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#please look at the 1-10 scare with explanation for every number if youre like me you might have a wrong idea of what each means
fox-on-the-moon · 10 months
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just a little tip for fellow autistics: if a doctor asks “can you do x?” what they really mean is “can you do x without pain?”
Generally, if you just say “yes i can do that” they will assume you can do that thing painlessly and without issue at all times. you need to clarify “i can but it hurts a lot” or “i can only do this sometimes when x and y” etc.
They will also generally assume you won’t do things if they hurt too much, but a lot of us deal with pain very differently than an allistic person might. Even if some pain doesn’t stop you from doing something, you should still tell them you have it, it still “counts.” If you are not visibly (to them) showing signs of pain, they will almost always assume you don’t have any and you need to tell them otherwise.
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zafirosreverie · 3 years
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Must be the eyes (Teacher!Agatha x Fem!Student!Reader) part 15
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(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10) (part 11) (part 12) (part 13) (part 14)
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Agatha rolled her eyes and sighed as Monica kept talking. God, she really hated these meetings. And why the hell would anyone think it was a good idea to have them on a Saturday morning?!
The only thing that kept her awake the entire meeting was thinking about you. Last night was the first time she had sex with you again after all the mess and god, she had missed you. When she said goodbye to you that morning, you looked so beautiful, with tousled hair and tired eyes. She couldn't wait to get back to you.
The brunette jumped when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out a bit to see who the message was from, because Mónica always got mad when someone messaged during teachers meetings and she didn’t have the energy to fight with her, no matter how funny it would be.
But those thoughts disappeared the moment she saw your name on the screen. She quickly opened the message and Wanda, who was sitting next to her, could see the color leaving her friend’s face. 
“Harkness” Monica frowned.
Agatha didn’t even look at her as she took her things and stood up “I have to go” she simply said and left the room, not caring for the other woman’s calls. 
______________________________
You practically jumped into the car when Agatha arrived. None of you said anything as you put on your seatbelt and she quickly drove to the hospital. 
“A week” you sighed “just a week and he’s back in”
“Nicholas will be alright” she said, but her tone made it clear she was worried too.
You nodded and kept your eyes on the street, feeling a huge void growing on your chest with every second that passed. 
The way to the hospital felt eternal. By the moment you got there, Agatha had to help you out of the car because you were shaking. She could feel the fear coming from you and she wanted nothing but assure you everything would be fine, but she knew that leukemia was never to take lightly, especially when Nick was fine for just one week. 
You took the brunette’s hand as she led you to the hospital. You felt a deja vu, but this time, when Rani called you and you saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, you knew this was far more worse than the last. 
The green-eyed woman hugged you like a lifesaver and it was your turn to comfort her. Agatha stood a few steps behind, giving you space, but she could feel the tension in the room, even before Rani spoke.
“He was fine, Y/N” she cried “We were just watching a movie...he was fine”
You nodded but you felt your eyes watering and the fear running through your veins. “Is 
he awake?” you softly asked
“No” Rani shook her head “He was quiet for a moment and then he passed out” she sobbed “I didn’t know he was feeling bad. It was just so...it happened so fast. I should have known, I should-”
“Rani, Rani, look at me” you said “Breath with me ok?”
The woman locked eyes with you and slowly nodded. You grabbed her shoulders as she made her breath match yours, calming herself a little. 
“This is not your fault, ok?” you said “You couldn’t have known. But Nick is strong, he’ll be alright” you said, wishing you could believe your own words.
Rani looked at you for a moment before she nodded. You were right. Nick was strong and he could get out of this, he just liked to be a little bastard and scare people sometimes, but he’ll be alright. He had to.  The woman looked at your side and noticed Agatha for the first time. 
“Oh, I’m so sorry Agatha, I didn’t see you there” she apologized
“It’s ok Rania, I understand” the brunette smiled, but all of you knew it was a forced smile. None of you could sincerely smile. 
“Thank you for coming” the green-eyed woman said “I see the school still cares a lot” 
“Of course” Agatha followed the joked “They sent me to keep them updated”
Rania sniffed and nodded. You were about to say something when Agatha’s phone rang again. All the way to the hospital, Wanda and Mónica didn’t stop calling her and she admitted how you made her leave earlier. You apologized, but she told you this was by far more important. 
“I should take this” she told you. 
You and Rani nodded and you watched as she walked away to answer. Rani took your hand and led you to the couch in the waiting room. You had the feeling this would be a long day.
________________________
“I hope you have a good explanation, Harkness” Monica growled the moment Agatha picked up the call.
“I don’t have time for this right now, Rambeau” the brunette sighed
“I don’t care what you’re doing, I want you back in 10”
“I can’t”
“Why not?”
“I’m in the hospital”
Monica was silent for a moment and the older woman heard her moving, probably leaving the classroom where the meeting was taking place. 
“What?” she asked, her tone changing to a worried one “What happened? Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m ok” Agatha sighed, a little overwhelmed by the concern on her co worker's voice “Nicholas Jadu passed out”
“Jadu?” she could hear the younger woman frowning 
“Leukemia” Agatha simply said 
“Oh my god...how did you-”
“His aunt messaged me” The brunette lied “She had my number because of the Salem trip”
“You should have told me” Monica said “I am the social worker”
“You really want to discuss this right now?” Agatha growled
“...you’re right, sorry” the other said and sighed “Ok, I’m grateful you’re there in representation of the school, Harkness. Please let me know anything that happens”
“Will do”
Agatha didn’t wait for Monica to say another thing before she ended the call and went back inside. “Representation of the school”, sure. She would laugh, but she was too worried for it. 
You looked at her when she approached you and Rani. She told you about the call and sat next to you. You smiled a little at the lie she told Rambeau, and kissed her cheek before you rested your head on her shoulder. 
As you felt her arms wrapping around you, you prayed for everything to be alright. God knew you needed Nick in your life. 
__________________________
And it is at that little moment, when the bridges are about to burn, that one begins to open their eyes.
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Tags:  @midnight-lestrange ​ @amethyst-bitch ​ @juliejules-089 ​ @novohyde ​ @annie-mit-ie ​ @shinkomiii ​ @agentbrownierso ​ @swanqueensupercorp ​ @philippaharkness ​ @rainbow-hedgehog ​ @parkerprolly ​ @booklover ​ @bloodyfools ​ @marvelseverything ​ @rooskaya-yelena ​ @danvers97 ​ @notsosecretlyalesbian ​ @thoroughly--confused ​ @tomy5girls ​ @celasteria ​ @call-me-no-one @teenwonder​ @paulawand ​ @fallingfor-fics ​ @an-evergreen-rose ​ @enbyjareau ​ @mochiadria ​ @ijustwanttofeelyou ​ @soft-astral ​ @thelanawinterrs ​ @basiclesbianbitch ​ @harknesswhore ​ @gaylinda-thropp ​ @weemilfsimp ​ @p-nymph ​ @sarahp-stan ​ @simpforhela ​ @emilyprentissslut ​ @our-blood-is-our-ink ​  @romanottsmaximoff
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joonsrack · 3 years
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Masterpiece | KTH x KNJ
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+PAIRING: Kim Taehyung x Kim Namjoon
+GENRE: Oneshot, crack, angst, smidge of smut, College AU, stranger to lover
+WORD COUNT: ~13k
+RATING: 18+
+WARNING: Taehyung has face blindness, NSFW, (very) foul language, overuse of the word penis and it’s synonyms, pinning, misunderstandings, Namjoon is like real’ dumb, a little hanky panky but nothing scandalous.
+SUMMARY: 
“So let me recap here, you don’t know his name, his major, his department, his age, his number, nor his face. The only clue you have is this drawing, which basically looks like a textbook example of unrealistic body expectations. You apparently know every nook and cranny of his [REDACTED], but you didn’t have the decency to ask his name? You deserve this.” He cackles, angering Taehyung.
(OR the one where Taehyung has face blindness but that won't stop him from finding love. )
+A/N: Well, it’s been almost a year since I’ve posted anything, and almost as much time since i last wrote anything (except for the occasional guilt writing lmao). So this is me coming back with a vengeance (and the dumbest thing i’ve ever written). This is all thanks to (or to be blamed on) @minloop who put up with my non-stop messaging, gave me some plot ideas, and actually inspired me to finish this in three days. Thank you to my baby @emojihobi​ for the emotional support and the beta reading 💖
+Disclaimer: I got all my info on face blindness from google searches, so please forgive any inaccuracy.
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Face blindness has definitely made Taehyung’s life difficult. 
There’s the obvious problem of not being able to recognize your parents. Remember this childhood trauma of holding a random stranger’s hands in the mall, thinking it’s your mother or father? Taehyung had to live through that many, many times; except he wouldn’t realize until said stranger would shake his hand off, or until his parents would swoop in to get him. The fact that he’s never been kidnapped is down to pure luck, really.
Making friends, you guessed it, has also been a challenge. It’s difficult explaining to kids why you ignored them when you saw each other in the hallway. Kids don’t always understand “I didn’t recognize you” as an explanation, especially if you’ve been in the same class since pre-k.
But this? This is a new and unforeseen crisis.
+
 His dorm room is very quiet, which is not unusual since he has a solo room. But he’s pretty sure he went to sleep with a plus one, and said plus one is nowhere to be seen. 
Now, he isn’t a stranger to one-night stands sneaking out after he falls asleep. He likes to take night conquests to his dorm room for this exact reason; He can go right to sleep, while they take themselves out. Easy breezy no string attached-y. That’s usually the way he wants it to be. 
But this time is different. Last night was different. Last night, Taehyung had the best night of his life, hands down. Best bangs of his existence. Bangs plural because they went more than once. How that’s even possible when his teenage years are long gone and days with multiple orgasms are less and less common, he has no idea.
He’s probably ruined for anyone else. Nothing could ever compare to the night he just spent getting his back blown out. 
Now, Taehyung is a sculptor. A very gifted one at that (if his teachers’ praises are anything to go by). Taehyung knows body proportions, knows perfect rations, all that stuff. He knows it on marble bodies, in sketches, in painting. Not on actual human beings.
Until last night.
Last night, he witnessed the body of a god. He scratched at perfect skin, held on to beautifully defined and strong arms, rode perfect thighs. Last night, he shed a tear at the view of some perfect knees. Last night, he realized that art truly imitates nature. 
And that’s not all.
Taehyung can admit he owns a nice dick; it’s decently shaped, the color is nice, and the size is slightly over average. 
But what he witnessed the night before?
The Narcissus of dicks; the most beautiful dick on the planet. The most beautiful dick in history . Probably even prettier than Narcissus’ face himself. (But Taehyung doesn’t know what Narcissus' face looks like, so he’s only assuming.) 
From the perfect red color of its beautifully shaped head to the gracefully intertwined veins leading to a sturdy looking hilt, peppered with well-kept pubic hair, ending in an exquisitely wrinkled ballsack. The girth was over average; big enough to make size queens (such as Taehyung) salivate, but not big enough to scare away enthusiasts. And the length? The dude is lucky he’s a grower and not a show-er, or he would never know peace. Mainly because the likes of Taehyung or Park Jimin would never let him be.
But where is that most perfect penis right now? 
Attached to its perfectly shaped and mysterious owner, probably miles away.
Very problematic, indeed.
+
“So what you’re saying is, you fell asleep, and when you woke up he was gone? Isn’t that how it’s usually supposed to go?” Yoongi sounds disgruntled on the other end of the face call, face half mushed in his pillow, hair disheveled and eyes squinty. It’s not yet 1 pm after all, which is still considered morning for people like Min Yoongi.
“Noooo, not this time.” Taehyung whines,” This time he was supposed to stick around and ask me to marry him in the morning. Isn’t that obvious? We went at it four times for fuck sake, doesn’t that mean anything anymore?”
Jimin chokes on his matcha oatmeal milk latte, eyes going wide. “Four times?! Now that is a monster stamina. He basically squeezed your balls dry.” There’s a pause, then he says to someone off-camera, “It’s rude to stare, ma’am.”
“Stop ruining my morning with your screaming,” Yoongi grunts out, rubbing his eyes. “So what do you want us to do about this?”
Taehyung fumbles around his desk for a moment, looking through his piles of sketches until he finds it, his only clue.
“Do you two know this man?” He asks, pulling out a sketch he did quickly off his memory of the mystery man’s body. He pulls out a second one, this one is a close-up of his perfect penis. He might have gone off tangent with the shading, but he couldn't stop himself, that dick deserves all the shading.
“Jesus fuck.” Yoongi signs.
“Baby, I’m sure you’re aware that if I knew anyone with a body and a dick like that, you would never have been able to put your dirty paws on him.”
Taehyung turns hopeful eyes to Yoongi after glaring at Jimin for a good 10 seconds, but Yoongi only shakes his head no.
“I don’t have a habit of making my friends strip around me, sadly. I wouldn’t be able to tell even if I knew him.”
“You two are useless” Taehyung signs, his body deflating. Yoongi takes offense and hangs up. Or maybe he was going to hang up either way.
“So let me recap here, you don’t know his name, his major, his department, his age, his number, nor his face. The only clue you have is this drawing, which basically looks like a textbook example of unrealistic body expectations. You apparently know every nook and cranny of his penis, but you didn’t have the decency to ask his name? You deserve this.” He cackles, angering Taehyung. 
“I was busy sucking his dick, asshole.” He spits, but Jimin only snorts in answer.
“Good luck finding the owner of Mystery Penis.” He quips back, before hanging up as well.
+
All hope is lost. Never in his life has he despised his face blindness as much as he does right now. Of course, it’s never been easy dealing with it throughout his life. He’s lucky he has two solid friends he can count on. Although Jimin regularly dyes and changes his hairstyle without warning to mess with him. And Yoongi basically has two hours of availability per week, usually arranged around his sleeping schedule. 
But he knows they care for him, and he cares for them. 
He drags his feet to class. He uses ‘class’ lightly; being a third-year means most of his courses are spent in the workshop, working on his graduate exhibition. 
He’s got his trusty overalls on, covered in clay stains. He’s been working with clay for the last few weeks, using the medium for two of his exhibition pieces. 
He greets his teacher at the front desk with a nod, before making his way to his desk. Today’s playlist consists of oldies, and he makes it to his desk just as Lionel Richie’s voice fills the room. 
He snorts, rolling his eyes.
Hello is a classic of sculpting classes. No matter the teacher or the Instructor, they all love to play that song on repeat, and he usually doesn’t pay it any mind. But right now, isn’t there a more perfect song to taunt him?
Lionel Richie asks if it’s him he’s looking for, as he’s pulling his tool out of his bag. He unwraps the plastic wrap from around the latest project he’s been working on, already planning his next move. 
He’s pretty sure the sculpting world is all over that song only because of the music video.
It’s obvious that the whole ‘blind girl sculpting’ thing– 
Oh.
Oh dear god. The music video. 
The music video.
Taehyung has an idea.
His hands move before he can fully realize the plan in his head, rewrapping his project, and getting some new clay from the front of the class.
His teacher looks him up and down in all his frantic and excited glory.
 “A sudden stroke of inspiration?” He questions, sounding curious.
“Something like that.” Taehyung smiles, trying to act inconspicuous. His teacher won’t let him take the clay if it’s not for his graduate exhibition.
He makes it back to his station without any more inquiry and starts to work right away.
Jimin was right, he does know every nook and cranny of that penis. He spent hours getting acquainted with it, and he has an excellent memory (Except for faces, obviously).
All the other students are too busy working on their final projects to notice the massive penis under construction a few feet from them. If anyone asks, Taehyung will proudly answer that it’s a life-sized depiction. But no one is asking, so he simply works on bringing the piece to life. The students in his class rarely talk to him, since he hasn’t gone out of his way to develop any type of relationship with them. It’s easier like that.
Once he’s done, many hours later, he’s alone in the workshop with the sun setting outside.
He ogles proudly at his masterpiece, the erect penis standing tall on his station, truly a creature of beauty. It’s a perfect replica, down to the ballsack wrinkles; down to the cute mole at the hilt. Of course, it’s clay-colored, and it probably won't change since Taehyung hates painting his creations, but he’s absolutely certain that everything else is exactly like the original.
The oven has been preheating for a while, so it’s hot and ready to bake some penis. The only thing left is to leave it to cure for a while. Any ol’ regular penis would have taken less than an hour to cure, but we’re talking about a monster cock here. 
He pops it into the oven, sets a timer, just in time for a knock at the door to pull him out of his penis-induced craze.
“Yo, Tae,” Yoongi’s voice resonates from the door frame.
Taehyung grabs a rag from his station to clean his hand with before making his way to his friend. There’s someone with him, and Yoongi signals at his friend with a lazy wave of his hand. 
“Remember Namjoon?” He asks, but it’s a rhetorical question. Jimin and Yoongi have taken to the habit of identifying the people they’re with, so Taehyung doesn't have to embarrass himself trying to figure it out on his own. That way, they don’t have to explain his condition to every single person that isn’t in his immediate friend circle. 
(Is it even a circle if it’s two people?) 
He sends a nod in Namjoon’s way and gets a wave back, and that’s as far as their exchange goes, as usual. Except today, his whole body language reads nervous and tense. But that’s none of Taehyung’s business.
“We’re going to see some juniors perform in a pub, you want to come with?” Yoongi asks him, and Taehyung knows he means well, but he also knows that Yoongi knows he doesn’t like crowded spaces. 
He and Jimin have tried to get him to go out more, but the only time Taehyung steps foot inside any type of alcohol selling establishment is when he wants to get laid. And there’s only one place he goes to then; that crappy little Bar near campus that’s only frequented by broke students who also want to get laid. 
He doesn’t like anywhere that’s dark where there’s enough people to make him lose sight of his friends. Something about losing his parents at the mall one too many times.
“That sounds nice, but I have to finish this piece I’m working on.” He answers, trying to sound as regretful as he can. It doesn’t really work, judging by Yoongi’s unconvinced humming. 
“Alright, careful when you go back home.” Yoongi finally answers, patting him on the shoulder. 
He starts walking away, but his friend, Namjoon, stays frozen on the spot, facing him. He’s looking at Taehyung in some kind of way, but face blindness makes it hard for him to read other’s expressions. He raises a single eyebrow in interrogation, and that seems to make Namjoon snap out of it. He turns on his heel without as much as a goodbye, which, rude .
“'Kay, bye.” He mutters after him.
But he can’t hold it against him. He knows that ‘Namjoon’ has been a long-time friend of Yoongi and that they’ve spent some time together by association. Taehyung doesn’t go out of his way to get to know new people, so there’s a high chance Namjoon might have tried to approach him with friendship in mind, only to end up frustrated by Taehyung’s lack of interest. Happens all the time. He can’t really help it, reading intentions is not in his toolbox.
He should probably tell Yoongi to share his ‘secret’ with Namjoon. He seems nice enough from what he heard, so he would probably be understanding. It should at least clear up the misunderstanding, and Taehyung might even gain a new friend, who knows?
He makes his way back to his station, works on his actual project while the oven takes care of making his penis nice and hard. 
+
The next morning, he wakes up to ten texts from Jimin, one from Yoongi, and multiple missed calls and voicemail from his workshop teacher.
 Asshole with pink hair:
9:40 am    ur crazy
9:40 am    CRAZY
9:40 am    This is hilarious
9:41 am    That’s why i love u
9:41 am    That is a beautiful dick
9:41 am    Like it was nice on paper, but the 3D version definitely makes me wonder about its  owner
10:26 am  All the student body is buzzing about the mystery penis
10:27 am  It’s on the front page of the school newspaper
10:27 am  omg you dumbass u didnt write your number
10:27 am  you didn't write your number anywhere brb dying of laughter
Hyungie:
11:32 am  You didnt write your infos dumb dumb
Taehyung bangs his head on his pillow, hoping for quick death. How could he forget to write down his infos? How is anyone supposed to contact him?
+
Namjoon has come to learn quickly that university isn’t always the most sanest place on the planet. Cramming, into a single building, that amount of genius with that amount of insanity is bound to create interesting events.
He’s stopped being surprised by most things, might be guilty of doing some of those surprising things from time to time. But today? Today is on a whole new level.
Somehow, his dick is plastered all over the school, in every hallway, on every door. Think Regina George distributing the burn book copy all over school but, multiplied by 50, that’s how many pictures of his dick are distributed around school right now. Not an actual picture of his actual dick, but an actual picture of an actual clay replica, with big bold yellow letters spelling out 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PENIS?', and nothing else.
It’s vaguely threatening.
He wishes he couldn’t tell that it’s his penis, then maybe he could laugh with the rest of the student body. But there’s no mistaking it. One look and he knew. The person who printed those flyers made sure to include all the possible angles, too. 
It’s 100% his dick. 
The slight curve is there, the mole is there, everything is there.
The intentions of the maker are unclear, but there’s one thing for sure: he knows exactly who’s behind it. He only knows one sculptor who has seen his penis, and that’s the current bane of his life, Kim Taehyung.
It’s not enough that Taehyung has been completely ignoring his existence before their night of passion together, he’s also been ignoring him after. 
And now this? Plastering his dick all over school? For absolutely no reason? Did he not like the night they spent together? Was this a great big ploy to make fun of him? Is this Taehyung’s way to reject him? To tell him to stay away from him? He knows he’s never been really subtle with his crush, but isn’t this going way too far? 
At least he had the very, very basic decency to forgo his name from the flyers, or Namjoon might have had to run away to the next town. 
Namjoon is not dumb, he knows his ancient Greece lore and what they thought about big dicks.
Taehyung didn’t write this so people would look at the dick, he’s obviously calling him a dick.  And for what, pinning on him for the last year? Can’t a man have a crush in peace?
Maybe he shouldn't have approached Taehyung that night. 
One thing is for sure, Taehyung is sending him a very clear message to stay away from him.
+
He spent a fortune printing all those hands out, and now he has to reprint them all? Taehyung knows very well he can’t afford another round of mass printing. Plus the librarian probably won’t ever let him walk into the library again. She had to come and refill the printer at least three times in the hour he was there. The environmental club was even called on scene by one of the students waiting for his turn at the printer. Talk about a snitch.
He can’t afford to reprint everything, and there’s no way he’ll go around school writing his number by hand.
He listens to the voicemails from his teacher then, uncovering a new hurdle.
The first one goes like this:
"Kim Taehyung I know it’s you, you left that thing on your desk."
Then the second:
"Kim Taehyung, you will take down these handouts right this instant before the Dean can see them, you hear me? He'll put you on probation and my head on a stick."
Taehyung muffles his groans into his pillow. Maybe it’s a good thing he forgot to include his number. He should have thought of that before.
He throws on some clothes, heeding his teacher’s warning. He better get to school quickly.
He texts Yoongi and Jimin to take down as many as they can if they want to see him live for another day. Yoongi doesn’t answer and Jimin only texts back asking if he can keep one for his room.
Some friend circle he’s got there.
He makes it onto campus in under half an hour, and gets to work, taking them down as quickly as he can.
He’s got only a few hallways left to do when someone taps him sharply on the shoulder. He spins around, dreading the moment he comes face to face with the Dean. Not that he could recognize the Dean.
“Are you the Dean?” He stammers in a small voice.
“What? No- you. I swear to god. Just tell me if you hate me that much.” Stranger says, before putting his long leg to good use, striding away from him. He throws a bunched-up flyer on the floor before disappearing down the hallway as quickly as he’s appeared.
Taehyung is stunned for a good minutes, utterly confused
The voice sounds similar, but other than that he has no idea who just spit those words at him. He doesn’t hate anyone, and he doesn't see why anyone would believe he has those kinds of ill feelings towards them.
+
Now that his plan has miserably failed, Taehyung falls into hopelessness once again. He lays in bed, holding his precious sculpture to himself. It’s the only thing he has left from his fateful encounter. Or he thought it was fate, but now he’s wondering if that was life making fun of him. 
Jimin is laying by his side, examining the sketch of the body with clear interest. It’s making Taehyung feel a little possessive. 
“Maybe you should try again in the school gym, no one gets a body like that from not going to the gym. You could say you’re looking for a model or something.”
Taehyung stares at his friend with all the admiration he can muster. 
“I would kiss you so hard right now.”
“We tried that once, remember?”
“Yes, and that’s why I won’t be doing it, but I would, just so you know.”
“Cool.” 
He snatches the sketch out of Jimin’s hands to get to work on the shading, trying to get his drawing as realistic looking as possible. Making a whole body out of clay would take too long, so Taehyung will have to settle for his sketch. 
Once he’s done, some 30 minutes have passed. He whirl around on his desk chair, waving the sketch around successfully, only to stop dead in his tracks. He finds Jimin with his precious sculpture halfway down his throat.
“Jimin!” He exclaims, fuming. “Get your dirty mouth off my penis!”
Jimin startles and chokes in surprise, but then bursts out laughing once the sculpture is safely out of his mouth.
“Sorry, sorry. I was just really curious about the size. You never cease to amaze me.”
Taehyung snatches his precious phallus back, grabbing some tissues to wipe off Jimin's drool.
“If I can’t find him, this is going up my ass, so don’t touch it.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jimin grimaces, rearranging himself on the bed. He grabs his phone to waste some time, probably ignoring his other responsibilities as the end of their final semester is quickly approaching. “You want to end up in the emergency room? Just use it to make a mold and replicate it with some silicon at least.” 
Taehyung raises both eyebrows in astonishment.
“Jimin, your genius never ceases to amaze me.”
+
He successfully drags Jimin with him to the campus gym. Normally the prospect of hot sweaty people grunting, in various states of undress would attract Jimin like a bee to honey, but since he’s already banged or broken up with half the people that go there, Taehyung has to keep a firm hold on his friend’s wrist.
“Why do I have to come with you again?” 
“It was your idea, so you’re taking responsibility.”
“I don’t like taking my responsibilities, they suck,” Jimin grumbles, but he stops trying to run away.
The moment they step into the gym, they’re assaulted by the musky smell of sweat and determination. There’s a high volume of people working out, probably wanting to channel their end-of-semester jitters into iron pumping. 
Taehyung spots the front desk, putting his business smile on while reaching into his folder. He hears Jimin greet someone, going off by himself, but Taehyung bears him no mind and heads straight for the Woman working the counter.
“Hi there,” he says, charm on, “ I was wondering if you could help me out,-”
“Yes you can put your flyers up, no you don’t have to pay for it, no we won’t take it down before the end of the semester, yes I do have some tape.” She says without missing a beat, not looking up at him.
“Damn, maybe I’m here because I want to sign up for a membership.” 
She finally looks up from her computer, assessing Taehyung from head to toe.
“No you don’t babe. Here’s the tape.” She says, handing him the tape while blowing a bubble with her pink gum. Multitasking at its finest.
Taehyung doesn’t feel like taking her on a debate, so he gets hold of the roll of tape and gets to work, spotting where other people left their flyers so he can put his right by them. 
He scans the gym once or twice with a quick look, trying to see if, by a stroke of luck, Mystery Man could be there. No one that is shirtless has the body he’s looking for, and he sadly doesn’t have x-ray vision to check the rest. No amount of wishing as a kid made him grow that ability.
He puts up the first flyer, this time containing all his info, and stares at it proudly. He's got a good feeling about this.
Jimin finds him again as he’s putting up his last flyer, sounding excited about something.
“I had no idea Namjoon worked out. He’s got nice arms hidden beneath those sweatshirts.”
“Namjoon? Yoongi’s friend?”
“Yeah! And he changed his hair color, it looks really good on him. A little lighter than he used to have.”
Taehyung nods along, not really pressed to know more. He’s got other fish to fry.
+
Namjoon slowly counts to 30 after seeing Taehyung leave the premises, before he basically sprints to the nearest wall, spotting the flyers Taehyung has put up.
There’s a sketch on it, a sketch of a body. A body that looks strangely like his. He frowns, before reading the caption.
“Sculpting student looking for body model. Body must look like this. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX. Food as compensation. ”
Namjoon cannot believe his eyes. Taehyung knows he’s got that exact body type, yet he didn’t ask for his help. If he needed any other confirmation that Taehyung hates him, there’s one right there.
Just what did he do to the man to make him hate him so much? 
Since he’s confronted him in the hallway, Taehyung still hasn’t reached out to him. It would be easy to do. He knows Taehyung has his number, they exchanged it when they first met, so nothing is stopping him. Unless he’s happy with the way things are.
+
Maybe Jimin is not as much of a genius as he thought. By the sixth person that walks in to be a body model, he realizes this is getting expensive in food bribes and studio fees. He has also stopped putting up the pretense of wanting to sketch anyone anymore. 
But this time, It’s one Jung Hoseok who walks in.
“Have we slept together before?” He asks right off the bat, tired of wasting his precious time. It’s his new modus operandi; invite them in, ask the burning question, then send them on their way with the promised food to avoid complaints. 
“I don’t believe so, but maybe we should fix that,” Hoseok answers, taking off his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Your flyers have a nude body on it, you made me come to a private studio, isn’t this a nude modeling thing?” Hoseok questions, but doesn’t stop undressing. He’s already reaching for his belt. 
Something tells Taehyung this man would be really sad to be told to put his clothes back on. The way he’s unapologetically getting naked tells Taehyung everything he needs to know. 
“So, why are you asking?” He inquires while posing, everything hanging loose and stuff. “Is that how you get laid? Asking hot dudes to model, then seducing them once they’re naked and vulnerable?”
Jung Hoseok doesn’t seem to be feeling very vulnerable right now, but Taehyung keeps that to himself.
“God no. Jesus that would be sleazy of me.”
“Not as sleazy as asking me if we’ve slept together 5 seconds into our first meeting.” Hoseok points out.
“ Touché. ” He admits, a soft chuckle escaping him.
Hoseok doesn’t press him for an answer, and they spend the next few minutes in silence, the only sound coming from Taehyung's pencil on the thick page of his sketchbook.
Jung Hoseok, standing confidently in front of him in all of his naked glory, has a certain aura around him. The way he holds himself, no hesitation to bare it all, head held high; it's like he never had to hide anything in his life. Like he never knew shame. To the point where it inspires Taehyung to utter the next words:
“I have face blindness.” He starts off, which gets his model’s attention. He keeps his eyes down on his paper to avoid eye contact, feeling rusty when it comes to revealing this part of himself. He continues quickly, “I had a one-night stand with this– perfect greek god. He had the perfect penis, too. Best sex of my life.” He's making good progress on his sketch, Hoseok’s body graceful and easy to put on paper. “I’m trying to find him, but I don’t know anything about him, and I can’t tell people’s faces apart." He chuckles deprecatingly, "The only clue I have is the way his body looks. So I put up this ad for body models hoping he would show up.”
Hoseok breaks his pose to slap his hands together, then pointing at him. “Oh my god, are you the one that plastered the whole school with the penis sculpture a few days ago? Was that your version of a ‘Wanted’ poster?”
Taehyung feels his cheeks warm up.
“Yeah, but I almost lost my diploma over that so let’s not mention it.”
Hoseok laughs with his whole body, clapping his hands together a few more times as if to express his excitement.
“That was the best thing to ever happen on this campus since 1993, thank you for that.”
His statement piques Taehyung's interest.
“What happened in 1993?” He asks, expecting anything but what comes outs of Hoseok's mouth next.
“My mom and dad conceived me in the bathroom of the literature wing.”
Taehyung chortles, surprising even himself with how loud it is.
“Now that’s a conception story worth telling your kids.”
“They didn't tell me; They got caught and got expelled the next day. They framed their expulsion letter, it’s still on display in the kitchen.” Hoseok’s voice is dripping with fondness, betraying his love for his family. “The thing is, I learned how to read at a very early age.”
Taehyung is possessed by another wave of uncontrollable laughter. He wipes a stray tear from his eyes, taking a second to compose himself.
“There, you’re looking a little better now. “
Taehyung looks up at the man, standing there in his birthday suit, going out of his way to cheer him up even though they’re perfect strangers.
(Maybe not so perfect since he’s seen him naked, but still.)
He chuckles again, going back to his sketching.
“Wait does this mean you don’t actually need models right now?”
“Well yeah," Taehyung answers, shrugging his shoulders, "But you looked like you would be really disappointed if I told you to stop undressing, so I just went along with it.”
Hoseok nods his agreement, going back into his original position.
“Good call. Now that we’re here you better get the shading of my calves right. They’re my pride and glory.”
“On it.”
+
Who would have thought that this whole ordeal would have somehow turned into Taehyung making a new friend.
He looks at the contact number in his phone staring back at him. It’s written 'Jung Hoseok' with a little sun emoji. He’s told him everything he needs to know to avoid misunderstandings, and Hoseok left with the promise to always greet him first when they see each other in the hallway. It’s sad that he only met the man in his last stretch before getting his degree, but as they say: better late than never.
He’s excited to get to know Hoseok, but he doesn’t know if he should text him first. He’s feeling a little socially rusty, having not approached anyone with the intention of being friends in a long, long time. Which is why he jumps with glee when he sees he’s got a text notification from his new friend. But then he reads the text, and the glee morphes into unadulterated excitement.
 Jung Hoseok 🌞:
4:56 pm    I think i know who your penis belongs to
4:56 pm    can you send me a picture? I lost the flyers i kept from that time
                                       4:59 pm    You sent a picture
 5:01 pm   Yeah it’s really similar 
5:01 pm    Kim Seokjin, XXX-XXX-XXXX, probably currently working the counter at the campus coffee shop. 
5:02 pm     He’s tall, broad shoulders, awesome dick
Taehyung doesn’t even take the time to text back his thanks; he wraps up his project in a disorderly manner, wiping his hands on his shirt with no care in the world. He throws his backpack on and basically sprint to the coffee shop he usually tends to avoid. The owner is totally an evil capitalist, ripping off students with his overpriced coffee.
He gets there in record time, gasping for air as his poor lungs try to keep up with enough exercise to last him a lifetime.
