#the most normal orange cat (im lying)

[damn-ethan]

okay even more cats

#the most normal orange cat (im lying) #but at the same time the sweetest fluffy boy #maybe sid is allergic to cats but he still loves these guys #slipknot #slipknot fanart #michael pfaff #tortilla man #chris fehn #corey taylor #sid wilson #nu metal #art #illustration

[thesecetlesbo]

My Little Lioness

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff X Reader

Summary: Reader is able to shape-shift in felines and is waiting for their wife to come home from a mission.

Warnings: None :)

Word Count: 1k

………..

Being an avenger with powers was one thing, But not knowing how to use those powers to your full knowledge was another. It didn’t help when you're a shapeshifter and have a knack for turning into felines. Either it be a lion or just a house cat, it was difficult some days, not being able to let yourself out of the animal and just have to wait it out. Your wife Wanda thought it was adorable the first couple of times when you would just turn into an orange house cat, walking around on counters and sitting next to Nat on the counter as she drank her coffee and gave you headscratchs.

But it was a surprise to everyone but you when you turned into a Lioness. While everyone was away on different missions, you were lucky to have the week off, you most definitely needed it. You at some point during your nap on the couch in the common room had turned into this lioness. Tony and Nat were the first ones to arrive back to the tower, immediately heading towards the kitchen to steal some food before Thor ate it all. Tony screamed as loud as possible when he saw your little cat nap.

“Friday why is there a Lion on my couch?” He asked while only just processing what’s in front of him. Nat tried not to piss herself laughing at Tony’s reaction.

“That would be Y/N, sir” Tony faced relaxed “This is the longest time she’s been in a form like this” Friday continued.

Nat approached the cat carefully unsure how you would react if she was to wake you. She slowly started to scratch just behind your ear how she normally would. A low growl awoke from within you. Tony walked backwards slowly.

“Tony what are you so afraid of? It’s just Y/N” Nat said, calming as not to wake you.

“I’m sorry that I’m not 100 percent comfortable with a bloody lion in front of me Nat!” You slowly started to awaken, noticing Nat sitting next you, You put your paw onto her law signally you were awake.

“Well hello sleepy head” You purred as she continued to scratch within your thick fur. You lay most of your body weight onto the Spy’s lap, enjoying the attention she wasn’t ready for the weight shift as she feel backwards into the couch. “Wanda should be home in a couple of hours Y/N” Your meowed in eagerness, you had missed your wife very much over the last couple of nights. Your bed always felt so empty.

You heard shuffling coming from the kitchen, you stuck your head up from Nats lap opening to see Wanda but instead you saw Tony, you grunt back down into her lap wanting the body heat.

“Keep giving me attitude and i'll make you sleep in a crate kitty cat.” Tony said just above his coffee. You growled at him, he backed off. “Okay note to self; threatening lion Y/N is not the same as threatening house cat Y/N” He stated to himself as he walked down to find his lab.

You heard more shuffling hoping to good it was your much missed wife. But instead the God of Thunder walked in with Dr Banner following behind. “How was your mission boys?” Nat said to the men behind her as she turned on the tv and continued to pet you.

“Terrible, we did absolutely nothing” Thor announced with his booming voice before he saw you lying on Nats lap. “My God Lady Y/N has turned into a Lion, how adorable” he said before rushing over to you. You sat up enjoying the attention you’ve missed over the week.

“Thor we were doing an intel mission, that was the point” Bruce stated as he walked over to the pot of coffee tony had made to pour himself a mug, unfazed by your form. He had worked with you in Cat form in the Lab for so long it didn’t bother him no matter what you were now. “Come on Thor we have to report back to Fury”

“Oh Banner of course” Thor stated as he waved goodbye to the two of you. You stayed upright mimicking Nat in a way, watching her flick through Netflix trying to find something to relax to. You had jumped down off the couch, wanted to stretch out your limbs, after which you just pulped down onto the floor. You started to daze off again. Just as you had fallen asleep Wanda had walked in the door. Going straight into your shared room wanting to distress by wrapping her arms around you while a movie played in the background. But you weren’t on the bed or in your large pet bed which she had gotten you as a Christmas gift one year, she thought you were going to hate it but you used it all the time in cat form. It was your favourite napping stop. She headed into the living room seeing the back of Natashas head with some shitty rom com playing

“Tasha! Have you seen Y/N anywhere” Wanda stated.

“At my feet!” she yelled back giving you a little nudge to awake. “Wandas here” Nat said to you. You jumped at wanting to see your wife. As you ran towards her she got on her knees and reached her arms out embracing you as you hurdled towards her.

“Hello my little lioness” You pushed your face all over hers wanting to smell her scent of cinnamon again. She stood you and walked towards your bedroom, knowing where she was heading you beat her to it, Jumping straight onto the bed. Knowing that after every mission no matter big or small you guys always relax in bed as soon as possible. As you watched her talk off her shoes, you curled into the smallest ball possible wanting to leave enough space for your wife.

And as soon as she climbed into your bed and held you, you felt at home. Slowly transforming back into your normal self you started to hold her, wanting to protect her. You knew she didn't need it, but it was your job.

“I missed you Wanda” You said softly. “How was the mission?”

“Long” She replied with a giggle. “Im really tired”

“Go to bed love, ill be here in the morning.”

“Okay Y/N” she mumbled, she started to fall asleep as soon as you were both in bed, she struggled sleeping without you. She could if she tried hard enough but it never did it any justice.

“I love you, Wanda”

“I love you to Lioness”

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff fluff #wanda x reader #the avengers #marvel #marvel fluff

[ya-like-space]

Running From The Rain

For two people who constantly check the weather report, you’d think they’d know not to go out when it was supposed to rain, right? At least, that’s what Yosuke thought. Souji and him had gone down to the floodplain on his day off, hoping to just spend time with each other. And maybe find a cat. Or two. Or more. That was something he’d learned about Souji. He really liked cats. So Yosuke proposed the idea of going cat hunting down at the Samegawa. He knew he’d seen some cats down there a lot, and if it gave him an excuse to hang out with Souji, why not?

 It had been about 40 minutes now, and no cats had been spotted. 

 “Man, I swear I’ve seen cats down here all the time. I don’t know what happened partner.”

 Souji turned his head to look at him from his position across the plain, where Yosuke had parked his bike.

 “It’s alright, I’m sure we’ll find some eventually.”

 Souji’s right. And Yosuke’s not here for the cats, after all.

 Then, from out of the corner of his eye, Souji sees a flicker of orange. Gasping, he grabs Yosuke’s hand and starts running.

 He wasn’t expecting this, Yosuke thinks, while being dragged along by Souji. He had to run at an angle, to avoid the umbrella swinging wildly behind Souji. From here, Yosuke can see the cat. Lying underneath one of the tables was a small tabby, watching the two as they edge ever closer. He sees Souji pull a handful of something from his pocket.

 “You brought cat treats?”

 “Of course! We’re hunting cats after all.” 

 Souji tosses one of the treats to the tabby, making a little clucking sound that he apparently thinks will attract cats to him. The tabby slowly starts padding towards him. He brings out a second treat and holds it out to it. The cat starts gently nibbling on the treat in his hand.

 “You could probably pet it now,” Yosuke says softly.

 “Mm.”

 Slowly, as to not startle the cat, Souji moves his other hand to stroke the top of it’s head. Gentle purring fills the air. Yosuke could see the affection in Souji’s eyes, the softest smile gracing his lips. From this angle,it looked as though the sun was illuminating a halo around his head. If Yosuke had thought Souji looked attractive before, that was nothing  compared to this. He could stand here and stare at him for hours. Which isn’t normal. And he knows he shouldn’t feel this way, but he allows himself this moment. To pretend. To believe that there’s a world where Souji would like him back.

 They sit there for a while, petting the tabby cat. Talking about anything and everything. Half an hour passes before they make their way back to Yosuke’s bike, promising to come back and hunt for more cats soon. (Though Souji does end up leaving the rest of his treats with the tabby.) When they’re only a short distance away from the bike, the sky starts growing darker and darker, thunder echoing around them. 

