good, they respond very quickly and their English is perfect. You can continue to add to the same order over time as long as it has not shipped. They offer lots of shipping options so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. I found the entire process to be amazingly simple. I saved approximately $50 by using spreenow instead of devilinspired and was able to get things that devilinspired does not carry. I highly recommend spreenow as a shopping service!

If you want to make an account and shop use my link here~ https://www.spreenow.com/category/c38854/

♡The items:

Shimotsuki Sakyua star choker in black (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=524266691258&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

The choker is very well made, feels high quality and is soft against my throat. It’s a bit small, I have to have it on the biggest size to wear it, so I may add some chain to the end to make it more comfortable. The only odd thing is that its left handed? the clasp is on the opposite side of what I’m used to with western necklaces so that threw me off a little. Otherwise its beautiful and nicely made. ★★★★✩

Loris star crossbody in gold (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=523282283992&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

As always, loris is high quality and well made. I have other bags from loris and they’re all excellent. This bag feels nice, sturdy, has 1 interior zip, looks cute. Its exactly what I wanted. I have no complaints ★★★★★

Lucky star flutter sleeve blouse in lavender (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=548230015367&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

Needs a bit of a steam but this blouse fits me perfectly! It’s very pretty, I love the unique sleeve style. It feels light, airy, whimsical. The color isn't too warm. I tried to take a pic of it worn under a JSK so you could see the fit. It’s very comfortable and I kind of want to buy it again in another color. ★★★★★

Lucky star trumpet sleeve blouse in black (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=558661985437&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

This blouse is also great fitting, comfortable, soft, and lovely. I have wanted a black blouse for ages and I’m very happy with this one. The sleeves hit me slightly short (which I like), I would not recommend this one for tall lolitas. ★★★★★

Leaf Sister (???) horoscope headdress (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=561382247288&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

THIS is the item that actually pushed me to use spreenow in the first place. It wasn't available on any reseller sites and i HAD to have it as it goes perfectly with several coords I am planning. It is very very well made, comfortable and cute. I am extremely happy with it. This is the first rectangle headdress I have ever owned and I cannot wait to wear it to meets. ★★★★★

Halloween Alice strawberry love check accessories (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0k.7386009.0.d4919233.3d761955DhQP65&id=610460744258&_u=t2dmg8j26111)

This was something I added onto my cart at a later date. I was nervous about the rings because I didn't know if they were adjustable so I was relieved when I found they are! Really cute, there was some hot glue strings left on my hair clips, nothing I couldn't just peel off though. ★★★★★

BONUS~~ I received some small free gifts, I do not know if these were from spreenow, or came with something I ordered?

I got 2 blue bow clips, 2 cute strawberry clips, and this......odd.....embroidery? ? ? it is a 2 way clip, its plush, there are carrots, i don’t know what else that’s suppose to be. I probably will not use it but It did give me a good chuckle so thank you to whoever these gifts came from.

♡ TLDR Spreenow is easy to use and saved me a lot of money. I highly recommend their service. All the items I got were excellent, mostly 5 stars. I am very happy with and recommend everything I got as well as the shops they came from. I hope this review made using a SS a little less intimidating. If you want to start using spreenow to save some money on lolita, and you liked my review, please use my affiliate link to sign up :)

https://www.spreenow.com/category/c38854/

*this is not sponsored. I was not asked or paid to review spreenow or any of the items I purchased. Everything I reviewed I personally paid for except where mentioned. Using my affiliate link only allows me to purchase more lolita items from taobao for review. Thank you.

#spreenow #taobao #review #lolita fashion #egl #egl community #egl fashion #jfashion #j fashion #kawaii fashion #affiliate #sweet lolita

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taesbetch · 5 years

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01 | Den Of Hybrids

Pairing: BTS x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst

Word Count: 5.1k

Summary: Taking care of six hybrids can be a pain in the ass but when a stray needs y/ns help, y/n brings him home to his new family. Follow Y/n as she tries to help Taehyung (The new hybrid in town) fit in and continue to keep the other six alive along with other troubles that life brings.

Next |

“y/n. hey, wake up!”

You groaned as your body was shaken furiously by the one and only jeon jungkook. That fucking bunny was the end to your peaceful rest almost every morning. Hearing growling next to you, you awaited the routine argument between your eldest hybrid and your youngest.

“Y/n I’m hungry” Jungkook whined as he continued to shake you back and forth. Answering him with a groan you desperately tried to fall back into the slumber you were so rudely pulled from.

“Jungkook, fuck off and make your own food!” Jin growled his ears perked up, suddenly wide awake.

“I’m banned from the kitchen remember, she said I was never allowed to touch cooking supplies without you or Namjoon present” Jungkook answered, unbothered with jin’s annoyed tone as he continued to tug at the white sheets covering your body.

“we’re trying to sleep” jin grumbled as he rolled over, placing the pillow over his head.

“well if you slept in your own bed, you wouldn’t be interrupted,” Jungkook said sassily as he placed his hands on his hips, a small pout making its way onto his face.

A small growl made its way from jin’s lips but that was all he replied with knowing that jungkook held some truth in his statement. Knowing that Jin only slept with you because your attention was mostly occupied with the younger hybrids you let out a sigh and decided to give him some peace and quiet by distracting the alert bunny.

Jin was the first hybrid that you had bought. You may have been sixteen but lying about your age to save what was classified as a ‘senior hybrid’ didn’t seem like a sin to you. ‘senior hybrids’ were often overlooked as they are said to of passed their ‘prime’. Which to you seemed like utter bullshit, to put a timer on someone’s ‘prime’ was stupid as each person is different. When you saw jin argue with the person selling him because they forgot to pack him lunch you knew he was the hybrid for you.

“Okay, I’m up,” you said as you sat up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. Slipping your feet into the slippers sitting by your bed a yawn escaped your lips as jins arm tried to pull you back into bed.

“Breakfast!” Jungkook cheered as he bounced around excitedly.

6am

This is when your day starts. This is when the chaos begins.

With jungkook happily escorting you down to the kitchen, you smiled as he looked back at you every couple of steps, making sure you were still following him. When you first were left the mansion of your grandmother you felt a little overwhelmed. And though you had Namjoon to help you out the idea of keeping a mansion alive scared the living shit out of you.

Namjoon was your grandmother’s hybrid, he pretty much watched you grow up which is why the two of you have such a strong connection. When she passed away, she left everything to you, her favourite grandchild.

As you made yourself and jungkook some breakfast you smiled at how far you had come. When you were first given your fund trust, you had panicked. 500 million was enough to keep you more than comfortable but you didn’t want to become one of those kids who did nothing and had everything.

So, you used the money given to you for the house maintenance and your hybrids and used your job to buy yourself clothes and anything materialistic.

“Bacon and eggs! Baconnn and eggs!” jungkook chanted as you brought his plate and yours over to the table. the two of you sat down, jungkook in front of you at his usual spot.

You watched fondly as the boy gobbled up his food. When you turned eighteen you had seen an ad for a sixteen-year-old rabbit hybrid being sold for nothing. This waved major warning signs as these hybrids were usually sold into trafficking rings. Immediately, you contacted the owner and told him you would take him. When you brought him home to Jin your dog hybrid and Namjoon your lion hybrid you were a bit worried he wouldn’t do so well as bunnies were prey animals, but the young and energetic bunny had a blast. Quickly figuring out that his knack of destroying things was the reason his owners gave him up you took extra pre-cautions, knowing that you would never give this bundle of joy away.

7am

Looking at the empty chairs you realised you had let time slip by. Getting up with your plate you began to cook breakfast for the other hybrids as jungkook skipped upstairs to get ready for the day. Letting the food simmer, you began your marathon around the house to get the hybrids together.

Each hybrid had their rooms altered to there needs, all of them had a second floor and special functions.

Since you were on the first floor you ran to Namjoon’s room first “Namjoon! Breakfast in ten!” You yelled as you swung open his door. You smiled as you saw him awake and dressed as usual.

“Ill plate it, while you wake up the others” He smiled as he turned towards you. sending him a flying kiss you raced to the next room. Hoseok was your horse hybrid and boy were you in over your head when you got him. A horse hybrid needs access to the outdoors and needs to have the freedom to shift whenever they need. they also have dietary needs and must eat twice as much as any other hybrid.

“Hoseok! Breakfast in ten” You shouted as swung his door open, slamming it shut just to make sure he wakes up. Hoseok was a stray; he didn’t like talking about his past so you didn’t push him. As long as he was happy and healthy now, you didn’t mind that he kept that to himself.

Running up to the second floor of the house you skipped jungkook’s room as he was awake and ran to jimin’s slowly opening the door as you didn’t want to scare your second bunny.

You got jimin and your cat hybrid Yoongi at the same shelter and clearly, something shady was going on as jimin is scared out of his mind and Yoongi is cold and aloof. the two had obviously reacted differently to the shelter and were now reacting differently to you. Jimin, although frightened and timid was making an effort to connect with the others, he loved cuddle time but would never confidently come to you and demand it. Yoongi, however, was often pouty and moody, sending you glares and swatting your hands away when you would try to come near him.

“jiminieee” you cooed softly as you walked into his room. The boy would often shake under his bed, terrified after being woken up by loud banging and shouts of breakfast.

Kneeling down you smiled softly as you saw the boy with his favourite blankie wrapped around his head. He tried his hardest to smile at you even though his body shook with anxiety.

“breakfast in ten sweetheart,” You said as you backed up, giving him room to crawl out. Watching him crawl towards you, you gave him his morning hug laughing at how utterly adorable he was. Leaving jimin’s room you ran over to Yoongis, knocking obnoxiously hard just to annoy him – he didn’t like it when you entered his room so instead you shouted from the outside. “Breakfast!!!!!” you yelled knowing your voice would also alert the semi-awake dog hybrid in your bed on the top floor.

Running upstairs you gave Jin a head rub as you walked past each other. The sleep hybrid going down to eat, you going up to get changed.

Pulling off your pyjamas you quickly changed into a jumper and some leggings. Today was restocking day, which means you need clothes that are comfortable and clothes you can move in. taking all seven hybrids to the shops was maybe the hardest thing you’ve ever done but in order to get everything everyone needed, they all had to come.

“Good Morning everyone,” you said as you strolled downstairs, still slightly tired but ready for the day. The group mumbled a good morning back as they ate their food. Walking around the table you gave them all kisses on the head.

“Don’t forget your lists, we leave in an hour” you said as Yoongi fought of your love before giving up and letting you kiss his head as well.

“in an hour!”

You jumped in shock as jungkook appeared out of nowhere, pouting his lips and whining like the baby he was.

“yes jungkook, an hour. I’m not leaving any earlier” You said sternly. There have been a couple of times when jungkook has pleaded you to take him early. His need to get things done not coinciding with the schedule of everyone else, but boy was it hell.

He whined again before stomping back up to his room to occupy himself for the next hour.

Your work as an author meant you were able to take the hybrids anywhere at any time, they wanted. However, for poor young jungkook re-stocking day was set which meant that he would have to wait today, something he was not used to at all.

“Y/n, I put the mail of today on the table, I can go through it later if you like” Namjoon suggested as he put his plate in the sink, checking the other hybrids plates to see if they had finished.

“That would be great, thank you,” You said gratefully.

“Y-y/n”

Turning around you watched as jimin shuffled towards you, his ears low and a soft blush covering his cheeks.

“yes jimin” You smiled ass he played with his hands.

“c-can you h-help me with my list” he asked as he pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket.

“Of course I can! Come here, let me see it” you said as you signalled for him to follow you to the kitchen counter.

As he passed you the list you were shocked at how little was on it. This may have been jimin’s first re-stock day as you only adopted him a couple weeks ago but you were sure you made it clear that they could put anything they wanted down.

“s-s-sorry did I put to much” he whined as a small tear escaped his eye. Your heart broke as you denied his assumption.

“no actually, there’s barely anything on here. In fact, these are things you need but…where’s the stuff you would like?” You asked him as you grabbed a pen laying near the sink reminding yourself to scowl jungkook for leaving things on the counter.

“things I…like?” he asked quietly, his mind drifting into deep thought.

Seeing Yoongi glide through the living room you signalled him over. Even though he rolled his eyes in annoyance he made his way to you, wondering what it is you wanted.

“Yoongi, can I please see you list?” You asked as jimin started writing things down. Yoongi passed you his list, his eyes watching you carefully as you looked at it.

“nawh, you guys, its okay too put more – anything you like you can write down,” You said as you put his list on the table. Yoongi looked at you in shock before confusion covered his face.

“anything?” he asked.

“Yeah! Jungkook has a 6ft basketball hop on his list. Usually, I approve the lists beforehand but this time I’ll let you guys have fun. Go nuts, whatever you want mkay!” You smiled as you placed your hand on jimin’s head.

---

“Okay team. This is the plan.” You said, turning the car off. Here you were at the best shop ever. Towns had everything you could ever need. hybrid needs, human needs, clothes, food – EVERYTHING. So here you sat in the parking lot. Your black van filled with your hybrids, ready and excited to shop for there things.

“Jungkook, your shopping with me. Namjoon, you and jimin will go together and the rest of you will go alone. We’ll meet at register 5 in an hour and a half.” You said, looking at everyone seriously. This wasn’t a game. Oh no, re-stock day was the most intense days ever.

“Understood?” you asked. They all nodded before everyone made their way out of the car, racing towards the shop's doors.

You chased after jungkook, knowing exactly where he was trying to go.

“No, bad bunny” you said as you gripped his arm. Jungkook whined as you got a cart and dragged him to the clothes section.

“Y/n!! let me check if there a new addition out” he pleaded

“We aren’t here to look, we're here to shop and get out. Checking out new additions isn’t on the list so it's not happening today” You stated as you threw things he had on his list in his cart.

“Okay well, can I check if they have my hoop! Sometimes they have one in store” He suggested his excitement clear as he bounced slightly, his smile wide and his hands clenched into fists.

You looked at him with your hands on your hip. The bunny had a knack for not giving up so you knew you’d lose this argument eventually.

“Okay, fine. Go check out if they have your basketball hoop, but if they don’t – you come right back here okay! I'll be here, in the medication section, where you left me. Okay?!” You asked as he squealed with excitement.

He nodded at you waiting for you to give him the all clear.

With one last sigh, you waved him off, watching as he ran away happily.

It had been ten minutes and you suspected your hybrid had gotten distracted, knowing that you shouldn’t have trusted him you started moving out of the hybrid medication aisle, getting ready to hunt for your youngest when-

“Y/n! this man wants to take us away!” Jungkook shouted as he rushed over to you, holding the arm of a hybrid you had never seen before and being followed by who looked like a stray catcher.

They stray hybrid looked at you, his eyes pleading you to help him. Looking at the determination in jungkook’s eyes you soon realised there was no way this stray was being taken away.