He’s covered in clay stains, hair sticking to his sweaty forehead, clothes in dismay, lungs wheezing, so he should probably expect the next few events that unfold. 
He walks into the coffee shop still out of breath, asks if Kim Seokjin is there to the first employee he sees. This is one of those times where he’s happy he can’t read people’s expressions, because he has a feeling he’s being judged very much right now.
“He… just got off his shift.” The man at the counter answers hesitantly.
“Can you tell me where he went?” And what he was wearing?” Taehyung may be sounding a little desperate, but he doesn’t have the time to care.
“He was still in his uniform, so green, and he went that way.” He indicates with a vague wave of the hand.  
Taehyung starts running again, this time looking even more crazed as he scans his surroundings like a mad man, looking for someone tall with broad shoulders wearing green.
He spots him after running for a few minutes, thanking the heavens that the employee sent him in the right direction. He had every reason not to.
“Kim Seokjin!” He calls out, picking up his pace despite his lungs begging for a break. “Wait!”
He sees the man stop, take one look at him over his admittedly very large shoulders, then start sprinting away from him.
“No! Wait up!” He pushes himself harder than he ever has, his legs and lungs burning under the continuous strain, head feeling a little faint. “Please!” He calls out again in desperation. “Please look at my penis!”
This catches Seokjin’s attention, and he thankfully stops running, turning around as if to wait for him. Taehyung slows down to a jog, then to a complete stop, bending over gasping for air. Once his breathing is finally somewhat back to normal, he straightens up, only to come face to face with a bottle of pepper spray.
“W-wait!” He stutters, falling on his ass. “I swear I’m not a creep!”
“That’s exactly what a creep would say.” Seokjin answers, hovering over him threateningly, aiming the pepper spray directly at Taehyung’s face.
“I swear I just need you to look at my penis.”
This was the wrong thing to say apparently, because Seokjin gives the bottle a good shake as if to activate it. “That doesn’t sound as reassuring as you seem to think.”
“No! Wait!” He pleads again. “Not my penis.” He takes off his backpack, frantically digging through it until he finally pulls out his sculpture.  “ This penis.”
Seokjin doesn’t look totally convinced, but he finally lowers his weapon. “That’s a beautiful cock.” He admits after a moment of staring in silence. 
“Thank you. Is it yours?” 
"I don't remember owning that sculpture."
"Not the sculpture; the Penis."
Seokjin frowns, extending his hand, and Taehyung gingerly deposits his precious sculpture into his palm. The man finally puts away his pepper spray to free both his hands. He examines the penis under every angle, trying out the hold, measuring the testicles with his palm, staring at it long and hard.
Taehyung takes the opportunity to stand back up, keeping his distance this time.
“It does look very similar,” he concludes, hands going to his chin. “But this is not my penis. I don’t have a mole there.”
Taehyung deflates. He still asks, just in case. “So we haven’t slept together?”
Seokjin gives him back his sculpture with a snort. “You don’t look like anything I've ever slept with.” 
Taehyung realizes the state he’s in. He must look ridiculous right now.
“I’m from the sculpting department. I didn’t have the time to clean up. I don’t usually go around looking like I just rolled in the mud.”
“Explains a lot.” Seokjin nods, looking him up and down.
He dusts himself off as best as he can, but he can’t do much more cleaning up than that. He’ll probably have to go back home looking like that.
“So what’s your name?”
Taehyung feels dumb, he didn’t even have the decency to introduce himself before pulling out his penis. His social skills are frankly lacking.
“I’m Kim Taehyung. Sorry about all that, someone told me you could have the original version of this sculpture.”
“I’m flattered. It is pretty similar. Can I ask why you’re going around asking people to look at your– At this penis?” 
Taehyung sighs deeply, looking down at the penis in his hand. He did it once, he can do it again.
“Long story short I had an amazing one-night stand with the owner of this beautiful creature, but I have no idea who he is and the only clue I have is my perfect memory of his penis.”
“Sounds like a proper modern-day Cinderella story. But how come you don’t remember his face?” Seokjin questions, a hint of worry in his voice that would make sense in any other situation than Taehyung’s.
“I…. have face blindness, it’s this whole-”
“Ah, Yes, Prosopagnosia, I heard about that in class.”
“Oh. Well, yeah, so this is my only way of finding him.”
“So the Penis Flyers-”
“Yeah, that was also me. Forgot to write down my info, got caught by my teacher, that was a whole mess.” Taehyung admits, feeling discouraged.
“So now you’re basically going around town asking every man to try on the metaphorical glass shoes.”
“Basically.”
“Maybe don’t start off with ‘please look at my penis’ next time?” Seokjin recommends, which makes sense.
“I’ve been told that asking if we’ve slept together first thing is making me sound sleazy.”
“Yeah well, asking people to look at your penis isn’t better.”
“I’ll take good note of that.”
+
He drags his feet all the way back home.
He sees, pushed in the corner of his room, the material he got to make a mold, and wonders if now is the time to give up.
His exhibition is coming up, this whole thing made him late on his projects, and now he’s certain he’ll never reunite with Mystery Man. Maybe Mystery Man just doesn’t want to be found. Maybe he’s seen all his attempts and has simply steered clear, avoiding him all along. Maybe it’s time for Taehyung to make himself a silicon version and move on. He’s exhausted all his options, he’s out of time, and out of ideas.
He’s reading through the molding instruction, glad that this should be easy since he’s using a sculpture and not an actual living and breathing dick, when he realizes he hasn’t exhausted all his options. There’s still hope.
He jumps in the shower, picks out an outfit befitting of his destination, and goes off with hope in his heart.
+
The Bar isn't too busy, this being the middle of a school week, but there’s still some people going about, sharing drinks and being loud, in total denial of the oncoming train that is the end of a semester
Taehyung spots the barman, beeline for him. 
“Hey, do you know who usually works on Sundays?”
“That would be me.” Mr.Barman says, convincing Taehyung he finally has luck on his side.
Mr.Barman is on the tall side, with nice tattooed arms and wavy over-bleached hair tucked behind his ears. He’s making his forearm bulge seductively by polishing some beer glasses, and if Taehyung wasn’t on a mission to find his possible Mr.Perfect, he would be actively trying to get into his pants. 
“Do you, by any chance, recognize me?”
Mr.Barman doesn’t miss a beat.
“You’re a regular. And you gave me a blowjob once. Why are you asking?”
Well, Taehyung might have many flaws but at least he’s consistent.
“I was wondering if you remembered seeing me a few weeks ago– I was with a dude, about this height, with this body,” he adds, pulling out the sketch. He looks a little crazed, once again. But it’s ok, he’s reaching for straws here. “He had dark hair, but that’s all I can tell you. See, I have face-”
“-Blindness, I know, you cry about it every time you get drunk.”
Hm. And Taehyung thought he was a character full of mystery.
“I do know who you’re talking about. He’s a regular too.”
The irritation Taehyung feels is only momentary, everything melting away with this new bit of information. Someone saw them, someone knows what his Mystery Man looks like. He didn't hallucinate the whole thing. 
“Do you know his name??” He asks, pleading with his eyes. His heart is thumping wildly in his chest, desperation tangible.
“No. And he hasn’t been here since that night.” He says, crushing every hope and dream Taehyung mustered up in the last five seconds. He pauses his polishing, head tilting to the side. “But I do remember his face. I can try and draw him if you want.”
10 minutes later, Taehyung is looking at his disability in the face.
“Wow, you did it. You perfectly illustrated how people with face blindness see others.” Taehyung says, looking down at the drawing Jungkook (he asked for his name) quickly scribbled on a piece of napkin. It looks exactly like how he sees others.
Jungkook being good-natured, only laugh it off. “I can’t do much here, I’m working. But if you give me your number, I can try and do a better sketch once I get home. I’m from the painting department.”
“You would do that for me?” Taehyung asks, feeling deeply moved by Jungkook’s kindness. 
“Sure, it’s good practice for my portrait class anyways. You can take this as a thank you for the blow job.”
Taehyung nods to himself. 
“I do give amazing blowjobs.”
+
Jungkook, like any good art student, does not appreciate being rushed.
After a whole week of being told “it’s not ready yet”, Taehyung stops asking. 
He also wakes up one morning and realizes he only has a few days left before his exhibition.
Not only is he not done with all his pieces, he still hasn’t started studying for his finales which happen to be the week before his exhibition, meaning, the next day.
He pushes aside any thought of Mystery Man (except when he hugs the sculpture at night, heart yearning for the original), and jumps straight into his cramming strategy, which consists of hitting himself with the books until he’s absorbed the material. If he’s not studying, taking a finale, or sleeping, he’s huddled in the workshop with the other students of his department, functioning on coffee and eating various shades of sculpting material for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This is not what Taehyung expected when he was told that artists live from their arts.
The day before his exhibition, he’s barely feeling human, he’s got dried clay in places clay should never find itself, he doesn’t know words anymore and he has basically forgotten his own name.
No matter how fast he works, he realizes he won’t be able to finish his last pieces in time. He’s wracking his brain for a solution, thinking long and hard about just what he could do, when it hits him. 
The solution is right underneath his nose; 
His penis. It was always his penis. 
He’s supposed to expose pieces that he finds impactful, and if there’s anything that had a big impact on his life in the last few weeks, it’s his sculpture.
He can’t tell his teacher, he’ll categorically refuse. Not after the stunt he pulled with the flyers. Plus he wouldn't understand the cultural reset it was for Taehyung, finding and crafting that beautiful creature.
So he sets to work in secret. It shouldn’t be too hard, he hasn’t printed his labels yet. Plus the students are in charge of installing their own corner, meaning he can wait until the very last moment before the opening to put his penis on display.
He needs to find a name for his sculpture, so he texts his friends for help, but as usual, they are unhelpful.
 Asshole with pink hair:
6:45 pm  ‘ Suck on that’
 Hyungie:
6:45 pm    why are you asking me idk
 Jung Hoseok 🌞 :
6:50 pm   “ Long lost lover”
 He’s glad to see that his new friend will fit right in once he introduces him to everyone. 
He isn’t satisfied with the answer he gets, so he sends more text.
 Kim Seokjin:
7:05 pm  “Is this your penis?”
7:06 pm   Or better yet, “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PENIS?”
7:06 pm   that way people will understand how current your art is
7:10 pm   Also I didn’t give you this number to chitchat
7:10 pm   after we find out his identity im cutting all ties with you
7:11 pm   Im just feeling invested right now
7:11 pm   that’s all
7:17 pm   Where’s your exhibition again?
Jeon Jungkook barman and artist:
9:56 pm  idk
9:56 pm  im almost done with the portrait btw
9:56 pm  you mind if I use it for my exhibition
9:56 pm  im really proud of it
 So not much more help on that side either.
+
The next day, Taehyung is busy setting up his corner and feeling emotional over his last exhibition.
He’s done with uni. He can go off into the world and live from his art. Or more like, he’ll first find a side job that’ll suck the life out of him, to pay for his art. Then he’ll spend a few years regretting every decision that led him to be an artist, but just as he’s about to give up, his sculptures will be noticed by a mysterious millionaire that’ll commission him thousands of dollars at first. He’ll refer him to his rich friend who will be all over his art and will throw their money at him.
Yeah, it’s a nice pipe dream.
He makes sure all the labels are in place, the lights are hitting his pieces in all the right way, and that no one notices him putting his penis in the middle of his space 30 seconds before they open the doors.
By the time his teacher notices, it’s already too late; the place flooded with friends, family, and even the occasional art critics that the university invited.
It’s not like his penis feels out of place in his setup. Most of his pieces are on the theme of the human body; studies of movement, skin texture, whatnot. If you look at it as a whole, you almost have a whole body. The only thing missing is a face, which is extremely fitting for Taehyung.
The wave of people coming is not preferable for Taehyung, since he doesn’t like crowded places. He’s never been a fan of their exhibition opening nights over the years. He keeps himself busy by trying his best to merge with the wall while people circle his pieces. His friends know he won’t be able to recognize them in the crowd, so they’ll come to him by themselves, he simply has to make himself visible.
“Hey babe,” Jimin says with mirth in his voice, “Is that greek?”
“Yeah” Taehyung answers, fixing his eyes on his most beloved and central piece. 
“I didn’t know you knew greek”
“I don’t, but Google does.”
The Penis is standing directly underneath his own spotlight, looking like a beacon of light, grabbing the envious stares of the people around it.
There’s a little white label by its base:
   Kim Taehyung
πέος, 2021
Red Clay  
(if you recognize this penis, please ask for the artist)
  “ What does it mean?”
“ Penis ”
Jimin hums, crossing his arm over his chest. “I guess I was not expecting anything less.”
Yoongi chooses that moment to appear, whistling his praise.
“So you did work this semester.” He jokes, bobbing his head with approval.
“Har, har.” Like he’s one to talk. He basically spent the last few months becoming one with his bed.
His phone vibrates in his pocket, and he expects it to be Hoseok or Seokjin telling him they’re here, but instead it’s from Jungkook, and it’s a picture.
A little gasp of surprise escapes him.
His hands shake as he opens up the text app, his heart thumping as the picture loads. He presses on it once it’s ready, taking up the full screen, and Taehyung can finally-... well, Taehyung can’t do anything with that. His case of face blindness is pretty severe, so even drawings are unrecognizable for him. But it’s something! A new clue! He can make a flyer out of this! He can-
“Why do you have a portrait of Namjoon on your phone?”
Time stops.
Yoongi’s voice echoes in his head, mocking him, but also stealing the carpet right from underneath his feet.
Why do you have a portrait of Namjoon on your phone?
A portrait of Namjoon
Namjoon
Namjoon, who stood in front of him silently, that day Yoongi invited him out, probably expecting some kind of reaction from Taehyung.
Namjoon who frequents the campus gym.
Namjoon, who’s tall and broad-shouldered.
Namjoon, who’s been around Taehyung for a while but was never told about his condition. 
Namjoon, who probably thinks Taheyung has been ignoring him all this time.
“Jesus fucking christ, My Mystery Man Is Kim Namjoon.”
Both his friends voice their confusion as Taehyung tries to rip his hair from his head.
“This penis belongs to Kim Namjoon, who doesn’t know I have face blindness, and who probably think I’ve been ignoring him all this fucking time.”
“Holy shit,” Yoongi says at the same time as Park Jimin, that prick, starts cackling uncontrollably. Taehyung always knew he was evil.
“This is- I’m so sorry but- This shouldn't be funny– But I can’t, it’s too funny.” He wheezes out in between laughter. “He was right there, probably confused as hell as to why you were showing his dick to everyone- I’m sorry this is so funny but also so, so sad. You never- oh my god.”
Under the attention of about half the gallery, he wipes the tears from his eyes, body convulsing with laughter.
“What the fuck are you waiting for.” He finally manages to say, taking a deep breath. “Hyung, didn’t you drag him here tonight?”
That seems to snap Yoongi out of his stupor.
“Fuck, yes he’s here, he’s... There!-” He says pointing somewhere, but then his voice dies down. “And now he’s leaving...”
Taehyung spots the man with a black cap currently walking out the exit with an angry stride. He reacts on instinct, running after his Not So Mysterious Man Anymore.
+
Kim Namjoon is having a very no good, very bad day. 
Not because of school, no. He aced all his finales, he doesn’t even need to get his grades back to know.
Not because of the weather either. No, it’s a beautiful spring day, and there’s a hint of cherry blossom in the air, wrapping the world in a romantic tint.
No, the reason he’s having a very no good very bad day, is because he can’t, for the love of God, get Kim Taehyung out of his head. 
It started with a very interesting dream, clearly drawing inspiration from the night they spent together. It woke him up at the crack of dawn, sweating up bullets and hard as a rock. Finding sleep afterward was nearly impossible, meaning his first precious day of vacation started way too fucking early.
Now music theory never sleeps, so he simply spent his morning trying to forget his dream, channeling all his energy on composing. 
But then Min Yoongi, long-time friend and co-compositor, had to go and ruin his fragile peace of mind by reminding him he had two tickets for the sculpting department exhibition, and Namjoon was obligated to show up. Meaning he would inevitably run into Kim Taehyung; Meaning he would agonize about him all day; Meaning , that he would be thinking about Kim Fucking Taehyung all day.
But it’s ok, because he was finally starting to come to terms with that too. Taehyung would probably ignore him again, and all he needed to do was circle the gallery once and get the fuck out.
But no.
Oh no.
Life had better plans.
Because right into the center of Taehyung's exhibition space, is his very own penis, standing proudly, mocking him.
He can recognize it from the flyers, so he knows instantly that it’s Taehyung’s work. 
He’s stunned by the audacity, wondering once again what he did to draw Taehyung’s ire upon himself. The flyers were not enough, no he had to go and put it on display as his final fuck you to Namjoon. Even wrote 'penis' in greek as a title, confirming Namjoon's theory that this is all a ploy to make fun of him.
Namjoon has had enough, he’s getting the fuck out of there. 
He spins on his heel at the speed of light, taking advantage of every inch of his long legs to walk out as fast as possible. He ignores the call of his name that follows after him, readjusting the cap on his head.
He’s fuming, feeling tears of frustration building up. He doesn’t deserve this. He’s been nothing but respectful of Taehyung. He’s been staying away from him too. 
He doesn’t deserve this.
He makes it a few blocks before his phone starts going off every 5 seconds with incoming texts, forcing him to finally look at it.
 Yoongi Hyung:
6:14 pm   Before anything, know that Taehyung suffers from severe face blindness.
6:14 pm   I know you know what that means you wikipedia rat
6:15 pm   I didn’t tell you cause it’s none of my business who he chooses to tell
6:15 pm   But the dumbass has been trying to find you for weeks using your dick because he had no other way to identify you
6:15 pm   Your pinning hasn't been exactly subtle either
6:16 pm    he ran after you when you left but I bet he’s pleading with the wrong person in the street right now
6:17 pm   Nice dick by the way
 He rereads the series of text to try and make sense of them. Only after the third read, does he finally understand.
Well, shit.
+
“Please Namjoon listen to me, you have to listen to me, I didn't mean to ignore you, I just didn't know it was you!-” Taehyung pleads, holding on to his sleeve.
“Can you please let go of me?!”
His voice sounds a little older than what Taehyung remembers, but he doesn’t have the time to think too much about that. Maybe he’s got a cold or something.
“-I can explain everything if you can just give me two minutes-”
“I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not this kind of person.”
Taehyung isn’t deterred, holding on to him desperately “-Please I swear just two- no, one minute, even one minute is enough-”
Someone clears their throat, tapping him softly on the shoulder. 
“Sorry sir, I believe my friend here is mistaking you for me.”
Now that’s a familiar voice. A voice he recognizes from many occasions. 
Taehyung lets go of his poor unsuspecting victim, taking a step back which is all it takes for them to run away from him.
He finally comes face to face with the source of all his past weeks' torment.
The height is there, the shoulders are there, the body proportions are there, the hair color is completely different, but Jimin did mention he changed it recently. He’s got the black cap on, the one that made Taehyung mistake a perfect stranger on the street for him.
It’s him. He found him. It’s his Mystery Man, his cinderella. He’s got him.
“Namjoon?”
“Yes, that’s me.” He confirms, voice gentle.
“Kim Namjoon.” He repeats, trying the name out on his tongue. His body is filling up with butterflies, and he can’t feel his toes.
“And here I thought you just could never remember my name.”
“I can explain–” He rushes, eager to get rid of the misunderstanding.
“It’s ok, Yoongi told me.”
“And about your penis–”
“Yes, Yoongi told me about that too.” Namjoon cuts him off, the tip of his ears getting pink.
“I’m so sorry– I should have asked your name then. I mean– you made me come four times .”
Namjoon chuckles, catching one of Taehyung’s hands mid flail and holding it with both of his, making his heart jump.
“We’ve basically known each other for years, so maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t. I don’t think I would have appreciated it then.”
“I guess that’s true. I’m still sorry.”
“I’m sorry too, I could have come up to you first. I mean, I’m the one who sneaked out in the morning. I had an 8 am class, by the way. I didn’t leave because I wanted to. But you have my number so… I assumed you would call me. ”
“I have your number...?” It's pretty vague, but it does ring a bell. He's got a blurry memory of time, around their first meeting, when Namjoon and he had exchanged their numbers for Yoongi related reasons. “That’s right, I do have your number. Fuck.”
“Well, I know now this wouldn’t have changed anything for you, since you simply didn't know it was me you were with.” Namjoon snorts, but not unkindly. More at the situation. 
But Taehyung still feels terrible.
“I’m so sorry.” He whines, feeling like burying his face in Namjoon’s chest. But they’re not there yet. “I tend to keep people at a distance to avoid misunderstandings.”
“It’s ok, I get it now. I guess I wish I knew before, but I get it now.”
“Good. I should have told you sooner. I was actually planning on doing it soon if that’s any consolation.”
“It is.” Namjoon murmurs, inching closer to him.
“Cool, cool cool.” Taehyung blurts out nervously.
This is it. This is his chance. Everything that has transpired in the last few weeks is leading up to this moment. 
"So," Namjoon starts when Taehyung has been silent for too long. "Yoongi said you were looking for me... Any particular reasons?"
"Well, yes." He answers but stops. All of this means nothing. It doesn't mean that Namjoon will accept to go out with him. He has no idea how Namjoon feels about him, and he sure as hell cannot tell by his facial expression. He's going in blind, no reason to believe that Namjoon wants to have to do anything with him. For all he knows, Namjoon is only here to settle the misunderstanding, and then be on his way. Maybe he's even mad about the penis flyers.
But then he also remembers that Namjoon is holding his hand right now. It's now or never.
He takes a deep breath for bravery and goes for it.
“Kim Namjoon, can I please take you out on a date?”
Namjoon doesn’t let him second guess himself, word leaving his mouth as fast as a blink.
“Absolutely.”
Apparently, they’ve gathered a crowd because there’s cheerful hooting and shouting erupting around them. But Taehyung pays them no mind as he goes in for a hug, Namjoon meeting him halfway.
“Wait, wait,” Namjoon says, suddenly, taking a step back. “I still don’t know why you put my penis on display at the center of your exhibition.”
Taehyung chuckles, bringing Namjoon back in. 
“Simple, ‘cause it’s a masterpiece.”
+
 2 months later
There’s a knock at the door, which throws Taehyung off. He’s getting ready for his date with Namjoon– their actual first date– and is not expecting anyone. Jimin knows the code, so it can’t be him, unless–
“Hello sir, would you be open to receiving the words of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ?”
“Jimin, I swear to god, I can tell it’s you by your voice. And no one from church would dress like you do, slut.”
Moving in with Jimin is as much a blessing as it is a curse. A blessing because, well, they’re best friends. A curse because his best friend’s favorite hobby is to try and prank him. Taehyung almost misses the time where Jimin was treating his face blindness as a taboo. 
Almost.
The last two months have been a whirlwind of life-changing events for Taehyung. 
First, moving in with Jimin is a pretty big deal. Not only has Taehung been living alone for the last three years, living with someone is sometimes a challenge for him. Wondering why a stranger is standing in your kitchen at 3 am, brain slowed down by sleep and the weak lighting not helping, isn’t always a recipe for success. But he’s slowly getting used to it, and Jimin, as much as he can be a prick, is being patient with him.
The second big event is, well, his current job. Somehow his workshop teacher, even after everything, recommended him for a job at a sculpture academy. He now teaches different types of sculpting medium to children, four nights a week. Pretty sweet gig.
At first, he was going crazy out of his mind worrying about working with children, but four weeks in and he’s feeling confident. He sat down with the kids the first week to explain to them what face blindness is, and although the children were initially confused, they now enjoy switching names with each other for the duration of his classes, to mess with his head.
Jokes on them, Taehyung also called their parents during that first week. So far, none of the children have noticed that their parents have been making them wear certain accessories every time they leave for the academy. Checkmates.
And the last big event, of course, is Namjoon. 
In between moving, his new job, and Namjoon’s own busy schedule, they have yet to go on an actual full-blown date. But they’ve slowly been getting to know each other. They make time to go on quick coffee dates sometimes, and they text none-stop. Namjoon hasn’t seen his new place yet, but they’ve hung out at Namjoon’s plenty of time. 
His boyfriend (he gets giddy thinking about that word) also showed up at the academy a few times to walk him back home (The first time he kept it as a surprise, but he quickly realized Taehyung didn’t like surprises; especially when it means having a tall stranger approach him in the dark without saying anything. Now he texts beforehand.)
“Do you like this outfit? Or should I go with my floral button-up?” He asks Jimin, who’s lounging on his bed after his failed prank attempt. 
“Why are you so stressed? It’s not like it's the first time you two see each other.”
“Because the chances of me getting laid tonight are extremely high and I want to look good.”
“Oh?” Jimin perks up, knowing full well Taehyung and Namjoon have been taking their time to get to know each other. “Should I sleepover at Hobi’s tonight?”
Another new development from the last two months: Jimin and Hoseok’s instant attraction. They’ve been dancing around each other since the exhibition, but it looks like it’s finally getting ‘ sleeping-over-at-each-others-place ’ serious.
“...Good idea,” Taehyung answers, not because he wants the house to himself (though it’s a nice perk), but he likes giving a little push to love sometimes.
His friend circle can finally be called a circle now. Somehow, Hoseok, Seokjin, and Namjoon just naturally fit into his now actually social, social life. Namjoon was the easiest since he already knew Yoongi and Jimin. Hoseok got it easy by becoming Jimin’s more-than-friend, and Seokjin just showed up one day with a video of that time, outside the gallery, when Taehyung thought an older gentleman was Namjoon because of his black cap. 
He looks at the time, curses when he realizes he’s going to be late. He grabs his wallet and puts on his shoes in a rush, and makes it out the door accompanied by Jimin shouting “Don’t you dare fuck on the couch or you’re buying a new one!”
He makes it to the Bar with only a few minutes to spare, and as luck would have it, Jungkook is working. He’s come to recognize his tattooed arm and bleached locks instantly. 
Namjoon would have texted him if he was there, which means he’s cutting it close as well, so he sends a quick ‘here 💖’ text before sitting down at the Bar with a big smile.
“You make me want to puke,” Jungkook says, disgust dripping from his words. 
“Hey now don’t be jealous, I’m sure you’ll find yourself a monster cock as well one day.”
Somehow, he and Jungkook started texting on a semi-regular basis. It’s mostly Jungkook begging Taehyung to introduce him to Seokjin (apparently he’s been crushing on the man since he first saw him at the coffee shop), which Taehyung has to find excuses every time to avoid telling Jungkook the cold, harsh truth.
(“I don’t date men with bleached hair, it ruins my whole aesthetic.” Jin said after the first time Taehyung asked. Which aesthetic he’s talking about, Taehyung has no idea.)
But that also means that Jungkook has heard all about his very fascinating and blooming love story with Namjoon.
“Did you tell Seokjin I said hi?”
“Dude, just go and ask him out. You know where he works, you know where he studies, you even know his birthday, which is really creepy when you two have never talked by the way. Just, go ask him out, he won’t be able to resist you once he actually sees how attractive you are.” He pauses for a second, then adds for safety measure, “But if he reaches in his pocket, just run the other way.”
“What?” 
“Don’t ask, just trust me.” Taehyung has some unpleasant flashbacks of a bottle of pepper spray being waved in front of his face. He shakes his head to try and get rid of the memory.
“And how would you even know that I’m attractive, you don’t actually know what I look like.” Jungkook retorts.
“Shut up, just go and ask him.”
“Just go and ask him what?” A familiar voice asks from behind him, and Taehyung's smile is back full force. He rotates on his chair and jumps into Namjoon’s arms, hearing him groan under the strain of his weight. He can hear Jungkook fake gagging behind him, the actual child.
They share a quick kiss before they both sit down at the bar.
“You’re not seriously thinking about having your date here, are you?”
Taehyung snorts, tempted to mess with Jungkook, but Namjoon is the one to answer.
“No we just wanted to get the evening started with a nice drink, but we have a reservation to an actual fancy restaurant, paid graciously by Taehyung's actual serious adult job.”
“Is it a serious adult job if he had to stop a kid from eating his donut-shaped clay yesterday?”
“Shut up. If you keep being like that I’m going to order the most annoying thing on the menu.”
Jungkook scoffs and walks away, without actually taking their orders.
They both watch him do a big show of ignoring them, answering other customers without turning in their direction.
“Let’s just get out of here.” Namjoon whispers in his ear. “We can go waste time walking around aimlessly, hand in hand.”
“God, you’re so cheesy,” Taehyung mutters, but he actually loves it.
His dating experience before Namjoon amounts to an enormous zero, but it’s not because he’s one of those unattainable, i-don’t-believe-in-love types of people that live rent-free in Hollywood movies. He simply never thought it would be possible to get close to someone romantically with his condition. But since officially meeting Namjoon, he’s been researching, and turns out, he totally can. 
There are even people, artists like him, who've noticed that repeatedly drawing or painting their loved one has made them actually able to remember their face (not 100% of the time, but he’ll take what he can get.). So he’s been sketching, using pictures, trying out different angles. He’s planning on using clay at one point. He’s totally the girl from Lionel Richie’s music video. Which makes Namjoon Lionel Richie.
“Did you know that I was inspired by Lionel Richie’s music video to sculpt your penis?”
Namjoon chuckles under his breath, squeezing Taehyung’s hand just a little bit more. The hot summer air is making their palms sweaty, but they both don’t care. 
“Where is that thing, by the way? It’s been a while since I’ve last seen it.”
“I put it on my bedside table when I moved in and I haven't moved it since. I’m thinking about making it into a lamp. I have to keep it out of reach of Jimin and Hoseok, they both seem a little too interested.”
Namjoon grimaces. Or Taehyung is assuming that’s his grimacing face. 
“Please never let it fall into their hands.”
“I swear on my honor, I shall protect your penis.”
“Thank you, I feel better now. I still can’t believe they put it on the first page of ‘Sculpting Now’. Crazy how all of your friends and the sculpting world know what my dick looks like.
“It’s a masterpiece. If it was mine I would never keep it in my pants, I’d always want to show it off.”
“How are you not in prison right now?”
“I don’t have your dick in my pants, sadly. Did you know that Seokjin almost pepper-sprayed me the first time we met? In retrospect, having a stranger run after you, pleading for you to look at their dick is a good excuse to pull out your pepper spray.”
“Wait, you did what?”
“It was all in the name of love.”
Namjoon shakes his head, probably disappointed in him.
+
Namjoon is utterly enamored. Every time Taehyung recalls a story from when he ran around school trying to find him, he falls a little bit more in love. 
He was so nervous for their first romantic date that he couldn’t eat during the day, but Taehyung is making him feel at ease, as he usually does, so hunger is coming back with a vengeance.
“Should we go to the restaurant now?” He asks, pulling Taehyung along with him. "It's almost time."
“Let’s.” Taehyung agrees readily, “I’m ravenous.”
They quickly make their way to the restaurant, only to find its door closed. There’s a sign in the window reading “Closed for vermin infestation”.
“Oh.” Namjoon says, “Dammit. That’s not good.”
There’s this awkward silence, filled with growling sounds from both their bellies. It’s too late to make reservations anywhere nice, and anywhere else risks being too loud for a romantic Rendez-Vous. Namjoon is scrambling his brain for a solution when Taehyung’s shy voice interrupts.
“Hum, if you want to– Jimin told me he wouldn't be home tonight, so… You want to come over? We can pick up some ramen on the way.”
Taehyung’s face might be neutral, but the blush growing on his cheeks is anything but. Namjoon takes a moment to appreciate the sight that he makes, burning up in embarrassment. Without the blushing, Namjoon would have believed he’s only inviting him for ramen, but the angry red of his cheeks is definitely betraying Taehyung’s intentions.
He nods his agreement, feeling anticipation replace hunger in the pit of his stomach.
+
 Having Namjoon in his space is a new experience. 
The apartment is still messy from their move, boxes lying around, but they’ve managed to make it quite homey. Everything that is necessary to their everyday life has been unboxed, only the odd objects being ignored by Jimin and him.
He puts on some soft music to set a nice mood, and Namjoon is humming along straight away, which is all the approval he needs to feel confident about his music selection. Music Theory graduate approved. 
 He gets to work on the ramen while he directs Namjoon on where to find a cheap bottle of wine and some wine glasses. He sets the table, trying to make it as nice as possible, but it’s really just a pot of bubbling ramen and two bowls with some chopsticks. 
They eat in comfortable silence, the music playing in the background mixing with the sound of their eating.
But then Namjoon dumps the content of his wine glass on his tan-colored pants, and it’s downhill from there.
“Damn it!” He curses, jumping to his feet. He grabs some napkins to try and pat some wine off, but it’s already been absorbed by his fancy suit pants. 
“Quick, take them off,” Taehyung says, not thinking too hard and only reacting to the situation at hand. “Let’s rinse them in the sink.” 
Namjoon complies, taking them off in record time, passing them on to Taehyung like it’s a relay race.
Taehyung deposits them straight in the sink, opening the tap and letting the water hopefully get rid of most of the stain. They both stand there for a minute, staring at the water filling up. 
But then it hits Taehyung that Namjoon’s thighs are currently bare and in his vicinity. He sneaks a quick peek to satisfy his horny brain, but he’s quick to snap his eyes back to the sink to avoid doing anything stupid.
Like, let’s say , dropping to his knees. 
He can feel himself blushing, his cheeks, ears, and neck feeling hot. He knew exactly what he was doing, inviting Namjoon for some ramen, but now that he can act on it, he’s suddenly feeling very shy. 
Plus, not being able to read facial expressions never really impaired his ability to get laid. He used to just– go to the bar, wait until someone would offer him to get out of there, and go for it. 
But this is not a bar, and Namjoon won’t ask him if he wants to get out of there. He has no idea how to tell if Namjoon wants to jump into bed with him. Or not. 
He takes matters into his own hands.
