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jaeminscoffee · 3 years

Text

Daddy Issues | S. Jn

Pairing | Seo Johnny x Fem!Reader

Genre | Smut, fluff

Wc;type | oneshot: 3.93k [not proof read]

Warning(s) | Pwp, dilf!johnny, y/n's a pillow princess, daddy kink, overstimulation, teasing, edging, dacryphilia, slight voyeurism, degradation kink, heavy use of the words 'doll, princess, slut, pretty, angel', typical lyra smut, i made haechan johnny's son (i was about to write changbin as johnny's son but decided against it) age gap, unprotected sex ( the Reader's on pills. Remember this is a fiction, don't play the wrong card irl) filth.

a/n- i found this request buried in my asks and was tempted to write it. Sure, the warning looks intimidating, but i know you wanna read it, y'all whores (ily) shoutout to @bakugou-is-my-bae @cvntzennie and @jenopollo for helping me decide what to post first! @suhpersonic

Minors try not to interact! <3

Age is just a number, so surely, there's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of, right?

There's no reason for you to not fall for the friendly neighborhood bachelor, well not so bachelor bachelor, since he does go around asking people who knows of his marriage to pretend it never took place.

Johnny's hot, super hot. Has the build of a supermodel. Has the face that one can only imagine belongs to a greek god, as you'd jokingly tell him how he seemed to be god's favorite and how you loathe Aphrodite for showing favoritism (which would always end up with you getting a very sultry, teasing look from the lad)

Johnny has the type of personality that women can only wish the entirety of the male species would possess. He's an absolute sweetheart, life of the party, definitely the center of attention wherever he goes. And oh god, does he have an immaculate fashion sense.

But Johnny's also the father of Donghyuck. Your best friend.

More than being ashamed about the fact that you actually fell in love with a man who has a child of your age, it was the fact that you had to fall for Donghyuck's father of all people.

Donghyuck is a sweetheart, definitely got his personality from his father but he's also got that glare that could creep the Lord's of the darkness from his father. He's got so much from his father that the resemblance is uncanny.

You'd not want to get onto hyuck's bad side since you've gotten first hand experience at stopping him from almost committing homicide to someone who spoke shit about his friends, more specifically, you.

But Hyuck's not in town. So a little fun with Mr. Suh wouldn't hurt anyone, correct? After all, you're still only a human with desires and the want to take risks.

You'd always not so subtly drop hints at Johnny and he'd always give you that look that would have slick collecting itself between your thighs. A warning look.

A look that said, "cross the line and you'll get it"

But that's the thing, you want to get it and will do anything to get it.

"Y/n."

You'd ask yourself less than a million times if you want to do this or not.

Sure, you weren't this hesitant when you decided to sext your best friend's father knowingly when he was in business mode to irk him up but that's one thing.

And having to confront the same father who left a message smaller than a sentence that completely disregarded all the obscene text and images to show that he's not the slightest bothered or suprised by your behavior for that matter was another thing.

"Tomorrow at mine."

It's almost as though he deals with hormonal teenagers one as such as yourself on a daily basis and that thought kind of backfired at you considering the whole 'Let's piss Johnny off so that he'd finally give me what i want' agenda.

Ironic, huh?

"Mr. Suh." you start hesitantly, unsure of what to call him, scared of what his reaction would be after your inappropriate shenanigans last night.

Your stiff demeanor broke down a little with just a hint of shiver passing down your spine as you watch his features contort into a subtle but cocky smirk, "So now you're being all formal,"

"Well, what else would you like me to address you as?" you inquire, feigning oblivion to his tone and what he's implying at. "You tell me, doll. You seemed to have a lot of names to call me last night," he takes a step forward, prompting you to walk a step backwards, further into the corridors of his apartment and away from the actual location.

"I do not know what you're talking about.. " you let your voice shrivel towards the end, eyes wandering around the complex, finding interest in every small detail as you avoid Johnny's teasing gaze.

"You don't?" Johnny takes another step forward, latching his hands onto your forearms to prevent you from stepping further away, "You must have had a heavy sleep to forget all that you did last night," his voice drops dangerously low as he begins to walk backwards and back into the safety of his apartment, all the while keeping his gaze fixated on you.

"That won't do, would it? How about we take a walk down the memory lane? And see if that rings any bell?" He brushes your hair away from its static position on your shoulder, allowing him to appreciate all those fine details of your shoulders and neck that are exposed from your selection of clothing, an off shoulder.

"How about we don't...?" You ask with skepticism, jolting slightly when you hear the door shut behind you and at the new intrusion of personal space by the lad.

"Why are you acting all shy now, Y/n? Weren't you the one so eager to get into her best friend's fathers pants? Just be the whore you are, darling. Your facade's fooling no one." okay you definitely didn't see that coming.

Johnny's expressions morph into that of mischief as he watches your eyes grow wide and mouth fall ajar, "Am i not correct? Are you not a whore?" he asks with an eyebrow quirked up in a questioning manner.

You don't reply, almost as though the question was meant to linger in the open and that it was a rhetorical one. What you didn't expect, however, was for Johnny's hands to find pursuit around your neck, not necessarily applying pressure, but there as a warning.

"Answer me."

"I'm not.." you answer with a feeble voice, internally cringing at how squeaky you sound which only added to Johnny's amusement.

"Really? Because I don't think good girls go around drooling at a divorced man, her friend's father for that matter and definitely do not send lewd images and voice out their fantasies to a guy twice their age, still want to pretend you're innocent? Or you admit it and we cut down the chase?"

"Yes, I am." you breathe out when his fingers tighten around your neck, a triumphant smile making its way onto his lips. Yet, Johnny felt the need to keep pushing,

"you're what?"

"I am what you said I am," you speak, trying to avoid looking at the scrutinizing look on his face which seemed futile as he had his arms wrapped around your neck, keeping your head in place.

"I want to hear you say it, doll. I need to hear you say it." At this point Johnny's intent was to get you into a flustered puddle in his hold and it sure as hell was going in that direction, seeing how you can't even hold his gaze for more than a few seconds in a shot.

"I am.. I am a who-"

The sound of a phone ringing loud cut you off midway through your sentence, to which you were absolutely relieved. Johnny only seemed to grow annoyed the more he heard the phone ring. With a loud huff, he lets you go, not before giving you a stern look, "Go to my room." he instructed, making his way to the study.

You let out a breath you've been holding in unknowingly the moment he steps away from you. You watch his figure retreat from you with awe, only now realizing how messy you felt between your legs and how your knees keep buckling.

"Oh Hyuck!" you hear Johnny exclaim into the phone the minute you step forward to follow his command.

Your best friend is on call with the guy you're about to fuck.

Your blood runs cold as you shakily make your way into the apartment and towards the bedroom, shrugging off your sling bag, hanging it behind the door as you place your phone on the bedside table to wipe your hands dry from all the sweat that had accumulated at the palm of your hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine, about to eat to my dinner actually" you hear the moment to make yourself comfortable at the edge of the bed, looking over to the door where Johnny stood with his arms across his chest, the other holding up the phone as he leans his weight onto one shoulder, leaning into the doorframe.

You take the time to really appreciate his appearance. He adorned nothing more than a simple grey sweat and tight black tee but he seemed ready to walk down a runway at any given moment now. His long hair, slightly disheveled looking almost intentionally messed up, compliments his features. And oh his features.

The everlasting smirk stayed still on his lips, moving as he exchanged words with his son.

You only come back to your senses when Johnny snapped his free hand in front of you, gaining your attention. He points at his own shirt, then points at you, mouthing 'off' while he listens to Donghyuck speak about whatever he's speaking.

"Really? Jeno said that? Tell him I'm more than willing to welcome him as my gym partner, the lad seems strong" Johnny makes a quick move to remove the gadget from his ear, before holding it in front of him after placing the call on speaker mode

Your eyes widen the moment you hear the disturbance in the background and Donghyuck's voice resonate through the room. "no?? Why would you want to work out with him? He'll only make you feel old, you know?"

"Says the one who still can't beat me at arm wrestling. If anything, i think Jeno would make the perfect gym buddy for me," Johnny raises an eyebrow at your defiance, cocking his head towards the side, staring down at you with a predatory look, "Hyuck, you know, Y/n-" you scramble to take your shirt off at the mention of your name on the call, "-stopped by earlier" he lets out a silent laugh of disbelief.

"Oh? Oh yeah! I'd told her I'd give her book back before I left but I forgot, did you perhaps give it back to her?" Donghyuck questions.

"I figured you must've forgotten so, yeah i did." Johnny replies, pushing himself off of the doorframe, now walking towards you.

"Man, I miss her! I might facetime her after I end the call with you," Johnny sets down the phone beside you on the bed, leaning down, placing both his hands on either side of your lap, finding comfort at the crook of your neck,

"I remember her mentioning something about her cousin coming over? Maybe wait for an hour or so before calling her" his lips graze against your neck each time he spoke, you let out a tiny whimper at the so longed feeling, only to earn yourself a small bite at the earlobe, immediately accompanied by a hand over your mouth, "you need to be quiet, doll. Or my son would find out how much of a slut his best friend is," he whispers in your ear.

"Yeah? Did she mention which one?"

"No, not really, she kinda just stormed out after getting what she wanted" Johnny creates a trail of kisses all the way from your neck to your shoulders, down the collarbone while one of his hand worked to unhook your bra, "Yeah, she's weird like that," you hear Donghyuck let out a chuckle as you whine into Johnny's palm, your figure slightly trembling from the fear of getting caught all the while being excited about the risky situation he's put the two of you in.

"Anyways, I'll call you tomorrow? The boys are coming over now so I got to go! Night, dad!" Donghyuck speaks up again, "Night, Hyuck."

You hear the beep indicating the call has ended. Johnny let's his hand drop from your mouth and makes its way towards your hair, brushing through the strands before pulling at it with a firm grip, "I had my son on call and here you are making all these sweet noises, you wanted to get busted, doll?"

"It's not my fault! You-"

"ah-ah! Don't talk back, angel. You're already in deep trouble, don't want to add onto that now, do we?" He makes a swift move to have you lying on your back, your torso completely exposed to him while he remains clothed.

"But Johnny-" you whine, jolting when you feel his hands caressing the soft flesh of your inner thighs, "How do you think Hyuck would feel about this?" his hands travel further north, cupping your heat from underneath your skirt. "fuck, you're drenched"

"Now tell me, pretty girl, what are you supposed to be calling me, now?"

"Johnny-, tha-that was a joke! I don't have daddy kin-" you try clenching your thighs close from the sudden attention your core was receiving. Johnny wholeheartedly lets out a laugh at your attempt to hide your true feelings, making a quick act of disregarding your soaked panties somewhere behind him.

"Darling, the more you deny it, the longer we keep going at it-" his thumbs at your clit, applying pressure but making no move to quench your needs. You let out a sigh of bliss at the feeling, your back arching off of the sheets at the sensation.

In any other situation, you'd be embarrassed at how sensitive you'd gotten just from all the dirty talking and looks Johnny passed you. But that's the catch, he's Johnny, the only one who can get you this sensitive while doing the bare minimum.

"Say it, Y/n."

"No, Johnny! It's-it's embarrassing.." you plead with your eyes, grinding your hips against his fingers, earning a satisfied, dirty look from the lad.

"Very well.. I'll just draw it out of you"

Without warning, Johnny with little to no resistance, slides two slender digits into your wetness, setting a pace fast enough to draw loud chains of cries from your mouth.

"You hear that, doll? You hear how fucking wet you are? Hm?" he growls animalistically, the thumb that remained on your clit now moving in circles with a motive to get you undone in seconds.

"Johnn-..!" you whine out, feeling your orgasm growing so close that you could almost taste it, "Still going at that, angel?" he questions, not really expecting an answer as he soaks up the pleasured look on your face. "Johnny- I'm close.. -" you fail to notice the mischievous grin growing on his face as he speeds up the movement of his fingers.

"Of course you are, doll" He feels you clench around his fingers, back coming off of the mattress as you ready yourself for your release, waiting until the last minute to draw his finger out.

"Why would you-? Johnn-I was so close!" you cry out as you sense your core clench around nothing, whining about the incomplete orgasm. "Why would I give you what you want when you wouldn't comply, baby? That's not how this works." He shrugs, licking his fingers clean of your essence, moving up from the bed to remove the shirt that seemed to be suffocating now.

"Johnny, please!" you whine louder, rubbing your thighs together to create some sort of friction, all unsatisfactory as it did not meet the same intensity as that of his fingers.

"Please what, doll?" He smirks, knowing the ball is in his court and that you'd had to give in any moment now. Johnny leans down once again, drawing lazy circles at your clit, using his other hand to hold himself up above and close to you, his minty breath which had a hint of coffee fanning your face as you whimper, finally feeling your high building itself up again. "Spit it out, princess, you know you want to." he speaks in a soft voice.

"Please..please" you beg for nothing in particular, getting all worked up again, "The begging's lovely, doll. But you're starting to anger me here, will you say it? Or should I leave you hanging again?"

You mutter prayers under your breath, hoping he wouldn't actually leave you hanging again, "Fine-" he moves again to remove his fingers from you to deprive you of pleasure all over again when you finally latch onto his wrist, keeping his hands in place blurting out, "Daddy! I'm so-sorry.. There, daddy, please make me come" you give in, the name, the feeling and look of pure victory on his face as he grins like a cheshire cat only intensifies the heat growing at a rapid pace at the pit of your stomach.

"Final fucking ly, princess. Daddy will make you feel good" He reinserts his fingers in, drilling it with desperation to see you come undone as he draws rapid circles on your now sensitive clit with the other hand, watching you squirm under him.

"Joh-Daddy i'm coming..!" you cry out weakly as you feel your orgasm hit you with much force, easily driving you into over sensitivity. Johnny's patient in helping you ride out your orgasm, not stopping until you let out a throaty sob and plead him to stop to allow yourself some room to breathe.

Johnny, however, makes no move to stop, only speeding up his fingers, his gaze fixed on where his fingers disappeared inside of you while his other hand held you down with a vise grip, "Give me one more, doll. I know you've got one more in you. " he pants, the feeling of his girth in confinement only throwing himself to sensory deprivation as he feels himself twitch inside his sweats painfully.

You shake your head, tears now flowing elegantly down your cheek, your lips puckered into a slight pout, your eyebrows drawn together as you let yourself melt into the pleasure Johnny was providing you with. "Daddy.."

You whine, feeling your second high reaching you ridiculously quick as you see Johnny's face contort in concentration,

"I need to get you nice and wet for me, princess, you're doing so well. Give daddy another one" you coaxes you with his sultry tone, words and actions, inevitably having you come undone under him for the second time that night.

You let out a choked moan, finally having enough as you curl upon yourself the minute Johnny removes his fingers from you, full fledged crying at the overbearing feeling of sensitivity.

Johnny groans at the sight, leaning down to press a soft peck on your sweaty forehead before getting off of the bed to remove his pants alongside his boxer at a slow speed, granting you some time to recover.

"Condom?" he asks, readying himself to reach into the drawing when he notices you shake your head a no as a reply, "I'm on pills.." you mutter weakly.

You hear him curse out at the thought of doing you raw, flexing his muscles before climbing on top of you again. He takes his time to gently turn you back onto your back, pressing his tender lips against your irritated one for the first time that night, his hand ever so slightly moving to play with your clit once again, making you jerk, "Daddy!"

"Sorry, doll. Daddy just needs to make sure that princess is ready to take his cock"

Your whining intensifies at his words, wiggling your hips to move closer to his own, "But I am ready! Look, daddy! I'm so wet and ready for you!" you whimper, earning a chuckle from the lad.

Just like all the other times that night, he aligns his cock at your entrance without a warning, the tip ever so slightly pushing through your walls, "Alright, big girl. Show daddy how much of a slut you can be for him."

Suddenly, Johnny detaches himself from you, moving further away as he leans by the edge of the door, smirking at you whining at the loss of contact, "Patience, angel"

He grabs hold of your hips, manhandling your body into all fours as he enters you completely with no trouble once he's got you where he wants you to be.

Something about having to take Johnny from behind was so sexy that you could almost immediately feel your orgasm grow, "Fuck baby, keep clenching around me like that and i won't last long," he grunts, moving in you with a steady pace,

"I never expected my son to befriend such filthy sluts like you, Y/n. Look at the mess you're making on my sheets" He grabs a fistful of your ass in a tight squeeze, the sudden shift in his demeanor only serving as a whiplash as you feel yourself growing closer and closer to the sweet orgasm.

"Jesus, doll, you're so fucking tight i can barely move" Johnny growls, talking to keep himself from coming too fast.

"Daddy.. I'm close. M-I'm so so close" you cry as your arms give out and you fall face first onto the mattress, the new stretch in your back only encouraging his cock to hit you deeper, finding the sweet cushion that serves as extra pleasure for you.

"Me too, princess, me too.. '' You hear him let out a whine, his thrusts growing sloppier as he does you slower but deeper.

He reaches around your body to find pursuit at your clit for the nth time that night, rubbing rapid, messy circles to go with his deep thrusts, "Daddy!" you reach your high with a high pitched cry of his name.

Johnny comes not too long after you as he couldn't resist the constant tight clenching of your walls around his cock. He thrust slowly to ride out his high as you twitch helplessly, face scrunched up in too much pleasure.

You feel your body being manoeuvred onto your side as he whispers sweet nothings which pass right through your ears as you feel him softened inside you, the feeling ridiculously soothing for your used up walls,

"You did amazing, darling." he kisses your temple, not making any move to remove himself from within you, which you silently thanked him for.

You both lay in silence as you turned your body towards him, earning a hiss and a playful smack from him as it added pressure onto his sensitive member. You wrap your arms around his torso, about to nuzzle into his chest and just drift away to dreamland when you hear the familiar ring of your phone from the table beside the bed.

You feel Johnny's body shift to reach out to get your phone, looking at the caller ID before handing it to you with a smirk that you knew meant that he was up to no good. "Oh! It's hyuck" you exclaim in shock, quickly accepting the call and placing it near your ear, moving to get away from him.

But Johnny seemed to have other ideas, as he latched an arm around your torso to keep you from moving, "Hey-" you begin, immediately feeling Johnny experimentally thrust into you again, making you whine, "Y/n! I miss you~-oh hey, are you okay?" you hear Donghyuck's voice from the other side,

You look at Johnny with a pleading and warning gaze to which you earn yourself a toothy grin from the lad,

"Of co-course! Just a little.. peachy,'' You turn around to place a hand on his chest to halt his movement, "You don't sound just peachy.. I've heard you like this before!" you hear Donghyuck make those noises he makes when he's thinking as Johnny keeps thrusting lazily the more you look at him, you see him open his mouth to speak, "Oh fuck! You're getting laid, aren't you???"

"Tell Hyuck daddy says hi"

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alluringjae · 3 years

Text

queen of hearts - sjn

summary: for the first time, one of your star students hasn’t been fetched right after class. but when she finally does, you weren’t expecting such a fine man to be her father.

pairing: johnny x female reader

word count: 5.5k

genre: fluff, romance, comedy | ceo and single dad!johnny + ballerina!reader + modern day!au

warnings: mentions of an absent parent, johnny being an overthinker, sexual innuendos (ten saying dilf hehe), slight explicit language, technical terms of ballet, a mini reference to mean girls

author’s note: sooo i came in touch with my former dance life, which led me to write this. there are links for the variations i used; their names are underlined when they’re mentioned. i am going to get technical with ballet terms here (even when my ballet knowledge decreased), so to any dancers reading, i really did my best, so please don’t come for me or do correct me for any mistakes.

although one character and her dance background, plus the name of the setting, are real, everything else about it is still a work of fiction.

i miss dancing, no cap.

leave me some feedback, constructive criticism or hellos!

Ballet student and teacher by day, a soloist of the Korean National Ballet at night.

This was your daily routine, and it wasn’t the typical 8-5. But it’s debatable whether or not it was worse, because you’re always going overtime. That’s the thing when you’re an overachiever. Nonetheless, you loved what you do. It’s the lifestyle you gradually built since your preschool days.

Mornings on the weekdays were mostly vacant since all the kids were still in school. You’d start at 10 am for a warm-up class for the company. Before you delved into teaching and assisting, you’d train right after your lunch break. Partnering class, en pointe class, 1-on-1 sessions with choreographers, self-practice, then the company night class, that’s the organization of your week.

Now adding the teacher title, you mostly handled kindergartners to 5th graders in the academy aspect of the company. Your first teaching class would start at 1 pm. It’s when the younger students who finished their morning classes zoom into your assigned dance studio. One class would last an hour and a half, then you have a 30-minute break in between another class with the older kids. Their lesson repertoire was more strenuous due to the added across-the-floor lessons and jumps. Water was always your best friend, water refilling stations located everywhere in the company building.

You wouldn’t say you’re a strict teacher, but you weren’t shy to correct anyone from wherever you stood. You’d lightly align their arms or back properly so your students were working on the correct body parts. Compared to the other teachers, a lot of students enjoyed your kind yet frank approaches. Your former students, who’ve already gone to the higher levels, missed your lively presence and wished repeatedly that they want you back as their teacher.

“Teacher (Y/N), I miss you so much! Teacher Ten is so intense. I get the jitters especially when we’re en pointe on the floor.”

“Teacher (Y/N), Teacher Sicheng and Teacher Seulgi scare the heck out of me during partnering class. Especially when I tried to lift my partner, I keep losing focus because of Teacher Sicheng’s never-ending comments!”

Not to be sadistic, but you’d simply laugh at their minuscule complaints. Even if they’re struggling in the academy, those comments were directed to fix their techniques if they wanted to breakthrough.

“Kids, you’re going to be fine! They wouldn’t say or do those things just because they wanted to. They’re here to push you to the next level, like how I used to do with you. It’s a cut-throat industry after all.”

This was always your reply, bittersweet and truthful. Not everyone makes it, unfortunately, so if you’re really striving, you’d do whatever it takes. Throughout your career, you’re relatively impressed with how far you’ve come.

Trainee at 17, Corps de Ballet at 18, Demi-Soloist at 21, and Soloist at 23.

You’ve been a soloist for 4 years. The final stage, which was to become a principal dancer, is your running goal. Becoming a soloist was praiseworthy enough because you’ve seen so many give up in the Corps, but claiming a spot as a principal dancer has been the ultimate dream. Since you’ve watched Swan Lake for the first time at 4 years old with your parents, that’s where you found a passion for dancing and the stage. Here you are years later, practicing numerous variations daily, performing in opera houses, and mentoring all these gifted kids.

Your last class with elementary kids, which began around 5 pm, reached its end once all the students curtsied in front of you and scurried to their mothers or their nannies. The remaining plan on your agenda today was the company class at 7:30 pm, which exceeds the average hour and a half. It’s worse during show season. There have been times everyone went beyond midnight to polish every scene from head to toe.

Currently, there’s no upcoming show for the public, though the annual summer recital for the students was around the corner. Selected members of the company were chosen to perform individually in it, which was both exciting and intense. It’s also because it’s an evaluation on whether you’d get promoted in status or staying put. You’ve partaken in 3 recitals in the past, two of which elevated you from the corps and demi-soloist ranks. The recent one, however, didn’t change your soloist ranking.

It was a major first in your career in ballet, and after finding out the result of the latter, it emotionally pained you. Recalling how much soul you put into that piece, the rejection from your artistic director clenched your heart. Though in time, you moved on from it and viewed it as a stepping stone. Also, Sicheng and Ten personally stormed your apartment to pull yourself together with wine and pizza after going on a short leave.

Since you were trainees, Sicheng and Ten were your best friends in and outside the company. Working daily to occasional barhopping, that’s your youth summed up. It wasn’t because you didn’t like the girls you’ve worked with (though a lot of them were fake and bitchy), but these two were frank and humorous as hell. Together, you’d help each other with your goals rather than be competitive. Over time, Ten leveled up to a principal dancer for 2 years running while you and Sicheng were still soloists. The way you’d watch Ten take all the big roles, that’s where you want to be one day.

Back in your last teaching class, the entire dance room was vacant. Since it’s mainly used for ballet classes, you’d either run through anything you’ve practiced from the company classes and polish it or warm up a little bit more.

Except for today, this was the only free time to sew a new pair of pointe shoes because your current ones were dead. Dead in a sense that the hard shell turned soft, which won’t be able to support you when you’re up on your toes. You’re not taking any risks of minor injuries especially when you’re in the current lineup of company members performing for this upcoming recital again. You have to prove to everyone that you deserve a position as a principal dancer.

As your legs sprawled in a half middle split, your sewing equipment laid in front of you like you’re about to perform surgery, a tiny girl stood by the ajar studio doors. In her neat bun and holding on to her small duffel bag, you’re convinced everyone has gone home already since it’s quite late.

You may have your priorities as a company member, but she was still your student.