“Sorry sir, is there a problem with my hybrids?” You asked as jungkook dragged the strange hybrid behind you, glaring slightly at the neatly kept man. He certainly worked for the government.

“my apologies, I didn’t know they were both your hybrids,” the man said eyeing the dirty stray standing next to your well care for hybrid.

“I just adopted him, that’s why we're here, we're getting him what he needs” You stated giving the man a friendly smile. He looked at you understandingly before nodding his head.

“my apologies then, have a nice day,” he said. Before leaving he shot the unknown boy a dirty look before walking away. You watched him go, making sure he was out of earshot.

“Nice to meet you, I’m y/n” you said as you analysed the boy. He was tall and had ears that resembled your dog hybrid, by the look of his clothes you could tell that he must have been on the streets for a long period of time.

The boy looked nervous, he remained silent as his gooey brown eyes dropped to the floor.

You looked at jungkook who just shrugged at the boy’s behaviour.

” I told him he could stay with us” Jungkook smiled happily. You looked at them in shock not knowing quite what to do. Obviously, you weren’t about to let the hybrid go a night without shelter, but his situation was unknown.

“Do you have a negligent owner?” you asked softly, not wanting to upset the boy. He gulped before nodding his head – jungkook giving him a sympathetic look.

“how long have you been on the streets?” you asked, anger filling your body of the thought of this poor boy not being cared for.

“half…half a year” he whispered his eyes watering. The pain in his voice was enough to have you making a decision on his future. You were going to spoil him as much as you spoiled your other hybrids and love him as much as he would let you.

You sighed before wiping out your phone, people piss you off. If they couldn’t care for a hybrid, they shouldn’t have gotten one. They are half human, they have emotions.

“would you like to stay with us. Say the word and i can adopt you” you asked, your eyes soft as the boy struggled to look at you.

“but…how?”

“Y/n’s got connections! If you’ve been neglected, they look at your last visit to the doctor! And if you haven’t gone in a while, an owner like y/n can take you in because she’s the best!” Jungkook explained enthusiastically.

“a-are you sure? Wouldn’t two hybrids be too many?” he stuttered his eyes wide with amazement.

Jungkook laughed as you gave him a cheeky wink.

“there’s six of us, silly” Jungkook laughed.

“SIX!”

“Yep! And we’ve got room for one more, so what’d ya say?” You asked, your thumb hovering over the call button of your hybrid centre friends.

“i…I would like that” he answered, his eyes dropping back to the floor

“Than its settled, what’s your name and what kinda hybrid are you honey?” you asked him as your phone rung your friend. Bringing the phone to your ear he looked at you and jungkook before gulping and answering.

“er,im a dog hybrid and its taehyung, Kim taehyung”

“Jungkook, go help taehyung pick out some clothes – call Namjoon and tell him were extending the time to two hour- oh hey!” You said to jungkook who nodded at everything you were saying before your friend answered the phone.

“I need you to check out Kim taehyung’s doctor appointments – the boys coming home with me,” You said as the two hybrids walked off to the clothes aisle.

“Is this real? Am I really going to get adopted?” Taehyung asked jungkook as jungkook chucked clothes at him.

“Well duh, Y/ns not just gonna leave you here. And once she’s decided you're going to be a part of our family, there’s no way she’s going to let anyone take you away” Jungkook stated before placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

“Welcome to the family”

---

As everyone loaded their things into the van, all the hybrids cooed over how adorable taehyung was. Jin was thrilled to have another dog hybrid around and jimin seemed excited to have someone the same age as him.

You smiled as you left the parking lot, the voices behind you getting louder as taehyung conversed with everyone. It was nice to hear them getting along so well with the new addition to the household. You didn’t want to tire him out but the builders you called were still getting his room together, so you would have to stay out a little longer.

Good thing you knew exactly where to take them.

---

“Why are we here?” Yoongi groaned.

“the builders are at our house. y/n said their building taehyung’s room” Namjoon answered as he patted taehyung’s back happily.

“you’re gonna love it! We have a pool and quad bikes!” hoseok said excitedly.

“a-and Y/n is really nice!” Jimin chimed in, knowing how taehyung must feel. Jimin remembered when he first joined the family, hearing from the other hybrids that Y/n was friendly really helped him settle in and now that he knows for himself how great of an owner, he thought he should do his part and help taehyung.

Taehyung tuned in at how genuine each hybrid sounded. He was still completely flabbergasted at how someone could care for six hybrids. The boy always believed that each human had a love cap. And once they were out, that person was no longer capable of loving anything or anyone else. But as he looked at the other boys laughing with each other – clothes on their bodies, the car packed with items they wanted and their love for you evident – he thought that maybe he was wrong.

“Hoseok! You need to shift!” You shouted as you packed away the last of your shopping. All the hybrids ran around you, putting their stuff in their specific spots. You smiled at taehyung as he watched in awe at the house’s operation.

“Put your stuff down here, ill take you to your room in a second,” You said as hoseok walked into the kitchen, his face twisted in protest.

“Ugh! Nooo I don’t want to!” he whined as you walked over to the hybrid maintenance cabinet where you kept all the hybrids medication. Each person had their own cabinet filled with health care for when they got sick. Each hybrid has their season of sickness when they need extra vitamins to make sure they’re in tip-top shape.

“The Doctor said three times a day” You stated as you labelled Taehyung’s container, putting everything you bought for him in there.

“Y/n! Y/n!” jungkook yelled as he bounced over, dragging a very afraid jimin behind him.

“I feel fine I swear!” Hoseok answered, hoping he wouldn’t have to go.

“you said that last time and you got sick. I'll take you to the field, you love the field!” You answered, looking at the horse hybrid, there was no way you were going to budge, he was going to shift no matter what!

“Y/n! Y/n! Y/n!” Jungkook repeated bouncing behind you. Taehyung looked between you and jungkook in shock, wondering how you were able to ignore the hybrid behind you.

“I do love the field…” he nodded, finally coming around to the idea of shifting.

“Namjoon, you’re coming too” you yelled to the man sitting on the couch. His ears perked up as he looked at you excitedly.

“Y/N” Jungkook shouted loudly. Taehyung was absolutely floored, if he had shouted at his owner the way jungkook just had he would have been punished, but here you were standing calmly as you addressed Namjoon.

“really?!” Namjoon asked excitedly causing you to laugh. He was a hundred percent the most mature but it was moments like these that you loved, when he let his childish side show you loved it.

“Of course! I haven’t forgotten about you” you answered as he jumped up doing a small happy dance.

“Y/NNNNNN!!!!!”

“both of you go and get ready!” You exclaimed as you shooed them off. The two of them running to their rooms.

“Y/N-“

“YES, my dear hybrid bunny. Whatever is the matter?” you said turning to the boy who had been yelling at you.

“Can I take jimin and taehyung into our gym?” he asked, a pout on his lips. You had to put a lock on the gym room and hide it from jungkook. There was a time when jungkook would live in the gym, it so bad that he would steal dumbbells from the gym and hide them under his pillow, so he could lift in the middle of the night.

“I’m gonna toughen jimin up” he said as he fake boxed jimin’s arm, hitting him softly.

“Hey, don’t hit your brother! You know he doesn’t like that” you said as you pulled the boy from jungkook’s energetic wrath.

“I dunno kook…can you take Jin? Jimin hasn’t shifted in a while so I was thinking of taking him to the fields and taehyung just got here” You explained as you scratched jimin’s ear.

“ugh, fine” he grunted before walking off to find Jin.

“What’s the field?” Taehyung asked shyly as hoseok and Namjoon came back with backpacks.

“well y/n opened up a business. She created a placed where hybrids can shift outside safely and be supervised and cared after” Namjoon explained as he grabbed the car keys.

“Do you wanna come? Even if you don’t have to shift it’s a nice place to relax.” You asked as jimin went to pack his bag.

Taehyung nodded, agreeing to join you.

---

Watching hoseok frolic around you waited outside a changing room for Namjoon to shift so you could collect his clothes. As your lion strolled out you smiled before rubbing his fur. He was stunning, and everyone agreed as they looked at him in astonishment.

You liked to make sure that their shift bodies were just as well kept as their human bodies, they were a half-half after all.

“joonie, we need to get your mane trimmed” you stated before picking up his clothes. With your back turned you saw the lighting behind you change before hearing the voice of one of your workers.

“Hey boss!”

Turning around you saw the glowing skin of Jackson, a very dedicated worker. “Hey Jackson! Do you mind giving Namjoon mane a trim?” you asked as Namjoon walked in circles before stretching his body.

“Of course, I can, I just wanted to say thank for letting me bring my cat to the social den, she’s a lot happier” he stated as he too gave Namjoon a pat. Jackson was without a doubt namjoons favourite worker.

“well she can come anytime and don’t worry about paying, ill cover your membership” you smiled at him.

“Oh- wow, thank you so much, wow I really appreciate it” He gleamed his hand coming to his cheek as he blushed with shock.

“You’ve been with us for years, it’s the least I could do. also, don’t be hesitant to bring her with you when you work. I would hate for her to be separated from you for such a long time” you stated as Namjoon circled you, rubbing his head against your hand.

“Thank you very much, I better take this big boy before he dies from anticipation,” He said with a chuckle.

You laughed before giving Namjoon the signal that he can go. The two of them left as jimin entered the changing room.

“What’s the social den?” Taehyung asked you waited for jimin.

“it's for new hybrids and their owners. You pay a membership and you go and socialise with other hybrids and their owners. It’s a good way to make friends and help your hybrid adjust” You answered.

Taehyung nodded before looking around nervously.

“you...arent gonna make me go are you?” He asked. You laughed before shaking your head.

“I think you’re surrounded by more than enough hybrids at home” you replied. Grabbing jimin’s backpack you pulled out his holding sling and slipped it over your neck like you would a handbag.

“What’s that for?” Taehyung asked.

“full of questions, are we?” you joked “Jimin is a very shy bunny so he prefers to chill with me, this way I don’t have to hold him, and he can hide if he gets anxious”.

A white bunny tried its hardest to push open the changing room door. You quickly opened it for him with a soft giggle as you bent down. Opening the pouch for jimin to hop into, you helped him out adjusting the sling so he sat comfortably next to your stomach.

Taehyung smiled as he watched jimins head pop out of the sling.

“Let’s sit and drink tea like the rich bitches we are”

As you sat and watched Namjoon play with the other lion hybrids at the observation café taehyung sighed in contentment. You checked on jimin who was having a little nap.

“You’re right, this is relaxing,” Taehyung said “So you run this place? Is that how our house is so big?”

Your heart swelled when he said ‘our house’ it was nice to know he was coming to terms with the adoption.

“well I run this place, but It doesn’t cost to come here. The only thing that requires paying for is the grooming and this cafe. But day-care is free. Our house was given to me by my late grandmother, she left me the house and Namjoon” You explained.

Taehyung played with his mug as he nodded his head.

“so, do you do a lot of hybrid work?” He asked as he watched the people in the café, their smiles matching the ones he had seen on his hybrid brothers. He had never seen this much happiness before. It was odd for him.

“I do own seven hybrids” You laughed “it would be strange if I didn’t try and help out where I could” you shrugged.

Taehyung hmmed in agreement before taking a bite of his sandwich. You were going to as him a question about his past when you saw hoseok coming back from his trail run.

“Looks like its time to go home” You said before carefully standing up trying not to wake your sleeping but failing miserably.

When you got home you immediately took the gym keys away from jungkook much to his dismay.

As the hybrids gathered in the lounge to watch re-runs of keeping up with the Kardashians a letter that sat on the counter caught your eye. Its electric blue envelope sent shivers down your spine, the design of it bring back memories of someone you would rather forget.

As you picked it up, the laughs of the hybrids halted as they sensed the change in your demeanour. Reading the letter, your stomach filled with dread. The news the letter presented made you want to vomit in horror.

“what’s wrong?” Namjoon asked worriedly as the seven boys waited for you to explain. Turning around to them you let out a huff of frustration.

“Aunt May is coming over”

989 notes · View notes

cheshiresense · 6 years

Note

I guess the fandom has a thing for Ichigo redeeming the seemingly unredeemable? (I know I do.) Besides, Koyonagi is really interesting. I'm looking forward to more of him and Touma in your work :D (PS: would you ever be willing to expand on Hungry!Tsuna? I just keep thinking about what Reborn said about Fon and possessive storms and really, how could Fon dislike Tsuna? honestly I just want to see poor Tsuna taken care of, and the more possessive guardians the better xD )

OKAY. FON. FIRST MEETING. *cracks knuckles* actually no i hate that, eventhe sound of someone else doing it makes my hands itch and my inner pianistcringe so idk how about fancy stretches instead And more Reborn&Viper. Forsome reason I just keep going back to them.

Pinglist:@yoshifics @bewarethemandragora @runeofluna@selenedreamwalker @hypnos28 @verticallychallengedintrovert@fandommaniac2401 @lovingempress @cynthia-of-the-wallflowers@shadowsofmoonracer @pairp @warriorofbooks @charlottedabookworm @lyra689 @sheyrenawyrsabane @sora-the-empress @xadriannax @yumeniai @arrysa @lirial89-fanfiction @skysong246 @caiahat @grimreaper19 @arosethornbyanyothername @mtkiseki @kaminoko-x@nesskyru @tatarako @parklena42 @zibeth-a @aerdnanocte @timegrenades@healingmichiko @shiko-rae @soraofmelody @fandoms-make-the-world-go-round @north-peach @yannilicious @wolfsrainrules @anaissesteighart

Tsuna’s health has been good, getting better,especially after a tentative Guardian bond formed with Viper.

(”Don’t you have a contract with the Varia?”

“Arcobaleno business takes precedence. It’s even in the fineprint. Legal cause to resign, even if Vongola won’t like it. Don’t youhave a contract with the Nono?”

“…”

“Exactly. And both our resignations have clearly been lostin the mail. So quit trying to get rid of me.”)

But it’s not enough. Tsuna comes down with a fever on aMonday. It’s not a bad one, nothing like the spikes in temperature Reborn hadto deal with back when it was just him and Tsuna. As much as it… disgruntleshim to admit it, even just to himself, Viper’s presence helps.

But even a second Arcobaleno can’t fill the sheer amount ofFlames that Tsuna needs to live. And it probably doesn’t help that he refusesto eat as much of their Flames as Reborn and Viper are willing to offer, stillinsisting on going the catch-a-criminal-stranger route most of the time. It’s aconstant battle to get Tsuna to feed on them even just four times a week,although Reborn supposes even that’s a victory worth celebrating consideringback when they first decided on this method, Tsuna had pushed for once a fortnight.