“So, as you know,” He starts, staring intently at the water flowing out of the tap, “this whole face blindness thing– I can’t really read your facial expressions. So in the future, it’ll be hard for me to figure out if you’re angry or happy, or sad, or… or horny. I’ve never done this whole– Romantic relationship thing, but I’m guessing we’re going to have to be really vocal with how we’re feeling, what we want, whatnot.”
He lets his statements hang in the air, staring at the stain that doesn’t seem to want to go away. He’s thinking maybe this will have to be removed professionally. 
But then, Namjoon chooses that moment to drop a soft kiss on his nape.
“Are you asking me, right now, if I want you?” 
Taehyung turns around, letting himself be cornered against the counter. Namjoon has his nicely defined biceps, somehow peeking through his suit vest, on each side of him. He absolutely loves it.
“Yes. I am.”
Namjoon kisses his neck once again, and Taehyung is this close to losing it. 
“I absolutely want you.” His boyfriend finally answers, landing a heavy kiss on his lips, sucking all the air out of Taehyung’s lungs.
 After turning Taehyung’s inside to mush via lips on lips crime, he returns to his assault on Taehyung’s neck, peppering the skin he can reach with sweet kisses, each one sending electricity straight to his groin. 
“Do you want me?” Namjoon questions softly into his ear, making Taehyung's eyes roll back so far he’s scared they’ll never come back. 
“Fuck yes.” He grinds out, voice turning to a whine when Namjoon, emboldened by Taehyung’s enthusiasm, rocks his pelvis into his in a languid motion.
He sees white then, bringing Namjoon’s mouth back to his, smashing their mouths together in a wet and messy kiss.
“How important are your pants?” He inquires in between kisses, enjoying the slow grinding Namjoon has going on. He’s still in his suit pants, but Namjoon only has the thin cotton of his boxer brief as a barrier. Taehyung can clearly feel his monster cock waking up from its slumber. 
“Not very important.” He finally answers, hands letting go of the counter to firmly grab at Taehyung’s ass. 
Taehyung can proudly say he’s got a fat ass, and Namjoon seems to appreciate it if the growl that escapes him is anything to go by.
He gets to work on the buttons of Namjoon’s dress shirt, Namjoon getting the message and taking his vest off by himself. Soon he’s standing there in only his boxer briefs and socks, while Taehyung is still fully dressed.
It’s kind of hot. 
They slow it down a little, Taehyung pushing Namjoon away so he can take a good look at him. 
The light of the kitchen falls almost gracefully over Namjoon’s defined chest, creating shadows that chisel out his muscles even more. It’s a sight to behold. 
He drags his hands down Namjoon's body, teasing a nipple as he goes with a flick of the thumb, mapping out his taut stomach with the tip of his finger, then coming back up to hold onto his strong shoulders.
“You know, I’m like, really good at massages. I feel like this is something you should know.”
Seems like this is all the time Namjoon will allow him away from him. He reels him back in with an arm around his waist, the other taking hold of one of Taehyung’s hands and bringing it to his mouth. He nips at his fingers, maintaining eye contact while he uses his tongue to soothe the sting.
How he’s even real is beyond Taehyung.
“Do you need help undressing?” Namjoon teases, reaching for his belt.
“Let me close the tap and we can move this to my room.” 
Namjoon doesn’t give him a response, only cages him once again against the counter, plastering the full length of his warm body to his. He reaches behind Taehyung and moments later, the soft ambiance music is the only thing they can hear again. 
Taehyung leads him to his bedroom, taking off his vest as they go. Somehow Namjoon already got his belt buckle, so he unceremoniously drops his pants to the floor, then jumps on his bed.
“Welcome to my room. That’s my desk, that’s my bedside table, that’s a replica of your penis, but I heard the original is planning on making an appearance tonight. This is my bed. Hope you enjoyed the tour.” He finally gets to the final button, looking up eagerly as he sends his shirt off to the side, wondering what’s taking Namjoon so long to get on the goddamn bed.
He finds his lover completely captivated by his penis duplicate.
“You’ve got the same one in your pants, you know. Get you your ass over here.” 
“Sorry I was just thinking… it’s crazy how similar you made it only from your memory.”
“Excuse me?” Taehyung objects, crossing his arms over his chest. “They’re not just similar, they’re identical.” 
“Only one way to check, is there?” Namjoon taunts, before finally, finally getting rid of his briefs, releasing the Kraken. 
Except he also grabs hold of the sculpture, bringing it close so he can do a side-by-side comparison. 
“You’re right, it is identical. How did you even manage that?” He says, awe in his voice. “Have you ever used it on yours–” 
Namjoon loses his train of thought as he takes in the sight of Taehyung, laying in bed completely naked, pumping himself at a leisurely pace and looking very unimpressed. 
“No, I haven’t. But if you don’t get into bed in the next 5 seconds I just might consider it.”
Namjoon doesn’t have to be told twice.
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
Text
Riding High
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Ch20: When The Bough Breaks
Chapter Summary: Fliss finds herself in an impossible position…and her decision tips Frank’s world upside down.
Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.
 Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher
 A/N: Don’t hate me… 
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 19
And this day’s ending is the proof of time, killing all the faith I know.
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 “Was that another one?” Frank asked as Fliss tossed her phone onto the coffee table with an angry snort.
 She nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Frank sighed and looked at her “Honey…” “I know, I know…” she looked at him. “Look, I’ve made notes of every time I’ve had one so… its recorded. But again, it’s not like we can prove anything…they happen like twice a day and then nothing…hardly what they’ll call harassment.” Frank shifted slightly “This has been going on for 2 weeks now sweetheart.” “I’m well aware of that.” she snapped, before she shook her head “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry…not at you.” “Come here…” he said, opening his arms and she snuggled into him, leaning against his chest as his hand gently ran up and down her arm. “Maybe you should think about changing your number…and not putting the new one on the website.” “Yeah.” she conceded, “It’s not gonna help for work though…” “You can work round it.” he said, “Keep the business line and if you’re not there people will have to leave a message. Then, once you know your clients…you can give them your cell number.”
 “Fucking ass hole is still making my life awkward.”
 “Only if you let him. It’s a minor inconvenience to change your number but, if in the grand scheme of things all he has in his back pocket is sending you some dumbass birthday card and silent phone calls then…he’s just a pathetic fucking loser that’s trying to bully you into being scared.” “I’m not scared, just pissed off.” she shook her head “I know he’s a chicken shit, he wouldn’t dare come near me not when you’re on the scene…or my dad for that matter.” “Good, because if he did I’m not sure I’d be able to control myself.” Frank said softly.
“Maybe we should just pay someone to kill him.” Fliss said after a moment’s pause and Frank let out a snort “Bullet straight between the eyes.”
“Nah, too quick.” Frank sniffed, reaching for his beer “I’d dangle him over a tank of hungry sharks and lower him in inch by inch…”
“Or we could feed him to pigs, like in Hannibal.” Fliss mused.
 “That’s also an option…no trace” he nodded taking a mouthful of beer.
 “You know they should teach this shit at schools” Fliss reached for her own drink “How to get rid of bodies. I feel it is something everyone should be educated in.” “Maybe you should mention it to Bonnie. Tell her you feel it is an educational rite of passage or some other inspiring shit like that…”
 Fliss laughed, placing her wine glass down and shifting so that she was led on her front, half on-half off Frank, looking up at him as her chin rest on his chest.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a meltdown are we facing with Mary on tomorrow morning?”
 “From her current mood I’d suspect a good 4 and a half, maybe a 5.” he mused, before he looked at Fliss “I don’t much care, she’s going whether she wants to or not.” “When do the University Classes start again?”
 “Not till second week in October.”  Frank replied “Which reminds me, I need to submit that funding form tomorrow…” “It’s on the table.” Fliss said, as she correctly guessed from the look on his face he was pondering where he had put it.”
“What would I do without you?” he grinned down at her.
 “I have absolutely no idea.” she shrugged and he smiled and leaned down pressing a kiss to her lips.
 “Did you speak to Evelyn before?” Fliss asked him and he nodded.
 “She’s coming down this weekend.” Frank said, “She’s still on about Mary going to Boston for a weekend.” “You still not comfortable about her going?” Fliss asked.
 Frank wrinkled his nose “I don’t know if I trust her fully yet.” “You’ll never know you can unless you give her a chance.” Fliss reasoned
 “You think I should let her go?” Frank said, slightly surprised.
 “That’s not my decision to make, Frank” Fliss shook her head.
 “No, but I value your opinion.” Frank looked at her. “Go on, tell me what you think.” Fliss hesitated for a moment before she sat up and turned her body so she was facing him, her legs tucked underneath her on the sofa. “If it was me in your position, I’d give Evelyn a chance. She’s played ball so far, done everything you’ve asked her to. You’ve got legal guardianship of Mary so she can’t pull any stupid stunts, and if Mary comes back and tells you something she did that you don’t like, well, you cut the visits.” Frank looked at Fliss before he took another drink from his beer bottle. He was torn in two. In one respect he wanted Mary to be happy and it certainly seemed that she enjoyed seeing Evelyn, but on flip side he was still more than comfortable with keeping his Mother at arm’s length.
“I’ll think about it.” he shrugged, non-committedly.
 “Well, you should also ask Mary.” Fliss said “She might not even want to go.” “She will.” Frank said, “Evelyn has a piano.” Fliss laughed “Yeah, but she’s also bossy, remember?”
 “Yeah, I had heard that.” Frank said, and Fliss chuckled again.
 “Well, can you not think about it right now?” she said, taking the beer bottle out of his hand.
“Hey…” he pouted as she put it down on the table, his pout soon turned into a smirk as Fliss moved so she was straddling him on the sofa, his t-shirt that she’d been lounging around in rode up her thighs slightly and his hands rubbed up the side of her bare skin. “Something on your mind baby girl?”
 “What makes you think that?” she asked, sliding her hands up his chest, over the soft material of his top.
 “Just a hunch…” he mumbled, as he reached up and gently gripped the back of her neck, pulling her head down to meet his.
****** “Hey Frank…”
 Frank looked up and smiled at Alan as he walked into the work shop.
 “Hey Alan, not seen you in a while, how you doing?” “Good…I’m good. I was just wondering if I could have a word in my office.”
 “Sure.” Frank frowned “Is err, everything ok?” “Oh, yeah, it’s nothing to worry about…quite the opposite in fact…” “Alright, well me just finish piecing this oil filter together and I’ll be with you.”
 “Sure.” Alan said, “No rush.” 
Frank quickly tightened the filter back up, gave it the once over before he set down his tools and hopped off the boat, wiping his hands on a rag before he walked through the door at the back of the workshop and down the small corridor that led to the main office at the rear of the shop. He knocked sharply on the door and then swung it open as Alan looked at him, gesturing for him to take a seat whilst he finished up his call. Eventually, he bid the person on the other end good bye and placed the receiver down.
 “Relax, Frank…” Alan chuckled as Frank adjusted his jeans for what felt like the 30th time since sitting down.
 “Sorry.” Frank nodded, scratching at his temple. “So errr, do you need me to do something or...” “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Alan said “As you know Paul is retiring at the end of the year, which means the Head Mechanic role is up for grabs…and I was wondering if you’d be interesting in taking the position.” “Me?” Frank’s eyes widened slightly
Alan nodded “I know in the grand scheme of things you haven’t been here long but you’ve impressed me, just like Bill said you would. You knuckle down, you do the overtime if needed, you don’t complain…I like you Frank, and the team does to.” “I err…” Frank scratched the back of his neck. “I’m flattered…but I’ve never managed a team before or…”
“You were an Assistant Professor at one stage right?” Alan eyed him and Frank sighed, nodding “You must have had a research team…” “Yeah, but…” “It’s no different.” Alan shook his head, “And I’m here to help and give you some guidance. I’m not quite ready to retire fully yet. Not like Bill, only so much golf I can play before I go fucking nuts.” Frank snorted “Yeah, not gonna lie, it’s not my thing…” Alan looked at him “The duties won’t be that much different Frank. You’ll just be in charge of booking the jobs in, allocating them to the guys, keeping on top of deadlines and general management of the team���means a little less time spent actually getting your hands dirty but…well, you can manage that yourself. You wanna take a job you take it.”
 “Can I take a bit of time to think it over?” he asked.
“Sure. Take a few days, let me know. I’d like to have whoever is taking over in a position to start the handover by the start of October if possible so…” “Thanks.” Frank nodded “I’ll give it some thought.” “Oh, and it also comes with a Ten thou a year raise…” Alan casually dropped in as Frank stood up “Plus a bonus each year of up to 20 percent, depending on how well you’ve done on your targets” “Just a minor detail you forgot to tell me.” Frank arched an eyebrow.
 “Well, I wanted to make sure you’d consider it for the right reasons not merely the financial incentive.” Alan shrugged “Another reason I’m convinced you’re perfect for the job.” Frank nodded and with that he left the office. Given that it was almost lunch time he took his break 15 or so minutes earlier and headed out into the September sun, pulling out his phone.
 “Hey Sailor.” Fliss greeted him.
 “Hey Cowgirl.” he smiled, leaning against the hood of his truck sipping a bottle of water “You got a sec.” “For you, always. What’s up?”
“Nothing, nothing bad anyway…I just got offered a promotion.”
 “Frankie that’s amazing!” She gushed “You sound surprised though.” “I am, a little.” he said, before he launched into an explanation of what Alan had told him and what the job would entail, plus the financial incentives.
 “Wow!” she said as he finished talking “Baby, that’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you!”
Frank felt himself blushing at her praise, and despite the fact he couldn’t even see her he rubbed at his neck slightly. “So, you think I should take it?” “Of course I do.  But at the same time, if you don’t want to then…you don’t have to. This is a great position to be in honey, Alan’s clearly seen your potential.”
 “Just not sure If I’m cut out to be management.” he said, biting his lip.
 “I had the same thoughts about my business you know.” she spoke gently “I wasn’t sure if setting up on my own after everything that happened was gonna work but then Dad told me that I’d never know unless I took the plunge. Have a little faith in yourself. The only person who doubts your capability is you.”
Frank smiled at her words and looked up and out over the Marina “You always know exactly what to say.” “Not really, I make most of it up as a go along.” she said and Frank laughed. “But, just think, with the extra money you can get a new car…” “There’s nothing wrong with my truck.” “Frank, it’s died on you 4 times in the last 2 weeks. Dad reckons his ride on lawnmower has more power under the hood than that thing”
 “Ok, I’ll admit…she’s getting a little clunky…but she is into her twenties now….” Fliss snorted “You could get yourself a nice Audi…”
“Fuck off.” Frank said and she laughed
 “I like Simon’s car…” “You like it so much you get one.”
“Would never fit Thor in the back.” she said and Frank had to concede she had a point “But now you’re freelancing…you don’t actually need a truck do you?” “No, but…it’s handy…” “Handy, baby it only has three seats…” “And a flatbed…” Frank pouted slihglty. “So get one with five seats.” she shrugged. “You can buy trucks with a full cab…”
“This is not a good enough reason to get me to take the promotion…” 
“You want a better reason?” She said. “Ok, well here’s some food for thought…when the lease is up on our place maybe we could look into buying. You know I don’t wanna rent forever, I want us to have something for the future that’s ours, and the extra money you get a year would make a difference in what we can borrow towards it.” And just like that, as always, she’d managed to sideswipe him. He’d be lying if he hadn’t considered getting back on the property market, he had savings after all…but he’d given it no more thought than a fleeting idea every now and then when he drove past places with real estate signs in the front yards
 “This mean you’re coming round to the idea of marrying me and having baby Franks and Flisses?” She snorted “You’re such a dick…although that’s the only time you’ve ever mentioned that when you’re sober.” “So you’re saying that if I ask you when I’m not drunk you’d say yes?” he teased. “Goodbye Frank…” She teased in an airy voice, before she cut the call.
 Chuckling to himself he slid the phone back into his pocket and headed back inside to grab his lunch from the fridge in the kitchen. As he did so he passed Paul who was heading out with a fresh cup of coffee.
 “Oh, erm…Alan…” Frank looked at him. “So, turns out I don’t need as much time to think about it as I thought I did. I’ll take the job.” Alan smiled at him and pat him on the shoulder “Good man. I’ll get the wheels in motion and then we can work out how we start to transfer Paul’s responsibilities over.”
Frank nodded at him as he walked off.
 “Oh…” Alan called after him, “We’ll also need to pick your car.”
“My car…” Frank frowned.
 “Yeah, did I not mention? Paul’s BM…that’s a company car. I’m gonna let him keep it as a retirement present so we’ll need to order you another one. Not least because I don’t want my Head Mechanic driving around in that heap of shit you have. Looks like we don’t pay you enough…” Frank stood there, eyebrows raised as Alan simply smirked at him and left. Shaking his head, he gave a little groan, already imagining Fliss’ face when he told her.
*****
Fliss had reacted exactly how he had thought she would, laughing hysterically and then teasing him about how he had no alternative now than to get rid of the heap of shit he was ridiculously attached to. She’d then spent the evening looking at cars on her phone, showing him ridiculously pimped out vehicles in various vile colours, the final straw being a hot-rod red for Mustang with gold rims and flames painted down the side. At that point he’d snatched the phone out of her hand, grabbed her hips and pulled her down under him on the couch and given her something else to think about for half an hour or so.
September ticked by, in the usual speed by which time seemed to be flying for Frank and he found himself thrown into his job, soaking up Paul’s experience of managing the team as much as he could. He was also extremely grateful for both Fliss and Bill’s input, both of them having dealt with managing staff and rotas so he was able to ask them both questions as well. Naturally, when V heard about it she insisted on cooking him a special dinner, and even Evelyn presented him with a very nice bottle of Scotch when she came to visit as a Congratulations.
 Another bit of good news for them was that once Fliss changed her phone number the calls stopped as well. Frank was glad about that, because it meant that once again they’d thwarted the ass holes attempts to intimidate her. She’d made a blog, however, of every call she had gotten which now sat in Greg’s files along with the Card. Just in case.
Nope, on the whole life seemed to be going well for the pair of them.
“Someone’s looking smug…” Greg teased Frank as he leaned back in the chair around Greg’s large outdoor table. It was a Saturday at the start of October and they’d finally got round to having that cook out and gathering that the Circle of Truth had been attempting to organise round everyone’s schedule for the last 3 months.
 “Well, you know…life’s pretty good.” Frank smiled, sipping his beer, his eyes straying to Fliss who was stood around the bar area to the right of the garden with Bonnie, Zara and Lisa. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a tie-died off the shoulder sweater but as usual, she looked stunning.
 “You got a ring yet?” Jake asked, dropping down into a seat next to him.
 “Oh don’t you start as well.” Frank groaned as Simon and Greg both laughed. “We’re happy as we are…besides, we’ve not even been together a year yet…” “Not far off.” Jake shrugged “Man, when you know you know…” “He’s just scared she’ll say no.” Simon teased. Frank stilled for a moment and then turned to glare at the man. “Shit, you are?” Simon frowned “No, not especially but…” Frank shook his head, trying to find the words to explain “I’m absolutely, totally convinced I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I know she feels the same but…well she’s been married before and I don’t want to ask until I know she’s ready to do it again.”
Greg looked at him, nodding “I get that.”
“That’s gotta be the most grown up think you’ve ever said…” Jake looked at Frank who flipped him off but deep down he had to admit, it wasn’t wrong. He knew that both he and Fliss had come a long way from the people they had been just over 14 months ago when they had first met. Fliss had come alive, flourished even in herself, and he…well, he’d learnt that there was more to life than the meaningless cycle of one night stands and that flying by the seat of his pants wasn’t always the most productive thing to do. Both of them had been broken in their own way, had their own guards and walls around themselves which the other had managed to smash straight through. He stole another glance at Fliss and smiled, he knew there was no other woman for him, but in the same breath…what was the rush? They had a life time. And a ring and a piece of paper wasn’t going to change any of that.
 “Man you grew up…” Simon grinned and Frank rolled his eyes.
 “Look, I’ll have you know I’ve brought up a kid since the age of 6 months…all this shit about me being a man child…It’s crap…”
 “Whatever man…we all know you’re not a grown up until you have scatter cushions on your sofa…” Simon teased, referencing the previous week when he and Bonnie had come over for drinks and Fliss and Frank had had a jokey argument about said cushions. Frank threw his head back in a huge bout of laugher, shaking his head.
 “Fuck you!” he said, looking at him as Simon grinned.
 “Anyway, man…speaking of weddings…” Greg turned to Jake “You’ve been engaged for what? Three years now…when you gonna set a date?”
“He has a point…” Simon looked at him.
“Well, you can all shut the fuck up because for your information we have.”
“Shut the front door!” Greg grinned
 Jake nodded and took a large mouthful of his beer.
 “So you gonna tell any of us or…” Jake glanced over at Lisa before he yelled her name and she looked over at him, the other women also looking up. 
“Can we tell them now babe?” he called. Lisa grinned and nodded, and then made her way over followed by Zara. Fliss looked at Bonnie who shrugged, and the two of them picked up their drinks and followed.
 Fliss perched on Frank’s knee and he slid one hand round her waist the other dropped to her thigh.
 “So, we have set a date for the wedding.” Lisa smiled to a huge shriek from Zara. Frank spotted Fliss looking at Bonnie, the two of them sharing a significant smirk and he squeezed her thigh.
 “Stop being a bitch.” he said in a low voice.
 “Rude…” she mumbled, grinning into her gin. “6th April next year…” Jake grinned. “At Hardemans Secret Garden in Dover, Tampa.” “Well unless you invented a time machine, it ain’t gonna be this year is it?” Simon looked at him, before he gave a yell as Bonnie slapped him round the back of the head.
 “Obviously you’re all invited.” Jake said, “Except for Simon.” “Hang on, if he isn’t coming does that mean I can’t?” Bonnie pouted.
“You can be my plus one.” Fliss nodded.
 “Oi…” Frank nipped her thigh gently. She grinned at him, ruffling his hair slightly. He jerked his head out of her reach and looked at her over his aviators. She stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned.
 “Guys this is great news…” Greg said, nodding “Best dig the suit out.” “You wear a suit to work every day.” Zara looked at him. 
“And you won’t need to.” Jake shook his head. “In fact none of you will…my brother is best man, obviously, but I’d like you guys there as my Groomsmen…that is, if you’re up for it.” Frank smiled at Greg, then Simon before they all shrugged.
“Yeah, I’m in…” Greg smiled.
“Me too pal, I’m honoured.” Frank smiled, tipping his beer bottle in Jake’s direction.
“Does this mean we get to plan the Batchelor party?” Simon asked. Jake nodded with a grin and Simon leaned back “Oh this is gonna be beautiful….”
***** “You’re fucking mental.” Frank looked at Fliss as she shrugged, circling Cap back round to the jump which Joanne had just hiked up another foot. He shook his head and turned away “I can’t watch.” “Don’t’ be a chicken Frank.” Mary grinned up at him, “It’s cool…I wanna do that some day.” “Over my dead body.” Frank looked down at her.
“Yeah you said that about me going to Boston.” “No, that’s not what I said.” Frank sighed, looking at her “I said over my dead body were you going to live with Evelyn….and did you?” “No…” Mary conceded “But you’re letting me go back for a weekend.”
“Yes, because you’re going for 2 nights and coming home” he said, and despite himself he turned his head to see Fliss sail Cap over the huge jump.
“See….” Fliss said, pulling the horse up to a stop “Easy…” “Whatever you say sweetheart.” he shook his head.
“Can I jump Monty soon?” Mary asked, and Fliss smiled.
“Yeah we can do a little cross pole…” “I give in…” Frank groaned, throwing his hands out to the side “The pair of you are nuts.”
“Says the guy who almost cried when he had to order a new car.” Fliss looked at him and Frank rolled his eyes “I mean who does that?” “Yeah Frank…” Mary said, swinging off the fence to the paddock, leaning back to look at him. “You get to swap a rust bucket for a shiny new Mitsubishi and you were like heartbroken.” “Hey, me and that truck have seen a lot of action-“ “I don’t wanna know…” Fliss started.
“Of which you’ve been part of…” he smirked her and she flushed a little, grinning. “I’m kinda attached to it.” “It’s a lump of metal.” Fliss looked at him.
“How dare you.” Frank scoffed, feigning offence.
“Well now you can have new adventures in the new truck.” Mary shrugged “Simples.” “When you do get it I vote the first thing we do is load it up and head off for a picnic somewhere.” Fliss said, hopping off Cap.
“I can go with that.” Frank nodded as she turned and walked towards the gate, letting her out.
 “Can I take him?” Mary asked, hopping down off the fence. 
“Sure…” Fliss said, handing her the reins. Mary led the horse away to the barn as Fliss removed her hat and pulled out her bobble, shaking her long hair free before she tied it back up again.
“I really do like it that colour.” Frank mused after a second, watching her. She blushed a little, and he knew why. A week ago she’d come back from the salon, her usually bright auburn hair was a lot more demure, having had caramel put through the ends. When Frank had complimented her on the change she’d gotten a little shy and said that she used to have it like that when she was younger, but John had always wanted her to keep it her natural colour. Now she felt like she fancied a change. Her admission had once again, knocked Frank for, how simple little things like that were so huge for her.
She pulled off her riding gloves, shoved them into her back pocket and they walked into the barn as Mary opened Cap’s stable and led him inside. As always, the large horse bowed his head gently to allow Mary to undo his bridle and Fliss smiled. Cap was secretly her favourite after Heidi. He was such a loving animal, despite his size always being so gentle and careful around people, especially Mary. Most animals were like that around her, she just had this aura that they seemed to like. But then again, everyone said that animals were a good judge of character.
 “Can we go to the shack for dinner?” Mary spoke up, looking at Frank “It is Saturday…”
 “Oh, I dunno…” Frank sighed, “Not sure my heap of shit truck will get us there.” “No but Fliss’ jeep will.” Mary shrugged and Frank shook his head with a snort.
“You literally have an answer for everything.”
 “Wonder where she gets that from…” Fliss looked at him and he nudged her gently with his elbow.
 “So can we go or not?”
 “Yes, ok we can go to the shack.” Frank said “But the deal is you tidy your room when you get home. It’s a disgrace.” Mary pondered this for a moment as Fliss undid the girth on Cap’s saddle, pulling it off.
 “Deal.” she nodded “Only Fliss said she was gonna help me sort my clothes out…some of them don’t fit anymore.”
“Yeah we do that tomorrow morning.” Fliss smiled, “Then we can look at ordering you some warm stuff for New York.” “Are we still getting matching sweaters when we get there?” “No.” Frank said, at the same time Fliss nodded.
“Yes.” “No, we’re not.” Frank looked at her. 
“Errr 2 vs 1 Sailor, you’re outvoted.” she shrugged, pushing past him with the saddle on her arms. “But if you’re a good boy we’ll let you pick them right Mary?” “I dunno.” Mary frowned “Have you seen his shirts?” Fliss let out a roar of laughter and turned to face her, before she looked at Frank, laughing even harder at the pure indignation on his face. 
“I hate you both.” he said sullenly, folding his arms.
 The Shack was busy by the time they arrived but given that it wasn’t too cold they managed to find a small table outside and ordered their food, Mary getting through an astonishing amount considering but the Frank had noticed she was going through a bit of a growth spurt which he mentioned to Fliss when they were snuggled up on the sofa later.
“Not sure getting her any stuff for New York yet is wise.” he mused “If she carries on like she is it won’t fit her.”
“Well we can wait…Fliss said shrugging, her hand rubbing at Frank’s stomach under his shirt. “You have no idea how excited I am…” “Really?” Frank snorted “You never mentioned it.” “Oh piss off” she laughed, before she sighed happily “It’s the one thing I miss about home and Boston…you know this time of year the leaves would be changing colour and falling,…”
“I know what you mean.” he said, his hands carding through her hair “You don’t really Seasons here.”
“Well you do…” Fliss said, “Hurricane and Summer.” Frank let out a laugh as she looked up at him. “You know you’re my hurricane.”
“What?” he looked at her
 “Came into my life, blew it all upside down…” “Jesus you talk some shit!” he laughed, shaking his head as she grinned. 
“You know there was actually a hurricane Frank back in 2010. So I’m not talking complete shit…” “Whatever Sweetheart…” he snorted, leaning back as her nails scratched against his stomach. He gave a twitch and grabbed her wrist, and looked down at her as she flashed him a coy look. “Stop it.”
“What, this?” she moved and used her other hand, and Frank let out a hiss as he shifted and grabbed that one too.
 “You know what that does to me…” he looked at her, his voice low.
 “Yup.” she nodded, grinning.
 With a jerk of his arms he pulled her forward so she fell onto him fully, drawing a giggle from her as her nose bumped against his.
 “I fuckin’ love you.” he smiled at her, and she grinned, giving him a soft kiss.
 “Yeah, you’ve told me once or twice…” she smirked, her lips locking onto his.
******
 “Fliss?”
 “Office…” she called back, and a second or so later Joanne popped her head into the room.
 “Everything’s done.” she said, “I was gonna lock up…you’re not normally here this late.”
 “Yeah I know but I have some paper work to sort. Need to file a couple of things and, well, thought it would be easier to do it here than take everything home. Frank’s taken Mary bowling so…” “And you’d rather be here doing paper work?” Joanne teased.
“Sadly, it needs doing…besides, last time we went I kicked his ass, again, he sulked for hours.” Fliss snorted “Maybe he stands more of a chance against Mary.”
“Won’t he let her win?” Joanne asked “I mean, she is only eight…”
“No chance.” Fliss looked at Jo. “He says that she needs reminding every now and then that she’s not a genius at everything…” Joanne let out a laugh “Fair enough. Ok, well I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, bye Jo…”
 Fliss set about getting to work, filing the various bills and disclaimers she’d had signed and started then sifting through the list of clients and payments, checking who owed what and typing out the bills for the month. Once they were printed and placed in envelopes, ready to be tacked to the stable doors in the morning she glanced at the clock and realised it was almost 8 pm.  Frank and Mary should be home now.
She was just about to pack up when she realised she hadn’t gone through the post for the day. For a second she debated leaving it for the morning, but decided she would get it over with. There wasn’t much- mostly a couple of letters from various equestrian societies around the area about a few events going on, but the last one she reached was a manila envelope with the address typed out on the front.
 She turned it over, opened it and then pulled out the contents and immediately felt her blood run cold as she looked at the paper in front of her. It was a copy of the photo of her and Mary, taken from the first Blog that Mary had written over the summer. Underneath it was typed a simple message- I always knew you’d suit motherhood.
 Fliss swallowed, it didn’t take a genius to work out who it was from but for the first time since his ridiculous campaign now she was actually frightened as to the meaning behind this. Up until now it he’d been nothing more than annoying but this was designed to be more than an aggravation.
 It was a threat. A direct threat telling her he knew about Mary.
 Whilst Fliss wasn’t Mary’s mother, and would never claim to be she loved that girl like she was her own and the fact that John was even brining her into this made her feel physically sick, so much so that she felt the bile rising in her throat and with a sharp heave she lurched to the side, grabbing the waste paper basket and hocking up the bitter substance. Coughing she wiped the back of her mouth with a shaking hand, reaching for the bottle of water on her desk.
 She folded the photo up and stuck it back in the envelope, shoving it in the drawer before she stood up and locked her office, heading to her jeep. Her mind was reeling, now it wasn’t just her he was focussing on, this changed everything. Did she tell Frank? She knew she should, she couldn’t leave Mary in danger. Not that she believed any harm would come to her, not really, especially not under Frank’s care but that was another worry she had. That if she told Frank this, it was really going to push him over that edge into blind rage, and he’d been on the first plane out to Boston, hunting the fucker down…and then what?
 He ended up in jail himself because Fliss knew Frank well enough to understand that if that blind rage took hold, he wouldn’t stop.
 She had no answer to this, nothing. She sat in her jeep, staring out of the window, trying to force the thoughts and mumbles and voices in her heat to quiet, so she could think clearly, get some form of grasp on what it was she needed to do. And then one voice was screamed at her, clearly, giving her a solution…the only one she could viably see working.
With a loud sob, Fliss covered her face in her hands, unable to see an alternative to the decision she had just reached. A decision that was going to break her heart more than anything had ever done before.
******
“Hey, you’re late…”  Frank looked up, immediately frowning as he saw Fliss’ face. “Honey…what…” “Where’s Mary?” she asked instantly.
“She nipped to Roberta’s” Frank said “I know it’s late but we saw her as we were headed out of the car and she wanted to collect something for Show and Tell tomorrow…why?”
 “We need to talk.” Fliss said.
Frank stood up off the sofa and walked towards her, he reached for her and she took a step back.
“Ok, Fliss, you’re scaring me now…what…”
“I think…” Fliss looked down at her hands “I think that we need to stop seeing each other.”
Frank blinked, not sure he had heard her right, but when he looked at her he saw a tear trickling down her face and she was avoiding his gaze. The world around him began to fade and a dull buzzing filled his head and rang around his ears as a horrible cold feeling washed over him.
“Lissy…” he swallowed, his words sticking in his throat “What’s brought this on? Did I do something? Are you not happy? I don’t understand…” “I just…it isn’t working for me…” she took a deep breath and looked up at him.
“You’re lying.” he said instantly, he could see it written all over her face “Fliss, what’s going on?” “Nothing, I’m sorry. I just…I need to leave, I need space.” she said “I’m so sorry Frank…” Frank took a deep breath, and watched as she turned to leave. After a second he hurried after her into the hallway, shaking his head.
 “Lissy, please…talk to me…” he all but begged as she walked to the door. She made to open it but Frank was behind her and placed his hand firmly on the top of the PVC, causing it to shut. She spun round and looked up at him, the tears now pouring down her face.
 “Please, Frank…don’t make this any harder than it is…” her voice was broken, and she shook her head. “I don’t understand what THIS is?” he looked at her, running a hand through his hair as he felt the stinging of tears in his own eyes “Last month we were talking about buying a house together and now you just wanna break it off, for no reason? Honey, just…whatever is going on, we can work through it, just talk to me.”