 Suddenly, rain begins pouring. Souji quickly whips out his umbrella, holding it above them as they start sprinting towards the bike. Now, Yosuke’s bike isn’t the best mode of transportation in the world, but right now, that doesn’t matter. Right now, it’s raining, and it’s raining  hard . Yosuke hops onto the seat of the bike, only to realize, there’s nowhere for Souji to sit. Or at least, that’s what he thought until Souji jumped onto the handle bars.

 “Souji! What are you doing?”

 “It doesn’t matter! Just go!”

 Trusting him, Yosuke kicks off and starts pedaling. It’s a little awkward at first, he has to crane his neck to see over Souji, but eventually they get into a rhythm. Souji’s still holding the umbrella above them while they cruise. The situation is so ridiculous that Yosuke can’t help but laugh. Soon Souji joins him, as they ride along the floodplains laughing like madmen. 

 Lifting his hand off of the handlebars, Souji points ahead of them.

 “ONWARD YOSUKE! TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF DOJIMA!”

 Laughing even harder, Yosuke starts pedaling faster. He decides to play along with Souji.

 “We shall make in record time m’lord!”

 “Wonderful! Rain could never stop us!”

 “Of course not!”

 They make it to the Dojima household in under 10 minutes, laughing the whole time. The rain had stopped minutes after they got there, and Yosuke had pedaled home with a smile never leaving his lips.

Later that night, when he’s lying in his bed, Yosuke realizes he’s absolutely fucked. He had fallen for that Souji, and he had fallen  hard . And there was nothing he could do about it. Souji would never feel the same way. He falls asleep dreaming of cats and kissing Souji in the rain. But if he had woken up the next morning with puffy eyes and a wet pillow, well, that was no one's business.

@souyoweek2020​ Day 4 | Rain

this is definitely my favorite fic i've written yet!  it ended up simultaneously being one of the most lighthearted and angsty fics ive written. somehow i managed to write this one in a timely manner :) i think im getting mildly better at this whole "writing" thing. i really am having so much fun. 

#souyoweek2020 #souyo #souji x yosuke #yu x yosuke #souji seta #yu narukami #persona 4 protagonist #yosuke hanamura #persona 4 #p4 #this one was so much fun to write

[pbandjesse]

Im getting to writing this a little later then normal. Not wildly later. But I felt like I lost a lot of energy after work and am just feeling a little better right now. Thankfully sleeping last night after James brought me home juice and a donut knocked out my headache. And I slept pretty well for the most part. Waking up is still hard but it wasnt so bad today. 

I got up and washed and dressed. I felt a little off but not to bad. Dasia let me know she wasnt going to be in and that was alright. We had someone else coming today anyway so it just worked out. James drove me to work and I was happy about that. 

I was a little upset though because I had seen a dead cat on the road yesterday and I didnt want to see it squished today. So when we got near there I told James I was going to close my eyes because it had upset me so bad yesterday. And he let me know we had passed it but then was about to tell me what it looked like!! I literally just closed my eyes to not see!! He didnt tell me but it threw me off that he would do that. 

But soon I was at work and I had to focus on the kids. And they were a little tougher today. The two newer girls lied to me a lot today. First about classwork, then about their actual classes. And they figured out a work around to get on youtube (which is supposed to be blocked on their chromebooks) and we caught them on them multiple times today. To say I was stress about this would be an understatement. I dont like talking to the kids so sternly but I was not happy. And after having such a nice day yesterday. Ugh. 

Then I went to have a snack and discovered that my bunny grahams tasted like tomatoes sauce because of the container they were in and the actual lunch of leftovers was spoiled and I just sort of spiraled in upset.  Texting James and being upset and frustrated and so to try to help me feel less grossed out he promised to clean out the fridge and he did and that made me feel a little better. But it didnt help my food situation much. Thankfully I still had grapes and cashews but it was just a weird food day. 

We had some fun though. Sewing. Working on things. Skateboarding at lunch. It was a beautiful day and that helped my weird feelings. We only got outside once though because the kids had a lot of afternoon stuff. Though the sisters told me they didnt have anything for almost 2 hours and when I insisted on looking at their schedule I discovered they both had a whole class that they may have never gone to?? Like ever?? I think their parent, or the people at the other daycare they had been going to,  dont know how to use the schoology site and so they had gotten used to being able to show them a page and be like "See! I did everything Im supposed to do!" but I opened up like two things and found they havent actually completed anything. So I made them complete a few of them at least. I hope mom comes in tomorrow morning so we can talk about it. I know she knows the one was behind but I dont think she is aware by how much they both are. Im trying my best for sure but man. Frustrating. 

Soon the day was wrapping up. And James was on his way to come get me. I finished cleaning up my area and was about to leave when I remebered I left the ipad in the class so I went back in and found that the two girls who I know had class for another half hour were on youtube again!! I told Mr Burns, who takes over after me, and so he went in to watch them closer. So frustrating. 

But James was here and off we went. We stopped at tacobell since I had no lunch. And then we drove out to Timonium so I could meet up with an guy I bought James a christmas gift from. He was having shipping issues and because we were so close I was like. Its all good Ill come to you and he was really nice. The building was the Pay Pal office and it was really pretty inside, all marble. Plants. And the guy was really nice and I think James will really like the gifts. The guy gave me another free thing for driving out there. 

We headed home after that. But made a pitstop for a milkshake. Which was good but I think zapped my energy. 

We got home and James went to play video games and I went to pack up some orders. Be proud, I surpassed $800 in sales today. In my first month!! Im pretty proud of that. But I packed those up and took them down for drop off. And then I felt weird and tired so I went and laid in bed and watched a video until James got off the switch so I could play for a little. I just did some clean up and some christmas decorating. But then I got off and got back to laying in bed. Being mopey. 

Eventually James came and laid with me. But he had been cutting peppers and touched my face and them my face was burning from the peppers!! Rude. So we had to run to the bathroom to wash my face and his hands. 

I did mope around a little more but then we got to work on decorating our tree and that was fun. James had dried an orange and I strung those slices with cinnamon and anise stars. We might add cranberries but I am really happy with how it looks and it smells like black licorice but its so cute. It was a fun activity for sure. 

Once that was done I got to work and made some more bears that Im really proud of. Im going to have to get more fluffy fabric even though it sucks to sew because the results are just to good. Just entirely to cute. So I worked on those until almost 930 and finally called it a day. 

I went and showered and washed my hair. I found sweetP sleeping in the towel basket in the closet. So cute. And now I am in bed. I have to dry my hair still. But I feel a lot better. Just sleepy. 

I hope tomorrow is a good day with less lying and more just hanging out and enjoying the day. I hope you all have a nice night and a great day. Goodnight everyone!

[blughblu]

Okay i know i said tomorrow but

So, the family is Yash (son), Elraz (dad), and Adney (mom). Im currently working on a family portrait of them all, when Yash was younger and Elraz was still around.

Yash:

General info:

Gender: male, he/him pronouns

Age: human equivalent of early twenties

Race: cambion

Height: 6'5

Sexuality: pan rights babey

Adney:

(I don't have a colored picture of her quite yet)

General info:

Gender: female, she/her pronouns

Age: mid forties

Race: human

Height: 5'9

Sexuality: bisexual

Elraz:

(No need for another drawing)

General info:

Gender: male, he/him pronouns

Age: human equivalent of mid forties

Race: incubus

Height: 8'4

Sexuality: also pan rights babey!!

Backstory:

Elraz came up to the surface to do demon-ly business, and disguised himself as an elf. He travelled around, doing pretty much whatever he wanted (within the law-ish). Finally, he stumbled upon a large temple, where he found Adney. Adney was a nun there at the time, and when she saw Elraz (or Evindal, in his elven form). For a few months, Adney would sneak out to talk to "Evindal" and slowly they grew fond of each other. Adney was debating whether or not to leave the temple and run away with "Evindal", and Elraz suddenly realized he had a much harder choice to face. Whether he should tell the truth, and undisguise himself, or remain hidden and leave her. After weeks of back and forth debating, weighing the pros and cons, and a lot of yelling at himself, he finally decided to tell Adney the truth. He was scared she woukd hate him, yell at him, report him to the authorities. Or, she would be frightened, and would run away. Neither of those happened. When he dropped his disguise, and revealed what he truly looked like, Adney just shrugged, chuckled softly, and said "i had a suspicion you werent an elf."