(It doesn’t hurt as much these days, as it did the firsttime Reborn broke off a piece of his own Sun core. He’s wondered on occasion ifmaybe it’s just because he’s done it one too many times and has numbed himselfto it. He doesn’t think so - it’s not the kind of thing one can get usedto, as his experience with Luce can attest to - but this is new territory forall of them. All he knows is that the more time he spends with Tsuna, thestronger their bond becomes, which makes sense, obviously, but also, thestronger that bond becomes, the less it hurts when he offers Tsuna his ownFlames. Nowadays, it feels less like he’s breaking off a piece of his very souland more like… he’s exchanging it. When he gives his Sun Flames to Tsuna,it’s almost as if Tsuna’s own Flames automatically reach out to fill what heloses, and he recovers that much faster because of it.

He’s talked about it to Viper, who admits it’s nowhere nearas violating as it was with Luce, which they’d braced themselves for the firsttime they offered a terribly dismayed Tsuna their Flames. If the process hurtsthe illusionist at all, they haven’t said, and Reborn hasn’t seen any signs ofit.)

As it is, Tsuna might not be anywhere near as sick as hecould be, but Reborn still made the executive decision to pull him out ofschool and confine him to bedrest for the day. There’s no need to push theirluck.

On his part, Tsuna sleeps. He grumbled a little earlierabout overprotective mother hens, but he drifted off almost as soon as he wasushered back to bed. He doesn’t stir for most of the rest of the day, but thatalso means he doesn’t jerk awake vomiting black Flames so Reborn would cautiouslycall it a success.

On the other hand, Viper - not so much. Tsuna wasunderweight and plagued with exhaustion on and off since the illusionistarrived, but he’s gotten better since then, with Reborn as a crutch, and thenViper later on. This is the first time Viper’s seen Tsuna’s health take anosedive in a way Luce never did even at the end of her life.

“Would it help if he ate more?” Viper asks, and it’s onlybecause Reborn has known them for so long that he can hear the tension beneaththe clinical monotone.

Reborn checks Tsuna’s temperature again. “He’ll be fine.”

Viper glares. “That isn’t what I asked.”

Reborn reminds himself that he was probably just as out ofhis depth as Viper currently feels back when he was first learning how to takecare of Tsuna. That doesn’t prevent his answer from coming out just a touch toosharply, “He’s eating four proper meals a week; what do you think?”

“Then-”

“We’re not force-feeding him unless he’s on the brink ofdeath,” Reborn cuts him off. He slants an uncompromising look at Viper,ignoring the way the room seems to darken threateningly for a moment. “Tsunasaid no. We can argue about it, but we aren’t going to disregard his opinionanytime we please.” He reaches up and tilts his fedora down over his eyes. “Wearen’t Luce.”

He doesn’t need to see it to know Viper has to suppress aflinch back. “This is different.”

Reborn sighs, more tired than irritated now. “Not sodifferent.”

“It would be for his own good!” Viper hisses, and somethingin Reborn marvels at that. Even back when they didn’t know about Arcobaleno andthe Tri-Ni-Sette and Checkerface, when they didn’t know what Luce was luringthem into, Viper never concerned themselves with Luce’s wellbeing to thisextent. Maybe that was because Luce was never in this kind of situation, neversick when they still would’ve cared, but perhaps too it should’ve been a clue,a warning.

“And Luce did what she did because she believed it was forthe good of the world,” Reborn points out harshly, and this time Viper doesflinch. The silence that follows feels almost chastised.

I was here first, Reborn doesn’t say. I’ve beenwith him longest, even if that doesn’t mean much because he’s been alone somuch longer. But I was the one who saw him at his worst, not you. Do you thinkI don’t want him healthy and strong and not starving any less than youdo? Do you think I don’t want to shove as much of my Flames into him as ittakes to make him full for the first damn time in over half a decade?

But consent means something a little extra to himthese days, and when it comes down to it - Luce forced them to feed her topreserve herself and the world. Reborn won’t force Tsuna to eat just so theycan preserve Tsuna. Not unless there’s no other way. He’s selfish andpossessive enough to admit that. And at least for now, regular, propermeals - however few - seem to be helping enough to see some signs ofimprovement. Until that changes, drastically enough to require intervention,Reborn will respect Tsuna’s wishes.

Don’t you understand, you fool? I never want Tsuna tolook at me the way we all looked at Luce in the end.

He doesn’t say any of this out loud of course. It revealstoo much of himself, and he’s never been that close to the other Arcobaleno.

“Make yourself useful and pass me another ice pack,” Heorders instead.

Viper glowers, bristling at being told what to do. But inthe end, they look at Tsuna, paler than he’s been in a while, Flames flutteringunsteadily against their senses, and a moment later, the illusionist concedesand tosses Reborn an ice pack before busying themselves with opening the windowfor some fresh air but also tossing some Mist Flames around to keep the draft out.

Then they both settle down to wait.

The doorbell rings, just past four in the afternoon, butthey both know who it is. They eye each other for a moment before Viper clickstheir tongue in annoyance but capitulates and goes to get the door. Nana is outshopping, but even if she wasn’t, it isn’t as if she would’ve done anythingexcept let her visitor right on in.

Sometimes, Reborn wonders how she’s even still alive.

Downstairs, Viper opens the door and demands flatly, “What.”

Standing on the doorstep like there’s nowhere else he’drather be, Fon smiles. “Good afternoon, Viper.”

Viper stares woodenly at him and doesn’t budge. Fon’s smilewidens. His eyes remain as cold and calculating as Reborn’s at his worst.

“Colonello called me,” Fon continues, and Viper thinksuncharitably that they should’ve trapped the idiot in his worst nightmaresuntil he forgot he ever stumbled on them at Mafia Land.

They ignore the fact that if they were in Colonello’s oreven Fon’s place - and they were, a mere three months ago - they would’vewanted to know about all this too.

It’s different now. They’re Tsunayoshi’s Mist Guardian now,properly bonded in a way Viper never was with Luce. There was a bond there,yes, but there was also always a nagging sense of wrongness that Viperwas a fool for ignoring just because they’d finally found a Sky that seemedworth following and also wanted them. They’d dismissed their ownintuition, reasoning that the bond just needed more time to settle, and itwasn’t until it was far too late to back out that they realized why - a Flamebond forged on a foundation of lies is no real bond at all.

Tsunayoshi is different from Luce in every conceivable way.And if Fon is here to give him any kind of trouble, even just to sate his ownmorbid curiosity instead of staying away, especially today, he’ll haveto deal with Viper first.

“-about the Sky Arcobaleno,” Fon is saying. “And how he’s…different. Since I was in the area, I thought I would drop by and see formyself.”

Viper scoffs. “He’s unavailable at the moment. Come againlater.”

Fon’s smile doesn’t falter but it does thin a little.“Viper.”

“Fon.” Viper echoes flatly, and neither of them gives aninch.

Fon shakes his head, and for the first time, his smileslides off his face, and a flicker of something that teeters betweenfrustration and challenge slips past that iron-clad control of his. “I’m theStorm Arcobaleno, I have the right to see him.”

“And I’m his Mist Guardian,” Viper counters, and apart of them revels in the spark of pride that that title brings. “You’ll seehim when he wants to see you, and I have no qualms about enforcing that.”

They stare at each other for a moment. Something in Fon’s expressionspeaks of genuine surprise, like he didn’t expect Viper to put up this much ofa fuss, even though Colonello almost certainly sensed their Flame bonds andthen told the others.

“And Sawada-san does not wish to see me?” Fonenquires after a moment.

Viper gives nothing away. “He’s busy.”

Fon stares at them some more, and then stares past them atthe stairs leading up to the second floor.

This close, Viper wonders if he can sense the disturbance inTsunayoshi’s Flames.

Fon looks at them again, and for just a second, it looksalmost like he’s willing to try and force his way past Viper. But only for asecond, and then his genial expression returns. He takes a step back, inclineshis head, and says, “Another time then. I have some work to do nearby anyway.My private number is the same.” He smiles even as his eyes narrow in warning.“Do remember to call me when Sawada-san is available again, Viper. Good day toyou.”

Viper watches him go, not shutting the door until they can’tsense the Storm in the vicinity anymore.

Reborn says nothing when they return, but Viper supposes -somewhat sardonically - that’s a compliment in itself.

Not that Viper needs Reborn’s approval. But at least thisway, the hitman doesn’t open his mouth or open fire and very likelyannoy Viper enough to retaliate.

Their Sky needs all the rest he can get after all.

Tsuna recovers in a few days and agrees to meet Fon over theweekend.

At Takesushi.

With Reborn and Viper at the other end of the restaurant, andthat only because they refused to wait outside or let Tsuna go alone.

“Are you sure about this?” Reborn grumbles. They’d shown upearly and settled themselves at the bar table where Reborn has taken todisassembling and reassembling one of his handguns under the faintly alarmedeye of the sushi chef. Tsuna has no idea why the guy hasn’t called the cops onthem yet or even remarked about toddlers playing with “toy” firearms, but he’salso spent the past six-plus years living with the fact that nobody in thistown is capable of noticing anything out of the ordinary, and even if they are,they certainly can’t be bothered to say anything about it, so really, this ispar for the course.

Besides, Tsuna has faith in Reborn’s ability to talk himselfout of any trouble he might get into.

“I’m sure,” He says instead. “If he’s come all this way tosee me, I think I should at least meet him, right?”

“Don’t say that like it was much of a hardship for him,”Reborn scoffs. “Besides, he has family in town.”

Tsuna blinks. “What, really?”

“The Hibari family,” Viper says from where they’re perusingthe menu. “You know one of them, don’t you?”

Tsuna blanches a little. “H- Hibari-san is Fon-san’srelative?”

Hibari Kyouya has never paid much attention to Tsuna, asblind as the rest of this town to his oddities, but everyone knows aboutthe prefect’s violent proclivities in the name of discipline.

“Yes,” Reborn answers. “A great-nephew, I think. To be fair,Fon has rarely visited since he became an Arcobaleno. But Namimori isn’t new tohim.”

Tsuna digests this silently and wonders if Fon will be likeHibari Kyouya, easy to anger, quick to strike. Viper did say Fon was polite,when Tsuna asked what the Storm Arcobaleno was like, but the way they said itmade Tsuna think they actually meant it as an insult.

On the other hand, Viper says almost everything like it’s aninsult.

Privately, Tsuna contemplates the odds of Fon being morelike Reborn or more like Viper. Reborn, who refused to run and stubbornlypowered through even the worst of Tsuna’s episodes and was the first to chooseto give up a part of himself just to ease Tsuna’s hunger? Or Viper, who neverslept in the same house for the first two months and looked at Tsuna like theycouldn’t decide whether to attack or flee but still came back every single daylike they couldn’t help themselves until they learned to trust him?

Or maybe Fon would be neither, more like Colonello instead,so terribly, horrifyingly afraid, more than a little confused, and - unlikeReborn and Viper both - with enough self-preservation and sense to actuallystay away.

The latter, he hopes, and ignores those tiny parts of himthat are somehow still capable of hoping for something else entirely.

(Five and empty and tripping over everything, six andhurting and tired, eight and desperate, ten and starving, thirteen and aloneand standing on a bridge, wondering if death might be better.)

It would be selfish. More than Tsuna deserves. And he’salready dragged two people into this. He can’t do anything about Reborn andViper anymore, and he knows that the two of them are split between a possessivesort of satisfaction that Colonello hasn’t come after them and contemptuousdisdain for the same reason.

Fon though…

The door of the restaurant slides open. Viper stiffens andhalf-turns. Reborn doesn’t but the last piece of the gun he’s been handlingsnaps ominously into place just as Fon walks in.

“Promise you won’t eavesdrop?” Tsuna checks.

Reborn rolls his eyes while Viper sighs.

“You never spoke to me privately,” The illusionistcomplains.

Yeah, and look how that turned out, Tsuna doesn’tsay.

“You were too scared to speak to him privately,” Rebornpoints out because at heart, he is a troll. Viper tries to stab him with theirchopsticks.

It’s Tsuna’s turn rolls his eyes. He glances quickly at Fon,who’s caught sight of them and looks about ready to come over and join them.The Storm… really does look quite a bit like a miniature Hibari. He’s wearing ared Pacifier, and his hair’s tied back in a braid, but the biggest differencewould probably be the fact that he doesn’t look ready to beat up everybody inthe vicinity for breathing the wrong way.

“Guys,” Tsuna insists, and this time, Reborn and Viper heavetwin sighs even as they get up to leave.

“Fine,” Reborn says, clearly displeased as he pins Fon withan unblinking stare. He still has his gun out. “We’ll be at that booth. Screamif you need help.”

“I will not scream,” Tsuna mumbles sullenly. Justbecause his voice hasn’t broken yet, and he had the misfortune of beingstartled by one of Reborn’s cockroach spies in the house the other day. A lot ofpeople are scared of cockroaches. Not all, but that doesn’t mean the rest wantto cuddle them either.

He watches them take up residence in the corner booth,smiles weakly at the sushi chef who’s raised an eyebrow at them but doesn’tcomment, and then takes a deep breath and turns to greet Fon.

Fon hops up onto the bar table, murmurs a polite thanks whenone of the waiters comes by with a fresh cup of green tea, and then settles downcross-legged before turning all his focus on Sawada Tsunayoshi.

So, this is the new Sky Arcobaleno. To be honest, he doesn’tseem very impressive. The first time Fon met Luce, her Flames - gentle but strongin a way that couldn’t be ignored - tugged at him like the summer tide on theshore, playful and welcoming. Tsunayoshi’s Flames… well, Fon can barely feelthem. Which is strange because Colonello said he could sense the Guardian bondsthat the Sky Arcobaleno has with both Reborn and Viper. Fon thinks he can feelthem, when he concentrates, but they’re like wisps of smoke, nothing like thepowerful, stable connections Colonello talked about.

If Fon didn’t have a name and facial description to go by,he would’ve walked right past this boy without sensing anything out of theordinary about him. He has almost no presence, his features aren’t particularlystriking (and in fact there’s a tired gauntness about his face that suggests hemight be recovering from an illness), and he’s fidgeting nervously under Fon’sgaze even though Fon made sure he was at his most disarming best before he evenentered the restaurant.

Definitely civilian born and bred, although it is curious -one would think if the boy was anxious about meeting him, he would want Rebornand Viper with him.

“So, hi,” Tsunayoshi finally blurts out. “I’m SawadaTsunayoshi. Nice to meet you.”

Fon inclines his head. “I am Fon. Thank you for taking thetime to meet me.”

“Oh, I- There’s no need to thank me for that,” The boyhurries out. “I was- I was a bit sick earlier; that’s why Viper turned youaway. But I would’ve met you then if I could’ve.” He pauses uncertainly for amoment. “I’m not really sure why you’d wanna meet me though? Did you havequestions?”

Fon smiles, but that just seems to make Tsunayoshiuncomfortable. “Not particularly. I simply wished to meet you. It is not sostrange, is it? For a Guardian to meet their Sky?”

That gets a bigger reaction. Tsunayoshi jerks back as ifstung, and out of the corner of his eye, Fon sees a very deliberate flash of amuzzle pointing his way. He ignores it.