 “I’m so sorry…” she whispered, “Just…let me out…please…”
He looked at her again, her eyes bouncing across his and he knew instantly he couldn’t stop her, and would never do that to her either, no matter how much he so desperately wanted to lock the door and force her to tell him what the fuck was going on. So with a sniff he forced himself to step back and her hand went to the door knob, her shoulders shaking.
 “Liss, please…” his voice cracked. “Don’t do this…”
 She took a deep breath and opened the door, the warm air from outside hit him in the face, tears stinging his eyes slightly before click of the latch hit his ears as the door shut behind her, leaving him stood alone in the hallway, stunned and utterly, utterly broken. 
**** Chapter 21
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Text
❛ A NIGHTMARE ❜
with Michael ‘Riz’ Ariza and the Reyes brothers.
Request #1: Please tell me mine makes the count for the first 10 lmao But if you can. Can you please do a Riz request where the girl is a sister, possibly a Reyes sister and the two of them are secretly together. And they spend the night together until her two brothers open the door and see them?
BY @firebenderwolf
Request #2: helloooooo i would to request an imagine with riz ariza in which the reader is angel and ez sister. the plot about something fluff like cuddling or having a cute whatever is better for you. Thank you so much🤍
BY ANON
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Warnings: none.
Word count: anout 1.8k
Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!
Gif credits: @fromthesixteenthfloor
Masterlist.
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Suddenly waking up, covered by sweat and your heart racing, you grab the baseball bat next to your bed. You're pretty sure that you heard a strange noise coming from the living room, but EZ and Angel are out of town. So you just hope that it was part of your nightmare. Slowly walking through your brother's flat, barefoot and trying to be silent, you turn on the lights. Everything seems under normality. The windows are closed and the main door is locked. Nothing is thrown over the floor and the TV is off. Coming back to your room with the same defensive position and the bat raised up in front of your eyes, ready to beat whoever's ass, you run like never before as soon as you reach your dorm. Putting the latch that Angel installed for you, for these days, you crawl to your bed to grab your phone starting to cry for no reason. Typing Riz's number by heart, you wait impatiently for hearing his voice.
“Mi amor, what's up?” He was sleeping, noticing it in the low tone he uses to speak.
“Can yo—you come to my house, pl—please?” You can't help but sob, rubbing your eyes with your knuckles.
“Shit, yes, of course, baby. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Feeling awake, he sounds like he's getting up from his bed, looking for some clothes to wear.
“I just… have a nigh—nightmare, and I'm freak—freaking scared”.
“I'll be there in ten, okay?”
“Ok—Okay…”
You can't stop checking the hour on your phone every single second, biting superficially your nails without breaking them, trying to calm yourself somehow. You're not used to having nightmares, and usually when it happens, you don't remember what happened. But when your screen turns on again with a text message from Riz, you start to cry again unconsolable, leaving it away and getting up from your bed to run towards the entrance. And, as soon as you open the main door, you jump into him. Your boyfriend doesn't hesitate to hold you tightly, surrounding his waist with your legs, clinged to him with all your strength.
“It's okay, mi amor… It's okay, I'm here”. He whispers caressing your back, coming into the house and closing the door behind his back.
Sinking your face into his neck, you try to get a little more relaxed, less shaked and breathing somewhat better. He knows he doesn't need to say anything, being enough with his presence and his lovely touch. It's the first time he hears you cry and it's really breaking his heart. Leading his steps towards the nearest sofa, Riz sits there holding you yet, before cupping your cheek in his hands. Cleaning your tears without any word uttered, he leans to peck your lips softly.
“I'm here, mi amor, don't cry”. He mutters, leaving now some clingy kisses in your cheeks to make you laugh. At least, a little.
“Can you… please stay tonight?” You almost beg him, sniffing but not crying anymore.
“You don't have to ask for it, mi reina”. He just says, showing you that smile you love more than anything.
Riz has that power on you that anyone else has. He husks your demons, your insecurities, your fears. Anything bad that runs through your mind, he puts it down. And he does it so easily that sometimes surprises you. Resting your head over one of his shoulders, you surround him with your arms, closing your eyes just for some seconds in the meantime you recover your peaceful breathing.
“Do you want me to prepare you a tea or something?”
You shake your head softly.
“Okay, I'm gonna take you to bed, alrai'?”
Standing up from the sofa, he walks towards your room with a slow pace, until reaching it. Placing your feet on the white fluffy carpet, Riz starts to undress himself leaving only his boxers, to lie down by your side drawing you into his arms, after turning off the lights. One of his hands falls on your neck, while the other caress your skin under the short sleeve, tangling your legs with his. Placing gently kisses on your forehead, you rest your head over his shoulder, closing your eyelids. Now you feel more safe than ever, even if there's any danger close.
“I love you”. You whisper into his ear, leaning some inches to kiss his cheek.
You're not used to saying these three simple words, but instead using a lot of pet-names. So every time you utter them, your boyfriend smiles like an idiot, just like you do. You don't know how it happened, exactly. Since you two met, you couldn't avoid flirting unconsciously, until you found out that you were in love with each other to the gills. And one night at the clubhouse, he couldn't wait much more to kiss you. Sometimes it's difficult to hide it from your brothers, but it's been eight months since you started and they don't suspect anything, even if you know that one day you will have to tell them about your relationship. But for the moment, you don't want to think about it, getting more comfy under his arms.
“I was thinking of asking Bishop for some days off, so we can go somewhere”. Riz comments with feigned causality, making you laugh low.
“Sounds good”. You nod, raising your eyes towards the black ones. “Where do you wanna go?”
“I don't know… Tijuana, Los Angeles, San Diego. Depends on if you prefer more heat desert or beach”.
“Anywhere is perfect without having to hide”.
“Fuck, yes”. The mexican can't help but break into laughter. “Do you feel better?”
Turning over his side, he caresses the line of your jaw softly. You just nod in silence, before pressing your lips on his. Getting perfectly molded, you tangle your fingers in his hair, not wanting to let him go.
“I love you, mi amor”. He says between some kisses.
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You wake up rested and feeling better than other nights, sticking your back to his chest and tangling your fingers with the ones around your neck and waist, shortening the distance. Feeling how Riz holds you tightly and leaves some kisses on your head, you purr softly drawing a smile on your lips. You would like to spend the whole morning like that, just enjoying his pampers in silence. But he has to work and you have to study for an exam. So that calm doesn't last long.
“Talk with your brothers about the nightmare, when they come ba—”.
“We're already here, old ass!”
Angel's voice freezes your blood. Suddenly opening your eyes and sitting up over the bed with a terrified look on your faces.
“Shit…” Your boyfriend snorts, rubbing his face with both hands.
“Maybe they didn't hear you”. You try to whisper.
“What the fuck, girl? I'm answering him”.
“Angel…” EZ's just says.
“What? He's fucking our little sister, man!”
“And you're fucking the whole Santo Padre”. Your brother responds, making you chuckle, seeing Riz getting up to get dressed.
“We're not talking about my cock”.
“Not even about Riz's”. You add then, stepping out from your dorm, walking towards them in the living room. “Jeez… You look like shit”.
Angel raises an eyebrow with his eyes on yours, before rolling them.
“Thank you, that's very kind”. Ezekiel smirks, having a sip from his coffee. “Having fun in our absence?”
“I had a nightmare. I thought someone came to… steal or something, and I was fucking scared”.
“So you call him”.
“Who else, idiot?”
“Pops?” EZ says as if it wasn't obvious.
“Guys”.
“Dirty old ass”.
“Angel, I'm gonna fucking punch you el pinche hocico”. (Into the fucking mouth).
“Fight me, gnome”.
Lifting up both eyebrows looking at him, twisting your neck, you can't believe how immature he's sometimes.
“I will call you when I'm done later, okay?”
“No, you better don't call h—”.
“Ezekiel, can you hit Angel, please?”
Your brother obeys delighted, punching his shoulder, as he used to so when you were children. And the older gives him back another, distracting them so you can say goodbye to Riz, accompanying him to the main door.
“Thank you for coming last night”. You whisper, hearing your brothers complaining about the punches, while he kisses your forehead chuckling.
“Anytime, gnome”.
“Oh, c'mon!” You laugh palming his chest. “I love you…”
“I love you too”.
Coming back to the living room, after closing the door, you continue to the kitchen to have some coffee in a mug and sit at the table with your brothers. They stop fighting, waiting for some kind of explanation.
“He runs Vicki's house”.
“And you run the whole Santo Padre”. Ezekiel is drinking when he hears you, almost drowning between some coughs and cleaning his mouth with a hand.
“Anyone know?” He asks then.
“Yeah, Taza and Bishop”.
“Girl, what the fuck? How do they know before us?”
“I went to Taza's ranch to have dinner. Like… a lot of times”.
“You went to a house in the middle of nowhere with three men older than you?” Angel can't believe you, leaning towards the table.
“Yeah, and we did an orgy. Are you fucking idiot?” You growl hitting his forehead with your palm.
“Pops knows?” Turning to your other brother, you nod shrugging as if it wasn't obvious.
Suddenly, Angel throws himself to the floor, sobbing and tangling his hands over his own chest. You two look at him over the table, watching him feigning a heart attack or being possessed. Any theory is valid for whatever he's doing.
“You fucking drama queen…” Rolling your eyes, you sit up again.
“How much time do y—”.
“Eight months”.
“AY! AY, AY!” You can't help but break into laughs, hearing your big brother pretending to be crying.
“Fucking idiot”. Shaking your head, you get up from your chair to turn the table and fall onto Angel's abdomen like a plank.
“Don' touch me, you traitor, breaking my poor heart”.
“Anything that a Reyes sandwich doesn't fix”. The other says, falling onto you smashing both.
“FUCK, EZEKIEL”. The oldest and you complain laughing, barely breathing. “FUCKING MOVE”.
Squirming in the middle, you free yourself, lying on the floor between both. Looking at them, you place your arms under their necks pulling them closer.
“(Y/N) Ariza. How does it sound?”
“If you fuckin' change the ‘Reyes’ one day, I'm gonna run over him with pops' car”. Angel grunts palming your forehead.
“I'm more into tying his feet to it, and driving through the desert”. Ezekiel opines pursing his lips in a petty smile.
“You wouldn't if I poison you first”.
“Yeah, whatever. What happened last night?”
“I think it was just my subconscious missing my two favorite boys”.
“Do you see how fake that sounds, mi dulcecito?”
“Cierra el pinche hocico”. (Shut the fuck up). You chuckle with your eyes fixed on the ceiling. “I really missed you those four days, idiots…”
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bunny-xoxo · 3 years
Text
✨ Anon Playlist
For my ✨ anon, I hope it’s what you were looking for!
warning: slight timeskip!nishinoya spoilers, kissing?
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gif not mine, credit to owner
A/N: I tried to make this GN! since I don’t know your pronouns, if you have any problems please let me know!
Relationship Head Cannons
Okok reading your ask I definitely had to pair you with Nishinoya!! Looking at your interests and your personality etc. I think you guys would make a lovely couple :)
He definitely met you while traveling and immediately asked you for your number (this man is so bold and shameless you cannot tell me otherwise); he was probably a little ridiculous about it and loud and he could not believe you said yes
Went from 😉😁😏 to 👁👄👁,,,😳😳😳 so fast
Called Tanaka drunk after you gave him your number talking about how you have to be the one or something cause he just got some gorgeous babe’s phone number at the bar and he’s pretty sure it’s real
Tanaka still laugh’s about it with him all the time and Noya’s always like oml haha so embarrassing😅😅 stop it dude they’re gonna think I’m a creep 🤬
Nishinoya love’s it when you get to meet his friend’s and get along with them!! It make’s his heart so full!
Double dates with Tanaka and Kiyoko!!! And Noya’s just so🤩🤩 guys guys look at my bb!!!!
omg would endlessly brag about your cocktail making skills asjjskfjnkajeke and NO ONE asked but he can’t help himself
Would shamelessly ask you to paint him and then immediately start undressing for a nude painting  adjskfieurir 
Would for SURE ask you to read to him and it’s one of the few times he’s actually calm, he just finds it so calming he gets to stare at you and just bask in you and how much he loves you is the real reason
Love love loves listening to you talk about your current book obsession and just finds it so cute
let’s be honest just worships the ground you walk on
LOTS of stargazing on beaches at night
He would ask you an abundance of questions about literally anything you know or love cause he’s a passionate guy, too!! You guys could definitely talk for hours and hours and never get bored of each other
And the way you listen to him while he rants about literally any and everything makes his heart practically implode
He’s so soft for you too cause he never thought someone would actually be down for his lifestyle of traveling and having a good time but you do! And you enjoy it so much :)!
PHYSICAL AFFECTION
LOVES holding your hand cause not only does it let him run around and make sure he’s not gonna lose you in the crowd but it just makes him feel so close to you? And it let’s everyone know he’s your boyfriend which he takes so much pride in pls
All in all, your guys’ relationship is just so full of fun that when you guys get to lay and look at the stars together and everything slows down for that moment, Noya knows he really loves you and couldn’t imagine finding anyone better
And what you’ve been waiting for... your playlist!
Ok, so I did my best to match your playlist to the indie vibes you mentioned and keeping it to the scenario of just laying with Noya as best as I could!
I sincerely hope you enjoy, please tell me your thoughts!! Below is the listed songs in order and my explanation for each :). And if you need anything changed, please tell me!
1. Lost in Your Love - Colyer: This song definitely is reminiscent of when you two first met, seeing you just hit him like a truck. Now, he could let literally let go of anything in his life as long as you were there with him. He’s quite definitely lost in your love (talk about devoted, sheesh).
2. My Kind of Woman - Mac DeMarco: So this is written with the intent of keeping you gender neutral since I don’t know your pronouns, so I don’t specifically take the “woman” part of this song as inspiration, but rather the idea of the love in the song if that makes sense. But if this song makes you uncomfortable please let me know and I will happily replace this song. SIMP ALERT 🚨 please Noya wishes he could dedicate this song to you with his whole heart. It’s more of him just being in complete disbelief that YOU choose to be by his side (this is a common theme here 🙄) It doesn’t matter how long you two are together he will never get over letting him be by your side
3. Nothing - Bruno Major: PLS THIS SONG IS MAKING ME SO SOFT FOR NOYA😰✋  please, this is your guys song. The epitome of just laying in each other’s presence and enjoying the warmth and conversation between you two, it’s these moments that really make Noya fall in love with you
4. Something About You - sophie meiers: Noya was definitely more nervous to ask you to be an official couple than he was saying I love you LMAO. He was just so scared to be like look I really like you, please just let me be yours and please be mine officially and let me do couple things with you and show you cool things I like (definitely came off like 💧👁u👁..... be my girlfriend? 🧍‍♂️)
5. Pluto Projector - Rex Orange County: C’mon now TELL me this ain’t you and Noya 🙄✋ your relationship is definitely always in that “honeymoon” phase, you guys are just effortlessly obsessed with each other cause not only do you have so much love to give but so does he!! And this song is just pure ~vibes~
6. Fall - Chloe x Halle: Ok, this one is mainly just for the feeling of it, but okok. You and Noya laying and looking up at the stars and it starts to rain but he just won’t get up and you guys just lay there having a laughing fit until you pull him up and make him come back to the warmth of your guys’ home. And as you’re drying each other off and you have a towel around your shoulders and your still dripping a little and you’re handing him his tea and fuck you just look so perfect he can’t help but tell you he loves you
7. Honeybee - Steam Powered Giraffe: SLOW DANCE TIME, everyone's gotta have one right? It’s more soft behavior, but this song? WHEW. Noya know’s he will forever be trapped by you and your beauty and presence but he just couldn’t care less, the things you do to him, god he swears you’re gonna kill him.
8. Intertwined - dodie: There’s no way you could mention laying with your s/o and NOT have me put this song on there, please just listen to this song you’ll understand 🙏 pure cuddly, chill vibes
9. Turning Page - Sydney Rose: stop it this song makes me cry tell me you guys aren’t laying with each other, tracing each other’s features with your fingers, memorizing every little detail there is to notice (fuck this is so intimate i-)
10. Like You Do - Joji: 🚨A LITTLE NOYA ANGST IM SORRY🚨 Noya would be a little scared his lifestyle would become too much and it’s kind of an irrational fear he has for you, but at the same time he knows that you make him so happy and you love him so much he’d be willing to even change this for you if it meant you could keep loving him like you do now.
11. Goodbye Horses - Q Lazzarus: Did someone say late night cuddly and giggly make out sesh? 😳 Noya pulling away every time just to go “oh no sir🤠!” before kissing you again  ( :40 in the song, you’ll know what I’m talking about)
12. Body Language - Miki Ratsula: We get it you two 🙄✋ you like laying down and cuddling together
13. Dogs at the Beach - The Altogether: PLS this is just for vibes tbh
14. Wanna Know - Sabrina Claudio: I do feel like sometimes Noya is a very blunt guy who says it as is, and not everyone else is like that! So I’m sure sometimes he gets nervous that he’s too much for you and whether or not you love him as much as he loves you! But ultimately he knows you guys wouldn’t be where you are now if you didn’t love him (and then he immediately hates himself for even questioning your love, protect him pls)
15. Let Me Follow - Son Lux: TL;DR, all you need is each other’s love to exist and you couldn’t ask for more.
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AHHHH IT’S FINALLY HERE , I’m sorry this took so long! I was having a lot of problems with Tumblr and am a fairly new writer, I really hope you enjoyed this, please give me your feedback and thoughts! I want to make sure you got this :(
Feedback and opinions from anyone is appreciated!
request’s for playlist’s are currently closed until I finish the others, but I will make a post when they’re open again! And to all of those who have requested, they’ll be out shortly!! 
-🐇out
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lesbianrobin · 3 years
Note
If you had to rank all the 14 ST characters in the main group from most to least fav what would your ranking look like? (And by main group i mean the characters including murray and erica, and excluding karen, basically everybody involved in the final battle in 3x08)
ok let me preface this by saying that i literally love all of these characters i don't hate any of them okay?? let's go... ascending order for the drama!!
14. murray. no explanation needed. no offense to brett gelman he's phenomenal and i honestly think murray is really funny, but he's more or less just a plot device with some comic relief slapped on top.
now things get spicy <3
13. erica. love her to death! but she's fairly one-dimensional, once again primarily a comic relief character. maybe in s4 she'll get some more depth like the older kids have, but for now she's sort of a default next-to-last :/
12. will... no tea no shade but the kid's barely in the show! i absolutely want good things for him but like. i barely even know him. yknow? he’s only above erica bc he’s gay and she’s a capitalist. also that scene in s1 right before he gets snatched by the demogorgon when he just runs straight to the shed and grabs a goddamn shotgun and loads it fully ready to defend himself... that shit slapped good for him!!
11. this Will be controversial among some and i Know this character is many people's favorite... if you follow me already this is probably not going to surprise you but. nancy. i just think her character is kind of inconsistent, so i have a hard time really clicking with her :/ sometimes i love her and i think she's so cool and funny and hot (that hospital scene in s3... my GOD what a badass!) and other times i would like to fistfight her.
also let me get this out of the way right now: i'm aware that jonathan's character is ALSO super inconsistent!! i know okay??? i know!!!! please nobody judge me for how high rat boy gets on this ranking okay i'm literally making this up as i go along so idk if he's next or if he's like in the top five but i have a disease called Unreasonably Invested In Wildly Speculative Meta-Analysis Of Stranger Things which makes it impossible for me to be normal about jonathan and this is my ranking so i pick the bad taste!!!
10. joyce! i love her bro she's MOM and she tries so fucking hard all the goddamn time and she's so STRONG and kind and adorable... joyce is honestly a very unique and refreshing character ESPECIALLY if you’re considering stranger things within the horror genre which is often defined by these very specific archetypes of mothers and motherhood that i can get into if anyone is interested but like basically. love her <3
9. dustin <3 what an icon... i love him i love how he straight up killed a man and hardly flinched because it was to protect his friends and i love how he and his little girlfriend have a song they sing together and i love how he either has an insanely warped perspective on things due to low self-esteem or he just sometimes flatout lies to gain sympathy either way he’s a BABY and he’s so FUNNY and KIND and even when he’s scared he keeps going... ugh god and i love how even when he doubts his friends’ devotion to him he NEVER ever questions his devotion to them and he never ever considers leaving them behind or not stepping up to help them... he’s so brave!
8. mike is such a fucking BITCH but even more than that he is an ANGEL... literally his range who is doing it like him??? nobody!!!! graffiti’d the bathroom stall at school... hates cops.... what a legend. also i like how fucking goofy and dumb his hair looks in s3. also he’s very soft with his friends and it makes me cry. ALSO he literally stepped off a fucking CLIFF he was ready to DIE FOR DUSTIN and i know all the kids have risked their lives for each other but this wasn’t even a monster yknow this was just... bullies.... threatening his friend..... and mike couldn’t fucking let it happen bro he was ready to just step off the edge to keep dustin safe and it’s SO MUCH... and god the kindness he showed el when they first met!!! he’s a total angel and a total shithead and it’s amazing.
7. lucas my tiny baby hero.... he’s so strong and cool and capable yet at the same time he’s such a COMPLETE dork!!! he very seriously believes his slingshot wrist rocket is a lethal weapon and then he ACTUALLY USES IT AS A LETHAL WEAPON TO SAVE HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS!!! he hacks off a giant monster’s freaky tentacle arm thing with an axe to save his friend AND he keeps a bunch of action figures and random dice on his bedside table bro he just thinks they’re neat!!! like... i genuinely love him so much god he cares so much about his friends and he’s so brave and smart and loving... i know he is not tiny anymore but he is my tiny baby hero okay...
6. hopper! big man care for little girl... protect and love kids... dance to dad music... be goofy and hot... have trauma.... admit his faults and attempt to grow from them.... what's not to love?
5. jonathan... look i can’t explain it except that he loves his goddamn baby brother so much and i’m a sucker with extensive headcanons alright!
4. el!!! feral little darling girl!!! i literally cannot articulate the love that floods my heart whenever i see her face or think about her for too long she’s just... so strong but more than that she’s so incredibly KIND!! when she has every reason to be selfish and cruel and yeah at times she does let herself get a little mean but on the whole she’s always so goddamn kind and loving and selfless no matter how afraid she is or how she’s hurting... and i hope that with her powers gone in s4 she’ll maybe learn how to see herself as more than a tool to protect those she loves yknow but that’s off topic skdncmn i just think that el is such an incredible character with such depth!! she can be so grave and mature yet she’s still such an innocent child at the same time, and i think that both the writing and mbb’s acting are handled such that both of these things WORK and feel real and they make el (and her trauma) so believable. i just love her to death.
3. robin, light of my lesbian little life!! unfortunately she's wayyy too much like me to snag the top spot lmao. maybe once we get another season with her she’ll trample the competition but for now my baby is in a solid third place <3 i’ve never seen a lesbian on screen who i felt so accurately represented me and my experiences!! she feels so real and in just one season she’s become one of my favorites on the whole show, and i cannot fucking wait to see what else we learn about her and what development we see from her in s4. 
2. as u may have guessed... max!! i know i said this was my subjective opinion but here i’ll just say it: max is objectively one of the best characters on the show. she’s so strong and funny and quick on her feet while harboring some real pain and insecurity at the same time, and both of these aspects of her character are married perfectly, logically connecting to one another and joining with sadie’s incredible acting to create an amazing character who feels just... so real!! i absolutely adore her and i CONSTANTLY tear up just from thinking about her skdncmn...
1. what if my number one wasn't steve. like can y'all imagine???? if i just said like will or some shit???? genuinely i did consider giving max or robin top billing here but i just Can't i've dedicated too goddamn much of my life to steve harrington to deny that he's my one and only. is there anything to say that hasn't already been said? look at the bitch. just look at him. 
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what other answer could there be?
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atinydise · 4 years
Text
Ateez cheating on their s/o (2/2)
❦ Genre: Angst.
❦ Pairing: OT8.
❦ Word count: 1k8.
❦ Masterlist.
Part 1
SAN
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You sighed for the 100th times since you started to work. In the last 2 weeks, you were busy at your office. Starting at 7 am and leaving at 11 pm. Fortunately that was exceptional. But you haven’t see your boyfriend since these rushed weeks too. You will need to find him something, like a plushie because he was probably upset. San was the type of boy to spend most of his time with his girlfriend. He needed your attention every time. You didn’t complain as you are the lovely type too.
As you get in at your apartment after your hard day, the only thing you wanted was to call San.
You grabbed your phone and smiled at your wallpaper. It was the first pic you’ve took of San. He was sleeping on the practice room, hugging Shiber. You composed his number and waited to hear his voice. But the only one you heard was the voice mail. Maybe he was busy. You would try again in few minutes. You slipped on your bed and thought what you could buy to apologize. Maybe you could give Shiber a friend to play with. San would be so happy that he could leave you alone for a night and discuss with his plushies. You orderer a panda one. The delivery would be straight to his dorm. He wouldn’t expect it! You tried to call him again. “Hello?” That wasn’t San voice. “Huh, hi? Who are you?” you asked the girl. “Excuse me but what do you want?” she seemed aggressive. “I would like to talk with my boyfriend.” You said coldly. She laughed. “Well you boyfriend is showering right now.” You were extremely confused. “If it’s a joke, it’s not funn-“. “Yuna? What are you doing with my phone?” You heard San’s voice through the phone. What he’s doing with this Yuna? “You had a call from “Y/N”, so I-“ “What? Y/N?” You heard a loud noise before hearing San’s voice. “Y/N?” “Who is she San? What are you doing with her?” You heard a long sigh. “I’m so sorry Y/N… you were so busy… Yuna was there and-“ “I was working San! You cheated on me because I was working? You are so… I hate you so much San!” You sobbed, “you broke my heart even if you promised that you would never.” You hung up. You couldn’t control your sobs. It was so hard to breath.
MINGI
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You sighed. You were waiting that your boyfriend text you back the address you were supposed to meet him. This week he was so busy that he missed almost all of your dates. One day you wanted to surprise him. You went to KQ Entertainment with few snacks, as always. But you didn’t expect him to be with another girl. She seemed to be one of their back up dancers. “Hello”, you said as you opened the door. “Y/N? What are you doing here?” he stood up straight off the couch. You raised a brow, “Yes I’m fine, thank you for asking.” “What are you doing here?” he insisted. “I wanted to see you; I’m disturbing something?” as you looked at the girl. “We were talking about our duo for an award show.” “Oh, a duo? That’s so good Mingi! Congrats!” you smiled at him. “Yes, thank you. You should leave now; we need to practice a bit more.” “Okay, sorry. Good luck.” You pecked his lips and give a dead stare to the dancer.
You looked your phone again, still no message. He forgot again. You were about to kill him. You tried to call him, but you instantly heard the voice mail. That was too much, you grabbed your jacket and your key and took a taxi for KQ building. You felt a bit nervous on the car, like if something bad would happen. You shook your head to avoid these bad thoughts and paid your course. You almost rushed to the Ateez practice room. Music was echoing in the hallway. Were they practicing? They might be exhausted. You took a look through the porthole. You almost screamed when you saw Mingi kissing his backup dancer. Your first thought was “maybe it’s in the choreography”. But all your hopes disappeared when Mingi kissed her neck. He was really making out with this girl. Your phone fell of your hands. Both of them stopped their intense kiss. Mingi exited the room to see what was happening when he saw your small figure running to the elevator. “Y/N!” he called you several times. You pushed the button to close the door at least 10 times before he could reach you. You were crying, suffocating in this tiny space. You heart was beating so fast; it was so painful in the same time. You sat in the corner of the elevator, crying so hard. As the door opened, you saw Yunho. He immediately rushed to you and asked. “Y/N? Are you okay?” He hugged you, patting your head as you were sobbing into his chest. “I-I hate him, Yunho.” You sobbed, “I hate him so much.”
WOOYOUNG
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Your boyfriend invited you to the cinema since the movie that you really wanted to see came out. Of course, you accepted. Spend some time with Wooyoung was needed after the horrible week you had. “Baby I want candies.” You said to him. “Me too!” You giggled and start to queue. “How was your week babe? I barely saw you.” “Hm… boring. Since the promotions are over, we are practicing or staying at the dorm.” “Really? Why didn’t you come at home when I asked you Monday?” He gulped and his arms tensed. “I-I stayed with the boys. Yeosang wanted to watch a movie.” He smiled at you. But you remembered one detail, “I thought that the TV wasn’t working anymore.” He looked at you, seemed panicked but said cooly. “We took Hongjoong’s laptop!” he scratched his head. Are you working for the FBI, Y/N?” he laughed. “No, it’s just that I missed few details.” There was on awkward silence till the last customer in front of you enumerated his order. “What do you want babe, I’ll pay.” You asked your boyfriend pointing at the billboard. Wooyoung stayed quiet. His body was rigid like paralyzed. “Baby? Are you okay?” He grunted, “Y-Yes Y/N.” As the customer left, you were about to give you your oder but the cashier talked first. “Wooyoung? Wow I didn’t expect to see you here!”. You look at your boyfriend who seemed embarrassed. “Oh… Ajin, hi. Long time no see.” He almost whispered. “Long time? We saw each other at Monday, idiot! Thank you for the ride by the way! She said lightly. “Wooyoung, what is she’s talking about?” “Finally, we won’t buy anything! Bye!” he grabbed your wrist and led you in a quiet corner. But you heard the other girl shout, “Your wallet is still at my home! Come when you want!” That was too much, this situation was confusing you. “Wooyoung”, as you tried to release your wrist to his embrace. “Who’s she? I thought you were with Yeosang?” He sighed and massaged his temples,” I was at the night club. I met Ajin there.” He saw how his explanation were hurting you. “She was drunk and me too. I offered a ride to her because it was dangerous. But we started to…” he paused. Too scared of your reactions. “You started to what Jung Wooyoung?” “To make out…” He stared at you, waiting for a reaction, a breath, a sob, something. The only thing you could do was to throw the tickets at him and push him before leaving, angry and hurt.
JONGHO
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You were Jongho’s girlfriend for a year now. Everything was more than fine. You got your good and hard time but nothing too serious. The only thing that bother you was Jongho’s best friend, Eunwoo. She was flirting with him. That was not a best friend behavior. You warned your boyfriend few times, but he would repeat that you were jealous and that was annoying for him. Even Hongjoong noticed the way Eunwoo looks or touch the maknae. He tried to explain to him that he could hurt your feelings, but he only nodded and said that he could try to fix it. This morning you argued one more time when you saw his best friend on his laps. They were only “playing” said the girl to you. As always, the young boy took his friend side and scolded you. You were done with this. You left your apartment to take some fresh air and avoid your boyfriend for the rest of the day. He texted you at lunch, to check if you were still angry. [“Y/N? Are you still mad at me?”] [“Yes. Really mad”] You almost fissured your screen as you pressed the button “send”. [“When are you coming back at home?”] [“I don’t know. When I will be calm again.”] [“Okay… sorry. Take care angel.”] You scoffed. Will he realize one day that his best friend is hitting on him? You spent the day on the mall. Shopping was the best solution to calm your nerves. It was 6pm when you exited the mall. It was dark and cold outside. You looked at your phone, 0 message. He was probably with the boys or Eunwoo. You decided to go back home. On your way, you thought about a solution that could made Jongho realize what Eunwoo wants. Maybe trap her, like flirting with her by his phone and see if she flirts back. Yes, that would be a good idea.
You were in front of you entrance door when you noticed that it wasn’t locked. You called Jongho to see if he did this on purpose but no answer. You slammed the door quietly and hear the TV, maybe he fell asleep. Kissing noises joined the sound of the television, it got your attention. You slowly entered in the living room to see Jongho’s lips on Eunwoo’s one. “May I disturb?” you said. Both of them jumped off the couch. “Well I know she was in love with you but not that you were too.” You walked in front of the girl, gripped by her hair and threw her off the apartment. “Y/N! Stay calm please-“ asked Jongho as Eunwoo screams were resonating in the hallway. “Are you asking me to stay calm?” you laughed, a tear fell on your cheek. “Get out of my apartment! GET OUT!” you yelled. He took his coat and stopped in front of you. “Y/N-“. “Don’t tell me that you are sorry or any other lame excuses.” He stayed quiet so you added “all of your stuff… ask someone to come and take it for you before I burn it.” Another tear escaped, “but I don’t want you to see you ever again Jongho.” He nodded and left. With Eunwoo. As you were crying on your living-room, punching your heart to reduce the pain.
Part 1
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Text
as long as i’m reflecting you
Summary: “I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet. I'm you, Hawks."
@hawksweek2020 day 1: Cliché
If you’d rather read on ao3 (or if you want to read my long rant in the chapter notes): https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203351
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Characters: Hawks, Dabi
Dabi towers over Hawks as he lies there, helpless, blue flame licking greedily at his face and wings. He can feel himself shriveling under the heat, but perhaps the worst part is this:
Takami Keigo.
Dabi knows his name. Dabi knew all along what Hawks was doing there, knows more than even his friends do—his name.
Hawks panics at the sound of Dabi’s boots crunching on the broken shards of his visor—He can’t die here! The battle is far from over, and he’s the only hero ready and equipped to deal with the aftermath. There’s not much Hawks can do, at this point, but he does have one option. Dabi needs time between using his quirk in order to recover. Use conversation, distract him, draw him in. In Hawks’s experience, villains never pass up a chance to gloat and throw their self-righteousness in everyone’s face. Get a villain talking about themself, and they won’t shut up. Even closed-off Dabi will likely blab his life story, thinking Hawks is about to die. It’s worth a shot.
“The only members of the League I found nothing on were you and Shigaraki. I found everyone else’s background, their families—but for you, I couldn’t even find a name. Who are you?”