“Minji!” You shouted her name, speedily waving your hand. You’re not one to have favorites, though you couldn’t help wonder how extraordinary she was. She’s always taking charge in demonstrating the lessons to everyone and improving every session in the 3 years she’s joined the academy. “Come in! Come in!”

At age 7, she’s gotten taller through the years, above the average from how you see it. She must have amazing genetics. Her legs sauntered in seconds to you. Sitting down across you, she marveled at your setup. Specifically, at the fresh pointe shoes.

“Are those yours, Teacher (Y/N)?” She perked up, caressing its soft fabric and playing with the mini bows of the drawstrings.

“Yes, it is, Minji!” You answered while trying to insert the thin thread through the small eye of the needle. “Why are you still here? Is your nanny stuck in traffic or something?”

“My nanny went on sudden leave, so my dad’s the one fetching me. But I think he’s running late from his job.”

Oh, this was a first to know about her father. In all the years she’s been your student, you rarely caught sight of him, even in recitals. Maybe he sat in an unknown section, but you’re pretty much acquainted with all the parents of your students. Even if some were snobbier than the rest because they wanted their child to have more stage time, you still got to know them out of respect. Quite odd, if you said so yourself.

After deep concentration, the thread triumphantly passed through the eye so you tied the two ends of the thread in a double knot. Seeing as Minji attentively watched you, you tasked her to cut the ribbons of your shoes according to the trail of pencil marks. This was so she wouldn’t cut it too short or too long. While she did that, you hammered your shoes against the floor to soften the hard front, bending the shank back and forth so the arch of your feet could move without difficulty later.

Minji wasn’t expecting such loud sounds, her entire body shaken awake. Her facial expression was priceless, explaining to her, “Once you get your first pointe shoes in a few years, this is one of the basic things you need to do so your feet won’t hurt too much while dancing.”

“Will you be there to teach me how to make my pointe shoes?”

“Absolutely! Come to me first then I’ll mentor you all that I know.”

The process of sewing and breaking new pointe shoes engraved your mind since your adolescent years, with changes along the way. Inspired by some tricks from your former teachers, but there were some differing rituals you followed. There’s no definite process of it, just as long you’re comfortable to dance after.

With your feet, you stepped on the hard boxes of the shoes to soften it more, creating a popping sound. Followed by sewing your elastic bands in. For your ribbons, you liked to burn the edges with a lighter so the thread of it won’t run. Kindly asking your cute assistant for the lighter beside her, you scanned the edges back and forth the flame. In seconds, the edges had a distinct mark, fully closed. From there, you slid your feet to your shoes to make final sewing adjustments. Sewing your ribbons took you another few minutes, plus adding superglue inside the shoe so the shoe won’t collapse when it unstiffens and scratching the shank with a cutter so you won’t slip later while dancing.

Voila, the final product is done! Hopefully, it can last you a week at least.

“Wow, Teacher (Y/N), it looks pretty!” Minji applauded, collecting the mess you’ve both made to dispose of later. You, on the other hand, gave her your thanks once you applied some bandages on your big toes and put on your toe pads. Slipping inside the shoes and tying them, you rose up back to your feet and headed to the bar to break them in. From plies-relevésto forced arches, the shoes gave you the sensation that they were an extension of your feet. The ease flowed through, meaning you were ready to practice your variations.

While you stepped your shoes in rosin for friction, your curious student moved to the front where the mirror lied to watch what you’ve prepared.

“What variation are you dancing to?”

“This is the Gamzatti variation from La Bayadere.” You replied, tapping the play button on your phone and racing to your position on the side. Talking a short ballet walk, you strongly prepared your arms before the music of the orchestra takes off.

This variation consisted of a lot of jumps and turns. Grand jetés, attitude turns, chaîné turns, you needed a lot of core control and proper spotting so you won’t get dizzy. The thrilling music lessened your nerves because you enjoyed learning this piece from one of the principal dancers, smiling and letting the music guide your legs. Once you nailed 3 consecutive grand jetés, the variation ended with a sus-sous and the wrists of your hands flicking upwards.

Holding it for 5 more seconds, you landed back on your feet with heavy breathing and a need for water. But before you could, small claps and cheers from Minji in front erupted. Momentarily, you’ve forgotten her presence because dancing solo puts you in your own space. You’d never let anyone take you away from it.

“Teacher (Y/N), that was wonderful! Are you performing that in the summer recital?”

Yikes, she’s right but she wasn’t meant to see it yet. Solo performances from the company members for the recital were top secret, only unveiled during the production rehearsal. Well, you didn’t think this through, but you didn’t mind.

“Can you keep a secret?”

Time ticked a lot faster today, only 10 minutes left until the company class on the ground floor whereas you were in the second. Just a few steps down the stairs away, yet Minji was still here. You only presumed that within your hour break, her father could’ve made it already. But maybe he’s stuck in traffic or at work.

“Minji, my class starts soon. Have you contacted your father?”

“I already texted him earlier, but he hasn’t responded. This happens often, he’s a busy man.” She bowed in front of you suddenly. “I’m sorry, Teacher (Y/N) for the hassle.”

“Oh no, please!” You shook your hands so she’d stop. Because this situation was relatively new, you were unsure of how to handle it. Or that was until you remembered what Ten texted you earlier. “Minji, the blinds of the main studio are going to be lifted so anyone from the outside can view us practicing. Would you like to watch until your dad gets here?”

With her insistent nodding, she situated herself in one of the seats in the front row. When you entered the main studio, your two close companions already carried a metal barre to the center and leaned towards it while observing you walking to them in your flat shoes.

“I see we have a bit of an audience here.” Ten glimpsed at the young girl, astonished by the many dancers prepping and chatting away with their cliques from the glass barrier.

“Her dad isn’t here yet, and you did say the blinds were up today. Might as well give her a show while she waits, you know.” You lifted your right leg to the top barre, stretching it with your arms.

“Hmmm, shouldn’t her dad be more cautious though? It’s getting late and it’s a Thursday. Doesn’t she have school or something?” Sicheng pointed out, discarding his muscle tee to straighten out his leotard.

“That’s not my business though. She’s just my student, and since she’s still here, I have to entertain her while she waits.”

Before your friends said anything back, the artistic director of the ballet company strutted her way to the center of the room. It’s a common rule here that once she entered, everyone must be silent to listen and race to any free spot in the numerous barres spread out if they haven’t.

“Alright, everyone. We’ll do the typical barre, then before doing across the floor exercises, I’ll be requesting those performing solos already in the recital to dance any variation tonight as another evaluation on who deserves to perform twice.” She eyed the pianist directly beside her. “Proceed first with two demi-pliés then one grand plié. Don’t forget to do the port de bras of each position.”

As the live piano music played, your focus was divided. Partly properly executing the exercise while your artistic director roamed each barre area, partly thinking about what variation to perform. This was a first for the company, and everyone was just stunned to hear the breaking news. It’d be nice to get an extra opportunity to showcase to people your potential.

30-40 minutes flew by quickly. As the guys carried the bars to the side to clear out the floor and the girls changed to their pointe shoes, the artistic director ordered all the performers of the recitals to stand in a line in front of her. Everyone else was seated around the room, so the interested eyes of everyone were on you. There were 10 performers, half are from the corps and the other half are either demi-soloists or soloists. You and Sicheng stood beside each other, internally shaking with nerves under the intimidating eyes of the artistic director. She used to be a principal dancer for the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany before moving back to Seoul, making her undeniably capable of leading all of you.

“Okay,” From her seated position observing the 10 performers, her finger pointed at you directly. “Ms. (Y/L/N) (Y/N), you perform first.”

Your nerves intensified and more sweat streamed out your upper body. Even if going first felt more relieving, no one was ever brave enough to perform individually in front of the esteemed artistic director. Principal dancers aside from Ten that you’re close with were intimidated when they have 1-on-1 or partnering sessions with her. But anyhow, in less than 2 minutes, you’d be done. This wasn’t the first time she’s had your full attention either, so you’ll treat it like the other individual performances you’ve had.

You smiled to yourself when the other soloists left you alone, while you gave the name of the variation you’re dancing to the pianist. Running to the side to put on a practice tutu, the artistic director asked, “What will you be dancing for us tonight, (Y/N)?”

“I’ll be dancing Queen of the Dryads from Don Quixote.”

The last time you did this variation was 3 years ago during the recital that didn’t change your position as a soloist. Even if this variation hurt to think about for a while, it was still one of your favorites to watch and do. Moving on, you could only muse how powerful and beautiful you felt at that time. This isn’t an easy piece to perform in your opinion. Yet according to the members of the company, this was their favorite solo of yours.

As the starting notes unfolded, you took a deep breath and elegantly walked into the frame. You only wished you wore your fake crown again for this. Minimal smiling and light arms, you imagined yourself as an actual queen who captured the eyes of many. In this case, your fellow seniors and juniors held their breaths at the captivating sight of you.

Off you go into a series of glissade jeté developpé on relevé at elevating heights, then a fouetté arabesque and another arabesque on relevé before ballet walking again to the side to dance across the stage. Sissonne to the front, right developpé to the front on relevé, pique to prepare for a single pirouette, you gracefully did a chassé to the front twice and stood on your toes with a sus-sous.

Doing it a few more times, the climax of the entire variation was nearing. Returning to the center, you took another deep breath and lifted your left leg for the Italian fouettés. Spotting to the front and back while maintaining your balance, the variation approached its end with lame duck turns, posing with your arms were positioned at a 45-degree angle, your back slightly arched and your left leg doing a tendu derriére. Your eyes reflected at the mirror in front, surveying your alignment. Once your 5-second hold was finished, you properly put your arms down and closed your back leg into 5th position.

The applause from everyone in the room roared, Ten and Sicheng wolf-whistling even for more support. It’s a usual thing every time any of you perform individually, and no one minded it. The artistic director grinned, giving a quiet clap from the front before calling out the next performer, who was from the corps. Bowing to everyone hastily, you paid more attention to spot your student by the window. She was smiling ear to ear, waving both hands at you.

“You did amazing, Teacher!” She mouthed. Hearing words of praise from members was one thing, but hearing them from students was another. You’re so used to watching them and giving them your compliments that you often forget that you’re a dancer first before a teacher. Seeing them all delighted, saying that it motivates them more, showed that you’re doing a great job teaching them. You’re a reflection of what you pass down, and all you want was for them to be the best they could be.

From her jolly expression, a tall masculine silhouette hovered a part of the window. Her instinct of giving a brighter smile when the hand of said silhouette patted her head then carried her duffel bag again, that could only mean one thing. Excusing yourself to the artistic director, you stepped out to bid your goodbye and maybe meet her father. Minji and the tall man were about to leave the building if it weren’t for your breathy voice calling them out.

“Seo Minji and Mr. Seo?”

They stopped their tracks. Minji was fast to react, familiar with your voice and racing towards you for a sweaty hug. Meanwhile, your focus shifted once the masculine silhouette came into full view. You finally understood why Minji’s growth spurt spiked up, noticing that he was taller than Sicheng.

The top buttons of his shirt were off, yet he kept his formal blazer on. His hair was a bit tousled, some strands falling in front of his forehead. He must’ve run here. Peeking through were some roots of his scruff growing. His eyebags were almost as dark as his brown hair. Yet by the way his Rolex remained spotless, you blatantly assumed that he was more than well-off. Especially when the ballet academy was one of the most prestigious ones in Seoul.

Out of all the parents you’ve met, none of them appeared youthful like him.

“Teacher (Y/N)?” Thanks to Minji, you moved your staring eyes away from him. This was another first, since meeting only the fathers of your students wasn’t your norm. Meeting young-looking fathers, to be specific.

“O-Oh,” You ate your words, suddenly blanking out. “You’re leaving me without saying goodbye, Minji? Not polite of you.”

“My father was rushing right after watching your performance, and I don’t know why.” She responded, her finger scratching the top of her head in confusion. Speaking of said father, his strong presence appeared right in front of you. The wrinkles of his forehead creased while his eyes barely looked at yours.

“Uhm,” His fingers toyed with his Rolex. “I apologize for my tardiness. I got caught up in work and all, plus her nanny le-”

“Mr. Seo.” You halted his rambling, already aware of the situation. Like father, like daughter. “It’s fine. Minji loved watching us practice while waiting, and she wasn’t a bother either. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Phew.” He swiped an imaginative bead of sweat from his forehead, displaying his relief with his playful nature.

At age 23, Johnny Seo started his own company in the fashion scene and it grew internationally in the coming years. Then when Minji unexpectedly joined the picture, he’s been multi-tasking to make ends meet. Lately, as a CEO, he has had meetings and conferences on a daily. So, his position as a single father was always tested. It worsened when he rarely has proper time to spend any time with Minji unless it’s the weekend or late in the evening. Breaking it down, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to meet you. It was more like he couldn’t when his schedules were packed from head to toe.

Having the guilt of taking your precious time, “Seriously though, I am sorry for being late. Her nanny resigned suddenly, and I have no time to find her replacement.”

“Mr. Seo, again, don’t worry about it. As her teacher and a company member, I am practically here 24/7 so it won’t be a nuisance at all if this happens again.”

“Thank you so much, Teacher (Y/N). That is your name, right?” He planted his palm on his forehead, stressed. “Being a single parent is hard. I am always forgetting things.”

A part of you couldn’t restrain from feeling sorry for his struggle. Taking care of a child should be the work of both the mother and father, not one of them being absent. You’ve feared this would harm Minji, but she’s a strong girl.

“The fact you didn’t forget to fetch Minji despite the late time is still something to be happy over. I’m not a parent or anything, but parenting, in general, is a challenge.” You added an insight, patting the head of the young girl beside you. “Cut yourself some slack, Mr. Seo. I’m sure Minji still loves you, right?”

Minji shouted a big yes, now clinging to the leg of her father. “It’s okay, dad. Really.”

Over the years, Johnny has been doubtful of his parenting skills. He was an only child, and he struggled to ask for guidance from his own parents due to the shame of having a kid at a young age. So, he’d ask for help from his other friends and co-workers. No matter how many times they’ve reassured him that he’s doing well, he’s an overthinker who always reflected on the bad scenarios. There’s also that pressure to find someone who can fill that absent position not just for Minji, but for himself too. No matter how many girls he’s asked out or been set up with, he failed in the love department badly.

It’s the soothing way you voiced out your truth that made all these negative thoughts running through his head freeze briefly. Over the past 3 years since Minji started ballet, she always had a great story about you to share. One of them was how ballet made her a lot happier because of your influence. If he had at least an hour of his day to meet any of his daughter’s mentors, it would’ve been you.

“Do feel free to call me Johnny instead.” He casually introduced himself, taking his hand out for you to shake. “Mr. Seo makes me feel like I’m at work right now.”

Despite his informal approach, you understood his intentions and returned the action with a promising smile. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Johnny.”

“Pleasure is all mine, Teacher (Y/N).”

Earlier, the nerves from performing in front of the artistic director died down fast. But for some reason, they rose back up when you’ve spoken to this man in a matter of minutes. As someone whose feelings don’t flourish in a single glance, why did this man specifically deliver you such a strong effect?

If it weren’t for Ten calling for your name by the door, you would’ve held on to Johnny’s hand longer, which would’ve been inappropriate. Letting go first, this was your cue to return to your class.

“I must head back inside, Johnny. Don’t sweat on fetching your daughter late, though she is still a student with school the following day. Right, Minji?”

Minji nodded as Johnny kept that mind, knowing where he has to improve next. “Yes, Teacher (Y/N). Thank you again, sincerely. I’ll definitely see you again in the coming days until Minji has a new nanny.”

“That’s no problem with me at all, Johnny.”

Soon as Johnny held his daughter’s hand to exit the studio and you were re-entering the studio with an impatient Ten, he swerved swiftly as if he forgot something.

“Oh by the way Teacher (Y/N), I saw your whole performance awhile ago. I was blown away, you deserved the applause.”

Although you could only distinguish his silhouette, you didn’t suppose he watched you from head to toe. Most parents or nannies would’ve dragged their kids out of the studio once they find them like they were on a tight schedule, so this was novel to experience. That performance showed your prime too.

“Thank you, Johnny. See you again soon.”

Giving a final nod, you led yourself back to the studio, not bothering to acknowledge the erupting heat on your cheeks and entire body. Not to sound narcissistic, but compliments weren’t foreign to you. You’re conscious of the hard work that you put in your talent and if they pointed out your greatness, why would you deny it? However, receiving one from Johnny was like gearing your engine with new fuel.

Before you could try to reject these harboring feelings, Ten was fast to pick up on it. You cannot hide anything from this man at all because body language was like another language he’s fluent in (aside from the other 5). Unlucky for you, the saga continued.

“You’re so into dilfs, (Y/N)!” He shrieked in your ear, nudging your shoulder repetitively. He placed things in his own way, yet they always shocked you because it was so inappropriate. Typical Ten for you.

“Shut up, Ten!” You objected, watching the other performers. You’ve improved in ignoring his remarks over time. That was until Sicheng sat down beside you after his solo and got up in your business. That placed you in the middle of boys from the water sign clan of astrology. They just loved getting down to your love life, going raunchy and whatnot.

“Who’s into dilfs, Ten?”

“A Miss (Y/N) beside you, who met Minji’s dad awhile ago, was basically eye-fucking him.” Ten elaborated, planting his elbows on your leg and gave you a sneaky glare. “Minji’s dad is fine as fuck, guys! I’m telling you, like a literal god! I’m surprised this is the first time he showed up here after 2-3 years?”

“How come (Y/N) is always getting students with good-looking parents? Especially the single moms.” Sicheng slumped his shoulders, attempting to get your attention too. “Is he that hot, (Y/N)?”

“Yah.” Sighing with annoyance, you’ve given up trying to appreciate one of the corps dancers with her rendition of Dulcinea from Don Quixote. “Don’t speak of Johnny like that. You barely know the man, yet you talk about him so unprofessionally."

“Oh, Johnny is his name, huh?” Sicheng sing-songed, bobbing his head. He’s certainly going to stalk him later on social media, you felt it in your chest. Like it was ESPN or something.

“Talking about being unprofessional, yet you’re here referring him as Johnny, not Mr. Seo.” Ten barked back, his lips pursed and one eyebrow lifted.

Just as soon as you could retaliate, the artistic director’s velvety voice boomed the room.

“Alright, thank you to the performers. I will deliberate with the staff and principal dancers over the weekend, and let you know the results on Monday. Now please, let’s proceed to the center.”

Everyone began to spread out on the wide floor, snatching a good position so they could monitor themselves in the mirror. Maybe you’ll defend yourself later after class because now, you needed to beat everyone else and have a crystal-clear view of yourself doing these following exercises.

In the meantime, Johnny was in the middle of driving Minji home. He had a designated chauffeur, but he gave him the night off because he wanted to spend time with Minji. Around this time, she’d be sleeping soundly, but instead, she’s boosting with so much life. She hasn’t even eaten dinner yet, which was the first thing on Johnny’s agenda now.

Playing Coldplay in the car, Minji belted some lyrics from her favorite songs while Johnny smiled to himself while listening to her attentively. Taking a breath, her thoughts reverted to her fantastic ballet teacher and shared them with her father.

“Dad! Don’t you just think Teacher (Y/N) is so cool? Ugh, I want to be just like her when I grow up.”

“Oh, to become a ballerina like her, you have to work hard every day and memorize lessons fast. Are you up for it, Minji?”

“Absolutely, dad! I want to pull off perfect jumps and turns like her one day!”

In the other after-school activities Johnny enrolled Minji in the past, none of them compared to the passion she had for ballet. Her work ethic was alike to Johnny’s: if they want something, they’ll do whatever it takes to make it possible.

Aside from being a star student in her school, she’s aiming to be a star ballerina. Being the supportive father he is, Johnny was on board to do what it takes to make it happen. Unlike his parents trying to mold him into the next heir of their company, he’s all ears to the dreams of his daughter. His only dream for her was to be live long and happy, not to merely pass on anything.

Johnny lost so much in his young life, so he doesn’t want to lose Minji in any way. As much as he loves his profession, he wanted to be an active father as much as time allowed it. He mostly received complaints from others that he’s not prioritizing his time well, but after hearing your kind words, this heavy weight on his shoulders decreased. All this doubt started to vanish after meeting you for the first time.

“Dad! Isn’t Teacher (Y/N) so beautiful?” Minji honored whilst gazing at the twinkling night sky. “She loves what she does and shines at it.”

Johnny was accustomed to his female co-workers throwing themselves at him due to his attractiveness, more than flattered even to have them feeling weak for him. Yes, there were times he used it to his advantage, some he frankly turned down.

However, the radiance you carried whether you’re dancing or not was something Johnny couldn’t cease wondering about. Unknown to him, he’s the one getting weak. Behold, an unlocked first for the confident CEO.

“Yes, Minji. I do think Teacher (Y/N) is absolutely beautiful.”

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ghostofsin13 · 3 years

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Untouched (pt2)

A/n: OOOOOKKKAAYY yes. So I have been chipping away at this because I have like 20 other Fics I'm working on at the same time in between the videos I'm making. But part 2 is finally here! Hopefully part 3 will come much faster.

TW: child marriage I guess. manipulation, lies, torture

It was several hours later before Boss joined Kai in the lounge for tea. Yui had fallen asleep on the couch next to him, her tea half finished and cold.

Boss took in the scene of the two of the two children across from him as he sipped his tea.

Seeming to come to a decision he placed his cup down on the table.

“I am glad to see you getting along with someone your age Kai.”

“She is…. Interesting.” Kai replied, his eyes moving to the sleeping girl next to him.

“Indeed.” Boss sighed heavily, “as much as I hate to admit it, her dirtbag father was correct about her being beneficial to us.”

“Will you be adopting her into the family then?”

Boss sighed again and scrubbed a hand over his face in a rare show of fatigue.

“No. Not exactly.” He straightened his shoulders and locked eyes with Kai. “She will be marrying into the family.”

The statement shocked Kai. It wasn’t like Boss to marry a child off to an adult for power.

“Don’t you think she’s too young. A child bride and a grown man…”

Boss blinked and let out a booming laugh.

“It seems you misunderstood my intentions. She would be marrying you Kai.”

“What?”

“As my successor you will need someone beside you. Even as strong as you are. I realize you both are young. But you are both strong. And as your guardian I want to make sure you don’t miss out on the same things I did.”

Kai sighed and closed his eyes briefly, processing.

Opening his eyes he looked back at his adoptive father. “You’ve already made up your mind on this haven’t you?”

Boss crossed his arms over his chest, his expression firm. “Yes. This is the best choice. For both of you and the future of the group.”

Kai stood and made his way to the door. “If that is what you want then I have no ground to object. But I can’t speak for how Yui will take the news.”

Yui didnt make any objections to Boss’ request. How could she!? He was going to take car of her, and he had removed her horrible father from the equation. She was nothing but grateful for the protection he was offering, even if it meant she became a pawn in the greater scheme of things.

The wedding was held a week after Boss had made his decision, in secret and within the walls of the yakuza. It was a formal but extremely small affair.

The two exchanged rings which they wore on chain necklaces. Yui kept examining the ring Kai had given her after the ceremony, rotating it around between her fingers as she walked down the hall with Kai toward their rooms.

“If you keep doing that it will tarnish” he commented with a sigh.

“Oh, sorry. Its just…its really pretty. I’ve never had jewelry before.” A slight embarrassed blush colored her cheeks.

She was so adorably honest with him, it was becoming habit for him to drop his guard and get comfortable with her.

“Then I’ll teach you how to keep it from tarnishing. So it stays pretty.”

Yui smiled at him, “Thank you Kai. I’ll take good care of it.”

****************************************** 6 years later *****************************************

Yui was making her bed when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Yui, its Kai. Can I come in?”

Blushing she grabbed her silk robe off the closet door and pulled it on, quickly closing the front and tying it closed. She exhaled to calm herself.

“Yes of course, come in” Yui sat down on her bed.

Kai entered her room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. She supposed she shouldn’t have expected any less, since it wouldn’t be like him to come see her in his sleepwear, but she was still surprised he was already fully dressed.

“There’s something I wanted to tell you about.”

“Is this about me using the kitchen again? Look, I told you I want to cook for you. I get bored and I found a cookbook in the library. I don’t see what is so wrong with me learning-“

“Calm down, I’m not here to scold you for learning how to cook. You can keep doing so if that’s really what you want to do. But it’s not necessary. We have people who will cook.”

She grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her chest. “So you’ll let me keep cooking!?”

“If that’s what you want to keep doing then yes. I’m not going to stop you from having hobbies.”

“Thank you Kai!”

“You don’t need to thank me for something as basic as this you know”

Yui just smiled at him in response. Kai sighed, though he was glad she was at least happy.

Kai crossed the room and sat next to her on her bed, putting his elbows on his knees and threading his gloved fingers together. It was a very relaxed and casual posture that was rare for him.