“But you’re not!” Tsunayoshi bursts out, and he actuallylooks faintly disturbed. “We just met! And I know that’s not how itworks, Reborn explained it to me, I don’t- I don’t inherit you from-from Luce-san.” His hand goes to the Pacifier around his neck, tapping absentlyat it for a moment. “So, I guess what I’m saying is, you don’t have to stay oranything.”

Fon considers him for a second, then nods over his shoulder.“But you don’t mind Reborn or Viper staying?”

Tsunayoshi’s expression twists into something resigned and distraughtand somehow angrily happy all at the same time. “I don’t think I had much of achoice,” He mumbles, fiddling with the napkin in front of him now. “Reborn wasreally angry with me the one time I tried to kick him out. And Viper sort ofinserted themself into my life before I really noticed.”

He straightens and seems to shake his odd mood off. “Butanyway, they- Reborn and Viper, they chose to stay, but that doesn’t meananybody else has to too, just because I’m the Sky Arcobaleno. I mean, things aren’teven that interesting in Namimori. And my life is especially boring. All I dois go to school and go home and train a bit with Reborn and Viper on the side.I’m not even eligible for Vongola Decimo anymore, obviously, so there’s notreally any point in hanging around.”

He trails off, and his expression shifts into somethingexpectant, like he half-thinks Fon is going to turn and march out the door,just like that.

Fon arches an eyebrow. But, well, this is interesting too.And half the reason he came here at all, isn’t it?

“And if I also choose to stay?” He enquires.

Tsunayoshi’s shoulders go tight. “I- Well, I mean, you can,of course.” His legs kick against the barstool. “Are- Are you going to?”

Fon hums noncommittally. “Perhaps. If nothing else, it willbe a chance to catch up with old friends.”

“Oh,” Tsunayoshi murmurs, and everything about him suddenlygoes still, down to his hands and the napkin he’s been wringing between them.

Fon tenses, just a little, but he continues smiling, keepinghis expression mild. “There’s no need to sound so disappointed, Sawada-san. Youwon’t even give me a chance?”

Tsunayoshi stares for a moment longer at the table, afaraway look in his eyes, and then he glances back at Fon with a weak smile.“That’s not it. Like I said, of course you’re welcome to stay if you want. Areyou staying at a hotel? Or- Or with your family? Reborn and Viper mentioned them. Or youcan come visit my place-”

Fon listens to the boy ramble on, and when it happens, well,it happens so slowly he doesn’t even notice until-

There are Flames, he realizes abruptly, rippling like aheatwave in the air between them, and when he looks sharply up at Tsunayoshiagain, the darkness in those brown eyes makes him jerk back.

Because he’s seen that look before - hungry and relentlesslike the gaping maw of a slavering beast - and Fon is its helpless prey, pinneddown and unable to do anything but take it.

He scrambles to his feet, uncharacteristic panic making himclumsy. He didn’t even know when he lowered his guard enough to be taken off-guard.But then, Luce was unassuming as well. In this, Tsunayoshi is apparently thesame, just in a different way, and Fon should be better than this.

In a flash, even as his breath feels like it’s stalling inhis lungs, his mind jumps between every exit he marked when he first came in -front door, back door, two windows, easily broken - but he also knows there’snowhere he can run.

He knew, from the start, that it was foolish to come here.When he got the call from Colonello, every sensible instinct in him told him toget as far away from Japan as physically possible. But he also heard aboutReborn and Viper and genuine Guardian bonds, and neither of them were stupid,they would never fall for the same tricks again, especially Reborn. Yetthey’d taken their Sky to an amusement park, for all intents and purposes justa fun day out, and then by the sounds of it even treating him to dinner. Viperwas even going to pay for a hotel, for a trip detour that certainly wasn’tnecessary.

And they’d been protective, Colonello had said, protectiveof their Sky even against a fellow Arcobaleno, and indulgent in a way thatspoke of real affection.

And Fon - as much as he was tempted to simply hang up anddisappear - stayed on the phone and questioned Colonello twice about everyaspect and observation of the short encounter, and by the end of it, a thoughthad trickled in, unbidden - was it just Reborn and Viper, bonded with the newSky Arcobaleno? Or did he have others already?

Did he have a Storm?

And something in him snarled at the very idea of anyoneencroaching on what was essentially his territory. It seemed likesomething Reborn might do too, if that protective streak of his reared its headtoo much - dig up some other elements with strong potential and train them uphimself instead of waiting for the other Arcobaleno, whom the hitman would knowfull well might never come at all and would probably run in the oppositedirection if confronted with the very notion of bonding with the SkyArcobaleno.

And before Fon knew it, he was on a flight to Japan. Heexperienced firsthand Viper’s bristling defensiveness, and even if he didn’tsee Reborn until now, he also sensed the hitman like one would an aggressiveneon-bright warning sign in the background, and even if neither of those things puthim entirely at ease, they were still points in favour of Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Besides, Colonello swore up and down that the new Sky nevereven tried to eat his Flames, that Reborn and Viper’s Flames weren’t theravaged mess Luce consistently left them in either when she fed on them.

Fon still should’ve known better. But he was curious, andfoolish, and no matter the calm he likes to portray to the world, he’s still aStorm, and a Hibari to boot, with all the jealously guarded covetous instinctsof each.

(Because he thought, just for a moment - maybe this one’sdifferent. And in the end, such a pathetic hope was what drove him hereafter all.

Checkerface knew exactly the kind of people to prey on,didn’t he?)

He looks at the Sky Arcobaleno once more, at that yawninghunger that Luce wore so well, and he backs away, preparing to leap to thefloor and out the nearest window as quickly as he can, shattered glass bedamned, even as he braces for the nauseous sensation of an insatiable Skytearing away at his Flames once more.

He takes a step-

-and stops.

Tsunayoshi is still watching him. He’s sitting there andwatching him with Sky-stained eyes that burn with a bottomless appetite,and Fon should be running, out of this restaurant, this town, this country,anywhere but in the direct line of sight of the Sky Arcobaleno, and yet-

Civilian, born and bred, and so Fon catches it, just aglimpse, lurking underneath the ravaging hunger - guilt. It’s there, inthe lines of his face and the pinch of his mouth, determination and regrettwined together and running just as deep as his hunger, and that is whatmakes Fon stop.

Because in all the time he knew her, Luce never regrettedwhat she did to them.

And he thinks: Reborn and Viper stayed - why?

He turns back, faces the greedy rush of Flames bearing downon him with a terrifying weight only he can feel, and even as his heart poundsin his chest and remembered revulsion rises in his throat, he doesn’t move.

They brush against his Flames, grasping fingers full of adesperate sort of want, but then - abruptly - it’s as if they slam intoan invisible wall, and between one breath and the next, they’re yanked back like the snap of a rubber band.

Tsunayoshi falls off his chair, and Fon gets a singlewide-eyed look of shocked disbelief before the boy crashes to the ground andFon suddenly has a gun at his head and a cold tendril of Mist curling aroundhis neck like a noose.

“What did you do?” Reborn demands, and his infantilevoice resonates for just a moment with the deeper near-forgotten timbre of theman he once was.

People are turning to look. Viper - on the floor and helpingTsunayoshi up - waves an irritated hand, and the civilians lose interestimmediately.

“Tsunayoshi? Are you alright? What happened?” Their eyes arestill hooded, but when their head lifts in Fon’s direction, Fon can sense thechill in them. Their Mist Flames remain a threat around his neck, and Reborn’sgun doesn’t waver.

But Fon only has eyes for the boy pushing himself up into asitting position, three shades paler, hands shaking, and Flames - good godhis Flames - like a whole forest of plum blossoms in full bloom, all beauty andcolour, deceptively delicate but fierce and resolute in the dead of winter, andabsolutely unwavering in the way they thread themselves with Reborn’s Sun andViper’s Mist.

Fon finds his voice, and it comes out hoarser than heexpects but he doesn’t care. “Did you just try to frighten me intoleaving?”

Tsunayoshi flinches.

Fon huffs an almost unsteady laugh, feeling light-headed andthrown off balance for the first time in decades.

“I think,” He muses, casually disintegrating Viper’s Mistnoose with a spark of his own Flames and stepping lightly away from Reborn’sgun and dawning realization. “I would very much like to stay after all,Tsunayoshi-san.”

Tsunayoshi makes an incoherent sound of despair, and Fonthinks he knows why now. He’ll have to apologize though; he won’t be going anywhereanytime soon. Not when this Sky Arcobaleno’s first instinct when it came to Fon was to protect.

#OMG THIS GOT SO FUCKING LONG #myscrap #headcanon #is this even a fucking headcanon anymore #prob not #but it's what i labelled the first two so it's a fucking headcanon gdi #khr #sawada tsunayoshi #reborn #viper #fon #msg #raz-ia #hunger verse

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assortedfruitsnacks212 · 5 years

Text

I miss you, Tumblr! + Life update on stuff and things

Heyyyyy everyone. I figured it was high time I made a proper post talking about, well, everything that’s happened since I stopped posting so much. I don’t like that I disappeared - this site was where I discovered Reylo and made some truly awesome friends. So I want to stick around, you know? And I do hope to come back more often from now on. It’s just hard juggling so many social media platforms...

But ANYWAY. I promised an update, so here we go.

1. I’m moving across the country!

That’s right ladies and gents, I’m fleeing the New Jersey coop for my old hometown of Huntsville, AL.

Why, you ask? Well, Huntsville is very much a city of the future. As the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (where they built the Saturn V rockets!) Huntsville has earned the well-deserved moniker "Rocket City USA." It's also undergoing a huge economic boom, which has led to a thriving arts community.

New Jersey? Eh.

I'm tired of just treading water and not making headway toward my dreams. I’ll talk about those dreams a bit more in this post. Needless to say, they’re very, very important to me.

So I'm not settling anymore. In August/September, I'm packing up shop and heading down south. It's the start of something new, and I can’t wait.

2. I started a Patreon for my passion project, and it’s going well <3

My passion project, The Oracle Fragment, has been the one thing I’ve returned to over and over again for the past 10+ years. Late last year I decided to step up my commitment by starting a Patreon. I’ve only done a soft launch so far, and I’m already at 38 Patrons :) It’s been a rewarding month!

My official launch is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27. I’ll be celebrating with a Twitch stream with fun games, sketch requests, and maybe a little giveaway ;) The stream starts at 9pm EST. Let me know if you want to come - as you know, I take Reylo requests ;)

3. I’ve returned to my roots: pencil drawing!

A friend of mine convinced me to do some traditional drawing again, and I’m so glad he did. I’d forgotten how lovely it is to put pencil to paper. Also, I know I’m far better at it than I am at digital sketching. So I’m gonna let myself indulge a bit - and maybe even find a way to marry my pencil art TO my digital art. People do it all the time, I hear ;)

People who are waiting on commissions: if you want me to sketch your ideas traditionally, shoot me a message and let’s talk about it! If I do a pencil sketch for you, I can actually mail it to you OR to the friend of your choice. Shipping is free! (unless it’s international in which case we’ll discuss it) @reylorianlovechild @immortalpen @faithren @rebelrebelreylo @jesssssah

4. I’m putting my art in local stores

My favorite stores in Woodstown, Barney Loves Books and the Woodstown Coffee Shop and Bakery, have agreed to let me display my art on their premises. I’m REALLY excited and also a little overwhelmed :) I’m gonna start small, with just a basket of prints and originals... BUT who knows where it could go from here :)

If you’re in the Woodstown area, come take a look sometime! Woodstown is about 40 minutes away from Philadelphia. As a bonus, we could even meet - just message me and we’ll go get coffee from the bakery!

5. I’m raising money for Star Wars Celebration

I bought Saturday passes for my husband and me some time ago. Now it’s time for me to either (A) raise the money for travel and lodging, or (B) sell the tickets to someone else. :p For a while I was leaning toward just selling them, but hell, it would be SO nice to go, if only for a day! So I’m going to give it a shot. Keep an eye out for commission openings (once my current ones are finished) and other cool stuff!

6. I’m doing more portrait work

Again, this is all because my friends and family convinced me to... BUT I’ve decided to make a whole-assed attempt at making my portrait work a thing. I’m printing up brochures to display with my art, and I’ve revamped my listings on Etsy.

Portraits are my strongest point, after all. There’s something about the human face that utterly enchants me, and people tell me I have the ability to capture the subject’s heart and soul on paper. I’ve decided to believe them. :)

If you’ve been thinking about commissioning a portrait of a friend, family member, or other loved one (including fictional loves *coughKylocough*), you can go to my Etsy here, or just message me here on Tumblr.

Speaking of Etsy...

7. I’m adding lots more stuff to my Etsy store

I haven’t done much with Etsy since last summer, and it’s time I fixed that. Over the weekend, I FINALLY added a print option for Elf lord Kylo Ren (!!), and I’m about to add merch for him, too. Oh, and I just ordered fine art prints of Elven Kylo and Hades and Persephone Reylo so I can put out hand-embellished versions of them!! That’s where I paint on the prints with gold or silver so they look extra shiny and pretty. You can see a pic of my embellished Art Nouveau Padme here.

Other plans I have for my Etsy:

- add pillow inserts to my custom pillows - add MORE fanart - add MORE originals

If you have ideas for other things I can add to my Etsy, please let me know! Especially if it’s Reylo things ;)

8. I’m starting a regular Twitch stream with an art/storytelling focus

I’ve wanted to be a Twitch streamer for a long time, but I could never figure out what to do, exactly. Just recently, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning:

I want my stream to be all about storytelling.

Life gets crazy, depressing, and devoid of magic sometimes. I want to bring a little of that magic back by creating an intentional space outside of daily life for imagination and exploration. Dreaming, brainstorming, chasing plot bunnies, painting, sketching, talking deep subjects, and playing games - these will all be welcome activities in my magic circle. So if that sounds good to you, come make magic with me <3

My inaugural stream will be Saturday, February 23 at noon EST. After that, I hope to stream at least 3 times a week in the afternoons.

---

As for Reylo stuff...

Believe me, though I’ve been absent from Tumblr, I’ve never, EVER stopped thinking about Reylo. And I haven’t forgotten about any of my ongoing Reylo fics and projects!

I’ll make a separate post about that, though. I’ve talked your ear off quite enough for one post ;)

I’ve missed you all. If the urge strikes you, PLEASE come and see hi. I’d love to hear from you!

@reylocalligraphy @reylo-convert @enjoyallneednothing-blog @raven-maiden @obsessivepropulsive @ever-so-reylo @monsterleadmehome @reylolujah @pacificwanderer @dreamsdescent @faequeentitania @thewayofthetrashcompactor @deafield @dvrkrey @reylotrashpiler @recklessdarkness @cosmo-gonika @aionimica @creationsvixen @collegefangirl3791 @inmyownidiom @midnightbluefox

#assortedfruitsnacks212 #reylo #reylo fam #reylo fandom

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running-on-fanfiction · 6 years

Text

Brady Skjei Ft. Victor Mete -Immoral Times

hey could you please do victor mete (preferably smut) and/or brady skjei (also preferably smut)

Author’s Note: Don’t hate me!

