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almorica · 3 years

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Merry

all ages, fresh precure, berry/passion, 4,190 words

what are two girls who’ve never dated anyone to do but see what it’s like together? it’s only the natural conclusion.

ao3 / ffnet

“I really like how organized your room is,” Setsuna noted, turning her head from side to side as she slowly walked through it. When her eyes fell on the bookcase, she paused to examine it. “Especially all these books. It’s impressive, keeping them all grouped by color like this.”

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Miki replied dismissively, but the pride in her tone expressed how well she was taking the compliment. She observed Setsuna’s progress from her place seated primly at her vanity table. “Leaving things out of place just isn’t perfect, you know?”

“But you go above and beyond, and I think that’s amazing.” Setsuna gave her a refreshing smile before leaning down to inspect a set of light blue spines. “This is a series, isn’t it? What’s it about?”

Miki shifted her posture to look around her shoulder. “Black Sparrow? It’s about a high school girl who becomes a detective and uses that name for her alias. I’ve collected them since I was in primary school.”

“Really.” Setsuna straightened up and turned toward her. “It must be good, then. Do you think I could find the first one at the library?”

“One of my best friends can borrow it straight from me,” Miki responded with a wink, and Setsuna’s eyes widened. “I’m not reading it right now, and I trust you to take care of it. I’d love to have someone to talk about it with.”

“If you don’t mind, then.” Feeling a rush of joy both from the designation of best friend and Miki’s encouragement, Setsuna carefully pulled the book from the shelf. It was just the right size to fit in her purse. “I’ll be sure to tell you what I think about it.”

As Setsuna moved to take a seat across from her at her desk, Miki smiled cheerfully. “I can’t wait. You know, it’s gotten much easier to talk to you now. I’m glad you could make time for me today.”

“It’s a relief to hear that,” Setsuna replied, rotating the chair to face Miki directly before sitting down. “Thank you for inviting me. I know last time we were alone wasn’t much fun.”

“It’s been a while, and we needed a chance to try it again. Plus, there’s always more to talk about.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

Miki nodded, then gave her a sly look. “Was there any dating in Labyrinth?”

Setsuna tilted her head. “Dating? No. I’d never even heard of it before coming here.”

“Is there anyone you’ve thought about dating since then?”

“I haven’t thought about it at all. Should I?”

“Why not? It could be a lot of fun with the right person. Hey, if you did, do you think you’d like to go out with boys or someone else?”

Setsuna stared down at the pale floorboards, giving it some serious thought. Dating was spending one-on-one time with someone, touching affectionately and being touched in return. At least, that was what she understood of it so far. “I don’t know for sure, but I’ve never exactly wanted to be alone with one of the boys.”

“Right?” Miki looked thrilled with the answer. “Boys are overrated. I’d rather let them think my brother is my boyfriend than have them ask me out. But some still do…” she added with a sigh.

“Hehe, you’re popular with others too, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but some people find me unapproachable. No one has ever confessed to me that I could see myself with.”

“So you’ve never dated anyone?”

“Hard to believe, right? And you’ve never dated anyone either.”

“That’s right.”

Miki leaned toward her expectantly. “Soooo?”

“So?” Setsuna repeated quizzically.

“Why don’t we fix that and try it together?”

“Try it… together?” she asked with a blink, long having lost the thread of logic tying together this line of questioning.

Standing up, Miki strode over to her and held out her hand. “Today, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

Setsuna glanced between her friend’s optimistic face, her hand, and back. Delayed realization dawned on her. “Eh?!”

—————

The sun shone brightly on Clover Town Street that morning, casting moving shadows below the rustling leaves of the line of trees at its center. Miki and Setsuna had strolled through it together before, but this was the first time Miki had laced their fingers together between them. She was in such a good mood that she sometimes swung their hands forward and back a little, and Setsuna continued trying to mentally catch up with this turn of events.

“Are you sure holding hands like this is okay, Miki?” she asked self-consciously, furtively glancing around. They weren’t alone in the district, but no one seemed to look at them for long.

“Hm? Why wouldn’t it be? Girls our age still sometimes hold hands like this as friends. No one’s going to think it’s anything else.”

“Oh… I see. But what if they do? You’re a model; they’d probably think you should be with someone more like you.”

Miki squeezed her hand. “I’m not embarrassed about being with you, Setsuna. In fact, I’m happy to show you off.”

A blush colored Setsuna’s cheeks. Awkwardly, she angled her head away. “Don’t tease me too much today, okay?” That side of Miki was cute, but she was becoming more aware of the fact that her inexperienced heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“Geez, I’m not always teasing~ Ah, the cinema’s right here.” Lightly tugging on Setsuna’s hand, Miki led her up to an old brick building. Setsuna caught the name of the establishment on the marquee before they passed under it, and there was a detailed listing of films on a rearrangeable sign between two sets of double doors. Miki stopped them there. “Did you give what kind of movie you want to see some thought? New showings will be starting in a few hours.”

Setsuna, looking around at the movie posters instead of the show times, left her gaze on one with an older boy and girl posing with a cat. She knew Miki preferred having some kind of opinion over none, and it gave her a good feeling. “What about “Love Fur Real”?”

Miki laughed, quickly putting her hand over her mouth to quiet more of them. “I thought that pun was awful, but it is funny when you say it so seriously.”

“Um, thanks,” Setsuna replied, not convinced it was something she should be proud of. “Do you want to see it?”

“Of course. I love a good romantic comedy. Let’s come back closer to the time.” Hand in hers, she guided Setsuna back onto the neatly paved path.

“What will we do until then?”

“I have the perfect idea,” Miki announced proudly. “We’ll go clothes shopping.”

“Is there something you need a new outfit for?” Setsuna asked, head tilted.

“No, we’re going shopping for you.”

“Wait, I don’t need anything either—”

“Nonsense. We’re on a date today, and this time, I want to dress up my girlfriend. Is that okay?”

Both Miki’s words and playful expression flustered Setsuna. “I… I guess so…” It wasn’t like she had to buy anything, right? And it would make Miki happy.

It definitely did. “Great. We can start right around here. A store with a style like yours is nearby, and we can branch out into the city afterward.”

Setsuna felt a bit tired suddenly, but she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the special attention. Miki could have chosen anyone at all as her dress-up doll, and Setsuna imagined her eye for fashion would have made them instantly more beautiful. She just hoped Miki could find something on her that this expert would find worth her time.

The first shop was one Setsuna had been to with the Momozonos after joining them with barely more than the clothes on her back. It wasn’t as cutting edge as those further into Yotsuba, but it was within her comfort zone. About halfway through, she realized that was why Miki had chosen it in the first place.

“Aah, you look good in pants and skirts! It’s so hard to decide which is better,” Miki observed fondly, her hands clasped together in front of her. A pink-faced Setsuna was amateurishly turning for her in front of the dressing room, comfortable in the dark and delicately-laced skirt Miki had picked otherwise. It was already clear the compliments were going to make this feel like much more of a new experience than it was.

They left that store empty-handed. Miki had agreed with Setsuna that she didn’t need more of the same filling up her closet. On their way to the train, someone finally did acknowledge the two girls holding hands by waving at Miki. Friendly and composed, Miki used her free hand to wave back as they continued on their way.

“So you really aren’t embarrassed about being with me,” Setsuna said afterward, surprised by how relieving it was that Miki hadn’t moved away from her.

“I told you so. You’re not embarrassed about being with me, are you?”

Setsuna shook her head. “I think… I’m proud, honestly,” she admitted, and Miki’s smile radiated self-confidence.

Surrounded by buildings rising much higher into the sky, their next stop was a store with a clean and functional interior. Miki helped line a dressing room with sporty looks and then had her model the strikingly colorful assortment.

“I never thought about wearing these before, but they’re pretty practical,” Setsuna mused, looking down the length of her polo to the end of her cargo capris.

“They are, and they can be in style, too. If you keep up with the trends, you’ll find out when.” Miki looked her up and down as well. “It’s cute, but the mature look really does suit you best so far. Why don’t we move on?”

The next building Miki led her into was flashier, and the smooth black floor was shiny enough to see their reflections in. As Setsuna was more distracted by it than a lot of the clothes, Miki was the one to fill her arms again and send her on her way. Modeling the dark denim, torn band T-shirt and sleeveless black dress was getting easier, despite how radical the change was getting.

Of course, Miki’s support helped that a lot. “You pull off the cool look so well. If we were a little older, you’d look right at home at a live house.”

“You think so?” Setsuna asked, breathlessly pausing her rotation. The flattery was boosting her confidence, but it was also making her lightheaded.

“I do. Actually, I think mixing a touch of this with your usual clothes once in a while would bring out the best in you.”

“Thank you. But…”

“What?” Miki asked patiently.

“...What’s a live house?”

After Setsuna changed back into her own clothes and they held a short discussion, they agreed Setsuna should take the cropped denim jacket with her. One shopping bag left with them.

Miki was set on one more store she already had in mind, but on the way they passed an ice cream stall that her attention lingered on for a little too long. Noticing her friend’s distracted state, Setsuna tilted her head forward. “Do you want to get ice cream first?”

“Eh?” Miki’s eyes snapped back to her. “Well, if we do, we’re probably not going to want anything at the cinema.”

“That’s fine with me,” Setsuna said with a cheery expression, and once Miki mirrored it, they settled on sitting down with a pair of cones. Both of them managed to be surprised at the vivid swirls of color on display, and that made Setsuna feel more like they were on equal footing. They returned to their usual state of not holding hands for as long as it took them to eat, but resuming it afterward felt natural by then.

She’d never realized how adorable Miki looked when she was enjoying something that much.

The last stop was a boutique cute both inside and out, with a pleasantly pink interior and crowded clothing racks. The frilliest dresses Setsuna had ever seen were on display. They didn’t look childlike, but they were a lot to take in.

“You want me to try on one of these?” Setsuna asked, warily regarding the voluminous skirt of one of the mannequins.

“It’ll be refreshing,” Miki answered, winking at her when she glanced over.

Setsuna sighed. She was no match for this fashion style or her friend’s eagerness. “All right.”

She was promptly dressed up in both black and red dresses, a pastel blue skirt, and a matching frilly blouse. Miki was completely enchanted by the last combination, dreamily holding a hand to her face as Setsuna curtsied for her. “You look just like a doll,” she commented. “I’m too tall to manage that now, but your height is just fine.��

“So… it looks good?” Setsuna sheepishly clasped her hands together behind her. She was more than a little skeptical when she looked into a mirror, but the reflection in Miki’s eyes was always kinder.

“Definitely. I don’t think any of these were really you, though, so we should come back another day if you’d like to buy something. I’m sure we’ll find one that’s right.”

“Haha. I’ll think about it,” Setsuna replied, and she turned away her shy smile to slip back into the dressing room.

On their way back to the train, Setsuna was the one to lead them into one final browse at an accessory store. Filled with other students, the hair decorations and jewelry were impressively affordable. Despite the bustle, the atmosphere was cozy, with abundant sunlight illuminating the glass cases and quirky shelves.

“Did you find something interesting, Setsuna?” Miki asked from over her shoulder after they’d split up for a couple minutes. Setsuna nodded, pointing to a set of thin silver bangle bracelets.

“The gemstone flowers in the center are pretty, and they come in so many colors,” she explained.

A few seconds of mulling it over later, Miki plucked the bangle with the red flower and the bangle with the blue flower from the display. “They’re not expensive, so let’s get them.”

Setsuna blinked at her. “Just like that?”

“If you don’t want to, it’s too late to disagree now. We’ll have matching bracelets, just the two of us, so you can’t forget today.” Miki made for the register before Setsuna could get another word in, but she was happy enough to accept through simple silence. Outside, they each slid on their own bangle and took the other’s hand.

They returned to the cinema with a safe amount of time left before the movie. Miki took care of the tickets and their planned seating; Setsuna paid for their drinks. Never having been inside before, Setsuna kept looking curiously at everything around her, and Miki watched her in amusement.

Once she dropped down into one of the plush red chairs in the dim atmosphere of their theater, Setsuna sank right in. “Wow, I didn’t think about how much we’ve been walking until now,” she remarked quietly, careful to not disturb the clusters of other moviegoers seated around them. Time's gone by so fast.”

“It really has. Are you already tired?” Miki was seated in a more elegant way, but Setsuna could tell she was more relaxed than she let on.

“Not really. I could just use some time off my feet in something this comfortable.”

“Don’t fall asleep during the movie,” Miki teased. “We have to talk all about it when it’s over.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Being so aware of the different nature of the day kept her nerves up just high enough to make sure of that. Her only concern now was the budding disappointment that it would eventually have to end, and whether or not that would prevent her from paying enough attention.

They whispered between themselves until the screening began, and then silent, comfortable darkness took hold for a long time. Whenever Setsuna felt her eyes drifting from the screen, she usually found Miki looking back at her. She sufficiently distracted herself with the cute couple’s misunderstandings and the adorable cat that kept them together, at least.

The lights came on again after the credits. Other attendees began to pick up their things and file out. Miki’s good mood was immediately apparent when the two moved to join them. “Keiko was such a sweet girl. It’s too bad her cooking sense wasn’t as good as her fashion sense.”

“It was nice of Haruto to try to teach her, even if the cat kept causing problems with that.” Setsuna laughed. “Little Yuki was so cute. I would have forgiven her even faster than they did.”

“Remember you said that next time Tarte does something you don’t like.”

“Eh—He’s different. He causes trouble even though we can understand each other, but I’ll do my best.” Setsuna shook her head with a smile, trailing along beside her on the low-lit path out. “This was a fun first movie to see. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m grateful for your company too,” Miki returned. Her gaze caught on a clock on the wall as they passed through the first hallway out. “I still have time before I need to go home. Do you?”

Miki really was giving her the entire day. Setsuna was amazed her friend wasn’t bored with her yet. Definitely not there yet herself, she said, “Yes, I do.”

“Is there anywhere you would like to go before then?”

Honestly, she’d been thinking about the answer to that already. It felt silly to say it, but it was both a place she loved visiting and one she thought might be a perfect end to the night.

Bashfully, Setsuna nodded. “Could we go to the restaurant up on the hill?”

—————

By dusk, they were seated at a table covered with a pale blue cloth. The clinking of silverware around them punctuated the warm murmur of conversations of other customers. Their table was inside under the soft lighting spaced throughout the dining room, but the beautiful sky was visible through the wooden awning over the deck. The place was so welcoming each time Setsuna walked through the door, and yet…

“It’s more expensive than I remembered,” Setsuna said awkwardly. “I didn’t think about it before now, because I was never the one paying for it.”

“Magazines don’t just pay in fun, you know. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t treat you to something nice?”

Miki said it so easily — girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend. Setsuna was too stunned by it each time to say anything in return. She was envious of that boldness, but also felt wistful over the possibility that it could be an act at all. With her eyes averted, she said, “You don’t have to go that far just for this…”

She was being awfully spoiled for a pretend date, and it was getting her hopes up.

“Don’t worry. You can pay me back just by enjoying it.”

Miki’s sincere smile was enough to ease anyone’s worries for a little while, and Setsuna nodded. “Okay.”

They discussed previous times they’d been at the restaurant once that was settled, both revealing it was with their families. “I’ve never been here without my mother before,” Miki admitted, looking around as if seeing the establishment in a new light. “It feels so mature. Coming here was a nice idea.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’ve only come here on the Momozono Monthly Eating Out Day, so it’s the same for me.”

“It’s sweet that your family has something like that. It’s never planned that far ahead for us.”

“I think it’s sweet, too.” She couldn’t take credit for starting it, but she could allow herself to be just a little proud of it.

They ended up on a tangent that led to a conversation on their separate schools, and their food came not long into it. It looked and tasted as delicious as usual, and Miki’s enraptured expression after the first bite of her pasta dish was one more adorable thing to add to the list. Setsuna was sure she made something like it when she tried her own, because she could hear Miki giggle from behind her contentedly closed eyes.

She still had room for cake once she cleaned her plate, but only barely. Miki suggested sharing a slice to avoid either of them being too stuffed to walk home, and Setsuna was quick to accept. The rich chocolate dessert melted in her mouth, and she couldn’t think of many more moments she’d felt happier.

Miki paid as promised. It was fully nighttime when they stepped out, leaving only the row of lamps guiding them along the path down the hill to illuminate their stroll. Setsuna had been the one to take Miki’s hand this time, and Miki readily accepted.

Before long, Miki’s arm snuggled up against hers. “It’s gotten chilly out since this afternoon. I suppose it is that time of year.”

Setsuna took a moment to look over Miki’s outfit and see the problem: she had long sleeves, but only a thin scarf around her neck. Of course she would be cold. “Just a second,” she replied, letting go of Miki’s hand and stepping back. She set the shopping bag and her purse down long enough to take off her navy blue blazer and hand it over.

Curiously, Miki took it in hand and blinked. “Setsuna?”

“Go ahead and wear that. I’m not cold at all,” Setsuna explained.

After staring at her a little longer, Miki laughed and rearranged her things to do as she was told. “You could have just given me the jacket you bought today. Now you should put that one on before you do start to feel the chill.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Setsuna returned the laugh nervously and reached for the shopping bag. The denim jacket went on smoothly. She then picked up her things and resumed the walk, feeling Miki take her hand a second later. Setsuna was still kind of embarrassed, but she managed to look over anyway.

For the first time, Miki had a satisfied blush on her face. “...But thank you. It feels more special this way.”

“N-No problem.” Hastily, Setsuna turned her head away. Looking out over the green hill to the wide expanse of Yotsuba, it occurred to her again that their “date” was almost over. She exhaled with the predicted disappointment, unable to find the words to express it instead.

“I had a great time today,” Miki said. “You must have tried pretty hard to understand me since then.”

“I did. You’re my friend just like the others, so I didn’t want things to be awkward forever. And you’ve gotten more patient with me, haven’t you?”

“Was I that obvious?” It was a time Setsuna could picture her playfully sticking out her tongue. “I wanted to become a nicer person, and I wanted to understand you better. You were an important friend to me.”

“Were?” Setsuna repeated.

“Er, well…” As Miki trailed off, she stopped walking. Setsuna paused with her, bringing her gaze back to the other’s conflicted expression. Their clasped fingers kept them connected. “I said it was just for today, but I realized I don’t want it to end here. If you don’t either, I’d like to be your real girlfriend.”

Setsuna froze for as long as it took to process what Miki said. Undeniably genuine this time, girlfriend struck her heart with a tender ache. She wasn’t sure whether she or Miki had the reddest complexion. “Do you mean that?”

Of course she did, but Setsuna wanted the reassurance.

“I do. Could we say today was a real date after all?”

“Yes,” Setsuna replied, a hopeful smile blooming. She stepped back toward Miki, closing the suddenly unnecessary distance. “If you’ll have me, I’d be happy to.”

Miki, too pretty under the lamp overhead, drew another few centimeters closer. Even if they weren’t the only two this far on the path, it would have been impossible to spare any thoughts for someone else. “Do you know what people on a date do now, Setsuna?”

She did. She knew even before today, but the movie’s touching end was still fresh in her mind. It was difficult to believe she could achieve the same happy ending even as she prepared herself for it. “Mm hm,” she answered softly, eyes half closed.

Releasing Setsuna’s hand, both of Miki’s rose to her shoulders instead. She only had the shortest space left to shut her eyes and lean in before her lips pressed against Setsuna’s in a brief, sweet kiss.

When Miki pulled back, Setsuna’s erratic heartbeat continued hammering away in her chest. Miki looked affected as well, but she quickly, outwardly, recovered. “Now, let’s get home before our parents worry too much,” she said confidently, winking at Setsuna as she took her hand one last time. She restarted their progress down the hill, now at a pace where neither was dragging their feet.

One more treasured memory for Setsuna to keep in her heart, their long day together gradually came to a close.

#fresh precure #setsuna higashi #miki aono #setsumiki #my fics #the title is a rurutia ref. please listen to rurutia.#the word count is so overboard for a lot of cute girls holding hands :')))))

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fandomlurker · 3 years

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A Ponderous Rewatch: Pavlov’s Mice and Cameo

So thanks to Tumblr nerfing my ability to make an admittedly absurdly long post combining the previous episode rewatch with this one, I had to do this entry in two parts.

But at least now we’re in for the real treat: The first episode in airing order that’s animated by TMS Entertainment. And hey, even the Animaniacs show itself seems to acknowledge that this is special, because theme song rhyme is…

We're Animanie! Totally insane-y!~

Pinky and the Brainy!~

…which hasn’t been done since their debut. So this is gonna be fun.

Might as well get this out of the way, then, since this episode obviously involves Ivan Pavlov. I think most people who know of Pavlov through cultural osmosis pretty much know him as just “that one scientist who got dogs to respond to the sound of bells as if they were being offered food”. This is what happened, but it’s only part of the story. In reality, Ivan Pavlov was doing research on the physiology of digestion in dogs and he noticed one day that the dogs he was studying started to drool in the mere presence of the lab technician who regularly fed them even if the technician didn’t have food with them. Pavlov developed a way to redirect the dogs’ digestive juices outside of the body so that they could be measured, and then he ran some conditioning experiments to see if he could get them to salivate in response to external stimuli that had nothing to do with food, like ringing a bell.

The year in the title card, 1904, was the year Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for the previously mentioned experiments, which he published the results of in “The Work of the Digestive Glands” in 1897. Basically, by 1904 he was done with his work with dogs and he moved on to experimenting with mice…at least according to this article in National Geographic by Virgina Hughes.

With that, let’s begin the episode proper.

“At the dawn of the 20th century, Russian scientist, Ivan Pavlov, trained animals through his technique of conditioned reflex” says the narrator as we zoom in on a laboratory with Pavlov and our lovable mouse duo.

“Time to earn your dinner, my little mousey friends!”

It’s interesting how Pinky is the one that flinches uncomfortably at the loud sound of the gong while Brain simply snaps into his conditioned response. And that response? Uhhh…

“I’m a little teapot, short and stout.~”

“This is my handle, this is my spout.~”

(Is he…you know…?)

“When I get all steamed up, hear me shout!~”

“Tip me over and pour me out.~”

Oh no… This is a cute and funny scene and all, but when you know about Brain’s canonical issues with how he hates not being in control of a situation and all the traumas he’s endured (for those of you not in the know, yes, Brain does have a lot of trauma in his backstory that we learn about much later, both in the 90s spin-off and the reboot) regarding both general control and losing family and friends…there’s a bitter tinge to this scene.

He’s so embarrassed and humiliated.

He takes the cheese but he is positively fuming with rage, and I can’t exactly blame him from what I know about him.

This is made all the worse by Pinky’s innocent reaction to Brain’s little song and dance.

“Hahahahaha! Wonderful! Hahaha! EGAD, Brain, I could watch you do that dance all day! Haha, narf!”

For Pinky, this is harmless silliness and he gets to see Brain sing and dance and “have fun”, which is not a usual occurrence. But for Brain? Well...

“You have watched it all day, Pinky. Sixty-one times, to be exact. It’s a conditioned reflex to that infernal gong.”

“I’m powerless to stop it!”

Well, Brain, at the very least it’s not like you were a part of a more inhumane experiment like one regarding, say, learned helplessness or anything. …Oh wait. Whoops. (For those sensitive to animal abuse, I suggest refraining from clicking on the second link, and caution against clicking on the first if even more clinical text descriptions of such would upset you. The third link is spoilers for the reboot.)

All that aside, it seems like it’s Pinky’s turn. He gets the more traditional bell chime for his stimulus.

And the result is him going into an uncontrollable and very enthusiastic Slavic folk dance.

With violent results. I hope you appreciate that last screencap, as the animation goes by so quickly I had a lot of trouble isolating the part where Pinky kicks Brain and he goes flying.

Pinky is all too happy to get a reward of cheese, his favourite food, for doing something that he has no memory of.

“What’cha doin’ over there, Brain?”

“Contemplating your afterlife, Pinky.”

That’s not exactly fair, Brain, you know he has no control over this. To Brain’s credit, though, he doesn’t bop him or anything for kicking him involuntarily.

Pavlov leaves, playfully saying that he hopes the mice dream of cheese tonight, and the mice are immediately down to business.

“At last, he’s gone.”

“Now we can begin our conquest of the world!”

We’re already back to it being “our” conquest of the world, eh?

“Behold my latest creation, Pinky: The Vacuum-o-nator.”

Brain has never been good with naming things, has he? At least, not so far. I wonder if this will continue throughout the franchise?

Pinky is certainly very happy and impressed, though.

“It uses reverse air pressure to vacuum everything toward it.”

You know, I was just about to roast Brain for thinking that making a very odd version of a vacuum cleaner was such a brilliant thing, but then I remembered that this takes place in 1904. The vacuum cleaner as we know it was “invented independently by British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth and American inventor David T. Kenney” in 1901 according to Wikipedia, and portable vacuums were available to the general public starting in 1905.My apologies, Brain, that actually is very impressive.