Cut to several months into their relationship, theyre dating, and Adney is trying (and succeeding) to hide it from the temple. At this point, Elraz has shown that hes just a huge softy, and Adney has shown that she wouldnt be afraid to shoot someone in the head as a warning. So whenever they, *cough cough* not gonna say it, but Adney is the one to make them take chances, go into different places, etc.

Eventually, the risk taken while, doin the nastey, doesnt pay off, and they get caught by one of the head nuns. Adney gets kicked out from the temple, and Elraz is threatened with banishment from that plain of existence. They both leave very quickly.

A few years later, Adney gives birth to their own little demon spawn, Yash. As he grows up, parts of his father's blood pokes through, as well as his mother's. As a child, his eyes are white with a red-orange iris, instead of the black he has later in life. His tusks are only barely there, and are easy to softly file down or hide by not smiling too big. The biggest thing that could tip someone off to his demonic heritage is his pupils, which are slits likes his father's. But unlike Elraz, Yash's pupils dont do the cat thing, and get super big when they see smthn they like.

As Yash gets older, Adney takes notice of his tendencies to lean towards strong negative emotions, like lashing out over small things (his eyes went black when he got extremely angry). So, she sent him to her old temple to work on becoming able to control his anger more. He grew up, and trained to be a padin.

Just before Yash got sent to the temple, Elraz received a visit from an unexpected, and unwanted visitor. A messenger from Hell came to tell Elraz that he was required to return. Elraz refused, and the messenger said that either, he would go by choice, or he would go by force. Elraz stayed. A week later, Elraz was gone. Dragged out of his home by Hell guards, while all Adney could do was sit and watch in horror as her husband was dragged out of her life. So far, neither Adney nor Yash had ever seen him again.

After Elraz had been taken away, Yash trained hard to become a worthy paladin. He didnt want to be bad, so he studied hard, and trained hard, harder than any of the other people working beside him. He still had time to play, though. Which led to an unfortunate accident. While playing, Yash and a little boy got into a play fight. The little boy wrestled like any child would, and Yash thought he was wrestling normally too but...Yash wrestled too hard and the little boy ended up dead on the ground, neck broken. Yash cried and pleaded. "I didnt mean to do it! I didnt mean to hurt you!" Eventually it got dark, and Yash ran home. He never told anyone. He had nightmares for weeks.

Yash trained for years to become a proper paladin. He was very close to achieving the goal he had set years prior. But, life happens, and something went wrong. Terribly wrong. The head nun who had previously caught Adney and Elraz, told another nun a hideous lie about Yash and Adney. Yash overheard the comment, and went into a rage. When the rage dissipated, and Yash could finally think straight, he realized what he had done. Most, if not all, of the people in the temple were dead, or severely injured. So he ran. He ran to Adney, and cried. He sobbed and told her everything he had done. Adney rubbed his head, and told him he needed to leave, and that she would help him pack. He left the city that night, and didnt return until years later.

Yash used to be soft, and gentle, but now hes a huge @$$hole and hes super sarcastic. He now has a bf named Jarren (air genasi), and theyre very pleased with life. Yash visits his mother every so often, and is working on finding a way to see his father. He lives with Jarren, and he and his bf's friend, Vlasial (drow). Theyre all bastards. The bastard trio. Vlasial and Yash "fight" a lot, but everyone gets along great.

Adney lives alone, and runs an herb shop that doubles as a weed dispensary. Adney is definitely a stoner, but she mainly uses it as a way to cope with her emotions. She hasnt dated or remarried since Elraz. She keeps in touch with Yash about the situation with finding Elraz in Hell.

Elraz is trapped in a prison cell, for falling in love with and having a child with a human, and then staying with them for years. He hasnt been out since he got locked in there years previous, but everyday he still holds onto the hope that Adney and/or Yash are trying to find him. He has tried escaping in the past, but that only resulted in torture.

Misc. doodles:

@musingsofa2yearold this is so long i apologize sdfhhsfhsf

#long post #oc post #art #oc art #blugh art #its so long im so sorry #i got carried away #i designed Elraz two days ago #i designed Adney TODAY #i gave them names like HALF AND HOUR AGO #just before i typed out their info #annnnnygays #bed time now

[klobsquad]

If its clean, its Gronk

Warnings: Gronk spikes and tide pods

Word count:1694

Summary: a fantasy/horror/drama based completely on our experiences with Gronk’s cursed tide pod commercial

Notes We apologize in advance for what you’re about to read

i awake suddenly, sheer panic running through me. ripping the blanket off my body, the layer of sweat that lays on my skin is immediately hit with the frigid air of my room causing me to shiver. After a few moments, i start to realize where i am.

I'm in my living room on the couch. This is the first wink of sleep i've had in nearly 2 weeks. i think at least. time has started the run together after it, well, he, showed up. why haven't i slept? i've been too scared to let my guard down.

My phone lay broken, having thrown it against the wall several moons ago. Broken glass and piles of clothes are strewn throughout my apartment. Every electronic in my house has been either broken or hidden, yet somehow he’ll still manage to find me. i haven't left my apartment in weeks even though i ran out of food 4 days ago. I can't go to the store. I'm too afraid he'll be waiting at the end of the isle. I've been wearing the same outfit since it started, too scared to do even the most basic of household chores. doing laundry was banned a months back as an attempt to stop him.

The couch i lay on is pushed up hard against the wall, i'm laying on my side facing the back of the couch. the only electronic that hasn't been thrown out is my living room TV. I swear i've tried discarding it countless times, yet it keeps showing back up. The entire apartment, scratch that, city, is dead silent.

rumor has it, it started in new england, moving fast throughout the country. What started as random disappearances eventually became nationwide panic.

it wasn't long until he reached my home state of Texas. Most of the town had evacuated when the marks started showing up. Crater-like holes in the ground. 11 inches deep and 22 inches wide. The ground cracked and glowing around the marks, showing that he was getting somehow stronger.

Although I boarded up my windows when I caught wind that he was moving towards Texas, I still took a board down every so often. From my third floor apartment, I could see the marks starting to fill the town. He marked his territory right after he struck. Entire families disappeared at a time. Only once was a survivor found. She was found in the same clothing she was wearing when she went missing though they were suspiciously clean, almost as if they'd been washed then returned. She spoke in a hurried whisper, as if he was still watching her. Rumors soon filled the streets quicker than his markings. Apparently after her interrogation she was left alone in a cell at the local jail. When the officer came to retrieve her for more questioning, she had scribbled the number "87" and "bands a make her dance" on every square inch of the cell. Investigator after investigator was brought in, yet none of them could decipher what it meant. After three days of questioning, the only valuable thing they got out of her was a description of him. He was large, solid, his muscles constantly glistening. He towered over everyone, though he wasn't intimidating, the exact opposite actually. He had a boyish charm, soft brown eyes and youthful smile. Apparently he loves to dance, frequently droppin' it low and booty poppin' on them haters. Most notably was his hands. In her words they were "damn near leviathan. I never knew someone could have hands like that. It ain't normal. I'd be lying if it wasn't hot though.". The police were immediately on even higher alert. With such a specific description, it couldn't be hard to find him right? Wrong. She forgot to mention one detail. His speed. For a man of his size, he's unusually nimble.

I snap back to reality at the sound of the metal entrance door 3 floors below me opening and closing. My heart pounding. "Maybe it's just the neighbor" I tried to tell myself, though deep down I knew it wasn't. Even if they hadn't evacuated with everyone else, there's no way Mr. dolly, an 96 year old war vet could open and slam that door with such little effort. my gut and my head were at war. My gut was telling me it was him, the man I spent months hiding from. Yet my head was trying to come up with any other possibility. They were coming up the stairs, fast. I was paralyzed. Still laying on the couch, i covered my head with the fleece red sox blanket I got last Christmas, before this all started.