Brady’s POV

“So can we get that?” I spoke into the phone. I was at my wits ends with all of this, but I knew that this was the best thing to do.

I was so busy listening to her on the phone that I didn’t hear the front door open.

“Okay, so, okay, yeah, okay. I’ll see you Sunday then.” I said as I hung up the phone. I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face.

“Who was that?” Y/N asked from behind.

Shit. I didn’t realized she was home. I hope she didn’t hear much.

“That was just my mom.” I lied. “She’s visiting on her way back home, from her birthday trip.” I lied again. I could feel the sweat start to form on my forehead.

Y/N, knew something was up but she didn’t say anything.

“Well, I have a flight to catch early tomorrow so I better start packing.” She leaned in for a kiss, but I knew that if she felt the sweat that was seeping from my face, she would have known I was lying, so I leaned back. I knew I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t think of anything else.

“I-I just got done at the gym and I stink.” I lied again for what felt like the umpteenth time. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Y/N POV

You watched Brady run towards the bathroom. He had been acting weird for weeks now and what was with that leaning back shit. He hasn’t touched you in weeks. You hated to think it but maybe Malina was right, maybe Brady was cheating.

You knew that you shouldn’t have done what you did but, and in the years you and Brady had been together you never had done it before. You waited until you heard him step in the shower before unlocking his phone.

You looked at his last call, that did not read mom.

“Carly Jewel” You said. “Oh god.” You felt a sickness travel to your belly. You heard the shower turn off. You placed the phone back where he had left it, than made your way to your shared bedroom to pack.

Brady’s POV

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around myself before sitting on the edge of the tub. I could feel myself getting worked up again, so I repeated Jimmy’s words over and over in my head. “You can do this, you love her.”

Jimmy, was helpful during this time of my life and I honestly didn’t think I could do this without him. I looked at the wall clock to see that it was near eleven, and I was due for a phone call soon with Carly. I walked into the bedroom too see Y/N placing her suitcase on the floor. She had already changed in her night clothes, and I could tell she was sleepy. I smiled to myself as I placed on some basketball shorts before hanging my towel back up.

“Are you coming to bed?” Y/N asked. Her back was turned from me and for a moment I didn’t feel the need to sweat, but the clock next to the bed broke my thoughts.

“No, I have to um call Jimmy. He want’s to talking about the game tomorrow.” I hated to lie but I knew it was the best answer for her to believe.

“Okay.” She said. Man, she even sounded sleepy.

Y/N POV

You wiped the tears from my eyes as you listened to his steps leave the bedroom. He was lying and there wasn’t anything you could do or say. A part of you was hoping that what you found wasn’t what you thought. However, the next morning made you realized that what was going on was real.

“Jimmy? I thought Chris was taking me to the airport.” You strummed. You felt the knife stab in your lower abdomen at the site of Jimmy. Brady, told you he couldn’t take you to the airport because he was going with Jimmy to the arena for a much needed practiced.

“Chris, got a stomach bug last night and he called me to take you because I guess he is still puking.” Jimmy smiled as he reached for your bags.

The ride to the airport was hard. You were trying so hard not to cry, and all you really wanted to do was get out of the truck and be on your way to Montreal.

*Later that day*

“You okay sis?” Casey asked as we walked into his places.

“Yeah.” You lied as you walked into his new pad. Casey, was just recently traded to the Habs. He never took trades well, hence why you were in Montreal.

“Nice, place.” You smiled as you looked around the room. “Looks like this place is already treating you well.” You laughed.

Casey, laughed as he walked over to his new guest room and placed your bags inside.

“It’s different.” He joked. “The teams pretty nice too. I mean, it’s not like I don’t know half the guys before but its been nice. Feels better than being in the Florida heat.” He laughed. “Anyways, some of the guys are coming over tonight for dinner, so be ready.” He joked. With that he let you be and get all settled in.

You sat on the bed, as you pulled out your phone to call Brady, but it went straight to voice mail. You sighed, as you hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. You landed two hours ago and still no call from your boyfriend.

After, a while of stressing you decide to get a little more dressed up, before the guys come over. You placed a pair of simple jeans, and a nice grey top. Just as you placed the top on you heard the front door open and what sounded like a heard of elephants.

“What are you plans for today, sis?” Casey smiled as he flopped next to you on the couch.

“I actually have plans with Victor. He owns me lunch after that poker game and I decide to do some shopping.” You said looking down at your phone.

“Still nothing?” Casey asked as he looked down at your phone.

“I talked to him a little last night but it was very short.” You sighed as you got up from the couch. “Anyways, I’ll see you later.”

“Well actually tomorrow. “ He grinned. “Maisie is cooking me dinner at her place and well you know. So, I’m going to be spending the night at hers.”

“Well, be careful, you dork.” You laughed as you walked out of the house to meet Victor.

You and Victor met the first night you came to Montreal and well you hit it off. He also knew the issues you were dealing with, with Brady and he was nothing but helpful.

“Hey! You look nice today.” Victor smiled as he greeted you.

“You’re not looking half bad yourself.” You joked.

“I hope you don’t mind but I ordered our drinks already.” He smiled as he took his seat at the table.

“Sweet!” You smiled as you looked at the menu.

“So how are we today?”

“We’re good.” You gave a weak smile. “Honest.” You said once you saw the look Victor gave you.

“You know, your right less coke and more vodka is the key to this drink.” You laughed as you felt the warm feeling cover your body. Victor, laughed as he took a sip of his own drink.

“So what movie are we watching?” He asked as you took a seat next to him on the couch. He placed his forearm on your leg, as you pressed play.

“We are watching Bridesmaids, because someone said they have never saw it and that someone should see it.” You laughed taking another sip of the vodka and coke.

“Okay, this is a pretty great movie.” Victor laughed as he placed his now empty glass on the table. He turned to you too see you were crying.

Brady’s POV

It had been about week and half since Y/N left and I was feeling less stress with her around. It was easier to lie when I didn’t have to see her face. Yet, I was nowhere near ready fro her to come back. What if she found out.

Y/N POV

“Hey, hey why are we crying?” Victor asked as he pulled you in for a hug.

“Why doesn’t he care?” You cried. “Am I not enough for him?”

Victor, only knew you for a short time, but he knew that what you were dealing with was not fair. You were a loving, kind, amazing, smart woman he has ever met and the thought of a Brady treating you like shit killed him.

“He is an ass for what he is doing and to be honest it’s his lost. Anyone that could let you go is a fool.” He said kissing the top of your head. You lifted your head to look at him, and you weren’t sure why but when he leaned in to kiss you, you didn’t stop him.

The kiss was a hungry kiss and it made you feel alive. For a moment you forgot why you were upset. Victor, pulled you into his lap, never breaking the kiss. You felt his lips travel down your face, before going to your neck, then back to your lips. His hands wrapped around you.

“Wrap your legs around me.” He mumbled between kisses as he got up and walked you two to the bedroom. Your back was softly placed on the bed. Victor sat on his knees between your legs. Your legs wrapped around his waist as you two kept kissing. You weren’t sure when it happened but each of you know laid naked. His body pressed to yours, his lips on your neck. You felt alive, until he slide inside.

This wasn’t Brady.

Victor, kept his lip on your neck as he thrust sloppily. He let out a handful of moans. You let out a handful of tears. Even if Brady had cheated on you, you still loved him.

With one last cry, Victor came to an end. He flopped down next to you before pulling you into his chest. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep.

Brady’s POV

“So!?” Jimmy yelled as he bounced into the house.

“I got it! It looks beautiful.”

“Oh man, Brady this ring is beautiful. She’s going to love it.” Jimmy said.

“I really love Y/N and I can’t wait to ask her to marry me. I’ve been a dick for a while and I’m ready to make it up to her.”

-Julianne

#brady skjei #brady skjei imagines #victor mete #victor mete imagines #New York Rangers #montreal canadiens #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #nhl imagines #nhl imagine

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deadimagineblog · 6 years

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Trouble Comes In Threes (Triplet!AU) (1/?)

Modern!AU, College!AU. This is my first triplet AU post but I'm gonna give it my best! Its start off with just Ben Solo, but will end with Matt and in the next chapter Kylo as well, so bare with me I promise! Fem!S/O just so you know! There will be smut NSFW, but not in this part. So lets start!

Part One!

° You sat behind the counter of your coffee shop job, long hair up and glinting wonderfully under the warm lighting hanging above. However, your face was anything the shining welcoming look of a barista that day. It had been rough, your car had broken down on the way to work, so your legs were sore from the walk there. You had gotten a text from your parent of a letter you had gotten from your "first choice" college. A rejection letter. Now the wait was on from your second choice college. Upon texting your boyfriend about the news, he explained long distance wouldn't work so the relationship was over. A text, classy. Now you waited for the shift to finally be over. It was almost over though, only a half an hour left. There was one joy that couldn't be taken away from you, and you smiled gently as you saw him pull up on his bike, grin on his face as he pulled open the door.

° Ben Solo, thank christ like a sign from some lord to just hold on. The day was almost over. He wasn't a friend, but a friendly regular that at least knew how to put a smile on that sour puss of a face you probably wore that day. Your smile must have been different than any other day because he stopped as he looked at you.

° "Uh oh, who do I have to beat up?" His voice greeted you and you shook your head as you begin to make his usual coffee. "Ben, you would just not believe the day I've had today," you began as you began combining ingredients to make his coffee. It was something the two of you had perfected, sweet but mature. Creamy but also still packed a powerful punch. Kind of like good old Ben.

° "Good thing I've got today off! Tell me all about it, kid," he stated, making himself at home by coming plopping into the comfy chair that was next to the counter. The two of you went to school together but never really talked to one another, but when you got your job at this coffee shop, he had been quick to work his schedule his daily coffee run around your schedule with the business. No one knew what he ordered. He wore a frown as he heard you sigh quietly as you placed the lid of his coffee cup in and moved around the counter to hand him the drink. He patted the chair next to him and you sat beside him. All the closing chores were done then, you were just waiting to lock the door. It wouldn't hurt to sit for the last 25 minutes.

° "Where to I begin? Well first my car wouldn't start this morning. So I had to make the walk here. Luckily I made it on time," you started as you looked at him rest his elbow on the arm of the chair and his chin in his hand as he looked at you. "Then I got a text from my mom saying I didn't get into UCLA. Which I kind of figured, since I took a year off it doesn't look good. But I wasn't expecting Andrew to break up with me over it," you hummed in amusement at your own life as Ben looked utterly offended.

° "What an asshole!" Ben almost yelled and you shrugged. "Gets better Ben, he did it over text," you finished and then he did yell, "What the fuck! Oh man, I'm so sorry Y/N. But that offer for dinner still stands," he added with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He chuckled as he saw you roll your eyes before he sipped the coffee.

° "Thanks but I think I'll stay single until I find out what I college I end up heading to," you retorted with a snort of a laugh, "I'm hoping to find a nice sorority girl," you teased to which he responded with "That'd be pretty hot to be honest."

° "What college are you hoping for? Did you have a second choice?"

° "Gon Jinn University, they have a Philosophy program I'm really interested in, plus they offered me a full ride, I just need to get the go ahead letter," you stated as you got up from the chair and began making your own coffee to drink on your walk home. He seemed to perk up.

° "Hey thats where my brothers go, and I got my acceptance letter yesterday so yours should be there too soon," he assured you with that air of kindness that he was so good at radiating off of him.

° "I didn't know you had brothers," you stated honestly, peeking at him over the coffee machine, "They as handsome as you?" You teased him again and he snorted.

° " They wish. You went to school with them too, Y/N. Kylo and Matt? Matt has curly blonde hair and glasses. He was in AP classes too, you should have seen him once or twice at least. Kylo is the big bad boy of the family. He was in Psychology like you were," he looked at you over the coffee machine and he could see the confusion and could see you shrug your shoulders and rolled his own eyes this time. "I swear to god, I'm not sure how you made it through school without getting hit by a car or something, you're so oblivious," he laughed. You stuck your tongue out at him but laughed with him as you both made pleasant conversation for the rest of the time before you closed up shop. He walked out the door with you, still talking on and on about his major he was interested in, Engineering. It was mostly static noise to you, but he was obviously passionate about it. As you were about to say goodbye to him he cut you off.

° "Want a ride? Its a two seater." He offered with a wiggle of his eyebrows and you rolled your eyes.

"I'm fine Ben, but thank you."

"Come on, maybe I can help you with your car? You've already had a long day, let me help you out," he cooed before unlocking his bike and pushing up the kickstand. He swung up his long leg over the seat and took a hand and patted the room behind him. You looked at it then at him. However, your legs did really hurt. The thought of walking home was almost enough to make you cry. You pulled your purse over your shoulder and nodded as you sat behind him, hands gripping his shirt as he began to peddle away from your coffee shop.

°"Where do you live?" He asked over his shoulder. You leaned up and told him and he looked a little surprised. "Oh I know where that is. I'll get us there," he stated, a small smirk on his lips which made you suspicious but you decided to trust him. He made pleasant enough conversation, asking about your choice in major and you explained it happily, suddenly seeming to glow as you explained it. Everyone knew you were brilliant, but Ben sometimes seemed to get it more than others. He could act like a jughead some(a lot of)times, but you had gotten to appreciate the knowledge in that big head of his, plus having someone to keep up with you was so refreshing. As you got more comfortable with riding with him, your hands had moved from holding his shirt to wrap around his waist and chin resting on his shoulder. You asked about somethings about him, about his family and his brothers but he quickly changed the subject from that topic. So you both asked questions about each other. Favorite color, favorite type of music and books and movies.

°"What's your favorite scent? Like food or perfume or even something like trees or flowers?" You asked with interest, eyes looking at his strong features as he thought about it. He was actually very handsome. Such strong features and sometimes he'd catch you looking and he had a smile that could be described as completely contagious and you'd smile back.

° "I like natural smells. Like cedar or campfires or pine or rain on rocks. That kind of stuff. What about you?"

° You answer and he nods before he asked the next question. That was how the ride went. The two of you laughed easily together and both could be playful with one another. It was surprising the two of you hadn't connected in high school, but that was probably for the best, the two of you probably would have gotten expelled. A friendship between the two of you would be trouble in all the fun ways. Suddenly though you were home. You hoped off his bike and stretched, him propping the bike up on the sidewalk as you saw your car in the driveway.

° "Lets see what I can do," he stated, and you quickly shake your head.

"No its okay Ben, I'm sure you want to go home too," you stated quickly but he waved you off.