Although, this all hinges on if the viewer considers episodes that take place in the past and/or at different locations than Acme Labs California to be mere Alternate Universe/What If? stories or Brain and Pinky using some kind of time machine to go to a different place and time for these episodes. (Before you tell me that this is just a cartoon and sicc the Please, Please Get a Life Foundation on me, I do this to have fun and maybe educate myself and the reader along the way. I promise I have a life. Barely.)

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Pinky?”

“Uhh… Yeah, Brain! But where are we gonna find rubber pants our size?”

Pinky, that’s… Listen, folks, don’t make the same mistake I did and google “rubber pants”. It’s not what you think it is. You will be disappointed.

BONK!

Seems like you’re enjoying yourself there, Pinky.

“No, Pinky. We’re going to use the Vacuum-o-nator to steal Russia’s crown jewels!”

Man, the animation for even this one small proclamation by Brain is so, so good. Brain standing authoritatively and holding the pen like a scepter or spear, the grand sweep of his arm as he says “no”, the serious and slightly menacing expression on his face, a violent and grabby swing of his arm on the word “steal”, and a dramatic point and look up towards the sky when he finishes. TMS does great work, folks.

“Narf! Genius, Brain!”

Look at Brain’s satisfied smile at Pinky’s simple compliment. Remember what I said earlier about Brain going through his explanations to show off to and impress Pinky? At this point I’m absolutely convinced that that’s why Brain turns up the theatrics more than necessary when going through his plans. After all, Pinky is (oddly and rather sadly) the only one in-universe who thinks Brain is a genius and a good person.

…Of course, the effect can sometimes be lessened by subsequent innocent bumbling.

“Turn it off, Pinky.”

He says this so exasperatedly yet so deadpan at the same time, it’s great.

“Oh! Right-o!”

Even Pinky immediately knows that he fucked up.

“Zort! Whew! Wild hairdo, Brain! Heh heh, I like it.”

He even pets Brain’s “hairdo”, aww. And though I personally could take or leave the ‘do, I like the pointed, sharp look this mishap’s given to his ears.

BONK!

“Now I feel cleansed.”

Okay, this one might have been a little too much, Brain.

“But Brain, aren’t the crown jewels always guarded by giant Cossacks?”

Well, Pinky, from what I know Cossacks were usually used extensively in the police force and as border guards during this time, so I guess that’s possible?

Brain picking the lock with the pen is a fun little detail.

“Don’t worry about the guards… For tonight, Pinky, at precisely 1 am, there’s a total lunar eclipse. “

Again, this is probably not a thing the average person could look up quickly and easily in the 90s and the writers most likely didn’t care about accuracy here, but there were no total lunar eclipses in 1904. There were some penumbral lunar eclipses in March and September of that year, though. Just a fun fact for you folks.

“The Earth’s shadow will completely cover the moon, blacking out all of St. Petersburg for a period of 30 seconds.”

Brain…?!? Brain, how did you get the diagram on that piece of paper to animate like that? What kind of Harry Potter-style magic bullshit is this?

I know this is a cartoon and all and I’m not truly upset but this honestly came out of nowhere and made me do a double-take.

“In that brief time, we will sneak past the Czar’s guards under the cover of darkness and steal the crown jewels…for he who controls the jewels controls Mother Russia!”

More dramatics!

“But…I thought your mother’s name was Désirée?”

I love Brain’s pose here. Very grumpy and sassy.

As for Pinky’s comment: We do get to meet Brain’s parents way later in the spin-off, though neither are addressed by any name. I’m taking this joke as canon anyway because it’s funny.

Well, well, well… Looks like we’re shaking things up a bit with an inking instead of a bonk. That’s gonna be a pain to get out of his white fur, though.

“Soon, Pinky, I will rule Russia…so from now on, call me Czar.”

Another sassy hand-on-hip pose.

“Right-o, Brain!”

“—eek! Czar Brain!”

“Come along, Pinky… Conquest awaits!”

Nice to know that despite the inking, Pinky’s still following him anyway. Plus he’s doing it with that fond look on his face again. Hmm…

What follows is a cute and ingenious sequence of Brain launching Pinky and himself through an open window via the spring force of a mousetrap. It goes by very quickly, but I just wanted to highlight a few things I managed to notice while pausing through it. Kudos to the animators again for these little details.

Pinky’s the one that wraps one arm around Brain’s shoulders so that Brain has both hands free to spring the mousetrap properly and so that they’ll be launched together.

Interestingly enough, Pinky’s the cautious one who braces for impact right away while Brain gleefully flies through the air with his arms outstretched.

The “camera” changes perspective and while Brain is still boldly flying forward with confidence, Pinky is still worried but has now opened his eyes as they fly towards the window.

Pinky’s still holding onto Brain and the Vacuum-o-nator as tight as he can. As they get closer to the window, however…

…Pinky seems to realize he’s going to smash into the wall above the window if he doesn’t let go, so he lets go of Brain. Brain doesn’t realize where his trajectory is taking him.

Pinky angles himself downward and through the open window, but it’s too late for Brain.

WHAM! RIP, Brain.

But his pain is not done! It looks like Pinky’s landing was in the soft snow. Meanwhile, Brain slides down onto the window and through the opening, only to bash into the lid of a garbage can, much to Pinky’s concern.

Then Brain falls headfirst into the snow.

And finally, Brain is clonked on the head by the same garbage can lid, which makes a loud gong noise. Someone get this poor mouse some Aspirin.

But since there was a gong noise, you all know what that means!

Cutely, Pinky joins in on the dance in the middle of it.

“Ha! Oh that was fun, Czar Brain! But let’s give it another go, right? Only this time with feeling!”

Man, that side-eye at the beginning from Brain…

Pinky’s body language is great in this episode, too. The gleeful flapping of his arms and feet and the “with feeling” gesture are fantastic examples of his more open and energetic nature coming through.

Oh hey, there’s that one shot of Brain being ticked off used in the spin-off theme song! I can’t exactly blame him for his anger here. He just went through a lot of pain in a short amount of time and was then involuntarily made to humiliate himself. Pinky doesn’t mean to be mean here—he genuinely wants to have some sing and dance fun with Brain—but it’s gotta sting to have the humiliation highlighted.

Pinky still doesn’t deserve a bonking for it, though. But it’s slapstick, so he’s fine.

Heh, “deliveries to rear” indeed.

Oh, are those jingle bells on a sleigh that I see?

Uh oh…

“No, Pinky… Not now!”

It cannot be stopped, Brain. He must dance!

Another quick detail as Brain launches himself at Pinky’s midsection to either topple him over or hold him still to get Pinky to stop.

Alas, Pinky’s dancing is too strong.

OUCH!

The face of regret.

His punishment is swiftly thwarted, though.

“…That was unpleasant.”

They take a different and more uneventful ride on a hay wagon to the palace.

I love the exaggerated perspective going on here.

Peekin’.

“We made it inside, Brain!”

“…’Czar Brain’.”

“Czar Brain.”

He says it so quietly and sweetly, aww.

“Yes, Pinky. There are fleeting moments when I even amaze myself.”

I…don’t know if it’s much of an accomplishment yet, Brain. Settle that ego down a bit.

Oh, that’s some classic Looney Tunes-style sneaking animation there.

Wait, why is the door to the treasure room just open behind them? Czar Nicolas II, what gives?

Speaking of…

Hello, Czar Nicolas II. I hope you’re enjoying your “eclipse party”. You only have another 14 years or so to live it up, after all.

“In just a few minutes, it’ll be totally dark and scary. OooOOoo!~ But don’t anyone touch me, I have cooties!”

I, uhhh. Okay, then.

Same, boys. Same. Best to get down to business.

“Behold the crown jewels of Mother Russia, Pinky. World conquest will soon be ours!”

Again, world conquest is “ours” and not just Brain’s. Also you can just tell Pinky’s thinking “I’m going to wear so much of this jewelry!”

“Now, Brain?”

“Not yet. Wait for the total eclipse.”

Speaking of…

“Complete darkness, Pinky. Start the Vacuum-o-nator…”

“NOW!”

That gonging noise is an interesting choice for a chime. Surely this ornate clock is only an omen of good things for our duo.

Pinky, you’re swooning again. And Brain…

Oh no.

Another clock! Who’d have thought Russian nobility loved clocks so much? This one has a more pleasant bell chime, though.

…Oh NO!

Well, looks like things are going to hell pretty quickly.

Goodbye, boys.

Goodbye, Czar Nicolas II! You might wanna look out for a man named Grigori Rasputin in the future, okay?

Nice hat, Brain.

“Whu--? The eclipse is over? Narf! What happened, Brain?”

BONK!

“Zort! I mean, Czar Brain.”

“We failed again, Pinky… But just wait until tomorrow night!”

“Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?”

“What else, Pinky?: Try to take over the world!”

It was a nice try, boys, but honestly I don’t know how you were going to fit all those crown jewels into that tiny improvised vacuum bag, anyway.

One last cute little detail in this episode is our mousey duo jumping up with enthusiastic determination in front of the silhouette of the moon on the last note of the theme reprise. One day, you guys. One day…

Oh! And before I forget, have another short cameo from “Plane Pals”. It’s a tiny one.

Pinky and the Brain steal a sheep off of an airplane. For what purpose? Who knows? But that’s it. I’m kind of wondering if the writers wanted to make a running joke of them making cameos to steal random things for world conquering purposes and just sort of gave up.

Anyway, so ends our recap for this post. It sure was a long one, but what can I say? There were some very cute details that needed to be shared. Have we learned anything new this time? Well, I mean, besides historical trivia.

Brain thinks both he and Pinky are great actors, despite his own near inability to lie and keep up an innocent pretense. Oh, he can be sarcastic, sure, but he can’t seem to manage to stop himself from revealing that he’s out for world domination whenever he has an audience.

For the first time we see Brain’s annoyance and humiliation resulting from him being a lab mouse. Though it’s on the more subtle side at the moment, Brain seemed extra grumpy and violent during that last episode because of the conditioning he’s unwillingly gone through. I’m curious to see if there are any more examples of this before we reach an episode touching on his origin story. Or…one of his origin stories, at least. There’s around four of them last I checked and all but one of them can reasonably fit into the others.

Pinky is truly beginning to show how much he adores Brain, which is nice. Beforehand we knew he was down with his world domination plans for whatever reason and also that he thinks Brain’s plans are great and ingenious. Now, though, we’ve gotten to the point of him literally swooning at Brain and his plans. Something’s definitely brewing there.

Next time: We get some more substantial cameos, join our mouse duo on a Fort Knox heist, and meet a new character that is both pretty important to the “lore” of the show going forward…but also doesn’t appear in person after their introductory episode until the very end of the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain spin-off run.

See you then!

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Pavlov's Mice #Plane Pals

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skyholders · 3 years

Text

Lucien: Art Gallery Date [Translation]

Translations under the cut!

This date contains spoilers for S2 of MLQC!

To explain some parts of this date: In S2, Lucien works in the Special Task Force as a consultant / former Black Swan member while MC is a part of Black Swan.

[Section One]

When we arrived back in downtown, it was already late into the night.

I stepped into the bright, white lights of the lift. Leaning against the wall, I let out an exhausted sigh.

“So tired..”

Due to a recent project in the company, I’ve been overworking and staying back for weeks, I’ve even spent a few nights in my office. However, it’s finally came to an end. The lift came to a stop on my floor, and ‘dinged!’ open.

As I stepped out of the lift, I was stunned.

“..Lucien?”

The lights of the corridor were quietly garish, showing me the awfully familiar silhouette at the end of the corridor. Lucien was leaning against the corridor, a book in his hands. As he heard the noises, he looked up towards me.

Upon seeing him, the lethargic bug in me instantly scrambled away to the back of my brain

.“Are you waiting for me?”

“Mmhm.”

“You seem busy these days, always coming back in this hour.”

“Has work been troubling you? I wonder if you need the help of this certain show consultant.”

His questioning in the once soundless hall had a lace of care in them.

“There aren’t any problems, just a new project. It’s almost at its end.”

“Since it is coming to an end, how about this weekend, you stay for me?”

His eyes were soft along with his smile, as if he knew I will never say no.

“Not this weekend.”

His smile’s died down for a fleeting moment, and he looked at me puzzled.

“I have a project meeting with our collaborators this weekend, we have to discuss the last bits of the project.”

“So sorry, but I can’t accept your invite.”

I gave Lucien an apologetic look. Surprisingly, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he nodded understandingly.

“I see.” He turned around to open the door, and walked into his apartment.

“....”

I quickly stepped towards the door, and used my hand to block the door from closing. Lucien’s gaze shifted from my hand to my face, his eyes held a certain deepness to them.

“Stopping at a neighbour’s door in the middle of the night, this action usually hides a certain warmth to it, does it not?”

“I just want to tell you, that I’ve been busy these days, but I’ll be free in a while.”

Lucien held the door open, and a moment later, his lips spilled a hint of a grin.

“Since you’ll have to work during the weekends, you must sleep well tonight, no?”

His speech was gentle, and in the silent night, it spun circles and landed onto my heart. I looked up at him, and gave him a smile.

“Alright.”

(Time-skip to the weekend)

The next morning, I held the ticket in my hands tightly as I stepped in front of the artistic building on front of me, noticing the signboard on the entrance before I enter.

“Sculpture Art Exhibition..”

“..This is the first time I’ve met with someone who’d insisted on meeting up in an art gallery.. Maybe they’re someone who’s passionate with art?”

Upon entering the gallery hall, I asked for the person’s location, and found the man in a suit not far away.

“Hello sir, are you the consultant for Nagaya’s Film Studio?”

“Hello, I’m the consultant, yes,”

He said as he handed me his name card.

“We’ve been in contact digitally, I’ve actually been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time now.”

I shook his hand as a form of politeness,

“I’m very honoured to be working with your company as well. The problematic areas have all been solved previously, so here’s to hoping that we can finish the last bits of the project by today.”

I took out the folders from my bag, but he said nothing.

“Is this location not to your satisfaction? The Art Gallery has a rich atmosphere; it’s quiet, and we can enjoy the works while having a chat.”

“It is pretty good..”

“Sir, please look at this section,”

I opened the file, passed it to the man, and attempted to shift the conversation to the right track. But he wasn’t in a rush to go through the files, and he smiled instead.

“Miss MC, no rush at all. Please take your time to stroll around, the files can wait.”

“But let us talk about the collaboration first..”

Before I’ve finished speaking, I was already speechless.

Past the crowded room, an ever-so-familiar figure walked past the glass door. Lucien gave the staff a polite smile as he took the directory map, and walked inside. Maybe it was because of my blazing stare, but Lucien looked up, and looked towards my direction.

And as our eyes met, his eyes curved along with his relaxed smile.

[Section Two]

“Miss MC?”

The collaborator tried calling my name, and as I came back to my senses, I apologetically smiled at him.

“Sorry, I’ve lost my focus just now.”

“Sir, this current project is very important to both parties, so let’s go through it together, and other things can wait. What do you think?”

I gave a determined look as I passed him the files, and he couldn’t do anything but accept them.

“There are generally no problems now. I’ll be signing it when I go back. Should we go tour the exhibition now?”

I unconsciously stepped half a step back.

“I’m very sorry, but I’ll have to pass the final version of this to my colleagues, so I might not be able to enjoy the exhibition with you today.”

My eyes darted to the side, but Lucien wasn’t there anymore. The man in front of me gave out a disappointed “oh,” but quickly started speaking once more.

“Since we’re already here, let’s take a few photos in the photo-taking area.”

“..Let’s not.”

I looked around once more, wanting to find Lucien, and yet I couldn’t see him anymore.

“That man over there, mind if you help us take a picture?”

“Sure.”

Lucien’s voice rang behind me, I turned around. He stood by not far away, his gaze landing onto me.

“....”

“Then I hope it won’t be a bother for you, sir..”

“-Oh, Professor Lucien? Can’t believe you’ll be here for the exhibition as well! What a coincidence.”

I cut through the collaborator’s words, pretend to look at Lucien with surprise, and hurriedly tried to wink, hinting at him to not help him. Lucien, however, said nothing and looked at me amused, his smile growing wide.

“Yes, a coincidence indeed.”

“You know each other? That’s great.”

He excitedly handed his phone to Lucien and stood by me as he posed like your standard tourist. I looked at Lucien, forcing a crooked smile out of me. Lucien amusedly held the phone, and clicked the photo-capturing button.

As soon as the picture was taken, I quickly stepped one step away.

The collaborator took the phone from Lucien, his eyebrows furrowing as he let out a puzzled noise.

“Eh? Why does this s picture only showed the sculpture behind us?”

“Although we can freely take picture of whatever that pleases us here, I believe the art itself is more worthy of the attention.”

The collaborator was stunned at Lucien’s words. Lucien turned around to look at me, and it’s almost as if it wasn’t there, but his eyes were almost as if he’s trying to tell me that he’s feeling guilty.

“MC, I’ve reminded you last night to take a good rest, why do you still seem so lethargic today?”

“Ah?”

He held out his hand, his slim finger coming to the dark circles under my eyes, and he rubbed it gently.

“Why are you always not taking care of yourself, making me worry?”

I was absolutely stunned frozen by Lucien’s sweet gestures and the collaborator’s shocked look in his face. After gaining my consciousness once more, I tried to step back, but was pulled back by him.

He sighed lightly, held my hand, and looked at the collaborator beside me.

“Sorry to have ridiculed you.”

“As you’ve seen, she’s been spending too much of her time and effort in this project. So much so that I can only “bump into her” here.”

“However, since the project’s come to an end, for the rest of this, would you mind giving her back to me?”

The collaborator’s stare landed on our intertwining hands, and a moment later, he face became rather awkward.

“Um, of course. I’ll send over the files right after I’ve signed them. Miss MC, it’s been an honour collaborating with you, I’ll take my leave now.”

After waiting for the collaborator to disappear, Lucien let go of my hand.

“That – thanks for getting me out of that..”

“So the work you’ve mentioned, is to actually come to the gallery with someone else..”

He looked at me, his words calm and collected.

“This is the meeting location, I couldn’t possibly reject them..”

I tried to explain, but Lucien’s gaze remained unfazed, and so I could only try to change the topic.

“Why did you come here? The exhibition today isn’t exactly popular.”

“Well-known or not, it isn’t a reliable factor to determine the value of things, is it not?”

“But are you truly here for the exhibition? This is too much of a coincidence..”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, but I’m truly here for the exhibition.”

I sent a suspicious look towards Lucien, and he looked at me once more.

“However, you said you still have certain things to address in your company. Are you not going to handle them?”

He smiled gently as he reminded me, his tone light and slow.

My heart skipped a beat, and it felt kind of strange. Lucien was almost like he was trying to push me away, but why was that so? I felt an unsettling feeling setting roots in my heart, so I tried to say it.

“I was just looking for an excuse just now. I don’t have anything else to do later, so since we’ve bumped into each other, why not tour the exhibition together?”

Lucien did not look at me, and instead pulled open the directory map, his eyes casted down as he focused on the landmarks marked on the map.

“You wishing to be with me, are those words truthful, or just an excuse t search for some kinds of information on me?”

I was wordless by then, and, following his gaze towards the map, I instead noticed the insignia of STF hidden and held tightly in the tips of his fingers.

“What about you? You said you’re here for the exhibition, were those words actually true, or was it an excuse to not make me feel suspicious?”

I looked at Lucien, and his dark-coloured eyes spun a circle around me.

“Seems like you’ve already found your answer. So a confession or not, it doesn’t seem to matter much.”

“But I wonder what happened, to have made you come and deal with it?”

Lucien tucked the map away, looking at me with interest.

“If I’ve already answered your suspicions, for me, is there truly an advantage?”

He asked sternly, as if he did not want to easily reveal the true reason why he’s there.

“If we share information on both parties now, I won’t be stingy with BS’ whereabouts the next time I get a hold of anything.”

Lucien’s smile widened just a little.

“Sounds good.”

[Section Three]

“Some sculptures in the Art Gallery have been used by a few Evolvers to trade illegal information.. I’ve heard that if we can find the point of trading between these people, it’ll benefit the both of us.”

Lucien gave a nod, and bent down slightly to whisper into my ear, making me flustered.

He chuckled lightly, and said-

“Then I’ll have to trouble Miss Nox to search through the gallery with me.”

In the soft rays of light and its brightness, and between the statues of exaggerated expressions and their less dramatic counterparts, Lucien’s steady breathing enveloped me, and I find myself wanting to hold onto this fleeting moment.

The colours of the sky gradually became darker, and we’ve almost I sorted every single sculpture in the exhibition, but have found nothing at all.

“Is it possible that they’ve already destroyed all the evidence?”

Lucien did not answer my question, and so I couldn’t help but to look at him.

In the pure white of the sculptures, he stood in the corners of their shadows, his eyes casted downwards as he observed the statue, intricately protected on its stand. The lines of the statues were sculpted with a sense of profoundness, and with Lucien standing quietly by its side, it’s like a serene painting.

I stopped myself from walking further, captured by the sight in front of me.

It reminded me of the many times I’ve turned to look back in the past, and how I can still always feel the touch of his gentle gaze.

“Are you looking at me?”

Noticing it, he turned to look at me. Though I still cannot truly tell the emotions swimming in his eyes each time he smiles, I’ve gotten used to smiling back in return.

“Yep, I was looking at you.”

I admitted truthfully, and turned by focus back to Lucien. A dash of surprise swam past his eyes, and then they quieted away into a languid silence.

“Then can you tell me what you’ve seen?”

“Mm.. I see a general show consultant lazing around, not seriously looking for any clues at all.”

Lucien smiled.

“If that’s so, then it seems like I’ll have to work a little harder.”

“You called me just now, did you find anything?”

I nodded, opening my mouth hesitantly.

“I’m wondering if there are already people changing the locations of the clues you’ve been searching for.”

“Perhaps.”

He didn’t seem surprised, his gaze still focused on the statue.

“Is there anything special about this statue?”

“There isn’t.”

His voice was prosaic, as if he hadn’t been staring at the statue a while ago.

“The sculptor’s skills isn’t as polished, and the facial expression is a bit unnatural as well.”

“Then why are you so drawn to it?”

“Haven’t you noticed?”

“This statue is the most well-protected in all of the exhibition. Compared to the occasional scratches and damages appearing in the other ones, this statue looks as if it’s just been made.”

Lucien’s eyes scanned through the carefully-protected statue, his gaze brimmed with complexity.

“Seems like its owner didn’t have the heart to let it endure even the slightest bit of harm at all.”

“It’s natural, isn’t it?”

I looked at the sculpture in it’s perfect condition, and I almost felt the love it’s received from its owner.

“To have thrown so much of their time and effort into this piece, they can’t help but to protect it with their all.”

Lucien shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“If it’s only for the sake of protection, the sculpture is, in the end, still just a typical novice-level sculpture.”

“Only with the sculpture enduring the test of time and its surrounding environment, can it truly become what one may call a masterpiece.”

His voice was low, with a hint of softness, as if he was talking about the sculpture, and something else as well.

[Section Four]

Evening arrived, and Lucien and I have unconsciously spent the whole afternoon in the art exhibition.

“We didn’t find any clues, not even any suspicious looking places. Lucien, why do you think this is so?”

I tried to piece together the puzzle in front of my eyes, but when my eyes met with Lucien, I suddenly realised one thing.

From the beginning till the very end, it was me who was trying to find the clues Lucien said there would be. And Lucien was the one who was relaxingly enjoying the statues one by one.

“As you’ve said, perhaps there are already people here before us.”

He seemed to not care about the results at all, his tone languid.

In my heart appeared a thought that was quite far-fetched.

To prove my theory, I walked to the side of a sculpture, pretending to search it thoroughly. Then, I quietly gestured Lucien to come over.

“Lucien, come, I think I’ve found a clue!”

“Is that so?”

I held some papers in my chest, pretending they were the information discovered, and looked at Lucien for his response. He slowly walked towards me, looking at the sculpture beside me.

“Do you know?”

“In my eyes, your actions are easily readable.”

Lucien leaned towards me, trapping me between the sculpture, and him.

“Eh? What are you doing?!”

Lucien looked at me directly, paused, and let out a light sigh. He took out the documents I held in my hands.

“Not bad. Indeed, there were no clues at all.”

“I was just trying to find an excuse, to spend an undisturbed afternoon with you.”

The crowds have lessened significantly in the exhibition hall, the motion-sensoring lights dimming out due to the lack of visitors.

The back of Lucien was a blurry darkness, which creeped to the sides of his trench coat, making him appear to be both lonely, and dangerous.

But he looked at me silently, as if he wanted me to hold his hand, and pull him to stand right by me. I thought back to when he pretended to be serious as he discussed of the happenings, and then fooling me into touring the entire exhibition hall with him.

“Lucien, you’ve ran in such a big circle, just because you want me to spend time with you?”

“Can’t I?”

His tone was plain and light, yet he added a bit of exaggerations in some of the syllabi.