Though it had become habit for him to feel comfortable in her space and around her, her quirks passive benefits cleaning the very air around her; soothing his anxiety about the dirt and germs.

“So what was the thing you wanted to tell me?”

“Well, to put it simply you and I are moving. I purchased a house outside of the compound for us.”

“Oh! How exciting! When will we be moving then?”

Kai smirked at her reaction behind his mask “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow! But we haven’t packed. And how is the house ready? Didn’t you just buy it?”

In general Yui had learned not to question Kai’s ability to do the impossible, or to doubt him when he would ask something impossible of her, but this entire development had taken her by surprise.

“I commissioned the build a few months ago. Its completely finished and ready to move in. Don’t worry about packing. Someone will take care of it. We leave tomorrow morning so be sure to take anything with you that you want immediately.”

She seemed a bit anxious, squeezing her toes tightly against the carpet. Kai reached over, capturing a lock of her long long hair between his gloved fingers, “you seem nervous.”

She nodded slightly, hugging the pillow tighter. “Its just so sudden…. I can’t help but feel your keeping something from me”

Kai’s fingers around her lock of hair froze from their slight caress. It was moments like these he hated. He hated how damn perceptive she could be even without any information.

“I see. I suppose it does seem sudden. It had been on my mind for awhile. You know I’m taking over for Boss when he passes. As it is with his current health I’ve been handling most of the business. I just feel having a home for us off the compound, away from where I handle dangerous business, would be safer.” He brought his hand up to caress her cheek.

“Im really not keeping anything from you Yui.” He lied, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I just want to keep you safe from any unsavory characters that come here” Kai fed her half truths, his focus on reassuring her that everything was fine.

She didn’t need to know about his dealings with the League of villains, his plans to revive the yakuza, his experiments with Eri’s quirk, the war he was waging and intended to win. He wouldn’t subject her to those horrors. Truthfully he hadn’t even been angry at her for cooking for him. He had just used it as an excuse because she had nearly caught him coming up from the secret basement with his arms covered in Eri’s blood.

Keeping Yui in a house away from the group was for the best to move their agenda forward. She would be free to pursue whatever hobbies she desired in their new home, away from dirty dealings and prying eyes.The house would have guards on the grounds and all the comforts they would need.

Kai looked into her sunset eyes, and the image of a bird in a cage appeared in his mind. He frowned behind his mask.

No.

No, she wasn’t a bird in a cage. She was just… important. She needed to be kept safe.

He had promised to keep her safe. And he would.

#overhaul #MHA #OC #some canon shit #hurt #comfort #villans #shit is starting #world building #writing #fan fiction #part 2

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mar04isdead · 3 years

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Freaks But Family

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Screwing things up a lesson by Favion Freeman

If the title does not tell you what is about to happen, then I can't help you. The reason you are back here my friend, is because you want to find out how Favion messed everything up with Maria. If you want to find out how she punches him to the brink of unconsciousness, you will want to stick around.

"Babe, murder was not on todays agenda. That's on Tuesday, wait until tomorrow." Rose gently lowers Maria's arm which was controlling some plants that are choking Liberator.

Maria whines, "Honey please, better him than anyone else." she tries to lift her arm up again.

Rose shakes her head, "Let him go, we have to go anyways."

"Fine," Maria releases the plants.

Oddly enough, it's the middle of the day after school. Maria and Rose had to do a quick heist, but someone had to try and bust them.

"Dude, you are real bad at your job, whatever it is your job is." Rose leans on Maria who opens a portal.

Maria pushes Rose into the portal before jumping in herself. They end up back in the sewers and start laughing.

"That was funny, how did he know that we would be there after school?" Rose asks Maria.

Maria shakes her head and takes off her goggles, "I have no idea. But I find it weird how he didn't put up a fight."

"Babe, what's that on your neck." Rose taps the back of Maria's neck, on it is a little black dot that was never there.

"What is it? Rose what is it?" Maria questions with urgency.

Maria can feel Rose messing with the dot, but nothing happens. Rose tries to pull the dot off, but it doesn't come off.

"Hey, mind giving us some electricity. Maybe you can burn it off." Rose takes a few steps back and hides behind one of the curtains.

"Sure, just give me a sec." Maria shakes her head a few times before taking a deep breath and focusing on what she wants to happen.

Rose pokes out from the curtain, "Maria, are you even trying?"

Maria nods violently, "Yeah, I'm trying. You know how I can just visualize what I want from my abilities and it happens?" Rose nods. "Well I can't do that anymore. The vision is blurry, not even there. And you know how this stuff works."

"Can't see it, can't do it." Rose comes out from the curtain and opens her arms for Maria. "C'mere." Maria runs into her arms. "It's okay, we'll just ask Esme about this. Maybe she can do something."

Favion returns to his headquarters to report to Dr. Gomez.

"It's on Madness, couldn't get Thorn, but then again Thorn isn't a threat." Favion removes his mask to let himself breath.

Dr. Gomez, a petite Mexican woman with long dark hair, piercing grey eyes, dark golden skin, and her usual attire of a lab coat, black scrubs, and white tennis shoes. She has a weird tattoo on the back of her neck, but Favion has only ever seen it once.

"Good, I would have preferred if you could get both but that's fine." Dr. Gomez writes something on her clipboard. "You're off for the rest of the day, you have to meet with that tutor of your, right?"

"Umm... yeah, but I can stay and skip if you need me to do patrol." Favion gestures to his mask.

"No, I am in charge of a serious operation. I can not risk having a sophomore, who is failing a math class, be our hero." Dr. Gomez slams her clipboard down on a nearby table. "Get that grade up before I get a replacement. That friend Maria of yours, she did gymnastics for years and she's the top of your class, I wouldn't mind having her on the team." She gives Favion a wicked grin. "Am I understood?" She asks through her pearly teeth.

"Yes, ma'am." Favion nods and leaves the room with a harsh smile.

Favion goes to get changed and calls Maria.

"How do you have my number?" Maria growls through the phone.

Favion sighs, "Can we meet up in about ten minutes at the park? I'm having trouble with the homework and I need help."

Yelling comes from Maria's side, "Okay, but I can't stay long. I have somewhere else to be after."

"That's fine, where do you have to go if you don't mind me asking?" Favion finishes changing.

Maria chuckles, "A date, with my girlfriend. I am currently getting my things so if you aren't at the park in the next nine minutes I will kill you." And Maria hangs up.

Maria is just sitting on a picnic table on her phone while Favion tries to do some work by himself.

"What was the formula again?" Favion asks, staring blankly at his paper.

Maria sighs, "Negative b plus or minus the square root of b square minus four a c over two a. A lot to memorize I know but it's on the final."

Favion sighs and finishes solving his problem, "That's all of them. Can you check on them?" He offers the paper to Maria.

Maria nods and takes the paper from him, and takes out her sheet with the correct answers. She checks the paper over with a red pen, she checks it for a good three minutes, the pen only touching the paper once. She gives him the final grade before handing the paper back to Favion.

"That's it, you just missed one. Can't blame you, factoring is a pain." Maria puts her things away. "I have to go now, I don't want to be late."

"Hey can I at least tell you something real quick?" He asks, wringing his hands.

Maria looks at her phone, "You have one minute."

"Okay," Favion starts to quicken his speech. "We were ten when you left me, but back then I had very strong feelings, and I still do. I never had the chance to tell you, and when I saw you with Rose I still thought I wouldn't be able to tell you, much less stand a chance. But I want to tell you now, or I might never get the chance again." Favion buries his face in his hands and mumbles loud enough for Maria to hear, "I love you, I always have and I always will."

Maria stares at him wide eyed. Her mouth agape and her face pale, "Dude, I don't know... what to say!" Maria exhales and lets out a shaky giggle.

"Well, then don't say anything." Favion puts his hands on her shoulders. "I know you still feel something. I've known you for ten years, that's more than your own family."

"Immanuel, Kayla, and Alyssa have known me for ten years too! That doesn't really make you special." Maria gets herself away from Favion.

Favion smiles, "Well it's more than that girlfriend of yours."

That's when Maria loses it, Favion doesn't see her fist coming towards his face. When Maria has punched him, he stumbles back into the table. He can see black spots in his vision and everything is blurry.

"I'm a lesbian, back in the day, I only ever liked girls. Now I'm with Rose, and I'm happy with her." Maria growls, "I have to go, don't you ever try to bring this up again." She glares at him before walking away.

Rose holds onto Maria's waist to keep Maria from falling over. Maria has her hands over her eyes and her goggles are on the top of her head while both of them are walking on the edge of a building. Both are in their disguises and it's early in the evening when they never strike, so people won't suspect them.

"I am getting the feeling you don't trust me here." Rose kisses Maria's cheek.

Maria chuckles, "I kind of don't trust you, but at the same time I do."

They keep walking for a while, they jump a few times to go from building to building. When they arrive at the spot Rose wants, Rose fully wraps her arms around Maria.

"Open your eyes, and please don't kill me." Rose takes Maria's hands away from her eyes and puts her goggles on over her eyes. "What do you think?"

It's the sycamore tree, the one from when Maria was a kid. At this time in the evening, one would barely be able to make out the outline, but now hanging from its branches are fairy lights that sway in the breeze. A blanket is on the grass at the bottom of the tree, in the center is a basket, pillows, and some candles.

"Awwww, babe! I love it!" Maria turns around and plants kisses all over Rose's face. "How long have you been planning this?" Maria gives a kiss on Rose's lips.

Rose smiles into the kiss, "You like it?"

Maria nods and puts her forehead against Rose's, "I love it, I love you. Thank you."

"I know today isn't our anniversary, but it's the day we first met. Six years ago today you became my first friend." Rose hides her face in the crook of Maria's neck. "You're so tiny."

Maria shakes her head with a smile, "I'm only shorter by five inches."

Rose chuckles, "Sure you are, want to head down?"

Maria nods, she has the shadows swallow them. It's dark for a second and then they both appear at the tree. Maria sits them both down.

"I know you have to drink blood today, so I packed you some cat blood. The twins did this voluntarily. So drink up and then you can have some tamales." Rose gives Maria a bottle of blood.

Maria smiles and looks at Rose, "Did you make them yourself or did you ask one of my cousins for help?"

"I made them, Sam has a video!" Rose hands Maria a tamale. "On the agenda tonight, Esme said you needed to work a bit more on your shadow abilities and what a better way than to do a puppet show?"

Maria starts to laugh, "I'm dating a child!" she tries to hide her laugh.

Rose gets lost in Maria's smile, "Yeah, but this child loves you."

"I've been here all night, I have finals in the morning. Where are they?" Favion shouts at no one in particular while sitting on the edge of a building.

For two days, Madness and Thorn have not shown up. Usually their heists are on Wednesday's and Thursday's. But they haven't shown up or done anything, there have been reports across town. But Favion has never been able to make it in time no matter what he tries, he has had to put another chip on Madness and Thorn this time.

"Favion, it's getting late. I'm calling it, they aren't going to show up." Dr. Gomez talks to Favion through his ear piece. "You got school in the morning kid, don't want to fail those finals now do you?"

"No, I don't. Night, ma'am." Favion takes out his ear piece and chucks it as far as he can.

He stands up and jumps from building to building. He kicks anything he can see on the roofs and throws any rocks he can see. He's about to head back home when he hears laughter from below, he looks over the edge of the roof he is currently on. It's his old friends, and Rose.

Rose is holding Maria close by the waist, Maria has her head resting on Rose's shoulder. Immanuel has an arm around Alyssa and is holding hands with Kayla. All of them are laughing, they don't seem to care about what is happening around them.

He badly wants to go down there and talk to them, but not as Liberator or the current Favion, as the old Favion. The one who would race his friends across the woods to make it to the cliff, the one who supported Maria in what ever stupid decision she made, the one who would braid Alyssa's hair when she was sad, the one who would play fight with Immanuel, the one who helped Kayla bake, he wanted to be that old Favion.

"I'm never getting that chance, why hope?" He wonders to himself.

He sighs and stands up, turning in for the night.

The whole school is in panic in the morning, people drinking coffee like it's their life source, reading over notes, looking at flash cards, memorizing formulas, and trying to sleep. It's finals, and the whole school is taking them. But there is one group of people who is not worrying.

"Think we pulled it off?" Immanuel hands all the girls a bag of Skittles.

Maria tears her pack open and eats half of it. She nods and Rose pats her head, "Yeah, we got rid of all of it."

Kayla puts a hand up, "Bell just rung, wait for it."

"Students, due to unfortunate events, the finals are cancelled. We will be returning to our regular class schedule."

The whole school erupts into cheers. Some people even throw their study materials away.

"We did good!" Alyssa cheers.

The group of friends all hug and laugh. When the bell rings again, like the rest of the school they head to their classes. And not much happens in their classes, because of finals having a last minute change teachers don't have anything planned.

People keep making theories as to why finals have been cancelled, but no one is complaining. Having finals in October is way too early for them.

"Like who the hell has finals during October, they should be in December. We have things to do later on." Immanuel takes a Skittle from both his girlfriends and pops them in his mouth.

Maria nods, "The parade is in a week, good thing it's before Halloween. We might just have to bring you three for patrol."

"Nope, we will totally need you guys. We are going to be at the parade with our flag, we're gonna need y'all with yours." Rose ruffles Maria's hair.

"What's the plan for Halloween?" Kayla asks.

Maria shakes her head, "Me and my cousins are doing our trip to tierra de los muertos. So if you could take Rose away that would be great for us."

Rose shrugs, "Don't you have that cousin who's birthday is Halloween?"

"Yeah, so I need all of you to go to Snellville and drop something off for her." Maria pushes Rose off of her.

Rose frowns, "Is this the same cousin who last saw you years ago?"

Maria nods, "That same one, Melissa. It might be hard to get to her but trust me, she's okay."

The bell rings and the friends collect their things and head for their last class.

"Any signs of Liberator?" Rose scans the skyline of the city.

The group of friends are in Atlanta, participating in the annual coming out parade. For years it would just be Maria and Rose, before they were dating they would raise a rainbow flag and support the people below them. Now, they raise their flag and share a kiss. Usually police are supposed to protect the people at the parade, but people from the churches have begun to get more violent. It just gave Maria and Rose more reason to help people.

Kayla shakes her head, "Nope, how do you two handle being up this high?"

"Practice." Maria leans on Rose, looking down at the balloons, floats, and colors.

"Hey, the crowd's coming this way!" Immanuel shouts.

Kayla goes with her partners and they get the flag that they brought. Rose and Maria climb onto the flag pole near them and start to put the flag up. Just as the parade is passing by, the people see on the flag pole a rainbow flag and Kayla, Alyssa, and Immanuel with their polyamory flag.

The crowd starts to cheer, the cheering gets louder as Rose and Maria kiss and Immanuel and Kayla kiss Alyssa's cheeks. When the couples separate, they notice something in the distance.

Maria starts to laugh, "Guess who decided to join us!" she points to where Liberator is running towards them.

"There is a crowd of people below us, we can blend in easily. Mind giving us a few minutes to change babe?" Rose asks Maria.

Maria nods and closes her eyes. The world around her stops as she opens her eyes, she smiles and lightly tugs on Rose's arm. Rose stumbles forward and Maria tugs on the rest of her friends.

"Three minutes, I didn't get much sleep." Maria points to the watch on her right wrist.

Everyone quickly changes back into their normal clothes and then jump through one of Maria's portals. They run through the crowd, helping Maria to not touch people. Once their time is up, Maria does a two fingered hand signal.

Times starts up again and they are lost in the crowd. They can see Liberator on the building they were on. They all smile and keep walking with the crowd, but they keep their eyes on Favion. Eventually when he comes down to join the parade, but instead of celebrating with others, he grabs some police and they start to ask people questions.

Maria slides her hand into Rose's, "He does know we know his identity, right?"

Rose looks to where Maria is looking, she starts laughing out of nowhere. "He just changed form 'hero'," she uses finger quotes. "To regular teenager right in public, he does know that was a bad decision?" Rose walks around Maria, hugging her from behind and rest her chin on Maria's head.

Maria notices, "Aww, is someone jealous?" She turns herself around so that she's looking up at her girlfriend.

"You can't prove that?" Rose plants a kiss on Maria's forehead. "You can prove how much I love you." She glares behind Maria, "And the asshole is heading this way."

"Why don't you like him?" Maria lightly punches Rose's shoulder.

Rose frowns, "Oh, I don't know, probably because he had a crush on you when you were younger and he still has a crush on you."

Maria smiles, "Don't worry, to quote a favorite character of yours, 'I love you means you're never ever ever getting rid of me.'"

From behind them someone clears their throat, the two of them turn around and see Favion.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something, but I'm on guard here with my uncle and his unit. Saw you guys and wanted to say hi." Favion smiles as he walks over to them. "Where are the others?"

Rose points off to the side, "They ran off over there when they saw some people giving away candy." It's not a lie, those three really left when someone was handing out candy.

"Well," Favion fidgets with his hands. "What are all of you doing here?"

"We're here for the parade. But then we saw that Liberator guy, and we might just leave because of him." Maria leans on Rose.

Favion frowns, "Why, he's just here to protect people."

Maria shakes her head, "He's on their side." She points to the protesters. "We can't trust someone like that." She then points to the flagpole, "Those five however, we can trust." She takes Rose by the hand and drags her into the crowd, away from Favion.

Maria is training with her staff again, trying to get a control on her new abilities. The only knowledge Maria has on her abilities, is her great-grandmother's notebook. Her great-grandmother was the only person in their recorded history, before her death she wasn't able to record her shadow and death abilities.

She also made formulas, formulas that are able to contain Maria's abilities to help her control them and keep them safe. But her great-grandmother, Lucia, was able to begin the final formula. Ever since Esme, Immanuel, Alyssa, and Kayla have been working together to finish it.

"Fuck!" Maria shouts when her powers have her in a wall. She over calculated how much power she would need to break a few plates with some shadows.

"Babe, you okay?" Rose tries to reach Maria to help her from behind one of Maria's barriers.

Maria shakes her head and waves her off, "I'm fine, Rose. It's just a dent, I'll just shift to use my other limbs."

"Not the smartest plan," Esme says from beside Rose. "We don't know how shifting might affect these abilities."

Maria cracks her neck, "That's why we are doing these experiments, right?" she balls her hands into fist and arches her back as her limbs start to grow in. "Fuck, ow that hurt, more than usual." Mara winces and rubs her right shoulder.

Esme frowns, "Try not to strain yourself. I know you want answers, we all do, but please be careful."

Maria waves her off too and starts to focus on the shadows around her. She pulls them towards her and they start to swirl around her, they start to form into spheres at her hands and her extra limbs. She forces herself to bring all the shadows together to focus on one spot.

"Hey, Maria, you might want to stop. Something's happening." Esme taps on the barrier, but Maria doesn't listen.

Maria shakes her head and keeps focusing on the shadows, the strength of the shadows starts to push her back and she tries to dig her heels into the ground to push forward.

"Maria, we mean it. Stop, you're starting to hurt yourself!" Rose shouts through the barrier. Rose goes to hit on the barrier, but her hand goes through, the barrier is gone.

"She too focused on the shadows," Esme mutters with worry.

They both notice how Maria's arms are starting to get covered in black veins, they crawl up her arms and to her chest.

Esme gasps and rushes to a cabinet and grabs the black dot that they took off Maria a while back. Esme puts her hand in a puppeteer motion and makes the dot float, and she shoots it aiming at Maria's neck. Once it lands on her neck, the shadows start to back away and go back to their corners. Maria instantly grabs at her head, trying to stop her raging migraine.

Rose walks up to Maria and kneels down beside her, "Hey, are you okay? I know that took a lot out of you." Rose keeps trying to get Maria to respond but she hears Maria start to make small snores. "Aww, she's sleeping." Rose smiles up at Esme.

Esme shakes her head, "It ain't cute, she drained herself. That was not safe of her to do, I had to use that chip thing."

Rose picks Maria up bridal style and starts to rock her, "She's like a baby!" Rose gasps with excitement.

"Get her to her bunk, she's had a long week. I'll start to clean things up and then I have to work on everyone else's abilities." Esme takes a taser from her back pocket and shoots it at the dot at Maria's neck. The shock jolts Maria awake.

"Holly fuck!" Maria shakes her head.

"Hey, it's okay I'm here." Rose soothes Maria, putting her back to sleep. "I'll just go upstairs and put her to bed." Rose turns around and heads up the stairs with Maria in her arms.

"I'm sorry about him, no one else is home." Maria adjusts the toddler on her hips while talking to Favion.

Maria has to tutor Favion again, but she also has to take care of Mike. She's been the only one that's been able to keep his ability under control.

Favion shakes his head, "It's no problem, Alijah needs a play friend. Mom and dad are downstairs so I'm taking care of her."

Maria smiles and sets her cousin down, "Esta bien, vas a jugar con una niña. Pero con cuidado, eh."

"Just let me get her." Favion rushes down the hall to his sister's room. He comes back a moment later with a one year old Alijah on his hip. "Here she is, how is he when it comes to pulling hair?" he gestures to all the braids in his sister's hair.

"He should be fine, he does pull hair but in the end it depends. It has to be colorful hair," Maria points to her own hair. "I learned that the hard way."

"Okay, well they can play in the living room while we do work. Most of Alijah's toys are there anyways." Favion walks over and sets his sister down and watches as she goes to her toy bin in the corner.

Maria pushes Mike forward a bit, "He's a bit shy, doesn't like strangers but it's okay he'll warm up to her."

Mike stares at Alijah for a minute before grabbing a toy and handing it to her.

"Remember when we used to be like that?" Favion crosses his arms and smiles.

Maria frowns, "You mean before you became an asshole?"

Favion looks at the kids playing before pulling Maria into the hallway, "Okay, look, I don't know what the others told you but it is not true. I mean yeah I stopped talking to them because I was sad, I was sad that you left! So if anything that was all your fault." He points an accusing finger at her.

Maria growls and puts her arm to Favions throat, pinning him against the wall. "They sent me away, we found Mike on our doorstep, they were all abandoned, why we don't know. I didn't want to leave, they gave me no choice." She puts more pressure on his neck, making his face go red. "You choose to stop talking to them, you choose to play with people's feelings, and you choose to ruin people’s lives." Maria let's him go.

Favion's hand goes to his neck, he rubs it when he feels how sore it is. Maria glares at him before going back to the kids with a smile.

"Let's get your work done, me and this little man have other places to be." Maria sits on the couch and pulls her binder out of her bag.

"I swear to the gods, if he stops us one more time I am cutting his face off!" Maria screams as soon as she enters the sewers.

Kayla wheels over to Maria in her chair, "Did he try to stop you while saving another kid?"

"Yeah, babe I'm gonna help you cut his face off." Rose sits down on a nearby chair, Maria sitting in her lap. "How, how can he not see that those kids are being abused? Two more patrols and we are done, why does he feel the need to make our job so hard?"

"It's the FBI like they do proper background checks on families." Immanuel tosses Rose and Maria water bottles.

Maria downs all of her water in a second, "Do you guys think you can go with us next time? We just need a diversion, I'll make as many portals as needed, just please we need the help."

Rose looks at Maria in shock, "Yeah, if she's begging for help, you know she means it."

"I'll punch him in the nose for you!" Alyssa shouts from behind a curtain.

Maria smiles, "I like it, anyone else want to inflict pain on our old friend?"

Immanuel raises his hand, "I'll cut his tongue off!"

"Kayla, can you top that?" Rose points at Kayla with excitement.

Kayla smirks, "I'll stab him in the crotch."

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" Maria cheers.

The group laughs and smiles, not the first time they place bets on what happens to Favion.

"Does he even know it's us yet, does he know we know?" Alyssa asks, throwing the curtain to the side.

"Goggles are dirty again, sweetie." Kayla gestures to Alyssa's face.

"Oh, thanks." Alyssa cleans her goggles.

Rose groans, "This dude is dense, the amount of hints and he still doesn't know. How did you all put up with him?"

"We don't know." the others reply with disappointment.

"Hey, Maria, have y'all decided on an animal for Mike yet?" Alyssa wonders putting her tools away.

Maria nods, "Yeah we have an idea, but we have until late May. But the animal we have in mind, it's gonna be kind of hard to find."

Rose raises an eyebrow, "This is the first I'm hearing about it, which one were y'all thinking?"

"Not your concern, like I said, the animal we have in mind is hard to find." Maria crosses her legs with a smug smile.

Favion sits on a table while looking at a video that Dr. Gomez is making him watch. She put a camera in his mask without telling him and she's been making him watch all his encounters with Madness and Thorn. He's been pausing it at times when he thinks he has solved their identities.

"That ring..." Favion pauses the video again and zooms onto the ring in Madness' hand. "She uses that for portals. I take that away, she can't make any more portals, but what kind of tech is that?" He wonders to himself.