*BANG* *BANG*

They were knocking. I could barely hear the pounding on the door over my racing heart. Seconds feel like hours, waiting for the sound to stop, for whoever it is to go away.

After what feels like an eternity, the pounding stops. I exhale for the first time in minutes. Moments later a loud scraping sound fills the room.

He's here and he's removed the door.

There was nothing besides me and my red sox blanket separating us both. His presence sent chills down my spine. I could feel him standing in the corner of the room.

He was waiting for something.

*click*

The dim light of the TV immediately filled the dark room. I open my eyes suddenly as patterns of colored light dance off the walls. He's still waiting, but he keeps going back to the hall he came from. Almost as if he's loading something into my apartment. Suddenly the room goes yellow and orange. He gets into position. I turn around slowly, not knowing what to will be waiting on me when I turn around.

There he is, in all his glory. The survivor described him perfectly. He was dressed in a fitted grey tank top, joggers, and sneakers. He was oddly handsome given the circumstances. Unmarked boxes were stacked floor to ceiling, covering ever surface. One box, the one closest to him is open. He grabs a handful of whatever is in the box.

I'm frozen. Horrified.

3.

The tv shows a laundry room.

2.

He looks at  me intently, his boyish smile shining full force in the low light.

It's time.

1.

"Hi! Welcome to tide pods talk with Gronk. I'm Gronk. I'm big, *flex* and awesome. But this guy-" he chucks a fist full of tide pods at my body. I'm utterly speechless. "-Is little, can it really clean?". He rips the doors off my linen closet, scooping every single piece of laundry up in one scoop, even the clothes I'm wearing. Opening the washer, he throws the clothing in with a loud boom before dropping a couple Tide Pods™️ into the load. Im left sitting on the couch, ass naked, as the New England Patriots Tight End does my laundry.

He resumes his spot at the corner of my living room. Staring blankly at me as we both wait for the washer to finish its cycle.

45 minutes of silence later, the washer pings signaling the end of the wash. He once again grabs the entire load of laundry in one incredibly toned arm, spiking it into the dryer like it's a ball into the end zone. He spots my stained patriots jersey in the load. Pulling it out, he slips me a note then once again goes back to the spot in the corner. I'm still naked.

Clearing his throat, he make gesture with his hands I take it as a cue to open the note. It reads "ask Gronk if Tide Pods™️  really clean" in very messy handwriting that I'm pretty sure is done in crayon.

I'm once again stunned.  He holds up the jersey. My once beer and chicken wing stained jersey is now completely clean. He makes another gesture, prompting me to speak this time. "D-do Tide Pods™️ really clean?" Im shaking at this point, not because I'm nervous, but because it's 68° outside and I'm still naked. With the enthusiasm of a kid on a sugar high, he answers the age old question I just asked.  "Heck yeah they do!" His eyes twinkling as he speaks.

The boards blast off my windows. Rainbow light streams into the room. I’m still naked. The missing people immediately flood the streets. He's smiling again, and you guessed it, I'm still naked. A chorus of cheers fills the streets "You saved us! We were stuck in the realm of stained laundry! Bless you!" A tear runs down his cheek as he falls to his knees. "I've been searching for you, thou chosen one. If you may take me, I ask for you hand in marriage. Together we can continue to bring stain free clothing to people across the land!" The crowd outside cheers, completely ignoring the fact homie refuses to give me any clothing. Instead he whips out a ring, and by ring I mean a ring pop band with a Tide Pod™️ hot glued to the top. He slips it on my finger before I can respond. I'm soon being twirled in a blinding golden light. I emerge, fully clothed in a ball gown made completely out of Tide Pods™️. He picks me up bridal style and runs out to the hallway before quickly bounding down the stairs four at a time. In the way down I look at my ring. After not eating for days it looks surprisingly tasty. Bringing my left hand up to my face, he stops dead in his tracks and drops me. My cat like reflexes come into play and I land on my feet, breaking both my legs after falling from such a height. Somehow I'm still standing, the power of Tide Pods™️ holding me up. I immediately pop the ring into my mouth and before chewing. The detergent rolls down my chin. His screams fill the room as he realizes what I've done. "How could you do this to me?!" I look up, like really far up because I’m literally 5’0”, and meet his eyes. I match his boyish smile from earlier, though this time my smile is filled with detergent.

"What can I say? I'm Gen Z."

#🤠 #we apologize #fics #gronk #rob gronkowski #new england patriots #patriots #nfl #highkey a cursed post #tide pods #oof

[kookiehao]

[SEVENTEEN] OT13 - the thread that binds us (2/?) - 7300 words

Title: the thread that binds us Author: kookiehao (arashianelf on LJ and AO3) Pairings: OT13!friendship, hints of jicheol Genre: Fluff, fantasy, angst Rating: G Summary: A person's life can be deeply affected by tiny little things that occur far away from them; the butterfly effect, it's called. However, sometimes it's things that occur closer to home that can change a person's life forever.

For Choi Seungcheol, it begins with this: an old man comes to visit in a small town on the outskirts of Daegu.

Notes: If you follow this on AO3 as well, the one there gets updated a lot faster than the one over here! Just an FYI :)

one | two | three | four | five

Jihoon approaches the doorway slowly, eyeing the hinges carved into the wood on either side of the doorframe, hinting at how the fireplace had disappeared. Jihoon squats to look closer at the wooden flooring, but the lines of the panel that now covers the fireplace and mantel are well-camouflaged amongst the rough lines typical of wood flooring.

He stands again, now examining the door that has been hidden behind the fireplace this whole time. Ignoring the way his phone is buzzing, he tries the door handle, which opens easily for him. The door opens with a loud creak, and Jihoon makes a mental note to get some oil for the hinges.

He takes a deep breath, coughing a little at the dust, and nudges open the door. Upon entering, he feels along the wall for the light switch, and looks up at the staircase curling its way up that is illuminated by the lights at the top landing.

Retreating from the stairwell, he grabs a random thick book from one of the shelves and places it along the doorframe in case the door shuts on him. He isn’t taking any chances at locking himself in until he examines the door and how it works. First though, he plans to explore the area the winding staircase leads up to.

He turns on the flashlight on his phone, frowning down at it with annoyance as it buzzes non-stop. He turns on silent mode, and turns his attention back to the staircase. He takes slow steps up, worried for the structural integrity of the staircase, but the wood holds his weight with nary a sound.

Aiming the light around, Jihoon observes that the walls are still made of wood, much like the rest of the house. He takes the last few steps up onto the landing, where another door waits.

Again, this door opens smoothly, and Jihoon searches for the actual light switch. Flipping the lights on, he stops in the process of turning off the flashlight and stares at the state-of-the-art producing equipment across the room.

He absently turns off the flashlight, locking his phone and slipping it into his back pocket, approaching the equipment reverently. Other than the large desktop computer screens and accompanying monitor, there’s an electric keyboard along the wall, along with an acoustic guitar in its stand.

A thin layer of dust lies over everything, and Jihoon makes a mental note to bring in some cleaning supplies as soon as possible.

Jihoon is pretty sure the computer has the best digital audio workstation downloaded without having to turn it on. He eyes the audio interface lying innocently on the table next to the one with the desktop screen, and the large studio monitors placed at the corners of the room, both on the floor and on the ceiling.

There’s two microphone stands with good quality microphones and pop filters in this room. Jihoon walks over to the door next to the whole electronic set-up and opens it, sighing in bliss at the second soundproof door and what lays behind it as he turns on the light for the next room.

There are bass traps, acoustic panels, and sound diffusers randomly scattered and built into the walls of the recording studio, meant for ensuring the most high quality recordings in the room. Jihoon walks back out of the recording studio and opens one of the cupboards along the wall, and damn near cries as he sees unopened, brand-new boxes.

Unopened, brand-new boxes of one of the latest models of MIDI controllers, the monitor isolation pads he’s always wanted… This is Jihoon’s studio dream come true, and he bounces a little, eager to set everything up.