“You seem to be very busy lately. So busy that you do not have the time to share a cup of tea with me, speak with me.”

His voice seemed to be laced with a hint of remorse, his eyes downcast as he looked at me.

For a moment, I was stunned wordless.

Because we did not move for a long while, the motion detecting light above is clicked off and away as well. And in the darkness, Lucien chuckled lightly.

“Looks like it’s already the closing hour. It’s time to end this tour now.”

Outside of the art gallery was a sinking twilight.

I followed Lucien along the sunset-bathed roads, and hesitated for a moment. I quickly walked to his side, and reached out my hand to the hem of his jacket.

Lucien halted his steps, and turned to look at me a little surprised.

“I remember the Special Task Force’s secretive research department do not have to have overtime for the weekends, and coincidentally, I’m free next weekend.”

I gave him a smile,

“So, Professor Lucien, can you borrow me your time next week?”

Lucien looked at me gently, and smiled. His voice and the surrounding clutter of other noises as clear as crystal in my ears,

“Of course.”

[END]

#mlqc spoilers #mlqc lucien #mlqc #mlqc xumo #mlqc translation #mr love queens choice #mr love dream date

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crackimagines · 5 years

Text

Bernadetta has a crush (FE:Three Houses Short Fic)

Person in question is just an unnamed student, because that’s not what we’re focusing on.

What we’re focusing is how poor Bernie handles this situation.

WITH LOTS OF SCREAMING

---

Once the lecture was done, everyone began heading out of class and went their separate ways. Bernadetta sighed deeply and gathered her belongings. With what seemed like inhuman speed, she quickly ran out of class and immediately bolted towards her dorm room.

As she was bolting out of the Black Eagles’ classroom, all she could think about was taking a nice long break from everyone, and her thoughts were put to a halt as she ran into something.

No, someone.

“W-Woah!”

“EEEK!”

She looked up and saw a student on the ground, rubbing his head before meeting her eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that! Here, let me help you!”

He began picking up the papers while Bernadetta stared at him, eyes wide.

“Let’s see is there anything else...Ah, there it is!” After picking up the last piece of paper, he turned back with a smile on his face.

“Here you are, again sorry about-...”

Not even moving an inch, she continued to stare at him, as an awkward silence filled the air and several students began staring at them.

The student put down her books and cleared his throat.

“...H-Hello?”

“...Ah...”

“Excuse me, are you okay-”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH! IM SORRY, IM SORRY! STUPID BERNIE, YOU NEED TO WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING! PLEASE DON’T HATE ME!”

Before anyone could have time to react, she bolted away towards the dorms, leaving everyone speechless. Moments later, a stern-faced man with blue hair rushed out, looking at the students.

“P-Professor Byleth!”

“What’s going on out here, who just screamed?”

“Um, it was a purple haired student from the Black Eagles, sir!”

“...Was she short, and looked anxious?”

“Yes sir, she-”

He relaxed and put his hands to head.

“Ah, nevermind then. Nothing to worry about too much. Sorry to scare you like that. Can you give that girl her books? She’s on the first floor of the dorms near the greenhouse. Her name is Bernadetta”

“Y-Yes sir!”

Byleth nodded and went back to the classroom as the student grabbed Bernadetta’s belongings, and went to her room. As he was drawing near, he could hear her voice through the door, berating herself for causing such a mess.

“Um, excuse me? Bernadetta is it?”

“EEEK! I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO-”

And just like that, she shouted apologies with every breath she took, bewildering the student leading him to loudly clearly his throat.

“I-It’s no problem at all, Bernadetta! I’ll just leave your things by the door, okay?”

He bowed, despite knowing that she couldn’t see it but hoping it would put her at ease, and went back towards the classes.

Bernadetta was silent, slowly opening the door, checking for the student and then she quickly grabbed her books and slammed the door.

“He...was really nice to me. I-I need to go apologize to him!”

When she thought about how she would do it, it was then she realized something vital.

“I...I never got his name!”

She tried to remember his key features that would help identify him and...the more she thought about it, she started to think how nice the student was. More importantly he...looked kinda cute.

“Maybe...I can talk with him after I apologize? But why would someone just accept a proposal to hang out with a girl like me...”

An idea.

“I know! I can ask my classmates how to help with this!...Er, once I leave the room anyway.” She thought to herself. Eh, she can get out tomorrow.

------

Professor Byleth’s Advice

The Professor was a very kind and patient man, at least to Bernadetta. He never thought of her as a nuisance, and so who better to ask than a man like that? More importantly he was her elder (probably?), so he must have some field of expertise on this topic.

Once the lecture ended, Byleth began clearing off the chalkboard as the students left. Bernadetta went up to his desk and remained silent for a few moments before he turned around. Once he saw her, he smiled and nodded.

“Bernadetta, what can I help you with?”

“H-Hi, professor. Did you tell that boy to come to my room yesterday?”

“I did. Don’t want you to show up tomorrow forgetting everything after all. I hope I didn’t scare you.”

“W-Well it kinda did but...first of all thank you, and second of all do you know his name? I uh...want to apologize to him and um...”

“Ah, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name. I’m not sure if anyone in the class was around when that incident happened. I’m sure he’ll pop in sooner or later. If he does show up, I’ll let you know.”

“T-Thanks professor...”

“Is something wrong? Did he say something to you-”

“No no no! Nothing like that it’s just...I...I also want to get to know him better.”

“...I’m afraid I didn’t hear that correctly. You want to get to know him?”

“Yes! Is there something wrong with that thought, professor?”

“None at all! I..just didn’t think you’d do that. At all, as a matter of fact- AHEM! Anyways!”

He took a seat at his desk and awkwardly cleared his throat.

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to exactly help you, but I’m very positive your classmates can help you out! Why not ask Dorothea?”

‘Dorothea...that’s right! She knows all about how to get cute guys to talk, that’s genius professor!’ She thought to herself.

“Thank you very much, professor! I’ll be going now!”

Byleth smiled, waving her off as she left.

“Happy to help!” Once she was out of earshot, his smile quickly went away and was replaced with worry.

“Oh goddess...What is she doing?”

“Shouldn’t you be following her? In your words, she can be quite the wreck!”

“Quiet, Sothis! I...didn’t mean it like that!”

Dorothea’s Advice

When Bernadetta got to Dorothea, she almost squealed out of joy learning her little Bern has a crush on, what is apparently a cute guy, and coming to her for advice. Not losing any time, she sat her down and grabbed some tea, explaining in detail of how to get a guy to fall for her.

Very. Uncomfortable. Detail.

“...And that’s how to get a cute guy to fall heads over heels for you, Bern!”

She put down her teacup and winked at her.

“No guy in his right mind can refuse a cutie such as yourself!”

“...Um, I just wanted to talk with him for a little bit, Dorothea. I can’t wink seductively, much less do anything you just said!”

“Huh? I thought you found the guy cute and wanted to take him for dinner?”

“N-NO!...Well I mean, I can’t say it doesn’t sound nice but-...”

“Then go all out! If you strike a pose then-”

“D-Dorothea, can we just start with baby steps?! My heart would explode if I tried that!”

“Those ARE baby steps, well for me anyway. I suppose you can begin with apologizing, then asking if he has any freetime? If you aren’t quite ready for dinner, then how about a walk around town?...Oh right, you don’t like leaving your room for long periods of time...Then...?”

She furrowed her brow, thinking intensely on what to do.

“Listen Bern, I think my tactics might be a bit too forward for what’s in your comfort zone, but I think I know someone who can help!”

Edelgard’s Advice

“And that’s the situation Edie. You’ve had to master the art of small talk as a noble, so maybe you can spread some of that knowledge to Bern here?”

Edelgard looked at Dorothea with the most puzzled face that she and Bernadetta had ever seen.

“Um, with all due respect Dorothea, I figured that YOU were the expert on that topic, considering you like to go out. I have nothing resembling romance in my life right now. I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea to talk to me about this.”

Bernadetta looked down in disappointment.

“I see...”

“Oh, Bernadetta! It’s not that I don’t want to help you I..”

Edelgard’s head turned, trying to avoid eye contact while her cheeks were turning slightly red.

“...don’t exactly know how to talk to boys that way either...”

Dorothea adjusted her hat, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

“Good grief...Alright once I’m done helping Bern out, I’m helping YOU out, Edie. Anyways, don’t you have even a little bit of advice?”

“Well...I suppose the polite thing to do is keep eye contact and make sure you listen to all he has to say. And make sure you don’t jump to conclusions, Bernadetta!”

“Y-Yes ma’am. I think I have enough information now, thank you so much you two!”

“Of course, Bern. Now have fun with him, and be confident!”

“Be confident, right! Okay, goodbye!”

Both of them waved goodbye as she left the library.

“...We probably shouldn’t leave her alone, huh Edie?”

“Absolutely not.”

As she looked for him, Bernadetta couldn’t shake off the feeling she was being watched.

BONUS: Other Classmate Advice

Caspar - “I say challenge him to a duel with good ol fisticuffs-...Oh that’s not what you meant? I still think that’s the case, no man worth his salt could refuse such a high stakes duel!”

Linhardt - Bold of you to assume he’d even be awake.

Hubert - “...Things must be truly desperate if you’ve come to me of all people...”

Petra - “Ah, I believe this is what you call a ‘Date’! Perhaps you can gain love by offering gift? What gift you may ask? Back home, we offered horse heads as gifts, so perhaps it the same!”

Ferdinand - “Simple, Bernadetta! Simply state that you are a noble, and things will follow from there! You must make sure to keep your status up by being professional at all times!...You’re just talking with him? Then it’s very important to do that very thing! Nothing makes a better conversation starter than your status!”

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem three houses imagines #writing #edelgard von hraesvelgr #dorothea arnault #bernadetta von varley #byleth #ferdinand von aegir #hubert von vestra #caspar von bergliez #petra macneary #linhardt von hevring #feth #sothis

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jeidafei · 5 years

Text

D.Gray-Man Vol.26: Komui’s Lounge (Extended) 4/5

>> Part 1 <<

>> Part 2 <<

>> Part 3 <<

Question 20: How many types of headphones does Marie have? And do they function differently?

Marie: Now I only have the latest model the Science Division developed for me. I keep it on at all times except when I go to bed.

Bak: I’ve contributed to the design as well. (ahem)

Marie: Did you? Thank you, Supervisor.

Lavi: But you’ll hear countless noises and voices from a considerable range all the time, right? Isn’t that exhausting?

Wisely: What!? You’re able to hear that much!? Where’s the respect for privacy?

Allen: Shut up about privacy, you.

Marie: Well, it was rough before I got used to it. I trained myself to listen for only important sounds from among countless noises. I’ve come to the point where everyday noises from people doing their chores and talking mostly just flow right by me, and since then I haven’t been “listening in” on anyone.

Link: Aha. You really are a true man of character, Noise Marie. You’d better take notes, Walker.

Allen: How did this come to me?

Link: Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how you threatened me with Timcanpy’s recordings.

(T/N: I don’t remember where the omake in which this happened is, but it was the recording of Link when Timothy possessed him on the Louvre’s roof and made all those funny faces and slobbering in the Phantom Thief G arc.)

Question 21: I’m curious about the length of time Krory can maintain his enhanced capabilities and the amount of Akuma blood needed. And also whether it is possible to extend his activation time by training, etc.

Bak: As of now he can drink blood from Akuma up to Level Three, and can stay activated for 10 minutes with 250ml of blood. Looks like he’s also experimenting to extend that time with support from the Science Division.

Lavi: Wouldn’t drinking more blood extend the activation time?

Bak: No, it wouldn’t. On the other hand, drinking less than 250ml will shorten the activation time to around 3 minutes.

Marie: When you said he can drink blood from Akuma up to Level Three, is it because he hasn’t experimented with blood from a Level Four yet?

Bak: Well, since obtaining blood from a Level Four is next to impossible...

Wisely: Ho ho ho. Indeed, indeed ♪.

Allen: Seeing Krory enjoying Akuma blood that much really does make you wonder whether it really is delicious, after all.

Link: Don’t try it out, Walker.

Question 22: Does Miranda always carry sweets with her while on a mission? And does she have a favorite flavor?

Link: I’ve heard that since her Innocence requires stamina, she’s come to carrying sweets at all times to supplement her calories, but about the flavor...

Marie: Miranda said she likes minty flavors.

Allen: Are you sure? Miss Miranda always gives me sweets whenever my stomach starts growling, and they’re always fruity flavors like strawberry or pineapple.

Lavi: That’s just coz you like fruit-flavored candies, isn’t it, Allen?

Marie: Haha. So she’s packing fruity candies just for you as well, huh.

Allen: Eh!? Is that so!?

Bak: By the way, whenever Lou Fa learns you’re coming to our branch, she’d always prepare Mitarashi dumplings, Walker.

Allen: Eh!? Now that you mention it, there really did seem to be Mitarashi dumplings around whenever I go to the Asian Branch.

Wisely: What!? If you really loved eating that much, then why didn’t you accept Tikky’s invitation to feast back then?

Allen: It’s not feasting that I have a problem with; it’s that Curly-Head. He’s the very man who tore a hole in my heart, have you forgotten? Do you expect me to enjoy a meal with such a groping pervert?

(T/N: Er, Allen...I think your point is a little off here...)

Link: So you won’t let your appetite win in that case, Walker?

Allen: Yes?

Link: Nothing. That’s a relief.

Question 23: So before Lavi became an Exorcist, he fought with a dagger?

Lavi: Eh? What’s this?

Wisely: They’re probably talking about that time back in the Ark. When you were in Road’s dream, remember?

Lavi: Ohhhh, so that was it. Wait, how come you know about that?

Wisely: La-de-dah♪

Marie: Lavi’s an all-rounder, like Bookman, right?

Allen: What on earth is that?

Marie: Those who can make use of any weapon depending on the situation.

Lavi: That’s because as Bookmen, virtually all our logs are of war zones. So Gramps trained me to be capable of handling any situation, and that training also includes martial arts.

Link: What are you most skilled with?

Lavi: Hmmmm. I like cudgels best, I guess.

Allen: You’re always fooling about whenever we duel-train, Lavi, and I’ve been thinking perhaps you’re no good. Kanda beats you in a blink, you see.

Lavi: Aaaawwww. Come on! It’s such a pain to fight seriously!

Bak: But back then, when you were dueling with Fō, you seemed quite serious, though.

Lavi: I wouldn’t call that a duel; Fō was coming at me like she’s dying to kill me, damn her. How could I not take it seriously!?

Allen: Yeah, Fō does mean it when she fights, doesn’t she.

Bak: She’s more a berserker than a guardian deity, that one.

Link: I see. You will not get serious unless it poses a certain level of threat to your life.

Question 24: Are Nea and the 14th the same individual?

Wisely: My my. Is this reader mistaking something here? “The 14th” is just the alias the previous generation of Noah bestowed upon Nea. There is only one Nea.

Link: Though Nea himself doesn’t seem fond of it; he’s said it is “a nickname given out of distaste”. Guess I’d have to be careful from now...

Allen: Huh? Careful of what?

Link: Would you like some mango juice, Walker?

Allen: WEE-HEE!

Bak: I’ve been wondering. Why isn’t he called “The 14th disciple” like the other Noahs but simply “The 14th”?

Wisely: Perhaps that is the distaste Nea was talking about. As has already been revealed in the Gray Log Fanbook, Nea has no Noah Memory, and for that very reason, the other Noahs may have treated him as the black sheep of the family. Well, I guess I’ll leave you here with a cliffhanger until the boy uncovers Nea’s secrets in the main narrative.

Marie: He has no Noah Memory, so he couldn’t reincarnate like the other Noahs, and that is why he implanted his memories within Allen?

Link: Exactly when did he implant them within you? Do you really have no idea, Walker?

Allen: Told you; I really don’t know! It’s said to be around 35 years ago! I’m sixteen, remember? I didn’t even exist then!

Wisely: ..............

Lavi: What the heck are you grinning about, Three-Eyes?

Wisely: Nuffink.

(T/N: OMG OMG OMG OMG OH MY FREAKING GAWD WISELY DID YOU JUST FREAKING CONFIRM THE PAST!ALLEN THEORY WITHOUT SAYING A SINGLE WORD???!!!)

Question 25: Allen’s left eye should have become able to project the image of the Akuma souls to others, but it seems nobody apart from Lavi has seen it. Is it deciding itself whether to let other people see the souls within the Akuma?

Lavi: Ah, that...Just remembering it still gives me the creeps even now.

Allen: Back then when Lavi and Krory said they could see the Akuma’s soul, at first I was definitely sure the curse has strengthened in power, and from now people other than me will be able to see the souls, too. But after that, nobody ever saw it again. Looks like it’s just a one-time thing, after all.

Lavi: It was right after your damaged eye resurrected with the curse’s power, right? With your eye being in an unusual state like that, anything can happen. Me and Krorykins were just unfortunately caught up in the curse’s rampage.

Allen: Well, it’s a relief, anyway. After all, it’s not a pleasant sight to behold. If it ends with you not having to see it anymore, I’d say it’s for the best.

Bak: I’m interested, though. As part of the Science Division, we welcome any information on the Akuma.

Wisely: So am I. For even my Demon Eye cannot see souls. In what state are they, the souls within Akuma?

Link: How could you say these things like it doesn’t concern you when you’re on the very side creating Akuma?

Marie: Must have been hard getting used to seeing those souls, huh, Allen?

Allen: When I first saw one, I was so scared I couldn’t even bear to look. But Master was patientーWell, for him. “Those things aren’t scary”, he’d scold me; they were once living humans just like us, and they’re just screaming for me to save them, after all. It took a long time, but just like that, little by little I became able to look at them.

Question 26: What do Kanda, Allen, Lenalee and Lavi smell of? Lenalee would probably smell very nice. Well, she’s a girl after all; she’s definitely using perfume and the like, right?

Marie: Hmmmm. Kanda’s scent? Soap is the closest bet, I’d say.

(T/N: Sensei, considering the general negative image of D.Gray-Man as a Yaoi manga may I say this is not a wise move? *laffs*)

Allen: And me, Marie? What about me?

Marie: You usually have a sugary smell about you, Allen. Like dessert.

Lavi: Because there’s always crumbs all over your clothes, Allen.

Allen: Lavi’s eyepatch gives out whiffs of Fabreeze.

(T/N: the popular Japanese brand of air-freshener/deodorant spray.)

Lavi: Oi! Don’t say stuff from the old Instagram page! Some readers won’t get it!

(T/N: In Hoshino’s old Instagram there’s a drawing of Allen spraying Fabreeze at Lavi’s face for some reason. I don’t remember the caption. She’s also reposted it on her new Instagram just to clarify this joke. Maybe it’s just that he never/rarely takes off his eyepatch for cleaning and it’s moldy and sweaty...?)

Marie: Hmmmm...as for Lavi...he smells of tobacco a bit.

Allen: Yeah! Just like Master’s scent.

Lavi: Ah, Gramps’ cigarettes, huh? I’m aware of that.

Wisely: Bookman is a heavy smoker as ever. A wonder his lungs are still holding out even at his age.

Marie: I think Lenalee usually has a flowery scent, though.

Bak: Yes, she does! Lenalee-san smells like sweet flowers!

Allen: Bak-san, keep your voice down! If Komui-san hears you, we’d be in for big trouble!

Lavi: Lenalee doesn’t use perfume, and still she smells so nice.

Allen: There’s this thing she uses. You see, a while back I was talking to Lenalee about having more scars or something, and she said; “This works wonders, you know.” and gave me some of this thingーkinda like Body Oil? Could it have been that oil’s scent? The scars would fade if you keep rubbing this oil on them, from the looks of it. It smells wonderful when she’s putting it on me.

Bak: SHE WAS PUTTING IT ON YOU, WALKEEEEEEER!? (snaps)

(T/N: Trust me I had a really hard time keeping this one from becoming Fifty Shades of (D.) Gray or Silence of the Lambs for that matter...)

Allen: NO ULTERIOR MOTIVE! REALLY!

Lavi: Body oil, huh...ah, my heart’s gettin’ all weird just hearing that.

Link: What’s with that dirty look on your face, Bookman Jr?

>> Part 5 <<

#d gray man #dgm #dgm vol 26

341 notes · View notes

luxusnoname · 5 years

Text

Studies of the Heart (Even x Braig)

Summary: Even had never been in love before. Maybe there was some irony in the fact that one who was researching the heart hadn't experienced one of its most powerful emotions. That is, until Braig showed up. The first fic in a collection of drabbles ranging from pre-BBS to post-KH3.

Characters/Pairings: Even/Braig, mentions of the other Apprentices

Rating: T (for like one swear word)

Word Count: 2.3k

Author’s Note: *slides onto home plate at the last second* It’s only 11pm in my time zone so t e c h n i c a l l y still Xigvex day! Not that anyone else really ships these two, but I’m hoping to change that eventually. This is set in an AU of sorts that disregards the revelations in KH3′s epilogue, and this particular bit takes place before BBS so no spoilers here! Enjoy ^^

~~~

Studies of the Heart

When Even walked into the lab in the morning, there were a great many things he expected to find.

He expected the comforting hum of machinery that served as the background noise to his research. He expected an organized stack of notes atop his workspace, exactly where he left them the night before. He expected the coffee pot to have a fresh brew ready and waiting for him.

The one thing he didn't expect was a certain marksman waiting to prank him, standing upside down in the air and paying no mind whatsoever to the laws of gravity. It shouldn't have come as a surprise really, since the man wasn't the sort to obey rules. Nor was he the sort of man to think things like this through. This last piece is especially important, because he wasn't expecting his victim to be preoccupied with reading a textbook that morning as he entered the lab.

So, it came as a great shock to both men when Even turned the corner and, not two steps into the room, collided with the unexpected obstacle that was Braig's dense skull.

Even flailed and dropped his book, the tome hitting the floor with a dull thud. However, it was not quite as spectacular as the thud made by Braig, who had lost concentration and dropped to the ground like a particularly bothersome sack of potatoes. Said potato sack was grumbling curses under his breath as he clutched his newfound bloody nose.

Even was faring no better, a hiss of pain accompanying his usual shrill tone as he massaged his forehead. "What on earth were you doing there?"

Braig gave a halfhearted chuckle from his position on the ground, voice muffled beneath his glove. "Well, was tryin' to spook ya but obviously that didn't work out."

"Don't you have duties you should be performing elsewhere?"

"As if. ‘Sides, who's to say my first duty of the day wasn't to test your alertness?"

Even narrowed his eyes at the man who was still laying on the ground - it was really quite a pathetic scene. "I highly doubt that." And with that, he picked up his book and stepped over Braig.

"C'mon, I don't even get a hand up?" He stretched his arm out toward the scientist but dropped it with a sigh when it was pointedly ignored.

Instead, Even began digging through his supply cabinet and mumbling to himself. Honestly, what a child. Able to wield space and gravity magic and he uses it to prank people. Surely that power could be put to much better use. And his bitterness over this was not in any way related to him being Braig's primary target, thank you very much.

But as much as he liked to complain, the pranks were never actively harmful. He suspected they were the man’s way of socializing in some twisted sense. At any rate, Even had grown accustomed to his presence over the years and his grumbling was really done out of habit than any actual contempt for the man. Braig was a fool, but he was an apprentice to Lord Ansem the same as the rest of them, so he was their fool.

“Got any gauze in there?”

Even startled as the sharpshooter warped next to him, causing him to nearly knock over a stack of glassware. “Heavens Braig, would you give me a moment? That’s what I’m looking for.”

“Anticipating my needs? My hero.” He brought the back of his free hand up to his forehead as if he were a damsel in distress, but his shit-eating grin was far from innocent.

Even didn’t grace this with a response. Instead, when he found the gauze, he shoved it into Braig’s hand and stalked back toward his workspace.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to review his notes from the previous day, elbow propped up on the desk and fist under his chin. One particular subject had responded to the stimuli while another had not, and careful testing was necessary to determine if it any external variables had snuck their way into the experiment. He absently chewed the tip of his pen.

As he pondered the matter, the surface beneath him shifted with a groan and he nearly faceplanted as his elbow slipped. Looking up, he saw that Braig had hoisted himself up onto the desk, nursing his own cup of coffee.

Pray though he might that the interruptions would end there, he knew he couldn’t be so lucky.

“So, Lord Ansem did actually send me to check up on you this morning, believe it or not. Something about some science mumbo jumbo you’re working on?”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes returning to his notes. “Yes, that is what we do around here, for lack of better words I suppose.”

Braig waved his hand. “Eh, you know I don’t care for the finer details. He just wants a brief report written up so I can deliver it to him asap. He’ll be joining you this evening.”

“And I suppose you’re going to wait here while I compose it?”

“Of course. But don’t you worry about me,” he said with a glint in his eye as he jumped down. “I can find some way to entertain myself in the meantime.”

“Yes, and that’s exactly what I was afraid of,” Even grumbled as he pulled a fresh sheet of paper out of a supply drawer to transcribe his notes onto.

Just as he was about to shut the drawer, he caught his reflection in a small mirror. His attention was immediately drawn to his forehead, which now bore a small but slowly growing reddish mark. Curses. No doubt he’d be sporting a lovely bruise for a week or more thanks to his companion.

As if on cue, there was a crash of metal on tile from deeper in the lab and the marksman threw his hands up in a gesture that was supposed to imply innocence. Even didn’t buy it. But at least Braig had the good sense to look sheepish about it.