"I don't leave that far, kid. It won't take me long to get there. Let's see of I can get this thing to turn over," he stated, looking at your beater car. It was already in such bad shape, you had been saving up to buy a new one, but it would be hard to split with your first car. There were great memories in there. You opened thr driver side door and popped the hood for him and out of habit you went to go check the mailbox even though your mom must have already looked to see the letter from the college. However inside there were a small stack of letters. She must have been looking for that letter for you and didn't grab the rest of the mail.

° You take the small stack of envelopes into your hand and look through them casually before you see the othet letter you had been waiting for. There was a moment of panic in your stomach as you set the letters on top of your car and looked at the envelope. Ben looked up to see you looking at the letter. He stood up straight and looked at it with you. "Just the go ahead right?"

° "I'm just worried because I took a year off. What if they don't want me anymore?" You asked yourself more than him. He shrugged, "I took a year off too, and they accepted me." You nodded but added, "Its been that kind of day though, and bad things usually happen in 3s, right?" He took the letter into his hands.

° "Want me to open it?" He asked, and watched as you nodded. It seemed silly, to be afraid of a damn letter, but you couldn't help but be nervous. He took a finger and opened the letter gently, putting the envelope to the side and unfolding the paper inside. He read it out loud for you. "Dear Miss Y/L/N. Thank you for your interest in Gon Jinn University," he paused, giving a small but sad looking smile, "Unfortunately, We regret to inform you that..." He paused again and took a deep breath, "That you will be stuck with one Ben Solo because you are going to school with him," he smirked but quickly laughed as a hand came and swatted his chest, "Ow, hey," he complained but saw that megawatt smile on your face as you leaned on the car and sighed a happy sigh. "Ready for your 3rd bad thing?" He asked, handing you your acceptance and leaning on the car next to you. "Your transmission is shot." "Oh."

° The two of you talked for a little while longer before you thanked him for the ride home and looking at the car for you. He smiled and waved as he got on his bike. But something was strange, he only rode across the street to the house that belonged to Miss Organa, your next door neighbor. You narrowed your eyes in confusion as he got off his bike and walked over to the garage. He opened it and parked his bike inside and waved again. "See you tomorrow neighbor!" Ben yelled and you looked completely surprised as he shut the garage door and you heard him laughing.

° The rest of the summer was spent getting ready to leave. You spent warm nights on the back of Ben's bike until you finally found the right parts to fix your car and then you put Ben's bike in the trunk and gave him rides home every night.

° "You're going to make me fat if you keep denying me my riding rights!"with a curt response of "You're literally built like a brick shithouse, Ben. Shut up."

° Even your parents would began to have late night talks with his mother while their children would hang out in your garage. "My boys are going to be nothing but trouble for your girl," Miss Organa would say with a laugh while your laughters could be heard rattling the walls.

° You really did like the man, he had you laughing till you had tears rolling down your cheeks. But sometimes there would be nights where he would proudly admit his newest conquest, meaning the next tail he would be chasing. So you knew that there was not much of a future despite his constant asks for dates. Which you were okay with, there was something about the way he would grow soft when talking about your pasts, your hopes, and your dreams. You had told yourself that you were so happy with this new friendship you had gotten from this man.

° You two waved goodbye to your parents, long hugs from your mothers, you even getting a deep hug from Leia, "Make sure my boys get home for the holidays will you, Y/N?" You promised that you would physically drag them if you had too. Ben pushed his belongs into your trunk and had packed you both a cooler filled with drinks and bags of chips and slim jims and sweets. You shoved your belongings into the back seat and suddenly you two were both off. It was a two day drive, going straight through. The drive was filled with laughs, staring at the stars on the hood of the car when you stopped to eat or see something cool you were driving past. Picture opportunities that were taken every time there was a chance.

° It was interesting to watch him sleep when it was your turn to drive. To see him curl up on the seat and his black hair fall over his face. He breathed in deep rhythmic motions. He looked almost... innocent. Which you knew that was definitely not the case, but it was almost convincing. In other times when you were in the passenger seat, in a deep sleep, Ben drove slower, making sure not to wake you up. Occasionally, you could feel a phantom hand push some hair out of your face, and in sleep, you would move closer to the touch, fingers grazing over your forehead gently. But the hand would move away, a soft chuckle replacing it.

° "I am sure happy that I have you, Y/N," his voice would be that soft sweet tone he would use when talking about something he cared about.

° 5 days later, you slackers arrived at the college, your hand moving to his shoulder and shaking him awake. Sleepy brown eyes opened and he sat up in the seat, rubbing the sleep away with his large hands while you leaned over the steering wheel to take in the expansive college grounds. It was so green, the buildings aged tan bricks, the windows iridescent with sun stains and years of wear on them. Ben looked uninterested in the buildings until he saw his dorm building he suddenly got excited.

° "Come on, help me move in and scope out your future victims," he teased, making you scowl at him playfully before you pull in and park the car in front of the large building. "Matty is supposed to be in this building too. Maybe you can meet him," Ben stated hopefully. You rose your eyebrows in interest as you pulled out his duffel bagged that he had stuffed all his clothing in and he laughed as he watched you struggle to put the strap over your shoulder but he quickly took it from you and throw it over his shoulder. He picked up pretty much everything except two boxes which you handled as you both climbed the stairs. You watched as men walked past you, your eyes betraying you as some made deliberate eye contact with you. Do men usually walk around with no shirts on like this? You smiled mischeviously at some, but when you turned back around you would see Ben stopped looking you with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

° "Honey why don't you ever smile at me like that?" He asked, faking a hurt tone."Shut up, Ben."

° You finally made it to his room number, him opening the door and dropping his stuff down the bed that was in there. There were no other beds or bodies in the room. "You don't have a roomie?" You asked curiously. "Guess not. That's good, that means I don't have to worry about sharing anything with anybody. I can unpack by myself, lets go get your stuff into your dorm," he stated and you smirked.

° "Afraid of what I'll find in those boxes, Benny boy?" He responded in a mysterious whisper, "Shush shush, I have to keep some secrets, Y/N."

° As they walked out of his new room, they heard a small voice come from behind them. "Ben?" Ben turned around and it was like he teleported from his spot next to you to suddenly hugging someone tightly. "Matty! Its good to see you. Damn you're looking thick, son. You been working out?" Ben teased the man he was hugging.

° "Very funny, Ben," the man laughed gently. You peeked around your large friend to see blonde curls but that was all you could make out right then until Ben finally moved away so that you could see the man he was talking to. He looked almost exactly like Ben. Beauty marks scattered his features and he had the same strong nose and full lips. The same brown eyes, but surrounding them were thick glasses. The hair was really throwing you off, but you suddenly recognized the man. You did have classes with him, in fact you remember being partnered on projects with him. He was timid but highly intelligent, a wizz with electronics.

° "Oh Matt, this is Y/N. Kid, this is my brother Matt," Ben introduced his brother politely. Matt looked at you and smiled warmly.

° "I remember Y/N. How have you been?" The man asked politely. You responded with a smile. "Been good, been busy trying to get ready to start."

° "I can understand that. I'm still trying to get the books I need for this year's classes. Speaking of which I am in the middle of finishing some things up, we are still going to dinner tonight right, Ben?" Matt asked his brother, who nodded in earnest. "Yes, Kylo still hasn't answered me about it, but I'll drag him along too."

° "That would be nice, he's been busy with prepping for classes for the professor. Did he tell you that he got that assistant teacher job he was trying to get?" Matt asked and Ben answered with a roll of his eyes. "He didn't even tell me he was trying to do that. Thats okay, I'll catch up with him tonight. Mom wants me to pass along a slap for not calling her on her birthday," Ben stated firmly but clapped Matt on the shoulder, who almost fell over from the sheer force of it. "But Matty, I'll catch up with you later, we have to get Y/N's stuff to her dorm." Matt nodded and Ben moved back over to your side.

° "It was good seeing you, Matt. Hope we can hang out and catch up soon," you stated and Matt looked at Ben confused. But Ben quickly began to lead you away as you smiled warmly at Matt and waved in goodbye. A trip back to the car with you beginning to call out Ben, "I thought you were going exploring tonight, Ben?" You asked curiously, tone sarcastic. It didn't really bother you that he made other plans, but opportunities like this were rare to act like you were pissy with him. "I just hadn't gotten the chance to ask if you if you'd like to hang out with me and my brothers tonight is all! I just wanted to ask you if you'd run interference. Sometimes me and Kylo can get heated when we're together, but if you're there he won't act out." Ben explained, holding all your stuff in his arms and you holding open the door of your dorm building open for him. You lead the way up the stairs as you responded to him. "I can do that. As long as you're buying." He nodded quickly and smiled. "Thanks, kid. I really appreciate it." He dropped your stuff off in your room, and helped you unpack some of your things. It wasn't until you both decided to take a shower after 5 days of straight car ride, it was time to rinse off and get settled in.

°"Meet you at the car at 5:30?" He asked and you nodded with a smile. "Yeah I'll see you then." You shut the door on him as you begin to dig out your shower stuff and get ready to go out. The first brother wasn't bad at all, so you assumed the second brother would be fine as well, despite Ben's worry.

#triplet!matt #triplet!ben #triplet!kylo #triplet!au #college!au #modern!au #star wars imagine #star wars fanfiction #kylo ren star wars #star wars x reader #star wars #ben solo x reader #ben solo #matt the technician #matt the radar technician #kylo ren x you #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren #kylo x reader

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travelingtheusa · 3 years

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TENNESSEE

2021 Apr 12 (Mon) – We ran a bunch of errands today. We had to get fuel for the truck and pet food. PetCo did not have Sheba’s food so we stopped at The Fresh Market to get her food and some food items for us. The store turned out to be small and didn’t have everything we wanted. So, we had to stop at Kroger to get cat food and the rest of the food we wanted. Lunch was at the Blue Plate Café. I thought the pot roast was chewy but Paul enjoyed the meal. When we returned to the campground, Paul finished up the wallpaper in the bedroom. It looks very good. Now I need a different covering on the window treatment. And, so, it starts. Lol.

Before:

After:

2021 Apr 11 (Sun) – We watched church services on Facebook. Afterward, we drove to Camping World to return a part Paul was not able to use in setting up the cell phone booster. We drove around trying to find a place to have lunch but we couldn’t find any place open and wound up just returning to the campground. Paul got to work tearing off the old wallpaper in the bedroom and putting up the new paper. It’s looking good.

2021 Apr 10 (Sat) – Bonnie is doing better. The galliprant seems to be working for her. She is still weak on her right side but she’s hardly limping. We just have to be careful not to get her off balance and make sure she goes slowly up and down the stairs. Old age sucks – for dogs as well as humans.

A fierce thunderstorm rolled through early this morning. We had storms last night from about 8 to 11 p.m. accompanied by the usual tornado warnings. The storm this morning was so strong that one lightning boom literally lifted me out of the bed. When the lightning flashed, you could see it through your closed lids. Sheba must have been going crazy!

My sister, Susan, is having surgery on her knee and asked if I could come stay for a week or two to help her out. So I called my cancer doctor to reschedule my PET scan. I was going to go home May 1 to May 12. Now it looks like I’ll be flying back on May 16 and staying through Memorial Day. Susan’s surgery is set for May 17.

We got aggravated with not being able to get online to check out campsites. We decided to buy a cell booster and drove to Camping World in Olive Branch in Mississippi (just across the border) to buy a King cell phone booster antenna. It was $499! Ugh. We also picked up two camp chairs since ours are starting to fall apart.

Lunch was going to be at the Brass Door Irish Pub in Memphis. After paying for 3 hours parking in Memphis, we walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant only to find it has been closed for the last year. We then walked back toward the truck and stopped to eat at the Blue Plate Café Downtown. That was closed indefinitely. Next door was the River Time Café. It was a tiny deli but had a robust menu. We both got sandwiches with potato salad. We had to sit outside at one of two tables. The proprietor said she was not allowed to have people in her shop. While sitting outside waiting for her to bring out our meal (it’s down south and the wait was very long), an older man came stumbling by and started talking to us. He was very difficult to understand but we understood that he was drunk and had come to get something to eat to soak the booze up. At first, I thought he was going to panhandle but he just wanted to talk. Then he went into the café and picked up his pre-ordered meal. Finally, our sandwiches came out. They were delicious. The owner also gave us a free banana nut muffin because we waited patiently for so long. That was nice.

2021 Apr 9 (Fri) – We drove to the vet this morning to drop Bonnie off. She is getting a test today to see if she has Cushings Disease. She has had increased thirst, difficulty walking with a weakness on her right side (especially the back leg), and it seems like she has to pee more often. Could be age related. It might not. They will give her a shot of cortisol and check her blood at 8 a.m., noon, and 4 p.m. If she makes more cortisol then she’s got the disease. If she doesn’t make more cortisol, then she doesn’t have Cushings. We have our fingers crossed.

After dropping her off (we had to wait outside for someone to come get her – they’re not letting anyone inside), we went to the Blue Plate Café for breakfast. It was a cute little place, bright and inviting. The food was very good, too.

Next stop was at Lowe’s. Paul peeled the wall covering off in the bedroom. It’s been coming off almost from the day we bought the camper. Now we are looking for a new wallpaper. We found a pattern we like. We’ll see how it looks.

We made a quick stop at the Fresh Market. I am out of Vitamin C and looking for more. We thought it was a health food type store but it was just a regular supermarket. I picked up a few items but no vitamins.

When we got back to the campground, we drove over to the Chucalissa Village in the park. It is an area where Choctaw tribes lived there hundreds of years ago. There is a mound and a replica house built on the site. A small museum tells the story of the area, both of the park itself and of the inhabitants who lived here. The old site was actually discovered by CCC workers who were building a pool for the first all Negro park in the state. It is now run by the University of Memphis.

At 4:45 p.m. we drove back into town to get Bonnie. The vet came out to talk to us. She said the test was negative. Bonnie does not have Cushings Disease. She couldn’t see any reason for her leg problems and surmised that it is arthritis. She told us to continue with the Galliprant and bring her back if things get worse.

We found something very fascinating. It is a Smart Mart. It’s like a new version of the automat. You pull up, touch a screen, shop for different grocery items, pay and your items are given to you in a big drawer. There was a delivery truck there filling up the mart when we stopped.

2021 Apr 8 (Thu) – We wanted to go to the Cotton Museum but it was closed due to the pandemic. We then drove to the National Ornamental Metal Museum. Although their website said they opened at 10 a.m., they were closed with a sign out front saying they open at 11 a.m. So we drove around Memphis for an hour. Saw Beale Street (Home of the Blues) in its quiet state; i.e. with no partymakers at night. Paul says they are trying to be like New Orleans. I don’t think so. New Orleans is different. It is the place for jazz music. Memphis is blues music. The city is confusing with lots of closed off streets for renovations or construction. As you get further outside the city, the buildings are old, dilapidated, spray painted with graffiti. Many homes have bars on the windows and doors.