He keeps the video playing, then Madness makes the ring into a staff. He notices how she pushes a button to make it into a staff, and the blades at the end are also hollow. There is some sort of blue smoke in the blades, and when she uses the blades on him, he's electrocuted.

"I see you're doing your research, against your will I'll add." Favion's uncle mumbles from behind him.

Favion smiles at his uncle, "Believe it or not this stuff is actually helpful. Now I know where all those abilities of hers come from, that staff." He shows his uncle what he saw. "If I get that away from her, EMP preferably, she's vulnerable and I'll be able to deal with her."

"What about her telekinesis and that shape shifting thing she can do?" Damion looks closer at the video.

Favion smiles, "I can handle those by myself. I just need that EMP, I can take things from there."

Damion nods, "Alright, I'll talk to Gomez about it. I heard your school postponed finals, you better be bringing that grade up in the meantime."

"The thing is, no one knows why they were postponed. They didn't really tell us anything other than the test went missing and the system went down." Favion turns off the video, "Finals are during December now."

Damion smiles, "And how are things going with Maria, have you wooed her yet?"

"No, she's... dating someone already." Favion doesn't really know who to tell his uncle that one of his old girl best friends from childhood, is a lesbian, and has a girlfriend, knowing his uncle that wouldn't be good.

Damion frowns, "Well in the end as long as you respect her wishes, that makes you the better man."

"I'll be fine, trust me, I'll be okay. I know I haven't gone out in a while but I can handle myself. I have all these abilities, I need to learn my limits eventually." Maria adjusts her goggles before opening a portal. "Just remember that Mike needs to be in bed by eight. Esme, Sam, Liam, and Clarisse are getting home from work late. Don't give the twins sugar, Nico and Angle are still fighting over the new toys, and Imelda has to take her meds before bed. And," Maria points to her girlfriend. "Don't let that one near anything."

Rose gives Maria an offended look, "Shouldn't I be left in charge?"

"No!" Both Maria and Yallesia respond.

Rose takes a step back, "Okay, I'm just going to go lay down on my bunk. Try not to die out there, babe." She waves at Maria before walking up the stairs from the basement to get to the house.

"Don't worry, nothing will burn down while y'all are gone." Yallesia reassures Maria.

Maria smiles and jumps through the portal, landing her on a rooftop near downtown. She scans the city when she finds a bank that is on her list. She smiles and stops time, she heads down and looks around the bank once she is inside. Armed guards in front of a large vault.

"Let's see what's inside of this thing." Maria opens a portal to her side and jumps through, she's inside the vault.

She starts to stumble a bit and her head starts to hurt, "We need to speed this up." she tells herself.

She opens a portal again, but doesn't jump through. She looks over all the money and smirks, her hands go out in a puppeteering motion, and she feels a familiar tug in her stomach. She focuses on having the stacks of money do what she wants, she has them float through the air and through the portal. When she has most of the money through, she feels a migraine coming on. She drops everything she is doing, closes the portal, does her two finger signal, and watches and hears as time starts to pick up again.

The alarms in the vault start to go off, probably because they sensed her moving. She pulls a risky move and runs into a dark corner, she appears back on the roof. She trips over herself and lands harshly. She moans in pain while she struggles to get up. She pushes her pain down as she watches the police start to arrive at the bank, she lightly chuckles as they try to find who broke in.

"There you are." someone states from behind her.

Instantly Maria turns around very quickly, her leg out, kicking the person in the gut. The person groans and Maria can see their shadow, doubled over holding their stomach. It's Liberator, and he has something in his hand. Maria takes her ring off of her back and pushes the button turning it into her staff.

Liberator straightens, "Kind of knew you were going to use that thing." He aims the object in his hand at Maria, "Which is why I came prepared." He pushes a button on the object and Maria sees something in waves coming towards her.

Once the waves hit her, she doesn't feel anything, but she can feel something wrong with her staff. She quickly realizes what has happened and she laughs.

"An EMP, really, that's nothing." she smiles.

Liberator glares, "The only thing you have to help you is that telekinesis of yours, and we both know you wouldn't shapeshift when you're defenseless. You have no way out because without that," He points to the staff in her hand. "You can't make your portals."

Maria shakes her head, "I beg to differ."

Liberator, while confused, doesn't see what Maria does with her hands. Her hands are cupped and start to do small circular motions, the ground around them starts to shake. The sound of pipes bursting rings though the abandoned building they are on. The windows start to break and water starts to pour out of the building, Maria starts to move her arms in circular motions gathering all the water in a bubble. Liberator looks at the bubble in shock, Maria winks, twitches her hands forward causing all the water to shoot at Liberator.

"Guess he didn't see that coming." Maria shrugs when she looks over the side of the building where Liberator fell. "Oh well, time for me to go home." She let's the shadows around engulf her, her head hurts terribly, once she opens her eyes she collapses.

When she wakes up again, it's the middle of the night. She sits up, her back aching, and she realizes she must have shifted while asleep because she can feel her extra limbs. She's just in sweatpants and some fuzzy socks. She looks around, she's on the bunk she shares with Rose, in the room they share with the other girls. The night light in the corner makes the soft green walls a yellow tint. She rubs her eyes before getting out of bed, she climbs down from the bunk. She grabs around the nightstand for her glasses before finding them and putting them on.

She slowly walks to the kitchen, her socked feet padding against the hardwood floor, and her extra limbs tight around her as to not knock anything over. She heads to the fridge to get a bag of blood, she knows she really shouldn't be having one but her head hurts too much, plus it works better than aspirin. She takes a seat at the kitchen counter, tears the bag open, and starts to drink.

"You really shouldn't be drinking that." A pair of arms wraps around her shoulders and a chin rests on her head. "It's the middle of the night, you're gonna be hyper." Rose warns.

Maria finishes the bag, "Ugh, yeah I know. But it was Sam's blood, so it's not the tastiest but it's all I got left. Plus I had a major headache." Maria sets the bag aside and rubs her forehead.

Rose kisses her cheek, "Try putting these things away, I know it hurts but it's got to be killing your back."

Maria nods, she takes hold of one of Rose's hands, and starts to arch her back. She tightly squeezes Rose's hand out of pain as the limbs go back under her scales and skin. She tries to hold back a scream as she starts to sweat.

She hits her fist against the counter, "That hurt more than usual, holy shit."

Rose rubs her back, "Hey, what happened out there?" she wonders.

Maria sighs, "I guess I held time for too long. And he used a EMP, couldn't use my staff so I couldn't limit my abilities. I shadow jumped like twice and used my water abilities to throw him off the building. I'm glad there's no school tomorrow."

"Yeah, you could use a break. Plus you promised to do my hair." Rose smiles.

Maria laughs, "Yeah, I already have an idea what to do."

Rose frowns, "I just realized that Favion literally left you defenseless and could have killed you."

"Oh yeah, next time, he's dead." Maria smiles.

Favion throws the EMP device on the ground, "What the fuck?" He shouts at Dr. Gomez. "She still had abilities, she controlled gallons of water as if it were nothing! Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask, and I didn't know! When I studied her, she showed no other signs of other abilities!" Dr. Gomez shouts back.

Favion catches himself before saying anything, "Okay, okay, we're going to act like adults about this."

"That's going to be really hard for you." Dr. Gomez goes back to writing on her clipboard.

"Gonna pretend that wasn't said, now let's continue. So, she showed no signs of any other abilities. But now we know that she has that telekinesis, shape shifting, and control over water. It's a start, can you use that information to help me?" Favion explains it like he's talking to a child.

Dr. Gomez sighs, "Yes, I can use that for something. I also managed to find some pictures of Madness and Thorn from when they were children in the facility. They're badly damaged, but I'm sure you and your uncle can figure something out. I'll give them to you in the morning." She turns around and walks away, but before she does she calls over her shoulder. "Go home, you have the day off tomorrow."

Favion waits for Gomez to leave before flipping over a nearby table. He hits his fist against his head repeatedly while muttering random things. He looks at the computer and thinks things through, after a while he decides to throw all logic out the window and do a quick search. He types in Maria's name. Once her file pops up, he looks into family. He only finds her cousins, no mom, no dad, no uncles, no aunts, no grandparents. Just her cousins.

"I can't even ask her about this, I can't I'll be risking a a lot. I can't risk more." Favion closes his eyes and starts to cry.

#Freaks But Family #Original Work #Fantasy Story

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bearingwater · 4 years

Text

January Forecast for Aquarius

Ease into the new decade, Aquarius. January’s energy comes with a concentration of planets in Capricorn and your twelfth house of rest, healing and escape. While others are busy making plans and resolutions, you’re in a much more receptive space. While your experimental sign can go with the flow, you also have a Type A side. This month—and this year—you may have important lessons about letting things happen.

Aquarius is the sign of the future, and you always have at least ONE eye on what’s next. Take a breather from all of that, especially if it’s making you nervous or neurotic. Not sure what plans and resolutions you want to make this year? Let it “come to you” instead of forcing an agenda. This is a time of transition, when you need to talk less and listen more.

That also means tuning in to the universe and your own intuitive guidance system. Not so fast with the eye rolls, Aquarius! With FIVE planets in your spiritual twelfth house as January begins, the Law of Attraction is governing 2020 for you. Not only is the Sun making its annual visit here until January 20, but you’ve got communicator Mercury, risk-taker Jupiter (through December 19), responsible Saturn and transformational Pluto all gathered in this zone as the decade begins. Prepare for a year unlike any you’ve had in a while—if ever!

Your best bet is to tune in, meditate or just be STILL now. Your intuition’s been knocking loudly for the past month, and now’s your chance to finally download that divine data. And you’ll have a huge chance on January 12, when Saturn and Pluto make a historic alignment in Capricorn for the first time since 1518. While these two meet up every 33 to 38 years, they haven’t united in THIS sign in over five centuries.

As materializer Saturn brings Pluto’s creative, spiritual or unconscious ideas into tangible form, you could have a huge breakthrough emotionally or intuitively. Is it time to let go of something that’s been weighing you down? The Saturn-Pluto meetup could come and sweep it away, sounding the call for forgiveness and closure. The inner work you do now will have a reverberating effect for months to come. With the bold Sun and expressive Mercury both pinging Saturn and Pluto, you’ll find the courage to express what you’re feeling too.

As within, so without—that could be your mid-month mantra thanks to a January 10 lunar eclipse in Cancer and your sixth house of wellbeing and organization. The decade’s very first full moon happens to be a potent eclipse, which will sweep away the old and usher in space for the new. This spotlight moment could reveal a health matter that’s been plaguing you (and the proper treatment plan, at last!), or it could be THE day when you finally commit to kicking a self-sabotaging habit. Eating well, exercising, working with a coach: These affirming moves could help you feel anchored at a time when you need it most.

Of course, this isn’t exactly breaking news. This is almost the final eclipse in a series that’s been rippling across the Cancer/Capricorn axis since July 2018, turning your attention the health and healing. You’ve been learning important lessons about impeccability and mastery in your work as well as other ones about letting go and receiving support. When was it time to lean in…and which moments were best to lean back? In addition to spotlighting your work and wellness, these eclipses have helped you fine-tune that balance.

It’s been a lot to take in, and you might feel a bit off-kilter. Good news: On January 20, the Sun shifts into Aquarius and your first house of self for a month, bringing you back to YOU! If you’ve been making too many sacrifices or feeling overwhelmed for the past four weeks, you’ll be thrilled to feel your energy return.

Watch out for family or household drama interrupting your me-first groove on January 23, when the Sun locks into its semiannual square with disruptive Uranus in Taurus. A volatile or argumentative loved one could demand your attention, interrupting you right as you’re getting into a groove. Set firm boundaries and don’t take the bait. It will be all too easy to get hooked into the drama and button-pushing games. Don’t waste a second of your precious time on this emotional blackmail if you can help it! Beware getting suckered into playing the hero or fixing a needy person’s problems today. Try pointing them to resources before you roll up your sleeves.

Besides, your REAL New Year arrives on January 24 with the decade’s first new moon—which happens to be in Aquarius! You typically get only one new moon per year in your zodiac sign, and it’s the ideal time to power forward on a personal goal. Efforts started now will culminate at the corresponding Aquarius full moon, which will arrive on August 3, 2020. Plot a course for where you’d like to be by then.

You’ll have help thinking strategically because this is also Lunar New Year’s Eve, a night to bid adieu to the chillaxed Earth Pig and welcome the sharp-minded Metal Rat. Pro astro tip: The Chinese New Year always falls at the Aquarius new moon, which is why Aquarians are often split between two of the animal signs. (Those born prior to the new moon will be part of the previous year’s sign.) For the next 12 months, you’ll have an easier time putting your ideas into action—and doing so with your signature aplomb!

Love & Romance

You’re in your frisky and free-spirited element until (at least) January 13, Water Bearer! Sensual Venus has been in Aquarius and your house of self and identity since December 20. Hopefully you’ve saved a few sprigs of mistletoe to park under because you’ll still be in demand for the first half of the month. Actually, who needs mistletoe when you’ve got Venus in your sign? Start the new year with the makeover you’ve been craving or maybe a refreshed attitude about love.

Over in your friend zone, spicy Mars is dancing through Sagittarius from January 3 until February 16, igniting sparks with a pal or creating a strong attraction to someone you meet online or through mutual contacts. You may feel conflicted about whether to give into temptation (and allow yourself to get obsessed) or decide from the get-go to keep it casual. Good luck with that! Couples can look forward to a lively month of double dates, outdoor activities and maybe some volunteering together or getting involved in a cause that’s important to both of you.

On January 13, Venus relocates to Pisces and your second houses of financial and emotional security. You may be ready to lock down a commitment or take a budding romance to the next level. If you’re happily off the market, take a forward glance at your savings and shared goals to make sure you’re on pace to achieve them. On January 26, Venus forms a rare (once-a-year) square with indie-spirited Mars, which can fire up your rebellious streak. Stop and contemplate anything rash before you do it. This is just a passing mood—not necessarily anything to act on.

Key Dates

January 26: Venus-Mars Square Venus in your practical second house wants something concrete, but it’s at odds with lusty and libertine Mars in your independence sector. Don’t make any fast moves in or out of a situation! Dueling desires for novelty and security are completely normal. The key: Can you get a dose of what you’re craving without overturning a relationship?

Money & Career

Flow into January, Aquarius—it’s okay to pace yourself! With five planets in Capricorn and your twelfth house of rest and healing, you could be a little exhausted. This coming year, in fact, is one to devote more to self-care and a slower speed. Your creativity and imagination will run high, and you could have breakthroughs of major magnitude this month. Lean into your quirky “genius” side and color outside the lines.

Is it time to let something go? The twelfth house rules endings, and when structured Saturn and transformational Pluto make a historic meetup here on January 12, you may have to rip the Band-Aid off. Resistance is futile, so let the chips fall where they may. If you’ve been micromanaging too much, this Saturn-Pluto conjunction will force you to confront any control issues. What’s really driving this anxiety, Aquarius? Get to the heart of it.

Major changes could be afoot on January 10, when a Cancer lunar eclipse sweeps through your sixth house of systems, employees and helpful people. The coming two weeks are ripe for hiring and firing or switching up your processes. Unpredictable Uranus also wakes up from a five-month retrograde backspin today through your domestic fourth house. As the side-spinning planet corrects course, it could bring a sudden relocation or new cast of characters under your roof. A surprise job opportunity or family fluctuations could shift your lifestyle.

When the Sun moves into Aquarius on January 20, your “2020 vision” returns. You can really set your resolutions on January 24, when the Aquarius new moon—the first new moon of the decade—illuminates your first house of fresh starts.

Key Dates

January 2: Mercury-Jupiter Meetup Read between the lines! With the two most expressive planets teamed up in your twelfth house of hidden agendas, clue into body language and subtle messages. Sometimes it’s what they don’t say that speaks volumes. Play a little mysterious today with your intel, rather than being an open book.

Love Days: 7, 12 Money Days: 17, 27 Luck Days: 16, 24 Off Days: 10, 14, 22

#aquarius #monthly forecast #horoscope #horoscopes #astrology #aquarius monthly

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weebtarurights · 4 years

Text

Itaru Chigasaki R (Taruchi Channel)

--------This is a backstage story from Mankai Apartment event in which the story takes place in alternative universe and the boys addresses Izumi as landlord/landlady instead of director.

Story Title: “ Number of Views Goddess “

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ PART 1˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Yuki: I bet it's about the topic of his videos.

Banri: Must be it.

Citron: Itaru will do punctual move for his videos. [1]

Tsuzuru: You mean, mutual love?

Itaru: I haven't said anything yet.

Chikage: Heh....Is it wrong?

Itaru: No, that’s not it.

Izumi: Come to think of it, I haven't watched Itaru's videos. What kind of videos are you doing?

Itaru: I am mainly doing reviews on newly-released games, some hardcore and retros. I’m also introducing game goods too.

Banri: Game companies are totally sponsoring it from behind.

Itaru: That's right. I am receiving new games and goods from them.

Izumi: That's amazing.

Itaru: But lately, the number of views and channel subscribers isn't increasing at all.

Itaru: So I'm looking for interesting video material.

Tenma: Wouldn't it be better if you just show your face?

Yuki: It's the only way to make it work out.

Kazunari: That's gonna blast the number of subscribers.

Itaru: That’s doable but I want to avoid showing my face. It's going to cause a lot of trouble.

That's why, I need you guys to suggest video materials that will increase the number of views. I've gathered so many diverse people here so there should be something, right?

Izumi: Materials for video?

Tenma: How about making reviews about bonsai? There’s no else doing it and it’s refined. I think it’s good.

Chikage: Viewer’s average age will go up all at once.

Tsuzuru: That's way too hardcore.

Tsumugi: How about flower arrangement? It might look gorgeous in video.

Yuki: How about fashion code? Your style isn't bad either and it'll be interesting to wear different clothes.

Chikage: How about trying spicy foods from different countries. I'll lend you my secret special spicy sauce.

Izumi: I see. It might be nice to eat curry from different countries.

Tsumugi: Isn’t that our usual thing….

Banri: You, curry duo, do it somewhere else!

Citron: You can do 1 content a day! It’s virus marketing! [2]

Tsuzuru: Viral marketing is no good !

Itaru: Hmm... . My main goal certainly is to try something new. I wonder if it’s worth doing to earn more views.

Itaru: Fashion code and bonsai is all good...

Next is, spicy curry review…Can I even do this? If only I had an absurd tongue.

....None of them is good enough. Aren’t these way too strange? It's especially difficult to judge whether it’s interesting or not cuz the target audience is too small.

...Anyways, let’s up it for now….

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ PART 2˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Izumi: (I need to buy detergent and toilet paper. Speaking of, we need to change the lightbulbs too.)

Chikage: Is this supposed to be interesting? I don't understand anything at all.

Tsumugi: Uh...Hmm...

Banri: Isn’t this revolutionary in a sense?

Izumi: (Everyone's gathering around. I wonder what happened...)

Seems like everyone is getting excited. What's going on?

Kazunari: Itarun made a video following our advice earlier !

Citron: Itaru did his best but it is kinda strange.

Tsuzuru: The comment section is different from usual too. Everyone is rather baffled...

Izumi: Eh? Is that so?

Comment 1: [Taruchi, what a sudden change of direction.]

Comment 2: [Why tho ? lol ]

Comment 3: [Somehow, it’s getting off topic, isn’t it?]

Banri: The number of views is also lower than usual.

Tsumugi: I wonder if giving him advice was the right thing.

Tsuzuru: What do we expect? They were suddenly shown a bonsai when they came to see a game live.

Chikage: I think a video about spices is good in its own way.

Banri: Stop being delusional.

Izumi: It's surprisingly difficult to make the number of viewers increase.

Kazunari: Ah, landlord-chan. Are you going to shop for house supplies? Can you buy sweets from the convenience store on your way home?

Citron: My manzai notebook is getting stiff too. I want to buy a new one.

Izumi: Understood. I'll buy them.

Izumi: (Seems like we're running out of equipment too. I might as well check the warehouse)

Itaru: It's Taruchi~.

Kniroun's new capsule toy was finally released~.

I splurge on 100 pieces this time so let's start unboxing ~

First one is---

---

Itaru: So far, I got 15 normal pieces, 3 copper pieces, and 1 silver piece. I got a silver piece so I think my pace is pretty good.

Next, moving to our 20th piece.. Huh? This is....

-----(Door opening)

Izumi: .... Ah!

Itaru: ......!

Ahh Seriously?! I can't use this video anymore.

Izumi: A-Are you filming your video in this place?

Itaru: Sigh... HP-1 .

Izumi: I don’t really get it but I'm sorry... Umm... How about editing it?

Itaru: But in unboxing videos, there's the feeling of joy and sorrow while opening the piece. Doing it in one go is my policy.

Izumi: Right? What is an unboxing video in the first place?

Itaru: It's a video where you open blind items one by one. You have no idea what's going to come out so there's a feeling of excitement.

I’m doing an unboxing video for 100 pieces everytime a new product is released.

The number of viewers for this series is stable. That's why it's solid material to earn an audience.

Izumi: It sure takes so much hard work, doesn't it?

Ah, by the way, I'll go shopping later. Can I buy new pieces in exchange for the ones you opened earlier?

Itaru: Really? I’ll gladly accept your offer then.

Izumi: Don't get angry if I don't get good ones, okay?

Itaru: It's totally fine! That’s what makes whaling interesting after all. [3]

Izumi: For tomorrow’s agenda, I have a meeting with Sakyo-san in the afternoon and--

Ah speaking of, I wonder what happened to Itaru's unboxing video?)

Kazunari: Haha! This is insane!

Banri: Ain’t this a godly pull?

Izumi: Everyone is lively today.

Citron: Oh ! You're just in time. Itaru’s number of views is footing up! [4]

Banri: You mean, shooting up! Landlord-san helped with the video without knowing.

Izumi: Huh? Ah, could it be the one earlier?

Chikage: This one. Aren't the views about to reach 1 million?

Yuki: Compared to the hack's previous suggestion, the difference is heaven and earth.

Kazunari: The title is "Kniroun Capsule Toy Unboxing ~feat. Landlord-san". It's going viral! It’s crazy!

Chikage: Landlord-san, watch with us. The merit goes to you in this one.

Izumi: I-Is it really that great?

Itaru: [The last 20 capsule toys are from landlord-san! Let's see-- Ehh?! Wait? Seriously?! Woah! ]

Itaru: [A super-rare gold Knight-kun came! ]

[Is this a sign for me to continue whaling? Landlord-san is too much of a cheat!]

Comment 1: [ Landlord-san is amazing.lol]

Comment 2: [Taruchi's so hyped. lol ]

Comment 3: [Maybe, landlord-san a goddess? lol]

Itaru: [That's the end of it. Maybe I should have her pull the next gacha too?]

[Please look forward to my next video. ]

[Ah.. If you like it, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel~ ! ]

Izumi: Uhh.. I'm glad I could be of help.

Kazunari: Landlord-chan just became a celebrity! Congrats!

Itaru: Ohh, everybody's been watching me? Didn’t it turn out well this time?

Citron: G'job on your video!

Chikage: That's the power of our landlord.

Kazunari: At this rate, the dream of breaking your record again might not be far away!

Itaru: Thanks to landlord-san's help, the numbers are looking good. I’d love to do more landlord-san series so I’m counting on you.

Izumi: I-I don’t mind helping sometimes…?

Itaru: Thanks !

Ah, everyone, subscribe to my channel~!

Yuki: ...Just who are you talking to?

NOTES:

1)Citron refers to"掃除相談” (Sōji sōdan) which literally means ‘cleaning consultation’. In which Tsuzuru tried to correct him to "“相思相愛” (Sōshisōai) which literally means 'mutual love’.

2) Citron used the term "人炎上" (hito enjo) which literally means 'flaming person.’ Tsuzuru corrected him and said “炎上商法” (Enjō shōhō) or Enjo Marketing, meaning ‘flaming commercial law’: an advertisement technique that aims to produce cliche content that are as shareable as possible.

3)Itaru used the term "ドブ" or "ドブる", a slang word for the act of throwing money on several pulls to get a high-rarity items/ cards from a gacha or capsule machines. In short, whaling.

4) Citron mistook 鯉のぼり(carp streamer) for"うなぎのぼり" (on the rise or skyrocketing).

#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! translation #Mankai Apartments #itaru chigasaki cards #itaru chigasaki #Taruchi Channel

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animenymph07 · 3 years

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Barangay 143. A Stiff and Stereotypical Filipino Teleserye Masked As A “360-Degree Concept”. A Review. (SPOILERS) Part 3

Characters: I dislike most of the characters. I don’t like the character developments in the ones I disliked. They are full of the most stereotypical tropes in Filipino teleseryes. The few characters I liked are Coach B, Tita Baby, Bren’s parents (except Bren’s biological father), and Sophia. Even though they still full of stereotypes, I like how they are executed. I especially dislike the male and female leads (Bren and Vicky), and the viewer is supposed to see them as relatable and likeable. Bren is like many male leads in Filipino teleseryes, a two-timer whose motivations are all over the place. Even with a tragic backstory, I just couldn’t like him at all. It’s not just him; some of the other characters also have confusing motivations.