~~~

Contrary to popular belief, Even did make it out of the lab on occasion, rare though it might be. His walks usually took him to the fountains in the courtyard. They were a sight to behold and one of the many wonders of Radiant Garden. If he ever hit a stumbling block in his research, spending time pondering there usually managed to provide some solution or new angle to look at a problem from.

Today happened to be one of those frustrating days, and the weather was pleasant enough for a stroll. So he found himself at the fountain, mulling over various disproven hypothesis and how they could be improved. He was on the verge of a breakthrough when a foreign object was thrust in front of his face. A bar of sea salt ice cream, to be exact.

He turned to the owner and of course it was none other than Braig, who shook it playfully in his face. “Apology ice cream?”

“Apology? What for?”

“For this morning.”

Ah, of course. Even eyed the proffered gift warily. The treat itself didn’t pose any threat, but a genuine gesture from Braig was rare, so forgive him for being skeptical.

Gloved hand wiggled the bar yet again. “C’mon, I know you aren’t just eating them for the kid’s benefit.”

A rare smile graced Even’s features at the mention of Ienzo, Lord Ansem’s brilliant young protégé. Once he deemed it safe, he accepted the ice cream with a small nod and sat on the nearby bench. Braig followed suit, wasting no time in eating his. And proceeding to talk with a mouthful, as expected.

“Speaking of Ienzo, I don’t know what you and Ansem have done to that kid, but he has absolutely no concept of fun,” Braig said as he jabbed his ice cream in an accusatory fashion. “I asked him if he’d wanna try sniping an apple that was dangling in a tree just above Dilan and y’know what he said?”

“He said no,” Even deadpanned.

“He said no! Can you imagine? Passing up an opportunity like that?”

Even took a bite of his ice cream as he mulled over his response. “I don’t know Braig, can I imagine being a mature individual with a healthy respect for my peers? It is rather difficult.”

Braig grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Was that sarcasm? And here this whole time I thought you were just a stick in the mud, Ev.”

He opened his mouth to respond but the words died on his lips. Ev. In all the years that Braig had been at the castle, he had never called him that before. And Even wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, it was infuriatingly informal. But on the other, it suggested that the man thought highly enough of him to consider him a friend. Maybe it even held a degree of affection.

Not that it mattered to him, of course. He just wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Speechless? Man, I really did give you a good knock on the noggin, didn’t I?”

Before Even could process what was happening, Braig brought a hand up to his forehead, thumb gently swiping over the blossoming bruise. He studied it for a moment before his dark eyes met Even’s, his expression unreadable but unusually sincere. Had he ever truly looked at the man’s eyes like this before, close enough to notice how the irises were a chestnut brown in the sunlight?

Despite himself, Even felt a blush beginning to work its way up his neck at the surprisingly vulnerable eye contact. He turned away and cleared his throat. “If I remember correctly, you got a bloody nose out of the affair, so I’d say we’re about even.”

“Huh. S’pose we are.”

Both men fell silent at that, content to finish their ice cream in amicable peace. His mind went back to the day that Braig was discovered lurking on the grounds. Dilan and Aeleus were patrolling the gardens that morning when the former spotted him. Even had only heard stories of the event, but they brought him great joy regardless.

Apparently when Dilan moved to apprehend him, Braig had warped away, sticking his leg through a portal to trip the larger man from a safe distance. Doubled over with laughter at his own cleverness, he didn’t notice Aeleus behind him. One swift pommel to the back of his head and he was down for the count.

They took him to Lord Ansem, who was intrigued by his spatial powers and invited him to stay at the castle. His unique control over gravity, coupled with excellent marksmanship, made him an excellent candidate for a guard. Soon after, he became an apprentice much like Dilan and Aeleus had.

Returning to the present, he stole a glance at Braig out of the corner of his eye. The man appeared to be deep in contemplation himself, brow furrowed and empty ice cream stick balanced between his teeth. Even may mock his intelligence, but he suspected he was far more thoughtful and observant than one might assume.

After a few moments, a hand clapped his shoulder and squeezed. “Welp, I better get going now. Some of us have work to do,” Braig added with an infuriating wink before he withdrew his hand and meandered off.

Even stammered as he felt heat rise to his cheeks. Where had that reaction come from?

Surely it was because the man had the nerve to suggest he was slacking off. Surely. It wasn't anything else. It wasn’t because of that wink or that lazy, crooked smirk. Or the way his fingertips had lingered on his shoulder, leaving ghost sensations in the path they had traced over. He just had to get his mind on something else, anything else.