Dabi sets a foot on Hawks’s back, leans his weight into it. Hawks pushes himself up with his hands as much as he can to prevent his ribs from snapping. He’s miscalculated. Dabi will keep his secrets over his ego. Hawks accepts his death even as he fights and pushes against it; he can’t die, but he’s going to, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He’s expecting Dabi to burn him to death right there, and he’s already bracing himself and gritting his teeth against the heat. He is <em>not</em> expecting Dabi to crouch down, one foot still on Hawks’s back, and whisper:
“I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet.” There’s a warm huff of laughter on his ear that has Hawks cringing away, then— “I’m you, Hawks.”
-----------------------------
Hawks wakes up to the horrible smell of antiseptic solution and the annoying tug of compression sleeves on his leg hair. Then, of course, the swoop of vertigo that speaks of some Pretty Heavy Anaesthesia. He tries to cough the smell out of his mouth, but is met with a sore throat—more than sore, actually. It’s like someone’s taken literal sandpaper and dragged it down his entire esophagus. He gags, tries to sit up, is hit off balance by the vertigo, and promptly throws up over the side of the bed.
He leans back against his pillows and wallows in the agony his stomach acid has raked over his poor, abused, sandpapered throat.
“Can I get you anything?” asks a nurse holding a bucket. Oh, good. He’d vomited into a bucket and not all over the hospital floor.
Hawks gestures frantically to his throat with a plea in his eyes that the nurse hopefully interprets as “water,” or “cough drop,” or even, “please just slit my throat and put me out of my misery.”
The nurse hands him both water and cough drops. Hawks’s eyes water with gratitude. Well, either that or pain. Maybe both.
“Sorry, man,” says the nurse as he reaches to adjust Hawks’s blanket. “They had to do surgery on your wings, and you had a breathing tube.”
Hawks croaks in horror. “Wings!?”
“They’ll be all right. You also had some skin grafts for the burns.”
Burns. Dabi. I’m you, Hawks.
“Phone,” he demands urgently.
With his miraculously only-slightly-singed phone in his hands, Hawks shoos the nurse away and starts tapping and typing with frenzied vigor.
His google search shows him an article spotlight on him, featuring an interview with Tokoyami, who apparently saved him. Good kid, that Tokoyami. It also shows him that there were minimal casualties and that apparently the UA students were spearheading the clean-up and rebuilding of the battleground. Okay. Okay. Good, good. All of it good. 
Now, what he <em>really</em> wants to know: Dabi.
To: VP HPSC: 
get me every pic i ever sent u of dabi highest res possible asap
also the cam footage of lov hideout
To the number he’d found on Google for the news network he saw at the raid:
Hi, this is Hawks. I saw your news logo at the fight in Reika. I was wondering if you could send me any footage you managed to get of the villains. Thank you. Here’s a selfie for proof it’s me.
To: Dabi (Villain):
hey ik its a bit of a long shot but like i would love an explanation thanks xoxo <3
He knows Dabi’s claim is ridiculous. He knows, all right? What he’s actually hoping to find is some connection to Endeavor. There’s definitely <em>something</em> familiar about Dabi, and that, paired with the fire quirk, could explain it. 
The first replies he gets are the pictures and footage from the Commission. Hawks zooms in and examines Dabi’s hair. He always knew it was dyed.The roots come in a lighter color, which would make his hair look perpetually greasy if it laid flat; but instead, it makes his spiky hair look just the slightest bit detached from his head. As he looks at the pictures, he’s surprised to realize that he was already biased toward his Endeavor explanation in his head: he was thinking Dabi’s hair was white, like the color of Todoroki Shouto’s ice side, from whoever was Endeavor’s wife. Closer scrutiny shows that it’s actually a dark blond, like Hawks’s own hair. 
That doesn’t mean anything, though.
Dabi’s aesthetically stapled under-eye bags are right in the spot where Hawks has his natural eye markings.
The one picture he managed to find of Dabi shirtless (It’s okay, Hawks reminds himself. I’m a creep with a noble cause. It was for the intel) shows that the stapled purple skin covers the part of his back where Hawks has his wings. If Dabi had wings and they were removed, purple skin grafts or whatever those were would cover up the evidence quite nicely.
And… what Hawks learned during the raid. Dabi’s weakness is his own quirk. Fire. That’s Hawks’s own biggest weakness. That’s almost too much to be a coincidence…what if…?
As he’s looking over the Commission’s images, he almost drops his phone in surprise because Dabi (Villain) texts him back. 
Every intelligent thought in his head evacuates in favor of wtfwtfwtfwtf.
It’s a selfie—a close-up of Dabi’s face, right behind a hand that’s flipping him off. It’s just the puzzle piece that he needs, because the small gleam of light catches on the telltale glint of a contact lens, and Hawks can see where the edge of the blue goes lighter where it’s not covering the colorful iris underneath—Dabi’s eyes aren’t actually blue. And, what Hawks has always thought of as edgy eyeliner looks suspiciously similar to his other eye markings.
Another quick text to: Pres HPSC, VP HPSC:
i dont have any sort of long lost twin brother right??? or like an evil clone or smth??
Almost instantly, he receives a No.
It should be a relief, but his mind’s still going haywire. Dabi…is him? He is Dabi? Dabi is Hawks? Does Hawks is Dabi who? Shut up, brain, you didn’t connect shit. It Dabi, Takami Keigo Dabi Hawks… if Hawks? Who Takami Dabi… he…   
-----------------------------
Maybe I shouldn’t try thinking when I’m high on painkillers, he thinks when he wakes up. 
As he looks around, he realizes he’s been moved to a more long-term room. Instead of curtains, it has a door, and there’s a TV and a nightstand. His phone is dead and he’s not about to call the nurse to come plug it in for him, so he switches on the TV instead, not sure how much he can trust his conclusions on the outcome of the raid if he convinced himself that he was somehow Dabi in the same 10-minute timespan.
The first thing that shows up on the news channel is a report about Hawks, and he’s greeted with the atrocious selfie he took to prove his identity to the news channel. His hair is a devastated battleground and missing completely on his burned side, he’s covered in gauze and medical tape, and his smile looks half-crazed. What was he thinking?
“Hawks is recovering in an unknown hospital, but he looks to be well. The real question is, will the Number Two Hero still be able to charm without half of his famous wind-swept hair?”
“I don’t know, Motome-san. Let’s look at some footage of the battle. I’m sure any lady—or gentleman—would be charmed by someone willing to go so far to protect them.”
Hawks rolls his eyes and scowls, but doesn’t turn off the TV. If they show his fight with Dabi—if he could get a quick glimpse of him—he could turn off the idiot switch in his brain that won’t shut up. 
Instead, what he sees is a streak of red that flies into Dabi’s hand. That’s one of his feathers. Dabi controlled one of his feathers. Dabi has control of Hawks’s Fierce Wings.
To hell with his pride! Hawks repeatedly jams the help button on the side of his bed, and a nurse arrives soon after, out of breath. Hawks feels a little bad for scaring the poor man, but he needs to charge his phone. As soon as it turns back on, he sends out the text to almost every single one of his contacts.
Hi all, this is Hawks. I’ve figured out the identity of the villain Dabi. It should help you lure him out and take him down. DABI IS ME. Text me with any questions. Go after him with fire, if you can.
Within three minutes, Hawks has rejected 7 calls. Text me with any questions, he said. Not call. He won’t be speaking with his sandpaper throat for at least the next month if he has anything to say about it. 
Someone with enough manners finally texts instead of calls. It reads: omw to kill you right now. should have finished the job last time.
Oh, shit. Did he really send that message to Dabi? 
Yeah. He did.
SOS this is not a joke, he sends to the HPSC. Dabi just texted me says he’s going to kill me right now. i’m in the hospital, can’t fight. PLEASE send someone
He answers the next call from Pres HPSC. “Can’t talk,” he rasps and tastes blood on his tongue. The president talks to him and he gives one tap for yes, two taps for no.
“Do you really want us to send someone?”
One tap.
The president sighs. “Hawks, as soon as you can speak, I expect the most thorough, detailed, in-depth report you’ve ever given in your life.”
--------------------------------
With Hawks’s warning, they capture Dabi easily enough. He shows up at the hospital directly and comes face-to-face with Endeavor, who, knowing about his weakness to fire, easily takes him down.
When Hawks visits Tartarus a month later to interrogate Dabi, he wonders how he ever missed it. Without the dye and the contacts, there’s no denying that Dabi is Hawks. He’s left wondering, though.
“Why did you text me at the hospital that you were on your way to kill me? I immediately got Endeavor there. I thought you were a little smarter than that.”
Dabi just shrugs, his newly-regenerated red feathers rustling with the movement. “Obviously not. I am you, after all.”
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tiramisiyu · 3 years
Text
【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【夏彦拜访剧情】 Xia Yan’s Personal Story 2-7 Translation
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Translated parts: Xia Yan’s Personal Story Chapter 2: 2-1 / 2-2 / 2-4 / 2-5 / 2-7 / 2-8 / 2-9 / 2-10 / 2-11 / 2-13 / 2-14 Translation Masterlist: here
Video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1xV411m79T?p=5
A quick explanation of how this feature works is that each boy has their own section that you can “Visit”! Part of it is like MLQC’s GSH feature, where you can talk to the boys (with Live2D!) and raise intimacy by interacting with them. The other part of it is a storyline that centers on the MC running around with the respective boy to deal with a certain case or situation.
Escape Room
Xia Yan and I returned to the escape room.
I placed the photos we’d gotten earlier from the Velcro with the three pictures from the commission letter.
Symbol Patterns
MC: The patterns on the picture we found from the Velcro match up with the three pictures from the commission letter.
MC: The patterns on the back are still incomplete.
Xia Yan: Don’t get anxious. We’ll go step by step with the arrangement.
Xia Yan: I think we’ll be able to find all the missing pieces very soon.
Alarm Clock Picture Front
MC: 10:11 morning, 11:10 noon, 0:00 night…
MC: Aren’t these morning, noon, and night times a little strange?
Xia Yan: That’s right. So I think that these three alarm clock times have another meaning.
Xia Yan: Bell, cuckoo ring – the meaning of this is that the alarm sound of the clock is the cuckoo bird.
Alarm Clock Picture, Words Area
MC: The words on the bottom here!
Xia Yan: “In every day, my lady, I wish you a good morning, a good noon, and a good night.”
Xia Yan: “I’ve used my methods to record your times, and I’ve hidden the secret among them. Awaiting the cuckoo bird to reveal it.”
Xia Yan: Zero must have written these words on the alarm clock screen. It’s a clue to solve the riddle.
Xia Yan: According to my speculation, the words at the bottom of the alarm clock system are clues to solve the riddle. 
Xia Yan: “I’ve used my methods to record your times” should hint that we have to make changes to the alarm times.
MC: “I” should mean Zero. Zero is an AI robot, its methods…
Xia Yan: I know! We have to change the number system!
Xia Yan: People normally use the base-10 number system in daily life, but calculation machines are different. They use the binary system.
MC: So it’s like this!
MC: If we take off the symbols for the three times for morning, noon, and night, then order it in that arrangement – 10111110000.
Xia Yan: To convert it back to base-10, we need to “sum using exponents of two based on the digit location”*… we get 1520.
MC: “I’ve hidden the secret among them” – so 1520 is the hidden secret’s essential number.
MC: “Awaiting the cuckoo bird to reveal it.” If the alarm clock’s alarm is set as the cry of the cuckoo bird…
MC: We have no way of finding Zero to have it turn on its own alarm clock, right…
Xia Yan: There’s actually something else that’s related to time and a cuckoo bird in this room.
MC: Something that’s related?
I looked all around. Suddenly, a clock hanging on the wall caught my attention.
MC: Ah, it’s the birdcall clock! Something that is related to time and the cuckoo bird is the birdcall clock!
Xia Yan: That’s right! As expected of my Watson!
MC: The essential number that will show the “secret” is 1520, and the “cuckoo bird” is the birdcall clock.
MC: So we first have to search for a birdcall clock that can make the call of a cuckoo, and then set the time to 15:20?
Xia Yan followed my finger and looked towards the only birdcall clock on the wall, but he wrinkled his eyebrows.
Xia Yan: The hanging clocks in here all aren’t moving. Looks like we need to find batteries first.
After going through a good half of the room, we finally found two batteries and placed it in the birdcall clock.
I adjusted the clock’s time to 3:20, but didn’t notice anything happen at all.
MC: Weird, why did no changes occur?
MC: Could it be that the analysis earlier was wrong, and 1520 doesn’t represent the time 3:20?
Xia Yan: Don’t worry, let’s think some more.
Xia Yan: This clock doesn’t indicate day and night separately, so 3-o’clock can’t accurately represent 15-o’clock.
Xia Yan: Which means it’s a different combination method…
MC: A different combination method…
I carefully looked over the birdcall clock again. I hadn’t noticed just earlier that on the face, there was also a nearly-transparent thin clock hand.
MC: Is this an alarm clock pointer? But birdcall clocks are rarely used as alarm clocks, right?
Xia Yan: I’m speculating that the answer just might have to do with the alarm clock pointer and the second hand.
As Xia Yan said this, he took the birdcall clock and started adjusting the knobs on the back of the clock face again.
When the hour hand, minute hand, second hand, and alarm clock pointer were successfully adjusted to the “1”, “5”, “2”, and “0” positions, the answer of the riddle appeared.
A cuckoo bird quickly popped out from the lattice on the hanging clock, reporting the time with a “cuckoo, cuckoo”.
MC: Xia Yan, under its feet!
The cuckoo bird was stepping on a triangular picture.
Xia Yan: Looking at its shape and the symbols on it, we can now completely put all the five pieces together.
MC: I’ll put them together and see!
Seams
Xia Yan: There are numbers on the seams…
MC: What do the patterns on the back represent?
Xia Yan: It might be hinting that there are similar things in this room. 
MC: Looks like we’ll have to look through the room again.
Words on the Memo Picture
MC: On the memo system screenshot, the time recorded on it is March 31, 2043.
MC: “We read books in the flower garden, straight until night fell.”
MC: “Amid the night-coloured flowerbeds, ten tulips shone gently.”
MC: “You told me that the secret was in front of my eyes, as well as in the book.”
Xia Yan: When a typical escape room riddle brings up “black”, it’s a hint to turn off the lights, and then use ultraviolet light to see words that can’t be seen with the naked eye.
Xia Yan: Let’s try looking here to see if there’s an ultraviolet light here.
Xia Yan: In escape rooms, you’ll eventually be unable to avoid having to look for things. Let’s look around and see if there is related information.
MC: Mhmm, let’s divide and conquer.
Xia Yan and I split up to search in the room to see if there were items that were related to the numbers and patterns on the back of the pictures.
After a while, I quickly noticed something on a floorboard.
MC: Xia Yan, I found that pattern!
I turned around to call for Xia Yan, and saw him pacing back and forth on the other side of the room.
As Xia Yan walked, he stopped from time to time, crouched down, and knocked on the floor.
MC: What’s wrong?
Xia Yan: There’s a discrepancy between the footstep sounds. There’s a basement under here.
Xia Yan carefully distinguished the echoes of the footsteps, determining the range of the basement.
MC: Could it be that the message in the pictures is the way to open the basement?
When I thought this, I quickly, carefully observed the pattern on the floorboard in front of me.
After looking carefully, I noticed the seam of the floorboard with the pattern was a bit abnormal compared to other floorboards.
MC: The gap seems to be slightly wider and somewhat deeper.
MC: Could it be that the switch to open the basement is here? Such as something like a password lock?
I gently poked at that floorboard a few times. Sure enough, I noticed that it had somewhat loosened.
I tried pressing it.
Ka--!
MC: Ah--!
The moment I pressed the button, the floorboard split open. Right after, I fell into the darkness.
Xia Yan: [MC]! Are you all right? Is there anything wrong?
Xia Yan’s voice sounded above me, full of panic.
But it was exactly because of his voice that let my heart, which was pounding nonstop from what had suddenly happened, slowly calm down.
Xia Yan immediately turned on the flashlight and shone the light in.
--
Basement
My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. After calming down, I carefully started to look around the surroundings.
MC: I’m fine! There’s a cushion down here!
Xia Yan: I’ll come down immediately. Don’t be scared! Wait for me!
Saying this, Xia Yan was about to jump down. I quickly called out to him.
MC: Xia Yan, wait! Don’t come down yet, in case the clue to get out is upstairs—
I lifted my head to call to Xia Yan, suddenly noticing that there were a few faint lights on the ceiling.
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MC: !!!
MC: Xia Yan, I’ve found the clue from the third picture.
Xia Yan: What…?
MC: “Amid the night-coloured flowerbeds, ten tulips shone gently.”
MC: On the ceiling of the basement, there are tulip symbols. Ten of them are lit up.
Xia Yan: So the clue’s there.
I carefully explained shape of the ten lights to Xia Yan.
A moment later, Xia Yan’s voice sounded.
Xia Yan: I got it. We need to find a book called “KISS”. The method to leave the basement should be in the book. 
MC: Eh? How did you know?
Xia Yan: Wait for me to come down, where I’ll slowly tell you. Let’s look for the book first, alright?
I knew that Xia Yan was uneasy about me being alone in the basement, which was why he wanted to hurry down. But..
MC: That book could be upstairs or downstairs. Let’s split up and search.
As I said this, I was preparing to get to work, but Xia Yan suddenly called at me.
Xia Yan: Wait!
MC: What’s up? Did you think about a new clue?
Xia Yan: It’s not that…
Xia Yan: I’m afraid that you’ll be scared down there. How about we talk while looking for the things!
Xia Yan: Right! How about I sing a song for you?
Xia Yan’s agitation made me unable to resist laughing, but my heart was warmed.
>I’m not a little kid
>Then please sing a song
MC: I’m not a little kid, needing to be sung to when in the dark.
MC: Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s just some mechanism – I’ve already mentally prepared when we came to this place to play.
MC: It’s just the matter just now happened so suddenly, so I was pretty badly startled.
Xia Yan: For real…?
MC: For real! See, aren’t I talking normally to you right now?
Xia Yan: …
Xia Yan didn’t respond. I knew that he still felt uneasy.
MC: Then… how about I sing a song for you?
Xia Yan: Huh?
MC: I know you’re worried about me, so I’ll prove it to you.
MC: As long as I can sing it without problems, that means that I don’t have a single problem here.
MC: How about it?
Xia Yan: … Okay.
I cleared my throat, adjusted my breathing, and slowly sang the song from my memories.
MC: Twinkle, twinkle little star.
MC: How I wonder what you are.
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” was the song that Xia Yan would often sing to me when we were little.
Every time I got dragged by him to see a movie with those murders in secret rooms, I got scared to the point that I couldn’t fall asleep, so Xia Yan would sing this song to soothe me.
In my heart, this song had a particular magic ability. It seemed that as long as the sound of the song started, all my unease and anxiousness would leave.
And this time, I wanted to transfer this “magic” to Xia Yan.
Xia Yan: …
Finally, Xia Yan laughed.
>I’m not a little kid
>Then please sing a song
I couldn’t help joking with him.
MC: Then, please sing one!
Xia Yan: What do you want to listen to? “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?”
MC: Mhmm!
Xia Yan laughed lightly, a sort of reminiscence in his voice.
Xia Yan: Whenever you were scared in the past, you had me sing this song.
MC: Wasn’t that because you’d always bring me to see movies with murders in secret rooms!
Thinking about those films, my originally calm heart suddenly became a little scared.
MC: Xia Yan… hurry and sing!
Xia Yan: Alright.
Xia Yan gently cleared his throat, adjusted his breathing, and started to sing softly.
Xia Yan: Twinkle, twinkle little star.
Xia Yan: How I wonder what you are.
Xia Yan: Up above the world so high.
Xia Yan: Like a diamond in the sky.
His voice was both soft and warm, like feathers layered, yet also like bits of stardust.
Their twinkling lights slowly fell downward, filling this lonely, dark space I had found myself in.
Just like in the past, his sound accompanied me by my side from start to finish, not stopping for a single second.
--
After singing the song, Xia Yan and I split up to start looking for that book, “KISS”.
MC: Right, you haven’t told me how you solved the riddle!
Xia Yan: It’s like this.
Xia Yan: “We read books in the flower garden, straight until night fell.”
Xia Yan: This is hinting at something that can only be seen in pitch-black.
Xia Yan: Something that can only be seen in the dark, combined with the symbols you mentioned, very much corresponds with a kind of text.
MC: Something visible in the dark… a kind of text…
MC: Ah! Could it be Braille?
Xia Yan: You got it! And then based on the shining symbols you described, looking up the corresponding Braille letters, is “KISS”.
Xia Yan: “You told me that the secret was in front of my eyes, as well as in the book.”
Xia Yan: “In front of my eyes” are the tulip symbols you saw.
MC: The “book” is what we need to find!
Xia Yan: Smart!
I simultaneously talked to Xia Yan while searching the basement like this.
Very soon, I noticed a book called “KISS” in a very obvious spot on the table.
MC: I found the book, Xia Yan!
I opened the book. The pages in the book had been taken out – inside, a little remote control had been placed.
I pressed the on/off button. Beside that floorboard that was part of the mechanism, there immediately was a “click” mechanism activation sound.
Right after, a rope ladder hung down.
MC: Xia Yan, you can—
Without waiting for me to finish, Xia Yan had already jumped down.
He didn’t use the rope ladder. Instead, the moment he confirmed that the return route had already opened, he directly jumped down so he could come down quicker by a few seconds.
He stood up from the cushion, a slight bit of sweat reflecting the light on his face, his breathing irregular.
Xia Yan: Sorry, I made you wait long.
--
TL Note:
*I actually could not figure out how to translate the original text for this, so I went with what I learned from a 2-minute search online.
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prettyallfriends · 3 years
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PriPara: Aim to Become No. 1 in the Idol☆Grand Prix: Prologue+Ch 1 English Translation
(I originally planned to translate the PriPara games after finishing the Pretty Rhythm ones, but I think I’ll try to juggle them instead! The PriPara 3DS games have a main story along with character side stories, I will do them in unlock order. Like with my other current translation, choices will be in bold, and the Player character’s name is just Player.)
Prologue
??? (Meganee): Welcome to Prism Stone! Play PriPara, where anyone can enjoy an idol debut and wear a lot of trendy coords!
Girl: Yaaaay! I made my debut as an idol! And I got a tomoticket! Woaaah, what a cute coord! Let’s snap tomotickets! Mine will be in high demand soon, because I’m definitely gonna be No. 1 in the Idol☆Grand Prix!
??? (Meganee): Everyone’s a friend! Everyone’s an idol! Will you also try going to the world of PriPara? 
Choice: Of course I will! / There’s no way I could be an idol…
??? (Meganee): Nice response! Please enjoy your idol life! You’ve a really nice smile, an idol’s talent is their shining smile! What kind of idol will you end up becoming…? And what kind of fans will you make smile…? I can’t wait to see! I’ve been searching for someone like you… But before that I’ve been wondering, who are you? Looks like introductions are in order!
Meganee: My name is Akai Meganee. I help everyone with their coords. Feel free to call me Meganee! ...Huh? I’m being pushy? That’s because of the system! Hehehe. Anyway, before you go to PriPara, could you tell me a bit about yourself?
(Mychara creation)
Meganee: Thanks for telling me all that! I feel like I know you quite well now. Player-chan, it’s nice to meet you! Well then, let’s get going. Let’s go! PriPa-...
???: Winwinwinwinwinwin…
Meganee: Huh!? That siren… Meganii-san!?
Meganii: It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Akai Meganii. I felt a woooonderful idol aura from around here… Ah, you must be the one to whom that aura belongs to. 
Meganee: Player-chan is going to debut today. Maybe they’ll become popular and shine in the Idol☆Grand Prix!
Meganii: I see… They certainly have a bright smile. I heard the power of your smile say “Come over here~!” after all. Player-san, please allow me to cheer for you during your idol debut. I shall give you the power to design a My☆Cyalume Coord!
(My☆Cyalume Coord design tutorial, basically you can recolour anime character coords)
Meganii: You will undoubtedly make many people smile with the My☆Cyalume Coord that you design. Gachagachagacha~
(My☆Cyalume design time. We only have four colours available so it looks awful. Sorry Laala I ruined your coord)
Meganee: What a wonderful coord! It suits you, Player-chan!
Meganii: Nice!
Meganee: Now that you’re ready, it’s time to start your PriPa-life!
Meganii: Please try your hardest in the Idol☆Grand Prix, I’m looking forward to it.
Meganee: Player-chan will definitely win the Grand-… huh? ...You don’t have any clue what the Idol☆Grand Prix is, do you!? I completely forgot to explain! Um… Well, first of all I’ll turn on PriPara☆Music TV…
Meganii: Winwinwinwinwinwin…
Meganee: ...looks like we’re too late. Don’t worry! You’ll find out about the Grand Prix soon enough. You wanted an in-depth explanation? Sorry!
Meganii: This is also thanks to the system! Winwinwinwinwinwin…
Meganee: Anyways, Player-chan, make sure to shine your brightest in PriPara! Everyone’s a friend! Everyone’s an idol! Lets go! PriPa-life!
(End of Prologue, Meganii jumps out to explain the coord gacha but I don’t care lol. Crying though bc I got a PR and then had to delete my file because I realised I had made a translation mistake)
Grand Prix Story 1: Aim to Become the No. 1 Idol!
???: Oh no, hurry! We’re going to be beary late for PriPara☆Music TV! You have to run, Laala! Mirei and Sophy are waiting!
??? (Laala): Gotcha (Kashikoma)! I’ll do a full sprint!!! Agh-!
??? (Kuma): Ahh! You bumped into someone! Are you okay, Laala!?
??? (Laala): Owowowow… My forehead hurts… Ah! I found the person I bumped into! I’m really sorry about running into you!! You’re not hurt, are you!?
Choice: I’m fine, don’t worry! / That hurt, what are you doing!?
??? (Laala): Phew, I’m glad you’re not hurt! I’m seriously sorry! From now on I’ll look both ways! Left, clear! Right, clear! Now I can safely dash! Ah, you laughed! Wow, your smile is… Wonderful! That’s a sparkly idol smile right there! 
Laala: I’m Laala, nice to meet you! And your name is…? Player-chan! Gotcha! I’ll remember that from now on! Your coord is really cute! Which brand is it?
(Laala it is literally a recolour of the coord you are wearing right now. I know you’re like 12 but Lordt)
Laala: Really!? You designed it yourself!? That’s so cool~!
Kuma: That’s unbearably amazing! This kid’s a bundle of talent! I’m sensing a lot of idol energy from you, Player! 
Laala: Are you also going to be on PriPara☆Music TV, Player-chan? Ah… You don’t know what that even is?
??? (Mirei): Laala~! What are you so pri-occupied with!?
Laala: Ah, Mirei! Sorry, I’m running late!
??? (Mirei): Ughhh! Sophy’s fell asleep waiting for you!
??? (Sophy): ZzzZzz… Is Laala here yet…?
Laala: Wake up, Sophy!
??? (Sophy): Mm~ Oh, who’s this…?
Laala: This is Player-chan!
Sophy: Player-chan… Cute… I’m Sophy… Nice to meetcha… Pshu~...
Laala: Aah! Sophy, don’t fall asleep!
??? (Mirei): Will you also be making an ap-pri-rance on PriPara☆Music TV as an idol?
Laala: Player-chan doesn’t seem to know about that yet.
??? (Mirei): Huh, really? I can explain it to you, so. It’s my first time seeing you around… Is this your first time in PriPara?
Choice: I debuted today! / I’ve been coming here for a while!
??? (Mirei): You just debuted!? I see… Well, if you get along with your senpai, Mirei, your points will go up!
Sophy: Mirei… what are you mumbling about?
??? (Mirei): Ah, you’re awake!? It’s nothing!? Ahem…
Mirei: Pop, step, get you~! I, Mirei, shall tell you all about PriPara☆Music TV!
Sophy: You’re so nice, Mirei~...
Mirei: PriPara☆Music TV is the prime TV programme in PriPara!
Laala: A lot of idols are featured and they perform PriPara lives on the show!
Mirei: And when you pri-form a live, your rank rises~ They’re organised by the Best 100, Best 50, Best 30… Once you’re at your prime and reach the Best 10, you can enter the Idol☆Grand Prix!
Kuma: Your “pri” puns are unbearable…!
??? (I MISS YOU ALREADY ZUCCHAN): What’s going on? I haven’t seen that person before? Are they aiming for the Idol☆Grand Prix?
Laala: Ah, Dorothy! I’ll introduce you to Player-chan.
??? (I WISH YOU LUCK IN YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVOURS ZUCCHAN): Tension max!
??? (Reona): Relax~
Dorothy: I’m Dorothy West! And this is…
Reona: Reona West. It’s nice to meet you.
Dorothy: Ooh, if you’re aiming for the Idol☆Grand Prix, that makes you our rival, huh? Sion, you think so too, right?
??? (Sion): Indubitably! Rivals are vital to idols! They encourage us to work hard! When our friends encourage us, we can all work harder! 
Sion: Player! I’m Sion! We’re going to get along great!!
Kuma: Dorothy, Reona and Sion make up the team Dressing Pafé!
Sophy: Laala, Mirei and I are Solami♡Smile~
Dorothy: The number of idols wanting to join the Idol☆Grand Prix is rising every day, huh? We’re going to have to work even harder! Right, Reona?
Reona: If you say so, Dorothy.
Laala: Let’s all do our best!
Sion: Ah! Is that…?
Mirei: Who is it?
??? (Aroma): Staaaaaare…
Laala: That’s…
??? (Aroma): Staaaaaaaare…
??? (Mikan): Staaaaaaare~!
Laala: Aroma, Mikan! Come over here~!
Mirei: How long were they pri-occupied with staring at us…
Aroma: My name is Aroma! I am a devil who hath returneth from the darkness!
Mikan: I’m the angel! Mikan! I use my angelic power to grant peace in this world!
Kuma: Those two are Aromageddon! Their gimmick is that they’re an angel and a devil!
Aroma: Gimmick!? Thou filthy pile of cotton… You shall face the power of darkness!
Kuma: Eek! I can’t bear your curses!
Aroma: Thou art Player, correct? I see… Darkness emanates from you. Join me and with the power of darkness we shall conquer this pitiful world!
Mikan: Aroma says she hopes you’ll be friends with her, Player-chan!
Aroma: Ah! Th-that is balderdash! I just felt Player’s darkness and…
Laala: Ahaha! Everyone’s really interested in you, Player-chan! Hm? I can hear a song from somewhere…
???: Ranranrararanranran~
Laala: Ah! It’s coming from up in that tree!
???: Let’s sing together, little birdie~ Teehee, the wind from the Palps is singing too~
Laala: Fuwari! That’s dangerous, get down from there!
Fuwari: I’m oka~y! I’m Fuwari, I’m an idol from Europara! Sing with me~ Ranranrararanranran~
Mirei: She’s really laid-back, huh…
Laala: Well, that’s Fuwari for you! There really are a tonne of idols here, though! And we introduced everyone to Player~! Hey, Player-chan… why don’t you come on PriPara☆Music TV with me!?
Kuma: That’s a good idea! They could appear in the special debut corner!
Sion: That’s the part of the show where recently debuted idols are featured, right?
Mirei: Anyone can enter, so it’s a prime corner!
Laala: Player-chan will definitely be super popular!
Sophy: I think so too~
Mirei: Let’s go then! It’s almost the entry deadline.
Sion: We must hurry! ...Hm? What’s wrong, Player?
Dorothy: Why are you just standing there??
Reona: Player-chan… is that person your friend?
Mikan: It looks like someone’s staring at Player-chan’s coord!
Aroma: Who could this person be!?
??? (Da Vinky): Your coord is wooonderfully wonderful! Did you draw it out yourself? Amazingamazing! This is… an explosion of art! Gyahahahaha!
Dorothy: You scared us! It was just Ajimi-
Ajimi: That’s right! I’m Ajimi! I hope we get cray-on well!
Laala: I’ll introduce you to Ajimi-chan! Ajimi-chan recently debuted too! She’s a super talented pop idol!
Reona: Hey… If we don’t hurry, the entry period for Music TV will be over…
Laala: Oh nooo! We have to hurry!
Ajimi: Huh, huh? You’re going to do a PriPara live in that coord~?
Choice: Yup, I’ll give it a try anyway! / I’m not sure I’m ready yet…
Ajimi: Gyahaha! That’s the spirit! I can feel it, I can feel it! Your sparkling aura’s gonna explode on stage!
Laala: I also can’t wait to see your live!
Mirei: This is your touching off point!
Sophy: I’ll be cheering for you~... Lets PriPara~
Laala: Let’s get you into the special debut corner! PriPara☆Music TV… On air start!
(Live. Finally a break from this chapter. Oh my god is it killing me.)
Laala: Woah! Look, Player-chan! Your rank went way up!
Ajimi: Your live was super explosive! Everyone loved it!
Mirei: Your debut was a pri-tty huge success!
Sophy: ‘Grats~ Your live was wonderful~...
Sion: That live was a once in a lifetime experience! Today was the birth of an idol whose growth we can look forward to!
Dorothy: Are you really gonna go for the Idol☆Grand Prix??
Reona: If you work hard, you really could become No. 1~
Sion: Why not try to climb the ranks of PriPara☆Music TV?
Reona: Once you’re in the Best 10, you can enter the Grand Prix.
Fuwari: Entering the Grand Prix is very idol’s dream~ And if you win, you get the legendary coord…
Mikan: ...the Idol☆Grand Prix No. 1 Coord!It’s a wonderful coord!
Mirei: The name’s… descriptive…
Ajimi: The Idol☆Grand Prix No. 1 Coord…? Hmhmhmhm!? What is that coord?
Aroma: It is a coord that unlocks the power of darkness within you…
Dorothy: That’s complete bullshit, the No. 1 idol who gets the Grand Prix coord…
Reona: ...can appear on many stages!