He’s pretty sure if he looked through the other cupboards he would find other things needed for producing and recording, but he stops, putting everything back to rights and switching off the lights.

He closes the door behind him, slowly walking back down the staircase and examining the door that he had left open. Next to the door frame is a lever that is currently down, which answers his question about how to open the door when it closes behind him.

Just to test it out, he nudges the book out of the way, taking a deep breath as the door clicks shut. He hears the rumble of the fireplace moving back into place on the other side of the door, watching as the lever moves back up with a sharp click. When all is quiet again, he pulls the lever, holding his breath.

The rumbling starts again, and when it stops Jihoon tests the door, sighing in relief when it opens. Finally leaving the stairwell, he closes the door behind him, book in hand, and turns to watch the fireplace emerge from the floor.

‘Well,’ Jihoon thinks wryly to himself, ‘I know where I’m living out of for the foreseeable future.’ He places the book from where he took it from, picking up the notepad and book still lying on the piano. Walking out silently, he switches the light off, door clicking shut quietly behind him as he pads his way back to his room.

The group chat, when Jihoon deigns to check it, has exploded in the wake of his announcement. He sighs, scrolling all the way down without bothering with backchat, lounging in bed until he feels tired enough to sleep.

To: three years is up!!

say moo: i’m not even going to bother with backchat

say moo: i was busy exploring the fucking secret room in the music room okay i didn’t have time to reply anything

say moo: anyway, there’s a state of the fucking art studio behind that secret door.

say moo: it’s my new home now.

size is irrelevant: a studio? behind a secret door found in the music room?

size is irrelevant: wow i’m so surprised

say moo: shut up you ass. no wonder you were tiny when you changed.

size is irrelevant: that’s irrelevant, hyung. i’m still like, a head taller than you normally.

say moo has changed his name to jihoon

jihoon: who the fuck keeps doing that.

im THE dawg: does that mean there are other secret rooms in the house?

i hate being last: i’ve always said that the house looks bigger on the outside than it does on the inside! secret rooms would actually explain a lot. now if one of you would actually listen to me when i say things.

I’M A CHICKEN: the maknae’s suffering: an excerpt

I’M A CHICKEN: wait it’s like super late why the frick is the maknae awake

I’M A CHICKEN: actually why are we all awake

hiss hiss mf: i’m almost done with filming soon, so i’ll be able to come down after that. in the meantime, try finding more rooms? there has to be more.

hiss hiss mf: channie, go to bed.

jihoon: yeah, i’m planning to do so. come asap please. this manor is fucking big.

i’m a horse and look like one: why not ask the others in the manor to help you?

i hate being last: yeah yeah i’m going now good night hyungs

jihoon: they’re hiding shit from me. and minki-hyung nearly ripped into me, so clearly they don’t trust me.

jihoon: i’m not asking anything from them until i absolutely have to.

I hate carrots: Smart idea. I’ll be able to make my way down soon as well. Give me a few weeks to settle my book.

I hate carrots: Good night, Channie.

goatlamb: got a few more weddings to cover, before i can come down. why do people like to get married immediately after the new year?

goatlamb: rest well, chan

jihoon: fuck knows why. just come down as soon as you can.

jihoon: i’m off to get more work done.

orange is the new black: i like how casually everyone just ignored jihoon’s questioning about who changed his name again.

i’m a horse and look like one: avoidance is the key to not getting killed, jisoo-hyung. as long as no one rats us out, we’re safe.

supposed to be tiny but not: someone called me? give me a moment to read backchat

hiss hiss mf: of course he chooses to appear now.

supposed to be tiny but not: what do you mean by that, moon junhwi?

hiss hiss mf: nothing, hyung.

supposed to be tiny but not has changed jihoon’s name to say moo

orange is the new black: you’re just courting death, hannie.

supposed to be tiny but not: nay, death’s courting our missing cat. i wouldn’t court jihoonie even if my life depended on it. besides, i have you, don’t i?

orange is the new black: okay, hannie. I’ll be home late today. i have a few patients coming in a few minutes.

supposed to be tiny but not: okay~ I’ll leave the food for you in the microwave!

goatlamb: ugh, domesticity

size is irrelevant: really? you’re saying that? you??? seo myungho you’re going to break seokmin’s heart.

i’m a horse and look like one: just mine?? gyu don’t lie your heart is broken too

size is irrelevant: my heart was broken from the beginning. I never expected anything going into this relationship. It just means he isn’t getting dinner tonight.

goatlamb: …

goatlamb: just because it’s gross doesn’t mean I don’t like it…

I’m a horse and look like one: you’re just saying that because you don’t want to go without mingyu’s food, aren’t you.

goatlamb: in my defense, it’s really good

I’m a horse and look like one: …true

size is irrelevant: you two shut up and get home already. the food is getting cold.

Jihoon grabs the music score notepad that started the whole thing, and flips to the first open page, inspiration having struck him.

The notes flow from his pen to the paper easily, and he hears the music playing in his mind as he scrambles to record down as much as he can before it slips from his fingers. Already, the exact notes are fading, and Jihoon hums a bar a few times to try and remember what came next.

He spends the next hour like this, bent over the notepad and trying to remember the music that had come to him all of a sudden. He throws his pen across the room, frustrated at the fleeting inspiration that strikes him at the oddest hours.

Sighing, he gets out of bed to pick up the pen and places both pen and pad on the table, switching off the lights, figuring that since his muse has once again left again, he might as well get some sleep.

“I’ll show you the way to your room first,” Jungsu says, even as the oak doors creak open. “I’m currently staying in the Cat bearer’s room, but once I’m gone that room will be yours. For now, you’ll be taking one of the guest rooms, next to Taehyung, the gardener that will be taking over the current one when it’s time.”

Seungcheol nods in understanding, walking up to the man and boy now standing on the porch. The boy observes his approach with cool expressive, intelligent eyes, and Seungcheol shrinks back a little.

Then the boy smiles, and his eyes crinkle up, giving Seungcheol the best smile he can muster. While the two older men greet each other, Seungcheol approaches the boy, who greets and introduces himself quickly.

“Hello! I’m Kim Namjoon, and I’ll be your butler for the future, I hope we can get along well,” he bows, and Seungcheol bows on instinct as well, returning the greeting. “I’m Choi Seungcheol, please take care of me!”

“Seungcheol-ah, I see Namjoon-ah has made your acquaintance. This is the current butler of the house, Jung Yunho,” Jungsu introduces the tall man next to him, and Seungcheol is struck by how good-looking he is.

He bows deeply, greeting him. “Nice to meet you, Yunho-ssi. My name is Choi Seungcheol, please take care of me.” Yunho laughs, ruffling Seungcheol’s hair. “You’re so polite! Maybe you’ll be a good influence on Taehyung. God knows that boy doesn’t have any respect for elders unless absolutely necessary.”

Seungcheol smiles shyly, ducking his head in embarrassment and thanks. Jungsu smiles as well, leading the way into the house. “Come on, I’ll start the tour with the entrance hall. Leave your shoes there,” Jungsu instructs, removing his own shoes and placing them in one of the shoe cupboards, holding it open for Seungcheol to do the same.

Behind them, Yunho and Namjoon bring in their bags for them, Seungcheol having reluctantly relinquished his to Namjoon as Jungsu led him past.

The entrance hall doesn’t look like much, apart from the table along a wall next to the shoe cupboards. It is this table that Jungsu leads Seungcheol to, where a large, old leather-bound book lies on the table top.

The table comes with a small mantel, where there are three rows of hooks carved from the wood. The first two rows of hooks are empty, but the third has keys hooked on them, with plain keychains. Jungsu removes a key with a cat keychain hanging from it from his pocket, hanging it on the first shelf.

“The other twelve hooks in the first two rows hold the keychains for the other zodiac bearers. They’re currently all out, so they’re empty,” Jungsu explains upon noticing Seungcheol’s curious glance. Seungcheol makes a soft sound of understanding, turning his attention to the book lying on the table top.