The empty ice cream stick in his hands suddenly became of great interest to him.

~~~

It was shortly after that when Even began noticing little things about Braig, details that had somehow escaped him over the years. Like how the guard uniform’s square shoulders sloped on his thin frame. How his lopsided grin caused the corner of one eye to crinkle. The way he restlessly swung his legs when he was sitting on the lab table that had to be disinfected every time he visited without fail.

And while Braig’s interruptions were almost always pointless and asking him to refrain from visiting the lab would certainly increase his productivity, he never brought himself to ask. He had spent more time pondering this than he cared to admit.

Even had never been in love before. Maybe there was some irony in the fact that one who was researching the heart hadn't experienced one of its most powerful emotions. He liked to believe it was because of the high standards he held not only for himself, but also those he chose to share his company with.

Braig fell short of these standards by a laughably large margin. He was loud, obnoxious, impulsive, childish, and not nearly as clever as he thought himself to be. None of these traits were even remotely close to ideal. But at the same time, there was some sort of affection there, wasn't there?

So maybe he wasn't in love with him. Developing a crush, possibly. He discarded that thought quickly, however, as the word ‘crush’ made him cringe. Crushes were for juveniles, teenagers acting on their physical attraction. Braig might be somewhat handsome, he supposed, with his sharp cheekbones and lean figure. But that was irrelevant. All of this terminology and categorization of his feelings was irrelevant in Even’s mind.

In the end, it didn’t matter what he called it. It was there, and much like the man himself, he just had to deal with it.

And surprisingly, this didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

23 notes · View notes

manako-no-yami · 6 years

Text

when i say go, hold my hand

Read on AO3 Written for the @bkdksecretsanta exchange (I'm so sorry for the delay, I didn't realize it would end up being this big or long...), for @calcidekudine! based off of her vigilante!deku fic, the hare. I hope you like it!!!

Fandom: BNHA Ship: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku Rating: T Wordcount: 9556 Summary:

“I’m sorry, what?” “You poor thing,” Earphone Jack says, smacking him hard on the back, “Do you feel obligated to defend his honor? Don’t worry, we all went to school with the bastard. That kind of already ruined the illusion. Now spill. I want to know everything.” “We’re uh, we’re pretty normal? Haha, no stories to tell. Nothing. Just. Just signi–uh. Boyfriends. Haha. Normal. Normal boyfriends. Yup.” Both women turn to look at him at the same time. The effect is startlingly close to facing down a pack of hungry lions while armed with a broken toothpick. Kacchan’s gonna kill me. How the hell was he supposed to know that the details of their fake boyfriends cover story had to be planned down to their imaginary sex habits?

“Hold still,” Kacchan mutters, tugging harder.

“Stop yanking,” Deku replies, “You’re gonna knock the recorder loose!”

“That’s why we should’ve gone with the button one, not this stupid glasses shit, makes you look even stupider than you already do.”

“I told you, the button mike’s audio isn’t clean enough, we run a risk of not even being able to use any of it, and since Mr. Wanna-be Number One Hero over here is ‘too busy’ to clean audio, which is utter bull shit by the way, that means it’ll be my problem and since I’m the one using it and handling the clean-up it only makes sense that I get to choose what recording gadget we use, so w–”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Deku. Shut up. I’ve heard this argument five times already. Besides, maybe this wouldn’t be such a problem if you would just,” He gives one final yank, tucks the tie in, and straightens the lapels of the suit jacket, “learn how to tie a tie , hmm?”

Deku’s face burns bright red and he huffs, hands reaching up to fidget with his collar before Kacchan slaps his hands away, hissing like an affronted cat.

Don’t you dare, his eyes read, and Deku rolls his eyes in return, settling for adjusting his glasses–his fake glasses, with a small recording device installed in the corner of the frame–higher up on his nose.

“Okay, let’s go over the plan one more time. First,” he’s interrupted by Kacchan’s exasperated groan.

“ God, not this again. Deku, we’ve been over it a million times, and neither of us are fucking amateurs.”

“ First, we locate the CEO of MightyTV.You're in charge of introducing me, and I, posing as your..." his voice gets lower. "Your. Y- Significant? Significant. O-oth--”

“Significant? Significant significant?” Kacchan mocks. “Boyfriend. Just say boyfriend. Are you sure I’m the one that needs to be debriefed again? How the hell are we supposed to pull this off if you can’t even handle saying that much, huh Deku?”

“– boyfriend, shut up Kacchan I’m trying to review the plan here–”

“Oh, so you admit that you’re the one that needs to review it, and not me? Better start cramming, since we agreed that you can’t bring the plans with you.”

“ And I, posing as your boyfriend,” Deku continues, “will begin talking to his assistant, who usually accompanies him, luring them in with the possibility of a story about Ground Zero’s civilian boyfriend, while you fetch us all drinks. Got it so far?”

Kacchan narrows his eyes, suspicious.

“No. The plan was to separate the two until you can subdue the assistant and give her the truth serum, not to leave you and your awkward ass alone with both of them.”

“What? Kacchan, no, we ended up making that plan B, this is why we need to go over it again! I thought you said you were a professional! See, look–” his hand reaches inside his jacket. Too late, his eyes widen in realization, and Kacchan tackles him to the ground before he can react, yanking at his tie and fighting to pull his suit jacket off along with it.

“I knew it! You did bring the plans with you! We– fuck , that HURT you little bitch–We talked about this Deku, it’s too much of a security risk to keep them on hand like that! Give them here!”

“No! Ge– oof, fuck. You. Kacchan. Get off of me!”

The doorbell rings.

“Not a chance in hell, give them to me right now , Deku, so help me God, before I rip all your clothes off for you!”

Deku shoves hard at his shoulder and rolls, landing on top, wrestling still with Kacchan’s hands.

“No! This suit was expensive , you’re gonna tear it! You should know, you bought it! And no quirk use in the house!”

Kacchan, that cheater, grins triumphantly, pressing his forearm into Deku’s sternum, demon smile inches from Deku’s glaring face.

The doorbell rings a second time.

“Ha! Only because your fashion sense is just as bad as the rest of you! And if you don’t want me to rip it off of you, then just be a good boy–”

The doorknob jiggles, then turns.

“–And strip for me, eh Deku?”

“ Fuck you.” Deku snaps, baring his teeth in return.

“You wish!”

When the door opens, both of them freeze, and look towards the entryway. Pro-hero Pinky, also known as Ashido Mina, stands there, eyebrows raised, hands on her hips and fingers tapping.

“Busy?”

A thick silence settles over them. The heat from Deku’s blush is enough to fog up his fake glasses slightly, and with a grunt he pushes Kacchan off of him before scrambling to fix his glasses and straighten his shirt. Kacchan simply lies back, glaring at their intruder with a sneer.

“No! We were just… just uh–”

“Yes.” Kacchan cuts in. “Yes we are. Busy. As you can see. Now get out and wait. You’re interrupting, and we’re not ready yet.”

Her eyebrows lift higher.

“And how much longer, exactly, will we be waiting for you two to get ready ?”

“However long it takes, Black-eyes. Which isn’t long at all, for your information.” He smirks.

“Kacchan!” He can’t help but feel scandalized, but he can’t deny the implications because, damn him, that would blow their cover. “Kacchan, that’s rude! It’s fine, ah… Ashido-san, you can wait in the living room instead of outside. Because some of us aren’t heathens.” He emphasizes the last bit with a glare in Kacchan’s direction, while he sneers back at him.

Pinky looks between the both of them for a moment before breaking out into full-bodied laughter.

“Aw, look at you. Don’t worry about it, all of us here are used to that fart gremlin,” both of them ignore Kacchan as he gives out a sound of offended protest, “so it’s fine. I’ll just tell the driver to keep the heater on. Don’t take too long with your Kacchan , though, we wouldn’t want to be late!” She winks before closing the door with a cheeky wave.

Kacchan groans and kicks at Deku, who dodges it with a frown.

“Fuck. Now they’re never gonna let that go... I told you not to call me that...”

Deku picks up the tie, which had been torn off during their scuffle, looking forlorn as he inspects the damage.

“It just. Feels weird. Calling you anything else.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now hand those plans over, Deku. Did you think a simple distraction like that would make me forget that stunt you just pulled?”

After they finally make their way out of the apartment building, shoving at each other the entire way down, Deku is minus a set of notebooks, wearing a different tie (“Now we don’t match anymore…” “Who cares, Deku. Red suits you better anyway.” “But it makes us even less believable than we already are!”)…and they’re both twenty-five minutes late.

How late is fashionably late, again? Deku wonders.

When they clamber into the limo, he’s greeted by faces at once strange and familiar. Chargebolt, Red Riot, Pinky, and Cellophane are all faces that he recognizes, and he’d be lying if seeing so many of them in real life while unmasked didn’t psych him out a little. As he follows Kacchan in, Chargebolt lets out a low whistle, elbowing Red Riot and Cellophane. There’s a noticeable flush to his cheeks.

“Drunk already?” Kacchan doesn’t seem surprised.

“Nah, he’s just a bit tipsy. Gotta get past the press at the front door first. Can’t let you hog all the fun,” Cellophane quips, wiggling his eyebrows as Kacchan shoots a glare in Pinky’s direction.

“Aren’t you gonna introduce us?”

“No.”

Deku, by now, having grown, acquired a quirk, and dedicated years of his life to training and self-improvement, is no longer the shy, awkward kid he had been in childhood and his early teens. It feels almost too natural, sitting here, brushing shoulders with Kacchan, ears tickled by his spiky hair whenever they lean close as the car makes a turn. As he looks around at familiar strangers, he is struck with the thought that this was it. The thing he had longed for as a child. Sitting in the back of a limo with its own mini-bar, surrounded by pro-heroes. While his goal had never been the wealthy lifestyle, but he had always admired Kacchan’s drive for success. And here it is. Here they are.

“Hey, buddy!” Red Riot throws a friendly, albeit heavy arm around his shoulders, leaning in close, eyes squinted in happiness. He’s close enough for Deku to see the faint crinkles at the corner of his eyes. His entire being is bursting with vitality, an effusive warmth. This is a hero, he thinks to himself. “So how’d you and Bakugou meet?”

“Oh! We’ve actually known each other for quite awhile,” he says, continuing with the script they had decided on (the truth, in case someone ever tried to do a background check), “Something like childhood friends? We recently got back in touch and things…just kinda happened, haha.” Not strictly a lie, but by implication not truthful, either.

Doubt seeps in. When he glances over at Kacchan, his face looks impassive, if not mildly annoyed. Your everyday Kacchan.

Does he resent it? The plan? The goal? The endgame result that would tear all of this down, pull the career he’s worked to build down into the dirt?

“Hey, Midoriya, was it? I just wanted to say,” Red Riot’s conspiratory whisper isn’t very conspiratory. Kacchan’s eyes slide over to the right, clearly listening in, “Thanks for putting up with this guy. He won’t let us do anything about it if he can help it, but we worry sometimes, y’know? It’s nice to see him with someone else, so…take care of him, all right?”

Deku feels Kacchan’s shoulders tense as he looks away, feigning indifference.

If this plan goes through, if the entire thing goes through, this plan and the next, and the next, and the series of things they have planned and will have to plan in the future, Red Riot may be out of a job. Kacchan might be out of a job. A lot of people might be out of a job. The reigning market tied to heroes, civil service, the government, news, entertainment, marketing–everything will be overthrown into chaos. A necessary evil, he reminds himself, but the thought is grim.

When he became Kousagi he had lost something, too. He grew up with a love for heroes, too. In a lot of ways that’s what fuels him forward, drives him to fix the problem, to restore heroism to what he had believed it to be. It will hurt, tearing it all down, exposing the ugliness that hid behind the shining smiles of the brave. It will leave a scar. How could something like that not hurt?

But was it worth it?

“Midoriya?”

“Huh? Wha–yeah, yeah of course. Yes. I’ll make sure to watch out for him.” And after a moment of consideration, “You’re a good friend…Kirishima-san, was it?”

“No need to be so formal!” He laughs, giving him a good shake. “Dude, you’re solid. We should work out together sometime. I wanna know how you got these ,” he pumps his fist lightly against Deku’s bicep for emphasis.

“Yeah, yeah!” Pinky cheers, giving him a wink. “I bet ‘splodey-boy over here likes them at least as much as I do.”

“All right, that’s enough, all of you shut up and leave him alone.”

“Aw, look, see he cares!”

“Nah, he’s just embarrassed. Or jealous.”

“Yeah, you gotta watch out for that one, Midoriya. I hear possessive boyfriends can be a pain in the ass…but I guess that isn’t much different from his usual self, eh?”

"Fuck you," he says, swivelling towards Pinky, "and the rest of you idiots too."

Deku laughs. It’s easy. He doesn’t even need to fake it.

When they arrive, it’s all taken straight from the silver screen. Flashing lights, red carpet. Glinting teeth, sparkles, photoshopped perfection but in real life. When it’s their turn to step out, Deku hesitates, fingers gripping the posh leather upholstery of the dimmed car interior, eyes wandering out over the muted crowd waiting outside, faded by the tint of the windows.

“Are you sure about this?” Kacchan asked. “You’ll be right in the center of attention. And you’re not the number one most wanted vigilante for nothing, Deku.”

Kousagi made his reputation by striking fast and hard, right where it hurt. He didn’t operate in the limelight, he operated in the shadows of heroes, casted by the limelight.

“No better place to hide than in plain sight, right Kacchan?”

But this had to happen at some point. He could go on saving people, taking out the villains that were connected in the spindly, invisible web of influence, making a burden of himself upon the shadow masters of society; but to get to the heart of it all he had to brave the light of a sun powered by lies.

That’s what they’d agreed upon. That’s what he’d said. But was he ready? Right now? To stick his head into the lion’s mouth, wrap himself up in the snake’s tongue?

Kacchan turns back to look at him, and holds out his hand. Deku’s own feels weak as he lifts it.

Color, light, sounds. Life rushes back into him, through him, over him, flooding him; saturating his veins with sensation. He can smell the leather, hear the clamor of voices, the clicking of camera shutters. The warmth of Kacchan’s rough hands. Life, all of it--funneled through that single point of contact. He finds Kacchan’s gaze again, electrified, and not in the least, terrified.

And yet.

He exhales, steeling himself. Holds tight.

He’s ready. He has to be.

Mission start.

And he steps out into the line of fire.

Two minutes later, and Deku is not ready.

“Oh my God! You’re soooooo cute!” Uraraka Ochako, aka Uravity, is a beast. He’s held off a three pronged attack from both villains and multiple hero agencies simultaneously for less than that before, and gotten away unscathed. And yet, he’s been trying to escape Uravity’s clutches for the past five minutes with no success.

“Tell Katsuki to watch out, ‘cause I’m gonna steal you from right under his nose! How in the hell did he get so lucky?” She gasps dramatically. “Was he mean to you? Don’t worry, I’ll save youuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

He grips onto her back in panic as she throws her arms around him, trying his best to ignore the way her wandering hands squeeze at him appreciatively.

“Oh? What do we have here?”

Oh no, he thinks to himself as yet another well-known hero from Kacchan's class saunters up to him, twirling the earphone jacks that are her namesake around one finger. Are they all like this?

“Is this the unlucky dude we’ve all been hearing about?”

Just how many people did Kacchan pitch our story to??

He’d expected to be accosted by reporters. He’d been ready to evade questions, smile apologetically at a camera, to deny invasions to his and Kacchan’s privacy with modesty. He’d made flashcards.

Earphone Jack pats Uravity on the back and throws an arm around his shoulders, leaning close, her plugs lifting to tickle his ear, her voice dipped in the kind of easy camaraderie that reminded him of what made the most slippery of villains dangerous. He gulps.

And here it comes…

“So are you an asshole, too? Is that how it works? I bet you top. Do you top?”

...Wait, what?

“Izuku.” Deku is startled by Uravity’s suddenly serious tone. “Do you hate me?”

“…No…?”

“So you don’t want me to lose fifty bucks?”

“…I uh… Don’t quite understand the context of this…conversation…?”

“That lucky bastard, ” Earphone Jack huffs, “So you’re not an asshole and you top? What a princess.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!” What the hell is going on?

“Oh, you poor thing. It’s written all over your face.”

“And your booty,” Uravity pitches in, giggling. Deku flushes as her hands wander a bit further.

What does that even mean???

“Pay up, Uraraka. I told you.”

“That’s like, sooo unfair! Izukuuuuu I thought you said you liked me!”

Well technically, I just said I didn’t hate you…

But truth is, he did like her. Uravity did a lot of rescue work, and her agency was set close to a low-income neighborhood. She was friendly, genuine, and a hard worker. She came from a humble background and worked hard to make her way towards the top, proving her worth the entire way. Reminds me of someone else I know… He’d been pretty excited to meet her, really. He liked to think that if he’d gone to UA like Kacchan did, like he’d wanted to, they could’ve been friends.

“Ugh, does it matter anyway? Everyone knows Katsuki’s actually prude.”

Deku chokes.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You poor thing,” Earphone Jack says, smacking him hard on the back, “Do you feel obligated to defend his honor? Don’t worry, we all went to school with the bastard. That kind of already ruined the illusion. Now spill. I want to know everything. ”

“We’re uh, we’re pretty normal? Haha, no stories to tell. Nothing. Just. Just signi–uh. Boyfriends. Haha. Normal. Normal boyfriends. Yup.”

Both women turn to look at him at the same time. The effect is startlingly close to facing down a pack of hungry lions while armed with a broken toothpick.

Kacchan’s gonna kill me.

How the hell was he supposed to know that the details of their fake boyfriends cover story had to be planned down to their imaginary sex habits?

“Deku!”

“Gotta go, the boyfriend’s calling me! Have a nice night!”

“Deku, what’s going o–”

His heart’s a large-footed rabbit, thumping a frantic beat as it jumps in his chest.

What is going on? What the hell is he doing?

His hands are sweatier than Kacchan’s. Their faces are close, their chests brushing with each awkward sway.

“Getting away from your friends.”

Without thinking, he’d grabbed his hand and tugged them both onto the dance floor. He should be searching for their target, letting the camera and mike in his glasses capture their surroundings and the faces of the people around them, but he can’t look away from Kacchan’s chest, his jawline, the small hairs at his nape.

Damn him. Deku might have wound up beefier, but Kacchan had always been taller. He’s hyper-aware of the sweat on his scalp, of how his nose is a breath away from bumping Kacchan’s chin, of how Kacchan’s lips are just below eye-level. Of a haphazardly placed hand, resting barely-there on Kacchan’s narrow waist. Afraid to touch, to feel–a drop of water on a stovetop pan, dust on a pressure-sensitive bomb.

Damn him, he thinks again.

“They’re not my friends,” Kacchan retorts, a quick-fire rebuttal, and laughter squeezes its way up past his constricting ribs, his rebelling diaphragm, the unforgiving clamp of nervousness in his throat. Why was he laughing? That’s not that funny. It isn’t.

A quick two, three steps, and they’re beneath the glittering chandelier, turning slowly under layers of dappled, crystalline light.

“Sure they aren’t.”

“You know, one of these days I’m gonna get tired of your sass and drop your ass. What’re you gonna do then?”

“Oh, I don’t know…maybe ask for help from one of my other friends –oops, sorry, is that a sore point? Since you apparently don’t have any?”

“Dropping your ass. Right now. I’m gonna do it, I’m really gonna do it, any second now…”

“I’d like to see you try .”

All it takes is a light shove, and a misplaced foot. Kacchan topples, the hand on his shoulder tightening reflexively, and Deku swoops him down into an elegant dip. Footwork had been one of the foundations of his training (and Deku isn’t one to forget his training). He grunts a little, ( Shit, he’s heavy) and Kacchan elbows him hard, right in the gut–but Deku expected that, and flexes to compensate. He allows himself a small smirk.

“Bitch.”

“Who’s dropping whose ass?”

“ You’re an ass.”

“Why thank you, that’s truly an accomplishment, coming from you.”

When did they get so close?

He’s falling, falling, falling. Spiralling. When he places Kacchan back on his feet, their faces jerk closer, and he can’t help but tilt his face upwards a bit, chin lifting. His clothes are too tight, especially around the chest, did Kacchan buy the right fit? Everything is constricting, itchy, prickles racing up and down his arms, like when he’s readying for a fight; all of it a swirl of color around them even though he knows that they’ve barely moved, simply swaying from side to side. Is that sound his heart, or Kacchan’s? They’re so close.

Kacchan gulps, and Deku’s eyes flicker down to watch before flickering up again to observe. Kacchan tenses, just a little, and looks away. Something in him seizes, adrenaline rushing cold fire through his veins, no, no, don’t look away, stay here. He seizes the moment, tugs it back.

“How about we give them all a real show?”

“What?”

Deku glances to the side, where a small crowd has gathered, whispering and pointing. Pinky looks extra excited, gesticulating wildly, not even trying to be subtle in her attention towards the pair.

“Something to corroborate our story with.”

He’s already leaning in, in anticipation. If Kacchan just lowered his head, just a bit…

Kacchan glances down at him, brow smooth, eyes serious, an unusual calm and severity falling over him. Rocks in an ocean, the two of them, steadfast and rough amidst salty froth breaks; standing still in the middle of a ballroom dance floor. He shifts his hands to hold both of Deku’s shoulders. Anchors. They’re no longer moving.

“Okay.”

Okay.

His cheek is soft under his fingers. It surprises him, just a little, that anything about Bakugou Katsuki could be so soft. When they lean in close–is he imagining it? The way Kacchan’s eyelashes flutter just a bit, the way he meets his eyes and then looks away quickly, as though his attention were grabbed by something else. He wouldn’t have thought Bakugou Katsuki could be shy, either.

Deku parts his lips in anticipation. What will he taste like? Feel like? How did he always manage to stay one step ahead, stealing his breath before their lips can even touch?

Closer now.

Closer.

Closer…

He squeezes his eyes shut.

“I’m gonna spin you now.”

And snaps them open.

“What?”

Kacchan’s arms wrap around him in a faux embrace, lips by his ear. Swivel, stop. Pointing him in the right direction.

“The back corner, by the water dispenser. There he is. Our target. You see him?”

“Yeah,” Deku whispers, hushed, eyes bright and trained on the man in question, “Yeah, I see him.”

“Good. That’s where we’re headed.”

They pull back and look into each other’s eyes. Focused. Then they clasp hands and dance, slowly inching their way across the floor, weaving between people in time with the music, in one direction.

He allows himself a moment to mourn a missed opportunity, then focuses on the task at hand.

They have a job to do.

The CEO of MightyTV is portly, with sharp stubble like thick, purple rose thorns along the sides of his face and on his chin. His quirk is electronic multitasking–not flashy, but extremely useful. Deku is slightly jealous–with a quirk like that, who knows what he could have done.

“You would’ve still aimed for heroics, like an idiot, anyway.”

Shit. He really needs to cut down on the muttering habit–Kacchan’s right, it can pose a serious security risk at times.

“Yeah, you do. What the hell did you even do without me around to get you to shut up?”

I worked alone, mainly. Talking out loud helped a bit, though. Sometimes.

“Wait, I said that last part out loud too?”

“No, you didn’t, but you’re an idiot so it was easy to tell what you’re thinking.”

“You mean I’m logical. You just followed the logical train of thought to guess what I was thinking.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up, that’s still barely a baseline expectation for someone I’m partnering up with.”

“But I pass the rest of your expectations?”

“Don’t remind me of how far my standards have dropped.”

Deku rolls his eyes at that, to cover up the smile.

He lets go of Kacchan’s hand, leaving one arm around his waist as they walk towards the water dispenser, the casual motion belying the tension he feels inside.

You don’t need to write a script on what to say to them. Let them come to you. That’s how the paps work, Kacchan had said.

And sure enough, like clockwork, the young woman by the CEO’s side turns towards them as they part, eyes widening with recognition and then curiosity as she notices the placement of Deku’s arm.

“Ground Zero!” The CEO says, walking over. Kacchan grunts. There’s an awkward, tense pause.

Right. Ground Zero is notorious for his dislike of the press. That leaves it up to him then.

Lovely.

“Ah, hello,” Deku says with a small smile. “How are you?”

“Good, good,” the man says, smiling and running his fingers lightly over his thorned chin, “You’re a new face.”

Kacchan growls a little, “He’s with me. And we don’t like questions.”

...Why. Why is it that for Kacchan, remaining in character means being actively counter-productive?

“It’s okay, Kacchan,” ha, in your face, “ A few questions wouldn’t hurt, right?” He puts a soothing hand on his chest ( Kacchan bristles under his touch ) , a cheeky winner’s smile on his face.

Fuck you, Kacchan’s eyes read.

Now, now, pay attention, he sends back. Oh, well. He can deal with the backlash and complaints later.

“Not worth it. Babe.”

Deku chokes.

Babe? Really? Babe??

“You okay there, babe ?” Kacchan repeats, with emphasis and with almost no effort to conceal his delight at Deku’s reaction.

...He did not. Just.

Deep breaths. Don’t blow your cover. If you do he’ll never let you forget about it, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?

“Yes, I’m fine,” he swats at the (condescending) hand patting his back, “Stop that!”

“You sure, b–”

“You’re so sweet, Kacchan , but really, everything is perfectly fine. Just got something stuck in the back of my throat, is all.”

Kacchan reaches for a water cup. Deku stops him, and leans up to kiss Kacchan’s cheek. “Grab me a drink instead? From the bar?”

“Hurry,” he breathes, lips brushing Kacchan’s jaw.

They’re standing right by them now. Kacchan squeezes his elbow.

“Drink some water while you wait. I’ll be back soon. Don’t choke and die.”

Don’t choke, or I’ll kill you, is what he really means.

And then they let go, and Kacchan disappears into the crowd without another glance back.

You’re not a kid anymore, Deku reminds himself.

He’s gone undercover before. He knows what kind of smile to use to lower people’s guards, he knows he can do this. But watching Kacchan walk away from him, showing him his back, reminds him of middle school. Nervousness claws up his throat, social awkwardness weighing down on his tongue like sticky candy that’s too strong, staining the back of this throat. He’s thirteen again. Unpopular, uncool, and no one will listen to a word he says.

Now that Kacchan is gone, the pair only seems mildly interested in him. The small talk is polite and dry, meant for a courteous good-bye-see-you-later-it-was-nice-to-meet-you.

(It’s been awhile since Deku had been in an environment like this, where everyone assumed they were better than him.)

“So, what’s your quirk, if I may ask?”

Dully, he realizes he’s actually somewhat surprised. Not by the question, but the slight sting it still manages to deliver. He forces himself to relax, following the lines of their script.

“Ah, it’s nothing special. Attraction of objects, got it from my mother’s side of the family.”

“Ah, of the telekinetic kind?”

“Not quite. Mine works a bit differently. The attractive force is more…additive, than telekinetic. And it’s pretty weak, so it only works briefly on contact. The end result is basically unusually strong grip strength and the ability to hit things a little harder too, sometimes enough to counteract the inertia of an object, if I time it right.”

Complicated, dry, technical. Enough of an explanation to explain any mild displays of super strength, if he ever needs to use it in public as his civilian identity, but not interesting enough for people to take note of it. Especially not here, surrounded by the flashiest quirks of the industry. As long as he doesn’t go overboard with it, as long as he doesn’t push so far that Kousagi’s trademark lightning is shown in public alongside his civilian identity, he should be safe.

“Interesting,” it’s obvious he doesn’t actually think so, “How’d you meet Ground Zero?”

“We grew up together. Nothing special, really, just ran into each other again while visiting home and started talking again.”

“I see.”

The standard questions having been used up, the conversation trickles to a stop.

Get it together, Deku. Bring it back. Stay on track. Kacchan’s voice comes unbidden into his head.

But how does he capture their attention long enough to keep them here without engaging them so much they take special note of him?

The assistant’s fingers twitch towards her cellphone, or some other electronic distraction. She’s bored. Keep them occupied.

“Well, it was nice to mee–”

“I heard that you were going to do a new program, about quirk categorization and practical career applications! On your Tuesday 2pm talk show?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“I was wondering what your targeted audience is? It’s a topic that I think many people would be interested in. I can’t help but think the currently weekly schedule doesn’t give it an opportunity to reach its best audience.”

“Well, we wanted to test it out on a smaller scale, first, to see how it fares.”

You mean you’re afraid of the possible political backlash from the way the program seems to suggest that people should only pursue careers that suit their quirks, rather than their interests and personalities. An entire industry of specialized quirk accommodation gear would lose about 75% of their individualized commissions.

“And what do you think?” He turns towards the assistant, and she stiffens a bit, milky eyes studying his features. It’s a justifiable question, and one that hits a bit close to home. Something subtle that will hopefully snag her attention. The assistant in question has a quirk that interferes with electronics. She takes medication every three hours to balance out her body chemistry, just so she can touch a phone screen. Incidentally, she also lied about this on her job application.

“I think the program has an interesting line-up of guest speakers. Many people will like it.”

A neutral response, but a bit defensive in tone. Careful, careful.

“My quirk is pretty versatile in theory,” he continues, “But I don’t use it much for my current job.”

Not my current day-job, at least.

“Quirk-defined career paths also calls for a change in education, right? Segregation by quirk category?”

“I wouldn’t call it segregation,” the CEO quickly interjects, “It’s a practical approach that provides an accelerated route that would propel much of Japan’s youth towards success.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” Of course. “Some quirks would simply go to waste, if not utilized correctly. Society would benefit more if people followed careers that fit their strengths. And some people just don’t know how to choose correctly.”

The words are sour on his tongue.

I’m sorry, Izuku, his mother’s voice echoes in his head, still. I’m sorry.

The assistant keeps quiet, glancing down at her phone. Taps it, as though checking for a message. Is she bored? Or feigning disinterest in order to hide the relevance the topic at hand holds towards her own life?

“Like Ground Zero, for example,” the CEO continues, unaware. “What if he had decided he didn’t want to become a hero? Lives would have been lost, potential wasted. The future of the Japanese people lies in efficiency. Efficiency is best brought by the logical use of talent.”