Laala: If they can do that, they’d get a tonne of fans who they could make smile! That’s wonderful! That’s why us idols are working so hard to get that coord! Player-chan, work hard along with the rest of us, okay?
Ajimi: Oooh, that’s great! A huge explosion of smiles!!! I’ll also enter the Grand Prix with Player! Let’s Gaugin!
Sion: The path to the Grand Prix is not an easy one.
Laala: First of all, you’ll have to be in a lot of TV shows. Player-chan, Ajimi-chan, enjoy PriPra-life! Oh, actually, wait a sec. To mark our friendship going forward… let’s snap tomotickets! I wish that we’re all able to enter the Grand Prix… snap! Let’s do our best together!
(oh my god i thought that would take like 10 minutes. It probably took upwards of an HOUR why was it that longggg jesussss
ANYWAY once again i will subtly hint that if anyone needs help sourcing this game or just needs help navigating menus, hmu. and i would like to apologise for changing kashikoma... it truly pains me to betray laala like this. also if this ISNT the first pripara 3ds game um. please let me know lmao. also yes i am posting this at 6am)
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popculturebuffet · 5 years
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Comics Corner: Child’s Play #1 “Night of the Living Doll”
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Happy days before Halloween everybody. While I have an X-tra Spooky treat planned for the day itself, I thought i’d start branching out from X-Men Comics (though that will be my primary focus), with a comic i’ve been dying to read since I found out it existed: The Child’s Play mini series from innovation comic, one of only two series and 10 comics overall starring your faviorite murder doll and mine: Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray. Also contains a slasher off to see who would win between Chucky and some classsic killers because the comic put the idea in my brain. Wanna Play? Then join me after the cut. 
WARNING: This review contains scenes of Gore. While I did try to cut it down being a horror comic about a slasher villain, this was inevitable, Discretion is advised. 
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Child’s Play is a horror franchise I absoltuley love. While i’ve procastinated on seeing the DTV sequels, not that I think their bad i’m just a forgetful mess sometimes, and Seed, because no amount of Jennifer Tilly or intresting gender identity issue stuff will compensate for me having to watch Chucky masturbate, I have followed the series for years, afraid to watch it because I wasn’t a huge horror fan at the time and Chucky scared the shit out of me as a kid. Eventually I realized that despite my fear I loved the franchise for it’s thoroughly interesting killer, entertaining kills, and at it’s best great stories and at it’s worst so bad it’s good royalty. Even the Don Manncini, creator of the series and writer of every film and director of three, disowned remake is pretty good if thoroughly it’s own thing.  So naturally a Mini-Series taking place between 2 and 3 that may fit neatly into continuity, this is my shit and i’m so happy to finally read it. 
For the lapsed and unintiated, the Chucky/Child’s Play series, the original anyway the remake is it’s own thing and has it’s own backstory, follows Charles Lee Ray, aka Chucky, a serial killer who in desperation to get away from the cop perusing him after his partner ratted him out, used his vodoo knowledge, because every serial killer knows voodoo apparently, to put himself in the nearest vessel, a doll. The rest of the backstory can be covered as we go as the first issue does a really good job of organically explaning it for the unaware. Granted I don’t know if most non child’s play watchers would be intrested in this comic but it’s a nice gesture. 
This mini comes to us from innovation entertainment, a 90′s publishing company that made tie in comics for a number of things, and from writer Andy Mangels who also wrote Innovation’s Nightmare on Elm Street comics, which Linkara has covered in detail if your curious and which i’ll probably cover myself at some point, especially since this issue made a strong impression on me.  Speaking of which, the mini as mentioned takes place between the second and third films, both of which have their own adaptations that i’ll cover eventually, but I felt the original story was more appealing. As far as I can tell there have only been really three bits of media outside the franchise, not counting the aborted video game: A , from all accounts, terrible endless runner game, this mini series, and another mini series from Hack/Slash creator and former Nightwing Maestro Tim Seely, as well as a crossover between Hack/Slash and Chucky from Seely. And having read said crossover and found it excellent and feeling just like the movies in regards to the little shit, I hope to find the mini one day and share it with you lovely people. But even if I had i’d probably be covering this one first since chronological order combined with the fact it seems that mini dosen’t fit into canon anymore and this one might. Now the exposition is out of the way let’s get to the good stuff. 
Since I didn’t really cover the covers in my first two X-Men reviews, and feel I really should going issue by issue it just hadn’t occured to me, let’s look at the cover. It’s decent, kinda a parody of old horror comics covers or old horror movie covers and a nice start to things.. although frankly I would’ve preffered the splash page instead. 
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I love it. It’s a nice little gag, and while the blood splatter is partly nonsensical and looks like Chucky just killed a guy to splatter some extra blood about to make his collection look more badass.. though given who we’re dealing with it wouldn’t suprise me, so it dosen’t really detract. That being said being a burgeoning horror fan and having seen films from most of these franchises and knowing enough about those I don’t from other reviewers reviews, i’d be remiss if I didn’t speculate about if Chucky could win against these other titans of terror. PLACE YOUR BETS BITCHES, IT’S A SLASHER OFF. 
Chucky Versus Micheal Meyers: He’d stab him for the love guru. Easy joke aside the horror of haddonefield does have size and strength, even in his old man version from the recent movie and upcoming sequels, over Chucky and while I thought this would be easily him... Chucky has him in speed and agility. He could climb that fucker and stab him up and down, shadow of colossus style, until even Micheal would have to buckle over, or just as likely set an elaborate trap like 2k18 Laurie. Micheal has some intellegence and a Chuck’s own drive not to give up, but that won’t save him from an opponent who’s faster, smarter and just as piss angry stubborn. Chucky wins.  Chucky Versus the Creature from the Black Lagoon: Chucky. The creature is strong but chucky’s craftier and would poison a lake just to kill a bastard.  Chucky Versus Jason: Tough call. Like Micheal, Jason is slow.. but he’s also 20 times more durrable, stronger and way more likely to get Chucky off him. He’s also more likely to use the environment meaning even if I vastly prefer Chucky, it’s a more even fight and more likely to go in Jason’s favor, as any trap Chucky set would likely get walked off. Jason wins.  Chucky Vs The Phantom of the Opera: Not really a traditional slasher and I don’t really know the version that is or the version that isn’t to be frank, but it seems like Erik could take chucky in cleverness and ruthlessness and combined with having home field advantage, i’m calling advantage Erik. He wins.  Chucky Vs Dracula: Okay 1, make this a movie yesterday Mancini and 2, this is a tough one. On the one hand Drac has mist, a horde of brides, wolves and transformation. If it’s home court, Chucky’s gonna die, especially if the count simply uses his brides to seduce him as Chucky is kinda easy that way. But in the US? Chucky is an onry bastard and Dracula has a ton of weakness, so I could see Chucky loosing round one then coming back to kill the bastard at dawn and anyone dumb enough to defend his coffin. Plus Chucky isn’t alone having Tiffany and the ablity to split himself among good guy dolls, so I could see Chucky creating another army of himself to do a suicide run on Drac’s castle. It’d hurt but Chucky is a vengeful dick. Chucky wins. Seriously Mancni get on this.  Chucky Vs Freddy: Depends on the setting: In the Dream World, it’s likely Freddy as he can throw Chuck off guard by giving him his body back or using former survivors, while in the real world it’s Chucky’s turf but Freddy still has knife hands with more reach than his lumbering opponents, so even with prep I expect Chucky to eat that one, so I give it to Freddy. But honestly I prefer Don Mancini’s ACTUAL pitch for a crossover he’s trying to get happening: Chucky and Freddy meet up, and actually admire each other’s style but realize that two killers in town will dry up all the victims so they wage a dirty rotten scoundrel’s style looser leaves town contest: whoever chops up the most teens by dawn stays. I want that yesterday too.  Chucky Vs Xenomorph: If it’s a facehugger as shown, Chucky, it probably woudln’t be able to bond with him and he’d stab it. But a proper showdown.. xenomorph. It matches Chucky’s speed, ferocity and while not as intelligent is still far stronger and just as ruthless.  Chucky Vs Leatherface: Chucky. While Leatherface has the better weapon and matching speed, Chucky can outthink him. Chucky wins but while I haven’t seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, against the whole clan Chucky probably woudln’t win.. but would probably throw in with them long enough to survive since he’s a murderous bastard too and as long as he dosen’t have to join in dinner, it’s essentially his MO with help and family. He’d probably grow to either love them or get annoyed enough to kill em all.  Chucky Vs  The Tall Man: Tall Man. The Phantasm Ball is just too powerful and Chucky too vunerable and stubborn for a teamup.  Chucky vs Pinhead: Pinhead. I may be too squeamish for hellraiser but he’s FAR above Chucky’s paygrade.  So overall it’s 4 to 6 with Chucky loosing, but he still put up a far better fight than you’d think. And for funsies before we move on to the actual meat of the comic at long fucking last.  Chucky Vs Ash: Ash. Ash is dumb sometimes sure, but he’s just as stubborn, has dealt with being accused of murder before so framing him won’t work, and unlike the Slashers he’s got a shot gun, which while chucky can dodge, I could see Ash pining him. Dumb dosen’t mean he isn’t clever. However I do want to see the hyjinks that would insue so please, Mancini, do this one if you either can’t get freddy or if you can after that. Please? Okay so with ALLLL of that out of the way, let’s dive in. 
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We open on the above, what’s left of Chucky after Child’s Play 2, being reforged into a fresh body. It’s exactly as pleasant as you’d think. 
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Maybe he just says that because the sight of him with lipstick gives grown men heart attacks. 
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See? Unsuprisingly, that’s one of my faviorite Child’s Play moments. Or maybe he just needs a pair of fresh eyes to stop being so hetronormative. 
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I do love this bit, it’s a nice bit of comedy that dosen’t feel too broad and fits right into the franchise, even before the outright horror comedies. And now for you ladies and gentleman and other’s pleasure...LIVE NUDE CHUCKY!
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Granted Bride would later retcon in a penis, but given he’s in a third body by then. Or maybe it’s the fact his body gets more human the longer he’s in one, so maybe he grows one or fused a strapon to himself. I dunno. I’m not an expert in Chucky’s Penis. That’s Don Mancini’s job. So Chucky puts some pants on, because wether it’s because you love somebody or want to stab them silly, you put your pants on for them, and wonders if he should wear something more inconspicuous before realizing he’s a 3 foot animate doll.. he’s always going to be conspicuous, another inspired bit of comedy. This is something I like about the issue: Regognizing how ludicrious the two sequels at the time were, Mangels leans into the comedy a little, but without overriding the horror, as you’ll soon see, somehow correctly predicting the direction of the franchise. But chucky made a mistake.. the last page showed him triggering an alarm by accident and well. 
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As you can see in a neat stylistic choice, the siren blares over the entire page as Chucky makes a run for it and a mysterious observer sees a slight against god running about, decides cool and follows. He accidently slams into chucky in another funny bit. He offers a ride and while Chucky balks at this weirdo, said weirdo points out that how’s he’s going to outrun the cops otherwise and Chucky reluctantly gets in. And it says something if the guy with a bigger body count than a heart attack still has reservations going with you. The teen says Chucky reminds him of a kid who was in the papers for claming a doll killed some people and his mother who backed up the story, was suspected to have did it and put her in an insane asylum, or as this little shit calls it “Electro-Shock Pallace” as someone who himself is mentally ill, and afraid of asylums and lives in a world two decades removed where mass killings happen often and are often pinned on mental illness, fuck this twerp and I can’t wait for his commupance. Chucky sets him straight. 
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See this is why I didn’t jsut do a big infodump on everything right up front, the comic does a good cjob recapping child’s play 1, and 2 isn’t relevant to the plot aside from the intro. They explain things quick and fast and chucky himself gives a good chunk of the film’s backstory pretty quickly once he and shades here get back to his house. 
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This is also interesting as even the films haven’t really gone into how Charles Lee Ray felt as he became a doll or if he was conscious when Karen first got him. There’s more of course, and while it’s not necessary to this story, Karen does show up in this series, so i’ll fill you in on where the story went from there, as well as what Chucky left out or wasn’t there for. Here we go... Karen Barclay was the struggling mother of young Andy, who wanted a Good Guy doll for his birthday. Karen, not having much, found one second hand... Chucky. Chucky started manipulating the young kid, offscreen though that just makes it more unsettling even if the mystery of if Chucky’s real or not is kinda pointless when we saw a guy explode himself into a doll. I also like the nod that Chucky knows about as much as the fans do as to why their was a mega explosion. He first kills Karen’s best friend and Andy’s babysitter for the night, which Andy blames Chucky. No one belivies him.. which is understandable.. what’s not is when Chucky kills next, having andy take him to his acomplice’s house and blowing it up, NO ONE seems to question why a little child blew up a known criminal, how he knew where the house was, or why, when the previous crime was done in the home with motive, he killed some random guy. I do love this film but this bit feels especially dumb on the cops part not even bending a LITTLE. But this isn’t a review of the first movie so let’s move on.  Andy is comitted, which as sad as it is to see an innocent child thrown in an institution does make at least some sense so they can find out if he’s really seeing things or not, and Karen returns.. and finds that the Good Guy dolls don’t come with batteries, yet Chucky has been talking like any other toy. As a result we get one of the best scenes in the franchise history if not it’s best, and really, as much as I try I can’t do it justice. Though if you can’t watch in short he does an exorcist when she checks the batteries, she threatens to burn him, and he reveals himself. In long... it’s worth a watch. 
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Chucky runs for it, Karen tries to tell Mike who dosen’t belivie her.. until Chucky comes for him. Chucky then heads for Dr.Death, his vodoo 101 teacher, who refuses to help him viewing him an abomination but stupidly left a vodoo fetish of himself around and you can guess the rest. He reveals Chucky can only transfer to the first person he revealed himself too so he heads for Andy with .. this. 
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Mancini had to know what he was doing right? Right? Anyway. Karen and Mike find a dying Death who tells them to aim for the heart and who his target is. Andy dodges Chucky and escapes the Aslyum heading home where we get a final confrontation between the Barclay’s, Mike and Chucky, which is damn good and ends with Andy burning the fucker with a badass response to his claim of being his friend to the end “This is the end friend”. This dosen’t quite finish him but a shot to the heart, with Mike to blame, kills the bastard.. for now. Now we’re all caught up, let’s get back to the story. 
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Dipshit has called his friends to see Chucky and as seen above, Chucky is wondering why he shoudln’t kill the guy.. but Dumbass has a good point for once: his one friend is studying magic, presumibly at Durmstrang since Hogwarts dosen’t tolerate that kinda shit, and could help summon dr. death to see if they can fix his situation. Granted Death viewed him as an abomination and wanted nothing to do with Chucky, but he might let something slip or have no choice and it’s better than the nothing Chucky has to go on. Chucky gives exposition to Fuckwit’s friends and claims he killed Dr.Death in self defense, which isn’t entirely innacurate and Steaming Bowl of Elephant Piss suggests holding a seance. But one of his friends, Burt, who seems to be the only one to see Chucky for the red flag he is, calls an audible and Chucky grumbles off while they talk in private. 
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As you can see, Fuckbucket sets the intellgence standard for his group. However their not SO obnoxious that it distracts from how horrible what’s about to happen will them will be. Except shitty shitty bang bang. Since It’s hard to remember all of the dead meets names i’ll be calling the girl Molly Ringwald, Burt by his name since he’s being sensiable, the moron drinking his own blood Edgelord, and Numbnuts MCGee my current barrage of creative insults. But yeah none of them take Chucky as a threat seriously, which is a nice little meta commentary on how most people think they could take Chucky, even though the guy is nigh unkillable, smart and fast and stronger, if not heavier, than him being a doll would make you think. Burt is the ONLY one here who seems to think harboring a serial killing doll is a terrible idea and thus the only one I respect. And “Most LIkely To Run Into A Wall” has the genius observation seen above where he asks “we’re helping him why would he hurt us”... when he’s already threatned to kill him and has no use for any of them once he has any info they can scrape up, with Burt pointing out even if their sucessful they’ll be responsible for more killing. Sadly he’s outvoted. Seriously while I do like Mangels, I question his opinon on teenagers and horror fans, especially given his long screed about the horrors of the world at the front of the issue and how his comics horrors don’t compare to racisim or homphobia, though the latter is a nice touch considering this was the early 90′s and some horror audiences could be homphobic morons, when the horror fans he portray are a darwin award of the decade winner, a moron who cuts himself not because he has serious issues with depression but to drink his own blood, a witch who goes along with their stupidity, and ... one likeable guy who’s coded as a wuss but is the only sane one here. 
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So morons r us, plus burt and chucky, call Dr.Death’s spirit forth in a very moody and atmospheric scene. Naturally it goes GREAT. 
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Dr.Death’s form dissolves terrifyingly and awesomely and our morons, and Burt,  are left, literally since they turned the light’s down in the dark> Burt is freaking out and has shards of crap in him thanks to all this.. couldn’t of killed fuckaround could you John? Burt is lead to the bathroom, while Fuckwit and Edgelord head downstairs, Fuckwit heading further down to check the breakers since the power is out for the whole house while Edgelord actually says something smart and wonders what they ALL shoudlv’e been thinking about: Where’s chucky? He has a response in this AWESOME looking panel. 
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And here’s where the it dosen’t undercut the tragedy bit comes into play. Sure these kids are kinda dumb.. but most teens are, and they might not belivie he actually killed peope or even if they did, think they can take him as foolishly stated. They had their whole lives to become better people, and Mollly Ringwald and Burt seemed like decent enough people while Edgelord was probably going though a phase. Dum Dum Dumbassigan dosen’t really get a huge repreive but the point is NONE of them deserve to die and they aren’t dialed up to obnoxious, except assface, to be that unsympathetic. Their being stupid sure, but again MOST TEENS ARE or will at least be easily talked into doing something that all common sense says should kill them. And sadly in David, aka edgelord’s case...
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Yeah it took a while but I had that gore warning for a reason. And he then decides to fill David with knives. I also stopped calling him edgelord because well. .look at it. The death is horrifying, well drawn and only made worse when Chucky decides to play “pin cushion” and fill him with knives off screen. His next target is sadly my man burt. He does complain A LOT and while a little whiny, given he’s covered in cuts, about to die and was the ONLY ONE here to excercise caution.. yeah he has a right to be. And then.. this happens to Burt in the bathroom...
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Yup, THAT just happened. But I like it a lot.. it’s done with style, humor.. but not without horror either. A nicely done little parody. Molly, or wendy as the comic calls her, wonders around the Darkness for a bit.. and then finds David’s corpse.. which I own’t show as holy shit it’s as graphic as it is horrifying. And given what I showed you of his death earlier, that’s saying something.She tells an approaching Moron to stay back.. and well..
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In order....... I am so angry at that first panel “I don’t know what happened here....” I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED HERE. 
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BITCHCAKES, YOU LET A SERIAL KILLER INTO YOUR HOUSE WHO VANISHED ON YOU AFTER A SPOOKY GHOST TOLD YOU TO KILL HIM OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. WHAT IN THE STAR SPANGLED, CHERRY COATED MARSHMELLOW FUCK DID YOU THINK HAPPENED.  Second, while I get her logic, Fartnugget isn’t capable of working out basic sequence of events let alone killing a person.  And finally.. there is no amount of gifs that can convey how happy I am at that last panel. 
Wendy goes mad from the shock and Chucky, whos’ been lurking under the table this whole time with a Freddy Glove, strikes. 
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It’s no “welcome to prime time BITCH”, but I think Freddy would dig it. Naturally, the glove dosen’t kill her but she snaps her neck.. and then chucky , of all things, calls the police. 
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I’ll not explode with rage again btu the david’s dead line tempted me, as HE JUST KILLED YOUR FRIEND OF COURSE HE DID. As for his threat... Chucky is unimpressed. See this was his plan. At least once they stopped being useful. Gee who could’ve predicted that? Chucky has decided to frame ponytailed idiot for it, a real brilliant way of going about things, and to me WHY Chucky is such a threat. Even if you beat him, if you don’t have proof.. he still gets you locked up and then comes back stronger than ever. This ending also actually helps with a plot hole some might have with the series. 
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Chucky dosen’t leave fingerprints. He MIGHT as he turns more human, bud odds are he dosen’t, thus it’s easy enough to frame whoever’s left.. though it was neat to see him do so intentionally. Truck Nuts breaks down, Chucky flees and we end on a teaser for the next issue as some mysterious Doctor has come to Karen Barclay with promises to help go after Chucky. But that’s for another day. For now our story is done. There’s also a page for a “Stuck On Chuck” contest, with the winners getting to be in issue 5. Just bringing that up so if I ever get there, I won’t have missed it. And with that we finally close out. 
Final Thoughts: 
This issue is excellent. I was expecting something slightly cheesy and not great, and while there are narmy elements: the commentary on horror being a media scapegoat seems out of place and as I made abdundantly clear on second read the lead is insufferable. His fate is still tragic, but he’s such a moron I can’t help but feel he brought it on himself, but his friends aren’t so obnoxious that you don’t feel bad when they do die, a mistake full on horror movies make too often. The kills are gory, as shown there’s some nice visual flair here and there, and chucky is drawn amazingly, especially for the time. There’s an awkward shot here or there but for the most part the artist really captures him well. This comic is a hidden Gem and if your a fan of the films or even just the first one, I strongly recommend it, or if nothing else as I haven’t gotten to the rest, this issue.  If you liked this review, feel free to like or reblog, and if you want one like it for the issue or graphic novel of your choice, just pm and slip 5 bucks into my paypal and i’ll get right on it as soon as the first week of november. Until then, i’m your friend to the end. 
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bananashemmo · 5 years
Text
Committed The Robbery (Part 13)
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Pairing: Y/N/Gangmember!Ashton
Rating: NC-17
Request: Yes
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Summary: On a scale from 1 to shit, how fucked would Ashton be if he ended up banging the other gang member Luke’s little sister Y/N?
Read Committed The Robbery on Wattpad
With tired eyes and a bored expression, you leaned your cheek against the palm of your hand. Your pencil was swinging between your fingers and you tried your utter best to focus.
Whoever had decided that classes after 7 P.M were a great idea, was in a serious need of a health check. Nobody was able to concentrate at this time of the day.  
Not even a girl like you.
Your book was open and you were trying your best to catch along with whatever paragraph in the law enforcement was stated. Paragraph numbers were shown on the large screen in front of you, but you couldn’t keep along.
You just wanted to drift away into your own thoughts. Imagine that you were somewhere else where it didn’t require you needed to use your mind.
Even the guy next to you were half asleep. He was struggling more than you and he was known for being the better student.
You wondered if you should just give him a nudge in the shoulder. But he looked so peaceful having his eyes closed.
He was probably listening anyway.
You looked down at your notes and tried to understand what you had been typing. At first, it was decent notes that you needed to use for a few projects next week, but when you tried to scan what it said, you couldn’t read your own words.
You had also ended up doodling instead. That was when you realized that you had lost your concentration.
There was no point in sitting here.
You took a scan at everyone else. It was actually many who had met up, some even looking pretty committed. It was no wonder, some enjoyed not having to meet up early for a class.
You wouldn’t say you were a morning person either but being here this late.
It should be a crime.
You shut your notebook and placed your pencil on top of it. There was no reason in trying to write something down if it wasn’t readable after all.
You glanced over at the glass door that was the only way to see the hallway. The lights were actually off, indicating that the sensors hadn’t caught movement. Nobody was out on the hallway at this time.
That was no wonder. You were the only class that had ‘night’ classes, meaning that it was only the 25 students in the room that was around the whole place.
Everything else was shut down, if you walked further away than to the end of the hallway, you would need to use your ID card to shut down the alarm.
You looked back at the professor who seemed and sounded so committed. Professor Jakarta was like, so into this subject you sometimes wondered if he’d rather be in the law enforcement than a college professor.
You glanced back at the glass door again, feeling you saw a movement and you did.
Your eyes widened in surprise and your lips parted slightly. You were so sure you were seeing wrong but when Ashton moved closer to the glass you knew your eyes weren’t being fooled.
You furrowed your eyebrows confused, not knowing what he was trying to illustrate with his hand movements.
You were great at reading people but this was getting out of hand.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” You mouthed towards his direction and he grinned lightly.
“I know,” He mouthed back and made movements with his hands as if he was motioning you to walk out of the room.
You shook your head in response, you almost wanted to say no out loud. But it wouldn’t be possible for him to hear and neither did you want to disturb the class.
Ashton made movements again and it was so distracting to you, you grabbed your back and stood up from your table. You walked down the stairs that lead down to the door and tried to avoid the long eyes after you.
You used the excuse that you needed to go to the bathroom and almost knocked the door into Ashton even though it was glass separating you and he could see you.
“What are you doing?” You whisper-yelled once the door was shut and grabbed him by the arm to move a few meters away so you wouldn’t spoil you through the glass.
“You know you can’t be here.”
“The boys are out tonight and I was bored so I headed to your dorm but you weren’t home. Your scared roommate said that you were here so I showed up on my motorcycle.”
“And?” You looked at him with blinking eyes, skipping through the part that he mentioned Alba seemed scary.
That wasn’t the shocking news of the day.
“I thought I’d ask you out for a milkshake.”
You looked at him dead in the eye as if he was being serious. Was he seriously showing up on a Tuesday night asking you out for a milkshake? Not to mention dragging you out of a class where you were supposed to be for the night.
“I’m in the middle of a class.” You mentioned as if he hadn’t noticed and nodded your head back.
“I know,” He smiled, “I could tell how bored you were. I’m sure you will forgive yourself for skipping one class. Please?”
You looked at him not knowing to say. Your eyes drifted towards the classroom where you were supposed to be. You had never skipped a class before and the guilt was filling in your veins.
But you also knew that you wouldn’t get anything from sitting in the room. Professor Jarkata had already lost you and that was kind of the point of no return.
“I shouldn’t be going with you. I can’t walk away from here.” You said more quietly and tried to sound serious so he would understand.
“You can’t walk from here?” He asked, copying your tone and you nodded your head in agreement. But your seriousness was killed by the smile growing on your face.
“Fine then,” He accepted and in one swift movement had you lifted in his arms.
“I’ll just have to carry you then.”
As you walked down the street after Ashton had parked his motorcycle by the parking lot, you couldn’t help but grin and smile at the same time.
Fine, he had won this time. Thinking further than you and you accepted your little mistake. Sometimes he was being too literate but that was what you fell for.
You looked up at him and squeezed his bicep because of his teasing tongue sticking out from his lips.
“Stop looking at me like that.” You mumbled and hit him instead. He could barely feel it, you hit like a feather.
“Like what?” He asked back and looked forward. He could see in the corner of his eye that you were rolling your eyes by his ridiculous question.
“Like you’re a child who just got their will.”
“I kind of feel like that.” Ashton smiled and stopped when you came closer to the ice cream shop where neon lights were illustrating the whole street. It wasn’t hard to notice where it was, it brightened with pink, blue and purple colors.
You didn’t know this place but Ashton seemed familiar. He opened the door for you and invited you inside where a few students were. Not someone you knew of, but you could tell as they were sitting with books studying.
“How do you know this place?” You asked and he shrugged his shoulder.
“You’d be surprised how many places I know in this city.”
You didn’t know if you were supposed to take that as a good thing or not and you stopped in front of the counter to look at the many different ice creams.
“Weren’t we supposed to get a milkshake?” You asked and looked up at him.
Ashton nodded his head in agreement and wrapped his arm around you when someone walked past you so you wouldn’t stand in the way.
“What is really cool about this place is that you get to pick whatever ice cream you want to be blended like a milkshake. My personal favorite is the mango sorbet which they blend with a bit of milk. It’s like, the best milkshake I’ve ever had.”
You nodded your head by his explanation and placed your hands on the glass on the counter.
you looked at the many signs. They had even made an ice cream that was based on Oreos and cheesecake. There were also the typical ones like chocolate, strawberry, and pistachio. You looked over at the corner with various fruit-based sorbets.
“I think I’d like to try the hazelnut ice cream.” You pointed towards the ice cream and Ashton nodded his head in agreement.
He smiled over at the cashier and ordered a mango and a hazelnut milkshake.
You didn’t know if you were supposed to pay for yourself but since he had invited, he was also insisting on paying. You didn’t want to argue with him because you knew from the start it was a lost battle.
You waited carefully for your milkshake and when you were given them Ashton held yours and headed towards a couch where you could sit.
He also made sure to grab a few napkins, just in case.
The taste of the milkshake was actually amazing. It reminded you so much of Nutella, which made sense because it was made on hazelnuts. It was so well made you needed to make a mental note remembering this place.
“So when are we going to talk about it?” He asked and you furrowed your eyebrows.
You didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Talk about what?” You asked, taking another sip of your milkshake.
“About that kiss by the fountains.”
You almost choked on the liquid and you leaned forward to grab one of the napkins. He was right about needing one and you looked up at him with wide eyes. You wanted to be polite but he took you off guard.
“Really, Ashton?” You quivered an eyebrow at him but smiled.
“You haven’t thought about it since?” He asked and you looked down at your fingers by the question. They were getting cold from holding the milkshake.
Of course, you had thought about it. In fact, you had been thinking about it every single day since it happened. You had no idea how to shake it off your shoulders. No matter what you did, Ashton would always come to your mind and it was hard trying to get him out of your head.
When you woke up the next day you actually thought it was a dream. Or more like a nightmare because Luke finding out was hunting you down. It was almost like you had forgotten what happened between you and Ashton in the first place.
You leaned your head against the cushion of the couch and looked at him with soft eyes.
“I think about it... A lot.” You mumbled and he nodded his head in agreement.
“I do, too.” He admitted and took a sip from the yellow milkshake.
You could feel your cheeks ready to brush and you briefly looked down at the menu card on the small coffee in front of the couch. It had the ice creams you had been looking at by the counter so there wasn’t much new to be distracted by.
You looked back at him and bit down on your lip in thought.
“Should we tell Luke?”
This time it was Ashton’s turn to widen his eyes and he moved the straw away from his lips.
“Are you planning my sudden death?”
You didn’t want to laugh by the question but you couldn’t help but giggle just a bit. The way he was asking showed he was clearly serious, but you didn’t know what to answer.
It was indeed a stupid question.
“I just think it’s hard to keep secrets all the time.” You admitted and shifted in your seat.
“You’ve been keeping a pretty great secret for many months now. Sometimes you act like nothing ever happened between us.” He mentioned and you lifted your eyebrows by his words.
“You feel like that? Because it’s still affecting me to this day.” You answered and he also widened his eyes.
You looked at each other trying to come up with something to say that was going to take away your weird feelings about the situation. You had never actually spoken up about this for so many months, it was almost as if it didn’t happen.
“It’s not like I can show up in front of Luke and say hey... I kissed your sister last week not to mention I was the one taking her virginity.”
If you had been drinking a sip of your milkshake, you would have choked again. Sometimes he was just straight forward and you weren’t really prepared for it.
“I know it’s weird but uh... Have you been with someone ever since?” You managed to ask and looked down at the ground to keep yourself from looking awkward.
“No, I haven’t.” He answered honestly and looked at you carefully, “I haven’t been feeling like myself since then. And when we all were thrown out of college, everything just seemed to change. I haven’t had girls on my mind at all.”
You couldn’t help but feel just a little bit happy inside.
“Have you been with someone?” He reversed the question and asked you.
You looked at him sincerely and shook your head. There was no one at college that caught your interest and especially not the way Ashton could. He always managed to make you feel safe no matter what trouble you were in.
“Of course I haven’t. That night with you has been my only time. You can practically call me a virgin again.” You said quietly and leaned your head to the side.
He widened his eyes and you didn’t know if it was because of your comment or if it was because you hadn’t been with someone since him.
What did he expect though? You weren’t really the type of girl to jump on whatever guy came close to you.
“I actually thought you had kissed someone. Might as well be something I’ve made up in my mind.”
You rolled your eyes by his words and you shook your head, “The only guy I’ve kissed is you. Have that in mind.”
“I will.”
You smiled at him and took a look around the shop. It had a bit of diner vibe because of the old school colors. You didn’t mind though, you kind of liked the place. It was located nicely and wasn’t near any kind of creepy street where Ashton usually stayed with the boys.
You had a question in your mind that came up by your thoughts drifting. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to ask but you did.
“Did you uhm-,” You looked down at your feet carefully. He looked at you in wonder, wanting you to continue.
“Did you bring Amelia here?”
Ashton’s lips folded into a straight line by your question and he sipped on his milkshake as if he was in thought. It would make sense since he knew of the place, you kind of put the puzzle pieces together by that thought.
“No, I actually didn’t.” He explained and leaned back in his seat.
He ran a hair through his brown curly locks and sighed to himself.
“I don’t go to the places where Amelia and I stayed. It just brings back too many memories. Especially the bad ones. I don’t want to go through nightmares every single day. That’s now how I want to live my life. So I’m just trying my best to try not run against the walls. And by that, I just avoid the places we used to hang out.”
“How do you know this place then?” You asked after carefully listening to every word he had to say.
It was a sensitive subject but you liked seeing that side of him. That soft side.
“I used to study here. Just like the ones over there.” He nodded his head towards the young ones being around your age.
Your eyes adverted back to his and you smiled, “Do you miss it?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes I don’t. That depends what mood I’m in.” He answered and the conversation continued like this.
You talked about anything between earth and ground. You loved just hearing him talk because he was so passionate about his stuff but he was also a great listener. You felt that he heard every single word and kept it in his mind.
You were happy that it was actually a relaxing day. Nothing dramatic was happening and it was just the two of you.
But sometimes things were said a bit too quick.
It was only an innocent way to the toilet that made you almost collapse with a guy that hadn’t seen you in the process. He almost spilled his ice cream all over her but he was lucky that he missed.
It made Ashton stand up from his chair in one swift movement and headed towards the guy with fire in his eyes.