I also don’t understand Wax’s characterization. He has his own storyline before the anime, which was in the game that was marketed to promote the anime. In there, he supposedly learned basketball skills from the basketball masters. But in the anime, his skill in basketball felt inconsistent in my opinion. I understand that he’s Bren’s rival in all aspects, but how it was presented doesn’t feel organic and engaging.

Story and Themes: The story and its themes are nothing new; the only thing that’s new is the basketball theme. If this is strictly a basketball anime, they only got it 50%, which were only the basketball game scenes. The training scenes felt boring, and they are only controlled by the emotions of Vicky, Bren, and Coach B. The other basketball players don’t seem to have any motivations for playing basketball other than being “props” to suit the different agendas of the main characters. Also, I couldn’t see any development from them; they felt static throughout all of the episodes.

The subplots are all connected to the main plot. My problem is how they are executed, especially in terms of pacing. How they started & ended each episode is confusing for me, because I could not understand the relevance of those scenes. Like the animation, there is little to no improvement. They are so convoluted that I easily forget which one is the main plot. It would be fine on certain genres, but not when they used drama straightforward.

If I were to pick which storyline is the best, I prefer Coach B’s storyline rather than Bren’s. It has the most solid storyline and it’s the most exciting one for me. I don’t like Bren and Vicky’s storylines because they’re so bland, petty, and at other times, irritating to watch. Theirs are linear, which is expected of a typical teleserye drama. I wish they have been more creative in their plot points, instead of those gimmicks like adding a basketball element and having a Korean-Filipino main character. And speaking of gimmicks, while they add something fun like spotting out references, I think they are not executed well, most of the time. For example: Butchoy making a post on the anime’s version of Facebook for the purpose of finding Bren’s biological father. The kid called his post a “meme”, when the post itself looks more like a missing ad, the characters kept insisting that the post is called a meme. It felt so odd, because what I see is not usually what defines a meme.

Miscellaneous: I think I’m going to say things that are very petty. First, I don’t understand the development of Bren speaking in Tagalog. I understand if it’s just him understanding basic Tagalog phrases and I really do appreciate Butchoy & Tita Baby correcting him at certain times. For me, it just feels bizarre, but maybe it’s because my experiences with foreigners is much different from their experiences. I also don’t like how some of the characters are mocking Bren for not speaking in Tagalog like when they say “Dumudugo ang ilong ko sa Ingles” (My nose is bleeding from trying to understand English) and its variations. I don’t know if those really motivate or shame an actual foreigner to speak Filipino. There’s a similar case with Bren’s mother on her backstory in Boracay. She learned few Tagalog words from her tour guide, but what I don’t understand is how she was able to figure out the contents of the love letter she received in an instant when it was all in Tagalog. The tour guide didn’t translate the letter to her.

Second, there are scenes in Episode 1 that I couldn’t understand if they’re figuratively speaking in Korean or English. Those are when Bren is interacting with the Korean characters, including his family. That issue was fixed in the later episodes. Just saying, I wish they have done that from the start.

My last concern is the emotionally charging scene between Bren and Vicky in the basketball court. While I understand Bren’s frustration of Vicky’s petty insults, I felt like his speech is just as condescending as hers. The latter half of his speech looks like he’s just simply degrading Vicky, instead of completing his explanation of his frustrations towards her. I felt that the writers could have written his lines better.

Final Thoughts: If it wasn’t for a fact that it’s the first Filipino original anime and I only looked at the visuals & summary, I would have just ignored it. The reason why I turned to Japanese anime was because I’m utterly tired of teleserye dramas and I want to see different kinds of stories. I have violent reactions to teleseryes (there are exceptions), even if I’m aware that they’re fiction. Yes, I’m proud of being a Filipino and I would like to see more Filipino made animation. But this one just feels irritating to watch, even though this anime had the help of a popular Japanese TV network like TV Asahi and a Singaporean company like August Media Holdings.

I couldn’t even consider this anime as something good to watch when I want to unwind and turn my head off. Like I said earlier, I think the only people that could enjoy watching this are the fans of the celebrities in the cast. If you’re fine with teleserye drama-type stories and have low expectations for the quality, I think it’ll be an enjoyable experience for you guys. Personally, I’ll just recommend other Filipino animations like Hayop Ka! or RPG Metanoia to people, instead of this one.

#filipinoanimation #barangay143

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tarithenurse · 4 years

Text

Orphan 10

Starring: Steve Rogers x Fem!Reader and MCU characters! Contents: Spoilers for Endgame!! Fluff. Yeah, you read that right. Of course, there’s also some pining, worrying, awkwardness, and general feels of all sorts. A/N: So I’m posting this from my new home!! First night here! SoooooooOOOOOOOoooooo*gasp*ooooOOOOOoooo stoked about this, it’s almost ridiculous! Still: previous chapters can be found on the masterlist. Thanks for likes and reblogs and comments <3

10. Protective

After managing the initial formalities and even getting into the car without making a fool of yourself, there’s little left to say. So, Rhodes had left you behind for some work-thing. Why not take Pepper’s offer? I can’t…not yet, though you explain that differently with excuses of any kind. Perhaps Steve realizes the true reason but if so, then he doesn’t push the agenda in an effort to find out which. You are more than grateful, just like you feel a sense of relief that he doesn’t question you about how the visit went.

How did it go? It’s a lot to take in, that’s for sure.

Tony Stark was a man of transitions more than anything. Every time he had faced something new, he’d go in head on and work his way through until he had transformed it, or it had transformed him – into something more, something greater. Flawed, like most other people, it had been easy for him to follow down a path of less than honorable activities. Then he was forced to learn the truth. Afterwards, Tony sought to use all he had to correct the mistakes he had made. Make a difference. Your estranged father had become a hero to the world through his intellect and stubbornness.

Now people who knew him keep saying how alike the two of you are, how many of his features you share. What is anyone supposed to do with information like that? Become someone new like Tony Stark might have done? Or go on, allowing the well-meant comments fall to the ground and shatter as you turn your back?

There are probably more options, but as much as you would like to think it through, analyze the situation, it’s impossible for your brain to follow a train of thought to the end because of the person sitting to your left.

Hyperaware of Steve, your logical and emotional sides are at war, periodically freezing the hordes of butterflies that just will not give up. Each beat of their wings heat your belly and cheeks only for leaden worry to replace it. And guilt.

Consumed with your own turmoil, you do nothing to keep track of the real world until Steve suddenly cuts the engine, proclaiming the destination has been reached. A few stairs up, the lights of the city visible through narrow windows in the stairwell, and on to a front door which the Captain unlocks before offering your to enter first, like the gentleman he apparently is.

Dark hair swings out of the face as Barnes looks up, nailing you to the spot with his icy eyes. “Ohooo, so this’s the emergency y’didn’t want me along for?”

“Bucky.” There’s a hint of a warning barely hidden there.

“Nah, man, it’s okay,” Bucky chuckles, winking jovially, “Wouldn’t wanna be a third wheel anyways.”

Despite the red ears, there’s no warmth left in Steve’s voice now: “James.”

You silently watch a standoff unfold between the blond captain and his friend with the shit-eating grin plastered across his face until, eventually, the cheeky ex-assassin decides to back off to his own room, leaving Steve alone to help you settle for the night.

It’s not a huge place, but from the looks of it it’s perfect for a pair of friends sharing the kitchen, bathroom and living room while having each their own bedroom – at least you did spot a perfectly made bed before Bucky pushed the door shut behind him and somehow you don’t think the two would manage to share a normal sized bed. King size, minimum? Keeping silent, it’s easy to follow Cap through to his room (with a “full”) while he babbles absentmindedly about towels, pillows, and lending out t-shirts for the night.

“– and I’ll keep the light on in the living room so you can find me…I’ll be on the couch…or the or the way to the –“

What he says finally catches your attention. “Wait what?”

“Uhh…light?”

He looks cute when perplexed, you realize and promptly try to ignore. “No the…you’re not sleeping on the couch.”

“I can’t ask you to do that. It’s no big deal, it’s comfy.” A shimmer of the stubbornness from the standoff a moment ago has returned.

I’ll give you stubborn. “Good, then I’ll be perfectly fine there, thank you.”

A snigger warns both of you before the tauntingly sarcastic voice booms through the wall: “And tHeRe wAs o-oNly onE Be-eD!”

… Clint …

“She’s an adult.”

Even with woolen socks, the man still manages to stomp as he paces back and forth.

“She’s not our kid, honey.”

Fingers tap restlessly against his thigh, itching to dial Rhodes number or to fire an arrow…maybe at Rhodes. Good thing he’s not here.

“Her problem solving’s commendable and…” Laura sighs, trying to hide the roll of her eyes behind a hand before stopping her husband with a steely gaze. “Clinton Francis Barton. Y’listenin’ to me? [Y/N] is an adult and in good hands because she made a smart decision and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“But –“ He motions wildly to the phone where the messages still can be seen on the screen. “The plan was –“

Laura isn’t just used to dealing with superheroes. She’s a wife and a mother too, and a faithful partner through thick and thin. For years, she’s been preparing for and handling events like this, and Clint is in awe at her calm. Serenity. Looking at her, he realizes for the millionth time through their years together that she is his rock by which he can secure himself and find steady ground.

A few deep breaths then he can seek refuge in her embrace. “You’re right, sweetheart,” he admits, “it’s just hard not to be protective o’ her. What if’t’d been Lila?”

“Then Lila would have known what to do too.” He can feel her smile as Laura kisses his head. “We’ve got smart kids…all three and a half.”

Silence falls between the adults, allowing the crackle of firewood to prevail – it’s one of those sounds Clint cherishes too much to remove the hearing aids for. That and birds singing. And the sound of wind in grass. For too many years none of those sounds had carried any meaning because the most important of them all were missing: the voices of his family. Even now when the kids are sleeping and Laura sits quietly, he can still hear them or at the very least their living echo.

“She’s not gone,” she murmurs gently.

Magical wife. “I know.”

… Reader …

On a scale from zero (none at all) to ten (the worst possible), the level off awkwardness is steady right about an eleven…maybe a nine if you don’t breathe and move which on the other hand would make it a very uncomfortable experience in other ways. Who’d have thought? To be fair, you did but there’s no way you’re changing your mind now.

Even where you are lying in the darkness, you can feel the heat radiating off of Steve who is lying equally rigid, probably with his hands neatly above the blanket he has insisted on using just so you could have the duvet. At least he accepted you slept with a smaller spare pillow, something you had rejoiced for a moment, foolishly thinking his scent wouldn’t be so overpowering…dude, were you wrong. Careful not to move too much, you squirm until you’re on your side.

“Can’t sleep?” he asks softly.

Duh. “Might help if ya sing me a lullaby.”

The mattress shakes with soundless laughter. “Not sure my taste of music’s…y’know…the right kind.”

“What d’you listen to?”

Awkward minutes turn into peaceful hours as the two of you chat about music, books, anything really as time passes until sleep finally overpowers you.

…

Gnnnnooo…something big and warm is moving ever so slowly, trying to free itself from under your arm and head. In your sleep muddled brain, it only matters that the being equals safety for some reason. But despite the half-hearted whine you still end up alone although the covers are tugged nicely around you, eliciting a semi-pleased sigh from your lips.

A few minutes pass where you try to silence an insistent nagging in the back of your head, too tempted by sleep to want to dig out the bugger. There is a clang of a pot or something on the stove, jarring your mind a bit further. Cooking. The little thought bounces up and down in your spongy brain, already prepping the spotlight for the natural associations. Person…cooking…person. Now the nagging is millimeters from turning into realization in all its shiny glory. Person. Steve.

“Ohshitfuckno!”

Sitting up with a jolt, wide-eyed and hair a mess, everything comes crashing back. The visit yesterday before you called the Captain for a ride. Of course the chat as you both lay there in the dark, pretending and eventually believing it wasn’t weird at all.

“Oh…”

All of it meaning that the person gently pushing you away must have been Steve. Captain America. And you had snuggled him in your sleep.

“Please, kill me now,” you breathe, face hidden behind hands and hair.

“So…no eggs for you?” You can hear the shy smile in Steve’s voice just as clearly as the measured footsteps bringing him to the bed where he sits. “It’s alright, doll…you’re safe here.”

Despite the heat spreading all over your face, you still manage to look at him and return the smile. “I know.”

“Good.” For a moment it looks as though he wants to reach out for you, his hand twitching in the lap but never moving further. “I-uhmm…the Barton’s will probably want you back but…but would you want to visit Banner at his lap?”

There’s a distinct sense of disappointment. Not because you don’t want to check out the renowned scientist’s lab, but because…because what?

Pushing away an unformulated theory, you smile gently. “That’d be awesome.”

“Alright.”

And with that he’s leaving to sort the cooking, only pausing to pull a towel out of the cabinet so you can shower.

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cecilspeaks · 5 years

Text

155 - The Heist, part 3

Leave no stone unturned. Leave no rock unpivoted. Leave no pebble untwirled. Welcome to Night Vale.

My brother-in-law, Steve Carlsberg, is still in jail, wrongly accused of the recent bank heist. But I am happy to have my husband Carlos back home. The Sheriff’s Secret Police had only taken him in for some questions regarding the robbery of the Last Bank of Night Vale. Sheriff Sam had deemed Carlos a person of interest, which I’ve been saying for years, but Sheriff Sam meant it differently.

Carlos said while he was being questioned at the police station, he saw the other bank employees who were there the day of the robbery. Genevieve Daly, the new bank teller, was being asked if she saw anyone other than Steve Carlsberg near the vault that day. Carlos said she was stone faced, unhappy with the interrogation. Susan Willman was there, crying, as the police asked her who else, other than Steve Carlsberg, could have a key. And security guard Jesse McNeil was there looking quite ill, almost seasick, according to Carlos, as the police tried to badger him into implicating Steve Carlsberg.

Carlos has been home for a couple of weeks and in a terrible funk. He said Steve has a nearly impossible case. The police are convinced of Steve’s guilt and all their evidence points directly to him. Carlos hardly has any energy or emotion to work, or even leave the house. I feel awful for Steve too, and we are doing our best to support him and our family.

I tried cheering Carlos up by telling him my favorite science jokes, like two chemists walk into a bar and one tells the bartender, “I’ll have an H2O” and the other says “I’ll have an H20 too,” and the bartender says and sighs.. [fed up] “It’s been a long day guys,” and then the two chemists nod and say, [embarrassed] “Yeah oh god yeah sorry, just a couple of waters thanks.” And then later they make sure to tip very well. But Carlos didn’t even crack as mile, let alone laugh, and I asked him how his doorless fridge experiment was going and he’s welcome to work on it here, in his home laboratory. I don’t even mind if he keeps staining everything green with that weird gel he’s been using. “I ran out of gel, Cecil,” he said, prone on the couch not opening his eyes. “I couldn’t work on that, even if I wanted to. which I don’t.” Hm. I wanna curl up on the couch too, stay home from work. But I know that would be terrible for Carlos. There are many times I’ve felt flat or depressed, and Carlos has been there for me, keeping me company, taking in my sadness and reflecting back not a false smile but attentive eyes, a listening posture that makes me feel heard and understood, and that’s what I want to be for him. Besides, I think Steve can beat these charges. Steve may have been the only one with a key to the vault, but they cannot prove he opened the vault, as he was locked inside his own office during the robbery. And besides, Steve keeps very detailed accounting so they wouldn’t be able to find the stolen money, not even if he had taken it. Steve Carlsberg is… [moved] the nicest man in Night Vale. He’s a good boss, breaking his foot to get free to try to protect his employees. He’s a fine father. A loving husband. And a perfect brother-in-law. It’s just not... it’s not possible. You know, if someone on the inside did this, it was probably Susan. Susan Willman is the least trustworthy person in that bank, if not in this whole town. So if you’re going to…

[loud scary noises] Station Management just slit a memo under my door gently, reminding me about libel laws. The memo is written in fire on a sleep tablet, and there’s a snake curled around it so, uhh.. I’m going to leave my Susan WIllman theory alone. But. Let’s just say that there was an untrustworthy person in that bank, and that her name was Su..anne Wilt..son. Yes, Sue-Anne Wilson, yes and this hypothetical jerk was always complaining at PTA meetings about her own personal problems, rather than focusing on the agenda, let’s just say. And this Sue-Anne Wilson once accused Steve Carlsberg of censoring her, when Steve was just trying to finish the meeting in a timely manner so that the basketball team could se the gym for evening practice. This person might well hold a grudge against Steve Carlsberg and want to not only steal from him, but frame him for the crime.

Or, what if the Sheriff’s Secret Police… [loud scary noises] was doing a really great job, so great that they didn’t have a lot of arrests to make because the town was so safe. And of course, [chuckling nervously] they would never need to frame someone for robbery! So they would look like they were solving one of the major crimes in recent memory. Or maybe it was space slugs. Some distant aliens from across the galaxy somehow found our solar system and spotted our Earth, and then randomly chose Night Vale, and for whatever reason, they really wanted our money, so they went down inside the bank vault while the building was on fire, and without the safe key they entered the locked room because these space slugs can crawl through walls, and then they stole all the money. I don’t know! I feel helpless.[loud scary noises fade out]

Reading the news and getting angrier and angrier, but you know there’s little I can do about terrible things that keep happening. I’m sure you can’t relate. Maybe a community calendar will cheer me up.

This Saturday, the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex opens its annual Haunted Halloween Hayride. There was complications this year, because Ghost Union Local 31 went on strike for an increase in pensions and maternity leave. Teddy Williams, owner of the Desert Flower, argued that ghosts cannot retire nor get pregnant, but the union countered with vaguely human faces muttering in the shadows while Teddy screamed, and eventually, a deal was truck.

Sunday morning is the pie eating contest at the Night Vale fair. Contestants will be competing for a top prize of a 1991 Buick Le Sabre, autographed by former US presidential hopeful and Illinois governor, Adelai Stevenson.

Tuesday afternoon is a tedious song. Wednesday night is the high school dance team’s statewide semifinals at the rec center. Our own Night Vale High School is competing that night. Their top rival is Red Mesa High School, who will be performing a jazz routine called Tommy Tunes Broadway: an upbeat medley of classic show tunes. Night Vale’s dance team will present (--) [0:09:21] postmodern masterpiece (-): contemplative blend of sculpture opera and dance defined by its explosive physical bursts, chanting, and (contra-) movements born of a 22-member ensemble, who express the human body as a multidimensional art installation. Good luck to all dancers!

And finally, Thursday is sick, so Friday will be covering Thursday’s shift. Eh, except for the part about the haunted hay ride. That did not cheer me up.

I’m getting word that the Secret Police have made a breakthrough in their bank heist investigation. Or maybe they found the real thief and can let Steve Carlsberg go? [clears throat] Sheriff Sam said the lab reports came back, the fingerprints were inconclusive as their top suspect Steve Carlsberg worked at the bank, so his fingerprints were everywhere. But the lab reports did detail a strange goo police found on the vault walls. This goo, a light green gel, was also found on the walls of the cells that the other robbers had escaped from two weeks ago. So maybe my theory about space slugs is correct. No wait. The lab reports showed that this unusual chemical can render certain metals intangible, allowing people to reach through walls without breaking them. [stutters] Police believe whoever used this greenish goo used it to rob the bank’s vault and to free the prisoners inside the abandoned mineshaft outside of town. The Sheriff then said they discovered this exact same chemical on Steve Carlsberg’s property. They discovered it inside the shed behind the house, and that this is the final piece of evidence that links Steve Carlsberg to the robbery of the Last Bank of Night Vale. They believe that, oh no… Um, that Steve did not act alone, that he had an accomplice, a scientific mastermind who created this chemical for him. Who generated a complex concoction that enabled them to walk through walls stealing whatever they wanted. They have a warrant out now for Carlos’ arrest. I’ve gotta call Carlos. I- Oh, it looks like he left a voicemail.

[beep] Carlos: Hey sweetie, it’s um me. So listen, I have um, I so-so I’ve just been arrested. No biggie, no biggie, I’m fine. This is actually good news, because I wanted to talk to the Sheriff anyway about all this, so that-that’s great. And um, I do have some new thoughts about what happened at the bank, and they’re really interesting, so they’re driving me downtown to meet with uh ooh, ouch, those cuffs are a bit tight there, officer… officer (Q. Fortier). Ah, that is a beautiful name. I-i-is that Franchian? If you don’t mind, Officer Fortier, I’m going to just finish my voicemail to my husband. So Cecil. When I get downtown, I’ll explain everything to them, Steve and I clearly did not do this and that’s what I’ll tell them, they’re police! [chuckles] You know, they just wanna know the truth, and uh ooh uh, oh Officer Fortier, I am not done with my call yet. Uh sir, what-what are you doing with my pho- [beep]

Cecil: I… I… Let’s go to the weather.

[Good Luck with That” by Fathom All the Animals https://fathomalltheanimals.com]

Cecil: Listeners, we now go live to Steve Carlsberg’s press conference at City Hall.

Steve: This has been a difficult month for me, and for my family. I thank you all for hearing me out today. I’m glad to know that these criminal charges are behind me, and I think Sheriff Sam and their secret police, as well as their Overt Police, for listening to reason and overturning the charges against me. [sadly] But of course, I’m sad to learn about their most recent arrest. Breaks my heart to know that such a dear friend of so many years, someone who’s been in home many, many times, someone I consider family, could betray me, my bank, my town in this way. I don’t even know how to talk about such a breach of trust by someone so close. [crying] Carlos! Oh Carlos. Thank you Carlos, for your brilliant and thorough evidence that put Jesse McNeil in jail today. Our security guard of nearly 50 years committed a heinous crime, and he nearly sent the two of us to prison for it.

When Carlos arrived in my cell this morning, he was all smile saying he had figured it out. He called the Sheriff over and said, “Check Jesse’s skin for the same chemical they found on the doors.” Carlos had been experimenting on the gel that allowed him to reach his hands into refrigerators without opening the door, and thus lowering the temperature of the food inside. He’d developed this chemical. He’d developed this chemical in his temporary lab in a shed behind our house. The problem with the chemical wasn’t its effectiveness and intangibility. He had been able to make that work. No, the problem with the chemical is that it stained everything it touched a dull green, including skin. Carlos showed me his own hands, which were green from the fingertips to about halfway up his forearms. He said the last few times he had seen Jesse, Jesse looked ill. Not like a flu or cold, more like seasick: queasy, green in the face. Carlos didn’t put it together right away, because we all felt sick about not only the robbery, but the false charges against me.

The police report also showed that none of the cash tills on the teller wall were affected by the fire that broke out during the robbery last month. Which means the fire had to have started on the opposite wall, which is by the front door, Jesse’s usual station. The smoke from the fire and the three robbers waving guns provided a distraction for Jesse to cover himself with Carlos’ intangibility gel, sneak downstairs past my office, where he had locked me in earlier than day, and then unload the cash from the safe and carry it into the alleyway behind the bank where his car was parked. When the fire trucks arrived, Jesse ran deliberately in front of their hoses so that the gel would all be removed from his body before the police began questioning those of us who had been inside during the robbery. But, as Carlos pointed out, the gel stains the skin for a long time, water alone won’t remove it.

Sheriff Sam brought Jesse back in for questioning based on Carlos’ statements, and found Jesse’s skin was the same dull green as Carlos’ hands. But unlike Carlos, the green stain covered Jesse’s whole body, not only his hands, indicating he had used it to walk through walls, rather than merely reach to a door.

Carlos explained that he had Jesse in his lab many times, Jesse and all my employees come to my house regularly for dinners. Like I said, they’re family to me. Jesse had taken an interest in Carlos’ science projects, so Carlos showed Jesse his doorless fridge experiment. Not long after that, Carlos noticed that the rest of his intangibility gel was gone. He thought he had just run out, even though he had made plenty of it. Never occurred to Carlos, until he saw Jesse’s green face a few days ago, that Jesse had stolen it to remove the money from the vault and his criminal colleagues from their jail cell. While I was the only person with the key to the vault, Jesse as a security guard was the only person with master keys for the rest of the building. My office door is never locked, so I don’t carry a key for it. Jesse knew this and locked me into my own office. Then his three collaborators Richard, William, and Emma created a fake robbery of the cash tills to distract from his heist of the vault. Sheriff Sam was impressed with Carlos’ explanation and arrested Jesse McNeil on the spot. Jesse turned to Carlos and Sam and said: [very deep voice] “I guess I’m going to jail now.” Sam said: [Sheriff Sam voice] “Don’t flatter yourself!”