“This book is one of the more important ones in the manor. No one that isn’t supposed to can open it, and it is only ever on this table top for two occasions: when a new zodiac bearer arrives at the manor, and the first time that zodiac bearer changes,” Jungsu says, tapping the book cover, where the words ‘The Zodiac Register’ are embossed in gold.

Seungcheol is passed the book, and he opens it to the first page to find a table of names. Thirteen names, to be exact. The first column, titled ‘Names’, lists down the zodiac bearers’ names, the second the zodiac they represent, the third the date they first arrived at the manor.

The fourth takes up most of the page, titled ‘Description’. In each row, a detailed description of the animal they change into is given. Seungcheol makes a soft sound of amazement at the details, looking up at Jungsu with wide eyes.

The old man laughs before taking the book gently from the boy’s hands. He flips it to the middle, where an empty table lies, waiting to be filled in. “Go on then,” he then says, handing Seungcheol the book back and a pen he pulls out of his pocket, “fill in your name and zodiac.”

Seungcheol does as he’s told, filling in his name and the zodiac he represents in his best handwriting. He stops to stare at the row he’s half-filled in when he’s done, before passing the pen back to Jungsu, who keeps it. He’s about to reach out to flip to the previous pages when Jungsu speaks.

“Alright, you’ll be able to look through this book later when you’re free, all right? Let’s move on with the rest of the manor,” Jungsu leads him further into the manor, Yunho and Namjoon having moved along to put their bags in their respective rooms a while back.

“The only ones that can open it are zodiac bearers, isn’t it?” Seungcheol asks, and Jungsu nods, grinning down at him. “Smart child. Yes, only zodiac bearers can open that book. When there’s no need for it to be out, I tend to keep it in my room. It’s one of the safest places in the house, you see,” Jungsu explains, leading him down the hallway.

The hallway opens up to another hallway running perpendicularly, as well as a grand staircase leading upstairs. Jungsu tells him as they turn right, “This is what we call the Central Wing, and it’s where everything is. That staircase over there leads to the second floor, where we have a recreation room and other various rooms.”

Seungcheol’s head whips left and right as he tries to take in everything that he sees as they walk past. “The first floor of the Central Wing has the kitchen and the reception room, which really is a ballroom or occasional dining room. There are other, less important rooms here as well,” Jungsu lists.

“As you’ve probably noticed, the walls have platforms protruding out from them, and the ceiling beams have platforms as well. The ceiling has horizontal beams for cats to perch on and rest, and the platforms give them places to relax,” Jungsu points them out to Seungcheol, who is watching as a striped cat makes his meandering way up a series of platforms.

All around them are cats dogging their footsteps, occasionally getting distracted with the empty cardboard boxes and circles formed with string lying around. “We employ any and every tactic here to keep the cats occupied,” Jungsu relays to the younger drily.

Jungsu opens a door, which leads to yet another hallway, this time with a staircase smackdab in the middle. “This is the East Wing, where all the bedrooms are. First floor is the guest bedrooms, second is the Zodiac bearer bedrooms. There are thirteen on each floor, as you would expect. Currently, four of the rooms are occupied, now five with you,” Jungsu says, leading him to a door.

“For the guest bedrooms, there’s a whiteboard next to each of the doors, so you can write your name there so people know that the room is occupied,” Jungsu tells Seungcheol, bringing down the portable whiteboard and marker for him to write his name.

“Now, Taehyung stays next to you,” Jungsu points out the name on the whiteboard of the room next to his, messily decorated with whiteboard magnets and doodles, “he’s the gardener of your generation, so he’s probably in the woods right now.”

Next, Jungsu opens the door to Seungcheol’s new room, and enters. Seungcheol follows with some mild hesitance, emitting a soft noise of shock at the cosiness of it all. There’s a bed in one corner, and a closet in the other, on either side of the large windows framed by curtains.

There’s a light breeze blowing into the house through the open windows, and the soft blue curtains rustle in the wind. There’s a cat perched on the windowsill, enjoying a stray patch of sun, and opens an eye a slit when Seungcheol approaches.

His bag is at the foot of his bed, and he sits down on the bed, testing the mattress. Next to the closet is a desk for him to put whatever he wants, as well as a laptop that Jungsu picks up and hands to him. “Welcome to Zodiac Manor, Seungcheol-ah. This is your welcome gift from the staff here, as well as me.”

“I can’t accept this, harabeoji,” Seungcheol starts, but Jungsu waves him off. “It’s already been bought, they threw the receipt away too. You have zero chance of getting us to return it. Also, you’ll need it in the future. Trust me, kid. I know what I’m talking about.”

Seungcheol quietens, running his hands across the smooth surface. “Thank you for this, harabeoji,” he says after a few seconds, placing the laptop on the bed next to him. “It’s my pleasure, so no need to thank me,” is all Jungsu says.

“This door over here leads to your personal washroom. Each bedroom comes with their own washroom, so no one has to worry about fighting over who gets to use the bathroom first and the like,” Jungsu continues after a moment of silence, clearing his throat.

“If you need any supplies for the bathroom, just tell Yunho or one of the other staff, and we’ll get it for you when we go into town next. I’ll let you get settled in for a few days before we bring you into town to get you acquainted with the people living there,” Jungsu tells him, and Seungcheol nods gratefully.

“I’ll leave you to wash up now, that drive was long enough that I want to take a shower,” Jungsu says. “When you’re done washing up, just head up to my room via the staircase in the middle of this wing. The Cat zodiac bearer’s room is all the way at the end of the hallway.”

Seungcheol nods his understanding and Jungsu leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Seungcheol takes a deep breath when he’s finally alone, letting the situation sink into him. This is going to be his home for the foreseeable future, and these are the people he’s going to have to live with for the rest of his life.

It’s a daunting thought, but Seungcheol steels himself for it. He at least hopes he’ll be able to get along with everyone else.

The time passes quickly when Jihoon is able to settle into a routine. He wakes up in the mornings, feeling like death personified, and goes to the kitchen for breakfast, where he warms up his brain by deflecting probing questions asked by the others and staunchly not reacting to the thinly veiled barbs shot his way.

He exchanges polite conversation with everyone as much as he can, the Jimin mentioned the first night being Park Jimin, Taehyung’s best friend. He learns that along with Namjoon, Seokjin, Yoongi, and Jimin, Taehyung is part of a budding coven, which normally has ten people.

He’s pretty sure that Jonghyun, Minki, Aron, Minhyun and Dongho are part of some secret group as well, but doesn’t want to risk Minki’s wrath to ask until he has Jeonghan here to buffer as well as Dongho.

Speaking of Dongho, Jihoon has gotten into the habit of sending him snippets of audio, and the older does the same, exchanging advice and criticism about their work. It has helped him improve the standards of his tracks a lot, and Jihoon is pleased.

After breakfast, he holes himself up in the studio, closing the secret door behind him so no one knows where he is. He works in the studio until dinner, when his stomach drives him back to the kitchen after he forgets to eat lunch, as usual.

After dinner, he explores the manor, trying to find more secret rooms. So far, he’s been in the music room one, and he’s pretty sure that the recreation room has one as well. He knows that there should be some kind of sign telling him where the secret rooms are, but he hasn’t found it yet.

When he’s tired, he goes to any place with a high concentration of cats, playing with them to pass the time. Gongju and her mate come up to him often, meowing and pawing at him until he plays with them. The chocolate brown cat with white markings that Jihoon always saw around Seungcheol keeps his distance, and is usually perched on one of the platforms close by, observing Jihoon.

The days pass like that, and before he knows it, Jisoo is about to arrive.

To: three years is up!!

orange is the new black: jihoon, i’ll be heading down in a few days. jeonghan’s still busy closing a deal but he’s coming a few days after i am.

say moo: thank fuck

say moo: i need jeonghan-hyung here to buffer minki-hyung. i’m about to go insane.