We tried to go to the Mississippi River Museum but it wasn’t where Trip Advisor said it should be. We stopped at the Visitors Center and were told they moved the museum to Mud Island and it has been closed for the past year and a half. We went back to the Metal Museum and they were open. The most delightful part of the tour was the exhibit by international artists. They took a 155mm steel bar and made all kinds of things from it. It was fascinating to see how imaginative people can be.

After the Metal Museum, we drove to the post office and dropped off all the envelopes we prepared. Then we went to the Bass Pro Shops Giant Pyramid for lunch at Uncle Bucks Restaurant. They have rooms up on the second and third level. So the store is also a hotel. Paul bought a flannel shirt. We looked for new camp chairs but couldn’t find what we wanted.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Kroger Supermarket and picked up some groceries. The camp host told us that the campground will be full this weekend. Although many RVs have come in, it is not full. Either he can’t count or some of the campsites are not usable. Whatever.

2021 Apr 7 (Wed) – We spent the day working on the mass mailing for SMART. There were 32 duplicate addresses and 32 companies that did not have envelopes. I typed labels for the missing companies and stuck them over the duplicate addresses. Saved a lot of work (Paul’s suggestion). We finished folding the letters, inserting them in the envelopes, and putting the return address labels and stamps on all the envelopes. We just have to deliver them to the post office.

The vet called this morning. Bonnie’s liver enzymes are high. She thinks Bonnie might have Cushings Disease. We will drop her off at the vet on Friday so they can do some tests. In the meantime, Bonnie is having a very difficult time walking. She fights getting up if she doesn’t have to. We have resorted to using the special stairs we bought for our last dog to help her get in and out of the trailer easier. It seems to be helping Bonnie.

We packed up the trailer today and Paul drove over to the dump station to empty the tanks. I sat at the campsite with Bonnie because she was in too bad shape. It took him 20 minutes then he was back and we got all hooked up again. Good for another week.

2021 Apr 6 (Tue) – We took Bonnie to the vet this morning. We had to sit outside while they took her inside. The vet called on the phone and we talked about Bonnie’s history and issues. She didn’t find anything obvious wrong with her foot. Thinks it might be arthritis. She took blood and will call us tomorrow.

We left the vet and went looking for a fast food place for lunch. We stopped at a Burger King. There were six cars on line in front of us but were still on line for over half an hour. It was the slowest fast food joint I’ve ever been to! The junior whoppers were small and the fries were not even warm. At least Bonnie enjoyed her burger.

We went back to Office Depot to pick up the copies. The service – again! – was so damn slow. When the clerk finally waited on me, she asked if I had gotten an email saying the project was ready. I replied that it was agreed upon yesterday that I would be back today. With a sigh, she went to search on the shelves. After about 5 minutes, she found my print job.

When we got back to the campground, Bonnie’s back leg was giving out on her. She could barely walk and kept sitting down and refusing to move any further. I called the vet to ask if she had examined Bonnie’s other legs or just her hurt foot. After some discussion, the vet said we’d wait to see what the bloodwork shows. The results should be back tomorrow.

I took the mailing list I got from the Muster Master (who got it from the Chamber of Commerce in Shawnee, Oklahoma) and struggled through printing 360 envelopes. Our printer is not a high capacity printer. It took me hours to get them all printed. The program kept shutting down and I would have to restart it. In the meantime, Paul started folding the letters to insert in the envelopes.

2021 Apr 5 (Mon) – The cell service at this campground is sooooo bad! Even my phone isn’t working right and often drops to 3G with one bar. It drops calls like crazy. Getting on anything beyond standard email with the laptop is almost impossible. Twelve days of this will be maddening.

We drove to CVS to get Paul’s first COVID-19 shot. On the way, we got an email saying his appointment had been cancelled. We decided to just go in anyway and play dumb. It worked. Old people and technology is a recognized disability. Lol.

After the drugstore, we drove to Olive Garden to get lunch. It appeared that they were repairing fire damage. Nothing to eat there. We then tried another restaurant but it looked too high class. We stopped at Seasons 52 Grill, which looked moderate from the outside but once we got inside – va, va, va, voom! Very expensive. We spent over $100. Oh, well, what’s money for except to spend? The lunch was excellent.

We drove over to the Agricenter to look at the campground. We will be going there after the rally in Arkansas and wanted to check out the best entry point. It has a large campground but the spaces are a little too close. Oh, well. It will be home for Paul when I fly back to New York next month.

We stopped at Office Depot to drop of letters for copying. I volunteered to be the Administrative Chairperson for the SMART 2021 National Muster. One of my jobs is soliciting donations. So I drafted a letter and attachment, got approval, then brought it to Office Depot to make 365 copies of each one. I also gave them copies of return address labels to make up. I don’t if it’s a “down south” thing, but the service was so frickin’ slow. We were there almost an hour just to drop off the originals. I said I’d be back tomorrow to pick up the copies.

Bonnie has been favoring her front, right paw. She started limping on it yesterday so I called a vet today and made an appointment to bring her in tomorrow. The paw got worse over the day and now you can see her paw is swollen. Hope they can figure out what’s wrong and fix it.

2021 Apr 4 (Sun - Easter) – We managed to dial into the church service this morning. It’s nice to be able to share the service with our congregation back home.

I walked around the campground today. Most the campsites are empty. A lot of campers left today. I would have thought they’d stay for the weekend. Guess I was wrong. We stayed in today. Paul repaired the AC and we did the laundry. It was a very nice day. The trees are a brilliant green and the buds are in full bloom. The sky was an incredible blue and the temperature reached the high 60s. It was a beautiful Easter day. We got to skype with both Travis and Miranda. That make the day perfect!

2021 Apr 3 (Sat) – We wasted 20 minutes this morning trying to get the Sunday service streaming on the iPad before we realized it was Saturday. Lol. There are not nearly as many RVs in the campground as I thought there would be. Over half left today. I have never seen so many tiny trailers in the campground at a time. There’s a teardrop trailer, an A-Line pyramid shaped camper, a Scottie, a couple of tiny trailers, and several tents.

The day was pleasant. It started out cold in the 40s but warmed to the mid-60s. The sky was clear and a brilliant blue and there was hardly any wind. There was a terrible odor in the air. At first, we thought it was the smell of campers dumping their tanks but it lingered too long. There must be a waste plant somewhere nearby.

2021 Apr 2 (Fri) – Sure was glad we had that electric blanket on last night! We are under a freeze warning for a few days. We drove back down to Southaven, MS to get dog food at Petco and cat food at Kroger. Picked up some people food, too, while we were at it. Stopped at Southaven RV Super Center where Paul was able to buy a replacement for a broken part in the AC. Not that we need AC right now, but (hopefully) soon. It also operates the heat pump, which we DO need right now. We have been keeping warm enough with the fireplace, the furnace, and a small electric heater. On the way back, we spotted a pup up on the side of the highway. We stopped and shooed it away. Down the embankment, the mama dog and two other pups were skittering around. They were clearly unowned canines. We were glad we could chase the pup off the roadway and keep it from getting run over.

We stopped at Memphis BBQ for lunch. The meal was not that good. Paul’s pulled pork was bland and my burnt tips were dry. The restaurant was very busy and service was understandably slow.

The day turned out to be nice although the temperature never got out of the 50s. The skies were clear and deep blue. We’ve been watching RVs come in all day. This is a holiday weekend and the campground is going to be full.

2021 Apr 1 (Thu) – We packed up and left Fulton, MS at 10 a.m. It was 135 miles to Memphis, TN. We are staying in the T.O. Fuller State Park Campground. There are lots of woods around and plenty to see in Memphis. The sites have a good amount of space between them. The roads and campsites are asphalt. We have electric and water hookups. We will have to go dump after a week because there is no sewer hookup and we won’t be able to last 12 days without filling the tanks.

It got real cold last night and we pulled out the electric blanket. Imagine! Needing the electric blanket down south in April. We watched the Holy Thursday service from our church streaming on Facebook. We also facetimed with Paul’s sister, Joan, about our cruise to Australia in January.

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heynells-blog1 · 6 years

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May Money Diaries // Oh hello $5 Adidas Athleisure Top

For the month of May, I’ll be recording my weekly expenses and sharing them as my “May Money Diaries” (here’s Money Diary 1, Money Diary 2, and Money Diary 3). Inspired by the “Money Diary” series on Refinery 29 and The Luxe Strategist, I thought it would be interesting to see how I hold up against my budget and long-term financial goals. I think I’m quite disciplined with my spending, but I ocassionally have slip-ups - these usually occur around food (eating out with friends) and coffee shops.

Low Waste Food Haul #2 - In an effort to be plastic-free, I’ve been using reusable cotton produce bags instead of plastic bags. No one has questioned me about their use. The only reaction I got last week was the cashier raising their eyebrows at the bags.

I changed my morning routine on and went early to the Union Square Greenmarket. After dropping off my food scraps, I bought 3 sweet potatoes, radishes, and carrots as extra sides for this week and next week’s meal prep. I wanted to buy more, but I didn’t want to carry too much with me as I had a full day of babysitting and I wouldn’t get home till 8:30pm.

There was an opportunity for me to save $2.75 on subway transportation. I could have walked from Chinatown to Greenwich Village for my evening kickboxing class. But it was extremely humid, and I was slightly tired from babysitting. I didn’t want to tire myself more and not have enough energy for kickboxing class; so I decided to conserve my energy and take the subway. I’m glad I did that because I felt more energetic during this week’s kickboxing class compared to last week’s class.

I went about my usual Tuesday routine - working out at home, babysitting, working from home, and eating at home - and spent $0 because no spend days are my favourite days.

I did not intend to spend $2.75, but I ended up having a food shortage due to the vegan burger patties (which my mom bought at the store, eventhough I didn’t ask her to) getting spoiled. I bought chayote, grapefruit, and sweet potatoes (because you can never have enough sweet potatoes, and they were only 99 cents per pound - score).

I was surprised at how little I paid for my food haul at the Williamsburg grocery store. I expected to spend $5, but I realize that I always gravitate towards produce that’s marked down because those are the deals I’ve been waiting for.

Since I knew I was attending an artivism panel in the evening, I packed dinner. Whenever I attend public events, I’m always concerned that there won’t be vegan food options. I’m a picky eater and also particular about the timing of my dinner; so I prefer packing my own food/snacks versus putting my faith that the event will have vegan options. In my experience of organizing and attending panels, most serve appetizers/snacks - and I was right for this event. I was grateful I packed dinner and ate it before the event began.

The first half of Thursday was stressful due to a babysitting incident and an intense lunch discussion with my mom, so I spoiled myself in the afternoon with a pot of rose green tea. I could have saved $2 by ordering it to-go. But, I didn’t do that because I would get less tea for the price I was paying. Also, the owners know me now and give me free hot water refills for my tea pot.

After babysitting my Chinatown kids, I explored some grocery stores near their apartment. I got great deals on lemons, pears, peppers - all marked down.

Fridays = eating out with friend(s) day. I was excited to eat out because it offered a nice break from meal prepping.

Lunch was at peacefood: a vegan kitchen & bakery, and my friend and I ordered a spicy cesar chicken salad. I was planning to get their soup of the day ($5.95), but I wasn’t wooed by their carrot and pasnip puree soup. I knew that soup mix wouldn’t fill me up because it’s not high in protein. At least the spicy cesar chicken salad offers a decent amount of protein, fat, and carbs at a reasonable price of $12 and something cents (it says $15 above because + tip).

We couldn’t end our meal without dessert, so I took my friend to Union Square Greenmarket to introduce her to Body & Soul Bakery. I got a sunflower seed double chocolate chip cookie, while my friend bought a double chocolate muffin. Oozing with chocolate dessert in our hands, we went to look for a seat. My friend accidentally smeared some melted chocolate on her dress, and that dictated our next stop - second-hand clothing stores.

In New York City, two well-known thrift/second hand stores are Beacon’s Closet and Buffalo Exchange. My friend and I first went to Beacon’s Closet because it was closer to Union Square Park. We didn’t find anything there, so we headed to Buffalo Exchange.

I didn’t plan to buy anything at Buffalo Exchange, but Lady Luck felt differently. I found an Adidas blue athleisure top (still with its store tag) for $10, in my size; but its final price was $5 because it was on sale! The amount of self-control it’s taking me to not use a million exclamation marks right now is the same amount of disciplne I exerted to not scream in the cashier’s face. I love buying multi-purpose and high quality clothes at low, low prices.

After Buffalo Exchange, I walked my friend back to Union Square and we parted ways. I went to The Strand because I wanted to buy a book by Octavia Butler, but then I walked out with an ECOlunchbox stainless steel container. What happened? While wandering the cook book section, my eyes fell on the ECOlunchbox containers tucked away on a small shelf. Without thinking, I moved towards the containers, opened the sample, gave it a detailed inspection, and then I lined up at the check-out counter.

I’m not someone who makes spontaneous purchases, though how I spent my money this Friday presents me that way. My thought process behind buying the ECOlunchbox container looked like this:

I actually need it because the plastic containers I have at home (which I’ve had for 4-5 years) have scratches, nicks, and a little bit of discoloration which makes them not good to use

Buying this ECOlunchbox container at The Strand would generate less waste because ordering it online would mean extra packaging (e.g. plastic and paper) for mailing, along with the pollution produced in delivering the package to my apartment in Jersey City

Also, ordering it online would include an additional payment of $5-$10 for shipping, which is something I’d prefer to save

I was confident and excited purchasing the ECOlunchbox because it’s an investment for my low waste | zero waste journey. I had a goofy smile on my face as I handed my credit card to the person behind the counter.

I ended the day with dinner at Red Bamboo with one of my best friends. We ordered lots of food as we updated each other on over two months of activities. With this friend, she pays for dinner while I pay for dessert; but that night, I paid the 20% tip. We didn’t get dessert because we were full from our main dishes.

Something that I look forward to about the weekends is that my parents pay for lunch, so I only need to prepare breakfast and dinner. They also surprised my brother and me by taking us to see Solo: A Star Wars Story.

I’m surprised that I spent less than $100 this week, because I thought that my two instances of eating out and shopping would cause me to go over $100. I’m mentally high-fiving myself for staying under this week’s budget and discovering great deals.

My grocery spending was small this week because I bought the right amount of produce as side additions for this week’s meals and to last for this upcoming week. I also made sure to buy produce that was on sale.

I honestly smile when I think about how much I spent on shopping this week because I know I saved money on both items. I paid $5 for a $30 Adidas athleisure top. I paid $29.34 for a $35.00 ECOlunchbox container (this is an estimate I calculated based on buying it online). Saving approximately $30 on shopping makes batgirl ridiculously happy about this week’s purchases.

I’d love to hear your thoughts/comments on this Money Diary and my May Money Diaries series - ask me anything. Next weekend’s blog post will be my last May Money Diary.