And talent is inborn, just like quirks. If facts were simply ideas agreed upon by the majority, then this is a fact that Deku had been battling since he was four. He fights to keep his jaw from clenching.

Right around now, Kacchan should be ordering. Just a bit longer.

“Of course. Though… I may be a bit biased, but I think Kacchan would’ve been a great hero, no matter what quirk he got.”

It’s hard to keep the steel from his voice, to keep playing the part of nice, doting boyfriend. He’s treading on dangerous territory with that statement. But the assistant straightens a bit, looking up, milky unblinking eyes fixating upon him.

“You two must be very close.” She says, lightly. “Maybe you can convince him to stop by for a real interview? We’re dying to know more about him.”

She crosses her arms, phone angled to the side.

“You’d have to ask him about it. Or his manager, though frankly they have a lot on their plate already.” They all share a chuckle, and he flashes her a charming smile. Tie her down.

She straightens, pulling at her blazer, bringing her phone in front of her again as though she were about to get ready to jot something down.

“But you could put in a good word for us, right? Or perhaps…come in for an interview yourself? You seem to have some interesting thoughts.”

Another laugh. He hates the way his mind races with millions of different ways his words could be interpreted, thousands of different hypotheses on the thoughts the other two could be having. In this way, it really is a lot like middle school.

“That would be a very short interview. Kacchan’s where the story’s at, really, and don’t deny it.”

If Kacchan were here he could keep their attention without saying anything at all . But maybe he only believes that because Kacchan had always been able to demand attention without any effort from the start. From the very, very beginning.

“But you’ll consider it? What about a joint interview, talking about your relationship? We’ll even let you do most of the talking. Pre-recorded, not live.”

God, how did he do it? What was it? Was it the eyes? The stand-offish manner? The obvious confidence lining his frame, steeled in his shoulders? There had always been an inexplicable draw to Bakugou Katsuki. It’s woven in him, his bones steeped in it, saturated with it, brimming with barely contained light and ambition. It’s impossible to look away.

“I don’t know…Kacchan’s really stubborn. Really stubborn. But that’s what I,” stop, stop, stop. No. Not here, not now. Clears his throat.

(Or perhaps that fact had simply always been overwhelmingly evident, for him. Perhaps there is another reason why Deku had wound up as Kousagi, fleeing the light. It’s too bad that Kacchan, Kacchan and the sight of his back, had always been his center of gravity, an inimitable pull that is so natural it doesn’t even occur to him that it could be any other way, nevertheless that it might be possible he resist.)

“But that’s what I think makes him so charming,” he finishes. Their eyes stare at him, piercing him from behind a protective armor of benign curiosity.

What are they thinking? What do they know?

The assistant pulls out a notebook, “Perhaps we can pencil in a date for that interview?” The notebook must be a conversion memory pad, old-fashioned tech that converts handwriting to typed notes and automatically saves a back-up file in the cloud real time. Deku wonders if the CEO’s quirk extends even to nearly-obsolete electronics like these.

“Now you’re just putting me on the spot.”

“All in the job description, my friend.” She places the notebook back in her pocket, pulling out her phone, which has the same strange sheen on it. Like a layer of thin silk. The CEO glances over, and the screen brightens as she taps on it, settling into her hip as she leans towards him, as though responding to his gaze.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” the CEO says, with a short nod of acknowledgement. Abrupt. Annoyed.

“Wait!” He steps forward, closer, insistent, “Kacchan is getting us drinks. When he gets here, maybe we could talk about that interview? I think I can sway him. Cement the date. Write it in ink.”

“You’ll have to pass along our apologies for his trouble, but that is really not necessary.” Deku glances to the side, and spots familiar blonde hair making its way towards them.

Just a bit longer.

The assistant taps on her phone again, screen blinking.

“How about Friday afternoon?” Deku presses. Just a bit longer.

“I’ll look into it. You can contact my secretary, the info is on our website.”

Why the change? When they were so insistent on snagging that interview just a second ago?

The CEO walks closer to his assistant, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as though to lead her away. She glances down. The shiny film atop the phone screen ripples, as though responding to something. The CEO’s expression is blank, still, as though he were staring at something straight ahead but only a few inches from his nose.

Electronic multitasking. He can split his attention and absorb information from up to five different electronic sources and apply that information to separate mental tasks simultaneously.

The assistant shifts again, tugging at her sleeves. The phone screen, angled away from him, winks, screen flashing at him.

He pulls off the glasses, pretending to clean them on the corner of his shirt.

“Deku!” How much time do they have? He doesn’t know. Not enough. “Deku, c’mon,” he’s close enough to grab now, “Help me with these dri–”

And so he does. Snags his sleeve, tugs him towards him in what would look like an affectionate greeting, drinks wobbling, colorful liquid catching on the rim, ice cubes clinking--

(Footwork had been one of the foundations of his training. And Deku isn’t one to forget his training.)

--Slip one toe forward, wedge under shoe. Yank back. Tilt off balance, pinwheeling arms barely missing the assistant’s face; she steps back, startled, but steadies the phone, keeps it as still as possible, the crutch, the objective --

The drinks shattering on the ground, seeping into the front of his shirt. Kacchan’s hand fisted in his collar, eyes narrowed ( Kacchan has always been quick on the uptake), in them his own apprehension reflected back at him--

Pause.

Click. Click.

Click.

He’s balanced, just barely, on his heels. Kacchan’s hand in his shirt is the only thing preventing him from stumbling backwards. His outstretched hand still holds the glasses, positioned just so, so that the camera lens can catch a glimpse of the phone screen.

“Careful, dumbass.” And he’s tugged back onto his feet.

Play.

He whirls around, messily shoving his glasses back on his face, hands in front of him, palms up, frantic waving motions accentuating the edge of panic he puts in his voice.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Nothing spilled on your clothes, at least that I can see, I’m such a klutz, honestly, something like this always seems to happen whenever I take my glasses off, and now the drinks are gone too, I’m so sorry--”

“Deku, shut up. It’s fine.” Kacchan doesn’t even look at the other two. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

Fill me in.

Deku nods, itching to speak to him in private, and to get a closer look at the pictures he had just taken of the assistant’s phone.

If he’s right about this...well, then there will have to be a change in plans.

Kousagi leans back against the wall, taking deep, calming breaths.

bunbun 21:18

u ready?

boomboom 21:20

r u

bunbun 21:20

yea

bunbun 21:20 lmk if u need me to buy more time

boomboom 21:24

cant believe im letting u have all the fun

bunbun 21:24

just get it done kacchan

boomboom 21:24

ever think it might be better for the HERO to detain the villain?

bunbun 21:24

no longer replying to u

A hand shoots out, clamping down hard over the victim’s eyes, another snaking around to cover their mouth.

“Shhh.”

They open their mouth to scream, and that’s when he slips the pill inside.

He skirts around the building, lying low. All right, so maybe exchanging the notebooks for squeezing Kousagi’s costume underneath the suit was a good choice.

“Here’s how it’s gonna go. You make all the plans. I plan for when all your plans go to shit.”

Sometimes, he’s amazed when Kacchan is right. Other times he’s just annoyed. Begrudgingly, he has to admit, this time he’s pretty grateful.

I can’t believe I’m doing this, he thinks for the umpteenth time.

His victim whimpers, sound muffled by the duct tape, blindfolded and shaking in their chair.

“Okay. Here’s how it’s gonna go. I’m gonna take the tape off, and you’re gonna tell me everything you know about tonight’s attack and who else helped you plan it.”

He reaches forward and rips off the tape.

“Please,” they sob, “Please don’t kill me.”

He rolls his eyes.

Seriously. Can’t believe I’m doing this.

The clock hits twenty-five and the villain emerges from the shadows, skirting around the edge of the building. A morphological quirk with two parts--for the visible part,unusually large shoulders and unusually long arms and unusually big hands. Unusually heavy and dense muscle mass, for the watch-out-that-might-actually-really-fuckin’-hurt part.

Deku figures this job must be this one’s last run. Said “villain” (commissioned performer? Career hero-fighter?) has already made two comebacks after brief stints in jail, both sentences unusually light. The first time, the papers described him as having a morphological quirk that granted him “clubbed hands”. The second time, he used cheap metal coverings, making it possible to describe it as “specialized metal manipulation”. Third, “select body enlargement”. He wonders how they would describe it this time, or if they would settle for referring back to one of the first three stories they’d cooked up. Just another villain that was let back into society only to proceed with wreaking havoc yet again.

The guy looks around furtively before darting across the corner of the open lot.

Almost there.

He curses, fiddling with the headphones.

All right. So maybe Deku was right about needing better recording equipment. Audio cleaning sucks. He doesn’t have time right now, though, anyway, so what they have will just have to do.

Below, the crowd slowly starts to congregate towards the small stage set at one end of the room. The speaker clears his throat and taps the mike.

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we celebrate a year of hardships, and a year of accomplishments. We look back on what has happened, review our successes, and learn from our mistakes.”

Staged. Faked. Shadow plays, strangling puppets with shadow strings. Come one, come all, to see the shitshow. Ticket prices start at voluntary incarceration, the corruption of justice, collective ignorance and one, big web of lies.

Kousagi gets ready for his cue, pulling his mask down over his face. One last glance at his lock screen, a silent text notification illuminating it briefly before it fades.

“C’mon, c’mon,” he grits his teeth so hard he’s sure they’re sparking. “God damn it!”

Slams a fist down onto the table. Looks around the room. In the corner, there is what looks like a metal cabinet. He swings the door open to find rows of switches.

Main. Overhead. Spotlight, the labels read.

All right, he grouses, all right, fine. I can work with this.

boomboom 21:26

u better make this worth my time, deku

“I come to you today, amidst all of the festivities, with a gift. A pledge. Something to end an era, and to spark a new one in its ashes. What I’m proposing, esteemed guests, is a world where villainy can be measured. Quantified. Eliminated. What I’m proposing, is peace. Just imagine it, folks! Pre-emptive action. The ability to right wrongs before they can be done.”

The crowd stirs, the murmuring like a fast-moving infection sweeping over them.

The man’s eyes are wide, the whites glistening with muted flashes of flickering, electric green. The forearm digging into his throat presses in harder. The wall shudders with the force of his flailing arms, struggling to buck off his captor.

“Be quiet,” he hisses, “and maybe I’ll let you go.”

Yeah, for like two seconds. Still. It’s the thought that counts, right?

“This isn’t just improvement. This isn’t just ideal. This is natural. There are things in this world that we’ve allowed to be just because they are. We’ve allowed it to grow alongside us, thrive alongside us, even as it threatens our livelihood. I’m not talking about education reform. I’m not talking about rehabilitation programs, or strategic population relocation. No, the problem goes further than that. I’m talking about rewriting humanity’s future. With this new project, the brightest of today’s scientific minds have brought us a solution that would allow us to have a hand in humanity’s evolution. Ladies and gentlemen–”

He’s cut off, and the room goes dark.

There’s a slight crackle, a static-y hiss, and a voice floods in over the intercom.

He backs off a little, stretching the bit of carbon-reinforced rope between his hands. The other sucks in a deep breath, and prepares to dash to the right.

“You sure about that, buddy? You wanna try me?”

But he doesn’t listen, throwing a hasty punch and dashing towards escape.

Kousagi sighs.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“–planned the attack, villain fights are actually the best source of publicity–”

“But what about the risk? The casualties?”

“Inconsequential. Or rather, beneficial. Martyrs sell headlines.”

“The projection booth! They have to be there! Stop the recording!”

The rope snags his ankle and he pulls back, hard enough to knock him off-balance. The clumsiness of his large arms make it so that regaining his balance takes just a second too long. Kousagi leaps forward, looping the rope around his wrists and tucking it back through the loose circle, jerking to bring them together before he can react.

“Okay, we’re up next,” he says, addressing the squirming bundle lying at his feet as he continues to bind him. “I hope you’re ready.”

“Why? Why all the fuss?”

The crowd begins to wake, people pushing at each other and trying to feel their way through the dark with only the light of their phones to guide them.

“What’s this about?” Someone calls out. “Is this real?”

“They need something to pressure the board of ethics into letting the project through.”

“It’s not real! It’s just another villain attack! Don’t listen to it.”

“You do realize that what you’re proposing is essentially genocide, right?”

“What the fu--”

“IT’S FAKE!”

“It’s not genocide if it’s just speeding along what would’ve happened anyway.”

“--Everybody, please remain calm. The heroes are already trying to address this matter--”

“What do you mean?”

“--We are trained professionals, please do not worry--”

“We’re eliminating the unnecessary, the unfit. Evolution, but streamlined.”

A loud crash, drywall and brick flying into the room as Kousagi bursts in, blowing a hole straight through the wall. He’s carrying the villain like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. He’s a streak of fluorescent green, landing in the middle of the stage. The spotlight turns on, right above him, and he’s at the center of attention.

Nice, he thinks, before tossing the villain to the ground and looking out over the crowd.

“Merry Christmas, heroes.”

There are small points of light visible in the darkness of the room, faint green and red dots. That’s what happens, when the press is present, no matter the chaos, no matter the event.

Perfect. The cameras are out and rolling.

“I only have so much time before one of you decides to attack me. But first, let me just say this--to all of you that act out of personal interest and turn a blind eye on the good of the public--I’m onto you. To all of you that arrogantly believe that the entirety of a person’s worth is a consequence of birth--I’m onto you. When you decide to take the easy route, when you decide to underestimate the very people you fear, don’t forget. Never, ever forget--there is always someone watching.”

This is it. This is the declaration of war.

“Remember: for I am here. ”

That’s your cue, Kacchan.

“KOUSAGI!”

He vaults himself overhead, explosions blinding, like mini fireworks in the darkened room.

“I’ve got a score to settle with you, fucker!”

Keep it simple, Kacchan had said, over-detailed plans lead to more mistakes.

So he’d kept their plan simple.

Intercept the villain. Capture the villain. Cause a scene.

But it’s never really that simple. He can see it in his eyes, in the unbridled joy and excitement, in the way he can feel his own rising in his chest.

Ground Zero intercepts Kousagi but Kousagi gets away.

Deceptively simple, if they were anyone other than Midoriya “Deku” Izuku and Bakugou “Kacchan” Katsuki.

Kacchan never loses, except when he’s handed the win. And if there’s only one thing that can said to be true, it’s that Bakugou Katsuki fights for victory.

That means this fight is for real, and the only way for this plan to succeed is to beat him fair and square.

...Without getting captured, or putting his identity at risk.

“You better make this worth my time, Deku.”

...While they’re in a room filled with other top-ranked heroes.

What the hell, Kousagi thinks to himself . Then he’s dashing forward, aiming below Ground Zero’s guard.

“Miss me?” A small wave of hot air blows past his face, the aftermath of a concentrated explosion.

“Yeah, definitely a miss. Maybe you should--”

Duck. Swipe with left foot.

“--’ve waited for your eyes to adjust?”

“Why is it that you always seem to,” Ground Zero drops into a half-crouch, digging his toes in, immovable against the shoulder ram and defending against the uppercut aimed at his ribs, “want to talk so damn much?” He grunts a little, annoyed when Kousagi ducks out of what would’ve been a headlock.

Right jab, followed by right kick. Blocked and grabbed, dodged.

He rears back. Smashes his forehead into his nose, once. Ground Zero howls, blinking rapidly against the pain, blood gushing and dripping over the bottom half of his face, but doesn’t let go.

Twice.

Thrice.

He kicks at his shin, pummeling his gut with the other fist, then rips himself free.

“What a shame,” his voice drops into a secret, just between the two of them. “You have such a pretty face.”

Even while disoriented, Ground Zero has the reflexes to dodge the kick aimed at his face. The miss throws Kousagi off balance, but the momentum from the movement is repurposed, added into his wind-up. Then he’s twisting, digging his feet into the ground, and shooting off to escape.

“I HAVE A BOYFRIEND!” Ground Zero screams in response, voice gone slightly nasally, before taking off after him.

Kousagi has the gall to laugh.

“GET BACK HERE, DEKU!”

“Shhh, not so loud!”

They’re far enough away now, lucky in that both of them having versatile quirks suited for mobility. But still, they don’t have much time. He nearly rips a hole through his shirt, trying to stick his arm through the sleeve. Kacchan tugs on his belt loops to pull his pants up as he hops up and down while trying to work the shirt buttons through their respective holes.

“Shoes, shoes, where are my shoes?”

“I don’t know, where’d you put them?”

“By the bins--and hide my equipment belt while you’re at it!”

Pants on. Shirt buttoned. Vest on. Jacket on. Cufflinks on. That just leaves--

“Deku, what the fuck is that?”

“Just--help me!”

“You are a grown man, how the fuck do you manage to fuck up your tie this badly?”

He tugs roughly at the cloth, only succeeding in tightening the tangled knot.

“Shit, shit, shit, Kacchan the glasses! I think I dropped them, I forgot!”

“Where?”

“I don’t know?”

“You fucking idiot! ”

There are voices calling out now, just around the corner. Kacchan grabs him and tugs him roughly down the hall, trying to stall, trying to run.

“Kacchan, there’s no time. You need to go, now, so they don’t suspect you too.”

They had been so close . So close to pulling this off.

“Shut up, Deku.”

At the very least, he can’t drag Kacchan down with him.

“I said, shut up.”

And then the taste of iron is in his mouth. Deku freezes, teeth aching from the force of the mouth pressed against his.

Oh yeah, he thinks, hazily, as he registers the taste as blood, I broke his nose.

“Bakugou? Bakug--oh.”

Kirishima is the first to find them, probably one of a small group of heroes sent after them while the rest stayed behind to keep the civilians who had attended the party safe. He skids to a stop at the end of the hallway, gaping at the two of them as they remain liplocked, just far enough to miss their exchange.

Kacchan pulls away, chest heaving against his, arm resting on the wall by his head to successfully shield him, his horrendous tie, and his lack of glasses from view. Deku stares back up at him, wide-eyed. And then Kacchan blushes.

“It was the only thing I could think of.”

“...So Ground Zero’s official reason for not staying in pursuit of Kousagi is that he wanted to make out with his boyfriend?”

“...Shut up.”

Deku lets out an incredulous laugh, as Kacchan stares. Kirishima approaches them cautiously, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Dude, what happened? Where’s Kousagi?”

Kacchan growls, baring his teeth.

“He--”

Deku fists the front of his shirt pushes, flipping their positions before mashing his lips against Kacchan’s, this time in the lead.

We’re busy, is the clear message being sent here.

“...Okay, well the others have spread out searching...I guess you can turn in your report...later? Dude,” he repeats, sounding suspicious, cautious. “Dude this isn’t like you.”

Kacchan has to wrench his mouth free before turning to sneer at him. The ugly sneer, the one he uses when he’s annoyed, or panicked, or when he has something to hide.

Or, really it should be ugly. Except it isn’t, because his nose wrinkles a little when he does that, and honestly, it’s actually kind of cute.

There’s a moment of silence, and they both turn to stare at him.

Oh. Oops. Did he say that out loud?

Kirishima’s face twitches weirdly, before he wheezes, laughing.

“Oh-oh my God… Okay, I guess I can rule out ‘didn’t realize he was dating his rival’ from my list of reasons for why you decided not to chase Kousagi to hell and back, then?”

Kacchan glares at him, then looks away in what looks like shame, but is actually an attempt to hide an embarrassed scowl.

“There--there was. A hostage. Situation. I...let him go.” He says, quiet. He curls tighter around him, the muscles in his arms tensing.

Deku pretends to relax, nuzzling his neck. Like two lovers reunited, clasped in an emotional embrace. Except for the fact that he’s actually trying to hide his snicker at Kacchan’s struggle to mask the irritation he feels at having to pretend he’d let a target go. (And for the fact that he isn’t really relaxed all.)

(Inside, his heart thumps a fast, hard beat.)

“...Oh. Okay.” Kirishima’s voice is grave, but steady. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with the press. You two can...continue reassuring each other.” He backs away, slowly.

“I’m glad to see you two are okay, though.”

Kacchan responds with a stiff nod of acknowledgement, and Deku peeks over his shoulder to offer a shaky smile.

“Don’t take too long,” he calls out, already beginning to jog away, “You’re gonna have to face the rest of them in a few minutes. I’ll help stall, though.” And then he’s gone.

...Now where were we?

“Are you sure,” Deku turns back around, whispering tauntingly into the hollow of Kacchan’s neck, “that that’s the reason? Maybe Ground Zero’s boyfriend stopped him from chasing after Kousagi because he was worried.”

Inhale. The scent of nitroglycerin, smoke. A splash of cologne, still lingering.

“Maybe Ground Zero just couldn’t resist.” His fingertips trail, up and down, lightly, along Kacchan’s side. Itchy.

Way to go, Deku. Fake dating cover succeeded, mission cleared. And now you decide to flirt with him? He’s right, you’re a fucking idiot.

Kacchan’s hand slips around his waist, gripping him tightly. His other hand wanders up the back of his neck, into his hair.

Oh, he thinks, feeling faint.

“Yeah,” Kacchan responds.

And this time, they meet each other halfway.

#clod not lefting but #bakudeku secret santa 2017 #fanfic #bakudeku #bnha #vigilante!deku #fake dating

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accio-spaceman · 6 years

Text

OTP Questions!

I was inspired by this list from @otp-imagines-cult

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?

Emmett spends all his money on Alicia, despite her protests that she doesn’t need expensive jewellery and paints every time they go into town.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap?

On the rare occasion that The Doctor sleeps, it’s curled up with his head in Donna’s lap while she strokes his hair with one hand, and balances a book in the other.

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes?

Peter wonders around half (or fully) naked and Nellie yells at him to at least close the curtains.

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway?

Donna wouldn’t buy any of The Doctor’s lies about him not needing to sleep, and forces him to spend at least half an hour cuddled up in bed every morning.

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?

Alec tries to bake some of those fancy French things that Sarah likes as a surprise, but accidentally rolls them out too thin, so Sarah whips them both up some madeleines instead.

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”?

The Doctor gets easily excited at the slightest similarity, but Donna finds it harder to see how “A accidentally gets turned pocket-sized and lives in B’s pocket for a while” at all resembles their perfectly human/Time Lord sized relationship.

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?

Benedick often finds his t-shirts and jumpers have mysteriously found their way into Beatrice’s draw after she sorts their laundry, especially when he’s been away on duty.

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?”

Donna insists on doing the food shopping at a twenty-first century human supermarket, despite The Doctor’s protests that “Martian milk” really is safe to drink. The Doctor always pretends to be grumpy about it, but still gets very excited when she remembers to bring him back a bunch of bananas.

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions?

Peter and Nellie take in turns, and are equally terrible at both.

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws?

Alicia eventually persuades Emmett to sit for her with bribes of a takeaway afterwards.

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips?

The Doctor does the backflips while Donna stands watching, eating a bag of crisps. She waits until he’s through the other side until she pushes the button on the wall next to her to turn the lasers off and strolls up to join him.

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking?

Nellie stops Peter drinking by swapping his beer with frothy apple juice.

13: Which one likes to surprise the other with a lot of small random gifts?

Benedick always brings back a trinket or two for Beatrice, and despite her protests, she loves that he puts so much thought into each thing, no matter how small, while he’s away from her.

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own?

One day Donna notices that at some point The Doctor’s alias morphed from “John Smith” to “Dr. Noble”, and she can’t quite remember when, or why she’s stopped bickering with him about it.

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside?

Chris screams and Dorothy calmly removes it while he grabs for his inhaler.

16: Which one gives the other their jacket?

I think all the gentlemen would lend their lady their jacket at some point, and Beatrice would lend Benedick hers for every fancy dress party.

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling?

I think Peter and Chris would be threatened by their own brother about taking good care of the girlfriends that Alec already regards as his sisters. I also love the image of Hero giving Benedick a stern warning just before the wedding. He returns the favour by keeping Claudio in line too.

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other?

Alec is pleasantly shocked when one day, out of the blue, Sarah introduces him as her boyfriend, leading to her blushing and stammering as she realises what she just said while Alec just grins at her like an idiot.

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting?

The Doctor would indulge their children at every opportunity, giving them endless bananas and jelly babies, and only ever raising his voice when they were in danger. Donna would worry herself sick over them and constantly fight herself to not wrap them up in cotton wool. But together they’d make a wonderful parenting team.

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?

Theresa is always texting in a shorthand that Roderick has to practically have a dictionary to decipher before replying in his usual formal way.

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?

Donna is used to brushing off all sorts of comments and can handle herself just fine, but has recently found herself having to hold The Doctor back – sometimes physically – if anyone (especially Sylvia) even breathes the wrong way around his Donna.

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun?

Despite his famed wit, Benedick can never resist the stupid jokes either, much to Beatrice amusement frustration.

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy?

I’m not sure about a puppy, but I could well believe that Alicia surprised Emmett by getting Pocket.

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired?

I can’t see it being a piggyback ride, but Alec has definitely carried Sarah up to bed bridal-style more than once after she’s fallen asleep on the sofa.

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering?

Theresa has never understood why the other audience members aren’t as animated in their applause as she is after one of Roderick’s concerts. Nellie, on the other hand, often stands out for not applauding as she smirks from behind the curtains in the wings watching Peter playing up to the crowds after a performance.

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder?

Sarah’s sleepy DI cuddles up to her on the sofa or on the train or bus back from a fun day out, but insists he was only “resting his eyes”. That is, until Sarah mentions how cute it was.

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked?

Donna would probably attempt to give The Doctor a makeover even if he doesn’t ask, insisting that his suit must need washing at some point.

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of?

Emmett isn’t fond of Pocket, but being a proud DI would never admit to being scared exactly. But he does jump every single time that Pocket appears out of nowhere or hisses slightly.

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains?

Roderick would be careful not to let Theresa get a single drop on her that might mark her glasses or her precious files.

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures?

The Doctor would eventually manage to convince the TARDIS to take them to a beach, where Donna would spend a glorious few days laid out in the sun, sipping at cocktails, until The Doctor accidentally-on-purpose exposes something illegal going on behind the scenes of the hotel and they have to beat a hasty retreat.

#otp-imagines-cult #otps #tatennant #ten/donna #beatrice/benedick #sarah/alec #emmett/alicia #theresa/roderick #chris/doe #becca writes #sort of #becca does a meme #becca speaks #headcanons

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deadcactuswalking · 5 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 20th October 2019

Top 10

For the third consecutive week, and honestly to my surprise, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I is at #1. While this is underwhelming usually for me in the first place since I find this song only okay, I expected another song to take that spot this week, but we’ll talk about that after this first song and its runner-up.

“Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean is up a singular spot from last week to the number-two spot.

Now for the song that I expected to debut at #1, which debuted at number-three this week: “Lights Up” by Harry Styles. It seemingly unperformed in the US too so far, debuting at only #17, but time will tell if this gradually becomes a smash or not, and I predict it very much could be. Regardless, it’s Styles’ second UK Top 40 hit and his second UK Top 10, his first since “Sign of the Times” peaked at #1 in 2017. None of the eight other charting singles from the debut album were able to make the top 40, which is surprising to me, so maybe I overestimate the former One Direction member’s star power.

At number-four, we have “Circles” by Post Malone up a single spot.

Interestingly, Travis Scott’s “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” dropped less here than it did on the Hot 100, probably because of how radio is disregarded entirely in the UK singles chart, and Travis is just picking up radio in the US. It is still down though, and despite monstrous streaming, I have qualms about the longevity of this one, down three spaces this week to number-five.

Dermot Kennedy rides his newfound success with “Outnumbered”, which is starting to grow on me, up two spots to number-six.

The biggest story this week other than the new arrivals is probably the massive 17-space increase for “South of the Border” by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B up to number-seven. Often, we’ll see a drop larger than this, but a one-week increase being this large is seldom-seen, especially recently. Hence, the pretty awful song in my opinion becomes Sheeran’s 26th Top 10 hit in the UK, as well as Cabello’s fifth and Cardi’s fourth. Not all of the songs in the top 10 are going to be ones I tolerate, I accepted that a long time ago.