Anyway, I finally get to return home, thanks to my brother-in-law Carlos. Thank you Susan Willman for managing the bank in my absence. Abby, Janice, I’ll be home in a few. Can’t wait to see you both again. Oh, oh, maybe I’ll bake some scones tonight! Carlos showed me a way to do it without letting the butter too warm. Oh-oh yeah!

Cecil: I’m so relieved and so glad they put the right person behind bars. And I have never been so excited to try one of Steve’s scones. That really is neat.

Stay tuned next for someone playing on a saw. No, ahem, (-) that, with a saw. It’s just someone playing around with a saw. Enjoy.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Wisdom ages like fine wine. Knowledge ages like Boston lettuce.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #wtnv transcripts #episode 155 #the heist #the heist part 3

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oh-mother-of-darkness · 4 years

Text

ASKS (28)

----------------

Anonymous said: Hi ily💓

I love you too! There is love in my heart and you may take some

Anonymous said: Hey hey hey Amesssss!!! what was the first fic you ever wrote?

Well. Technically the first written piece was a play I wrote at around 13? It was about all of the characters from the Percy Jackson series watching Disney’s Hercules together

My first bat fic was this one, back in I want to say 2014

Anonymous said: You are a snack . So cute ❤❤❤❤

[Lizzo voice] baby I’m the whole damn meal

Anonymous said: You may’ve done badly but you looked fine as heck doing it. (I’m aroace—I’m not hitting on you, I promise). Besides, everybody has off days. Even lawyers.

akhfasufgdlfeas I appreciate the clarification <3

Anonymous said: For my summer job I went through a lawyer’s disaster of an office and let me tell you. 90% of it was Westlaw printouts. Those things are the effing best. They tell you what’s going on, they give you the info you need, they’re not weirdly complicated and hard to find—Westlaw. It may be prohibitively expensive and a symptom of the flaws in our legal system, but by golly it’s the best option.

When you hit that “forms” button......... the magic....... the beauty.....

andromeda270 said: My legal research class got us two free weeks of westlaw(I’m still in college) and when I didn’t finish a paper I made a free trial for the wrong site but they emailed me anyway asking if I was interested in buying and could they talk over the phone. I fessed up and they gave me another free week to work on a paper for some class

That’s how they get you!!!!

collidinglegends said: Lexis is shinier, WestLaw is better

Amen babe

Anonymous said: Please sleep

Who’s got the time

Anonymous said: hi !! quick question . I’ve followed you for a while and i think i asked you this previously but im not sure... do you write Duke ?? would you be comfortable writing him if i sent in a prompt including others in the fam ?

Sure, if I like the prompt. I write Duke every once in awhile, although I wouldn’t say I’m confident doing it. He’s a fairly new character and I stopped reading weeklys about the time I hit law school three years ago

Anonymous said: Hope you feel better soon... I'll pray for you

Ah thank you friend I appreciate you

areverieofchaosdreams said: I'm probably pretty late to this cause I'm not great at time, but your thing is making All the Feelings tm. But in a good way. You and dapanda were the first batfam blogs I ever followed, and it's been a helluva ride. Your way of writing things just pulls me in a way that few do, so thank you. :)

A single tear falls from my lashes, followed by several more because I cry a lot

hades-in-a-handbag said: Your thing is being the embodiment of goth mom energy Don't know if it's just your literal handle or what but you're so encouraging and motherly and also dark and emotionally scaring with your writing. Very sweet, very spooky

goth mom energy

Anonymous said: Omgggg ames, ginny is so grown up!!!!!

She is! She’s a teenager

morallyunequivocal said: not a prompt but oh no i just made myself sad with that last ask

that’s a mood

Anonymous said: You make plushies? Wtf, how did you get to be so talented and adorable at so many things. You’re amazing and I hope law school goes well.

Oh you’re so so sweet

Anonymous said: What law school things have you learned that you could see the bat family deals by with?

Well, I’ve had to take classes about forming and maintaining businesses, finding tax loopholes, writing and litigating contracts, and real property. Those are all things that WE would deal with on the regular. I also took classes on juvenile and adult criminal law, evidence, and police misconduct, which all seem Bat-relevant. At this exact moment I’m taking family law, which would include adoptions, and I have in the past taken classes about trusts and estates.

Anonymous said: Noooooooo no nono 🙏🙏🙏 dont ignore her 💔

Bad kittens get ignored instead of cuddled

crayolapumpkins said: hope the printing isn't too boring !! + I'm loving the fics , your work is always *chef's kiss* !! thank u for ur hard work ✨✨✨

[heart eyes]

Anonymous said: Since you have a big brother and a tiny sister, with that huge gap, what do you feel when you see those Dick & Damian fics or headcanons where Dick sees Damian as both a brother and a son? I know it's kind of canon now, but fandom has even gone as far as having Dick adopt Damian in various situations. Their age gap and their positions in the family allows for that kind of dynamic and I know it's reality for a lot of people too. But what's Your opinions on this? And maybe your brother's?

Huh, that’s a good question. My littlest brother and I are ten years apart, and Dave will tell you flat out I’m his favorite sibling because when I’m home we do everything together. I think the thing those fics are collectively missing is that there doesn’t need to be a brother/father hybrid because the role of Older Sibling With Age Gap is already its own distinct thing.

Dave and I don’t have the same dynamic as the kids I actively grew up with. We had very limited contact during his growing up years, because I was off at school. Now that he’s a teenager, we communicate like adults but with the caveat that I am In Charge. I dictate the agenda, and I make the decisions unless I choose to delegate them.

I’ve indulged a request about an adoption before, but I don’t really like that idea very much. Like I said, I don’t feel the need to add “father” into a dynamic that already exists on its own.

hollyhock13 said: Listen. You’re a middle kid, but not the middle middle kid. You’re towards the older end, but not the oldest. Maybe second or third, depending on how many siblings you have

Correct!

Anonymous said: That is the coolest blanket I've ever seen!!

Isn’t it just

Anonymous said: We're having a big adoption event tomorrow in Houston and we sent all the animals in our shelter down there. Our supervisors are in Houston too so us few kennel techs left at the shelter are scrubbing the place from top to bottom. We have music playing on the loud speaker and just ordered pizza. It's a great day. :)

Anonymous said: Pls continue the Tim and hallucination Damian thing im on edge

Anonymous said: Bls bls bls continue the tim hallucinating dami fic, bc its killing me in the best way. My heart. It hurts. That shit hurted.

maybe

Anonymous said: Ames, thoughts on the new joker movie?

I haven’t seen it, although I probably will when I get the time

Anonymous said: Idk if this is a secret, more like a guilty confession. I really, REALLY hope Damian turns out asexual, or at least romantically unattached. I LOVE that most of his good interactions are with his vaious Bat siblings, Jon, Maps and his pets. Everyone loves shopping him with varuova characters and it makes me hesitate to share my opinion incase I'm looked at weirdly. But having a character I look up to be asexual would be amazing.

I would really like that too anon

Anonymous said: what do you think about Drake & his new outfit?

ugly

Anonymous said: Alfred Pennyworth is the baddest bitch

You are not incorrect

bruciewayneisbatman said: Amy and Kenza are the bittersweet queens of this fandom. The both of you are absolutely evil and tooth-rotting sweet at the same time. I love you two for that, btw.

<3 thanks Esther

#hoo boy that's a lot of asks #asks

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morwenna-crows · 5 years

Text

Bedlam Preview

A much more detailed, multi-chapter preview has been released for Bedlam by Apple, on their IBooks service. It’s six full chapters, about 8,000 words, following on directly from the earlier preview. I’ve put it under the cut, because it’s really long. Please heed the trigger warnings for this one, guys.

Chapter 2

“You’re mad at me,” Valkyrie said as they left the bar.

“I’m not mad at you,” Skulduggery replied.

“I made the situation worse.”

“Reign didn’t know anything that could help us. We knew that was a possibility before we set foot in the place.”

“I nearly started a fight.”

“You did technically assault a man.”

Valkyrie scowled. “Not him. Panthea. I almost started a fight with Panthea. I wanted to. I wanted to smack someone.”

“You certainly managed that.”

She stopped walking. It was a cold February night. They were saying it might snow. “There’s something wrong with me,” she said.

Skulduggery turned to her. “Yes. You’ve got a serious case of humanity. I’m afraid there’s no cure.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I,” Skulduggery said, and put his arm around her, pulling her into his chest. “You’re coping as best you can with Alice’s situation, but you’re angry. Not with me, because no one could be angry with me, but with others. And yourself.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now? Alice’s ‘situation’?”

“What would you prefer to call it?”

Valkyrie didn’t know. She doubted she could find a pithy way to encapsulate the killing of her own sister and the subsequent damaging of her soul. She shrugged. “Alice’s situation is fine,” she murmured, sagging against him. “But how are we going to find Nye now? We found it back in September when we weren’t even looking for it – but now, when we need the bloody thing, it’s vanished off every radar we can think of.”

“We’ll find Nye because that’s what we do. We find things. Clues. Truth. Inappropriate humour at inappropriate times.”

“Trouble,” she said.

“Yes,” said Skulduggery. “We find trouble.”

“No,” said Valkyrie, stepping away from his hug and nodding ahead of them. “Trouble.”

A City Guard patrol car was parked in the next street over. Its engine was silent, its lights off. Beside it was a small shop. The door had been kicked open. Crashes came from inside.

They ran across the road. Skulduggery was first through the door, Valkyrie right behind him.

She readied herself for a fight, an unpleasant part of her hoping that the cops were heavily outnumbered and tonight was the night where she’d get to cut loose. She had a lot of anxiety to work through.

Instead, they arrived to find three City Guard officers trashing the place in the dark.

Two men and one woman. The woman noticed them, and hissed to the others. They stopped what they were doing and turned. Valkyrie recognised one of them – Sergeant Yonder. She didn’t like him.

“Well,” said Skulduggery, “this should be good.”

Yonder didn’t say anything for a few moments. When at last he spoke, what he said wasn’t very convincing. “This is official City Guard business. You can’t be here.”

“We’re Arbiters,” Skulduggery said, stepping over the remains of a smashed shelf. “We can be anywhere we want to be.”

Yonder bristled. “Your jurisdiction-“

“Is absolute. That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it? You two – identify yourselves.”

The woman squared her shoulders. “I’m Officer Lush,” she said.

“And I’m Officer Rattan,” said the third cop.

“And what exactly is going on here?” Skulduggery asked.

“We had a report of a break-in,” said Yonder. “We came to investigate.”

Valkyrie picked her way across the floor. “Did you find anyone?”

Yonder glared. “The suspects had fled before we arrived.”

“And the mess?”

“It was like this when we got here.”

“Who owns this shop?” Skulduggery asked, and their attention switched back to him.

“I don’t know,” said Yonder.

“Do you think perhaps it might be a mortal?”

Yonder shrugged.

“Because we’ve heard stories,” Valkyrie said, and they all looked at her. “You know all those pesky mortals from Dimension X?”

“The Leibniz Universe,” Skulduggery corrected.

She ignored him. “You know how they were all given the empty houses in the West District? That’s quite close to here, isn’t it? They’ve only been there for five or six months, but they’re already working hard to make a new life for themselves, away from Mevolent and all the nasty, nasty sorcerers from their home dimension. Well, we heard that there were some nasty sorcerers over here, too, and they were robbing these mortals.”

“Not robbery,” Skulduggery said. “Extortion.”

Valkyrie snapped her fingers. “That’s right. Extortion. Their little businesses would be targeted and threatened, and they’d have to pay these nasty sorcerers to not trash them.”

Yonder didn’t seem overly sympathetic. “That’s too bad,” he said. “Protection rackets are the bane of small businesses. Have these crimes been reported to the City Guard?”

“Well, that’s the problem,” Valkyrie said, passing Lush. “It seems the nasty sorcerers doing all this damage are City Guard officers. Like you guys.”

“That’s a serious accusation,” Lush said.

Valkyrie smiled at her. “I’m in a serious mood.”

Yonder’s radio barked to life for a moment. When it went quiet, he nodded. “Ok, duty calls. You two have a good night.”

He went to walk out, but Skulduggery stood in his path.

Yonder narrowed his eyes. “You’re impeding a sergeant of the City Guard.”

“I’m just standing here.”

Yonder went to walk round him, but Skulduggery stepped into his path again.

“Now I’m impeding you. Did I ever congratulate you, by the way? On your promotion? Congratulations. Sergeant Yonder, Officers Lush and Rattan – you’re all under arrest. Surrender your weapons and we won’t have to hurt you.”

There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Yonder laughed, and looked at his friends and they laughed, too, as if Valkyrie and Skulduggery couldn’t read the intent in their eyes. Yonder went for his gun and Lush went for hers and Valkyrie punched her in the throat and shoved her back. Rattan had his gun out and he was aiming at Skulduggery, but Skulduggery was throwing Yonder to the floor and Rattan couldn’t get a clear shot so he switched targets, swinging the gun round to Valkyrie. Valkyrie’s hand lit up and lightning streaked into his chest, blasting him backwards and filling the air with ozone.

Still gasping, Lush pulled her gun and Valkyrie grabbed her wrist with one hand and punched her in the face with the other. She ripped the gun away, tossing it into the shadows, and Lush snapped her hand out and a wall of air took Valkyrie off her feet.

She hit the ground and rolled, looked up in time to dodge a fireball. Energy crackled around her body. The fine hairs on her arms stood up. Lush threw another fireball and Valkyrie straightened, holding out her left hand, her magic becoming a shield that the fireball exploded against. Lush ran for her gun, but Valkyrie caught her in the side with a streak of lightning that spun her sideways and sent her down.

Valkyrie pulled her magic back in and quelled it before it scorched her clothes. That was getting to be a problem.

Yonder was lying on his belly, his hands cuffed behind him. “You can’t do this!” he raged. “I’m an officer of the City Guard!”

“Not for long,” Skulduggery said.

Yonder rolled onto his side so he could glare at him. “No one will believe you! Commander Hoc knows you’ve had it in for me from the beginning! He’ll take my side!”

“He won’t have a choice,” Valkyrie said, walking over. He’ll do what Supreme Mage Sorrows tells him to.”

Yonder snarled. “You’re so smug, aren’t you? You’re in with the Supreme Mage, so you get to strut around, doing whatever you want. Let me tell you, let me be the one to tell you – that time is coming to an end. You hear me? Things are going to change around here.”

Despite her worries, despite her anxiety, despite everything that had happened and everything she had done, Valkyrie looked down at Sergeant Yonder and found she still had the capacity to laugh at stupid people.

Chapter 3

“Omen,” Miss Gnosis said, leaning forward, her elbows on her desk and her fingertips pressed together. “We need to talk about your future.”

Omen Darkly nodded. The office, filled with the morning sun, was nice and neat and smelled of some exotic spice that was not too pungent. Miss Gnosis had books everywhere. Her desk was packed full of stuff. She looked like she had a lot going on.

“Omen,” she said.

He looked up. “Yes?”

“Your future. How do you envision it?”

“I haven’t really thought about it too much.”

“I realise that,” Miss Gnosis said in that cool Scottish accent. She pushed a form towards him. “Do you know what this is?”

“It’s the SYA.”

“And what does SYA stand for?”

“Senior Years Agenda.”

“Very good.” Miss Gnosis sat back. “What age are you now, Omen?”

“Fifteen.”

“So you’ve got another two years of school after this one, and maybe two years are that before your Surge. Do you have any idea yet what discipline you want to specialise in?”

“Well, I… I mean, I suppose being an Elemental would be, you know…” He trailed off.

“Do you want to be an Elemental?” Miss Gnosis asked. “You don’t sound too enthused.”

“Yes, no, I mean, sure.”

“Is there anything else you’d rather be?”

Omen shrugged.

“Rack your brains, Omen. Is there any discipline other than Elemental magic that you would like to do for the rest of your life? Because that’s what we’re talking about here. The discipline you’re focused on when you have your Surge is the discipline you’re stuck with from then on.” She hesitated. “You do know how the Surge works?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Good, good.”

“Like, it’d be cool to be a Teleporter,” Omen said. “I’m always late for stuff and I get car sick on long journeys, so that would solve a lot of my problems.”

“Teleportation is one of the tricky ones,” Miss Gnosis replied. “You generally have to be born with the aptitude for it, like Never was.”

“Yeah, I know,” Omen said, a little glumly. “See, miss, the problem is I’m just not very good at most things.”

“Ah, Omen, don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“It’s true, though. I’m not. I’m no good at Energy Throwing or-”

“Proper names, please.”

“Sorry. I’m no good at Ergokinesis and I did want to be a Signum Linguist, but I just find it hard to understand all the letters.”

“Which is a problem when it comes to language,” Miss Gnosis said. “But you’ve still got time to decide. What I want you to do is come up with a list of seven disciplines – realistic disciplines – to take into your final two years of school. Then you can figure out which one you want to specialise in.”

“And what if I can’t?”

“Then you’ll still have two or three years after you leave in which to make your decision. You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to have this worked out, but do you want to know a secret? Nobody has it worked out. We’re all just playing it by ear. No one knows what the future has in store.”

“Auger knows.”

“Your brother’s situation is slightly different.”

“Sensitives know what’s in store.”

“No, they don’t,” Miss Gnosis said. “Sensitives can see a future – not necessarily the future. But what about that? What about becoming a Sensitive?”

Omen’s face soured. “We’re doing one of Miss Wicked’s modules right now.”

“And how’s that going for you?”

“She paired me up with Auger, because siblings have a strong psychic connection, and twins have an even stronger one.”

“I’m aware.”

“And we did that test, you know the one, where we sit opposite each other and I look at a card with a pattern on it and he has to like, read that pattern in my mind, and then we switch? Auger got every single one right.”

“And how did you do?”

“I fell off my chair.”

“Oh.”

“I think it’s a balance thing. Miss Wicked says psychic stuff can upset your equilibrium, so… Anyway, today we’re going to try to talk to each other using only our minds.”

“You might be better at that.”

“I don’t see how.”

Miss Gnosis smiled. “Omen, come on. A little self-belief wouldn’t hurt, now, would it?”

“It’s just, we’re the only set of twins in the class, and Auger can do it all brilliantly, and I’m kind of holding him back.”

“I doubt he sees it that way.”

Omen gave a little grunt.

Miss Gnosis let him out a few minutes early, which allowed him to get to the toilets without being caught in the sudden crush of students. In fact, he had time to take the scenic route to his next class, past both the North and the East Towers. He descended the staircase in the main building, quickening his pace ever so slightly, and arriving outside his next class just as the bell rang.

Doors opened and each room vomited forth a never-ending torrent of teenagers dressed in either black trousers or skirts with white shirts and black blazers. A few of Omen’s fellow Fourth Years passed. Their blazers, like his, had green piping. He nodded to them. They ignored him. He shrugged.

He took his seat in the next class. Never came in, looking half dead from exhaustion, and sat next to him.

“You doing OK?” Omen asked.

“No,” Never said, gazing blearily at her desk. “Did we have homework to do?”

Omen took out his books. “Yes. You didn’t do it?”

Never gave a groan as an answer, and peered at Omen through one eye. “Why are you smiling?”

Omen shrugged. “It’s just very unusual to have you being the one who’s struggling while I’m doing all right, that’s all. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m finally getting my life in order, that I’m finally becoming the person I’m meant to be.”

“Or,” Never said, “this could not be about you, and actually be about me, and how hard it is to juggle being fabulous at school with being fabulous at having adventures. So, really, it could be either.”

“All those adventures taking a toll, are they?”

Never laid her forehead on the desk so that her hair covered her face. “I’m bruised. And battered. I get into fights now. Real, actual fights. Me. A pacifist.”

“You’re not a pacifist.”

“Well, no, but I hate fighting. I hate the pain aspect. Also the effort aspect. Fighting would be so much easier if you could do it from your phone, you know?”

“Damn these physical bodies.”

“Ah, now,” Never said, sitting up and flicking her hair back, “I wouldn’t go so far as to damn my physical body, Omen. I’m blessed with this form. See these cheekbones? I will never take these for granted. But I do ache. I mean, I can’t be expected to follow your brother into every single battle, can I? He’s the Chosen One. He’s got the strength and the speed and the skilled. I just have the bone structure and the attitude.”

“Kase and Mahala aren’t Chosen Ones,” said Omen. “How do they do in these battles?”

“They’ve been doing this for longer,” Never countered. “They’re better at it than I am.”

“There you go,” Omen said. “You just have to give it time, and then you’ll be as good as they are.”

Never lolled her head back, and looked up at the ceiling. “Three days ago, we were fighting this guy, a Child of the Spider. Ever seen one of those people? They’re creepy enough in their human form, but when they change…”

“You actually saw him transform?”

“Oh, yes,” said Never. “It was gross. Like, seriously disgusting. He sprouted all these extra legs, his body contorted, his face became a spider face… and the sounds. Great Caesar’s Ghost, the sounds! Squelching and tearing and popping and more squelching… And, at the end of it, he’s twice as big as us, and a spider. A spider, Omen.”

“You’re not afraid of spiders, are you?”

“I tend to get slightly arachnophobic when they’re three times the size of me.”

“Understandable.”

“So, we were fighting this giant spider, and I realised I’d forgotten to do the biology homework.”

“You thought about biology when you were fighting a giant spider?”

“Well, yeah,” said Never. “It just popped into my head – the module where we studied insects and arachnids – and then we had that chapter on the Children of the Spider and how we still don’t really know how they came to, like, be spiders.”

“Yes,” said Omen, “I remember the lesson.”

“Do you?”

Omen hesitated. “No.”

“Thought not. Anyway, I asked Auger about the homework.”

“While you were fighting?”

“Oh, wow, no. I’ve still got a long way to go before I can have lighthearted discussions while trying not to die. I just don’t have the stamina. I’m out of breath the entire time. So I waited until after. And you know what he said?”

“He’d done the homework?”

“Well, yes, but do you know how he’d done the homework?”

“I would imagine by doing it in his spare time?”

“Will you please stop spoiling my stories by knowing what I’m going to say?”

“Sorry.”

Never sighed, and continued. “He did it at night. The previous night, after we’d sneaked back to our dorm rooms. Four o’clock in the morning and he’s making sure his homework’s done. The same with Kase and Mahala.”

“So… so why didn’t you do that?”

Never frowned. “Because I was sleeping.”

“But why didn’t you-?”

“Because I was sleeping,” Never repeated. “I love my sleep, Omen. It’s one of the eight things that I do best. You can’t expect me to not sleep because of homework. We all have our limits, then lines in the sand we do not cross. That is mine.”

Omen nodded. “It’s a great honour just to be around you sometimes.”

Mr. Chou walked in and closed the door.

“Can I copy off you?” Never whispered.

“Oh,” Omen whispered back, “sorry, no. I didn’t do the homework, either.”

“Why the hell not?”

Omen shrugged. “I was thinking about other things.”

Never glared.

“Right then,” said Mr. Chou, “let’s start off with last night’s prep. Who can give me the answer to the first question? Never?”

Never sagged.

Chapter 4

Razzia was bent over the sink in the Ladies, doing her make-up, because that was practically the only room in the whole of Coldheart Prison where the light was good enough, and Abyssinia was in there with her, the two of them just spending time together, not bothering to talk, just two Sheilas hanging out, enjoying the silence, alone with their thoughts, and then Abyssinia said, “I don’t know if I do.”

Razzia stopped applying her mascara, and frowned. Had Abyssinia been speaking this whole time? Had Razzia been answering? Was this another one of those conversations she forgot she was having halfway through?

Strewth, as her dear old dad used to say. Her dear old dad used to say a lot of things, though. Her dead old dad could talk the hind legs off a kangaroo.

Was that a saying? Was that a popular phrase, back in Australia? She couldn’t remember. Her past got so hazy sometimes. She wasn’t even sure if she had a dear old dad, at least one that she’d known. She had a vague image of a nasty man, quick with his fists, but she didn’t like that image, so it went away, and was replaced by Alf Stewart, the cranky but lovable old guy from Home and Away, the greatest television show ever made. Yep, a much better dad to have, she reckoned. Maybe. She hadn’t seen that show in years. Did they still make it?

Oh, bloody hell. Abyssinia was still talking. Now Razzia had completely lost track of what was going on. The only thing she knew for sure was that her mascara wasn’t all done, so she went back to applying it.

Knowing Abyssinia, she was probably talking about her long-lost-now-recently-recovered son, Caisson. She was always talking about him. Razzia got it. She totally understood. Caisson was family, after all. Nothing more important than family.

And it was nice, seeing Abyssinia so happy. Those first few weeks, when Caisson didn’t do a whole lot more than have bad dreams while sedated, were the happiest she’d ever seen Abyssinia. She was so proud of her son for sticking it out, for surviving all that pain.