I’M A CHICKEN: minki-hyung still isn’t happy, huh?

say moo: apparently he’s going to remain unhappy until we give him an adequate explanation, but i don’t know if we’re allowed to talk about that yet.

orange is the new black: …i think we’ll withhold that information for now, yeah? i don’t trust them fully yet. there’s new people too, so god knows what they can spread with that information if they have ill intentions.

say moo: alright. it’ll be good to finally have people on my side in the manor. i’ll inform them tonight about you guys arriving soon.

That night, Jihoon does as he said, informing the table at large that Jisoo and Jeonghan would be arriving within the next few days. Jonghyun and Minhyun exchange glances with each other, as does Taehyung and Namjoon, which does not go unnoticed by Jihoon, but he chooses to remain silent on the matter.

“Finally. I was wondering whether what you told us that first night was a lie. Good to see I’m wrong,” is all Minki says on the matter, and Jihoon is once again out of the kitchen as soon as he is able, hearing the kitchen break out into low whispers when he’s gone.

He briefly wonders if he should stay by the door to listen about what they’re talking about, but rejects the idea. One of the witches would probably sense him, or something. He’s pretty sure Jonghyun’s group is hiding some power as well.

From the past few days he’s been able to observe that whatever Namjoon’s growing coven knows, Jonghyun’s probably doesn’t, and vice versa. Everyone’s keeping secrets from each other because they don’t know what each other’s exact goals are apart from finding out happened to Seungcheol, and because they don’t know how much they can say.

However, in terms of interactions, Jihoon would have to say that the coven is maintaining a rather neutral stance, while Jonghyun, Minhyun and Minki are more standoffish towards him.

Still, the manor is filled with tension, and Jihoon doesn’t like it. He misses the times when Seungcheol was there, tying everyone together. He remembers letting Seungcheol bug him when he was trying to compose, or when he was trying to read a book in peace.

He thinks of Seungcheol’s bright eyes when he beams at someone, and the way the townspeople always greeted him with love whenever they wandered into town. He thinks about the quiet times spent together just lounging on the couch while the others made a mess of the recreation room.

He thinks about anything and everything that Seungcheol reminds him of, and in that moment, he is filled with the most intense longing and grief, all the more determined to find out what happened to Choi Seungcheol and give that man a piece of his mind for causing them to worry so much.

Shaking his head to free himself from his thoughts, he continues down the hallway and going up the grand staircase, walking to the recreation room, where he’s been concentrating his efforts for the past few days.

He enters the room, switching on the lights. He’s been combing through the room inch by inch, and has yet to find anything out of place or hidden. The recreation room is filled with bean bags and the most comfortable couches, along with every game system currently on the market.

Jihoon continues on to the shelves places between the windows, where rows of game CDs and board games and card games are lined, and continues what he’s been doing for the past few days. He removes the things on each shelf one by one, making sure there’s no protrusions from the wall.

As he does so, he grumbles to himself, “Why did I have to find that secret room? I have to lug a chair every-fucking-where now because I’m not tall enough to reach the fucking top shelf. I should wait until Mingyu comes and make him do the rest of the shelves.”

He’s moved onto a bookshelf that has books concerning tactics about different games (he saw a few Minecraft books that he’s keeping in mind to read for later) when the chair tilts after he climbs onto it. He stumbles and jumps off just as he’s about to fall back first.

Kneeling down onto the floor, and moving the chair away, he sighs when he notices a small circular panel on the floor. Seeing as just pushing that one switch didn’t do anything, he heaves the beanbags around the chair away.

Just as he’d thought, he spots three more small circular panels in the floor, forming a perfect square with the one panel pressed down by the chair. He carries the chair over, placing each leg over each panel.

Going over to the shelves, he removes a thick hardcover book and drops it onto the chair seat, smiling in satisfaction as the chair sinks into the floor and a loud click echoes around the room. The wall opposite the one with the television mounted on it shifts backwards and to the side, revealing a door.

Just to make sure, Jihoon goes over to the door leading to the Central Wing hallway and locks the door, before returning to the now revealed hidden door. He removes the book from the chair just to see what happens, watching as the chair slowly rises and the wall move back into place.

Nodding to himself, he places the book back on the chair and waits for the door to appear again, before he opens it and enters. Just like the one in the music room, there is a staircase winding up, and the stairwell is dark and dusty.

He turns on the light and makes his way up the staircase, observing that just like the one leading to the studio, the wood of the staircase is in very good condition, despite all the dust. Opening the door at the top of the staircase, Jihoon notices that just like the studio, this one has a second door for soundproofing as well, and opens it and turns on the lights as well.

He then just stands there, gaping at the miniature theatre that greets him, with a large wall-to-wall viewing screen on the opposite wall. The seats are couches, the same ones as those in the recreation room downstairs, and when Jihoon looks up, there’s a projector mounted on the ceiling to project the films on the screen.

There’s dust everywhere, like he’d expected, but a fucking movie theatre? This was nowhere near whatever he was expecting to find in a hidden room. “Fuck, at this rate I’m going to need to carry a portable vacuum cleaner,” Jihoon says to himself, after sneezing thrice in a row.

He leaves the room, turning off all the lights behind him. When he’s out on the staircase landing, he pulls out his phone, typing as he walks down.

To: three years is up!!

say moo: I found a movie theatre this time.

i’m a horse and look like one: say what?

say moo: a fucking movie theatre

i love bananas: they had a movie theatre at home and we didn’t know???

say moo: yes

I’M A CHICKEN: oh my god

im THE dawg: what happened why is kwannie yelling in my ear

im THE dawg: oh what the hell are you serious

orange is the new black: language, choi hansol. but yes, the sentiment is the same for me.

I’M A CHICKEN: if you find a karaoke room i don’t care where i am or what im doing, im coming down immediately

He snorts, exiting the secret room after switching off the lights, removing the book from the chair and putting everything back to rights. He unlocks the door and exits the recreation room entirely, making his way back to his room, scrolling through social media as he walks.

After Seungcheol is done washing up, he exits the room, climbing up the staircase slowly and finding himself in a hallway similar to the one on the lower floor. Only, instead of just whiteboards hung on the walls on the right of each door, there are wooden nameplates nailed into the doors, with an animal intricately engraved on each one.

He walks down the hallway, darting left and right to look at the different nameplates and whiteboards. At the end of the hallway is a door with a cat nameplate, as well as a whiteboard that has Jungsu’s name on it with angel wings as a backdrop.

He knocks on the door with trepidation, and after a moment the door opens. “Come in!” Jungsu calls, and Seungcheol peeks his head around the door. Jungsu smiles when he sees him, closing a leather-bound book and placing it on the table.

“What’s that?” Seungcheol asks curiously. “Oh, this?” Jungsu looks down at the journal. “It’s a journal, where I write my thoughts in whenever I have time,” Jungsu explains. “Each generation of Cat bearers tend to keep journals because sometimes it’s good to write things down,” Jungsu says, gesturing to the rows of shelves that are along a wall.

“Because a lot of them are old, they fall apart easily under direct sunlight, so I keep them in these cupboards with no glass, so they don’t get damaged. I also have a dehumidifier in each cupboard to make sure they don’t become mouldy,” Jungsu tells him.

“It’s weird, though. I only have the journals from the Cat bearer five generations back to now. I can’t seem to locate the journals prior to that generation’s. Anyway, here, these are the ones I’ve filled in in the years I’ve lived here,” Jungsu says, opening one cupboard, showing him the row of leather-bound books slotted in neatly next to each other.

“Woah,” Seungcheol gasps, looking to Jungsu for permission before taking one. He flips through it quickly before putting it back, feeling as if he’s intruding on Jungsu’s privacy. Jungsu closes the cupboard after he makes sure everything is in place.

“Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the manor. The East wing is simple enough, all of the rooms are similar to the ones you’ve seen,” Jungsu leads the way out of the room, and Seungcheol dutifully follows, trailing the old man.

They head out into the hallway and through the door that leads to the Central Wing, and Jungsu points out the various rooms to him as they pass. “There’s the music room, and that one is the recreation room. The one opposite the music room is an office to do work in, and the one opposite the recreation room is an art room.”