“Are you blind? You could see her walk forward.” He made a movement to push the guy away from you and you looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Ashton, it’s okay I can handle this.” You tried to grasp his arm but he shrugged you off.
“I’m sorry, it was just an accident I swear.” The guy explained, he was wearing a leather jacket that seemed significant.
“You know an accident would be my fist to your face if you don’t leave within five seconds.”
Your eyes widened and you wanted to yell at him but instead, you grabbed his arm to pull him out of the shop. You’d rather walk out than the owner suddenly showing up and banning you from being there due to inappropriate behavior.
You kept on pulling him by the arm until you stood on the parking lot, the lights from the shop reflecting on Ashton’s face.
“What was that? He did nothing to harm me and you literally attacked him!” You didn’t want to yell but it came off like that.
Ashton looked down at you with a tight jaw and pressed his hands into his pocket pants.
“I can’t take you anywhere. You just fight everyone.” You didn’t want to sound sad but it was the truth.
He glanced over at you because of your words and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. His brain was running through with answers but he couldn’t come up with something that was going to solve it.
“You bring the worst out in me.”
Your jaw fell and you didn’t know how you were supposed to handle his words.
He moved his hair away from his eyes to show his sorrow. He was serious about his words and you wanted him to continue. You needed to hear his explanation.
“It doesn’t mean I’m blaming it all on you. I’m just having such a hard time because I am so insanely afraid that something is going to happen to you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me, I swear.” You leaned down to grab his hand and intertwined your fingers.
“Every corner you turn, there will be someone ready to tear you down. Once you’ve experienced a loss. You will look over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”
You could feel your heart beat fast by his words, he was in serious pain and you had no idea how to take him out of his misery.
“We will figure this out okay? Someway... You can’t walk around every day feeling miserable and in fear of someone is going to take me away from you. I can’t let that happen.”
He didn’t seem fully convinced but when you moved up to stand on your toes to give him a kiss, it soothed the pain he was feeling.
“Come on,” You nodded your head towards the motorcycle and followed him towards it.
He looked at you with sad and almost defeated eyes but the blush on his cheeks showed the warmth you gave him just by being near him.
40 notes · View notes
mtvswatches · 5 years
Text
Wynonna Earp 1x10 She Wouldn’t Be Gone
Spoilers disclaimer (please read before sending messages or writing comments.)
Click here for previous recaps!
Stray thoughts
1) Bobo really has a thing for Waverly, and it’s creepy as fuck…
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Waverly claimed she couldn’t wait for Wynonna to shoot him in the face, but to be frank, I really hope Bobo’s final confrontation is with Waverly instead of Wynonna. There’s so much history between them, and I feel Waverly would gain both a sense of accomplishment and some closure if she’s the one to put him down. I wonder if that’s possible, though…
Also, what’s Bobo’s plan here? Other than piss the Earps off, of course.
2) Dolls put a bug at the bar, and this is the first thing they here…
Bobo: Those Earp girls may be bangable, but they're a boil on my scrotum.
…which makes me feel super creeped out about the fact that Bobo struck up a friendship with little Waverly. Pedophile much?
3) Who the fuck was this girl, what was that mark on her face, and why was she eaten by a wolf?!
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So many questions!
4) Evidence that the revenants are bisexual. Boom.
WAVERLY: They're talking about Dolls, guys! They're speculating that your penis is small!
5) I’m glad Wynonna and co were as confused as I was about Bobo buying the bar. Their assumption is that he did it to protect the revenants, given that Wynonna is not likely to kill them off in front of the bar patrons. I guess? I mean, it’s not like Wynonna hasn’t shot revenants in front of humans before… And as BTVS has taught us, no matter how weird what people witness is, they will always try to find a logical explanation to put it off their minds. So, I think getting rid of Bobo warrants a few scarred-for-life patrons…
6) So… the girl bore this Lou’s mark, who is Bobo’s number one enemy, apparently. They seem to have made some sort of pact and Lou was not supposed to cross into Bobo’s territory. And I think Lou was the wolf?
7) Uh-oh…
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Bobo found the bug. That doesn’t bode well… 
8)
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9) There’s absolutely NO way Wynonna didn’t see that…
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10) Wait, wasn’t Whiskey Jim being tortured for information by Dolls? How did he end up in Bobo’s hands?
11) How are these two so soft and sweet and badass at the same time? My heart cannot take it…
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12) I really liked how the confrontation between Wynonna and Dolls played out. At first, I thought she was honestly being vulnerable and purposefully giving him the flirty eyes and leading him on, which she has sort of been doing, and that seemed unfair to me. But she was just using his attraction to her against him in order to handcuff him to the car and find out what he was hiding.
13) So we can’t really trust anything Jim tells Wynonna and Dolls, considering Bobo instructed him to provide them with certain information. But I think there must be some truth to what he told them. There’s definitely some blood between Bobo and Lou, but I wonder if it’s really because Lou tried to overthrow Bobo. And I do have a feeling that he might be much worse than Bobo. But I’m guessing they’re not going to find them in Pine Barrens, like Jim told them…
14) This is actually some good advice…
WYNONNA: Those things are cockroaches to me.
DOLLS: Don't do that. Do not do that. I saw your eyes back there. They were cold and callous. Don't get all hard and forget that you're human. That you are you.
WYNONNA: I won't.
DOLLS: Just remember, revenants will say anything with a ticket to Hell pressed to their forehead.
15) In this episode of Man vs Car…
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I love that he’s so perplexed by this gift and Wynonna’s gesture that the best use to make of it he can think of is smashing it to bits until Waverly suggests he could learn how to drive.
16) Woods 101? Always stick with your group. Amateurs…
17) Why does Wynonna always wake up in the weirdest places?
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18) Is this Lou? And is he the leader of some kind of wolf cult or something?
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19) Sounds accurate…
CULT GIRL: How can you tell the good from the bad?
WYNONNA: Um the good ones are usually scared. But they push past the fear, you know? And they do what's right, even when it hurts. Even when every instinct is telling them to do nothing, to survive. And the good ones are hotter.
20) Oh, I feel sorry for the cult girl, she was kind of sweet.
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21) Of course, they’re caught…
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22) Well, he does seem to know Bobo pretty well…
LOU: Bobo. That narcissist finally figure out that his stupid fur coat won't protect him?
23) So, the “mark” means that you’re no longer welcome in this “community.” Well, mark me down…
24) The rogue animals are coming after Wynonna, right?
WAVERLY: Every single girl on this list? Found dead, scattered around the Ghost River Triangle. Autopsies say that they were toyed with and then killed by animals that had gone rogue.
WYNONNA: Rabies?
WAVERLY: No. Just torture. Like, every single bone in their body broken, their skin licked off.
WYNONNA: This is why I don't do pets.
25) I knew that he’d be craving this after a night out in the woods…
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But what the fuck is it?!
26) Wait…
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Was this just a camera trick? Or is it something that he can actually do when he’s under the influence of whatever he’s been jacking up on?
27) He’s the cutest…
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But was he trying to run off or something?
28) He was trying to run away. Because he doesn’t think Wynonna feels the same way as he does…
DOC: I have vanquished my enemy. I have taken her horse. I am finished here, Waverly.
WAVERLY: This was your plan the whole time.
DOC: No, this was your plan. You told me to learn to drive.
WAVERLY: I didn't mean leave Purgatory without a word!
DOC: I do hate goodbyes.
WAVERLY: Look, we need you, okay? She needs you.
DOC: She has Dolls.
WAVERLY: Can't you at least try? I mean, I'm trying with Nicole.
DOC: Difference is, she adores you back.
But I wish Waverly asking him would’ve been enough for him to decide to stay, you know? Not that I think he’s gone. God, I hope he’s not gone!
29) Wynonna’s message about what makes a person a “good one” really got through to Eve, and I love that. But… it seems a bit unrealistic that a girl who’s been part of a cult for who knows how long would turn against her leader after having a few words with an outsider, you know? I know they didn’t have enough time in one episode for them to actually develop a bond, but it would’ve been more effective if we would’ve seen them establish a connection and how Wynonna was helping her demolish the walls in her mind.
30) So, Lou is a skinwalker. I’m guessing that’s another way of saying shapeshifter?
31) In case I haven’t said it, I’m in love with Wynonna…
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32) 
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33) hOW THE FUCK WAS EVE ABLE TO SHOOT THE GUN?!
34) IS SHE FUCKING WILLA??!!!
DOLLS: She didn't remember anything - since Lou found her, huh?
WYNONNA: Yeah.
DOLLS: Prolonged psychological trauma can cause amnesia. She may have been brainwashed. Or she's lying.
WYNONNA: She's not lying. We thought she was dead.
DOLLS: Wynonna…
WYNONNA: We gave up. We stopped looking for her.
DOLLS: Wynonna. We don't know anything for sure. There could be 1000 reasons why Peacemaker worked in her hand, you hear me?
WYNONNA: Or there's one.
34) IT IS!!!????
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36) Okay, I was not expecting that plot twist? To be honest, half-way through the episode I was feeling like it was a meh episode. Some fun moments here and there but I really didn’t see the point in this plot so far into the season. But now it all makes sense! There are two living heirs! It’s a great twist on the “chosen” mythology. I just assumed that the mythology in this show was similar to the one in BTVS, by which an Heir could only be called at the age of 27 when the previous one had already died… but this changes everything! This means that as long as they turn 27, they can all be heirs. Could this mean that Waverly could be an heir at some point? That would mean she can actually be the one to kill Bobo off! I also have so many questions about Willa. Does Wynonna’s father’s relationship with Bobo have something to do with the fact that she was taken? Did their father hand her over to them? Was she the reason Lou left town? Did the girls’ father and Bobo team up against Lou and Willa was one of the sacrifices they had to make? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!
37) Hope you enjoyed my recap, and, as usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!
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notamyope · 6 years
Text
Day 1 - 10/09 - 11/05
Lena has daydreamed about bumping into crushes many a times in her life thus far. Generally, they take place when she’s going out to do errands, where she likes to think about running into her crush while in the middle of her task.
A very “meet cute” scenario that she sees often times on screen or in books.
Maybe she’d struggle to reach for a book, and her crush notices and reaches it for her. Or perhaps she’d go out into the parking lot after a purchase, and her crush accidentally drops their supplies and she goes to help them. Maybe they’re in line together, and one of them notices that, hey, they’re right next to each other!
She’d keep her eyes peeled for any signs of her crush then, and get her hopes up for just a bit when she sees someone with the same colored hair or a similar outfit to what they would wear.
Only, it turns out to not be her crush and she continues on.
But then, she finishes whatever it was that she was doing, and is off to move on to her next errand for the day with just a slightly disappointed feeling of her daydream not being fulfilled.
Lately, that feeling of slight disappointment seems to have made its way to Kara.
And the amount of times she finds herself slightly disappointed whenever she goes out has made a major increase. She blames that feeling solely due to the high number of people who have long blonde waves for hair and wear business casual attire.
(Or maybe that’s just because, those are the only type of people who catch her eye, and make her hope that it’s Kara.)
Today, taking a stroll around the park and noticing the ice cream vendor, her mind takes her to seeing Kara in line, and then casually striding over to say hi. Then, Lena would offer to buy her ice cream and they would walk around the park or stop and sit over by a bench to chat.
The thought is absurdly unrealistic, she knows. But she can’t help but turn her head to look anyway, with the dimmest of hopes that maybe it could actually happen.
She is painfully and abruptly pulled back into reality via soccer ball right to her nose.
She bowls over, hands covering her throbbing nose as she groans pitifully in pain.
She blinks through her watery eyes, a blurry set of feet coming into view and someone picking up the ball, and her first instinct is to glare at the person.
Only…. It’s a child.
A child that she has successfully struck fear into.
“U-Uh...Um.” The child clutches onto the ball the size of her torso, nearly squeezing it into herself as her eyes fleet around with uncertainty. “I-I’m uh…. I’m sorry….” She near whispers, barely able to pronounce the “R” properly.
Lena can’t help but soften, and before she can say anything else, the one person who had been occupying her fleeting daydreams, arrives the one time she didn’t want her to.
“Lena! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Kara asks, running up to her with ponytail wildly bouncing back and forth.
“Kara!” Lena exclaims, stunned in disbelief at the sight of her, though it comes out muffled through her hand.
Face full of concern, Kara comes to a stop as she nears, crouching over to get a better peek at Lena’s face. “Here, let me take a look.”
“It’s fine, I’m fine really.” Lena tries to assure, though winces when she lowers her hands.
Blue eyes flicker about, closely inspecting the area. “Well, you’ll definitely have a bruise.” Kara assents, straightening back up. “But nothing some ice can’t help.”
Lena playfully rolls her eyes, “Why, thank you Doctor Danvers.”
Kara flashes a toothy smile, before turning her attention back to the child. “Did you say sorry, Lyra?”
The little girl bobs her head, though shrinks back behind Kara’s legs for protection. “Yeah…”
Kara knits her brows in confusion, hand rubbing at Lyra’s back. “Hey, kiddo, what’s wrong?” She asks, bending her knees to level herself closer to her height.
Lyra whines, pulling the ball further into herself.
“Hm?” Kara tries to prompt again, lowering herself a bit more.
Lyra glances over to Lena, and back to Kara as she leans in close. “She’s scary.” She whispers, rather loudly.
“Oh, really now?” Kara asks, side eyeing Lena, who has the decency to look a little embarrassed. “What did the scary lady do to you? Besides being a Luthor.” Kara adds with a little wink.
The joke flies over Lyra’s head, though she does give Kara a weird look at first. “Her eyes are scary. When she looks at you, you freeze! Like- Like Medusa!” She exburently exclaims with more than a few mispronunciations.
And Lena can’t help but be taken aback by the comparison.
How does a kid know about Medusa anyway? Is that…. Is that a thing now?
Did she know when she was Lyra’s age?
Was that even appropriate?
Should she be taking offense or be pleased?
Kara doesn’t seem phased by the explanation, instead she simply nods in understanding. “Yeah, that’s true. Her eyes do seem like they can be a little scary.”
“Very scary.” Lyra corrects.
“Very scary.” Kara amends, “But Lena is a very good friend of mine, and she would never hurt you on purpose.”
Lyra looks dubious at this, warily glancing back over to Lena. “Really?”
Kara nods, “Really. Right, Lena?”
“Right.” Lena agrees, “I’m sorry if I scared you, sweetie. I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh.” Lyra considers this, looking down at her soccer ball as though it had all the answers of an eight ball, before looking back up. “That’s okay.” She smiles in such a way that is so reminiscent of Kara, and Lena can’t help but wonder if it’s possible for hearts to spontaneously combust from cuteness.
“Alright, why don’t you take that ball back to the other kids and play a bit longer?” Kara suggests.
“Okay,” Lyra nods, “But I’m gonna check on Caitlyn first.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. You go on ahead, and I’ll catch up with you soon.”
Lyra brightens up, turning tail and running back in the direction of where the group of gleefully squealing kids were at.
“Sorry about that again.” Kara says with a laugh, not taking her eyes off of Lyra until she was back with what Lena presumed was the group. “The game got a bit more heated, so the kids are getting… Y’know.”
“It’s fine, it’s my fault for not paying attention anyway.” Lena waves off.
“Something on your mind?” Kara asks.
Lena nervously laughs, “You could say that.” She says, though internally chastises herself.
How many times has she thought of a situation such as this, only to butcher it the moment the opportunity presents itself to her?
“Lyra is pretty cute.” She tries, attempting to redirect the topic of conversation.
Kara eyes her curiously, but takes the line with a soft smile. “She is. Wicked smart too! Loves books, I’m sure you can guess where her recent interests have been taking her.”
“Do they involve powerful, mythical women?” Lena asks.
“She absolutely loves them,” Kara laughs. “And she’s always asking me why the Greek boys are always being so silly.”
Lena can’t help but be absolutely endeared by that, “And what did you say?”
Kara pauses, shifting her demeanor to be more serious before nodding once, with all the wiseness of the world. “Cooties.”
Lena throws her head back in full laughter, her nose slightly aching from the action, but she refused to allow that to deter her. “Well, you’re certainly not wrong!”
“I feel bad though! Ever since then, she’s been telling the other boys at the orphanage that she doesn’t want to hang out with them, because of cooties.”
Lena’s mood dampers suddenly, as she looks out to the group of kids, “Orphanage?”
Kara rubs the back of her neck, “Er. Yeah.”
Lena gives a sympathetic smile, “I didn’t know you worked there too.”
“I don’t.” Kara corrects, “I just volunteer there.”
And… Lena can absolutely envision that. “Well, you seem great with kids. So I’m sure you’re a fantastic fit there.”
Kara laughs, “I hope so! Otherwise it’ll hurt my ego when I find out that the kids are just pretending to like me.”
Lena smiles at that.
And in the distance, she hears the cries of children calling for Kara to, “come play with us!”
Kara apologetically smiles, “I should probably get back to them.” She says, taking a step away.
“Oh.” Lena nods, trying not to feel disappointed. “Of course. I’ll see you around?”
“Hopefully soon.” Kara smiles.
Lena’s heart lifts in hope as Kara waves goodbye before jogging back to the kids.
She’s immediately tackled and grabbed onto by a small horde, and Lena sees Lyra simply taking hold of Kara’s hand as others hang around her other arm and legs.
And Lena’s imagination briefly fleets to the idea of a life where she and Kara have been together for years and years, and adopt many, many children together where they all tackle her when she arrives home.
She’s brought back to reality by the sounds of gleeful screams, and her eyes focus on the scene of Kara pretend wrestling with the group.
She watches for a bit longer, and decides that perhaps…. she could try to make her dream reality by pulling out her phone and hopefully making plans to meet with Kara for brunch sometime soon.
First things first however-
She types in a reminder to make a donation to every orphanage in the area.
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vore-scientist · 6 years
Text
Negotiating with Giants: A Love Story
(This is a GT story, no vore, but mind the content warnings. it’s also more of a lore dump adventure, but it includes a love story in there somewhere) 
This crazy adventure tells the tale of how Emmett (a human fire witch) meets and falls in love with Maya (a giant, ranger). And what an adventure it is! It’s got magic, it’s got dragons, it’s got schemes made by evil wizards! I pulled out all the stops!
Content warnings/description: This story contains no sexual content! The pair is F/m, but i wouldn’t label it as “giantess”.  Especially since there are a lot of giants in this story. While this story doesn’t contain any proper vore it does mention the evil wizards being eaten a few times, fatally. And by mention i mean “the wizard was eaten”. This makes it less vore-ish than the actual Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which is the children’s fantasy book series that I base the world of Mystic Woods on. And it’s only evil people, so they deserved it. 
(you do not need to know who Emmett, Maya, or their son Yonah are to read this, they are my OCs!) 
.
.
This is not a story that will have a surprise ending, only a surprising journey to get there.
It was your average day in the Ha’Esh household, located in a average village on the outskirts of the Blue Woods Tribe (your average Mountain Giant Tribe)’s territory. And the day would continue to be average, the family left undisturbed, the world around them still intact.
---
For all these things that were average, the Ha’Esh family itself was not one of them. There were three members, a mother, a father, and a son. The mother, Maya, was a giant. Not out of the ordinary for someone who is a member of a tribe of giants. The father, Emmett, however, was a fire witch. Not everyone in the tribe was a giant, but it’s rare for non-giant members to form family units with the giant ones. Their union meant their son, Yonah, was half giant and half fire witch. Though if one were more accurate, Yonah was closer to half human, having inherited little of his father’s fire witch traits.
At the time of this story, Yonah is 10 years old, and in a curious mood.
He had gotten up early, made his bed, and headed outside to collect eggs from the dire-ostritch s. Meant to be kept by True Giants, these birds were large for a half giant, and at his age, their heads were at his chest. But he was their friend, and they clucked as he entered the coop, bucket of feed over his head. It was cushioned upon his mass of curly, ink black hair.
“Alright you ostriches, who's hungry?” he cried, as if to pump up a crowd at a rock concert.
They all backawed loudly, and pavlovianly. Yonah stepped aside as they all hopped out of their nesting spots to run outside. Once everyone was out, Yonah stood in the doorway, and looked down the ramp at all the ostrich s looking back at him.
3
2
1
He thrust forward to launch the contents of the bucket outward and pandemonium ensued. Yonah used a bit of simple magic to create small gusts of wind to carry the feed all over the paddock, so the ostriches went in all directions. The thing is, they go after the first piece of feed they see, not the one easiest to get to, and they were running into each other, bouncing off each other’s plump plumage. Some would fall over and act as if it was the end of the world for all of 3 seconds before spotting another piece of food and forgetting their plight
Quickly, yonah switched the bucket for a basket and ducked back inside the coup. Dire-ostritches, even domesticated ones, don’t lay every day, usually once every week or so, which Yonah was thankful for. The amount each day was usually about the amount he could safely carry without breaking the eggs or dropping the basket.
By then the ostriches were pecking at the remains of their meal, and Yonah shepherded them back into the coup, attracting them with a treat, mainly old dried fruits and fairly old jerky that would have had to been thrown away. Basket on his head, empty bucket in his hand, he headed back inside the house.
“Ah, Yonah, you are up early today!” his mother exclaimed as he entered the kitchen and handed off the eggs to her. He barely came up to her knees. She placed the basket on the kitchen counter and picked up her son, placing him next to the basket.
This was of course, Maya, Yonah’s mother. Just over 40ft tall, skin a nice grey-ish blue, strongly built, and absolutely no hair on her head. Giants don’t have much body hair, at least, not anywhere normally visible to the public eye. They do have large pointed ears. Yonah inherited the large ears, but they weren’t pointed.
“I don’t have breakfast ready yet, but you are welcome to keep me company” she said. She pointed to the cauldron in the fireplace, which was boiling steadily with a sweet smelling porridge.
Then a large BOOM was heard outside, though far away. Maya sighed, Yonah laughed softly.
“Never mind that, could you go check on your father, make sure he hasn’t blown himself up?”
Yonah hopped off the counter and went to go find his dad. He had a work area on the side of the house opposite from the ostrich's, so as not to scare them, or end up as collateral damage. It was also where his father’s garden was, again, away from the ostriches. There was no telling what could happen if they ate any of the magical plants. This boom however, did not come from so close by, his father must be out in the forest this time.
The second BOOM provided Yonah with a direction, and he ran towards it. He didn’t smell any smoke, which meant his father wasn’t setting the forest on fire.
When he found his father, he was unconscious, next to a large boulder, that felt like faint sparkles were coming off. The remnants of a magic spell.
“Dad!” Yonah cried out, running to his dad’s side, and sitting him up. His skin was very hot, he had just produced a lot of magic.
Emmett stirred and looked up at his son, and smiled. Yonah breathed a sigh of relief. His dad was ok.
“What happened?” Yonah asked.
“‘What happened’? No, ‘are you ok?’ or ‘i’m glad you’re still alive’?” Emmett sneered.
Yonah rolled his eyes, “You’re obviously fine,” he said, still holding his father up.
“Well, I’ll be fine, I just overdid it, a bit,” he said, coughing hard.
“Can you walk on your own?” Yonah asked.
Emmett tried to stand up, but was very unsteady, “I think my boy, that you will have to carry your old man back. Sorry.”
“Only if you tell me what you were doing.” said Yonah.
“Deal,” Emmett was going to tell him anyways, he always did.
Yonah picked up his father’s limp form and place him on his shoulders. Emmett was strong enough to hold on, as long as Yonah held his legs.
“I’ve been working on a teleportation spell,” said Emmett, as they headed back.
“But you already know how to teleport!” said Yonah. He’d seen his father do it, bursting into flames and vanishing, only to reappear within a week, after he had completed whatever he had gone off to do.
“That is correct, but this is to teleport your mother,” he said, “Teleportation of one’s self is relatively easy for a fire witch, it’s mostly verbal and pushing my own magic into the goal. However, teleportation for regular people is difficult, it involves a lot of set up. Marking up the ground with magic to form your transport matrix. Teleporting others with you needs more magic, more prep, to compensate for the area the spell is going to effect and, and the number of bodies. If the other person is over 40 feet tall, the design needs to be altered almost entirely. I was practicing on that boulder. I had no trouble teleporting it away, and myself with it, but it still took a lot out of me. More than I realized. When I teleported it back, I, well you know, you found me shortly after.”
With his son’s interest in magic, Emmett never tried to simplify explanations.
“You passed out from exhaustion!” said Yonah. It didn’t happen often, fire witches were veritable fonts of magical energy. This must be one big spell.
“Exactly,”
However, Not everything made sense to Yonah, “But, giants can teleport themselves, cant they? Couldn’t mother learn and take you with”. Yonah knew that you always took what you were holding when teleporting.
“They don’t really need to, they can go pretty fast on foot. Some mages learn how, but your mother’s no mage. If we’re gonna travel someplace far, we’ve always walked. Or rather, she walked, and carried me,”
Yonah stopped, “Are, are you going somewhere?” he asked, his voice shook, “Are you leaving me?!” Was this how he was going to find out?
“Oh, oh gods, no, Yonah, of course not, we’d never leave you!” Emmett assured him, “this is just in case we want to travel someday, like take a vacation. Your mother’s been living in the mountains her whole life, she’s barely left, only to make trips into the Mystic Woods. I thought she might want to see more of the world.”
Realization dawned on him. “This is a present for mother!” he said.
“That’s right, but it’s not ready, so don’t tell her. I’m going to tell her I tried to turn a tree into gold or something,” said Emmett.
“Ok, it will be our secret!” said Yonah, and he nearly skipped back home. His father bouncing up and down on his shoulders, squishing into his hair.
“What on the gods earth were you trying to do, Emmett?” Maya asked, worried but not without exasperation.
She had placed Emmett in an armchair, on the kitchen table, sitting herself on a stool. Yonah sat on her lap, but to be tall enough to be a part of the conversation, he had to be on his knees. Breakfast was ready, porridge and scrambled eggs. Emmett was feeling well enough by then to use a fork and spoon.
“Magical exhaustion mama!” said Yonah, “it happens to the best of us”
“Oh, and when has it happened to you? When have you done such reckless magic?” Maya looked sternly at her son.
“I- I havent, I just mean,” Yonah tried to recover, but his mother just tousled his hair.
“You’re going to be a fine mage someday, but please be careful,” she said, “as for you” she looked back at her husband, who had just put a spoonful of porridge in his mouth.
“You still haven’t told me what you were doing!”
Yonah dearly wished he could telepathically communicate with his dad. Emmett choked, and stuttered, he had forgotten what he was going to say. Yonah had to, but they could at least have had a contingency plan. Then it came to him. He had an Idea™.
“Mom?” said Yonah, in his sweetest voice, “Dad?”
“What is it honey?” said Maya, as Emmett wiped porridge from his shirt.
“How did you and dad meet?”
There was a long silence, Yonah’s parents looking from him, to each other. Internally, Yonah was bursting with pride, the perfect distraction! And also, maybe he was finally going to hear the story.
“Havent, Havent we told you?” said Maya.
Yonah crossed his arms, “you said he saved you from an evil wizard, but that’s it, there’s gotta be more to it than that.”
“Oh there’s a lot more,” said Emmett, and his wife shot him a death glare.
“Come on dear, it’s a good story, i Don’t know what you’re saving it for, some special occasion? Why not now? In any case, I’m too weak to do anymore work today.”
“No, you’re right,” she said. And cleared her throat.
“Well, it all started because, well because I picked a fight with the wrong wizard…”
I was on a border patrol, had been for days, and nothing was out of the ordinary. New dire-eagle nests, would have to watch out they don’t steal any cattle. When I came across a wizard. He was, doing something in the forest, which was very suspicious. It took me a second to realize why he set off my alarm bells.
He was not in the garb of an academy wizard, but the two-color robes of a society wizard. The Society of Wizards, as you know, are never up to any good, always trying to further their hold on all magic in the world. And one was at the edge of the Mystic Woods, picking at the ground with his staff, with magic shooting out every minute or so.
Being the amazing ranger that I am, I was able to sneak up on him, to a point, there is only so close I can get, even if I’m unheard. I tried to get him to tell me what he was doing but he wasn’t talking. I ate him of course, and I don’t know if that was a mistake, I doubt it would have changed much about what happened next.
Whatever the wizard had been doing, he had done it, before I got there. It wasn’t even a minute after I dealt with the wizard that The air became all gold and shimmering. I raised a hand up to my eyes to try and rub my vision clear, but i couldn’t, my hand stopped.
I stopped.
I was stuck, frozen, and the air still shimmered. The wizard had been setting a trap! And I had fallen in it. I screamed and screamed, at least i could still scream, my face was the only thing I could move. But no one was close by to hear, not even a talking animal. All I could do was hope the spell wore off or to be found before I died.
“AND FOUND SHE WAS! BY ME!” his father said with pride, interrupting Maya.
“There I was, minding my own business, just taking a stroll” said Emmett, more strength in his voice than the rest of his body.
Maya snorted in amusement.
“Ok fine, I was out looking for a good place to settle down, you know, build my witch hut, or tower, or castle. After looking through the Mystic Woods I decided that a magic forest setting wasn’t for me. But I saw the magical field and had to investigate! I walked into the field and what do I find? A giant!”
I had never seen a giant before, and this one was asleep standing up, and in what had to be a very uncomfortable pose. Well, I went right up to her feet and yelled up.
“Hello up there!”
I woke up to that yelling and I tried to look down. My eyes moved but my head didn’t, and I screamed. But soon the mysterious visitor backed up enough to be in my field of vision. It was a very strange looking man with bright red hair.
/”Excuse me!?”
“Dear you had the most awful haircut”
“fair”/
I demanded to know who he was, how he got here, and how he wasnt frozen like myself, though I had my theories. I was right too, he was a fire witch, of course the magic didn’t affect him. Fire witches are immune to most magic. But they are also very good at disrupting magic. After a we exchanged names and pleasantries, I kindly asked him to get me free.
/”you demanded it, and it was right after I told you my name”
“Fine, yes, I demanded it, I was three days stuck there, you try to keep cool”
“I never do that,”/
He refused! Said it wasn’t in his interest to help a giant! He couldn’t see the benefit for him, and one less giant around was one less thing to worry about. But, he would examine this trap, it was fascinating, something that could hold a giant in place.
As you can imagine, I wasn’t very happy about this. And this, this little man was just going to let me die where I stood! If I had any tears left they would have flowed from my eyes, but they had dried up a day ago, all I could do was watch as the little ass- jerk [Maya stopped herself from swearing in front of her ten year old son] slowly paced around me.
“Say, this looks like wizard magic,” he said after nearly half an hour! “And not Academy wizardry, Society work!”
“It is” I said, though he didn’t deserve to speak to me any longer.
“How do you know that!?”
“Because,” I said, “that’s how I got stuck here, I found a wizard, and he did this! I’ve been here for three fuc- freaking days!” I think I was willing to talk only so that I could keep my mind of my own impending death.
“Three- how are you still alive?” he asked me, and he was looking at me now, really looking.
“Well, I ate the wizard, that helped, but I’m not going to last much longer!” I was pleading, how demeaning it was.
All I could do was watch him pace back and forth, thinking about something. Eventually he spoke again.
“I hate those society types, they give my cousins across the sea nothing but trouble! Always after their magic. Tell you what, I’ll try to help you, and in return, I’ll need a favor.”
“Sure, what do you need?” I asked, I had hope again.
“Oh I don’t know, I just want a favor, which I will call in sometime in the future,”
Now Yonah, understand that under most circumstances you should never make deals with strangers, especially ones where there are no terms on what the person might request. But I was desperate, I was foolish. And you father knew that. And I accepted.
“Wonderful! Now let me see,” He cracked it knuckles and sat down.
From his backpack it removed all sorts of objects, eventually getting a knife, a little brush and a magnifying glass. He went up to one of the closest trees and scraped at the bark, investigating it more thoroughly than he had before. Then he put his finger up to it and there was a burst of light, I thought the tree might catch fire, but it didn’t, instead there was a puff of dark purple smoke.
“Success!” Emmett said from inside the cloud, and then he coughed violently.
I didn’t know what he was talking about, I was still stuck! Nothing had changed. But he went to another tree and did the same thing, with less smoke this time. And then he went to a rock, and again, a puff of smoke, again smaller than the last. Eventually the puffs of smoke were all the same size, but he kept going. By now I could feel something different, almost like something was lifting off of me, yet I couldn’t move.
/”I’ll explain this,” said Emmett. “You see, what it looked like at the time was the wizard had laid down a net, it really was a trap! I had to sever each line, one at a time with my magic”
Yonah nodded in partial understanding/
Finally he came up to me again, I couldn’t see him anymore because he was so close.
“Hey, um, sorry for what’s about to happen,” was all he said before there was a huge blast of smoke and a surge of heat by my feet.
And then I was on the ground. So was the fire witch, he had been blown back, and was groaning, but he was alive. I was kinda disappointed because it meant I was still bound to do him a favor.
“That should do it!” he said, springing up and dusting himself off.
“I- I’m free?” I tried to move. After three days, I was stiff, and it hurt, but I sat up and tried to do some stretches, it helped a bit.
“Sure are! Hey you wouldn’t know if there was any free land around? I’m looking to set up shop in the mountains! Maybe start with a hovel, someday a small fortress! evil stepmothers of nobility and the men’s auxiliary of uncles would send their step-children to me to be cursed, or given quests, I can make potions, just be a proper fire witch you know? Curse anyone who steps in my garden, plant magic things that will enchant you if you touch or eat them, that kind of thing!”
My head spun as he talked, but I managed to catch the gist, “is, this that favor you wanted?”
“Oh no no no, this kind of information is not favor worthy,” he said, and began gathering up his things which had been scattered by the force of the blast.
“It doesn’t matter, I don’t know. I patrol the lands but I don’t own them.”