It had reinvigorated her, too, having her son around. Suddenly her attention was back on the plan, because the plan secured Caisson’s legacy. That focus had slipped a little, but now it was back on track. In less than two weeks, it would all kick off.

Razzia couldn’t wait. She hadn’t killed anyone in ages.

But now that Caisson was up and about, it had quickly become clear to anyone paying attention that he was a weird one. That wasn’t easy for Razzia to admit. She’d always seen herself as the weird one in Abyssinia’s little group of misfits, so to voluntarily hand over that title to a newcomer – even if he was the long-lost son of the boss – just felt wrong.

But there was no denying it: Caisson was an oddball.

She couldn’t blame him, of course. He’d been tortured pretty much non-stop for ninety years. That would lead anyone to hop on an imaginary plane and take a sojourn from reality. His flesh was scarred, his silver hair – so like his mother’s – grew only in clumps from his damaged scalp, and his eyes always seemed to be focused on something not quite in front of him, and not quite in the distance.

The fact was, though, he could have been a lot worse. According to Caisson, this was all down to his jailer, Serafina. She knew that if he retreated deep enough into his mind, there wouldn’t be much point in torturing his body. So, every few weeks Caisson would be given the chance to recover… and then it would happen all over again.

The whole thing was just so delightfully sadistic. Razzia hoped one day to meet Serafina. She’d been hitched to that Mevolent fella from ages ago, the one who’d caused all that bother with the war and all. Razzia reckoned she could learn a thing or two from someone like that.

Abyssinia sighed. “What do you think?”

Razzia blinked at her in the mirror. Abyssinia clearly wasn’t asking about her hair, because it was the same as it always was – long and silver. The red bodysuit, maybe? Abyssinia’s recently regrown body was still pretty new, and the suit did a lot to keep it maintained, but she’d been wearing variations of it for months, and so Razzia didn’t think she had chosen now to ask how she looked.

Must be Caisson again.

“Well,” Razzia said, “the real question here, Abyssinia, is what do you think?”

Abyssinia exhaled. “I think we press ahead.”

“Yeah,” said Razzia. “Me too.”

“This is what we’ve been working towards, and I shouldn’t let new developments derail us from our goals. I’ve been promising you a new world for years, and I’m not going to abandon you, not when the end is finally in sight.”

“Good to hear.”

“But I just don’t know what to do about the Darkly thing.”

Razzia did her best to look concerned. She did this by pursing her lips and frowning at the ground. She didn’t see what the problem was. The Darkly Prophecy foretold a battle between the King of the Darklands and the Chosen One, Auger Darkly, when the boy was seventeen years old. That was still something like two years away. Plenty of time to kill the Darkly kid before he could kill Caisson. It all seemed simple enough to Razzia.

Abyssinia, like most people, had a tendency to overthink things.

“Prophecies are dodgy,” Razzia said, applying a bit of Redrum lipstick. “If a prophecy foretells what happens in the future, if nothing changes from this point onwards, then all you have to do to avert that prophecy is not do what you otherwise would have done. Bam. On the other hand, how can you be certain that what you don’t do is in fact what leads to the prophecy is in fact what leads to the prophecy being fulfilled? Fair dinkum, it’s a complicated business, but, like most complicated businesses, it’s also deceptively simple.”

Abyssinia frowned. “I don’t think that’s entirely true, though.”

“What do I know?” Razzia asked, shrugging. With the back of her hand, she smudged the lipstick to one side, then down to her chin. Perfect. “I’m nuts.”

Chapter 5

Valkyrie let herself into her parents’ house, went straight to the kitchen and found her mother reading at the table.

“Oh, good God!” Melissa Edgley said, jerking upright.

Valkyrie laughed. “Sorry. Thought you’d heard me.”

Melissa got up, hugged her. “You don’t make a sound when you walk. I suppose that’s all your ninja training.”

“I don’t have ninja training.”

“Sorry,” her mum said. “Your secret ninja training.”

Valkyrie grinned, and eyed the notebook on the table. “What are you reading that has you so engrossed?”

“This,” said Melissa, “is your great-grandfather’s diary. One of several, in fact. Your dad found them in the attic, packed away with a load of junk.”

“Ah, diaries,” said Valkyrie. “The selfies of days gone by. What are they like?”

“They’re beautiful, actually. Beautiful handwriting and beautiful handwriting.”

“So that’s where Gordon got his talent from.”

“Well, he didn’t lick it off a stone.” Melissa hesitated, then looked up. “Your dad’s in the other room. He’s, uh… Not in the best of moods.”

“What’s wrong?”

Melissa waved the diary. “He’s flicked through a few of these. Your great-grandad was a firm believer in the legend that the Edgleys are descended from the Ancient Ones.”

“The Last of the Ancients,” Valkyrie corrected. “But why does that make him grumpy? He knows it’s all true now.”

“And that,” her mother said, “is the problem.”

Valkyrie took a moment. “Ah,” she said. “Maybe I should talk to him.”

“That might help.”

Valkyrie walked into the living room. Desmond was sitting in his usual chair. The cricket was on.

“Hello, Father,” she said.

“Hello, Daughter,” he responded, not taking his eyes off the screen.

She sat on the couch. “Enjoying this, are you?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Who’s playing?”

Desmond nodded at the TV. “They are.”

“Good game?”

“Not sure.”

“Who’s winning?”

“Don’t know.”

“What are the rules?”

“No idea.”

“I didn’t know you even liked cricket.”

He sat up straighter. “This is cricket?”

She settled back. “Mum told me about the diaries.”

Desmond muted the TV. “My granddad had the best stories,” he said. “The three of us would sit round his armchair and he’d just… I don’t know. Regale us, I suppose. Regale us with family legends about magic men and women, doing all these crazy things, all because we were descended from the Last of the Ancients. But my father, well… he’d grown up with those stories, and he was sick of them. He suffered from a, I suppose you’d call it a deficit of imagination. And he used to ridicule the old man, every chance he got. In front of us. I didn’t like that.”

“Right,” said Valkyrie.

“And Fergus followed suit. Turned his back on granddad and his stories. He’d always needed our father’s approval more than Gordon or me, so siding with him against what they both saw as nonsense and fairy stories was one way of building a bond Fergus felt he was missing. I wonder what he’d say now if we told him the truth. I don’t think I could do that to him.”

Valkyrie didn’t say anything to that. It wasn’t her place.

“Me, I loved the stories,” Desmond continued. “They meant something. They meant there was more to life than what I could see around me. They meant I could be more than what I was. Because of my granddad, I wasn’t restricted like my friends were. I had, I suppose, a purpose, if I wanted to seize it.”

“So you believed him,” said Valkyrie.

“I did,” Desmond said. “For a few years. When I was a kid. But I got to age ten, I think, and my dad sat me down and told me there were no such things as wizards and monsters. How wrong he was, eh?” Desmond smiled. “Gordon was the troublesome one. Always had been. Even his name rankled our dad. Fergus and I had good strong Irish names, but Gordon… ha. My mother insisted on naming him after the doctor who delivered him. It was her first pregnancy and there were complications, but that doctor worked a miracle, and the future best-selling author came into the world and brightened it with every moment he was here. Our granddad passed all those stories, all that wonder, down to Gordon, and he just absorbed it. He believed, like I did, but unlike me he never allowed our father to trample that belief. That’s what he had that I didn’t, I suppose. A strength.” Desmond shifted in his chair. “All those stories, they’re in the diaries. You should read them.”

“I will,” said Valkyrie.

Desmond took in a breath. It was shaky. He expelled it slowly, and looked at her. “I’m glad we know about the magic,” he said. “It’s terrifying, knowing that you’re out there, endangering your life, and it makes the world a scarier place, but I’m glad nonetheless. I wish I’d kept believing when I was younger, I really do. Still, I’m thankful Gordon did. Our granddad needed someone to believe him.”

Valkyrie didn’t know what to say, so she got up and hugged her dad. He hugged her back, and then shrugged himself out of his bad mood and turned off the TV.

“Cricket is a silly game,” he said, “and none of it makes any sense. Where’s your mum?”

“Kitchen,” she said, and followed him out.

“Are you in a better mood?” Melissa asked when they walked in.

“I am,” Desmond responded, kissing the top of her head. “Sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

She looked up, surprised. “You snapped at me?”

“Didn’t I?”

“When?”

“Earlier.”

“I don’t recall that.”

“Well, maybe I didn’t snap, as such, but I was curt, and for that you have my most sincere-“

“When were you curt?”

He frowned at her. “Earlier,” he said again. “When we were talking. About the diaries. I was curt when we were talking about the diaries. You didn’t notice?”

“I noticed you being a little grumpy.”

He looked offended. “That wasn’t me being grumpy. That was me being curt. That was my inner darkness shining through. Weren’t you cared by the glimpse of the monster lurking beneath the surface?”

“Not… really.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry, dear, you’re just too cuddly to be scary.”

“I am frighteningly cuddly,” he admitted. “But I’m sure I was dark, too, once upon a time.”

“You were pretty dark the day you threw that guy through a window,” Valkyrie said.

“That’s what I’m thinking of,” said Desmond, clicking his fingers. “I knew I’d done something cool.”

“My cool dad,” Valkyrie said wistfully. “So are you going to read the diaries?”

“I am,” he replied. “I will. I owe it to my granddad. It might even give me an insight into what you get up to, saving the world every single day.”

“I don’t save the world every single day,” Valkyrie responded. “I take time off. I go for walks. I go to the gym. I train.”

“Wait now,” said her mum. “Where’s the part in that schedule where you have fun?”

“I have loads of fun.”

“Do you have any friends? Do you go to the cinema? Go out for dinner? What about boys?”

Valkyrie opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Her dad narrowed his eyes. “You’re hesitating. Why are you hesitating? It’s because we’re not going to approve, isn’t it? What is he? Is he a werewolf? Is he a mummy?”

“Dad…”

“Is he a cannibal?”

“God, no. Why would I go out with a cannibal?”

“Love is blind, Stephanie. If you love someone, that means you’re willing to overlook flaws in their character, like cannibalism and being too pretty. Your mother possesses one of those flaws. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one.”

“Such a charmer,” said Melissa.

“I’m not dating a cannibal,” Valkyrie said.

“Are you dating someone?” her mum asked.

Valkyrie nodded.

“And? When are we going to meet him?”

It was on the tip of her tongue. It’s not a him. So easy. Such an easy sentence to say. All she had to do was open her mouth and say it.

But she took too long, and now her dad was nudging her mother’s shoulder. “It’s your fault,” he said. “She won’t bring him home to meet us because she’s afraid you’ll embarrass her. This is always a problem when you have one really cool parent and one lame parent.”

Melissa shook her head. “I preferred you when you were grumpy.”

“I wasn’t grumpy, I was dark.”

“I’m going to say hi to Alice,” Valkyrie said, turning on her heel.

“We’re not finished with this boyfriend stuff!” her mum called out after her.

Valkyrie retreated away from the possibility of disappointing her parents. Even though she knew they’d understand. They were liberal, progressive people, after all. They’d handled the truth about magic without unduly freaking – she was sure they’d have no problem with the whole girlfriend situation.

But even so, it made her tummy flip as she climbed the stairs.

Chapter 6

Her sister’s door was open. Alice sat in the corner of the room, peering into the hamster cage.

“Hey, you,” Valkyrie said.

“Stephanie!” Alice cried, scrambling up and launching herself forward.

Valkyrie laughed and caught her and hugged her. “Hey, gorgeous girl.”

“Are you staying for dinner?” Alice asked, face buried in Valkyrie’s hip.

“I can’t,” Valkyrie said, prising her off. “I’ve got to go to work.”

“With Skulduggery?”

“Yep. But I couldn’t pass without calling in to say hi to the best little sister in the world.”

“Do you want to see me dancing?”

“I’d love to, but I don’t really have time. Did you learn any more moves?”

“Yeah, a few,” Alice said. “Do you want to see them?”

“Tomorrow or the next day,” Valkyrie said. “And bad dreams?”

Alice laughed. “You always ask me that!”

“I know I do. I’m interested.”

“I never have bad dreams.”

“Not even about the horrible man?”

“Ew,” said Alice, making a face. “No. I don’t think about him. He was smelly. I still haven’t told Mum or Dad about him. It’s still our little secret.”

Valkyrie forced a smile. “Thank you,” she said, feeling the guilt start to weigh down on her. She quickly walked over to the hamster cage, eager for a change of subject. “So how’s SpongeBob?”

Alice laughed. “That’s not his name.”

“Is it not? Are you sure?”

“It’s Starlight.”

“Starlight the hamster… yes, I think I remember something about that. Where is he? Is he hiding?”

“There he is,” said Alice, pointing at a lump of fur in the corner of the cage.

“Hello, you,” Valkyrie said, hunkering down. She poked a finger through the cage and petted little Starlight. He was cold.

“He’s dead,” said Alice.

Valkyrie stopped petting him. She withdrew her finger and said, “Oh.”

“He died during the night sometime,” Alice continued. “Last night I fed him – well, Dad fed him – and I cleaned out his cage and put new hay in and new newspaper because he likes playing in newspaper and rips it all up sometimes, and then he died, I think.”

Valkyrie let herself sit, her back against the wall. “And when did you find out that he’d died?”

“A few minutes ago,” Alice said. “Like, ten. Or five. I can show you my dancing, if you like.”

“Let’s just wait a moment, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

Alice shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“Did you love Starlight?”

Alice nodded.

“Did you love him a lot?”

“Like, loads,” said Alice. “I used to close my bedroom door and let him out so he could run around and then he’d come over to me and climb up on to my lap and I’d pet him. Like, I didn’t love him as much as I love Mum and Dad and you, but I still loved him.”

“Will you miss him?”

“Um, yes.”

“Are you sad?”

“Yes,” Alice said, and nodded again.

Valkyrie held out her hands, and when Alice took them, she pulled her gently down. “Come here,” she said, “sit.” When Alice was seated, Valkyrie gave her a soft smile. “When you say you’re sad, do you actually mean you’re sad, or are you saying it because you think I’m expecting you to say it?”

Alice didn’t answer.

“It’s OK,” whispered Valkyrie. “You’re not in trouble. I’m just interested.”

“Um,” Alice said, “I’m not really sad.”

Valkyrie nodded, and kept nodding, waiting for the panic in her chest to settle down. “OK,” she said. “OK, thank you for telling me. Will you miss him?”

“Yes,” Alice said with absolute certainty. “I’m going to miss him loads.”

“And do you know what missing him means? Have you ever missed anyone before?”

A shy smile broke out. “Not really,” Alice said.

“Missing someone is when you get sad that somebody isn’t there anymore. Do you think you’ll get sad now that Starlight isn’t alive and you can’t pet him and cuddle him?”

The tip of Alice’s tongue came out and took up temporary residence at the corner of her lips.

“Um… maybe.”

Valkyrie switched on her aura-vision, reducing her sister to a dark outline, throbbing weakly with a dim, almost imperceptible orange. It was so spread out, so diffused, that it was barely there at all.

She switched off the aura-vision before it made her sick with guilt, pulled Alice in, and wrapped her up in a hug. “You know what love is, don’t you?”

“Of course,” said Alice.

“And you love me?”

“With all my heart.”

“And I love you too, with all my heart.”

They sat there, hugging.

“Is it OK that I don’t get sad?” Alice asked softly.

Valkyrie kissed her head. “I’m going to fix that. You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m going to find someone who can help you, and I’m going to fix everything.”

Alice nodded and didn’t respond, and Valkyrie hugged her closer and tried not to cry.

Chapter 7

“It’s nice here, isn’t it?” Axelia Lukt said.

Omen looked up. He’d been daydreaming about being good at things, about being as cool as Skulduggery or as tough as Valkyrie or as capable as Auger. He hadn’t even noticed the tram emptying the closer they got to the Humdrums. It was only Axelia and him left on it now.

He looked out of the window. “I suppose,” he said, although to him this part of Roarhaven looked pretty similar to most of the other parts – apart from the fact that it was right beside the enormous wall that encircled the city. Was that what Axelia was talking about? Did she like walls?

“The wall’s pretty,” he tried.

“The wall’s ugly,” Axelia said immediately. “It’s horrible and grey and horrible.”

“That’s what I meant.”

“It blocks out the sun in the mornings for this whole part of town.”

“It’s so horrible,” Omen agreed.

“But the rest of it,” said Axelia, “it’s so nice. It’s peaceful, isn’t it? Quiet.”

Omen nodded, but he wasn’t quite sure that was true. The Humdrums were where the mortals lived, the more than 18,000 refugees who had trudged through the portal from the Leibniz Universe to escape their very own Mevolent, who was still alive and terrorising the ones left behind over there. Roarhaven had taken them in, mainly because there was nowhere else to keep them, and the High Sanctuary had assumed responsibility for turning them into productive members of society.

Axelia had grown up in a magical community in Iceland, where she’d had very limited interactions with mortals. Omen was beginning to think that maybe she viewed mortals – and these ones in particular – as quaint, somewhat primitive begins. It was ever-so-slightly condescending, he felt. And possibly ever-so-slightly racist. The tram stopped and off they got. The Humdrums was definitely quieter than other parts of the city. No one here had cars, because no one could drive yet. Back in their own dimension, these mortals had been the serfs to the ruling class of mages. They’d lived in huts and hadn’t had access to technology.

Here they were free. They worked and were paid. They’d been introduced to the delights of television and the Internet. They could walk the streets without being accosted by Sorcerers.

“Hello,” said Omen to a passing mortal. “Would you like a pamphlet?”

The mortal shrank back, but took a pamphlet and hurried on.

The bag over Omen’s shoulder was weighed down with these pamphlets. This week, they were handing out information on the First Bank of Roarhaven, China Sorrows’ pride and joy. Even the mortals could save their money there, according to the pamphlets – it was perfectly safe and truly wonderful. Omen doubted this would work. The mortals here were more inclined to stash their money under their mattresses than hand it over to some huge institution where they didn’t know the rules.

But volunteering for this stuff got Omen out of the last class of the day, so he didn’t mind too much.

They folded pamphlets and stuck them through letterboxes and chatted whenever they regrouped at the end of a street. Axelia had already handed in her Senior Year Agenda. She wanted to be an Elemental, she said. There were a lot more of them flying these days, like Skulduggery did. She’d always wanted to fly.

Flying would be cool, Omen admitted. But he was wary of the fact that it required so much concentration. His mind was inclined to wander, after all.

They made their way to the square in the middle of the sector. It didn’t have a name yet – the mortals intended to vote on one in the coming months. The High Sanctuary even offered to have a statue erected to someone they admired, mortal or mage. They were still deciding on that as well.

Aurnia was waiting for them with a few other mortals. She waved as they approached. Her companions, one girl and three guys, left her to it. As they passed, one the guys rammed his shoulder into Omen’s.

Before Omen knew what was happening, he was being loomed over and forced backwards.

“What?” said the guy who’d rammed him. “What?”

Omen blinked up at him. “What?”

“What?” demanded the rammer, his teeth bared, his eyes wide.

“I’m sorry?”

The guy’s friends were pulling him back, and Axelia was suddenly standing between them and Aurnia was running up.

“Hey,” Axelia said. “Hey! Back off!”

The guy glared at her, glared at Omen, and allowed himself to be dragged away.

“Are you OK?” Aurnia asked. “Omen, did he hurt you?”

“No,” Omen lied, rubbing his shoulder. “Who was that?”

“That’s Buach.”

Axelia frowned. “Boo-ock?”

“Buach, yes,” said Aurnia. “He’s… I don’t know. He doesn’t like sorcerers, and he wants everyone to know it. He just gets very angry sometimes. Living here, surrounded by magic people… It makes him unhappy.”

“Well, I’d stay away from him if I were you,” said Omen. “You really don’t want to be around someone who’s that volatile.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Aurnia said, wincing.

“That’s your boyfriend? I thought your boyfriend was nice and sweet and happy. Didn’t you tell me that?”

“And Buach is all of those things,” Aurnia replied, “when sorcerers aren’t around. Also, I think he doesn’t like you because you wanted to kiss me.”

“That’s hardly fair,” Omen said immediately. “When I wanted to kiss you, he wasn’t your boyfriend. And why would you even tell him that? Of course he hates me now.”

“Buach needs to learn that you are not his property,” Axelia said.

“Oh, he knows,” Aurnia replied. “He’s just being stupid. He’s really very sweet. And kind. He makes me happy.” She sighed. “But what he did just now was terrible, and he’ll either apologise to you or he won’t have a girlfriend anymore.”

“You’d break up with him?” Axelia asked.

“That’s the expression I was searching for,” said Aurnia, pointing at her. “Break up with him, yes. I still don’t know the proper phrases. In our culture, we don’t even have equivalents. Anyway, yes, I’ll break up with him if he doesn’t say sorry.”

“That’s OK,” said Omen. “It’s no big deal. He doesn’t have to.”

Aurnia reached into Omen’s bag, took out a handful of pamphlets and flicked through them. “Of course he does,” she said. “There’s a polite way to behave and a rude way. I’m not going to go out with someone who’s rude.”

Axelia grinned. “I like you more and more, every time I see you.”

“Does anyone like me?” Omen asked hopefully.

“Sure we do,” said Axelia. “You carry the bag.”

Chapter 8

The car hit a pothole and Valkyrie cursed, glared at nothing in particular, and carried on. The roads around here were getting worse. No mortal officials bothered with them because, as far as they knew, these were tiny country roads that led nowhere, and no magical officials bothered with them because these were, technically, mortal roads, and mortals had to take care of themselves.

Those were the rules.

#skulduggery pleasant #preview #spoilers #bedlam #STRONG trigger warning for animal death in chapter 6!#not xena thank god #tw:animal death #tw: arachnophobia #this is 8000 words long and i typed it by hand #i was tasting colours by the end of typing this so any mistakes are my own #long post

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billehrman · 4 years

Text

Think As an Investor

We were thrilled to hear the experts/pundits speak on Friday as well as Barron’s most recent roundtable of 10 experts write on Saturday about how cautious/pessimistic they are about the prospects for the financial markets in 2020. There clearly is no over exuberance or froth in the marketplace yet. Just the start of a rotation back into equities, which have been liquidated over the last few years, such that its allocation is well below their historical norm, while reducing bonds and cash positions, which have been the preferred asset classes, and are now over-weighted well above their historic norms in most portfolios.

While we acknowledge that there could be a correction in the marketplace any time, we see substantial gains for investors over the next year and possibly longer especially if you are correctly positioned. Think as an investor rather than as a trader. Think like Buffett whose record for successful investing longer term is unparalleled. How many rich traders do you know? Does it make sense to sell positions that you like longer term if you are only looking for a small correction short term? Hell no!

It was very important that tensions between the United States and Iran subsided somewhat last week. We were surprised and pleased that Iranian officials reached out to Iraq and American counterparts warning them of their missile strikes in Iraq beforehand such that no one would be killed. Since no American was killed in the attack, which is Trump’s red line, he did not retaliate. Rather he spoke in a somewhat conciliatory manner about both sides lowering tensions in the region. Trump also asked our NATO partners to work with us against terrorism which is something that we mentioned last week. NATO’s Secretary General Stoltenberg responded favorably and said that he was pleased with the formation of such an alliance. It did not hurt Trump’s position against Iran/terrorism when Iran took full responsibility yesterday for bringing down a Ukrainian airplane killing 176 innocent people including many Canadians.

Let’s go back and look, once again, at the key variables impacting stock prices today

Monetary policy: It is crystal clear that virtually all of the major monetary bodies—BOJ, Bank of China, ECB and our Fed—have overly accommodative policies that will not reverse anytime soon and that means at least for 2020. Again, if more money is being created than needed by the real economy, the excess funds finds its way into financial/risk assets including stocks, bonds and commodities. Basically, it is risk on! Remember that our stock market multiple is priced off of bond yields, normally 10-year treasuries, plus some risk premium. Bond yields are incredibly low as there is no inflation and risk premiums are down as there is so much excess liquidity/capital in the system as evidenced by low bond yield spreads. We continue to be surprised that all the experts think that the market is fully valued at 18-19 times earnings which was the high end of the historic range when interest rates were at least 300-500 basis points higher than now. Beside keeping all short-term interest rates down, most monetary bodies, including our Fed, are increasing their balance sheets, too, which keeps downward pressure on longer term rates. We see no reason that our stock market multiple cannot reach 20 times earnings even if the 10-year treasury yields increase to 2.5% from slightly under 2% today.

Trade: It is hard to believe that Phase 1 of a trade deal between the U.S and China will finally be signed this week in D.C. with the Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu. We continue to be surprised by the positive rhetoric out of Beijing and DC about Phase 2 of a trade deal which talks will commence shortly; China state media touts the trade deal as a sign of coexistence; and the U.S and China agreed yesterday to hold semi-annual talks on reforms. Maybe it is true that China would rather negotiate trade deals with Trump than running the risk of dealing with a Democrat President who would take a much harder line, especially on pollution. Finally, the Senate Finance Committee voted 25 to 3 to back the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. We fully expect global trade to improve as we move through 2020 into 2021 boosting global growth.