“The other rooms, you can discover on your own,” Jungsu tells him. “I have to show you some other stuff later, too.” They walk to the other end of the Central Wing’s main hallway, where a door is closed.

“Welcome to my pride and joy, the West Wing of Zodiac Manor,” Jungsu says proudly, opening the door to reveal the largest library Seungcheol has ever seen inside a house. Well, granted, it was a manor, but still.

“Woah.” Seungcheol walks into the West Wing, eyes darting in all directions as he beholds the sheer number of shelves in the wing. Instead of rooms, the entirety of the wing is a library, with three floors. In between shelves, there are numerous reading nooks along the wall, framed by large windows to let in the sunlight.

There is a staircase leading up to the third floor and another down to the first floor in front of the door, and another across the wing. There is also one in the middle of the wing, and each row of shelves has a mobile ladder.

“The books are all arranged depending on whether they’re fiction or non-fiction, then by author. The non-fiction books are arranged according to topic as well,” Jungsu tells him, smiling at the younger’s reaction.

“We also have a section focusing on all the lore anyone has ever collected regarding the zodiacs,” Jungsu informs him in a more serious tone, catching Seungcheol’s attention. “You mean…” Seungcheol trails off, to which Jungsu nods, understanding the unsaid question.

“Yes. This is the largest collection of books regarding the curse. Whatever anyone has ever published, be it in a research paper or in a book, fiction or non-fiction, we have it. No matter how ridiculous the things they write are, we have it. After all, even the most nonsensical things can have kernels of truth in them.”

Jungsu points out the section to him, all the way at the other end of the wing. Seungcheol itches to go and check out what books the library has to offer, but refrains from it for now. He has all the time in the world to explore the West Wing.

“That’s all for the inside of the house, now I’ll give you a tour of the outside,” Jungsu says, leading Seungcheol back out of the library and down the grand staircase. Seungcheol remains quiet, a thought having occurred to him.

“Harabeoji, what would have happened if I’d refused the bracelet? If I’d refused taking on the curse as the Cat zodiac bearer?” Seungcheol asks, and Jungsu halts in his tracks. “…you would have changed anyway when the time came. Once you’re chosen, there’s no stopping the curse. All I would have had to do was wait for you to change, inform your parents, then take you away.”

Seungcheol stares at Jungsu in shock. The old man turns to him with a sorrowful expression. “I wouldn’t have gotten to say goodbye?” Seungcheol asks softly. Jungsu nods, and elaborates.

“The best time to take someone who doesn’t want to accept the curse is when they’re changed, because it’s harder for them to run away when they’re not used to their new form. And once they’re within the barrier, they can’t escape.”

“That- that’s just cruel!” Seungcheol exclaims, to which Jungsu sighs and says, “Well, a lot of the world doesn’t care if they’re cruel to Cat zodiac bearers or not. It’s partly for their own protection as well. Cat zodiac bearers aren’t treated well outside of this town, Seungcheol-ah. You’ve heard of the reputation we carry.”

Seungcheol falters, recognising what Jungsu is saying to be true. He’d heard the townspeople talk about harabeoji when they’d recognised the bracelet he wore. With no argument, Seungcheol falls silent again, and Jungsu continues walking, Seungcheol following quietly.

“This is the kitchen,” Jungsu tells him softly as they enter, and Seungcheol looks up from his thoughts, observing the happenings of the kitchen. “That man manning the stoves over there is the chef for my generation, Kim Jaejoong. His protégé, the one rolling the dough at the counters, is Park Jisung.”

Upon hearing their names, the two look up from whatever they were in the process of doing. “Jungsu-hyung! Giving the tour, I see,” Jaejoong says, wiping his hands clean and turning the fire on the stove low. Jisung does the same, patting his hands clean of flour and washing them.

Seungcheol bows low, greeting the two. “My name is Choi Seungcheol, please take care of me!” Jaejoong laughs and replies, “No need to stand on formality, kid. We’re all family around here.” Meanwhile, Jisung bows back as well, introducing himself. “I’m Park Jisung! Let’s get along well!” Seungcheol nods to both replies, smiling.

“Alright, alright, I’m sure the two of you still have a lot to do. I’ll continue on with the tour and let the two of you get back to your work, eh?” Jungsu says, to which the chef and chef-in-training nod in understanding, going back to their work.

Jungsu leads Seungcheol across the kitchen to the back door, which connects to the gardens and beyond that, the woods behind the manor. “This is the gardens of the manor, where we have all kinds of things growing here, from herbs used in cooking, to those used in potions, as well as flowers and fruits.

“The current gardener is Kim Junsu, and his protégé is Kim Taehyung. They’re probably somewhere in this maze right now, I’ll introduce you to them later during dinner,” Jungsu tells him, showing him the hedge-maze that was Taehyung’s idea, who is, apparently, a witch that specializes in plants and potions. They walk through the well-worn paths of the gardens to the iron-wrought gate built in the brick wall.

“Remember when I mentioned the lands surrounding the manor in the car? That treeline over there is the beginning of the woods,” Jungsu says as he opens the gate, “The manor lands extend all the way until the barrier, which is the town boundary. Of course, the woods extend past that, but we only own the land up until the barrier.”

They stand at the treeline, enjoying the breeze and the sounds of nature. A cat emerges from deep within the woods, coming up to them for scratches. Seungcheol obliges gladly, squatting down to stroke down its back and between its ears.

“That about concludes the tour, I should think. There are rooms I didn’t tell you much about, because those are mainly for witches and practitioners to use, but there’s two more things I have to tell you. There are many hidden rooms in the manor, some of which I probably haven’t found yet.

If you find them, you get to do whatever you want to them. Contractors and builders are always sworn to secrecy via confidentiality agreements as well as the best lawyers we can find. Of course, you can try building whatever you want by yourself as well.” Jungsu leans against a tree, looking at the view the manor presents against the backdrop of the setting sun.

“Lastly, I have to show you how to open the Cat’s bedroom door. I opened the door for you earlier, but this is a trick all Cat zodiac bearers have to learn. No one else knows how to open our door, so keep it that way, alright?” Jungsu tells him, moving back in the direction of the manor.

Giving the cat one last scratch, Seungcheol stands up, following Jungsu back into the manor and to the door of the Cat zodiac bearer’s room. “Why does the Cat zodiac bearer’s bedroom door require so much effort to open it?”

Jungsu shrugs at the question. “I think one of the previous generations must have been very paranoid. It’s been like this for three generations at least.” Seungcheol frowns, dissatisfied with that explanation.

They come to a halt in front of the bedroom door in question, and Jungsu changes the topic, focusing on teaching Seungcheol how to open the door. “You can’t open this door in the usual fashion,” Jungsu shows him, pushing the door handle like they do for other doors. It doesn’t move, indicating the door is clearly locked.

“What you need to do is to push this panel here, which has this symbol etched into it,” Jungsu points out a panel on the door itself, which has a triangle-shaped triskelion when Seungcheol looks closer at the symbol about half the size of the nail of his pinky.

“Then nudge the one on the doorframe over here with your elbow, and push the door handle upwards,” Jungsu continues, showing Seungcheol each step in detail. With a click, the door opens.

“If you’re inside the room, there’s a button on the floor you can step on to the left of the door. To exit, just step on that button and open the door normally.” Jungsu points to the button on the floor, almost indistinguishable from the regular wood flooring if not for its odd shape, then closes the door, the locks engaging once again.

“Now you try.”

10 August 2010, Tuesday

Apparently all Cat zodiac bearers start a journal, so this is me starting one.

I’ve met almost all of the people living in the manor permanently, I think. There’s the previous generation, Park Jungsu, Jung Yunho, Kim Jaejoong, Kim Junsu, Park Yoochun and Shim Changmin, and then there’s my generation, which has me, Kim Namjoon, Park Jisung, Kim Taehyung, Hwang Minhyun and Min Yoongi.

If there’s regularly so many people living here, an outhouse may be a good idea.

Maybe a treehouse?

[chapter two end]

three

#seventeen #svtcreations #17writers #17writer-net #svt fics #ot13 friendship #fanfic #chaptered