“A pity, well I’ll be seeing you,”
It was then that I realized that I needed to get home, and it pained me to admit that I was probably too weak to do so, at least, unless I met no danger on my way. And I had to get home and warn the others about this wizard, and the trap. Society wizards are unofficially designated “kill on sight” because of their reputation. They are dangerous.
“Why don’t you come back to the village with me?”
“And why would I want to do that?” he asked, “Just go to a giant village? That’s not exactly smart”
“You said you were heading into the mountains, well that’s where the village is” I continued to explain that  with me he’d be safe, and given food and a nice bed to rest before continuing on his journey. Hospitality is a rare find in the Implausible Mountains.
He stroked his beard, “You make a good point, I shall accompany you!”
With what little strength I had, I stood up, and I started walking, but Emmett did not follow.
“Hey, where are you going!?” he shouted at me.
I turned around, and he was just staring up at me expectantly.
“Aren’t you going to carry me?”
“Can’t you fly on a broom or something?” I spat back. Carry him! I’m not a courier.
“I don’t have a broom, and you should be glad of it! Do you think I would have walked into you if I could fly around on a broom?”
I had to admit, he was right. So I placed him upon my shoulder and headed home.
But, it wasn’t as simple as that. Running I could get back in a day, walking, 2 days. Walking at my weakened pace, who knows. I didn’t have any food on me either, and I was took weak to hunt. And your father, as talented as he might be with magic, he is no hunter. His fire magic would sooner burn the entire forest or scare off any animals than do any help.
It was the morning of the second day when, according do your dad, that I didn’t wake up.
Back then, (Emmett continued), I wasn’t really concerned with people other than myself. I considered just leaving her there. But, I couldn’t. Even without the promised favor, I couldn’t. I had come this far, I had kind of made a friend, we didn’t spend the last two days in complete silence. And it’s rare for fire witches to do that, make friends.
There was only one thing for me to do. I would go to the village myself! There I could tell some giants what had happened and they could get Maya. That was, if they believed me, and if they didn’t try to eat me, or capture me.
I was able to rouse Maya enough to get directions to the village.
We were closer than I had thought, but it still to me a day to get there, without stopping to sleep.
I wasn’t very coherent when I reached the village, and it was about midday. There weren’t many people walking around on the outskirts so I knocked on the first door I came across. Either no one was home, or my tiny knocks were too quiet. I tried another, still no luck. The third time I nearly got flung by the door opening. I shouted up.
And was told to f- buzz off or be killed, they don’t like strange humans in the village. Said I was lucky to get this one warning, the next person might not be so merciful.
Unable to get a word in before they walked off, I decided to just follow them. They eventually made it to the, well I generously call it the village square. It’s mostly a circular area in the center of the village with a well at the center. Going up to a random giant was clearly not the right approach, so thought of a way to get people’s attention.
First I went up to the well and got a few drops of water on my face to wake me up, and then I climbed to the top and stood on the roof of the well. I took a deep breath, and a second, and a third, and shot fire up into the air. Fire from my mouth, and my hands. It had to be big! It had to be grand and noticeable. And it was.
All traffic stopped and stared at me, I was out of breath but my hair was still fire and so I was still a beacon, even under the noonday sun. Soon the well was surrounded by giants, all eyes on me. I figured I should take the initiative here since time was of the essence.
“Attention giants! I have some important information! Please give me your eyes and ears!” I used a little spell to amplify my voice.
I paused, wanting to make sure they were listening, and it seemed like they were, if only because they were confused.
“One of your kind is in danger! She has collapsed out in the forest! I can lead you to her!”
A male giant stepped out of the crowd, he had some sort of armor on so i guessed he was a guard or something, but he came up close and looked me over. You know him, Evan, but this was years ago, if you think he looks strong now, imagine him in his prime.
“Can you now? Human, and why should we trust you? We can see you’re one of those fire witches, how do we know you aren’t trying to lure one of us out there to kill us, and use our body for your wicked spellcasting”
These giants weren’t stupid, but I had to convince them. “I, I know her name! It’s Maya, she was hurt by a wizard from The Society Please you gotta believe me, just let me take you too her”
Evan stroked his non-bearded chin, “For intruding on our peace we should kill you where you stand, but you look weary, and your voice conveys no falsehood,”
“Are you suggesting we follow him!?” came a voice from the crowd, I don’t recall who it was.
“What if it really is society wizards! It could still be a trap!” said another, who I do remember now that I think about it, it was Tola.
“It would be a very elaborate lie, such high reward but higher risk. I say he will lead us, under some conditions, which must be agreed to otherwise we will kill you,” Evan said, not taking his eyes from me even once.
Of course I agreed! I had to save Maya. But, I didn’t realize that they had an anti-magic cage built by a fire witch to hold other fire witches. I was completely at their mercy, but confident that since I was telling the truth, I would make it out of this alive.
“If you make any suspicious move, little witch, it will be your end,” was all the warning I got before being given the command to point them in the right direction. There were 4 giants in total with me, in addition to Evan there was Ozna, Regla, and Gibor, though I didn’t know their names at the time.  Heh, if I went back in time and told myself that those four would be my drinking buddies someday, I would have thought I was crazy, or tried to wake myself up from the now obvious dream I was having.
Anyways back on track.
It was humiliating. Evan held me out in front of him like I was a lantern and he an old crypt keeper. I think at that point I wanted to be able to say “I told you so” to a bunch of giants, and to hear them apologize to me after we saved Maya.
We reached her in just a few hours, and remember it took me a day! The other three giants ran to gather Maya up to be carried back, she didn’t respond to their touching or moving her.
“There, you see, I was telling the truth, you can let me -” but Evan stuck his face close to the cage.
“Silence, witch, for all we know it was you and your fire magic that managed to fell someone as strong as Maya.” He spat at me, which was very rude.
But I couldn’t do anything in the anti-magic cage, even as angry as I was, my hair would only smoke! I was well and truly powerless. So I sat down and resigned myself to swinging around in the cage, which was now on Evan’s hip since I wasn’t needed to lead them back.
When we got back Maya was rushed to a healing house, and I was brought along, though I don’t know why.
I was placed on the floor beside the pad that Maya was placed on. Evan stayed by the door, watching me, as the healer asked me questions. You wouldn’t know her she, she was old even back then, but she was kind, if stern. I was tired, and angry, so we didn’t exactly get along at first.
“How long has she been like this?” she asked me.
“What does it matter!? I don’t really know!” I was, having trouble thinking, I kinda had not eaten or slept or had anything to drink for over a day.
“Think, how long?”
“Uh, four, maybe five days,” I said.
That was clearly a bad answer because she went straight to Evan and ordered him to go fetch some things.
I can’t pretend to understand what exactly was done, but I know that the healer managed to force feed Maya something, something that smelled awful, through some tube. And I know it was risky bc it took a while to set up.
I was also given food. Stale bread rhinds and old flat beer. So far, I wasn’t impressed with the hospitality that Maya had spoken of.
I did ask why I was being kept next to Maya, if they thought I was the one who hurt her. I was told that should she die, the last thing I should think about was the one I had killed. Justice i guess, it didn’t make much sense to me.
It took two days for Maya to wake up, and she was force fed the rank broth a few more times. But it must have done something.
It was like coming out of a fog. I didn’t know where I was, the last thing I remember was heading home, with, with a fire witch. I sat up and looked around, I was in the healing house, and next to me was a cage, and in the cage was.
“You!” I said, my voice was wispy, I picked up the cage. The fire witch was there, in the same clothes, but looking rather haggard.
“Yes it is I, Emmett, can you please let me out?” he said, standing up putting his face up to the bars, “I’ve been in this cage for almost three days!”
Thinking back I probably shouldn’t have, I didnt know why he was caged, but I opened it, and he hopped right out onto my hand. And Then I almost dropped him as his hair burst into flames!
“AHHHH! Free at last!” He cried triumphantly, “oh, sorry, got a little, excited” he said putting out his hair, though heat radiated off of him, it felt really nice as the warmth spread from him to my hands to my limbs and my entire body felt like it was being filled with energy. And clarity.
“Why on earth were you in that cage? What happened?”
He told me, his hair flaming up when he got to the the actual caging parts. But I was not burned. Unlike the others in the village, I believed him at his first words. There wasn’t really any other explanation for how I got home.
“So, little witch,” i said, “this is twice you have saved my life, I guess I owe you two favors now,”
/”It’s so much more endearing when you say it” said Emmett,
“What?”
“Little witch”/
“Ah, I mean,” his face was now the part of his head to turn red, “consider this one a freebie, but I’d better see that nice hospitality I was promised, so far the accommodations have been dreadful”
Now it was my turn to be angry. And I called out for the healer or any attendants that might be nearby. They rushed in, but as soon as they saw Emmett in my hands, they stopped.
Tired as I was, I gave them my most fearsome glare.
“How DARE you put this man in a cage, he’s a gosh darn hero!”
“We didn’t, Maya, that was Evan,” said one of the attendants.
“Then go get him!” I ordered, and one of them ran off.  
After forcing Evan to apologize, sort of, I was told there would be a feast to celebrate my recovery. I of course demanded that Emmett be allowed to join, right before falling back asleep.
I was very worried they would put me back in that cage or throw me out the moment Maya couldn’t stop them, but they didn’t. Now that I wasn’t suspected of attempted murder, I was allowed to do as I wished, within reason. There wasn’t much I wanted to do, I did not know, let alone trust, any other giant in the village. I didn’t dare to even go for a walk. So I just stayed by Maya’s side.
Well, not the entire time, I did leave so I could wash myself and change my clothes after half a week of traveling and being stuck in a cage. I felt like a new man, and I put on my nicest robes in anticipation of the feast.
And if you were wondering, yes, your mother was also given a wash and fresh clothing.
Now, the feast itself. The food was, it was decent. Nothing fancy, but well spiced. About what you would expect for a feast that was prepared in half a day.
And it was held outside, with tables circling the well at the center of the village, lanterns were strung from the houses and held up on poles, everyone was talking, some people were singing, everyone was drinking. Now that I got to try the not-left-out-for-days-in-the-sun-beer, I got to try real giant’s beer. And the stories are true, it’s the best in the land. But, you’ll get to try it when you’re older. It was a good time, and no one threatened to eat me, not seriously, at least, I don’t think anyone did.
Maya had to tell the story of what happened so many times that by the end of the night she was hoarse, but after most people went off to bed, we were told to stay, Evan and a few other village leaders wanted to speak with us.
We were taken to Evan’s house. Maya took a seat at the table, and I stood on table itself, as close to Maya as possible. It wasn’t long before Evan walked in with three others, Ishka, Amir, and Adom. And we were asked to tell the story.
“Again? We’ve told it over twenty times today, I’ve counted,” I said.
“No, she has told it,” said Evan, referring to Maya, “Now we want to hear it from you, and don’t spare any detail about what happened.”
I didn’t think there was much for me to add since I had not been there when the wizard showed up, but they were very interested in how I figured out the net and how to get rid of it. Amir was the village’s most powerful mage. They wanted to know if it was hidden, if I thought only fire witch fire could break it, and if they could learn to spot them.
“Wait, you think there could be more?” I asked, and I looked to Maya, she hadn’t been paying much attention But now she looked fearful.
/”I was very tired”/
“It is pure speculation,” said Amir, “but where there is one society wizard, there are always others, and Maya only found the one. More wizards could mean more traps.”
“So what do you think we should do?” I asked.
““we”? Little witch, bold of you to assume you would remain with us much longer,” said Evan. I was about to respond but Maya spoke.
 “Good luck destroying the traps without him, you said yourself you don’t know if it can be done without fire witch fire.”
Everyone was silent for a while, and I didn’t dare make suggestions, and to be fair, I didn’t have any. Then Ishka broke the silence.
“I’m less worried about the traps as I am about the wizards. If this is the beginning of an invasion, we can’t be caught off guard,” she said, “We need to start the Implausible Connection as soon as possible!”
That didnt mean jack shi-diddly to me, but I was tired and full of ale, so I didn’t inquire any further.  
The others nodded, and Ishka continued “There’s the dragon lair close by, we could go tomorrow morning, but we should send a messenger to the nearest village tonight,”
“You don’t perhaps have mirrors? To, say, contact the village directly?” I asked.
Amir looked peeved at that comment, “no, we do not, that kind of magic has never been shared with us, you humans and other small folk keep it to yourselves.”
“Well, maybe after this we’ll get that set up,” I said, and Amir looked surprised, and then smiled at me. “That’s very generous, for a fire witch,”
“I’m not going to do it for free, or any of this, if you want my help I’ll want payment!” I said. I wasn’t interested in making a profit, but this would cost me a lot of time, energy, and supplies.
Adom glared at me and growled “we are prepared to compensate you, within reason, if you prove useful.”
The meeting concluded soon after that, and Maya and I went back to the healing house, she was still recovering, and needed to have as much strength as possible for tomorrow we would meet at least one dragon.
(Maya continues the story)
When we got to the dragon’s lair, it was empty. Well, as far as we could tell, so we sent Emmett in, dragons may be in length the same height as a giant, but they are smaller, and none of us could actually fit in the cave entrance, not without crawling.
But they weren’t home, that was made clear when we heard the screeching, and sneezing, behind us, and looked up to see the dragon diving towards us. They landed in front of the mouth of the cave and look at us, angry and surprised. Five horns, a male dragon. And he sneezed again.
“What are you giants doing here? This is dragon territory, explain yourselves,” his tail swished, and we saw that it was not pointed, the end had been cut off, and then the burned. The dragon was shaking, and bit of flame flicked out of his nose.
“They’re not home,” Emmett called from inside the cave, he was coming back, and the dragon jerked his head in Emmett’s direction.
“Thieves!! You brought a human to steal from me!”
Before any of could do something he released a blast of fire and we heard Emmett yelp.
“No, dragon, we are not thieves! We came to talk to you, wizards were spotted in the forest! We’ve come to invoke the Implausible Connection” Evan shouted over the screeches of the dragon.
The dragon stopped breathing fire and looked astonished, and was no longer in a rage. He sat up on his hind legs, curling his injured tail around to his underbelly, and cocked his head at Evan, and again, he sneezed.
“Wizards you say, Implausible Connection you say! Wish you had come sooner, I just met a wizard.” now that he wasn’t angry his voice was much softer, “I am very sorry about your human friend, wrong place at the wrong time, I hope you don’t hold his death against me,” he twitched his tail, a bit embarrassed at his mistake.
“I’m not dead!” Emmett called from the cave, coughing loudly, he staggered out into the light. His face was covered in soot, and his clothing was almost all gone, he was in burned rags and charred undergarments.
“I’m *cough* charging extra for the loss of my clothes,” he said to Evan, who rolled his eyes.
The dragon lumbered over on his hind legs to Emmett and put his snout near Emmett’s face.
“A fireproof human, how fascinating, unless,” and he growled deeply, “this is a trick, and you’re another wizard!”
“He’s not, he’s a fire witch” I said, as Emmett made his way back to me. I put him on my shoulder, for safe keeping.  The dragon looked at me, narrowing his eyes.
“That would make more sense,” he said, “So, it seems as though we have both had encounters with wizards, before I tell my tale, I suggest you tell yours, if you think this is worth making the Connection”
We did, and he listened with wrapped attention and when I got to the part about being frozen the dragon snarled.
“Did you get trapped too? How did you get out?” I said, stopping the story.
The dragon looked to his tail, “I didn’t get trapped. I was flying off after chasing the wizard away and then it felt like I had been grabbed by my tail. I looked down, and there was nothing, but I could feel the magic there, dense and stringy. I didn’t dare go near it, but I could not hover forever. I bit off the end of my tail, cauterized it, and then flew here.”
We all exchanged glances, and we all were thinking the same thing. There were more wizards, and more traps. This was bad.
“And you are sure it was a Society Wizard? Not an Academic?” asked Evan.
The dragon snorted, “of course, didn’t you hear my sneezing? Not much can effect a dragon, but for some reason we seem to be allergic to Society Wizards.”
This was why the Implausible Connection was needed. It was the only way to warn everyone and unite the peoples of the mountain to solve the problem. It started with telling the dragons, who could fly fast than anyone could run or walk, to spread the word. This dragon was eager to get it started.
“Can you perhaps, take us to the one you were almost caught in?” said Emmett, as the dragon was about to take off.
“For what purpose?” he asked, annoyed.
Emmett explained that he was able to disable the trap I was caught in, and he wanted to test methods of destruction, and to better investigate the magic itself. The dragon agreed, but he was annoyed that we had to walk there, when he could just fly Emmett. It soon realized that Emmett wasn’t going to be allowed to go without giants chaperoning him.
It really didn’t take very long to get to the spot. We were there within the hour. Of course, I didn’t walk any of it, being on Maya’s shoulder. The dragon took off as soon as it could and I started to set up for the day’s work. Thankfully my traveler’s pack was so heavily enchanted that it didn’t get burned up, I had all of my supplies.
I was the only one who could actually go into the trap itself, so I couldn’t have any help, a pity. And it was. Slow going. And to make it worse, the giants were impatient, and didn’t believe me when I said I was working as fast as I could, and in my underwear, I might add.
/”Oh gods, I had forgotten that you didn’t have a spare set of clothes with you” said Maya
“I wish I could forget it, it was embarrassing!” said Emmett, “It’s why I developed a spell to mend clothes!”/
After a few hours in which I made little progress, two dragons arrived, and not the one we had spoken to before. These two were female.
“You, fire witch,” said the larger dragon, pointing a claw at me, “You can destroy these things?”
I walked up to the edge of the trap, as long as I was in it, the dragons couldn’t do anything to me, no one could.
“My name,” I was getting tired of being called ‘fire witch’, “Is Emmett, and yes, I can.”
“Prove it,” she said, spitting some fire, pacing next to the edge of the trap.
I rolled my eyes  “I’m trying to figure out what it is, If I destroy it, I can’t learn from it!” I said.
“It matters not, witch, destroy this one, and we will provide another for your investigations,” her companion said.
“Fine,” I said, I packed up all of my things and set about destroying the net. I was quicker than before, now that I knew what to expect, and the dragons watched, barley blinking. The giants watched too, blinking a lot, or sleeping. It took awhile and the poofs of smoke lost their novelty quickly. Only Maya paid as much attention as the dragons, though I’m confident that she was watching them more than she was watching me.
I severed the last magic line and with a sickening THUD, the tip of a dragon’s tail hit the ground. I ran towards it. It was still fresh.
The two dragons didn’t like that, but I stared them down, “This,” I waved the tail end,  “is my payment, for sacrificing this trap, and for what I assume are the next ones I am being conscripted to deal with.”
“That is, acceptable,” one of them said. “Now you will come with us, do you have a broom or will we be carrying you?”
“Neither,” said Maya, standing between myself and the dragons, “The witch is my charge, I carry him, you will lead,”
The dragon stood up to her full height, and still had to fly a bit to be at eye level, “This is a dragon matter, giant, we need the witch and you will give him over,”
“No, he’s ours!” and she picked me up.
This had to stop I wanted to help, but not if it meant I was treated like a tool.
“Everyone SHUT UP!” sparks were flying from my hair and I could feel it about to ignite.
All eyes were on me, and not in the way I liked it.
“Now, I should by all means leave you all in the dust and leave with what’s left of my dignity, but I won’t. I won’t. Not just because I’m all mixed up in this, but because I plan to live here someday, and I can’t do that if it’s over run with Society Wizards!” I couldn’t stop it, my hair lit up, but not as angry as I had feared, It clearly knew I wanted a bit of a spectacle. Maya yelped but didn’t drop me.
I paused to calm myself down, even though my hair wouldn’t, and no one said anything, “This, Implausible Connection, no one ever explained it to me but I think I got the gist. It’s an alliance, between all the people’s of the mountain. That means whatever you want me for isnt a dragon matter, it’s an everyone matter. Maya comes with me, or I don’t come at all. And you will honor the Connection, correct?”
The dragons conferred for over a minute, during which the other giants roused from their naps.
“We agree to your terms. The Implausible Connection has not been enacted officially, but it is likely to be soon, the Dragon Emperor is in flight. But they,” and the dragon flicked her tail to the other giants, “Stay behind,”
“Fine with me,” I said.
“Not fine with me,” said Evan, finally joining in.
“You’re no longer a part of this,” I said, and Evan looked like he wanted to rip me limb from limb.
“Evan, I can look after him, he doesn’t need four giants guarding him,” said Maya.
There wasn’t much Evan could do to stop us from leaving short of attacking Maya, so that is where we parted ways and followed the dragons.
“Oh, Emmett, your hair is still on fire,” Maya said, and before I could do anything she licked her fingers and extinguished my hair like a candle.
“Uh, thanks, for that,” I was now covered in spit, wearing burned rags of a robe, and my singed underwear. What a day, and now I was going to help these dragons, soon the everyone in the mountain would get their first impression of me in possibly the worst state I could be in.
Regardless, we followed the dragons, who we learned were named Exceeder and Perzan. They of course were leading us to another sprung trap, which I, again, almost naked, set about destroying.
“About time!” said the dragon that had been caught in the trap when it fell to the ground and stretched its wings.
“You’re welcome,” I said. This dragon had no horns, it was much smaller, a juvenile, very juvenile.
“Ah, yes, forgive my rudeness oh naked one,” they said.
“Dragonling,” said Exceeder, “You will thank this man, and be grateful he has not asked for more.”
The young dragon rolled their eyes and turned back to me, “thanksssss” and flames shot out of their mouth as they hissed.
I caught the flames, I wasn’t about to let the rest of my clothing burn away, “careful now, you might burn down the forest”
“What is he!?” the young dragon, it wasnt in anger. They got up close to me and sniffed curiously, I stepped back, getting closer to Maya, who got the hint and picked me up, away from the small dragon.
“Thanks,” I said, only so that Maya could hear.
“Listen up dragon,s I am In need of clothes, a wash, and another trap to analyze” I said.
The dragons agreed to go in search of another trap while Maya took me back to the village to get cleaned up.
/”Dear, you didn’t mention, that dragonling is Yonah’s friend, dont you remember?”
“Wait, really? That was Dragon?” said Yonah.
“I had totally forgotten it was them,” said Emmett/
But if you think it was going to be that easy, you would be wrong. Turns out, as the first to encounter the wizards, Maya’s village was now a hub of activity. There were five dragons, including The Emperor, Brazon. The Lord of the Elves and their entourage was present, as was half of the Council of Dwarves. Since there was no house large enough for everyone, an area had been set up in the town center, several large tables has been connected, and smaller tables placed on top for the elves and dwarves.
And everyone was demanding to talk to us when we got back. I was adamant, I would not speak about current events until I had fresh clothes, and a bath, please. And since I’m finally in a safe place to say it, I took my sweet sweet time cleaning up.  
“Ah, the pair of the hour!” said Evan, as Maya and I, on Maya’s shoulder, formally arrived. He held out his hand for me to step on, smiling warmly. Maya put me on the table herself, and Evan’s smile twitched. I think he wanted to give the impression that he was on good terms with me, and in a position of power in the proceedings.
“I hope everyone had been brought up to speed” I said, “I have had to repeat myself several times today already.”
“We have,” said Brazon, “Unfortunately, these giants cannot give us any details on the traps, not well versed in the arcane,”  The giants present all grumbled. “So only you can tell us how they work. What do you know?”
“Well, I would know more, but two of your subjects had me destroy two traps, one that no one was actually caught in,” I said.
Brazon hissed, “We did not ask for insults, we asked for information, witch”
“I can’t tell you much. My fire magic can destroy them, I’m immune to the effects, and I can identify the spell’s anchors,” I said. “I’m not, I’m not a wizard, I’m not fully equipped in skill, knowledge, or tools to analyze these enchantments with even a modicum of efficiency, If I just had more time,” I trailed off.
All eyes were on me, but I had nothing. Maybe I wasn’t the powerful witch i thought I was, maybe all my confidence was faked and I was biding my time until the giants realized it and turned on me. Surely now that I had stated it outright, I was to be tossed away like burned parchment. I was deflated.
But no one was angry, everyone was thinking. Finally the Lord of the Elves approached me. They had dark skin with blue-ish tones, his brown hair slightly, curled, and their deep green eyes looked up at me. They were at best 4 feet tall, the tallest of the elves present. Their garb was both fancy and armored, encrusted with jewels that reeked of charms. They reached out their hand to hold mine.
It had been a while since I’d seen hands that weren’t large enough to envelop me, and now I was going to take the hands of the Elf Lord of the Implausible Mountains.
“Mr. Ha’Esh was it?”  they said, their voice much lower than I had expected, and dripping with kindness perfected from decades of politics, “I am Lord Khelema, it is an honor to meet you”
I was shaking, and feared I was squeezing his smaller hand in mine, “I can’t imagine why,” I said.
“A fire witch? Abandoning their personal endeavors, and so quickly mind you, to help a people in need? It is unheard of,” they said
I blinked, “I, I am owed favors, and was going to be paid,” I said. The elf lord beckoned me to lean down, to put my ear to their mouth.
“You keep telling yourself that? That you are risking your life, safety, and reputation to save all the peoples of the mountains from an unknown plot by the society of wizards, for some measly coin? The promise of a favor?” they said at a whisper.
“What are they telling you!?” one of the giant bellowed, and I jumped.
“I was simply telling him that he need not work alone any longer.” said Khelema, voice booming impressively.
“I, I wasn’t working alone, I have Maya,” I said, indicating her behind me, and my cheeks grew hot as I did.
Lord Khelema took back their hands and then they, a few other elves, and several of the people around me laughed.
“Help with the magic, my good man, you need help with the magic,” said one of the dwarves, “You are still the only one who can traverse a sprung trap, but you have more resources now,”
The present company had already planned to send out spies to look for wizards and traps, as soon as I could tell them what to look for, and were pleased to know of the three dragons I had already assigned to such a task. They all wanted to know what I thought of their plan, which so far was just, well, spy on the wizards, find traps, investigate.
Just a few days ago I had been expecting to find a quiet place for myself, and hope to not transgress on anyone’s territory. Now I meeting the leaders of every mountain People, I was at the center of a war tribunal, and our foe was the Society of Wizards.
My only anchor was Maya, who stood behind me the entire time, offering support when she could.
The first step was to find a freshly laid trap, and not get caught in it, or at least, if someone was to activate it, for it to be me. I would provide notes and execute testing procedures developed by the elves, dwarves, and dragons. As a side project I would try to come up with a method to allow non-fire witches to destroy or if possible, enter a trap.
If we could capture a wizard that would be extremely helpful, but if they could be simply killed that was perfectly acceptable.
I posited that we contact The Academy of Wizards, but they couldn’t be brought into this, too neutral. And even though The Academy is a separate entity from The Society, no one wanted to deal with more wizards than necessary.
It got dark by the time we adjourned. But instead of going to the healing house, Maya took me to hers, or rather, her families, she still lived with her parents and some of her siblings. The elves and the dwarves both offered me more properly proportioned accommodations, but I was more comfortable with the one person I was most familiar with.
That was… the first proper night we spent together, without him in a cage or myself on the mend. Though all it really involved was Emmett being given a makeshift bed in a small box which I placed by my head. We had a lot of work ahead of us, or he did, and a good night’s sleep was very important.
We had more time to rest up than we thought, progress was slow going. We didn’t find another trap for three days, so for three days I took Emmett around on my patrols, though I knew we were followed by the elves, the sneaky little bast- folk. We saw a wizard once, but he ran before we could get to him, and there was no trap nearby.
The dragons we originally sent to find a trap were eventually successful, and that was nearly out downfall. They hadn’t been trying to sneak around, they’re actions alerted the wizards to the fact that we were mobilizing against them.
And then, out of nowhere, there were wizards. All over the mountains. It took all of our combined efforts to hold them off of, whatever they were planning. Emmett was immune to their magic, and they didn’t know we had a fire-witch, so he was constantly being called to remove the traps, and there wasn’t much chance to study them.
Even with the help of the elves, he made little progress. All we learned was the magic was old and secret. The Society of Wizards had delved into some long forgotten archive for the construction of the enchantments.
The only major development made was after two weeks, we, or rather, the dwarves, the elves, and Emmett, figured out how to destroy the traps more efficiently. And I heard them explain it enough that even I understood it.
Emmett’s magic was still the only thing that could destroy an activated trap, not that we knew how to avoid activating them when we stopped a wizard from doing so, but that’s beside the point. If you thought of the magic like ropes, you could imagine cutting the ropes with scissors. Scissors made of fire-witch magic.
And it was a brilliant solution. That cage that Emmett was held in? We took that apart and forged a few blades, these could slice right through the magic, but it had to be done from the outside in, cleaving each tether that was exposed enough to reach without getting caught in the trap. It was slow, careful going. Unless you were Emmett and could waltz into a trap and cut up the spell.
We had Emmett analyze the cage and imbue more metal with the same magic, for more blades.
/��I spent three freaking days doing nothing but pouring my magic into pieces of metal for the dwarves! I felt like I was going to die of boredom or waste away from lack of magic”/
It was the only three days where I wasn’t at Emmett’s side, and it was the worst three days of the entire conflict. I took out my distress on the wizards, so at least I applied myself constructively in that time.
The problem was, the wizards were getting smarter, and wouldn’t activate the traps if they figured out we were nearby, and we couldn’t destroy one that wasn’t activated, not yet. Because we couldn’t find them. Even if we could see the wizard working on placing it.
Finally we captured one of the Society Wizards before he could flee, or was killed (the dragons and the giants tended to favor eating them, the dwarves to disembowel or bludgeon, and the elves to turn into pincushions of arrows).
We took away his staff, his source of magic, and. We… persuaded him to talk. I had to be there, to counter any magic he might have kept for himself, and to, assist. I’m not too proud of what I did, but we needed to know what the wizards were planning.
It was as bad as we feared. The wizards were not placing traps, they were activating an old network that they put there ages ago. They had apparently forgotten about their plan to capture as many magical beings as possible in the Implausible Mountains, and drain their magic. They didnt know why they abandoned that plan, but they figured they could try and finish the job.
The wizard didn’t know how many of the traps existed, only that there were a lot. Each web was actually a nexus point, and if enough could be activated, it would form one giant web, trapping everyone, leaving them at the mercy of the wizards.
After analyzing the wizard’s staff, along with help from the elves, we found a spell that detected the traps. It took about a week, but we were able to copy it. The traps were very well hidden, but they were like spider’s webs, and would, collect dew as it were. Magical dew. You would let out a small amount of pure magical energy, like a mist of magic, and would see where it stuck. But you had to know the pattern it would collect in. We knew it now.
After that, well there isn’t much of note, Maya and I traveled around finding traps, sometimes finding the wizards already there, sometimes getting the jump on them. We were just one of many groups clearing the mountains, and after another month we were sure there were no more wizards and very few traps left, the very strange almost war, was over!
There was a big celebration held in the largest of the giant villages, the only one that could seat more giants than just it’s village population. Beyond the relief that we had stopped the wizards, there was a celebration of unity. It had been a while since the Implausible Connection had been enacted and the peoples of the mountains had put aside their differences and petty conflicts.
Near the end I was asked to give a speech. We were all happy and off of food and various alcohols. I knew it was coming, and knew that there wasn’t much I could say that hadn’t been said before, except for one thing.
“Most of you know that I originally got entangled in this because I was the one who found Maya in that very first trap. What you may not know is that I only helped destroy that first trap, and free Maya, in exchange for a favor. I did not tell her what the favor would be, or when I would ask for it. Truthfully, I just liked the idea of having a giant indebted to me.”
Glancing at Maya I could see she was not pleased with my honesty. I cleared my throat again, and walked in front of Maya, staring into her dark eyes, letting her presence become my world. It was easy to do, she is very large. I smiled up at her.
“Maya” I said, holding out my hands palms down in front of me.
“Would you do me the favor, of marrying me?”
And I apparated a pair of bond earrings between us.
There was complete silence, I feared I had made a fatal mistake.
“Is he serious?” I heard Evan shout, breaking the tension. I didn’t look at him, I only looked at Maya, and I nodded.
“Yes,” I said, and I scoped up your father and kissed his entire head.
“And since everyone we knew was already present, we saw no reason not to have the wedding right then and there,” said Maya, concluding the story.
Yonah had been in rapt attention the entire time. He had to shake himself out of his trance. “Wowwwww, that was the best story ever! Can I see the earring mother?”
“Of course,” she said, removing the circlet with a pleasant click. Placing it in Yonah’s hands.
“These are not in any giant fashion,” she said, “See the markings? It’s giant formal, but it’s much too curved and flowing, much too intricate, and too detailed. No giant’s hands could make details that small. I found out later that night that Emmett had been planning this for a while, back when he was enchanting the metal, and I wasn’t around, he had asked the dwarves to make the earrings.”
Yonah was studying the piece of jewelry, it was sturdy and would not break in his or any giant’s hands.
“Do you have any other stories?” he said.  
His parents laughed, his father coughed a bit. Yonah didn’t understand what was funny. He was so proud of his parents, they were heroes! Surely they had more stories!
“Your father needs to rest now, how about you come hunting with me?”
“But, you went yesterday!” said Yonah, yet a bad feeling gathered in his gut. The hunt yesterday had been very successful, 4 dire-boars, 3 deer. And he was useless at hunting!
“I should rephrase that, I’m not going to be hunting, you are. I know you have been slacking on archery practice, and it’s not right for a young giant to not know his way around a ranged weapon.” she said, ruffling her son’s hair.
Yonah groaned, he hated archery, and most combat training. He knew why it was important, and he was ok at it, but only because his mother was an expert and his teacher. He would never be as good as good as her, and he didn’t want to.  He much preferred magic, and gardening, like his dad.
“Come on, you get your father into bed, and I’ll get our supplies,” she smiled wickedly.
[FIN]
[FIN]
[Thanks for reading! Reblogs are greatly appreciated! With tags to tell me what you liked about this story! If you want a story with an adult Yonah and vore in it, go here! it’s safe vore, but does mentioned fatal]
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