Brexit: We remain confident that U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU will finally reach a deal on Brexit this year. The cost of not reaching is deal is so punitive to both sides such that we expect cooler heads to prevail and a deal to be finalized. IF the economic cost of Brexit has already hit Britain by $170 billion and counting, we could only imagine the penalty borne by the EU so far, too.

Trump: Since strength in the U.S economy and stock market appear to be the key factors boosting Trump’s chances for re-election, we are confident that he will do all in his power as incumbent President to increase his odds for victory. That will include introducing new tax legislation to lower taxes on the middle to lower classes while penalizing the wealthy; new healthcare legislation to reduce costs, especially for medicine; an infrastructure bill and further reducing regulations/red tape holding back our economy. Protecting our country and trade policy will remain at the forefront of his legislative agenda, too.

The bottom line is that we remain confident/optimistic that the global economy will do better in 2020/2021 than 2019. We were amused that the World Bank trimmed its global growth forecast last week for 2019 and 2020 basically looking in the rearview mirror rather than through the windshield. They had no idea that Phase I of a trade deal between the U.S and China would finally be signed, nor the completion of the USMCA, as well as Johnson winning his election in Britain. We expect global growth to build sequentially as we move through 2020. We do not expect a growth spurt at the beginning of the year. After all, trade deals are just being finalized; fiscal stimulus is just beginning to be implemented in many nations; and finally, it takes at least 6 to 8 months for monetary ease to kick in. Also, it will take time for business/consumer confidence to build until reality/certainty sets in that all of this is for real. But it will as the year progresses.

Here are some brief comments on the most recent data points by country:

United States: We fully expect fourth quarter real GNP to exceed 2% and growth in 2020 to build sequentially bolstered by continued strength in strong consumer spending and a slow but steady improvement in manufacturing/capital spending as the year progresses as global trade improves. The employment data reported Friday was just fine as 145,000 new jobs were created while hourly earnings slowed to a 2.9% year over year gain which still exceeds the inflation rate by a wide margin. Our economy created over 2.11 million new jobs in 2019 which is nothing to sneeze in spite of slowing global growth. We were pleased that Trump reversed his position and now supports the U.S. Export-Import Bank which is helpful to U.S manufacturers.

China: Fourth quarter GNP was apparently stronger than anticipated such that economic growth for 2019 will fall well within the government target of 6-6.5% growth. We now believe that China may even exceed 6% growth in 2020 as it benefits from the U.S trade deal, fiscal stimulus and aggressive monetary ease. China will easily be the fastest growing major industrialized country in 2020. And inflation will moderate as U.S exports of ag products finally begin arriving in size.

Europe/Britain: There is nothing reported that looks good economically in Europe/Britain. One can only hope that global trade will improve as 2020 progresses which will benefit Europe and that Brexit is reached reducing corporate/consumer uncertainty. Europe is clearly the problem child region of the world.

Japan: We expect the Japanese economy to pick up sequentially through 2020 too, as global trade improves and fiscal stimulus kicks in supported by continued monetary ease.

Investment Conclusions

We expect global growth to pick up sequentially as we move through 2020 benefitting from increased trade, fiscal stimulus and continued monetary ease. The U.S will certainly benefit disproportionately as we institute Phase 1 of a trade deal with China boosting our exports big time over the next few years; the USMCA is finally passed supporting trade growth between our neighbors; additional fiscal stimulus kicks in federally as well as locally; monetary policy remains very easy (let it rip!) including the Fed injecting billions into the financial system; regulatory relief; and Trump doing whatever else he can do to boost the economy and our stock market.

While we have already discussed why a 20-market multiple is supported even if 10-year treasuries rise in yield. We have not discussed our forecast for S & P earnings which we still estimate at $170 per share for 2020, vs. an estimated $163/share in 2019, but with a run rate closer to $180 p/s by the end of the year. Don’t forget that the huge equity shrink continues at amazingly high levels that boosts reported eps. Just ask Apple owners what it has meant to them!

The bottom line is that our market could easily exceed 3400 this year with the potential of hitting 3600 which is not our forecast at this time. The key to outperformance will be stock selection. While technology, especially semis, has remained the largest portion of our portfolios, we have reduced the more defensive sectors adding to the more economically sensitive sectors such as financials, expecting the yield curve to steepen and loan growth to accelerate; global industrial, capital goods and machinery companies which will benefit from accelerating global growth and increased capital spending; low cost, free cash generating industrial commodity companies as expect both volume and pricing to improve; defense companies for obvious reasons; some retailers who have adapted to a changing marketplace and are gaining market share; agricultural companies who will benefit from recent trade deals; and many special situations selling well beneath intrinsic value. We own no bonds and expect the dollar to weaken over time.

Unfortunately, we are unable to hold our weekly investment webinar this week due to a prior commitment but feel free to email us questions which we will respond to as promptly as possible.

Remember to review all the facts; pause, reflect and consider mindset shifts; be open to shift your asset mix with risk controls as necessitated by the environment; listen to the upcoming earnings calls focusing on the future rather than the past; do independent research and …

Invest Accordingly!

Bill Ehrman

Paix et Prospérité LLC

[email protected]

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satancomplexx · 5 years

Text

love bites. pt 1

billy hargrove x reader

steve harrington x reader

part 2 , part 3 , part 4

word count : 4.2k

disclaimer : I don’t own Stranger Things, or the photos below.

A/N : I made this mood board for a better visualization of the story!

The radio on Steve’s nightstand softly hummed Berlin’s Take My Breath Away. His room possessed a faint golden hue that came from the single lamp on his desk, that sat in the far right corner. You heard his heartbeat as you rested your head on his bare chest, his hand stroking your back. Your night together had been wonderful, and you couldn’t help but smile at the fresh memory. You sat up slightly to peck Steve on the mouth, before getting up fully from his bed and heading over to your bag. You fished through the smaller pocket until you felt the familiar rectangular box, and the cold metal of your lighter. You pulled a cigarette from the pack and placed it between your lips, flicking open your lighter to ingulf the end with its flame. You heard a small groan come from the bed, and you turned your head to find Steve sat up with a displeased expression. You smiled, and brought your naked body back to his, straddling his legs.

once situated, your face inches from his, and the cigarette hanging from your lips, you softly spoke, “Can’t I just have a quick smoke? am I not aloud to do that?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “You know I don’t like it. Won’t you just wait a little longer?” he said as he gently took the cigarette from your lips.

You sighed, as you watched him put it out on the glass of his nightstand. His hand came back to rest on your waist.

You had noticed since you started dating Steve had made sure to tell you how he felt about the decisions you made, if it was smoking, which crowd you hung around with, or even your art. He made sure you understood that being an artist wasn’t a solid career, and that you should shoot for something different. Even though it hurt your feelings some, since you really did love him, you assumed it was just his way of looking out for you.

“Okay,” you agreed, silence fell upon you two again. You hummed along to the love song as you ran your fingers over his shoulders and onto the nap of his neck, tangling them into his hair.

He pressed his lips to yours, for a moment it was soft and gentle, until you deepened it by slipping your tongue along his bottom lip. He pulled away slightly, your breathing in sync with one another.

“Y/N, I need to give you something.”

You raised your eyebrow as he leaned over and reached into the drawer of his nightstand, pulling out a small velvet case.

Coming back to your side, he grabbed your hand and placed the small case on your palm. You looked at him with amusement, assuming it was some joke. What else would be in a case like this than a ring? He couldn’t of been giving you a ring.

You opened it anyway, your mouth hung open to the sight of the gold band decorated with small diamonds and a white pearl. A smile overtook your face as you glanced up at him.

“What is this?” you surprised yourself by the shock in your voice.

He smiled back just as big, “It’s a promise ring, you know, like from the old days. When we get engaged i’ll replace it with that ring. Won’t you wanna marry me Y/N?”

You felt this over powering sensation in your heart, the feeling of love. You couldn’t believe it, you knew you loved him, but did he love you back? Now you knew for sure it was mutual.

He slipped the ring on to your finger, and you immediately wrapped your arms around him and you both fell into the mattress with a thud.

You kissed him passionately, the feeling of the ring foreign but perfect.

“I love you.” He said simply, from beneath you.

you smiled and pushed his hair from his face, “I love you too.”

“take my breath away ... my love ...”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ・゜゜・ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Steve brought you home around 11pm, much to your parents disapproval. But that still didn’t stop you from hopping into his car the next morning for a ride to school. This was though a daily ritual, that had started even before you two started dating. Since you didn’t have a car, you relied mostly on everyone else to get you places, but Steve really didn’t mind. He loved seeing you this early in the morning, especially today, after the moment you two shared the night before.

Sat in the student parking lot, you gazed at your ring. Steve smiling from beside you, rested his hand on your thigh.

“Jeez, how much was this again?” You asked for the third time.

“That doesn’t matter.” He laughed.

You rolled your eyes, knowing Steve and his family were well off, which meant this ring had to of cost a fortune.

The first bell rang, and both of you jumped and glanced at each other. You smiled wide and he returned it, you both stepping out of his BMW and met at the trunk to intertwine yourselves together.

Once walking down the small hill to the high school, you heard the familiar roaring of the blue Camaro. You watched Steve’s face fall in annoyance, and you shoved him playfully.

“Stop, just forget about it.” You said, with a hint of teasing.

Steve looked back at you, and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes and draped his arm around your shoulder.

You showed up a couple minutes late to your art class, quickly scooting into your seat before Mr. Vendor noticed. You read the agenda on the board, and pulled out your sketchbook before drawing shapes with their correct shadowing.

“Hey, Y/N.” You heard from behind you, and turned around in your seat.

“What Billy?” You locked eyes with his, noticing his small smirk and relaxed expression.

“Just wondering why you were late.” His smirk widened, as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk.

“I missed the bus.” You shrugged, lying.

his thick brows scrunched together, “You don’t drive?”

“No I do, I just don’t have a car.” You tried to explain, wondering why you even were.

Billy was Hawkins High’s new favorite thing, but he was mean and rude, so you never really understood why. But he could be friendly like he was right now, but only on certain occasions. Like talking to girls he seemed to have an interest in, so this whole altercation just made you skeptical. Was it some innocent conversation, or the beginning of Billy’s attraction to you?

“Oh, well you could’ve called me I would’ve given you a ride.” He stated, then ran his tongue over his bottom lip.

Well that definitely pushed you into the direction that he liked you. Billy doesn’t just give anyone a ride.

“Thanks, but Steve normally does, he just didn’t today.” You buried yourself further into your lie.

His blue eyes studied yours, “Harrington?”

You nodded, surprised he didn’t know, you two were always together and all over each other.

He just sat there, obvious his former friendliness gone, replaced with agitation. You turned back around in your seat, continuing your drawing. You couldn’t keep focused though, your mind wandering back to his dangling earring, his messy blonde mullet, and his bright blue eyes framed by thick lashes. You didn’t want to admit to yourself that you acknowledge the fact that he wasn’t ugly. You felt too badly, especially with that pearl on your finger staring you down.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ・゜゜・ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Outside, you sat on the lunch table surrounded by your friends. Your feet cradled in the lap of Lisa, your best friend. Her hair was dark, long, and straight. Her makeup was always heavy, her lips always a deep shade of purple. Her outfits were always experimental, along with everyone else in your friend group. Your label was art freaks, so lets just say when you informed them you were dating Steve Harrington it was a small surprise. She was going on about something, but your attention was to your cigarette that you were craving all day.

You felt an arm wrap around your waist from behind, then your cigarette left your fingers. You turned around reaching out to retrieve it, but Steve threw it to the ground and stepped on it before you could snatch it. A loud gasp left Lisa’s lips, and you looked around at the rest of the table to see the same shocked look as Lisa. You smiled sheepishly, “It’s fine.” you reassured them.

Steve grabbed your face with his hand, turning you around to plant a kiss on your lips, your heart fluttered and what he just did almost seemed irrelevant.

You detached your lips and turned to talk to Lisa, Steve’s head went to rest on your shoulder, and his arms stayed their place around you.

“Have you heard about the art scholarship?” Nick said, announcing to everyone. He went on to explain, “It’s a mural contest, one art student from each high school in Indiana, whoever wins gets 7,000.”

Everyone then went on to point it towards you, since murals were your favorite.

You nodded with excitement, “I’ve heard of it, isn’t it a teachers pick though? You can’t just apply.”

“Yeah but Mr. Vendor loves you, it’s obvious he recommend you.” Lisa added, shoving your legs playfully.

Steve perked up from your shoulder, “What’s 7,000 dollars gunna do anyway? Art school is too expensive.”

Almost killing the mood once again, you felt ashamed for letting your boyfriend hang out with you and your friends. Instead of apologizing again, you decided lunch was over.

“C’mon Steve, lets go to your car.” You turned and smiled at him, not letting him know his comment hurt you.

You grabbed your lunch bag, waved goodbye to your friends and walked hand in hand with Steve to the student parking lot.

From the popular kids lunch table, Billy watched the whole thing. He noticed your annoyed appearance once Steve put out your cigarette, and your somber expression once he talked from your shoulder. He wondered what Steve had said to make you seem so down, it irritated him. Why weren’t you happy? He liked seeing you’re smile, how it lit up your face and made your soft eyes sparkle. He hated that Steve didn’t make you smile, it gave him more of a reason to dethrone him.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ・゜゜・ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You were in your english class, your last class of the day when the office assistant came into the propped open door, asking for you. Your teacher granted that you could leave, so you grabbed your things and followed the sophomore to the main office building. You asked her what this was about, but she just shrugged.

Everything you’ve done wrong reeled through your mind, maybe they caught you and Steve eating lunch today in the parking lot? You were already thinking up a lie, that there wasn’t anymore lunch tables, they were all full, or he left his lunch in his car.

Once inside the principal’s small office room, you recognized the balding head of Mr. Vendor.

“Mr. Vendor? What are you doing here?” You blurt out, clutching your books in your arms.

The principal and him stood up to greet you, shaking your hand. “I’m just here to give you an offer.” he said with a large smile.

He gestured you to sit at the chair next to his, that was placed in front of the principal’s large wooden desk. You sat quickly, knowing where this was going.

“Mrs. Laine and I have made the executive decision to apply you to the “School Spirit Mural” scholarship!” He exclaimed excitedly.

A large smile formed on your lips, “Are you joking? Oh my god, this is insane.” You got up from your seat and hugged Mr. Vendor. “Thank you thank you thank you!”

Once the initial shock was over, they continued to explain to you the guidelines of the contest. The mural must be 8 foot by 5 foot, colored, and represent your schools mascot to be qualified. Everything else was up to creative expression, the mural had to be finished in three days, and the contest holders would come down to Hawkins High in four days to examine your mural. He gave you a place, the smooth white wall in the gym. You where provided all your mediums, spray cans, paint, paint brushes.

“When can I start?” you ask eagerly, ideas already raking through your brain.

“Today after cheerleading practice, which ends at 4.” Mrs. Laine answered.

You thought to yourself, why couldn’t you just paint while they where practicing? but you didn’t care that much. Murals where your favorite thing to do, you had done multiple this year, you had gotten pretty fast at them. You knew this one wouldn’t take that long.

You talked until the final bell rang, and you all said your goodbyes, they wished you good luck. You basically skipped to Steve’s car waiting for you in the parking lot, and hopped in with the biggest smile.

Steve laughed, “Whats that smile for?”

You didn’t answer at first, you just closed the space between you too, and let your lips express the happiness in you. He kissed you back equally as passionate, his hand roaming to your waist to pull you closer, you leaned far over the middle console. Your hand reached up to the back of his head, weaving your fingers into his perfect hair, pushing his face closer to yours deepening the kiss further. Without thinking you felt your legs crawl over to sit on his lap, and straddle his waist.

Steve broke the kiss, pushing you away. His hair a mess and his lips pink, “Seriously Y/N, what’s going on?”

You smiled again, “I’m in the contest!”

You waited for a reaction, but he just sat there with his chest heaving. He then grabbed your waist tightly and lifted you off him, setting you back on to your seat.

He started the car, and drove out of the parking lot and out of Hawkins High.

You stared at him, your eyes wild, waiting for something, anything.

“Steve?”

“That’s great, yeah that’s just great. Let that fucking art teacher get your hopes up.” Steve spat, staring hard into the road.

You felt the anger stir up inside you, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Rain started pouring hard onto the car, making the tension rise.

“Y/N you know that contest is against every high school in Indiana? You know how many that is? It’s not worth it.” He continued to look ahead of him, you stared at his profile.

“So? it’s still a shot at some scholarship money, I have to take as many changes I can get, what’s the big deal about that?” You can’t help the raising in your voice.

Steve finally looks at you, his face full of annoyance. “C’mon, your not going to get a career by painting walls.”

“You have no right telling me my dreams aren’t good enough! Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can just push me around whenever you want? If I want to smoke a cigarette then let me smoke a mother fucking cigarette!” You scream, letting the last part slip out.

Steve broke your eye contact, staring back at the road, his knuckles turning white as they gripped the steering wheel.

You felt your eyes swell up, and the tears threatened to fall. You couldn’t risk him seeing you cry, so you simply stated, “Pull over.”

He turned his head to you, “What?”

“I said pull over Steve.” You said again, swallowing the lump in your throat.

“Are you joking? It’s raining!” He yelled, throwing his hand out to gesture to the many droplets on the window.

“How many things are you gunna let me not do? Huh? Are you planning on controlling my whole fucking life!” You yell, grabbing your bag and reaching for the door handle. As you swing the door open Steve frantically pulls to the side of the road to a sharp halt.

“Are you fucking crazy? Stop! Don’t leave!” Steve reached over the console and grabbed at your arm, you ripped away and continued to step out into the pouring rain.

“Are you breaking up with me?” He calls out to you, as you start walking. He drives slowly to keep up with you. You slam the door shut, he opens the window.

“Y/N!” He screams, the pouring rain almost muffling him.

You duck down to look at him through the open window, “I need to think about this!” you gesture between you too, “It’s obvious where my heart is and where yours isn’t!”

He stared back at you with furious eyes, but there was a hint of pain in them. He turned his head abruptly and in seconds his BMW was speeding down the long road.

You stood there, soaked, and let your tears finally loose. You tried to fight the sobs but they came anyway, why did it matter so much to you? you thought, why do you care if he supports you or not?

You tried to shield yourself from the rain by covering your head with your bag. It wasn’t really working, you were already drenched.

You decided to head back to the school since it was closer, and you had to be back there anyway at 4.

You felt horrible, you knew you over reacted. It just all came to a head at that moment. You couldn’t hold it in anymore. Steve was probably coming from a good place, he was just frustrated. You let yourself wallow in your regret as the rain stuck your sweater to your skin, your hair to your head, and made your shoes heavy with water.

A low growl ripped through the rain, getting louder as it approached you. The familiar sound of that blue Camaro’s engine made you cringe away, the last thing you wanted was for Billy to see you like this.

Before you knew it, the sports car zoomed past, throwing water all over you. You stood there in shock, it was so cold. Shivering you sighed with relief, he hadn’t stopped to give you a ride.

But once you started back to the school, you heard the low rumble once again, nearing you.

You turned to the road, and watched as he pulled up to a stop next to you, the passenger door swung open, inviting you in. The immediate blast of Iron Maiden filled the cold wet air, and you quickly wiped away your tears, calming yourself down before stepping into the car.

You avoided eye contact, shutting the door. You then opened your bag and dug through the soaked papers, books, and folders, until you felt the familiar rectangular box. You pulled it out, and examined what was left of the soggy cardboard. You peered inside, and sighed at the sight of the ruined cigarettes.

“Are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Billy exclaimed, a trace of annoyance in his voice. The vibration in your seat disappeared as he turned the volume on his stereo down.

You shoved the box back into your bag, and threw it down at your feet. You shoved your hair behind your ears before looking up at him. His blue eyes confused, his brows knitted together. You felt a sudden relief that you were here with him.

“Thanks for coming back.” You said softly, with a small smile.

He let a smirk form at his lips, “Miss the bus again?”

You laughed, “Yeah that’s what happened.”

Your attention went to the song that was playing, Hallowed Be Thy Name. You smiled.

“I love this song.” You turned to him.

His eyebrows raised, “You like Iron Maiden?”

“Yeah I do.” You shrugged.

“You don’t seem like the type, but then again you don’t seem like the type to smoke either.” He pointed a finger down at your bag.

You chuckled, “You don’t seem like the type to let a soaking wet girl in your car.”

“You’d be surprised.” He smirked.

Your mouth dropped, “Ew stop! That’s not what I meant!” You reached over and smacked his arm.

He laughed, and you couldn’t believe your ears. Is that Billy’s genuine laugh? You watched his perfect teeth, and his lashes press together as his eyes shut.

You laughed along with him, and soon enough the car flew back onto the road and down through the rain.

“Are you going to tell me what actually happened?” He asked, humming along to the song.

“Um ... It’s a long story.” You look down at your hands in your lap.

You couldn’t decide if you wanted to tell him the truth or not. You weren’t sure if you and Steve were getting back together, and you didn’t want to ruin Billy’s impression of him. But then you thought about it, he already hated him, right?

You sighed, wiping your eyes once again, “Ever since I started dating Steve, he’s always told me how he’s felt about my life. Like, anything I did he made sure to tell me what I was doing wrong. I just brushed it off mostly, but I don’t know, something happened, I felt ashamed. Ashamed to dream. And I guess that’s what broke me, because I yelled at him, and I shouldn’t have. But I did, and now I’m here ... without him.” You tried to explain, the mood shifting.

Billy stayed silent for a while, which made you look up at him. His jaw was clenching, and his hand gripped the wheel hard.

“Are you telling me, Harrington left you on the side of the road in the rain?” His voice was low, ripping through his throat.

“No! I mean, yeah ... kinda. I wanted to get out, I couldn’t let him see me cry.” You tried to explain in his defense.

Billy glanced over at you, his eyes examining your face. “He made you cry?”

You sighed in defeat, breaking from his eyes and staring down the road. “Can we talk about something else?”

He sighed, you could tell he really didn’t want to. “You heard about Tiffany’s party?” He asked.

You felt a smile creep on to your lips, and you looked at his profile, “Yeah, isn’t it tonight?”

“Yeah, at 10.” He smiled back.

You sat and thought for a second before responding, “I’d have to paint my mural first.”

“Your mural?” He asked.

“Oh right you don’t know about that, Mr. Vendor asked me to be in this contest, and if I win it I’ll get a 7,000 dollar scholarship. It’s basically I have to paint a mural about our school spirit, like I don’t know, I’ll just paint our tiger or something.” You explain.

“You can do that? You can paint a whole mural by yourself? That’s fucking awesome.” Billy shook his head with shock, glancing over to catch your eyes.

You laugh, “Thank you, I guess.”

“No I’m serious Y/N, Mr. Vendor asked you to be in the contest himself? You must be really good then.” He was in awe, and it surprised you. Maybe because it was such a contrast from Steve.

“Yeah, it’s what I want to do, be a street artist. Go around the world and paint murals for people.” You beamed.

“Really? That’s so cool, I wish I knew what I wanted to do ... anyways, you should just swing by when you finish the mural.” He suggested.

The rain started to clear up, and the sun shone through and warmed up your face.

“Okay, I’ll try to come. I won’t know anyone there though, Tiffany definitely didn’t invite any of my friends.” You shrugged, looking over at him, admiring the way the sun brightening his blue eyes to almost white.

“You’ll know me.” He said quickly, with a grin.

“Yeah but the real question is will you know me? Are populars even aloud to be associated with art freaks?” You asked, half jokingly.

He rolled his eyes, “Ugh, don’t even talk about that bullshit. You want my invitation? Will that make you feel better?”

You laughed, “Yes.”

You gave him some directions to your neighborhood, and he pulled up to your house.

He reached into his bag in the back seat, and pulled out the bright green paper invite. You gently took it into your hands, looking it over. Even though you’ve been dating Steve for a while, he’s never taken you to one of his friends parties, so this was completely knew territory. Or .... was dating him.

Almost as if he read your mind, “So, you and Steve split, huh?”

You glanced up at him from the flyer, his eyes had an eager gleam about them.

You glanced back down quickly, “I guess.”

You started grabbing your things, and went for the door handle when you felt Billy’s hand grab your wrist.

You turned to look at him, he had that same eager look in his eyes, “You’ll come tonight, right?”

You smiled reassuringly, “Absolutely.”

You slid out the door, and closed it behind you. You walked up your drive way to your door, and you glanced behind you, to catch one last glimpse of that blue paint before it sped off.

#billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove x you #billy hargrove #steve harrington #steve x reader #x you #x reader #stranger things 3 #stranger things

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