I don’t like this next song at number-eight either, however I am happy for the artist(s) behind it as I’m just glad they’re getting a lot of success, I’ve been rooting for the lead act especially, but “Be Honest” by Jorja Smith and Burna Boy is up three spots to number-eight, becoming Smith’s first ever Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, which was a massive shock to me initially, actually. It’s Burna Boy’s second after his success with Dave’s “Location”, but he’s yet to get a solo hit to his name.

Another new top 10 hit I’m not that excited about is “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi, up seven positions to number-nine and becoming Capaldi’s fourth top 10 on the UK Singles Chart thanks to an orchestral remix, I think? I don’t care, frankly, because it’s a pretty rubbish song.

Also entering the top 10 for the first time after a few weeks on the chart up three spots to #10 is “Post Malone” by Sam Feldt featuring RANI, becoming Feldt’s second UK Top 10 and RAMI’s first. This also marks the first time maybe ever that there are two artists in the UK Singles Chart’s top 10 that do not have a Wikipedia page, those being RANI and Regard. I can’t tell if that’s impressive or kind of sad.

Edit: Nevermind, RANI has a page now.

Climbers

We have a couple solid climbers in the top half of the chart, but a disproportionately large amount of fallers to counter them. We’ll tackle those later, but the climbers include “Buss Down” by Aitch featuring ZieZie up nine spaces to #11, right next to “Professor X” by Dave from the Top Boy soundtrack up six spots to #12, as well as “God is a Dancer” by Mabel and Tiesto entering the top 20 for the first time up a shocking 22 spots to #15, nearby “Turn Me On” by Riton, Oliver Heldens and Vula also entering the top 20 for the first time up seven positions to #16 and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi rebounding up five spots to #18. “Good as Hell” by Lizzo is up six to #22, but after that, it’s just fallers from now on.

Fallers

The quantity of these downfalls is almost ridiculous and they’re nearly all massive hits completely collapsing this week, due to streaming cuts, which could finally kick the Winter chart season into full gear, which of course is incredibly exciting. Let’s list them in reverse order (from #40 to the earliest drop), starting with “RAN$OM” by Lil Tecca and its remix featuring Juice WRLD down 26 to #40, “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith down 27 to #39, “Strike a Pose” by Young T & Bugsey and Aitch down 28 to #38, “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike down 23 to #32, “Playing Games” by Summer Walker featuring an extended version with Bryson Tiller down five off of the debut to #30, “Ladbroke Grove” by AJ Tracey down 22 to #26, “Sorry” by Joel Corry featuring uncredited vocals from Hayley May down 18 to #25, “Higher Love” by Kygo and Whitney Houston down 17 to #23 and finally, “Liar” by Camila Cabello down seven to #21. It’s hard to tell if any of this is a net positive however, as while some of these songs are downright garbage like “RAN$OM” and “Playing Games”, or lousy like “Liar”, a lot of them are at least serviceable (“Higher Love” and “Sorry”), with a handful of them, including “Strike a Pose”, “Ladbroke Grove” and “3 Nights” actually being pretty great, but we’ll see what Winter has for us in terms of the pop charts in the coming weeks as it seems right now, we’re obliterating the Autumn and Summer hits completely.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

Whilst there aren’t any returning entries, there are a few drop-outs including “Panini” by Lil Nas X featuring a remix with DaBaby out from #22, as well as premature fall-offs for “Playing for Keeps” by D-Block Europe featuring Dave from #37, “Harder” by Jax Jones featuring Bebe Rexha from #39 and “Wiley Flow” by Stormzy – seriously, really worried about that album cycle, even with “Vossi Bop” being so massive and probably the biggest or second-biggest British hit of the year. Now I guess it’s time to review the new arrivals for this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#33 – “Lose Control” – MEDUZA, Becky Hill and Goodboys

Produced by MEDUZA – Peaked at #31 in Ireland

Finally, Italian EDM duo MEDUZA are back with another single after their breakout single hit the charts hard, this one being yet another collaboration with British band Goodboys, similar to “Piece of Your Heart” which had peaked at #2 just earlier this year, meaning this is both acts’ second UK Top 40 hit, yet this time they’ve recruited singer Becky Hill (This being her eighth UK Top 40 hit), recently riding off her success “Wish You Well” with Sigala, kind of a career revival for Hill. Is the end product of this seemingly pretty fitting collaboration any good? Well, it’s a pretty slow starter, and I can’t help but think it’s a pretty cheap production job with dated, flat synths surrounded by scurrying hi-hats and... wow, that drop sounds exactly like “Piece of Your Heart”. I don’t know enough about vocals to say if that’s the same vocal melody exactly, but God it sounds like it, and it’s also performed by Goodboys, meaning it’s so blatantly a lazy move. The song itself is okay and once it gets going, it’s just a pretty generic, typical house-pop single that doesn’t bring anything fresh or even catchy like MEDUZA and Goodboys’ debut single did. There isn’t even really a proper build-up to be honest, the drop just kind of... happens. Not a fan of this, especially towards the end where it gets a bit maddening of a loop and the mixing doesn’t exactly make the chaos feel dynamic, but I can see its appeal. Next.

#19 – “Memories” – Maroon 5

Produced by Adam Levine and the Monsters and the Strangerz – Peaked at #3 in Australia and Singapore, and #12 in the US

Now, don’t get me wrong: I usually tolerate and appreciate Maroon 5 a lot more than most, but this single is boring as sin and so stripped of any remarkable features it feels like it’s beyond my criticism. Hence, let’s talk about some other songs in the top 75 that missed the mark for the UK Top 40 that are probably a lot more interesting.

First, we have “F.N.” by Lil Tjay at #69. That’s not really a bad song, but I don’t think I enjoy Tjay’s brand of painful, nasal Auto-Tune despite pretty good harmonies and that beat is still so generic and uninteresting to me. The content isn’t exactly atypical but I do like the subtle pitch-shifted vocal sample, although that intro is... confusing? I think that’s the best way to put it. The sub-bass here is killer though, by the way.

I haven’t listened to that Mark Ronson record yet because lol who cares, but “Don’t Leave Me Lonely” at #66 really lets guest artist YEBBA shine as her soulful, unique vocals sound bluesy over a pretty optimistic, vaguely tropical instrumental that I’m convinced was given to the wrong song. It sounds pretty jarring until the anthemic strings come in and it ends up just sounding like a pretty standard pop song with an above-average vocalist who deserves better. Eh.

“Sun Queen” by Gerry Cinnamon is actually a pretty cute almost country folk rock song, with a pretty jaunty guitar line I really enjoy, and some gruff vocals from Gerry that fits the alt-rock aesthetic perfectly. Not only that, but it’s pretty catchy albeit the songwriting being pretty awkward, especially in the chorus, and the mixing does feel a bit too generous towards the guitars, to say the least. That post-chorus is pretty disconnected from the rest of the song too. Otherwise, it just seems pretty decent and I appreciate the... James Dean reference, I guess? I have no idea how this charted at #64 though.

There’s a returning entry at #42 from our lads over at D-Block Europe and as you’d expect, it’s pretty awful. Over a boring guitar beat, Young Adz vocally riffs drenched in cheap Auto-Tune and reverb, with some oddly central mixing, although he has a couple funny lines and the beat isn’t that bad, just pretty dull. Dirtbike LB exists, and why the HELL is this five minutes? The chorus is so unnecessarily long for no reason.

“Memories” by Maroon 5 is not a bad pop ballad by any means, it just feels like a waste of talent, especially since it’s basically just Adam Levine singing a pretty sweet catchy pop song against keys that share their Caribbean cadence with Levine. The build-up to the non-existent drop is... unique in a way, especially with the sound effects, choir and that pretty smooth-sounding bass, and Levine’s vocalising doesn’t sound awful, especially when he’s subdued like this. The outro sounds pretty cool as well, but it’s so unremarkable I don’t feel the need to talk about it... at all, really.

#17 – “47” – Sidhu Moose Wala, MIST and Steel Banglez featuring Stefflon Don

Produced by Steel Banglez

Okay, so I feel this needs a bit of explanation. Sidhu Moose Wala is a Punjabi singer most closely associated with cinema soundtracks for Bollywood films as well as being a co-writer for a couple of related Indian singers such as “Ninja”. I know nothing about Punjabi cinema so forgive my ignorance, but we should know the other three a lot better. MIST and Stefflon Don are both British trap-rappers, the second of which a female recognised by the XXL Freshman List in 2018, the first of which is incredibly uninteresting and almost exhaustingly characterless. Steel Banglez is the producer behind many hit Afroswing-influenced hip hop out of London. I am surprised it debuted this high, though, since Walla isn’t exactly a superstar outside of India, and the three hip-hop artists are far from the biggest from the UK. Regardless, It’s MIST’s third UK Top 40 hit (I think), Steel Banglez’s third UK Top 40 hit as well, Stefflon Don’s fourth and Sidhu Moose Walla’s first ever (Congratulations), and it features all of these artists engaging in some pretty fun, cinematic trap heavily sampling and interpolating from Italian classical music, and Wala doesn’t sound bad here at all, but even if the sample knocks hard with the 808s and rattling hi-hat triplets, I can’t lie and say Wala doesn’t sound slightly awkward. MIST on the other hand is pretty natural, although he doesn’t say anything of interest. There’s a pretty sweet keyboard riff that comes up during MIST’s verse, which returns during Stefflon Don’s as well, although she does a much better job at riding the beat in a way that’s actually commanding and powerful. This song overall leaves me feeling there’s a lot of wasted potential with that fantastic sample, and definitely one of Steel Banglez’s best ever beats (Trust me, I’ve heard a lot of this man’s instrumentals), as both performances that aren’t Wala are somewhat disappointing and to be honest, surprisingly unremarkable. Speaking of which...

#3 – “Lights Up” – Harry Styles

Produced by Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon

I had no idea about what to expect from a Harry Styles sophomore album, I really don’t, although I did genuinely like a lot of the soft-rock and folksier angles he took to his own brand of pop music he had written for him for years in the form of One Direction, which in hindsight were probably the most inoffensive boy band I can think of off the top of my head. “Sign of the Times” is still an absolutely killer power ballad, so I had high hopes and I was surprised by the shift in sound, with a lot more focus on the pretty synths around a familiar guitar line... before it’s abruptly interrupted by a bass-heavy danceable indie pop sound that is a lot more typical of the genre nowadays. Harry Styles here has a vocal performance that feels somewhat flat, but I adore the vocoder harmonies in the chorus and pre-chorus, especially the “da-da-da-da” vocalising, that sounds fantastic. The chorus isn’t as anthemic as it intends though, mostly because of how the choir of both a choir and Harry Styles sounds pretty compressed and ugly, so it doesn’t get that rich sound that it’s going for, and I feel like that’s a missed opportunity. Also, this song is unstructured and messy as all hell, not even reaching three minutes yet feeling like a complete trainwreck throughout. Yeah, this is bad, but in an annoyingly subtle way. I don’t expect this to make my worst list, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Conclusion

Okay, I’m going to finish this really quickly, so Harry Styles gets Worst of the Week for the disappointing “Lights Up” and Best of the Week is... well... okay, so nothing here is actually good, so let’s cheat and give MEDUZA, Becky Hill and Goodboys a Dishonourable Mention for “Lose Control”. I’m going to listen to the new Kanye album, see you next week – or sooner!

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ikon-global · 7 years

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[trans] K-BOY Paradise vol.20 (161125) - part 2: group interview (1/2)

[intro & survey | group interview 1 2 solo interviews bobby b.i donghyuk yunhyeong chanwoo jinhwan junhoe | crosstalks b.i x bobby donghyuk x b.i yunhyeong x donghyuk chanwoo x yunhyeong chanwoo x jinhwan" junhoe x jinhwan junhoe x bobby | bts] “While looking out at the fans I felt that we were really lucky” (Junhoe) Congratulations on the release of your Japanese single, DUMB & DUMBER! To begin, please tell us the good things about the four songs in the single. B.I: “DUMB & DUMBER” is an upbeat song with a strong sound that will really pump you up. The main point in the MV is us having fun and going nuts. Junhoe: I think it’s our most iKON-esque song. There’s a kind of us messing around, funny feel to it, and rather than trying to be cool, it has more of us being our regular selves. And when we perform it, we make weird faces or go crazy…… Anyway, it’s filled with our youth. B.I: And then with a completely different feel from “DUMB & DUMBER,” “#WYD” is a sweet song. We sing about the thrills of a heart in love. Chanwoo: With this song we’re showing everyone a sweet, innocent side to us that we haven’t been able to show before. We’d love it if fans enjoyed the MV as well. Since we’re giving off a sweet vibe with the actresses (laughs). The “#WYD” MV really is filled to the brim with your sweetness, isn’t it? Bobby: We had a meeting before filming, and we all talked about the roles or concepts we wanted to have. So I think that’s probably why we were able to shoot scenes that suited each of and make something really good! Since there were some parts of the love scenes that required some courage, I also thought I did well filming while thinking about how I could relax and act naturally. B.I: Everyone did so well at acting sweet that even I, a man, was ready to fall in love! Bobby: (satisfied smile) Donghyuk played a kind, devoted boyfriend, and I imagined what it would be like if I were with him. Donghyuk: (embarrassed laugh) Thank you! I like Jinhwan’s part! It’s a heartwarming situation that could happen in real life--like a scene from a drama, so it was good, right? B.I: Junhoe’s “iKONIC is the girlfriend” part is good too, right! Everyone: Yeah. Junhoe was the only one who didn’t have a scene with an actress in the Korean MV, right? Jinhwan: Ah~ Actually Junhoe had a love scene (laughs). Junhoe: I did. It was cut (laughs). But it’s in the Japanese version, so be sure to check that one out! Yunhyeong: I heard there’s a reason why it was cut. The director didn’t think it was that great for all the members to have a partner, so they were like “someone should have fans be the partner even if it’s only Junhoe” and released it that way. Plus, Junhoe’s solo scene came out really nice, so I think that might also have been a reason why. Oh really. Jinhwan: Also, we saved Junhoe’s couple scene for the Japanese fans, right? Junhoe: Yes!! Yunhyeong: Let’s just go with that (laughs). B.I, Junhoe, and producers Choice37 and Kush all worked together to create “LOVE ME,” right? B.I: After first making the Korean version, we recorded the Japanese version and felt like the Japanese version sounded better and fit perfectly…… We also thought the style fit Japan better, so we put it on this single! “LOVE ME” is like, how can I put it, it shows a man’s uglier side and his true feelings, and it’s a cute song that’ll arouse your sympathy! Bobby: Yes yes. It shows us larger than life. Undoubtedly, it is us, iKON! Yunhyeong: If you look at the lyrics it’s a bit sad and diffident, but if you listen to the melody, it feels bright and fun. It’s kind of like, this song shows you both light and dark sides. Looking at the lyrics, it seems you’re singing about Junhoe… Junhoe: Eh? Me? But we’re not…… (laughs) Yunhyeong: Actually this song seems more like something Jinhwan-hyung would identify with (laughs). Jinhwan: Well you’re wrong!! (laughs) Junhoe: This is just what I think, but I think anyone who listens to this song can identify with it! Jinhwan: Of course. All people--anyone--has to have had thoughts at one point like “why doesn’t this person love me?” so I guess everyone can identify with that, right? Junhoe: It doesn’t matter at all if you’re cool or tall or whatever--if the person you like turns you down, anyone would feel the same, right! Donghyuk: In any case, it’s an original Japanese song, so it’s special. Now then, what kind of arrangement is “SINOSIJAK REMIX”? B.I: We added an arrangement that would make it more exciting during performances. Jinhwan: We made this version to show a new side to us that hasn’t been seen before. Anyway, I think you’ll be able to have fun if you listen to it. “Sinosijak” means “start” and is from your own made up language, right? If you’ve come up with any more “iKON-ese,” please tell us! B.I: Is there anything……? Kinda seems like if you just suddenly ask us, we won’t remember anything (laughs). Junhoe: It isn’t iKON-ese, but lately we’ve been saying “kimoti,” haven’t we? (t/n: “kimoti” is a bastardization of “kimochi ii,” which means “feels good” in Japanese) Chanwoo: Mm…… Junhoe: Why y’all pretending like you don’t know! (laughs) Yunhyeong: That’s the thing from the Japanese game right? Chanwoo: Rather than a game it’s from a Japanese character. There’s a character that says “kimoti”? (laughs) Chanwoo: It doesn’t say “kimoti” exactly but the pronunciation makes it sound like that. Junhoe: People will think we’re otaku if we talk about it like this (laughs). Yunhyeong: Whatever. All of us like Japanese games and characters anyway! Chanwoo: We aren’t otaku! We just like games! Jinhwan: If we come up with any new iKON-ese, we shall tell you at that juncture. Anyway, are there any Japanese words that you use frequently when in Japan? Bobby: I didn’t make it up, but I like the greeting “azassu!” I use it all the time! (t/n: “azassu” is a shortened form of “arigatou gozaimasu,” which means “thank you” in Japanese) Jinhwan: (after thinking for a long time) Speaking of which…… There’s a word I used during the shows! Junhoe: Yeah. I was wondering why you weren’t saying it (laughs). Jinhwan: Yeah but…… Chanwoo: Be honest--it’s embarrassing to say so you didn’t want to, right? (laughs) Jinhwan: So there’s “konnichiwa,” right, and I combine it with the chihuahua (chiwawa) to make “konnichiwawa.” (t/n: “konnichiwa” means “hello/good afternoon”) Yunhyeong: Please say it with a pose! Jinhwan: (while posing) Konnichiwawa~ Everyone: ……(can do nothing other than laugh awkwardly) You did say it when you performed. Your second Japan tour began on September 10th with the Makuhari show. What are your thoughts since coming back after half a year? Bobby: We wanted to see iKONIC JAPAN as soon as possible, so we came back as soon as we could! We had a show at Makuhari before so we were already used to the venue, which meant we could relax and have fun more than we could last time. B.I: It was super hype! We set up the stage so that we could make eye contact with the fans and get deeper communication, but we were so close to the fans that I was the one who was nervous. Junhoe: I was moved during “CLIMAX.” It was like I really felt like “oh my god, we’re singers……” Looking at the fans I was like “man I’m so happy……” Jinhwan: We have a lot of songs that make us cry when we sing. Like “WAIT FOR ME” or “CLIMAX” or “LONG TIME NO SEE.” Singing those songs, something just hits you every time, you know? Yunhyeong: They’re songs filled with memories, huh. Bobby: Plus we had Mino from Winner as a special guest, so there was that big difference from before! Thanks to Mino I think we were able to show a different color on stage. When we performed as MOBB on stage for the first time, the fans' screams were super loud so I got really hype.

#ikon #hanbin #b.i #jinhwan #jay #bobby #song #yunhyeong #junhoe #june #donghyuk #dk #chanwoo #chan #t:interview #t:trans #kboyparadise #shino #era:wyd

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yesyunniechan · 7 years

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Detective Conan File 993 [Japanese to English Translation]

Both love and case

Are cut with a blade?!

TN: Ahaha. Pun. Like: Yaiba (blade) as MANGA (Okita) is added to the love (ShinRan and Heizuha) and to the case (Okita is an IDIOT)

[10 minutes before the tournament starts...]

S: The criminal behind Nukitani-san's murder had been hiding in the restroom up until the police arrived...

S: So it must be one of you three...

S: But we can't do much until we figure out where the box cutter that was used to slice Nukitani-san's throat went...

T: Yeah... Looks like this might be a tough one...

S: There's nothing we can do! Could you contact the tournament organizers and tell them to come here so we can explain the situation and tell them to cancel the event?

S: I'd like to know more about how Nukitani-san got here and such...

T: Right!

[Wait! 10 minutes is should be more than enough time...]

[A murder happened at the Kendo Tournament!! Looks like Heiji discovered the truth?!]

T: Eh?

S: More than enough... Don't tell me you already figured out who did it?

H: Aye... which one of these three did it...

H: And how they killed him!!

O: I've figured it out as well!!

O: Since we can't seem to find the murder weapon, no matter where we look...

O: The criminal is this blind...

O: Ojii-san with a cane!!

TN: LMAO

Y: Eh?

O: He was lying about the supposed criminal mentioning a box cutter on the phone!

C: Lying?

C: You'd think that even if that was a lie, he wouldn't have just sat on this bench right next to the corpse, but would rather have tried to get out of here...

H: Besides, he can't see... How would he have killed him?

O: Isn't it obvious? That cane contains a sword...

O: Just like Zatouichi, he calculated the distance between him and his target by sensing his presence...

O: And sliced this occhan's neck with a single, sudden draw!!

O: So? I'm right, aren't I?

O: Can you say 'Life is pain'?

C: Oi, Hattori...

C: Is this guy... an idiot?

O: You're supposed ta say that at the end, ya know! <3

H: Sorry... Ignore him...

H: So? Ya learned who the criminal is?

C: Nope, all I know...

C: Is that although the victim's bag contained a drink...

C: Someone must've taken it after he was killed...

C: And the one who took it...

C: Is probably the ex-SDF officer, Sakamori Akane-san...

A: Wha?!

S: Why do you think that?

C: Well, you see, there’s some powdered medical residue left around Nukitani-san’s mouth, yet he doesn't have any water on him!

C: That's why I believe that the warmth that melted the chocolate in Sadamori-san's bag stemmed from a plastic bottle containing a warm drink!

A: A-as I said, the chocolate simply melted in my pocket...

C: Then it should’ve melted evenly! However, since only those closer to the tip melted, something else must have given off its warmth... You probably got it from the vending machine, added the poison, and then kept it in your bag until you got a chance to give it to Nukitani-san, right?

C: And you didn't tell us that you had a warm drink... because you thought that might arouse suspicion if someone finds a plastic bottle cut into little pieces...

S: That's why you were hiding in the restroom... to get rid of the evidence...

A: T-That was not poison, that was a laxative! I just wanted get back at Nukitani-sensei for rejecting my love!!

A: And when I came by to make sure he’s stuck in the restroom... He was dead. So I grabbed the plastic bottle because I knew everyone would get the wrong idea!!

A: I swear I’m telling the truth! Please believe me!!

C: I don’t think she's the culprit! She practiced Kendo in high school for three years, so she’d at least know how to wear a hakama properly...

C: And the culprit appears to have put the hakama on backwards!

T: Then all three of us must be innocent! After all, I practiced kendo too…

C: Did you really practice Kendo back in the day, Yokote-san...?

C: You didn't even know that victory poses are forbidden at Kendo tournaments...

C: Isn't that right, referee-ojii-san?

N: Y-yeah... As per the guidelines...

N: 'An excessively emotional display of pride following a successful blow is considered unsportsmanlike conduct and will result in the strike being annulled, regardless of whether or not it was previously considered legal.'

S: See... Yet you were bragging to your girlfriend about striking a victory pose after landing a strike...

S: And you got angry when Nukitani-san humiliated you by calling you out on your lie...

Y: Y-Yeah...

Y: I wanted to get back at this ossan by embarrassing him myself...

Y: So I followed him and secretly took pictures! If he'd shown any weakness or shameful habit, I'd have exposed him through the internet!

Y: And when this woman went went for the same restroom he'd gone to....

Y: I figured that they might be having some sort of secret date...

Y: That's all there is to it!!

Y: I wanted to leave ASAP, but then this kid and those guys got here...

Y: Then while I was in the restroom, I deleted all the pictures I'd secretly taken of that ossan!!

T: So that's why it says that you haven't taken any pictures this month?

Y: Y-Yeah...

S: But you're also the only one who doesn't know how to put a hakama on...

S: So you'd have to be the one who killed him.

Y: A, no...

S: Right, Conan-kun?

C: Hmmm...

C: But Yokote-san....

C: Doesn't have a box cutter with him...

S: H-hey, Conan-kun?!

T: R-right! I don't have one with me! And I at least know how to wear hakama, because I practiced kendo a little!

H: Then how 'bout ya put that tare on? Forensics can give ya some gloves...

T: O-okay... I’ve got this!

T: Take this long one... make a cross in the back...

T: Then fasten what's left behind... and ready!

H: Nope! Tare's knot shouldn't be visible, so yer supposed ta lift the maedare* and make a knot under it!

TN: Apron :"D

H: See? After fastenin' it... Ya can see the blood left at the maedare, right?

S: B-but that's...

H: Yep! Anyone who is used ta wearing bougu would wear his hakama backwards on purpose... Ta make it look that it was done by somebody who never did kendo…

H: And the only one who had ta do it must be wearing referee clothes, and thus hold a rank...

H: Only ya, Norimura Nenji-san!!

K: No way?!

K: Ya still haven’t found Heiji?! The match starts in 5 minutes!

K: And Ran-chan and Conan-kun aren’t here either... Maybe they know where Heiji is?

R: A phone call from Kazuha-chan... If she'll learn where Hattori-kun is, she'll head straight over here...

R: But if she gets here before the case is closed...

R: We can’t afford to waste any time...

R: Because Hattori-kun...

R: Has to confess to Kazuha-chan!!!

[B-but.... The criminal used a box cutter as a weapon, right?]

N: I don't have one of those on me...

H: We were wrong about that from the start...

H: The victim, Nukitani-san, was talking to someone on phone...

H: And he said...

H: 'The cutter is stained with blood, I can't cut with it... please bring me the spare one!'

Y: Yeah! Exactly!

C: I don't see anything wrong with that...

H: In kansai, 'cutter' can refer to a dress shirts! Ya guys just call those "Y-Shirts" instead!

TN: HA! I was right uvu

H: Add to that the fact that Nukitani-san got a nosebleed because of Okita's opponent...

H: And we've got this...

H: 'My Cutter shirt is stained due to my nosebleed, so I can't wear it....

H: Bring me the spare one!'

TN: Kiru = cut, kiru = wear

T: I see! That's why Nukitani-san's wife is coming here with a Y-shirt!

S: So Nukitani-san wanted to change his shirt, and chose this remote restroom by accident?

H: Yeah... 'cause all the other restrooms were taken...

H: That said, even without a nosebleed, if ya stained Nukitani-san's shirt with a hand smeared in ink... He woulda come here anyway, which is just what ya wanted, right?

N: B-but the murder weapon?!

N: I don't have anything sharp with me, right?

H: Ya do!

T: Y-you think I'd slice a throat with a shinai?!

H: It's a modified shinai...

H: If ya'd swung horizontally with a sharpened bamboo tip cut as thin as a katana...

H: The centrifugal force woulda helped ya slice the throat!!

O: Well, even with a simple shinai’s strike... there are ways to slice his throat so that the blood won't stop flowing...

H: Yep... the throat is the most vulnerable part of the human body after all...

H: The sound heard in the restroom was the sound of... Ya trying to dull the edge of yer bamboo sword, which was as sharp as a katana, so ya rubbed it against wall...

H: And the sound that was heard right after the sound of the bougu being thrown out of the restroom window...

H: After ya took off the blood-drenched bougu ya used in yer plan, ya changed into the coat ya prepared earlier, put the murder weapon - yer bamboo sword - inside the shinai bag, and were gonna leave as if nothin' had happened...

H: But then lotsa people arrived, so ya couldn't leave the toilet and realized ya’d have ta do somethin' with that sharpened shinai...

H: So it oughta still be left inside yer shinai bag, right?

H: Nukitani-san's blood!!

S: We’ll check!

N: Yeah... I thought it will show the blood stains... so I washed it in the restroom just in case...

H: My bad, Kudo... I took over at the best part. <3

C: That's kind of frustrating...

S: But why shinai? It'd be easier to cut the throat with something sharp...

N: This shinai...

TN: Was a gift from him on our first date, so I wanted to end his life like that - doing his favorite kendo with the sword he gifted me... I thought about rollercoaster, but meh, this idea is better. What? Wrong case? Oh.

N: Belonged to my son...

N: Whom Nukitani-san drove to suicide 2 years ago...

S: D-drove to suicide?

N: At the grand finals of this tournament series' team league, two years ago... My son pulled off a masterful strike in the decisive game... But in the passion of the moment, he struck a victorious pose, and the strike was annulled...

N: My son's high school was eliminated as a result... He felt responsible, and took his own life because he couldn't bare the shame... Nukitani-san was the referee on call for this match...

TN: Oh, I like my idea with the first date better... Poor boy :(

S: But the rules of Kendo are written in stone - there's nothing he could have done about, right?

N: Yes... I thought that Nukitani-san had made the right call, and that my son had been in the wrong...

N: But yesterday, a student from the Kyoto Senshin High School also struck a victory pose after scoring a point during the team league's grand finals...

N: And he flat-out ignored it!!

S: R-really?

N: Yes! And not only did this guy not annull the point, he encouraged this student!

N: He played favorites with him because he was from the kansai area, same as him!!

N: T-that's why I... This prejudiced bastard...

N: With my son's shinai...

O: He probably...

O: Held this charm...

O: The jihou* from the first grade told me 'I want ta win!' and borrowed that charm from me...

TN: Second player

O: This is a charm from the Hachidai shrine, passed in my family fer generations...

O: With this I never lost...

O: After one blow, it showed from under his the dougi, and after noticing it he said 'Kami-san, thank ya' while holding it with teary eyes...

O: Maybe ya just mistook it for the winning pose?

N: That’s a lie...

O: It's true! And the referee told them 'never ta show tears during a match'...

N: It's a lie... a lie...

N: A lie!!!

R: Phew...

C: S-strong...

R: What are you doing?! QUICKLY!!!

T: A, wait...

S: Hm? That charm...

R: A, Kazuha-chan!! I brought them!!

K: R-Ran-chan!

K: The match ended...

[Win without playing!]

R Eeh?!

K: What were ya doin'?! Heiji, ya idiot, idiot, idiot!!

M: Well then, let's retreat?

I: You’re not going to meet Hattori-sama?

M: I’d like to wait...

M: For a better opportunity to meet my future husband...

O: This is all ‘cause somebody here took their sweet time solvin’ that mystery, isn’t it?

H: We lost all that time 'cause of yer Zatouichi blabbering!!

K: Mystery... don't tell me ya ran into another case?

K: Those detectives...

C: Life is pain...

[Be sure to watch the ‘Crimson Love Letter’ now in screening!! Starting from the text issue, Magic Kaito returns after 3 years!!]

69 notes · View notes

eyez-ff-blog · 7 years

Text

○○ eyez | thirty-nine

The date was set—May 25. Five months to properly put everything together, but for this to be the most stressful thing in Beija’s life to date was a blessing to her at this point.

The bombshell of New Year’s Eve was probably one of the most bittersweet things that had happened between she and Jermaine since his divorce—of course blogs got wind of Mariah’s arrest, and of course a frenzy of blogs ‘just discovering’ the now closed investigation became the hot topic. At least the two as a couple weren’t under attack by the public...at least, not completely. Of course there were bitter individuals saying that this was ‘karma’ for how Jermaine had dealt with his divorce with Melissa, among other things. But the fact that Beija knew the truth of everything kept her from really responding to any of it. She had better shit to attend to than to try to convince people who would never like her that she wasn’t a homewrecker. They were about to be married, and she wanted to focus on that.

To add to that, their first anniversary of them being together was coming about, along with Janiya’s first birthday. Beija had no reason to be worried about what some dumb ass blog or internet personality had to say. They’d never say it to her face anyway, and she was sure some had an opportunity to do so.