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hockeyytrash · 6 years

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Alaska - Chapter Twenty Five

-3500 words-

It's been two weeks since my date with Auston. Over the course of those weeks, I received a few texts here and there, but I haven't actually seen him since our game of trivia and dip in the pool. That means it's also been two weeks since I came to the conclusion that I was falling for Auston.

Although I don't have tons of experience in the dating world, I have watched a good number of chick flicks and rom-coms. From these great pieces of film, I know that if a guy was really interested in you, he would definitely ask you out again or at least propose a similar idea a lot less than two weeks after your initial date.

This theory and quotes from icons such as Regina George and Cher Horowitz have been echoing in my head every minute of every waking hour. At first, I thought he was just busy. I mean, he is a professional hockey player after all. But I know for a fact that he has had more than enough time to type a few words on his iPhone and press send.

However, Carly has had no problem with texting me non-stop. We've hung out a few times but only for lunch or a movie here and there. She has tried to drag me out to some of the Leafs' games, but I have been so busy with finalizing my early graduation that I haven't been able to go. Good news is though, I have been approved to graduate, and I'll be getting my diploma in the mail any day now!

The only thing that seems to be missing right now is a certain brunette center for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Friday mornings are the absolute best, now that I don't have to go to school for 7 hours a day. I feel like now I can actually get things done and start moving forward with my life. Today's agenda includes finding an internship or job, house hunting, and grocery shopping. Exciting stuff, man.

Technically, I'm not house hunting. I'm apartment/condo hunting. My mom, Tom, and I came to the agreement that they would help pay for an apartment of my own until I can fully support myself as long as I find a job or paid internship. I was ecstatic when they told me about it because I can't wait to get out of the house.

So for today, my first order of business will be apartment hunting. I scheduled a couple of house tours yesterday with my first one starting at noon. Seeing as though it's only nine, I decide it's acceptable to go grab coffee somewhere until my first tour.

I arrive at one of the many quaint coffee shops downtown a short 25 minutes later after throwing on jeans and a jacket. I snag a table by the window and unload my laptop from my bag before ordering a large coffee from the counter. My concentration rises a half cup of caffeine later, causing me to get sucked into my research on job openings in the area. So when my phone dings out of seemingly nowhere, I had a small heart attack.

Angry that my concentration was now broken, I unlock my phone to see a new text from Auston sitting in my messages. I quickly read over the short but sweet bubble which said: "Hey, what are you up to today?" Swoon-worthy!

I type a quick reply, telling him I'm touring apartments all afternoon. Not five seconds later, my phone buzzes again with a new message from Auston: "Time and place?" Smiling like an idiot, I tell him to pick me up from the coffee shop in ten minutes because the first tour is at 12. He eagerly agrees, making me giddy. I know I shouldn't get ahead of myself and make this out to be more than it is, but I can't help the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

After chugging the rest of my coffee and packing up my things, I hear beeping outside. I immediately recognize Auston's Range Rover as the culprit when I step onto the busy Toronto street. I stride over to the passenger's side and swing open the door, climbing as gracefully as I could inside. Auston looks at me and gives me a small smile, which I return before buckling my seatbelt.

After sharing silence-ridden minute, I break the tension.

"As much fun as the silent game is, I would eventually like to tour some apartments today," I say, trying not to sound like a complete bitch. He blinks and then smiles, pulling the car away from the curb and back into the flow of traffic.

"I know directions aren't our forte, but would you mind telling me where we're going?" he says, tapping his fingers on the leather steering wheel.

"I think you meant directions aren't your forte. I'm perfectly fine with them," I counter. He scoffs in disagreement.

"That just isn't true," he says, turning the SUV in the direction my hand was pointed. I steal another glance at him, pleased to see a big goofy smile on his face. That might be my favorite feature of Auston's. I can't help but smile whenever he has that stupid grin on his face. And don't get me started on those lips, they're just so-

"See something you like?" Auston says, snapping me out of my embarrassing daydream and into an even more embarrassing reality. I shrug my shoulders, trying to seem unimpressed with his looks, however, it's not true. If I were to answer honestly, I'd start rambling about his big brown eyes and perfectly pink lips.

"Nope," I say turning my attention away from him, "take the next left."

He rolls his eyes but reluctantly follows my directions. I open my phone to double check my directions to make sure I was telling Auston the right way to go. Although, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to give him a taste of his own incoherent directions. The GPS confirms my initial thinking, proving my sense of direction to be spot on today.

For the next six minutes or so, a comfortable silence ensues, save for the soft hum of the radio and my voice calling out directions every so often. We arrive at the first apartment complex early, giving us enough time to navigate the parking garage and find my realtor in the lobby.

Auston stays by my side, walking so that his hand brushes mine a few times. Out of habit, I speed up a little, anxious to see the apartment. I spot Nichole, my realtor, by the elevators, causing me to steer Auston and I in her direction. She looks up from a folder chock full of different colored paper and smiles when she recognizes me.

"Ah, you must be Alaska!" she says, extending a wrist clad wrist toward me. I shake her hand and politely nod.

"It's great to meet you, Nichole," I say, returning her friendly greeting, "I hope it's ok that I brought Auston, my -- friend -- along with me."

"It's no trouble at all! As they say, the more the merrier, and apartment shopping is no exception!"

"Great! Is the apartment ready for us?" I ask, trying not to sound rude. She nods excitedly and motions for us to follow her.

"Absolutely! Come on now, let's go check it out!"

I glance at Auston who wears a lazy smile on his face, then gently tug on his sleeve, urging him to follow me and Nichole. He catches on, taking large strides to the elevator where Nichole had already stopped to wait. She begins giving us some background information on the building itself such as its history, amenities, and location. She continues chatting about the pros of the apartment as we ascend up the elevator to the 6th floor.

The doors open, exposing a long wallpapered hallway that was scary, to say the least. Nichole leads us through the paisley patterned prison, stopping at apartment 607. As she fishes through her purse for the key, I sneak a look at Auston who wore an expression of horror similar to mine. I cringe to let him know that I, too, did not care for the swirly patterns that coated the walls around us.

"Is it just me, or are the walls moving?" Auston whispers close to my ear, evoking an untimely laugh from me. He quickly shushes me with a grin, nodding his head in the direction of Nichole who had just found her keys.

"Aha! Here we are!" she exclaims, swinging the wooden door open to reveal a nice sized apartment. Auston and I wander in spreading out to look at the living room before us. The first thing I notice is the awful pink carpeting that ravaged the poor floor, wall to wall. I look at Auston and make a gagging expression in the direction of the Pepto Bismol nightmare while Nichole had her back turned. He nods in agreement then quickly turns around when Nichole faces our way.

"As you can see, some work needs to be done, but don't let that cloud your creative vision! This place has lots of potential! There's a nice sized kitchen around the corner and a walk-in closet in the bedroom. Follow me!" she says excitedly.

Despite my growing hatred of the place, I follow the middle-aged woman into the kitchen. It was, indeed, a nice sized room, however, everything was outdated and begging to be replaced. After a few more glances around the room, Nichole leads us to the bedroom with the famous walk-in closet. The room is quite small, but the large windows are hard to beat. However, being on the sixth floor means my "view" is of the surrounding buildings.

As the tour comes to a conclusion and we file out of the elevator, Nichole turns to face us with her folder in hand. I raise my eyebrows as she crosses something off the page with a pen. After she's satisfied with her work, she looks up at me with a smile.

"Alright, now that we got the - lower end - option out of the way, let's continue on to apartment number two! Do you two want to meet me there?" she asks after letting a sigh of relief.

I smile now that I didn't have to act like I actually liked that place, then nodded, agreeing with her suggestion. Nichole and I look to Auston for his opinion, seeing a hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, sure. Let's do it," he says, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Alright, I'll see you guys there! I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised by this one," she says before turning and clicking towards the exit to the street. I follow her actions, heading for the parking garage entrance, Auston trailing behind me.

After a small debate about what floor we parked on, Auston sighs in defeat and climbs into the SUV. He quickly navigates us out of the garage and then follows the few directions I had to give him, considering the building was on the same street just farther downtown.

"So why are you looking at apartments anyway? It didn't even register with me until now," Auston says, keeping his concentration on the road ahead of us. I toy around with the idea of cracking a sarcastic joke but decide against it.

"Well I just graduated and sent in my application to University of Toronto, so my mom and stepdad told me if I kept my grades up and eventually find a job, they'd help pay for a place of my own," I explain, staring out the window at the blur of people crowding the streets.

"Okay, I know Canadian schools are most likely different from schools back in the US, but does the school year seriously end in the winter?" he asks, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"They are different from schools back home, but they still get out in June like the US," I say, turning to face him.

"Then how...?" Auston asks, letting the end of his question trail off.

"I had enough credits and passed the finals I had to take, so they let me graduate early."

As the car comes to a stop at a red light, Auston turns to me with a huge smirk. I raise an eyebrow, already hating what he's going to say next.

"So you're a nerd... I gotta say, I did not peg you as that," he says, chuckling a bit as he finishes talking.

"I am not a nerd, thank you very much!" I protest, smacking his shoulder playfully. He rolls his eyes, egging me on.

"Whatever you say, nerd," he laughs, pulling into the parking garage of the second apartment building. Once we're parked, I groan and slide out of the car, heading toward the entrance to the lobby.

Like the last building, Auston and I meet Nichole by the elevators where she starts her bit about the building and what it has to offer. However, unlike the last building, the decor is more modern with bright pops of colors.

Unfortunately, when we enter the actual apartment, the whole place is even more brightly colored. My head starts to hurt as I take in the daycare-esque decor. The tour continues in the bedroom which houses a bright orange wall, completely ruining the balcony located on the opposite side of the room. Auston seems to share the same discomfort with the fruit-colored, well, everything.

I'm happy when Nichole ends the tour earlier than the other, leading us down the elevator and across the lobby.

"So, what did you think about that one?" she asks with a serious expression. I can't help but say it like it is, knowing that if I tried to fit it into better terms, we'd be here for a while.

"Honestly, unless we can paint all the walls and change all the furniture, it's not for me," I say, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"Unfortunately, the building has a strict no painting policy, but the furniture can be changed," she says, adding a bit of good news at the end for effect.

"Yeah, I don't think it's for me here. What about the next place?"

"That's quite alright. Based on this, I think you'll like the next place. It's much more modern and neutral toned," she says, shuffling through the papers in her hands.

"Great! So we'll meet you over there?" I ask, wanting to move this process along.

"Perfect! It's not too far away... only two or three blocks, so you could walk if you're up to it," she says, waving on her way out the door. Auston heads toward the door to the street a few moments later, leaving me behind. I jog to catch up with him, confused as to where he was going.

"Auston, where are you going?" I ask, reaching his side and copying his strides.

"To the next apartment," he says, shrugging. I roll my eyes and shiver from the biting Toronto weather.

"Of course it has to be cold as hell," I say, burying my hands in my jacket to keep warm. My focus is drawn to the pavement we move across, my eyes mesmerized by the blur of cement that passes beneath my boots. The feeling of something covering my head causes me to rip my hands out of my pockets and investigate. My hands feel the familiar curves and material of Auston's Yankees hat.

I look up at him with a genuine smile. He stops walking and turns to fully face me. I furrow my brows in confusion, thinking he had to be a madman to stop in the middle of the freezing cold.

"Auston, what are you doing? Let's go, I'm freezing," I say, nodding my head in the direction of the apartment. Instead of following me, he takes out his phone and holds it up so that the camera is facing me.

"Auston, I swear if you take a picture of me," I say, trying to sound as threatening as possible.

"Alaska, just shut up and let me take your picture. You actually look cute right now," he says. My mouth drops open in surprise and a scoff tumbles out.

"I actually look cute? Excuse me, I'm always cute," I say, pouting. The sound of the camera shutter rings out through the air, making me practically pounce on Auston so that I can see the picture. He holds it out to me and waits for my comment. I smile and grab the phone, quickly sending it to myself.

"Mmhmm, that's what I thought," he says, beginning to walk again. I blow him a kiss as a sarcastic thanks before uploading the picture to Instagram.

@alaskamay: toronto, auston's finger, and me!

8, 372 likes | 31 comments

Tagged: @austonmatthews

@austonmatthews: damn my finger looks good

@marner_93: I thought this died

@stephlachancee: @marner_93 never

@carlyyvalentine: wuttttttt

@williamnylander: u wear that better than matts

@alaskamay: @williamnylander I agree

@43kadri: your photographer sucks

@austonmatthews: @43kadri thanks

@carlyyvalentine: you two are too cute

@alaskamay: @carlyyvalentine :)

The last apartment tour was surprisingly a success. I ended up really liking the whole place and the location is great. Like Nichole said, this one was way more modern, with mostly gray and white decor and hardwood floors throughout the entire place. My favorite feature though is the huge windows everywhere and the fact that the apartment is on the 21st floor means I actually have a view that isn't just someone else's window.

Nichole said she's going to close the deal in the next few days, so I should expect to start moving in next week. However, Auston did so graciously offer me to stay at his place instead so I wouldn't even have to spend the money. Needless to say, I declined.

The last hurdle of my long day was the walk back to Auston's car because not only was it still cold, but it was also dark. Auston claimed he was fine, although I'm not sure how because I was shaking it was so cold.

Relief only came when the car heated up and the heat was on full blast on the way back to my house. The drive was reasonably quiet, a few words shared here and there. When we pull into my driveway, I involuntarily groan.

"What's wrong?" Auston questions, concern written all over his face.

"My mom's away again. I swear I don't even have to move out to live alone," I say, unbuckling my seatbelt. Auston puts the car in park and turns to me, his face partially lit from the light on the porch.

"Do you want some company?" he asks, even though it's the last thing I want to hear. It's nearly impossible to keep my distance from him when he does this.

"No," I say simply before I can even think it through entirely. He frowns, looking puzzled as ever.

"Why not?" he asks, clearly confused. I don't blame him. I hadn't been giving any signals that said I didn't want to continue the night.

"It's just that," I say then pause, "I can't ruin this by overstepping the boundaries, you know?"

"I don't think watching a couple movies and eating ice cream counts as overstepping boundaries unless you were thinking of other things," he says innocently. I analyze what he said in my mind, trying to decide whether I should take a risk or play it safe.

"You're right, what's a few rom-coms going to do?" I say, climbing out of the car.

"I mean we don't have to watch movies. We could do - other - things," Auston notes with a smirk, after turning the car off, effectively silencing its soft purr.

"Ugh, get your head out of the gutter, Matthews."

Sincerest apologies for not updating in like five years! My computer wasn’t working and then my charger broke, so i haven’t been able to really write anything. However, I did crank this chapter out for you guys, so I hope you like it!

#auston/mitch #auston matthews #Auston Matthews imagines #mitch marner #william nylander #Toronto Maple Leafs #Hockey Fanfiction #hockey imagines #hockey #nhl imagines #nhl #fanfic

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