For this particular day, Beija was back home in Houston—for her, it was a ‘girls’ trip’ with just she and Janiya. She had a seamstress at one of the city’s black-owned boutiques put together a dress for her; it was the first thing she did once Jermaine proposed and now the moment of truth had arrived. The seamstress had sent her three dress ideas, and with her team, had put together all three dresses for Beija to choose from. It would now be Beija’s decision of what she would be walking down the aisle in.

The boutique was fairly large, or at least large enough for a bridal party to fit into—mannequins wore light colored garments, and the royal blue furniture seemed to bring intense color and life into the space. In the fitting area, stood the seamstress herself, along with Beija, Ayana, Sara, Lauren, and Janiya, who was occupied with her small stuffed animal.

“Are you sure this dress fits?” Alisha’s voice could be heard from the dressing room, and the girls laughed softly as Beija gently bounced Niya on her lap.

“Yes, mama—get them over them hips of yours!” Beija joked.

“Girl, don’t get popped. My hips aren’t that big,” Alisha complained.

“Uh...Mama ‘Lisha, you know you’re who Beija got her hips from, right?” Lauren commented, causing Alisha to laugh.

“Right? She trying to act like she’s petite or something,” Beija shook her head before the door to the dressing room opened, and the women gasped. “Mama! You looking good,” She complimented.

Alisha turned around in the dress she’d wear to the wedding—it was an Ivory colored dress that flowed down from the fitting bodice and silk band that wrapped around her waist and cinched it properly. The skirt stopped just short of the knees, and with it came a jacket that held an elbow-length sleeve. Alisha looked in the mirror and posed. “Huh. I still got it,” She snapped.

“You sure do, Mama! You look amazing,” Sara laughed softly.

“Beautiful. Now I can’t wait to see our bridesmaid dresses,” Ayana said before she glanced over at Beija. “But B, you sure you don’t mind us wearing white, too? I thought it was only for the bride,” She tilted her head.

“It usually is. But I figured with the lilac and blue accessories, it will work out fine. Plus, after going through all those swatches, I just thought this color was perfect. The groomsmen’s suits are so nice with that color too,” She said.

“Well, what the bride wants, the bride gets,” Lauren chuckled. “I wanna see my dress now, though. Because if it ain’t cute you and me are gonna have it out,” She playfully nudged Beija as the two laughed.

“There’s in the dressing rooms, go ahead,” She said as the women got up to go to the other dressing rooms that were set out for them.

Alisha walked over and grinned as she smoothed out her dress briefly. “This is pretty flattering on me, Beija. You know your mama well,” She chuckled as she posed again. “What do you think, Niy’? Nana’s looking jazzy, huh?” She leaned down and tapped Janiya’s nose lightly, causing the little girl to smile.

“Mhm. Nana’s gonna blow Pawpaw away for sure,” Beija kissed the top of Janiya’s head, and the baby stared up at her mother before leaning back against Beija’s body. “I can’t wait for you guys to see Logan and Niya’s dresses. I am not a frilly girl but I’m breaking down this once—I couldn’t pass up the dresses I saw,” She explained as Alisha went to change out of the dress.

“I was about to say, don’t dress my grandbaby like a boy at your wedding,” Alisha grimaced, causing a flurry of laughter from the other three women.

“Oh, haha. So funny,” Beija frowned before she began to laugh herself. “I’ll let her be a complete girly girl this one day. Live in that moment, mama—soak it in! You won’t see it again,” She added.

“Sure, Beija. As soon as you see Niya in the dress you’re going to want her in lacy socks all the time and all types of mess. It never fails,” Yana chuckled before she came out of her dressing room first. Lauren and Sara came out soon after, and Alisha returned in her regular clothes before sitting next to Beija.

“Oh wow. You ladies look amazing,” Alisha marveled. “These dresses are beautiful!”

The bridesmaids’ dresses were highly similar to Alisha’s dress; they shared the same Ivory color and the silk band that separated the fitting bodice from the flowing skirt that flowed to the floor as compared to Alisha’s knee length. The slit on the left leg was also a difference, and added the flair and slight sensuality that matched Beija’s style completely.

“Oh yeah, I am definitely getting a man in this dress. Mm!” Lauren posed in the mirror before she looked back at Beija. “Any of Jermaine’s friends need a lady? Put me on sis,” She joked.

“Girl! Get out of my face,” Beija laughed softly. “Although, I know for sure that Damon and Cody are single,” She shrugged. “You do what you want with that information.”

“You know Lauren is not a light skinned chaser,” Yana laughed. “Her best bet would be Bas, wouldn’t it?” She asked.

“Yeah, but she didn’t say he was single,” Lauren huffed softly.

“Well I don’t know for sure. I never know with him,” Beija assured.

“Eh, no matter—when he sees me in this? He’ll wish he was,” Lauren smirked, and Beija laughed before shaking her head. “Let me stop playing. It’s time to see your dress! Let’s get out of these,” She chuckled before she returned to the dressing room.

Once the ladies had changed out of their dresses, Beija gave Janiya to Alisha before she headed inside the dressing room specified for her. She closed the door behind her before she got out of her clothes, leaving her in the strapless bra and underwear she had worn for the occasion. She glanced over the three dresses that the seamstress had made for her, and her eyes locked on one in particular. “Yes...yes, this is the one,” She mumbled to herself.

“Hey, do you need any help getting into the dresses?” She heard the seamstress at the door, and Beija opened the door to allow her inside. Quietly, she pointed at the dress that she had chosen, and the seamstress smiled brightly. “Oh, I knew you’d like this one...”

“What’s taking so long? Come on with it,” Sara called out.

“Right? I’m anxious,” Yana mumbled.

“Just a moment!” Beija laughed softly before she and the seamstress worked to get her into the dress. Once the seamstress zipped up her dress, Beija looked in the mirror before she placed her hands over her chest, the delighted look on her face being undeniable. Eventually, she opened the door and the women nearly screamed in surprise.

Beija’s wedding dress was something straight out of a fairy tale; the fitting sweetheart corset seemed to give her breasts the proper support they needed, and the crystals that were embroidered into the satin material seemed to glisten in the light. The ball gown style skirt that seemed to trail behind her was almost sheer, and though it looked grandiose and heavy, the material used make it lighter so she could maneuver a bit better. Either way, the look that she wanted to achieve was in this dress, she felt it in every bone in her body. “This is the one. I know it is,” Beija finally said.

“It is. It’s perfect—Oh my God, let me take a picture for Nic and Courtney,” Lauren pulled out her phone and snapped a couple photos.

“Beija, you look amazing,” Yana said, seemingly in awe of her friend.

“You really think so? I really want it to be perfect. I just love it, though—it’s exactly how I imagined it,” Beija seemed to be speaking in an almost trance-like tone, the awestricken expression being a testament of how she felt.

“Wow,” Alisha sighed, and Beija looked up to see her mother’s tearful eyes.

“No, no tears! I’ve gotten this far without crying,” Beija laughed before she looked away, wiping her eyes quickly.

“I’m sorry, but I’m just so happy. I never thought I’d see the day my daughter getting married. I should be used to this; I’ve already watched two sons get married. But this is different...you’re my little girl, B,” Alisha said, and Beija nodded in knowledge. Alisha didn’t have to say much more to get the point across.

“What do you think, Niya? Isn’t your mommy so pretty?” Sara looked down at Janiya, who hadn’t taken her eyes off of Beija yet. “I think she loves it. She hasn’t stopped looking at you,” She laughed.

“I’m just hoping that when J sees it...he’ll love it,” Beija said softly.”Guys. Holy crap. This is really happening,” Beija began to laugh as she slowly turned around in her dress. “I’m seriously about to be this man’s wife. Yo, Lauren—predict something else for me, because you’ve been on a roll,” She joked to keep more tears from coming.

“Girl, what else? I mean, there’s always a brother for Niya,” Lauren raised her eyebrows, and Beija sucked her teeth.

“We’ll see! How about you get me a nephew? Let’s talk about that,” She playfully argued before all of the women began to laugh.

“Okay...caterer, baker, photographer, and videographer are hired. Venues are secure, clothes are bought, invite list finished...” Beija mumbled to herself as she paced the master suite. “Pastor notified and confirmed for the ceremony and...what am I missing,” She sighed as she placed her hands on her hips.

“The DJ,” She looked over her shoulder before she saw Jermaine enter the bedroom, stretching his arms over his head slowly. “But I contacted him and got that together,” He said with a small chuckle before he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Now, can you shut your mind down for a moment? I think you forgot what today is,” He said.

“What’s today?” Beija chuckled softly as she felt his lips press against the side of her face. Her eyebrows suddenly rose in realization. “Oh! Happy Anniversary!” She laughed a bit as she wrapped her arms around him slowly.

“Yep. Go ahead and get yourself together—I called Gina up and she’s on the way over; we’re going out tonight,” He said, and she raised an eyebrow slowly.

“Oh?” Beija laughed softly before she leaned up on the tips of her toes. “Sounds good. Let me get myself together then,” She chuckled before pulling away from him. “How should I dress?” She asked.

“Uh...after five casual? It’s still cold too, so keep that in mind,” She heard J explain, and she nodded as she disappeared into the bathroom.

After her shower and usual primping, Beija put on a simple sweater and jeans combo, deciding on some flat boots instead of her usual heels. She did her makeup and glanced over at her jewelry box before she walked over to it and put on a pair of earrings. She felt two arms around her waist, and she smirked a bit before she laid her head back against her lover’s shoulder. “Ready to go?” She asked as she turned around, inspecting Jermaine’s simple outfit of a button up and jeans.

“Yep. Let’s go,” He grabbed her hand before they exited the room, and they made sure that Gina had everything handled with Janiya before they headed towards the garage. “Wait—close your eyes,” He chuckled before he shielded her vision.

“What—man,” Beija laughed before she closed her eyes. She could hear Jermaine shuffling around her. “They’re closed, Lamarr,” She huffed.

“Gotta make sure,” He said before he slowly led her towards the garage. Beija patiently walked alongside him before she felt the chill of being within the garage, and she pressed her nude-painted lips together in anticipation. “Go ‘head.”

When Beija opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but to let out a scream as she noticed the new car sitting alongside Jermaine’s. The luxury sedan was smaller and a lot sleeker, and the dark blue coat of paint gave it some sophistication and style. “Baby, what the fuck?!” She turned around and hugged him tightly.

“I know you get tired of just driving my shit around, so I wanted you to have something for you,” He explained, and she huffed as she smacked his chest.

“You stay trying to outdo me with gifts! I can’t stand you,” She chuckled as she looked back at the car, a smile crossing her face. “Can we drive it?” She asked.

“Sure; I’ll have to give you the directions to where we’re going, though,” He dangled the keys in front of Beija’s face, and she grabbed them quickly before hurrying towards the car. Unlocking the doors, she slipped into the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Beija took a glance around before she slowly ran her fingers along the black leather interior, noting the light blue stitching within the fabric, and the black wood grain that complimented the look. “This shit is so clean. I’m gonna be the cutest wife on the block with this,” She chuckled as she glanced up to see Jermaine getting into the car. “Do you see this wood grain? This stitching—baby,” She groaned as she started up the engine. “And that purr!”

“You really sounding like a mechanic or something right now,” J laughed as she opened the garage door with the opener that sat on her overhead flap. “But it is pretty nice. And check this,” Beija glanced up as he pulled back a roof shutter to show off the sun roof.

“Nice,” She grinned as she slowly backed out of the garage and headed down the street once she closed the garage door. “So, where we headed to, Romeo?” She teased.

“Head downtown first, and then we can go from there,” J chuckled as he relaxed in the seat, fiddling with the radio. After turning it onto a station they both enjoyed, he reclined in the seat.

The ride downtown wasn’t too long thanks to the light traffic, and the two couldn’t help but to converse or sing and rap along to the music on the radio. As Beija got closer to wherever she was supposed to be going, she noticed Jermaine sit up in his seat. “Here. Park right over here,” He pointed, and she nodded before she pulled up to the curb of what looked to be a restaurant. She shut off the engine before she got out of the car, walking around before seeing a valet parker. She passed him the keys and he wrote them a ticket for their car before he went to park their car. Beija slipped the ticket into her clutch before she followed Jermaine inside the restaurant.

Beija looked around and noticed the warm and cozy atmosphere, and she licked over her lips as she took a sniff at the air, noticing the fragrant scents of food. “Smells nice,” She chuckled as he nodded.

“Heard this was the spot for the best Italian in town,” He said before he fulfilled their reservation. The hostess skipped grabbing menus, and led them through the dining hall before they were ushered into an elevator.

Beija twisted her lips to the side as the translucent doors shut, and she glanced over at Jermaine, who had that smile on his face—he always had that look when he was up to something. She huffed softly before she clasped her hands together, waiting for the elevator to stop. Once it did and the doors opened, she glanced out before she looked around, a small smile spreading across her face.

The rooftop area of the restaurant seemed more like a garden than a roof, with its abundance of flowers and shrubbery. The views of downtown from where they stood were nothing short of amazing, and the arrangement of their dinner table oozed with intimacy and deep thought. White and light pink rose petals seemed to scatter the ground, making a trail to the table, and matching whole roses sat as a centerpiece at the table along with some lit candles and two covered plates. As she walked the trail and stopped at the table, she noticed her favorite bottle of Pinot Noir on ice. “Damn,” She chuckled as she felt Jermaine’s hands slowly slip up her arms, and she closed her eyes as she felt his lips against her cheek. “You make me sick,” She mumbled before cracking a smile.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not done though, so let’s eat,” He mumbled before he moved to pull out her chair.

The appetizing course consisted of classic Caprese Salad, then with an Alfredo first course. Next came a grilled chicken dish with sautéed green beans. Lastly, the dessert of Tiramisu paired with caramel flavored gelato rounded off the meal. The whole meal consisted of nostalgic and reminiscent conversation, leaving them both in stiches as they joked about outrageous moments they endured on tour, or Beija’s many dramatic diva moments during her pregnancy.

After dinner, Beija was led back to the elevator before she ran a hand over her stomach. “This place is amazing. Their food is definitely top notch. I’ve got to learn how to make gelato for home,” She said before a small burp slipped from her lips. “Sorry,” She chuckled.

“Somebody ate well,” J teased before laughing a bit. Beija looked in her clutch to try to find the ticket for the valet, but Jermaine took it from her before she could truly grasp it. “Not yet,” He urged, and she raised an eyebrow as he slipped it into his pocket. She allowed him to lead her off the elevator before they headed through the restaurant, and out into the cold again.

Beija looked around, and she sucked her teeth when she saw the horse-drawn carriage waiting. “No, you didn’t,” She laughed.

“Yes, I did. Come on here,” J smirked before he led her towards the carriage and helped her onto it. He got on after her, and soon enough the rider began to make the carriage pull away. “You down for a walk in the park?” He asked. “It’s a bit of a walk from here, but I figured we could hitch a ride.”

“I’d like that,” Beija chuckled softly before she looked up at him. “Now, I thought you weren’t good with this romance stuff! You’ve been holding out on me?” She elbowed him playfully, causing him to chuckle.

“Nah. I did some research and got my shit together,” He said before he wrapped an arm around her waist. “How am I doing so far?” He asked.

“It’s on the nose! You’d swear we were in some cheesy romantic comedy,” Beija laughed as she laid her head on his chest. “But you know...I don’t mind,” She said softly.

“I know you don’t mind. I don’t think you realize it, but you’re a hopeless romantic,” J commented, and Beija furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up at him. “Don’t give me that look. You are,” He insisted.

“Am I? I never realized,” She shrugged, and he nodded. “I guess deep down I have always wanted to be pampered on Valentine’s Day. I always saw the girls at my high school get chocolates, flowers, and balloons every year for four damn years—I was envious,” She laughed.

“I’d love to say that I would have done the same if we went to school together, but I’d be lying like shit,” Beija rolled her eyes as her laugh came out effortlessly and louder than intended. “I’m serious. I have never been good at this. And plus...if I had met you in high school, I probably wouldn’t have even spoken to you,” He said.

“What? Why? I told you I was a nerd in school. Aside from cheerleading, I was always in a book. And I only had one boyfriend back then, too. It didn’t even last long,” She explained.

“So? I’ve seen your old pictures. You were as beautiful then as you are now. Have you seen me at that age? Beija,” J shook his head as the two began to laugh. “I wouldn’t have had the balls, baby. Not at all.”

“Well I wouldn’t have cared how big your head was,” Beija snickered, laughing again when Jermaine glared at her. “I’m sorry! Your head is big,” She giggled.

“Thanks. I appreciate it so much,” He sarcastically countered.

“But seriously—I wouldn’t have minded getting to know you. If you were as amazing as you are now, I would have definitely liked you,” Beija smiled as she reached up and rubbed his face. “And you were cute back then! You act like you’re gruesome or some shit,” She rolled her eyes as the carriage came to a slow stop. Soon enough, the couple got off of the carriage and Beija grabbed J’s hand as they walked together through the park, keeping to the lit trail. “Wait, how are we gonna get back to my car?” She asked.

“He’s gonna circle around for a bit. He’ll be back when we’re ready to go back,” Jermaine said before he looked up at the sky for a moment. “Ain’t this shit crazy, though? Two years. We’ve really been together for two years,” He mumbled.

“Known each other for three. When you think about it, that is kind of crazy. So much has happened,” Beija thought for a moment before she laid her head against J’s arm. “But you know, I wouldn’t take any of it back,” She said.

“Word? Not even the fucked up parts?” J glanced down at her as he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I mean, most people would use the things they learn and change the past if they could,” He said.

“I wouldn’t change one thing. It made me appreciate what I have,” Beija glanced up at him before she smiled. “I mean, I’ve always been thankful to have you, but a lot of what we went through put shit into perspective,” She said.

“Hm...that’s true,” Beija stopped near a fountain before taking a seat, and she sat her hands in her lap as Jermaine sat next to her.

She glanced up at the sky and she chuckled softly to herself. “You can kinda see the sky from here. Hard to do when we’re surrounded by lights,” She said, only glancing over when she noticed that Jermaine was looking over at her. She bit the inside of her cheek before huffing softly, feeling the slight heat within her face. “What?”

“I can’t look at you?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Beija looked away before she pouted slightly. “Three years, and you still look at me like that,” She mumbled. She felt his hand cover hers, and she smiled gently before she sighed, glancing back at him to see him still gazing at her. “Stop!” She laughed.

“I’m sorry,” J laughed a bit before he rubbed the back of his neck. She chuckled before she laid her head down on his shoulder.

#j cole fanfic #j cole fanfiction #j. cole fanfic #j. cole fanfiction #j. cole ff

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jeidafei · 5 years

Text

D.Gray-Man Vol.26: Komui’s Lounge (Extended) 3/5

>> Part 1 <<

>> Part 2 <<

Question 13: How is the cover image for the tankobon (comic book) and Jump SQ. RISE (the magazine) decided?

Lavi: The author has full liberty for the comic book’s cover, but in the magazine’s case, the exclusive designer will ask the author to draw it according to their image of the cover.

Allen: You know so much, Lavi. I’d expect no less from the author’s bosom friend!

Lavi: Are you dissing me, Allen-san?

Marie: So the designer is the one who decides the character and their pose?

Lavi: Yep. I heard sometimes they even request color tones as well. Because the cover is the face of the whole magazine, Hoshino’s nervous when drawing the magazine’s covers, unlike the comic book’s.

Link: On a side note, on the cover of this latest Volume 26, General Cross is holding a toothpick in his mouth.

Allen: Do we have to go into such detail?

Link: I thought there might be those who are wondering.

Lavi: That’s because back in Volume 14, she drew General Cross holding a cigarette and got scolded.

Bak: What’s wrong with that? Couldn’t she draw whatever she wants to?

Lavi: Well, after all, this is still a shounen manga

(T/N: comic written for teenage boys).

Wisely: Grown-up issues, indeed.

Question 14: Link, between English and French tea, which do you prefer?

Link: We’ve received a number of beverage-related questions. For example, How many sugar cubes does the Millennium Earl consume during teatime? and Exactly how delicious is Lenalee Lee’s coffee? As for my preference, I’d probably say English tea. Inspector Lvellie prefers French tea, though, so I’ve had a great deal of that as well. The Earl prefers English, doesn’t he?

Wisely: Correct you are. The Earl has an awfully sweet tooth. He puts in 20 sugar cubes and lots of milk for a cup of tea. He’s such a dear. He’s moping lately after Desires told him to cut back on his sugar intake. What a dear.

Allen: I wonder why he would consider that adorable.

Lavi: There’s more sugar than tea in your tea, too, right Allen?

Allen: SUPER SWEET TEA WITH SALTY THINGS IS A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN!!!

Lavi: Do you really have to yell it?

Link: Make sure you brush your teeth well, Walker. You’re always sleeping right after your meals.

Allen: Roger roger roger.

Link: Only once is enough!

(T/N: In Japan, saying “yes” (hai) more than once is considered rude, as it shows annoyance. I get that a lot from my coworkers.)

Marie: You had tea parties with Lenalee and Miranda sometimes, right Allen?

Bak: WHAT!? Walker! You!

Allen: Eh? Wait! It’s just because they said they’ll give me sweets. There’s no ulterior motive on my part! Besides, it’s more like Link and Lenalee’s tea discussion with me tagging along than a tea party, actually.

Link: What are you talking about? I was the one accompanying you!

Allen: Well, aren’t you the one who did the most talking?

Link: That’s because you were busy eating the whole time, isn’t it? Lenalee Lee seems to make a hobby out of serving the Science Division coffee and tea, so we simply exchanged ideas on tea leaves and brewing. She’s more of an expert than even me on tea, after all.

Marie: Looks like she’s been studying up for the Science guys’ sake. She learned coffee brewing straight from Head Chef Jeryy himself too, and her coffee’s simply awesome.

Lavi: Plus, you also get to behold that adorable face as she hands you your cup with a smile, and it enhances the experience. Hey, Allen, Lenalee’s been taking really good care of her hands, ya know? Said she wanna serve us tea with beautiful hands. Ah, she really is a lady...

Allen: I’m getting all choked up right now.

Bak: Lenalee-san...you’re wonderful. (in love♡)

Question 15: Does Lavi wash his face with his eyepatch on? Or wash his face in secret?

Allen: He leaves it on.

Lavi: I TAKE IT OFF! OF COURSE I TAKE IT OFF! But yeah, I do wash my face in secret!

Allen: You always leave it on when we use the Order’s communal bath together, don’t you? Why do you have to be so secretive about it? Stop being so stuck-up and let us see it already!

Lavi: Argh! Stop, Allen! Stop yanking! Aaaaaargh!

Marie: Oi, Allen! Lavi told you to stop, didn’t he?

Link: Walker, stop wasting our precious paper bullying Bookman Jr.

Wisely: There, there. It’s fine, isn’t it? Our readers will get stressed out if we keep it all stiff and heavy. Besides, the boy hasn’t seen Bookman Jr. in ages and he’s just thrilled.

Allen: That’s not it!

Bak: That aside, why do you need to hide it? Is there some secret behind it?

Lavi: Well, about that...I really can’t say anything.

Question 16: Since when did Supervisor Komui and Head Chef Jeryy become close friends?

Marie: When...? They already seem close by the time Head Chef Jeryy transferred to Headquarters, though.

Bak: That’s because Komui was the one who recommended Jeryy for the transfer. Jeryy was a cook in the Asian Branch at first, and he went to all sorts of trouble taking care of Komui back when he just joined the Order. Komui was a completely different person back then, you see. He had this slightly dangerous streak about him, so Jeryy probably couldn’t find it in him to just leave him be.

Komui seemed prejudiced against Jeryy for a while there, but then he might’ve lost the battle of wills, and before I knew it, they’ve already become close. After that, when Komui was promoted to Supervisor, Jeryy was the first he called over to Headquarters. It might’ve been to help Lenalee-san who was mentally ill back then, I reckon.

Link: I don’t mind them being close, but calling each other by the likes of “Komie-sweetie” and “Jerry-deary” in the vicinity of Order members is quite out of line in my opinion.

Wisely: That Jeryy-summat lad’s food seems real delicious to me. I’d love to try some.

Allen: Negative. Jeryy-san is mine.

Lavi: He’s not yours...

Question 17: Are Noah Memories comprised of only original memories of the past? Though the Noah Memories are passed on from person to person, can we conclude that the human memories of previous Noah hosts are not passed on to the next Noah host as well?

Lavi: Now this is an interesting question.

Wisely: Hmmm. Yes, the memories are passed on. When we are awakened as Noah, an enormous amount of memories and data would come rushing into our heads, and among them are also the memories and emotions of those who were previous reincarnations of Noah.

Allen: I had the memories of Suman, who became a Fallen One, flow into my head once. Back then, I felt like I’m going to lose my very self. My head felt like it was breaking apart, and I was really scared. Though you’re all Noah anyway, you guys really are something, living carefree even with memories and feelings of countless other people within you.

Wisely: We’re not carefree, boy. In the past there were also Noah whose selves were devoured by the memories and were destroyed. In order to keep that from happening, usually most Noah unconsciously suppress those memories. By doing so, we can shut out the memories of the previous incarnations. However, if Noahs are injured by Innocence, they might not be able to suppress it anymore, and those memories would come flooding back. We Noah also have it tough as well.

Allen: Now that you mention it, the Noah really do seem to become more violent the more we attack them.

Wisely: The profound hatred towards Innocence within the memories is what makes us so. That’s why we’d like you to be gentle with us ♡.

Allen: That tendency to joke about is just what drives me up the wall.

Lavi: Is it true that even among Noahs, the Millennium Earl is the only one who lives for several thousands of years?

Wisely: Correct.

Bak: Do all humans have the possibility of awakening as a Noah?

Wisely: They do.

Marie: And that awakening cannot be prevented?

Wisely: No. Furthermore, once they learn of Noah’s mission, they would accept it with their own free will.

Link: And what is Noah’s mission?

Wisely: Oh dear. That’s a secret~♫

Link: Tch.

Question 18: Looks like Allen’s hobby is saving up money. Was he doing other part-time jobs apart from helping out at the cafeteria as well?

Lavi: Nah, mostly it was just the cafeteria right? ‘Coz you got to sneak some bites.

Allen: It was the best part-time job on earth. At the Order, looks like it’s just the stint at the cafeteria and helping out the Science Division. Actually I’d wanted to earn a bit more, but what with rewriting reports, studying and trainingーeven on holidays I’m still quite busy.

Link: What’s with that disgruntled look? Fulfilling your duties as an Exorcist is just natural. Besides, you’re being paid to be one anyway, aren’t you?

Allen: But that’s totally not enough at all!

Wisely: Can’t be helped, with that much debt on your tab.

Bak: Such hardship at such a young age, Walker. Unimaginable to me, though, well-bred as I am.

Allen: If your heart pains for me, then please donate. (whips out donation box).

Marie: “At the Order”, you said. You mean you’ve worked elsewhere before?

Allen: Back when I was still training, I worked with Master as guards for caravans. Functions as battle training, too. It was a rough job, but the pay really was wonderful. To top that, we also got free meals, and debt collectors didn’t pursue us into deserts, too.

Lavi: You really seem to be able to survive anywhere, huh.

Link: Caravans...? So that’s how you’ve been mingling in and lying low. No wonder we hadn’t been able to track down General Cross.

Question 19: What became of Kanda’s underpants that Lavi hid back in the Weekend Schedule?

(T/N: From Gray Log. Argh dammit haven’t got round to translating Lavi’s)

Marie: Oi! Lavi! You really are such a pain!

Lavi: Ack! Sorry! But Yu’s always so calm and cool, you see. Makes me wanna see him freaking out for once.

Bak: You must really have balls to try that out.

Link: So uncivilized... (T/N: I feel like I’m quoting Obi-Wan a lot...)

Allen: So? Did Kanda freak out?

Wisely: You seem to be enjoying this, boy.

Lavi: Naaaaah～Actually, he just got dressed like nothing happened then went out to the forest for night practice.

Allen: ーwith NO UNDERPANTS ON!?

Marie: Well, it’s not totally unexpected...or rather...Kanda probably won’t get worked up over such things?

Wisely: I see...It’s the same with Tikky too. Is it just that gorgeous men do not need underpants to be gorgeous men?

Allen: I have completely no idea what you’re talking about here.

Lavi: To top that, looks like Yu just slept in the forest like that with no underpants on, too. It really wasn’t worth the trouble hiding his pants. Ah, bummer.

Marie: It's not just ah bummer, is it!? Give Kanda back his pants!

Lavi: Whaaaaat!? Even if I did return it to him, the way things are Yu wouldn’t remember it anyway. He’d probably just say something like “Huh? What’s this about?” then just stalk off! And I’d be left looking like a dork who bombed a pant-stealing prank! It’s embarrassing!

Marie: You got it backwards. What’s embarrassing here is the fact that you hid someone’s underpants, good grief (weary face).

Allen: Marie, you have to be more seriously angry, otherwise you’ll never get through to Lavi. Gotta look more strict.

Lavi: Youーyou traitor! You were all grins back there when you heard how I hid Yu’s pants, weren’t you, Allen!?

Allen: Was I? Of course not. Unlike you, I’m not a little kid.

Lavi: Ha! You’re one to talk! Whenever you do part-time at the cafeteria, you’re always stealing bites out of Yu’s food before you serve it to him. Think I didn’t know!?

Allen: That’s because Kanda’s always mocking my hospitality skills. Befitting punishment, I say! It’s not like you’re any better, Lavi. I know you’re always stuffing Kanda’s bag full of porn whenever he goes on a mission. And then there’s the time you tampered with Kanda’s toothpasteー

Lavi: You were with me that time, weren’t you!?

Bak: There’s more?

Wisely: A-ho-ho-ho (laughing). Somehow I feel like we can be good friends, boys.

Marie: Would you guys stop it already? Look, I’m grateful that you boys care about Kanda, since you guys are around the same age, but tone down the pranks! He’s still not used to these things.

Allen, Lavi: Aw, come on~!

Link: We shall not let our precious word count be depleted further by such a nonsensical topic. This conversation ends here!!

>> Part 4 <<

#dgm #d gray man #dgm vol 26

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